I awoke to find myself alone. All was quiet, and the sky still dark for the crescent moon out the window. I sat up.

“Sunset Shimmer?”

The only light I could see came from the strip beneath the door. I followed it into the hallway.

Nopony seemed to be home. Only my hoofsteps echoed off the high ceiling. I panicked, thinking Sunset Shimmer might have left without a farewell, but I closed my eyes and placed a hoof to my heart where her tether still held fast to my soul.

She was thinking of the sunrise, of a yearning for the potential such a sight can oft evoke.

I found my way to the balcony.

She sat by the railing, looking up at the night sky.

A faint pink rimmed the horizon. The sun stirred beyond sight, awaiting its turn in the sky. I closed my eyes and reached out to the moon.

When I opened them, Sunset Shimmer had bowed her head. She felt my presence.

“It is nice out here.” I said. I sat down beside her. ’Twas cool, and a light breeze teased our manes.

Sister brought the sun over the rim of the horizon, and the sky's pinks faded to blue.

In the growing light, Spring burgeoned green as far as the eye could see, dotted by the swatches of color from the gardens around Ponyville. Birds sang from their nests, and even the breeze whispered us well wishing.

It whispered of change. Of the seasons. Of ourselves.

“Yeah. It is.”

Gone were the nightmares that plagued her mind. Yet still there remained a sense of loneliness, of companionship lost.

She knew herself better off, yet she still yearned for the idea of what could have been. ’Twas only natural. Life was fleeting for those not blessed with immortality, and to see it through to its end without another by one’s side was the true darkness beyond the ledge of the unknown.

However much I feared the past, it pained me to see her feel this way. No matter what the past held, here, now, we could have something real. I owed it to her to try. But more than anything, I had to know.

“How did it survive?” I asked.

“How did what survive?” She had that look about her, the one of half-raised ears and bated breath. She knew shame for what I asked of her.

“The Nightmare. Hadn’t Twilight and her friends cleansed you with the Elements?”

She looked down and scraped a hoof on the stone. “I… I don’t know. I mean she did, yeah, but I guess part of me was just so… so terrified of letting go, of being vulnerable. I wanted to change, but I also didn’t want to take that leap. I mean, there’s some evils that you can blast with magic to make them go away.

"But then there’s others that stick with you, no matter how badly you want to get rid of them.” She chuckled and looked at me. “You don’t just flip a switch and everything’s good again, you know? It’s a process. A long process.”

I nodded. The sounds of Spring and the waking residents of Ponyville reestablished their hold of the open air. I breathed in and let go the smell of growth and life and potential.

“Did you really mean it?” She regarded me with those luminous, turquoise eyes. There was a nervous hope to her voice, one that took form in the slight peak of her brow and the tension in her jaw.

“Mean what?”

“You said you knew the good in me. And… You wanted to be a part of that.”

I looked down at the railing. ’Twas polished to a shine and sparkled in the sunlight. “I would not have said it had I not meant it.”

Another moment passed in silence. She rested her head against my shoulder.

I laid my head atop hers, and my heart beat faster. I did not want this moment to end.

“So what happens now?” Hers was a weak voice, bordering on fearful. She wanted to hear me say that everything would be better, that I would sweep her off her hooves and never put her down. But I knew better than to tease her with empty promises.

“You must return to your world, as I must stay here in mine. You have friends there. You cannot abandon them.”

She drew in a shaky breath. “I know. I just…”

I brushed her mane out of her face and caressed her cheek. I could have remained here forever, but nothing gold can stay.

“Come.” I rose for the door. “We must get you home.”

The portal was still active when we arrived. ’Twas a melancholic weight in my chest at the sight of it. ’Twas inevitable she must leave, yet that did not lessen the feeling.

She looked at me, and I at her.

“Well,” she said. “I guess this is it.”

“It is not the end, Sunset Shimmer.” I smirked at her. “That is, unless you decide to chase after any ‘cute movie leads’ whilst you are away.”

She laughed. “Twilight told you about that? Heh. Uh, sorry but you’re too late there. I already have, like, three posters of him on my wall.”

I smiled, and we shared another laugh.

Our laughter died down, and she looked aside. I likewise found it difficult to summon the courage for a farewell.

“Well,” she said. She raised a hoof for stepping. “I’ll see you.”

“Farewell, Sunset Shimmer.”

She stepped up to the portal, but stopped and looked down. She turned around and sprinted for me. Before I knew what was happening, she wrapped me in a hug.

“You promise you’ll come see me?” she whispered into my chest. The tears soaked through my coat.

I smiled and kissed her on the forehead. I cherished the smell of sunflowers and rainfall one last time. “As sure as the stars in the sky.”

We held each other for what felt like eternity. But eternity was not long enough, and I let her pull away when she was ready.

Tears shone in her eyes, but she wore the happiest smile I had ever seen. She stepped back—once, twice, then turned without looking away. She stepped through the portal, and the ripples calmed to a placid sheen.

A faint yearning blossomed in my chest that she would come racing back. I waited minutes, could have waited days, but the portal remained smooth and unbroken.

I let out a shaky sigh. ’Twas a bittersweet feeling, standing there alone. After all we endured, I felt surprisingly empty, like a piece of me had stepped through that portal with her.

But I knew patience as I hadn’t before. The time would come for me to visit her, and she likewise. We would find a way. And I felt, for the first time in millennia, a glimmer of hope find purchase in my heart.

“As sure as the stars in the sky,” I whispered.

Author's Notes:

Special thanks to Cold in Gardez for his help with this chapter.

Compatī (Cohm - pah - tee)
cum + pati, latin.

‘To suffer with.’ It is the origin of the word ‘compassion.’

Beyond sympathy—beyond empathy—it is to feel alongside another person, both the good and the bad, the joys and hurts of life and what comes with it. And I think that’s beautiful.

As always,
Onward and Upward!