A Twinkling Sunset

(Twilight’s POV)

With a heartfelt goodbye, I stepped through the portal,  but much like the last time, I had lost my balance once getting back home. My friends back home were all really happy to see me, as I moved the book to close the portal for a little while, wouldn’t want any people accidentally stumbling over here.

The others all began to bombard me with questions about what happened in the other world, much like the last time. I did want to begin to explain what had happened, but it had been a little while since I had a moment of quiet, with singing practice, performing, saving another world, the usual.

Carrying the book with my magic, I headed off to my quarters to relax for a little while, while my friends chose to take their leave.

Trotting back over, I eyed the book that Sunset Shimmer had used to contact me about what was happening in the other world. The book was sent over from the Canterlot Library, with Princess Celestia’s Cutie Mark on the front of it, so it made sense this book belonged to her…

Upon arriving in my quarters, I sat down on my bed to try and see what this book was all about. I opened it up to see that it was filled with lessons, not unlike the Friendship Reports that me and my friends used to send to the Princess. Recalling when I first went to Celestia’s Academy for Gifted Unicorns, I was told that I had to write in a special book.

It was fairly easy to connect the dots, this book was Celestia’s, to receive all of the lessons from her students, but I never got one since I have Spike by my side. I couldn’t help but peek on into it, just wanting to see some of the ponies who had worked with Celestia, aside from myself and Sunset.

With a few flips of the book, I saw some names that I knew, some I didn’t. One name I recognized was Trixie Lulamoon, a… sort of rival of mine, I didn’t know that she was in the Academy of Gifted Unicorn. That’s interesting, if I see her again, I should ask her about that… next name I saw in the book was on Lyra Heartstring. Never heard of her before… maybe I should try to find that pony. After a bit of flipping, I saw another unfamiliar looking name that looked… foreign.

The name read ‘Mitsuishi Usagi’. It’s a fairly… odd name, but I’m guessing she’s foreign, since other landmasses actually say their last name first. Regardless, I continued to flip through the book, seeing that the more recent and quite possibly, the most plentiful entries in this book, were from this… Usagi, and Sunset Shimmer.

With a look of interest, I continued to flip forward in the book, my eyes resting on the last page that was written on by… I think Sunset, since it appeared almost like… an apology letter, but it was clearly incompleted. I flipped through it to see another thing written by Usagi, and after that, the pages were blank.

I just flipped through the pages, seeing the letter from Sunset Shimmer telling me about what was going on in Canterlot High, but after that, every single page was blank. It wouldn’t surprise me, given how Celestia hasn’t taken on any new students aside from me. Something in my mind wondered if it wasn’t me to be the bearer of the Element of Magic, and a Princess… would it have been any of these other ponies?

After moving the book aside, I saw that the sun had set, with Princess Luna raising the moon into the sky. It had been that long since I had gotten home and begun reading? Maybe I should get some sleep now…

---

To say my dreams were normal… was a giant understatement. My dream was really… interesting. It was… a role-reversal, in a way. I was the one who was Princess Celestia’s former student who had ran off into an alternate reality, while Sunset Shimmer stayed, met my friends, became the Princess of Friendship, and… I was the one who stole the Element of Magic… I was the one who had turned into some sort of monster when I put the Element on… I was the one who destroyed the harmony at Canterlot High... I… I… I… I was the one who… tore my best friends apart.

I began to cry a little bit, this dream… I guess I know how Sunset Shimmer feels about it. This… made a new thought enter my mind. Did Princess Luna send me this dream so I could better understand her… honestly, I couldn’t really figure it out myself.

---

A few days had passed, but I had yet to put the book back in the slot to head back to Canterlot High, mainly because I’ve seen the damage a 24/7 opened portal could do, not just to a world… but to some ponies. Sometimes I hope that Celestia was okay… I could only say that… love hurts sometimes.

Honestly, I did want to go back there, see my friends, see Sunset Shimmer again… but I knew I had other things here in Ponyville to do, as the Princess of Friendship.

After just… aimlessly roaming around my castle, I read over the book that Celestia used to contact with her former pupils again, just simply because I needed something to think about. I couldn’t help but wonder if it was at all possible for any of them to be the Alicorn I am right now.

I’ll admit… I’ve kinda gotten my head in where it shouldn’t be, because I’m honestly not sure if Princess Celestia even meant to give me this book. Sure, she wouldn’t have a need for it anymore but… still. I set the book down to head out to Ponyville to get something to eat, because honestly, I think that I should start getting out of the castle a little bit more often, since I got that book, I’ve been up here, reading it again and again. Bad habit, I know. I’m trying to get out of it, just trust me.

---

It was nice to get out of the castle, Pinkie had gotten giddy and gave me way to many cookies… again. But, not like I was complaining to much, these marshmallow chocolate chip cookies are really good. When I had returned to the castle and put my snack down, a guard who was assigned here recently told me there was something… glowing, in the conference room.

Wasting no time, I dashed up to the room, seeing that it was just the book that Celestia had sent me. After a moment, I told the guards to leave me for a moment to see what was up with this book. I flipped through it for a moment, finding one page after Sunset’s note to me from earlier… there was a new one.

Dear Princess Twilight,

Missing you already, and I hope you’ll be back soon. Things are definitely looking up for me here at Canterlot High. But I know I still have a lot to learn about friendship. Hope you don’t mind if I write to yu for advice when I need it.

Your friend, Sunset Shimmer.

This was… a very sweet thing. I was the one receiving a Friendship Report this time around… I could just feel a tear about to form by one of my eyes. I wiped it off, a smile forming on my muzzle. But… I knew one pony who would love to see this even more than I do.

---

With my snack and the book in tow, I flew off for Canterlot, seeing the land as I flew, I began to get an idea of why Rainbow Dash loves to fly so much. As I flew, I did a few tricks here and there, but nothing that wouldn’t stray me off course or damage anything in my saddlepack.

It wasn’t very long after that, I arrived at the castle, simply smiling as the guards let me in to see my mentor, who seemed pleasantly surprised that I was there. I smiled at her, and she smiled on back. After nibbling on a few more of the cookies, I used my magic to show her the book, which she was even more surprised to see. Princess Celestia admitted that she actually forgot about the ‘Message Carrier’ Book, since me and my friends didn’t use it. She states that when a student leaves, is dismissed or graduates, they leave their books in the library, but she knew one was missing.

She also added she actually thought that Sunset took her Message Carrier Book, while Celestia had Sunset’s. I couldn’t help but giggle at this comment, before I showed her the most recent entry in the book that was from Sunset Shimmer. Princess Celestia gasped at this entry, smiling and tearing up a little bit.

“She’s fine,” I told her with a smile, as she then moved over another Message Carrier Book, and suddenly… it bore my Cutie Mark…