Author's Note

Bear with the poor quality of how this written. I have yet to get a smart phone or computer to perfect it to my usual standards but I wanted to get this finished.

A Council Of Friendship?!?

"Sunny?" Twi said cautiously.

I just kept quiet as I stared at the photo of Princess Twilight‘s Council Of Friendship in a rage.

"Sunny? What‘s wrong?" pressed my wife.

I didn‘t say anything. The only thing I could do was storm off carrying Gleaming and Solaria with my magic.

Twi did her best to cut me off from exiting the castle. However, due to her limited mobility, the attempt was in vain.

Starlight, however, was successful in blocking my egress from the castle. She not only stopped me in my tracks but also sealed the doors.

As I levitated the girls back to Twi, I growled, "Unseal them, Starlight."

"No," Starlight said defiantly. "Not until you tell us what‘s got you so wound up."

I lifted the photo of the Council off the walll and flung it on the floor in front of me. "That!" I shouted as the teal aura faded.

Starlight tilted her head. "I don‘t understand."

"Neither do I," Twi said from a safe distance.

"What‘s not to understand? It‘s the six off them and Spike posing for a group photo holding a
banner that says ‘First Official Meeting Of The Council Of Friendship‘."

"Sunset, it‘s not what you-"

Starlight never finished her sentence. A magic beam from my horn hit her in her neck.

"Sunny, stop! What are doing?! Starlight is-" shouted Twilight from afar.

"Stay out of this, Twi," I snapped before refocusing on Starlight. "Unseal. The. Doors. Now!"

"No," panted Starlight. "Not until-"

I fired off another blast. This one, however, hit a force field that Starlight quickly erected around herself.

"Sunset, I am not going to lift the spell until you calm down."

"You want me to calm down, Starlight?"

"Yes."

"Fine. Let me out and I‘ll calm down."

I heard the sound of something being teleported. Seconds later a small hoof touched my rear leg.

‘Oh, ! Not now,‘ I thought as I turned my head to see that Solaria was the one touching me. Almost instantly I began to feel weak and started panting. At the same time the rage that I was feeling was slowly being drained, for lack of a better word.

I then dropped to my front knees in order to try to keep upright in my weakened state. Unfortunately, it was lost cause. I finally flopped onto my side, causing Solaria to let go, so to speak.

Once the physical connection was broken, a sudden magical discharge hit the ceiling. When Starlight saw it, it was obvious that she was confused. And so was Twi.

"You‘re probably wondering what in Celestia‘s name just happened," I said as I tried to sit up.

Twi was the first to speak up. "It‘s obvious. Solaria took your magic."

A sheepish smile appeared on my face. "It‘s a little more than just that."

"What do you mean?" Starlight asked.

"Sunny, is there something about our daughters that you‘ve been hiding?"

"Well you see...um, funny thing. Ha ha," I said, stalling since I knew I was about to get yelled at. "This may or may not have happened before."

"WHAT?!" shouted Twi.

"You know how I haven‘t been rage quitting as much while I‘m streaming?"

Starlight tilted her head in confusion and asked, "Rage quitting? Streaming?"

"I‘ll try to explain later," I said before returning my attention to Twi. "Well?"

"Are you telling me-" began Twi.

"That they are the ones responsible for that?" I finished for her. "Yes."

Twi scratched the back of her head while Starlight remarked, "The princess might find this interesting."

I shot her angry glance. "That mare will never even see our children. I‘ll make sure that promise doesn‘t get broken."

"Sunny, focus. What do you mean that Gleaming and Solaria are responsible for your reduction in rage quitting?"

I felt my face turn red from embarassment. "You know how we thought they were using their magic for causing mischief?"

"Yeah."

"Well, it‘s partly true. They work in tantum to achieve a goal," I explained. "I think Solaria can sense when I‘m angry because anytime I get really worked up, she‘ll grab ahold of my arm."

"Which calms yot down?" asked Starlight.

"Exactly," I replied.

"So how does Gleaming fit into all this?" asked Twi.

"She uses her teleportation abilities to get Solaria as close as possible to me to do her thing before I can react."

"Like she did a few minutes ago," Starlight added.

I nodded my head.

"Hold on. Are you telling me that our five month old girls are using their magic to protect others?"

I nodded my head again as I finally gained enough strength to stand on all fours. "That‘s my theory. Think about it. Gleaming teleported the book that nearly hit you in the face just in the nick of time. Then just now when I began firing magic blasts at Starlight."

"I guess that does make sense," said Twi.

"Starlight, will you please unseal the doors now?"

After a pause that seemed to go on forever, Starlight asked, "Are you going to stay calm?"

"While I‘m still angry and hurt, I promise to remain calm.

Almost instantly the aura around Starlight‘s horn vanished, signaling that the doors were open.

"Thank you," I said.

"Sunny? SciTwi? What brings you here?" asked my father, Sunfire, when he opened the door.

An uneasy smile crossed my face. "Well, you see-"

"She needs to have a, uh, conversation with Princess Twilight about a few things and wanted to do it face-to-face," said Twi.

"Shimmy!" I heard my little sister, Breaking Dawn, shout from inside the house.

"Um, dad? Any chance we could go inside? It‘s kinda cold out here," I said. I levitated the girls off of my back and onto the floor once we were inside. "Where‘s mom?"

"She‘s running some errands right now. She should be back soon," replied dad. It was then he noticed the aura around Twi‘s horn. "Are you okay, SciTwi?" he asked.

"That‘s a long story. I‘d prefer to go over it tomorrow if that‘s okay," I said.

"That serious?" asked dad.

"Yep," said Twi.

I started toward my old bedroom and called over my shoulder, "I need to clear my mind for my meeting."

"Do you have an appoint to see the princess?" asked a member of the royal guard as I approached the royal chamber.

"No."

"Then I‘m afraid that I cannot let you ent-"

I grabbed both of the guards with my magic and knocked their heads together, rendering them unconscious. After moving them aside, I turned around and bucked both of the doors opem at the same time.

A smile was on Twilight‘s face when I first entered the chamber. "Sunset Shimmer! What a surprise!" Her smile faded as I got closer. "Sunset, are you okay? Sunset?"

"So how long have you been the ruler of Equestria?"

"About two moons," Twilight said.

"Uh huh. And when were you planning to tell me, Twi, and the rest of the girls?"

"I…I guess I just forgot," she told me.

"Seriously Twilight?! You forgot?!" I shouted in a rage. "You were my mentor! My…my friend!"

"Sunset, with all that went on with Cozy Glow, Tirek, and Chrysalis, inviting you to my coronation completely slipped my mind. I swear."

Holding back tears, I continued, "Bull! I think you‘ve gotten too comfortable being a princess to visit me, Twi, or any of your other human friends."

"But-"

"No buts!" I interrupted. "The last time you saw any of them was when we found that second portal! They‘ve been asking about you and wanting you to visit us. And don‘t say you didn‘t know because I‘ve been telling you that through the journal for two years!" I took a breath and continued, "And this ‘Council Of Friendship‘ thing? Starlight explained to us-"

"Us?"

"Yeah, Twi and I. Starlight told us everything about it." I raised my voice even louder now. "Did you not think for one moment that I might have wanted to join you all every moon?!"

As I turned to leave, Twilight, noticably hurt, said,"Sunset, I‘m…I‘m sorry."

"Whatever princess." I finally released my tears as I crossed the threshold of the chamber doors. Before fully leaving I turned and told Twilight, "For the record, I won‘t be in Equestria anymore except for Hearth‘s Warming and it won‘t be to visit you." I paused to wipe my muzzle with my foreleg. "Goodbye, Twilight. Good luck ruling Equestria."

Just before I was out of earshot I heard her say softly, "Goodbye, Sunset. I hope one day you‘ll change your mind."

As I walked out of the castle gates, I softly muttered to myself, "I highly doubt it."

It was well into the night when I finally returned to my parents‘ house about three hours later (due to taking the "scenic route"). I quickly found myself lying on my parents‘ couch in tears over the conversation between myself and Princess Twilight.

At some point Dawnie had joined me on the couch, wrapped her foreleg around my barrel, and did her best to comfort me.

"Why can‘t you just go back to the castle and say you‘re sorry, Shimmy?" Dawnie asked after I told her about what had transpired.

‘Ah, the naivety of a nine year old filly,‘ I thought as I wiped my eyes for what seemed like the millionth time. "Because I…I meant every single word that I…I had said. Even if I was…wasn‘t angry, I would have meant it. It‘s just how I feel about her now."

"But isn‘t Princess Twilight your friend?"

I paused a moment to think about Dawnie‘s question.

"Well? Is she your friend?"

I somehow managed to wiggle loose from Dawnie‘s iron grip and got off of the couch. I began to walk to my old bedroom and- barely above a whisper-said sadly, "I don‘t know, Dawnie. I just don‘t know."