Paths to Power: not-so-humble beginnings

by FelSpite

Chapter 8

Since the Saturday's early morning Sunset Shimmer felt quite a few things. None of them really pleasant, though. It was a rather nasty mix of annoyance, boredom, embarrassment, wounded pride and well - actual physical pain. And it was that blasted training to blame! Sure, it started quite well initially, but apparently knowing how to ride a motorcycle properly and teaching someone else were two different things... Maybe it should have been more obvious to her in hindsight, but here she was - in one of the most idiotic positions since her arrival to this world.

She simply couldn't make that turn properly and fell down. Naturally, her left leg got hurt, despite the 'protection' that she was wearing. At least Lightning Dust actually knew some kind of the pain numbing spell, though her ignorance of the actual first aid felt rather grating at this point... "Yeah, sure, Crash will fix it quick and without any stupidity of the hospitals" Sunset repeated Dust's words with a visible anger. She surely hoped so, after all when the spell had gone away during the night she was quickly awoken by the pain alone, and only the reapplying of said spell by Dust prevented her from calling the hospital anyway.

It was past noon already, and she could only helplessly lie in the couch and wait for Crash's arrival. She tried to distract herself by watching TV but it only worked for a short while. She looked outside, where a dozen of griffon guys were making some kind of a stage, most likely for their event today. Their work could have been done already, but given their speed and numerous breaks that they were taking, there was a distinct possibility to fail finishing it on time.

Finally, she saw the gate open and the van to roll inside. Seeing it has done wonders to the workers enthusiasm, two of which started to walk towards the van. As the it's side-door opened, Crash himself went out, in his 'biker' attire this time. He said what seemed to be no more than a few phrases to the approaching guys and rather lazily went towards the house, while thy started to unload some barrels. Sunset grunted. It's not like he had to run 'to her rescue', but somehow it still felt rather demeaning to her. She definitely needed to be more careful next time.

Soon, she heard the door open and close followed by some humming before Crash nonchalantly walked in the living room. "So, how bad it is?" he asked with a small smile on his face.

Sunset could only glare at him before rolling her left trouser up. Her eyes widened as she saw how strong had her leg swollen under her knee. 'Blast you, Lighting Dust! I swear, if...'

"A bit worse than what I expected, although better than it could be" Crash remarked as he went closer. "I hope you don't mind skin contact. It would make it simpler"

"Just... just do your thing already!"

Without any further comments he just sat on the other side of the couch and put his pale hand on her leg. Touch felt surprisingly cold, but strangely not uncomfortable so and was accompanied by a soft blue glow, not to dissimilar from the Equestria's magic. The pain disappeared quickly, though she could barely feel her leg anymore.

"So, a bit of a road rash, some muscle damage, a few fractures and ... a bit more muscle damage. Should take about fifteen minutes or so."

Now that was actually interesting. Sure, even unicorns and pegasi were more sturdy than humans to begin with, and there were various spells used for healing, some of which she even knew herself, but nothing nearly that good! Still, she had to be sure.

"Does that mean that there would be no need for any other treatment later, or something else?"

"No, unless you would get into some other trouble that would be it. Now, if time would be more of an issue I could have done this quicker. Around five minutes, I think, accounting for your magical resistance."

His smirk and general attitude told her that he should have felt proud of his abilities. Well, she definitely would be in his place. Though, it made her next question rather obvious.

"Would you teach me this spell later?"

Crash chuckled. "I certainly would teach you the basics, as I firmly believe that every mage should be able to treat his wounds at the very least, though I definitely do not recommend to study this discipline to such an extent as me"

"And why would that be?"

"Oh, it's really simple. You see, basics, or well lesser magic in general can be learned relatively quickly and used even if you do not understand it completely. Something more complex, on the contrary takes significant amount of time to master. Time, that you could have spent learning something else." he sighed. "With my condition I was pretty much forced to go this route as the only alternative would be having a dedicated specialist by my side all the time. And that wasn't exactly feasible for multiple reasons."

That sounded believable, to a certain degree at least. And anyway, there was no practical reason to dwell on it. She settled on waiting as a spell too its affect and her swollen leg slowly but steadily started to return to normal.

"Do you do this for other griffins as well?" She asked when the process was close to completion.

"Not really. Out of those who are in Canterlot only for you, Dust, Gilda and her brother. Others may be occasionally useful but introducing magic to them would create too much problems in the long run."

Considering how rare magic was in this world and how much power it could give.. yes she could get behind that reasoning. Though one thing was still unclear to her.

"This whole 'Griffins' thing. How do they even fit into this? I don't mean to pry too much, but honestly it was puzzling me for quite some time already."

As Crash finally finished with his spell, he stood up. "It was more of a coincidence at the start, not something I had in my initial plans to be honest, though I'm rather satisfied with the current situation. Now, I have a few more things to do personally, so a further discussion will have to wait." after some visible consideration he added "I'll have a few magic related tasks for you tomorrow. For now just try to relax and have fun. The main event should start around seven or so."

That said, he went to his beloved basement. Or something among this lines. Sunset sighed. On one hoof it was being rather convenient and predictable. She could even perfectly understand that in the reverse situation she wouldn't tell or show everything either. On the other hoof, she surely didn't mind having some fun at the expense of someone else. Especially if it just meant some money. On the third hoof, that bucking condescension! 'go and have fun, my ass'Honestly, if he would just be a simple minded, full-of-himself Jock-type guy it would be much easier. But being in such situation with a fellow magic-user just felt wrong to her. Well, couldn't be helped yet.

She spent a few more minutes checking her leg only to find no trace of the injury whatsoever. 'And I really should make a point of learning some decent healing spells. That good I may not need to be, but they are surely useful'

As she slowly stood up, she considered her options. She felt no desire to do her schoolwork or stay indoors anymore today. Perhaps a bit of a fresh air could help her.. Yes, that seemed like a decent idea. She considered calling Dust or Gilda but in the end decided against it. A simple walk would be just fine.

***

Well, after spending all those hours in bed, simply walking around surely felt good to her. Deciding to combine pleasant with useful, she took a bus to the city proper and walked to the mall. Surely asking Crash for some money to buy her a good laptop won't be hard, right? There was a question of getting an internet connection too, sure, but there supposedly were some remote options and she could always ask the shop's clerk about them.

About an hour later, when she took a card from a stupid looking guy with a smile glued to his face, she was mostly satisfied with her options. She certainly would prefer someone not trying to appeal to her that much(and fail miserably at that), but at least he knew his job enough. About five thousand, slightly rounded up. Not exactly affordable to her a few weeks prior, but now she definitely was entitled to small luxuries like that. With that in mind she went to the exit.

"But sis! Why can't we just go the Sweetie's home?! I wanna learn what has happened and why won't she talk to me!"

"It's a grown ..

Where did she have heard it before? Then she went in the mall's corridor and ... met Applejack with both her siblings. 'Buck!'

"..up things Apple Bloom ..." As the blond girl saw her, her face quickly turned to a clear contempt, accentuated by a deep frown. That was bad. Should she just run?

"Good to meet ya here. Very good. Mac, would you please lead Apple Bloom to the others? I'll join ya soon."

Applejack's giant of a brother looked uncertain, switching his glance between her and his sister. On hindsight, perhaps she should could have thought of a better plan before aggravating the duo... Or at least should have taken someone with her now... Blast! Well, even if devolves into a fight it won't be that bad, right? It's not like she wasn't in a fight before...

"I'll just wanna ask her a few questions, Mac. Ain't Rainbow to start a fight here." 'Mac' sighed and took the brat's hand.

"Hey, what is this all about?" the latter squealed as she was bring lead away. "Don't go all silent and mysterious on me again! Ah wanna know too!"

Answering a few questions, huh? Well, that's just easy, shouldn't have worried. Well, showing more confidence, she definitely could get out of it.

"So, what do you want?" Sunset tried to sound as nonchalant and confident as possible.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why would ya frame Rarity? Just for stupid frilly contest?" Applejack sounded determined, even if it was clear that it wasn't easy for her to speak about it. "Ah would like to be ya up like ya deserve, but it won't help bringing my friend back. Knowing why may help though, so speak."

Should she tell some sob story to get off this? Or perhaps a partial truth could help?

"Weeell it was about this contest too, but that's only a part of it... my ... my mother loved to speak about friendship... like it's the best thing in the world or something. And I hated it!" For some stupid reason it suddenly felt right to speak about it to someone.. "Because it was just a lie! Always! And when I heard Rarity to go on and on how 'great' your friendship is, how supposedly 'precious' and how glad you all were to rediscover it again, I could barely handle my anger!!" She found herself much closer to Applejack with her fists clenched and with barely any trace of her usual composure.

Blond girl just stared at her back, speechless for a few moments

"Ah think that ya are lost. Lost and in need of help, I'd say, but it ain't my problem. Just don't go after my family or friends and we won't be enemies." With that she just started to walk past Sunset before stopping herself "And you still have to apologize to Rarity later".

Sunset just stood there for a while, trying to calm herself down. Luckily it seemed that no one else has paid any attention to her breakdown... BLAST IT ALL TO THE TARTARUS AND BELOW! Why was it so damn hard to just let it all go! And to tell it to someone as insignificant as..

She took a few deep breaths 'Calm down, Sunset. Yeah, shit like that happens. Everyone can do stupid shit and you are not an exception. The only thing that really matters now is getting your magic back and true power that comes with it.'

She straightened up. Yes, priorities. To get rid of their weakness one should just become strong, that was simple and straightforward. And no more moronic walking around alone, she had enough of it. She took her phone and pressed a first speed dial button.

"Yeah?" answered Dust after three beeps.

"Can you give me a lift from the mall to the mansion?"

"Ughh.. if you can wait for twenty minutes or so, I can, sure. How's your leg by the way?"

Sunset frowned. "Thanks for reminding me. It's good now. I'll wait for you near the southern exit."

"See you, then"

As she put her phone back her, she felt confident again 'Well, let's relax and have fun for a change. Don't think there would be much time for it afterwards'