//------------------------------// // Act IV-III // Story: A New Sun Rises // by CommissarAJ //------------------------------// Life had a funny way of working in a circular fashion. My journey into the frightening and alien realm of friendship and understanding started with me shunning the outside world from the relative sanctuary of my bed. Barely even a month later, though, and I was back into that familiar fetal position. At least this time I had warmer blankets with which to take shelter under. Yet even cradled in comfort, a part of me yearned to be back at the bottom of that crater: a pit where I could wallow in my own misery, alone and forgotten. Having the world hate me was something that I quickly came to terms with, and felt entirely justified. I could survive with the world hating me. But having Twilight Sparkle hate me? That I wasn’t so certain about. The very thought had been so terrifying that it had crippled all rational thought with the brutal efficiency of a crowbar to the knees. Once Gilda had finished airing my dirty laundry for Twilight to see, I bolted out the door at the first possible opportunity. Didn’t even bother saying good-night.  I panicked and I ran like some timid little forest rodent. Was it a stupid move to make? Of course it was, but that fact didn’t sink in until after I had marathoned all the way home and locked myself away. Maybe if I had stayed and held my ground I could’ve explained myself. Twilight knew I had a less-than-pristine history, but she had always been content to sit in ignorance of my past sins. How could I explain the reasons why I helped so many cheat without explaining why I was on my own, and who I truly was. If only I hadn’t given into my fear... By Celestia, was I pathetic. Sadly, by the time that Saturday morning rolled in, I was still too emotionally rattled to think straight. I didn’t sleep well either, which didn’t help matters in the least. It was another bad dream involving old ghosts mocking my stellar decision-making skills and reminding me that I was always just one slip-up away from falling back into that hole. It was becoming so familiar I was beginning to think it had me on speed dial. Sometimes I wondered if my subconscious was out to get me. This time around, though, there would be no Celestia knocking at my door to save me, at least not until she returned from her business meetings tomorrow night. If I was expecting salvation from Luna, I’d have more luck developing a time machine and undoing my mistakes before they happened. She’d sooner hold my head under the water than help me out. Out of twisted curiosity, I checked my phone to see if there had been any messages during the night. There had been none. The faint, whimpering sound that followed was the last remnants of my self-worth throwing itself off a cliff. Without any real glimmer of hope, I resigned myself to hiding out until I eventually worked up the courage to contact Twilight again. There wasn’t a force in the universe that was going to get me out of bed until then. “Gah, I need to pee,” I grumbled in resignation. After a few minutes of debating and uncomfortable squirming, I eventually relented and slunk out of bed. I could go back to sulking after I had relieved myself. Fate, however, wasn’t the type to let me wallow in self-pity. When life closed one door, it just kicked open another. “Morning Sunset!” Upon opening my door, I was immediately greeted to the sight and ear-splitting cheer of one Pinkamina Diane Pie. So sudden was her onslaught of unbridled cheer and confetti that my first reaction was to shriek like a school filly and slam the door shut. My nerves had been so thoroughly frazzled from the night before that I was half-a-twitch away from not needing that bathroom anymore. For a brief moment, I thought that I might still have been dreaming, or that my mind had finally decided to let go of the wheel, but then I heard a muffled noise. “Owie…” Since figments of one’s imagination did not suffer pain, that had to be a flesh and blood Pinkie out in the hall. I put on my best apologetic smile and opened the door, more cautiously this time. Sure enough, there stood my friend, rubbing the new sore spot on her nose. Standing alongside her was Rainbow Dash, who appeared to be snickering at me, no doubt because of my bizarre reaction to Pinkie just seconds ago. “What are you two doing here?” I asked, wary of my friends’ sudden arrival at my door.  Despite all my yearning for the contrary, it was Luna that answered the question.  “You have an assignment to do, remember?” she remarked, wearing that same expression of tired impatience she always seemed to have when addressing me. It was as though I were just a continual source of disappointment for her. “I would’ve liked to have known in advance that you were inviting your friends over.” “I… had been meaning to tell you,” I sheepishly replied. I didn’t want to start another argument so I avoided any mentioning of yesterday’s events. “Is it okay if they stay for a while?” “Just try not to make too much noise,” Luna answered. Much to my relief, she didn’t put up any resistance to letting my friends stay, save for that single caveat. It was a rare moment where I was glad that I had been wrong and that my paranoia about Luna had been shown to be little more than that. “I’m going to trust that you have enough sense to finish your assignment rather than goof around.” “Yeah, yeah, don’t worry about us,” Rainbow Dash insisted in my stead. “I need to do well on this assignment anyways, otherwise my mother is going freak out something fierce, so I am one hundred times more motivated to making sure this gets done!” I wasn’t certain if Luna believed my friend or not, but either way she refrained from saying anything further and retreated back to the relative safety of her room. As for myself, normally I would’ve felt hesitant about spending an afternoon trying to get the two least work-orientated girls I knew to sit down and finish an assignment, but I saw an opportunity to distract myself from my current woes. School work was easy, safe, and predictable—it was exactly what I needed. Right after a trip to the bathroom. ******************* Any hope that I had of using my school work as a distraction soon proved to be fleeting at best. While Applejack held steadfast to her committment of truth and honesty, Rainbow Dash proved to be far more flexible in her definition of ‘honesty.’ Her usual motivation with regards to work was barely above zero, so a hundred times that was still very little, as demonstrated by the amount of time she spent laying on my bed complaining of boredom. “Can’t we at least take a break?” Dash whined as she rolled onto her back. Her head dangled over the side of the bed next to where I sat on the floor, which wouldn’t have been so distracting were she not breathing right into my ear. It was amazing how little things could irritate you so quickly when you were emotionally exhausted. “Could you knock it off?” I snapped back. “Maybe if you finished your part of the work, we could all take a break.” Unsurprisingly, my ‘motivation’ did little to move her along, other than making a face at me with a mocking echo of ‘we could all take a break.’ “What’s got you so wound up, anyways? I thought this schoolwork stuff was a piece of cake for you,” Dash replied. I couldn’t shake the feeling that Dash was just manoeuvring her way to convincing me to do her share of the work, too, which wasn’t a bad plan except that it was completely transparent and I was in no mood for games. Sadly, as it was considered bad form to threaten corporal punishment on teenagers, I was hard-pressed to find a way to coax my friend from her procrastination. “Didn’t you say your mother would get angry if you got a bad mark on this?” I asked in hopes a reminder of the consequences could convince her. “Only if she finds out.” Legends speak of a magical garden in Equestria, where the sun greets you every morning with her warm embrace; where the rivers flow not of water, but of sweet nectar that could quench any thirst; where the animals welcome you into their lands with flowers and song; and an endless supply of sweet and delicious fruit to keep you sated. A land, they say, of endless bliss and joy that would make your heart and soul sing praises every waking moment. Even if I teleported straight into the middle of that magical, blessed land, it could not quell the seething rage I now felt and was seconds from releasing against Rainbow Dash. How could anybody be so casually irresponsible towards their own education? What kind of justice was there in the universe that could reward such a lackadaisical attitude with popularity and success? Clearly I should’ve just learned how to play soccer rather than fuss over polynomials and thermodynamics. By the heavens, I wanted to throttle the life out of Dash right then and there. It would’ve been easy too—she was too busy playing some fruit slicing game on her phone to notice me. I could just reach out, put my hands around her throat, and squeeze until her head turned purple. Luckily for both of us, Pinkie Pie was able to step in at just the right moment to take my attention away from murderous thoughts. “Here you go, Sunset! I got the first part of my assignment done!” she exclaimed while holding up several pages of drawings. “Why were you doodling, Pinkie?” I replied, shifting my anger to her now. “What is so wrong with you people that something as mundane as answering a few questions seems to be beyond your comprehen—” Somehow, my brain managed to put a lid on my boiling cauldron of fury by casually glancing at the aforementioned doodles and realizing something. “Did... did you answer all the questions through comics?” “Mm-hm,” Pinkie answered with a nod. She seemed to be quite pleased with her work, too, and with good reason. “I call it ‘Sunny Skies,’ which follows the crazy adventures of two horses named Sunshine and Sky who are also super best friends forever!” Flipping through the pages, I had to swallow my pride and admit that Pinkie found a rather creative way to complete her assignment. The thoroughness and delivery of her answers wasn’t the only thing that caught my attention. “I can’t help but notice that this Sunshine character looks a bit like me,” I replied. I didn’t even bother mentioning who the bubbly, curly-haired ‘Sky’ character reminded me of. “Any resemblances to real-life people, living or dead, is purely coincidental,” Pinkie insisted as she took her drawings back. “I’m thinking of having the next story arc be about Sky getting to plan the biggest, best birthday party ever for Sunshine.” And there went what relief I had foolishly allowed myself to indulge in. “Please, just focus on our work,” I sighed. “Is everything okay, Sunset?” Rainbow asked, sounding more curious than concerned. “You’ve been awfully cranky today, and I mean, like, worse than the old you.” “It’s nothing,” I insisted foolishly. “Just… a rough day and a worse night.” Telling them the truth might’ve been easier, not just for my immediate relief but for the long run as well. In my fear of making my life more miserable, though, I tried to keep my problems with Twilight from mixing with anything else. Rainbow remained skeptical, however, and continued pressing for answers. “So what happened? Bad grade on a quiz?” “No,” I groaned. “More graffiti on your locker?” “No.” “Somebody slipped some balogne into your lunch?” “Please stop.” “Missed the bus home?” “No.” “Strong breeze in a short skirt?” “No!” Then Pinkie Pie decided to chime in. “Problems with that person you’re secretly texting?” “Yes—I mean no!” Too late. “Wait, what? Secret texting?” Rainbow Dash asked, her curiosity now dialed up to eleven. “Start spilling the beans, Sunset.” “There’s nothing to spill,” I snapped back. If I had any hope of keeping my relations with Twilight a secret, I had to give them something believable as a decoy. In retrospect, I don’t know why I didn’t just tell the truth; maybe it was just my need to control things in my life. I wanted to tell them, but only when I was ready. “They’re just messages to a friend, okay? It’s no big deal.” “So why all the secrecy then?” Rainbow asked with a cheshire grin. “You’re not chatting up Flash Sentry again, are you?” “Flash and I are cool, but it’s going to be a while before we can be ‘buddies’.” Lying about it being Flash might’ve been the quickest exit to this problem, but even I had enough foresight to know that they’d eventually ask Flash and he’d contradict me, bringing the conversation right back to where we are now. “It’s just somebody I met recently, and I’m taking things slow.” “Oooo, is it a boy?” I don’t know how Rainbow Dash made that jump in logic—she must’ve figured my reluctance to share details was from the embarrassment of an infatuation. The problem now, though, was the more I denied it, the more Rainbow would believe she was right because denial is exactly what an embarrassed person would do. “It’s not a boy!” “It’s totally a boy,” Rainbow Dash whispered over to Pinkie. On the bright side, I had my opening to lead them away from the truth. Is it really lying when they won’t believe the truth? “Fine, it’s a boy!” I shouted in defeat. “Oooooooo!” my friends chimed in unison. “What’s his name?” “Is he cool?” “Does he go to our school?” “Does he play any sports?” “Is he cute?” “One at a time, girls, one at a time!” Now that I had them convinced they had ‘worked’ the truth out of me, they’d believe pretty much anything I said at this point. However, I didn’t want to reveal too much so I figured a little bit of creative licensing with the truth wouldn’t hurt. “For starters, we’re just friends. We met at the soccer game at Crystal Heart, and he’s really shy, so I don’t want to rush anything—and that includes introducing you or any of the others. I’m sure you’ll get along but, no offense, you girls can be a bit… intense. It could scare him off.” While Pinkie Pie maintained her cheerful exuberance, my answer appeared to be unsatisfactory for Rainbow Dash, who frowned and rolled over on the bed once more. “Well that was a lot more boring than I had hoped,” she remarked. Thank Celestia for short attention spans. “So when do we get to meet him?” Pinkie Pie asked, her enthusiasm unabated. “When the time is right, okay?” “You promise?” Pinkie said as she leaned in closer. She looked unsettlingly serious for a change. “Pinkie promise?” “Y-yeah, of course. I promise.” “Say iiiiiiiiit.” By the Throne of Canterlot, could she be persistent. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” I monotoned while making the appropriate hand gestures to satisfy her ritualistic needs. Despite my unenthused manner, my friend was placated. “Okie dokie lokie,” she replied through an ear-to-ear grin. I was able to breathe a sigh of relief for a short while, now that the crisis had been averted. No doubt this issue would pop up again from my other friends, but so long as I remained consistent in my story, they’ll be none the wiser. Normally, I’d be worried about Pinkie trying to pry into my life, but she held her Pinkie promises to a level of sanctity that would make religious zealots seem mild and restrained. Sadly, I was still no closer to getting Rainbow Dash to work on her assignment, but I had to settle with what victories I could. I had a feeling that by the end of the afternoon, I was going to be very disappointed with her, and by ‘very disappointed’ I mean ‘so angry with I could throw her out a window.’ ******************* By the early evening hours, all three of us were still safe and sound in my room. Through some stroke of good fortune, along with a lot of bribing and begging, I managed to convince Rainbow Dash to finish most of her assigned work. I did, however, take the more difficult questions off her hands, if only to preserve my sanity after enduring hours of listening to Dash try to talk herself through problems that I could finish in my sleep. In hindsight, that might’ve been Dash’s plan the entire time, in which case that was very clever of her. “Okay, I think that’s enough work for one afternoon,” I announced, followed by a tired sigh. “We can finish up the rest of it during class next week.” “Finally!” Rainbow said with great relief. “Hey, do you think we can watch a movie on that big screen downstairs?” “I don’t see a reason why not,” I answered, “as long as somebody actually brought a movie to watch.” “You mean Celestia doesn’t have anything worth watching?” Pinkie asked. I paused to ponder it but eventually just shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t think Celestia has any movies at all.” In my weeks thus far living with the two sisters, I hadn’t seen anything that even resembled a DVD beyond things related to school business. I wasn’t even sure if Celestia owned a DVD player in the first place. Books had always been more of her thing. When Rainbow Dash gave an indifferent shrug, that was her way of answering that she brought no movies with her. “Guess I should’ve realized Celestia and Luna were as boring at home as they were at school,” Rainbow remarked. “It’s not that bad,” I insisted, though I soon found myself unable to back that up with any evidence. “I mean, I’m rarely bored living here, but I guess after three years on my own, I’m a little used to the isolation.” “You know what we could do?” “Pinkie, you better not be suggesting a party.” “How about a… joyous gathering of your friends?” Pinkie offered as an alternative. I let a silent glare of disapproval be my response. “Come on, Sunset, you know Pinkie would throw you an awesome party. Why are you still hung about that?” Rainbow asked. “Is this some pony thing that we ‘humans’ wouldn’t understand?” “No, it’s a Sunset Shimmer thing that you wouldn’t understand,” I growled back. I did not want to get bogged down in another conversation about my birthday, especially considering all of the other problems I had on my shoulders right now. If anything, my patience was at an all-time low. “So I’m begging you, please, leave it alone.” “Wow. Didn’t realize you felt so strongly about it,” Rainbow grumbled back. She sounded equal parts surprised and disappointed, but I think it had a lot to do with the continuing boredom she was faced with again. She sprawled across my bed once more, like a lounging cat, and turned to her phone as her last vestige for entertainment. “Maybe you girls should just go home. No point in you sitting around here, bored out of your skulls,” I said reluctantly. Those words felt like waving the white flag as a host. Can’t even really entertain two of my friends for one afternoon, how lame was that? It didn’t help my sentiments about how horrid of a friend I was proving to be. My friend, however, disagreed with my assertion. “There must be something fun we can do,” Pinkie said. “What does Luna do for fun?” “Beats me,” I answered. “She’s always locked away in her room.” Unsurprisingly, Rainbow Dash’s curiosity was piqued by this. “Oooo, maybe she’s hiding something in there,” she mused out loud. “Can we not talk about Luna?” “Why? Afraid she’ll pop up if we say her name too many times?” Dash teased. Though my apprehensions did sound like paranoia, my relations with Luna have always seemed to function like Murphy’s Law. “Luna, Luna, Luna!” As if driven by some supernatural urge to haunt my every waking moment, no sooner did Dash finish speaking did a knock echo from my bedroom door. Even Dash looked a bit surprised by the ominous timing. Putting my paranoia aside, I went to see what Luna wanted to speak with us about. “Hello Luna, is everything okay?” I asked after cracking the door open. “I’m going out to pick up dinner and groceries,” Luna explained in her typical to-the-point attitude. “Apparently in my sister’s haste, she forgot to do any grocery shopping.” “Oh, um… that’s interesting.” I honestly wasn’t sure how to respond to her, though my constant paranoia blinded me from seeing the obvious. “Meaning I’ll pick up something for you and your friends if you’re interested,” Luna was quick to inform. “Any objections to pizza?” “Nope.” “Nuh-uh.” “Pizza would be great, thank you,” I answered. Eating a bit of humble pie still felt awkward despite the routine occurrence. “I’ll make sure one doesn’t have any meat,” Luna said before she left. Once Luna left, I was forced to acknowledge to myself that maybe Luna wasn’t entirely evil and out to get me. Even if she did sound like she was being compelled by obligation rather than compassion, it was still nice of her to make the offer. She could’ve just thrown a pizza at us like we were tigers in a pen and be done with it. Suddenly, Dash got that sort of wicked grin that makes sane people worry what you’re up to. “Hey, who wants to go see what Luna keeps in her room?” Suffice to say, I voiced my objection in a polite and level-headed fashion. “Are you out of your freaking mind? Do you have a death wish? Because I don’t!” “Like she’ll find out,” Dash replied. “The instant that Luna even thinks I’ve been inside her room, I may as well shoot myself to the moon and make camp for the next millennia.” “The moon?” “That analogy makes perfect sense back where I’m from!” My friends were uninterested in any history lessons, and instead seemed to switch all their attention to this new obsession. “But what if she’s got something super cool in her room?” Dash suggested, as though I were ever motivated by things that are just ‘cool.’ “She locks her door,” I tried to dissuade them. “So? You said you can pick locks, didn’t you?” “Yes, but that’s with simple locks like on desk and cheap padlocks. Doors tend to have larger and more sophisticated mechanisms.” If only Rainbow Dash could be argued with using things like logic. Her mature and articulated rebuttal consisted of clucking like a chicken. It was like trying to argue with a child. If I had my magic, I could’ve zipped her lips shut, but instead I was forced to wait until her patience ran thin and she grew bored, which was all of ten seconds. Thank goodness. “Maybe Luna’s hiding away her terrible dark secret that will reveal all the reasons why she’s treating you so badly,” Pinkie Pie chimed in with her suggestion. “Now that’s just absurd,” I scoffed, folding my arms in a huff. But then I started giving Pinkie’s argument a bit of thought. “You really think she’d hide stuff like that in her room?” “That or a super-embarrassing secret hobby,” Pinkie answered. I had to admit, there had always been a lingering curiosity in the back of my mind about what Luna kept locked away in her makeshift dungeon. The mere fact that she was so protective about it just made me think it was more than just being territorial. Despite my misgivings, my curiosity was hooked. Surely it couldn’t hurt just to take a quick look, now could it? “I guess I could give it a shot,” I continued musing out loud. “The lock was there before I moved in, so she couldn’t have installed it anticipating someone like me breaking in.” “Come on, Sunset, the more you wait, the less time you’ll have,” Rainbow enticed me further. And that’s how I got talked into breaking into Luna’s room. As far as dumb moves go, this was par for the course when it came to my track record. Within minutes, we were huddled outside of Luna’s door with Pinkie Pie on look-out, and an impatient Rainbow Dash looming over my shoulder. “You know, when you said you could pick locks, I envisioned something way cooler,” she remarked. Unsurprisingly watching somebody hunched over a door handle with a bunch of picks and a torsion bar didn’t offer much excitement for my friend. It didn’t help that I was taking my time, if only so I didn’t leave behind too much evidence that the lock had been tampered with. “Picking locks isn’t about ‘cool,’” I replied, “it’s about patience and preci—” “Booooooooring!” “There’s no pleasing you, is there?” The process probably could’ve gone faster had Dash not insisted on lingering so close. I was used to picking locks quickly and without an audience, so her presence was a bit unnerving, as was the sound of her breathing against my ear. “Okay, Rainbow Dash, how is this for cool?” I said with a triumphant grin. With a twist of the wrist, there was a rewarding ‘click,’ followed by the door slowly swinging open. A tense silence swept out from the room, as though we had just unlocked the path to some ancient and forbidden evil, which arguably wasn’t too far from the truth. I, for one, expected Luna to swoop in like some horror movie monster to put an end to my quest for the truth. But when nothing emerged, the three of us were able to breathe a small sigh of relief. That did not, however, alleviate all of our worries as a faint glow pulsing in the otherwise darkened room left us even more nervous than before. “W-well, it was your idea, Dash, you go in first,” I suggested while pushing my friend to the front. “Hey, it’s your home and your handiwork, you totally deserve the honour,” Dash insisted before quickly trading places with me. Filled with trepidation, we crept into the room, one timid step at a time. You’d think we were trespassing into Nightmare Moon’s lair rather than a vice principal’s bedroom, but for me they may as well have been the same. As the curtains were drawn shut, I palmed the nearby wall until I managed to find the light switch and flicked it on. What we saw was… surprising, in a way, though if we had been rational children, none of what we saw should’ve been too stunning. It was a bedroom, after all, so there was some very ordinary and non-menacing furniture like her bed, with sheets folded to the point where you could bounce a quarter off its surface. “What is that?” Rainbow asked in a rhetorical fashion as she gestured to the nearby desk. Upon it was enough high-tech gadgets, computers, and electronics to make any nerd’s heart skip a beat, full of blinking lights and cable bundles. “Now that’s a computer set-up,” I remarked. Now that the initial fear had subsided, I felt no hesitation about taking a closer look. “Three wide-screen monitors… a water-cooled tower… and are these noise-cancelling headphones?” “Ooo, fancy,” Pinkie said as she picked up the aforementioned headphones. She hopped into the nearby chair and took it for a few spins, giggling all the while. Rainbow Dash was on the other side of the room, looking through the contents of a bookshelf. “Bunch of stuff on computers here. Who knew Luna was such a nerd,” she commented. “This explains where all of her paycheck keeps going,” I murmured to myself. Honestly, the stuff on her desk alone cost more than what I spent on a year’s worth of rent. It was all very clean, too, which was impressive given the usual stereotypes that surrounded people with so much computer equipment. There wasn’t even a crumb of food marring the otherwise well-worn desk. Not too far away was a second desk with a computer, though it was more of a workbench as the much older and cheaper computer system had been removed from its casing and the components were spread across the work surface. Something about the computer tickled my curiosity, but it wasn’t until I stared and pondered at it for a few moments that a suspicion came to mind. “Hey Pinkie, do these look like the old library computers?” “You mean the ones we got rid of last year?” my friend replied, still spinning in the chair. “Yeah. Looks like Luna is doing some upgrades,” I said while noting a graphics card that had looked a bit newer than the surrounding components. It seemed like an unusual task for her to be undertaking given that the computer system just a few feet away likely had a processor chip that cost more than this one’s entire system. I decided not to think too much more on it as I continued on with my search of Luna’s room. The more I lingered in her room, though, the worse I felt. This was going a bit beyond just satisfying curiosity and into the realms of snooping. I kept telling myself that this was my best chance at getting to understand Luna and maybe even an upper hand in our constant struggles, but those rationalizations felt more like an excuse. Still, the repercussions I faced, both from within and without, remained the same regardless of how long I remained. I saw no reason to stop if I could get some answers. I decided to join Rainbow Dash over by the dresser, which housed a number of picture frames and other items that looked like mementos. There were a few family portraits not too dissimilar to the ones that hung in other parts of the house: a smiling family of a young Luna, Celestia, and two adults I presumed to be their parents. “It’s hard to imagine Celestia and Luna as kids,” Rainbow commented. “Looks like Luna used to really like soccer, though. That’s pretty cool.” She gestured to one picture of a very young girl in soccer gear, posing for the camera with a bright-eyed smile. Dash had a point: it was hard for me to consider that the girl in the picture is the same person that’s brought me so much grief in the past few weeks. It didn’t take long for me to notice that there was a gap in the timeline of pictures I saw. There were a handful of pictures from her early childhood and a bunch from the more recent years, but nothing in-between. The closest I could find was a graduation picture, but that’s from her college years. No bright, cheerful smiles to be found in any of the adulthood photos. “Anyone else notice that there’s no pictures of their parents from, like, the last decade or two?” I remarked with a growing sense of unease. “Hey Sunset, look at this,” Pinkie called out. She waved me over and directed my attention to a framed document on the wall. It was one of those ornate official documents with the embroidered trimmings and a shiny seal of authenticity smacked across it. “It’s a certification from a GED,” I answered after skimming across the cursive-font title. “A what now?” Rainbow asked. “General Educational Development,” I explained, though spelling out the acronym did little to alleviate the confusion. “It’s a program that offers tests and certifications for people who weren’t able to participate in the conventional education system.” “Meaning…?” Rainbow said, evidently still failing to follow along. “This is a high school equivalency certificate,” I answered more plainly. “Luna never graduated from a high school.” “You certainly know a lot about those things.” “Because I considered getting one of these a few years back, before I hatched my grand scheme of revenge and world domination.” “You mean before you decided to steal a magic crown and replace it with a cheap replica?” Dash replied. “There was more to it than that,” I insisted, though why I was offended I can’t say for certain. “You make it sound so rudimentary when you say it like that.” “Well it wasn’t like it was something you’d see in a Daring Do book.” “Nevermind,” I said with a sigh, pushing my thoughts away from my old machinations. The focus here was Luna’s past, not mine. “I’m beginning to get a sense of what happened here. The high school equivalency, the gaps in the pictures, the authoritarian-like rule—it all points to one conclusion.” “So what is it?” Dash asked with growing impatience. “Yes, please. Enlighten us.” That was a voice that made the three of us freeze on the spot. One by one, each of us turned our gaze towards the door, where Luna stood with an expression that could be best described as if a ticking time bomb had an angry face. “If we don’t move, maybe she won’t see us,” Pinkie Pie whispered. Needless to say, nobody bought into that theory, but even still, we all remained motionless as though the next breath would be our last. “You have until the count of ten to get out of the house before I do something that you’ll regret,” Luna warned. Now none of us knew what exactly that entailed, but the wild fantasies of young minds were more than sufficient to fill the gaps with horrific fates. I, personally, envisioned something along the lines of cleaning all the bathrooms in Canterlot High with a toothbrush after a bad day of Taco Tuesday. “Now hold on a second,” Dash interjected as she stepped in between Luna and I. “Before you do anything else, this whole idea was—” “Until the count of three. One… two… “ Seeing Luna removing what little safety buffer she had, Rainbow turned to me and displayed her stalwart loyalty. “Well, it’s been nice knowing you Sunset,” she said, giving me a hasty handshake. She then grabbed Pinkie by the wrist and the two raced out the door without even looking back. Now it was just me and Luna, like a sheep trapped in a cage with the lion. Time felt like it slowed to a glacier’s pace, with the tense silence making it all the more unbearable. She just stared at me, arms folded across her chest with her usual disapproving scowl. Was she waiting for me to make the first move? There was no easy lie or convenient scapegoat for this, though, as the situation was exactly what it looked like. It’s not as though I tripped and my lockpicks fell into her door. Maybe her vision really was based on movement. Maybe I was already dead and the rest of my conscious perception hadn’t caught up to it yet. But then I realized why I was in Luna’s room in the first place. As I had said moments ago, there was only one logical conclusion to reach from what I had seen—I knew Luna’s dirty little secret now. Emboldened by this knowledge, I proudly declared my defiance. “You know what, I don’t need to be afraid of you anymore! I know why you’ve been so fixated on juvenile hall—because you’ve been there! You were a criminal! A juvenile delinquent!” “So?” And with but two letters, Luna not only took the wind from my sails, she cut down the masts and blew a hole in the hull. Dirty little secrets only mattered if the other person was ashamed or afraid of them. “I was really hoping just saying that out loud would be enough to dissuade you,” I reluctantly admitted. “Well now we both get to be disappointed.” I wasn’t so much disappointed as I was confused. One did not put locks on a door just to be spiteful, so why did Luna feel the need to keep me out? Perhaps she accepted it as inevitable that I would find out that she had once served time in juvenile hall. Then I realized it had to do with why she went, not the fact that she did. I had to go on the offensive if I was to get anything. I was already going to be in for a world of trouble so I saw no reason to hold back. “You know what, you’re nothing but a… but a… a hypocrite!” “I beg your pardon?” “You heard me: a hypocrite.” It had taken me a few seconds to figure out a decent accusation, but once I got it out, I had to sell it. So I straightened up, put on my best war face, and braced myself for my greatest feat of ‘making it up as I go along.’ “You’ve spent all this time acting high and mighty, but the truth is you were just as bad as I once was.” Luna was predictably skeptical, but took up the challenge as another opportunity to browbeat me. “I am no hypocrite. That experience affords me the unique perspective of understanding why juvenile hall would be better for you in the long run.” “So I can be a stuffy, anti-social shut-in who still lives with her older sister? I can see how it’s been just wonderful for you.” That was a low blow, I’ll admit, but I was desperate and I needed to rattle Luna’s cage to see what tumbled out. “I am doing just fine,” Luna insisted. “And this isn’t about me, this is about you getting your proper punishment.” “Well your sister thinks differently.” “I don’t care what she thinks!” she snapped back through clenched teeth. She was getting angry now, which was normally when you should start running and screaming, but this time it revealed a chink in her normally impenetrable defenses. “I bet it really burns you up inside having your sister lording over you all the time: being your boss, running the household, overriding your decisions.” “Of course it bothers me! Who wouldn’t be annoyed?” With great reluctance, I admit that I was growing less intimidated and more excited by the argument. It was like a game of cat and mouse, but instead I was chasing down somebody’s insecurity. “You’re not just annoyed, you’re pissed off at her!” “This is not about Celestia!” “Ha! You lie like a rug,” I taunted, twisting the proverbial knife. “How does it feel knowing your sister picked me over you?” Sometimes, though, you’ve got to be careful what you wish for. I soon began to regret my heavy-handed approach when Luna grabbed me by the collar and forced me up against her desk. She pushed against me with such force that I was almost bent over backwards, with my shoulders stopping only because there was a disassembled computer in the way. “I hate you for it!” she screamed in my face. For a brief instant, I genuinely began to fear for my safety. Enraged didn’t even begin to describe what I saw in Luna; it was like a thousand years of bottled up emotions. “Why you? Why! What makes you so goddamn special?” I didn’t say anything; I was too scared to say anything. Even as Luna shook me, slamming me repeatedly against the desk and computers, fear gripped my throat. “You harass the students, and she looks the other way; you blow up the school, and she takes you into her home; you get arrested, and she has me save your sorry butt! She is bending over backwards to protect you! She’s risking her career right now covering for your screw-ups to the district school board!” She slammed me against the desk again. Not hard enough to really hurt, but it was enough to start knocking things over. But there was something underneath all the anger spilling out, and it was welling up in the corners of her eyes. “Why, Sunset Shimmer? Why does she keep giving you everything that she never gave me? Where was my rescue? Where was she when I needed that mercy and understanding?” Her grip suddenly began to loosen as her gaze sank straight to the floor. “Why did she let them take me away…” Things went eerily calm in the room all of a sudden. With Luna backing away, I had an opportunity to escape, but now I felt more compelled to stay. Perhaps it was because things started to actually make sense for a change. A quiet, disheartened murmur eventually broke the silence.  “Get out.” “N-no. I don’t think I should.” If I had turned and left, I probably would’ve gotten off free as a bird. We would’ve avoided each other until Celestia returned, and I could’ve left this mess to her more experienced hands. But I saw an opportunity to do something that I hadn’t considered before: to understand Luna. “I… I want to stay and talk. I want to understand what happened because… because I think whatever happened is the reason why your sister is going to such lengths for me.” “That would require her to admit she screwed up, and my sister, the model of perfection, does not does make mistakes,” Luna scoffed, sounding more bitter by the minute. “Just because she might be too ashamed to admit it doesn’t mean it’s not affecting her,” I countered. I knew for a fact that Celestia made mistakes, and she’s even admitted a few to me. “If you’re the real reason why I’m still free rather than sitting in a concrete cell, then I want to know what happened. Because… I don’t want to hate the person that I should be the most thankful to.” Luna slunk over to her bed, collapsing onto it with a tired and disheartened groan. “You want to know what happened?” she asked, glancing over to me. “Okay, I’ll tell you, but on one condition.” “Name it.” “You have to tell Pinkie Pie the real reason why you’re avoiding your birthday.” If Luna was trying to avoid talking about her past without making it obvious, she did a good job at it. I wanted to know, but at the same time I didn’t want to have to talk about my own sins in order to do so. “But d-didn’t you already send her away?” I replied. “Your friends are eavesdropping through the door.” “No we’re not!” “Pinkie! You’re not supposed to say that!” “Oops, my bad. I mean, yes, we totally are!” I sighed in dismay as my friends made their entrance, both grinning sheepishly all the while. If they were both here then they likely heard every bit of our conversation, which made it all the harder for me to say no to Luna’s deal. Maybe it was time to stop hiding from my past. I joined Luna with my own equally disheartened groan and fell onto what space was available on the bed. “Okay Pinkie, why don’t you take a seat. It’s storytime.”