//------------------------------//
// Feeling The Consequences-Sunset Shimmmer 
// Story: A Sparkling Sunset 
// by Ferhog 
//------------------------------//

The world seemed to shake side to side as Sunset walked through the other side of the mirror. She stumbled forward, her legs tripping over each other before the portal's dazing effect wore off.

"Man, am I ever going to get used to that?"

The library gave off a peaceful atmosphere as always. The afternoon light shone through the green windows, reflecting across the blue and purple crystals. It was bright enough to give the room a dazzling shine without hurting the eyes. And with the relaxing silence hanging in the air, the whole atmosphere just felt beautiful.

But not as beautiful as the lavender mare who appeared from behind a bookcase.

"Sunset!" Twilight called quietly.

As Twilight came running towards her, Sunset's entire body seemed to lose mass as raw relief and happiness entered her. After five days of school and work, seeing Twilight again was like a drink of fresh water after a marathon in the desert.

And all that exploded into elation as Twilight wrapped her hooves around her in an affectionate hug.

Once Twilight stepped back, her front hooves still around Sunset's neck, Sunset leaned her head forward with the intention of showing Twilight's lips plenty of passion. But Twilight just leaned her own head backward and blocked Sunset's mouth with her hoof.

"Sorry, we're not alone right now." She whispered.

"Mmmphmmph!" Sunset complained through the muffling hoof.

Twilight took her hoof off Sunset's muzzle. "So how was school?"

"Eh, it was school. Not much more to say." Replied Sunset, who was rubbing her mouth. As lovely as Twilight was, no pony's hooves were free of floor dirt. "So how exactly are we not alone? I'm guessing your new guards are stationed here?"

"A bit more than that." Twilight answered, turning around and walking, Sunset following behind her. "Celestia now considers this as one of the royal libraries. It's completely open to the public, as well as being first in line when receiving new books."

"Sounds like a dream come true for you. Now all we need is a danger room to practice magic and a big advanced scheduling office before you can no longer bring yourself to leave this place."

"Oh, ha ha..." Twi responded sarcastically. 

When they got through the space between parallel bookcases and into the main part of the library, Sunset saw that there was indeed a guard posted at the library's entrance. Placed across the open floor were a few azure blue crystal tables with three crystal chairs of the same colour set around each one.

Sitting at one of these tables were two stallions. One looked surprisingly similar to Sunset herself, sporting a yellow and red curly mane as well as an amber coat. On his muzzle sat a pair of glasses as he read a common sized book. On the other side of the table sat another stallion with orange fur and a messy purple mane. He too was in the process of reading a book, only unlike the other stallion, this book was much larger, and he seemed to be a lot more into it.

"Sunset, this is Woomod and Angius." Twilight introduced as they approached their table. "Two stallions that are visiting from Trottingham."

"Good afternoon." Greeted the amber stallion with glasses, who Twilight has introduced as Woomod.

"Hi." Said Angius, the orange stallion. When he looked up from his book to Sunset, she saw that his eyes were incredibly bloodshot and his pupils had shrunk dramatically from normal size.

"Uh... whats up with you?" Sunset asked, trying not to sound rude.

"He's reading the third book in the If She Were The Sun And Her The Moon series." Woomod answered. "Its pretty much the only reason he's even here. He's been reading it since yesterday evening, and he hasn't stopped."

"The tale of Red Rose and Blue Belle is like Celestia's gift to romance novels." Angius proclaimed. "Feather Flyer is the greatest writer to grace the soil of Equestria!"

"Whatever you say man." Said Woomod. "I personally think that series is just full of padding."

"You think everything's full of padding!"

"Hey, its not my fault that modern writers can't just get on with the plot."

"You can't get on with the plot!"

"I'm just gonna go back to reading."

"Me too! Red Rose forgot to take her medication and it is making for a much more entertaining experience than talking to you!"

As Angius thrust my face back into his book, Woomod turned to the two mares. "Sorry about him. I think he's just tired."

"No worries." Twilight insisted. "You just continue reading. I don't think anyone else will be visiting today anyway."

Once Woomod went back to his book, Sunset and Twilight headed for the entrance. As they passed through the doorway, the Guard gave them a salute.

"So how are you feeling about these guards?" Sunset asked.

"Honestly..." Twilight sighed. "I'm still trying to get used to it. It does seem to fit the castle as well as making it seem less lonely, but... theres just something uncomfortable about it."

"What, the highly trained armoured warriors whose duty is to keep you safe makes you feel uncomfortable?" Sunset questioned.

"Would you like to have a bunch of seemingly emotionless soldiers staring at you everywhere you go in the comfort of your own home?"

Before Sunset could respond to that, a sudden voice cut in.

"I didn't see much reason to complain back in the Griffon Kingdom."

From above them landed an orange pegasus in golden armour.

"Flash?!" Sunset yelped.  What was he doing here?!

"Nice to see you again Sunny." He greeted her with a smirk.

Sunset narrowed her eyes at Twilight. "Um...why is he here?"

"Right..." Twilight started, looking a bit embarrassed. "I probably should have told you before you last left but, um... Flash is the captain of my guards."

Sunset had to register this for a moment. Flash Sentry, the same Flash Sentry that Twilight had clearly once developed feelings for in both the human and pony world, was now basically her bodyguard.

If Attack Of The Clones had taught her anything, it was that this would not end well for her.

Apparently Sunset's dislike of this was pretty evident, as Flash started speaking.

"Someones clearly unhappy." He stated.

"Sunset, its not that bad." Said Twilight. "He saved my life back in the Griffon kingdom."

"He...WHAT?!"

Twilight bit her lip nervously. "Um...a few Griffon insurgents may have tried to kill me a few days ago."

"You just forgot to mention this?!"

"I didn't want to bring up something like that when you just got back."

Twilight was right of course, but wether it was because she learnt that Flash was now Twilight's guard or because she learned that Twilight had almost been assassinated, she was starting to feel angry.

"Look Sunny, you don't need to worry." Flash insisted. "Twilight was kept within a shield the entire time."

"Which is something I have to complain about." Uttered Twilight. "I wanted to help, but matter what I said, that guard wouldn't take the shield down."

"He was under direct orders from Celestia to keep you shielded in dangerous situations. Sorry if he didn't seem very compliant."

"Are you kidding me?!" Sunset shouted at him, the anger building inside her. "Twilight has saved Equestria more times than you've probably had to shave. Keeping her trapped in a shield probably put her in MORE DANGER!"

Flash raised an eyebrow at her. "Sheesh Sunset, calm down a bit..." 

"How can you expect me to calm down when you're so incompetent at your job?!"

'I could't agree more.'

At the sound of that voice, Sunset froze, her eyes widening. She realised how much she had irresponsibly let her rage build up, and what that could potentially have lead to...

"Sunset?" Twilight asked, looking very concerned. "Whats wrong?"

Sunset took a deep breath, backing away from Flash. "Its... its nothing." She looked towards Flash. "Flash, I'm sorry about all that stuff I said. I guess I just felt... concerned for Twilight."

"Sure..." Flash responded, clearly noticing that something had happened with her. "I should probably go... um... perimeters to check and... stuff like that..."

"I think so too." Twilight agreed. "I want to talk with Sunset for a bit."

Flash nodded at her, before kicking himself off the floor, spreading his wings out, and flying away.

Twilight turned back to face Sunset, the look of concern still in her eyes. "Sunset... what was that?"

"I told you, its nothing."

"Don't try this on me. I saw you suddenly get angry with Flash, and then you just looked...scared."

Sunset looked at Twilight, and the look on her face. It was a face she couldn't lie to.

And more importantly, it was a face she could trust.

"Can we talk somewhere else?" She asked. "Like... your room or something?"

Twilight nodded. "My room is just fine."

She walked down the hallway, Sunset following behind her. There wasn't anything to talk about, so there was no speaking. Just the sound of their hoofsteps echoing down the hallway. They passed a guard on the way, who gave them a salute like the one in the library. Sunset was starting to understand how they made Twilight feel uncomfortable.

After they entered the throne room, they went up a set of stairs that lead to another hallway. It was a short walk down the hallway before Twilight opened up one of the doorways, letting Sunset in before she closed the door behind them.

There was no source of light in the room besides the curtainless window letting the evening sunlight in, which worked perfectly fine. Aside from the bed, which certainly looked very royal, the room didn't look very different from the guest bedroom that Sunset had stayed in.

"So..." Said Twilight. "Now that we're alone...whats going on?"

Sunset sighed. There was no way should could back out of it now, but it didn't mean that she had to like it.

"I've been having nightmares..." Sunset said quietly.

"What kind of nightmares?" Twilight asked, her voice sounding very compassionate.

"I find myself in this... red corridor. In front and behind me I see nothing but darkness, and I keep thinking that I can't go back, so I start walking ahead. As I do, I keep hearing these...voices. Saying things from my past. And at the end..."

She stopped for a moment, the memories of the dreams feeling hard to bring up.

"And...what?" Twilight responded.

"Its different each time... but it always ends with... myself. The form I took when I put the crown on..."

"That sounds horrible." Twilight uttered.

"Thats not the important part. Yes, that sounds like it was just my own insecurity and fear of my past taking form in my mind. And in a way... I guess it is. But its more than that. I started hearing... a voice. Her voice. In the real world."

Twilight's eyes shot wide open. "How?"

"I talked to Discord about it. He said that when I took demon form, the element of magic fused with a part of my soul. When you and the others reverted me back to normal, that part of me stayed."

It looked like Twilight was trying to look calm, but she was clearly disturbed from hearing this.

"He said that... its mostly inactive. Its only when I start to feel negative emotions that it starts to emerge. And when it does... not only can I hear her, but... she rides those emotions. She overcharges them to the point where I'm getting infuriated over basically nothing."

"So how do we stop it?" Twilight asked, continuing to sound upset. 

"I already asked Discord. Like I said, its a part of my soul. A part of me. Getting rid of should be impossible. And if it can somehow be done, it would likely lobotomise me if it didn't kill me."

"But..."

"Its not as bad as it sounds. It just... talks to me really. Just overblows my emotions. Theres not much bad stuff that can come from that, right?"

"Sunset, we both know what you were like as a demon. We can't have that come back in any way or form."

"I already told you, we can't risk trying to get rid of it. Theres nothing we can do."

For what felt like a while, Twilight just stared at Sunset, seemingly trying to figure out something to say or do, but nothing came to mind.

Suddenly she rushed towards Sunset, wrapping her hooves around her in an intense hug. Still hugging her, she pressed her lips against Sunset's in a quick, yet passionate kiss. She quickly kissed her twice more before resting her head on Sunset's shoulder.

"Sunset, I'm... I'm so sorry..." She said in a voice that sounded on the verge of tears.

"Don't be." Sunset insisted. "Right now I'm just happy that you're okay. I still can't believe that you could have died in the Griffon kingdom."

Twilight parted herself from the hug, a sad look on her face. "Right... the Griffon kingdom..."

"What was it like?" Sunset asked, sensing something wrong.

"It was..." Twilight said quietly, her breathing getting louder. "It was just... just horrible. Everywhere I looked I was seeing... suffering. Citizens being arrested, adults and children alike living on the streets, Griffons that... just weren't moving..."

Tears were now running down her face.

"And..." She sobbed. "I think about how they may still be going through Tartarus right now, and yet I... I have everything I could have ever wanted or needed. And then I think about the fact that it all could have been stopped earlier... if I had just been there..."

Whatever she was going to say next, she didn't get to. She didn't need to. Sunset raised her hoof, stroking Twilight's cheek, which was wet with tears.

"Don't tell yourself that any of it is your fault. You didn't know that the portal would close behind you. You didn't know that you'd be gone for a week. You didn't know what was happening in the Griffon kingdom. Theres no reason to be blaming yourself for any of this."

Sunset and Twilight stared at each other, the latter's eyes red from crying.

"That doesn't change the fact that its still happening."

Her horn glowing aqua, Sunset magically brushed stray strands of Twilight's hair out of her face. "Well you can't help anyone if you're busy being so sad over it." 

Twilight's reaction lasted as long as it should have. For a moment , they just stared at each other, Sunset trying to comfort Twilight with a smile. Eventually, Twilight in turn smiled, before leaning forward and giving Sunset another quick kiss. This one was less passionate than the previous ones, but there was something... more heartfelt about it.

"Thank you." She whispered.

"Thats what girlfriends do." Sunset whispered back. "We support each other."

"Come on." Said Twilight, rubbing the water out of her eyes. "Its getting late. We should go get some dinner."

"I think you're right."

Twilight headed out the door, Sunset following behind her. As Sunset left the room, closing the door behind her, a thought formed in her head.

A thought that had been growing in her mind as Twilight was explaining what had been going on in the Griffon kingdom.

If she hadn't gone back to get the crown that fateful day, she and Twilight likely wouldn't have met. If she and Twilight hadn't met, they never would have developed their friendship and eventual relationship. If they had never been friends, Twilight wouldn't have gotten herself stuck in the human world.

She would have been in Equestria as the civil conflict erupted.

'Its not your fault Twilight. Its mine.'