Sunset Shimmer stepped out into the cool Autumn air. The fall leaves were falling around her in a rain of color. The leaves took many varieties of colors from yellow to red. This was probably her favorite time of the year, the time where the leaves show their true colors. The way that the leaves changed and then fell to the ground reminded her of herself. Much like Twilight had said that night she had shown her true self and there was no way they were just going to let it go.
She did her best just to try and ignore that thought. Sure Twilight never did upfront say it would be hard to forgive her. However it was devastatingly obvious. That thought lingered in her mind almost as much as the nightmares did. This walk was a rather nice walk however. The cool air in a slight breeze rushing through her hair. She couldn't help but be tempted to listen to music. She usually did when she walks to school. She used to take the bus all the time, that was back before her defeat.
She calmly took out her phone and earbuds. Her cyan eyes looking around at her environment. There Bright and cool blue matching perfectly for the cool air. With two fingers holding her earbuds she calmly placed them in her ears. She would swipe her finger across the screen of her phone as she would then type in her code. She would click the app to play her music as she would listen to some of her favorite songs. Reminiscing in the past as she listens to them. She would softly sing the words to herself as she walked, her voice is soft like an angel. She was not bad at singing in fact she was rather good. Not like anyone would notice, she always walked alone despite her new friends asking to walk with her. It seemed weird to them when she would deny company while walking. She denied it for it was the only time she could be alone not confined to the inner walls of her own home.
After about 10 minutes she finally reached Canterlot High. It was a wonderful walk, despite the crippling tiredness that's still consumed her body. The front door of this place still showed of the scars of the Fall Formal. Every time she looked at it she was reminded of The Nightmare she had become. It was weird when she looked back at that night. She remembered doing those things, however she didn't remember having control of herself while she did them. And those scars on the front of the building were just one of many things she remembers doing, without remember having control while she did it. She gave a long sigh as she looked at it. The building almost looked like it was in pain, the new bricks she had laid next to the old ones we're clear and easy to see.
" Sunset it's about time you get here!" The voice of Rainbow Dash would ring from the other side of the door as it would swing open. Her vibrant violet eyes looking at Sunset Shimmer. " we were thinking you might not show up today. After you ignore it all of our texts."
" Wait I thought I only got a text from Fluttershy?" Sunset would exclaim in a bit of confusion. She would quickly look at her phone and noticed she had indeed missed texts from all of them.
" Don't fret about it too much darling. We all have experienced the occasional falling asleep after receiving a text." The voice of the uptight and fashionable Rarity would sound from behind her now. " Rainbow Dash she just likes to make it sound like everything is important. But don't let it rain on you everything is fine." Rarity would say as she put two hands on Sunsets shoulders.
Sunset would listen to what Rarity would say. However it didn't exactly prevent her from being in disbelief to the notion that everything was okay.
" Well what Rarity had to say probably wasn't important." Rainbow Dash would say teasingly." However I was going to say was totally awesome and I wish you would have responded" she would tease again to Sunset Shimmer now.
" I apologize, I haven't been getting a whole lot of sleep lately so I just wanted to rest." Sunset would say with a hint of sorrow in her voice. She would lower her head to look towards the ground. Despite the fact that Rainbow Dash had only been teasing her.
This would now cause her friends to have a look of Sorrow as well. Rainbow had never intended to make this a serious matter. Despite that it had turned into one.
" Sunset darling, Rainbow Dash didn't mean it. She was just being a tease." Rarity would say immediately trying to clear up the situation. Sunset Shimmer however, just wanted to go inside. So instead of talking out the situation she walked past them before they could continue. She knew it was rude, she just didn't want that conversation to continue. Rainbow and Rarity would proceed to follow her. They did however get the hint that she didn't want to talk. So they kept to themselves talking to each other.
Sunset would proceed to her locker. She would have turned slowly to face it as she placed her hands on the lock. With nothing but tedious muscle memory she would turn the knob to unlock it. She closed her eyes as she gave a long and soft sigh. She felt bad now about just walking past Rainbow Dash and Rarity like that. She truly didn't need to learn more about friendship if she was going to be good at this. As she let go of her lock with shaking hands she noticed Fluttershy out of the corner of her eye.
This Girl had been a subject of her torment for so long. Sunset still couldn't grasp why she was so willing to give her another chance. She truly was an entity of kindness. She would slowly face Fluttershy with a smile, one of the few people she could face without frowning.
" Fluttershy, it's good to see you this morning. You don't stop by my locker that often however." Sunset I would say as she placed a hand on her own locker leaning against it. Her unzipped jacket now angled with gravity.
" you're right... I don't. So I take it you fell asleep after getting my texts?" Fluttershy would say in her usual soft voice. She would use her pointer finger to get her hair away from her eyes as it usually hung in front of her. Sunset was so confused as to why everyone was so concerned about whether or not she got their texts.
" Yes I did. I was just too tired to answer them at the time. Sorry about that." Sunset would blush and embarrassment as she would attempt to hide her face in her own hair. She felt ridiculous this morning. She supposed that was better than the Casual mornings. The ones in which she would walk into school and that everyone would glare at her. So feeling a bit of embarrassment was probably a good start.
" Don't worry about it too much. You need your sleep. I hope you're still at least getting 8 hours of sleep at night that's the proper amount you know... unless of course you think you need more, or less." Fluttershy would say as her voice would get softer as her talking went on. Sunset found it hard not to chuckle at how coy she was. Sunset would quickly glanced over at the clock that was in the hallway. She would take note to the time so that she wouldn't be late for class.
Sunset would end up talking to Fluttershy until it was about 2 minutes till class. She wanted to be on time so she couldn't continue the conversation for much longer than that. She would make her way to her first class. The heels on her boots making a clapping sound as it would hit the hard floors of the hallway. She felt desolate and alone, despite her friends walking with her. The sound of the clunking of her boots just echoed, that Echo giving her that desolate feeling. When she reached the door to her first class and she was greeted with the face of none other than Flash Sentry. He was one of many people she assumed majorly disliked her. She had used him for years to gain popularity. She felt so bad now when she thought about it. However she couldn't find the strength to apologize.
She walked past him and did her best to avoid any further conversation for the day. She knew it would be unavoidable later on during the day. She could however do her best to avoid it for the remainder of this class. She glanced over at him as she walked by heading straight for her seat. Her friends taking seats not far from her. She was so on edge. The rest of the class silently judging her as she's strided for her seat. She had never sat down so fast. Her rear cutting against the hard seat as she finally sat. The teacher would also be watching her as she took that seat. It was unfair to live in a world where even the adults judged you.
Once everyone was done silently judging her. The teacher would break the Silence with a cough. He would look over the class with his Stern and rather cold eyes. This was one of the worst teachers in the school. If you did so much as speak in his class without him asking you to, he may consider sending you to the office.
" Alright class if you could so kindly open your books to where we left off yesterday. Then we can get this class started." The teacher would say as he would have start writing immediately on his chalkboard. Sunset would take notice to the lit candles on everyone's desk. " If everyone could please take notice to the candles on your desk we are going to be doing a little experiment today." The teacher would say as if reading her thoughts. And soon after someone would raise their hand. The teacher would not speak he would simply look at them and Nod.
"Mister Sombra, what is the experiment if I might ask?" The student who had raised their hand asked. Sombra would look over towards the student. He would give a smile, which was something he did not do often.
"All science experiments start with a question." Sombra would state as he now paced back and forth before the class. "What will happen if…?" Sunset would now be listening intently to his voice . The way he was wording this was actually intriguing her. "Today I want you to be applying different questions to burning candles, you as students can experiment with these controlled flames to discover how candles burn and what affects them."
"What could we possibly learn from a candle?" Said the same students who had asked the original question. Sombra within look sternly at the student. He clearly had a lot to say to that statement.
"How do burning candles affect air quality?" Sombra would state. He would have a grin on his face. He had brought up a question probably a few people have ever thought of. "If you use air testers to measure pollutants before and after burning candles in a closed environment. You may be surprised by the outcome. However considering your attention span, I would consider conducting multiple tests to ensure you get it." The rest of the class would respond with a giggle. They're clearly Sombra had made something humorous happen here. How many teachers insult their students?
That was around the time that something weird seemed to be happening. Sunset was finding it hard to hear what everyone was saying. As if their voices were distant and muffled. She tried her best to remain her composure, so that everyone would proceed with their giggles and not pay attention to her internal struggle just now. Using her pointer finger she proceeded to rub the inside of her ear. Was there something blocking her hearing?
She would look over at the candle. Her eyes widening slightly as she noticed that the flame looked like it was angling towards her. The light the flame was shining in her eyes as if it was putting her in a hypnotic state. She couldn't help but to continue to stare at it. At this point she couldn't hear anything at all. Everything was silent, everything except the slight crackle of the flame. She felt Frozen in time. She reached out towards it. It felt as if someone was staring down at her now. However she couldn't bring herself to look at who it was. Her eyes just couldn't look away from the flame. When her finger reached the flame she couldn't feel any heat. The flame then proceeded to try and wrap around her finger in an unnatural way. It managed to wrap all the way around her pointer finger before sound suddenly came thundering back to her.
It looked as if no one had even noticed what had happened. Sombra was still going on about what the experiment was going to be for today. Sunset didn't even get the chance to hear the exact experiment, only sombras example that he had made towards the student. And now she was not only lost and thought about the flame. She was lost entirely. She looked straight forward towards the teacher acting as if she had been listening this whole time. The thought of the flame continued to enter her mind. How was such a thing possible? Fire does not move that way, not in a way that felt that unique. It was almost like it was dancing with her finger.
Sunset looked over to her right. Immediately she noticed that Pinkie Pie was looking at her. Pinkie had a look of shock on her face. Had she noticed the fire? What was she looking at? Sunset tried to Shrug It Off as nothing. However Pinkie Pie continue to just look at her. Pinkie Pie whispered something but Sunset couldn't hear her, she could however read her lips. To a point anyways. Either Pinkie Pie said you should look at this pie or look at your eye. Frankly that notion gave Sunset a startle. There was an observation mirror not far from her. Did she dare look to her left to look in it.
Sunset Shimmer could feel fear rushing through her body now. Gripping her desk tightly her nails digging into the soft wood. She would turn slowly towards the mirror. She tried not to gasp as she noticed something was wrong with her eye. The white of her eye was no longer White. It was a dark obsidian black. Along with her pupil this made her I look nothing like it did before. It looked like nothing other than a cyan Halo of blue.
Sunset quickly clasped her hand over her eye and made it look like she was intent on thinking. What was going on?