Middle-second syndrome is a term typically used to describe early teens who have grandiose delusions, who desperately want to stand out, and who have convinced themselves that they have hidden knowledge or secret powers.
It is an evil, both scary and adorable at the same time. Mixing dreamy childhood and self-awareness, this evil drives to act strangely.
On this subject, this girl too was a splendid case of this evil in middle-school.
Self-proclaimed ‘The God Princess of Flames’, her trademark catchphrase was:
“Disappear into the flames of love!”
The high-pitched buzz coming from her alarm clock made Sunset Shimmer realize it was time to get up from bed. An arm slowly made its way out of her blanket cocoon to grab the devilish engine and threw it across the room.
“Five more minutes…” She grumbled under her blankets.
But then, her room’s door flew wide open and Sunset heard quick footsteps before someone jumped on her bed to wake her up.
“Come on Sis!” A boy voice came from outside her blanket fortress, “First day in our new schools!”
Sunset gave up, she wasn’t going to get anymore sleep now. She wrestled her way out of her blanket and from her little brother on top of her, and after pushing him with enough strength to make him fumble out of her bed, she managed to get her head out, revealing the mess her early morning hair were.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m up…” She said, finishing with a loud yawn as she stretched her arms.
Her younger brother, who was now on the ground, couldn’t help but snicker at the view of her sister’s head.
“Come on sleepy head!” He called, jumping on his two feet. “Mom’s making breakfast!”
He finally rushed out of the room with such energy Sunset wished she had right now. She turned her gaze away and looked at the mirror hanging on her wall.
“Today…” She started.
Today was a very important day for the fifteen years old teenager, it was the first day of her Freshman year at Canterlot High School.
“New city, new school, new life!” Sunset finally said with enthusiasm as she jumped out of her bed.
As she started to walk out of her room, her foot collided with a box next to her bed. Her room was filled with those, since her family only moved in two days ago.
She stared at the half opened box with disdain as she saw a replica sword from an anime she saw at a younger age and a red cape with flames on it. She gulped and gently pushed it under her bed with her foot.
“Friendly reminder,” She talked to herself, “Get rid of this.”
She walked out of her room and through the small corridor of their apartment to finally reach the kitchen, the delicious smell of bacon and pancakes reach out Sunset’s nostrils and her stomach made an unhappy noise.
“Yeah I know, I’m hungry too.”
She entered the kitchen, not surprised to see her younger brother, Sunburst, eating what seemed to be like his fourth pancake. Her mother, Sunrise Shimmer, drinking her coffee next to him. She smiled when she saw her daughter enter the room.
“Ready for the big day, uh?” Sunrise Shimmer joyfully asked.
“Yeah, I guess I am.” Sunset stated as she helped herself on the table and took a big portion of bacon on her plate. “I’m glad to be in a new school, no one’s going to know me.”
“I don’t blame ya’,” Her brother stated, his mouth full of food, “You were pretty weird back then!”
“Urgh.” Was all Sunset could reply as she stuffed some bacon in her mouth.
Her mother nodded and added with a giggle, “Remember that time when she tried to summon a demon in our living room? She even drew a pentacle made out of ketchup.”
“Is it before, or after the time she shouted some magical incantations in Latin to a small man at the mall, believing he was a dwarf from another world? She even threatened him with a toy axe.” Sunburst said.
Sunrise put a finger on her chin as she thought, “I think it happened after that, because she didn’t have that axe anymore. She said she handed it to a legendary blacksmith so he could enchant it.”
“Yeah, I think she just somehow broke it and threw it away.” He said with a shrug.
“You know I’m right here, right?” Any joy Sunset had was now long gone and she just wanted to go back to bed.
“Oh, we know sweetie, we know.” Her mother added.
After a long and painful breakfast filled with memory better left forgotten, Sunset made her way to the bathroom and took a long hot shower. She put her clothes on and brushed her teeth as her little brother walked by.
“Hey Sunburst.” She called him as she spat toothpaste in the sink.
“Yeah?”
She turned around to face him and showed her outfit composed of a black leather jacket, a purple shirt and black jeans. “How do I look?”
Her brother stared at her, and after a moment of reflections, he finally said, “Ordinary.”
“Ordinary?!” Sunset jumped in excitement. “Yes!”
“You’re still weird though.” Sunburst added before walking away, but she ignored that last sentence completely.
She smiled at her reflection in the mirror and repeated, “I’m just an ordinary girl. That’s right! Nothing more.”
She finished preparing herself, and after a kiss on the cheek from her mother, she made her way to the bus station, not too far away from her apartment.
“First day…” She thought out loud, “I wonder how my classmates are going to be.” She sighed, “Well, it can’t be worse than my first day in sixth grade.”
She remembered entering the classroom, wearing that red cape with flames and her sword behind her back, smirking when all the looks of her former classmates where on her.
“I am the God Princess of Flames, Sunset Shimmer! And you will all bask in my glory!” She presented herself as she jumped on the nearest school desk and pointed a finger to the nearest classmate, “Disappear into the flames of love!”
She stopped her walk to smash her head several times in the nearest lamppost, “Die! Die! Die! Me from before!”
She finally retrieved her calm.
No. This time, it’s going to be different. She’s going to act normal, and have normal conversations with her normal classmates.
Because that is how High School was supposed to be. Nothing more, nothing less.
When she arrived at the bus stop, she saw that there already was another girl waiting there. She had long purple hair and glasses on her face, but what Sunset thought was weird was that strange symbol the girl had drawn on her right hand.
From the knowledge she acquired in those now past dark times, Sunset recognized it has the Uruz rune, a rune that symbolizes physical, spiritual and emotional strength.
‘Uh. That’s... Weird.’ Sunset thought. The bus quickly arrived and the purple haired girl turned her head to face Sunset as the bus stopped in front of her. She smirked and put her right hand in front of her as she shouted, “By the elder gods, I command thee to open!”
Then, the automatics doors of the bus opened and the purple haired girl made a triumphant grin, as she seemed pleased with herself and went on the bus. Sunset stared, her mouth agape.
“The hell was that?” She asked herself. ‘It almost seems like… No, I’m imaging things.’ She thought as she went on the bus herself and sat far away from that strange girl.
The bus ride was way shorter than what Sunset Shimmer expected it to be, and she finally arrived in front of the school. Unfortunately, that weird girl from earlier seemed to be going at that school too.
“Just ignore her, Sunset.” Sunset said, as she entered through the front doors and was welcomed by a sea of students.
She scratched the back of her head as she looked around and grabbed the piece of paper in her pocket. “Let’s see,” She said as she read through it, “So, first years are on the first floor. Seems logical. My classroom is 1-3.”
After a few minutes of search, Sunset easily found her classroom. As she grabbed the door’s handle, she stopped herself to take a deep breath.
“Here starts, the new life of Sunset Shimmer!” She exclaimed as she pushed the door open.
The classroom was full of students chatting between each other’s, none of them paying her any attention. Sunset smirked.
‘Perfect!’ She thought.
She looked around and managed to see an empty seat in the back, behind a fluffy pink haired girl.
Sunset quietly took place and put her bag under her chair. The girl sitting in front of her turned around and beamed at her.
“Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie, what’s your name?” She greeted, as she handed out her hand.
Sunset was a little taken aback buck quickly retrieved her composure, “Hum, I’m Sunset Shimmer!” She replied as she grabbed the pink girl’s hand, “Nice meeting you.”
Pinkie Pie shook her hand vigorously and exclaimed, “Nice meeting you too! I’m so happy to start this new year!”
“Y-Yeah,” Sunset chuckled, “So am I.”
‘Yes! A totally normal conversation!’ Sunset thought, ‘I love you, High School!’
Pinkie Pie took a closer look at her, “Now that I think of it… I’ve never seen you before, and I, like, know EVERYBODY in Canterlot.” Pinkie said, “Are you new in town?”
“Well, you figured me out. I moved in two days ago.” Sunset explained.
“That’s super-duper awesome!” Pinkie stated, “Now I have to make a welcoming party for you!”
Sunset was a little bit uneasy, she wasn’t prepared for her first encounter here to be so… Friendly.
‘I spent most of my time in middle school alone, so I’m not going to refuse that girl’s sympathy!’ She thought. “You really don’t have to.” Sunset said with a smile.
“Oh, I know! But I want to! What about, you come with me and some of my friends after school? We’re going to play laser tag!” Pinkie Pie explained.
Sunset’s eyes were filled with hope.
‘Laser tag? I never had the chance to play laser tag since I never had any friends to play with!’ She almost could feel a small tear dropping from her left eye, “T-That sounds like a plan!”
“Well you better prepare yourself then!” Pinkie exclaimed, “Because I’m unbeatable.” She finished with a devilish grin, making Sunset giggle.
Then, something caught Sunset’s attention when the classroom’s door opened, revealing that purple haired girl from before. Sunset stared at her perhaps a bit too much because Pinkie Pie noticed it and followed her gaze.
“Oh, that’s Twilight Sparkle!” Pinkie explained to Sunset.
“You know her?” Sunset asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Not that much,” Pinkie said with a shrug, turning her head back to Sunset, “We were in the same class in fifth grade, she was one of the quiet ones.”
‘One of the quiet ones.’ Sunset smirked as she closed her eyes and let out a sigh of relief, ‘Perfect. So, this girl isn’t going to be a problem.’
As soon as she opened her eyes, Twilight Sparkle stood in front of her, looking at her quite… Intensely.
Sunset felt anxious under the purple haired girl’s glare, “C-Can I help you with something?” Sunset asked.
Twilight stood still for a moment, and said in a whisper, “You… It’s you…”
“It’s me… What?” Sunset gulped, she already saw that kind of behavior before. Hell, she experienced it.
“I saw you… In my dreams…” Then, Twilight let out a cry of pain as she fell on the ground, holding her right hand close to her chest. “My hand! It’s burning!” Twilight cried out.
Everyone’s attention was now on them, much to Pinkie’s pleasure, she seemed to have a lot of fun.
“A-Are you okay?” Sunset tried, feeling drops of cold sweat in her back. ‘N-No, it can’t be…’
“I think someone should help that poor girl to the infirmary.” A beautiful girl with purple hair stated at the front of the class.
All of her classmate nodded in unison.
“Yeah… And who-” Sunset stopped when she felt all the glares were on her now. She gulped as she pointed a finger at herself, “Me?”
All of her classmate nodded in unison once more.
Sunset went livid. She slowly lowered her glare to the girl at her feet.
“P-Please,” Twilight said, still holding her hand. “I… I won’t be able to hold him any longer!”
Sunset trembled, her worst fears became true.
‘This girl… She’s just like me!’