//------------------------------//
// Chapter 7 
// Story: The Phoenix Tear 
// by CartoonNerd12 
//------------------------------//

When the rain had stopped, Flash took off from a castle balcony and resumed searching for his wife. He was so worried about Twilight taking off when she did. He knew she was getting stressed out from her having to become queen pretty soon, but he never thought she would run away from her troubles.

He flapped on till he heard a voice calling out to him, "Flash!" He looked down to see his wife waving at him. He thought, Thank goodness… He flew down and landed in front of her.

Sunset Shimmer stared at him as the two embraced.

"Where were you?" Flash poured out his concerns. "I didn't know what happened to you or when you would be back…The kids were so worried that I had to tell them you would be back, but I wasn't so sure."

Twilight gave off a sad look, feeling guilty, "I'm sorry… I was feeling pressured about what was expected of me and I had to get away to think straight. Forgive me?"

He sighed while wrapping his wing around her, "Just as long I know you're safe now. That's all that matters…" He smiled and then he turned his head towards the mare behind Twilight, who looked away from him shyly.

Twilight gestured, "This is my new friend, Sunset Shimmer. She's going to stay with us for a couple of nights."

Flash went to her, making a bow and took Sunset's hoof to kiss it, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Sunset Shimmer."

Sunset ended up blushing, "Gosh, the pleasure's all mine, Sir…?"

"Sentry. Flash Sentry." he told her.

She ended up blushing again, which concerned Twilight as she pulled her husband back and whispered to him, "What was with the hoof kissing?"

"What? I just trying to be a gentlecolt. I am the husband of a princess, after all." he gave a cheesy grin, causing her to glare at him.

"This is payback for the incident with Shining Armor, isn't it?"

"Why, Princess, do you mean to tell me you're jealous?" he smirked.

"As if, but you might want to be careful around Sunset. You don't want to send the poor girl mixed messages."

He chuckled, "Relax, Twi. I'll be careful." He kissed her cheek.

Sunset saw that and sighed, At least I already knew she was married. Twilight is so lucky to have him… Hopefully, I could meet a guy like him someday… That is, if I can finish paying off my debt to Starlight, but who knows when that'll happen…?

Flash motioned to his wife, "Let's get you back."

"Of course. Then the girls and I can give Sunset a tour."

The three headed to the castle and as they got closer, Sunset gawked at the tall towers of the palace. She was amazed at the sight before her. When they made it the front entrance, Flash opened the door for them as the mares stepped in. Twilight called out, "We're home!"

"Twilight!" a fast, loud voice said and a pink blur zipped in to give Twilight a hug, which was squeezing the life out of her. "We were so worried!"

"I'm… okay… Pink…ie…" Twilight gasped. "Can you please… let go?"

"Oh, sorry!" Pinkie loosened her grip.

Her other sisters weren't far behind as they surrounded Twilight, giving out apologies and concerns.

Twilight assured them, "I'm alright, and I am sorry I ran off like that… I was just so stressed from all this preparing to take our parents' place."

"We understand, darling. It is an important role, after all…" Rarity nodded.

"And I'm sorry I made that wisecrack about the arrow when I should have been helping you…" Rainbow hung her head.

"We all should have been…" said Applejack. "This is something you shouldn't have to handle alone…"

They nodded in agreement, including Flash.

"Thanks, guys… That means a lot…" They got into a group hug, but let go once they heard two young voices.

"Mom!" Twilight saw her kids running to her as she held her hooves out to embrace them both.

"We were starting to wonder if you were ever coming back!" said Fire Spark.

She moved her hoof through her son's mane, "Don't worry… I'll always come back to you…"

"Pinkie-Promise?" Starling did the gesture.

Twilight giggled and also did the gesture. "Now, I want you to meet a new friend of mine." She had Sunset Shimmer come forward to face the group, "This is Sunset Shimmer. We met while I was taking a break from all that's been going on around here. Sunset, this is my daughter, Starling, my son, Fire Spark, and my sisters: Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie."

"Hi!" they greeted the new mare.

"Hello…" she timidly replied. "It's great to meet all of you. Twilight has told me a lot about you."

"And Twilight has told us nothing about you!" pointed Pinkie, causing every pony to laugh.

Twilight said, "Well, I will once we give Sunset a tour of the castle. She'll be staying with us for the next two days."

"How wonderful!" said Rarity. "We hadn't had company over in such a long time and I shall do the honor of giving the tour!"

"Aw! But I wanted to do it!" whined Pinkie.

"How about we take turns?" suggested Fluttershy.

"Rarity can start us off and Pinkie can finish it." said Rainbow.

"Deal!" both sisters said.

"Though I do have one quick question before we go," said Twilight, "does Mom and Dad know about… my absence?" She felt ashamed, due to the fact her parents trusted her to keep a cool head while ruling a kingdom. It was all the more reason why she felt like she would disappoint all who believed that she would be a great queen.

"Don't worry. We made sure they didn't find out about it," said Applejack. "We were going to make sure we found you before they realized you weren't here."

"Indeed. You know how awful they would feel to find you missing?" questioned Rarity.

Twilight nodded, "Thanks for covering me."

"Duh! That's what sisters do!" Rainbow bumped her shoulder.

They ended up giggling and with Sunset watching them, she could feel the sisterly love they shared, wishing she had a love like that.

"Now on with the tour!" Rarity announced, taking the lead.

Sunset was shown all kinds of rooms, but when going past the throne room, the doors were closed. She was told that the king and queen were in there conducting business. She also noticed Twilight looking sad when being told that. Then, when seeing the other rooms, she was introduced to the other princesses' husbands and children. She was surprised that two of the husbands were different creatures and that one of them was a lord of chaos she had read in books. She thought he was a myth, but one would imagine her shock when she found out he was very real this whole time.

At that point, Pinkie started taking over the tour. They were on the third floor of the castle and headed to a room with a closed door. She opened it and declared, "And here's where we were all born!" They stepped into the nursery, where there was a crib and playthings for infants. The room looked like it hadn't been used in years.

"Well, that's not exactly true," said Applejack, "but we were living in here until Mother moved us to the bigger room."

Rarity went over to the crib and gushed, "I can remember looking over the bars to see my new little sisters when they were born…" She went over to touch Rainbow, Pinkie, and Twilight's cheeks, "They were the most adorable things in the world!"

"Cut the mush, Rarity!" complained Rainbow. "We're not babies anymore!"

"I know, but you'll always be my little sisters…"

Pinkie went in for a hug, "And you'll always be our big sister!"

Twilight giggled, "Alright, we best press on. It's almost time for dinner and I need to show Sunset her room."

They agreed and started heading out, but it seemed like Sunset couldn't budge. Since she first entered the room, she had a strange feeling like she somehow had been here before. Twilight was the last one to the door and noticed Sunset not moving.

"Are you alright?"

"Huh?" Sunset faced her. "Oh, sorry, I was just… Never mind. I must be tired from the long day."

"I'll show you to your room so you can get rest before dinner."

"Thank you."

The two of them headed down a long corridor and Twilight stopped at a room. In the room, Sunset gaped at the large canopy bed with a wardrobe and vanity filled with lotions and perfumes.

"Twilight, this is… I couldn't…"

"You can," she smiled.

"At least let me pay for all this." she took out the bag of bits.

Twilight shook her head, "No, I wouldn't dream of it. You will stay here as my guest."

"You really are something, Princess."

They both giggled.

"If you need anything, all you have to do is pull the rope and some pony will come by to help."

Sunset went to the wardrobe to put away her cloak, "Got it. Thanks." Sunset took off her cloak and once she did, Twilight gasped a little too loudly. Sunset panicked, "What is it? What's wrong?!"

Twilight stared at Sunset's cutie mark, the same cutie mark that appeared in her dreams for so many years. She looked up to see Sunset's worried face and she carefully said, "Sorry, I was… just remembering something, but it's okay. It's… nothing important." She felt herself getting hot, "I better take this off. It's suddenly warm in here." Twilight took off her cloak and it was Sunset's turn to gasp loudly.

Twilight worried and saw Sunset staring. She concluded, "Oh, the wings. Yeah, I know, but I didn't always have them."

Sunset slowly said, "It's… not the wings I'm concerned about…"

"Oh?"

"It's… well, um, your… cutie mark…"

Twilight's eyes widened, "You, too?!"

"What?"

"Your cutie mark!" she pointed. "I've seen yours in my dreams!"

"I've seen yours in mine!"

They ended up examining each other's flanks while going in a circle. Then they stopped to stare at each other.

"This is so…" Sunset started.

"Weird…" Twilight finished. Then she asked, "When did it start for you?"

"Twenty years ago, when I first got my cutie mark."

"Me, too!"

"What do you think it means?"

"I have no idea… but this cannot be a coincidence for the both of us to have the exact dream every year, especially so close to my birthday."

"Yeah, Donut Joe told me your birthday was on the Summer Sun Celebration. When is that?"

"Seven days from now."

"Are you serious?! That's when my birthday is!"

"What?!"

"Okay, this is starting to get spooky…"

"It is… We were both born on the same day as the Summer Sun Celebration. We both have the same dream that leads up to our birthdays. I don't understand the connection. Any number of ponies can have the exact same birthday, but why is it us who get these visions?"

Sunset could only shrug, "Who knows?"

"Well… one pony might… but she's away in the Crystal Empire visiting my cousin and her husband…"

"Who's that?"

"My Aunt Luna. She's the mother of our cousin, Princess Cadence. Cadence is married to Shining Armor, who was Captain of the Royal Guard and an old friend. They have a three-year-old daughter named Skyla."

"Well, can't you send a message to your aunt telling her about our dreams?"

"I would, but you said so yourself that you can't stay long and by the time my aunt does gets here, you'll already be gone."

"Oh."

"Well, don't worry about it. We can discuss this later. I have to go get ready for dinner and you should, too."

"Gotcha, so I'll meet you there?"

"Would you want some pony to escort you?"

"That would be helpful, thanks."

"Sure, I can do that," she made for the door. She turned back to smile at her new friend, who smiled in return, and then she left.

Sunset was happy for having a new friend, who was a princess at that! She began to wonder about her friends back at the manor. She hoped they got a handle on things and that they did manage to waylay Starlight from noticing that Sunset wasn't there…