Sunset could barely feel a thing. Maybe some dull pain. Maybe flashing lights. Maybe darkness, or maybe even whispers of voices, none of which she could distinguish or understand.

For a long while, it was as if she was faded. Barely remembering why she was the way she currently was; how she got there.

Slowly, without full recovery of her senses, it was as if stars unveiled around her. She was surrounded by the cosmos. She couldn’t speak, or even move. She couldn’t even tell if she had a body. It was as if her very essence was being broken down to its primordial components.

All around her, constellations, nebulae, stars, all sorts of lights gathered. A beautiful endless horizon of space expanded in every direction, she felt as if she was connected to all of it. Everything. As if she was made of stardust.

She wondered, for a moment, if she was dead. If this was it.

Nothing more worth dying for than love… She hoped, with all that was left of her, that Twilight was okay. Wherever she was.

Until she heard something familiar. Old, but familiar.

Her old mentor’s voice, maybe a bit difficult to make out, and yet, perfectly clear. Princess Celestia was talking directly to Sunset Shimmer. Was this a dream? Was it a hallucination? Was her mentor reading her mind, or was Sunset reading hers?

Her voice was coming from a distant light.

Sunset couldn’t move. She couldn’t see her. Celestia’s voice was like a small light directed at her. If Sunset was capable of it under the circumstances, she would scream, just for how it felt to be near Celestia once more.

She hadn’t heard her voice in a really long time.

“Figures, I’d have to be dead before meeting her again.” Sunset thought to herself.

Nonetheless, she listened intently.

What could I possibly say to you? How could I make this right?
How many apologies would it take for me to earn your forgiveness?

I don’t know how to fix this.

I wanted to give you space. I feared you never wanted to see me again. Even now, I wonder if things would have turned out differently, if I had just reached out.

Better?

Worse?

I regret so much about us. But not meeting you. Not training you. I owed you so much. But I couldn't deliver.

You failed me.

I failed you.

And yet, my pupil didn’t. She brought out in you what I couldn't. And now if we lose you… I fear I'll lose her too. I can raise the sun. But I can't keep my own apprentices safe.

My failings ripple out like domino's and strike me back. Always, always…

The world needs you. We need you. More than you can ever imagine.

I am so proud of the warrior you have become… In spite of my failings.

If…

When…

When you return to us. You and I will meet again. And when we do…

We will be equals.

I want to make this right. I know you want to, too. I’ve missed you.

Please come home. For her.

Raise the sun, Sunset Shimmer.

Sunset felt herself reforming. As if the stars were coming to her… To mend her. To complete her. She was not dead.

And then she awoke.

She felt like she had been vacuum sealed. She woke up, to the sound of humming, extremely exhausted, throat dry, with still feeling waves of pain on her body. She barely opened her eyes, to see what seemed like a hospital room, in which she was laying in a bed. On the right, she saw Fluttershy, crocheting and humming to herself, sitting on a chair, seemingly knitting a sweater with holes on it. She noticed how her own right arm was in a cast, broken after all, but recovering.

She was hazy. Was any of what she heard and felt real?

Sunset grunted, trying to shuffle a bit. She tried speaking up, which just came as a bunch of incoherent grumbles.

“Oh my goodness! Sunset! You’re awake!” Fluttershy stopped what she was doing and immediately went to give her friend some water, resulting in her friend almost choking. “You must be very confused, are you okay? How are you feeling?”

“Where’s Twilight? Is she okay? Please–”

“She’s okay! She’s okay. Don’t worry.” The Pegasus comforted her, almost giggling at Sunset’s priorities. Sunset just leaned back in bed with a huge exhale. “Okay. So that’s it, then. Phew. It’s over… Thank Celestia… ”

A feeling washed over her, one that she rarely, if ever felt. She felt the need to cry. Everything that had happened in the last week was coming back to her.

How long had it been since she had cried? Maybe only after Twilight beat her, when she was a demon, it all felt like an eternity ago...

For a fleeting moment, she considered that it was time to go. It was her fault that Midnight Sparkle had returned. She did a lot of damage. Maybe if she wasn’t here, none of this would have happened. Maybe she should leave. Let it all go, leave it all behind. Sunset wanted to vanish. Undo all the connections she made, all the impact she had made on other people’s lives. She was ashamed of herself to the core of her being. Almost losing Twilight made her feel incredibly uneasy about her presence among them. She felt like she needed to just… go.

Had she the energy to stand, maybe she would have tried.

Had she the energy at all, she would have done something, anything, anything at all that would remove her from her friend's lives.

Even now, Fluttershy talked to her like she mattered. As if.

She knew she had no chance of escaping this, they wouldn't let her. Twilight, wherever she was, wouldn't let her.

But that shame, that shame that dug to the cornerstone of her being, forced her to consider it.

With a couple of blinks, she shook her thoughts away. She needed to be in the present, now. Fluttershy was talking, and she paid attention.

“Twilight is spearheading the repairs of Ponyville, she kinda wrecked a lot of things when she was evil. It’s been a kinda chaotic week, she wanted to be here waiting for you to wake up, but you know how it is…”

“Princesses are always busy, busy, busy…” Letting out a huge exhale. she closed her eyes. At least the bed was comfortable. She felt like laying there forever. Alone.

Fluttershy chuckled a bit. “Yeah, and I guess it didn’t help that we blew up her castle… If it makes you feel better, she’s slept here every day of the week, hoping for you to wake up.”

Sunset couldn’t help but have a bittersweet smile, imagining Twilight by her side. Even now, that Princess somehow, inexplicably, still cared about her. The Pegasus pointed at her phone. “Do you mind if I call the others here? Tell them you’re awake?”

Sunset hesitated. “Umm… yes, okay, you can. D-don’t call Twilight, though. I'm not ready for that.”

Blowing air from her nostrils, The Pegasus pouted a bit. “Alright, alright. I respectfully disagree but it’s your choice.” she said, while typing out a message and sending it to their friends.

“So, walk me through it, is everypony okay?”

Lounging back on her chair, Fluttershy recalled the events of their chaotic week. “Everypony’s been better, but they’ve all recovered okay. Your plan was pretty smart, it ended up working out! The others evacuated the castle, while me and Rainbow got an army of critters and monsters to help fight the automatons. She must have been pretty nervous, because she asked me for a ‘kiss for good luck’ hehehe… She always does that when she’s nervous. It’s cute. There were still plenty of Sentinels remaining, but with our animal army, plus some evertree monsters, and even ponies that we rallied to fight, we actually won pretty easily! Oh! And apparently Starlight Glimmer had formed a resistance with some ponies that remained in Ponyville. They helped us fight too! And imagine our surprise when we found Midnight had been defeated by you already! And, well, ahem, other surprises. You really are something, Sunset!”

“Pff, okay, sure... What happened next?”

“Well Pinkie found fireworks after all, and she somehow managed to find the exact weak spots of the castle to make sure it would crumble. (I wonder if she had already considered a crazy thing like this before...?) After we evacuated, Rainbow had spotted where you two laid, so we came to get you. And then boom! Bye bye evil castle!”

With a frail chuckle, Sunset smiled. “In retrospect, it might have been overkill to blow it up.”

Fluttershy giggled with her. “Speak for yourself, it was pretty cathartic!” she said, making an explosion noise and fluttering her wings.

“Anyways, after Twilight woke up, she wanted to be with you, but duty called, and she had to assure the people that she wasn’t, you know, evil anymore. Luckily when you beat Midnight, Celestia and Luna were freed from whatever prison Midnight had put them in! They helped too. It’s been a pretty busy week, but things are slowly getting back to normal.”

Sunset let out a sigh of relief. Normal sounded pretty damn good right now.

Fluttershy gave her a warm smile. “Don’t worry, Sunset. Everything’s going to be okay.”

That statement felt so hard to believe, after everything Sunset had ever gone through. Things were rarely ever even fine to her. Much less okay.

And that's when they heard Pinkie sounds in the distance approaching the room. Tumbling, a cacophony of onomatopoeia's, until the Pink Pony barged in the room with a cheerful squeal.

She hopped and skipped pinkiely entering the room, incredibly happy. “AAAaa Sunset!! You’re awake!!! Hell yes!! I will refrain from hugging because of your injuries but be aware you have a free coupon for many hugs to be cashed in with yours truly as soon as you are physically able!”

Being incredibly happy to be in the presence of her best friend, Sunset smiled hard, trying to keep a relaxed demeanor, so as to not bring about more physical pain. “Hey Pink. I’ll keep that in mind for later.”

Fluttershy giggled. “Hi Pinkie! Sunset’s still recovering, she hasn’t been fully aware of her situation yet. She's still… noticing stuff.”

“Ohhhh I getcha, I getcha, I getcha! Here Sunset, have some stickers!” Pinkie started placing stickers in her cast. ‘Get well soon’ ‘thank hoofness’ ‘royal pain’ 'not a neigh-sayer’ and others. That's when Sunset realized that her cast was signed from top to bottom; not only did all her friends sign it, but many people from Ponyville, even Cadance… even Luna and Celestia?! “Um... How many people were here?”

Fluttershy pointed to her left. Sunset hadn't noticed yet; but there were tables in the room FILLED with flowers and ‘get well soon’ cards. She even saw a sunflower from Celestia on there… She had been visited by a whole bunch of people and hadn’t even realized it.

She was a bit flabbergasted. Pinkie chimed in. “You saved the world, Silly!! No DUH that people would want to thank you!!” Sunset tried wrapping her head around it, but struggled. It was dizzying.

People were grateful? To her?

She saved the world??

They heard a landing, and Rainbow Dash entered the room, hyped. She kissed Fluttershy then addressed Sunset cheerfully, with her usual cocky demeanor. “How's our favorite badass hanging!! Dude you were legendary.”

She tried smiling confidently, but it wound up genuine. “Hi, Dash. I’ve been better. Still adjusting… thanks for everything.”
Rainbow fluttered her wings, joyfully. “Duuude it’s okay! You were awesome. I can’t believe you beat Midnight all on your own!!! Your ‘final move’ was especially inspired, nyeheheheh!”

Sunset got flustered immediately. “Oh. You. Saw that? Uhh.”

The Pegasus gave a cocky smile. “Yer talkin’ to the eagle eyed of us, pal. I saw it in pristine HD 4K. I was flying back to the castle, and then wham-o, heheh. Gotta say, smart move.”

She nodded nervously, unsure if Rainbow knew about the kiss or not. “Uhh yeah, totally, smart move”

“Yooohooo!!! Hello, darlings!” Rarity and Applejack entered the room; AJ was holding a big basket full of fruits (mostly apples) and sweets of all sorts. “We came as fast as we could! Nice to see ya hangin’ in there, partner!” The Earth Pony gave her an joyful smile.

Sunset could see various lipstick marks on her face; the crime, and the culprit, Rarity, with purple lipstick as usual. Crime solved.

Rarity approached Sunset with a mixture of concern and pride on her friend. “Darling, you did amazing. It is wonderful to see you’re okay! We are so happy for you!” She put the basket on the table next to Sunset, another big set of gifts; she was full of them. Sunset didn’t even care, she was just happy to see everyone.

That same feeling creeped up on her throat, and behind her eyelids, as Sunset suppressed tears. “It’s good to see you two! I'm so glad all of you are okay!!”

Rainbow snickered, whispering at Pinkie. “Has she not noticed yet??”
And Pinkie promptly shushed her. “Shhhhh give her time!!”

Fluttershy giggled. “Don’t worry everypony, I caught her up on everything that’s happened. Almost everything.”

Applejack tilted her hat. “Either way, Yer awesome, partner! Ponyville is itching to throw ya a party, and we ain’t takin’ no for an answer. As soon as ya can stand, of course!”

Pinkie vibrated with excitement. “YOU KNOW IT I WILL MAKE YOU PARTY GIRL”

Another frail chuckle from the injured Unicorn. “Yeah, yeah, fine by me.” It didn’t even seem clear to her, she couldn’t process it; but hundreds of people wanted to celebrate her. She couldn’t even imagine it.

Looking around the room, Rarity piped in. “Well we’re all here, but where’s Twilight? She would want to be here, no?”

A chill ran through Sunset's back. She needed to avoid this. “Well, she’s busy, I didn't want to bother her…!”

Dismissing her, Rarity scoffed promptly. “Nonsense! Let's call Twilight at once!”

Without hesitation, Pinkie grabbed her phone from her mane, smiling. “Okidoki, I'm calling Twilight right now!” Sunset panicked slightly, attempting to get out of bed, “Um. Maybe you shouldn’t”-- But immediately being held down by Applejack easily. Occupants of the room giggled, seeing how flustered their incapacitated friend was.

“Seriously Pinkie. I'm not sure–” But Pinkie shushed her. “Shush! Who’s the resident joy expert here? Trust me, girl!”

Sunset couldn't bear to speak anymore, as he phone rang for a few agonizing seconds and the entire room was quiet. Her heartbeat was rising.

Then she picked up; And Pinkie was her usual self. "Hiiiiiii Twiiiiiii! I thought I should call ya to say that Sunset is awake! Yeyeyeye, she's okay! better than okay! --Of course she wants to see you, silly! --oop, she hung up." She said, putting her phone down and giggling. "Well that was fast!"

The entire room was briefly quiet, as they considered how efficient of a phone call that was.

Applejack cleared her throat. “Ahem, Anyways partner, lay back down, ya shouldn't be overexerting. How are ya feeling?”

The nerves were still clamoring to her, as she stumbled with her words. “Well, I'm–”

Then they all heard a noise outside that could only be described as a jet breaking the sound barrier nearby and crash landing on the roof of the hospital. Blinding light blasted beneath the curtains merely for a moment, and seconds later Twilight slammed the door open, breathing heavily, with a bit of rubble on her, sweating from what might have been a medal earning flight by speed...

...Princess Twilight Sparkle had just performed a sonic rainboom, simply by rushing here.

No one dared comment on it; They figured she hadn't even noticed it herself, either.

The room was quiet as they opened a pathway for her to come closer to Sunset's bed.

And as she approached Sunset, she seemed to be on the verge of tears, focused only on her. “You’re okay… Thank goodness you're okay...!! I was so worried about you…!” She got really close to Sunset.

Sunset was nervous. “H-hi, Twilight. I'm really, really glad you’re okay too...!”

Twilight laid her head on Sunset’s bed, sniffling; And the Unicorn didn’t know what to do. All she could do was apologize.

“I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything; for hurting your feelings. For fighting you. For even existing honestly– Maybe if I wasn’t here none of this would have happened– You deserve better.”

Twilight put a hoof over her mouth, stopping her from talking, still in tears. “nonononO. Shuddup. STOP. You’re incredible, Sunset. Why is it so hard for you to see yourself the way we see you? Why is it so hard for you to see yourself the way *I* see you? You’ve done so much for us!! And you did it just to fit in?? You did it so you could earn it?? And you didn’t even think to ask what we thought of that. What *I* thought of that!!”

No one else in the room was talking. Sunset averted looking at her, with that sense of unending shame bubbling inside her. “I'm really sorry– I was ashamed. I love you so much, but I couldn’t bear myself. And I ended up making it your problem…” All of them looked at her, completely disregarding the idea that her presence would ever be a problem.

Twilight was over energetic, still crying a bit, leaning even closer. “Well we have news for you Sunset; your problems are our problems too. We’re friends!! And don’t get me wrong– I'm So proud of you for everything you’ve accomplished; everything you’ve become! This is a– it’s a good look on you. But I wish you had been honest with me, from the beginning. And also asked about how we felt about you!! How I felt about you!!!”

Sunset closed her eyes. “I'm sorry… I was stupid. I knew I couldn't earn it. I wanted to earn it–”

“Ask me.”

“Huh?”

“Ask me how I feel about you.”

There was no longer any hesitation needed. The question needed to be asked. “...Do you love me?”

“YES!!!” Twilight put two hooves in her bed, flustering a LOT.

“I, um, when did–”

Twilight covered her head with her hooves, flustering a lot, crying and sniffling a bit still.

“I don’t know!! M-maybe a couple of months?? I've never been in love before! I didn’t know what the feelings were, okay? I'm dumb. You wrote a LOVE song for ME and played it TO MY FACE and I just. DIDN’T NOTICE! Gosh, you were holding me with only ONE arm and I was thinking how I wanted to stay like that forever, and like a dumbass I couldn't even tell that wasn’t exactly just a ‘friend’ thing to think. And there I was fantasizing about ways to get you and Celestia in good terms again so that maybe we could work together officially-- Not even realizing I wanted that for a lot more than just you being my FRIEND! 'Golly gee wouldn't it be nice if Sunset Shimmer ruled Equestria alongside me someday!' BESTIE! Ugh, I'm so, so dumb...! Gosh you've changed so much. So, so much...!” Her words were stuttering with love, stuttering with pride, and stuttering with hope.

And because of everything, Sunset couldn’t help but chuckle. “...Well, I guess I did get stronger…”

Tilting her head, Twilight regarded her with pity. “I just wish you had done all that self improvement for yourself, too, Sunset… You deserve to think about yourself, once in a while… You deserve everything...!”

Shaking her head with a frown, Sunset dismissed the thought. “C’mon, can you blame me? You’re a Princess, and I'm just me. I never thought I'd have a chance… And that least of all, I'd deserve it. I don't deserve it. This! I don’t deserve this! I never have! I shouldn't even be here. It isn't right. I don't belong here, and i don't deserve it.” She stated with frustration, pointing at all the incredible ponies in the room. Even now, she felt out of place.

With a loving exhale, Twilight smiled. “Here.” She offered Sunset her arm. Sunset held her, and Twilight helped her sit up.

“You do deserve it, Sunset. Or should I say… Princess Sunset Shimmer?”

“Eh?”

She pointed behind Sunset, making her turn to look.

On Sunset’s back, there was a new pair of wings; they were there even before she woke up, and she hadn’t noticed.

Sunset Shimmer was now an Alicorn.

“Wh– huh? Umm. What?” Her jaw was wide open, and so were her eyes. She sweat a bit, moving her wings, making them flutter and shake; confused.

Rainbow Dash broke out laughing, and the other ponies joined in cheering and congratulating her. It was hard to hold it in before, but it was worth it to see her face. Fluttershy lifted the sweater she was knitting, pointing at it. There were holes in it for wings, and it was meant for the new Alicorn, Sunset Shimmer.

Sunset chuckled nervously “Haha, this is a dream, right? Princess Luna, can you come wake me up? Or maybe don’t because it’s really nice hahaha...!”

Twilight held her hoof, looking right at her, still blushing, with an incredibly warm teary-eyed smile. “Sunset. This is real. You saved the entire world and even beat a corrupted princess in a fight– sounds like more than enough qualification, don’t you think? I sure do…”

Sunset was struggling a lot to hold in tears of joy; A struggle she at long last gave into. A single tear streamed down her cheek as she chuckled. “So you mean you and me…?”

“That’s right. We’re both princesses.” Twilight smiled warmly, while crying too.

Sunset and Twilight hugged, not too tightly so as not to hurt her, embracing each other with their wings.

Gleefully, Pinkie proclaimed what she had been waiting to say for a while; "That makes TWO Alicorns that were ascended in Ponyville! That oughta be some kind of legendary record, right???"

"Ponyville forever!!! We're the BEST!!!!!!!!" Hopping into flight, Rainbow Dash cheered for their hometown; And her friends followed suit, breaking out into giggles.

And they continued, until Twilight, who silently regarded Sunset, both with eyes only for each other, requested them to both have some time alone in the room.

Complying happily, Applejack shoved everyone out, despite their protests. They wanted to watch, after all; But they respected the Princess's wishes, though they remained eavesdropping, outside.

And for Sunset, the same feeling persisted, now with relief, tears streamed down her cheeks, as for the first time in a long while, she knew exactly who she was, without a shadow of a doubt.

She was Princess Sunset Shimmer.

And with that utterly joyful realization, she couldn't help but chuckle frailly, in between tears. "Well… it will be my pleasure to serve alongside you, my Princess Twilight.”

Although the statement made the other Alicorn's heart flutter, she got reasonably upset. “Nonono, it’s time for you to do things for you too, Sunset! Not me. You've been neglecting yourself all this time– you have to change that. What do you want to do? For you! Right now!”

Sunset thought, just for a little bit, processing her beloved’s request, looking at her beautiful teary eyes again.

And then, clarity.

“I want… I want to have a do over on our first kiss.”

With the shock of someone that likely had read books about kissing in an attempt to study such things, Twilight’s eyes widened as she got really flustered and stuttered a bit. “I-i suppose, it’s only right we do it right– and do it again. Properly. Yes. Correctly.”

They kissed each other gently, clumsily, embracing each other, even with their wings, missing their kissing targets by small margins, but nonetheless, cherishing the moment. This was everything Sunset could have possibly ever wanted. And the same went to her beloved.

They stopped kissing and started giggling. Sunset looked right at her while they pressed their heads together. “Heheh, as first kisses go, that wasn't so bad, Princess. Actually… I don't think that was right. Can we get another do over?” she joked, inducing giggles from her partner.

Both of them snickered before kissing again, with the same wonderful feeling, and less clumsiness.

“Ummmm actually I think I could do with another do over.”

And they kissed, laughed, kissed, cried, their friends outside couldn’t help but snicker and celebrate their two friends finally getting together.

Twilight Giggled. “You know, you blew up our castle. *mwah*”

Sunset snickered. “Oh it’s our castle, huh? *mwah*”

“It was an eyesore anyways. Want to build another home together? *mwah*”

“How about a community center-library here in Ponyville? *mwah*”

“Stop, stop, I can only be so in love with you. *mwah*”

“I’ll take that as a challenge. After all… You’re Mine hehehe *mwah*”

“Oh my gosh, I was so embarrassing when I was evil. *mwah*”

“I dunno, heheh. I think it was kinda hot. *mwah*”

“Pfff don’t even go there… hihihi *mwah*”

“You’re mineeee heheheh *mwah*”

“Noooo you’re mineeee hihihi *mwah*”

“I want to fly with you. *mwah*”

“Oh bold already eh? *mwah*

“I want to fly with you and kiss you on top of a building.*mwah*”

“REALLY bold, Princess Sunset…! *mwah*”

“Canterlot Castle. We’re making out on top of the tallest tower hehehh…*mwah*”

“Oh my goodness… *mwah*”

“Right on top of Celestia’s throne room. Heheh.” *mwah*”

“Oh my gosh…!! *mwah*”

“I cannot even imagine how it's going to be like to tell Celestia about this. *mwah*”

“Oh, she knows. I couldn’t help but spill my guts about you. She was amused. and happy. *mwah*”

“Oh no, heheh. How embarrassing… *mwah*”

“You’re gonna have to write a letter to her thouuuuuugh…*mwah*”

“Oh. Crap. Well, it's about time... *mwah*”

And so they continued to giggle and kiss on each other's embrace, both wishing they could stay like that forever.

Man. What a conclusion, huh? attentive readers might have noticed, but a lot of what Celestia says on this chapter mirrors things that Sunset has stated almost identicaly on this fic, on the earlier chapters. And it is real, yes.

Also i'm not sure if a sonic rainboom is smth that other people can perform, but I figured that if anyone could, it'd be twilight in that precise moment! Driven by sheer worry and desire to see her love.

And here she is, finally truly complete. Goddamn, does it feel good.