School's out. For good. What should Sunset Shimmer do with her life now? A lot has changed since she entered this realm. Perhaps it's time to look back.
Sunset Shimmer, at the end of her high school career, has to make a decision about where to go and what to do. The answer seems to be obvious, but is she ready to take that leap?
(edit 2018-04-26: Might deal with this again someday, but it's not at the top of the list.)
The young woman stood in the courtyard of the school, staring at the obelisk before her, with her thoughts a million miles away.
Sunset Shimmer chewed on her lower lip, turning the idea over in her head for the thousandth time. Her head told her it was the right thing to do. Her heart, however, ached for the friends she'd made here in this realm.
The conversation she'd had at the end of the school year with Principal Celestia had sealed the deal, though.
"Congratulations, Sunset. You'll be graduating with honors."
Sunset smiled and nodded at the principal, seated on the other side of the desk. "Thank you," she said simply.
"Have you given thought to what's next for you? Your friends are moving on to college and university scholarships, but you haven't turned in any applications that I know of."
The red-and-gold-haired student - former student - fidgeted for a moment. "That's true," she admitted. "I haven't."
"Do you have plans?" Celestia asked with concern. "It won't do for someone as gifted as you to languish in ordinary menial jobs. You deserve better, you know."
Sunset breathed out through pursed lips, blowing a lock of hair away from her face. "I do have a plan," she acknowledged. "I think I should go... back."
Celestia raised an eyebrow; she understood what the normally-cryptic statement meant to this young lady. "I see," she said. "Are you ready for that?"
"I think... it's my responsibility to face it, no matter whether I'm ready or not. But to answer your question, I think I am."
Celestia rose from her chair and rounded the desk to put her hands on Sunset's shoulders. "This is the right thing to do," she assured the younger woman. "I'm proud that you've chosen this."
Sunset's heart soared at hearing that voice - that person - say she was proud of her. A little voice in the back of her head reminded her that this wasn't the same person she'd longed to hear that from, but she relished the moment anyway. "Thank you, Princip-"
"You're no longer a student here," the principal smiled. "Just Celestia is fine."
Afternoon was giving way to evening, and Sunset still stood before the statue in the front yard of the school.
She'd tortured herself for several days over whether or not to tell the girls her plans, but in the end, decided that if honesty and 'facing the music' was going to be her new way, there was no better place to start.
As expected, there was no shortage of emotion. Tears flowed, but as Rarity pointed out, they were spreading out and apart anyway; Rainbow Dash was going to one school on a sports scholarship, and Fluttershy another with a veterinary program. AJ was returning home to take a bigger role on the farm and to enrol in local college courses, and Rarity and Pinkie were each doing their own thing as well.
Sunset promised she would find a way to keep in touch. If Princess Twilight could make one magical journal, surely they could replicate it for the others. They wouldn't have to stop being friends just because they were separated by distance - or dimensional barriers for that matter.
And so, Sunset found herself standing in front of the statue in front of Canterlot High. She hadn't told the girls when she planned to make the journey, so that there wouldn't be a crowd to send her off; that, she didn't need. In the waning evening, with no school activities any more, she was the only person around.
She took a step forward, then crouched down, and lifted a hand. In this pose, she froze still for a moment.
This is the last time you'll have these, she mused, wiggling her fingers.
Then, without another thought, she reached out and thrust her hand into the side of the statue's base. Defying physics, her fingertips passed through the marble facade as if it wasn't there.
Here we go.
With a twitch of her shoulder, Sunset Shimmer plunged the rest of her arm through the portal, the rest of her body following.
The transition was disorienting, as she recalled it to be. Splayed out on a crystalline floor, she took stock of herself.
Looking down, her hands were replaced with hooves, at the end of forelegs covered in yellow-orange fur. A protrusion from her forehead made its presence known, and in seconds, the familiarity of her old form rushed back to her, filling her with nearly-forgotten sensations.
It felt as if she was wrapping herself in a favorite, comfortable jacket, as she put her hooves on the floor and stood up on all fours, back in her pony unicorn form.
The thought of a jacket made her look over her shoulder at her now bare back, save her cutie mark on her flank, and of course her tail coiled behind her.
"Gonna miss that jacket. And those boots," she murmured, then shrugged to herself and looked around.
The portal, and its mirror that was its destination terminus, appeared to be in a parlor room of some sort in a castle. The last time she'd been through it, it was in the Royal Castle in Canterlot, but she had no idea if that still rang true.
Flashing back to the memory of the last time she'd used the portal, she had a sudden urge to skitter towards a dark corner and hide in the shadows, lest she be discovered. It took all the willpower she had to keep that from happening. You're not hiding, not skulking around anymore, she told herself. This is you coming home and facing the music.
She approached the tall double doors and concentrated, smiling happily when her horn flared and the doors swung open, ensconced in her signature teal glow. The open doorway revealed a corridor with many similar exits along its length as far as she could see in both directions.
Her elation gave way to a confused frown directed at the unfamiliar hallway. "This clearly isn't Canterlot," she mumbled to herself. Stepping out of the room and closing the doors behind her, she chose a direction at random and walked that way, her hooves clicking on the marble floor.
Oddly enough, door after door in the curving hallway revealed nothing but more and more seemingly-unused rooms. This isn't the Castle of the Two Sisters, is it? she wondered. No, it was far too bright and clean to be that abandoned relic.
As her magic grasped the next door along, she felt another's telekinetic tug on the other side. She released it and heard a voice from behind the door muttering to itself.
"This better not be another of those stupid confetti cannons... what the hay is the Princess doing with those in here anyway? She's not that kind of prankster..."
Sunset blinked and stared open-mouthed as she came face-to-face with another unicorn. The other mimicked her own surprised look, and they could have been twins if not for the other's pale pink coat and purple and teal-streaked mane.
"Up here," a voice came from high above Starlight Glimmer. She tilted her head upward and saw the Princess of Friendship flapping her wings lazily, hovering in midair several dozen feet off the ground. Before her was an emptied bookshelf, with no less than thirty books floating all around her. A critical glance at two of the books resulted in one of them being placed away, and then the other placed further down the empty shelf - then picked up again, moved a fraction of a book-width, and placed down once more.
Starlight gaped at the obsessive behavior for a split second, then regained her composure. "I, um, well, I found a pony-"
"Another friend?" Twilight interrupted, smiling as she shelved another pair of books, and then studied yet another pair to find their homes. "That's great news!"
"Rrright," Starlight said. "About that... she's somepony you know, so she says..."
Twilight's book-sorting antics froze in place as her mind locked up, racing to come up with the possibilities. She said with despair, "Does she have holes in her legs?"
"What?" Starlight blurted out, screwing up her expression in confusion. "No!"
"Oh. Good then!" Twilight beamed, still not having turned away from the bookshelf, to which she continued depositing tomes. "You know, you don't have to go through with this whole dramatic introduction for every pony you befriend - just bring them in-"
"Well, this one says you may not be very happy to see her," Starlight admitted, still lingering by the doorway of the room.
Again Twilight stopped her work, this time confused. Somepony I don't want to see? she mused, scrunching up her own face in bewilderment. She pivoted and looked down at her student. "That's absurd. Just tell me who it-"
Standing beside the pink unicorn was another unicorn, and definitely one Twilight had not expected to set hoof in her castle any time soon.
Twilight hurriedly fluttered down from the heights of the room, the books quickly descending into an orderly pile on the crystal floor below. "Sunset Shimmer?!" she gasped.
Sunset managed a sheepish smile and a feeble wave of her hoof. "Um... surprise?" she said quietly.
Then, suddenly, she oof'ed and rocked backwards a little as she was engulfed in a two-legged, two-winged hug.
"It's great to see you!" Twilight all but squealed. "What are you doing here, though? A vacation?" Twilight backed out of the hug and gave her a smirk and a wink. "Not looking for something to steal away with, I hope!"
Sunset's cheeks reddened under her amber fur. "Actually," she said, looking away, her smile evaporating at the mention of thievery, "school's finished - I mean, I'm done with it, so there was nothing left for me to do back there-"
"Oh! So you came back!" Twilight interrupted happily. "To stay?"
Starlight's eyes darted back and forth between the two like she was watching a tennis match.
"That... was my original plan," Sunset said tinily, "but now I'm not sure... I'm getting cold fe... hooves all of a sudden, like I don't belon-"
"Nonsense!" Twilight said, pivoting once more and wrapping a wing around the new arrival. "Sunset, this is your home! If there's any place you belong, it's here in Equestria." She began to lead the pony into the hall, heading towards the stairs. A quick spellcasting later, she spoke again, her voice bellowing throughout the castle. "Spike! Set the table, please! We have a guest!"
Starlight blinked, then hurried to follow Princess Twilight and her apparent friend, still not understanding what was going on.
"And then Twilight and the others - well, the other others, because, you know, they aren't the ponies from here, but their counterparts from there, they all sprouted ears and tails, and wings, well, some of them of course, like Twilight and Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, and-"
"They have the same names as the ponies here?" Starlight interrupted Spike, who had been telling the story of how they had all gotten to know Sunset Shimmer.
"Uh-huh! And they look the same - well, kinda, except they're bald, more or less, and walk like me on two legs instead of four. And anyway, that caused a rainbow to burst out of the magic surrounding them all, and woosh-"
Spike hopped up on the table and, little arms raised, ran from Twilight over towards Sunset, who recoiled as he drew near. He hopped down and ran around her chair several times making 'woosh'ing noises.
"Then Sunset turned back to normal. Well, normal for that world. The bald, two-legged version," he amended.
"They're not bald," Twilight and Sunset stereoed with nearly-identical frowns on their muzzles. They looked up at one another and Twilight giggled; Sunset allowed herself a faint smile in response.
"You know what I mean," Spike went on as he clambered back into his own seat.
"That's amazing," Starlight breathed, looking between the two ponies. She let her gaze fall on Sunset. "And then you stayed there?"
Sunset began to quietly nod, but Twilight spoke up. "She did! And got into more adventures, might I add. Ask her about the rock band, and the Friendship Gam-"
"'Rock' band?" Starlight asked evenly, quirking an eyebrow.
"Yeah! With electric guitars and everything!" The Princess of Friendship mimed - poorly - the playing of a guitar with her forehooves.
Starlight swiveled her confused gaze towards the newcomer.
"It'll take some time to explain everything," Sunset told her. "That world is a lot different than ours."
"I'm strangely intrigued," Starlight said, using her magic to slide herself and her chair closer to Sunset's. The amber unicorn blinked at the level of skill Twilight's new protégé displayed. "I want to hear all about it."
"S-sure," Sunset said, shrinking back and smiling a little nervously. "You'll understand, I hope, if I tell my story on my own schedule," she went on. "I did some things I'm not very proud of back there."
Starlight scoffed and let out a short laugh. "I'll bet I can top that. Unless you ensl-"
"Hey, I know!" Twilight said, snapping back to reality from her air-guitar solo and interrupting the two. "I know who you should go see!"
Sunset stared darkly down the lavender hoof pointed at her, back to its owner. "No, en oh, no, negative, uh-uh." After a moment, she mumbled, "...not yet."
"Wha?" Starlight blinked, looking back and forth between the two once again. "What am I missing?"
"Don't you think she'll want to see you?" Twilight pleaded her case. "I've been keeping her up-to-date on your friendship repo-"
"I'm not ready, Twilight," Sunset bit out. "Would you just drop it?"
Twilight paused and looked at the newly-returned pony for a moment. "Okay," she finally said softly, adding nothing more.
Starlight couldn't get another word out of the newcomer throughout the meal. Twilight wouldn't say anything further either.
After the meal, Twilight asked Spike to clear the table, and Starlight volunteered to help, hoping she could eke some information out of the little dragon. Twilight led her guest out of the dining hall.
"So, if you're here, and you don't want to go to Canterlot," Twilight said once they were out of earshot of the others, "I guess you need a place to stay, huh?"
Sunset kept her head down as she plodded forward, mumbling, "I don't want to impose. I'll find-"
"Nonsense," Twilight repeated herself from earlier in the day. "Look at the size of this place. I will not have you spending bits you don't have at an inn, or worse yet roaming the streets or the Everfree looking for a makeshift shelter, while there are dozens of rooms unused in this gigantic castle."
Once again Sunset felt a wing envelop her shoulders and draw her closer. "Sunset," the Princess by her side said softly, "...we're friends. This is what friends do for one another."
As she stood there in the hallway, eyes shut, Sunset Shimmer felt tears start to flow. She tried to hold them back, but they were bound and determined to escape. She did manage to keep her shoulders from jerking with a sob.
"Thank you," she said in a whisper.
A short time later, Twilight had led Sunset to a spare bedroom, then briefly teleported away, reappearing momentarily with extra bedsheets and pillows from her own room. She levitated them over to Sunset, and the unicorn took them in her own teal-colored glow. Twilight smiled and nodded, happy that Sunset's magic was evidently easily regained.
"'Just like riding a bike', like they say over there, right?" Twilight smiled.
"Guess so," Sunset said, allowing herself a gentle smile too.
"Get some rest," the princess suggested. "Tomorrow you can meet the girls. And tour around town."
"Just that," Sunset stressed. "No more."
"Not until you're ready," Twilight nodded. "Like you said."
Sunset silently nodded in return, eyes focused a million miles away.
"Goodnight, Sunset," Twilight said after a few moments' silence, pulling the door closed with her magic. "And welcome back."
"Thanks," Sunset nodded one more time as the door shut.
She turned and made the bed, not lifting a hoof to do so, instead performing the whole task telekinetically to get back into practice. Like Twilight said, it was coming back to her with ease.
Climbing into bed, she lay down with her chin against the pillow, realizing she'd slept flat on her back, with legs and arms at her sides, for the last time. From now on, it was back to being on her side or her belly, or in a pinch, standing up on all fours.
The outburst from earlier shoved its way back into her thoughts, and she shut her eyes as if that would make the vision go away.
But, in her mind's eye, she still saw herself walking nervously down the halls of a different castle, this one in Canterlot, towards a royal throne room.
Not yet, she told herself quietly, willing the image to fade from her mind's eye. I'm not ready.
Despite her sleeping chambers being a great distance away from the front doors of the castle - a distance that should have prevented sound from carrying that far - the previously peacefully slumbering princess' eyelids shot wide open, her pupils shrinking to pinpoints as she recognized the shrill shrieking voice calling her name.
Then she mumbled a single phrase.
"Oh, horseap-"
Starlight Glimmer stomped toward
BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM
the entry hall of the castle, ears flattening against
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her skull as she got closer to the racket.
"TWILIGHT! SPIKE! STARLIGHT! ANYPONY!"
Spike had met Starlight in the hallway connecting the bedrooms, but before she could speak, he shoved her towards the stairs, clapped his little clawed digits over his ears, and hurried back towards his bed.
BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM
So it had fallen to Starlight to go answer the door.
"I KNOW YOU GUYS ARE HOLDING OUT ON ME!"
BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM
Starlight thought of a number of retorts she could have thrown the hollerer's way. Or maybe I could magick away her mouth... no, knowing her, she's got some way around that.
BAM BAM BAM-
-Starlight opened the door and was about to yell, but instead got headbutted by a bubblegum-pink earth pony.
"Ow!" Starlight winced, rubbing the tip of her horn and wincing. "What is your problem, Pinkie?!"
The normally bubbly party pony looked beyond miffed, past agitated, straight to downright furious as she stared down Twilight's pupil. Chillingly, her voice was just as chipper as ever. "Hi, Starlight! I just wanted to talk to Twilight about something. Is she in?"
"In bed, probably," Starlight grumbled. "Like everypony else is. I don't think even Celestia's up to raise the sun yet-"
"Don't be silly, I always get up at the crack of dawn," Pinkie Pie grinned, indicating the early morning light spilling onto the ground outside. "But this is important. I got up this morning and got out of bed, and when I hit the floor, I was like THIS!"
Pinkie had stepped back and stood still - for a rare moment - and Starlight glanced over her briefly. "And?" she finally said.
Pinkie leaned back in, snout-to-snout with Starlight. "My left front is an eighth of an inch shorter than the others today! And you have to know there is only one thing that manifests in left front hoof shrinkage! Don't you?"
Starlight blinked, then remembered: the ridiculous 'Pinkie Sense' gibberish that Twilight had told her about one time. "I must have slept through that friendship lesso-"
Pinkie suddenly grabbed her by the shoulders and shoved her face back into Starlight's personal space. "There's a pony in town that I haven't met yet," Pinkie said through gritted teeth.
"Gah," Starlight squirmed in Pinkie's grasp.
Momentarily, another voice was heard as another pony descended one of the grand staircases in the lobby. "Starlight?" Sunset called out sleepily. "What are you yelling about?"
Sunset blinked and froze in place as she registered a stunned, wide-eyed Pinkie Pie clinging tightly to Starlight Glimmer, both of them staring at her.
An hour later, the main meeting hall was full - beyond capacity, truth be told, with Starlight and Sunset having to stand, as all the chairs were occupied by the bearers of the marks inscribed on the chair backs.
"So, um, everypony," Twilight said with a nervous smile, "I think you all know Sunset Shimmer."
"We don't know her know her," Pinkie said, cheery as ever, "but we know what you've said about her stealing your Element and spiriting it away to another world where other versions of us helped defeat her and return your crown back here to Equestria..."
Sunset's foreshoulders drooped along with her ears and expression. Yup, you're Pinkie for sure, she kept to herself.
"We get that," a casual but accented voice said, which Sunset attributed to the hatted Earth pony off to her right. "But why is she here?" Applejack cast a look towards Sunset. "No offense meant."
Twilight spoke up while Sunset nodded acceptingly towards the farm pony. "Her time at Canterlot High was done," the princess explained, "and she needed someplace to go. I for one think she was very brave to come home and face the music."
"Oooh! Music!" Pinkie said with realization, and pulled a notebook out of her fluffy mane, scribbling briefly in it while mumbling aloud, "Get music for tonight!"
"Are you really going to subject the poor mare to one of your parties so suddenly, dear?" Rarity asked. "That's a lot for a pony to take all of a sudden."
"It's okay," Sunset said, managing a smile. "I'm used to it."
"From the other us'es, right?" the one that could only be Rainbow Dash chimed in.
"Haven't we been through this before?" Twilight said with mild agitation.
"Yeah, from you," Dash said, pointing at her with a wing. "We want to get her take on 'us'!"
"I'm not sure I want to hear about another me," came Fluttershy's soft voice. "It feels strange to even think about."
"Oh, I disagree, darling," Rarity countered. "It's a very mysterious and intriguing concept."
"Pinkie," Twilight said, turning to the earth pony, "Let's get this back on track. Why did you call for us all to gather together?"
Pinkie beamed. "To welcome Sunset home, of course!"
At least four heads hit the table.
"Couldn't we've done that at something approaching noon?" Applejack commented. "I mean, welcome back to Equestria and all, Sunset, but I got chores to do."
"I have napping to do," Rainbow Dash supplied.
Sunset couldn't help it; she giggled at that. Starlight cast a sidelong glance at her, and smirked.
Twilight allowed herself a smile, but it faded after a moment as she saw Sunset's expression darken and her head dip down, her mane enveloping her face.
"Sunset? Are you okay?" Twilight asked, getting half out of her seat.
"I-I'm fine," she said, holding up a hoof, lifting her head, and drawing in a deep breath. "I'm just... it's gonna be hard fitting in. I hear your voices, the voices of familiar friends, but I've never met any of you. And I'm thinking of how I treated them back... then... and how they befriended me despite all that... and... and I'm worried you might not..."
As Sunset trailed off, Starlight was the first to reach her and offer comfort. "Sunset, I have first-hoof experience in this, so trust me when I say, these ponies are physically incapable of holding a grudge. Especially when you didn't wrong them in the first place."
Sunset looked around at the six smiles facing her as Twilight picked up where Starlight left off. "That's right. My friends are your friends. They may not be the same people you've known from the other world, but trust me, they're just the same when it comes to friendship. They won't let you down, and even if you manage to do something you might regret, they'll stick right beside you, no matter what."
Sunset smiled at the nods she was seeing from around the map/table. For the second day in a row, she found tears forming at the corners of her eyes. "Thanks, everyo... everypony," she said sincerely.
The group crowded around her to offer their kind words and support. Pinkie was the one to break the group hug first. "Well, time for me to go! Make sure you don't eat too much today, so you have room for yummy treats tonight!"
"I guess you're a lot like the other Pinkie," Sunset smiled. "I'm surprised I didn't balloon up like a pig while I was in school."
Pinkie grinned devilishly as she headed for the door. "We've got time to work on that! Happy Sunset Shimmer Day!"
The amber unicorn blinked. "Say what?" she blurted out, nearly drowned out by peals of laughter.