“She what?!” Sunset threw her hands into the air in anger, “What the Hell?”
The pair were in her apartment and it was around midnight. Sparkles had spent the last four hours recounting to Sunset what happened in Equestria after she was banished. The dragon was surprised to note that Sunset wasn’t bitter or angry and when she commented on it, Sunset just scoffed and rolled her eyes.
“There’s something in this world called therapy. It works wonders,” She said drily.
When Sparkles finally finished, it was Sunset’s turn. She talked about how when she came through, she was physically age four or five. By pure luck, Sunset chose a new name for herself when they had to write up new documents for her. In her bitterness, Sunset threw away the most painful part of herself, the part that Celestia gave her.
“My shimmering Sunset,” she used to say, “Sunset follows the sunrise. One day, you will be the one to lower the moon and raise the sun.”
On paper, Red Sunset was a school counselor and alumni of Canterlot High School and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. She was twenty-four years old and an orphan, never knowing who her birth parents were. She was found wandering the streets of Canterlot City at age four with nothing other than the clothes on her back. It was quite the story if Sunset could say for herself.
She was very lucky to have been given to a very nice couple who treated her as their own. Her little, though he wasn’t so little anymore, brother Sunburst was a student at the local community college and both of her parents worked. Sunset told Sparkles how shocking it was to finally go to high school and meet the principal. Sparkles’ nose flared and her hackles raised threateningly until Sunset assured her that Principal Celestia, her boss, was not the same as the Celestia that had gone loopy and cast her own daughter through a magical portal.
Half the time Sparkles wasn’t even sure what Sunset was talking about. ‘What in Equestria was a social security number? Insurance? For what? A cell phone? Social media? Computers?’ Sunset made Sparkles gape like a fish out of water when she admitted that Principal Celestia had a daughter. A daughter named Sunset Shimmer. And Sunset Shimmer currently went to Canterlot High.
Sparkles choked on the remnants of the coffee Sunset poured in a bowl for her when Sunset said in an amused tone that she was also talking with a young student named Twilight Sparkle. (It was very startling for Sunset when the coffee took the shape of a fish and swam around Sparkles in an over-friendly manner. Only the fact that Sparkles didn’t look surprised prevented her from another nervous breakdown.)
Twilight Sparkle was so ahead of the rest of her peers that she was already on the cusp of graduating at age fourteen. Despite being so far out of her age group, she was good friends with Sunset Shimmer and her band of friends who called themselves the Rainbooms.
By the time they finished talking, it was three in the morning and Sunset sighed. Tomorrow morning would suck. Scratch that. In a few hours, Sunset would be regretting staying up so dang late. They were quiet for a bit before Sparkles asked, “Old memories are hard, aren’t they?”
“You’re telling me,” Sunset muttered under her breath, “But it’s also good. I have no attachments in Equestria, but I don’t want to forget where I came from.” She looked at Sparkles and said in a deadpan, “I’m not going to share the bed with you.”
Unfortunately, Sunset was then subjected to Sparkles’ puppy eyes. She could tell her resolve was weakening with every passing second. Sparkles looked so pathetic, hunched over and cowering on the floor. It finally cracked a moment later when Sparkles whined, “I always sleep on the floor at home.”
So, that’s how Sunset Shimmer found herself sharing a bed with a purple bear-dog at three-thirty in the morning. Her small twin bed protested and creaked rather alarmingly when Sparkles jumped onto it. If Sunset hadn’t kept her bed in the corner of her room, she was certain that either she or Sparkles would’ve ended up on the floor sometime during the night.
A few hours later, Sunset startled awake to her alarm. Sitting up to turn it off proved problematic since Sparkles, who was definitely over a hundred-twenty pounds, was basically crushing her as she snored away, uncaring about the anxiety-inducing beeping. After wiggling for a few moments, Sunset finally managed to twist her arm and shut the infernal beeping off.
She groaned as she felt the headache that always came with too little sleep set in. Then, she noticed the heat that radiated off of Sparkles compounded with the heavy blanket and the sweat making her sleep shirt stick to her skin. Sunset considered herself a strong woman, but deadlifting a hundred-twenty pound animal right after she woke up wasn’t something she could be capable of.
“Sparkles,” Sunset murmured sleepily, “Up. Time to get up.”
If anything, Sparkles snored louder. That is, until Sunset thumped her meaty shoulder and repeated her previous statement. She woke up with a snuffled snort. As she stretched, her bear-like claws flexed scarily close to Sunset’s face. When Sparkles was done, she simply lay face-down on the blanket, making no effort to move off of Sunset.
“C’mon,” Sunset prompted again, “Up. Don’t want to be late.”
As her body began to wake up, Sunset found the energy to wiggle about before finally surging up, throwing the blanket, pillows, and more importantly, Sparkles off the bed. Sparkles slid off of the bed with a yelp, taking the blanket down with her.
“Alright! Time to start the day!” Sunset jumped out of bed and beelined for the bathroom.
Sparkles stuck her head from under the blanket pile she was in and grumbled, “How are you this chipper without coffee?”
Sunset smirked through a mouthful of toothpaste and said, “Practice. I work with kids.”
Sliding fully out from the fading warmth of the blankets, Sparkles shook herself with practiced ease. After she yawned, she complained, “I have a kid and I’m not this perky in the mornings.”
The woman laughed, walking into the kitchen and opening the fridge, “Well that’s the point. They’re not my kids. They’re someone else’s problem after they leave.”
Sunset pulled a pack of bacon out along with some eggs, “Seeing as you drank coffee perfectly fine, I think you’re ok with human food too.”
Sparkles settled herself under the counter as she watched Sunset work. The frying bacon had her mouth watering in anticipation.
“What is that? That smells divine,” Sparkles mumbled.
Her answer was a piece of it getting thrown at her. Without thinking, Sparkles snapped it out of the air. Sunset looked impressed, but Sparkles completely disregarded it. Whatever this was, it completely ruined fried mushrooms for her. She would never go back if it was the last thing she did. Did they have this in Equestria? She chewed enthusiastically.
“Bacon,” Sunset finally said, going back to the pan, “It comes from pigs,” she added like it was an afterthought.
Instantly, Sparkles dry heaved and looked up wide-eyed.
“Oh crap. Uh, sorry. I forgot. Don’t worry, the animals here don’t have a consciousness.” That statement did nothing to alleviate Sparkles’ sudden nausea.
The next thing Sunset knew, a purple streak of fur was running for her bathroom. The door slammed shut and Sunset sighed. Well, her morning wasn’t exactly peaceful when it began so why start now? After plating the food, (She made sure to eat all the bacon before Sparkles came back out), she went to her little storage closet and rummaged around for the old service dog costume her brother made one year.
Sunset felt her soul leave her body when a wet nose touched the side of her knee. As she attempted to jerk upright, she banged the back of her head on one of the shelves and reemerged swearing. Involuntary tears pricked at her eyes and she could already feel the lump growing as she furiously rubbed a hand over the sore spot.
“Ah, sorry. I just wanted to let you know that you should probably wash my mess away,” Sparkles said sheepishly, “Water doesn’t like it when I try to use them to wash things.”
“Your food’s on the table,” Sunset replied, already dreading the cleanup, “There’s no bacon.”
Sparkles nodded and left for the kitchen as Sunset gingerly peered inside her still-lit bathroom. Her eyebrows furrowed when she didn’t spot any apparent mess. Shrugging, she turned the light off and meandered back to the table, and picked up her own fork. Sparkles was already licking the plate clean, having zero issues reaching the tabletop due to her size.
After finishing, Sunset put their plates in the sink to wash later and went into her room to gather her clothes for a shower. Robotically, she swept the closed shower curtains to the side and then promptly screeched, “You puked in my bathtub?!”
Today would be a long day…