Shimmer frowned at the pages in front of her as she concentrated; the old English words needing to be taken in, processed carefully, and then pressed out into fresh, modern English for all to understand. She bit her nail and hummed quietly. Twilight was doing the same, sitting right next to her at the lunch table, only it was clear to say that she had a better time understanding Shakespeare. Already churning out a rough draft of her essay, the messy haired girl chewed on her pencil eraser as she referred to her beat up tome.
Shimmer scratched her head and sighed. "Twi, how can you get all of this so easily? This is a little hard to figure out. I wish Mr. Peace Sign gave us a more up-to-date version with the notations..."
Twilight chuckled at her friend's whining. "Oh, it' not so bad, Shimmy Jimmy. In taxonomy, the scientific names for biological things are in Latin. That's much harder than some old English."
"Ugh. I'm not talking about science. I'm talking about this!" Shimmer emphatically flapped a hand at the threadbare book in her hands. "This here story."
Twilight rolled her eyes before producing her phone from her bag. "Here. Check out the site No Fear Shakespeare - Sparknotes*. It will help you out greatly." She tapped on her phone and showed her the mobile app.
"Oh! I hadn't even thought of going online!" The literal embodiment of the evening sky prompty thwacked herself on the forehead. "Duh, Shimmer!"
"I'm sure that was the first place everyone in class thought of going to. I bet you $10 they're all going to read just the modern text and completely ignore the hardcovers."
"Mmm... I dunno. I think $15 is a better amount. Kids and technology these days..." Shimmer glanced at the other girl, challenging the bet.
"$20."
"$30!"
"$45! That's my highest bid. I'll lay down no more," the nerd told her with finality.
Shimmer grinned smugly. "Deal. I bet you $50 that there'll be someone who'll stick with the book, not including me or you." She offered her hand palm up to Twilight. The spectacled one eyed it cautiously before taking it.
"Deal."
"I'm pretty sure gambling isn't allowed in school." Twilight and Shimmer jumped at the new voice and quickly turned their heads to see Stella Luna standing over them chuckling. "What're you guys doing?"
"We're reading Romeo and Juliet. It's an assignment from Mr. Peace Sign," Twilight answered amicably.
Stella Luna's eyes widened as her jaw slackened, revealing unusually sharp canines. "Mr. Peace Sign gave you an assignment? No way!"
The older girl pointed to one of the books on the table. "May I?"
"Sure."
Picking up the raggedy piece of literature, she flipped through the pages in wonderment. Small amounts of dust crumbled out from in between the pages, much to Shimmer's astonishment. The slow fall and tumble of the tiny specks gave the book an even graver appearance of constant deterioration. Shimmer scratched her sun kissed cheeks in slight horror as she thought of the fine that would be mailed home should the tome completely fall into a heaping pile of dirt and dust.
"Whoa...This is ancient. You would've thought he got this thing from Shakespeare himself," Stella mumbled, unaware of the tome's temporary owner looking on in low key worry.
Eventually the book was handed back and the older girl chuckled. "Back in my day, Mr. P never gave us work. It looks like Evermint is finally cracking down on him."
Sunset Shimmer the Human graciously set her copy down with newfound care and began to start up the tedious process of translating Old English. A small conversation came between Twilight and Stella but she was only half listening as she worked. Reading the nonstop interruption of the Nurse as Juliet talked to her mother in Act 1, Scene 2 soon faded to the back of her mind as her attention drifted. Not long after her initial random daydream her mind floated to a certain smart mouthed girl with a halo of fire she called her "mane".
I wonder how Sunset is doing... Is she ok? I hope none of her wounds have opened. Is she drinking that wretched coffee right about now? I'm not sure if she even has the strength to get up out of bed. But... knowing her, she probably got up anyway. Shimmer rolled her eyes and frowned as she pictured Sunset's usual proud stance; legs spread wide apart, high heel boots planted on the ground, arms crossed over her chest, shoulders tense, head held high, and that un-nerving cocky grin on her face. That was Sunset: Bad Bitch of Equestria, or at least, that's how the equine put it.
Shimmer could see her now, just looming over the table beside her, casting that arrogant air of hers. Oh how Shimmer hated it! She could feel her presence from damn near a mile away and whatever good mood she was in would immediately falter into a stormy one whenever she was near. The technically younger counterpart puffed out her cheeks as she went over her "sister's" course of actions had she been there that very moment.
"What's this piece of crap? Condensed ashes?" Sunset sneered and snatched the book off the table. Flipping the pages violently, her face progressively changed into a grimace, the hard frown lines creasing her otherwise unblemished skin. "Tsk!"
Without any amount of care, she tossed the more-than-likely-absolutely-wrecked tome on the table, letting it land with a loud thump. If Shimmer imagined just enough, she could see the book disappear into an unrecognizable blob; destroyed school property.
"I'm not reading that. Besides, I already did," Sunset said, and thus, she would proceed to spoil everything about the book. As she did for numerous amounts of books. Some being an entire series that Shimmer had been very excited to read since it was by her favorite author A.K. Yearling. The horse girl went and ruined the whole thing.
Shimmer groaned quietly as she quickly dispelled her momentary distraction. That girl always found a way to suck the joy out of everything. Her way of talking was terribly bothersome; a low, slightly husky voice with a malicious undertone that flowed with such sickening melody that it made her insides churn angrily. That wolfish grin that revealed rows of perfect white teeth that, had you not known her, fooled you into thinking she was nothing less than exceptional; a model student. Those deep, mysterious sea foam eyes that looked into your soul with such an intensity that you felt as though she could see right through you. All your good qualities, all your bad ones, and even your darkest secrets seemed to be apparent under her gaze.
Shimmer scratched her head vigorously. She should be working, not thinking. As she picked up her pencil, she glanced at the back of her hand, a long scratch on the back of it. Suddenly, her image of Sunset shifted and became the battered girl she saw last night. Immaculately flawless... everything became frazzled, bruised, ripped, weakened, and bloody. Her hair lost its luster and was matted with knots of dried blood by her forehead, a thick wrap of bandages around her head acting as a tight headband. Skin was peeling and flaking as scabs tried to form over once smooth skin. Her leather jacket had snags and long marks in it, giant black spots showed up on her legs from the freshly tarred road, her boots had scuffs in them that couldn't be erased from sight by a few layers of shoe polish. One of her arms was wrapped up from her shoulder to her hand. It was the arm she landed on, the one that got the worst of it; severe road rash.
The confidence she had just hours before the incident wasn't there. It was replaced by a tired, sad mood. Her usually bright eyes were dull and stormy, as though the turquoise waves began to crash against each other, aggravating her eyes, and causing its water in the form of tears to descend from the puffy, red windows. Sunset had cried in her arms last night. She had told her all of her guilt and musings, her troubled childhood, the constant struggle of life, and the uncertainty of what her future holds. She cried herself into a fitful sleep, shaking and shivering like a homeless stray trying to keep warm in the brutal months of winter's reign. And all throughout it, Shimmer was there, muttering small words of assurance as the night grew later and later. Only realizing at that moment who Sunset really was.
Sunset wasn't the cold stereotype she just imagined moments before; she was different. She had reasons for her actions, she didn't do things just because it was a rude thing to do. There was a story behind her domineering stance. There was a cause for her attitude. There was a meaningful tune to her melodic voice; Shimmer just only heard the main strain, something odd and displeasing, until it was accompanied by a full orchestra. The end result was a beautiful symphony full of raw emotion that flowed bittersweetly from the lips of its composer with heavy crescendos, tremolandos, key changes, changing time signatures, and frantic staccatos... resting into an unsteady pianissimo full of suspense and unease.
There was so much more depth to her than she ever knew. And for once, she could truly understand herself, quite literally.
"...Shimmer?"
The said girl snapped back into reality when she saw a hand wave very close to her face. "Huh? Wha?" she glanced up to see Twilight and Stella Luna looking very worried.
"Shimmer, are you ok? We've been trying to talk to you for a while now," Twilight nearly whispered. She placed a hand on her shoulder, making the other realize how tense she was.
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine," Shimmer replied. "I just started... daydreaming."
Twilight looked at her skeptically but Stella Luna didn't seem to pick up on her slight, continuous distraction. "So... Shimmer, I was asking if you, um, still wanted to go out on Saturday? To the movies? I know it'll be the first official day of Spring Break, but it'll be fun."
Shimmer opened her mouth to answer but nothing came out. Something about spending the day with her crush... suddenly didn't seem as romantic as it had only a few days before. With the deep reflecting she had just done, her thoughts kept drifting back to Sunset. She owed her big time. The least she could do is take care of her during the Spring Break.
"Sorry, but I have something important to do over break. I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier, it just came up... unexpectedly."
Stella nodded with understanding as the bell rang. "Well, my proposal still stands. Maybe we can go another time. See ya around."
Twilight and Shimmer waved at the older girl as she left, one of them with more vigor than the other. Absentmindedly, the sun god's daughter stood up and gathered her things and left without a word, leaving Twilight to eye her silently, the change in attitude not lost on her.