//------------------------------// // Prelude: The Darkest // Story: Make My Way Back Home // by TempestDash //------------------------------// Aches. Sunset couldn’t remember being so sore before.  Her shoulders hurt, her arms hurt, her legs hurt.  She was covered in dust and plaster, and felt like the skin on her hands had been rubbed raw.  She was filthy, and it wasn’t just her clothes that needed cleaning. The front of the school was still in shambles, but it was a slightly more organized mess owing to the limits of how much glass, plaster, and concrete three students pick up, move, or sweep in a night.  Once the last student left the party, the three offenders were enlisted in cleaning up the gym where the Fall Formal was held, probably as a reminder of what they had ruined earlier in the night. Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna were standing nearby, looking down at her, Snips, and Snails now long into the night.  After Sunset’s little performance, the trio had been told that their choices were either go to the police or help clean up the school facade.  Snips and Snails fretted over it for a few agonizing minutes but Sunset took the non-police option as soon as it was offered.  Fewer authority figures staring her down the better. Sunset didn’t complain once during the tasks.  She didn’t scowl.  She wasn’t delinquent in her assigned duties. She hated every single second, but at the moment she was willing to accept whatever punishment Celestia chose for her.  She had absolutely no idea what else she could be doing right now.  Every single plan she’d laid and goal she’d set had vanished in swirl of colored light and the magic of friendship. “Do you need a ride?” asked Celestia to Sunset after the work was done.  It was past midnight and even the principal looked exhausted. “No,” said Sunset.  She wasn’t really keen on looking Celestia in the eyes right now. “Where do you live?” asked Celestia. Sunset recited her foster parent’s address.  She wasn’t planning on going there, but that was the lie she always -- Oh, what did it matter anymore? “No, actually, I don’t live there,” said Sunset after a moment.  “My parents live there, but I sleep elsewhere.” “Why?” asked Celestia, sounding curious. Sunset shrugged.  “I didn’t really want people looking over my shoulder while I was, well, you know. It was easier to be alone.” “Where do you go, then? A shelter?” asked Celestia. She actually sounded worried. For Sunset. how gullible could she be? “I have a place,” said Sunset.  “It’s an abandoned office.” Celestia sighed.  She bent over to catch a glimpse of Sunset’s eyes. “Sunset that’s illegal.  You can’t live on someone else’s property without their permission.” “No one’s ever come by,” said Sunset as she turned on her heel. “In, like, years.” “That doesn’t make it less illegal,” said Celestia.  “Why don’t you go home -- to your parents?” “My foster parents don’t want to see me,” said Sunset dismissively.   “They never go looking for me.” “Have you ever talked to them about it?” asked Celestia. “About what?” scoffed Sunset.  She kicked some of the rubble around the broken facade as she slowly paced.  “If you mean have I ever told them I’m a magical being from another world, then no.  It never came up.” Celestia shook her head. “Have you ever told them you wanted privacy?  That you wanted your space?  Maybe you could have stayed home.” “Yeah, right,” said Sunset sarcastically. Celestia put her hands on her hips and looked at Sunset.  The latter got a sinking feeling. “Oh boy,” said Sunset. “Let’s go visit your parents,” said Celestia with a nod. Sunset frowned and then stared at the sinking moon in the sky.  “Are you aware what time it is?” *** ( MLP ) *** Getting woken up at two o’clock in the morning by a school principal did not put Sunset’s foster parents in a particularly great mood.  Being told that Sunset was involved in a fight at the Fall Formal -- Celestia thankfully omitted any mention of magic or demonic visages -- was enough to actually get them to react in an insensible manner. They grounded her.  Gave her harsh words.  Put on a good show for Celestia.  Sunset wasn’t entirely sure that Celestia was convinced that the display was genuine -- the principal never brought up the other place Sunset lived -- but it was, actually, the most emotional she’d seen her foster parents get over her… assuming it wasn’t just a show. “I want you to come back to CHS,” said Celestia to Sunset as the former was leaving the house.  They stood at the doorway while Sunset’s parents fumed quietly just out of earshot in the living room. Sunset stared at her principal agast.  “Why?  I just ruined the Fall Formal and your school.” “For a number of reasons,” said Celestia.  “You aren’t a bad person, no matter how this night turned out.” “Others may disagree,” said Sunset.  She covered her mouth while she yawned. “I wasn’t exactly nice to a great deal of people.” “But not everyone,” said Celestia.  “You may have hid your actions from me and Luna but you did it by acting like a concerned, involved member of the student body.” “Just lies,” said Sunset in a breathless manner. “Convincing ones,” said Celestia. “I think you understood what it meant to be a friend far better than you think you did.” Sunset looked away, unwilling to bear such optimism.  After a moment, she felt Celestia’s hand gently touch her on the shoulder.  She forced herself to look up again. “Come back,” she said.  “Do it in earnest instead of to cover your trail.  You may feel uncomfortable, but in time it will become genuine.” “Pretend until it's real?” asked Sunset. She shook her head.  “It’s not that easy.” Celestia patted her shoulder.  “It’s a start.  I hope to see you on Monday.  Good night.” Sunset watched the principal leave and wondered how this Celestia could be as forgiving as the one in Equestria.  These were such starkly different worlds, to produce such similarly driven people was beyond improbable. Once Celestia was gone, it was Sunset’s foster mother, Sea Spray, who came over to talk to her. The older woman had long purple hair that had started to turn gray, held in a bun on the back of her head, big violet eyes, and blue-grayish skin.  She held herself high, back straight, shoulders squared, as if she’d been raised in the army.  For all Sunset knew, she could have been.  She knew very little about her guardians. Sunset tried to walk past her towards her room, but the woman stepped in her way. “What is she going to do?” asked Sea Spray.  “Will she tell the police?” Sunset shook her head.  “I don’t think so.” “If the police find out, it comes back on us,” said Sea Spray. “I know,” said Sunset.  “They probably won’t. Sea Spray looked at her, one eyebrow arched, arms crossed.  The skepticism was easy to read in her expression. “Is there going to be more nights like this?” she asked. Sunset sighed loudly.  “There shouldn’t have been one night like this.” “What do we do, then?” asked Sea Spray.  “We’ve let you have your way, but if it results in destroyed schools then we have problems. I won’t let you drag us down in your flames.” “How compassionate,” said Sunset. “We can take measures,” warned Sea Spray. Sunset growled and stepped closer into Sea Spray’s space.  “Like what?” she said. “Huh? Lock me up?  Take away my toys?  Chain me to the porch?  You would have a heck of a lot more trouble if you tried that than you do now!” “You think you’re the only clever one?” asked Sea Spray with an arched brow. “I know where you go, I know about the perfume office building.  I don’t have to lock you up here, I can take away your hideouts.  You’ll have nowhere to go.” Sunset’s jaw dropped. She had no idea her foster parents knew where she went.  How did they find out?  Who told them? “I can find other places to go,” said Sunset.  “You can’t follow me everywhere.” “I can try,” said Sea Spray. “Why would you?” asked Sunset.  “Leave me be, I don’t want to be arrested any more than you want to lose your monthly check.” “You may not want to be arrested, but if you’re being so reckless that you nearly destroyed your school, you clearly aren’t being cautious enough.”  Sea Spray pointed at her.  “And if you’re not being careful, then I need to be.” “Oh, please!” said Sunset, throwing up her arms.  “When have you ever cared what I did?  For years I lived on my own and you never said a thing.” Her arm snapped out and she pointed towards the front of the house. “Even when I had the police bringing me back home weekly you just sat there and dealt with it!  But now, just because my stupid principal shows up, you suddenly decided to grow a spine?” Sunset pushed past Sea Spray and headed towards her room.  “You never cared about me,” she shouted as she stormed off.  She ran into her room and slammed the door shut and latched it. In a huff, she sat roughly on her bed and glared at her bedcovers.  She was sick of it.  Sick of everything.  Stupid teachers.  Stupid parents. Stupid Elements of Harmony. She felt the tears in her eyes and tried to force them to stop.  Annoyingly, that just seemed to encourage them.  She was breathing heavily for a few seconds.  Then she was bawling. She had failed.  Failed so utterly and incredibly that no semblance of her plan was salvageable, not even the goals. Not even her backup plans.  She wasn’t even supposed to be in the human world anymore, and now she was stuck for another thirty moons.  Maybe even more if they destroyed the mirror or stopped her from coming back.  She had no idea what to do anymore. Even the ‘guidance’ the Elements and Celestia tried to bestow upon her from their high and mighty perches was agonizing.  She couldn’t just pretend to be a friend to people because she had nobody to pretend to!  There was nobody she even wanted to be friendly with.  She had forged her life and surrounded herself with people based on how useful they would be to her goals, not by how much she actually wanted to be around them. And right now she didn’t want to be around any of them.  That was the true punishment.  She was stuck in a world that didn’t want her, and she didn’t want.  No police or parents, or public magical shaming could compare to the fact that she was already a prisoner and she’d been one for three years already without a possibility for parole for another three more. How would she manage for that long?  Who would she be by the time the portal opened again?  What would she become?  Who was Sunset Shimmer now? Sunset buried her head in the pillows on the bed and cried until exhaustion took her into slumber.