“The past is the past, what only matters now is the future.”
Princess Sunny, no matter how many times she said it, it never sounded quite right coming out of her mouth. What was she even a Princess of? Was she even a Princess of anything?
“Hail!” Zipp said in passing, in a teasing tone as she mock-bowed. “Hail our new Princess!”
“Please don’t,” Sunny said to her, her orange fur shifting to a crimson hue. “I’m just ‘filling in’ for the time being. Equestria doesn’t need a Princess.”
“I mean, if you say so…” Zipp shrugged as she walked with her. “If you ask me, magic seems to think differently. Like those wings and that horn seem pretty real to me. Kinda jealous, not gonna lie. They’re pretty rad.”
They also put her status on full display, something Sunny would admit she was still getting used to. Everything had just changed way too fast for her liking, she’d gone from the town weirdo to worshipped and loved.
For Magic’s sake, she swore she saw some of her neighbors trying to convert others to the Church of Sunny!
Like what?
How? When did this start happening?
She wasn’t an object of worship. She was still just a pony like anyone else.
A part of her was bitter about all of this, so all it took was a few extra additions for everyone to start loving her now?
For years she’d been the town outcast, just barely tolerated on the best of days and ignored on most others. Suddenly by becoming what apparently amounted to royalty, everyone wanted to throw themselves at her.
Make no mistake, a part of her was happy to finally be accepted. To have her words heard. But… But it still didn’t change any of what happened.
She knew Maretime, and there was that little paranoid part of her saying that give it a few days and everything would be back to normal. Honestly, there was a temptation to give back the wings if she could.
Just go back to normal, when she wasn’t totally fawned over by ponies who’d hated and laughed at her for years.
They were ugly thoughts, ones she knew weren’t befitting of a Princess. That she should just ignore them. But why were they getting harder and harder not to listen to?
With a bit of effort, she managed to push the thoughts away for now. No, she had to be better than that.
She was, for better or for worse, royalty now. So she had to act like it. Even if that meant putting on a smile for ponies she still wasn’t sure if she even liked at all.
Ugh, okay now she needed to go for a fly, just get away from all of this. Clear her head. Lifting off, she took to the skies with the winds beneath her wings.
Here, she didn’t have to worry about any of that down below, she could just focus on her flying.
“Sunny, wait up!”
Or, at least that was the theory. Zipp was racing alongside her, looking far more at home in the air than she.
The white mare hadn’t taken long to ease into flying, after years of practice and it was hard to deny the smile on her face. After years of faking it, now she could really be who she wanted to be.
The pony did a loop-de-loop over her head, as green grass stretched for miles beneath their hooves and rapidly began to give way to tangled forest.
“You looked like you had something on your mind, like you tore out of there fast. Looked like whatever it was that was bothering you, it’s pretty heavy right?”
“It’s none of your business,” Sunny said, sounding far more irritable than she meant.
“Woah, okay, it probably isn’t. Was it my Princess comment?” Zipp asked, like a gull in flight as she glided over the tops of trees skimming them with her hooves.
“No, it’s not that. Well, okay it’s not just that,” Sunny admitted, still unsure if she should say anything at all.
Having somepony to talk to about her issues was still a new thing. Somepony who would actually listen to what she had to say.
Hitch was her friend sure, but he didn’t always ‘get it’. He tried his best, but he could only do so much.
He’d always been focused on keeping the peace, keeping his head down and oh there she was sounding ridiculously bitter again. She had to work on that.
“It’s just a lot of things right?” Zipp asked, as they landed in a little clearing. Standing stones, the ruins of an impossibly ancient castle forgotten by the centuries lay around them. “Yeah, I get that.”
“How’d you do it?” Sunny asked, her hooves clopping against what was once the floor of this place. “Put on a false smile for everyone, and try to reassure them that everything was alright?”
“Years of practice, and a belief that everything would be better someday soon I suppose? Why do you…” Zipp trailed off before she let out a small: “Oh.”
“Yeah, oh.”
“It’s like that huh?” Zipp asked, walking up beside her to give her a comforting nuzzle. “Yeeeeeeah, I can’t blame you. It’s a lot to take in.”
“It’s not just that, I used to be the town weirdo. The butt of far too many jokes to count,” Sunny said, sitting down and looking up at the setting sun. A metaphor perhaps, for one chapter of her life coming to a close. “A-And now suddenly everyone’s looking to me, up at me. Like me I’m just supposed to forget everything.”
Her voice was trembling a little, and Zipp wrapped a wing around her.
“So don’t forget, and hey I’m not saying you have to get along with everyone. Heck, you’ve got us, so don’t forget. Just… something to think about, okay?”
“I suppose…”
“Now come on, it’s getting late and ponies are probably wondering where we got off to,” Zipp said. “Probably thinking we snuck off to make out or something.”
Sunny flushed, before nodding and taking off into the sky. Maybe tomorrow she’d have an answer to her problems.
Sleep didn’t come easy that night for the new Princess, as she tossed and turned in her bed her mind still heavy with thoughts and anxieties.
Sunny let out a little moan as she clutched the pillow tightly with her hooves and tried to snuggle into it. Hoping that something comfortable would finally let sleep claim her. A faint light began to fill the room, and she buried her face into it.
Whispers came from all around, seemingly calling out to her. Trying to grab her attention, reach out and pull her closer.
“Mhmmmm, Zipp, is that you?” Sunny murmured to herself, still trying to stuff her head into the pillow and block out the sound. In the background, the faint light began to grow brighter with each passing second. “Just save it for the morning huh? I’m sure whatever it is, it can wait.”
“This cannot wait,” said the voice, loud and clear. Kind, but still firm and obviously having something to say. “Hello Sunny. Princess of Magic and Unity.”
Sunny’s eyes shot open, and then she realized she wasn’t actually in her room anymore. Somehow, she was in an impossibly majestic castle, all gilded with pillars rising high above her and stained glass on every side.
As she walked, the mare felt fairly intimidated and nervously spared a glance to the windows. Her eyes widened as she realized what each one depicted. They depicted her and more importantly events in her life, all leading up to her crowning.
“Okay, this is too weird…” Sunny said to herself, this had to be a dream. “Alright, just fall back to sleep and you won’t remember any of this in the morning.”
“Actually,” said the voice again, sounding friendly and somewhat amused. “I’m sorta hoping you will remember this.”
Sunny’s jaw dropped as she realized someone was on the throne in front of her, and her eyes widened as a gasp escaped her. She recognized this mare, but it couldn’t be!
“Hello Sunny,” Twilight Sparkle said, briefly flickering between her current form and a much younger one. Her legs were shorter, her mane less majestic.
“But you’re… you’re only a legend,” Sunny said, suddenly feeling very small with her wings tucked to her side nervously. “You’re only supposed to be a fairy tale, I… I played with a figure of you as a child. My dad told me stories about you!”
“Myths often have a basis in solid truth, my little pony,” Twilight said, flickering back to her older form and towering over her successor. “Don’t be alarmed, there’s nothing to be afraid of. You know me, you know who I am and what I represent.”
Sunny found herself bowing anyways, and Twilight giggled.
“Don’t bow, we’re equals. In fact, I should probably be bowing to you Princess,” Twilight said, doing just that. “You did what so many before you couldn’t, and restored unity to the land.”
Sunny’s thoughts briefly flashed to her father’s warm smile, and his encouraging words.
“I… I was only doing what I thought was right,” the mare stammered. “Unicorns, earth ponies, pegasi… I knew they had to be together even if nobody else believed in me!”
“And you succeeded, and magic returned to the land,” Twilight said. “I’m sorry you had to endure so much my little pony, ponykind wasn’t supposed to be fractured in this way.”
“How did they…”
“A story for another time,” Twilight said dismissively. “I want to talk about you. I’ve heard your worries and your doubts from my realm. I wanted to come and reassure you, that’s all.”
“Y-Your realm?”
“Just a place a little bit beyond here, something all alicorns will be able to go to when they fully ascend. Connect with magic, become magic. You’ll see it for yourself one day, it’s not something I can really describe,” Twilight said, flickering back to her younger form. “Come, walk with me.”
And Sunny did, and found herself drawn to a balcony. The whole world was in front of her, and it briefly flickered to an ancient time before flashing back to how it was now.
“Wait, can’t I see-” Sunny started, with Twilight raising a hoof.
“The past is the past, what only matters now is the future,” Twilight said, the insinuation obvious.
“How… how can I forgive them though? I was so alone for so long,” Sunny said, tears threatening to escape. “Nobody believed me, and H-Hitch… He-”
“It’s okay,” Twilight said, nuzzling her comfortingly and using a wing to wipe away her tears. “And you don’t have to forget about any of it, any of what your town did. I know my reputation, being far too kind for my own good. I forgave people, but more importantly, I never forgot. I’ve known a lot of ponies who’ve done terrible things, some of whom I know intimately if you can believe it.”
Sunny couldn’t help but stare, chastising herself for her rudeness. “Intimately, you mean… Oh, okay, uh wow, I don’t think the history books mentioned anything like that! Wow!”
“No, ‘wow’ is how some of them made me feel,” Twilight said, with a flirtatious giggle and her cheeks flushing remembering times long since past. “Anyways, my point is, they made you what you are, and you don’t have to forget about that. You just have to find a way to forgive them.”
“What if I don’t want to?” Sunny asked, even if those words sounded hollow. It wasn’t like they knew any better!
“They've already started rebuilding your beloved home,” Twilight advised. “That's a start right?”
Yes, that was true...
“I have faith in you, my successor. I won’t lie to you, it’s never going to be easy and there will always be challenges ahead. You won’t always have the answers,” Twilight said. “But! But that’s the thing, you’ll never be alone. You have your friends by your side now. That’s the real magic!”
Spectres surrounded them, some briefly taking familiar shapes. A mare in white, a pegasus with a rainbow mane. Another unicorn, with darker fur and a broken horn nuzzling Twilight briefly before fading away into mist and smoke.
“Y-Yeah, it is…” Sunny admitted, thinking of Izzy and her boundless energy. Hitch and his supportive smile and loyalty. And Zipp with her determination and inability to give up.
“There she is, there’s my successor,” Twilight said with a smile as the sun began to set. “Oh, look at that, look at the time. New day for you and the end of my time.”
“B-But wait, there’s still so much I have to ask you!” Sunny said as the world rippled all around her. “There’s still so much I don’t know!”
“I can’t give you all the answers, I’m not a how-to manual. Besides, every Princess has their own way of ruling. What worked for me, it won’t necessarily work for you. You’ll have to discover your own style, my little pony. Goodbye, Sunny Starscout.”
And with that, Sunny awoke and found herself back home. She blinked slowly, rubbing her eyes as she returned to the waking world.
“...wow, what a dream,” she murmured, fighting back a yawn. “And yet, it all felt so real.”
And she remembered every word the Princess had said. No, it couldn’t have been her. Could it?
Could it?
And yet all of it felt so real. Like Princess Twilight(!) -if that's who she really was- had an answer to her every problem.
Sunny sat up. Maybe she should start listening.
“Hey Sun!” Zipp greeted her on a morning jog. “You seem extra chipper this morning. Find an answer to your little problem I assume?”
“You know…” Sunny turned to her with a reassuring smile. “I think I did, yeah actually.”
