Author's Note

Phew, this was... long.

Way longer than I thought honestly, but once I got it rolling it just came out... so good.

Anyways. Enjoy.

Chapter 6: A Timeline of Consequences Part 2

Sunset crosses her hooves as she falls through the swirl of time and space, sighing softly as she tumbles downwards. "Mm. I should be worried that I'm getting used to this. How am I going to stop Starlight? She has the advantage of time on her side."

Sunset mumbles to herself, preparing her horn. "There has to be a reason why she's like this. If I can figure that out, I can stop her. Ugh... How am I going to do that, though?! It's not like I can touch her and find out!" She then deadpans, realizing what she's saying, remembering about her special power from the mirror world.

"Wait. But how am I gonna do that... I left my magic necklace back in my room." Sunset grumbles and groans, trying to think of a plan. After a moment, though, she comes to only a single conclusion, one that would be a gamble. She takes a moment longer to think twice, but she can't think of one in the end.

"Fuck it." She says as she lands through the other opening of the portal, landing near Starlight yet again with a determined look on her face.

"That one took longer. Having trouble getting back Sunset?" Starlight says with a smirk, horn at the ready to fight against the unicorn again.

Sunset glares at Starlight before softening her expression and taking a deep breath. "Ya know, if you'd just look at the futures you're creating, you'd probably stop this." She says before quickly diving to the side to avoid a beam from Starlight's horn.

"Don't try to lie to convince me. There's no reason for me to believe you." Starlight says as she slowly starts to approach Sunset. An intense, hate-filled glare pointed right at her opponent. "Twilight won't escape her little banishment before the spell becomes permanent after the day ends, and you can't BEAT me!"

Sunset lands on her hooves, sighing slightly and glaring at Starlight. "So you really want to go through with this? Do you REALLY want to destroy all of Equestria like this? You seriously expect me to believe that you thought this through?" Sunset flashes her horn as she returns fire at Starlight, her accuracy and technique getting closer to when she was considered a prodigy.

Starlight yelps as the beam crashes into her shield, cracking it slightly. This startles Starlight, causing her to miss what Sunset said. "What?! How?!" Starlight's gaze sharpens before she and Sunset trade blow for blow. Unlike in previous times, however, Sunset can keep up, although the glow never leaves her horn, even when they stand at neutral.

"How?! You were not this good last time!" Starlight says, actually sweating a little bit from the short fight.

"You and Twilight aren't the only prodigies at magic, ya know! And honestly. Ponies are really soft. Compared to humans, we hardly know anything about fighting. Humans, on the other hand, hoof, whatever... They fight wars just because they look different from each other." Sunset raises her head, pointing her horn, and fires a very pinpoint, concentrated bolt of magic right at Starlight. It fires fast and is as small as a tiny stone, yet as it crashes into Starlight's shield, it shatters it entirely before disappearing.

"What?!" Starlight says with a grunt as she winces from the shards of her magic. Had that... kept going. A little shudder escapes the pony. Starlight thought she was invincible against such a weaker opponent.

"But I don't intend on hurting you. I'll convince you to stop this yourself. Unfortunately." Sunset looks over at the group of fillies and foals, watching their fight.

"Mm. It looks like you won this time. It's not a problem, though. I have some thinking to do before my next try." She then suddenly teleports in front of Starlight, glaring at her temporarily frightened opponent.

Sunset then flicks her opponent on the head with her hoof. "Don't underestimate me again, Starlight." She says with a friendly wink before getting pulled into the time vortex again, leaving Starlight to stew in her 'win.'

Sunset sighs and grimaces as she appears in the fake present yet again. Yet this time, instead of anything being wrong, it looked. Normal? The sun was warm, and Ponyville looked normal. Even Canterlot in the distance was fine. Sunset looked over her body curiously, seeing that the cracks in her being were small and didn't hurt. In fact, unlike the previous times, they weren't even growing.

"Hm," Sunset says in curiosity as she trots through the Everfree forest's fringes. She could see the time bubble in the distance but wasn't in any rush to get there, not with her time limit now removed or, at the very least, greatly extended.

"Equestria seems fine this time around. What changed?" Sunset asks out loud to herself, watching the city from the distance.

"Either way, this is pretty lucky. Some paper, a pencil or a quill, and ink would make this easier." Sunset says to herself as she scans for Quills and Sofas from a distance, seeing the green roof after a moment longer of walking.

"There we go." She says with a nod before beginning her sneak from the fringe of the forest towards the town. After a while, though, she notices a few ponies on the road. So few that she sees perhaps a single one in the entire walk toward the building.

"There's... Nopony around?" Sunset says quietly, looking into the town's empty streets, a slight shudder running down her spine. A populated yet depressed town is much less unsettling than a seemingly abandoned town.

After looking up at the sign and verifying that the building is still the quill shop, Sunset peers in through the unlocked door. The store is as she remembers it, with a pair of mattresses in the center and a wall lined with quills and ink. The bell on the door announces her arrival as she looks towards the quill and limited paper underneath. "Hello? Is anypony here?"

After a moment, there is a shuffling noise as Davenport peeks from the back. "Oh, a customer! What can I do-" He freezes up as he sees Sunset blinking.

"Uh. I need some paper and a quill. And some ink?" Sunset says after watching the pony freeze up, tilting her head curiously.

"THE ENTIRE STORE IS FREE!" Davenport says before diving back into the back room and slamming the back door shut, startling Sunset.

"O-okay. So I must have... quite the reputation here." She says as she sighs. She only has a few bits, so she leaves them on the register before taking some white paper, a quill, and an inkwell with black ink. She then exits the building, turning and leaving the town to find a quiet place to work.

"The map is at the park. I guess we should go there." She sighed a bit as she trotted towards the park, sitting on a bench outside the bubble. Sunset turns to wave hi to Spike from outside the bubble before unfurling the paper, scribbling on it, and looking towards the sun for a moment to get the time.

"It's around noon... This is gonna take a while. I dunno if I can do this in the time I have left." She says with a worried crack in her voice, staring at the writing on the page before hunkering down and getting back to work on her small project. She believed Unity would give her infinite chances, even if the spell became permanent. She, however, didn't want to deal with any lingering effects from failing a simple time limit.

About an hour later, the sun begins to creak downwards slowly. Sunset sighs a bit as she stares at the page on the bench, reading it over again. "This would be so much faster if one of you would help, you know, " she says pointedly towards Spike and Unity. Spike tried to help earlier, but Unity held him back, something about it not being allowed.

Sunset groans a little bit as she stares down at the page. "Ugh... I can't get the magic to bind correctly... That spell was probably made by Starswirl the Bearded! Not to mention, I'm horribly out of practice! How the hell am I supposed to do this?!" She says as she slams her hoof on the bench, causing the paper to be picked up by the air and drop to the ground with a flutter.

An unfamiliar voice rings out to Sunset's side, having picked up the page to look at it. "You could start with defining the spell's matrix a little more. Then you should be able to seat it. The rest of the spell seems adequately applied."

Sunset blinks as she quickly takes the page and looks at it. "The spell matrix. Of course. I missed the bind and the seating of the emotion magic!" She says as she excitedly grabs the quill, scribbling away at the paper before turning towards the pony.

"That should do it! Thanks so much." She then finally notices who is speaking to her.

Standing to the side of Sunset is another version of herself. Taller and imposing, yet still a simple unicorn. Their eyes are tired and filled with regret, yet the sight is still very much herself. She looks around what Sunset's age should be, had she never left Equestria. But if she never left Equestria...

"Relax. My villain days are way past me." The older Sunset says, able to follow her double's logic seamlessly. "Now I'm just a pony full of regret and pretty well-hated slash feared by everyone. Oh, and uh... Call me Shimmer so we don't get confused." She laughs dryly.

Sunset lowers her guard after a moment, sensing no intent from her other self. "Ah. So... we." She winces a little bit.

"Yeah. It was fun at first, being in charge of everypony and being able to do whatever I wanted." Shimmer says as she sits down next to her younger double. "Celestia stopped me from entering the mirror room, so I bided my time. Once Nightmare Moon returned, I stole her powers after beating her down and banished the two away from their own nation."

Sunset sighs a little bit. "I tried to merge Equestria with another dimension and nearly destroyed both," she says with a dry laugh. "It uh...It didn't happen, though. I got beaten by some heroes."

Shimmer nods in response to Sunset's story, processing it quietly. "Our issues aside. Considering the time magic bubble, cracks on your body, and Spike sitting in there looking like a dope, 'Hey!' I'm gonna guess this is some paradox crap."

Sunset laughs. "Yeah, a pony is trying to mess with the timeline, and I'm trying to fix it before sundown." She sighs a little bit. "I think she... went through something or other. Honestly, this is the first 'nice' Equestria I've been to since this started." Sunset grimaces as she thinks of all the horrible ideas she had for Equestria had she taken power at that time.

Shimmer tilts her head. "Mm.. Well, to be fair, you came at the perfect time for it. Had you shown up like... a year ago, you'd been beset by guards or arrested and treated like a science experiment. Now it's mostly ponies licking their wounds and waiting for me to find a replacement for myself."

Sunset rubs her own shoulder. "Well, still better than the other ones. Although knowing that I won is still kinda horrifying in its own way."

Shimmer laughs a little bit. "Oh yeah. I'd bet from your perspective." She sighs as she calms down her laughter, looking at her other self. "Hmmm, well, if you're gonna fix everything... Mind telling Celestia something for me when you do?"

Sunset tilts her head. "Uh... I mean, sure. Why not? I don't see the harm." Sunset taps her chin. "No promises that I'll remember it, though. I dunno how accurate the time spell is in that regard." She says idly. "Eh. I'll figure it out."

Shimmer smirks at that response. "Headstrong as always. Welp, guess I should do my part then." She then yoinks the paper from Sunset and looks it over. "I got a few more years on you when it comes to magic, lesse what we got."

Between Sunset and her other self, the two cobble together a single use of Sunset's empathy magic. It takes nearly the rest of the day, but Sunset is proud of what they made. "It's done. This should work just right! Thanks so much!" She says to her other self.

But Shimmer had already left, leaving a simple note on the bench. Sunset was so engrossed in her work that she didn't notice her variant leave. With a little giggle, Sunset smiles and gives a wordless thanks towards Canterlot, picking up the note for Celestia on the way. Sunset then returns to the bubble of magic.

"Ya know Infinite tries doesn't mean you should lollygag around." Unity says to Sunset the moment she steps into the bubble. "The spell's still gonna be harder to revert once it becomes mortal permanent. It'll take at least... I dunno. Twenty seconds? Kinda a lot of effort for something that shouldn't exist."

Sunset rolls her eyes. "Relax. I think I got it this time." She says with a smirk. "But I will need to see something really quick."

Sunset gets herself ready, levitating her spell. After checking something, she nods to Unity.

"Alright. Good luck, Sunset." Unity says, Spike waving to Sunset from behind Unity's slightly translucent body.

Sunset smirks as she hops into the time vortex one more time. She knew exactly what to do this time.

As Sunset falls through the vortex, she casts her new spell on herself. One chance. One moment.

Sunset leaves the vortex, rushing forward quickly after she catches her footing. She refuses to even let Starlight taunt her before reaching out. "ENOUGH!"

Starlight quickly tries to raise a shield, but she's far too slow. Sunset's teleport, leap, and rush gave way for the orange unicorn to grapple Starlight's shoulder.

Instantly, the two experience a rush of information flooding through their minds, with Starlight groaning as she feels Sunset's spell begin to twist and turn in her mind, searching for any and all information that may have caused Starlight's current actions. Sunset didn't know precisely how the shard worked in the first place. But she had a hunch, the magic that came from the stone was far too different from Starswirl's magic. Her little test of Unity's magic earlier confirmed it.

They were her old world's elements of harmony, long withered away due to humans being... well, what they were. Sure, she wouldn't be able to make a new stone, but duplicating the effect of the magic was just a matter of getting a little help. With a gasp, Sunset begins to see through Starlight's past, from losing her friend because of his cutie mark appearing to her isolation from the rest of the town.

So much to work through.

Starlight's life was quiet after Sunburst left for Canterlot. It was lonely and relatively empty. Her father always supported her, but she was a late bloomer, which caused her to be isolated from the rest of the fillies in Sire's Hollow. But there was always somepony that was willing to listen to her.

Starlight's father was adamantly against her meeting with her cousin. He said Wallflower and the other one were bad influences. So Starlight had to meet with her cousin's secret, keeping it from her father. Even after she got her cutie mark, Starlight still deeply resented the magical signs. One day, though, that all changed.

Starlight and Wallflower were meeting in secret again, this time in the town antique shop. She never really understood why her father hated Wallflower and the rest of his family. He always called them maniacs or zealots. Wallflower was never like that to her, though. He was always understanding and willing to listen to anything that Starlight had on her mind.

Wallflower hums a little bit after listening to Starlight talk. "What if I told you I had access to a spell that could say... Take pony's cutiemarks away?" She says idly in a whisper to Starlight. "I could teach it to you, ya know. I don't have much use for it, being an earth pony. Then you could find Sunburst and rekindle that friendship you had."

This prospect quickly took in Starlight. A spell that could eliminate the one thing she hated more than being abandoned?! She could introduce true equality into the world with that.

Wallflower continued to egg on Starlight in similar ways. Introducing her to the area where she could build her town slowly isolating her from other ponies by scaring them away at night. With Sunset's powers, she could see everything, even things Starlight didn't know.

Finally, the spell would end. Starlight quickly slaps Sunset's hoof off her shoulder as she gathers her bearings. "What did you just do?!"

Sunset steps back and sighs at Starlight. "I just... wanted to see. Ponies hardly ever become evil just because. Most of them have a reason, or three, to do so. We're not all Sombra. Heck, even he wasn't evil from the start." She then takes a deep breath. "My spell allows me to feel and see what trauma someone has gone through. I didn't know if it would work, considering I don't have my necklace here. But, I guess I just made a new magic spell entirely." She laughs a little bit with a smile.

Starlight pants a little bit and grimaces. "You... I saw it, too. I. I never wanted to see that stuff again! How dare you comb through my mind like a playground!" She says with a glare, her horn glowing to life as she sends a few rapid blasts of magic toward Sunset.

However, this time, Starlight is the one who is stressed and angry, her spells going wide and missing entirely. Sunset does not need to move to avoid the blasts, instead walking forward through the barrage of magic. "Starlight. I understand." She says with a mumble. "It's hard when you're isolated and alone. And once you have someone to cling to, listen to everything they say. At least for you, it was a family member. I clung to a stupid reflection in a magical mirror." Sunset laughs a little bit at herself.

Starlight steps back, grimacing as her spells slow down. "You have no idea how I feel. My friend abandoned me. He left me. He didn't even look at me twice once he got his cutie mark! Oh, and JUST because I got mine late, all the fillies and colts at school ignored or snubbed me, too! The only pony that was ever there for me was Wallflower!"

Sunset's ears flop. "Yeah, I know. Even ponies can be cruel. Heck, I was a bully in school, always acting like I was high and mighty just because I was Celestia's student. It was... Really lonely." She then looks up at Starlight.

"But I realized that I was doing that to myself. Just because I was being a jerk, I was pushing away everyone who cared about me and ignoring potential new friends..." Sunset sighs a little bit. "I still beat myself down for it. Especially with Celestia."

Starlight would typically have taken this moment to attack or even throw an insult. However, the earlier spell awakened old emotions she never realized were still alive in her heart. "It's just... So hard to be alone. No pony would ever want to be friends with somepony like me. Not after all the chaos I caused. Kidnapping, tricking ponies... There was always something in the way of it. Ponies would avoid me just because I was me!"

Sunset tilts her head, smiling at Starlight's wavering attitude. "I see a lot of myself in you. Ponies weren't exactly good to me, either. My parents abandoned me when I was like... three. I didn't want to trust anypony else after that. Hell, I didn't even trust Celestia. I thought she was trying to keep me from what was rightfully mine."

Starlight blinks in surprise at that. Ponies were usually orphaned because of deaths in the family. It was extremely rare for somepony to be outright abandoned, though. "What?" Starlight says after a moment. "Why?"

Sunset shrugs. "I dunno. I was told to stay at a spot, but they never came back. It's not exactly something I've looked back on. I lived on the streets for a few weeks before my creativity with magic caught Celestia's eye. I copied one of her spells that makes her all glowy and such. The one she uses for the Summer Sun Celebration."

Starlight tilts her head. "How... are you not resentful? Why haven't you tried to find them? A friend abandoned me, but your parents abandoned you!"

Sunset's smile flattens out, rubbing her arm momentarily with a hoof. "Trust me. I wanted to for a long time. After banishing myself to the Mirror world, all I could think about was coming back, taking control of Equestria, and finding them with an army at their doorstep."

Starlight blinks. "What changed then?"

Sunset smiles yet again, giggling to herself. "I guess... I found ponies I could believe in. Ponies I could trust." She looks at Starlight. "Ponies that could become my family if I let them. Then I realized that I had a family from the get, and all I could feel was... a ton of guilt for treating her the way I did." She sighs a little bit. "I still haven't really made up with Celestia how I'd like either. But It's something I'm working on! I think you could do well, too!"

Starlight looks at Sunset with a tilt of her head. "Trying again, huh?" She says as she watches the race nearing its end. Starlight was out of time to change the timeline again, whether she wanted to or not. "I. I don't know. I really don't want to end up in that situation again."

Sunset smiles and holds out a hoof. "If you do end up like that, you'll have me and my friends to help you next time. Ex-Villians gotta stick together, after all! With all the socially awkward issues and problems with it!" She says with a genuine smile. "Let's make our second chances count. What do you think?"

Starlight looks at the hoof, hesitating for a moment. Giving up here would mean the end of years of work. It would mean everything she's worked on would have been for nothing!

"It's okay. Sometimes, it's best to leave things behind you. Besides, wouldn't you like to be friends with Sunburst again one day? Properly?" Sunset says with a smile.

Starlight stares at the sky, the Rainboom surging across the landscape over them. The wind flows through her mane as she looks over to Sunset. "I guess it's something to work on," Starlight says, mimicking Sunset's earlier comment as she shakes the hoof.

With that, there is a bright orange glow between the two. The world flashed dramatically as Starlight and Sunset appeared in the proper present time. Twilight sits with Spike and Unity as the pair appear in the throne room.

Twilight smiles as she looks at Starlight and Sunset, giggling slightly. "I'd say that was a job well done," she nods. Sunset notes that Twilight looks refreshed and happy.

Twilight then says to Starlight and Unity. "I told you she was a special one."

Unity laughs a bit, watching as the bubble dissipates, sighing a little bit. "Finally back to sleep... I wish we could chat more, Twilight. Oh right. Before I forget, though." Unity smirked, causing Twilight's mane to stand on end. Still, before she could do anything, the spirit's horn flashed brightly, and Twilight and Sunset vanished.

Starlight yelps. "Wha?! What happened?!"

Unity laughs a little bit. "Relax, they'll be back. Now be a good great-grandaughter for me, alright? I'll be keeping an eye on you, Starlight. I expect great things." The spirit then vanishes, readjusted to the timeline as she wanted.

Spike was idly sitting on his seat, reading a comic he had stashed away. "You might wanna sit down, Starlight. It's gonna be a minute or two." He says idly, flipping through the pages.

The confused Starlight takes a moment before she follows his lead and says, "What in Tartarus just happened?"

Sunset and Twilight open their eyes in an astral space. A long hallway full of floating panels ahead of them, each one flashing with memories and events of Sunset's life. Twilight blinks in recognition of the area, looking towards Sunset. "Ya know. I had a feeling this was coming. Wish I had time to prepare." She mumbles a little bit. "Mm. Well, songs are overdone anyway."

Sunset, on the other hoof, is completely confused. "Huh?! What?! Where are we?! Are we dead?!"

Twilight laughs a little bit and smiles. "Nah. You've just finally earned it. Congratulations Sunset Shimmer." She says as she motions for Sunset to follow her.

Twilight smiles as the pair looks through the long laundry list of things the unicorn had done to help her friends in the other world. The times she returned to Equestria to help out the mane six here, too, while Twilight was missing. The list was short, but no one action or event was any smaller than the other. From the times she's helped out to the nearly full book of information from the past year that Twilight has. "You've really come a long way, my wonderful Student." She says as she looks towards Sunset.

Sunset smiles as she looks through all the memories of her friends, family, and even her new and old friends. The summer when they were almost trapped in a mirror, which only quick thinking got them out of, to Camp Everfree to just the simple songs she and the band used to do. "I guess. I just wanted to do the right thing the right way this time around." Sunset smiles as she looks at the panels of the most recent events, from the twin peaks to helping Applejack with chores. It was simple but still fun.

Twilight giggles a little bit. "Well, it seems like you have earned this. So allow me to be the first." She then stands at the end of the hall. Holding out her hoof. "Ready to take the next step in your work, Sunset?"

Sunset looks at the hoof and exhales. "Yeah. Whatever it might be. I'm ready."

Twilight smiles. "Glad to hear it."

With that, a bright flash of white overtakes the pair as Twilight casts a spell over her student. An old spell, one that required the latent energy of a spirit or direct permission from Unity to cast in most cases. As she feels the energy being allowed through, Twilight appears back in the throne room, the rest of the mane 6 already having arrived and speaking with Starlight in a much calmer manner. Thankfully, Spike could explain what had happened in a much more eloquent way than expected.

"Twilight? Where'd ya come from?" Applejack asks after seeing the sudden flash of light.

"That flash of light... Oh my. Could it be?" Rarity says after a moment, her keen eye noticing the gentle sparks around Twilight's form.

Before any of the others could say anything, a burst of magic surges through the throne room as a silhouette of Sunset's cutie mark appears in the air, slowly lowering to the surprised looks of the rest of the group. As Sunset lands on the ground, she groans lightly. "Did anyone see the number on that bus..." She wobbles to her hooves, unstable as she stands and rubbing her face with her wings.

Wait wings? Sunset's eyes burst open as she looks at herself. "Eh... WHA?"

The rest of the group is stuck in awe, aside from Twilight and Spike. Twilight motions over to Sunset. "Congrats Sunset. Welcome to the alicorn club."

Sunset blinks as she looks at the wings, then herself, and then up at Twilight before squeeing and hopping around excitedly. "I did it! I finally did it! Yes, yes, yes!" She says happily with great excitement.

To her credit, Starlight smiles awkwardly, happy for her new friend. "Congrats Sunset. Betcha didn't expect that!"

Sunset smiles brightly and hugs everyone, starting with Twilight and Starlight, before the rest of the group gets one big group hug! "Wait. I'm a princess now... Oh, yeesh, that's a ton of pressure. Wait, what am I even a princess of?!"

Twilight bonks her own head with a hoof. "Ack. I forgot. Ahem... Say hi to Sunset Shimmer, Princess of Empathy."

Sunset blinks and bounces in place. "Empathy?! Well... That's actually kinda on the nose."

Starlight taps her chin a bit, thinking, "Well, you did sorta make a literal magic spell for it."

Sunset laughs a little bit. "Oh, that? I just copied the spell of an Element of Harmony. No biggy..."

Twilight and the Mane Six gazed at Sunset in shock. After a moment, Twilight exclaimed, "You replicated an ancient spell made by essentially a deity. And you actually pulled it off!"

Pinkie adds on after a moment. "Yeahhhh I think I'm gonna need to make a bigger cake for this party. Even Twilight just had to finish a spell that Starswirl made for her test. Yours was uh."

Starlight scratches her own mane. "Deadly?"

Pinkie hms. "I was gonna say, really super duper mega hard!"

Starlight laughs at herself for a moment. "Hahah, yeah. Sorry about that."

Rainbow Dash shrugs. "Relax. We've made buddies from worse places Starlight. You'll fit in! Just ask if anypony gives you problems, and I'll straighten them out!"

Twilight smiles at how quickly her friends accepted Starlight into the group. "Well, I think a party is in order for tonight. Then you can get your first mission, Sunset."

Sunset blinks in confusion. "My first mission?"

Twilight smirks at her student. "Well, yeah, you have a student now. What? Do you think I'm gonna take teaching Starlight? I'll help out, sure, but you're my priority when it comes to teaching. Besides, it'll be good for ya." She pats both Starlight and Sunset on the back. "You two have way more in common with each other than with me."

Sunset smiles awkwardly. "Well, uh. Sure. But only if Starlight wants it."

Starlight hums. "Let's see. Be a student of the second real friend I've ever had. Or with Twilight Sparkle. I feeeel like you'd be a better teacher than frussy friendship Princess over there."

Sunset smiles with a twinge of annoyance at hearing her teacher get slightly mocked, even if she knew it was playful. "Then you better be ready. Because frussy friendship Princess was MY teacher."

The party goes well into the night. Sunset sighs as she sits on the upper balcony of the castle, away from the party for the time being. Silently, Sunset sits, thinking about her day and the process she went through. "I feel like I just got off a bad rollercoaster that wasn't up to code."

"Hm. I don't know what a rollercoaster is, but if it's what I think it is, you must feel quite ill." Celestia says from next to Sunset, landing on the balcony. Sunset, not even reacting to her arrival for a moment. However, once it registers, she gasps out.

"Princess Celestia! I uh." Sunset quickly hides the spiked tea drink she made for herself, pouring it out over the balcony. "What are you doing here? Thought you'd be busy resting for tomorrow!"

"Oh, I was about to go to bed when I noticed Twilight was having a party. Then I realized that today wasn't anypony's birthday, so I got curious. I saw the new pony and was about to go to bed, but then guess what I saw?" Celestia says with a smile as she levitates Sunset's glass, pouring the drink back into it, having caught the liquid in mid-air. She then floats the glass around herself.

"Uh, what?" Sunset says with a sheepish smile.

"Just a certain ex-student of mine bearing brand new wings and sitting alone on a balcony. Drinking some lovely special tea without me." Celestia sighs a little bit, actually looking upset and a little sad. She then drops her poise and says somberly, "I didn't even get an invitation to the party! I understand not wanting to speak with me, but... this is a huge day for you, and I wanted to be there when it happened."

Sunset's ears droop a little bit. "I uh... It was kinda sudden for me, too. But..." After a moment, Sunset stops herself. "No, that's not right. I'm sorry for not inviting you. I just."

Celestia stares towards Sunset. "Just what? I haven't pried and kept my distance as you asked. You know I'd never do anything to hurt you, Sunset. It just... hurts being left out of something this huge." Celestia sighs. "No... Maybe I'm just being childish here. I'm sorry for bothering you on your special night."

Celestia then floats over the drink to Sunset, who takes it in her levitation. Sunset watches as Celestia moves to fly away before saying, "Wait!"

Celestia stops after a moment and turns her head.

Sunset grimaces and downs the drink before taking a deep breath. "I'm sorry! I just... I don't know how I could ever repay you for everything you've done for me. I'm scared to be around you because I made such huge mistakes while living in the castle. I don't want to say something wrong and end up like that again. I don't wanna be abandoned again. I don't want to lose my family. So I thought if I kept you away, I'd never hurt you again, or Luna for that matter."

Celestia blinks, opening her mouth, but she's unable to get a word out as Sunset continues, the newly made Alicorn letting out all her feelings. "My parents abandoned me, I had nothing, and you just came out and took care of me. You raised me to be your successor, and I failed you. You should be furious with me! I ended up abandoning and failing you, and everything just went wrong! All because I was selfish. No amount of apologies should ever fix that. But you still accepted me back. You still wanted to be family. You kept the adoption papers even." She says as she thinks back to the first party that she saw Celestia at. The papers sticking out of the bag she had with her.

"I don't deserve any of this kindness or any of that love you've given me or gave me. I don't deserve to be your daughter. I don't even know why I got these wings. I feel... I feel like an imposter." Sunset says with tears. "Everypony is telling me that I've done well and earned this, but how can somepony who messed up so badly earn this?-"

Celestia then hugs Sunset, holding onto her closely. Sunset holds her head into Celestia's neck as tears fall. Celestia quietly says, with her own tears welling up. "I've messed up, too. Everypony has, from Mom, to Luna. Nopony is perfect. Sunset. That's the difference between friends, great friends and family. Friends will get upset when you mess up. They'll be angry and eventually might forgive you. Great friends will forgive you, give you a little push here and there, maybe tease you a little bit, but they'll forgive you. Family, however... Family will love you no matter what. I will always love you no matter what. You will always be my daughter in my heart, even if you don't accept it on paper. You've earned this, not because you deserve it, but because you've properly changed and become somepony worthy of those wings. You've become exactly what I saw in you all that time ago, and I could never be more proud of you."

Sunset embraces Celestia, weeping as she chokes out, "I'm so sorry, Mom... I'm so sorry." She clings tightly, finally releasing years of built-up hurt.

Celestia just holds onto Sunset. She's giddy, as can be in her head, but now is the time to be there for her daughter. There will be time for celebration later.

After Sunset finishes, having calmed down. Celestia wipes the tears off of her own face and Sunset's. Sunset smiles up at the taller Alicorn as she says, "Hey... uh. Do you still have those adoption papers? I... uh... I could sign those while we catch up properly over some drinks?"

Celestia giggles a little bit. "Oh, Sunset, my dear daughter, I have never left home without them since you came back," she says with an extremely excited smile. "Let's enjoy some proper tea inside, and we can sort everything out."

Sunset nods and heads back inside to the upper lounge with Celestia, the pair chatting for an hour or two before going to the party.

The party got much more rowdy after that, but that is a story for another time.