Luna felt exhausted after spending the rest of the morning with Celestia, dealing with Sunset Shimmer.
Thankfully Celestia had headed out soon enough. Luna could finally relax on the couch for a while, at least till it was time for Sunset's 'friend' to arrive. As she lay back, she heard the former unicorn in the guest room, apparently using the Acoustic guitar that had been stashed in the guest closet to practice.
It was surprisingly good for a novice, though it was clear enough that the girl didn't seem to be playing a specific song, rather practicing some scales and chords or some such. It was melancholic, but soothing in its own way. Soon enough the sounds of guitar strumming actually lulled Luna to sleep.
The next thing she was aware of was the doorbell ringing. Luna rubbed her face then forced herself to get up and let Sunset's visitor in.
"Thank you again for allowing me to come by for a visit Vice Principal Luna. We've simply been ever so worried for Sunset after everything yesterday." Rarity thanked Luna as she was let into the house.
"It's fine Ms. Rarity, just make sure to be discreet about the fact that you know where our little trouble maker is staying for the moment alright?" Luna replied bluntly, making sure that her message was received by the teen, before sitting back down on the couch she had been napping on while pointing towards the guest room. "Sunset is staying in the room at the end of the corridor to the right. Just following the guitar."
Rarity smiled and nodded, before walking to the guest room door, as the noise of the TV was turned up behind her.
Rarity paused front of the door, seeming to need a moment to listen to the simple music from Sunset's guitar. Finally she took a deep breath, put on one of her defining smiles, and knocked on the bedroom door.
The sounds of the guitar immediately stopped. However, the seconds ticked by without anything else to show that the girl in the room had heard. Finally Rarity cleared her throat before calling out, "Sunset darling? It's Rarity, may I come in?".
Rarity could barely make out the sound of footsteps before the door was slowly opened a few inches, "Hey Rarity... if you want."
She took the opened door as invitation to enter. Sunset had already gone and sat on the bed facing away from the door, giving her back to Rarity. Sunset's hair wasn't too messy, but it clearly needed a brush. Without being able to see her face, the only clue Rarity had for Sunset's mood was seeing her fidget with the instrument in her lap. Rarity struggled with what to say.
"Oh my. Miss Luna certainly had an... interesting... design choice for this room." Rarity focused on their surroundings, The purple haired girl not quite ready to try to break through Sunset's body language. Sunset began plucking at her guitar again, going through some spanish scales.
"... I'm glad you kept up your practicing even after everything. I was always amazed how quickly you picked up things... jealous even, sometimes at least." Rarity paused to see if Sunset would say anything, before slowly continuing, "In three months you were keeping up with Flash! It was quite the inspiration. If I hadn't been there that first day of class and heard you starting out I'd never have believed it." Sunset kept quiet, making Rarity have to force herself to keep her hands still from picking at her clothes.
Rarity finally thought to frame her words into a question, to try to force Sunset to finally speak.
"What was the real reason you chose guitar that day?" Rarity had no clue where this was coming from. She wasn't sure why she was bringing that all up. Sunset finally seemed to react, hunching over slightly and slowing down in her playing.
"Well... It really helped me with getting used to my hands back then." Sunset slowly answered back in a monotone. Rarity could recall how Sunset had gravitated towards those types of scale exercises that helped practice individual finger movement quite a bit more than strumming chords.
"I suppose I kept at it... cause it helped ground me too, on the worst days. You'd be surprised how pervasive music is in everyday Equestrian life..." Mentioning her former home seemed to suck the little energy Sunset had conjured up to answer Rarity's question, and she slowed to a stop, simply holding the guitar, though she still refused to turn around. Rarity looked around trying to come up with something to keep the tentative string of conversation alive.
"Ground you darling? What do you mean? Till this week you'd always seemed so in control of yourself however." Rarity asked quietly as she almost thoughtlessly scooted closer. Sunset hunched further, hugging the guitar to her chest at this point. The redhead took a few shaky breaths. Right before Rarity could ask her to forget the question, she began to speak.
"The world... THIS world I mean... it's a dark and scary place. You have no idea what it's like to be somewhere so alien yet almost familiar, like a dark reflection from a funhouse mirror." Sunset finally put the guitar to the side and brought her knees up on the bed and hugging them, hiding her face in her knees. "Even my body had been changed to fit in here, and after a while I'd have days where it became unbearable. I hated my skin Rarity."
"The worse were the times... Sometimes I'd be happy. Things would be going my way, or I'd be having fun, and I'd forget for a few days, and then I'd look in the mirror, or I'd be taking a shower, or I'd accidentally try a dish with ugh, meat in it... and suddenly it would hit me." Sunset shuddered. "I'd feel vertigo, or hyperventilate, I'd try to scratch it off... vomit my guts out... Remember that time in PE when I 'had a case of poison ivy'?"
Rarity did recall. One day while they were still friends, Sunset had been unusually reticent in changing into her PE uniform. When Sunset finally did Rarity had seen she had scratches all over her collarbone and upper chest area. Rarity had been aghast and rushed her to get some calamine lotion from the nurse's office. "I suppose it wasn't poison ivy at all?"
"No. I'd had a nightmare and woke up trying to get this human suit off."
"Did... did that ever go away?" Rarity asked tentatively.
"A bit... well, for a while... I guess I felt I got used to feeling dysphoria knowing there wasn't much I could do about it, and my dumb brain gave up or something. It came back pretty hard this last month though. You know, after..." Sunset began to share, but froze at the last second, as she finally turned to look at Rarity, whom had slowly approached, sitting on the bed herself, almost next to her without either of them noticing.
"Ah yes. I'd wondered what happened between you two. I don't need details however darling. I'm glad you haven't let that sour you to music however." Rarity added as Sunset flinched.
Sunset let out the breath she'd been holding, before turning back into her knees. "It's not like he invented the instrument Rare."
Rarity almost snorted before catching herself. "Well that is true enough I suppose. I hope you also kept up with your art then? Did you like those sketchbooks I gave you? You were quite good, I used to think it was a shame you didn't join any of the art clubs."
"Nah, couldn't make myself get back into it. Never ended up using more than just a couple pages in them. They're probably still stashed in the bottom of my locker. Sorry" Sunset spoke into her knees. Rarity wasn't sure what to make of that. Sunset really had a talent from what she remembered, and she'd seemed to have loved it.
More importantly though, Rarity couldn't take it anymore. That hair was driving her OCD insane. "D-do you think-I mean- May I brush your hair? It seems to be a bit wild today, though I can understand why."
"Fine. My brush is in that bag over there." Rarity glanced towards the corner that Sunset had shrugged towards. Indeed there was a trash bag, filled with what seemed at first glance simply clothes, though after opening it she saw there was a tied off grocery bag with bathing and grooming supplies. It was a simple detangling brush, from one of those generic pharmacy brands. Definitely not the best kind for Sunset's current hair needs, but beggars couldn't be choosers she supposed.
"Sunset darling, please turn around and let me get behind you dear. No, shift the other way, I want us facing the mirror on the vanity." Rarity softly ordered the other girl into place, before she began her task. A few minutes went by in silence as Rarity tamed Sunset's hair. The few times Rarity pressed on Sunset's shoulders or back the other girl seemed to flinch a bit, but she stopped shaking after the first minute. Rarity tried her best to only touch her hair, though Sunset seemed fine with the bristles going through her scalp.
"There, that's looking better. Hm... actually, let me see if I have some in my bag." Rarity rummaged in her purse, before pulling out some hair ties. " How about I put it in a french braid?"
"If that's what you want Rarity." Sunset responded, sounding far away. Her eyes were drooping and looked almost glazed in the reflection. Rarity paused a moment, before pulling out one of her emergency hair sticks to help her part the other girl's hair. She knew she was procrastinating, but there wasn't much more that she could do to delay asking the questions the others had wanted her to convey. She knew the first one she wanted to know herself.
"Sun, how hurt are you right now?" She finally blurted out, her fingers hovering over the girl's shoulder for a moment, before leaning in to run her fingers through her hair from the front, using the stick in her other hand to make the part straighter.
Sunset blinked, still looking zoned out. "Physically, it could be alot worse. Luna said my back is scratched up pretty badly. You can check it out if you want to put some more antibiotic cream on them. I also twisted my ankle but the pain medicine she gave me has helped a lot. My bones and chest just ache, but it comes on and off in waves, so I think it might just be psychosomatic at this point."
Rarity was perceptive in turns of phrase however, "Alright, I'll help you with your back in a moment then. Beyond the physical, how else are you hurt?"
"It's... hard to put into words." Sunset swallowed, snapping out of it for a second to look uneasy as she focused her gaze with Rarity's in the reflection. "I can't be sure without magic resonance tools to diagnose myself. Even if I had the tools, I can't channel my magic without a horn. However, I can tell something's changed. It's really hard to care or argue."
The girl waved her arm in front of her. "I haven't bitten your head off after making me stare at my reflection for over ten minutes with you. With how I've been the last month, I'd usually have had an episode by now." Sunset confessed. "I used to feel... so, so, so bitter about everything. I don't think I'd ever have been able to get over how my plans failed, and I'd probably keep blaming you girls and been self righteous about it all..." Sunset took a shaky breath "But here we are, with you doing my hair like in Freshman year, and I mostly just feel... awkward I guess."
"To be fair dear, this DOES feel a bit awkward for me as well." Rarity replied as she tied off the braids she had made and scooted back to look it over. Rarity had always wondered what was the catalyst that made Sunset decide to turn on her after Freshman year. She wasn't quite sure she was ready to ask for any details at the moment however.
" Now you mentioned you needed antibiotic cream on your back?" Sunset stood up and picked up the tube of cream on the vanity, before sitting back down and pulling the back of her shirt up to her shoulders.
Rarity let out a hiss at the scratches all over her back. It was quite a bit more than she thought. Soon enough Sunset copied her as Rarity carefully began to spread the cold cream over each of the scratches on her back.
"I think that does it. How're you holding up?" Rarity asked once all the cuts and scratches had a light film of cream over them.
"Honestly, I think I need to eat something. This is exhausting, and you don't feel like you're ready for that conversation either." Sunset murmured as she pulled her shirt back down, before adding "I'll try my best if you still want to go on after we eat something though. You might want to let Miss Luna know about food preferences though cause I'm pretty sure she's about to order takeout."
"Well then, let's join her in the living room."
The girls came out of the guest room just as Luna was about to call out to ask what they would like from the Neighponese restaurant.
"Thank you Vice Principal Luna, but I really must be heading out. Thank you again for letting me visit Sunset." Rarity preempted the educator before turning once more to Sunset at the door, "The girls all want to meet with you soon, but I think they can wait for you to be back at school. I'll let them know you're safe and recuperating."
Luna ended up not ordering from her favored restaurant, as their vegetarian options were lacking. Instead, some Mediterranean wraps would be delivered in time for a late lunch.
"Sunset, how did it go?" Luna asked after she had taken care of ordering the food.
"It wasn't anything I couldn't handle ma'am" Sunset replied, trying her best not to yawn.
"Do you need help with your back again?" Luna asked, in lieu of any actual topic to chat about.
"Oh Rarity already helped with that. I should be good till tomorrow morning." Sunset's reply surprised the Vice Principal a bit. She wouldn't have thought that would come up.
"Well then, why don't you put away your things. The guest closet and drawers should still have some room. You're free to use the washer and dryer as well. Let me know however if my sister's things are taking too much space and I'll move them out." Sunset simply nodded at Luna's orders and went back to the room.