In the days after her comeuppance at the Homecoming Dance, Sunset has a lot to think about. But even still, changes are on the horizon, changes she is not even aware are coming....
Brown, clear liquid dripped from Sunset Shimmer’s face. And her hair. The coffee cup clattered on the ground, spilling whatever was left of its contents that had not been tossed in the flame-haired teen’s face just seconds before.
“Go away,” the teen snarled. “You’re not wanted here.” Behind her, three other girls nodded their heads, in such synchronicity that clearly indicated they were of one mind on this.
“Look….” Sunset said, her voice trying not to sound offended. She had no right to that feeling now, not since here comeuppance two days ago at the Homecoming Dance. Signs for the fall formal event still hung around the campus and were seen much as yesterday’s news.
Much like her.
A second girl butted in front of the first. “Let me make this clear, bitch: go the fuck away. You’re not wanted here, ever. Look, just…just do the world a favor and throw yourself in front of a car, okay?”
“But I w—”
“What you want we don’t give a shit about,” a third girl said. “What, does someone have to hit you upside the head to get the point across?”
“Let’s try it,” the last girl said, swinging a small bottle of water. By no means was it going to hurt, but the cap would probably pop off and spill more liquid on Sunset. Bracing for the impact, she prepared to be soaked again…
…only to have a tan-skinned hand reach out and catch the arm. “Great! Needed a drink, thanks!” A second hand of similar color to the first wrenched the bottle out of the offending striker’s grasp and tore the cap off before bringing it to her lips. The sounds of a person chugging a twenty ounce bottle of water sounded, followed by a refreshed, “Aaaah – that hit the spot.” Rainbow Dash then glared at the girls. “You know, I take a pretty dim view of people trying to hurt a friend of mine. So what the fuck is your problem, Scotch Bonnet? Or do you and your friends like being assholes?”
“Assholes?” Scotch gasped, narrowing her eyes. “If there’s one asshole around here, it’s her!” she accused, pointing at Sunset. “She glued my locker shut when Flash was trying to talk to me! And speaking of which, wasn’t she the one who called you a ‘fucking wetback that needs to go back to Mexico?’”
Rainbow bristled slightly at that, then looked out of the corner of her eyes at Sunset. The flamehaired girl was doing a credible imitation of Fluttershy, and not in a good way, either. Rainbow immediately solved this by putting an arm around Sunset. “Eh, big fucking whoop. She and I are tight now – so if you have a problem with her, then you have a problem with me, ¿sobres?”
“What?”
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “We live in California and you have no idea what Spanglish is? Look, just GTFO and leave Sunset alone, okay?”
“We weren’t picking on the cunt!” the second girl snarled.
“Hey, I call it as I see it,” Rainbow replied. “So let me make this clear: you fuck with her, you’re fucking with me, and I’m going to fuck you up. Got that?” the athlete said in a dangerous tone. The four girls blanched, nodded and then decided that absence was the better part of valor and decided to take off.
“There,” Rainbow replied, shrugging her shoulders. “Can’t believe that….” She then looked at Sunset. “Sunset, what is wrong with you?”
“I…I just…I just wanted….”
Rainbow allowed herself a rare moment of not-coolness. “Look, Sunset…it’s a Monday. People are just getting used to everything that happened this past Friday. Nothing happens overnight – literally or metaphically.”
“Metaphorically?” Sunset supplied.
“Yeah, that.” She looked at the other teen, who was starting to stink of coffee and whose clothes had acquired a very caffeinated stain. “Plus, really? This ‘meek’ you isn’t…well, you.”
“I know, but… I have to make amends. Truthfully, it took a lot of effort to even get out of bed this morning.” That, of course, had been the truth, but not all of it; it had been an unusually blustery morning earlier on and the chill was enough to even penetrate the corrugated walls of the old Flim-Flam Bros. warehouse. While the room she slept in thankfully had been insulated and so she didn’t wake up to a freezing room. Unfortunately, she couldn’t say the same for the rest of the cavernous warehouse, and stepping out of the living quarters had been an excruciating adjustment. At that point, she’d briefly considered just ditching school for the day but ultimately decided to come in, if only for her would-be friends’ sakes.
It’s a good thing that it’s just a one-time frost just before Indian summer sets in, she thought. She also mused on why the Earth had a warming period after the first frost of the year, as well as why they called it “Indian summer”. She never considered asking, and now that she was trying to change her ways, it was probably something that was definitely taboo, if for no other reason than the fact that it could be potentially offensive.
I don’t really get how skin color and other things like that come between humans, she mused. I mean, yeah, we ponies went through that kind of stuff too between the tribes, but that was centuries ago and we’ve gotten over it since. All in all, it was just another reminder of how Sunset wasn’t a part of the species she lived with, no matter how much she looked like one of them.
“Well, anyway, it’s lunchtime, so you going to join us? Actually, come to think of it…. What do you do during lunchtime, anyway?” Rainbow asked.
Sunset fell right in line with Rainbow, not wanting to argue. “Sure, that sounds great. As to what I did, well….”
Five other girls looked at Sunset in shock. Sunset had the good grace, at least, to be completely embarrassed.
“Ah, uh….” Applejack said, lost for words. The other four pretty much agreed with that assessment, though they didn’t voice it.
Finally, Rarity was the one to speak. Blushing madly, she asked, “Truly?”
Sunset sighed. “You wanted to know what I did during my lunch time and I promised myself that I wouldn’t lie to you five, especially since you’re giving me this chance.” And now I seriously wondered if I blew it.
“But….” was all Fluttershy could squeak before she finally hid under the table, mortified.
Sunset sighed again. “Look, girls…I’m sorry that I was a bit, ah, ‘blunt’ in my statement. So…please forgive me?”
An awkward silence reigned again until Applejack spoke once more. “Uh…Sunset, Ah know y’re from a different culture ‘nall, but…normal kids don’t spend their lunches havin’ sex in th’ locker room with their guys.”
“I…know that now,” Sunset admitted. “At the time when I was with Flash…I really didn’t care. I wanted him, he wanted me, you get the idea. Plus, in fairness, you have to remember that I’m still learning a bunch of cultural norms – you grew up with these standards, but I didn’t.”
Rarity whispered to Fluttershy as the latter unearthed herself from beneath the table, “Is it me, darling, but did I get the idea that her species’ societal etiquette isn’t much different from ours?” The chiffon-haired girl, still not trusting herself to say much, merely nodded in response.
“But now I know that it was just a physical thing,” Sunset said, unaware of Rarity’s thoughts. “And while I can’t say that I loved him or anything, I…I just feel empty about that. And it didn’t help that he focused on Sparkle while she was here.”
“But you broke up with him last…what, March or so? What’d you do then?” Rainbow asked, not sure she wanted to know the answer.
“I did what you guys know: I picked on people, bullied Snips and Snails into doing my homework for me, kicked dogs, smacked kids and was generally the worst person on Earth.”
“Oh, that’s not true, Sunset!” Pinkie chirped, trying to put a smile on the flamehaired girl’s face. “You’re not the worst person on Earth, because you’re not a person – you’re an alien in disguise, so maybe you’re the worst thing on Earth, but not the worst person!”
“Not helping, Pinks,” Rainbow groaned.
“I…have a whole bunch of other things to do. I’ll see you later.” Before anyone could stop her, Sunset left the table, rushing out of the cafeteria. After that, the four scowled at Pinkie.
“What…was it something I said?”
Sunset made it as far as the first corridor away from the cafeteria. Her heart pounded and she felt like she was going to void what little she’d eaten for breakfast. I wish I’d had the sense to at least grab some rolls from my tray before I took off, she mentally groaned. As it was, she’d spent money that she couldn’t afford to part with; now that she couldn’t pressure other students into giving up their funds for her “Sunset Shimmer Appreciation Society Dues”, things were going to be as tight as ever.
At that point, she was just to head out the door and just call it a day when a voice behind her said, “And where do you think you’re going, young miss?” Sunset suddenly froze in place, only to turn around and face the person she least wanted to see: Principal Celestia.
“Going outside to get some fresh air,” the teen said, glibly. She just didn’t say how far outside she was going.
“And how coincidental that the door you chose leads towards the parking lot and the way out?”
Sunset shrugged. “Eventually all directions lead out, Principal Celestia. Besides, aren’t the side doors the only way into the school while the main entrance is being rebuilt?” The moment she said that, she winced – the front of the school wouldn’t have needed the extensive reconstruction if it hadn’t been for what she did just a few days back.
The educator’s magenta eyes narrowed. “I believe that we wouldn’t have needed the maintenance if you hadn’t caused your ‘creative’ rearranging.”
Sunset was about to snap something back, then thought better of it. She was already equina non grata back in Equestria and on thin ice here; while she longed to just leave here and start somewhere else, there would be too many problems with doing that and as thin as it was, her only support network on this world was here in this city.
“As it is, you still have detention, and unless you want to add to your list of issues, Ms. Shimmer, then I strongly suggest you turn around and head back to the cafeteria or perhaps take a breath of air outside in the inner courtyard.” With that, the administrator walked away from Sunset at a slow enough pace to indicate that she was listening out for the alien teen’s next move.
Not knowing what else to do, Sunset punched a locker, knowing Celestia was listening…but pulling her punch, since her natural strength would have caved the door in, causing even more heartache for her. With no other options available to her, Sunset walked down the hall in the opposite direction. She wasn’t going to give the educator the benefit of hearing her frustration.
Sunset entered the room, giving a brief glance to Mr. Tofu, the earth sciences teacher, who was in charge of today’s detention. “I’m here, Mr. Tofu,” the teen said morosely.
The teacher ran his fingers across his fuzzy soulpatch – He must think it makes him look older and distinguished, Sunset thought to herself – then sighed. “Take a seat, Ms. Shimmer,” he said in a monotone, “and just do your homework until it’s time for dismissal, if you please.” He then looked at the rest of those seated in their chairs and announced, “Let’s make this quick and easy: Just do your homework or read silently until the hour is up and we can all be out of here nice and peacefully.”
A tall kid with sandy blond hair and ruddy skin flipped the teacher off and said, “Well, what’re you gonna do to me if I don’t, ya pansy ass?” Mr. Tofu just rolled his eyes, and the boy laughed. “Yeah, thought as much, you fuckin’ freak.”
A guy behind him said, “Good one, Garble!” Garble turned around and high-fived the other boy.
Sunset, meanwhile, couldn’t help herself; while she didn’t really give two shits about Mr. Tofu, she wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. “Oh, knock it off, you two. He’s just trying to make it easy on us.”
“Hey, the bitch speaks.” Garble got up from his chair and walked over to Sunset; he was tall enough that her seated form came up to his waist. “Hey, while you’re sitting there, wanna polish my knob? Pretty much all you’re good for nowadays – just a spooge target and that’s it.”
Sunset glared at him, then leaned over in her chair as her face took an uninterested look. “Wow, how long did it take you to string that sentence together, Garble? Or did you have your mom help you with that?”
“Garble, get to your seat,” Tofu said in a tone that almost approached stern. “Let’s not make this harder than it has to be.”
“Oh, go shove it up your ass, dumbfuck,” the teen said. “I got a date here with this bitch. And if she squirms, well, that’s just the way I like it. So, Baconhead Cunt, up the ass or down the throat?”
Sunset’s eyes gleamed. “Oh, I don’t know – why don’t you ask your boyfriend over there how he likes giving it to you?” Her eyes then narrowed as she said, “Now sit your ass down and listen to the teacher, got that?”
Garble stared down at her, his mind only on one thing. “Only thing I got is how you’re going to beg me to fuck you when I’m done with you, skank,” he seethed.
That was enough for Sunset. Rising from her chair, she said, “You’re going to regret your words, asshole.”
“SHIMMER! GARBLE! BREAK IT UP!” a booming voice cried. Both turned to the door to see Mr. Iron Will, one of the school’s guidance counselors as well as a geometry teacher and the baseball teams’ coach, standing there, taking up almost all the space in the doorframe. The dark-skinned man was built like a bodybuilder – no surprise there, as he lifted weights regularly – and earned every bit of his nickname when he played professional sports: The Minotaur. He’d been the star slugger and outfielder for the Cloudsdale Thunderstorms until repeated injuries ended his career. Even still, he showed a passion for sports, as well as his current employment by way of teaching.
Tofu suddenly moved to the counselor’s side as the latter barked, “SIT. DOWN.And don’t move until I say so.” As both Sunset and Garble returned to their seats, the two teachers conversed for a bit, with Iron Will nodding occasionally. The room fell silent, as every student decided to imitate a statue, not so much as even daring to breathe lest the attention of the massive counselor fall on them. “Thought so,” he said to no one in particular. Finally, in a stern tone, turned his attention to the two earlier students, ordering, “Garble, move next door – now. You will sit in there until I say otherwise, understood?” The teen said nothing but instead rose from his seat once more, walked up to the teachers and gave both of them a glare before walking out of the room. A few seconds later, Iron Will said, “Ms. Shimmer, if you would, please follow me.”
Sunset, feeling as though she was in deep shit, followed the counselor out of the classroom. “Please close the door,” Iron Will said, and Sunset did so. “Now, Mr. Tofu told me what just occurred, because given your past, I was expecting a fight. And quite frankly, I’m rather…surprised…that I did not see one. Given your previous demeanor, Ms. Shimmer, you can count me as impressed.”
The flamehaired girl was not expecting that. “Uh, thanks?” Being complimented was something she hadn’t been used to in a while. The last time she’d gotten a genuine compliment was with Flash, and she’d been hot, sweaty and straddling him at the time. “I, er….”
Iron Will pointed towards the door. “Fortunately for you, the faculty does get some leeway in regards to detention. Tofu suggested I let you go, and I’m inclined to agree. I’m going to take it on face value that this isn’t just a one-time thing and cut you loose early. Do us teachers all a favor and try not to make another appearance here?”
“I’ll try not to,” she said, not sure of what else to say. This really just happened, right?
Finally, after some shopping for food and a quick trip to the Laundromat to wash her clothing, she arrived at home sweet hovel. Setting her basket of clothing down on the table, she pulled out her phone and looked at her bank balance.
I have maybe just enough to get me through the rest of the month, she realized as she closed the app, and nothing more. What am I going to do? Her mind went through dozens of ideas, all of them unsavory. Now that she was turning a new leaf, selling term papers and the like was out of the question. She would never sink to dealing drugs or becoming a mare of the night. And her ID barely worked now; if she had to get a real job where she’d have to have parents sign off on documents and such as other students did, she didn’t know what she did. She was able to steal the identity of the Sunset Shimmer of this world because the trail went dead years ago; when she looked up the whereabouts of her counterpart in this world, the closest she came was a newspaper from five or so years back detailing that indicated that eight-year-old Sunset Shimmer was missing and authorities were looking for her. Sunset herself shivered at that; was she living the life of a dead girl?
And I can’t go back to Equestria. She’ll kill me if I do. What do I do? She looked at her purse, then at the phone.
I know a quick way to get money, and I’m going to hate myself for it.
There was a knock on the door. Fuck, who’s knocking on the door at this hour? Flash Sentry groaned. “Okay, I’m coming, I’m coming, don’t get your panties in a bunch,” he said. He didn’t give a damn who heard him; his parents were on a trip to Europe at the moment anyway. He opened the door to find….
“HOW DARE YOU HUMILIATE ME, USURPER!” an ivory face, with eyes glowing like twin stars stared right at her. A mane the color of the rising sun glowed with pure and utter power, and the sight was fearsome to behold. But it was the sneer on the face of the being looking at her that hurt the most: a frown that said that it didn’t care. That the grimace’s owner felt no love any longer.
And she knew that it was her fault.
“DIE, TRAITOR!” The world filled with nothing but flame….
And Sunset sat up, gasping for breath. The sweat still glistened on her nude body, and despite the soreness she felt, she shivered from her nightmare.
She turned to see both the clock, which read 3:30 am; and Flash, gently dozing in the bed next to her. Getting out of bed, she slipped on her panties and bra, then walked over to the chair, where her clothes were slung all over the place – including what was left of her shirt. They’d ripped it off in a fit of passion.
Well, he ripped it off in passion. I felt nothing, she thought to herself. Not even like in the past. Back then, she had a “relationship”, quotes and all, both because he was the dreamiest guy in school, and because she enjoyed her freedom probably a little too much. But she wasn’t the same person she was when she broke up with him back in March – or even the same person who felt a twinge of jealousy when he was paying attention to Twilight Sparkle during her time here, even if he didn’t remember the alicorn now – Twilight’s last spell before returning to Equestria had ensured that only those who needed to remember would do so.
Then why did I do it? she asked. I could have come up with a billion ideas. Hell, I could have found a way to blackmail him or something. Instead, I let him have what he wanted. A wave of nausea sank into her as she realized what she’d done.
She walked over, reached in his pants and pulled out his wallet. It’s what you wanted, isn’t it? Sunset could practically hear Princess Celestia’s words of disgust clear in her mind. Congratulations, nightwalker. I hope lifting your tail was worth it, instead of becoming a princess. Sunset opened Flash’s wallet, finding a little over a hundred in various bills; his parents were loaded, so his allowance usually counted in the three figures.
And all I have to do is take the money I earned, Sunset thought to herself in loathing tones, and then go find the next trick. Who else? Maybe Mr. Tofu? Guy’s probably never gotten laid. Or maybe Mr. Form Factor, the computer teacher – I hear he likes cute girls. Or maybe even Ms. Raven; I heard she got caught with a female student and….
She looked at the sleeping form in the bed, and the pain ripped her apart. She had happily been a slut, if only to control him. Now? The one time presumptive-daughter of the Princess of All, a former baroness and once the most powerful unicorn in all of Equestria had just reduced herself to a common whore.
Sunset slumped to the floor in a wordless cry. I’m so sorry, Princess. I have failed you once again. Sunset wasn’t sure how long she was there, crying silently at her lowest point, only afraid that Flash would wake up, tell her to take the money and next time bring a friend.
Horrified, she shoved Flash’s wallet, money still in it, back in his pants, then slipped on her clothing – she took one of his t-shirts, more out of need than revenge – and quietly left the house. She had time to get to the warehouse and take a long, long cold shower in order to get ready for the school day.
Too bad I can never wash away my sins, the former unicorn mused as she closed the front door of the house and started walking down the street.
“I…I need help,” Sunset said to the others at lunch that day.
“Sunset, dear, is everything alright?” Rarity asked.
“No, no it’s not.” And with that, she explained everything of the night’s prior events. She knew Flash wouldn’t talk about it; he had his reputation as “Mr. Nice Guy” to maintain, if only to victimize the next girl. But she had pledged to be a different Sunset Shimmer now, and that meant treading paths that she wasn’t used to having available…or even easy to tread.
So she explained. And if the girl’s reactions were bad yesterday, as she watched Fluttershy all but run from the table, she wondered if she’d truly blown her chance for friendship finally and utterly.
Applejack took a long draw of breath before saying, “Sunset? Ah think it’s fair t’ say that ya done fucked up bad.”
“That’s not all she fucked,” Rainbow snarked, only to get stared at by Rarity. “What?”
“Rainbow, darling, don’t be so crass.” Rarity turned to Sunset, a clearly and overtly kind smile on her face. “Sunset…I will be honest, dear: I don’t know what to say. I don’t see you as a lady of the night, but for you to fall so far….”
Sunset looked as though she wanted to cry. “Rarity, I don’t know what to do! I’ll lose everything if I run out of money!”
“Well, as much as I dislike the option as we would miss you, mayhaps it is time for you to return to your homeworld?”
Sunset shook her head. “Thirty moons, Rarity – that’s two and a half years. And keep in mind that the first full moon isn’t until October 8th. I’ll be dead long before then. Besides,” she sighed, “Trust me when I say that option is completely off the table. I don’t want to go into detail, but for better or worse, this is my home now.”
“Well, we would have to find, er, employment for you that would fit your requirements and not ask too many questions,” Rarity supplied. “Unfortunately, as I understand it, our state is notorious for wanting information for underage employees’ sakes.”
“So in other words, I’ll have to fake more documents like when I got here four years ago? You know I can’t do that. Principal Celestia knows about me now and she’s going to be keeping an eye out. I may as well paint a sign on the wall that says, ‘Hey, I’m committing fraud!’”
“Hey, it’ll work out,” Applejack assured her friend. “It’s just like a story mah parents used t’ tell me when I was a little girl. There was a girl who lost her parents, and lived alone in her home. One day, she got visited by an angel who told her that everything would be better. But then her house burned down and she went to live in the toolshed. Then a second angel came and said that everything would be better, but then that night a tornado came and broke the toolshed and the little girl went to live in a cave in the side of the nearby mountain. And when the third angel came, the little girl told him to go away, but the angel said, ‘How will you ever know joy if you don’t look, little one?’ And when the girl came out of the cave, there were people there, looking for her, including her uncle, who took her to his house so she could live happily ever after.”
Hearing the story, Sunset didn’t say a word. She’d heard the story before, dozens of times, in fact – back in Equestria, where it was called “The Three Sunrises”. The story was basically the same, only with a little orphan filly and Princess Celestia coming at each sunrise to promise the little filly that things would be better soon; when the filly hid, Princess Celestia had told her, ‘How can you ever see the sunrise if you don’t go look?’ The story ended with the filly being happily adopted by nobles and living a happily ever after. If it hadn’t been for the fact that the story was centuries old, Sunset might have thought that Celestia invented it just about Sunset herself.
Or maybe that’s what I wanted, and I didn’t know it until it was too late, Sunset mourned.
Unexpectedly, there was a slight giggle and everyone turned to Pinkie. “What’s up, Pinkie?” Rainbow asked.
A wide smile came onto the cheerleader’s face. “Oh, nothing much,” she replied.
“Auntie Cup! Uncle Carrot! I’m home!” Pinkie chirped as she walked into the Sugarcube Corner Café. She was wearing her cheerleading outfit after a long practice session and ran straight home, because her aunt and uncle still needed lots of help with the business.
“Oh, hey, Pinkie,” Carrot said, looking up from doing the day’s register count, pausing only as his niece kissed him on the cheek. “Cup’s upstairs with the twins. Can you give me a hand prepping the kitchen for tomorrow?”
“Sure! But can I take a shower first? Got all sweaty working on a new routine with the squad,” the hyper teen said. As her uncle nodded, she could see the café’s kitchen just behind him, looking like an utter disaster. It never looked so unkept before, but then again, it had only been in the past year or so since her aunt’s pregnancy and subsequent birthing of Pinkie’s cousins Pumpkin and Pound that things had gotten too hectic for the family.
Pinkie quickly rushed upstairs, said hi to her aunt and cousins and gave them loving kisses as well, before bounding into the shower and emerging fifteen minutes later with a towel around her frizzy cotton-candy pink hair and wearing a white t-shirt and capri jeans. With that, she rushed back downstairs, and dived right into the action, washing the pots and pans while her uncle started sweeping up the day’s detritus.
“Sorry, Pinkie,” Carrot said. “I know you’d rather be out doing teenage stuff instead of helping two fuddy old folks run this old shack.”
“Oh, don’t say that, Uncle Carrot,” Pinkie said with a sincere smile. “I love baking and party planning and all that, and between that and hanging out with my friends and being on the cheerleading squad is more than enough for me! Besides, I have the best aunt and uncle in the world and I couldn’t ask for anything more!”
“I know, but I wish I could get more help around here,” he sighed. “I don’t want you to miss out on your youth, and with Cup taking care of the twins, I can only do so much.”
A smile, the usual smile Pinkie had when she was about to ask for something, came over the teen’s face. “Maybe I could find another way to help?”
“Sweetie, I don’t want you to quit cheerleading just for our sakes.”
“No, I don’t mean that,” Pinkie said as she sprayed down one of the cookie sheets. “I mean, what if we got another person to work here after school?”
“I thought about that, but…well, I’d have to cut your hours, which…well, it would impact your allowance, sweetie.”
Pinkie smiled cheerily. “Honestly, Uncle Carrot? This is more important. And not just my hours, but…well, I have a friend I want to help, too.”
“Pinkie, I don’t…I mean, I can’t—”
Pinkie jumped up and down, holding Sunset’s hands in hers. “Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease say you’ll take it! You need one, my aunt and uncle really need help with the café, and I can’t be there all the time. I mean, the squad has to go to football games and all that an—”
“Okay, okay, okay!” Sunset said, not sure whether to laugh or hug Pinkie infinitely – not that the latter would mind too much. “I mean, beggars can’t be choosers, right?” She then winced as she said the old human aphorism.
Applejack placed her hand on Sunset’s shoulder. “Sugarcube, this ain’t a handout, if’n that’s what you’re thinkin’. Ah been to th’ Sugarcube Corner dozens o’ times. They’ll work ya hard – you’ll earn your pay.”
“But what made your aunt and uncle decide to okay it? I thought you said that the café’s hurting for business right now?” Rainbow asked.
“Oh, that’s easy!” Pinkie chirped. “I just had them cut my hours so they could pay Sunset!”
“Wait – didn’t you say once that your allowance is based on the hours you work there?” Sunset asked. “Pinkie, I can’t do that – that’d be hurting you and I can’t do that to you, Pinkie.”
The cotton-candy haired teen looked at her friend. “Sunny, I told my aunt and uncle the truth. Well, the part about you turning over a new leaf and sorts, not about you living alone or not being human or stuff like that – funny, people would think I was crazy if I started mentioning that!”
“I can’t imagine how anyone would ever think that,” Rainbow said, rolling her eyes.
“Anyway, though, as much as you need help, they need your help, too! Uncle Carrot…he’s always so tired after working the café all by himself, and I worry about him. And Auntie Cup can’t help much, because she has the twins. And while I want to do more, there’s only so much I can do. So, really, as much as you need help, Sunny, my aunt and uncle need help too.”
“Sunny?” Sunset repeated. She never told her friends, but she really detested that nickname, if only because how often Flash had used when they both had angry, drunk sex. The one time she’d heard him slur, “Sunny Hunny’s fuckin’ funny; wants me to spooge all on her tummy,” she made it clear that she wanted to be called just Sunset from that point. Yet even still, she knew Pinkie wasn’t saying it out of malice or revenge – she was just being Pinkie.
Sunset nodded. “Okay. I guess I’ll head to the café with you afterschool—” Before she could even finish, she was wrapped up in a virtually bone-crushing hug from Pinkie. “Pinkie…dying here….” Sunset gasped.
“Yay! You’ll do it! This calls for a ‘Sunset Got a Job’ party! Everyone’s invited to the café!”
Cup looked sternly at the teenager before her, and it was all Sunset could do to just stand there and take the woman’s withering glance. “So, you’re the one that’s been causing my niece heartache all these years?” Sunset wanted to melt from the withering glare the woman was giving her; whatever stories Pinkie had told her about her aunt being a softy were probably not as true as the teen thought they were. But then Cup smiled beatifically and added in softer tones, “Well, if Pinkie says you’ve turned a new leaf and need help, then far be it from me to turn away a girl in need.”
Sunset nodded. “Thank you, Mrs. Cake.”
“Oh, let’s see how much you thank me by the end of the day,” Cup said with a knowing smile.
“Sunset! Can you get this to table three?” Carrot called out, passing the plate to Sunset. “Also, this needs to go to table four, and this one needs to go to table one.” Sunset took the four trays, her arms wobbling as she barely held onto them both to the weight and the bulkiness. Moving slowly, she tried to get the dishes to the tables in the right wa—
“SUNNY!” Pinkie rushed down the stairs, wearing her cheerleader outfit. “Liking the job so far? You look good! Keep it up!”
“Pinkie, I just started five minutes ago,” Sunset said, gritting her teeth. Granted, she was grateful for Pinkie’s help in getting a job, but she needed to concentrate.
“Cool! Anyway, I gotta go because the football team’s playing Forest Edge High in an hour and I gotta get ready for our drills!” She waved over to her uncle, adding, “I’ll be home late tonight! I’ll see you later!” And before she even got an answer, she rushed out the door, leaving a befuddled and still struggling Sunset wondering what the hell just happened.
However, she didn’t have to wait much longer before Pinkie raced back in and shouted, “Totally forgot my pom-poms!” Unfortunately, while running past Sunset, she accidentally bumped into the overburdened teen. Sunset moved back and forth, trying to get a hold of the trays before she lost control. At the last second, just before she was about to drop them, she moved her other hand in to help and then poured spellfire through both hands, using a quick tractor spell to keep everything in place, while casting a second spell with the other intending to hide the cyan light flash of her magic. She’d fallen to her knees by the time everything was done, but somehow she’d managed to save everything before food and drinks had been splattered over the café floor.
Carrot was at her side in an instant. “You okay?”
“Yeah, my mistake,” she apologized. She knew it had been in truth Pinkie’s jostle, and she knew that Pinkie hadn’t intended to do so, so she wasn’t going to blame her for what was clearly an accident. Plus, Pinkie was her friend…maybe.
“Well, here, let me help you with that. Wouldn’t want the new employee to get hurt, would we?” he said with an awkward grin.
“No, I think I’d like to survive the day,” Sunset said, somewhat embarrassed.
Without warning, Pinkie rushed right by with her pom-poms, shouting, “OhmyGodImlateIllbebacklaterguysbye!” as she raced by both, leaping out the door and into a car driven by another cheerleader that Sunset recognized as Somersault. Thankfully the other cheerleader hadn’t seen her, or else Sunset probably would’ve gotten an earful for stealing her phone and placing it at the bottom of the school’s swimming pool. Soon enough, the car drove off, with Sunset watching it recede into the distance.
“Something wrong?” Carrot asked.
“Yeah,” she admitted. “Just my past haunting me.”
Wiping a bit of sweat off her brow, Sunset exhaled. Her first night working had been unusually busy for the café, Carrot admitted; the café usually closed at six due to the tapering off of business, but for some reason, everybody in the universe wanted to hit the Sugarcube Corner today and that meant that Sunset worked until the legal limit of ten that night instead of seven, which had been the original plan. Given that the place was busy, she needed the experience and the money, and she couldn’t leave Pinkie’s family hanging, Sunset gave no qualms. All in all, truth be told, it had been a relatively uneventful night, with the exception of Derpy Hooves and her friend Carrot Top briefly coming in to grab a coffee, seeing her and immediately heading back out.
Finally, as she set the broom and dustpan in the closet and removed her apron, Carrot smiled. “Need a lift home, Sunset? It’s getting late and it is a school night.”
“No, I don’t live far from here,” she lied. In truth, she left her bike outside – well, technically the bike belonged to Snails’ sister before Sunset “appropriated" it; sooner or later, she was going to have to return it – and a good thirty-minute ride to her home. It was a good thing that no one had ever really inquired into her residential situation – for years she used an address that didn’t exist, but sounded like it was in the eastern part of town, maybe – but now that the truth was out, sooner or later Principal Celestia or Vice Principal Luna was going to look into the truth, and if she had problems now, that was going to be magnitudes worse.
Best not push my luck in the meanwhile, Sunset thought.
“Well, at least let me make a panini or something for you before you go,” Carrot insisted. “You didn’t take a break for dinner, and I’d feel better if you did that.”
“Sure, thanks,” she said. At least the food here was healthier than the instant ramen she’d have to cook at home. Since she wasn’t a pony anymore, her metabolism wasn’t as high and while magic users could burn off calories just from spell, her human body didn’t seem to quite have that type of advantage. Besides, she liked looking good; while she was sure she wasn’t going to return to her relationship with Flash, there might be a chance that she might meet another guy that she liked, preferably one that wasn’t a bitch in sheep’s clothing.
It was then that the door unlocked and Pinkie walked in, somewhat subdued – well, subdued by Pinkie standards, in any case – and weary. “I’m home,” she said softly, before realizing that Sunset and Carrot were still in the café space of the building. “Busy night, huh?”
Sunset nodded. “How’d the game go?”
“JV and Varsity got their butts handed to them. Forest Edge had better teams; nobody’s fault, really. Though I am a little angry that Gridiron was paying attention to Sweet Swings instead of me.”
“I thought you had no interest in dating, Pinkie,” Sunset replied.
“Well, not really…but a girl likes a guy paying attention now and then, right?” the cotton-candy-haired girl said with a wink.
“Uh, yeah.” The room settled into an awkward silence as Pinkie realized she said something she shouldn’t have.
“Sunny….”
“Look, I gotta go.” Carrot came back at that point and brought out a doggie bag with a turkey and swiss panini, chips and a Diet Coke. Sunset said her thanks, taking it. The adult then left the two teens alone, saying he’d head upstairs.
“Sunny, I…look, why don’t you stay over, tonight? You can borrow some of my clothes for tomorrow, okay?”
The ex-unicorn shook her head. “No, but thanks.” She briefly hugged Pinkie, and headed for the door. “I’ll see you in the morning, okay?”
Pinkie’s hair seemed to deflate. “I’m sorry.”
Sunset gave her friend a wan smile as she headed out the door. “It wasn’t you. It was me. And I’m tired of it always being me.” Nothing more to say, she grabbed her jacket, then walked out the door as she fished out the key to her bike lock.
Pinkie waited until Sunset rode off before locking the door and turning off the café lights, heading upstairs to the second-floor residence. Waiting there for her was Cup, with a bowl of chicken soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. “Do you want to talk about it, sweetie?” the matron asked her niece.
Pinkie sat down at the kitchen table, looking at her aunt forlornly. “No…but I wish Sunny would. I wish I knew what to do to help.”
“Some people need help, just like you did when you came to live with us,” Cup said, sitting down at the table as well. “But some people want to figure out their own way in life, and they never really do until it hurts. It sounds like that’s what your friend’s going through right now.”
“I know,” Pinkie said softly. “That’s what worries me.”
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?”
Sunset barely paid attention to the class. She was tired of the class going on right now anyway. It was a debate session, and while she managed to put together something reasonable, she really didn’t know about Menlo Wizard or Mechanical Resonance and how the former ripped off the latter or whatever. She was sure that it would be interesting in a movie, or a rap battle or something but right now she was busy doing something important.
Today she had plans. Since Pinkie was headed out of town on a cheerleading exhibition that would last until late tomorrow afternoon, her aunt and uncle went with her and so the Sugarcube Corner café was closed for today and tomorrow. Additionally, Applejack’s family was up in Oregon today helping a family friend with something, leaving the elder two Apple siblings to run the store. Since she was home, that gave Applejack a chance to invite her friends over for pizza and movies, but in the end, Fluttershy had to watch her brother while her mother was working the night shift, Rarity had to decline due to “the monthly inconvenience” and Rainbow was currently in the on phase of her on/off relationship with Soarin’ and so they were on a date tonight. That meant that only Sunset had accepted Applejack’s invitation to come over.
Her phone buzzed, and very carefully, she pulled it out to see a message from Applejack: Meet around 5 at the statue?
Sunset responded, Could we meet somewhere else? That statue kinda gives me the creeps. It is the way to my homeworld, you know. Truthfully, it wasn’t so much the statue that gave her the creeps so much as it was the chance that somehow, Celestia could find a way to override the mirror’s time protection and that would be the end of her. Since then, Sunset made every effort possible to avoid being near the statue when she could, and nowhere near the school at all if there weren’t enough people around that she could rely on to help her if Equestria invaded.
Though I suspect they’d clap if Royal Guards arrested me and dragged me back, she sighed sadly.
The phone buzzed again. Sure. Meet at the store, since it’s close, and I can give you a lift to my place.
Sunset’s fingers flew against the gorilla glass of her phone. Deal. See you then.
“Ms. Shimmer!” a voice suddenly cried. Sunset looked up to see the face of Ms. Conundrum. “Since you insist on wasting my time, I shall waste yours.” She pointed at the door. “Go. You have an appointment with the vice principal, and I can assure you she will not be happy about that.”
Sighing, Sunset gathered her books, got up from the chair and headed towards an all-too-familiar office.
Nearly thirty minutes later of sitting in front of Ms. Luna’s desk and the educator ignoring her in favor of what sounded like Angry Birds. Finally, unable to take it anymore, Sunset asked, “Ms. Luna? Are you going to acknowledge me?”
“That depends,” the woman said, without even looking up from her phone. “Are you planning to give me an actual reason why you aren’t bothering to pay attention in class?” Finally, she then set down the phone and stared straight at the teen. “Let’s get something straight, Sunset Shimmer. You don’t belong here. And I am not saying that lightly, I really mean it: You are not human, you are not of this world and you do not belong here. Why that alien princess didn’t take her along with you when she returned to your home dimension is beyond me. If you were to ask the opinion of myself and Principal Celestia, we would have wholeheartedly sent you back. You are, frankly, more trouble than you’re worth, and you are now an outright threat to people, whether or not anyone can believe or even remember it.” She shook her head as if nursing a headache. “How you managed to make everyone forget about what you really are is highly disturbing.”
Sunset looked down. “I didn’t do that. I think Princess Twilight did,” she admitted reluctantly.
“If that’s the case, I suspect that was her way of giving you a second chance – a second chance that I do not believe you deserve. And if I understood her correctly, the portal to your world only opens every two and a half years, which is, in my opinion, far too long to give you any rope to hang the faculty and student body with.”
“Ms. Luna, you may not believe me, but I have changed. You don’t know what it’s like being hit by the Elements of Harmony – I can’t describe it except maybe to say that reliving what I did to others is an understatement of an explanation. I have learned my lesson.”
“I doubt it.” The woman leaned forward, her long, starry midnight-blue hair brushing against the desk. “If you were an ordinary student, you would have been gone a long time ago – either expelled to the alternative high school in Sunnytown, or outright kicked out of the school system entirely. And if I were any less of a moral person, I would have turned you over to the Federal Government, except that I don’t know if that’s safe. So we are stuck with an alien who has been more destructive than any student I have ever dealt with before in my career.
“I don’t know what it takes to get through to you, but I hope to God that what Mr. Will saw the other day was genuine. Because if you ever put another person in jeopardy ever again, morals or not, I will find some way to expel you back to your homeworld.” The look in Luna’s eyes was severe enough that it was clear she meant business.
“You wouldn’t!” Sunset cried, more out of surprise than a clear head. If she’d been thinking, she would’ve known that it was impossible for a non-magical species like humans to do so, but the thought of being sent back to Equestria was panic-inducing.
Luna grinned, but there was no mirth in that rictus. “Ah, so you’re just as much a delinquent there as you are here. Small wonder the princess didn’t take you back, then – you’re an exile.” She then sighed and the anger seemed to deflate out of her. “Why? That’s all I want to know. Why?”
“Why I’m an exile?” Sunset inquired.
“No – why you’re so self-destructive.” Luna was quiet for a second before she said, “I knew a girl like you, once, a cruel and destructive firebrand. You see, she couldn’t live up to the popularity of her older sister, who was the most beloved girl in her high school. The older sister was that school’s queen bee, you could say, but unlike your particular stripe of that behavior, the older sister in this case was a paragon of generosity, friendliness and kindness. I suppose you could call her ‘the girl next door’, if you’re familiar with that cliché. Both sisters grew up with a friend who treated both of them like equals, despite the four-year age difference between the two siblings. But, high school being the way it is, naturally separated the trio.
“Finally, as the younger sister entered high school during the elder’s senior year, she longed to have the respect and admiration her sister and their best friend had. Unfortunately, it was not to be; the younger sister wasn’t as beautiful back then as the older, stuck behind thick glasses, acne and, truth be told, a slight bit on the overweight side. Angry that her expectations were dashed, she fell in with the wrong crowd: punks, rockers, metalheads, that sort of thing. She dyed her hair, started dressing like a slut despite really not having the body for it, and even though the course of the year she lost weight, her skin cleared up and she began to become quite a looker herself, she was determined to be the school idol, and if she couldn’t do it her sister’s way, she’d do it her way. And her way, sadly, was much like your own.”
“What happened to her?” Sunset asked.
“It finally came to a head between the sisters when the faculty, assuming the younger sister would listen to the elder, made a play for one to talk to the other about her behavior. After all, the sisters’ parents were influential people in the town, the sort of people that made others worry about their jobs if they said the wrong word. The older sister agreed to talk to the younger, but…well, it went wrong. The younger sister swore she would take her sister’s place – as queen bee, as prom queen, as everything. The older sister tried to convince the younger that the path was wrong, but being human means…well, being human, and so the older sister eventually lost her temper as well.
“To this day, the best friend doesn’t really know who threw the first punch. Only that the younger sister, who happened to be enraged, was practically willing to hospitalize her sister if it meant deposing her – teenagers really don’t think clearly, as you’re well aware. The older sister, however, despite taking blows and bruises, ultimately ended the fight by breaking her sister’s arm, breaking her rule of fear as well…but making the younger sister terrified of the older.” Luna was quiet. “The younger sister ended up spending the week at the best friend’s house because she was too afraid to even go home. It finally took the best friend to sit both sisters down for a day and let them talk. It was enough to solve the immediate problem, but the sisters were never really as close to each other after that. Since then, though they love each other, they’re as different as night and day.”
Sunset sat and digested this. “You were the best friend, weren’t you?”
Luna didn’t answer her, but instead said, “It is something I never hope to see again in my lifetime, and I would never want to see another girl tread down that dark path – a path you’re on now, Ms. Shimmer. But I fear it won’t end up as easy for you. You are alone here, and unless you change your ways, it will not end well for you.” She pointed to the door. “I have now wasted an hour of my time talking to you…again. If you truly are changing, please make sure this is the last time I see you in here.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Sunset replied, rising from the chair and walking towards the door.
“Yer quiet tonight, Sunset. Something wrong?” Applejack asked. The two had just finished off a pizza and were playing videogames instead of watching movies.
“Not really,” Sunset replied, setting down the controller. “Wow, this game is harder than I thought.”
Applejack smiled. “And here Ah thought you were the game player,” she cracked. But her smile disappeared. “Ah heard you got in trouble again, ended up in Ms. Luna’s office.”
“Yeah. And it’s partially your fault.” Sunset then explained what put here there, and as she did, Applejack groaned.
“Sorry ‘bout that, girl,” she replied. “But that don’t answer mah question.”
“Just…I wonder if I’ll ever have a chance to prove myself, or it’s time to move on.” When Applejack’s brows went up in surprise, Sunset nodded. “People want me gone, AJ. The faculty wants me gone, the students want me gone – face it, not a single person wants me here.”
“What about us?”
Sunset’s reply was a weary grin. “You girls mean a lot to me, in more ways than I can ever say. You’ve given me a second chance…but a second chance is worthless when there’s nobody around to see that you’re taking it.”
“Are you doing it for us, or yourself?”
“I don’t know. I want to be a better person now – looking back, I was on the path to Tartarus and didn’t even know it. Now that I can see, I don’t want to be on that road again. But it’s not just for me: I have a lot to make up to people. To you girls. To people like Derpy Hooves, Lyra Heartstrings, Minuette, and countless others. I have to prove that I’m better than what the rumors say. I have to prove…well, I know this sounds weird given what I really am, but I have to prove I’m just human and that a girl like me can change.”
“An’ how are you gonna prove that if’n you leave, Sunset?” Applejack accused. “That’s not changing, that’s running away. An’ the girl Ah know, then or now, ain’t no coward.”
“Or maybe I am, and I never really knew it until now…because I don’t have anyone to turn to. I’m shut off from my own world, and I have nobody here.”
Applejack leaned forward and said simply, “You. Have. Us.” The determination in her eyes was fierce and made Sunset pause. “Ah see Ah got yer attention,” the blonde then said with a smile. “Sunset, Ah don’t know what yer family life was like, but Ah promise that we’re never gonna leave ya hanging. Don’t bail on us, sugarcube.”
“I didn’t think you guys actually cared.”
“Because we’ve really only been friends fer, what, a month? The rest of us girls have known each other fer a long time – an’ in the case o’ Flutters and Rainbow, pretty much since they were kids. Yer gonna need time, Sunset.”
“I don’t know if I have that time,” the other girl insisted. “I feel like everything’s closing in on me, and that I’m one short step away from disaster.”
“Maybe so, maybe not,” came the response. “Ah remember when mah Ma an’ Pa were nearly killed in that accident. Ah always feared that Ah was almost out of time with them. But the good Lord dun met mah needs, our needs, an’ mah parents came about.”
“Sorry, but I just don’t have that kind of faith,” Sunset told her. “I know you’re religious, but…I guess you could say my personal faith is, well, personal, but for different reasons.”
“Y’ ponies believe in a god?”
Sunset nodded. “You might not believe it, but I was raised by her. And I don’t mean in a metaphorical sense.”
Applejack wasn’t quite sure how to react to that; it seemed both logical and blasphemous at the same time. So instead, she replied, “Ah see. An’ y’ spent all yer thirty pieces o’ silver?” When Sunset looked confused, Applejack said, “Nevermind. Just…trust this gal when Ah say that just keep straight an’ true, and sooner or later, good things’ll come.”
“Yeah, I guess.” Sunset looked at the time. “Man, didn’t realize it was that late already. I guess I’d better get going.”
“Nope,” Applejack replied. “It’s two-damn-thirty in the mornin’, sugarcube, an’ Ah ain’t lettin’ a friend suffer like that. Ah’ll go set up th’ guest room – yeah, this house ain’t so crowded we don’t have one – an’ lend you a set of mah PJs.” Applejack then went over and hugged Sunset. “We’re all together in this. We ain’t lettin’ ya go, Sunset, an’ that’s all there is to that.”
Sunset happily returned the embrace. “Thanks, AJ.”
Laying in the bed of the guest bedroom, though it was by far and away the comfiest bed she’d ever slept on – Flash’s bed included – she got no sleep, instead looking out at the clear night sky and the pale moon was full. She could feel the power from its apex sliding into her, recharging her batteries and yet she didn’t feel better.
Instead, she got out of bed and moved to the window, looking at the silken expanse at night. For some reason, it vaguely reminded her of Ms. Luna’s hair, but she put that out of her mind. She needed a clear mind for what she wanted to do.
“Listen, your majesty – Princess – I’m sorry. Maybe I’ll never be able to tell you in person, or if I do it’ll be just before my death, but…I’m sorry. I’m tired of the loneliness, of the nightmares, of being at the bottom of the barrel. I don’t even want to be on top anymore – I don’t even want to be a princess anymore. I just…I just want….” She couldn’t finish the words; she still didn’t know what she wanted.
“If you can hear this, somehow…if you ever really loved me…. Just end this pain. Please, just end it. I don’t care how. But I can’t live my life like this anymore. I have friends now – I think – and a chance at turning everything around, not to be a conqueror, but just to be me: Sunset Shimmer, and whoever I’ll be on this world.”
She moved away from the window, done. She never recited the chants and missals that the priests of the Celestine Order insisted were in gratitude to the Princess of All. And why should she? Celestia admitted she never liked them, and that if she had her way, she’d be just a princess, instead of so much more.
Just have faith, AJ said. The words haunted Sunset. Fine. My friends believe in me? I’ll take that chance. What could go wrong?
She regretted those words the following morning. The day had started okay enough: Applejack had made breakfast, and her and Sunset, along with Macintosh and his girlfriend Sweetcream Scoops – who Applejack had promised she wouldn’t say anything about the fact that she’d stayed over – chatted breezily over apple-stuffed French toast. Since Sunset’s plan was to go home, get some of the money she’d earned two weeks ago and go buy a bike, she couldn’t stay long. Scoops, who had to head home, offered to give Sunset a lift home, but given that she still hadn’t had the courage to tell her friends the truth about her living situation, declined, saying it was a nice enough day and she needed the walk in order to burn the calories off. Sunset walked a mile to the nearest bus stop, then caught the southbound, headed towards the southern districts of town.
About a block away, Sunset got off, stopping at a convenience store to grab some sodas, figuring on walking the last half-mile home. It was then that she saw a plume of smoke rise into the air, as well as a dull roar akin to something like an earthquake. Dropping her package, she ran as fast as she could, rushing past crumbling buildings and gutted warehouses, hoping that nothing had happened to her last haven. And as she arrived at the abandoned warehouse that had been her home, watching the crumbled concrete and broken rebar began to settle, Sunset Shimmer wiped tears from her eyes, wondering how she’d come so close to changing her stripes – and now had everything thrown back in her face, despite her vow to change.
Somewhere under the rubble was everything she owned, the meager possessions she’d built up over the past four years. Thankfully, she’d left her schoolbooks in her locker, but that was a small comfort: just about everything the former unicorn had spent years creating herself into a young woman named Sunset Shimmer was gone, leaving her once again as an enigma and question mark in the world. And now, despite everything she’d hoped for, all was gone.
She couldn’t cry. She didn’t have the strength left to do so. She could go to work and probably convince Pinkie to let her stay over for the night; Fluttershy was also a possibility as well, but the question hung in the air: what after that? Where could she go? To tell the truth was at best madness, or worse, could reveal that she wasn’t the real Sunset Shimmer of this world. And what if they found the actual Sunset Shimmer? Would some girl in Chicago, Vancouver or El Paso suddenly wonder why she had a doppelganger assuming her life in the town she once lived in? And if so, what would be the former pony’s ultimate fate then?
She was so focused on her misfortune that she barely felt the tap on her shoulder. She turned to find a police officer standing there, looking at her with eyes that seemed to bore into her soul. She read the thin plastic nameplate on his deep-blue shirt: S. ARMOR.
