• Published 12th Feb 2014
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The Princess and the Foals - Autum Breeze



Sunset Shimmer returns to Equestria, but not the Sunset Shimmer we know

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Chapter 24- Making Amends with One’s Self

Chapter 24

Making Amends with One’s Self


___________________________________________________________

Twilight tickled Sunset’s belly as she and the girls mild around in the throne room to her new castle.

It had been less than a day since they had defeated Tirek and the castle had grown from the box that came from the Tree of Harmony. Twilight and the others had yet to get her settled into her and the girls’ new home.

Diamond Tiara had almost fainted when she learned she’d be living in a castle until her father returned to Ponyville. Thankfully, she had learned enough to know she shouldn’t rub it in and was simply taking in stride.

Currently they were moving all of what they’d been able to salvage from the remains of the Golden Oaks Library and sorting through them, namely the books.

Spike was sitting on his little throne with Scootaloo in his lap as they read one of his Power Pony comics together.

“Excuse me, Princess?” Twilight looked up from Sunset to the white and lanky Earth Pony pulling a cart full of books. “Where do you want all these books from Princess Celestia?” he asked, indicating to the cart.

Princess Celestia, after seeing Twilight’s library in ruins, had offered to help replace the books she’d lost when Tirek destroyed the library with ones from Canterlot.

“The library,” Twilight stated matter-of-factly, pointing a hoof to her left. “Third door on the left.”

“Even this one that’s glowin’ an’ vibratin’?”

The question caused Twilight and the girls to look to see a book right at the top of the pile in the cart indeed glowing with a pink light and vibrating every two seconds.

Twilight took it in her magic and levitated it over, opening it, taking note of Celestia’s Cutie Mark on the front cover, whilst the stallion decided to make himself scarce and went to put the rest of the books in the library and living the princess and her friends and children to whatever they were doing.

As Twilight opened the book, the others coming closer to learn more, Sunset’s eyes widened at the other side of it that was now within her eyesight. It was her Cutie Mark. Well, the one she had before she became a foal, anyway. What was that doing on this book?

“What is it, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked as Spike came over, putting the Pegasus next to her unicorn sister.

“It looks like... a message to Princess Celestia from my friends at Canterlot High,” Twilight said, her voice filled with shock.

While Scootaloo frowned in confusion, Sunset’s breath caught in her throat. Her mother had told her how she’d been to the human world and met the version of her that came from this one and how, when they’d last spoken, that version of her had learned the error of her ways and promised to be kinder.

But she’d also explained how the world’s were separated. How could a message get through from that world to this one if that was the case? A foal she may now be, but Sunset’s mind was still as active and intent as when she had been older.

“How is that even possible?” Rarity asked, voicing the very question Sunset had just posed to herself.

“I have no idea, but...” Twilight said as she read the message on the pages, “it sounds like they need my help.”


A few minutes later they were all gathered in the castle library, where Twilight informed them how the beings the other Sunset describe sounded like the Sirens and explained their history.

It was shortly after this that Pinkie Pie gave a reasonable explanation... at least that’s what Sunset thought she did, as to how the book was connecting the two worlds.

Twilight had had the mirror moved to her castle as soon as the business with Tirek had been settled, seeing as she intended to visit the human world again when the portal opened, none of the other princesses finding a reason to refuse her.

Within moments, Twilight had constructed a set of machines of sorts around the mirror and, upon placing the book above the mirror, the portal opened.

“Mommy, I wanna go, too!” Sunset cried, realizing she could actually visit her original home world again sooner than she’d thought.

“Me too!” Scootaloo cheered, flying up from the floor, her wings buzzing. “I wanna meet dis hooman Wainbow.”

“What, the pony one ain’t go enough for ya?” Dash joked, and Scootaloo blushed, eliciting Dawws from all present.

“Don’t suppose we could join ya this time around?” Applejack asked one they’d all recovered from the cuteness.

Twilight gave a warm smile. “Better not. It could make things pretty confusing if Canterlot High suddenly had “two” of all of you.”

The other mares all looked at each other, before nodding and murmuring their agreements.

Then Twilight’s expression became firm, yet warm at the same time as she looked to her daughters. “And no, you two can’t come with me.”

“Aww!” they both said, Sunset looking disappointed, Scootaloo angry, the latter replying with, “Why not?”

“If these girls Sunset talk about in her message are indeed the Sirens, I don’t want to risk either of you being hurt,” she explained, coming closer and nuzzling them. “Okay?”

“Okay,” they both replied, Sunset still looking sad about not getting to see her old world again and Scootaloo in angry reluctance.

“But I still get to go, right?” Spike asked, stepping forward. “There isn’t another one of me at Canterlot High and you never know when you’ll need your trusty assistant.” He gave her a hopeful look.

“MmHm,” Twilight nodded, walking towards the girls again.

“Yyyyes!” Spike punched the air.

“Hey! No faiw!” Scootaloo pouted, glaring at the baby drake. “Why’s Spike get t’ go an’ we don’t?!”

Twilight sighed, shaking her head. “Scootaloo, in that world, Spike’s a dog. If the Sirens do pose more of a problem, he will be able to get away a lot easier. If you two come, you’ll both turn into baby humans, losing your wings and Sunset her horn until we returned through the portal.”

Scootaloo’s eyes widened at the thought of losing her wings and wilted, whimpering.

Twilight gave her a reassuring smile and pulled her close, nuzzling her cheek. “I won’t be gone long, I promise. Once the Sirens have been defeated, we’ll be right back.” The Alicorn proceeded to nuzzle Sunset as well, before hugging all her friends, Pinkie holding the hug for a few extra seconds.

Twilight walked back over to Spike and smiled at him. “Ready, Spike?”

The drake cracked his knuckles, then did some leg stretches before getting into a running position like one would in a track team race and saying, “Ready.”

With that, the two ran forward, Spike entering the portal before Twilight.

Sunset waited a few moments, during which the mares conversed, wondering just what kind of dangers Twilight would meet when she arrived in the other world.

Looking at Scootaloo, she noted a firm expression on the Pegasus’ muzzle, before she turned to her and nodded. Sunset was a little surprised, seeing how she’d gotten so anxious about the idea of losing her wings, even if only for a while, but understood what her sister was saying and nodded back.

The two waited until the girls were deep into their conversation, before Sunset lit up her horn, engulfing herself in her aura and Scootaloo buzzed her wings.

Before anypony could stop them, they shot off into the portal, the girls realizing all too late what they’d just allowed to happen and knowing, it could make things more problematic for Twilight, couldn’t go after the mischievous duo.

___________________________________________________________

All pleasantries aside after the group hug, Twilight said, “And I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news about those new girls.”

The others all lost their happy expressions, for them to be replaced with uncertain ones.

However, before anyone could voice their concerns, Spike noticed the edge of the portal shimmer and pulled Twilight’s leg and pointed.

The confusion of the former pony was shared with the other girls for only a moment, before two things shot out of the portal, crying out in alarm.

Twilight, realizing from the voices at once who they were and cried out, “Catch them!” in a voice suddenly filled with panic.

This sudden change in Twilight’s mood prompted the girls to act, each hurrying to ensure they’d be in the line of fire for what had just come through.

Rainbow caught the orange blur, falling back onto Pinkie and Fluttershy, them dropping onto their butts.

Sunset caught the yellow blur, falling back onto Rarity.

Twilight looked frantically between them all, before sighing with relief, before her expression hardened as she looked at the two new arrivals.

One was an orange-skin girl with a crop of purple mane and purple eyes, wearing a diaper and a yellow shirt.

“What in the world?!” Sunset cried, her eyes wide as she lifted the one she’d caught. She was staring at the yellow-skin baby girl with a mixture of red and yellow hair that made it look like it was aflame, green eyes and wearing a diaper and orange shirt. “This... this is...”

The baby was looking back at Sunset with equal shock, though mixed with a confusion of anger and thankfulness.

“Whoa. What’s with the babies?” Rainbow asked as she got up and held the one she’d caught out, getting a good look at her, before squinting her eyes. “And why does this one look like a baby version of the squirt?”

“Never mind that,” Rarity cried, having gotten up from under the shell shocked Sunset. “Why does this one look like a baby version of Sunset?”

That caused all the others to turn to the flaming haired teenager, only for their eyes to widen as they saw the startling similarities.

“What did I tell you two?!” Twilight almost shouted, glaring from one baby to the other. “It could be dangerous! I told you to wait with the others.”

“But I wan’ed ta see dis wowld’s Wainbow!” the orange baby shouted, wiggling a little in the rainbow-haired girl’s grip, the baby flexing her fingers and wiggling her toes. “Dese’we weiwd.”

Twilight gave an exasperated sigh. “As if explaining these without them here wasn’t going to be hard enough.”

It was then that Rainbow gaped at the lavender girl. “Whoa, Twi. When’d your boobs get so big?”

The other girls all looked to her, even Sunset, who’d been focused on nothing but the baby version of herself in her grasp, all their eyes widening at the sight of Twilight’s chest, Twilight looking slightly surprised herself when she glanced down.

Her chest was about two to three times as big as it had been the last time she’d been at Canterlot High. Her confusion only lasted for a second, however, before she closed eyes, nodding to herself. “Guess it makes sense.”

“Makes sense?” Applejack stared, gobsmacked at the rack Twilight now sported. “How in the hay does that make sense?” she punctuated this with a finger pointed at Twilight’s chest.

“Weww, how ewse could Mama feed us tiw we can dwink fowmuwa?” the orange one said nonchalantly.

There was silence for several moments, before the girls all looked to Twilight, then her chest, then babies, before their eyes widened and all shouted in unison, “MAMA?”

___________________________________________________________

“And that’s pretty much how I became Scootaloo and Sunny's," whom they all decided to call Sunny instead of Sunset whilst they were there to avoid confusion "mother and how our lives have gone since then,” Twilight finished. They’d found a small corner at Sugarcube Corner to talk without interruption so Twilight could explain her parenthood to the two babies sitting in her lap.

When several kids had asked why Twilight had two babies with her, Rarity had jumped the gun before Twilight could try to explain and had told them she was looking after them for some friends. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had rudely stated that, if Twilight was being entrusted to look after someone else’s children, even if she’s a princess, she shouldn’t just bring them along to other worlds for visits, before leaving, Applejack having to hold Rainbow back from going after the brats to give them the what for.

Still, Fluttershy was one of the first to be taken by the little ones, cooing and playing with them during the conversation.

“But, how can you possibly be a mother, darling?” Rarity asked, glancing at the babies and animal lover at play. “You’re the same age as us, are you not?”

Twilight’s expression became sheepish and she rubbed her shoulder. “Well, actually, I’m over twenty.”

“What?” everyone aside from the older Sunset Shimmer gasped, their eyes wide.

The other Equestrian turned human shrugged. “Don’t ask her or me to explain it. Despite being more than twenty by Equestrian physics, when we came through the portal, we became a lot younger human wise.”

“So, ya mean yer both really adults?” Applejack asked, her mouth slightly agape.

Sunset nodded. “But that’s only in technical terms. In this world, we’re both just teenagers.”


To change the subject, Twilight talked to them about the other things that had gone on in her life, aside from becoming a mother, like how she was looking after her world’s Diamond Tiara whilst her father was away and how her Tiara had changed for the better.

“Two bad you can’t get ours to ship up,” Applejack commented snorting. “Sometimes that girl really doesn’t know when to keep her trap shut.”

After a bit more discussion, Pinkie informed them about the party for all the contests in the Battle of the Bands and how, since The Dazzles would be there, it’d be the perfect time to get to them without suspicion, Twilight agreeing that it would be the best time to use their magic to stop them once and for all.


Whilst they talk, Sunny and Scootaloo looked at each other. Since becoming sisters, the two had developed a type of communication that, if their mother had tried to figure it out, would have ended up as drained and stressed as when she’d tried to figure out the Pinkie Sense.

It with this type of talking without talking that they spoke with now. It was one that didn’t require words to understand. Sunny could feel something was wrong with their mother’s idea, that something else needed to be done.

However, neither baby was sure how to convey this to the older girls.

___________________________________________________________

Both babies nodded to each other. Called it.

They were now sitting on the front steps of Canterlot High with the rest of the girls whilst Twilight paced in front of them, wondering out loud why their magic hadn’t worked and defeated The Dazzles, who’d turned their failure back on them, making the whole school turn against them. Now every student competing in the Battle of the Bands had it in for them.

The two babies occupied themselves with investigating their bodies again. Scootaloo was still fascinated by her new body, even if she couldn’t fly anymore and was as grounded as she used to be before she’d become a foal.

Sunny, however, was loving every moment of having a human body again. Sure, she couldn’t use her unicorn magic anymore, but she felt it was a small price to pay to experience this again.

She played with her toes, loving the feeling of having them again. She’d miss them once they returned to Equestria and she regained her hooves, but at least they could come and go when they wanted now.

“Come on,” Twilight’s voice, as well as her arms wrapping around and lifting the two pulled them from their inner thoughts as the lavender girl began heading towards the stairs to the school, Spike right on her heels.

“Where’re you goin’?” Applejack asked, her voice filled with confusion.

Twilight stopped, turning around to face the six girls again. “Well, the last time we were here, Spike and I spent the night in the library. It might be a little uncomfortable for the girls, but I’m sure we’ll manage.”

Pinkie Pie zipped up next to Twilight, startling the babies. Seemed this world’s Pinkie was just as much into suddenly moving at impossible speeds as the pony one. “Are you crazy?” she cried, before pulling them into a hug, squishing the babies against the two girls’ chests. “We’re besties now.” Then, as she somehow lifted Twilight up so the held girl’s legs wiggled in the air behind her, she cheered, “Slumber Party at my house!”

___________________________________________________________

Sunny was awakened by the sound of the door to Pinkie’s room opening and sat up from the small cot she and Scootaloo had been put into after it was set up in Pinkie’s room.

Both had almost questioned why Pinkie had supplies for babies in this world, before they remembered that their world’s Pinkie usual foalsat the twins for Mr. and Mrs Cake. The same obviously applied for the human Pinkie, who’d not only had diapers and baby powder and cream at hand, but also two cute one-piece snuggy pajamas. Scootaloo got to where a blue one with lightning bolts on it, whilst Sunny got a pink one with, ironically in her opinion, unicorns.

As she opened her eyes and looked towards the door, ingoring the sounds of the girls sleeping, one of them neighing in her sleep and one meowing, Sunny saw the older Sunset walking out hesitantly. Curious, Sunny climbed out of the cot, it really wasn’t that big or high, and crawl out after the other one.

She waited in the hallway for a while, hearing her mother’s voice from the kitchen as well as the older Sunset’s. After some time, and Sunny seeing Pinkie Pie’s sister, Maud’s human self walk by leaving a trail of chips, the older Sunset came back into the hallway. She blinked when she saw the baby waiting in the hallway.

“Sunny?” she asked, before pausing, shaking her head. “This is still weird.”

Sunny nodded, looking up at her older counterpart.

Sunset shifted, scratching behind her neck. “Listen,” she said, kneeling down to Sunny’s level, “I’m... really sorry about... well, taking your whole life away from you.”

Sunny looked down, her expression somber. “When yoo did dat, I was wost in da Ewefwee. I di’na know what was going on ow why I was a pony.”

Sunset sighed, looking away. “I swear, I never thought that spell would cause you to not only end up somewhere other than just the other side of the portal, but also so many years into the future.”

Sunny just sighed, shaking her head. “How did yoo get awong wid my fostew famwy?”

Sunset blushed, looking away again and scratching her head nervously. “We... kind had a falling out and got bumped to the next family. In the end, though, I just set out for myself. I’ve met up with them all that I could and apologized for my actions, but I haven’t gotten any new family to stay with.” She gave a sheepish smile. “I’m usually spending each week at Applejack’s. Her family have a lot of room and, after things with the Fall Formal, not to mentioned every thing else I did were... sort of fixed, they let me stay. Apple Bloom still gives me the cold shoulder, but Granny Smith and Big Mac seem understanding enough about it.”

Sunny nodded, then looked up at Sunset. “I wan’ed ta teww yoo sometin.”

Sunset gulped, bracing for it.

Sunny gave a small, warm smile. “Tank yoo.”

Sunset blinked. “Uh, what? You’re thanking me for taking your life away from you?”

Sunny shook her head. “No. I’m tanking yoo for sending me ta Mommy. I wuv hew. If not fow wha’ yoo did, I wou’na have Mommy ow my sistew.”

Sunny crawled a little forward, struggled to stand on her two feet and hugged Sunset as best she could.

Sunset was taken aback by this, but, after a few moments, let a smile come to her face. She gently pick up the baby, holding her close and went back to Pinkie’s room.

Author's Note:

This thing ain't dead yet.

And that's the latest chapter both of the fic and in a long while.

Now, before you ask, no, i will no be moving this further through the movie. This was mainly so Sunset could make peace with the her she'd sent into Equestria all those years ago, nothing more.

Not really sure what i'll do for the next chapter or when that will be. If you've any ideas, please leave them in the comments and i'll think about them.

I went with this one getting an update first because it was the most requested in the blog aside from the Fluttershy ones, despite my saying those weren't up for voting :ajbemused:.

I hope you liked this and, while i'm not too sure which i'll update next, be sure to keep an eye out and, til next, later everypony