Reborn
Princess' Arc 2: Of Tribulations and Bubble Baths
Previous ChapterNext Chapter“Wow, you must be really powerful to use Starswirl’s spell like that.” Sunset commented as the pair sat across from one another at the kitchen table, a look of admiration on her face as Starlight looked away in embarrassment. “I remember when I snuck into one of the restricted sections of the castle’s library. Some of the spells in there…”
“While I appreciate the praise, I would much prefer to move past my, well, past, if that were fine with you?” Starlight’s blush slowly faded away as she looked back at Sunset. “Is there a reason you’re wearing bandages and an eye patch?”
“Oh… these, right…” Sunset’s muzzle turned downwards slightly as she frowned, her good hoof coming up to prod at the leather piece covering her right eye. “Would it be fine if we waited for Twilight to join us? It sort of involves her.”
“I swear I will never get used to this castle!” the pair of unicorns jumped as the door to the kitchen flew open, Twilight Sparkle grumbling loudly as she trotted over to sit between her two apprentices. “Sorry for the delay you two, I may have gotten a teensy bit lost, as embarrassing as it is to say that.”
“No worries, Twilight.” the amber unicorn chuckled humouredly. “You don’t wanna know how long it took me to get used to the other Canterlot.”
“So what did you want to wait for me to talk about?” Twilight asked after the pair shared knowing chuckles, Starlight left completely ignored for the moment.
“Right… Um, promise me you won’t freak out? Both of you, I mean…” Sunset trailed off as she took her hoof to the bandages, grunting annoyedly as she struggled to remove them. “God damnit do I miss my hands already!”
“Er, Sunset?” the unicorn looked up as she heard her name, noticing Twilight wearing a silly grin, slowly motioning a hoof up towards her horn.
“...I hate you…” Sunset snarked as she rolled her eyes before focusing on her magic, a nostalgic feeling running over her as her magic flowed to the tip of the horn on her head. She let out a pleased sigh as she felt the bandages start to-
“Oh my Celestia!” Sunset’s magic stumbled as she lost her focus, and nearly her balance, as she heard Starlight cry out in horror. “That’s… That’s dark magic!”
“You know I asked you to stay calm for a reason…” Sunset grumbled as she resettled herself, continuing to use her magic to remove the bandages from what would be her right arm back on Gaia, and finally her eye patch, everything coming to lie in a neat pile on the table. “So, as you can see, I didn’t exactly get out of that ordeal unscathed…”
“Your eye looks just like the daemon’s…” Twilight said softly as she studied the form of her friend intently. “And then the clawed hoof- or rather hand…”
“Part of the reason I came over here, besides needing to tell you that I’m not actually dead- and that was totally the top priority, I promise!- was to see if you knew of a way to get rid of these… Back on Gaia, well… I have a tendency to tear things apart with these claws.” Sunset looked at the alicorn with a mix of sheepishness and hope. “I was hoping that maybe you knew of something… Sadly it’s been too long since I’ve had a chance to go through the Royal Library, and I was hoping to save meeting with… her…”
“...Sunset… You know you’re going to have to talk to her most of all, right?” Twilight’s tone was somber as she let out a small sigh. “She hasn’t been out of her room since your apparent death… Princess Luna has been running Canterlot for the last, well pretty much the last whole month now. And if anything, she would be the only one powerful enough to help. Do you remember what happened… I think three months back? Princess Celestia, Luna, and myself came over to Gaia at the re-”
“Yes, I remember… When you girls tried to fix me then.” Sunset nodded, cutting off her friend gently. “It didn’t work, though that may be due to a combination of Gaia being so barren of magic and… her trying to do it herself…”
“Well I think we should be able to do it here.” Twilight nodded firmly, before frowning and reaching out a hoof towards her friend. “But we will need Celestia’s and Luna’s assistance, and that means you need to talk to her.”
Sunset sat there in silence, her head tilting towards the table, the mirror polish reflecting her contrasting eyes perfectly. Revealing herself to Twilight was one thing, sure, but to Celestia? Sunset’s head shot up, worry and concern marring her features. “You say she’s been staying in her room since the funeral? Surely you, or at least Luna have talked to her, right?”
Twilight shook her head silently.
“...I’m so sorry… I…” Sunset’s head slumped, a tear coming to her eye as despair swelled in her core. “I’m sorry…”
“I’m certain that I am speaking out of place here, but wouldn’t it be best to just get it over with?” two pairs of eyes turned onto Starlight as the unicorn finally spoke up again, a simple look on her face. “The longer you wait the harder it’s going to be. Trust me, I, uh, have similar experience with this sort of thing.”
“I also think your mother would love to see that you are alive.” Twilight added, causing Sunset to jolt suddenly before freezing entirely.
“...Fine, but we need to keep my visit secret. That’s my stipulation on this whole thing happening, alright?” Sunset said sternly as she looked between her two hosts, the pair nodding in agreement. Sunset gave a content sigh, subconsciously bringing her clawed hand up to her face as if she were human, and wiping it down her muzzle, before pausing at the end.
“Oh… My… God…” she said, stunned as she ran her hand down her muzzle again, a maniacal look coming to her face. “Muzzles are so squishy!?”
~
Not even half an hour had passed between Sunset’s realization of the plushiness of Equestrian Ponies and the small pop and flash of light as the trio appeared right in front of Canterlot Castle. Whilst Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer were standing there unadorned, Sunset Shimmer shifted around uneasily, her bandages and eye patch were once again being worn, but her entire body was tingling thanks to an illusionary spell to hide her presence to others.
“Okay, we can go.” Sunset whispered, the other two mares starting to walk up the stairs at her comment.
“Now remember, Sunset,” Twilight started quietly, pausing to greet the guards standing in front of the doors, giving a false explanation that allowed the three to enter. “We are going to get you to her room, but it has to be you who talks to her. Starlight and myself will use Maredenkainen's Shifting Wall to allow you into her room, as it would be unwise for us to try and break down her door.”
“There are usually four guards stationed outside her room, though.” Sunset said shortly after the pair ahead of her stopped to talk with yet more guards. “What’s your plan for dealing with them?”
“Oh, you’ll see…” Sunset heard Twilight giggle, a dangerous giggle, a giggle that made her amber ears fold flat against her head.
The trio stopped at the end of the hall leading to Princess Celestia’s royal chambers, the three of them taking a momentary peak down the hall before hiding back around the corner.
“Six guards…” Sunset groaned, her amber hoof connecting with her muzzle. “What are we gonna do now?”
Twilight merely grinned and closed her eyes, her magic springing to life around her horn. Suddenly a tall, black, chitinous looking creature popped into existence beside Twilight, it’s teal mane and iridescent eyes instantly recognizable.
“Sunset, you remember what spell stones are, I hope?” Twilight asked as the replica of Queen Chrysalis stood beside Twilight, slowly blinking.
“Well, yeah I do. Small objects enchanted to produce spell effects on demand.” Sunset nodded quickly before looking back at the Changeling Queen. “What does that have to do with Chrysalis here?”
“Well the armour of the Canterlot Royal Guard act partially like a spell stone, and one of the spells included is a recent one, to aid in the detection of illusioned Changelings.” Twilight nodded towards the Chrysalis doppelganger, who momentarily erupted into green flame, which revealed a second Twilight Sparkle when they vanished. Twilight’s magic formed around her horn again, and around her twin.
“Go towards the guards, then stop and start talking to them, ask to see to the Princess. When they detect you are a changeling, break your illusion and flee.” the duplicate nodded at her maker’s instruction, trotting down the hall.
The trio waited patiently, until…
“An illusion! What are you hiding!?” one of the guards yelled before cries of panic shot through the gathering followed by the sounds of hooves running away from the room after “Queen Chrysalis”.
“Now! Come on, Sunset, we only have one shot at this!” Twilight shouted as the trio ran around the corner, dashing down the hall and stopping at the wall to the left of Princess Celestia’s room. “Okay, as we planned, Starlight.”
The other unicorn nodded, and the two closed their eyes, their horns igniting as they channeled their magics into the section of wall. The surface started to crawl, as if water were streaming down it, before it gave a subdued, snapping sound as if made of elastic bands as it snapped back into shape.
“Now, Sunset.” Sunset nodded towards Twilight, and slowly walked towards the wall, hesitant. She paused, looked back at the straining mares, took a deep breath, and walked through the wall.
~
The room, while a mess of indescribable proportions, had not changed in the years since Sunset had last stepped foot in it. She looked around in awe, trying her best to not get washed away in a sea of nostalgia. As dark as the room was, thanks to the large window of the room being hidden behind a set of great drapes.
Sunset paused when her eye fell upon the bed, and the unsightly mess of a blob discernible atop it. Whilst it was an incredibly well known secret that Celestia was actually a massive slob, the state of the room and its belongings were not of slovenliness. The dark pit in her stomach dropped more as she realized that she had indeed caused all of this…
She took a step forward, followed by another, watching where each hoof or daemonic paw landed as she made her way to the bed, before pausing a couple feet from the edge. The mass on the bed raised and lowered, the steady breathing intermixed with nigh unhearable sobs, causing Sunset to look at the ground in shame.
“E-E-Excuse me…” Sunset said loudly and unsteadily, the mass on the bed shaking as it woke in shock, the room suddenly filled with blinding light causing Sunset to avert her head from the radiance glowing from the figure’s horn.
“An intruder!?” Celestia yelled, slightly asleep as she turned to face the covered figure in her room. “How’d you get in here and past the guards!?”
“...” Sunset stood in silence, slowly looking back towards Princess Celestia as she felt the light start to die down.
“Answer me!” the Princess demanded, her voice loud and demanding respect.
“...I’m so sorry…” Sunset said softly, opening her eye and looking at Celestia, the alicorn’s features shifting from indignation to confusion.
“That voice…? But…” Celestia muttered in disbelief, her horn igniting with magic once again, the hood being lifted from Sunset’s head, before dropping unceremoniously on her back as her head came into Celetia’s view. “S-Sun...set…? No, this is just… just another nightmare! You’re still dead and-”
“I’m so sorry…” Sunset interrupted in a minuscule voice. “I never meant for this to happen… But I promise you… I am real, and I am alive…”
Sunset felt herself suddenly lifted off of the ground, watching as she was slowly levitated over towards Celestia, the Princess’ magic depositing Sunset in front of her. A single, impossibly pure white hoof reached, shaking noticeably, towards Sunset’s face. She sat there on the bed, watching as the hoof touched her muzzle, starting to rub up and down as tears came to Celestia’s face. Sunset brought up her front hoof to rest on Celestia’s as she looked into the alicorn’s eyes.
“I’m so sorry… Mom…”
The pair sat in silence, Celestia’s eyes reduced to pinpricks as she looked over the features of her daughter long though dead. Her whole body had started to shake now, tears running down her face in great streams as she shook her head.
“No… You… Sunset…? Are you…”
Sunset nodded, still trying to prove to her mother that she was really and truly alive, only to give a small, undignified squeal as she was wrapped up in Celestia’s towering embrace, hooves and wings surrounding the unicorn as her mother started to cry loudly.
“Y-Y-Y-You’re really alive! Oh, Sunset, I-” the princess was unable to keep herself from blubbering embarrassedly as she rocked back and forth with the unicorn held firmly in her grasp. “You have so much to explain, young mare, but that can wait! Oh I can’t believe you’re still alive!”
“Dear Sister, We felt a commotion from thine room! We-” Sunset was freed from being swung back and forth as she heard the large double doors to the room fly open, a familiar voice calling out as the sounds of hooves entered the room. The freedom of motion was short lived, however, as Sunset soon felt herself being thrust forward towards the newcomer.
“Look, Lulu!” Celestia cried with unrestrained joy as she held out Sunset like a newborn foal. “Sunset’s alive!”
Sunset hung there awkwardly in Celestia’s front hooves, her rear hooves just barely unable to touch the floor she was dangling over. Sighing in defeat, even as a blush of embarrassment flooded her face, she looked up at Celestia’s sister and grinned sheepishly. “Er… Hello, Princess Luna.”
“Sunset Shimmer…?” the Princess of the Night looked at the amber furred unicorn in her sister’s grasp with slight shock. “But thou wast dead! We saw it with mine very eyes!”
“Well… that wasn’t actually me me, but-”
“It doesn’t matter at the moment!” Celestia interjected happily, her magic hoisting Sunset into the air as the alicorn removed herself from her bed, standing proudly as she set her daughter on the floor. “Sunset is alive, and I intend to make the best of it before we deal with the why’s!”
The drapes covering the windows were flung to their sides, daylight streaming into the room and revealing the terrible state of Celestia’s private chambers. She looked around before pausing when she noticed the barely restrained looks from both her sister and daughter. “Well… Maybe a bit of tidying is due first.”
There were shared giggles from the trio as Celestia’s magic flared to life, her room transforming before Sunset’s very eyes. Books returned to their shelves, a broken vase was repaired and replaced gently onto its stand, the bed was made. All that was left…
“Mayhap, dear sister, you should take a bath.” Luna said, smiling with a mix of embarrassment and teasing. “A month of being sedentary has not done well to thine complexion.”
“...” Sunset remained silent, looking away and giving a rather sheepish shrug of her shoulders when Celestia looked her way.
“I guess you are right…” Celestia grumbled, trotting forward and hoisting Sunset up in her magic before stopping and opening the doors. “We shall be in the royal bubble bath!”
~
“So, um…” Sunset stood at the edge of the massive indentation filled with steaming hot water, bubbles beyond measure, and one alicorn sighing contently. She had just finished removing her cloak, leaving it piled next to her boots near the door, leaving her with her bandages and eye patch still equipped. “I guess this is where I’m supposed to start talking?”
“Mmm…” Celestia gave the laziest shrug Sunset had ever seen, the mare resting peacefully in the water as a set of rubber duckies floated past her.
“Umm… I’m not sure if I should enter or not…” Sunset added once she finished walking to the side of the bath, sitting down behind Celestia. “I don’t want to get these bandages wet and-”
“Well then just take them off, Shimmy.” replied Celestia in a lackadaisical manner, turning to look at her returned daughter, studying the bandages and the eye patch. “Though you are now making me worry as to why you are wearing bandages and an eye patch.”
“...” Sunset looked away, unsure of what to say. She opened her mouth to respond, only to feel warm air wash over her suddenly exposed daemonic limb.
“Oh…” Celestia responded lamely as the sound of Sunset’s bandages and eye patch collapsing to the floor rang through the room. “Is… Is that remains of the corruption?”
Sunset nodded, hunching over in shame as she looked at her mother.
“The eye as well?”
Another nod.
“...Well we can’t have you walking around like that, can we?” Celestia’s face broke into a goofy grin, moments later breaking into laughter as she stared at the response she was getting from Sunset. “Come now, Sunset! You know I would be unable to say no to help you. We will go with Lulu to the Tree of Harmony after the bath. I am certain the Elements of Harmony have finished recharging by now.”
“W-What? Just… Just like that?” Sunset looked lost as she stared at Celestia perplexedly. “But- After everything I’ve done to you and Twilight, I-”
“I never blamed you for your actions, Sunset.” Celestia interrupted, only to have Sunset interrupt her mother back.
“But why!? You-You-You took me from the streets and into your care, loved me like a daughter and took me on as your personal protege! And I let it all get to my head, believing that I should get things that weren’t really mine to have simply because you were my mother!”
“And I allowed you to let your pride blind you!” Celestia yelled sadly, tears starting to build in her eyes once more. “I allowed you to become haughty and vicious, I failed to treat you like a daughter and caused you to run away! It haunts me to this very day that I drove you to go through that portal, Sunset! That I made you feel like you had to prove to me that you were stronger than I! What kind of mother drives there child to that point!?”
“You did nothing wrong, Celestia…” Sunset sobbed, looking at the ground as tears streamed down her muzzle. “If I had listened to your lessons on the true meaning of Friendship…”
The sound of water cascading onto itself could be heard as Celestia hoisted herself from the seated position she had in the tub and up to her feet. She made her way out of the bubbly water and came to rest in front of Sunset Shimmer, seating herself before the smaller unicorn. “I… When you first left, and the portal closed I was left in despair. The loss of you, if even for a short time, nearly shattered me, Sunset. I never had the strength to search you out on the other side of the portal, blaming myself for failing you as not only a teacher, but as a mother. I thought that the loss of you was my punishment, and I prayed every day that you were able to find your destiny in that other world.”
“Why would you ever blame yourself!?” Sunset cried, looking up at the sorrow filled form of Celestia. “Just look at what I did on Gaia! I stayed the same power hungry, egotistical girl that I was under your care! I drove yet another school into fearing me, blackmailing and threatening my fellow students… I even returned to Equestria to steal Princess Twilight’s crown, her own Element of Harmony!”
“And you did that because I ignored you, Sunset. When you needed me most as a mother, I abandoned you, treating you only as another student under my care…” Celestia bowed her noble head towards the ground. “If I had shown you true love and friendship as I preached… Maybe none of this would have ever happened…”
“You did more than anyone else in this world has ever done for me, Celestia…” it was Sunset’s turn to bow her head, going so far as to lay down and prostrate herself before her adopted mother. “You did show me true love and friendship, and I took it all for granted… I will never accept you apologizing for your actions, and I forgive you entirely if you believe you failed me…”
Celestia shifted around until she was lying beside Sunset, draping one of her great wings over her daughter affectionately. “I won’t accept your forgiveness until you forgive yourself, Sunset… We are both to blame for the events of our separation, and while it has been an arduous and cryptic path, I believe you are better for it…”
“And how can I forgive myself…?” Sunset sniffled into her hooves, unable to look up at Celestia. “All I’ve ever done is hurt others…”
“I think you know some people that would beg to differ.”
“...Huh?” Sunset finally looked up at Celestia in shock.
“Besides Twilight and myself, who were both devastated with your apparent death, there are at least three other Equestrians who care deeply for you.”
“And look what I did to them as well…” Sunset muttered. “I abandoned them too…”
“And yet throughout everything we were still grieving for your loss.” Celestia said as she smoothed the mane of her depressed daughter. “We all love you, Sunset, no matter how much of a failure you believe you are. We all are here for you, no matter what.”
“But-”
“We have all moved beyond your past Sunset. It’s time you realize yourself that you’re more than your mistakes.”
“...I... I don’t know if I’m strong enough…” Sunset said softly.
Celestia gave a warm smile as she maneuvered Sunset around to be face to face. “You believed that the Pony of Shadows lived under your bed for six years, you can believe in yourself for one minute.”
Sunset sat there and looked between Celestia’s eyes, taking in the warm smile that the sun Princess wore.
“...I… I guess I can try…” Sunset said, a sad frown coming to her face as she tried to move her head away, only to remain face to face thanks to Celestia’s strong grasp. “If all of you are here for me…”
“We will always be here for you, my dear daughter. No matter your struggles, you have a loving family that will always be in your corner. Your past is not your today.”
~
“So it was a good bath I take it?” Twilight Sparkle asked as she watched Celestia and Sunset depart from the private bath chamber, the duo positively glowing in cleanliness.
“I forgot what it was like to have a Royal Bubble Bath…” Sunset groaned happily, rubbing her daemonic paw through her mane.
“Now what?” Starlight asked, the mare trying her best to not show how out of place she felt.
“I think now we meet with Luna and head to our former castle, and the Tree of Harmony in the cave beneath.” Celestia said as she continued down the hallway, her mane and tail flowing behind her in an ethereal wind. “It is time we finally remove this corruption from my daughter. Twilight, you and Starlight return to Ponyville and contact Fluttershy. We will need her help to get Discord to reign in those vines of his.”
“Wait… Discord?” Sunset asked in confusion as Celestia turned the corner.
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