//------------------------------// // Sunset Society: Small Favors // Story: The Many Destinies of Sunset Shimmer // by ratedoni //------------------------------// The sound of people moving up and down across the airport swallowed the heels clacking noise as the redhead walked with the cadence and elegance that had become synonymous of her this past decade. All of it was a mask that she used in public since she needed it as a defense against the world. Among the public, Sunset was one of the most powerful executives, but also a philanthropist and a true elegant lady. The way she dressed, the way she moved and how she acted was a carefully constructed front that hid the real sunset Shimmer, the one that had adopted the shadows and the bat as her life. Looking at the footage that news media presented constantly of the bat vigilante let Sunset know that she had been more than successful. It was impossible for people to think that millionaire Sunset Shimmer gallivanted every night as the defender of the night across the city. While in public she was the lady who moved swiftly and with elegance, the bat was purely pragmatic, never wasting moves and doing things as coldly and efficient as possible. While Sunset was inviting and even alluring, the bat was dark, cold and ruthless. It was the perfect mask, but Sunset wasn’t sure which of the two really was her. Seeing Twilight at the airport accompanied by her husband, well, it brought to mind many of the questions she has had in the last couple of weeks. In a way she felt alone in a crowd, missing the days when things were easier and the most exhausting thing used to be Mr. Cranky’s history assignments. Now, here she was, a powerful woman with a double life with no real idea of which of the two sides was her real self these days.  Before she could do anything or become more agitated she felt a strong hand on her shoulder. She knew it was Applejack since only her friends could even get close to her without her immediately dropping the offending person in less than a second. Sunset didn’t want to turn around and see Applejack’s emerald eyes shining with worry over her, but there was no escape out of this one, not from applejack whose stubbornness was so big that it even changed the opinion of an island full of amazons.  Stopping for a moment at the parking lot, Sunset immediately noticed their vehicle ready with their chauffer waiting for them.  “Let’s talk inside shall we? Even outside we will garner a lot of attention.”  “As if we already didn’t do that sugarcube,” the blonde was right, after all this was a reunion between Sunset Shimmer and a Princess, even though the two were friends since high school and wouldn’t be too suspicious beyond two friends meeting after a long time. With the decision taken, the two women went inside the slightly luxurious car. It wasn’t a limousine since Sunset detested those things, but the spacious Mercedes Benz was both pragmatic and beautiful to serve its purpose, not to mention that it had the same kind of defenses and protections as the Batmobile.  “Before you say anything, I know, I shouldn’t have been so… curt, let’s put it that way, with Twilight, but it was that or… you know,” Sunset wasn’t that proud of herself at the way she had acted back at the airport, but it was still a very sore point of her life.  “Look, Ah know it came out of nowhere, and Ah guess it was so sudden, but I just want to tell you that Ah don’t hate ya for what ya did back there,” Even without the old hat or the usual cowboy clothes, Applejack still retained her way with words to make Sunset relax and she truly needed it for something like this.  “Really?”  “Well, Ah’ll be a very bad friend if Ah suddenly start ripping ya apart with something like this, don’tcha think?”  “Well, I mean, we are both your friends.”  “And this whole time Twilight just simply wanted to play housewife, heck, not even Pinkie was capable of getting her to come to any of her parties. Ah know it may sound harsh, but Twilah made her choice and we have to respect that, even though Ah know it may still hurt.”  “Not really, in fact, it stopped hurting some time ago.” “Wait, really, ya just gave up?”  “Applejack, she is married, I think that was a very good sign that whatever Twilight and I had was over, so I just had to move on, that’s not the reason why I acted like that,” Applejack’s characteristic eyebrow rose making Sunset continue with her reasons “look at us, we are not just ambassadors of goodwill or entrepreneurs, we are guardians of this world and we would be lost if we suddenly stopped,” Sunset said before the voice on the front seats interrupted.  “I will say that it would be a nice change of pace, maybe that way you will finally arrive on time at your dinners and charities for once,” the dry wit of Kibitz, the man who Sunset Shimmer  trusted over all, made the two women chuckle.  “Yeah, wouldn’t that be the surprise? I’m sure everyone will think they also were late if they see me arrive on the clock, but fat chance of that happening.” "Well, at least I tried.”  “But seriously, our lives are so dangerous now and we have to think about more than just our own safety. I use the mask and that is okay I guess, but you are a public figure and if it weren’t because the amazons also take care of Apple Bloom I know others would have used her as a target against you.”  “Yeah, Ah mean, thank goodness Big Mac and granny can take care of themselves because Ah would be really nervous about their safety, so does it mean you are trying to protect Twilah?”  “She may have broken my heart, but she is still important to all of us, that’s not gonna change… although I’m pretty sure that this road changed since the last time we drove over here,” Sunset said with eyes more and more opened as she saw a building materialize out of nowhere on the side of the road. Thankfully the whole place was just open hills because this would be something out of the ordinary, even for the two heroes. Just as Kibitz stopped the car several yards away from the house, a figure came out making both Applejack and Sunset be even more intrigued by the whole thing. Right there on the front of the house, a redheaded woman stood wearing a long tan trench coat and a very familiar smirk on her face.  “Well, just the lass that I wanted to meet, although I think this may be bad manners, my name is Sunset Constantine and I’m in wee bit of a dilemma, so I may need some extra help with something.”