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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There was no vibrating anymore. No voice calling her name. There weren't even nightmares. From the first day Sunset started attending Canterlot High School, everything went quiet.
The silence was bizarre. For the first time in years, Sunset was able to put her whole life back into focus without worrying about triggering hallucinations. It was exactly what she needed, but it was challenging in its own way.
If she accepted that Equestria was real, and she was usually inclined to do so, then it became hard to not get lost in the wasted years. It had been over eight years since she first stepped through the mirror, and in that time, she had done nothing but play make-believe with humans. There was possibly variation in the length of days – or even the flow of time itself – between the two worlds, but there was no denying that the portal had been open several times since Sunset's first trip through it.
And, of course, there was always the fact that no matter what felt right, Sunset was too intelligent to not realize how ludicrous it all was. The time would come, and the statue would remain solid. It was the only answer that made any sense.
So Sunset worked on both fronts. Every day started with a trip to the statue, just in case time did work differently between the two worlds. And every day, it was nothing but a statue.
From there, Sunset would continue playing make-believe. She kept her grades perfect, she worked with the journalism team, she applied for jobs, and she continued seeing Flash Sentry.
For his part, he was quickly becoming one of the most popular freshmen in school. It wasn't surprising, really. He was handsome, outgoing, charming without being cocky, he could play guitar, he dressed in the right way, and best of all, he was genuinely oblivious to all of this. It was as if he was made to be the perfect embodiment of all things that a teenager would find cool.
And by extension, that made Sunset cool. Other students began taking note of her. She was the pretty girl who effortlessly aced every class, she held a position that was usually not available to freshman by writing for the school paper, she always said the exact right things at the exact right times, but she stayed in the background enough that other students never felt threatened by her presence. And, of course, she exclusively hung out with Flash Sentry, the guy whom everyone else wanted to be.
And then there was the statue itself. Plenty of people had noticed Sunset's habit of starting every morning by touching the base of the statue, but no one could figure out why. Sunset certainly wasn't giving any clues out, so she had a mysterious element to her. It was the kind of quirk that seemed harmless enough to build interest without having the risk of making her seem weird.
"Yup, the statue's still there," Flash teased as he caught Sunset at the statue early one morning.
Sunset noticed the small crowd of people looking their way. It hadn't taken her long to realize that while she never wanted their friendship, the adoration of others was another matter entirely. Sunset's smile as she answered was almost more for them then for Flash. "Just making sure. It's an important part of the school's appearance, you know."
