In Sun's Light

Shining Armor and Graphite Sketch had just finished packing up to go home. All they had found of Celestia was her hoof guards, her chest plate, and her crown after looking a little bit. It was strange, to be honest. Celestia wasn't thought to sleep in her royal attire. Maybe she had donned it to face a threat she knew was coming. In any case, it was all that was left of her.

Graphite was done first, and was staring at the ground and waiting for Shining to finish when his shadow moved beneath him. He hurried to look up and caught a glimpse of the sun moving, only for a moment. Everything seemed hotter. It was her! Celestia had moved the sun! He ran inside.

"She's alive, Shining! We're not done yet!"

"What are you talking about?"

"The sun just moved! She moved it!"

"She did?"

* * *

"Well move it back!"

"I don't know how I moved it in the first place!"

Meredith had checked Gavin out of school after Sunshine had moved the sun. Astronomers were freaking out. It was already on the news.

"Come on, do something, this is bad! The sun shouldn't move, the earth does!"

"I know! Give me a second!" Sunshine thought for a moment. "Maybe I can just grab it." She attempted to do so, and it took a lot of effort. Something in the back of her mind told her it wasn't always this hard. After grabbing it, which was the hard part, moving it was a cinch, like rolling a ball across a hardwood floor. She tested the hold, moving it back and forth. Gavin was sure some astronomer in Houston was having a heart attack right now.

Sunshine seemed to know right where to put the sun, and didn't waste too much time putting it back. Luckily, she hadn't affected any planetary orbits, but she had diverted some meteors to the sun's surface.

"I got it!" she said.

* * *

Shining Armor watched the sun wave like a flag, back and forth through the sky, almost as though she was beckoning them. His princess was alive, he just knew it. He would find her, and bring her back, safe and sound.

"Graphite, I know we can find her."

"Yeah."

"Come on, let's go unpack our gear."

They did just that, and eventually had their makeshift house all done up again.

* * *

Gavin had noticed just how distant Sunshine suddenly was. He turned to look at her, and she was looking at him. As soon as their eyes met, she looked away in a hurry. Her mane was worrying him. It shouldn't have been. He knew why it was though. It was all the same colors as Celestia's. It was getting hard to deny now. Her personality was coming out. She was acting more and more like the princess of the sun with every moment. She could move the sun now too. At first it had been difficult, but now it came easily to her. She compared it to using her hooves to roll Gavin's soccer ball across the kitchen floor. It was harder to get it started, but once it was moving it was easy to control.

Gavin was slowly realizing that his pony, his little Sunshine, would have to learn the truth. In the form of her dreams, from what she described to him, she might already be learning it. But eventually she would have to know. Gavin should have told her already, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He loved her. He had to admit it. He couldn't let go. Sunshine was important to him. Still, she was even more important to others.

Man up, Gavin. He told himself. He knew, sooner or later, she had to get to Equestria. He just had to help her realize who she was first. He would do that as slow as possible. After all, unless a small dark blue filly was out in the woods somewhere, which he doubted, Equestria still had Luna to watch after it. He wasn't going to rush something like regaining memory anyways. For all he knew, it could damage mature Celestia's mind to force it all back out at once anyways. He didn't want to hurt her. No, he would keep her for now.

He had a moment of surprise when he felt something brush up against him.

* * *

Three days. Sunshine was terrified. No one else seemed to have heard anything, so no one else knew about the voice. The stallion. She looked up at Gavin, and their eyes met. She instantly looked away, because she couldn't bring herself to look him in the eye.

She knew she couldn't tell Gavin. He would insist upon helping her, trying to save her. She couldn't let him know what was going on. What if he got hurt, or worse? Or what if someone else got hurt defending them both when the three days were up? She knew what the stallion was waiting for. He was going to kill her. He had already tried. She wanted so desperately to just sob and shake with fear, but she couldn't. She had to be strong.

No, she couldn't let anyone know what she would do. It would have to be in secret that she went. She would leave a note, detailing what had happened and where she had gone. She would sacrifice herself in order to save everyone. She felt like she should. She was the reason for everything that had happened here. Monsters like these weren't on Earth. The stallion had brought them. She felt responsible for all that had happened. She would sacrifice everyone to save this new family of hers. But not yet. She wasn't ready to go yet. She was going to enjoy them as much as possible, and be comforted by them before she left.

Standing up on legs that felt shakier and number than they actually were, she walked slowly over to Gavin, ignoring the strange taste in her mouth, and rubbed against him. There was a warm feeling in her chest as he picked her up and hugged her. She managed a small smile.