Epilogue I - I knew the only peace I'd find is if this child was yours
It was Tuesday. The cafeteria was serving tacos, students were being loaded down with yet more homework (especially given the nearly wasted day Monday had turned out to be), and Canterlot High experienced it’s second day as a new nation.
Princess Cadence had made the trip through the mirror, joining the other three princesses in a special ceremony commemorating the events of the previous day, and in a fit of puckishness, Luna and Agent Armor conspired to arrange for his fiance, Dean Cadence, to put in an appearance as well.
It turned out to be a perfect photo op for the assembled press organizations; at one point the suggestion was floated and accepted that the assembled delegates and administrators with doubles present stand arranged around the portal. Principal Celestia agreed on the condition that none of her current students be in the photo for their protection, which to the amusement of Princess Twilight and Sunset meant that the native Twilight Sparkle was still going to wind up in the photo, but Sunset was not. The picture was sure to be one for the history books and would likely result in sold-out papers around the world; flanking the base of the Wondercolts statue was Celestia, Luna, Twilight, Shining Armor, and Cadence, with the royals from Equestria on one side standing in mirrored order to the educators and student on the other side.
To keep them from being mobbed by reporters, the students were restricted to the school’s grounds for the day, and with specific exceptions, the press were kept off the school property, a cordon formed of police, federal agents and Equestrian guards marking the “do not cross” line. The press relations staff on loan from the Federal Executive office and the Equestrian Royal Staff Core ran the show like a finely tuned engine, ensuring that the delegates, the ambassadors (also known as Princess Twilight and Sunset’s friends), and various members of the alphabet agencies that were authorized to speak with the press were given space when necessary, corralled any known "wingnut" publications from even gaining entry into the impromptu press corp., and one enterprising staffer had even arranged a food truck to arrive to cater to the unexpected crowd. Notable in their lack of interviews was Sunset Shimmer, Fluttershy, and the human Twilight Sparkle. Sunset had taken to calling the girl “SciTwi” as a nod to being a Good Character nominee when she had objected to the “Sparky” nickname after it’s third use.
SciTwi, Fluttershy, and Sunset became sort of a “safe haven.” Since distance and group pictures that happened to include the three were permitted while individual shots and interviews were not, they became a “safe home base,” as Pinkie had taken to calling them. Some member of their friend group would approach a group of reporters, answer some questions, mug for photos (that was mostly Rarity and Rainbow Dash, of course), then return to the spot near the school steps where the three girls were camped out.
The nearby clock tower chimed 2:00 PM, and that seemed to be the cue for the event to be over, as the various students, administrators, and Equestrians began congregating together, and the majority of the press began to pack up and leave.
The girls began planning the rest of their day, including dinner ideas. The consensus was that while burgers was the majority preference, in deference to their pony visitors they would aim for a fast casual pasta place. Agent Armor quietly issued orders over his radio to send an advance team to clear the restaurant.
The two Cadences were getting on like a house on fire, occasionally glancing in the direction of one or both of their paramours and giggling as they exchanged words the rest couldn’t hear but had both Shining Armor’s sweating for reasons they couldn’t quite identify.
Something that went unspoken that was being handled with balletic grace was keeping the two Celestias apart. All present but Cadence had seen the pair of them getting along like cats in a bag and had no desire to have an international incident because one of them said something the other took offense to.
Princess Celestia begged off going to dinner on the human side of the portal due to some affairs of state that needed attending to. Vice-principal Luna glanced over to her counterpart, who shook her head subtly. She’s just trying to get away…but maybe this is the time for answers…
Casually, as though she was simply headed in the same direction as the princess, she broke away from the group and caught up to Princess Celestia. The princess chose not to react, apparently content to let Luna dictate how this interaction would proceed. Fine then, she thought, You made this my empire of dirt, time to exercise some authority!
“I have questions.”
Celestia nodded slightly at he sister’s counterpart, “Always important to have questions, I’ve found that with time one’s mind only stays sharp by asking many questions.”
Luna glared at Celestia, but being wise to her own sister’s tactics for attempting to divert the conversation, she proceeded to ignore it, “Ever since you first came through and chose to start a fight with my sister, I’ve been pondering…why? What would cause you to randomly attack someone that happened to share a similar face and name? Because, for all our universes have…disturbing similarities, the likeness between you and my sister is mere coincidence.” Celestia didn’t react, save to clasp her hands behind her back under her cloak, the cut of her dress making her form now look like she had tucked her arms under a pair of wings. “In fact,” Luna continued, “I believe it has something to do with Sunset.” Still no reaction, so she continued. “It can’t be her well being under my sister’s care, else you wouldn’t have been in tears at the farm on Sunday."
That got a reaction. They were nearly to the portal now, but Celestia stopped in her tracks for a moment. She made to continue through the portal, but Luna grabbed the princess by the arm. "You've been hiding something. There's something you're keeping from everyone involved in this, probably as far back as when you first took Sunset in as your student. I think your sister knows, even if my sister is too...blinded by your similarity to her to notice. Sunset may suspect, but there's too much baggage for her to figure it out objectively. But I've been watching you; you...close up when Sunset is around and there's just something about your behavior…" Luna glared at Celestia, who was refusing to look Luna in the eye, instead her gaze looked through and beyond the portal surface. "...you're jealous!" gasped Luna.
That drew Celestia's eye, even if just for a flickering moment.
"You are! Over what?! You're a magical immortal princess of your world's most powerful nation! What could you possibly be jealous of a high school principal over?"
Celestia stood silently, not fighting the hand on her arm, though the storm of emotions in the princess’ eyes clearly betrayed that she would rather be anywhere else. The magical immortal princess looked up to see Sunset standing near her mortal, human counterpart, not looking back to the statue or Luna. She swallowed heavily, then sighed before finally speaking.
“Once upon a time,” she began, “in the magical land of Equestria, there was a mare that everyone thought had everything she could ever want. Her subjects fell over themselves to give her anything they thought she needed, but none could fill the hole in her heart. For you see, she had banished her sister so long ago that nobody remembered that she even had a sister.”
This raised some questions for Luna, of course, but she withheld them for now, more interested in what this mirror version of her sister had to say about Sunset.
“The princess was lonely, you see. She was surrounded by ponies, but she had nobody. And as the centuries passed, she began to look at the families that would come and go around her with longing. What she would give to have a family again, to be that close to somepony and share unmatched familial love, uncomplicated by the games of politics or traditions or the latest scandal of the week. And maybe, if the gods smiled on her and the universe decided she deserved something good for once, she would have someone else with whom to share the burden of immortality and the long stretches of the undiscovered country of the future.”
“So the princess started sneaking out of her own castle in disguise. She sought the seedier side of her kingdom, hoping to find someone that she could bed that wouldn’t necessarily care about the logical conclusion. Eventually, after numerous times with stallions, so many that she began to fear she may be infertile, she realized she was pregnant.”
The princess was now looking at the ground but seeing events as they happened many years before. Luna was suddenly so much less angry and now heartbroken, her imagination giving her just enough to understand a little of what this other being went through.
“There were...many ‘royal retreats’ that year, especially near the end of the pregnancy. Nobody knew; the secret was kept from everyone, even her most trusted advisors. There would be no record, no way for the world to discover that their precious princess had debased herself to lay with a mortal pony.”
Celestia’s eyes started to bead with tears, “The filly was born in winter, the princess had secured a private residence far from the capital in a small town that had seen better days so nopony would bother the single pony that had moved in at the end of an otherwise vacant street. The labor took hours, but she was gifted with a beautiful little filly. And for a brief, tiny, fractional moment of time,” she took a shuddering breath before continuing in a quavering voice, “She was finally happy. She had a family again, and the little filly was everything she had ever hoped...although the lack of wings was a minor let down.” Her lips turned up in a melancholy smile.
“And then...she realized how short-sighted she had been. She’d been so intent on getting the foal that she didn’t stop to consider having the foal.”
She paused in her story, watching Sunset as she chatted with her friends while the principal looked on. A single tear fell from its perch on her eyelashes and tracked a streak down her cheek.
“So the princess weaned the foal as quickly as she could without causing harm, and once again used the cover of night, this time to find an orphanage that was near the castle. Near enough she could watch the filly grow, but not so near that anyone could ever suspect where the...orphan had come from.”
Luna had let go of the princess by this point, hugging herself tightly.
The princess sniffed, daintily, practically majestically. After centuries spent in the public eye, Luna imagined that being the image of regal nobility must be an unconscious habit. Celestia swiped a hand against her cheek, using the back as though she still had hooves, “The princess watched the filly grow, watched someone else help her take her first steps, watched someone else be there for her first playground injury, watched someone else teach her about growing into a mare...watched another pony be there, but never a mother. She was never adopted.”
“Of course, when the filly started showing uncommon magical ability and intellect far outstripping her peers, that gave the princess the perfect excuse to bring the filly in as her own personal student. Why, with somepony so talented, it was practically expected.” A tiny flicker of pride and joy sparked very briefly in the eyes that had seen centuries fly by, “And the filly was brilliant! The princess was barely able to keep up, feeding the voracious appetite for knowledge and seeking avenues to channel the ambition of her secret daughter.” The light dimmed, Celestia returned to looking at the ground but seeing something else, “But a princess is not a mother, and a mentor, no matter how well-meaning, will never…” she choked a sob, her voice tightening with regret, “...will never be called ‘mommy.’”
The princess turned to look Luna in the eye, “You know the rest of the story. The student never learned she was secretly the princess’ daughter, and through a series of mistakes on the princess’ part the filly would find herself stranded on an alien world, in an alien body, having nothing but her wits and will to survive by. And yet she thrived, while the princess would only be able to find another student, one who would eventually find a way to free her sister from banishment, then start eclipsing the princess as she became more and more of a leader of ponies far faster than the princess could have expected her to.”
Luna’s anger at Princess Celestia had been snuffed out. She realized she could never condone what the princess had done, but she could understand it, and knew that there was nothing anyone in her world...or possibly any world...could do to Celestia that would hurt worse than what she had already done to herself. “You should tell her.” The words escaped her lips before she even realized she had thought them.
Celestia smiled sadly. “No, I couldn’t do that to her. She deserves a mother...a mom. What could I give her that she doesn’t already have?” she nodded her head in the direction of the subject of their conversation.
Luna looked over to see her sister’s arm draped over Sunset’s shoulders, the girl wrapping her arm around her new mom’s waist, Sunset’s friends laughing at something Pinkie was saying while making some sort of overblown gesture that Luna couldn’t possibly guess the purpose of. When Luna looked back to reply, the princess had already gone through the portal, the hem of her dress disappearing with a water-like ripple in the stone surface.
Stats
Page generated in 0.062 seconds
Total duration
998 users online
74,139 hits today, 2,561,572 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Imagine being the centuries-old monarch of a kingdom, held in near deific regard by the citizenry, with no rivals or enemies to speak of, and feeling unable to get away with choosing to have a child.
And here I thought Fluttershy was the one with assertiveness issues.
11120006
Oh-ho, she pays for that choice down the road...but you'll have to keep reading into the third book to see it happen.
11120021
Looking forward to it.
She never realized sunset went power mad because she wanted her. Sunset thought if she was an alicorn like cadence that she would be loved. And Celestia can pretend that she cared but actions speak louder than words. No wonder when the principals showed actual love she latched on to it.
11120087
images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/44fa8650-2d8c-47d1-ae7c-d89c078564c8/d5e2owz-990d79a8-4c81-4c42-9daf-5af8a6c0fe10.gif?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpc3MiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwic3ViIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsImF1ZCI6WyJ1cm46c2VydmljZTpmaWxlLmRvd25sb2FkIl0sIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiIvZi80NGZhODY1MC0yZDhjLTQ3ZDEtYWU3Yy1kODljMDc4NTY0YzgvZDVlMm93ei05OTBkNzlhOC00YzgxLTRjNDItOWRhZi01YWY4YTZjMGZlMTAuZ2lmIn1dXX0.YW30E2P3peV5b35bYdEQtlFT98eKFL5ZJxwT4Cq4wZE
As much as this is a story about Principal Celestia and Sunset Shimmer finding each other, this story is also a tragedy. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong, for the Princess. She's the mare who has everything, and nothing. She rules the most powerful nation in the world, and yet she lacks the thing she wanted the most, and when she finally thought she could have it, she realized it wouldn't, couldn't work. And that led to her daughter leaving her and running to another world, only to find solace in her counterpart. It's her but it's not. I couldn't imagine many things more painful then that, everything you wanted being taken from you, by you.
It's still another choice I don't know how I feel about but it does open storytelling potential. Once again, we'll see how this turns out. I hope there's some happiness for the princess somewhere down the line, the world loves to kick her, especially while she's down.
Damn
Try for another foal and learn from you errors princess.
.Sniff sniff...that so sad, so sad that....Looks in to a Microscope...Ahh there it is!
World tiniest violinist.
I really don't care. Yes it sad it tragic but so what, she the one who blew it, she CHOOSE abandon Sunset, she CHOOSE to try and take her as a student, she CHOOSE not to become more then a mentor, she CHOOSE to shower Candence with love, love Sunset yearned and needed.
All that was her choice, so Cry me a river.
One thing is for sure, the truth must never be found out!
For several reason the top two being simple. this would break Sunset and could drive her mad or shatter her.
Second Principal Celestia deserves this, Luna by accident took her sister ability to have kids, it was a terrible accident and could gone far worst for her and Luna.
I'm surprised Luna didn't try to exile herself or take her life for hurting her so bad, that how it could gone.
No is the truth came out it would be a disaster and there so many other ways it could really hurt Principal Celestia and Sunset.
11120552
11120342
I've got some bitter people in my fanbase.
You're both not wrong (for the most part), and Princess Celestia will be dealing with the consequences of her actions for some time to come.
11120640
Hey this could lead to a lost sister arc in the future
And I don't really know how who would get princess celestia to tell Sunset the truth since Luna hadn't skilled enough charisma in the last chapter
11120640
Well look at this way.
Hey Principal Celestina turns out Princess Cel is sunset real mother, yeah the one who royally screwed up, and in the end drive her kid to flee wound up alone, in a ware house struggling and went down a bad path got hit by a strong curse nearly died and barely made it. is her real mom!
.....Where you going Principal?, Why do you have that sledge hammer Principal? Why are you charging towards the portal Principal?
11120655
This particular plot thread will go somewhat silent in Voice of Rage and Ruin (waaaaay too much happening in that story to really spend time with anything not already part of the focus), but it plays a MAJOR role in You Need Never Feel Broken Again.
...yes that's the title. I'd thought about changing it, but nothing else fits right.
Offt… I have so much to say!!! 😫 first off, great chapters and great writing as usual, but geez, my emotions are all over the place. I don’t know if I should feel sorry for Princess Celestia or not. I think some people forget while Sunset has suffered a lot, Celestia has too. She’s suffered with the pain of losing her sister and Sunset by her own mistakes. It’s really tragic because I think Princess Celestia wants Sunset the most, yet she knows she could never have her and that must be heartbreaking for any mother to go through. And it's even more heartbreaking that the Princess lost Sunset 3 times. 1. At birth by giving her up for adoption 2. To the portal then 3. Her own counterpart. It's no wonder why the Princess feels all that jealously towards Principal Celestia. She's got the one thing she wants most.
Part of me feels kinda angry at Princess Celestia. I wished she was stronger and decided to keep Sunset, but who knows if their relationship would've been any different. I also feel angry at Princess Celestia since it was her fault she is in this mess and what pain she caused Sunset, but then, you don't know what Celestia was thinking at the time. I can understand why she thought giving up Sunset would be the easier way and maybe she was doing it to protect Sunset since ponies could use Sunset as a target.
I also feel sorry for Sunset. If Princess Celestia or even Luna tells her the truth, it's going to break and I wouldn't blame her if she got angry. She just gained a new mother and she's happier than she's been in a long time. Imagine what damage that would do to her if she found out the truth. She'd be angry because what if she would like Princess Celestia is taking her mom away from her. Another thing is, Principal Celestia would be even more pissed than she is already at the Princess. Heck, I wouldn't even be surprised if she charged through the portal claiming war.
I do however wonder what Luna is going to do with this new information she's found out. Is she going to keep it a secret? Sunset is going to find out one way or another.
Also, I wonder how Princess Twilight is going to react to all of this or even Cadence. I'm still a bit annoyed that Princess Celestia showed Cadence more love than Sunset, but maybe Celestia felt more comfortable because Cadence had wings.
I have so much more I want to say about this but it will go on for hours 😩
Princess Luna can't know. She would have ripped her sister apart for being such an idiot.
Celestia was so in love with the idea of a baby that she never stopped to thing if she really wanted one. Because if she did she would have just done it. What would she have done had Sunset pulled a Flurry?
No. This story just shows that Sunset was right all she needed was wings for her mother's "love". Seems she is far better off with the Human Celestia, her love isn't conditional.
11120771
Told ya! 😈
11120789
You're right, and you're not. Re-reading should yield for you dozens of clues I've left through the telling of this story that Princess Celestia loves her daughter just as deeply as Principal Celestia does, but her ability to show that love and actually be a mother are skills that she is fully lacking in. I'll definitely be telling more of this angle on Princess Celestia's story in You Never Need Feel Broken Again.
11120928
Celestia can claim to love Sunset all she wants, she can even believe it herself. But every choice she made, every choice she is still making points to her lying to herself.
Candace gets a horn and she is adopted, as a niece, yes, but part of the family. If Sunset had wings she would have gotten the same, she didn't so she was abandoned. That isn't love. Or at lest it isn't unconditional love a parent should have for their child.
It's good that Sunset doesn't know right now, she has enough to deal with, finding out your birth mother gave you up because you where not born "right" isn't something she needs to deal with
A far too common mistake, and to a degree understandable. And yet... what sympathy I had for Princess Celestia all but evaporated afterwards, because it's one thing to make the mistake of not considering what it means to have a child. What's important is what you do afterwards. Celestia properly raising Sunset would not have been impossible. It would have been hard, and Sunset would not have grown up the same as other foals would have, but she still would have had a mother. A relationship that likely still would have known its share of friction, but at least it would be the friction between mother and daughter.
Instead, Celestia chose to abandon Sunset. And while I can forgive parents who made the mistake of having children without considering what it means to have children, my line in the sand comes when people making that mistake abandon those children. Choices have consequences, and it is the responsibility of parents to try their hardest to make sure the consequences of their choices do not land on the shoulders of their children, who are ultimately the greatest victims in these situations. Parents who fail to try this do not deserve to be parents in the first place. Because ultimately, they have shown that they do not love their children.
11121211
This is the reaction I was going for!
What are
What you could give her is the Truth!? Its best she hears it from you rather learn it in other ways like what if she gets in to an accident and needed blood transfusion and they learn that they have the same DNA from there or what if someone slips up what then!? Not only are you giving her the gift of Truth but you are gonna allow her to be able reconcile with you and other people and not spend her life with the weight of her guilt of she did nor the guilt of not being able to fix her mistakes in the past
11121211
Yeah then she tried to cheat by bringing her in but without giving her heart away. Which only made it worse.
11120928
Yet she got into this mess because she refused to give her heart away to someone who needed it more than anyone. Cadence had a family but sunset had no one.
11120789
VP Luna knows, but I don’t know if she would slip up or keep it to herself because she would rather see her sister and niece happy. I do fear that the information will get out somehow and possibly not in the best light. I don’t know if it would be best if Princess Celestia told Principal Celestia about her secret, but then that would just cause even more arguments between the two and things would get ugly. I think Princess Celestia should just accept that what has happened is done and that she should just let Sunset be happy. I do also think that if Sunset finds out she would make her own decision and does what is best for her. I don’t see Sunset forgiving the Princess easily or ever forgiving her for that matter. It would’ve hurt Sunset so much when she saw Celestia giving more love towards Cadence and it must have been a slap in the face when Celestia decided to adopt Cadence as her niece. It makes me wonder would Celestia have kept Sunset if she was born with wings?
11121680
The truth isn't always a good thing to have. In Sunset's case, there is a genuine argument to make that she will be happier off never knowing that her mother is alive and well but never truly loved her. To know that her mother was always next to her, but never truly committed to being her mother not because she couldn't, but because her mother thought it would be too much trouble? That could break her.
Poor Princess Celestia!!! She needs to tell Sunny this, at least to be honest!
11122035
11122390
11122407
I love this discourse that's occurring, it's proof that there are no easy answers to anything. Keep it civil, please.
11122459
*Salutes* You have my word
11122459
Of course! I get so invested in the Sunset-Celestia situation 🤣 I know some people think that they are just student and teacher, but I do believe there's more behind their relationship.
I have some questions (if that's okay)
If Principal Celestia can't have children, how come Princess Celestia was able to give birth to Sunset? Also, has Sunset ever tried to find her human counterpart? Because human Sunset doesn't exist, wouldn't that raise some questions?
I wonder if Sunset actually knows the truth or has been trying to figure out the truth
11123175
In the principal case something bad happened that ruined her chances before she could have sunset in the human world. I can't remember what exactly. The princess on the other hand didn't have that happen to her and was blessed with a child she was too chicken to love. She never deserved sunset because she would have only loved her if she was an alicorn and sunset needed someone who wanted her for her.
11123211
But how was it that Princess Celestia was able to give birth to Sunset if her counterpart wasn't able to have children? I mean, I know that counterparts don't need to be fully the same, but what if Sunset was born out of magic? What if Sunset wasn't meant to be born at all? (I feel silly saying this, tho I can't help but question it)
11123222
Celestia snuck out so she could sleep with every guy that would have her and then she got sunset as nature says when you put a boy with a girl you probably Going get a baby. Sunset was powerful magic wise but Celestia wouldn't love her unless an alicorn and she hurt her more than she realizes.
11123234
The only thing that makes me wonder that how is it that Princess Celestia was able to have children yet Principal Celestia. I know what happened to Principal Celestia and why she can't have children, but she must be thinking “why me?”. If Principal Celestia finds out about the truth she’ll be angry, more than anyone (I think), because she might think it's unfair that she wasn't able to have kids yet Princess Celestia can and will sleep with anyone to get one and then doesn't even have the decency to actually raise her kid when Principal Celestia would've probably killed to have raised Sunset
11123249
The road of life is rarely fair much less smooth.
11123252
True, I just hope that if Sunset finds out the truth, it won't ruin her relationship with Principal Celestia, but it will be really unfair to both because Sunset might not ever feel like Principal Celestia’s child
11123175
It's been a while since you read Ch. 2, hasn't it?
As implied by the Principal not actually being an immortal member of royalty, their quantum entanglement doesn't go quite so far as to say that if one Celestia can't have a child, then the others automatically can't as well. In the case of the two that I specifically mention as not having kids due to being unable to (Empire's Celestia and the Magicless Celeste from Music Box Blues), it's due to events that happened specifically to them. Future installments (specifically You Need Never Feel Broken Again) will show that not all the Sunset Shimmers are lock-step identical either.
As far as human Sunset not existing, I do a bit of hand-wave to explain the lack of 1-to-1 correlation in Epilogue 2 (soon to be published)
And for Sunset knowing the truth? She has had no reason to question the narrative she grew up with. She was left at the orphanage, no parents on record at all, and so nothing that tells her that maybe there's more to her story.
11123252
Perfectly said!
11123268
I hope that it would bring them together even more. Also I hope the princess realizes how selfish she is because she refuses to give her heart away .
11123275
also, part of me thinks Sunset would question her heritage. I'm sure she would've questioned who her real parents are and why she was put up for adoption. I mean, Sunset does have a curious personality. Imagine if she ever asked Celestia if she knew her parents and Celestia probably straight up lied, knowing the truth
Imma re read ch.2 now
11123279
I hope so, but Princess Celestia might do everything in her power to get Sunset back
11123579
Considering it could start an international problem that anyone with half a brain after hearing her story would say sunset should stay where she is. A child should stay with someone who actually cares and since the principals are her legal guardians the government without a good reason would want to take her away.
11123574
11123579
11123588
OK, so a little world-building that may or may not be able to be written into the story (as it's not terrifically plot-relevant... at this time):
Thanks to my divorce, I've had to learn an uncomfortable amount about custody law, at least as far as it goes in Arizona, USA. If a parent (in this case, Princess Celestia) relinquishes all rights and responsibilities to a child they share with another co-parent (in this case, Principal Celestia), then they are no longer obligated to anything except child support, which Princess Celestia has handily managed through the treaties securing funding to CHS, making CHS a micronation, and making Sunset's current parents/guardians (Principal Celestia and VP Luna) sovereign rulers of said micronation; they basically are getting WAY more than a child support payment would be, but the Princess has pulled one of her classic plans-within-plan and hidden the entire operation behind a mega-solution that would address every single foreseeable problem a 1,000+-year-old being could anticipate (which is a lot). Even if someone were able to splash Sunset and Princess Celestia's actuall relationship all over the papers in both worlds tomorrow, it wouldn't change a thing about their relationships or position. (It'd keep the tabloids in business for a decade, of course)
11123668
Assuming that the custody laws are the same sunset isn't going to want to be with the mother who rejected over the one who chose to care for her and help even when she didn't have to. The princesses have no rights to sunset outside making sure she recovers from what the elements did to her. The princess will hopefully one day realize that she was selfish for so long that she can't undo the damage she caused with her selfishness.
11123702
I can see a custody battle between the Princess and the Principal. I just hope that Principal Celestia is strong enough and I’m sure she will use all of her willpower to fight for Sunset. I’m sure Sunset’s friends will too. But one thing that Princess Celestia has over Principal Celestia is that her and Sunset are blood related. I don’t know how that would work or if it matters, but Princess Celestia would use that to her advanced, she’d do anything(for probably the wrong reasons). And she could bargain with Sunset by giving Sunset everything she ever wanted in order to make Sunset come back to Equestria tho I hope Sunset is smart enough and decides to stay with Principal Celestia because she has her best interests at heart. She’s always put Sunset first when she didn’t have to
Dammit Celes...
What a sad epilogue. It's a pity of course But I'm probably even glad that the ending is not too sweet.
I just now had the thought:
"So there is no human counterpart to Sunset in this universe because Luna unintentionally made Celestia infertile. Is that why Sunset of the human world was not born?"
Definitely hope as I read the rest of these epilogues that princess celestia reconciles with sunset somewhat and at least confesses the truth.
Or there being a short sequel on the horizon.
11550514
"...short..."
Yeah, no, it won't be short.
I've got two sequels planned, "Voice of Rage and Ruin," and "You Need Never Feel Broken Again," I'm having to take things slow, though. My doctor had some Words™ with me about how hard I was pushing myself, so I'm being careful to take on only what I can handle in a given day and no more than that, and right now I've got Deviation and a fic I'll be posting some chapters of on AO3 for the She-ra fandom here soon. I'm also hoping to finish up Lost Little Wolf - The Minor Key before I start on Voice of Rage and Ruin