Ever since you had come to Crystal Prep, there was one thing that was undeniably true. You had fallen madly in love with Sunny Flare.
You don't even remember exactly when it happened, but you can't look at Sunny without your heart starting to race. Her purple ad pink striped hair, her gentle turquoise skin, her deep cerise eyes, and there was no denying that the way her uniform hugged her curves did things to you. In every way imaginable, she was the most beautiful girl at Crystal Prep and no one could deny that simple fact.
There was a grace to everything she did, from the elegant way she wrote during class to the simple way she carried her books to and from her locker. There was always just the right amount of bounce to her step and whenever you heard her voice speak it was like a chorus of angels. You'd been admiring her from afar for so long that you'd lost track of just how long you had been doing so for. Had it beens weeks? Months? Years? However long it had been, there was one thing you knew you were finally ready to do.
You were finally ready to confess your feelings to Sunny Flare.
You'd struck up conversations with her over time of course, but you'd never really moved past this sort of 'acquaintance friendship' stage, and today was going to be the day you changed all of that. It probably didn't help that you'd always been shy, but you had always treated everyone around you as kindly as you could.
The school was as busy as ever with students milling the hallways. You'd become an expert at navigating them by now and you knew your destination. Sunny's locker was within sight and you could see the beautiful girl already retrieving her books. Now was the time to strike.
“Hey Sunny!” You call out as you approach, putting on a bright smile for her. Her head turns to look at you, though instead of returning the smile her face squints as if trying to recognize you.
“Oh. Hey... You.” She says sort of nonchalantly, shrugging her shoulders as she goes back to fetching her books.
That's okay though, you don't take the slight too deeply. You're going to show her what a wonderful person you are today and then you're going to confess your love for her. It'll end up being a perfect morning, you just know it.
“You're looking particularly beautiful today, did you do something new with your hair?” You ask laying on the charm as you lean against the lockers. You're expecting some kind of positive reaction, but instead her face sort of contorts into a grimace as she looks at you.
“Oh, it's like that today huh?” Sunny says mockingly as she glares at you. “Listen, I appreciate you being able to know a good thing when you see it, but I'm really not interested in hearing it today.” She placed a hand on her hips as she closed her eyes with indifference. “Now if you'll excuse me, class will be starting soon and I'd like to get there on time.”
And with that she simply walks past you, heading off to class. Your smile instantly diminishes as your brow furrows in confusion. You don't remember your previous conversations with Sunny being so hostile, or her being that angry before. Perhaps something had happened to her or to one of her friends that you weren't aware of?
The conversation had not gone the way you had hoped it would, and with her in such a bad mood it just was not the right time for you to confess your feelings. Hopefully the storm over her head would pass so that you could try again, and if there was anything you could do to make it go away you absolutely would. You get the feeling though that right this moment she doesn't want to deal with more of you.
The bell for class rings and you realize that you've been standing there for the last few minutes thinking about this. You shake your head and make your way to class, deciding that you'll try talking to her again at lunch and seeing if her mood has improved at all. If not, you'll do your very best to try and help her attitude, it's the very least you could do for the most beautiful girl in school.
You make your way to class as you try to sort everything out in your head. As you put your books on your desk, you're surprised to hear your angel's sweet voice humming a simple tune. You look up, eyes widening in surprise as you notice Sunny sitting at the desk next to yours, doodling in a notebook as she hums.
In the weirdness of your morning you must've just forgotten she had class this class with you. Shaking your head you sit down at your desk, now realizing you have the chance to talk to her sooner than by lunch time. However, you're not quite sure what to say. You'd been hoping to take the time between now and lunch to think about what to say, so suddenly finding yourself not knowing what to do was a little frustrating.
She seemed happy enough compared to when she was at her locker, do you just try again like nothing happened? Do you let her cool down a bit longer? You were getting mixed signals and you weren't sure how to handle this situation.
“Dearie, what's wrong?” Her beautiful voice spoke up, causing you to snap your attention her way. She's looking at you with a worried look, a hand placed just under her chin. You blink at the sudden change of mood and tone, but decide to shrug it off, taking the grace being shown your way.
“Ah just... A weird morning is all.” You give her a smile to try and show you're fine. “How about you though? How are things with you?”
“Oh, can't complain.” Sunny smiles, bringing a hand up to her head and brushing her fingers through her hair, smoothing out part of it. “I just had a great idea on my way to class and I had to get it down on paper. No peaking though it's not ready.” She gives you a wink as she closes her notebook to hide her sketches.
“Well that's good.” You smile brightly back at your crush. “I'm glad to hear your morning's gotten better then.”
“Better?” Sunny tilts her head a little confused.
“You seemed pretty angry back at your locker, I was worried something had happened.” You try to explain your concern.
“I was?” Sunny furrowed her brow in confusion. “I don't remember being angry.”
“You weren't? Then... What was with the cold shoulder you gave me?” Now you were getting worried. It wasn't like Sunny to be so all over the place emotionally. You could understand a sudden mood swing, but to not remember it was something entirely different.
“I just don't know what you're talking about dearie.” Sunny waves her hand at you. “You must be mistaken, my morning has been absolutely fine.”
You're really confused now. It's almost as if Sunny doesn't remember the incident at the lockers happened at all.
“Hey Sunny, you seem awfully cheery today.” It's Sunny's friend Indigo Zap, walking up to us with her usual energy. “I can't remember the last time I've seen your smile so bright.”
“Honestly, not you too Indigo.” Sunny gave a playful frown. “I'm not any different than I normally am. You two are just trying to mess with me.”
“Mmmm... Not really, you do seem to be more chipper than usual.” Indigo crosses her arms as she tilts her head at Sunny. “I mean, not that it's a bad thing, it's just strange is all. You're usually more sassy, with a hint of snark. Seriously, are you feeling okay?”
“Oh you two are just impossible.” Sunny lets out a huff as she crosses her arm, turning her head away in a haughty manner. You can't help but find the action cute in it's own way. The final bell for class rings and Indigo suddenly realizes she's not in her seat. She rushes off to sit down as the teacher begins class.
You know for certain now that something strange is going on with Sunny, her friend all but confirmed it for you. However, if Indigo didn't know what was going on, then that meant it was something Sunny was keeping private. You'd just have to find a good time to ask her about it later.
However, if her good mood continued throughout the rest of the day like this, you just know you'll find a perfect opportunity to confess your feelings for her. If she's still happy by lunch, you'll absolutely do it then.
With your confidence renewed, you focus on the class work to help pass the time until lunch.
~♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪~
The end of class bell rings signaling that it's now lunch time at Crystal Prep. You rush to get your stuff put away because you want to meet with Sunny before she heads to the cafeteria. You've come up with a new plan to confess your feelings, and the first part of the plan is to ask Sunny to meet you at what could pass as the most romantic place in school. The school's botanical garden, where plants of all types were being kept and raised as teaching aids for students, including a section of flowers that would be perfect to confess your love in front of.
It's a perfect plan, now you just need to catch up with Sunny and ask her to meet you.
With your stuff put away in your locker you race over to Sunny's locker, figuring she should still be there putting her stuff away. However, when you get there she doesn't appear to be anywhere in sight. You figure you just got there early and decide to wait a few minutes for her to arrive.
The halls are starting to clear out as the students head to the cafeteria but your beautiful angel still hasn't shown up. Your furrow your brow in confusion, realizing that she's probably just not showing up at her locker like she usually does. Perhaps she had already put her stuff away before her last class and didn't need anything for the one she just finished.
If that was the case she probably went straight to the cafeteria, which would mean she was likely hanging out with all of her friends already. That would make it rather difficult to ask her to meet you at the botanical garden for lunch, but you figure you could at least ask her to meet you there once school finished.
With the plan back in action you make your way to the cafeteria. The large room is filled to the brim with tables and students, all socializing or eating. It's just as noisy as ever and you can barely hear yourself think over the rambunctious noise.
You take a quick look around the room, trying to spot Sunny and her friends. However in the throng of people you can't spot them quite yet, but you suspect they're sitting at their usual spot. Things usually don't change very much at Crystal Prep, even socializing is fairly routine. Which just begs the question of what's going on with Sunny even more.
Your stomach lets out a hungry growl and you realize that you can at least get something to eat before you head over to Sunny's table. As you approach the food bar, you suddenly heard your angel's voice loudly screeching in anger at someone. You turn your head in surprise to see Sunny furiously laying into the lady manning the cafeteria's register.
“YOU THINK THIS IS ACCEPTABLE!?” Sunny practically roared as she slammed a fist against the counter. “How can you call yourself a professional when THIS is the level of quality you think is acceptable for the student body!”
The lunch lady looked unimpressed, an indifferent stare gazing out towards the student yelling at her. The other Crystal Prep students around Sunny were also minding their own business, most just wanting to hurry up and pay for their lunch but not wanting to get in the way of Sunny's war path.
“Do you know what would happen to this school's reputation if word of this got out!? Do you even know who I am!? If things don't change then my Mother will be hearing about this, and you better believe that you WON'T be happy once she finds out how your lax behavior is decreasing the quality of this school! You'll WISH that firing you was the least of your worries!” With those words, Sunny turns around and begins to storm out of the cafeteria, a wave of thankful sighs sweeping everyone in earshot of the shouting.
You weren't among them though. If you had been worried about Sunny before, you were really worried about her now. You hadn't seen her explode like that in a long time, and the last time was over something much more significant, not the quality of the food.
Wasting no time, you turn on your heels and quickly follow after Sunny. You see her making her still storming her way down the hallway leading away from the cafeteria, likely heading for the Principal's office if you had to guess. You pick up your pace and reach her, grabbing hold of her arm and stopping her in her tracks. She turns and glares death at you, though you just frown right back at her.
“What are you doing?! Let go!” Sunny growls, yanking on her arm for you to let go. You hold on just tight enough to keep her in place for the moment, but not enough to hurt her.
“No Sunny! Not until you tell me what's going on!” You look straight into her eyes as you say this, “This morning you gave me the cold shoulder, but then acted as if nothing happened once you got to class, like you were a completely different person!”
“Oh what does it matter-” She starts to say but you cut her off.
“Your friend even admitted that you weren't acting yourself! Then you disappear without a trace for a while, and when I find you, you're screaming your head off to the cafeteria lady! This isn't like you Sunny, something's going on, I can see that!” You finally let go of Sunny's arm as your expression softens. “I've been worried about you all day and I just want to know what's happening. You can trust me Sunny, please don't just shut me out. Whatever it is, we can work it out together.”
Sunny dusted her arm where you had grabbed her, remaining silent. She looks at you seriously, though her face falls from her stare of anger. You give her a gentle smile, letting her know she can be comfortable around you. You just want her to open up to you, if even a little bit.
There's a long pause between you, and you're starting to realize that she's not saying anything. Your smile starts to waver as she stares unblinking at you, making you realize that something isn't quite right anymore.
Then you notice movement, and you really realize something isn't right.
Sunny's hair starts to wiggle, unnaturally so. It's growing longer, twisting up around the back of her head to start forming a ponytail on the back of her head. The color of her skin is changing shades, growing paler. Her clothes are morphing as well, her normal school uniform turning into a red shirt with a plaid hip-length skirt, and her black shoes wrap up her legs, becoming purple boots with blues laces. The entire ensemble is finished with a black velvet jacket around her shoulders.
You fall back, hitting the ground hard as you stare up at Sunny in shock. You can't believe what you're seeing, it just doesn't seem possible. Humans aren't supposed to morph and change like that, your mind can't process it. Sunny leans in over you, a strange doll-like smirk plastered on her face.
You reflexively shrink back as she gets closer, your mind reeling in horror at the sight. She stops a few inches from your face, just staring into your eyes. She then gives you a smirk as she stands up straight, gently tugging on her black jacket to adjust it, before turning and walking away.
Your mind is reeling, you can't believe what you just saw for a moment. You can feel yourself shaking, a cold sweat forming on your forehead. Sunny Flare transformed into someone else... No, you were certain it was still Sunny Flare despite how different she looked, you'd never mistake her for anyone else.
What was going on? That didn't just happen right? There's no way humans can just transform their looks like that on the spot! It has to be all in your head, it has to be. You could just be having a bad reaction to something you ran into without realizing, or maybe you hit your head, or something, anything.
But if what you saw was real, what would that mean? Was Sunny replaced with some sort of body-snatching alien? Some kind of magic changeling that took the shape of other people? Was she part of some weird science experiment that messed with her DNA?
Your breathing grows heavy as your mind struggles between trying to convince yourself what you saw wasn't real, and how it might actually be real.
You suddenly get the feeling that you can't just sit there in the hallway anymore, you need some reality. Another student or maybe some fresh air, anything to get out of this hallway that's suddenly making you feel claustrophobic.
You scramble to your feet and start running as fast you can away from the direction Sunny walked off in, uncertain of your destination. You just need to move, you can't be here right now. You run, your vision blurred and your body moving on autopilot. You can only hear your own heavy breath in your ear as your mind rings from the barrage of panic and anxiety.
The air escapes your lungs as you run into something at full sprint, hearing a loud cry as you fall back and hit the ground hard. Your mind spins for a moment before you shake it clear, putting a hand to your head and rubbing it. You'd been running on pure instinct you and hadn't even noticed someone crossing your path in the hallway, and you'd just bulldozed right into them.
“Sorry, sorry, I wasn't looking where I w... was... going...” You start to apologize as you look up, only to have the words die out in your throat. Sunny Flare is sitting on the ground before you, her knees curled up as she rubs her head, looking shaken.
Your first instinct is to get up and run, get away from this other Sunny as fast as you can, but you're stopped by seeing your beautiful angel hurt and fallen to the ground. You can't help but feel some guilt over being the cause, and your natural response is to help her get up and make sure she's okay. You also happen to notice that she had been carrying a box whose contents were now splayed out all over the floor.
“S-Sorry, here, let me help you with this.” You stammer as you start picking up the spilled out contents and returning them to the box. It's mostly cloth, boxes of needles and threads, and costume accessories that you recognize as belonging to the drama club. “Huh... I don't remember you being a part of the drama club?”
“O-oh... Yeah.” Sunny mutters quietly as she starts helping pick up as well. You can't help but notice she's acting very docile, her body language and mannerisms showing you a shy and submissive girl rather than the Sunny you know. “We've got an important performance coming up... I've just got a lot of work on my plate...”
“I see...” You say, holding up one of the costume shirts that had dropped from the box. Your run your thumb over it, feeling the fabric against your skin. It certainly feels real enough, and even if she's acting unusually submissive, you can't deny that the girl before you is Sunny Flare.
Maybe what you saw really was some kind of hallucination and you're just having an off day yourself. It's a hard idea to swallow, but if nothing else strange happens you might be able to accept it and just go back to having a normal day.
You open your mouth to something else when the cloth in your hand starts feeling weird. Your eyes snap to it and see the cloth apparently melting in your hand, just liquid chunks of it rolling off the sides and splatting against the ground. You stare at it in horror as the cloth grows smaller and thinner, the material even changing within your grasp.
The color starts to change and a new shape begins to solidify within your grasp. Suddenly you're not holding a piece of cloth anymore, but a piece of paper. Your eyes stare at it in horror, noticing that the words written on it look like the script to a play.
“Ah, there it is!” Sunny pipes up, quickly snatching the paper out of your hands, “That's every page accounted for! Thanks for helping me pick it up, that was quite the mess.” Her voice is perky and bubbly, giving a giggle as she stuffs the pages in their proper order into a folder. You turn to her, shock and terror still filling your system as the previously shy and submissive girl is now overflowing with energy and cheer.
“I worked really hard on this script, there's no doubt in my mind that it's going to absolutely dazzle the audience!” She does a small twirl on the spot with the sheet in her hands. She stops and turns to you, her smile dropping quickly into a frown. “Are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost.”
You run. You can't process a response, you've had enough, you run as hard and as fast as you can. You run faster than you've ever felt yourself run before, just trying to get away. The walls and lockers around you are morphing now, shifting and changing as you run.
There was never anything wrong with Sunny today. There was something wrong with the world.
You don't stop running for even a second, just wanting to escape this twisted world you've found yourself in. There's a group of student in front of you down the hallway, gathered around someone. You're about to stop and beg for help when you see who it is they're gathered around.
Sunny is at the center of them, looking proud of herself as small, flying mechanical robots whizz around another student's head, applying makeup like a beautician would.
You don't stop to ask questions, you run just past the students. They don't even turn to look at you as your heavy footsteps stomp by, you just run.
A fragrant scent fills your nose as you try to keep oxygen in your lungs. You turn your head to the source of the scent, a Sunny Flare standing by a window with a bouquet of roses in her hand. She's throwing away scented petals through the open window as you run by.
“Heads up!” Sunny's voice cries out as you snap your head forward, just barely dodging to the side as the girl rushes past you on a pair of skates. You stumbled on your feet from avoiding the rollerskating Sunny, nearly falling over. You manage to regain your balance, letting out a loud curse as your panic continues to grip your mind with fear.
You run past a door in the hallway that almost makes you stop running as you feel your heart drop. It's Sunny Flare, arms wrapped around a tall handsome white male with scruffy blue hair, the both of them dressed in skimpy outfits as they're making out heavily. You can see an apartment bedroom they're moving in to, realizing what they were about to do. You squeeze your eyes shut and rush past, trying not to let your heart break from the betrayal.
Your eyes snap open as you suddenly run into a crowd of students, the hallway having changed to the living room of a mansion. You try push your way through the crowd but get pushed back against one of the walls, hitting it hard with a frustrated grunt. You turn your head to look up at the students and notice that all of them are wearing togas, and you instantly notice that they're dancing in the living room of Sunny's mansion.
You turn your head to the wall and see a giant painting of Sunny Flare on the wall, a very expensive painting that must have cost thousands of dollars. You roar in anger and panic, grabbing the painting and slamming it down onto the floor. You stomp down on it as you go back to running, bashing your shoulder against one of the side doors of the living and room and finding yourself in Crystal Prep's hallway again.
Your breathing is growing ragged but your mind and body agree that you shouldn't stop running. You race down the hallway, still desperately looking for an exit. You notice Twilight Sparkle pushed up against the lockers, being threateningly talked to by Sunny with Sour Sweet by her side. You run past them, not even bothering to ask why Sunny is holding Twilight's phone.
You turn your head to look down an open hallway, one that leads to a large open outdoor area. In the center of that area you see Sunny Flare, arms stretched out like she's being crucified and tied to a statue of a woman you don't recognize. Behind the statue erupts large explosions from what looks like a giant magical battle, something you want to stay as far away from as possible.
Everywhere you run there's more and more Sunny Flares, all of them looking the same as the last and yet none of them being the same. The school is morphing and twisting to accommodate them all. This isn't the school you came to this morning, these aren't the girls you wanted to confess to today, none of this is right, all of this is wrong!
You suddenly spy a door, a door of sanctuary. You ram your shoulder into the bathroom door and run inside, rushing straight for the bathroom sink.
Cold water splashes into your hands as you splash your face with the liquid. It's not enough, you don't feel calmed down yet. Your breathing is still ragged, your body is shaking. Your jam paper towels down into the bottom of the sink and water starts pooling up in it.
You dunk your face into it, just letting the oxygen burn in your lungs as you try to force yourself to calm down. The cold water combined with the exhaustion and burn of your lungs seems to be doing the work as you finally start to feel your thoughts returning to a semblance of normalcy. You lift your head out of the water and let out a sharp gasp of air, panting heavily as you try to recover from your ordeal.
You put a hand up to your forehead and let out shuddering breaths, trying to calm down and think about everything rationally. You don't know what's going on, you don't know how you got here, you don't know why this is happening, but it is and you have to deal with it.
You grip the sides of the sink as your breathing finally starts to go down to normal levels, deep breaths in before letting it out slowly. You tighten your grip on the sink and lift your head to look at yourself in the mirror, wanting to calm yourself down.
Sunny Flare is looking back at you in the mirror. You don't know when or how, but it seems at some point you also became the girl you once fell in love with.
It's then that it all hits you, the cruel joke that's happened all around you. You remember why you look this way, why any of the Sunny's you met have been the way they were. It's so clear now.
This was all just a story.
You're just the small pawn of some unknown entity, being used and toyed with for their entertainment. You have to cater to their needs, to fulfill whatever role they've created for you.
You run a hand through your wet hair and slide it back, letting it fall back into the position Sunny usually has it. You take another deep breath and smile, turning to exit the bathroom and enter the halls of Crystal Prep once more.
The school is visibly twisting and changing once more, though this time it'll last for a while, and you'll soon forget that it keeps changing. After all, you've got a role to play, and that role doesn't require you knowing that the world will just change on a whim.
You dust off your skirt, making sure there are no major wrinkles on it. You straighten your bow tie, making sure it didn't go askew while you were in the bathroom. With your clothes in order, you're ready to start the next story you're needed in.
It's alright though, you know you only need to endure this for about another 98 years. By then the trademark will have gone into lapse and you can finally be free from this purgatory.
That is if they don't keep constantly renewing it, but you have to hold on to some hope, now don't you?