The next few hours were a blur, largely because I was still recovering from oxygen deprivation, magical exhaustion, and being locked in a small room with Celestia. Still, I found a way to enjoy the celebrations, despite my home being largely reduced to rubble. I'd have to see how much damage the ancient castle had sustained later. I hadn't wanted to go and look with Celestia there. I was embarrassed about it. I didn't want her to see me salvaging my things from the rubble.
“So then I threw a book at her, and got kicked right out of the castle,” I said, grinning. The foals sitting in front of me gasped. I only recognized two of them. Rarity and Applejack’s sisters were among the group, and I could have sworn I’d told Apple Bloom this story already.
“Were you a Princess like Celestia?” asked a pink foal with a purple and white mane.
“Nah, I was just her student, like Twilight is now...” I glanced past the crowd. I could see Celestia from here, despite all the ponies between us. Her size made her rather hard to miss.
“Why aren’t ya with Applejack an’ the others?” Apple Bloom asked. I looked back at the foals and smiled at her.
“They’re the ones who saved the day, not me. I was just an innocent bystander. If they hadn’t figured things out, it wouldn’t have ended well for me.” I coughed, and continued in a near whisper. "And I might feel a little guilty about almost killing them."
“Nay, Sunset Shimmer. 'Tis no need to be so modest.” The voice was fragile, raspy, and unfamiliar. The foals looked past me in surprise, and I turned to see Princess Luna. Apparently she’d slipped away from the crowd. I couldn’t blame her. They were all cheering for the defeat of Nightmare Moon, and that couldn’t have been comfortable to be around.
“Princess Luna,” I bowed slightly.
“Don’t,” Luna said. “We do not deserve such supplication from thee. In truth, We came hither to speak with the mare whom is apparently Our niece.” She looked... nervous. She wouldn't meet my eyes as she spoke.
“I’m not-” I sighed. “You must have gotten the wrong impression. I’m just a former student. And not a very good one.”
“Tis not the impression We got from Our sister, whom spoke most fondly of thee.” Luna sat next to me, face turned away. “We wish'd for thee to ken that We were most impress'd with thy spellcraft. We did not expect alicorn-level magic from a unicorn, and thou came closer to defeating us than thou realizes.”
“When I ruined your hair?” I joked.
“Aye.” Luna touched her limp, sky-blue mane, the edges crispy from where I'd burned it. “‘T’will take some time to recover, more e’en than We will. Sooth, Our sister did not put up half as much resistance. We retreated from this town licking Our wounds, though We dared not show how much thou had done.” Luna coughed demurely, covering her mouth with a hoof with what I recognized as disguised trepidation. “We also wish to apologize for trapping thee on the moon.”
“It was interesting, at least,” I smiled. “I guess it was supposed to be some kind of ironic punishment for Celestia?”
“Exactly so,” Luna muttered.
“Ah, Luna, I see you and my daughter are getting along.” I jumped a little at the voice. Celestia had come over while I wasn’t paying attention. She still intimidated me - being scared of her was a difficult habit to break. I was at least going to pretend I wasn’t afraid, though.
“Princess, I’m not…” I shrugged. She knew what I meant. "It's a little late for that, isn't it?"
“When I said we were going to fix things, I meant it,” Celestia said. “Once the celebration here is over, I’ll be taking Luna back to Canterlot. I want you to come with me. You’ve spent a long time running, Sunset. I just got my sister back, and I’d like you to be there too. It's partly my fault that your home was destroyed, and the least I can do is welcome you back to where you belong.”
I hesitated. “I… I hurt a lot of ponies in Canterlot. I didn’t even think about it at the time, but I never treated any of the castle servants like they were real ponies, and the other students at the school…” I trailed off.
“A lot of those students are still around, either with their families or continuing their studies,” Celestia acknowledged. “You’d have to apologize to quite a few ponies. But they’re owed apologies no matter where you decide to live.”
“Sunset!” Twilight yelled, running up to where we were talking. “Princess Celestia’s going to let me stay here in Ponyville! I know it’s not really that much closer than Canterlot, a-and you don’t live in town, but, um…” She trailed off, digging at the ground with a hoof. "I've been thinking about that favor you owe me."
"I guess you were right about the ancient prophesy thing..." I admitted.
"I want you to go with Celestia," Twilight said. "Part of me wants to be greedy and ask you to stay here with me, but then I remembered something."
"What? Some other prophesy thing?"
"No," Twilight said, narrowing her eyes. "I remembered that you dropped out of school! I'm not going to let my best friend ruin her life because she didn't get a proper formal education! I'm calling in my favor, and I want you to go back to Canterlot and stay with Celestia and finish learning from her." She blushed and looked at the Princess. "I-if that's okay with her."
"Of course it is," Celestia laughed.
“You got me there. Applejack would kill me if I welshed on a promise. Guess that means I’m going to have to visit you for a change,” I said, standing up. “Think you can take care of the town while I’m gone? They’re gonna need a pretty powerful unicorn to hold the place down.” I looked around the streets and mumbled. “It seems like there’s a new disaster every week around here.”
Twilight smiled. "I know I can. And I want you to take care of Princess Celestia."
"Aye, she nearly 'took care' of Our sister quite permanently," Luna said, quietly. "Perhaps 'tis best to keep her close at hoof, as long as she can avoid turning Canterlot into rubble as well."
“I might have gotten a little paranoid over the years,” I admitted. “But you need to learn from our friends, and I need to…” I took a deep breath. “I need to stop being a scary monster in the woods and actually get on with my life. It’s been on hold now for a long time because I was too afraid to face what I’d done.” I limped a little as I walked over to Twilight to hug her. “It took a lot of ponies to drag me back into the world. Especially you, Twilight.”
“It won’t be the same without you,” Twilight whispered.
“Are you kidding?” I snorted. “Twilight, I’m going to be a few hours away by train, and we won’t have to try and go behind Celestia’s back to see each other. Do you know how much easier it’s going to be to hang out?”
“Twilight,” Celestia said gently. “True friendships can’t be broken by distance, time, or even the mistakes we made, as long as we don’t give up on them.” She leaned down to nuzzle Luna.
“You’re right, Princess,” Twilight smiled. “I guess I was just excited to finally be open about Sunset. I’ve been hiding it for so long and… I’m sorry I never told you.”
“There’s nothing to be sorry about, Twilight,” Celestia said. “But, as part of your official studies on friendship, I think the crown can manage to pay some minor travel expenses. Say, a pass for the train to and from Canterlot?”
Twilight brightened up at that. “Thank you, Princess Celestia.”
“I wouldn’t want to keep my little one from seeing her friends either~” Celestia teased, picking me up with her magic and pinching my cheeks. I groaned, my ears flattening against my head with annoyance.
“Celestia! I’m supposed to be a terrifying, mysterious witch!” I complained. Whined, really. The whole town was looking at me. I blushed as red as Big Macintosh.
“I think it’s time we started heading back,” Celestia said. “We have a lot to prepare for your and Luna’s arrival.” She started walking, still holding me in her magic like I might try to escape. As we started towards the chariot waiting for us, I saw my friends, waving to me.
“Can I just… say goodbye to everypony first?” Celestia put me down without argument, and my friends crowded around me.
“Don’t be a stranger, sugarcube,” Applejack said, as she squeezed me with the incredible strength she’d developed over the years.
“You simply must invite us to the castle,” Rarity put in. “Not… your castle. It was… interesting, I suppose, but rather in disrepair. Canterlot castle. Please don't blow it up.”
“Come on, Rare,” Dash snorted. “This isn’t the time to be asking favors!” She lowered her voice and whispered into my ear. “But if you like, get in close with the Wonderbolts, drop my name a few times and let them know I’m awesome. Just be honest.”
“I’m glad that you’re, um, that you’re doing better,” Fluttershy added. “I’ve been worried about how sad you were sometimes and… I’m glad you aren’t now.” She smiled.
“This calls for a going away party!” Pinkie shouted.
“We’re already at a party, Pinkie,” Twilight sighed.
“How about a homecoming party for when I come back,” I suggested.”That way you’ll have time to think about how to make it really, um…” I looked at Dash. “Awesome?” Dash nodded in approval.
“We could have a pinata!” Pinkie gasped. “No - the world’s biggest pinata! Filled with smaller, Maretyoshka pinatas!”
“Is that a thing?” I tilted my head.
“I will need to do party science to find out,” Pinkie said, very seriously. “I’ll need five hundred pounds of paper mache, two bags of glitter, an old priest, and a young priest.”
I shook my head at that. My other friends stepped aside as Twilight embraced me.
“You will come back, right?” Twilight asked. “I’d feel really stupid if I moved here to study friendship and ended up losing my best friend at the same time.”
“Twilight, it’d take an escaped god of chaos to keep me away.”
I felt really stupid about saying that, later, but that’s a story for another day.