//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6 - Meeting of the Suns 
// Story: A Light in the Darkness 
// by DarkSunWolf 
//------------------------------//

"What do you mean by change of plans?" Twilight asked, a hint of concern in her voice.

"I mean Celestia needs to see you immediately. She was tellin' me that she could feel an immense power here in Ponyville, before she didn't know where it was. She wanted to know if you knew anything that would fit that description."

Twilight looked over to Amaterasu. 'Did Celestia sense her? It must have been when I touched my horn to that bead she conjured. Oh, I hope Celestia isn't mad at me.'

"Well, I guess we better make our way there then." The pink pony from the group bounced forward and tackled Amaterasu.

"It's you! I told you I was going to see you again! And whaddya know? Here we are! This is incredible! More friends to hang out with, and blow balloons, and throw parties, and make s'mores, and, and EVERYTHING!" The pink pony looked down at Amaterasu and smiled.

"Pinkie! Knock it off! I thought I told you not to do that when someone new comes to Ponyville! You might scare them off one day!"

"Sorry Twi! I can't help myself sometimes! It's just so exciting when there's a newcomer in Ponyville! I just wanna explode!"

"Well take your little greetings down a notch next time!"

Pinkie got off of Amaterasu and returned to her place within the group. Twilight helped Amaterasu up and apologized.

"I'm sorry about that. That's Pinkie's way of saying hello. Not the best one if you ask me."

"It's alright Twilight. I already encountered her earlier today. She is pretty...... interesting if you ask me."

Just then, a snow white pony stepped forward, moving her wavy purple mane out of her face. She looked at Amaterasu.

"Twilight, won't you be a dear and introduce us to your dazzling little friend?"

"Yeah!" exclaimed a rainbow pony from the back of the group. "Who is this pony?"

"Girls, she can introduce herself."

"I don't know" the rainbow pony flew over to Amaterasu, hovering over her. "She doesn't look that smart."

Amaterasu knew to take offense to that statement. She lowered herself into a battle stance and snorted loudly, staring the rainbow pony with eyes full of hatred.

"Whoahoho! Calm down there Snowy! Don't wolf me down!"

"Rainbow, don't tease her like that! You hardly even know her and already you made her angry!"

"Well I gotta make sure that everyone knows that I'm top pony here in Ponyville! After all, who can perform a Sonic Rainboom with ease?"

Twilight sighed and brought her hoof to her face.

"You."

"Haha, you know it!"

The rainbow pony flew over to Amaterasu once again and put her hoof around her neck.

"I'm just messing with ya. Name's Rainbow Dash." 

She flew down to the ground and extended her hoof forward.

"No hard feelings?"

Amaterasu calmed down, feeling a little better after having a hoof of friendship extended toward her. For once in her life she was able to shake someone's hand. More or less. Regardless, she felt the need to befriend the cocky rainbow mare, even if it wasn't how she had first imagined it. She extended her hoof forward, completing the ritual.

"It is a pleasure to acquaint you Rainbow Dash. My name is Amaterasu."

Dash's face contorted to that of confusion.

"Amatewhonow?"

"Amaterasu."

"That's a little long. I think I'll call you Snowy for now."

Amaterasu didn't object. She felt it was appropriate. 

The white pony spoke up once again, this time in curiosity of Amaterasu's physical appearance.

"So, Amaterasu, you're an alicorn? It must be simply wonderful! I've never had the liberty to ask the princesses about what it's like to have both the magic of a unicorn and the freedom of a pegasus. I can imagine it being stupendous" she said with a longing sigh. She was clearly recalling a time in her life that she enjoyed. Amaterasu disproved her assumption.

"Well, based on my experiences within the last few hours, I can tell you this: it is a huge bother. I'd prefer not to have abnormally large appendages."

The white pony stared blankly at her, questioning why anypony would not want perfection. She opened her mouth to assert her opinion but was cut off by the orange pony.

"Rarity, I suggest we leave the conversations until AFTER we get tuh Canterlot. We'll have plenty of time to talk then. Besides, we wouldn't want to rush Amaterasu here telling us about herself."

The orange pony looked up at Amaterasu and tipped her hat at her. Amaterasu assumed it was a respectful gesture. She returned with a nod indicating understanding. The orange pony, with much authority in her voice, spoke.

"All right everyone! Then it's settled! To the train station! The sooner we can get ta Canterlot the better!"

She quickly herded everyone out of Fluttershy's cottage and led the way to the train station. Amaterasu stayed at the back of the group with many thoughts on her mind. One plagued her in particular. It wasn't a thought, it was a prediction...... a feeling. 

For some odd reason, Amaterasu felt that the princess was expecting her.

-------------------------------------

After a couple minutes of walking, the group finally approached Ponyville's train station. The rest of the ponies waited for the train while Amaterasu stayed behind, thinking. The thought then hit her immediately; had she ever seen a train? She tried recalling if she ever did to no avail. She was beginning to feel more distant from home, everything in Equestria was drastically different from her way of life back home. Stepping on the ceramic tiling of the train station felt off. To her, it was as if this entire world was out to make her feel more distant from her home. To make her feel more distant from herself. To make her feel more distant...... from her son.

She immediately caught herself. The turmoils of homesickness were already starting to torment her. She needed to talk to Celestia; she needed to feel like she was conversing with her own kin. She needed to know if there was anyway back home. If Celestia is an omnipotent being like herself, then she'd have to know how to get back. She suddenly remembered what Twilight said to her earlier in the morning.

'Oh, don't worry Amaterasu. I know you're trying to be nice. I'm sorry for sounding a little threatening just now, but you have to understand, this isn't your world. Celestia is in charge here and her word is law. That goes for everyone, including you.'

'Celestia is in charge here and her word is law.' 

'Her word is law.' 

'Her word is law.' 

Those words echoed throughout the confines of her subconscious, igniting fear. What if Celestia were to refuse to help her? What if she were to deny her the privilege to return home to her son? The idea of  someone foolish enough to stand between her and her son angered her. In blind fury, Amaterasu bumped into one of the support columns of the station's ceiling, burning the surface of it.

The smell of burning wood attracted the attention of the rest of the group. They all turned around - each emitting a small gasp - and was greeted with an Amaterasu whose body markings were glowing a dark red. Fluttershy was the first to speak.

"Amaterasu are you O.K.?" she said, quickly trotting over to Amaterasu, her motherly instincts taking over. She looked into her eyes, staring into the demon that inhabited her.

Amaterasu slowly calmed down. Her mane and marking's rage dissipated and rational thought returned to her being, lifting the anxiety from the rest of the group. She blinked her eyes a couple of times before she looked around and saw the burnt column. 

"I'm terribly sorry for that. There is a lot going on within my mind right now. I just need to talk with your superior and get some answers."

"It's alright Amaterasu, I understand. I'm sure Celestia can help you."

"Thank you Fluttershy, I hope you are right."

Rainbow Dash flew over to them, letting them know that the train to Canterlot had arrived. Fluttershy returned to her friends as Amaterasu followed, pondering more about her future meeting with Celestia. The train did not break her train of thought, despite being so different from what she was used to. She joined the others in the cabin and took her seat by the window. As the train slowly began to move, Amaterasu watched Ponyville shrink until it completely left her eyesight. She watched the landscape as it rolled by when Twilight broke the silence, stealing her attention.

"So Amaterasu, what happened back at the train station?"

"I was just thinking Twilight, nothing more, nothing less. I hope that I did not cause horrible damage to that column."

"No, don't worry about the column. Pinkie's always banging something into it when she hears news about a visitor coming to town; you know how she is with preparing for visitors." 

"Yes, I cannot disprove that fact based on my encounter with her" Amaterasu replied, feeling more sunny than before. She suddenly remembered this morning.

"Excuse me, Pinkie." She brightened instantly at the sound of her name being called.

"This morning, when you gathered that large crowd of ponies outside of Fluttershy's cottage, why didn't you greet me the previous day when I was actually walking through town? I'm certain you would have seen me, along with others."

"Oh! That's easy! I was busy preparing for the Summer Sun celebration that's happening in a couple of days so I didn't have enough time to say 'Hi!'; just about everypony in town was busy preparing for it. I always make sure that there's an awesome party afterwards and, this year, I wanted to make it extra, super-duper special!"

"Summer Sun celebration?"

The orange pony jumped into the conversation.

"It's a celebration where everypony'll gather together and watch Celestia raise the sun."

'Perfect' Amaterasu thought, 'They have a celebration where they praise their sun-raising ruler. This couldn't be more awkward.'

"Interesting, to what regard is this celebration held?"

"Very high" Twilight said, "It's a celebration of Celestia restoring the sun to Equestria, everyone in Ponyville attends."

'She's also restored the sun to the land as well; is this being my doppelganger?'

"That's fantastic" replied Amaterasu, attempting to hide her sardonic feelings. Despite her efforts, the others picked up on her sarcasm and the cabin fell silent with the incessant sound of the train's vibrations playing in the background. Amaterasu turned her attention to outside the window. She watched as the landscape rolled by, reminding her of Shinshuu Plains back in Nippon. The sheer size of the land surprised her and she was beginning to speculate if it was larger than Ryoshima. She turned away from the window, hoping to find something to get her mind off of home.

Twilight got the bead out of her satchel and began to study it in greater depth. She would occasionally feel the bead with her hoof and mutter to herself about the how the texture of the surface felt. Spike stared at the white pony love-struck, sighing softly to himself every couple of seconds. Fluttershy brought her head down to the surface of the table and looked into the bead, noting how transparent it is. She and Twilight exchanged a couple of words over the little thing, but Amaterasu quickly lost interest in their conversation as her mind traveled elsewhere.

She thought about Fluttershy and why she took her into her home if she was a stranger. She could never recall a time in Nippon where anyone would be as kind as her. She was glad to have given her the bead as a gift, but a little annoyed that Twilight was experimenting on it. She thought briefly about the other ponies who she wasn't acquainted with yet. She didn't care about not knowing their names, she was more concerned about finding a way back home and Celestia, at this point, was the one who ultimately had control over her fate. Just then, Rainbow Dash yelled out.

"Look! There's Canterlot!" 

As Canterlot came into view, Amaterasu was preparing to meet someone as formidable as herself. 

The meeting of the suns was about to begin.

-------------------------------------

"This place is enormous!" said Amaterasu, looking in awe at the castle that was before her. It was larger than the emperor's castle in Sei-an City. She looked up to the top of the castle, the point at the top piercing the sky.

Many of the ponies who lived around the train station were looking at them with a piqued curiosity. They were clearly in possession of wealth due to their clothing. Amaterasu questioned this difference between Ponyville and Canterlot. 

"Is there any reason why these ponies are clothed and you're not?" asked Amaterasu as the group walked towards the large castle. The orange pony replied.

"A lot of the ponies in Ponyville feel that wealth and having a lot of things is more of a burden than a pleasure. If yuh ask me, these ponies haven't worked a day in their life. Life just doesn't feel truly honest if hard work and time wasn't invested into it."

The group finally reached the front entrance of the castle a few moments later. The castle was even more impressive when close to it. Amaterasu felt very insignificant when compared to the castle in size and she was fascinated with it. The inside of the castle seemed larger than the outside which only heightened her curiosity. Twilight picked up on Amaterasu's interest.

"Jaw-dropping isn't it?"

"It surely is. The architecture is unlike everything I have ever seen."

She turned her attention to a large hallway where stained-glassed windows could be seen from her angle. She knew where that hallway lead to; she could feel a large presence further down it. These next minutes with Celestia could either confirm or dismiss her fears.

"Shall we?" asked Twilight, sensing Amaterasu's trepidation. 

Amaterasu felt better from Twilight's reassurance. At least she wasn't confronting Celestia alone. With a little more confidence, she moved her way into the room along with the others.

The hallway glowed brightly with color from the plethora of windows. Each window told a story about hardship and compromise and the majority of the windows all showed Twilight defeating a great evil or solving a crisis. Amaterasu reminded herself to ask Twilight why she showed up more than Celestia on these windows when, in her eyes, it should be the other way around. Amaterasu then saw a large white pony with enormous wings at the end of the hallway on a throne, writing on a scroll. Twilight yelled out, causing the pony to look up from the scroll.

"Princess Celestia!"

"Twilight Sparkle, my favorite student! I see you've answered my call."

"Yes I did, we came as soon as we could once I got word from Applejack."

"Twilight, won't you introduce me to your friend there?"

Amaterasu's ears immediately perked up. Her hair stood on end and her stomach began to twist into knots.

"Oh! Amaterasu please come here, Celestia wants to speak with you."

Amaterasu moved nervously towards the throne, feeling overshadowed by her obvious position of power.

"Salutations Princess, my name is Amaterasu."

"Welcome to Equestria, Amaterasu! I've been expecting you."

"Yo-you have?"

"Yes. I sensed you when you arrived here. I know you're not from here."

"Is there a way I can get home?"

"Yes, there is. However, you are not ready to return home yet."

"......What?"

"You are not ready to return home yet. Your time in this world has proven that, in your current state, returning to your world would cause more harm than good. Would you want that for your son? Would you want your son to see you like this? Weak and tainted?"

The atmosphere immediately turned tense. Amaterasu's markings began to change to a deep sanguine color, more intense than at the train station. Divine Retribution burned violently, causing smoke and embers to erupt from her back. 

"AND WHAT DO YOU KNOW OF BEING STRONG? WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT BEING RIGHTEOUS? YOU WRETCH! YOU. ARE. NOT. ME!"

Amaterasu flung the reflector at Celestia. A blast of magic from her horn sent it ricocheting back at her. She caught it and snorted loudly causing small flames to emanate from her nostrils. Applejack lassoed Amaterasu around her legs making her fall onto the ground. She burned the rope off with her body heat and sent her rage towards Celestia in the form of a vortex of flame shooting from the reflector. Celestia threw up a force field, blocking the flames.

"Amaterasu, please stop!" cried Fluttershy. 

Fluttershy's pleas did not help soothe Amaterasu's rage. She was too far gone to return to her normal self. She roared ferociously and dashed towards Celestia with the reflector spinning wildly. Suddenly Celestia teleported and reappeared over Amaterasu, crushing her with her body weight. The reflector was flung from her back and she was subdued within a force field. 

"Let me out this instant! I demand you send me home immediately!" ordered Amaterasu, violently tackling the sides of the force field.

"Don't you see? Look at yourself! You are merely a shell of your former self, cursed to believe that they are still strong in their fortitude! Your naivety has exploited your weakness Amaterasu; you allowed anger and rage to enter your heart and you foolishly do battle with a foreign world's leader! Your powers and equipment leaving you was a sign. You must regain your strength and purge this evil from your soul. You must harness a new power."

"The Elements of Harmony."