//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: To start over // by Midnight_Song95 //------------------------------// “So you’ve been living on your own since you came to this world?” Celestia questioned, eyes widening slightly at the implications of the teenager’s words which caused Sunset to wince slightly since she was sitting right beside of the woman, leaving her no way to avoid the aurora haired woman’s gaze. “Yeah, I had the money and was underhanded enough to use the computers at the library to find people who could help me fake most of the documents I needed to have a life here. It also helped that gold and gems are worth a fortune here so I was never without food.” Sunset answered, omitting the fact that it had been hard for her to find a place willing to rent to a teenager until she had stumbled across Filthy Rich. But they didn't need to know that plus Sunset didn't want to give the pair of women any more reason to call child services. “Okay, so you had a place to live but what did you do when you weren't at school?” Luna asked, crossing her arms over her chest as she sat on the edge of Celestia’s desk. She inwardly smirked as Sunset’s expression shifted to an almost unreadable emotion. Why do they care about that? Sunset wondered as she tried to form an answer “I...um...would play guitar since Flash took the time to teach me and well...outside of that I play video games.” Sunset replied, brow burrowing when the vice principal let out a snort of amusement “what?” “He took the time or did you force him?” Luna quipped, earning a look from Celestia that she knew meant all to mean shut up. However before Celestia could manage to say anything Sunset spoke up, a faint blush coming to her cheeks as she argued: “I wasn't that bad all the time!” “Can’t prove that by me. Ever since you have enrolled here you’ve been an egomaniac with a temper.” Upon hearing this Sunset sank even farther down. She knew that the navy-skinned woman was right, at least for the most part. She had been horrible, though she was telling the truth about not forcing Flash into teaching her. “But, Flash had to see something in your or he wouldn't have asked you out. That much I have noticed about the boy.” Luna continued, smirking a bit at Sunset’s reaction. “I don't know what he could have,” Sunset said, her voice breaking slightly “Ever since I won that damn crown that first time I let everything go to my head.” Sunset buried her face in her hands as a voice at the back of her mind repeated the words: “just like you did when you became the Princess’s student.” Principal Celestia put an arm around the distraught teen, though she had no idea if anything that she could say would make the fire-haired girl feel any better. Luna, however, sighed. She hadn't meant to make Sunset cry, yet again. Yes, you did.” Luna began, placing a hand on Sunset’s upper arm “but that's the past. You just have to try not to make the same mistakes you have made. Just because you have done something doesn't mean you're doomed to repeat it.” “How can I be sure? Every time I think I am doing something right I end up fucking it up!” Both women shared a look then, though neither said anything for some time. “I know it’s hard Sunset, that everything seems to be a dead end but if you start out small things will slowly fall into place for you.” Celestia assured, allowing a silence to settle over the room as Sunset attempted to compose herself. “Now, for the reason that we called you in here.” Luna said after a while, handing the girl a tissue “my sister has a proposition for you.” To say that Sunset was relieved when she was released to return to work would have been an understatement. Her mind was a whirl of thoughts and memories as she thought about what had just happened. She knew she should be glad that she wouldn't be placed into the care of child services, which would have been trouble on multiple levels although the alternative she had received left her equally terrified. What if I blow it? What if I just keep screwing up everything and this falls through? Sunset wondered as she tried to focus on the repetition of her job, which despite tiring and time consuming wasn't the hardest thing she could have been tasked with. She was so occupied with her thoughts that she didn't even notice that the soccer team came around to the front parking lot. “What’s she doing here?” “Yeah, you’d think they would lock the demon-bitch up somewhere.” Sunset tried not to listen to the conversation that the other students were having, especially since everything that they said about her grew progressively worse. "she’s cleaning up the mess she made Friday night. She’s not bothering anyone so lay off.” the familiar voice caught her off guard. Is Rainbow Dash really defending me? But I was horrible to her and her friends for years, there's no reason for her to do this even if Princess Twilight did ask them to. She thought, straining her ears to hear the rest of the conversation. “Why are you defending her Dash? She ruined your life!” it was silver stream who spoke next, though it was another voice that responded that made Sunset nearly drop a brick on her own foot. “So what? She’s working now shut up and go get lunch. We need to focus on the upcoming game with crystal prep and preliminaries for the nationals. We have no time to waste worrying about Sunset Shimmer.”