Sunset Reset

by LordBrony2040


Chapter 25: Thursday is for Total Drama

Cadance was worried.

What she was worried about was mostly caused by the uncertainty of what was going on before her, which was a nervous equine mare as tall as the biggest earth pony stallions nervously prancing in place as Cadance and Sunset stood across the street from Shining Armor’s house. While seeing the amber alicorn ill at ease wasn't as much an oddity as it had been before they became friends, it still was a cause for concern.

“Maybe we should just go on to school,” Sunset said before she let out a nervous whine and looked from the house over to Cadance. “Or home. We should go home. Home would definitely be better. Let's go home, Cadance.”

The pink pony princess gave Sunset an even look. Whatever was bothering her obviously revolved around her desire to avoid Shining Armor. “Just what was it you said to Shiny yesterday, anyway?”

A few seconds under the flat stare Cadance was giving her had Sunset shrinking in on herself. “I...kind of told Shiny that we could never be happy together because I would be a constant reminder of how he would never be able to achieve anything that could hope to compare to a fraction of what I could do, and that you needed somepony around to constantly watch your back and give you emotional support,” the amber alicorn eventually confessed. “And I might have said you’d also make a better girlfriend because you’re prettier...maybe.”

“You...WHAT!?” Candace yelled before she decided to take a page from Sunset’s playbook of angry thought. To help her get in the mood, she focused on all the things Sunset had done in the past few weeks that had really gotten under Cadance’s coat. Not the scary stuff like that disturbing magic she used on the guard captain, but how her infuriating friend did things to ruin what was obviously the best relationship she could have with a stallion! “Okay, that’s it!” Not even bothering to consider if her still unstable levitation magic would end up crushing a living creature, Cadance focused on her horn, snatched Sunset up in her magic before she could respond, and stomped her way across the street.

As she did, Sunset kicked her hooves in the air. “Ow! Little tight Cadance and-wait, did Mom ever teach you to put up a feedback dampener?”

“A what?” Cadance asked with a frown that had nothing to do with confusion as they reached the other side of the street.

Sunset groaned. “It’s this internal shield that keeps your extra appendage from exploding if another unicorn forces your magic back inside your horn,” she explained. “Which I’m gonna guess is no.”

Ignoring Sunset’s explanation, Cadance knocked Shiny’s front door open and stormed her way inside his house. She wasn’t about to let Sunset’s overly technical explanations stop her from getting the pony she was in love with together with the young stallion she had a nice crush on that probably would have fit better with Cadance herself. When Shining Armor wasn’t right in the doorway to greet the angry pony, Cadance took in a deep breath and…

“SHINING ARMOR! YOU GET YOUR CUTE FLANK OUT HERE IN FRONT OF ME, RIGHT NOW!”

While the room was still shaking from Cadance’s royal volume, the young stallion with the white coat and blue mane came trotting out from the back of the living room where the family sat for breakfast, followed by the rest of the ponies that lived in the household. “Y-Yes Princess Cadance?” he asked nervously as he approached.

The fact that he was being timid in front of Sunset, something Cadance had told Shiny numerous times was a bad thing because of the angry alicorn’s uncontrollable temper that tended to make her act in an irrational manner from time to time, only increased Cadance’s ire. “Listen up, and stop cowering when I’m talking to you!” she demanded. “As Princess of Love, I am ordering you to forget all the stupid things Sunset told you yesterday morning! When it comes to relationships, I’m the expert, and she’s an idiot!”

“Hey!” Sunset said.

“And another thing! While I am the ponification of traditional beauty with a perfectly proportioned body, bright colored coat, and multi-colored mane,” Cadance admitted before she spun Sunset around to face the door to add a visual to her explanation. “Sunset’s plot is the envy of every young mare in Canterlot!”

The amber alicorn looked over to the pink princess with a frown. “Cadance, I am seriously considering taking the risk and-”

“Now come here Shiny!” Cadance said right on top of Sunset.

“Eh?” Sunset got out before freezing up.

With a slow and nervous trot, Shining Armor approached the pair of princess. “Uh, Cadance, what’s this abou-whoa!” he exclaimed before a light blue glow around his hooves forced Shining Armor to latch his front legs onto Sunset’s posterior.

“Just feel how those round cheeks are so perfectly soft and squeezable for the first three inches before you hit that wall of fine muscle underneath,” Cadance told him. “Her plot is completely enveloping to a pony of our stature. And her plump rump doesn’t just mean sex appeal, those hips are perfect for bearing foals. Not to mention Sunset’s ample size would also mean she could provide enough milk for twins, or even triplets if it came to that. Which it probably would, considering her libido.”

“Cadance, I swear, if you don’t stop making Shining Armor feel me up, I really will give you an aneurysm,” Sunset told the pink princess through gritted teeth.

“Um, Princess Sunset?” a small voice belonging to a tiny purple pony that was standing next to her parents on the other side of the room with her hoof raised sounded out.

Sunset turned her head back to look at the little foal. “Yes, Twilight?”

“Princess Cadance stopped using her magic on my brother the second his hooves hit your plot,” Twilight told her.

“I...see,” Sunset said a second before Shining Armor withdrew his hooves in a blur of motion.

“By the way, Princess Cadance,” Twilight piped up again.

“Yes?” the pink alicorn asked as her mind started to slow down a bit, letting her common sense catch up with the rest of her.

Twilight tilted her head to the side. “I can understand that her foal bearing abilities is an important draw, but what does the softness and size of Sunset’s plot have to do with why Shiny should go out with her?”

“Uh…” Cadance told her as the more thoughtful portion of her brain finally started working again to let Cadance realize that she had just stormed into Shiny’s home, probably broken the lock on his door, then forced him to grope Sunset in front of his whole family, including a filly that was a bit too young to be wondering about why plots that jiggled when a mare trotted were desirable. “...ponyfeathers.”


Despite being the luckiest stallion in the world that probably wouldn’t be washing his hooves ever again, Shining Armor had to wonder if the option of dying his coat, painting over his cutie mark, changing his name, and moving to another city was an option for a colt his age as he walked down the street between the two princess on the way to school. He could get a nice, quiet job as a crossing guard, or a nighttime security pony, or something that wouldn’t attract the attention of the obviously crazy mares  that were flanking him at the moment, cutting off any hope of escape.

“What the buck were you thinking, Cadance?” Sunset demanded.

The pink princess stood up a little taller as she argued with the bigger pony. “I was trying to be assertive, like you!”

“Trying to be like me is not a good thing!” Sunset exclaimed.

“Yes it is,” Shining Armor said without much thought.

Both of the mares stopped, bringing Shining Armor’s trot to a halt as well as they looked over to him. “Say what now?” Sunset asked.

With both mares focused on him, Shining Armor felt a little embarrassed. He had just said that on instinct, not because he wanted to. “Well, not when you get like that, I mean,” he explained. “But...um...I don’t think it’s a bad thing that you’re so assertive, Princess Sunset. If not for you being like that, I probably would have never stood up to Buck, and Princess Cadance might not have dealt with Cinch the way she did. So...um, I don’t think it’s a bad thing that you’re...uh...like you.”

Shining Armor saw Sunset’s cheeks turn a bright red. “Yeah...well...um...that’s…” she coughed and looked away from the other two ponies. “Y-You’re just saying that because Cadance made you feel me up.”

With Sunset’s reasoning reminding him of that glorious moment, Shining Armor’s face began to feel a little hot, and he looked down at an interesting crack in the ground. “H-Hey, what happened to not talking about this relationship stuff?”

“Well Sunset got her two bits in yesterday!” Cadance told him defensively. “I had to say something to even it all out! Now that harmony’s been restored, we can all back off of it until you take one of us to the Formal on Friday.”

Off to his left, Sunset became thoughtful for a second and then nodded. “Agreed, truce is back on. We won’t say anything about you taking us to the Formal until you pick which one of us you want.”

The mention of the impending deadline had Shining Armor’s muscles seizing up. With today being Thursday, that meant he had to ask one of the mares out to the dance today. Well...there was Friday too, but...he didn’t think he would survive the day if he didn’t ask one of the girls out.

But as things were… “Well, I’ve been thinking,” he said hesitantly, silently praying Cadance didn’t go off on him for the sacrilege that was about to leave his mouth. “Maybe...it would be better for me not to go to the dance.”

Cadance’s whole body froze, with the exception of an eye that twitched ever so slightly.

“WHAT?” Sunset yelled in surprise before she grabbed Shining Armor by his shoulders with her hooves. “Shiny! You listen to me. You are going to that dance. I don’t even care if you do go with me! If you don’t go to that dance, if you throw away that experience, you’ll regret it. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not even next Monday when you’re back in school. But you’ll regret it, and you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.”

“Yes!” Cadance said. “You can even go with me! Don’t worry, I won’t be angry with you for picking me over Sunset! But she’s right, you need to go to that dance, understand?”

With both Princesses teaming up on him, Shining Armor couldn’t help but nod. “Oh-okay,” he stuttered, calming them both down immediately. “Just...can you both give me some time to think about it?”

“Of course,” Sunset agreed.

“Sure thing, Shiny,” Cadance added.

Now, he just needed to figure out a way to avoid being put into another relationship situation until Saturday.

Which the Fall Formal definitely was.

“So…” Sunset said thoughtfully as she fell back into formation. “Are you guys playing another O&O game, Saturday?”

Cadance raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean, you guys?” she asked. “You’re going to be there too, Sunset.”

The amber alicorn’s ears wilted at Cadance’s words. “Oh yeah...right.”


In the hours before school began, Sassy sat with her back up against the entrance to the stairwell on the Academy’s roof, lost in thought. She had skipped heading to school with Cheerilee to be alone with her thoughts, trying to think how she could follow Princess Cadance’s command to get Shining Armor to ask Princess Sunset to the Fall Formal by the end of the day. If she didn’t...well, Sassy wasn’t sure what Princess Cadance would do, but she knew it wouldn’t be good. She had seen the pink pony peeved before, it wasn’t a pretty sight.

It wasn’t that Shining Armor didn’t want to be with Princess Sunset. His eyes were drawn to all the right places when the amber alicorn was around and he hung on her every word, so it wasn’t just a physical attraction. The problem was, Shining Armor was just so hesitant. The only reason he even went out with Princess Cadance that one time was because the two Princesses made him and he hadn’t been able to refuse.

Even with Sassy encouraging him, it would be weeks before the colt ever got around to asking the big princess to the dance. Which would be over by then.

Sassy sighed at the insurmountably of her problem. Without a way for Shining Armor to ask Princess Sunset to the Formal without actually doing anything at all, there was no way that Shiny would be going to the dance with anypony. “So how am I supposed to do this?”


Fleur De Lis sat in her empty first period classroom, considering the problem that had been presented to her the day before. Princess Sunset had ordered her to help the amber alicorn ensure that Shining Armor would take Princess Cadance to the Fall Formal.

As far as she could tell, it was impossible. Not that Princess Cadance would say no if he asked. They had already been on a date, after all. A date that had ended with them kissing, or so Fleur had heard. However, the only reason they had gone on that date was because Princess Sunset had pushed them into it, and they hadn’t done anything since.

So Shining Armor taking the initiative and asking Princess Cadance out was...about as likely as Fleur suddenly sprouting wings and flying.

Fleur needed to find a way to pressure him into it. Not in a mean way though, Princess Sunset would have Fleur’s head if the unicorn did something too underhoofed. She just needed to put Shining Armor in a situation where there was no possible way in Equestria that he would be able not to go to the Formal with Princess Cadance.

The question is, how? Fleur asked herself.


After the walk to school, Sunset found her level of anxiety and depression quickly mounting. Her logical mind said such a thing was only natural, after all, this was her last full day in Equestria. Tomorrow night, after teleporting back to the palace when the Fall Formal was over, she would break into Celestia’s hidden vault and take the mirror back to Earth.

Said anxiety also reminded her that she had yet to examine or even see the Hidden Repository with her own eyes, but Sunset was confident of her ability to blow through any protection Celestia had put up, and she would be gone long before her mother could rush down and stop her from going through the portal.

The thoughts of her not as yet officially adopted mother brought Sunset’s mood down even more. I should have spent more time with her, she told herself before remembering the worst of times from the past few weeks. And why did I have to start all those stupid fights? Damnit, I’m such a fucking idiot. I spent all that time just concentrating on the moment I was in when I should have been thinking about how little time I had left with her. I should have told her I loved her more.

Sunset made a mental note to spend all the time there was left in the day with Celestia when they got back to the palace. The Alicorn of the Sun would need to see how far Cadance had progressed in her training as well, so there was no need to leave her side until it was time to go to bed.

“Princess Sunset?”

The sound of her name brought the amber alicorn out of her planning. She looked up to the rest of the ponies sitting at their unofficial private lunchroom table. “What?” she asked before focusing on the mulberry mare that had called out to her. “Sorry, I’ve just been a little distracted.”

Cheerilee looked a little embarrassed at being the focus of Sunset’s attention. “Well, I was just saying that since we’re all going to the Formal, I thought it might be fun if we...um...go together, as a group. In a private...long carriage.”

“That’s-” Sunset managed to say before Cheerilee continued to talk in a rush. “We’d all chip in to pay for it of course! I don’t want you to think that-”

“Actually,” Sunset said, stopping the other young mare. “That sounds like a wonderful idea Cheerilee.” If it was going to be the last night with her friends, then she wanted it to be one to remember. “And don’t worry about the cost. The crown will take care of everything. Does that sound okay to everypony?”

Fleur spoke up first. “So...we’d all go to each of our houses, together, as a group?” she asked.

“Yes,” Cheerilee said cautiously to the oddly interested mare.

“That sounds great!” the most popular unicorn in school agreed. “Although, I suppose we should plan out the route. Since the Princesses are paying for it, they’d have it brought to the palace. Then, come get Sassy and myself, Cheerilee, you and Mare you both live on Epona street, correct?”

The mare with the pink mane nodded. “That’s right.”

“Which means...wait, are you three going?” Fleur asked the nerd herd sitting across from Sunset.

Gaffer shrugged. “Well, we don’t have dates but-”

“Oh! Well, we don’t either,” Cheerilee said. “we’re just going to be with friends.”

“So...yeah, sure,” the unicorn went on. “Don’t see why we wouldn’t.”

Fleur knocked her hooves together. “Great! So that means...Shiny, we’d pick you up last, then head off to the dance.”

A school dance, it even had the same name as the last one she went to. It also had… Sunset frowned as she drew a blank on the other details of the Formal. “Hey um...this is going to sound a bit weird since the dance is tomorrow and all, but...what’s it all going to be like? Is there a theme, or is it just a bunch of us hanging out somewhere in fancy clothes?”

“Oh, that’s right!” Sassy said. “You came in after all the planning was done. Well, we decided on the theme being, preparing for the future, since it’s just the Fall Formal, and not the Prom. Also, two of our students volunteered to play live music.”

Fleur let out a strained groan. “They do have a basic backup band that we raised money to pay for, but Bill Board and Teddy Bear will be playing lead guitar and backup,” she explained. “They were still cheaper than a professional DJ.”

“Wait,” Sunset said as she just realized somepony was missing from their usual lunch group. The mention of money brought her to mind. “Where’s-”

Before she could speak the mare’s name, Upper Crust came trotting down the with a distressed look on her face. “Princess Sunset, Princess Cadance, I’ve heard some terrible news!” she said in a panic.

Sunset shook off the emotions bogging her down for the moment and focused on the mare in front of her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that the rest of the lunchroom had focused on her, more so than usual at any rate. “What is it Upper Crust?”

“I’ve heard a terrible rumor about your dresses!” she exclaimed. “I don’t want to alarm you, but…” she stepped closely and looked around nervously, but didn’t lower the volume of her voice. “I heard that Sassy hired another pony to make them for her!”

Sunset blinked as she forced herself to stay upright after Upper Crusts horrible news turned out to be something so stupid. “Say what?”

“Huh?” Cadance added, also confused by the news, judging by her expression.

Sassy raised an eyebrow. “Crust, I-”

The yellow unicorn turned and pointed a hoof at the blue unicorn with the multi-chromatic mane. “Don’t try to defend yourself you horrible pony! You took advantage of your connections with the Princesses to get them to buy dresses from you, knowing that ponies would  take notice! Then when it came time to make them, you hoofed the task off to somepony else, and at a fraction of the price that they were paying you! You Ma’am are an awful back stabber, and no friend of mine! Imagine, lying to royalty!”

Sunset’s ears twitched as she picked up what some of the ponies around them, most of whom were mares, were saying.

“Cheating the princesses!”

“I knew that Sassy Saddles was no good!”

“I  heard her cutie mark doesn’t have anything to do with making clothes.”

“I heard all she can do is basic repairs!”

More and more murmurs, very few of them good, made Sunset frown deeply. As a former manipulator, she was an expert at controlling the minds of adolescent youth. The skills she had developed in that field quickly dissected what she was hearing being spread around the lunchroom, connecting the dots. Most of what was said, at least at the start of the rumor chains, what ponies had heard before others started talking about their personal experiences with Sassy. Experiences that were more about how she always sounded so stuck up or full of herself rather than an actual wrong.

But before Sunset could call her on it, Fleur beat her to the punch. “Oh sweet Celestia,” the pale unicorn with the pink mane said. “This is what you were planning to get back at Sassy, Crust?”

“P-Planning?” the other unicorn repeated in nervous surprise. “Fleur what are you talking-”

Fleur completely ignored the other teen and looked over to the blue unicorn. “Sassy, I am so sorry. I knew Upper Crust was wanting to do something to you after you snubbed her company a few days ago, but I thought she had changed her mind when nothing happened. I didn’t think she would try something like this though.”

“But…” Cadance said, “Sassy did give the designs for our dresses to somepony else to make.”

When the entire lunchroom fell silent at Cadance’s information, Sunset cleared her throat to get everyone’s attention. “Sassy wanted to make them herself and see the project through to the end with all the skill she could muster, but Cadance and I knew that would take too much out of her schedule as a student, so we had to talk her into just drawing up the designs and giving them to us so we could hire a professional tailor to finish them,” the amber alicorn said. “But, nopony really knew about that except us.”

Upper Crust began to sweat. “Um, well...you see...my parents…”

“And I can’t help but wonder where all those nasty rumors about Sassy came from, because I’ve seen pictures of Fleur’s dress, and nopony who just replaces buttons on a blouse could make something as beautiful as that,” Sunset lied. She had never lain eyes on a picture of the thing or the actual item. But it wasn’t as if anyone in the lunchroom would know about that. “So, just why is everypony talking so badly about Sassy’s sewing skills?”

Once again, the lunchroom became a sea of mumbling that Sunset knew she could only pick up thanks to pegasus hearing and a former human’s attention to detail.

“Well, I heard it from Upper Crust.”

“...Upper Crust…”

“......that Upper Crust filly.”

With a face covered in perspiration, Upper Crust looked around wildly. “No that’s not-I didn’t-Hey! I paid you to say you heard it from somepony else!”

Cadance locked the yellow unicorn down with a glare. “I think you need to find someplace else to eat your lunch from now on Crust.”

“But-”

Fleur nodded sadly. “Yes, perhaps that would be for the best,” she added before glancing over to Sassy for a second.

“Leave,” Sunset demanded. “Now!”

The yellow unicorn let out a shriek before she turned and scampered away at the full speed her fat body would allow. As she did, Sunset let out a snort of distaste.

It was almost comical, how silly the plans of teenage ponies were so less stable and easy to knock down in comparison to those that human teenagers came up with. Sunset herself had pulled some real doozies that even had principals dancing to her tune. Not like the whole ‘turn into a demon and take over Equestria with an army of human teenagers’ plan. Real schemes that took days to plan out.

Although, Sunset supposed her impromptu plan wasn’t that bad in her original draft. She had never planned on becoming a she-demon. The extra power given to her by Twilight’s crown should have allowed her to transform into an alicorn like Twilight, once the connection to its proper owner had been severed at any rate. Then she had planned to go back to Equestria as the ultimate ‘I told you so’ move to prove to Celestia that Sunset had been right all along.

But...it wasn’t like the whole take over Equestria plan was that bad, Sunset told herself. After all, Celestia wouldn’t have fought back too hard against an army that wasn’t in control of their own actions. In fact, Sunset doubted Celestia would have been able to anything at all when it came to Sunset’s demon form.

So...maybe it was just that Sunset was the tactical genius that could plan out perfect strategies in an instant and-wait, Sunset thought to herself. Am I actually going over how I could have taken over the world if not for Twilight?

Sunset shook herself out of her thoughts and looked over to the rest of her friends. Kicking Upper Crust out of their group left a bad taste in her mouth. “So...um...Gaffer, are you going to finish your pudding?”

At least she didn’t have to deal with any more of these stupid problems that revolved around a bunch of ponies in high school.


The sound of her guards opening the door to her office made Celestia look up to see her noon appointment had arrived. She sat the unsigned release paperwork to the side on her desk and motioned for the large earth pony to come in and sit on the floor in front of her.

Strong Withers’s eyes darted around nervously as the guard closed the door behind him.  “Princess,” he greeted before looking more at a space behind Celestia than the big pony herself. The difference was slight, but years of dealing with her subjects had allowed Celestia to pick up on such things.

Not many ponies had the courage to meet her eye to eye when she was in a bad mood.

“Mr. Withers, do you have the list of names that have been plotting behind my daughter’s back?” Celestia asked in a cold tone. It was a little early for him to have gained such information in her opinion, but the stallion had been the one to call this meeting, not her.

A nervous sweat began to form on the stallion’s face. “Yes, Your Highness,” he said before reaching into his business suit and pulling out a thin folder. “After I found the first one, he introduced me to the others. It was...easier than I expected. Probably because I attempted to oust your daughter from the political scene so early on.”

Celestia took the folder in her magic to open it and look at the contents. Many of the names on it didn’t surprise her in the least. With the way Sunset had always acted towards the incompetent nobility, many of them were probably in fear of losing their guaranteed positions if she were to be given any political power. “And do you know anything of their plans against Sunset, yet?” the big pony asked as she looked away from the paper.

“They don’t really have any, Princess,” Strong Withers replied.

Another thing that didn’t surprise Celestia. Most of the ponies Strong Withers had pointed a hoof towards had next to zero motivation. Without a strong and controlling personality to truly drive them, they would sit around and whine about their problems, but little action beyond that would be taken.

Princess Celestia continued to look at the paper for a few more minutes to draw things out before setting the folder aside and looking over to the legal paperwork detailing the conditions of Buck’s release. “I suppose this will do, for now,” she added after a moment. “Now, as for the conditions of your son’s conditional release.”

“Conditional?”

Celestia frowned at the stallion’s tone. “You did not honestly think I would allow a pony like him go without restraints in place, did you?” she asked rhetorically before levitating the documents into the air to read the points off to Strong one by one. “Buck Withers is hereby ordered to remove himself from Canterlot and to be placed within the custody of his family for a period of no less than two years. He will attend a weekly counseling session until it is judged that he is no longer presents a possible danger to the ponies around him. During this time, he will also partake in a community service program assigned by the counselor to ensure better interaction with the community. Failure to comply with any of the following will result in the immediate reinstatement of the original sentence for assault upon a member of the High Royalty.”

“But, you didn’t say anything about conditions!” the stallion complained.

A snort escaped from Celestia’s nose. “I decided to alter the terms of our agreement,” she informed the stallion. Your continued cooperation will ensure that I do not alter it any further.”

Strong Withers drew in on himself under Celestia’s gaze. “What do you mean, my continued cooperation?”

“You gave me a list of names of ponies whose only plans are to sit around and whine about the state of things,” Celestia said. “What I wanted were any actual threats to my daughter’s authority and claim to the throne. What you’ve given me is a nice start, but hardly what was desired. So, you will continue your association with these unhappy nobles, and when somepony who is a real threat to my daughter comes around asking for support to cause problems for Sunset, you will tell me everything there is to know about that pony, or your son can go right back to where he belongs, understood?”


Sassy’s mind was a mess as she made her way to her Equish class. Not only had Upper Crust been plotting behind her back, but Fleur had known about it and done nothing!

Crust, Sassy could forget about. The yellow unicorn had fallen out of favor with the up and coming dressmaker a long time ago, and things were just coming to a head.

But Fleur? They had been friends since they were fillies! Every birthday party, every major event in Sassy’s life, the white unicorn had been there for. But when she had known Crust was up to something, after Sassy had outright told her how evil the stuck up butterball was, she had done nothing to stop it.

The world suddenly became blurry, and Sassy blinked from the moisture in her eyes. Not wanting to cause a scene in the hallway, the blue unicorn darted into the nearby filly’s room and turned on the faucet.

Before she could splash some water on her face, the sound of hooves coming into the bathroom drew Sassy’s attention. “I’m sorry, but could you-” she said before she looked over to see a wall of amber hair filling her field of view. She glanced up to see the second biggest alicorn in Canterlot looking down at her with a concerned face. “Princess Sunset.”

“Are you okay?” the amber alicorn asked. “I saw you rushing in her and...well...is there something bothering you that you want to talk about?”

Sassy gulped down a sob and resisted the urge to just grab onto the big alicorn for support. Instead, she fell back and...found herself floating in the air for a moment. “Huh?”

“Sorry,” Sunset apologized as the horn on her head glowed and more paper tore itself from the dispenser to float down to the ground. There was a bust of smoke, and the sheet of brown tissue the Princess had laid down was replaced by a plush velvet red pillow. “It’s just...sitting on a bathroom floor with a bare but...not very-ugh!” Sunset’s body shivered before she provided a seat for herself. “So what’s got you troubled, Sassy?”

Confusion over the Princess’s odd speech gave way to the depressed anger Sassy had been feeling only moments before, and she voiced what was on her mind to Princess Sunset. “It’s just...Fleur knew, she knew that Crust was up to something, and well...she didn’t help her along and may not have known what Crust had planned, but she knew that something bad was going to happen and she just stood by and did nothing! How am I supposed to deal with something like this?”

Princess Sunset sat silently for several seconds, her face frowning in thought. When she looked back at Sassy, the smaller pony became nervous despite the amber alicorn’s frown disappearing. “Do you mind if I tell you about something that happened at my last school?”

“Okay,” Sassy cautiously replied.

“Before I came here, I was a real monster of a teen,” Princess Sunset began. “I terrorized the students at my old school to the point where I practically ran the place through intimidation and fear. Then, when I decided to give it up and be more like the pony that’s in front of you today, I got a group of five friends that were willing to give me a chance, and I let them into my heart in turn. But one day, somepony started leaving messages that told everypony at school the most embarrassing secrets the other students had on golden paper with red writing. The first time it happened nopony blamed me, but the second time a bunch of embarrassing pictures were spread around, everypony knew I was the culprit.”

Sunset snorted and her lips became a snarl as she began to grumble to herself. “Even though those pictures were saved to the cloud and I had already proven web-security wasn’t all that when I hacked a few emails to end some friendships that pissed me off.”

The dark expression on Princess Sunset’s face made Sassy pull herself away from the amber alicorn. “Princess Sunset?” she asked.

“Hm?” the big pony replied as she looked up, the expression disappearing as she did so. “Oh! Sorry, got a little carried away there.” Princess Sunset cleared her throat and continued on. “So, because they thought I was the one causing trouble, despite the crappy evidence and my pleas to the contrary, my friends abandoned me to the anger of every other pony at school. Honestly, there were a few times when I was afraid some angry mob justice would have ended in a lynching.”

There was a brief pause as Princess Sunset took in a deep breath. “Okay, calming down...not upset at that anymore. Focus Sunset, this isn’t about you,” she said to herself before looking back to Sassy. “Well, long story short, the real culprits behind the whole thing were exposed, and I came running back to my friends. We all rolled our eyes at what had happened and moved on. There was a happy ending all around.”

Sassy tilted her head in confusion. “I’m sorry Princess, but I don’t understand what that has to do with my situation.”

“I’m not with those girls anymore,” Sunset told her. “I left that school, and I haven’t seen them since. And even if I am able to go back there tomorrow, this weekend or whenever, I still wonder if it’s worth taking the time to see them. Do you now why that is, Sassy?”

In response to the question, the blue unicorn with the chromatic mane simply shook her head.

“Because I went running back to them the first time and we all just went on as if nothing had happened,” Sunset told her. “There were no apologies from them or demands for an apology from me when they failed to give me one. I think that was when we lost our respect for one another, or at least my respect for them. And friendship without respect is a pathetic thing that will always be abused and can shatter easier than glass.

“So in the end, what I’m saying is...if Fleur doesn’t offer an apology a real apology, not the one she spat out at lunch, and an explanation for why she didn’t do anything, then demand one,” Sunset told her. “Doing so may strain your relationship and create a few bumps in the near future, but it’s better than letting something like this fester inside of you where it can grow. But, that’s just my advice, what you do is ultimately up to you.”

Sassy blinked as she absorbed the information Princess Sunset had given her, and nodded. “Yes. Thank you, Princess.”

When she left the restroom, Princess Sunset walked Sassy to her classroom to give the teacher a look that kept the blue unicorn from earning a demarate for being tardy while Sassy took her seat next to Fleur. The sad frustration she had been feeling before was still there, but it had been toned down quite a bit as her thoughts focused on what to do about the problem rather than simply letting the feelings associated with it fill her thoughts.

Fleur also had a nervous look on her face and gave Sassy a silently pleading look as she sat down. The blue unicorn hoped that meant she wanted to talk, apologize, and work through things together. She hated to think that in the end, Upper Crust really would cause the end of their friendship.

Plus, there was still the assignment from Princess Cadance. Now more than ever, she agreed with the pink princess’s assessment. Princess Sunset deserved the pony that was right for her. She needed to be with Shining Armor.

The question was, just how was Sassy supposed to get Shining to ask Princess Sunset out?

“Well Ms. Saddles, as I was saying,” the teacher began. “Although I’m sure some of your generation think of them as archaic, since ancient times, writing a letter to another pony has always been the preferred manner of communicating when distance between two ponies proves too great for trading words. On top of which, one can get their full message across without being interrupted-”.

Inspiration suddenly stuck the blue unicorn, and she stood up straight out of her seat.

“That’s it!” two voices said at the same time.

The strange echo that filled the classroom made Sassy look over to see Fleur was also up on her hooves with a look of confusion on her face similar to the one Sassy was wearing.

“Ms Saddles. Ms Les,” the teacher said. “Is there something the two of you would like to share with the class?”

The cheeks of both of the young mares took on a crimson hue as they sat back down on their cushions. “No sir.”

“Good,” the teacher said before addressing the class again. “Now, today we will be writing a letter. The topic can be anything you want. But I want your first draft ready to be turned in by the beginning of tomorrow so we can go over it together.”


The bell rang, and Shining Armor started putting his books into his bag, only to stop when he found the male members of his social circle gathering around him. “Hey guys, what’s up?”

Gaffer gave the other young stallion an even look. “Isn’t that what we should be asking you?” he replied.

“What do you mean?” Shining Armor asked in confusion.

The other unicorn of the group raised an eyebrow. “Okay, since beating around the bush is getting us nowhere, I’ll just go out and ask, which princess are you going with the dance with tomorrow?”

Shining Armor smirked at his genius as he prepared to tell his friends his brilliant plan to avoid making either princess upset and stood up a little straighter with pride. “Neither. In fact, I’m not going to the Fall Formal at all.” It went against what he had told the mares, but...it was the only option he could think of that wouldn’t end in tears.

None of the others looked impressed. “Uh, Shiny. You sure that’s a good idea? Princess Sunset and Princess Cadance might not like being blown off after all the trouble they’ve gone to,” Eight-Bit told him.

“No, listen,” the unicorn with the blue mane said. “Tomorrow, I’ll skip school. When they show up to class and I’m not there, that’ll make them think I’m sick. Then, they won’t even bother to try and take me to the Formal. Nopony’s feelings will be hurt, and I won’t cause an argument between two demi-gods that could destroy half of Equestria with their slap fight!”

For some reason, Shining Armor’s friends just gave him a bunch of even, disbelieving, looks.


Despite being in relatively good shape, Fleur found herself breathing heavily as she met up with Sassy at the senior class lockers. The positioning of their meeting place seemed a bit odd, as Sassy’s locker wasn’t anywhere near where Fleur found her. It took about three seconds for her to figure out what might have been going on. “Are you waiting for Princess Sunset?” she asked.

Sassy tensed ever so slightly for a second, then shook her head. “Well, I did want to deliver a message to her, but...it can wait till we see her next time,” she said before looking directly at Fleur. “What were you doing?”

“Oh! I just wanted to ask Princess Cadance something before she flew back to the palace,” Fleur lied. “But, it can wait too. I...really think talking to you is more important.”

The tension in Sassy’s face became more pronounced. “Yes. About Upper Crust,” Sassy said before she sighed. “Fleur, why didn’t you say something?”

With her friend giving her such a look, the more popular pony put her head down. “I’m sorry. I just...I wanted things to go back to the way they were before! And when Crust didn’t do anything the day before, I thought that she had changed her mind and now she’s…”

“Do you still want to be friends with her?” Sassy demanded as she started to walk away from the lockers and towards one of the school’s side exits. “Why? Why after everything she’s done do you insist on letting her just stomp all over us?”

Fleur followed the other young mare, unsure as to how to respond to the questions. “Well, it’s just...planning isn’t going through with anything, but...now that she has tried something, even if it’s failed miserably, I don’t...I don’t know, okay?” she replied. “It’s just been we’ve always done what Crust wanted, always taken directions from her. Yes, it was mostly out of fear of what she would do when we were older and that was wrong, but...we just did it for so long…”

The sound of her own words and lack of an excuse made Fleur sigh and hang her head. “Sassy, I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I should have done something sooner than after she tried her stupid little stunt.”

Sassy stopped walking after hearing Fleur’s apology and hung her head. “Thank you Fleur,” she said. “To be honest...I’m not sure if I would have done anything different if I was in your position.”

The two friends slowly gave each other tentative smiles. “So...um…” Fleur began, unsure of what to say next.

“Do you still want to go get your mane styled with me tomorrow?” Sassy asked. With her best friend apologizing, Sassy needed to due her part to mend the tear in their friendship.

Fleur snorted at the absurdity of not spending the day with her best friend. “There’s nopony I’d rather spend our unofficial day off from school with.”

Sassy smiled back at her as the two of them headed towards their homes. Of course, they’d spend all night staying up mending their fences. After all, no mare worth her salt came to school on the day of a big dance.


Cadance opened her locker and blinked at the letter floating in the middle of the storage container, wrapped in a continuous levitation spell. “What’s this?” she mumbled before taking the correspondence in her magic to bring it out and opened it using her wing-digits.

“Dear Princess Cadance,” she mumbled as she read the letter aloud to herself. “I’d like to start out by saying that you are the most beautiful pony I have ever known. But the reason I like you is more than that. You’re kind, assertive, and you believed in me, even when I was full of doubts about myself.”

The pink princess stopped reading for a moment, then skipped down to the end of the letter. It was rude to do that to a pony who had spent so much time to prepare it, but the anxiety growing within her wouldn’t let Cadance wait. “So, after a great deal of consideration, I think that I should escort you to the Fall Formal. Yours, Shining Armor.”


“-and I’m sorry it took me so long to decide,” Sunset Shimmer read as she reached the end of the letter that had been floating her her locker. She didn’t need to look down at the signature to know who it was from.

“Well...shit,” she mumbled to herself before trying to think how in the hell she was going to get out of this one.

Sunset couldn’t go on a date with Shining Armor.

Well, she could, that that was all it would be, a date. As in singular. Then she would go back to the hell of Earth and the horrors of human high school, thus breaking Shiny’s heart and probably pissing Cadance off for the rest of time because Sunset would have turned her back on true love, or...whatever. So even after she had served her time on Earth, Sunset wouldn’t be able to return to Equestria because Cadance would probably banish her!

Or...she could just forget about leaving, stay and…

Sunset furiously shook her head to get those evil thoughts out of her system. She had to go back to Earth.

Okay Sunset, you can solve this, she told herself. All she had to do was turn the invitation down and Shining Armor that she wasn’t interested in him anymore and…

Except, the letter was Shining Armor accepting her invitation to the Formal. And if Sunset turned him down now, Cadance would probably go berserk and murder her. Not to mention how it would break Shining Armor’s heart. Which was something Sunset just couldn’t do. Not to his face anyway.

Finally, the amber alicorn resigned herself to her fate with a sigh. Well, looks like Shining Armor will be taking me to the dance after all.

“There you are Sunset!” Cadance called out, making the amber alicorn’s wings floop out to send a strong gust of wind down both directions of the hallway. She took a quick look at the letter that was still safely in her magic, then shoved it inside the locker and slammed the door shut.

When the sound of hooves reached her, Sunset turned around and smiled. “Cadance! Um...about Shining Armor, and the dance.”

The pink princess blinked. “Then, you know already?”

Sunset paused for a second in confusion. Had Shining Armor already talked to Cadance about it? That went against what they agreed on, but if it was Shiny starting the conversation, Sunset couldn’t be too mad. There was also the other possibility that he simply told her about his decision and wanted to comfort her. That definitely sounded like the Shinier possibility. “Um...yes?”

“Look, I just want to make sure that there’s no hard feelings or resentment between us. There isn’t, is there?” the pink pony asked tentatively.

Sunset shook her head. “No,” she said. It was true, she was a little upset that Shiny hadn’t chosen Cadance, but that was more because she wanted what was best for him than any desire not to be with the little white stallion.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Cadance nodded happily. “Good. We’ll both go to the dance, and have a night of fun, all of us. Together.”

“Agreed,” Sunset replied, feeling a bit better about the whole thing. If Cadance was there to pick up the pieces, maybe things wouldn’t go too badly for Shiny after all.


Since Sunset decided to trot home rather than fly thanks to her crazy idea that she would cause untold damage to the city with a simple flap of her wings, something Cadance needed to find a way to dissuade her of one day, the ink princess had several minutes to wrestle with the thoughts milling about her head.

She was going to the Formal with Shining Armor on an official Sunset-sanctioned date that was in no means just a simple test trial for him to have some private contact with another mare. What’s more was how this marked their third official date. The first being the time she and Sunset took Shiny and Twily to that fancy eatery on Restaurant Row and the second being the opening night of Solar Battles. Third dates were the finalization of a couple's romantic involvement, with the Formal making it even more official.

In other words, third dates meant sex.

While Cadance had no qualms about consummating the relationship between herself and Shining Armor, there was one very big nagging voice in the back of her mind reminding her about a rather inconvenient fact: she was in love with Sunset Shimmer. She might have been infatuated with Shining Armor and loved him as a dear friend as well as had a healthy sexual attraction to him, but what she felt both emotionally and physically towards Shiny paled in comparison to what she felt towards Sunset.

Having sex with another pony, even if it was Shiny, seemed wrong.

Just like not giving him what was expected seemed wrong to Cadance as well.

Cadance could always tell him to wait, but...explaining why Shiny was supposed to wait was because she had deep feelings for Sunset didn’t seem fair, since Cadance would never be able to pursue a relationship with the amber alicorn.

When they got home, Cadance found a messenger waiting for them outside of Sunset’s apartments in official palace garb. The amber alicorn raised an eyebrow at the gray pegasus. “What’s up?”

“Princess Cadance and Sunset Shimmer, Her Majesty would like to meet with you in her quarters as soon as your things are stowed away,” the pony announced formally.

Cadance looked over to Sunset, who gave her an equally confused look before the two of them went inside and dumped their saddlebags. “What do you think your mom wants?”

After snorting out her displeasure and rolling her  eyes, Sunset looked back to Cadance. “With the way my day is going, she probably wants to give me another headache.”

Deciding it was best not to admonish Sunset for getting into a mood about Celestia before even going to meet with her, Cadance kept her mouth shut and simply followed the amber alicorn back outside and down the hallway. If it was good news, then she could tell Sunset she needed to start thinking more positively. If not, well...she would be there to soothe her friend’s easily roused temper.

Princess Celestia’s room looked much more structured and clean than it had in the past several days. Maps of the palace and coronation plans had all been put away, leaving a room filled with furniture built for a pony of twice the normal size. Coming inside the room made the pink princess feel as if she were a foal again, or at least under one of Sunset’s spells. Which wasn’t all that different considering their primary purpose was to play with Twilight at mostly-equal stature.

The big mare in question was magically moving a collection of clothes and books into a traveling chest with her magic. It made Cadance blink in surprise. Was Princess Celestia going somewhere?

“Okay Mom, what’s wrong now?” Sunset asked before she jumped up and settled onto the couch.

Princess Celestia looked up from the overgrown suitcase. “I’m afraid an urgent matter with the griffons is going to call me away from the country for the next few days. Truthfully, I should have done something last night, but there was too much to prepare here,” she explained before a very fancy official-looking document flew into the air with Princess Celestia’s signature and the royal seal stamped on it. “So, Sunset, I’m making you the supreme authority in Equestria.”

Sunset’s mouth dropped open and stayed that way for several seconds before she recovered enough to speak. “...say what?”

For her part, Cadance felt an ugly spike of jealousy jab itself into her heart. “Um...Auntie, not to be one of those ponies, but…” she said as she wrestled with whether this was a good idea or not. “But, um...I am the crowned princess and-”

“Wait,” Sunset said as she slowly developed a smile. “Are you getting princess envy?”

Cadance frowned. “Yes, I am well aware of the irony here, Sunset.”

Once the conversation had ended, Celestia put her two cents in. “Yes Cadance, I know that Sunset isn’t technically a princess as of yet,” she said. “But, I raised her here in Canterlot among all the politics and she has attended the Sun Court several times as well as been given several indirect lessons on being a ruler. In short, I have raised her to be a princess while your political training has yet to even begin.”

Part of Cadance wanted to argue that was only because she was still in school and they had agreed to wait until summer vacation to begin such things. But, the envy was only a minor thing that was easily dealt with. “Yes, I suppose you have a point there.”

“But-But, I have stuff to do tomorrow!” Sunset exclaimed.

Celestia smiled back at her. “Yes Sunset, I am well aware of your dance,” she said. “Don’t worry, tomorrow will be a light work day. Simply attend court till noon as I do every day, my aides will handle the rest of what is required.”

After making a distressed groan, Sunset snatched the paper out of the air with a hoof. Her eyes quickly darted back and forth as she read the document, then looked back up to Celestia. “Mom, this...this isn’t some stewardship. This says you’re abdicating the throne and giving full power over Equestria to me!”

“Yes,” Celestia said with a nod. “Believe me, it’s easier than just assigning somepony to preside over most of my duties. Last time I did it a few hundred years ago, all the ponies just wanted to wait till I got back to have their concerns addressed. I will still be raising the sun, of course.”

Sunset stared at her mother, completely dumbfounded as Celestia removed her crown to place it on the couch next to her daughter.

“Oh!” she exclaimed, as if remembering something. “I would appreciate you giving me the crown back when I’m done in Griffonstone. But, I suppose as the highest authority in Equestria, that is completely up to you. Now, if you would please give this lowly peasant some privacy so she could finish-”

“TAKE IT BACK!” Sunset demanded as she stood to her feet.

Both Cadance and Celestia blinked at Sunset’s sudden, fearful demand. “Pardon?” the biggest pony asked.

“You, you’re not supposed to do this!” Sunset exclaimed. “You’re not supposed to put me in charge of Equestria. Take it back!”

Celestia rolled her eyes. “Sunset, I can’t. For starters, the decree won’t take effect until after I lower the sun today, and even then, I’m not going to-”

“No!” Sunset whined back at her. “Look, I’m sorry I got angry at you not trusting me. You were right, you were always right. I can’t be trusted to rule Equestria for a weekend. Make Cadance the big princess!”

Before Celestia could even start to consider the possibility, Cadance quickly threw up her hooves and backed away. “Ohhhh no,” she said. “Seeing this, I don’t want to wear the big crown. It’s all yours Sunset.”

“But you’re not supposed to do this!” Sunset exclaimed.

While Cadance frowned at Sunset’s words, Celestia let out a minute shrug. “I know, sending an ambassador would probably be the more regal thing to do, but most of the ponies I have for such duties have gotten so used to giving our foreign partners everything they ask for, I think it would be best for me to go myself if I wish to continue implementing our new foreign policy,” she said. “By the way Sunset, if you do decide to continue ruling Equestria after I return, it would be most appreciated if you hold to the terms I set down with the griffons.”

“But-”

Celestia stopped Sunset with a kiss to the smaller alicorn’s forehead. “Now, I do need to finish packing, so if you would please give me some privacy, I would greatly appreciate it, Your Highness.”

Cadance was pretty sure it was the title that put Sunset into such a shocked state that she was unable to resist Celestia leading her out of the room.


After she finished bringing down the sun and setting up the moon, Celestia double checked the spells set to go off at the end of the night that would cause them to switch places without her direct guidance a grand total of two times. She wished there was a way to craft a magical matrix with a longer life than twenty-four hours, but it had taken all her free time of the past two days just to set up what she had.

Unlike the past two days, she couldn’t afford to drop her guard until Friday night had come and gone. Even the times when her princess duties had taken Celestia away from the Secret Repository for the past two days had been too much of a risk, but ones she had to take because the old pony, in her foolishness, hadn’t considered the option of giving Sunset run of the country until recently.

Celestia made her way back into the castle to fetch her travel trunk. Once acquired, the big pony cast a teleport spell to send both her and her cargo down to the second sub-basement. It was as close to the negative third floor as she could get without setting off alarms that would give her a splitting headache.

After making her way down the last flight of stairs, Celestia made her way past the empty storage rooms, emergency shelters and isolation rooms that were warded to keep out everything from astral beings to possessing entities. All of which had become unnecessary thanks to centuries of work by both Celestia and her sister to ensure Equestria’s future. Then, at the very back of the room, she pressed in a stone until a faint click was heard. A secret passage slowly opened to allow her to trot down a dark hallway that was extremely cramped  for a pony of Celestia's stature. After journeying through the passage that that had been made out of the mountain Canterlot stood upon, she came to a great open area. In front of her stood the vault’s entrance, that was more of that was more of an overgrown lock than anything else.

Back before Equestria had been founded, before Celestia had even been born, the Unicornian royal family had stored their most valuable treasures in the space hidden before her. Unable to take them with her when she fled the ice, Princess Platinum had Clover the Clever and her mentor place as many protection spells as they could on the place before abandoning it and Canterlot. When they returned, not a thing had been taken or damaged.

Since then, Celestia had added her own protective enchantments and decided to put the thing to better use. Whenever a dark artifact or unstable magical relic was discovered, she had it brought to her personally. Officially, the artifact was then destroyed and that was that. But in reality, Celestia stored whatever was brought to her in the vault.

Although it would mean a great deal of trouble should something manage to break into the vault, it was safer than simply doing away with whatever dark relic turned up by smashing it. The magic contained within such things didn’t simply disappear the vessel was destroyed, it was released into the world to corrupt the land, find a new object to inhabit, or even possess a pony.

So, within the Secret Repository, a hidden vault known only to four ponies in Equestria, Celestia stored away horrid magics just waiting to be misused like the Cutie Mark Coins, the Blue Scepter of Dragon Control, and the dreaded Orb of Foolish Decisions, a terrible artifact that still managed to affect a few Equestrians every now and then when a spark of it’s magic got out despite being sealed away.

Careful to avoid shining her magic on any of the artifacts for fear of activating one on accident, Celestia set her chest down in the center of the vault where there was a circular open space surrounded by wards in case she ever needed to experiment on a new addition and began unpacking. A little magic trick she had learned in her youth allowed the archaic suitcase to store more than its size would allow, so she was able to bring everything she would need for a day’s stay in the old room such as eight independent light sources, a mattress big enough for her frame, food enough for three meals, and half a dozen cakes. Then she began retrieving the things she didn’t need for basic survival. The first of which was the journal she had that was linked to the one that had vanished upon Sunset’s return. While she had long since memorized every entry, both new and old, reviewing it a time or two might still give her some insight about how best to handle the current situation. She also retrieved the book that Starswirl had written pertaining to his theories on temporal magics, as well as the spells he had finished in the subject. Third was all the research, tests, and theories Celestia had made on the subject of Sunset’s apparent journey through time whenever she could grab a moment to look into it, which wasn’t much.

“Well, at least I’ll have something to keep me occupied,” she mumbled before retrieving an ink and quill from the chest and opening Starswirl’s research journal.


“Sunset, it’s late,” the amber alicorn heard the other pony in the room moan from behind her as she sat at her study desk, drafting out the fifth royal decree of the night. “Come to bed already.”

After finishing the first draft of her latest law that would make the pony responsible for siring a foal financially responsible for her or his well being, Sunset looked up from the paper and dipped her quill back into the inkwell. “Sorry Cadance, too much to do and not enough time,” she said. Then the pony finally turned back to face her bed partner. “And my horn light’s not that bright. Can’t you just close your eyes and go to sleep?”

“Not without you.”

Sunset’s ears twitched as she picked up...something, but wasn’t able to make it out. “What was that?”

“I said,” Cadance started to reply as she rolled over to face Sunset, then looked away for a moment in embarrassment. “I can’t. I’ve gotten...used to...um, sleeping up against you.”

Sunset sighed at the pink princesses response. The two of them had gotten cuddle like crazy these days. And Sunset had to admit, hugging Cadance goodnight was something she was really going to miss when it came time to leave. “Okay, compromise time.”

Focusing magic into her horn, she drew up an advanced transmogrification spell in her mind and targeted the empty pillow next to Cadance. A second after Sunset’s magic was let loose and impacted the target, the pillow disappeared in a puff of smoke. In it’s place sat a plush stuffed animal equal in size to a foal with a bright amber coat and fiery mane. “There. It even has a minor heating enchantment on it to simulate body heat.”

Cadance lit up her own horn and scrutinized the stuffed Sunset for a moment before she looked back to the real one. “No wings?”

“Well...they’re hard to sleep with,” she said uneasily, hoping Cadance didn’t call her on the fact that she simply forgot about them when mentally picturing herself.

Thankfully, the pink princess shrugged and grabbed the plush Sunset with both forelegs to hug it close to her. “You’re not getting your pillow back, by the way.”

Sunset rolled her eyes and turned around to go back to work. Deserving of it or not, being granted temporary rulership of Equestria did have one big advantage. Instead of having to beg Cadance and Celestia to put the programs she wanted in place before she left, Sunset could just sign a few papers and push the legislation through herself before having to go back to Earth.

So even though she was going to leave, Spangled Star would have the support system she needed to carry on in life, Twilight would receive a state-funded tutor to continue her magical education, stallions that thought they could get away with putting a foal in every mare they slept with would be held accountable for their actions, and all the other little things Sunset wanted to check on but didn’t have the ability to would be taken care of.

She could leave Equestria without having to leave so many ponies in the lurch.

It wasn’t much of a comfort, but it was something.