Sunset was staring at Celestia’s letter, unsure of if she should read it or not.
Luna had already given her the abridged version of it, and just imagining what Celestia could have written in it was making her nervous.
Would read it make her angrier? Make her sad? Make her want to return to Canterlot? Give her hope?
After another ten minutes of wondering, she finally reached a conclusion.
“I said that I want some pace and quiet.” She put the letter back on her nightstand. “I should go out for breakfast.” She jumped out of bed and exited the house, walking towards the Café Hay.

“So, you decided that our establishment is up to your standards?” the waiter asked as Sunset took her seat.

“Yeah, sorry about the first impression. It’s quite the culture change.” She apologized, and the waiter seemed to turn a little less annoyed.

“I will accept your apology and take your order,” he said all business like.

Sunset smiled with a little bit of relief. “Well, a coffee to start, and I would like to try-”

“Stampede!” a voice called out from the skies, and everypony started to panic and run in different directions, closing their doors and windows and screaming nonsense.

“Everypony calm down, there is no need to panic.” Called out a mare with white silver mane and glasses, but nopony was listening to her.

Sunset looked at the nonplused face of the waiter. “Does this happen often?”

The waiter sighed. “Enough for me to lose money as my clients run away without paying.” He pointed at the now empty tables, some even knocked over with hay strewn about.

“Now I see what you meant about the budget.”

“I will go get your order.”

When he was out of sight, Sunset used her magic to put everything back into place and clean the destroyed food.
She then noticed that the screams of panic had been replaced with cheers of celebration. Confused by the change of mood, she looked at a crowd gathering at the edge of the town, looking at the silhouette of a hat wearing pony.

“Good job Hat,” she said smiling as the waiter brought her food, who then noticed the cleaning she had done.

He actually smiled a bit. “I thank you for your help,” he said with a little bow.

“It’s nothing.” Sunset took a sip of her coffee, and an idea popped into her head. “Would you mind if I offer a suggestion about the seating? I promise it won’t hit your budget.”

After a few hours of buying metal bars, carefully weaving hay, getting some nice-looking cloth, and magic-induced welding, Café Hay had a new whole set of metal chairs with hay cushions.

“Must admit, you are a quite crafty mare,” said the waiter with a smile.

Sunset scratched the back of her head. “Hope I’m not intruding too much into your business.”

“Well, I can’t exactly complain.” He turned to Sunset and presented his hoof. “Name’s Savoir Fare.”

“Sunset Shimmer,” she said as they shook hooves.

“Applejaaaaaaaaaack.” A voice screamed, and both ponies saw a streak of rainbow flying towards the library, crashing against the railing of the balcony.

“Is that also a normal occurrence?” Sunset wondered.

“Rainbow Dash doing something reckless and getting hurt for it? She even does it on a schedule.”

“This town is kind of weird. No offence.”

“Can’t say you are wrong.” He then gave her a new cup of coffee. “For the road.”

Sunset smiled as she took it in her magic. “Thanks.”

Sunset wandered around Ponyville, getting a better look at the town and everything it had. She was surprised that it actually had a working theater, and looked at some of the future shows in case one seemed interesting enough to come and watch it.
She also found a bowling alley, which she had never done before, so she made a mental note to try it out someday.
And of course, it wouldn’t be Ponyville if there wasn’t something weird, just like the store that sold mostly fans.
Sunset exploration was interrupted as she saw a medical tent near Sugar Cube Corner.
She quickly ran inside, finding a lot of ponies with some kind of sickness.

“What happened?” she asked to a nearby nurse.

“We believe it’s food poisoning. Apparently, the new batch of cupcakes Pinkie made was altered by Applejack,” the mare explained.

Sunset remembered the scream of Rainbow and wondered why Hat would be hurting everyone out of nowhere.
She summoned a parchment and wrote a request of medicine against food poisoning before sending it to Luna.
Suddenly, the outside of the tent was filled with screams of panic like the ones of that same morning, and when Sunset poked her head outside, she saw a horde of baby bunnies rampaging through town.

“Dear Celestia, Savoir Fare wasn’t kidding with this happening too often. Why would bunnies even rampage the town?!”

“Fluttershy wanted to do a bunny census,” the weak voice of a sick Pinkie Pie explained from her bed.

“Isn’t she the literal embodiment of kindness? How would she make them do this?”

“I don’t know. Applejack was helping her.”

Sunset frowned, anger clear in her eyes, and looked at the nurse. “Where does Applejack live?”

Sweet Apple Acres, the family farm of the Apples, had been half-harvested by the work of a single mare. A mare that was so exhausted that she was closer to have a heart attack than falling asleep, but still moved on by sheer force of will; Applejack.
She was currently preparing to buck another tree, when suddenly her entire body lurched into the air and was dropped into the floor with force.
Confused and still semi-delirious, she forced her sigh straight until she managed to distinguish the form of Sunset Shimmer in front of her.

“Hello, Hat,” she said bitterly.

“Sunset? Why are you interrupting mah work?” the farmer responded as she stood up with quite difficulty.

“My question is why are you going around hurting your friends?!”

Applejack recoiled at the accusation. “What? Ah would never hurt any of mah friends!”

“Then why did you throw Rainbow Dash into Twilight’s library?”

“That was some weird trick she wanted to do.”

“Why did you ruin Pinkie’s food and poison a quarter of the townsfolk?”

“That’s her fault for using some weird ingredients.”

“And what’s your excuse for sending a horde of baby bunnies rampaging through Ponyville?”

“That… That one might have been mah fault,” Applejack admitted, rubbing the back of her head.

Sunset took some air to gather patience. “Going back to Pinkie’s case; she’s a baker, right?”

“Yeah,” the farmer responded, a little confused.

“And I’m guessing she has been for many years, right?”

“Correct, but ah don’t know what you are getting at.”

“In how many of those years has she poison somepony?”

“None, w-”

Sunset got right in Applejacks face. “So, using a little bit of logic, is it reasonable that the pony who bakes for a living would use dangerous ingredients for their food?”

“No?” was the farmer’s a little scared response.

“And the fact that a mare that looks like she just got dug out of the grave to be resurrected by the most incompetent necromancer and can barely see straight helped her with those ‘ingredients’, doesn’t make her the most likely suspect for the error in the recipe?!”

Applejack took a few steps back, both out of fear for the angry unicorn and from embarrassment as her words sunk in. “Ah did that, didn’t I? And probably hurt Rainbow too.”

“You’ve hurt a lot of ponies today,” Sunset mercilessly stated.

Applejack looked at the ground in regret. “Am sorry, ah just-”

Sunset interrupted her with a hoof and a stern glare. “Save it for the ponies you hurt.”

Applejack sighed. “You’re right, ah will just finish here and go apologize to everypony.”

Sunset looked as the mare walked towards the tree, going for a kick that completely missed the trunk.
‘It’s not your problem, you already did what you came to do, just… walk away and let her resolve her…’ she watched as the mare collapsed on the floor when she tried to lift the baskets full of apples, just to stand up and try again. ‘Ahg, fine!’
“I will help you with the apples so you can take a rest, okay?”

Applejack looked at her with annoyance. “What? Not you too. Ah already told Twilight that ah can do it perfectly on my own.”

Sunset raised an eyebrow. “Really? You can barely lift your own weight with how tired you are.”

This time, it was Applejack who was angry. “For the last time, ah can do this! This orchard needs to be harvested and I am the only one in the family who can do it!” Sunset shrugged and walked towards one of the trees, picking the apples with her magic. “What in the hay are yah doing?!” Applejack screamed.

“Helping,” Sunset stated without looking at her.

“Ah told you ah don’t need it!”

“Ah don’t care!” Sunset said mockingly, but seconds later a rope grabbed her and pulled her towards the farmer. “Are you really that stubborn?”

Applejack spitted the rope form her mouth. “Ah don’t want yah using fancy magic to mock my work!”

“Fine.” Sunset teleported outside of the rope. “I’ll do it by hoof then.”

Applejack gave her a stern look. “You couldn’t if yah tried, this job ain’t easy.”

Sunset was about to leave the mare to dig her grave, but an idea popped into her head. “How about we bet on it?” she offered with a smile.

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “How so?”

“How many trees can you harvest in an hour?”

“About a hundred or so.”

“Here’s the bet; if I can harvest a hundred trees in less than an hour, you will go and sleep while I take care of the rest of the orchard. If I fail, I will not only leave you alone, but make sure that no pony interrupts you until you’re finished.”

Applejack didn’t look convinced. “I don’t have time for games.”

Sunset put on a smug smile. “What? Are you afraid that I’ll make your job look easy?”

Applejack took offence at her words. “You will only make a fool of yourself.”

“Nah, you just don’t want to be proven wrong.”

The farmer finally fell for it. “Fine! But ah will be merciful and say only eighty trees.”

“Ninety, I also have my pride.”

Applejack spat on her hoof and extended it to her. “Deal.” Sunset was a little disgusted but did the same anyways. “Yah better start now.”

Sunset walked towards the first tree and gave it a hard kick, but only half the apples fell from it.

“Not so easy ain’t it?” Applejack taunted, but Sunset just gave another kick and continued to work.

Thirty minutes had passed, with Applejack constant vigilance, and Sunset had only managed to harvest twenty-five trees.
It had proven to be more difficult than she had imagined, especially since some trees required three kicks from her so all the apples could fall.

As she placed the baskets under a new tree, Applejacks taunting continued. “You can give up now, you’re not even halfway done!” Sunset emitted a muffled scream and walked away from the tree. “Heh, ah knew it, nopony can-” her words died as she saw the unicorn run at the tree, only to then throw her entire body against it, making all the apples fall into the baskets. “Sunset, are yah hurt?” she asked worried, but Sunset ignored her and simply continued working.
Applejack watched with increasing worry as the mare threw herself against the trees over and over again, getting more and more roughed up with every hit, and she even started to limp a little as she walked.
Sunset threw herself at another tree, but this time winced in pain as she fell, clutching her side before standing up to keep working.
Applejack had enough. “Sunset stop!”

Sunset kept working. “Why? I can do this. Just a few more trees and I will be done.”

“But you’re hurting yerself!” the famer said trying to stop her, but the unicorn turned around and looked at her straight in the eyes.

“So? When ponies said the same to you, you just ignored them and continued. Why is this different?” Applejack was about to respond, but Sunset didn’t give her the chance. “This.” She pointed at herself. “This is what ponies see when you push yourself like this. What do you think your brother will think of you? Do you think he would trust you with the farm again after you almost killed yourself working?” Applejack tried to formulate words, but couldn’t. “And what about your little sister? Do you want her to follow your brave example and hurt herself every time she has a responsibility she can’t handle alone?”

Applejack threw her hat to the ground and sat on the floor, biting her hoof in frustration and nervousness. “You’re right, but… this is more than just mah pride. The farm is all we got, and a bad harvest can easily ruin everything. Only Big Mac and I can do the hard work, if he’s injured, ah have to make double effort to keep things going.”

Sunset got a little calmer. “That’s real noble of your part, but as I showed you, working yourself to death will end up helping nopony, and it has hurt others that aren’t even involved.” She put a hoof over Applejack’s shoulder. “But what your pride is blinding you to is that there are more ponies other than Bic Mac that can help you pull through. You’ve at least five friends that surely will help you. I assure you; Twilight will sooner burn her entire library than deny help to somepony who really needs it.”

Applejack looked at the ground. “After all that ah have done to them, ah don’t think they are thinking too fondly of me.”

“We’re mostly worried about you.” Both mares turned their heads, seeing Twilight and her friends, minus Pinkie who was still in the hospital. “And Sunset is right, we’re all willing to help you if you ask, you just need to allow us to do so.”

Applejack smiled, holding tears of joy. “Thanks girls, and am sorry for being so stubborn, and all the things ah put you through.”

Twilight smiled. “Just let us help while you take some rest, alright?”

The farmer gave a big yawn. “That sounds like a… good idea.” She quickly got on the ground and fell asleep next to her hat.

Sunset looked at her with a smile and then turned to Twilight. “How much did you hear?”

“Pretty much everything, you girls are very loud.” Twilight walked next to her. “You know, I think you should be the one writing the letter to Celest-”

Sunset collapsed on the floor, clutching her side. “I would love to Twilight, but I think I broke one or two ribs ‘teaching’ this lesson. Can any of you take me to the hospital?”

“I got it,” said Rainbow, carefully picking Sunset up and flying towards the hospital.

“Thanks Rainbow, I owe you one.”

Rainbow looked at her with a smile. “Well, you can help me practice some new maneuvers.”

“Sure, I’m free all day anyway.”

Sunset was calmly resting in the hospital bed, waiting to be discharged in the morning.
She wasn’t expecting visits, so when the door to her room opened, she lifted her head in wonder, and saw a tall white figure approach her. “So, this time you decide to come visit me.”

“Well, this time you actually stayed in the hospital,” Celestia responded, sitting beside her. Sunset rolled her eyes but didn’t get angrier at the retort. “Did you receive my letter?”

“I did. Haven’t read it yet.” Sunset looked away from Celestia. “Wanted some peace and quiet. After everything that happened.”

“Would you prefer me to leave?”

Sunset sighed. “No. We are already here.”

Celestia took some air. “I don’t know if saying sorry has already lost its meaning, but I regret putting such distance between us. I was so worried about cleansing Luna from the evil that took her heart-” Sunset felt kind of uneasy at the words for some reason. “-that I focused only on Twilight, so she could be the savior of Luna.”

Sunset still didn’t look at her. “And you were worried that I would ruin your paper-thin plan?”

“You were always an unknown factor, but at the end, you were crucial for its success.”

“That’s not true. Twilight would’ve done it even without my help. She has friends. True friends.”

“I’ve seen you be quite friendly with some ponies, like with-”

“There’s a difference between being a friend and just being social.”

“I don’t think that’s tru-”

“You told me that.” Sunset interrupted, the anger in her voice rising.

Celestia took a few moments to continue. “I’ve made many mistakes with you Sunset. Just like I did with my sister.”

“Then I fear for Twilight.”

Celestial recoiled at her words, feeling the poison hiding in them. It was clear she wasn’t going to fix anything right now, just make Sunset angrier at her. “I just wanted to say that I regret what I did to you, and if there’s anything I can do to make you feel better, just send me a letter.” Celestia stood up and turned to the door.

“Don’t leave.” Celestia stopped, and watched as Sunset turned to her, tears in her eyes. “I’m scared.”

“Scared of what?” she asked, returning to her side.

“Scared that you are right about me. That I will end up broken or turned into a monster.” Sunset sobbed. “We both saw it.”

Celestia hugged Sunset, and felt a sharp pain in her heart at the realization that she couldn’t remember when exactly had she last done so. “The mirror can show an infinity of futures Sunset, all depending on every little action that you take. If you looked in it now, I assure you the future will be completely different.”

Sunset looked at her between her arms. “You really think so?”

Celestial smiled warmly. “Something I’ve learned in all my years, is that everything changes with time, including ponies. You won’t be the same mare that you were the year before, or a month ago, or maybe even yesterday. Every event and decision in your life will make a new version of yourself, with all the lessons that you’ve learned in your experience. That’s how we mature and grow as creatures.”

Sunset didn’t say anything, just kept hugging her for a long time until she finally let go. “I’m not ready to go back.”

Celestia nodded. “I understand.”

“Or forgive you,” She added, and Celestia made a more hesitant nod. “But I don’t want to be mad at you forever. I just need time away from everything.”

“Take as much time as you need,” the monarch said before standing up again. “I’ll just be one letter away from you, if you ever need me.” Celestia walked to the door.

“One more thing,” Sunset called out, making her turn around. “Not a word of this to Twilight. This is just between us.”

Celestia nodded. “Of course.” She then left the room, leaving Sunset alone once again.

She looked at the white celling, wondering what she should do now.

“I hope training with Rainbow will be fun.”

Author's Notes:

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Sunset received minor injuries: Constitution debuff -4

Sunset’s morale has gone up!: +5
Current morale: 15/100

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Next chapter is still in planning, so may take a little longer.

I will be watching you.