The Sun Never Sets

by Mr Fislewait

Discharged

It was two months after the crystalling and Sunset was still refusing to elaborate any further on what had happened to her during her timeline hopping. Twilight's friend was for the most part keeping in good spirits and had responded well to physical therapy. While she would likely be walking with a limp for the foreseeable future she would not be wheelchair bound or reliant upon a walker. While her physical recovery had been a great talking point among the staff of Ponyville Hospital though her mental health seemed to have taken something of a nosedive since the visit from AJ and Fluttershy. Twilight had been privately warned by Dr Horse that she was not to attempt to draw out anymore of the story until such a time as Sunset showed improvement, or until she brought the matter up herself. Apparently since the visit she had become terse and self-depreciating at even the slightest mention of her recent past and exceedingly self-conscious about her injuries. In addition to the wig she now wore a hospital gown at all times and had on several occasions refused to let the nurses change the bandages on her brand. A brand, Twilight thought to herself, that she had yet to see herself.

According to Spike, Starlight had handled herself well in the visit to the Crystal Empire, she had made a start at repairing bridges with Sunburst and with the exception of a minor incident involving baby Flurry Hearts and some wildly out of control alicorn magic (an incident she was certain had been grossly over exaggerated in the little dragon's telling) her trip had been largely uneventful. Twilight couldn't help but notice though that Starlight had been somewhat distant with Sunset since her return, even going so far as to make friends with Trixie of all ponies, Trixie! She didn't disapprove of Starlight making new friends but it seemed strange for her to have so easily hit things off with Trixie when she didn't even seem to be trying to make friends with Sunset anymore. Now the day had finally come for Sunset to be discharged from the hospital and Starlight was mysteriously absent.

"Sunset will just be coming down in a minute, Princess, all of the paperwork has been signed off and once she is done getting changed we can release her into your care," Nurse Redheart explained as they waited at the front desk. Lacking anywhere to stay Sunset had been persuaded to stay in one of the spare rooms at the castle. With the exception of her diary all of Sunset's belongings had been moved through the portal and into her new home, the diary had been left in the care of her friends at CHS to ensure that they still had a means to communicate between the two worlds and a way to open the portal at will.

"What do you mean getting changed?" Twilight asked curiously.

"Rarity came in earlier with a dress for her, the two of them are just getting her changed into it now." As if on cue the pair of unicorns turned the corner at that moment and walked towards the desk with Dr Horse in tow. Sunset was looking better than she ever had since her return, with Rarity clearly having gone to great effort to make here feel more comfortable in her appearance. The dress was a simple green one without any of the flair Rarity was normally known for, but it accomplished its purpose well, completely covering Sunset's body and hanging low enough that it even concealed her tail and hooves. On top of this she wore a wide rimmed sunhat that fit neatly over her still bandaged horn while her wig had been carefully restyled to look like her old mane with two exceptions, it still lacked her normal yellow streaks and had a notable side fringe that covered her left eye. The final result was that with the exception of a few facial burns her physical injuries were almost entirely hidden from the scrutiny of a passerby.

"Hey, Twilight, everything ready to go?" Sunset asked. She seemed to be in a cheerful mood today which made for a nice change over how dispassionate she had been recently.

"Ready when you are, Sunset. It's a little way to the castle from here though so are you sure you're up for walking it?"

"Twilight, after being stuck in hospital for the past two months and a bit you have no idea how much I have been looking forwards to walking." Sunset gave her a friendly smirk and then marched towards the hospital door with Rarity and Twilight following on either side.

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The walk to the castle was pleasant though Sunset repeatedly ended up staring at the ground to avoid making contact with other ponies. Despite the preparations made to minimize any unwanted attention the fact still remained that an unknown pony was walking through the streets with princess Twilight and one of the other element bearers. Though nopony directly approached the trio it was clear that many were curious about the strange newcomer. Starlight had similarly come under the scrutiny of the townsfolk but this was different, for the past couple of months Twilight's frequent visits to Ponyville hospital had not gone unnoticed and Sunset's public appearance would no doubt add new fuel to the rumor mill.

"You know as happy as I am to help a friend you truly must allow me to make you a proper wardrobe, Sunset. While practical, I would hardly call the dress I threw together for you fashionable. Why if anything I would go so far as to say it is one of the plainest garments I have ever made." Rarity had been keeping a steady conversation up with Sunset since they had left the hospital.

"It's fine, Rarity. Honestly I'm just glad that nopony can see just how messed up I am underneath this. It's good to know I can always rely on you to come through for me though. You've really helped me get through some rough patches."

"Well I appreciate the compliment but I assume you are mostly referring to the other me," Twilight winced slightly at the comment. While Rarity had meant no harm by it Sunset had repeatedly shown adverse reactions to being around the pony versions of her friends, thankfully this time she didn't seem to mind.

"Mostly yes, but I mean all of the yous. I don't think I've met a single Rarity who didn't live up to the title of element of generosity."

"So you've met with multiple other mes?" Rarity asked with a confused look on her face.

"Three others if you include the human Rarity, the other two really helped me through some rough times actually," Sunset paused briefly in the street and stared off into space. It was a look that Twilight had learned to be careful of, Sunset often did it when she was thinking back on her time in the other timelines.

"Well if you ever want to talk about them I would love to hear what they were like."

"That would be... nice. My time away was not something I'd ever want to go through again but it did have its moments. Things were bad but even in the worst of times there were still good ponies willing to help a friend, even if their friend was a monster." This was unfortunately another recurring problem with Sunset since the visit. Though neither of them had directly mentioned the matter it was clear that the destruction of the hive was weighing heavily on her conscious.

"Well whenever you want to talk about it I'll be there to listen. Out of curiosity have you considered what you will be doing, Twilight mentioned you were looking for work?"

"No idea. Pretty much everything I learned at CHS is mostly nontransferable to life in Equestria and most of what I learned under Celestia is useless until my horn heals." She took a deep breathe and sighed.

"Well, Sunset," Twilight interjected, "I may have some good news for you. Ever since my battle with Tirek Ponyville has unfortunately been lacking a public library. I've been converting one of the rooms of the castle and it's just about ready to open but with my new princess duties and the cutie mark map I just wont have time to run it myself. If you're interested the position of Ponyville librarian is up for grabs."

"Twilight, you don't have to-"

"You're right, I don't have to." She smiled and placed a reassuring hoof over Sunset's withers. "But I want to. Think of it as a temporary position, something to keep you busy and bring in a few bits while you wait for the foal to be born. Then afterwards you are more than welcome to stay or to move on to something else. I know Celestia would love for you to return to finish your studies and I'm sure she would make accommodations for the baby." This was technically half true. As far as she was aware Celestia considered Sunset's studies complete, still it seemed a more subtle way of broaching Celestia's desires for her future than outright asking 'would you like to be a princess?'

"Okay maybe I can see myself running a library for you," Sunset mused with a smile. "Hay, it might even be fun, but I'm not going to go back to my studies with Celestia. I realized recently that I was going into those lessons for all of the wrong reasons and I guess I just don't want those things anymore. I'm a changed mare Twilight."

"Just...keep it in mind okay?" For the entire duration of Sunset's recovery she had been worrying about how to handle Celestia. When Twilight had last met her the elder princess had made her intentions quite clear but since her reformation Sunset had shown no real desire to become a princess. If anything she seemed to be positively adverse to the idea, had her brief time as a she-demon really soured the idea that much?

Finally reaching the castle Twilight pushed open the doors and invited her friends inside. "Spike will show you to your room, feel free to take as much time as you need to settle in. I'll be in the lounge if you need anything and dinner will be at six. If you want a look around the public library just call me and I can show you around, I've got the books sorted already but if you want to resort them into some other fashion then that's your right as librarian."

"Thanks, Twilight, this... this really means a lot to me." Sunset hugged her as Rarity politely took her leave.

"You're welcome. Oh, and, Sunset? Welcome home." As Sunset left to find her room Twilight couldn't help but marvel at how well the day had gone. They had had no problems getting out of the hospital, Sunset seemed to be opening up to her friends a bit more and her mood was showing remarkable improvements. Sure Starlight seemed to be avoiding her but on the whole the move seemed to be a big step in the right direction for Sunset. She was finally on the long road to recovery.

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Berry Punch sighed. It had been a slow work day for her with very few ponies coming in for a drink. Sure, things normally picked up in the evening but so far it had been an exceedingly dull day. She couldn't even have a drink of her own when she was working the counter, it showed a 'lack of professionalism' and one drink would inevitably lead to a second, then a third and so on. It had been a dry humorless day for her and from the looks of things showed no signs of changing.

"Hey, Berry," while she had been moping Roseluck had stepped in and approached the bar. Perhaps the day could be salvaged after all, it was very rare for Roseluck to come in, not unless she had something interesting to share.

"Hey there, Rose, can I get you anything?"

"Oh just a small glass of cider," small glass, that meant drinking wasn't her reason for being here. Berry poured out the mug and passed it over taking Rose's bits in payment.

"So..." she pried. "Hear anything interesting on the grape vine?"

"Oh you wouldn't believe it!" Rose giggled, as expected she clearly had some juicy piece of gossip to share. "So I have a friend" she motioned air quotes with her hooves "who works in OBG at Ponyville hospital and for the past couple of months she has been really tight lipped with me. Some big secret to do with doctor patient confidentiality."

"And she finally broke down and told you?" Berry finished for her.

"No." Not what she had been expecting. "Now I'd gotten it into my head that Princess Twilight had gotten herself with foal seeing as at about the same time she was making constant visits there but it seemed a silly fantasy, I mean Twilight? I don't think I've ever even seen her with a stallion. Still, today I saw her and Rarity escorting a rather nervous looking mare who I'd never seen before from the hospital to the castle!" Roseluck bounced up and down in excitement but Berry couldn't quite follow why.

"Is there something I'm missing here?"

"Blue Blood has finally gone and knocked somepony up!" Berry's eyes widened. How had Rose jumped to such a strange conclusion? "Oh don't look at me like that! It all makes perfect sense. This mare is clearly the mystery patient the staff have been so tight lipped about and Princess Twilight Sparkle herself has been keeping a close eye on the case. But why would a local hospital like ours be treating someone nopony has ever seen before?"

"Maybe she's visiting family," Berry hazarded.

"Maybe, or maybe she is visiting the royal family. Think about it, a few months back Princess Cadance herself turned up and spent a lot of time around the hospital. It all makes sense! Bluebood has gone and got this poor mare knocked up and the royal family are trying to keep the whole thing under wraps! Of course Celestia is far too nice to throw the poor thing out on the streets so they are hiding her away here in Ponyville until the foal is born and she has Princess Twilight looking after her to make sure she doesn't go to the press!" While Roseluck and her friends had been known to indulge in a lot of foalish rumors and gossip there did seem to be a bit of substance to this one. Twilight's unusual behavior would be explained by the story as would the unexpected visit by Cadance...

"I don't know, Rose, it seems a bad idea to go spreading rumors like that about the Princesses without anything to back them up."

"Which is why I'm keeping this to a few select friends for the time being," Rose finished her drink and walked to the door but before she left she turned and gave Berry a smug look of satisfaction. "Mark my words though, Berry, in a few months time I bet that mare will start putting on some 'unexpected' weight, and when she does I'll be sure to say 'I told you so.'"

Comments

[HB_DS2013]

Ugh. Gossiping about others won't really end well.