//------------------------------// // A Moment of Anger // Story: A Moment in the Sun // by Chengar Qordath //------------------------------// I was four hours into my study session when somepony knocked on my door. I answered as any reasonable mare would. “Go away! I’m busy!” I suppose there was a slim chance I was yelling at somepony I shouldn’t, but that wasn’t likely. Princess Celestia has a very distinctive knock, either because of those hoof-coverings she wears or just because ponies knocked differently a thousand years ago and old habits die hard. It also wasn’t one of the guards, either—she does send them to pick me up when she’s too busy to come for me herself, but they always identify themselves when they knock. Besides, they knock like guardponies: heavy and authoritative. If it wasn’t the princess or one of her guards, it probably wasn’t anypony important. Instead of taking the hint, whoever it was knocked again. “Sunset? It’s me.” I groaned, marked my place in my book and got up to answer the door. On the other side was a middle-aged mare dressed in the traditional white robes of an Archmagus. It was hard not to note rather critically that her red coat didn’t suit the robes, nor did her dark yellow-brown mane. I rather doubt she came here to get my opinions on her fashion sense, though. “Hello, Mother.” “Sunset.” My mother stepped in, looking around the room. My quarters in the palace were very generous—being Princess Celestia’s protégé comes with some very nice perks. I had my own private tower; not an overly large one as far as the palace goes, but it was still an entire tower of the palace that was all mine. The central room was my own private library, big enough to fit an entire house into it. My library was stocked with everything I needed to conduct my studies; whenever I needed new books I could just give a note to one of the guards, and within a few hours it would be delivered from the royal archives. Aside from lessons with Princess Celestia, I almost never needed to leave my quarters. And really, why would I ever want to leave? I had everything I needed to keep studying right here, which meant that everything out there was just a distraction. Mother stood in my doorway, shifting on her hooves just outside my room. “Would you mind if I came in for a minute? There are some things we need to talk to you about.” Joy. I just love having my incredibly important study time interrupted by ponies who want to talk. “Now’s not a good time, I’m in the middle of several very important projects for Princess Celestia.  Maybe you could come back later?” Instead of going away, Mother crossed the threshold into my tower. “If we don’t talk now, when would we? It’s been months since you came home for dinner—your father and I barely even see you anymore. It’s only a fifteen minute trot to our home. You could visit every once in a while.” I clenched my teeth and bit down on the first couple things that popped into my head. After all, if I got snippy with Mother then word might get back to the princess. “As I said, Mother, I’ve been very busy with important work for Princess Celestia. I’m sure you understand all about being too busy working for the crown to have any time for family.” I felt a small thrill of vindication at Mother’s flinch. She didn’t enjoy having the horseshoe on the other hoof. Her ears went flat, and her shoulders slumped down as her eyes dropped to floor. When she finally spoke, there was a sort of quiet resignation to her voice. “Sunset, I know your father and I weren’t always there for you. We were busy keeping Equestria safe—keeping you safe. I’d rather miss your birthday party than neglect my duties and have you or somepony else suffer for it.” She sighed and ran a hoof over her face. “I know it can be hard to understand that when you’re just a filly, but you’re an adult now. You should have a bit more perspective.” “Perspective. Yeah, sure.” It’s easy to talk about having perspective when you’re not a five-year-old filly whose parents decided they had more important things to do than show up at your birthday party. That kinda thing sticks with you, and no amount of logic will make it go away. “So why are you here now? Other than to tell me how I shouldn’t be annoyed at you for being a terrible mother.” Her eyes narrowed. “Excuse me for devoting my life to protecting Equestria. The lamia running around in the undermountain had already taken more than a dozen children when I captured it. The next one could have been you. Part of being an adult is prioritizing—” “And I was never a priority for you,” I finished for her. “Since I became her student, Princess Celestia’s been there for every single birthday, holiday, everything. She’s the ruler of Equestria, but she always made time for me. Yet somehow you and Father had too many responsibilities.” “That wasn’t what I—” Mother cut herself off with a frustrated groan. “Sunset, I didn’t come here to argue with you. I came here because...” She trailed off rubbing her temple with a hoof. “I ... look, Sunset, I know things aren’t right between us. They haven’t been for a long time. But, well, I managed to clear my schedule for a while, and tomorrow is Mother’s Day, so I was thinking maybe we could...” “Oh, you have got to be kidding me.” I stalked up and jabbed her in the chest. “You think you can ignore me for most of my life, then just waltz in and ask me to be a good little daughter for Mother’s Day? Did you expect me to start tripping over myself in gratitude because you finally decided to be a proper mother for the first time in your life? Sorry, but I—how did you put it? Right: I have to prioritize. I have a lot of studying to do for Princess Celestia, and that takes precedence over ... whatever the hay it is you think is gonna happen here.” “Sunset, I...” Mother turned her head, looking away and to the side. “I’m sorry, Sunset. I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you wanted me to be. I wish I could’ve been, but...” “I get it.” I threw a little bit of spite in my next sentence. “Being a good magus was more important to you than being a good mother.” I spared an annoyed glower at her archmagus robes. “Guess it all worked out the way you wanted it to, didn’t it? You got a big fancy promotion, and the Princess took me off your hooves so you can focus on your career. So congratulations.” Mother didn’t say anything for a long time. She just stared at me, like she was trying to think of something, anything she could say. Not that there was any point—we were way past the point where anything she could say would just magically fix everything. When she finally said something, the words practically spilled out of her mouth. “I love you, Sunset. I know I wasn’t the mother you wanted, or the one you deserved, but I tried to do my best.” “You tried to do you best?” I shot right back. “Pity it wasn’t good enough.” Mother answered that with an irritated growl. “Dammit, Sunset, I’m trying to fix this! What do you want from me?” That was an easy question to answer. “Nothing. No wait, actually, there is one thing.” I pointed at the door. “Get out, so I can get back to studying.” She stared at me and slowly shook her head. She stepped through the threshold, but turned back to say a few final words. “I ... I’m sorry. I know it’s not good enough, but I’m sorry.” She was right. It wasn’t good enough. I went looking for Princess Celestia the next day. We met pretty regularly for lessons, and so I could update her on my studies whenever she wasn’t occupied with affairs of state. Not that our relationship was all business—I could just walk up to her and start talking about whatever I wanted. It was one of the perks of being her personal student. One of many; it’s surprising just how much nicer everypony acted once they found out who I was. Ponies would do favors for me or even give me things just because I was Celestia’s student. Not that I really cared about most of that—ponies fawning all over me usually just got in the way of important stuff like studying—but it was nice to have a few sycophants hanging about, ready to do whatever I told them to. None of them mattered right now, though. I was headed straight for the throne room and didn’t have any time to waste on those frivolous ponies and their frivolous things. Well, that’s not entirely true—I had stopped by the kitchens to pick something up from the chefs. I got along pretty well with them, so they were more than happy to do me the occasional favor. Early on in my apprenticeship, Princess Celestia sent me to help with the cooking as a way to teach me fine control with my pyromancy. Considering how important it was to keep the temperature of everything just right while you were cooking, it made for good practice. I’d eventually gotten good enough that the chefs were disappointed when Celestia decided I’d mastered the lesson and had me move on to other things. Thankfully, the princess wasn’t too busy. Well, she’s always busy, that’s part of being a princess, but right now she was just going over a lot of paperwork. Paperwork’s still important, but it’s something she can do while also spending time with me. Plus, it meant that other than her guards and secretary, we pretty much had the throne room to ourselves. Not many ponies want to sit around and watch Celestia read and sign off on a seemingly endless stack of reports. Most of it was just routine stuff—putting her seal on budget reports or updates on some project or another. She looked up from her stack of paperwork when she heard somepony come in through the throne room’s massively oversized doors, and when she saw it was me she smiled. “Sunset, always a pleasure to see you. I hope you’ve been doing well.” “Princess.” I stopped in front of the throne and gave a quick bow. Celestia didn’t expect me to worry about that kind of formal protocol unless we were at some kind of big public event. We were close enough to be past bowing and scraping, but the guards got moody if I didn’t go through all the formalities. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.” “Not at all.” She picked up another folder from the stack and started scanning the documents within. “Assuming you don’t mind my attention being a little divided.” “Actually, I was hoping I could talk to you in private for a bit.” My eyes turned to the giant stack of folders her secretary had waiting for her. “When you can spare the time, of course.” Celestia spent a couple seconds focusing on the paperwork before she answered me. “Well, I have been meaning to spend some time with you...” Her secretary cleared his throat, which made the stallion’s rather ridiculously huge mustache quiver. “We do have a very busy schedule for today, Your Highness. In addition to the usual concerns, you will be making several public appearances for the holiday; you’ll be making a lunch appearance with the Equestrian League of Mothers, and then there’s your usual holiday speech for the afternoon, as well as a few special appearances in court to present medals to a few exemplary mothers we’ve selected for the occasion.” “Yes, of course.” Celestia frowned and tapped a hoof on her chin, then grinned at me. “That being the case, I’ll need to free up a little time for Sunset.” Without even taking her eyes off the report she was going over, she levitated about a quarter of her paperwork over to me. “Hop to it, Sunset. The quicker we finish, the more time we’ll have before duty calls.” Naturally, her secretary’s mustache began quivering madly at this latest affront. “Your Highness, this is most irregular! You can’t just have your apprentice sign official legal documents!” “Oh relax, Pigeon Hole.” Princess grinned and winked at me. “She’ll just be reading everything over for me before I sign, and I didn’t give her anything critical. I have the utmost faith in her ability to read over the Solar Guard’s incident report about a case of public intoxication in the gardens or pay rates for a few members of the palace staff without causing any problems.” A hint of a teasing smirk crossed her lips. “Besides, one of the nice things about being a princess is that I can do whatever I want.” I grinned up at the princess, then got to work on the forms she’d trusted me with. I won’t deny being a bit amazed at just how much she trusted me—she was letting me help her run Equestria now. Even if it was just little stuff that didn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things, it was still important enough for Princess Celestia to deal with herself. Except now it wasn’t Princess Celestia doing it, it was me. True to what the Princess had said, everything she’d delegated to me looked pretty straightforward. It was just a lot of stuff that she’d delegated out to her ministers, officials, and everypony else working for her, and now they needed her official approval on their solutions. A lot of it was probably unnecessary, but it had started out as one of Grand Vizier Sunbeam Sparkle’s reforms to centralize the government back when Princess Celestia had less direct power than she does now. Even though Princess Celestia almost always approved whatever her subordinates did, the fact that their decisions had to go through her meant she could keep an eye on things and make sure nopony did anything they shouldn’t. I was making pretty good progress through it all, until I got to one report that stood out from the stack. “Uh, Princess, I think you gave me something you shouldn’t have. This report actually needs you to make a royal decree, not just sign off on something.” “Oh?” She looked over at me, and I caught just a tiny hint of a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. I knew what that meant; being her student for as long as I had meant I’d learned to recognize the warning signs of when she was up to something. Sure enough, she didn’t just take the file from me and handle it herself. “Since you’ve already gone over everything, why don’t you tell me about the problem, and how you think it should be handled?” That confirmed it, this was another one of her little tests. Princess Celestia would do those sometimes; just throw out a random question or problem, and see how I handled the situation. Whatever this test was, I wanted to get it right. “Well, the undersecretary to the treasurer thinks there’s something weird going on with Ponyville’s disaster relief budget because it’s way too high for a town of its size. So it could be a case of somepony skimming the money, the town’s padding its budget, or something weird is going on.” Celestia waited patiently for me to continue, seeming quite content to let me puzzle it all out myself. “Ponyville ... never heard of it. I don’t think I can make a decision about a town I can't even find on a map.” I looked through the folder Celestia had given me, and sure enough there was a map of Equestria included. In fact, there was a lot more supplemental information in the folder than one would expect. Almost as if somepony wanted to make sure I had all the relevant information on hoof. It took a while to actually find Ponyville on the map, but once I did a couple things fell into place. “It’s on the edge of the Everfree Forest? No wonder they have so much trouble.” I frowned and tapped a hoof on the map. “Really, the whole forest has been a problem for centuries. Something ought to be done about it. I don’t suppose we could just burn the whole thing to the ground?” “I think that would be a bit needlessly destructive,” Princess Celestia answered. “While the Everfree is a problem, there are also a number of unique plants and animals that could be lost forever. Not to mention the ecological impact; destroying their natural habitat would scatter all the animals that live there across all of Equestria. I don’t suppose you’ve heard of Parasprites?” “No,” I admitted. “They’re native to the forest,” Celestia provided. “They’re extremely voracious eaters and prolific breeders. So long as they stay in the Everfree Forest, the local predators keep their population from exploding. But remove them from their native habitat, and...” “They would breed out of control,” I finished for her. “And if the predators that eat them lose their normal food source, they’ll go looking for something else to replace it.” I grumbled and shook my head. “I guess if there was a quick-and-easy solution, somepony would’ve done it by now. In any case, it’s still a problem right now, so Ponyville needs the extra money. Though I’d suggest having somepony look into a long-term solution to the problem. It would save us money on Ponyville, and would probably also encourage the town to grow more. A bigger town means more ponies paying taxes, which is always good for the budget.” Celestia was quiet for just long enough to make me nervous, then smiled and nodded. “I think that’s a fine solution, Sunset.” She pulled out some parchment and wrote out a quick letter containing her instructions. “Since you helped me so much, why don’t you co-sign it with me?” My ears perked up at the offer, and I wasted no time adding my signature below her own. “Thank you, Princess Celestia.” I’m pretty sure getting to sign an official royal letter alongside Celestia meant I had passed the test. Princess Celestia took the letter, sealed it, and then tucked it into the folder before moving it over to the completed pile. Then she shot me a conspiratorial little grin. “Since you handled that so well, perhaps I can see how you handle a few more issues?” She spared a glance for her secretary. “Don’t worry, Pigeon Hole, I won’t give her the keys to Royal Treasury, and I’ll check over everything she decides. Just consider this an extension of my usual lessons for her. I’m multi-tasking and using my time more efficiently—surely you approve?” “Of course, Your Highness.” It’s not like he could have said anything else. With that settled, I got to work on deciding whether the Royal Gardens should add more rosebushes, or diversify and add some gardenias to the mix. Celestia and I finished her paperwork a bit over half an hour early. More than enough for us to squeeze in some private time before the next engagement on her social calendar. A princess’ duties are never done; that’s why I appreciated every single moment she could spare for me. The two of us had gone to her royal quarters like we always did when we wanted some time alone. It was one of the only places where we could have complete privacy. The Princess’ royal quarters aren’t what most ponies would expect from the ruler of Equestria—sure, they were as huge and fancy as you would expect, but it was the understated kind of fanciness. Come to think of it, they were a lot like my room in that way. Things were nice, but there was none of the ostentatious and pointless luxury that was so popular in a lot of Canterlot. Princess Celestia didn’t need to slap gold and gems all over the place to show off how rich and powerful she was. After all, everypony already knew she was Princess Celestia. She led the way over to some cushions the servants must have set up for us and settled down, motioning with a wing for me to take a seat next to her. I scooted my cushion a bit closer to her before I sat down. Once we were both comfortable, she turned to me with a smile. “Now then, Sunset, what was it you wanted to talk to me about? It must have been important if you were willing to spend an hour helping me with paperwork. I wasn’t expecting to see you at all today; I thought you would be with your mother. I know Scarlet was working hard to clear her schedule for today.” Oh. Well this conversation was already starting off on the wrong hoof. I wouldn’t lie to her about what had happened, but I didn’t want my time with her to turn into a big conversation about my problems with Mother. I had plans for today, and they included something a lot better than whining about my problems with Mother. “She came by yesterday to try and arrange something. It didn’t work out.” “Oh. I’m sorry to hear that.” She turned to meet my eyes. “I know things have been difficult for the two of you, and I was hoping this would be a chance for the two of you to make amends.” She slowly reached out and put a hoof on my shoulder. “Cherish your family, Sunset. I know it seems like they‘ll always be a part of your life, but you would be surprised how swiftly they can vanish.” Her head dipped towards the floor, and she let out a soft sigh. “Don’t spend the rest of your life regretting all the things you’ll never have a chance to tell them.” “Princess?” I scooted a bit closer, so that I was practically up against her side. Something was obviously bothering her, and I wanted to help. “Are you thinking about your mother?” I didn’t really know anything about Princess Celestia’s parents. Nopony did. I suspected they might have been quietly removed from the history books to make Celestia seem more like she was above ponykind. It’s hard to keep the mystique of being an immortal goddess-princess when ponies can read about your mother putting you in time-out for raiding the cookie jar. Celestia shook her head. “Not my mother, my sister. Luna and I ... had a disagreement, shortly before her madness. Both of us said things we shouldn’t have. You know how it is when family quarrels, we both knew exactly what to say to hurt one another. We never really had a chance to make things right before...” She trailed off, but I could fill in the rest of it. “Don’t have any regrets about your own family, Sunset. Even if you don’t get along with your parents, they still love you very much.” “Right.” Celestia frowned at my brief answer, so I expanded on it. “I’ll think about it, Princess. It’s just ... it’s complicated.” Celestia answered that with a soft, half-mournful chuckle. “Family always is.” “Yeah, I guess.” I really didn’t want to talk about it anymore. Actually, I’d never wanted to talk about it in the first place. The last time I’d tried talking to Celestia about everything going on with my parents, it got all confusing. She made me question a few things I’d taken for granted about how things had gone. Normally I don’t mind being challenged intellectually—a bit of healthy debate makes your ideas stronger in the end—but when it came to my parents, and how they hadn’t been there for me... Ugh, still thinking about them, when that was the last thing I wanted on my mind right now. Time for a quick change of subject, and I had just the thing to arrange it. Saddlebags normally weren’t the best place to store any food that didn’t react well to being jostled around, but there were spells to deal with that. I pulled to the box out and offered it to her. “Um, I got something for you. Because ... well, you know, it’s a special day and all.” “Oh?” The Princess took the box from me and opened it up. Inside was a relatively small cake, about enough for two ponies to finish in a single sitting. Strawberry-and-cream icing, which I knew for a fact was Celestia’s favorite. I’d also added a quick personal touch, writing a message in the icing. ‘Happy Mother’s Day, Princess Celestia.’ Celestia looked down at the cake for a while, reading the message. “That looks absolutely lovely. Thank you very much, Sunset.” She slowly closed the box and passed it back to me. “I’m afraid I can’t accept it, though.” My jaw dropped. “What? Why not?” She sighed, and her voice shifted to that patient, lecturing tone she always used when she needed to explain a lesson I was having a hard time with. “Sunset, it’s bad enough that you’re spending Mother’s Day avoiding your real mother, but now you’re spending time with and giving gifts to me as well. It could be taken the wrong way, and your mother might be very hurt if she found out under the wrong circumstances.” “Oh.” I slumped down on the cushion, briefly wishing that it could swallow me up. Celestia was trying to be nice and understanding about it, but that just made it worse. The truth was, I’d meant it exactly that way. Ever since I’d become her student, Celestia was always there for me and always supported me when I needed somepony. When I had a hard time getting to bed on my first night in the castle because everything was so new and scary, she’d known somehow and let me spend the night with her, eating cake, talking, and just being amazing. Every time I did well on a test or mastered some new lesson, she was there to congratulate me. Whenever I needed somepony to give me advice or help with a problem, she was there for me. In short, she’d been ten times as good of a mother to me as my biological one. If anypony deserved my love and affection on Mother’s Day, it was her. If that hurt my mother’s feelings, then maybe she should’ve done a better job. After all, the whole reason Celestia had been able to take up the role in the first place was that it was vacant until she showed up. I guess it was stupid of me to think I could actually make things ... well not official exactly, but a bit less unofficial, I suppose. It’s not like I was expecting her to adopt me—though I’ll admit to having a couple dreams where she did, or even revealed she was secretly my real mother—but she could at least accept a Mother’s Day present. Unless I’d misread things. Maybe I was just another student to her, and all the little gestures were just her being a good mentor. And like some pathetic, affection-starved little filly, I’d latched onto the first pony to actually treat me decently and read too much into things. I picked the cake up and dropped it back into my saddlebags. “Sorry, Princess. I was just ... I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have bothered you with this. I’ll just go study or something.” I turned around and headed for the door, but only got a couple steps before Celestia called out to me. “Sunset, wait.” I stopped and turned around. Princess Celestia lifted the cake box out of my bags and offered one of her conspiratorial little grins. “I can’t accept a cake from you today, but tomorrow’s perfectly fine. I’ll even put it in a stasis spell to keep it fresh.” She did exactly that, setting it aside. “After all, it did look rather delicious, and I hate to see a perfectly good cake go to waste. As for the rest of the day, I had something rather special in mind. I’ve been meaning to make a few changes to your lesson plans, and now seems as good a time as any.” “Changes? What kinds of changes?” Change could be either really good, or really bad, and more likely the latter. After all, I was pretty happy with how my life was right now. I had plenty of time to study in peace without anypony bothering me, and Princess Celestia always had some time for me. What if she had decided it was time for me to graduate? I might never see her again! Celestia stepped forward and put a wing over my shoulder. “Well, after how much you helped me with that paperwork earlier today, I think I’d like to have you around more often. I’m sure a mare with your intelligence and drive will be an asset. Besides, you’ve been spending too much time cooped up in your tower—it will be good for you to go out more often. Make some friends and have a social life instead of just studying all the time. I think it’s time I taught you a few things you can’t learn from a book. The sort of lessons you can only learn at my side.” I gasped as comprehension dawned. “You mean you want me to spend more time with you?” “Yes, quite a bit more.” I could barely contain myself at the confirmation. Jumping and squealing would not be dignified, no matter how much I wanted to. “I want to have you at my side whenever I’m conducting official business. It will cut down on your study time, but I think you know enough about magic for the moment. Or at least the sort of magic you can study in a library.” She pulled me in a bit closer. “The magic inherent in things like love and friendship, on the other hoof, is a good deal more complicated. I look forward to teaching it to you.” “I’m looking forward to learning.” To be honest, I wasn’t sure either of those types of magic even existed, but if Celestia said they did I would at least try to learn the material. Especially if it meant spending most of the day with her every single day. Obviously she’d only turned down the cake because she wanted to avoid a deliberate snubbing of my mother, but deep down she felt the same way that I did. This was the best Mother’s Day ever! The next couple months were probably some of the happiest of my life. Instead of squeezing in a few lessons between engagements, Celestia and I got to spend all day together. And better than that, she introduced me to all the rich, powerful, and important ponies in Canterlot. She even took me to the Grand Galloping Gala and had me spend the whole night greeting ponies alongside her. I still wasn’t sold on the idea that friendship was somehow magical, but I’d definitely made some useful allies and contacts from all the time I spent out in public with Celestia. Not friends. More like assets. I spent a couple minutes at a garden party chatting with a newspaper editor, and the next day’s story about the event made mention of what a sophisticated and charming young mare Princess Celestia’s protégé Sunset Shimmer was. I never did get around to talking to Mother, but I think we both knew that was a lost cause. Besides, there was so much else I would rather be doing. As wonderful as things were, the best was yet to come. Princess Celestia hadn’t said anything definite, but I was confident that I’d connected all the dots the right way. From the moment we’d met, she told me I had a special destiny. Now she was taking me with her to public events, showing me off and having me watch and learn as she ruled over Equestria. Sometimes she even asked for my opinion about whatever issue she was dealing with, just like she had with the tax thing in Ponyville. I knew enough about history and politics to recognize what was going on. Back when Unicornia had been its own kingdom, the unicorn kings and queens would do the exact same thing whenever one of their heirs came of age. Show their heir around the kingdom so everypony got used to seeing the pony who would one day rule over them. Have that pony present for official royal business so they would learn how a monarch should act. Let them make decisions on smaller issues so one day they can handle the big ones. The evidence was indisputable.  And to think I’d been worried I might graduate one day and never see her again. Not likely, when she was obviously grooming me to become Princess Sunset Shimmer. Maybe even make me an alicorn, just like she was. I can’t think of anything I would love more than that. I think other ponies had put it together, too. The guards had always been nice, but they were a bit more polite. Like they suspected that one day I might be giving them orders too. And of course, my inevitable cloud of sycophants and favor-seekers had expanded considerably thanks to my new public role. I still treated them with the contempt they deserved, other than when they were useful, but it was gratifying to have them around. Having socialites like Refined Palate and Upper Crust trying to win my favor was proof that I had become a very important pony. Of course, I didn’t let all the socializing get in the way of what was really important. I might not spend as much time in my tower studying as I used to, but that just meant I had to study twice as hard in the time I did get. Expectations had been high enough when I was just the princess’ personal student. Now that I was a future alicorn-princess-in-training, I had to be better. I had to be the best at magic in all Equestria, other than Celestia. Anything else just wasn’t good enough. My skills were more than up to the challenge. I was already well past the standards for entry into the magi. In fact, I could probably give one of the archmagi a tough fight. The prospect of testing that out was almost enough to talk to my parents again. Almost. I suppose I should’ve realized everything was going a little bit too perfectly. Sometimes the universe has a nasty sense of humor, and likes to let a pony climb up high so they’ll fall further when they get knocked down. ‘Happily ever after’ only happens in those storybooks parents read to their children. Well, most parents. It all started to go wrong when I stopped by the royal quarters to meet the princess at the start of the day, just like I’d done almost every single day for the last three months. Except this time when I walked up to the doors, the guards didn’t smile and open them for me. Instead they stayed right in position, looking grim and serious. “The princess has ordered that nopony is to enter her chambers.” I was a bit annoyed, but there was no point in making a scene right in front of the princess over it. Besides, this was obviously just a miscommunication. “Nopony except me, you mean.” “No ma’am,” the guardpony answered, his face carefully blank. “In fact, she left specific orders that you were not allowed to enter until she was ready for you.” Okay, this was officially outside the realm of an understandable mistake. Something weird was going on here. Still, yelling at the guards wouldn’t accomplish anything. Given that I wasn’t supposed to enter until the princess was ‘ready’ for me, she was obviously setting something up for me. Maybe some kind of surprise present or something? I had been doing a pretty good job as her student, so some kind of reward would be quite appropriate. Maybe today was the day she was planning to make her obvious plans for my eventual ascension official? I pulled up a book and tried to read while I waited, but it was hard to concentrate now that I had an idea what was waiting for me on the other side of those doors. It’s rather hard to focus on a bunch of dry academic text about multi-spectral prismatic wave energy when you’re minutes away from possibly becoming an alicorn princess. It felt like I was waiting forever, but when I checked the time it had only been half an hour. Finally, the doors glowed with Celestia’s golden magic and cracked open. The guardpony cleared his throat just in case I’d missed it. “Ma’am, the princess is ready for you now.” I nodded at the guard and slowly walked into Princess Celestia’s quarters. I don’t know what I’d been expecting to find. Probably a whole lot of complicated magical ritual implements—turning a unicorn into an alicorn was almost certainly a complicated process involving the type of magic that nopony except Princess Celestia could manage. A couple other ponies had tried to become alicorns behind her back in the distant past. It had not ended well for them. But there weren’t any magical implements in the room, beyond the things Celestia normally kept. Everything looked exactly like it would’ve on an ordinary day. Princess Celestia herself was sitting on one of her cushions, waiting for me with that welcoming smile she always had for me. What was different was that this time we weren’t alone. There was another mare in the room. At first I didn’t know why this strange pink unicorn was here, rubbing her forehead like her horn wasn’t on right. I’d never seen her before in my life, and after three months on the social circuit with Princess Celestia I knew everypony worth knowing in Canterlot. She looked like she was around my age, but I’d never seen her at the School for Gifted Unicorns back when I still took classes there. So who was this strange mare, and why was she here with the princess? Why was Celestia making me wait in the hallway while she talked to this new pony? Then the new arrival shifted to the side, and things simultaneously became more and less clear. I’d been wrong before; she wasn’t a unicorn. She was an alicorn! I tried to wrap my head around what I was seeing. “I ... princess, what’s going on here? Who is this mare, and why is she…?” I waved a hoof at her wings and horn. Princess Celestia smiled and wrapped a wing around this strange new pony. “Something wonderful has happened. Sunset Shimmer, I would like you meet my niece, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. Princess, this is my personal student, Sunset Shimmer.” “Hello.” Cadenza rose up from her seat and walked up to me, offering a hoof. “It’s nice to meet you, Sunset. And my friends call me Cadance.” Friends? Friends?! This nag came out of nowhere and been given everything I’d worked for years to earn. I studied my flank off—I’d been the princess’ personal student for almost a decade, and I’d worked hard every single day of it. Then this Cadenza pony shows up, and all of a sudden she’s not only an alicorn princess, but she also gets adopted by the Princess! And now she had the gall to think we could be friends?! Not likely. Not likely at all. I took the coward’s way out of dealing with Cadenza and and Celestia. I should’ve confronted them right then and there—called them out for treating me so unfairly, and for giving this new mare everything I’d ever wanted without her needing to earn one bit of it. I’d busted my flank for most of my life, but she got to just trot in from out of nowhere and have everything I’d paid for in blood, sweat, and tears handed to her on a silver platter. It wasn’t fair. But I didn’t call them out on it. I think it was mostly because I was afraid of upsetting Celestia. Obviously I’d been a bit too optimistic about where things stood between us—if she was really preparing me for something as grand as becoming an alicorn princess, she wouldn’t have sprung this whole Cadenza situation on me. If she knew how I felt about her, what my dreams were for the future, and she really cared about me, then there was no way she would do something like this to me. So yeah, I told myself that confronting her would just make things worse. If Celestia was already upset with me, the last thing I needed to do was start yelling at her. That could end with me getting kicked out of the palace and not being her student anymore. Or worse. Instead of risking that, I just told them I wasn’t feeling well and went back to my tower. In hindsight, Celestia almost certainly knew what was really bothering me, but she let me leave anyway. She probably didn’t want my bad attitude ruining Cadenza’s special day. Still, a part of me wished that Celestia had asked me to stay, or come after me and asked what was wrong. It would’ve been nice to know she cared. Since apparently she didn’t care, I went back to my tower and studied. I didn’t have any intention of leaving until Celestia came herself. Maybe it was a little immature, but after everything she’d put me through I deserved an in-person explanation and apology. When somepony knocked on my door the next day, I was sure it was her. I was certain that Celestia had come to tell me how things weren’t as bad as I thought, and the elevation of this Cadenza pony wasn’t intended as an insult. After all, despite my fears, I knew in my heart that Celestia still cared for me. How could she not, when I cared so deeply for her? But the pony knocking on the front door of my tower wasn’t Princess Celestia. In fact, it was the pony I least wanted to see out of anypony in Equestria. Even my parents would’ve been better than her. I cracked my door open, and found myself facing the newly elevated Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.  The smile I’d put on my face in the expectation of seeing Princess Celestia immediately vanished. “Oh. It's you.” Cadenza answered me with a cheerful smile, seeming completely oblivious to the open hostility in my tone. “Hello, Sunset. I hope I’m not interrupting your studies, but I was wondering if I could talk to you for a bit. Is now a good time?” Ugh. The bright and happy cheerleader act was just making her even more annoying than she had been before, and I hadn’t thought that was possible. My eyes narrowed, and my voice dropped down to a low, irritated growl. “What do you want, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza?” Cadenza met my obvious irritation at her mere existence with a patient, understanding smile. “To talk. I heard you haven't been out of your tower for a bit, and I thought you could perhaps use a friend, or at least a pony to lend an ear.” She paused, and let out a soft chuckle. “And please, just call me Cadance. All my friends do. Honestly, it sounds really weird having anypony call me princess, let alone having them use my full name on top of that.” Joy, she was one of those ponies who thought she could have anypony eating out of their hooves with just a few kind words and some generic nice friendliness. I wonder how many ponies had fallen for her act over the years?  Well, I certainly wouldn’t be one of them. “If I needed a friend right now, it wouldn't be you.” I opened the door all the way and stepped forward, forcing her to take a half-step back. “That’s because we're not friends, Cadenza.” Cadenza’s ears wilted at that, and her bright and sunny disposition faded away, replaced by a soft frown. “Sunset, please. You don't need to be so hostile. I want to help you, and even though I know you don’t like me right now, I really hope we can be friends one day.” She sighed, and stretched out a hoof towards me. “Look, let me in and we can talk for a bit. Maybe air some things that need to be said. I’m not sure what I did to upset you, but it’s obvious that something’s gone wrong, and I’d like to make it right if I can.” Tempting as it was to just slam the door in her face, I decided to hear her out. After all, I’d been willing to give Celestia a chance to explain what was going on; maybe Cadenza could do the same. Besides, if she started pissing me off, it would probably fun to throw her out of my tower—preferably from the highest window, though that might be pointless when she had wings. “Fine. Come in.” Cadenza answered me with another one of her annoyingly friendly smiles. It’s like she thought if she acted nice enough I’d just forget why I didn’t like her. “Thank you, Sunset.” She trotted in, looking around my library like she’d never seen one before. Which was actually pretty likely, since as far as I could tell she’d never been to Canterlot before yesterday. “You have a really nice place. I can see you're every bit the scholar Auntie said you were.” Any points she might have earned from the obvious attempt at flattery instantly vanished when she just casually referred to Princess Celestia as ‘auntie.’ What gave her the right to do that? She’d only been adopted yesterday! Still, I probably needed to make some effort to at least try to manage a thin veneer of politeness. Otherwise her ‘auntie’ might be unhappy with me. “Thanks, Cadenza.” Cadenza’s smile slipped for a fraction of a second, presumably because of how obviously forced my words were. Faking politeness was a lot easier than faking sincerity. Despite that, she pressed on in trying to make friends with me. “I heard you were really good with magic. Well, ‘prodigy’ is the word I've heard thrown around.” Joy, more obvious attempts at flattery. “What's your point?” Cadenza briefly broke eye contact with me, took a deep breath, and when she met my eyes again she was unleashing more of that forced friendliness. I suppose she deserves some credit for being so stubbornly persistent about trying to win me over. “I could use some help with learning unicorn magic.” She tapped a hoof against her horn. “I was a pegasus before, so I'm still getting used to having this.” She let out a self-deprecating chuckle. “I would like to get to know you a bit better, so I was hoping you could give me a few pointers.” Seriously? Princess Celestia made this mare a princess when she didn’t know the first thing about how to cast a spell? I snorted and tossed my head. “I suppose I can see why you’d want to learn. A princess who can't do magic would be an utter embarrassment.” Cadenza’s teeth clenched, turning her smile into something else for a moment. She shook it off pretty quickly, though. “Which is why I'm trying to learn as quickly as possible. As a princess, I’ll be expected to use my magic for the good of all Equestria, so it's my duty to learn how to actually use it.” “So you want me to help cover your plot before everypony finds out,” I concluded.  Since she seemed determined to remain all niceness and smiles no matter what, I shot a mocking smile right back at her. “I know this is probably a really crazy idea, but maybe you should've learned what you were doing before you became a princess.” That finally took that annoying fake smile off her face, replacing it with a frown. She opened her mouth to say something, but caught herself before any words came out. Then she closed her eyes for a few moments, and when she opened them answered me, her voice dripping with forced patience. “Now, Sunset, I understand you’re a bit upset with me—though I’m not sure what I’ve done to make you angry, considering we never even met before yesterday. I'm trying to do the best I can with the cards I've been dealt. Not everypony is lucky enough to have all the opportunities you have. I would’ve loved to have years as Aunt Celestia’s student to learn everything I might need to know before I became a princess, but things didn’t work out that way.” Oh, so she thought the only reason I was Princess Celestia’s student was because of luck? Not that I’d earned it by working my plot off every day to be the best damn student in Equestria. Not that I had a special destiny that I deserved after all the effort I’d put into working towards it. No, I was just lucky. And now she wanted to throw a pity party for herself on top of that? “If you're expecting me to feel sorry for you, because it's so hard being given everything on a silver platter, when other ponies have worked their plots off for years to earn them...” “It's not like that.” Cadenza groaned and rubbed her temple. “I wasn’t asking you to feel sorry for me, I just wanted to explain why I wasn’t as prepared as you are.” She ran a hoof over her face, but two thirds of the way down her hoof paused, and her eyes widened. “What other ponies have worked for ... oh.” She stepped forward and put a hoof on my shoulder. “I think I understand why you’re so upset now. Sunset, you haven't lost anything just because I’m a princess. You're still very important to Aunt Celestia. If you heard her voice when she was telling me about you, how unbelievably proud she is of you...” She gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze. “Me being here and being a princess doesn’t mean Aunt Celestia’s stopped caring about you. Nothing has changed.” “Of course it has.” I brushed her hoof off and took a step back to keep her from trying again. “You think having a new princess around and being Celestia’s niece doesn’t change anything? Please.” Cadenza answered that with a long-suffering sigh. “Okay, fine, some things have changed. I’ll admit that she’s probably going to have less time for you because she needs to help teach me how to be a princess. But aside from the changes to her schedule, nothing about you and her has changed. I'm not some kind of replacement for you, if that's what you're worried about. I’m not trying to take her away from you—I don’t think I could. And Aunt Celestia still has big plans for you.” That all sounded nice, but only on the surface. Once you dug a little deeper and read between the lines, it was obvious that Cadenza was just tossing out a whole lot of empty platitudes. Nothing she said really made any difference. She was still here, and her mere existence was an insult. “Yeah, I’m sure she has big plans. After all, apparently it's my job to tutor you now.” One of Cadenza’s ears flicked. “No, that’s not your job. You can’t seriously think Aunt Celestia put so much time and effort and into training you just so you could be my tutor. I was hoping you would be willing to teach me as a friend. If you don't want to, then I'm sure other arrangements can be made. I just thought it would be a good way to get to know you.” “Why?” I demanded. “Because you sound like a very talented mare,” Cadenza answered, “but one that could use a few more friends in her life. I know Aunt Celestia thinks so; I’m pretty sure she wants us to be friends. There is so much more to life than books, studying, and trying to prove to everypony that you deserve to be Aunt Celestia’s protégé. I know she’s been trying to help you get out more, but there are only so many things Aunt Celestia can do with you when she’s also your teacher and busy running Equestria.” She put her fake friendly smile back on. “I think I can help you in ways she can’t. I know I might technically outrank you in the eyes of Canterlot society, but I have no intention of treating you that way. I want you to see me as your peer, your equal, and your friend.” She waved a wing towards one of the windows that showed the rest of Canterlot below. “There is so much more out there you could experience, and I would love to show you those things. We could go to the theater, someplace for dinner, or the opera house. We could study together if you’d like, or even go to West Hoof and ogle the cadets while they’re exercising. Whatever you want.” She offered her hoof to me. “Sunset Shimmer, will you accept my friendship?” I’ll admit, that sounded nice. I almost shook her hoof. As much as I enjoyed working hard and earning my place at Celestia’s side, there were times when it got ... well, a bit lonely. Other than Celestia herself, there wasn’t really anypony I could talk to. My parents were out, and all the other ponies my age just didn’t understand. There’s nothing more annoying than trying to talk to somepony and seeing the gears turning in their mind as they tried to find some way to relate to things that were completely outside their realm of experience. But Cadenza might be an exception. After all, she was effectively Celestia’s student as well. She would be going through most of the same things I would, so she might actually know how I felt. Having somepony like that did sound rather nice. In fact, it sounded... Too good to be true.  “Okay, what's your angle? What are you trying to pull?” Cadenza blinked in surprise, and a faintly confused frown crossed her face. “Sunset, I don't have an angle, and I’m not trying to pull anything. That's not how I do things. I am not trying to manipulate you. I'm being completely honest when I say I want us to be friends get along. I can see you're upset, and even though I think your fears are unfounded, I can understand why you’re afraid. That’s why I want to do whatever I can to make you feel better.” More horseapples, but I wasn’t going to fall for it.“You want to make me feel better?” I glared at her. “Fine. Then go away. Hoof your crown back Celestia, get rid of your horn, and go so far away that I'll never have to see you again. That would make me feel much better.” Cadenza frowned at me, her patience obviously wearing thin. “We both know that isn't going to happen, Sunset. I know it’s hard to adjust to sharing Aunt Celestia with a new pony, especially so unexpectedly, and I’m willing to work with you to help you adjust, but it is something you’re going to have to deal with. You're mature enough to know better than to act like this.” Oh, that did it! All the false charm had been bad enough, but now she was going to start outright insulting me by implying that I was immature? No way I was putting up with that. My horn lit up with an angry flare, and I took a threatening step towards her. “You come into my tower and insult me? I'll give you one chance to reconsider what you just said.” Cadenza took an instinctive step back, holding up one hoof defensively. “Sunset, please, calm down and think about what you're doing. I'm not your enemy—I’m trying to be your friend!” “Sure you are.” I stalked forward, idly taking note of the ambient temperature in the room and thinking about how easily I could shift it around to make her life very unpleasant. “You barge into the palace out of nowhere, steal everything I've worked for years to earn, and then try to say that you're not my enemy?” I snorted at the sheer ridiculousness of it. “If you don’t think that makes us enemies, then you don’t even know what the word means.” “What?” She was still backing away from me, and her eyes briefly shot towards the door, like she was calculating her chances of getting there. “Sunset, You’re not making any sense! I haven't done anything like that!” “The hay you haven't,” I growled. Cadenza ran out of space to back away as her rump ran into a bookshelf. “Sunset, you're scaring me right now. Please, stop and think about what you’re saying. I don’t want you to do something you’ll regret later.” Oh, there were all kinds of things I could do to this Cadenza nag without a moment of regret. “Fine. Then get out. Out of my tower, out of Canterlot—hay, out of Equestria entirely!” Cadenza slumped, half in resignation and half in relief. “Alright, fine, I'll leave your home. I'm sorry we couldn't work this out. If you want to talk later, you can visit whenever you want. Even after how badly this went, I’m still willing to give you a chance to be my friend. I don’t think you’re a bad pony, you’re just in a bad place right now, and you need somepony to help you out of it.” She turned and started heading for the exit. Something about how self-righteous she sounded when she said that made me want to get one last parting shot in. Maybe crack her goodie-four-shoes act and prove that she wasn’t all sweetness and light after all. “I have one question for you, Princess.” She halted her progress towards the door. “What did you do to deserve anything you've been given?” She turned back to face me. The friendly smile was gone, but in its place was something ... well, the best way I can think to put it is that it reminded me of the way Celestia would look, sometimes. Serious, and almost kind of unfocused, like she was seeing a lot more than just what was in front of her. “I earned my ascension by helping ponies find love and happiness. Not because I was expecting anything in return, but just because I wanted to help them.” “Really? That’s it? Love and happiness?” I don’t think I could’ve come up with a more ridiculous excuse for making somepony a princess if I was trying. What did ‘helping ponies find love’ even mean? And what did it have to do with being a good princess? “So, how did you help ponies find love? Did you go around town lifting your tail for anypony willing?” Cadenza’s eyes narrowed, and I could hear her teeth grinding. Apparently I had finally found a weak spot. “No, I helped them find ponies that made them happy. Ponies that completed them.” I smirked and followed it up. “Oh, so the tail-tossing was just purely for your own pleasure?” “I did nothing of the sort,” Cadenza growled. “Though frankly, what I do or don’t do with my personal life is none of your business. You should know better than to say things like that; I can't imagine Auntie ever taught you to act like this.” There was that ‘Auntie’ again. It was so familiar and comfortable, as if they’d known each other for years. It pissed me off like nothing else, hearing her talk about Celestia that way. That kind of familiarity should be earned, and Cadenza hadn’t earned it. I was so infuriated that I just cut loose on her, screaming at the top of lungs. “What the hay would know about me and Celestia anyway? You don’t know anything! You didn't even know her before yesterday, and you sure as hay don’t deserve to call her your aunt! You're nothing! Nopony! I'm the one who's been by her side for years! If anypony should’ve been adopted by her it’s me! She’s been like a mother to me for years—hay, she is my mother in everything but blood! You can’t take that away from me! I won’t let you!” By the time I was done shouting I was panting and gasping for breath. Cadenza let out a loud, frustrated groan. “Listen, Sunset, for the last time, I am not here to replace you. I’m not trying to steal Celestia’s love from you, and even if I wanted to I couldn’t. That’s not how love works.” She let out an annoyed sigh, and turned for the door again. “I think it’s past time I left. You clearly aren't in any mood to listen to me, and I’m tired of trying to be the better mare while you keep hurling out insults.” She stomped over to the door, pausing to let out a frustrated grumble as she vainly tried to use her magic to open it. That would’ve been the end of it, if she’d just left. However, once she finally managed to open the door she let out a huff and tossed out a parting shot. “You know, if you’re that upset about not being a princess yet, maybe instead of blaming me you should take a look at your own behavior. If you did, you might realize that it's pretty obvious to see that your bad attitude is why you aren't ready for it.” All the anger I’d been—well not exactly suppressing, but at least keeping a bit of a lid on—exploded when I heard that. How dare she tell I didn’t deserve to be a princess! “Oh, that is it, you nag!” I snarled. Fire burst out of my horn, heading straight for her. Cadenza’s eyes widened in shock, and she tried to throw up something that almost bore a passing resemblance to a defensive shield. Alicorn or not, she obviously had no clue how to use magic. Her shield wouldn’t have stopped a stiff breeze, let alone a fire spell from a pony with all my experience and training. I’d learned to conjure flames from Celestia herself; it would take more than a little blue mist to stop me. My fire blast tore straight through Cadenza’s pitiful attempt at defense. She throw up a foreleg in a vain attempt to ward it off, but that just gave the flames somewhere to start. The nag screamed in pain when my attack struck, and a moment later the stench of burning fur hit my nostrils. For a brief moment, it was very satisfying watching her moan and clutch her burned limb to chest. Then the smell of burned flesh joined that of her fur, and I took a closer look at the injury. I’d only intended to singe her a bit, give her the equivalent of a nasty sunburn. But the injuries I saw were worse than that. Her coat had been burned away to reveal skin that glistened like plastic, and bulged into a deep, mottled pink that burst and bled where she’d gotten the worst of it.. “No.” I hadn’t meant to hurt her. Well okay, I wanted to hurt her, but not hurt her. This was bad, she was going to need a doctor. There might be scars from it. I stared at the injury, and words spilling out of my mouth as I tried to make sense of it. “I—um—I—I didn’t mean to...” My brain woke up from the shock long enough for me to pull out my first aid kit; like any prudent pyromancer, I kept it stocked with everything needed to treat burns. “Horseapples, Cadenza, I—I'm...” I knew I should apologize, but for some reason I couldn’t bring myself to actually say the words. Instead I just opened up my first aid kit, and started walking over to treat her. As soon as I tried to approach her, Cadenza shrieked and scrambled away from me as fast she could with three working legs. “Get away from me you monster!” She let out an unfocused wave of magic that knocked me onto my rump and shattered every window in the tower. Cadenza promptly fell back on the pegasus instincts she’d been born with, flying out of one of the opened windows as fast her wings could carry her. I just sat there and watched her leave, trying to figure out how things could’ve gone so horribly wrong.