Sunset motored along the suburban streets when something stirred from the sidecar of her motorcycle.
“Woof! Arf!”
Turning to look at what Sparky had spotted, she slowed and pulled off to the side.
The young man jumped slightly, almost dropping the large package held in his arms, when a motorcycle with a barking dog suddenly pulled up on him. “Whoa! … Sparky? That you?”
Sunset lifted the visor of her helmet and looked at her student. “Hey, stranger. Fancy meeting you here.”
“Ms. Sunset!” Sprout exclaimed. “Whoa. Cool motorcycle.”
“Thanks,” she said with a grin, “it’s a family heirloom. You going to Hitch’s housewarming party?”
“Yeah. I just got off the bus.” He shifted the package in his arms to redistribute the weight. “It’s a little out of the way, though.”
“Your mother didn’t drive you?”
“No, she’s a … very busy woman. She couldn’t make it today. Had a hard enough time making it to the dress rehearsal the other night.”
“Well, hop in. I’ll drive you the rest of the way,” Sunset offered.
“Really?”
“Of course. No point in letting you lug whatever that is around on foot if we’re going the same way.”
“Okay, then,” Sprout said giddily. Putting the box into the sidecar next to Sparky who began sniffing at it and wagging his tail, he stood there for a moment. “Uhm.”
“Yeah, that’s not gonna work,” Sunset said after fishing out her spare helmet from the seat compartment and handing it over to him. “Unless you got a robot in there that can grow arms, I guess you’re going on the back.” She sat back down and patted the seat behind her.
“Uh, okay,” Sprout said hesitantly and climbed on, leaving some room between himself and his teacher. He then gingerly placed his fingertips on her waist.
Sunset turned her head. “That’s not gonna work. Gotta hold on properly, or you’re gonna fall off.” Taking his wrists, she properly wrapped them around her waist while there was a strangled gulp behind her. “Hold on tight. Here I go.”
The moment the bike got into motion, Sprout’s body automatically slid forward, pressing up against Sunset’s back, but he held on. Unlike Misty, Sprout didn’t say a word for the whole ride. Sunset figured he’d probably never ridden on a motorcycle, so she took it slow until they arrived at Hitch’s new address.
When she pulled into the driveway of the suburban house with its large garden, the front door was already opening, and Hitch could be seen stepping out while calling back over his shoulder. “Grandma! Ms. Sunset is here!” Taking a second look, he quirked an eyebrow. “And Sprout, too.”
“Woof!” Sparky leapt out of the sidecar and ran up to him, practically jumping into Hitch’s arms.
“And Sparky!” Hitch added, picking the puppy up and giving him a bunch of affectionate scratches. “How you doing, little buddy? Who’s a good boy?”
“Thanks for inviting me today, Hitch,” Sunset said as she walked up.
He nodded. “Of course. I’m glad you’re here.” He cocked his head as he looked beyond Sunset and saw Sprout coming up, the large package held low in front of his body. “What happened to you?”
“Nothing,” Sprout said in a hoarse whisper, his face completely red.
“Well, come in,” Hitch said and led them inside.
The large living room was already filled with some guests. Sunny, her father Argyle and Gloriosa Daisy. Standing in the center of the room and smiling at the new arrivals was Hitch’s grandma Figgy. “Hello, there. Please, make yourselves at home.”
“Hello, Mrs. Figgy, ma’am,” Sprout said politely, “my mother wasn’t able to come, but she sent this as a housewarming gift.”
“Oh, how lovely, young man. You must be Hitchie’s friend Sprout. Be sure to thank your mother for me.”
“That looks heavy,” Hitch pointed out. “You need any help with that?”
“Uh, no, it’s fine,” Sprout said, taking a step back and still holding the large box in front of him. “It’s one of the latest kitchen appliances from CanterLogic, so how about I put it in the kitchen for you? Also, may I use your bathroom real quick?”
“Sure,” Hitch replied. “Kitchen’s down the hall on the left, bathroom just beyond that.”
Still blushing, Sprout nodded and waddled down the hallway with a strange gait.
I figured he was rigid with fear on the ride over, Sunset mused internally, but I guess he was rigid with something else. So that’s what that poking sensation was. I might not have thought this through when I offered. This isn’t exactly gonna help in dispelling that crush he has on me, is it?
“Thank you for coming, Ms. Shimmer,” Figgy said, pulling Sunset out of her thoughts.
“Of course. Here.” She reached into the pocket of her new leather jacket and pulled out a small gift box that contained a set of coasters from Big Al’s Bar & Grill. “I … didn’t know what to bring. Whenever I have someone over, I go: Shoot, I don’t have any coasters, but then I never buy any, so …”
“That’s a perfectly lovely gift, dear,” Figgy said with that sweet, grandmotherly smile. “Thank you.”
Sunset nodded. “I do have another housewarming gift to offer, if you’re amenable to it.” She gave a meaningful look to Sparky who was currently panting happily in Hitch’s arms.
Picking up her meaning, Hitch looked back and forth between the puppy in his arms and his teacher while his eyes grew wide. “Really?”
Sunset nodded. “Somehow feels right that he should be with you.” Turning to Figgy, she added: “And you seem to have the space for it.”
Figgy gave Sunset and her grandson a calculating look.
“Please, grandma?” Hitch said, sounding the most like a child Sunset had ever heard out of him. “I’ll take care of everything, you don’t have to worry about a thing.”
Melting under two sets of puppy dog eyes combined, Figgy sighed. “I’m not gonna give you the spiel about responsibility, Hitchie. I know you’ll take good care of him.” She turned to Sunset to ask: “Are you sure about this?”
“I live by myself in a tiny studio apartment,” Sunset countered. “So Sparky’s all alone while I’m at school, and he doesn’t get the exercise he needs now that he’s better. Plus, I prefer pets who don’t shed as much. Frankly, you’d be doing both of us a favor if you took him in.”
“Well, alright. Thank you, Ms. Shimmer.”
“Yes, thank you, Ms. Sunset,” Hitch echoed with a huge grin, then said to Sparky: “Come on, buddy. Let me show you around your new home.”
As Hitch walked off to tell Sunny about the news, Sunset couldn’t help but feel a pang in her chest as she saw Sparky looking at her over his shoulder and giving a happy bark as if to say goodbye. No, this feels right, even if it hurts. Somehow, I just know that these two belong together. This’ll be good for both of them.
“Feel free to visit if you feel lonely, dear,” Figgy said quietly as if she’d just read her thoughts.
Sunset looked away in embarrassment, feeling her eyes water slightly. “This place is really something,” she said, more to change the subject than anything else. “I thought you were looking for an apartment, not an entire house.”
“Well, it’s a good investment,” she said matter-of-factly. “It’s nice to know Hitch will always have a roof over his head once he inherits this from me.”
“At least once it’s paid off,” Sunset pointed out.
“Oh, it’s paid off in full. It’s 100% mine, and it’ll be 100% my grandson’s when I’m gone.”
“Well, that’s good,” Sunset said, somewhat astonished. “I … didn’t know you had that kind of money.”
Figgy tapped the side of her nose with a sly smile. “My husband and I started Trailblazer Industries together. Back when we did things the right way, and earned our money through the hard work we put in. So my stepson had to buy me out before he could start ruining it, back when the company was actually still worth something. To be honest, I had that money laying around for years in a savings account, gathering interest, and didn’t know what to do with it. Can’t take it with me when I’m gone, so I’d rather spend it on my grandson’s future.”
“Well, it’s good to have these things figured out, but I hope that day is some time off yet.”
Figgy winked at Sunset. “Oh, don’t let my morbid rambling bother you, dear. These sorts of thoughts are inevitable at my age, but this old woman’s got some gas in the tank yet. I fully intend to dance a jig at my grandson’s wedding before I kick the bucket.” A soft ding could be heard from the direction of the kitchen. “Ah, fresh cookies. Excuse me.”
As Hitch’s grandmother went to get the batch out of the oven, Sunset made her way over to Gloriosa Daisy who held out a paper cup to her as she approached. “Drink?”
“Thanks,” Sunset said, taking a sip from the soda. She didn’t have the patience for chit-chat, so she went straight for the question she’d had since she’d spotted her old acquaintance. “How are things going? Legally, I mean.”
The social worker gave a slightly uncertain wobble of her head. “Pretty good for now, I think. Hitch’s mom was a no-show at the court hearing, as expected, and Trailblazer Sr. doesn’t have legal standing to contest custody from where he is right now.”
“But?”
Gloriosa sighed. “The courts tend to heavily favor biological parents wherever possible. Hitch’s dad is up for parole, so he could be out later this year, and his mom could show up out of the blue at any point. If either of them contests custody, this could get very ugly very fast.”
“Doesn’t Hitch have a say in all this?”
“Some,” Gloriosa affirmed, “and if you and I in our professional capacity testified that living with his grandmother has been good for him and that removing him from that environment again would be to his detriment, that would even the odds somewhat. But it’s still a crap shoot. Best we can hope for is that they accept the situation as is.”
Ding-Dong!
“Hello, new neighbors!” A familiar voice suddenly could be heard from the front door, and Hitch went to let in Izzy and Alphabittle who handed over a tea set as their housewarming gift. Izzy gave a smile and a wave to Sunset upon spotting her which Sunset returned.
“One of your students?” Gloriosa asked.
“Yeah,” Sunset confirmed. “I thought this address seemed familiar."
“Well, I guess I should introduce myself.”
Sunset deliberately stood off to the side as introductions between the adults were being made and the kids got together to fawn over Sparky. She’d felt a certain set of eyes linger on her since she’d arrived, and as she suspected, he came over to take the opportunity to speak to her.
“Ms. Shimmer,” Argyle said.
“Mr. Starshine,” Sunset replied in greeting.
“I was hoping to get a word in with you when I heard you were coming today.”
“That makes two of us,” she said with a nod. “Please, you go first.”
“So, everything alright after that magic fiasco at the dress rehearsal?” he began without preamble.
“I figured Celestia’s fib about the gas leak wouldn’t work on you. Did Sunny explain what really happened?”
“More or less. To think those … things are back, and at Sunny’s school no less. Is that girl okay, the one who was trapped? Misty, was it?”
“She seems to be. You’d know about the lasting effects better than anyone else, seeing as you’ve been in that unfortunate position yourself. You ever notice anything?”
“Other than the nightmares and being jumpy around shadows,” he said with a shiver, “no. I figure I would have noticed by now if a shadow arm had grown out of my stomach or something like that. Please tell me you’re looking into this, and that you’re doing what you can to keep my daughter safe.”
“I am. Which brings me to the thing I wanted to talk to you about. I was hoping you could clear some things up for me.”
“I’m not sure what help I can be, but of course. I’ll do anything to make sure Sunny doesn’t get hurt.”
Sunset hesitated for a moment. The last time she’d brought it up, it had been a bit of a sore subject. “I need to ask you some questions about Bright Hope, if that’s alright.”
“Bright Hope? Is she connected to all this?”
“She might be,” Sunset said with a shrug. “Everything seems to come back to the Maretime Bay incident in one way or another, and she was connected to that at least.”
“I’ll answer what I can, but I told you before that I haven’t seen her since then.”
“Do you know if Bright Hope ever had a child?”
“A child?” he asked, clearly surprised by that line of questioning. “Not to my knowledge. She never even had a boyfriend in all the time I’ve known her. Very focused on her work.”
“What about before you met her?”
Argyle scratched his stubbled cheek. “Well, I met her when we were both freshmen in college. I was a little older because I’d done a couple of years service in the coast guard at that point, but she was fresh out of high school. I suppose it’s not impossible, but I never heard her mention anything like that to me. Though I guess that’s not something you would just share with anyone.”
I guess that would have been too easy, Sunset thought to herself. But the timing just seems too convenient. The letters from Misty’s mom stopped at the same time Bright Hope went missing, and she traveled a lot during her archaeological field work. “Would you be able to recognize her handwriting if you saw it?”
“Maybe?” He sounded a little unsure. “It’s been some time, and she guarded her research notes very jealously until she could get them typed up on a computer. If you showed me something in cuneiform, I’d probably be able to recognize her style.”
Sunset raised an eyebrow. “Bright Hope wrote her notes in ancient Sumerian script?”
“It was a quirk of hers to use it as shorthand, said it kept her sharp and helped her stay in practice.”
“Could you give it a try anyway?” Sunset pulled her phone out of her pocket and swiped to a photo of one of Misty’s old letters, zooming in on an innocuous line that didn’t mention Misty by name. She held it up to him.
Argyle adjusted his glasses and leaned forward. After a while of intense scrutiny, he shook his head and shrugged helplessly. “It might be hers, it might not be. I’m sorry I can’t be more helpful.”
“That’s alright,” Sunset said with a sigh, putting away her phone, “thanks anyway.”
“Uh, Ms. Sunset!” Sunny’s slightly alarmed voice suddenly caused her to whip her head around. “Magic alert!”
Sunset took a few steps towards the kids on sheer impulse. Hitch was lying on the floor, laughing as Sparky licked his face while all his friends simply stared at him around him.
Noticing that the room had suddenly gone quiet, Hitch stopped laughing and looked around. “Hey, what are you all staring at me like that for?”
Sprout reached out wordlessly and tugged at the pony ear that had appeared atop Hitch’s head.
Hitch’s own hands flew up to his head to check. “Did I just … ?” He looked towards Sunset with a questioning glance.
“Everything’s alright, Hitch,” she reassured him after collecting herself for a moment. “It’s perfectly normal. Our magic comes out when we show the truest part of ourselves. My friend used to pony up all the time when she was taking care of animals. Sparky might be a bit of a trigger for you.”
“Oh, is that it?” Izzy said brightly. “That’s fine then. It happened to me the other day while I was doing arts and crafts.”
“Why don’t you take Sparky outside to play for a bit?” Sunset suggested as she felt the stares of every adult present in the room bore into her back. Only after the students had left, did she turn around ever so slowly. “… I’m guessing you all have questions.”
“Some. A little more detail would be appreciated,” Figgy said, though there didn’t seem much surprise in her voice. “Hitch told me what happened at the rehearsal, what really happened, after we got home. He said he didn’t want to keep secrets from me anymore.”
“Yeah, same here,” Alphabittle said. “Frankly, since the glasses incident, Izzy has become a little too fond of sharing things with me. I know more about glitter than I ever thought I would. It is still a little worrisome, though. So would you mind giving us a more detailed explanation of what’s happening, Ms. Shimmer?”
Sunset nodded. “Of course. Let me assure you that I’m taking steps to make sure they’re all safe, and I’ll answer any questions you have.” As Sunset began answering questions, most of them familiar by now, she wondered if Princess Twilight would be agreeable to transcribe Celestia’s old lesson plan for magic kindergarten into the magic journal.