Sunset Shimmer – your everyday fifteen year old high school girl who comes from a rich family and attends Canterlot’s Private Academy for Girls. Her grades are the highest in her class alongside her best friend’s, though her focus is less on study and more on keeping up her social standing. Being a people-person, Sunset Shimmer is able to get along with all different types of people, and with her looks and her charms she is able to manipulate almost any boys to get what she wants.
Fortunately for Sunset Shimmer, her best friend Twilight Sparkle is there to keep her from taking her abilities too far. Twilight Sparkle is every bit as smart as Sunset Shimmer, her grades being the only ones in their class to be a match for Sunset Shimmer’s, but her interests focus less on social interactions and more on books, books, and more books. She had been friends with Sunset Shimmer since the two were children, and being the more cautious one of the two, she was always there to keep Sunset Shimmer from hanging out with the wrong crowd or taking advantage of boys hopelessly in love with her too much.
Whilst sometimes it bothers Sunset Shimmer whenever Twilight interferes like that, after taking some time to consider things for herself she often finds that Twilight was right to do so, and without all those times Sunset Shimmer is certain that she would not be the high-achieving honour student that she is now.
Likewise, whilst Twilight Sparkle may be the anti-social one between the two, her shell has slowly been cracking over the years that the two have been friends, and her confidence has boosted greatly from all the times Sunset Shimmer had given her a little nudge every time Twilight started to doubt herself.
The two girls each held a quality that the other was lacking, and thanks to that they were not only the closest of friends, but together they were the most popular girls in school.
One Saturday afternoon, the two were hanging out together as per usual. As it was raining outside, the two decided to stay indoors and play a game in Twilight’s room. Since Twilight had won the coin-toss, it was her decision, which meant that Sunset Shimmer was forced to play a game of Road to Knowledge… a game that, in Twilight’s words, was ‘both fun and educational’. Sunset Shimmer still hadn’t found that first criteria in this game, though.
“Five… A Biology question.” Twilight Sparkle picked up a card from the Biology pile and read over the question. “In photosynthesis, what cycle converts light to-”
“Calvin cycle,” Sunset answered confidently, not needing to hear the entire question to know where it was going.
“Correct!” Twilight answered cheerfully. “You can either move forward to the next blank space or take a chance.”
“The heart of the cards has not been with me today,” Sunset said as she picked up her piece and moved it forward one square, onto a blank tile.
“Well, they say you make your own luck,” Twilight said. “Maybe you shouldn’t have twisted that guy’s arm.”
“He was touching your butt,” Sunset retorted. “Or trying to, at least. And since when do you believe in luck?”
“I’ll have you know that I am very open-minded,” Twilight told Sunset. “And you didn’t have to break his arm. You could have just told someone.”
“I didn’t break his arm,” Sunset defended, “I just gave him a lesson he won’t soon forget. ‘Sides…” Sunset Shimmer leaned over the board and stroked a hand against Twilight’s cheek, gazing into her eyes. “I can’t have my precious Twilight being defiled by another, now can I?”
Twilight swatted the hand away. “Back off, Romeo,” Twilight deadpanned.”I know you’re just teasing, but what if my parents walk in and get the wrong idea?”
“Or your big brother?”
“Yeah, what if-” Twilight stopped as she realised that that was not Sunset Shimmer who had spoke. Sunset Shimmer quickly backed away and acted innocent, and Twilight heard laughter behind her. “I-Is that-”
“Well well, I guess my lil’ sister is growing up,” Shining said as he placed a hand on Twilight’s head and roughed up her hair, causing her to fail her arms in a vain attempt to make him stop.
When she finally got away and straightened out her hair, Twilight turned around to see her big brother standing before her, his black suit and white shirt completely soaked, presumably from the rain outside. “Big bro!” Twilight cheered as she jumped to her feet and wrapped her arms around her brother.
“Welcome back,” Sunset said with a smile at the display of a lovely sibling reunion. “I take it you’ve got some leave?”
“Yeah,” Shining said. “I just got done with a huge case, but I need to let my leg recover.”
“Recover?” Twilight asked. “What happened? I thought you said your cases weren’t dangerous.”
Shining Armor flinched. “Ah, well, that is… I fell down the stairs at my office! Yeah, I was so excited to hand in my report, that I tripped?”
Twilight gave her brother a suspicious look, before sighing and shaking her head in exasperation. “So that’s it. Sheesh, you’re such a klutz.”
Shining Armor laughed along with Sunset Shimmer, though his laugh contained more of a nervous tone. “Anyway, I-”
“SHINING FRANCIS ARMOR!” Shining and Twilight both jumped at the harsh tone of their mother, Twilight Velvet – wearing a white one-piece dress with a single blue star sewn on the left hip and a white pearl necklace around her neck – as she entered the room, glaring at her son and tapping her foot against the floor. “What do you think you’re doing, wearing those soaking-wet clothes around the house? Come on, let’s get you out of that suit and into something dry!”
“But mum-”
“Don’t you ‘but mum’ me! Come on, out out out!”
Shining Armor sighed and nodded his head, leaving the room with his head hanging low. His mother followed him outside and to his old room, where she had brought up his briefcase that he had left downstairs in his haste to see his sister again.
“Honestly, you’re just like a child,” Velvet said as she opened Shining’s briefcase, finding more action figure and comic books than she did living essentials. She took out a clean white polo shirt and some jeans and handed them to her son. “Keep this up and Cadance will lose interest in you.”
“Not a chance,” Shining retorted. “I just haven’t seen Twilie in so long. I wanted to see her again. Is that so wrong?” Shining reached for his tie to remove it, but stopped when his mother cleared his throat and pointed to a spot on his jacket. “Oh, right…”
Twilight Velvet glanced behind her to make sure nobody was there, and then pulled out a key from her dress pocket. Shining Armor took the key and approached a set of drawers to his left, unlocking the top drawer and opening it up. He reached into his jacket and pulled out his handgun. “I really don’t like you carrying that thing around.”
“Neither do I,” Shining said as he removed the magazine and placed both parts into the drawer. “But it’s regulations.” Shining locked the drawer and placed the key aside as he resumed changing his clothes.
“Well, just don’t let Twilight know,” Velvet said as she turned around to give her son some privacy. “Goodness knows how she’ll act if she knew.”
“Don’t worry,” Shining said, “She thinks I just shift about paperwork and analyse data.”
Meanwhile, back in Twilight’s room, Twilight Sparkle sneezed suddenly as Sunset Shimmer was reading her question. “Sorry,” Sunset said, “But I don’t think ‘achoo’ was it.”
“Very funny,” Twilight said in a sarcastic tone. “C’mon, read it again.”
“Alright, but you only get this last chance. What is the term to describe the energy released when one mole of gaseous atoms acquires an electron to-”
“First electron affinity,” Twilight answered with a proud smile.
“Correct,” Sunset said with a smile of her own. “Nerd,” she whispered.
“If I’m a nerd, then you are too,” Twilight said in a flat tone.
“I must be, if I’m spending my Saturday afternoon playing Road to Knowledge. But at least I still have some sense of style.” Sunset Shimmer laughed whilst Twilight simply rolled her eyes. “Anyway, you can either take a chance or you can force me to take a Chemistry question.”
“Well since you aced the last five Chemistry questions, I’ll take a chance.”
Sunset Shimmer grabbed a chance card and read it out to Twilight. “You won a Noble Prize.”
“YES!” Twilight cheered in a pitch that rang painfully in Sunset’s ears. Twilight blushed and cleared her throat. “… Cool.”
“Nerd,” Sunset said as she handed the card to Twilight.
“Did that sound just come from Twilight?” Shining Armor asked as he entered the room, his clothes now dry after a quick change. “What happened? Did the telescope she wanted go on sale or something?”
“Not yet,” Twilight said. “Hey, wanna join us?”
“We’re already midgame,” Sunset pointed out.
“So?” Twilight asked. “We’ll just let him start near us, it’s no big deal.”
Sunset Shimmer simply shrugged. “Well, I guess it’s fine. He could do with the handicap anyway.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Shining asked as he sat down between the two girls.
Twilight reached into the box beside her and pulled out a blue piece, setting it in-between her own purple piece and Sunset’s orange one. “It means that, because we’re so much smarter than you, we’re likely to answer more questions right than you are.”
Shining Armor gave his sister a bemused stare whilst she simply gave him a cocky one. “Oh? Keep in mind I’ve already graduated college, yet your two are still in high school.”
“Look out, Twilight,” Sunset said, “We got us an Art graduate here!”
Twilight giggled whilst Shining Armor frowned. “Art and a Minor in Math!”
The two girls laughed whilst Twilight Velvet – carrying a tray of lemonade and cookies – walked inside to Shining’s defence. “Now now, girls. What he lacks in smarts, he makes up for in charm.” Shining smiled and nodded in agreement. “And beside, I’m sure in Mepidor, he’s a genius among dwarves.”
Shining’s frown returned at his mother’s teasing tone. “Epidor,” he corrected. “And I’m an elf, not a dwarf.”
“Don’t worry, worry, Mrs. V,” Sunset said. “We’ll give him question from the Junior version.”
Velvet giggled as she turned to leave the room. “Alright, just make sure to take it easy on him, you two.”
Shining sighed as he saw Twilight handing him the dice from the side. “Your turn,” she said.
Taking the dice, Shining Armor rolled them onto the board. He moved his piece onto a brown tile. “Physics, right?”
Sunset nodded as Twilight picked up a card. “Describe Newton’s third law of motion.”
“Hah! I know this one,” Shining boasted. “When one body exerts force on another, the second body exerts equal force back.” Shining seemed to be proud of his answer. That is, until the two girls turned their heads and snickered. He then remembered that it had been a while since he last did any Physics work, and now wasn’t so sure. “Uh, I mean… an object is either at rest or moving at a constant speed unless a force acts upon it?”
“You were actually right the first time,” Twilight told him, laughing even more as she reached over and high-fived Sunset Shimmer.
Shining frowned and turned his attention to Sunset. “This was your doing,” he said. “My sister was sweet and angelic, but then you corrupted her! You demon!”
“So you caught me,” Sunset responded. “What you gonna do, Mr. FBI?”
“Alright, Shining,” Twilight said, “You can either take a chance or move back two spaces. You do not answer a question if you land on a question tile.”
“Chance me,” Shining said. “By the way, how is school going? I hear your grades are still up, but have you made many new friends?”
“Actually,” Sunset began, “Twilight here actually started a conversation with a group of girls just the other week.” Twilight smiled as she turned her head to the side with a blush. “Well, if you could actually call that conversing.”
“It was hard!” Twilight argued. “I didn’t know anything about them! I didn’t have enough information about their likes, dislikes, histories, or personalities to know what was appropriate to say!”
“You knew that Lyra is into Pretty Pony Princess, and that that Babs girl is Anti-Bullying Awareness Club.”
“Babs is a Freshman. You know I’m not good with children. And Lyra’s just… a little loud about her interests…”
“She can be a handful,” Sunset admitted. “But at least Octavia seemed to like you. She even invited you to hang out with her at some point.”
“Yeah, but she hasn’t texted me yet…”
“You should try taking the initiative yourself, Twilie,” Shining suggested.
“Well,” Sunset said to Twilight, “Lucky for you, I went ahead an arranged a slumber party with our new friend. You can thank me later.”
“You what?!” Twilight screeched. “When were you going to tell me this?!”
Sunset put a finger to her chin. “Let’s see… After knocking you out and moving your unconscious body there?”
“W-What date?”
“Next Saturday.”
Twilight bolted to her feet. “That’s not enough time!” Twilight said. “I’ve never been to a slumber party before! I need to read up on all of the rules so that I’m ready! Not to mention that I need to make sure I have everything ready! I need to make a checklist, I need to go shopping, I need to make sure Spike has someone to watch him if Mum and Dad were going out that night… Why am I playing boardgames?! I have too much work to do!”
Twilight ran out of the room, almost tripping over her pet dog Spike on the way out as he passed by and entered the room. Spike yipped and ran towards Shining Armor, excited after not seeing him for so long.
“Shouldn’t you go after her?” Sunset Shimmer asked as she picked up her glass of lemonade and took a drink.
“Hey, I just got back from work,” Shining said as he reached down to stroke Spike’s back. “Besides, Cadance is coming round later. We’ll give Twilie some time and if she’s not calmed-down by then, I’m sure Cadance can handle it.”
“And the ‘Brother of the Year’ award goes to…”
“Hey, at least I didn’t make plans for her without her knowledge,” Shining retorted.
“Oh, did I forget to mention that Octavia’s still waiting on our response?” Sunset asked, grinning like a Cheshire cat as picked up the chance card for Shining Armor that Twilight had dropped.
“You truly are a demon,” Shining said, resisting a smirk growing on his face.
“I’ll make it up to her,” Sunset assured him. “I’ll… buy her an ice-cream on our way to school tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow’s a Sunday,” Shining pointed out.
“Twilight’s got extra classes, and because I apparently have nothing better to do on a Sunday, I’m accompanying her,” Sunset explained.
“Twilight’s got make-up classes?” Shining gasped.
“No,” Sunset said, rolling her eyes. “She requested them.”