The Shadowbolts Adventures

by DragonShadow

Homesick Part 07

The capital city of Canterlot was a place many ponies believed to be the pinnacle of pony society. Refined, evolved, whatever word one chose to use for it. Back when she had lived and studied here, Sunset Shimmer had believed that being born here simply meant she was better than other ponies. She was a refined unicorn with great power destined for great things. Now, however, after living with her friends in Canterlot High for a while, she just kind of found the city quiet and boring.

At least she had Aria Blaze here with her to make the sights interesting. They explored the upper class areas of the city, got a zesty lunch from a small restaurant they discovered called The Tasty Treat, and nearly had a heart attack when a brisk wind came close to catching Aria's fins and hurling her floating weightless body clean off the mountain.

"That explains why other sea ponies don't use this technique very much, huh?" Aria noted through gritted teeth after Sunset pulled her back to Canterlot with her magic.

After that they decided to stay indoors as much as possible, taking in a show in the entertainment district called Gabby's Great Guffaw, in which an overly talkative griffon girl got herself into all kinds of whacky hijinks. It was an okay show, Sunset thought. It was a little goofy for her tastes, but she got a few chuckles out of it.

"Back in my day griffons didn't come to Canterlot," Aria noted with some bemusement. "Let alone star in stage shows."

"I imagine a lot has changed since your day." Sunset kept her gaze forward as they marched up the central streets of Canterlot, winding their way through the upper class part of town. "Ponies, griffons, and even dragons tend to get along pretty well now."

"Including sea ponies?" Aria raised her eyebrow as another unicorn pair passed by them, turning their noses up just slightly as they passed. "Because I've gotta say, I don't feel gotten along with."

"Yeah, that..." Sunset blushed. "I don't honestly know. I've never seen a sea pony in Canterlot, but I always assumed it was because they simply don't come on land... for obvious reasons."

Aria huffed. "Whatever, like I want to talk to any of the Canterlot dickheads anyway." Her gaze turned upwards along with Sunset's as they approached the royal palace. Their forward progress came to a halt right outside the front gates, where they stood motionless for several minutes before Aria spoke again. "Well? You've got business, right?"

"Did you ever get the feeling you were about to make a huge mistake you can't take back?"

"Not really. Got the feeling Sonata was going to, a lot, but not me."

Sunset gulped. "Maybe I should-"

"Oh shut up." Aria whirled on her. Sunset blinked in surprise and took a reflexive step back. "We both know you didn't waste your time coming all the way out here to have lunch and watch some lame comedy skits. So get your tail in there and tell Celestia... whatever you were planning to tell her. You've got this, just start moving." One fin slapped with surprising sharpness against Sunset's flank, pushing her through the open gates and into the castle courtyard. "I'll be waiting out here, where I can't be arrested or sent through any more portals."

"Nopony will arrest you, I doubt Celestia even remembers you. Nopony else did except Twilight."

"Seriously?" Aria growled. "All of that and we don't even get a holiday or something?"

"Sorry, just a legend in a dusty old book of legends."

"That figures..." Aria shook her head. "Just go, before I come push you in there."

"I'm going, I'm going!" Sunset Shimmer made her way up to the palace... and immediately began to regret her decision all over again.

The palace was usually open to the public during the day, though naturally guards were everywhere, so nopony questioned her as she made her way towards the royal throne room. The closer she got, the more she felt her brain turning to static. There were so many words that she could use, and yet it was as if she couldn't clearly grasp any of them. She kept slamming them together in her mind into nonsensical phrases that soon broke apart again, leaving her with no plan and nothing to say. There was so much to say, and yet no good way to say it.

Her body was almost on autopilot when she turned into the throne room. The instant her hooves tromped against the smooth, thin red carpet that led up to the throne, the two voices that had been coming from the room fell silent.

Princess Twilight rose to her hooves in surprise. "Sunset Shimmer?"

Princess Celestia's surprised gaze followed Sunset as she made the long walk up to the steps at the bottom of the throne. Twilight was watching her in stunned silence from her position beside the throne. The only sound was the muffled, steady thumping of Sunset's hooves on the carpet.

It felt like a silent eternity before Sunset reached the steps, staring up into Celestia's eyes. Words simply wouldn't come to her now. She had known this was a mistake. She wanted to say something, she needed to say something, and yet she couldn't. She would look like an idiot if she just turned around and left, making a fool of herself as she fled her princess in humiliation for the second time. She just needed words to speak.

So without thinking of what might come, she opened her lips and forced herself to say the first thing her lips would form. "You were right."

Celestia's gaze softened immediately, and she made her way down the steps towards her. She stopped just in front of Sunset Shimmer with her wings spread out regally to her sides. "If I had known the full truth... things wouldn't have gone as they did." She wrapped her wings around Sunset, pulling her against her chest with a hoof around her neck. "I'm sorry I failed you as a mentor, Sunset Shimmer..."

So am I, Sunset couldn't quite make herself say. Instead she leaned weak and feeble against her princess' chest, waiting to be able to speak again... if she ever would.

Comments

[Yami Vizzini]

How exactly was any of this Celestia's fault again?

(Sorry if that was explained previously, it's been a while.)

[TheOneAJ]

Not the best version of this I've ever seen ^^
But considering we didn't get this from mirror magic -_-
And with adding Aria to give sunset a push with adding a procrastination element, I enjoyed :)

[DragonShadow]

8232118

It's not, in any practical way, but she blames herself for Sunset Shimmer's betrayal because she feels that she failed to teach her properly. I can't remember if she said this in Equestria Girls, but she definitely said it in one of the comics.

[Tungul]

8232118
8232382
Well she failed to teach Sunset why friendship is so important for one thing.
Considering that Twilight had a high disregard for friendship at the beginning of the show aswell it seems reasonable to conclude that Celestia is not very good at teaching that particular lesson.
That would be her failing as a mentor in my eyes.

And if we take the comic into account aswell then we have the whole business of Celestia instructing Sunset to look into the crystal mirror only to try and pretend that the vision Sunset saw was just her immagination and then flat our refusing to talk to her about the mirror with no explanation beyond "you're not ready" without telling Sunset why she was not ready.
That is not how you handle a curious prodigy who's entire world is learning things.

[Pr1deM0rn1ngstar]

"Including sea ponies?" Aria raised her eyebrow as another unicorn pair passed by them, turning their noses up just slightly as they passed. "Because I've gotta say, I don't feel gotten along with."

I suppose if you count the hippogriffs being as for a while they were known as hippocampi if you think about it they're basically Sea ponies