Years Thereafter

by Spell Writer

Prologue: Welcome Home Twilight Sparkle! (And Sunset Shimmer too!)

Author's Note:

Welcomeeeeee! Hope you all enjoy! This is probably gonna be the shortest chapter in the entire book. Soooooo yeah.

Here we go~!

The afternoon's warm glow gently shifted to night. However, the town of Ponyville was not silent, for this night was a celebration! It was a night to be remembered and to be enjoyed by all! The village was in a frenzy as a small festival sprouted from nothing, ponies enjoying a hastily put-together festival celebrating Twilight's return from wherever she was at all this time. The Ponyville party committee found out about it when their leader, Pinkie Pie, was planning a party out of the blue! The committee (comprised of Pinkie Pie's greatest fans and her special somepony) was quick to act as well; after all, if Pinkie was planning a party on the fly like this, it was something worth celebrating!

Once the trio of ponies found out the cause for the celebration, they did nix their plans to convince Pinkie to let them help. However, the reason for the celebration instantly made them expand their plans! Soon, the entirety of Ponyville found itself in an instant festival! With food stalls and even games, the celebration in the town was on and active. Amethyst Star, Cheese Sandwich, and Suprise were all immensely proud of their accomplishment!

"The Ponyville Party Planning Committee is happy to announce that this festival is in honor of the return of Princess Twilight Sparkle! She's having a private party at her castle, but let's all make sure to have fun in her honor tonight!" Amethyst shouts to the crowd, all looking towards the wooden stage that Cheese Sandwich hastily built, the glistening night sky twinkling behind the stage as a natural backdrop. The festival flew into full swing, with the Party Cannon XLCP firing confetti everywhere, marking the start of the festival.

In her room, Twilight sighs as she looks out the window at the festival. She had gotten several parties, festivals, and heck, even a national holiday in her name in the past. However, this party was just a welcome-back party from all her friends. They weren't her subjects (anymore, at least.), and they were giving her space to enjoy time with her friends. "It's so peaceful..." Twilight says to herself with a smile and a sigh.

"It is, isn't it? Shame I couldn't see it." A voice says from behind Twilight, a voice she recognized. Turning slowly, Twilight sees nothing but her empty bedroom behind her. Yet her side twitches as she feels the sensation of someone touching her, her body stiff and a cold sweat running down her face.

"Lying to your friends, failing me... You've ignored all those feelings and thoughts in your mind for so long. I wanted to live, you know. You had a chance to end everything, but you didn't. You chose her over me." The familiar voice says. "Just like you chose her over your friends over and over. Are you going to do it again? We both know your spell has a fatal flaw. Just like always, SHE will get free."

Twilight grimaces and quickly exhales. "You're going to have to try harder than that. I've had to deal with my thoughts personified before. Dealing with you again won't be a problem- " Twilight turns to face whatever figure her mind decided to torment her with, greeting her is a grotesque version of her closest friend.

And the one friend she couldn't save, Moondancer. Eyes hollow and body shorn and broken. Moondancer's leg twisted, neck bent unnaturally, and coat still singed from Unity's attacks. Twilight instantly froze up and strumbled backward against the wall. "W-why?" Twilight could feel her body sweat further. The voice wasn't familiar because it was her own. No, it was because it was of her closest assistant, the one pony that she wished she could have saved. All rational thought flew out the window, Twilight's face full of sheer terror. This wasn't guilt like last time. This wasn't even something simple that she could fix with force of will. Simply seeing the figure in front of her caused Twilight to mentally re-live through the fight with Unity again, the thoughts, the stress, the plan to sacrifice herself, only ending up losing her best friend in the process. All those feelings began to swell up in her once again. It was too much for Twilight, so she did the one thing she knew how to do in this situation: all logic was thrown out the window in this one moment.

Twilight lashed out. "LEAVE ME ALONE!" She yells as she throws the nearest object at the figure before her. It was a simple throw pillow thrown with the strength of the rightful ruler of Equestria. The pillow slammed through the figment of her mind, which faded away as Twilight's mind got a firm grip on itself. The pillow then continued to travel as it slammed into the crystalline wall, the wall cracking as the force dispersed through it and the pillow. The pillow then exploded into feathers and fabric, which coated the room.

Twilight didn't care, however. She didn't even notice Spike running into the room, too busy hyperventilating and trying to get ahold of herself. Spike ran to her side and attempted to speak to her, but all she could hear was a high-pitched, ear-piercing noise. Twilight's thoughts were swimming in her head as she realized what was happening. 'I'm having a Panic attack? Come on. I've been through worse than this! Way worse. Calm down. Calm down. Why can't I calm down?! Breathe! Breathe like how Cadence taught you. Can't. I can't!'

Finally, however, she manages to hear something. A voice from the edge of her blurry vision. "T... Light. Breathe. I'. Here." After a moment, Twilight feels something comforting. It was a simple hug, but the effects were instant. Her vision begins to clear up as her heart begins to slow down. Her thoughts began to flow as her mind began to clear. Twilight quickly hugged Spike the moment she regained control of herself. Labored breaths became less deep and more ragged from exhaustion rather than panic.

Spike quickly hugged Twilight back, holding onto her closely, her change in demeanor telling him she was back in some form of control. "Twilight! You're okay. It's okay. What happened?! You haven't had a panic attack like that since school!"

Twilight pants and gasps a little as she has a full-body shudder. "I have no idea. That was out of nowhere! At least my panic attacks were a bit more obvious and triggered by something back in school, but that one had no warning at all!"

Spike nervously clings to Twilight. He knows how bad her panic attacks can get. Heck, the girls even made a term 'Twilighting' for when someone was freaking out about something minor. This was not that. He's helped her through more than he can count, but that one was on another level. Twilight seemed genuinely afraid for her life. Spike was genuinely worried about Twilight's health for a moment, but now, she seems to have calmed down. With a careful step back, he watches Twilight do her breathing exercises, the sweat slowly clearing up and the stress melting. While the exercise wasn't a simple magical spell that removed all her worries, it was enough to give Twilight room to think in her head. "Do you wanna postpone the party? The girls will understand if you have to rest, you know."

Twilight takes one last deep breath, slumping against the wall in relief. Twilight had control back, and her mind was working correctly, even if she felt slightly tense after the entire situation. "I'm alright. Thanks, though, Spike. That was worse than Sombra's trap." She exhales and puts on a ragged smile, which slowly softens into a proper one. "I'm good now. The party will do me some good. No need to cancel it or scare the others." Twilight says as she stands back up, clearing her throat, looking at herself in the mirror nearby, and grimacing. She's covered with the feathers from the pillow and looks pretty ragged, likely from the sweat and stumbling backward.

"Although, tell them I'll be a little late. I need to fix my mane and stuff again before I go out." Twilight then hums to herself before perking up. "Actually, could you ask Rarity to come here and help me out so it doesn't take me an hour again?" Twilight says to Spike as she cleans up the room of all the feathers with her magic, packing them all into the trash. The colorless sparkles swept everything up and compacted it neatly into the trash can near her desk. Twilight then sat down and levitated her brush over to her, beginning to run it through her mane. "This is what I get for using the wavy spell for so long." She says with a light chastising voice towards herself.

Spike nods after a moment, having been entranced by Twilight's new magic style. "You sure you can be alone?" He says as he approaches the door. The worried expression on his face never left for a moment. However, Twilight smiles at Spike in response, nodding and motioning with a hoof.

"I can manage Spike. It's just a few minutes." She says with some confidence. She was the ex-Queen of Equestria, after all! A one-off panic attack was nothing compared to what she's had to deal with in the past! With that, Spike leaves Twilight to her devices for the time being.

Twilight isn't left alone for very long, of course. Rarity quickly rushed to the room. After all, a fashion emergency is always a priority to fix on such an important day. With a dramatic push, Rarity opens the door to Twilight's room with great flair, causing the resident Alicorn to look over at her. "Twilight, Spike told me you had a small fashion emerg- Ah. Panic attack." She says, instantly knowing what was wrong with her friend. "Don't worry! We can fix this quite quickly, stay seated, and let's get you all freshened up. While we do so, relax and talk about what happened. Right now, I am your manedresser, and you're my client." She nods as she takes the brush from Twilight, beginning her work on her friend's mane, Twilight sighing a little.

"Rarity, I really don't want to talk about it, alright? I want to enjoy tonight. I don't want to think about that stuff." Twilight mumbles to her friend, closing her eyes a little. Rarity has always been good at doing manes and anything related to beauty. However, over the last year, Rarity has very clearly become much more skilled and experienced in her craft, including her experience as a beautician. The mane styling was entirely different from what Twilight had experienced in a long time. Rarity angled each brush stroke just the right way to not pull at any of Twilight's hair, not to mention the sensation of a massage each stroke was providing.

"So it's not the stress of the day then. I figured. Twilight, remember, you can always tell us anything you wish to discuss. We're your friends, and we want to help. I don't know what you went through. Obviously, it left some deep scars. But when you're ready to talk, we'll all be ready and open-minded, alright, darling?" Rarity says with a smile, not pushing any further. "There we go. A skilled touch can fix issues like these in mere moments. You aren't in the past anymore, Twilight. You have to update your self-grooming standards again."

Twilight giggles a little and looks at herself. "Mmm, I think my standards may have been too high for myself. I haven't done my mane in a long time. Usually, I just fix it up with some magic." She says as she sees her old mane style on herself, a smile creeping on her face.

"Heh." Twilight couldn't help but let out a chuckle. Just a change in mane made her feel so young again. Now she really wanted to enjoy the party as much as she could! Not just for her sake, but for the sake of her friends too! "Alright then! Let's go." She says with a grand smile, hopping up on all four hooves and heading out to the dining room in the castle, only to turn around as she went in the entirely wrong direction. "This way, sorry!" Twilight's sudden change in mood slightly took Rarity aback, but nonetheless, she smiled and put the brush away before trotting out of the room.

---

Twilight heads into the dining room, sliding through the door with both poise and some flair. "Sorry, I'm late! Rarity saved me from a small fashion emergency, and now everything is betterrrr?! Woah!" Twilight's eyes widen at the sheer population in her dining room! Two of each of her friends, a copy of herself (albeit a unicorn and certainly not nearly as old as her), Discord, and Sunset! Twilight brightly smiles as she sees all her close friends together, each of whom is unsurprisingly getting along quite well! The resulting group hug from her old bandmates and a firm hoof shake with her other self kicked the party off in full swing! Twilight takes time to explain where she's been to the group and generally enjoys some food that wasn't from ancient times.

"Ugh, you have no idea how much I missed cream. It was a high-end delicacy in the era I was in. Way too expensive to eat too often. Heck, even the Princesses couldn't eat it all the time, low supply and all that fun stuff." Twilight mumbles as she eats a slice of banana cream pie.

Rarity perks up at the mention of that. "Oh, that's right! You got to see the princesses before Luna became Nightmare Moon, correct? Is it true that Celestia had a pure pink mane before she had that wavy look?"

Twilight smiles and nods. "Yep, Celestia got the change in mane from Discord, surprisingly enough," Twilight says with a nod towards the Lord of Chaos, who smiles and sits up, continuing the story.

"Ah yes, one of my best pieces of work. There I was, stone and frozen by my dear sister's evil magic, the world ending around me as I could only watch in horror until I saw two fillies come along and free me at the cost of one's horn destroyed while the other's is slightly damaged. They were so prepared to battle the evil Queen that I felt moved!" Discord continues, ignoring Twilight, suddenly choking on her drink after hearing what he said. "Thereby, I granted them a boon, no, a blessing, and protected them from her abhorrent magic while also speeding up the restoration of her horn and body. That may have changed her mane color a bit and made her finally loosen up a little, too. However, she was more than grateful for my help, and the evil Queen was defeated and trounced into the floor." Discord says with great flair, his magic making his shadow replay the battle in shadow puppet form, garnering claps from the crowd, except Twilight, who gives him a very peeved stare.

"Discord didn't mention that the Queen utterly decimated him in a two versus one and had to be bailed out by Celestia before the Queen floored again." She cheekily says as she giggles towards her rival. She wouldn't let Discord get away with telling only half the story, softly smiling as she added her own flair to her side. "Course, that's the less flashy part of the story, and you know, I'm pretty sure Discord had a pretty bad concussion from being punched so hard." Twilight smugly stares at Discord after adding in details that he neglected to mention, the group staring between the two. You could feel the sparks of annoyance traveling between them, Pinkie's mane even puffing up slightly from the ambient magic.

As the group thought the two would begin arguing, Twilight and Discord started to laugh. Twilight snickered a little. "But no, seriously, thanks for helping Celestia. You showed how well you can restore order when you want to." She says with a bit of snark in her voice. Twilight smirked at Discord, knowing he couldn't reprise without breaking his promise. That is until he speaks.

"Adventu Chao frahin." He says back to Twilight, who glares at him. Discord is speaking the ancient spirits' language to return the snark at Twilight. It was a gamble. Discord was curious to know if Twilight still knew the language. After all, Celestia and Luna had long lost the link they shared with the Spirit of Magic and Friendship they had within themselves. Twilight was still closely in tune with the Spirit of Time within her. 'Says the one who caused immeasurable amounts of chaos' Is what Discord said to Twilight, which caused her eyebrow to twitch.

Luckily for the two, both Pinkies quickly detected the tone change between them. "Apapapapap! This is a party! We're having fun here! No arguing and no angry laser battles! Have a cupcake, both of you!" The first Pinkie says as she plops a cupcake into Twilight's mouth. Who blinked before her eyes lit up.

"Oats and Cream?! More!" She says as she rushes back to the table to grab more cupcakes, eyes twinkling happily. Discord sighed a little as he saw how quickly Twilight was defused.

"Darn. I was hoping to get Twilight to explode a little more. Oh well, guess I owe Celestia five bits." He mumbles to himself and sighs as he takes the cupcake from the second Pinkie, chomping it down in one bite, leaving nothing but the cupcake itself. The party's ambiance recovered as the pair put some distance between each other. Twilight decided to take some time to speak with her former bandmates, schoolmates, and friends that she made on the other side of the mirror. The Rainbow Dash of that world happily took a moment to tell Twilight about everything she missed.

"And after everything, Sunset managed to get us all together, and we knocked Twilight out with magical beams! Kind of like how we did with Sunset back in the day. Redemption all around!" Sunset's Rainbow Dash says with a smile, Ponyville Rainbow Dash having taught her how to fold her wings properly when they had chatted. "It was pretty awesome, and we got a great friend out of it! Then we found these things a few months later during summer break." Rainbow says with a smile as she shows off the element necklace around her neck, the main factor of identifying who is who in the party.

Twilight's eyes twinkled a little bit, the researcher inside of her sparking up as she heard Rainbow Dash speak about the adventures from her world. "Woah. I guess it makes sense. If we have elements of harmony in this world, then it stands to reason that there's some in yours." She says as she rubs her chin a little bit. "Although ours don't give us any real powers, although. Maybe ponying up is how you all gain access to the special talents that your other halves have. Although, I don't know anypony that can read emotions by touching someone." Twilight racks her brain momentarily, sighing a little as she sits on a cushion. "Aside... Nah. No." She shakes her head. Unity was the only pony that could bore into somepony's mind, but aside from Wallflower, Twilight didn't know if she had any other descendants. As these thoughts ran through Twilight's mind, she shook her head rapidly to get the ideas out of her head.

Sci-Twi tilts her head, knowing the look on her counterpart's face. "Oh, it's alright, we'll figure it out at some point. There's no need to rack your brain about it. I know I did for a while until the girls helped me stop hyper-fixing on the magic and just let it flow! Sometimes, the most obvious answer is the one in front of you, you know." She says with a smile. She was genuinely trying to help Twilight. Twilight smiles in kind back to Sci-Twi and giggles a little, sighing happily.

"You're right, thanks me. Nothing like a little pick me up from an alternate version of you to help you!" She nods toward her counterpart before continuing, "I don't know why the elements give you all these powers, but it's pretty awesome that you're all using them to help everyone in your world."

City Applejack sighs and sits back. "It'll be a bit harder to do that, though, with all of us going to different Universities soon. The only two stayin in Canterlot City are Twi and Sunset." She says with a drawl, the mention of college making the humans turned ponies a little more melancholy. Sunset smiled a little and giggled after a moment.

"Relax, we'll still meet up. After all, there's always the summer. Not to mention, we all have our roots in Canterlot City anyway. It's not like any of us are going to disappear entirely. You're all just going to school to help out your businesses in Canterlot City already, anyway. Well, aside from Rainbow Dash, at least." Sunset says as she motions to the lead soccer star for the Canterlot Wonderbolts Soccer Team. Who happily does a little pose in place.

Sci-Twi giggles a little. "I would have sworn that Rainbow Dash was going to end up a pilot or something, but sports just seems to be her thing in the end. The Wonderbolts Soccer Team scouted her right out of high school. She's been really excited about it. Course, the training camp is all the way in Cloudsdale City, so we won't see her for the first year or so till she starts to play home games. That is if Sunset decides not to take Princess Twilight's deal." Sci-Twi says with a glint behind her glasses. "Which honestly would be a waste. You know you can visit whenever you want, Sunset."

Sunset nervously smiles. "I just. I don't really know if that's the right choice right now. I still have plenty of time to think about it, though! No offense, Twilight. Erm. Princess Twilight. It's just a big decision, and I dunno if I can live up to expectations and all." She says with a mumble and stammer, unable to articulate her thoughts when Sci-Twi puts her on the spot. However, the deliberation was evident on her face. In reality, the rest of the humane seven were going to college the next day. Sunset had already considered Twilight's offer and wanted to accept it quite a bit. But she felt out of place at the moment.

Twilight smiles softly and gives Sunset a pat on the shoulder. "It's your decision. I'd never force it on you. You know what's best for you, and I trust you to make the decision you want." Twilight says with a soft smile, the encouraging words feeling like a soft breeze to Sunset. As Celestia's student, she always felt stressed and even a little distant from her teacher, but Twilight just had that air around her that made you want to trust her.

Sunset's confidence was short-lived, though, as two larger-than-life party crashers opened the door to the room with great flair. "WE ARE HERE!" Says Luna as she enters the room with her sister. She did not notice her sister freeze up as she and Sunset locked eyes. "Apologies for being late, Pinkie! Night court dragged on a little bit. Thestrals have been returning to Equestrian land recently, so we're trying to get them all settled and comfortable."

Pinkie blinks. "Of course, Princess! It's totally alright." She then zooms over to Twilight. "Did you send them an invitation? Because I thought you said no to Celestia and Luna while Sunset was here." She quietly whispers to Twilight as Discord appears behind the three.

"Oh! I saw their names on the register as unsent. So I just thought I'd flick them an invitation. Look at me, being helpful for once." Discord grins at Twilight, who glares at him quietly. Twilight sighs and raises her wing to block Celestia's view of Sunset.

The party goes silent at this act. The natural-born Equestrians let out a little gasp at Twilight's act. Twilight's action even took Sunset aback, and she knew Twilight's true nature. No one would ever do this to the Princess, especially not Celestia, except if they wanted to meet the sun's wrath. "Celestia, Ignore what you saw and enjoy the party. She's very clearly not ready." Twilight says confidently to Celestia, looking over and smiling at Sunset. "Don't worry. If you don't want to talk to her, you don't have to Sunset."

Celestia's glare towards Twilight and the glare Twilight returned caused literal sparks of magical lightning to fly between the two Alicorns. Twilight was just thankful that Luna had entirely purged Celestia's spirit of darkness all those years ago, so there was no Daybreaker emergency if this ended up being a fight.

Sunset, meanwhile, didn't even notice her pose until Twilight spoke to her. Her ears lay flat and bent down slightly. She was still terrified of her teacher, her entire body trembling just at her short glimpse of Celestia. Despite her growth, she never truly felt she had redeemed herself enough to face her perfect teacher, but she didn't want to see her previous teacher and her future teacher fight either!

This moment was a chance, a chance sent by Faust herself. It's probably her only chance to do this. She could do this! With a deep breath, Sunset stared right up at Twilight and nodded. "I got this."

Twilight stares in surprise as she looks back at Sunset before a smile appears on her face. "Alright then. I got your back." The Purple wing lowers, allowing Celestia and Sunset to see one another again. The tension between the two alicorns defused in that instant.

Sunset braces herself for whatever reaction may come, opening her mouth to speak, only to find herself in a tight embrace moments later. Celestia quietly holds Sunset in a tight hug, mumbling to her Ex-Student.

"I'm so sorry, Sunset," Celestia says to Sunset, not releasing her for even a moment.

Sunset tears up a little in the hug, hugging back in return. "I am, too."

The ponies surrounding the pair smile and allow the two to have their moment, halting the party briefly. Discord grumbles as he gives Luna a handful of bits, who haughtily laughs at his misfortune. After the two finish having their moment, the party continues. It was the most fantastic party the group had ever participated in, but nothing came close to the rekindling of Celestia and Sunset's relationship. It was strained and stressed, and it would take time to mend fully, but Sunset felt at home in Equestria for the first time since she left.

Sunset's mind was made up when she and her friends returned to their world, promising to return the next day.

Comments

[Gabriel18017]

I'm a little confused
Aren't Celestia and Luna supposed to see Twilight as their mother, yet in that last part it seems as if their bond is something else.
Either that or I'm misunderstanding

[Spell Writer]

11833394
Celestia and Luna understand that Twilight wishes to keep this bond a secret, as was stated back at the end of 40 years.

Twilight doesn't feel ready to step into the light of being the princess's mother. So when in public they don't act like it.

Celestia is a little more... resistant to the idea of Twilight being her mother, namely from the angle that she's the Celestia that taught Twilight.
Luna on the other hoof has to resist trying to get coddled by her mother every moment she sees her.

But they respect her decision, even though they don't agree with it. Celestia wants Twilight to Choose one or the other and Luna wants her mom back.

[Gabriel18017]

11833397
So after going back in time, her memories were mixed with the others?
So it does make sense that a celestia with memories of teaching Twilight would have mixed feelings about her being her mother

[Spell Writer]

11833403
Nah. Twilight's time loop is complete. Celestia did teach Twilight. And Twilight took those lessons in the past and taught Celestia. Tis a bootstrap paradox

In the end, Twilight IS the rightful ruler of Equestria, things worked very linearly. Celestia just doesn't want to lose another student, even if it IS because of what happened. Just reaping the consequences of her actions.

Twilight just really wants her life to calm down. Being known as Celestia and Luna's adoptive mother would not result in anything calm. If anything, it might even end up with her being pushed right back into being Queen. Which she does NOT want.

[Gabriel18017]

11833404
Ok, I still don't understand the problem between Celestia and Twilight, but it doesn't matter, keep going it's a good story.

[Spell Writer]

11833408
It'll come to a head later~! Don't worry, it's a plot point ill explore.