//------------------------------// // A Cut Above // Story: Fighting to the Top // by SwordTune //------------------------------// Pinkie Pie's shrieking cut through Sunset's bedroom, a sonic boom that no fighter jet could match. Sunset had recorded and set that sound as her alarm on her phone, a sure-fire way to wake up every morning. "Wake up Sunset Shimmer!" Those words ran in a loop for about ten seconds before she couldn't handle it any more. Sunset tumbled down from her bed to her desk where her phone was charging. It was nine o'clock, hours before the sabre event started. Last night was fun despite the loss. She and her friends went with Marionette to The Greene for dinner but ended up staying late at the arcade that was across the street. For a student as serious as she was, Marionette was surprisingly good at shooter games. Almost as good as Sunset was. Luckily, the sabre event started at two o'clock, enough time to wake up late and still make it. She'd still need to be prepared to do her best, however. That meant nine o'clock was the latest she could afford to sleep. Sunset sighed. Abandoning sleep on a Sunday morning was almost as painful as losing. Scrubbing her face clean in her sink and looking at herself in the mirror, Sunset couldn't help but laugh. Losing didn't feel that bad after a while. It wasn't the end of the world, and she still had a lot to do. Her hands turned off the faucet by instinct once she was done. It was a little ridiculous how she reacted to losing. She was still great at guitar, and everything else humans needed their hands to do. Sure, magic and being able to levitate things would've been nice, but she could barely remember how to do those things now. Sunset really felt like this body was the one she was born in. The other fencers, they weren't better because of what they were. Whether human or pony, hard work was still hard work. So dumped out all of her cynicism from yesterday. There was no way she'd have the will to win if she didn't believe she could. Her phone vibrated on the sink counter. It was a text from Twilight with a coffee picture and a question mark. Sunset smiled and replied with a thumbs-up. Friends might be her source of happiness, but coffee was her source of life. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sunset held her cup close and drank her coveted caffeinated concoction. "Don't ever leave me," she whispered to it. "You sound prepared," Twilight giggled. "I know you said sabre's your weakest weapon, but I think you have a good chance. I counted up the remaining students, and there's not that many who are in the sabre event." Sunset nodded. "Sabre has a lot of rules like foil, so I guess that shouldn't be surprising." "Still, you're going to be seeing some familiar faces." Twilight pulled out her phone and went to the website for the IFT. Each of the registered fencers for today was on it, with their personal profiles and achievements. She tapped on a profile at the bottom of the list. "You gotta keep your eye on her." "Kassa Zabla?" Sunset read. "She was in the semi-finals yesterday." "Not just that," Twilight said, scrolling down to Kassa's history with the IFT. "Read it." There was a list of five tournaments that the IFT council acknowledged, each one taking place one year after the other. The first three were juvenile competitions, for fencers below the age of fifteen, and Kassa had taken first place in sabre for all of them. Then the fourth and fifth were IFT sabre events, in Cloudsdale and Aurora City respectively. Both times she was the losing finalist. "So she's been reaching for this goal for two years," Sunset said. "But it also means she's not perfect," Twilight added. "Given her record, I'm willing to bet she'll end up in the finals again. When you're against her, just remember that she's lost before. And, technically speaking, you've never been beaten." Sunset laughed until her coffee almost spilt onto the table. "Sounds like you've been learning how to ego boost from Rainbow Dash." "Eh, I'm a quick study," Twilight said. Then through the window of the cafe, Sunset saw her other friends getting off the bus, including Marionette. It wasn't surprising, Marionette got along well when she was trying to beat Rainbow Dash's high score at one of the arcade games, but Sunset still found it a little unexpected. "Darling!" Rarity announced as she entered the cafe. "How is that shoulder of yours? It seemed quite sore last night when we were playing the skee-ball machine." Sunset rubbed her shoulder. "There's a light bruise, but I don't feel anything wrong when I move it." "That's good to hear because today's the day you're winning," Rainbow said, taking a seat by Twilight. She waved the waiter over and ordered a breakfast smoothie with a protein booster. The others had tea and coffee. "Guess what, Sunset," Pinkie said once the waiter had left with their orders. "When I got home, I dug through some of my party planning papers and pamphlets and found this!" She produced a stack of ten sheets of paper and handed it to Sunset. "It turns out I threw a birthday party for Nachreissen's son-in-law's best friend's nephew, and he got me connected to him on email. Electronic mail!" "Okay, Pinkie, but who's Nachrising?" Sunset asked. "Nachreissen," Pinkie corrected. "He's one of the college people who were walking around and looking at all the fencers. He emailed me back this morning, and when I asked him if he saw you, he said he really liked how you fenced. Do you know what that means?" "An old dude is watching me?" Sunset guessed. "True. But it also means your fencing skills were super-duper good! Even though you didn't get that trophy." "Thanks, Pinkie. It's pretty impressive that you managed to find him like that." She shrugged. "I'm a girl of many talents, many of which include being random and breaking walls. Isn't that right?" "Yeah, we know," Sunset chuckled. "Thanks, but I was asking them." Everyone looked around, but they couldn't see who or what Pinkie was referring to. Applejack coughed and cleared the air. "Alright, let's talk about something else before Pinkie starts freaking me out even more than usual." "Hear, hear," Rarity said in agreement. They broke up into idle chatter while the waiter brought them their drinks. The table was full with all of them there, but none of them minded, including Marionette who was stuck tight between Fluttershy and Sunset. "Wait, you really play in the Rainbooms, Fluttershy?" The topic of their band came up, but Marionette couldn't believe that such a soft-spoken girl like her could perform next to someone as explosive as Rainbow Dash. "I do," Fluttershy replied, "though I mainly just sing and play the tambourine on the side. I don't really go centre-stage. And by that I mean never." "Oh, well I'm sure you're a great tambourine player," Marionette said. For that moment the IFT didn't seem like it was about to resume in a few hours. The group had gotten to know Marionette more. After last night they were finally comfortable enough to talk with her. Sunset even noticed how she matched her friends' personalities. Marionette was no less competitive than Rainbow Dash or Applejack, but she had a soft side that shone with Fluttershy. And Twilight's brain was unmatched of course, but Marionette gave her a good run when they were talking about a programming class they both took. She had enough snarky humour to keep Pinkie Pie busy, and even if she wouldn't admit it, definitely had a fashionable side that Rarity could pull out of her. Cardigans, crop tops, tank tops, she knew a surprising number of brands. Sunset's mind started to wander, imagining what Marionette would look like if she actually tried on the outfits they were talking about. And though they had hours to spare, Rainbow Dash eventually pointed out the time. Sunset had to go home and get her gear, then make it to CHS with enough time to warm up with some yoga and stretches with Fluttershy. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Allez!" Sabre was the pinnacle of human speed. Red light, another point to Sunset. If a point took longer than a few seconds to score, it was slow. "Allez!" Sunset covered her head, catching her opponent's sabre in her guard. She was from Gryphonstone, the other fencer, with a massive hawk painted over the front of her mask. In strait motion, Sunset cut against her opponent's blade, striking the top of her mask before she could react. The director stopped the action, awarding the point, and the bout, to Sunset. Her technique was basic at best. Every point the Gryphon scored was by a well-timed feint or counter. The best Sunset could do was beat her to the point with a powerful attack. And by winning with a comfortable three-point lead before the first minute was over, it seemed to be working. As Sunset went back to her fencing bag to grab a new sabre, one not slightly bent after a sloppy cut to the helmet, she spotted her friends standing by the bleachers, watching the Round Robin for the young men's sabre event. They waved her over to come and watch with them while she waited for her next opponent to be decided. "Looking good out there," Rainbow Dash said. "You're really using that speed you trained for." "It's easier when the bout's over in two minutes or less," Sunset said. The other bouts happening in the gym stood as proof to that. Most of them were older students, young men about to graduate high school at peak performance. Sunset noticed a few were incredibly tall, able to cover half the fencing strip in just a few steps. And almost every one of them could boast with absurd intensity. One fencer cheered as he and his opponent charged into each other, sending off both their lights on the scoring box. The director called it a simultaneous action, and by the rules of sabre, that nullified their hits. He made a gesture to the director, making a pulling motion with his arm, but the director simply shook his head. It was a common practice to pose questions to the director, but fencers had to be careful. Telling the director your version of what happened was not allowed. Still, that didn't stop young students from releasing their frustration in the form of expressive inquiries. "Have you girls seen Marionette?" Sunset asked, looking around. Applejack looked across the gym. "She said she wanted to talk to her brother. I saw her with a shorter boy just now." "Oh, her brother's here?" Sunset recalled all the things Marionette had said about him. She wondered if his girlfriend Isa was here too. Whatever was going on between her and Marionette, Sunset still had to thank her for giving Sour Sweet all her training routines. Names were called out then as the next eliminations were decided. Sunset listened for herself and the strip she had to go to. Her opponent this time wore a lightning bolt across her mask, and "Cloudsdale Stormers" in bold lettering across her back. There weren't many fencers for sabre today. Once this was over, the winner would go to the semi-finals. Sunset looked over the shoulder of her opponent to the strip next to them, where Kassa was about to begin her bout. She went almost untouched during the Round Robin event. Sunset was only one of two fencers who got to two points against Kassa. But she consoled herself in the fact that she didn't want to exhaust herself by putting in all her effort too early. And if she won this bout, Sunset earnestly hoped that what she had held back was enough to take her on. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Halt! Attaque simultané, rien." As fast as she had gotten, the Cloudsdale stormer was just as fast. It was already a minute and they had only reached eight points each. "En garde, prêt, allez!" The two kept their distance, shuffling back and forth for two seconds before the Stormer launched herself forward in a flying lunge. Her feet left the ground for just a moment and, despite her speed, she had no control over her motion. Sunset widened her stance and ducked low, cutting against her opponent's blade to counter. "Halt! Attaque non, counter-attaque, touche gauche," called the director. They reset at the middle ground again and charged at the call of the director. Again and again and again, it came down to speed. Like before, the Stormer was better technically. Her attacks were better timed and more accurate, but none of that was a threat. Sunset used her ferocity, slamming her cuts like powerful kicks of a horse. One after the other, Sunset scored with strikes full of force. She bound their blades at the strong, the thick base of the blades, pushing hard to throw her opponent back. With speed, Sunset seized catching up and delivering the blow. Humiliated by a loss, nine to fifteen, the Stormer raged soon after the two shook hands. Her team was by her side, but Sunset understood her feelings. At that moment, she'd prefer some time alone. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Was this semi-finalist a friend of the last one? She was a Stormer too, so Sunset guessed it was possible. Her style was more sure-footed but deceptively explosive. While Sunset moved up and down the fencing strip with adept swiftness and agility, her opponent followed casually. Her timing was even better than the last fencer, waiting for Sunset to make her move before countering hard by locking out her sabre. No defence was perfect, however, and two times out of three Sunset's initiative took the point. But the Stormer wasn't without her own surprises, and she managed to pull her score up before losing twelve to fifteen. But when they shook hands, Sunset noticed she looked a lot more accepting of her lost than her teammate. "Well done," she said with bated breath. "You too." And returning to her bag, Sunset heard a shout. "Yehaw!" cheered Applejack. "You sure showed 'em how we do things at CHS." "Cloudsdale has really good athletes too," Rainbow Dash added. "They're not pushovers." "Thanks, I'm glad you're having fun watching the event today," Sunset said. "Avast!" Pinkie Pie popped up behind Sunset, seemingly out of nowhere. "These sabres be like pirate swords, matey!" "Pirates actually used shorter slashing weapons," Twilight corrected her. "Boarding axe, cutlasses, things that wouldn't get caught in ropes as easily." "Oh boo," Pinkie whined. "Why does history have to be so nuanced." Sunset put her sabre's blade on the ground and stepped on it, drawing it back to straighten out its bends. "Maybe you can be a historian and make things simpler," she said, working her blade a little more until it looked the way it did this morning. As expected, Kassa won the other semi-final bout. Sunset and her friends turned to see her opponent, a girl from Crystal Prep, throw her mask onto the floor. Without hesitation, the director flashed a black card from his pocket, a punishment that would show on her record as a fencer. "Wonder if Marionette knows her," Sunset said. "What about you Twilight?" "If we've met, I definitely don't remember her," Twilight added. "I'll ask later when I see Marionette." Sunset grabbed her helmet and tightened her glove. She stood up straight and faced the crowd waiting by the fencing strip. Despite her chances, she hoped that when she talked to Marionette, she'd have a trophy to show off. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kassa Zabla was an ideal opponent for Sunset. They were the same height and build, boiling down the deciding factor for victory to two things, skill and physique. Sunset kept herself light on the balls of her feet. Because the bouts for sabre never lasted more than three minutes, she hardly felt fatigued. She had the legs of a cheetah now, two coiled springs packed with energy ready to pounce. She watched Kassa carefully as she stood on guard. Her hands were a little low and she stood upright, increasing the distance between her head and her weapon. It was probably useful for baiting, and attacks from the low lines were harder to deal with in general, but against a fast opponent, her head was completely exposed. "En garde." That would be the critical point she'd need to exploit. Sunset set her sight on Kassa's mask, lining up her blade with the ridge that ran down the centre of it. "Pret." Her first hit would have to be a thrust. It was what she was most familiar with from this starting position. As the snake strikes with venom, Sunset set weight in her legs to lunge across the distance and stab, taking initiative with short movements. It was true that arms' rotation favoured the cut, but a straight line was always the fastest path to its target, was it not? "Allez!" Her thrust roared across the strip, a burst of quick advances completed with a spiteful lunge. Kassa parried and cut to her head. Rushing so close, the cut struck prematurely, the strong of the blade actually throwing back Sunset's head. She stumbled a step, but regained herself and walked back to the middle of the strip. Something wasn't right with that exchange. The motion Kassa used, Sunset had never seen it before. There was no way she could have anticipated a thrust like that. Did she react quickly and just flail her arms in a panic? The next action Sunset watched closely. They moved back and forth a few steps before Sunset initiated a cut. She was so close, she almost lost her mind. Sunset swore she was a hair's breadth away from landing the blow, but with Kassa's sweeping parry's might, no mask nor body could be found. She lifted high her arm and guard. By rocking her weight back and forward, and the blade pointed down, she looped her cut around her head and blasted a heavy blow. "Halt!" And so it did. The motion halted Sunset's brain. How could a fencer as good as this girl use a technique that swung the blade so widely around? All she needed to do was feint to the head and strike low when the sweep missed. Sunset approached slowly, holding her guard in a manner that made a cut to the head an obvious choice. But before she could go, Kassa changed her stance, brought up her arm and rested the blade on her right shoulder, completely exposing her body. Sunset didn't wait to ask, she took the chance and went for a body blow. And with a turn of her blade, Kassa struck through, destroying path and arm without delay. The soft inner side of Sunset's elbow stung painfully from the strike, even more so because it was a shock. Even from that weird position, Kassa managed a perfect opposing cut. But three points at the start was easily rectified. Sunset breathed deep and loosened her tense grip, buckling down in a low and stable stance for a good bout. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kassa was more than good. Their bout had thirty seconds left, but her form and structure, however foreign it was, seemed unable to fail. In fact, as soon as Sunset picked up the pace to rake back a few more points, Kassa only got better. The girl actually improved with pressure. For a short time, Sunset was ahead, winning out purely with her own unorthodox and sloppy attacks. And then it was like a beast awoke inside Kassa, one made purely out of desperation and fury. It was almost over and they were tied at thirteen points. Sunset had pushed herself until she couldn't lunge anymore. They'd advanced until they could both hit and traded defensive and offensive cuts, blow after blow after blow. Slash, parry, riposte, parry, riposte, parry, riposte. It was only because of adrenaline that Sunset had the spring in her step to retreat quickly enough when she felt her arm tiring out. Kassa's early defensive style was gone now too, replaced with attacks that happened to get in the way of incoming hits. She had spent years working for the IFT sabre trophy and would not give it up easily, a desire that did not go unnoticed by Sunset. With three quick horizontal cuts, Kassa pushed Sunset back, and when there was no more fencing strip to move along, she struck her in the head with a ringing blow. Fourteen to thirteen, the chances for Sunset were running out. She believed that she would accept the loss if it came, but there was a caveat to that, Sunset realized. She would never accept her performance unless she was absolutely certain there was nothing left she could do. They reset and returned to the middle of the strip. Being one point away from losing was enough to set something off inside Sunset. She lunged the moment the director started the action, fully dedicated to the strike. Kassa guarded high but, with cunning, that defence was broken. Sunset entered low by dropping her weight, not wasting any time to redirect her line of attack. Kassa stepped back and brought her blade down to counter. If she was certain that Sunset would not make it, then there was nothing else to do but move back. Kassa's judgement was better. Kassa hit without fail, but as Sunset peeled away, the cut hit home at the leg, which sabre counted as a non-target. Redoubling, Sunset returned with two lunges of blinding swiftness, resurging the fencer she was this morning, except not fueled by coffee. The cuts sliced the air so nicely the sound pleased her. Kassa responded too, winding her sabre around for the defence that banished all opposing blows. Sunset had learned why it worked for her, but couldn't hope to use it herself. Given time, the form could be mastered, but it was the combination of shifting weight, rotating the hips, and shrinking the length of the rotation that gave Kassa her insufferable ability. Instead, Sunset matched it with her own parries that were more standard of the sabre. Her thighs burned, but she held herself low so she only had to cover her head, attacking between the rhythm of Kassa's rotations but missing by the slightest touch. Slash, parry, riposte, parry, riposte, parry, riposte. The exchange of blows wore down her arm's endurance, but her legs were tired too. She took as much as her legs could give, but if she retreated now, Sunset knew she wouldn't have the speed to avoid Kassa's attack. More accuracy and speed, those two qualities ran through Sunset's mind. Give as much as you can if you're going to lose, make her earn that trophy. But as her mind began to wander Sunset didn't feel like it was enough. That trophy was for her friends, herself, her home, her everything. To repay all of that she couldn't just go beyond everything she had to give. She had to go beyond everything her opponent could take. Sunset lifted her parry, slamming aside the strong of Kassa's sabre with her bell guard like a hook punch from boxing. The excessive force flung aside Kassa's balance, exposing her underarm to be struck by a rising cut. She turned her hand so the thumb, facing the earth, drove hard the blade and sent it up into Kassa's arm. With the same motion, essentially a prime guard, Kassa closed her feet together and rained down the point of her sabre into the soft of Sunset's elbow, stunting the cut. The girl whooped once the director ended the bout, her voice shouting over her family and friends who also cheered for her. She pumped her fist and ran a loop around her end of the fencing strip, screaming tears of joy all the way as the director declared Kassa the winner of the bout and the IFT's sabre event. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sunset wiped her hair dry as she walked out of the girls' locker room with her short blue dress, jeans, and her necklace. She didn't really feel bad like yesterday, but she definitely wasn't happy either. Losing made time slip away so quickly, mostly because there was nothing she could do about it but move on. It was as if the positive and negative side of things were cancelling each other out. She failed to give something back to CHS, but she also made a new friend in the process. Maybe it was selfish, but it was just nice to make another friend. Everything with her other friends was like a comfortable routine. She loved them, but with Marionette, getting to know her was something new. As if on cue, Sunset saw Marionette standing at the front of the school. Buses were lined up to take the students from other cities home. Parents and families had their own cars too, and things seemed to be a little too much for Canterlot High's tiny car park. Sunset laughed a little. "I don't think we'll ever host the IFT again if this doesn't clear up soon." Forcing her way through the crowd, she had to try her hardest not to grab on and read any minds by accident. Many were simply waiting for the buses to clear the car park before they tried escaping from the clustered mess. Eventually, Marionette was withing range for Sunset to poke her in the shoulder. "Huh?" Marionette turned around. "Oh, Sunset. I'm sorry you didn't get the trophy you wanted. Are you doing okay?" Sunset shrugged. "Of course not, but I'm getting over it." "Well, that's good to hear." Marionette turned back and looked out to the car park. Her mood was an open book as she frowned at the traffic, but Sunset didn't think the cars were the problem. It was the same at the cafe, Marionette was also unusually talkative. Though, it seemed rude to say anything at the time. She still got along with Sunset's friends. But she was definitely showing a happier side when they were together last night. Now, with nothing to distract herself, it seemed like there was something eating away at her. "Is everything alright?" Sunset put a hand on Marionette's shoulder. And though she didn't mean to use her magic, a flood of images started pouring out into Sunset's eyes. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Using her gemstone was voluntary, most of the time, but the strongest of feelings and memories had ways of surfacing against a person's will. "Nǐ qù nǎle? Wèishéme zhème wǎn?" The words didn't make any sense to Sunset. They were from one of the many other languages spoken in the human world. But she was reading Marionette's memories, and as if on autopilot, she understood their meaning. "Mama," Marionette's voice said as she entered a house. Her house. Traditional signs and images written in red and gold were decorated on the walls, and a few watercolour paintings of swans watched over a piano room and a study. "I said I'd be studying late." "Then why did this show up on your brother's phone?" Marionette's mother showed her a Twimblit page, a social media site where Pinkie had posted all her selfies from the arcade, most of them with Marionette at the centre. Apparently, even Marionette's brother couldn't ignore the party planning machine that was Pinkie Pie. "Bù kěnéng," Marionette thought to herself, switching to her other language to answer her mother. "This, it was just a break I took with some friends." "Then why did this girl say she was having fun all night long?" Sunset couldn't her the poison in those words, but she felt her chest tighten as if she was in Marionette's place. The feeling conveyed told Sunset more than the words could. "That's just something that my generation says now," Marionette defended. "We overexaggerate everything." "You are going to sit down and tell me and your father exactly what you've been doing this weekend." Sunset felt the tension in Marionette's body rising. "Why?" "Because you lied to us!" Her mother's grip tightened around the phone, and when she realized it, she put it down before she did something to damage it. She pointed to the living room. "Go." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Do you realize how stupid that was?" Her father's voice was deep but gentle. Even so, Sunset couldn't see anything except the carpet and Marionette's feet through the memory. She sat on a beige leather couch, her mother snapping at her from the left, her father from the right. "You can't just run around town with strangers," he said. It took Sunset a moment to realize she could understand him, not just the memory's translation. "I almost called the police to look for you!" "And that's just the consequence of lying," her mother said. "I don't know why you did it in the first place. What else aren't you telling us?" "I already said, I met them on Friday after the foil event, we bumped into each other at the Canterlot public library, and I just took a break from studying." "Nǐ juédé wǒ hěn bèn?" Her mother's voice was like a drill. Marionette took a breath, but she didn't reply. "Look at me, Marionette. Do you think I'm stupid?" She shook her head. Her father's arm came across her vision to calm down her mother. "Honey, she's done enough school work for now, as long as she doesn't do it again, I don't think this is something we have to worry about." "No, I want to know who those girls were," her mother said sternly. "How come I've never heard of them until now?" "Come on, students rarely hang out at her school," her father said. "I think it might be good that some students are willing to socialize." "They're not from Crystal Prep," Marionette mumbled. "They're from CHS." "Huh?" If there was a way to hear someone's eyes widen with shock, then Sunset definitely heard it from the father. "You ran around wasting time with those students?" "You just said no one in my school socializes, and now that's a bad thing?" Marionette questioned him. "I'm saying it's a bad thing that you're letting those students influence you," he said. "Did they put you up to this? What else did they make you do?" Marionette stood up. "They didn't make me do anything! Listen to yourself, you act like they are terrible people just because of their school." Her mother opened her brother's phone and went to the homepage of her brother's account. "I didn't want to say this because I know you like fencing, but explain to me why your brother has a photo of you at the epee event today?" Marionette squinted at the screen. It was a picture of him and a few of the fencers from the boy's team, with her standing in the corner. She wasn't completely in the photo, so it looked like her brother had no intention of exposing her, but after two or three pictures, it was obvious that she was there. "What is that?" Her father took the phone, seeing it for the first time too. Suddenly, his expression changed, going sour. "I thought we agreed you'd only go for the foil event." "But my team was there, so I thought-" "We already talked to your coach, he said you didn't need to go." Marionette's mother folded her arms. "See? I've always said her coach is too lenient." "It's not Coach Scheil's fault," Marionette replied. "I went on my own to see my friends." "Why? You've never stayed for the other events before," her father asked. His knitted brows almost pushed his eyes out of his head, as if he was trying to get a closer look at his daughter to glean some kind of answer from sight alone. "Does it have to do with those girls? Were you wasting your time for their sake?" Sunset was dizzied as the memory whirled around to a flight of stairs. Marionette stormed up, leaving her parents in the living room. "I don't want to explain it." "Nǐ huílái!" her mother shouted. "Don't walk away from us!" The argument definitely didn't end there, but Sunset's vision into the memory faded to white as Marionette pulled away from her arms in real-time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Why'd you do it?" Sunset asked, almost by instinct. Her friends were right. She needed to stop blurting out her first reaction. A bit of awkward silence hung in the air. Random personal questions were really hard to explain, after all. "What are you talking about?" "You got in a fight with your parents, just to watch the IFT? Why?" "How do you know about that?" Marionette's eyes flicked about, searching Sunset's face for some kind of tell. Her face was one part worry and one part disbelief, like someone's expression after finding a fortune-teller who really did know their past. Sunset babbled a few incoherent words. How could she explain everything quickly and simply? But, the longer the waited, the more Marionette looked at her like she was a freak. Without thing, she grabbed her necklace and showed it to Marionette. "My friends and I, we found these gemstones with special properties when we went camping at Everfree. Mine lets me see the memories that are strongest in people." Magic was one explanation, for sure. Rumours about the Friendship Games from those who competed, stories about weird powers, those were like urban legends. Finding some truth behind those legends was a lot easier to believe than a story out of nowhere. But Sunset was used to people's hesitation. Mind-reading was one of those things that felt too invasive to be possible. Marionette looked away, a little embarrassed. "How much did you see?" "Enough. I know that you wanted to be here and watch all the bouts, but your parents wouldn't let you." Relief spread across Marionette's face for a moment. She looked around at the crowd of students and parents. Sunset did the same, realizing that this wasn't the best place to talk about her problems. "So, you wanna catch the bus a few streets over?" She asked Marionette. "The traffic should be fine, away from the school." "Yeah, let's do that." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The horizon rolled clouds in like a thick blanket, covering up the sun's summer heat, but spreading a sickening humidity in the air that stuck to the skin like paste. Walking over to the bus stop, neither of them said a word. Sunset was beginning to wonder if she overstepped her bounds. Marionette didn't know what to make of Sunset suddenly entering her life. "You don't have to tell me if it's uncomfortable," Sunset finally said as they sat down at the stop. Marionette shook her head. "It's fine, I don't mind. I'm just not really sure what to say about it. I can't tell you why I did it because I don't really know." "Are they really so strict that they won't let you see your friends fence?" Marionette shrugged. "I honestly don't know. I've always done what I needed to without them asking, so I think this is just new for them, too." "So they let you come today?" "Not happily, but my mom said it'd be bad manners if I didn't follow through all the way." "Speaking of your mom, there were some words in your memories that I couldn't totally understand," Sunset said. "What language is that?" "Oh, my mom's very... Chinese," Marionette explained. "My dad moved from the UK when he was younger to study at the Maressachusetts Institute of Technology, but he understands enough so that we can all speak it at home. Well, my mom and I speak, my dad just sort of listens." Sunset nodded. She didn't really understand why humans divided themselves in this world the same way ponies and gryphons and dragons did. It was like splitting Equestria up by its cities. But Sunset found it all very interesting, nevertheless, and thought Marionette was pretty cool, being the daughter of two completely different cultures. "Well, whoever your parents are, they have a pretty awesome daughter." Sunset looked down at her hands as she came up with the right words to say. "I can't thank you enough. You really helped me do my best." It was Marionette who kept her happy after every loss. Everything Marionette talked about made her think about what she wanted, not only for the present but the future too. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and all her other friends, they had plans for their future, but Sunset never confronted the idea of moving past Canterlot High. Hearing Marionette talk about her goals changed that. "I thought about what you said, about living up to my potential as a fencer," Sunset said slowly, still processing her own words. "I didn't want to face it before, but I have no idea what I'm going to do after high school. And then you showed me." Marionette's eyes widened. "I did?" Sunset nodded. "I don't know what I'll study when I'm in college, but I know I want to fence. I think I never realized it because my friends and I are too nice to each other. I depend on their support, but when you and I were in the locker room together was the first time someone actually scolded me for not chasing after my potential. Twilight and the others, they always just tell me everything's fine, but you were willing to push me. Now I want to see how far I can take myself, maybe even to the Olympics." Sunset's words lingered for a bit. She was a little unsure if she said the right thing, and Marionette needed a moment to take in everything she said. "You're pretty much the nicest person I've ever met," Marionette finally blurted out. Sunset chuckled. "Are you sure? I don't think I can beat Fluttershy at niceness." "I mean it," she continued, unfaltering. "You asked me why I did it, and I'm not entirely sure, but I think it was because I wanted to see you. Fence, I mean. I wanted to see you fence." Sunset sighed. "Now I feel bad. I shouldn't have put all that trouble on you." "Are you kidding?" Marionette laughed a little. "I might be in trouble, but I honestly don't care what my parents say. I meant what I said yesterday; seeing you fence was like watching passion and love come to life. I see the drive inside you and I feel like I'm watching a perfect version of myself." "Now you're just teasing," Sunset said. "You study way harder than I do. I heard you talking about neural networks and machine learning with Twilight at The Greene. I think you're the only person I know who can keep up with her." Marionette shook her head. "That's not what I mean. You do things you want to do simply because you want to do them. I wish I could do that. I wish I could be more like you." En route to the city, the bus from the opposite side of town rolled up to the stop. It squeaked as it braked, cutting short their conversation. They both stared at it, waiting for something to happen, but neither of them was willing to move. "This is the first time I've ever been in trouble with my parents," Marionette said, though it sounded like the gravity of that fact had just hit her. "It's not a good feeling," Sunset replied, remembering the arguments she used to have with Celestia just before she ran away. People filed out of the bus one by one, splitting ways either left or right around that bus stop like a river flowing against a jagged rock. The bus driver watched them, waiting to see if they would get on. This was the only bus on the route on Sundays, and if they missed it they'd have to wait another hour. Marionette groaned. "I don't wanna get another earful from my mom." "Pinkie's having a slumber party tonight," mumbled Sunset. Marionette smiled, a glint of rebellion spreading to her eyes. "I'll be grounded after today anyway." She looked at the top of the bus, its yellow electronic sign reading out the downtown bus stop, far from Pinkie's house. "But that means we'll have to take the 104 bus route instead." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pinkie's house was a hurricane of colours. Her old physics project, the party cannon, had splattered confetti every which way to cheer Sunset up. Reds, oranges, and fleshy pink paper squares decorated the walls with life, and against the gradient of the setting sun, Sunset felt at home. Rainbow Dash ran around, helping Applejack move the furniture. They were going to set up the perfect arena for a foam dart gun battle. Fluttershy and Rarity hung streamers along the walls and ceiling, with birds and squirrels lending their help wherever a streamer came loose. Trays of snacks and boxes of pizza levitated around the house, some in glowing fields of energy, others on floating diamond plates. Twilight let her magic work while she focused on fixing up Pinkie's surround sound speakers. It wasn't a sleepover without cheesy movies, according to Pinkie Pie. It was a little jarring for Marionette to get used to the magic, but pizza was pizza, and when dinner time rolled around, they all sat together and talked about how they got their gemstones. The rules of magic were a little confusing, and Marionette did sit away from Pinkie Pie once they mentioned the time she threw a box of nails. Aside from that, she was surprised by how quickly she got used to talking birds and a flying Rainbow Dash. "I see why you wanted to win for them," Marionette smiled, finally pushing her family worries aside. "This is awesome." Sunset gave a confident nod. "This is home." They decided, to Fluttershy's terror, to watch a horror movie before they went to bed. Pinkie had over two dozen to choose from, so together they all sat in a circle to pick one they wanted. And though she didn't want everyone worrying about her, Fluttershy was adamant about hinting which ones were a bit too frightful for her tastes. "Oh my gosh, I just had the best idea!" Pinkie Pie jumped from her seat on the couch, knocking over the pile of DVDs she was trying to choose from. "You're not going to throw something, are you?" Marionette asked cautiously. "No silly," she said. "I'd never make a mistake like that... after that one time at work." "What?" "Oh don't worry, I just remembered that Applejack helped Sunset drive her fencing gear back home in her truck." "Oh, right, I still have 'em in the back," Applejack said, helping Fluttershy pick out a classic horror movie that wasn't too scary. "I can drop it off tomorrow morning." "But," Pinkie paused and slung her arms around Sunset and Marionette, "Sunset has two of everything in her bag. Anyone else thinking of a rematch?" "Oh, I don't know," Marionette chuckled, a little embarrassed to be put on the spot. Sunset smirked. "Yeah, I'd probably just win again," she said, teasing her. "You'd like to think that, wouldn't you?" Sunset shrugged. "Why don't you put on a mask and we'll find out?" Twilight hopped out from her seat too. "Oh, can I direct? I've read all the rules for fencing, so I might as well use that knowledge, am I right?" "In that case," Marionette grinned, "you're on, Sunset." Pinkie unfurled a red carpet strip that she had hidden in her house in case of carpet emergencies, laying it along the sidewalk outside her house. It was about the width and length of a fencing strip, perfect if not for its velvet texture. Marionette fiddled with Sunset's spare swords, all three of them. A three weapon challenge, they decided. Score a hit with foil, then switch to epee, then sabre. Repeat three times before tallying up the points to see who was the ultimate fencer. "En garde!" Twilight said, in what was actually a decent French voice. The thrill of those words ran through both their veins. Marionette gripped her foil. This was how Sunset must have felt every day; Marionette could feel what it meant to fence for someone else, her friends. That rushing excitement, it was strong enough to be addictive. She could read it in Sunset's movements too, how thrilled she was to fence again, but as friends. "Allez!"