“Sunset,” Lance barely whispered.
“Yeah, it’s me,” she gave a nervous smile as she stepped out from her hiding place.
Sunset waited, staring at him. The only thing that reminded her of reality was Philomena purposely heating up to get her attention. She barely registered Twilight and her brothers watching on.
Suddenly there was movement. Lance surged forward, almost knocking her over with a hug. She could feel him crying, tears seeping into her coat. Then again, she was pretty sure she was crying too.
“Stars, I thought I‘d never see you again!” Lance choked out.
“I didn’t either,” she managed to say.
After a few minutes, Twilight managed to drag them into a dining room. She sent Spike off to the kitchen to make something to eat, while she and Shining sat across from them.
“Stars, where’ve you been?” Lance asked, still smiling.
“That’s a long story,” Sunset answered. “Tell me how everyone’s been! What’s happned?”
“Most things are the same,” he said. “Mom’s still writing. I have a box of the best ones saved in case you ever came back.”
“And by best you mean worst,” she smiled.
“Did you expect anything less?” he laughed. “I’d tell you about what Dad’s doing at work, but honestly all that technical jargon just flies over my head. They’re doing good, but they’re still worried about you.”
“I know,” she said. “I’ll visit them soon.”
“Speaking of family,” he said. “When you left, Mom and Dad had been trying to get us a little sister. If I had known why I was coming here, I would’ve brought her. Her name’s Flare and I’m sure you’ll love her!”
“I’m sure I will, and I can’t wait to meet her,” she smiled. “Is she with Mom and Dad or what?”
“Oh, well, no,” he said. “She lives with me in the Crystal Empire now. So does Sunburst. He’s babysitting right now.”
“That reminds me,” she said. “Apparently Twilight here has made friends with one of Sunburst’s old friends. Do you remember Starlight Glimmer? Purple-ish pink, purple mane with a blue streak? She was at his twelfth birthday party?”
“I remember her,” he nodded. “I especially remember her knocking me over in the soaped up bouncy castle. That filly was ruthless.”
“Whose bright idea was a soaped up bouncy castle?” Shining interrupted.
“Lance!” Sunset said, guiltily pointing a hoof at him.
“Sunset!” Lance said, just as guilty pointing back.
They paused, sheared a glance, and then broke into giggles. Every time one of them tried to stop, they’d look at one another and laugh again. Twilight and Shining rolled their eyes in response, but both were smiling as well.
“Okay, but what about you?” Sunset asked once they managed to stop laughing.
“What about me?” Lance answered with a question.
“Well, from what I remember of your love life at the time, it doesn’t look like it worked out,” she said, with a pointed look at Shining Armor.
“Well, I uh,” he stammered, his face quickly turning the color of Sunset’s mane as he looked for a way out. “I did get transferred to the Crystal Empire! Partly because apparently we’re descended from the Crystal Ponies who escaped before it disappeared. We’ve been helping them catch up, so to speak. And I’ve heard that once Stormfall retires I might be the new captain.”
“I can neither confirm nor deny that,” Shining said, smiling with false innocence.
“Congratulations and good luck,” Sunset said.
“Enough about us,” Lance said. “Where’ve you been? What’s happened?”
“Well, that’s uh, quite a story?” she said, nervously glancing at Twilight.
Twilight gave a gentle smile in response. Shining, who she was sure knew most of the story from Twilight, gave as much of a reassuring look as he could. Taking a deep breath, she decided to start at the beginning.
“You remember how I was back then?” Sunset asked. “Angry, fighting, all of that. Mostly because I felt somehow ‘not enough’ and ‘more than enough’.”
“Trust me, I remember,” he said. “Sorry I couldn’t help more.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” she said. “But so, what I kept trying to do was impress Princess Celestia, to be enough for her, and that meant becoming powerful enough to become a princess myself. After months of nothing working, I might’ve gotten desperate enough to break into the restricted section of the library and try out the Dark Magic section?”
“Sunny,” he sighed.
“It gets worse,” she chuckled nervously. “Because Princess Celestia found me there. At that point we fought, I demanded she make me a princess, and when she refused I chucked a book at her and ran off.
“Specifically,” she continued, not giving him a chance to speak, “I ran into an alternate Dimension where everyone has a counterpart that’s them but not them. I then continued to be a massive bitch to nearly everyone I met there. Of course, then there’s the whole Fall Formal incident a few months ago.”
“Well, the portal was open again. So I came back, stole the Element of Magic, fled to the other Dimension and attempted to use it, but was taken over by dark magic and turned into a literal demon, hypnotized a school full of students and staff into being my zombie army, tried to kill Twilight, and got a rainbow blast of Friendship to the face, ending up in a newly formed crater?”
Lance just stared in open-mouthed disbelief. Sunset only stayed quiet for a few seconds, wanting to push away the awkwardness.
“Obviously I’m fine now,” she smiled nervously. “I mean, I’m here, with Twilight, and obviously not arrested!”
Lance just stared, looking between all three of them. His expression was almost asking ‘are you serious?’. Twilight and Shining kept a straight face, telling him it wasn’t a joke.
“She’s the reason we had the Crystal Guard retrained on how patrols work,” Shining shrugged.
“She has been doing better since then,” Twilight said. “Sunset’s made a good hoofful of friends, and has used the Element of Magic properly alongside myself, and more recently in my place.”
“I feel like the most surprising fact in all that is that I have friends now,” Sunset smirked.
“Sunset, you are my sister and I love you, but what the fuck?” Lance asked.
“The real question is how do we tell mom and dad?” she replied.
“Good luck?” he answered.
“Well, I can stay for a few days,” she shrugged. “I’ll figure it out.”
“Are you sure you can be away from the other world that long?” Twilight asked. “Legally speaking, you are supposed to go to school.”
“They still make you go to school in this Alternate Dimension?” Lance asked.
“Weird cultural differences,” Sunset shrugged. “Besides, other than yesterday, I have perfect attendance and my grades are always up. And all of my classes have at least one of our friends in them, so they can send any homework assignments through the portal. “
“You can stay here,” Twilight offered. “When you’re not with your family, I mean. You could make friends with your friends!”
“Fair enough,” she laughed.
Sunset was about to say more when they heard a scream of shock. Looking over her shoulder, she saw the door that she could’ve sworn led back to the throne room. However, a smaller door inside the door seemed to open into a steaming bathroom instead. Standing in the doorway was a pinkish Unicorn, her body and mane wrapped in towels.
“What- I just-I don’t,” the mare stammered. “I didn’t even go downstairs!”
“Oh, that’s what I forgot to tell you,” Spike said, leaning out of the kitchen. “The castle’s malfunctioning.”
“I can see that,” Twilight retorted, gesturing to the mare. “By the way, now you’ve met Starlight.”
“It didn’t malfunction for us earlier,” Sunset frowned. “Really, everything was where I expected. Oh, and hello.”
“Hi?” Starlight replied. “So, have any ideas on why it’s happening?”
“I think the castle’s mad at you?” Twilight said.
Everyone except Sunset gave her a look. Starlight finished drying her mane and used her magic to send the towels somewhere.
“Your Time Spells,” Twilight rolled her eyes. “The Map is the centerpoint of the castle, and is made through the magic of the Elements of Harmony. You used it to anchor your Time Spells, and hop through worlds that had it not existing.”
“Hey, I’m the one that overloaded it,” Sunset said.
“How did you manage to do that?” Starlight asked.
“Long story?” she answered. “Anyway. Hi, I’m Sunset Shimmer.”
“Starlight Glimmer,” she replied. “And I feel like I’m probably interrupting something here.”
“Hey, it’s not your fault the castle decided to dump you here,” she shrugged.
“Technically-“ Spike began before getting a quick glare from Twilight.
The other three snickered at that. Twilight just gave an innocent-yet-apologetic smile while Spike glared back at her.
“Anyway,” Lance said as their laughter trailed off. “Kinda wish I took more time off, knowing why I got dragged down here.”
“Told you,” Shining smirked.
Lance just stuck his tongue out at him. Sunset wiggled her eyebrows at the both of them. Twilight and Spike snickered at the exchange, but Starlight looked a little lost at the whole display.
“As I was saying,” Lance sighed. “Another reason I couldn’t take more time off is because I already took time off Wednesday and Thursday for Flare’s birthday. Usually I couldn’t take more off on short notice but-“
“But when mister Prince says go you go?” Sunset smiled.
“Listen, he practically dragged me here,” he said.
“Now that’s not true,” Shining smiled. “Technically speaking, I wanted to take a surprise visit to my sister and just so happened to pick you as my personal Guard while I’m away. It was totally a coincidence that your runaway sister just so happened to be visiting.”
“That’s bull and you know it,” he retorted. “You just showed up, told me to toss my armor back in storage, and literally dragged me on the train. In front of everyone. Do you realize how long it’ll take me to live that down?”
“Exactly,” he shrugged. “I might not technically be a Guard anymore, but I’m still allowed in on the Guard pranks.”
“True,” Lance nodded. “But you’re forgetting the retaliation clause. Now, how do you think the ponies of Equestria would react if they find out that their Prince of the Crystal Empire not only suddenly told a Guard to take off his armor and dragged off to some secret mission, but it happened to be one of the transfers you personally picked and have known for so many years? I wonder if Valor still has the pictures from that Nightmare Night party?”
“You wouldn’t,” his face dropped immediately.
“No, I’d never send reporters after you,” he laughed. “However, some of the Crystal Ponies don’t quite get how rabid reporters of this time can be. And Valor is ruthless.”
“You know,” Sunset mused. “It’s things like that that make me glad my goal of being a princess went down in literal flames.”
“Tell me about it,” Twilight sighed. “I managed to completely derail Rarity’s business just by wearing a dress.”
“As I was saying,” Lance said, ignoring the terror on Shining’s face. “I was taking Wednesday and Thursday off anyway because it’s Flare’s birthday. We’re heading back to see mom and dad in Canterlot and have her party there. I think ‘a new big sister’ would be a great birthday present, don’t you think?”
“I wouldn’t want to take mom and dad’s attention from her,” Sunset said.
“Well, either show up later in the day or just shoot for Thursday,” he shrugged. “They still live in the same place, so you should be able to find your way back.”
“And a day or two gives you time to meet everyone here in Ponyville!” Twilight chirped.
“Sounds like a plan,” Sunset agreed.