Book one of "Who We Become".
Sunset always knew that she was destined for greatness, but she never dreamed of how great she could become. Not until she had seen it - the mirror had shown her as an alicorn. Ignoring Celestia's warnings, Sunset goes l...
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Waiting was, of course, much more difficult than it should have been. Every day crawled past agonizingly slowly, and Sunset could never get herself to stop thinking about the portal. Everything else mattered so much less with that end goal in mind. How could anything in this world compare to the one in her memories? She wasn't convinced that anything would happen on the day the portal was supposed to open, but it felt so right that she stopped trying to question it. In any event, she was afraid of what would happen to her if it didn't open.
And so it was more out of the need to distract herself that she continued with her other plans. Really, all she had to do was make sure she stayed at CHS for the remainder of the year, but putting forth only the minimal amount of effort was liable to drive her to a mental breakdown long before the portal opened. So she made it a goal to excel in every class. She put on the façade of the perfect student, winning over all of her teachers. If Violet checked in with them to see how Sunset was progressing – and Sunset very much hoped she would – she was certain to hear nothing but good things.
If that wasn't enough, Sunset had also managed to join the journalism club. Since she was new to the team, she should have been assigned a boring job working behind the scenes. But since that wasn't helpful to Sunset's interests, she made sure to show off her charismatic side to the editor in chief, earning her a spot as a reporter.
If Sunset ever decided to continue her plan of dominating the school, she was in a perfect position to do it. She could interview the students and staff, gaining valuable intel in the process. The newspaper gave her the position to write stories as well, which would be a powerful tool in the flow of gossip if she could manage it well enough.
But whenever Sunset thought about that, she began second-guessing herself. What would be the point in doing all that work if she was just going to abandon the school in a year anyway? And honestly, what was she even going to gain from it all? Nothing in this world could compare to the one from her memories.
Well, almost nothing. There was one memory that still ate away at her, and she knew she had to face it sooner or later. And the longer she waited, the more it tormented her.
Which was why Sunset was finally going to face it. As soon as she got off the bus, she moved purposefully through the school. There was only so much time until class started, and she hoped she could get this done before then.
Unfortunately, she had no idea where to look. So she did the only logical thing: She looked everywhere. In the hallways, the library, the cafeteria, the lobby, but everywhere she went wound up being a waste of time.
Deciding she would have to wait until later, Sunset made her way to the front of the school. Even though the portal wouldn't be active until the end of the year by her calculations, visiting the statue made Sunset feel like she was just a little bit closer to home. She would find herself stopping by it at least once per day, usually absent-mindedly.
