//------------------------------// // Two: An Explanation // Story: Her Broken Childhood // by girasol //------------------------------// Twilight once again stepped through the portal, but this time, a small amber unicorn with a fiery red mane stepped through with her. “Twilight you’re back!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she embraced her friend and the rest of her friends followed along. All Sunset could do was just stare at the group. They looked so much like the creatures that were on the other side of the mirror. But how is that possible? How could there be two of them? “Sunset?” She heard a familiar voice call her name. Sunset breathed a sigh of relief as she galloped towards the white alicorn, tears forming along the side her eyes, “I-I’m sorry!” she cried out, “I’m sorry I-I practiced my spells without you! Just p-please d-don’t punish me! I-I’m sorry p-please d-don’t send me away!” Princess Celestia wrapped her white wings around the small filly, “Sunset it’s alright. I will never send you away. I’m not mad at you. I forgive you Sunset. It’s alright. I’m here.” Sunset looked up at the sun princess, tears still slipping down her face, “Y-you’re not m-mad at me?” The princess shook her head, “Oh my little sunshine. I could never be mad at you. I promise I’ll never send you away.” Sunset was relieved at the princess’s response. And she believed it too. She knew that she was safe as long as Princess Celestia was with her. And nothing will take Princess Celestia away from her. Twilight and her friends walked out of the room as the princess comforted the little filly. Twilight still wondered at why the former bully was made a child again by the Elements of Harmony. “So Twilight darling,” Rarity began, bringing Twilight out of her worry, “I don’t mean to pry but what in Celestia’s name happened on the other side or the mirror?” “Yeah I’m pretty sure the last time we saw that little thief she was our age.” Rainbow Dash growled. “Honestly, I’m not sure. Like I said, she put the crown on her head and we blasted her with the elements. Next thing I knew, she was the age you see her now,” Twilight’s ears flopped down, “She was so scared. And she’s hurt. I didn’t mean to hurt her with the elements. I just don’t know what happened. All I know is that she’s terrified of everypony except Princess Celestia.” “Oh Twilight,” Fluttershy said wrapping her yellow hoof around her alicorn friend, “You did nothing wrong. I’m not sure what happened but I do know that everything will be okay.” Twilight returned the embrace, “Thank you Fluttershy.” Princess Luna walked along side Princess Celestia as they head towards her bed chambers. The elder white alicorn had a small sleeping filly on her back as they walked to her sisters room. Luna could not keep her eyes off of the filly. It baffled her to hear of the relationship that was between them. What exactly was their relationship like? The little unicorn seems to see her elder sister more as a mother than a mentor. “So dear sister, are we going to discuss the state of your former student?” Luna asked pointing her muzzle towards the filly in question. Princess Celestia stopped and sighed, her white ears flopping downwards, before she continued to walk again, “Call Twilight to my room and I’ll explain everything.” Twilight was on her bed. The events of the day were still fresh in her mind. She hopes that one day she’ll see her friends’ human doppelgängers again. And she hoped that Sunset will be okay. She still couldn’t understand why she was so frightened of everyone. Yes, maybe it was because there were strange creatures among her when she woke up, but even when she took the girl back to Equestria, she still seemed so scared. Was she always going to be like that? Was she ever like that before? A knock at her door tore Twilight from her thoughts. Twilight leaped off her bed, walked over to the door and opened it with her magic. She was surprised to see that it was Princess Luna, who greeted her. “Sorry to disturb you Twilight Sparkle but my sister would like to speak with you,” the princess of the night declared with the regal voice the princesses often used when an order was being told. Most ponies called it “The Canterlot Voice.” “She would like to meet with me? Why? And to talk about what?” Twilight asked, trying not to let her panic show. “It’s best if you would wait until you discuss the matter with my sister. She’ll tell you everything.” Princess Luna answered. Twilight quickly went over to the sleeping Spike on the bed to tell him that she’ll be right back before she trotted out the door. Princess Celestia slowly placed the small filly under her bed covers before she placed a gentle kiss on top of the filly’s head. The princess smiled, remembering all the times she would tuck the little unicorn into bed after falling asleep at her desk. “Oh my little sunshine,” the princess whispered, “I hope this time I can give you the childhood that you deserve.” Just then, her younger sister came into the room with a young purple alicorn at her side. “You wished to see me Princess Celestia?” Asked Twilight, quickly glancing over to the sleeping Sunset on Princess Celestia’s bed. The sun princess nodded, “Twilight, you said that she was frightened when she woke?” Seeing a nod from Twilight made her sigh once again, “I guess I should start from the beginning. When Sunset first became my student, she was around the age that you see her now.” “How did you meet her?” Twilight interrupted. Princess Celestia sadly smiled, looking towards the small unicorn on her bed, “I was on the streets of Canterlot one afternoon...” ———— Princess Celestia was walking the streets of Canterlot when she heard a yelp from a nearby shop. “Stop thief!” A colt called as a small hooded figure ran right past her. Princess Celestia began running towards the hidden figure, frowning as she heard a small whimper coming from whoever was behind the hood. Just as she caught up to the small figure, it disappeared. “What?” the princess halted, surprised by the fact that the small figure, which she presumed to be a young filly, teleported. Teleportation is a very difficult spell to master, especially for a filly. “Princess!” The voice from before bowed before saying, “Somepony stole some apples from my shop! I tried to stop them but they were too fast!” “It’s alright,” the princess told the brown colt with a warm smile, “We’ll find them.” ... A while later, Princess Celestia came up a dark alleyway when she noticed apple cores sitting along side of the wall. “Hmm,” was all the sun princess said as she got closer towards the alleyway. What she saw surprised her. A small amber unicorn with a fiery red mane was hiding in a ripped up old box next to the dumpster. She was dirty, and she looked as if she hadn’t eaten in days. Possibly even weeks. The little unicorn gasped at the sight of the princess before running in the opposite direction to hide behind the dirty green dumpster. “Sweetie it’s okay! I’m not going to hurt you,” she told the trembling filly who said nothing in return. The alleyway was dark. And it was to be night soon but the princess could still make out the terrified little face of the filly. “A-are you g-going to punish me?” The filly whimpered our as she cowered behind the stinky dumpster. Princess Celestia shook her head, “No my child. I am not,” the filly came out from behind the dumpster. Now that she could see the little filly more clearly, she noticed some scars and bruises all over her amber coat and face. This poor filly. What in Equestria happened to her? “What’s your name, little one?” The filly thought for a moment before shaking her head, “I-I don’t think I have a name.” Princess Celestia was taken aback by the strange response, “Do you have parents?” she asked the small filly. At her question, the fiery maned filly began to tremble again before falling to the ground with uncontrollable cries. This surprised the princess. She did expect her to be an orphan, judging by where she found the filly. She expected her to be saddened by the question of her parents. But she would have never guessed that the small unicorn would have a panic attack at her question. “Oh sweetheart it’s alright. You’re okay. I’m not going to hurt you,” the princess gently said to the crying filly, “Listen little one, I’m going to take care of you, don’t worry. I’m going to take you to my palace. And you’ll go to my school for unicorns, alright?” “O-okay,” was all the young filly said. The princess smiled, relieved she didn’t make her panic again, “I’ll need to give you a name.” the princess thought for a moment looking at the small unicorn. She noticed that the young filly had a cutie mark. A red and yellow sun. She looked at the filly’s cyan eyes. Suddenly the name came to her, “How about Sunset Shimmer? Do you like it?” The little filly beamed at that, nodding her head excitedly. The princess smiled once more, “Okay then, Sunset Shimmer, lets go home.” ———— “She didn’t even have a name?” Twilight wondered out loud as the princess finished her story. “No. No she didn’t,” the sun princess responded, “The next day, I went to look for her birth certificate to see if I can locate her parents or what happened to them,” she paused, “The only thing I could find as proof of her existence was a birth certificate with no name. All it said was that a filly was born six years ago with no name and her parents weren’t listed. There was just a small picture that was undeniably her as a baby.” Twilight sighed, “So you never found out who her parents were?” Princess Celestia shook her head, “No. The next few months of her staying at the castle were rough. She would have panic attacks everyday. She trusted nopony. At that time, I had no idea why she was acting that way,” she took a deep breath, “Throughout the next ten years, I helped raised her. She still had a few panic attacks here and there but they weren’t as bad as before. But she was bullied a lot throughout her school days. It made her have panic attacks at school. She would come to me crying, telling me the things they would say and do to her. They would tease her about not having parents and especially about the scars on her face,” The sun princess paused, “It wasn’t really until her lust for power began to fester when they stopped bullying her,” she paused once more. “Did you ever ask her about her parents?” Twilight hesitated to ask, fearing what they princess’s response might be. The sun princess nodded sadly, “One day when she was about ten, I asked her if she remembers who her parents were. She became hysterical. She begged me not to take her back to her parents. Begged me not to tell them where she is.” The princess took a deep breath, “That’s when I realized... I realized that she... she was abused by her own parents as a filly. It all made sense then. The scars all over her body. Her not trusting anyone. Her panic attacks... and the nightmares...” the princess trailed off, “She then became obsessed with her studies. Trying so hard to prove to me that she is worthy of being my student. That soon turned into greed for power. And it lead to her being selfish and ignorant. And it lead her to the path... in pursuing the secrets behind the mirror. And one day, we had an argument. We were both so angry with each other. I-I said somethings that I have deeply regretted since she left. And I’m sure she felt the same way. I just... I just wish that I could have... known about her parents sooner. It’s all my fault... I could’ve helped her... I could have given her a better childhood.” Princess Luna walked over to her elder sister, comforting her as she softly cried, “Sister,” she began, “It’s not your fault. You couldn’t have known about the filly’s parents. You gave her everything she never had.” “I know,” the sun princess said, “It’s just seeing her like that again. It-it made me remember how she used to be. It reminded me of when we first met. She still has those scars... those same scars. So many scars...” she trailed off before she started to tear up again. Twilight walked forward towards her old teacher, “Princess Celestia. You did everything you could. You gave her a loving home. A family. Maybe the elements wanted to give both you and her a chance to start over.” Princess Celestia looked over at the sleeping filly and smiled, “And I will give her the best life I could possibly give her.”