Sunset Shimmer
Sunset was really beginning to curse her stubbornness when insisting on not getting herself a personal vehicle. Instead she shared the minivan she bought for Granny Peach when she needed to take Moonie somewhere. Normally she used public transportation to keep those she bullied from damaging any vehicle she may be caught driving. And unlike popular belief, she didn’t own a motorcycle nor was she a member in a bike gang. She just liked leather jackets and the occasional pair of shades. Leather was cool unlike those stupid hats the one teacher kept wearing. Who the hell wore a fez anyways?
Wearily she made her way upon the school grounds, well aware of the bags under her eyes. The first thing she noticed was how cheery the students seemed to be. There were banners already hanging above the entrances welcoming Fluttershy back despite the girl not even returning until tomorrow. Everyone seemed eager for it, their happy and eager expressions soon changing as Sunset passed by earning more than a few glares. Funny, she prided herself on not needing friends as they were a risk to her daughter, and yet the attention toward her hurt a little.
“Speaking of Shimmer, I just found out that Granny Peach is her granny and is taking care of her.” Applejacks voice came from near the base of the statue. Quietly Sunset made her way over to them so she could listen to what was being said about herself. She kept telling herself it didn’t matter, but she didn’t want Granny Smith going without the tea and potions that kept her arthritis and joint pain in check. A pain that could get so bad she would call in off of work from school. I wish she would just accept the stupid offer.
“That sweet old woman is related to that cunt?” Rainbow Dash scoffed as she caught the soccer ball she had been dribbling into the air with her knees.
“Language Rainbow Dash! A lady doesn’t use such crude language.” Rarity admonished with a flip of her hair and upturned nose.
“Rares, I ain’t no lady. I’m this schools best soccer player and jock, and all athletes trash talk.” Rainbow Dash scoffed, “Anyways, back to the point, how did you find out?”
“Well usually Granny Peach drops off the stuff she makes for Granny Smith, but she was late this time so Granny Smith stopped by on the way to work the other day. She saw that snake leaving for school and asked about her.” Applejack explained, “Granny Peach wouldn’t say much, only that Sunset was her granddaughter but anything beyond that Granny Smith would have to ask Sunset herself.”
“You mean the fact that Sunset was adopted and has a kid that Granny Peach is protecting their privacy so nobody that Sunset bullied in the past would try and use the kid to get to Sunset and hurt her despite it taking a real sicko to even try something so pathetic and Sunset is partly using the whole situation to keep everyone at arms length because deep down she’s afraid of being hurt again if she let anyone get to close and friendly with her because deep down she’s really lonely and just needs a real friend to give her a hug and let her cry out all of her past pains and frustrations and show her what real friendship can do?” Pinkie Pie gasped out in one breath, finally taking a chance to breath as her hair straightened out a little. Sunset was both shocked and worried at just how accurate the whole thing was. Well, most of it anyways. She didn’t need friends, just acquaintances and allies such as the Dazzlings and Trixie. Their relationships were purely business except for them playing Auntie to Moonie.
Just how in the hell does she know all of that?!
“Sugarcube, what have I told ya about making up such outlandish nonsense?” Applejack asked crossing her arms.
“Darling, I find it hard to believe that any of that could even be remotely true. Sunset Shimmer is many things, but even she has more pride than to be a common street walker.” Rarity said in disgust at just the thought of that.
“I may not be a common street walker, but not every one of them is some trash!” Sunset snapped out before catching herself. It was a touchy subject with her, but it was too late to undo the damage now.
“Darling, it’s disgusting to even think of such a thing.” Rarity scoffed angering Sunset even more.
“Go fuck yourself Shimmer, nobody wants you here.” Rainbow Dash sneered before being cowed by the angry glare coming from Rarity.
“Why defend them? Don’t tell me that Pinkie Pie was actually right.” Rarity asked, a little pity and worry entering the fashionista’s eyes.
“No, but I’ve volunteered to help halfway houses.” Sunset sniffed, covering the fact that her so called volunteering was actually donating to the only two of them that was local. They tried giving the ones either forced into it by someone or those who felt they had no other choice a safe place to go and help getting back on their feet. Sunset’s donations not only kept them open, but gave the people staying there a chance to actually go to school and learn skills needed to make a better life for themselves. “I’ve meet more than a few teenage runaways that was forced into doing it or felt they had no other choice. Do you know how it feels to be alone with nowhere to go, no roof over your head and no guarantee that you will have any kind of food at all?”
“Like you do.” Rainbow Dash scoffed.
“Apparently better than any of you.” Sunset snapped trying to cover the pain in her eyes as she remembered her dream and what it was like before the police came. For days she had been cold with nowhere to go and no way to get real food other than pulling it from the trash.
“Darling, are you okay?” Rarity asked as she gave Sunset a worried look.
“You all can go fuck yourselves for all I care!” Sunset snapped out flipping them dual birds before spinning around and stomping away. Damn them for making me feel this way! And damned those dreams for making me feel so damned vulnerable!
“What the hell was that about?” Rainbow Dash growled getting the others to glare at her. “What? What did I say?”
Pinkie Pie
“That was weird, even for that girl.” Applejack sighed shaking her head, her Stetson hat in hand.
“Yeah, it kind of was.” Rarity said as she watched the flame haired girl stomp toward the school.
Pinkie Pie was tempted to go after her, but she had to admit she was scared of Sunset. Instead she chose to stay with her friends while cursing herself for saying what she did. It had really upset Sunset and she wasn’t even sure where it came from. She had always had her pinkie sense, but this, this was something entirely different. Something scary while labeling her even more of a freak. Something that she could keep at bay with her old medications, but with their insurance no longer covering it the visions were coming at random times. Times such as this risking her getting in trouble because of it.
“As interesting as all this is, I’m still more worried about Fluttershy.” Rainbow Dash grumbled, looking up at the sky for a few minutes before facing the girls again. “What do you think this person wants with Shy or her mom?”
“What do you mean, darling?” Rarity asked.
“The donations?” Applejack asked, already knowing what Rainbow Dash was hinting at. She was worried about the same thing. It just wasn’t normal for some rich person to swoop in and pay for everything Fluttershy’s family needed while refusing to show her face. Something that seemed to be going around lately and nobody had a clue as to who was behind it.
“What do you think they want? Shy has already been through enough, you know? If this is some sicko getting their kicks by helping them and then demanding something outrageous in return later, it will destroy Shy.” Rainbow Dash said kicking a pebble sitting on the paved path they were gathered on.
“Darling, there is such a thing as being generous for the sake of generosity.” Rarity said flipping her hair.
“Look, all we can do is stick by her like we promised her mom when she comes back tomorrow.” Applejack said, “It’s the best thing we can do for now besides pray that this whole donor thing is on the up and up.”
“I’ll see you girls later, I have to run inside for a few minutes before classes.” Pinkie Pie said, waving at the others as she hurried toward the school. It was a bit of a lie she admitted since she just wanted to get away from the others for a few minutes, but it was partly the truth as she did need to grab a few things from her locker. The locker down what was known as the haunted hallway as no matter what was done, the lights never lasted very long and always flickered. It was declared that there were no fire hazards from it, but there were no real explanations for the phenomenon either. The other lights gave plenty of illumination still, the shadows just made it seem creepy.
Trudging through the school she turned down the hall to her locker when she was suddenly shoved roughly into the wall. Nobody else was nearby since most students avoided this hall when they didn’t need to be down this way. Nobody except for herself and apparently a very pissed off Sunset Shimmer who was breathing heavily and glaring daggers into Pinkie Pie.
“H-Hey there Sunny, what’s up?” Pinkie Pie managed to squeak out only to be pulled away and slammed into the lockers again. This wasn’t the Sunset Shimmer from the past year, this wasn’t even the Sunset Shimmer that was a bully. No, she could tell this Sunset Shimmer was protecting something like a raging mama bear.
“Don’t you dare Sunny me, you pink party menace!” Sunset growled into her face making Pinkie Pie whimper a little. “Who else have you told about my daughter?”
“No one, it just came out, honest!” Pinkie Pie whimpered.
“What do you mean it just came out?” Sunset asked as her grip loosened up letting Pinkie Pie relax a little.
“I get these visions, usually my meds took care of them.” Pinkie Pie whispered, eyes darting back and forth making sure nobody was around to hear while avoiding looking directly at Sunset who completely released her and took a step back.
“Took care of them?” Sunset asked arching a brow in question.
“Our insurance won’t cover them any longer and I was forced to change. Nobody believes me about my visions or Pinkie Sense.” Pinkie Pie sighed.
“I believe you.” Sunset said softly getting Pinkie Pie to snap her head up to look into the now gentle and sincere visage of what was a raging demon moments ago. “And if you promise to NOT talk about my life or family anymore, not even to your friends, I will see what I can do to help you.”
“Really?” Pinkie Pie perked up, her hair poofing up more than earlier even. “You would really help me?”
“I’m not a monster despite popular belief.” Sunset Sighed, “But I will do what is needed to protect my own. Even if that means alienating everyone around me to do it. I don’t enjoy seeing others suffer and I try to do what I can to help out when I can.”
“You. It’s you, isn’t it? You’re the one paying for all of Fluttershy’s bills!” Pinkie gasped out, unsure if she was jumping to conclusions or if this was just a part of her visions.
“I will neither confirm or deny that, but I expect you not to go around blabbing that allegation either. For now just give me your number and decide if you want your meds back to what they were or if you want to learn to control these visions of yours. I don’t know much about the stuff, but I will look into it and I do know someone who does know more about them than me. If you decide to, I’ll put you in touch with them.”
“You’d really do that for me?” Pinkie Pie asked as she took the offered phone from Sunset Shimmer who gave a curt nod. “I want my medicine back, I don’t need to think about it! I can deal with my Pinkie Sense, but the visions I can’t deal with.”
“Of course, but I expect you to keep everything quiet. I have a reputation to maintain after all.” Sunset replied with a smirk, but the sadness behind her eyes showed how much she must secretly hate said reputation. Shakily Pinkie Pie quickly saved her number in Sunset’s contacts list, a few numbers looking familiar to her.
“And what is going on here?” Luna demanded scaring the two, Pinkie Pie quickly passing the phone back.
“We were just talking.” Pinkie Pie said with a grin, but the look Luna returned made it clear the older woman didn’t exactly believe her.
“While I am proud of the turn around this year Ms. Shimmer, I truly hope you aren’t relapsing.” Luna said stiffly.
“I swear it was nothing!” Pinkie Pie protested.
“Very well then, Ms. Pie. Please head to your class while Ms. Shimmer accompanies me to my office. We have other things to discuss.” Luna said, waving Pinkie Pie off who looked reluctant to leave at first.
“I’ll see you later, Pinkie.” Sunset said earning a nod from Pinkie before she turned and hurried off down the hall.
Sunset Shimmer & Luna
Vice-Principal Luna’s office was as dark as usual with very little light leaking through the blinds, the few working lights overhead lit in a way to cast shadows all through the room. It was a tad creepy Sunset admitted, even for someone used to stuff like this, but today it was unnerving her more than the intimidation that it was meant to invoke. She could feel a chill run down her spine which had nothing to do with the intended scare tactics and more to do with exaggerated memories of a dark alley, a box and the main reason for most of her worst problems other than that nag back in Equestria.
“Do you recognize any of this?” Luna asked stiffly as she dropped into her chair and pulled out a rather thick looking file. It seemed the woman didn’t want to waste any time with whatever it was that she wanted, but Sunset was extremely curious as to what could be in the file. Picking up the thick folder, Sunset took a seat and began leafing through the contents wondering how this woman managed to come across all of this. “I bet you are wondering how I gathered all of this. Well, I didn’t. An old aquiantance, a private investigator, dug all this up when I asked them to look into the person funding Fluttershy’s recovery.”
“So why show this all to me?” Sunset asked, keeping a straight face despite feeling the color draining from her face. To be fair it was partly because of her lack of sleep due to the nightmares and the creepiness of the office making it worse. And to be staring at evidence that she wanted nobody to come across wasn’t helping her nerves any either.
“Because Ms. Shimmer, I don’t know whether to be very proud of you or extremely disgusted.” Luna explained as she narrowed her eyes angrily. “This last year you have seemed to turn your life here completely around and become a student I could say I’m very proud of. A young woman I could be very proud of.”
“What does this have to do with me?” Sunset asked, swallowing several times trying to overcome her growing nervousness. Surely Luna didn’t have proof that this was all documents that Sunset was behind since she had her lawyer take care of most of it.
“I’m very worried about Fluttershy, her mother is a dear friend of mine in college before she was forced to quit. So when she came to me asking what she should do with the money being sent her way, not only for Fluttershy’s hospital bills, but enough to get a new car and be able to stay with Fluttershy without having to worry about work, it was safe to say I was a little worried as well.” Luna nearly growled, “I talked to my friend about it and they quickly discovered that the lawyer dealing with Fluttershy’s case has also been doing a lot more. There is the silent partner trying to by into the Apple’s farm, the anonymous donations to the sporting department for new equipment when there was debate about if we were going to have enough money, the new instrument purchased for Octavia when that Gilda girl smashed the old one. The investment in Sugar Cube Corner to remodel and buy new ovens when their old ones went out. Or how about bailing Rarity’s family out of debt when her parents were close to divorcing. Or how about-“
“That’s enough!” Sunset snapped out before she could stop herself as she threw the folder at Luna who surprisingly caught it without dropping a single piece of evidence. “Have you ever thought that the person behind all of this is trying to do something good and just doesn’t want their name out there as if they are doing this for attention?”
Of course Sunset was trying to do good for the people she hurt. She knew it was kind of selfish, a way to help cleanse her guilt without anyone knowing it was her. And when she used a lot of the money she made from her intellectual properties, she really didn’t need all the money she was making from the stocks and investments she made. And it was a lot since it seemed like everything she touched turned gold. Perhaps it was just karma repaying her now after shitting all over her early life.
“Maybe if this person didn’t have a huge track record prior to this year of manipulation and bullying, I could very easily see that. With your track record though, I can’t help but wonder if maybe you are trying to be nice to lull everyone into a false sense of security. It’s bad enough with some of these if that is what is going on, but Fluttershy tried to kill herself! If this is some kind of game Ms. Shimmer, I don’t care who you are related to, I’ll make you suffer!” Luna growled out, her eyes becoming predatory and actually unsettling Sunset.
“Do you honestly believe I would do something like that?” Sunset asked as she uselessly tried wiping away the forming tears. In truth she actually had feelings for the woman, feelings she usually tried to deny, but feelings that were there nonetheless. Not romantic feelings, but love one would have for a close family member as this was the mirror version of the aunt she never got to know. The aunt she always wondered if she would love Sunset unlike her own mother. To hear the woman actually threatening her really hurt.
“That’s the problem, I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me, would you?” Luna asked, her glare slowly dying away to a much more gentle expression though the damage had already been done. She didn’t intend on hurting Sunset, only doing what she normally did using intimidation to get her answers as she always did. Her frustrations over the whole thing and her quick temper had managed to get the better of her once again.
“I would never want another mother going through what Fluttershy’s is. I know I’d never…” Sunset sniffed, wiping her eyes on the sleeve of her jacket.
“Never what?” Luna asked, before shocked realization began to set in. From the look in Sunset’s expression this whole Fluttershy thing was wrecking havoc on the young woman. Sunset was a mother herself, and if Luna looked at it that way she could see why Sunset would want to help her. The others though didn’t exactly make a whole lot of sense.
“You know what, Vice-Principal? Believe what you want, I don’t care. I was stupid to actually think you were any different than that bitch you call a sister!” Sunset snarled, not really meaning it. She had actually come to respect the human Celestia as she had a more open heart than the pony version. She knew she was channeling her problems with the pony Celestia and casting them on the human version, but right now she just didn’t care. She was tired, exhausted really, and to have the one person she wanted to believe would never be like this just pushed her over the edge.
“Ms. Shimmer, while I know I crossed a line and I am really sorry, I ask that you please try to be more civil.” Luna said as she put the file away in her desk.
“You want civil?” Sunset asked maliciously, standing up and sweeping papers, pens and other odds and ends on the desk toward Luna making the woman gasp in shock. She was frozen even more in shock when Sunset literally flicked her off with both hands, fingers mere inches from her face. “How’s fuck you for civil? You can take this damned school and shove it up your ass until it ends up behind your eyes! I’ll go register at Crystal Prep before I put up with this crap!”
“Ms. Shimmer, please calm down.” Luna pleaded as she rose from her seat and started coming around the desk. Sunset started to turn to storm from the office, but Luna grabbed her by the arm just before she made her escape. Gathering the struggling girl into her arms Luna hugged her tightly whispering apologies.
“I’m so sorry, I was wrong to have accused you like this.” Luna whispered, gently stroking Sunset’s hair while holding the younger girl to her. It wasn’t that much of a challenge really holding the squirming girl from escaping with one arm, but in the girl’s current condition it was made easier.
Sunset wanted nothing more than to yell and scream at the older woman who refused to let her go, but she was just too tired. Her exhaustion over the past few days refused to cooperate with her usual defense mechanisms and ended up causing the teen to give in and buried her face into the older woman crying. She guessed she should count herself lucky that it had been ages since she had a panic attack being restrained like this.
“I’m so sorry, Sunset. I really should have known better. I’m the adult here, and stress doesn’t give me the right to threaten you the way I did.” Luna whispered into the girl’s hair, running her fingers through it while rubbing the girl’s back now that she stopped struggling. She was actually surprised when Sunset actually reached up to hold onto Luna as if she was a life preserver.
“You are so lucky that I understand about stress and that I’m exhausted. Otherwise, I would hit you right now.” Sunset finally sniffled as she began to calm down, though she was feeling extremely embarrassed about breaking down like she did. This was the first time Luna had ever said or done anything remotely hurtful to her, so Sunset wasn’t going to hold it against her this time letting her know with joking tone.
“I would deserve it.” Luna sighed as she finally let Sunset back away. It actually surprised the woman that Sunset let her take a tissue and dry some of the tears from her face. Gently she caressed Sunset’s cheek looking deep into her eyes with a soft, encouraging smile. “You know, you remind me of myself when I was younger. I was so full of anger too you know.”
“Yea, I can see that actually.” Sunset said trying to grin, though her teary eyes ruined the effect as Luna leaned in to kiss the girl’s forehead.
“Are you okay?” Luna asked, worry evident in her expression despite the anger a few minutes ago.
“Yeah, I think I really needed that.” Sunset sighed, feeling a bit better after releasing some of her pent up emotions. She couldn’t help wondering if perhaps it would be better to allow herself to have a meltdown more often. It felt very therapeutic.
“Here, sit down.” Luna said as she guided Sunset back to her seat, the girl sitting down as she ran a hand through her hair.
“So, what happened?” Sunset asked after the two stared at each other for several minutes, breaking the silence before it became too uncomfortable. “You said I reminded you of yourself?”
“I can’t tell you a lot, there is a lot of family secrets involved. What I can tell you is that when I was younger, my sisters got a lot of attention while I got almost none. I decided if I wasn’t going to get the attention I felt I deserved, I would make them give it to me. Long story short, I did a lot of things I’m not proud of. I hurt a lot of people during that time, some way more than others.” Luna explained as a faraway look crossed. “I still remember a lot of them even today and I still regret what I’ve done.” Luna turned her attention back to Sunset as her expression became a bit more serious. “I’ve learned that in order to move on I needed the forgiveness of one person more than anyone else.”
“Principal Celestia’s?” Sunset asked softly, sure that it was the person Luna was talking about. It made the most sense to Sunset after all as if it was anywhere similar to her own version of the sisters’ problems, then Luna must have hurt Celestia. Though Sunset wasn’t too sure that everything Celestia finally admitted to her was completely accurate.
“Hell no.” Luna chuckled, “Forgive my language, please. Even though I love my sister, I don’t need forgiveness from her for anything. No, the person I learned I needed the forgiveness from was myself. I was holding myself back with regret and self loathing that I went from one extreme to another. Is that what you are doing Sunset?”
Sunset sat staring up at Luna digesting her words, her brows knitting in confusion as it didn’t make a lot of sense to her at first. Why would Luna need to forgive herself if it were others that she hurt? And what exactly did she mean that she went from one extreme to another?
“Just think about it, Sunset.” Luna sighed rubbing her eyes, “I’m sorry I didn’t notice it earlier, I usually would have. You look exhausted, have you been getting enough sleep? Are you having problems with Granny Peach or your daughter?”
“I’m just dealing with things?” Sunset said slowly, trying to decide just what to tel Luna and what not. On one hand, both Celestia and Luna had kept their mouths shut about Moonie and kept her records sealed from prying eyes. Otherwise the whole school would know by now. On the other hand, she wasn’t too sure she wanted the Vice-Principal psychoanalyzing her. She got enough of that crap from her doctors.
“What kind of things? I can’t say I’m very happy with what I caught you doing to Miss Pie.” Luna said, studying Sunset’s eyes and expression for any hints of deception.
“I’m not exactly proud of jumping Pinkie Pie like that, but I would do it again to protect my daughter.” Sunset admitted. “Do you have children?”
“My children died a long time ago sadly, but yes I had children.” Luna said as she now turned her eyes away from Sunset’s own as pain filled them. “I do have grandchildren, but because of family politics I can’t see them.”
“What kind of family politics keeps you away from your own grandchildren?” Sunset blurted out in shock, angry that anyone would keep somebody away from their grandchildren.
“They aren’t like me, Sunset. My sisters and I come from a family that, to my shame, look down on those different from us. It isn’t something I agree with, but if my family where to learn about my grandchildren…I fear for them.” Luna sighed, looking down on the desk where a picture of a family that Sunset was familiar with. A family she herself looked into out of curiosity when she learned this world held so many parallels to her world. Sunset wasn’t sure how close Luna was to her family, or the type of people the were, but Sunset did know she would never let anybody tell her she couldn’t see Moonie.
“I wish I knew what to say.” Sunset said as she stood up and gave Luna a hug, the woman returning it with a smile and a kiss on the head.
“You don’t have to say anything, it is my burden to bear.” Luna said as Sunset pulled back, the older woman giving a smile. “I also have two wonderful nieces, three of them actually yet I’m still trying to figure that one out.”
“You know, maybe I can trust you.” Sunset sighed, giving Luna a knowing look. “After all, you remind me so much of the aunt I never had.”
“I do, do I?” Luna asked, arching a brow though the look on her face was practically screaming shock.
“Oh, you do. And I think since you trusted me as much as you did, I guess I can trust you.” Sunset sighed falling back into her chair. “I am exhausted, but it isn’t because of Moonie or Granny Peach. It is a lot of different things, though breaking down just now felt really good.”
“Then what is going on?” Luna asked, shifting a little getting more comfortable.
“Well, first off the other students are starting to get to me. And no, I’m not saying who.” Sunset said, waving off the concerned look on Luna’s face. “It will blow over soon enough, right now the students are just learning that they can ban together and stand up to bullies.”
“Sunset, after what Fluttershy went through, if all people learned was how to bully then what good would have come of it. If the bullied become the bullies, then how long will it be before another student tried to kill themselves?” Luna said shaking her head, “I’m sorry Sunset, I won’t mention your name, but this can’t go on. The cycle in only reversing itself, but it needs to be broken.”
“I understand, but please don’t bring my name up.” Sunset sighed, wondering if telling Luna about that was a good idea. The woman did have a point though, Sunset may have felt responsible for Fluttershy, but if she didn’t let Luna try and stop it then she would only be responsible for more.
“I promise I won’t, but is that all that is bothering you?” Luna asked, “What about the evidence I showed you? Does that have anything to do with why you look like you would be at home on the walking dead right now?”
“I resent that remark.” Sunset scoffed with a mock glare being sent the older woman’s way earning a bit of a chuckle. “Okay, I admit I’m the one doing that. I’m just trying to make up for what I did in the past though. Even after I stopped being so angry, I pushed people away afraid that if they got too close they would find out about Moonie. It wasn’t until Granny Peach found the exact words to break me from doing that did I stop. And then when Fluttershy did what she did, it proved how right she was.”
“Can I ask what those words were?” Luna asked, very curious to what those words could be.
“She asked how I would feel if somebody was hurting Moonie the way I hurt others. Defense mechanism or not, if it was Moonie being bullied I wouldn’t care. All I would care about was the pain Moonie was in.” Sunset sniffled a little.
“You would do anything for her, wouldn’t you?” Luna asked.
“Yeah, but thinking about all the pain I caused when Granny asked me that really struck home. I couldn’t get the memories of everything I did out of my head until I started trying to make up for the things I did. I didn’t want people knowing that I was trying to change though, I wanted to stay feared and hated. So I quietly stopped bullying and whenever I could see something that I could do to fix something for someone I hurt, I did it. I know it won’t fix what I did, but it makes me feel better knowing that I made that person smile instead of cry.”
“Sounds noble, but if it is causing you to loose sleep then maybe you should rethink things.” Luna suggested, noticing how much Sunset was shifting in place and looking more and more nervous. She kept playing with her hair or the hem of her skirt, straightening it out. There was something more going on, and Sunset was obviously avoiding it.
“It really isn’t even that.” Sunset sighed as she slumped farther into her chair. I get like this every year at this time. It’s when it happened, when I was attacked.”
“Oh Sunset!” Luna gasped out in horror. No wonder the poor girl was so worked up and exhausted. She must be having trouble sleeping because of the anniversary and the memories it brought up. Granny Peach had once mentioned it to keep Sunset from getting in more trouble than she did after punching out Gilda in the middle of the hall. The only reason both students got out of too much trouble was they both had witnesses saying the other started it.
“It will be fine. As long as I keep busy I don’t think about it much and it goes away in a few days. Better than a few years ago, it took weeks.” Sunset said, waving it off though her eyes still looked haunted.
“I’m going to call and have your Granny come pick you up. You should go home and rest, not be here right now if all it is going to do is make things worse.” Luna said turning to grab her phone before realizing it was on the floor with the rest of the things Sunset swept off the desk.
“Please don’t, I have several tests today and those always help me focus. The more I have to focus on the better.” Sunset pleaded, jumping up out of her chair.
“Please, I need this. I need to just focus on a normal day and get back to my routine. It is the only real thing that helps.” Sunset pleaded, a little surprised at herself. It was true though, she needed routine right now. Routine or a crisis to get her mind off of things and she seriously doubted she was going to be facing a crisis anytime soon.
“I don’t really feel good about sending you to class if things are bothering you this much. If you promise to come see me if anything happens or if you need to get away then I guess I don’t have much choice.” Luna sighed as she started picking up things from the floor. Sunset joined her quickly with a sheepish smile.
“Sorry about the mess.” Sunset said sheepishly.
“This, a mess? You should have seen Celestia’s office the last time she pissed me off. Now THAT was a mess!” Luna said laughing loudly which for some reason got Sunset to join in on after a few moments. “Let me find my excuses and I will write you one for class so you won’t be counted as tardy.”
“Thanks.” Sunset said with a new found grin, wondering if she would have enough time to stop and fix her makeup. She was sure she really did look like a mess right then.