• Published 26th Jan 2016
  • 3,843 Views, 160 Comments

Revenant - Muramasa



Sunset Shimmer is coming home.

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My mentor once told me that what you did didn't matter, but rather how you reacted to it.

That quote, to me at least, is one of Celestia's most important, based on the fact that I had thought of it so many times throughout my life. Trixie Lulamoon knew that her actions during both her visits were not only mean spirited, but harmful to others. Gilda the Griffon learned from her mistakes, and as a result not only helped herself, but countless other members of her kin. My new student, Starlight Glimmer, had seen what she had wrought upon the world and was horrified at it. Even Discord, the Lord of all Chaos, was able to truly understand the scope of his destruction, and became a better being because of it. I had seen it countless times.

And now, I was about to see it again. Sunset Shimmer was not what I would deem a villain during her time of misconduct, much as I would not call my student a villain during her time of misconduct. A villain, by definition, is "the pony or thing responsible for specified trouble, harm, or damage". I hate that definition, because as we do bad things, we are sometimes not bad ponies. King Sombra is a villain; he is filled with pure hate and darkness, and relished and treasured every vile act he ever committed. Sunset and Starlight are not villains; they were mislead and confused, respectively, and they did a bad thing.

When we first came back from the whole dimension fiasco, Starlight Glimmer was wrought with guilt. No one antagonized her; she antagonized herself, and came to the conclusion that she was this utterly deplorable pony that deserved to rot in Tartarus. It's taken a bit, but Starlight has finally realized that she had always been a good pony, but her hurt and confusion over her friend clouded her mind. The real Starlight Glimmer, once you get to know her, is kind, understanding, and, above all, absolutely hilarious. She's a wonderful pony, and I know that Sunset Shimmer is a wonderful pony as well.

Celestia had sent me the letter earlier that day, and of course, I was rather shocked. Sunset Shimmer was back! I had a conversation with her at one of her favorite human diners, and there was a point in our conversation when she mentioned being homesick. It wasn't a long talk--we laughed it off, even--but I suppose it had overwhelmed her. I've already heard many stories of the "good" Sunset from Princess Celestia, and that was exactly why I was so nervous about this meeting.

To me, Sunset Shimmer, or the one I was about to have dinner with, was a legend. I had know her for a good long while as a cruel being filled with malice, but once she reformed, I'd hardly even talked to her. Sure, there was that time we ate lunch, but that was only a hint, and even then, she wasn't a pony. I was going to meet Sunset Shimmer, the real, authentic Sunset Shimmer, for the first time tonight. And then I was going to live with her.

I had no problem with that. I've done this with friends before, and having Sunset stay until she got back on her hooves was fine by me. I'll meet her tonight, and over the next few months, I'll get to know her well.

So, of course, I needed to be familiar. This restaurant was much like the one we met at back in the human world, the old red booths and checkered walls all around, and while that was the reason I kept telling myself I picked this place, it's really because the Hay Burger was my favorite place to eat on the entire planet and I would use literally any excuse to end up here. Also, now that I've become one of the most powerful beings on the planet, I can eat whatever I want and not get fat. It's wonderful.

I'd been sitting at the table for about ten minutes when I looked up to see my new roommate trotting to the table. It'd had been a pretty long time since I've seen her as a pony, but she was sporting a different look than I had previously seen her in.

She was wearing a black pair of sunglasses that looked really nice; they were the modern shape, and very hipster looking, but I could tell they weren't new. She was wearing a grey scarf that paired perfectly with the shades, giving me my first fact about sunset; she had at least a modern interest in fashion.

At least she'll get along with one of the elements, I thought as I slowly rose from my seat. She beamed upon seeing me, and as soon as she got to the table we she quickly wrapped me in an embrace. We stayed like that for a few seconds before moving to our seats at our small, two pony table near the back on the restaurant.

"You don't know how happy I am to see you. Before we talk about anything, I just...really wanted to thank you for doing this," she said as she removed her sunglasses via magic.

"It isn't a problem at all, Sunset; I'll be happy to have you. I really love the shades, by the way. Where'd you get them?" I asked. She looked down at them fondly, and I could tell already that they were a personal item.

"I bought these seventeen years ago at a shop in Canterlot called "the Lens of the Earth"." I chuckled at the pun, prompting Sunset to do so as well. "Yea, I know, comedy gold. It isn't there anymore, but this was the first item I've ever bought with my own money, back when that mattered to me. That isn't important, though--I'm starving." Sunset looked down at the table before looking back up at me and raising an eyebrow.

"Only one menu?" she asked. I raised an eyebrow.

"Sunset, I practically live here," I answered, which once again prompted us both to break out in laughter. I felt a wave of relief wash over me; this was starting off well. Just as the laughter began to die down, a waitress made her way to our table. She was very young unicorn, and had bright pink fur and a blonde mane the exact color of Applejack's, which she styled in a simple bun.

"Hello, and welcome to Hay Burger! I'm Daisy, and I'll be your server this evening. Can I start you both off with anything to drink?" this was a new waitress, so I'd have to actually put in my orders; a minor inconvenience, and probably for the better in this case.

"I'll have a regular Dr. Sweet," I answered, looking over to Sunset. She didn't need much time to decide.

"Same. I think we're ready to order," said Sunset. I nodded, and the waitress nodded back, flipping a page from her notepad and levitating a pen right above it.

"I'll have a triple hay burger with extra ketchup and a large order of fries, please," I said. The waitress didn't write anything down at first; in fact, she was staring at me oddly, and when I looked over to Sunset, she was doing the same, though she looked even more taken aback. The waitress eventually snapped out of it and wrote the order down, proceeding to turn to Sunset. The mare in question just raised her eyebrows in looked down at the menu.

"I'll take the regular hay burger with nothing on it. That'll be it," she said. The waitress nodded and began to walk back towards the kitchen. Sunset looked back at me in amusement.

"Damn, Twilight! Did you starve yourself before you got here?" she asked with a smile. I had been anticipating the question.

"Since I became a Princess, quite a few things have changed. My magical power has increased considerably with the addition of Pegasi wings and Earth Pony strength, and my metabolism has increased rapidly as well, along with my appetite. I was kind of a big eater before, but now, its been increased ten-fold. If you have any other questions, I'd be glad to answer them," I said. Sunset nodded in understanding before raising her hoof.

"I just have one more question," she said. I replied for her to go ahead, and she asked me a question that gave me yet another look into the personality in Sunset Shimmer.

"Do you still go into heat?" she asked.

There's a part Dash will like about her, I thought. I rolled my eyes with a grin.

"Yes, Sunset, I do. Anything else?" I asked. Sunset leaned back in a chair with a mischievous look on her face not unlike some of those I've seen from Rainbow Dash over the years.

"No, that's it," she said. I gave an eye roll again before asking a much more serious question.

"Enough about me, then. Is there anything in particular I should know about my new roommate?" I asked. With that question, Sunset looked up to the roof in thought.

"Well, I've been told that I snore, when I can actually sleep," she began. "I'm a massive hoofball fan, so I'll want the radio on Sunday's. Hmm...I love table top games; Chess, card games, Property, Monsters and Magic, you name it. Oh, and I play the ukulele. That about covers it," she finished. She had this twinkle in her eye, and I knew that she was actually grateful and excited she was back in Equestria. I decided to continue with a pleasant subject.

"Do you have a favorite band?" I asked inquisitively. Sunset nodded.

"I'm literally obsessed with the Ants. Yourself?" she asked. I raised my eyebrows in amusement, and tried to hold back a smile; I couldn't, and as a result, Sunset cocked her head to the side in confusion. This was certainly not something I was planning on, but this was something I rarely did for anypony; I leaned to the side of my seat and levitated my purse from it's place at the side of the chair onto the top of the table.

"Let me show you something," I said. Sunset was still suspicious, but watched intently as I unzipped the bag with magic. After feeling for it, I pulled from the bag one of my most prized possessions, and a family heirloom; an old photograph of the Ants themselves, signed by all four members of the band. I levitated it over to Sunset, who upon realizing what it was, immediately gaped in shock.

"No way!" she said, feeling the photo with her hoof. "How did you get this?" My smile must have turned to a radiant beam; I loved telling this story.

"Well, as you know, the Ants broke up years and years ago, and stopped playing concerts even before that. BUT, my father, Night Light, went to go see them at the Canterlot Coliseum right after they released their second album and took Equestria by storm. He was in the lawn area where there were no seats, and he was right at the front row. It was there, at this Ants concert, that my father sat right next to a lovely mare by the name of Twilight Velvet." Sunset Shimmer gave a silent "aw" and put a hoof to her chest.

"Well, Twilight was a photographer, and so as the Ants began to play "I Wanna Hold Your Hoof" she took a picture. It was one of those instantly developing polaroid cameras, so she grabbed it and put it in her bag she had brought. When the song was coming to an end and the Ants hit their last chorus, my dad...well, he grabbed her hoof." Sunset's "aw" was not silent this time; I gave her a nod signifying that I, too, thought it was adorable.

"Well, they went to dinner that night at a classic pizzeria, and they hung out at the entrance for a pretty long while. As they're talking, lo and behold, Star Ring, their drummer begins to walk up to the place, followed by the rest of the band. My parents told them how much they loved the concert, and the band signed this polaroid photo. It's become a family heirloom of sorts, and the reason I got it was because the Ants are my favorite band, too," finished. Sunset looked back down at the picture in awe.

"That is so cool! And adorably sweet..." once she said that last line, I noticed her smile faded for just a moment before coming back.

That's interesting. Why would those phrases bother her? I asked to myself as I levitated the photo back into the purse, which in turn was put back at the side of my chair. Impeccable timing, as the waitress promptly arrived at the table with our food, and carefully set it down in front of us.

"One...triple hay burger with extra ketchup, and one hay burger plain. Enjoy!" said the waitress before quickly scurrying back to the kitchen.

It was delicious, as always. I made sure to warn Sunset that I wasn't exactly excellent when it came to table manners, but she asserted she was the same way, and I quickly found out that she was, in fact, the same way. I could almost hear Rarity's ancestors turning in their graves, and probably, now that I thought about it, my own Canterlotian ancestors. Sunset appeared to enjoy the food, as she didn't talk at all during the whole meal; in her defense, I didn't either. It wasn't until both of us had devoured everything on the plate that the conversation started up again.

"Ugh, wow. I'm starting to regret not getting that Triple," said Sunset. I closed my eyes and shrugged in a "your loss" gesture, causing the both of us to laugh for what had to be the thousandth time that night. It was, in a word, fantastic. Not only did I have a great time, but I saw something in Sunset Shimmer that night that made me enjoy it even more; Sunset Shimmer was elated at the fact she was home.

The waitress collected our plates, and I paid the bill (Sunset insisted she do it, but I told her it was not a problem). After a some small talk with the pony running the register up front, we grabbed our stuff and headed out the door.

We'd been there for about two hours, making it around eight when we left. The streets of Ponyville were nearly empty, save for a few ponies here and there, and the brash song of the crickets could be heard echoing throughout the town. I turned to Sunset only to see her looking upward, her mouth agape in amazement. I looked up with her to see what she was seeing, but I couldn't quite make out anything out of the ordinary. It wasn't until Sunset spoke that I realized why she was so enchanted.

"The Equestrian night sky...Celestia, it's been so long..." she muttered under her breath, stopping in her tracks. I nodded, and walked over to a nearby section of grass and sat down on it, gesturing for her to join me. She gave a wide smile that stretched ear to ear and quickly trotted over and made her way next to me. Once she had settled down, I took my hoof and pointed towards the stars.

"Secretariat...Seabiscuit...Aristides...Ruffian..." I said, pointing out the Equestrian Constellations. Sunset followed my hoof with her eyes, as I spoke. She didn't look like she was going to say anything, so I decided now would be a good time to get all of the awkward talk out of the way before we arrived at the palace.

"You know, my father, Night Light, was the royal astronomer for thirty seven years," I began. "That's why I'm so familiar with the night sky. He would let me read all his books, his research papers, his letters...that was a while ago. Anyways, I was sitting in his laboratory one day, And he was working on making a model of a planet he had believed he discovered. He was drawing it out on paper, and displaying how big it was, what the surface may have looked like, and then he would finally color it in. He was working on it all night, and I was fascinated, but I couldn't quite get a good look at it because I was so tiny. He couldn't have me up in the chair with him, because it was far too small, but he told me that I would get to see it when it's finished.

At one point, one of the royal guards gave him a letter, and he had to step out for the moment to deliver something else to Princess Celestia. He left the room, and suddenly, without anypony to talk to or watch, a massive wave of boredom washed over me. I looked to his desk, and I knew his drawing was all the way up there, and I knew that the chair could fit me now, and so I hopped up on the chair to look at what he was drawing." I paused for a second to chuckle.

"Well, I was a little eager, and when I hopped up on the chair, I hit the bottom of a shelf right above me with my horn. All the items on the shelf fell down, and one of those items happened to be a bucket of bright red paint; which, naturally, spilled all over my father's drawing. Now, not only did my horn hurt like Tartarus, but I had just ruined my dad's project he had been working on all night. I cried, and I hoped that he would never come back to the office to see what I'd done. Well, he did, eventually, and found me a sobbing heap curled up in one of the many comfy chairs around the room. He should have been angry at me, for ruining everything, but to my absolute surprise on that day, he wasn't.

He leaned down to reach my height, and he told me something that I still have not forgotten. He said that as an astronomer, he had to become used to the process of finding patterns in the sky before he became good at his job. There were steps on steps to finding a new planet and studying it, and sometimes, he made mistakes. But by making those mistakes, he could learn from them, and then the next time he went to see these patterns, he would be more knowledgeable about it. He told me that I had just made a mistake, and asked me if I would ever make that mistake again. And to this day, Sunset, I have never bumped my head on a shelf with paint on it ever again," I finished. I was hoping to get a laugh from that last line, but I only got silence.

"I'm not a bucket of paint," Sunset finally got out, in an irritable tone. Luckily, I'd been planning on resistance.

"No," I began, "But you made a mistake. You made a mistake, Sunset, but I don't particularly care about that; what I care about is the mare you've become since then. You showed to me tonight that you're kind, funny, and compassionate; not the girl I met at Canterlot High a few years back. I can't say I've been in the same situation as you, but I do know somepony else who has, and...I admire what you've done all the same. Please, Sunset, don't beat yourself up about it," I finished. Sunset turned to me.

"I'm not the first person you've said all that to. I can tell," she said. I nodded again.

"A lot has changed since I left Canterlot High, Sunset. I have a student now; her name is Starlight. You'll meet her, along with the rest of the girls, tomorrow." I slowly got up from the grassy area and quickly dusted all the stray grass from my fur before turning to Sunset once more.

"Speaking of tomorrow, we should go. It's getting a little late." Sunset got up as well, and we began to make our way back to the castle. The entire way back, she had that look on her face, the one that let me know there were thoughts bouncing around her mind constantly. I didn't blame her, after what she went through, and I had fully assumed that the way back would be silent. However, once the castle was barely in sight, Sunset proved me wrong.

"Thanks, Twilight," she said softly. "I really appreciate it."