Chapter 7: You Can Never Go Home Again, but You Can Carry Years of Anger and Regret with You Wherever You Go!

Sunset Shimmer focused her vein-filled, narrowed into tiny slits turquoise eyes on the purple closet door she slowly approached. If looks could raise temperatures then it was likely the door would have been a translucent mass of melted crystals right now, but of course Sunset couldn’t melt things with a look alone.

She’d have to use her magic if it came to that.

Though she had reached some new plane of anger even Sunset didn’t know existed, she wasn’t about to just start melting doors and putting ponies at risk. She was, after all, not a monster. However she knew she had the capacity to be monstrous if necessary and she wasn’t about to let anything stand between her and her comeuppance.

Certainly not a closed closet door… and that was really the only thing in between her and the mare who threw Sunset out of her home… took her life from her… decided she was no longer worth lov—

Sunset shook her head from side to side in attempt to clear the sadness that threatened to overtake her anger. She focused her emotions back into a micron-thin laser of pure rage and screamed at the top of her lungs, “GET YOUR SHINY SUN-ADORNED FLANK OUT OF THERE! AND DON’T THINK THAT JUST BECAUSE THERE’S A BABY PRESENT I’M GOING TO SOMEHOW KEEP A LID ON MY TEMPER! THAT DIDN’T WORK FOR MY THIRTEENTH BIRTHDAY PARTY AND IT SURE AS HELL ISN’T GOING TO WORK HERE!”

A hushed silence fell over everypony as most of the eyes in the room fell onto the door Celestia hid behind.

“SERIOUSLY! YOU HAVE TO HAVE REALIZED THAT IT IS A DISPLAY OF THE HEIGHT OF MY PATIENCE THAT THAT DOOR ISN’T A MOLTEN PUDDLE OF SLAG AT THE MOMENT! NOW GET OUT HERE OR I WILL DO SOMETHING NOT NICE!”

A collective sigh of relief went through the crowd as the purple door to the utility closet opened. An alabaster foreleg with an ornamental golden ‘shoe’ stepped out, followed by the rest of Celestia who carefully and methodically removed brooms and mops from amongst her feathers before turning to stare at Sunset Shimmer with a noble look as her mane and tail continued to shimmer and wave about in the air.

It was the most dignified display from a pony wearing a bucket on their head any pony present had ever seen.

Celestia made the slightest of grimaces as her horn glowed yellow and she slid the wooden bucket that her long horn had punctured off her head. She floated it along with the rest of the cleaning supplies back into the utility closet and closed it without taking her eyes of Sunset Shimmer.

“Hello, Sunset Shimmer,” Celestia said in an even tone. “What a pleasant surprise this is. I didn’t expect to see you today.”

Sunset narrowed her eyes and turned to shoot a glare at Twilight. “Yeah. Lot of that going around.”

Twilight swallowed and took a couple steps backwards.

Still glaring, Sunset turned to look at Celestia. She had spent night after night lying awake, thinking about this moment. Figuring out things to yell, scream, or even admit… All she had to do was go through her mental collection of what she wanted to say and let Celestia have it. She had composed dozens of dialogues in her head, the speech changing substantially depending on how she felt at the moment or how much she was crying.

Entire evenings, even days had been spent planning everything Sunset could lay bare in this situation. Sunset even went so far as to take into account how Celestia was likely to react or what she would say. Every little detail had been planned down to the tiniest minutia. As unexpected as this meeting was, Sunset was the one in control here. Again, it was just a matter of deciding what she wanted to accomplish with this talk and start on the right hoof.

Unfortunately, Sunset didn’t do that. Instead of picking anything from her speeches or even giving much thought to how she wanted this situation to unfold, she opened her mouth and uttered, “Well, I can see your diet of cake, cake, and more cake is treating you just as well as it was when you had me banished.”

Celestia expression remained unchanged, but one of her ears twitched. She too had spent night after night lying awake, thinking about this moment. Mostly dreading the outcome, but sometimes convincing herself she could say just the right few things and everything would be forgiven from both sides and she and Sunset could finally put this behind them. However, she said none of those ‘right’ things and instead replied with, “Well, I can see you’ve put on a little weight.”

Sunset clamped down so hard on her teeth it felt like they might break. “Excuse me?!” she forced out through her clenched teeth.

Celestia smirked. “I, of course, meant your wings.”

The clarification apparently did nothing to improve Sunset's mood. She continued to level a gaze filled to the brim with anger and frustration at the alabaster princess.

The other ponies in the room and the one dragon looked between the two mares. Though yelling had seemingly meant Sunset released some of her building emotions like a very angry pressure valve, she still had a look about her as if she could explode, perhaps violently, at a moment’s notice.

Meanwhile, Shining Armor leaned against the crib in the room with his eyes half-open as if sleep might claim him at a moment’s notice. The crib was still under a double shield as Cadance’s eyes darted frantically between the two mares in the room and back to the infant occupant of the crib.

Celestia let out a tired sigh before she continued, “I suppose I should prepare a coronation and that song…” She frowned. “Though, it’ll be hard to show images of how you earned your accomplishment with you being in another dimension for that part on top of the last few years.”

Sunset let out a disgusted grunt. “Typical Celestia, backhandedly acknowledging my accomplishments while dredging up something bad I did so instead of feeling good about myself, I get a nice, big fat reminder that I’m just a disappointment to you.”

Celestia closed her eyes hard and sighed. “Sunset, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—”

Sunset interrupted. “You know what?! FINE! I don’t CARE anymore.”

Celestia’s eyes widened and became glassy. “Wait! Sunset, I—”

Sunset shook her head. “You’re just… You’re STILL the same pony who figured she’d be rid of me by attempting to toss me on the street and then ignored me for all these years! Why should I have even expected you to act any different?!”

Celestia’s ears flopped down around her head and she lowered her head, tears began to pool at the bottom of her eyes. “Sunset! If you’d just stop and listen, maybe I could—”

“What, mom?! Fricken’ WHAT?!” Sunset cried, her voice raising. “Dredge up something else I did that you’re ashamed of to rub in my face?!” Sunset bobbed her head from side to side. “Gee mom, I think I still have some self-esteem left! Now we can’t have that, can we?”

Celestia clamped her eyelids shut hard. “Ugh…” Celestia uttered. “You’re impossible to talk to when you’re like this.”

Sunset blew out a dismissive gust of air and swatted at the air with her forehoof. “Why bother right? I mean you’re on such a hot streak of not talking to me as it is. Why should you change that now?”

Celestia winced hard and gave Sunset a look that was a mix of frustration and anger with a tinge of sadness.

Sunset lowered her head and her eyelids, glaring once more as she took a few more steps forward. “Hey, if I’m too much to handle, maybe you should just get Twilight to fix things for you again.”

Twilight’s eyes shot open wide. “Oh please, no…”

Sunset continued, grinning as she still locked eyes with Celestia and walked up to her. “I mean… Delegating your problems to her seems to be about all you do anymore. Heck, I’m surprised you don’t just give her your powers again so she can raise the sun for you too.” Sunset stopped right in front of Celestia, who had began to wordlessly glower at Sunset.

Celestia leaned her head down so her eyes were on an even plane with Sunset’s. “Sunset, you know I work hard every day meeting with ponies and working out all kinds of issues in and outside of Equestria’s borders.”

Sunset’s smile dropped and she went back to shooting daggers at Celestia with her vision. “Oh! So you’re still making time for all your little ponies except me!”

Twilight took a tentative hoof forward. “Sunset, maybe now isn’t such a good—”

Celestia and Sunset quickly turned to face Twilight. “STAY OUT OF THIS!” they shouted in unison.

“Meep!” Twilight, Pinkie, and Fluttershy all cried. All three decided to hide behind Applejack, who let out a sigh. Meanwhile, Luna, Spike, and Starlight continued to watch the scene unfold in front of them in concern while Rainbow Dash grinned widely in anticipation and Rarity feigned interests in the nursery's drapes as she kept glancing at the arguing alicorns.

Celestia’s eyes widened in realization as she took stock of what she did. She raised a forehoof to her head and shook it from side to side. “Goodness… Now you have me yelling at other ponies again.”

Sunset rolled her eyes. “And now we’re back to you blaming your mistakes on ME!” She shook her head. “Goodness, why’d you ever send your personal scapegoat away?”

“You’re not my personal scapegoat, Sunset Shimmer!” Celestia yelled into the face of Sunset.

“That’s true!” Sunset screamed back. “Obviously I’m not anything to you anymore!”

Celestia let out a frustrated growl. “Sunset, I’m growing weary of playing this verbal game with you!”

“HAH!” She motioned towards Celestia. “And now everypony, we have sign number one that Celestia has figured out she’s losing this conversation!”

“For Equestria’s sake, child! This ISN’T A GAME!”

Sunset rolled her eyes. “Sign number two…”

“YOU KNOW WHAT?!” Celestia roared. “I DON’T HAVE TO TAKE THIS! I’M RULER OF THE PLANET'S LARGEST AND MOST POWERFUL EMPIRE AND THIS DISCUSSION IS OVER! GO TO YOUR ROOM!”

“HaHA!” Sunset cried victoriously. “And that’s three! I’m sorry, Princess, but my room is in another castle!” Sunset’s teeth clamped down in rage once more. “In FACT, my room is in another DIMENSION now because you already kicked me OUT of my room and then proceeded to give it to somepony else! But hey, we can keep talking if you have any other giant spears you want to dredge up from the past AND RAM THROUGH MY FREAKIN’ CHEST!”

“FINE! YOU WIN!” Celestia cried. “HOW ABOUT I’LL JUST GO AND YOU CAN ENTERTAIN ALL THESE PONIES YOURSELF!” With that, Celestia did a quick about face and began walking back towards the utility closet.

“YOU’RE NOT PAWNING OFF YOUR BORING PRINCESS WORK ON ME!” Sunset cried. “I’LL GO!” Sunset turned and began storming away in the opposite direction.

Although she still looked a bit concerned, Cadance watched the two mares walk away from each other with a certain degree of interest. The shimmer from her horn faded as one of the shields around her family and herself faded. She turned and said something to Shining Armor, and the other shield soon dropped, as well as Shining Armor who collapsed onto the ground and began snoring.

‘SLAM!’

‘SLAM!’

Spike cleared his throat. “I think I’m going to get a lot of mileage out of this phrase today, but ‘yikes, just yikes’.”

“Awww…” Rainbow Dash cried in a disappointed tone. She threw her forelegs out to the side as she continued to flap in place. “That’s it?! Where’s the violence? Where’s the bloodshed?”

‘ACHEW!’

‘PHOOOOOOOM!’

Rarity shot Rainbow Dash a sideways glance. "Satisfied, dear?"

Rainbow Dash cringed and ducked her head just in time as a massive bolt of energy flew right over her. She swallowed. “Yeah... Never mind… I’m good…”

Applejack rolled her eyes and turned. “Y’all can stop using my flank as a storm cellar now. Ah think the tornado has passed.”

“Say that to the killer baby!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“Yeah…” Fluttershy agreed. “Erm… I’m sorry Applejack, but I think your flank is the safest and biggest object to hide behind right now.”

Applejack scrunched up her nose and lips in annoyance. “Ah’m mildly offended by that comment.”

Twilight sheepishly raised herself back onto forehooves and trotted over to Cadance, Shining Armor, and the baby.

Starlight looked at the closet door Celestia shut herself behind. “Well… How long is she going to stay in there? I mean… She has to come out of the closet sometime.”

“Well, Sunset just closed herself off in an armoire,” Twilight said. She shook her head. “Unless she finds a satyr that leads her on an epic journey involving a lion and witch, I think we’re going to be seeing her again rather soon…”

Luna sighed. “I’m over a millennium out of practice, but I believe I can get my sister out,” she said while trotting over to the closet.

Cadance looked at Twilight. “Twilight, can you look after your brother and make sure his and my baby doesn’t vaporize any pony?”

“Sure, Cadance!” Twilight said with a worried smile. She leaned her head down into the crib. “Erm… goochie-goochie-goo?” She said in an unsure tone.

The baby let out a delighted squeal as it grabbed hold of Twilight’s horn placed her mouth on it. The baby began to suckle on the nubby end.

Twilight’s cheeks flushed crimson. “Okay, I’m weirded out by this, but as long as she doesn’t start blasting everypony, I guess it’s okay…”

“It’s fine,” Cadance said as she trotted over to the armoire. “I’m also a bit out of practice coaxing Sunset out of rooms, cabinets, and closets, but I’ve done this enough times it basically ingrained into me at this point.”

Luna rapped her hoof gently against the closet door. “Sister? Celestia, it’s Luna.”

“Hi, Luna,” came Celestia’s muffled reply.

“Sister, don't you think this has gone on long enough? It's time for you to come out of the closet.”

“I'm not in the closet,” Celestia replied.

“Yes you are, Celestia,” Luna said in a slightly exasperated tone. “And you need to just end this and come out. I am not going to think any differently of you. Twilight Sparkle is not going to think any differently of you. You do not need to be in that closet any more, Celestia!”

“I'm not in here though,” Celestia replied quietly.

Luna narrowed her eyes at the door. “Yes, you are.”

“I'm not... I'm not in the closet.”

“Then how am I talking to you, sister?”

Silence.

“Celestia, you cannot hide forever just because your former student is back.” Luna shook her head. “Come out of the closet Celestia, you are not fooling anyone.”

“But I'm not-I'm not in here,” Celestia replied.

Across the room, Cadance also knocked on the doors to the armoire. “Sunset?” she said tentatively. “It’s me, Cadance… Could you come out and talk to me?”

“NO!” came the response, loud but sad as if the owner of the voice was also busy crying her eyes out. “I’m going to stay in here forever!”

“Oh, Sunset,” Cadance continued in a soft tone. “You can’t just live in that armoire.”

“Why not?!”

“Erm… Because it’s way too small for that for starters?”

“It’s fine!” Sunset continued. “It feels nice and cozy and safe in here and I just want to stay inside until the end of time.”

Cadance continued, “Also, my baby’s diapers and other clothes are in there, so I mean… We kind of need that armoire.”

A muffled sob came out from the other side. “I knew it! I’m just a burden to everypony ever!”

“Sunset,” Cadance said shaking her head, “nopony believes that.”

“It’s TRUE!” Sunset cried. “I’m garbage! I can just go die!”

“Sunset,” Cadance continued in a soothing, reassuring tone, “don’t say that! You have ponies who care about you! They’d be sad if you died!”

“Don’t lie to me to try and make me feel better!” Sunset exclaimed. “Nopony cares about me! NOPONY!”

“Sunset, lots of ponies care about you, you even have a bunch of your friends right here!”

“I DON’T HAVE ANY FRIENDS!” Sunset cried.

Starlight let out a sad whimper.

Spike patted her on the back. “I wouldn’t worry too much about anything Sunset says when she’s like this. Twilight and I have only visited her a few times, but she kinda freaks out like this every once in awhile from what I’ve seen.”

“Really?” Starlight replied. “You’ve seen her do something like this before?”

“Whouaaaahaouaaaahouaaa!” Sunset cried from under a wooden desk as she covered her face with her hands. “Oh my God! I’m just useless! USELESS! I CAN’T DO ANYTHING RIGHT!”

Rarity leaned down and gave Sunset a warm smile. “Sunset dear, really it’s fine.”

“It’s not fine! It’ll NEVER be fine! WHY WOULD ANYBODY WANT TO BE FRIENDS WITH SOMEONE WHO LOSES THINGS ALL THE TIME! AND THAT’S WHAT I AM! JUST A BIG LOSER! WHOUAAAAHOUAAAAHOUAAAAA!”

“Really darling, we can just go out and buy more staples!”

As Rarity did her best to coax Sunset out from under the desk, a small purple dog with green ears and a green tuft of fur on top of his head looked at Sunset with concern. “Uh… Twilight?” He said looking up. “Doncha think we should maybe help Sunset feel better?”

Twilight sat on a black couch as she held a flat white, rectangular object in her hand. She dragged a finger across it as she stared down intently. “Wow! Even the technology in this world is amazing Spike! I mean… the practical applications for such a device are practically limitless!”

“Uh, sure…” Spike replied. “But maybe now is not the time for—”

“One second Spike,” Twilight said as she dragged her finger against the tablet in her hand once more. “These birds are really angry!”

Spike let out a heavy sigh and shook his head from side to side.

Spike nodded. “Whoa yeah…”

Luna leveled a vexed glance at the door. “Sister, if you do not come out now, I’m going to let Ms. Pie sing a song about being in the closet.”

“But… but I’m not in the closet…”

Luna narrowed her eyes. “I warned you!”

Massive grin on her face, Pinkie popped up next to Luna and wasted no time before she began singing to the closed door.

“Oh, when you need to feel safe!

And there’s a situation you just can’t face!

Come on! I know this place where you can escape from the RAAAAT RAAAACE!

Just go in the clos-et! Come on why don’t you just HIDE in the clos-et!

‘Cause life’s unfair and there’s things you can’t bear, so why not just go hide in the clos-et!

You might have friends who’d understand that you’ll need help to make your stand,

But instead of asking your peers to help you face your fears, you’ve decided to just HIDE in the clos-et!”

Cadance glanced at the impromptu singing session going on across the room and then turned back to her own set of closed doors she was standing in front of. “Sunset, of course you have friends,” Cadance continued. “You know you have friends who care about you. Also you have me and Celestia!”

“Mom HATES me!” Sunset snapped.

Cadance tut-tutted. “Now Sunset, you know that’s not true!”

“Then why did she send me away?!” Sunset screamed in a heartbroken tone.

Cadance’s eyes shot open. “Erm…. Wow…. Sunset, I’m sorry but uh… I think I need a bit more sleep before I even attempt to discuss that with you.” She smiled sheepishly at the door. “Can we stick to the script this time?”

Sunset let out a heavy sigh and revised her previous statement, changing her tone to one substantially whinier, “Then why did mommy yell at me?!”

“Sunset, you just caught her off guard. Now I’m sure if you come back out here she’ll have calmed down and you two can maybe talk things over later…”

Sunset let out another sigh. “Alright…” she said begrudgingly.

“Your sister would help you break this deadlock if you’d just come out and talk!

And you have all the ponies here to help you workshop if you’d just stop playing with the mops

But instead of acting with some pride, you’ve decided it’d would be better to hide in the CLOS-ET!”

“ALRIGHT ALREADY!” Celestia cried. “I’ll come out!”

Almost simultaneously, the doors to the closet and the armoire opened as Celestia and Sunset stepped out. Celestia once again carefully removed cleaning supplies and buckets from herself as Sunset performed a similar ritual of removing a diaper from around her face and tiny sets of baby clothes from her wings. With irritated expressions the two mares avoided eye contact but trotted towards each other with even steps almost as if they had rehearsed this routine time and time again. Eventually the two mares stopped a few feet from one another and turned with military like precision to face the other ponies with dignified expressions on their faces, almost as if they expected everyone present to line up and start greeting them as if this was a formal event.

“Huh…” Spike uttered. “Well that seemed…”

“Tidy?” Starlight suggested.

Cadance let out a relieved sigh. “Just like the old days back at Canterlot Castle…”

“Aaaa-aaa…”

“HIT THE DECK!” Twilight cried.

“Aaachew!”

‘PHHHHOOOOOOM!’

Most the ponies in the room dove for the floor as a bolt of energy suddenly flew right in between Celestia and Sunset. The alicorns’ eyes both went eyes went wide as the air crackled between them.

Cadance sighed. “Well, that’s kinda new…”

Sunset’s face lit up, her head turning in the direction the bolt had just flown. “Oh my gosh! I don’t even care if the baby really is some sort of unprecedented thing or just something that hasn’t happened in a long, long time! I still WANT one!”

Cadance cast a worried glance at her snoozing husband.

“Sunset!” Twilight snapped.

“What?!” Sunset said in a protesting tone.

“Don’t you think it’s about time you start helping Starlight with her friendship lesson?”

“But… but… BABY!” Sunset said as she waved a forehoof at the crib and its adorable destructive occupant.

“It’s alright, Twilight!” Starlight said with a smile. “I mean… Clearly the baby requires a bit more hooves on hand than you would have expected! Maybe it would better if—”

“On second thought, Twilight,” Sunset interrupted, “you’re right! Spike and I should take Starlight to see her friend right now!”

Twilight let out a relieved sigh while Starlight’s expression fell. Sunset gave Starlight a smug smile as she trotted up to her and bumped her shoulder playfully. “One more thing you’ve got to learn is when to quit while you’re ahead.” Sunset said quietly. She turned to Spike. “Well Spike, ready?”

Spike smiled widely as he held up a scroll. “Yep! I have Twilight’s list and everything!”

“Oh, right…” Sunset said. Her smile became a bit wider and a lot more faker. “I knew there was one more thing here that could crush any feelings about me feeling good about any of this!”

“What?” Twilight said.

“Nothing!” Sunset said replied. “Alright ‘S’ squad, let’s move it out!” she said as she motioned towards the large doorway.

With that, Sunset, Starlight, and Spike shuffled out of the nursery.

Luna slowly trotted up to Celestia, giving her a scrutinizing look. “Sister? Perhaps there is something you would like to discuss? Maybe something you’d like to get off your chest regarding your former stu—”

“Oh my GOSH!” Celestia exclaimed. “Is there a baby in here that’s NOT being played with?!” Celestia immediately stepped over to the crib, stepping over the slumbering Shining Armor. “I must correct this post-haste!”Celestia immediately lowered some of her mane into the crib and began pulling silly faces as the baby let out delighted coos and swatted at the shimmering hair.

Luna sighed and shook her head. “Typical…"

Sunset Shimmer, Starlight Glimmer, and Spike walked down the middle of a street flanked on either side by colorful crystal houses that glinted in the sunlight. The odd crystal pony passed by here or there, occasionally tossing curious look at the group followed by a wide smile as their eyes found Spike. Sunset trotted along with a slightly distracted look on her face, occasionally glancing back at the castle longingly. Starlight kept pace with Sunset, an expression of dread on her face as she kept her eyes pointed forward. Spike walked in between the two mares, dragging the unfurled and list of Twilight’s instructions behind the groups. The list in question ending several yards behind the trio.

Spike looked towards Starlight. “I know you're a little worried about this reunion, but I'm sure Twilight's got everything covered.”

Starlight’s ears dropped slightly. “Everything except how I'd rather do absolutely anything else.”

Spike raised an eyebrow. “Oh, I bet she's taken that into account too.”

Sunset took a break from staring behind herself to look at Spike. “I… What? Really? I mean… between Starlight’s pussy-footing around the issue and Twilight’s reaction that this seems to be a good ‘first’ friendship lesson, I get the distinct feeling the thought hasn’t even occurred to her.”

“Sunset!” Starlight snapped. “Do you have to be so… so…”

“Brutally honest?” Sunset offered.

Starlight sighed. “Yeah…”

Sunset continued, “Hey, at this point, you’ve brought this on yourself as far as I’m concerned. You’ve had plenty of opportunity to just be direct with Twilight. Yet you still keep trying this subtle angle… Believe me, Twilight’s not the most unobservant pony or anything, but you’re going to have to be direct if you want to get through to her.”

“Come on Sunset!” Spike said in an insistent tone. “I mean, Twilight is the Princess of Friendship. I’m sure she knows what she’s doing.”

Sunset shook her head. “I really don’t know, Spike. Seems to me she’s trying a little too hard this time… I mean… Put the girl on the spot and she can sway misguided ponies to the path of friendship right then and there,” she said, motioning to Starlight and herself. She then motioned behind Spike. “But it looks like if you give her a scroll long enough, she figures out how to hang herself with it.”

Spike held up the scroll. “Hey! You don’t know that! This scroll could be just what Starlight needs for a smooth, stress-free talk with her friend.”

Starlight sighed and began to lag behind the other two. “Sure, sure… I bet Twilight’s got this stuff down to a science.”

“Heh, yeah. She wishes friendship worked like that,” Sunset replied. “Sadly real life can’t just be scripted no matter how many words you throw at it.”

“Come on, Sunset! I’m sure it’s all part of the lesson.” He thrust a claw against the scroll. “Trust the lesson.”

“Riiiight…” Starlight said with a sad look.

Sunset rolled her eyes. “I trust that huge length of toilet paper about as far as I can throw it with just my hooves.”

Starlight’s eyes lit up as the group approached something in the street. She followed this up with a devious grin on her face. She sped up to a canter to catch up with Sunset and Spike. “Hey, Spike! I-is that... you?” Starlight asked as she pointed to a massive crystal sculpture of Spike holding the Crystal Heart.

Sunset paused and looked at the statue, smiling as she rolled her eyes. “Right, like there’d be another giant statue of a baby dragon in Equestria.”

Spike turned. “Oh, yep, it sure is!” he said nonchalantly. His eyes went right back to the list in his claws as he continued walking. “Now, according to the list, Sunburst's house is—“

Starlight’s mouth hung agape. She turned back towards the statue and pointed. “Why is there a statue of you in the Crystal Empire?”

Sunset shook her head. “Nice try, Starlight. But the more you put this off the more I’m gonna—”

A yellow coated earth pony mare with semi-translucent red and reddish-white mane suddenly zipped up to Starlight. “Because Spike the Brave and Glorious saved all of us from King Sombra!” she declared.

A second crystal earth pony mare trotted up, the light refracting off her orange mane and light purple coat as she smiled widely at Starlight. “And then again during the Equestria Games!”

Starlight turned to look at Spike, who was smiling to himself at this point. “Really?” she asked.

Sunset inhaled, raised a foreleg up to her mouth, and blew out the air forcefully making a rude “PffffrRRRRTTTT!” sound.

Starlight cringed as her eyes went wide. She turned to towards Sunset with a worried pout and searched for any signs of mercy inside Sunset’s turquoise eyes.

“PRRRRRFFfffffrrrrttTTT!”

She found none.

“Really!” An earth pony stallion with an orange coat and darkish teal mane answered Starlight. He smiled at Spike. “Big fan.”

Starlight tossed a panicky glance and Sunset’s direction then trotted up to Spike. “Um, when were—”

“PfffRRRFfffrrrTTT!”

Beads of sweat began to appear on Starlight’s face “—you going to—”

“PRRRRRfffffRrrrrrTTTTTTtttTT!”

Starlight clenched her teeth together. “—tell me about this?”

“PRRRRRRRRRRRFFFFFFFFRRRRRRRRRRRBBBRBBBBBBBBTTTT!”

Spike turned and raised an eyebrow at Sunset. “Sunset? Is everything alright? Do you need to find a bathroom or something?”

Sunset lowered her foreleg and shook her head. She shot Starlight a malicious grin. “Just making it clear I’m more than willing to make good on a threat.”

“Huh… Alright…” Spike said. He turned towards Starlight. “Anyway, it’s no big deal,” he said scratching the back of his head.

“It most certainly is!” The crystal ponies cried, now joined by a small group of other crystal ponies.

Starlight swallowed as she looked at Sunset then turned back towards Spike and smiled nervously. “Th-that's it!” She cried as she floated a stool over, lifted Spike up, and sat him on top of it. “We're not going anywhere until I get the whole story!” She rolled up Twilight’s list and placed it neatly on Spike’s lap, then turned and grinned at Sunset.

Sunset pulled her head back and began inhaling as much air as her lungs would hold.

Starlight’s smile dropped immediately.

Sunset raised her foreleg back up to her mouth.

Starlight began to quake in place.

‘PHOOOOOOOOOM!’

Everypony suddenly jumped slightly as a long beam of energy suddenly shot out from the Crystal Castle.

Spike laughed nervously. “Erm… They must be practicing pyrotechnics for the Crystaling later today…” he suggested.

“THAT’S IT!” Sunset exclaimed. She pointed at Spike and then Starlight. “You two have stood in my way long enough! I’m going back to help with the baby and that’s FINAL!” she shouted before taking to the air.

Starlight let out a long, continues sigh of relief as she floated over a bag of popcorn into her hoof.

“Huh…” Spike uttered. “Well, that was unexpec—”

Sunset suddenly landed right behind Starlight.

“WHA!” Starlight said in surprise as she tossed her bag of popcorn. Her horn quickly glowed light blue as she caught it and each kernel that had flown out.

“Oh geez,” Sunset said. “That was kinda mean! Sorry! We’re still friends right?! Right?! Alright, cool. I’m going to check on everypony and the baby now…” She leveled a serious glare at Starlight. “But I will come back to check up on you two, and if you’ve made no progress on this Sunburst situation, I think you know what’s going to happen.” Sunset raised her forehoof again and made a quick raspberry sound. “Am I making myself clear?”

Starlight gulped. “Crystal,” she said with a nervous smile.

Sunset nodded. “Good!” She looked back up to the sky and was airborne again. “Hold on, baby! Your second aunt Sunset Shimmer is on the way and she has fuzzy forelegs full of hugs to give and a brain full of forbidden arcana to share!” she cried as she flew off towards the palace.

Starlight watched her go, weighing the chances that she might get out of talking to Sunburst entirely versus the chances she’d have to talk to him while Sunset blew raspberries the entire time. She took a deep breath, and made her choice. “Alright, Spike,” Starlight said with a smile. “Tell us all how you saved the Crystal Empire.”