A bright light was the only thing Twilight Sparkle could see. The last time she saw this light was when she went to the human world almost a week ago, but this time, she knew where she and Spike were going. While the light still consisted of almost all of her vision, she wondered and hoped that she had made it in time. Yes, she got through the portal, but would the portal shut off while she and Spike were in the middle of using it?

Her answer was met when her feet made contact with the ground. Her vision was still obscured due to the flash, but was starting to clear up. What’s more is that she realized that walking on two legs suddenly felt strange to her. She looked down as the whiteness faded to see that she no longer had feet, and no longer had hand either, but four purple hooves. She then turned around and looked at the mirror. What she saw in the mirror wasn’t a light skinned human, but a purple alicorn. She then saw that she was standing on her hind legs. She then got down on all fours, emitting the familiar clop the hooves made.

“We’re back.” She said before a smile formed on her face. “We’re back!”

“Twilight?”

Twilight turned around saw, not a human boy, but a familiar purple dragon.

“Spike!”

Twilight then galloped over to Spike and pulled him into a hug.

“We made it back!”

“Yeah, I noticed.” Spike said as she returned the hug.

The two then heard the sound of a door opening.

“Princess Twilight, you’re back!”

Twilight looked and saw that the newcomer seemed rather familiar to her.

“Flash?”

She was about to ask what Flash was doing in Equestria, until she realized that the Flash she known for a week now was a light skinned human with black hair, not an orange pegasus with a blue mane.

“”How are you, Princess?” Flash Sentry asked as he bowed before her. “I see your mission was successful.”

Twilight then felt the crown on her head and smiled.

“Yes, it was.”

“Shall I tell everypony else that you’ve returned?” The guard asked. “Ever since you left, a particular perky pink Ponyville party pony was sat in here waiting for your return. Clearly she missed you.”

Twilight smiled, knowing well who Flash Sentry was talking about.

“I assume so.” She said. “Could you tell everypony that we’re back?”

“Right away, Princess.”

As Flash Sentry trotted out of the room, Twilight turned around and looked at the mirror. She approached and put a hoof on it, feeling the now solid surface.

“Will we ever see them again?” Spike asked.

Twilight looked toward her assistant.

“One day, Spike.”

Celestia looked over the now darkened city of the Crystal Empire. Luna had raised the moon several hours ago, and it was getting very late. Behind her in the Castle Lounge was everypony else.

Cadence approached the Sun Princess.

“Are you alright, auntie?”

Celestia looked down at her niece.

“Yes, I’m alright.” She said. “I’m just a tad worried. With the moon as high as it is, I really hope Twilight and Spike made it.”

Just then the door opened in stepped Flash Sentry.

“Presenting, the Princess Twilight Sparkle and her assistant, Spike the Dragon.”

Flash then stepped aside and in walked in the purple alicorn and purple dragon they all know and love.

“TWILIGHT!”

Everypony stopped what they were doing and practically ran over to Twilight.

“Darling, you’re back!”

“Good to see you, Sugercube!”

“I’m so glad you’re back, Twily!”

“I’m here, too!” Spike said, getting their attention.

“It’s great to see you as well, Spiky Wiky.” Rarity said as she ruffled the young dragon’s head.

Twilight was then suddenly hugged by her puffy pink friend.

“I’m so happy you’re back, Twilight!” Pinkie said with joy.

“It’s good to be back, Pinkie.” Twilight said as she returned the hug.

That’s when Pinkie let out a loud gasp and jumped in the air.

“This calls for a party!” She declared. “And it’ll be called the “Congratulations on Getting Your Crown Back Twilight Party!”

“I think the party will have to wait.”

They were suddenly interrupted by Celestia approaching, causing the ponies to part, allowing their sovereign a path to her former student.

“Princess Twilight.”

“Princess Celestia.”

The two then bowed before one another. Suddenly the silence was filled by the sound of the Sun Princess chuckling.

“Come here, Twilight.”

Twilight then practically leapt into Celestia’s embrace.

“It’s great to see you’re alright, Twilight.”

The two then parted.

“But what about Sunset, is she alright?”

“Don’t worry about her, Princess.” Twilight said. “She is in good hands.”

Almost everypony cocked an eyebrow.

“What are hands?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“They’re kind of like my claws.” Spike explained as he held one of his claws up. “Excepted it has five digits and doesn’t have talons.”

“This world really does sound interesting.” Luna said. “I would love to hear more.”

“How about seeing them, instead?”

Twilight then used her magic to open her bag and levitate several photos and passed them around.

“Whoa, is this really what this world’s version of me looks like?” Rainbow Dash asked. “That’s awesome!”

“I must say I look divine!” Rarity said. “Even she is… …what is she exactly?”

“They’re called humans.” Spike said.

“That word does sound familiar.” Fluttershy said. “Aren’t humans those creatures that Lyra mentioned at one point?”

“I think so.” Applejack said. “She said that one came to Equestria a long time ago.”

“Sunset Shimmer mentioned that as well when I spoke to her.” Twilight explained. “Princess, do you know what she is referring to.”

Celestia didn’t say anything for a moment before answering.

“I am not sure.” She said. “But speaking of Sunset, what does she look like as a human?”

Twilight then passed Celestia the picture of Sunset that was taken at the Formal.

“It was taken after me and the Humane Five defeated her.”

“Humane Five?” Shining Armor asked.

“I came up with it.” Spike said, in which Shining nodded in response.

“Anyway, when she put the element on…” Twilight then passed a picture Principle Tia gave her. “…this happened.”

Celestia was surprised by what she saw.

“I knew something like this would happen.” She said. “You see, everypony has a dark side to them. Often at times it comes out when said pony is either under a lot of emotional stress, experiences a large surge of magic, or comes under the influence of dark magic.”

“My transformation into Nightmare Moon is a notable example.” Luna said, of which no one needed to question.

“But those strange powers, how do they work?” Spike asked. “She pretty much sucked the energy out of me and several others.”

“It tends to vary in regards to the pony in question.” Celestia answered. She then saw the picture of the human girls in their magic forms. “I’m not even sure of an explanation for this, I’ll have to look into it when I can. Is there anything I need to know?”

“Just something Sunset wanted me to tell you.” Twilight said, causing a look of mass interest on Celestia’s face. “She said she’s sorry.”

Celestia then formed a smile on her face before looking at the clock on the wall.

“It looks like it is a little past bedtime.” She said. “Go on to bed everypony, including you, Twilight, you deserve it.”

As everypony began to exit the room, Twilight saw Flash beginning to leave.

“Give him a chance. At least I’ll know that at least one of us will be lucky enough to be with the most wonderful girl in the world. Or mare if you will.”

What the Flash of the human world said echoed in her mind.

“Excuse me, Flash, can I speak to you?”

The guard turned.

“Of course.” He said. “What do you want to talk about?”

“When is the next time you’re off duty?”

The orange pegasus was surprised.

“Monday. I’m heading to Ponyville to see my sister, Derpy.” He said. “Why do you ask?”

Sunset Shimmer sat in Principle Tia’s office on Monday morning, waiting for the Principle in question to arrive while Vice-Principle Luna was stood to the side of the room. It had been two days since her downfall at the hands of Twilight Sparkle and this world’s versions of her friends. Between that time and now, Sunset had a lot to think about. She had done a lot of bad things since she had come to this world, ranging from theft to straight up assault. Right now, she was waiting for whatever punishment awaited her.

The sound of the door opening broke her away from her deep thought. She saw Principle Tia enter the room.

“Morning, Sunset.” Tia said. “How are you?”

“I’m alright.” Sunset answered. “So what kind of punishment do you have for me?”

“Straight to point, huh?” Tia asked. “We’ll get to that when our other guest arrives.”

As if on que, there was a knock at the door.

“Speaking of.”

Tia then opened the door, revealing the knocker to be two girls.

“AJ, Rarity? What are you doing here?” Sunset asked.

“You’ll see in a minute, Darling.” Rarity said with a wink.

After the two girls took a seat next to Sunset, Tia began.

“Samantha Stokes, or do you prefer Sunset Shimmer?”

“Just, Sunset is fine.”

“Very well.” Tia continued after clearing her throat. “Sunset, ever since you came to this school you have caused some trouble. But due to new found evidence has surfaced during the Fall Formal Princess Speeches back on Thursday. And since then I’ve been receiving even more reports of your bullying, combined with your little episode Friday evening, the only suitable punishment I can think of would be expulsion.”

Sunset’s heart dropped. Was this the end? What will she do now?

“But that won’t be the case.” Tia continued, causing Sunset to slap back to attention. “After a long discussion with Vice-Principle Luna, we decided on a different form of punishment.”

Tia then nodded to Luna who stepped forward.

“We decided that you will be required to attend Summer School.” Luna said. “Is that understood?”

“I understand.” Sunset said, hiding the relief of not being expelled in her voice.

“Althought, there is something you can do in which you won't have to go through summer school.” Luna continued. “Miss Jackson, Miss Hotchkiss, would you two care to explain?”

“Sure thing, Miss Luna.” AJ said. “You see Sunset, we would both saw that you truly do want to change and everything.”

“So we decided on a plan to help you.” Rarity added. “You go around to everyone who have done wrong to and make it up to them.”

This was their plan?

“But I guess to make things easier or ya…” AJ continued. “…you’ll have to make it up to the ones you really messed with, like us for example.”

“What do you think of that, Darling?”

Summer School or this?

“I guess I’ll…”

Sunset thought for a moment.

“…I’ll accept your offer.”

“Wonderful!” Rarity said as she clapped her and together.

“It’s settled then.” Tia said. “And right now all of you need run along now; the bell is going to ring shortly.”

Sunset left the office with Rarity and AJ in toe.

“We’re proud of you, Sunset.” The latter said.

“I second that.” Rarity said. “It takes a lot of effort to put forth that sort of commitment.”

“Well it was either do that or Summer School.” Sunset replied. “Anyway, what exactly do I do with this plan?”

“Like I said earlier…” AJ explained. “…you make it up to the ones you truly screwed over. That way it’ll make things easy on you.”

“I wouldn’t call it easy.” Sunset said. “I might need a while for me to remember everyone.”

“All in good time, dear.” Rarity said. “But I know where you can start. Remember when you stole my makeup from me a couple of days ago.”

Sunset’s mind dinged, knowing what Rarity was talking about.

“Oh, right…” She said with embarrassment. “…I remember.”

“I didn’t say anything then because, well you know.”

Sunset sighed said smiled.

“It’s in my locker.”

Sunset led the two girls down the all past other students who were waiting for the bell to ring. As the made their way, some of the students stared daggers at Sunset. Sunset tried to ignore them, but it was difficult to do. But after a moment, they arrived at her locker. After the ritual of working the dial on the lock, the locker opened.

“Here it is.”

The mirror was in plain sight on one of the small shelves inside of the locker.

“Thank you very much, darling.” Rarity said as she put the item in her purse. “As I said earlier, something simple to start with. So just take your time and you’ll know what to do.”

Sunset smiled as she put her hand on the locker door. But as she was about to close it, the three girls heard the sound of some vibrating against metal and caught sight of what appeared to be a glow of some sort.

“What is that?” AJ asked.

Sunset looked into her locker. She then saw the source of the sound and the glow, causing her eyes to go wide.

“What is it, darling?” Rarity asked, seeing the look on Sunset’s face.

The two girls watched as Sunset reached into the locker and retrieved something that made their eyes go just as wide as Sunset’s. A book that was glowing and vibrating with an emblem on the cover. Instead of a magenta colored star, it was what looked like a sun which consisted of the same colors of Sunset’s hair.

“That’s just like Twilight’s book.” AJ said. “I didn’t know you had this kind of book, too.”

“I brought it with me because, well, I don’t why I brought with me.” Sunset said. “Guess I couldn’t truly leave Celestia behind.”

She then opened it and turned the pages. Some of which contained past messages from Celestia that Sunset had ignored, and she wasn’t going to ignore this one.

“You two can go on ahead, I’ll see you later.”

After Rarity and AJ left Sunset alone, she began to read the message.

“Dear Sunset Shimmer

It was been a long time since I last wrote you and I hope you will see this message. Recently, as you know, you have stolen the Crown of my former student, Twilight Sparkle. The next morning after her return, she explained to me of what you did. And I must say I am very disappointed in you. Especially for what happened the night she returned. She also informed me of what you did later that night. She wasn’t the only one, as my sister also told me your decision to change. After all of this time you were left with two choices, to continue down the path of conquest or go down the path toward redemption. Fortunately, you chose the latter.

Although, I must make a point and say that you are not entirely to blame, for I must take part, if not the majority of the blame. Had I not pushed you in the direction I wanted, had I not lied to you all these years about your parents, had I just allowed you follow your own path, none of this would have happened. You would have been great if I hadn’t have medaled too much, you would have achieved your destiny if I had let you grow naturally, and as far as I know, you would have been the Bearer of the Element of Magic. But fortunately, there is a silver lining to this. Our falling out led to my realization that what I was doing was wrong and had led to the falling out in the first place. If I didn’t change my ways, Twilight Sparkle wouldn’t be in the position she is in today.

In the end, I apologize to you for the lies, the manipulation, and not realizing your plight like I should have with my sister all those years ago.

I wish nothing but the best, Sunset Shimmer. Feel free to message me at any time.

Certainly yours,

Princess Celestia”

Sunset was quiet. This was the first time she had read a message from her former mentor in so long. But this time, she realized something.

“She understands.”

She then leaned onto the lockers and slid down the floor.

“She understands.”

She then smiled hugged the now closed book.

“I forgive you.” She said. “I forgive you, Celestia.”

Author's Notes:

Well, that's it! I'm finally finished with this! I would like to thank ALL of you for reading this. Thank you for those of you who liked this story, and those of you who didn't like it, well, thank you for giving this a look anyway.

Either way, thank you very much for reading, and I'll see you all in the next story!

Update: I would like to thank diablo4000 for his input. Thank's man!