The Shadowbolts Adventures

by DragonShadow

Homesick Part 08

Twilight Sparkle had volunteered to take care of the rest of Princess Celestia's daily chores, so she and her former student were able to spend the rest of the day exploring the old familiar castle grounds together, while Sunset Shimmer filled her in on what had happened in the human world, and indeed, what the human world was like in the first place. Celestia knew a thing or two about the magic mirrors, but she had never visited the human world for any real length of time.

"It sounds like you've found a real place for yourself there." Celestia's smile was warm and genuine as they passed through the outside gardens together. "I'm so proud of you, Sunset Shimmer."

"I don't know if I've done anything to be proud of..." Sunset Shimmer rubbed the back of her neck. "All I've done since I stopped being awful is my best to not be awful..."

"And that's the most difficult thing one can ask of a pony." Celestia stopped in her tracks to turn towards her. "Changing the world is easy by comparison to changing yourself... and when I look at you I barely see the same pony." Her smile took on a slight smirk as she pushed Sunset Shimmer's head up to fully meet her gaze. "Well... mostly. I can still see the passion in your eyes."

"Ahehehe..." Sunset blushed deeply. "Um... thanks? Heh..."

Celestia smiled warmly as they resumed their walk, making their way towards the front gates after circling the perimeter of the palace. "How long are you staying?"

"I'm probably leaving for Ponyville again tonight. I have school on Monday." Sunset saw Celestia raise her eyebrow curiously. "Humans go to school for a really long time. Plus my friends are there. I don't wanna leave them hanging."

"I see." Celestia chuckled lightly as they turned to pass through the gates. "I suppose I will let you get back to your new home, then. And you know you can visit here any time you'd like."

"Yeah, I know that now, thank you." Sunset's smile was genuine as they passed through the gates, at least until she spotted Aria still hovering near the gate with her face stuck in a newspaper, as if nopony would notice that it appeared to be floating from the front and held aloft by a pair of fins. "Uh..."

"Oh my, we have another unexpected guest." Celestia approached the hovering newspaper curiously. "All the way from Aquapolis? Did you come to see me?"

"Oh, Celestia!" Sunset rushed up beside her with a nervous smile. "She's with me! This is my friend from the other world! My really good friend! Heh... say hi, really good friend!"

After a few moments Aria lowered the paper, looking up at Celestia's face despite hovering off the ground. "Hey..."

"I see." Celestia smiled and nodded back. "Aria Blaze, if my memory serves me correctly."

"Y-yeah!" Aria blinked in surprise. "You do remember me?"

"You left quite the impression." Celestia giggled. "I always felt it was a shame to waste your beauty and talent on evil."

Aria blushed. "Yeah, well, I got none of that left, so I guess there's no point in being evil anymore."

Celestia cocked her head curiously. "None of that left?"

"All of that was from our magic stones... without those, well, you can hear the truth." Aria looked away from her nervously.

Celestia glanced down at Sunset, who fired back a nervous grin and a cough. "I see..." Celestia look at the sea pony once again. "Well then, thank you for keeping my student company on her journey. and remember that you can return to Equestria any time you wish, as well."

"Thanks, but I don't think so. We may have been born here, but this doesn't feel like home anymore."

Celestia nodded. "I understand, Princess Luna went through something similar when she returned. Of course... you weren't born here in Canterlot..." Celestia gave her a sly smile as Aria glanced up at her. "The day is waning and I can't expect Twilight to lower the sun on her own, so I will have to bid you both good evening. I hope you enjoy your stay in Equestria, and look forward to meeting you both again."

"Thank you, princess. We're having a great time." Sunset Shimmer waved with an enthusiastic smile as Celestia made her way back to the inner palace. "Well... that was so much less painful than I expected."

"Yeah..." Aria trailed off thoughtfully.

"Come on, I would like to catch the next train back to Ponyville. To make sure we can get back to our world before nightfall." Sunset whirled to rush towards the train station.

"Sunset?" Aria floated after her. "You don't think... there might be time to see the ocean while we're here, do you?"

"Oh... sorry, but that's just way too far away. We only have the weekend. We'll have to schedule another time to come back."

Aria nodded slowly. "Right, of course... another time..."

Sunset glanced over at her guiltily. The girl had just ridden with her across Equestria to see Sunset's hometown, it felt terrible to leave here without seeing hers, but the trip would add another day or two at least, getting her in trouble for missing school...

But maybe friendship was worth it.

Comments

[Dustcan]

So I guess we're just dropping the "Siren Adventures" moniker? It's all under the Shadowbolt Adventures umbrella even when the Shadowbolts aren't involved?

[DragonShadow]

8234467

Correct. Having multiple main titles doesn't work when it's all in one FIMFiction heading.

Honestly the fact that the first major arc of Shadowbolts Adventures didn't have the Shadowbolts in it was something I realized, but it's what I wanted to do at the time, and they will be showing up in their own stories again soon.

[Regreme]

D'awww to the end there.^^

[TheOneAJ]

8234554
Can't wait for that as fun as homesick is :D
Dying to see if you'll be doing anything with human sunset for this as the tittle card suggests
(

[Yami Vizzini]

Well, that went well.

[Dustcan]

8234554

Kinda makes the renaming the previous stories superfluous then huh?

Yeah I'm just busting your chops.