Sunset hopped off the bus and walked the remaining block to her apartment in silence.
Dinner had gone well. If tonight had been a test from Twilight’s parents, she was fairly confident she’d passed with flying colours.
No, it wasn’t the dinner that had her furrowing her brow as she passed under the streetlamp that stood resolutely outside the entrance to her apartment complex. It was what had happened before it.
Why had Twilight reacted so violently? Sure, it might have been startling, but that was an overreaction; she’d literally wrenched her arm away. Why?
And why did it bother her so much?
Sunset continued to replay the event in her mind as she climbed up the building’s steps. She let herself in and went to the stairs. Her floor was the third; as she stepped into her hallway, her attention went to her pocket as she fished for her key. It was a little silver thing. She hadn’t bothered to put it on a ring or a strap or anything; she only had the one.
She looked up.
She nearly dropped the key right there.
Suddenly breaking into a cold sweat, she sprinted down the hall. Her boots squealed as she ground them to a stop on the wooden floor, just outside of her apartment. Her eyes were wide, her breathing heavy.
Her door was missing.
It wasn’t open. It wasn’t broken. It hadn’t been knocked off of its hinges. It was just gone.
The lights were off in the apartment. She crept forward, steadying herself on the doorframe, and listened. Nothing inside the apartment, not that she could detect. Still, she steeled herself as she reached for the lightswitch.
She had to blink as it came on and her eyes adjusted. When she opened them, she saw two things.
The first was that no one was here, or, at least, not that she could immediately see. As far as she could tell, she was alone.
The second…
Her fingers curled into a fist around her key.
The second was that her apartment had been trashed.
She stepped forward, suddenly numb. Her belongings lay strewn out all over the floor. Her couch had been knocked onto its back. Her TV lay in a cracked heap in the opposite corner. The fairy-lights which had decorated and lit her loft now lay strewn across the floor, pulled from their fastenings. She had to tread carefully, lest she break something.
That same sharp, metallic stench from the practice room hung in the air, burning her nostrils.
And then she spotted it, lying in the middle of a bare patch of floor, as if the detritus of her life had parted to allow this one, singular object.
She knelt down and picked up the journal, dusting off the cover with her free hand.
It was immaculate.
“What!?”
It was the next day, Sunset had just arrived at the Carousel Boutique, and Twilight and Rarity were looking at her like she’d just told them that her house had sprouted wings and flown away.
Which, while somewhat backwards, actually wasn’t that far from the truth, metaphorically speaking.
“It’s pretty bad, yeah.”
“Pretty bad? Sunset, this is insane!”
“That’s certainly a step—no, several steps farther than what our mysterious vandal has done previously,” Rarity said. “Breaking into your apartment—Darling, you need to contact the police!”
“Already done,” she said. “I spent half the night waiting for them to let me back into the apartment so I could pack a suitcase. I spent the other half at the hotel on Whinny street.”
“On Whinny street? Dreadful!” Rarity said. “You should have called me, darling, I would have gladly let you sleep on my couch.”
“Or mine,” Twilight hastily added.
“It was late,” Sunset explained. “I didn’t want to bother anyone. Besides, the Whinny’s not that bad. I’ve slept in worse conditions.”
“Darling, it’s the principle of the matter.”
“Did they take anything this time?” Twilight asked.
“No. Just trashed the place.” Sunset let out a sigh. “And ruined all my good clothes, including the dress I was going to wear for Fall Formal, so…”
“Say no more!” Rarity declared. “Now I see why you wanted to meet here. Let me see what we have in the back room.”
She disappeared through a door behind the counter, leaving the two of them alone in the storefront.
Sunset leaned up against the counter, setting her weight on it.
“Are you sure you still want to do this?” Twilight asked.
“What, the Fall Formal?”
Twilight nodded.
“Of course!” Sunset furrowed her brow. “There’s no way I’m going to miss out on tomorrow night just because some loser has nothing better to do with their time than to try and make us miserable. That would mean letting the vandal win.”
“You don’t think it could be dangerous?” Twilight said. “Whoever’s behind this is obviously escalating. What if they try something?”
“Well, they’ve always acted where no one could see them up until now, right?” Sunset said. “But Fall Formal’s going to be packed. There’s no way they’ll do anything with all those people around.”
“I don’t know…”
Rarity reappeared through the door to the back room, wheeling a rack of clothing in front of her.
“Go ahead; take your pick,” she said, coming to a stop before them. “I’d say it was on the house, but, well…” She laughed. “Not my store.”
Sunset could have sworn she heard the girl whisper a “yet” under her breath.
“I can get you a discount, though.”
“Thanks, Rarity.”
Sunset began flipping through the dresses on their hangers, the metal rattling and the fabric making little swish-swish sounds as they rubbed against each other. A packed mess of oranges, reds, and blacks.
“Hey, Rarity,” Twilight suddenly spoke up. “You haven’t had anything suspicious happen to you since the instruments, have you?”
“No, not at all,” Rarity said. “Not unless you count Sweetie Belle stealing half of my design materials for one of her and her friends’ ‘projects’.” She coughed. “Again.”
“Neither has anyone else,” Twilight said. “Maybe we were wrong. What if this is just happening to Sunset and me?”
“But darling, that makes even less sense. What could anyone possibly have against the two of you?”
“Maybe… someone doesn’t like us being together?”
“That seems a bit silly,” Sunset said. She was about halfway through the rack, now.
“Perhaps one of you has an admirer,” Rarity suggested. “Of the ‘jealous’ variety.”
Sunset shuddered at the idea, but that didn’t mean she agreed. “I don’t know. Doesn't this seem a bit extreme for teen romance?”
“Love works in mysterious, and sometimes terrifying, ways, darling.”
“Either way, we still have no idea who it is,” Twilight said.
That was one thing they could all agree on.
In the silence that followed, Sunset finished going through the rack.
“I don’t know, Rarity,” Sunset said, putting back the last of the dresses. “I know I’m not really in a position to be choosey right now, but none of these are really speaking to me.”
“I completely understand,” Rarity said. “If I had the time, I’d make something for you myself, but…”
Rarity took a step back. She sized Sunset up with her eyes, looking her up and down. Sunset got the distinct feeling that she’d been placed under a microscope.
“…Darling,” Rarity said, finally. “I’ve had an idea. It may be a bit cliche, at this point, but… have you ever considered wearing a suit?”
“How is this thing even supposed to work?” Sunset grunted, fumbling with her tie. The infernal thing of red cloth kept slipping through her fingers as she attempted to knot it into place.
“Here, let me do it.”
Twilight grasped the two ends of the cloth snake, straightened them, and began weaving them together. Sunset looked at her work like it was witchcraft.
“You’re good at this.”
“I used to have to do this for my brother,” Twilight explained. “He could never figure it out, either. It’s not actually that hard, though, once you know what you’re doing.”
Twilight was already wearing her outfit for the night, a dress of pink and lavender fabrics that dropped past her knees. She felt good wearing it.
Regal, whispered a voice in the back of her head.
She slipped the end through the knot and pulled it tight.
“Ta-da.”
She looked up.
Twilight flushed. She only just seemed to have realized how close they were to each other. Their bodies were almost touching, and she could feel Sunset’s breath brushing lightly against her forehead.
Sunset smiled down at her. She reached up and brushed a few stray lavender hairs out of Twilight’s face.
“You look good with your hair down,” she said.
“You look good in a suit.”
Sunset leaned in and kissed her, and oh! There went all the strength in Twilight’s knees.
God, Sunset’s lips felt good.
They kept at it for another half a minute, after which Sunset pulled away.
“Come on,” she said. “We’d better get going if we don’t want to be late.”
“Oh,” Twilight said. “Okay.”
A banner had been hung over the entrance to the school, yelling out “Fall Formal” in bright red letters to anyone who happened to pass by. A bundle of balloons had been tied around the barrel of the wondercolt statue. And, off to the side, someone had set up a spotlight. It traced strange circles in the night’s sky.
It was always weird, Sunset reflected, to see the school all lit up like this in the evening.
As she and Twilight stepped out of the back of Twilight’s dad’s car (he’d insisted, and boy hadn’t that been the most awkward car ride of her life), she felt a pang of unease in her chest that she couldn’t quite explain. She brushed it off just as quickly as it came. The autumn night air was cold against her face.
Night Light waved, and drove off. Sunset waited for him to get far enough away, then put her arm around Twilight’s waist.
“Shall we?” she asked, sweeping a hand towards the doors. Twilight giggled, rolled her eyes, and started forwards.
Vice-Principal Luna was on ticket duty, it seemed; she kept her eyes on them like a hawk as they handed her theirs and headed inside. Sunset could swear she could still feel the woman’s piercing gaze even after they were inside.
The hallway to the gym had been done up in balloons and streamers as well. Small groups of students gathered and chattered amongst themselves every few feet, but Sunset could hear the majority of them up ahead. Even from here, the gym throbbed. There was music playing, but nothing live yet, just a simple pop-y tune. The live music would come later, when it mattered. This was just to fill the quiet while things got going.
“You ready?” Sunset asked, looking over at Twilight as they stood before the doors. She nodded.
The light inside the gym was low, and flashed between different colours every few seconds. In true school dance fashion, there was also a disco ball spinning up there somewhere, sending glittering patterns of light around the room.
Sunset could feel a few odd stares on her as they walked in. Her left hand adjusted her tie. She had to admit: she kind of liked it.
Together, they mingled their way into the crowd. After a little while, they found where the rest of their friends had gathered and stuck there for a while, chatting and laughing while the dance started up around them.
The night had begun.
“I’m going to go get some punch,” Sunset declared. “You want anything?”
“I’ll come too, actually,” Twilight replied.
“Suit yourself.”
“Don’t be long!” Pinkie called after them. “The dancing’s gonna start soon!”
“Yeah, yeah. We’ll be back in a minute.”
They weaved their way through the crowd together, towards the left wall, where Sunset had caught a brief glimpse of a refreshment table earlier.
They’d really gone all out this year—well, as all-out as a school dance typically could, anyway. Three crystal pitchers of various flavours of punch (and, Sunset knew from experience, the requisite ingredients needed to spike it if one desired wouldn’t be too far away), surrounded by plates and bowls of your typical faire. There was even a small chocolate fountain.
And off to the side…
Sunset groaned. Twilight cast her an odd look, but she ignored it and instead marched to the far end of the table, where two familiar—and unwanted—faces lay.
Aria leaned against the wall, munching on something. Sonata was sitting on the edge of the table, which was earning her no end of disapproving stares, but it seemed no one really had the guts to tell her to get off. They both looked up as she approached.
“What are you two doing here?” Sunset demanded.
“Free food!”
“What’s it to you?” Aria said, at the same time, glaring. Sunset glared back.
“Um…” Twilight looked back and forth between Sunset and Aria. “Who is this?”
The two sirens gave her an odd look. Sunset sighed.
“Sorry. We told you about the sirens, right?”
“These are the sirens?” Twilight asked, taking a half step back.
“Two of them.”
“She doesn’t remember us?” Aria asked, jerking a thumb at Twilight.
“That was the Equestrian Twilight. This is the human Twilight.”
“There’s a human Twilight?” Sonata asked.
“Yeah. I was surprised, too.”
“Huh.” Sonata turned to Aria. “Hey, how come there aren’t human versions of us here? I want to meet myself!”
“I don’t think the universe would survive two of you.”
“How did you even get in here?” Sunset asked them. “They were collecting tickets at the door.”
Aria grinned. “Easy. We’re the entertainment.”
“…What.”
“Well, since the main band had to cancel at the last minute…”
“Principal Celestia totally bought our whole ‘we’re reformed now’ sob story, too!” Sonata added.
“Seriously, she’ll let anyone walk in here.”
“Especially if they’ll work for free!”
Sunset’s eyes darted between the two.
“…It probably didn’t hurt that the elements were going to be here too, huh,” she said.
“That may have also come up,” Aria said, waving her hand dismissively. “Briefly.”
“Riiiight. I thought Trixie and her band were playing tonight?”
“They’re our follow-up act.”
“You mean you’re their warm-up act.”
“I know what I said.”
“Shouldn’t you be going on stage soon, then?” Twilight asked, glancing at the clock.
“Relax. We’ve got, like, fifteen minutes. Plenty of time.”
Aria took a drink from her red plastic solo cup. Sunset was left to wonder what percentage of what she was drinking was actually punch
“So,” she said, pointing her cup hand at Twilight, then at Sunset. “You two are together?”
“…Yes?” Twilight said, immediately followed up by a “What’s it to you?” from Sunset.
Aria and Sonata shared a glance. Sonata raised an eyebrow. Aria groaned.
Standing up, in one smooth motion, she slipped behind Sunset and put her hands on her shoulders.
“Could we steal your girlfriend for a minute?” she said to Twilight.
Sunset squinted at her.
“Relax,” Aria said, giving her shoulder a pat. “This is a friendly kidnapping.”
“Um…”
“I’ll be alright, Twilight,” Sunset said. “This’ll only take a second.”
This was accompanied by a glare over her shoulder.
“Oh… okay,” Twilight said, hesitant. “I’ll just… go get some punch.”
“You do that,” Aria said.
She steered Sunset away from the refreshments, Sonata hopping off the end of the table and following them (but not before grabbing another cookie and shoving it into her mouth). Sunset cast an apologetic glance over her shoulder at the suddenly very lost-looking Twilight, before she was swallowed by the crowd.
They came to a stop by the back wall, in a small pocket of empty space. Sunset loosed herself from Aria’s grip and looked at the two of them expectantly.
Aria sighed.
“Look,” she said. “I’m only telling you this because you got us this gig, alright?”
“What’s this about?” Sunset asked.
“You,” Sonata said.
Aria nodded. “Yeah. You know how we used to feed on negative emotions? Conflict, self-loathing, guilt, that sort of thing?”
“Yeah?”
“Well, we can still sense them,” she said. “Like, uh…”
She waved her hand around in a formless gesture.
“Like we can smell them,” Sonata supplied. Aria snapped her fingers.
“Right. Exactly. We can smell your emotions.”
“Okay,” Sunset said, now looking very uncertain. “So…?”
Aria sighed.
“Sunset, you smell like a three-course meal of denial, guilt, and frustration.”
She reached out and put her hand on Sunset’s shoulder.
“I dunno what’s up with you, and I really don’t care. But whatever it is, it’s messing you up inside.”
“Seriously,” Sonata said. “You’re making me hungry just standing here.”
“It’s really hard to ignore.”
“Really hard.”
Sunset just stared at them for a moment. Sonata and Aria exchanged a glance.
“So, uh…”
“If you could just sort that out…”
Sunset abruptly knocked Aria’s hand away.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she growled. “I’m fine.”
Sonata tensed up.
“Look, we’ve gotta get on stage,” Aria said. “Accept it or don’t, whatever. I don’t care.”
She stepped closer and jabbed her finger against Sunset’s lapel.
“But don’t say we didn’t warn you, you got that? This is us trying to be nice.”
She stepped back again.
“Come on, Sonata. Let’s go.”
Sonata cast one last look at Sunset, then waved goodbye and followed Aria into the crowd.
Slipping through the groups of students, Sunset stumbled her way back to her friends. Twilight was there already; she called out as she approached.
“What was all that about?” she asked, once Sunset was close enough to hear over the noise of the crowd. The music had been muted, in preparation for the night’s main event.
“Nothing important,” Sunset said, her voice low. Then she sighed, and when she looked up again, she was smiling. “Sorry.”
At that moment, a microphone squealed with feedback, and the crowd grew quiet.
They turned their attentions to the stage, where Sonata and Aria now stood. The crowd murmured as Aria took the front microphone from its stand.
“Uh… hi.”
Someone booed.
“Yeah, yeah,” Aria said. She flipped the bird in their direction. “Man, I hate this school. Let’s get this over with.”
A nod off to the side of the stage, and music began to play, a low, simple electronic rhythm. Their voices joined it a few measures later.
Slowly, the tension in the air dissolved, and people began to fill the empty area of the gym that had been arbitrarily designated the ‘dance floor’. Say what you would about the sirens; the quality of their singing was not up for debate. Even without magic, even with just the two of them, their voices were hypnotic.
Twilight and Sunset were content to stand on the sidelines for the first song, but then they moved on to the second of their set. It was a slower song. Deeper vocals.
Suddenly, they both became aware that the rest of their group were looking at them expectantly.
“Uh…”
“Go dance!” Pinkie all-but-shrieked.
“I don’t know,” Twilight said. “I’m not—Shouldn’t we—”
But the Pink Terror, mad on party fever, had already shoved them both towards the dance floor.
They stumbled out, into the midst of the dancing couples. It was a small miracle they didn’t run into anyone.
It took a moment for them to catch their bearings, but once they did, well, why not? Sunset put her hands on Twilight’s waist, and Twilight put her hands on Sunset’s shoulders, and they began to step and sway to the music.
For one magical moment, everything else seemed to fade away, until it was just them, alone, on the dance floor.
Twilight’s senses seemed suddenly to sharpen, and the world took on a slightly surreal tint. She became acutely aware of her own breathing, of the beating of her heart as she moved, of the sensation of Sunset’s hands around her waist, guiding her. But most of all, she could feel the warmth of the other girl, could feel her breathing, they were so close.
It was like something out of a fairy-tale.
“I love you,” she whispered, wanting nothing more than to fall into Sunset’s embrace, to get lost in her arms and in her eyes and her lips.
“I love you too,” Sunset said, and the words made her heart ache.
And that was the precise moment that the inhuman shriek split the auditorium.