August

Sunset was seated on a chariot hurtling through the air at breakneck speed. The four armored pegasi flying her didn’t seem to care weather the contents of her stomach made it to Canterlot. It did take her mind off Iunae and Rai. She had to stay focussed. Sunset wasn’t afraid of heights per say but she was very nervous right now.

Get it together. You’ve flown in chariots before. Granted they weren’t going this fast but still. I should be able to handle this.

Celestia’s majestic castle finally came into view. Sunset felt light headed. She focussed on taking deep breaths.

Sunsets stomach did a few flips as the chariot screeched to a halt in one of the inner courtyards of the palace. Sunset tried to stand up. Her legs wouldn’t respond. The guards guards stared at her expectantly. Sunset finally got her legs to cooperate. She stumbled out of the chariot and throw up.

One of the guards sighed. Sunset closed her eyes in humiliation.

Sunset stumbled to her hooves and wobbled off in the direction of the throne room. One of the guards moved in front of her to escort her.

The stallion lead her to a bathroom wash up.

Sunset stared at herself in the mirror. She looked pale and disheveled. Sunset frantically tried to fix her mane.

Sunset was lead into the throne room. Princess Celestia sat on her throne looking down at her. Princess Luna was on her throne too but Sunset had eyes only for Princess Celestia.

Sunset stared at Princess Celestia. She was just as regal and majestic as ever. Her appearance had not changed at all. Sunset sank to her knees she bowed as low as she could.

The throne room was dead silent.

Sunset trembled. Celestia didn’t look to happy. Sunset didn’t are step out of line. Not now, not after everything.

Finally Princess Luna broke the silence. “Sister.” she said gently.

“Rise” Princess Celestia said.

Sunset stood up slowly and looked back up at the High Princess. “Your majesty” Sunset whispered.

“Come here Sunset we have much to discuss and very little time.” Princess Celestia said. “Everyone else lave.” Princess Celestia ordered.

“I wish to stay.” Princess Luna said firmly.

“Fine” Princess Celestia said.

The various guards and other servants left the throne room. Sunset carefully made her way to the steps of the altar that the thrones were one. Once upon a time Sunset stood on the altar next to Princess Celestia’s throne while she held court. Sunset didn’t know if she would be welcomed back. Princess Celestia was giving off a foreboding vibe.

“To business.” Princess Celestia said formally. “I am glad to see you well and healthy.”

“Same to you.” Sunset said.

“I am sorry for sending guards to capture you. I… I was desperate and I was worried that you would refuse me.” Princess Celestia said stiffly.

Sunset didn’t know what to say.

“I have been in contact with your biological siblings. I explained that the pony they saw a while ago was not you. I told them that you were going to visit. Hope wants to see you. Lightning does not and Pipsissewa didn’t respond.” Princess Celestia paused and waited for a response.

Sunset stood frozen trying to process everything. Her brother her sister. Hope perhaps wasn’t the sibling she wanted to see first. “And my parents?”

“What about them?” Princess Celestia was genuinely confused.

“Did you not reach out to them? I…” Sunset’s voice caught in her throat. “I would be interested in reconnecting with them.”

Princess Celestia’s jaw tightened. “Your parents are dead. I’m sorry.” she said bluntly.

Sunset’s eyes began to water. “When!? How!?” she cried.

“We don’t have time.” Celestia said. “I’m sorry Sunset I thought you knew.”

“Seriously!” Sunset shouted. Tears started streaming down her face. “How would I know!” she demanded.

Princess Celestia looked away.

“Everyone else knows except me, right?” Sunset asked.

Princess Celestia didn’t respond.

“What happened!?” Sunset demanded.

Princess Celestia looked at the floor.

“It was an ancient building. The heaters failed. There was a massive inferno. It took four buildings. Rescue teams were on the scene as soon as possible. Your parents were trapped. They were the only ones to…” Princess Luna said quietly.

“I’m so sorry Sunset.” Princess Celestia said.

Sunset felt a burning fire in her chest. Her limbs were numb.

There was a knock on the door.

“I need to get going to make my appointment with the Queen of the hippogryphs. I am going to ask her if she knows anything about your human counterpart. Stay out of trouble while I’m gone.” Princess Celestia said. “Wait here. The guards will sumon your sister.” Princess got up and stretched. She took a deep breath and walked out of the room.

Sunset didn’t trust herself to speak. She marched out of the room after Celestia.

“Sunset!” Princess Celestia snapped. “What did I tell you. Wait-”

“Wait!” Sunset screamed. “That was what you said last time. Wait!” Sunset was breathing heavily. “NO!” Sunset took off running.

Princess Luna walked alone down an empty road towards a cemetery on the outskirts of Canterlot trying to clear her head of the most recent events in her sister’s throne room. Celestia had tried to use force to stop Sunset from leaving. Even calling the guards on her again. Luna herself had stepped in saying she would keep an eye on Sunset and stop her from leaving the city. Celestia had taken off at this point. Sunset had already vanished. Princess Luna had wanted to follow her but she had to meet with Hope and explain why Sunset couldn’t meet with her right now. Hope was not pleased or sympathetic.

Princess Luna couldn’t judge. Celestia and she had had very different reactions to their mother dying and this had caused a rift in their relationship.

Hope was convinced that Sunset knew about the deaths when they happened, she had just chosen not to think about it until now. Princess Luna couldn’t prove or disprove what Sunset knew and tried to be sympathetic while ushering Hope out the door.

The gates of the cemetery were open. The cemetery lawn sprawled out over some unremarkable low hills. Princess Luna remembered why rich ponies called this the commoners grave. Only the absolute poorest ponies ended up here. The twelve other cemeteries in Canterlot were much grander than this one.

There were weeds and moss growing everywhere and the ground was uneven. Almost no pony ever visited this place and there were very few funerals held here. The oficial trails were overgrown with blackberries and salal. The owners who owned three of the other cemeteries didn’t bother with this one.

Princess Luna glanced around. She easily spotted Sunset at the bottom of one of the far off short hills. Sunset’s fiery mane stood out dramatically agents dull grey and green of her surroundings.

Princess Luna carefully wove her way through the sea of grave markers towards Sunset. Princess Luna’s hoof steps were silent as she approached. Sunset didn’t seem to notice.

Finally Princess Luna was with in speaking distance. Princess Luna stopped and observed. Sunset had used magic to clean her parents headstone. It was a small flat piece of marble. Princess Luna figured that her sister had paid for it. The names Sunburst and Light Shimmer and the days they were born and died were carved into the stone. Sunburst lived 33 years and Light Shimmer lived 32 years. Thy died twelve years ago when Sunset was thirteen.

Princess Luna sensed that Sunset needed to be left alone. She used magic to blend into the background incase Sunset looked around. She didn’t want Sunset to be alone but she wanted to give her space.

Evening fell over the cemetery. A solitary employee lazily scanned the grounds to check if there was anyone there. To his surprize there was. Her fiery mane stood out like the sun against the darkening sky. He bit his lip. He had never had to kick anypony out of the cemetery at closing time. He took a deep breath and took at purposeful step forwards. Princess Luna materialized in front of him. He screeched in shock. Princess Luna was ready and cast a spell to stop the sound from reaching Sunset Shimmer.

“You will not disturb her no matter what she does or how long she stays. Or me. For that matter. Tell whoever is on morning shift not to bother us for any reason.”

Wide eyed the employee nodded and quickly shuffled away. Princess Luna watched him go and the cast her spell and vanished into her surroundings.

Princess Luna raised the moon into the night sky and watched the stars come out.

Princess Luna suddenly became aware that Sunset shimmer was no longer awake. Princess Luna materialized. And approached Sunset. Sunset looked like she cried herself to sleep. Princess Luna teleported a blanket from the castle and carefully placed it on Sunset.

Sunset squirmed and snuggled into the blanket without waking.

Princess Luna lay down a few meters away and closed her eyes her horn lit with magic.

Princess Luna was standing a room she didn't recognize. Everything in the room was massive. ‘I’m in a child’s memory.’ she thought to herself. The floor was slack and the walls were moldy. A small foal huddled in the corner clutching a pillow. ‘She must be about two years old.’

The sound of a mare yelling cut through the air. “We can’t afford the foal we have, what makes you think we can afford another one!” her voice echoed horribly.

“How dare you suggest that. Sunset is fine!” a stallion roared.

“Fine!?” the mare yelled. “Fine!? Perhaps you should read the report I got from her last doctors appointment!”

“What does this have to do with our finances!” the stallion demanded.

“Our daughter is sick and we can’t afford her medications! And you want another one! I worked sixty hours this week and that isn’t enough. You need to find a job.”

“This isn’t about me!”

“Yeah but I’m not the one who got fired!”

Princess Luna took another look at the foal and focussed her energy on her energy. ‘She was three! She is way too small to be a healthy three year old.’

The foal in the corner was crying.

Princess Luna braced herself for a wave of emotions. Dreams were mostly made of emotions.

A confused mess of feeling washed over the princess. Fear, loneliness, anxiety, and sadness.

The foal in the corner felt like she was a burden.

The dream began to change dramatically.

Princess Luna closed her eyes until she felt the dream settle around her. She heard the sound of a infant foal crying. She opened her eyes and saw an older Sunset peering into the cradle of a tiny foal. The baby looked to be only a few days old.

Sunset herself still looked like she had serious health problems. Princess Luna concentrated. Sunset was four years old. The feeling of happiness and curiosity washed over Princess Luna as Sunset watched her younger sibling.

A young large mare walked unsteadily into the room. She looked exhausted. “Will you bring your sister to me?” she asked Sunset.

Sunset hurried over to a stool in the corner of the room. The mare lay down on the couch. Sunset stood on the stool and scooped the filly out of the cradle. She awkwardly but carefully carried the filly over to their mother. The mare began nursing the infant. Sunset watched in fascination.

There was fumbling at the door and then it opened. A slender and tall stallion walked in. “How are my favorite ladies doings?” He asked in a tired but friendly voice.

“Can you make dinner tonight? I really need to sleep.” The mare asked.

“Sure thing. How was work?”

“Rough. How was the job hunt today?”

The smile faded from the stallion’s face. “I’ll try again tomorrow.” the stallion walked into adderent room and Sunset hurried after him.

The dream began to change dramatically.

Sunset was six years old now. She still looked underweight and a little sickly but not as bad as before. Sunset was watching a two year old play on the floor with two dolls. Sunset herself was bottle feeding a newborn foal.

Sunset’s parents burst through the door. A feeling of panic and fear washed over Princess Luna.

“Go to your room and do your homework!” the satillion bellowed at Sunset.

Sunset ran from the room. Princess Luna followed. Sunset was doing her best to set up her desk. The metal that held the wood of the table and chair were rusted. All the joints wobbled. Princess Luna was worried that it would collapse under Sunset’s weight. Sunset got her workbook and textbook out and tried to concentrate.

The voices of adults floated into the room. Sunset’s thoughts told Princess Luna that officers of Foal Protective Services were talking to her parents.

The feeling of guilt joined the panic and fear that Princess Luna and Sunset felt.

Sunset flipped through her workbook. She was almost finished with it. She was way ahead of her class by two whole work books. Her teachers let her study ahead on her own. Sunset found an empty page and turned to the corresponding page in her textbook. She tried to read the lesson but the adults words drifted in.

“Inadequate attention…” “Need more responsibility…” “Grades show potential but…” “for Celestia’s sake just get…” “Work harder...” “They deserve better...”

Sunset began to cry. Princess Luna concentrated and accessed Sunset’s thoughts again.

“I’m not good enough.”

The dream faded. Darkness surrounded Princess Luna and two teal eyes were watching her.

“Princess?” Sunset asked cautiously.

“Sunset.”

“You saw all that?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve been thinking a lot about them ever since… I was just so confused. I didn’t understand anything. All I knew is that I wasn’t good enough. And then Celestia… Celestia knew I had poor self image. She knew I was insecure and scared and so she flattered me and encouraged me. She was lenient and forgiving. She tried to create the environment my parents wanted me to have growing up. She said it was wrong for my parents to force me to be emotionally mature so young. She treated a ten year old like a two year old. And I regressed. Emotionally I was a toddler acting out. By the time she noticed it was too late. I liked being a sheltered and spoiled brat. It was nice.”

“I still don’t get how you turned from a loving older sister to, well to be blunt, a demon.”

“I don’t know.”

The dream began to change.

Sunset was sitting at a desk in a classroom. Princess Luna looked around. Outside the classroom widow there was playground. Almost all the foals at the school were outside playing with about half the teachers outside supervising. The only other pony in the room with Sunset was an older mare who was sitting at the teacher's desk doing paperwork. The name card on the teachers desk was for a stallion. Princess Luna figured that he was outside.

Princess Luna recognised the school. It was the poorest school in the poorest neighborhood in Canterlot. Everything in the building except for a a dozed electronics was handed down from the other schools when they got upgraded. The spine of the book Sunset was holding was worn out and the book looked like it would break in half any second.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. A stallion poked his head in. “Sunset the Principal wants to see you in her office.” he said.

Both the teacher and Sunset looked confused. Sunset levitated a bookmark into her book and put it away. Sunset was about to walk towards the door when the stallion said. “Bring your things, you won’t be returning to class.”

The teacher looked worried at this point. Sunset looked frightened.

Sunset walked quietly down the hall after the stallion. Luna took one last look around the classroom and then hurried after them.

The stallion lead them to the principal’s office and then walked away. Sunset took a deep breath and knocked. The receptionist opened the door and let her into the room. It was small and cramped. Luna flew in and sat on the receptionist’s filing cabinet. Sunset set down her bag and sat in the seat the principal indicated for her.

“How are you today?” the principal asked calmly.

“I’m fine thank you. Yourself?”

“I am well.”

There was a pause.

“Do you know why I called you here?” the principal asked.

“No ma’am.”

“Ave you hear of Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns?”

“Of course-” Sunset started before catching herself. “Yes ma’am. I have heard of the princess’s special school.”

“Do you know how students get in?”

“I heard from umm… one of my peers that ponies who attended the school can sign their foals up. But that’s just a roomer I heard I don’t know.”

“There are some legacy student’s there yes, but the majority of ponies that attends got in on their own merits.” the principal took a deep breath. “Every year each principal in Canterlot and some other towns are asked to selects two students who we think have the qualities that Celestia looks for in her special special students. Essentially we principals get to make recommendations. I don’t know how principals at other schools pick their two students but at this school, well basically, I ask for recommendations from my staff and then I ask different staff members about the nominees, I look at academic records and then I pick. And this year you are one of the students I picked.”

Sunset looked stunned. She sat speechless for several minutes.

The principal seemed to realize that Sunset wasn’t going to respond. “What I need from you it to fill out this form and you and your parents need to sign it. I will also need two short essays. One of them will be about a specific academic achievement you are proud of and the other is describing an activity you like doing outside of school that is not directly related to academics. You have a week to complete this. You will be exempt from homework until then. Do you understand?”

Sunset nodded. Here eyes were still painfully wide but she had managed to shut her mouth.

“I will send you to the library with written instructions for the essays. I want you to brainstorm possible topics. You can come and see me if you have questions. Oh also I have this letter for you to give to your parents it should help them understand. They can get in touch with me if they have questions. Alright Sunset?”

Sunset blinked. She nodded. Sunset looked very concerned about something.

“Do you have any questions or concerns for me?”

“So I fill out this paper work and I write two essays and then you send it away and that’s it? Celestia and her judges only use three pieces of information to choose who they want to change forever and who isn’t good enough?”

The principal looked shocked and horrified for a split second at Sunset’s implication.

“No. no. umm… every student has two recommendations letters from two of their teachers and a cover letter from their principal. But the students aren’t supposed to know which teachers so they can’t try to influence them. At this school. This apparently happens at other schools. Parents pay bribes and students put on their best behavior for a teacher writing the letter. I don’t tolerate that behavior. Over my twenty year career working at this school I can say that never happened on my watch.”

Sunset nodded.

The principal cleared her throat. “After they review the applications they select about one hundred students to advance to the next stage. They interview the foals and then Celestia picks about twenty.”

Sunset nodded again.

“Do you have any more questions?”

“This school ever had one of it’s students accepted?”

“No . but that doesn't mean that you won’t.” the Principal tried to look confident.

Sunset looked at her hooves. The school was only twenty years old. She had worked at the school since it opened.

“Before I worked here I worked at a school in a small town. The ponies were all poor and the school was half the size of this one. A few years after I started working I was appointed the vice principal. The principal was in an accident and I did most of their job that year including selecting a student to submit an application to Celestia. That was the first year a student from that school was accepted. The next five years in a row the student I picked was selected to attend her school. I was a town hero for a few years before my husband and I had to move. I understand that this is a big deal for someone like you. An opportunity like this could lift your family out of poverty. You could probably have any career you want. I want you to understand that I take this seriously. I promise you I will do anything I can to help you.”

Sunset and the principal sat silently for a moment. “Thank you.” Sunset slid out of her chair. She picked up the papers and her bag with her magic and began to walk towards the door.

The dream faded around Princess Luna. She stood up in a void of darkness and felt two teal eyes watching her again.

“I read your essays.” Princess Luna told Sunset. “Celestia keeps the essays of the ponies who get into her school in a filing cabinet in one of the dungeons. After you stole Twilight's crown I went and found them and read them. I also found the letters of recommendation and the cover letter. Celestia writes notes and puts them in students folders. I read her notes about you. Your right. She didn’t realize what was happening to you until it was too late. My sister likes to think that she is good a judging character. I think your tantrum wounded her pride more than yours.that might be why she is being harsh on you now. Her pride is still hurt. Only now she had misjudged you twice.”

“Do you have any advice as to how I could do my part in mending our relationship?”

“Be your authentic self. The rest is her problem.”

“That would be easy if I knew who my authentic self is.”

“That’s just a normal part of being a young adult. You’ll figure it out. In the meantime you can help find your doppelganger and send her home.”

Author's Notes:

Let me know if this chapter doesn't make sense. I figured that Princess Twilight got into Celestia's school the legacy way where your parents send in and application and then you take a test. What do you guys think?