Back at Canterlot (1)
"Get it together you two. I'm the one who's supposed to be nervous."
Snips and Snails just continued grossing out over the royal chariot, faces sick green. Sunset Shimmer rolled her eyes and just looked the other way. Equestria was skipping down below her. It just looked like heaven.
"Are you okay?" Twilight asked. She and Flash were sitting in the middle of the chariot. The rest was flying in two more chariots, except Rainbow Dash, who probably was already in Canterlot.
"I'm alright. Surprisingly. Really I'm calm." The yellow mare replied, shrugging.
"If you say so."
Flash looked over the edge and whistled. "You can't see that from an airplane. It's amazing."
"It is, isn't it?" Twilight blushed.
"Get a room you two." Sunset told them, putting her head on her forelegs. "Wake me up, when we get there." Flash and Twilight looked at each other blushing, before simultaneously looking away. Sunset still had one eye open, when they did so and let out a small snort, before deciding to take a nap.
Twilight woke her up shortly before they were landing. "I hope you two used your time."
"Sunset!"
Said mare smirked at Twilight's and Flash's blushing. "Where's gonna be the wedding? Earth or Equestria?"
"Sunset!"
XIII
Rainbow Dash had been lying on a cloud with sunglasses covering her eyes. She let out a yawn and stretched herself, when she saw the chariots approaching. She flew down to the ground, where the chariots landed.
"Finally! What took you guys so long?" she asked a little annoyed.
"Rainbow Dash, those fine stallions here needed to pull the chariots with all of us inside them. I'm pretty sure you'd have taken some time as well."
"Yeah, right. I bet I can carry one of those things 20% faster than two of those guys."
"I'm sorry about her. Sometimes she can't help herself." Twilight apologized to the stallions, who acted like they didn't mind at all.
"Check this place out." Lyra said to Bon-Bon, as she looked around the beautiful castle. "I'm no engineer, but shouldn't that entire thing fall down the cliff?" Bon asked.
"Magic." Sunset answered. "You can explain everything unnatural in this place with magic. Well, unnatural in terms of unnatural on earth."
"Oh I wish I had a camera with me to show Dinky some photos." Derpy said, looking around and around in amazement. "Are they still selling those magazines?" Sunset Shimmer asked. "Without Blueblood in one of them?"
The girls giggled, while the CHS students looked a little confused. Before anypony could give them an answer, one of the castle staff hurried over to them and bowed deeply. "Princess. I'm terribly sorry nopony was there to welcome you, when you arrived. Please accept my apologies."
The mare was practically trembling in fear, as she waited for Twilight's answer. "It's no issue at all. Some of us are still enjoying the sights." she pointed towards the CHS students. The mare looked up at the group of seemingly random ponies. The first thing that came into eye was the black C over each of their cutie marks.
"Princess, if I may ask. What is with the Cs over the cutie marks of those ponies?"
"That is a story for another time." Twilight replied. "Would you now kindly bring us to the princesses?"
"O-of course. This way."
"Come on guys. You can easily get lost in this place." Sunset told her fellow students.
"Oh yes. Please stay together. If you don't mind that is." Fluttershy told them. "Especially you two." Sunset walked next to Snips and Snails. "Oh come on, what have we done?" Snails complained.
"You brought me into almost burning down the library with your bucking pepper." Spike complained. Twilight's left eyebrow twitched by the combination of the words "library" and "burn", but she didn't say anything.
"Wow. This place is amazing. How long did it take to build it?" Flash asked.
"A century." Twilight and Sunset answered at the same time. Everypony blinked at them. "Hey, I did study Equestrian history." Sunset told them.
"Really? You never came over to me as the studious one." Lyra said in all honesty. "It didn't suit my image, okay?" Sunset was a little annoyed. "You know how I was."
"Come on, folks. Let's not get into a faght, raght before we meet the princesses." Applejack shushed them.
Around the corner a new voice could be heard. "There's dirt inside my tea! What do you think, you're doing, trying to poison ME?"
"Oh no..." Rarity couldn't suppress it. The rest of the mane six got similar reactions. "What? Who is this?" Bon-Bon asked.
"Prince Blueblood. The most arrogant and NOT gentle stallion you will find in all of Equestria." Rarity replied to the question. "He's a real party pooper." Pinkie agreed. "I just wanted to give him a nice birthday party, nothing too pinkie-like. Just balloons and streamers, a cake, snacks and a few party games."
"He's a spoiled brat to cut it short." Sunset told them.
"You know him?" Twilight asked. Sunset smirked devilishly. "Sure do. Just watch."
"Watch what?" Flash asked. Before he could get an answer Blueblood came around the corner, his nose high and followed by a seemingly battalion of servants. His eyes widened at the sight before him. "Common folk? Here in the palace?"
"Come on, Bluey. That's not a way to greed an old pal."
Blueblood's eyes shrunk visibly in size by the sound of that voice. He turned his head until he had eye contact to Sunset Shimmer. "You! What are YOU doing here?! GUARDS!" The prince cried. Everyone turned towards Sunset, who gave a sheepish smile. "I might have used him as a target when I learned a new spell from time to time."
A pair of unicorn guards arrived a moment later, only semi-alarmed. "T-take the yellow one away. Far away!"
"No you won't." Twilight stepped forward
"What? Who..." he gasped. "P-Princess Twilight?!"
"I'm sorry about the inconvenience. You may return to your posts." Twilight spoke to the unicorn guards. The two saluted and returned immediately. "Prince Blueblood." Twilight addressed him formerly in a very cold tone. She walked passed him. Rarity nudged everypony to follow Twilight.
"What was that all about?" Flash asked.
"Pfeh, he just asked ALL of us for marriage." Rainbow sounded really disgusted. "As if an awesome mare like me would marry a lame stallion like him."
"He asked all of you?" Lyra asked.
"Status guys." Sunset explained. "Twilight has the highest status a pony can reach in Equestria. Her friends on paper have the same status as Blueblood, but their heroes. Do I need to explain more?"
The main six blushed at the praise, although Rainbow did want to brag about it, but they arrived in front of the throne room. The guards in front nodded and opened the gigantic doors. The CHS-ponies "wow-ed" at the sight before them. Slowly they all entered the throne room, where Celestia and Luna were waiting on the other end, sitting on their respective thrones. The sun princess kept her face as best as she could, but everyone who knew her personally could see her face lightening up as the group of ponies approached them.
"I hope you all had a safe trip. I welcome all of you, especially our otherworldly guests, to Canterlot."
"We hope all of you enjoy your stay here." Luna took over. "Please keep in mind it was impossible for us to tell the general population about your presence. We excuse for any inconveniently situation, which may arise."
Celestia spoke again. "You're free to explore the city to your hearts' content. If any problem should arise, feel free to contact one of the guards. They have all been informed about you being at least very special guests. Still, please be careful with your choice of words. Do you have any questions?"
The ponies looked at each other. "Uhh...why couldn't you just tell everyone like in Ponyville?" Derpy asked straight out without hesitation.
"Unfortunately" Luna closed her eyes "the ponies here in Canterlot are not as open to the unknown as the ponies of Ponyville. They...fear the unknown. I belief it would be like the same when a pony all of the sudden appeared in one of your bigger cities."
"The poor pony would found herself locked up within hours, never seeing the light of day again." Sunset muttered to herself. Nevertheless both Luna and Celestia heard her, frowning invardly.
"Very well, if there are no other questions, I assume you all met your counterparts already?" Celestia asked. All nodded, except for Flash. "Uh...I haven't." he shakily raised his hoof. "Ah, yes. I forgot. Your counterpart has been informed in the Crystal Empire. Now, since you're here for only one day, we won't hold you back for any longer from exploring our wondrous city. Spare guest rooms have been prepared for each of you. Please ask a maid or a butler if you want to go to them. Now then, I hope you enjoy your stay."
"Sunset Shimmer," Luna called out "please stay with us. My sister and I wish to talk to you."
"Of course." Sunset bowed deeply.
"I think we should go with them again, just in case." Twilight told her friends. "Yes, I agree." Rarity told them her opinion. "I belief we should show them which parts of the city to avoid."
"Yeah." Rainbow agreed. "Those stuck ups can be a real pain in the flank." She said as they were on their way out.
"So...uh...know any good places?" Flash asked Twilight. "Actually, Spike and I decided to visit my parents. I haven't seen them in a while and most likely we'll be there the entire day, unless we go somewhere."
"They have a really good donut shop here and I know a really good band here!" Pinkie told Bon, Lyra and Vinyl. Fluttershy was already out of hearing range and soon all of their voices faded in the hallways.
Luna and Celestia stood up from their thrones and walked down towards the yellow unicorn. "Come with us." The moon princess spoke softly.
XIII
Sunset silently followed the two outside into the castle gardens. None of the three spoke a word until they placed themselves down on the grass, Celestia right next to Sunset Shimmer.
"You seem distressed." Luna stated, smiling down at the young unicorn.
"I-I'm sorry. I-I...guess...it's..."
"Calm down. Take a deep breath." Celestia nuzzled Sunset's neck. Shimmer did as she was told and felt at least a little better. "Sorry, it's just being back here...after all these years. I feel like I'm ready to explode. Being back to Equestria was one thing, but Canterlot?" Sunset shook her head.
Luna nodded. "I know how you feel." She put a hoof under Sunset's chin and held it up gently. "But do not close yourself off. It will only make matters worse."
The unicorn of the trio let out a deep sigh. "Since when am I that easy to read?" she asked no one in particular, chuckling a little. "You're right, princess. Right now, I feel the need to hide or to run away completely. I...don't exactly know why. Okay, that's a lie. I know why."
"You still feel guilty." Celestia spoke softly. "But you should not. We had this discussion already. You're not a fault."
"I thought we at least compromised that both of us made a mistake." Sunset said a little sternly. "My sister never lets go of a problem until it is solved or compromised to her liking." Luna complained with a smile.
Celestia simply giggled and didn't even seem to be ashamed. "That's because I should have noticed it. I made the same mistake with both of you. I didn't give the two of you the attention you deserved. I promised myself to never make this mistake again. And I already broke it, during Cadance wedding."
"This again?" Luna got up and placed herself next to Celestia wrapping a wing around her. "Stop blaming yourself sister dearest. Tis not healthy for you. You're acting the same as your former student." the dark princess chided.
The sun princess nodded, chuckling sadly. "I guess, you're right. But enough of this already. Sunset Shimmer, why don't you tell us more about the new world you're living in? Surely there is more than just the negative, the very reasons we're holding the project."
Sunset let out a small breath. "Well, I don't know where to start. There is so much different over there from here and I'm not sure if I can describe everything properly."
"Why don't you start with the school and your school life? After the first incident of course." Celestia added.
"Okay. I think I better start from right after Twilight and the rest of the gang crashed me into the ground. Nopony said the elements could be so violent." she muttered the last part in mock annoyance, causing the royal sisters to chuckle.
"Snips, Snails and I were told to repair the wall I destroyed. In the end the principal didn't let us finish it. It was too dangerous to be done by us. She just looked for a way to punish us. We worked on it for two days. Afterwards a construction crew was called to repair the wall.
I called sick for a week and locked myself up in my apartment. I managed to get everything I needed by changing bits into the currency on the other side, as well as a few gemstones. Gold and gems are much more valuable over there, since gold is a rare element and gems don't just grow out of the ground. I changed only a little bit every now and then, in order to not attract too much attention. I also went to a different store every time.
Back to the matter at hand, eh, hoof, as I said, I locked myself up. I...cried a lot until I couldn't do it anymore. I just...aimlessly walked around, didn't eat much, drank only as much as necessary... I was depressed. I thought about my life so far, let everything go over what I did wrong and mostly lay on my couch, doing nothing. I thought everyone and everypony hated me and that everyone would be better without me. I never came to think about suicide though. I thought it would be just another way of running away and I was sick of running away. I debated with myself of just going back and receive the punishment I deserve.
I actually made up my mind. I wanted to go back the next time the portal opened. I didn't saw a reason to go back to Canterlot High, so with nothing better to do I prepared my resignation papers.
I had been missing for two weeks, when I finally needed to go outside for you know food and stuff. I decided to get it over quickly and headed straight first to the High School. It was in the middle of the first period that I arrived. I just wanted to go to one of the principals, make a quick explanation and leave for good.
Of course things didn't go that well. The other Celestia looked down at the paper, looked up and then said: 'So, you're running away?' I don't know if it was a lucky guess, saw through me or whatever, but it did the trick. Now I was really feeling down and things just kept getting worse in the good way.
Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity and Applejack just needed to plan to go to the shopping mall the same day as I planned on resupplying my fridge. Pinkie spotted me immediately, screeching out my name. I was surrounded within seconds, since I froze upon hearing her name. For a moment I thought they would beat the shit out of me, but then I remembered it was still day. My mind must have been really messed up. Because the next thought that crossed my mind was they would silently take me with them and do with me who knows what."
Sunset laughed a sad laugh. "It totally took me off guard, when they invited me over to the next burger joint in order to get to know each other better. I stammered nonsense for some time until I finally managed to get out that I seriously needed some shopping done. And of course they immediately offered their help just like that. As if I had been their friend for a long time, as if I have never done anything in order to destroy their friendship, as if nothing happened. They pulled me with them into the next best shop and so I ended up spending the entire day with them. Rarity even forced me to go shopping for a ton of new clothes.
The girls followed me back home. It didn't look any better then, from what you have seen, when you visited princess. Rarity, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash helped getting it cleaned and tidied up, while Applejack and Pinkie Pie prepared something to eat for all of us.
During dinner I asked them just why the hell they were so nice to me. It seemed as if my crying act after my defeat left quite the impression on them and I think they kind of took Twilight's words as a task they had to complete. I never asked if I was right with this train of thought or not. In the end it didn't really matter. I had the small tingling sensation of hope inside me. It was small, but enough to get my eyes leaking again.
The next day, I went back to school. I guess I can call myself the luckiest pony alive. They were still mad at me and I expected nothing else from them. Snips and Snails avoided, although it didn't help them for the first few weeks, but eventually they got acknowledged again, as far as I can tell.
As for me, the student population avoided me or shot me angry glances. Because of my demonic transformation rumors started to spread. I think my personal favorite is the one where I "tried to perform a blood ritual on a girl in order to summon demons from hell". Hell equals Tartarus in the other world, only hell doesn't exist.
Surprisingly the girls didn't get in trouble, although they hung out with me more and more often. I think it was because of what Twilight said, after all the entire student body was there to hear it."
Sunset fell silent all of the sudden. Celestia wrapped a wing around her former student, patiently waiting for her to either go on or deciding to quit.
