• Published 29th Sep 2015
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Sunset Reset - LordBrony2040



After the Friendship Games, Sunset Shimmer decided it's time to return home. It's just that she comes back a bit earlier than expected.

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Chapter 12: Wrong Romantic Revelations

Celestia looked across the overly large and immaculate table as Sunset came into the dining hall to sit across from her, but next to Cadance. While her tardiness to dinner was an oddity, Celestia thought it better not to pry about such matters. Especially since Cadance would eventually get around to doing it for her via friendly conversation over their meal. Although, the way that the pink princess was looking at the amber alicorn with a worried expression did cause Celestia some concern.

Had something happened between the girls?

She hoped those two hadn’t gone back to fighting. The past several days had been a wonderful change from the norm, and Celestia could see that both Sunset and Cadance were better off for the experience. Even if it seemed the pink alicorn might have picked up a little of Sunset’s temper and a bit of her more aggressive tendencies. Her reasoning behind wanting to learn crystal creation and manipulation magic being the latest example of that trend.

But, that’s hardly a bad thing, Celestia told herself. The alicorns were the guardians of ponykind. Fighting was in the job description, and Cadance needed to be able to adjust to the rigors of her new species.

As soon as Sunset hopped up onto her seat, all of Celestia’s worries about something coming between the two younger alicorns disappeared and were replaced by something completely new thanks to a concerned question that came from Cadance’s mouth. “Is Shining Armor okay?”

Curiosity bloomed in Celestia’s mind, but she held back the urge to ask about just who this Shining Armor was in the most embarrassing way she could think of in favor of continued observance of the situation. One thing that Celestia had learned from several hundred years of life the hard way was that a princess didn’t act until she could predict what the outcome would be. Unpredicted outcomes could be even worse than foreseeable disasters.

Sunset stiffened at the question. She tried to hide it, and if the mare hadn’t been an alicorn she might have been able to do just that, but Celestia saw her hotheaded daughter’s wings become flustered. She also saw they looked a little disheveled, and made a mental note to teach the newest member of the royal family a little something about wing-care in the near future before the griffons came at the end of the week. If Sunset was going to be dealing with them, she needed to look her best.

“He’s fine,” the alicorn with the flaming mane replied just a little too quickly before she looked over to the kitchen doors. “Has the chef already taken your orders?”

With Sunset attempting to lead the conversation towards the less interesting topic by far, Celestia decided that she needed to intervene. “Well, thanks to your insistence on perfect cleanliness, the staff now cleans the kitchen half an hour before dinner, and I’m afraid they were a bit sluggish at it tonight,” the Alicorn of the Sun said before she gave Sunset a large and predatory smile to let her know what was coming. “Now, about this Shining Armor. That’s a colt’s name, if I’m not mistaken.”

If the situation was everything it appeared to be at first glance, Celestia didn’t see a reason not to have a little fun with it. At least, until she had to put her hoof down on the matter.

For some reason, Cadance became a little disturbed at the mention of the mystery pony, while Sunset’s mood darkened. Perhaps Cadance’s demeanor was because of Sunset’s mood. One did not shake off weeks of edginess just like that.

“He’s just some stupid pony we met at school a few days ago,” Sunset replied as she waved a hoof in Celestia’s direction as if to shoo the question away. The whole thing couldn’t have screamed ‘KEEP PESTERING ME ABOUT IT’ any louder unless Sunset’s magic had created a sign of neon lights above her head.

Cadance, on the other hoof, gave the amber alicorn a somewhat shocked expression as Sunset looked back towards the kitchens as if to will the chef into existence. “Did something happen on the way back to his house?”

Once again, Sunset’s body tensed as she stopped herself from physically acting out at the question. “No. Everything was fine.”

“Alright,” Celestia spoke up, her tone telling both of the girls she had gone from playful to serious. If her daughter was going to run out of patience that quickly, then she needed to get to the bottom of things just as fast. “What’s going on?”

Sunset let out a loud groan right as Celestia saw Cadance open her mouth to offer an explanation, and then began speaking before the pink princess could get a word in. “Shining Armor is just some stupid colt that Cadance met because of her babysitting job a few days ago. And yesterday, we found him being picked on by this stupid piece of trash that thinks he’s something special, who really roughed the poor guy up,” the amber alicorn explained in an unpleasant tone that got angrier by the second.

Then, Sunset paused in her story to suck in a deep breath and let it out. The action made Celestia blink in surprise. It was the second time she had seen her daughter really work to control her temper, another major change that had come about with the new pair of wings Sunset had been granted.

“I used my magic to check his injuries and take him to the nurse. Cadance went to the principal to get that idiot Buck expelled,” she replied with a roll of her eyes that said what she thought of that solution. “Then I got a coach, took him home, and told his parents what happened. That’s why I was late coming back. Had to deal with all the questions and bowing, and...other...junk.”

Celestia blinked at the explanation, unsure if she should be proud of Sunset helping another pony, however reluctant that help apparently was, or disappointed in the amber alicorn’s attitude towards such action. In the end, Celestia went with pride. Especially if Sunset had been so reluctant to follow through with doing the right thing. “Sunset, I’m proud of you for going out of your way to help another pony,” she told her daughter. Perhaps a little praise would change the young mare’s attitude towards it in time.

A blush covered the amber alicorn’s face, which quickly disappeared when Sunset frowned and looked back to the kitchen door. “No...you shouldn’t pat me on the head of this kind of stuff.”

Concerned about the way Sunset was not soaking up the what years with the girl said she should be, Celestia gave her daughter a worried look. “What?” she asked softly before her instincts had Celestia leaning over the table despite the impossibility of pulling the smaller alicorn into a hug in their current situation. “Sunset, why would you say something something like that?”

One of Sunset’s hooves shook with barely restrained anger and she let out a minute growl that told Celestia she obviously didn’t want to continue the conversation. “Can we talk about something else besides my crappy achievement of walking a boy home after he got pummeled?”

Although she didn’t want to just leave the conversation at that, Celestia decided that it would probably be best to give Sunset a minute to cool down. Still, just getting away from the subject altogether was impossible. So, Celestia went with a happier sub-topic. “Well then, Cadance,” she said. “Tell us about this colt friend of yours.”

Cadance blinked in confusion at the question as she turned towards Celestia. “What? But he’s-”

“Yeah Cadance,” Sunset said in a practical growl. “Tell Princess Celestia about your coltfriend.”

Even more confusion showed on Cadance’s face as she looked between the angry amber alicorn and the bigger one that grinned at her like a cat would at a mouse. While Celestia knew she shouldn’t have put the pink princess on the spot like she did, the poor girl had been asking for it with the way she had started talking about a boy.

Sunset’s mood about it was odd, though. Celestia knew it wasn’t envy. She had seen Sunset when she was envious towards Cadance, and what the amber alicorn was displaying didn’t come anywhere near the fit Sunset threw when she was like that. But, she was definitely flustered about something.

Perhaps that preening lesson should be tonight, Celestia told herself as Cadance finally tore her face away from Sunset, still a bit bewildered.

“Well...okay,” the pink princess began hesitantly before giving one last confused glance towards Sunset, who was starting to calm down as she studied her counterpart. “Shining Armor is a colt at the academy and in the same grade as me. He’s um...kind of a nerd and more that a little shy, but still a good pony. He helps other ponies that are falling behind in math and walks another student’s little brother home when she has practice after school.”

As Sunset started to become more relaxed, the other alicorn across the table from Celestia picked up some steam in her explaining. “But that’s more about what he does that who he is,” Cadance said before stopping to think for a second. “Hmm, well...I’d say Shining Armor is very caring and sweet. And responsible, and brave. I mean, Sunset was the one who did all the work, but-”

“AHEM!” The amber alicorn cut in with a cough before clearing her though. “Sorry,” she said evenly. “My throat’s a little dry. Now, you were talking about Shining Armor.”

Celestia recognized the insistence for Cadance to keep on track, another thing she would have to bring up with her daughter after dinner. Although...as Cadance went back to talking, the white alicorn saw a tiny bit of worry crop up in Sunset’s eyes.

“Well,” Cadance continued hesitantly, more out of the fact that she was putting some thought into her next few words rather than any fear of Sunset. “Aside from his one little flaw, I’d say he’s almost the perfect stallion.”

As the summarization of the colt’s character came to an end, Sunset frowned at Cadance in a strangely annoyed way. “What do you mean, flaw?”

Cadance looked back to Sunset with an innocent expression. “Well, he is pretty hesitant.”

“Hey!” Sunset exclaimed as she straightened up a little in defense of...Cadance’s interest. “You would be too if you were just some nopony having to deal with a bucking alicorn!”

With Sunset’s final statement and its defensive tone, Celestia’s theory about the situation fell apart, and a much more troubling one came in to replace it. Whereas before, she had surmised that Cadance had attracted the attentions of a colt, and Sunset was feeling guilty over some event that happened the other day...which was still a possibility. But the larger picture looked much more troubling.

Cadance had obviously managed to break through the social barriers and found a friend among the male population of Canterlot, who she was hoping would become more than that. Then, Sunset had come into the picture and was once again wanting what Cadance had. While it had been bad enough when the pink princess had been prancing around as an alicorn, Celestia had let it go in the hopes that getting over her envy on her own would have enabled to let Sunset make a giant leap towards her own moment of Harmony that preceded an ascension.

But now that she had wings of her own, there was no need to wait for Sunset to have any great moments of self-discovery. And Celestia was not about to let something like feelings for a colt that was still in school destroy the friendship Sunset would be needing more than anything when it came time for her to rule Equestria while her bond with Cadance was still in its infancy.

“Okay, that’s enough. I won’t have the two of you fighting over some foolish colt,” Celestia said in a stern voice. “Sunset, you don’t need to be envious of Cadance because she’s found a coltfriend.”

While Sunset turned to give Celestia a look of utter disbelief, Cadance studied the amber alicorn’s expression for a moment before she looked back to the largest pony in the room. “Oh, this isn’t jealousy. If Sunset was feeling jealous, there’d be more fire,” the pink princess explained before a hint of anger crossed Cadance’s features and she mumbled something that Celestia could barely pick up. “Not that she has anything to be jealous about.”

The angry grumble made Sunset look over to Cadance in confused concern. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Cadance’s body jerked a bit, and she seemed to have internal debate for a few second before looking back at Sunset with a tiny frown. “Oh come on! Out of the two of us, you’re the pony with full control of her magic!” she said, her volume rising as she continued. “You’re the pony that all the papers want to interview! You’re the pony who can just show up at school and have a new friend before first period while I’ve been without any for weeks! And you’re the pony everypony else takes seriously while I’m the one that EVEN A BUCKING PRINCIPAL CAN JUST SHOVE TO THE SIDE AND IGNORE!”

Both of the solar alicorns sat mute as Cadance finally ran out of breath from her shouting, and froze. She blinked away a few small tears that were threatening to appear in her eyes. “I’m sorry, I just-”

“Cadance,” Sunset mumbled softly as she reached out to her friend, making the pink princess wince.

“I’m sorry, I um...I think I need some air,” the former pegasus said before she flapped her wings to get into the air. She got a whole three flaps before being surrounded by a light blue light that stopped her from moving.

As Celestia debated on whether or not to intervene, Sunset pulled the other alicorn back over to her and held Cadance in the air for a moment. “Yeah, if you think I’m just letting you go after that, you’ve got another thing coming,” she said as she wrapped her forelegs around the pink princess and held her close. “I’m sorry if I ever-”

Cadance looked back to Sunset before the amber alicorn could finish. “Don’t apologize!” she practically pleaded before going limp in Sunset’s hug. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Once she had allowed the two girls to have their moment, Celestia spoke up. “Alright, what’s going on?” she asked as her daughter’s embrace of Cadance became less constructing and more comforting. Although a silent cheer erupted in Celestia’s heart at Sunset’s supportive actions, she kept her mind on task.

“Ummm, I’m not really sure,” Sunset spoke up before hesitating a few seconds. She glanced back over to Cadance for a moment, and then locked eyes with Celestia, a sad expression on her face. “But, earlier today...there was this problem at school. This friend of...ours got hurt by a bully. I checked him over, and then walked him home while Cadance went to to principal so she could tell Cinch what happened and get Buck expelled for it.”

Celestia studied her daughter for a moment. For some reason, a sense that Celestia had developed over the centuries was telling the white alicorn she wasn’t hearing the full story. Sunset was oddly hesitant to explain what had happened.

A tiny groan came from the pink princess that had her head resting on Sunset’s shoulder. “Sorry for blowing up like that.”

Sunset’s reply began with a snort. “That wasn’t blowing up. That was a hissy fit,” she said before her face became a little downcast. “And I’m sorry if I ever made you feel...like that.”

“What?” Cadance asked, her head jerking back up to look Sunset in the eyes. “No. You shouldn’t apologize! You didn’t do anything wrong.”

A ghost of a smile appeared on Sunset’s face. “It doesn’t mean I didn’t do anything right, either. I should have seen something was wrong and helped you with it,” she told Cadance gently. “Like I know you would have have done in my position.”

Cadance sighed, and went back to resting her head on the larger alicorn’s shoulder. “I think you’re giving me too much credit. And you are helping me with the magic.”

In response, Sunset shook her head, and drew her wings around the pink princess. “No, you’re just being too hard on yourself, and overlooking all of my faults,” she told her softly. “Without you...I don’t even want to think how badly today would have ended. And I may have better control of my magic, but you’re in way more control of yourself.”

When Cadance stayed silent and simple nuzzled the amber alicorn in acceptance of her words, Celestia took it as a sign that the two of them were done. So she decided to let herself back into the conversation. “Cadance, what do you mean nopony takes you seriously?” she asked in concern while hoping that it wasn’t her that the pink princess had been talking about. The white alicorn had to admit that she had been giving Sunset’s needs more attention than Cadance’s as of late. And even though there was a good reason for that, Celestia knew that such explanations were often of little comfort to the ones being neglected.

The two ponies looked back up to Celestia in surprise, as if they just remembered that she was still in the room. Cadance cleared her throat. “Uh, Sunset? You can let me up now.”

“Are you going to try and fly away?” the amber alicorn asked evenly.

Only after Cadance shook her head did Sunset let go so the pink princess could drop back to the ground. As soon as she did, Celestia pressed her with the question again. “And what do you mean nopony takes you seriously?”

Cadance sighed, and looked back to Sunset for a moment. “Well...after Sunset took Shining Armor home, I went to talk to Principal Cinch about what happened and report the stallion who attacked Shining,” said before becoming angry. “But the principal just laughed it off and told me to let Buck use him like a kicking bag and that everything was fine! That it was normal!”

A sense honed after hundreds of years of watching over Equestria told Celestia that she needed to investigate the colt in the wrong a bit more, but her sensibilities overruled it in favor of the mare in front of her. It didn’t even take much effort thanks to the revelation of the headmaster’s dereliction of duty. “Why would she do something like that?”

“Because Cinch is a short-sighted piece of crap that only cares about herself and her own reputation,” Sunset grumbled as she seethed more than breathed. “And Buck Withers is a big strong athlete that can help with that reputation, while just having Princess Cadance at CA is enough to boost the old bat’s social standing.”

The oddly astute observation made Celestia wonder had come to her conclusion so quickly. Although after considering everything she knew about her daughter, Celestia could see how the amber alicorn could done it. But rather than complimenting Sunset on her reasoning, Celestia kept her attention on Cadance while reminding herself that she would have time for praising Sunset later. At the moment, Cadance was the priority.

Especially considering the opportunity this little problem presented for the pink princess.

“So then Cadance, what do you intend to do about it?” Celestia asked as she began to mentally put all of the pieces of a plan together.

Cadance frowned at the question. “What do you mean?” she asked. “I’m doing something about it right now. I’m telling you, so you can take care of her!”

Before Celestia could reply, Sunset let out an aggravated groan that might as well have been a growl that was directed towards Celestia. “Oh you can’t be serious!” the amber alicorn exclaimed. “You just heard that that piece of...whatever is just letting somepony abuse my-Shining Armor, and you want to turn this into another stupid TEST?”

The angry demand made Celestia see that she had made a minor miscalculation. Although a few years of past experiences meant it was a little hard to predict the actions of a Sunset Shimmer that actually cared about other ponies besides herself. Which, made the white alicorn only feel worse for her slipup. “Well what can I do then?” she asked her daughter evenly. “Simply trot into your school and demand Cinch’s resignation?”

“Yes!” Cadance said as she stepped in, her voice thankfully sounding reasonable as opposed to Sunset’s anger. “That would be just perfect.”

Sunset looked over to Cadance with a hesitant expression. “No. That really wouldn’t be the best move either.”

Across the table from Celestia, Cadance frowned and looked over to Sunset. “What? Why?”

The two alicorns with sun cutie marks shared a look, and Celestia nodded to Sunset so she would be the one doing the explaining. “Because Mom is Princess Celestia,” the amber alicorn said to the confused pink pony, which didn’t explain anything at all.

“Okay, could you please try explaining that again while pretending I can’t read minds?” Cadance asked with a half-lidded expression.

Sunset rolled her eyes at the response, but took in a deep breath. “Yes, Mom has the authority to literally do anything she wants. It’s part of the whole absolute monarchy thing Equestria has. While she has delegated responsibilities to the nobles and commoners over the years, she hasn’t been stupid enough to give up any real power as the final say in all matters. But, that doesn’t mean that everypony else doesn’t go about their daily lives thinking all she does is sit around in the castle all day, just signing a few papers and making a few minor corrections when Equestria gets a little off track,” she explained. “But if Princess Celestia, the ruler of our entire nation were to leave her ivory castle to come and weigh in on some nothing little issue like a school bully and a corrupt principal directly? Everypony everywhere would look at her and expect her to jump in and solve their little nothing problem instead of doing it themselves, and that’s one of the better outcomes that might happen.”

With the explanation done, Cadance looked back to Celestia for confirmation, who nodded at Sunset’s prediction of events. While lacking a bit, it did get the main point across. “Of course, that does not mean I can’t do anything to help,” the white alicorn told her adopted niece to help with the anger showing on Cadance’s face. “The most official thing for me to do would be to pass it down the ladder, so to speak, to the Minister of Education. He could then send it further and further down until an official investigation could be launched into the matter about...oh, four or five months from now.”

The news didn’t sit well with Cadance. She glared at Celestia. “Four or five months?” she demanded before looking over to Sunset. “And how can you be so...calm about this!”

“Believe me,” Sunset grumbled as her eyes narrowed. “There’s nothing more I’d like to do now than toss that blasted nag out of a third story window and watch until she stopped twitching on the ground.”

Sunset’s declaration made Celestia gasp in horror. “Sunset!”

“Oh for crying out loud! Fantasizing doesn’t mean I’m gonna actually do it!” she snapped back before snorting at Celestia. “Yeah, I’m angry, but I’m not stupid! And it’s not as bad as what you’re doing!”

Cadance glanced over towards the white alicorn, then back to Sunset. “What’s she doing?”

“Let me guess,” Sunset said. “You’re about to say that if Cadance wants something to be done about Cinch that isn’t going to take forever, then she needs to be the pony to do it. Just like how you could have easily gotten rid of that stupid changeling accusation by pulling out the the strength tests that were part of my medical exam you probably had hidden under your plot!”

After giving Sunset a few moments to simmer, Celestia smirked at the amber alicorn’s almost-correct assumptions. “They were under my wing, actually.” If her daughter had been unable to do anything in the time Celestia had allotted her, the larger alicorn would have simply let the papers slip as if by accident and had Strong Withers read it for her after calling him out in front of the assembled ponies to end his political career via humiliation for attacking Sunset in such a way.

“And although Sunset is right about what is going on Cadance,” Celestia continued. “If you want to be taken seriously as a princess, then perhaps you should do something about it yourself. After all, you are my equal in the government.” On paper at least, what was true in the mind of little ponies was another matter. All the power in the world meant nothing if Cadance wasn’t willing to wield it with certainty.

Instead of rising to the challenge, Cadance became hesitant at Celestia’s suggestion. So the older alicorn gave her a little more prodding. “While me interfering would make far too many waves, a relatively new princess could do so with little problem beyond some minor grumblings. In fact, I could say it’s almost expected of you to start small. I could set up a meeting with Minister Board if you want him to help you get the ball rolling.”

Cadance sighed, but nodded before answering in a dejected tone. “Thank you. I suppose that’ll have to do.”

While not exactly the response she had hoped for, Celestia knew that the young mare would figure things out soon enough. There was nothing really stopping Cadance from using her authority to oust Cinch first thing in the morning. Although, the white alicorn hoped that the girl would be able to see what a bad idea that was and not do anything until she had the principal’s replacement ready to go.

So with one issue dealt with, Celestia looked over to the amber alicorn and all of the new problems that Sunset brought to the table.

Now that she had been given a few moments to think about it, Celestia honestly didn’t like the way Sunset was taking Cadance’s attraction to a stallion. At first she had thought it was simple jealousy over some colt. But after seeing the way Sunset had held her friend, Celestia wasn’t quite as sure. Was possible that her daughter had feelings for Cadance beyond the platonic kind?

Although...Sunset’s defense of the shortcomings of Cadance’s coltfriend did confuse Celestia a bit. If Sunset wanted Cadance for herself, then she wouldn’t she have jumped on the flaws this Shining Armor colt had in an attempt to turn Cadance off of him? While Sunset had grown by leaps and bounds as a pony since her experience with the mirror, Celestia didn’t think the girl was so selfless as to defend a potential rival.

The possibility that Sunset had also developed some kind of crush on the mystery stallion entered Celestia’s mind, and she had to stop herself from laughing at the ridiculousness of it all. From her actions in the castle and some of those stories she told about the human world’s male population, it was obvious Sunset held no love for the opposite gender.

About the only creature Sunset seemed to have any kind of feelings for at all was Cadance.

Not that Celestia believed any sort of romantic relationship between the two younger alicorns was a good idea by any stretch of the imagination.

In fact, Sunset falling for another pony at such a young age, before she became aware of just how terrible it would be for her later on in life would be disastrous. Celestia knew from personal experience that the old adage about it being better to love and lose than to never love at all was in fact false. It was in fact better for ponies such as Celestia, and eventually Sunset, to never form such connections than to allow time to strip them away.

But in the end, whether Sunset was jealous of the attentions this Shining Armor colt was getting from Cadance, or the extremely unlikely event that she fancied him for herself was in fact the case didn’t matter. Neither of the two could be allowed to happen if Sunset was to take her rightful place as the future ruler of Equestria.


Dinner was delicious, as always. Despite the fact that the cook still cursed and raved loud enough to be heard from the kitchens about having to prepare commoner cuisine to sate Sunset’s devolved pallet, Ram See still did so with the skill of a master chef. It was something that had Sunset wondering what normal food would taste like to her if she went out on the town for a night.

As for the conversation, it was...thankfully non-intrusive when it came to the subject that Sunset would rather have avoided. Instead, Celestia asked about this friend that Cadance of all ponies was jealous about. Something Sunset felt guilty, and yet...oddly happy about.

It was the first time that anypony had felt that way towards her.

Anypony that she cared about at least.

“She’s just some filly I helped out when I was looking for Cinch’s office,” Sunset explained before telling her mother what little she knew about Cheerilee, which wasn’t all that much. She did manage not to mention the other version of the pony that had been a naked ape though. There was no need to bring that up in front of her mother.

Cadance looked over to the other alicorn as she finished off her desert. “So...wait. You just came along, helped her out, made her show you where the office was, then told her to meet you at lunch?” the pink princess asked before the little frown on her face turned into a tiny smile. “I can’t believe it. You bullied somepony into being your friend!”

Even though she knew it was a joke, Sunset bristled at the comment. “Yeah well maybe if you’d have taken a look around, you would have seen why nobody is trying to hang out with the most popular mare in school,” she grumbled.

The emotion in Sunset’s voice killed Cadance’s laughter. “Sunset, did I say something wrong?”

“I’m not a bully,” she mumbled more to herself than Cadance. She had worked hard to change who she was, and...Sunset realized that she was probably being a little too hard on the other alicorn, and reigned in her emotions. “Sorry, guess I’m still a little raw over this whole Cinch thing.”

Not that she was too surprised about it. The other Cinch had practically forced Twilight to open her locket despite the obvious dangers just to win a stupid little contest. If their personalities were the same, it wasn’t that much of a leap for the pony Cinch to be willing to allow a student that could win contests to do whatever the hell he wanted. Sunset had heard about such things all the time back on the other side of the mirror.

Celestia cleared her throat just loud enough to be heard, and Sunset found herself looking back at her mother, as well as actually remembering she was still in the room. The realization of which made Sunset feel a little guilty about. For years she had wanted Celestia to reach out to her before giving up on that hope, but when the white alicorn finally did, it was Sunset that was pulling back.

Which she had plenty of good reasons for of course!

On top of which, becoming obsessed with Celestia’s love was dangerous. Just being praised during her first day back had put Sunset in a daze! The tightrope the amber alicorn had found herself walking since Twilight’s appearance meant she couldn’t afford any such distractions or...temptations.

“Sunset,” her mother spoke up. “Have you been taking care of your wings?”

The odd question made the amber alicorn look at her useless appendages for a second before turning her attention back to Celestia. “Yeah,” she replied in a guarded way as countless memories reminded Sunset that her mom never just asked a yes or no question without it either being very important or the lead-in to a bigger conversation.

“I didn’t want to be that mare, but ...they do look a little...scruffy,” Cadance added.

Sunset frowned at her friend and her perfect looks. “Well excuse me for not being the ponification of beauty like you!” she shot back at Cadance before wincing at her own outburst. “Sorry.”

Thankfully for Sunset’s conscience, Cadance didn’t even make the first move to cower at the amber alicorn’s verbal assault. She just blinked a few times. “Beautiful? You’re talking about me?”

Disbelief at Cadance’s response forced Sunset into a tiny slump as she continued to stare at the mare. What made the whole thing worse was that Sunset had seen Cadance get ready for school just this morning. There was no primping, no special amount of combing on her coat or hair, she just had natural good looks that simply appeared after a basic wash. “You’re kidding, right?”

Cadance looked away as if she was blushing, which Sunset wasn’t even sure of thanks to her stupid coat, and cleared her throat. “Yes, well...you’re the one with...um, all the colts’ attention.”

Seeing through the poor attempt to boost her confidence, Sunset snorted. “That’s just me projecting the right presence,” she said before noticing the conversation had just taken a dangerous turn towards a subject Sunset knew was better to be avoided around Celestia. She needed to get things back on track. “But uh...yeah, wings. I guess they are pretty scruffy-looking.”

“You um...haven’t been preening them, have you?” Celestia cut in with an oddly absent tone.

Alarm bells began going off in Sunset’s head at her mother’s words. She knew that when Celestia talked like that, she was forcing herself to follow a script that wasn’t quite matching the reality of the situation. Which meant the white alicorn was plotting something. The wings were just her excuse to lead Sunset into it.

Keeping her face steady, Sunset thought back to her old pony anatomy classes about pegasi and their wings while she quickly surmised a way through Celestia’s little trap. “Ugh, preening. I can’t believe I forgot something so basic,” she said before looking over to Cadance. The other mare had worked on her feathers just this morning when she was getting ready, so… “Hey Cadance, can you show me how to uh...take care of these things?”

Sunset saw the smile on Celestia’s face fall just a tiny bit when the pink princess nodded. “Well...okay,” she agreed before breaking out into a small grin. “I was raised by earth ponies. So, trust me when I tell you, learning how to take care of your feathers on your own is no fun at all.”

“Oh,” Celestia spoke up, her mood lightening just a bit after hearing Cadance talk about her past. “Yes, well...if you want me to Sunset, I could show you.”

Pain erupted in Sunset’s chest as she realized what Celestia was also asking for: time alone with her daughter. A part of her wanted to say yes, if just to live out the childhood fantasies that Sunset had when she was younger the right way since the debacle that was her flight instruction had been...less than perfect. And the longing in her mother’s eyes that she wasn’t even bothering to hide made holding to her decision to go with Cadance all the more hard.

But...Sunset knew she couldn’t spend time alone with Celestia again just yet. Not until she had figured out what needed to be done with the Twilight situation. Something that threatened to push it way into her worries and make her run screaming to Celestia for help with. Although tempting, Sunset had to be sure going to Celestia for help wouldn’t end up making the situation worse.

Plus, she and Cadance had to talk. The pink princess undoubtedly had questions as to why Sunset had made her mother think Shining Armor was with Cadance instead of Sunset. She deserved an explanation as soon as possible.

I’m sorry Mom...I’ll make this up to you...if I can, Sunset promised, the last bit thought in reluctance. “N-No, I’m good. I mean, I help Cadance with magic. She can help me with my wings. Even trade, right?”

Cadance’s looked back and forth between the two alicorns, and Sunset felt like a complete jackass for putting her between the two of them like that. There was no way that she didn’t see what was going on between mother and daughter, but more than likely missed the hidden maneuverings between mentor and protege. “Are you sure?” she asked.

“Yes!” Sunset said, a little more forcefully than she meant to.

As for Celestia, she put on one of her usual smiles and nodded her head. “It’s alright Cadance. You two go on. I’ve got some work that needs doing anyway.”

Although the lack of insistence on Celestia’s part was...odd, Sunset wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth and quickly led Cadance back to her room. As soon as the door slammed shut and Sunset took a minute to ignite the logs in the fireplace on top of empowering the smoke consuming enchantment in the chimney with her magic for a good four hours to get rid of the autumn chill, she turned around to find the pink mare giving her a glare.

“Alright, what’s going on?” Cadance demanded evenly. “Why did you make Celestia think that I’m the one dating Shining Armor.”

Sunset sighed at the question. It was a good thing she had thought ahead. “First off, really sorry about that, and thank you for having my back.”

The apology made Cadance roll her eyes up to the ceiling and sigh. “Hey, you are my best friend,” she replied before looking back to Sunset and fixing her frown in place again. “And that’s not an explanation!”

“Well…” Sunset said as she worked out the perfect way to explain things to Cadance. “I just don’t want Mom poking her nose into things until...I can...make everybody ready for her.” The half-lie made her tense, and she found herself having to compromise with her own conscience. “I mean, look… Shining Armor and his family, they’re just normal ponies. I’m a princess, I want to ease him into this whole princess thing and…”

Cadance blinked in confusion while Sunset’s churning gut made her pause.

“And what?” the pink princess asked. “She’s not going to be asking about this colt when I’m the one dating him instead of you?”

The idea of forcing Shining to also go through with the lie got another cringe out of Sunset. Cadance was one thing, but Shining Armor as well just doubled the weight of her guilt. “It’s not Shining Armor I’m worried about. It’s...I...I...don’t think it would be the best idea for her to meet Twilight Sparkle,” Sunset relented before looking away from her friend and down to the ground. That was the problem with having friends. Using them like tools was next to impossible.

There was the sound of hooves clopping on the ground, and then hoof touched her shoulder, and Sunset looked up to see Cadance standing in front of her. “Sunset, what’s wrong?”

The amber alicorn sighed and hung her head even lower a her guilt scored another critical hit thanks to the concern in the pink princess’s voice. Even knowing that Sunset had been lying, her friend was still worried about her. “Cadance...I’m sorry. I’ve been keeping something from you,” she confessed before meeting the other pony’s eyes. “I may have not of met Shining Armor before I went back in time, but I did meet Twilight Sparkle.”

“That…” Cadance paused, and blinked.

Sunset lowered herself down onto the floor as she waited for her friend’s wrath to impact her face after Cadance found out that Sunset had been lying to her practically since her fantasy adventure with Shining Armor.

When nothing came, she looked back over to Cadance, who was still apparently thinking the matter over. Although, she didn’t have an angry look on her face. It looked more...curious?

“...makes a lot of sense, actually,” the pink princess finished in a mumble.

With no blow incoming, Sunset got out of her crouch and tilted her head in confusion. “Huh?”

“Well, when I told you about my plans to be foal-sitter, you said that you don’t like young ponies,” Cadance began to explain. “But when Twilight saw you, well...after you fainted and woke up-”

“Hey!” Sunset snapped back as she thought up a much better way of explaining her lapse of consciousness that didn’t involve the word Magic with a capital M. Some secrets just weren’t hers to tell. “I...passed out from...marely hunger.”

Cadance let out a snicker and gave Sunset an amused smile. “Okay, after you passed out from hunger that just happened to coincide seeing Twilight Sparkle, you doted on that filly more than a grandmother who was meeting her children’s foals for the first time and you’re willing to pay for her education just on the fact that she likes to read and can use her horn a few years earlier than most foals,” she said before becoming serious. “I may be a sucker for love Sunset, but even I know there’s a limit to how far you go to impress a guy.”

Once the pink princess had finished, Sunset found herself staring at Cadance for a good ten seconds before finally getting her thoughts unjumbled at the fact that the pony in front of her wasn’t some scatter-brained moron. “But...it...you...if you knew something was going on, then why didn’t you say something?” she demanded in a confused panic.

“Because I respect your privacy and I trust you,” Cadance replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world and was confused as to why Sunset couldn’t understand that.

Sunset hung her head again in shame for her actions. “Yeah well...something tells me I may need your help figuring this one out,” she admitted before dropping to lay herself on the thick rug with her cutie mark on it. “I know I think way too much with my head most of the time.”

A little laugh came from Cadence as she walked behind the other alicorn before getting Sunset to spread her wings for inspection. “Well, except for when somepony bucks your Shiny’s cute little hiney,” she said. “That anger of yours looked pretty heartfelt to me.”

Because Sunset didn’t know if Cadance was trying to compliment or take a stab at her foolishness, she did her best to ignore the comment and the image of her colt laying on the floor with that idiot standing over him grinning with pride at his actions. Even if she knew it hadn’t really happened that way, it sure as hell felt like it did to the amber alicorn.

“So, about this Twilight Sparkle filly,” Cadance said, cutting into Sunset’s thought’s as the amber alicorn watched her examine Sunset’s wings.

Sunset sighed, and took a moment to clear her mind. Then, she began piecing together the best way to explain it to Cadance while the other alicorn went around Sunset’s back, messing with her feathers but not doing much else than a slight adjustment here and tug there. “Okay so, remember how I said I ran away? Well, while I was gone, Celestia went and got another student. That was Twilight Sparkle,” she began. “I’m not sure when it’s supposed to happen though, maybe this year...or the next. I was gone for that part. But when I got back, well...this is where things...stop making sense.”

“What do you mean?” Cadance asked as she looked over Sunset’s wings.

Deciding to just get it out, Sunset took in a deep breath and just let it out. “When I came back in the, uh, future...well, I didn’t look at the date on the newspaper, but judging by Twilight’s age now, at least ten years had gone by from when I left,” she explained before dropping to a thoughtful mumble. “Probably a little bit more, to be honest. Maybe...twelve? Thirteen? I showed up during a princess summit, and Twilight was one of the alicorns in attendance,” the amber alicorn explained. “Maybe a year younger than I was.”

“But you said you were only gone three years!” Cadance exclaimed.

“Like I said, stopped making sense!”

Sunset felt Cadance’s stiffen in mid-grab of a wing, and looked back to her. The pink princess was frowning, but the look on her face said she wasn’t looking at a problem on the amber alicorn’s back. “Sunset,” she said before looking back to her friend with a worried expression. “Are you sure you didn’t see the date?”

The stupid question made Sunset roll her eyes. “I just said that, didn’t I?”

“Okay so...in about...um, the reason for this summit, in...uh, say...the thousandth year of the Celestia Era?” Cadance replied. “It probably would have been held then, right? All the princesses getting together for...something important like that?”

“I didn’t bother to find out,” Sunset grumbled in response. “I just took Twilight’s magic crown back to Earth with me to break its connection to her so I could try and take it’s power for myself, and...she still managed to beat me and take it home with her. But it...left some magic behind in me and some other humans it touched. To be honest, that’s probably why I’m an alicorn right now. Because I took that power and ran back through the portal with it after forcing it open.”

The confession of her forced ascension didn’t seem to bother Cadance in the slightest. At least, she didn’t get any more disturbed. “Okay...so…” She sighed and shook her head.

Sunset groaned and stood up to turn around so her front was towards the pink princess. “Hey! I just told you my transformation into an alicorn was because of a bunch of stupid outside magic that, oh yeah, I STOLE, and don’t deserve on top of the fact me being here could ruin Twilight Sparkle’s whole future!” she yelled at Cadance. “SAY SOMETHING!”

“Sunset…” Cadance mumbled before her worried frown deepened with what looked like anger. “What do you want me to condemn you over? Your ascension? If I did, then I’d be in the same boat. To be honest, you handle the weight of your wings a lot better than this horn that weighs me down. And if you honestly want me to tell you that I think you being in Twilight Sparkle’s life is a bad thing despite all the love you have for that filly, then you’re talking to the wrong pony.”

Disbelief flooded Sunset’s mind at Cadance’s lack of response to her crimes. “But...but I…”

A hoof reached out and touched her shoulder. “Sunset, please don’t tell me you’ve been beating yourself up over becoming an alicorn all this time,” Cadance said.

Sunset withdrew into herself a little. “Well…” she mumbled before looking away. She hadn’t...ever since Celestia had told Sunset her theory about the mirror just imparting all that experience as some sort of vision. But now that she knew that it wasn’t...Sunset had found the week-old doubts resurfacing.

“Does Celestia know?” the pink princess went on.

Sunset sighed, and nodded. “About the stolen ascension...yeah,” she mumbled. She hadn’t dared to hide that crime from her mother.

“And what does she say about it?” Cadance asked as she continued her line of questioning.

As the exoneration of her crimes came to the forefront of her mind, Sunset lowered her head in defeat. “She says that if I had been infused with magic in such a way and had any darkness in my heart, I would have been transformed into a monster,” the amber alicorn told Cadance rather reluctantly. She hated bringing up any mention of that one incident. “So...Mom says I deserve it after all. Even if the magic is stolen. F-For a good reason this time, at least.”

Cadance closed her eyes and nodded slightly, more to herself than to Sunset. When she was looking back at the other alicorn again, the pink princess’s mouth was curved into a little smile. “Well there you have it,” she said softly. “Just because you took a different road doesn’t mean you don’t deserve what awaits at the end of the journey if you’re worthy of it. Hay, I didn’t even get this thing on my head on my own. Celestia was there to get me through my transformation. So don’t think just because something gave you an extra push rather than somepony it’s any less valid. And stop beating yourself up over this junk, okay?”

“When the hell did you get all wisdomy?” the amber alicorn asked.

Cadance snickered. “Isn’t the word supposed to be wise?”

Sunset snorted and sat on her fuzzy butt so she could cross her pony-arms. “Not if the all-powerful pony princess says it isn’t!”

In response, Cadance reached out to pull herself over to Sunset in a hug, bringing an end to their conversation. Although she felt like there was more to be said, Sunset couldn’t bring herself to pull away and melted into Cadance’s warm embrace. She buried her nose in the pink alicorn’s soft coat, and just sat for a few moment’s enjoying the calming effect Cadance’s presence had on her.

Tension Sunset had barely been aware she had been holding and a lump in her throat that had come up when the conversation began disappeared, and she wrapped Cadance in her scruffy amber wings so the pink pony couldn’t just up and disappear, as friends of the pink persuasion were known to do.

They stayed in the embrace for Sunset didn’t know how long as she let Cadance take away the weight of guilt for her crimes and lies. She didn’t cry or let out any other big emotional explosion. The Amber alicorn just...sat, and relaxed. “Thank you...Cadance.” It was a thank-you covering too much to put into words. The acceptance of Sunset’s crimes, her lies, the truth about the mirror, and so much more that had been covered since they had met upon Sunset’s return.

The pink princess nuzzled Sunset on the neck. “I love you too, Sunset.”

“...now you’re just getting sappy,” the amber alicorn mumbled as she debated on breaking the hug.

Cadance pulled back a bit so they were face to face but still embraced, and gave Sunset a superior smile. “Sorry, but that’s just the way I soar. So nah!” she said before sticking her tongue out at the other alicorn.

Not to be outdone in a contest of words, Sunset gave Cadance a feral grin. “Hey now, you know what I like to use tongues for, right?”

The empty threat had its desired effect. Cadance’s eyes went wide, and she quickly withdrew her mouth muscle before fighting her way out of of Sunset’s embrace. “Uh, yes...well...ahem!” the flustered pink pony said. “We’re here to preen. Now get back down on the floor and spread ‘em so I can sink my teeth into you!”

Sunset blinked once…

...twice…

......and thrice.

“Okay,” she relented to the confused pony that just tilted her head at Sunset’s blushing face. “You win.”


Being preened was certainly one of the more interesting experiences of Sunset’s life. By the time it was over, she could see why it was done in private, and why her mom had a plenty good reason for wanting to use it as an excuse to talk to her. While flying in the air, the magic around a pony’s wing had the opposite effect it had on a horn, forming a protective layer of energy. But without an excess amount of magic flowing through it, those things were sensitive!

Not that Sunset had felt bad at all during the experience. If anything, the time had been very...pleasurable. Although, Sunset hadn’t let Cadance in on the...extremely awkward comfort that her friend had caused. And following her preening with a nice, freezing cold shower allowed Sunset to hide the fact that her friend’s hooves managed to be almost as stimulating as human fingers that touched all the right spots.

Once she was back to normal, the two girls settled into their new nightly routine of magical studies, followed by bedtime. The former of which Sunset found herself somewhat lacking thanks to Cadance’s interest in Crystal Empire magic, especially with the pink princess skipping over the emotional stuff and going straight to the hard crystal constructs.

Although, Sunset was able to at least break down the complex explanations into things the girl could understand. If Cadance mastered the magic, it would be because of Sunset’s sorcery for dummies instruction, not her own talents. So the amber alicorn’s pride survived.

Sunset tried to also talk to Cadance about Cinch. Years of making sure teachers didn’t take action against her meant that Sunset had plenty of tactics to dig up dirt on adults, and that was before she knew magic. But Cadance would hear of it and said they would talk about it later if things came to that.

As for the later of their two big nightly activities, Sunset found herself repeating what had happened the night before and allowing Cadance into her bed before joining the pink princess to become the bigger spoon.

“Sunset...if this makes you uncomfortable…” Cadance began before trailing off as Sunset used her magic to lift the pink alicorn up and get a wing under her to set up her full body-to-wing embrace.

Before Cadance could continue, Sunset pulled the pink princess in close and rested her horn against the amber alicorn’s chin. “I’m good Cadance,” she told her best friend that was sharing her pillow. “Just a little...distracted.” And...cuddling up to another pony felt...nice.

The pink pony tried to shift around in Sunset’s grip, but the bed proved too small for anything major. “What about?”

“Twilight, remember?” Sunset reminded her as she decided to stick to the safer subjects. “And her brother.”

Cadance sighed. “Sunset, I know you’re worried what you might accidentally do to Twilight,” she said. “But I don’t see how you could possibly mess her life up. You’re not Celestia’s student. You’re helping to build her confidence. The only thing your presence in her life could possibly do is help. So stop worrying about it. Everything will work out.”

“Actually...I wanted to talk to you more about Shining Armor,” she went on hesitantly.

At first, a sigh was Cadance’s only response. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep up the charade in front of Celestia for a little while if that’s what you want,” she finally said after several agonizing seconds. “But you’re going to have to tell her eventually.”

The two ponies lay together for a few more minutes, with Sunset making minor adjustments to make Cadance more comfortable. She knew that sleeping up against a rock-hard earth pony probably wasn’t very good for a relaxing sleep. However, every time Sunset made an adjustment, Cadance would also move just a bit to undo her work and keep them as close as possible. Finally, Sunset relented and just let Cadance snuggle into her bigger frame as much as she could.

Unfortunately, when Sunset stopped concentrating on the other girl’s position, her mind got to work on more pressing things.

Like how she was going to ruin Twilight Sparkle’s life.

She remembered dreaming, seeing her mother reveal a throne right next to her own, and then Twilight standing behind her. “What about me?

Sunset closed her eyes and forced the image away. No...Cadance is right. I...I can help her, the amber alicorn told herself.

She already had plans to ensure Twilight’s placement in Celestia’s school. From there, she could find out just when the purple unicorn would take her entrance exam and ensure that Celestia would be there to see it. After that Sunset could…

...influence her…

...corrupt her…

...show her the exact opposite of what she should be…

Sunset closed her eyes and took a deep breath through her nose. The scent of Cadance’s strawberry shampoo assaulted her senses, and Sunset focused on the smell with every ounce of concentration she could muster. It was sweet and inviting, reminding Sunset of one spring when she was eight and her mother had taken the two of them to the town of Berry’s Grove to oversee a juice festival. Back then, she had been truly happy, with Celestia being more of a parent than teacher, and the weight of her false-alicorn-hood not weighing her down in the slightest.

“Sunset?”

The calling of her name drew the amber alicorn out of her past, and she looked down to Cadance. “Yeah?”

“What’s wrong?” the pink princess asked softly.

Even though she knew the smaller alicorn wouldn’t be able to see it, Sunset shot her a frown. “Nothing’s-”

Cadance didn’t let her get more than a word in. “Sunset, you’re all around me. I can feel every muscle in your body tense and relax, and every breath you take,” she said before her foreleg came up to wrap a fetlock around one of Sunset’s pony-arms in a show of support. “At first I thought you were nervous, but now you seem...I dunno, limp. Anything wrong?”

Despite her attempt to fight it, Sunset stiffened up again. She didn’t want to get into another debate with Cadance about Twilight. Telling the mare had already been hard enough, even if being friends with the pink pony kind of made it impossible not to use her as a confidant. Cadance would just offer the same reassurances.

So instead, she focused on a more immediate problem that she could talk about if pressed into it. “Just thinking about Shining Armor.”

Cadance giggled. “Oh, that I can understand. He is pretty cute in a goofy sort of way, and nice. And well, I probably don’t need to tell you that-”

All thought’s of the problem that was Twilight Sparkle were pushed to the side as Sunset listened to Cadance talk. She heard the happiness in the other mare’s voice and laugh, and had the strangest feeling in the pit of her stomach. It was...not exactly a bad feeling, but at the same time...terrifying.

“Cadance,” Sunset said before the pink pony could get into singing the young stallion’s praises for the second time that night. “Do you...like Shining Armor?”