Sunset woke up to the sound of a horn. Rolling to the side of her bed and look at the clock which showed 5:30 on the display. She rolled on her back and almost fell back to sleep when the horn honked again. Grumbling, she slipped out of bed and looked out the window. Applejack was standing by a truck waving her hand when she saw Sunset.

"Shit, it's farm day." Sunset groaned to herself trying to wake up and slapped her face.

Stepping outside Sunset stumbled down the porch stairs. The sun was just starting to rise from the east. Her shirt was on backwards and her hair was not brushed that well. She carried her jacket which was folded under her right arm and climbed into the truck sitting in the right back seat. The country music was playing from the radio. Sunset yawned as she laid back into the leather seat. The smell of fresh coffee tickled her nose.

"Hey, Sunset good to see you this fine morning," Applejack said fully dressed and ready to go sit in the left back seat next to her.

Sunset just looked at her still in a daze with bags under her eyes. "Hi." Was all she could say.

"Not a morning person Ah see. Well, some fresh air will do ya some good." AJ smiled and passes her a spill proof cup full of hot coffee.

"Good mornin' Sunset." Big Mac said, looking from the driver's seat as Sunset nodded sipped her coffee.

"Time's a-wasting brother, let's go," Applejack said as she snapped her seatbelt in place.

"Eeyup." Big Mac said and put the truck into drive just a Sunset put her seatbelt on.

About a half an hour later they arrived at the farm. The truck shook a bit over the dirt and gravel road, stopping near a barn that was converted into a house. There were hundreds of apple trees on one side of the farm. On the other there were some cows, pigs, and chickens.
One large area fenced in with a large horse with brown fur and white patches on its thighs. It was was drinking at the water hole and look up at the truck. Applejack opened her door and climbed out first. Sunset reached for the door handle when Big Mac opened the door for her.

"Thank you, Big Mac." Sunset said and walked around the truck to Applejack. He smiled and closed the truck door and then walked off to check the livestock.

"Ah got some work clothes for ya Sunset before we start." Applejack said and took Sunset to her house.

When she left the house Sunset was now wearing one of Applejack’s overalls and boots. Her shirt which was now right side up showing her mark. She adjusted the overalls since the leg where a little short for her.

Big Mac walked by and stopped to look at her. "Ain't that a pretty sight," He said and smiled as he moving on to another task.

"Alright will start with the stable first, come on we can get the job done faster together. Applejack said with a smile and started walking to a building.

Sunset could not help but notice the strong smell of animals and manure as they walked. Applejack didn't seem to be bothered by the smell. A black dog then ran up to sniff Sunset’s legs and then ran up to Applejack who picked up a branch and tossed it down the field. The dog took off fast trying to catch it.

"Don't mind Oscar he won't bite ya. Now we are renting out some stables, so besides our own horse, we have two extra ones." Applejack said as they walked.

Inside the stable, there were 6 stalls. Only two were being used. One had a white horse with large brown patches on its fur. The other horse had a golden brown fur and a black mane. Both horses became quiet and looked at Sunset with their full attention as she walked in with Applejack.

"Hello, I am Sunset and I will be helping Applejack to clean," Sunset said casually not thinking. But then the horses seemed to nod watching. Applejack looked at her and then at the horses with a puzzled look on her face.

"Well, now ah don't think ah have ever seen them act that way before." Applejack said and opened the empty stall.

"It's in my nature I guess," Sunset said as she shrugs her shoulders, trying to ignore the horses stare.

Applejack helped Sunset clean the first stable by raking the hay and then using a shovel to clean up some fresh manure. Applejack scooped up a fresh batch dropping it into a wheelbarrow. Sunset scooped up another one trying not to hurl. She considered holding her breath, but no luck so she tried to think of flowers as the wet manure went splat in the barrow.

"Sunset can ya dump that into the pile over there. Applejack pointed to a spot outside the building.

She grumbled and with some effort lifts the wheelbarrow onto its wheel and pushing it. Sunset turned to look at the horses who sound like they were giggling. Both of them turn their heads quickly looking away. She grunted and pushed the barrow outside the building to dump it. Once they finished cleaning the empty stalls. It was time to take the horses out to be brushed, one at a time while their stalls were being washed.

Applejack helped Sunset with the white male horse whose name was Vanilla. She had no problems since Vanilla was well behaved. But he did keep trying to smell her as she brushed him.

"Now Vanilla be a good boy and turn around so I can brush the other side," Sunset said not expecting him to understand.

Then the horse seemed to nod and turned around to the surprise of Applejack who removed her hat to scratch her head. With Vanilla, all brushed he walked back into his stable as Sunset closed the hatch.

"Ah, better handle Gold Finger he likes to nip if ya are not careful," Applejack said, putting a halter on the horse’s head as it protested a bit.

"That does not look too comfortable AJ," She said, rubbing her face thinking about it and watch Applejack opening the door and then grabbing the halter.

"Come on Gold this won't take long. Just need to clean you up." Applejack said as she tried to gently pull but he didn't budge.

"AJ maybe he doesn't want to go," Sunset said, trying to keep her distance.

"Why are ya so stubborn today." Applejack noticed that Gold was getting more agitated and decides to stop pulling.

Sunset walked up to Applejack and put her hand on the Gold's muzzle which calmed him down quickly. Applejack then let go as Gold walked out on his own and stood next to Sunset and nuzzled her.

"Seriously Sunset you are a natural horse whisperer," Applejack said still amazed.

Sunset was asked to meet up with Apple Bloom in the chicken coop. She found her easily by spotting the red hair. She was dressed in a pink bow, green shirt, blue jeans and yellow boots just like her sister.

“Sunset! You're here. Have you been helping my sister?” Apple Bloom ran up to Sunset who smiled and kneeled down to catch her in a hug.

“Yes, I have Apple B. Do you need help with the chickens?” Sunset asked smiling as she stood up.

Apple Bloom nodded happily and opened the coop. “Make sure the Chickens stay inside and can you pass me that bag of feed,” She said pointing to a large bag.

Sunset lifted the bag which is heavy and brought it into the coop and put it down to where the feeding tubes are. Apple Bloom explained that the tubes which looked like white PVC pipes can hold a lot of feed so they only need to add every few days.

“So Apple B your birthday is this Saturday,” Sunset said as she scooped up the feed filling one of the tubes.

“I’m so excited all my friends are coming to Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, my sister, brother, grandmother, that new Twilight girl, but I need to ask my sister if she is coming. Are you coming also?” She said sounding out of breath, but has a big smile on her face.

“Yes, I won’t miss it for the world. What would you like for your birthday?” Sunset asked, wondering what she could get her.

“A pony.” Apple Bloom said which made Sunset fall on her rear in surprise.

“Seriously a pony. You have horses here.” She gets up and cleans the bird seed from the rear.

“Just a little one because my brother and sister won’t let me ride Biscuit.” Apple Bloom looked into the distance to the brown horse that is trotting outside.

“Oh, so that’s Biscuit. Not sure if I can find a pony for you, but if I can find something else.” Sunset rubbed her chin.

“That's ok my sister already said no, and I should wait until I am bigger.” Apple Bloom sulked but not for long as they finish feeding.

For the rest of the morning, Sunset helped Apple Bloom with her chores before stopping for lunch. She found Applejack with her hat off at the back of the house sitting on a picnic table. Sunset moaned a bit as she sat down hard feeling her leg muscle aching.

“Hanging in there Sunset?” Applejack grinned as she fanned herself with the hat.

“I’m not sure if I’m going to make it. My legs feel like lead weights.” Sunset said as she wiped the sweat from her face.

Granny Smith opened the rear door. “Come and get it lunch is ready,” She said with a smile.

Applejack got up first and headed inside. Sunset, on the other hand, is having a hard time getting up.

Big Mac happened to be heading to the rear door when he noticed Sunset and lent a hand helping her up. “Careful there Sunset Ah don’t want you to keel over,” He said with a smile.

“Thank you again Big Mac, you are always there when I need help.” Sunset smiled noticing a small blush on his face. He is cute when not covered in dirt. She thought and headed inside the house.

Later on after lunch, Sunset felt like she had recovered some of her energy and headed out with Applejack towards the trees.

“Now Sunset it’s too early to harvest the Apples but we need to thin out the trees or we will have too many small apples. All you have to do is pluck every other green apple like this.” Applejack explained and removed some small green of apples leaving the rest behind. “This will allow more energy and space for the remaining apples to grow big and red.” She finished explaining.

Sunset followed Applejack's lead and before long she was able to continue on her own. This job took most of the afternoon and it was a good thing that the trees provided some shade from the sun.

On the other side of the barn, Apple Bloom is at the gate watching Biscuit prancing around inside the fenced area. She holds onto a leather saddle in her arms, as she is trying to make up her mind.

“I’m going to prove to my sister that I am big enough to ride,” She said to herself and looked around to make sure no one was watching. Looked again at the gate and breathed in as she unlocks it.

Sunset just finished helping Applejack with the trees and went for a walk to relax. She spotted Big Mac who was working under the tracker draining the oil. Sunset stopped and hunched down to watch.

“I finished helping your sister Big Mac, is there anything I can to help you?” She asked, noticing the strong smell of oil and diesel.

“Nope… umm maybe can you pass the ratchet.” Big Mac said, pointing to the tool that was out of reach.

“Sure here you go.” Sunset said and grabbed the tool passing it to him. She got some oil on her hand reached for a rag to wipe.

Big Mac was installing the drain plug when all of a sudden there was a loud girl’s scream and it was followed by a horse’s scream with the sound of galloping hooves.

“Apple Bloom!” Big Mac yelled, hitting his head with a clang on the bottom of the tracker and quickly tried to slide out from under it.

Sunset ran towards the nose and saw Apple Bloom holding onto Biscuits mane as the saddle was slipping to the right. It looked like it was not fastened correctly. The horse ran wild at high speed with Apple Bloom hanging on for dear life.

“Oh, goddess. Apple Bloom, Hang on, I’m coming!” She yelled as she tried to run after them, but the horse clearly was pulling ahead down the dirt road.

Applejack ran quickly from the other side of the barn to just in time to see Biscuit kicking up dust running fast down the dirt road at the end of the property line heading west towards town.

Sunset made it to the end of the driveway where joins a dirt road. Breathing heavy, her heart felt like it wanted to pop out of her chest. She kept running in the direction they went, but could only see dust as the horse pulled farther away. Trying with all her might she wanted to go faster, reaching ahead with her right hand, wanting the power to save that girl. There was a flash of light and now she was going faster and the sound of another set of hooves on the ground galloping fast. Sunset is noticing that she felt shorter and looked down to see her front hooves pulling her forward. Not sure how this happened, but not wasting this chance she pushed herself even faster feeling the wind on her face as her mane waved in the air.

Applejack looked a saw a flash from a distance and then noticed a mango colored house, no a pony that was racing in the same direction as Biscuit and Apple Bloom. Just then Big Mac raced by in his truck as its rear wheels spun kicking up a cloud of dust.

Apple Bloom’s feet were hooked into the saddle that was leaning to the right and she was trying to pull her herself, up by Biscuit's mane which only agitated the horse more. Tears were streaming from her face as she screamed more. Then from a distance, there was a loud voice yell out to her from behind and it was getting closer.

"Apple Bloom! Hang on, I am almost there!" Yelled Sunset as she got closer, moving her legs galloping as fast as she could. Just a bit more and then I can try some magic. She thought trying to concentrate.

Apple Bloom looked behind her and saw a mango colored unicorn galloping up beside her with the same colored eyes and hair color as Sunset. She blinked twice to make sure she was not seeing things.

"Sunset, Help me!" She yelled out as some of the horse's mane pulled away in clumps causing her to lose her grip. Apple Bloom screamed and closed her eyes as she went over.

Sunset’s horn glowed brightly as she focused. Apple Bloom, at first, felt like she was falling and then something warm caught her like a glove and it started to push her back up. She opened her eyes and looked as she was pushed upright and then straps on the saddle glowed as the each one was tightened securing it in place.

"You're safe now Apple Bloom just hold on. Biscuit pleases stop running!" She yelled at the horse while galloping next to it and then it looked in her direction at the smaller unicorn and slowed down to a trot coming to a stopped. The horse was breathing heavy watching the mango colored unicorn walking ahead and then turned around to face her.

Sunset looked into Biscuit’s eyes. "Honestly, you scared Apple Bloom and me half to death! Now be a good girl and take her back home." She said pointing her front hoof in the other direction.

The horse snorted in protest and then turned around to head back to the farm in a slow walk.

There was a flash of magic and Sunset was back her to her human self, looking at her hands and then quickly walked up next to Apple Bloom, grabbing one of the saddle straps.

Apple Bloom looked down rubbing the dry tears and dust from her face. "I'm sorry Sunset I really wanted to be a big girl and ride with my sister." She apologized, looking ahead to see Big Mac stopping the truck and the quickly jumped out. He stopped to see that things were under control and waited for them.

"Learning to ride is like learning to walk, it takes time and nothing wrong with asking for help when you fall down," Sunset said as she walked a short distance more with her until they reached the truck.

Big Mac rubbed his head, which had a red lump, but was relieved that Apple Bloom was safe. Biscuit stopped and Sunset let go of the strap, to help Apple Bloom down onto the dirt. Big Mac ran up to hug Apple Bloom close. Applejack just arrived out of breath and joined in the hug. They all had tears in their eyes.

The horse then tried to nuzzle Sunset who looked a bit annoyed and looked up.

"I'm still angry at you," She said to Biscuit who lifted her head away and grunted walking back to the farm flicking her tail.

Apple Bloom didn't tell Applejack all the details on how Sunset was able to catch up and stop Biscuit which was a relief for her. As for Apple Bloom’s punishment, she was grounded until her birthday, but Applejack did promise to teach her how to ride in the future starting with how to put on a saddle.

Sunset was quiet on the ride home looking at her hands. How was I able to change without going through the mirror. Could it be a side effect from the crack in it? She thought looking head as headed back to the farm.

At the school, Aria walked away from the mirror with a bright green glowing gem on her right arm. Her eyes now also glowed green as she smirked. The mirror behind her now has two more cracks in it.

Luna galloped into the throne room where Celestia was talking with a delegate earth pony.

"Sister the mirror has been tampered with again. This magic I felt it was the same as Chrysalis." She said which caused the guests to gasp in surprise.

If Celestia could she would have face palmed herself. But she did look at her sister shaking her head.

Princess if that mirror is dangerous, it should be destroyed." The delegate said which caused Celestia to stand up quickly and looked down at him with anger, he backed away as the princess breathed in slowly to calm herself and look at everyone there. She wanted to keep the mirror a secret, but Luna's outburst made it known to everyone in the room.

"Ladies and Gentlecolts. Please do not worry yourself about the mirror. I will send a legion of my royal guards to watch over it night and day. If there is a hint, of something dangerous coming through, then I will destroy it myself." She stomped her front hoof hard which cause all the chandeliers in the castle shake in as if a small earthquake just happened. One of the guards walked out of the room backward and closes the door. She turns around and smiling as her eyes turned green.

"Soon," She said as her grin now exposes two fangs and her laugh echoes in the hallway.

Luna just realized that she put her sister in a difficult position and quickly left the throne room. I have to find a way to help my sister, but I still do not understand what is so important about this Sunset Shimmer. Then she remembered the locket that her sister often wears and decided to investigate herself.

Later that day inside Celestia room Luna teleported in to avoid being seen by the guards outside. She quietly opened Celestia closet and checked in the pockets but did not find anything. Celestia did not have that many outfits. Luna walked to a desk that had a fountain pen with a large feather and blank paper. She looked down and opened the drawer. There were more bottles of ink, earrings and nick nacks. Looking a bit deeper she found the locket in the back of the drawer. It floated in front of her eyes with her magic, so she looked closer. There was a small latch on the side. She opened it and looked, her eyes opened wide and teared up.

"Why sister, did you not tell me this." She sniffed, looking at a picture of a newborn filly with closed eyes, her fur was mango in color with a red and yellow mane. On the other side of the lock was a picture of a guard with red fur and blue eyes but he still had his helmet on.

Luna looked up and remembered that she has seen him before in the history room. Quietly she closed the locket and put it back into the desk closing the draw. Then she closed her eyes to teleport out of the room and then reappeared in the history room.

The mirror was moved to another room long ago, but everything else is still here. She walked up to the stained glass on the right side of the room and look up. There was Tirek with his army on one side and Chrysalis and her hive on the other. A castle in the corner of the forest is the castle of the two sisters and in the middle between the two armies is the royal guards who are blocking the path to the castle. Leading them is a guard with red fur and blue eyes. Looking closer she could see his mark. It looked like a starburst that was the best description Luna could come up with. She turned around and saw the glass image of her trapped on the moon on the other wall.

"Oh sister, I'm sorry I should have been there to help you. Maybe he would still be here." Luna talked softly to herself.

Celestia is there as looking at her sister from behind. "We have lived for such a long time together dear sister, I was not prepared to be alone," She said, walking in front surprising, Luna. She looked up at the image of the red guard.

"Even if he survived that day, old age would have claimed him in the end. Only his... our daughter lived on to this day." She said and Luna noticed that Celestia closed all the doors to this room so no one else would hear.

"Why didn't you tell me about this sister," Luna said, looking at her in the eyes.

"You were not there when the war happened. I was weak from childbirth and did not have the power to fight back. Tirek and Chrysalis temporarily joined forces and tried to storm the castle in the Everfree forest. Starburst Shimmer was the leader of my royal guard back then and it was his duty to protect me and his child, even if it cost him his life." Celesta explained looking up at the stained glass her eyes tearing up and look at Luna.

"I made a decision that day, to hide that fact that a had a daughter. If my enemies found out they could have used her as a hostage or worse. So I cast a memory spell on anyone who knew and put Sunset into a deep sleep for a very long time. By the time she woke up the world had changed and she was taken in and raised by someone else." Celestia finished explaining and leaned against the wall because her legs felt very heavy.

"I am at a loss for words. If our roles were reversed, would I have made the same choice?" Luna said asking herself and walked up and embrace her sister.

"Even, after all, that, in the end, someone still knew and turned her against me,” Celestia said with a pained expression. “I want her back Luna, I want to make things right again," She said looking into her sister's eyes.

"Fear not sister I will not stop helping until she returns." Luna said and nuzzled her sister once more.

The two sisters stayed together for that night after Luna raised the moon.

Author's Notes:

I really enjoyed the way this chapter went.

This story has been a big puzzle and I have been trying to fit all the pieces together.
I think I am now starting to see what it looks like.

Again if I find any more errors I will correct them.

Also I am going on vacation next week so hopefully I can put out one more chapter until I return.

Thanks for reading.