Two suns talk
“-and then we kicked her sorry butt like this!” Rainbow Dash flew off her street and began shadowboxing an invisible enemy. Applejack rolled her eyes and bit down on her tail, pulling the Pegasus from the air.
“Um, not exactly Princess.” Twilight looked back to Princess Celestia. “She had gotten away before we were able to, Uh, ‘kick her sorry butt’ so to speak. She had escaped into the cave systems and is most likely on the run.”
“And you say she had the ability to remove ponies Cutie Marks?” Twilight nodded. “It is unfortunate a pony with her talents has gone down such a dark path. I can only imagine what happened for her to decide Cutie Marks were evil…” Celestia was quiet for a moment. “And you say a magical map appeared in your castle to show you the location of the village?”
“That is correct Princess. Preparations are already underway to study the map and its effects.”
“Very good.” Celestia turned to Fluttershy. “Now, I believe that is all we need to discuss. You are all dismissed.”
Each of the ponies bowed to Celestia and made their way to the exit. Twilight stopped right before she crossed the threshold, remembering her promise to Sunset. “Princess Celestia, can I ask you a question?”
“You just did.” Celestia said teasingly, having lost her regal tone from before.
“Oh! I guess I did. Excuse my presumptuousness.” Twilight said as she bowed her head.
Celestia shook her head at Twilight's inability to see she was only teasing her. “Twilight, please, there is no need for such formality when it’s just you and me.” Celestia trotted over and lifted Twilight's head. “Now, what’s on your mind?”
Twilight was quiet as she tried thinking of the best way to erode her question. “It’s about Sunset Shimmer.”
“Oh, is that so?” Celestia's expression cracked and she pulled away her hoof. “How is she doing? Last I heard she was dealing with someone on the, what was it, ‘Internet’?”
“Well, you can ask her yourself because-” Twilight pulled the journal out and levitated it between them. “-I brought the journal with me.”
Celestia actually took a step away from the journal, her eyes scanning its every feature. “Oh, Twilight, I appreciate you want to make things right between us, but I’m afraid that simply isn’t possible. Sunset doesn’t want to talk to me.”
“That’s the thing though.” Twilight trotted up to Celestia, a bright smile on her face. “I asked her earlier if she wanted to talk to you and she said yes! But only if you were open to talking to her as well.”
“She… she did?” Celestia asked in a hopeful tone, taking the journal from Twilight. “Thank you Twilight, this means a lot to me.” She turned to Twilight and nodded in appreciation. “Please inform the staff I will be retiring to my chambers for the remainder of the evening, and to not bother me unless it’s an emergency.”
“Of course Princess. I hope everything goes well with you and Sunset.”
“As do I Twilight.” Celestia held the journal close as she exited the room. “As do I.”
Celestia made her way through the halls, wishing she could just dash to her room and talk to Sunset, but knew she had an image to uphold. She nodded politely to anyone she came across and finally entered her room and closed her door behind her.
She laid on her bed and stared down at the journal, anxiety and trepidation growing within her. “Come on Celestia, it’s just Sunset… the Sunset you haven’t spoken to for seven years... The Sunset you banished from the castle…” She groaned and put the journal down. “What am I going to say to her?”
For ten minutes Celestia sat there, thinking of dozens of messages she could write to Sunset to open up the conversation. From formal and detached, to jovial and warm. Finally she realized she didn’t need to do any of that, it didn’t matter what she wrote, Sunset would just be happy to be talking again.
With that, Celestia grabbed the journal, levitated a quill, and got to writing.
“So, this guy is from a time traveling alien society but looks like a human?”
“Mhm.”
“And he doesn’t have a name?”
“Of course he has a name! It’s the Doctor.”
“That’s… dumb.” Sunset remarked as she reached over and got a fistful of popcorn. “Why do you watch this again?”
“My boyfriend is a huge Dr. What fan.” Derpy answered. “I watch for him, just so I can understand his cute ramblings.”
“Is this what love is? Having to watch cheap Sci-fi so you know what they’re talking about?”
“Love is also cosplaying in uncomfortably tight clothes for him and being dragged three hours to the convention hall and learning he got the date wrong.” The two girls shared a laugh together, only stopped when Sunset's journal began vibrating. “Does Twilight have a girl crush on you? She seems to write to you a lot.”
“No, but I’ll be sure to tease her that you think she has a crush on me. She’ll love that.” Sunset opened the journal and her heart skipped a beat at what she saw.
“Sunset, it’s me. Are you there?” Sunset immediately recognized Celestia's handwriting, unable to believe what she was seeing. A torrent of emotion raged within her and a part of her wanted to close the journal right there and then.
“Something tells me it wasn’t Twilight?” Sunset didn’t even look at Derpy as she shook her head, her eyes transfixed on the words in front of her. “I’ll leave you two alone, just holler if you need anything, ok?”
Sunset merely nodded as Derpy snagged the popcorn bowl and fled through her door. Sunset gingerly sat down on Derpy's bed. She grabbed the pen from earlier and shakily began writing. “I’m here Princess Celestia. It’s been a long time.”
“Oh Sunset! It’s so good to talk with you again.”
Sunset stared down at Celestia's words for a moment before completely breaking down. “I’m so sorry Princess Celestia! You were right, you were right about everything! I wasn’t ready to learn about the mirror or be a princess. I’m so, so sorry.”
“Sunset! It’s ok. I know you’re sorry, I’m just glad to be talking with you again. I’ve missed you a lot.” That soothed Sunset a little. “And you know what? I’m sorry too.”
That caught Sunset off guard and she furiously began scribbling. “What are you sorry for? I'm the arrogant narcissist that never respected you, I never took your listens to heart, and I’m the one that went against your wishes then ran away from home to some unknown world!”
“While this is all true, it still doesn’t excuse the fact that I failed you. I’ve had arrogant and ambitious students before, and I’ve always been able to temper their worst impulses and redirect their ambition. I showed you the mirror, and whatever you saw ultimately doomed you.” There was a lull in Celestia's writing. “If I didn’t show you that mirror...”
“There was no way you could’ve known I would’ve seen me as a princess in the mirror, you were trying even then to humble me.”
“You saw yourself as a princess?”
“For a brief second, yes. I saw myself as an Alicorn.” Sunset had a bitter smile on her face as she wrote the next passage. “So, are you ready to talk about magic mirrors?”
“Well, since you already went through one I might as well.” Sunset giggled lightly at Celestia's teasing. “I know precious little about the mirror, Starswirl was a great wizard but poor note keeper. But from my understanding, in addition to being a gateway to another world, it can also show the viewer their future.”
Sunset's eyes widened. “So that means-”
“Yes Sunset, I had intended to uplift you into an Alicorn when you proved yourself worthy. First, I had intended for you to become the bearer of Magic when Nightmare Moon returned.”
“Just how long had you been planning this? Ponyville is the closest settlement to the Castle of the Two Sisters, it seems strange you coincidentally founded a town that close to the elements decades in advance, all the element bearers just so happened to be there, and Ponyville was chosen for the thousandth Summer Sun Celebration.”
“Sunset, I’d been planning for Nightmare Moon's return the day my sister was taken from me.” Celestia answered. “Ponyville was just the final phase of my plan. I couldn’t stop her before, I could only seal her away with help from the elements, and using them by myself nearly killed me. It had also transformed them into useless rock, the elements were never meant to be used in such a way. They would only be able to manifest again when six individuals proved themselves worthy.”
“What if they didn’t? There was no guarantee anyone would have proven worthy in time. Twilight told me they only barely defeated Nightmare Moon as is.”
“Sunset, when you get as old as me, you learn you always need a backup plan. Of course I had prepared for the possibility the elements wouldn’t manifest.”
“What was it then?”
“Nothing too complicated I am afraid. I would just fight her till I was killed. You must understand, there was no way I could’ve won. At best I would’ve defeated her and died in the attempt, or she would have succeeded in killing me.”
“But then how would-”
“Why do you think I uplifted Cadence? If I had died and Nightmare Moon was still alive, I would’ve at least weakened her enough for Cadence to finish her off. If Cadence survived, she’d have taken over as ruler. If she hadn’t, it would’ve been Blue Blood and you. Then later Twilight when she became my pupil.”
“Were you going to kill Nightmare Moon?”
“I would have to, I was unable to seal her away without the elements. It would be regrettable that Luna would’ve been killed as well, but considering the fates of billions hung in the balance it would have been necessary.”
“Fates of billions? What do you mean?”
“Sunset, what do you think would’ve happened if night and day suddenly stopped? One half of the planet would’ve been cooked by the sun while the other would’ve frozen over. At best civilization would’ve survived in the twilight region, at worst everyone would’ve died. No one would be able to raise and lower the sun and moon as long as Nightmare Moon was alive, and she was too far gone to realize the implications of her plan. Or perhaps she didn’t care.”
“Guess I never really thought about it.” Sunset pondered over this new information, having never seen this side of Celestia before. “Why were all the element bearers there? I assume you had Twilight meet with them because they were the most likely candidates, but why were they all there?”
“Luckily, fate smiled on us by having two of the bearers already there. The rest were scouted out by my spies and subtly moved to Ponyville when they were identified as prime candidates. Pinkie was told of a town that desperately needed somepony to cheer them up, and we paid off the previous apprentice baker so she would quit her position so Pinkie could take over. My spies infiltrated the Cloudsdale weather service and reassigned Rainbow Dash to Ponyville. Finally we fabricated a situation where a ‘sick’ dog couldn’t be cured by anypony in town, leading Rainbow Dash to invite Fluttershy over who ‘cured’ him, which led to Rainbow Dash convincing Fluttershy to stay in town.”
“This all seems rather-”
“Manipulative? I know. I’m fully aware of the shady nature of my actions. But considering it was the only chance to save my sister and the entire world, I would do it again. Plus, I’ve had to do a lot worse Sunset, this job requires you to get your hooves dirty to preserve the lives of others. Not every threat can be destroyed with armies or magic.”
Sunset didn’t want to inquire further about what Celestia may have done, so chose to ask about the bearers. “Do they know?”
“No, but this information will be freely shared with them should they inquire about it. Plus, I’m sure Twilight will be reading over our interaction.”
“If I know Twilight, she’ll probably be stressing over whether or not she should snoop.” Sunset chuckled. “She’ll try to justify it by saying she needs it for my recovery, but fight with herself for hours thinking she’ll violate our privacy.”
“She’ll probably have a nervous freak out.”
“Exactly! Much like when she harbored me during-” Sunset realized what she was writing and put a hand to her mouth.
“If you’re worried that Twilights going to be in trouble for sheltering you during Hearth's Warming, don’t. I already knew.”
Sunset's eyes widened. “You knew? How?”
“Twilight is many things, a good liar isn’t one of them. I received a letter from her stating that you specifically weren’t there and she definitely wasn’t hiding anything.”
“Are you serious? We need to teach that girl how to lie.” Sunset face palmed. “She’s probably going to freak out when she reads that.”
“Personally I thought it was sweet. Sheltering you while you were going through a tough time and attempting to keep you hidden from me. I wasn’t going to pry anyway, I had assumed you were done with me by that point.”
“What!? Why would you assume that? I wasn’t the same arrogant brat anymore.”
“When you were confirmed to still be alive, I had waited three months for you to pick the journal back up and write back to me. When you didn’t, I had assumed that you were still angry with me and had decided to cut ties.”
“Is that why the journal ended up with Twilight?”
“Yes. I figured that since you were never going to talk to me again, there was no use in keeping it. I knew Twilight would quickly realize what it was and try to communicate with you, though I hadn’t expected you would write in it yourself the very same day.”
“Well, it was an emergency.” Sunset thought over what to say next. “Celestia, I’m really sorry I nearly ruined your plans. I feel so much worse for what I did now, the world could’ve been destroyed because I was being a selfish bitch. Guess you were wrong to think I was worthy of being uplifted.”
“Firstly, don’t ever call yourself that… name again. Secondly, I did say that the mirror showed you your future. There’s still a chance Sunset.”
“But I’d need to be your student! You kicked me out, remember?”
“Sunset, I was angry. Rightfully so, but I had regretted what I said before I found out you left. I was going to find you the next morning and talk things out and give you one more chance. Obviously that never happened, but the point is that, if you so wish, you can resume your studies under me when you come back home.”
“Really?” Sunset felt her eyes water as she shakily began writing. “You’re serious?”
“I am. But something tells me that’s not what you want. Twilight’s doing a better job than I ever did as your teacher, and you’re probably learning things over there that I could never teach you. Besides, being worthy has nothing to do with being my student. Cadence was never my student but she proved herself worthy of ascension after all.”
“I guess that’s true.” A smile grace Sunsets lips as she wiped her eyes. She wasn’t sure if she even wanted to be princess anymore, but to know that Princess Celestia still had faith and offered Sunset her place as her student again, despite everything she did, overwhelmed the poor girl with gratitude.
“Now Sunset, about your family…”
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11217779
Nah fam, that girls calling is to be a mailman (mailwoman?). Maybe she can be therapuatic when she delivers.
11217222
Not that that’s a high bar...
11217050
I love this theory, it’s so well thought out. I won’t confirm or deny any of this, but keep up the good work.
11216861
I have no plans either way, so maybe there’s still hope.
How is this story a sequel to the previous story, if that one isn't finished? And this one has more entries.
11221322
Hold on, there was a comment thread about a month back where I answered something similar.
11221314
Oh, right. I totally forgot pony Derpy sends mail, so her human counterpart would be mailwoman likewise. Still, one can dream.
The conversation wasn't what I expected but it's good to know Sunset and Princess Celestia are coming to nice terms after all those years. In my eyes, Sunset Shimmer doesn't need to become an Alicorn; sure, she saw herself as princess in the mirror tough I believe she's already a leader in the mirror realm to the Rainbooms (but that's not happening after the Anon-a-Miss ordeal gets solved and shows human Twilight the Magic of Friendship.
If I spoiled something, please don't hate me).
Happy early birthday
It's nice to see Sunset and Princess Celestia slowly repairing their friendship by talking to each other again, even from different worlds.
And happy early birthday!
11221315
True, but still, both Sonic movies are the best video game adaption movies since... ever, at least in my opinion.
Celestia the master puppetmaster, a little sinister but given how she explained what the alternative was, I can hardly blame her. Gotta love the whole, one side of the planet burns the other side freezes scenario that the writers of the show never seemed to consider, funny how that works out.
And now I'm wondering what kind of costume she must have been wearing and how Doctor Hooves must've felt once he realized the date was wrong. I'd imagine he had to do a lot of groveling and probably a lot of other things for Derpy to make up for such a misstep.
Of course now I wanna see pictures of that scenario as well, the part at the convention I mean.
This chapter seemed very... info dumpy. Like, I was expecting an emotional reconnection and basically got a Q&A. It wasn't badly written, it simply wasn't what I'd expect and estranged teacher and student to focus their conversation on after years of no contact...
Yes! THANK YOU! Finally someone else who shares my theory on the Sunset Shimmer time line!
Celestia can see partial, potential futures in her dreams sometimes so it's definitely plausible.
Dang Celestia, dont have to agree just however you feel about it just accept it with like a "hmm" or whatever. XD
11225290
To be fair, Lyra and Bon-Bon have pretty much been confirmed to be an item, Vinyl and Octavia are a pretty common ship, and Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara are too good to pass up.
And Sunset's been confirmed bi by one of the creators.
I also point out that the MLP fandom is probably one of the most prolific when it comes to same sex (especially lesbian) ships.
If it helps most of the human 6 are straight (in this story anyway). Sci-Twi, Dash, Pinkie, and Flutters are straight. Rarity and AJ already had some ship tease in the actual show, so who knows where that'll lead in this.
11227577
LOL.
11227662
Me too.
11239634
Don’t even try reasoning with him, I spent way too much time trying to make him see reason or offer a solution (literally offered for him to continue reading to see that it’s not a manifesto and he could run at the first sign of it being political) and he was a stubborn jerk.
It’s better that he stays far away, I don’t want to dig up old drama. I don’t want someone that unpleasant and unreasonable to be in my fan base.
11239717
I'm not gonna cause any trouble over it. Sure I was voicing my displeasure of something that I read, but it's not a big deal. Certainly not something to stop reading or raise a shit storm over. I just think that if religion is going to be brought into a world that is clearly not Earth, even if it has elements arguable of Earth mixed in, said religion should be a product of the world in question. Even if the EQG world isn't directly parallel or alternate to Equestria, it's certainly a reflection of it.
But okay, let's just run with the idea that Christianity is a thing in this interpretation of the EQG world. Wouldn't Applejack's family be a better fit? It's a common trope for traditional southern families to be Christian, stereotyping be damned.
11239740
Good cause that one dude was kind of a jerk over something so minor.
I’ve always interpreted EQG as basically earth, the only difference is people have counterparts to Equestria (and the names of course). But there’s no confirmation either way, in this fic at least that’s what I’m going for.
They probably didn’t want to mess with peoples immersion by stating they were in America, that’d be kinda weird
Wouldn’t there need to be a lot more magic and monsters for it to be human Equestria?
She and her family are Jewish in this one actually.
I actually did make her a Christian, the prequel is pretty much the only time it was mentioned though.
11239754
You got to my comment too quickly. Not a complaint, just an observation. I edited my comment because I decided after posting it that parts of it could be worded better, including the complete removal of the parts you quoted involving my mention of Rainbow and Starswirl.
I haven't read the prequel, so I didn't know that. And I haven't reread the chapter my original comment was from, so all I had to go on was the quoted bit of the chapter from my comment, which I assumed meant Christian. But okay, Jewish. It still seems odd to read about these pony peoples believing in Earth things, and it's difficult to reconcile these peoples with pony names being inhabitants of a world that's supposed to be Earth according to this interpretation. Again, nothing worth making a whole thing about, just...wonky.
11242757
THOUSANDTH COMMENT!
We got a thousand comments guys!
I’m so happy!
This story now has a thousand comments!
I don’t know why I care so much but I do!
11242722
Are... are you one of the mythical bingers?
11242730
Should’ve been here in the beginning, people said the same thing.
11242736
I chalk it up to being a dumb and desperate kid.
11242757
You and everybody in and out ofuniverse.
Blooms literally the only one who didn’t realize it was a bad idea.
11243835
One problem: Ray hasn’t been adopted yet.
That short had Sci-Twi in it and Sci-Twi joined during the Friendship games, we haven’t reached the Friendship games yet.
11244042
ehh, it’s fanfiction; timelines are screwy at the best of times, especially with the asynchronous mess that is fim. It’s not hard to believe in the slightest bit that Sunset acquired her pet before she does in canon, especially given that Sci-Twi is utterly unnecessary in said short.
11244076
Perhaps, but I’m like pretty sure someone would point out that Ray hasn't been adopted yet.
She kind of was.
11244099
That’d be a bit boring now wouldn’t it. Though Flutters being sunsets first friend does feed into Sunsets anger, it isn’t what makes her genuinely hate Flutters.
It was somewhat rash what Flutters said, but what she did say was extremely damaging and beyond hurtful to Sunset that it seriously made Sunset reconsider whether Flutters cutesy personality was all an act. Especially since Flutters was Sunsets first friend.
Ah, why thank you.
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11244600
ARE YOU GOD DAM SERIOUS!!!!!?