Sunset and Twilight walked down a street on the way to Sunset's apartment. With Twilight staying here with her, Sunset just knew she had to take her in and give her a place to stay, if only for a few days. She wondered what she had done before, when she came here last time, where did she stay?
"This place is, amazing." Twilight said.
"You think so?" Sunset replied, looking at all the cars and busses speeding by, "It's not that great really. Well, then again, you're new here, so may-"
"And they achieved all this without magic?" Twilight asked, interrupting Sunset.
"Yeah. I don't know how, but somehow they did." She answered.
Twilight scratched the top of her head, where her horn would be. "How do you get by without it?" she asked, as she continued to scratch.
Sunset touched the top of her own head for a moment, "You just... get use to it. Over time."
"So, how long have you been here?" Twilight asked, as she brought her hand back down to her sides.
"A couple years, I never really bothered to keep count." Sunset gave a sigh, "Princess, can I ask you something?"
"I-it's just Twilight. You don't need to call me that." Twilight replied, rather uneasily.
"Why not?"
"I just, don't really like it. It makes me sound like I'm better then everypony else." She replied.
"Oh. Then what was with that introduction?" Sunset asked.
"I was just trying to make a good impression, believe me, it's not something I like doing." she said, still a bit uneasy.
"Oh... ok... Twilight." Sunset said, she had to admit, it felt strange being so casual with her, the one who she had tried to kill just over a week ago.
"Sorry about that." Twilight said, "So what did you want to ask me?"
"Oh, well-"
There was a sudden knock on a window next to them, as they both turned to see a familier person waving in the window, saying something. Something muffled theough the glass. Twilight just stood there for a second, as she recognized the hair, hair that could only belong to one pony. No way, Pinkie?! she had a quick look at the others sitting around her, Rainbow? Fluttershy? Aj, Rari- they can't be.
She returned Pinkie's wave, whos gaze was now fixated behind her. She turned around to see Sunset faced away from them, staring down at the ground. She quickly went up and put her arm around her shoulder. "Hey, are you ok?" she asked, rather worried.
She sighed, "It's just..." She looked up past Twilight's head, towards the window, and a slight smile came to her face. "I'll explain later." She removed Twilight's arm from her and continued walking. "Come on. It's not far from here now."
"O...k?" Twilight replied as she began to follow behind her.
The two of them finally reached their destination, as Sunset pulled a key out of her pocket. Twilight looked over the building strip. It was a row of single-story buildings, forming a simple rectangular shape allong the street.
Sunset walked up to one of the doors and opened it up. "Here we are." She reached her hand just inside the door and hit on a light switch, before walking in.
Twilight walked in behind her, and looked over the room. There was a desk, with a couple books, a pen, and a small drink carton on it to the left, accompanied by a small bin and a chair next to it. To the right there was a small single bed, with a few pillows, and a dart bored above it. Just next to the desk, and just ahead of her there were two open doors, presumably leading to a kitchen and a bathroom.
The last thing she noticed when she entered were all the peices of scrupled up paper scattered around the floor. "Well this place is... nice." she said unconvinceably.
Sunset shook her head as she threw her bag under her desk, like she did every day. "You don't need to be kind, it's a dump." she sat down at her desk and turned to Twilight, "If I knew I was having a guest over I probably would have cleaned up a bit." she chuckled.
"Well, I suppose it could be a bit cleaner." she agreed as she walked over and sat down on the bed, "But it's not really a problem." She moved up to the back of the bed, and rested her head on a pillow, as she closed her eyes and layed there for a moment. She opened her eyes to see Sunset staring at her with a bit of a smirk. "What?"
"Comfy?" She asked.
Twilight raised an eyebrow, before jutting up in embarrassment. "Oh! Sorry. I'm just... You see, while it's only the afternoon for you, back home it's like, half two in the morning, and I haven't had much sleep." she replied, "Sorry."
Sunset sighed, and gave Twilight a smile. "It's fine. You can have a nap, or, something if you want." she said nicely.
"Thanks." Twilight replied as she layed back down.
"Don't mention it." she replied, "But, before you doze off, can I ask you something?" she asked, rather weakly.
"Sure, what is it?" Twilight asked as she sat back up.
Sunset wanted to ask her something, something rather personal, but didn't feel it would be right to ask straight away. "What's it like back home?" she asked as a way to reach her real question, "I've been here so long I, I've probably missed out on a lot of stuff over the years." she said as an excuse.
"Well, I'm not sure how long you've been gone, but the last year has been pretty crazy to say the least."
"How so?" She asked, while it wasn't what she really wanted to know, she as still curious.
"Well, we've had five attempted conquests, but, asi-"
"Five attempted conquests? From who?" Sunset asked. In the time she was in Equestria, there had never been any kind of hostile takeover attempt. Untill her own of course.
"Well... The first was a threat of eternal night. Do you know the legend of the-"
"Mare In The Moon?" she finished, "Yeah. And let me guess, it was more than a story?" she asked.
"Yep. We were able to bring Princess Luna back, and she's not..." Twilight couldn't think of the right word to describe her. She didn't want to call Luna outright evil. "You know, she's not... like that any more."
"I get it." Sunset said, seeing Twilight was getting a bit uneasy. "So who else?"
"Well, then there was Discord, the lo-"
"Discord!" Sunset repeated in disbelief, leaning forward over the back of her chair, "That creepy draconequus statue guy?" she asked.
Twilight nodded. "He gave us some trouble but, we were able to turn him back to stone."
"You beat him? You're amazing Twilight!" She pulled back and sat normally on her chair, now she just wanted to know more. "Who else?"
"Well the other two were an army of Changelings, and a shadow pony named Sombra. Have you hered of him? Because I sure hadn't."
Sunset looked away in thought for a second, "Sombra... Nope, doesn't ring a bell. So who else?"
"Well, that's all of them actually." Twilight said.
"You said there were five attempted conquests, those were only four." Sunset told her.
"Oh did I?" Twilight counted on her fingers, "Nightmare Moon, Discord, the Changelings and Sombra. That's all of them. Guess I miscounted." she said, a bit embarrassed, "You'd think I would be able to keep count of them all."
Sunset laughed, as an attempt to hide her uneasyness, and Twilight laughed along with her. I never stood a chance against you did I? Now it was time for what she really wanted to ask. "Can I ask you... one more thing?"
"Sure. What now?" Twilight asked as she calmed herself down.
"How's Celestia doing? Has she been okay?"
"She's." there was a small silence, just long enough to be awkward. "She's been fine. Nothings really been wrong with her."
Sunset turned back to her desk, away from Twilight. "Did she ever mention me. Or a, previous student who ran away?" she asked.
Twilight didn't want to answer this, knowing Sunset wouldn't like the answer. "Um. No, she never did. I'm sorry about that." she said slowly,
"It's fine. I didn't think she would." Sunset tried to hold in her tears, but a few were making their way out. "I was always just a failure anyway."
She felt a hand on her shoulder, "Hey, it's okay. When we came here, she was so worried about finding you." Twilight said, trying to reasure her, "I'm sure you mean something to her."
Sunset wiped away her few tears and looked around at the girl behind her, "You think so?"
"I know so. Celestia wouldn't come all the way to another world for just anypony." she said as she looked closer at Sunset's face, "I think I have seen you before actually, it must have been in a picture or something." She wasn't sure if she was right, but she had definitely seen a pony who looked like her somewhere.
"A picture?" Sunset's eyes widened and she quickly got off of her seat and went over to her bed. I hope it's still there. She reached her arm down the side of her bed, and after a couple seconds of desperate searching, pulled up a picture frame. After wiping it clear of a ton of dust, she handed it to Twilight. "This one?"
The picture was one of Celestia and Sunset sitting next to each other, smiling. "That's the only photo We had together. it wasn't long after that I started to turn a bit, bitter, to say the least."
After only mere seconds of looking at the picture, Twilight knew this wasn't where she had seen her, but the look on Sunset's face was one of pure desperation. She just couldn't tell her the truth. "Yeah. This is it." she lied, "I think I saw it in her main chamber, next to her bed."
"Really!? She kept it after all th-" Sunset was interrupted by a loud buzzing sound coming from her bag. Wait, that's... she rushed over and looked under her desk, and sure enough, the sound was coming from there. She quickly picked up her bag and opened it up.
"What's that?" Twilight asked.
Sunset saw her book glowing and vibrating. "This is something she gave me, as a means to write to her!" she pulled the book out of her bag, and dropped the bag to the ground. "And if it's like this then..." she opened the book and flicked through the pages until she reached the page where she had written to Celestia last week. On the page next to it, words were appearing out of thin air. "She wrote back."
Sunset sat down, and put the book gently down on her desk. "I'll leave you alone for a moment." Twilight set the picture down next to where Sunset had placed the book, before leaving into the kitchen. Sunset took a deep breathe, and read the letter to herself.
To my dear student, Sunset Shimmer.
When you wrote to me days ago, I'm sorry that I didn't reply to you then. I had wanted to, but I felt that with the portal that kept us apart opening soon, it would have been better if I went over to meet you personally.
I see now that that was a mistake, I should have wrote back to you as soon as I got it, and for that I am deeply sorry.I always knew that one day, you would see your mistakes and come back to me one day. Despite all that has happened between us, please know that I have been, and always will be here for you should you ever need me, and that all is forgiven.
Finally, please take care of Twilight, I'm sure she will be able to help you with any problems you may have. I hope you both return together as soon as you can.I can't wait to see you again, standing here by my side.
Your teacher, Princess Celestia.
Sunset just sat there for a moment. Rereading it over and over. She couldn't believe it. Not only had she forgiven her, but she was also still willing to take her back as her student. "You really do care about me." she muttered. She picked up the book, and took it into the bathroom, before closing and locking the door behind her.
Twilight walked back in, and heard crying coming the bathroom. She approached the door, and gave it a knock, "Sunset. Are you ok?" she asked softly. There was no answer. "What did she say?"
"I'm fine." was all she heard through the door. She decided to sit at Sunset's desk, and wait for her to come back out when she was ready, instead of trying to talk her out.
After about five minutes, the cries dies down, and the door opened. Sunset walked out of the bathroom. She had given her face a good wash in the sink, and dried it up quite nicely. "Are you ok now?" Twilight asked with a smile.
Sunset put her book down on her desk. "Yeah. I needed that." she said. "I'm just, gonna go for a walk, if that's okay. I know I probably shouldn't leave you here on your own but," she walked over to the front door. "I just need some fresh air."
"Well, do you want me to come with you?" she asked as Sunset opened the door.
"I thought you were tired?" she asked.
"I'll be fine. I'll just get some extra sleep tonight." Twilight replied as she got up and walked over to her.
Sunset gave it a thought, "Sure, alright then. Maybe I could use some company right now." They then both left the small apartment, and closed the door behind them.