Fifteen minutes after the sun rose, Flash Sentry and Sunset Shimmer stopped before the two white Pegasi stallions guarding the entrance of the castle.
“Substitute Captain.” The one on the left greeted disdainfully.
“Who is this mare?” The other asked.
“Her name is Sunset Shimmer,” Flash replied, brushing off the cold greeting. “She was captured by the Changelings before making a daring escape and may have useful information on how to combat them, but for security reasons I think she should speak to Princess Celestia personally.”
This stallion then went inside, while the other glared at Sunset.
“What?” she demanded, glaring back.
“That’s quite an interesting jacket you’re wearing…” the guard commented. “In fact I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it-what’s it made out of?”
“Trust me, you don’t want to know.” She smirked.
The stallion’s expression turned to one of shock.
“So tell me, how does it feel to be a glorified lapdog?” Sunset asked.
“Excuse me?” The stallion demanded as his shock quickly dissipated into outrage. “I am a member of the royal guard-”
“Which means; that you get paid to stand around all day playing doorman, carry the Princess around in a chariot whenever she feels like travelling, or otherwise playing soldier, but when a real threat rears its head you all topple over like a stack of dominoes.” Sunset interrupted, apathetically.
Flash was internally debating whether he should step in or watch these two go at it until Celestia was ready for them.
“And just what do you do for a living that makes you so special?” The stallion snapped.
“I used to be Princess Celestia’s star student.” Sunset replied smugly.
“’Former Student’, huh?” he snorted. “Well, mustn’t have done a very good job then if she kicked you out of the castle.”
“For your information, I quit.” Sunset retorted.
Finally, thankfully, the doors to the castle opened as the stallion that had gone to deliver the message to Celestia returned to his post as the Princess herself came out to greet the ponies.
Princess Celestia didn’t seem to have changed at all since Sunset had studied under her-she still had the same regal, yet motherly presence, and the same flowing, ethereal mane.
Celestia’s eyes widened at the sight of Sunset Shimmer back at her doorstep, but it was soon replaced with a warm, welcoming smile.
Sunset felt her stomach lurch, it felt pitiful enough that her plans to eliminate those parasites had reduced her to returning the mare responsible for stabbing her in the back and hindering her at every turn, but now she had the horrific realization that Celestia would once again regale her with a sermon of ‘love and friendship’ triumphing over evil and self-doubt or something stupid like that.
Flash on the other hand, felt a lot of the stress and anxiety that had been building up on him in the past few weeks begin to melt away at Celestia’s reassuring smile and began to feel confident in his decisions for the first time since Shining Armor was injured.
“Well, this is certainly a pleasant surprise…” Celestia greeted. “Welcome back Flash, you were gone all night…you must be exhausted.”
“Yeah…I kinda am.” He chuckled nervously.
“Why don’t you come inside and get some well-deserved rest?”
“With all due respect, Princess-I feel like I would be shirking my duties as substitute Captain if I didn’t at least check in with all of the others first.” Flash replied, hesitantly.
“Of course, I understand.” Celestia then returned her attention to Sunset Shimmer. “Shall we continue this conversation indoors?”
Silently, Sunset followed Celestia into the castle where little seemed to have changed since the night she left, save for the stained-glass windows re-patterned to portray the six bearers of the Elements of Harmony defeating Nightmare Moon and another showing them returning Discord to stone (albeit in a pose of terror rather than mirth this time).
The one bearer that stood out the most to Sunset however was a violet unicorn wearing a tiara encrusted with the Element of Magic on her head, she grimaced at the memories the unicorn’s caricature brought back to the surface and all of the disgust that came with them.
Sunset didn’t care about some stupid crown, the tiara itself was meaningless-nothing more than a symbol of power and authority-the possession of the Element of Magic, the most powerful of the six elements, however was not and it was rightfully hers.
“Are you alright?” Celestia asked, concerned as she stopped walking to turn around and look at Sunset.
“I’m fine.” Sunset grumbled, feeling as if she were about to vomit from the sheer amount of rage and frustration boiling up inside her-what she despised more than anything was being pitied-especially from a traitor whom she loathed.
Princess Celestia’s horn began to glow with a golden aura as the doors to the hall from which they entered were magically locked.
“What are you doing?” Sunset asked as her heart rate slightly began to increase.
Perhaps Celestia wasn’t as foolish as she thought and figured out her plans-in retrospective she could have been more subtle about her disdain while still making it believable that she actually wanted to return-but now it seemed as if Celestia was going to take care of her now without any witnesses or possibility of escape.
‘Calm down,’ she instructed herself mentally. ‘She’s still old and no longer connected to the Elements for an extra reserve of power-besides, if things get really bad you could try long-range teleportation spell.’
Instead, Celestia just gave her a warm smile.
“There,” she spoke softly. “Now we can have all the time we need to talk without any interruptions.”
Sunset began to relax as her heart-rate slowly began to return to normal.
“What if a guard has some vital information regarding the Changelings?” Sunset pressed cautiously.
“Then I’m afraid they’ll just have to wait.” Celestia replied before smiling again.
‘Why does she keep doing that?” Sunset wondered, suspiciously.
“I’ve been waiting, hoping for your return since the night you left; Sunset Shimmer.” Celestia spoke.
“So? Here I am,” She replied, apathetically.
“And I am glad.” Celestia continued, nodding. “I tried to explain things to you back then and I saw how frustrated you were…as your mentor it hurt me to see you suffer so.”
“Then why didn’t you just teach me about the stupid mirror when I asked!?” Sunset snapped.
“Because I feared the few answers that I could provide would lead you down a dark and twisted path.” She replied calmly. “You were and continue to be one of the most intelligent and magically gifted students I have ever had-even rivaling my current pupil.”
“Twilight Sparkle.” Sunset snarled.
“Yes.” She conceded. “But, your pride and ambition have always made you reckless and I was hoping to teach you important lessons about patience and humility.”
“You’re a teacher-your job is to teach-and as a student mine was to learn, why the run around?” Sunset pressed, impatiently.
“That is true, but as a teacher it is also my duty to guide and protect my students-and it also makes me responsible for what they choose to do with my lessons-that mirror was a wild card, even to this day I have no idea who or what was on the other side if anything at all.” Celestia continued.
“Even the slightest bit of tampering could have had unforeseen consequences for Equestria and I feared your curiosity would get the better of you, so I must ask; why did you smash it?”
“Really?” Sunset smirked. “And here I thought you were supposed to be my all-knowing, all-powerful teacher, shouldn’t you know everything about everyone?”
“My power and intelligence are indeed vast,” Celestia replied. “But, I’m neither all-knowing nor omnipotent as many seem to believe and if I’ve learned anything from Luna it’s that even the thoughts and emotions of those we think we know and care for the most can hold their intentions secret from us.”
“And here I thought the message that was supposed to send would be obvious…” Sunset mused.
“What message would that be?”
“That if whatever power or knowledge that mirror held wouldn’t be given to me, then no one could have it.”
“Greed,” Celestia sighed. “The antithesis of Generosity, one of the six Elements of Harmony-which is one of the reasons I told you that you were unprepared for both the power and responsibility of ruling.”
“What do you know?” Sunset growled.
“I know that contrary to my admittedly foolish hope that you had realized the error of your ways and returned to seek my guidance once again-you have an ulterior motive which I am sorry to say that you have been quite dreadful at hiding.”
So she did know.
“I may be benevolent, but I am not incompetent-nor am I unwilling to protect myself, my subjects, or my loved ones if necessary.”
“Is that a threat?” Sunset asked, taken off-guard.
“Of course not, I believe threats are more your nature.” Celestia replied coolly. “This is merely a fair warning if you decide to continue down this foolish, self-destructive path.”
Sunset’s heart began pounding again as she felt a drop of sweat run down her forehead, as prepared as she thought she was for staring down Celestia, she was still intimidated by her.
Silently, Sunset cursed herself for not having more control over her body and her emotions-even after years of preparation-she realized that she would still be in for a struggle if she tried overthrowing Celestia anytime in the near future.
“Sunset, I realize that you’ve been manipulating and intimidating Flash Sentry because you’re still angry and hurt that I didn’t trust you-but, I’m willing to take you back as a student or even simply as a resident of the castle-nothing would make me happier.” Celestia continued softly.
“What about Twilight Sparkle?” Sunset asked, surprising herself at the fact that she was even considering the offer.
“Twilight is an excellent student and I believe the two of you can learn much from each other; Twilight could learn more about controlling her magic and you could learn valuable lessons about friendship and subsequently the qualities of being a good ruler.” Celestia replied.
“You….you mean you would actually let me…?”
“Of course,” Celestia replied warmly. “However, as I have told you before being a princess must be earned through hard work and dedication.”
“I…I have to think about this…” Sunset stammered.
How had this happened? Sunset came in with a set plan to eliminate the Changelings and overthrowing the Princess while she and the rest of the guard were weak. But now, Celestia was willing to give her a clean slate?
“I see that you are confused.” Celestia spoke, understandingly. “I will give you as much time as you need because I realize that everyone makes mistakes and deserves a second chance; a few months ago Twilight drove all of Ponyville into a frenzy due to her fear of having a late friendship report, Luna bottled up all of her emotions until they consumed her, and even I have had many moments that I am not proud of…”
“And you’re forgiving me just like that?” Sunset asked, suspiciously.
“Do not misunderstand; this is not a free pass to cause mayhem and it is an option that will expire the moment you should choose to do so.” Celestia elaborated.
“With no stings attached?” Sunset pressed.
“None whatsoever.” Celestia replied. “However, any information you can provide on what you’ve learned about these Changelings would be most useful and perhaps alleviate some the current guards’ disposition towards you.”
“Is that why my name was stricken from the records?” Sunset pressed, remembering that Flash had no idea who she was.
“That was not out of spite-you have to understand that you and Twilight Sparkle are the two students so close to my heart that I have considered you as daughters-in case you should return, I didn’t want our falling out make you a social outcast.”
Sunset’s increasingly dissolving rage was now replaced with flattery.
“You are capable of doing great things, Sunset Shimmer-you may sleep in your old room as long as you stay here-it has been untouched and off-limits ever since you left.”
“I…Thank you, Princess.” Sunset began to feel her eyes begin to water. Despite all of the hate she had for Celestia, she was treated with kindness and respect even when the Princess knew of her cruel and manipulative intentions.
While she was still suspicious that Celestia could be using her as a pawn, her thoughts were clouded by her emotions.
“I-I can tell a few things about the Changelings first, though…”