I haven’t said these words in a while. It feels so weird to even think them; but here I am.

Dear Princess Celestia: Hello again! I am sorry for everything. I'm sorry I haven't written. I know you’ve forgiven me, but… If this last year has been about anything, it’s been about forgiving myself. I can’t state how afraid I was. And how ashamed… and filled with regret over every fiber of my being.

But I've come to a conclusion. No more regret. Everything I did, even my mistakes, led me to this point. I betrayed you, and that led me to Twilight. And she led me to… Everything. She is everything. I’ve gotten better because of your pupil… I'm the happiest I've ever been because of her. In some way, I suppose I'll give that credit to you, too, heh. You already know that we’re in love, but I still want to ask you for your blessing. (And if you don’t give it, I'll just ask Luna, heh.) After all, I love Twilight… just, so much!!! I want to spend the rest of my life with her; She's so friggin cute and I can't stop thinking of us in our princess outfits, give me some badass armor– Actually Spike can you scratch that last part? I'm getting distracted haha. Spike. Do it now please.

Anyway, learning to fly has been exhilarating. I’ve been catching on quickly, according to Dash and Fluttershy. Though I still take quite a few falls, but honestly, nothing I'm not used to. Twilight said I'm better at flying than she is, so I took it as an opportunity; I've been taking her to my flying lessons to teach her to fly even better, too! The sensation of flying with a lover… there’s nothing quite like it, it's just so incredible– hey Spike can you scratch that too? I need to focus.

Also, you’re getting a letter from the world’s first punk rock Alicorn, hehe! Me and Pinkie have been putting on some shows, and I think my new wings make for quite the advertisement. I even got Twilight to join as a singer! Her voice is so beautiful, i, ahem. Maybe some of the others will join too, I wouldn't mind that at all. Rarity made me some awesome outfits to fit my new wings, and naturally, gorgeous dresses that I might not wear much, heh. If you ever need a rock show in Canterlot, you know who to call!

Come to think of it, I'm not sure what I’m the Princess of. Twilight is the Princess of Friendship… We got one of love already, Maybe I'm the Princess of Ass-Whooping? I have really enjoyed fighting for my friends, I wonder if that would be it. And with all this power, all I can think of is holding what I love dearly. Protecting them… Protecting everyone. That’s why I'm here, maybe? …I don't know, but I'm excited to find out!

Well, either way… Meeting my parents again was. Odd. I decided to keep it a surprise who I was dating, and well, how I 'looked.' Never seen them more flabbergasted. It was very entertaining. I had forgotten what it's like to have a parental figure be proud of me. We had a really wonderful time, and we’ll see each other more from now on! Especially now that I can fly!
My life is so different now. I find myself thinking and doing things I never would have dared before. I'm not sure if that's a case of being an Alicorn, or just… having the friends I have now. I feel lighter than air.

I'm getting off track, aren’t I? Dear Celestia. I’ve learned… I've learned…That I know how strong I am now. I'm strong because of my mistakes and my shortcomings, I'm strong because of my friends and loved ones. I'm strong because of every single challenge that was put ahead of me, and because of all the people that backed me up. I'm strong because of Me. And I'm strong because of Her…
I’ve learned to live without regrets holding me back. I’ve learned to allow myself to be, good aspects and all, flaws and all. Especially the flaws.
And I've learned that… Everything is going to be okay if we work side by side. Our love for each other makes us stronger. My love for her makes me… Stronger than I could have ever imagined. Like I could raise the sun! – Spike, maybe scratch that last part.

I wouldn’t trade my life for anything in the world.

You know what, this letter is a bit unnecessary, isn’t it? I got off track again. Here’s something more concise: Dear Princess Celestia, is it okay if we come over? If you’d like, these two princesses and her friends can visit Canterlot, and you and I will get to talk face to face once more, this time, as equals. We can share everything we should have before! I want to see you again, I want to show you all I've learned. I’d like that very much… I miss you.
I hope you feel the same way. I owe you a lot more than either of us could even imagine. But I don't want to see you as an unreachable goal anymore. After all, you never were… It was a mistake to see you that way. And I won't let that hold me back anymore. With hope, we will see eachother again soon, and we will get to talk as old friends.

No more fears. No more regrets.

I am ready for anything.

Your faithful former student, Sunset Shimmer.

AUTHOR’S NOTE - regarding a whole buncha stuff!

PHEW thanks for reading all that. Hi it’s me, Bonnie again! I hope you had as much fun reading it as I had writing it! I figured I'd put a couple notes here about some of the behind-the-scenes processes of writing this fic, Many of the ideas I had that didn't make it or that went above board, and ideas for the future.

Midnight Sparkle inside Twilight’s psyche be like, lol.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my interpretation of these characters, i very much enjoyed writing all of them, Chapter 2 was incredibly large (sorry about that) specifically because i basically wanted to write an entire season of the show where Sunset was a new deuteragonist; and honestly left to my own devices i would have written episodes where she isn't the POV, too. I cut a handful of content and ideas, enough to make chapter 2 be its own book, so let's leave that be lmao.

I’ve definitely gotten a weird personal grip on the characters; I changed some of them maybe a bit too far from the originals, but it was mostly with intent of furthering the themes, but there are exceptions of “because I like her better that way” lmao. Rainbow dash and Pinkie are definitely examples. They are my least favorite of the Mane 6 in the show; but I would never take that as an excuse to write them poorly. The very opposite!
I decided to go all in and try to change them for the better; like making rainbow dash actually loyal (don't @ me) and not obsessed with winning above everything else. I made her into an action hero type that is still compassionate and deeply empathetic.
And in Pinkie's case, have you noticed that she makes people uncomfortable all the time in the show? And that she lacks basic empathy?? Well I ain't having that. I think you can have a ‘cooky’ random dumb sweet character without sacrificing the pillars of a good person; and although she obviously isn't awful in the show; I felt like she needed to be a confidant more often. Someone that despite their overall dumbness, you can count on as a real friend. (+ in Equestria Girls her and Sunset have a pretty cute dynamic! I can see why people ship them despite me preferring twilight x Sunset. But still. I honored that dynamic!)
Another character I certainly butchered the most, Cadance. NGL, Cadence in the show is a bit… Nothing. I’m sorry Cadance fans but she's a pretty sorry excuse for a goddess of love, and her prince is even worse. I can see the appeal, but for the sake of the themes of this story, I had to divorce em. I know, I know, blasphemy; but hey, if Sunset saw a princess being in love with a basic ass white boy in a stable relationship, her insecurities over being enough for twilight would diminish greatly! As per illustrated here:

I think you can notice why this would probably sabotage the drama in the narrative, lmao. Pretty damn easy conclusion, Funny, if nothing else.

Despite all that, believe it or not, Cadence was my favorite “take” to write out of all of them. Cause i took the most creative liberties, really! She was a blank canvas and I decided to write her much like a Greek god; kind of a bastard. But unlike the Greek gods, a kind one!
Her chapter was pretty important to talk directly to Sunset about her love problems, and it was very damn fun to write.
(also in the show, the fact that Shining Armor doesn't even notice that his wife is a changeling when Chrysalis isn't even TRYING to act nice pisses me off lmao. BAD HUSBAND.)

I of course took other liberties, like writing about Sunset’s “parents” who don’t even exist in the show, (i thought that an upbringing would be really important to define someone like her) and like making Rarity and Applejack get all over each other, (i know rarity is painfully straight in the show but like. My god girl, just go get that farm girl, you’ll be happier that way.) And I also choose keeping their Equestria Girls powers! I always thought they were simple, but very natural, and should have been on the main show (forever annoyed that applejack isn't apple-jacked. Like wtf.)
Which does make me think of Sunset’s mind reading powers, honestly, i imagined if i would canonize them on this, i’d make it only an post-alicorn thing. And even then; such power has to be used wisely, I don't imagine she'd have much use for it (unless we’re going by subterfuge-style-episodes n stuff)
I kind of purposefully went slightly meta in some of the moments. Mentioning how Sunset felt like she didn't belong there and felt like it wasnt right, stuff like that. But make no mistake this is the show I wish we got lmao. Desperately gay horses. Show of the Century.

Anyways, let’s talk about deleted scenes/sequences/gags!

This one is fairly simple. I thought of a funny(ish) joke regarding Pinkie, i figured it’d be really funny if she was genuinely offended at the thought of being brought along to something that might not be fun, and she’d drop the F-bomb, not out of frustration with her friends, but with the very universe, lmao.
But I couldn't find the right moment to place this joke, and figured it wasn’t worth setting up a whole scene for it. Plus, I got plenty of good jokes with her already. Remember the ratio?

This one is pretty funny, one of my favorite jokes i’ve made regarding Rarity and Applejack, I specifically cut it because coming up with an entire scene context where Sunset was helping her with making clothes just wasn’t worth it. Don’t get me wrong, this might as well be canon, all of these deleted scenes are, but I sure didn't want to cloud chapter 2 any more than I needed to. And 200 days is a long time! Lots can happen!

But yeah, these horses gay. I never minded joking about this; and I will say the only reason I even had to write any horny jokes was related to rarijack lmao. I just find that the ship is inherently kinda charged for those kinds of jokes. And sex is nothing if not funny!

This one is a bit specific! I wound up writing Sunset to be way better with kids than I would have expected, even if accidentally. And I realised this would have been a wonderful opportunity to give her her very own scootaloo, even if just for one episode. Babs Seed seemed like the type to like cool punk style and violence!
The general premise would be that “apple acres ball” that Rarity mentioned in chapter 4. Basically, to get away from the responsibility of participating in the dance festivities, Sunset would choose to be one of the caterers and bouncers, much to Applejack's delight. And I imagine Twilight could likely be present, So Sunset would want to do a pretty good job to impress her. Queue fun entertaining fights with some troublemakers-apple haters crashing the party and sunset and applejack get to wallop-em; with the added comedy of Sunset trying to keep the party as tidy as possible WHILE kicking ass. Using magic to keep a cake from falling WHILE bucking your enemies; good times.
Plus the really cute thing of the cutie mark crusaders adoring a good butt kicking!

The one below is interesting because I couldn't find a way to put Starlight on this story for the LIFE of me. Thing is, I'm not her biggest fan in the show, but I adore her shenanigans with Trixie; and if there's another entertaining aspect, is the idea of her and her gf just out there living their best lives. But if it didn’t further the themes, I would generally avoid it.
(I’m still figuring out how Starlights hair would look in my style lol)
Either way, the joke that was alluded to twice on the fic wasn’t just throwaway; i actually had conceptualized two full scenes for them, but i realise they didn’t further the themes, they were just fucking hilarious. On the upside, I actually planned to wrap up the sequence by having Trixie and Sunset get along pretty well! My idea was that Trixie would join them on party tricks and wound up just becoming good friends with Sunset, (Much like in Forgotten Friendship!) despite the awful first impression both had. I even had a funny idea for a moment;
Trixie scoffs about Twilight being perfect, annoyed, and Sunset just agrees, with a loving sigh. One going “ugh” and the other going “aww she really is” That would be funny.
Regardless, Starlight and Trixie are out there living their best lives. Maybe they can help with world ending threats but I wouldn't wanna disturb their peace.

That’s about it with deleted scenes! Well, not really. I had plenty of more ideas, but my goodness i've taken up enough of your time, let's move on to the next thing, ‘cause what could be isn’t worth fantasizing about (any more than the 100+ pages i’ve written lmao)

A thing I do wanna point out that I personally enjoyed a LOT about my take on the story of MLP, but one thing especially; in this bizarre alternate universe where Sunset Shimmer matters a lot more, is that I’ve successfully written a pretty damn satisfying hook for Celestia and Luna to get their future replacements. Hell yeah.

Thinkin about it, it's pretty poetic. Twilight sparkle and Sunset shimmer as the inheritors of night and day. I always thought it was pretty damn sad for Twilight having to reign alone, in case Celestia and Luna both retired, like bruh that's a lot of responsibilities for one person, even if she is pretty damn incredible.

Wouldn’t it just make more sense if she actually had another ruler side by side like Celestia has Luna? And wouldn't it be wonderful if that ruler was a lover. Yes, yes it would. And it’d be an amazing conclusion to have successors that encompass even more than just Sun and Moon.

Especially considering that you can make a full SEASON of the two lovers learning to take the place of their successors, and even then, I wouldn't see retirement as something that'd happen to Celestia and Luna anytime soon; not when things are just getting good for them.

it’s worth stating, many would describe this, what i wrote, as an “Finale” but tbh it’s literally just the beginning for this interpretation of the characters. You could make so much, with two protagonists that are happily in love, but now one of them has to learn to be a god with her love. Pretty damn fun; This would involve all new kinds of training, challenges, and hilarious shenanigans. Especially with returns to normalcy with a status quo changed! (introducing your parents to your god gf and also telling them you ARE a god gf.)
I know I made a lot of mentions of Celestia not being Sunset's favorite, and even kept her out of the story as much as possible on purpose, but Sunset was lying through her teeth. Let's face it, I'm dying for those two to reunite as mentor and pupil, specifically now that they're on the same level, and all of Sunset's fears and apprehensions have disappeared. It would be glorious to reinstate their relationship and evolve it.

There could be so many interesting moments of Celestia being able to show her things she’s never shown Twilight, like how the process of raising the sun works, Channeling the power of sunlight, being one with the sun itself, stuff like that. And generally taking a more tender motherly approach to their relationship would be pretty cute too (especially if sunset’s actual parents would show up and get cocky lmao. Shenanigans ensue) And since Sunset is the exact kind of Success that Celestia always hoped for, and she's overjoyed to have two incredibly successful pupils.

The sequence in which Celestia talks to Sunset while she is dying is inspired by the scene in which twilight becomes an alicorn on the show; she is shown the cosmos and is approached by Celestia directly about her feats… but i choose to take a more abstract and indirect approach, with having Sunset unable to talk back. I wondered for a really, really long time if it was worth it to include that scene, or if I should just have Sunset be an alicorn at the hospital as a surprise regardless. (It was actually the last sequence I added to the fic, even after having written the ending.) Because the strongest desire is the one that is unfulfilled; never meeting Celestia again would make readers go crazy, heh, potentially in a good way. But I also weighed in the positive impact of having Celestia reflect the exact same sentiments that Sunset had! How they really did feel similarly, they shared the same shame and regret, and wished to reunite.
(the first sentences on that sequence are word for word things that Sunset has said and thought on this fic lmao.)
Celestia needs a lasting legacy. Luna, too. This would be a pretty damn good one. Also worth stating you could absolutely further Luna and Sunset’s friendship as well. They could easily build eachother up even more now that Sunset is on their level; and maybe get Luna that ‘date’ she might need heheheh. Generally I imagined Sunset would get a massive thirst for legendary combat, and learning from two alicorn princesses would be pretty damn sick. Maybe even sparring!
Lightwing vs Nightwing. Nice.

I definitely like the idea of Sunset being a “Princess of Protection” (or maybe some better name) and genuinely becoming like. A fucking Valkyrie queen (Creating a new line of warriors to protect the kingdom, awesome Valkyries and having Rainbow Dash as her bestie captain nyeh). Sunset would be someone who has perfected combat of Earth ponies, Pegasi, and Unicorns, all together into one incredibly ass kicking Alicorn package; and she does this fully motivated to protect her friends and beloved, and loving every second of it. (And for the record she would still hype her gf to be more powerful than her. Which Twilight is, like cmon, that girl is basically mob psycho. Sunset would remain humble after everything!!! Good for her)

Plus, The same way Celestia is going back to showing the ropes, Luna can start teaching Twilight, this time! The way of the night and dreams! (since let's face it, the little overachieving nerd doesn't have much more she can learn from Celestia, heh)

Generally Regarding twilight, always the overachiever, i imagine that she and Sunset would hype eachother so much. Sunset would likely revel on the idea of being her gf’s bodyguard, despite knowing she can fight very well by herself. There is so much more that I could write regarding their relationship, this is only the beginning, really. The beginning of something beautiful.

Okay, let me rewind a bit to talk about character changes/interpretations I've made, because here’s arguably the most important one; Midnight Sparkle, the titular character. It is worth stating, her appearance in Equestria girls is fairly brief; and relevance does not surpass the movie after it, (the evertree one) but I was fascinated by the idea of Twilight, the most kind and sweet of all, having a darker side. Especially because it very much was her, except I was just motivated to follow her every dark desire (which in the movie was understanding and owning magic) and I thought hey, what if I applied it to good ol’ Equestria Twilight? The actual protagonist, Flipped into a form that pursues her darkest desires shamelessly and without care for others.
Oh and I imagine some of you might be sad of the erasure of the Equestria Girls Twilight, the cute nerd one, but honestly as someone who ships Sunset and Twilight HEAVILY, i never cared specifically which Twilight it was, bc it amounts to the same thing; Sunset loves Twilight in every world. And that's good.
It is worth stating, I did actually get this idea in a dream. My dream was pretty simple, Midnight sparkle was on regular Equestria, and so was Sunset. But for some cruel twist of fate, Midnight was in love with sunset, the dark irony of Sunset being in love with Twilight already, And my dream ended with Sunset weaponizing both their loves, kissing her to stun her, and then finishing her off to bring back Twilight. The “weakness they both share” is their love for eachother. And Sunset exploited it wonderfully to the benefit of their first kiss.
I was deeply inspired by the idea of Midnight having none of the inhibitions that Twilight would, so not only would she wear her feelings for Sunset on her sleeve, she would outright give Sunset all she could possibly want on a silver platter.
This entire narrative was to justify how and why Sunset, who could not want anything else more than to be with her, would still refuse. For all her friends, and for Twilight, and even by her own feelings of inadequacy, she would refuse to take something that isn’t hers.
Anyways, the dream ended there, and as soon as I woke up, I was creatively CHARGED. I saw the unlimited potential of this as a storyline but also as an introduction to them as a couple. And the rest is history, here we are, over 100 pages in. But hey, on the bright side, we’re almost done!

Which leads me to the final subject, before I wrap it up: A sequel.
Not gonna lie, I don't feel like writing another fic anytime soon. But, and this is a BIG but, i’ve had a really good time with these interpretations of my characters. Especially Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle. Now that their relationship has furthered so much, writing a sequel with a strong focus on their love would be a sitch.
…which I have already fully conceptualized. Even wrote down most of the details. Hold your laughter, but if I wrote a sequel to “The Return of Midnight Sparkle” I would write a story about the multiverse. Yes. I'm not joking. Hear me out.
Sunset is more fulfilled and happier than she's ever been, she's at her PEAK. And so is her love. So if Sunset gets cursed to cross the Ponyverse, meeting other versions of herself, many of whom are failed, dejected, unsuccessful, unhappy, or generally unfulfilled, the potential for introspection is enormous; and so is the potential of self love.
So if our Sunset meets a version of herself that is in danger, or generally doing awfully, she wouldn't hesitate on trying to better her world, and helping herself, even if she will only be there for a short time. And MAN. THERE ARE SO MANY WORLDS I COULD WRITE WITH THAT SIMPLE PREMISE. For comedy, action, drama, the potential is endless. (i literally 32 different worlds already conceptualized on my notes)
Also the recurring gag of “by the way, im married to Twilight Sparkle in my world” and making her other self be flabbergasted would be priceless.
And on the other side, her wife, Twilight Sparkle would be trying to search the multiverse for her wife, likely accidentally pulling other Sunsets from other worlds (especially some that would have met her wife already) into her own world. Shenanigans of multiple Sunsets in one room ensue. (and perhaps drama)
Not to mention the chance to show all the other characters in dramatically different scenarios, and how our Sunset would interact with them, telling them how their success or failings compare to her universe. So much potential!!!!
oh and if you're wondering how Sunset and Twilight would get married, just think of Pirates of the caribbean 3, Will turner and Elizabeth swan nyeh. Marrying in the middle of a battlefield and getting Celestia to officiate in the middle of a fight (bonus points if the battle is in the skies so they can kiss to officiate it while on free fall)

Anyways I’ve already conceptualized a beginning, middle and end for this sequel. But I'm going to be honest, I don't think it's worth writing, not yet at least. Specialty considering that a multiverse story would lend itself better to visual medium, with different artists illustrating different universes. Which is something very clearly and obviously outside of the realm of possibilities for me, a pretty small scale artist. But man, facial expressions, action, and all sorts of different visual noise in different universes, all of that lends itself really well to comic books; imagining telling a story of Sunset and Twilight, both separated by different universes, but on the same page with strong parallels! That’d be incredible.

But hey. Thank you for showing me love and reading all my incessant rambles, and this hallucinatory textual nightmare that is called fanfiction. You’re awesome. And who knows? Maybe if I get enough positive comments about this story, I'll consider actually writing the sequel, heheh. Be sure to give me some feedback!

Seriously though. Thank you so much for reading this far. I love you.

Here, have my ponysona, Sketchy BonBon, Illustrating the monarchs of Equestria.

The end!

This time, for real.