Sunset Shimmer leaned her body against the doughnut display case, her forehooves dangling off the edge slightly as she stood up on her hind legs and looked towards the gray door which Joe had just disappeared behind. “Joe…? Joooooe!” she called out. “Look, I’m really sorry about the years of being a tyrannical child with an over inflated sense of power who made unreasonable demands and threatened to burn this place down or tell my mommy on you if they weren’t met! …Joe?”
Sitting on a pink stool at a wooden pink table, Starlight Glimmer glanced over at Sunset. “You threatened to burn down Joe’s shop?” she asked, not in disbelief, but in a simple inquisitive tone as if she was clarifying the time of day.
Sunset sighed and threw a forehoof up into the air. “I was just a filly and had somewhat unreasonable expectations about being the daughter of Equestria’s ruler! Like…Raspberry rosemary buttermilk doughnuts, for instance.”
“That sounds… heavenly,” Starlight replied.
“I know, right?”
Starlight nodded. “Much better sounding than jalapeño red velvet omelet cupcakes, at least.”
“Uh… What an oddly specific and gross-sounding comparison!”
“It’s, uh, better tasting than it sounds in a somewhat degrading sort of way…”
“... I don’t have a good response for that! Still!” Sunset let her head dangle over the side of the display case. “I’m sure I could have asked Joe nicely back then instead of threatening property destruction and implied imprisonment…” Sunset sighed loudly. “Story of my life… Oh! Bear claws!” With a crimson glow of Sunset’s horn, two large glazed masses of browned dough were lifted from the display case. Sunset trotted over towards the table Starlight Glimmer sat at and floated down the pastries in front of Starlight and herself. With another red glow of her horn, she unclipped the lock on a brown saddle bag that bore her cutie mark, pulled out a modest pile of bits, and floated them over to the counter.
Starlight stared at this scene and disbelief. “Sunset… Your… your magic…”
Sunset stared back at Starlight in confusion. “Uh… Yes? I mean… I kinda grew up as a unicorn and became an alicorn has just made me more magic… Not to mention the new, magical super powers? This shouldn’t be news to you, you know… being the super magical unicorn that you are.”
“No! Your magic is red now!”
“It… Wha…” Sunset lifted the bear claw in front of her and stared at the red glow that surrounded it. “Oh, what the heck?!” She set the bear claw down and looked downward, glaring slightly. “What did you…” Sunset pursed her lips as she tilted her head to the right then to the left. “Stupid muzzle…” she uttered. With another red glow, she shifted her pendant up and to the left as she tilted her head down and to the right and glared up at the offending piece of jewelry. “What did you do?!” she exclaimed as she cocked a foreleg to awkwardly point accusingly at her pendant.
Starlight tilted her head slightly and leaned forward as she examined the pendant. “So, you think the color change was triggered by your new super power?”
Sunset threw up her forehooves in an exaggerated shrug. “I guess?!” Just as dramatically, she collapsed onto the table, her face facing her bear claw. “Why does my life have to be complicated from my past actions and also outside forces… Can’t it just be one or the other?”
Starlight smiled at Sunset. “I like the red. It suits you,” she said as she levitated her bear claw in front of her face and took a bite. Starlight let out an audible “Mmmmm…”
“But the turquoise matched my eeeeeyeeeees!” Sunset complained. She let her head fall back down to the table and stared off into space morosely. “Hashtag Jumping Through Dimension Problems…”
Starlight chewed and swallowed. “Hashtag?”
“It’s uh… Earth slang… Not really important.” Sunset placed her forelegs on the table and spread them out toward Starlight. “Staaarliiiiight… StaaaaaarliIiIiIiIiIt!” Sunset whined pathetically.
“Uh, yes? Sunset, Sunset?”
“Go out and do something bad!”
Starlight looked taken aback. “Uh, why?!”
“You know… Distraction tactic. Everypony who remembers me will momentarily forget all the bad things I did as a filly and teenager if you’re out running around teleporting tables and turning everything into teacups!”
Starlight gave Sunset a miffed look. “Trixie did those things!”
“Oh, I know,” Sunset replied, “but suggesting you go steal cutie marks or bend time to your will seemed mildly insensitive.”
Starlight winced. “Just a little bit.”
Sunset rubbed her chin and stared upwards. “Although…”
“Oh, no!” Starlight exclaimed. “No, no, no! We’re not going back in time to change your past! I’ve already learned that what seems like the littlest things can mean the end of the entire world!”
Sunset dramatically puffed out her lower lips as her eyes went wide and watery. “You really think me going to tell my younger self to be nicer would mean the end of the world?”
“I have no idea what kind of stuff would happen, but I’m sure if you didn’t end up going to Earth things would be wildly different. Plus, who knows how you’d change? I mean… I know I’m a lot nicer now after Twilight forgave me for my many, many crimes.”
Sunset winced slightly and smiled. “Well, forgiving ponies who’ve almost killed her is Twilight’s modus operandi. The moment Twilight pulled me out of a smoking crater certainly was the beginning of my life improving.” Sunset chuckled. “And not just because she pulled me out of a smoking crater.”
Starlight gave Sunset a little half smile. “Plus, if we changed your past, you might not have met me and then I’d be missing such a special friend in my life.”
Sunset looked at Starlight in surprise for a moment. “Awwww… Thanks, Starry. That’s really sweet of you.”
Starlight’s smile widened and she rubbed the back of her head. “Really, that wasn’t too over the top?”
“No, no… That was good…” Sunset said. “I mean… I guess there’s a good chance I would have ended up in Twilight’s place and we’d still have met.” She frowned. “But ‘forgive’ is usually not my first impulse so uh… Yeah… Let’s not do the time travel thing for your safety.”
Starlight chuckled nervously. “It would be nice to remain unincinerated.”
Sunset thought for a moment. “Of course, I could ask young ‘told to be nicer’ me to find and befriend you as a filly.”
Starlight paused as her eyebrows began to slowly crawl towards each other. “I’m trying very hard to say ‘no’ to this!”
Sunset smiled. “Come on! Young you could be like… my personal yes-pony and servant!” she said excitedly.
“...It’s suddenly much easier to say ‘no’,” Starlight replied dryly.
Sunset shrugged. “I said ‘nicer’, I didn’t say ‘saintly’. I mean, let’s be realistic here.” She sighed. “But no time travel means I’m left with the same problems.”
Starlight waved her bear claw a bit in front of Sunset. “Try your bear claw, you’ll feel better.”
Sunset lifted her head and floated her bear claw up in front of her. She pointed a forehoof at it. “Fix my problems!” she ordered.
The bear claw remained inertly silent.
Sunset looked at Starlight. “Nope. Not working.”
Still smiling, Starlight rolled her eyes. “You know what I meant!”
“Hehe. Yeah, yeah…” Sunset replied with a small smile. She floated up the bear claw and took a bite. Chewing, she let out a hum of contentment and closed her eyes before swallowing. “Just as good as I remembered…”
“See! I knew you’d feel better!”
Sunset sighed. “A little bit! I’d feel better if Joe wasn’t, oh I don’t know… Probably hiding behind a doorway ready to pelt me with some day-old doughnuts and scream if he so much as sees an inch of my horn.”
Starlight chuckled. “You’re exaggerating…”
“And you never met me as a filly!” Sunset countered.
“That bad, huh?” Starlight took another bite of her bear claw.
“My mom didn’t just ‘fake’ banish me because she thought it was funny.”
Starlight swallowed her food. “… ‘Fake banish’?”
Sunset waved a dismissive forehoof. “Long story…” She took another bite of her own bear claw, chewed, and swallowed. “Still, at least this is pretty good… Not as good as blueberry basil doughnuts, though…” Sunset sniffed the air. “Hmmm… I can practically smell them…”
The gray door behind the counter practically exploded open as Joe appeared, a tray of glazed, purple doughnuts balanced on his back and a smile on his face. “Well hi there, Sunset Shimmer! Long time, no see!” Joe’s happy expression dipped slightly. “Heh, or should I call you ‘yer highness’.”
Sunset turned slightly, grinning sheepishly. “Sunset is fine, Joe. Uh… How you’ve been?”
Joe smiled. “Can’t complain. Who’s this?” He said as he nodded towards Starlight.
“Oh, this is Starlight Glimmer. She’s Twilight’s friendship student, or, uh… ascendant friendship student, I guess.” Sunset nodded at Joe. “Starlight, this is Joe. He runs and owns this shop.”
Joe extended a forehoof. “Any friend of Twilight is a friend of mine.” He glanced at Sunset. “No offense.”
Starlight gave Joe’s hoof a slight bump with her own forehoof as Sunset eyed the plate of doughnuts on his back hungrily. “None taken…” Sunset said in reply. “I mean… assuming you brought those doughnuts out for my benefit and not just to withhold as a form of punishment for transgressions I made against you when I was younger… Not that I could blame you.”
Joe let out a small, jovial chuckle as he took the tray off his back with an emerald glow of his horn. He sat it in the middle of the table between Sunset and Starlight. “Now what kind of pastry chef would I be if I withheld doughnuts to punish you, especially after all that apologizin’ ya did?”
“A vindictive one,” Sunset said as she took one of the purple doughnuts in a red glow. “But I’m glad you’re a forgiving chef instead. Thank you, Joe.” Sunset took a bite then let out a tiny squeal of delight. “Oh, this! I’ve missed this!” she declared. “Starlight, you have to try one, or maybe a half-dozen.”
Starlight took a doughnut in an electric blue glow, floated it to her mouth, then took a bite. “Oh… Oh, wow!”
“I know, right!” Sunset exclaimed as she took another bite, chewed, then swallowed. “Maybe if I could get these doughnuts back on Earth, I wouldn’t have been quite so bent to take over Equestria.”
Starlight nodded. “Geez, if I had some of these, I definitely would have reconsidered stealing cutie marks if it meant erasing these from Equestria.”
Joe glanced between the two mares, a pensive smile forming on his face. “Uh… I don’t really get it, but I’m happy you two are enjoying yourselves!”
Sunset and Starlight gave Joe embarrassed smiles.
“Uh, yeah…” Sunset said. “Maybe you should forget you heard that… Or at least refrain from printing either quote and putting them up on your wall as some sort of endorsement of your shop.”
Joe smiled and pulled a forehoof across his mouth. “My lips are sealed!” He gave Sunset a quick look over. “But look at you, eh? A princess! What da ya know!”
Sunset shook her head. “Well, an alicorn. It’s not like I’ve had a coronation.” Sunset let out a small sigh. “Another conversation I get to have with mom, again…”
“If you don’t mind me asking,” Joe began, “is that why ye’re back? Visiting your mom?”
“Uh… Sort of…” Sunset said. “The short version is Starlight and I got tapped for some magical friendship errand.”
“Sounds important,” Joe commented.
“Eh, probably not,” Sunset replied. “Think less, ‘saving the world’ and more there’s probably a handful of ponies who need to be told their lives would better if they stopped being jerks.”
“… ‘Handful’?” Joe said.
“Uh… Hooffull,” Sunset said. “I’ve been living… away. Picked up the local slang a bit. Still though, I’m sure whatever brings us to Canterlot isn’t a huge deal.”
“You know…” Starlight spoke up. “Assuming Spike’s wrong and it doesn’t involve Princess Celestia and Princess Luna,” she said in a worried tone.
“… Did you just freak yourself out?” Sunset asked with a slightly amused look.
“A little bit, yeah,” Starlight admitted.
“Hey, I can handle Celestia if it comes to that.”
“Okay, but that leaves me with Princess Luna?” Starlight asked as her apprehension began to set up shop in her voice to the point it was selling shiny baubles. “I mean… Call me paranoid—”
“You’re paranoid,” Sunset quipped.
Starlight rolled her eyes. “—but if Princess Luna has seen the dreams of ponies all over Equestria, she’s sure to have come across some sort of nightmare version of me! Either stealing cutie marks or having ponies eat bland, tasteless muffins.”
Sunset smirked. “Those two things don’t really sound equivalent in the ‘bad’ department.”
“Clearly, you haven’t talked to Pinkie about the whole thing.”
“You worry too much,” Sunset said, shaking her head. “I mean, Sure you were a terrible despot and nearly destroyed the world a few times over—”
“… Is this supposed to make me feel better?” Starlight asked in a dry tone.
Sunset continued, “—but Princess Luna has no doubt had to deal with Nobles! Have you ever met a noble pony? Most of them seem to wake up amongst their crazy opulence and wonder why the world doesn’t revolve around them.”
“I’m tempted to point out the obvious,” Starlight said, “but I feel that might be insensitive.”
Sunset flashed a wicked smile. “Oh no, no, no… The world really did revolve around me, better yet, the sun. Anyhow, you at least meant well… minus the seeking vengeance on Twilight thing… But hey, she was willing to talk to me and I’m sure she knew all about the aforementioned attempt to take over Equestria.”
“Huh…” Joe uttered. “I should be surprised, but somehow I’m not… In fact, come ta think of it, that makes a lot of sense.”
Sunset winced slightly before her smile returned.
“Okay, but,” Starlight began, “you’re basically family to Princess Luna!”
“Surprise family!” Sunset replied. “It’s like regular family with much more baggage! She had no idea about my full connection to Celestia until she met me, and Luna still was pretty nice to me! So, don’t worry so much.”
Starlight took a deep breath then let it out. “I’ll try.”
Sunset took another bite of her doughnut. “Try your doughnut, it’ll help… And don’t use the same joke I used.”
Starlight chuckled lightly and went back to work on her doughnut.
“So,” Joe began, “does Celestia know you’re coming back?”
Sunset let out a small groan. “No. It’s sort of a surprise trip all around… just filled to the brim and even overflowing with surprises… We’re practically swimming in surprises, Joe! Drowning, even.”
“Well, I’m sure she’ll be happy to see you again,” Joe replied. “Sounds like you’ve at least met her sister.”
Sunset nodded. “Yeah. Mom and I also patched things up a while back.”
Joe chuckled. “Wha, you were too busy ta see yer old pal, Joe?”
“Oh, this was in the Crystal Empire,” Sunset clarified. “A visit to see Cadance’s baby…” Sunset let out a small swoon as an oddly mischievous smile spread across her face. “Such a destructive force…”
Starlight stopped mid-bite and stared at Sunset along with Joe.
“Uh… a destructive… cutie… Cute!... Powerful… adorable… force…”
Joe smirked. “More run-a’-the-mill magical friendship stuff?”
Starlight let out a groan. “Actually, the entire Empire was nearly destroyed!”
“Really?” Joe replied.
Sunset gave Joe a surprised look. “I’m, uh, kinda surprised you didn’t hear about this.”
Joe shrugged. “I’m not one for readin’ the paper. Too busy making doughnuts.”
Sunset batted her eyelids at Joe. “And chatting up cute mares at your shop?”
Joe let out a guffaw and motioned to both Sunset and Starlight. “Well… Only the cutest.”
Starlight smiled and blushed slightly as Sunset gave Joe a wry grin. “Oh, you owe me for that setup…”
Joe motioned to the pastries on the table. “Ye’re welcome to more doughnuts if you can finish these.”
“Oh, right…” Sunset crammed her half-eaten doughnut into her mouth, chewed several times, and took a heavy swallow. Inhaling then exhaling contently, she picked her bear claw back up.
“So what happened?”
Sunset tensed and nervously swallowed her food. “Uh… What do you mean?”
“Ya know… regarding the Crystal Empire nearly being destroyed.”
A smile reappeared on Sunset’s face. “Oh that… Uh… the Crystal Heart got destroyed, temporarily.”
“What… Some big, powerful villain come along?”
“Er, more like a tiny, adorable, destructive happy-accident… Babies, ya know?”
“Uh… sure…? No…?”
“Anyway, the Heart got destroyed and then we all nearly died in a huge storm,” Sunset motioned to Starlight. “But then Starlight saved us!”
Starlight let out a heavy sigh. “Sure! By almost dooming us all!”
Sunset snickered and shook her head. “I was going to leave that part out! Yes, yes… She turned the storm into an ice block and nearly crushed the castle and everypony else, but then everypony, including Starlight, un-doomed us!”
Starlight smiled. “You left out the best part! You and Spike drilling a hole through the ice block with a magical fuel spell and his fire breath!”
Sunset waved a dismissive forehoof. “Well, I don’t like to brag…”
Joe let out a laugh. “Well that’s certainly different from the Sunset I knew!”
“Hehe… Okay, I love to brag, but I’ve been trying to cut back.”
Joe smiled. “Well, it’s nice ta hear ya patched things up with Princess Celestia. I started seeing a lot less of her after ya left for your trip.”
The atmosphere in the shop suddenly thickened to fill the void left by the silence.
Sunset gave Joe a sheepish look. “Er… Maybe, that’s a topic for later…”
“Uh, yeah. Sure, Sunset.”
Starlight smiled at Joe. “So, you knew Sunset as a filly! You must have such great stories!”
Sunset instinctively grimaced.
>-ooooooo-<
Starting from the tiled floor of Joe’s shop, multicolor-frosted doughnuts piled into the shape of stairs led up to a platform, likewise made of doughnuts. Sitting atop this warm, sugary plateau, filly Sunset Shimmer sat on her haunches and glowered from her perch. “More doughnuts! MORE! My doughnut throne should reach the roof!”
“Yes, yer highness!” Joe huffed out, nearly out of breath as he rushed over with a tray on his back piled so high with doughnuts, they swayed one way and the other, threatening to topple to the floor. He hurriedly began to float over doughnut after doughnut in a green glow to create armrests and a back to Sunset’s ‘throne’.
Sunset snatched one of the doughnuts in a turquoise glow, brought it to her muzzle, and proceeded to devour it. “Fasther!” she exclaimed, spraying crumbs in Joe’s general direction. She swallowed. “My throne is going to start shrinking at this rate!”
“Right, Yer Highness! Sorry, Yer Highness!” Joe said as he quickly did an about face and back towards the counter.
“Oh, Lowly Servant~!” Sunset sang out. “Has my crown sufficiently cooled yet?”
“Yes, yer highness,” Joe said as he quickly returned with a massive, yellow frosted doughnut with sprinkles on top. He lowered the item onto Sunset’s head.
Sunset’s smile grew wild, wicked, and thorny over her face like an overgrown rose bush. “Excellent!” she cooed. “Perhaps I’ll spare your wretched little doughnut shop, Loyal Servant.”
“Yes, Yer Highness! Thanks, Yer Highness!”
The chime of a small bell suddenly broke into the shop.
Sunset turned. “Who disrupts my coronation!” Sunset demanded. Her eyes went wide and her mouth dropped as she caught sight of the surprise attendee.
Celestia looked at the doughnut ‘throne’ and ‘crown’ with a simmering expression of displeasure. “Coronation, Sunset? This is bad comedy.”
Sunset’s face suddenly went several shades lighter as she stared at Celestia standing in the shop’s entrance.
“Uh…” Sunset hastily threw on a grin. “It’s actually an early Mother’s Day present! Surprise!” Sunset let out a precocious giggle. “Guess I just got a little carried away…”
Celestia looked taken aback for a moment. She turned towards Joe. “Joe. Is this true? Did you and Sunset really set this all up for my benefit?”
“Uh…” Joe glanced at Sunset who immediately puffed out her lower lip as her eyes went wide and glassy. Joe had seen sad puppies that looked far less desperate… and adorable. “Yeah!” Joe said. He chuckled. “Guess Sunset and I got a little too much into character, ya know?”
Celestia’s face let up as she let out a gasp. “Oh, Sunset, Joe! This is amazing!”
Sunset got up, trotted back to the floor, and happily motioned to the throne. “Help yourself.”
“Well… I was trying to watch my weight… Oh, but who am I to say no to such a wonderful gift?” Celestia said as she happily trotted over to the throne and began picking off doughnuts and eating them.
Sunset let out a sigh of relief followed by a startled yelp as she was taken up in a canary yellow glow. She quickly found herself wrapped up in a pair of long, alabaster forelegs.
“Thank you, Sunset,” Celestia said. “This is very sweet… literally,” she added with a wink.
Sunset smiled and shimmied in her mother’s grasp so she could wrap her forelegs and her mother’s neck. “You’re welcome.”
Celestia wrapped her wings around Sunset and squeezed her tighter, wincing slightly as she did.
“Mommy? Is something wrong?”
Celestia gently lowered Sunset back to the floor. “I think you just glazed me.” Celestia looked down at her chest and forearms which were now splattered with a medley of pink, yellow, and purple frosting. “I think we’ll both need a good scrubbing after this.”
“Hahaha… Whoops…” Sunset replied, her back and haunches likewise coated with frosting.
“So, uh…” Joe interjected. “Sunset, you still want those fried dough with cinnamon and sugar wings, and maple bar scepter, or…”
Celestia peered down at Sunset and raised an eyebrow.
Sunset turned towards Joe and raised a forehoof to her lips. “Shhh!” She hissed out with a small glare. Turning back towards Celestia, she put back on a sugary-sweet smile. “Sorry. I was really getting into character…”
<-ooooooo->
“Let’s, maybe, totally, talk about something else!” Sunset said hastily.
Something caught Starlight’s attention and she quickly swallowed her doughnut. “Like the fact that there are guards coming here, probably to arrest us?!”
“What?! Oh, that’s ridi—” Sunset turned, her eyes following Starlight’s. Walking past the large, several pony high windows of Joe’s shop were two Equestrian guards ponies in golden armor heading towards the door, both pegasi stallions, one gray and the other white. “AH!” Sunset exclaimed as she immediately dove under the table.
Starlight likewise made a frightened cry and joined Sunset under the table. “Quick! Use your wings to hide us!”
“Oh, uh… Good idea…” Sunset said as she attempted to unfurl her wings. She suddenly cringed. “No, wait… Bad Idea… I think I just touched some gum that was stuck to the bottom of the table! Ew! Ew!” Sunset’s brow crinkled and she turned towards Starlight. “Wait, why are you hiding under the table? You haven’t done anything!”
Starlight gave Sunset a panicked expression. “But what if you convince me to travel back in time in the future so it’s future me who’s committed crimes in the past?!”
Sunset thought for a moment. “I’m a little surprised I parsed that sentence…”
With another ring of the door Starlight and Sunset grit their teeth and pressed themselves flat against the floor as Sunset did her best to hide them both with her wings.
The ring of the shop’s bell and sound of metal hitting tiled floor announced the arrival of the guards.
“Uh, good afternoon, gentlemen!” Joe greeted as he quickly placed himself in between the guards and the table Sunset and Starlight hid under. “Can I interest you in some doughnuts?”
“Oh, I was interested before we walked in!” the white guardspony said enthusiastically.
The gray guardspony turned and gave his partner a quick scowl.
The white guardspony cleared his throat. “Actually, we’re here to retrieve Sunset Shimmer for her majesty, Princess Celestia.”
Joe chuckled. “Well, as you can see, there’s no pony here but me.”
The gray guardspony narrowed his eyes slightly as he craned his head ever so slightly to the right. “Except the two ponies trying and failing to hide underneath a table, you mean?”
“Uh, oh… Is there two ponies hidin’ under a table?” Joe said in his best attempt at a sincere tone.
The gray guardspony pointed towards the shaking wings and the slightly exposed orange and purple forelegs.
Joe turned. “Oh… Right… Now that you mentioned it a pegasus and her friend came in a while ago, but they were so quiet I musta forgot about them!”
“Riiiight…” The gray guardspony replied.
“Hey!” The white guardspony replied. “Maybe one of those ponies has seen Sunset Shimmer!”
The gray guardspony turned to the white pony, clearly irritated, but the white pony merely winked in response.
“Uh… Never heard of this ‘Sunset Shimmer’ you speak of.” ‘Definitely-not’ Sunset called out. “… Sounds like she’s pretty, though… How about you… uh… Moontwinkle Gleamer?”
There was an audible sigh from under the wings. “Moontwinkle…?” a hushed voice replied.
“I…shut up! I’m all flustered and didn’t have time to think of anything better. Just play along, alright?”
“No officers!” ‘Moontwinkle’ called out. “Just me and my friend Sun…rise Shine…Shiny!”
“… I can’t believe you got on my case for ‘Moontwinkle’.” Sunrise Shine-Shiny griped.
“Okay, okay! I admit it’s not all that easy.”
The two guards stared at the scene in front of them, the white guardspony looking on in clear amusement and the gray guardspony far less so.
“Ma’am’s,” the gray guardspony began, “perhaps you could get out from under the table so we could talk face to face?”
“We told you, we haven’t seen this Sunset Shimmer!” Sunrise insisted. “As you can see I’m just a humble pegasus who's dropped her glasses right under this table! I mean… anything I saw would be blurry anyways…”
“… Wouldn’t it be easier to not cover the area with your wings so you could see?” the white guardspony asked.
“Er… I’m-I’m blind!” Sunrise said.
The white guardspony smirked. “But you just said—”
“Legally blind!” Sunrise added. “I’m feeling for my glasses... but really… opening my wings wouldn’t help at all…”
“Okay, but your friend—”
“Moontwinkle is ALSO legally blind! Right, Moontwinkle?”
“Uh… totally! In fact… The light… er… hurts my eyes without my glasses… They’re sunglasses!”
“Uh… right, right! Hence me blocking out the light almost completely!” Sunrise said. “Anyhow, uh… Wasn’t this Sunset Shimmer a unicorn? I think I remembering hearing that long ago from when she still lived in Canterlot.”
The gray guardspony rolled his eyes. “You said you never heard of her.”
“I forgot, okay?! Is that a crime?! Are you going to arrest me for forgetting?! Anyways, I’m clearly not a unicorn so—”
The white guardspony chuckled. “Princess Celestia informed us that Sunset Shimmer now had wings… Big orange ones, too. So far you match the description pretty well.”
“Yes, uh… well…” Sunset let out a massive sigh. “Starry?” Sunset said.
“Yes, Sunri-er, Sunset?”
“A thought occurs that I’m an idiot and could have cast an invisibility spell on myself or teleported away, or any number of other things instead of hiding under a table like a scared filly.”
“… Well. I guess I’m an idiot too for following you down here. I could have done all of that, too…”
Sunset let out another heavy sigh and got out from under the table. She attempted to face the guards with some dignity. “So, Celestia wants me? Did she seem… uh… mad?” she asked trepidatiously as Starlight followed her out from under the table.
The white guardspony smiled widely. “Actually, it was more like completely elated! She just asked us to pick you up. There’s a chariot waiting just around the corner.”
Sunset let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. “Oh, in that case...” Sunset turned towards Joe and smiled. “Well it was nice catching up, but it looks like I’m being called home for dinner.”
Joe chuckled. “Well, I hope I didn’t spoil yer appetite.”
Sunset winked. “Don’t worry. It’ll be our little secret.” Sunset nodded towards the door. “Come on Starlight, guess it’s time to face our mundane magic destiny.”
Starlight smirked. “You mean our ‘hopefully mundane magic’ destiny.”
Sunset gave Starlight a frown despite the happiness clearly still in her eyes as she walked towards the door. “Well now you’ve jinxed it!”
“Oh, Sunset!” Joe called out. “Here…” with an emerald glow of his horn, Joe produced a brown box from behind the counter, floated it over to the table, and floated the doughnuts into it. He floated the box over to Sunset. “Bring these with you. Maybe offer a few ta Princess Celestia. I’m sure she’d appreciate them now that yer back.”
Stopping near the door, the white guards ponies already holding it open as the gray one stood at attention outside, Sunset smiled at Joe. “Sure, Joe! Thanks again! And, also again, I’m sorry for my years of tyranny.”
Joe snorted out a laugh. “Consider that all doughnuts passed through a pony.”
Sunset winced. “Gross… but maybe apt.”
Starlight waved. “Goodbye, Joe! Though doughnuts were great!”
“See ya, Starlight Glimmer. See ya, Sunset! Stop by again sometime!”
“We will!” Sunset assured. With that, she and Starlight walked past the guards into the bright sunlight of Canterlot.
Letting the door shut, the guards fell into position behind the two mares.
Starlight leaned in close to Sunset. “‘Appreciate them now that you’re back?’” Starlight said.
Sunset sighed. “Yes… I noticed that and took note of the ominousness of the statement.” Sunset’s face tightened. “I just don’t feel like dealing with it…”