//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: The Dregs // Story: All That Shimmers // by Justice3442 //------------------------------// All That Shimmers Chapter 6: The Dregs -ooooooo- “There’s one!” Snips says excitedly as he points and he and Snails stare out the bus window. “Ooo! Ooo! I see one! I see one!” Snails says as he also points out the window. From the seat across the aisle from them I sigh and shoot them an irritated glance. I’m going to regret asking, but… “What the heck are you two nimrods doing?” “We’re playing Spot-the-Car!” Snips informs cheerfully. “Yeah! Spot-the-Car’!” Snails echoes. From behind my sunglasses, I knit my brow at the two. “You mean like spot the red cars or the cars with out-of-state plates?” “No, any car!” Snips says. I knew I’d regret asking. “Okay… just… what?!” I say in disbelief. There’s stupid, and well… “There’s a car! There’s a car! There’s a car! There’s a car!” …and then there’s these two. “You know the sad part here is that if I killed you two, I would go to jail!”  “Ah, come on, Sunset Shimmer,” Snips says. “Relax a little bit!” “Yeah! Relax!” Snails parrots. “Relax?! How can I relax when… uh…” Don’t say anything about the demon in me. Don’t say anything about the demon in me. “… the entire school hates me!” The two pause and consider this. “Well, not the entire school,” Snips reminds. “Sure! We don’t hate you, Sunset Shimmer!” Snails adds. “Oh good-eee,” I reply sarcastically. I’d wonder how my life had become this, but this is pretty much a normal Sunday for me. Snip and Snails are the only two people I’ve met so unburdened by intelligence that they follow me without question. Well, up until now… There’s been a few questions today. Though, it’s not like I’m tricking them into to doing anything objectionable… at the moment. “Oh! There’s another one!” Snails says. “Ooo! Ooo! I see another,” Snips replies. I sigh to myself. “What I wouldn’t give for the telekinetic ability to explode the pair of your heads…” I mumble. Just a few more bus stops to the transit center and then I’m free… at least for a little bit… -oooooooo- As mentioned, we part ways at the transit station and go on our merry ways to opposite ends of the city. Honestly, I’m a little more worried than usual that these two can do as I ask. Looking for books should be easy enough, but it’s pretty outside our normal modus operandi, and none of these titles are exceptionally easy to find… if one discounts the internet of course. So we begin our not terribly interesting journey where the two overcompensate for their incompetence by sending me pictures of just about any book they find with a weird title, which so happens to be quite a few given the sections we’re all looking at culminating in lots of angry text messages from me. So much for the sweet taste of freedom. Hours later and I’m combing through more spiritual self-help books, tired, hungry, and irritable when my phone beeps at me. I pull it out of my handbag and am greeted by yet another strange looking title that has nothing to do with what I’m looking for. Gastropds4Life: is this 1? ShimmeringBeauty: Alright, first of all, ‘one’, second of all ‘no’. Gastropds4Life: 1 wat? ShimmeringBeauty: You can’t see this but I’m rolling my eyes as hard as I can at the screen right now. DoubleBladed: how bout this? ShimmeringBeauty: NO! And would it kill you both to type like you had half a brain between you two? All day! ALL FREAKING DAY I’ve been subjected to texts that look like something from before my time on this planet full of ridiculously lazy people. Gastropds4Life:  wat do u mean? ShimmeringBeauty: How could you even ask that?! How is it not obvious to you two dimwits that you both text like you have to push the numbers upwards of three times to get the letter you want. DoubleBladed: ss we have smartphones Gastropds4Life: hehe ya who even has a dumbphone anymore? ShimmeringBeauty: Exactly! Pinkie types better than you two! Except she fills the screens with obnoxious emoticons. Gastropds4Life: like this?  :)  :(  80  :B 0_0 0_0 0u0 }:) :3 D:B :33 >:] ::::) :o) 38) (;≧Д≦) (ಠ益ಠ;) <) D: u_u tUMUt ShimmeringBeauty: Yes, for the most part except I’m pretty sure you made up about half of those. DoubleBladed: wait when did u talk to Pinkie? ShimmeringBeauty: Yesterday! I ran into her and her friends at the mall. We hung out and exchanged phone numbers and everything. In fact, I’ve been politely declining little invites to things all day! God, that girl is insatiable! DoubleBladed: u mean u actually made friends already and didnt tell us? Gastropds4Life: :( ShimmeringBeauty: I didn’t tell you because it has nothing to do with getting the books I need! DoubleBladed: were both really happy youve made friends! this is a big step for u! Gastropds4Life: :) ShimmeringBeauty: YOU! Y – O – U! HOW IS THAT HARD TO DO?! YOU BOTH HAVE FULLY FUNCTIONAL KEYBOARDS THAT POP UP WHEN YOU TYPE JUST LIKE ME! EVEN IF YOU CAN’T WORK THE SLIDE FUNCTION I KNOW YOU TWO CAN AT LEAST TYPE! YOU WOULDN’T HAVE EVEN MADE IT INTO HIGH SCHOOL IF YOU ACTUALLY WROTE PAPERS LIKE THIS! HOW MUCH TIME DO YOU TWO ACTUALLY THINK YOU’RE SAVING BY TYPING LIKE THIS?! AND IT’S NOT LIKE EITHER OF YOU HAVE ENOUGH GOING ON THAT SAVING YOUR PRECIOUS MILLISECONDS MEANS YOU’LL BE DOING ANYTHING PRODUCTIVE OR FULFILLING WITH YOUR MISERABLE LIVES! I SWEAR, IF ONE OF YOU USES ‘U’ AGAIN I’LL END YOU AND REPLACE YOU WITH A TRAINED MONKEY. NO WAIT! FORGET THE TRAINING EVEN! Gastropds4Life: :( DoubleBladed: u type fast ShimmeringBeauty: That’s it! That is IT. When we meet up, I’m killing you both. Gastropds4Life: :’( ShimmeringBeauty: Sad faces won’t save you this time! My mind’s made up! Gastropds4Life: :’( :’( :’( :’( :’( ShimmeringBeauty: Oh shucks. You found my weakness! Spamming me with sad faces. It’s like my heart just grew three sizes over here! Gastropds4Life:  really? :) ShimmeringBeauty: No. Gastropds4Life:  :’( DoubleBladed: fond 1 ShimmeringBeauty: Bizarre pet names won’t save you either. DoubleBladed: wat? I fond 1 of the books ShimmeringBeauty: It’s ‘found’, nimrod, and show me. Snips sends me a picture of the book and to my great surprise he managed to locate a copy of The Key of Star Swirl the Bearded, the book I was looking for the most. ShimmeringBeauty: Nice work. I guess you both get to live after all. Gastropds4Life:  :) ShimmeringBeauty: Stop it. DoubleBladed: Next store? ShimmeringBeauty: Forget it. We’re already scraping the dregs as it is and I’m starving. I’ll order the rest. Let’s meet up for some food. Gastropds4Life: sweet DoubleBladed: sweet I put away my phone and take one more look at the spiritual book section in front of me. There’s basically nothing here that’s of any direct use. This was mostly true of all the other stores I checked. However, something catches my eye. I pull off a deck of Tarot cards of the shelf and examine it. It appears to be the same deck Pinkie used when she did a reading for me. A potentially prophetic, and equally potentially lethal reading. Well… at the very least I guess it couldn’t hurt. Speaking of injury, something else catches my eye. I glance at the religious section and notice a few of the books are sporting religious symbols. I wonder… I slowly make my way to the section and spot a large Bible with a small cross on it. Tentatively, I reach my index finger out and poke the cross in the center. Nothing. No light headedness, nausea or anything of the sort… Guess whatever is going on with me isn’t quite as straightforward as some sort of vampire like negative reaction to holy symbols.   I lift my sunglasses onto my forehead and take the Bible and open it. Randomly scanning pages and flipping through it. My vision doesn’t seem to be blurring or anything… Maybe if it was printed in its original language it would have some physical effect on me? I’ll have to dig into this a bit deeper. It might give me some clues as to how I need to move forward here. I put the Bible back. Huh… I guess one of these wouldn’t hurt to have on hand either… But why the heck are there so many?! A quick search on my tablet shows me there are several translations and even versions that have or don’t have certain chapters (or books, more accurately) depending on what denomination they’re printed for. Fascinating I suppose, but I’m not here to dig deeply into the nuances of each different branch. I figure out which version will give me the most to work with and find a recent translation that won’t remind me that reading Shake Spear’s work gives me a headache whether it’s from this world or my own. After I’ve sorted out a suitable copy for my needs, I purchase it along with the cards and add it to a modest collection of reference books on demons I found while looking for things on my list. The reference books won’t tell me how to deal with a demon in detail enough that I might banish it outright, but maybe they can help me figure out if the thing inside me is a known demon and give me a few tips. After a bit more bus riding I meet up with Snips and Snails at our usual hang out, An out of the way Italian restaurant that does pretty decent food. No other kids from school thinks to go here, so it makes for an ideal location to meet up away from potentially prying eyes. Plus, we’ve gone often enough that we’re recognized on site by the staff and treated pretty nicely. The whole thing has a nice gangster vibe to it that I can’t help but dig. I walk in and a waitress simply nods in the direction of a booth. Snips and Snails have undoubtedly arrived before me. I walk into the restaurant and the pair of them are inhaling soda like it’s going to be declared illegal tomorrow and chowing down on free bread. They’re both also keeping themselves busy. Snips is occupying himself with scissors and a book full of different colored construction paper. The kid’s a wiz at creating things with just scissors and multicolored paper. Likewise, looks like Snails found himself a book on, you guess it, snails… It’s the one topic he’s well versed in. So much that he can occasionally break out scientific terms that the teachers and I don’t even understand until he explains things to us. He also seems to be doodling something, three guesses as to what, and the first two don’t count. It’s is shame neither of their special talents are particularly useful for winning most competitions. Snails shoots me a mildly annoyed look. “Where the heck were Sunset Shimmer? We waited forever!” “Yeah! Forever!” Snails parrots. “Sorry,” I offer as I sit across from them. “I figured out another book I wanted and had to do some impromptu research before picking a copy,” I explain. Snips and Snails look at me as If just grew an extra six feet and sprouted… Uh, wait. I used that one… They look at me like I just grew an extra head. Not sure what the big— “Did you just apologize to us?!” Snips asks in disbelief. “Yeah! You even explained yourself,” Snails adds. Oh… well… They have a point. Usually, I would have just yelled at them both to mind their own business… Not sure why my impulse was to be nice, or at least, not horrible to them. Maybe I’m starting to subconsciously feel a bit grateful that they’re sticking with me despite all I put them through. A waitress comes and pours me a coffee without having to ask me and leaves me a couple sealed, plastic shots of half & half. “I can explain myself if I want!” I snap back. Stupid minions… it’s not like I actually like you, or anything… “Alright, alright, Sunset Shimmer,” Snips says defensively.  “We were just wonderin’… Here…” Snips grabs a bag that’s sitting next to him and hands it over to me. In it is the book they found to me and most the money I handed to them. I pull out the book and flip through it. Prayers, various circles for summon demons and making them obey you, detailed rituals of how to purify everything from water to fire. Exactly what I was looking for. “Nice work, you two,” I say offhandedly. They at least did better than me, and I even gave them the ‘B’ list when it came to the stores. Snips and Snails stare at me as if… uh… okay, they’re just surprised again, I guess. “Did you just say ‘nice work’?!” Snips exclaims. “Uh… are we sure it’s really Sunset Shimmer?” Snails adds. “Well… she seems nicer and not eviler… but maybe mirror world Sunset Shimmer is actually nice and she’s just pretending to be mean to trick us!” “Can we please not make a big deal out of every single time I don’t feel like yelling at you two? I’m starving and would rather eat and start studying than deal with your inane prattle all evening!” “Well… she still sounds like, Sunset Shimmer…” Snails says. I irritably reach for a menu and start scanning it. “Just figure out what you both want to eat before you give me enough time to figure out how to discreetly poison it.” Not that I’d actually do that here. Too many people have seen us together and the evidence would certainly point back to me… Also, I guess I kinda, sorta don’t want to kill off the only two people I know I can count on. Even if they are unbelievably irritating. The two look at each other and shrug. They pick up a menu and begin looking it over. “Should we do mozzarella sticks again?” Snips asks. “How about French fries?” Snails replies. They’re splitting an appetizer, a telltale sign that they’re broke. Typical. I sigh as I look up from my menu and address the two idiots, “Look… since you two actually managed to find the book I was looking for the most, dinner is on me.” Both Snips and Snails look at me in disbelief. “Really?!” I roll my eyes. “Yes, really.” I’m not sure if I’ll ever quite get the hang of being nice, but I’m at least getting the hang of repaying a favor. The two still seem to be in some sort of state of disbelief that makes them slower to act than usual. “Can we order dessert, too?” Snips asks. “Yeah! Dessert!” Snails adds excitedly. “Fine! Whatever! Just stop talking, already!” “… And you sure you’re not some sort of pod person trying to replace Sunset Shimmer?” Snips asks. Snails nods in agreement. I glower across the table at the pair of nitwits. “I’m trying to give all this friendship stuff a chance! Please don’t make me regret it!” “Wow! Thanks, Sunset Shimmer!” Snips says with a smile. “Yeah! Thanks!” Snails says as he also smiles. “You really are turning over a new leaf!” Snips says. “You, maybe you should try helping out at the next bake sale!” Snails suggests. “I’m just trying to be a little nicer!” I explain as I hold up my fingers to signify a small amount. “I’m not trying to reinvent myself into some sort of goody-goody!” Not to mention I currently have more pressing matters to work out than changing my image. I can worry about what the school body of Canterlot High thinks about me after I’m sure this thing inside me won’t kill me or turn around and kill the school body. Neither is ideal even if either one would solve the whole issue of what the school thinks of me. Snips and Snails shrugs and go back to picking out something to eat, both enjoying the rare freedom of getting their own menu without having to agree on a single, cheap dish. I spend most of dinner going over my new books and ordering a few online as well as purchasing digital copies. Between the books I have, my tablet, and my laptop back home I should be able to get some decent cross examination going tonight. I’d say the three of us enjoy a pleasant evening of dining together, but it’s actually a lot of me telling my idiot minions to be quiet as I try to absorb a plethora of unfamiliar phrases and information and eat pasta at the same time. Still, it feels oddly routine. It’s somehow comforting that my life hasn’t completely changed… yet. After the two finish their desserts they feel compelled to thank me. “Thanks, Sunset Shimmer!” Snails says. “That was really friendly of you,” he says with a grin. “Yeah! Friendly.” “Yeah, yeah,” I say dismissively without bothering to look up from my book. “Don’t get used to it.” “We should do this again sometime,” Snips says. “It was kinda fun not having to follow anyone around and take videos of them… even if we have gotten some pretty funny videos!” “Hehe, yeah,” Snails agrees. “Fun for you two nimrods, maybe,” I shoot back. “I’m the one who has to keep you both in line!” Also, there’s a better than not chance my life is actually at stake here. I’m sure they’d focus a bit more if I told them that, but I’m not desperate enough to start letting anyone know I might actually have a real demon inside me. “Awww, cheer up, Sunset Shimmer!” Snails says. “It’s not all bad.” I cock an eyebrow at him. “It’s pretty bad! I turned into a demon and then mind controlled pretty much the entire school!” Guess I’m still preoccupied with Friday night… Neither of them had even brought it up…not directly, at least. “In fact, you two should probably avoid being seen with me at school. You were already unpopular enough as it was… Actually hanging around with me would probably kill any chances you two have of recovering from this… or worse…” Geez, I must be getting sentimental here. I’m actually looking out for these two idiots. The two idiots exchange quick glances and look back at me. “Awww, we’d never leave you alone, Sunset,” Snips says. Snails shakes his head back and forth. “Yeah, never.” Uh… wow… wasn’t expecting that. I quickly stand up, push my sunglasses down over my eyes before either of them can see me get teary, and use some of the money Snips and Snails returned to me to pay for the meal plus tip, keeping track of the amount was fairly trivial. “Uh, fine, whatever… It’s your social lives,” I say quickly. “What do I care if you both screw it up?” Snips smiles at me. “Oh, I made this for you,” he says as he opens his book of different colored paper and slides a perfectly cut and constructed rendition of my cutie mark on a sheet of magenta paper towards me. I was wondering why the little twerp was staring at my chest more than usual tonight. “Yeah!” Snails chimes in “And I made you a drawing!” Snails sails says as he hands me a sketch of a surprisingly well-drawn cartoon Snail, not unlike the one on his shirt, that’s smiling happily back at me. I calmly take both pieces of paper, stare at them, and carefully… “Hic… sniff… heehhh…” … completely loose it. I manage to keep my touched sobs to a dull roar, but the sunglasses can’t really hide that I’m bawling my eyes out here. “Aww, don’t cry, Sunset Shimmer,” Snips says. “Yeah, don’t cry,” Snails adds. Damn it you idiots, you’re not really supposed to talk when these sorts of situations happen… You two are as bad as Pinkie… They both get up and wrap comforting arms around me as I wrap an arm around each of them and continue to emit a series of rather pathetic sounds. Damn it, why do they have to care? It would be so much easier if they abandoned me. If Twilight and her friends abandoned me. IF the whole frickin’ world just abandoned me. Okay, yeah… I wouldn’t be crying right now if I weren’t happy they all actually seem to care, but I still wish I wasn’t making a scene at my favorite restaurant. “Don’t worry Sunset, it’ll be okay,” Snails assures. I want so desperately to believe that, but I know things aren’t over yet between me and demon me. I’ve only begun to make any sort of progress and it’s incredibly unlikely I’m going to sort everything out before I need some sleep. “Yeah… sure…” I say sheepishly as I break our touching embrace. “Uh… look… I’ll meet you both outside… “ “Sure, Sunset Shimmer!” Snips says cheerfully. “Yeah! Sure!” Snails says. “Uh… hold onto these, will you?” I say as I hand Snips the items he and Snails presented to me. “Hehe, no problem!” Snips replies as he carefully takes the sheet from me. I quickly collect my things walk away and head for the ladies bathroom. I walk in and look at myself in the mirror. Thankfully I’m not wearing a ton of makeup or anything, but I’m still a bit of a mess. I set about fixing myself in front of the mirror. That was embarrassing. Touching, but embarrassing. I’m really not used to this having people care about me… like really caring. Despite that, I can’t seem to help but crave it at the moment. Maybe it has something to do with the magic, rainbow, friendship beams I got shot full off? That would certainly be a convenient, if unsatisfying, explanation. Then again, I’ve also begin to realize there was something hollow about the type of attention I was seeking before. This whole experience made me realize that no one really cared about me… Okay, Snips and Snails apparently did, but I hadn’t figured that out until now… Celestia seems to care, but I’m sure that’s just out of a feeling of obligation for me as her student. Guess most of Twilight’s friends don’t quite care yet… though there is one possible exception… On that note, I hear a beep from my handbag and quickly dig out my phone. PartyHard: You okay? :{ ShimmeringBeauty: Fine. Why wouldn’t I be? PartyHard: Oh! Well, I was just randomly thinking about you, and I decided, :O ‘OMG! Maybe a quick one card reading would let me know how you’re doing!’ :) so I broke out my Tarot deck and pulled a random card! It was the five of cups! And I was all like ‘WTH!’ Can you believe it?! :{ I mean, there are worse cards but definitely happier ones, too! So I thought something must have happened  and then I decided to text you to see if everything is  okay, but then you said you were fine,  so maybe the card was wrong or I’m misreading it? @_@ ShimmeringBeauty: You type fast. PartyHard: :) lol. Tanks! ;P ShimmeringBeauty: Also, ‘WTH’? PartyHard: ‘What the Heck’ ;) ShimmeringBeauty: You’re actually censoring an acronym? PartyHard: Well, the other one is hecka rude! >_> ShimmeringBeauty: I see. I’m fine, alright? I’ll see you tomorrow, okay? PartyHard: Are you sure you’re ok? /:-| ShimmeringBeauty: Totally. PartyHard: Well… okie-dokie-lokie. :) Just remember we’re all here if you need to talk. ;) ShimmeringBeauty: Don’t worry. I’ll keep that in mind. PartyHard: That’s all I wanted to know! ^_^ See you tomorrow! XOXOXOXOXO ShimmeringBeauty: Yeah. See you tomorrow. I put my phone back and leave the restroom. I’m not ready to trust any of Twilight’s friends. Not even Pinkie Pie who hasn’t let up on her efforts to befriend me despite already making lots of headway there yesterday. Still, it’s an option if I get desperate. To satisfy my curiosity, I quickly break into my own Tarot deck and pick out the card she pulled for me. The Five of Cups, a cloaked figure stands regarding three fallen cups while two upright cups sit behind him. There’s a river and a castle past that in the background.  The guide that came with my cards suggests loss with something left over with a fixation on the loss part. Huh… not sure the two idiots outside are great recompense for having my dreams crushed, but maybe there’s something to the card… I mean… they’re better than nothing…   I walk outside and Snips and Snails are waiting for me again, this time a bit more patiently than before. “Sorry,” I offer as I walk up to them, “I had to respond to one of Pinkie’s stupid texts.” “We weren’t gonna ask…” Snails says. “Yeah uh… we agreed we wouldn’t say anything…”  Snips adds. Touching, but I’m all cried out for the day. “Well, now you know anyways. Come on… I have another chore I need to do and more reading to do,” I say flatly. “Guess you idiots can keep my company a little longer…” I say as I do my best to keep my cheeks from flushing. Snips and Snails exchange a quick grin. “Sure, Sunset Shimmer. Whatever you say,” Snips says. “Yeah, whatever.” I shake my head and try to conceal the tiniest of grins. Idiots. A bus ride later and I pick up a couple new pair of bed sheets to hopefully keep my from the constant horrors of going to the laundry room on top of the constant horrors I’m already dealing with. Snips and Snails can at least help me carry all this stuff some of the way home. Another bus ride and we part ways. I manage to avoid any more touchy feely nonsense, however I do ask for the cutout of my cutie mark and picture of the snail… One last bus ride and I’m home. I set up shop at my desk and pour over the books and try to absorb as much as possible, breaking once to hang up the things Snips and Snails made for me. I mean… there’s basically nothing on my walls anymore, I have to put something up. … Shut up. Anyhow, it looks like a few trinkets and miscellaneous things might come in handy here, a silver ring, an iron ring, incense, salt, medals that sport various names or images of divine beings, etc... It would help if I could figure out if I was dealing with a specific demon, also if said demon wasn’t inhabiting me. The books don’t seem to really deal with self-exorcisms. There is, in fact, a guide online on how to perform an exorcism. It’s a bit more based in faith than ritual then I’m strictly comfortable with, but I guess I can always try it in front of a mirror once I have a few more items. I stifle a yawn and look over at my clock. It’s getting late and have a lunch date with Twilight’s friends at school tomorrow. Let’s hope the rest of the school lets me live that long. Let’s hope the thing inside me lets me live that long. Though, it seems the demon is more interesting in some form of cooperation… or breaking me down until I don’t have a choice. Uhg… a hollow form of acceptance or not, I think I’m starting to miss fussing over trivial dances, it’s not like the stakes were particularly high if I screwed up. I wrap up my research for the night, get changed, and attempt to mentally prepare myself for another round of getting made fun of for losing my cool… Also, you know, probably getting stabbed multiple times or sliced up before dying horrifically and waking up covered in sweat. Hmmm… You know, it just occurred to me that I don’t know if it’s only my bed that triggers my little spiritual journey to the land of brimstone and getting murdered or if it the act of trying to sleep. I just assumed it was the latter. I guess it couldn’t hurt too much to experiment here. I mean… what do I have to lose? I snag a pillow from my bed and break into one of the new sets of sheets. I quickly setup the couch for an experiment sleep session, lay down, pull the sheets over me, lay my head on my pillow, and close my eyes. It still amazes me how fast the smell of sulfur hits me.