You Will Never Be Alone

by Leo Luce


Chapter 06

The ride to Sunset’s home went in relative silence. The only time they talked was when Sunset gave Principal Celestia directions to her home. As they got closer to where Sunset has been living, a frown began to creep into Celestia’s face. A knot in the throat has been added to the mix when they finally arrived at their destination.

“Is this where you’ve been staying?” Principal Celestia asked.

“Y-yeah. I didn’t have enough money to afford an apartment.” Sunset said.

“So you didn’t sell anything for money?”

“I-I did… but, I got scammed because I didn’t have any idea about this world’s economy.”

“Then how did you survive without money for three years? Tsukihana said your first shift starts this Saturday.”

“I… I-I bullied others to get their lunch money and, I wrote essays for money for some Crystal Prep students. It kind of got to me so I didn’t go looking for a job.” Sunset said looking away ashamed. A silence fell over them for a few seconds.

“Okay Sunset, come on. Let’s get you out of here.” With that, they went inside the building and got anything Sunset needed to take with her, which was just her clothes, school supplies, and her old guitar. Celestia then drove them to her home. Neither of them looked at each other or talked.

Celestia drove through the town for a while and turned the SUV into the more wealthy part of the town, and Sunset couldn’t help but think where her principal actually lived. Even though Celestia was her former mentor’s counterpart, she knew a principal doesn’t get paid enough to live a life like royalty. She thought this Celestia just live like others, only to get her expectations crushed as Celestia turned into the driveway of a large two-story house. Celestia turned to the fiery-haired girl and grinned in amaze at the wide-eyed look of Sunset looking at the house.

“Not what you expected is it?” Celestia asked smiling. Sunset suddenly snapped out of her thoughts with a start.

“What? Oh! Um… y-yeah… I didn’t think you had a house this big.” Sunset said.

“What? You thought just because I’m a school principal, I didn’t have a lot of money?” She asked jokingly.

“N-no I-I didn’t think-” Sunset stammered but Celestia cut her off.

“It’s okay Sunset, I was joking. Let’s get you inside.”

They got out of the SUV and Celestia directed Sunset to the house. Sunset flung her guitar over her shoulder and Celestia took her clothes and school supplies. When they came near the door, it suddenly flew open and Sunset yelped in surprise when she saw Vice-Principal Luna standing in the middle of the doorway.

“So you really brought her.” She said, looking at Celestia, arms crossed.

“Yes. Did you have her room ready?” Celestia asked, pushing the frozen Sunset past Luna.

“Yes, I did,” Luna said without taking her eyes off of Sunset.

“Good. Can you make some tea? I’ll show Sunset her room.” Celestia said and without saying a word, Luna walked past them into the kitchen.

“Come on Sunset, this way.” Sunset nodded and followed her. Celestia began to give her a quick tour of the house. “To the left is the living room and to the right, is the dining room. There’s the kitchen, and right in front of the staircase is my office.” They then climbed the stairs onto the second floor.

“The room immediately to the right is the library and feel free to use it any time.” Sunset slowly nodded. “Next to the library is your room and the one just across yours is Luna’s. And over there is my room.” She said pointing to a room next to Luna’s. “Also note that our rooms and basement is off limit for you at the moment. Especially Luna’s room and the basement. So, what do you think?”

“Um… it’s… nice?” Sunset said, unsure of what to tell about the house. It’s actually a great house. But the fact, she wasn’t expecting to see a house like this made it harder to make words.

“Come on. Let’s put those in your room.” Celestia said opening Sunset’s room. “What do you think? Do you like it?”

The room is not that big. It had a double-sized bed, a closet, a drawer, and a table.

“This’ll be your room now. Feel free to make any adjustments to it.” Celestia said. “I’ll go downstairs; you can unpack your stuff okay?”

“Y-yeah, thanks,” Sunset said. After Celestia left, Sunset began to examine the room. She walked to the bed and sat on it. The mattress below her made her feel like she’s in heaven. It’s been a long time since she slept on a bed like this. A very long time. She then began to unpack her things, which took her only a couple minutes. Suddenly, she heard the sound of her phone vibrating and she picked it up from the table. She looked at the screen and saw it was Fluttershy that has messaged her.

Fluttershy: Hey Sunset. How are you? Did you eat anything?

Sunset stared at the message for a while before writing her reply.

Sunset: Yeah, I’m okay. Thanks for checking on me.

Fluttershy: It’s what friends are for.

Sunset then looked around the room for anything to do, she considered going downstairs but hesitated. ‘What if they don’t want me down there? Vice- Principal Luna looked mad at me. Not that I complain considering what I have done.’

At last, she picked her sketchbook and began to doodle in it to pass the time. She often does this or plays her guitar whenever she needs to calm her mind. Especially when she needed to plan some evil plot. But recently, they were the only activities that gave her any kind of rest she needed. She didn’t know how long she has been doodling like that, but a sudden voice from downstairs snapped her out of the world of art.

“Sunset! Dinner’s ready?” She heard Celestia shout from below. She looked at the clock and saw it’s already 7 pm. Sunset quickly closed the book and made her way downstairs. Once she made it to the last step, she looked over the stairs and saw Celestia preparing to get the dinner. She saw Sunset and smiled at her.

“Sunset, come on, dinner’s ready.” She said.

“O-okay,” Sunset said before walking over to the dining room. Celestia gestured to a chair and Sunset sat on it.

“Hope you like pasta,” Celestia said.

“It’s okay. As long as it doesn’t have any beef or pork.” Sunset said. “I-if that’s okay with you.”

Celestia sighed. “Sunset, if you don’t like something, don’t be afraid to say it. You are going to be here for a while anyway.”

“Yeah, that’s something I needed to ask you. What’s going to happen to me now?” Sunset asked uncertainly.

“Don’t worry Sunset; we aren’t going to do anything bad for you. Until we figure out what to do with your situation, you are going to stay here. We know some people that can help us.”

“W-what! So you are going to tell them the truth?” Sunset asked with wide eyes.

“Yes, of course, we have to tell them the truth about you if we need to get there help. And don’t worry, we personally know them. They’ll keep it a secret.” Luna said for the first time since the dinner began, devoid of any emotions. Then a silence fell over them as they quietly eat the dinner.

“Why?” The sudden question from Sunset made Celestia off guard.

“Sorry?” She said looking at the girl, who’s looking down, fiddling with the dinner.

“Why are you helping me? I’m a monster-”

“Sunset! Don’t ever let me hear you say it again.” Celestia said sternly. Luna looked stunned. Sunset looked at her with wide eyes.

‘Is she angry at me? B-but that’s the truth… I am a monster’ she looked at Celestia’s eyes. People rarely saw Celestia angry. Sunset was one of these people, even though it was a different Celestia. She remembers when Princess Celestia was angry. Angry at her, for saying the wrong thing, for doing the wrong thing. But this is not like that. Celestia is angry. But there’s this concern in her eyes that she hasn’t seen in the princess. By now tears began to flow from Sunset’s eyes.

“You need help Sunset. I know you were a bad teenager. But you are not like that anymore. Even when you were bullying others, I saw this potential girl inside you. You are a model student after all.” Celestia said. “You need to change aren’t you Sunset?” Sunset silently nodded. “But you can’t do that alone. You don’t need to do it alone.”

“But that’s the truth, I’m-”

“Sunset,” It was Luna that talked this time. “You were. Not anymore. I saw you made friends with Fluttershy. Will the old you be friends with her?”

“N-no.” She squeaked.

“See. Now eat Sunset, we can talk about this later.” Celestia said. Sunset slowly nodded before resuming her dinner.

After they finished dinner, Sunset tried to help them with the dishes. But Luna declined the offer. Sunset went back to her room and climbed on the bed thinking about what happened at the dinner.

‘Does she really care about me? I- is she… no… the princess didn’t. Probably Princess Twilight asked her to do this.’ She thought, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. ‘Maybe I could ask?’ She kept thinking until she fell asleep.