//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: The Phoenix Tear // by CartoonNerd12 //------------------------------// Sunset Shimmer wanted more than anything to be far away from where she was now. She looked around her small tower room, which was attached to a manor that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere from her tower window. She wasn't a prisoner in her tower, but she may as well have been. Her caretaker, Starlight Glimmer, may not look old, but she had taken Sunset in when she was just a foal. Since Starlight raised Sunset, it was the latter's obligation to repay her guardian for taking care of her. She had to serve Starlight, along with a few ponies that had to serve Starlight, too: Double Diamond, Party Favor, Sugar Belle, Night Glider, and on occasion, the gentle giant Troubleshoes. Sunset was currently painting a castle on a mountain with the canvas she had in her room when Night Glider popped her head in the window and asked. "Whatcha doing?" "Painting." Sunset merely said. "It looks pretty good." "It sure does." Party Favor came in through the door. "Come on in…" Sunset cynically said, knowing she didn't get much privacy when living with Starlight anyway. "Do you think you'll find a castle like that some day?" Party Favor questioned. "I don't see how, considering I'm never going to be able to leave this place… Every year on my birthday, I ask Starlight if I'm allowed to leave, but she keeps insisting that I have to repay my debt of being taken in when I was abandoned in the woods and how she is doing me a favor of keeping me safe from the cold, cruel world…" she sighed. Party Favor and Night Gilder sighed with her. "Lunchtime!" Sugar Belle called out. Immediately, the three headed to the kitchen where Sugar Belle laid out different sandwich combinations. "Party Favor, here is your cheese and sprinkles sandwich; Night Gilder, your dandelion sub; and Sunset, your peanut butter and daisy sandwich. No crusts, just the way you like it." Sunset smiled when taking the food, "Thanks, Sugar Belle." She took her seat with the others. Double Diamond came in then, "Keep in mind, every pony, that Starlight will be back in fifteen minutes, so if you haven't finished any chores that need to be done, I suggest you eat fast to go do it." Everyone muttered on how they already finished their chores for the day. "I mean it, guys. I don't want another lecture about how things don't get done around here because someone isn't doing their job." "We're well aware of that, Double Diamond." stated Night Gilder. "Look, don't worry so much. We all pull our weight to make sure everything is in perfect order just as Starlight wants it." "I hope you're right…" He sat down to take a bite of the sandwich in front of him. Once everyone was fed, they had a lively chat until they heard a loud whinny and large clops. They all froze as they knew that Troubleshoes on his way with Starlight. Troubleshoes would always give them a heads-up that Starlight was on her way home, giving them time to prepare for her arrival. "Oh! She's going want her tea ready!" Sugar Belle rushed to the stove to put a kettle on. "You better go, Sunset." Night Gilder motioned. "Right." Sunset nodded as she rushed to the front doors of the manor just as Troubleshoes pulled the cart up that Starlight was riding in. She got out and went to open the door right as Sunset was about to greet her, "Did you have a nice ride, milady?" "It was refreshing. Now, I expect my tea in nine minutes." "Yes, milady." Starlight saw the other four gathering and directly said to Sugar Belle, "And don't repeat your errors from yesterday. You steep the tea for six minutes. I expect six-and-a-half minutes, no more, no less." "Y-yes, milady…" She addressed all five of them, "And all of you have done your duties?" "Yes, milady." they all said. "Are you so sure? Did you make the beds, sweep the floors, weed the garden?" "Yes." they said. "Beat the rugs, wax the table, polish the silver?" "Everything should be where it is." Sunset said. "Hmm…" Starlight started making for the stairs, and when she stepped on the third step, it creaked. She faced them back with disappointment, "Listen to that… You're supposed to keep the house in perfect order." "But we didn't know about-" Sunset started to protest. "It's your job to know!" Starlight retorted and headed up the stairs. "I've taken care of you all in your time of need and this how you thank me? By loitering around doing nothing?!" Once she made it all the way up, she went to her room and slammed the door. They gave out heavy sighs. They were all back in the kitchen with Sugar Belle and Sunset preparing Starlight's tea. "It's not fair!" spouted Night Glider. "It's not fair that she expects so much from us! We did our jobs, so that should be more than enough to satisfy her!" "But… you know if it never is…" Party Favor dejectedly sighed. "I always thought she'd be a lot nicer towards you, Sunset. She did raise you, after all." Sugar Belle pointed. "That may be so, but all of my memories of her hardly show motherly affection…" "It's almost about nine minutes. Is it ready?" Double Diamond asked. Sugar Belle magically poured the tea from the kettle into the tea pot, "It should be and it's precisely six and a half minutes, just how she wanted it." She lifted the tray and Sunset took it. "Well, wish me luck…" Sunset headed towards the mistress of the house's room. With her magic carrying the tray, she used her hoof to knock on the door. "Enter." Starlight's voice carried through the door. Sunset went in to see Starlight in the bed getting ready for her afternoon nap. Sunset set the tea tray on the nightstand and went to close the curtains, blocking out any light coming from the windows. Sunset faced Starlight and bowed her head, "Will there be anything else?" "Not at the moment, but I shall ring my bell if there is something I need." "Yes, milady." "You may go and don't disturb me until dinner, which I expect should be ready by six sharp." "Of course, milady…" Sunset headed towards the door, but stopped herself to look at Starlight again. She decided against it and started to go until Starlight stopped her. "Sunset Shimmer, were you about to ask me something?" "No! I mean… it was nothing, milady… I'll go now…" "You may leave once you tell me what it is you want to tell me! Now, what is it?" Sunset slowly went towards her mistress and scolded herself for thinking that Starlight would let her leave on her birthday this year. She heard the answer so many times that she knew what it was before she even had to ask. "Well?" Starlight said impatiently. "It's just… My birthday is coming up and I was wondering… that maybe this year, you would…" but she stopped the minute she saw Starlight giving off a scowl. "Sunset…" Starlight said in a sickly sweet tone, "dear… Need I remind you of the dangers of the world out there…?" "No…" Sunset hung her head. Starlight lifted her chin so she could face her, "And who was but a few days old when I found her the woods all alone and with no way to defend herself?" "That was me…" "Exactly, and you will do well to remember that…" She started singing, "The world is cruel, the world is wicked… It's I alone whom you can trust in this whole household… I am your only friend… I, who keep you, teach you, feed you, dress you… I, who look upon you without fear… How can I protect you, girl, unless you always stay in here… Away in here…" She said, "Remember the lessons I taught you Sunset," She resumed singing, "You are orphaned…" Sunset sang miserably, "I am orphaned…" "And you are alone…" "And I am alone…" "And these are crimes for which the world shows little pity… You do not comprehend!" "You are my one defender…" "Out there, they'll reject you as a stranger…" "I am a stranger…" "Out there, they will hate and scorn and jeer…" "Only a stranger…" "Why invite their calumny and consternation… Stay in here… Be faithful to me…" "I'm faithful…" "Be grateful to me…" "I'm grateful…" "Do as I say… Obey…" Both finished, "(And/I'll) stay in here…" "Do you understand?" Starlight questioned. "Yes… I understand…" "You may go." Sunset could only nod as she headed out the door, and once she shut it behind her, she thought, That I understand that I'm never going to leave this place ever… Sunset went straight up to her tower room and went to the window, seeing a tree nearby with a nest of phoenix birds and the mom and dad were feeding their young. How she wondered what it was like to be part of a family. What things would be like if she hadn't been abandoned in the first place… She looked over to the village that was a fair distance from the manor. She thought of what Starlight said, but found it hard to believe. If ponies such as Sugar Belle, Night Gilder, Party Favor, and Double Diamond were nice, surely other ponies in Equestria were, too. She looked around her room and thought of the manor as her home for a long time and started singing, "Safe behind these windows and these parapets of stone… Gazing at the ponies far beyond me… All my life, I watch them as I hide up here alone… Hungry for the histories they show me… All my life I memorized their faces… Knowing them as they will never know me… All my life, I wonder how it feels to pass a day…Not above them… But part of them… And out there! Living in the sun! Give me one day out there! All I ask is one! To hold forever, out there! Where they all live unaware, what I'd give… What I'd dare… Just to live one day out there! Out there among the millers and the weavers and their wives… Through the roofs and gables I can see them… Every day they shout and scold and go about their lives! Heedless of the gift it is to be them! If I was in their skin, I'd treasure every instant! Out there! Strolling in the sun, taste the morning, out there! Like ordinary mares… Who freely walk about there! Just one day and then I swear I'll be content with my share… Won't resent, won't despair, old and bent, I won't care! I'll have… spent… one day… out… there!"