Sunset Shimmer found herself nostalgic for the simple pleasures of being alive. It was the little things, really. Having a pulse, breathing—not standing in the vast expanse of space with nothing underneath her hooves but an invisible walkway born of stars. As the void of space stretched out timelessly into the great beyond, twinkling the answers and many more questions to life’s most peculiar and beautiful quantum quandaries about mankind's place in the universe, Sunset missed having any body at all.
Had her soul been transported to the Equestrian afterlife? The thought came to mind that she would have a death certificate in one dimension and a birth certificate in another. Wow, yeah, no wonder the Fates hate me. I’m a logistical nightmare.
The atmosphere refrigerated her soul like putting a severed limb on ice, but without an actual body to feel the sensation of cold, she could really only guesstimate the depths a thermometer would have to reach.
She could even see the tear in space-time far up ahead or rather the other side of it. A crack spanning across the milky blue night.
My friends. Her eyes widened. This was the other side of the tear in the sky. If she looked hard enough, she could see where King Sombra had attempted to pry it open, light peaking through. Sunset had no idea where she was or what got her here, but if this was some stage of the Equestrian afterlife, the magical potential must have been unlimited. I have to warn them! I have to keep it closed!
But Sunset wasn’t alone in the universe.
The voice that came to her then felt equally as displaced from time as she was, like a home she hadn’t lived in for years. Much like going back to Canterlot Castle for the first time in years—longer than she’d ever meant to go without coming home—where the halls she’d ruled and taken for granted in the most comforting normalcy had at some point, without her permission, lived on. And from that point forward, returning became a host of strange reminders of a life she used to live that she could only visit now.
Sunset Shimmer heard that enigmatically good-humoured smile echoing around her as Princess Celestia said, “Congratulations, Sunset. You always find new ways to surprise me.”
Sure enough, when Sunset turned toward the sound, her old mentor waited ahead.
Sunset bowed and faltered. “Princess? Is it really you?”
The Princess reached down to hold Sunset’s cheek in her hoof. “Yes,” she promised. “I’ve missed you while you’ve been gone. I hope you don’t mind the interruption. Summoning spells have a great many uses, as I’m sure you remember.”
“Yeah,” Sunset chuckled, wondering if her blush was even showing up on her phantasmal cheeks. Even without a physical form, the memory came back to her: how it felt as a little filly to have a cheek pressed to the Princess’s rising and falling chest as the ruler of the free world read aloud wondrous myths and legends to help her sleep. “I remember.”
Princess Celestia smiled just that much wider. She seemed to be studying Sunset then, probably thinking years ahead in the chess game of her life. What battle plans did she have in store for her now? “It’s nothing short of remarkable to see how far you’ve come. I’ve always hoped you would find your way back to the light, but even I never could have anticipated what you’d do once you returned.”
The swell of emotions from hearing the Princess speak was accompanied by a small urgent voice in Sunset’s head. My friends need me. She boggled down at her hooves and the thousands of miles of space below. “Princess, where are we? I have to get back to my friends. What happened to me?”
Princess Celestia’s expression shifted to something distantly sad. Whatever star had been twinkling in her eyes burned out, collapsed in on itself, and in its place, left behind a gaping black hole.
The weight of that star burned in Sunset’s throat, too.
She recognized that look. Over the years she’d seen the Princess hang the moon alone or spare longing looks at the statues of heroes in the garden or spend her precious few free nights pouring over Starswirl’s works for any sign of where he’d gone. The artist's renderings of Celestia’s mother and father hung forevermore in the castle’s dining hall.
Even at her very worst—even when Sunset became so drunk on ego and power-lust and she thought the princess hated her—Sunset suffered stabs of guilt knowing she’d become another name without a gravestone for Princess Celestia to grieve.
Sunset looked down at her translucent hooves. She could see the stars through herself, as if sneaking a peek into the primordial stardust that made her up. But she didn’t have a body anymore. She’d burned alive.
Sunset’s features fell. “I’m so sorry.”
Princess Celestia shook her head. “You have nothing to apologize for. I knew you were mortal,” she said, though grief weighed down the words. “I suppose deep down I knew it would have to happen eventually.” She almost found a smile. “You lead such a bold life.”
“Yeah. I’m a powderkeg. And we always knew I had a short-fuse...” Sunset said to her, but then it occurred to her that she had the chance to say anything. A shot of panic rattled through her nonexistent bones thinking about what she really wanted to say to the princess. Instead, she asked, “How in Equestria did you summon me to talk to you? How is that even possible?”
“You could say I called in a favour,” Princess Celestia said, striding ahead on echoing golden slippers and then left it at that.
Sunset supposed she should be grateful the princess found a way at all—and it wasn’t like Sunset was a stranger to making herself an exception to divine forces beyond her understanding… today. But sometimes, like when her friends were in dire straits and may well join her in the afterlife, Sunset could use a little more exposition.
As it was, she found herself remembering precisely how aggravating it was to be subject to Celestia’s mystic wisdom and cryptic clues. Is it really that hard to use your words?
She elected not to think about how she’d ever begin to say that she’d thought about Princess Celestia as a mother figure last time she was on death’s door. Or the fact that she was undeniably through death’s threshold and barely clinging onto death’s door frame to be able to even have this conversation.
Even if Sunset couldn’t take deep breaths without a body, she reminded herself she really shouldn’t mouth off to the Princess in maybe their last conversation ever.
Sunset eyed the tear in space-time. It killed her all over again to know they might need her, but even a princess couldn’t bring a pony back to life. She’d left them without saying goodbye. The only goodbye she had left was this one with Celestia, a lone chance to spend this last time before she met her Time’s End.
Joining her ex-mentor for a stroll through the stars, Sunset did everything in her power to focus on the present moment. A younger Sunset would have scoffed at heeding her teacher’s spiritual hokum, but in this case, she literally did only have this one moment. Her past was not today. The future ahead, uncertain at best.
All she had was one last stargazing trip with Princess Celestia.
They ambled on at a leisurely pace, the quiet almost too perfect to break. Sunset craned her neck up. Thousands of stars hung in unknowably dark distances and depths struck her thoughtless. Mesmerized by heavens untold, unseen worlds, and immeasurable potential.
When Sunset spoke again, she heard her voice come out much quieter, as if it was after lights out back at the castle. She leaned toward her old mentor. “Hey. Remember those astronomy lessons you used to give me out on the balcony?”
Princess Celestia smiled, raising a royal eyebrow. “I do indeed. I’m only surprised you remember. You were a very young little filly at the time.”
“Give me a little credit. I did learn a few things as your student,” Sunset boasted, then pointed up at the open atmosphere. She could feel her teacher’s smiling eyes staying on her even still. “That cluster there? Gotta be the Sorcerer, Starswirl. I’d bet my last bits on it. Next to him is Draconis Major. And if I remember our lessons, that’s the Phoenix. The brightest stars in the sky.”
A tender smile dawned on Celestia’s face. “Your favourite.”
Sunset blinked. “It was?”
“Oh yes. You wanted to hear its story each and every time we spoke about the stars, even though you must have had it memorized. Such a stubborn little filly. So strong-willed.” Celestia seemed delighted to have a chance to talk about that time again, to indulge a little bit. Sunset didn’t mind hearing it, either. The Princess chuckled, almost to herself. “Of course, it shouldn’t have surprised me when you snuck an orphaned baby phoenix with a broken wing back to the castle. Those tapestries were priceless, you know.”
Sunset laughed. She could imagine talking like this for hours, but then, she suspected they didn’t have hours to spend anymore. Tell her what she means to you. Be a big filly, talk about your feelings. “...Princess?”
Princess Celestia seemed to quite enjoy stargazing, but she, too, seemed to know their time together was limited. She guided her ex-student onwards. “Follow me, little sun.”
Sunset’s heart snagged behind. Little sun? She couldn’t honestly say it had been years, if she counted the Fate echoing Celestia back at her, but Sunset still managed a shaken chuckle. “Wow. Feeling nostalgic, huh?”
The pathway of stars became a hall, and that hall filled with light, walled on either side by memories all throughout Sunset Shimmer’s life, like TV screens late into the night. If Sunset looked, she could see those ever-changing scenes and found herself stunned still to see moments from her time in Equestria and on Earth play out in better detail than she could ever possibly remember them.
Princess Celestia offered a smile. “You could say that.”
Awestruck, Sunset wandered up to a memory of her reaching out for Midnight Sparkle’s hand. As Twilight reached her hand back, Sunset outstretched a hoof to the screen and found it ripple with static at her touch, only settling when she took her hoof away. “Where did you say we are right now…?”
The Princess seemed to be savouring a memory of her giving a tiny filly Sunset a bubble bath in the royal wishing fountain outdoors (to the disgruntlement and humbuggery of Kibitz). The little Sunset even had a rubber phoenix. “A place of great power.”
Sunset’s eyelids fell to half-mast, but she tried to let out a frustrated chuckle instead of exploding. “Sounds about right.”
As they journeyed through Sunset’s lifespan, Sunset noticed a few out of place memories along the line. Most of them were hers, albeit weirdly from a third person perspective, but every once and a while she could spot someone else’s. Gloriosa Daisy’s stress over losing the camp. Wallflower’s lonely years and discovery of the Memory Stone.
And a young Solstice Shiver, holding his breath behind the curtain of a stage and watching the performance go on without him. Her heart burned for them still.
If Celestia noticed these misplaced memories, she didn’t comment on them. She was content to watch a teenage Sunset sneak her first swig of alcohol on Mount Olympus. “Hmm. I knew that ‘headache’ the next day made your eyes too sensitive to my sunrise.”
Sunset grinned sheepishly. “Heh heh, oh wow, was that alcoholic? I didn’t even notice…”
“Mm-hmm,” Celestia hummed, chuckling to herself, “of course you didn’t. You always were the picture of obedience, weren’t you? Just as I’m sure you also were aware that underage drinking could have resulted in night’s sleep with a stone pillow in the castle dungeons.”
Sunset stared at her, but more than anything because she hadn’t heard the Princess laugh that lightly—especially not over disciplinary actions. She could still remember being lectured at in that stern, warlike tone that truly taught her the fear of Celestia. Even as she laughed along with Celestia now, she half-expected the guillotine to come barreling down. “Haha, yup… castle dungeons…”
The Princess let her eyes rest on a memory of a young Sunset too small for her armour (it didn’t help that Sunset had been short for her age) practicing combat magic alongside watchful royal guards against a poorly-sewn Nightmare Moon dummy for hours on end. “I can’t say I approve. Although, I am glad you’re finally old enough that I can say how relieved I am that you never rebelled quite as hard as I did at your age. And a bit older...”
Sunset burst out laughing in full. “What? Running away to another dimension isn’t rebellious enough for you?”
“Well, apart from the rebellions of my younger years I likely shouldn’t divulge unless I wanted to wind up in the castle dungeons, I may have run away to other dimensions multiple times in my time. Love makes foals of us all, as they say.” The Princess shook her head, tsking at herself. “Oh, I gave Starswirl such trouble, his poor old heart…”
Sunset whistled. “Dang, I didn’t know you had an interdimensional love affair. Gross that it’s you, but kind of cool.” Sunset also remembered then that part of the reason she’d wanted to stay in the human world was a love affair of her own. She decided not to think anymore. She raised an eyebrow. “I’m guessing things didn’t work out long space-time?”
Celestia’s smile was tinged with the colour of lost happiness, as a lot of her smiles were. Regal and lonesome. “That world’s King Sombra and I found a surprising rapport.” She seemed to interpret Sunset’s surprise in her own way. “He was a gentle soul, I promise. I’d taken partners before him, in the past, but he was the first love I’d had in a very long time. Not long before you would have been born, I didn't have a student at the time to chase down the castle halls. We did everything in our power to stay together,” the Princess told her, “but even immortal demigods can’t escape themselves forever.”
Sunset nodded, but she was getting a sinking sense of doom and she couldn’t place why. “Sorry to hear that…”
Then, Princess Celestia finally seemed to allow herself to look to the memories Sunset had made in the human dimension. Laughs shared over the lunch table with the girls. Video games and pizza with Flash. Watching fireworks at the Fall Fair with her new girlfriend. Even exploring Vanhoover with Timber, trying to convince the goofus they could visit the seawall on another trip.
Sunset missed them already and desperately hoped they’d take care of each other as they grieved her. The Princess had to lay a hoof on her shoulder to get her to come along and seemed a bit surprised how taken she was with those memories.
“You should feel proud of everything you’ve accomplished,” the princess said through the sunny summer afternoon warmth of her smile. “So many lives touched, such personal growth. You’ve come so far from who you once were, and I can’t think of anypony who deserves a second chance more than you.”
Sunset stopped. If she had lungs—and logically she knew she didn’t—the air would have been walloped out in one swift hit. But that hit felt… nice.
Knowing this might be the last time they spoke, Sunset needed more words for it than nice.
“Thank you,” she started, sounding not quite herself. She wondered how many times she’d actually thanked the Princess. “They… they mean a lot to me. I wish I didn’t make their lives so complicated.”
Princess Celestia raised an eyebrow. “How so?”
“Their world isn’t meant to have magic,” she said, watching herself see Twilight and Timber dancing at the Crystal Ball benefit dance at Camp Everfree. “I wasn't the first, but since I got there, magic has been causing so many problems. It’s my fault for opening up the floodgates so wide, isn’t it?”
“Perhaps,” Princess Celestia allowed, but her tone suggested otherwise.
Sunset followed her gaze to scenes of the girls coming together in the face of the Sirens, hanging out in the halls of Canterlot High, and a whole school chanting her name before she died. She looked again to see Twilight tell Timber, “I’m really glad I met you.”
Sunset’s eyebrows lifted. They wouldn’t have met without her. Without magic.
As they went onwards, Sunset was stunned to think of how many of her friends would have been worse off without her. Sure, Twilight would have never become Midnight Sparkle, but she'd still be alone and oblivious to what she was missing at Crystal Prep. Wallflower might still be ignored and invisible. Timber and Gloriosa would have lost the camp. Magic gave her friends a chance to be their truest selves, and all of Canterlot High came together to become a community.
She passed them singing in the cafeteria together as if to prove it, the absolute dorks.
The Princess guided Sunset through her life blissfully unaware, pleased to watch a toddler Sunset with her very own Celestia as the two kept making silly faces every time the portraiture painter looked away. “Before we go on, if I could steal a moment with you, I must say how truly excited I am to have more time for the important things.”
“Oh yeah?” Sunset’s eyes drifted back to the time a tweenage Sunset got to kick off the opening ceremonies of the Canterlot Summer Sun Celebration, introducing her mentor to the stage, and got a kick out of the ponies of Canterlot cheering her on but couldn’t show it. But then Sunset frowned. “More time?”
“In retirement, of course,” Princess Celestia said, smiling down to her as if what she said wasn’t a heart attack in six syllables.
Sunset gawked at her and the fact that she’d said those words seriously. “I’m sorry what?”
“My sister and I plan to retreat and enjoy the nation we’ve spent so long nurturing.” The soon-to-be Ex-Princess seemed to see beyond the Great Beyond to the shores and cityscapes of her homeland and all the experiences she’d had yet to have in thousands of years of life. “I, for one, greatly look forward to meeting more of the citizens we’ve aimed to serve. Perhaps I’ll finally even take my own advice; it might be nice to make some friends.”
Thinking back and now quite literally looking back over her shoulder to the times when the princess had been held prisoner in her own towers by bureaucracy and aristocracy, Sunset had to admit she’d known this was long overdue for ages now. Probably hundreds of years longer than Sunset herself had been alive.
Even still, something about the idea of her ex-teacher retiring felt… nightmarish. Twisted in strange, unfamiliar, and frankly nonsensical ways that she wished she could wake up from.
Sunset hated that she felt that way when she’d been striving to take the load off of the Princess’s back since she was small. But she did, and she wasn’t in the business of denying her feelings anymore. “Well, that’s great, Princess, but are you sure that’s what you want? Don’t you think the ponies of Equestria would be upset to lose the leader they’ve had for a millennia?”
Princess Celestia hummed. “I think learning how to say goodbye is a valuable lesson.”
A shock left her especially feeling dead in the knees. She changed tactics, thinking on her hooves. “I know I make a lot of jokes about how ancient you are—”
A brief prickle flashed across Celestia’s face that Sunset usually enjoyed as she muttered, “Must you use the word ancient?”
“—but I’m not going to actually have to put you in a home, right?” It was a joke, sure, but that was the only non-lethal way Sunset knew about asking if she should be worried. Or more worried, as the case may have been.
The princess seemed to get it, even if her tone was a bit snippy. “Thankfully, I am fully capable of taking care of myself. In fact, I’ll have more time to do so.”
Sunset couldn’t argue with the fact that the princess could seriously use some lessons in self-care. She tried again, “Okay, but with international relations as turbulent as they are—”
“Actually, things couldn’t be more different than how you might remember them. Our relationships with other cultures have never been better!” She unfurled a smile like a scroll. “We have Twilight and her friends to thank for that.”
Of course we do. “Okay, but you don’t have to retire just because Princess Twilight’s taking over. You could, I don’t know, stay on and… rule alongside her?” She winced. If she searched through the screens of her memories, she suspected she’d find herself daydreaming about doing just that with the princess. Side by side. Them against the world (or, rather, them for the world). “I bet Princess Twilight would love the time together.”
“Oh, not to worry. There’ll be time enough to spend time with all my loved ones,” she said, as if she thought that was too good to be true. “And I’ve made sure to spend as much time as I could afford preparing Twilight. I have every confidence in her abilities.”
Not unlike when she received the invitation to Twilight’s coronation, Sunset’s heart stung, heavy in her lack-of-a-chest and burning hot like a star had replaced it.
The thing was, Sunset knew how this would have gone if she was as young and stupid as she was in the screen they’d stopped at: a fourteen-year-old foal being ex-communicated as Princess Celestia’s student and running away to another dimension. She didn’t have to look far to see her pride turn to entitlement, and her anger to dangerous spite and impulsiveness.
She could see more fights if she looked for them in her memories. They ran the gamut from temper tantrums to shouting matches to icy silence across the overlong dinner table. But this one would always burn through her memories the brightest.
She could easily imagine herself starting a fight now. Getting upset, working herself up. A defiant anger waited for her to go on the attack.
The Princess followed her gaze to that particular scene, and her expression grew distant, unreadable. She watched as Sunset hid her tears where the guards escorting her out of the throne room couldn’t see and the mad dash to the mirror.
Sunset didn’t have to rewatch their fights to know what led up to that and to guess how the Princess felt about her about then. She sometimes wondered if the Princess only forgave her for the civility of it all, or for Princess Twilight’s sake who’d been in the room at the time—of course Princess Twilight should get to see that, no matter what, no matter how bad things got, Princess Celestia was forgiving, merciful, and kind. She should get to see her love was unconditional.
Sunset Shimmer thought of a better word than nice.
Sunset took in a breath, or performed the motion even if she had no lungs for the air to fill. “Princess?”
The princess struggled to pull her eyes away from the train wreck that Sunset used to be. Out of all the memories here, she seemed transfixed, watching Sunset travel to the human world for the first time and trap herself there for thirty moons.
Sunset came up next to her and fumbled for the words. “It’s great that you’ll have more time now. I saw that Princess Twilight’s coronation invitation had this signoff ‘from the desk of the royal family.’ And it still sounds weird to me. Royal family. But that’s… amazing.”
Sunset saw herself on the screen calling out for Princess Celestia, scared and confused that she’d exiled herself somewhere totally unreachable. She saw Celestia bow her head.
Sunset searched for any conceivable way to make what she had to say next not sound as big as it felt. “I didn’t have those words growing up. I didn’t know you could make family; that’s still pretty new to me, but you can. I’ve seen it. And I’m glad you’ve made a new family while I’ve been gone. But, I don’t know...” Sunset forced herself to stay next to Princess Celestia and say the words she’d been running from for a long, long time. “I always thought... we were a family.”
When she managed to say those words out loud and hold Princess Celestia’s gaze, Sunset Shimmer could feel her own lack of a heartbeat. Her chest was so still. Breath stopped at the gate.
Princess Celestia seemed breathless, too, and for long enough that Sunset’s heart started to sink, and she regretted ever letting the words come out of her mouth until Celestia smiled through eyes shining with tears and starlight. “After everything, you still find new ways to surprise me, little sun.”
The princess and the ghost of her former student embraced in endless space.
Sunset could hardly feel the wings around her or the hoof rubbing her back so she held on tighter, but she could hear the tender warmth in Celestia’s voice. “You’re more right than you know,” she said. “Ever since I invited you to live at the castle, watching you learn and grow into your own pony, I wished I could give you the world. Sometimes, I may have spoiled you a bit, but there was so much more I couldn’t or… didn’t give you.”
Sunset shook her head. “You already gave me a castle.”
“You deserved a family, Sunset,” Princess Celestia told her, and that hit Sunset in a way she couldn’t recover from. Light streaked down her cheeks in place of tears, burning her eyes. Celestia wiped it away just the same, still holding her close. “I could never let myself think of having a family of my own when all of Equestria needed me. I can be sentimental—”
“In your old age?”
“Don’t push it,” she instructed gently, but her expression softened to a degree Sunset never expected to see in the leader of the free world. “I meant I dreamed of having a daughter.”
Sunset’s ghost tried to take in air that wouldn’t come, brows slamming together.
“But what are my dreams next to protecting every dream in Equestria?” There was such sweet gravity to the sadness in her eyes. Caught in a millennia of revolutions. “We had a prophecy to fulfil, a war to prevent, and duties to attend to. Wartime makes us practical, but perhaps, shortsighted.
“Even when it broke my heart to keep you at a distance, I knew it was for the greater good to serve the greatest amount of ponies. Or, I thought it was. And when I saw that you’d built a life in your new home...” Celestia hid that sadness well behind a serene smile. “I stopped letting myself hope you felt the same.”
Sunset scrubbed at her eye and mewled. “Princess…”
“You know you won’t be able to call me that much longer,” Princess Celestia told her. “We could find a new title, if you’re not comfortable using my name.”
But Sunset wasn’t about to bypass what she’d said. “You make it sound like I forgot about you. I spent all that time in exile thinking about how to get back to you. I have a new family, but that doesn’t mean I’ll ever forget about you. You’ll always matter to me. Always. Please remember that.”
The princess looked hurt by how much he needed to hear that. “...Thank you, Sunset.” She wiped her tears away, smiling. “I suppose it’s always hard when a young filly becomes an independent mare, but nopony prepares you for when she becomes so independent she moves away to another universe.”
As the hall of memories faded, a surge of panic rushed to find Sunset’s bones to jolt her into action, but she had none. No bodies left, no time in the hourglass.
The tear in space-time crept upon them in all their wandering and now stood as the backdrop to Sunset’s final moments above the underworld.
Two figures emerged from the unending night, and Sunset recognized them but almost couldn’t trust herself to identify the faces. Unsurprised, Celestia joined them. Princess Luna, Princess Twilight, and Princess Celestia exchanged knowing looks before Celestia chuckled. “Well. This has certainly been a long time coming, hasn’t it?”
Sunset approached with some amount of caution. “What has?”
Sunset found herself relieved to see Twilight dorkishly waving to her—as if Sunset wouldn’t notice one of the only other beings in a wide open ethereal plain—as she beamed through sniffly tears. “Sunset, we’re so proud of you! Congratulations!”
Princess Luna nodded with a sage smile. “From everything I’ve heard, you would have made a truly worthy adversary.” Her brilliant teeth popped against the midnight blue of her coat. “And friend. Congratulations.”
“For what?” If Sunset didn’t get solid answers for once, she swore she’d die from the dread.
Looking eager enough to burst, Twilight looked to Celestia who smiled, nodding. “Go ahead, Twilight. You are her teacher, after all.”
Twilight made a noise Sunset didn’t quite know how to classify, but it sounded dangerous. “Okay,” she said, and took a deep breath to gain any sense of composure. It worked, to Sunset’s shock and awe.
Twilight took a few steps toward her. “Sunset Shimmer, in the time that I’ve known you, you’ve completely transformed yourself. I watched you humble yourself, overcome your demons, and earn a place in the hearts of those you once hurt.”
As the princess spoke, she pointed beyond Sunset’s shoulder, and she turned to see the familiar scenes: herself, crying at the edge of a crater, taking Princess Twilight’s hand. Singing alongside her at the Battle of the Bands.
“You not only did the hard work of becoming a kinder, more compassionate version of yourself, but offered that understanding to others!”
Reaching out her own hand to Midnight Sparkle. Teaching her friends to embrace their magic and individuality. Fighting alongside her superpowered friends, or sacrificing herself to the Memory Stone’s blast.
Princess Twilight giggled at her, eyelids settling halfway down. “You don’t even know how many lives you’ve impacted, do you?”
A galaxy of smaller screens burst to life around them. Little flashes in a lifespan. Microchips bumped fists with Sandalwood. Juniper finally told off her boss at the movie theatre. Trixie assisted Wallflower with the yearbook. Flash jamming with his bandmates, Timber and Twilight surrounded by fireflies, Rarity and AJ enjoying caramel apples in the park, even the Sirens collaborated with PostCrush—and on and on it went, so many she could barely fathom them all.
All of this… was because of me?
Sunset twisted back around to the princess. “I don’t understand.”
“You’re a good friend, Sunset.” Princess Twilight’s hooves echoed out among the stars as she approached Sunset Shimmer. “Your empathy sets you apart as the worthy leader you are. I’m so proud to call myself your friend.” She held her heart, as if feeling Sunset’s place in it. “And I’m forever grateful I got to go on your journey with you.”
Sunset Shimmer watched the Princess of Friendship, soon to be queen of Equestria, raise her horn to the stars above, and in a flash of angelic light, produce a shining, golden crown. Glimmering in the starlight, the ruby and amber embedded in the gold formed the shape of Sunset’s cutie mark.
Princess Twilight bowed to her as the crown lowered to Sunset’s height and smiled as she held it out for Sunset to take.
Sunset raised her disbelieving eyes to the princesses.
The Royal Family waited ahead. Princess Celestia gave her the smile that could warm the farthest reaches of space and reach across dimensions, nodding to her.
Breath stalling, Sunset took the crown in her hooves from Twilight. “...You sure you trust me not to steal this?”
Twilight giggled. “Yes. It would be pretty difficult to steal something that belongs to you.”
…A Princess in Equestria?
How many years had Sunset spent working towards this? How long did she spend dreaming, striving, desperate and hoping beyond all reason to have this crown in her hooves? How long had she dreamed of arriving at this moment, in a place like this with the power to make a pony into an alicorn?
Her eyes tore away to the broken, cracked sky and danced there. Her friends and their world hung in the balance behind that tear, and until now she’d only ever dreaded what was on the other side. But now that she knew what the unthinkable magical power that would be unleashed…
Sunset considered the crown’s gold shimmer in her ghostly hooves. She caught her reflection in the metal under her cutie mark and saw the golden unicorn who thought she was owed a grand, magical destiny, and couldn’t see how it was owning her.
Now in human form, Sunset’s ghost thumbed the crown and smiled at her fondly. Then at the princesses. “Thank you,” she told them. “This was all I ever wanted. It’s such an honour, really, but… you know me.” She tossed the crown back to Princess Twilight. “I play by my own rules.”
As soon as Sunset made her choice, a magical light too brilliant to stare directly at lifted her into the air. She could feel it suspending her by the spine, and as the light swirled around her, she felt a scorching at her back. Two feathered limbs she’d never had before today burned brightly into existence and when Sunset Shimmer touched back down she flexed the phoenix fire wings at her back.
Then she saw Princess Celestia’s sadness.
The fire snuffed itself out to reveal soft feathers and a soft smile on her face when she caught the princesses’ reactions. Princess Twilight shook her head, blinking at the crown and then Sunset, and in a small voice asked, “But… is this because you don’t want to share a coronation? You can have your own.”
“It’s okay, Twilight,” she chuckled and reached out to hold one of Twilight’s hooves in both her hands. “You’re going to have an amazing coronation, and you’ll be the princess Equestria deserves. I believe in you.” She smirked. “Even when it’s hard.” And then smiled more genuinely. “You have my blessing.”
Princess Twilight gave her a small smile and held Sunset’s crown close to her chest. “Thank you.”
Princess Luna mostly seemed amused. “I quite like your style.”
Eyeing the crack in the sky, Sunset fired up her wings, igniting her magic, and took to the air. Before she could lose her courage, she told Princess Celestia, current leader of the free world, “See you later, Mom.”
Sunset soared through the depths of space, charging toward the crack in the sky at full speed with all the power in her body, building behind the idea that she knew exactly who she was: she was Sunset Shimmer, and she made her own families and destinies. And as she plunged, propelling through unspeakable momentum, a fist overhead, she thought she'd seen the princess smile.
Then, Sunset broke the sky.
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::uses rhyming dictionary:: Aggression! Possession also feels relevant
YESSS, Bevin absolutely took what was here and ran with it. She likes to say, "I just wanted to do the story justice" and my god, mission accomplished and then some. So much then some!
She reads all the comments, by the way, she's very happy with what people have been saying (and due to time zones she's currently asleep as I write this, but I'll bet you anything she wants me to say thank you!).
Yeah, no shade to other stories that focus on other things, for sure. My one exception is I will say I've never enjoyed stories where, for some inexplicable reason, Timber becomes an asshole out of nowhere. Usually just so they can write Twilight can getting together with Sunset or someone else.
There really isn't a need to turn characters into one-note assholes if you don't like who they ended up with in canon, you know? I much prefer stories where they're reasonable adults to that. Here, I wanted to let them be those emotional teenagers without one of them having to hold the Sudden Asshole ball, so to speak. They both go feral and in the heat of things do and but at the end of the day, they're still the dorks we know and love. Just with more emotional firepower.
I'd much rather someone establish a boundary than let the relationship deteriorate into nothing, I'll tell you that for free!
Here's to hoping! 13 is up now, we'll see where she's at...
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Thank you, it's so wonderful to hear your experience! One of the things I aspire most to do with my writing is just to pay forward the fan experiences I've had. The times where something becomes my obsession, where I stay up late just to spend more time in that story, and where my heart is a little changed for having found something. I never expect that someone will have any of those kinds of experiences, I really can't do anything to guarantee that someone will, but when anybody does, oh man. That's fulfilling on a whole other level.
Also, yeah, don't blame you for gawking at the crack. That'll turn some heads. The Exes Club is a fun little ride especially because Timber and Flash are such great characters and super lovely to work with. Enjoy!
YES!! A true appreciator of the arts! PUNS!!!
Camelmile is a fun one. I think my absolute favourite pun I've made for these stories is in something that actually hasn't come out yet so I guess stay tuned for more. Regardless, I love adding in those little touches to bring this world to life!
All I'll say is I definitely thought about who said what and why Sunset would have cast them that way - if it is indeed her mind and not an actual cosmic force of the universe that she just pissed off.
I love Sunset, too!!! And thank you, she's very fun to write.
Hehehe. Setup and payoff indeed! She also was very excited to know who felt what when punching somebody.
YAYYY, love for Timber!!! He is a silly little man! Our silly little man! :D
This was an exceedingly fun chapter to write!
YESS!!! God, I get such a kick out of any love I see for Solstice and any heckling I see for Sombra. Solstice being a theatre kid is forever baked into who he is, even in his 40s (and even when he's a demon).
I think that's just how theatre kids work, quite frankly. Bevin was a theatre kid. I think she can confirm.
We love a raw ass line and art gallery!
YES, god, she really went off and continues to do so. She just never stopped going off!!!
Next chapter is live for you ;)
And you're welcome, thank you for sharing!
Oh my. A title card set on the Astral Plane certainly has implications...
Celestia's continued use of present tense gives me some hope.
Yeah, now isn't the time to probe Celestia about the deeper mysteries of life and death. Unfortunately.
I do love the idea of Sunset being responsible for Philomena.
Fascinating to see some foreign memories made it all the way here. Interesting implications about the long-term effects of Sunset's abilities.
With Solstice in the human world, I shouldn't be surprised that the Reflections comic arc applies to Princess Celestia.
That hecking ojou laugh. Bevin, you wonderful so-and-so.
Really, everything about that picture is great, from happy bathtime filly Sunset to the present one's forced smile as she tries to comprehend the idea of Princess Celestia retiring. Not that I'd expect anything less.
Huh. Neat. That's quite the ripple effect.
Outstanding stuff. Especially Sunset rejecting the crown as a final instance of her choosing her own path over the one destiny had in mind. Let's just hope there isn't a sun-shaped scorch mark on the statue...
that title card is so gorgeous and has me very nervous!!!
LITTLE SUN.... I love it when royal figures or mentors call their mentees variations of "Little [___]" it's just so loving and endearing :(
::BANGS FISTS ON TABLE:: EXACTLY YOU SILLY FILLY
Sunset when she realises she's not being congratulated for dying
MY GIRL !!!!!
I loved the writing in this one particular, it brought out the almost dream-like atmosphere of where they are. The back and forth between Celestia and Sunset was really lovely to see too and feeling Celestia crack a little over essentially her daughter growing up without her broke my heart loved the journey this little phoenix had and I can't wait to see her through to the conclusion!!
Through trials and pain,
Through triumphs and joy,
A phoenix rises,
And a hero is born.
skjfkjslkdjf
Many parts of this chapter punched me in the gut and this was no exception. The celestial visuals here are so so excellent and make the writer in me very happy but send the reader in my sprawling to the floor in pain lol
Looking back on this part where she talks about Sombra with the context of how the chapter ends is… hm. I am a little scared. Sci-Twi’s not immortal, after all.
This was so cute. I’m so so glad Sunset finally sees how much she’s impacted this world and I think the (for lack of a better term) magical Powerpoint approach worked well for her.
Ohhh I love the dynamic Sunset has with Celestia here!! Their rapport is so different compared to what Twilight and Celestia share and /definitely/ much much more maternal. All of the relationships in this fic are so wonderfully written but this might be one of my new favorites (along with Timber and Sunset bc they’re just FUN together).
crying screaming throwing up etc. and GOD these words probably mean so much more coming from Twilight over Celestia. Like, Twilight was probably the first friend Sunset ever made. hhhhhh
They’ve grown so much. :)
AND NOW SUNSET’S A PHOENIX SHE’S A PHOENIX BURNING BRIGHT IN THE SKY AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA when I saw the title card I was like “oh hey that’s like the place that Twilight got alicorn-ed” but then I tried to reason with myself like “no sunset wouldn’t be an alicorn.” Thinking about it now, though, it just makes so much sense. Everything she’s done, all the people she’s made, it all led here (even if she had to almost die to get this way lol). The picture of Sunset with her wings is absolutely stunning her hair looks SO COOL
It is too early in the day to be this emotional over fictional characters. Sunset calling Celestia mom? Sunset seeing how much she means to her friends? SUNSET GETTING WINGS? I am more dead than Sunset’s body is right now (or maybe more dead than her body was)!!!! I loved this chapter so much. This was a conversation that Sunset and Celestia really needed to have and I would say it works great as a breather between the previous action but also I am on the verge of tears bc of it lol. Your craft is excellent and I am stoked to read what comes next. :D Thank you for the chapter!!!!!!!
An I correct to say that Sunset gained wings but rejected the crown? Put another way, she ascended to become an alicorn but doesn't want to be a princess?
Beautiful... absolutely, perfectly, beautiful.
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Yeah, I think Bevin must've asked me if it was too spoilery to depict where they were, but there's no way you can read even 500 words into this as an MLP fan and not suspect exactly where they are and why. So might as well show you up front anyway, even if Sunset has some catching up to do
I love it so much I've done it twice! Not many references to old stories I've written in here, but Losing Sunlight has a special place in my heart, even if I wrote it as a teenager. Fun fact: The last chapter of Empathy for the Devil has the same name as the second chapter of Losing Sunlight.
Cool to think about what she's really taking on, yeah. Sunset's so sure of who she is most of the time. Fun to mess with that.
🤓
That one made me cackle, I'm not gonna lie
I know, right? And for context: Bevin finds drawing the ponies to be hard, but she makes it look so effortless to bring out the charm and cuteness. Just wonderful stuff!!
Maybe it was a song about how you shouldn't steal someone's toast.
Two chapters left, hopefully Sunset's around to see them! Super excited for more, see you Thursday!
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Gorgeous art making you feel things should be Bevin's motto!
Here's a fun fact I don't know if I mentioned to Bevin: Celestia calling Sunset "little sun" (pun on little one) is actually from a series of stories and drabbles I wrote with a friend of mine named Reagan! Rea and I never released any of those stories, but they'll always have a huge place in my heart. Just like Rea themselves.
That was a Reagan pun I put in her as a shout out to a good friend. And yeah, I also find it so endearing that Celestia calls her that. What a cute childhood nickname for Sunset to have!
You tell her!!!
She's a child prodigy and quite clever, but she couldn't quite put that one together, huh?
Awww, yayy, I'm so glad!!! I've always adored Sunset and Princess Celestia's relationship. They've made some of their worst mistakes with each other, but also, love each other so deeply. I think this place is such a good middle ground for them. Princess Celestia lives on a different scale than Sunset. Celestia is at least over a thousand years old and has to focus on what's best for all Equestria, the greater good. Sunset is a teenager, where any emotion could be the deepest she's ever felt that thing before.
But here, they only have each other. And it's really sweet to see what happens when that's the case.
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I love that experience!!! Dying as a reader, living as a writer!
She is not. But is Sunset? Who knows?
You know that person in your life who refuses to accept compliments? That's Sunset. Powerpoint it to her.
Haha, aww, I'm so glad! I love Sunset and Celestia so much. I savoured the hell out of this scene, because we don't have much time with these two interacting so far in this story. What a great mother-daughter duo! So glad you love them too (and Timber and Sunset!!! Love to hear the love for those two, Bevin was especially pleased to read that in your comment!)
You've come such a long, long way
And I've watched you, from that very first day...
Yesss, Sunset's come so far!!!!
And that art Bevin did has been my phone background for a while 😂 It's just too amazing not to want to stare at every day!
Never too early to be emotional over fictional characters!
I'm so thrilled you had such a great time with this chapter!! It's definitely meant to serve as a breather after everything in 12, but you can cry during a breather if you wanna! See you on Thursday for 14!!!
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That about sums it up! Although those phoenix wings of hers seem to indicate she doesn't function like regular alicorns do. No confirmation here if Sunset is immortal or has an extended lifespan now.
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Thank you! I love Timber, it's really nice to see some appreciation for him!
Just widdle juvie inmate...
The Mayor does know! Certainly can't last forever, can it?
Well, one of her friend's knew
Yes, let's!!! Out of all the storytelling decisions I made for this, this was both one I had to commit to 100% and one that made the most nervous that people would be mostly just disappointed. For a lot of the reasons you outlined and more, I thought this was a story worth telling, so I decided it was worth it, but that doesn't mean it wasn't the biggest fear I had!
Really glad it works for the readers I've heard from so far!
I super appreciate it!!!! I only responded to the bits where I had something to add but your entire comment was a pure joy to read!!
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Most of the time the jokes are just there because they made me laugh, so I'm glad other people get something out of them too!
HEHEHE! YES, poor Sunset!! See, this is why I wanted to do the No Other Sunset plot! So much interesting emotional ground to cover this way!!!
Awwwww, yayyy!!! I'm so happy to hear you like Solstice!!! I love him, but I'm biased because I created him!! Really nice to see other people taking a liking to him
They're very respectful in their teenage babbling, yes
HEHEHE! Theatre kid Solstice gives me life. Once a theatre kid, always a theatre kid!
Not everyone has the best relationship with their dad, yeah
Bevin did incredible work on all the illustrations and art!!!
Well, gang. Looks like we've got therapy on our hands! See you in the next one!!
And so we’ve come full circle, from the girl who was obsessed with having a destiny and feeling guilt ridden about magic to the woman realizing that destiny can shove it and that magic is what made her friends lives so much better.
I was really surprised to see that last image, which is stunning btw, colored. With exceptions to the title cards, all of the images have been black and white. I don’t know if that was intentional or not, but it could be a sign of things finally turning for better. As well as a sign of Sunset accepting herself and wanting to hold on to what she has instead of running away from it.
Wonderful chapter, can’t wait to see what’s in store for tomorrow.
This was so beautiful of a chapter. Sunset getting those wings really brings her story full circle.