Sunset Shimmer muttered to herself as she sat cross legged on her bed tapping the pencil next to her cheek, a ring spiral lay before her covered with various song lyrics and musical notes. She had awoken before dawn, which she hated, because her creative muse is occasionally a cruel little bitch and does not strike with creativity during normal business hours. Still, when the perfect lyrics and melody strike it is best to listen even if it means sitting on the bed in pajamas desperately trying to recall the tune. It was not like she had been getting a good night sleep anyhow.
Work had run late. While the money was always welcomed Sunset hated leaving the restaurant after midnight. She had not had any problems as far as lewd or unruly individuals, mostly due to the security patrols, but that was only a matter of time. At least it had not rained on her on the way home. She had quickly stripped out of her foul smelling uniform and composed a short message to Princess Twilight Sparkle about needing the portal open tomorrow before attempting to wash the fish smell and stress down the drain in a hot shower. Upon exiting the bathroom, she found the journal glowing with a reply.
“Hey Sunset! It’s Spike. Twilight is out, but I’ll pass on to her that you want to come visit. Just in case she forgets or I find her passed out in the library or school tomorrow I left myself a note to have the portal open before lunch. Be seeing you, Twilight’s Number One assistant.”
With the portal taken care of Sunset tried to quiet her brain with a few rounds of PvP gameplay before giving in to the sandman and crawled up her loft steps to bed. Even with that however, sleep had been in short burst followed by copious amounts of thrashing. Her brain had always done this to her even when she was Celestia’s personal student in Equestria. The body had been willing to lay there, but her mind would not stop racing. There was too much to think about: the future, bills, what to do with her stuff, magic, Twilight.
Sunset picked up the acoustic guitar that had been sitting at the foot of the bed and tested a few chords of what she had written down. After fifteen minutes of strumming and singing quietly she paused to examine her fingers. Fingers, she thought, I worked so hard to learn how to make these things work for me and fate was going to make me trade them out again for hooves. Sunset wondered how well she could play a guitar with hooves. Earth ponies managed it somehow. Though she imagined she could probably also use a specialized telekinesis spell to simulate fingers. Would it be the same?
The native Equestrian looked around her one bedroom townhome apartment. It contained nearly her entire life in the human world. All her memories and accomplishments, desired possessions, and necessities. The unit was not much, but it was hers and had been a significant step up from the homeless shelter she had spent her first few weeks at. Without a doubt it was better than being on the streets. She shuddered at those old memories.
Once Sunset had gathered enough information by asking questions and listening to others speak, she had found the right, or wrong depending on who you asked, people to help get her gems and gold bits turned into human currency. Sunset had played the game with the most cut throat and manipulative nobles Equestria had ever produced since its feudal founding. Armed with crucial information, a new body that was apparently considered appealing, and her burning ambitions, Sunset knew that a pleasant smile and well placed bribe would get her what she wanted. Failing that, she would find dirt on those who were impeding her and blackmail them. Those were dark times in her life best left in the past. However, it was impossible to look around at the life she had carved for herself and not see what she had once been. The monster inside… and out.
A knocking on the front door startled Sunset from her thoughts, her eyes travelling back to the thoroughly used and abused alarm clock. “Seven already? When did that happen?” Sunset checked her clothes. Her basic pajama set was acceptably modest in case the visitor was not someone she knew or wanted to deal with. It was far more likely to be a familiar face, but just in case, Rainbow Dash had given Sunset one of her old softball bats that she claimed was, “out of hits.” Whatever that meant.
“Huh.” Sunset opened the door and took a step back as Pinkie Pie burst through, throwing her arms to the air. A few pieces of confetti rained down from somewhere.
“GOOOOOOD MOOOOOOORNING!” If Sunset’s neighbors hated how loud her apartment got from late night gaming, testing of guitar chords, or Pinkie’s lack of an inside voice even at the break of dawn, they had never said so or complained to the landlord. “I know you were planning to go over to Equestria today, but I just had to see you to wish you a super fun, bestest, most awesome trip and see if you were up for breakfast because when you left last night you had that ‘Shimmy is down in the dumps’ look in your eye. Normally, I would throw you a cheer you up party, but you know, short notice.” Pinkie did a small spin and pulled a pink and blue cupcake from her hair.
Sunset smiled, taking the offered treat and pulled Pinkie into a sideways hug. “I still have time before the portal will be open and coffee and waffles sounds like a great idea.”
“YAY!”
“I need to change, so grab any seat you like.” Sunset pulled out a faded band t-shirt, comfortable jeans, and clean underwear before heading to the bathroom to change.
Pinkie sat on the couch for about five seconds before switching to the steps to her loft. “Hey Sunny?”
“Yeah?”
“I was just wondering, what’s going to happen to all of your stuff if you move back to Equestria?”
It was kind of sad how easily one could have a conversation through the paper thin bathroom door. “Funny that you should ask. I was up half the night think about that too. Well, that, and other stuff.”
“Other stuff being Twilight?” There was a crash sound as if something had fallen to the floor followed by a muffled curse. “You okay in there?”
“Yeah, just stumbled, knocked a few things over.”
“Dooooo you want to talk about anything?” Sunset opened the door so they wouldn’t have to shout through particle board. Sunset continued to brush her teeth to both stall for time and gather her thoughts. Apparently, she had not been guarding her expressions as well as she had thought. Canterlot royal court would have eaten her alive with how poorly she had been controlling her emotions since graduation.
“Well, I can pay off the rest of my lease contract because bailing on it would be rude and my landlord has been very accommodating. I can stick most of my stuff in a storage locker where I keep my tools and extra maintenance parts for Shadow. That bill auto withdraws from my account so I don’t have to worry about it for a while. Beyond that I may ask AJ if I can have a dresser at her place for when I come to visit from time to time. The rest will just be given away or trashed.”
“Yeah that makes sense. But what about Twilight?”
“Uh, what about her?”
Pinkie arched an eyebrow and examined her friend closely, the unyielding stare beginning to make Sunset shift uncomfortably. “About you being gay and crushing on her.”
“I’m not gay.”
“Mmmmhmmm.”
“I’m not. I’m bisexual. Or possibly pansexual. I get the labels confused. They change the definitions faster than Rarity changes seasonal color trends.” Sunset let out a breath, checking her hair. Her fingers snagged on a few knots so she took a brush to it while she gathering her thoughts to explain.
“Okay, let me see if I can explain this. You know in Equestria we don’t wear a lot of clothes because we’re ponies and we have fur and our society just doesn’t have the kind of taboos that humans have when it comes to the body. Clothes are just an accent or accessory. Maybe an extra layer for the cold or sunhat on a bright day.
“Long story short, we get used to seeing each other’s naughty bits so they really are not all that naughty anymore. Heck, I spent most of my early foalhood following Princess Celestia staring up at her great white plot. Trust me, I could see everything. Sure, physical appearance is still very important when selecting a partner, but it’s not the MOST important thing we look for. Or at least for me, I can’t speak for everypony."
Pinkie bobbed her head. “That makes sense.”
“That said, when I look for a partner that I want to be in a relationship with it’s their mind, who they are, not their body that’s most important to me. And no, don’t mention Flash because that was me just me being a manipulative little shit to get what I wanted. I needed a convenient cover to gather information on others while expanding my grip on the student body. I’m not proud of it, but it was still true that the best way to do that was to press my tits against him and shove my hand down his pants. I won’t lie, I enjoyed sex with him sometimes, but there was no love there. Even now, we get along as friends, but nothing more will ever come from that.”
Pinkie smiled. “You need someone with brains who can keep up with you.”
Sunset grimaced for a second before moving to the door. She grabbed her shoulder bag and keys and gestured for Pinkie to follow. Sunset locked up and the two made their way down the street to a mini storage lot. Pinkie bouncing and skipping like usual. Once they had made it to the storage unit Pinkie put her face directly in front of Sunset’s. “You never answered my question.”
“It wasn’t a question, it was a conjecture. Did you ride the bus here?” Pinkie nodded. “You want a ride to the diner?” Pinkie nodded again, more exuberantly.
Sunset smiled, retrieving what they came for. She wheeled out the polished black and silver motorcycle that she patted and stroked with loving care. Once Sunset had gotten established and began understanding more of the new world she had become trapped in, two things truly fascinated her. Technology and motor vehicles. Cars were nice, they could get you from point A to point B in every conceivable size, shape, and style. But what had really caught the former unicorn’s eye were the two wheeled vehicles where the person rode on top of rather than be restricted and strapped inside of. Once she had learned how to obtain a license to own a motorcycle and passed the written test, Sunset wasted no time taking the necessary training courses to learn to ride.
She had taken to riding like a fish to water. It was freedom. Like running through an open field on all fours like she had as a filly. It was how she had heard pegasi described flying. Nothing but you, the wind, and your instantaneous decisions to keep you from crashing. The necessary skills to keep you safe and the concentration needed to watch all the potential hazards around you drew Sunset like nothing else had.
Sunset always had a very overactive mind that would not be silenced most of the time. Multi-tasking reading, writing, studying, being creative, etc. It was one of the reasons she always strived to be the best at whatever she put her mind, hand or hooves to. Not just know it or learn it, but to master it. It was stressful and left her with anxiety, frustration, and many sleepless nights. But riding quieted her mind from those excess thoughts. When she rode it was just her and the road ahead.
Shadow had not been her first bike. That honor had gone to a used Kawasaki single cylinder that had served her well for about a year before she felt comfortable enough to upgrade to something bigger and more personal to her desires. So naturally, Sunset had done her homework, asked Rainbow Dash who also rode, and tested out various brands and styles. Her preference being Italian sport adventurer style. The fact that Shadow’s model name was also synonymous with the invisible pool of magic in her soul spoke to her in ways that could not be described in words.
Sunset retrieved her full face helmet and plunked it down on Pinkie’s head, the pink mass of hair making an impossible ‘ploink’ sound as it was forced into the black helmet with flames on the sides. “Oooooh,” Pinkie said through the helmet, “it smells like your shampoo!”
Sunset snorted. Pinkie just being Pinkie always brought a smile to her face no matter how sour her mood. “Considering that’s the one I usually wear it could be worse.” Sunset strapped on the spare skullcap she kept, but didn’t like as much. “C’mon, you know the rules, hold on to me and lean when I lean.” Though Sunset was ten times safer when she had a passenger, that by no means meant she rode slow. Even through the facemask Sunset could hear Pinkie’s cries of jubilation.
Breakfast had been at the local Waffle Shack. The food had been decent without complaint and Sunset said a silent thank you to no one in particular that Pinkie had been so occupied by her massive stack of pancakes that the previous conversation had not been resumed. Instead, the two talked about Pinkie’s plans for her sister Maud’s birthday next month. Sunset had listened while finishing her eggs and French toast.
The next stop was at Twilight’s house to drop the magic two-way diary off. Sunset had hesitated in the driveway long enough that Pinkie stopped in mid skip to look back at her friend. “Sunset?”
“I’m fine, Pinkie.” Sure, she could have just left it with Pinkie Pie, but Sunset had already said she would drop by. If things became awkward she would just back away and say it was time to go. However, it was not Twilight who eventually came to the door.
“Good morning, girls,” Twilight Velvet said in a chipper tone, cup of coffee in one hand. “If you dropped by to see Twily I’m afraid you just missed her.”
Sunset arched an eyebrow while Pinkie blew at the wind chimes to make them play. “Huh, that’s strange. I’m pretty sure I told her I was dropping by this morning. I’m going out of town for a few days and wanted to leave some of my notebooks and contact info with her.”
“Oh, I’m sure you told her. Twilight got home so late last night it was just before dawn. I was just waking up and only saw her for a few minutes before she ran upstairs. She showered, grabbed a few of those awful energy bars she likes and said goodbye. Something about having to get to work before they opened. I never even got to ask how her date went.”
“I bet it was fun since she got home so late! Or is it early?” Pinkie struck a pose of great contemplation while twirling a tootsie roll between her fingers.
Sunset nodded, digging her nails into her palms for a moment before smiling at Mrs. Velvet. “I’m sure it was fine.”
“You can leave it with me and I’ll make sure she gets it when she gets home.”
“Thanks, tell her we said hi, too.” Sunset waved before making her way back to Shadow. Pinkie was about to put her helmet back on when Sunset gently took it back. “No offense Pinkie, but I think I better head on from here by myself.”
“Awwww, but I wanted to wish you well on your trip.”
“And you are, right here. But I need to get some frustrations out, which means riding hard. I don’t want to chance hurting you.”
Pinkie’s hair deflated slightly. “Was it something I said?”
Sunset let out a long sigh before pulling her friend in for a warm hug. Hugging Pinkie was like squeezing a giant bag of soft, squishy micro beads. It didn’t make sense, but not everything had to. “I’m not mad, it’s not you. I’m just stuck in my own head right now. I’ll see you when I get back, we’ll plan something fun no matter how many calories we pack on.”
“Pinkie promise?” Sunset made the familiar pledge with hand gestures. The two said goodbye. Pinkie walked to the nearest bus stop while Sunset put her usual helmet on and fired up Shadow. If anyone in the neighborhood complained about the sound of the roaring engine or spinning tire Sunset did not stick around long enough to find out.
----------
Normally, a trip from Twilight’s house to the portal in front of CHS would only have taken a few minutes, twenty tops and that was on a school day with traffic and school zones, which there was none. However, it took Sunset an hour to calm down enough after abusing poor Shadow with angry burnouts and hard acceleration out of corners. She would need to pamper her baby later with a quality oil change and a bath.
Sunset parked her bike under the carport of the faculty lot, chaining the rear wheel to the post. It was something she would never have gotten away with during the school year, but there were no teachers or principals to complain during the summer hours and it would be two days or less so it was relatively secure. The fact that the faculty lot was on the back of the school also helped camouflage it from view of the street.
The now former CHS student took a slow stroll around the campus building, reminiscing about the last few years of her life, both good and bad. When she had enrolled in high school it had not been to further her education, not really. Most of the curriculum was below what she had learned in Equestria as far as the subjects that had meshed. While learning more about the world she had become trapped in was important, what she really wanted was to stay near the portal and to not arouse suspicion of why someone who appeared to be only teenager was living alone and was not in school.
Those early days had been quite the crash course, culturally speaking. Learning to walk, talk, what to and not to eat, use fingers, figure out all the little social faux pas. The kind of things you can’t learn in books. Then came the finer details, such as what was an acceptable way to manipulate someone and what would get you arrested for harassment. And all of it just to make herself feel better and try and get back at Celestia for having the nerve to tell her, “No.”
Sunset barked out a laugh as she looked to the sky where the sun was moving to late morning. It was beyond absurd now. Taking an ancient magical artifact that she only had a small inkling of what it was capable of to try and give herself magic again. Then, in a fit of power drunken madness decided to try and return to Equestria as a conqueror over the burning corpses of those that tried to stop her. It would have failed so many different ways even if it hadn’t ended with Princess Twilight regaining control of the element and Sunset at the bottom of a crater. How she survived that was still a mystery. Sure, she was strong, and tough, but able to walk away with only a few bruises and tears, holes in her favorite jacket? Seriously, it was ten feet deep!
Sunset walked over to where the hole once was and felt the grass. No evidence of the Rainbow of Light remained, but she knew it was on this spot, something good came of something bad. They say you have to hit rock bottom before you realize the only way to go is up. With one final glance back at the school Sunset touched the stone plinth and felt the warmth of magic like a favorite childhood blanket. She stepped forward and disappeared.
It may have only been her imagination, but the familiar disorientation of the magical transformation was stronger than it had been in the past. Thankfully the mirror did not eject her across the room like it had done a number of times before. Sunset simply stepped forward then dropped to all four hooves, eternally thankful that her hour long anger ride had settled her stomach.
What did put a smile back on Sunset’s face was the purple alicorn and the young dragon to greet her. “Twilight!” Sunset pulled both friends into a quick hug before stepping back. “How long has it been since I last saw you two, six months?”
Twilight nodded. “You visited for Hearth’s warming and cheated during the snowball fight by melting all the snowballs before they could hit you.” The two mares giggled at the fun memory.
“It wasn’t from a shield, I’m just that hot,” Sunset said while flipping a hoof through her red and yellow mane.
Twilight rolled her eyes, but smiled and hip bumped her friend for fun. “While I’m always glad to see you, I gathered from your letter this wasn’t just a social call.”
The smile quickly retreated from Sunset’s face. “Unfortunately, no. We had another incident yesterday.”
“Is everypony, er, everyone okay? Was it an artifact or loose magic?”
“Everyone’s fine, no one was hurt. I did get hit in the face with a meat patty though.”
Twilight gaged. “Ewww.”
“Yeeeeeah.” Sunset shuddered at the memory. “Anyhow, it was loose magic and it was the second time in less than two months. I think the magical surges are coming more frequently and I have a feeling the mirror itself may have something to do with it.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Well, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it feels different these last few times I’ve traveled back and forth. It’s subtle, like the magic feels off. It could just be me.”
Twilight nodded, glancing at the mirror and her contraption that surrounded the ancient magical artifact. She reached out with her telekinesis and removed the book that was forcing the mirror open. “Well, sounds like we need to do some research. How much time do you have?”
“Two days max. I have to get back to work after that.” Sunset snorted, blowing hair from her face.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I just don’t really like my job. I mean the tips are good, but I’m over the waiting tables thing.” Sunset glanced around the room of the crystal castle. “Which also leads into my next problem. I don’t know how much longer I can stay in the human world. I’m hitting a wall as far as how far I can go now that I’ve graduated. I mean, I love it there. I love my friends and my stuff, but… I need more to life than just the day to day grind. Maybe that makes me greedy or spoiled, but anything less than pushing myself just feels like giving up a part of who I am.”
Sunset glanced back to her flank at her cutie mark, the right of passage symbol of individualism that marked her as special and magically talented. Oddly, when she thought about it, Sunset could not recall the exact moment it had appeared despite it being one of the most significant moments in a young pony’s life. Sunset had always wondered why it never followed her to her human form. Perhaps it had to do with human bodies not having enough inherent magic or like the clothes, it was a matter of disguise and blending in. Too bad really, it would look great on her hip in a swimsuit.
Twilight smiled and led the way from the secondary storage room to the library proper. “You were Celestia’s personal student too. You’re not happy unless you are fully applying yourself. Trust me, I totally understand that. And if you decide that you want to spend most of your time in Equestria you are more than welcome to stay here for as long as you like. I mean look at this place, I still haven’t filled all the rooms.”
“And that’s even with Starlight claiming like six of them on the second floor,” Spike added. “She said she needed the others for her student projects because the School of Friendship is now her baby and didn’t want to cram everything into her office closet. Let’s be honest, she just wants to spread out like a diamond dog marking its territory.”
“I keep forgetting how busy everypony is getting. Starlight Glimmer taking on more work at the school, you preparing to take over for Celestia… I can’t believe you were even able to make time for me.”
“Oh, there are days I feel like I need to advance my research on how to properly and safely clone myself just to make due time, but then I remember the mirror pool incident and just tough it out.”
“The what?”
Twilight sighed. “I’ll tell you later. Right now I think we may need to catch a train.”
“A train? But we just got to the library.”
“I know, but from what you are describing I don’t think I have anything in my catalog that will help us. The mirrors were made by Star Swirl the Bearded and all the information is carefully guarded. Even after all this time I still haven’t had time to go through all of his restricted material.”
Sunset nodded, a flash of an old and painful memory passed through her thoughts. “I know, they are under strict lock and key in the Dark Magic Vault. But now I really need access. If I can’t figure out how to keep the stray magic from running wild the human world could be in danger. My friends are trying to move on with their lives and all this stray magic is still most likely caused by me and my dumbass plan years ago. I won’t impede their lives and their futures because of my sin.”
Twilight touched Sunset’s shoulder, pulling her in for a quick hug. “Well, your timing for the visit was at least serendipitous. The foremost expert on Star Swirl’s mirrors happens to be in Canterlot and is having a lecture on his thaumaturgic principles for CSGU students this afternoon. If we hurry, we can have lunch on the train and make the lecture.”
Sunset smiled warmly. “I forgot how much you idolize and worship every work Star Swirl produced.”
Spike rolled his eyes and Princess Twilight gave a shrug. “Eh, while his theories and works are still precious to my heart, I’ve gotten over most of my idolizing him. He’s a bit of a crank. You know what they say, never meet your heroes.”
“Wait, what?” Did she say meet?