With her expert party planning skills, it took less than an hour for Pinkie Pie to set up a party extravaganza in Downtown Ponyville to celebrate Sunset Shimmer’s victory against the evil dragon Inferno. True to Sunset’s requests, everypony was invited: citizens from all over Ponyville and Canterlot came to celebrate by playing games, sampling delicious sweets and dancing to music provided by Ponyville’s musical expert, DJ Pon-3. It was the most exciting celebration that Equestria had seen in millennia, but nopony was happier than the guest of honor, Sunset Shimmer. The entire day was a physical and emotional roller coaster for Sunset, but it was all worth it to have returned home and made peace with her friends and mentor. Saving Equestria from an otherworldly abomination and becoming the seventh Element of Harmony (Courage) was just icing on the cake. The celebration continued uninterrupted well into the night, when Princess Celestia decided it was the right time to address the guests and elaborate on the subject of the celebration. Princess Celestia stepped up to the main stage where DJ-Pon3 was playing her music and after politely pausing the music, Celestia addressed the crowd.
“Citizens of Ponyville and Canterlot,” Celestia announced. “We are normally separated by our respective societies, the humble farmers of Ponyville and the upper-class elites of Canterlot, but today we have come together to celebrate a very brave and special individual, who risked everything to save her friends, family, and all of Equestria. Please give a brisk round of applause to Sunset Shimmer!” Sunset trotted onto the stage and shyly waved at the crowd whose hooves thundered against the ground in approval. Sunset had not expected to be given such special treatment, but she stood next to her mentor regardless and smiled at the citizens of Ponyville and Canterlot who were standing before her. Finally, Sunset cleared her throat and spoke.
“Thank you, Princess Celestia for that lovely introduction,” Sunset began. “I’m really flattered that you are all here to join us for this momentous occasion, and I would like to thank each and every one of you for making me feel welcome in Equestria.” The crowd stamped their hooves again, and cheered loudly for Sunset. “That being said,” Sunset continued. “I would be lying if I said that I deserve all of the credit. Yes, I risked my life to defeat Inferno, but I’m not the only one with that distinction. Five thousand years ago, Princess Celestia battled Inferno and imprisoned him within Canterlot Mountain, thereby saving hundreds of generations of ponies from a terrible fate. And today, when all hope seemed lost, and I was ready to give up and let Inferno win, six extraordinarily talented and brave ponies came to my rescue. If it weren’t for those six ponies, I wouldn’t be here today, and that’s why I would like to have them come up on stage and be recognized: Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy and Twilight, could you come up on stage, please?” Much like Sunset, the six ponies were a bit shy as they trotted onto the stage and looked at the crowd, but they smiled and waved regardless. “These six ponies saved me in more ways than they know,” Sunset Shimmer explained. “Not only did they literally pull me from the jaws of death, but they also accepted me as a friend, even though they knew that I did some things in my past that I’m not really proud of.” Sunset shuffled her hooves in embarrassment, and continued. “But I need to get this off my chest: I need to let everypony know about my past and hopefully, we can put it behind us. Many years ago, I was Princess Celestia’s most prized pupil: I could learn and perform any spell perfectly in a matter of minutes, but over time, I became impatient and bitter. I kept insisting that I was ready for the final step of my studies, to become an alicorn, the most powerful of all equine species, but Princess Celestia insisted time and time again that I was not ready. She suggested that I leave my studies behind for a few hours a day, and go outside to make friends, but I believed that friendship was just a distraction to true power, and refused to leave my studies for any reason. Finally, I found a portal to an alternate world, where I planned to use a magical artifact from Equestria to turn the citizens in that world into my personal army, so that I could return to Equestria and get revenge on Princess Celestia.” Sunset sighed, and then continued her story. “But Princess Twilight Sparkle traveled to the alternate world to confront me, and managed to stop be before I went too far. I stayed in that world for a few more years, and managed to make friends with everyone I met, but I knew that I couldn’t rest until I had returned home and made up for my mistakes here in Equestria. So today, I got up the nerve to return to Equestria and apologize to Princess Celestia, and ended up defeating a terrible, evil dragon and saving my home from destruction.” Sunset looked up at the crowd with a sad look in her eyes, almost expecting them to start throwing rotten tomatoes at her. “So, that’s my story. If you want me to be banished from Equestria or thrown in the dungeon, I won’t resist. I’ll be at peace knowing that I have finally put my past behind me and made things right.” Sunset cringed for a moment, waiting for somepony to yell at her or throw something at her, but there was no response, not even a cough. After a few seconds, two ponies stepped up onto the stage, approached Sunset Shimmer and gave her a hug. Sunset was surprised, to say the least, but she returned the hug and gave a closer look at the two ponies that had been brave enough to not just forgive her, but also accept her. They both had long, brown manes and blue coats with tufts of white here and there: the male had a dark blue coat and dark brown hair, while the female had a sea blue coat with hair as brown as chocolate.
“Wait a minute, I recognize you!” Sunset declared. “You’re the ponies who were being threatened by Inferno when he arrived in Ponyville!”
“That’s right,” the male confirmed. “We were just taking a walk through the farmer’s market when the dragon arrived,” the female explained. “And although we tried to hide under a fruit stand when he landed, he found us and threatened to kill us before destroying the town!”
“But you came and saved us at the last minute,” the female added. “And although the citizens in Canterlot might not have seen your heroic acts, I can honestly say that my boyfriend and I know without a doubt that you truly are a kind and selfless pony.”
“We now know about the bad things that you did in your past, but we are willing to forgive you regardless and accept you for who you are.” the male concluded. “As far as we can tell, you’ve finished your studies, because you now have friends in Ponyville, Canterlot, and all over Equestria.” The duo embraced Sunset once more as the crowd stamped their hooves and cheered happily. Sunset looked up at the two ponies with tears of joy streaming down her cheeks.
“Thank you so much, Mr. …?” Sunset began.
“Oh! My name is Melody Guardian,” the stallion explained. “And this is my marefriend, Chiascura.” Chiascura gave Sunset a warm smile and waved at her in greeting.
“Thank you so much, Melody and Chiascura.” Sunset said. “I can’t tell you how happy I am to have you both as friends.” Then Sunset turned to the crowd and said, “I want to thank you all for accepting me, that is the greatest gift that anypony could ever give me. It is a great honor to call myself an Equestrian.” Once again, the crowd erupted with cheering and the stomping of hooves, whereupon Sunset Shimmer bowed gracefully, and the party came to its conclusion. After the party was cleaned up, Twilight offered Sunset a room for the night in her castle, which Sunset gladly accepted. The bed was large and comfortable, but Sunset was restless: in the morning, she knew that she would be forced to make a very difficult, but nonetheless important decision.