Reborn

“So, uh… Excited to be going back to Equestria?” Aria asked as the four Equestrians sat still at the kitchen table.

“I… I’m not sure, to be honest…” Sunset gave an uneasy smile back to her sister. She had hardly slept the previous night, her mind racing at the thought of returning to Equestria and confronting Celestia. Apparently the Solar Diarch had not been heard from in months, other than small messages passed to Princess Luna who was currently running all of Equestria by herself, just as Celestia had done for millennia. Princess Twilight was unaware that Sunset was alive, the unicorn begging the Sirens not to reveal the fact yet as Adagio started to inquire about the availability of Twilight’s current schedule.

“We were kinda amazed when she said she was your daughter.” Sonata chuckled, smiling and hoping to pick up the mood. “I didn’t know that she had had a lover again. Mind you it’s been a long time since we were in Equestria.”

“Y-Yeah, she…” Sunset became quiet as she paused at her endless stabbing of her bowl of cereal, her eyes growing visibly misty. “She’s done as much for me as the three of you have…”

“I appreciate the high praise.” Adagio said, a patient smile on her face. “It’s not everyday you get compared to the literal Goddess of the Sun.”

“So, um… How exactly are we getting to Equestria? I doubt that it would be possible to get within a hundred metres of the school, let alone the statue portal.” Sunset asked before taking a spoonful of cereal. “And I really don’t wanna go back to that place…”

“We don’t blame ya, cause neither do we!” Aria said, a hint of fire to her voice as she answered her sister’s question. “Princess Twilight had been to our house once while you were… away, and she transferred the portal to one of the rooms upstairs.”

“Wait… What?”

“It’s Magic, Sunset. What else is there to explain?” Adagio chortled gaily as she watched Sunset’s expression shift to confusion before looking at the vibrating journal that glowed a faint purplish colour. “Looks like she’s replied…”

“What’s she say, what’s she say!?” Sonata jumped up to her feet, her breakfast burrito trailing crumbs onto the table beneath her.

“I think Sunset has about twenty minutes to go shower and get ready.”

~

“So tell me again why you three aren’t coming with me?” Sunset asked hesitantly from in front of the ornate looking mirror that had been previously covered by a draping cloth.

“Do you not remember how big we were back there?” Aria asked in amusement, crossing her arms as she crossed her head. “Unless the Mirror was put in a field we would probably destroy whatever room it was in, let alone the mirror itself!”

“It was Starswirl who exiled us after all,” Adagio added, resting a friendly hand on her sister’s shoulder. “We never crossed the portal.”

“Plus I think Ponies would recognize us and who knows what would happen then, hehehe…” Sonata scratched at her cheek errantly, an embarrassed smile on her features.

“But… How can I do this without the three of you…?” Sunset looked around at them, the sorrow in her eyes intermixed with the hesitation of her body language. “I need the three of you…!”

“About time you say that!” Aria snicker as she playfully swatted at one of Sunset’s breasts, the orb jiggling and swaying as it owner gave a small bark of annoyance.

“We would love to be with you, Sunset…” Adagio added sadly, a tired frown coming to her face. “I think all three of us would like to see home again…”

The room was awkwardly silent as all three Siren’s fell silent, sad, pensive looks on their faces as they looked at the floor. Sunset realized that it had been an unimaginable amount of time that the Sirens were away from Equestria, over six millennia apparently, so of course they would want to see their ancestral home, even if for a moment.

“... I’m sorry, you three…” Sunset said, walking around and grabbing the three of them in close, the group sharing a loving embrace together. “I wish I knew someway of getting you three back home…”

“Promise you’ll write?” Sonata asked, her face back to it’s normal cheeriness, even if the mood in the room was still tinged with sorrow.

“Of course I will, Sona.” Sunset laughed as she ruffled the Siren’s head, before she gave an extremely uneasy smirk. “But, uh… stay here for a little bit, just in case I need to run from an angry purple Pony Princess…”

“I’ll have the hammer ready!” Sunset watched as Sonata somehow produced a cartoonish hammer of immense size out of nowhere.

“Uh… I don’t think we’ll need that, Sonny.” Aria said as she gently took the hammer away from Sonata before depositing it against something covered under more cloth. “You just be careful, Sunset… it sounds like you’re gonna be having quite the party over there…”

“You telling me to be careful?” Sunset looked at Aria in unadulterated shock, a hand coming to rest over her chest. “Here I thought you were go an’ tell me to go and sleep with Celestia!”

“Well now that you say that- Ow! The fuck was that for!” Aria had a rather lecherous look on her face that quickly shifted to pain after Adagio’s fist connected with the crass shoulder.

“You have fun, Sunset, and remember that we will be waiting patiently for your return.” Adagio smiled before looking over and scowling fiercely at Aria.

“You three try not to burn down the house while I’m gone, alright?” Sunset chuckled as she walked over to the mirror, pausing hesitantly in front of it. There was magic radiating from it, just like the statue at CHS, and she found herself drawn to reach out towards it, the surface rippling like water as she rested a palm against it. She took a deep breath as she felt a chill run down her spine, before looking back at her sisters one last time. They all smiled warmly as Sunset turned back to facing the mirror, and stepped through.

~

“W-Wooaah!” Sunset landed uneasily on the other side of the portal, her entire world still spinning from the magic that transported her back to her native world. Her arms were flailing around beside her as she tried to keep her balance, but to no avail as she landed in an unappealing heap on the cool, crystalline floor.

“Ooowww…” she groaned as she brought her hand up to rub at the aching pain in her jaw.

Only for something hard and not finger-like to connect with said jaw.

“W...What…” Sunset’s mixture of shock and understanding vanished as she heard a deadly calm voice, filled with uncontrollable emotions bubbling and trying to break through. “What in the name of Celestia…”

Sunset slowly craned her head up towards the voice, taking in the sight of a lavender unicor- Alicorn, with an instantly recognizable mane of deep, dark blue with two stripes of purple and magenta running down it, the mare’s violet eyes pinpricks of shock as her wings flared out behind her. Sunset could only give an incredibly uneasy smile as she looked up at Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria.

“Erm… Uh…” Sunset stuttered as she laid there on the floor, grasping at straws in regards to what she should say right now. “...Hi…?”

“S… Sunset… Shimmer…?” tears started to build in the corners of her friends eyes as she stared down at the friend that had just appeared through the portal, the friend who’s funerals she had attended on both Gaia and Equestria. “Y-You’re… Alive…?”

“Um… yes…?” Sunset responded as she tried to push herself up to a standing position, her legs and back screaming at her until she realized that she was a pony again, her shock and happiness put to the side as Twilight started to slump to the ground.

“But… but you were dead… We all saw the body… An-And the funerals…!” she said softly as she shook her head back and forth, Sunset starting to slowly walk over, pausing the first time she came down on what was supposed to be her front right hoof, the limb thankfully still bandaged but the form of a clawed arm unmistakable, causing Sunset to frown as uncurled the digits, the “hand” more akin to a griffon’s or a dragon’s than a humans. “I must… I must be seeing things…!”

Sunset instantly put the concerns of her corruption to the back of her mind as she galloped over to her first friend and wrapped her in the tightest possible embrace before starting to talk. “You’re not seeing things, Twilight… It’s me… I’m, uh… Oh stop crying, would you? You’re gonna make me cry for god's sake!”

Twilight Sparkle refused to stop crying, instead deciding to start bawling loudly as she wrapped her own hooves around her friend and pulling her in close, causing Sunset to inevitably start crying softly herself, a veritable deluge of emotions pouring from the pair of ponies as they sat embracing one another in Twilight’s throne room.

“Twilight!” a shocked pair of voices cried out, one that Sunset recognized, belonging to Spike, and the other to a mare that the returned Equestrian did not recognize in the slightest as the duo barged into the room, the telltale aura of magic visible around the unicorn mare’s horn.

“Twilight? What’s wrong, why are you crying?” the pale lavender unicorn asked, her magic dieing down as she realized the Princess was safe, though her eyes paused as she turned towards Sunset, voicing her confusion. “And who is that? How’d they get in here without us knowing?”

“She looks kinda familiar…” Spike said, tapping his little dragon claw against his little dragon chin, Sunset amazed at the familiarity between him and his canine counterpart. “Twilight? Are you gonna stop crying now?”

“Sh-Sh-She’s alive…” Twilight sputtered out as she bared her face into Sunset’s shoulder, shuddering harshly as she continued to sob loudly. “She’s alive, Spike!”

“She…?” he asked, looking just as confused as the mare beside him, until his young mind focused on the most important word that Twilight had just repeated twice, his eyes shooting back to Sunset, studying her. “Wait, alive? Wha...t… Wait a second! Ketchup and mustard hair…! S-Sunset… Wh-Wh-What are you doing here!? You’re dead! Wait, don’t tell me you’re a ghost now come to haunt us! Dragon souls don’t taste good, I promise! I-”

“Sunset, as in… Sunset Shimmer?” the mare asked, starting to sound annoyed at more or less being ignored, turning to look once again at Sunset herself. “The one who’s funeral you went to with the other Princess’ that no one, and I mean NO ONE else was allowed to go to?”

Twilight made muffled, garbling noises, as she continued to shove her muzzle into Sunset’s shoulder, the amber unicorn giving a small chuckle as she wiped away the tear running down the left side of her own muzzle, before turning and nodding to the mare and dragon duo. “Yep, that’s me, Sunset Shimmer herself. And relax, Spike, I’m not dead, so how could I be a ghost? Besides, hasn’t Twilight ever told you that ghosts don’t eat souls?”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were alive!?” Twilight suddenly wailed as she pulled back slightly from Sunset, leaving her hooves to rest on the unicorn’s shoulders, her face a mess of tear soaked fur as she stared in disbelief at the sight of her friend. “Why didn’t you tell anyone that you were alive!?”

“...I’m sorry about that mess, really…” Sunset said softly, looking away from her friend as shame tore through her body and mind, her eye narrowing as her ears flopped down. “I… I don’t think I will ever be, or should ever be forgiven for what I did, and what I put you all through these last few months… But believe me when I say that it wasn’t easy on me either… I… It took me this long to just to try and accept my life on Gaia… to accept them, and everything they did for me while I was Fireside Glow… How could I see any of you before I came to terms with who I was…?”

“You… You are going to have a lot more explaining to do, Sunset.” Twilight said firmly, the alicorn having stood up straight and magic’d away the mess that had covered her face while Sunset was staring at the floor. Sunset’s face fell, her frown deepening as she brought her muzzle closer to her chest, the disappointment evident in her friend’s words. “But… I’m glad you are still alive…”

Sunset looked up, noticing the hoof outstretched from her own saviour, the sad, hopeful smile on the pony’s face as she reached out once again to Sunset Shimmer. Sunset looked between the hoof and the face of the owner, a small, sad smile coming to her face as she chuckled softly. She slowly reached out and took the hoof, accepting the assistance in getting to her feet. “Thank you, Twilight… And I am sorry about that…”

“I know you are…” Twilight whispered as the two pulled in close in another loving embrace, before pulling away and giving a small cough, followed by motioning to the pair of bystanders in the room. “Now, where are my manners. You of course know Spike, but you probably haven’t seen him as he normally is, and our other guest is Starlight Glimmer.”

“Nice to properly meet you.” Sunset nodded towards Starlight, the mare nodding though she still wore a confused look on her face. “I do hope you don’t judge me by what my previous legacy has done.”

“Heh… It doesn’t hold a flame to what I’ve done, no offense.” Starlight chuckled sheepishly as she looked away, rubbing a hoof against the back of her head.

“She’s my newest student in the Magic of Friendship.” Twilight said, walking over to stand beside the unicorn. “And I wouldn’t be so sure, Starlight. I actually think the two of you could- That’s it!”

“What’s it!?” Spike yelled back instinctively, snapping to attention as he scurried over towards Twilight.

“Starlight! Show Sunset here to the main kitchen! Myself and Spike will be down shortly after making sure the castle is secured against any… Guests.” Twilight started shoving the pair of unicorn out of the room, before she paused and finished her thought. “Sunset, why don’t you tell Starlight here all about how you stole my Element of Harmony? I am certain the two of you can bond greatly over how much trouble you two have caused me in particular.”

“...Ouch.” Sunset said bluntly as the door slammed shut behind the pair, her eye shifting slowly from the door over to Starlight, the mare looking at Sunset in bemused shock. “Oh… Did she never tell you about that?”