Daughters of the Purge

by Nebula Star

Chapter 15: Reunion

Chapter 15: Reunion
***

“You alright?” Winter asked, looking across at Sunset sitting on the bench opposite them.

Sunset sighed, taking her eyes away from the train car’s window. “Yeah, I’m just…”

“You seem tense.”

“Yeah…”

Twilight gave her a sympathetic look. “You’ll feel better once you get this over with.”

“I hope so.” She said and finally turned away from the window, not wanting to watch Canterlot draw closer any longer. It was just her, Twilight, the fillies and Spike for the trip up to Canterlot. Winter was actually a little surprised Rainbow hadn’t come as well. She and Twilight at times seemed inseparable. Instead, she and Daring were planning their next trip. Rainbow had decided to accompany her for what would likely be the last trip to check on a few more alicorn prisons before winter began.

So it was just the five of them, once again in a private car for the ride up the mountain, not counting Feather and their guard escort in the next car. Winter was looking forward to seeing the princesses again in person. Luna had appeared in her dreams a few times, but never for very long. Even so, they had had a couple short discussions about dream magic and what Winter had already learned.

Twilight and Spike both seemed relaxed; in fact, Spike looked like he was asleep on the next bench. She knew they’d made this trip numerous times over the years. Dawn also seemed at ease. She had one of Spike’s comics open in front of her and had hardly said a word since they’d boarded the train, entranced by the story. Winter definitely understood; she’d read that issue the day before. It was the seventh issue and the last in the first story arc of the Power Ponies, she knew, having finished it the day before. She and Dawn had started reading them together, but Winter hadn’t been able to help herself and had continued reading after Dawn had fallen asleep one night. When Dawn had found out, she didn’t want her spoiling the story and decided to read the rest on her own. Winter had decided to take a break for the trip to Canterlot though, before starting the next arc.

Sunset, however, was tense. Winter knew this was to be the first time she’d see her mentor again after saying some hurtful words and running away for almost four years; over five for Sunset.

“I really do not think you need to worry, Sunset.” Winter tried, hoping she could help her relax at least a little.

She sighed heavily. “I know. It’s just, until the trouble in the other world forced me to come back, I’d kind of made peace with leaving all this behind me. Now here I am suddenly having to face it.”

Winter nodded understanding. “It is probably for the best.”

“I know; let’s just try to enjoy the rest of the ride; I’d rather not dwell on it.”

Giving another nod, Winter wasn’t sure what else to say and for a time the sounds of the train were all that could be heard. Only broken when Dawn turned a page in the comic and let out a giggle.

Sunset glanced over at Dawn, then caught Winter’s eye and gave a smirk. Winter grinned back.

~~~

After waking up Spike when they arrived, the walk across Canterlot to the castle didn’t take them long at all. At the castle gate, Feather and her squad again left them in the care of the castle guards who directed them to Princess Celestia’s study. Twilight had sent word that they were coming, though she hadn’t mentioned Sunset by name, so it wasn’t really a surprise that she’d arranged for them to meet in a less formal setting.

“You ready?” Twilight asked Sunset softly pausing just outside the door.

“Not really.” Sunset said sounding resigned.

Twilight gave her an encouraging look, then reached up and knocked. Almost immediately the door opened in a golden glow. “Come in.”

“Hi Celestia.” Twilight said, stepping past Sunset into the room followed by Winter and Dawn, then Spike.

“Hi, Princess!” The fillies called waving with their wings as they entered.

“Hello girls, Spike, Twilight.” Sunset heard Celestia say, tensing at hearing her mentor’s actual voice for the first time in years. “It’s good to see you again, though I’m curious what brings you back to Canterlot again so soon after your last visit.”

“Well, it’s mostly for somepony else who needed to see you,” Twilight said, and Sunset knew that was her que.

Taking a deep breath, her heart racing, she stepped into view. The study hadn’t changed much, she noticed recalling all the lessons she’s had there. Then saw the Princess even as she looked toward the door where Twilight was pointing. Princess Celestia, after five years… Their eyes met and she saw the shock and recognition before she lowered her eyes in shame remembering the harsh words she’d said the last time they’d met. “H-hi, Princess… long time.” She said not knowing what else to say in that moment.

“Sunset.” Celestia gasped, for once sounding truly shocked.

For a few moments the room was silent as Sunset kept her eyes on the floor standing just inside the door. Then she heard hoofsteps crossing the room toward her until the princess’s hooves stopped right in front of her.

The next instant she felt herself pulled into an embrace she hadn’t felt in far too long. The princess’s hooves and wings wrapped around her holding her tightly. Sunset tensed, breathing in sharply, but the princess just held her. “I’ve missed you, Sunset Shimmer.”

It was too much. “Princess… I’m so sorry! What I said…”

“I’m sorry, too, Sunset. We both said things we didn’t mean that night.” Princess Celestia said softly, gently squeezing her. “I never would have actually banished you from the castle.”

“I… I’m sorry.”

Twilight stood aside and just watched with a small smile as Celestia and Sunset held each other close, tears coming to both their eyes for being reunited after so long. Reaching out she wrapped Winter and Dawn both in her wings, holding them against her side. Winter looked up at her and smiled, while Dawn simply leaned against her side as they watched in silence.

It was sometime later that Sunset looked up at Celestia and hesitantly smiled, still held in the princess’s wings. They’d both apologized enough and by unspoken agreement, they both knew it was time for them to move forward.

“I’m glad you’re back, Sunset.” Celestia said smiling back, but then a realization crossed her face. “How are you back, though? It’s only been a little over seventeen moons, the portal shouldn’t open again for another year.”

“There’s been a slight problem with the portal’s temporal alignment.” Twilight spoke up, reminding them that they weren’t alone. Celestia looked over at her, folding one wing, but keeping the other around Sunset.

“It was thirty moons on the other side,” Sunset told her.

“Is the portal unstable?” Celestia asked concerned.

“No, it seems fine at the moment. Right now we think it was Apple Bloom’s time magic that threw off the portal’s alignment,” Twilight told her. “We plan to do an experiment or two with her or Rekaj to make sure; but the important thing is that the portal appears completely stable.”

“Oh, that reminds me; thank you for arranging for Rekaj to come to Canterlot. It was quite refreshing speaking with another leader that’s even older than I am,” Celestia said with a grateful smile.

Twilight smiled. “You’re welcome, Rekaj said he enjoyed speaking with you as well.”

Celestia smiled a moment more then looked over at Sunset again. “So, what brings you back? Not that I’m not ecstatic to see you again, but when Twilight came back, it sounded like you were going to stay in the other world?”

“I was… but, well there’s already a Sunset Shimmer there, and she wasn’t too happy to see someone else with her face when I ran into her at the mall…”

“What’s a mall?” Celestia asked looking a little confused.

Sunset giggled softly, but did go ahead and explain. “It’s like an indoor market with lots of stores all in one huge building.”

“I see, so this other Sunset Shimmer drove you out?” Celestia asked sounding concerned.

Sunset sighed, knowing that was a little unfair. “It’s not really her fault, but that’s what started everything. I’m sure Twilight told you; they don’t usually have magic over there and in fact there’s some rather dark history when it comes to those they believe used magic, so when they found out about what happened between me and Twilight… Things just kept getting worse. So my friends and I decided it would be best for me to return to Equestria.”

Celestia gave her an understanding smile. “I’m sorry that happened and you were forced to leave, but I am glad to hear you made some friends.”

Sunset laughed. “Well Twilight did ask them to look after me, but yeah, we became good friends.”

“I’m sorry you had to leave them.”

Sunset smiled. “Thanks, I’ll miss them, but at least Twilight already figured out a way for me to keep in touch. So, it’s not that bad.”

“And keeping in touch with the other side will help us monitor the portal,” Twilight added.

“Oh that’s good,” Celestia said and patting Sunset’s back one last time got back to her hooves. “So, what do you plan on doing now that you’re back?” She asked sounding curious.

“I… well I haven’t really thought about it too much. For now, I’ve been staying in Twilight’s castle and I was thinking I’d work on that old portal project I was working on before I left.”

“Trying to make a longer-range portal that anypony can use?” Celestia asked.

Sunset blinked a little surprised, she hadn’t really expected Celestia to remember that much about her old project; she figured the princess would only remember that it had to do with portals at most. “Yeah. Winter was showing me some of the portal spells she knows, but it seems like there hasn’t been much advancement in the field.

“Some of the spells in the modern spellbooks are the same spells I learned back before we were imprisoned,” Winter added.

“It really hasn’t advanced much.” Celestia agreed. “The only portal I know of that goes any significant distance requires an alicorn to charge it and then it only stays open for a few minutes at a time.”

Sunset looked up at her curiously. “Having to be charged by an alicorn isn’t ideal, but how far does it go?”

“I can’t remember the exact distance, but it’s at little further than from here to Los Pegasus.”

Sunset’s eyes widened. “Dang, if it weren’t for needing an alicorn to charge it, that would be exactly what I’m going for.”

Celestia smiled. “I’d be glad to let you study it sometime, it’s actually here in the castle; but I’m not sure it would help. I don’t think it’s that much different from other anchored portal spells.”

“Winter said they used to be called ‘gateways.’”

“Really? That is easier to say; I wonder why anypony would change it,” Celestia mused.

“It is silly.” Winter agreed.

“I’ve never really studied portals much myself, but yeah, gateway does sound better, and honestly makes more sense.” Twilight shrugged. “Maybe if you make a breakthrough, you could get ponies to start calling them gateways again.”

“Or Winter could just set everypony straight; we should all respect our elders after all.” Celestia said giving the filly a smirk. “Grandma.”

“Dawn was the one that made the joke!” Winter objected.

Meanwhile said filly was grinning at her sister’s expense.

Spike, having been relaxing by the fire snorted in laughter as well.

Sunset looked between them a little lost. “I’m missing something.”

Twilight laughed. “The first time I brought the fillies to meet the princesses, Dawn made a joke about them being Celestia and Luna’s elders and so they had to do what they said.”

Sunset snorted, trying to hold in a laugh at the image of the pre-teen filly telling the princesses they had to do what she said. “I see.”

“And yet I am the one they keep calling grandma!” Winter complained though it was obvious she didn’t really mind.

Celestia smiled and gave the filly a wink before turning back to Sunset. “So do you plan to remain at Twilight’s castle for now? You would certainly be welcome to move back into your old room here at the castle.”

Sunset smiled thankfully but shook her head. “Maybe sometime, but for now, I think I want to stay in Ponyville. A lot of the students at the school I went to in the other world have counterparts there, so it kind of feels more familiar, even if I don’t really know them here.”

“I see,” Celestia said, sounding just a little bit disappointed. “Well it’s an open invitation if you decide you’d like to move back to the castle.” She grinned, “Or if Twilight decides she needs more room for books and kicks you out.”

“I wouldn’t do that!” Twilight objected. “Besides, you know very well that I made sure my castle’s library would have plenty of space!”

Celesita giggled and was soon joined by the fillies and Spike as well.

“The library is pretty big,” Sunset agreed. “I’d say I have at least three or four months before she runs out of space.”

Twilight gave her a deadpan look. “Ha, ha.”

~~~

Twilight and the others had planned to stay at the castle for this trip, so Celestia had already arranged for them to have one of the guest suites usually given to visiting dignitaries. Having six bedrooms connected to its own sitting room, dining room, and study, it was far more than they needed really, but it did mean that Celestia didn’t need to make additional accommodations for Sunset. Sunset merely took one of the extra bedrooms.

It was clear a great weight had been lifted from Sunset. The afternoon visit with the princess had led into dinner and they’d all enjoyed a pleasant meal together. After the meal, unfortunately, Celestia had other duties she had to take care of before Luna would take over for the night. Already evening, they hadn’t really had any other plans so the five of them had decided to simply relax in the guest suite.

Eventually they’d all ended up in the study, relaxing on the comfortable chairs and couches arranged around a large ornate fireplace with a pleasantly warm magical fire burning. Dawn was again reading the comic she’d brought, while Sunset and Winter had found a chess set and were playing while Spike watched. Winter had been excited when she’d seen the game as it hadn’t changed at all in the past three thousand years, with the exception of the kings being replaced by alicorn princesses.

“That is where it ends!?” The exclamation from the youngest in the room had most of them almost jumping out of their seats.

Twilight looked up over her book to see Dawn was staring at the last page in the comic clearly in shock. Over at the chess game she could hear Winter and Sunset both giggling at the young alicorn’s reaction to what must have been quite a cliffhanger.

Dawn looked over at them wide eyed. “I thought you said this one was the end of the arc! Why would they end it there!?”

“Because it sets up the next arc,” Spike told her smiling. “They have to get you excited for the next issue after all.”

“But… I want to know what happens!”

“See, they did their job.”

“Aaaaarrrrrgh!” She fell over on the couch, laying on her back and kicking her hooves in the air.

Twilight couldn’t help giggling softly at Dawn’s dramatic cry as she set her own book aside. “Well, since you’re done with your comic; we really should talk about ideas for Nightmare Night costumes; I’d like to get Rarity our ideas as soon as we get back. We’ve only got a couple weeks left now, and there’s still the running of the leaves next weekend as well.”

“I want to be one of the power ponies!” Dawn said immediately, sitting back up.

“One of the power ponies, huh? Which one?” Sunset asked, looking up from the chess game.

Dawn thought about it for a moment then grinned. “Mistress Mare-velous!”

“You will have to hide your wings and horn then.” Winter said as she made her move on the chess board.

Dawn nodded, and lighting her horn with her soft golden magic, her wings seemed to vanish and a moment later her horn did as well, even the glow fading away. Twilight’s eyes widened; she knew the spells of course, but she definitely hadn’t expected Dawn to know such advanced illusions; not at her age. But then, they had been on their own after they’d run away; perhaps it was something she’d learned out of necessity.

“Dang, that’s a pretty good illusion.” Sunset said sounding impressed as well.

“And if I get a golden rope and carry it with my magic, it will look just like her magic lasso!”

Sunset nodded. “Yeah, that would work pretty good.”

“Would it be alright if I dressed up as a power pony as well?” Winter asked.

“If you want to, there’s no reason you couldn’t,” Twilight assured her.

“Who do you want to be?” Dawn asked.

Winter grinned and got to her hooves. “Fili-Second.” Her horn lit up and without warning a streak of her icy colors sped around the room too quickly to follow. They all felt a rush of wind as the streak sped past them, finally resolving into Winter again as she came to a stop back at the chess table.

“You know Accelero!?” Sunset exclaimed, clearly recognizing what Winter had done.

Winter just grinned.

Again, Twilight was surprised. She knew that Achlys had been training both of them in magic on a daily basis before they’d run away, but until now she hadn’t really considered just how much they may have learned.

“It took me five months to learn that spell back at Celestia’s school!” Sunset groaned. “Then I went to the other world and forgot it! Haven’t been able to cast it since.”

“We could practice it sometime, if you want,” Winter offered.

“Yeah, maybe we’ll have to.”

“What about you, Sunset, you have any ideas for a costume?” Twilight asked, trying to keep the conversation on track.

Sunset thought for a moment. “Actually, what if we all did Power Pony characters, did a whole group costume thing, maybe even see if Rainbow or anypony else wants to join in.”

Dawn’s eyes widened in excitement. “Can we!?”

Twilight couldn’t help smiling. “If you want to, I guess I could handle being the Masked Matter-horn again.”

“Again?” Sunset raised a brow.

“The enchanted comic Spike got was a Power Ponies comic.”

“Ah.”

“So who would you want to be?” Twilight asked.

Sunset grinned. “I was kind of thinking I’d be Mane-iac!”

“The villain?” Twilight asked with a raised brow.

“Yeah, I think I know a way to pull off that crazy mane. We could even make a whole show of it having the power ponies defeat me!”

“That does sound like fun. How about you Spike? You want to be Humdrum again?”

“I think I’m a little too big to be Humdrum now.” Spike said, though he definitely didn’t sound disappointed. “Actually, I think I’ll join Sunset on the villain side and go as Darkstar.”

“Oh really, going to pull rank on me?” Sunset asked with a grin.

“Only if you misbehave.” Spike replied with a smirk.

“Darkstar?” Twilight repeated, not knowing who they were talking about.

“Who’s that?” Dawn asked, curious as well.

“He’s a villain that shows up later on in the comics.” Sunset told them. “I don’t want to spoil it, so I’ll just say he’s an alicorn in the comics and one of his powers basically allows him to control other ponies.”

“An alicorn villain?” Winter said a little unsure.

“The first one ever.” Spike said with a nod. “It was quite a big deal, actually. Until then, alicorns in the comics had always been portrayed as kind and benevolent like the princesses; hardly anypony in Equestria had even considered the possibility of an alicorn being a villain.”

“It is still hard to believe how much things have changed.” Winter said shaking her head.

“Well, if Spike is going to join the villain side, we might need a few more heroes.” Sunset said and looked over at Twilight. “Do you think any of the rest of your friends would be willing to join in.”

“Well I’m pretty sure half of them already have their costumes. But Rainbow might be willing to join in and play Zap. That’s who she ended up being when we got pulled into that enchanted comic.”

“You could call her and ask,” Winter suggested.

Twilight smiled and nodded. “Good idea, hopefully she hasn’t already picked something else.” She tapped the gem on her bracelet. “Rainbow.” A moment later there was the ascending chime that meant they were connected.

“Hey, Twi.” Rainbow’s voice came from the bracelet.

“Hi. How’d you know it was me?”

Rainbow laughed. “You’re still the only one who calls me on these things.”

Twilight sighed. “Yeah… maybe we should make a point of calling the other girls with them sometimes. Get them all more used to using them.”

“Heh, I guess we could try. So what’s up?”

“Well, we were just discussing ideas for Nightmare Night costumes and Sunset suggested doing a group theme. So we wanted to know if you or any of the other girls would be interested in joining in,” Twilight told her. “I know a few already have their costumes, but we thought we’d check.”

“A group theme, huh? So what’s the theme?”

“You remember the Power Ponies?”

Rainbow laughed. “That was actually pretty fun.”

“Well, that’s the plan. Winter and Dawn are going to be Fili-Second and Mistress Mare-velous and I guess I’m going to be Masked Matter-horn again, while Sunset and Spike are both going to be villains, so they were wondering if you’d like to go as Zap?”

“They’ve really gotten into those comics haven’t they. Yeah, I’d be down for that.”

“Great! You think any of the other girls might be interested as well?”

“Maybe, but I think most have their costumes already. I know Pinkie does.”

“Yeah, I think Rarity was already making Applejack’s costume as well. And I suppose there’s not much point in asking Fluttershy.”

“Nah, you know Flutters, she’ll be hiding in her cottage all night.”

“Hiding?” Winter asked.

“Fluttershy doesn’t like all the spooky decorations and costumes on Nightmare night,” Twilight explained.

“She hides out every year.” Rainbow added through the bracelet.

“Yeah, it’s too bad she can’t bring herself to join the rest of us. Oh well, I guess it will just be the four power ponies versus a pair of villains. We’ll have to talk to Rarity about the costumes when we get back.”

“What about Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle?” Dawn asked. “Have they already picked out costumes?”

There was a pause. “Actually, I don’t know. It’s a little late now, but I could check with Scoots tomorrow if you want, and see if she or the other crusaders want to join in.”

“Yeah! Ask them please!”

“I’ll do that then.” Rainbow assured her. “If they want to, I’ll try to get them all together tomorrow afternoon and call again so they can decide on who to be.”

Twilight smiled. “Sounds good, we’ll talk to you then!”

“Talk to you then!”

There was a descending chime and the bracelet stopped glowing.

“Well that should be fun,” Sunset said with a grin. “I’ll definitely have to test out my idea for doing Mane-iac’s crazy mane.”

“Do you think you will be able to move around with your mane like Mane-iac does?” Dawn asked curiously.

“I don’t know about that, maybe if my idea works well enough. It would probably take a lot of magic to do that if it does work; definitely couldn’t move around like that all night.”

Before she could say more a knock at the door of the suite got all of their attention. Curious, Twilight got to her hooves and went out into the sitting room that doubled as the entry to answer it. She wasn’t expecting to find the princess on the other side. “Oh! Princess Celestia! I didn’t know if you’d have more time to visit tonight.”

She smiled though she seemed oddly nervous; not obviously so, but Twilight knew her well enough to notice. “I managed to take care of everything I needed to do. And I actually wanted to speak with Sunset.”

“Alright; She and Winter were just playing a game of chess.” Twilight told her, leading the way back to the study.

“Hey, princess! What you want to talk about?” Sunset asked having heard.

“Actually, let’s speak in private.” Celestia said again sounding unusually nervous, at least for her.

Sunset seemed to catch it as well and got to her hooves wondering what this was about. “Uh, sure; here lets just step into the bedroom,” she suggested, gesturing toward the door to the room she was going to be staying in.

Celestia nodded and followed her into the room.

Sunset closed the door after them and selected a large cushion for herself levitating a second over for Celestia. “So what’s this about?” she asked when they were both seated.

Princess Celestia hesitated before speaking softly. “Sunset, I want you to know that I never would have banished you from the castle.”

Sunset blinked a little confused. “You said as much earlier.”

She nodded. “I know, but it bears repeating. I was angry and even more disappointed when I found out what you’d been looking into; that you’d gone against my wishes. But even so, I never should have threatened to banish you. Especially since I could have never gone through with it. I was on my way to find you; to apologize; when I received word that you’d gone through the portal. In fact, even knowing that I’d most likely end up trapped with you in the other world, I would have followed you that night had the portal not already closed by the time I got there.”

Sunset looked at her, wide eyed. She could tell that Celestia meant it. “But, what about Equestria; your duties?”

“I would have left them all behind. It probably wouldn’t have been the smartest move, but I wasn’t exactly thinking rationally at the time.” She sighed. “I suppose in a way it was fortunate that the portal had already closed.”

“Yeah… probably for the best.” Sunset agreed, more than a little shocked by the revelation. She couldn’t even imagine what Equestria would have done if they’d lost Princess Celestia for thirty moons.

Celestia nodded sadly. “For the first few moons after you left, I kept the portal in the throne room. But it was just too painful of a reminder. I moved it to one of the vaults, but even then, I saw it far too often. Finally, when the Crystal Empire returned. I sent it there for Princess Cadence to watch after. Then when the portal was scheduled to reopen, I planned a summit just so I’d have an excuse to be there in case you came back.”

“And then I went and stole Twilight’s crown…” Sunset said with a grimace.

“I’ll admit, I was a little disappointed. But still, I was again tempted to follow you back to the other world myself, but in the end, I decided to send Twilight. She had brought my sister back to me, I had hoped that she would bring you back to me too.”

Sunset gave her a wry smile. “Well, she did…”

Celestia gave a small smile. “When she came back without you, I was a little upset and terrified that something had happened to you. But she assured me you were alright, and since the portal was again closed, I had no choice; except to wait. I had intended to go through the portal the next time it opened to find you and hopefully convince you to come home.”

“You were going to come yourself?” Sunset asked, surprised.

She nodded. “But, now here you are.”

“I… princess; why are you telling me all this?”

“Because I want you to know how much I care about you, Sunset. You’re more important to me than anypony else, except perhaps my sister.”

“And Twilight?” Sunset asked.

Celestia shook her head. “If I ever had to choose between you and Twilight, I would choose you without hesitation.”

Her eyes widened in shock. “What? Why?”

Celestia looked up into her eyes. “Because you’re my daughter, Sunset.”

Author's Note:

So yeah, I decided to go with Sunset being Celestia's actual daughter in this series as I realized that there was already a perfect reason for why it was kept secret even from Sunset herself. Which Celestia will explain in the next chapter that is already almost finished.

Comments

[Great White Prime]

I was just thinking, "When is this story going to update?". And it did!

[MCzerop01nt]

“I… princess; why are you telling me all this?”

“Because I want you to know how much I care about you, Sunset. You’re more important to me than anypony else, except perhaps my sister.”

“And Twilight?” Sunset asked.

Celestia shook her head. “If I ever had to choose between you and Twilight, I would choose you without hesitation.”

Her eyes widened in shock. “What? Why?”

Celestia looked up into her eyes. “Because you’re my daughter, Sunset.”

Dun dun dun duuunnnnnnn???!!!!!