//------------------------------// // CH18: Sunset Sanctuary // Story: Mutual Interests // by Spirit Shift //------------------------------// Pinkie stuck her thumb in her mouth and played a makeshift fanfare. “DO-DODODOOOO!”  Presenting the newest addition to our group… Sunset Shimmer!” Pinkie gestured towards an awkwardly smiling Sunset Shimmer, sitting where Pinkie normally sat. Once everyone found out that Sunset was ready for it; Pinkie got to work renting out Sugarcube Corner for a “Friendship party” in Sunset’s honor. Pinkie quickly stole another chair from a separate table and sat down at the large round one with the others. “Shucks, it’s about time,” grinned Applejack. Fluttershy, sitting right next to her, gently touched Sunset’s shoulder. “Are you feeling better now, Sunset?” Sunset nodded and gave her a reassuring smile. “Of course. I’m just trying to get used to all this.” She rubbed her arm nervously. “I mean, I’m still not sure If I deserve any of it.” Pinkie hopped over and wrapped Sunset up in a hug. “Of course you do!” On Sunset’s other side, Rarity reached over and sat her hand over Sunset’s. “Darling, we’re here to help you. If there’s anything that you need to tell us, anything at all, please don’t hesitate.” Sunset examined the six bright reassuring faces surrounding her. Each one of them had tried to help her in some way over the last month. Sunset cursed herself for not realizing sooner that it was better to bring them closer rather than shut them out. That it took her this long to learn that being with them was so much better than being alone… well, all the more reason to make up for lost time. She knew that this was only the first step in her long road to learning what friendship was like. Now for the he second step. Sunset took a deep breath and once again took comfort in the smiles of those surrounding her. “I… I’ve been having some nightmares recently. Bad ones that try to convince me to go back to how I used to be. They’ve only gotten worse lately, like something inside of me is rejecting this path. I’m not sure what to do. I’m actually starting to think that the elements haven't completely gotten rid of all the dark magic.” Applejack leaned onto the table and gave her a serious look. “How often have ya been havin’ these night terrors?” “At first it was only once a week. But lately I’ve been having one nearly every other day.” She tried to lift her own spirits with a smile. “Though I actually had a good night’s rest last night.” Rainbow scoffed and started punching the air. “Just do what I do and turn your dream against them. Whip out some good magic and kick them outta your head.” “Rainbow Dash!” chided Rarity. “Some of us aren’t so blessed to have such control over our dreams” She turned to Sunset. “What kind of dreams are they?” “Mostly dreams that revolve around my old self reminding me what I did while trying to convince me that what I’m doing now is wrong.” Fluttershy shrank back in her seat. “That sounds scary…” she muttered, imagining what such a dream could be like. Pinkie, still hovering over Sunset, jumped up to grab everyone’s attention. “You know what this calls for?” “Well we’re already at a party,” observed Rainbow. “So, what?” “Sleepover at my house!” Pinkie screamed. Sunset flinched at the volume. “What, why?” asked Sunset, rubbing her ringing ears. “Because!” she said, acting as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Anytime I ever had a nightmare, my big sister Maud would let me sleep in her room. Then poof, no more bad dreams for weeks. Unless I ate something weird the night before, like those grilled Chimmy cherry changas I dipped in fudge pudding.  I really thought they would have turned out better.  They were great when I tried frying them!” “Maybe just being next to someone you care about is enough to keep the nightmares away,” guessed Coco, trying to keep her stomach from unsettling over Pinkie’s culinary experiments. “You know,” began Rarity, a small smile slowly forming on her face, “that’s not a bad idea. Plus it has been awhile since your last slumber party.” Her smile dropped like a rock. “But please don’t pull any pranks on me this time.” Rainbow Dash slammed a hand to her mouth to avoid full out laughter. Leaning over to Coco, she whispered. “We replaced her face cream with chocolate while she was sleeping.” Coco chuckled lightly as she imagined Rarity’s reaction. Rarity heard it and glared daggers in their direction. ~~~ Sunset, clad in her purple pajamas, backed away from the group, both arms held out in protest. “No, way, I couldn’t possibly--” Rainbow, wearing her white t-shirt and purple pajama pants, dashed behind her and started shoving her back into the room. “Sunset, stop arguing and just take the bed.” Sunset struggled and continued pushing back against her. “I’m not taking Pinkie’s bed! it’s hers.” Rainbow stopped pushing, ever since they decided to give Sunset the bed she had been acting this way. Earlier, Rarity and the others were just sitting around the bed painting their nails, playing video games, applying makeup, and other such activities. But when Sunset wondered why no one was using the bed they pointed out that it was reserved for her she had instantly voiced her protests. Rainbow glared at her then nodded at Coco. Nervously, Sunset waved her arms silently in apprehension. Rainbow nodded once more, this time angrily. Sighing, Coco nodded and stood up from where she sat. Sunset backed away from her in fear, but before she could get very far, Coco grabbed her arm and effortlessly flipped Sunset over herself and onto the bed. “I’m sorry!” she cried immediately afterwards. Luckily, Pinkie’s bed was very soft and bouncy and Sunset landed without injury. With her head hanging off the foot of the bed, she glared at her upside down friends. “It’s Pinkie Pie’s bed, why do I get to sleep in it?” Pinkie stuck her face close to Sunset’s, beaming as usual. “Well duh! This slumber party is for you! Of course you get the bed.” “But I--” Rarity, already wearing one of her silk nightgowns, pressed her finger against Sunset’s lips. “Ah-ah-ah! No more protests, you will take the bed and that’s final!” Sunset continued to stare at them until finally sighing and flipping herself right side up. “Fine,”  she grumbled, accepting her gift. Sunset examined the bed and bounced on it a few times. The more she bounced the wider her smile got. Pinkie hopped up on the bed next to her, flinging her into the air like a trampoline. It was lucky that Pinkie’s room had a high ceiling or else Sunset might have hit it. Laughing now, Sunset continued to bounce up and down on Pinkie’s trampoline bed. “What’s up with this bed?” she giggled. Pinkie joined her in the air, laughing alongside her. “I made it myself! Isn’t it super bouncy!” “Well, it beats the library bed I used, that’s for sure!” Sunset found herself bouncing less and less. Still laughing she wiped her eyes and saw everyone staring at her oddly. “What?” she asked. “Darling, what do you mean, “library bed”?” asked Rarity, contributing to the awkward looks. Sunset’s laughter infused smile morphed into one of awkwardness as she realized what she just said. She chuckled awkwardly. “Well you see… I may have sleeping on a bed of books in the library for the past few weeks.” Rarity let out a large gasp. ‘You’re telling me that you’ve been living in that dusty old school library?” Rarity pulled a dramatic fainting pose. “Yeah… school security sucks,” lamented Sunset. “I pretty much just showered and everything before school starts. I even got my breakfast from the lunch ladies.” “Wait, ya mean that grannie knew about this?” Rarity moved past the others to embrace Sunset. “Good, heavens. No wonder you’ve been having nightmares. We need to find you a new place of residence. And fast!” “Well, I could--” “You could room with me!” Everyone turned to face Coco. She blushed at her own outburst but continued nonetheless. “I mean, you used to live in my house before I showed up. You could always come back… It’s a bit lonely being by myself in such a big empty house.” Rarity turned back to Sunset. “Is this true?” Sunset nodded hesitantly. “Would you like to go back to living with Coco then?” Sunset looked back to Coco, who had a pleading, wide-eyed look on her face. Sunset smiled and nodded happily. Overcome with happiness Coco lept forward to hug her new roommate. Not to be left out, Pinkie Pie and Rarity also jumped into the hug. Soon enough Fluttershy dragged Applejack and Rainbow Dash into the group hug as well. ~~~ Now in a better place and filled with confidence, Sunset offered to make everyone dinner as thanks. Pinkie offered to help but Sunset insisted that she do it by herself. To everyone’s surprise, Sunset managed to turn the scattered and random things located in Pinkie’s kitchen into something resembling a dinner from a high class, albeit vegetarian, restaurant. Curiously, among the various desserts and whipped creams, Sunset found a plentiful stash of vegetables that apparently belonged to Pinkie’s sisters. Using it, with their permission, she made a few salads, some vegetable soup, and even cheesy stuffed mushrooms.Taking some eggs, some lemons, and the overstock of whip cream, she also made lemon meringue pie for dessert. Fluttershy was overjoyed at the spread and even Rainbow Dash had to admit, with reluctance of course, to the delicious taste of everything. When asked how she knew so many recipes Sunset proudly admitted to having a father who worked as a royal cook in Equestria. ~~~ Later on, after dinner, everyone gathered around to take a group selfie and decided to hit the hay. Once again, they had to remind Sunset that she was supposed to use the bed. Everyone else doned sleeping bags and pillows and slept along the floor haphazardly. Deep in the middle of the night Sunset, unable to sleep despite the extremely comfortable bed. Sat up and glanced around the dark room. She chuckled as she tried to figure out who snored the loudest. Pinkie, Rainbow, or Rarity. Standing up, she made her way out of the room, taking careful care not to step on any of the bodies lying in random spots along the ground. Not sure what to do at this point, Sunset simply started walking around until she found herself back in the kitchen. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw another girl standing there, leaning over the counter in a white shirt and blue shorts. Turning around to face her, the girl gave Sunset a stony blank look. “Hi,” she said. “You’re… Maud right? Pinkie’s older sister?” asked Sunset, meeting her gaze with an awkward stare. Maud nodded slightly and Sunset glanced down to the counter. Maud was currently in the process of pouring a light brown drink into a small glass. “Wh-why are you making iced tea at three in the morning?” she asked hesitantly, confusion clearly evident in her voice. Maud turned back to the counter and continued pouring the drink into the glass. With her other hand she nudged a small rock over into Sunset’s view. “Boulder is thirsty and he likes to drink iced tea. He wouldn’t stop bugging me,” she answered. She spoke with an even invariant tone, giving her a deadpan voice. She didn’t exactly know what, but something about this girl weirded Sunset out. Her complete contrast to Pinkie? Her pet rock? The fact that she was willing to get up at three in the morning to make a drink for said rock? It was definitely one of them, or possibly all of them. Eventually, the glass filled and Maud picked up it and the rock. Putting the iced tea away she walked up to Sunset and said, “Nice to meet you,” before turning back around and walking down the opposite hall into her room. Sunset moved forward and stared down the hall for a few more seconds, wondering what the rest of Pinkie’s family had to look like if Maud was her sister. “Sunset?” Sunset turned around to see Coco Pommel standing behind her. “I saw you get up. What’s wrong? You can’t sleep?” Sunset shook her head and leaned back onto the counter. “I guess I’m still not very comfortable with all of this.” Coco smiled and stood next to her, leaning on the counter as well. “Well it’s alright. You’ll get used to it. I never had many friends until I met Rarity. Now I have you and Rainbow Dash and everyone else.” Sunset glanced up at the ceiling, thinking back to the times before she arrived here. “Before I came here, I thought friendship was stupid. A waste of time and effort despite what my mentor tried to teach me. Even after I came here I actively pushed away anyone who even tried to be my friend. I think the closest I had were Snips and Snails.” Coco looked up at Sunset inquisitively. “Sunset where did you come from? You told Daring Do about the magic that you and the other girl used and how you transformed, but you also didn’t tell her where you came from.” Sunset shook her head and opened her mouth, but before she could deny her request another voice sounded out. “Sunset’s a pony unicorn from another world.” Both girls turned to see Rainbow Dash walking down the hallway towards them, stretching both of her arms into the air. Rainbow Dash!” hissed Sunset, careful to keep her volume down. Rainbow finished stretching and shrugged. “Hey, I had to go pee and I heard you two talkin’ out here. Plus, you might as well tell her.” Coco looked back to Sunset. “Is that true? You can trust me, you know.” Sunset looked back down at Coco, her face full of apprehension and trepidation. Finally, she let out a deep breath and recounted her tale. “Fine. Yes, I’m a pony from another world. The crown was a magic artifact that I stole from my mentor’s new student. Magic exists in spades where I come from.” Coco’s eyes lit up in amazement. “Woah. That’s amazing. What was your life like over there? I wanna hear all about it.” “You really wanna hear about my life in Equestria?” Sunset asked incredulously. “Hold on, I wanna hear this too!” said Rainbow, clenching her legs together. “But I really need to use the bathroom first!” Without waiting for an answer, Rainbow sped back into the hallway and into the bathroom. Sunset and Coco chuckled for a few seconds until Sunset turned back to Coco. “She’ll catch up. Anyway, I guess I can tell you if you want. It’s kinda long and boring though.” Coco nodded anyway, eyes sparking in anticipation. “Fine. It all started when my mom got a job at the castle…”