Never for the life of her did Sunset Shimmer believe she would ever come back. It had been years, so many years, since the fiery-maned unicorn had last laid eyes on the door before her in the private wing of the elegant-as-always Canterlot Castle. Never did she think that she would ever walk through that portal hating Equestria and her own shortcomings, and then come back through with a changed heart of sadness and regret- and friendship.
But here she was, all thanks to the lavender alicorn next to her.
“Well,” Twilight Sparkle asked, looking at her expectantly, “aren’t you going in?”
“I-I don’t know, Twilight.” Sunset gulped, “Maybe this wasn’t such a-”
“Yes, yes it was a good idea.” Twilight scolded, “Besides, she’s been asking to see you since the Battle of the Bands.”
“I know you, Twi.” Sunset gave her a look, “For all I know, you could’ve just tricked me- tricked both of us- into an unexpected meeting. For all I know, you could have just made things even more awkward and...and…”
Twilight laid a wing over her withers, comfortingly, “Okay, you’re right, MAYBE I would do that-”
Her friend glared at her.
“-but not this time. This time, she’s expecting you. And frankly,” Twilight gave her a knowing look, “I think you know how much YOU want to see HER.”
Sunset drew in a breath, and then let it out in a sigh, “Remind me why I told you that, again?”
Twilight giggled, “Honestly, I don’t even know how I got you to open up about that. I honestly never expected to uncover anything regarding it in the first place, especially while I was helping to reorganize the royal archives. Now, though, you have a chance to make something of it. So the question is: what ARE you going to do, Sunset?”
“First of all, if you DID trick me into coming here, you owe me big time, princess.”
“Done.”
“Second of all,” Sunset sighed, and looked at the door, stepping towards it and away from Twilight’s comforting wing, “I...guess I’m gonna...go in. Just...wait here, will ya?”
“Of course I will, Sunset.” Twilight smiled, playfully standing tall and straight to show that she wouldn't move a muscle.
Sunset smiled back, but her smiled disappeared the second she looked back at the door. With one look back at her princess friend, who nodded, she slowly raised a hoof and rapped it on the solid wood door a few times.
“Enter.” A regal, yet soft, feminine voice said from within. It was a voice that Sunset had not heard in so long, and as such the circumstances made her nearly want to break off running when she heard it- it scared her, yet at the same time, she missed that voice and its owner. Strengthening her resolve- mainly thinking of how she’d have Twilight pay her back if this was awkward- Sunset raised her hoof again and opened the door a bit. She quietly slipped inside the room, and shut the door behind her, ever so softly. It clicked shut but made no further noise.
Princess Celestia’s chambers had hardly changed since she had last seen them. Right there was the same bed, curtains and bedclothes; as well as the many different and very soft cushions that littered the room in several places, particularly the large one in front of the marble fireplace. Right there was the same bookshelves, filled with the head princess’s most private collection of journals and, ahem, “guilty-pleasure” romance novels, as well as the desk that sat against the wall to the far right. Finally, there was still the elegant velvet, rose-colored drapes that hung on either side of the balcony door, which was open to reveal the darkened, pre-sunrise morning…
...and the large, FAMILIAR, white alicorn with a nebula-colored mane sitting outside. After having been the presence of her plainspoken, human principal counterpart for so long, the very sight of Princess Celestia herself made Sunset’s heart stop for a moment, giving her pause that was worse than when she had simply heard the larger mare’s VOICE.
She’s...just the same as always.... Sunset wondered why she had ever thought that Celestia had changed in the past several years, but she had, and she was surprised to find that it was like stepping into the past- a past where she would come to Celestia’s chambers for many things: special magic lessons, chats over tea, to watch her raise the sun, and even after...the occasional nightmare…
Celestia’s back was to Sunset, but the orange-yellow mare knew that she wasn’t just looking out at the scenery. The golden aura surrounding her horn could attest to that as well, as the outside world began to brighten with the sun’s disk beginning to appear over the horizon. The sight of Celestia raising the sun, the huge ball of light following her sole command to rise every morn, was something Sunset could honestly never be tired of seeing- even though the princess was currently wearing none of her royal accoutrements. In fact, even when she had been the big bad girl from CHS, she still found herself on the roof of her apartment building, looking out at the eastern horizon and imagining the princess…
You could’ve continued to see it, first-hand, you know, her rebellious mind told her, but you just HAD to push it, you just HAD to become the bad girl in the first place- lusting for power like a foal.
Sunset shook her head, I know that, so shut up! I’m at least TRYING!
Yeah, yeah, you made it three feet into the room. Big whoop.
Quiet!
Taking another breath (she should REALLY consider those breathing exercises Twilight wanted to teach her), Sunset slowly walked over to the balcony to stand just inside the doorway, keeping a careful on Celestia as she moved, very quietly and trying to not make a sound. Twice she nearly tripped over her own hooves, yet Celestia still did not move. The glow around her horn indicated that she was still in a state of deep concentration, and Sunset was content to watch her for the longest time, waiting patiently yet anxiously, knowing that there had to be words spoken between them at some point but at no rush to start anything for the moment. Besides, it was difficult enough just being in the alicorn’s unknowing presence, at least for Sunset.
Yes, she was quite content to wait.
That is, of course, until Celestia started humming.
It was a very familiar lullaby- one that only SHE, and not Twilight, had ever had the right to hear from the alicorn’s lips. Though Celestia was not singing them, Sunset could still remember the lyrics clearly, when the alicorn had sung them to her as a filly so long ago:
Slow-ly, as night and dark-ness fades
I’ll hold you, in the light of day
Sleep tight, as you were before
At the sunset when you had come
Sleep....tight. Good….night.
Until...tomorrow’s even-ing light~...
A tear came to Sunset’s eye, but she did nothing to wipe it away. All she could focus on was the tune, and the alicorn- her back still to the unicorn- in front of her, and the sun on said alicorn’s flank.
So much like the one on hers…
Inside, something snapped. All of Sunset’s anxiety and restraints shattered.
The tears flowing freely now, she sniffed and slowly walked up behind Celestia to stand beside her. Then, with only a brief pause, the fiery-maned unicorn slowly tilted herself to the right and leaned against Celestia’s left side, just in front of her folded wing and feeling her sun-like warmth almost immediately start to flow through her, comfortably.
Celestia stopped humming, and started, the muscles beneath her fur tensing up at the sudden contact. Despite the warmth, the sudden sensation of the alicorn’s lilac eyes on her made her shiver- in fear? In anticipation? She didn’t know, but a part of her decided that it was best not to hold off on saying anything.
“Sunset?” Celestia’s voice held no anger, nor resentment, as she thought it would contain, but rather...hope? Inhaling sharply, Sunset slowly looked up to meet the Sun Princess’s eyes. Like her voice, they held no negative emotion, and her entire expression seemed bewildered, as if not quite believing what she was seeing.
Sunset opened her mouth, but no sound would come out. She silently cursed her vocal cords for their betrayal. Focusing on ‘doing’ rather than ‘saying’ something, she buried her face into Celestia’s side, nuzzling.
“Hey, Mom.” She finally said after a moment.
A pair of lips touched her forehead, just above her horn, and then she felt a bunch of light feathers at her back as Celestia wrapped a soft wing around her, holding the unicorn as a pegasus mother would hold her foal.
That was pretty much what it was for the two of them.
“Oh, my little sunbeam.” Celestia cooed, and nuzzled the top of her head gently, the dampness that remained telling Sunset that her mother was also crying a bit, “I know Twilight told me that you were coming, but, seeing you now…?”
“It’s like a dream?” Sunset guessed.
“Yes. It is.” Celestia kissed her forehead again, and then pulled her closer.
They stayed like that for several minutes, mother and daughter both enjoying the warmth and company of one another. Sunset knew that just watching the sunset from atop her apartment building in the human world- or here in Equestria- was NOTHING compared to actually being where she was, alongside the alicorn she considered more than just Equestria’s ruler, and even more than a practical embodiment of the sun that now moved freely above the horizon.
But after a few moments, it was clear that one of them had to speak at some point regardless of how much they would possibly hate it, but when Celestia spoke first, her words were completely unexpected,
“Sunset...I’m sorry.”
“Sorry?” Sunset pulled back slightly, the wing still around her but her eyes focused on her mother’s, “Why are you sorry? It was my fault!”
“Not entirely, if not at all.” Celestia responded, wiping Sunset’s tears away with a gentle hoof, before running that same hoof through the unicorn’s fiery mane.
“What do you mean?”
“I was supposed to be there for you, to teach you and watch you grow with the proper guidance and morals.” Celestia looked down, “Instead, all I ever focused on regarding you was that foolish prophecy, of Nightmare Moon and the Elements of Harmony.”
Sunset said nothing.
“I kept training you for something that was meant for somepony else,” the alicorn princess continued, “expecting too much- and neglecting you, REPLACING you, almost the second you showed me your cutie mark, and I realized that it was not the right one. I was a foal, Sunset, I cared for little else than your Aunt Luna’s return, and because of it...I lost you. I kept LOSING my own family, even when I was trying to REUNITE it. I wasn’t being the mother I should have been, instead only considering myself a teacher to you.”
Celestia smiled sadly, “I honestly can’t blame you for what you did- you were trying to show me, to get me to see how great you really were, how magic was your talent even though you were not to be the bearer of the Element itself…”
“But I went too far,” Sunset could only have a flashback of that confrontation they’d had in the Dark Magic section of the Royal Library, when she had…, “and I lost my mind, became too full of it for my own good.”
“I agree, the dark magic was crossing a line,” Celestia sighed, “but then again, your Aunt Luna had done something almost-eerily similar almost a millennium before, and SHE could also be justified in her actions- I had neglected her, as well, along with many other ponies..."
Sunset looked up at her, smiling as well, “You forgive me for throwing that book at you, then?”
“If I could forgive your aunt for shooting me out of the sky- don’t ask!” Celestia smirked, waiting until Sunet's opened mouth had closed again, “Then, I think I can forgive my own daughter for trying to introduce me intimately to Starswirl’s Studies of the Darkest and Most Unknown.”
Sunset laughed; a genuine, joyous laugh, leaning against her once more, “I...honestly don’t know what to say to that,” Her smiled faded, “except that I’m sorry, too…”
Celestia tried to object, “Sunset, you don’t-”
Sunset pressed a hoof to her chest, a gesture asking for silence, “No, I HAVE to apologize. You obviously won’t let me take much blame in what happened, then, but that still doesn’t excuse what I did to Twilight and the others. I mean, I stole her crown- I wasn’t trying to get anyone to see anything, or prove anything. I just wanted to take over Equestria, have what I thought I deserved.”
She looked down, “I ended up losing everything I DID have, all because I ended up as some sort of she-demon that Twilight and the other girls had to defeat.”
“So that’s about it, I guess,” She finished, lamely, “I’m sorry, Mom...for everything.”
Celestia’s only response at first was to wrap her wing even more tightly around her, but quietly she said, “Humility, and a desire to accept as much of the blame for things as possible. It is something I had never seen you with before, with how much attitude you took from your father. You really have matured so much,” she nuzzled her beloved daughter again, “my little sunbeam.”
Sunset could only smile, though a slight blush dusted her cheeks at the sound of her foalhood nickname. Even though Celestia had called her that just a moment before, at any other time it was embarrassing for her to hear- not that she had heard it too often before she had first traveled through the mirror- better to keep a daughter of Celestia secret from the more corrupt nobles in Canterlot rather than spill the beans and reveal the Sun Princess’s ‘romantic encounter’ with the late captain of her royal guard. As such, the secrecy only served to distance them further, hindering more than it helped.
As if reading her thoughts, Celestia’s expression turned inquisitive, “Sunset?”
“Yes?”
“Your old room has been preserved, and is as it was before you left. You know you are welcome to come here and stay at any time, right?”
Sunset nodded, “I do know, and I will- I just don’t really wanna leave the girls for too long, you know?”
Celestia chuckled, “If they truly are anything like Twilight and her friends over here, then I can quite agree with that- you ARE close to them, after all.”
“But…”
“But?”
“I don’t know what I’m going to do after I graduate.” The unicorn said, “I can’t really attend college over there- ‘Equestria’ isn’t an nationality option on most if not all applications that I’ve seen, and where you live seems to be a vital part of the whole thing…”
“I run a school of my own, Sunset, just like my human counterpart does.” Celestia looked at her, silently telling her that an explanation was not necessary, “I think I would know a few things about how written applications work.”
“Sorry, forgot for a moment.” She apologized, sheepishly, “Anyway, that world requires a much higher education for most careers, so…”
“I’m sure you would be able to make due, wouldn’t you?” Celestia assured her, "Knowing you, you would no doubt find SOME WAY of getting there."
“Yeah, but…I was wondering,” Sunset sighed, “would you be willing to...let me return to stay? Would you be willing to retake me as a student?”
Celestia bowed her head, and once again kissed the spot just above her daughter’s smaller horn, “You never stopped being either my student or my daughter, Sunset. You always will be allowed to return home, and live here with me and Luna. However, may I ask YOU something as well?”
“What is it?”
Celestia nuzzled her again, “If I promised to fulfill the role from now on, would you still accept me- love me- as your mother?”
Sunset could only, once again, think about her time away from Equestria and all she had done even before her reformation, realizing quite a bit: Watching the sunrise and sunset in the evening, and all the many times she had caught herself reciting her mentor’s words under her breath- even though she knew very well that those lessons were useless to her as a human and that she was supposed to hate Celestia…
Hay, even when I was against her, trying to distance myself from her, I still missed her, clung to her....
“Of course I would.” Sunset smiled, the new morning's light brightening her face, “It's like you said: I never stopped.”
Author's Note
Well, there you have it, folks: another Momlestia fic, this time a oneshot. I honestly don't know what I have exactly for these kinds of family fics, but I'm definitely not complaining. If you like this story, by all means leave one if you want, and if you have anything you'd like to say, by all means leave a comment. I have a couple of other, more longer fics I've been working and might publish in the near future, and this was mainly just an idea- one of many- that I had in the process of writing those other stories.
A huge shoutout to Sporktacles' Everything I've Ever Wanted for the majority of my inspiration when it comes to Momlestia and Sunset Shimmer fics. Another author who inspired this piece in particular is EntityRelationship's You Can Always Come Home
, though I will claim the lullaby included here- you can tell because it's only one verse, I'm THAT bad at thinking up and writing songs for these fics.
YES, I am going to always tell which of you authors inspired which of my fics, because the credit mainly goes to you all for writing such good stories in the first place, inspired stories that inspired me in turn. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this fic- and perhaps the next one will actually be more than one chapter...hopefully 
