Chapter Four
Life in Equestria was exactly like Sunset had remembered it. Ponies were friendly, everything was fresher, and life moved at an absolutely abysmal pace. She had forgotten many more things than she remembered. This town even had a special hill for cloud watching. She sighed as she looked up at the balls of fluff. One floated by shaped like a duck.
There was no imagination to cloud watching in Equestria either. This cloud literally looked like a baby duck, because the pegasi that were putting on the show had shaped it that way. With another sigh, she sat up.
It had been nearly three weeks since she had come home, but the longer she stayed, the more dissatisfied she was. Of course, she had always been a city pony, but going to the city also meant seeing Princess Celestia, and that was something she had been attempting to put off. Until last night when Twilight had announced she was going to Canterlot. It had taken a split second remark of ‘maybe I should go with you’ and Twilight had a letter off to Celestia faster than a text message, and the deed had been done. So she was due to board a train in an hour to go meet the one mare she was terrified of meeting again.
She slowly made her way to the train station. Slowly, not for lack of trying to be fast, but slowly because everyone in Ponyville seemed intent on stopping and having a conversation with her. At least in Canterlot she knew she would from point a to point b without so much hassle. She finally arrived at the train station, where Twilight was looking around anxiously, while Spike and Starlight looked bored. When Twilight saw Sunset, her ears perked up and she smiled. “There, I thought you were going to miss the train.”
Sunset shook her head. “I had considered it, but it’s probably best if I talk to her.” She swallowed and looked around. “So, how long do we have to wait on the train?” As if on cue, the rattling of the rails and distant sounds of a train could be heard.
“Not long.” Starlight stood, closing the book she had been reading and putting it in her saddlebags.
The train pulled into the station, the metal squealing. Sunset folded her ears down. That was one noise she hadn’t missed while away from Equestria. A few ponies filed off the train, going to retrieve luggage and finding the ponies they were meeting. Then it was clear for the passengers to board. Spike sat on Twilight’s back as she led the way to a compartment. “This should do,” she said as she walked in, taking a seat next to a window. Spike walked over and took the seat opposite Twilight and next to the door, opening the first of a small stack of comics Twilight levitated to him. Sunset followed her in, taking the other window seat, leaving Starlight to sit next to Twilight.
The compartment was silent. Twilight had pulled out a book to read, as had Starlight, and Sunset hadn’t thought to bring one. She sighed, looking out the window. The train lurched forward, and the scenery finally began changing. It opened from the station to the surrounding town, to the undeveloped open fields, to farm land, and then they started going up.
Twilight put her book down and sighed. “So, you’re due to meet both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna at four, which gives us just enough time to put our saddlebags in our rooms.” She looked at Sunset. “Do you remember how to get to the audience chambers?”
The audience chambers. They were supposed to be near the throne room, but it also depended on what level of guest Princess Celestia considered Sunset. “Maybe. You aren’t going to be there?”
Twilight shook her head. “No, Celestia asked that she meet with you alone, first.”
“Oh.” Sunset swallowed and looked out the window, unable to decide if meeting alone was good or bad.
The castle was more imposing that Sunset remembered. All gold and white, it practically radiated. Her companions didn’t give it a second glance, trotting up the steps and to the doors. Sunset felt awestruck. She had once been just as oblivious to the grandeur of the building, but now, after being away for years, she saw what she had given up. She kept up, barely, taking everything in. They passed guards who smiled and nodded to Twilight and Spike.
It seemed like not much had changed since she had left, but the atmosphere was different. She took a deep breath. Perhaps it wasn’t the castle atmosphere that had changed, but the change Sunset had undergone that allowed her to see the palace with a new perspective.
She was so lost in thought that she hadn’t realized Twilight had stopped walking. She bumped into her, smiling sheepishly when Twilight glanced back. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Twilight pointed to a door. “Your meeting awaits.”
Sunset stepped forward, resting a hoof on the door. She took a deep breath and looked over at the other two mares.
“It’ll be okay. She is really looking forward to seeing you.”
Sunset nodded, looking forward at the door again. “Okay, I can do this.” With one last glance at the reassuring smiles of her friends, she opened the door and walked in.
The door closed quietly behind her. She stopped just over the threshold, her heart beating fast. Before her sat Princess Celestia, her mane flowing and a warm smile on her face. “Sunset Shimmer,” she began.
“Princess,” Sunset said, bowing quickly before looking back up. She had practiced what she would say, but now her words left her. She took a tentative step forward, and another, until she was close to the monarch. They looked at each other for a few moments, Sunset only hearing her own breaths. Why wasn’t Celestia saying anything? Was she at as much of a loss for words as Sunset was? Was she trying to find the best way to express her anger and disappointment? Sunset took a deep breath, lowering her front half into a full bow, prostrating herself before Princess Celestia. “I’m so sorry. I messed up. I wanted nothing but power and influence, and I wasn’t going to stop until I got it.”
She stopped when she felt feathers brushing her back. “Rise, Sunset.” Slowly, Sunset got to her hooves and looked up into Princess Celestia’s face. “You were forgiven long ago. I’m am glad to see you’re alright.” The wings that had stroked her back now pulled her closer to the Princess. “I worried about you and how you were doing.”
“I did alright. I’ve been better recently than ever before. Even if I do still have a lot to make up for.” She took a deep breath. “I’m surprised you haven’t thrown me in the dungeon or something. I stole a crown and tried to topple your reign.”
Celestia smiled. “Perhaps, but I believe you’ve shown that you aren’t that pony anymore.”
Sunset scuffed her hoof along floor. “No, I’m not. But I can’t forget what I’ve done.”
“Sunset,” Celesia said, her wing under Sunset’s chin forcing their eyes to meet. “Did I ever tell you the story of my sister?” Her horn lit up and she sent a tendril of magic to pull on a rope causing a bell to chime.
Sunset shook her head. “Luna? No, but I met her in the other world. I was so surprised. Twilight has told me a little.” The door to the chamber opened, catching both Celestia and Sunset’s attention. In walked a dark blue alicorn who’s flowing mane twinkled like the stars. Wordlessly she made her way over and sat next to Sunset. Sunset bowed to her as well. “Princess Luna.”
“Hello, Sunset. I have heard much about you.” Luna smiled. “It seems we share a past that is not dissimilar.”
Sunset raised her eyebrows, looking at Luna. “You wanted to tear down Equesria piece by piece with zombified human teenagers because you couldn’t become an all-powerful princess at twelve years old?”
“No, I wanted to topple Celestia and rule, never letting the sun rise above the horizon again.” She looked down. “I did many terrible things then, worse that what you could ever dream.” With a sigh, Princess Luna looked up. “I have learned, however, that I need to remember that is not the goal of me today.”
Sunset laid a hoof on Princess Luna’s shoulder. “I’ve learned to forgive myself. I don’t need this speech or for either of us to relive unpleasant memories.” She looked between Princess Luna and Princess Celestia. “I know I’m not who I used to be.”
“Oh.” Princess Luna looked at Princess Celestia for a moment. “In that case, perhaps I should make certain Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer are settling in.” She stood and walked out the door, leaving an awkward silence between Sunset and Princess Celestia.
After a moment, Sunset sighed. “Thank you for trying.”
“You have grown, more than I had expected. It seems the other world was very good for you.” Princess Celestia looked down, her serene smile on her face. “Perhaps you would like to again take up your studies?”
Take up her studies? Go back to being a student, and learning under the Princess? It made since. Her friends were all going to further their educations, and this was the best way for Sunset to do so as well. Why didn’t the offer fill her with the happiness she thought it should. Instead, she found herself shaking her head. “I don’t think so, Princess. I—I just graduated. And there isn’t…I love magic, and I still love studying magic, but I wouldn’t even know where to begin. I was about to start my own personal research when I ran away. I could do that at college.”
Princess Celestia blinked. “College?”
Sunset nodded. “The other world…the other world is not dissimilar to Equestria, much in the same way that I’m not dissimilar to Princess Luna. That is, it isn’t all that much alike, other than superficial facts.” Sunset smiled. “There the weather isn’t controlled. There are ways to talk to people on the other side of the world. You can travel in a motorized carriage and travel further quicker than even the Equestrian train system can get you. It’s…” She looked up at the Princess, her smile fading. “It’s really wonderful.”
Princess Celestia smiled, looking down at Sunset. “Tell me more.”
The train ride home the next day was quiet again, but Sunset didn’t mind. She was lost in her thoughts. Equestria really hadn’t changed all that much from when she had left, but Sunset had had changed. She had changed a lot. More than that, talking with Princess Celestia, she realized this wasn’t where she really wanted to be.
“Two bits for your thoughts?” Twilight asked, causing her to jump.
She looked at her and shrugged. “I’ve been thinking about my future. Celestia asked me to be her student again.”
Twilight grinned and leaned forward. “She did? That’s great!”
Holding up a hoof, Sunset shook her head. “No, it isn’t. I don’t want to be her student again. I want to do something that means something. I want to help people. Ponies. Whatever. And there isn’t really a lot of that to do in Equestria. It’s such an amazing world.” Sunset shuffled her hooves, looking down. “I was dying to come back here after graduation. And now…”
Starlight laid a hoof on Sunset’s shoulder. “Now you don’t want to be?”
Looking between Twilight and Starlight, Sunset sighed. “I…I was a kid. It isn’t the same. I guess I grew up. This isn’t home. Not anymore.” She sighed again, chuckling. “All I want to do is be with the people I care about most. I’m just running away because I think it’s hard. And I should stop.” She looked up, a confident smile on her face. “I’m going back. I’m going home.”
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She is going to return back to the Equestria Girls world I bet. That is where she was more happy I bet and hopefully that Celestia will welcome her back with open arms.
7595180 Yeah, she's returning to the eqg world. I already have chapter five written, so it'll be up for reading sometime on Tuesday.
Fitting music:
7595210 thank you!
7595224 De nada.
I realize it wouldn't have fit with the pacing, but I really would've loved to witness some of the initial interactions between Sunset and the other ponies, especially Starlight...
7595775 yeah, I did actually try to write them. I had Sunset trying to do things with the mane six and starlight, and even her and starlight talking about their pasts, and Sunset slowly realizing that these ponies weren't really her friends. Just ponies that sorta looked like them. But it really slowed down the whole thing and while I intended that to be my original pace, it didnt mesh well with the rest of the story.
7596009 Bonus chapter?...
7596017 we'll see.
7596070 Well, I respect your dedication to having a more literarily proper story and not giving in to self-indulgent padding and filler.
Though I personally eat up self-undulgent padding and filler as long as it's about characters I like interacting in mildly interesting ways. 
I have to agree with Super Bowl that bonus chapters would be nice. Like how she came up with going back to Equestria, because of how her friends where acting about collage being a diving force, and some of that three week spans spent in Equestria that starts to drive her to want to go back to the human world. And if u do one for principle celestia on her fealings about sunset leaving and how see was holding up while she is gone would be nice.
For this chapter it was good. I mean I like how sunsets is up set from the get go in this chapter and makes you feal something else is on her mind the hole time, but like the show this chapter just felt rushed. In my opinion this chapter should have been slown down a little expressly when she was talking to princess celestia. I mean it just seams like if sunset had a longer conversation about the human world before her apifiny.
Well with those thoughts out of the way I have this story all together is turning out to be amazing. Ya I have my complaints but they are miner and the way it is done keeps me wanting to come back and read the newest chapter as soon as it comes out. So keep up the good work Sea Salt and I will defiantly keep coming back for more.
7596539 Thank you! I'll be posting the last chapter soon. I understand what you're saying, and I know I would do the entire story differently if I had the patience to go back and do it, but I don't at the moment. I guess that's just something the future will have to see about.
Don't think for a moment that you have betrayed or disappointed Celestia, Sunset. You see... I suspect that she knew that she'd get this response and, more importantly, I suspect that she agrees with you about what you first, best destiny may be.
the rise of Xenolestia xD
7598845 This is a very unsure time in Sunsets life so a little self doubt is natural.
7599334 I like to think she never actually went through the mirror herself.