Empty Lake, Full Skies

by Snowdrifter

Full Hallways and Empty Trashcans

Sunset hated the universe right now. Standing in front of rows of identical lockers, she cursed herself for even thinking those five damning words. Clearly, the universe was listening, and she was facing a rather artistic example of that right now.

She had gone in ahead of Twilight's friends to use the restroom, but was brought up short at her locker. This locker was unremarkable in every way but two. The bold and extremely insulting graffiti hadn't been there yesterday. That part of the problem was the least vexing. Sunset knew graffiti could be cleaned up. No, that wasn't the biggest problem.

The large and heavily reinforced lock was, though. For three years, Sunset had relied on a cheap little padlock and her reputation to safeguard her few valuables. No one had dared to violate her locker in such a way. The lock confronting her now barely fit the locker catch, and looked like it had been built to survive anything short of a thousand years on the sun. The sphere of silence in the hallway seemed to suddenly grow fragile and sharp as crystal, dozens of students nearby watching to see what would happen.

"This is a test," Sunset's dark mood grew ever more bitter with that realization. "They want to see what I'll do. I'll show them, I... No, no cliche villain acts. What would Twilight do?".

As she walked towards the school office to report this, she shook her head again, "Probably tell me, 'I told you so. NEVER use those five words together.' Lucky Princess...."

Behind her, the conversations started again. And laughter. That was new.

---

Applejack and the other girls walked down the hallway, where they were greeted by an odd sight. Sunset Shimmer was staring at her locker like it was some sort of portal to another world. Snickering was evident all up and down the hallway, save for a zone of silence around Sunset. That barrier was in no way adequate to stop the girls from approaching a seemingly shellshocked Sunset silently standing stock still.

"Whacha looking at, Sunny?" If anyone could dispel silence, it was Pinkie Pie. She peered intensely at Sunset's locker before gasping. "Oh my gosh, did you forget your homework?"

Sunset's left eyebrow twitched, and she reached out and unlocked her spotless locker, which now had her original lock on it again. "Well, no.. Just..."

"Oh, I bet you came in and your locker was covered in mean grafiti and someone swapped your lock and you went to the office to report it and Vice-Principle Luna came back with you so you could show her but the grafitti was gone and your lock was back so she didn't believe you and now you're not sure it happened either but are almost completly sure you're not crazy?"

Sunset's entire face began to twitch as she expertly articulated her emotional state at Pinkie's massive run-on sentance, "How in Tartarus..."

"Oh, just a hunch."

Sunset's reply was unintelligible over the bell for class, probably for the best. The facepalm, however, could be heard in Equestria.

---

Eventually, even the universe tires of humiliating people. Sunset believed this fervently, yet the day was still a train wreck. She prided herself on her intelligence. Because of her brains, rarely did she need to take homework back with her to her little room off the library. No, most of it got done in her free period at the end of the school day. Whomever had gotten into her locker had swapped out parts of Sunset's assignment with cartoon characters, Wikipedia references and pages from an iorem ipsum generator. Fortunately, whomever did this hadn't been super efficient. Long ago, Sunset had changed her default font for printing documents, and the swapped pages didn't match up. Fortunately, her tech savvy arguments bought her some time to reprint the assignments at the library before lunch. Somehow, the graffiti and monster lock were back when she passed her locker, heading for the cafeteria.

Not wanting to make a fool of herself again, she got out her phone and took a well-aimed picture.

---

In the cafeteria, five ordinary teenagers discussed their friend, who was late to lunch.

"But she'd look so adorable! Really, it would freshen up her image around here if she changes a little here and there," the fashionista proclaimed with grand gestures. "She can be the girl she wants to be...

"Nah, if she wants to really be cool, she should join some of the teams." Rainbow even held up a cartoon-like, stick figure drawing of herself, with a smaller figure with loads of red-gold hair in the background. Both figures were wearing soccer outfits... sort of. "She'd end up almost as cool as me. Maybe twenty percent less cool, which you gotta admit is still pretty awesome!"

"Not to burst your bubble, Rainbow, but Sunset's carrying a fair set of chores on the farm - she's got about as much time for that as I do. 'Fraid you can't have her from me just yet." The farm girl chuckled as her athletic friend made a face at her across the table.

"Um, Applejack, you might want to rephrase that, that is, um... if you want to...", Fluttershy's cheeks ware turning pink from something she'd thought she heard, and she seemed to be attempting to sink into the floor.

"We really wanna get her involved again, so naturally, we need a PARTY! We can invite everyone! I bet we can even promote it with a musical number right here in the cafeteria! I have bongos!"

"Pinkie Pie, you are SO random. That'll never work."

"Why not, Dashie - it works in both movies."

"What?"

And as Pinkie took in a huge gasp of air in preparation for another expository monologue, five phones alerted their owners to an incoming email in unison. The multiverse had just been saved by Sunset Shimmer.

---

*... And that sums it up," Pinkie's cheerful recap of events left even the usually collected Vice-Principle blinking. She walked over to the locker, eyes on something odd near the gap with.the next locker. "Still not believing Sunset?"

Luna let out a deep sigh as her fingernail traced the gap between lockers. Just once, she wanted Tia to handle things. There was a triple shot caramel macchiato cooling on her desk, and some malarkey about approving a musical showcase - aha, there it was. She scraped her nail against the locker, causing something to peel free. The graffiti was painted on a clear plastic backing, which in turn was stuck to the locker with what looked like water. Removable and replaceable. Quite clever. Examining the lock revealed that it was way too thick to safely remove, even with tools from the auto or shop classrooms. Tia was going to have to set aside her tea and cake and call in a locksmith. And Luna could get back to her coffee.

That thought almost made Luna smile.

"I like physical evidence. I also remember some interesting photos from before the Fall Formal that would have caused disaster if unchallenged." Luna kept her eyes on Sunset during the speech. "I'm reserving judgment on this until I am certain of the facts." And after she had her coffee. "Best go back to lunch. Sunset can come get her belongings from the office later. Oh, and try to bring a better lock of your own to discourage this. That lock looks familiar, so I will keep it and find out how this happened, and who is responsible."

In the muttering crowd, a faint "Curses, foiled again!" could be heard as the watching students dispersed.

---

"Don't fret, sugar cube," Applejack drawled casually while Sunset picked up her things from the office later that day and returned them to the locker, securing it with a rather expensive 'spare' combo lock that Rarity had generously handed over (did she glue rhinestones to everything?). "The universe is too big to worry about little old us. I don't know a lot, but I reckon things are gonna be looking up soon."

"Agreed, why the nerve of some people, using such a simplistic, and bland artistic expression like a stencil shows a frightful lack of originality... No offense, Sunset." Rarity fussed with her bags, "But we should head out soon, the others will be waiting for us."

Sunset allowed herself an eye roll, "None taken, Rarity." she paused as another student approached. Derpy Hooves, as Sunset recalled.

"Hey, Sunset, this note is addressed to you."

"Thanks, but where did you find it?" a confused Sunset queried. Applejack just shrugged, while Rarity seemed on the verge of saying something, what looked like hearts flashing in her blue eyes.

"In my locker. I just don't know what went wrong."

"Well, thanks for bringing it to me."

"Okay, Sunset. Also, if you see a statue of an angel and it's crying," Derpy's eyes went normal, and she gave Sunset a stare that rivaled a cockatrice. "Remember to back away, and don't blink." With that said, the girl regained her easygoing tone and walleyed appearance and skipped cheerfully down the hall.

"Yep. That happened," Applejack broke the stunned silence with a blink. "What's the note say?

Rarity practically swooned, "Of course, it must be a love letter. I wonder who the lucky boy is?"

With a sigh, the redhead gave Rarity the best glare she could manage. Due to the events of the day, it was rather tepid and the purple-haired girl hardly noticed it. Even as Sunset took a deep breath and prepared to explain how unlikely that was, but she was cut off by Applejack, "I dunno, Rarity, Sunset doesn't seem to be the type who'd settle for someone that wrote out a confession and had somebody else deliver it. She'd prefer someone who was honest and forthright in their feelings. At least, I hope she would."

Sunset face palmed (again), and focused on reading the note. Unless pitchforks had been added to Valentine's Day, this wasn't a love letter. It was a challenge. "Um, I'm supposed to leave school today by way of the cafeteria side doors. Whomever wrote this note says they know who messed with my locker but won't tell me unless I meet them there.."

"Well, then - we'll go with you. After all, whomever made that garish mess has no sense of style. Oh, eh-he-he, and they certainly shouldn't use other people's lockers for that either."

"Well, it's almost time - let's see what this is about."

Sunset was ready for the day to end, so she agreed quite eagerly to the suggestion, and the three girls strode off to see who was waiting for them. Peculiarly, there was no one around when they walked through the squeaky cafeteria side door. As the girls looked around in confusion, Sunset stepped on something out of place. Someone had taped a sheet of paper to the sidewalk, and it read, "Up."

Sunset looked up, and with a gasp, violently shoved Applejack and Rarity away from her to either side, right before her day got much, much worse.

Author's Note:

Someone has planned on gas-lighting Sunset, messing with her head while she's down. And people thought AJ was giving Sunny a bad time. The only saving grace here is whomever is gas-lighting Sunset is being a bit too clumsy about it.

Comments

[jollymusician]

More!!!!

[icecreammac]

The Dr. Who reference was really unneeded. Otherwise, it was a pretty good chapter.