"So how long have you known?"
Sunset's eyes seemed to bore right through Twilight's skull and into her mind as she asked the question. Since learning the earth shattering news about her heritage, she had been consistently quiet about the whole thing. That was aside from the little breakdown she had after Celestia had told her everything, where she had asked several rather justified questions with some rather justified anger and confusion. Since then it had been difficult to tell what she was thinking, aside from the fact that she was trying to take the whole thing in. But now Twilight could only think that Sunset looked extremely frightening as she stared at her demandingly.
"Um... not long. Comparitively. Only around two weeks." Twilight answered nervously.
"And you didn't think to tell me?!" Sunset hissed in response.
"Of course I did! I just... thought it would be better for Celestia to tell you. It was between the two of you. You're not... mad at me, are you?"
"Well, I should be!" Sunset slumped back down in her Hospital bed. "If I wasn't so happy that you weren't dead I'd probably be yelling my throat hoarse. That is if it wasn't already hoarse enough."
Twilight giggled, though that didn't mean she had no sympathy for Sunset's state. The mild hoarseness was only one of the many consequences Sunset's body was facing after she had unleashed so much energy. There was a reason she was in the Hospital after all. She looked weak and exhausted enough, it was hard to imagine how she actually felt.
"I'm sorry Sunset..." Twilight began sadly. "I shouldn't have acted so... rash. Now you can barely stand, and I was dead just a few hours ago, and it's all my fault..."
"Don't say that." Sunset took Twilight's hoof encouragingly. "I think we've spent enough time feeling angsty and blaming ourselves for everything. It's time we started focusing and what we've actually done right. Besides... you're okay, I shouldn't be here for too long, our secret's out with seemingly no consequences so far, and I learned that I've actually known my mother for years now. It's all good."
"That sounds awfully optimistic for someone who, from what I've heard, was pretty much borderline suicidal merely a couple of hours ago."
"Look, I had a lot of reasons to be emotionally broken at the time!" Sunset defended herself. "I wasn't in the right state of mind! I'm fine now!"
Twilight smiled. "Good to hear, cause I'm gonna make sure that you're not going anywhere."
Sunset smiled back. "Same here."
Twilight leaned down for a kiss, and Sunset was happy to oblige. In an instant, any memories of whatever pain the two of them had felt in the past day were gone, replaced by absolute bliss.
"I really don't think I'm going to get used to seeing that." Said the disturbed voice of Rainbow Dash.
The two of them hastily departed from each other upon remembering the fact that their friends were with them. They had been so quiet, it had actually been forgotten that they were there at all.
"Sorry!" Twilight exclaimed nervously as she started blushing. "I didn't... we... um..."
Even though the six of them were now fully aware of her and Sunset's relationship, Twilight still felt uncomfortable with being openly affectionate in front of them.
"Let me specify for Dash here, it's not you bein' with a Mare that's a problem for us..." Said Applejack, clearly noticing Twilight's embarrassment. "It's the fact you'd been a couple for who knows how long without telling us. Why?"
"I totally called it, though..." Pinkie stated gleefully.
AJ frowned in annoyance. "Yes, Pinkie. You called it. We got the message the first bunch'a times you pointed it out."
Indeed, aside from Pinkie, they had all been quite surprised by the news. After Twilight had told Discord to take her to the Castle as fast as possible when she had heard what was happening to Sunset, the Draconequus teleported her and himself out of the Hospital, leaving the six of them left alone in the Wing, feeling very confused. By the time they made it to the Castle themselves, the incident was already over, and they had learned from Royal Guards as well as passing citizens about the declaration of their love as well as all the other things that had been revealed. They'd had to confirm this information from Twilight herself once they'd caught up with her, but they'd been very quiet afterward since they'd all focused on getting Sunset to the Hospital.
"Look, we really wanted to tell you... it's just..." Twilight tried to explain.
"You were afraid you weren't going to be accepted?" Rarity guessed. "More importantly, that the Aristocrats of Canterlot wouldn't accept you, and in turn start turning against the monarchy. Is that right?"
"Bingo!" Sunset answered. "Perceptive as always, Rarity."
"Well, I know the Canterlot Aristocrats, and I know you, so it wasn't hard to figure out." Rarity explained. "But that doesn't mean I agree with it."
"What?" Twilight didn't get it. If Rarity understood where they were coming from, why would she disagree?
"Twilight, I'm not going to deny that most of the Canterlot high society are... well..." Rarity was evidently struggling to think of the words.
"Closed minded, snooty morons with a superiority complex inverted to their own intelligence?" Fluttershy suggested quietly.
"Yes. Thank you, Fluttershy. But I've spent enough time dealing with them to know that most of the one's with real power are a lot more open-minded than you might think. Take Fancy Pants for example. He essentially has half of Canterlot waiting on his every word, and he liked you all just fine. I don't see what he'd have aginst one of the Princesses loving a mare. Heck, I think he might be gay himself considering how many mares he surrounds himself with despite how long he's officially been single. Sounds like compensation to me. And don't even get me started on Prince Blueblood..."
"You're getting off topic." Rainbow Dash quickly stated.
"Right. I apologise. But my point still stands. I don't think there was much for you to worry about, and even if there was, I don't see why you'd keep it from us."
"If you were afraid we'd end up telling someone, you could have just made us Pinkie promise." Said Pinkie Pie. "I don't care how much I'd want to tell someone that two of my friends were dating, I wouldn't want to risk the wrath of the ancient Gods."
"Besides, you know us Twilight." Rainbow Dash expanded. "There's no way we'd let something like that slip if you didn't want us to. We're your friends."
"I know." Twilight responded. "I guess I just didn't want anyone to know because I wasn't too sure about it myself. From day one we weren't sure if it was going to work out, and I didn't want to make a big deal of something that could have quickly crashed and burned."
"Well, so far the only thing that ended up crashing and burning was you." Pinkie Pie pointed out. "So... moral of the story, don't do it again."
"Ouch. That was a bit of a harsh way to put it, Pinkie." Fluttershy winced.
"Well, metaphors and poetic irony are the best way to learn lessons." Pinkie replied. "That's a Pinkie Pie approved fact!"
Twilight smiled. "Thank you all for being so understanding. Although, I don't think I've heard what you have to say about this, Spike."
"I just want to know how long this has been going on." The little Dragon demanded.
"Um... not much longer than I've known that Celestia was Sunset's Mother. About two to three weeks."
"Two to three weeks..." He looked almost horrified. "You were being all lovey dovey in my home for two to three weeks, and I didn't even notice? What kind of assistant am I?"
"Well, they managed to fool all of us, and that includes the Element of Honesty herself." Rainbow Dash pointed out. "Don't be so hard on yourself kid."
Pinkie Pie smirked "Not all of us..."
"We get it, Pinkie!"
"I wouldn't exactly say we managed to fool you, more that you were never really looking." Sunset claimed. "I mean we did a pretty bad job hiding it. It was less than a day before one of the other kids I live with caught on, and it took Discord even less time than that."
"That's not exactly a surprise." Said Fluttershy. "It's essentially impossible to keep anything from Discord. Speaking of whom..."
She proceeded to trot over to the Hospital bed to the right of Sunset's. Opening the curtain around it, she revealed that Discord was now awake, after having been put there when he collapsed earlier.
"Hisssssssss!" The Draconequss rolled away from the open curtain as he wrapped himself in his blanket. "The light! It stings my divine eyes!"
"It's going to be a while before you're anything close to 'divine' again, Discord." Twilight told him. "At least, that's what the Doctors say. Though they've freely admitted that they have almost no clue what to make of you or your condition."
Similar to Sunset, Discord looked drained, only on a much greater scale. His Doctors may not have been able to figure out much, but it didn't take a Doctor to see that he was going to be feeling the effects of bringing back the dead for a long time. His eyes were noticeably bloodshot, especially with how they contrasted with the dark circles underneath them and the desaturation that had happened to his fur. And even if his body had looked like it was in perfect condition, his expression and body movements were basically half dead.
He was weaker than Twilight had ever seen him, and he was apparently weaker than he had ever been, according to himself. All for her.
"How are you feeling?" Twilight asked.
Discord tried to sit up. "Physically? Like a bowl of mashed potatoes achieved consciousness. And believe me, I've done a lot of things with the power of chaos. I know what that feels like. Emotionally? Well, I happened to save two lives in one day, so I'm feeling pretty good about myself."
"I don't think I had the proper chance to thank you for that." Said Twilight. "To be honest... I don't know how I can..."
"You don't need to. Like I..." He let out a cough. "Like I said, it feels good to have actually done something... well... good. The impassioned praise from my peers helps too. Also, you now owe me a lot of favours. And I mean a whole lot of favours. Like, endless favours. You're essentially my eternal servant now."
Twilight smiled. "I think I can live with that."
"You'd better. It's because of me that you're living at all."
The whole group erupted into a round of laughter.
"I was actually wondering..." Fluttershy said once she was done chuckling. "If it's not too much to ask, Twilight... do you remember what it was like? Dying?"
Rarity gave her a funny look. "That's a rather intense question, darling..."
"I'm just curious. If it's too much to ask, I can wait."
As a matter of fact, it was a bit too much to ask. Fluttershy's question, curious and innocent as it was, brought Twilight back to thinking about her state after the incident with Sunset. For what seemed like forever, she could feel herself slipping in and out of various stages of consciouses, the only thing she could think of being her endless pain. Both the physical pain she could feel on her body as well as the emotional pain she felt from Sunset rejecting her. As for when she died... she honestly couldn't remember. The only thing she could faintly recall was seeing a light in all the darkness before she woke up. Apparently she had emanated a bright light during her resurrection, so that might have been it. If not... she preferred not to think about it. She was in no mood to start losing her sanity to the contemplation of the nature of life, death, and existence.
"I'd... rather not talk about it." Twilight answered them. "Not now at least."
"We understand." Applejack replied.
"We're just happy you're here now." Said Rainbow Dash.
There were some clicks and a thud as the Ward's doors were opened, and by the magic of none other than Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.
"How is everyone doing?" The elder sister asked.
"We're all fine." Twilight answered her. "But I think we should be the one's asking that question. There's been a lot of news for Equestria to take in."
"Oh, it's horrible." Celestia said calmly. "The nobles are calling for our blood. There's rioting in the streets. Bodies everywhere. It's complete anarchy out there."
"WHAT?!" They all cried in horrified unison. Twilight felt her heart rate instantly go from unnoticeable to practically exploding.
In response to this, Luna facehoofed herself while Celestia began chuckling.
"Really Sister..." Luna asked.
"What?" Celestia continued giggling. "It's not often you get an opportunity to say."
Luna turned to them. " I assure you, this is just my Sister's unamusing excuse for humour. Nothing has happened outside of some complaints. Very strong complaints, but mere complaints nonetheless."
A huge collective sigh was let out by the group.
"So... we didn't destroy Equestria?" Twilight asked with relief.
"I imagine it's going to get worse, but I doubt it will rise to anything significant." Luna explained. "And if you feel concerned about how the upper classes feel about your... um... feelings, then you don't need to worry. Any outrage they feel towards that has been severely overshadowed by the revelation that their 'Glorius leader' had been hiding a Daughter from them all this time."
"Tell me about it..." Sunset said in annoyance.
Everything went silent as everyone's attention turned to Sunset, most notably Celestia's. With the recent revelation's initial shock now over, Sunset and Celestia were now present before each other with a full understanding of the connection between them.
"Would you like us to be alone for this?" Celestia finally asked.
"I have no problem with everyone else being here." Sunset replied coldly. "So who's going to talk first?"
"I feel that's my responsibility..." Celestia answered, clearly looking troubled as she did. "Responsibility... I suppose that's my biggest fault here... I sired a child as an experiment to create a new Princess for Equestria. When that child lost her father, I took advantage of the situation to make sure she went in the direction I wanted, neglecting how this would affect her as a person. And when she strayed from the path I had envisioned for her, I simply... gave up on her. Abandoned her. I decided to make myself a Mother, even though I was unwilling to participate in the responsibilities of a Mother. And at the same time, I neglected the responsibilities of a Teacher and a Ruler. I failed at all those things. I failed you. And for that I'm sorry."
"But why?" Sunset asked with a small fix of sadness and anger. "Why couldn't you tell me that I was your Daughter?! What reason would you have to keep that from me?!"
"I believed you had to earn it." Celestia explained. " As such, I wanted you to grow up without the belief that you were born for the purpose of becoming an Alicorn, so that you would understand that power had to be earned instead of just given to you."
"Then if you'd given up on that, why couldn't you just have told me then? Or after I turned my life around? What made this secret so important?"
"It wasn't, honestly..." Celestia admitted with shame. "It was my own pride that kept the secret. I couldn't admit my failure to myself, and I certainly couldn't admit it to anyone else. Convincing myself that you were an irredeemable force of evil was the only way I felt I could cope. But in reality, it just made things worse. Deep down I still felt the love of a Mother, but I simply chose to interpret it as my feelings on my attempt to create a future Princess. And when things didn't go how I wanted, instead of trying to help you as your Teacher and your Mother, I just considered you a failure and wanted to throw you out of my life. Ignore your existence. Several lifetimes worth of knowledge and experiance, and I still succumbed to something so... childish..."
Celestia said nothing more, looking like she was on the verge of tears. Similar to Sunset's trial, everyone present stared in awe, the sight of their perfect Ruler in such a state of emotional weakness being so new to them. Even her Sister looked like she wasn't familiar with this.
"To be fair, it's not the worst thing you've done." Discord broke the silence. "I mean, remember when you decided to stop Tirek from getting your Alicorn magic by just putting it in someone else? And by that, I mean your youngest, most inexperienced Princess? And then Tirek found her anyway because no one thought to do anything about the stain glass window with her on it? That was pretty stupid!"
"DISCORD!" Fluttershy exclaimed in shock and appalment. Everyone else stared at him with varying degrees of those same feelings.
"What? I'm making her feel better about her mistake by reminding her she's done worse, because I'm a supportive person."
"Yes, thank you Discord." Celestia said with annoyed sarcasm. "Now please... stop talking before I make sure you have to bring yourself back to life."
"Kinky."
Celestia's magic had his bed curtains close themselves.
"Now then..." Celestia turned back to Sunset. "Where were we?"
"You were apologizing for being a crappy mentor and an even worse mother." Sunset responded.
"Yes..." The way that was put obviously not helping Celestia's mood. "There isn't really any other way to put it. From that perspective, I understand why you'd be upset with me. I don't expect you to forgive me anytime soon. But please understand that that I just want us to move on. Fix the relationship we had and catch up with the one we should have had. And I'm willing to wait until you finally forgive me so that we can do so."
Celestia stopped talking, probably because there wasn't really anything else to say. Sunset was also silent, simply glaring at her Mother with these cold, analytical eyes, trying to figure out what to make of her.
"You're asking me to forgive you?" Sunset finally asked.
Celestia struggled to answer, either because of the shame of admitting to such a thing or because she felt she had no right to.
"Yes..."
Sunset continued to stare at Celestia, who was struggling to look her Daughter in the eye. Twilight could understand, considering how terrifying Sunset looked. Not the kind of terror you feel when you fear for your safety or your life, but the kind of terror you get from seeing someone close to you start freaking out. Twilight could see all the anger and frustration behind Sunset's eyes, and as her Girlfriend it was disturbing to look at it. What Celestia felt as not only her Mother, but the one who caused this in the first place was likely too much for Twilight to even TRY imagining.
But then something happened that Twilight, along with everone else, did not see coming.
Sunset's mouth cracked into a smile, before she breathed out a few chuckles, that then exploded into an eruption of laughter.
The silent staring persisted, only now it was in complete disbelief instead of any kind of discomfort. Twilight was expecting a lot a lot of possible outcomes. Fury. Despair. Even reluctant forgiveness. Thay all made a lot more sense as responses to Sunset essentially being abandoned by her Mother than whatever this was!
Celestia also seemed just as surprised, if not more so, than Twilight felt. Her wide eyes looked at Sunset with pure bewilderment.
"You're..." Sunset struggled to speak through her laughter. "You're actually <b>asking</b> me to forgive you!"
"Um... maybe?" Celestia looked pretty nervous about this.
"Celestia..." Sunset let out her last chuckles. "Mother... if I thought I had any right not to forgive you, then I'm pretty sure that would make me a complete hypocrite. In case you forgot, it wasn't too long ago that I was plotting to enslave an entire world in order to take over this one. And it was during the process of doing that I straight up tried to kill Twilight. That didn't stop her and her friends from trying to reform me, and doing a pretty good job of it. Plus, reforming the evil and forgiving people's mistakes is... kinda the business with us. I mean, aren't you the one who encouraged the reformation of the Spirit of Chaos himself? The one lying in the bed right next to me after nearly sacrificing his life in order to save another, something he probably wouldn't have done just a year ago had it not been for said reformation? You think that after all that, you'd suddenly be the one who didn't deserve to be forgiven?"
"I was ready to imprison you for the rest of your life! Or end it entirely!" Celestia attacked herself, rather bizarrely.
"I could have killed Twilight, and I actually did, even if you didn't know at the time. Of course you'd be driven to that point. Besides, you heard me during that trial. I pretty much felt the same way about myself."
"You... you're not angry with me?" Celestia seemed downright baffled. "You really should be!"
"Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm mad. Like if I didn't feel like I could move I'd probably punch you. What you did was unbelievably stupid and irresponsible for someone who should know better. But holding a grudge isn't going to help anyone, considering it's been the source of our problems for a few years now. I can see that you're sorry, and I can get over it. Coincidentally, me and Twilight were just talking about letting go of the past and looking to the future, and I don't think I have to tell you the same thing."
Celestia still looked at Sunset with disbelief, only the actual type of disbelief had changed. The look on her face was now one of awe more than anything else.
"Sunset..." Celestia began to smile. "I feel I have one more thing to apologise for. I'm sorry that I failed to recognise how much you've learned."
Sunset smiled back. "Thanks, but I think you need to give credit where credit's due."
"Correct." Celestia turned to Twilight. "Thank you, Twilight Sparkle, for everything you've done for my Daughter, and for myself as well."
Twilight felt herself blush at the sudden praise. "I wouldn't really consider myself worth all the gratitude. It was more of a group effort. Though, my Human friends are in another dimension, so you can't really get around to thanking them at the moment..."
"But she can totally thank us!" Rainbow Dash cut in. "I mean, being their alternate counterparts is credible enough right?"
"Under that logic, you'd also be responsible for the actions of your alternate counterpart that conquered the universe through gaining immeasurable power by devouring handicapped orphans." Applejack pointed out. "Ah' think we're good just being on the sidelines for this one."
"Now that this is all over and done with..." Celestia began. "I believe we have a more important matter to attend to..."
Sunset looked rather confused, and Twilight felt the same.
"Um... what else is there?" Sunset asked.
Celestia's face went more serious. "Luna has informed that you've been facing a... side effect of your use of the Element of Magic."
Twilight could feel the mood between them revert back to being significantly darker.
"Yes..." Sunset responded. "What about it?"
The other's looked a bit lost, which made sense considering that they hadn't been told about what Sunset was going through.
"A side effect?" Fluttershy inquired.
"To put it simply..." Luna started to explain. "The temporary corruption received by the Element of Magic due to its temporal displacement spread to Sunset when she used its power, infusing her with a powerful but dangerous amount of dark, negative energy. While it had initially been believed that Twilight and your Human counterparts had purged Sunset of this with the remaining positive energy of the element, we have recently discovered that some of this dark magic merged with Sunset's soul, giving something akin to a whole new sentience to the more malevolent part of her personality. As such, she is consistently haunted by the lingering feeling of her past self, a phantom of hatred and vengeance that she can't get rid of."
Her friends didn't look any less lost.
"That's a lot of three syllable words." Said Spike.
"To put it even more simply then... a bit of bad Sunset lives in good Sunset. Like a split personality."
"Okay, that makes sense." Pinkie responded. "Actually, no it doesn't. That sounds incredibly contrived. Like some teenager was trying to find a forced conflict for his gay horse fanfiction, and was just making shit up as he was going along."
Whatever that meant.
"Sunset..." Celestia walked over to Sunset's side. "I believe I can help you."
"What?" Sunset looked both shocked to hear this and skeptical at the same time, with a hint of hopeful curiosity. "Discord told me that this was now a part of me. It is me. Anything that could 'cure' it would kill me, if it didn't lobotomize me."
"That's true. However, I don't intend to get rid of it. We just have to repress it."
Sunset clearly didn't like the sound of that, and Twilight felt the same.
"I already tried that, and it only made it worse." Sunset explained. "That's normally what happens with repression."
"Normally, you'd be doing it alone." Celestia declared. "But that's why I brought this up. I can assist you."
"How?"
"I know a spell. One that can expose this side of you in a vulnerable state. Don't mistake it for a sort of cure. We've already discussed that such would be impossible, or at least would have extreme negative side effects. I can simply make it weak enough for you to control it."
Sunset looked unsure, but slightly hopeful. "You can stop it? Like... right now?"
Twilight understood how she must have felt. They had been previously accepted it as a fact of life, a hard one they had to deal with. Now Celestia had suddenly declared she could end it. It seemed too good to be true.
"Again, don't mistake it for a 'cure' of some kind. It will still exist, just in a state that you can conquer. I will warn you, however, that the process won't be pleasant."
That didn't sound very assuring. As much as she and Sunset wanted to be rid of this problem, if there was a chance that it might hurt her, Twilight wasn't sure if she wanted to go through with it, especially after everything that had just happened.
"Do it."
Sunset's quick, confident reply surprised Twilight, and it seemed to do the same to Celestia.
"Are you sure?" Celestia asked. "You might want to think about this..."
"If you can get me to overcome this, then I want it done as soon as possible." Sunset declared.
"Sunset..." Twilight was nervous. "Are you sure you're in the right state? She just said this would be unpleasant. You don't know what this could do to you..."
"Anything is pleasant compared to having to live with this." Sunset persisted. "The sooner I can get rid of it, the better."
Sunset was evidently determined to go through with this, even if Twilight wasn't too sure.
"Understood. It should only take a moment anyway..." Celestia looked at Twilight and her friends cautiously. "Are you alright with being here? This may not be comfortable to watch."
That question didn't even need to be asked. There was no way that Twilight was going to leave Sunset. As for the others, while they didn't know Sunset as well as she did, they still cared enough to do the same.
Celestia's horn began to glow white at the tip.
"Are you ready?" She asked her daughter.
"Of course." Sunset said with determination, closing her eyes.
Celestia leaned forward until her horn touched Sunset's forehead. With this, the aforementioned 'unpleasantness' had begun. The light connecting the head and the horn started glowing brighter, and Sunset began to struggle with apparent discomfort. And that discomfort was clearly escalating with every second as she struggled harder and groaned in pain. The most disturbing part about it was that in spite of all of Sunset's moving, her head remained completely still and fixed, as if it was glued to the tip of Celestia's horn, unable to rip free.
Celestia's prior warning definitely made sense, since Twilight took no enjoyment in seeing this. She felt a strong urge to intervene and stop this procedure, but resisted. She had faith in what Celestia was doing.
Sunset continued to writhe horribly as her groans turned into screams, and that's where things got truly unnerving. Sunset's screaming voiced seemed to split into multiple voices, each a distorted version of her own, and each in as much pain as her. Sunset had told Twilight about the voice in her head, but she had never imagined that it would sound so... skin crawling. How she had managed to live with this... Twilight couldn't even comprehend.
At last, Celestia stepped back from the thrashing Sunset. Although 'stepped back' wasn't exactly the right way of putting it, as she looked like she had to put significant effort into separating herself from Sunset, almost stumbling as she did. She also looked quite tired and disturbed from the experience.
Despite their seperation, Sunset continued to flail in her bed, screaming monstrously. Twilight was about to ask what was going on if Celestia was apparently done, but she didn't get the chance to, as she was stunned into silence by the sight of Sunset opening her eyes, revealing the black and opal eyes of her Demon form. They stared at Twilight, Celestia, and everyone around them with pure hatred.
"I AM SUNSET SHIMMER!" She roared. "WEILDER OF THE TRUE POWER OF THE ELEMENT OF MAGIC! THE RIGHTFUL RULER OF EQUESTRIA! YOU ARE ALL SPECKS BENEATH MY FEET, AND YOU WILL ALL BURN IN THE FIRES OF MY RAGE AND MY VENGEANCE! I WILL..."
No one got to hear the rest of her speech, due to her being cut off by Celestia slapping her in the face.
Everyone stared at this unexpected turn of events in complete astoundment, but no one looked quite as astounded as Sunset, who looked at her Mother with complete confusion and shock.
Celestia herself looked back with stern composure. "Sunset Shimmer! Control yourself!"
"YOU DARE TO STRIKE ME WITH YOUR PATHETIC HOOVES?!"
"Don't speak to your Mother like that, young Lady! No Daughter of mine is going to act so disrespectful towards others, let alone think she can take over the world!"
"I can speak however I want!"
"Not with that tone! If you're going to get anywhere in life, you have to learn the value of humility and respect..."
"Don't lecture me!"
"Don't interrupt me!" Celestia leaned suddenly towards Sunset until their faces almost touched, Sunset slanting backward with actual fear in her eyes.
"You are going to improve your attitude and grow up, or I am going to make Nightmare Moon's banishment and Tirek's imprisonment seem like trips to the water park compared to what I'm going to do to you until you do so! Do I make myself clear?"
The evil Sunset seemed to struggle to put words together before Celestia's stern aura.
"But... but MOM!"
"No buts! Now, you are going to give control back to the rest of yourself, and you are going to let yourself be a better person from now on. Understand?"
Any glare of intimidation Demon Sunset tried to give her Mother faltered under Celestia's own authoritative gaze. With a mix of fear and resentfulness, she closed her eyes, shuddered for a second, and reopened her eyes to reveal the regular opal eyes of the real Sunset Shimmer.
"Ouch." Sunset said as she rubbed the cheek that Celestia had slapped.
"Are are you feeling Sunset?" Celestia asked, her tone much warmer than just a second before.
"What part of 'ouch' do you not understand?" Sunset asked sarcastically.
"Wow..." Said Discord's voice, and Twilight turned to see that he was sticking his head out of the curtains of his bed. "There was me thinking that this was the kind of fate you couldn't escape, and it turns out that all you needed was maternal love and discipline. Shows what I know."
"So that's it?" Sunset asked, with a kind of awe. "It's over?"
"So long as your feelings don't start aligning too much with hers, you should be fine." Luna clarified. "She should be too weak to directly influence or even communicate with you otherwise."
"If she does, she's grounded." Said Celestia.
Everyone else seemed to be lagging behind a bit on what they just saw. Twilight herself was struggling to figure out how to respond to all that, hence her silence.
"That's gonna haunt me for months isn't it?" Fluttershy said with wide, horrified eyes, likely referring to Sunset's exorcism like treatment.
"I hear you." Spike agreed in a similarly discomforted voice.
"To think, such a thing spawned from the Elements..." Rarity contemplated.
Twilight approached Sunset's bedside, gesturing to take Sunset's hoof, which she accepted.
"Um... how are you feeling?" Twilight was aware that Celestia had already asked that question, but she really didn't know what else to say. "With a bit less sass maybe."
Sunset chuckled. "Honestly... I don't think my head's ever felt clearer. I guess that ticks another box on the list of things we can put behind us."
Twilight smiled. "Yeah... I guess it does."
While she continued to hold Twilight's hoof, Sunset's attention turned to Celestia. "So then... fixing one of, if not my greatest problem in life... I think that puts you on the right track for forgiveness."
Celestia smiled. "I think I still have a long way to go."
"True." Sunset agreed. "But until then... come here, you..."
Letting go of Twilight's hoof, Sunset stretched out her own hooves in a hugging gesture. For a moment Celestia reacted with silent surprise, but quickly gave in and leaned forward, embracing her daughter.
"I promise you, Sunset..." Twilight might have seen a tear going down Celestia's face, but she couldn't tell. "I'm going to do everything I can to make up for everything I've done, and everything I haven't done. I'm going to make you the happiest girl the world. Multiple worlds if I have to."
"Thanks... Mom..."
***
"Are you sure you're ready to leave?" Twilight asked with concern. "You haven't rested for even a day. I don't think it's okay for you to be this active."
"Well, what are we going to do? Send someone else over to tell my family 'Sorry, Sunset can't come home at the moment, due to the fact that she's recovering from killing her secret girlfriend and almost getting severely punished by magical pony law for it. Sorry for the inconvenience.'? I think I can just put up with the pain." Sunset responded. "Besides, I can't just miss school now can I?"
Twilight's concern was swiftly dispelled. "Stubborn, much?"
"You know it."
"Pride is a prominent trait in our family." Said Celestia. "Even if we don't like to admit it."
Twilight levitated the book into its pedestal, starting off the chain reaction of energy transferring as the portal began booting up.
Unlike Sunset's usual departures though, today seemed like more of a special occasion. Not only were the rest of Twilight's friends, Spike, and the two Sisters there, but a lot of Twilight's Royal Guards, Captain Flash included, were standing around the library in formation. Increased security measures in response to the number of important Ponies assembled in the room? Or just a big quiet apology for what had happened to Sunset? Whatever the reason was, it didn't bother Twilight.
"Are you sure you don't want to come along?" Sunset asked Celestia. "These people have been my family for a few years now. It makes sense for you to meet them."
"I'm sure I'll get around." Celestia replied. "I'm interested in seeing what kind of woman was able to put up with the you of the past. I could take notes. But for now... I don't think I've quite earned that privilege yet... not until I consider myself redeemed as a Mother."
"I understand." Said Sunset, giving her Mom one last hug. "I look forward to spending more time with you. As your daughter."
"As do I, Sunset."
Departing from the hug, Sunset looked towards Luna. "Thank you for everything you've done for me, Princess Luna. Or should I start calling you Aunt Luna?"
Luna actually looked mildly embarrassed. "Yes, um... I think 'Princess Luna' will do for now. I don't think I'm really ready to be called 'Aunt' yet. I mean... I didn't exactly do much better than Celestia in the family department..."
So she said. But if Twilight didn't know any better, she'd say that Luna just didn't want to feel old by being called 'Aunt', which would be odd, considering she spent a thousand years in the moon.
"Got it." Sunset responded, turning to her friends. "I'm sorry for what you had to go through, girls... watching Twilight die and all... I hope I can make it up to you."
"Don't worry about it." Said Rainbow Dash. "I should be the one apologising. I didn't trust you enough not to blame you for what happened. I should have known better."
"Me too." Fluttershy followed. "If I shared what I wanted to do to you if I ever saw you again at that moment... well, I don't think anyone would want to speak to me again..."
"I wasn't free of doubt either." Rarity apologised. "Sorry, darling..."
"Apologies aren't needed on your parts either." Sunset responded. "I don't think I spent enough time with you for me to earn your trust. And considering my past, I understand how you might have felt about me in the moment. Now that I don't have to hide my relationship with Twilight from anyone anymore... I hope we can spend more time together."
Applejack fumbled with her hat nervously. "If I'm to be honest, and you know how I am with honesty... I think we might have all been jealous with how much time Twilight was spending with you. That probably didn't help our skepticism."
That was certainly a good point. Twilight felt a little bad for spending so much time with Sunset over the friends she'd known for so long. Well, as Sunset said, they wouldn't have to be so separate anymore with their secret out.
"I was still was totally on to it from the beginning!" Pinkie boasted. "No secret romance can hide from the Pinkie sense! Or just common sense for that matter. I mean, with how much private time you spent with each other, it was pretty obvious you were doing a lot more than just reading."
"We get it Pinkie, you're smarter than us." Rainbow Dash groaned. "You're not going to let this go are you?"
"I wouldn't call myself smarter..." Said Pinkie. "Just better at recognizing when I'm in a mediocre romantic fanfiction."
"It's a shame that Discord isn't here to see you go." Fluttershy said regretfully.
"I may be moving around more than I should after what happened to me, but Discord definitely shouldn't be going anywhere." Sunset stated. "Besides, we already said our goodbyes."
Before leaving Canterlot, Sunset had made sure to thank Discord for everything he had done, as well as give him a proper goodbye.
"I'll come around with my counseling fees as soon as I can!" Was the last thing he said to them before they left the Hospital.
Having said everything she needed to say to everyone else, Sunset turned to say something to Twilight, but was interrupted by the sudden approach of Flash Sentry.
"Miss Sunset Shimmer." He said formally with a salute. "I assume you'll be departing now?"
"Indeed, Captain, I most certainly will be." Sunset responded sarcastically. "Now will you cut with the formalities and just get to the apologising already?"
"Yes, ma'am." Flash smirked. "I'm sorry I doubted you."
"Like I've said before, you had every right to assume the worst of me. Heck, I did technically do it. I'm just thankful that I had someone who had faith in me before I prepared for the worst. So thank you."
"Don't mention it." Flash briefly eyed Twilight. "So... you and the Princess, huh?"
"Yes." Sunset confirmed quite firmly. "Envious?"
"Not at all." He assured her. "I'm happy for you. This certainly explains the mysterious wailing Ghost some of the Guards were saying stalked the halls at night."
"Huh?" Twilight didn't get what he was talking about. "What wailing Ghost?"
Sunset, on the other hand, was turning quite red. "Nothing you need to keep thing about, Honey. This conversation is over."
Sunset pushing Twilight, they both headed towards the mirror.
"I'll see you around, Sunny." Flash bid Sunset farewell.
The two mares stopped at the foot of the portal, which was now glowing actively.
"You sure you want to come along?" Sunset asked Twilight. "I mean, you were dead not too long ago. You should really be weaker than I am."
"I think I've already made the point that I feel perfectly fine." Twilight answered. "Better than fine actually. Discord might have overdone it a bit with healing me."
She took mental note of her hair, which had grown noticeably longer during her resurrection, to the point where she had to constantly keep her fringe out of her eyes. She didn't mind it too much though, in fact, she thought she might actually keep it that way. A new look would go well with the new direction she was going in life. She could even change her hairstyle altogether. Maybe a ponytail would be nice?
"Besides... now that pretty much everyone in Equestria knows about us, there's no reason to keep it from your family." Twilight continued. "It would be nice to tell them together. Not to mention, you probably need someone to make sure you don't collapse on your way home, right?"
Sunset smiled. "I love you."
"Love you too."
The two of them quickly turned to face everyone else.
"See ya, everyone!" Sunset waved them goodbye.
She received a large collection of waves and goodbyes from her friends and family in response.
"I'll be back soon!" Twilight said as they turned around to face the portal again"
"Ready?"
"Always."
Taking each other's hooves, they walked into the light. As they traveled through the space between dimensions, they once again felt their bodies change from Pony to Human, their hooves turning into hands, with fingers firmly interlocked.
And they weren't going to be letting go anytime soon.