//------------------------------// // Clint Eastwood // Story: Sunset at the Midnight Sushi Bar. // by The Real Jack Doe //------------------------------// Sunset Shimmer couldn't sleep. She usually couldn't. So she decides to go for a walk. Which was her usual activity when she had trouble sleeping. Not the safest activity for a teen-aged girl, but Canterlot was a safe place, apart from the magical things that happen. She decided to go in another direction then she usually did this time and ended up wandering through the sleeping city part of Canterlot. Though it wasn't a big city there was always somebody up and doing something, cities where living things all their own after all, and even while a living thing slept there was still something working inside. Sunset walked along the empty streets and looked at all the closed shops, but paused as she found one that was still opened. Dim lights came from a curtained door way. Her curiosities were piqued so she investigated. The sign above the shop read, The Midnight Sushi bar, it was small, probably only half a dozen people could fit in it, there were 4 stools, in front of a wooden bar which divined the outside world from a small but well stocked kitchen, and a man who was diligently working behind the counter. "Irasshaimase!" said the lone cook without turning around, "Please take a seat." Sunset did just that and looked around the small eatery. She recalled walking past this particular spot once or twice during the day, but it was always closed. She began to assume it was just a vacant store front, but here it was, awake and alive as any other kitchen. The lone cook, a middle aged man by the flecks of gray in his yellow hair, turned to Sunset and smiled. It was a kindly smile. The cook looks to be close to middle aged. Apart from an apron and a bandanna to keep his hair back he didn't look dressed for a kitchen, that probably meant he was the owner of the shop. Owners could get away with this sort of thing. "So, what will be?" he said equally as kindly. "Oh, I'll just have water for now." The man nodded and poured her a glass of water, "So, what's a girl your age doing up at this hour?" The cook asked. "If you don't mind me asking. Someone must be worried about you." Sunset chuckled at the thought of someone being worried about her but stoped when she saw the confused look on the man's face. She coughed  "Nope, just me." The chef shrugged "No parents, or aunts and uncles?" A look of genuine concern on his face. The look made Sunset feel a little bad for laughing. "Well, I live in town by myself. I moved here a few years ago. Before that... Well it's always been just me honestly." She thought about he life before high school and decided she was in a sharing mood. "I lost both my parent's when I was vary young. I think I had a cousin but I've never met them. There was a, well I guess you could say my mentor but," Sunset shook her head, "now It's just me." The cook nodded knowingly as he poured the glass of water and placed it in front of Sunset. "I'm sorry to hear that. My name's Sunny Roll by the way, owner and proprietor of this fine establishment." "I was actually meaning to ask, What kind of a place is this?" Said Sunset. "This, " he said gesturing to the room in general "is the Midnight Sushi Bar, only open between the hours of 10pm and 5am." "Can't be good for business?" "Maybe not. I do have some regulars that come in, and what I lack in volume of customers I make up for in the variety of customers. You meet a lot of interesting people in th  middle of the night. Like you for instance." Sunny Roll said. "So, what brings you out this late?" "Couldn't sleep." she said simply. "Ah, then you should start off with a good miso soup." Sunset was taken aback "Oh, I don't have any money on me." The chef offered a jovial shrug "Pay me when you do. Unless you didn't notice, I'm not really in this for the money." The cook poured her a small bowl of soup and placed it in front of her. Sunset had herd somewhere that it was bad for you to eat this late at night but ans the humans say, 'When you roam, Do a lot of roaming' or something. "May I ask you a question?" Said Sunny Roll "You already did." said Sunset. The man smiled and continued "What's bothering you?" Sunset gave the chef a look. "Sorry, it's just, you seem like you could use someone to vent to. You said yourself, there's no one worrying about you at home. You can tell me. Diner/Chef confidentiality." "Diner/Chef Confidently?" She said with a smirk. "It's a thing." Sunset slurped up her soup and considered the question. "I guess..." She sighed " I don't know. It's a lot of things." The chef nodded in an understanding way, if only he knew the full extent of it. "I have some friends, and their great, but... I haven't always been, well, the nicest person. Actually up until recently I was a real Bitch with a capital letter. I've been trying to make amends, and everyone around me appreciates it, but I can't shake the feeling that all of it isn't real. That the person I am now is just a me so afraid to be alone that I'm just pretending to be good." The chef nodded and picked up his knife. "I know exactly the roll for that." Sunset knitted her eyebrows together "Wait what?" The chef talked as he worked "Everyone comes in here with some problem or another. Domestic, Romantic, Economic. Once someone came in here swearing up and down aliens had abducted his dog." "What did you do to him." "Same thing I did for all of them, I made him some sushi and talked to him till he calmed down." He said. "I don't eat meat." Said Sunset. Which was true, as most of the meats in this world could have held down a conversation in Equestria "Fish isn't meat according to the Catholic church." The chef said with a grin. "But never fear, this roll is completely vegetarian anyway." He produced the fruits of his labor. "Here you are, crunchy California roll. A favorite of young people." It was vary nice looking. Sunset knew what sushi was, but she'd never had any. Mostly because of the chopsticks. Try and try as she might she could never get the hang of them, and she had learned to play guitar which in theory was more difficult. Sparing herself of that episode, she elected to eat the little rolls with her fingers. "How old are you?" The chef asked. "17." she said between bites. Which wasn't exactly true, but answering honestly would raise some uncomfortable questions. "17, huh." The man stared off into the distance for a moment then he shook his head. This did not go unnoticed by Sunset Shimmer. "So, can I ask you some questions now?" Said Sunset. "You already did." "What kind of a person opens up a sushi bar that's only open in the dead of night?" The chef nodded as if he knew exactly what the question was going to be. "Someone who knows what it feels like to be alone." The chef looked at Sunset, then to a picture hanging on the wall. It was of a young couple and a new born baby. The man in the photo, but for a few gray hairs was the chef himself. Gears started turning in Sunsets head. "They're gone aren't they?" Sunset asked. For a moment the chef said nothing. Then he smiled a somewhat sad weary smile. "She would have been 17 this year." The chef said. "I'm so sorry." "It's alright, nobody's fault really. She was born sick, didn't even make it to her first birthday. After that, I tried to make things work with my wife but she couldn't do it anymore. So," the chef shrugged "Just me." Sunset nodded. And looked at the picture again. "What was her name? If you don't mind me asking" "Who? My daughter?" She nodded. The chef smiled and signed. "Now there's a story behind that. The first date I went on with my wife we had a picnic in the park. Up on the big hill." "The park by the amphitheater?" "That's the one." "I know that hill. I love that hill." It also happened to be the hill where the Rainbooms defeated the Siren sisters three. It was also the first place she'd ever felt accepted by anyone. Sunny Roll chuckled. "We sat up there for hours, long after we finished the picnic, just talking and enjoying each others company. I knew then and there that I loved that woman. We kissed just as the sun was beginning to set over the horizon. Sunset smiled at the image. Almost right out of one of those romance novels Fluttershy swore she didn't read. "When our daughter was born, we wanted to name her after the that. The moment we fell in love." The chef reached over and picked up the photo. He smiled even as a tear came to his eye. "Sunset" he said. "Yes?" said Sunset. "My daughter's name. Sunset Shimmer." Sunset Shimmer paused. Then a pit dropped out from under her stomach. She hadn't finished her sushi but suddenly she didn't feel hungry. "That's..." she said but her words left her. "A nice name for a girl." The chef nodded, then shrugged and placed the picture back on the wall. "I wonder if you two would have been classmates?" He asked to no one in particular, then he shook his head and chuckled again "There you go again, with the what if's, Sunny Roll. You know where that leads." "Sorry," He said now addressing Sunset, "I talk to myself sometimes. Hey are you alright? You look like you've just seen a ghost." Sunset had gone pale. In a sense she had seen a ghost, and the ghost was her. Or maybe the ghost was her father, if he even was her father, or rather an parallel version of her father. She's never known either of her parents, she was too young to remember them, but she did have a photo of them. And looking at this man now, baring the fact that he was a human and her father was a unicorn, and a few gray hairs here and there, they had the same eyes. "I just, uh," She said "Thank you for the food but, I should get home. I have school tomorrow." "Say no more, I understand. One of the things you learn quickly about running a place like this is that there is such a thing as over sharing." Sunset left, possibly quicker then she should have and began to walk home, fast. Then she began to run. When she'd finally made it to her front door she felt like she was about to throw up. She's often wondered about if she had a counterpart in this world. Who they were, where they were. What were you supposed to do when you learned that you were dead. She breathed heavily for a few seconds then composed herself. Now she definitely wouldn't be able to sleep to night. She finally decided that she would write to Princess Twilight, and talk about it with her friends tomorrow. As for sleep, well she'd drink a shot of cold medicine. Again.