The Witch of the Everfree

by MagnetBolt


Shades of Pink


I paced in the alleyway, trying to gather myself. Despite how I’d acted last time, Twilight had almost begged me to let her visit again. She claimed I’d taught her a lot about high-energy spellcraft and, maybe more importantly, that I was the only pony she could talk to about more esoteric and experimental parts of magical theory.

It had been months before she was able to find a few days where she could get away from Celestia without having to explain where she was going. It had been nearly enough time for me to stop having panic attacks about the vision I’d had of the Princess. I’d spent almost a week doing every magical scan I could think of, and as far as I could tell, it had all been in my mind.

Of course, I’d also learned every magical scan I knew from the Princess, and she’d been able to avoid them before. Even if she’d taught me everything I knew, she’d never taught me everything she knew. It was only paranoia if you were wrong.

I’d ditched the cloak, for now at least, and left it in the castle. I still wasn’t comfortable without something to at least cover up the worst of my scars, though, and so I was wearing the jacket Rarity had made for me. It was comforting, like an old blanket, the soft leather and faint scent from the tanning process reminded me of the good times.

The train pulled into the station. I’d discussed with Twilight how to make sure to leave her trail behind, so I wasn’t expecting a lot of trouble. She’d meet me in the alleyway, we’d teleport a bit to throw anypony off, then grab some lunch and go up to the castle. Safe as houses. Normal houses. Not my house. The old castle was full of traps, which was the opposite of safe.

I might have been starting to panic a little already. Anxiety does that.

“Sunset! I know this isn’t exactly what we talked about, but I can explain!” I turned around at Twilight’s voice, smiling and wondering just what-

There was another pony with her. A pink one. With long, striped hair. And wings. And a horn. She looked shocked. I expect I had almost the same expression, though I didn’t see her for long enough to confirm that, because I then used my amazing natural talent to cast a teleport spell in record time.

I was across town in, literally, no time at all.

“Cadance?!” I hissed, from my new hiding spot in somepony’s backyard. “She brought Cadance here?! What in the world was she thinking?!”

I had to examine this logically and decide on a measured and thoughtful response. I could go back to the castle, grab some essentials, and make a break for the Griffon Kingdoms. There weren’t travel restrictions anymore, and we didn’t have an extradition treaty with them. They’d probably be quite happy to have me, though I’d likely have to serve in their military.

That made me a little sick to think about. They were, as always, involved in brush wars in Zebrica. I don’t think I’d have the stomach to burn crops and ‘keep the peace’ with the natives, especially not after studying with Zecora.

So the Griffons were out, but Zebrica wasn’t a bad choice on its own. As a shaman, even if only in training, I’d automatically have quite a bit of respect. Unfortunately, the tribes didn’t have a unified government, and Equestrian agents could carry me away in my sleep.

There was always the Badlands if I just wanted to get lost. There was more wild magic there than in the Everfree, and rumors of terrible creatures, shapeshifters, and huge beasts the size of city blocks.

Scratch that. If I just wanted to be miserable and put my life in danger, I’d turn myself in to the Guard and have a comfortable cell.

I just couldn’t understand why Twilight would betray me. Unless… unless I’d really underestimated how badly I’d scared her. Unless she hated me, and thought I was a threat to Equestria and the Princess. And in that case, why only bring Cadance?

“It just doesn’t make sense! Why would she only bring Cadance if she was trying to capture me?” I shouted, losing my temper.

“Um. Actually… I just couldn’t get away from her. She kind of asked to come along at the last minute and I didn’t have time to warn you or make excuses.” I spun around to see Twilight, alone, and looking sheepish. She gave me a smile. “I was able to leave Spike in Canterlot with my parents, but…”

“She’s going to tell Celestia all about this!” I snapped. “She’s going to tell her where I am, and there are going to be guards everywhere, and… and she might even end up getting you in trouble.” My vision started to blur as my eyes watered. I couldn't even blow Cadance up. I was pretty sure she was immortal.

“She won’t!” Twilight said. “She’s kind of… my foalsitter. Not that I need one anymore! But she still comes to check on me sometimes. She saw me getting ready for the trip, and invited herself along for some reason!”

I rubbed my temples. “Sparkle, you’re so smart and yet you have zero common sense,” I groaned.

“I’m sorry…” Twilight mumbled, looking down. I took a deep breath and limped over to her and gave her a quick hug.

“I know. But this is still a disaster. She and I never got along, and I’d be surprised if she wasn’t telling Celestia all about it right now. Just… tell her you couldn’t find me. Keep her busy looking for a few hours, and I’ll clear my things out of the castle.” I let her go and started pacing, thinking.

“You’re just going to run?” Twilight’s expression managed to fall even further.

“What else am I supposed to do!? Wait for guards to show up and arrest me? Drag me in front of Celestia so I can get stern warnings about corrupting her student and how I keep disappointing her? Maybe she’ll just saw my horn off to make sure I don’t cause trouble for anypony!”

“She’d never do that!” Twilight gasped.

“I’m not going to take my chances.” I shivered. “Twilight, this isn’t your fault.” Actually it was. It was all her fault. With a little warning I could have done something clever like not shown up at all, or some kind of disguise.

“Sunset, Cadance is like a sister to me. Maybe… you could give her a chance?” She looked up at me with big, hopeful eyes. “If you talk to her, you might be able to convince her not to tell Celestia!”

“Talk to her?” I snorted.

“You said you wanted to change, right?” Twilight smiled weakly. “Doesn’t that mean trying things a different way?”


This was the stupidest thing I’d ever done, and I had a long life full of doing stupid things. I should have been running as fast as I could manage on three legs and one stupid twisted hoof. Instead, I was following Twilight towards the cafe where we’d agreed to meet for lunch, which was exactly the opposite direction of where I should have been going.

There was only one nice thing about the whole situation. With Cadance in town, ponies barely even noticed me. Not having a spooky cloak might have helped, too. A few ponies stood outside of the cafe, looking in through the windows and hoping to catch a glimpse of the Princess of Love.

“It’ll be fine,” Twilight whispered, gently pushing me as I hesitated at the door. I stumbled inside. The cafe was empty, except for one booth in the back. Cadance was facing away from the door, so all I could see was the back of her head. Maybe she’d done it on purpose. If I’d walked in and seen her judging eyes, I might have fled already. No, wait, I'd have thrown a fireball at her. I tended to blow things up when I was spooked.

Twilight went ahead of me and sat down in the booth. I took a deep breath and followed her, sitting across from Cadance. I looked down at the table instead of at her. This was the most awkward dinner I’d had since the time I’d gone to a meeting with griffon ambassadors despite Celestia’s warnings and ended up with a plate of steak and bacon.

As an aside, bacon is amazing, though I still can’t look at Applejack’s pigs without seeing them as delicious food instead of truffle hunters.

“So…” Twilight said. “Um…”

“You’ve been living here all along?” Cadance whispered. I couldn't tell if she was angry or just shocked.

“Not here, exactly…” I mumbled. “I live in the woods.”

“I thought you were dead. We all thought you were dead! Do you know how many ponies were looking for you?” Cadance was suddenly up and out of her seat and before I could do anything to stop her, I was enveloped in a bone-crushing hug. I didn’t know Cadance was that strong. Sharp pain shot through my weak leg. She didn't notice me starting to charge a fireball spell, but Twilight had. I felt a counterspell clamp down on my mana. Between that and the pain, I didn't blow up the building in surprise.

“S-stop!” I gasped. “My leg-” Cadance let go, and I groaned, rubbing my twisted hoof.

“I didn’t mean to-”

“It’s fine,” I said, cutting her off angrily. “It’s an old injury. It just hurts when a lot of pressure is put on it.” I took a deep breath as the pain faded back to a dull throb. “Look, I just want to get on with my life. I know you hate me-”

“I don’t hate you.” She cut me off that time. “I never hated you.”

“Then you’re a better pony than I was,” I mumbled. “I was always jealous of you.”

Cadance sat down. “Of all the ponies Twilight could have been coming to see, I wouldn’t have guessed in a thousand years that it would be you.”

“Please don’t tell Celestia,” I said, lowering my head. “I don’t want Twilight to get in trouble because of me.”

“Why would she get in trouble for it?” Cadance smiled. “Sunset, if she knew you were alive, she’d be the happiest pony in Equestria. When you died- when we all thought you’d died- she cancelled court for a week because she couldn’t hold herself together.”

“I guess I was a bigger disappointment than I thought.”

“Stop that,” Cadance said. “You weren’t a disappointment. All Celestia ever talked about was how proud she was of you. Even if you were... kind of a jerk to me.”

“The biggest jerk.” I snorted with laughter. “I was so jealous of you. You had everything I ever wanted, so every time I saw you I kind of… took it out on you.”

“You two know each other already?” Twilight blinked. “I guess I should have expected that. You both lived in the palace at the same time…”

“We… weren’t friends,” I sighed.

“Celestia kept trying to make us get along,” Cadance said. “But she was jealous of what I had, and I was jealous of how close she was to the Princess.”

“How close I was?” I blinked. “What are you talking about? She was much closer to you. You were literally her family! She adopted you!”

“She adopted me, but spent all her time with you,” Cadance countered. “She’d give you private lessons every day. I was lucky if I had a few minutes with her alone to discuss Court proceedings.”

“You’re already an alicorn. It’s not like you needed training.” I rolled my eyes. “Celestia just trusted you enough to know that you wouldn’t embarrass her if she left you alone.”

“I wish I didn’t need training,” Cadance sighed. “She sent me to Canterlot High to take magic classes. Do you know how that felt? I was stuck with foals half my age and had to put up with them laughing at the Princess who couldn’t do magic!”

“You’re an alicorn. You’ve got way more magic than I do.”

“I was born a pegasus, Sunset. I barely know how to use this thing.” She tapped her horn and laughed. “Maybe if I’d had private lessons with Celestia I’d be as strong as you, but Twilight has been better with magic than me for years. Do you know how hard it is to foalsit a pony who can break through your magic without even noticing?”

I snorted, imagining Twilight at the same age as Applejack’s little sister and throwing Cadance around in a tantrum. Picturing Cadance helpless and on fire made me feel a little better.

“But she gave you lessons instead,” Cadance said quietly. “She said it was because you had a lot of potential. I thought that meant I didn’t have the same potential. I think if… we’d actually tried being friends instead of just glaring at each other in envy, things would have been different.”

“Maybe,” I whispered. “But I couldn’t have done it. I was a jerk. I wanted her all to myself. I wanted to be her daughter, and her student. Just being one of the two wasn’t enough.”

“You’ve changed a lot,” Cadance said. She reached over and touched my hoof.

“We’ve only been talking for a few minutes.” I shook my head. “Maybe I’m just having an off day as a jerk.”

“No, you’ve definitely changed. The old Sunset Shimmer would never have helped Twilight with her studies. And you never would have admitted you were wrong about anything.”

“Of course not,” I laughed. “I was too proud and stupid. And now I sound like an old mare talking about her childhood.”

“More than anything, though…” Cadance grinned. “You never would have made friends. I don’t know what changed you, but you seem like you’re in a much better place. A few years ago, if we sat down like this, we never would have actually spoken to each other.”

I’d spent a lot of years almost hating Cadance. She’d never really returned it, but I’d scared her off enough that she’d avoided me.

“Wait a minute,” Twilight said, returning to the conversation after a few moments deep in thought. “Aren’t you and my brother dating?”

“Yes?” Cadance said, confused by the question.

“And you met in Canterlot High. Where… you said all the foals were half your age.” Twilights expression narrowed. “How old are you, again?”

“Hey! Wow! They have lava cake on the menu!” Cadance said, changing the subject so rapidly the whole conversation got whiplash. “Let’s get a round of those, and I’ll let you have coffee if you stop asking questions.”

“Celestia says I can’t have coffee after the accident with the west garden.”

“That’s why it’s bribery, Twilight.”

“...Deal.”


It was the first time I’d ever seen a pony almost literally vibrating. I’d lost count after Twilight had gotten a third refill of coffee, and I was starting to worry her heart might give out.

“This is amazing! I should have coffee all the time! Do you like coffee, Sunset? It’s way better than tea!” Twilight grinned widely at me. “I feel so great and my mind is going so much faster and I probably never need to sleep again!”

“I see why you aren’t allowed to have coffee,” I snorted. “Take it easy.”

“She’ll be fine,” Cadance smiled. “You know, the reason I came along with her was because I thought she had a secret coltfriend that she was visiting.”

“I don’t think she’s interested in anypony that doesn’t have both an appendix and an index, and I’ve only got the one,” I laughed.

“Oh! I get it!” Twilight said, bouncing in her seat. “It’s a book pun! An appendix is an organ but also a part of some books and-”

“It’s not funny if you explain it, Twilight.” I shook my head and smiled.

“It’s okay! I know more book puns! Hundreds of them! And they’re all about books! Like, um, um, my therapist said I had so many issues that I was carrying the whole back catalog!”

“She’s almost as bad as the pink one when she’s got coffee in her…” I muttered.

“Pink one?” Cadance asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Not you. There’s this one pony in town- never mind. Anyway, I’ve never heard Twilight talk about any colts. Or fillies. I didn’t even know she knew you.”

“She’s a lot like you,” Cadance said. “Obsessed with studying and magic.” She reached over to ruffle Twilight’s mane. “She didn’t have your confidence, though. I think part of the reason Celestia took her in was because the two of you were so much alike. She held out hope that you’d come back and the two of you could be friends.”

I smiled a little at that. “You’re right about the two of us being alike. Except Twilight is smarter than me.”

Cadance blinked at that. “I didn’t think you’d ever…”

“What, admit somepony else is better than me at something?” Cadance’s expression told me everything. “Yeah. I know. It wasn’t easy for me to get over being replaced, either. And she’s way better with magical theory than I am. I never liked doing the math.”

“That’s not true,” Twilight said. “You’re great at the math! You just taught me about high-energy thamatological decay products last week!”

“And that’s pretty much the limit of my magical theory,” I admitted. “And that’s with a decade more experience than you have. You’ve learned it twice as quickly as I ever did, and you know more spells than I do.”

“Well… I…” Twilight hesitated.

“I don’t think there’s much more I can teach you.”

“No!” Twilight shouted, standing up with her front hooves on the table. It was a good thing we were already causing a scene just by being there, because otherwise we would have caused a scene. “You can’t just- but I learn faster with you helping!”

“Yeah, too fast,” I joked. “You’ve pretty much outgrown me.”

“T-that’s not true! You’re the only one that I can talk to! And you…” Twilight stopped, blushing. I raised an eyebrow. “I don’t have a lot of friends and…”

Well that made sense, at least. If she was anything like me, she probably ignored the other students. In retrospect, maybe that was partly my fault. She’d spent a lot of the last few years either writing to me or findings ways to make sure our arrangement was kept secret. I might have unintentionally ended up making her even more of a recluse than I’d been. Great. One more thing for my conscience.

“You know,” Cadance ventured, interrupting my internal monologue, “Just because you don’t have anything left to teach her doesn’t mean you have to stop being friends.”

“I just… don’t want things to change,” Twilight muttered.

“Sometimes change is good,” Cadance said. “Remember when you were so scared about your application for Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns? You didn’t want to leave home, at least until you saw their library.”

“But teaching is what we do when we get together! And… I like it when Sunset helps me.” She stared down at her coffee cup, clearing just using it to avoid meeting either of our gazes.

“Sunset, you probably don’t have access to newer textbooks or magic publications,” Cadance said, turning to me.

I shook my head. “I don’t have anything newer than a thousand years ago. It makes for fascinating reading on history and a few hidden gems, but lousy for modern studies of magic as a science instead of an art.”

“That’s what I thought. But you know, Twilight has access to everything. If you wanted to stay up to date…”

“You want Twilight to start teaching me,” I said, raising an eyebrow. “I guess it makes sense.”

“Unless you have something against being taught by somepony younger than you are…”

“No, it’s not that,” I said, smiling at Twilight to reassure her. “I just don’t want to put pressure on her. Twilight, you’ve got your own studies to worry about-”

“It’s fine!” Twilight said, almost shouting. “I mean, teaching something is the best way to make sure you really understand it, right? So it’s fine.” She looked between me and Cadance. “I, um. I’ll need to start working on a teaching plan, and a chart…”

“Just remember to focus on your own studies first,” I said. “I don’t have to worry about midterms or finals.”

Twilight narrowed her eyes at me. “You will.”


We managed to get away from the crowd after Cadance distracted them with some autographs and giving some discreet romantic advice to a few ponies. Twilight and I sat near the lake, waiting for her, though she seemed nervous about things.

“I’m sure she’ll be fine,” I said. “It’s not like she’s afraid of attention.”

“I know,” Twilight groaned, rubbing her head. “I’m just… coffee makes me jittery and I’m already getting a headache from the caffeine. And I’ve never taught anypony. How am I supposed to be a good teacher if I’m still a student?” I saw the signs of panic starting. It was easy to recognize, since I was pretty much an expert at having panic attacks.

“You’ll be fine. Just be patient with me. I’m not as smart as you are.” I smiled at her. She blushed and looked away.

“That’s not true. You were Celestia’s student.” Twilight sighed. “Besides, I’d know if you weren’t smart.”

“Yeah…” I sighed. We were quiet for a while. Normally it was comfortable. Neither of us were really outgoing ponies, and the last time she’d come up, we’d spent hours in silence just reading books with each other. There was a tension now, though.

“Do you ever regret leaving?” Twilight asked. “I mean, Cadance isn’t wrong. You could come back, I think. I haven’t actually asked since, um, since I don’t want Princess Celestia to know that I know about you.”

“...Yeah,” I said, shrugging. “Sometimes. But it’s not that I regret leaving as much as I regret being such a disappointment. Even if Celestia would forgive me, I just can’t face her again.”

“Why?”

“By the time I really realized what I’d done, it was too late to say sorry. I was afraid for a long time that she would arrest me for breaking into the forbidden section and learning dark magic without permission or supervision.” I bit my lip. “I know she won’t, now. But it’s been a long time, and whenever I think about seeing her… well, you know what panic attacks are like.”

Twilight nodded. I looked up at the sky, flinching when I saw the sun.

“The worst part is that because it’s been so long, I get anxious about apologizing because it’s been so long and… it’s like some kind of stupid feedback thing. Because I’m an idiot. See why I’m not afraid to say you’re smarter than I am?”

“I don’t feel smarter,” Twilight said. “I almost messed everything up because I couldn’t come up with an excuse for Cadance.”

“Actually, I’m glad she came,” I said. “I was able to get a lot off my chest when I was talking to her. There are a lot of ponies that deserve apologies from me.”

Twilight sighed and leaned into me. “I just wish we had more time to spend alone. She kept bugging me about if I had a coltfriend the whole way here.”

“AJ has a pretty cute older brother if you want me to set you up with a date~” I joked. Twilight glared up at me.

“Don’t. Cadance keeps trying to get me to go on dates, too. Last time it was with Prince Blueblood. He’s nice enough, but we didn’t have anything in common.”

“Blueblood?” I laughed. “I remember him. He was cute. Really annoying, though. He only talked about himself and his family line. The second he heard I was an orphan he didn’t want anything to do with me. It was the only time I set a pony on fire that Celestia didn’t scold me.”

“You set ponies on fire more than once?”

“I told you I was a witch, didn’t I?”

Twilight sighed and leaned into me more. I hoped I wasn’t depressing her with my stories.

“You used to tell me all the time that you blamed Celestia for what happened. You know, because she wasn’t good about actually being straightforward with anything.” Twilight dug at a patch of grass, her tail flicking. I waited to see where she was going with this. “Lately you’ve just been blaming yourself. Did something happen?”

I wasn’t sure how to answer that.

“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “You know how I’ve been taking lessons from a shaman?” Twilight nodded. “I went on a spirit journey thing. There’s a Zebrian word for it, but I can’t remember it. I saw…” I shuddered, remembering the demon thing that had worn my face. “I saw how awful I was, inside.”

“You’re not awful!” Twilight nuzzled my neck. It made me blush. I was going to have to teach her about personal space. Or have Cadance do it.

“Twilight, I saw how much I scared you last time you were here. And don’t pretend I didn’t. There are parts of me I don’t like, and I have to admit they’re there before I can do anything about them. Yeah, I had myself convinced that Celestia just didn’t trust me - because she didn’t. Because I didn’t deserve it. Tartarus, after I went to bed with that fever I had a dream where…” I shook my head. “Never mind.”

“What kind of dream?” Twilight asked, oddly cautious.

“It’s not important. It was stupid. It just… it made me realize even more that I was at fault. Or that both of us had been. Celestia and I both made mistakes.” I smiled down at Twilight. “I don’t think she made the same ones with you, though. You turned out a lot better than I did.”

“I’m a nervous wreck all the time,” Twilight said. “I’m always making lists because it’s the only way I can deal with the stress. You think you’re awful, but when I look at you, all I see is that you’re confident and smart, and you’ve got more experience than I do.”

I opened my mouth to say something, but I stopped when Twilight moved closer, burying her face in my neck.

“That’s why I don’t want you to stop teaching me or being my friend or- or…” She sniffled. “You don’t have to come back to Canterlot. I don’t mind visiting you here.”

“I won’t stop being your friend,” I said, pulling Twilight into a hug before she collapsed. The last thing either of us needed was a panic attack. “I promise.”

She squeezed me, and we just held each other. Twilight slowly started to calm down and sighed.

“This is probably the only time we’re going to get alone,” she said. “Um… there was something I wanted to ask you, but I didn’t want to do it with Cadance around. It’s too...personal.” She looked up at me, her cheeks red.

“Better ask me now,” I said. “There’s no telling how long before she escapes the crowd.”

“It’s just, well, I-I did a lot of thinking and research on related subjects, and I even asked Cadance a few things, though I don’t think she’s really figured it out based on her responses-”

“Just ask, Twilight,” I laughed a little. “If it’s about strange feelings in your horn, that’s just because the core changes a little as you get used to using more mana at once.”

“It’s not about my horn! I mean, my horn does feel strange sometimes, but I’d ask a doctor about that, not that I need to since I have reference guides but, um, this is more about other strange feelings.” She took a deep breath, steeling herself.

The branch above us rustled.

We both looked up and saw Cadance sitting there with a wide, catlike grin.

Ignore me!” she said, excited. “Keep going! You were practically at the good part!”

Twilight and I hastily broke the hug, much to her disappointment.

“How long have you been there?” I asked. Twilight was too busy trying to recover some semblance of pride and composure to say anything.

“Not that long. I just didn’t want to disturb you.” Cadance hopped down. “If you want, I could go get us some drinks, maybe take the scenic route back, give you another hour or so to talk by yourselves…”

Twilight shook her head. “N-no. It wasn’t anything important. Hey, how about we go check out Sunset’s castle?” She smiled, sweat dripping down her neck. I got the hint. She just wanted to drop the subject completely. I’d have to wait for her to get comfortable enough to ask whatever it was that was on her mind, and that probably wouldn’t happen if Cadance was hanging around.

“...Yeah,” I said. “We can head up there. If you’re going to spend the night, though, I’ve only got the two beds. We’ll need to-”

“It’s fine!” Twilight said. “Cadance can have the guest room, since she’s a princess! We can, um, work something out. Definitely.”

“...Okay,” I shrugged.

“You know, I could use a few magic lessons,” Cadance put in.

“I was giving Twilight help because she needed it. You’ve got more magic than both of us put together.” I snorted. “Besides, weren’t you just telling us about that great education Celestia made you get?”

“Well, I wasn’t studying magic as much as… other subjects.”

“Like anatomy?

“Sunset!” Cadance actually blushed a little at that.

“That makes sense,” Twilight nodded. “Dad always said that Cadance was tutoring my brother on anatomy. I guess they’re required to know first aid in the Royal Guard…”

I fell over laughing, as Cadance turned bright red and covered her face. Maybe today wasn't all bad.