Once upon a time, Princess Celestia meant the world to her young protégée, Sunset Shimmer. In many ways, she was the world to the unicorn filly.
Now, the relationship between mentor and student has become deeply strained. Some weeks ago, the two suffered a major spat. As the rift between them grows and emotions churn inside Sunset, she begins to wonder exactly who she is in the eyes of the age-old alicorn who controls the sun.
And as Celestia prepares to leave for a diplomatic errand, she finds herself confronted by her volatile pupil -- and, put on the spot, must find a way to bridge the gap before it's too late.
Ignores the depiction of events in the comic The Fall of Sunset Shimmer. While the story works as a standalone prequel to canon G4 animated media, it is also canon with my ongoing longform story Together from Canterlot to Canterlot, as well as, separately, my alternate universe setting established by What My Destiny is Telling Me. (Despite the name, it is not directly related to my story Late-Night Conversations.)
Cover art by daOtterGuy, who pre-read the story along with The Sleepless Beholder. Special thanks to TCC56 (First Hoof Account) and Sledge115 (Sogno di Volare) for inspiring me to dabble in this period of Sunset's life.
Featured on 11/8/22-11/10/22! Re-edited 1/14/23. Now featured on Equestria Daily!
This needs a sequel where she realizes her mistakes too late.
I liked this take on their last words to each other…. Despite knowing how it must go, it still had a tension to it as emotions rose and fell, and you could feel hope that they could reach each other. I also liked that you could feel both truly trying.
Excellent job!
really good story
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She already did realize her mistake too late.
But, I too would love to read her actually going through what the end of this chapter described. The panic, worry and fear would be delicious to read.
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Yeah she going to and feel rotten because she had a chance and because she refused to truly listen to sunset point of view. Sunset thought being a princess was her destiny and then Celestia says it not and she needs a goal of some sort to work towards. She was trying to tell her this but Celestia wasn't really listening. Most ponies have an idea of what they are going to be when they grow up when they get their marks. Rainbow knew that she wanted to be someone who life was mostly flying and the wonderbolts gave her that. Twilight knew that she wanted to do magic. I'm not sure what she hoped to be when she grew up. I've only ever seen one video exploring the idea. Rarity had always wanted to be a designer. Her mark helped figure out how to be her best.
In a way, Sunset was just putting what Celestia told her into practice. She went out to find herself, to make her own plan and fulfill her potential in a way that was truly hers.
The resentment ran far deeper than Celestia realized, not least because Sunset felt like Sunbutt Sr. was deliberately wasting her time. It’s sad to see, and I hope these two get to reunite under happier circumstances.
Loved it! This is really great work.
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This.
Sunbutt Jr. was so desperate to be like Celestia. She even copied the habit of being cryptic about her own feelings. Heck, Celestia's one to talk about having friends—who is her circle of friends, precisely? And for all her bemoaning Sunset not understanding the lesson about finding your own path to being the best you you can be, she utterly failed to notice just how lost and desperate for guidance her personal student was right there.
The sun has a hard time understanding what kind of shadow she casts. Or perhaps she deliberately avoids thinking about it. It must be so much easier to push things away to do later when you're immortal.
Great story. Please make a regretful Sun sequel.
You know, one thing that I don't see a lot of people bring up is the fact that Celestia was still feeling guilty about what had happened to Luna once Twilight came around. So she was still dealing with that once Sunset left...
What you get for making someone a weapon
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Agreed.
Hopefully the author makes a sequel to this
Okay, I just think Celestia is a bad communicator.
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Yee. I'm kinda seeing that vibe too. She went from "knowing" what her destiny was to not having a plan for herself. Just like Tia didn't have one for her. Things were looking up right at the end too! If She'd just brought her along, told the story about old, angry tia on the way, things might have been okay. But once again she left her behind.
Perhaps there is a grain of truth as to what Sunset speculated about them growing distant. It may not be explicit as Celestia thought it would be rather it was implicit, she might not even know that she's actually pushing Sunset away. She just chalk it up to taking her time thinking of their past interaction while in reality she's subconsciously trying to punish Sunset by being scarce. In fact, she might have restored some degree of Sunset's trust of her just by saying "Of course Sunset, you can come along" instead of having that winded conversation. That conversation was exactly Celestia subconsciously giving Sunset a timeout. A single sentence could defuse this but her mind developed this entire conversation.
However, what's done is done. One could only wish to turn back time. Only regrets remain.
Really love this, Celestia deserves a sequel.
Simply beautiful
! Perfectly written and balanced, with both Celestia and Sunset feeling very real.
Great job
I relate to this story so much. So many times in the past, I have met a great mentor or made a great friend, and then lost them to my anger issues or overly dark humour. I wish I could go back in time and give a hug to every great mentor, every great friend, that I have ever let down with my past selves.
Damn. Absolutely heartbreaking. :(
I haven't seen many stories of Sunset before going through the mirror (somehow, surprisingly), but I liked the take on how Sunset tried to achieve a destiny and is seeking for too much. I think it's also kind of canon? But whatever, the talk through Celestia's eyes was interesting and well done
I personally would have liked to read how Celestia reacted when she returned instead of the summary at the end, but that's just a minor point
This is a shorter comment from me, but may I just say I really liked this, you know?
The pacing of Celestia and Sunset's conversation is perfectly balanced, the outcome a result of an incremental buildup of tiny misunderstandings which culminate in Sunset's decision to leave her mentor behind and seek her destiny elsewhere.
Coming from someone with a preference for reading a mother-daughter relationship into Celestia and Sunset's time with one another, I enjoy this rather different take on why Celestia took on the filly as an apprentice - no grand design, no ultimate goal of forming a new princess, just a chance given to one of her little ponies to become the best they could.
All the more tragic, then, to fall just so short, or to think Celestia could have still made a difference with that final offer.
Job well done.
Oh, Sunset...
Ehehe, I see what you did there.
A wonderfully tragic little tale. It's a nice, bittersweet snapshot into their final days as teacher and pupil. God. It's too relatable, repeatedly reflecting on what could have been, on what could have been said differently...
It's bittersweet, knowing how much Celestia would miss her, and how far Sunset would fall.
Thank you for this lovely story
And it's certainly will be for what is coming next.
I 100% agree with you Celestia. She is.
Kinda wish I had that, I'm nearly 21 and I still can't control my anger sometimes.
And the path Sunset has chosen will lead her to her doom.
Getting a vibe of Anakin and Obi-Wan saying goodbye before everything went to hell.
Feels like that one story that needed to be told or expanded upon, and you surely did a good job with it
I'm so glad this was from Celestia's perspective. That really made the story tick. This was also a really nice take on Sunset leaving Equestria. You got yourself a nice little world set up here.
Quite the intense conversation, and although long, it was engaging all the way through. That takes quite good dialogue, and you nailed it.
Definitely feeling Celestia's pain here. Thanks for showing this to me!
Unsatisfactory is such an unnerving thing to hear coming from Celestia when talking about another.
What's sad to me is that Celestia's plan for another to discover themselves did eventually pan out in Twilight – another case where she mostly left her student to her own devices, rarely visiting and rarely responding to the letters she received. So what exactly did Celestia learn from her failure with Sunset? It seems to me more like she got lucky on the next go, if anything.
Sunset believed she flew too close to the sun in the end and got burned, believing there were no real options open to her anymore. The truth is, however, that Celestia didn't provide the sun in the first place, leaving Sunset to become cold and bitter.
I love this prequel so much. Awesome work!