Chapter 3 - Pack's Meeting
“Ey yo, Squalo here. Now as youse expect none of expected another roommate. At foist, we thought she was some random bum. When she revealed her origins...Guess kindred spirits are real.
The five teens looked surprised at this. New roommate?
Sandy had a response for that.
“Wait, hold up! You sayin…?!” her southern accent bleeding through her lips as she spoke.
Lumen just nodded.
A few minutes of silence until Flora opened her mouth, with a Mexican accent shown slightly in her speech.
“Well damn, who are the slimeballs that left her out in the cold weather.”
“You know, I still don’t get how you figured it out that fast.” Sunset questioned.
“It’s all in the eyes, amiga.” Flora answered
Lumen was about to make his way up the stairs but paused and only had this to say.
“That is her story to tell. Not mine. If you want to know, you need to ask her yourself.”
And with that Lumen left the room with the teens looking at each other wondering where to go from here. Sunset was busy cosying up to the fire and was glancing at the five strangers that were also residents in the house. In a way, it felt like she was in a new habitat, and she was out of place in this den of predators. She even felt the gaze of the five looking at her in curiosity.
“Uhhh...can I help you guys”?
Squalo simply strode up to her with a suspicious gaze in his eyes.
“Yeah, ya can start by sayin’ who da hell are you and why da hell did de geezer invite youse in our home,” he asked in a rough tone.
“Don’t blame me! He just brought you in with no warnin’!” Squalo barked as they all stared at him with knowing looks.
Sunset immediately squirmed a bit. Squalo asked had this aura of a wild shark ready to pounce. The shark-like male was then bonked on the head by Shade.
“Hey, cool it.’ He then turned to Sunset. ‘Don’t mind Squalo, he is never that trusting with anyone he just met.”
“Oh, that’s alright,” Sunset replied. There was a bit of awkward silence until Falco decided to talk.’
“Alright mates. As much as the silence is lovely, should we start giving the names of us cause we ain’t mind readers.”
“Just like Falco to ease the tension.” Shade said as Falco smirked with his hands behind his head
“I might be a pick axe because I’m an icebreaker.” Falco joked, getting a few chuckles from the rest.
Sunset noticed the East London accent in his speech. But he had a point.
“Well, I’m Sunset Shimmer, Nice to meet you” Sunset replied in a polite tone.
Flora was first to reply.
“Hola! Me Llamo Flora Sprint! Nice to meet you!” She said in an upbeat tone.
Next was Falco.
“Pleasure to meet ya, Sunshine! Name’s Falco Highwind! Speed demon, prankster and all-around good looking guy!”
That made Sunset giggle a bit. What a character this guy was
“How dare you!” Falco said in a dramatic tone.
“Tell me I’m wrong.” Sunset countered
Sandy was up next.
“Howdy, partner. Name’s Sandy Toxic! Hope we get along fine!”
Sunset looked at her with a wary look. She reminded her of...that farmer...way too much.
“Remind me to shove ma boot up that Applejack-ass's ass when I meet her.” Sandy said with a snarl.
“Hey, I won’t stop you.” Sunset said
Squalo was silent for a few minutes. He then let out a small sigh and spoke.
“Squalo Demone. Dat’s all youse gonna get from me…” he grumbled, crossing his arms
The final voice was Shade.
“And I’m Shade Lycan. Welcome to our abode”
Sunset replied back with her name
Now intros are out of the way. Tell us where that old geezer found you?”
Sunset looked confused.
“Uhhh...what do you mean by that?”
Falco immediately got in her face
“You know...are you a runaway? An accused scapegoat?”
Sunset froze up. Memories of what happened in the past few days flowed through her head like a raging river of depression and fear. All the insults. All the beatings. Them.
“In my defence, I did not know.” Falco said, hands up.
Sandy saw this and quickly smacked Falco’s head.
“Smooth move, speed freak...ya scared the chick!”
“HEY! I was just asking!” Falco snarked holding his head.
Shade looked on and just shook his head at the two.
“Sorry about them. They fight like they are married or something.”
“WE ARE NOT A COUPLE!” Falco and Sandy yelled.
Squalo decided to get on the action.
“Ya sure? Youse sure act like one!” he said with a smirk.
“GO TO HELL, FISH FOR BRAINS!” The two squawked flipping him off.
Squalo seemed to take offence and dived on top of them, all three getting into a battle royale. Sunset immediately forgot about what Falco said and looked on with a perplexed expression while Flora and Shade looked at them with a deadpanned look.
“And soon I got caught in the madness,” Sunset said with a resigned chuckle.
“Hey. That princess friend of yours never taught you one thing of friendship.” Shade said with a grin
“You aren’t true friends until you punch each other in the face,” They all said at the same time before giggling
“Wow. Not even a minute…” Flora muttered.
“Anyways, like Falco said...where did Lumen find you anyways? It’s ok if you don’t wanna ask, we won’t rush you but…” Shade began to speak however Sunset put her hand up to stop him from talking.
“N-no. It’s alright. Probably best I get it out of the way…” Sunset stuttered a bit.
“Man, that was a backstory.” Shade said with an uneasy look.
“True dat. Dunno why you didn’t tell us youse were from another dimension.” Squalo added.
Sunset just looked incredulous.
“And how would that sound?’ She said before going into a fake happy face ‘Hi, I’m Sunset Shimmer and I ran away from another dimension because I wanted to prove that I could stand next to a Princess that could control the sun. Wanna be friends?’” She dropped the look.
“Yeah. Dat does sound over the top...” Squalo replied, rubbing the back of his head
And so Sunset told her story. When telling them about her time as queen bee of CHS and all of the stuff she did to maintain her reign at the top from blackmail to threats. When telling some examples, they had the following reactions
Squalo looked at her with a wide-eyed stare and a dropped jaw. “Wow. Youse was ruthless, ain’t ya?”
Falco had a nervous grin on him and said “Remind me to never piss you off.
Sandy had an incredulous look on her face when hearing her action. “Damn. Ya had issues. Reminds me of my family.”
Shade still had a stoic look and said nothing but inside he was shocked. This girl was simply starved for attention...which became a lust for power.
Flora’s attitude went from upbeat to shellshocked at what she did. “OK, quick question. You are seeing a psychologist, right? It feels like you have abandonment issues.”
Sunset just replied. “Don’t worry. A special someone brought me back down to Earth”
“Blasted you with a rainbow laser, more like.” Falco snickered.
She then told them about the Fall Formal and what she did to repent for what she did.
Falco remarked, “Well, they do say that the road to redemption is a hard path to walk”.
Sunset and the other teens nodded at that.
Next came the Battle of the Bands and how the Dazzlings were causing havoc in the school, which lead to her reputation being restored and renewed.
They all wanted to have a listen to her singing.
“There is a reason why you sing the most of our tracks, Hotshot.” Shade said. Sunset blushed. She still couldn’t believe that her singing could make boys go crazy.
Then came Anon-a-Miss.
She first explained how it began with Applejack’s nickname. Then came the Photos from the sleepover she had with her former pals and the wacky costumes they wore as well as Rainbow’s disaster of a test to more secrets being spilt. Her friends blamed her, thinking she went back to her old ways.
Soon, it spread through the whole school. She became the scapegoat all over again. Soon the yells became violent and her ‘friends’ were leading the mob. Rainbow sold her out to Gilda who ambushed and battered her. Applejack had gotten the wrestling team on her ass. Rarity got her kicked out of her job. Fluttershy made sure to take her pet back and Pinkie got the Cakes to bar her from the Sweet Shoppe.
“We are still gonna make them pay for that. You know that.” Shade said with a furrowed brow. Everybody else nodded their heads at Sunset.
“You are better friends then the Rainbooms. Just don’t make it messy.” Sunset said with a smile.
“No promises.” Squalo said.
“I was just wandering the streets thinking how my life went down Shit Central when I met that old man. He found me and took me in.” She concluded her tale in a mournful tone.
There were a few minutes of silence as Squalo, Falco, Sandy, Shade and Flora looked at her with shocked looks. Soon they began to show an ever-growing feeling of rage…
"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THEM?!"
They all yelled in rage.
“That was NOT what I was expecting.” Sunset said.
“What did ya expect?” Sandy asked.
“A hug. Saying don’t worry. All that cheesy stuff.” Sunset answered.
“You think this is a girl’s show where a hug makes things better? We ain’t Disney princesses.” Falco replied.
Squalo was cracking his knuckles with an angry scowl on his face.
“YOUSE TELLIN ME THEY TURNED YOU INTO A PUNCHING BAG JUST TO HOLD ONTO THEIR PRIDE?! QUANDO LE METTERÒ LE MANI SU DI LORO, IL FIUME TIBER AVRÀ CINQUE NUOVI CORPI BATTUTI CHE GALLEGGIANO IN ESSO!
(Translation: WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON THEM, THE RIVER TIBER WILL HAVE FIVE NEW BEATEN BODIES FLOATING IN IT!)
Falco was shaking with rage as he was looking at a large Kitchen knife
“GET IN LINE! THAT RAINBOW BIRD IS GOING TO HAVE HER FEATHERS RIPPED WITH A KNIFE!”
Sandy was crushing a soda can in her hand, causing the soda to spill, but she was too mad to give a damn.
“Y'ALL CAN WAIT! I’M GONNA BREAK OUT THE NOOSE! A CERTAIN GROUP IS GETTIN’ HANGED TONIGHT!
Shade was snarling lowly, like an angry dog
“YOU CAN WAIT YOUR TURN! THEY JUST EARNED A TICKET ON THE HIGHWAY TO HELL!”
Flora's foot began tapping at an increased pace. Her brow furrowed in rage
“SAYS YOU! I HAVE HALF THE MIND TO BURY SOMEONE!”
Sunset recoiled at the sudden rage. She wasn’t sure whether to feel touched or scared.
“Why not both?” Falco asked.
Shade managed to cool down enough to reassure Sunset.
“Don’t worry. We ain’t mad at you. Your story hits too close to home for us.”
Sunset tilted her head in confusion. “I’m sorry, but what?”
Sandy looked at her, wiping her hands with a towel.
“Ya ain’t the’ only one who suffered a betrayal. We ain’t here ‘cause the old man sought us out. He found us after our friends and family left us out to rot.”
Sunset’s eyes widened.
“Seriously?”
Falco nodded.
“Yep. Cocks we thought would help us turned tail faster than the Road Runner. You wanna hear some of our tales of woe?”
“Well, it would help me understand what you mean.”
So the five sat around Sunset. Each one began to tell a story about how they met with Lumen Draco.
”Yeah. After your tales, I thought I had it bad. Didn’t think there were some people out there worse off than me.” Sunset said as she remembered the tales.