Note: this happens a couple of days after the last chapter. It's not made after an episode, but from a headcanon about Sunset Shimmer and Sunburst.
At the Breeze Wheat Granary, a sister is having trouble with some of the workers, they do not understand what she is trying to tell them and one of the stallions ends up teasing her since he has a crush on her, she is flustered and makes it harder for the workers to take her seriously. They do stop laughing when the older brother of the mare calls for their attention, tone hard from his annoyance. He joins his sister, does tease her and she retorts annoyed back, but that's what siblings do. The two then turn back to the workers and together get the point across of what they have been doing wrong.
Sunset Shimmer watches all of this from a distance, she has never spoken to the family at that granary, only heard about them from others. She does not feel comfortable mingling with the ponies as the regret of what she did is still great. Not like the crystal ponies would know about her past but part of Sunset fears she might use their naivety to her advantages in getting the magic of an alicorn, something she still longs to get.
She is however aware that will never happen, Twilight Sparkle got it instead… she wasn't there to the coronation but she heard all of the guards talk about how excited Shining Armor and Cadence— Twilight's brother and sister in law— were about it.
Sunset Shimmer sighs, the dread of not knowing of her path anymore is weighing heavy down on her. Her hoof brushes over the letter she got from her parents, they knew she's here in the Crystal Empire which means Celestia must've told them she has returned. Not sure if she should thank the princess or not for withholding the info about her going rogue and studied dark magic in another world. Her parents do not know, according to the letter they still think she has been studied under Celestia all this time and has just finished her studies… mother sounds so proud in the letter… which did not help on Sunset's sense of regret.
They want her to return home, tell them about her studies. Sunset is very reluctant to do it, but she feels like she owes them that much, it has been fifteen years since she last saw them. Granted, fifteen years is not terribly long for a pony but still enough for parents to really miss their oldest child. Last time they saw her, she was a filly.
"Still thinking about it, huh?"
Sunset Shimmer shifts her gaze to Rhys and nods with a sigh. "Yup…" He takes a seat beside her, watching in silence. She breaks it with a question to him. "What should I do Rhys?" Said teen drake gives her a surprised stare, Sunset realizes that she hasn't asked him such questions during their time in the human world but back then she had a goal, a purpose in life. "I feel so lost… without the goal of accession… I do not know what I should do…" Eyeing the letter of her parents—mostly mother praising her for finishing her studies. "They think I am still on good foot with the princess, not that I abandoned her and went completely off the rails in another world. They think I now will become a powerful enchantress, but I won't... what should I do?" She asks him again.
"… I don't know." Rhys admits after a long silence between them, he too has realized he does not know what he should do now that he has come to understand that his whole life shouldn't involve around Sunset's. "I'm trying to figure it out too." Sunset Shimmer eyes him and smiles weakly. "At least we're not alone with this then." She remarks and he returns the smile, finding some comfort in this small fact. "Yeah." After some more silence, he speaks his mind again. "I do at times miss the other world. There were a bit more opportunities."
]This confuses her. "What do you mean?" and Rhys explains. "You can try whatever the hell you like in that place. Here, if you have the mark on your butt about something, then that's your path, no question asked." Sunset eyes her cutie mark of a shimmering sun, one that did not really show what her path is other than she has a talent in fire and certain light magic. That's why she decided to become a student of magic. And now that Rhys mention it, she followed her mark a tad too much. "I guess ponies do that." Sunset muses softly, but this mark didn't help her reach her intended goal. "Not like it did me any good..." Rhys simply hums. And speaking of opportunities for jobs: "You don't have a mark, and yet you still speak like your path has been chosen."
Rhys snorts a chuckle, does check the area as he rather not piss off his mother. She can get quite scary when angry. "It's mother, she keeps talking about what drakes did when—" both eyes land on one of the many drake statues "— they were around." He clears his throat of the discomfort knowing all of those statues were once living drakes. "Anyway, she has been testing me in all kind of stuff, magical fire, digging, endurance and some other things. She is now set on I should pursue the path of a gatekeeper— it's a drake warrior." He explains Sunset Shimmer and nods to a statue having armor on. "They were trained to protect the other drakes."
"But you don't want that?" Sunset Shimmer asks a bit confused, Rhys would make a good gatekeeper drake, after all, he is a very adept fighter. Something he often put to good use back when they were in the human world. She wouldn't have gotten out of several problems if not for his combat skills.
Rhys shakes his head. "No…" Adding in a small state of panic. "Don't get me wrong, I don't mind fighting but-" He sighs. "Well, after my latest visit with Spike, he showed me his comic book collection. Some of those stories reminded me of when we were back in the human world. So it got me thinking." He shows her several papers, all having sketchy drawings on. "Maybe I could make some of my own?" Sunset levitates them over and after have put them in the correct order, she reads this comic script. She recognizes the plot, it is about their first raid on a Lux Witch, Rhys did, however, make it way more comical than it really was and it did get a chuckle out from her in how Rhys made the two heroes— A pony and a drake (of course), jump out from the window, holding the book they stole for dear life while the witch threw an array of explosive spells at them. Must admit she can see potential in this. "Is this your very first?" Rhys nods and he asks slowly. "Do… Do you like it?"
She nods and tells why she liked this more comical twist on their past misdeeds and adds as she returns the comic back to him. "I would love to read more, but I think you need to ask someone else to make the drawings for you." His drawings are good enough for a script, but no one wants to read about a stick pony and dragon.
"Yeah, I kinda suck at drawing!" Rhys laughs and is so happy and relieved that Sunset likes this, it is enough encouragement for him to pursue this small hobby of his.
His smile does fade when she returns back to the letter from her parents. Putting the comic back into his bag, he suggests: "What about we visit them together?"
"I can't tell them about my big failure."
"Then don't, do you think I told my mother everything we did in the other world?" He retorts softly back. "She would've become livid if she knew, her son; had to eat scraps and obey rotten thugs." And acts like he is the drakes dragonlord. ""That not how a dragon should live! We rather die than stoop so low.""
Sunset laughs softly and can see his point on how other ponies might've been horrified how she and Rhys lived the first years in the human world. It wasn't easy or right for that matter, Sunset has to accept that without her ruthlessness, then neither she or Rhys would've survived in the human world. "Alright, but I doubt the Royals will let us leave the Crystal Empire." Adding quickly when Rhys looks ready to suggest something they often did when caught in the human world. "No, we can't make a prison break." She needs to show she is serious about her wish to redeem herself, so they can't knock down several guards and take the run for it, no matter how tempting it is.
**couple of hours later**
Well, this turned out differently than she expected.
Sunset Shimmer spoke to Cadence and Shining Armor of her wish to see her parents again, fully expecting them to deny her but much to her surprise; they allowed them to go. Did make a condition though: and that she will have a horn blocking spell on. It will keep her from using her horn. The horn blocking spell will be dismissed the moment she returns back to the Crystal Empire.
Sunset Shimmer sees that as a fair enough trade, and after she got the spell on, she along with Rhys, take the train to Sunset's home: Sire's Hollow.
Leaving the train, drake and unicorn walk towards the town that looks pretty much as it used to: a boring little town with the only thing interesting is the local fruit shop as the mare in there has a funny habit of doing an excessively long story to anyone stepping inside of where the fruit came from.
Sunset does stop at the store for a moment but decides she does not feel up to getting lectured about the banana.
Going past the small library, Rhys asks with a teasing grin. "Let me guess, you spent most of your time in there?"
She eyes the small place and notices a lilac colored unicorn filly with purple hair, having a teal line in both mane and tail leaves the library, muzzle deep in the book she's reading. Sunset Shimmer did read a lot in there, but not all her time as that filly seems to be doing. "I prefer to get my hand— I mean hoof dirty by trying." She explains Rhys and walks off, the young filly didn't see where she was going, though and bumps into her. The filly flinches away, head red in embarrassment. Sunset gives this filly a weak smile, about to move on, then a sudden memory makes her realize she knows this soon to be teen. "Hold up, haven't I seen you before?" She asks the filly, who now has gotten nervous from how her eyes are shifting around. "You're friends with Sunburst, right?" The filly titles her head slowly, now suspicious. "Who are you? And how do you know Sunburst?" and Sunset replies. "I'm Sunset Shimmer, Sunburst's older sister." The filly eyes wide and asks in surprise. "You're his sister?" Silence, then the filly remarks much to Sunset's amusement. "Yeah, I can see the resembles. Looks like everypony in your family is associated with the sun."
Sunset Shimmer laughs softly at that remark but the filly got a point. "Seems like it, well, it was nice talking to you." and she walks over to her parents' house, does stop when the filly asks. "Why haven't I seen you before now?"
Sunset Shimmer turns her eyes back to this filly. "I have been off studying in Canterlot for a long time." and much to her surprise, the filly makes a 'oh' and points out with tears in her eyes. "So that's why his mother wanted him to go at that school. Because of you." Sunset frowns at that accusing tone this filly has, as if all of this is her fault. Sensing something is not right, she hurries over to her parents' house. "Mom? Dad?" and the second her parents saw her, they almost strangled her in hugs and tears of joy.
Took longer than expected to make them let go of her, then they noticed the awkwardly standing Rhys, so she has to explain to them who he is. "This is Rhys, he's a species of dragon called a drake—"
"Isn't dragons dangerous?" Her mother Stellar Flare asks, like her daughter, her pelt and hair have the color of fire, her hair is however more in a deeper red than Sunset's. Her eyes warily glued on the uncomfortably standing Rhys.
Sunset shrugs. "Well, they sorta are. But I am Rhys guardian, so wherever I go, he goes." Her parents' eye Rhys and her father, a stallion that has the colors of the midday sun; Sunspot speaks. "Well, in that case, Rhys is part of the family." Although he looks a bit uncomfortable about the thought of letting Rhys join the family. Sunset hopes her parents will warm up to the teen drake over time- speaking of which. "Mom, Dad, where is Sunburst?"
"Oh, he's at the same school as you were dear." Stellar Flare replies proudly. "Right after he got his cutie mark, we sent him to the School for Gifted Unicorns. We haven't heard much from him but I am sure it's because he's too busy with his studies as you were."
Did they send him off just like that? With her, they did at least give her time to figure out if that what she wanted. "Did Sunburst want to tend my school?" The worry for her baby brother raises when her mother, one who has a tendency of expecting too much from others, tells her: "Of course, his older sister attended it, so why shouldn't he? Magic runs in the family, after all, right dear?" She asks Sunspot who nods in agreement, both forgetting that they aren't very skilled in magic other than her mother is good with levitation and father in adept fire magic. Sunset Shimmer gives both her parents a deadpan look. Seems like she has to pay her brother a visit and see if he truly has the same magical talent as she has.
**Canterlot**
Sunset Shimmer and Rhys walk over to the building meant to house students at Celestia's school, she never lived here though. As a chosen student of Celestia and caretaker of Rhys, she was granted a room up in the castle. After a bit of asking around— and explaining the young unicorns what Rhys is which took longer than she wanted. Sunset finally finds her brother's room. She knocks on the door and about two minutes later, a very stressed looking Sunburst walks out. He stops and stares wide-eyed at her for a moment, then smiles which she returns and hugs her young teen brother. "It's been long." Stepping away from him. "How have you been?"
Sunburst laughs weakly. "You know, been studying all kind of magic." The smile fades when he notices Rhys, so Sunset introduces the two to each other. "Sunburst, this is Rhys, he's my ward. Rhys, this is my younger brother, Sunburst." The two shakes claw and hoof and after the greeting, Sunburst lets them inside. The room looks like any teenager's, messy and has a lot of books for study lying around. Sunburst levitates some of the books away, apologizing. "Sorry for the mess, I wasn't expecting visitors." He puts the books into a shelf, turns around and after a moment of awkward silence, he asks.
"So… what have you been doing lately? You sorta disappeared without a word. Mom said you were busy studying."
Sunset really considers lying as she did to her parents, but… Sunburst looks up to her, at least he did when she left to study under Celestia. Sure she thought him annoying back then as he kept taking her books without asking and she was so set on reaching her goal that she didn't consider his— anyone's feeling really. "I was studying but not with the princess. it's a long story and one I rather not talk about." She finally speaks slowly, her brother frowns in his confusions so she quickly tries to change the topic. "How's school going?" Glancing to the books, it's easy to know what subject they are currently on. "Transfiguration, huh? Interesting topic." Sunset smiles at the memories of when she was doing that subject at school. "I remember I transfigured the teacher's chair into a wooded dog that would dance ballet. The teacher was quite impressed as none of my classmates could do anything close to—" Rhys elbows her hard and first there Sunset Shimmer realizes the defeated look in her brother's eyes. "Oh, having trouble with this kind of spells?" She asks softly.
Sunburst does not answer at first, then he smiles, it looks a bit strained though. "A bit but nothing you should worry about Sunset. I just need to study a bit harder, that's all!"
Sunset frowns lightly as she does not fully believe him but who is she to call out someone not wanting to spill the bean? "You know what, let's forget about studies for now." She decides for both of them. She did not come here to relive her time as Celestia's student and her brother look like he could need a breather for all this studying he has been doing.
"Huh?" Sunburst blinks of his sister suggesting to do something else than studying. "But I haven't finished this week's homework!" He argues, but if there is one thing he remembers about Sunset, is that his sister is very stubborn when she first has put a goal on her mind. So he can do little than go along with her and Rhys to wherever his sister is going. She brings him to a café where they get something to drink, here she asks him. "Anything you would like to do?" Sunburst blinks. "Don't you have anything in mind?"
Sure, but that's what she would like to do. "I do, but this is not about me." Sunset replies and asks her brother again. "What would you like to do?" Sunburst is quiet in thoughts for a moment. "Can... Can we go to the antic store?" He asks slowly. Sunset blinks as he didn't have this hobby last time she saw him, but it's good to know he has one. "Sure." She nods to then eye Rhys surprised when the teen dragon hit his head onto the table. Seems like he does not like the idea of going to a shop having old stuff. Rolling her eyes at the drake "subtle" way of saying he does not want to go, she tells her brother. "Before we do that, let's go to the comic store— We have to make a detour though, can't walk down Starry Street." For unlike the last time she does not have her magic to handle the fire that will come if they walk down that street.
"Why's that?"
"The trees there makes dragon's sneezes and you don't want to stand near a sneezing dragon."
Sunburst eyes Rhys who looks quite embarrassed about this fact. "Oh." But it's not like he can control if a plant makes him sneeze fire. After the drink, they went down a street not having these dragon sneezing trees, leaves Rhys at the comic store and when stepping into the antic store, whole Sunburst's demeanor changes from tired to excited. He trots over to a shelf holding old coins, then over to an old oak table and soon after checking out a lamp made of crystal.
Sunset quietly follows her brother around, do stop before a mirror and stares at her reflection. For a moment she saw a demonic pony in her stead, the reminder of what lurks inside of her. Sunset looks away, eyes her brother when he notices the mirror as well, unlike her, however: he is quite excited about it. "Is this the mirror of the sages?" Sunset blinks at his words and checks the mirror again, this time it's framing. "No, it's only a copy." She points out and nods to the wooden frame. "The runes are wrong, a good copy though." Quite impressive her brother knew about one of the artifacts of old.
Sunburst nods in agreement, he carefully puts a hoof onto the mirror. "Legend says the real mirror could teleport ponies to places beyond one's imagination." He hears his sister muses something but he didn't hear it. "What did you say?"
She's not entirely sure if she likes the idea that exists another mirror that can bring one to another world. "It's nothing." Sunset brushes her brother off, and yet she cannot deny the fact that she is intrigued if an ordinary mirror can be used for world jumping. She will have to check up on that later.
Sunburst leaves the store with a few old coins. Putting them into a small bag, he asks Sunset about something he has noticed back when he joined the school. "During the entrance exam, I was giving a dragon egg." Sunset snaps her eyes to him, the gleam in them makes it clear she passed that test. "I didn't succeed but I still got in." He explains her and asks confused "Why would they let me in if I couldn't pass?"
"Only one with powerful magic can hatch a drake." Sunset explains her brother softly, she has completely forgotten about Rhys last sibling. According to Nila, the last egg is a female. "Whoever will hatch that egg will become princess Celestia's personal student. The last unicorn who did that was one named Twilight Sparkle… she's now a princess."
"Oh… " Sunburst is not entirely sure what he can say. He has no idea what makes his sister this gloomy but it's clear Sunset does not want to talk about it. So instead he thinks about the egg that yet hasn't been hatched. He hesitates for a moment but he feels like he needs to know about this, more so when his older sister is the caretaker of Rhys. "Is your dragon companion in family with that egg?"
She nods. "Yes, that egg holds Rhys' sister." And explains as she knows Sunburst will ask about it. "The egg's parents cast a powerful spell on it, the baby dragon will be in an eternal slumber until the day someone manages to open the egg."
Sunburst nods slowly that he understands. They get Rhys who had bought a comic book and it's about where it is time for Sunset Shimmer to head back to wherever she currently lives. "It was nice to see you again, sister." He must admit. Sunset nods in agreement. "It was, we should try and see each other again soon."
He would like that but… what if she realizes he is the worst student in the class? Would she even want to hang out with him then? She always spoke on how talent is the only thing important and he… he has none of it… so he lies. "Sure, but it's might be tricky, I am terribly busy with my studies you see." He meekly makes the excuse. He just does not have the magical potential like his older sister, it's not like he does not know how to do the spell but what good is the knowledge if he does not have the magic for it? If his sister knew, then she will push him away again…
Sunset sighs. "Write to me if you feel up for a visit." And after a hug, she and Rhys steps into the train. Sunburst waves goodbye, only leaves the station when he no longer can see it. He returns back to his room, about to return back to his studies but his mind keeps wandering to where it shouldn't be. Realizing he won't get any study done, he drops the book, leaves and trots up to the castle. Here he carefully sneaks into the room he saw where the dragon egg is located. There weren't any guards protecting the egg and in his fearful excitement did not notice this fact.
He sneaks up to the orange with iris purple spots egg, scans the room before he does something he never thought he would do: he takes it and quickly leaves.
Right as the young unicorn leaves the unguarded room, light shimmers near the small pedestal and Celestia appears. She watches the colt trots away with the egg but does not try and stop him, Sunburst might not have the raw magic to hatch a drake egg but he is more than smart enough to work around that problem and the millennia of years she has been ruling. Celestia has learned how to spot potential in certain ponies and her gut feeling tells her that Sunburst would make a good guardian for the last egg of Nila. Of course she will be keeping a close eye on him, but for now, she will let him get away with this theft.
**evening, Crystal Empire**
After having gotten the horn blocking spell lifted, Sunset Shimmer wanders into the kingdom's library, she makes a short conversation with the librarian but only out of politeness. She scans the many shelves filled with books from an ancient time, all she would've found interesting in the past but now… well, she just does not have her head into the game. That all changes when she notices a book that sticks out like a sour thumb, unlike the others this book does not have a crystal cover but out of wood. She levitates the book out and reads the title. "'The Powers within the Primal Fire. Written by Stygian." Sunset Shimmer bobs her head to the side at the title but does open the book and reads, the more she did the more she realized that this ancient author is incredibly smart, maybe even smarter than Starswirl the Bearded! This unicorn (she thinks he was) has written about spells she has seen in action but thought it was only something an alicorn could do. One of these spells catches her eyes more than anyone else: the spell that uses fire to take the caster through the fabric of space. Pretty much a teleportation spell but except for using light, this spell requires fire. Makes her wonder; is she powerful enough to teleport herself to another world? Maybe she should wait with this one, according to the author, this spell can be incredibly dangerous as it requires the spellcaster to infuse their magic into a real fire (according to Stygian, drake fire is best for the spell) and also know about the place they teleport themselves to. Better try some of the others. Sunset's eyes land on another spell, one that creates wings of fire. Well, it's not alicorn wings but if she succeeds then she will be content in staying as a skilled unicorn with incredible fire magic.
**Meanwhile, the human world. at the Alpha Respawn**
"Finally the Alpha respawn is mine!" Grey declares smugly, after so much hassle with those two teams of Helen, he finally managed to chase them out and now his prize is finally at hand. He commands Team Mirage to secure the area, in case Vanguard left booby-traps. He also commands his robots to secure the area. It takes a while, as there were several traps scattering around, one of them is a sentry gun and it took out several robots but a sentry buster got rid of it. When sure it's safe to go inside and claim his prize Grey walks over to the building, he does, however, stop when he notices that the Sirens are not following him and he prefer having them close so they can keep team Mirage in line. "I would appreciate it if one of you would keep an eye on the team."
Adagio is aware of this and she would love to do it, but things aren't that simple. "As much as we would like it."
"We cannot go further..." Aria explains annoyed by this. "Harmony's influence is strong here, and as beings created by Disharmony, we are not allowed to enter." Grey raises a brow at this, but it's not like they made the rules. "Don't look at us like that mortal. Don't you think we would've destroyed this place if we could?"
That explains why the Sirens had never been able to retake control over team Vanguard. He will have to leave team Mirage behind as he does not trust any of them since the last "conversation" he had with the team heavy. Grey walks inside with his robots in tow and must say his curiosity is perked in knowing this place holds the being the Sirenes keeps calling Harmony, something that is strong enough to keep them away. He passes by a strange crystal decoration, parts of him is curious what it is while another is wary and thus he keeps his distance to it. More and more of these strange crystal decorations appears the closer he gets to the room where the alpha respawn is located, he must admit that he is more than a little startled to see that those decorations have been roots of this weird tree that seems to be the alpha respawn.
In the middle of the room stands Helen's assistance, something does feels a bit off though.
"Welcome." Miss Pauling speaks but her almost white eyes do not meet his.
Grey is immediately suspicious. "What are you doing here?"
"I am here… to talk." She replies and points at the weird machine that looks like a tree. "A promise you got, the alpha respawn; yours."
"And who are you?" Grey asks as he gets the feeling this is not the real Miss Pauling.
"Miss Pauling" turns back to him and smiles weakly but she does answer his question, instead, she steps aside, allowing him to approach the alpha respawn. Grey hesitates but do walk over to the machine, does however make sure several of his robots are aiming their weapons at her. At the machine's computer he reaches out but the second his fingers touch the keyboard, a sharp pain and he finds himself on the floor. From how a few of the robots have gone idle, he seems like he was knocked out for quite some time. "Is this some kind of sick joke?" He demands this weird manifest of Miss Pauling, enraged he couldn't touch the respawn machine. "How am I suppose to claim the respawn if I cannot even touch it?!"
"Your wish was the alpha respawn, now it is yours. The wish never meant you to use it." "Miss Pauling" replies him.
Getting on his feet, Grey asks her annoyed. "And how will I be able to use it?" He didn't get the answer he wanted.
"The side of Chaos is yours. Alpha respawn will not accept unless you walk the path of neutral or Harmony."
"And how do I do that?" Grey asks.
"Give up your goal is the way."
That he won't do, he has gotten too far to throw it all away just so he be connected to the respawn. But what use will this machine then be? If he cannot use it, he might as well destroy it.
"Robots." All of the robots quirk up and those going idle power up again. "Destroy the alpha respawn." They all turn their weapons at the machine and fire but instead of hitting the machine they instead hit a barrier. Grey commands his robots to stop as it's clear he's not getting through that barrier with the guns he has now. "Back to the drawing board." He grumbles, glances to the fake Miss Pauling that watches him calmly but with a face that whoever she is the mouthpiece for will put up a real fight the day he returns with a weapon that can get through the barrier. It does not matter, he will destroy that machine and when that happens, team Fortress and Vanguard no longer has the upper hand.