Hearth's Warming Homecoming

Sunset Shimmer stands just offstage, waiting for her name to be called. She is next in line after all her friends got their diplomas. She waits for what feels like eternity. To pass the time, she tries to fix her graduation gown. It's a little oversized, and keeps almost getting caught on her heels.

As she finally thinks she has it fixed, her name is called. She proceeds onto the stage where principal Celestia hands her a diploma with her name on it. She takes in all the cheers from a student body she at one point never thought she would be friends with. Here she was, though. She had redeemed herself, and this was the proof.

It's time to leave the stage, so she walks towards her group of friends who are waiting for her offstage. They all have big smiles on their faces, and are already in formation for a giant congratulatory group hug. Sunset smiles as she reaches the stairs, but before she can make it down to them, she trips on her gown.

Luckily for her, the formation for a group hug transitions into a pretty effective safety net. Her friends catch her before she gets close to the ground. Already in their arms, her friends lift her up and start the group hug, everyone smiling and happy.

Sunset hugs them all back as a tear rolls down her cheek. She was so happy she was crying, or at least that's what she thought. But, deep down inside her mind, a small piece of her was unhappy. She didn't know it yet, but this one small piece would grow, becoming something she couldn't understand.

As her tears stain the page, Sunset frantically writes to Princess Twilight. She had felt these feelings before, but never like this. It only got worse after graduation. She gave up on contacting Twilight after the fifth page of incoherent ramblings.

Why do I feel like this? Why isn't Twilight answering? Where did these feelings come from? Why do I feel so sad? Why do I feel so lost? Why can't I just talk to my friends here? I wish I knew if any of them were feeling the same way…

Sunset wipes away her tears. She picks up her phone, opens the group chat, and just stares at it. The last thing said was Pinkie saying I love you to everyone, and all them reciprocating. She hesitantly typed out a message before erasing it, then she typed it again. She erased it one more time before finally writing and sending the message, 'Meet me at the portal.'

Sunset is the last to arrive at the portal, as she took a while to make herself look presentable. All her friends have concerned looks on their faces as they stand by the portal in the cool night air. Sunset makes it to them and hugs the closest one to her, which happens to be Rarity.

Rarity hugs her back. "What's going on, darling? Is everything okay?"

Sunset answers, "I'm going back to Equestria for a few days. I wanted to see you all before I left."

Their hug ends and Sunset hugs Rainbow Dash next.

Rainbow asks, "What're you going back for?"

"I need to talk with princess Celestia. I haven't been feeling well, and I think she can help."

Sunset hugs Fluttershy next.

Fluttershy asks, "Do you need any of us to come with you?"

"No, I'll be fine, I just need to go back home for a bit."

Sunset hugs Applejack next.

Applejack says, "We'll always be here for you, don't forget it."

Sunset smiles. "I won't."

She hugs Pinkie next.

Pinkie hugs back tightly. "We love you so much, Sunset!"

"I love you all too!"

She hugs Twilight last, "Stay safe and have a good trip."

"I will, thank you."

After the last hug is over, Sunset is ambushed with one more hug, a big group wide hug. Once the hug is finished, Sunset waves goodbye to her friends, and they wave back before she steps through the portal to Equestria.

Sunset sits on the last train to Canterlot. She looks out the windows as snow flies past at speed. She's wearing a scarf and earmuffs Twilight had given her. Sunset is still shocked to find that it's Hearth's Warming on this site of the portal, where back at C.H.S. it was the middle of summer.

With every measure of distance passed, she feels better somehow, like she knows she's getting closer to the solution to her problems, even if she doesn't fully know what her problems are. She just knows Celestia would be able to help.

She was excited to spend time with Celestia, and especially so now that it's Hearth's Warming. She hopes it might be like old times when they spent the holiday together as teacher and student. Still, she's little nervous. This will be the first time she's seen her old mentor outside of a crisis situation.

Sunset stands in front of the throne room doors at Canterlot castle. She takes a deep breath and knocks on the door with her hoof. Almost immediately, the doors glow with Celestia's magic, and they open.

Looking inside, Sunset sees Celestia sitting on her throne, a warm motherly smile on her face. Sunset slowly advances into the room, neither pony speaking just yet. Sunset makes it to the stairs at the bottom of the throne, and bows to Celestia.

Celestia breaks the silence. "There is no need for such formalities, my little pony."

Sunset takes her at her word and sprints up the stairs, throwing her hooves around the princess. "I've missed you so much!"

Celestia hugs back. "I've missed you too."

As Sunset hugs Celestia, her previous feelings become recontextualized. She realizes one of the things causing her so much distress is that she is homesick.

Sunset says, "I want… I need to talk to you. I need some advice."

"I know, my faithful student. I heard of it in Twilight's letter. Why don't you stay for Hearth's Warming, and we can discuss what brought you here over some hot cocoa?"

"That sounds great! Thank you, Princess."

Sunset sits down on a pillow in front of a lit fire as she waits for Celestia to return with their hot chocolate. She stares blankly into the fire as she takes in its heat.

Celestia returns to her after a few minutes. She sets down a hot chocolate in front of Sunset and one in front of herself. "Here you are."

Sunset looks at Celestia. "Thank you."

Celestia sits down. "You're welcome. Now, what's on your mind?"

"Well, I guess to start, I now realize I've been feeling homesick. I realized that when we hugged."

"It has been a long time since you were my student, and last time you were here was under unideal circumstances."

"Yeah. It's nice to be able to relax and have a talk."

"You're welcome to stay here as long as you like."

"Thanks. I only plan on staying a few days. I told my friends I wouldn't be too long."

"It'll be nice to spend time with you again, no matter how long you stay."

Sunset tentatively takes a sip from her drink. "My other issue is… I just graduated from high school, and ever since then, I've felt lost. Like I don't know what I'm doing with my life. It feels like all my friends have some idea of what they want to do, what they want to become, but I don't. Do you have any advice for me?"

"We all feel like that from time to time. Let me ask, have you talked with your friends about this?"

"Well, no. I know I probably should, but I just didn't want to bring them down."

"If they're anything like the ponies I know, they wouldn't become sad at this news. They would be happy to help, they would think of stuff and do whatever it takes."

"You are right about that, they are some pretty great friends." Sunset smiles.

Celestia takes her first sip of hot chocolate. "I know it's not exactly the advice you were looking for, but if you want, we can watch the Hearth's Warming play. It might help."

Sunset looks confused. "But, we're nowhere near a theater…"

"I sent a unicorn to Ponyville to watch the show. She's using a spell I taught her to send the play back to Canterlot, just for us."

Celestia casts a spell and a magical screen appears in front of them, showing the curtains of the Ponyville theater opening up. The play is just now starting. Sunset can see the ponies on stage - they are all the elements of harmony.

"Sure, it's been a while since I've seen it."

They both take another drink of their hot cocoa. As sunset watches the show, her thoughts drift to her friends that are the counterparts of the ponies on screen. It's a surreal feeling - they are different individuals, but they are still so similar.

Celestia is right, these ponies– these people would want nothing less than the best for me. They can help me.

A tear escapes Sunset's eye as she watches the curtain close on the play.

Celestia speaks up, "That was nice. Is there anything else you wanted to do while you are here?"

Sunset giggles. "How about a game of Trotting Spoons?"

Sunset opens the drawer of forks, and she searches for her first spoon. She's going to beat Celestia to finding all three, she just knows it! She finds her first spoon in the middle of a stack of forks, the spoon was orange and surrounded by six forks.

Sunset picks up the spoon before she realizes the significance of the placement. The spoon represents her. The forks represent her human friends. She's a spoon living in a world of forks.

But, she's still accepted by them. Sunset smiles and moves onto finding her next spoon.

Sunset opens the door to her old room. It looks like it hasn't changed much since she was here last time. She looks over to the bookshelves and notices a pile of books on the floor. Upon further inspections, she sees something on the books. She goes over to investigate.

She sees her spoon. It's standing up next to the books, holding up a plate on one end, while the other is being supported by the stack of books. On top the plate are six forks, each covered in a colored napkin of the following colors: purple, white, blue, yellow, pink, and orange.

Sunset picks up the spoon and rests the plate on the book as the meaning hits her. This shows her supporting her friends and being there for them. Sunset smiles again and leaves the room.

Sunset trots up the stairs inside Twilight's old home in Canterlot. She looks all over, but isn't able to find that last spoon. This is the last place she planned to check before conceding to Celestia.

Luckily for her, it's the right place. She finds on Twilight's old nightstand six forks all hanging off the edge holding up her last spoon. The forks are weighed down as to not let the spoon fall.

She picks up the last spoon and smiles. This is her friends supporting her and lifting her up when she needed them most. As she leaves to go find Celestia, she can't help but think, I should really talk to my friends soon.

Sunset trots back into the room where they drank their hot cocoa, and sits back down on her pillow. Celestia is already there waiting for her with all three of her spoons laid out in front of her. Sunset lays her own spoons out in front of herself.

Sunset asks, "How long have you been done?"

Celestia smiles. "About twenty minutes."

"Sorry I took so long, you did a great job of hiding them."

Celestia giggles. "I tried to give you plenty of time to think."

Sunset giggles in turn. "I didn't try nearly as hard as you."

Celestia yawns. "Are you ready to sleep? I certainly am."

"I am." Sunset gets up and hugs Celestia. "Thank you, princess."

Celestia hugs back. "You're most welcome, Sunset."

Sunset emerges from the portal in the middle of the day, and as expected, her friends are there waiting for her. Once they notice her, she is once again enveloped in a group hug. She hugs back.