The week proceeded relatively normally after the rather disastrous Monday that Sunset Shimmer had suffered through. Her friends kept their word about distracting her from thoughts of Equestria, and if Sunset wracked her brains, she’d say that this past week had contained less horse talk than usual.
‘Yep… all things considered,’ Sunset thinks to herself cheerfully as she walks into school on Friday morning, eager to meet up with her friends before the warning bell rings. ‘Things have been going pretty well for me!’
“Sunset Shimmer!”
Holy shit.
Sunset holds back a groan as she turns to face Trixie, apparently attempting to challenge the leather-clad teenager for her spot as top dog, despite the fact that the ‘top dog’ spot has laid empty for over a year.
“What do you want Trixie?” Sunset sighs, adjusting the straps on her backpack as she waits for Trixie to start monologuing.
“I want to inform Canterlot High School of the truth!” Trixie announces, snagging the attention of several passing students, who form a small crowd around them. Sunset furrows her brow, confused at the magician's angle. Trixie doesn't usually go the conspiracy route.
“Sunset Shimmer is not of this world!”
Sunset expects someone to laugh. To point out how that's impossible, to sweep all the suspicious things that Sunset has done under the rug with the tidy explanations of ‘magic isn't real’.
But these are her peers. They saw her using magic. They saw her being consumed by it.
Trixie’s claim is not an outlandish one anymore.
The hall is quiet.
Sunset’s mouth tastes like static. How the fuck did she find out? Only her friends and Principal Celestia know about Equestria. Sure, it could be a shot in the dark but with everything that’s happened this week-
“Through careful observations, the Great and Powerful Trixie has discovered the truth! Sunset Shimmer hails from the same world as that purple girl with the wings- the fall formal princess, her name escapes me at the moment…OH! And the Dazzlings!”
The crowd ripples with murmurs. Shock. Judgment. Fear.
One part of Trxies claims stands out against the rest. Careful observations…
“You stalked me!” Sunset snarls, swelling to her full height in an instinctive challenge, shoving Trxie backward, stumbling into the crowd, who pushes her back to her feet. The students surrounding them shift uncomfortably, sensing the tension raise, unsure of whether to egg the two of them on or go get a teacher to break them up. Someone jeers loudly, and a few more join in. To Sunset’s further annoyance, Trixie looks shocked at Sunset’s anger, as if she could have ever been in the right.
“You slimy little creep,” Sunset spits, rage burning in the corners of her eyes, turning her vision a hazy red. “I should- I-”
Sunset bares her teeth, holding back a furious shriek of frustration. She isn't going to throw away all the work that she and her friends have put into making her a model student just so she can beat Trixie’s face into the linoleum, no matter how badly she wants to.
“What are you gonna do?” Trixie taunts, apparently unaware of how close she is coming to being dragged down the hall by a fistful of her pale hair. “You can't hit me or you’ll be thrown out of school! And they all deserve to know the truth, Sunset! You're not really a human! So tell us, how does it work? Are you wearing some sort of costume?”
Trixie leans in close, as if to check her skin for hidden seams or zippers, and Sunset shoves her back, snarling.
“Show us your real form!” Someone from the crowd shouts, making Sunset jump. Fuck. Fuck, fuck. This is not good.
The crowd starts to jeer in agreement, pushing forward in an attempt to get a better look at this otherworldly creature. At Sunset.
“What is she then?”
“You saw her at the Formal, that must be what she really is.”
“That makes sense.”
“Weird…”
“Why are you doing this?” Sunset snaps at Trixie over the mumbling crowd,unable to stop tears from spilling down her cheeks. Trixie’s smug smile sinks into an unsure frown when her eyes meet Sunset’s. The biker scrubs her face dry and bares her teeth, trying to hide the quivering to her lip.
“You're such a bitch, Trixie!” Sunset chokes out, sounding much less fierce than she had meant to, before shoving her way out of the crowd and taking off through the back doors of Canterlot High.
She runs for a while, cutting across the dew-soaked grass of the back lawns. Fog hangs low and thick over the grounds, the air moist and cool. The sun is barely peeking over the horizon, a grey light rising up the sky like pale smoke. Sunset doesn't appreciate any of this beauty as she sprints across the grounds, her eyes blurring with tears.
She runs until she reaches the baseball field and collapses onto a cool metal bench, hiding her face in her hands as she sobs.
Once she feels she’s cried herself dry, she lifts her head and wipes her eyes. First hour must be started already. Sunset hoists her bag further up her shoulder, sniffling miserably. She should be getting back to school soon so she can suffer through endless questions about her false humanity. Great.
Just as she turns back to face the school, a flash of light catches her eye, the barest glint of a silvery white glow, just on the edge of the small forest bordering the school.
Sunset squints, watching the treeline, waiting for it to reappear. She watches for several seconds, her vision straining as she stares. She blinks a couple of times, rubbing her weary eyes and cursing herself for her superstition.
Then she sees it again.
‘Just someone with a flashlight,’ Her mind says too late, she's already tearing across the field full force, her boots leaving deep gouges in the soft earth. Her human half says stay. Her human half says go back to school and ignore it. Her human half will settle.
Oh, but the unicorn in her longs.
She pushes her way through the vines and brambles that choke this small forest with life, following the flashes of light that she glimpses in between the trees. The more her palms sting with the pain of ripping her way through thorn bushes, the more out of breath she becomes, the more twigs that catch in her hair the more sure she is that the thing that she’s chasing is magic.
The further she runs, the more she can feel it in the air. Buzzing, vibrating at a frequency unheard by human ears.
Sunset’s foot catches on an upturned root, sending her sprawling forward, thankfully onto soft grass, and not face-first into a tree. She pushes herself up, panting, seeking. Her hair is wild and her clothes are torn she’s sure. She doesn't care. She has to find out what it is.
When she lifts her head, she finds herself in a clearing. There is an almost perfect ring of trees surrounding her, and when she looks up she finds that the canopies seem to be abiding by that same rule, carving out a natural skylight, beaming milky dawn light onto the clearing.
Sunset is trembling.
The magic here is potent. The air is thick and heavy and smells strongly of ozone. Like lightning had just struck. The clearing buzzes with it. The grass and leaves all seem to stand at attention, waiting for Sunset to make a move. The morning birds are all hushed, no squirrels chitter overhead. The world is silent. Patient.
And in the center of it all there floats a ball of white light, floating untethered a few feet off the ground. It doesn't move when Sunset looks at it. It doesn't move when she stands.
Sunset steps closer to the magic. She feels its power, the vibrations she has learned to recognize as magic roll over her all the more fiercely. This is not just energy. This is not just magic. Whatever this thing is has intention. Has a purpose.
Sunset, burdened with the weight of it since third grade, thinks of her destiny.
She reaches out.
-
Twilight Sparkle twirls her pencil between her fingers, frowning at the clock, glancing between the offending timepiece and Sunset’s empty desk. The ex-bad-girl hadn't shown up for their regular meetings before the warning bell, which was unusual, but nothing to be concerned about. All of them had missed their pre-school catchup for one reason or another, but she hadn't shown up for AP Lit at all. The class is half over and there is no sign of her friend. Sunset rarely ever missed a class. Sunset loves school and would rather suffer through being sick than risk missing out on potential lessons, as Twilight and her friends had learned when Sunset got the flu. It had been a week of constant surveillance to assure tht Sunset didn't sneak off to work on her missing assignments.
Twilight waited as patiently as she was able, which admittedly included a lot of anxious squirming in her seat, for Mr. Doodle-Donkey to release them to begin their group assignments, which Twilight thankfully already has with Rainbow and Applejack.
“Do either of you know where Sunset is?” Twilight asks as soon as she sits down.
“No,” Rainbow says with a frown. “We were just about to ask you. Me and AJ have been trying to text her all morning. She isn't responding.”
“AJ and I.” Twilight corrects absentmindedly, making Rainbow roll her eyes. “Do you guys think… something happened to her?”
“You guys haven't heard?” Lyra Heartstrings asks from a desk over
“Hear what?” Applejack asks, sitting up a little straighter, her expression becoming slightly more severe.
“She went running out of school crying this morning.” Lyra says with a sympathetic frown.
“WHAT!?” Applejack, Twilight, and Rainbow all shout in chorus.
“Oh wow...” Lyra says, blinking owlishly in shock. “You guys really didn't know.”
“What happened?” Twilight asks, still reeling from the fact that their usually unshakable friend had been sent running out of the school in tears. Rainbow is typing frantically into her phone, likely informing the rest of their friend group of the situation.
“Here, someone filmed part of it.” Lyra says, taking her phone out of her skirt pocket and passing it over to the three of them, all of whom lean closer to the phone screen anxiously.
The video starts at the tail end of Sunset shoving Trxie, sending the magician stumbling backward into the crowd that has surrounded the two girls. A crowd that is jeering through the tinny speakers of Lyras's phone, egging them on. Urging them to fight. Twilight feels anger bubble up in her stomach, not just towards Trixie for upsetting Sunset enough to lash out, and the crowd for encouraging it. Haven't they all borne first-hand witness to the disasters that occur every time Canterlot High School is divided? Twilight takes a breath and steadies herself. She needs to focus on her friend.
“You slimy little creep,” Sunset snarls through the speakers. “I should-I”
For a moment, Twilight thinks that Sunset is going to hit her. She doesn't. Twilight watches her fist shake as she lowers it, and breathes a sigh of relief for her friend. With Sunset’s record, she doesn't have a lot of second chances left to use up.
“What are you gonna do?” Trixie taunts, surprising Twilight with her boldness. “You can't hit me or you’ll be thrown out of the school! And they all deserve to know the truth, Sunset! You're not really a human!-”
The rest of her sentence is cut off by the blood roaring in Twilight’s ears. She had said it in front of a crowd, loud enough for everyone to hear. Twilight’s hand is over her mouth. Rainbow had gasped so hard that it cracked in her throat. AJ is silent, but the hand holding Lyra’s phone is shaking.
Trixie leans into Sunset’s space, and the redhead shoves her back. The crowd, spurred on by the rising tension, start to shout to the girls. Demanding for Sunset to show them her ‘true form’, theorizing on what she really is.
Sunset whips around to shout something at Trixie, going unheard over the din of the crowd. Twilight’s heart clenches when she sees the tears tracking down her friend’s face. Sunset wipes her face clean of tears even as new ones well in her eyes. She shoots one last barb at Trixie before elbowing her way through the crowd and running out the back doors of the school.
“Thanks.” Applejack says as she hands Lyra’s phone back to her, her voice flat in its anger. Lyra takes it back with an awkward frown, turning back to her work.
“That snake!” Rainbow snarls, her fists trembling with how hard she’s clenching them. “We’ll teach her a lesson-”
“There’s no need for violence, Dash.” Applejack says firmly, putting a hand on the athlete’s shoulder. “Let’s make our first priority making sure that Sunset is okay.”
Rainbow huffs, settling with a nod of agreement, though Twilight can still easily see the hard lines of anger in her frame.
“I’ll go talk to Mr. DD.” Applejack says, standing from her desk.
“That’s not gonna go well.” Rainbow mutters as AJ walks up to the front of the room.
“I don't know… Mr. Doodle-Donkey likes Applejack.” Twilight responds, watching as AJ talks to their teacher, occasionally gesturing back to the two of them.
“He doesn't like anyone.” Rainbow mutters.
“He likes Pinkie Pie.” Twilight points out.
“Only because Pinkie Pie would rather perform miracles than have someone not like her.” Rainbow huffs. “She tracked down his long-lost lover, who he’s now married to.”
“Seriously-?”Twilight starts, though she is not able to get any more pieces of the story before Applejack is reapproaching them.
“We’re cleared to go a’ searchin’.” Applejack says, already heading for the door, waving for Rainbow and Twilight to follow her. “Let’s round up the girls and try to figure out where she mighta’ gone. She’s bound to be pretty upset what with everything.”
“I’ve texted them, they’re going to meet us at the front of the school.” Rainbow says, pocketing her phone.
“Alright,” Applejack says, adjusting her Stetson determinedly. “Let’s go find us a pony.”