Sunset Shimmer was up to something, and Penumbra didn't like it. Thus far, the school day had proceeded just like the last time Sunset had gone quiet, with one difference: this time, she had gone out of her way to make eye contact with Penumbra, and every time, she had an increasingly arrogant smirk on her face that just oozed an infuriating sense of superiority.
Of course, such posturing didn't necessarily mean that Sunset was actually overconfident. Penumbra was well aware that this could be little more than an attempt to provoke her for some unknown reason, as evidenced by the lack of such treatment given to Pinkie Pie... though by the same token, it was entirely possible that Pinkie was simply too cheerful for such mind games to work, assuming that Sunset was actually playing mind games in the first place.
However, one thing was certain: if Sunset was trying to piss Penumbra off, it was working, which only served to make her even grumpier as the day wore on. It was almost a relief, then, when Sunset finally made her move. It happened about midway through the afternoon, in a hallway on the second floor of the science wing.
Pinkie and Penumbra had just exited from their biology class to make their way to their lockers when Penumbra spotted Sunset heading right for them with a steely look in her eyes. Given that Sunset’s own schedule made a chance meeting in this part of the school unlikely, it was fairly obvious that she had something planned. The pair responded with their usual tactic of splitting up, with Penumbra intercepting Sunset and allowing Pinkie to avoid a needless interaction. In one sense, it may have been somewhat cowardly, but neither of them saw any point in giving Sunset Shimmer anything to work with.
It wasn’t until Sunset started talking that Penumbra realized that they may have made a mistake. “Ah, Penny! Just the girl I was looking for,” she said with a smile that would only look genuine from a distance.
Out of habit more than anything else, Penumbra gave her usual response: “Don’t call me ‘Penny.’”
“What’s wrong with ‘Penny’? It’s just a harmless nickname, isn’t it?”
“I never said that there was something wrong with it,” Penumbra replied in a tone of forced civility. “I just don’t like the name, that’s all.” She wasn’t quite sure where this conversation was going, but she was fairly certain that she wouldn’t like the destination.
“But why not?” Sunset asked, her voice becoming even more cloying. “‘Penumbra’ sounds so formal and stuffy, while ‘Penny’ is much easier to use in conversation. It rolls right off the tongue. You really need to lighten up, Penny.”
“Stop it.”
Sunset shrugged. “If you insist, Penny.”
Penumbra was having difficulty hiding her rapidly diminishing patience. “Is there an actual point to this conversation, or are you just trying to annoy me?”
“As it so happens, I do have a point.”
“And...?”
All of Sunset’s mock friendliness vanished as she stabbed a finger into Penumbra’s shoulder. “You say you’re the Nightmare—whatever that means—but you have yet to show me any evidence beyond a grumpy attitude and a creepy laugh.” She then lowered her voice to prevent any passers-by from discerning her next sentence: “In fact, other than the fact that you and your team are obviously ponies, I haven’t found a single reason why I should take you seriously at all.”
“Pinkie’s going to win back the Element of Magic,” Penumbra replied with a snarl.
Sunset let out a short, derisive laugh. “Oh, please, this contest is just the least messy way for me to get my hands on that tiara, and you know it—or at least, I hope for your sake that you weren’t naïve enough to think that this was my only plan.”
“Oh, we know it, and you aren’t the only one with more than one plan.”
“That doesn’t change the fact that you can’t hold a candle to me.”
“You want a demonstration?”
“Hah! Even if you could do something impressive, there’s no way you’d try anything obvious in front of the humans.”
“Maybe you ought to treat your opponents with some respect,” Penumbra said.
“Maybe my opponents ought to do something to earn my... Oh! I get it!” Sunset’s eyes suddenly widened, though whether this had been rehearsed or an indication of genuine insight was difficult to say.
“You get what?”
“That’s why you insist on being called ‘Penumbra.’ It sounds refined and dignified and respectable, and you can’t tolerate the idea that someone isn’t taking you seriously, can you?”
“How about you stop talking out your ass?” Penumbra asked in a voice that was verging on a growl.
“It even explains your little code name. After all, isn’t respect what Nightmare Moon wanted?”
“That’s what Luna was after. I had my own goals.”
Sunset’s triumphant smirk returned to her face. “Luna was Nightmare Moon, end of story. And since you just admitted that you’re not Luna, you can’t be the Nightmare. No one who could threaten Equestria would run to her pretend ‘daddy’ and have him tell the mean girl to stop using her nickname. In fact, as far as I can tell, you may even be outranked by cotton-candy-for-brains. So, as far as I’m concerned, you’re just a pathetic, anonymous, unimportant, and quite possibly delusional nopony... Penny.”
Penumbra wasn’t sure why she did what she did next; under most circumstances, she was good at keeping her emotional impulses in check. But something about Sunset Shimmer’s unearned sense of superiority and overwhelming arrogance just made her want to slap that stupid, snide grin right off her face... so that’s exactly what she did.
Except it didn’t work.
Oh, Sunset was certainly wincing from the sting as Penumbra’s open palm slid off of her face, but that damned smile was broader than ever—in fact, Sunset briefly flashed her teeth at Penumbra, which had the bizarre effect of making her appear to be genuinely happy at this development. This left Penumbra utterly bewildered... for perhaps half a second.
“What in heaven’s name is going on here?!” It was Principal Celestia’s voice. She’d seen everything... well, actually, she’d probably only seen the last two seconds or so, but Penumbra doubted that hearing the entire conversation would have made Celestia any less angry.
The end result was now painfully obvious: Penumbra was in big trouble, and that was exactly what Sunset had wanted. As she turned around to face the consequences of her actions, one thought ran through Penumbra’s mind: Well played, you horrible nag.
———————
It took all of Sunset Shimmer’s willpower to keep from gloating over her success. If she looked like she was reveling in her victory, it could very easily undermine her efforts. Now was not the time for a show of confidence, but rather a calculated display of vulnerability. If she played her cards right, this little episode would generate sympathy, protectiveness, and other useful knee-jerk emotional reactions that would pull her supporters together, all while undercutting Pinkie’s “peacemaker” image thanks to the wonder of guilt by association.
So far, it seemed to be working well. “Oh my gosh, we’re so sorry we were late!” Silver Spoon exclaimed as she and Diamond Tiara apologized profusely. “If we’d known she was going to do something like that, we wouldn’t have wasted time getting our stuff from our lockers before finding Principal Celestia.”
Sunset ignored the stinging in her cheek and spoke to the pair in the most beatific tone of voice she could managed. “It’s alright; I didn’t expect her to respond like that.” Technically speaking, this was true: Sunset had actually been hoping that Penumbra would punch her, because a black eye would have been a great bit of evidence to back up her story and further ruin Penny’s reputation. If anything, these two had brought Celestia too soon, forcing Sunset to pull the trigger before she’d gotten Penumbra worked up to the point where she might have caused a superficial injury. For a split-second, Sunset considered using makeup to fabricate a bruise, but she rejected it—Celestia had witnessed a slap on the cheek, and an apparent injury to the eye could easily raise unwanted suspicion.
“Is there anything we can do to help?” Diamond Tiara asked.
“I’m fine for now,” Sunset said, knowing that such an expression of self-reliance would only make her look brave. “Besides, don’t you two need to get to class?”
“Oh... right,” Diamond said. “Well, if you think of anything you need, let us know.”
“I will,” Sunset replied meekly. “And thank you.”
———————
Rainbow Dash had absolutely no idea why Vice Principal Luna had asked her to come to her office at the end of the day, but as soon as she saw Applejack seated in one of the chairs across from Luna’s desk, she was pretty sure that the experience was going to be unpleasant. The thought that immediately sprang to mind was that Luna doubted that the pair had actually set aside hostilities, and they’d have to demonstrate their good intentions yet again. As it turned out, she was only partially correct.
Luna looked more somber than usual as she entered the room, sat down, and folded her hands on her desk. “I’d like to thank you two for being willing to meet with me on such short notice,” she began.
“No problem,” Rainbow Dash said with a brief wave of her hand. “I mean, it would’ve been nice to let me know Applejack would be here, too, but I can deal with it.”
This, however, didn’t seem to reassure Luna very much; if anything, she seemed to grow more concerned. “What do you mean?”
Applejack let out a sigh, “Look, ma’am, even though the two of us have more or less buried the hatchet, that don’t mean we particularly enjoy each other’s company, if you take my meaning. Really, the main reason we spend any time at all together is so we can help out Pinkie Pie.”
“Ah, yes, about that,” Luna said as she leaned forward in her chair. “While your reconciliation is indeed commendable, I must confess my uneasiness when I consider that you seem to have been pressured into this decision.”
Clearly, Vice Principal Luna was phrasing her words as delicately as she could, which meant it took a second or two to figure out what she was driving at. “Nobody forced us to do anything,” Rainbow Dash said. “What happened was that Pinkie pointed out that both of us were blowing things way out of proportion, that’s all.”
“Are you sure?” Luna asked. “There have been reports that Pinkie’s sister was shouting quite loudly at you when you all met in public over the weekend.”
Applejack rolled her eyes. “Penumbra only did that once, and the only reason she did it at all was because we were hollerin’ at each other so loudly that no one else could get a word in edgewise.”
Luna’s brow wrinkled as she processed this information. “So... there was no intimidation, then?”
“Intimidation?” Rainbow Dash gave a bark of laughter. “Are you kidding me? If either of us were the kind of person who was easily intimidated, we probably never would have been arguing in the first place.”
“What’s this all about, anyway?” Applejack asked.
Luna sighed. “There was an altercation between Penumbra and Sunset Shimmer this afternoon. It was heated enough that Penumbra used unneeded physical force. Sunset claims it was entirely unprovoked, while Penumbra says it was in response to an insult—though to Penumbra’s credit, she admits that her response was out of proportion.”
“Huh... can’t say I’m surprised,” Rainbow Dash said offhandedly.
Luna leaned forward. “Does Penumbra strike you as the kind of person who loses control of her emotions easily?”
“Heck, no,” Rainbow Dash said. “I mean, she can be a little grumpy at times, but I’ve never seen anything that would make me think that she acts out on a regular basis. I was talking about Sunset Shimmer.”
Luna wrinkled her brow again. “Would you care to explain that further?”
“Uh, hello? Sunset Shimmer is a conniving bitch. I can easily see her trying to provoke someone just to get them in trouble.”
“You shouldn’t use such language when speaking of your fellow students,” Luna said sternly, settling back into her chair. “Even if some of their personality traits are... er... questionable. And if you’re about to bring up the student council elections, I looked into the most common allegations personally, and I found no hard evidence that Ms. Shimmer had any hand in Time Turner’s decision to withdraw from the contest.”
Applejack let out a sigh. “So, what’s going to happen to Penumbra?”
“Naturally, there will be some discipline for her actions. However, the precise nature of that discipline has yet to be determined—I believe Principal Celestia wishes to speak with her father to make sure that this has not been a recurring problem in the past—but more to the point, Penumbra’s punishments are not really any of your business, regardless of how well you know her.”
“Yeah, but what about the Fall Formal?” Rainbow asked.
“I fail to see how that is relevant; after all, Penumbra is not a contestant for the tiara. Now, I believe I have already taken up too much of your time. If you return to your classrooms now, you should still be able to get some learning in before the day is through.”
———————
Twilight Sparkle sat at the desk in her bedroom, staring at a blank computer screen as she debated whether or not to blog about the things she’d learned earlier that evening. On the one hand, she knew that the account that Sunset had given her was, by definition, one-sided, especially since Penumbra didn’t really seem to be a particularly violent person. On the other hand, Twilight found that this news about Penumbra had rekindled all her uneasiness about Pinkie Pie, most notably the feeling that, even if she had nothing to do with Surprise, there was something else going on.
“Or on the third hand, you could not blog at all about it, because everyone involved knows you have a blog,” Surprise chimed in. “No point in alienating anyone before you’ve had a chance to form an opinion, right?”
Once again, Twilight’s imaginary friend was being the sensible one. “I guess you’re right,” Twilight replied as she closed her laptop and flopped onto her bed. She idly reached towards her nightstand and picked up the hard sci-fi novel she’d been working through. However, as she stared at the pages, little, if any of the speculation about ion drives and interplanetary space travel made it into her head, because that real estate was still occupied by Pinkie Pie.
“Come on,” Surprise whined. “Why should anything Penumbra did change the way you think about Pinkie? It doesn’t make sense.”
“I know enough about psychology to know that the human mind doesn’t always work rationally. Heck, the entire airline industry relies on people’s willingness to travel miles above the ground in metal tubes, even though most of them can’t explain why the tubes stay in the air. It’s not rational to trust your life to something you don’t understand, but people still do it.”
“Stop trying to change the subject.”
“If I was trying to change the subject, I wouldn’t let you keep bringing it up, now would I?”
“Look, last time Pinkie and her friends gave a pretty convincing argument that Sunset isn’t on the up and up, didn’t they?”
“I guess... but couldn’t it be just as likely that they were trying to get me to distrust Sunset?”
“Sure, but that’s why you should probably hear both sides of the story and make up your own mind.”
Twilight gave up on her book and tossed it back onto the nightstand. “What I don’t understand is why either of them is bothering with me. What do I have to do with the Fall Formal?”
“Why not just ask them?”
“Are you nuts?!”
“I’m the voice in your head. What do you think?”
Twilight groaned as she rolled off her bed and walked back to her desk. She’d walked right into that one, and she really didn’t have a good comeback, aside from the fact that she didn’t want to do it and maybe if she was lucky the whole problem would go away on its own. She picked up her phone and stared at the screen, trying to decide if it would be less awkward to call Pinkie or Sunset first, until her ringtone suddenly flared and made the decision for her.
———————
“Uh, yeah, we kinda figured Sunset might have told you what happened,” Pinkie said as she paced around the hotel room with her smartphone pressed to her ear. “That’s sort of why I called.... No, I’m not going to claim it didn’t happen. Penumbra’s already admitted that she overreacted.... Our father told Principal Celestia that she doesn’t have a history of acting out like this, so she got off with a detention, since it’s her first offense.... Well, the reason I called is because Penumbra’s really sorry, and she’s willing to apologize to Sunset, in public, if necessary. Since you live next door to her, we were sort of hoping you’d be willing to pass the message along. Would that be a problem?”
Pinkie looked noticeably relieved when Twilight answered her. “Thanks, you’re a big help. So, um, do you think you’ll be able to make it to the next meeting?”
This response, clearly, was less pleasing. “Oh, well, I guess I understand. A college student would obviously have more homework.... No, really, it’s okay. I’ll see you around.”
“I’m telling you, nothing will come of it,” Penumbra said as Pinkie ended the call. “Sunset Shimmer doesn’t want me to be humbled; she wants me to be the bad guy so she can appeal to the students’ sense of justice. How am I supposed to look unapologetic if she lets me apologize?”
“Are you actually sorry, though?” Pinkie asked.
“Let’s put it this way: any regrets I have are due to the fallout from my actions. I certainly don’t feel sorry for Sunset Shimmer herself in any way, shape, or form.”
“Atta girl!” Discord said jovially from his usual spot behind his laptop, beaming with “fatherly” pride. “Next time, make sure there aren’t any witnesses.”
“Discord!” Pinkie said in an uncharacteristically sharp tone as she wheeled around to face the object of her ire. “Now is not the time to be joking about that sort of thing—assuming that you are joking.”
“I’ll have you know that I was,” Discord insisted, “and in difficult times like this, humor can be an effective coping mechanism.”
“Coping mechanism, my hoof... er... foot! You’re a bad influence! I mean, technically, Penumbra’s still being reformed, and your loosey-goosey, don’t-give-a-flip attitude is not helping.”
“Oh, so I’m to blame, then? Are you saying that Penumbra’s own efforts to reform me were a failure, then?”
“Er... no, I’m not saying that,” Pinkie said.
“Because that’s what it sounds like to me. You know, seeing as you are the one who’s supposed to be keeping Penumbra in line, maybe you ought to be taking a slice of the blame pie, as well.”
“Well, it’s not just bad influences that are causing problems here. If you hadn’t talked to Sunset, I’d bet you fifteen donuts and a banana smoothie that she wouldn’t have thought to try egging Penumbra like that.”
Discord angrily shut his laptop and stood up from his table. “All right, now you’re just stretching.”
From her corner of the room, Penumbra sighed and reluctantly decided to enter the conversation. She tilted her head to the side just enough for her hair to fall away from her right eye and said, “Pinkie may be stretching, but I think she could be right. Sunset made a remark about ‘running to daddy’ that wouldn’t really make much sense if she wasn’t alluding to that little chat you had. Did my nickname come up at all?”
Discord looked indignant that his friend could even entertain such a notion. “Of course not! The moment she used the word ‘Penny,’ I told her not to call you that and ended the conversation immediately. There’s nothing she could possibly have figured out from that.”
“Except that Penumbra is really, really, really super-sensitive about being called ‘Penny,’” Pinkie pointed out. “She lets her friends get away with it because she knows it’s just harmless teasing since we’ve made it clear that we respect her, but when it’s obviously meant as an actual insult, that’s a cake of a different flavor.”
“Oh, er... right,” Discord said, momentarily looking like he’d bitten into a lemon, before he rallied. “Still, I think you’re forgetting something important, and that is that Celestia said that Sunset Shimmer is a neuromancer. Penumbra may have been under her influence, at least partially.”
“Penumbra was able to resist your attempts at mind control. Or are you saying Sunset’s stronger than you?”
“I was being direct! Sunset Shimmer would have been more subtle about it, obviously.”
“Oh, yeah? Well, you oughta remember that part of reforming is learning to take responsibility for your actions instead of making excuses!”
At this point Penumbra realized that this shouting match was going nowhere. No longer content to simply toss occasional bits of information into the conversation, she stood up to start participating actively. “Okay, what in the seventh layer of Tartarus is wrong with the two of you? I’m the one who screwed up, but you’re just using it as a pretense to blame each other!”
Neither Pinkie nor Discord responded immediately; rather, they both chose to shift their weight awkwardly while avoiding eye contact with Penumbra. This, however, did little to discourage her from continuing.
“Pinkie, why aren’t you willing to give Discord a chance?”
“I am! I’ve been letting him stay in my head, haven’t I?”
“Yes, but you’ve been implying that you’ll boot him out the second he does anything that even seems like backsliding. You gave me plenty of chances when I was starting.”
“Yeah, well, by that point you’d already accepted that being a big ol’ meanie wasn’t going to do you any good. From what I can tell, the only reason Discord isn’t trying to take over Equestria right now is because he cares more about spending time with you.”
“And that’s a bad thing?”
“Well, no... but the problem is that it’s the only thing. He doesn’t care about anyone in Equestria but you.”
“Excuse me,” Discord said as he jumped back into the conversation, “but that simply isn’t true. I also happen to care about Celestia and Luna—or weren’t you paying attention when I selflessly saved my creator from whatever is was that Sombra was about to do to her?”
“I wouldn’t get too enthusiastic, Discord,” Penumbra warned. “I’ve got a few points for you, too.” She turned her attention back to Pinkie. “Discord has to start somewhere. For now, he just wants to avoid disappointing me, but he could improve given the chance.”
Pinkie Pie sighed. “Yeah... I know.”
This response confused Penumbra—for a moment, at least. “You know? But then why would you even bother scolding him unless...” Penumbra’s eyes widened as she realized what Pinkie had actually been trying to do. “You’ve been trying to get me to blame him so he’ll feel bad and stay in line, haven’t you?”
Pinkie stared at her feet.
Penumbra groaned. “Look, I get why you want Discord to take responsibility for his actions, but convincing me that I don’t have to is not the way to do that.”
“Yeah... I know... but he’s just so hard to deal with.”
“Which is why you decided to finagle with your personal ethics,” Discord said, smirking.
“Wipe that smile off your face, Discord,” Penumbra said, not particularly caring whether her friend would take the order literally (as it happened, he didn’t). “It’s your turn. Pinkie definitely has one thing right here: you are incredibly hard to deal with.”
Discord’s shrug wasn’t exactly the response Penumbra had hoped for. “So? That just means I only have to deal with those who are willing to make the effort to appreciate me.”
“Given that right now you have to deal with Pinkie Pie, I’d say there’s a bit of a flaw in your logic,” Penumbra replied, accompanying her understatement with a heavy-lidded stare.
“Since when have I been logical?”
Unfortunately for Discord’s continued amusement, Penumbra knew better than to try to answer this question, and forcibly returned the conversation to the subject at hand. “Discord, it’s not enough to just sit back and assume that others will make the effort to befriend you. You need to be proactive and actually make some yourself.”
“I don’t need to do any such thing,” Discord insisted. “I already have you as a friend, and I’m sure that Celestia and Luna will welcome me back wholeheartedly once they learn that I’m still alive. As for everyone else, they don’t need to be my friends to be amusing, so why bother?”
“Discord, there’s more to friendship than simply passing time with someone else. You’ve seen for yourself how powerful the camaraderie between close friends can be—multiple times.”
“That’s true,” Discord said in an overly sardonic tone. “So far, it’s turned me to stone, caused me to give up ruling Equestria, and flat-out killed me... er... assuming that I actually died when Sombra and I were sent to The Void. I’m still not sure about that part, to be honest. The point is, as pleasant as friendship is at times, it still keeps getting in my way.”
Penumbra raised the eyebrow that was visible through her hairstyle. “Really? Because that sure sounds like the kind of excuse you normally make when you don’t want to admit that I have a point.”
“Oh, what does it matter?!” Discord suddenly shouted. “I could be the friendliest draconequus you’ve ever seen, but it’s plainly obvious that she’s already decided she wants nothing to do with me!” he added, pointing his finger at Pinkie. “I don’t see why I should waste any effort on someone who has no intention of giving me a fair chance.”
“What have you done to deserve a fair chance?” Pinkie said angrily.
“See what I mean?” Discord said.
Penumbra sighed. “Look... right now, everyone’s stressed out, okay? There’s no point in arguing when we’re all emotional. Let’s just try to sort things out tomorrow, okay?” She didn’t like the idea of her friends going to bed angry, but this discussion (if it could be called that) was clearly going nowhere.
“Fine,” Pinkie said, “but he’s not staying in my head. We’ve got two beds in this room; he can use one of those.”
“Who said I even wanted to spend any more of my time there?” Discord snarled as he snapped his fingers, replacing his everyday wear with a set of pajamas and made a huge show of burying himself underneath the hotel comforter.
As Pinkie stomped off to the shower, Penumbra turned off most of the lights and sank into a chair to stare out the window at the featureless, overcast night sky. All in all, it had been a really bad day.