Penitence

by Jay911

Homecoming

"Hey, Twilight? Are you in here?"

"Up here," a voice came from high above Starlight Glimmer. She tilted her head upward and saw the Princess of Friendship flapping her wings lazily, hovering in midair several dozen feet off the ground. Before her was an emptied bookshelf, with no less than thirty books floating all around her. A critical glance at two of the books resulted in one of them being placed away, and then the other placed further down the empty shelf - then picked up again, moved a fraction of a book-width, and placed down once more.

Starlight gaped at the obsessive behavior for a split second, then regained her composure. "I, um, well, I found a pony-"

"Another friend?" Twilight interrupted, smiling as she shelved another pair of books, and then studied yet another pair to find their homes. "That's great news!"

"Rrright," Starlight said. "About that... she's somepony you know, so she says..."

Twilight's book-sorting antics froze in place as her mind locked up, racing to come up with the possibilities. She said with despair, "Does she have holes in her legs?"

"What?" Starlight blurted out, screwing up her expression in confusion. "No!"

"Oh. Good then!" Twilight beamed, still not having turned away from the bookshelf, to which she continued depositing tomes. "You know, you don't have to go through with this whole dramatic introduction for every pony you befriend - just bring them in-"

"Well, this one says you may not be very happy to see her," Starlight admitted, still lingering by the doorway of the room.

Again Twilight stopped her work, this time confused. Somepony I don't want to see? she mused, scrunching up her own face in bewilderment. She pivoted and looked down at her student. "That's absurd. Just tell me who it-"

Standing beside the pink unicorn was another unicorn, and definitely one Twilight had not expected to set hoof in her castle any time soon.

Twilight hurriedly fluttered down from the heights of the room, the books quickly descending into an orderly pile on the crystal floor below. "Sunset Shimmer?!" she gasped.

Sunset managed a sheepish smile and a feeble wave of her hoof. "Um... surprise?" she said quietly.

Then, suddenly, she oof'ed and rocked backwards a little as she was engulfed in a two-legged, two-winged hug.

"It's great to see you!" Twilight all but squealed. "What are you doing here, though? A vacation?" Twilight backed out of the hug and gave her a smirk and a wink. "Not looking for something to steal away with, I hope!"

Sunset's cheeks reddened under her amber fur. "Actually," she said, looking away, her smile evaporating at the mention of thievery, "school's finished - I mean, I'm done with it, so there was nothing left for me to do back there-"

"Oh! So you came back!" Twilight interrupted happily. "To stay?"

Starlight's eyes darted back and forth between the two like she was watching a tennis match.

"That... was my original plan," Sunset said tinily, "but now I'm not sure... I'm getting cold fe... hooves all of a sudden, like I don't belon-"

"Nonsense!" Twilight said, pivoting once more and wrapping a wing around the new arrival. "Sunset, this is your home! If there's any place you belong, it's here in Equestria." She began to lead the pony into the hall, heading towards the stairs. A quick spellcasting later, she spoke again, her voice bellowing throughout the castle. "Spike! Set the table, please! We have a guest!"

Starlight blinked, then hurried to follow Princess Twilight and her apparent friend, still not understanding what was going on.

"And then Twilight and the others - well, the other others, because, you know, they aren't the ponies from here, but their counterparts from there, they all sprouted ears and tails, and wings, well, some of them of course, like Twilight and Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, and-"

"They have the same names as the ponies here?" Starlight interrupted Spike, who had been telling the story of how they had all gotten to know Sunset Shimmer.

"Uh-huh! And they look the same - well, kinda, except they're bald, more or less, and walk like me on two legs instead of four. And anyway, that caused a rainbow to burst out of the magic surrounding them all, and woosh-"

Spike hopped up on the table and, little arms raised, ran from Twilight over towards Sunset, who recoiled as he drew near. He hopped down and ran around her chair several times making 'woosh'ing noises.

"Then Sunset turned back to normal. Well, normal for that world. The bald, two-legged version," he amended.

"They're not bald," Twilight and Sunset stereoed with nearly-identical frowns on their muzzles. They looked up at one another and Twilight giggled; Sunset allowed herself a faint smile in response.

"You know what I mean," Spike went on as he clambered back into his own seat.

"That's amazing," Starlight breathed, looking between the two ponies. She let her gaze fall on Sunset. "And then you stayed there?"

Sunset began to quietly nod, but Twilight spoke up. "She did! And got into more adventures, might I add. Ask her about the rock band, and the Friendship Gam-"

"'Rock' band?" Starlight asked evenly, quirking an eyebrow.

"Yeah! With electric guitars and everything!" The Princess of Friendship mimed - poorly - the playing of a guitar with her forehooves.

Starlight swiveled her confused gaze towards the newcomer.

"It'll take some time to explain everything," Sunset told her. "That world is a lot different than ours."

"I'm strangely intrigued," Starlight said, using her magic to slide herself and her chair closer to Sunset's. The amber unicorn blinked at the level of skill Twilight's new protégé displayed. "I want to hear all about it."

"S-sure," Sunset said, shrinking back and smiling a little nervously. "You'll understand, I hope, if I tell my story on my own schedule," she went on. "I did some things I'm not very proud of back there."

Starlight scoffed and let out a short laugh. "I'll bet I can top that. Unless you ensl-"

"Hey, I know!" Twilight said, snapping back to reality from her air-guitar solo and interrupting the two. "I know who you should go see!"

Sunset stared darkly down the lavender hoof pointed at her, back to its owner. "No, en oh, no, negative, uh-uh." After a moment, she mumbled, "...not yet."

"Wha?" Starlight blinked, looking back and forth between the two once again. "What am I missing?"

"Don't you think she'll want to see you?" Twilight pleaded her case. "I've been keeping her up-to-date on your friendship repo-"

"I'm not ready, Twilight," Sunset bit out. "Would you just drop it?"

Twilight paused and looked at the newly-returned pony for a moment. "Okay," she finally said softly, adding nothing more.

Starlight couldn't get another word out of the newcomer throughout the meal. Twilight wouldn't say anything further either.

After the meal, Twilight asked Spike to clear the table, and Starlight volunteered to help, hoping she could eke some information out of the little dragon. Twilight led her guest out of the dining hall.

"So, if you're here, and you don't want to go to Canterlot," Twilight said once they were out of earshot of the others, "I guess you need a place to stay, huh?"

Sunset kept her head down as she plodded forward, mumbling, "I don't want to impose. I'll find-"

"Nonsense," Twilight repeated herself from earlier in the day. "Look at the size of this place. I will not have you spending bits you don't have at an inn, or worse yet roaming the streets or the Everfree looking for a makeshift shelter, while there are dozens of rooms unused in this gigantic castle."

Once again Sunset felt a wing envelop her shoulders and draw her closer. "Sunset," the Princess by her side said softly, "...we're friends. This is what friends do for one another."

As she stood there in the hallway, eyes shut, Sunset Shimmer felt tears start to flow. She tried to hold them back, but they were bound and determined to escape. She did manage to keep her shoulders from jerking with a sob.

"Thank you," she said in a whisper.

A short time later, Twilight had led Sunset to a spare bedroom, then briefly teleported away, reappearing momentarily with extra bedsheets and pillows from her own room. She levitated them over to Sunset, and the unicorn took them in her own teal-colored glow. Twilight smiled and nodded, happy that Sunset's magic was evidently easily regained.

"'Just like riding a bike', like they say over there, right?" Twilight smiled.

"Guess so," Sunset said, allowing herself a gentle smile too.

"Get some rest," the princess suggested. "Tomorrow you can meet the girls. And tour around town."

"Just that," Sunset stressed. "No more."

"Not until you're ready," Twilight nodded. "Like you said."

Sunset silently nodded in return, eyes focused a million miles away.

"Goodnight, Sunset," Twilight said after a few moments' silence, pulling the door closed with her magic. "And welcome back."

"Thanks," Sunset nodded one more time as the door shut.

She turned and made the bed, not lifting a hoof to do so, instead performing the whole task telekinetically to get back into practice. Like Twilight said, it was coming back to her with ease.

Climbing into bed, she lay down with her chin against the pillow, realizing she'd slept flat on her back, with legs and arms at her sides, for the last time. From now on, it was back to being on her side or her belly, or in a pinch, standing up on all fours.

The outburst from earlier shoved its way back into her thoughts, and she shut her eyes as if that would make the vision go away.

But, in her mind's eye, she still saw herself walking nervously down the halls of a different castle, this one in Canterlot, towards a royal throne room.

Not yet, she told herself quietly, willing the image to fade from her mind's eye. I'm not ready.

She wondered if she ever would be.

Author's Note:

Hi all!

Shorter chapters for this one - and I hope to have shorter pauses (or giant gulfs of time, as the case may be) between them too. As I've said before, I apologize, but my muse took a long vacation without my permission.

You can also expect another chapter soon from at least one of my other works. The ideas are all up in my noggin; I just need to find time to get them out. It just so happens that this week(end) is a good time.

If you're still reading, thanks, and once again, sorry for the wait!

Comments

[Posted]

Oh boy, Sunset Shimmer and Starlight Glimmer reminiscing about the bad old days could go to very different way. Either all the cider in a 20 mile radius will be drunk or it'll be on fire.