Sunset Shimmer slowly walked through the city’s streets, her hands tucked in her pockets. She walked the same route she walked each day for the last few years, but this time, it felt differently. This time, she took her time to feel the cool breeze caressing her cheeks, to breathe in the cold autumn air, to feel the asphalt below her boots. She made sure she noticed every little detail her eyes could catch: the flowers on the porches, the falling leaves dancing in the wind, the cars on the houses’ driveways. She wanted to have a permanent memory of this city she had called home for years.
Sunset passed by the Sweet Shoppe, the most frequented café in town. Merely seeing the building’s façade and its cupcake-shaped door handles brought the memories she had made at this place to her mind – meeting up with her friends and Princess Twilight to plan their fight against the Sirens, the studying sessions with Rainbow Dash, that one time she accidentally spilled hot chocolate on Rarity’s silk blouse…
She continued her way through the gloomy evening. Seeing the café reminded her of all the unforgettable memories she had made with her friends in this past year. She really was lucky to have such friendly, supportive and forgiving friends – she had wondered more than once whether she actually deserved them.
Sunset was approaching her destination behind the next turn. She took this moment to recall everything she had learned about friendship in the last year. She remembered the night of the Fall Formal when Princess Twilight offered her her friendship and she started to understand the Magic of Friendship for the first time. She remembered the night of the Battle of the Bands when she finally found her place among her friends. And she remembered the day of the Friendship Games when she showed Twilight Sparkle the Magic of Friendship herself. In this past year, Sunset had learned so much about friendship and had made so many unforgettable memories with her friends that she would not want to miss this year for the world. She owed so much to her friends, yet her decision stood.
On the other side of the street, she saw them. Her friends were standing next to the Wondercolt statue, waiting for her. Sunset took a deep breath and approached the six of them one last time.
Twilight was the first one to approach her and she embraced her friend in a close hug. Sunset enjoyed the warmth that came from Twilight’s body. She felt how Twilight was shaking, and gently patted her back. Twilight sniffled, and after a short while, which Sunset wished had lasted longer, Twilight let go of her. It was hard for her to hold her tears back as she said, “I still can’t really believe that you are going to leave us”.
One week earlier, Sunset, Twilight and the rest of the girls were having a slumber party at Pinkie’s house. The scene was the same as usual: Applejack was trying to beat Rainbow at a video game for the nth time, Rarity was carefully braiding Fluttershy’s hair and Pinkie was eating pizza while typing something on her laptop. Sunset and Twilight were discussing a maths problem they encountered at school but couldn’t quite sort out. However, Sunset couldn’t really focus on the mathematical problem in front of her as there was a graver problem on her mind. There was something she had to tell her friends today.
“Sunset, did you even listen to me? I already told you that the antiderivative of the given function is divergent. That means there can’t be an improper integral between zero and infinity!”
Sunset blinked twice as Twilight yanked her back into reality. “Sorry, what were you saying?” Twilight tilted her head slightly. “Are you okay, Sunset? It seems like something is bothering you…”
“Well, it’s…” - Sunset was searching for the right words, as well as the courage she needed to eventually speak them. She looked around the room. Pinkie was still sitting at her laptop, Rainbow Dash and Applejack had just finished their game and Rarity was searching her bag for a fitting hairpin for Fluttershy. Sunset had decided to tell them today, and now seemed like a fit time. She took a deep breath, sat down on Pinkie’s bed and raised her voice: “Girls, could I have your attention, please?”
Her voice was trembling.
Everyone turned their heads towards Sunset, and her heart started pounding faster.
“What’s the matter, darling?” Rarity asked.
“Yeah, Sunset, what’s up?” Rainbow added.
“Sunset, are you alright?” Twilight inquired once more.
Sunset closed her eyes for a bit longer than a blink, mustered all her courage and started talking.
“This past year that I had the honour to spend with you was by far the best time of my life. By showing me the Magic of Friendship, you girls and Princess Twilight opened the door to a completely new world for me. I got to experience the Magic of Friendship with you girls, and during this year, I have learned a lot from you. The love I experienced with you is the best thing that has ever happened to me”.
She turned towards Twilight. “I did not only get to experience this Magic for myself, I had the chance to share it with you, Twilight. You reminded me a lot of myself one year ago, and I vowed to teach you all there is to learn about the Magic of Friendship. And my time with you has taught me a lot about myself as well.”
Sunset gulped and turned back to the rest of the girls. “I have had plenty of time to think about myself and my place in this world. The truth is…” She took another deep breath and continued, “I don’t think my place is in this world. Sure, I live a great life here, but who am I anymore? I feel I’ve lost my way, and Equestria offers so much more than this world. I believe I can make more of a difference there. So I’ve made up my mind. I’m going to return to Equestria”.
Seconds which felt like eternity for Sunset passed, and the only sound breaking through the absolute silence in the room was her heart pounding against her chest. The six other girls were staring at her speechlessly, and Sunset could tell from the looks on their faces that they were still trying to process her announcement. After a while, Applejack was the first one to speak up: “Sugarcube, are you sure about that?”
As if Applejack’s question had woken up the others from their trance, they started to express their emotions in their very personal way. Fluttershy started sobbing silently, Rarity was gasping for air, Pinkie’s usually messy and curly hair sunk into straight strands and Rainbow Dash decided to express her emotions verbally: “You can’t be serious about this, Sunset! Do you even know what you just said?”
Sunset was unsure whether she should reply to this question, but Rainbow continued yelling before she had the chance to do so. “You must be out of you mind to consider going back to your other world! Why do you even wanna leave?”
Sunset’s heart dived after hearing her friend yelling at her.
Rarity, who seemed to have recovered from her initial shock, interrupted Rainbow’s rant, which made Sunset feel a bit better.
“Rainbow, please, you don’t have to shout at her like that. But I do wonder as well, why do you think you should return to Equestria? Ever since you became our friend, you seemed perfectly happy with your life here”.
This was it – the moment Sunset was most afraid of. She had to explain them her motives and she did not know how they would react. Would they accept her decision? Would they get mad at her? Sunset had no answer to this question. All she could do now was tell them how she felt and hope for the best. Once again, she took a deep breath to calm herself and started explaining.
“You girls know a lot about me. We have learned so much about each other in the year we spent together. However, you don’t know a lot about my life before I came to this world. In Equestria, I studied magic for years. I loved it and I was good at it. And despite not knowing about the Magic of Friendship back then, I already knew that magic was my calling. After I finally learned about the Magic of Friendship from you and Princess Twilight, I realised that I could use my magic to help others. Like I was supposed to do in the first place…”
Sunset’s voice was trembling again. She felt like everything she had achieved in the past year depended on what she would say now.
“I feel like my destiny is to help others by using my understanding of magic, but I simply can’t do that here. Since the Friendship Games, nothing out of the ordinary has happened here, and that was over six months ago! And while I sit safely in this world, there are others in Equestria that depend on my help! My place is over there, not here”.
Rarity decided to speak up. “Oh my, I never realised you felt that way. But are you really sure about returning to Equestria, darling? I’m pretty sure you can make quite the difference here as well”.
Sunset, touched and elated by the fact that her friend cared so much about her, continued, “Princess Twilight has filled me in on the latest happenings in Equestria, and the realm’s fate has hung in the balance more than just once since I left. Had I been there, lots of trouble and pain could have been avoided. I realise that this world has its problems, too, but Equestria needs me. It’s where I belong”.
“Well, I think that you should go and do what you think is right, sugarcube!” Applejack remarked.
Rarity agreed, “I think all of us will be sad to see you go, but if you believe that you belong in Equestria, I will support you the best I can as your friend”.
Sunset beamed with happiness after hearing that. She realised how lucky she was to have such understanding friends. Her happiness didn’t last too long though, as a certain rainbow-haired girl with a mix of confusion and anger on her face piped up again:
“Are you girls serious? We all know that this a crackpot idea! Sunset can’t just leave us! Who’s gonna help us when some lunatics like the Sirens show up again? Who’s gonna play backup guitar in my band? How am I going to pass finals without her help? And how-“
She was cut off by Applejack:
“Listen up, Rainbow Dash. I think you’re taking all of this a little too personal. This is not about you, it is her decision. If she thinks it’s the best if she leaves to find her place in Equestria, so be it.”
“But don’t you realise this is about us as well? She can’t just leave us, she-“
For the first time since Sunset’s announcement, Fluttershy made herself felt. The usually so quiet and reserved girl got up and walked over to Rainbow Dash. Her eyes were still tear-stained, but her expression was determined. She raised her voice, and it was not her usual soft and warm voice, but the voice she only uses when she is dead serious:
“Rainbow Dash. Do you even listen to yourself? Do you think that this is all about you? Sunset told us that she might be leaving us forever to help others who can’t help themselves and all you think about is who is going to play in your band? I understand that you’re sad and upset, but this is Sunset’s decision. I’m also sad that she is going to leave us, but as her friend, I accept that – she gave good reasons why she thinks it’s the best. If you are her friend, you should support her!”
Sunset noticed that she had held her breath since Fluttershy got up. She knew that Fluttershy could leave her comfort zone and say what had to be said if she had to, but seeing her give her best friend a piece of her mind like that was quite the shock for Sunset. Apparently, not just for Sunset. Rainbow Dash was speechlessly staring at Fluttershy for a few moments, then started muttering.
“I-I... W-well…”
She groaned quietly, then got up and scuffed over to Sunset. Even before she started talking, Sunset could see in her eyes that Rainbow was truly sorry for what she said before.
“Sunset, I apologise. You know, it was a real shock when you said you planned to leave us. I mean, we’ve been through so much together, and you’ve become such a close friend. I can’t really imagine living here without you. But Fluttershy is right. It’s not my place to decide what’s best for you. As your friend, I will support you no matter where you decide to go!”
Sunset wrapped her arms around her friend and held her close, “It’s okay, Rainbow. And thank you”. She heard Rainbow sniffle and almost saw a tear in the corner of Rainbow’s eye as she let her go. Almost.
Rainbow turned back to Fluttershy and gave her a hug. “Thanks, Flutters, I don’t know what I was thinking…”
Fluttershy smiled at her. “Don’t mention it, Rainbow. It’s okay”, Fluttershy replied in her usual warm voice.
Suddenly, Pinkie, who had been unusually quiet for the last few minutes, jumped over to Sunset and gave her the tightest hug she ever felt. The pink haired girl dramatically cried in Sunset’s ear: “SUNSEEEET! I’m going to miss you so much! I will never forget you!” Pinkie was sobbing and sniffling, and Sunset was slightly overwhelmed by Pinkie’s surprising action. She was not sure how to react, but before she had the chance to do anything, Pinkie quickly let go of her. She started talking to herself. “There’s so much I have to plan for your farewell-party! Where do we celebrate? Which cakes should I bake? Which music do we play? What music do you listen to in Equestria anyway?”
Without expecting an answer to her last question, Pinkie took a notebook and a pencil out of her once again messy and curly hair and started scribbling down notes at her desk.
“Sometimes, I really don’t get what’s going on inside that girl’s head”, Rainbow Dash muttered to herself.
Sunset took a moment to process everything that had happened so far. She was more than relieved that all her friends accepted her decision to leave. She was overjoyed, knowing that she had such great friends. She smiled at them, but her smile quickly turned to a frown when she realised that one of her friends hasn’t spoken up since she made her announcement. She turned her head to the right, and there, in the corner, Twilight was sitting.
Sunset tried to sort the expression on Twilight’s face – she looked devastated and almost as if she was in mental agony. Sunset carefully got up and knelt down next to her. “Twilight, are you okay?” Sunset asked as she put her hand on Twilight’s shoulder.
“Don’t touch me!” Twilight yelled as she quickly shoved Sunset’s hand away with her fist.
The whole room’s attention was now on Twilight. Sunset, who was shocked by Twilight’s reaction, was unsure how to proceed. She sat down next to her friend and wanted to say something, but she could not find the right words. She knew how hard her announcement must have hit Twilight, and she did not want to cause any more damage.
When she was preparing for her announcement, she already thought that Twilight would not take it easy. Sunset knew she was more than Twilight’s friend, she was her mentor, the person who showed her the Magic of Friendship in the first place. Sunset couldn’t even begin to imagine how heartbroken Twilight must have been right now.
“Twilight, darling, I know you are sad that Sunset will leave us, bu-“ Rarity was cut off by Twilight. “Are you all out of your minds? How can you just let her go like this? Sunset has no right to simply leave me! Don’t you see that?” She was on the verge of breaking into tears.
Sunset tried to calm her down, although she knew it would be hard to find the right words. “Twilight, please understand. I’m not doing this to hurt you. And believe me, I’m sad to leave all you here as well. But I-“
Twilight shoved Sunset away. “You don’t even care about my feelings, Sunset!” Twilight cried as she ran out of the room. For the third time in a few minutes, the whole room was wrapped in complete silence.
The six girls were looking at each other, none of them sure how to tackle this situation. Sunset heard how a nearby door slammed shut. “I’ll go and see how she’s doing”.
“Are you sure she’s even going to listen to you? Dont’cha think one of us should try talking to her?” Applejack asked Sunset with a concerned expression on her face.
“No, Applejack, I caused this mess, and I’m the only one who can fix it”. Before any of the other girls had a chance to reply, Sunset was out of the room.
Sunset passed through the dark hallway. She didn’t have to turn on the light; she knew her way around the Pies’ house. Sunset carefully tiptoed through the hallway, afraid that any sound she would make might make Twilight feel even worse. A weak beam of light shone through the crack below the bathroom door at the end of the hallway. Sunset slowly continued down the corridor, and the closer she came to the door, the faster her heart pounded against her chest. After what felt like eternity for Sunset, she was standing right in front of the bathroom door. Her heart was now pounding so fast that she feared it might burst out of her chest any moment.
Back in Equestria, Sunset came face to face with mythic creatures like dragons or hydras, and here she had fought the three vicious Sirens, but none of these task could really compare to what she had to do now. Sunset had to console her friend and protégée, who must feel betrayed by her, without making matters even worse.
Sunset stretched out her hand. Only now she noticed just how she was shaking. Sunset slowly clenched her hand to a fist, took a deep breath, closed her eyes and knocked on the wooden door.
She whispered, “Twilight? It’s me, Sunset. May I come in?”
No response. No, Sunset could hear something. She could hear Twilight snivelling behind the door.
“Twilight, please, let me in, and we can talk this out”.
“Just go away! I don’t have to talk to you about anything! You don’t even care about me, after all!”
Sunset sighed. She was having a hard time as it was, and Twilight wasn’t making it any easier for her. She sat down and leaned to the doorframe, contemplating her next move.
“Twilight, please understand. I promise you that I’m not doing this to hurt you. I have been thinking about this for weeks, and it wasn’t an easy decision for me…”
Sunset paused for a moment. She was searching for the right words, but no matter what came to her mind, she felt like it would only make matters worse.
“You know how deeply I care about you. When I offered you my friendship on the day of the Friendship Games, I promised you to teach you everything I know about the Magic of Friendship. I was always there for you when you needed my advice. We have been through a lot, Twilight, and I bet that deep in your heart, you know that I have always cared about you and your feelings, and I promise you that I still do”.
There was no response from the other side of the door.
Sunset waited for a whole minute outside the door, and there was still not response. “Give her some time”, Sunset thought to herself. After another two minutes, she could hear footsteps on the other side of the door. Shaken up by the noise, Sunset stood up and put on the most sympathetic smile she had.
She heard the key turn inside the lock, and after a few seconds, Twilight slowly opened the door. Blinded by the light emanating from behind Twilight, Sunset could hardly see Twilight’s face, but she could clearly make out her tear-stained eyes. Before Sunset could say anything, Twilight flung her arms around Sunset’s neck. She didn’t say anything, she only held her friend close.
As a heavy weight was lifted off Sunset’s mind, she joyfully returned the hug and gently stroke Twilight’s hair. The two girls were just standing there for a while, embracing each other.
After a while, Twilight let go of Sunset and stepped back a bit. She nervously fidgeted around with her fingers and stuttered: “I-I’m s-sorry, Sunset. I’m s-so sorry… I… I never sh-should have y-yelled at you like that - I’m…”
Sunset, noticing how much Twilight was struggling to hold her tears back and apologising to her, took her friend’s hand and said with a reassuring tone of serenity: “It’s okay, Twilight, it’s okay. I understand you.”
Sunset led Twilight into the sparsely illuminated bathroom, and both of them sat down next to the tub. Twilight placed her head on Sunset’s left shoulder and started talking.
“What you said earlier was true. You’ve always been here for me. Whenever I had a problem, no matter how big or small, you took the time to give me a call or come over and advise me. You have always cared so much about me… You are more than just a friend to me, Sunset. You are the person who showed me the Magic of Friendship to begin with. You are my best friend and my mentor, and because you have become such an integral part of my life, I refused to believe that you would just leave me. But I have had time to think about this decision of yours, and I understand now. You want to help others that need your help… Just like you helped me when I was about to abuse the magic I stole. My reaction was selfish, and I sincerely apologise”.
Sunset could hardly suppress her own tears right now. Moved by Twilight’s apology, she took her friend’s hand again. “No worries, Twilight. If I had been in your position, I suppose I would have reacted pretty much the same. Do you feel better now?”
“Yes. I do”. Twilight lifted her head off Sunset’s shoulder and looked her into the eyes.
“Sunset? …Thank you. For everything you’ve done for me”.
Don’t mention it!” Sunset chuckled.
“Come on, Sunset, let’s go back to the girls!” Twilight called out to Sunset with a smile on her face.
“I still can’t really believe that you are going to leave us”.
“Come on, Twilight, you’re making it sound as if we’d never see each other again. I promised you that I would come visit you whenever I have the time. But… I guess this is goodbye for now”.
Rarity stepped forward. She knelt down and fumbled around in her bag. Sunset gasped when she saw Rarity taking out something wrapped in gift paper. Rarity approached Sunset. “We’ve figured that we, as your best friends, should make you something that will always remind you of us. So we’ve decided to make you this little present”.
Sunset felt warm all over, and happily took the present. She wasn’t quite sure what was in the present – it wasn’t too big, and it felt soft. At first, she tried to carefully peel off the scotch tape, but like a filly on Hearth’s Warming Eve, she quickly ripped the package open. What she saw inside filled her with joy. She took a framed photo of her and her six friends as well as a hand-made scarf out of the package. The scarf was in the colours red, orange, yellow, white, blue, pink and purple and had a sun, an apple, a butterfly, a diamond, a flash, a balloon and a star embroidered on it.
“We wanted to give you this as a memento, so you can always keep up close to you”, Rarity concluded.
Sunset couldn’t fight her tears anymore. “Th-thank you all, girls. Thank you!”
All the girls embraced Sunset in a joyful group hug. She felt her friends’ love flowing through her, more intensely than ever before, and she treasured this feeling deep in her heart.
After she had dried her tears with a tissue Fluttershy had offered her, she donned the scarf.
“How do I look?”
“Totally awesome! Especially that red, yellow and blue flash there-“, Rainbow pointed at the symbol on the scarf, “-makes you at least 20% cooler!”
“Thank you so much for it. I will wear it with pride! And I also have a little gift for you. Well, mainly for Twilight”.
Sunset turned to the friend on her right. Twilight looked puzzled as Sunset longed into her bag, took out a book and gave it to Twilight.
“This is the book I used to communicate with Princess Twilight in Equestria. Since I’ll be within reach of her soon anyway, I figured you might need this more. I’ve already clarified with her that I can take the book she has so we can stay in contact. Whenever you need me, I’ll be only a few lines away!”
This time, it was Twilight who could not hold her tears back. She hugged Sunset and simply said, “Thank you, Sunset”.
After one final group hug, Sunset faced the portal. She turned around one last time to smile at her friends. Sunset turned to face the portal again and slowly approached the stone monument which held the gate to Equestria. As she walked on, she took a final breath of this world’s air and held on to this sensation as a gift from the world that had changed her so much.
As the setting sun broke through the cloudy sky on the horizon, Sunset Shimmer disappeared through the portal, going home.