Fixing Some Things
The sun is beginning to dip below the horizon. Few of its orange rays remain to illuminate the streets, the rest lost behind the many tall buildings. The wind and the cold were gaining ground, making everyone outside want to finish their activities soon and return to take refuge in the warmth of their own homes.
However, Sunset is not close to doing that.
With a calm but serious face, she walks through an area almost unknown to most people. The place looks particularly dirty, with more trash than anyone would expect on the street. The alleys are very dark, as well. Even the few people around have an aggressive, almost frightening look to them.
She does not pay attention to any of that. She does not look at anyone or anything in the area. She keeps her eyes fixed forward until she finds a specific place.
The sign on the building is stained and discolored, the name of the place hardly legible. She looks at the place for a moment, breathes deeply as if gathering courage, and enters.
The place turns out to be a pawn shop. All kinds of items are displayed on the various shelves, tables, and cabinets. The place is quite clean, although the damaged walls and the floor with non-cleanable spots denote its deterioration.
Sunset stands at the door, staring at the man sitting behind the counter, who is busy reading a magazine, only looking up when he hears the tinkle of the bell over the door. A strange, almost predatory smile lands on his face. "Sunset Shimmer. What a miracle to see you in my lands."
"Hi, Skull," Sunset says in a calm, almost disinterested tone.
The man called Skull gets up from his chair and approaches the counter. The girl's eyes cannot avoid glancing at the striking skull tattoo on his arm. "I haven't seen you in a long time. I think more than a year."
"I know," Sunset responds in the same tone as she approaches. "I see that you’ve done well."
"I can say the same about you. Time treats you well; you're as... hot as ever."
Sunset rolls her eyes at the comment. "I have a job for you, Skull."
"Aww, and I thought you were just coming to see me," he says with false sorrow, smiling. There is no answer, except for the girl’s frown, so he says, still smiling, "Okay, okay, tell me what you need."
"The same thing I asked you the first time we met."
"What happened, little Sunset? Trouble with the law?"
"It's not for me," she says as she pulls an envelope out of her winter jacket and leaves it on the counter in front of him. "It's for her."
Skull takes the envelope. When he opens it, he sees a folded paper, and what looks like a photograph. "Hm, interesting. Who is she?"
"No one you should know," answers Sunset curtly. "I just need you to do your thing."
"Hmm, curious that you want to help someone," Skull comments with genuine interest. "What is this girl to you?"
Sunset is silent, not knowing how to answer. "... Just someone who helped me... a long time ago."
"Heh heh, you make me want to meet her."
"It won’t happen," Sunset says with a frown. "How long will it take you?"
"Hmm. It usually takes me about a week, but you're an old acquaintance. For you, my little Sunset, I'll do it in three days." That said, he closes the envelope and gives that same predatory smile. "I assume you’ll give me the usual pay?"
"Sorry, pal, but I have money now." As if emphasizing the fact, she puts a small wad of money on the counter.
"Aww, it’s just not my lucky day, is it?" Skull sulks playfully.
"It never is. I wrote down the information you need. If something’s missing, fill it with whatever you want, as long as it makes sense.” She looks pointedly at him to make sure he understands. “I'll be back in a few days."
Skull only responds with a smile. Sunset does not return it. As she leaves, he returns his sight to the image in his hands.
Sunset takes a look at the now-dark street. A deep breath makes her inhale the cold winter air. Shrinking as much as she can into her jacket, she quickens her pace to return to her apartment.
"One less problem to deal with... I hope..."
*S*A*S*
The days were passing, and Sunset was forced to split her time during school.
From class to class, Sunset focuses only on her notes. Every now and then, she looks up, looking around at her classmates in each room, waiting to hear that now-familiar click.
The practices with the soccer team.
After fifteen minutes of warm-up exercises, the players from the team go to the field to play. Indigo coaches each one by guiding and assigning movements, proving her intellect and quick thinking on the field.
Despite being new, the other students do not go easy on Sunset, playing with their full strength and speed. Each pass that they give is difficult for Sunset to receive, and each failure earns dozens of annoyed looks.
She ignores them whenever she can and only focuses on getting in touch with everyone.
Little by little, day by day, she begins to get used to the rhythm. She manages to keep up with the others while they run through the field. She receives and sends passes to the others, mostly without fail. And it does not take long to memorize the various quick movements of the field, stabilizing her movements and times in her drills.
The team is both surprised and delighted to see how she manages to catch up to the rest of the team.
The trials of the band.
After showering and changing, Sunset arrives at the music room, where her friends are waiting for her, sometimes playing a little to take advantage of the time.
Once all together, they continue rehearsing Lemon's song. Lemon, day by day, also improves, managing to play the song without any major mistakes. Sonata does not take long to memorize the lyrics and proves her expertise by setting her tempo, intonations, and times to perfection. Even Twilight is taking the matter quite seriously, to the point of not needing the notes to play.
Finally, at the end of each day, because of lost classes due to soccer practice, Sunset met with her teachers to get what lessons she would need to catch up on that night.
*S*A*S*
While Sunset kept getting in step with her increasingly strange new life, things in Canterlot did not change much.
After the words of their twice-savior Twilight, everyone in the school was very thoughtful and very depressed. There were tears and laments for much of that week. Little by little, they stopped, but that guilt was still present in everyone.
Many missed Sunset. Several had asked their former friends if there was a way to contact her, to apologize.
The answer was the same with the five girls.
Sunset did not answer her phone. Her number did not seem to exist, as if she had changed it or blocked their numbers. Besides, they already tried to talk to her, but Sunset made it crystal clear that she did not want anything to do with them or with the school.
Some students thought to go to her apartment, as it would not be difficult to find out where she lived, but nobody dared actually do it; if she could look with such hatred at those who were once her friends, who knows what she could do to the rest of the school.
The Crusaders received angry and spiteful glances on several occasions, but no one seemed interested in giving them any punishment, likely because they realized doing so would be hypocritical; no one at school had the right. The three girls were not sure if they were grateful for that, though. What they did was so low, so dirty, that sometimes, they thought they deserved a real punishment, as some did with Sunset when they believed her responsible. Still, their fear made them keep those thoughts to themselves; even if they deserved it, the idea of being beaten was not really attractive.
Even the classes were silent, with no whispers or hidden snickers and no paper airplanes or notes when the teachers were not looking. Even the teachers began to worry about the behavior of the students.
*S*A*S*
But not everyone in Canterlot is dominated by that guilt.
The school's vice principal Luna walks steadily toward her sister’s office.
Luna was known for always being serious, impassive, almost never with a smile on her face or any expression of grief or sadness. She was an intimidating woman, and the students and teachers were well aware that it was not a good idea to make her angry.
Certainly, she was the opposite of her sister, who always seemed happy and peaceful. With a warm attitude, Celestia seemed like a mother to everyone rather than a principal. For some, it was hard to believe they were sisters.
The vice principal knocks on the door as a courtesy before opening it and entering. She sees her older sister at her desk, attending to the virtually endless number of documents on it.
Celestia was known for being a woman who radiated a warm, welcoming, kind aura, but lately... that aura had been replaced by one of weariness, pressure... and mourning...
The elder of the sisters does not seem to notice the presence of the younger. Or, perhaps she simply ignores Luna as she remains focused on writing, sealing, and filing her documents.
"Celestia," Luna begins, "the board sent another message. It seems that they have noticed the drop in the grades of the students."
Luna’s sentence does not cause any reaction. The aurora-haired woman just continues her work.
Luna raises her eyebrow at the lack of response. "... The cafeteria caught fire."
There is no reaction.
"... I ate the cream cake that you hid in the fridge."
The principal's eyes turn slightly towards her sister, but the glance does not stay long, and soon, she returns to the papers.
"Well, at least you moved... somewhat."
Celestia made a sound, a sigh mixed with a moan, before crossing both arms on the desk and burying her face in them.
The dark-haired woman sighs and approaches, standing next to the furniture. "Are you going to keep sulking?"
"... Sometimes, I don't know why the hell I listen to you..." Celestia's voice is muffled by her arms but still audible.
"What do you mean?"
Celestia raises her face and looks at her sister grudgingly. "You and your idea of telling everyone the truth. Because of that, now everyone is depressed."
"It was the right thing to do," Luna argues. "Even before we did, the students were full of resentment and hatred."
"And now, instead of resentment, we have depression," the older sister complains. "Great plan."
"Would you have preferred to remain silent?" Luna asks seriously. "Let everyone keep believing a lie and keep an innocent girl in the line of fire? There are things that young people must learn the hard way. I know that better than anyone."
The phrase erases the annoyed scowl of the older one. She straightens her back and prepares to speak. "Luna—"
Luna interrupts her by shoving a document toward her. "I printed the school board’s message. I knew that if I only email it to you, you wouldn’t read it." Luna’s explanation is said with indifference, as if the talk from a moment ago never happened.
The principal looks at her sister for a moment, then takes the paper and gives it a look, but before she could say anything, her younger sister walks towards the door. "It's a phase, Celestia. Sooner or later, things will return to normal." Luna turns a little to look at her sister. "We have already gone through this. If you feel it is too much for you, ask for a few days off."
She doesn’t let Celestia answer before leaving the room and closing the door behind her.
Celestia stares at the closed door, her face resuming its depressed visage. She looks at the paper for a moment before putting it aside. She looks at the rest of the papers on her desk and plants her head into her hands, moaning in frustration.
Her gaze moves towards a drawer. Slowly, her hand moves towards it and slowly opens it. She can hear something move inside, and soon, she opens the drawer enough to see a glass bottle... with liquid sloshing around inside...
After a moment of doubt, she shakes her head and closes the drawer hard, the object inside thudding dully against the back.
She resumes holding her forehead and stays like that for a moment.
*S*A*S*
Luna walks back to her own office, on the way watching as some students walk through the corridors as she has been lately: silent, tired...
She stops for a moment, looking down at the ground... no, at her belly. She places a hand on it.
"There are things that are only learned the hard way," she thinks. "And sometimes... they must be taught the hard way..."
A decision reached in her mind, she resumes her path.
*S*A*S*
The days go by. On Thursday morning at dawn, Sunset comes out of the pawn shop, carrying a manila envelope. She keeps the envelope in her jacket and hurries to get to school.
*S*A*S*
The sound of the whistle makes everyone in the field turn towards Indigo.
"Well, team! The game is just around the corner. We’ve improved a lot, and I’m thrilled to say that our plays and strategies are one hundred percent polished."
A couple of impressed gazes, including Indigo’s, point at Sunset. The former equine blushes, a little embarrassed at the attention.
"We'll finish early today," Indigo continues. "I want your legs to be in perfect condition during the game, but before we leave, one last workout."
The team is divided, each group on opposite sides of the field.
"I want each group to imagine playing against Trottingham," orders Indigo. "GAME!"
Indigo blows her whistle and throws the ball into the air, and the game starts immediately.
Both sides are very even; being members of the same team and knowing all the moves, each player can easily match any other player.
Indigo watched for any weak points in the formations and movements and made sure to note the team’s reaction times.
Sunset keeps up with her group. With the plays firmly engraved on her head, she manages to guess and counteract the movements of several of her opponents, winning the surprise of many of the team.
She intercepts a high pass, stopping the ball with her chest and starts running towards the goal. Out of the corner of her eye she sees two companions at her side. She gets ready to pass the ball, but before she could, she feels something slip under her feet, causing her to fall to the ground.
She groans slightly before looking up. Lightning Dust looks down at her with a frown, the ball in her possession.
They stare at each other for a few seconds, until the blonde girl turns and runs in the opposite direction. Sunset moans a little and gets up, continuing the training like the others.
The training continues, and with it, Lightning’s “attacks” towards Sunset. Each time the former equine receives or intercepts the ball, the blonde girl wastes no time in rushing her, and although Sunset tries, she cannot do much against the blonde athlete. Lightning, with clearly more experience and skill, steals the ball from Sunset at every opportunity and in more than one instance, manages to make the former equine fall to the ground in the process.
Thirty minutes later, the training is over. Indigo sends everyone home to rest.
While walking, Sunset complains about her aching body, the product of constant abuse. Lightning pushes past her, giving her a contemptuous look, and Sunset just sighs with weariness.
*S*A*S*
Sometime later, Sunset Among Shadows just finished a perfect practice session of their song.
Lemon raises her bass in the air with joy. "Woohoo! Are we or are not we the most colossal band in the school?!"
"Yay!" celebrates Sonata with the same spirit.
Twilight says, "Technically, we're not a school band. We just hang out in the music room." She pauses, suddenly getting nervous. "Oh, god! We're sneaking into the music room!" she exclaims in panic.
"You just now noticed?" asks Sunset, raising an eyebrow.
"We can’t be here!" Twilight says hurriedly. "We don't have permission! If a teacher sees us, we’re in big trouble! And we’ll be punished! And our academic record will be forever tarnished!"
Lemon rolls her eyes. "Mine’s already garbage, anyway."
Twilight does not seem to listen to her as she continues her panic attack. "And no universities will accept us! We’ll never graduate in any specialty, we’ll be marginalized by society, and we’ll have to immigrate illegally to other countries to achieve something in life!"
The three girls observe their scientific colleague, slightly disconcerted.
"We'll practice somewhere else, if you want," Lemon says simply.
"We'll be great no matter where we practice," affirms the siren.
Sunset says softly, "Twilight, none of that is going to happen."
"But what if it does?"
“It won’t.”
“But what if it does?”
"Let's not start this again."
Lemon decides to change the subject. "Either way, we're ready to shake that place all night!"
"But, aren’t we playing only one song?" questions Twilight, calming down.
"Yes... but we’ll be so incredible that the place will shake until dawn!"
"Another YAY!"
Sunset cannot help but smile, amused by the jovial attitude of her friends. Soon, a yawn breaks that smile. The others notice.
"Sunsite, are you sleepy?"
"Huh? Uh, no,” Sunset says before letting out another yawn. “Um, well, maybe a little."
"Practice with the team and our band must really wear on you," Twilight says, somewhat worried.
"Not really. Don’t worry about me."
Lemon seemed to hesitate for a moment before speaking. "Hey, Sun-Shim." Sunset turns to her, surprised at the normally spunky girl’s serious tone. "Hey, about the concert. If you feel... you know, it's too heavy, you don’t have to play that night."
"What?"
"Yeah., I mean, you have to play on the soccer team, and then, we’ll have to go to the club and play music, not to mention that you’ve been practicing both for the whole week. I understand if it’s a lot and if you’re tired."
"It's true," seconds the scientist. "Sunset, maybe you should forget the concert. The match against Trottingham is something that, well... you can't refuse, but it's a lot to ask you to then play with us."
"Girls, it's not that bad, really."
Even Sonata is quite serious and concerned. "Don’t get me wrong, I’d love it if we all played together, but I don't want you to get sick or something."
"Girls, hey." Sunset cannot help but smile. "I don't mind playing at the sporting event and playing at the concert on the same day."
"Are you sure?" asks Lemon.
Sunset hesitates a moment but keeps smiling. "Well, I won’t deny that it's a bit tiring, but to tell the truth, I want to play with you. It’ll be... It’ll be fun."
Sunset smiles at them all. Twilight and Lemon are a little surprised, but Sonata just smiles widely, her eyes shining.
Sunset could not deny that she was still somewhat surprised; her membership in this band was essentially forced upon her. She had only accepted after the insistent requests of the scientist and the siren. But recently, she had begun to enjoy playing with them.
They all share smiles, and Sonata gathers everyone into a group hug. Sunset smiles widely. "After all, they’re my friends."
*S*A*S*
After leaving soccer practice, Lightning Dust walked with purpose to a certain house. She knocks on the door, which doesn’t take long to open, but before the woman behind it manages to say a word, Lightning pushes past her inside the house.
"I’m here to see Jet Set. It’ll only take a minute."
Any attempt by the woman to speak or stop her was hampered by the speed of the words and legs of the girl who had already climbed the stairs.
In one room of the house, lit only with a dim lamp, Jet Set, wearing protective goggles, rubber gloves, and an apron, carefully introduces metal tweezers into a container with a strange liquid, slowly and gently stirring that liquid a little, and with slow, precise, careful movements, he uses those tweezers to extract a sheet of paper from the liquid.
Even with that light, which barely helps him distinguish his hand in front of his face, he squints and tries to observe the paper.
Out of nowhere, a bright light explodes throughout the room, scaring him half to death.
"What the fuck are you doing now?" the blonde athlete says, annoyed as she barges in.
"TURN OFF THAT LIGHT, GODDAMMIT!" The boy screams with equal parts despair and rage. Lightning looks at him curiously at his reaction, noting that he is now covering the vessel with his body and arms. "THIS MIX IS EXTREMELY SENSITIVE!"
The blonde, still surprised by his outburst, turns off the light.
The dim light is the only source of light that reveals the annoyed, frustrated and angry face of the young man. "Do that again, and I cannot be held responsible for my actions!"
"What the hell are you doing?" asks the girl again. "You take a job developing photos?"
"'You take a job developing photos?'" he parrots in a mockery of the girl’s voice. "No! Ugh... This is why I can’t stand you."
He picks up the tweezers, holding the paper again, and with great care, leaves the paper attached to a rubber sheet on the wall, held by a tack.
"I'm working on the book you gave me," Jet Set finally says.
The girl leans forward with interest. "Go on."
Jet Set grunts with annoyance as he pulls another paper from the container. "I am using a chemical compound, which your lesser brain would not understand, to wash these sheets that I took out of that book and find out what had been written on them."
"Can you do that?" Lightning asks, even more interested.
"I'm the thirty-second best student in the school for a reason."
The girl rolls her eyes, then looks to the rubber sheet where several pages lie, drenched in that liquid. "And your chemical thing, does it work? Because I don't see anything on those pages."
"That's because you have to look at them under ultraviolet light."
To demonstrate, Jet Set opens a small drawer and takes out a small device. With the push of a button, a purple light shines from it which, when passing over the sheets of paper, illuminates them brightly and revealing words on them.
"Wow. I’ll admit, that's cool. What have you discovered?"
"Nothing yet."
"You've been at it almost a week."
"If you think this is so easy, why don’t you do it?!" Jet snaps, and again, Lightning rolls her eyes. Jet Set continues, "The writing was erased in some way, which isn’t surprising, considering this thing was burned."
"But it didn’t burn, though." Lightning argues. “That can’t be why it disappeared.”
"I have been able to decipher some sentences," Jet says, "but they don’t seem relevant. They seem to be just conversations between Sunset Shimmer and someone named Celestia."
Lighting thinks. "Celestia… Didn’t Sunset Shimmer come from Canterlot High School?”
"Yes, I think so."
"CHS’s principal is named Celestia, right? Maybe it's her."
"It's possible, but as I said, they're meaningless conversations. Literally." He concentrates the light on one of the pages. "From what little I have been able to decipher, it seems that they talk about strange things like... levitating things and studies of subjects that do not even exist." He turns from the page with some annoyance. "I feel like I'm reading a childish story. A very, very childish story."
"And what else?"
"Nothing else. The first pages are full of that, so I skipped them and am now trying the ones in the middle of the book to see if they have anything more useful."
"And the book?"
"There on your right, but you will not be able to read anything there without processing the sheets first."
The girl does not hear the latter, having begun leafing through the book before he even finishes talking.
Something catches her attention. "Didn't you say you had ripped a few pages out?"
"Yes, of course. I couldn’t just throw the whole book into the formula."
His voice is somewhat rude, but Lightning pays no attention to him, staring at the book in her hands. "Then why aren’t there any pages missing?"
"What? What are you talking about?" Jet Set leaves his task to look at the girl.
Lighting points to the book in her hand. "The book is full. No pages are missing."
"What?!” Jet snatches the book from Lightning’s hands. “Have you gotten even more stupid, because…" His words fail as he examines the book, finding it as Lightning said.
The book was complete. Jet Set leafed through it, moved the pages, poring over it on his quest for any sign that some pages were ripped out.
Nothing.
"What... But... it's not possible..."
"Did you tear some pages out or not?"
"Of course, I did!" he exclaims irritably yet with intrigue. "I put them in the formula to examine..." He trails off again, trying to wrap his head around it all. "What does this mean?"
Lightning is silent but remains deeply serious. "It means that Sunset Shimmer is hiding more than we thought."
*S*A*S*
Classes ended a few hours ago. Only some students stayed to do school work, study in the library, or participate in some clubs, but even those students were already heading home at this point.
Sunset tries to do the same. With her head down and her feet dragging, she goes to her locker. Once there, she lays her head on the metal door and lets out a moan. "Someone, please... kill me..."
The practice with her new band was fun, but it did not take away the fact that the whole week had been extremely hard on her.
With a sigh, she grabs her backpack and what books she needs and gets ready to go home.
"Just one more day, Sunset. A game, a song, and then... it’s over," she thinks in an attempt to encourage herself.
It does not work at all. Just thinking about the day that follows exhausts her.
"I should have gone to Trottingham..." she thinks. "Although... I guess I'm glad I met Twilight, Sonata, and... Lemon. Maybe Sunny, I guess... They're all fine. Yeah, they're fine."
While she thinks about that, she notes that envelope between her things. She looks at it for a moment, and then takes it out to see it better.
She thinks for a moment, but in the end, she sighs with fatigue. "I'm too tired. I'll give it to her on Saturday."
With that thought, she sets to leave the envelope between her books in the locker, but she does not realize that her purple-haired, scientific friend approaches from behind.
"Hey, Sunset."
The greeting surprises Sunset, who jolts and drops her papers, books, and the envelope.
"I'm sorry!" the scientist says hurriedly. "I didn't mean to scare you..."
Sunset laughs, somewhat embarrassed. "Don't worry about it. I was lost in thought and didn’t hear you coming."
With that she leans to pick up her things. Twilight rushes to help her.
"I'm really sorry..." Twilight says again.
"It's okay, Twi. Really."
Both girls work to pick up Sunset’s things. Twilight picks up the envelope, but raises it upside down, and its contents slips out the, falling to the ground.
"Ah, sorry. I'll get it!"
Sunset’s eyes widen in terror. "Twi, wait!"
Her protest is useless, as Twilight picks up what the envelope contained, only to freeze when she sees what it is.
Sunset takes a heavy gulp, her eyes filled with panic.
Twilight’s eyes, on the other hand, only show surprise and confusion as they behold that little object: a small, laminated card bearing her name and a very familiar picture of her face.
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DUN DUN DUUUUUUUN
That was a nice chapter but I can't weit for the next one to come. I want Twilight to
Well, I don't know what to think or say to Celestia.
In one side, the depression overwhelmed her already. I don't blame her, Anon-a-miss was a bill who skipped from her hands and it was Sunset who ended up paying it at a high cost.
At the other side, she shouldn't had to be mean at Luna. At least she is doing something to keep CHS at surface - even after the students messed up pretty bad - thus making me to start feeling sorry for them.
Also, Tia is a professional already. She must get up for her own sake; if not, for Luna and the student body's sake; AND if not for them, then for Sunset's.
Well now, if both the game & the band weren't gonna kill Sunset, Sci-Twi will.
O_O Wait...did Luna...? Oh wow...
Uh oh... This won't end well...
Is this story going to continue??
Ha! Nice!
Well that's too oh crap moments in one, furthermore I shudder to think what lightning dust would do with equestrian magic or the information of said magic I have a feeling it would be worse than the midnight sparkle incident