Sunset’s eyes widened as she stood frozen at the top of the stairs. How is this possible? I saw Princess Twilight go through the portal with my own two eyes. This isn’t possible!
Luna looked up to see Sunset standing at the top of the stairs, as if frozen. “Come on, Shimmer. No one here is going to bite!”
Sunset focused on Twilight again and frowned. Something isn’t right… Her posture is different and is she wearing glasses?
Celestia walked up the stairs. She took Sunset’s hand with a gentle smile “It’s alright, Sunset. Come on down and eat dinner.”
“I...but Princess.” Sunset frowned at her inability to make a full sentence, before settling to just stand there, staring down at the cause of her fear.
Celestia turned to see what Sunset was looking at and blinked in surprise. “Huh, maybe that's why I wasn’t as surprised to meet the Princess as I should have been…”
“What… what do you mean Principal Celestia?” Sunset finally asked, her voice little more than a whisper.
Celestia opened her mouth to request Sunset not call her Principal while not at school, but stopped. Obviously calling me Principal separates me from my doppelganger… If that comforts her I refuse to take that away.
“I mean that this girl is the human Twilight Sparkle. She is my niece’s fiancee’s little sister. She’s a very intelligent if shy girl. Actually I think you both have a lot in common. Why don’t you go say hello?” Celestia saw Sunset turn away. She bit her lip and smiled sadly. “Sunset… if it goes badly, I’ll be right here for you. Alright?”
Sunset slumped before looking up to see Celestia’s kind eyes focused on her. I feel like a foal again… So defenseless “You promise?”
Celestia nodded. She placed a hand on the small of Sunset’s, back carefully avoiding Sunset’s wounds. She slowly urged the girl down the stairs, closer to the teenage girl who looked far too identical to Sunset’s executioner and savior.
“Twilight Sparkle? This is my foster daughter, Sunset Shimmer.” Celestia smiled gently as the teenager looked up from her phone which was connected to the internet.
“Hello,” Twilight said simply as Sunset lifted a hand in greeting.
“Um, hi, er what was that you were looking at?” Sunset peered over at Twilight’s phone, intrigued. “I mean if you don’t mind me asking.”
“Not really… I mean I doubt you’ll have any interest, but I was playing around with Rouche’s theorem.” Twilight shrugged, waiting for that to go right over the obviously jock girl’s head. Instead, Sunset seemed to light up.
“Oh! You mean the one which states that any two complex-valued functions f and g holomorphic inside some region K with closed contour. If |g(z)| < |f(z)| then f and f+g have the same number of zeros inside K. Where each zero is..”
“Counted as many times as it’s multiplicity exactly!” Twilight finished with a smile. She turned off her phone “Wow, you’re the first person I’ve ever met that understood that sort of theorem…”
Sunset smiled, shrugging a bit before wincing, having momentarily forgot her wounds. “I enjoy math... the more challenging the better.”
“Wow, I mean that’s great, I just never would have thought… I saw the jersey and just assumed…” Twilight wrung her hands nervously, looking away.
“No big, Twilight Sparkle. Actually the jersey is, ah, my Foster Mom’s. Normally I’m in a leather jacket and combat boots.” Sunset couldn’t help but smirk a touch at the surprise on Twilight’s face as she looked back at Sunset. “Yep, can’t really judge a book by its cover I guess. Huh?”
Twilight smiled and giggled, a strand of her hair coming loose from her bun to fall next to her face. “I guess you’re right. Do you think we could talk more after dinner? This… it’s so refreshing to have someone not just think I’m weird and nerdy.”
Sunset hesitated for a moment. What is wrong with me? Yesterday I would have destroyed this girl… but, I’m not her anymore… And I don’t want to be not anymore… Who am I now though… Am I anyone? She looked at the nervously-smiling Twilight and found herself smiling back. “Sure, Twilight Sparkle. I’d like that.” If I want to be someone I have to start somewhere… this is good I think.
Twilight’s eyes lit up behind her frames and a large grin covered her lips. “This will be so much fun, Sunset Shimmer. Oh, um… you can call me Twilight if you’d like to. My, um, friends do.”
...Friends… “Well, Twilight, you’ll have to call me Sunset, then!” Sunset grinned for the first time since… How long has it been since I was legitimately happy like this?
“If we are done with fun fun friend making time?” Luna stood in the doorway to the dining room, an eyebrow raised. Both teenagers blushed and nodded.“Well, good. Dinner is all set up in the kitchen so come make yourself a plate. And don’t worry, Shimmer. All beef and pork is on the stove so you can easily avoid them.”
Sunset nodded, opening her mouth to thank Luna, but before she could get the words out Luna had already turned and headed back into the kitchen. Talking to her is going to be harder then going back to school once my suspension is over…
“Why would you need to worry about beef and pork, Sunset? Are you a vegetarian?” Twilight cocked her head as they followed Celestia into the kitchen to get a plate.
“Not exactly. I’ll eat meat as long as the animal doesn’t have hooves.” Sunset explained, dishing up a little of everything which wasn’t on the stove.
Twilight humed under her breath. “You know, there are two types of hooves.”
Sunset focused her attention on Twilight as she poured some soda in a glass. She sat in the seat she had eaten breakfast in. “Two types?” Sunset asked, taking a bite of chicken fried rice as Twilight nodded, taking a seat next to Sunset.
“Oh, yes. First are Artiodactyls. Sheep, pigs, and cows fall into that category.” Twilight took a bite of rice and licked her lips. “Next are Perissodactyls, Horses, rhinos, and tapirs are part of that class. It really is quite interesting.”
Sunset frowned “Hmm, I suppose. Well I doubt I’ll be eating any of them any time soon.” She looked up to smile at Twilight. “But thanks for letting me know.”
“Sure! I’m always happy to share knowledge with people who appreciate it.” Twilight went back to her meal as Sunset listened to the adults talking and laughing, a small smile on her lips as she ate her dinner.
Celestia watched as the girls retreated to the living room to work on math that’d cause her head to spin if she even glanced at it. She shook her head and handed her niece a cup of coffee. “I hate to do this to you, Cadance…”
The younger woman rolled her eyes. “Auntie, you took in a badly abused girl who needs you with her for a few days… I get it. Trust me. Cinch will be fine without me for a few days.” She pursed her lips before taking a gulp of her coffee.
“Cadance, I know that look. What are you trying not to say?” Celestia smiled as her niece stammered for a few moments before glowering at her coffee cup. Poor dear has never been good at hiding her feelings from me.
“I… was just thinking that I hope the court removes Sunset’s parent’s rights to her… You know, to make her available for adoption?” Cadance said after a moment, keeping her voice down so not to be heard by the two giggling teenagers.
Celestia looked out into the living room to see Sunset and Twilight kneeling at the coffee table. Twilight wrote something down which made Sunset giggle and Celestia smile at the sound. Oh Cadance… if only you knew how much I feel the same as you…
Sunset stood on the porch and waved as Twilight got into the back of her brother’s car. “Bye, Twilight! As soon as I get my phone from storage I’ll text you the number!”
Twilight waved back, a huge smile on her face. “I’m counting on it. Night, Sunset!”
Sunset stayed outside and watched the car drive away until she felt a familiar touch. She looked up to see Celestia standing behind her. “That … thank you…”
“For what, Sunset?” Celestia asked, directing Sunset back inside the house where it was warm.
Sunset hesitated a moment before wrapping her arms around Celestia’s waist. “For being there for me, for not giving up on me, for helping me make my first real friend…” Sunset trailed off, knowing what she wanted to say but... What if she responds like Princess Celestia did? Could I take that? Sunset bit down on her lip hard until she tasted blood. She looked up, her eyes filled with tears. “For loving me as if you were my mom…”
Celestia froze in place, looking down as the tears fell silently down Sunset’s cheeks, her eyes hopeful but terrified. Celestia placed her lips against the top of Sunset’s head, not allowing herself to speak as tears fell from her own eyes, soaking her daughter’s head as Sunset clung to her crying.
Mom….