“I’m too young to go to summer school,” Sunset groaned.
The look on Velvet’s face was sympathetic. “I understand, dear, but Tia told me that if you really want to go to college, you need to improve your grades, and summer school is the best way.” After all, the conversation that Velvet had with Celestia started innocently enough; the former had taken the latter out to lunch for her birthday, and during the course the meal, the conversation between the two women ultimately ended up on Sunset, in particular the teen’s appearance last week at Celestia’s office to ask what she could do to improve her grades to get into college. After admitting to Velvet that it wasn’t something that Sunset had asked for prior, Luna and Celestia spoke with Sunset’s teachers to see where the teen’s academic standing was. That Saturday, the sisters had dinner with Night and Velvet to explain the improving-yet-still-abysmal grades Sunset had and what she could do to at least make it into a mid-level university.
Truthfully, Celestia had explained, it was going to be a mixed bag: while Luna was acting as Canterlot High’s summer school principal, Celestia – who was serving as the assistant superintendent for the school district’s summer school system – would help tutor Sunset when she could. With the help of both women, as well as Sunset’s own recent desire to change her scholastic status, she still had a chance to catch up. Unfortunately, that also meant that Sunset would miss the family’s planned vacation to Italy in a few weeks. As Shining and Cadance were planning to get married in the town of Vincigiliata, Italy, where Cadance’s family was from, just about everyone involved was going. As far as Velvet was concerned, however, the fact that Sunset would not get to travel would be a huge shame considering her recent and coincidental interest in the Castello di Cavalcanti and its history.
Sunset sighed. “Well, I wasn’t going to be doing much travelling anyway, since I don’t have a passport and you made these plans well before I came into your lives,” she told them. A part of her was depressed at being unable to go, as now that she’d had a taste of travel when she went to Los Angeles back in March, she wanted to see more of her adopted homeworld at large. It’s funny: nine months ago I wouldn’t have really cared about any of this, since if it didn’t lead to power, it didn’t mean a damn thing to me. But now, I want to go, just for the experience. She realized this was just another way in how much she’d changed in the past year.
In his chair, Night shifted uneasily, as if trying to find a positive spin on things. Giving up, he gave the closest he could. “Well, if it’s any consolation, you’ll be here for Tavi when she needs it to the most,” he told her. “Remember that her parents are moving to Paris at the end of August, so she’s got a lot on her mind as well. Heck, that reminds me that I’ve got to talk to the contractor sometime tomorrow and make sure all the paperwork’s been completed so we can make the necessary changes to the house.”
But seeing the look of disappointment on Sunset’s face made Velvet equally dour. “I promise that I’ll make this up to you, somehow,” the older woman told the younger. “I know going probably would have meant a lot to you.”
“You don’t have to,” Sunset assured them, feeling slightly guilty. “You all do so much for me, and I don’t deserve it.”
Night shook his head. “Sunny, you’re a part of this family, and I think Vel would agree with me when I say that we wish you didn’t have to miss moments like this. As far as I know, the only place that you’ve ever been outside of the Canterlot metro is LA, correct?”
Well, other than coming from an entirely different dimension? Not really, no. “If I ever have, I don’t recall: I was either too young, or my mind might be blocking something.”
“I wish you would tell us more about where you came from, dear. I understand they’re probably painful memories, but we want you to be happy,” Velvet insisted.
“And if you’re afraid of someone coming back to get you, that’s not going to happen,” Night insisted. “You’ll stay with us no matter what.”
“I just wish I could remember,” Sunset said in a mock-frustrated tone, hating every syllable of that lie. Her friends all understood why she was doing it; even Applejack, a stickler for honesty, sympathized with Sunset for being unable to tell her loved ones the truth, but if she did, who would believe it? It wasn’t as though unicorns were commonplace; much less ones that had decided to live their lives as teenage humans. “Even if I could, though,” she continued, “I’d rather just forget about it. If anyone was really looking for me, they would have said something by now.” If nothing else, Sunset knew her next words were at least true: “I’m an unwanted orphan, with nothing to go back to.”
Velvet rose from her seat, going into the kitchen to pour herself more tea. “I hope you realize that you’re not unwanted, Sunny – you have us,” she replied. “But even still, I would hope that there’s someone out there looking for you: a relative of some stripe, maybe even one of your parents, who loves and misses you.” There was a slight catch in Velvet’s voice as she spoke the words, but as Sunset was lost in her own thoughts, she never heard it.
“If that were true, she would have found me by now.” Sunset repressed a shudder; she knew the only reason she still remained alive was that Princess Twilight had prioritized the saving of her crown over bringing back Equestria’s most notorious criminal. But I came too close to Princess Twilight bringing me back there in chains and a hobble.
Night said, “But no matter what, you have a home with us – don’t ever think otherwise. Now, before we end this, is there anything else we need to talk about?” At once, Sunset was about to open her mouth as if to speak, but in the end just nodded silently. At that, both parents knew what was coming next, and decided to tackle it head on.
Velvet ran a finger around the rim of her teacup; it was an ingrained habit she often performed when discussing uneasy issues with her children. “I know you’re worried about Twily; we all are, to a degree. But I can promise you that this is just a phase that most girls go through. I can’t tell you the number of case files I have where some girl went through something like this and oftentimes it’s stupid. I know you can’t understand it, but that’s because you had a much more…stringent…youth, shall we say. But girls at your age often do stupi—”
“But she didn’t do something stupid!” Sunset cried. “She shattered the bathroom mirror, cut herself up, carved weird-ass runes in the wall, then painted on the wall in her blood – and then tried to drown herself! Doesn’t that sound a little out of the ordinary?”
“It does,” Velvet replied patiently, “on the surface. And I will admit, with many of the other things Twily’s done as of late, were it any other girl it would sound very much like a cry for help worth being concerned about. But you have to remember: I am well-versed in these things, and even if I wasn’t, I had the, er, ‘luck’ to grow up with Tia and Lulu back in San Diego. Tia and I had to deal with the absurdity of Luna’s ‘Nightmare Moon’ phase, complete with the black makeup, lousy clothing, and singing the Sex Pistols at the top of her lungs. Thankfully, she eventually grew out of it.” A second later, Velvet added, “Well, after the broken arm and Tia being grounded for the better half of eternity, but that’s beside the point.”
“Also, we’ve talked to Twily’s teachers,” Night added, “and while she’s been falling asleep in class and even failed a test as of late, they also note when some of their students are going through spells like this. It’s not even going to count against her grades, since she’s so far ahead of everyone else in her classes, the teacher considered the failed test a practical joke on her part and didn’t even count it.”
“But—”
“Sunset, while it warms my heart that you’re very concerned for her well-being, the worst that’s going to happen is that we’ll go into her room one day and find a joint or two. While we’ll certainly be disappointed, I’m not going to lie and say I’d be completely surprised.”
I would, Sunset thought, though she didn’t say a word.
“Well, it’s late, and you’ve got school tomorrow; you should probably call it a night. Oh, and don’t forget that Night, Spike and I will be leaving early tomorrow, so you and Twily are on your own for breakfast,” Velvet told her.
“Got it. I’ll call Fluttershy in the morning and see if she can give me a lift. She’s been dying to give her car a spin since her mother got her one for her birthday.” Sunset got up from the table, kissing her foster parents on the cheeks. “G’night.”
As she headed up the stairs, Sunset didn’t even bother to walk to Twilight’s room to check on her foster sister; after all, for the past few weeks, it hadn’t really been used. Instead, Sunset went to the bathroom, took care of her personal needs, brushed her teeth and washed her face, then looked at the new mirror – she really preferred the older one, but it was out of stock at Home Depot – and glanced at the plastered over scratches on the wall that would need to be painted over.
With that, then she went into her room, which already had a light on and a familiar form within the sheets.
“Twily…for the umpteenth time, please try sleeping in your own bed. Not that I mind you being here, but…this isn’t healthy,” Sunset said, sitting down next to her foster sister in what she already knew was a futile effort. It hadn’t worked the first time, or the second, or the third. Finally, when she put her foot down, Twilight just slept outside her door, hoping that being just around Sunset would be enough to keep the monsters in her mind at bay.
But for now, she sat there on the bed, looking haggard, as if she was almost as old as Sunset actually was. Her eyes were puffy and rimmed with dark bags underneath them, and her hair looked shaggy and unkempt. If anything, a casual viewer would have thought that it was Sunset that had lived a life here in the house on Golden Oaks and Twilight a refugee from the long-demolished warehouse. She finally turned to look at Sunset, with wild, fearful eyes, her normally beautiful violet orbs mere dots of fear. “Can I—”
“Sis, just…look, I have a test tomorrow, and I need my sleep,” the flame-haired girl began, knowing it was a lost cause the moment she opened her mouth. “Nobody’s goi—”
“NO!” Twilight yelped. “You don’t understand! Every night – every Goddamn night – it’s looking at me! If I close my eyes, it’s going to kill me! I know it!”
“Twily, I—”
“Please!” Twilight looked at Sunset, utter fear in her eyes. What the hell was going on that was utterly destroying her…and why the hell weren’t their parents worried about it? Likewise, talking to Cadance and Shining hadn’t been much help either; both of them were so focused on other things going on in their lives – Cadance had a large case she was working on for the DA’s office, while the case that Shining was assisting the Red Bluff PD with had just gotten bigger, so he was completely absorbed by that. Even Octavia, who’d been incredibly stressed out, wasn’t over much, preferring to spend as much time with her parents before they moved overseas.
More and more, Sunset felt she was the only one dealing with Twilight’s currently shattering mind…and she was well in over her head.
Thankfully she had one last card to play, one she’d been working towards…and tonight she was going to deal that card.
It was the last thing that Sunset owned that tied her to Equestria: a grimoire she’d brought with her as a failsafe. For years she’d kept it not at the warehouse she’d called home, but at school, in her locker, where she disguised it as just another one of her textbooks. But to the person who could undo the glamor charm on it – and not likely anyone present – they would be holding a copy of the Clavicula Stella Cano, the legendary spell book compiled by Star Swirl himself. Even hundreds of years later, the grand majority of these spells were the most powerful ones around and only the highest-level unicorns could cast them…even if her former nemesis, the alicorn Twilight Sparkle, had probably made a few obsolete with her own creations.
Sunset’s copy had been a gift from Celestia – another thing that brought her guilt nowadays; the fact that she was about to use one of its most powerful spells on the human Twilight Sparkle was another point of anxiety. Even still, it was just the fun of being up at three in the morning on a Wednesday to see if this last ditch effort would succeed.
Okay, let’s see if I got this right, Sunset thought to herself. Laid in a five-point pattern around the room were the five stones she needed for this spell. In Equestria, she wouldn’t have need of the stones, as her magic alone would have sufficed. But here on Earth, where things were vastly different, she had to improvise: she charged five “gems” with her magic over the course of the week, waiting until the full moon, when she was at her magical apex, to perform the actual spell. Of course, she was already heavily improvising; as there were few gems that were even as remotely as pure as Equestrian ones here on Earth – and those that were cost an enormous fortune – she had to use surrogates. The diamond was a ring that Twilight had received from her grandmother two years ago yet rarely wore. The ruby was from a brooch that Velvet once owned and had since given to Sunset as the woman thought it looked better on her. The amethyst was from one of Cadance’s earrings that she’d luckily left by accident the week before. The emerald was the easiest: it was a large, unpolished stone that Night used as a paperweight in his home office and had been a gift from a Brazilian professor he’d once met. But it was the sapphire she was unsure would work: it was the screen from her cellphone, which might be a synthetic sapphire and thus completely unsuitable. Still, her phone held the magic charge, so she hoped it would work.
On the bed, as still as could be, was Twilight. Sunset had used yet another sleeping spell on her, but that wasn’t helping – a sleep spell offered neither the clarity of REM sleep nor the refreshment of delta pattern slumber; it was in essence no real difference from keeping one’s eyes closed for hours on end, and in Twilight’s case it only served to worsen her situation. But after this last spell, hopefully this would end the crisis tearing her apart for once and for all.
Closing her eyes and focusing on the moon, Sunset’s hands began to glow with the cyan power of her birthright. Bidden by her magic, the gems began glowing as well, five celeste fireflies in a room otherwise lit by the white of the moon. Blobs of magic began to break off from her aura and the gems, settling on Twilight and eventually covering her in a translucent sheen of aqua, which soon vanished as it melded with her. The spell had taken an agonizing hour to accomplish vice the normal fifteen minutes, and from the dampness of her brow, even with all the factors in her favor there was still no guarantee this would work.
Still, Nimble Nebula’s Nonpareil Nightmare Nullifier has to work – it’s the strongest anti-night terror spell there is! This spell wasn’t meant to be used on children afraid of what was under the bed or even psychiatric patients suffering from noctophasmophobia. No, this spell was meant to repel a direct mental assault that the target of the spell was under; according to notes she’d written years ago, the last known case of the spell’s use was three hundred years ago in Trottingham, when Celestia’s archmage Wisteria the Wise used it to defend a young filly from a coven of windigos that were using her to return to the mortal realm. While Sunset was certain that wasn’t the case, here, something else could be attacking Twily and it was better to use the spell and overreach than not.
Finally, as the spell completed, Sunset put the equipment away, slipped her phone into its charger and crawled into bed, hoping to get at least a couple of hours of sleep. It would take a couple of days to make sure if the spell had worked. But if it did, Sunset could sleep soundly knowing that she’d saved her foster sister.
Breakfast just a few hours later was, not surprisingly, strained and quiet. Night had to leave early, as he had a budget meeting first thing in the morning with the university’s penny-pinchers. As Spike’s class was going on a field trip today, he and Velvet had already left, opting to eat on the way. Octavia’s parents would be by in thirty minutes to pick Twilight up; and as for Sunset, she confirmed Fluttershy was on the way.
As Sunset wandered into the kitchen, she saw Twilight, with her head down, staring at her bowl of cereal. That in itself dampened Sunset’s spirits; the plum-haired girl had been doing this frequently since this whole ordeal began. Nuking a couple of breakfast Hot Pockets, Sunset sat down across from Twilight and said, “Hey, you ok—”
“No.” The sound was cold and empty. “I…I dreamt last night that the creature was back. And that instead of trying to kill me directly, it made five…monsters out of jewels. They…they…they tore me apart.” Tears started to stream down Twilight’s cheeks. “I…I can’t take this anymore, Sunny. I just can’t.”
“Twily, it was just a dream,” Sunset said, restraining the urge to cry as she realized the spell had failed. Her strongest effort against the darkness assaulting Twilight’s mind and she failed. She’d tried everything that she had at her disposal, based on years of training under the second-most powerful alicorn in existence and whatever she’d gleaned from her time on the human world, and yet nothing had helped…and she knew time was running out for Twilight.
She was going to need some help with this…and that was going to be the hardest thing of all.
“I need your help.”
Sunset found herself that afternoon at the Equestria County Children’s Center, over in the eastern neighborhood of Maybrook. The building served both as the county’s orphanage and an administrative center for processing foster children through Equestria County’s social services system. If things had turned out differently, Sunset knew, she’d have found herself here as yet another ward of the state, seeing the woman that was her foster mother only from a distance and not with the full warmth Sunset had received this past year. Seeing the children of various ages here gather around the volunteers made Sunset appreciate all the more how lucky she was.
“Trixie will be right with you,” the girl with the hair a delicate shade of Alice-blue said over her shoulder, just before she turned back to speak to the children present with warmth in her voice, “And that’s all the magic that The Great and Powerful Trixie has for the day. But remember: if you truly have love in your hearts, someday your dreams will all come true – and that’s the greatest magic of all!” Trixie gave them all an encouraging wink and a smile, and as the boys and girls bounced around, happy as larks the teenage magician stood there, a satisfied look on her face.
But before Sunset could speak again, Trixie raised a finger and stated, “Just one moment while the children depart; Trixie always wants to make sure she answers any questions they might have.” When none stayed to ask anything of her, she then turned to face Sunset. “Sorry about that,” she said, “I just wanted to make sure that the kids have my full attention.”
“No problem,” Sunset replied, “but what’s with the third person? Thought only self-absorbed celebrities did that sort of thing.”
Trixie laughed. “Well, in Trixie’s case, it’s a little something she picked up from her uncle – he said that when doing it on stage, the audience focuses so much on the performer’s flamboyant personality, they don’t catch the cues that presage the actual magic tricks.” But then Trixie’s smile disappeared, and with it went the bravado, leaving behind a shrinking violet of a personality. “So…what brings you here?”
Sunset steeled herself for what she was about to ask. “Like I said…I need your help.”
“No – you don’t need my help. You’re Sunset Shimmer, after all: former bully gone good-girl that everyone else turns to when they’re down. You certainly don’t need my help at all.”
“Yes I do – you knew in a heartbeat what the Gematria meant, but I didn’t. And while I just happen to know what Gematria is, I’m not versed in it and I don’t have time to sit there for days to learn everything the hard way. I have a growing crisis on my hands – one of a personal nature – that I need help with, and you’re the only one I know who can do that!”
Trixie suddenly found something more interesting towards her feet as she added via mumble, “Perhaps Lyra would be of more use?” The shakiness in her voice sounded too much like Fluttershy’s, save that Sunset knew her friend would come through when needed – she had no confirmation Trixie would. “Lyra and I grew up together and she’s been around my mother enough to memorize a lot of the same things I know. It could even be said she’s the better choice since she actually believes the stuff my mother taught her an—”
“No, it has to be you,” the flame-haired girl interjected. “Don’t get me wrong: Lyra’s smart, but Bon-Bon hates me for something I did back then – and she’s not likely going to forgive me anytime soon – so I don’t want to cause any friction between her and Lyra. So it has to be you, Trixie. Please.”
“I can recommend others,” Trixie said nervously, now looking around for an escape route. “Perhaps Velvet Beret, or Novaburst—”
Sunset then did something she’d never thought she’d do in her life: she got down on her knees to beg. “Please – I’m begging you. I can’t stress how important this is! Fuck, I’ll pay you, hook you up with a date, whatever – anything short of sleeping with you—”
“Look, just because my best friend is a lesbian doesn’t mean I am,” Trixie retorted.
“And I didn’t mean it that way; sorry if I offended you.” Sunset sighed. “I…this is important to me, Trixie, and truthfully? It’s not easy for me to rely on someone outside my circle of friends. I know I still have a lot of enemies, people who will never forgive me. Maybe you’re even one of them – Lyra didn’t think you were – and I’m making a huge mistake. But I have to do this. I don’t have a choice.”
“Just…please, get up,” Trixie said, gazing to and fro, but this time in the hope that nobody was looking. She then fell silent as Sunset got back to her feet, and was quiet for so long, Sunset wondered if the other girl was merely trying to find the nicest way to turn her down. But then Trixie opened her mouth, cautiously. “Okay, I’ll help you, but on one condition.”
There was no hesitancy on Sunset’s part. “Name it.”
There was a tiny, hopeful smile on the smaller girl’s face. “I heard about a magic trick you did back in December for a children’s performance – something involving manipulation of images?”
Sunset relaxed slightly. Oh, the magical constructs. Thankfully, Sunset had done some research to cover herself in that department should a valid explanation be required, and had found a reasonable answer, all thanks to Velvet’s preference for watching foreign films. “Oh, it’s a paper folding technique based on Chinese bian lian theater. I had a mentor who learned the art as a child and she taught me years ago.” Reaching into her back pocket, Sunset quickly prepped a spell, then pulling out her hand quickly with a flick of her wrist and an audible snap, she produced a poster-size paper, multiple folds and all, before Trixie. Hopefully, she won’t touch it, or else she’ll find out there’s nothing there but pocket lint with a glamor charm on it. But before Trixie could reach out, she reversed the process, adding, “I could probably perform full Chinese mask opera if I wanted, but I’m just happy enough for making it seem like I can pull images out of thin air.”
“Wow,” Trixie said excitedly. “I figured there was a wrist technique involved, but I had no idea you could do it with things that big!”
“Well, if you help me with my issue, I’d be more than happy to teach you the technique.”
“Deal!” Trixie chirped.
Twenty minutes later, the pair departed Dark Roast’s Java Joint. Sunset had concocted another story in order to explain her situation to Trixie and now she was starting to feel like a black widow in the center of a massive spider web composed of nothing but falsehoods and deception. But she was willing to do just about anything short of returning to the person she’d been if it meant saving Twilight; she might feel horrible about it afterwards and there would most certainly be repercussions for her actions, but better that than watching the person she was closest to fall apart bit by bit.
“So, let me see if I have this straight,” Trixie said, switching her frozen mocha from one hand to the other. “Your sister is under some sort of psychological delusion left over from the, uh, ‘events’ from a couple months back and her psychiatrist thinks it’s a coping mechanism based on magic?”
“Yeah,” Sunset said; at least her emotional distress regarding the situation was real enough.
“But as in real magic? That Age of Aquarius, New Age, Lord of the Rings kind of stuff?” The tone in Trixie’s voice was odd, to say the least.
Sunset nodded, uttering a faked laugh; she felt sick about not telling the truth, as though it was a precursor for returning to the bad old days – something she was vehemently against doing. “Yeah, funny, huh? You and I know that magic’s just finger tricks and various stagecraft, yet when someone mentions Gematria or brings a Ouija board to school for fun, it’s been making Twily freak out, which is why the doctor thinks it has something to do with magic, mysticism, or something like that.”
“Ouch, sorry to hear that,” Trixie replied sympathetically. “Well, even if I hadn’t wanted to know that Chinese folding trick, I’d still have helped regardless – can’t turn down that kind of request.”
“The bian lian? I’d have taught you if you just asked,” Sunset said, then took a drink from her own frozen mocha, the taste of white chocolate and raspberries a balm for her situation at the moment.
“But I’ll be glad to help, though to be honest, I’m not sure how much assistance I can be,” Trixie replied. “I mean, while I enjoy helping Uncle Presto with the research, and I love performing, I’m not exactly sure I’m ever going to perform on Broadway. For starters, most of the stuff I know, well, is just knowledge – while it might make me invaluable to fantasy, horror, and occult writers, it’s not exactly useful for practical skills.” Trixie took another drink of her mocha before adding, “Besides, if I have to be honest? What you said last year about me being a braggart on stage but with less of a spine than Fluttershy? You might have meant it in spite back then, and you might not even mean it anymore…but you weren’t exactly lying.”
What little smile there was on Sunset’s face vanished as she realized a comment she’d made when she was nothing more than a virtual monster on the verge of becoming a literal one now came back to haunt her. Bad enough that she’d already learned in several ways when her own actions eventually bit her in the ass – the scar she still carried from last November’s attack would be a lifetime reminder – but now, something she’d said was going to do far more damage than she’d ever expected…because it wasn’t her that was going to suffer, it was Twilight.
“Trixie,” Sunset began, knowing she had to tread carefully, “don’t take what I said back then seriously. I may have meant what I said…but I was wrong. This past year? It’s been an eye-op—” She never got to finish her sentence as it was suddenly cut off via a fist across the face. The flame-haired girl crumpled to the ground, her iced mocha becoming a wet stain on her shirt.
“Trying to turn another one of my friends against me, Shimmer?” an angry voice snarled. Sunset looked up at the speaker, and standing there with a haughty look on her face was one very angry Vietnamese-American girl with soft curls almost perfectly split between cobalt and fuchsia.
Wiping what was probably blood from her lips, Sunset looked back at the girl dully. “Guess I deserved that one,” Sunset muttered.
“You deserve much worse,” Bon-Bon replied as she narrowed her eyes. “Now get up – unlike you, I prefer to fight fairly.”
To Sunset, the irony was palpable. “Fair is sucker-punching me when I don’t expect it?”
“Trust me, you deserve much worse,” Bon-Bon said, flexing her fist. “And I aim to show you just that.”
To the surprise of both, Trixie stepped between the two combatants, asking, “Bonnie? What’s going on?”
“Trix, stay out of this – it’s between me and her,” Bon-Bon seethed as she slid into a stance. Sunset recognized it as a martial arts stance of some kind; after lying to Shining about having training, she then spent some time watching the Apple siblings practice TKD in their backyard so she could at least pick up a little bit about it. But whatever art it was, it wasn’t one that Sunset was even remotely familiar with.
Well, time to get this over with, Sunset mused sadly as she stood up and dusted herself off. She really didn’t want a fight, but she wasn’t about to let Bon-Bon get in the way of stopping her from helping Twilight. “I don’t suppose an ‘I’m sorry’ is going to clear things up, is it?”
“As if I’d believe you anyway, you lying sack of crap,” Bon-Bon retorted. “Besides, even if you did, it’s too little, too late.” Then, in a kinder tone, she said to Trixie, “Trixie, please move. I don’t want you getting hurt because of her.”
But to both girls’ surprise, Trixie continued to stand her ground. “Not until you tell me what’s going on! Bonnie, I just want to help!”
“Do you remember when I had all those guys hounding me around this time last year?” Bon-Bon said in a smoldering voice. She then pointed a finger at Sunset and accused, “Because she told everyone I was Sweetie Drops!”
“Who?”
Sunset facepalmed. Not one of my better moments. Sighing, she said, “Sweetie Drops, if I recall correctly, is the professional name of Tính từ Kẹo, a Vietnamese, uh….”
“Go ahead and say it, you skank,” Bon-Bon seethed. “You didn’t seem to have a problem saying it when you were telling every guy in school!” Another thought came to her and she added, “I have to wonder if you were going to get me involved with that shit back in January!”
That pushed a button for Sunset. “You really don’t want to piss me off right now, Bon-Bon,” Sunset warned. “I’m trying to apologize for what I did, but don’t you dare accuse me of being part of The Club.”
“You even know the name! That should prove you’re with them! Do you know how many girls got sc—”
“Shut the hell up! You know nothing about the shit I had to go through to save my family and friends!” Sunset snarled. Getting up as close as she could to Bon-Bon without pushing Trixie out of the way, the flame-haired girl snarled, “This is a subject you want to drop, or else I will drop you.”
At that point, Bon-Bon lost her temper. “Drop this!” she shouted, throwing a fist without thinking. Unfortunately, Trixie was still in the way, and by the time the confectioner had realized it, pulling it back was going to be too late—
—so it surprised everyone when Sunset was suddenly in front of Trixie in a flash, holding Bon-Bon’s fist in her hand, an inch away from Trixie’s face. “Punching without thinking? Some friend you are.”
“I wasn’t aiming for her!” Bon-Bon cried, a little shocked at losing her temper to the point where her friend – her girlfriend’s best friend – could have been seriously hurt. “I was trying to hurt you!”
“You can’t do that,” Sunset replied in an empty, sober tone, “because I feel it every Goddamn day for what I’ve done. The Club’s activities back in January? One of my best friends, my cousin, and my sister were affected by that! All you got was a little worried because of that earlier mix-up – which I wholeheartedly admit was my fault – but I had much worse! My ex-boyfriend, who I might add, was cheating on me the whole time we were together, tried to drug my sister so he could have his way with her!”
Sunset then used the opportunity to get straight into Bon-Bon’s face. “You want to hit me? Fine – I’ve already been stabbed by Gilda and Lightning Dust, since you remember that. And yes, I’m sorry that I compared you to a Vietnamese porn star that almost looks exactly like you, though people don’t seem to quite realize that she lives in Hong Kong! So yes, I’m sorry, and nothing I say or do is going to make you believe me – I’m fine with that, because I’ll never change your mind.
“But.” Sunset ended the word intentionally, giving it emphasis. “I’m here with Trixie trying to find a solution for my sister’s problem. I would do anything for her, and while I know I deserve to be wiped on the floor because of whatever righteous anger you have, I don’t have time to waste. So either hit me now, or get the fuck out of my way. Because if you’re trying to block me while I’m trying to save Twily, there will be two hits: me hitting you and you hitting the ground.”
Bon-Bon, still shocked from nearly hitting her friend inadvertently, looked at Trixie with a mixture of embarrassment and surprise. “What’s going on?”
“Funny,” Trixie said in the shaky tones of someone who had just dodged a bullet, “I seem to recall asking you that, Bonnie.”
Bon-Bon pulled her hand away. “Okay, you have five seconds to explain,” she said to Sunset, “and the clock is ticking.”
The look on Bon-Bon’s face ten minutes later was priceless. “You’re not pulling my leg on this one?”
Sunset sadly shook her head. “No. Part of me thinks I deserve all this for what I did in the past…but I deserve it, not Twily.” And this time, she wasn’t lying. Why wasn’t it me? Why am I not the one being haunted by night terrors? Why won’t whatever it is leave her alone?
“She’s not lying,” Trixie said. “I can read a person pretty well, and unless she’s a sociopath or an actress—”
“My bet’s on ‘sociopath,’” Bon-Bon smirked.
“Bonnie….”
“Fine. Okay, because my friend is sticking up for you, I’ll forgive you. Don’t think this means I trust you, though.” She offered a hand.
“Hey, it’s a start,” Sunset replied, taking and shaking. “But I always thought – no offense – that Lyra was the more mercurial of you two.”
“And the more tomboyish, generally,” Bon-Bon admitted. “But considering you mentioned her, I’m guessing she already forgave you – and while I love that girl of mine, I also have to admit she’s a bit on the naïve side.”
“Well, let’s head to my place,” Trixie replied. “Besides, Lyra’s probably there, since Mom just hired her.”
Bon-Bon facepalmed. “Wait – she got fired from the music store that she worked at? She didn’t tell me that.”
“Well, more like she got laid off when the place went belly up. Besides, Mom and Lyra are two peas in a pod, you know that.”
“I have this funny feeling I’m going to regret this, aren’t I?” Sunset asked.
“Trust me, I’ve known these two since Fourth Grade – I already do,” Bon-Bon groaned.
A couple of minutes later, the trio found themselves in front of a store; specifically, the storefront entrance to Trixie’s home upstairs. During the walk, Sunset and Bon-Bon had talked a bit more and while Bon-Bon still seemed a bit standoffish, naturally, it appeared that one of Sunset’s biggest issues was about to be resolved, much to her relief. Sunset had told Bon-Bon and Trixie about her living situations, for reasons she wasn’t sure of but in retrospect was glad she did. Bon-Bon sympathized a little; while she’d lived her entire life in California peace, her parents and grandparents had come from the old country – her maternal grandfather having been an ARVN general that had participated in the evacuation of Saigon long ago, while her parents had met here in Canterlot.
“Shit.” The look on Bon-Bon’s face was completely different a few minutes later as Sunset finished her explanation. “I…I didn’t know.”
“I didn’t exactly advertise my status as a foster child,” Sunset admitted, “and I’m not about to fall on it as an excuse for what I did in the past. But in any case, apologizing to you has been coming for a long time now.”
“Eh, I slugged you in the face. That should cover it,” Bon-Bon replied breezily.
“So if you’re Vietnamese, what’s with the French name?”
Bon-Bon rolled her eyes. “Well, there’s a reason they used to call it ‘French Indochina’, you know. My parents run a French-style chocolatier down on Butternut Drive. And to be honest, Bon-Bon’s my secondary name – my first name is actually Kẹo Dừa, which is a tongue-tripper if you can’t speak Vietnamese.”
“I…see.” But before she could say anything further, Sunset’s attention was taken up by the painted sign on the storefront window. “Wiccan Wonderland?”
Trixie facepalmed. “I’d say it’s one of my mother’s phases, but…her whole life is a phase,” she groaned. “Mom thought the name was all ‘mystical’ and full of ‘positive vibrations’, but the fact that Wicca practitioners are completely insulted by it doesn’t seem to sink into her mind. Hell, we had Fluffy Bunny come in the other day and demand the store change its name or the local coven is going to boycott the store.”
“Does Velvet Beret know about this? Mrs. Bunny is her mother,” Bon-Bon said.
“I dunno. Either way, Mom’s oblivious and Dad thinks any publicity is good publicity so long as we don’t get our asses sued off.”
“What does your Dad do for a living, anyway?” Sunset asked.
In response, Trixie pointed at the sign on the business next door: CASHFLOW, CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANT & TAX SERVICES. “Dad was the black sheep of the family,” she said with a sly grin. “Never could figure out magic, so he learned out to make magic out of numbers instead. C’mon, let’s go in.”
As the three entered the store, Sunset was immediately assaulted by the bizarre, bric-a-brac nature of the establishment: the store smelled deeply (some would say stank) of myrrh and cardamom. Various small marble and wooden statues of various religions were on shelves, as well as dozens of religious books, most of them not of the Judeo-Christian bent. A group of glass cases arranged in a square in the middle of the store showcased dozens of “enervated” crystals and gems, from the $20 “crystal energies” quartz-and-pewter dragon necklace to a $15000 phone-sized mystic topaz, elegantly faceted and, if Sunset had learned anything from Rarity, worth far more than what the store was actually selling it for.
But before the flame-haired girl could utter a single word, she was immediately embraced/besieged by a woman with long, dirty blonde hair held in place by both a bandana and a ponytail that almost touched the ground. She wore round, rose-tinted glasses and was dressed in a burgundy tangzhuang shirt with beige piping and a free-floating reed-hued skirt. She looked like a bargain basement version of that 70s singer Mystic Gypsy, and, like the store, she reeked of myrrh and cardamom, with a bonus scent of sandalwood as well. “Welcome, welcome! Are you my dearest Beatrix’ paramour?” she said in a lilting, mellifluous voice. Without waiting for an answer, she then turned to Bon-Bon. “Or have you four created a coterie for yourselves? If so, I approve.”
“Mom, Sunset is just a friend!” From the look of frustration on Trixie’s face, it appeared this was an old argument. A second later, as Bon-Bon blanched to Trixie’s mother’s statement, the look pretty much confirmed that.
“Oh, you don’t have to hide it, dear; I’ve always wanted you to express yourself and find your inner soul. And whether you choose Lyra or Bon-Bon or this new girl or decide on an Ishtarine coterie—”
“Mom, for crying out loud, I am not having sex with Lyra, Bon-Bon, or Sunset!”
“Well, dear, you can’t fault a mother for worrying about your late-blooming era. When so many of your peers have already discovered their alpha or lambda selves, it is my duty as your mother to ensure that you are to be united with your overself someday and find the inner peace that we all so very much strive for.”
“What-ever,” Trixie snarked. “Anyway, Mom, this is Sunset Shimmer, a friend from high school. Sunset, this is my mother, Harmonic Convergence.”
“A pleasure to meet you, young Miss Shimmer,” Harmonic said, a smile on her face. “Have you come in search of a crystal? Or perhaps a new Tarot deck? We just received the newest designs from Wheat Grass’ Groovy Arts Collection. Or….” Harmonic bent over, looking at Sunset critically. “Oh, dear, oh, dear.”
“Is there something wrong?” Sunset asked.
Harmonic pulled back, a look of dismay on her face. “Oh, dear – you have no magic within you. I can see it as clear as day: your chakra is completely unaligned, and the moon is moving from the House of Cancer.” Harmonic embraced Sunset as if holding a horribly afflicted child. “You poor, poor thing! How could you have survived this long without feeling the mystic force that envelops us all?”
“Somehow, I’ve managed,” Sunset replied sarcastically, wondering if the woman would register it.
“Well, as much as I’d love to hear about all this, we have to do some research for a project,” Trixie told her mother. “Do you know where the Big Book of Gematria is?”
“Yes, it’s upstairs on the kitchen table,” Harmonic replied in a soft voice. “Enjoy furthering your karmic interludes, my dearest daughter. And, Miss Shimmer, perhaps when you come again, we can give you a karmic crystal infusion – those are simply delightful for improving one’s chi!”
“Uh, thanks. I think,” Sunset replied dully.
Meanwhile, Bon-Bon saw Lyra stacking boxes over in the corner. “I’m going to go flirt with my girlfriend for a bit. I’ll join you two upstairs later.”
“See, I knew—”
“She didn’t mean it that way, Mom!”
Not wanting to get further into this…whatever it was, Sunset wordlessly followed Trixie upstairs to the residential part of the building. There, seated at a dinner table that looked like it was fashioned from a ring cutting of one of the smaller redwoods in the Everfree, was a man who was most likely Trixie’s father, based on the resemblance. Looking at him, Sunset noted the huge contrast between Trixie’s parents: where Harmonic screamed “flower child hippie leftover”, Cashflow, with his rugged looks and well-coiffed green-and-bronze hair, looked every bit the kind of person who was a captain of industry. He looked up from his work, removed his glasses, and for a second, Sunset admitted that he looked attractive.
Great. No time for teenage hormones to kick in, she chastised herself.
A wide smile came onto Cashflow’s face as his daughter went up to hug him. “Heya, princess,” he told her gently, “new friend?”
“Yes – and no, still not gay,” Trixie said in a huff.
“Never thought you were – at least not with all the boys you talk about,” he said with a smile. “And you know your mother means well. She’s…well….”
“Flighty?” Trixie offered. “Dad, I love her to death…but I’m not blind, you know.”
“Again, farthest thing from my mind. Anyway, so who’s your friend?”
Another quick – and more positive, in Sunset’s mind – round of introductions ensued before the Alice-haired teen came to the crux of the matter. “So, where did Mom leave the Big Book of Gematria?”
“I put it on the coffee table,” he told her. “Doing more research for your uncle?”
“Sorta,” she replied. Turning to Sunset, she said, “Go ahead and have a seat. Want a Coke?”
“Sure, thanks,” the flame-haired girl said, as Trixie went over into the kitchen. As Sunset sat down on the couch, she looked at the massive tome on the coffee table, probably taking up a third of the total size. To say that the book was big was an understatement: if Sunset had to guess on its size, the thing was about three feet by two feet, with a thickness of almost a foot. If she were in her unicorn form, forget about carrying it in the traditional manner of by mouth – she’d probably exhaust herself hefting it by magic. The coffee table must be of solid oak to hold this thing!
“Yeah, amazing, isn’t it?” Trixie said from behind her. Sunset turned to see the teenage magician set a tray down with a few Cokes and several packets of Goobersnax, that crackers-and-peanut butter snack that she was almost always seen buying from the school’s vending machines. “It’s about 150 pounds, at least a hundred years old, and is a copy of the original in the Royal Mysticism Museum in London.” Sitting down, Trixie opened the book.
Hours flew by as the smaller girl explained everything there was about the Assyro-Babylonian numerological system that had been absorbed into Kabballah and later mystical systems. As the night went on, the two girls must’ve consumed a twelve-pack of sodas and quite a few Goobersnax – well, Trixie ate the majority of those, Sunset admitted silently; she didn’t care for them herself. Eventually, they were joined by Lyra and Bon-Bon, the former of whom really did turn out to be just as informed in the subject as Trixie was, much to Sunset’s surprise.
After an order of pizza for dinner, courtesy of Trixie’s parents, the ex-unicorn continued to get a crash-course on a non-existent magic system that had been within humanity since time immemorial. Lyra occasionally butted in with some weird statement about a “unicorn kingdom” that sounded more like that Filly Funtasia TV show than her native homeland of Equestria…or even the ancient kingdom of Unicornia that had preceded the modern monarchy. Fortunately, it was something that Bon-Bon had heard many a time before and thus had figured out plenty of ways to silence her chatty girlfriend.
Meanwhile, Sunset continued to soak up everything that Trixie – and occasionally Lyra – was saying, because it was looking more and more like the evidence was inexplicably leaning in this direction and improbable or not, it would be the way Sunset would have to go. She’d already exhausted herself trying to find a way to save Twilight through every means she had at her disposal; now she’d start the wild goose chase if there was a chance of helping.
Sunset jolted awake from the sharp rap of a metal ruler being slapped against her desk. An arch voice above her intoned, “Ms. Shimmer, while you’ve made wonderful strides to improve your behavior from the previous year, now is not the time to slack off. Please do not sleep in my class, or I will be forced to have to re-familiarize you with the concept of detention.”
“Sorry, Mrs. Chalkboard,” a bleary-eyed Sunset mumbled, looking up at the teacher. She’d left Trixie’s house with a ton of books on various human magical disciplines thanks to the generosity of Trixie’s mother, who looked at the ex-unicorn as a truly wounded individual for not “having the mystic oversoul that resides within us all” – whatever that meant. And surprisingly, Bon-Bon had warmed up to Sunset almost as much as Lyra already had, to the point that Bon-Bon had admitted that there had been a silver lining to the whole “Sweetie Bon” scandal in that it made Lyra and Bon-Bon that much more “eager” to explore that part of their relationship. By the time she arrived home, Sunset had decided two things: she’d done the right thing in apologizing to Bon-Bon…and that she’d learned a lot of things about Lyra and Bon-Bon that could best be described as “too much information.”
Unfortunately, the remainder of the evening had not gone as well. She’d spent the rest of the night using a speed-reading cantrip that she’d developed during her younger years and it helped her to go through at least five of the thirty books before the evening was done. At least, that had been the plan until Twilight had yet another round of nightmares, this one ending up with going into the kitchen and returning to bed with the santoku knife – to protect herself with, she claimed. Thankfully – or maybe not, given that Sunset was now beginning to suspect large-scale issues affecting everyone but her – no one had been awoken by Twilight’s screams or Sunset’s own when she realized Twilight had come to bed with a sharp object, so Sunset used the sleeping spell on her once more and fixed everything. Again.
Needless to say, she’d gotten no sleep that night. And now with the moon entering its waning phase, she couldn’t risk using her magic on something as trivial as a refresher spell, in case something happened to Twilight again. But sleep had to come sooner or later, and she was never one for early mornings to begin with….
“Well, don’t let it happen again,” the teacher said and walked back to the front of the class, leaving Sunset to wonder if she was going to beat this crisis, or become its next victim by proxy.
“Psst….” Sunset looked out of the corner of her eyes to see Fluttershy, seated next to her, with a worried look on her face. “You don’t look so good, Sunny,” the chiffon-haired teen whispered. “Are you o—”
“Ms. Fluttershy,” Dusty Chalkboard called from the front of the class, “while you are one of my best students, the same conditions apply to you as well.” Fluttershy immediately froze, then tried to crawl into the crevasses of her chair, away from the prim and proper teacher’s gaze. Chalkboard then fixed her glare on the whole of the class and pronounced, “Class may be out in two weeks, students, but until that time you are still in school and it is still my responsibility to educate you. So, please focus.”
Sunset gave Fluttershy a brief glance that indicated they’d talk later at lunch; with that, Sunset went back to trying to stay awake while focusing on the class. Admittedly, while she was deficient in US History for obvious reasons and she couldn’t see what use whatsoever it would be for her in the future, at the same time she also had to admit that with her life now permanently grounded on this world, if there was any reason she could need it in her (human) adult years, she’d need to add it to the list of things requiring a change. Her personal plan was to once again reclaim her mantle as the top student in the school, just as she’d been during her education in Equestria.
Besides, she now had a family she didn’t want to disappoint.
“Here,” Fluttershy said, handing a coffee to the half-dead Sunset. “This should make you feel better.”
“Thanks, Flutters,” Sunset gasped in relief before downing the cup of brown joy as though her life depended on it. “I swear, trying to find out what the hell is going on is killing me. I’m getting no sleep, and even when I am, I’m either serving as a body pillow for Twily or having to restrain her before she does something insane again.”
“So, you’re your sister’s dutch wife?” Rainbow cracked. “Did you at least get to put on a bikin—”
“Rainbow!” Fluttershy warned, glaring at her friend. For reasons that no one could understand, when Fluttershy glared at someone, people tended to feel very uncomfortable at best, if not outright panicky. Nobody knew who had come up with its nickname “The Stare”, complete with implied capitalization, but to all who had fallen into its gaze, it was an accurate assessment.
“Hey, I was just kidding. But seriously, Sunny, you look like shit,” Rainbow replied, feeling a little guilty about introducing her friend to the museum. Whether or not Twilight’s issue was related, seeing Sunset run herself ragged brought out a protective streak in the rainbow-haired athlete.
“I most definitely agree…though I wouldn’t be as, ahem, ‘earthy’ in my description as Rainbow is,” Rarity agreed, her voice filled with sympathy. “I haven’t seen you in this bad a condition since…well, since the Homecoming affair. Even during your hospitalization, you were in much haler than this, Sunset, dear.”
“Maybe you should relax a bit, Sunny,” Pinkie added, her eyes radiating concern. “Twily’s important, no doubt about that, but you can’t help her if you wear yourself out!”
“Girls,” Sunset said in a tone that edged on the desperate side, “something is hurting Twily, something that can’t be stopped by conventional means. Don’t you think I would have done something else if could? It’s been going on for weeks! I’ve worn out all my options! It has to be magic and I’m the only one who can stop it!”
“But Su—”
“No! I can’t let Twily down! I can’t just sit here and watch her fall apart!” Tears started welling in Sunset’s eyes, but whether it was due to the exhaustion or the grief, she wasn’t sure – and she didn’t care anymore. “You guys don’t understand: I finally have a family now, and to lose them…I don’t know what I’d do.”
Applejack nodded. “Eyup, Ah c’n sympathahze. Ma an’ Pa were in a car accident when Ah was ‘bout nine or so. Doctors said they weren’t gonna survive, but thank th’ Lord they came through. Ah can’t imagine whut’d be like t’ not have parents, an’ Ah know how y’ feel.”
“But Sunny,” Fluttershy reminded her friend, “you’ll always have us. Don’t think you’re alone. Whatever we can do, you’re our friend…and so is Twily. We won’t let you be alone on this, we promise.” As one, the other four girls nodded without hesitation.
“Thanks, girls,” the former unicorn said once more, glad as always to have the five in her corner. With that, she almost felt as though she stood a chance of beating this, no matter the odds.
“Tavi, I can’t believe you just said that!” Sunset hissed over the phone. “We’re talking about Twily here!”
“Sunny, you’re overreacting,” the voice on the other line retorted. “And frankly, I don’t know why the hell you’re freaking out about this. Like Aunt Velvet said, this is just a phase. I know I went through one when I was younger because of my…well, you know. And you went through one as well; far worse than I did. Twily’s just late to the party, so to speak. But I’ll tell you what you once told me: that’s life, and you can’t avoid it.” A pause of silence filled a few seconds’ time, before Octavia spoke again. “I’m sorry, okay? I’ve got my own issues right now, like trying to figure what I’m going to move into the new bedroom at your place. Plus, I want to spend as much time as I can with my parents before they leave, because I don’t see them enough as is and Skype is a poor substitute for having family around.”
“Fine,” Sunset growled. Part of her wanted to be furious with Octavia’s callousness, but she knew her friend and near-cousin better than that. Octavia always used brusqueness and sarcasm as a defense, and not only was it something that wasn’t going to change overnight – Sunset knew that better than anyone – but she was probably also feeling a little left out of things, given how close she and Twilight were.
“Sunny, I’m not trying to be a bitch. You’re not the only one who loves Twily, you know, and it hurts for me to see her like this and not be able to do anything,” Octavia admitted. “But I promise she’ll be fine once she heads on vacation. All she needs is some down time to unwind, something all of us could use right now – it’s been a hell of a year for all of us. And my situation isn’t going to get any easier anytime soon, so…well, weren’t you the one who told me just to roll with the punches?”
Yeah, I did tell her that, Sunset recalled, though she said nothing.
“Look, my parents want to go the movies, and…look, we’ll talk later, okay? Just, please, Sunny, relax. I’ve already got one cousin unraveling and I feel almost there myself. I don’t need you to go bugfucky on me as well.”
“Okay. Talk to you later then,” Sunset said as she clicked of the line. Slipping the phone back into her pocket, she went back to waiting the tables. It was a slow day at Sugarcube Corner Café, or else she wouldn’t have had the time to call.
“Problems at home?” Blossomforth asked. With both Pinkie and Mrs. Cake not on-schedule today, that left the two of them to pretty much run the place while Mr. Cake was doing paperwork in the back office.
“Yeah, just a few. But nothing I can’t handle,” Sunset replied with a smile.
“That’s good.” The floral-haired girl looked down at her swelling belly, and at the young life nestled within. “I want this little one to grow up to be as tough and reliable as her – or his – Auntie Sunny,” Blossomforth said with an infectious smile which soon disappeared as she added, “It’s just too bad the baby won’t have much of a father to rely on.”
Sunset caught that tone immediately. “Need me to talk to his Royal Dickheadedness?”
Blossom shook her head. “You were right, Sunny. Flash isn’t the person I thought he was. I know that he didn’t want to be a father, but I’d thought that at least the fact that I was going to keep the child might bring him around. But that was stupid of me. And all I’m going to be is just another unwed teen mom.”
“Not just another one,” Sunset said with a grin. “One with friends who care about you.”
“Yeah! Totally!” a familiar voice said behind her. “Oh, and speaking of which, we’ve got the baby shower set for July 12. My aunt and uncle insisted on closing the café just for the occasion and we’re going to have everyone over!”
Blossomforth giggled softly. “You didn’t have to, Pinkie, really!”
“Actually, if you want to thank someone, thank Minuette and Waterfire. They both insisted on it, and….” Pinkie suddenly trailed off as she looked out the window and gasped. Someone was standing in the middle of the street, as if playing a deadly game of chicken with the cars. The person swayed back and forth as though he (or she; it could be female, Sunset admitted) was intoxicated, and given that, they likely weren’t in the best of conditions to tell right from wrong – or suicide from wisdom. The person wore a pristine white hoodie covering his/her head, one that was likely going to be stained with his own blood soon if someone didn’t do something.
Blossomforth suddenly gasped in shock, but Sunset reacted instantly. Racing through the door, she sprinted into traffic towards the person, hoping to pull him or her out of the street before he got pancaked. As Sunset got closer, she realized the figure was likely a girl, after all, given the body frame; and she didn’t seem to care that she was at risk of being killed by a car at any moment; that was bad enough. But as Sunset got close enough to see a tri-colored lock of hair, all of purple hues, poke out of the hood, her heart went into panic. Fighting the ice water now roiling through her veins, she pushed herself even harder.
Just then, a semi lumbered towards the girl, unable to stop; the girl in question didn’t have time to move. Sunset grabbed her and with the only thing she could think of to do: she began casting teleportation, a major-level spell. She didn’t have the strength for it, she knew; through all these years, she was restricted to just the most basic of spells, and when she tried to cast something stronger, like the mid-level spell she used to identify the members of The Club, that had drained her for most of the day. But while teleporting was something only the most powerful of unicorns could accomplish – fortunately, she was one of those – here on Earth, where there was no steady magic she could draw from, it was suicide at best.
But a life was at stake. There was no choice, and she couldn’t duck two people under the semi. Closing her eyes as she could hear the squeal of a truck hitting the brakes, she let the magic flow over her whole body and that of her counterpart. The cyan energy poured through both in the fraction of a second and they bounced—
—across the street, hard against the pavement. To a casual-onlooker, it looked almost as though Sunset had a near-burst of inhuman speed – freakish, but not unheard of – and crashed just while on the pavement. In Sunset’s eyes, the world spun and the edges of her vision danced in a red haze before she passed out.
“Sunny!”
Sunset opened her eyes. More along the lines, she was woken by drops of water splashing on her face. It took a second for her to realize they were tears. It took another second to look up into the face where they were coming from.
“I almost got you killed Oh God I’m so sorry,” Twilight moaned as she fiercely hugged Sunset, crying up a storm. “It was just supposed to be me, Sunny! Just me!”
What? Sunset’s brain shut down as her foster sister’s words echoed in her mind. Twilight had just tried to kill herself, and it had only been by the purest fraction of luck that Sunset had pulled a rabbit out of her hat. She felt as sore as if she’d run a marathon, and she felt like she wanted to vomit – and likely would if she moved. But none of that mattered compared to the confession Twilight had just made.
“Why?” Sunset was too burnt, too exhausted to be afraid or angry. It wasn’t as though she didn’t care; quite the contrary. But she couldn’t bring herself to summon the strength for an emotional outburst.
“Because it’s going to kill me,” Twilight sobbed. “I can’t sleep anymore. I’m afraid every moment – I can’t focus anymore! Sunny, I…I want to die. It’s the only way I’ll be free—”
“NO!” Sunset grabbed Twilight by the shoulders, shaking her violently. “Don’t you dare say that, Twilight! Don’t do this to me!” she moaned, on the verge of breaking down herself. Twilight had just tried to kill herself – and it had only been by a miracle that Sunset had been able to save her. As the crowds started to encircle them, Sunset wanted to shout at them, Where the fuck were you when she was in danger, you tools? But the truck was already gone, the driver not wanting to stick around lest he have to explain his side of the story. Others, now realizing both girls were okay, went back to their normal routines, figuring that someone else would take care of it. Problem was, that someone else was now reaching the end of her own rope.
“Twily?” Sunset could suddenly feel Pinkie’s arms around them both, holding them and lending what strength she could. Sunset wanted to cry both in anguish and relief at that point, but she dared not, not in the condition she was in right now and not with Twilight needing her to be the strong one. As she forced away the tears, Sunset turned to look at Pinkie, who had a worried look on her own face. Behind her, was Mr. Cake, having been apparently told what was going on.
“Twily? What happened?” the cotton-candy-haired girl asked once more.
“Pinkie, I—”
“She’s not feeling well,” Sunset interjected. “If you don’t mind, I think I should get her home.”
“No argument there,” Carrot replied. “C’mon, let’s go back to the café. I’ll give you two a lift home.” Pinkie said nothing, instead looking sadly at Twilight, having been appraised earlier of what her friend was going through. Instead, the cheerleader glomped her friend, cooing, “Don’t give up, Twily! Don’t give up on us!”
Sunset didn’t know what to say at that point, but she knew this much: she was damn lucky to have Pinkie as a friend.
“You’re grounded,” Night said angrily. “No afterschool activities until school lets out for the year.” Twilight looked at him with fear as he added, “Go to your room, and don’t come out until you’re ready to apologize for what you did.” Sighing in resignation, Twilight trudged up the stairs like a prisoner headed towards the execution chamber.
Sunset looked at her foster parents with aplomb. All they’re doing is just grounding her? What the hell? At that point, Sunset would have cast a spell if she could to see if they were brainwashed, but even with a full moon, she’d drained herself so thoroughly that she felt like a cellphone with too little power to boot properly.
“Sunny, sit down,” Velvet said in a gentle but firm tone. Sunset did, her foster parents joining soon after. “Honestly, after what Mr. Cake told us, I don’t know if I should hug you forever or ground you as well. That was stupid of you to do – you could have gotten yourself killed! But at the same time…you saved Twily, and I can’t even begin to thank you.” The look on the matron’s face was an emotional spectrum, as though she’d gone on a rollercoaster ride of the psyche and was just getting off.
“I think we should let you know: we went through her room today, but didn’t find any drugs or alcohol. We’ve asked the school to go through her locker there as well; her principal was stunned, but they complied. I’ve also asked Evening and Ballad to go through Tavi’s room, too, since while I don’t think she’s involved, I do know she’d cover for Twily if anything was happening. Obviously, we don’t suspect you, but we would like you to check the house while we’re on vacation. There are plenty of places she could have hidden anything – obviously, she’s a smart girl.”
“But she just tried to kill herself! Doesn’t that mean anything to you?” Sunset broke down in tears at that point, both from the emotional drainage and the confusion of what was going on.
“It’s why we’re grounding her, dear.” Velvet got up and embraced her foster daughter. “I know it seems…odd…but you have to trust that we’re doing the right thing, Sunny. We’re not going to just let this go: Twilight is still seeing a counselor for the January incident and while that was supposed to be wrapping up at the end of the school year, we can request it be continued once we return from vacation.”
“Maybe Twily just needs someone else to talk to in order to get this off her chest,” Night suggested. “There are always things that you’re afraid to talk about with your family, that you can’t bring yourself to say no matter what.”
“I guess,” Sunset replied, not wanting to think about the things she was hiding from them at the moment.
“But no matter what, Sunny, we’re proud of what you did today. Don’t forget that,” he told her, while Velvet gently kissed her foster daughter on the forehead.
“I…I won’t,” Sunset said, her heart sinking. What was wrong with her foster parents? Why couldn’t they see Twilight was falling apart? Why did they insist this was a “phase”? Sunset wanted to scream and demand they get help for Twilight, but…what if they were affected as well? They likely were, she knew.
What if I’m the only one inured from all this because of my magic? And….
She went to bed that night with even less answers than before.