A Matter of Time

by BoredAuthor817

Chapter 2

Twilight must have listened to her and Starlight's complaints. Sunset's travel through the portal was not quite as rough as her last time. Still, it didn't mean a soft landing. “Better,” Sunset rubbed her throbbing head, “still could use a few tweaks.”

“I'll make sure to get the maintenance team right on it” joked Twilight. She reached down and helped Sunset to her feet.

As before, Sunset had some time adjusting to being on all fours and did anything to fight the urge to stand and walk on her hind legs. “So,” she bounced on her forelegs, getting used to the feeling, “we gonna wait till morning? Or is Princess Celestia ready to talk now?”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Sunset, the morning's already half-over.”

Sunset blinked. “Say...say what?” She held her hooves to her head. “No...no no no! That can't be right! It was really early morning when I came through. I checked my clock before leaving my apartment.”

“Try to calm down,” Twilight's voice was kind, though she couldn't help but feel Sunset's panic. “We'll get this all sorted later. Right now, how about we start with just getting you back with Princess Celestia?” She put gentle hooves on the unicorn.

Sunset only closed her eyes and nodded. Though, she found Twilight's calmness in the matter a little unsettling.

Twilight led the way down the halls of the castle. They stopped at the doors to the Map Room. “She's in here” Twilight said, “I'll leave you two alone for a now. Give a shout if you need me.”

Sunset gave a weak smile and acknowledged. She appreciated Twilight's tact and privacy. Alone before the door, Sunset closed her eyes and prepared herself. “Come on,” she chided herself, “this is the princess you're talking about—not your mother.” She took a quick moment to compose herself before using her magic to open the door.

The room inside was brightly lit with the mid-morning sun. Sunset had a hard time reconciling going from the darkness of night to the light of day in only a few seconds. “Is this what they refer to as jet-lag?” she pondered.

She stopped when she noticed the stone map table with matching chairs encircling it. She noted the markings at the top of each chair, recognizing each to be the cutie mark of the other bearers of the Elements of Harmony. She had seen the same symbols adorning the clothing of her human friends. Sunset began to wonder what deep connections ran between the two worlds if beings who had no need for cutie marks could be drawn to the same symbols.

It was then that she noticed her. A regal alicorn seated on the head throne, enjoying a morning cup of tea. Sunset let out an inward chuckle. Princess Celestia needed no excuse to have a cup of tea. At the moment, the solar princess seemed preoccupied with something else. That is, until Sunset made her presence known.

Princess Celestia quickly shot up at the sound of her former student's voice. She looked at the unicorn before her in almost disbelief. “Could it really be...” she wondered. So many times before, she had seen what she thought to be her beloved little pony. Each time, though it only proved to be a figment of her imagination. When Sunset gave proof of herself to not be an apparition, Celestia jumped up, not giving Sunset any time to react, and fast pulled her into a tight embrace.

Maybe it was the lack of sleep, or the pure emotion of the situation, but Sunset lost herself into her former teacher. “I'm sorry” she tried to get out. However, whenever she opened her mouth, no words came out. She pressed in and nuzzled the soft white fur, weeping all the while. Little did she realize that Celestia was doing the same.

“Oh, my little pony,” Celestia whispered, “I'm so happy to see you again. Welcome home.”

Sunset grit her teeth. Celestia's words of kindness only added to the ache in her heart, bringing more tears to the surface. “Dammit” she hissed, “Why do you always have to be so nice?” She felt the hold get tighter and Sunset released a new wave of sobs.

Student and teacher stood in their embrace for some time, each comforting the other. When they had worn themselves out, Celestia gently broke them apart. She wiped the last tears from her eyes and Sunset's. “Now then,” she sniffed, “Let me take a good look at you.”

Sunset obliged, making a slow walk in a circle, allowing the princess to view her from every angle.

“Remarkable” said the princess, “You look almost like you did when you left. It's like you've barely aged.”

“Well,” chuckled the student, “not like you'd expect much change in five years.”

Celestia paused and gave Sunset a curious look. “Five?”

“Yeah, that's about as long as I've been in the mirror.” Sunset saw the princess hesitate. It filled her with an uneasy feeling. In her experience, it was never a good thing when the princess hesitated.

“Sunset,” Celestia said, slowly. She looked at her former student with grave concern. “it's been a lot more than five years.”

Sunset's eyes widened. “W-what?”

“You've been away for seventeen years.”

The unicorn took a step back. A ton of bricks may just as well have fallen on her. “Sev-” she stammered, “seven...teen?”

Celestia only gave a gentle nod.

“H-how is that possible?” Sunset yelled. She didn't mean to, but, at the moment, she put more importance on the problems of processing this new information than to focus on her volume. “I-I have documentation; proof! T-that I've only been over there for five years.” She felt her head become light, but her bones felt heavy. Her sight blurred. “S-seventeen y-yea—”

Celestia reached out a hoof her her distressed student. “Sunset? Sunset, are you alright?”

Sunset didn't respond. All she could focus on was the time that was suddenly missing. Suddenly, her magical mystery became much more problematic than she anticipated. She fell to her knees on the stone floor. Her head swimming; her vision fading. The last she heard before passing out was Celestia's panicked scream.

“SUNSET!”

Comments

[Dragonsword35d]

She really should have thought about that sort of thing after the Sirens were shown to still be around.