//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: A Failed Goodbye // Story: Sealed by a Minute // by Revanius //------------------------------// Princess Twilight Sparkle looked down into the recently created crater, glaring down at the one who had stolen her crown and nearly destroyed her and her friends. As the smoke cleared she could see Sunset Shimmer, a little worse for wear, shuddering as she got on her hands and knees, trying to force herself to rise and failing, just barely stopping herself from collapsing back to the ground. "You will never rule in Equestria! Any power you may have had in this world is gone!" Twilight declared, "Tonight you have shown everyone who you really are. You've shown them what is in your heart." Flash Sentry and the human CMC's looked down into the creator as Sunset lifted her head to address them, Twilight had expected rage and denial to be on the defeated villain's face but that was not what she saw. Sunset, faced covered in small scratches, a fair few of them bleeding, had tears flowing down her face as she took a shuddering breath. "I-I'm sorry." She stuttered out cowering at the glaring looks of the watching students. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know there was another way." Twilight, feeling a little uncomfortable by the broken look on the defeated girl, turned away from the crying teen who was now trying to crawl out of the crater. "The magic of friendship doesn't just exist in Equestria, it's everywhere. You can seek it out," The smile that had formed when she looked at her new friends faded as she continued. "or you can forever be alone. The choice is yours." When Twilight turned back Sunset had managed to halfway pull herself out, her tears pooling on the ground. She raised her arms protectively as if expecting to be pushed back in. "But, but all I've ever done since being here is drive everyone apart. I don't know the first thing about friendship." Twilight took Sunset's hand, the redhead looking shocked at any act of kindness towards her, especially by someone she had so recently wronged, pulling her to her feet. "I bet they can teach you," Twilight said gently indicating to her new friends, most of whom were smiling hopefully except Rarity who had a slightly more skeptical smile. "Those are my girls!" Spike said suddenly before he could remember dogs didn't talk here, though he doubted anyone would care after what they just saw. "Woohoo!" "Did that dog just talk!?" The boy next to spike asked taking a step away from him. "Whoa weird." Or perhaps they would, Spike looked up at the boy in frustrated confusion. "Seriously!? The talking dog is the weird thing about all this?" He closed his eyes to the boy, opening them when he felt himself being gently lifted up, he looked around to see it was the human Rarity. "I for one think you're adorable." She said searching him behind the ear. "Oh yeah." He said blissfully, Twilight put a hand over her mouth, covering the smirk that had formed, not noticing Principal Celestia coming behind Twilight holding her crown. "I believe this, belongs to you." She held it out to Twilight who kneeled before her. "A true princess in any world leads not by forcing others to bow before her, but by inspiring others to stand with her." She placed the crown back on Twilight's head. Twilight could feel the magic course through her when it was back on her head, she could feel all the magic she had back in Equestria and maybe a bit more somehow. She felt like this could need some investigating but Celestia was still talking. "We have all seen that you are capable of just that. I hope you see it too, Princess Twilight." The principal said lifting Twilight's chin. It might not have been her Celestia, but the woman's words still made Twilight feel more confident in herself about her new role in Equestria. "I do," Twilight said the crowd of students around her cheered in response surprising her. "Would now be a completely awkward time to ask you for that dance." Twilight turned around to see Flash smiling awkwardly as he held his hand out. Twilight looked up at the clocktower, which had miraculously survived Sunset's rampage, and saw she still had some time left before the portal closed. She giggled as she accepted his hand. *** Twilight knew she had to go home soon, her friends were waiting for her on the other side of the portal and she had kept them waiting far too long already. But she couldn't just leave her new friends without taking a little time to celebrate their victory together. And Flash really was a nice guy, even joining her in an Equestrian style dance that might not have looked right in the human world but she knew they would look awesome back in Equestria, I mean she is a great dancer back there. So she felt they could wait a few more minutes before she went back through the portal. Partway through the dance, she saw Sunset Shimmer limping around the gym, attempting to apologize to the students. A few listened and some of them even accepted her apology by the way they parted. But Twilight also saw a fair few reject her and while she couldn't hear them she thought they shouted at the defeated bully to leave. Most just ignored her and walked away, soon Twilight no longer saw Sunset at the dance. After a nice group photo with her friends Twilight decided to go looking for Sunset, they might have been enemies only a short time ago but she still wanted to make sure her fellow Equestrian was okay. Exiting the gym she didn't see Sunset in the hallway. "Sunset, you around here?" She called out gently walking down the hallway. "Sunset?" She called out again turning down the corner to the dead in hallway Sunset had cornered her in only two days ago. There, curled up in the dark corner of the hallway was the girl she had been looking for, still crying as she tried to curl up even more on herself. "Sunset Shimmer?" *** Sunset Shimmer was trying to go over what had happened logically in her head, trying to make sense out of what had happened when she put the crown on. She knew more about the elements than anypony in Equestria except maybe Princess Celestia, and she had no idea the crown would have done what it did to her. That terrible corruption feeling, just the thought of it sent a shiver through her, and the pain of it all. The lingering pain was far worse than the scratches and weak knee she had, it felt like she had been torn apart and the rainbow had left her raw to the world. "Come on, calm down." She muttered to herself. After her pathetic, and largely unsuccessful, attempt to apologize to the students for what she had done she had left the dance to try and recollect herself, not just sit and wallow in her own misery. "Let's go over what the elements did you." She said, the idea of figuring out what happened helped calm her a little but the tears still flowed. "It obviously showed you what a horrible person you've been and yanked any control you had over yourself away before returning you to normal, so what else did they do?" She was pretty sure the elements had done something to her emotions, making her more remorseful than she should have been considering how she had been the last few years. But she also knew those feelings were at least partially hers, the elements couldn't create something from nothing, and the desire to never be the way she had been again she knew was wholly genuine. Anything else it might have done to her she couldn't be sure, it was too early to be certain but she doubted making her a little guilty was all. Sunset head footsteps approaching, Sunset curled up in on herself, she couldn't be certain but she had a feeling whoever it was they were looking for her. Going by the sound they made Sunset was pretty sure it was a girl, but even so, if they were looking for revenge Sunset would not be able to offer any resistance in her current state. Not that she would if she could, she deserved any retribution they sought. "Sunset?" She heard and Sunset pulled even more in on herself. Of all the people who could have found her she could think of few that she wanted less than Twilight. A part of her still wanted to hate Twilight for taking her place in Princess Celestia's affection. A much larger part of her though was grateful for the pony princess saving her sanity and showing any bit of kindness towards her after what Sunset had done to the innocent girl and her friends. She knew Twilight would not seek revenge but she still whimpered as Twilight approached. "Sunset Shimmer?" Sunset looked up Twilight, the princess looking down at her with what she guessed was pity. "H-Hello Princess." She stuttered untangling herself lowering her head to bow. "I'm sorry if I distracted you from your friends." "No I came looking for you," Twilight said. "I wanted to see if your alright and can you please not bow, I don't like it when ponies do that." Sunset returned to a sitting position, she knew she should stand and it was disrespectful to sit while the princess stood, she just didn't know if she could get up on her own. "Mind if I sit?" Twilight asked. Sunset nodded, confused by why Princess Twilight would choose to sit down with her when she could be having fun with her friends, it's not like she had time, the portal would be closing soon. The portal would close soon and wouldn't open again for another thirty moons. Thinking about the portal gave Sunset an idea. "Princess Twilight, may I ask you something?" "Yes?" Twilight said cocking her head slightly at the sudden question. "Please take me back to Equestria with you," Sunset said. "What? But I thought you were going to try and make friends here, try and make amends for what happened." Twilight said Sunset was just glad it was not an immediate refusal. Sunset looked down. "That will never happen here, Princess. Humans aren't like Ponies, I've been here long enough to know that. They hold grudges a lot longer than our kind does and they have a tendency to take extreme punishment towards those that have done wrong. And me destroying half the school and attempting to kidnap everyone here and take them to another dimension probably counts to that. "Please take me with you." Sunset continued bowing again. "I'll never find forgiveness here, not that I deserve it, and I'll never make friends. If I go back with you there might be a chance that I could make friends there. I'll take any punishment Princess Celestia sees fit but please, I'll never find any peace or friendship here." She looked up at the princess seeing her frown down at Sunset, the redhead flinched away at the gaze. She had said something wrong, she was not sure what but she knew she had, somehow, made Twilight mad. Twilight reached out a hand and Sunset closed her eyes expecting a strike, instead, she felt her hair being smoothed out. Sunset dared to open her eyes, Twilight was still frowning but there didn't seem to be any anger or disappointment. "You may have a point, humans are different than ponies and you probably would have an easier time finding friends in Equestria. But I think you're wrong in that they can forgive you for what you've done, it might not be today or tomorrow but it can happen. And I do think you can find friends here, you just have to be willing to put in the effort to do it." "So I guess I'm staying then." Twilight let out a small laugh and Sunset felt a little better, she sat back up so she was facing the Princess. "Yes, you are, but don't think of it as a punishment, rather as an opportunity for something new." "Yes, Princess." Sunset inclined her head respectfully. "Please, just Twilight, I prefer my friends call me that." "Can we really be friends so soon after what I've done?" Sunset asked. Twilight shrugged. "I don't see why not, you seem like a good person at heart and I think we could be really good friends if we had the chance, I just wish I didn't have to leave so soon." Sunset scooched back so they were next to each other backs against the wall, the two ponies-turned-humans sat in silence except for the faint sound of music from the dance floor in the gym. Sunset was surprised how much better it felt just to have someone next to her, she felt more at ease and the guilt she had was lessened just a little. She let out a pent-up breath eyes closed as she tried to focus on that feeling. "Hey Sunset, I have a question for you as well," Twilight said. Sunset opened her eyes. "Sure what do you want to know?" "A few days ago you asked me if I knew what happened when someone took an element of harmony to a different dimension and I couldn't answer you." "Yeah..." "Well, I was wondering if you could tell me," Twilight asked curious for the answer. "I want to know before I don't have the chance." "Oh that," Sunset said thinking back to the forbidden library and all the books that had led to her self exile. "When you take an element of harmony, especially the sixth element." Sunset nodded to the crown still on Twilight's head. "To a different dimension its connection to the bearer becomes severed and anyone can wield it. I also learned that the element would grant immense power to whoever claimed it and once brought back to Equestria in the new holder's hands the power would remain until the original holder could reclaim it. But nothing ever said anything about turning into that demon." "So that wasn't the plan?" Twilight asked looking a bit more relaxed. "Of course, I never wanted to hurt anypony, not really. It was just supposed to give me the power I wanted to become an Alicorn. The worst I wanted to do was humiliate you a little once I got back." Sunset flinched at the idea. "I wanted to show the princess she was wrong about me, about choosing you, but it turned out she was right about both of us." Twilight looked like she was going to answer when Spike came bounding down the hallway. "There you are!" He said when he saw Twilight. "Everyones wondering where you went, it's about time to go." Twilight looked at the dragon-turned-puppy. "Okay, but first there's something I want to do," She rose to her feet. "Sunset, I think you should come to." Sunset tried to rise only for her right leg to flare in pain when she tried to put weight on it, seeing her struggle Twilight held out her hand. Sunset took it as the princess helped her to her feet, leaning into her so she could support the injured girl. "Thanks," Sunset said, Twilight nodded. Spike rolled his eyes bounding off back to the gym. *** "Ya sure, ya have the time for this Twi?" Applejack asked, looking at the ruined entrance to the high school. The six friends, Spike, Sunset, and Principal Celestia, and Vice-Principal Luna had gathered at Twilight's request. Sunset rubbed her shoulder as she looked at the damage she had done when she had lost control of herself, Luna was glaring at Sunset, not one of real anger but one of a disciplinarian but it still made Sunset nervous. Twilight smiled confidently readjusting her crown. "Yeah, this shouldn't take a minute." She glanced to the clocktower, she had five minutes left, plenty of time. She held a hand out, she could feel the magic in her build it begged for release and she forced it out at the ruined entrance, in a flash of light the entrance began to rebuild itself and in second it looked like it had never been damaged. Upon further inspection, it could be seen that the glass had even been cleaned. Twilight turned to see the surprised expressions on everyone's face except Sunset. Who moved to lean against the now repaired wall. "It was actually Sunset who gave me the idea. She said with the crown I could do magic as I do back home." Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna inspected the repaired school. "Very impressive Princess Twilight," Celestia said nodding approvedly. "We were going to have Snips, Snails, and Sunset help with the repairs but this saves plenty of time. Not to mention money." Luna said. "I guess we'll just have to think of some other punishment for them." "Please go easy on them, Sunset wasn't in her right mind when she put on the crown, and Snips and Snails were just following orders." Twilight implored. The two educators looked at each other before nodding to the Princess then left the six to say goodbye to one another. They shared one more group hug, Pinkie Pie still holding onto Twilight's hands when they broke apart. "You'll look after her won't you?" Twilight asked looking at Sunset still leaning against the wall. "Of course we will," Rarity assured Twilight. "Although I do expect an apology for last Spring's debacle." She looked away from Sunset, arms crossed. Sunset similarly looked away as she remembered what she posted about Rarity. "I think she will," Twilight said smiling. "We better get going," Spike said looking at the clock, two minutes left. Twilight nodded looking at her new friends. "I know we have only been friends for a short time, but I'm going to miss all of you so much." Her eyes water but she blinked them away, she took one last look at the tower, one minute, she made it. "That crown really does suit you, Princess Twilight," Spike said the last part with a sly tone. "You know what Spike? I am starting to feel a little more comfortable wearing it." "And the wings?" "I've been walking around on two legs and picking things up with these!" She held her hands up, glad they would soon be gone. "Wings? I'm thrilled that's all I'll be dealing with back in Equestria." The two Equestrians stepped into the portal ready to go home, except they walked only into solid stone. "What?" Everyone present said as the two fell back to the ground. Twilight's crown fell off her head and all the pony appendages faded but that was not on Twilight's mind. She reached out to the portal again, only feeling solid stone. She wasn't sure why but the portal was closed, and she was stuck on the wrong side!