Celestia was not unaccustomed to making mistakes.

As the centuries passed and her knowledge grew, she learned how to deal with most problems so swiftly and efficiently that she could make the princessdom work seamlessly with just the right words to the right ponies.

That didn’t mean she didn’t make mistakes. It just meant that the very few she did make were the result of her flaws, and the flaws of a thousand year-old pony tended to develop into mistakes that ended in horrendously bad consequences.

She could remember off the top of her head the last three mistakes she made in the past century. She had ignored the warnings of Archmage Swirling Dust about Arimaspi’s escape from Tartarus some sixty years ago, and that had ended up practically destroying Griffinstone. She had failed to read an urgent letter from Rain Shine in which she described how all the Kirin had become Niriks. Celestia’s delay had resulted in Rain Shine ordering everypony to step into the Stream of Silence.

And finally, she had neglected to nurture Sunset Shimmer’s good nature, focusing instead only on her wits. This had resulted in her becoming so corrupted she had broken into the restricted section of the library and convinced herself that she could be made an alicorn by simply wishing for it. The book that had given her that information gave hints about assistance from external sources, but that particular passage had been written by a biased pony who knew Celestia could nudge ponies in the right direction, but purposefully ignored that she couldn't actively transform ponies into alicorns at her will.

Of course, her mistakes with Sunset Shimmer had not ended there. She had sensed the darkness growing within the unicorn, and had deemed it best to terminate her apprenticeship. In Celestia’s mind, this would have forced Sunset to reflect on her actions and at least become more receptive to the lessons Celestia wanted her to learn.

Unfortunately, she had gravely miscalculated just how deep Sunset’s ambition ran, for she had made one last show of rebellion and jumped into the mirror portal, completely uncaring of what would happen to her.

Celestia had almost followed her. Who knew what the world on the other side was like? But that was precisely the reason she had chosen not to. She knew that the other world didn’t have magic, which meant that, whatever dangers that lurked within, Celestia would be powerless to stop them. And as much as it broke her heart to admit, she couldn’t leave Equestria unprotected just to chase one pony.

Luna’s return was coming soon, so soon in fact that it was due to happen only a few moons after the portal opened again. That wasn’t nearly enough time to correct Sunset’s behavior. Her animosity towards Celestia was so great that there was no telling what she’d do if she was tasked with overseeing the thousandth Summer Sun Celebration.

Celestia’s last desperate attempt to set Sunset in the right path had been showing her the mirror. The mirror that held the portal to another world also had an enchantment that showed the reflected pony’s most desperate ambitions. Celestia had hoped Sunset would have gotten a goal to strive for, and having her say her ambitions out loud would have helped Celestia nudge her in the right direction.

But Sunset had become fixated on the mirror to such a degree that she wouldn’t talk about anything else and she wouldn’t listen to any of her lessons. Her ambitions ran deep and dark, and Celestia’s frustrations had grown so much she had reacted rather heatedly by terminating Sunset’s apprenticeship.

And now Sunset was gone.

Celestia wanted to think as objectively as she could. She wanted to consider her position as a princess first and a pony second. Sunset having left Equestria meant that Celestia had to look for the actual pony that would fulfill the prophecy of Luna’s return. Celestia wanted to focus on that. But all she could think about was Sunset. All that came to mind was images of the poor unicorn, alone in another world, frightened and hurt and begging for help that wouldn’t come.

But the portal had closed. Celestia had not been brave enough to cross it and take Sunset back with her. Her sense of duty had won, and now she could barely sleep at night. What was that other world like? Was it an untamed zone like the Everfree Forest? Or a barren prison like Tartarus?

Unable to sleep and focus on anything else, Celestia had spent countless minutes staring at her journal. Sunset had taken hers when going to the other world, but, would it even work through dimensions? Celestia decided to at least try, but then paused to consider what to write. Anything she wrote would be met with anger at best, but she couldn’t just not at least try.

And so, when her duties finally allowed her some free time at the end of the day, she thought long and hard of the right words to send to Sunset. Finally, one week after Sunset left, thinking it would have been more than enough time for Sunset to have found shelter or made her own, Celestia finally sent her a letter. She tried to keep it formal since trying to appeal to Sunset’s emotions would be a bad idea. Celestia didn’t even want to consider the possibility of Sunset getting so angry she’d end up destroying the journal.

Celestia hadn’t expected Sunset to reply. She could be stubborn like that. But that didn’t stop her from fearing the worst. What if the lack of response meant that Sunset had gotten herself in trouble and not that she was simply ignoring her? Celestia forced herself to ignore these thoughts and to believe Sunset was fine. She’d just need to send her a letter every week. Eventually Sunset would have to reply.

Or, at least, that’s what Celestia hoped for.

Only a moon later, Celestia was holding day court when an explosion erupted in the distance. She looked outside the throne room’s windows and witnessed the tell-tale signs of a sonic rainboom. But before she could even begin to marvel on the sights, a second explosion reverberated throughout the palace. This one had happened much closer. She paused day court to investigate.

And she found a frightened filly, levitating in the middle of her school’s auditorium, with her horn channeling a monstrous amount of mana —enough to make the archmage herself dizzy. Not only that, but the overgrown baby dragon sitting next to her was overflowing with the filly’s mana. Celestia didn't even need to focus to notice that the whole room was brimming with magical energy and it just kept growing at a frightening rate.

Very few ponies could get close without being affected in some way by the filly’s rampant mana. Why, Celestia could feel that the potted plans at the opposite wall were actually ponies that got caught up in the initial wave and had been transfigured.

She quickly constructed the proper circuitry and cast some dampening spells around the filly to prevent any more accidental spellcasting. That done, Celestia made her way to the filly, who was herself suffering from her outburst. Placing a hoof on the filly’s shoulder, Celestia allowed the little unicorn’s mana to flow through her own body, letting it swirl around, then used her horn to disperse it without causing damage.

With the flow of mana contained, the filly was able to regain control of herself and could restrain the rest of her magical energy. That caused the accidental transfiguration and growth spells to be canceled, returning both ponies and baby dragon to normal.

A small part of her tried to worry about the reparations to the auditorium and all the paperwork it would entail. The vast majority of her, however, focused on the most important matter at hoof; making sure that the little filly wasn’t hurt.

Once she, Twilight Sparkle, had been delivered to the nurses, Celestia spent a few hours questioning everypony involved to get the picture of all that had transpired, and she wasn’t happy about it.

Apparently, the now former test proctor of her school was a member of a noble house that was at odds with the noble family Twilight was a member of. So he decided to give the filly the impossible task of hatching a cold dragon egg he had bought from an exotic itinerary merchant some moons ago. Honestly, Celestia had grown tired of minor noble houses and their petty rivalries. He, like the other now former proctors that had allowed such a petty move, were sure that a filly couldn’t do what even the archmage would call impossible.

Then she had gone and done so anyway.

Sure, it had been the result of her mana going haywire because the sonic rainboom had scared her out of her hide, but there was no denying that her magical potential was superior to most unicorns.

That alone would have made her the next candidate to become Celestia’s personal student, but on top of that, there was her Cutie Mark, which she had gotten sometime during her magical outburst. It was almost the exact same symbol that appeared on the trunk of the Tree of Harmony.

After discussing it with Archmage Star Radiance and her apprentices, Celestia had come to the conclusion that Twilight was not only just the pony that would fulfill the prophecy of Luna’s return, but a very important pony in the future of Equestria. How exactly, Celestia wasn’t sure, but she’d be remiss if she didn’t give her the best education possible. Especially so close to the thousandth Summer Sun Celebration.

Celestia’s relief was short lived as she imagined a hypothetical scenario in which Sunset hadn’t gotten obsessed with the mirror. Even if she wasn’t the pony of the prophecy, Celestia still cared about her, and she wished she and Twilight would’ve met and maybe become friends. A bit of healthy competition would’ve helped them both.

But alas, it was not to be.

Though there was a chance that, when the portal opened again, Sunset would return to Equestria, having had thirty whole moons to reminisce about her actions. Celestia would gladly take her back, and in what little time there would be between her return and the Summer Sun Celebration, Sunset could assist Twilight and become a part of something greater than them both.

Celestia’s hope was shattered when, ten moons after Twilight became her apprentice, she finally received a response in her journal.

She had expected anything between apologies and condemnations, from formal to unsavory words. But she hadn’t expected that the letter would have been written by some creature from the other world. A creature that claimed to know Sunset and learned about Equestria. The creature, who had chosen to remain anonymous, had informed her that Sunset wouldn’t be replying no matter how much Celestia asked her to. Not only that, but Sunset had decided to either return to Equestria as an alicorn princess, or not return at all.

It broke Celestia’s heart.

Throughout the centuries, many explanations had been made about the existence of alicorns. Many had been so ludicrous that even foals rolled their eyes at them, though some had seemed so feasible that they had been recorded in books as facts. One of these books had been the one that had convinced Sunset that Celestia could turn her into an alicorn at will, when it couldn’t be farther from the truth.

No, the truth was that it was the magic of Harmony itself that chose the ponies that would become alicorns, and how relevant and how powerful these alicorns would be. Celestia had become an alicorn when she had bonded with the sun, and Luna with the moon. And then Cadence had manifested a horn when she had bonded with the very concept of love.

Other alicorns had popped up in Equestria, but their bonds had not been as strong or as relevant, so they had ended up being forgotten. So far, only Celestia and Luna had become effectively immortal. But there was no way to tell which ponies would achieve such a thing. Those who believed Celestia could prompt the transformation thought so simply because Celestia had developed an instinct, after many centuries, to sniff out potential alicorns.

Though that only meant one out of every one hundred of these ponies had actually managed the transformation.

That all meant that, with Sunset being in a magicless world, even if she had been meant to become an alicorn, the magic of Harmony being unable to reach her would mean that she’d never fulfill this destiny.

And it meant that she’d never return to Equestria.

Celestia allowed herself to cry that night. Sunset had been a most difficult pony to teach, but underneath her blind ambition and her temper, there was a good pony that deserved to be loved. Celestia saw much of herself in Sunset, and it broke her that Sunset had chosen the path of darkness.

So it was with a heavy heart that Celestia placed the journal in a secret shelf she kept in her chambers. A shelf that only contained similar journals. Some still in pairs, some only one half, all of them exhausted of magic, having become nothing but regular books with aging pages and vanishing ink.

As she got ready to sleep, however, Celestia held to the hope that, even so, Sunset would someday return to her.

Author's Note

Second interlude! This time from Princess Celestia herself. It can be difficult to make sense of all the contradictions and conflicts the first Equestria Girls movie has, especially when you try to add the comics into the mix, but here's my attempt.

If you liked this, please leave a comment. They are my water in the middle of the desert.

Next week: Volume II