//------------------------------//
// Moving to Ponyville 
// Story: Sunset Shimmer's Redemption 
// by 00RaiserGundam 
//------------------------------//

Sunset Shimmer awoke from her peaceful dream filled sleep with a yawn so cute, it could rival those of the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Fluttershy combined.

After Princess Luna had gotten rid of her nightmare the night before, Sunset had the best sleep she ever had in five years. Add this to the fact that she was already off to a good start making amends as well as friends, she was already starting to like being back in Equestria.

Just then, a knock came from the other side of her bedroom door. "Come in." Sunset answered it. After which the door opened to reveal Flash Sentry in his royal guard uniform and armor.

"Oh good, you're awake." He said. "Princess Celestia sent me to inform you that she will be waiting for you in the dining hall."

"Can you tell her I'll be down there soon?" Sunset asked him. "I really need to take a shower right now."

"Of course, miss Shimmer." Flash replied. "I'll go inform her so she knows when to expect you. Try not to take too long though. I trust you remember where the dining hall is?"

"I have a pretty good idea." Sunset responded. "But I'll just ask somepony for directions if I get lost."

"See ya around, then." Flash answered. After which Sunset acknowledged him with a simple "thank you" and he left.

Luckily for her, there just happened to be a bathroom complete with shower and everything right through the only other door in her bedroom.

Sunset sighed in relief as she stepped out of the shower not even twenty minutes later and onto the fuzzy bathroom mat. She had never felt so clean and relaxed in her entire life. Taking the towel off the towel rack, she rubbed herself down, humming a hearty tune as she did. The simple act of being able to properly bathe herself had left Sunset in high spirits. A complete reversal of what she had been feeling at least 3 days ago.

She wiped a wide circle through the mist that clung to the bathroom mirror and smiled at her reflection. A squeaky clean orange unicorn grinned back at her. Her mane fell in wet strands across the sides of her face. She gave it a quick rub down with a towel before deciding that she'd just let it dry naturally. Part of this decision was made due to the growling in her stomach. And then she remembered that Princess Celestia was waiting for her in the dining hall.

She hung the towel up and left the humid bathroom, feeling the cooler air of the castle brush across her fur. The morning sun broke through the windows and gave the inside of the great palace a warm and tranquil feel. Following a delightful smell, Sunset hurried down to the first floor and soon found herself in front of the door to the dining hall where she heard two voices conversing from behind it.

Deciding to be polite, Sunset gently knocked on the door three times with her hoof.

"Come in" announced the voice of Princess Celestia. Upon entering the room, Sunset found both the princess and Lockon Astros sitting together at one end of the table, while enjoying a healthy plate of pancakes. With one untouched platter in front of an empty chair waiting for her.

Upon approaching the two alicorns, Sunset gave a respectful bow to the princess. "Good morning, Princess, I am sorry for keeping you waiting." She apologized. "I hope I did not take up too much of your time."

"Not at all, Sunset," Celestia replied with a smile. "It is perfectly understandable that you would wish to get accustomed to your natural body again, especially when it comes to your hygienic needs."

And with that Sunset started eating her stack of pancakes, using her magic to make her knife and fork carve out appropriately sized pieces, before forgetting that Lockon was there.

"Oh, and good morning to you as well Lockon." Sunset acknowledged him. "I had almost forgotten you were here."

"Same to you, Sunset." He responded. "I trust you had a good sleep last night?"

"Well, I did have a really weird and wicked nightmare at first, but after Princess Luna got rid of it, I pretty much slept like a rock for the rest of the night."

"May I ask what this nightmare was about?" Celestia asked rather curiously on her part.

And so, Sunset Shimmer began describing it as it happened from start to end, down to the absolute minor details. When she first described the insectoid ponies, Sunset noticed that Lockon formed what appeared to be an angry scowl on his face. She suddenly thought that maybe he knew what she was describing and did not like them. However, she decided not to ask him about it and continue with her recollection of her dream, even mentioning the red pony-shaped necklace and the strange ritual involving a demonic-looking unicorn forming as a shadow from what was determined to be his horn. She finished with the part about Luna getting rid of them all. Celestia's eyes grew wide with surprise upon hearing all of this.

"And the strangest part is, it all felt so real." Sunset told her now mentor. "Your sister even said that it felt like a foreshadowing of some kind to her. Though in all honesty, I think that just resulted from my whole being stressed about returning to Equestria and everything up to now."

"Well," Celestia began with a nod, "it seems to me like you had a nightmare about the changelings using the Alicorn Amulet for the purpose of reviving King Sombra."

"So that's what he looked like?!" Sunset exclaimed in surprise. "Wow, he's even scarier than I imagined him to be. Wait, what are changelings?"

"Changelings are those insectoid ponies you saw in your dream." Lockon explained with a slight hint of anger I his voice. "They take the form of somepony you love and gain power by feeding off of your love for them. They nearly took over Canterlot and almost ruined Cadance and Shining Armor's wedding in the process; when their queen imprisoned Cadance and took her place to get close enough to Shining Armor just so she could feed off of him enough for her minions to break through his shield spell. In fact, Twilight and her friends were there helping with the preparations for the wedding. Twilight was the only one who was suspicious of the queen's deception, since Cadance used to be her foalsitter."

"Yeah, Princess Cadance told me about her relationship with Twilight." Sunset acknowledged. "Wait, if Twilight was suspicious of the queen, then how did the changelings nearly succeed?"

"When Twilight tried to prove it us, and confronted the disguised queen during the wedding rehearsal," Celestia began, "her friends, her brother, even I was too caught up in the wedding planning to realize she was right. The queen took advantage of this, and made such a convincing display of fake tears before running out. It worked so well, that Shining Armor, who was probably under the queen's control at the time, chewed her out, renounced her as his best mare, and cancelled her invite to the wedding, before walking out on her. I myself, as well as Twilight's friends, did the same thing, because we still believed that Queen Chrysalis was the real Cadance. Looking back on it now, I should have apologized to Twilight after that whole ordeal ended."

"I'm sure it was not your fault, Princess." Sunset consoled. "From what I just heard from the two of you, it sounds to me like this Queen Chrysalis as you two just called her fooled everypony."

"Be that as it may have been," the princess went on, "that still was no excuse for me abandoning Twilight when she needed us the most."

"Well," Lockon added in, "let's just hope that your dream was just a dream, Sunset. Besides, even if it was not, IF those insectoid dirt bags ever do come back and try to pull a fast one on us, we will be ready to give them just what they deserve. Now if you will excuse me, I have to start my shift for today as captain of the royal guard." And with that he left with a very serious look on his face.

When Sunset was sure he was out of hearing range, she turned to the princess. "Is Lockon alright, Princess Celestia?" She asked. "Ever since I first brought up those changelings from my dream, I noticed he had this angry scowl on his face. Does he have something against changelings?"

"He trusts you enough to let you call him by his name without his title." Celestia began. "Since you are one of his friends now, I suppose it is only the right thing to do to let you know his full story."

"Full story?" Sunset questioned. "What are you talking about? And what does this have to do with the changelings?"

"All will be explained, my faithful student." The princess began. "But not here, we should take this to a more private area." And with that Celestia led her former turned current student to her private chambers. Once inside, the princess locked the door behind the two of them and cast a soundproofing spell on the entire room.

"What I am about to say to you is something that only Luna, myself, Shining Armor, Cadance, Twilight, and her friends know." Celestia began to explain. "Seeing as how he already thinks of you as a friend, you have the right to know. First of all, Lockon was not always an alicorn. In fact, I knew him and his entire family back when he was still just a unicorn colt who had just hit puberty. He still dreamed of being in the royal guard one day. He gained his wings before I adopted him. And this happened not too long after our falling out 5 years ago, in fact, he was just about the same age as you were then."

"Wait, BEFORE you adopted him?!" Sunset asked in a confused manner. "I thought one could only become an alicorn by studying under your guidance or other such circumstances."

"That's not entirely true, Sunset." Celestia explained. "Some earn their wings through the method you just described, like Twilight Sparkle. However, there are others who find them through pain and suffering. Unfortunately, Lockon was one those ponies."

"Pain and suffering?!" Sunset softly exclaimed rather worriedly, obviously not liking where this was seemingly going. "What kind, how much?"

"I knew his entire family." Celestia continued with a happy smile as she reminisced. "He had both his parents and an older sister named Sapphire. Lockon and Sapphire were as close a pair of siblings as Twilight and Shining Armor are today. He was as happy as can be back then."

"But then, one fateful night, everything was taken from him." She continued, but this time replacing her smile with a look of sympathy. "Their home was attacked by changelings and destroyed upon the very first blast."

Sunset gasped in horror at this while her mentor continued.

"Lockon and Sapphire both managed to survive the explosion, but their parents weren't as lucky. The two siblings then fled towards this very castle with the changelings hot in pursuit. They had just gotten outside castle gates when the changelings caught up to them. Lockon managed to make it inside, but Sapphire was not as fortunate, and had already been caught."

"Lockon went back to try and help her, but Sapphire had put up a shield spell between him and the castle gates, telling him to forget about her and run straight to me, while expressing her final loving farewell to him. Almost immediately afterwards, the Changeling Queen Chrysalis drained Sapphire's sisterly love for Lockon out of her, and at the same time Sapphire's life force was drained entirely from her body in the process as well. All the while, Lockon could only watch helplessly from behind his beloved sister's shield spell as Sapphire was drained of love and life right in front of his eyes."

"Oh my!" Sunset gasped while bringing her hooves to her mouth in complete and utter shock. "Poor Lockon. What happened next?"

"After losing his parents and watching his sister getting the love and life drained out of her, Lockon changed dramatically." Princess Celestia explained further. "He felt a horrible hurt, and then all of that pain turned into rage. All of that rage somehow triggered his ascension. I felt that power rising up just before his ascension and rushed to see what was happening. When I got there, I saw two of my guards left unconscious, Sapphire dead, Chrysalis and a few of her changelings on castle grounds and Lockon fighting them off as an alicorn."

"At first I did not even know what was going on or why it was happening, but as soon as I saw Lockon about to lose, I jumped in to help him. Once the changelings saw me they just turned around and retreated. Lockon tried to go after them, but I held him back, telling him it was too dangerous to go after them. He then kept shouting at me to let him go. Insistent that he needed to avenge his family, but I could not let him destroy his own life like that. All that grief and emotional pain changed him in that moment. All he could think about was avenging his own family. It was like he was a completely different pony at that time."

Sunset was starting to get teary-eyed as she kept listening to this tragic tale.

"When he finally calmed down, the first thing he saw was the body of his deceased sister." Celestia pressed on. "He just crawled over to her and cried his heart out while hugging her for the last time. I had never seen him in so much pain before."

Tears were now flowing down Sunset Shimmer's face as Celestia continued Lockon's story from her point of view. Never had Sunset even heard of such a thing happening in Equestria, never mind one of this magnitude.

Celestia noticed Sunset's reaction and continued on. "Seeing him like that brought tears to my eyes then, and they were very much like the ones you are shedding right now, Sunset. He was still too shaken up at the time to tell me clearly everything that had happened, so I just looked into his most recent memories with a spell. What I saw was horrifying to say the least. Every event I just described to you, I watched from Lockon's memories, through his eyes."

"Afterwards, I brought him into the castle to stay for the night in the infirmary." Celestia further explained. "That night I decided to adopt him, for although he was not a colt anymore, he was still much too young to be living on his own. And as I said before, I knew him and his family on a personal level back when his parents and sister were still alive. And during the time that he and I spent together, to me, he became like a son I never had. When I told him the following morning that I planned to adopt him for those reasons, he had no objections whatsoever. He even told me himself that I was like a second mother to him. He also stated that he wanted to sign up for the royal guard, telling me that he wanted to protect anypony he could from that day onwards. I agreed with him and we made everything official the following day."

"Wow," Sunset sniffled with tears running down her face, "I never imagined somepony's life could get destroyed that much like that. That must have really devastated him, having his own sister taken from him right in front of his eyes."

"Yes, and Lockon certainly still remembers." Celestia answered. "It was all the pain and grief from that very night alone that drove him to excel among the royal guard during his training. Shining Armor was so impressed by Lockon's loyalty, skill, determination, and courage above and beyond the call of duty, that he decided to appoint Lockon as his second-in-command, which is why Lockon is now Captain, since Shining Armor now rules the Crystal Empire alongside Cadance."

"When the changelings nearly took over Canterlot during the wedding incident, Lockon was the only one among the royal guard who actually put up a decent fight. In fact, he showed them no mercy at all. He only stopped when Shining Armor and Cadance used their love to expel all the changelings from Canterlot."

"He was still pent-up on revenge for his family at that time, wasn't he?" Sunset asked, even though she felt like she already knew the answer.

"Yes," Celestia answered somewhat solemnly. "And he should know full well by now that revenge never solves anything. I have tried to reason with him about it, but he can be so stubborn. He would always say that he would only be at peace after avenging his family. I fear the day that he succeeds in taking his revenge in cold blood, may come soon, and I cannot and do not even want to imagine what will happen to him afterwards if he does."

"Don't worry, Princess Celestia." Sunset replied. "Lockon is my friend now, and I promise you that if ever there comes a time where he is about to take his revenge, and I am one of the ponies there with him, I will stop him. I'll even Pinkie promise you on this one." Sunset then took a step back to do the motions.

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my-" Sunset accidentally poked her eye and yelped in pain.

"EVERY. SINGLE. TIME." She berated herself. "And now I'm doing it even as a pony. What's next?"

Celestia could only giggle at her students antics. "I understand, Sunset." She responded with a warm smile. "I am glad that you care about him enough to Pinkie promise that to me. Though, considering your feelings for him, I shouldn't really be surprised."

Sunset's eyes went wide upon hearing that. "Uh…feelings, Princess?" She stammered as she began to blush.

"I mean special feelings, Sunset," Celestia pried further on with a smirk. "Ones that are stronger for one pony in particular than they are for anypony else. I'm pretty sure Cadance can confirm this for me."

"Ok, Princess, you caught me." Sunset admitted. "I won't deny that I like him at least. He already knew about me even before I first met him. He knew what I had done, and yet he was still willing to give me a chance and offer me his friendship. And I will admit he is quite handsome. But with all due respect, Princess, I do not think he feels the same way about me. Besides, I do not feel like I am ready to start dating again. Perhaps when I've learned more about the Magic of Friendship I might consider it, but until then, I would like to take everything just one step at a time."

"I understand completely, Sunset." Celestia said in reply. "I can respect that decision, whatever you are comfortable with, which brings me to my assignment for you. Since you have learned so much about friendship in the other world, I would like to see you put those lessons to use here in Equestria. Therefore I am sending you to Ponyville, where you'll stay for the time being. During you're stay I would like you to send me regular reports about your adventures and any friends you make, as well as your findings on the Magic of Friendship, when and ONLY when you happen to discover them."

"I'll start packing then, Princess." Sunset agreed enthusiastically. "This is gonna be great. Lyra and her friends live in Ponyville, too. I might just surprise them with a visit. I just have one question though. Where will I be staying?"

"You will be staying in the Golden Oaks Library." Her mentor answered her. "Somepony you already know lives there. And she was more than willing to let you stay there during your time in Ponyville."

"Somepony I already know, huh?" Sunset questioned. "I think I have an idea as to whom you are referring to, but I think I'll let her confirm it for me when I get there, just to be sure. When do I leave?"

"As soon as you are finished packing, meet me at the castle's front gates." Celestia replied. "I shall arrange for a chariot to take you directly to the library."

"Then I better not waste any more time. See you there, Princess." Sunset responded with a bow before turning to gallop back to her bedroom.

Once she had gathered all essentials, including her locket, she galloped back towards the castle gates where Princess Celestia was waiting for her along with a chariot and its Pegasi guards.

"I hope I did not take too long, Princess." Sunset addressed her with a bow before starting to giggle excitedly like a little schoolfilly. "I am ready. Oh, I can't wait to get started. And I promise that I won't let you down this time."

Celestia could only smile at her already reformed student. "I have no doubts about that, my faithful student." She told Sunset before wrapping her in a quick embrace, which Sunset eagerly returned.

"Well, I better get going." Sunset said after releasing the hug. Then she got on the carriage and spoke to the pegasi guards. "I'm ready when you are, sirs." They nodded in reply and broke off into a fast gallop before lifting off the ground and took off towards Ponyville, all while Sunset was waving goodbye to her mentor.

The flight did not even last ten minutes before touching down right in front of the magnificent tree that Sunset now assumed was the Golden Oaks Library. "Thank you, sirs." She told the guards who had brought her, to which they nodded and then took off to return back to Canterlot.

As Sunset approached the arboreal structure, she could not help but stare at it in awe and wonder. She would have to ask whoever lived here how this tree even managed to still be alive while having the rooms of a house and library carved out of the insides of it.

Sunset finally came to the front door and gently knocked on it three times. "Coming!" answered a voice that Sunset had not heard in 30 moons, yet was instantly able to recognize.

'I knew it.' Sunset thought slyly to herself when the door opened and revealed the face of none other than Princess Twilight Sparkle.

"Sunset, you're here!" Twilight exclaimed before embracing her in a tight hug, which Sunset returned even though it surprised her at first. "It's so good to see you again. Celestia told me you were coming. Please come inside. How have you been doing since we last saw each other?"

"It's good to see you too, Twilight." Sunset answered her. "It took me a while to make amends in the other world, but I still managed. As well as the friends you left me with, I had even made up with Flash Sentry. Oh, and before I forget, the other Pinkie Pie wanted me to say hi to you for her."

"That's so like her." Twilight giggled. Then she noticed Sunset's locket. "What's that around your neck?" She asked.

"Oh, this?" Sunset asked. "This was a gift from the other Rarity and Fluttershy just before I left that world. It contains a photo of all seven of us when we graduated from Canterlot High School."

Sunset then opened the locket and showed it to Twilight, who could only look back in amazement with an astonished look on her face. Sunset giggled when she saw this.

"I know, right?" she said. "That's exactly how I felt when I first saw that photo in Equestria. In fact, that locket contains the only good memories I have from that world, which reminds me. Twilight, I want to thank you for helping me see the light. I would not even be here right now if it weren't for you, so from the bottom of my now reformed heart, I thank you."

"You're welcome, Sunset." Twilight responded with a warm and heartfelt smile. And the two shared another hug. Then they heard coughing from the top of the stairs.

"I don't know whether I should be crying tears of joy or gagging at the sheer amount of sappiness I just witnessed." Said the unmistakable voice of Twilight's number one assistant, Spike the Dragon.

"Spike!" Twilight scolded him lightly. "Sunset Shimmer is our guest and she is going to be staying with us for a while. The least you could do is show some respect."

"It's alright, Twilight." Sunset told her. "I don't blame him for acting like this, not after what I did to him the last time we saw each other. It just means that I need to earn his trust. Your brother did not even trust me when we first met right after I returned to Equestria. And if I know at least one Rainbow Dash, then I am pretty sure I will have to work my hardest to earn the trust of your Rainbow Dash as well."

"Well, I still feel bad for not giving you a chance." Spike said apologetically. "Let me make it up to you. I'll take your bags to the guest bedroom and then get dinner started."

"Thank you, Spike." Sunset replied with a sincere smile. "Why don't you let me help you out with both those tasks, just to get us off to a good start?"

"I really can't ask that of you, since you are our guest." Spike replied. "But if you insist, I can at least show you around. Perhaps you could cook for us when I'm not here. Twilight isn't exactly skilled when it comes to cooking. No offense, Twi."

"None taken, Spike." Twilight replied as Sunset and Spike walked into the guest bedroom.

"You're well on your way, Sunset." Twilight told herself as she turned write the newest entry in the journal she shared with her 5 other friends.