//------------------------------// // The Weekend Off, Part Five: The Night Shift // Story: Sunset Eclipsed // by EldritchNexus //------------------------------// Sunset Shimmer looked up at the bat-pony. "So, would you rather be in your cave right now?" she asked. "I could ussssse the fresssssshhhh air." hissed the bat-pony. "I sssssseeeeeeeeeee what you meeeeeeaaaaaannnnn." Sunset replied, imitating the guard's hiss. "Um, why do you talk like that, anyway?" "Verbal tic." replied the bat-pony, flatly. "Ah. I see." said Sunset. "Sorry." "It issss quite all right, ma'am." said the guard. "Good night." "Good night." said Sunset, who went into her bedroom. She tucked herself into bed, and lay deep in thought. She found herself reflecting on what she went through these past few days: Craw betraying her, the Chrysalis Syndicate trying to hunt her down, returning to Equestria before the thirty-moon cycle ran its course, being sent back to Canterlot, becoming Princess Luna's student, meeting her brother again for the first time in years, going on that mission to Fillydelphia, befriending Trixie Lulamoon and Lightning Dust, meeting and confronting the Changeling that might or might not have been responsible for her parents' disappearance, and taking part in saving an entire city from a great evil. "I must lead a very interesting life." she muttered aloud with a frown. "I wonder if I should bother telling Twilight Sparkle about all those details." She thought about when she was a bully at Canterlot High. She thought about when she was defeated at the night of the Fall Formal, and Twilight's words to her. She also thought about Craw and that Syndicate enforcer's rantings. They echoed through her subconscious, and overlapped with each other. "You country-folk really aren't that bright." she heard her own voice saying. "You're an animal...a farm animal!" shouted the distorted voice of the Syndicate operative. "I'm not a monster!" Sunset's voice echoed. "You're a sick parody of humanity!" Craw's voice shrieked. "You will never rule in Equestria." said Twilight Sparkle's scolding voice. "Any power you had in this world is gone!" "You...have...nothing!" chorused the voices of the Syndicate enforcer and Sunset Shimmer's demonic form in unison. Sunset blinked her eyes, and the voices died away. She shuddered, and decided that she wasn't ready for bed yet. Sunset Shimmer opened her door, to find her bat-pony bodyguard was still standing right where she left him. The guard slowly tilted his head down to look at her. "Issss there ssssomething you need, ma'am?" asked the bat-winged pegasus. "No." said Sunset. "I'm just going for a walk around the palace. I don't know when I'll be back." "Very well." droned her bodyguard. Sunset Shimmer went down the stairs, and starting wandering around the corridors. The corridors were mostly dark and quiet, but not empty. Once in a while, Sunset came across a two-member patrol consisting of a unicorn waving their glowing horn around, and a pegasus closely following them. The first time, one of the unicorns detected Sunset with their horn. "Halt!" commanded the unicorn. "Who's over there?" the pegasus asked her comrade. "It's me! Sunset Shimmer." Sunset introduced herself quickly. "Princess Luna's student!" The two guards sighed in relief. "Good evening, Miss Shimmer." said the unicorn guard. "We thought that you'd be asleep right now." "I'm not tired right now, so I thought I'd take a walk around." Sunset told the patrol. "By the way, where's my brother?" "Right here, Sunny." said the familiar rough voice of Radiant Dawn. Sunset turned around and saw her brother, now clad in black-and-silver full armor. "I'm not interfering with your duties, am I?" asked Sunset. "Certainly not." answered Radiant. "I was just on my way to file out a report for Princess Luna." "Do you think I could come along and watch?" "Sure. Just follow me." invited Radiant Dawn. The two siblings went on together down a flight of stairs and went into the Night Captain's office. Sunset's jaw dropped as she saw the colossal stack of paperwork on the ebony desk at the end of the room. She felt even worse when Radiant sat himself down on the black chair, and started sorting through them all. "Wait, you're seriously going to do all that by yourself?" Sunset questioned. "Not really." said Radiant, as he shifted through the papers. "I just have to get two or three documents out of this mess. Trust me, this isn't as boring as it looks...it's worse." He groaned, and telekinetically shuffled all the papers around, looking for the name he wanted. He even put on a pair of reading-glasses that were laying on the table. Sunset held back the urge to snicker at the sight of her strong older brother wearing spectacles. "Hey, brother?" Sunset asked. "What's up, sis?" Radiant asked. "So, do you need help with that, at all?" offered Sunset Shimmer. "No, I wouldn't want to drag you into this mess." said Radiant Dawn. "It's just not right to have my little sister do all my work." Sunset smiled, since it reminded her of when Craw offered to help her clean up the decorations leftover from the Fall Formal at Canterlot High. "It's okay, big brother." said Sunset. "I do stuff like this all the time. I know I can't actually sign the papers for you, but I can certainly sort them all out for you. It'll help you get done a little quicker." Radiant fumbled for a moment, and looked at his sister. "You'd do that for me, and you're okay with it?" he asked. "Sure." Sunset smiled. "I did this kind of thing all the time when I was Princess Celestia's student." "Well, then be my guest." said Radiant. Sunset Shimmer's horn shone with a teal aura, and the papers on the desk were levitated into the air. They circled around the younger unicorn, who moved her head around to study the dates of the papers. She picked three of the most recent, and put them together on the desk. She then carefully placed the older papers in sets of three and four, and laid them out on a nearby table. When she was done with them, she turned to face Radiant. "Are those the ones you were looking for?" she asked. "Yep, that's them!" Radiant smiled. "Thanks, Sunny. Now I just need to fill these out, and I'm done." "How long should that take you?" "About twenty or thirty minutes on each paper." said Radiant, pointing his horn at all the blank lines on each sheet of paper. "By Celestia!" gasped Sunset. "That'll probably keep you busy until midnight!" "Yeah, probably." Radiant nodded. "Of course, I'd still have another six hours of other guard-related things to do. If you don't want to stay and watch, I'll understand." "No, it's fine." said Sunset. "I'll stay." An hour and a half later, Radiant Dawn finished working on Captain Star Shield's report for Princess Luna. He saw that Sunset Shimmer was falling asleep in a chair nearby. He couldn't help but smile at his sleeping sister. He had nearly forgotten what it was like to see her asleep: Whenever Sunset Shimmer was asleep, she looked as though she were the happiest, friendliest pony to ever live in Equestria, even when she was at her worst while awake. Even if she was suffering from a nightmare, she was quiet, only making a few subtle movements and facial expressions. She wasn't even snoring, which Radiant also liked about her. "I can't believe how peaceful she looks!" he thought as he looked at her. "It's like she's a little filly all over again." His horn started to glow, and his aura enveloped Sunset, who was slowly levitated onto Radiant's back. Her front hooves were crossed around his neck, so that she would be secure as she rested. "Time for you to get back to bed, my little angel." he whispered, wheeling his head around. "We've got a big day tomorrow." "Mm-hmm." snoozed Sunset, nodding groggily in her slumber. He set the papers on the desk, deciding he would come back for them, and carried his sister out into the corridor. Several night guards saluted him silently as he passed. Sky Boom even smiled when she saw Sunset Shimmer sleeping on top of Radiant. Radiant crossed paths with Princess Luna, who was heading for the captain's office. "Ah, Lieutenant Dawn!" she said. "I trust you have--" "Ssshhh..." Radiant beckoned for quiet, adding a whisper. "The report's in the office, all sorted out for you, princess. I'm just bringing Sunny back upstairs." He turned to show the alicorn princess the mare that was resting on him. Luna chuckled a little. "So, my student has been a little adventurous again, has she?" she asked. "She thought she'd help me out with sorting the paperwork in there." whispered Radiant. "She was a real help finding everything." Princess Luna smiled, and placed a dark, sleek wing on Sunset Shimmer's back. "Well done, dear Sunset." she smiled. "And good night, my young student." Sunset started to nibble on Radiant's ear in an affectionate child-like manner, indicating she had entered a dream. Radiant and Luna couldn't help but smile. "Aawwww..." sighed Princess Luna, with a grin. "You two are just so...adorable together. It almost reminds me of my sister and I when we were growing up." Radiant blushed, and gently shook his ear out of his sister's mouth once Princess Luna had continued down the hallway. Sunset opened her mouth to let out a long yawn, and smiled as she hugged her brother's neck harder and pressed her cheek against his temple. The stallion could've sworn that his twenty-year-old sister was now cuddling him in her sleep. Radiant carried Sunset back up the stairs that led to their bedrooms, where Sunset's bat-pony bodyguard was still standing faithfully. "At ease." Radiant said, when the bat-pony saluted him. He carried his sister into her bedroom, levitated her onto the bed, and tucked her in under the sheets. He kissed her good-night, and went back downstairs to resume his guard duties. For the rest of the night, Sunset Shimmer continued to sleep peacefully. The next morning at ten o'clock, the mare found herself woken up by a loud knocking on the door. "Hang on!" said Sunset over the noise. "I'll be right there!" She climbed out of bed, and used her telekinesis to open the door. Radiant Dawn, Trixie, and Lightning Dust were standing outside, eagerly waiting for her. "Hey there, Sunny." said Lightning Dust. "Ready to go down to Ponyville?" "Are you?" asked Sunset. "Sure am." nodded Lightning. "Alright, everypony." said Radiant Dawn. "Let's get over to the train station. The train down to Ponyville will be leaving at eleven. We'll get our breakfast on there." "Sounds good to me." said Trixie. "It means less walking for me." "Then let's get going." said Lightning Dust told the others. "Right, then." said Radiant. "Everypony, follow me." The four ponies left the palace together, and made themselves comfortable on the train, ready to go down to Ponyville.