//------------------------------//
// 4. Minority. 
// Story: Reunions and Laments 
// by Coyote de La Mancha 
//------------------------------//

.
“You can do this,” the pegasus Twilight whispered.
“Uh-huh,” her fiancé whispered back, obviously not convinced.
“You have a plan.”
“Sure.”
“You’ve got this.”
“Right.”
Before them, a pair of giant doors loomed, massive constructs of Equestrian steel. Beyond them, the royal entry hall. And past that, through even more massive doors of enchanted gold, the throne room itself.
And within, Princess Celestia.
Sunset Shimmer swallowed, looked uncertainly at the pegasus beside her.
“Honey...” she squeezed her eyes closed, her voice was a harsh whisper. “Oh, God, Honey, I can’t...!”
Twilight Sparkle turned to her, enfolding her in her wings.
“Yes, you can. You’ve faced down sirens, rogue magic, berserk would-be nature spirits... and that was in high school.” She kissed her fiancé’s cheek. “You can do this. She isn’t even an enemy.”
“But I didn’t care about them!” Sunset glanced at the doors, then back to Twilight Sparkle. “This is... I don’t know!”
“Look, what’s the worst that can happen?”
Sunset seemed to shrink slightly. “Everything?”
Twilight embraced her harder. “So, then, what’s the best that can happen?”
Sunset hesitated, then looked away. “That’ll never happen.”
“Not if you don’t go forward, no,” Twilight agreed. “You can go on, and face this. Or you can go back, and I’ll never bring it up again.” 
Gently, she touched Sunset’s cheek, prompting the unicorn to look at her again. 
“But whatever you do, I’ll support your decision.”
For a moment, Sunset met her lover’s gaze. Then, closing her eyes, she nodded.
“Yeah, okay,” she said. “Let’s do this.”
Behind the pair, Sunrise Shimmer and the Princess of Friendship followed at a respectful distance, ready to offer both support and privacy.
As the great doors slowly opened, the hall beyond was plainly seen... and the throne room, as well. But strangely, the great hall was busy with an assortment of petitioners and nobility, all milling about in varying degrees of resentment. 
“Just what did she mean, calling a recess in the middle of an audience?” one unicorn demanded from his companions. “Why, the very idea!”
“Rescheduling all appointments for the next three days in accordance of distance traveled to be heard?” a regal-looking pegasus shrilled. “Honestly, I never saw the like!”
“Hmph! Why is she even here?” an earth pony snorted. “Doesn’t she do her best work at night?”
The conversations slowly faded into a quiet murmur as Princess Twilight entered the room. The nobles, gentry, and petitioning commonponies bowed to Princess Twilight - who nodded in return - and a few even called out to her or cheered. For her part, the princess waved, smiled, and politely kept the group of four ponies moving through the parting throng towards the throne room itself.
Beyond the great golden doors - always kept open during the day - the throne room was plainly visible. It was also all but empty. Lining the walls were the usual guards, of course... but seated on the twin thrones were both sisters of the Equestrian Diarchy. Their gaze fell fully upon the four ponies who entered, even as the palace guards continued to politely and deferentially guide the last of the petitioners into the entry hall. The gradually rising sounds of the displaced court were all that saved the four from the throne room’s silence.
Princess Twilight frowned. “I don’t understand,” she whispered. “Why is Luna here? What’s going on? I thought we would have to deal with lines of ponies just to get in.”
Sunrise looked upwards at the ceiling. “Yeah, well, I might have sent ahead once we were underway.”
“Sent what ahead? How did you...” the alicorn stopped, staring at her friend. “You can do that?”
Sunrise shrugged. “Well, it isn’t me, exactly. But we’ve gotten really... um... close.” Then she smiled, blushing a little. “So, kinda. Yeah.”
Pulling a small scroll out from her courtly attire, a white unicorn mare standing near the thrones read, “Announcing, Princess Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer, Sunrise Shimmer, and...” 
She blinked, frowning, than read, “...and Twilight Sparkle.”
Raven Inkwell considered the matter for only a moment before shrugging to herself, replacing the scroll. Stranger things had certainly happened before.
As Sunset approached the great dias, both mares behind her could see her entire body cringing, see the tension in her back, her legs, her flanks. The pegasus beside her was walking against her, now, giving her as much comfort and support as she could. At length, they stopped, two pairs of ponies before the Queens of Night and Day.
Luna’s eyes were gentle and kind, yet impassive. Her interference would plainly be minimal. 
Celestia’s gaze was hard as diamond, her features mask-like and cold. 
Sunset fidgeted, scarcely daring to meet her old mentor’s stare. She levitated several books out from her saddlebags and towards Princess Celestia in a blue-green glow. 
“Here, um, these are yours,” she said to the floor. “I’m sorry I took them when I left, and that I took so long to return them. I guess I should have brought them last time…”
A golden aura enveloped the books, setting them to one side. 
“Thank you,” Celestia said, a little awkwardly. “Yes, I imagine these have been missed in the Royal Canterlot Library.”
“Yeah. Well.” Sunset looked to the pegasus beside her. “Um, anyway, this is Twilight Sparkle. The one from my world. I mean,” she went on, “the world where I live now. Where my home is. Not in any bad sense,” she added quickly. “I mean, this is… urgh!” she stared at the floor, fighting back tears. “Damn it, Why is this so hard?!?”
She could feel Twilight’s hoof on her shoulder – her Twilight – and placed her own hoof over it. This had been a mistake, Sunset realized, but not an irreparable one. She could still make her formal excuses and leave. Twilight would still get to fly some more, plus geek-out with Princess Twilight and her library. They could just stay in Ponyville until it was time to go home...
“Sunset?”
Celestia’s voice was gentle and uncertain. Sunset looked up at her, saw the monarch’s features softening to betray a flood of conflicting emotions.
“Oh, child. After so many years, do you truly think I’ve been concerned about a few books?”
“I…” Sunset blinked. “I really don’t know what to think,” she admitted. “The last time I was here, you were so angry. Especially at first. I mean, sure, you let me use the library with Twilight, and we even laughed a little. But everything was so awkward. So brittle. In the end I figured, okay, it’s better this way. You’ve got your world, and I’ve got mine.” She glanced over to her otherworldly twin. “And then, Sunrise messaged me…”
“I had been shocked to see you, after so long” Celestia confessed. “I’d had no idea you were even in Equestria until Twilight walked in to present you, and I was struggling for control. And when you were so formal with me, I thought that meant that there was nothing between us anymore. In retrospect, I suppose I was a bit wooden, but…”
“Well, in your defense, you did say you’d missed me. And you did kind of tell a joke later,” Sunset pointed out. “You at least tried to break the ice. I was just so freaked out. Not just about us, though that was a big part of it. But I never thought of the implications.”
Celestia nodded. “I remember. There was a crisis. Time was of the essence.”
“Yeah, but I should have come back sooner,” said Sunset. “I mean, I only came back that time because I needed something.” She looked away. “I can only imagine how that must have looked to you.”
At that, the royal mask dissolved completely. “I thought you were just being polite,” Celestia said quietly. “That you must still hate me.” 
Sunset’s eyes went wide as she stared at Celestia, exclaiming. “No! I never hated you! I mean…” then she sighed. “I mean, okay, maybe I thought I did, but … look, I was in a really bad place when I first left. And, yeah, for a long while after. Years. I was so angry, I was toxic. I poisoned everything and everyone I touched.” 
“Yet, through such pain, you stayed away. Why?”
Sunset closed her eyes. “I thought you didn’t want me anymore.” 
“No!” Celestia took another step downward towards her. “That wasn’t true, it was never true! A day never passed that I didn’t miss you!”
“But how is that possible?” Sunset demanded, her agony surfacing at last. “You cast me out in the first place!”
“Of my apprenticeship! And only for a time! And even then…” the monarch’s voice trailed off. “Even then, I was wrong. I called out to you as you ran, but it was too late. You didn’t hear me.”
Sunset swallowed. “I heard you. I just didn’t believe it.”
Celestia sighed. “Casting you from my tutelage was not my first mistake between us, but it was my greatest.”
“Yeah, well, I made a few, too,” Sunset said. 
Then, looking behind her to the crowded chamber beyond, she added, “Um, is there a time when we could talk, a little bit more privately? I know you’re supposed to be holding court right now, and I should let you get back to that. But I really don’t want to leave things like this between us.”
“Nor do I, dear one” Celestia agreed. “Whenever you are ready, I will make time for you.”
“I don’t want to keep you from—”
“No, Sunset,” Celestia cut her off. “I’ve had ample time to review my own regrets, and chief among them is that I never made enough time for you. Please, will you allow me this small effort, to make things right?”
Luna considered this, her impassiveness vanishing like smoke. “Is now a good time?” she asked. “This instant, perhaps?”
Princess Celestia’s head whipped around to look at her. “Wait, what?”
Sunset also stared. “Uh…” she began.
“We don’t have any plans,” her fiancé piped up. Then added, “Your Highnesses.”
While Sunset gave the pegasus next to her a wide-eyed look that plainly said, what the hell are you doing?, Luna simply smiled, raising her voice to be clearly heard by all in the chamber beyond.
“All in attendance are dismissed, all remaining hearings hereby postponed till the morrow,” she pronounced happily.
As one, every armored pony in the room bowed, turned in unison, and filed out in perfect formation. Meanwhile, Raven curtsied and exited out the side door, humming contentedly to herself all the while.
“And Sunrise,” Luna went on, “Do we not have a… thing?”
Sunrise grinned. “Oh, we so have a thing. It’s in a place,” she confided.
Luna gave a delighted gasp. “A place, how exciting! And this place, is it… else?”
The grin widened. “Oh, it is so else. Hey, Twilights,” Sunrise raised her voice slightly. “You gals wanna come with us to a place that’s else?”
Also sharing identical grins, purple alicorn and pegasus both trotted happily over to Sunrise, who, in turn, was heading for the massive double doors as Luna contentedly soared overhead.
“I love places that are else!” said the human Twilight Sparkle.
Princess Twilight’s grin grew even wider. “Oh, Equestria has the most else places!”
A moment later, Sunset and Celestia were alone in the throne room. The doors closed with a gentle boom. There was what might or might not have been the sound of a makeshift bar being slid across the doors, locking them inside together.
Then, all was quiet.
Sunset opened her mouth for a moment, making a helpless gesture. 
“We have a lot of friends,” she finally said.
Celestia chuckled as she approached. “Yes,” she said. “Yes we do.”
There were a few moments of silence between them. Then, Celestia cleared her throat.
“Well,” she said at last. “This isn’t awkward at all.”
Sunset gave a rueful smile. “Nope. Not a bit.”
Both of them sighed in unison. Finally, Celestia spoke.
“I love you,” she said.
Sunset stared at her.
“I always did,” Celestia went on. “When I first took you in, I told myself I was up to the task. And then, the more I got to know you, the more I desperately wanted to be. I knew I was unqualified, of course. But I also knew that Luna and I had grown up with no one else to help us. So, I thought, how hard could it be? You were so bright, so inquisitive. It all seemed so simple. I would teach you magic, enroll you in classes…”
Sunset winced. “Yeah, well. Maybe that would’ve worked if I’d been a better kid.”
“No!” Eyes wide, Celestia grasped Sunset’s shoulder desperately. “No, that’s not what I meant at all! How could you have been to blame? You were a foal!”
“Are you kidding? I was a walking disaster! Everyone knew it! And hell, at least you wanted to be around me! God knows nobody else did!”
“That wasn’t your fault!”
“Whose fault could it have been? Was it your temper that drove the other foals away? Your problems in school? Your strangeness that kept even the most shallow socialites at bay?”
“I should have been there for you! I should have understood!”
“Understood what? That I was a fucking freak show?
“That you needed more time! That you learned differently than other foals! That you—”
“’Learned differently?’” Sunset cried. “Do you know how often they told me how stupid I was?”
“You were never—!”
“PLEASE!” Sunset’s voice cracked as it echoed throughout the room. “PLEASE, JUST TELL ME YOU DIDN’T PUT TWILIGHT THROUGH THAT! SHOVING HER AT OTHER PONIES WHILE THEY CRINGED AND LOOKED AWAY! THE CLASSROOMS, AND THEIR DAMNED SARCASM! THE GALAS, ALWAYS ALONE WHILE THE OTHERS DANCED! THE WHISPERS! THE STARES!” 
Celestia’s head moved to the side as if slapped, her eyes squeezed shut.
“No,” she said quietly. “I learned from my mistakes. Not soon enough to help you, but I did learn.”
Tears streaking her muzzle, Sunset looked away as well. 
“I let Twilight grow at her own pace, in her own way. I let her be as insular as she chose. She never attended a gala until she was mostly grown, and then only from her own desire. 
“Cadence, too,” the princess went on. “I adopted her as my niece, the way I should have adopted you as my daughter. I kept her close, but only because she wanted to be close. I let her finish growing as she needed, though in truth she was already mostly grown.”
Uncertainly, Sunset took a step forward. Her voice was quiet, less than a whisper, her tears still fresh.
“Why didn’t you?” 
As soon as she’d asked the question, Sunset again became keenly aware of the bars on the great doors. It occurred to her that she could blast them out of her way, if she needed to. It had been a long time, but destruction had always been easy. Escape was only a thought and a flicker of will away.
But Celestia was already speaking. 
“Because I was a fool,” she said. 
After a moment’s silence, the princess spoke again, her soft voice full of regret. “Please understand, it wasn’t an immediate decision, or an easy one. I knew that I knew nothing about motherhood, that I was unqualified. Yet, there wasn’t anyone else who could deal with the raw magical power you possessed, even as a weanling. I’d tried to find somepony suitable, someone who would know what to do. Had Luna not been in exile, the answer would have been easy. As it was, there was no one. As unqualified as I was, I knew I was the best you were going to get.
“And then, I saw you. So tiny. So beautiful. So full of love and exploration. I took you in, took you home. You slept next to me that night, and woke me early the next morning with your cries. 
“Until I’d met you, I had never wanted a child. And yet, over the course of just a few days, I found myself wanting nothing more.
“So, I told myself that I would be good enough. And, for a short time, it seemed as though I was.
“Then, one night, while you were asleep, I did something I hadn’t dared to do for centuries. I cast my senses towards Luna, re-examining what I could see of her patterns. You had been with me only a little while, but somehow, I had begun to feel hope again. It had been so long, I had almost forgotten how.
“And so, I was looking for something, anything that might give me some reason to go on hoping. To see the future as something other than a chain and scaffold.” 
She sighed, then went on, “That night, I saw a potential event, blazing through my sister’s synchronicities like an unborn star. It was a concurrence between her and somepony else, yielding a magnificent breakthrough of potentials in her life. 
“Somepony whose pattern... was very much like yours.”
While Sunset stared, Celestia went on, “It wasn’t a certainty, of course. Far from it. But it was a possibility. One she had oft longed for in our youth, and had long ago given up on finding. One that plainly would fill your heart with joy, as well. Even as a foal, you’d always wanted to reach out, to connect. And you had always loved the night.
“And I was afraid that if we – and therefore you and she – were family, it would snuff out that rare potential. So, I determined to keep you as my ward from that night on.”
Sunset blinked. “You thought… Luna and I…?”
Celestia sighed. “I wanted you to be happy.”  
She forced herself to face Sunset again, her own voice cracking as she added, “And if the two ponies that I loved most could find happiness with one another, then I thought I had an obligation to see that nothing I did would bar your path. 
“So, I turned away from motherhood, in the hope that one day we might be sisters.
“And, so... I failed you.”
Sunset shook her head. “No. No, that’s not fair.”
Celestia gave her a sad smile. “How is it not fair? You came to me as a foal, to learn and grow under my tutelage. There is no greater trust than that. Yet, somehow, I never taught you the things that mattered most. The strength of compassion. The value of friendship. Your own worth. 
“I should have embraced you, in every way possible, and left the future to weave itself. And instead, I kept you at a distance, despite both our desires. Ultimately, whatever you have accomplished, whatever you have become, it was despite my influence. Not because of it.” 
“But that’s not just on you!” Sunset insisted. “There was so much else going on! There was school, my anger, my powers, my own social… thing… everything. It wasn’t until I got to the human world that I found out what learning disabilities even were! How were you to know about that, or guess that I’d fall for you instead of Luna, or… or…”
Her voice trailed off as Celestia stared at her.
“You… didn’t... know about that, did you,” Sunset said.
Celestia shook her head slowly.
“Wow.” Sunset sat where she was. “Wow. That… really puts things into a different perspective.”
“Yes,” Celestia agreed. Her voice was a little unsteady as she added, “Yes, it does.”
Then her eyes widened. “The day you got your cutie mark!”
Sunset squeezed her eyes closed. “Yeah.”
“Never before had another pony come so close to raising the sun. And at thirteen! I was amazed beyond words. But instead of being pleased, you were so angry, so bitterly disappointed! No matter what I said, you were inconsolable.”
Her voice became hushed. “But, it was never about magic, or your mark…”
“…it was about being with you,” Sunset finished for her softly. “Yeah. I... I thought, if I could do that, if I could just take on part of your duties over the sun and moon. You know, share the heavy lifting. So you wouldn’t have to always be so tired, so alone. Then, we could be…” Her voice trailed off again.
Celestia sat, as well.
“I’ve been blind,” she said.
Sunset went on in a whisper, “It was almost a year later when I finally found the alicorn papyrus. And when I read about the qualities of a princess. I thought...” 
She swallowed. “I thought that meant that I was unworthy. That you’d decided, probably years ago, that I just wasn’t good enough for you. I cried myself to sleep that night. I’d never felt so hurt. So emptied out.” 
Then, looking back again to her former mentor. “But… you’d never rejected me. You just didn’t know.”
Celestia nodded with growing understanding. “And so your plan to use the Element of Magic, to awaken it and use it to force the Alicorn’s Becoming upon yourself…”
“Yeah.” Sunset sighed. “That was the next day. And then, when you… well…” She swallowed. “That’s when I left.”
Again, silence.
Sunset sighed. “I was so fucked up. I didn’t want you as a mom, because, you know… but at the same time, I kinda did, because holy crap, I really needed one. But mostly, I wanted you to love me enough that I could be with you. I would have done anything for you. I just wanted to be there, beside you. But I couldn’t. 
“And then, at the end... I thought you’d thrown me away.”
Celestia shook her head. “Never.”
Sunset pressed her face into her hoof. “Christ, I’m a fucking moron.”
Celestia’s voice became desperate, almost pleading. “No! No, you’re not! And you never were, you were a foal! You must stop looking at your past with such contempt! We both made mistakes, yes... but I was the adult, not you!” 
Celestia sighed then, adding, “I don’t know how many times I have wished to all the heavens that I had done things differently.”
Sunset managed a rueful smile. “Well, we can’t go back.”
“No.”
“But, um, maybe…” 
Sunset took a deep breath, and made herself take the plunge.
“Care to go forward?” she asked.
Celestia blinked, then smiled. “Yes. I’d like that very much.”
There was a pause, and then they hugged fiercely.
Sunset nuzzled into Celestia’s mane. “I always loved you,” she said. 
“And I, you.”
“I think that’s why I got so mad at you,” Sunset sighed. “I even thought I hated you, for a while.”
“So many times I should have been there for you, and I tried, I swear I tried…”
Sunset took an uneven breath. “I know that now, I do, but it’s all so mixed-up! Every time I think I’ve got it figured out…”
“I’d never been incompetent at anything before.” Parting from her slightly, Celestia brushed some of Sunset’s mane away from her eyes. “By the time I realized I’d found something I was terrible at, it was too late.”
Sunset raised one eyebrow. “Uh-huh. Now who’s looking back in contempt?”
Celestia looked at Sunset’s wry expression, and chuckled. “Alright, I suppose that’s reasonable.” She took a moment, drinking in the sight of her errant former student, her face showing a blend of love… and something else, something completely unfamiliar. Something which Sunset realized she had long ago stopped expecting to see in her former mentor’s eyes, or even hoping for.
Pride.
“You have grown into a formidable young lady, indeed. And with a wisdom hard-won,” Celestia said at last. Then she sighed, her smile becoming sad. “Would that I had been wiser in raising you.”
“Look, will you stop? I mean, sure, mistakes were made… but like I said, it wasn’t just you. It was me, it was this place… it was everything.” 
Sunset shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe I had to go. Maybe, even if everything had been perfect, I would still have left.”
Celestia cocked her head slightly. “And are you happy, in your new world?”
Going back down to all fours, Sunset blushed slightly. “Yeah. I am. It took a while, and a lot of lumps, but… yeah.”
“And the otherworldly Twilight is part of your happiness?”
The blush deepened. “Yeah. A big part.”
Her mentor smiled as they began walking together. “Then I am happy, too.” Favoring the young mare with an amused look, she went on, “And I will try to look back without regret, since my errors drove you to your happiness.”
Sunset gave her a mischievous glance. “Oh, well, you know. You could still have a few regrets.”
“Oh?”
“Well, you know. I remember one time in particular, being kept in house arrest for a week. You even warded the door to my room, so I couldn’t leave. And completely without cause, might I add…”
Celestia’s eyebrows rose. “‘Without cause?’ Sunset, you choked the colt out.”
Sunset’s expression was indignant. “He tore my book!”
“And by the time the teacher separated you, his lips were turning blue—”
A dismissive wave. “Oh, he was blue anyway!”
Both mares laughed as they approached the great double doors. Then, Sunset hesitated. At Celestia’s curious look, she said, “Um… Twilight – my Twilight – said she was wanting to meet my mom. I wasn’t going to introduce you that way because I wasn’t sure you’d be cool with it…?”
“Be sure,” Celestia smiled. “At least, I am if you are.”
“Yeah,” Sunset smiled back. “I am.”
They looked at one another fondly.
Then Sunset grinned. “That being said, you should probably never see some of the pictures I drew of you.”
“You’re probably right.”
Again, they shared their laughter. There was a final embrace, then the great doors opened in a glow of gold, the bar that had held them fast gliding gently to the side of the outer hall in an aura of cyan.
The twin rows of palace guards were still at attention, the courtiers long since dispersed. Towards the far end of the great hall, the pegasus Twilight was happily chatting away with Sunrise, Luna and Princess Twilight. At the sound of the door opening, they turned to see Celestia and Sunset emerge. Seeing their smiles, the four mares relaxed a bit, and trotted to join them. 
Still a little unsteady on two hooves, the human-born Twilight settled for nuzzling Sunset. “Everything okay?” she asked gently.
Sunset nodded. “Yeah. We’ve still got some baggage, but I think I’ll be coming by more often, so we’ll sort it out.”
Sunrise smiled. “Good. I’ve got a new sister and a sister-in-law to get to know better.”
“Well, future sister-in-law, technically,” the pegasus corrected her.
Sunrise gave a good-natured shrug. “Whatever.”
“Meanwhile,” Sunset broke in, “If I could make some overdue introductions? Celestia, this is my fiancé, Twilight Sparkle. Twilight, this is my mom, Celestia.”
The instant of pleasure Twilight felt suddenly gave way to panic as she realized she had no idea how to bow on four hooves. She’d meant to ask about this first, maybe have time to practice, but everything had happened so fast! 
Now that she was here, was she going to embarrass Sunset in front of everybody?
Plus, wings! What do ponies do with wings? With bowing? How do you wingbow? Do you spread them like a curtsey? Keep them tucked in? Oh, God! Why hadn’t she researched this beforehand?!? 
Desperately trying to keep calm, Twilight thought quickly. It made sense that even a bad genuflection would be better than none at all. Okay. Fine. She could do that. 
But as she started lowering herself as best she could, a gentle wing touched her chin, stopping her. She looked up, and saw the Sun Princess was smiling down at her fondly.
“No need for that, my dear,” Celestia said. “Family needs never bow.”