The talk (Flashback)

[Deleted]

They ate in silence. Or at least, Celestia did. The day had had a lot of silence. On account of the events of yesterday, the school had been temporarily closed, so she'd spent the day at home, walking around the house, occasionally catching a glimpse of her daughter, and being very quiet. Scraping the last bit of hummus off her plate, Celestia finally rose and moved for the living room, gesturing for Sunset to follow her.

She sat down in the couch before the TV, patting the spot beside her. Sit down.

First of all, I want you to know that I love you. You're my daughter. No matter what happens, that will never change. Still, we need to talk.

What you did, stealing the crown, attacking your classmates, it was very wrong. Why did you feel the need to do it?

[Sunset Shimmer]

So, this whole situation had just gotten rather awkward.

For the last few years, Sunset had convinced this world’s version of Celestia to “adopt” her. It was perfect; Sunset has a place to stay and she could have the satisfaction of keeping immense power and secrets from her mentor…in spirit at least. Meh, revenge wasn’t exactly a rational thing when you got down to it, so the oddness of the idea wasn’t that surprising when taken in that light. But even the irrationalness didn’t help with solving what to do in the aftermath of all the secrets Sunset had kept from her “mother” were revealed. And by revealed, Sunset meant “she turned into a demon and destroyed the front of the school while enslaving the students into a zombie army to take over an entirely different dimension”.

It seemed that so far Sunset had gotten away with not having to talk about the ordeal, although any hopes of not having any sort of conversation she realized would be pointless. After all, it was sort of a big deal that had to be addressed sometime. So when Celestia gestured for her to sit down and talk after dinner, Sunset wasn’t surprised at all. Still didn’t stop her from trying to weasel out of it.

”Do we really need to this? Sunset sighed, arms crossed. A glance over Celestia told her that probably wasn’t going to work, and so with reluctance she sat down.

”Fine.”

Sunset thought for a moment about where it was that she wanted to start.

”I guess we can start with ambition, power, greed, whatever you want to call it. The entire reason I even came to this world was because back in Equestria I had seen the portal, and in it was a reflection was me as an alicorn.”

She stopped for a moment before realizing that Celestia here probably didn’t know what that was.

”And our princesses were alicorns; they represent all three ponies by having the magic of unicorns, the flight of pegasi, and the affinity with the earth of, er, Earth Ponies. So, point is it’s a pretty big deal.”

”Anyway, point was I thought that my mentor was holding me back and so I decided to come here to prepare to prove her wrong. Because I was the best, I was handpicked by her to be her student, and I thought she had no right to try and hold me back.”

While at this point she had still sitting with her arms crossed, at this moment she relaxed a little, resting her head on her hands.

”Though I guess at this point it seems she was probably right, which currently making me both regretful and annoyed at the same time.”

[Deleted]

When Sunset had finished talking, Celestia wasted no time hugging the girl within an inch of her life, the first of many, she suspected. Then, she thought about what she'd heard. Sunset had told her a lot, some of which she'd suspected (it was nice to finally get confirmation about whence her daughter had come, that'd kept her up a lot of nights) some of which she hadn't (pegasus? As in Medusa's daughter; Bellerophon's mount? What? Ask later).

So your mentor, who was she? Was she was a princess? An, er, Allycorn? She supposed she already knew most of the answer. The poor dear had been picked up at early age by someone who was clearly important, told she had a destiny so bright it stung the eyes to look at it, and then told to not seek out power when it was presented to her. Whoever her mentor had been, she needed a stern talking to, Celestia thought.

Sunset, before you came here, which of the, uh, three things were you? Unicorn, Pegasus or... pony? And what does that mean? What could you do back then? How much have you lost? How much have you suffered, these past years, robbed by a single mistake of the abilities your species apparently claim by birth? I know you never slept well...

It might be that she'd have to tell a few stories of her own...

[Sunset Shimmer]

Sunset couldn’t even breathe a sigh of annoyance due to the tightness of the hug. It would have been meaningless though; based on her current life choices she had a feeling that she should expect there to be a lot more of these in the future. Therefore, she might as well get used to these, though hopefully in the future there would be enough breathing room to be able to make a comment. For now, all she could do was tentatively reciprocate. With all these recent upheavals, and reevaluations of her life, she still wasn’t exactly sure what her relationship was going to be with Celestia, but she would continue telling her what she deserved to know at the very least.

”My mentor? She, was, uhm…”

And of course the first thing was revealing who her mentor was in the other world.

”Princess Celestia. Your equivalent, so to speak, in our world.”

Laying back into the couch, arms crossed again, she figured might as well spill out her reasons for having been so quick to stay with her, the Principal Celestia.

”And before you ask, the reason I decided to stay with you after all of that is because at first I was getting a bit of pleasure out of at least getting to outwit this world’s version of my mentor.”

The question about her former species was a quite bit easier for her to answer, with a bit more sense of pride in it.
”I was a unicorn, the one with the…well, horn. As for my skills? You name it, good chance I could either do it or I could have learned to do it. I had a particular talent for nature spells though; I once caused a seed to grow into a room-sized plant for a mid-term test.

[Deleted]

Jan 6, 2014 20:45:14 GMT -6 Sunset Shimmer said:

”Princess Celestia. Your equivalent, so to speak, in our world.”

Another Celestia? Equivalent? That didn't even begin to make sense, the long-term changes from even a minor change in parameters...

Right. Magic. It didn't have to make sense. Common sense gathered in a "non-magical" universe of computers and nuclear power wasn't going to be of much use without a lot more info.

Celestia leaned into the sofa and tried to imagine herself as a magical allycorn princess. As a pony with a horn and wings (presumably that was what "Pegasus" meant) and a royal title. It was amazing how much more difficult the thought was to swallow than yesterday's light show. Forcing her breath and heartbeat slow, she listened to the rest.

Jan 6, 2014 20:45:14 GMT -6 Sunset Shimmer said:

”And before you ask, the reason I decided to stay with you after all of that is because at first I was getting a bit of pleasure out of at least getting to outwit this world’s version of my mentor.”

Oh. That was a bit sad. Celestia was used to teenagers trying to explain their actions and suspected there was more to it (though that might be wishful thinking) but it was still uncomfortable to hear the girl she loved so much speak of herself so coldly. She felt like giving another hug, but decided against it, considering how uncomfortable Sunset had been with the first.

Jan 6, 2014 20:45:14 GMT -6 Sunset Shimmer said:

”I was a unicorn, the one with the…well, horn. As for my skills? You name it, good chance I could either do it or I could have learned to do it. I had a particular talent for nature spells though; I once caused a seed to grow into a room-sized plant for a mid-term test.

Oh. That was a lot of power, especially for a child. And this was within normal parameters for that world? Celestia briefly imagined her alter-ego raising a wall of thorns like the wicked witch in the Sleeping Beauty movie. No, too over the top. Maybe a grove of trees or something.

Enough daydreaming. Her daughter needed her. So is there anything I need to know about what you did back there? Does magic use have any residual effects? Nothing's happened so far during the cleanup, but I thought it would be good to ask. We could use your help. If she was a star pupil, Sunset had to know a lot about magic, and helping with cleanup would be both repentance and a chance to gain control of her situation. Inside Celestia's head, another Celestia steepled her fingers and smiled a meddler's and plotter's smile.

[Sunset Shimmer]

Sunset began to think for a moment on whether or not there was anything from the battle that might be needed to be revealed. There was some basic stuff, like the Elements of Harmony and all that, but in terms of what she was wanting, Sunset doubted there would be anything. The Elements were usually pretty good about getting rid of any possible negative effects of magic; they were supposed to be used for that after all.

”Everybody should be fine. The artifacts that Twilight used to, uhm, defeat me were called the Elements of Harmony. Bringing them across dimensions may have allowed me to mess with the Element of Magic to do what I did, but when used as they are supposed to be they are pretty good about wiping out any negative magical effects. You’d have to be causing damage at the level of reality warping before any permanent side effects would occur, and there’s only been a handful of magic users who could do that”

Her first thoughts turned to Discord, the master of all chaos. Sure, the Elements succeeded in turning him into stone, but the area he used as his “capitol”, so to speak, was still to this day showing scars of his reign. Made for a rather interesting tourist destination, what with the floating upside down houses and long-legged rabbits. Compared to that, her little zombie brainwashing spell was pretty much nothing, and the demonic forms she and Snips and Snails had shouldn’t have any permanent effects on them either.

”So, is there anything else you need or want to know?”

[Deleted]

Just one thing. And this isn't as your principal or as your mother. Just as someone who cares about you. You've been talking so much about all the bad times in your life and all the things you don't like. Are there any good memories?

You know what? I'll start. When I was eighteen, I was in a motorcycle gang. And when the old leader left, there was a big boy named Titan who became the new leader. I know what you're thinking. It's one of those stories and I'm being gross. Celestia stopped for a moment, indulging in her most poker-faced smile.

It's not. He wanted it to be. He said we had to date or he'd throw me out of the gang. So I challenged him to a fist fight and I beat the snot out of him. The rest of the gang called the cops on me over that, said I was too violent. They locked me up for a couple months after that, and I wasn't allowed to go back to the gang.

Celestia leaned back into the couch and smiled to herself, lost in memories. But you should have seen the look on his face when I did it. It was a mistake, sure, but I'll never regret doing it. Celestia smirked and fixed Sunset's gaze. Now it's your turn. Have you ever done something you felt really good about?

[Sunset Shimmer]

”Well I didn’t go decking bikers or anything if that’s what you’re wanting,” Sunset replied, not really sure how to react to the story that had just been told to her.

”But really, don’t get the wrong impression. Despite whatever happened at the end there, and a lot of that was my own fault, I was happy being Princess Celestia’s student. I mean I was the best, the brightest, had all the applause and praise I could ever want. And arrogance aside, studying magic was my thing and I was good at it. How could I not be happy getting to study it?”

Of course that probably wasn’t exactly what her mother was trying to get at. More importantly, that was all in the past; the question was whether or not she had been happy since she came here. And that question was a lot harder for her to answer.

”But since I came here to this world? I’m honestly not so sure. Yeah, there was Flash Sentry and all that, but I can’t honestly say I was dating him just because he made me happy. Him being one of the most popular boys in the school played a pretty big role in my choice. The more popular I was, the more power I could wield, blah blah blah.”

Speaking of her ex-boyfriend, Sunset couldn’t help but wonder what exactly he thought about all this. Especially since it seemed, despite how brief her time had been here, Flash had taken a shine to Princess Twilight Sparkle. Knowing now that that both his ex and his date were actually from another dimension where they were ponies? Probably was going to make things a little awkward even without the whole zombie army plan thing.

”And, like I said, my choice in staying with you was out of some sense of wanting to get back at my mentor so whether I could even count that as being happy I don’t know.”

So much for trying to get me to think on the happy side, Sunset thought, realizing all her stuff was pretty much destroying her mother’s point. But there was still a way to save it, hopefully.

”But whatever happened is over; I’ve made a commitment to try and be a better person and I’m going to stick with it. Whatever anger or spite I had, I’m going to get over it. It might be a little bit awkward while I sort out my own feelings, but if Twilight’s right about this whole friendship thing, then in the end everything should turn out alright.”

[Deleted]

Celestia smiled warmly. Very good, Sunset Shimmer. Yes, you've made many mistakes, but what's important is that your mistakes can only weigh you down if you let them, and you're stronger than that. She put a hand on Sunset's shoulder. You're so much stronger than you think. Think back on the things you've accomplished, both the good and the bad, and maybe you'll realize that. Standing up, she yawned and stretched her back. Well, I don't know about you, but I'm feeling a bit tired. Going to bed now. Don't stay up too long, okay?

As she walked off, there was still a sense of worry nagging in the back of Celestia's mind. How well did she really know her daughter? The image of Sunset in her head was an occasional bully, yes, and Flash Sentry had clearly never been anything but a 'proof of dating competence', but thinking back, reviewing events in the past, Sunset's machinations clearly reached much farther. She liked to think of herself as a good judge of character, but she had dealt with enough parents to know how much love could mess that up. Do I need to step back here, and let someone else deal with this, or is faltering support from a guardian exactly what Sunset needs to tip straight into darkness? She didn't know, and that sheared her heart.