Vice-Principal Luna knocked on the apartment door in front of her, waiting for an answer. After waiting a moment, the door was opened by a woman wearing a black skirt and a black jacket over a green shirt. She had dark grey skin, dark blue hair, and green eyes.
"Oh, Lulu, it's good to see you," She said, kissing Luna's forehead.
"Hey, Chrysie. So, do you have them?" Luna asked, walking into the apartment.
"Yup. It's all right here." Chrysalis said, holding a manila folder. Luna tried to take them, but Chrysalis pulled them out of her reach. "Ah-Ah… not yet, first you gotta tell me everything about this whole pony business. Then and only then will I give you the file," She said with a smirk.
"Ugh- fine… but I can only tell you what actually happened. Anything else, you need to ask Sunset," Luna said, defeated.
"Fine by me. Now, tell me."
"Okay, it all happened a couple of years ago…"
Luna began to tell Chrysalis all about what happened with Sunset, starting from the day she enrolled at CHS. In the middle of the conversation, Chrysalis made some tea to drink while listening to Luna with the utmost interest.
"… So after that, Celestia took her in. But she hasn't said a single word about that with the kid. She always chickens out when she's going to say that. Also, Sunset looks afraid of Tia more than me for some reason," Luna concluded.
"Huh… honestly, if someone else said anything remotely close to this, I would call the nearest mental ward. But since it's coming from you, it's really hard not to believe," Chrysalis said. "In any case, a deals a deal, here's the paperwork," She said, giving Luna the manila folder. Luna began to skim through it to see if everything is correct. "It has everything Sunset would need. A birth certificate, a social security card, you know. And last but not least, adoption papers."
"Chrysalis, thank you. You are the best," Luna said, giving Chrysalis a kiss on the cheek.
"Oh, it's nothing. Just make sure Celestia talk to the kid soon. Because I want to meet her as soon as possible," Chrysalis said.
"I will don't worry about that."
Sunset walked back to Celestia's home that evening after spending time with Fluttershy and Applejack. Hanging out with Applejack went surprisingly well. She recalled the conversation she had with the local apple farmer.
Flashback
"So, Sugarcube. Ah was wondering if ya could tell us more about your homeworld. What's it like there?" Applejack asked.
"Well, for starters, it's inhabited by mostly ponies. And almost everyone here has a counterpart in that world," Sunset began.
"Almost?" Fluttershy asked.
"I think. I never found my counterpart in this world." Sunset said.
"Ah see. What else?" Applejack asked.
"Well, it's a world of magic. We do use science, but its mostly tied together with magic and creating spells. I suppose you could think of it as chemistry."
"Wow. I wonder what it feels to have magic with you all the time," Fluttershy said.
"It's great. You can do all sorts of things. You can teleport anywhere, make things float, you can grow trees, it's amazing," Sunset said, smiling. It didn't last long as her smile suddenly vanquished. "And I left that behind, everything really, behind searching for power. How the mighty has fallen, huh?" She said somberly. Fluttershy and Applejack looked at her sadly.
"So, I heard what happened with Lighting and Rainbow today," Applejack said, hoping for some sort of distraction from the sudden shift of Sunset's emotions.
"What! What happened? Did they hurt you?" Fluttershy asked.
"Uh… Lighting tried to. But Rainbow came and took her to soccer practice. I think she actually saved me there," Sunset said.
Sunset, why didn't you stand up to Lighting? You are more than capable of that. Applejack asked.
"I-I don't want to hurt anyone anymore. It led me to a place that I never wanted to be at, doing that might make me evil again."
"Look, Sugercube, I don't know if you just acting or if ya are a downright idiot. Sunset, self-defense doesn't make you bad. If you can't avoid conflict, then you should defend yourself if you can."
"I-I don't know. I'll think about it."
That's all I ask."
"Also, Rainbow did save you back there," Applejack said matter of factly.
"Really? Does that mean she'll be friends with me?" Sunset asked, hopefully.
"I don't think so," Applejack said. Sunset hung her head. "Sunset, Rainbow wants to be your friend. She did promise to the Princess. But she's afraid."
"Afraid? Why would she be afraid?"
"Yeah. Rainbow is very loyal to her friends. Even when you broke us apart, it's me that broke up with her. And she doesn't want that to happen again. She's just afraid that you'll break us apart again."
"Oh… sorry. But I don't want to do that again. I want to be good."
"Listen, Sunset, none of us want to be your friend. Well- maybe except for Fluttershy. And maybe you do want to change. But you were a no-good-varmint to everyone. You even told lies about our farm, my family, I don't take kindly to that, Shimmer." Sunset hung her head even lower. "So, I have an idea. You remember when I said that if you want us to be your friends, you have to prove you actually changed?"
"Y-yeah? I'll do anything."
"Okay, then. Why don't you come over to Sweet Apple Acres tomorrow? And help out at the farm? If you put in some honest work, I might consider our friendship as a real possibility. What do you say? Want to come a do some honest and good tomorrow?"
"I want to change. So yeah, I will," Sunset said with determination.
End Flashback
Sunset opened the door to Celestia's home and made her way inside.
"Principal Celestia… I'm back," She called out. She saw Celestia sitting on the couch, scanning through a manila folder. Her voice must've snapped Celestia from her thought as she looked up at Sunset.
"Oh, Sunset, you're back. How was your day?" Celestia asked.
"Uh… it's was okay. The job was great. I met up with Fluttershy for lunch after work at the park, and we met Applejack there." Sunset said, walking towards Celestia. "We hung out a bit and, that's it."
"So Applejack's good with you now?"
"Not exactly. But Applejack said to visit her farm tomorrow to help. If I prove to her that I really want to change, then she said she'll be my friend." Sunset said.
"That's wonderful, Sunset. You're growing so much in such a short time," Celestia nodded with joy. Sunset blushed.
"So… what's in the folder? If you don't mind me asking," Sunset said nervously, holding her left elbow in her right hand. She couldn't help but wonder what was inside the folder as she knew that look Celestia wore, she'd seen the Princess with the same look as she read through proposed laws. That meant that whatever was contained in those pages was important. One thing she noticed that all the humans shared with their pony counterparts were actions, how they moved and acted, but that didn't make them identical copies of the ponies she knew.
The best analogy that she could come up with is two sides of the same coin. Their experiences are different, but they share some ticks. Like Celestia's look of deep concentration has narrowed eyes, and she sat stone still. She almost always held her chin as she seemed to glare at the problem. Knowing that something was amiss but having yet to catch it in her cage like vision
"Oh, it's nothing, don't worry," Celestia said with slight panic in her tone as she quickly picked up the folder and stood up, with the file close to her chest. "How about some tea and you can tell me about the rest of your day?" She asked. The meaning clear to someone closer to her pony counterpart than anyone could've dreamed, this conversation was over
"N-no, thanks," Sunset said. "I'll… uh… I'll be in my room." She said before making her way to her room.
Unbeknownst to them, Luna watched the whole scene hidden within the staircase's shadows that lead to the basement.
"So you want to do this the hard way, huh," She muttered to herself like an evil villain in a comic book.
That night, the dinner went fairly quickly. No one talked that much. After dinner, Sunset went to her room as Celestia began to wash the dishes. Luna decided now was the best time to set up her plan. She climbed the stairs and looked towards Sunset's room. It was closed. She then took one last look behind her and made her towards Celestia's room and went inside.
"Okay, now where are they?" She asked herself. Her eyes fell on the cabinet, and a smile formed in her face. She opened the drawers and found what she was looking for. After setting everything up, she snuck out of Celestia's room and took a peek at Celestia. She was already finished.
"Good timing."
Luna walked over to Sunset's room and knocked on the door.
"Sunset, can you come out for a while?" Luna waited a few seconds, and the door open.
"Yes?" Sunset asked.
"Celestia said she wanted to talk with you about something. She said to wait in her room until she gets there." She said in her best serious face.
"O-okay," Sunset said. Luna left to her room, and Sunset walked over to Celestia's room, thinking of what Celestia wanted to talk about.
"Maybe she found me a place to stay."
Once she went inside Celestia's room, she looked around the room. She saw that her room was rather simple despite having money and a palace-like-house, unlike her pony counterparts. Then again, her counterpart was a near-immortal Princess that commanded the sun. While looking around the room, her eyes fell on the manila folder from before.
"It's that folder. Celestia seemed panicked when I asked her about it. Maybe it's personal. I shouldn't-"
Sunset's thought suddenly stopped when she saw a part of a word on a paper, which poked out of the folder. She walked towards it with knitted brows and pulled out the paper from the folder and looked at it. Her eyes went wide, and her hands began to shake, reading what's on the form.
"Sunset? What are you-" She heard Celestia saying from behind and she slowly turned towards her and looked up at her shakily.
"W- wh- what… i-is th-this?" She shakily asked.
"S-Sunset I-… I… Sunset… I… maybe we should sit down first." Celestia said shakily, taking a seat on her bad. "Come, sit." She said, patting the spot next to her. Sunset slowly walked towards her, and shakily took a seat next to Celestia.
"Sunset, when you first came to enroll at CHS. I had this… feeling. That we have some kind of connection, a link that I couldn't find a reason for, and I couldn't get that feeling out of my head. Even when you were bullying others, I thought I need to do something. But I never acted, worried that I could break the mysterious link between us," Celestia began. "When Princess Twilight told me that you are not from this world, I realized you were alone in this world and have been for quite some time. Seeing you that night, all bruised and dirty, so depressed… My bond with you screamed at me that it was time to act. So I took you in as soon as possible and asked Luna to make these papers." Celestia put both her hands on Sunset's shoulders and made her look at her eyes.
"Sunset, this is adoption papers; made for you. I've wanted to adopt you for a long time. Sunset, I don't know if you will stay in this world, or if you will go back to someone in that world. I don't mean to replace anyone, but if you sign these papers, you can have a life here. You can have a family here, with me, Luna, and so many people waiting to meet you. I want you to know that I would really like to have you as my daughter. I understand if you don't, but I have to ask, will you be my daughter?"
Sunset couldn't believe any of this. This was the one thing she always wanted. She wanted it so bad before that now it almost seemed like a dream. She's afraid that she'll wake up any moment only to have her hopes shattered. She knew there was only one way to find out. She looked at Celestia's eyes; and then suddenly lunged at Celestia and wrapped her arms around her tightly, catching Celestia off guard.
"I'd l-love to… mom." That last word broke the dam, and Celestia embraced Sunset with tear-filled eyes. Happy tears. They both happily cried together, smiling.
"Thank you, Sunset. I promise I'll be a good mom to you." They both stayed there for a while, happily embracing each other. Unbeknown to them, Luna was listening to the whole thing, just outside the door.
"Mission Accomplished." She muttered with a happy smile.
Celestia and Sunset signed the papers, and Celestia gave Sunset her new ID after the heartfelt moment. Before long, Luna entered the room.
"Ah, I see everything worked out well?" She said. Sunset's smile dropped, but her face was still bright with happiness.
"Hehe, thank you, Luna. For everything. I couldn't have done it without you." Celestia said.
"Don't thank me, Tia. I promised you I'll fix everything." Luna said with a sad look.
"Fix what?" Sunset asked. Celestia took a while before answering.
"That's something Luna would have to tell you. First, you need to know that you have to tell us about your past." Celestia said.
"M-my p-past?" Sunset asked with fear evident in her voice. Celestia noticed this.
"Sunset, I just want to know you better. And I know you did bad things in the past. But know that they are the past. Don't let the past define you." Celestia said.
Sunset looked down for a moment. After thinking for a while, she looked back up.
"Well… y-you know I'm from this… alternate world, right?" Celestia and Luna nodded. "Cel-Mom… when you said that you don't mean to replace anyone, you couldn't replace what wasn't there. I was an orphan back there." Celestia let out a gasp.
"Oh, Sunset…"
"I had no friends back at the orphanage. It was hard for me to make friends. One day, I went to the entrance exam for this big school for gifted unicorns, and I passed with flying colors. This caught the attention of the Ruler of the country. She took me in as her personal student," Sunset paused for a while, thinking what to say next.
"Mom… I don't know if you know this, but both our worlds are quite similar. The major difference being the magic and the inhabitance. Almost everyone in this world has a counterpart in that world. A-and you counterpart i-is… Princess Celestia… my mentor," Sunset said, looking down.
"What?" Luna asked. Celestia let out a gasp and held her hands over her mouth.
"Y-yeah, but something I noticed between this world and mine is that the counterparts look the same and act like the same, but they are not exact copies of each other. They have different experiences and the decisions they made for things can be different. Especially between you and your counterpart." Sunset said. "For one, the Princess is over a thousand years old. And, you adopted me, unlike my mentor. Also, you seem to have more experience over relationships, unlike her."
"What do you mean?" Celestia asked.
"Mom, would you believe me if I said that the whole reason or cause of me going evil is that I wanted a mom?"
"You… what happened?"
"After Princess took me as her personal student, I began to see her as a mother figure. And I wanted it to be that way. So I asked her if she could be my mom, but she refused. She said that we could never have such a relationship. I was so heartbroken." Sunset said. "Then, one day, I saw a door opened to a room that was always locked. When I looked inside, she was looking at this mirror. I walked closer and asked her about it. She wasn't clearly expecting to see me there. She said it's a magic mirror after she got herself together, and she still doesn't know what the mirror does. When I looked at the mirror, It suddenly shifted from the Princess and me into an image of me, looking like a princess. I can still remember her adopting Princess Cadence as her niece when she became a princess. So I thought if I became a princess too, she'd adopt me." By now, Sunset began to sob lightly.
"W-when I asked about the image… she said I-I'm not ready to know about it a-and forbid anymore t-talk about the mirror. She said I should focus on m-make some friends. But as I said, it was hard for me to make friends, and after some failed attempts, I told her that I can't make friends and asked for help. B-but she said I-I was not trying hard and kept telling m-me to try again. S-so, one d-day, I snuck into the forbidden s-section of the Canterlot Library and searched about the mirror. But the librarian saw me and i-informed the Princess. She came with guards and ordered them to lock me in my room until she came back." Sunset is crying tears now. "I-I was terrified, I guess that I would be forced into exile or imprisoned. So I knocked the guards using a stun spell and ran off to the mirror. It was a portal to another world, and I thought I could find a way to become a princess on the other side. And then I came into this world, two and a half years ago. Y-you know the rest." Sunset finished. No one said anything for a while. Sunset, thinking she messed up again, looked down and waited for any of them to speak. But what she didn't expect was the sudden embrace she got from both her mom and aunt.
"Sunset?" Celestia began after they broke the hug. "I'm so sorry. I know it's not my fault, but I should have reached out to you sooner."
"No. Y-you gave me a new chance, a new life, and most of all, a family," Sunset said, smiling.
Luna walked over to the table and picked up the manila folder, "Alright, you two, I'll leave you two alone and Sunset, maybe we should talk sometime later. I also have my end of the deal to keep." Luna said. Sunset nodded.
After Luna left the room, Celestia talked again, smiling, "Sunset, do you want to sleep together? I have to make up for all those years that we could've been a mother and daughter pair. You can tell me more about your world. I'm pretty sure there are a lot of legends and myths that are real in your world." She asked playfully. Sunset's eyes widened with excitement, and she grinned widely.
"Yeah, there are," Sunset said, embracing Celestia one last time