Atonement
"Sunset Shimmer?"
The orange-coated filly with the yellow-red mane showed no reaction. She kept her head buried in the pillow.
She felt something nudge at her shoulder. "Go away!" she yelled, the sound coming out muffled.
"Professor Stubble has been missing you," said the voice that had called out her name. It was the gentle, somber tone of a well-spoken middle-aged mare, full of compassion.
"I don't care! Go away! I hate him! His face is ugly!"
"I'll be sure not to pass that along." A couple of seconds went by. "Sunset, are you crying?"
"No! Leave already! I hate you, too! I bet your face is ugly, too!" Sunset Shimmer heard the mare laugh, which made her head flush with anger.
"That's not something anypony's said to me in a long time," she said and giggled. "How about I take you up on that bet? Look at me and tell me again that my face is ugly, and I'll leave you alone. I promise."
Sunset Shimmer rammed her front hooves into the mattress and jumped up, flipping around to face her tormentor. She opened her mouth to yell, and only let out a squeak.
Celestia smiled at her. The smile faded quickly when its bearer looked closely at Sunset's face. She looked at the floor, where Sunset had dumped her blanket, enveloped both it and her horn in a yellow glow, and used a corner to wipe away some of Sunset's tears from her stunned face.
It took a little while longer, until Celestia was finished, before Sunset closed her mouth again and turned her eyes away.
"Well, do tell. Is my face ugly? If it is, I'll be sure to consult the royal beautician to see if there is anything that can be done. My youthful days are unfortunately rather behind me."
"Not really," Sunset Shimmer mumbled.
"Quite a relief!" Celestia smiled. "Would you like to tell me what's wrong?"
"Just order me to. You're the princess," Sunset said in a petulant tone.
"I'd really rather not. The paperwork involved in formally ordering people around is staggering." Celestia folded the blanket carefully and set it down on the lower end of Sunset's bed. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but you do have to understand it's not going to stop us silly adults from wondering. I've talked to Professor Stubble, and he thinks you're doing quite well for your age. Very few students have managed his latest assignment on the first try. It's intended to be a challenge."
Sunset Shimmer looked away, mouth shut firmly, stewing.
"You've been at the school for a month now, and I think you're doing magnificently. I know you love studying magic, usually. It's going to be harder work than you may be used to from back home, but I know you can do it, Sunset Shimmer."
No reaction, except for a couple of tears forming anew.
Celestia smiled. "You're homesick, aren't you?"
Sunset Shimmer started sobbing. "No, I'm not!" she yelled out, her defiance cracking along with her voice. She shivered all over.
Celestia smiled, reached out with both forehooves, and pulled Sunset's head towards her chest, careful not to press her against the golden regalia. She felt Sunset dig her hooves into her sides, and patted the back of her head as the little filly cried her heart out.
~ ~ ~
It was far from the first time she'd made the trip, but the experience was still thought-crushingly terrifying. There was no ground under her feet, and nothing to see except a swirling, blinking mess of colors. Sunset Shimmer had been under the influence of a weightlessness spell before, way back in her days at Celestia's school, and this was the exact opposite. Weightlessness was the complete absence of forces pulling at you, one of the most serene environments possible. Here, something pulled at her from every side at once, stretching and compressing parts of her body in weird places, sending her spiralling in randomly shifting directions. And there was not a thing to hold on to.
In moments of clarity inbetween the panic, Sunset Shimmer tried to remind herself to brace for the landing. Entering the gateway was easy enough; its magic kept the forces at bay until the unwise traveller had completely entered. No such protection applied to leaving interdimensional space, so Sunset tried to shield her face with her upper arms as best as she could. Her forelegs and hooves, being shorter than her human appendages, would be somewhat less useful for protection once she turned back, but this way she would at least not start off her first day in Equestria after thirty moons with a broken jaw. Hopefully. Though one might argue she would deserve that, and far more.
Her plan had been to slip away quietly, but it had failed, and resoundingly, for two reasons. One was that humans had also invented the calendar, which meant that Twilight's friends had known precisely just how long thirty moons took to go by. The other was that Sunset Shimmer had gotten very, very drunk just a week before on what secretly had been supposed to be their farewell get-together. Alcohol mixed with a great number of things (as she had found out), but not secret-keeping.
Sunset Shimmer noticed she still couldn't stop herself from thinking of the five of them as "Twilight's friends", even as their chastising words still were fresh on her mind. "We're your friends now, too, you know that, right?" She guessed it must be true – otherwise, why would it hurt this much to leave them behind? – but idle thoughts of turning around were very hard to hold onto with the interdimensional maelstrom roaring her onwards to her destination.
They'd cried. Some of them had tried to hide it, some hadn't. They had wished her good luck, in a heartfelt manner. Those well-wishes were wasted on her, perhaps, but there they were. The least she could do in return was to allow in her mind for the possibility that she would arrive in one piece. And then come not to regret that she did.
The arrival in Equestria came sudden and not quite painless. Sunset Shimmer found herself flung through the portal hindlegs first, rear end painfully hitting the ground, with her back skidding across it until she came to a halt, yanking her tail painfully as it got caught. After the dizziness had dissipated, her first glimpse of Equestria in a long time turned out to be the ceiling, tastefully adorned woodwork in bright, easing colors. Groaning, she rolled herself 180 degrees to arrive lying on her stomach, and slowly put her legs to work, lifting herself up unsteadily. She let out a rather unseemly curse word directed at the mirror in front of her and then began to examine the room.
Looking behind her, her eyes met those of Princess Celestia, who lay on a cushion some way across the portal mirror, a tea set as well as some kind of book in front of her, and another cushion at the opposite end of the tea set.
"Welcome to Equestria, Sunset Shimmer," she said.
Sunset Shimmer faced the mirror again, glancing at her own reflection. She could read the fear written into her features clear as day. A shudder went through her. Her hindlegs tensed. She could jump now, couldn't she? Make the trip yet another time, live as a human forever, among friends? Someone's friends, anyway?
Moments later, she turned around again, this time fully, and walked towards Celestia. She opened her mouth to speak, but it took some moments for anything to come out. What did come out wasn't very coherent or original, but a safe fallback recalled from times long past. "Your Majesty," she said, and took a curt bow.
"Are you surprised to see me?"
Sunset sighed. "Not all that much."
"It's good to see you are well," Celestia said, sipped from her levitated cup, and caught Sunset's seething glance. "I do mean it," she said with a faint smile.
"Oh, yeah, I know," Sunset snorted. "You care about everypony. Extend hooves of kindness and acceptance and all that." She glanced at the door of the palace room, somewhere behind where Celestia had sat down for tea, and rose her head firmly with her eyes locked on it. "What are you playing this charade for? Have the Guard clap me in irons. I'm ready!" she yelled out.
Celestia's eyes curiously followed Sunset's determined stare, turning her head about. They both waited expectantly.
Nothing happened.
"It seems those among my Guard who specialize in the clapping of irons are quite particular about who they take their orders from," Celestia remarked dryly. "Besides, you could teleport out of here at any time, couldn't you? Chains would hardly hold you."
Sunset Shimmer blinked in momentary confusion. It had been quite a long while since she had been a unicorn. She snorted and looked back at Celestia. "Maybe I'd stay ahead of the guards. But I don't think I could run from you."
"I suppose there is truth to that, as well," Celestia said, glancing into her teacup, momentarily lost in thought. "Tea?" she asked finally.
"I'd really rather not."
"As you wish." Celestia took a sip.
Sunset Shimmer snorted angrily. "Look, I really didn't come here for a tea party. I'm a criminal, and we both know it. I tried to overthrow you and I tried to use innocent humans from another world to do it. And I stole the Element of Magic. Princess Twilight must have told you everything. What is it you're doing? Is this some sort of torture?" Sunset Shimmer stared at Celestia, panting, as her agitation slowly subsided. She looked away. "Not that I don't deserve it."
Celestia looked at her for a good long while with an unreadable expression. The silence was almost impossible to bear. Finally, she spoke up again, very matter-of-factly. "Princess Twilight Sparkle did give me a written account of the events in the human world." Celestia shuddered. "It was very thorough."
Sunset Shimmer couldn't help grinning for a moment. She barely knew Twilight Sparkle, all things told, but she did know that doing things half-heartedly wasn't her style. Also, she was a nerd.
"She hasn't given me reason to doubt its accuracy, but I do have to hear your side of the story."
"No, I trust her. I'd rather we get this over with quickly." Sunset figured there wasn't much in the way of embellishments available to Twilight that would have painted a picture worse than the truth.
"Twilight suggests, among other things, that touching the Element of Magic caused you to become possessed by a kind of demonic entity, which one might say could mean you were no longer in control of your actions."
"Doesn't matter, does it? I wanted that power, so whatever happened as a result of that is all on me."
Celestia narrowed her eyes. "Are you absolutely sure you want to take responsibility like that?"
Sunset Shimmer sighed. She remembered the pain, and the tears, and tiny voices in her head growing louder until they started coming out of her mouth. She remembered power, so much power. It was easy, so easy – just channel her magic, reach out, touch minds, and twist. And every time she was imagining how easy it would be, she had suddenly found she had already done it soon after. Had she had control of her body or her senses? What she never could extract from her memories was that moment inbetween the imagination of what she could do and the actual doing. She couldn't tell for sure. But in the end, she had allowed it to happen, and it had caused unimaginable hurt to a lot of people. She bore the guilt either way. That guilt was what had driven her back to Equestria in the first place. If she denied her responsibility now, she might as well have stayed where she was.
She nodded.
"Very well. I will take that into account." Celestia rose and slowly approached Sunset Shimmer, hoofstep by hoofstep, still not showing the slightest hint of emotion.
Sunset started to sweat as her neck bent more and more upwards ever so slightly in order to keep eye contact. It was slowly starting to unravel her. She had tried to mentally prepare for this meeting – her trial, to call a spade a spade – but all the scenarios in her head would have ended with her in a dungeon cell at this point, either burnt to kindling by the wrath of a burning sun, or worse, with a heart crushed utterly by one look of abject disappointment, or even worse, never seeing Celestia again for the rest of her life, because her former mentor couldn't even stand the sight of the disgrace her student had become. Whatever was happening right now wasn't as bad as that.
Yet.
"Sunset Shimmer," Celestia announced in a stately tone, head held high as she usually did when proclaiming a matter of royal business. "You have endangered many lives and caused a great deal of pain to many innocent people of different species and across different worlds. Through stealing the Element of Magic, you came close to condemning all of Equestria to oblivion. For that, you shall be held responsible, and serve your punishment accordingly." She paused, letting silence slowly fill the room again.
Sunset Shimmer closed her eyes and bowed. She felt her heartbeat slow down and the nervous heat that had filled her body finally cool off. It was going to end soon. After that, there would be a future, if Twilight's friends were to be believed. She didn't know what to believe, but she allowed herself to hope. What else could she do to live through these agonizing seconds of waiting?
If they ever let her out, maybe she would be allowed through the mirror portal again so she could thank them one more time for all they had done for her. That was an unexpectedly pleasant thought. She had better hold on to it.
"The palace dungeon has not been in use for some time," Celestia said. "Contrary to a wide-spread belief that honestly puzzles me, I am also very reluctant to hand out sentences of banishment, be it to other lands or celestial bodies, or other worlds for that matter. I reserve those options, if I can help it, for those who show no hope of rehabilitation through other means. And I do not think that is the case for you, Sunset Shimmer."
Sunset's heart started racing again. When was Celestia going to actually let the hammer drop? Sunset had never had a great deal of patience for her teacher's meandering. For the first time, she consciously realized that she had felt anger since the moment Celestia had started talking, simmering in the back of her mind.
"You possess perhaps the greatest hooves-on expertise with regards to both the human world as well as the mirror in all of Equestria. To repay your debt to society, I will have you work with a trusted researcher to compile your knowledge and make it available to the scientific community." She paused again.
Well. That made sense, didn't it? Celestia was too wise to toss her aside when she could still be useful.
"Following that, it is my belief that you would serve Equestria best if you would enter the Royal Academy as an independent researcher in matters of magic. You will be restricted to Academy grounds unless given special leave, and the majority of your salary will be withheld for the duration of your parole, to be appropriated for a charitable cause to be determined at a later date."
The room grew dead silent.
It took at least ten seconds for Sunset Shimmer to peek upwards at Celestia's expectant face.
"Wait. That's it?" she said, rising, eyes wide.
Celestia nodded. "Do you have objections?"
"Do I have objections?" An eyelid twitched.
"If science or magic no longer hold your interest, I'm sure something else can be arranged—"
Sunset cut her off. "Are you kidding me?! After all that I've done, all you're going to give me is a slap on the wrist?"
"Wrist?"
"Human anatomy term, connects the lower arm to the hand..." Sunset shook her head violently. "You know perfectly well what I meant!" she hissed. "Stop trying to break the ice, acting like – like nothing is a big deal to you! Stop patronizing me!" she yelled out, staring daggers at Celestia, who stared right back at her, finally showing shock on her face. Sunset felt a sense of triumph – finally, finally she had broken through and caused some reaction. "Why aren't you punishing me?"
Celestia appeared to regain her composure, resuming her even, regal expression and speaking calmly, without disturbance. "I gave you the punishment I think you deserve."
"Oh please. I just told you I would take responsibility, and you accepted that, didn't you?"
Celestia shook her head. "I said I would take into account that you wanted to take responsibility."
"And that is not the same bloody thing how?"
"I didn't believe you were fully in control of your own actions after reading Twilight's account of events, and you've given me no reason to believe otherwise now. That you are willing to bear the full brunt of responsibility for very serious crimes, that you came back to Equestria on your own to face your punishment, tells me that you deeply regret what happened and your involvement in it, so I felt that a sentence of community service would suit you better than one of imprisonment or exile. I cannot, however, punish you for something you may not have done of your own free will. It would not be just."
"Don't you ever get angry?!" Sunset Shimmer yelled. Tears had started to form. "I betrayed your trust, I tried to overthrow you, tried to hurt the ponies you've sworn to protect, and you're standing here all lenient and even-handed and fair, as if it didn't faze you? Why wouldn't it make you angry? Didn't you care?" Her voice broke down, and all the anger within her evaporated in a moment's time. "Didn't you... care?" she whispered, and suddenly couldn't stand to look at Celestia's eyes any longer.
What was Sunset Shimmer doing? Just who had she thought she was? Celestia was older than her mind could fathom. Many ponies had come into her life and gone. Maybe Sunset Shimmer had been important to her, once, when she had been a good student, and still appeared, at least, to be faithful. But that time lay long in the past, didn't it? Of course Celestia would have gotten over it by now. She'd probably gotten over it moments after it had happened.
Celestia wasn't Sunset Shimmer's teacher anymore, was she? She was her ruler. And yet, several times now, Sunset Shimmer had raised her voice at her, demanded explanations. Just who did she think she was?
She sniffled, her muzzle quivered. She breathed in and out heavily a couple of times, trying to break the flow of sobs. Then she slowly contorted her body into a deep bow, pressing it flat against the floor. "Your Majesty," she whispered, "I ap-apologize for..."
"Stop!" Celestia said suddenly, with no small degree of urgency in her voice. Sunset looked up, and was surprised to find that, for the first time, there was a hint of pain in her ruler's expression. "You were never the reverent type, Sunset Shimmer. It isn't like you to bow and scrape, and I would not have you do so on my behalf." She paused, looking away briefly, momentarily lost in thought, her expression almost desperate. Then she looked at Sunset Shimmer again. "I'm sorry."
Sunset Shimmer stared. "You're sorry?" she repeated.
"I didn't know how to approach you when you came through the mirror. You made it clear that you wished to cut straight to the matter of your punishment, so I complied, but I should have realized it was not as straightforward as that." Celestia looked to the ground as she spoke, took a few steps back paying attention not to tip over any part of the tea arrangement, and placed her haunches on the cushion again. She pointed towards the other seat, faintly smiling.
Sunset shakily complied, and continued to stare at Celestia, shivering, waiting.
Celestia's smile faded. "Yes, I was disappointed. I was disappointed at your selfishness, at your refusal to listen, and your disregard for the safety of those around you. But angry?" Celestia shook her head. "Not then, and not now."
"Why?" Sunset asked, exasperated. "I don't understand it! After all I've done! How can you forgive me?"
"When you live as long as I do, Sunset Shimmer, you don't have many options. I have to believe that forgiveness can be earned. Everyone makes mistakes, and if I can't forgive those mistakes of others, all that remains is to grow lonely. And no one I have ever known or shall ever know has made more mistakes than I have. If I cannot forgive myself, all that remains is to grow miserable."
Sunset slowly nodded. Realization dawned on her. "Your sister," she whispered.
Celestia blinked in surprise, then smiled and nodded. "Losing her was my greatest failure, and finding a way to get her back has been on my mind for so long that I never quite feel like I actually succeeded. I often take breaks to visit her just to reassure me that it wasn't all a dream. Every second in her presence brings me happiness beyond description, so much of it that it just feels wrong sometimes, too. I can't help but think: Do I even deserve to be so lucky?"
Shadows had taken hold in Celestia's expression. Sunset Shimmer just stared. Never before had Celestia shared something so personal with her, not in all those years. What had gotten into her?
"At the same time, I know all too well that Luna has once been Nightmare Moon. She let jealousy and bitterness consume her heart; let herself fall. She also insisted to me that it didn't matter if she was in control of her actions after her transformation, because even before that she had wanted to overpower me and force all ponies of Equestria to experience her beautiful night." She leaned forward, fiercely maintaining eye contact with Sunset Shimmer as she did, sparking a shiver. "It does matter." She smiled. "I know that it's tempting. We don't want others to feel guilty, especially those we love, so we try to heap as much of it on our own backs as we can find, not caring if it's the guilt of someone else, or guilt that belonged to no one at all. And sometimes, it's easier to make ourselves believe that we are completely at fault for something than it is to admit that we were powerless to stop it."
Sunset slowly nodded as Celestia returned to an upright position again, thinking for a while before she continued.
"When you became my student, Sunset, gifted as you were, I was ecstatic. The thousand years were approaching their end, and I was sure that I had finally found somepony who would be able to wield the Elements of Harmony to free my sister. I'm sure I could have guided you so much better than I did. That is another reason I was never angry with you, Sunset. I was angry with myself, more than I have been in a long time."
Sunset Shimmer shook her head. "I made my own decisions. It wasn't your fault."
Celestia closed her eyes and smiled, if only briefly, but she shook her head in turn. When she opened her eyes again, Sunset felt her heart shrink up. She recognized those eyes – she'd seen eyes like those in the mirror. "No, Sunset Shimmer. When I started to understand your talent, I allowed my hopes to take over. I was dazzled by your light and didn't see the darkness, didn't understand just how much help you would have needed, didn't allow myself to wonder if I wasn't placing pressure on you that you had no way of dealing with. I started teaching you for my sake rather than your own. And there is no greater sin for a teacher."
Silence filled the room, too heavy for Sunset Shimmer to break, too dark to resist the urge to cry.
"You earned my forgiveness the moment you came back through that mirror to face me. I hope that, in time, I will be able to earn yours." Celestia smiled weakly. "Whether we can forgive ourselves, time will tell."
Sunset Shimmer nodded slowly. Only now she noticed the tears. She cleared them away, then smiled back at Celestia. They spent some more of the silence like that, just smiling at each other. Words didn't appear to be necessary anymore.
"Is there anything else?" Celestia finally asked, warmly. "Do you accept my verdict?"
"I have a choice?"
Celestia adopted a surprised expression that seemed almost too earnest to be true. "Of course. Have you forgotten your Equestrian law? You never were all that interested in the subjects that had nothing to do with magic, I suppose." She smiled. "You can request to be formally tried before a court of law appointed by the Council. It would take quite a while to get it formed and up to speed on the details of the case, of course."
Sunset narrowed her eyes. "Has anypony ever taken you up on that?"
"Oh, it does happen."
Sunset smirked. "Did it ever change the verdict?"
"Twice in total." Celestia smiled. "It's a bit upsetting, actually, because sometimes I can't quite tell if the judges agree with my verdicts genuinely or only out of deference to me. There's little I can do about it. I've tried making a point of reassuring them that they have absolute independence to come to their own conclusions about the case, but I've since realized telling them that really only makes it worse."
"No kidding!" Sunset snickered. She stopped abruptly and looked back at Celestia, guiltily, and was surprised to find Celestia smiling even broader.
"I know I am intimidating to be around. Fortunately there are some ponies who just won't be intimidated, who will freely speak their mind to power. It's a rare trait, and I treasure it immensely. You've had it since the day we met. Twilight had to work on it."
"I accept the verdict," mumbled Sunset Shimmer, suddenly annoyed. Absent-mindedly, she stared at the teacup on the ground in front of her, and fought with her jealousy. It had been raging and burning thirty moons ago, when she had learnt that another student had taken her place and been crowned princess during the first half of her exile, and had never quite gone out, even when Sunset grew close to the friends Twilight had made among the humans herself and had started to understand in just how many ways the princess had saved her life – and in just how many respects she had been outdone.
"That's good to hear," Celestia said, watching Sunset Shimmer look at the mirror again. "Twilight told me she asked the human friends she had made to look after you before she left. Did that work out?"
Sunset Shimmer nodded without turning around, faintly smiling.
"You already miss them, don't you."
"I'm not going to try and go back, if that's what you're asking," Sunset Shimmer said, swiftly turning around. "I mean, I do. Miss them. They're the first friends I ever made. I think. Unless they've been putting up with me for Twilight's sake."
"Does it feel like that to you?"
Sunset Shimmer took some time to puzzle out the answer. Finally, she smiled and shook her head. Again, her eyes were drawn to the mirror, and couldn't bear to let go.
Whenever Twilight's... Whenever her friends hadn't managed to distract her for a little while, her mind had been occupied with this day. Meeting Celestia again to face justice, to help rid her of the weight of the guilt pressing on her heart. She had barely spent a second thinking about what she would feel like once it was over. She remembered that moment thirty moons ago, when she had understood just how alone she had been, all this time when she had scorned even the thought of friendship.
She hadn't realized it. Even though she was a pony, and didn't belong in the human world – because that was where her friends were, it had become her home. And she had left it behind, for a long time, and had no idea if she would ever find friends like that again.
A stream of tears started flowing from both of her eyes, downwards to her muzzle and around it, until they formed teardrops that slowly gathered and fell.
They spread out among the white fur of a pony's foreleg, placed around Sunset's shoulders. The hoof belonging to the other foreleg patted her head. Sunset turned her head slightly sideways and leaned it back against Celestia's neck, softly rubbing against her.
That should have been the end of all that had haunted her. The distance between her and Celestia had been bridged for good. She'd never have imagined it would have been possible, after all that she had done, but there she was. It should have been the end of it, at least for a moment. And if Sunset Shimmer had still been a little filly suffering from homesickness, it would have. But she was a mare, and homesickness was only a small part of it.
She pressed herself a little tighter against Celestia's warmth, and Celestia held her a little closer in return. It helped, a little. The rest, time would tell.
They chatted for a little while after that, about nothing of consequence. Sunset Shimmer finally did take up Celestia on her offer of tea. It tasted a little better now than it had when she was a filly. They both knew there was nothing important left to say, and knew that the other knew. It was likely they simply wanted to treasure the simplicity of the moment, before reality took them back. As soon as they left the room, after all, Sunset Shimmer would be a criminal facing punishment and Celestia would be, well, Celestia.
But finally, the elder diarch of Equestria set down her teacup and rose from the cushion a final time. "I made sure to free my schedule for today as much as possible to wait for your return, but in all my years I haven't managed to make work just go away on its own without coming back in twice the strength. If I leave now, Luna will get at least some sleep today."
Sunset Shimmer got up herself, smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Celestia."
"For sentencing you to community service?" Celestia asked, eyebrow raised.
"That, too."
Celestia smiled. "You always have been and always will be my student. It's going to be hard work from here on out, but I know you can do it." She rose a foreleg in contemplation, as if something had just occured to her. "I'm a bit hesitant about sending the Guard out to ask a known criminal if she would like to have tea with me. Is it alright if I pop in from time to time? For 'questioning'?" she asked, winking.
Sunset Shimmer snickered and shrugged. "Sure. How busy am I going to be, anyway, right?"
Celestia blinked as she processed those words, then stifled a laugh with her front hoof. "We'll see," she said, and turned.
As she walked up to the door, Sunset's eyes grew wider and wider. Finally, she burst. "Princess!"
Celestia turned around. "Is something the matter?"
Sunset rose a front hoof and pointed towards the mirror at the edge of the room. "Are you – are you just going to leave me here with that?"
"No one forced you to come. No one will force you to stay."
"You mean, if I had tried to run, you wouldn't have stopped me? At any point?"
Celestia nodded.
"Huh."
"Don't take too long. I'm afraid you're being expected in the hallway," she said, adopting a somber expression. "I'm sorry."
"No, that's alright," Sunset reassured her. Where there were criminals on palace ground, there had to be guardsponies. That was the way things were going to have to be.
Celestia smiled again, nodded her head once towards her student, who responded with an elegant, studied bow, and left.
Sunset Shimmer turned around and looked at the mirror again, and smiled.
"See you in thirty moons."
When Sunset Shimmer opened the door out of that room in the palace that held the mirror, to her surprise she found none of the palace guard had been stationed outside. Instead, she found somepony lying on a mattress on the floor right in the middle of it, surrounded by tomes and intently studying one by the looks of it. Sunset sighed, hard, and approached.
The ears of the reader in the hallway twitched, and she looked up and smiled awkwardly.
Sunset Shimmer smiled back in a decidedly sarcastic manner, eyes narrowed. "You're the trusted researcher."
"I'd like to be," said Twilight Sparkle. "I'm the only other pony around who has any experience with the human world, and I've spent just enough time and effort compiling what I know to understand just how many questions I can't answer because I was only there for the better part of two days. It's kind of maddening. And I was a scholar long before I became a princess." She scratched her temple nervously as Sunset continued to focus on her, expression unchanging. "But if you'd rather have somepony else, that's not an issue at all. I realize I'm asking a lot here. It's just, well. I wanted to at least ask."
Sunset Shimmer didn't say anything at all at first. She turned to look at the door she'd just left through again. "Celestia sentenced me to work with a trusted researcher. I would have thought she meant a researcher she could trust. I wasn't aware I had a choice in the matter."
"Well, it's both, I would say. I mean, obviously Celestia trusts me – or, well, I assume she does – but cooperation between two scientists on a project requires a working relationship of mutual trust. And respect, I guess," Twilight sat back and twiddled her front hooves. "And I respect you and I trust you, and I would like to think, maybe it's possible you would too and this was really not a very good idea was it," she muttered, eyeing Sunset anxiously.
"Aren't you a princess or something?" Sunset Shimmer asked, voice laden with irritation. "You sound like a schoolgirl about to take the first exam of her life, and the examiner is Professor Stubble with a bad hangover, and you just did something that reminded him of his ex-wife."
Twilight blinked, and failed to suppress a giggle. "You had him, too?"
Sunset Shimmer nodded and smiled for the briefest of moments, then turned humorless again. "I'm just a common criminal. You're supposed to be a princess. Why do you act like this?"
Twilight smiled. "Because as a princess, when I'm not on official business, I act like myself," she said and winked. Then a shadow came upon her expression. "And I feel a little guilty."
"Guilty," repeated Sunset Shimmer. "Why?"
"Because I left you behind," Twilight admitted. "It was a spur-of-the-moment thing. I could've taken you with me to Equestria right away, but it didn't sit right with me. You just went through a lot, you were clearly upset and confused and posed no danger to anyone. And when you told me you didn't know the first thing about friendship..." she sighed. "I just knew you'd be fine if I left you with my friends. I wasn't so sure about Equestria. Not thirty moons ago. But in the end, I never really asked you what you wanted, and I feel guilty about that."
"Well, stop it," said Sunset angrily. "Maybe I was a little out of it, but I didn't suddenly turn into a snivelling idiot. I knew that the portal was closing. I would have gone with you if I wanted to. I didn't want to. End of story."
Twilight smiled. "You're right. I'm sorry."
Sunset rolled her eyes. "And now with the apologizing. Spare me."
"How are they anyway?" Twilight asked, anxiously. "I mean, I haven't seen them ever since. I know they're all wonderful girls and they're probably just fine, but I'm just making assumptions because they appear to be cross-dimensional counterparts of my Equestrian friends of some sort – that's something I hope you can shed a light on for me, by the way. You've spent time with them. Are they doing well? Did you manage to learn something about friendship?"
How dare you be nice, Sunset thought. How dare you be somepony I can't hate. She sighed. "Yeah, they're all fine." Suddenly she gave Twilight a disgruntled glare. "You know, you're lucky to have friends like that once. Twice is just disgusting."
Twilight snickered. "You know, with all the time you've probably spent with them by now... They're probably your friends now more than they ever were mine."
Sunset just stared at her for a moment. "You've got to be kidding me." She took a step forward, seething, and jabbed an accusing front hoof against Twilight's chest. "You connected with them and summoned the Elements of bloody Harmony. For all you know, I'm a mean-spirited bully who could never be friends with anyone. And yet, you're telling me they're my friends, and even more than yours? And that you trust me and respect me. Even though I stole the Element of Magic, tried to overthrow Celestia and enslave the minds of innocent people in the process! Why? Just what is it you know about me that I don't?"
"Ow." Twilight looked down at Sunset's hoof still pressing into her chest, then up at Sunset, who didn't budge. "If I said something like 'I just know', with the way you look right now, you'd probably beat me up," she said, smiling nervously.
"I'm glad we understand one another," Sunset Shimmer said, smiling murderously.
"Celestia passed me just now, and I looked at her." Twilight beamed. "That told me everything that I needed to know about you, really."
Sunset Shimmer just stared at that, and slowly let go.
"And you don't have to tell me about the terrible things you did. Remember? I was there," Twilight added matter-of-factly. "We all make mistakes. Sometimes, we make terrible mistakes. And we learn from them."
"Yes, I'm sure we have all misused mind control magic of tremendous power to suit our selfish needs at some point in our short and sinful lives." Sunset smirked, sarcasm dripping from her voice by the bucketful.
Twilight paused for just a moment. "Sometimes, we make terrible mistakes," she repeated. The intensity in her even tone sent a cold shiver through Sunset's spine. "And we learn from them."
"I'm guessing there's a story behind that," Sunset said, after she'd regained her composure.
Twilight smiled in response. "Possibly."
"Alright, fine," Sunset Shimmer said. "If you are stupid enough to trust me, I'll return the favor. Someone's got to correct your glaring and embarrassing misconceptions about the human world and it might as well be me. When will Princess Twilight Sparkle be able to make room in her busy schedule?"
Twilight produced a scroll of immeasurable length – Sunset didn't quite catch from where – and studied it extensively. Then she smiled and looked up. "Right now."
Sunset Shimmer blinked. "Until...?"
"Whenever!" Twilight exclaimed and clapped her hooves once, then went a shade of crimson on top of the purple. "Sorry," she said sheepishly. "I got myself a little excited."
I'm afraid you're being expected in the hallway. I'm sorry. Sunset Shimmer snickered. Well, it was supposed to be a punishment, so she had little right to complain. It would be an intense couple of days, or weeks.
And after that, there would be a future.
Massive thanks to MaggyMss for her beautiful cover art, and everyone over at the Giant in the Playground ponythread for encouragement and advice.
And the same, of course, to you, the reader!