//------------------------------// // Consequences // Story: Just a Sunset Away // by Cameron Nightshade //------------------------------// Sunset’s face fell. She knew she had done some wrong things, but she never realised just how much she did, and their severity until now. She began to think that she would be tossed in a dungeon somewhere to rot for the rest of her life. A voice in her head repeated itself, saying that she should have stayed in the other world. If she never came back to this world, she wouldn’t be sitting here, facing punishment for her crimes against Equestria. “Sunset Shimmer. How do you plead to these crimes?” Princess Celestia asked. Sunset felt a tear roll down her face. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She had come back to this world to seek forgiveness, not a trial. “I plead guilty to the crimes that I committed,” Sunset squeaked out. She could barely hear herself, but it seemed that at least Princess Celestia had heard her. “Sunset Shimmer, you are here today after pleading guilty to the crimes that you have committed against the country of Equestria. These crimes include attempted war against Equestria, attempted usurpation of Equestria, grand robbery of the Element of Magic from Princess Twilight Sparkle, and attempted murder of Princess Twilight Sparkle and the bearers of the Elements of Harmony in the other world. If you would like to bring in a witness to help you in your case, you may.” Sunset shook her head. “No. I will fight this battle on my own.” “And so it is written. Sunset Shimmer, while living in the alternate universe of Equestria, you planned and almost succeeded in bringing a war here to Equestria. You did this after the robbery of the Element of Magic, which was in possession by Princess Twilight Sparkle, as she resided in the castle in the Crystal Empire. As I have heard by Princess Twilight Sparkle, you planned to take over Equestria by bring an army of humans here into this world.” Princess Celestia mentioned. The words hit Sunset like a dagger. She didn’t quite remember all of what happened at the Fall Formal all those years ago. It was like a fog in her mind. She remembered the pain that the Element of Magic forced on her as she placed it atop her head. She remembered her cells changing, twisting. Everything else was hazy, as she tried to forget what she had done to the people in her school. She remembered waking up, at the bottom of a hole in front of the school and being helped out of the hole that she basically dug herself. “Finally, you attempted the murder of Princess Twilight Sparkle and her five friends in this other world,” Princess Celestia said. Princess Luna looked at Sunset Shimmer, knowing what was going to happen. She had to go through it herself. Hearing all the things that she threatened to do was unbearable. Princess Luna had broken down while she sat on the cold stone of the room. She remembered how her sister had looked at her during the trial. Princess Celestia had been nice to Luna when she arrived, but that didn’t excuse what she had done during her time as Nightmare Moon. The same applied to Sunset. She stared at the floor, tears welling up in her eyes. The words of her former teacher hitting her like needles everywhere in her body. She wanted to run away. Sunset wanted to come here for forgiveness, but it didn’t seem like that would be happening. Princess Luna leaned over to her sister and whispered, “Sister, don’t you think you are being a little harsh on her? She came back for forgiveness, and you are giving her a trial. I do not think that Twilight would want to hear about this.” “Luna, you know as well as I do how the law works here. You had to go through it as well. This is to see how sorry she is, and if she honestly wants to remain here in Equestria,” Celestia whispered back. After being in the human world for so long, Sunset forgot how good she was at hearing. Humans ears weren’t as good as picking up sound as a pony’s ears were. “Sunset Shimmer. Do you wish to remain here in Equestria, and continue your studies under me?” Princess Celestia asked. Sunset raised her head. “What about the trial? What about all of the things I did wrong? You said it yourself, I tried to kill people. I tried to take the throne away from you. You should throw me in a dungeon!” Sunset exclaimed. She didn’t want to be thrown into a dungeon for the rest of her life, but she figured she did probably deserve it for what she had done. “I am willing to excuse your crimes. That is what I did with Princess Luna. She was once in the spot that you are now. Do you see her in a dungeon? The point of this was to let you know that your actions do not come without consequence. Remember that, Sunset Shimmer.” Sunset was confused. She couldn’t understand why Princess Celestia would be willing to excuse everything bad that she had done. “Do you think that I could become your student once more?” Sunset asked quietly. “What was that?” Princess Celestia asked. Normally she wouldn’t have to ask, but she was talking to her sister. “I want to become your student again. But I want to be able to stay in Ponyville with Twilight if I want to. I will come here when needed, but from what I hear, Twilight did the last year of her studies living in Ponyville,” Sunset said. “I believe that could be arranged. You were a wonderful student, Sunset Shimmer. I wish to see you thrive in this world, and not be held back by greed and jealousy like you once were.” Sunset said a quick thank you, and left the throne room. She desperately needed from fresh air. The trial weighed on her heavily. However, she did get the forgiveness that she originally wanted. Princess Luna came out of the castle and sat next to Sunset. “I am sorry for what happened in there. I should have stopped my sister from making you go through with that.” Sunset looked at the alicorn seated next to her. “No, don’t worry about it. I deserved it. I did do all those things, and I understand that certain protocols must be met. Princess Celestia said that you had to go through it as well, after you came back from your time as Nightmare Moon. Was that a scary thing?” “Yes. It was terrifying. When I had changed back, Celestia welcomed me home. When I got back to the castle, I was met with a trial. It was the worst thing. Celestia named all of the things that I had done. I too almost killed Twilight and her friends. I threatened to bring Equestria into eternal night. I obviously hadn’t thought that one out very well. Ponies would have died from the cold, and then nopony would be able to see the night that I so eagerly wanted them to see.” Sunset looked back towards the ground. “I guess that wouldn’t be very smart. But neither is bringing a whole army of people into another world when the portal was going to close that night. They would never be able to leave for another 30 moons. That’s always how it is though. The villains always have a huge flaw in their plans that they never think about until after the fact,” Sunset laughed. “I should probably go and find Twilight. I don’t think she expected me to take this long,” Sunset said to Princess Luna. “You are probably right. She is most likely in the library here in the castle. Do you want me to show you the way?” Princess Luna asked. “Yes, that would be nice, thank you.” Princess Luna lead Sunset to the library, where Twilight actually was. “Oh, Princess Luna. Thank you for bringing her here. I didn’t know when you guys would be done, so I decided to catch up on some of my reading,” Twilight chuckled. “So how did it go?” “It was good. I’m gonna be Princess Celestia’s students again, so I guess that it could have gone worse,” Sunset said. Twilight’s eyes lit up when she heard this. “You going to become her student again! Where will you be staying?” “I was actually hoping that you would let me stay at your castle. If not, then I can talk to Princess Celestia about it. I told her I might stay with you, so if it’s a problem, then say so,” Sunset noted. “No, it’s no problem at all! You’re welcome to stay. I’ve got tons of unused rooms. You can stay in one of them,” Twilight beamed. Sunset looked at Twilight happily. She was glad that she was being accepted here. Yes, she knew she would miss her friends back in the human world, but if she could be friends with them there, she could definitely be friends with their counterparts here.