Equestria Girls - The Tale of Two Sunsets

by HumanSunset63

Chapter 44: Revisiting the Past

Applejack and Sunset had finally arrived back at Sweet Apple Acres, with both ponies having different objectives in mind. Sunset wanted to accompany her friend a little longer to mourn the late Granny Smith, while Applejack was going through her cherished items before preparing for the funeral. Preparation was certainly going to take a lot of time, effort, and money, which Applejack thankfully had plenty of, as she had not spent it on the hospital's treatment after all. One thing that Applejack had not mentioned earlier while at the hospital, was that Granny also mentioned she had left one last item to pass down to her, which was located in her bedroom's dresser.

As expected, Applejack searched Granny's bedroom and found exactly what her grandmother had described, which was kept safe within a box. It was a gold necklace with an apple shaped red ruby in the center, which Granny had kept secretly in her room all these years. The colors were reminiscent of Applejack's father, Bright Mcintosh, and this was no coincidence. The necklace was originally a custom-built piece of jewelry Granny had bought, which was given to Bright Mac in honoring his and Pear Butter's secret marriage. Unfortunately, after Bright Mac and Pear Butter had both unexpectedly passed away, the necklace fell back into the possession of Granny Smith, who had then kept it a secret all these years. She had never told the rest of the Apple family about the necklace to symbolize her grief, and it had too much sentimental value to her.

"It really is here." Applejack gazed in awe at the box which held the shiny necklace, before taking it out and putting it on her own neck. "Pa's necklace. Granny had never mentioned it to any of us until today, but she finally told us in her last breath. After Ma and Pa both tragically left us all without even gettin' the chance to say goodbye, Granny kept this secret weddin' present here this whole time, as a means of ensurin' nothin' would ever happen to it."

"It's nice to hear Granny was able to give you a bit of closure for this secret she's kept for so long." Sunset said. "I guess this means she passed it down to you as part of your inheritance?"

"Well, yes and no, actually." Applejack began explaining. "Granny wasn't able to speak much on her bed, but it was mostly Sugar Belle who reiterated what Granny would've wanted to tell me. Basically, Granny's given this necklace to me as a bit of a parting gift, but she very much wants me to treat it like it's still Pa's. The sentimental value is so strong, since other than this here hat I'm wearin', this truly is the only other thing I have left of Pa. In other words, Granny's wanting me to know that it's now my turn in protectin' this necklace's legacy, much like she had for a good portion of her life."

"I'm sure you'll treasure it forever." Sunset smiled. "Looks like a very beautiful necklace indeed."

"It sure is." Applejack agreed. "Even after Ma and Pa passed, the family business wasn't as big as it is now, and back at the hospital, we were all discussin' how sad Granny felt back then when she couldn't even afford a funeral for them. She almost contemplated selling the necklace just to pay for the expenses, but didn't have the heart to do so. That's how much this necklace truly meant to Granny, and I've officially made it my vow since her passin' that I'll be lookin' after it for the rest of my life."

"Sounds like a commitment I know you'll stick with, AJ." Sunset assured. "As for my parents, from what Sugar Belle told me back at the hospital, that might mean the saddlebag with the word 'Solstice' engraved on the bottom once belonged to my mother. And from what I can gather, considering how my dad passed it down to me, maybe it is a likely sign that my mom already passed away early on, or got a divorce with dad. It's all beginning to add up, why I only grew up with a dad in Ponyville, and why Princess Celestia seemingly claimed she wanted to give me the mother I needed. Well... I mean, that's still assuming this is the same Solstice Sugar Belle alluded to. It is possible for ponies to share first names, I'd assume?"

"Considerin' how the Apple family is consisted of Apples, as well as the fact that me and Applebloom have the word 'Apple' in front, I don't doubt it." Applejack brainstormed. "I believe last names have cases like that too, if you count Sweetie Belle and Sugar Belle as an example."

"Yeah, that's what I had feared." Sunset sighed. "Well, that certainly does complicate things a little, but still. The connection between me and Sugar Belle's voices, as well as the fact that nopony else I've talked to has even the vaguest memories of anypony named Solstice, I feel like I should take this lead seriously. At this point, whether my parents are still alive or not doesn't matter to me anymore. After the many years of feeling lonely and forgotten by everypony who once loved me, getting some closure over this whole mystery is what's most important now. Applejack, don't get me wrong. I'm glad that I now have you, Twilight, and everypony else as my family too, it's just... I really want to know now about where I truly came from and what could've happened back then."

"I understand your pain, Sunset." Applejack replied. "I for one would have no idea how I'd be livin' life in Equestria if I had nopony in my family to come back to after a long day of work. Hence why after I'm finishin' up gatherin' everything to prepare for Granny's funeral, I'll be phonin' the rest of the family in regards to any other leads to this Solstice pony you're lookin' for. Have you by any chance talked to Twilight or Celestia for help? Twilight's usually goin' to be at Canterlot from now on, whereas Celestia's now stayin' at Silver Shoals."

"Well I did ask Twilight earlier on, but she unfortunately didn't have any leads either." Sunset reflected. "She did tell me that she'd be doing some research to come up with any further clues, so there is still that. As for Celestia, I actually haven't visited her yet, since I've spent a majority of my time in Equestria exploring and hanging with all you ponies, like Twilight proposed back at the Coronation. It's amazing how in less than two days, I've basically hung out with everypony for a while, and gotten to know them the same way I had with my human friends. But yeah, I have been told where Celestia lives now, and I do plan on visiting her sometime later today."

"Now wait a minute." Applejack interjected. "From what Twilight's told us about you, you were formerly Princess Celestia's pupil, right? And if what you just said earlier was anything to go by, the former princess also saw you as a daughter since she believed she could be the mother you needed?"

"That's right." Sunset affirmed. "It's ironic how I seemingly resented Princess Celestia for a majority of my earlier life after escaping through the portal, when in reality, she was the only true family I had besides my father throughout my youth. As I grew up in Canterlot as a filly, I could certainly remember how much of a caring mother figure she was to me, but I clearly let my ambition in magic cloud my judgement of her. I do admittedly still want to visit her soon, since it has been quite some time since our last reunion together."

"Tell ya what, Sunset." Applejack began, before opening her money box to take out some leftover bits and putting them in Sunset's hoof. "Since you took the extra mile in lettin' me see Granny Smith before she was gone, I want to pass your kindness back to you. I'm well familiar with the train schedule here in Ponyville, and am aware that there is a train which will be headin' to Silver Shoals sometime today. And since you mentioned that you didn't have any bits with you last night, I want you to take these to buy yourself a train ticket to visit there. You made a sacrifice to help me see my grandmother, so I'll make my own to help you see the one pony you consider a mother."

"I really appreciate this, AJ." Sunset smiled. "Thank you so much. But I do kinda still feel bad you're going to be here all alone to prepare for Granny Smith's funeral. Especially after everything you must've went through at the hospital."

"Oh, don't worry about that, Sugarcube." Applejack assured. "Last night before bed, I did get a call from Fluttershy. She mentioned needing somepony to watch over a little filly she brought into her home, since she needed to head back to the animal sanctuary today. I heard about what happened last night as far as her gettin' robbed on the train, so given the circumstances, I just couldn't say 'no' to her. But basically, I'll just be around the farm doing simple tasks and chores to prepare for the funeral, and I won't be by myself while doin' everything, so I insist. Go see your metaphorical mother, Sunset."

"All right, well I'm glad you won't be alone while setting up everything." Sunset said, happily. "I'm also glad to hear that you're going to be with Lily."

"Hmm, you've met her?" Applejack questioned.

"Well, kind of." Sunset tried her best to explain. "Basically, I was with Fluttershy last night and we both encountered her all abandoned and alone without any family. So Fluttershy volunteered to extend her home to her, since it's sickening to imagine how anypony in Equestria could abandon a poor little filly like her."

"Tell me about it." Applejack reflected. "Not havin' a family must be the worst thing in Equestria. Err... no offense, Sunset."

"None taken." Sunset sighed before rolling her eyes in amusement at seemingly hearing this for the thousanth time. "But really, from what little I've seen of her, she's really a sweet filly who just needs to be loved. Given how strong of a family the Apples are, I'm sure you'll be able to give her just that, AJ."

"I reckon I sure could." Applejack said with pride, before hearing a knock at the front door. "Oh, it looks like that might be her. Well, I guess this is goodbye for now, Sunset? I hope you can spend some real quality time with Celestia when you reach Silver Shoals."

"Thanks, Applejack." Sunset said with gratitude. "I do hope so myself too."

"Oh, and one last thing, Sugarcube." Applejack reminded. "Is that basket of groceries in the kitchen yours? It doesn't seem to contain anything I usually buy."

"Oh yeah, that's right. Thanks so much for reminding me." Sunset replied before heading over to the kitchen to pick it up, as Applejack answered the front door.

As Sunset went back over to the front door to accompany Applejack, she saw Fluttershy and Lily from last night, who were both somewhat surprised to see Sunset with the farm pony. Applejack held off on telling Fluttershy about Granny's passing at the moment, since she knew her pegasus friend already had a lot on her plate after getting robbed. Fluttershy simply nodded in thanking Applejack for watching over Lily before heading off to the train station, as she was already running somewhat late for her train.

Lily looked up at Applejack and Sunset, notably happy she was able to see Sunset again after the brief bonds from last night. She felt absolutely loved and cared by Fluttershy last night, which made her feel extra guilty that she had already stolen bits, jewelry, and even a critter in a cage. She had done exactly as her mother had instructed of her, from discreetly taking the items from Fluttershy's cottage, putting them in the possession of her mother, and then safely returning back to the cottage so that she couldn't immediately be seen as a suspect. Luckily for Lily, Fluttershy didn't really notice anything missing from her home, but she was inevitably going to at some point.

Although the guilt crept up further on Lily, she was mostly reminded of this when she saw this Applejack pony Fluttershy had told her about last night. What she didn't expect was that she was wearing this beautiful and expensive looking necklace that she knew her mother would go crazy for. As such, the first thing the little filly did was do the obligatory introductions, before questioning the farm pony about her necklace.

"Nice to meet you, Applejack." Lily began. "I'm Lily, at least, that's the name Sunset here had given me last night."

"So I've been told." Applejack tipped her hat. "Nice to meet you as well, Lily. Sunset was just leavin', but no need to fret. We can still spend some time together. From what both Fluttershy and Sunset had told me last night, you don't have a family?"

"No, I don't." Lily partially lied, as although she had already lost her biological parents, she now had an adopted mother who took her in. "I really just wanted somepony to love me, since I've felt so alone forever."

"Well, I can assure you that I'd be willin' to give you that kind of family." Applejack said with enthusiasm.

"Thank you so much." Lily smiled, before asking about the necklace she was wearing. "By the way, I really like that necklace you're wearing, where did you get it?"

"Oh... let's just say... it was a gift from my grandmother, who had unfortunately passed away today." Applejack said, glumly. "It's the last thing she passed down to me before she was gone, so I'm makin' it my goal to protect its legacy at all costs. I'm just wearin' it now for sentimental reasons."

"Sorry to hear about your grandma." Lily said, sadly, now realizing that the necklace she was planning on stealing had so much value to Applejack than her own mother would truly ever see, which made her feel even more immensely guilty than she already was. "I'm sure I can help you take your mind off of her for a little while?"

"I'm kinda hopin' for just that." Applejack replied. "In the meantime, I'll mostly be doin' chores around the house for a bit, but let me know if you need anything, Lily."

Lily nodded, before she entered Applejack's home, as Sunset exited and was heading toward the train station. Sunset was hoping she could maybe still spend a little further time with Fluttershy on the train ride, but realized that her pegasus friend had likely already caught her train, as she seemed to be in a hurry while dropping off Lily. Regardless, Sunset went over to the train station and as expected, used the bits Applejack had given her to purchase another train ticket. By this point, Sunset was genuinely hoping she could remaster her skills in teleportation so that she didn't have to pay for train tickets so much, but it was mostly a brief feeling of slight frustration. Remastering her magic would come in due time, and she was mostly just here to take a temporary vacation before returning back to CHS for her graduation.

Unlike the last few times Sunset was waiting for the train, there was nopony around she particularly recognized or knew, nor anypony onboard when she had eventually boarded her arriving train. Due to the fact that last time she tried socializing on the train, which inadvertently caused her to miss most of Twilight's coronation, Sunset decided to mostly keep to herself during the ride. The train finished waiting for the passengers to be seated and began to take off toward the direction of Silver Shoals, and Sunset sat in her seat, contemplating. She mostly thought of how she'd spend time with her former mentor and mother, Princess Celestia. Although Sunset was well aware by now that Celestia was no longer the Princess of Equestria, she still felt compelled to call her that out of respect, as well as the fact she was always more used to calling her by that title.

Much like she had alluded to yesterday while Starlight accompanied her, Sunset decided she would at least bring up the topic regarding her family, and that if Celestia didn't want to say anything, she would respect her wishes. However, thinking more deeply about how she's already hit plenty of dead ends when inquiring most ponies regarding her parents, Sunset hoped that Celestia would still give her a vital piece of information somewhere down the line. If the former princess truly said that she believed in giving Sunset the mother she needed, that just seemed to confirm Celestia definitely knew something more dark and deep regarding Sunset's past, but kept it hidden all this time. The train had just passed Canterlot, which also reminded Sunset of the many memories she and Celestia had together, furthering her desire to visit the former princess now that she was officially retired.

As all these thoughts continued to circulate Sunset's mind while riding the train, her thought process came to a sudden halt, as she, along with everypony else on the train, noticed that the train seemingly randomly stopped in the middle of the tracks. This seemed unusual, as there was no hint of any station nearby, meaning that this was obviously not an intended scheduled stop that the train would make. Shortly after, the conductor took his intercom to let all the passengers onboard know what was going on.

"I'm terribly sorry to inform everypony..." The conductor began. "But I'm afraid that we are going to have to take a temporary detour. There appears to have been a giant boulder which rolled off from the top of this ravine, which is now blocking the tracks. Everypony on board will unfortunately need to get off at the last stop back at Canterlot. I truly apologize for the inconvenience, and as stated by train station policy, we will be refunding everypony's admission tickets and remove passenger fees for future train rides until further notice. Thank you so much for understanding."

Sunset sighed upon hearing this, while most ponies around her understandably groaned in frustration at this unexpected news. At the very least, unlike presumably most other ponies on the train, heading back to Canterlot temporarily would give Sunset two opportunities. The first being her chance to go back to her old Canterlot home, as Sunset could finally store the basket of groceries Fluttershy had bought her last night, as well as checking her journal to see how much time was left before the CHS graduation. The second opportunity would be to check in with Twilight about everything she had been through during her time in Equestria, which of course also included the mishap with Rainbow Dash and Indigo Zap. Despite the fact her visit to Celestia was indeed delayed, Sunset at least felt happy that this temporary detour saved her a return trip to Canterlot.

Sunset and everypony got off of the stop at Canterlot, and the stationmaster as promised, gave full refunds to all the passengers. As Sunset took her bits back and slowly trotted back to her old home, she once again began to get sentimental feelings of the many memories she and Celestia had many years ago. She passed by the same park that she distinctly remembered playing at as a filly, as well as the ice cream shop Celestia would take her to for celebration every time Sunset had aced her magic midterms. The unicorn started to cry a few bittersweet tears of sentiment, before finally arriving back at her home and unlocking the door.

Sunset entered her home and immediately used her magic to throw all the old, rotten groceries from her fridge into a nearby trashcan in front of the gate. It was somewhat amusing to think that these groceries technically existed when she was still Princess Celestia's pupil, but like with the rest of her past, Sunset felt perfectly okay with tossing them out of her mind and moving on with fresh new memories. After which, she used some nearby cleaning supplies to tidy up the inside of her fridge, before finally placing the fresh groceries neatly within. The next priority was checking how much time she had left before the graduation at CHS, so Sunset quickly went over to where she left her saddlebag and opened up her journal to check the human world's time.

As expected, there was still plenty of time before the big event, so there was still room for further activities in Equestria. Since this was only day three of her temporary stay, the graduation wouldn't take place for about another two and a half days, which made sense, as Sunset had already used up approximately half her week off in Equestria by this point. Sunset also decided that if she were to go back too early, she'd still be stuck doing the same old human activities without magic, which would go against her desire to potentially relearn her unicorn magic. With this in mind, she simply breathed a sigh of relief before exiting her home.

There was still the issue of not being able to use the train to proceed to Silver Shoals, so there admittedly wasn't too much on Sunset's mind if she were to wander around Canterlot for a while. Checking in with Twilight might be ideal, assuming the princess wasn't busy, but it was entirely possible Twilight was elsewhere too. Even if Sunset herself would by this point, never know what being a princess is like, her own experience as the leader of her human friends had already taught her the importance and responsibilities of leadership. Being the princess of Equestria was certainly no different, making it so Sunset's first motive would simply be to head over to the main castle and request permission to speak with Twilight for a bit.

However, the timing seemed to be perfect once again, as Twilight was already outside and spotted Sunset about to exit her home's front yard, before calling her name and trotting over to her. Sunset noticed Twilight was now wearing regal gold armor, matching the color of her new crown, in contrast to when Twilight looked like her usual self that morning when she was filling in as a teacher at the School for Gifted Unicorns.

"Sunset!" Twilight greeted, before coming up to her unicorn friend. "This is actually good timing, since I've already finished most of my duties for today and wanted to see you real quick."

"Hey, Twilight." Sunset greeted back. "Good to know, since... I've been meaning to check in with you as well. By the way, love the armor, it really goes nicely with your new crown."

"Thanks!" Twilight replied. "I got it delivered to me today after the armor foundry here in Canterlot finished crafting everything. Plus, I agree, it certainly does go rather nicely with my crown. You're not going to steal this one too, are you?"

"Very funny Twilight, I've definitely learned my lesson, thank you very much." Sunset rolled her eyes in mild amusement. "Plus it looks much better on you anyways."

"Hehe, thanks for taking the joke well, it really tells me now you've certainly moved forward since that incident." Twilight chuckled. "But in all seriousness, you wanted to check in with me about something yourself? What did you want to discuss, I have plenty of time right now before I have to go settle a dispute in Saddle Arabia."

"Well, a bit of a confession." Sunset began. "I have some good news and bad news, which would you like to hear first?"

"Considering there's quite a bit on my plate later today, I guess I'll take the good news now." Twilight replied.

"The good news is, up until now, I've already fulfilled your second royal decree with the rest of your friends, as far as letting them show me around Equestria while we all got to know each other a bit better." Sunset said.

"You did?" Twilight asked, happily. "Oh, that is wonderful news, you took less than two days to do all that? Well, I guess I also did myself when Princess Celestia first sent me to Ponyville, though I did meet and befriend you and Starlight much later on. Looks like I've taught you well, Sunset. Great job! Sounds to me like you were able to click with them all thanks to your confidence and willingness to make new friends, congratulations! That said... what's the bad news?"

"The bad news is... "Sunset sighed before confessing to her blunder. "I managed to make friends with them all, except for Rainbow Dash."

"What do you... mean?" Twilight said, confused at how the two statements seemingly conflicted with each other.

"Well, I mean I did also do so for Rainbow Dash initially." Sunset began explaining. "Except there was an incident that resulted in her essentially doing the equivalent of blocking me on a social media platform. You see, after we arrived at Cloudsdale yesterday morning, I saw some orange pegasus who flew into the hot air balloon and wrecked it. When I checked to see if she was alright, she just immediately flew off in fear because I brought up how the hot air balloon belonged to you."

"She did WHAT now!?" Twilight exclaimed, rather shocked. "I've had that hot air balloon since before I was even Princess Celestia's student. And she just flew off without taking any responsibility for it? I guess this explains why I didn't see you return the hot air balloon back to Canterlot when you were finished exploring Cloudsdale, and that was one of the things I was going to question you on."

"Yeah, I would've definitely returned it had she not done that, and I was willing to reason with her until she flew off." Sunset further elaborated. "While in Cloudsdale, I saw one of my newer friends, Derpy, and she told me that she got fired from her job thanks to some orange pegasus was seemingly committing theft around town by stealing packages, specifically of goggles and workout uniforms."

"Well, I'm at least happy to hear you've also made other friends in Equestria besides simply my friends." Twilight replied, before deducting the situation. "So it had to have been that same orange pegasus who destroyed the balloon, right?"

"That's what I believed myself." Sunset reflected. "Only, after meeting Rainbow, I found out that same orange pegasus was her apprentice for the Wonderbolts, and she was wearing goggles and a workout uniform. I tried to bring up how she vandalized the hot air balloon, and fit the description of being the package thief. However, Derpy came by and tried to testify, only to mention that the actual culprit was a completely different pony. After which, the orange pegasus I wrongly accused snapped at me for humiliating her, and quit being Rainbow's apprentice since I jumped to conclusions too quickly. This also caused Rainbow to fly off and abandon me, not even giving a single care of how I'd return to the ground. I only managed to do so thanks to Derpy's help, but I still felt awful after everything I did in a matter of minutes."

"Yikes." Twilight reacted to Sunset's dilemma. "I'm so sorry to hear you went through all that, Sunset. But from what I can deduct of what you've just told me, you were only trying to help Derpy out of the kindness of your heart. If anything, I should be angry and upset with Rainbow Dash and this orange pegasus."

"So... you're not upset with me?" Sunset said, rather surprised.

"Absolutely not." Twilight affirmed. "From the story you've just told me, you were the only one with any actual good intentions. It was this orange pegasus who wrecked your ride home, as well as my property, and Rainbow Dash who abandoned you simply because of a silly Wonderbolt apprentice. The fact that Rainbow chose to side with her instead of you, when she committed a legitimate act of vandalism and chose to fly away to avoid repercussions infuriates me beyond belief. All you did was try to help the Ponyville mailmare, while this orange pegasus most certainly overreacted. If she's willing to quit being Dash's apprentice that easily when something like this happens, you might've unintentionally done Rainbow a favor."

"Thanks for seeing the good in me, Twilight." Sunset said. "But I won't sugarcoat things, I definitely messed up myself. I most likely could've approached that situation better, so it's a pretty good learning experience, I suppose."

"Well regardless, I'm certainly going to contact Rainbow as soon as I can and give her a real piece of my mind." Twilight affirmed, sternly. "The so-called element of loyalty choosing to abandon her real friends in favor of fake ones? But to tell you the truth, I'm not actually surprised Rainbow did this."

"Hm, how so?" Sunset questioned.

"Let's just say it's not the first time recently this has happened." Twilight elaborated further. "Although Rainbow's been part of the group since the beginning, she... certainly tends to be the most problematic in our eyes. Pulling malicious pranks toward everypony nonstop, constantly starting childish competition with Applejack, and being an incredibly poor coach for the School of Friendship's buckball team, just to name a few."

"Oh, wow." Sunset replied with shock. "I had no idea this world's Rainbow was like that. I mean, sure, I do sometimes put up with similar behavior from the other Rainbow in my world, notably when it felt like she was ruining everybody's experience during our spring break cruise. But to her credit, if it wasn't for her curiosity, we wouldn't have found out about the Storm King's magic."

"Yeah, I was surprised myself when it turned out bits of his magic somehow ended up in your world." Twilight reflected. "The point being, if Rainbow's willing to do this to her friends, specifically one whom I vouched for, this has been going on for far too long. I'm glad you brought Rainbow's behavior to my attention, Sunset. My friends and I haven't really given Rainbow serious sessions to discuss how unacceptable her decisions can be at times, and after hearing what she ended up doing to you, I can not tolerate this any longer. You might've actually done us all a favor in letting us see we've been far too lenient with Rainbow Dash, and she needs to reevaluate herself first. Once my trip to Saddle Arabia is finished, I'm going to contact Rainbow to come over to Canterlot, along with the rest of the Council of Friendship, to talk things out."

"I'm glad you see things my way, Twilight." Sunset said with gratitude. "But like I've said, I can understand that Rainbow and I both made mistakes in this case, and I'm willing to give her an apology myself if she cooperates."

"Very noble of you." Twilight commended. "But trust me, in this situation, Rainbow's certainly the one who's done far more wrong than you in my eyes. You were just trying to help a friend, while Rainbow basically gave you an ultimatum, ditched you in the middle of nowhere, and gave no care about my prized balloon. So if anything, Sunset? I am not angry, upset, or disappointed with you at all. I think 'proud' would be a more appropriate word, especially since you've also hit things off quite well with everypony else. Very impressive, especially given Starlight's mentioned to me she was having trouble getting along with them all herself the first time she decided to go out and make newer friends."

"Yeah, she did mention something like that." Sunset recalled. "Alright, would you mind letting me know when would be a good time for us all to talk things out with Rainbow?"

"My schedule tomorrow is mostly empty, so I would think sometime tomorrow afternoon?" Twilight proposed. "That's assuming everypony else isn't busy, but I'll put out the word that the meeting is urgent. By the way, how much time do you have left before your graduation at Canterlot High? Like I've said, we won't hold you back from it if time is tight, and from what you've shared in regards to your experience with Rainbow, we'll all certainly vouch for and defend you."

"I appreciate that, but... since I still did some wrong myself, I'd only feel it's right I also confront Rainbow myself, face to face." Sunset insisted. "Plus, I'm not really worried about time, since I still have at least a full two days before I even need to get ready for my graduation."

"If you feel it's what's best, then I'll respect your decision on the matter." Twilight smiled. "Now, did you have anything else you needed to tell me regarding the Rainbow Dash situation?"

"Nope, I think I've already said all that I needed to, and we've come up with an excellent way to resolve things." Sunset said with confidence. "Now, you said you wanted to see me about something yourself too?

"Ah, yes." Twilight remembered. "Two things, actually. First off, I did do some research in the residency of Ponyville, to find any clues regarding your parents, as I had already promised. Looking in depth, I admittedly couldn't find anypony by the name of Solstice in these parts, and that's when I decided to do some further digging. I went over to Starlight's village to check if anypony there had any leads, as Starlight did mention to me that a lot of her villagers there come from various places all over Equestria. While I was there, one of the villagers said something that stood out. A pegasus named Night Glider mentioned that she does loosely remember somepony named Solstice, who taught her how to sing karaoke when she was younger. What's interesting was, Night Glider also remembered that this Solstice pony seemingly carried a brown satchel everywhere, and it supposedly had an engraved word on the bottom."

"A brown satchel with a word engraved on the bottom..." Sunset began processing things. "Just like the saddlebag I currently have?"

"Precisely." Twilight replied. "But asking Night Glider further, she mentioned that these were the only memories she had of anypony named Solstice, and that the rest is pretty foggy. Night Glider stopped taking lessons with Solstice after she decided to focus on taking flight lessons, so we might've hit yet another dead end. Since this was the only lead in regards to somepony named Solstice, and I knew you were adamant on learning more, I felt the need to at least let you know about it. Though I'm sorry if this information isn't very helpful, I wouldn't really know what else to make of it."

"Actually, this seems to line up with what I've just learned recently." Sunset said with astonishment. "See, I've met somepony named Sugar Belle recently, and they gave me some insight on this pony named Solstice, and this clue actually makes a lot of sense with what she told me. Sugar Belle said that this Solstice pony taught her how to sing when she was a filly, and that she was a female unicorn. That matches up nicely if this Night Glider pony said she taught karaoke to her. Even more is the fact that she had a brown satchel with a word engraved on the bottom, like my saddlebag. I might not be an expert on satchels or saddlebags, but I'm fairly certain that having words engraved on the bottom doesn't seem normal?"

"I'm pretty sure that is a unique area to engrave a word." Twilight believed. "Most bags I've seen, they're usually on the sides. But alright, that's interesting to know as well. Sugar Belle and Night Glider are pretty close friends, and they do occasionally sing or hum doing their everyday activities. So now that we've figured out this Solstice pony was a female unicorn, do you maybe surmise she was your mother, and that saddlebag you own now was once hers?"

"That's exactly my theory." Sunset replied. "However, there's still two more stops I plan on making soon to potentially uncover this mystery. Visiting Celestia in Silver Shoals would be a priority, since I would want to spend a little more time with my former teacher and... mother figure. Plus, if she did actually say that she wanted to give me the mother I needed, Celestia definitely knows something about my past that she's never told me. Although it's been many years since I grew up under her wings, I never really questioned my family until recently. Even when Celestia was encouraging me to make new friends when I was her pupil, she never seemed to remotely hint at anything regarding my biological parents. She just... treated me as if I was her own daughter, much more than an ordinary student."

"That's sweet to hear, that you'd want to visit the now retired former princess and teacher we both had." Twilight put a hoof on Sunset's back. "I also agree with your reasoning, in that something does feel rather perplexing if Celestia did say that and never seemed to tell you about your real parents. I would definitely encourage you to ask her about it, because now that you do plan on staying in Equestria more often, you would understandably want some closure regarding your origins."

"Thanks, Twilight." Sunset said more jovially. "Yeah, that's exactly how I've been feeling ever since I started to find more clues to solve this mystery. Speaking of, that's actually the second thing on my agenda. I talked to Starlight yesterday, and she said that if she had time, she would introduce me to some friend of hers named Sunburst."

"Oh, perfect, that's actually the other thing I wanted to discuss with you." Twilight began explaining. "Yesterday evening while I was wrapping up my royal duties, Starlight came by after helping Trixie. She told me about what you two did together in Manehattan, and also brought up how you were interested in meeting her friend, Sunburst."

"That's right." Sunset affirmed. "I was intrigued when Starlight talked about how this Sunburst pony seemingly grew up with only a dad, just like me, and how he's one of the few ponies who have the word 'sun' in their name. I wanted to meet this Sunburst since I was hoping to get an idea on whether or not he would know anything regarding this father of his. As far as I'm aware, I have not heard once about anypony named Sunburst until Starlight brought him up, nor do I have any memories of having any siblings, so this might just be a wild goose chase. But regardless, I'm willing to still put in the time and energy to check if there is a connection between his dad and mine, since I'd feel it's worth a shot."

"It does sound rather intriguing indeed." Twilight agreed. "But anyways, Starlight brought this to my attention because she needed my help to contact Sunburst to schedule a meeting between you two. When we got in touch, Sunburst agreed to meet with you for a while, since he was cool with making new friends, especially ones who were mutual with Starlight. Both Starlight and Sunburst arrived at my castle's front doors a little while ago, and they said they were willing to wait around for a bit while I went to fetch you. And luckily, it looks like I didn't have to go too far to accomplish that."

"Oh, so they're both ready for me?" Sunset said, rather pleased. "Well in that case, I guess it was somehow a good thing that my train to Silver Shoals had to take a detour back to Canterlot."

"It did?" Twilight questioned. "Really sorry to hear about the bad luck you've been having with trains, Sunset. First my coronation, and now you can't even go see Celestia?"

"Yeah, I was hoping to see Celestia myself, but I guess it's somehow better for us that I could meet up with Sunburst and Starlight when they were ready for me, rather than you having to fetch me all the way at Silver Shoals." Sunset said. "Plus, it's not really a big deal, since we all got our tickets refunded, and it's just a giant boulder blocking off the tracks, which they said is currently being taken care of."

"Oh, well I suppose everything did work out to an extent, then." Twilight agreed with Sunset's reasoning. "So since you're already here and you were planning on it anyways, would you like to meet Sunburst right now, or do you have other plans?"

"Well other than visiting Silver Shoals to reunite with Celestia, not really." Sunset replied. "And hey, what kind of a guest would I be if I were to not take part in what my hosts bring to the table? I did already decide that if they were ready for me, I'd make them my priority before Celestia, whom I can't really see at the moment anyways."

"Very well then, just to make sure you'll have no problems getting into the castle this time, I'll come with you until we get to the lounge room." Twilight offered. "Wouldn't want a repeat of what happened with Mr. Steele and Sour Sweet, now would we?"

"I guess, though I think he'd vouch for me after getting to know be a bit better." Sunset reasoned. "But good idea, since the other castle guards might not know me as well. To clarify, is the main castle heavily guarded at all times?"

"That's pretty much how it's always been to keep out any intruders, and the security system's become far more effective at doing just that." Twilight said. "Especially now that only guards with designated badges are able to get in. Though being the princess myself, the guards won't try anything if I'm to bring my guests or friends inside, which is how Sunburst and Starlight got in. So yeah, since most of the castle guards don't know you well, we should probably head in together. After which, I definitely have to head to Saddle Arabia to settle this dispute. Royal responsibilities, after all."

"I understand, thank you for giving me your time and care, Twilight." Sunset smiled, as Twilight began walking her over to the castle.

"By the way, one thing I admittedly am wondering, Sunset." Twilight questioned. "Did you ever end up finding out who this thief was, if it wasn't Rainbow Dash's apprentice?"

"Unfortunately not." Sunset sighed. "But whoever it was, it's been heavily implied by several ponies I've come across, that the thief was a female orange coated pegasus with blonde hair, purple eyes, and green eyeshadow. I didn't actually end up encountering or meeting this supposed suspect, but all I do know is, she's definitely committed many acts of theft. She seemingly even robbed Fluttershy yesterday as she was returning home on the train."

"Oh no, that's horrible!" Twilight exclaimed. "And sadly, this pony you've described does not sound like anypony I've ever met either. I guess in the meantime, I'll also put out a royal order for the guards to keep an eye out for somepony who matches that exact description."

"Sounds like a good idea, it genuinely hurts me to see my friends being affected by somepony else's selfish intentions." Sunset moped. "Really though, the few days I've spent in Equestria bonding with your friends, it's just taught me so much about how the past doesn't really matter as much as say... the present and future. After all, I was once this 'somepony' with incredibly selfish intentions. You yourself witnessed how much of an actual monster I was, ruling CHS with an iron fist, and even going as far as attempting to wipe you all out of existence."

"That may be, but I have done some research regarding that incident." Twilight began to reflect. "Remember when you wrote to me about how the other... me turned into a monster-like being after unleashing the magic from her device? Would you like me to explain what actually happened?"

"Yeah, the other Twilight and I recall that particular incident far too well." Sunset noted. "And sure, explain away. There's not any time like the present to learn something new."

"See, when magic is stored with intentions that go against the six elements of friendship, it turns whoever wields it into a monstrous alter ego, corrupted and bent on letting nothing stand in their way." Twilight explained. "When this happens, they also begin to lose free will, as this altered form takes over the main neurological system, which almost controls your every move, due to the form's priority in growing in power and decimating any who opposes them."

"That... does make a lot of sense, now that you mention it." Sunset reflected her dreadful experience that night. "I distinctly remember how after I put on your crown, I almost immediately began to regret my decision. The magical aura that surrounded and engulfed me began to have side effects and changes I was not anticipating at all. I'll admit that my initial intention was to gain powerful magic, but I was not expecting to suddenly lose control of my body, nor transforming into a horrifying demon. Part of my actual self was hidden away somewhere as I was trying to fight off this inner demon, but alas, I grew too weak and let it take over. Once that happened, something just seemingly forced me to destroy the front doors at CHS, and fire a nuclear blast at you and the rest of the girls. Remember when I jokingly claimed that I wasn't a monster? Well, I wasn't kidding when I said that, Twilight. I wanted power, sure, but even when I was such a nasty bully, I knew I could never bring myself to kill another living being."

"Of course not, Sunset." Twilight continued on. "I would completely understand why that happened, because I read further regarding how it all works out. This alter ego feeds on your desires and goals, anger, sadness, and intentions toward gathering such magic. Once the figure embraces the ego and allows it to fully take over, the corruption stays in full effect, and can not be reversed unless they can somehow have a change of heart to give up such power. Which... as you'd probably expect, would be rather difficult to accomplish due to the driving forces."

"That's... really fascinating." Sunset said, now knowing what had truly happened that night at the Fall Formal. "Not only does that seem to match up perfectly with what happened to me that night, but even with the other Twilight. In fact, I knew myself that she wouldn't have had the heart to destroy both Equestria and the human world just to understand magic. She was just curious after being manipulated by Principal Cinch, which unintentionally corrupted her. However, it was only thanks to my assurance and offering my hand in friendship to her, that she ended up beating Midnight Sparkle and returning back to normal. She surely couldn't have done it by herself if the corruption and power of her alter ego kept going strongly and controlling her every move."

"And the fact that you managed to stop her on your own, without my help, is one reason I'll always respect and admire how far you've come, Sunset." Twilight assured. "But I'm hoping the main thing you take away from this lesson is, what you and the other me ended up doing in these alter egos was actually something completely out of your control and free will."

Sunset had an epiphany over what Twilight had explained in regards to when she turned into a demon that fateful night. It was no wonder that she immediately cried, apologized, and begged for forgiveness for everything she had done once the alter ego had left her.

"That may be, but again, I'd definitely still be willing to take responsibility for my own actions." Sunset replied. "Nobody else put the crown on my head, nor put the thoughts of wanting more power into my brain before that happened. Plus, the other Twilight could've also refused Principal Cinch's orders to unleash the magic, so we both technically still had to take responsibility somewhere in those messes. I appreciate you trying to ease my guilt of that incident, but like I exemplified earlier, I'm certainly over it by now, and so is the other Twilight, thanks to my help."

"Well, it was mostly to give you a quick lesson on something fascinating I've read regarding Equestrian magic." Twilight winked. "I'm glad you've been able to let go of your past after all the wonderful new memories you've made while accepting friendship, and I can't be more happy for you."

"I appreciate the kind words." Sunset smiled. "This sort of thing is certainly the main reason I've been wanting to come back to Equestria for quite some time. I surely couldn't learn about actual magic in a world that doesn't naturally have it, nor could I just casually visit a city in the clouds run by pegasai. I guess one other aspect of this entire return is, it overall feels nice to finally learn so much about myself and Equestria that I've never even thought to dive deeper into."

"I could definitely say the same about myself before Princess Celestia sent me to Ponyville." Twilight replied. "Well, thanks for having this talk with me, but it looks like we're finally here at the castle. Are you ready to meet Sunburst?"

"Absolutely, let's head on in." Sunset said with enthusiasm, as she and the princess were able to enter the castle without any issue whatsoever. Sunset was now crossing her metaphorical fingers that this Sunburst pony could help her come closer to finding her missing family.

Comments

[TwilightSparkleStudios]

"Yeah, I was surprised myself when it turned out bits of his magic somehow ended up in your world." Twilight reflected. "The point being, if Rainbow's willing to do this to her friends, specifically one whom I vouched for, this has been going on for far too long. I'm glad you brought Rainbow's behavior to my attention, Sunset. My friends and I haven't really given Rainbow serious sessions to discuss how unacceptable her decisions can be at times, and after hearing what she ended up doing to you, I can not tolerate this any longer. You might've actually done us all a favor in letting us see we've been far too lenient with Rainbow Dash, and she needs to reevaluate herself first. Once my trip to Saddle Arabia is finished, I'm going to contact Rainbow to come over to Canterlot, along with the rest of the Council of Friendship, to talk things out."

Ngl, I can't wait to see how this will turn out.

[ScisetShimmerEvan]

Lily looked up at Applejack and Sunset, notably happy she was able to see Sunset again after the brief bonds from last night. She felt absolutely loved and cared by Fluttershy last night, which made her feel extra guilty that she had already stolen bits, jewelry, and even a critter in a cage. She had done exactly as her mother had instructed of her, from discreetly taking the items from Fluttershy's cottage, putting them in the possession of her mother, and then safely returning back to the cottage so that she couldn't immediately be seen as a suspect. Luckily for Lily, Fluttershy didn't really notice anything missing from her home, but she was inevitably going to at some point.

She'll sure be in for a surprise when she finds out.

"I'm terribly sorry to inform everypony..." The conductor began. "But I'm afraid that we are going to have to take a temporary detour. There appears to have been a giant boulder which rolled off from the top of this ravine, which is now blocking the tracks. Everypony on board will unfortunately need to get off at the last stop back at Canterlot. I truly apologize for the inconvenience, and as stated by train station policy, we will be refunding everypony's admission tickets and remove passenger fees for future train rides until further notice. Thank you so much for understanding."

That ain't good.

"Absolutely not." Twilight affirmed. "From the story you've just told me, you were the only one with any actual good intentions. It was this orange pegasus who wrecked your ride home, as well as my property, and Rainbow Dash who abandoned you simply because of a silly Wonderbolt apprentice. The fact that Rainbow chose to side with her instead of you, when she committed a legitimate act of vandalism and chose to fly away to avoid repercussions infuriates me beyond belief. All you did was try to help the Ponyville mailmare, while this orange pegasus most certainly overreacted. If she's willing to quit being Dash's apprentice that easily when something like this happens, you might've unintentionally done Rainbow a favor."

Count on Twilight to understand her friends problems.

"Precisely." Twilight replied. "But asking Night Glider further, she mentioned that these were the only memories she had of anypony named Solstice, and that the rest is pretty foggy. Night Glider stopped taking lessons with Solstice after she decided to focus on taking flight lessons, so we might've hit yet another dead end. Since this was the only lead in regards to somepony named Solstice, and I knew you were adamant on learning more, I felt the need to at least let you know about it. Though I'm sorry if this information isn't very helpful, I wouldn't really know what else to make of it."

That's interesting to know Night Glider and Sugar Belle have known each other prior to coming to the village Starlight once ruled.

"That's right." Sunset affirmed. "I was intrigued when Starlight talked about how this Sunburst pony seemingly grew up with only a dad, just like me, and how he's one of the few ponies who have the word 'sun' in their name. I wanted to meet this Sunburst since I was hoping to get an idea on whether or not he would know anything regarding this father of his. As far as I'm aware, I have not heard once about anypony named Sunburst until Starlight brought him up, nor do I have any memories of having any siblings, so this might just be a wild goose chase. But regardless, I'm willing to still put in the time and energy to check if there is a connection between his dad and mine, since I'd feel it's worth a shot."

I'm pretty sure Sunburst grew up with more than just his father as we see his mother in an episode of fim.

"See, when magic is stored with intentions that go against the six elements of friendship, it turns whoever wields it into a monstrous alter ego, corrupted and bent on letting nothing stand in their way." Twilight explained. "When this happens, they also begin to lose free will, as this altered form takes over the main neurological system, which almost controls your every move, due to the form's priority in growing in power and decimating any who opposes them."

https://m.

"That... does make a lot of sense, now that you mention it." Sunset reflected her dreadful experience that night. "I distinctly remember how after I put on your crown, I almost immediately began to regret my decision. The magical aura that surrounded and engulfed me began to have side effects and changes I was not anticipating at all. I'll admit that my initial intention was to gain powerful magic, but I was not expecting to suddenly lose control of my body, nor transforming into a horrifying demon. Part of my actual self was hidden away somewhere as I was trying to fight off this inner demon, but alas, I grew too weak and let it take over. Once that happened, something just seemingly forced me to destroy the front doors at CHS, and fire a nuclear blast at you and the rest of the girls. Remember when I jokingly claimed that I wasn't a monster? Well, I wasn't kidding when I said that, Twilight. I wanted power, sure, but even when I was such as nasty bully, I knew I could never bring myself to kill another living being."

such a nasty bully*

"Of course not, Sunset." Twilight continued on. "I would completely understand why that happened, because I read further regarding how it all works out. This alter ego feeds on your desires and goals, anger sadness, and intentions toward gathering such magic. Once the figure embraces the ego and allows it to fully take over, the corruption stays in full effect, and can not be reversed unless they can somehow have a change of heart to give up such power. Which... as you'd probably expect, would be rather difficult to accomplish due to the driving forces."

Your missing a comma after anger.

"Absolutely, let's head on in." Sunset said with enthusiasm, as she and the princess were able to enter the castle without any issue whatsoever. Sunset was now crossing her metaphorical fingers that this Sunburst pony could help her come closer to finding her missing family.

Fingers crossed.🤞

[Stet709]

I love how Sunset continues to try to take responsibility for the fallout with Rainbow, but I agree, Dash was way, way outta line. Element of Loyalty, everybody...