A Broken Enemy

by TheColorGreen

Chapter Two

Sunset Shimmer was scared.

She had been scared before, of course. She had been scared when her parents died. She had been scared, very scared, in the short time before Celestia had found her, a homeless orphan wandering the streets. Sunset had been scared after the Princess rejected her and cast her out of the place that had been her home for years. The mirror, and the world on the other side of it, had soon followed, but that feeling of fear had always lingered, threatening to take control if Sunset didn’t master her setting and circumstances.

But now… now she had no control, no control whatsoever, and it terrified her.

Sunset shivered. She was curled up in the corner of Twilight Sparkle’s basement room. It wasn’t cold, but Sunset had no other way of releasing the tension cramping her limbs.

Memories of tormenting Twilight Sparkle were flitting through Sunset’s mind, haunting her. She had stolen from Twilight, humiliated her, and tried to kill her.

She has every reason to get back at me. Sunset shivered again. Twilight Sparkle had every reason to retaliate, and now, had every right to as well.

Sunset shivered yet again. The room wasn’t cold.

*

The second Twilight opened her eyes, the memory of Sunset Shimmer’s broken horn flashed through her brain.

Twilight sat up, groaning at the tiredness in her legs. Somehow, through the fog induced by only a few hours’ sleep, Twilight formed a thought.

To-do list. I need a to-do list.

Twilight rose from her bed and stumbled over to her desk. There she slumped into a chair and lifted a quill in her telekinesis. A rather sloppy list took shape in her scratchy, angular hoofwriting.

- Find girls

- Meet—Sugarcube Corner?

- Tell them—everything

Twilight looked around for Spike for a moment before remembering that he had left for Canterlot on business just a few days ago, and wouldn’t be back until the end of the week.

Oh, well. I can find them without him.

Twilight set the quill down on the desk, turned, and trotted down the stairs and out into Ponyville.

The sun was up high in the sky, and Twilight felt herself smiling. Somehow the light of the sun seemed to make her troubles smaller, if only for a while.

Twilight trotted down the street, greeting and waving to her neighbors. A few moments later she reached Sugarcube Corner; she pushed open the door and walked in without hesitation.

To her surprise, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and of course Pinkie Pie were already clustered around a table next to a large window.

“Oh, howdy, Twilight,” Applejack called, waving enthusiastically at her. “We were all jus’ havin’ a little get-together.”

“Weren’t you going to invite me?” Twilight could feel her wings drooping as she spoke.

“Of course!” Pinkie practically burst out of her seat. “Rainbow Dash was just going to go to your house to invite you, silly!”

“That’s why she isn’t here,” Rarity added. “She will be here soon, I expect.”

“Oh, okay.” Twilight sat down with her friends. “That’s good. There’s… something I need to tell you all.”

Rainbow Dash arrived within minutes, complaining good-naturedly about having missed Twilight. After the first few minutes of camaraderie and general friendship, Twilight took a deep breath, and her friends instinctively quieted.

“Girls, there’s something I need to tell you.”

Twilight launched into her story. She started with a short recap of her time as a human—but Rainbow Dash cut her off, loudly reminding her that she’d told them all of that before. So Twilight skipped ahead to the evening before, when a Royal Guard had landed on her balcony and changed everything.

As she finished her story, there was silence at the table. Applejack was staring at the table, deep in thought; Fluttershy looked positively petrified; Rarity was frowning, and Pinkie was for once quiet and still.

Rainbow Dash was, as usual, the first to break to silence.

“You mean that—that unicorn, Sunset Shimmer, she’s at your house? Alone?”

“She’s not going to hurt anything, Rainbow,” Twilight answered. “The guard said there was a charm on her, keeping her from hurting anypony or disobeying me.”

“Yeah, but—” Applejack poked Rainbow hard in the side, and the pegasus fell silent, though she still glowered at the table.

Applejack gave Twilight a smile that would have been reassuring if it didn’t seem so stiff. “Rainbow might be wrong, sugar cube, but you still probably want t’ get on home.” Her smile grew a bit more genuine, a tad less concerned. “Don’ worry—we’ll be along soon.”

“And we will most certainly help you sort all this out,” Rarity added.

“Thanks, girls,” Twilight said. “I knew I could count on you.”

She stood up, said her goodbyes to her friends, and trotted out. The sunlight, through still warm, now gave no comfort. Twilight sighed loudly as she trotted up to the library.

I never asked for any of this.

*

Sunset Shimmer tensed as hoofsteps sounded against the wooden floor overhead.

Someone’s here.

She moved to stand and found that her legs had gone to sleep—and were probably cramped, too. Sunset shivered, determinedly wiggling her hooves. Wake up—wake up! She would need to stand up when Twilight Sparkle came in. Only pain would follow if she could not.

The hoofsteps sounded against the basement stairs, then against the floor just outside. Then the door creaked open.

Sunset immediately stood, gritting her teeth against the agonizing tingling in all four legs.

You’ll get more pain that that if you don’t greet her properly!

Sunset bowed her head, stared at the floor. She could just see Twilight Sparkle’s hooves from here—but hooves gave no indication of a pony’s mood. If Twilight Sparkle was feeling amicable, she might get off easily. If not—Sunset shuddered to think what might happen.

“Um, hi…”

The open-ended—and oddly casual—greeting surprised Sunset. Maybe Twilight Sparkle wasn’t as ready for this as she had thought.

“I was thinki—” Twilight Sparkle was cut off by a loud rumble for her own stomach. Sunset winced, thinking of her own hunger.

Stay quiet. Stay quiet and she won’t hurt you—

“Oh,” Twilight said, stretching the word out so that it was more a moan. “Can you cook?”

Sunset bit her lip. She couldn’t, not really. But her time—her training, in Celestia’s accursed prisons, had taught her that saying “no” to her mistress was a grave mistake indeed.

So that was Twilight Sparkle’s game. Put her new slave between a rock and a hard place, and watch as she suffered no matter what she did or said.

Sunset Shimmer grit her teeth.

“I… can cook if you wish it, Mistress.”

There were some things she could cook, after all. A few things, at least. It was better than saying “no”.

“Okay, good. Come on—I’ve got all sorts of stuff in the kitchen.”

Sunset followed her mistress wordlessly, mentally plotting out foods she might be able to cook.

As it turned out, the planning was all be useless, as Twilight Sparkle had nothing but various canned vegetables, and a few breads.

I can’t cook these.

Sunset grit her teeth and closed her eyes for a moment.

Just a moment.

Author's Note:

Please note that since I'm updating pretty much as soon as I finish the next chapter, all updates won't be this quick. This one was just finished quickly.

Comments

[Unbridled Dolly]

Yayy! Next chapter soon?

[TheColorGreen]

4174205
I just updated, so, probably in a few days to a week.

[Unbridled Dolly]

4174338 Yayyy!

[Honeytongue]

Wow...
Going to continue reading this when next update comes.