The Shimmer of Magic

by Hakuno


26. BFFs

Chapter 26. BFFs

The sleepover had ended. It had been a great night for Trixie. They played all sorts of games throughout the night and early morning, and she even had one embarrassing moment with Pinkie and Sunset. It couldn’t possibly have gone better, but now it was over. The girls had returned to their own homes to do whatever it was they did when Trixie wasn’t looking.

Except for Sunset.

“Thanks for letting me stay another night,” Sunset said to Trixie’s father. She was sitting at one end of the large couch, with the remote of the TV in one hand and a cookie in the other. She had changed to her normal set of clothes, which incidentally were the ones Trixie had picked for her.

Straight was sitting in the second, slightly smaller, couch. It had surprised Sunset that he could wear anything as casual as a simple, purple polo shirt and jeans.

“No problem,” he answered. “After almost two decades, I was beginning to think Trixie was never going to bring a friend home.”

“Daaad!” Trixie moaned in embarrassment. She was lying at the opposite end of the large couch, with her feet upon Sunset’s lap. She was using just a purple blouse and jeans. She covered her increasing blush with her hands.

“How am I embarrassing you?” Straight asked with genuine concern. “I’m just having idle chit-chat with your friend. You are the one invading her personal space with your feet.”

Trixie groaned in her hands, wishing it was just a bad dream.

On her part, Sunset only snickered. “It’s fine,” she said to Straight. “At least they aren’t stinky… today.”

“Not you too!” Trixie yelled at Sunset.

Sunset snorted, flashing a smirk at Trixie. “Sorry Trix, it’s my job as your best friend to side with your parents; they have cookies.” She bit off another piece of delicious bribery.

Straight let himself smile slightly before straightening up. “So, Sunset, I’ve been meaning to ask you a couple of things, if you may.”

Suddenly, Sunset felt a small tinge of nervousness in her chest. She hesitated for a moment before nodding. “Sure.”

“As you know, I’m currently leading a trial against one young woman. I’m very close to winning, but that is not the point.” He inhaled sharply. “Trixie had said she was starting to hang out with a friend a couple of months ago, but it wasn’t until the aforementioned woman attacked her that she told me who that particular friend was.”

Sunset shifted awkwardly. She didn’t like where the conversation was going.

“Sunset, homonyms are a very common occurrence, and it happens on rare occasion that you meet someone that looks exactly like you or someone you know, even if they don’t share any kind of bloodline.” He paused a moment, slightly narrowing his eyes. “But, two people that look exactly the same and share exactly the same name? Now that is something worthy of attention.”

He leaned back and visibly relaxed his shoulders. “I guess what I’m trying to say is, I’d like to know more about you. In her haste to avoid any misunderstanding, Trixie forgot to actually tell me how did you meet, how did you become friends, or anything else.”

Sunset blinked, and felt a weight leave her shoulders. “Oh, well that’s easy. We kind of knew about each other since freshman, I mean, I was kind of popular, and Trixie is kind of very very loud.” Trixie frowned and punched Sunset in the arm. Sunset only snickered at that. “But, it was until a few months back that we started to hang out. One day we happened to be in the same coffee house, we started to talk, and we realized we had a lot in common.”

Straight’s eyes flickered. “That is good to hear. So, where do you live, if I may ask?”

“Well, I, uh…” Sunset smiled nervously. “I live in Hollow Shades.” She saw Straight raising an eyebrow, so she urged an explanation. “It’s not really what people make it out to be… Well, not when you actually live there, that is.”

“Can’t your parents afford a better place? Or is there another reason you don’t move?”

“I-It’s not about money, really… Well, it is, but I, uh, I live on my own.” Sunset felt sweat forming in her forehead.

“So I assume you have a job good enough to help you sustain yourself.”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“Where do you work?”

Sunset felt her throat dry. “At the new pawnshop near Central Square.”

“Since when have you been living on your own?”

“A couple of years, maybe. I haven’t kept count.”

Straight slightly cocked his head. “Years? How old are you?”

“Geez, Dad, cut it out!” Trixie finally intervened. “She’s not the one on trial, you know?”

Straight blinked, looking at Trixie for a few seconds before turning back to Sunset. “I am terribly sorry, Sunset. I got carried away.”

“It’s ok,” Sunset answered with a nervous laugh. “I understand wanting to know more about me, given the situation.”

“Yes, but that’s no reason for him to be interrogating you as if you were some kind of criminal.”

“It was not my intention to interrogate her,” Straight said to Trixie with a frown. “And I already apologized.”

“Please, don’t start arguing in front of Sunset,” Selene interrupted them as she approached Straight. Her pink apron was stained with what Sunset could only guess was grease. “You’ll scare her off.” Just as she was going to sit down, the bell rang. She straightened up and went to the door.

Meanwhile, Sunset leaned back on the couch, glad that she was no longer being questioned. She wasn’t sure she would have been able to endure Straight’s interrogation much longer. She didn’t want to admit it, but Trixie’s father was really intimidating.

“Please, make yourself comfortable!” Selene’s voice caught Sunset’s attention. She looked up, and her heart skipped a bit when she saw the woman behind Selene. “Look who’s visiting, Dad!”

It was principal Celestia.

“Good afternoon, I hope I’m not interrupting any-” Celestia said as her eyes slowly fell upon Sunset. “... thing…”

Sunset could only stare in horror as a thousand thoughts crossed her mind. She didn’t want Trixie’s parents to know she had dropped school, or at least not right after meeting them. But now, here she was, the one woman that could, with every right, start questioning about it right away! Not only that, but Sunset knew Celestia was very aware of her relationship with Trixie, and looking at them being all cuddly together in front of Trixie’s family could make her think it’d be ok to comment on that!

After just a few seconds of silence, Celestia managed a kind smile. “Hello, Trixie, and you too, Sunset.” She turned to Straight. “Good afternoon, Mr. Totamoon.”

Straight stood up to shake Celestia’s hand. “Afternoon, principal. Please, have a seat.” After he lead Celestia to the one armchair, he grabbed Selene by the hand and both sat down on the couch. “To what do we owe the pleasure?”

Celestia briefly glanced at Sunset, who visibly recoiled back and pushed Trixie’s feet out of her lap. “Firstly, I wanted to check on Trixie. I am glad to see she’s getting better.” She cleared her throat. “Now, I know I could’ve just called by phone, but I also want to personally thank you for your generous donation.”

“Think nothing of it,” Straight said with a surprisingly humble grin. “We’ve had that statue decorating our backyard for a decade, and honestly, we never did like it.”

“No kidding,” Trixie muttered so lowly that only Sunset heard her.

“I’m still grateful,” Celestia said. “The horse is CHS’s mascot, and I’ve noticed the school spirit diminishing since the statue’s destruction.”

Up until that moment, Sunset have been trying to make herself invisible, to not be noticed or heard by anyone, but the mention of that specific statue made her flinch, and her breath caught in her throat. It didn’t go unnoticed, as she realized everyone turned to look at her.

She smiled nervously. “C-Can I use your bathroom?”

“Of course,” Selene immediately answered with a kind voice. “You know where it is, right?”

“Yes,” Sunset answered as she forcefully stood up, making sure to not hurt Trixie in the process. She hesitated for a moment, not knowing whether she should say anything else or not. In the end, she just turned around and went straight to the bathroom.

Closing the door behind her, Sunset threw herself to the sink, grabbing its edge with enough force to turn her knuckles white. Pressing her eyes shut, she cursed under her breath. She was finally starting to feel better! Why Celestia had to have the perfect timing to ruin everything up as she always did?!

She gasped, looking up at her reflexion in the mirror. “She’s not the same Celestia…” she said in a whisper. Shaking her head, she looked down back at the sink. She needed time to think, to clear her mind. Opening the water tap, she splashed some to her face, trying to refresh herself. She couldn’t stay in the bathroom forever, and she didn’t want to look miserable when she got out, either.

After taking a few deep breaths, Sunset managed to gather the courage to go out and face Celestia once more.

She was surprised to see Celestia standing up and shaking Straight’s hand.

“Don’t you want to stay?” Straight offered. “My wife is preparing a most delicious grilled duck today.”

“I’m sorry, I have to decline the offer,” Celestia answered. “I have an engagement nearby, actually, and can only stay so much.” She turned to Trixie. “I look forward to seeing you back at CHS next week, Trixie.”

“Trixie makes no promises!” Trixie joked, but when her dad glared at her, she sheepishly cleared her throat. “I mean, I’ll do what I can.”

Celestia giggled gracefully, then turned to Sunset. “And, Sunset…” She walked up towards Sunset with a calmed expression. When Sunset leaned back, Celestia stopped and showed her a folded paper sheet. “It was nice seeing you again,” she whispered.

Hesitantly, Sunset took the paper, and immediately after, Celestia turned around and walked to the front door, closely followed by both Straight and Selene.

Trixie took the chance to approach Sunset. “Are you ok?” She said just loud enough for Sunset to hear.

“Y-Yes…” Sunset answered. She looked at the paper Celestia gave her and unfolded it.

Sunset’s expression didn’t change much, so Trixie felt the need to inquire. “So? What’s it say?”

“It’s her phone number and… an address,” Sunset replied slowly.

“Really?” Trixie walked to Sunset’s side to get a better view of the paper. “That’s a park near Trotting Cinema, you think she wants to talk about what happened?”

Sunset only hummed an agreement.

“Your principal is a really kind woman,” Selene said as she approached the girls. “You’re lucky, when I was in high school, my principal seemed to hate us.”

“I don’t know, Mom,” Straight said, walking up to Selene’s side. “She was a little harsh, yes, but she didn’t hate anyone.”

Trixie cleared her throat. “Anyway, Sunset and I’ll be in my room.”

“Very well, dear,” Selene said. “Just remember lunch will be ready in thirty minutes.”

“Sure thing,” Trixie answered, then grabbed Sunset by the hand and led her towards her bedroom.

Once there, Sunset closed the door behind her and gave Trixie a knowing smirk. “What are we going to do in your bedroom?”

Trixie rolled her eyes, sitting on her bed with her legs crossed. “Sunset, I want you to know that I had no idea Principal Celestia would come.”

Sunset’s expression turned into a tired one as she sighed. She shrugged and sat down next to Trixie. “Don’t worry, I know you’d have told me.” She bit her lower lip and gave Trixie an inquisitive glare. “I’m curious though, what were they talking about? Something about a statue.”

Looking away, Trixie took a deep breath. “I didn’t know if I should tell you or not, but... “ She sighed heavily. “When my dad learned that the school’s sculpture was destroyed, he decided to donate the one we had in our backyard, since, although different, it’s a horse.”

“I see…” Sunset said slowly. She gently bit her thumb for a few seconds before looking at Trixie again. “Why did you have a horse statue in your backyard?”

Trixie kept looking away, feeling the blush appearing in her face. “Because my dad is a really weird man.” She fiddled with her fingers for a little bit, deciding after a little while to tell the story before Sunset started asking about it. “A week before my eighth birthday, as almost every young girl, I asked my dad to buy me a pony.” She shook her head. “He decided a sculpture of a pony was giving me what I wanted, without any actual horses involved.”

“Knowing you, I assume you didn’t take it well.”

Trixie hummed. “I honestly don’t know what I was thinking at the moment, but… I do remember I turned to look at my dad and he was doing his best to not laugh. I wasn’t sure why back then, but it hurt, so I ran away and locked myself in my room.”

“Whoa,” Sunset said. “What a jerk.”

“I thought so, too. But he immediately came to me and apologized. Apparently, he honestly thought the statue would make me happy, and in his twisted mind, he thought I’d start playing with it as if it was a real pony.” She sighed, shaking her head. “Just thinking of what could’ve been was making him laugh. But when I ran away, he understood he was wrong. In the end, since the statue was pretty expensive, he decided to keep it.”

Sunset gave out a short laugh, passing an arm around Trixie’s neck and pulling her closer. “Well, it may be late, but in the end you got what you wanted.”

Trixie looked at Sunset with a raised eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

Flashing her teeth in a wide grin, Sunset casually replied, “I am your pony.”

~~~~~~~~

Sunset drummed her fingers restlessly upon the stone table. After putting it a lot of thought, she had finally decided to call Principal Celestia to meet in the very small park, only one block from Trotting Cinema. It was, too, a little hidden, only accessible by a concrete arc and a cobblestone path that could easily be mistaken by the entrance of a house, and thus, at four in the afternoon, it was occupied only by Sunset at the central area with stone tables and benches, and a trio of girls at a corner, taking photos of themselves and chatting loudly.

Huffing, Sunset leaned over, crossing her arms on the table. She wondered what Celestia wanted to talk about. She was pretty sure that it had to do with her stopping to attend school, and most likely the destruction of the portal, too. But she knew there was something else to it, and she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

“Good afternoon, Sunset,” Celestia’s voice came from behind.

Sunset flinched, a little startled, and looked up at Celestia. “Hey,” she replied hesitantly.

Celestia sat right on the seat right in front of Sunset. She had just gotten out of CHS, and thus was dressed in her usual casual formal style, and carrying a heavy-looking portfolio, which she carefully placed upon the table.

“Firstly, Sunset, I want you to know that you are in no trouble whatsoever,” Celestia said in that kind, yet serious way that only she could manage. “And while it saddens me that you just dropped your studies, I cannot do anything about it. You are an adult, after all.”

Sunset remained silent, only staring at Celestia’s eyes, simply waiting for her to continue.

“You don’t have to worry, either. Due to your, let’s say peculiar situation, I understand, and won’t tell anyone about your falsified documents.” She took a deep, slow breath. “So, the reason I asked you to meet me here is just to ask about what happened two weeks ago.”

Feeling her heart skip a beat, Sunset closed her eyes for a moment. “Lyra…” she started. Her mouth quivered for a few seconds. “I ruined her life, and she wanted vengeance.” She squeezed her eyes and opened them a little bit. “The flat surface of the statue is… it was the portal to my world…”

She didn’t look up, but Sunset knew that Celestia was stunned. She decided to continue.

“She doesn’t know that, though… But she didn’t really care, anyway. All she knew was that being around the statue put me at ease, so she took it away from me…” She took a shuddering breath, trying to calm herself down. “The only reason I kept going to CHS after the Fall Formal was because I had the promise that, in thirty moons, I’d be able to return…”

“I see… That actually explains a lot…” Celestia shifted in her place, an action that caught Sunset’s attention. “Forgive me if I’m bold here, but, if you’ll be living in this world from now on, what are your plans for the future?”

Sunset looked away for a moment before looking back at Celestia with a small frown. “Right now I’m Trixie’s manager. So my only goal as of now is to turn her into this world’s most renowned illusionist.”

Celestia blinked and arched an eyebrow. “I don’t want to sound invasive, but-”

“Yes, we’re girlfriends,” Sunset interrupted her with a monotonous voice, “Yes, we went over the whole ‘mixing business and pleasure’ a thousand times. We can pull it off, even signed a contract.” She then frowned slightly. “By the way, it would be a good idea to keep all this a secret to her parents. Unless you want to lose another student.”

Celestia’s eyes flickered, and she nodded.

There was a moment of silence before Celestia spoke up again. “I know I said I can’t do anything, but…”

“No,” Sunset interrupted her. “Why would I want to return? I have enough things to worry about as it is, I don’t have the energy to add ‘dealing with moody teenagers’ to the list again.”

Celestia sighed. “I understand.” She looked down and closed her eyes for a moment. “But, if you ever change your mind, just let me know, alright?” She gave Sunset an honest smile. “Anyway, I think it’s time I leave. Thanks for agreeing to meet me, Sunset. It was nice seeing you again.”

Just as Celestia readied herself to stand up, Sunset tensed up. “Wait.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I… I was thinking about something…” She started fiddling with her fingers, doing her best to not look directly at Celestia’s eyes. She sighed. “I know this might be… hypocritical and… weird, but… Is there a way you can, you know... “ She bit her lower lip for a moment and lowered her head a bit. “... Un-expel Lyra?”

She couldn’t see it, but Sunset knew Celestia had cocked an eyebrow. “... I’m sorry, Sunset, but… I don’t understand why do you want to help her. This isn’t just pure altruism, am I right?”

“Well…” Sunset managed to look up at Celestia, and immediately recoiled back. “A few months back, I would’ve relished on her suffering… Yes, I was twisted like that… But now I can’t help but think that I’ve ruined her life one too many times already. First I outed her to her whole family, and inadvertently had her kicked out from home… And now I got her expelled…”

“She’s the one that damaged school property.”

“I did so, too,” Sunset replied. “I destroyed the school entrance and tried to use everyone as very disposable soldiers against a real army, and the only punishment I got from your part was menial labor and a month of detention.”

“Which you didn’t finish.”

Sunset sighed heavily. “My point is, why did I get special treatment? Lyra had a spotless behavior record, while, you must know by now, I was the biggest bully in the school, and I turned into a raging she-demon… Quite literally.” She shifted a little. “Don’t get me wrong, Lyra really did hurt me… She killed a part of me… But I still don’t think it’s fair that you expelled her, when she could’ve just had a month of detention or two…”

Celestia straightened up, fidgeting a little with her hands. “If I allow Lyra to return to CHS…”

“Please, don’t make me return,” Sunset interrupted her. “I… I can promise I’ll resume my studies to another school, or maybe online, but I don’t want to return to CHS.”

For a moment, Celestia’s mouth hung slightly open. She offered Sunset a warm smile. “I don’t want to feel like I’m forcing you, Sunset. But I do think that a degree will come in handy for you. And you have the potential to be a very successful woman.” She nodded to herself. “Very well, I will begin the process to re-enroll Lyra.” Her expression became serious, and she leaned forward. “Although there’s a problem. You said Lyra was kicked out from her home, correct?”

Sunset frowned in confusion. “Uh, yes. That’s what she told me. Why?”

Celestia hummed. “Because after everything is done, I have to write a letter to her to let her know that she’s welcome back. If I don’t know where she lives, I can’t give her the letter.”

“Can’t you send her an e-mail or something?”

“Even if there was a record with students’ electronic addresses, the letter must be handed in person.”

Sunset groaned. “I can investigate where she lives. Is that good enough?”

Celestia’s smile returned. “Yes.” She then grabbed her suitcase and stood up. “Well, Sunset, I will inform you when I have the letter. I hope this time you’ll answer my call.”

Looking away, Sunset blushed a little bit. “Yes.”