It had been almost a week since Sunset had arrived at Moon Dancer’s tower. The host had gotten an actual bed for her and they had spent their time talking and reading books, but with each passing day, Moon Dancer could tell that Sunset wasn’t the same as before.
She never really got to know her in detail, just enough to form a bond over their love for literature and obscure research, and she had been through a lot in a relative short time, but even so, she could tell that something had changed in her core.
She could see it right now, in the bored eyes that read a book with a complete lack of interest. Sunset took another sip of her coffee; it was probably her fifth this day. “You shouldn’t exclusively drink coffee Sunset.”

The amber unicorn lifted her gaze, looking like if she had just woken up to an alarm. “Hm? What do you mean?”

“I’m serious. I don’t know how you can sleep like a log with all that caffeine in your bloodstream.”

Sunset looked at her cup. “I just find it soothing.”

Moon Dancer gave a little sigh. “I know it does, but you should at least mix it up with something else.” Her attention went back to the book. “Is the book boring?”

Sunset seemed to suddenly remember the book’s existence. “No… it’s just…” She seemed to struggle coming up with the right words. “I feel like I’m not learning anything.”

Moon Dancer raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

Sunset pushed the book aside. “I guess my visit to Ponyville showed me that I’m kind of overprepared for the world outside.”

Moon Dancer’s eyebrow raised higher. “Kind of pretentious, but are you sure about that?”

Sunset pushed herself away from the table where she was reading. “I mean, unless there is a book somewhere detailing how to beat Nightmare Moon or an ursa major, I don’t see how books could prepare me more. And as you said, I know a lot about magic and spells, but I didn’t learn about other things, like cooking.”

Moon Dancer raised her other eyebrow. “I remember that you told me you made chairs out of metal rods.”

Sunset rolled her eyes. “Telekinesis and magical welding. Doesn’t count.”

“It still requires some skill, but I guess that’s not the point. What about going back to Celestia’s studies?”

Sunset’s ears dropped. “I don’t think I can really go back to that. Even if Celestia is treating me better, it would still gnaw at the back of my head. Besides, the barrier I never got to pass is friendship. And after the mountain incident, I don’t really think I can.”

Moon Dancer put her book away. “Sunset, look me in the eyes.” The unicorn did as she asked, a little curious and concerned. “Aren’t we friends?”

Her words seemed to take a couple seconds to register in Sunset’s mind. She lowered her gaze as she frowned, processing the question. “I… I guess. It’s kind of what Twilight has.”

Moon Dancer crossed her forelegs over the table, leaning closer to Sunset. “What does she have? What makes them her friends?”

Sunset started to think about Twilight’s friends. “Well… she trusted Applejack. Which I do with you. Even in whatever state I was that day, I came to you first.”

Moon Dancer smiled. “And I trust you too. You helped me a lot when Twilight was leaving, and I know you care for others. What else?”

Sunset had to think a little harder this time. “Well, Pinkie cheers everypony up, so she surely does the same to Twilight.”

“Do I cheer you up?” Moon Dancer wondered.

Sunset couldn’t respond immediately. “You bring me coffee.” She finally said with an awkward smile.

Moon Dancer rubbed the bridge of her nose to hide her annoyance. “Sorry to be boring. I just now realized you’re no longer into books.”

Sunset’s ears dropped with embarrassment. “It’s not that you’re boring Moon. It’s just… I think we have different preferences.” An idea popped into her head. “Do you like bowling?”

Moon Dancer looked at her again, her expression back to normal. “Never tried it. I rarely go out.”

Sunset leaned a little closer. “You should. Is kind of fun, and frustrating, but that only makes you want to be better at it.”

Moon Dancer sighed. “Don’t know, books are what I enjoy. But back to the friendship thing. What else can you think of Twilight’s friends?”

Sunset still struggled to come up with something. “There’s Rainbow, she’s somepony that helps you. When her ego is not in the way.” She gave a long sigh. “I guess not getting along with them is not helping the case.”

Moon Dancer nodded. “And what about you?” Sunset looked at her confused. “What do you think makes a friend for you?”

Sunset started to think. She had said this to Celestia before, so she tried to remember. “Somepony that can stand as an equal to me or maybe even better than me. Somepony who can help me learn something new. Somepony who will be proud of my achievements.”

Moon Dancer looked at her in the eyes. “Sunset. You’re describing Celestia.”
Her ‘friend’ opened her mouth to speak, but no words managed to get out. “How many ponies did you know before Twilight?”

There was a knock on the door, and both mares looked away from each other.
“I will get it.” Sunset quickly said before teleporting to the entrance and opening it, revealing the tall white figure of Celestia.

“Hello Sunset, how are you feeling?” the monarch asked with a smile.

Sunset forced a smile of her own. “I’m feeling better thanks to Moon Dancer.”

“I’m so glad to hear it. You’ve my deepest gratitude.” Celestia said to the ash-white unicorn, who looked a little embarrassed.

“I’m just glad to be of help.”

Celestia looked back at Sunset. “I’ve to do a little visit to Ponyville. Would you like to come with me?”

Sunset shivered a little, but she stomped her hoof on the floor to snap out of it. “I think so. At least to give it a try.”

“You’re welcomed to come back anytime you want.” Moon Dancer called out from the floor above.

Sunset turned around to see her. “Thank you for everything Moon. And… I’m sorry.”

Moon Dancer made a little smile. “It’s okay Sunset. I hope you can figure it out someday.”

Sunset nodded and exited the tower alongside Celestia. “What was she referring to?” the alicorn wondered.

“I can tell you while we travel,” was Sunset’s response.
They boarded a large chariot that Celestia had decided to use instead of her personal one so they had space to sit, and the pegasus quickly took flight towards Ponyville.
Celestia could feel Sunset’s nervousness, and the poor unicorn couldn’t stop looking around herself, shifting her position constantly.
“Sunset, I know you’re nervous, but I assure you; everything is going to be fine.” The unicorn took some air, finally sitting down on the chariot, but still had little shivers from time to time. Celestia sat at her side to offer some comfort. “Do you want to talk about something?”

Sunset took a couple of seconds to respond. “I was… talking with Moon Dancer about what makes a friend.” She looked at her mentor. “What do you think makes a friend?”

Celestia looked at the sky, thinking about the correct answer. “I think I can’t really tell.”

Sunset got a little upset at the answer. “What do you mean?”

“After I banished Luna, I… lost my way with friendship.”

Sunset was confused. “What does that even mean?”

“It means… various things. At first it was the grief of losing Luna, but later…” Celestia’s eyes seemed to get lost in the horizon. “It became… political.”

Sunset was concerned about her mentor. “How? I still don’t get what you’re talking about.”

Celestia took some air, steeling herself. “After such a rebellion, and by my own sister no less, everypony was constantly judging every relationship I tried to make, wondering if they would become the next traitor. Anypony that tried to get close to me was intimidated by the media, who at one point started to get ridiculous. Even a simple ‘good morning’ to a guard would spiral to several news articles, and ponies would interrogate or even ostracize the poor pony until they became worry of interacting with me again. Many left their work in the castle to escape the drama before it dug deeper into their lives.”

Sunset’s anger started to rise. “Why would they do that? Why didn’t you stop them?”

“Because there are few things worse than an influential pony with its mind clouded by fear. If they think there’s a danger to themselves or their way of living, they will try and make everypony fear the same thing so they can stop it before it gets them. And about stopping them…” Celestia looked to the pegasus guards and spoke in a much lower voice. “The only way would be to order their arrest, or silence them in another way, which would only make their fears and paranoia more believable.” She lowered her voice a little more. “But I was about to do it anyway. I just wanted them to stop. But it was useless.”

A question popped into Sunset’s head. “Was it the same for me?”

“Thankfully, not much. The fact that you were young and under my direct care helped to convince them that you were controlled. It was more unlikely that a filly raised from infancy would betray their mother figure.”

“That’s… not exactly reassuring,” Sunset admitted looking at the ground below the chariot.

“And now Luna is suffering the same. Everypony is trying to find a crack in her stoic persona to point out how she will turn against me again.” Celestia gave a heavy sigh. “There are a lot of things that are still unknow to the grand majority of the population, and I fear the moment when Luna decides to fully show herself to the general public.” Her eyes searched for Sunset’s. “Luckily, you gave her the chance to take little steps towards that goal. Visiting each of the creatures that you helped was a way to expose herself without thinking about their fear of her presence. She had a mission, and concentrated all her mind to it, ignoring her own fears. It gave her confidence in herself.”

Sunset smiled a little, happy to be of help to the alicorn that had given her the advice she needed when she felt lost for the first time. “Tell her that if she ever presents herself to the public, I want to be there.”

Celestia smiled. “Of course, Sunset. She will be very thankful for your support.”

The smile was shared with the unicorn, but shortly after, the question came back. “So, you didn’t know how friendship worked when I was your pupil?”

Celestia took a little bit more air. “I didn’t completely forget about it. I knew about its importance outside of the defeat of Nightmare Moon, and how a pony should be to achieve it”

“Not like me,” Sunset said looking away from her mentor, her ears glued to her head.

Celestia looked at her with worry and guilt. “Sunset, it could’ve been you.” Her eyes observed the guards once more. “No.” She took off her crown. “I should’ve been you.”

“But I don’t know anything about friendship. Even if ponies call me the fairy godmother of the thing, I don’t really have friends of my own. I can understand how ponies think and feel, but I just don’t get that connection with anypony.”

“That’s still more than what Twilight had when I sent her to Ponyville.” Celestia looked forward, finding the silhouette of the town in the distance. “I was just banking in the destiny being fulfilled.”

Sunset looked at her with confusion. “You mean the prophesy of the elements of harmony? It didn’t mention anything about the bearers being all in one place, or who they were. You had to be very lucky that…” Sunset saw her mentor shifting uncomfortably. She was hiding something, and she quickly realized what it was.
“You showed her the mirror.” Celestia nodded slightly. “When? What did she saw?”

“I showed it to her the day I presented her to you, just a quick look. She was young, so it was easy to disguise it as just a simple magic trick. I’m sure she doesn’t even remember it.”

Sunset got closer to her mentor. “What did she saw?” She reiterated.

“Herself, at her current age, with a crown on her head sporting the element of magic, and all her friends behind her, wearing the rest of the elements. They all glowed with light, making me sure that they could wield them even better than Luna and I did.” Celestia looked at Sunset. “After that day, I started to look for her friends. It wasn’t easy since they were adults in the image and I had to look for little fillies, and on top of that, I had to search all across Equestria in secret.” She tilted her head to the side, searching for the memories. “The first one I found was Rainbow Dash, her mane and boastfulness made it quite easy to track down. Next was Pinkie, another extremely notorious pony. Fluttershy came with Rainbow, Rarity was found when she started her business, and Applejack was the more difficult due to being part of an immense family. It was luck, or destiny depending on how you look at it, that they ended up in the same town. So, I sent Twilight there and hoped for the best.”

Sunset looked to the side. “I still don’t see how I could’ve achieved the same. None of my destinies showed something like that.”

Celestia hugged Sunset with one of her wings. “As I told you before, destinies can change, and you did change it. The monster that we saw wasn’t trying to hurt Twilight, she defended her. You may not have fully grasped the ‘connection’ of friendship as you call it, but you know enough to help those around you. This… fairy godmother of friendship, sounds like something that you could have been much before Twilight became my student, if I had taught you correctly.” Celestia lowered her head, looking sadly at the ground. “I want to make things right not only with you, but for Twilight too. As you said in the hospital, I fear of falling in the same pits I did with you.”

Sunset looked at Celestia with a hopeful smile. “I you can keep my anger in check, and I help you avoid the pitfalls, we can both help her. She’s a brilliant pony with good friends. With the right guidance, she could be the shield of Equestria against evils like Nightmare Moon.”

Celestia looked at her with a smile. “Thank you Sunset.” She gave her a little nuzzle, which the unicorn returned. “I guess that would make you the sword of Equestria.”

Sunset chuckled. “I can’t say that the title wouldn’t fit me.”

“Actually, that was one of the ways that ponies called Luna and I when we were ruling Equestria. Luna was the sword, fighting in the front lines, defeating fearsome monsters and making sure her platoons returned as intact as possible to the cities. And I was the shield, ruling the kingdom and maintaining the peace and prosperity of it. And if a threat managed to get pass Luna’s war hammer, they knew I would protect them with everything I had.”

Sunset gave a sardonic smile. “What a great story that I’ve never heard before.”

Celestia chuckled with a smile. “Yeah, times of old that are better forgotten.”

They both started to see Ponyville in more detail, and Sunset noticed something; her house was on fire.
“Uhm, do you have a spyglass?” Celestia summoned one and passed it to Sunset.
As soon as she focused the lens on the town, she saw that it was in ruins. Some buildings were on fire, not as much as her house, and the rest seemed half eaten by something.
“I’m gone for just a week and the town is destroyed?! What kind of ancient cursed cemetery was this town built on top off?!”

“What?” Celestia took the spyglass and observed the town. “It seems to be an infestation of parasprites, but they are eating the buildings instead of the food. Why would they do that?”

“Twilight.” Sunset deadpanned.

“Yeah, it does seem like something she would end up doing.” Celestia adjusted the spyglass. “Oh, Pinkie seems to be guiding them away with music.”

“Really?” Sunset took the spyglass and saw the one band pony making the insects march in a perfect line. “That pony is full of surprises.” She then saw Twilight and the rest of her friends following her close behind. “Hey, I’m prohibited from pranking Twilight, buuuut...”

Celestia smiled. “Way ahead of you Sunset.”

“I'm terribly honored that you and the good citizens of Ponyville have organized a parade in honor of my visit.” Celestia said with a smile while Sunset contained her laughter from behind some nearby bushes.

“Parade?” Twilight asked confused, until she realized the saving grace that fell on her hooves. “Oh, yes, the parade!”

“Unfortunately, that visit is going to have to wait for another time. I'm afraid an emergency has come up in Fillydelphia. Apparently, there's been some sort of infestation.”

“An... infestation?”

“Yes, a swarm of incredibly bothersome creatures has invaded the poor town.”

Sunset couldn’t hear the rest of the conversation as she was rolling on the ground. “Oh, I didn’t know how much I missed this.”
When she eventually calmed down, she saw Celestia starting to leave, so she teleported back to the chariot.

“You’re not feeling like you want to stay?” Celestia asked her.

Sunset had forgotten the purpose of their visit. “I… I don’t know.”

“You said it yourself, the town seems to get destroyed if you’re not here.” Celestia joked, but then got to Sunset’s eye level. “You should at least say hi.”

Sunset took some air. “You’re right.”

“I will be right here if you need me.”

Sunset took the first steps towards Twilight, which were the hardest of her life until now, but eventually managed to keep the pace until they noticed her presence.
She opened her mouth to speak but was hug-tackled to the ground out of nowhere.
“I’m sorry. I’m so so sorry. I’ve should’ve known. I should’ve been there with you. Then you wouldn’t have-”

“Twilight.” Sunset slowly hugged her back. “It’s okay. I’m here now, and that’s what’s important. We can face things together now. As sisters.”
Twilight lifted her face to see her, tears of sadness and joy mixed together as they ran down her face. She smiled, Sunset did too, and they shared a more warm, sisterly hug.
Twilight’s friends looked at them with smiles and little tears of their own, until they finally separated, and Sunset got up from the ground, only for Pinkie to hug her next.

“_{Hi Pinkie. So glad that you’re happy.}” Sunset struggled to say from between the tight bearhug.

Fluttershy walked in front of her with her ears pulled backwards, catching her attention. “I’m sorry for how I judged you. You said that you couldn’t understand why I did it, but the truth is that I was simply wrong about you, all of you. And that ended up hurting you and Twilight.”

“As we did with Trixie,” Rainbow added, and the rest of Twilight’s friends joined in.

“We made such mistakes, and even after you got so angry at us in the mountain, you sent a message to calm us down and give us a chance to be better. That made us realize that we didn’t really knew who you really were and what things were important to you,” Rarity explained.

“So, we came up with an idea. If yah’re willing to do it.”

Pinkie freed Sunset from her hug, letting her breathe again. “We want you to spend one day with each of us, so we all get to know each other.”

The five gave her tiny hopeful smiles, and Sunset looked at them with doubt.
She wasn’t angry right now, which was what she feared the most, but being alone with each could trigger her in some way. The doubt and fear started to gnaw at her nerves, making her shiver.
A hoof rested on her shoulder, giving her a weird calmness. “You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to. And I will understand if you prefer to go back to Canterlot.”
Sunset looked at Twilight, her smile hiding the sadness of her sister possibly leaving her again.
She then looked at Celestia in the distance, waiting patiently beside the chariot.
She closed her eyes for a few seconds, and waved at her.
Celestial gave a little nod, and got onto the chariot, leaving back to Canterlot.

“I will try,” she finally said with a smile, and the ponies gave a little cheer before giving her a group hug.
Sunset felt weirdly happy being surrounded by them, even if the worry and guilt still lingered in the back. But she would fight them, and once they were gone, maybe she would feel that connection with Twilight’s friends.

“Today has been a real roller-coaster of emotions,” Twilight said once they broke the hug.

“It has been for me too,” Sunset admitted. “I think I just want to go home and rest for a bit.”

The six mares froze for a second. “Uhm, about your house…”

“What? It didn’t catch fire or something, right?” Sunset asked Twilight, holding back a smile.
She was so glad to have put that fire-shield spell on it after she moved in.

Author's Notes:

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Sunset's morale has gone up!: +30
Current morale: 35/100

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Glad that Fimfiction is back, I was worried that I couldn't keep making these stories.

I will be watching you.

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DELETED SCENES

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“Twilight.” Sunset slowly hugged her back. “It’s okay. I’m here now, and that’s what important. We can face things together now. As sisters.”
Twilight lifted her face to see her, tears of sadness and joy mixed together as they ran down her face. She smiled, and Sunset did too.

“_{Uhm, are they going to kiss?}” Fluttershy asked before Rarity slapped her upside the head.

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“Today has been a real roller-coaster of emotions,” Twilight said once they broke the hug.

“Yeah, I had enough with the whole parasprites thing,” Rainbow exclaimed rubbing her eyes with her wing.

“About that.” Sunset turned to Twilight. “Aren’t you worried that they will destroy the next town that they arrive to?”

Twilight’s eyes widened, and she looked at Fluttershy.

“Fluttershy darling, don’t you think that those flowers look beautiful?” Rarity moved the head of the pegasus away form the forest while Twilight whispered to Sunset.

“Oh, they are very pretty.” Fluttershy smelled their scent while several magical fireballs were forming behind her.

“Just look at the flowers darling,” Rarity insisted as the fireballs flied towards the Everfree forest.
Pinkie played her instruments again to cover the sounds of distant explosions.

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