The longer Equestrian magic runs wild in a world that wasn't designed to house it, the bigger the danger. Sunset must find a way to contain it. She just has to.
Sunset makes it her mission to contain the stray Equestrian magic that leaks into her new home, doing her best to minimize corruption and damage to anyone that can be harmed by it. As a powerful enemy emerges from the depths of limbo, containing it may not be an option anymore.
Now, if only Twilight wasn't so eager to toss herself into the fight, that would be great.
As he probed the wall that blocked it, the creature felt no give. Even half cast and hastily made, Starswirl’s spell held fast, the perimeter strong and sound. There would be no passage there. Not even time’s loose clutches, could hope to deteriorate the bindings. That world was lost to him.
Wandering away, it felt for others, many uninhabitable for a creature such as it. They filtered through like a slide show of desolate valleys and lifeless dirt. Through and through and through. Dark, empty, barren.
That was when it felt something. Color. Life. Substance.
But that was not what he needed. So, he searched again, smoky tendrils feeling across the expanse, seeping through the cracks of reality and slithering under the refracted light of a luminescent orb, following the scent that tickled his formless body.
A soundless plea, desperate and pained, carried him forward.
She was hunched in a smokey wreckage and disheveled with stress, shuddering in a lonely sea of anger and want.
The creature drew close, surrounding her.
He spoke in a whisper that was not a whisper. His words reached her without disturbing the molecules that separated them.
“What do you desire?”
She looked up in surprise before her eyes fell on him. He closed the distance, his essence caressed her form, soothing goose-bumped skin.
She opened her mouth and he gave her power. He nestled inside her skin, his new vessel in his new world.
He flashed his most dazzling smile, elated by the increased volume of the already thunderous crowd. His muscular chest was puffed with pride. His violet eyes were glimmering. He spread his wings like a swan eager to take flight on the winds of this victorious night.
But, he couldn’t take off yet. Not quite yet. He needed to wait.
His heart fluttered in anticipation. Seconds ticked by in slow motion. Sounds and sensations turned into nothing but a buzz in his ear, and the sweat that plastered the silvery strands of his carefully manicured hair dropped on the glossy wooden floorboards. The height of the crowds crescendo was fast approaching. All he had to do was…
Wait.
For.
It.
There!
He bowed low, gracious performer that he was, an act to thank the crowd for their generous accolades. With a smaller, affectionate smirk, he reached behind him, calling on his glossy black wand. It appeared in his hand, sprung quite literally from thin air.
There was no trick this time. It was magic, genuine and his. He was the chosen one, just like he dreamed all those years ago. On this night, his crowning night, he couldn’t fathom how he’d given up on such dreams, to be a real magician instead of the knock-off, discount bag-of-tricks he’d learned to become. He had discovered it some weeks ago during one of his practice runs with Big Bucks.
…Big Bucks.
A knot loosened in his mind for an instant, an air bubble in an ocean before it broke the surface and he was cast out of his daze, back on the stage with his loving fans.
He shook his head. There was no time to be thinking about such things. He supposed some people just didn’t understand. This was his power. He needed it and it needed him. Tonight was the night everyone was going to gaze upon him and his wondrous ability, the stage magician turned sorcerer! Destiny had deigned him the vessel to hold such power and he would fulfill his call.
He pointed a white tip to his audience and wove his will into a command. The roar of the crowd turned to shocked gasps, and, finally, groans of panic. One by one, each fell to their knees as the energy left them, draining away, until blurred vision and ringing ears were the extent of their focus. Bodies dropped like flies in a gas chamber. The man’s charming smile broadened into something menacing. The power funneled into him and it flowed as freely and naturally as his own life blood. He released a sigh of contentment, unbeknownst to the gargles of agony that had replaced, what a few moments ago, were glee and wonder.
A click of what could have been a makeup compact, and a whirring of something mechanical, turned the contented sigh into a snarl. He turned to meet the eyes of a young woman.
Strands of yellow and red swirled around her, tussled by the winds of magic that drew itself closer. Her amber face was scrunched in concentration, and her body braced against the emotional force of an entire auditorium. She directed it into a circular device, tightly pressed in her hands.
“What are you doing?!” He bellowed. “That’s mine!”
Sparing a glance at him, she simply stated, “but it’s really not.”
A feral scream tore itself from his throat, and he sprinted across the stage in--what he probably assumed was--a lightning fast pace.
In reality, he had taken a single step forward and collapsed.
The tempest around the woman calmed, and any stray magic in the atmosphere collected itself into a bright purple orb that nestled itself in her device. With another tiny click, it was over.
Sunset Shimmer took a moment to pan her eyes around the auditorium. The majority of the people were down for the count, and the few who still had the strength for consciousness looked dazed and unfocused. Over 5,000 people were gathered. Over 5,000 were added to her list of victims of stray equestrian magic, and the man most victimized of all...
She looked at him, face planted before her, no scowl pressed against his features, no lust for power. He looked calm, his youthfully handsome face shinning with a thin veil of sweat.
She knelt by him. “I’m sorry this happened to you, Jack Pot. Trixie wanted me to tell you, she misses you.”
It fell on quietly slumbering ears.
Aria’s voice cut into the silence with urgency. “Shimmer! You better get your ass out of there. Looks like someone tipped off the police.”
“Fuck,” she cursed. “Where’s Adagio?”
“Waiting.” The eldest siren’s bored tone was a stark contrast, but what drew Sunset attention was the low hum of the silver Prius in the background. “Hurry up.”
“Back door’s still clear,” Sonata added, “and we really need to talk about your one liners.”
Sunset was already behind the curtains when Aria chuckled. “But, it’s really not.” She imitated, her voice affecting someone who’d smoked 20 packs of cigarettes everyday for 10 years.
“I don’t sound like that.”
The protest preceded a trio of laugher through her ear piece causing Sunset to roll her eyes. The back door was propped open by a casual blue siren, unflappable smile on her face. They ran into the cool air of the evening, the heat from the auditorium bleeding away as the door closed behind them. Sunset’s signature leather jacket flapped as they broke into a run.
“Sometimes I wish I never asked you guys for help.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Sunset could almost imagine Adagio’s hand waving in the air dismissively.
Sonata motioned for Sunset to follow her. “Short cut,” she stated, before she dove into a bush.
Sunset dove after, emerging on the other side and hitting herself with a thunk.
“What was that?” Aria asked.
Adagio sighed. “Sunset ran into the car.”
The aforementioned girl groaned. “Why is your car so close to the bushes?”
“Just hurry up!” Aria finally snapped. “5 minutes ’til the cops get there.”
Adagio didn’t need any more prompting before she slammed on the gas, sliding the car into a sharp turn and out of the parking lot.
Sonata raised her hands in the air as she cheered. “Weeeeeeeee!”
“Sonata, put your seatbelt on!” Sunset screamed.
Adagio cackled as she raced down back alleys and darkened roads.
Aria sighed with relief, her screen pinging the rapidly departing dot as they drove away from the Las Pegasus Colosseum. “Do we get to go home now?” She asked.
Sunset’s equally relieved voice spoke up from her speakers. “Yeah, finally.”
Aria leaned back with a stretch, her body cramped from vigilantly staring at security cams and listening to police scanners. She was about to turn off her gear when a thought struck her. “Before that, can you guys pick up some pizza?”
…18 months prior...
The sisters exchanged a series of incredulous glances before looking at the leather clad woman with the rakishly lopsided smirk.
“Come again?” Adagio asked, raising a brow.
“Help me with the stray equestrian magic,” she replied simply, her voice just as demanding and self assured as the first time.
Aria sneered with disgust. “Why the hell would we do that?”
Sunset made a shrugging motion as she leaned back, her body relaxing into the comfortable white couch in the siren’s spacious living room. “Because I can give you three magic again.”
Adagio and Aria’s eyes widened for a moment, surprised by the prospect before they broke into uproarious laughter.
Aria smacked her knee. “Good one, bacon head.”
“That was quite unexpected from you.” Adagio’s eyes were watering at the edges as she brought an elegant finger to wipe a stray tear that was threatening to fall. She smiled at Sunset’s unchanging face before her expression melted back into blank irritation. “Now, if you’re quite done, get out.”
Sonata stayed silent, for once grounded in the moment. “You can really bring our magic back?”
Sunset drew her eyes towards Sonata’s expectant face, shadowed by the late morning sun that peaked behind the large window. “I can.”
Aria’s face flushed with anger, her neck twisting to glare at the youngest siren. “Oh, use your brain for once. She’s just getting your hopes up. Even if she could bring our magic back, why would—?”
Her tirade was halted as three soft clicks resonated through the room like a gong. The last remaining rays of light reflected on the sharp surface of three gems, teaming with the faint thrum of energy. It was unmistakable. The sisters leaned close with anticipation. There was no mistaking that feeling. This close, it called to them and pulled, with the familiarity of a childhood friend.
One detail caused the three pause.
“They’re different.” Adagio remarked, veiling her interest with careful trepidation. “What did you do to them?”
Sunset took a moment to answer, pondering on the right selection of words. “We fixed them,” she decided. “After they were shattered, there wasn’t enough magic to keep them together, so we suffused them with the magic that we had.”
“They’re white.” Aria deadpanned accusingly.
Sunset nodded, her self-assured demeanor cracking for the first time since she’d stepped into the Siren’s den. “They are different, but trust me, you’ll like these better.”
Adagio crossed her arms. “How presumptuous of you.”
The two elder sisters pressed Sunset further, the three unaware of Sonata, reaching a timid hand forward, shaking as her fingers grazed the edge of a gem. She felt a tug on her chest as a small current zapped through her finger. The inside of the gem began to fog with tiny wisps of blue. She shot up from her seat, pulling her hand away. A sharp gasp left her throat, her eyes trained on the once white gem, looking fragile and pure as glass, now shining like a brilliant blue sapphire. It’s vibrant hue tantalized her the longer she stared. A tingle rose from the base of her throat, itching like a cough but when she opened her mouth, she found herself skillfully navigating up a scale of notes, producing them with crisp intonation.
Her breath quivered when she stopped, heart racing with excitement. “It…feels full.”
Adagio and Aria were left slack jawed.
Aria pointed a shaky finger at the empty spot on Sonata’s neck. “But-but…you weren’t even wearing it.”
Sunset smirked. “I’ll give you time to decide.” She stood, simultaneously grabbing the colorless gems in her hand, exchanging them for a slip of paper. “Give me a call. You can keep the blue one.” Sunset made for the door, opening it and stepping out before she poked her head back in. “Oh, and by the way, you guys can’t share.”
“Yeah Trix, he’s fine,” Turning, Sunset flinched as she caught a flying duffle bag that sailed towards her in a neat little arc, curtesy of Sonata’s surprisingly strong arms. She slung the strap across her shoulder while heading up towards the steps of the condo she shared with the other three in her group. “Twi’s not wrong. It did take a lot longer this time. Not surprised you saw it on the news—hey!”
Adagio deftly grabbed it from Sunset’s hand, leveling her with a stare. “Don’t think you can skirt helping unload because you’re on the phone.”
Irritated, Sunset lifted the duffle in her hand. “What do you think I’m doing?”
Adagio rolled her eyes and dropped the device, making Sunset lunge to catch it. She grumbled a swear as she placed the phone back on her ear. “Sorry about that.”
The familiar squeak of the powder blue magician denoted an air of irritation. “I see you’re still laying with the morally bankrupt.”
A husky chuckle broke from Sunset’s throat at the irony of the statement. “What can I say? I attract their company.”
Sunset heard a huff, Trixie’s tone becoming forcibly casual. “I’m just pointing out that your exploits have been getting televised a lot more frequently in the last year. The only thing that you’ve been doing differently is hanging around with the same people that tried to hypnotize us in high school.”
“That’s not a fair judgement and you know it,” Sunset countered. “I was doing just as much with the Rainbooms.
Trixie mulled this over in her mind. “Point taken, but at least the Rainbooms are goody-goodys by nature. These three are…unpredictable.”
“You know, a lot of the things you’ve used to describe them fit pretty neatly with me,” Sunset countered. “From an outside perspective, after we took their magic, they were just antisocial rich kids, while I was running around with a motorbike, looking for the next magical disaster. Maybe I was the one that corrupted them.”
“We aren’t worried about them. We’re worried about you.” Trixie’s voice shifted ever so subtly, the air of agitation giving way to unveiled concern. “They’re always asking about you, you know?”
A hard knot of guilt twisted uncomfortably in Sunset’s stomach. “Yeah, well, it’s complicated. It’s been busy.”
Trixie’s voice flattened. “I can see that,” she stated, the previous agitation doubling as it came back. “I can see that you’re not going to be reasonable about this. If you’re so insistent, then just try to make your phone calls more often than six months apart. No one wants Sparkle to play messenger.”
“Trix—.” Sunset sighed as the line was cut. The guilt in her gut loosened, only to clamp around her body, weighing her down with fatigue.
“They’re not gonna stop bugging you.”
“Your timing is always spot on, Aria.” Sunset leveled her weary eyes to the other woman with computers and electronics pinned under her arms, cords wrapping around her like a cyberfied mummy.
Aria shrugged. She hobbled her encumbered body towards the coffee table, disentangling her load on the flat surface. “They’re not the kind of group to stop for anything except a solid no.” After a moment of no response, Aria took it as a sign to continue, making sure that she could look directly into Sunset’s eyes. “You already know how this is going to play out.”
Sunset couldn’t help but frown, her voice coming out louder than she’d wanted. “Of course I do. It was my plan, and just because you shove it in my face, doesn’t mean it’ll make it easier!”
She was met with a pitying stare, Aria’s eyebrows knitting together as she frowned.
Sunset huffed like a pent up warhorse, turning to march back down to the car. She was stopped when Aria grasped her wrist to spin her around.
“Hey,” she said. “For what it’s worth, you won’t be alone for it.”
The growing heat that seemed to bubbled through every fiber of Sunset’s muscles cooled into a dull simmer. Her frustrations weren’t quelled, and the guilt still sapped at her diminishing energy, but she gripped Aria’s hand in appreciation with a faint smile.
“Thanks.”
One side of Aria’s mouth quirked up in a shark like smirk, but Sunset knew, after months of getting to know the woman, it’s true nature was genial and comfortable.
“Now let’s get down there before Adagio has a hemorrhage.”
They were about to walk down in companionable silence when the familiar melody of Sunset’s preloaded ringtone halted them in their step.
Aria crossed her arms. “Don’t answer that.”
Sunset offered a helpless shrug. “They’re probably just wanting some updates.”
With a roll of her eyes, Aria made to depart the room. “Just make it quick.”
With another sigh, Sunset lamented how heavenly she’d sleep this night and all through the morrow’s afternoon.
Reluctance still clinging to her throat, she pressed the phone to her ear.
“Hello?”
“Sunset?”
Sunset took a long pull of air through her nostrils. “Hey, Twi. What’s up?”
“Sunset!” The room seemed to light up like a dark hole assaulted by a bonfire. “Did you just get back?”
“Yeah. Just.” Sunset twirled a lock of hair between her amber fingers. “I’m still unpacking, actually. I should get down there and help the girls.”
“Wait! I had something I wanted to ask you.” Though still with the cadence and levity of a nightingale, her words came out in a rush of mild panic.
Against her better judgement and the inkling that she already knew the question, Sunset prompted her forward. “What is it?”
Twilight paused on the other end, gathering her courage with a deep inhale. “Take me on your next adventure.”
And there it was. The jack-in-the-box that had been cranked and released many times before.
“Twi, you know I can’t.”
And there she was, shoving Jack back into his little hidey-hole until further notice.
Not perturbed in the slightest, releasing dark clouds of impending peril on the forefront of Sunset’s mind, Twilight pressed forward. “Why not this time?”
“The same reason that everyone else can’t come, obviously.” Sunset had the distinct feeling that there was something she was missing, something that gave her usually confident delivery pause, something that kept good Ol’ Jack stubbornly propped like a pillar in her thoughts.
Twilight continued on. “And what is that?”
“Ummm…college?” She replied, though a bit uncertain. “We did talk about how looking for magic can’t interfere with your lives. School is more important.” It sounded hollow in her ears, an excuse to keep them away. Perfectly valid, but obviously disguising the true reason for her reluctance about allowing her old circle of friends privy to her “adventures”.
Twilight paused. This time, it carried an air of victory like the breath before a checkmate. “It’s good that you think that, because I just graduated.”
What?
“And I’m taking a gap year.”
“What?” Her brain seemed to stall, as the gears ground against each other. “You guys have another year and a half before you graduate. Besides, why wouldn’t you tell me?”
“I did tell you,” she snapped.
Sunset’s world stopped and the only thoughts that accompanied her in the timeless pocket was the, evidently, missed conversation and Aria’s sage advice about not picking up the phone.
“You have no more excuses, Sunset Shimmer.”
Fuck.
“I’m coming on the next adventure,” Twilight stated, confident, her giddy smirk stretching across her face. Checkmate, indeed.
Aria screamed as a stinging current lanced through her finger and into her arm. She drew back, shaking her limb with a hiss.
“She wasn’t lying about not sharing either,” Adagio observed, rubbing her chin thoughtfully.
Sonata had gotten up to examine Aria’s arm, marveling at the slightly red tint to her usual purple. “That’s two for two now.”
Aria held it closer to her body, away from Sonata’s scrutiny. “Doesn’t mean we can trust her.”
Adagio’s free hand drifted to the slip in her pocket, holding it as she thought through her options. “So are you suggesting we don’t pursue her offer?”
“That’s not what I’m saying.”
Adagio waved her hand.
“I don’t believe for a second she’s doing this out of the kindness of her heart,” Aria spat. “There’s a catch somewhere.”
“Obviously, she wants us to go magic hunting with her.” The two elder sirens looked at Sonata. “That’s what she said, right?”
“Bullshit.”
“That’s what you thought about the gems, A-ri-a.” Pointedly, she sang her sister’s name in a beatific trill, akin to a blue jay’s call.
She raised a threatening fist prompting Sonata to dive behind Adagio’s huge mass of orange curls.
Adagio took a moment to shake her head before looking at Aria. “Any other rebuttals?”
“What are you thinking?”
The eldest shrugged. “We have nothing else to lose.” She drew out the paper, wrinkled from being tousled by Adagio’s nervous fingers.
With a deep breath, she punched in the numbers, pressing the loudspeaker as she did so.
The three held their breaths at the dial tone, exactly three rings pause, before a familiar husky voice replied.
“Thank Celestia you guys are quick.”
Adagio’s eyebrow rose in curiosity. “Are you running?”
“Yep.” Her belabored breaths assaulted the phone’s mic with clear definition, each pant crackling with the jostle of her movements.
A loud thud, followed by a skidding noise caused the three to jump.
“What in black waters is going on?”
“M-magic. Help.” She wheezed. A crunch of something breaking and being thrown caused the conversation to pause. A long silence went by, to which Sonata wondered if she’d died, before Sunset spoke again, whispering into her device. “I’ll send you the location.”
The call ended followed by a beep as Sunset’s text came through.
The three sisters stared, taking in the events that they hadn’t fully processed with the recent calls being their only indication they hadn’t imagined the extremely brief exchange.
Adagio and Sonata turned to look at Aria, who lifted her head to look at them.
She clicked her tongue. “So, I guess she’s three for three.”
Sunburst felt like an old man with the way his knees cracked at the shift of his weight. His knee-pads’ effectiveness had slowly worn away with the hours of being crouched into the same position under the old Chevy Cavalier model. One ill place bolt having him and his sister in extreme frustration, a simple fix became more of an undertaking than what they’d expected, mostly due to the arrangement of parts inside the engine bay.
He subtly flexed his leg, elongating his already tall legs, and delighting at the stretch they had on his muscles. After being under a car for almost 3 hours, it was a heavenly sensation
“You have got to be kidding me.” A dark skinned woman with strands of greasy green hair glared at him. Her posture was tense, and positively radiated with irritation. The balling of her fist caused the hairs on the back of his neck to stand with a sudden rush of adrenalin.
Recollecting himself, he attempted to school his face back into a less terrified expression.
“$300?” She clarified, as if giving him a moment to change what he’d said.
Sunburst frowned. “Ma’am, it’s well within the average repair cost for this kind of problem,” he explained.
She wasn’t pleased, stalking over to him and getting right into his personal space. “I asked for a simple oil pan gasket change! I refuse to pay out my nose for such a simplistic repair.” She growled at him, exposing her particularly sharp canines and leveling green, piercing eyes into his.
Though she came 3 inches too short, it made him stumble, dipping his foot into one of the motor-oil pans full of greasy black liquid. He slipped backwards into a toolbox with a clatter as he fell.
Now his knees and his butt were in pain. Not to mention, he now had a large dark oil stain that managed to coat the arm and torso of his dark blue jumpsuit.
The woman reeled back when she’d seen how his trip would play out and observed him with a cruelly pleased smirk. With a saunter, she grabbed hold of the dryer side of his jumpsuit and hauled him back into facing her, an impressive feat he wasn’t in a position to admire. “I’d like my car keys, please,” she asked sweetly.
The proximity fogged Sunburst’s glasses and he could smell cigarettes on her breath. “I—I don’t…” He stuttered.
“I’ll be glad to give it to you, Chrysy. Now, I suggest you let go of my brother.”
Sunburst noticed his sister standing in the open garage door, a less than amused frown on her face. The majority of a cigarette was still held in her fingers even as she made her way over to them. It was a rule she made for herself to never smoke around him, as it always concerned him, but he was decidedly glad she’d chosen to break that rule just for today.
She strutted up next to the owner of the troublesome black Chevy, and placed a hand on her shoulder, smoothly angling herself between her and her much taller, younger brother.
Who was trying very hard not to cower.
She glanced back at him with a warm smirk. “Get me a water, Burst,” she said, just enough force to let him know that it wasn’t a request.
He looked behind her thick rimmed glasses, then back to the green of the “guest” and hesitated. He wanted to protest.
But with a nod, he walked into the house for his errand, catching Chrysy scoff at his departure.
The door of the garage swung back with a heavy thud and he couldn’t help the sudden bout of self-loathing that welled up in his stomach.
Coward, he chided himself. You should walk back in there. Who knows what that character will do… He thought. They were absent thoughts. Common thoughts. Probably thoughts that would crop up again when the encounter undoubtedly repeated themselves.
Chrysy—as only his sister was allowed to call her—was a common customer to them, entrusting them with routine oil changes and the annual replacement of brake pads, despite the fact she could do it herself, not to mention the volume of car wrecks she got into. Aside from the occasional elderly couple, not a lot of unfamiliar faces found themselves in the small hamlet that was Sire’s Hollow. It was important that they kept her business despite the sadistic pleasure she had with tormenting Sunburst. He was quite resigned to it, and hadn’t protested when his sister insisted she handle most of the face to face interactions. At least, until moments like this cropped up.
He sighed, looking at the plain white hallway that led to the kitchen.
Spotless framed photographs smiled back at him. The first one was his sister, holding him as a baby, swaddled in a bright yellow blanket. His eyes moved to the second one, the two of them playing happily in the town’s park. She pushed him gleefully on a swing. Sunburst chuckled at his white knuckled hold on the swing chains. The third photograph was them again, she was holding a 1st place science fair trophy in one hand and draped her arm around him with the other. Two photographs over was a depiction of the same photograph, only this time, he was the one with the 1st place trophy. And another photograph over, them again. The next one, them again, older and older, even up to the last photograph. It was always them together and always them alone.
Glancing away, Sunburst walked into the plain kitchen with it’s ugly, dull yellow cabinets and outdated appliances. The most recent purchase was a cream white—more because of age then it’s original coloring— microwave from the thrift store two towns over. He grabbed two tall glasses from the drying rack next to the sink, filling it up at the tap and taking a deep swig.
Their story wasn’t anything special. Two siblings with negligent parents too preoccupied with chasing the dollar bill and fighting to pay attention to kids. Swept up in a whirlwind romance, his sister was conceived when their mother was only 15. Thankfully, they decided to keep her, and even married. At 18, they had Sunburst. For a few years, they tried their hardest to act like parents, in clumsy fumbles and awkward strides. At least, that’s what his sister always told him, but he hadn’t been old enough to remember such times.
What his memory held, his father had been an indifferent man in the best of times, and cruel at the worst. True, he’d never raised a hand at anyone under his household, but there were plenty of times the barbed remarks had been worse. However, those were only the moments he had been home. Most of the time, they hadn’t seen him. One day, he left altogether.
With a steadying sigh, he began filling another cup.
His mother made a relatively more solid attempt. She worked three different jobs to make sure that they had enough funds to take care of themselves. Tough as nails and a smile that knocked guys off of their feet, his sister inherited a lot from her, but that was only when she was sober. The majority of the time, she was not. Even when she’d tried to quit, it ultimately meant nothing. She didn’t change, not for herself and certainly not for them, up until she had died two years ago, a month after Sunburst’s 18th birthday. He was still guilty that he was more relieved than sad.
He walked back to the garage to find the car and it’s owner gone. His sister sat on the floor with a tired expression. It quickly changed when she heard him approach and he offered one of the waters in his hands. “Thanks,” she said. The signature crooked smile was on her face.
He had a hard time returning it. “I’m just sorry I wasn’t more of a help.” He stated.
She shrugged, patting the spot next to her. Taking the hint, he sat on the spot and she quickly wrapped an arm around him, heedless of the oil that transferred onto her. “Don’t worry about it. It’s Chris. She’ll push as far as she can, but as long as you don’t let her, she’s pretty harmless.”
“I guess,” he replied, glancing down at the triangle his boots made.
She unhooked her arm from around his neck and tried for a playful elbow nudge. “Don’t worry so much.” She tried again.
Forcing a smile that couldn’t have convinced a blind man, he tried to push the feelings out of his mind. “I guess.” He replied again.
His sister just grimaced. “Right…So…” She paused to furrow her brows and Sunburst knew that she was fumbling for a subject change. It took a while, mostly because not a lot when on in Sunburst’s life, but the brightening of her eyes signaled that she had latched onto something. “Do you have a date with Starlight tonight?” She finally asked.
It was Sunburst’s turn to grimace. “I do actually.” He tried to hide behind a brittle smile, knowing that it wouldn’t work. It was worth a try anyway.
His sister raised a curious brow.
Or maybe not.
“That’s a good thing, right?”
He shrugged. “Of course. Starlight’s smart and cute.”
The eyebrow stayed high. “But…?”
His smile proved it’s brittleness as it crumbled under the one word and he huffed. “I don’t know.” He said. His sister just waited as he rolled the words around in his mouth, trying to get a taste for them. “I just really don’t know. She’s pretty and smart. She’s caring. I’m really lucky.”
A droplet of condensation rolled down from the lip of his glass and he watched it leave a tiny trail of water.
“I’m really, really lucky.”
It left a dark spot on the concrete, no bigger than a fly.
“I don’t know if I’m enough for her…” His nose scrunched at the thought.
He felt a pressure on his shoulder and turned his head, noticing a few smudges on his sister’s eyeglasses. “Of course, you are. You’re just as smart and caring as her. Not to mention handsome. You’re my brother after all.” She winked, drawing out the first real smile he’d had that entire day.
It evaporated with the small drop of condensation and he looked at her pensively. “Maybe, but there’s still this feeling.” Pressing a hand to his chest, he searched around for the words. “I don’t know if I want to be the one for her.”
They were both quiet for a moment and his sister slowly nodded, taking a moment to weigh out what she wanted to say next.
“I know what you mean, Burst. I really do,” she started. “You’ve been friends with Starlight since elementary. I know you love her, but if it’s not the way you’re leading her on to believe, well, don’t you both deserve more than that?”
Sunburst pressed his mouth into a thin line and gripped at his jumpsuit. She was right. They did deserve more than that.
Starlight was a very long time friend, and his only one, actually. They’d already been dating for 14 months, but, if he was truly honest with himself, he’d accepted because there was no reason not to. He kept dating her much for the same reason, or more accurately, lack-thereof. When he was with her, he felt like she was the perfect girl for him and truly meant it when he said she was cute, smart and caring. Other men would have gladly given up their left leg for the opportunity to call Starlight their own. He was acutely aware of that, but when he was away from her, there was none of the desires that were so copiously detailed in romance novels and love songs. He never felt butterflies at her angelic smile, no ache of desire when they were apart, and certainly no gushy romantic urges. He had biological urges that the two had explored many times during the year, but he recognized them for what they were. Biological. Nothing more, nothing less, no matter how much he wished different. It likely steamed from his deep fear of intimacy and reluctance to trust. Either way, what he had to do next cleared to him like the ugly light of an oncoming train.
He steeled himself for the night ahead of him. It was already 6:30, meaning he only had an hour to get ready for his date.
He nodded to himself. “You’re right. I need to do right by her.”
“Good.” She approved before shoving him. “Now get the heck out of here. You need to shower before my nose falls off.”
Sunburst allowed himself a chuckle and picked himself up. He did feel really gross. Girlfriend or not, he didn’t want to see anyone while smelling like a chemical wasteland.
Before returning into the house proper, he looked back at the woman that meant the absolute world to him. “Hey, Sunset, thanks. You’re the best sister anyone could ask for.”
Her placid smirk melted into a warm grin. “Only for the best little brother ever.”
He smiled at her once again before disappearing behind the door.
It was a huge oversight on their part. Though in Aria’s humble opinion, it was an oversight that could have been avoided if Sunset Shimmer sacked up and just told her friends exactly why they couldn’t partake in hero work anymore. It was difficult not to say as much, but she wasn’t as crass as everyone made her out to be. She sympathized with how difficult it could be to amputate relationships, especially good ones—you didn’t roam around the world for centuries without becoming intimately familiar with the feeling. True, she was impatient when it came to games and roundabout solutions, but she always held back, always allowed the other woman to take her time.
Aria sighed, eyes rolling back into her skull as she leaned against the cushions.
This time, she wasn’t sure if she could hold her tongue. “I’m going to murder you, Shimmer.”
A twitch that ran down Sunset’s spine caused her to freeze before she looked up from her face-in-hands crouch. “She’s just coming over for a little while. It’s not like we have a ping on the locator.”
“I don’t care if we don’t have a ping for the rest of the year,” Aria snapped, tone cutting like sharpened steal. “You’re still being a dumb-ass.”
Adagio’s eyes narrowed into slits, her voice coming out in a warning hiss. “Aria.”
Caught in her own tizzy, Aria ignored the warning signs that would have usually silenced her. “You can’t look me in the face and tell me that Shimmer is acting smart, Adagio.”
Adagio crossed her arms, giving a meaningful stare in Aria’s direction, facing off in a stare-down, before looking at Sunset, her back still hunched in misery. “No, I don’t believe she is,” Adagio finally decided, “but it seems she realizes that already.”
Another body wracking twitch. “It-it’s fine. I’ll-I’ll just…just…,” she thought for a moment. “I just won’t tell her when we have to go.” The ever present guilt welled up in her belly, wrenching it in it’s familiar grasp.
“Yeah, that’ll play out well,” Aria sarcastically mumbled.
Sonata gently brought a hand to Sunset’s back, rubbing in gentle circles.
Adagio took a seat on the other side, near enough to be comforting, but not enough to touch. She leaned forward to lean on her knees, bringing her heads closer to Sunset. “Tactless, she might be, Aria brings up a good point. What are you accomplishing by hurting yourself in this way?”
Sunset rubbed at her forehead and face, pinched into an expression of pure anguish. Her lips puckered into a tight circle as she thought. “I honestly don’t know. I just…I can’t bring myself to just…to just end it like this…with all of them…”
“You’re sort of half way there already,” Sonata stated. “I mean, you haven’t talked to the other Rainbooms in foreeeeever, but this one girl is always near the top of your message list.”
Before a fresh round of pain could grip into Sunset’s body, she looked up at Sonata curiously. “How do you know that?”
With nary a hint of shame, Sonata answered quickly. “I look.” She leaned closer to Sunset. “I look, like, all the time.”
Adagio blink while Aria scooted to the end of her seat. “Wait, you talk to her on the regular?” She asked.
Sunset shrugged. “I get blue prints for the equipment but I don’t talk about much else.”
An unnecessarily long and suffering sigh broke from Adagio and Aria.
Aria seemed to deflate. “I don’t even have words anymore.”
Adagio just shook her head.
There was a contemplative silence between the four girls before Sonata broke the pensive atmosphere.
“You know, when we had to move to a new place,” she started, bringing the eyes of her sisters and friend on her, “I usually had this one person that was hard to say bye to.” Aria gave another eye-roll while Sunset nodded patiently. “I would take them on one last date or something.”
The three waited but as Sonata sat back with her arms behind her head in satisfaction, they realized that the conclusion-less statement was at an end.
“Okay…,” Sunset said.
Aria slapped her forehead. “Poseidon’s tits…”
A thoughtful look crossed Adagio’s face. “Maybe she has a point.”
Aria reeled like she’d been yanked by an invisible cord, a motion replicated by Sunset as her head jerked up.
“Seriously?”
Adagio ignored her, keeping her attention on Sunset. “Maybe all that you really require is one last expedition with this special person of yours, a last hurrah of sorts. It may help you with closure.”
Sunset’s blush tinted with a red hue as she frowned. “It’s not like that. Circumstance just made it so that I had to keep talking to her.”
Adagio nodded. “Then it’ll be symbolic.” She placed a hand on Sunset’s shoulder. “The last tie to your human life.”
Aria seethed as she watched, her frown deepening with tinges of irritation, but mostly, apprehension.
The woman felt the car lurch, the intoxicating smell of burnt rubber filling her nostrils as she left dark skid marks on the concrete.
It slid to the right until Chrysalis could feel the familiar sensation of her car moving sideways across the empty lot. She released her e-brake with a whoop, and a growl from her engine. She quickly picked up speed across the faded lines and cracked cement.
“Just pay and leave. Please.”
She yanked the steering wheel and the back slid. The vibrations traveled across her body, through her hands and legs. Her grip tightened while her vision spun.
The image of Sunset’s pleading face, sad beyond all measure, flittered across her thoughts.
A loud crack caught her attention, the vehicle oversteering into a light pole and causing a dent in the front fender. It halted her momentum instantly with her donut of black tracks stoping just short of its full revolution.
Enraged, she slammed the horn. “GOD DAMN FUCK!” She bellowed, the smoke from her tires wafting past her side windows and covering the car in wispy tendrils. “FUCK THIS SHIT! FUCK YOU SHIMMER! FUCK YOU AND YOUR WIMP-ASS BROTHER!” She grabbed the wheel and began shaking it with all her might, rattling the car’s frame.
A creak of metal made Chrysalis look up, seeing the towering pole above her. With a squint she regarded it through the top of her cracked windshield. Was it leaning?
She got her answer as it collapsed on the hood of her car. It deployed the airbags in her face and she sat back, panting and stunned. Her anger flared and bubbled, building on the hysteria that overtook her moments before, until she was full circle, back to a bone crushing sadness. Without her adrenalin and rage to mask it, she couldn’t help but shriek into the dark. She kept yelling until her throat felt hoarse and she found herself with damp cheeks and sobs. She didn’t know when she’d started crying and swiped at her face to clear the moisture.
“Fuck you, Shimmer…,” she cursed, her words coming as a whimper as she sunk in her seat.
Her chest felt heavy again, like it usually did after she thought about the redhead, though she still couldn’t understand why. It wasn’t like Sunset was the first person to break her heart.
Just the one that she never thought would.
Her chest heaved. She hated that girl.
Another look at her car, the lamp post still precariously leaned against its side and she chuckled to herself, a sound drained of its humor. Despite it all, her heart still leapt at another chance to see her again. “Fuck me.”
Another tear trickled down her face. With a sniff, she turned the ignition, making it roar to life. Though she’d need a thorough examination later, for the moment at least it seemed like the only noticeable damages were to the body work.
After a steadying breath she took a moment to flipped down her visor mirror. The person she saw in the mirror looked disgustingly unkempt, face a greasy mess of depression and stress. Her hair didn’t seem to fair much better. “I look gross,” she concluded.
As she fiddled with her face, she failed to notice the dark mist that seeped into her vehicle. It wasn’t swayed by winds like the smoke of her tire tracks. The mist seemed to stare at her, examining her, approaching her with calculated paces. The first traces began licking her skin, making her jump with its chill.
“What the f—,” she cut herself off. There was nobody there, she knew, but all around her was a sudden darkness that she hadn’t noticed before.
“What do you desire?”
The chill was suddenly accompanied by a hot burst of panic, colliding in her body like a nuclear blast in the middle of an ocean. Where had that come from? Did she hear that? Or did she…think it? Why would she think something like that?
“W-what?”
The darkness crept closer, encasing her in its bulk until she could no longer see the interior of her car. It was like she’d been transported into a dark hole.
She felt for the door handle, startled when she extended her full arm length into empty space. Her heart leapt into her throat and she squeaked. “What’s going on?”
“What do you desire?”
There it was again! Chrysalis turned her head in every direction, looking for the possible source.
“What do you desire?”
The words pushed further. It melted into her skull, violating her thoughts as it ransacked her memories. Images of Sunset began excavating themselves into the forefront of her mind like a film being forcefully yanked out of an old tape.
“Do you need help with that?” The red-headed woman with curious yellow streaks smirked with that unique combination of a head tilt, a slightly raised brow, and soft lidded eyes.
Chrysalis threw her head back and shrugged. “Good luck. It won’t even turn over.”
The woman took a moment to examine under the hood and pulled out her utility knife to poke into the engine bay. Tentatively, she reached down under the bulk of the machine. A spark of electricity crackled followed by the loud growl of the engine.
“Just the starter. Probably need to tighten a few bolts.”
Chrysalis blinked. “Thanks.”
The woman smirked again, adjusting her glasses. “It’s no problem. My name’s Sunset Shimmer, by the way.”
Reaching out to shake, she gave a smirk of her own. “Chrysalis.”
Sunset’s hand was rough with calluses but had a pleasant warmth in her grasp. She was messy. Her hair was tangled and windswept, with smudges on her glasses and oil splatters littering her navy blue jumpsuit. She wore no make up, and seemed to radiate a far too easy casualness, but Chrysalis couldn’t help the gravitational pull that sucked her in with that smile. She had a confidence that made Chrysalis grip the hand long enough to draw the curious teal eyes down toward their connected appendages.
“Would you like to go out sometime?” Chrysalis heard herself say.
Sunset Shimmer’s eyes widened by a fraction before she laughed. “I was actually gonna ask first.”
The scene changed abruptly and she was thrown into another memory. She pressed on her temples until the nails of her fingers dug into her scalp. “NO!”
Skin brushing against skin, slick with sweat from their exertion, panting as their hearts slowed. They pulled apart and laid together, staring up at the darkened ceiling, cigarette smoke and empty space between them.
“This is the last time Chrys,” Sunset stated.
Chrysalis took a drag, puffing out the smoke, coating the room in a white cloud. “You’ve said that before.”
Autumn silence filled the room, periodically broken by the winds that battered the window pane and whistled through the branches. Yet, Chrysalis’s room still felt warm.
“My mom died today, you know.”
The world seemed to still, the white cloud dispersing into oblivion while a shift in the breeze caused the room to hush. “Oh.” She felt her heart rhythmically beating into her ear. "Why does that have to change us?"
“I’m all my brother has now.” Sunset finished the last of her own cigaret and swung her legs out of the bed, picking up her discarded clothes in silence. “I can't play around anymore. This really is the end."
“But I...”
"But?" She'd reached the door now, illuminated by a tiny sliver of light from the hall.
It fell on one of Chrysalis's eyes, making a deep contrast between her usual forest green and a the lighter peridot. She hardened both like a stone, looking away until her ebony backside was to the other woman. "Nothing that matters to you. Don't forget any of your shit.
Sunset began to close the door, pausing and opening her mouth, her words remaining as soundless intentions, before Chrysalis was answered by a soft click of the door.
The grip on her head loosened and her eyes began to fog. Her lip quivered and she uttered out a name. “S-sunset…”
The darkness seemed to smile. It pressed against her and seized into her open maw.
