//------------------------------// // Preperations for a Return // Story: The Sun Sets on Motherhood // by Sudrian Engineer //------------------------------// The next day, Sunset started to prepare, of course, starting with telling Princess Twilight about her plans, the following message being written in the journal: Dear Twilight, How have you been? Things are ok here, but well, I have a request, can you possibly ask Princess Celestia if she would be willing to meet with me in your castle? Graduation was yesterday and well, thanks to some of the things said, and some encouragment from our friends, I feel like I am ready to make amends with her. Sincerly, Sunset Shimmer. A little while later, the book glowed and vibrated, alerting Sunset that the Princess of Friendship had replied. Her message was as follows: Dear Sunset, Things have been going well. I’m so glad you’ve decided to come back. I’ll send Princess Celestia an invitation right away. This gave the bacon-haired girl a smile as she continied to pack items of sentimemtal value. Of course, not everything in her mind was all sunshine and rainbows. The night before, she had a nightmare of what could happen when Celestia and her met. “I am very disappointed in you,” the dream version of the solar princess had said, “You clearly only returned to try and surpase me.” Sunset tried to prove she had changed but the dream’s Celestia would hear none of it and sent her to be executed for her crimes against Equestria. In her heart, the yellow-skinned teen knew that would never happen, but that didn’t stop her dream from entering her mind again as she finished packing. “That would never happen,” She said to herself, “Princess Celestia is very kind amd Twilight has told me many times about how much she seems to worry about me.” She then too a deep breath and her phone buzzed, it was Pinkie, inviting her to the cafe they always hung out at. Sunset replied that she would and set her phone down. The last thing the girl did before leaving her apartment was look around it one last time, remembering everything that had happened to her and the girls. She smiled, a few tears in her eyes as she gave the keys to the owner of her complex, and started down the road, pulling her wheeled suitcases behind her. A short time later she arrived at the cafe but noticed the lights were out. She had a suspision of what might be going on, but was still slightly confused as she opened the door. “Hello, anyone here?,” she called into the dark room, trying to look around. Suddenly, the lights came on amd there was a shout of, “SURPRISE!!” Sunset smiled in surprise as she looked at her friends, aside from the Humane 6, Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna were there, as well as Spike the Dog. She walked fully into the cafe, leaving her bags by the door, she hugged each of the people, and pet, present. “Thank you so much everyone, this is a very nice surprise indeed.” The other smiled, feeling happy that they were able to surprise here. “You are quite welcome darling,” Rarity replied “T’ain’t no problem, pardner,” AJ added, her country charm making Sunset smile. As the party progressed, they group had fun, talking about their memories, adventires, and so much more. Soon though, it was time for Sunset to go. The group had sad smiles and made their way to CHS and the portal. After she pushed her luggage through the portal, she turned to face the group, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. “Well everyone,” she started, “This is it, I will try to visit regularly, but that may be hard if I am thrown in a dungeon or banisished from Equestria for my crimes.” By this point, she was fully crying, then Principal Celestia walked up. “If she is as much like me as you suggest, I am sure the Princess will forgive you and, she most likely missed you very badly dear Sunset.” This caused said teen to smile, but Celestia wasn’t done. “Luna and I would like to give you this so you will always remember your time here.” Vice-Principal Luna handed Sunset a box which was quickly opened. Inside, a picture of Sunset giving her speech at Graduation lay in a yellow and red trimmed picture frame, but that was not all. The other item was a seemingly normal pin, but when the girls saw it, they gasped. The pin was small and simple. It only consisted of the Wondercolt logo and was made of silver. It was the inscription however, that made the object very special. Wondercolt of The Year was engraved onto the pin, said title only being given to the student the Teachers deemed the best of the year. This gift caused a fresh wave of tears to come to Sunset’s eyes as she hugged the two adults, thanking them for all that they had done for her. Next, was Spike the Dog, he ran twords her and jumped into her arms, causing the teen to laugh and giggle. Once he finished, he spoke, “Ms. Sunset, thank you for being friends with Twilight. She worried me alot with how closed in she was, but when you became her friend, you changed that.” The pup went on to lick her more before running after a squirrel, causing laughter to spread through the group. Soon enough, however, the goodbye she dreaded most arrived, her best friends. “Well girls, I guess this is it, I am gonna miss you guys so so much.” The tears in Sunset’s eyes returned as Pinkie walked up, her hair poofy but a frown on her face. “Each one of us got you a gift, to help remember us by,” she said, pulling out a box with pink wrapping. Inside was what appeared to be a cupcake, but upon further inspection, it was revealed to be a wooden model. The “cupcake” appeared to be Red Velvet, Sunset’s favorite, with yellow and red frosting and little decorations in the shape of her cutie mark. “Just soemthing to help you remember all the parties we had Sunny,” Pinkie added, giving a hug and stepping back. Next was the country girl herself, “Well Partner, it has been quite an adventure, been great knowing ya, and I hope you will keep in touch somehow.” She presented the Equestrian with a box wrapped in orange. Inside, lay a clay model of an apple, said item having Sweet Apple Acre’s logo. As the other girls presented their gifts, Sunset gave each a hug. Finally, they all walked up, a large book in Twilight’s hands. “This last one is from all of us,” she stated, “we wanted you to know just how much you mean to us.” The book, Sunset realized, was a scrapbook, full of not only pictures, but items and notes the girls wanted her to have. She flipped through a few of the pages but then simple set it on the ground and spread her arms wide, the Rainbooms embracing her in a final hug. “I will miss all of you so much, each one of you has done so much to help me, some things you did seemed small at the time, but grew to so much more, so thank you girls, you are truely the best friends a girl could ask for.” She slowly pulled away from the hug and pushed the gifts through the portal. After one last smile and look at her friends, she stepped through, her vision going blurry and colorful.