Chapter 4
Miss me?
Sunset startled at the voice in her head. She looked up to see that she was no longer in the hallway outside of Principal Celestia's office with her friends, but was inside her own head.
Miss me?
The voice repeated. It sounded familiar, but she couldn't quite put a face to it. "Who are you?" She called back into the dark nothingness.
Maniacal laughter.
Oh, my dear, you'll soon find out. But for now. You should get back to your so called friends.
Sunset awoke with a gasp, her vision blurry.
"Hey, hey, easy there, Sunny. It's me, AJ. You're in the nurse's office." Applejack rubbed her back as Sunset's breathing slowed.
"W-What happened?" Sunset turned to the other girls who were all expressing different looks of worry.
"You fainted," Fluttershy told her.
"Malnourishment, to be more specific." Nurse Red Heart cut in, holding her clip board. "A sign of stress. Either you haven't been eating much or you haven't been eating at all."
"I've...missed a few meals here and there..." Sunset murmured. "I didn't think it would affect me that much since I was always eating during lunch."
"Uh huh. And what does this lunch consist of?" Nurse Red Heart raised a brow.
"An...apple." Sunset confessed, blushing. "Okay so I haven't been eating. What's the big deal?"
"The big deal is that you fainted in a school hallway in front of other students." The older woman scolded her. She frowned. "Honestly! If your friends hadn't been there with you I don't know what could've happened." Nurse RedHeart turned to the other girls. "Until I'm absolutely sure Sunset has returned to her old eating habits I'm asking you five to keep watch on her at all times."
"Babysitting. We're babysitting her?" Dash's nose wrinkled in disgust. Sunset wasn't a child. If she wasn't eating that was her fault, not theirs. Why did they have to pamper her for her own incompetence?
"No, not exactly. More like monitoring. As in, calling her every few hours to remind her to eat, putting more than an apple on her tray at lunch, things like that." Nurse RedHeart told her.
"So....babysitting." Dash deadpanned in a disdainful tone.
"Well we'll be happy to keep an eye on 'er because that's what friends do. Right, Rainbow Dash?" Applejack said through her teeth, jabbing Rainbow in the arm.
"Ow, yeah, whatever," The prism haired girl muttered, rubbing her arm.
"Alright then, I'll leave you girls to decide shifts." and with that, Nurse RedHeart walked away, closing the curtain behind her to give them all some privacy.
"You don't have to pretend to care," Sunset snapped. "In fact I'd appreciate it if you didn't." She snarled.
"Uh, whoa. Calm down now. We all know it's taken Rainbow the longest to get used to this whole friendship thing," Applejack said. "But there's no reason to get snippy."
"Yeah whatever. I'm glad she doesn't want my friggin' help. Goes to show you just how much she's fucking changed!" Dash shouted.
Rarity gasped, appalled. "Rainbow Dash! Language!"
"I knew you still didn't like me! Wow! So much for being the element of loyalty! You can't even be loyal to your word! Next time, don't make a promise to a goddamn princess you know you can't fucking keep!" Sunset angrily collected her things and strode out of the nurse's office, ignoring the various calls of her name as the door closed behind her.
Sunset went home early that day, assuming that the damage had been done. She stayed inside all afternoon, watching the sky as a storm started to roll in, the clouds blocking out the sun.
As rain began to pitter patter, she couldn't help but shiver. She had been alone in her apartment plenty of times without any problems, but now it just felt...weird.
Her phone began to vibrate on the coffee table where she had thrown it when she had walked in. Answering it, she sighed deeply before she spoke. "Yes, Pinkie?"
"Oh. I didn't think you were gonna pick up. I mean, you were being such a Grumpy Umpy Pants earlier I just assumed-"
"What do you want, Pinkie?" Sunset asked her dryly.
"I want you to eat."
"You're gonna have to be more specific than that." The older girl told her in frustration.
"I want you to eat an actual meal. You're not a horse anymore you can eat real food you know," Pinkie told her in a more serious tone.
"I would if I could," Sunset responded, looking through her fridge. "I seem to be a little low on everything since I haven't had the need to buy food for the past few weeks."
"I'm coming over then."
"What?!"
"I'm coming over to bring you a meal."
"Pinkie you don't need to-"
Click.
Sunset sighed. Well, guess I'm having a house guest.
Pinkie arrived not even an hour later, two large shopping bags full of groceries in her hands. "I have pizza and I bought you some snacks and stuff for later on," She said, placing the bags on the counter.
Sunset hummed in thanks, then grunted as she realized something. "Hey, how'd you get my address?" She asked, watching Pinkie set the warm box of pizza on the counter.
"I texted Flash."
Of course you did. Another realization. "How'd you even get here? You're like, the only one of us who doesn't have a car. Besides Rainbow anyway."
Pinkie pulled out a slice as she spoke. "Maud gave me a ride. She took me to the store and dropped me off here."
"Well she can come and get you because like I said before, I can handle myself. You can go home." Sunset told her with a frown.
"And let you pass out again like you did earlier today?" Pinkie raised a brow. "I know I may not look like the most responsible one in the group, but I'm not stupid."
She had her there. And even though Sunset very much considered it many times, Pinkie was no dummy. Her childlike outlook on everything was annoying at times, but sometimes Pinkie was the most observant when it came to Sunset. Her, Rarity and Applejack were starting to get on her nerves with their intuitive natures.
"It's Manehattan style...." Pinkie said, waving a slice in front of Sunset's face.
Sunset’s stomach growled quite loudly. She blushed, looking down. “Okay...fine...you can stay. It’s not like I had a choice in the matter anyway.”
“Yay!” Pinkie shouted, throwing her arms around the older girl. “Oh! Oh! Better yet, I can stay the night that way I can cook breakfast for you!"
“Pinkie....” Sunset said in a warning tone.
“Just kidding!” The younger girl told her, sticking her tongue out. “Applejack’ll be over here in the morning to make you breakfast!”
Sunset’s mouth opened in horror. Calling her and reminding her to eat was one thing, but coming over to cook her meals was another. It’s bad enough Pinkie knew where she lived! The other girls coming over constantly would irritate her to no end! “No! No more home visits with food!” She said, stomping her bare foot on the tile beneath her.
“Looks like someone’s still a Grumpy Umpy Pants,” Pinkie sing songed, starting on her second piece of pizza.
Sunset gave up on arguing all together and threw herself down on the couch. This was going to be a long night.
Twilight Sparkle stared at the letter Sunset had sent her. So it was true. There was a second version of herself. And while she was ecstatic know that there was at least one of her in the near endless number of other dimensions she knew of, (thanks to Starswirl's journals in the Canterlot Library that now currently resided in her own study,)
She wondered why Sunset had written to her as if the other her was a true threat. She had no magic, (at least she assumed, since the mane five over there had none before she came) But she wondered. Could there have been such a thing as a magical residue? That seemed to be the case when Rainbow showed her that video of her shredding on her guitar when they were all at Sugarcube Corner.
She had taken her crown back, and the girls she had touched had retained some magic. Even Sunset regained some of her own magic thanks to the elements.
The princess tapped a hoof to her chin. "This is kind of tricky....I don't exactly know how to respond.." She read the letter over again and sighed.
Dear Sunset,
I'm not exactly sure what you should do, since I've never been in this situation, but I suggest you try to keep the magical output at a minimum. Since she knows about magic, she's probably built something to detect it.
That's all I have. Report anything new to me as soon as you can.
Yours in friendship, Twilight Sparkle.
Sunset heard a faint buzzing coming from somewhere. She reached for her phone, but realized that wasn't it. She remembered the book, and shuffled through her bag for it.
Opening it, she read the letter and deflated. Twilight was just basically telling her what she already knew. And she left school early so she didn't have anything new to tell her.
Sunset slumped into the couch. "This is ridiculous," She whined, kicking her feet like a child throwing a tantrum.
"How so?" Pinkie asked, sitting next to her with what Sunset assumed was her fourth piece of pizza. She handed Sunset a slice on her own plate and placed two cups of soda on the coffee table.
"I feel so useless. I'm supposed to be the leader. Twilight left me in charge of everything and I'm fucking it up!" Sunset ran her hands through her two toned locks.
"Hey, that's not true! You're a good leader! Though I don't know what you're exactly supposed to be leading," Pinkie said, attempting to comfort her.
"You guys! Twilight's not going to be able to come through the portal every time something magical happens and we need to start thinking of what to do in times like this!" Sunset explained, taking a reluctant bite of pizza. "But between me neglecting my health and me and Dash fighting, I can't even begin to think about what's possibly going on at school!"
"Wow that's a lot of responsibility for a newly reformed baddie." Pinkie said. "Look, I'll take care of Dashie. You just relax, okay?" She squeezed Sunset’s hand in comfort.
"In the meantime," she said, pulling out a math textbook from her bag with a smirk, "You can help me with my math homework."
The wind howled outside of Sweet Apple Acres, the limbs of trees swinging this way and that. Rain beat down hard, making the dirt road leading to the farmhouse soft and muddy.
The porch steps were soaked to the bone, making the normally warm apple smelling area smell like wet pine.
Rainbow Dash rapped on the farmhouse door, praying to god that Applejack heard her over all this rain.
She hugged herself, her thin hoodie doing little to nothing to keep her warm. Hopping around to generate some heat, she tapped on the door again, louder this time.
To her relief, she heard the blonde yell, "Comin'!" And was even more ecstatic when the farm girl opened the door.
"Wha-What in tarnation are you doing here?!" Applejack bellowed, the wind competing with her voice.
"P-P-Power went out at my place. I was h-h-home alone and g-got s-scared." Dash chattered.
"Well hurry up and come in before you get hypothermia! You're shaking more than Winonna after she fell in that well!" She looked outside to see Rainbow's bike propped up against the porch railing. "An' you rode that thing here?! Are you insane?!" She shut the door.
"Why didn't ya'll just go over to Fluttershy's? Or Pinkie's or Rarity's?!"
"Pinkie isn't answering her phone and Fluttershy and Rarity are still mad at me for what I said earlier," Dash stepped out if her soaked sneakers and hoodie and appreciatively accepted a warm blanket from Applejack.
"Ah'm pretty ticked off myself," Applejack told her, folding her arms. "You were pretty mean. She's trying her hardest to be good and you yellin' at her ain't gonna do nothin' but cause problems."
Dash curled up on the couch in the living room, staring at the warm fire crackling in the fireplace. "I didn't mean to be a jerk. She just, she got on my nerves! We've given her friendship when we didn't even have to! It was a stupid favor to Twilight that we start fresh with her and she treats us like horse shit."
Applejack sat down next to her. "Now Ah wouldn't say that," She told Rainbow, hugging her knees. "She's gone through so much. Makes sense she's a little irritable."
"Irritable my ass," Dash scoffed. "She called me a bitch! Me! Does she even know who she's talking to?!"
The farm girl patted her head with a laugh. "Boy if Ah hadn't've stepped in, ya'll would've been wrestling like two pigs in the mud."
"You do know your country analogies make no sense to anyone but yourself, right?" Rainbow said before sneezing.
"Yep," Applejack said, getting up to go into the kitchen to make some hot apple cider for her cold friend. "But hey, least you know what I'm talking about."
"Yeah, yeah." Dash dismissed, rolling herself into a blanket burrito. "Where is Pinkie anyway? It's weird for her to not answer her phone like that."
"She went over to Sunny's. Said she was gonna make sure she eats an' all that." Applejack responded from the kitchen. There was a brief pause as she turned on the stove. "You know I'm going over there in the mornin' to cook breakfast. You should come. Then maybe you and Sunset can work out your problems."
"Yeah no thanks. I'd rather not." Dash deadpanned.
"Oh yeah? An' how do you expect to get to school tomorrow? Your bike's caked in mud." AJ challenged, with a smirk.
Rainbow straightened. "Heheh, I mean uh, when do we leave?"
"So you take that and subtract it from 'x' and then you'll get thirty four," Sunset ran the pencil over the loose leaf in front of her so that Pinkie could follow along.
"Oh....Huh?"
Sunset smacked her forehead. "You know what, it's getting late. You can spend the night if you want," She told the younger girl, stretching.
"Forrealzies?!" Pinkie squealed, throwing her arms around her.
"Yeah," Sunset coughed. "Now could you please let go? You're crushing my lungs,"
"Oh! Sorry!" Pinkie released her grip. "Don't worry, I brought my own pajamas." She pulled out a pink cami and some sky blue pajama shorts from her school bag.
"You knew I was gonna let you stay, didn't you?" Sunset asked in dry disbelief.
"Pinkie Sense never fails me!" Pinkie told her with a wink.
Sunset rolled her eyes playfully. "Well, I'm going to bed," She yawned. "Make yourself at home, or whatever." And with that she disappeared into the back.
When she was finally alone in her room, she closed the door and heaved a sigh. They had been going over math problems for the past three hours and having to explain the same thing twice to someone with the attention span of a goldfish took a serious toll on Sunset.
"Last time I ever agree to tutor anyone," She mumbled under her breath as she got under the covers.
She closed her eyes, and soon sleep overtook her.
That is, until she woke up with a searing headache three hours later. She screamed at the top of her lungs as the pain throbbed horribly.
Pinkie came bounding into her room not a moment later. "What?! What happened?! Did someone try to come through the window?!"
Sunset stopped hyperventilating for a second to give Pinkie a confused look. "We're on the eighth floor."
"So? People have ladders!" Pinkie rebutted. "But seriously you sounded like you were being murdered. What happened?!"
Sunset bit her lip, contemplating her next move. Should she lie and say it was nothing, or should she tell the truth? She didn't want Pinkie pestering her, but she also didn't want to deal with these nightmares alone any more.
"Pinkie....you can't tell the girls about this...but for the past couple of weeks since Twilight left, I've been having these really awful nightmares that have been keeping me up all night and that's why I haven't been eating or getting enough sleep." Sunset confessed, playing with her bed sheets.
"Can you tell me what they're about?" The pink haired girl asked her.
Sunset shook her head. "No, I've already said too much. Just, trust me alright? In the near future if I need anything I promise I'll call you."
Pinkie nodded. "Okay. But...is there anything you need right now?" She asked, hopeful.
Sunset sighed. "Yeah. Can you sleep with me? I kinda don't want to be alone right now,"
Pinkie hugged her. "Sure." And with that, she wiggled under the covers and curled up next to Sunset.
She watched Sunset's eyelids droop before she was finally sound asleep.
Pinkie wrapped her arms around the other girl comfortingly. She blushed when Sunset nuzzled into her chest but said nothing as she too closed her eyes.
As the rain continued on outside, the two girls were safe inside, in each others arms.
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Aw, I was looking forward to some Slinky shipping.
5538083 that's what it's called? I thought it was called Pinkieset or something. And idk we'll see.
5538122 I just made that name up, sounds good though.
Well i read enough today i think ill go play fallout agai... You bastard...
Shit just got real
Pinkie Set, huh? I haven't read one of those yet. Then again, it's not often I read Pinkie ships in general. Typically a few Pinkie Dash fics will sneak in. They can be really sneaky... like this one. Lol.
Nvm. I just read your author's note. Lol.
I SHIP IT-- ah, i mean, yeah! Cool chapter! Got some nice, ah, dynamics you got goin over there, and stuff...
Ive read most of your fics and I quite enjoy them
can't wait for more!
I don't ca-are -I love it!
THAT's going to get awkward when AJ and RD show up in the morning...
5538566
5539032 Oh HELL YES!
have happened
5538794 ohoho so awkward
Someone with an embarrassingly small ego, massive insecurities, little in the way of intelligence and like Sunset said...a pretty sucky Element of Loyalty. So someone who deserves it.
Hatred for Dashie aside, good chapter. Don't know if you meant it but you're showing damn well how irresponsible Equestria is by shipping their problems away and causing problems for other worlds.
5539327 As much as I can see where you're coming from regarding RD's behaviour, I respectfully disagree. Please don't be mad, just hear me out:
1: A lot of people complained that Rainbow was too much of a jerk in Rainbow Rocks and at first, I agreed as she did irritate me with her behaviour. But then I realised something: this is HUMAN Rainbow Dash, not PONY Rainbow Dash. What I mean by that is that it made sense for her to be acting more like her Season 1 self because she hasn't learnt the same lessons or gone through the same character development as Rainbow from Equestria, which she greatly showed at the beginning of Equestria Games. That doesn't make it less annoying to listen to for me, but at the very least, I understand why.
2: I understand that Rainbow doesn't always follow her Element of Loyalty, but remember that the rest of the Mane Six are just as guilty of going against their elements (Applejack: The Last Roundup, Fluttershy: Putting Your Hoof Down, Pinkie: Party of One, etc). And honestly, I think it's good that Rainbow isn't loyal all the time. It's better than Rainbow not having her character be defined by one trait and show flaws like a three-dimensional character. I don't like thinking that if you're an Element of Harmony, that means you HAVE to represent the element perfectly 100% all the time and make no mistakes whatsoever and thus learn no lessons. I think being an Element of Harmony means you don't have to be the embodiment of it but instead showcase great feats of that Element when it really counts. And if you don't, you can learn from whatever mistake you made and remember it in future.
Again, just my opinion. Whatever you wanna think is fine.
5540277 i agree completely.
5540301 Really? Thanks.
5540277 Not mad. We're all entitled to our own opinion. Mine just happens to be that RD sucks
5540517 Of course, whatever floats your boat.
At the very least, do you see where I'm coming from?
5540568 I do
5540641 Thanks.
5539301 Seriously, AJ seems like the kind of person to just walk right in to the kitchen without even knocking and RD seems like she'd just walk in and try to find a TV or something.
5540925 that funny,because that's exactly what i wrote this morning
5541087
FTFY
I suppose I simply believe just walking in is a "country person" thing.
5541826 yeah since everyone's nice and knows each other you can just walk into everyone's house. It's a southern thing haha. I have family down there haha
I think I said this before, but I love the way you portrayed Sunset Shimmer in this story. This is how I feel a redemption would actually be like for her. The fact that she's still really withdrawn and distant seems to match her. I'm glad I'm following this story.
5544353 i guess that means im doing something right.
I'm just saying this: She should do more better at telling the truth. She's not realizing her protential!
(Note: What I did there was a Boondocks Reference.
)
I mean at the beginning of this chapter, she achieve Bad Karmanic Overload there! It's going to be hard to achieve Good Karmanic Actions later on, am I right?
Awesome Job, NYBrony (or NY-Brony, if that's alright with you), good luck on the future chapters!
I have read nearly half your stories and to date im still not disappointed here take a mustache
She doesnt seem to be doing much "redeeming" here. I like it
I'm liking the story so far.
But I do have one issue. Your math analogy was incorrect. X is a variable and as such does not hold a value unless given one. In which then you replace x. A better way of saying this would be to say.
Then you subtract that from both sides of the equation, and x equals 32.
i'm actually kinda hoping that either Rainbow or Sunset throws the first punch at one another and roll around in a high school brawl lol
5570091
5544513 little warning you say you don't ship it but in many of the books i have read the writer often states that's the story takes a life/mind of its own and changes from the original idea. (plus when it comes to pinkie all bets are off never seen a writer control her) god chapter I'm liking the story
5641873 then they kiss right?... (that hole now kiss and make ou..up I meant up saying)
5539327 Sounds like you don't pay much attention then, because RD is exactly the opposite of everything you just said. She's better at representing her element than most of the mane 6.