It's been a while, so teaser! · 3:51pm Jul 13th, 2021

Let me see if this thing still works.

The magic swirled around her as if by a lover. She shuddered in delight; the eldritch forces running through her veins felt so natural, so…right.

And then she looked down at the bloody knife in her hand, still dripping. And her eyes followed the drops slaking off the tempered steel…

… and onto the lifeless green-blue eyes of her own face.

She screamed.

Sunset Shimmer sat up in bed, shivering. It was that damn dream, again. One she'd had too many times as of late. One she really didn't want to deal with.

Stretching in bed, a knock sounded on her bedroom door before a familiar face poked her head in.

"Heya, sleepy. Getting the duck up this morning or are you going to pull a–"

Sunset laughed. Jamie Manzanas was her next door neighbor, best friend and cousin. Part of the circle of friends that she'd known her entire life.

"Like that's ever going to happen," Sunset responded with a grin.

"Didn't think it would, but stranger things have happened." Jamie then fished a gaudy box out of her backpack. "Oh, here you go. Mom and Dad wanted me to wait until tonight's party, but I thought you'd appreciate it. Happy birthday."

Sunset didn't even open the box; she knew what was in it already. "Thanks, Jamie."

"You're welcome. Now get up before we run out of breakfast downstairs, okay?"

"Got it." Sunset wasted no time in leaving her bed and heading to the bathroom of the farmhouse she lived in all her life. A quick shower cleaned her up, and as usual, she opted to skip makeup: for some reason, guys always said she looked great without it, though her boyfriend told her she looked even more stunning with it.

Maybe because it was due to her exotic looks: she didn't look like anyone in her family, and if it wasn't for her birth certificate, she would've sworn she was adopted. Furthermore, while her bright red hair gave her a distinctly Irish look (and from what she knew, her family was of German ancestry), it was the strange blonde streaks in said hair that set her apart. One teacher had even assumed she'd dyed her hair that way, but photos proved she'd had it since birth.

As far as she knew, she was just Sunset Alice Shimmer, daughter of Lt. Col. Thomas Shimmer and his wife Rebecca. Her father was a USAF officer overseas in Afghanistan right now, while her mother, a lawyer and state legislator, was off in Helena "fighting the good fight," as she tended to say. As a result, more often than not, her uncle Travis and aunt Jenny tended to keep an eye on her whenever Sunset's parents weren't at home.

Just a typical normal teenager growing up in the town of Blue Sky, Montana.

And yet it never feels real, Sunset thought to herself. Like everything I know isn't true.

She shook her head. Thoughts like that were for her boyfriend Warren, dreamy dreamboat that he was. He was the sensitive type, the kind of guy that listened to 80s bands and wrote poetry as a hobby.

And I'd better get some breakfast if I'm going to see him before school starts, she reminded herself as she went downstairs.

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