//------------------------------//
// Chapter 47: Half-Truth 
// Story: Equestria Girls - The Tale of Two Sunsets 
// by HumanSunset63 
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Back in Canterlot, Sunset, Sunburst, and Starlight had been comfort-eating for a while, still trying to take in what had become of the one father they once knew as a kind stallion. Although Sunset was more adamant in learning what could've caused Sunspot to change so drastically, Sunburst had little to no motivation. He was simply too heartbroken to return to a so-called father who claimed that he never had a son to begin with, and would've went as far as to call him a complete failure. It was true that Sunburst did flunk out of magic school, but he always understood magic itself and had plenty of work experience after he left, from being Flurry Heart's crystaller, to even being hired as vice principal at the School of Friendship.

"I know I might've dropped out of the School For Gifted Unicorns, but I still have so much more to be proud of." Sunburst moped. "It's just a shame to now know that... it won't ever matter to dad anymore."

"But you saw how he acted." Starlight reminded. "He didn't even care about having a good education."

"To be honest, as hurt as I am now, it still served as a reminder of how that's the kind of pony I once was myself." Sunset said. "I once had no problem pushing others around, threatening them, or taking money from them with little to no hesitation. I still want to perhaps investigate another day, just to fully understand where all this behavior was coming from. After all, even when I struggled to embrace friendship, I was always grateful when others still tried to see the best in me, especially Twilight."

"It's noble how you want to understand his behavior psychologically, but I'm really afraid it's all just a lost cause at this point." Sunburst replied. "My mom clearly divorced him for a reason, and he never bothered writing me back when I was a student at magic school. By this point, I don't think he'll ever change, so I'd much rather cut him out of my life permanently."

"Sunburst, don't you remember what I ended up almost doing myself when I was so hurt and abandoned from you moving away?" Starlight gave a reminder of her heinous deeds. "The village, the removal of cutie marks, to even almost wiping out Equestria in its entirety because I wouldn't let Twilight and her friends meet in the past? And now you're sitting here comfortably next to me without thinking I'm a psychotic lunatic."

"I can attest to that." Sunset added. "I don't think I've mentioned this to you yet, but I once turned into a raging she-demon who was bent on taking over Equestria with my own army. I did it because I let my ambitions and resentment toward Princess Celestia get the better of me, and despite all that, here I am now."

"Huh." Sunburst had an epiphany. "I really am a forgiving pony, aren't I? But... that doesn't change the fact that dad would horribly treat his own children like that."

"We don't even know if he is the true dad to both of you." Starlight chimed in. "If only there was a way we could know for certain."

"I do have a feeling he's the same stallion from my youth before I met Princess Celestia, but I agree." Sunset said. "We might need a reliable way to conclude whether or not he truly is me and Sunburst's dad. In the meantime, I'm also wondering how I'll head to Silver Shoals by train. I was originally planning to head there to visit Princess Celestia, but again, a giant rock's in the way of my train at that ravine."

"I still think Maud's the answer to that little problem." Starlight affirmed. "I'd offer to teleport you to Silver Shoals right now, but... like I've said, I can only teleport long distances three times a day."

"It's fine, you've already done more than enough to help me today, Starlight." Sunset assured. "I presume you're talking about Maud Pie, Pinkie's sister? I've... kinda met her myself that day I was heading over to Twilight's coronation."

"Yep, we are." Sunburst confirmed. "Cool how we also have mutual friends of mutual friends. But yeah, other than Maud, I'm not quite sure how we could get rid of that rock for your train."

As the trio waited around even further, thinking of ways they could deal with the giant rock blocking the train from heading to Silver Shoals, somepony else entered the room. It was Twilight, who had just taken care of her royal duties in Saddle Arabia, and returned briefly to check up on her friends.

"Twilight, good to see you back!" Sunset addressed the princess, as Starlight and Sunburst waved.

"Yeah, I just wanted to come back for a little while to check in with you again." Twilight said. "I might've finished up with Saddle Arabia, but I did have to return to gather a few documents before heading over to a conference at Las Pegasus. In the meantime, how did your meeting with Sunburst go?"

"Well... I really think he's a good friend, just like you and Starlight." Sunset began. "And let's just say, after we got to know each other more closely and teleported around Equestria to find a potential candidate for who my real father is... I think we finally found him. My real biological father, after we stopped by his home and met him."

"You did?" Twilight widened her eyes with joy. "Oh, I'm so happy for you!"

Although Twilight was gleeful upon hearing this news, she could immediately notice that all three of her unicorn friends were not. She was certainly confused, unsure as to why none of them were happy for Sunset finding her true father, especially Sunset herself.

"But... what's wrong?" Twilight asked, rather concerned. "I take it your visit didn't go well?"

"Let's just say... Sunburst and I both learned a seemingly terrible truth about him."

"We were all initially pretty excited to meet or reunite with Sunspot, only to find out he wasn't exactly the kind of pony we were expecting and... kind of hoping to be." Starlight elaborated.

"Sunspot?" Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Wait a minute... isn't that the name of your father, Sunburst?"

"Indeed." Sunburst confirmed. "Yeah, we should've made it more clear before. Sunset and I talked for a bit, and... let's just say when we compared our pasts and how Sunspot was acting back then, as if he was hiding something, we started to have a reason to believe he's the dad to the both of us, thus making us siblings."

"Huh... fascinating." Twilight noted, as she looked closely at both Sunburst and Sunset. "I actually hadn't noticed before that there was some definite resemblance between you and Sunset. Looking at you two side by side, you do share some striking similarities. Well, other than Sunset not having these coat markings on her fur."

"That's what we pointed out ourselves." Sunset affirmed. "But basically, there's a definite reason why we weren't thrilled to meet our... dad. He demanded bits from me just to talk to him, verbally abused me, denied having me as a daughter and even Sunburst as a son, and even threatened to hurt me if I didn't leave his house."

"Oh my, that's terrible!" Twilight exclaimed in shock and disgust. "I'm so sorry you both had to go through that, it must've been so heartbreaking to hear this coming from your own dad!"

"Well, it was mostly Sunset who was targeted." Sunburst corrected. "She met Sunspot on her own, while Starlight and I listened from a window. I honestly don't know what could've made him change so drastically. I swear to all of you, when I was a little colt, he was a kind and caring dad. A total contrast to what we had seen of him a little while ago."

"We still don't know what to make of it when he outright claimed Sunset and Sunburst weren't his children." Starlight added. "Either he was telling the truth, or he simply wanted to make it clear he didn't want either of them in his life anymore."

"Yeah, I still didn't understand what he meant by that when he was blunt with me." Sunset reflected. "I mean, I could understand him saying that to me, since I don't know for certain if he is my real dad. But Sunburst too? Plus, I just have this strong feeling that he truly is my father after I took one good look at him, and could see that he did recognize me in his eyes. If we could do something like a DNA test, then we could know for sure, but I don't know if Equestria even has that kind of technology."

"Well, there is a device which can do just that, I saw it in use back when I was supervising the Canterlot medical center." Twilight explained. "We use it to, as you would guess, determine whether or not somepony is related by blood or not. It's a more recent development in Equestrian technology, so I can understand not many ponies knowing we have it. Of course, in order to use it, I would need some DNA, like hair samples."

"Oh, well I did pick up some of Sunspot's hair when I was at his home earlier." Sunset held it up in her hoof. "I saw him ruffle his mane a little, causing some hair to fall on the floor, so I saw an opportunity."

"Wait, what about Stellar Flare?" Starlight reminded. "You might have Sunspot's hair, but weren't we also curious as to whether or not Stellar Flare is your real mom too?"

"That's right..." Sunset sighed. "I guess we're not going to know that for now, since we don't have a DNA sample from her."

"Well, actually..." Sunburst began, as the princess and two unicorns turned to him in curiosity.

Sunburst was originally doing an errand for his mother, in which he was planning to head to the store to buy her a new mane brush. Stellar Flare had given her son her old brush as a way of letting him know what kind of brush she was wanting him to pick up.

"I was getting my mom a new brush, but she wanted me to hold on to her old one for now." Sunburst explained, as he took his mother's mane brush out of his saddlebag, which had some leftover strands of her hair on it. "Point is, we do have my mom's hair after all."

"Perfect!" Twilight said with approval. "All right, then all that's left is a strand of hair from both you and Sunset. Are you comfortable removing a small bit?"

"I want an answer to this mystery just as much as the rest of us, so I'll do anything it takes to get some informative results." Sunset said, as she used her magic to pluck a small hair from her head. "Ouch!"

"Same here, since... I'm not entirely sure about my own parents as much anymore." Sunburst said with mutual agreement, before doing the same with his hair. "Ow! No wonder we only ever get haircuts."

Twilight used her magic to levitate four paper bags, as she used a marker to label whose hair was whose. She placed the bags on a table in front of her friends, marked with 'Sunset', 'Sunburst', 'Stellar Flare', and 'Sunspot' respectively. Sunset and Sunburst placed each hair strand in their respective bag. Twilight then closed each bag and tied them with string, as she now had four separate DNA samples to test at the Canterlot medical center's lab, which wasn't too far from the lounge room.

"Alright, thanks for the cooperation, you two." Twilight smiled. "I'll go fly over to the medical lab and conduct some tests. Hopefully by then, we'll finally get some answers thanks to the marvels of science."

Sunset, Sunburst, and Starlight all nodded, as Twilight went over to do just that. They sat around, waiting anxiously for results, almost just as much as a college student awaiting their final exam score in an AP class. After around fifteen minutes when Twilight had successfully ran everything, the princess returned to the lounge room with two pieces of paper that had the paternity test results printed on them.

"Okay, so according to my machine's analysis, I'll start off by saying, there's an interesting result." Twilight began, before reading off what her device had concluded. "Sunburst, as far as sharing blood with Stellar Flare and Sunspot, it is a 100% match, meaning they are both indeed your biological parents."

"I guess I'll have to live the rest of my life knowing one of my real parents is a monster." Sunburst sighed. "But I'm glad about my mom, since she's the family member I'm closest to. And... what about Sunset here?"

"That's right, here's where things get interesting." Twilight built up. "Sunset, according to this DNA test, Sunspot actually is your biological father, but... Stellar Flare is not. Based on this result, you and Sunburst are half siblings!"

Sunset and Sunburst's eyes widened at this revelation, but they still figured it wasn't necessarily too surprising. Their visual similarities were somewhat of a giveaway, and Starlight had already come up with an intriguing theory to connect what might've happened.

"I hadn't ever considered the possibility I would have a sister, let alone a half sister." Sunburst expressed his astonishment. "I guess visually, it does kind of make sense why Sunset and I look both similar and different at the same time."

"Yeah, we both have similar colors in our coats, manes, and eyes." Sunset began to compare herself visually to Sunburst. "But it does make sense that Stellar Flare isn't my real mom, given how I completely lack coat markings anywhere on my body. Whoever my real mom is, I guess having a plain fur body was a trait I inherited from her. And hey, now I guess it does make sense why Stellar Flare didn't immediately recognize me, unlike dad, since I definitely was able to read it in his eyes. "

"I'm rather surprised my theory ended up being correct after all." Starlight recalled what she pieced together. "But that's so cool, you two are not only my best friends, but also half siblings! Who would've guessed?"

"Well, other than my mom, it's nice to know that I also have a caring sister too. "Sunburst said. "Quite an interesting revelation if I do say so myself. After getting to know Sunset for a bit, I almost began to have a feeling we were connected more than I would've expected. It's crazy to know that this whole time, we've been growing apart, yet lived out very similar lives with the same dad."

"In the end, I suppose it wasn't a coincidence that we both went off to magic school, specifically the School For Gifted Unicorns in Canterlot." Sunset reflected. "Well, I guess by now, I'm glad to see my curiosity has at least gotten me somewhere as far as getting closer with my real family. I now know who my dad is, and that I've always had a half brother I never even knew existed. Twilight, what about my biological mom, though? Does your machine give any conclusive information regarding her?"

"I'm sorry, Sunset." Twilight sighed. "But unless you have any bit of DNA from her, there's no way for us to know for certain. It'll only determine whether or not you share blood with somepony else, as it can't provide information about who the pony was."

"I see." Sunset understood. "Well, I'm still happy we've made a pretty good breakthrough on my family's history, even if there's still so much more I haven't quite figured out yet. Thank you so much for your help, Twilight. At least we now know for certain about one biological parent I have."

"Anytime, Sunset." Twilight smiled. "Now like I've said, I do need to head to Las Pegasus for a conference, but I'm glad I was able to be of some assistance in your quest to discover your missing family. In the meantime, I hope our meeting tomorrow with Rainbow Dash will go smoothly. Starlight, since you're already here, I guess I could now let you know that the Council of Friendship will be holding a meeting to discuss a fallout between Sunset and Rainbow sometime tomorrow afternoon. Does that work for you? I still have to notify the rest of our friends about it, as I'll also be declaring it an urgent meeting."

"Oh, sure." Starlight agreed. "Sunset already mentioned something regarding that to me earlier, so I completely understand that we'd need to eventually talk things out. She shared some vague details here and there about what happened, but I still decided to stick by her side in the end. It was simply a wrong accusation, a mistake anypony could've made, and I'm sure she had good intentions to begin with."

"Frankly, yes." Twilight confirmed. "Sunset was trying to help another one of her friends regarding some thief who's been going around committing theft all over Equestria, so her heart was definitely in the right place. I'm glad you're making the right decision in vouching for her, Starlight. But are you sure you're good to attend the meeting regarding Sunset and Rainbow's dispute? You do look a little weary."

"Anything for my buddy, Sunset." Starlight assured. "And yeah, I know, I'm just a little lethargic after teleporting long distances today. But hey, it was for a good cause."

"Ah, I see." Twilight understood. "Yeah, that's a reason I try to conserve my energy by flying, even if teleportation can be more convenient. All right, well, I guess I'll see you all soon."

Twilight waved goodbye to the three other unicorns, as they waved back, before getting back to the previous conversation's topic.

"Alright, so since you're heading to Silver Shoals, you might still need Maud's help?" Starlight reminded. "Clearing a giant boulder from the tracks takes a lot of time and requires many strong tools. Luckily, we know Maud can clear away the most durable rocks in mere seconds."

"Oh wow, really?" Sunset said, surprised. "I guess there was a reason I could never beat her at arm wrestling in the human world, even with my strength. Well regardless, yeah, if magic's not going to get rid of that rock, I don't know what will. Do either of you know where Maud might be?"

"We're in Canterlot right now, and you said it was a ravine somewhere past Canterlot's station..." Sunburst began to recall a crucial detail. "Starlight, didn't Maud vaguely mention to us that she was going to be excavating in a nearby quarry today?"

"Oh, that's right!" Starlight remembered. "Yeah, in that case, she's actually pretty close to where we are right now. We'll help you find her if you're having trouble locating the quarry. After all, I'm out of long distance teleportations for the rest of the day."

"I'll appreciate any help I can get at the moment." Sunset smiled. "And no worries, even if you could bring me to Silver Shoals, the rock would still be blocking the tracks, so I'd have no reliable way to return. Getting rid of that rock is certainly going to be a priority for everypony."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Starlight agreed.

"Alright, anything to help my sister, even if I never knew I had one." Sunburst added. "We're friends and family to the end now, Sunset."

The three unicorns left the lounge room, but before departing from Canterlot, Sunset made a quick stop into her old home and grabbed her saddlebag. Since she was planning on meeting up with Celestia soon, she figured bringing the saddlebag with her could provide further insight, as she still had a ton of questions for her former mentor. After leaving the city's grounds, the trio trotted along the side of the tracks that led down the mountain. They thankfully didn't have to travel too far, before noticing a quarry and lake, presumably used by Canterlot to gather alloy to craft armor for royal guards. They noticed some digging in a nearby pit, and approached it together. In it, they saw their mutual Earth pony friend, Maud Pie, who was finishing up her duty to forage materials.

"Hi, Maud." Sunset said from the top of the pit.

"Sunset, Sunburst, and Starlight." Maud addressed her friends. "Good to see you all."

"Likewise!" Starlight replied. "It looks like you're a little too busy and tired at the moment?"

"Actually, I've just finished my assignment in digging out these holes while the rest of the excavators search for precious metals." Maud said. "Also, I'm not really tired right now. Why do you ask?"

"Well, we were wondering if you could help Sunset out?" Sunburst inquired. "Up ahead for the train, there's a ravine where a giant rock fell onto the tracks, and it's preventing her from being able to reach Silver Shoals. We were wondering if you could help get rid of it? You do have the strength and expertise on rocks, after all."

"Yeah, I'm trying to reach Princess Celestia, but until that rock is removed, that might not be happening anytime soon." Sunset explained her motives.

"Oh yeah, that." Maud recalled. "The rest of the team mentioned something about that while we were working, so I decided I'll voluntarily head over there to take care of it after I was finished digging. I was about to go there just now anyways."

"Oh, well, how nice to hear everything working out like that, talk about perfect timing!" Starlight said.

"Glad to hear Maud's always willing to help her friends out whenever they need it." Sunburst smiled. "Well in that case, Starlight and I are probably going to head home now. I admittedly need some time with my mom again since I'm still kinda emotionally broken after overhearing our dad."

"Understandable." Sunset sympathized with her half brother. "Thank you both once again for all the help you've given me."

Sunburst and Starlight waved goodbye to Sunset and Maud, as the Earth pony and unicorn headed over to the ravine together. Although Sunset presumably wasn't able to do anything about the rock herself, she still wanted to see the extent of what was preventing the train from progressing. After trotting together for a while, they finally reached the ravine, and saw it was indeed a massive rock. Nearby was a team of ponies who were sent to inspect the rock and attempt to remove it. They noticed Sunset and Maud approaching, and looked confused.

"Hey, what are you ponies doing here?" Hard Hat questioned.

"Maybe they have a solution to help us get rid of this giant rock?" Wensley said, jokingly. "I'd hope so, since we've been working for two hours straight and have barely made a dent!"

"If you have any ideas, we'd love to hear them." Florina Tart said with curiosity. "I've already gone through fourteen chisels and it doesn't look like the rock's going anytime soon."

"Actually, we do have a solution." Sunset replied, as she pointed a hoof at her Earth pony friend.

"Yeah, I'll reduce the rock to pieces with my hooves." Maud stated with confidence. "It shouldn't take too long."

The inspection team simply bursted out laughing, thinking that the Earth pony was trying to entertain them with some kind of crazy fantasy. Despite seeing this reaction to her claim, Maud simply shrugged it off, as she was admittedly used to it.

"Oh, that's a good one." Wensley said. "Maybe next time I'll also use my hooves to grow plants in an instant! Haha!"

"Or perhaps I could one day grow a berry the size of this giant rock, and have it roll into Ponyville for fun, like that rolling boulder scene I read in a Daring Do book once." Florina Tart joked.

"As much as I wish I could do that with my hooves, we all unfortunately know that Earth pony magic doesn't exist." Hard Hat added. "Unicorns have magic, pegasai can fly, and we Earth ponies simply have our strength. I sometimes wish I could do more if I had wings or a horn, but it is what it is. Regardless, thanks for the laugh, but I'm afraid we'll need more durable equipment if we want this rock to move."

"Yeah, let's head on back to the shop to get some pickaxes this time." Florina Tart agreed.

The three Earth ponies left the ravine to retrieve their tools, but Sunset was beginning to have an idea that those ponies would be in for quite a surprise once they returned. The comment from one of them did stick out to Sunset, in regards to how some ponies were wishing they could do more if they had a horn like her. Although she remembered Starlight mentioning that unicorn magic had its limits too, she still attempted to use her own magic to at least attempt budging the rock. When she realized it was simply too much, she had to immediately stop before she strained her horn, as it really was too heavy to be levitated.

"Yeah, that's pretty much the result I expected, but good to know even magic can't lift things this heavy." Sunset noted. "Alright Maud, mind showing me what you got?"

As Maud hopped on top of the giant rock and started piling the surface like a jackhammer with her hooves, it began to slowly disintegrate into smaller fragments of rock, dust, and even ashes of an unknown sentiment from within. When she had finished the job, it almost looked as if the rock was never there, and the train now had a clear path to Silver Shoals. As Sunset looked around the tracks, astonished by the sheer power Maud had just displayed, she noticed something shiny that caught her eye in one of the remains. She trotted over and saw something she wasn't expecting at all to find in some ordinary rock. After that rock's total destruction, eight distinctly loose pieces of orange crystal seemed to be completely intact, and to Sunset, they looked absolutely beautiful.



"I suppose these crystals could make for a nice collectible." Sunset said, as she picked them up from the rock's remains. "Maud, what do you think of these crystals overall, do they look valuable to you?"

"Kind of." Maud replied, before going over to examine the fragments of rock around the tracks. "Looking at all these new rocks I've created, Boulder might be excited once I bring home plenty of new friends for him."

"Well, I'm sure your pet rock will be happy indeed." Sunset smiled. "Thanks again for taking the trouble to come here and clear a way for the train. Now I'll have no problem being able to visit Princess Celestia in Silver Shoals. Would you like one of these crystals as a Thank-You gift?"

"I typically don't collect gems or crystals since I'm overall more fascinated with the rocks." Maud said. "Maybe the rest of your friends would like them? Pinkie's mentioned to me that you've been spending more time with her, and she likes shiny objects."

The idea Maud suggested resonated with Sunset. She realized that since she had eight crystals and almost just as many friends here in Equestria, it'd seem to work out. Obviously, it still made more sense to make amends with Rainbow Dash before giving her one of these crystals, but the rest of her current friends sounded like they'd be happy to accept one of these as a token for her new friendship with each of them. Twilight, Starlight, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie, and Rarity were all still on good terms with her, and she decided giving each of her friends a crystal could be a nice way to thank them for making her return to Equestria quite welcoming. But as Sunset counted the crystals and friends she had, she then wondered who to give the last crystal to, as she planned to keep at least one for herself.

In some ways, having these crystals shared among all her friends reminded Sunset of how she and her human friends had a similar connection when they all wore the geodes obtained from Camp Everfree. Although the geodes gave each of the girls magical and supernatural abilities, Sunset mostly cherished them as a sign of linking them all together as good friends, similar to a friendship bracelet or secret handshake. After some deliberating, she was conflicted on who she'd give the final crystal to, but then considered either Sunburst or Celestia, as Rainbow Dash was certainly out of the question for the time being. Regardless of this, Sunset shook her head in approval to Maud's suggestion, as she finally put the crystals in her saddlebag.

"I think I'll do just that for sure." Sunset said, as she already had great confidence over what these crystals would symbolize with each of her new friends. "And yes, that also includes giving one of these to Pinkie, since let's just say, I kinda found out I've known her the longest out of all the friends I've been making recently."

"Hmm." Maud deliberated upon hearing Sunset's plan. "You're planning to give Pinkie one of those crystals anyways, right? Maybe one could be a special gift for Pinkie for her big day in a few weeks."

"A big day?" Sunset questioned. "I did hang with Pinkie for a bit yesterday afternoon, but I'm pretty sure she never said anything about a special day for herself coming up."

"She came home to the rock farm to share the news to me and the rest of our family last night." Maud began explaining. "Remember when I briefly mentioned that some friend of Pinkie ordered a bouquet of pink roses for her? It was actually somepony she's known for a while, Cheese Sandwich, who not only took her on a surprise date, but even proposed to her after all the time they've spent together. I guess you could say, I was pretty happy myself when Pinkie told us all that she said 'yes'."

"Aw, that's sweet." Sunset smiled for her friend, as it even turned out her hunch of who ordered those flowers was correct. "Likewise, I'm happy to hear Pinkie's getting married, and I've kinda met Cheese Sandwich myself recently, he's a pretty nice party guy. But what did you mean when you suggested I should give the crystal to Pinkie for her wedding day? Like as a surprise or something?"

"She may like surprises, but it has more to do with something Cheese Sandwich mentioned to me." Maud continued. "Ever since he decided to continue being a traveling party pony once again, he was able to pull enough bits together to afford a wedding location, party, and music. But unfortunately, wedding ring prices had increased drastically lately, I think because there's been many recent reports of theft all over Equestria. Although he proposed to Pinkie and she said 'yes', he didn't present a ring to her yet. He's happy that they're technically engaged now, but he still felt bad he wasn't able to get her the main centerpiece."

"Oh, I think I see what you're getting at." Sunset began to understand. "Maybe... I could consult with Cheese Sandwich, and we could both give her a wedding ring crafted from one of these crystals together? We could probably say something along the lines of... we both chipped in to get this for her, and it'd be like a sign of love and friendship from both of us?"

"Sure." Maud agreed. "That could work."

"Given how I've technically known Pinkie the longest, I guess that gives me more of a reason to make her crystal extra special of a gift." Sunset said. "I'll do it. Plus, it'd also be a gift from you as well, given I wouldn't have gotten these crystals without you getting rid of that giant rock."

"Thank you for being a good friend to my sister, Sunset." Maud gave a slight smile, which was usually pretty rare for her. "Even if I don't know you that well, I just wanted to let you know... you have the inner strength of a rock. Have fun in Silver Shoals in the meantime, since I really have to head back home now."

"And again, thank you for not only letting me be able to visit Silver Shoals, but also advise me on what I should do with these crystals." Sunset smiled back, as she saw Maud trotting away, but not before waving goodbye.

Sunset was now ready to report back to the stationmaster at Canterlot of the giant boulder no longer being an issue. Since she was just at Canterlot earlier, she was already well familiar with the return route, and was able to make it back to the station in no time. After discussing the situation with the stationmaster, he phoned a message to the inspection team back at the boulder's previous location. They were astounded at how the big rock seemingly disappeared out of nowhere, but confirmed it was indeed no longer preventing the train from progressing. With that knowledge, the stallion then sent a message to the train conductor that it was now safe for the train to return. As a way of thanking Sunset for seemingly helping out with the situation, the stationmaster handed Sunset a train ticket at no charge, which Sunset happily accepted, as she decided she might need her remaining bits for other essentials later down the line.

The unicorn then waited for the train, and it was able to return after nearly an hour of sitting around. By this point, the sky had turned into an orange sunset, as Sunset herself felt like it set the mood pretty well for herself. Her journey and time in Equestria amounted to tons of hard work, perseverance, and enthusiasm when it came to making new friends. All that effort was now finally going to let her visit Princess Celestia in Silver Shoals, thus having her finally reunite with the one pony she considered both a mentor and mother. Even after her shameful betrayal and abandonment as a result of being removed from pupil status, Celestia still ended up forgiving and welcoming Sunset back in open hooves, assuring Sunset that this was definitely a stop worth making.

Although Sunset now already had a pretty good picture regarding her biological parents, she still had no idea what ever happened to her real mother. As for her father, as bad as he had verbally abused Sunset back at his home in Ponyville, Sunset still believed it was no different from the many times she herself had verbally abused and horribly bullied the human Fluttershy back at CHS. She wasn't exactly innocent herself when it came to being a bully, and fully understood the many factors that led to why she became one in the first place. Abandonment, feeling neglected, and just having the lingering feeling that no one ever understood her, especially anyone in the human world when she was trapped there for 30 moons.

Sunset still remembered Sunburst sharing his flashback, in which Sunspot seemingly still cared for and loved his son, confirming that something else had to be up. This certainly sparked curiosity in her, after believing that Sunspot had to have given birth to her and let his daughter go, long before he had then let his first son go off to the same school to study magic. This fact combined with briefly hearing her father seemingly cry before Starlight teleported them all away, made Sunset believe there was still good in him, and that something more devious was brewing behind the scenes.

The train had finally arrived to the platform, as Sunset got aboard. The thoughts regarding her true father kept floating in her mind as the train began to make its way to Silver Shoals, though she figured it would likely be better to focus on the matter another day. Nearly half of her week was already used up, and she still hadn't seen Princess Celestia yet, which furthered Sunset's desire to finally reunite with the former princess of Equestria, and maybe get some answers. She was still curious on what could've happened to her birth mother if Sunspot wasn't always the monster of a stallion he was now, and what made her father change so drastically in the time she was gone. As she knew the train would soon bring her to Silver Shoals, Sunset crossed her metaphorical fingers that Celestia could finally give her the missing pieces of the puzzle and receive some closure to this seemingly dark past regarding her biological family...