Terms of Forgiveness

by Fylifa

Rating: teen
Tags: Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, Twilight Sparkle (EqG), My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Romance, Drama, Comedy, Equestria Girls, Princess Celestia
Length: 20342

With the memory stone crisis behind her, it's time for Sunset to deal with an even bigger challenge: Princess Celestia wanting to visit her...on Earth

With the memory stone crisis behind her, it's time for Sunset to deal with an even bigger challenge:

A caring Princess Celestia interested in seeing how Sunset lives on Earth.

* Takes place right after Forgotten Friendship, Teen for some tame Sun x Sci-Twi Romance Fluff
* Helps to have seen the two minute short Rarity's Display of Affection
* Cover From a Picture by akainu7
* Editing help by Clancrusher
* Featured on Equestria Daily's 2018 Sunset Day 50 Fic list! :yay:
* Translated into Chinese on Fimtale by Cyber Poison
* Now with a Fan Spanish translation by spaniard-kiwi!

Recommended - PresentPerfect

Published 2018-03-22 12:30:06 UTC
Last updated 2018-04-07 02:11:19 UTC

Chapter 2- Two's Company, Three's Love

“It looks like someone ripped off the button for your buzzer for whatever reason. Though the circuit wasn’t working with it, anyway,” Twilight remarked after Sunset opened the door for her. She held out the button in the palm of her hand.

“That one belongs to my neighbor actually… why did you bring it up here?”

“I thought I could fix it if you had a screwdriver handy,” Twilight said sheepishly.

Sunset shook her head, but it was hard keeping the smile off her face. “You know it’s the landlord’s job to fix that sort of stuff.”

Twilight fiddled with her glasses. “Like he cares. It’ll take me five minutes, tops. Just let m—oh! Hello?” Her sheepish expression turning into embarrassment when she realized someone else was in the room.

Celestia made a small wave with her hand. “Hello, dear.”

Sunset sighed and backed away from the door to let Twilight in. “Sorry for not picking up the phone. I was visiting Equestria and well… as you can see, I brought someone back with me.”

Twilight looked at the alike haired Sunset and Celestia, blinking owlishly behind her glasses. “Sunny, you never talk about your family! Hello miss…”

Celestia glanced over at Sunset, a smile starting on her lips before taking Twilight’s hand. “It’s Sunshimmer.”

Sunset glared at her from behind Twilight and mouthed ‘really?’ Though Sunset’s expression only made Celestia’s smile twitch dangerously close to a smirk.

Oblivious to the stares, Twilight gasped and brought a hand to her mouth.

“Yeah, uhh, so Sunshimmer here. She’s my—oof!” Sunset was interrupted when Twilight swatted her shoulder.

“You never told me that you were one too!” Twilight cried.

“Umm… one of what?”

“A female junior! You’re named after your mom! I thought I was the only one in this town.”

“My… Mom…” Sunset managed. Mentally, she’d danced around that particular idea and intended to introduce Celestia as an aunt or big sister, but Twilight was already getting carried away.

“Hello, Miss Shimmer! This must sound like such a silly thing to get excited over, but my name is—”

Celestia raised a hand and finished Twilight’s sentence for her. “Twilight Sparkle. Sunset often talks about you.”

Twilight stiffened beside the still agape Sunset. “She does? What did she say?”

“She said you two formed a bond after combating magic and corruption together. That saving you gave her joy that she was finally doing good.” Celestia smiled at Sunset. “She also mentioned that she felt you were the best thing in this world for her. Someone who can see her for who she is and not her past.”

Twilight blushed. “Sunny, y-you told your mom all of that?”

Sunset’s eye twitched, recognizing the line from her Friendship Report. “I wrote it. I guess I didn’t realize how it would sound out loud.”

Twilight smiled. “It’s okay to be a little flowery if you needed to convince her.” She turned towards Celestia. “Sunny is the most helpful and generous person I know. Even if she supposedly has a history as a bully.”

“Supposedly?” Sunset asked with an arched brow.

“I know it’s anecdotal, but it’s been nearly two years, and I still haven’t seen you being negative to anyone. Data points don’t lie.”

“I think you’re biased, professor,” Sunset said with some playfulness.

Twilight grinned and turned back to Celestia. “But in any case, I’m thrilled to know your daughter.”

“It’s wonderful to see that my little Sunset has made some very special friends,” Celestia said.

The princess’ tone had a certain knowing quality that Sunset blushed over. Desperately searching for a change in topic, Sunset spoke up. “Hey, Twilight, how is the motorcycle doing? Did you finish working on it?”

Twilight brightened and after a brief digging in her bag brought out a set of keys. “I did! It was why I came over in the first place. I hope you like how it looks.”

Sunset put her hand out for the keys. “I’m sure it’s fine. You saved me a ton getting it tuned up at the shop… hmm?” Twilight was still holding onto the keys.

“I also did something else to it,” Twilight said, hesitantly.

“Oh no,” Sunset groaned. “Don’t tell me you made it do something crazy like fly.”

“Actually…”

“Twilight! Celestia help me if you’ve—”

Twilight blinked. “Huh? The principal?” Behind her, the Celestia straightened. If she still had her pony ears, they probably would have been perked.

Sunset rubbed her face. It was going to be a long day. “Nevermind that. What did you do to my bike?”

“I gave it a sidecar. To make it easier to drive around together. It’d let me read and bring things on longer trips.” Twilight looked over at Celestia. “And it’d help take one of our friends out when there’s three of us. Like today even! We could all go out together instead of using the bus.”

“A sidecar, eh?” Sunset mulled it over. Like many of Twilight’s suggestions, it was practical, even if a small part of Sunset’s rebellious nature cringed at the idea of puttering around slow on her motorcycle. “We can see how it goes. You sound like you have a place in mind?”

“Heh,” Twilight said and fiddled with her glasses again at being found out. “There’s a movie at the mall I thought we could go see.” She glanced again at Celestia. “Miss Shimmer, do you enjoy fantasy stuff? Sword and sorcery?”

Celestia’s lip quirked. “I’ve used both in my time, yes.”

Sunset was reminded of the stain glass window in Celestia’s throne room depicting her in full battle regalia. “Twilight is talking about watching a kind of… well, we have projectors in Equestria, just imagine a huge one of a recorded theater play.”

“If it’s something you two do for fun. I wouldn’t mind seeing it. Every step here is an experience.”

Twilight looked at them. “Huh! Usually, I have to explain the fantasy part, not the movie part. This might be interesting. You could tell me how accurate compared to, you know, actual magic land.”

“Sounds like a plan. Where did you leave the bike?” Sunset asked.

“Oh, just around the corner. I’ll bring it around,” Twilight said, smiling with enthusiasm. She made ready to leave but paused, tipping her head back at Sunset.

Sunset leaned forward then stopped, keenly aware of Celestia observing them. She squeezed Twilight’s hand instead.

To her credit, Twilight glanced at Celestia and then gave Sunset a nod of understanding. “Right, I’ll go get it. Be back in a few.”

When Twilight left, Sunset sighed and lingered at the door. One minefield cleared.

“Were you two going to kiss? She seemed like she was expecting one,” Celestia mused.

“You…!” Sunset sputtered, cheeks burning as she turned on Celestia. “You’re one to talk! Sunshimmer? Honestly, you couldn’t have come up with literally anything else?”

Celestia spread her hands. “She put me on the spot. I needed to improvise.”

“Improvise? You? I doubt there’s anything you do that isn’t planned ten steps ahead.”

“Have I upset you?”

Sunset clenched and unclenched her fists before resolutely crossing her arms for lack of anything to do with them. “You can judge me all you want, but leave Twilight out of it! I have a good thing here. Just because you suddenly want to play at being a mom doesn’t mean I’m going to let you meddle.”

Celestia blinked, and a frown came to her. “Why would you ever think that? As for playing your mother, she was the first to make that assumption.”

“You weren’t in any hurry to correct her,” Sunset said, snorting through her human nose. She turned away and muttered, “Besides, you have your own Twilight for that.”

Sunset stewed in the silence that followed. All these years away and in less than a day she’d gotten a reminder of just what made her so mad in the first place. An irony that she used to think of it as mystical alicorn immortal attitude. But after meeting both Princess Twilight and Princess Luna, nope it was always a Celestia thing to manipulate and tug on strings.

Her hand drifted to her neck then, and Sunset fingered her harmony stone pendant. An impulse wormed its way into her. She could solve all the fake emotional nonsense right here and now. She could grab Celestia and use her mind-reading magic. Maybe for once she’d get a straight answer.

“Sunset.”

That made Sunset look up. Celestia was studying her with the same kind of intensity she had in the mirror room.

“Twilight was never meant to replace you. I did not make her an alicorn, she became one herself. I hope you know that.” Celestia’s tone was soft, yet direct.

“I’m not jealous… it’s not like that...” Sunset flinched at her own weak protest and sighed. “Okay, maybe it kinda is. It’s complicated.”

“It doesn’t have to be,” Celestia said. “I don’t measure you by her.”

Sunset found herself reaching for her pendant again, but she quelled the motion. Instead, she asked, “Really?”

Celestia’s smile was wane as she replied, “When Twilight used the elements on Nightmare Moon. I thought she would banish her or petrify her. I never thought that redemption was even a possibility. Neither did I dream I’d have a chance with you again. If I am to judge anypony by her standard, I ought to be the first. You aren’t the only one to have learned from her.”

Outside Sunset’s window, a pair of horn honks sounded as well as the thrum of an engine.

“There goes a Twilight at least,” Sunset explained with a small chuckle.

“Should we tell her? I don’t want things to be uncomfortable for you or put some kind of expectation behind all of this. I simply want to spend time with you today.”

Celestia did drop everything she was doing just to come over, huh. Sunset realized. She had been so tied up with all the rest to notice that fact before.

Sunset bit her lower lip. “Well… we’ve already gone through the trouble. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to keep pretending. I’ll explain it to her later. ”

“Well? What do you think?” Twilight asked, touching her forefingers together in a nervous twiddle.

Sunset made a slow circle around her motorcycle, taking in the changed details. Contrary to her expectations of an ugly, bolted on thing, the sidecar looked like a sleek, and natural addition.

The bike itself also glittered from a fresh paint job. Something Sunset was amused to note was fiery reds and golds for the bike that changed to purple shades on the sidecar. A stylized icon of Sunset’s cutie was on the gas tank while Twilight’s star was on the sidecar’s side.

Sunset initially had given her motorcycle over to Twilight for a simple tune-up, but it was plain to see that Twilight had planned this as a kind of surprise gift.

“Mmm,” Sunset said, noncommittally.

Twilight fidgeted. “Do you like it?”

“MMM,” Sunset repeated and placed a finger on chin. She furrowed her brow for effect.

“Sunny!”

Sunset burst out laughing and pulled the fretting Twilight into a hug. “I love it. It’s very… Us.”

Celestia walked out from the apartment building then, still fussing with the spare helmet Sunset had dug up for her. She paused when she saw the motorcycle. “Well, that doesn’t look like an iron horse at all! I do like the colors.”

Twilight beamed at them both.

“Here, let me help you with that,” Sunset said and went over to straighten and fix Celestia’s straps.

“Thank you, daughter,” Celestia murmured as she held her head still for Sunset.

Sunset fumbled with the loop in the strap at hearing that. She raised her eyes to meet Celestia’s gaze through the lifted visor. Before she could think of a response, Twilight spoke up.

“Oh! That looks cute. Let’s get a family picture!” Twilight suggested, already taking out her phone and tip-tapping on it. The selfie drone rose from its perch on the motorcycle and hovered into place.

Sunset looked at the drone with dumb shock before she felt a squeeze on her shoulder. She peeked over at Celestia who pointed at her own mouth and smiled.

Hesitantly, Sunset smiled too.

Sunset had previous experience with sidecars before. She’d found them ungainly and threw the handling off terribly. Twilight’s gift, however, had a pleasant smoothness to it and Sunset wondered if there was some kind of techno-gadgetry to it. She wouldn’t put it past the lovable nerd to have engineered some kind of carefully weighted mechanism.

The tune-up had also done wonders for the bike in general. When they hit the highway, and she opened the throttle, the motorcycle positively purred as it zipped down the lane.

Sitting behind her, Twilight squeezed all the harder and leaned against Sunset’s back as they sped. Twilight had more experience riding double with Sunset and let Celestia have the more comfortable sidecar.

She spared Celestia a glance when the road was clear.

“It’s like flying on the ground!” Celestia exclaimed and felt at the air with her hands while the wind whipped what hair left the helmet behind her.

Figures it takes a mom from Equestria to not be a nag about speeding. Sunset thought. A part of her felt guilty at taking so easy to the idea. They were just doing an act out of convenience, after all.

It was almost disappointing when the mall came into view and ended their joyride. On the walk up to the building Twilight peeked over to Celestia and asked, “Do you have malls where you come from, Miss Shimmer?”

Celestia regarded the tall concrete building with its pane windows and lighted neon signs. “Not at the capital. It was built more traditionally. Though Manehattan is filled with skyscrapers and the like.”

“Oh, you have skyscrapers over there in… in…” Twilight halted then, one foot raised. “Wait, where did you say it was?”

“Manehattan. Though Fillydelphia and Las Pegasus are also famous for tall and unique buildings too,” Celestia added.

With every city mentioned, Twilight eyes widened and soon her mouth dropped.

“What’s the matter? Did you think we were all backward over there?” Sunset prodded with a grin. She had this same experience in reverse when she first saw an Earth map.

“Those names! They are p-pu—”

“Pony?” Sunset suggested, still grinning. “What did you expect from magic ponyland?”

Celestia watched them both, confused. “Are there something unusual about the cities?”

Twilight shot Sunset a sour look before forcing a smile for Celestia. “No, Miss Shimmer. I just didn’t expect names from another world to be so… pronounceable.”

It wasn’t until they were inside the mall proper before Sunset wondered what they might do if they ran into any of their friends.

The small town Sunset and the girls lived in didn’t have many places to go, and the mall was the biggest spot for jobs, hangouts and get-togethers, especially on a weekend afternoon.

“Oh, I do like that fountain,” Celestia noted, catching the centerpiece of the mall plaza.

“Let’s get another picture!” Twilight said, enthusiastically looking for any excuse to use her selfie drone. The gadget followed behind them and at the sound of her voice, swooped in close.

Sunset meanwhile watched the unmistakable sight of rainbow-colored hair in the crowd. Please don’t look over here. Please don’t look over here. Please don’t—oh buck! Rainbow’s head had turned and done an obvious double take in her direction.

“You two go ahead, I need to umm... tie my boot,” Sunset said out loud. She barely had time to kneel before a pair of multi-colored sneakers appeared in front of her. Rainbow liked to use her superspeed for everything.

“Heya, Sunshim! Glad I caught you.” Rainbow Dash put out a hand out to help Sunset up.

“Hi, Rainbow. Nice to see you too,” Sunset said and glanced over Rainbow’s shoulder. Twilight and Celestia were caught up in their picture taking. Celestia even had a hand behind her head and one on her hip in a movie star pose.

“Been hoping I’d see you over here today, but they tell me you keep taking time off.” Rainbow went on.

“Yeah, I had to take care of... something.” Sunset took another glance over Rainbow’s shoulder. Some shoppers lingered by the fountain as the drone drew attention with its camera flash and aerial buzzing.

“You didn’t answer your phone either! I wanted to get this back to you.” Rainbow dug in her pocket and handed Sunset a guitar pick.

“Oh, thanks.” Sunset took back the borrowed guitar pick and tried to go on tiptoes to peer over Rainbow’s head.

“No probs. It was yours anyway. We still on for next month?”

“What?” Sunset replied distractedly. Celestia and Twilight had stopped taking pictures. One of the mall security guards held the selfie drone and was shaking a finger at a guilty-looking Twilight.

Rainbow let out a growl of irritation. “I got something on my shoulder or what? What the fu—” she paused mid-turn. “Hey, is that Twilight?”

Sunset gritted her teeth. “Yes.”

“And who’s that lady next to her, she kinda looks lik—” Rainbow’s eyes widened, and she looked back to Sunset. Then back to Celestia. Then back to Sunset again.

Sunset sighed and waited.

“Soooooo… you took today off. And now you’re here. With Twilight.”

“Yes.”

“And not just Twilight, but with your mom too…?”

“Her name is Sunshimmer. Listen, there’s a whole lot going on that I can’t get into right now.”

Rainbow’s smirk was wicked. “Doesn’t seem too hard to understand. Heh, didn’t figure you two needed a chaperone yet. Twilight moves quick, huh?”

Sunset groaned. “You’re so far off the mark, you don’t even know.”

Rainbow snickered before giving Sunset a companionable tap on the shoulder. “Chillax! I’m only teasing. My Mom and Dad don’t leave me alone, either. Hold up, I know exactly what to do. HEY MISS S! mhmhfmhf—”

“What are you doing?!” Sunset hissed as she clapped a hand over Rainbow’s mouth.

“Mf mmffmfm mfm mffm.”

Finding herself with an opportunity, Sunset continued. “Right. Okay. Rainbow, she’s from Equestria. I’m trying to keep things easy for her. Can I just show her around and then take her home without overwhelming her? Please?”

“Mfmm mfmfmm mf mfmmfm mff mfm!” Rainbow mumbled with a pointed waggle of her brows. Her eyes kept darting over Sunset’s shoulder.

Sunset looked over at the fountain again. Both Celestia and Twilight had vanished. She searched the crowd for them. “Where the buck—”

“Sunset Shimmer! Language!” Celestia admonished from right beside her.

Years of hearing that stern tone had Sunset yanking her hand back as if burned. “Oh! There you are! Ah! Hah… hah... uhhh.” She gestured weakly at Rainbow. “So umm, this is Rainbow Dash. She’s a friend.”

Rainbow crossed her arms. “More than just a friend.”

“Oh?” Celestia asked with curiosity.

“What?!” Sunset exclaimed with incredulity.

Rainbow grinned when she saw she had their full attention. She pointed her thumbs at herself. “I’m her band leader! Nice to meet you, Miss S.”

Sunset wanted to strangle her.

Celestia laughed. “Nice to meet you too, Rainbow. The band is called the Rainbooms, yes? Or so Sunset tells me.”

“That’s right!” Rainbow said before she snapped her fingers. “Hey, you’re visiting from over there, right? Do you think you’ll be around next month? We’ve got a gig lined up.”

Sunset blinked. She had spent so much time thinking of getting through the day that she hadn’t even considered what might come afterwards. “It’s… it’s not anything super big or fancy. Just some small job we got for the Spring Break… So, if you’re busy it’s fine if you don’t...” She trailed off, unsure.

“I would like to visit again. If you’ll have me,” Celestia offered.

Sunset looked at her for a long moment. Eventually, she smiled. “Yeah, that’d be nice.”

Rainbow chortled. “Hah! And you were worried. See, your mom’s totally a pro at being over here. Right, Miss S?”

Celestia smiled. “Actually, I think that’s a new one for me. Being called ‘Pro’.”

Sunset rolled her eyes and caught sight of Twilight entering the mall again. She waved her over. “Where you’ve been?”

Twilight puffed out of breath from her jog from the parking lot. “That security guard said I couldn’t have my selfie drone in here. He said it was dangerous to fly in crowds. Oh! Hi, Rainbow.”

Rainbow looked between them and grinned. “Soooo… I’ll let you three get back to your day together. Catch ya later! See you, Miss S!”

“Huh, why did she say it like that?” Twilight wondered when Rainbow left them.

“Beats me.” Sunset feigned a shrug. “Umm, don’t we have a movie to get to? Let’s head straight there before we miss it.”

Thankfully Juniper Montage wasn’t a CHS student, and she didn’t know Sunset enough to think it unusual that she suddenly had a new family member hanging around. With a few polite hellos, she printed up their movie tickets and served the popcorn. Directing them with a wave to the theater.

A couple hours later, the lights illuminated the theater, the majority of the crowd shuffling towards the exits while the trio kept to their seats.

“The visuals were quite nice.” Celestia took off the 3D glasses and looked at them with interest. “All done with projections and plastic lenses. How clever.”

“Story wasn’t half bad either,” Sunset added as she nibbled at some leftover popcorn.

“Eh, it was okay.” Twilight sniffed. “The book was better.”

Sunset snorted. “Twilight have you ever thought any movie lived up to the book?”

“Well, no.” Twilight pushed up her glasses with a finger. “So… what did you two think of the magic in the movie?”

Sunset and Celestia shared a look.

“If earth magic could be done with dancing it’d certainly make the gala more interesting,” Celestia said, unable to keep a smile off her face.

“Not to mention shouting the words to spells. I think the last time I had to recite them out loud was in your classes as a filly,” Sunset snickered.

Twilight visibly wilted at their commentary. “It wasn’t any good? Every review said it was one of the most detailed magic systems in fiction.”

Sunset patted Twilight’s arm. “Think of it being like when you watch fluff sci-fi. This stuff is like that for us where we come from. They play it up more for the drama than how it actually works.”

Twilight sighed. “I’ve been trying to find anything that comes close to the kind of stuff we can do.” She glanced around to make sure they were alone before she pointed a finger at Sunset’s popcorn tub. One of the kernels floated up in a bubble of purple magic. “You have no idea how much time I spend experimenting.”

Sunset wasn’t surprised by Twilight doing her levitation trick, but she nearly dropped the bucket when another kernel rose, surrounded in gold.

Celestia spun the kernel before catching it between thumb and forefinger. “Doing spellcraft without a horn can be very difficult. I suppose the singing and dancing are substitutes, as are the harmony stones. You would still be missing the instinctual understanding, however.”

Sunset boggled at Celestia and was about to ask when Twilight preempted her with questions of her own.

“I need a horn? Are they like magic wands? Where can I get one?”

Sunset groaned. “Twilight, you don’t get a horn like at the horn shop. You have them. They grow out of your head.”

“Huh?” Twilight reached to touch her own forehead on reflex, then frowned at Sunset. “You’re teasing me.”

“What? No! Magic users in Equestria have horns.”

Twilight blinked. “But you don’t have a horn when you pony up, and when I pony up, I get wings.”

She doesn’t remember? Sunset had a brief mental image of Twilight’s corrupted form and its crooked horn. Then again, Twilight hadn’t exactly been in her right state of mind.

Looking for a better explanation, Sunset waggled a hand. “Ponying up is different, that’s… not how we actually look like in Equestria. You get wings because Princess Twilight’s umm… a princess.” Sunset scratched her cheek. “I guess I never did really explain in detail. Over there I’m a four-legged pony with a horn, a—”

“A unicorn?! Sunny, you’re a unicorn?!” Twilight gasped, leaning so far forward that her glasses slipped halfway down her nose. She was staring at Sunset’s forehead.

Sunset leaned back and raised her popcorn tub in defense. She hadn’t seen Twilight this excited since the last time they went to a book signing together. Feeling an onslaught of questions coming, Sunset mentally sighed before responding, “Yes. But it’s not that big of a deal. There are plenty of unicorns in Equestria.”

Twilight looked at Celestia. “Are you a unicorn too, Miss Shimmer?”

“More or less,” Celestia replied smoothly as she magically lifted another kernel of popcorn from the tub. Sunset squinted at her. Celestia smiled back as she chewed.

“Hmm, okay. Do you have silver blood? Does it heal others?”

Sunset stared at Twilight. “Uhh, It’s red, and my blood is just fine in my body where it belongs. Unless you’re talking about a transfusion?”

Twilight nodded, finger on her chin. “Just something I read in a book. It also said unicorns are born gold and then as they grow older they turn white except for their hooves.” Her eyes focused on Sunset and she gasped again.

“I am gold because I am gold! I don’t change colors.”

“Miss Shimmer, what color are you as a pony?”

Celestia levitated a third popcorn kernel. “White, of course.”

Twilight swatted Sunset’s shoulder. “Ah ha!”

Sunset glared at Celestia. “You aren’t helping.”

“I can only be honest. That’s a unicorn virtue too, by the by,” Celestia said with a perfectly straight face.

Sunset scooped a handful of popcorn and threw it at her.

“Okay, even though your blood doesn’t heal. Your touch definitely does,” Twilight said. She was scrolling through more ‘unicorn facts’ on her phone as they left the theater.

Sunset blinked. “What? When did this happen?”

“With me! Once at the Friendship Games and again at Camp Everfree.”

“That was just us holding hands…”

“Magical hand holding,” Twilight insisted. “I can’t believe how much sense this is all making now.”

Sunset reached for Twilight’s hand and grabbed it. “See, normal!”

Twilight wiggled her fingers in-between Sunset’s and continued to use her phone one-handed. A hint of a smile on her lips. “Unicorns are fae creatures, right? How do you feel about iron?”

“I’m wearing a studded jacket, Twi.”

“Do you know any fairy creatures? Pixies, Nymphs, Banshees, Pookas, Changelings—”

“We’ve had changelings appear in Canterlot not too long ago,” Celestia commented.

Twilight looked up from her phone. “Do they have butterfly wings?”

“More like a dragonfly’s,” Celestia replied, shrugging. “Though they changed to look like colorful beetles now.”

Twilight mulled this over, then read something else on her phone. She blushed. “Umm... ever put your head in the lap of a virgin maiden?”

“Just what kind of sketchy site are you reading from?!” Sunset cried.

“It’s Wikipedia!” Twilight argued.

“I prefer maidens with experience, all things considered,” Celestia answered.

Sunset’s eye started to twitch again. Thankfully, a sign came into view. “Hey look! The food court. How about we all get something to eat?”

*

Author's Note

Twilight might be on the wrong wiki

Chapter 3- Indirect Generosity

The mall’s food court was a wonderland of advertisement. Every direction showed lighted and colorful signs for fried, roasted, baked or barbecued animal parts in one form or another.

Aiming to avoid any awkward questions, Sunset sat Twilight and Celestia at the table on the far side while she fetched them a pizza. They were still talking when she approached the table.

“—are not gold colored, but I usually wear golden hoof shoes,” Celestia replied.

“Hoof… shoes? Not Horseshoes?” Twilight asked.

“I do like to take them off at the end of the day. Having them be the nailed on variety would be a bother. Which are you wearing? Humanshoes or foot shoes?”

“Umm,” Twilight said and looked down with uncertainty at her feet.

Sunset came to her rescue by setting down the pizza pie on the table. “Here we go! A Vegetable Supreme! Has all the veggies! Every slice a different vegetable. You can sample every flavor that can possibly be on a pizza with every slice.”

“You said vegetable three times,” Twilight noted, eyeing Sunset’s overly broad smile.

“Well… they’re good for you!” Sunset insisted.

“Dear, that slice looks like it has pineapple. Are pineapples considered vegetables here?” Celestia asked with concern.

“If you think about it, tomatoes are technically fruit too,” Twilight mused.

Sunset ignored them both. She resolutely started on a broccoli pizza slice, trying not to wince.

That earned a little while of blessed silence as the three of them ate, though Sunset’s cheesy reprieve was interrupted by Twilight’s muffled gasp.

“Look, Celestia!” Twilight said after swallowing.

On reflex, Sunset glanced at Celestia who had a slice halfway to her mouth. She looked back at Sunset with widened eyes.

“Where are you looking? She’s over there!” Twilight said, tugging on Sunset’s wrist.

Sure enough, several tables over Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna were sitting down. Ruefully, Sunset thought that the principal’s multicolored hair made her stick out in the crowd just like Rainbow Dash.

“It’s funny seeing them outside the school and at a mall, isn’t it?” Twilight continued.

“Not really. Everything that can go wrong, goes wrong today,” Sunset muttered under her breath.

“Huh?”

“I mean... they’re people too. They probably want to enjoy a good time like the rest of us.”

Twilight nodded as she reached for another slice. “True. I guess I’m still used to a principal being more like Principal Cinch.”

“What? Drinking blood, avoiding garlic and going to bed in a coffin?” Sunset teased.

Twilight giggled. “Yeah.” She took a bite and swallowed another mouthful of pizza. “I don’t think Cinch has any family, either. Applejack told me something interesting the other day. Did you know the Principal and Vice Principal are sisters?”

“Yeah, you didn’t know?”

Twilight shrugged. “They don’t really advertise it with how they act in school. Plus, they look so different.”

“Perhaps they share a mother, but not a father,” Celestia said quietly.

Sunset startled and looked over to Celestia. “Is that tru—umm… you think?” Celestia simply looked back with a smile that Sunset thought was a little sad.

“Oh! I never thought of that. It does make some sense,” Twilight remarked. She lifted a third slice and bit into it. A splotch of pizza sauce suddenly dribbled down her chin and fell on her blouse. “Mmmf! Ugh! Why does this always happen?” Twilight groaned.

“One of life’s greatest mysteries,” Sunset said with a wry chuckle. For all her organizational neatness, Twilight tended to be a very messy eater. Celestia’s own amused look seemed to imply this to be a multiversal Twilight trait.

“I’ll go clean up, sorry! I’ll be back,” Twilight said as she hurried towards the bathrooms.

Sunset glanced over to Celestia. She was back to observing the Principal and Vice Principal.

“I’m sorry it’s ended up this way. I was hoping to avoid this,” Sunset admitted.

“I don’t think I’ve ever met a filly as unlucky as Marephy. Though her theorem is insightful.” Celestia gestured at Twilight’s empty chair. “Case in point.”

Sunset took a minute to process that, then laughed. “Over here we call it Murphy’s Law.”

“So many differences, yet remarkably similar,” Celestia murmured. “Tell me, do you know if those two ever fought?”

Sunset looked over to the Principal and Vice Principal. Both were out of their usual school clothes and talking over a pair of ice cream parfaits. As Sunset watched, Principal Celestia reached and took a spoonful of Luna’s dessert. Luna glared with irritation before she went with her own spoon to steal some of Celestia’s. They both laughed afterwards.

The antics had Sunset smiling, though she felt guilty at having to answer. “Not for as long as I’ve known them. They’re just normal everyday people who run a school together… sorry. I know that’s probably making you feel bad about what happened with Nightmare Moon.”

“Never be sorry for telling truths, no matter how painful. Perspective is a wise teacher.” Celestia paused before she asked, “What of your own twin? Have you met with her?”

Sunset shook her head. “From what I could find out, she doesn’t live here in this city. Which makes sense. In Equestria, I didn’t live in Canterlot until the Gifted Unicorn school. I’m not sure where the Earth me is or what she’s doing.”

“Do you ever wonder about her?”

“Heh, funny that.” Sunset shifted in her chair and placed her hands on the table, drumming her fingers. She looked down at them. “When I first came over, I used to think about her a lot. Like… what is this other me like? What is she without… umm...” Sunset trailed.

“Without me.” Celestia prompted.

Sunset winced and shook her head. “Without your school. Like... is the other me smart? Does she play music? Is she mean? Is she nice? Does she have anyone? Does she have a family? All of that was stuff I used to think about.”

“Hmm... but not anymore?”

Sunset wrung her hands on the table. “Things are… good now. I have friends. I have Twilight. Even going back to Equestria is a shorter trip than going back to my apartment nowadays.”

She let out a humorless laugh and continued. “Like I said before, it’s funny. I don’t want to have this other Sunset show up now… because what if she’s not any different? What if she was just like how I was before? What’s that say about me if every version of me is a rotten apple and I’m just the lucky one?”

Celestia’s hand touched Sunset’s and interrupted the wringing. Sunset looked up and found Celestia offering her a smile. “I wouldn’t call it luck. You’ve grown into your own and deserve the good things that have come to you.”

“Maybe…” Sunset answered, feeling out of sorts and embarrassed at having said so much. Looking to lighten the mood, she raised their held hands. “Careful. Twilight warned about doing this with a unicorn.”

Celestia gently squeezed Sunset’s fingers. “I’ll take my chances.”

Sunset glanced over to where Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna were but found the table empty. They’d left sometime while she was talking.

“Feel like getting some ice cream?” Sunset asked, remembering the fruit parfaits. “Knowing Twilight, she’s gonna be awhile scrubbing.”

Although the line for the ice cream shop was long, it went by at a quick rate. Sunset soon discovered why when a familiar girl roller-skated from one side of the counter to the register. “Hi, Sunset!”

“Pinkie! What are you doing here? Don’t you work that retro diner place?”

Pinkie nodded and pointed up at the kiosk’s sign. “Yep! It’s a chain. I like to cover the mall when they need people in here. I get to see Rainbow and Rarity on my break. Or you! But you’ve been taking time off from your job at the Sush—”

“Uhhh! Let’s, ahh, let’s not get too into work. Boring to talk about,” Sunset interrupted with a nervous side glance to Celestia. “I’m here with my... Mom today.”

“Wow! You never told me your mom was Princess Celestia!” Pinkie exclaimed. This time there was no doubt to which Celestia she was addressing.

Sunset boggled at her, train of thought crashing. Her mouth worked silently.

“Hello, Pinkie,” Celestia said smiling. “Though you really should ask Twilight’s permission before using her mirror.”

“Wha—” Sunset managed. Her mental train wreck becoming a pileup.

“I super, totally did! I asked her ‘Twilight can I use your mirror?’ and she said yes,” Pinkie remarked before putting a finger to her chin. “Ooh, I have just the thing for you!” Pinkie giggled and made a pirouette to the ice cream tubs. She handed Celestia a cone stacked three high. “Cake batter ice cream!”

Celestia closed one eye to study Pinkie with the other. “And did you specify which mirror you meant?”

“Mmmmmmmmmmmm,” Pinkie dawdled before reaching to add another scoop of ice cream to Celestia’s cone.

Sunset facepalmed as Celestia began to happily consume the treat.

Pinkie peered at Sunset next and then snapped her fingers. “Strawberry for you.” She was off again, repeating her skating dance, this time to the soft-serve machine.

Sunset looked in-between her fingers at Celestia. “How can you tell with her?”

“Can’t you?” Celestia replied before she took another bite of her ice cream.

Pinkie spun back and handed Sunset a strawberry cone. Sunset eyed her warily. “I’m guessing you don’t have trouble recognizing her either?”

“It’s a great visual pun: Sunlestia and Sunset. It’s pretty funny, hee!” Pinkie giggled with a bright smile.

With a sigh, Sunset asked, “Can I get one more cone, for Twi—” But of course Pinkie was already holding out a vanilla ice cream cone.

“Okay, how could you possibly know that?” Sunset asked, her head spinning.

“I saw you three at the table,” Pinkie explained matter-of-factually. “I hope you’re enjoying your daaaaate.”

“It’s not a—ugh… how much do I owe you?”

“On the house!” Pinkie said before shooing them with her hands. “Go have fun! I’ll set up the party later when I get off shift.”

Deciding against fighting a losing battle, Sunset opted for a tactical retreat instead. At least the ice cream headache helped dull the actual one she swore was coming.

“How’s your ice cream?” Sunset asked, glancing over at Celestia.

“It’s… gone.” Celestia sighed. “Do you think we could get another?”

“Gone?” Sunset echoed. They hadn’t even made it ten steps from Pinkie’s counter. “We’d have to wait in line again. Besides, calories don’t work any different on this side of the mirror. Can we be sure the royal waistline will keep up?”

“Sunset! You’re being unkind.”

“Hey, the mother-daughter nagging thing goes both ways, you know.”

Sunset giggled at the pouting frown Celestia gave her for that. “Oh, here you go, you big immortal filly.” She let Celestia have the rest of her strawberry ice cream.

Eventually, Twilight caught up with them, and Sunset handed her the last cone.

“Aww! For me? You shoul—NOT AGAIN!” Twilight wailed. Her blouse getting a fresh splat of vanilla.

“Let me guess. You want the same thing you always wear,” Rarity sighed. “At least you’re not wearing that circuit board abomination those awful electronic store folk put you in.”

Twilight winced. “But I designed that outfit…”

The fashionista was in full diva mode, armed with measuring tape, pins, fabric, and lording over the small tailoring shop nestled in the mall’s fashion corner.

Rarity put a hand to her forehead and made a louder, more melodramatic sigh. “Of course you did, darling. Anyway, you can find a blouse just like that one in the racks. Nerd girl is getting to be chic nowadays.” Her eyes wandered over to Sunset. “Do we need to do our usual dance, sweetie?”

Sunset put her hands on her hips in a defiant stance. “I’m still not letting you take my jacket, Rarity.”

Rarity scoffed. “Ever find it telling that when you pony up your dress gets studs and spikes all over?” Her eyes flicked over to Celestia next. “Oh? Who’s this? Hello!”

“This is my Mom, Sunshimmer. She’s visiting from Equestria,” Sunset said. The response was getting to be almost automatic now.

“Oh! Well, a pleasure to meet you, Miss Shimmer!” Rarity said with a warm smile before glancing back to Sunset. “Honestly, just look to your mother. She’s like a stately, better-dressed version of you from the future.”

Sunset rolled her eyes. “Mom, this is Rarity.”

Celestia smiled. “Charmed to meet you like this, Rarity.”

Rarity put a finger to her chin. “I’m glad to have you here. Perhaps now we can make Sunset face the consequences of her actions.”

Sunset frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“Look around!” Rarity gestured grandly. “Miss Hemline is letting me manage her second store, and it was all because of your help in sprucing my display with one of your wonderful murals.”

“That hardly sounds like a problem,” Celestia said with a soft laugh. “Though it’s news to me. Sunset, you’re an artist?”

Sunset crossed her arms and looked away. “Anyone could have painted that mural. Maybe it was Flanksy.”

“You see what I have to deal with, Miss Shimmer? I want to pay her back, but she’s much too humble. She doesn’t want a dress, and I can’t treat her out, not with Twilight staking her claim.”

“Rarity!” Sunset cried.

“Darling, ten minutes with you two is all the hint anyone needs. Your mother looks clever enough to have figured it out.”

Celestia raised her hand and giggled behind it.

“Did someone say my name?” Twilight’s voice came distantly from the changing rooms.

“We are only saying the sweetest things about you!” Rarity called back. She turned towards Celestia again. “Miss Shimmer, might I ask that you take the gift on her behalf? You look like a woman of taste, and I know I can make you something truly stunning.”

“How could I refuse?” Celestia said while smiling at the still blushing Sunset. “It makes for an excellent lesson on indirect generosity.”

“Okay, how’s this?” Twilight asked as she leaned against Sunset and showed her phone.

Sunset peered at the picture of the unicorn Twilight had pulled up: A big ungainly horse with what looked like a photoshopped horn put to it. “Heck no! Bah, I can do a better job with a photocopier.”

They both sat together in the boutique’s waiting area while Rarity worked in the back with Celestia. Another girl by the name of Coco Pommel came back from a break to work the front register, though she wasn’t much a talker compared to Rarity’s larger-than-life attitude.

Sunset reached over to Twilight’s phone screen and began swiping through picture results. She paused on one and pointed. “There. That one’s pretty close.”

Twilight eyed her phone before raising a brow at Sunset. “Sunny… this is a plushie.”

“Hey, you asked,” Sunset said, putting her arms behind her head. “Don’t think I can be soft and cuddly?”

“I was expecting something more majestic. But I guess cute works too.”

Sunset smirked. There was something wonderfully fitting with adorkable Twilight calling anything else cute.

“If I went to Equestria, would that be how I look?”

That question had Sunset sitting a little straighter. “Umm… well, not exactly. Princess Twilight’s an alicorn. You would have horn and wings, in addition to the soft and cuddliness.” She kept her tone light and playful for Twilight’s sake, but inwardly Sunset felt an odd reluctance.

Afraid of mixing your old life with your new one? Or mixing one Twilight with the other?

“If you ever want to learn more about magic, I could teach you if we both went over there.” Sunset continued and after another internal wrestle also added, “Princess Twilight could help, too.”

Twilight flashed Sunset a smile. “I figure the princess is busy with princess stuff. I know if someone made me like the President of a whole country I wouldn’t get any sleep or have time for anything. What about your mom? You mentioned she taught classes, and she sounded pretty knowledgeable. Plus, she could do magic!”

Sunset’s relief at the first half of Twilight’s sentence evaporated by the second half as she frantically thought back to the movie theater. “Oh! Ha… hah… I-I did… didn’t I.” For all of Twilight’s obliviousness, she could be incredibly good with detail. Even when it came to small slips of the tongue.

“As a matter of fact, I taught both Twilight and Sunset,” Celestia remarked. Both present Sunset and Twilight looked up with a start.

Celestia strode out from the back, now outfitted in an elegant white dress. It was a jarring sight for Sunset, who was used to seeing the principal version of Celestia wear ordinary slacks and blouses. With Princess Celestia, the expensive fabric hugged her body, lifting at her bust while accenting the shapely curve of her hip. The dress had a split on the side to show leg all the way down to a gold crisscrossing sandal with a raised heel. Altogether, it gave Sunset the impression of a Greek goddess.

Rarity stepped around from behind and presented her with a flourish of her hands. “Isn’t she just divine? Some of my best work!”

“You did a wonderful job, Rarity!” Twilight exclaimed.

“Yeah, just... wow,” Sunset murmured, thinking how Celestia looked more like a princess than ever.

Rarity tapped her chin. “There is one more thing I think it needs. Just a moment, Miss Shimmer.” She hurried to the back room.

Celestia smiled before turning towards Twilight. “But, yes. If you’re looking for training in magic. I can make time here and there for your education.”

Twilight’s eyes widened behind her glasses. “R-Really? That would be fantastic. Thank you!” She gave Celestia grateful hug, though a musical chime from the phone in her hand cut it short. “Ugh, of course! Sorry this is my Mom calling.”

When Twilight stepped out of earshot, Sunset whispered, “Are you sure about this?”

“Curiosity would make her step through at some point. Might as well have it be on our terms,” Celestia replied. “Besides, I would rather not wait for the next crisis to see you two again.”

Sunset chuckled and shook her head. “Isn’t that the truth? Though I still get the feeling you’ve planned this somehow.”

Celestia shrugged a shoulder. “Not precisely. I’ve been looking for things we could share together, but between music, artwork and riding an iron horse, I think ‘making-a-Twilight-happy’ is a common interest we both have and can indulge in.”

“Now hold still, Miss Shimmer!” Rarity announced as she returned from the back room with a kind of inspired eagerness. Heedless of their conversation, she moved close and looped a gold necklace around Celestia’s neck.

Sunset perked when she saw a familiar sun-shaped pendant. “Huh! That what I think it is?”

Rarity nodded. “Yes, I had an extra one after making your earrings. I hope you don’t mind me poaching your commission?”

Sunset took a long look at her own sun cutie hanging from Celestia’s neck. A smile grew on her. “Actually, I’d like for her to have something of mine.”

Celestia’s hand reached to touch the pendant, her eyes widened before lidding slightly. “Thank you, Sunset.” In a firmer voice, she looked to Rarity. “And thank you too, Rarity. I’ll be sure to visit your shop whenever I can.”

Rarity waved with a hand. “Oh darling, it was a delight. I only ask that you be a dear and make sure everyone knows where you got it.”

Twilight ended her phone call and walked back to them, her brow furrowed in thought. “I’m sorry, but can you take me home?”

“Hmm? Something the matter?” Sunset asked.

“Not...exactly. For some reason, Mom thought I was at the house this whole time. She’s frantic now because we have a guest coming over and I have to hurry back.”

Sunset took the route to Twilight’s home at record speed, feeling far more light and nimble than she could recall in recent memory, and Twilight’s tight grip on some turns only encouraged her to push the tuned-up bike to its limits.

“T-Thanks, Sunny,” Twilight said, dismounting with a small wobble once the bike finally stopped in front of the Sparkle family home.

Sunset was quick to steady her. “Easy! Sorry for rushing. You said you needed to hurry.” She glanced over towards the driveway where a car with a Crystal Prep sticker in the rear windshield was parked. “Who’s your guest?”

“Principal Cadance.”

“The dean? Oh yeah, she’s the Crystal Prep Principal now, isn’t she?”

“She’s been visiting a lot lately,” mused Twilight before putting a finger up as a thought struck her. “Oh! I bet she’s going to offer Shining a job as vice principal.”

“Hmm. I only really knew her from her reputation as a pony. She was always said to be nice.”

Twilight smiled. “Did you know she used to babysit me when I was younger? I think she’ll make a great boss for—”

A genuine, earnest laugh drew their attention to Celestia in the sidecar. It amazed Sunset to see the princess shaking in place, hand over her mouth. The laughing fit doubled at their puzzled expressions before she finally settled and waved her hand. “Oh, Twilight, my dear. I believe you will be pleasantly surprised by what is in store for you.”

Sunset raised a brow at her. “You know something about this?”

“Call it an educated guess,” Celestia replied with a coy smile.

“Well, it sounds like good news, whatever it is,” Twilight said. “Thank you, Miss Shimmer, for telling me about magic. I hope to see you again soon.”

“Most certainly, just be sure to nudge Sunset to write me in her journal.”

Twilight giggled. “Sure will.” She paused then and glanced at Sunset. “See you tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” Sunset said and kissed Twilight’s cheek to see her off.

“Hmm,” Celestia remarked once Twilight had run up the driveway.

“What? I kissed her,” Sunset huffed. “Thought that wasn’t a surprise to you?”

“Oh, it wasn’t. It just reminded me of the kisses I give my sister when I bid her luck on our shift change.”

“What do you exp—”

“SUNSET!” Twilight cried, running down the sidewalk at a sprint towards them.

It was all Sunset could do to brace against the motorcycle and catch Twilight as she threw herself into her arms. “Whoa there! Couldn’t leave without a real one, huh?” Sunset laughed.

“Sunset!” Twilight managed in-between her panting. “I… hah… I need… to—mmmff!” Her eyes went wide when Sunset kissed her full on the mouth.

Sunset slipped her arms around Twilight’s middle and put her in a tango dip, making sure the kiss was as showy and passionate as she could manage. Triumphantly, she peeked out the corner of her eye to see Celestia’s reaction.

Celestia looked on with her usual serene smile. She pointed at her own temple and mimed a fiddling gesture.

Glasses? Sunset thought and turned her gaze forward. Twilight’s eyes were wide with surprise and easy to see.

Because she wasn’t wearing glasses, of course.

Sunset straightened and broke the kiss. “Oh.”

“Umm… hi Sunset,” Princess Twilight said, blushing.

“Wow! That was some kiss!” Spike added, poking his canine head out of Twilight’s backpack.

“So, uhh… what brings you two through the mirror?” Sunset asked sheepishly.

Twilight’s eyes lingered on Sunset’s mouth while she twirled a strand of hair with a finger. “Mmm?”

“You know, the big round thing that connects two worlds. You’ve might have seen it once or twice.”

Twilight stared at Sunset blankly until Spike swatted her shoulder to break her from the daze. “Oh! I’ve been looking all over for you. Spike said he smelled ‘me’ at your apartment, so we waited here. I need to get Celestia. It’s getting late, and we need to lower the sun.”

“Oh? Was Luna being difficult?” Celestia asked.

Twilight blinked and leaned towards Celestia. “Princess! Is that you? Your hair!”

“Yes, Twilight. It’s a disguise,” Celestia replied patiently. “Did you follow the checklist?”

“I did. I took away both her blanket and pillow. It got her out of bed, but she said she couldn’t lower the sun. She said you never taught her how.”

Celestia’s expression broke from its calm state. “What? That’s ridiculous. She moved the sun when Glimmer changed our cuties.”

“That’s what I said, but she pointed out that was with your magic. Not hers.”

Celestia scoffed. “I moved the moon for thousand years without her help or any lessons about it.”

Twilight shared a glance with Spike. “She wasn’t happy to admit that, either.”

The ride back to Canterlot High carried a different mood than the joyride from the mall. For one, they had given Princess Twilight the sidecar. Celestia hugging Sunset the entire way was making her tremble with a feeling she couldn’t quite place.

When the school finally came into view, Sunset wasn’t sure whether she wanted to open the throttle or slow the bike down.

Celestia seemed to feel the same hesitant wistfulness as she squeezed one last time to Sunset’s middle before dismounting.

Twilight watched them both as she went up to the pedestal. She noticed their quiet and proved the difference between her and her human self when she asked, “Do you two… need a minute? I could go through the portal first.”

Sunset answered before Celestia could. “Yeah, Twilight. Could you? Sorry, I want to talk with her a little.”

Celestia inclined her head at Sunset before she nodded. “A little extra daylight never hurt anypony. We’ll be along.”

“Sunset, I am growing concerned. This is the third door you’ve done,” Celestia noted. “...and why do you have those?”

The lock clicked, and the door to the school’s roof swung open after Sunset found the sweet spot. “Don’t worry about it. It’s a human thing,” she said, tucking her small lockpick kit back into her jacket.

Celestia arched her brow. “It’s a ‘human thing’ to carry tools instead of keys?”

“The last time I was up here the door locked behind me, and I was stuck until someone saw me waving.”

“That should have taught you a lesson on trespassing.”

“Now you really are sounding like a mom.”

Celestia’s sternness faded with a small smile, and she briefly touched the shimmer cutie mark necklace around her neck. She shook her head in playful exasperation. “Why are we up here?”

For an answer, Sunset simply gestured forward.

Celestia stepped out onto the school’s roof and glanced about. Canterlot High with its surrounding lawn and athletic’s field made for an unobstructed view over the town. It was a pleasant enough sight, though it wasn’t the vista that ultimately drew her attention.

There was a section of wall next to the glass dome that would be hidden from those on the ground. On the roof, however, the wall was a painted panorama.

“Sunset… you did this?” Celestia asked as her fingers trailed over the colorful depictions on the concrete.

Sunset lingered back as she prodded a doorstop into place. “Yeah... what do you think?”

Celestia observed the mural. Most of the art was abstract, though she spotted the running theme through the impressionist splashes and swirls of color.

“I see six intertwined destinies later meeting a seventh. A torn heart mended. Shadow and darkness beaten back by the brightness of a rainbow.”

Sunset looked sheepish as she joined Celestia by the wall. “I guess it’s not exactly subtle.”

“Oh Sunset, I’ve spent more hours in art galleries than I can care to count. They overrate subtlety. What matters more is the emotion behind it.” Celestia traced a finger around the heart drawn in the center. “This is very genuine. As is this place’s meaning, I assume?”

“This rooftop is where I decided, really decided, that I wouldn’t let myself be that person again who would put power over everything else. My past is not today…” Sunset made a weak smile. “At least, that’s what I like to tell myself.”

Celestia placed a palm on the mural’s heart and looked from it to Sunset. “You sound unsure.”

Sunset took a deep breath and reached up to nervously brush some of her hair behind her ear. “It hasn’t been easy. Just when I think I’m past it, something pops up, and I feel like I’m back to square one. Like when Applejack’s sister spread these rumors about me or with the memory stone.”

Celestia rested a hand on Sunset’s shoulder. “But despite the memories being erased, your friendship endured. You told me that very thing.”

Sunset nodded. “It doesn’t stop it from hurting or giving me the occasional nightmare. If I couldn’t write to Twilight… I don’t know what I could have done. I would have been alone again… just like when I first came here.”

Being reminded of that moment brought a shiver to Sunset. That panic she’d felt when she wrote in the journal, unsure if Princess Twilight would remember her. One emotion nudged the other like falling dominos, and Sunset spoke before she could rein the words back. “And then there’s… you.”

Celestia said nothing and dipped her head, inviting Sunset to continue.

“I-I don’t know what to think,” Sunset admitted. “About any of this. I spent years mad at you, and after Twilight I was still afraid. But it’s all different. You’re here now, coming over and wanting to see me. Wanting to pretend...”

“Is it such an impossibility that I care about you?” Celestia asked softly.

“How can you?!” Sunset cried out and gestured at the wall. “My friends. They forgave me. Princess Twilight she redeemed me and human Twilight… she doesn’t really know how bad I was. None of them really know. You though, you know it all, you know everything.”

Sunset’s voice broke, and now the tears fell. “Y-You know that I’m just some stupid filly who ran away from home. Who was greedy. Who hurt people when she didn’t get her way. You… you were right to pu-punish.” She was sobbing, her eyes shut and voice coming in hitches. “I wasn’t even th-that good of a student. Everything you taught me wasn’t for anything, all I did was di-disappoint. Not like P-Princess Twil—”

The words hadn’t even finished forming before Sunset was being pulled into an embrace. Sunset squirmed, too full of emotion to want to be touched, but Celestia’s grip was surprisingly strong.

Guess an alicorn doesn’t need a horn to be an earth pony. The thought derailed Sunset’s runaway emotions, and she slumped in defeat against Celestia’s front.

For a while, they stood there in silence. Sunset felt numb and thought of nothing as she rested her head. Eventually, Celestia loosened her clutch and ran fingers through Sunset’s hair.

“Sunset,” she murmured.

Sunset didn’t respond, the sound of Celestia’s heartbeat fully occupying her senses.

“Sunset,” Celestia repeated. Reluctantly, Sunset looked upward. Celestia’s expression was full of sadness, but her touch remained gentle. “I am not perfect,” Celestia said, her voice quiet enough to be a whisper.

“The things I do, the things I’ve done. I try to be what ponies expect of me. But I am just a mare. One who’s so old and in her ways that she can be blind to a little filly who looked up to her. Never knowing how much hurt was building in her heart until she ran away.”

Celestia turned and nudged Sunset to look at the mural with her. “When I see that, I don’t see you pretending to be good to make up for your past. I see you striving and blooming. I see you coming to your own. Not because of me, but despite me.”

Inwardly, Sunset found it painfully ironic. When she was an ambitious, competitive pony, she hardly ever got praise. Now that she was an emotionally scrambled human, everyone seemed to heap it on her from Rarity, both Twilights, and now present-day Celestia.

Slowly, Sunset raised her limp arms and hugged Celestia’s middle. After a few long moments like this, Celestia hummed.

Sunset listened to the throaty tones alongside the thrump of heartbeat. She finally found her voice and asked, “What’s that? It’s nice.”

“Mmm? Oh, something that came to mind. An old song that seemed fitting for this moment.”

“Can I hear it?”

Celestia glanced at her, and after a brief hesitation sang out loud:

To see how you might grow.

To see what you might do.

To see what you’ve been through.

And all the ways you’ve made me proud of you

Sunset nearly laughed. Of course, it was a song of praise. Looking up showed Celestia with a faint smile herself, perhaps aware of how it sounded. The emotion in the words was genuine, however, and Sunset helped along, humming a musical counterpoint in place of having any instruments. Celestia swayed and continued:

It’s time now for a new change to come

You’ve grown up and your new life has begun

To go where you will go

To see what you will see

To find what you will be

“For it’s time for you to—” Celestia stopped abruptly.

Sunset had her eyes closed, concentrating on humming matching notes. She stumbled at the sudden end and opened her eyes.

“So, this is what it’s like,” Celestia murmured. The transformation had not only given her alicorn wings back but reverted her normal hair and eye color. A breeze blew and ruffled out the lengthened hair in a long rainbow streamer. Rarity’s dress had also taken well to the transformation, getting a gold fringe and stylized sun on the hem.

“Oh! You are—” Sunset began, so awed by the sight that her ears perked and wiggled. Sunset reached up and found herself ponified as well. “—oh… yeah, it happens.” She finished somewhat lamely.

Celestia flexed her wings and made an experimental stretch. “It’s not so bad. It’s nice to see that there’s some good magic in this world too.” She glanced at the sky, and her expression softened. “It’s odd seeing a sunset without being the one to make it so.” Her gaze fell to the pedestal in the Canterlot front yard next, and she grew contemplative.

Sunset made the easy guess at Celestia’s sad tone. “We could sing a duet before you go back?” She offered and reached out a hand.

Celestia straightened and smiled at her. “That is a lovely thought. I’d like to have a song just for us. Perhaps we might—”

Their hands touched, and magic surged between them and their magically charged bodies. Sunset’s eyes widened as realization came, but by then it was too late. Her harmony pendant grew hot on her chest while her vision and thoughts blurred.

Chapter 4- Duet

“I hate you!”

The shout stiffens her and her wings flare out against her throne. For the first time, in a long while, Celestia is thrown off guard. Hate her? How could Sunset hate her?

Celestia thinks on the argument, trying to find the turn. Had her tone been sharper than usual? But Sunset was breaking court decorum... again. She’d already decided to scold the temperamental unicorn later for it. Still, this had begun like their usual skirmishes, why had it heated up into… this… whatever this was.

Sunset watches her, there is the glint of tears in her eyes but a kind of resolve as well.

Celestia glances to the rest of the throne room, several of the chattering nobles had fallen silent as well as the guards. They are all watching, each pony a thousand expectations. The argument is now moot, as is whatever point Sunset wanted to make by coming here. There is really only one response Celestia can make.

“Sunset Shimmer! How dare you speak to me so! Remove yourself from court and head to your quar—”

Before she can finish, Sunset is turning and galloping towards the double doors. Celestia doesn’t pretend that it’s an eagerness to follow her order. A detail that seemed minor before blares at her now: Sunset is wearing saddlebags.

A coldness takes Celestia as a specter from memory comes to taunt her. Hadn’t Luna worn this same defiant, hardness Sunset just shown?

“Wait, Sunset… stop!” Celestia cries out.

It’s too familiar. Too much like before. She feels the dread that she's made the same terrible mistake.

Her throne room guards react quickly to the change in orders. Their spears cross in Sunset’s path, but both of them are flung aside by Sunset’s blast of magic. She works to open the doors.

Celestia lights her horn, teleporting herself from her throne into the doorway itself.

Sunset looks up at her with a strange smile. Before Celestia can speak, Sunset’s held back spell fires, and she vanishes in a teleport of her own. The doorway had been a feint!

Cursing every second wasted, Celestia expands her senses and finds Sunset’s magical trail two floors down. She teleports herself again.

Sunset blindsides her with a bolt as soon as she appears.

Celestia reflexively puts up her shield, and the teal magic shatters against the golden radiance surrounding her. Something quirky happens, the spell bursts and fills the hallway with a sparkling haze.

She recognizes the spell then: a scattering field to dampen magic. She taught it herself to Sunset, and a part of her is impressed. It was always a wonder if Sunset took their lessons or Nightmare Moon’s impending arrival seriously.

Another part of Celestia is furious. The spell is the magical equivalent of being slapped in the face. Sunset attacking her? Here in her palace? The castle staff had given her many reports before this of how unruly Sunset had become. Had Celestia been too lenient? Her control starts to slip and worry turns to anger.

Sunset continues to rush down the hallway, knowing that they both can’t teleport or use magic. Celestia empowers her voice instead, bellowing out. “SUNSET SHIMMER, HALT!”

Down the hall, Sunset stumbles and looks over her shoulder. Her eyes wide with fear.

The Royal Guards have caught up with them now, but Celestia barely pays them a thought as she kicks off the rug and spreads her wings. The force of her wingbeats blowing the soldiers back as she rockets down the hallway.

Sunset yelps at the sight of her descending and the unicorn scrambles the rest of the way down the hall, diving into a room and shutting the door.

Celestia lands a moment later, skidding on the carpet as she comes up against the closed door. She thumps it with a forehoof. “Sunset! Open this door this instant!”

Yelling at Sunset through a closed door isn’t a new experience, but Celestia doesn’t find space to laugh. This feels serious. More than just some petty theft or acting out. She tries the door again and feels it bump into something pushed in front of it.

Worry returns to Celestia, she still can’t use magic in the hall and waiting for the spell to fade would be an eternity. She decides that she will wait no longer. She spins in place, braces her forehooves and gives the ornate and heavy door a powerful double-buck with her hinds.

Wood splinters underneath her kick and one of her hoofshoes gets dented from the impact. The door itself is sent off its hinges and breaks whatever was behind it.

Celestia climbs over the wreckage and feels her magic return. A moment later she’s flaring her horn and brightening the room in golden light. She recognizes this place. It’s a magical storeroom and standing at the far end is the mirror.

The Mirror. She’d shown it to Sunset not too long ago, explained it as one of Starswirl’s devices. Something that could show timelines or even lead to other worlds. Since his vanishing she kept it tucked away as a historical curio.

Celestia stares at it, the mirror was not just a mirror now. The surface of it glowed and rippled. An active portal! She darts a glance around. A vain hope has her sweep the room, wishing this was yet another feint. She senses no lingering trace of a teleport, no invisibility spells.

No Sunset.

Shaking her head, she charges forward through the mirror before she can lose her nerve.

On the other side, concrete rushes at her and she puts her hooves up to stop her fall. Pain comes to her instead as she scrapes tender, fleshy limbs on rough ground. She raises her hooves, but they are not hooves, and she holds back a scream.

Instead, Celestia cries out, “Sunset! Where are you?!” Silence answers her, and she looks about, crawling on the ground as she frantically tries to find anything familiar.

She’s out in the open. It’s nighttime. Bushes nearby and a pedestal with a statue of a Saddle Arabian on it. More worry comes to her, what if the mirror was unpredictable? What if it’d thrown her into someplace else?

Until she does sees something familiar laying on the ground. It looks different, a backpack instead of a saddlebag, but the red and gold cutie mark is unmistakable.

Celestia isn’t sure to be cheered or feel despair at the sight of it. It most certainly means Sunset is here and nearby. “Sunset!” She cries out again, voice echoing off the nearby dark building.

With an effort she gets to her feet, wobbling. There is little time to worry about her transformed self, she’s seen enough two-leggers. What hangs in her mind is the feeling that she’ll never find Sunset in the middle of the night on some alien world. She calls out Sunset’s name again. So dark, too damned dark!

Closing her eyes, she focuses her thoughts on the sun. If this world has a Celestia, she will just have to deal with an interrupted schedule. This is an emergency, and there is no time for—

The sun doesn’t come.

Celestia’s breath catches in her throat. Immediately she reaches up with a fist and conks her forehead with it. The self-inflicted bruise is minor compared to the startling fact that she is missing her horn. How will she focus her magic?

She stares at her hands next and tries to will magical force into a fingertip. The effort is like trying to push air through a tiny straw. Her finger glows, but so feebly she can’t use it as a light, much less move the sun. Her magic was there but bound up within her.

Panic falls upon her as one thought chains to another. No horn, no magic. No magic, no ability to control the portal. The prospect of being trapped has her leaning against the statue for support. What will happen to Equestria without her? There was likely a crisis in the palace already. What if she never returned? If Cadance or unicorns figure out how to move the sun in her absence, it would still mean nothing when Nightmare Moon breaks free. Equestria would be without its guardian princess and fall into eternal darkness.

“Sunset! You won’t be able to come back!” She is actually screaming now, her voice made shrill as she frantically slaps at the side of the statue. Was she too late? Had it shut behind her? When she finds the spot where her hand slips through, she gasps with relief.

A relief that becomes short-lived as she stands at the periphery of two worlds and of two decisions.

“Sunset! Please—” Celestia’s throat is raw from her shouting. It turns the rest of her sentence into a hoarse whisper. “I-I can’t stay… I am sorry.” When several more minutes of anguish silence hangs in the air, she turns away.

In the days that follow, Celestia finds Starswirl’s notes in Sunset’s room and the research regarding the mirror. Sunset had discovered the method of opening the portal and directing the mirror, but little else.

When Celestia hunts down the rest of the texts in the restricted library she discovers the caveat: Once activated the portal cycles every thirty moons. But that was in Equestrian time, and there was no telling what the flow on the other side of the mirror would be. Two years here could mean two hundred there.

It was a problem Starswirl had solved in his later writing. One had to bring a magical anchor paired with another in Equestria, and it would turn the portal into a bridge. Fate in all it’s a bitter irony makes it that by the time Celestia finds this information the portal had already closed. Sunset was lost to her, perhaps forever—

Sunset, in the present, finally broke their contact. In real time the hand touch had lasted less than a minute, but the whirlwind of thought and memories had spanned mental days. She backpedaled a few steps away from Celestia feeling disoriented and fell to her knees.

She remembered that night in the throne room, and she remembered their argument. She had made it more than once. Ever since Celestia had confided in her the return of Nightmare Moon and of the Elements. Sunset argued that if Celestia planned for her destiny to be a soldier in some titanic conflict, then it only fitted that she be made an alicorn herself.

It was a desire that only magnified when Cadance had ascended, and then the glimpse into the mirror that showed Sunset clearly with wings and crown. Her whole life was a pursuit of power. She deserved to be recognized for it. That mirror was tantalizing proof.

Yet every answer from Celestia was enigmatic and vague: ‘You aren’t ready, Sunset’ , ‘You don’t understand, Sunset’ or ‘Be worthy of a princess title before asking for one.’

Eventually, Sunset hatched a scheme to go through the mirror, to that future she had seen. She’d managed to activate the mirror but spent days agonizing over the decision. Confronting Celestia one last time had given her the nerve to go through with her plan.

On Earth, she’d crawled on hands and knees into the hedges, disoriented and unsure what had happened or gone wrong. When Celestia started calling after her, she’d kept herself hidden. She'd taken Celestia's screams of being unable to return as threats, not warnings. At the very last she’d held her fists over her ears and never heard the final words.

Later on, when her hand had touched the solid stone of the statue, she’d thought herself exiled.

“Y-You… didn’t want to leave me behind.” Even as Sunset spoke, the understanding was slow to catch up. “You didn’t banish me.” Her breath sped, and she started to sob. It really was all her fault. So much hate and bitterness she’d carried throughout the years, so much of it from a stupid misunderstanding.

“Sunset… you saw that memory?”

“I didn’t mean to, it just happened. I didn’t mean any of it… any of it to happen...” Sunset hugged her knees to her chest and trembled, losing her words.

Celestia joined Sunset in her kneeling and drew her close with a wrap of wings. With her hands, she reached for Sunset’s and held one hand in two. “Do it again.”

Sunset shook her head. She didn’t want any more reminders. She knew enough. She was a terrible pony.

“Please,” Celestia insisted. “You must know my own mistakes, not just yours. Please, Sunset? For me?”

Sunset swallowed and closed her eyes. With them both ponified, the harmony magic came easy, and soon she was diving into the memories once again. This time Celestia nudged her mentally, steering the long reel of her life to one particular time.

Celestia sips from her tea as she sits at the table in her personal chambers. She hadn't planned for this to be a test, but her student was eager to show off her memory skills.

“Advoca aquam, Vocationem Flamma, Fulgur Vocatio and… Vocationem Terrae,” Sunset Shimmer recites then looks up to Celestia with bright eyes.

‘Such a little thing and so young too!’ Is Celestia’s thought. She could still remember when those turquoise eyes were solid foal colors.

“Outstanding, my very talented and resourceful student. Not many can handle that language so early,” Celestia says out loud.

“Why don’t we just say it in Ponish?” Sunset asks. “The magic still works, watch! Call Water!”

Sunset’s horn flashes and one of the glasses in Celestia’s tea set overfills with conjured water. “Oh… oops, s-sorry.”

The antics break Celestia’s stoic nature, and she laughs at that anxious look. “They say it by the old names because wizards are old and curmudgeonly and don’t like things that are different.” With a wink to Sunset, Celestia raises the glass filled with water and takes a sip of it. “Thank you for the water, I was just thinking that my tea was too sweet today.”

Cheerfulness crosses the Sunset’s muzzle, and she looks thoughtful. “Oh! I thought of another one. How about… Arcessete basia?”

Celestia nearly spit takes. Both at Sunset’s ‘spell’ and at seeing the young filly with her hooves perched on the table while her blank bottom waggles. The tail swishes make her look like a puppy eager for a treat.

“That one is powerful magic. You must always be careful with that one,” Celestia intones with as much seriousness as she can muster. “Why it even works on me! Ah! Here it comes!” She leans forward then and kisses Sunset’s nose. “Mmm, though I’d admit that you may have earned that one through cuteness.”

Sunset giggles, her eyes happy arches. “Thanks, Mom.”

Celestia feels her immortal heart skip a beat. The smile she has freezes on her muzzle.

A glance shows Sunset looking up at her shyly through her wavy red bangs.

‘No… not a puppy. Definitely a cat through and through.’ Celestia thinks darkly as she realizes this was no errant slip by her so very precocious student.

Sunset is watching her for her reaction. The seconds slip by, and anxiety creeps in. Sunset’s smile begins to wilt at the edges, and the little filly holds her breath.

Celestia draws her wing around Sunset and cuddles in a tight hug. She’s stalling, but she can’t take the sight of disappointment. Not now.

Thankfully Sunset doesn’t press the topic, taking Celestia’s hug for an answer, and they bid each other good night.

When she leaves, Celestia is left to walk a ring into her bedchamber’s rug, lost in thought. It wasn’t the first time a pony called her mother. In fact, ‘Equestria’s Mother' was one of her titles from the old days. She should have seen it coming, though. Sunset was an orphan. Of course the foal would latch on.

Not that Celestia had been discouraging it. Sunset was brilliant, and her abilities earned her more personal attention from Celestia than the rest of her students. The unicorn was also cute, cheerful and even her name tickled Celestia’s humor. A Sunset to Celestia’s Sunrise. Wasn’t that also one of her old titles? They could be Princess Sunrise and Princess Sunset. Wouldn’t that be fun?

Celestia shakes her head, frowning at how quick the tangent comes. She’d become sloppy these last few years. But who could have known that being a teacher could be so… dangerous? Motherhood had always been out of the question, but now...

The trouble with arguing with yourself is that you can shelf the argument. So Celestia does for the night, tired of wrestling with the idea.

She can’t escape it forever, and the problem comes to her again as she works through her daily routine. Even as she sits in court and listens to nobles and common folk. Somepony with a custody battle. Somenoble wanting to straighten out an inheritance. Someponyelse begging for a draft waiver for their injured son.

Did everypony have a problem with children today? She tells herself that it’s just her imagination. She repeats this mantra when she sees to the opening ceremony of yet another confectionery next to Canterlot’s elementary school.

Adoption wasn’t… unheard of. She’d adopted ponies into the royal family before. Like the Bluebloods who had forced her hoof with their little brat. She had a rule on adoption, however. Nopony could claim to be her daughter or son. Distant aunt at most. It worked to keep the silly aspirations of somepony being her 'heir' at bay.

Would Sunset be happy as her niece? Celestia didn’t think so. Not only that, Celestia herself didn’t know she could be satisfied with that either.

The day moves quickly, and Kibitz gives her plenty of tongue lashings to keep her on task. Chiding her endlessly over missed meetings, overlooked documents, and her distracted nature.

She almost bows to him at one point and then remembers she’s the Princess. She declares herself done with pomp and circumstance for the day and returns to her chambers to aim the sun toward evening hours.

Shaking off her obligations puts her in a rebellious mood. Oh, why the buck not? She makes the rules. She wants Sunset to be her daughter and to Tartarus with what anypony else thinks! With quill and the golden parchment that is her lawmaking stationary, she spends a few hours drafting declarations, energized at the thought.

The door knocks during the late hours. It’s Kibitz again. Celestia’s tempted to blast the old stallion. Honestly, who does he think he is!

Kibitz is crafty. His suggestions are never orders, and he knew just the right way to prod her into action. Like now, he politely wonders if she intends to keep the moon out of the night sky this evening and if he should write a new schedule for the sailors and astronomical societies.

Celestia politely thanks him for the reminder and dismisses him. She heads to the balcony and extends her magic. Raising the moon always brought her the unnerving act of having to face Luna. Or rather, Luna’s mark. The mare-in-the-moon ponies called it.

It strikes her then. She was the only pony alive who could remember when it wasn’t marked. When there were two princesses, not one. When she had an actual family. She misses Luna. She misses their Mother. She was all alone now, and part of it was her own fault.

When Celestia returns from the balcony, she approaches the desk with the declaration and only makes it halfway.

What was she doing?

She couldn’t make Sunset her daughter. The whole point of the Gifted Unicorn School was to find capable magic users to help her in her upcoming fight with Lu... Nightmare Moon. That ticking eventuality which seemed so far away a thousand years ago felt immediate with only ten short years left.

All her planning was falling to this. She’d tried to use the elements countless times before, but they had become inert stone in her hooves. Karma, she suspects, for having used them as a weapon on the other harmony bearer. Her visits to the Tree of Harmony every so often to see if they’ve re-grown still filled her with a kind of unease. As if she were personally shunned by whatever force grew there.

No, she needed allies. Not just allies, but strong, capable ones in the prime of their youth and trained by her to help her fight an alicorn. Sunset was horn and shoulders above any other candidate she had in the school. But Celestia knew that if something happened to Sunset, or if she hit a plateau, Celestia would have to find somepony new. She wouldn’t be able to spend these one on one sessions with everypony and Sunset would have to fall by the wayside.

Or the opposite could happen. Sunset could excel and be the perfect partner she needed in battle or even go as far as recover the elements. But if the time came to send her into mortal danger, could Celestia do it? Already she could feel a sprout of maternal instinct. She would rather sacrifice herself than let somepony she called her daughter face danger.

Celestia can’t even let Sunset find happiness with a foster family, because what if she bonds with them instead? Gives up being a student? Decides that she didn’t need Celestia anymore? Living as an orphan in the palace made it easy to plan her life and studies.

Sunset’s love was a pressure point, one more bond Celestia could use to make sure Sunset kept loyal to her.

The thought sickens her at how easy it comes to her considerations. Luna was right. Celestia was a cruel calculator of a pony, but these were the decisions a princess had to make.

She wanted to shout, to stomp her hooves, to yell.

But she couldn’t even do that. That would have the guards rushing in.

Tortured, she flings her crown off her head and crushes it in her magic. She watches as the golden metal crumples and the gemstone fractures before she blasts it into powder and shards of amethyst.

The pleasure from this petty act of destruction is short lived. Now she’ll have to make an appointment with the royal jewelers, come up with an explanation for Kibitz, find some temporary replacement to wear and… and...

How could Luna ever want this? This living Tartarus that was being Equestria’s princess? She wonders, not for the first time if she should have simply given the throne to Luna. Perhaps her sister would have pulled back from the brink then. Maybe even after the transformation she should have surrendered to Nightmare Moon… would there have been a chance to talk?

She doesn’t know how long she sits there, stewing in her despair.

Eventually, she relaxes. She picks up her anger. She picks up her sorrow. She picks up her regret. She places them all in a box and locks that box tight within herself. A princess isn’t allowed anger. She isn’t permitted sadness. She isn’t given to regret. These are things for other ponies. She is Celestia, she is Equestria’s only bulwark. Her ponies lived happy, sunlit, slave-free lives because of her.

They can find love. They can have families. They can have daughters.

But not her.

Perhaps her sister will be the one to slay her or some invader or some new unfathomable terror. She’ll take it as karma coming to collect its lengthy bill, but until then she must do as she must and not waver.

A fresh knock at the door startles her from her thoughts, and some annoyance gets away from her. “Kibitz, I seriously think you need to take a vacation. I am not—”

“Umm… it’s not Kibitz,” Sunset’s voice comes, hesitantly.

Celestia’s eyes widen, and after a breath to steady herself, she stands tall. “Come in, Sunset.”

Sunset enters, she has her saddlebags on with her textbooks and a hopeful smile on her face. Though she pauses, seeing Celestia without her crown. “Err. Is it a bad time?”

“Not at all. I will always have time for yo—” She hesitates for half a blink and changes the word. “—your education,” Celestia finishes. She puts on a false smile.

“Great! I’m glad to spend time with you too,” Sunset chirps and then adds with an impish smile of her own. “Mom.”

Celestia feels the word like a stab to the gut, so soon. It just had to be so soon. She can see by Sunset’s happy expression that the filly must have spent the whole day in anticipation for this opportunity. There won’t be any getting around it now.

“Sunset, please refer to me as Princess or Princess Celestia when we are in public. In private you may simply call me Celestia.” Celestia, with her centuries of practice, manages to keep her voice from breaking.

It takes a moment for Sunset to understand. But she does, bit by bit. She is, after all, such a clever filly. “Oh.” She stands a little straighter. “Do you want to go over the lesson today, princess?” Her tone was firm and proper.

The brightness was gone.

The mental magic withdrew, and once again it was years later on a rooftop in a different world.

Sunset’s disorientation was minor compared to what she saw in front of her now: Celestia’s cheeks ran with tears, her rainbow hair a frazzled mess and pony ears splayed out. Her eyes came to focus as Sunset watched and she knew that Celestia must have re-lived the experience with her.

Celestia let out a breath. “I am sorry, Sunset. For everything. For believing I thought I was doing good by keeping you apart from me. For being too much a coward and using duty as a shield. For worrying so much about what I thought needed to be done, than what I should have done. I was wrong about Luna. Wrong about how I treated her and wrong how I treated you. I… I am sorry.”

Sunset still held Celestia’s hand and could feel the tremble in it.

She’s afraid. The thought was oddly amusing. The princess that ruled over Equestria, afraid of her, a teenage girl.

Celestia sighed and started to draw her hand back, but Sunset caught her fingers in a squeeze.

“I guess we sorta had a duet after all, huh?” Sunset remarked.

Celestia blinked, confused by her humor. “Sunset… do… can you forgive me?”

Sunset’s eyes felt puffy and her cheeks stiff with dried tears. She still smiled through it. “Arcessete basia?”

Epilogue

“Oh wow! You kissed her?” Twilight asked.

Sunset looked up from the terrarium. She and Twilight often kept each other company in Sunset’s apartment while doing their respective hobbies. Twilight had evidently stopped working on her selfie drone to start reading the friendship journal that Sunset left on the table.

“Umm, okay this is going to sound bad but who do you mean by ‘her’ specifically?”

Twilight looked up from the journal and pushed her glasses up with a finger. “I’m talking about the other me.” She waved the white friendship journal with the golden fringe empathically. “Don’t tell me you have tons of girlfriends throughout the multiverse now.”

Sunset finished arranging the phoenix feathers in the terrarium. Fluttershy had been taking care of Ray during Sunset’s otherworldly visits. Hopefully, the souvenir from Equestria would make up for her absence or at least keep the little guy warm.

After giving the gecko a pet with a finger, she walked over to the couch where Twilight was laying back. Sunset deftly hopped over the back and landed next to Twilight. “Would you be jealous if I did?” She attempted to lean in, but Twilight fended her off with socked feet.

Thinking on the question paused Twilight’s footsie game, and she answered pragmatically. “No. Because of all the worlds you could choose to spend your time in, you spend it here. With me.”

Sunset grinned, reminded why she loved this adorkable thing. “That’s some pretty romantic logic you got there.”

Twilight smiled and played with a strand of hair. “So… was she better?”

“Hard to say. I thought she was you. She popped out of nowhere right after you went up your driveway. She wanted to fetch the princess back.”

Twilight pouted. “That’s a shame. Twins make for great comparative studies. Maybe you could have her visit again.”

Sunset stared at Twilight and slowly worked through that suggestion. “You want her back to… set up a kissing experiment between the three of us? Am I hearing you right?”

Twilight quickly started flipping back through the journal. “Oh hey! Speaking of experiments when do you think Miss Shim— err... Princess Celestia will be free? Will she still teach me magic?”

Sunset squinted briefly at this sudden change of topic but smiled. “Yeah, I think so.” She gestured at the white journal. “You can ask her yourself. That book works like the one I have with the other Twilight.”

“Oh umm,” Twilight looked about for something to write with.

Sunset grinned at her. “Hey, check this out.” She put both hands out in front of her and began wiggling her fingers.

“Sunny, what are yo—”

“Just give it time!”

Across the room at her computer desk one of Sunset’s pens lifted up on a bubble of ruby magic laced with gold. Sunset pulled her hands back, “Ah ha! Err…?” The pen flew towards them then over Sunset’s head and was on its way out the window when it was caught in a purple glow.

“Wow, great effort! You don’t have to wiggle your fingers, though.” Twilight said as the pen floated back. “Maybe I should give you some lessons.”

Sunset stuck her tongue out at her.

Twilight plucked the pen out of the air and began writing her question. She paused after a few sentences. “Oh oops, is she still your mom? I’ve been writing as if she were. Do I need to be more formal?”

Sunset considered and shrugged. “Things between us are a lot better, but to be honest, I don’t even know wh—”

A sudden golden flash surprised them both. Twilight yelped as she fumbled with the journal, staring at the golden scroll that had materialized in the open pages. “W-Was it suppose to do that?” Twilight asked eyes wide from tipped over glasses.

“I didn’t know that it could! She must have put some extra tricks in this thing,” Sunset mused as she lifted the scroll and weighed it in her fingers. She broke the wax horse-shoe shaped seal and began reading.

Twilight sat up and put the journal back on the coffee table when she saw Sunset nearly fall out of the couch. “Are you alright?”

“She actually did it…” Sunset murmured.

“She did what? Who? What’s going on?”

Sunset stared blankly at Twilight before she gave her head a vigorous shake. “Sorry… I… hmm. Hey Twilight, how much have I told you about why I came here, to Earth, in the first place?”

“Nothing actually. You don’t talk about your past often.”

Sunset winced at that.

“But it’s okay, I know you have history. Going all the way back to ponyland.”

Sunset sighed. Wasn’t that the truth? “The portal on the other side of the pedestal is a mirror.”

“A... magic mirror?” Twilight’s eyes widened behind her glasses. “Do you say, ‘Mirror mirror on the wall’ to it?”

“Oh boy not this again. One, it’s a mirror on a stand. Two, you don’t say anything to it… but it does show you things. When I was younger, it showed me as a princess. I thought that if I used it, it would set me on a path to that future.”

Twilight frowned. “But you ended up at a high school instead…?”

“Yeah, I didn’t think it worked right either. Funny, that.” Sunset handed Twilight the golden scroll.

Twilight’s mouth silently moved as she read before turning into an ‘o’ of surprise. “Sunny! T-This means you… you will be…!”

Sunset laughed. “Hey, it’s ‘Princess Sunny’ to you. I guess you’ll be seeing my mom pretty soon after all. We have a coronation to get to.”

Author's Note

Thank you everyone for reading through to the end! All the comments and encouragement along the way makes writing all worthwhile. I hope I paid back in kind with an entertaining story.

Chapter 1- An Overdue Assignment

“—and then they stepped in to save me, even though at that point we’d both lost our memories of each other,” Sunset Shimmer said before she added. “I suppose friendship is… umm stronger than magic, after all.”

“That’s a mostly correct answer,” Celestia replied with a hint of amusement.

Sunset wasn’t sure if anything other than an emergency could have convinced her to talk with Celestia again. Even now, after the confrontation with Wallflower, she felt like she was spinning in an emotional whirlwind. It was so strange to be back here in Canterlot, as a pony, in front of Celestia herself.

Celestia sat on her throne and looked down at Sunset. It was an image that still gave Sunset pangs of anxiety. All the times she’d thought of coming back she was afraid of that unforgiving royal stare. Yet, now, the princess was simply smiling at her.

“I guess I have a lot to learn still,” Sunset said.

“Mmm.”

A moment of silence passed between them.

“I’m getting better, honest,” said Sunset, feeling like Celestia had been waiting for more. “Every day I learn something new about making friends and relationships and how to—”

“Oh, Sunset, I believe you,” Celestia murmured. “After all, you’ve written so much to Twilight that we had to craft a new friendship journal.”

Sunset fidgeted at that and rubbed the back of her neck with a hoof. “Y-Yeah… umm, that isn’t a problem is it?”

“Not at all. Though you must understand that I can’t read either of them now that they’ve become so personal.”

Sunset blinked. Celestia kept smiling in that coy way of hers, still expecting something. It wasn’t long before the idea came to Sunset.

“You want me to write a friendship journal for you?”

Celestia’s smile broadened into a grin.

“She wants you to write a friendship term paper?” asked Princess Twilight.

Sunset sighed. “I know. It’s—”

“Wonderful!” Twilight exclaimed and clopped her hooves together. “We have so much material to work with! This is a great opportunity to show her just how much you’ve learned over the years.”

“—yeah… wonderful.” Sunset finished with small eyeroll. Though it was hard not to get caught up in Twilight's enthusiasm. She let Twilight lead the way from the Cutie Map room to the study where the mirror portal to Earth was situated.

Twilight floated both versions of the friendship journal from a nearby shelf and spread them out on a table. “Where should we start? Sometimes it’s best to show an event that acts as a microcosm of who you are now and then expand that out into a grander thesis.”

Sunset chortled. “I haven’t rescued any cats out of trees lately if that’s what you're going for.”

“Oh, there must be something. You’re a good pony, and good ponies do good things. Even without thinking about it.”

“That’s nice of you to say,” Sunset said, touched by the sentiment. She moved in a little closer to watch Twilight for a time, amused that the princess could speed read two books in tandem.

Twilight added a scroll, quill, and inkpot to the floating objects, taking notes while she skimmed. She barely noticed Sunset's proximity.

Curiosity took hold of Sunset, and she leaned in to bump her nose on Twilight’s cheek.

Twilight turned her head and returned the nuzzle with a nose-on-nose stroke. The motion was natural to the point of being automatic. “Did you want to read along too? Unless you can remember a specific entry.”

“Sure. I’ll see if I can remember,” Sunset replied and held back her giggle. Twilight’s lips had grazed hers and Twilight hadn’t skipped a beat. Personal space in Equestria was such a loose concept compared to the human world.

Either that or Twilight simply didn’t mind. That thought brought a silly smile to Sunset.

“Mmm? Did you think of something?” Twilight asked.

“Just something funny. Human humor.”

“Ah.” Twilight turned her attention back to her note-taking scroll. “So I catalogued some of these entries from the past two weeks. Let’s see… on the eighth, you helped Twilight, human Twilight that is, with some math on a computer?”

Sunset nodded. “For her selfie drone.” Seeing Twilight's blank look, Sunset clarified, “It’s kinda like a mechanical bird that takes pictures.”

“I see, and on the twelfth you stayed late after school and spared Twilight some... dollars?”

“They’re a kind of money made of paper.”

“Oh! You gave her some paper bits to get a snack? Even though it meant you had to skip lunch yourself. Aww, how generous!”

“I can spare to lose some pounds, and she’s due to gain some.” Sunset grinned.

Twilight snorted. “If only ponies thought that about me over here.” Turning back to her notes, Twilight picked out the next entry. “Well, it looks like you both had an expensive dinner on the fourteenth. Who is Saint Valentine? Is there an important religious tradition to share a feast on his day?”

“Something like that.” Sunset forced her expression to stay neutral.

Twilight squinted. “I think I’m seeing a pattern here.” She glanced again at the scroll. “How... unfortunate.”

Sunset took a breath. Best to get it out in the open. “Twilight, we’re dat—”

“You spend so much time with our friends that there isn’t much opportunity to show you doing something amazing.” Twilight continued on, still looking at the scroll. “I guess other me is somewhat hapless to need your help so many times over so many little things.”

Sunset coughed to cover the rest of her interrupted sentence. “Umm, ahem. H-Hey, I got an example. When we were trying to figure out where the memory stone was, I met up with Trixie.”

Twilight put a hoof to her chin. “Human Trixie? The one who pulled the trapdoor on us? Did she give you any trouble?”

“Actually, she was kinda nice. Well, not nice. She’s still a pain in the a—err… flank.” Sunset corrected. “But now I understand her a little better. She brags, but it’s because she wants to be someone people could look up to. I figure everybody wants that in one way or another, she’s just loud about it. Maybe she’s trying to convince herself as much as other people.”

Sunset shrugged. “I probably bungled that explanation, but she did help me, and I couldn’t have done it on my own. I’m sorry it took a magical crisis to show me that even those you write off or overlook could be made friends. That applies to Trixie as much as Wallflower.”

Twilight was quiet for a long moment before she smiled and slid a quill and fresh scroll over to Sunset. “That’s a perfect place to start.”

Sunset reached for the quill. She fumbled with it first with a hoof then her mouth before remembering her horn. After tense concentration with her tongue out, she showed the scroll to Twilight. “Unf. I’m out of practice, but how’s that?”

Twilight looked at the scroll and in the gentle voice of a true teacher said, “We’ll... figure something out.”

Sunset had thought to leave the report behind on Celestia’s desk and scamper away until the next time the princess called for her, but Celestia had insisted that she stay in her chambers while she read. At least the Princess seemed to be an accomplished speed reader as much as Twilight and flipped quickly through the pages.

Even then, there were a lot of pages and Sunset was seated on the other side of the table awaiting judgement. She felt like she was in Principal Celestia’s office.

Then again, I was a pony first, so shouldn’t the Principal’s office feel more like being before Princess Celestia? Sunset pushed down the thought before it could crack a nervous giggle out of her.

“I was about to commend you on your calligraphy. It’s very neat and orderly, but this is typed, isn’t it?” Celestia asked.

“It’s umm… Times New Roman.”

“Haec non Roamana,” Celestia replied.

Sunset blinked and squinted as she remembered her old lessons. “Est alia significatio.” She gestured with a hoof. “It’s a font, a style of writing the typing machines on Earth can write in.”

Celestia inclined her head. “I am unfamiliar with that, though the way the words are chosen and how it’s structured is familiar. Twilight helped you with this, hmm?”

Sunset flustered, and her first impulse was to deny, though she knew she’d already given it away with the hesitation. “She did. I told her you had a project for me and she wanted to help so… err… are you mad?”

Celestia looked at Sunset steadily before she broke the tension with a chuckle. “If anything how it was written shows how you’ve changed, almost as much as what was written. You would have never let anypony help you with an assignment before.”

Sunset looked towards the table and shrugged. “Yeah…” There was a rustle of feathers, and suddenly a touch on Sunset’s cheek as her muzzle was raised by Celestia’s wing.

“That wasn’t a criticism. I truly am proud of you. Of what you’ve accomplished, of what you’ve become. To have you back now, to be able to talk to you and—” Celestia halted and took a breath. “I am sad that I had to miss so much of your life.” She reached to pat the stack of papers with a hoof. “Reading about it afterwards, well it’s not quite the same.”

Sunset’s muzzle worked, though no words came out. Was Celestia being emotional? Sunset had remarked to Twilight before how strange to see Celestia with a sense of humor, but apparently even more had changed in the decade that passed in Equestria while she was on Earth.

“Maybe you will give me a tour? I’d like to see first hoof how you're doing over there in the human world,” Celestia suggested to the silence and to Sunset’s shocked expression.

“S-Sure,” Sunset stammered out to her old mentor before her brain caught up with just what she agreed to. Old student habits did die hard.

Sunset had reservations about bringing Celestia through the mirror. On the way over from Canterlot she talked herself into expecting that Twilight would make some well-reasoned, logical argument against the idea, better than what Sunset could come up with.

“You can’t go!” Twilight exclaimed once they were in the Mirror room.

Welp, so much for that. Sunset thought. Apparently, Celestia was the one mare that could make Twilight into a frazzle-maned mess.

Celestia smiled at Twilight. “I believe I’ve saved enough vacation time to have some hours to myself.”

“But your duties!”

“You can see out the window that the sun is up and shining quite nicely.”

“What about the court and Canterlot and laws and… and… everything else a princess does!”

Celestia raised a hoof to her chin and looked thoughtful. “I suppose you’re right.”

“I-I am?” Twilight blinked. She looked like she’d expected more deflection.

“Mm hmm. It would be irresponsible of me to leave Equestria while my sister sleeps and with nopony around to perform my royal obligations. Cadance certainly couldn’t do it from the Crystal Empire, not on such short notice.”

Twilight closed her eyes and relaxed with some practiced breathing. “I’m glad you came to your sens—” She stopped when she felt a weight settle on her head. Her eyes opened and immediately shrank to pin pricks.

“I want to take this opportunity to compliment you on how studious and talented you are,” Celestia said while her mane swirled to fill in where the tiara used to sit.

Twilight reached up with her hooves. They stopped short and trembled, afraid to touch the crown now on her head. She found her voice instead and cried out, “I can’t! I can’t be like you and be responsible for everything and everypony!”

“Twilight, if you stopped to hear yourself you would know just how silly of a thing that is to say. You’ve been responsible for the future of Equestria itself on at least eight occasions.”

Twilight sputtered and went through several expressions before dropping her hooves and crossing them. “It… it was only five,” she retorted sullenly. “Spike was the one who fought Sombra, and it was my brother and Cadance who fought Chrysalis the first time. Also, it was Starlight who fought her the second time.”

Celestia rolled her shoulder in a shrug. “My apologies. They do tend to run together some.” She smiled again. "Still, I'd say that more than qualifies you for a few hours of princess work."

With that, Celestia turned from Twilight and faced the mirror, but Twilight appeared in front of her in a teleport flash. “Please… just… please don’t go,” Twilight begged.

Celestia took stock of Twilight for a long moment. Eventually her stance softened and with a golden pull of her horn-magic, drew Twilight close for a hug with both hooves and wings. “Maybe that was too much teasing. But I was serious about how sure I am that you can deal with this.”

Twilight sniffed into Celestia’s chest. “What if something happens?”

“Then I am sure you will fix it,” Celestia murmured. "You have proven quite reliable at making right from wrongs. Especially my own wrongs."

Sunset straightened when Celestia glanced at her for the second half of that sentence.

Twilight, unaware of the glances over her head, asked, “Just for a little while?”

“Only a little while. This isn’t some scheme to retire. This old mare still has a few thousand years left, hmm?” Celestia winked at Twilight. “Though I wholly expect when I return, you’ll give me a dozen suggestions to streamline our bureaucracy. It's terribly bloated as it is, see if you can better optimize it around friendship and ponies.”

“Maybe only half a dozen.” Twilight giggled, visibly calmer as she stepped back from Celestia’s hug.

“When you get to the castle, look for Raven Inkwell. I left a list with her for you. She should walk you through most of the pomp and circumstance of the morning routine.”

Twilight blinked, opened her mouth as if to stay something before she shook her head and laughed. “A list, huh? You could have said it was going to be easy.” She teased. “Okay, you two have fun.”

After the emotional parting between those two, Sunset felt odd being left alone with Celestia. She turned and asked, “You knew? What if she said no or just let us walk through the mirror?”

“You know her almost as well as I do and how impossible that would have been.”

Sunset rubbed at her own shoulder with a hoof, unable to argue against that point. Though now that they were genuinely facing the prospect of traveling, a particular problem reared its head.

“We are going to have to do something about how you look,” Sunset said, hesitantly.

“I beg your pardon?” Celestia asked, lifting her eyebrow.

Sunset had a sense that eyebrow raise was probably responsible for several wars in Equestrian history.

“You look like Principal Celestia… or um… well, Principal Celestia looks like you. If you go over there looking like that, then most of the students and probably the town will recognize you,” Sunset finally managed.

“Ah, so you want me to wear a disguise?”

“It would help, maybe a wig?” Sunset suggested before her mouth dropped open when Celestia gave a vigorous headtoss. All at once the rainbow flow vanished, and Celestia’s mane fell straight. Straight and pink.

Celestia smirked at Sunset’s reaction before her expression became one of sharp intensity.

Sunset fidgeted under the critical gaze and started. “What are—” she then gasped when Celestia’s horn flared, and the colors shifted. The pink mane deepened in color, becoming red with highlights while the white of Celestia’s coat became a pale gold shade. Even Celestia’s cutie changed, the sun icon turning red with pink radiance lines and getting what looked like a ruby set in its center.

“How’s this?” Celestia asked, blinking her now-blue eyes while she smiled at Sunset.

Sunset looked in the mirror that showed herself next to the newly golden and red-maned Celestia. She sucked in a breath, feeling her heart skip a beat at the resemblance before she tamped down the emotion. “It’s practical. If we look related, nobody will question an adult hanging around with a teenager.”

“Mmm.” Celestia's smile faded into a more neutral expression.

Well, there’s another look that’s probably ended one country or another. Like the eyebrow raise before, Sunset wondered if she had said something wrong. Though before she could muse too much more on it, Celestia was approaching the mirror.

“Hey, wait up! Let me go first and check if the coast’s clear. If I don’t come back waving my hooves about you can come through?”

Celestia hesitated, looking between the mirror and Sunset before she nodded. “I trust you.”

I trust you.

It wasn’t until Sunset had traveled through the mirror did the impact of those words strike her.

“Is she afraid I’m going to run away… again?” Sunset asked the open air. Though as she looked towards the marble of the pedestal, she felt a twinge of guilt. She had once before, and this time she couldn't pretend that Celestia didn't care.

She certainly cared enough about Twilight. Cares enough about her to give her wings and even the whole country for a day.

That thought slowed Sunset's step. It’d been a while since she felt that old jealousy. As she grew close to Twilight, she knew the purple princess earned every ounce of adoration.

Yet… when Celestia was some remote, abstract thing, it was easy not to be envious. Seeing her with Twilight, how they talked and teased. The warmth the two shared. Why hadn’t Celestia been like that with Sunset? Did she just not stack up?

Sunset sighed and shook her head, focusing on the task at hand and scouting the Canterlot High’s entrance. With it being early on the weekend, the place looked deserted. That was a relief, as Sunset wasn’t eager to explain the concept of doubles to the human Celestia. The principal probably still thought Twilight had a twin sister.

“One less problem. Thank Celestia for that,” Sunset murmured before she blinked and laughed outright at herself. It had been some time since she'd reflexively slipped back into her old pony habits.

Finally, the pedestal rippled and Princess Celestia crawled through on hands and knees. Any worry that the disguise wouldn’t hold was quelled when Sunset saw that Celestia kept the regular look-alike hair in human form. The mirror with its subtle enchantment had gone as far as to give her a perfectly adult-appropriate blouse and skirt with the changed ruby-sun cutie.

Sunset was ready to help her up, but to Sunset’s surprise Celestia stood and dusted herself off, not even stumbling from the changed form.

“Huh, most ponies have trouble with the first few steps over here,” Sunset observed.

“This isn’t my first trip through the mirror. Though it has been quite some time,” replied Celestia while she made a few experimental snaps and wiggles with her fingers.

Sunset opened her mouth to ask just when Celestia came over, but she abruptly shut it. Idiot! You damn well already know when. She looked away until Celestia snapped her fingers in front of her.

“Something on your mind?” Celestia asked.

Sunset straightened. “Just wondering where to take you now that you're here.” She forced a smile and waved at the school. “Ta-da.”

Celestia looked at the school, then back to Sunset. She crossed her arms in a way that was so very much like the actual Principal. “I would hope there is more to your life than high school.”

Sunset snorted. “Now, you say that, but you’d be surprised at how much a girl’s life revolves around this place.” She took a fresh glance at Canterlot High and shrugged. “I guess I could show you my apartment. Though only if you promise not to nag me about the mess.”

“I’ll make no such promise!” Celestia declared before she softened her tone with a grin. “But I’ll help you clean up if it’s too messy.”

The public bus ride from the high school was an experience that kept Sunset on edge. Any minute she expected someone from Canterlot High to show up and wonder about their principal. Or for Celestia to make some embarrassing pony-in-human-world faux pas.

Though, as Sunset soon found, most humans were oblivious. Especially on public transportation. If anything, Sunset’s gawking at passengers was more out of place than Celestia’s quiet curiosity at the bus and occasional glances out the window. Most humans just wanted to tip tap on their phones or listen to music.

It was still a relief to get off the bus, though on the walk up the steps to Sunset’s apartment building she was struck by how comely it looked.

I should have risked a mural, it would have covered up all the chipped brick and rust. Sunset turned to Celestia with a nervous smile. “I know it looks a little run down, but I’ve fixed up the inside to make it look a lot nicer. I really can’t touch the outside though, because I’m only paying for one room in the building and even though I’ve asked him, the landlord still won’t get around to—”

“Sunset.” Celestia interrupted in a firm, but patient, tone. “I know how apartments work.” After she saw Sunset blush, she added, “What it looks like doesn’t matter as long as you're safe here. Is it a good area to live?”

Sunset chuckled and shook her head. “Oh, don’t worry about that. Before Twilight hit me with her magic I built up a reputation for being a big biker bitc—” She coughed suddenly to cover herself. “—girl,” she amended.

Instead of the lifted brow or the ‘Hmm’ Celestia inclined her head and asked, “A biker?”

“It’s a person who rides a motorcycle. Umm, a motorcycle is like a mechanical horse that you saddle up in,” Sunset said, remembering how she explained the selfie drone to pony Twilight.

Celestia blinked at her. Now she gave Sunset a new expression of both brows raised.

Sunset inwardly groaned at this fresh can of worms. “Okay, whatever you're thinking, I promise you it’s not as horrible as it sounds. It’s a machine with wheels. Maybe if human Twilight’s done fixing it up, I could drive you around later. I left it with her before I visited Equestria.”

“I leave it in your hooves to be the tour guide then.”

“You mean hands. We have hands here.”

When that got an eyeroll out of Celestia, Sunset felt victorious. Finally, something other than ambiguous signs of judgement.

The good feeling only lasted as long as it took for Sunset to press the buzzer. The intercom decided to be fussy. Annoyed, Sunset mashed the button.

The button popped off to spite her.

Ugh, so much for saving even one little hassle today! As Sunset got her keys out and painstakingly worked the lock, she could practically feel Celestia's eyes on her, watching every move.

They made it past the entrance and climbed the steps to Sunset’s apartment door. Sunset hesitated with her hand on the knob. “Uhh, can you give me a minute to tidy things up?”

That earned Sunset an eyebrow lift and an arm cross from Celestia. Though she was smiling in that serene way of hers. “There wouldn’t be much point in coming all this way to see how you live if you were going to sweep it all under the rug.”

Sunset puffed. “Oh, come on! I wasn’t expecting guests. I’m just trying to be a good host.”

“I’ve walked through the depths of Tartarus on more than one occasion. I very much doubt you could have anything in there that would horrify me.”

Out of arguments to stall with, Sunset relented. “Fine, but you’re going to be disappointed.” She threw open the door and waved dramatically. “After you, princess.”

Celestia took Sunset’s grousing in the same stride she made into the apartment proper. Sunset wasn’t sure what to expect, though she wouldn’t have been surprised if Celestia ran a finger over her bookshelves hunting for dust.

The apartment wasn’t the largest, merely a single room with a lofted portion for a bed and a cooking nook. Sunset’s hobbies took the rest of the available space with her guitars, a box of art supplies and her prized entertainment system.

Celestia wandered by the television and electronics, then turned to study the guitars. “This is a cozy place.”

Sunset nodded, distracted. “Yeah? You like it?” She surreptitiously edged towards a discarded takeout box left on the table.

“It shows much of your personality. I am only sorry that I didn’t know how much appreciation of music you had.”

“You’ve heard me sing before.” Sunset lifted the takeout box and blanched at how the front of it showed a very colorful, very obvious picture of fried shrimp and roast pork.

Celestia laughed. “Everypony sings at some point in their day.”

“I guess that’s true.” Sunset steeled herself for the slow walk towards the kitchen.

Celestia twanged the guitar with a finger. “Sing, but not play. I am trying to compliment you. Must you make it so difficult?” She peeked over her shoulder.

Sunset spun and hid the take out box behind her. “Umm… yes. I mean no! I mean… thank you?”

Celestia’s brow furrowed momentarily, before she shrugged and continued her tour. She came up against the entertainment center and looked towards it with a finger on chin.

That gave enough time for Sunset to trash the incriminating take out. She sighed in relief.

“This world does enjoy their gadgets. I’ve seen this one in a dozen variants on the way here.”

Sunset startled, Celestia had found her cellphone! Though she relaxed when she remembered it had a passcode. “Those are useful things. They are like a combination of a small magic mirror that let you see things. A camera and uhh… Spike.”

Celestia turned the phone over in her hands before holding it out in a pinch of finger and thumb. “Like Spike? Does it shoot flame?”

“Some of them do. But I avoided that model this year,” Sunset replied with a grin. She liked the perplexed expression on Celestia’s face.

“Hmm, why does it buzz when there is a picture of Twilight? Was that part about Spike not a joke?”

“Hah, that was a jo—” Sunset began before she blinked. “Wait, it’s vibrating while showing a picture of Twilight?”

Movement outside the large studio window caught her attention and the buzz of a familiar toy filled her ears. Before Sunset could rush over and shut the blinds, there was a flash as the selfie-drone snapped a picture of them both.

“What was that?” Celestia asked.

Sunset groaned as she looked out the window. Human Twilight was waving up from the sidewalk with her phone to her ear. “Trouble.”