The suspension kept growing within Sunset, anxious that she was about to find out how disastrous the situation behind her sudden disappearance must've gone for Celestia when she had to inform her father. It seemed to completely line up with Sunburst's story when he shared that his father showed numerous hints of not wanting to send his son to the same school in Canterlot. Realizing that she needed to have closure over hearing any further information that Celestia could provide for her, Sunset sat back in her dining chair and listened on, as the flashback continued.
"Err, your highness?" Sunspot waved his hoof in front of Celestia's face in an attempt to get her attention. "Are you feeling okay?"
"I-I'm sorry, what brings you here again?" Celestia suddenly broke out of her trance of guilt after seeing Sunset's father, knowing that her former pupil was now trapped within another dimension.
"Like I've said, I finished renovating my home back in Ponyville, and now I'd like to see my baby girl." Sunspot affirmed. "You wrote to me a few weeks ago that Sunset just finished and passed her final midterm exam, in which she successfully grew an enormous beanstalk. I wanted to drop by and reunite with my daughter after being gone for so long, and take her home for the rest of the day as a bit of a graduation treat. Simple enough, I'd imagine? Where might she be at the moment, so I can go pick her up?"
"Oh, um..." Celestia looked around her throne room nervously. "I'm afraid that... Sunset Shimmer isn't exactly with us here at the moment."
"Hmm, alright then." Sunspot said, understandingly. "I guess I'll check back as soon as I can, since I wouldn't miss a chance in finally getting to spend some time once more with my baby girl, now that my boss gave me the rest of the week off."
"No, that's not quite what I mean..." Celestia tried to explain the hard news. "She's... trapped in a magical mirror, and it just closed by the time she went in, so we don't have a way to reliably get her back."
"W-What do you..." Sunspot sputtered, before realizing this must've been an elaborate hoax. "Okay princess, you got me. Good to know that our royal leader has a great sense of humor. Now for real, where's my daughter?"
"I'm so sorry, but I was being serious." Celestia tried to hold back her tears. "She went through this magical mirror which, to my understanding, brought her into a strange alternate dimension that supposedly only opens once every 30 moons. Unfortunately, she wouldn't have known about this, as I hadn't taught her anything regarding this mirror yet. I also lack a means of being able to communicate with her whilst in this dimension, and it's unknown where Sunset might've gone off to after she made her way in."
"Y-Y-You..." Sunspot couldn't believe his ears. "If this is some kind of a sick joke, you need to tell me right now!"
Celestia simply lowered her head and closed her eyes, signaling that this was in fact, no fib.
"HOW COULD YOU JUST LET THIS HAPPEN TO MY DAUGHTER!?!?!?" Sunspot exploded, before some nearby royal guards tried to restrain the stallion.
"No, no." Celestia said to her guards. "Don't worry, his reaction is completely justified, I'll need you to leave us be so we can resolve this on our own."
The guards nodded and did as they were instructed, before Celestia turned back to a horrified and outraged Sunspot.
"I'm sorry but... when Sunset took interest in this mirror, I tried to keep her away, as I was afraid that her curiosity would grow too strong." Celestia explained. "When we reached that point, she began blatantly disobeying my orders, and we ended up having a heated dispute that resulted in me removing her as my pupil. Shortly after, I got the report from my guards that she snuck around the castle, took them by surprise, and just jumped into the mirror. A mirror leading to another world that just closed, shortly after she went in."
"If that mirror was so dangerous, why would you not warn her of the dangers, instead of just letting her curiosity grow!?" Sunspot spat. "And you ended up removing her as your pupil just as I had finally arrived to celebrate her graduation!?"
"I truly apologize, Sunspot." Celestia tried reasoning with her former pupil's father. "I genuinely didn't anticipate Sunset's actions, and believed that not allowing her to continue her studies was the only way we could prevent this growing delusion of hers in wanting to be my pupil for all the wrong reasons. She even went as far as to demand I make her a princess, which was certainly out of the question."
"You should've at least told her why it was dangerous regardless!" Sunspot criticized the princess's foolish decisions. "Better yet, what could possibly be happening in this other world as we speak!? Sunset couldn't be in any real danger... could she?"
"Well, I'm afraid there's always a possibility she ran off and got herself lost in uncharted territory." Celestia surmised. "However, according to my best recollection, there's something more magic-related that could potentially pose as a threat should anypony from here in Equestria decide to make their way in. For some reason, I can't seem to remember what that exact threat was, but I do know there was something supposedly relating to upsetting the balance between the two worlds. Whatever the case was, I've decided it's too risky to send somepony in to find her now, even if we normally have to wait another 30 moons for the portal to reopen."
"Are you nuts, princess!?" Sunspot protested. "You're just going to let my daughter be trapped for the rest of her life, even if she's still alive in there, all over some dumb hunch!? At least let me go in there after enough moons have passed to see if I can find her myself!"
"This is not a hunch, Sunspot." Celestia said with a serious look on her face. "It's something that deep down, I simply know will legitimately create negative effects as the result of some kind of inbalance between these worlds. I've known this for a while over hundreds of years of studying magic, so I can assure you that this is no joking matter. Until I'm able to conduct some heavy research to remember what this inbalance effect was, I'm forbidding anypony to enter the mirror until further notice. I'm sorry, Sunspot, but I simply can not allow you to enter the mirror to find Sunset due to this."
"I... TRUSTED YOU, PRINCESS!!!" Sunspot began sobbing. "YOU NOT ONLY TOOK MY DAUGHTER AWAY FOR MANY YEARS, BUT ALSO EFFECTIVELY BRAINWASHED HER INTO GETTING TRAPPED IN A DANGEROUS WORLD!?!?!? IF YOU KNEW THIS MIRROR WAS DANGEROUS, YOU SHOULD'VE JUST SAID WHY, INSTEAD OF TESTING HER CURIOSITY!!!"
"Please, I understand how difficult all this must be for you to take in, but as the princess, even in these tough times, it's still my responsibility to ensure the safety of Equestria as our first priority." Celestia tried to reason with the stallion. "Since even my knowledge of the mirror is limited at the moment, until I'm able to finalize my research to know with certainty whether or not it's safe to go through, I'm afraid nopony else will be entering, even if it does reopen in about 30 moons."
"You lost my daughter, raised her to be rebellious, brainwashed her into doing something reckless, made the dumb decision to not warn her of the actual dangers behind the mirror, and then won't even allow me, her father, to go into this world and try to save her myself!?" Sunspot went down the list. "Princess, this simply will not stand! I've already had my wife divorce me long ago, and now it's your fault my daughter is gone too! Your words on some inbalance will not sway my decision to sue you for destroying my family!!!"
The entire fiasco ended with Sunspot and Celestia herself settling the dispute at the Canterlot courtroom. Most jurors still ended up siding with the princess, given the circumstances of a supposed magical inbalance, and how nopony could've anticipated Sunset's actions until it was too late. However, since Celestia still felt awful for all the emotional pain Sunspot must've been going through due to her foolish decisions in tempting Sunset the whole time and not keeping a closer eye on the mirror, she still felt like owing her former pupil's father some form of compensation. She voluntarily gave up 30,000 bits for the damage done to Sunset's family, hoping this would at least have the stallion come to terms with her concerns and forgive her honest mistake. Further explanations were also about to be made, as the flashback ended for now.
"Wow, I was certainly afraid of how my father would've reacted after I was stuck in the human world for quite some time." Sunset said. "I didn't think he'd end up suing you too."
"At the time, although I won the case after explaining myself, I still felt bad for Sunspot, since I could understand his pain." Celestia reflected. "He effectively lost his daughter in one of the worst ways imaginable, in the care of somepony he thought he could trust. I also conceded that by constantly telling you that you weren't ready to learn about the mirror, almost as if it was some sort of challenge, in some ways according to your father, I did 'brainwash' you into getting stuck there, especially after our fight in the castle. I truly apologize for putting you in this situation, since I definitely could've handled things better myself."
"No, you shouldn't be the one apologizing." Sunset began, sincerely. "I'm sorry that I made a dumb decision, simply because of this ego and belief that I was always ready to learn more about that mirror. I hadn't realized the extent of my actions when it came to not even attempting to find an opening to come back. After hearing how emotionally broken my dad must've been when he found out his daughter was possibly gone forever, I... I never would've guessed how my selfish actions ended up affecting you when he did decide to come visit me. The thing is, up until that point, I don't think I really remember him visiting me before, after you took me to Canterlot?"
"Well, to my understanding, that was the first time he came to Canterlot physically to see you." Celestia recalled. "Before that, he wrote you a few letters from time to time, I'm guessing because he couldn't find a good time due to work. Do you recall if you ever got them in your Canterlot home's mailbox?"
"I'm thinking I most likely did, but never read them." Sunset believed. "I definitely recall focusing primarily on being the number one student at the school, to the point of turning down any opportunity to socialize or make friends. That even included letters, as somepony invited me to her birthday party years ago, and I found out I never even bothered opening that envelope. As such, I couldn't remember a single time I've read any of dad's letters, let alone actually writing him back."
"I see." Celestia understood. "In that case, he was probably under the impression that you were too busy to focus on your studies to write him back, and this obsessive studying at the school slowly tore his daughter away from the family."
"That would also perfectly explain why he constantly hesitated to send Sunburst to the same school I went to." Sunset recalled the memory shared by her half brother earlier. "Aside from my sudden disappearance, he must've also felt that the school itself set high standards to the point where his own children grew distant from him. Focusing too heavily on our studies when he always wanted us to keep in touch, it most likely made him grow bitter over the years. I pretty much completely disregarded his existence after I moved to Canterlot, and so did Sunburst, since he mentioned that he hadn't even visited him once after he moved away. Maybe... Sunburst and I are both partially to blame for our father becoming the bitter and uncaring stallion he is now? Having two children who effectively chose to abandon him, along with getting a divorce with both of our moms, I can't really imagine it would've done his mental health any favors..."
"No, Sunset..." Celestia put a hoof under Sunset's chin. "Please don't say that. You and Sunburst were only following your dreams and simply ended up with unfortunate outcomes. You became isolated from Equestria due to the portal locking itself, and Sunburst to my knowledge, lost touch with his father after he flunked out of my magic school. I remember him mentioning that it was a similar case of him being too ashamed to write back, much like he did with his childhood friend, Starlight Glimmer."
"Hmm, speaking of Sunburst writing to our dad, there's admittedly still something I haven't figured out." Sunset remembered. "Sunburst also said that he did write a letter to dad during his first week there, yet he never heard back, so I'm still scratching my head at what that was all about. While we're talking about dad right now though, what happened after your settlement with him in court? Did he end up forgiving you sometime afterward?"
"Ah yes, I should also bring up what happened a few weeks following that messy day your father decided to return, shortly after you were stuck in the other world." Celestia began sharing another flashback.
Several weeks had already passed since the day Sunspot returned to Canterlot and expected to see his daughter finally graduate from the most prestigious school in Equestria. Although Celestia had willingly given up a good sum of bits to pay for damages, as well as repealed several older Equestrian laws as a means of helping grant Solstice's status to legally see Sunset, things unfortunately didn't have a happy ending between the princess and father of her former pupil. The stallion returned back to Celestia's throne room, where the princess herself saw that Sunspot still looked rather unhappy. Regardless, she decided to still welcome him back, hoping they could at least still be on neutral terms.
"Oh, I'm so happy to see you return." Celestia welcomed. "After I sent you that letter in which I finally revoked the old law that prevented Solstice from seeing Sunset, I figured you'd might be-"
"Even more unhappy than the last time I decided to come back to Canterlot?"
"I... I'm sorry?" Celestia asked, rather confused. "I don't understand, I've given you a large sum of money to pay for damages and revoked the law which would allow Solstice to finally see Sunset legally without needing to worry about requiring alimony."
"Yeah, I figured I should've been happy to hear all this myself." Sunspot said, sarcastically. "Unfortunately, despite the fact we divorced a while ago, I went over to Solstice's home to deliver the news you told me yourself. Although she was happy to hear about the law being changed, she was far from happy when I had to tell her what happened to Sunset. She went absolutely berserk, seeing how I not only supposedly 'cheated' on her, but was also dumb enough to hand over our daughter to you, only for you to one day lose her. That was unfortunately the final straw for her. Even after our divorce, she still kept in touch with me purely because of Sunset. Now that she's gone, Solstice has completely cut all contact with me, and I found out earlier today that she moved away to an unknown location, since her house was now empty. Meaning, you not only took my daughter away from me, but even my ex-wife, who was still willing to be with me for a while because of our daughter."
"I... I don't know what else to say beyond... I'm so, so sorry." Celestia said, sadly, now understanding the full extent of damage caused by Sunset's disappearance. "I really wish things could've been different, but... I'm afraid there's nothing we can do now."
"There's only one thing you can do for me now." Sunspot became blunt. "Even if I don't know where Solstice is anymore, I believe I still have the right to go into the mirror myself and save my daughter. You should've done enough research by now to determine it's safe enough for me to go in when the portal's open, is that correct?"
"Listen, Sunspot..." Celestia sighed. "You're not going to like what I'm about to say, but I'm afraid I still can't allow that. During the past few weeks, I've tried looking all over Canterlot's library for the book that explains the mirror, but I wasn't able to recover it. As such, without a clear answer as to whether or not it's truly safe to send anypony else through, I just can't risk us taking any chances, and that's final. I know you want to get your daughter back, but I still stand by my belief that sending you through will most likely upset the balance of the world, creating irreversible havoc in the process."
"All right, fine." Sunspot huffed, as he finally had enough. "I've given you a fair chance, but if you won't let me save my precious daughter, no more. Just know now that like my wife did with me, I'm permanently cutting contact with you altogether too. My daughter is now essentially good as gone, and with Solstice no longer around anymore, I have no family left to love and cherish, and it's all your fault! I should've never let you take my daughter away, let alone played with the idea of letting you being her actual mother! We're cutting ties for good, and I don't want to see you around me or my family ever again! Consider yourself blacklisted."
Sunspot then stormed out of the throne room, still enraged over everything that had happened. Celestia meanwhile, still felt sad over everything, especially when she herself tried so hard to fix everything and make amends with her former pupil's father, only for it all to end like this. She was genuinely hoping that giving those bits and changing the alimony law could've at least let Sunspot understand just how much she cared in making things right. The concern regarding sending somepony else through the mirror was just too risky in her eyes, and she wouldn't have been willing to lose both Sunset and Sunspot in the process. Regardless, the princess simply sighed in defeat, realizing that she always could've raised Sunset to be more disciplined and respectful toward her as a mentor, instead of always coddling and spoiling her all those years. She took a break from her royal duties to decide how she was going to move forward from this predicament, as the flashback finally ended.
"Oh wow... I definitely wouldn't have imagined things ended up like that, even after how much you tried to help dad out of the kindness of your heart." Sunset said. "I guess that he simply still wasn't satisfied when he couldn't go through the mirror himself to find me, but there was seemingly a legitimate reason regarding upsetting the balance between that world and Equestria. That makes me wonder, when I returned to steal Twilight's crown, forcing her to go in to get it back, were you just as hesitant on letting her go through the mirror too?"
"I was still even adamant on letting Twilight go through the mirror on her own back then, but when I realized that her element had been taken, and how vital it was for Equestria's sake, I decided that we simply had no choice." Celestia sighed. "When I saw that Twilight was able to return safely without any unusual effects, that's when I realized I might've been mistaken about this fear, but deep down, I've just always known there had to have been something relating to upsetting the balance, that it would've given me a legitimate reason to prohibit anypony else to enter this world too."
"We were all waiting for Twilight to return, and although she made a rather strange entrance back, notably by standing upright, nothing else about her seemingly changed." Luna recalled. "In the meantime, although your father's become a completely changed pony, I hope we're letting you know now that he genuinely loved you back then."
"I just... can't believe this whole time I was randomly exploring the human world, I've had a dad who cared so much about me, even to the point of standing his ground to the Princess of Equestria." Sunset thought back to her vaguest memories of her father as a year old filly.
"In all fairness, you only saw him briefly as a yearling." Luna reminded. "And although you might've missed out on reading his letters addressed to you, up until that point, he never once bothered to show up to Canterlot physically, just to see his daughter again."
"I know, but..." Sunset began to reflect back on the past. "It sounded like he wanted to work hard in Ponyville while I was in Canterlot, to give me the life he wasn't able to afford on his own by being a single dad raising me. So I not only took your sister for granted as a mother, but even my own father too."
"I wouldn't quite say that you took us for granted, Sunset." Celestia affirmed. "It was really more a matter of me not knowing how to be a proper parent, along with always making your life feel more privileged and special compared to all my other students. That high life in Canterlot might've affected you psychologically to behave the way you once did, but I always had the power and responsibility to prevent it from happening. You're admittedly the very first student I've treated like an actual daughter, so I suppose parenting was never really one of my strengths until I learned my lesson."
"Well, I guess in some ways, my blunders were still a reason you were able to watch over Twilight during her early years with this kind of experience in mind." Sunset tried to stay positive. "She did mention that although you treated her similar to me when I was studying at the school, you were more cautious about not making the same mistakes you once did with me. For example, you used to have her write letters to you every week, reporting all kinds of new lessons she's learned about friendship, kind of like outside homework?"
"Yes, and although it was originally meant as an exercise to encourage her social skills when making new friends after I sent her to Ponyville, it was a double-edged sword." Celestia said. "It even got to a point where she purposefully started making friendship problems herself, creating a ton of chaos all over town, and even with her friends. Twilight might be a great and responsible leader now, but like everypony else, she was never perfect either."
"Yeah, even my new friends here in Equestria have been teaching me that lesson pretty well, given I still have a past that I never look too fondly back on." Sunset remembered Rarity and Fluttershy sharing their own regrets back on the train. "As for how Twilight turned out in the end, I'd say you did a good job. Whenever I talk or write to her, I always feel assured and reminded that she genuinely cares about all her friends, even if it means putting biases aside and putting others' needs before her own. She's a true friend."
"Well, I'm glad that somepony sees that my hard work as a mentor and motherly figure to my students did eventually pay off over the years." Celestia replied. "I just wish Sunspot could've seen that about me too, even after what happened with you, Sunset."
"I'm sorry again to hear that you were never able to make things right with my dad." Sunset said, sadly. "Being told all this now, I really feel like even when I had to worry about my friends and the memory stone back then, I would've still dropped everything just to try to make amends between you and Sunspot. Though truthfully, I don't know if he would've treated me the same way he did a few hours ago..."
"Well actually, there was another reason why I purposefully never brought the incident with your father up, even after you had returned to seek my guidance." Celestia began confessing. "Over the course of time Twilight had set you on the right path in the other world, she's occasionally reported to me how much happier you were with your new friends, and that you practically saw them as family. Not only did I see you were desperate to find out why your friends had suddenly turned on you, but I also realized telling you about your father at that point would've complicated things. I didn't want you to believe that you would've had to make a choice, between returning to your father back in Equestria, or staying in the other world with the first friends who taught you how to genuinely embrace happiness and friendship."
"I appreciate you going the extra mile to have considered that, even when I once never really considered anypony else besides myself." Sunset said. "You would've been right, since I've had that exact dilemma for a while when I was considering the possibility of abandoning my friends by choosing to stay in Equestria. Luckily, when I met Twilight's friends at the coronation, Twilight and everypony else helped ease my guilt by explaining solutions and realistic reasons why I wouldn't necessarily be abandoning them. This is especially true, given how the portal's always going to be open thanks to that old journal, meaning that I'd always be able to visit them at my own whim."
"I'm glad to hear Twilight and her friends were even able to help you out with that little conflict, as I acknowledged how they were all able to rule on their own as the Council of Friendship, shortly before Luna and I departed." Celestia smiled. "I also have to hand it to Twilight for figuring out how to use my old journal to keep that portal open indefinitely. I admittedly haven't thought to touch the mirror or figure a way around it closing ever since you went through and got stuck in the other world."
"Well, to give credit where it's due, it was actually Pinkie's idea after she observed the same magic that allowed me to write Twilight messages through my journal would've been able to consistently power up the portal like some kind of battery source." Sunset corrected. "Regardless, yeah, Twilight always was capable of figuring out so many problems on her own, not all friendship or magic related. On the subject of the mirror, you mentioned that during the incident with my dad, you were still trying to do further research in the meantime, due to recalling that something would inevitably upset the balance of the two worlds? Were you ever able to figure out what that was?"
"Unfortunately, I wasn't." Celestia sighed. "To my best recollection, I've searched many times through the entire Canterlot library, as well as the restricted section I had shown to you and Twilight during your last return. Recalling my vaguest memories, I knew a book like that had to have existed somewhere, and that the problem with upsetting the balance between the worlds was legitimately true. However, since I was never able to find that book, even up until my last days before retirement, I was never able to read and remember the actual reason behind it. Basically, I've just always had this instinct based on what little I was able to remember about the mirror, and it was always a driving reason behind why I always tried to keep both you and Sunspot away from it. Back then, I said that you weren't ready to learn about the mirror because... I admittedly wasn't either. I simply cared for your safety, since I knew playing around with magic even I had limited knowledge on, could've been dangerous or unexpected. You asked this question earlier, so I'm sorry if I wasn't able to give you clear enough of an answer as you might've hoped."
"No need to be sorry, you've already answered a lot of my questions that I've been wondering for quite some time." Sunset assured. "Now I definitely know why I always saw you as a parental figure, what happened with my dad after he returned to Canterlot, who my mom was, and why my parents separated. Plus, it at least makes sense now why you were always trying to keep me away from that mirror since... let's just say I once told a certain someone myself, that she shouldn't have been messing around with things she didn't understand. Considering how I ended up in that world in the first place, I kinda feel like a hypocrite for saying that."
"Once again, I can truly admire how humble and understanding you've become since the days as my student." Celestia complimented. "I'm glad to know I was still able to be of some help in letting you now understand some perplexing questions, since I've always realized that if you were to one day return, I would've eventually had to tell you about this complicated past. Even if I wasn't as good of a teacher for you, I'm hoping I was at least a good parental figure."
"You were the best." Sunset smiled. "I know you just always wanted the best for me, given how rough things must've been for my actual parents. One last thing, did you ever find out what happened to my real mother, Solstice?"
"Sadly, given how she left your father after he told her the difficult news, as far as I'm aware, nopony ever found out where she went, nor what happened to her." Celestia sighed once more. "Not even Sunspot himself, who was still keeping in touch with her all that time. Although you might've found your father, I'm truly afraid meeting your real mother will be challenging for sure. It looks as if the only thing you have left of her is that saddlebag, which, if you're wondering, it was given to you by Sunspot. I recall that him mentioning it was an old satchel used by your mother before she got a new one, following their divorce."
"I see..." Sunset understood. "And come to think of it, even if I do end up finding her, would she even want me anymore, or just disown me, just like dad did? Actually, never mind, I... I don't really want to think about that right now. The only thing that matters to me now is, I do currently have a mother who genuinely cares about me, even after how awful I was all those years ago. She's taught me how to accept, empathize, forgive, and how to extend one's love and friendship to somepony else in need, in the hopes of one day being able to pass it all forward. I'm glad to know that although my actual family's complicated at the moment, I still have a family in the form of you, Twilight, and all my other new friends."
"For a while, I never thought I'd live to see the day such words of hope and enthusiasm would come from your mouth, Sunset." Celestia winked. "All I can say with confidence now is, even if I wasn't the one who taught you such wonderful morals and philosophies, I'm proud of how well you were able to learn them in the time you've spent in the other world. In the meantime, I still genuinely hope we could find your actual mother, Solstice, just to give you that closure to understand who your biological family once was."
"If dad knew, I would at least try to get some information out of him, but it's certainly going to be difficult if even he doesn't know where she went." Sunset brainstormed. "I just can't believe he ended up cheating on her, which resulted in me never getting the chance to meet her, not even when I lived with him in Ponyville. It's still admittedly strange how he kept claiming that he never did have an affair during the time where he truly came across as a genuine father. I actually still feel like getting to the bottom of that eventually, but in the meantime, I'm just happy to know I do have a mom who genuinely loves me. Do you mind if I call you 'mom', Princess Celestia?"
"Well, since you now understand the reasoning behind why I felt like giving you the mother you needed, it'd be an honor for you to address me by that nickname." Celestia smiled. "No need for 'Princess' though, as I'm obviously now retired from that position."
"Yeah, but I'm just pretty used to calling you by that title." Sunset blushed in embarrassment. "Besides, 'Dear Celestia' just doesn't have as nice of a ring to it as much as 'Dear Princess Celestia', wouldn't you say?"
"Hehe, I suppose that is true." Celestia giggled at her adoptive daughter's sense of humor.
"Well, I'm pretty exhausted from unpacking boxes all day, so I think I'll go ahead and raise the moon before calling it a night." Luna said. "Even the former princess of the night needs her beauty sleep. In the meantime, it was certainly nice to catch up with you and my sister's past, Sunset. I genuinely hope your stay in Equestria will be special!"
Luna then trotted upstairs to her bedroom, as Sunset and Celestia wished her goodnight. Celestia then used her magic to levitate the dishes and put them in the sink, being ready to wash them thoroughly the next morning. She also poofed the garbage right outside the house instantaneously, saving a trip to take out the trash. Seeing her adoptive mother using magic gave Sunset one last idea before bed, as Luna finally raised the moon from within her room.
"Soooo... mom?" Sunset addressed Celestia with her new nickname. "Would now be a good time to ask you for something before we hit the hay ourselves?"
"Sure thing." Celestia smiled at her daughter. "What will that be?"
"Well, I was kind of hoping that my time in Equestria would help me improve my magic skills, since it's been far too long." Sunset began explaining. "Spending so much time in the other world without a horn has made me completely out of practice, even to the point of forgetting how to teleport correctly. I was kind of wondering if you could give me a quick magic lesson, to where I'd be learning from you as a teacher, just like old times?"
"Hmm, I do need a reason myself to practice some magic from time to time, so why not?" Celestia agreed to Sunset's request. "There's actually a simple trick to guarantee you can teleport anywhere without issues, but be warned that doing so over long distances can begin to wear out your magic if you do it too much."
"Yeah, so I've been told." Sunset remembered the warnings Starlight gave her when attempting to teleport long distances. "What's the trick?"
"It's actually pretty easy once you get the hang of it." Celestia began being a teacher once more. "All you have to do is close your eyes, start up the teleportation spell, and in your mind, visualize a location you would like to teleport to. The trick is, you have to visualize the location very clearly, before waiting about ten seconds to let the spell take effect. If you do it too early, you most likely run the risk of being sent to a completely different area, or just further from your actual destination."
"That makes a lot of sense, given I've already had to learn that the hard way." Sunset recalled how much of an epic fail her attempt was in Manehattan when attempting to reach Twilight's coronation. "I know what the spell already is, so I was wondering if we could practice it together? Maybe let's teleport to... I dunno, your old throne room in Canterlot?"
"Sure, I could use a little trip down memory lane." Celestia agreed.
Before long, Celestia closed her eyes and started up the teleportation spell, while Sunset did the same, and used her previous memory of visiting her former mentor's throne room to visualize the location. Celestia already teleported away, but Sunset waited the extra few seconds as her teacher had instructed, before teleporting away herself. Although Celestia was happy to see a room she had just left from a few days ago, she was initially worried to see she was by herself, with Sunset nowhere in sight. However, after a few seconds, Sunset teleported into the same room, rather surprised at how that was the only thing she was truly missing when casting this particular spell.
"Huh, I actually did it." Sunset said with astonishment. "You're not so bad of a teacher after all."
"Well done, Sunset!" Celestia commended. "I almost forgot how quick of a learner you were when it came to anything other than friendship."
"Very funny, mom." Sunset rolled her eyes in amusement. "Alright, I guess that's it, then? We should head back to Silver Shoals before somepony comes in here?"
"Yeah, I guess it'd be a bit of an awkward situation." Celestia agreed.
The former princess teleported back to her new home in Silver Shoals, while Sunset did the same. It felt like a genuine, heartwarming moment for the two ponies, that they were able to once again relive the whole teacher and student dynamic, especially now that Sunset had a much bigger heart.
"Thanks so much for this, it means so much to me that we were able to do things together just like the older days, since... I've admittedly always missed you as a teacher." Sunset said.
"I'm glad to see you've enjoyed your lesson, and the feeling's mutual." Celestia replied back. "Luna and I still have a ton of unpacking to do tomorrow, so I think it's best we get some sleep now."
"Yeah, I'm already starting to feel pretty lethargic myself after teleporting far distances twice." Sunset agreed.
Sunset and Celestia went upstairs, before Sunset was shown the guest room by her adoptive mother. The unicorn was ready to hit the hay after another long day, but her feelings of parental abandonment crept up to her once more. This was technically the first time she'd be spending the night with somepony else, while she could genuinely see them as a loving parent, deep down. As Celestia let her adoptive daughter in and was about to head over to her own bedroom, Sunset stopped her.
"Mom...?" Sunset addressed her adoptive mother once more. "I was wondering... could you please... tuck me into bed?"
Celestia turned around and felt touched that Sunset was finally able to reciprocate the motherly love she had given her for years, instead of acting like a spoiled and entitled pupil. She cried a few tears of joy and nodded, before doing just that, as Sunset herself was finally cherishing the genuine parental love she knew she had always taken for granted.
"Goodnight, my little pony..." Celestia said to Sunset, as she tucked her daughter in, before heading to bed herself.
Sitting comfortably in her bed, Sunset felt an emotion she never really experienced before, a feeling of being complete. She had mostly solid answers to a lot of questions she had been pondering for a while, and was able to experience some parental love that she, for the most part, never truly embraced. Despite this, she knew there were still a few more unanswered questions. It was still unclear whether or not Sunspot was telling the truth about never having an affair with Solstice, and even Princess Celestia herself was never able to uncover the mystery surrounding the mirror. The very idea of a being from Equestria entering the human world supposedly upsetting the balance of both worlds, Sunset still didn't understand what to make of it.
The only real clue Sunset knew she seemingly had, was that some unusual dream and effects of staying in the human world on the third day during her very first visit appeared to remain consistent with what Starlight Glimmer had experienced. Although Sunset still wasn't sure what she was hearing in that dream, she knew for certain that the voice sounded just like her, except it wasn't actually her speaking. Linking this with Celestia's persistently strong theory about an Equestrian being's presence upsetting the balance, it still didn't seem to make too much sense. Sunset recalled she had observed both Twilight Sparkles together in both worlds without any unusual effects, during the aftermath of the Friendship Games and their spring break cruise, respectively. As such, given how Celestia herself hinted toward the possibility that the feeling was a mistake, it was always feasible that this fear was always concerning something else entirely. Twilight once went in to retrieve her crown, then came back to Equestria as if nothing ever happened, so Sunset eventually decided it wasn't really important anymore, before falling asleep herself.
Meanwhile, back in the human world, something pivotal as an effect of Sunset's sudden absence from the world itself was about to occur. By this point, a mark of precisely 72 hours had been reached since Sunset stepped through the mirror to return to Equestria, isolating her existence from this world. As a result, within one of the alleyways in Canterlot's town, something, or rather, someone, began materializing out of thin air. The reasons for why this was happening were still unknown, even to both Sunset and Celestia herself back in Equestria. Regardless, flashes of magic made itself apparent, as the materialized figure faded in and out several times, before finally coming out into existence as a new entity.
From a distance, if anyone nearby was to observe this phenomena, they would notice that this new existing figure looked just like Sunset Shimmer, except that her hair was even darker than Sunset's ever was, she was wearing black eyeshadow, as well as a completely different outfit. More specifically, she was wearing the same clothes she was last wearing before she had seemingly faded out of existence without any logical explanation. After being gone for so many years from the world she was born in, she had finally returned. It was the Sunset Shimmer who was native to this world, whose name and identity were always unknowingly taken by the Pony Sunset.
During Pony Sunset's time in Equestria, in which she ran into numerous pony counterparts to people she had known in the human world, this was not simply an intriguing aspect of her extended return, but rather a foreshadowing. The idea of everyone in this world having a pony counterpart would've further hinted that both worlds always had their own version of these entities, including Sunset Shimmer herself. Sunset never really thought much about this concept, given she already knew her closest human friends had pony counterparts, and she was already well familiar with both Twilight Sparkles. However, the last thing she would've ever expected as a result of disobeying Princess Celestia's orders and living here, was that she'd unintentionally affect somebody else's life in one of the most unexpected ways imaginable.
As consciousness began to return to Human Sunset, she slowly opened her eyes. It was practically already nighttime in the human world, as the cold wind blew on her legs, signaling her to get up. As she did, she suddenly realized that she supposedly wasn't in a coma anymore. The very last thing she remembered before being in this indefinite coma was getting trapped in a burning building, before seemingly blacking out. Confused, yet also relieved when realizing she was somehow alive and no longer inhaling toxic smoke fumes, the Human Sunset got on her feet and began to process what was going on. Eventually, she instinctively just came out with the first few words she had seemingly uttered in ages.
"Am I really still alive?" Human Sunset said to herself. "How did I get here and escape from that burning building, was I... in a coma for many years, yet somehow still woke up good as new? I'm so confused right now, I need to get to the bottom of this, it seems like this will really be an interesting development..."