• Published 21st Aug 2016
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Shadowbolts Adventures: Choices - DragonShadow



Sugarcoat has been monitoring the human world's Sunset Shimmer for a while now, and she has finally found an avenue in which to learn more about her. But in order to take advantage of it, she may have to become something she doesn't want to be.

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Chapter 2: Starlight in my Eyes

Chapter 2: Starlight in my Eyes

Sugarcoat's fingers tightened on her companion's shoulders, clutching at her as if she was bobbing in the middle of a raging ocean holding a life preserver. For just the briefest moment she began to pull the girl closer, but then she released Night Glider's shoulders and let her arms dangle at her sides. The shorter girl's eyes opened slowly, peering up at her through the final fiery rays of sunlight that draped across the grassy park around them.

"I can't do it, Night Glider," Sugarcoat confessed. "I just... I don't swing that way."

"Oh." Night Glider blinked blankly. "I-I thought..."

"I know..." Sugarcoat shook her head. "And I'm sorry. I just... didn't want to upset you. I've had a really good time lately." It wasn't untruth... it simply wasn't the whole truth.

"I see..." Night Glider took a step back with a wry smile on her lips. "I suppose it's for the best. It didn't work with my first crush... why would it work with you?" She turned away with a blush.

"Your first crush?" Sugarcoat asked curiously. "Things didn't go well, I suppose?"

"No... not at all." Night Glider approached the small pond by the walking trail and plopped down on the grass. Sugarcoat sat beside her more gingerly, smoothing down her skirt and sitting with her legs crossed beside the still waters. "She was like you. Full of ambition to compete and be something better. And nothing anybody did could take that away from her."

"Is being ambitious really so bad?" Sugarcoat asked.

"When it leads you down a path of self-destruction? When you keep disrupting the house and eventually start bringing the cops around? Yeah, it's pretty bad..." She shook her head. "I don't think I'll ever understand why she couldn't just stop. I saw in her the truth of what Miss Glimmer has always told us. That ambition and competition are corrupting forces..."

"Miss Glimmer?"

Night Glider blushed. "Gah, I'm sorry... I'm just blurting out whatever's on my mind now... you don't want to hear about my home life."

"On the contrary, I find myself intrigued." Sugarcoat's smile was genuine when Night Glider glanced her way out of the corner of her eye. "Miss Glimmer raised you?"

Night Glider nodded. "And a lot of others. She runs an orphanage in the city. Well, kind of an orphanage. It's an orphanage, a school, a shelter... basically a place someone who doesn't have another place to be can go."

"That's a very noble calling."

"She's a noble person." Night Glider's chest straightened just slightly in pride as she spoke. "Miss Glimmer is like a jewel of this city. She fights the corruption for the sake of peace, and teaches us all to do the same."

"That corruption being... ambition?"

Night Glider nodded. "There are few conflicts in this world that weren't caused by ambition or desire. People who want to do more, people who want to do better..." She sighed. "Now I'm thinking about her again and it just... it just makes me so mad that I couldn't do anything." Her fists were clenched into white-knuckled balls as she held her kneed against her chest. "Mad at her... mad at myself..."

"She must have been really important to you."

"We were best friends for years." Her hands relaxed as Night Glider's eyes softened, peering down into the glassy surface of the lake. "Me and Sunset Shimmer. Miss Glimmer couldn't get us apart if she tried. And she did try, a few times." She giggled, completely oblivious to Sugarcoat's sudden rapt attention. "We always had a good time together... even if we were pretty naughty. I guess getting out of the house like this is a habit I kept from my time with her."

"Sunset Shimmer lived with you?"

Night Glider nodded. "We grew up together in that house, for as long as I can remember." A wistful smile spread across her lips. "She was an absolute monster a lot of the time. She was always trying to show off the things she could do. No matter how many times Miss Glimmer punished her it never did any good. A few days, maybe a week later she would challenge someone else to some competition, just to prove she could win." She shook her head. "I don't think I ever saw her lose either. She was always super smart."

"She doesn't still live there?"

Night Glider shook her head. "She got really wild as she got older... Miss Glimmer asked her to leave the day she turned eighteen. Had to, to get the police to stop coming around."

Sugarcoat winced. "That's pretty harsh... do you know by any chance where she's staying now?"

"I wish I did. I still worry about her... I mean, we're still friends, and occasionally we hang out, but she won't tell me where she's staying. She just tells me she's fine and not to worry about it..."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Sugarcoat looked up at the darkening sky as the first stars began to peer out of the growing night. She pushed herself up from the grass and brushed some stray blades from her skirt before holding her hand out to her friend. "Would you like me to walk you home?"

Night Glider glanced up at her in surprise. "Really? Even after all this awkwardness...?"

"You can tell me to leave if you really want to, but I'm not doing it on my own." Sugarcoat winked. "You're stuck with me until you have the guts to tell me to go away. As a friend."

A gentle smile spread across Night Glider's lips as she took herself and let herself be pulled up from the grass. "Okay, thank you."

Sugarcoat followed her friend in a comfortable silence. She was torn between feeling relieved that she wasn't about to lose her friend and being really happy that she was finally making progress on her investigation. She still felt a bit like a slimeball for that, but at least she was acting like less of one than she once would have. She considered that progress, though progress towards what she wasn't entirely sure.

The sun had already disappeared when they approached the house illuminated only by the glowing streetlamps and the final gasps of sunlight from beyond the horizon. The house was much bigger than Sugarcoat had expected. There were three stories of windows on a building that took up an entire block by itself. Though given what Night Glider had said about it being a school and an orphanage, she supposed it shouldn't be such a big shock. It looked clean and well-kept, at least.

"This is it. Home sweet home." Night Glider approached the front door with a wistful sigh. "Hopefully Miss Glimmer is asleep already..."

Sugarcoat hung out by the sidewalk. "I'm not going to get you in trouble keeping you out so late, am I?"

"In trouble? Nah, she just worries when she doesn't know where we are, is all." Night Glider turned back to her from the front porch. "And I do hate to make her worry. We all owe her so much."

"Understandable..." Sugarcoat smirked wryly. "Does that mean you won't come out to meet me again?"

"I'll see you this weekend, probably. Goodnight." Night Glider gave a friendly wave, which Sugarcoat returned before she opened the door and slipped inside. There was no light from within, so it looked like the building had already gone to sleep.

Her eyes swept up the front of the building curiously. She had never been down this way before, and had never seen the large sign out front proclaiming 'Starlight Glimmer's Beacon Of Hope'. She wondered for a minute how a place like this flew under her radar... but it wasn't as if she would have even cared to notice, not all that long ago. Emerging from the Friendship Games had been a bit like coming up from for air after being trapped in the ocean for eighteen years. It wasn't unbelievable that she hadn't noticed it... or even cared enough to remember it if she did.

Her eyes stopped on the center window on the third floor, through which she saw a woman holding a mug between both hands sitting against the windowsill in an ornate silk nightgown. The woman was peering down at her with a curious, but harmless expression. When she saw that Sugarcoat had noticed her she waved with one hand before returning it to her mug.

She seemed like a calm woman, at least. Sugarcoat waved back so as not to seem any creepier than she already did, then turned to make her way down the sidewalk in the direction of home. It was getting dark now, so she felt reflexively for the tazer she kept in her concealed pocket. Nothing had happened before, but being prepared was never a bad idea. Even so, she tried to keep conscious of her surroundings even as her mind reconciled this new information Night Glider had given her.

For instance, Sunset Shimmer sure had a nice motorcycle for a homeless teenage girl...

***

Sugarcoat's mind was still spinning the next day. When her investigation began, she had tried to look up Sunset Shimmer in the library to see if she could find an address. She supposed now she knew why she couldn't come up with one. But even that raised so many questions it sent her mind into a tizzy, and despite knowing more now than before, she wasn't sure what to do with this knowledge. Perhaps it was time to be more direct and proactive. Though what that would entail also eluded her.

She gasped when a surprisingly string grip took hold of her shoulders and shoved her roughly into the Crystal Prep lockers. The loud metallic clang echoed through the mostly-empty hallways, and Sugarcoat clenched her teeth when she felt a pair of elbows near her spine join the hands, shoving her harshly up against the unyielding metal.

"Get offa me..." Sugarcoat grunted.

Sunset Shimmer's voice was unusually cold and disconnected. "Stay away from Night Glider. I'm warning you."

"Clearly." Sugarcoat tried to push away from the locker, but Sunset was holding her with a strength born of anger. "I'm not going to hurt her."

"I don't care what you plan to do. Just stay away from her."

"I won't do that." Sugarcoat responded in a calm voice. "If we could just have a civil talk about this-"

"You're not listening to me!" Sunset Shimmer's elbow pressed painfully into the small of Sugarcoat's back. Sugarcoat's teeth gritted against the pain. "Stay. Away. From Night Glider."

Suddenly Sugarcoat felt the girl ripped away from her back to slam into the opposite wall of lockers. She spun on her heel to see Indigo Zap pinning Sunset Shimmer back against the locker with both fists clenching her jacket.

"Don't. Touch. My. Friends." Indigo Zap growled dangerously.

Sunset sneered, though her voice was shivering slightly. "You wanna get expelled?"

"Sure." Indigo moved her face closer to Sunset's. "Then I won't have any reason to hold back." Indigo Zap was shorter than Sunset Shimmer, but her much larger biceps drove the point home loud and clear. Sunset Shimmer growled, but didn't respond for several seconds before Indigo yanked her away from the locker and shoved her down the hallway. "If I see that again I'll get myself expelled dealing with you! You hear me?"

Sunset Shimmer didn't respond as she rushed away from them down the hallway. The few students that were around watched her go, then quickly turned back to their business, actively trying not to look at Indigo Zap.

Indigo rubbed her hands together with a toothy grin. "Holy crap that felt so good."

Sugarcoat fixed her glasses with one hand. "She wouldn't have really hurt me, she knows if she did she would get expelled, friends with the principal or not. That was a needless risk on your part."

Indigo smirked. "Oh just shut up and say thank you."

"... Thank you."

"No problem. So what was that all about anyway? She's a jerk but it's not like her to get physical."

"It seems my relationship with Night Glider is getting on her nerves."

"Oh yeah? You actually find out anything useful from her?"

"Yes and no..." Sugarcoat told Indigo Zap everything Night Glider had told her the night before. "It seems the mystery surrounding Sunset Shimmer is only deepening."

"Yeah, no kidding." Indigo shook her head. "She seems really well-off for a homeless girl."

"Which means she's staying somewhere off the record. We just need to find out where... and I have an idea how. We can tail her after school."

"I don't think that'll work." Indigo shrugged. "She knows my car, she'll spot us right away."

"Maybe not if we put fake plates on it."

"Isn't that illegal?"

"Extremely."

"Didn't you just lecture me about taking needless risks?"

"Yes."

Indigo Zap put her hands hips with a thoughtful gaze for a few moments before finally smiling. "Fine, I'm in. If it puts us one step closer to dealing with her permanently, I'll do what I have to."

So their plans were made. Indigo Zap created the plates with her shop class equipment and mechanical expertise, and to her credit they certainly looked legitimate enough to get them arrested, despite reading phucksun.

"Do you think she'll be able to read it backwards?" Indigo smirked.

"Let's hope not, we're supposed to be incognito."

They were waiting outside the school with the fake plates already attached, staking out Sunset Shimmer's bike from what they hoped was a safe distance. Sunset Shimmer was often the last to leave the school, which was also suspicious in its own way. But she did eventually emerge and approach her bike in the parking lot, as she always did. She didn't seem to notice them as she climbed onto her bike and squeezed her hair into the thick motorcycle helmet.

"Looks like we're up," Indigo quipped as she and Sugarcoat slipped into the car. Indigo pulled them out of the parking space moments after Sunset Shimmer had reached the parking lot exit, hoping to keep enough distance to not draw attention to them.

Indigo was a good driver, and had obviously watched enough movies to know how this was done. She kept her speed even, about a block behind Sunset Shimmer, careful not to make any sudden changes in speed or more lane changes than absolutely necessary. Sugarcoat kept her eyes on their target, but Sunset Shimmer didn't glance over her shoulder once. More strangely, Sunset Shimmer seemed to be making a circle. She left the school heading north, then circled back around across several streets and made her way back south of the school.

"Definitely something weird going on," Indigo mumbled under her breath.

The silence reigned again until they pulled into the more expensive part of town, where large three story buildings framed the winding street. There weren't any other cars on this road, so tailing her down there would definitely be suspicious. Indigo brought her car to a stop beside the turn-off, where they watched Sunset Shimmer wind her way down the street. Thankfully, however, she turned into the driveway of the fifth house on her left, disappearing behind a tall iron gate.

"Yes!" Indigo grinned. "We got her."

"I'll go see whose house that is while you fix the plates." Sugarcoat climbed out of the car.

"Wait, you're going in alone?" Indigo exclaimed. "I don't know about that."

"I'm not going in anywhere, I'm just getting the address so we can look it up. You make sure we don't get arrested on the way home." Sugarcoat gave her friend a stern glare and turned to head toward the house. Her eyes locked on the front gate as she approached, searching the front for any sign of the address number. She soon found it posted on a plaque bolted to the fence beside the main gate, and through the bars she could see Sunset's motorcycle sitting silent and empty in the driveway in front of the rather large front door.

Sugarcoat fumbled in her pocket for her phone and quickly did a search on the address. Moments later her eyebrows lifted at the name that glowed on the bright screen clutched comfortably in her palm. Her eyes darted up toward the house again, where she this time spotted Sunset Shimmer glaring at her through the front window. Sugarcoat quickly slammed her phone into her pocket and broke into a jog back towards where Indigo was just finishing bolting her real license plates into place.

"Get in the car, we're going." Sugarcoat rushed to the passenger's seat. Without protesting Indigo chucked her tools into the back of the car, climbed in, and started on down the road away from Sunset Shimmer's street.

"So? what did you find?" Indigo demanded. "What's going on?"

"Strangely the picture is getting more clouded as it clears."

"What does that mean? Whose house was it?"

Sugarcoat glanced over at her friend. "The house belongs to Abacus Cinch."

***

Sugarcoat wasn't sure what she expected from Sunset Shimmer the next day, but the girl didn't seem to acknowledge what happened the day before, nor did she even bother to acknowledge her presence. Sugarcoat wanted to be relieved about this, but part of her was sure Sunset was plotting to ambush her when she left school. She even asked Indigo Zap to drive her home, which her friend naturally agreed to.

"So not only is Cinch in cahoots with Sunset Shimmer to ruin our lives, but Sunset Shimmer is living with her too..." Indigo pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Secretly."

"That about sums it up." Sugarcoat nodded. "It would explain a lot about why Sunset Shimmer acts so unrepentant. Her livelihood is literally riding on her doing whatever Cinch tells her to."

"Man, to be that much at Cinch's mercy. I mean us being forced to leave Crystal Prep would blow, but could you imagine if you were relying on Cinch to put a roof over your head?"

"Of course, according to Night Glider, she was always wild and arrogant." Sugarcoat took a deep breath. "The question that remains is... how much of what she does is Cinch, and how much is actually something Sunset Shimmer would do anyway?"

"And what can we actually do about it either way?"

Sugarcoat raised her finger. "Know thy enemy, Indigo Zap. Only then can you see the path to victory."

"Okay, so how do we find out more about her?"

"By going back again, I think..." Sugarcoat rubbed her hands together in front of her as she suddenly lost herself in her thoughts once more. It took her only a few moments to make up her mind and look up from her lap. "Do you think you could drop me off somewhere else instead?"

"Sure, name the place. I have nowhere to be."

"I'll lead you there." Sugarcoat led the way through the city streets until they pulled up outside of Starlight Glimmer's Beacon of Hope. "Thank you, I'll call you when I'm finished."

"Uh, no." Indigo Zap climbed out of the car with her. "I'm not leaving you here. What even is this place?"

"It's the orphanage Sunset Shimmer was raised in. I think they can give me some deeper insights into her."

"Don't you mean give us insights?" Indigo demanded. When Sugarcoat didn't respond Indigo huffed. "This isn't your mission, Sugarcoat. I want to do this just as much as you do. Besides, something about this place... just gives me the creeps. It's so big and drab. I'm not leaving you here alone."

Sugarcoat's glare lasted only a few more moments before she sighed and lowered her head. "Okay, Indigo. Let's go. Just try not to call the place creepy in front of those who live there."

"I'll do my best."

Sugarcoat and Indigo Zap approached the door, where Indigo hit the doorbell and they stood back to wait. It wasn't long before the door swung open, and Night Glider was peering out at them. She was wearing even more simple clothing than usual, a plain white t-shirt and a pair of gray slacks that hung loose around her ankles.

"Sugarcoat?" Night Glider gasped in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

Sugarcoat blinked and adjusted her glasses in genuine surprise at the shock. "I'm sorry, should we not drop by...?"

"N-no, it's alright, I don't mind, it's just we need to ask-"

Night Glider was cut off by a more commanding voice behind her. "It's okay, Night Glider. Your friends can come in." Night Glider looked quickly over her shoulder, then gave the two Shadowbolts a curious, but hopeful look as she opened the door the rest of the way and stepped aside. Standing in the large front hallway was the woman Sugarcoat had seen in the window several nights ago. She was dressed just as plainly as Night Glider was, though her hair was curled pleasantly around her shoulders. She had a warm smile on her lips as she beckoned the two girls in. "Refuge is open to all who need it."

Sugarcoat and Indigo Zap exchanged a glance before walking inside, though Indigo spoke as they went. "We're not here for 'refuge'."

"I didn't say it's what you seek, I said it's what you need." The woman smiled. "I am Starlight Glimmer. Welcome to my little refuge."

"I'm Sugarcoat. This is one of my best friends, Indigo Zap. Night Glider told me a lot about this place, so we got curious."

"Naturally." Starlight's smile was a self-assured mask. "You may ask me any questions you see fit, in my office. I don't keep secrets from my students, but sitting here in the middle of the hallway having extended conversations would be quite rude."

"Agreed." Sugarcoat nodded. "Indigo, why don't you go hang out with Night Glider?"

"Excuse me?" Indigo glared.

Sugercoat mouthed the words 'divide and conquer'. Indigo still looked upset, but straightened her jacket tersely as she turned to Night Glider. "Y-yeah, I could use a look around this place, if that's okay."

"Um..." Night Glider cast a quick look at Starlight Glimmer, who nodded almost imperceptibly in response. Night Glider looked thrilled. "Of course! Come with me, we have everything you could ask for!"

As Indigo was ushered deeper into the building by an excitedly jabbering Night Glider, Sugarcoat followed Starlight Glimmer more calmly down a shorter hallway into a large, but plainly decorated office. It was mostly full of science and informational books, with a couple of filing cabinets against the wall and a computer on a wooden desk directly in front of the door. Only a couple of pictures could be seen in the room. Pictures of a younger Starlight Glimmer, some with adults, some with a boy her own age.

"So how is Principal Cinch these days?" Starlight Glimmer quipped more casually as she strode across the office to her desk. When Sugarcoat didn't respond immediately she clarified. "I recognize that uniform anywhere, and even if you didn't have it on, I could see it in the way you carry yourself." She sat down heavily in the seat with a loud creak. "Crystal Preparatory Academy. The school that made me who I am today."

"You were a Crystal Prep student?" Sugarcoat approached the desk curiously.

"I graduated from there." Starlight was giving her an appraising, curious gaze now. "I know how they think, and while I don't know what all Night Glider has told you about us, I can imagine what you think of us right now."

"I'm not here to judge."

"And yet you are anyway. You've been taught to." Starlight's smile was understanding. "Look down on others, nobody's as good as you. Prove yourself, take the world by storm, and crush under your heel anybody who thinks they can stop you from being the best. That was always the spirit of Crystal Prep. I can see in your demeanor that that hasn't changed."

"No... it hasn't."

"Of course not. Not as long as Cinch is still in charge." Starlight Glimmer sneered. "Sometimes I think that old bat is going to live forever just to mock all the good people of the world who die young." Starlight leaned forward in her seat with her elbows on the desk in front of her. "My advice to you? You don't need to come here, but get out of that school as quickly as you can."

"It's the best school in the state. I have a future to think about."

"There are things more important than your education." Starlight stood up and took a deep breath. "I learned that the hard way... you don't need to as well."

"Did you?"

Starlight Glimmer moved around the desk to the shelf beside Sugarcoat on which the picture of a younger Starlight Glimmer and a young boy sitting side-by-side in what Sugarcoat now realized was the front lawn of Crystal Prep. "I believed in Cinch's rhetoric too. I thought it couldn't get in the way of the rest of my life... competition is good, it sharpens us, makes us strong. Sunburst and I both believed it..."

Starlight Glimmer smirked. "He believed it so much that when he got the chance to shove me to the dirt in order to get himself a head start on a better education and a better job, he didn't even hesitate. Fifteen years of friendship tossed aside like a rotting piece of meat." Her head hung against her chest for a few moments before she turned to Sugarcoat, speaking in a soft tone. "I don't expect you to understand, but that is what ambition does to people. I know, being a student of Crystal Prep, you've seen this in action."

"More times than I can count. I've been on both ends of it in the past..."

"But you accept it, because that's how the world is." Starlight Glimmer turned to march back to her desk with her hands thrown carelessly to her sides. "You accept it because ambition is what this culture is about, it's what we have decided is the most important thing in the world. Well I reject that notion..." Starlight sat down in her seat and took a heavy breath, wiping her slightly reddened eyes with one hand. "Do you know what I think? What I try to pass on to my students? That the most important thing in this world... is each other, is being with each other. I believe that the most important thing we can live for is peace and teamwork, and those things don't come from trying to be better than others. They come from understanding others, and you can't understand people you look down on."

Sugarcoat met her slightly moist eyes. Indigo Zap's assessment of this place as slightly creepy rang true, and yet at the same time she was having trouble finding fault in Starlight Glimmer's arguments. Crystal Prep was a hive of backstabbing and mudslinging. The student body there would sooner shove you in front of a bus before they stood side-by-side with you. Sugarcoat had seen it. Sugarcoat had done it many times before the Friendship Games. She had crushed as many dreams as it took to even win her spot at the Friendship Games...

It had been a while since she really thought about who she had been. The thought made her shudder.

Starlight Glimmer seemed satisfied by something as she sat back in her seat. "Does that sate your curiosity, Sugarcoat?"

Sugarcoat cleared her throat. She had completely lost focus on what she had come here to learn, and she found it difficult to focus on it. She felt like she had just had her eyes ripped open and forced to see the truth behind her school, herself, and the world. What Starlight Glimmer was saying made sense, and this little building of hers was a nest of peace and equality.

And if she wanted, Sugarcoat could join them.

"Sugarcoat?" Starlight Glimmer leaned forward with concern in her eyes. "Are you okay?"

"I..."

To Be Continued