“He didn’t have to do that, you know.” Sunset sighed as she went to her kitchen, trying to decide what to make for herself for breakfast. A part of her wanted to just go back to bed, but she knew better than to give into that. She knew that she was needed and couldn’t allow herself to fall apart.
“He promised he would take Star to the library today anyways, Sunny. He just picked her up earlier so they could go out for breakfast.” Cadence smiled as she leaned up against the counter, studying Sunset with a critical eye. “Besides I wanted to spend some time with you alone.”
“I’m fine, really C. Don’t worry.” Sunset rolled her eyes, pulling down a box of instant waffle mix from the cabinet. “Do you want some waffles?”
“No thank you, Sunny, but I don’t think you are fine at all.” Cadence sighed Cadence sighed as she walked over to Sunset, putting a hand on her arm making her lower it from getting a bowl down. Gently rubbing Sunset’s arm she continued “I might have only known you for a few months Sunny, but I love you. I know you have trouble trusting, but if there is one thing that you trust is that we love you. We only want what is best for you.”
“I already agreed with Shiny last night, C, don’t worry.” Sunset sighed, “I know I need help.”
“About last night, Shiny was just messing with me. Right? You didn’t actually?” Cadence asked as she took a step back, still finding it hard to believe. It wasn’t that she didn’t believe in the possibility of magic. She just found it hard believing that Sunset’s stories could be true, much less that she could turn into a demon.
“Turn into a demon? Yeah.” Sunset sighed, thanking the ring of the doorbell for getting her out of what she was sure to be an uncomfortable topic. A topic she herself was unsure about as all she had were theories to go on at the current point in time. “I’ll be back.”
Cadence wanted to curse their luck, she had been trying for weeks to get Sunset alone to have a heart to heart. It had been increasingly harder to get two minutes alone with the troubled teen, much less several hours like she wanted.
“Principal Celestia!?” Sunset gasped as she opened the door to find a woman who looked just like her aunt standing there, though Cadence knew this wasn’t her aunt.
“Sunny, get back! That isn’t Auntie Celestia!” Cadence gasped, pulling Sunset back and taking a defensive posture in front of the girl she viewed as a little sister if not daughter.
“I guess this was wrong.” Celestia sighed waving a piece of paper. “I just wanted to speak with Sunset Shimmer.”
Cadence didn’t care who this woman looked like or claimed to be, there was something seriously wrong here. There was a woman who looked exactly like a identical twin sister of her aunt and was, “Oh wow! It’s true!”
“You fucking bitch!” Sunset screamed all of a sudden making both women jump a little as they both turned to witness what seemed like a really pissed off teen seething angrily as she glared at the Celestia doppelganger. “How dare you show your face here?!”
“Sunny?” Cadence gasped out, a little shocked at the girl’s outburst while being thankful that they were the only ones there. Looking closer at Sunset though made Cadence even more worried as she knew how Sunset looked when she was angry, even if she never really witnessed her being this angry. Right now Sunset didn’t look angry, not really. Her posture wasn’t rigid, her breathing was actually pretty normal, no blush across her cheeks and the most disturbing thing of all was her eyes. They looked to be more lost than angry.
“Please Sunset, I just want to talk.” Celestia pleaded, falling to her knees as tears began falling almost instantly. “I just want to make things right, I love you!”
“If you loved me, you wouldn’t have kicked me out of the only place I knew as home!” Sunset screamed at the woman before turning back and heading back to the kitchen leaving the other two to watch in surprise.
“You did what?” Cadence hissed angrily as she turned back to see the woman sobbing into her hands, shoulders shaking as she kept repeating how sorry she was.
“It was supposed to be a scare tactic! I went to meet her at the gates but she ran through the mirror while I was waiting! I was just trying to teach her a lesson!” Celestia sobbed as she looked up with devastated eyes. “I loved her, I didn’t want to hurt her! She just, she was acting like a spoiled brat and I was just trying to break her of it!”
“Congratulations!” Cadence sneered, for once finding it hard to feel sympathy for anyone. “Because of you, you caused that girl a world of pain and suffering that you can’t even begin to imagine!”
“I’m sorry!” Celestia whimpered.
“If you loved me why didn’t you come for me?” Sunset’s voice came from the kitchen, sounding almost dead.
“Sunset, I wanted to, but I had a responsibility to my little ponies. As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t risk leaving Equestria alone and come here.” Celestia sighed, “With only a few hours left for the portal it’s dangerous now, but my sister is finally free. I left Equestria in her care and she promised to watch over it if anything happens.”
Sunset felt as if she should be angry, as if she should tear the woman a part. She really wanted to somewhere inside of herself, but she was having trouble grasping that. She knew she hated the woman, knew she hated her Princess with a passion, yet she just couldn’t do it. She couldn’t find the anger and hate the drove her for so long despite knowing it should be there. She wanted to cry for the loss of it because it was what kept her going for so long without giving into the depression and despair that was always on the edge of her soul trying to take hold. It didn’t take long to find a reason to go on without the hate and anger, but she knew it was going to be hard. She would do it for Star, the biggest reason she had to keep fighting the darkness within herself.
“That doesn’t excuse what you did!” Cadence hissed out at the kneeling woman as Sunset finished another batch of waffles.
“It’s fine, C. Are you two going to have any or not?” Sunset asked as she carried the three plates to the table before heading back for juice and syrup. She still refused to get a coffee maker though she had been thinking about changing her mind just for Shiny and Cadence. The only problem was that if she bought one just for them, she would be admitting that she liked them to be over more than just the occasional company or help. She didn’t want to really admit how much she loved them out loud even if she did admit that she liked them. Then again last night ruined all of that.
“I’m not really that hungry.” Cadence said softly as she kept her eyes on Celestia, and jumped when Sunset slammed the silverware down with her final trip.
“You two will sit down and fucking eat!” Sunset snapped out, getting both of her guests’ attention. “I want a peaceful morning so just, just sit down and eat. Please.”
“I’m sorry, Sunny.” Cadence said softly, joining the younger girl at the table and was soon followed by a timid seeming Celestia who slowly took a seat across from Sunset and next to Cadence.
“That’s better.” Sunset sniffed, rubbing her eyes. Once again wishing she could just let her hate give her the strength to tell Celestia to fuck off and never come back. Seeing her there on her knees crying tore into her heart and reminded her about old feelings she thought was dead.
“They smell great.” Celestia said softly, almost seeming as if she was afraid to speak. Not that Cadence blamed her for that after seeing how angry Sunset appeared to be initially. If it wasn’t for knowing the signs, Cadence would have been sure it was real anger.
“Thank you.” Sunset said stiffly as she poured some syrup on her own waffles forgoing any butter. “And no they aren’t like the waffles from back at your home.”
“It’s your home to.” Celestia said softly.
“No, it’s not. I don’t care what you say, the day you threw me out of the castle was the day Equestria stopped being my home.” Sunset said coolly, taking a big bite of her breakfast.
“Sunset, I came to ask you to please come home. I miss you.” Celestia said, watching as Cadence kept an eye on both of them even while spreading a large amount of butter on her waffles. “I didn’t know you loved me like you did, like I loved you. I was trying to groom you for something you weren’t ready for and in my haste I hurt you.”
“Fine, I forgive you.” Sunset sighed, putting her fork down though Cadence knew she wasn’t telling the truth. She didn’t forgive Celestia, and Cadence didn’t blame Sunset in the least after the crap that she had been through. “It doesn’t change the fact that I have a life here, however fucked up it is. A life I’m not leaving to come back to a world that didn’t want me when I have people here who do want me. Even if I’m a bitch half the time.”
“You aren’t a bitch, Sunny.” Cadence said, giving the girl a watery smile. She felt the need to scold Sunset for the language as it was usually the girl doing the scolding when someone used bad language here. After last night though and what was going on now, it was easy to ignore it.
“I am C, but you accept me for that. You accept me as your family and I may not act like it often enough, but I appreciate it. I love you guys.” Sunset sniffed wiping her eyes as Celestia looked on sadly.
“Sunset, what happened to you?” Celestia asked softly as Cadence shook her head.
“You turned her away, I don’t see how she is any of your business anymore.” Cadence said, but Sunset waved her hand signaling her that it was okay.
“You first, you said you were trying to teach me a lesson. Was that true?” Sunset asked, fidgeting a little while trying to summon up some anger and still seemed denied of the emotion.
“Sunset, you were the first foal I really dealt with in years.” Celestia sighed, “I know I interacted with students at the school, but I was raising you. I had no idea how to raise you and I tried to just treat you like any other student as that was all you were at the time. I took you in because I saw so much potential in you, the potential to become a Princess and become the bearer of the Element of Magic.”
“So I was just a tool to you?” Sunset asked looking away, trying to hide the hitch in her voice at hearing that.
“You were never a tool, Sunset. You were a special student with much more magical potential in any unicorn that I have ever met in my long life. Things changed though quickly as I came to love you as if you were a daughter, but you didn’t seem to want that. You always seemed so intent on studying that wanting to deal with any pony.” Celestia explained, wiping tears from her eyes.
“I was trying to make you proud of me so you would acknowledge me!” Sunset snapped out before leaning back into her chair with her arms crossed.
“I know that now, I read your journals after you left. If I had known Sunset, if only I had known all of that sooner.” Celestia sighed as Sunset got up and walked over to one of the bookshelves lining the living room and the entertainment system. Cadence wondered if what the girl was doing was a good idea or not as Sunset brought back a picture frame and handed to Celestia.
“I won’t tell you about my past, as far as I’m concerned my past is not today.” Sunset said as Celestia studied the picture frame with shaky hands. “Besides Cadence here and Shining Armor, this is my family.”
“How old?” Celestia asked, her voice cracking as her fingers traced the cool smooth glass.
“She’s four and even smarter at her age than I was.” Sunset said softly.
“What’s her name?” Celestia choked out.
“Starlight Shimmer.”