//------------------------------// // Questions that need answering. // Story: Home or hearth? // by keroko //------------------------------// Day came, as it always does, with the rising of the sun, its first beams poking through the curtains and finding Sunset's slumbering eyes with unerring accuracy. The unicorn grumbled and shifted in her bed, trying to dodge the rays of sunshine, but even turning around met with little success, the light bouncing off... something on the walls of her bedroom straight back into her slowly waking eyes. "I swear you're doing this on purpose" Sunset growled drowsily at the offending star. "Not something I'd put past the Princess" a voice agreed. Sunset's mind flared from 'slowly waking up' to 'rushed awake' at hearing an unknown voice in her room. She whirled around on her bed, stumbling as her hand failed to find purchase on the mattress. Her eyes scanned the room- and stopped. Rushed awake is a funny state to be in. Technically awake, but still a bit slow when trying to process things. Scanning the room Sunset found a complete absence of her normal one-room apartment, instead she was in a bedroom made out off... crystal? It was a pretty big room, about the size of her apartment if not as high. It was pretty bare, containing only a bed (and a luxurious one at that, way more comfortable than her mattress), a closet, a nightstand with lamp and a rug. There were also two doors, one -she assumed- leading to a bathroom and the other... The other had a small purple scaled and green finned dragon standing in its opening, with a wide grin on its face. "Morning Sunset" the dragon said, and now that she was somewhat more awake she could finally place the voice. "Spike?" she asked. Spike's grin grew wider. "In the scales! Now 100% less dog and 100% more pure awesome dragon!" Sunset couldn't help but grin herself as the tiny dragon flexed like a superhero from a comic. "Anyway" Spike said as he puffed out and relaxed his stance, "Twilight told me to wake you up for breakfast." Sunset blinked. "Twilight is making breakfast?" "No, I'm making breakfast. Twilight told me you popped in for a visit last evening and went straight to bed, so we figured we'd let you sleep in for a spell. But breakfast is called breakfast for a reason, soooo..." Spike trailed off as he stepped to the side and waved at the door. "Right, right, on my way oh mighty dragon lord" Sunset said with a grin and a roll of her eyes. She slipped her feet of the bed and got up- "Whu-whoa!" Sunset yelped as she struggled to maintain her balance, she almost tipped forward until she threw back her head and found some balance. She still felt like she could topple forward any moment, but at least she was standing. "Uhh, Sunset?" Spike prodded, hesitation thick in his voice. "Ye-whoa! Yeah?" Sunset asked, nearly losing her balance again as she turned to Spike. "Not that I don't understand the pleasure of standing on two legs, but isn't four more comfortable?" Sunset blinked and looked down at her arms- or rather, her legs. Legs with hooves, rather than hands. She blinked and slowly lowered them to the ground again, hitting the crystal tiles with a subdued clop. Now that her mind was no longer running on exhausted auto-pilot, she took a moment to just feel standing on four legs again. Everything suddenly felt taller as she halved her own height. "That long ago, huh?" Spike's voice called from the doorway, dragging her back to reality. "Yeah, I guess. It's like.. I don't know, slipping back into old shoes after wearing new ones for a while?" "I'll take your word for it." Spike said as he wriggled the shoe-less claws of his feet. "Right, one more thing to get used to again" Sunset remarked dryly as she looked back at her own unclad form. Human clothing had taken surprisingly little time to get used to. Ponies generally didn't feel naked because of their coats, but any pony who had lost some of their coat, in an accident or because of a surgery, would try to cover it up. Humans didn't have coats at all, so being clothed at all times felt... logical. Now though? Sunset drew a deep breath and stretched, enjoying the feel of her coat rippling through the motion. It felt good.. Right in a way her human clothing never did. Well, except maybe her jacket. She did really like that one. Even after Rarity insisted on an 'image change', she refused to give up her jacket. "Going to have to look into getting one over here" she murmured. "Did you say something?" Spike asked, still standing in the doorway. "Hmm? Oh, nothing, just wondering if I could get a jacket over here" Sunset smiled and walked past the dragon. "Anyway, breakfast, right? Which way do we go?" "This way, the dining hall is a few corridors down." Spike pointed as he ran up to walk by the mare's side and the two walked down the corridor. Clip-clop clip-clop clip-clop. Sunset's ear twitched at the familiar sound. Those were hooves, her hooves. She'd heard it on occasion, back when she visited Applejack's farm, but this was the first time in a long time that she could actually feel the beats as the keratin of her hooves made contact with the crystal floor. "I have hooves again." Sunset couldn't repress the grin making its way on her face, nor did she stop her legs as she moved from a slow trot into a canter. Clipetyclop clipetyclop clipetyclop "Wait! Sunset!" A screech sounded from the crystal floor as Sunset ground to a halt, turning back her head to see Spike hurrying across the floor to catch up with her on his two little legs. "Oh." Sunset said as she realized there was no way he was going to keep up with her. She smiled apologetically at the little dragon. "Sorry about that Spike." "Yeesh, you're *huff* almost like a cooped up pegasus finally being let out" Spike grumbled. Sunset reached up to scratch the back of her head awkwardly. "Sorry" she said again "I just felt like cutting loose a bit. It's been a long time since I had hooves." Spike shook his head "no no, it's fine, just let me climb up first." Sunset blinked and opened her mouth to ask what Spike meant, but her words dissolved into a yelp as tiny claws scampered across her flank and a small weight settled on her back. Sunset turned her neck back and levelled the dragon with a critical eyebrow. "Getting comfortable?" she asked archly. Spiked crossed his arms and returned her raised eyebrow with one of his own. "Hey, if you don't want to wait for breakfast either slow down or take me along. Your choice." Sunset snorted. "Alright, but don't blame me if you fall off." "Oh don't worry" Spike replied. "Twilight's carried me around since I hatched, I'm used to this." Sunset hummed. That made sense, it really wasn't that different from carrying a foal around. Not that she'd ever done that herself, she'd quite firmly set herself 'above' such 'mundane' things back when she was Princess Celestia's student. "Well then, Sir Spike, hang on and show me where to go. We have a breakfast to catch, and we're going to do it fast!" Sunset reared and dashed off, skipping the trot and going straight for a full gallop. Spike remained expertly strapped to her back, holding bits of her mane in a gentle but firm grip and leaning in with her as he called out directions. Sunset felt elated, the sound of hooves on solid ground and the rush of wind through her mane brought back feelings of joy she hadn't even known she had missed. A sharp turn left, a fast sprint through a straight corridor, a flick of magic to throw open the doors, Sunset let out a cheer as she noticed a large table on the other side, dashing through the door and skidding to a halt. She drew several deep breaths as she stood there, a grin from ear to ear on her face. "Well somepony is certainly feeling a lot better today" the amused voice of Princess Twilight sounded, making her ears flick as she turned towards one of the seats at the table. It was the first time, Sunset realized, that she actually got a good look at Princess Twilight Sparkle. The small chase in what she had later learned was the Crystal Palace hadn't given her a lot of time, and the rest was with Twilight's human form. Twilight was calmly sitting on one of six low seats around a circular table, a purple coat with a blazing starburst cutie mark on her flank and a purple mane and tail that were not all that different from her human form's hair. Sunset's eyes trailed from the horn she knew Twilight was born with down to the wings Twilight had earned. The sign of a Princess of Equestria. "So what got you two racing through the castle?" Twilight asked. "Sunset wanted to see if her legs still worked" Spike said joyfully as he jumped of her back. "I didn't want to be left behind, so I hitched a ride." There was a slight narrowing of Twilight's eyes, even though the smile never left her face. "Spike, what did I tell you about being a kitchen dictator with guests?" The tone was light, as if this was hardly the first time Twilight had told the young drake this, and knew full well it wouldn't be the last. "Sunset's a friend, and friends don't count." Spike shot back, sticking out his tongue. He then turned to Sunset. "So what do you want for breakfast?" Sunset paused. "Uhm, what do you have? I'm kind of out of practice with Equestrian breakfasts." "Well, I could make an alfalfa salad, get some oats to cook or eggs and baked hay, maybe pancakes" Spike started counting the dishes on his claws, pausing for a moment and trying very badly to suppress a grin as he continued. "Or I could make some haycakes." Sunset's ears sprang up and her eyes widened. "You have haycakes?" Spike's grin threatened to split his face apart. "Great! Haycakes it is. And that means..." he trailed off as he took a glance at Twilight, who rolled her eyes in reply. "Yes, that means amethyst cakes for you. Now get going you cheeky drake." "I'll get started right away!" Spike said as he waddled of to the kitchen. Sunset watched Spike waddle into the kitchen as Twilight chuckled. "He's always looking for excuses to sneak in amethyst cakes." "Amethyst cakes?" Twilight nodded as she waved Sunset over to one of the chairs next to her. "You know how dragons can eat minerals? Turns out they're a delicacy to dragons. Spike's perfectly capable of eating omnivorous meals, but gems? Gems get him drooling. So the first time I left him alone in the kitchen, he decided to start making gem pancakes and came up with the amethyst cake. But I didn't want him to stuff his face with only amethyst pancakes, so we made a deal: whenever we eat haycakes, he gets to make amethyst pancakes." Sunset chuckled. "You sound like his mother." "Oh no" Twilight said, shaking her head with a chuckle. "My parents are his legal guardians. I mean, I was only nine when I hatched him." "Wait, you hatched him?" Sunset interrupted. Twilight nodded. "Yes, that was my entrance exam for Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns." Sunset's eyes widened "The dragon egg hatching? They gave you the dragon egg hatching test? And you passed it? That test wasn't even designed to be passed!" Twilight nodded. "Oh yes, that was a doozy. Got my cutie mark when I did it too. I'll tell you all about it later, but first" Twilight leaned on the table, letting her cheek rest on her hooves and her eyes focused on Sunset "I think we should talk about your story. You did promise me answers last night." Sunset sighed as she made herself comfortable in her chair. It took a bit of fiddling to find the right sitting posture again, but eventually her body found itself a nice position. "Yeah, I did promise that" she said, flicking her tail. "I just... don't know where to start." "How about from where we left off?" Twilight suggested gently. "You've already told me most of what happened with Anon-a-Miss, how someone was using this 'internet' to make everyone think you were spilling secrets, and last night you told me you had 'found your family' when you came through the portal." Sunset chewed in the inside of her cheek for a moment as she considered her reply. "After my friends told me they wanted nothing to do with me anymore, I felt... alone. Like I felt that night after the fall formal when I was at the bottom of that crater, only a dozen times worse. I mean, I always knew I wouldn't just get away with what I've done. I was an absolute tyrant for years in CHS, and the evidence -especially the photo's from my phone- were pretty damning. But... I wanted to change, I really, really wanted to change. And when I finally got friends, it felt like the best thing in the world." "I know the feeling" Twilight mused. "And when they turned their backs on me..." Sunset trailed off, her eyes moving from Twilight to the silverware on the table. "Yeah, I know that feeling too." Sunset's eyes perked and her head jerked to Twilight. She could practically taste the bitterness when Twilight said that. "You? but how-" Twilight ruffled her wings and sighed. "I'll tell you later. They're not exactly the happiest memories for me either, but suffice to say I know a little bit about feeling like you lost all your friends." She levelled Sunset with a determined gaze. "But I also know a lot about getting them back." Sunset felt her ears wilt slightly at the gaze, but shook her head. "I don't know, Twilight. Even when I swore that I had nothing to do with it, nobody believed me." "Was there really nopo-nobody who took your side? Who listened to you?" A memory popped to the front of Sunset's mind. Blue hair and a jacket, a worried face and an awkward hand scratching the back of his head. "...There was one." she murmered. "Flash found me right before I went through the portal." "Flash Sentry?" Twilight's ears went ramrod straight as Twilight's eyes sparkled, but then dimmed as a questioning look passed her face. It held for a moment before she shook her head. "So did he try to stop you?" Sunset shook her head with a smile. "No, he actually told me I was being too stubborn trying to stay and fix everything myself and told me to take a break." "But he believed you. Believed that it wasn't you." Twilight noted. "Yeah, he did." Sunset agreed. "He didn't say it in those exact words, but he did." "And what about principal Celestia? Or vice-principal Luna?" Twilight pressed, sitting up straight in her chair and letting a slow smile spread across her face. Sunset frowned at Twilight's newfound optimism. "Why would they even believe me? In all the years I've gone to them, it was always to frame someone else for something I cooked up. This would be exactly that, only this time they'd have plenty of 'proof' to believe it was me." "But did you try?" "Well, no, but-" Twilight's hooves met the table with a clack as she reared up on her hind legs, wings unfurling in full and a smile on her face. "Then we should do that first! We'll talk to principal Celestia and vice-principal Luna, tell them your side of the story and-" "NO!" Sunset saw Twilight flinch at her voice, but her mind was elsewhere. Back in the hallway of Canterlot High, surrounded by glaring, accusing students. She shook her head to clear the memory, but even though it retreated the feeling of dread stubbornly remained. "I don't want to go back Twilight. Not yet. I just- I just want to get away from all this, just for a little while." She could feel her ears droop again and her eyes started to get blurry. She wasn't sure whether it was because she was a pony again, or because she was with a true friend, or maybe even the conversation with Luna, but she felt a lot of the walls she had built up crack. Sunset startled as two furry legs and a pair of wings wrapped around her. She could feel Twilight's head on her neck as the princess drew her into a hug. "T-Twilight?" "I'm sorry" Twilight's voice tickled her ear, "I... get wrapped up in things sometimes, especially when it comes to friendship since it's kind of my duty now. I won't do anything if you're not comfortable with it. But... I just want to help. Not just because I'm the Princess of Friendship, but because you're my friend." Sunset raised her own arms and returned the hug. "I know Twilight, and thanks. I just need a little bit of time, that's all. Like Flash said, just an early holiday." "You're welcome to stay here as long as you like" Twilight said, pulling back from the hug to look Sunset in the eyes with a smile. Sunset smiled back. "Thanks, Twilight." The two friends just smiled for a moment, before a cough from the kitchen drew their attention. "Well, now that the friendship moment is over, how about we start breakfast?" Spike said as he walked to the table, two plates with stacks of the most delicious looking brown hay filled pancakes in each of his hand and a third with a stack of pancakes with a purple glitter on his head. "Here you go Sunset" the dragon noted as he put one of the two plates in front of Sunset. Sunset Shimmer felt the drool building up in her mouth and drip down, and she did nothing to stop it. Propriety be damned, stupid human body hadn't let her enjoy proper Equestrian food in years. Not even bothering with the syrup or silverware, Sunset let instinct and old memories take over and chomped down into the stack. She closed her eyes as the fluffy taste of pancakes and the firmer taste of hay hit her tongue and happily hummed as she chewed. A double giggle drew her away from the slices of heaven on her plate as she turned to look at Twilight and Spike, who had taken a seat on Twilight's other side. Both of them were giving her cheshire grins. "I don't think I need to ask whether the haycakes are good" Spike quipped. Sunset rolled her eyes, and rather than dignify the dragon's quip with a quip of her own, swallowed and took another bite out of the stack. That was as good an answer as any, she thought. Meanwhile in Canterlot, another breakfast was taking place. This one of considerably more propriety, as one would expect of a breakfast at Celestia's table. Celestia herself had not yet started her breakfast, despite the many bowls of fruit on the table, waiting as she was for her sister to whom this would probably count as dinner. She had always found it amusing that she was the first of the two to rise, even though Luna had technically yet to go to sleep. But her sister took her duties as Princess of the Night seriously, and would not abandon her watch as long as ponies were still sleeping. Even if those ponies were just trying to dodge Celestia's day. Eventually Celestia could hear the clopping of silver shoed hooves approaching. Her ear flicked as she noticed a certain bounce in the steps. Somepony was in a good mood. The doors were opened calmly by the guard, and as Luna entered Celestia called out. "Good morning sister, had a good night?" "Invigorating!" Luna called back. "t'has been a long time since we had the opportunity to help somepony so surprisingly close to us." Oh? Now this sounded interesting. Celestia always enjoyed a good gossip or two, but her sister finding a pony close to her? Now that was just a juicy apple being dangled in front of her. "Really Luna?" Celestia purred as she steepled her hooves. "Anypony I know, by chance?" Luna stopped and her ears waggled. This gave Celestia pause, as long years with her sister taught her to recognise Luna's signature 'I know something but I'm not sure I should tell Celestia' tick. "Luna?" Celestia called. "Is everything alright?" Celestia noted Luna chewing on her lip for a moment more before sighing. "Oh fie, you would discover swiftly anyway." Luna took her place at the other end of the table and started. "Last night I had the pleasure to help a most interesting young mare with her nightmares" she noted, picking a few choice pieces of the many fruits of the bowls for an impromptu salad. "As it turns, your former student, Sunset Shimmer, has chosen to temporarily return to Equestria." Celestia started, her wings ruffling out almost to their full length and she all but leapt from her chair. "Sunset is back?" "Indeed, she is at Twilight Sparkle's castle right now. Though before you jump out the window to join your former students, know that Sunset's return is not entirely of her volition." "She was banished?" Celestia asked shocked. "No" Luna replied bluntly, but paused. "And yes. She is facing trouble in the world beyond the mirror and felt she needed to retreat to Equestria for a while." Celestia's eyes widened. "She's in trouble? I have to go! I have to help!" the Princess turned around to the nearest window, the one leading to the open balcony, but before she could even take a single step she could feel a firm tug on her mane. "Calm thyself sister." Luna said as she poured herself a glass of juice. "The problems Sunset Shimmer is facing are those of friendship. She is already in the right hooves for the situation." "But-" Celestia protested, but Luna did not give her a chance to finish. "You would waltz into Twilight's domain?" Luna noted archly. "Do we not remember what happened the last time one of us tried to press into another Princess's domain?" Luna shook her head. "No, sister, leave this to Twilight. There are many pains, both old and new, that haunt your former students. And lest we forget, you yourself are part of those pains." Celestia flinched as if struck. "I just want to help her..." she muttered. "I know, Celestia. But I have seen her dreams. Sunset will need time to tackle her current problem, and she cannot do so if she has to tackle you at the same time." Celestia sighed. "Can you at least tell me what dreams plague her? If you were there they must have been nightmares." Luna shook her head. "You know I cannot. The dreams of our subjects are their own. And while it is my duty to enter their dreams to guard and guide, it is also my duty to keep those dreams private." Luna rose from the table and made her way to her sister, sitting down next to the mare and pulling her into a hug with her wing. "Have faith in your students, Celestia. Twilight will never give up helping Sunset, and Sunset herself has taken the first step in returning home. But both will need time." Celestia nodded and leaned into Luna's embrace. They weren't words she wanted to hear, but Celestia knew they were words she needed to hear. Celestia remembered with crystal clarity the events that led up to Sunset's self imposed exile and she knew full well the part she had played in it. If there was any bad blood remaining on Sunset's side, pushing her would only lead to disaster. Celestia turned to stare at the sun she had just raised, the fiery orb reminding her of a certain student's mane and tail. "Sunset..."