7DSJ: The Three Sunrises

by Shinzakura

October 4: Love Me 'Til I Die, My Heart Won't Wait

The blustery winds of autumn blew, scattering leaves of a fiery cascade of hues throughout the path. A twisting spiral of a breeze shuttled along group of nature’s detritus, veined ovals of gold blushed with red, on a journey that seemed to have no beginning and no real end, forever a remnant of a bygone year that would be soon buried by a cascading white, only to be forgotten once more with the resilient green of spring.

As she watched the dead foliage scatter down the sidewalk as they departed the shelter of the park she walked past, Sunset knew the whole experience was character building…in the most negative and positive senses of the word. Positive because she’d finally returned Snail’s sister’s bike…but ultimately negative, because said sister just happened to be picking her younger brother up from school at the time. Spirogyra was a college student and had almost taken a swing at Sunset for “humiliating” her little brother; only Sunset’s supposed younger age prevented it. As it was, Sunset no longer had any means of getting places, and what was originally a twenty minute bike ride home was now a two-hour walk through some of the seedier parts of Canterlot – not exactly crack dens, but clearly where the lower-class residents of the city lived.

The existence of the southern neighborhoods must’ve clearly been after 1974, Sunset recalled, or at least whenever Canterlot won “America’s Most Beautiful Neighborhoods” award. She’d seen the plaque at City Hall during an Eighth Grade fieldtrip; back then she had wondered if that would be the first thing she did when she conquered Equestria – ban ugliness on fear of death or worse. Now? The ex-unicorn bitterly admitted to herself that her internal ugliness back then would have made her the first thing to go under the pogrom.

She’d just passed the corner of Greenleaf and Papermill when she heard the screech of tires. Looking up, she saw a bunch of punks in a car – Okay, seriously, how the hell can you look cool in a Hyundai Accent? – pestering someone. A second later, she saw…

“Fluttershy?” Sunset rushed over to the shy girl’s side. What is she doing in Brookestone?

“That’s okay, I don’t need any help,” she told the boys as she walked. Sunset was still far enough away that the animal-lover wasn’t aware that the flamehaired girl was behind her.

“Oh, yes you do, sweet thang,” one of the boys said, hanging out the window and all but leering at Fluttershy’s sizeable chest. “Why don’t you join us in the ride an’ we’ll get you to where we’re going.” Sunset noted that the boy leaning out of the car wore a varsity jacket from Sunnytown High, which didn’t really surprise her; it was in Sunnytown, after all, and that run-down hellhole of a suburb featured plenty of idiots supreme like the guy blatantly hitting on Fluttershy.

“Oh, there you are, sweetie,” Sunset purred as she walked over to Fluttershy, putting an arm around her waist. “Sorry guys, she’s taken,” Sunset said, leaning in just a little close to Fluttershy.

“Wh-wha…?” Fluttershy began, her eyes widening as she felt Sunset move her hand down and pat her butt.

“Hey, the more the merrier, so wanna entertain us, too?” the jock said.

“No, this body is mine,” Sunset said, pointing at herself, “and hers, too.”

“C’mon, you ain’t foolin’ anyone,” another guy in the car replied. “Now get your ass in here and bring Miss Tits with you.”

Sunset smiled. “Or I could just do this.” She then pointed her left hand at them. Except what the guys didn’t see was a hand, but a hand holding a pistol. “Now you boys go home or I’ll have to use it.”

“You think you scare me with that plastic-ass shi—”

BANG

Sunset pulled the barrel to her face, blowing away the smoke. In the direction where she’d fired, a newspaper stand had a very prominent hole. She then leveled it back at the guys. “You don’t want to make that mistake again, do you?” In her other arm, she felt a sudden tug of gravity as Fluttershy, doing what came natural to her, passed out in shock.

As the squeal of tires faded as the car rushed off into the distance, Sunset gently helped Fluttershy to the ground with both hands, even as the gun in her hand vanished into cyan sparkles briefly before disappearing; likewise, the hole in the newspaper stand did as well…as did the structure itself.

So glad they were paying more attention to Fluttershy’s shirt than their surroundings, Sunset said with a grimace. She then tapped a cyan-charged finger on Fluttershy’s forehead. “Fluttershy? You okay?”

The moment she opened her eyes, the expected result happened. The chiffon-haired teen rushed back, practically crawling away on her hands and feet in an inverted crabwalk, until she ran up hard against a lightpole. She continued looking at Sunset with a mixture of fear and worry, and seeing that on the gentle girl’s face nearly broke Sunset’s heart.

“Fluttershy, what are you doing here?” Sunset asked.

She hadn’t quite recovered yet. “Where’s your gun? And why did you tell them that we wer—”

“It was clear they were harassing you, so I tried to help,” Sunset clarified. “The gun and the shot was a magical illusion, I didn’t have a gun on me and nobody got hurt, I promise.”

“Really?”

“Fluttershy, you’re a friend.” I hope. “Why would I let you get hurt? And given that I’ve changed my ways, why would I want to hurt anyone?” Sunset reached down and offered her friend a hand. She wondered if Fluttershy would take it.

Thankfully that was the case. “That’s good to know,” Fluttershy smiled sweetly. “What are you doing here?”

“I, er, was looking for a new place,” Sunset lied, knowing full well she could see the factories and warehouses of the industrial district, just a half-mile down the road from where they stood, and just by the train tracks in the barely visible distance, her own warehouse home. “Have to find something affordable with my new job, you know. What about you?”

“Oh. I was just coming back from dropping off Mrs. Parlophone’s dog,” Fluttershy explained. “She mostly lives alone and Puppytails and I take turns coming to see her. Since Rex needed a walk anyway, I walked him here from the animal shelter.”

“Who’s Puppytails? And the animal shelter’s around here?”

“The animal shelter’s about seven blocks up, over on Skyline. As for Puppytails…he’s my boss at the animal shelter,” Fluttershy said as she blushed. The look on Fluttershy’s face indicated that it was one of those kinds of things, and Sunset opted to leave it alone, knowing full well in the past she would have found some way to antagonize Fluttershy about her crush, if not outright blackmail her about it.

“Hey, do you want to go get some coffee?” Sunset offered.

Fluttershy nodded. “That’d be nice, thanks. I know a place a block away, if you’d like.”

“Works for me. Lead the way.”

Several minutes later, the pair were at Knickerbocker’s, a café nestled in an old building. From Fluttershy’s comment, the building was around during the days that Canterlot had been named “Poverty Flats” back in the 19th Century. Sunset had a dulce de leche mocha, while Fluttershy, never one for coffee, sipped on a hot caramel apple cider instead. And while Sunset had to admit that the coffee at her own place of work was better, this place wasn’t bad. If the Sugarcube Corner Café ever planned to expand, and this place went under, Sunset would have to suggest to Pinkie’s aunt and uncle to buy this place out.

Fluttershy looked utterly serene in the faded fabric of the booth as she sipped her drink. “I’m…sorry, Sunset,” she said, both unexpectedly and simply, as though the phrase was a mere statement of fact.

“Sorry, what for? If anything, I should be apologizing to you for not cluing you into what I was doing to chase those punks off.”

“No, it’s not about that, I appreciate that,” she said with a smile. “It’s just…well, up until recently, I was afraid of you.”

Afraid of me? Something in the back of Sunset’s mind snapped; sooner or later, there was going to be a price to pay for the horrible things she’d done to the girls that had become her friends, and now that day had come. “Fluttershy, I…understand. If you don’t want to be friends, I’ll underst—”

“Oh, no! It’s not that!” the chiffon-haired teen said suddenly, waving her hands frantically and almost knocking over her drink in the process. “I mean, I was afraid of you, Sunset, and I think I had good reason to be. But…it’s been unfair of me to not give you a chance these past couple of weeks. I haven’t been kind enough to do so, and most of the time I wanted to just run away and hide, because I felt that any moment, you were going to wait until we all had our guard down and let us have it again, just like in the old days before Homecoming...well, changed everything, I guess?”

Guilt hit Sunset hard at that point – she knew Fluttershy was the most sensitive of their group, and knew it well – it was the reason why she’d verbally abused the poor girl more than anyone else; the only thing Sunset could have done worse was if she’d made that abuse physical as well. But even that was a line she never had been willing to cross, thankfully.

Unaware of the other girl’s thoughts, Fluttershy continued. “But…we made a promise to Twilight that we would help you learn how to be a better person and friend, and I don’t think I could face her again if I didn’t do what I could to hold to that promise. But even more than that, you’re truly different given the past two weeks, and you deserve to be treated fairer than I have been willing to be with you so far. So…I’m sorry. Will you forgive me?”

Sunset smiled. “Of course, Fluttershy. What are friends for, right?” In return, she was rewarded with a huge, friendly grin that almost seemed more at home on Pinkie than the shy teen.

The following day was a Saturday, and Sunset woke up feeling a slight chill in the air. That chill meant one thing and one thing only: the heater had broken down again, which for a decrepit building happened more than she liked. Given the combined issues that she couldn’t use magic to fix it nor could she hire someone for obvious reasons, it meant she had to climb up to the outdated tin can and pull a DIY on the thing. Fortunately, that wasn’t an issue; over the years of living here, she’d learned to be handy with tools – which were in plentiful amounts in this abandoned warehouse – and had gotten confident enough in her hoofipo…handyman – and how did that term somehow escape gender neutralization? – that if she’d been born human she might’ve entertained thoughts a career in construction.

Shoving a lukewarm poptart in her mouth to get breakfast out of the way, she threw on a pair of coveralls she’d stolen years ago from the janitor’s closet at Central Junior High. Looking like someone that would have been part of the employees here in the warehouse’s heyday, she stepped out of her quarters and clambered up the ladder and into the rafters of the decrepit warehouse. The main junction to the heating system was close to the center of the warehouse, so she had to stick to a pathway she’d added a foot-adherence spell to in order to prevent falling to her death.

I’m just glad I’m not an earth pony, she thought as she climbed onto the rafter struts and looked down briefly. They get vertigo like no tomorrow, if not outright acrophobia. Besides, she liked being in the air; it was a joy, and she often wondered if one, if not both, of her birth parents had been pegasi. In any case, she always enjoyed being in the skies or at least floating above the ground, and flying with Celestia had been a favored pastime of her youth.

Sunset winced at the memory. It had been a trip to Cloudsdale that had helped spur her love of flying, and though she’d never admitted it to anyone, tone of the reasons she’d initially wanted to ascend was so she could fly with Celestia someday, using her own wings. But now that dream was as far gone as her chances of ever returning to Equestria itself, or at least returning safely; a dream that had been killed by Sunset’s own greed and shameless ambition. The mare that she had once looked up to as a mother viewed her now as a monster and possibly even worth eradicating. And given the realization over the past fortnight of what she’d done, she’d be hard-pressed to argue against those thoughts.

Sunset shook her head to clear out the thought pattern. Not anything to think about, filly, while you’re up here, she reminded herself. Just fix the unit and you can get back to whatever plans you had today. Not that they were much, anyway. As a gesture of friendship, Sunset had offered to help Fluttershy fix one of the dog kennels at the animal shelter. Even still, it would give time for the two teens to get to be comfortable around each other, especially if they were going to hang around with one another outside of school.

Twenty minutes later, Sunset had made the repairs and was getting ready to move from her spot when she heard the sound of metal sliding open and voices. Moving quietly to get a better view of their source, she carefully used an illusion spell to hide her presence as she watched the proceedings down below. Once she moved into a position where she could see clearly, what she saw horrified her.

A bunch of kids had snuck into the warehouse and were now doing something to a puppy. The small thing, a soft, brown-coated dog of a breed that Sunset wasn’t familiar with at all – a small puff of a pup – was being thrown around like a football by a bunch of brats. The pup yelped for help, the only thing it could do as it was too young to really defend itself, and even if it managed to bite one of the boys, the way they were acting virtually guaranteed that making them angry would result in much more violent abuse.

Sunset knew she had to do something, but from this high up, she couldn’t just jump down to help – she didn’t have that kind of power anymore. Worse, even if she could, her sudden appearance might put her home at risk; one of the boys might retaliate by reporting to the authorities about her presence in the old building. But an idea suddenly came to her, and as she moved slowly towards the access ladder closest to where the boys were, she charged up the spells. It would probably drain her for a few hours, but it was more than worth it.

In possession of the airborne pup, the abusive quartet was laughing as hard as possible while watching the dog’s flight as it was in utter distress…

…right up until the point where it landed in the smallest boy’s hand, growled, and leapt out of his hands, onto the ground…

…and turned into a six-foot dog-like giant. The creature stared at the disbelieving kids with sulfurous, slitted eyes and growled, baring a full set of needle-sharp teeth.

“GET OUT,” it said in a snarl that boomed like a cannon, the cavernous interior of the building giving the command an extra reverbration. As the boys now realized the tables had turned in the worst way, the creature bent down and roared. Had anybody been watching the exterior of the building, they would have heard what might have been mistaken for a dragon within, followed by four adolescents trying to break the sound barrier as they raced outside, tears of fright streaming from their faces.

Sunset gave it a second, then climbed down and released the spell. She wasn’t sure if she’d gotten the diamond dog likeness right, but given reaction of the children, the result had been more than desired anyway. Remembering what little she could about her first experiences with Philomena – she’d never had a pet of her own, but she’d played with Celestia’s phoenix whenever she could as a filly – she approached the pup carefully, using what little magic she had left to conjure a small piece of beef jerky.

The dog looked at her oddly; no surprise there, as animals had different senses than humans did – something Sunset knew all too well due to her still equine-level hearing – and it must have realized that she was different despite her human form. It looked nervous, as waiting for her to strike out or worse. A part of Sunset winced inside, knowing that the dog had unintentionally reminded her of all the damage she’d done to others over the years.

However, the pup also noticed the distress she was now in and took that as a sign of relative safety, oddly enough. Cautiously moving toward Sunset’s outstretched hand and the jerky in her fingers, it sniffed carefully, then bit into it, yapping and wagging its tail happily. Sunset bent down to pick it up and was rewarded by the rescuee leaping into her arms and licking her face in gratitude.

She giggled. “Okay, pup, you have to have come from somewhere,” she said as she gently carried it to her living quarters. “Maybe I can ask a friend for help.” Setting her fragile cargo down on the cleanest part of the floor, Sunset grabbed her phone and hit one of the speed dial numbers.

“Uh, hello?” the soft voice on the other side spoke. “Sunset?”

“Fluttershy! I’m glad I was able to get hold of you!” Sunset chirped. “Look, I need a favor, and you’re the only one who can help me with it….”

To say that the pup took a liking to Fluttershy was a gross understatement when the two were introduced an hour later. “Aww, you’re so cute!” she cooed, setting the pup down on the examining table. “Okay, now sit here for just a second while I check you out. I promise this won’t hurt.” She then reached underneath the table and pulled out a scanner gun similar to those used at supermarkets.

“What are you doing?” Sunset asked.

“Playing a hunch,” the chiffon-haired girl replied with a smile. “The little fella looks like a purebred Pomeranian, and those can be pretty expensive, so he’s probably not from the neighborhood. I’m hoping that he’s had a PIT injection.”

“PIT?”

“It’s short for ‘pet identification tag,’ much like a bar code. Only, in this case, it’s an identity chip people use on their pets when they’re lost.”

“Ah, gotcha.” The idea of a pet, or any creature really, having a unique identifying feature registered a pang of regret in the back of Sunset’s mind. After all, it could have been said that cutie marks were similar as no pony had the exact same one even if from a distance they looked similar. Sunset’s own mark had been a two-colored sun that partially mimicked the one Princess Celestia bore on her flank, something the ex-unicorn had always believed to be an indication of her great destiny. Only, she no longer bore it save the days when she wore the shirt upon which she’d obsessively redrawn it, as humans didn’t come with natural butt tattoos.

The device beeped, and Fluttershy looked at the device’s screen. “His name is Mr. Bear, and we have a reference ID we can check his data against.” She went over to the desk, slipping the scanner in a cradle next to one of the shelter’s outdated work computers. “Hrm…it says that he was reported missing about a week ago. Fortunately, there’s a number we can call.” She reached over to the phone and dialed the number. “Hello, is there a Mrs. Westminster Show there?...Good morning, ma’am, this is the South Canterlot Animal Shelter—…Yes, we’ve found your lovely little pet an—…Yes, we’re open all day. Our address is 2347 Skyview Road…Yes, ma’am, we’ll see you in a bit. See you soon! Bye.”

Twenty minutes later, Sunset bore witness to an emotionally-overwhelmed moment. An old, refined woman who, based on her clothing and the fact that she drove up in a Lexus was from one of the richer parts of town, held Mr. Bear close as she practically cried a storm of joy. “Oh, I was so afraid that I’d lost my little pookikins when he disappeared from my yard. Please, where did you find him?”

“Oh, we didn’t find him, ma’am,” Fluttershy answered as she gestured to Sunset. “Actually, this young woman brought him in.”

The woman set Mr. Bear down gently before shaking Sunset’s hand profusely. “How can I ever thank you? A reward! You deserve a reward for your efforts!” The woman proceeded to dig in her purse before Sunset had a chance to respond and fished out some bills. “It’s not much, really, but please! I can’t even begin to thank you enough, young lady!”

Sunset’s eyes widened the moment she saw the corners of at least two of the bills. That’s at least three hundred dollars! What the?

“Well, I’ve got to get my dear little pookikins home! We’ve been so worried about him!” the woman said, taking Sunset’s hands and wrapping them around the wad of cash, then proceeded to pick her dog up and give both girls a smile. “I’ll be sure to make a large donation to the Shelter Foundation the first chance I get, I can promise you that!” Happy as a clam, the woman departed.

As the car drove off, Fluttershy grinned. “You did a good thing, Sunset, and I can’t even….” She paused to look at her friend. “Sunset? Are you…okay?”

To Sunset, Fluttershy might as well not have said a word, the shock of what she held having turned her pale as a sheet. “Seven. Hundred. Dollars,” Sunset said, numbly. “This is…this is more than my monthly pay!”

“You reunited a broken family, Sunset,” Fluttershy said with a warm smile. “You earned that, if only for doing something that you wouldn’t have ever done before.”

“I know,” Sunset said with a nod. “And because you came out here way earlier than your shift for me, I think I’m going to do something else as well. You free for lunch today?”

Comments

[shy sad jaded shard]

even if she had ripped their balls off I'd say they could count themselves lucky for I would not be so merciful as that.