//------------------------------// // At the end of the day // Story: Wondercolts Forever // by Epsilon-Delta //------------------------------// Summertime! The sun felt so warm and the air so fresh. A wind blew through Sunset’s hair, calling her towards the forest, towards summer vacation. It smelled like adventure! Sunset could hardly wait to start as she and the other girls in their usual group stood waiting outside the school for Dash to show up. Her friends rented an RV to take them out on the camping trip. Sunset couldn’t help but jump up and down a little as Dash pulled up in it. She’d barely been able to sleep last night she was so excited about today. That was something that happened a lot to Sunset. “Alright, ladies!” Dash opened the door and pointed forward, down the road. “The faster we get in the faster we can get there! Let’s go!” “There’s no need to rush.” Rarity, surrounded by luggage, began pushing her bags into the RV, struggling with how many there were. “I quite enjoy watching the sights on the way." “Do you really need all that stuff?” Dash asked. “It’s a three-week camping trip! We’re not moving there.” “I agreed to go camping, not to live in abstract misery, completely disconnected from society.” Rarity got the last of her belongings and struggled to fit them in what little cargo space remained. “I’m pretty sure that’s what camping is,” Dash muttered as Rarity went past her. “Minus the misery part.” “Well, I can’t wait to get there!” Pinkie ran up to the RV much faster, pushing past Rarity. “Omigosh! We get to roast marshmallows and build a campfire and go swimming and tell ghost stories and -“ No matter how many times Pinkie told her scary stories, they never got old. Or any less scary sometimes. “I can’t wait to go looking for all these rare animals.” Twilight was lost in one of her books, as always, as she walked into the RV. “Do you think we’ll find the sasquatch? It may or may not exist; everyone always forgets shortly after finding it. But how amazing would it be to discover it?!” These four really were the best friends Sunset could ever ask for. Doing anything with them would be a blast! “Excuse me for a moment.” Principal Celestia interrupted Sunset just as she was about to follow the others inside. She waved to Sunset, then beckoned her over. An unfamiliar girl was standing behind Celestia’s imposing figure, hiding like she was afraid of something. “Could you come here a moment, Sunset? I have a favor I’d like to ask you,” said Principal Celestia. “Of course!” Sunset ran up to Celestia, excited at the chance to help her. How cool was an assignment directly from Principal Celestia? “Anything for you, Celestia! I love you!” Celestia put her hand on the back of the new girl and pushed her out from her hiding place. “Um...” A shy looking human with long, pink hair finally stepped out from behind Celestia. “Hello. My name is Fluttershy.” “You must be a new transfer student, right?” Sunset held her hand out, offering to shake. Fluttershy nervously muttered something. “She’s a bit spooked by all of this,” Celestia explained. “But Fluttershy isn’t a transfer student, she’s an intruder.” “What?!” Sunset pulled her hand back, reminding herself that there was nothing to worry about if Celestia was here. “Is it really okay for her to be out here, then?” “I’m not going to make any trouble,” Fluttershy promised, nervously tapping her fingers together. “I, um, sort of wanted to be like you actually.” “Fluttershy was frightened by how strange this place can seem to an outsider,” Celestia explains. “Ultimately she cracked and ran straight to me to confess. She explained she was an intruder right away." “Yeah.” Sunset nodded. “That’s probably what I would have done. It’s the smart thing.” Celestia smiled softly. “I didn’t entirely mean to come here,” said Fluttershy. “I was going from dimension to dimension, running from something.” “So, there’s a monster after you?” Sunset asked. “Not something like that.” Fluttershy shook her head. “More like something I’d be grateful to forget. I’ve been to a whole lot of worlds, but most of them are - well I don’t like them.” Fluttershy looked up at Celestia with a smile. “But this place seems so nice! After talking to Celestia, I think staying here would be a wonderful idea,” said Fluttershy. “There’s nothing to worry about, everypony is nice, everything is so peaceful and nopony expects me to accomplish anything.” “Did you say every… pony?” Sunset raised an eyebrow. “Fluttershy’s dimension was very different.” Celestia put her shoulders on what was sure to be a future student. “She used to be a unicorn, actually.” “A unicorn?!” Sunset gasped. “Are those real?” “Yes.” Celestia laughed softly. “I suppose you wouldn’t remember at this point.” Sunset didn’t exactly get the joke. Maybe whatever world Sunset came from had unicorns in it? Sunset hardly remembered her old life and she didn’t care to. She just assumed it was completely horrible like everyone else’s, and that was good enough. Any unicorns in her old world weren’t worth remembering. “I’d like you to be Fluttershy’s friend for a little while,” said Celestia. “Take her on your summer vacation with you. She’s still not entirely sold on the idea of letting me eat her potential and would like to watch some of my other students for a bit first.” “Of course you can come with us!” Sunset held her hand out to Fluttershy. “Canterlot is an amazing place! I’ve been here for - uh - How long again? I guess I had so much fun I forgot.” “It’s been a little over twenty years since you first came here,” said Celestia. “Wait, really?” Sunset turned back to Celestia, then looked down at her hand. “On the one hand, I feel like I just got here yesterday, but on the other, it feels like I’ve been here forever - for thousands of years. Twenty years feels like the only incorrect amount of time.” “That’s kind of the only part that scares me,” Fluttershy admitted. “I know Celestia said she wouldn’t unless I asked but - is getting it done scary?” Sunset shook her head. “No, it’s great! Getting your memories clouded is like jumping into a pool,” Sunset explained. “It’s best to just jump in and get it over with.” “Maybe,” said Fluttershy. “But I always got into pools ever so slowly.” “Well come on, I’ll introduce you to my friends.” Sunset led Fluttershy to the RV. “H-hello,” Fluttershy meekly introduced herself to the others. “Thank you very much, Sunset.” Celestia gave Sunset a pat on the head that made the girl’s heart leap with joy. “I love you, Celestia!” Sunset pushed up on her tippy toes to hug her principal. “I love you too.” Celestia hugged back. Like everything else, the feeling of being loved by Celestia never dulled. That catharsis of finally being loved and valued at long last was always there with every hug. Celestia loved her! She was loved. She was valued. Sunset let go, smiling wide, tears of happiness in her eyes. Celestia gave her one last pat on the head before sending her off. Sunset ran towards the RV, smiling wide that she got to be with her friends. In her mind, Sunset knew she’d been off to this very camp at least five times before, but the excitement of going still gave her a thrill. She couldn’t wait to see it! To go on this adventure with her friends! Sunset lied down next to the window in the back of the RV and waved to Principal Celestia as she vanished from sight. Life really was perfect now. Sunset had everything she could ask for. The only thing left to wish for was for things to remain like this forever, but Sunset already had that too. On the last day before she left the castle forever, the retired Princess Celestia went down to the basement. The objects deep in this vault weren’t locked up simply because they were each dangerous in their own right. No, these were, for her, reverse-trophies. They were reminders of her own past failures. Out of all of them, gathered through a thousand years, a broken mirror in the corner was the one she felt regretful about the most. Celestia reminded herself that she had tried as hard as she possibly could to reopen the portal, to find Sunset. All she accomplished in the end, thanks to a failed experiment, was leaving the mirror cracked and permanently destroyed, with none of its original magic left. Celestia reminded herself that all of this had been necessary. Virtually the same plan had worked with Twilight Sparkle and now Celestia had everything she wanted. Sacrifices needed to be made. If Twilight had broken too, as she very nearly had, Celestia would have simply tried yet again with Luster Dawn. Yet still, despite her success, this broken mirror remained in the basement. Twilight would carry on blaming herself for this entire situation, despite the fact that Celestia had suggested the idea that had ultimately broken it. But that was the way things were now. Twilight was driven to carry the countless burdens Celestia had left her. She would leave everything in this room as it was, for Twilight to deal with. “I’m sorry." But she saw only her own reflection in the broken mirror. “All I can do for you now is hope that you’ve found happiness wherever you’ve gone.” Celestia had everything she wanted now; had gotten everything she wanted out of Twilight. Every one of her goals was accomplished. Yet somehow, she wasn’t happy. Celestia turned, leaving the broken mirror to the darkness forever.