//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Week of the unicorn // by CrossRedstone //------------------------------// "What? You have never seen a unicorn in your life?" Kinda overdue to do this little joke. Sunset thought, as she and her friends walked into class. The surprise stares were getting less by this time of the day already, but their homeroom teacher looked ready to quit her job. AJ and RD held back their snickers, seeing their teacher's face of uneasiness. The late comers took their seats silently, glad to not getting into trouble for being late. Unfortunately for Sunset, she was placed next to Fluttershy, who stole glances every so often to the unicorn. But then again, everybody did. "Soooooo...." the teacher lamely started homeroom "I'm pretty sure...you all have heard about Miss Shimmer's...condition. (Though I didn't want to belief it myself.) Principal Celestia and all of the stuff (myself not included and I'm not sure about the rest) ask you to treat her as you would always treat her." There was an awkward pause between everyone, before the teacher cleared her throat again. "In any event, the annual school festival is this Friday. We still need to determine who keeps an eye on our stand and determine the time they'll be standing there. Also two groups one for building and dismantling our stand." No one was really paying attention. For the Rainbooms, they could zone out, since they had their own stand or rather stage. Of course they could hardly play now with Sunset being a unicorn, but she already had an idea how to handle that problem. "Fluttershy..." Sunset growled silently, as the hand of her friend touched her fur. "Ooooh...." Rainbow and AJ snickered behind their hands, while Rarity smiled. Their teacher didn't notice the small exchange between the two. This went on the entire session. Fluttershy wasn't the only one distracted today. Even after everything for the festival was settled, the unicorn just needed to lift a pen with her magic and everyone's eyes were fixated on her. After 5 minutes their homeroom gave up and just proceeded with class. Granted, she was pretty fascinated with Sunset's magic herself. The mare wouldn't answer any questions however, promising to answer any after school with princess Twilight. The only thing she said was that she might transform back any minute. Class was over and now it was lunchtime. They actually managed to get through the hallway rather quickly, probably because everyone froze up, upon seeing Sunset or made her way. At least now they try to be discrete with their phones. she thought dryly. The cafeteria wasn't full as of yet, but the line was already there. Sunset and her friends got in line with Sunset very carefully watching her tail. Rainbow and Pinkie had that look on their faces. The one they always got, when they planned one of their elaborate pranks. "I'm watching you guys." Sunset placed herself between her friends, while they were standing in the line to get their lunch. She somehow tried to hide between them, so she would at least be able to get her lunch without any interruptions. Guess what, it actually somehow worked. The only thing worth mentioning, yes staring students, when Sunset was levitating things around doesn't count anymore, was Granny Smith's reaction to seeing Sunset Shimmer and her magic. "Applejack, did Applebloom let her friends feed the ponies again?" Do I want to know? "Uh, no Granny. That's...er...Sunset Shimmer. Ya know...magic and all that hooey...." "Ah'm getting too old for this." she stated simply. The pony and her friends had no problem finding a table. It was rather the rest of the students who tried to get a seat on the table the unicorn was sitting on. There were many disappointed faces, when the table was overfilled. Some students had taken seats from other tables and were sitting at the corners. "Really guys?" Sunset asked, after looking around with a deadpan expression. She recognized some of the people who had surrounded her earlier. From the rest she only recognized Vinyl and Trixie. "Come on Sun. What's wrong with getting some attention?" Roseluck found her hand stuck in mid-air, unable to move it. A green glow surrounded it. The girl looked up from her hand and found Sunset's horn glowing, while at the same time she was eating her salad, using her fork with her magic. Against Roseluck's will, her hand was pushed back to her lap. "No. Touching." Sunset emphasized each word. Of course that was only gave Pinkie a reason to poke her from behind. Multiple times. Just when Sunset had her in her magic grip, Rainbow decided to creep up from the other side. "Guys, seriously? I just want to eat in peace." she sighed. "And I'm not going to show of any of my magic, at least not without the principal's permission. And if you have any questions, spread the word that Twilight is coming here after school. And if you're all nice to me...I might show some things. There HAPPY?!?!" she asked visibly irritated. Everyone around the tables cheered. Sunset let out another irritated sigh, before she continued eating. "Hey Sun, if you don't mind me asking, why do you got a tattoo on your butt?" Rainbow asked. "Rainbow Dash, that's rude." Rarity chided. "It's fine, really." Sunset assured. "It's called...urggh, you're gonna laugh really hard....a cutie mark." .... "Say what?" Applejack asked calmly. She kept her cool for three seconds, before she, Rainbow and a few others at the table started to laugh. Sunset rolled her eyes and simply continued eating. By the time she was finished the laughter had died down. "It's...a mark..." Sunset tried to explain "which shows a pony's special talent. It also says something about a pony's personality. For example, mine shows my special talent for magic, as well as my love for watching the sunset and the sunrise." "So every one of you knows from birth what they're good at?" Trixie asked. "Wow, I'm jealous." Pinkie stated. "Not from birth, no." Sunset shook her head. "As long as we didn't figure our special talents out ourselves, we don't get our cutie (there were a few snickers) marks. Girls, can we meet in the band room? I need to go to the little girls room." XIII In order to avoid anymore awkward situation, Sunset teleported into the practice room. A little dizziness told her that she shouldn't overdo it after being out of practice for such a long time. Luckily she had just eaten, so she would recover rather quickly. It didn't take long for the rest to arrive. Even Vinyl was with them, but that was actually in Sunset's favor. "So what's this all about, sugercube?" Applejack asked. "Well, considering my current situation" she held up one leg and checked her hoof "I won't be able to play my guitar for a while and with the upcoming school festival, that is a little counterproductive." The others understood immediately. Pinkie and Fluttershy let out an 'oh'. "But darling, I thought it was only temporarily. Which is a shame, since I have thought of so many designs..." Rarity mumbled. Sunset placed herself on a seat, sitting on all four haunches. "That's right, but we're talking about a spell that came from Twilight Sparkle, the element of magic and an alicorn to put the icing on the cake." "I love cake!" Pinkie exclaimed. Ignoring her statement, the unicorn continued. "I've been thinking about my situation. Given the fact that the portal might have done something to the spell, there's a pretty good chance I'm going to be stuck like this for a very long time." "So...we won't be able to play with you...on Friday." Fluttershy concluded. "Or at least...there is a chance." "Aww, what a bummer." Pinkie mumbled. "Yeah, that's not so awesome." Rainbow agreed. Sunset's face lit up all of the sudden. She picked up the guitar with her magic and tentatively played a few notes. The faces of the other girls lit up at this. "Oh yeah! A unicorn in our band! Now THAT would be awesome!" Rainbow exclaimed, pumping her fist into the air. "Now I hope the spell will last that long!" "Well, I'll see if I can get the hang of it with my magic. And AJ? Can I hit at your place as long as I'm like this? I'd also need a way to get discretely to your place, if you got a free bed that is." "Sure sugar. Ah'm sure ah got a free stable for ya." The farm girl grinned. "Hey!" While the girls laughed, a certain lavender skinned girl got ready for a walk with her dog.