//------------------------------// // Level Eight: Sunset Shimmer? // Story: Delinquency // by Daemon McRae //------------------------------// Level Eight: Sunset Shimmer? Ruble Maker hadn’t always been an aggressive kid. Which was one of the primary reasons his teachers were so disappointed in him. When he’d first started high school, his grades had been average, his friends had been average, and he’d joined maybe one or two clubs at different times. In short, he basically blended into the background like everyone else, which was something most of his teachers appreciated, although they’d never say it outright. To say the loss of his father changed him would not only be an understatement, it would be a grievous misjudgment of character. Rubble had taken his time with the stages of grief, getting to know each one personally and sitting down to lunch with it. Of course, grief never really leaves you, and even though he’d made some small semblance of peace with it, he seemed to have not only had lunch with anger, but regularly invited it over to hang out. Over the course of the last year Rubble’s reputation had flown in so many different directions as to be able to complain that the frequent flier miles were garbage, and they needed to change credit cards. He’d gone from the tall kind of beefy kid who didn’t do any sport, to the kid who’d lost his father and now everyone felt sorry for him, to the boy who would pick fights with people twice his size on a daily basis. From there he’d taken a short pit stop at the scary brute looking for a reason to fight, finally settling in as one of a group of misfit delinquents who didn’t actually cause any real trouble (Dust Devil notwithstanding). Of course, he hadn’t done much to curb people’s idea of him as an angry brute, despite having a much more viable, and productive, use for all of his outrage, and so most the other students -and some teachers- opted to just let him be. One of those students was NOT Sunset Shimmer. Rubble had been sitting in the library in a rare moment of research, as he was now tasked with the job of finding more effective ways to light things on fire without breaking any laws. Namely, they needed a better weapon against the golems than a lighter and hairspray, and none of them was old enough to purchase a flamethrower, legal as they might be in this state. So he was spending his Monday afternoon digging through chemistry and engineering textbooks looking for new and exciting ways to commit very, very individualized arson. Again, without actually breaking the law. The last thing any of them needed was a felony. It was here Sunset Shimmer found him, nose-deep in a book that he not only looked out of place holding, but was actually having a difficult time reading. She sat down across from him without so much as a hello, and asked in a rather accusatory whisper, “Do I even want to know what you’re doing with AP Chem books?” Now, it should be said that while Rubble wasn’t Treble’s biggest fan, he also didn’t share the 80’s throwback’s active distaste for the girl. Of course he wasn’t at all pleased at the situation he’d found himself in over the last year, although admittedly it was his choice to be there in the first place. In addition, like the rest of the group, he laid at least a little bit of blame at Sunset’s feet for having dragged this mess with her in the first place. This didn’t mean he disliked her, however. Of course the memory of her reign of tyranny still lingered in his mind, slowly growing stale, but he’d also dabbled in being a bitch, and thought it might be a bit hypocritical of him to deny the former bully the chance to redeem herself. Even if her sudden change in temperament was a bit suspicious. In fact, he was actually relatively okay with having her around sometimes. His biggest issue with her presence was Treble’s tendency to pick a fight with her at the drop of a hat, and the two were rarely apart nowadays, so he mostly avoided her just to keep the noise down. Moments like this, on the other hand, were fine with him. She didn’t leave a bad taste in his mouth like some of his friends, and she wasn’t bad to look at. He did, however, bring issue with her always accusing him of something. Even if the majority of the time she was right. “Looking for new and inspiring methods of flame-eology.” She pressed her fingertips to her temples. “Rubble, I know you’re not the brightest bulb in the box, bot we both know that isn’t a word.” “You don’t know my life,” he argued, albeit through a small smile. “Wha-no. Not… I’m not having that conversation. Look, why are you… why are you looking up ways to set things on fire?” And what is wrong with me that I understood what he meant? she mentally berated herself. “Ok, so you know the whole flesh golem other-dimensional monstrosity thing going on?” he asked, setting his book down in favor of another, heavier text on pyrotechnical engineering (not that he knew that’s what it was called). “...not a sentence I’d ever thought I’d be able to follow in my lifetime, but sure, go on,” Shimmer groaned, resting her head in her hand and her elbow on the table. “Well, apparently we gotta set them on fire. Spooks explained it to me, but really all I got was something something burning flesh something something can’t regenerate. So then Treble explained it to me, and he was all ‘We have to burn them because that way they don’t have enough gross meat stuff to throw together to summon the big ugly thing.’ I thought that was a bit condescending so I smacked him around with a newspaper-” “-of course you did-” “-of course I did. See, you get it,” Rubble added cheerfully. The former pony just groaned, her head slipping from her hand onto the table with a dull thud. “But anyway,” Rubble continued, “Even though he was being a rude prick, I understood it after that, so they told me to go find ways to make all kinds of stuff to light them on fire, cause we’re not old enough to buy a flamethrower, and most of the other ideas were illegal. So now I’m neck-deep in nerdling trying to find something that makes a lot of fire very quickly that won’t get us all arrested for arson. Oh, and Spooks says he wants to talk to you, for some reason. Something about finding the spot where the monsters are going to pop up. He said you would want to know.” The redhead’s eyebrows rose quickly into her hairline as she sat up and gave the boy across from her a weird look. “Why me? He has classes with like, half of us girls.” Her question was met with a shrug. “Dunno. But you might want to talk to him soon. We’ve only got a few days to put this all together before all hell breaks loose. He said he’d wait for you at your house.” “...WHAT?” “Shhhhhhhhhhhh!” came the reply from an assortment of students and staff. Sunset groaned again as her head met the desk with slightly more gusto this time. ------------------------------------- One of the many advantages to living alone, Sunset had discovered, was not having to explain your house guests to anyone. Of course, it would help if [they explained themselves to her most of the time. Her friends dropping by at random points was to be expected, as Rainbow had discovered that it was basically the perfect hang out spot, with no adults around. Unfortunately, her principal had developed a habit of stopping by unannounced, so as to keep abreast with the supernatural events surrounding the school. One of the stipulations to her apparently punishment-free attempt at redemption over the last year was that she had become Celestia’s go-to for information on the weird and magical. Which left her with little room to argue, as the leader of the school had been more than gracious in allowing her to go about her rather complicated life with little interference, though not without the occasional reminder that such things could change rather quickly. Which is why Sunset met the presence of the older woman with little more than a sigh as she walked up the sidewalk to her front porch. The other person sitting there was also to be expected, since Rubble had been nice enough to warn her ahead of time. If he hadn’t she might not have noticed him until he snuck up on her and scared the absolute crap out of her. Not on purpose, of course. His tendency to jumpscare people was merely an unfortunate side effect of his diminished presence. Hello, Principal Celestia. Hello, Spooks,” she muttered, making her lack of enthusiasm rather apparent. She unlocked the door, and motioned for them to follow her in. “Hello, Sunset Shimmer,” Celestia said politely, accepting the invitation and walking gracefully into the living room, being rather familiar with the layout of Sunset’s house. All Spooks said was “Hey,” as he followed their principle and took a seat on a low-sitting couch, while Celestia had opted for a lounge chair against the wall, giving her full view of the room. Sunset made a beeline for the kitchen, throwing her book bag on a stool near the counter, and rummaging through her cabinet for some much-needed chocolate. She rejoined her ‘guests’ in the living room, shoving a handful of small candies in her mouth as she sat down on the couch next to Bones. Celestia was the first to speak. “So Mr. Bones here has been enlightening me on the most recent development. I have to say, I would think that ‘extra-dimensional demonic entities’ would be rather high on the list of things you’d want to share with me at your earliest convenience, Sunset,” she noted with a hint of disapproval. A statement that was met with another handful of chocolate. “They’re not demons,” Spooks argued, saving Sunset from having to respond. “Excuse me?” Celestia asked with a raised eyebrow. “Not demons,” he reiterated. “Demons are specifically an infernal presence who’s physical manifestation on our plane requires both human interdiction and a set amount of predetermined physical and metaphysical criteria. Their primary motivation is the corruption and consumption of human souls and the inciting of violence and debauchery on mass scales to doom the human race to an eternity of unknowable tortures. This thing is a Beast. A monstrosity from a far-reaching dimension whose laws surpass and differentiate themselves from our own in such drastic ways that most any creature who spawns from those conditions festers an all-consuming hate for all forms of life as we understand it in such copious amounts and to such violent degrees that they desire nothing more than to shatter the barriers between all worlds and consume or destroy us in unspeakable and incomprehensible manners.” Sunset shuddered impressively. “And this is why you scare the absolute fuck out of people.” Their principal frowned deeply at the language, but Sunset had long ago laid down the law of ‘my house, my vocabulary’, and so she merely said, “Well, despite that… alarming and rather disturbingly-detailed contrast, the general impression I get is that they are both very, very bad for the well-being of my students. And, well, the human race, I guess.” Spooks gave her a concerned look. “You guess?” Celestia sighed wearily. “Spooky, I’m a high school principal at a school that seems to attract monsters and magical girls at regular intervals. I barely like my students. Other people are just a thing that exist to me, now.” “No, that’s fair,” Spooks said encouragingly. “So,” Sunset interjected, trying to re-rail the conversation. “What exactly are you both doing here?” Spooks motioned for their principal to go first. “I decided to drop by after Twilight Sparkle gave me a rather alarming account of the events this weekend, leading me to believe we needed to have a conversation,” she explained. “Of course,” Sunset drawled, with more than a little sarcasm. “And you?” she looked to Spooks, wanting less and less for him to answer that question. “Well,” he started, “I assume Rubble told you that I’d figured out the ‘where’ of this particular unnatural disaster.” When Sunset merely nodded, he pressed on, “As it turns out, there’s a few locations we need to worry about. There’s going to be a few places the golems show up at, kind of like holes in a strainer where the… necessary material is draining through. They aren’t going to stay there, however, and I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing. Guess we’ll find out. Apparently the golems need to ‘accumulate’ at a specific location where their amassed presence can force open a hole large enough for the Beast’s energy to manifest and draw them all together into a single physical form for it to use.” Sunset raised an eyebrow. “So… all we have to do is stop enough of them gathering at this one spot to bust down the door?” “Basically, yes,” Spooks answered. It was obvious there was something else he wanted to say, and at the same time, didn’t. “Spooks?” Sunset asked, after an uncomfortable pause. “Yes?” “Where, exactly, is this… meeting spot?” she pressed, growing both impatient and increasingly hesitant in regards to the answer. Bones looked around the room, as if deciding which window to dive through when Sunset started getting mad. “Your… uh, your house.” Sunset blinked. Then blinked again. “Ex-CUSE me?!” Celestia, both having gathered enough information to be disturbed, and not wanting to have to play either referee or witness to a murder, stood up to leave. “Well, thank you for that… information, Spooks. Even if I can never unhear it.” She quickly made for the door at an impressive walking stride. “And Sunset?” “Yyyyeeesss?” she growled through clenched teeth. “If your house explodes, let me know and I’ll write you a note for excused absence. Also, don’t die."