This Night Aria

by Ianpiersonjdavis

Study Session

Sunset was browsing one of the dozens of social media sites this world seemed to have, back when she was taking control of the school she had correctly assumed that it would help spike her popularity and make up for the social stigma of being the ‘new girl’.

She was in one of the school’s study rooms along with the rest of the girls-save for Fluttershy who was handing out fliers to support the pets at the shelter. Sunset’s level of intelligence easily rivaled Twilight’s in both magic and academics, even with her unsavory behavior the years before nobody could claim that she had bad grades. It was something that seemed to frustrate Vice Principal Luna as she saw her as a smart girl making bad decisions. Of course, that was before her rampage caused Luna to lose all faith in her.

One of the most jarring things she had noticed upon entering this world was despite many similarities, there were quite a few differences-in not just the world and the physical embodiments of its dominant species, but the how some personalities from their Equestrian counterparts. Princess Celestia was one such case, when she was younger and angrier Sunset had always believed that Celestia was trying to hold her back and use her somehow, but she loved to teach while always seeming warm and kind to everyone. While, Principal Celestia seemed apathetic, like she would rather be doing anything but deal with kids and at times even came across as passive-aggressive.

Glancing up over the phone she had ‘borrowed’ from the mall when she had first started her high school career she observed the other girls and the progress they were making. When Luna was frustrated over her social interactions with other students, she had suggested putting her intelligence to good use by tutoring other students and pointed out that she could get paid for her services, she seemed to have hoped that these interactions would help her become more empathetic. At the time, Sunset couldn’t have cared less and was only focused on claiming what she had believed to be her destiny, rather than waste time and energy on other, lesser individuals.

The rest of the girls on the other hand, each seemed to have their own issues in different fields-the only exception was Pinkie Pie, who seemed to be excelling in all of her classes for reasons no one seemed to be able to comprehend as she never really seemed to pay attention, nor had she ever been seen jotting down any notes.

Yet, despite all of this, she still insisted on showing up to each session. Normally, Sunset wouldn’t have minded the extra help-if her special form of tutoring didn’t involve horrendous musical numbers that were meant to be inspirational. Now, Pinkie mostly sat around and waited for someone to ask for help before giving even more confusing answers to questions, the logic to which Sunset herself could barely follow.

Rainbow Dash was staring intensely at the paper she was working on with a book open to her left, her tongue was hanging out of her mouth slightly and she was beginning to sweat. As Sunset glanced down at her primary colored wristband she noted that Dash’s hand was shaking slightly. The book was too far away for Sunset to be able to make out the text, but previous study sessions suggested that it was either one of the mathematics courses or the sciences.

Thanks to her pride and embarrassment, Dash would hate asking for help on these subjects when the other girls seemed to be able to handle them so easily-it made her feel stupid. So, she would always wait until everyone else left to quietly ask Sunset for help since she stayed at the school later than anyone else. Inwardly, Sunset sighed as this would likely be the case tonight as well-which meant she would lose time she could have spent sleeping in the storage closet going over with Dash what she could have during the session.

Applejack vigorously erased something with a grimace, which must have been some kind of math problem. When these sessions first started, in frustration, she had voiced her disdain for ‘fancy mathematics’, before Sunset asked her how they handled the finances of the farm. It was then revealed to her that Big Macintosh and Granny Smith were more gifted in that area.

Unfortunately, Applejack was too stubborn to ask for help and as her grade kept dropping, Sunset would keep offering assistance only to be angrily told off by her and claiming that she didn’t need anyone’s help. At first she had assumed that Applejack still hated her for everything up until the Fall Formal, but after speaking with the others-it turned out that she had always been like this. What further baffled Sunset was the fact that she kept showing up at study sessions, despite claiming she didn’t want or need any help.

Rarity was actually doing surprisingly well in everything except the physical activity class she had taken up because she had an aversion to becoming ‘sweaty’. In chemistry she was doing well in everything except the labs because she was worried about the chemicals spilling and ruining her clothes. Sunset suggested wearing clothes that she wasn’t particularly attached to if she was that worried about accidents like that happening and reminded her that there were showers if being covered in sweat for the rest of the day was that much of an issue as well as the fact that everyone else in the class was getting just as sweaty.

It was difficult to ascertain exactly where Fluttershy stood with her classes, given that her volunteer work for the animal shelter ensured that she was always late to these sessions. Whenever she showed up, there would be twenty minutes of the session remaining at the most. This was frustrating, given how little time was left for Sunset to figure out where she was at in whatever subject and that best way to help her.

On the social media site she was currently on, several students still made derogatory comments about her. Just because a few students came to accept her, didn’t mean they all had. As unrealistic as she knew that hope may have been, it was still irritating to deal with these people.

There was a knock on the door as everyone looked towards the glass, Sunset sighed as she got up to open it. It was probably Fluttershy-fashionably late as usual. As she got close enough to make out the figures on the other side, her heart sped up as she felt that familiar sense of hatred burning in the pit of her stomach.

As she flung the door open, nearly hitting Fluttershy as she glared at the Dazzlings.

“What are you doing here?” she seethed. “And why would Luna and Celestia let you come back after all the trouble you caused?”

“Aw…what happened to the sweet, friendly Sunset who wanted to show us around the school?” Aria replied.

Sunset turned to Fluttershy, who was awkwardly standing to the side.

“Why did you bring them here? Did they threaten you?” she asked, grabbing her shoulders. “Did they hurt you?”

“Um, no….they…they just said they needed to talk to you about something important…”

Sunset glared back at the trio.

“Fine, get in and we’ll talk.”

The Dazzlings entered the study room as Sunset turned to follow them, she was stopped by Fluttershy.

“I-I’m sorry….they came up to me when I was handing out flyers for animal shelter and I wasn’t sure what to do…”

“Don’t worry about it, at least this way we can figure out what they’re up to before they have a chance to do too much damage.” Sunset sighed, gesturing for Fluttershy to follow her inside.

These three were the last people she wanted to see, all she needed to do was hear them out, pretend she cared about what they had to say, and throw them out-the authorities would be a waste of time, emotion-eating Sirens from another world would just sound insane and with the amulets shattered, it wasn’t like they had proof.

While, her relationship with Flash was originally just to use him as another tool for becoming popular-she had come to regret her actions and part of her was hoping he would be able to forgive her. However, the Dazzlings spell on the student body began to make her question if that was even a possibility. Given the affect on Trixie, Luna, and Celestia didn’t change her personality too drastically; it seemed safe to assume that Flash probably still held quite a grudge against her.

Given how successful they were last time cementing public opinion against her along with the Rainbooms-they weren't going to earn any sympathy from her.

Comments

[MetaSkipper]

I'll confess, I'm a little confused. I thought the story was going to be Aria-centric, or at least Dazzling-centric. However, we have a chapter focused primarily on our classic heroines. In fact, the Dazzlings don't appear until the very end of the chapter.

It's not an awful chapter, by the grammar and writing. I'm just confused where it fits into the story.

[FearDiamond]

It was a good chapter, really good. But I agree with MetaSkipper, this chapter focusing on the Mane 5+Sunset came out of nowhere. Not that it is a flaw, necessarily, I just struggle to see how it connects. I guess that is what the incomplete tag is for, though. Anyway, the chapter itself is good and I hope you don't get discouraged.

[Tennis Match Fan]

Aw, cancelled? Oh well. Nice chapter.

[pixarprincess]

Wow, I'm curious to see where this go-CANCELLED!?!?

[Ianpiersonjdavis]

5314277 5314967

Yeah, I wasn't sure if it would be better to start of with the Dazzlings approaching Fluttershy-which would have been a little short or have them return like this, since the group is important for Aria's plan.