//------------------------------//
// 9. Ulterior Motives 
// Story: The Shimmer of Magic 
// by Hakuno 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 9. Ulterior Motives.

Trixie had ran to get Sunset back only a couple of minutes ago, but for the girls in the science lab, it seemed like an eternity. Silence dominated for the longest time until Applejack finally decided to break it.

"So, Rainbow Dash." She said in a serious tone. Perhaps more serious than she intended. "What did you do to Sunset?"

Rainbow didn't look at her, but it was easy to know that she was trying to figure out how to answer. If her gaze was prove enough, she wasn't very proud of what she did. "Didn't she tell you?"

Applejack frowned and walked to her, leaning on a table and putting a hand on her hip. "Ah told you to come n' talk to me 'bout it."

A sigh escaped Rainbow's mouth. "I'm sorry."

"Just tell me what happened." Applejack said calmly. "We can't go hiding things from each other, not if we want t' remain friends."

Rainbow flinched at that and produced a small, sad frown. "She… She said some things I didn't want to hear…" She sighed and shook her head, closing her eyes for a moment. "No, she said the truth I wanted to hide…" She looked at Twilight, who was looking her back with a concerned gaze. "I wanted to blame her for things she didn't do, just because I didn't want to accept my own faults…"

"You have to apologize." Applejack said, and it was more as a statement than an advice.

"I know…"

There was another moment of silence. Rainbow and Applejack stood at the far corner of the lab, as if they were talking in the silence. Pinkie, Rarity and Twilight were at the opposite corner in their own silent conversation that, fortunately, didn't last too long.

"I…" Twilight started hesitantly, but when Rarity looked at her with a warm smile, she could calm herself. "I find all this really difficult to assimilate… That there's another Sunset, I mean…" She said, looking at the door. "And even more, that there's another me…" She swallowed and looked at Rarity. "I probably will need a lot of time to believe it, but… Please tell me. What's going on?"

Rarity sighed a little and crossed her arms in front of her. "All this situation is hard to believe for everyone, trust me. I believe even Pinkie Pie here hasn't assimilated it all yet." She pointed at Pinkie with a smooth movement of her hand. Pinkie only nodded and decided to start playing with the balloons attached to her skirt. "Everyone in Canterlot High knows something, there are people who know more than others, and as you can guess, there are a lot of students who will tell you completely different versions of what happened."

She said and looked at Twilight with a serious, yet understanding gaze. "The girls in this room; Fluttershy, the other girl you met at the cafeteria -and who isn't here for some reason-, and probably Trixie know a lot more than any other student." She paused a little and shifted a little. "But, only Sunset knows the real truth. I could tell you what I know, and so Pinkie, or Rainbow, or even Applejack. But wouldn't you prefer to ask Sunset? She is the only one who has all the answers you seek."

Twilight looked down. "I want to know, but… I'm scared…" She said and looked at Rarity with pleading eyes. "If you put her the uniform of Manhattan's Academy, she looks exactly the same… Even if I told her all that… Even if I can tell that she's not the same person…"

Rarity put a hand on her shoulder and offered her a warm smile. "Don't worry Twilight. We'll be with you. Besides, she said she'd answer all your questions, right?" Twilight smiled a little and nodded. "Now, I must warn you. The more you ask, the more unbelievable it will be. So I need to ask you this…" She put her other hand on the other shoulder and knelt a little to be at Twilight's eye level. "Will you be able to handle the truth?"

Twilight took a full minute to think, but she finally looked directly at Rarity's eyes with a determined gaze. "I can, and I will."


~~~~~~~~


As minutes passed, Sunset finally managed to calm herself and stopped crying. And as a plus, she didn't let out one single sob. The storage room was a little cold, but thanks to Trixie's company, she didn't notice too much. And the silence wasn't uncomfortable either. She closed her eyes, and decided that she could get used to a silence like this. A silence where she wasn't alone, where she could think of anything, but at the same time, where she could rest her head on someone else's shoulder.

"So…" Trixie's voice came in a low volume, but it still startled Sunset, if just a little. "I know it's kind of late to ask this, but I think this is the best moment…" She said, still staring at the ceiling. "What the heck is going on?"

"You are disturbing my sleep. That's what's going on." Sunset tried to say in a serious tone, but she just couldn't hide the fact that she was smiling.

Trixie smiled and narrowed her eyes a little. "Seriously though. As if the events of the Fall Formal weren't hard to believe in already, a new Twilight comes out of nowhere, and saying that her nemesis is another you." She made a little pause. "And even more incredibly, those girls, and even you, don't seem surprised at all."

"Do you want to know the truth? You can't handle the truth."

"Maybe not yet." Trixie said. "But I think in a near future, an army of space leprechauns will attack earth and we'll have to use giant robots to fight their dark fairy overlord before tea hour, and we all will be like: 'You know what? Weirder things have happened'".

Sunset chuckled for a few seconds. When she finished, she sighed and remained silent for a moment, staring at the door. "The other day, at the coffeehouse, I told you that magic doesn't exist in this world, that humans can't do magic…" She closed her eyes and paused for a moment. "Why do you think I needed to be that specific?" Trixie didn't say anything, waiting for Sunset to continue. "Tell me, Trix, can you believe in magic?"

Trixie turned her head just a little and looked at Sunset, and once again, she could only see her hair and the gauze on her face. "Obviously, I have to. I can't just ignore what happened last week."

"Then, can you believe in alternate worlds?" Sunset asked, and when Trixie didn't answer, she continued. "Twilight Sparkle, the girl from last week, is from a different world. A world where magic not only exists, but pretty much everyone can do it… To some extent, of course." She said, and her smile quickly faded into a thin line. "Now, I believe you wonder why she came here, right?"

"I know whatever I say will be incorrect, so stop asking me questions and tell me already." Trixie said, looking back at the ceiling.

Sunset snorted. "Party pooper." She said and sighed a little. "I stole her crown. Literally. And not because it's made of pure gold, but because the gemstone in it is really powerful. I thought that if I had that power, I could become a princess. I thought that I deserved to be a princess, mind you."

"Sounds like a little girl's dream."

"Heh, it does." Sunset said. "Anyway, I finally got the power of her crown, and she still managed to defeat me and humiliate me. And if that wasn't enough, my real punishment is not being able to return home for another two and a half years." Trixie raised an eyebrow and looked at Sunset. "Oh, yes, I forgot to tell you. I'm from that other world too." Sunset said in a nonchalant tone.

Trixie hummed. "So that answers why there's another Twilight and another you."

Sunset raised her head a little, just so she could look at Trixie's eyes. "You know, I'm starting to worry that you're not even a little surprised by all this."

"Oh, trust me, I am surprised." Trixie said and decided to look back at the door. "I just don't feel like overreacting or trying to deny it." She shrugged. "Maybe I just need a cup of coffee."

Sunset looked back at the door yet once again and sighed. "Maybe."

And silence fell again in the room. Sunset closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She was really comfortable. Perhaps that was the reason why Trixie didn't seem surprised, perhaps she, like Sunset, just wanted to enjoy herself in the peaceful silence. Yes, there would be the time to worry about those silly things, but now, they just wanted to be there, doing nothing.

"I know that this probably isn't the best time to say it, but…" Trixie said hesitantly. "I lied."

Sunset raised an eyebrow. "What a surprise. Did you know that everyone lies at some point of their lives?"

Trixie sighed. "Back at the coffeehouse, when I asked you to teach me magic..." She said. "I lied when I told you that you were my last option. In fact, it never crossed my mind to ask the other girls." She waited for Sunset to do something, but when that didn't happen, she continued. "I also lied when I said I wanted to learn real magic…"

"So what then?" Sunset asked. "What? Was talking about magic your way to hit on me?" She said teasingly, but surprisingly enough, Trixie didn't chuckle, she didn't even say anything. Sunset's expression quickly became a serious one, and she couldn't help but look at the floor. "… Do you want to know why I dated Flash?" She didn't need to look at Trixie, for she could actually feel the spark of curiosity in her eyes. "Of course you want. Ok, I'll tell ya."

"Flash Sentry is one of the shallowest guys I've ever met. He's like the handsome guy that's there only for the protagonist to have a relationship with in movies. Only worse, because Flash can't stop talking about movie clichés." Sunset suppressed a laugh. "And he's also very popular, so I decided to date him just to gain more influence over the students. I actually find surprising how long it took him to realize that. There you can tell how shallow he is."

Sunset took a deep breath. "So let's go down the list. I've threatened, blackmailed, terrorized, used, manipulated and stole. My dimensional twin is a crazy bitch who tried to kill someone, and oh yes, I'm from a different world and I could actually be a giant, mutant cockroach from bugland." She turned to look at Trixie again with a serious expression. "You know all those things; you know what I've done and what I'm capable of." She narrowed her eyes. "Do you still want to date me?"

There was a moment when both girls only stared at each other. Only this time, they weren't trying to win a war, no, they were only trying to read their gazes. And after the longest moment, Trixie closed her eyes and sighed a little. "I know that you're still hiding a lot of things. I know that you are a really hard person to deal with… And I also know that you changed from what you used to be. Or maybe, you returned to your true self." She smiled a little and leaned back. "I want to get to know the real you… Well, as long as you're not really a giant cockroach, yes, I want to date you."

Sunset stared at Trixie only for a few seconds before both girls started to laugh. And Sunset soon discovered, it was the first genuine, carefree laugh she produced in a very long time. When she finally recovered her breath, she shifted and closed her eyes. "Good, because I really like your shoulder."

Trixie snickered. "Wow, that's a really weird fetish." They chuckled again. "But now it's me who finds surprising how you just accepted this. I don't know, it feels so anticlimactic…"

"Well…" Sunset said, raising her head a little to look at Trixie again, when the magician turned to look her back, she continued. "I'm drugged with painkillers, so you're obviously taking advantage of me."

"Oh no, you totally figured out my evil plan!" Trixie said, exaggerating a dramatic voice. "Then I must hurry up and finish it before you can do something to stop me."

Trixie moved back, forcing Sunset to lift her head off her shoulder. She carefully, but decidedly turned her body to Sunset's direction and looked into her eyes. And she realized, it was the first time since they got out of the science lab that they looked at each other's eyes. Sunset's eyes were a little red, and the gauze was a little wet there where her tears ran minutes ago. But what fascinated her was her gaze. She could see the strength, the calm and the security, but beyond that, she could catch a glimpse of uncertainty, and that was enough to let her see a little of her real self. The Sunset she wanted to know.

She leaned closer to her and stopped when their noses met. Sunset was still looking directly at her eyes, but she wasn't staring, she wasn't trying to impose her gaze. She was just looking expectantly. And the lack of resistance of her part was enough to tell Trixie that she was allowed to continue. She narrowed her eyes and decided to lean closer, moving just a little to her right. Only a second passed, but it seemed like minutes, since she started to move, but at the end, she finally pressed her lips over Sunset's, and closing her eyes, she let out her breath through her nose.

They stood there for just a brief moment until Trixie decided to break the kiss. She opened her eyes and saw that Sunset was looking at her with a challenging smile. "Don't get used being in control."

Trixie chuckled a little. "Then I must enjoy it while I can." She said and gave her a quick kiss. Or at least she tried, because Sunset grabbed her with one hand from the back of her head and pushed her, forcing the kiss to last long. And without letting her react, she leaned back, quickly lying on the floor and taking Trixie with her. Trixie quickly stopped struggling and just let herself lose against Sunset. And she found really awkward how she was on top, yet she wasn't in control anymore. It normally would make her mad to have lost so easily, but her heart was beating so fast in her chest, she feared that if she got angry, it might explode.

After a couple of minutes, Sunset finally broke the kiss and bemusedly watched all the emotions running across Trixie's face. "Yeah, I still got it."

Panting quietly, Trixie had to take a few seconds before speaking. "You know, I can't help but keep thinking of how fast this is going."

Sunset raised an eyebrow. "Are you complaining that you got what you wanted? You sure are weird."

"I don't complain, it's just…" Trixie paused for a few seconds before looking directly at Sunset's eyes. "Two days ago, you didn't even want to talk to me. And now you just accepted to date me without thinking too much on it…"

"Well…" Sunset said, looking away for a moment, producing a sad frown. "Let's just say I'm trying to live in a different way… You see, in all my life I never did something that didn't benefit me in some way…" She paused and looked back at Trixie. "And where did that get me? I'm practically an enemy of royalty in my home world." She forced a laugh, trying to suppress the tears forming in the corner of her eyes. "So I thought… Why not start doing things I have no idea how will end? It's not like I can lose any more things."

She put a hand on Trixie's cheek and smiled a little. "I like you. You are really fun to talk to, and I actually feel somewhat comfortable on your shoulder." Trixie snickered a little, and Sunset's grin only grew wider, but after a few seconds, it faded into a thin line. "But if I have to be honest, I don't know if we're friends. I've never had friends before, you see, so that's a completely new and unknown ground to me." She then smiled again and looked deviously at Trixie. "But I do know a thing or two about dating someone. Flash had to be useful for something, after all."

"Are you saying that Flash taught you how to kiss?" Trixie teased, moving her head a little to feel the contact with Sunset's hand.

Sunset chuckled. "Actually, I taught him that. No, no, what I meant to say is that he knows some interesting places to go with someone." She said, slowly moving her hand to caress Trixie's cheek. "So, yeah, it might be a little rushed, and I don't know what will happen next, but that's exactly what I want… I don't want to elaborate complicated plans to become princess of the next school dance, not anymore… I just want to live one day at a time. If we feel comfortable as a couple or not, is something we'll find out only by dating, don't you agree?"

Trixie grinned. "Good thing people don't go berserk anymore by watching two girls kissing in public."

"Yes, you are really weird." Sunset said. "Where I come from, nobody cares who you sleep with. And it's been like that for thousands of years."

Trixie leaned closer and gave Sunset a soft kiss. "It's good to know that we don't have problems with it. I'd hate to go hiding it and denying it like it was some kind of sin."

"Or naughty secret." Sunset said with a teasing smile.

Trixie chuckled and took a few seconds to answer. "You know what? I kind of want you to be my naughty secret, at least for a couple of days."

Sunset grinned deviously. "Well, good luck at hiding me."