On the balcony of Canterlot Castle, Princess Celestia lowered the sun and raised the moon, completing the day-night cycle and effectively putting a period on her day's work.
At last, she could enjoy a moment of time that belonged solely to herself.
She could enjoy some tea and snacks while reading the letter sent from Ponyville.
Her little apprentice had been invited to visit Ponyville; it was said that her second apprentice had come up with some new idea and asked the little apprentice to go over and help her out.
The vast Canterlot Castle was now left with only her, a lone pony.
"Sigh... busy, everyone's busy. It's good to be busy..."
Princess Celestia let out a sigh that befitted a pony of her age, then unfolded the letter from Ponyville. This had been sent by Spike just a short while ago, and Princess Celestia had specifically saved it to read after her work was finished.
Upon unfolding the letter, the first thing Princess Celestia saw was the group photo taken by Aurora of The foals hugging each other. Combined with the learning summary that Twilight Sparkle had mentioned in the letter regarding this incident, she felt a surge of joy in her heart.
It was wonderful; her students were so sunny, cheerful, and positive. This brought great comfort to Princess Celestia's increasingly weary mind.
She had to keep these letters safe for Twilight Sparkle; these crystallizations of the growth of friendship might prove very useful in the future.
After reading the letter, Princess Celestia rolled it back up, took a box from the bookshelf, and placed the letter inside.
She felt that there would be more such letters in the future, so she had prepared a box in advance specifically for storing them.
Now, counting today's letter, there weren't many letters accumulated in the box yet.
At present, Princess Celestia had not explicitly issued an order for her students to study the subject of friendship, so having this much stock under these circumstances was already quite good.
Princess Celestia suddenly frowned. She took out a letter from inside that had been separated from the others. As the letter was unfolded once more, Princess Celestia's mood became somewhat heavy.
This letter was the first one Twilight Sparkle had written to her about friendship.
And at that time, all three of her students were by her side.
Although Princess Celestia had anticipated Sunset Shimmer's choice, leaving without a word and then not writing back for so many years still made her very sad.
Even if the way Sunset Shimmer left Equestria wasn't quite right, she hadn't completely severed ties with this world. Leaving Princess Celestia, this lonely pony, to guard that diary day after day, only to wait for nothing.
Aurora had once asked Princess Celestia for this diary, but Princess Celestia hadn't given it to her, fearing that Sunset Shimmer wouldn't be able to reach her the moment she tried.
Yet, she had waited in vain for so many years.
Princess Celestia put the letter back into the box and then absentmindedly looked at the diary on the bookshelf that was glowing and vibrating. She had lived for thousands of years; the last time she felt like time was dragging so slowly was when she had just banished Princess Luna to the moon.
"..."
Princess Celestia stared at the diary for a few seconds, then her eyes widened instantly. After confirming it wasn't a hallucination, she hurriedly—with hooves and horn in a flurry—took the diary down and flipped to the latest page.
That brat! Finally decided to write home!
Watching the handwriting belonging to Sunset Shimmer gradually appear on the diary, Princess Celestia was truly on the verge of being moved to tears of frustration by this rebellious eldest apprentice.
"How did her handwriting become so ugly? Has she even been studying properly over there?"
Princess Celestia muttered angrily to herself, while simultaneously using magic to grip a quill and violently dipping it into the inkwell several times.
She had made up her mind; she would vent all her grievances to Sunset Shimmer and let her know how she had spent these past few years.
"Dearest Princess Celestia: I think I should apologize to you first. I am very sorry for leaving for this world without telling you. But besides that, I also want to report my situation to you here."
"The world here is completely different from Equestria. It's hard to see any ponies here; it is mainly inhabited by a species that walks on two legs, commonly referred to as 'humans.' After I arrived here, I also turned into a human form. You definitely can't imagine how strange I look now."
"I have to say, adapting to the lifestyle of a completely new species is not as easy as I imagined. For these past two months, I have been trying hard to adapt to my new identity and new rules."
"Recently, I've experienced some troublesome people and events at school, which has left me feeling quite exhausted. But please rest assured, everything is fine on my end."
"There is one interesting thing I think I must tell you: I am currently attending a school called Canterlot High School. At this school, I have seen many 'familiar faces,' only these familiar faces all have human appearances."
"What's even more interesting is that the principal of this school is also called Princess Celestia, and Vice Principal Luna is her younger sister; they manage this school together. Sometimes, Principal Celestia also teaches the students here. I was fortunate enough to have her class, which reminded me of the time I spent with you..."
Writing up to this point, Sunset Shimmer had to stop her pen, rubbing her sore nose with her fingers before she could continue writing.
She didn't know if Princess Celestia on the other side could see what she was writing in the diary. Originally, she just wanted to write a few simple lines to test what The Grand Princess's attitude toward her was now.
But just after writing "Dearest Princess Celestia," she suddenly felt as if she had endless words she wanted to pour out to this mentor she hadn't seen in so long.
Before she knew it, she had already written three or four pages.
If The Grand Princess could really see her letter, she might think she was being very long-winded.
Sunset Shimmer thought self-deprecatingly.
After all, back when she lived with Princess Celestia, she had never had so much to say all at once.
"I guess you might still be angry with me, but if you allow it, I still hope to continue receiving your guidance."
Sunset Shimmer pondered her wording, subtly writing down her longing for The Grand Princess in a relatively appropriate manner.
"And... I have made a few friends here."
While writing this sentence, Sunset Shimmer felt a twinge of awkwardness.
Indeed, the word "friend" didn't suit her at all, but Sunset Shimmer couldn't figure out why she wanted to tell Princess Celestia about this.
Perhaps it was because Princess Celestia had always wished for her to make more friends when she was away, but Sunset Shimmer had never listened.
Now that she had run off to another world, only to be pestered by a group of friendship-obsessed maniacs with no way out, she could at least consider it fulfilling Princess Celestia's past expectations for her. Sunset Shimmer thought that telling her this news might make the Princess a bit happier.
Sunset Shimmer bit her pen cap, looking at the five pages of letter she had written at length, but the burning excitement of connecting with her pony back home had not yet subsided.
She knew there was one more thing she hadn't asked, but she also felt she should stop here.
"Twilight... how has she been doing lately?"
'I am the eldest senior sister; caring about a junior sister I haven't seen in a long time is reasonable and expected. There's nothing strange about this.'
Sunset Shimmer thought, trying to hide her true feelings.
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