As ponies boarded the train, Sunset Shimmer stared down at the latest potential catastrophe set to befall Ponyville. “And you’ll be fine while we’re gone? You don’t want to come with us?”
“I’m only going to Canterlot if you drag me, and you know we bite,” Aria Blaze warned her.
Sunset’s foreleg flinched. “I remember. But hardly anypony you, uh, ‘tolerate’ will still be left in town after we leave. I know you like your private time, but still, won’t you get lone—?”
“I’ll be fine, Downer,” Aria groaned. “Don’t get your panties in a knot.”
“I’m not—“ Sunset stopped herself but not quick enough to cover her error.
“Pretty freeing isn’t it?” Aria added with a sway to her midsection.
“Aria,” Sunset sighed. “You sure you’re not coming?”
“Are you worried about me or the little pony town here?”
“Uh.” Sunset paused. “It can’t be both?”
“I thought so.” Aria rolled her eyes. “Fine. Give me the list.”
“Don’t start any fires,” Sunset recited.
“I’m not Sonata. And no jokes about my name!”
“Do be respectful of other people’s personal space.”
“I’m not Adagio.”
“No drunken bar fights.”
“Oh, come on! Just put me on a leash, why don’t you!”
“Aria—“
“Hooves are so much more satisfying than fists when they connect with a face. I gotta put them back to good use before I go.” Aria turned to the side and stomped a hoof on the walkway letting out a loud bang. “Right, Doucheman?”
Flash, following behind Twilight toward the train, paused and approached the pair instead while Twilight continued inside still reading over her revised checklist. “What’s right?”
“Nothing that needs an answer,” Sunset answered.
Aria ignored that and smirked. “Just thinking back a bit.” She leaned in. “The bar?”
Flash’s eyes went wide and flicked between Aria and Sunset a few times. “Uh, I, I, I didn’t know that was a bar!”
“Yeah,” Aria casually agreed. “It was really more of a strip joint.”
Sunset raised an eyebrow. Flash flushed red. Aria turned to Sunset. “He wussed out before the good stuff.”
“Wait,” Sunset held up a hoof. “Were you watching strippers or getting into a bar fight?”
“Heh,” Aria smirked. “It can’t be both?”
Sunset dropped her head with a sigh.
“The commotion got loverboy here to come back in to see what was going on.” Chuckling, Aria turned back to Flash. “How’d you like all those dancing girls running around? They never had a chance to get dressed.”
“I, uh,” Flash stammered, flicking his eyes to Sunset, then Twilight through a train window, “gotta go find a seat for the trip. H-heh.”
They watched him bound for the train, wings out for balance. Unfortunately, he forgot to fold them back in before climbing up the narrow steps and got rubber-banded back out and onto the ground when they connected with the frame. Aria let out a snerk as Flash righted himself and succeeded into the train.
She turned to Sunset. “You used to date that.”
“Hay! Stop that,” Sunset admonished her. “He’s a nice guy, really. And cute, and a good friend, and ….”
“And?”
Sunset sighed glumly. “And piggybacking off his popularity early on allowed old me a position of power ….”
“But now you have the wings for that.”
Apparently knowing they were being talked about, Sunset’s new wings ruffled under the dress and saddlebags the Raritys had gifted her. “And they’re staying under this dress.”
“Heh, finally got everything you ever wanted and you’re literally keeping it all undercover.”
“Yeah, well, my priorities have changed.” Sunset turned to the train and through the windows saw Flash, Twilight, Spike, both Raritys, and the Equestrian doubles of the other four friends that turned her life around. “For the better.”
“Yeah, yeah. You ponies and your friendship.”
“You’re welcome to join us anytime!” Pinkie shouted from her window.
Aria calmly raised a hoof toward her and smiled sweetly. “If I had fingers I’d be showing you my favorite right now.”
“Ooh! You have a favorite finger thingy? Does it do tricks?”
“Sure. It can—“
“Pinkie!” Sunset quickly cut between them. “Don’t encourage her when she gets like this.”
“But, it’s the only time she smiles,” Pinkie countered.
“A smiling Aria isn’t always a good thing,” Sunset warned.
Aria just smiled more.
Not unlike a shark.
Sunset hoped she was just being playful. It was hard to tell.
Finally, Aria traded the dangerous smile for a real one and a light punch to the shoulder. “Relax, Shimmer. I won’t even be in pony town after you go.”
“Ponyville.”
“That’s a stupid name and you know it.”
“And Pony Town is better?”
“I won’t be in any pony towns.” Aria explained before taking a breath. “I’m going to see if there are any kelpies left.”
Sunset gasped. “You think there might be more?”
“We were already an endangered species after the island sunk on us, and it’s been a thousand years. But …,” Aria looked away and continued slower, “maybe the three of us aren’t the last.”
“I could help.”
“Pff, how long can you hold your breath?”
“I can help with research.”
“I already checked with Bookhorse and Dragon Breath. They got nothing. So if other kelpies are out there they’re either hiding or never came to Equestria.”
“So then—?”
“East. Just going to check out what’s left of Coltlantis and go from there. So much of the old magic was tied to home, without that who knows what kelpies would even be now.”
Sunset took a step closer and tried to look Aria in the eyes, but she was making that difficult, scanning the eastern horizon but not really looking at anything. “That sounds like a long trip. You’ll be okay alone?”
“Meh. I swim fast. And underwater is great. It’s not like I’ll need shelter from the rain, just sleep wherever, whenever, and when I’m hungry I’ll eat the kelp and fish I find.”
There was a gasp from the train.
Aria groaned. “Oh come on, Yellow! Don’t tell me you make friends with fish too. Fish are food!”
“B-but not the intelligent fish, right?” Fluttershy pleaded.
“Sure. If they’re intelligent enough to swim faster than me.”
Fluttershy shrunk down from her window with a frown.
Aria turned back to Sunset. “So that’s me. Take a week I bet. What’s your plan?”
“A week?” Sunset asked. “That’s it?”
“Eh,” Aria shrugged. “I’ll be back.”
Sunset continued to watch Aria with a concerned expression for a moment before sighing and lifting a book out of her saddlebags. “I hope to finish reading at least one of these beginner’s flight books on the train. The girls and Spike will all have their royal duties once we arrive, so I think I’ll show Flash and Renae around the castle before I meet with Celestia.”
“When you’ll get your crown.”
“Cro—!” Sunset took a step back, eyes wide. “Oh, no, no, no. There’ll be no crown. Wings, okay sure, that happened, but no way I’m getting a crown.”
“Whatever you say,” Aria smirked with a mock curtsy, “Princess.”
With that, Aria hopped away with a chuckle, allowing Sunset a moment to look north toward the large castle and home of her mentor. Absently, a hoof reached up and patted her head, right where a crown would sit.
“ALL ABOARD!” shouted the conductor, startling Sunset into quickly planting her hoof back on the walkway.
Her wings twitched.
*** *** ***
Two chapters. That’s all she managed in the flight books. That and Lookout Below’s foreword, which provided much detail into the meaning behind the pony’s name and extensive medical bills. She had already been nervous over meeting with Celestia, and her attempt at light reading just gave her more things to be concerned about.
After every few paragraphs, if she managed that, she’d gone back to watching the slowly growing castle as their train approached. Now they were minutes away from the station.
What would she look like wearing her new crown?
Nope! No, no, no. She’d imagined that before. Lived that before. Not doing that again.
Sure, the odds of another crown of Equestrian origin, this one granted to her by Celestia herself, turning her into an evil monstrosity were slim to none—hopefully none—but still, it wasn’t like she was actually princess material to begin with. The wings might just be a fluke and Celestia would simply take them back. Give them to somepony else. More deserving.
She looked down to her sides. The Raritys had made the dress with thicker material and clasped under her barrel specifically to hide her wings, but there was still a slight bump.
Was there a counterspell for becoming an alicorn or would she need to prep for surgery? The Apple family provided them all with a large breakfast before leaving. That wasn’t ideal for such medical procedures right?
“Yo, Sunset Shimmer!”
“Wahh!”
Sunset ducked and her wings tried to open inside the dress but the material held and all they managed to do was push the dress upward.
It was like a turtle ducking into its shell.
And tumbling off a train bench.
“Whoa, sorry,” came Rainbow’s voice again. “Didn’t know you were that into your book.”
“I’m okay!” the Sunset-colored turtle insisted while her head tried to find the neck hole of her dress while upside down.
A couple of hooves came to her aid and she was soon looking at the concerned pegasus. “You know, I could teach you to fly much better than a book. I mean I hear you’re a big egghead but you haven’t turned a page in like ten minutes!”
“Y-you’ve been watching me?”
“You looked tense. Wing cramp? Twilight got those a lot right after she alicorned.”
“We’re making that a verb now?” asked Applejack, also coming to help Sunset up.
“Well if it happens enough it becomes a trend and language should adapt,” offered a Rarity.
“I don’t think it’s supposed to happen that often,” said Spike.
“But Sunset is the third in our lifetime,” countered Fluttershy.
“Third?” thought Sunset, getting back on the bench. “Right. Cadance. Somepony else I ought to apologize to.”
Fixing her mane, Sunset looked to Rainbow and Applejack. “Thanks. I was getting a little stuck in my head there.”
That jogged Twilight out of hers and she looked up from her flashcards. “Nervous about meeting with Celestia?” she asked with a smile. “You shouldn’t be. She’s been looking forward to seeing you again.”
Sunset returned her the best genuine smile she could fake.
At least that was one politician’s prerequisite she had mastered.
She then employed similar skills dodging additional questions until the train arrived and they all disembarked.
A joyful voice called out. “Welcome back to Canterlot, Princess!”
“W-what?!” Sunset startled back and turned to see a royal guard that had apparently been waiting for them, addressing Twilight.
Twilight! Right, right. She’s a princess. Not me. Nopony here knows I grew wings overnight … other than Celestia.
“Darling, are you alright?” asked Renae, identifiable by the “subtle,” but clearly designer dress, large hat and larger sunglasses that somehow equated to an I’m-Not-Rarity disguise. “You really are quite tense, aren’t you? Is there a spa around for you to get a wing massage?”
“Wing massage?”
“Rainbow mentioned wing cramps and I can see them twitching under your dress. We could always hide your horn and pass you off as a pegasus instead if you need to let them out for a stretch.”
“Ha!” Sunset shot out a quick, and hopefully not nervous-sounding laugh. “No, no, it’s been too long since I’ve had my unicorn magic, I don’t want to have to pretend I don’t have any now.”
“Well in that case,” Renae continued with a slight titter in her voice, “let’s head to our room in the castle so you can relax yourself without prying eyes.”
“Room?” Sunset’s eyes turned up to the castle, homing in on a specific window on one of the towers. “Did Twilight say which room?”
Renae’s aura brought out a small sheet of parchment. “She gave us a number and directions.”
Sunset quickly read over the information. “Oh,” she said, her tone deflated. She looked back to the castle but several towers over. “For the best,” she added to herself, eyes returning to the earlier window. “Must have been cleared out long ago.”
“What’s that?”
“Wh-oh nothing.”
“Well then, I shall collect my luggage and Flash, and give my twin a parting hug for the day.”
Sunset nodded. A minute later she was extra glad she did not switch her Not-An-Alicorn disguise from unicorn to pegasus when she saw just how much luggage needed to be moved.
At least she got to put her horn to work.
*** *** ***
Sunset’s other return to Canterlot, not all that long ago, had been fraught with a sense of urgency and dire purpose. It had been a straight line from the train, to Celestia, to a strict study session in the library, and then back through the portal. There had been no time to take anything in, no time to appreciate that sense of nostalgia, no time to chat and truly reconnect.
This time, the journey had no time limit and they could ease through it. That being said, just traveling from the station to the room Twilight had requested for them took much longer than it should have. And it wasn’t from the luggage that had to be hovered the whole way. The bulk of the delays were Renae becoming fascinated by tapestries, gold and gem encrusted architecture and decorations, stained-glass windows, and just being in a royal castle to begin with.
All the while, Sunset kept looking around at the familiar sites, remembering what hallway and door led to where, reliving beloved and painful memories from many rooms they passed, and looking out for staff members who might remember her.
The maids who clearly recognized her gave her a wide berth while smiling as pleasantly as they could. Some of the guards gave her stern looks, a glint of memories in their eyes. Sunset did her best to put as much cheer and apology into her smile as they passed, bowing respectfully when it seemed most appropriate.
One either off-duty or poorly trained guard who recognized Flash sparked a conversation over why Flash hadn’t told him he got transferred back to Canterlot again. As they explained the situation, it became clear that the guards were now aware of the visiting interdimensional twins, but hadn’t known that a Flash Sentry was among them.
When they finally got to the suite, seemingly a multi-room apartment, Flash and Renae spread out to inspect it while Sunset neatly put the luggage away. A thought occurred to her given the amount of luggage and all the twists and delays they took in their path to the room. She put a hoof to her horn and pressed on it a little.
“Huh. That was a lot easier it should have been.” She lifted up a few cases and called out. “Rarit—Renae, are these things empty?”
“Oh, no, dear,” Renae replied from another room. “I’ll be restocking Canterlot Carousel for Share while we’re here. That’s a new assortment we worked on together.”
“Hmm,” Sunset hummed, pressing on her horn again. Suddenly her eyes lit up with a small gasp. “Did you bring measuring tape?”
“Of course I did! It’s in the small, light beige case with the lily pattern and hand—hoofle?” Renae answered and Sunset turned for it. “What did you want to measure?”
Sunset stopped with a blush. “N-nothing?” The blush deepened when she noticed Flash had returned from another room who knows when. She promptly put the cases down. “Just curious how big my—our, uh, room is.”
“Royally big!” Renae giggled, trotting back into the main room.
Sunset’s eyes flicked to her horn and back. “Heh. ‘Royally,’ right.”
“To think our principal’s ‘twin’ lives here,” noted Flash.
“Yes,” Renae added in a tone of wonderment, “imagine living in a royal palace, servants to wait on you hand and—well hoof and hoof—, everyday looking over your kingdom while you display your crown and jewels proudly!”
“Heh,” Sunset choked on a laugh and looked between her friends. “Yeaaahh …,” she breathed out in a strained voice before recovering. “SO, what are your plans for the day, you two?”
“I don’t really have any plans until Twilight’s finished with her, um, royal schedule,” answered Flash. “We’ll be sightseeing after.”
“I will be working in the boutique with Sassy—and apologizing for all the confusion from earlier—hopefully finishing up early enough to observe the others. I do so wish to see Twilight in her crown and royal attire!” cheered Renae.
“Royal, again,” Sunset chuckled, “yes, everything’s so royal here in this big ol’ castle town of royalness.”
The stars in Renae’s eyes aided her reply. “Must have been so wonderful growing up in it.”
Sunset’s ears twitched and she gave Renae her best forced smile. “… great.”
“And you’re going to meet with Princess Celestia soon?” asked Flash.
Sunset blinked. “… yep.” Another blink. “Uh, I guess after Day Court ends. It’s ending early today so …,” she looked out the window, noting the sun’s position and gulped, “an hour? Or less?”
“Splendid!” Renae cheered. “We shall let you get to it! Now to figure out how to transport all these dresses to the boutique.”
“Where’s the boutique?” asked Flash.
Renae giggled with delight and pointed out the window at the now familiar building. So close to the castle she could count the dresses in the windows! “Tadah!” she sang gleefully.
“Wow,” remarked Flash, “I could fly down with a case or two. Would take less time than walking.”
He then turned and recalled just how many cases there were. “Oh, that’s going to take a few trips.”
Sunset looked at the building Renae was still gleaming at, then to the luggage, and finally up to her horn.
A pair of flashes of her aura later and the whole collection was sitting pretty beside the boutique’s front door.
“Oh my!” exclaimed Renae. “Sunset, was that you?” She looked to her own horn. “Can all unicorns do that or just alicorns?”
A flash of pride came over Sunset’s face before being slapped away by a blush. “Well, technically all unicorns can learn eventually but most … um, I’m uh ….”
“I understand, darling. You’re a magical prodigy.”
Letting out a thin smile, the blush deepened. “Don’t let it go to my head. Again.”
Renae gave her a hug and a chuckle. “Can’t have that, now can we?”
Pulling away, Renae adjusted her hat and nodded to her friends. “I should head down there before ponies wonder about the random cases sitting on the sidewalk.”
“I can help you out,” offered Flash.
“Oh, quite the gentle…stallion you are!” Renae beamed.
They soon found themselves teleported to their destination.
*** *** ***
Sunset paced in the pristine white hall. A small hall that the public normally didn’t have access to, intended rather for staff and ‘privileged’ individuals such as current and former students of The Princess of the Sun. A hall that acted as a side entrance to the throne room where Princess Celestia holds her Day Court.
The Day Court set to end in five minutes.
The few guards watched her curiously out of the corners of their eyes. They seemed to only know her by name and not reputation, which was a point in her favor. That and she apparently still had permission to be there.
“This is it, Sunset,” she mumbled to herself on the way down the hall, wary of the sharp ears of the guards. “All alicorns in Equestria are princesses, right? So she’s either going to give me a crown or take my wings away.”
Turning up the hall brought an additional thought. “Which one would be worse?” Each turn in her pacing added to the discussion.
“One option puts everything back to normal … once the spell or anesthesia runs its course. The other keeps me in Equestria as ruler of some town or city somewhere. And with the portal having limited uses, I won’t be able to see my friends more than a couple times a year at best.
“Then it’ll have to be the first option, right? Celestia wouldn’t give me a crown. Not after how I left, how I behaved in the last years here. She wouldn’t take me away from my friends and …”
She stopped. “Home?”
She lifted a hoof and looked down at it. “I don’t even know what home is anymore.
“Wait!” She put her hoof back on the floor with a snap then continued pacing. “What if she can’t unalicorn me? What if there is no counterspell and surgery would only do the wings, not the extra magic? Would Celestia consider me dangerous? I gave her plenty of reasons to think that. She could lock me up until she can drain the excess out of me. I never did serve a sentence for my attempted invasion and coup.
“Not to mention wrongful endangerment of minors via use of black magic.
“Theft of a magical relic.
“From a princess!
“A general bad attitude.
“And that’s putting it mildly.
“They said I was forgiven, but if the public finds out there’s another alicorn, they’ll want to know everything about her. That won’t go over well. Celestia might have to lock me away just to put them at ease.”
For the next few turns up and down the hall Sunset remained silent, if one were to ignore the shifting facial expressions.
Finally, the bell of a clock sounded, signaling the end of Day Court and Sunset backpedaled to the side door of the throne room to sit on her haunches staring into her oncoming future or lack of one.
A few minutes and flashes of her horn later and she was looking at the castle through a northbound train’s window.
“Or,” she groaned in defeat, “I can catch her on the way back. It’s not like Sunburst can arrest me.”
She blinked. “But Cadance could.”