The Chronicles of Sunset: Crimson Promise

by VioletNightWriter

Chapter 13: "I have a...s-sister?!"

Diamond Tiara placed the ruby on her desk. She sat on her bed. She sighed, falling back onto her bed. She felt exhausted, as though she ran the whole way home. She sat back up as her thoughts drifted to what her dad said about her having a sister.

She still couldn't believe it. She hadn't heard her mother, or until recently her father, speak of her having a sister. She wondered why they didn't speak of her. She went to look for her laptop. But upon glancing at the time, she decided it should wait till the morning.

She hid the ruby in a secret compartment under her bed. She had her mother help her with it. She got ready for bed. As she finished spitting out the toothpaste still her mouth, she looked at her teeth. She noticed they seemed to be slightly longer and sharper.

She blinked a couple times, thinking that she was imagining it. As she opened her eyes, her canines were normal. She shrugged it off as just being overly tired. She set her alarm to an hour before her dad would wake up.

She laid on her bed, pulling the covers over her. She felt really cold despite the room being 75 degrees. She shivered slightly as she drifted off to sleep.

Suddenly a bright light blinded Diamond Tiara. She blinked a couple times realizing that she had overslept. She grabbed her phone. She tried to turn it on but she found that it was completely drained. "That's odd. I know that it was charging last night. Who drained it?" thought Diamond Tiara.

She slipped on her slippers as she stood up. She yawned and stretched before she walked downstairs. She was greeted by her mother, who was always saying that being punctual was important.

"Hello dear, I trust you slept well. I have made you breakfast," said Mrs. Rich as she greeted her daughter.

Diamond Tiara shrugged. She looked around, noticing that her dad wasn't in the living room.

"Mother, where's daddy?" asked Diamond Tiara.

Mrs. Rich placed Diamond Tiara's plate on the table. She looked at her daughter. "He said that he was making sure that the reservation at the Canterlot Buffet," replied Mrs. Rich.

Diamond Tiara looked at her mom, confused. It took a minute for her to realize that today was her mother's birthday. She smiled as she said, "Thanks for the update. Now, I will be in my room. Please, don't disturb me."

She grabbed her plate and ran up to her room. She placed the plate on her desk. She made sure that her mom was truly not going to disturb her before she grabbed the ruby.

She placed it a box that she had specially designed to hold the precious gem. As she started to wrap it, her mind wandered to thoughts of her sister.

"Could mom have known of her? Is mom even the mother of my sister? Could she be my half-sister?!" thought Diamond Tiara.

She finished wrapping the present. She found the bow she made for it and placed it on the top. Putting the present in her closet, she grabbed her laptop from the top shelf.

She sat on her bed, thankful that today was Saturday. She flipped her laptop open and turned it on. She was met with a picture of her and dad going to Fillydelphia. Logging on, she immediately opened the browser.

She googled her dad's name. She found several websites that talked about his company. She kept scanning until she came across an archive website. She clicked on it. She saw a picture of her father from 1789. She noticed that aside from his clothing and hair, his appearance hadn't changed.

She scrolled down and saw an old newspaper article. Clicking on it, she saw the headline. 'Filthy Rich loses daughter to a psychopath'. She read some of the paragraphs below it. She found that a village girl by the name of Starlight Glimmer had murdered his daughter.

Diamond Tiara could've sworn that she knew that name. As she thought about it, she remembered where she knew it from. "Starlight is Sunset's adoptive mother," said Diamond Tiara aloud.

She scanned through the rest of the article. She didn't find the daughter's name. "Figures daddy would pay to keep the name out of it." thought Diamond Tiara.

She exited out of the article. She wanted to see what she could find on Starlight. She found several articles about her death, though Diamond Tiara knew that Starlight wasn't dead. She found one about Starlight saving a sick girl.

She clicked on it. But instead of showing the article, it said that it was temporarily unavailable. Diamond Tiara wondered why that was. She glanced at the time. She closed her computer, wanting to eat and then take a shower.

Meanwhile, back at Twilight's house, Twilight was sitting in her room. Her mind was racing at the fact she was to see Sunset later that evening. She was already packed and set for the evening.

Twilight had told her mother where she was to spend the weekend. Surprisingly, her mother seemed to be delighted to have her making friends. Twilight hadn't thought her mother, who was always a bit overprotective, would be so happy for her sleepover.

Twilight pulled out her phone. She went to her contacts. She that she still had her brother's number. She missed her brother. He had gone to college a few years ago. He barely called, let alone visited. Twilight wished her brother was here so she could ask him for some advice.

Twilight decided that she was going to let her brother how she was, regardless of whether he responded.

'Hey, Shining Armor. I have moved to Canterlot High. Crystal Prep is great but I didn't fit in there. But at Canterlot, I have found six new friends. But they seem to be keeping a secret from me. I was invited to Sunset's house, she's the one with the secret. So hopefully they'll be nicer to me than my Crystal Prep friends. I can't wait to hear from you.'

After sending her text, Twilight turned her phone off. She got up and grabbed Spike's leash. "Spike! Who wants to go for a walk?" called Twilight, closing her door.

She saw an eager Spike wagging his tail as he bounded towards her. She grabbed his collar, attaching the leash to it. She made sure that it was secure before she walked out the front door.

She walked Spike up her street, towards the Canterlot public park. She kept her head down as she walked. She didn't really like making eye contact with strangers. As she saw the park up ahead, she had to tug on the leash to keep Spike from dragging her.

"Slow down, Spike!" shouted Twilight.

Spike listened and slowed down. Twilight stopped tugging on the leash, which a great relief to him. He didn't really like his collar squeezing against his throat.

Twilight crossed the street to the park. She found the area that was closed off for dogs only. She unhooked Spike's leash, allowing to run around with the other dogs.

She found a bench that wasn't too far from the area for dogs. She sat down just as Applejack walked up with Winona.

"Hey there, Twilight. I am sure glad to see you here," said Applejack.

She adjusted her glasses as Winona jumped in her. "Woah!" exclaimed Twilight as she thrown off balance.

Applejack tugged slightly on Winona's leash. Obeying Winona sat down. "Sorry, Twi. She just gets so excited to meet new people." apologized Applejack.

"It's okay. I was just caught off guard that's all. She is a bit bigger than Spike." replied Twilight.

Applejack smiled back at Twilight. She put Winona in the same area as Spike was. She watched as Spike and Winona ran up to greet each other. "They sure are energetic, eh Twilight?" asked Applejack.

Twilight looked at Spike and Winona and chuckled. She hadn't seen Spike so happy in a while, especially after Shining Armor left.

"Yeah. I haven't seen Spike run that much in a long while. Do you take Winona here often?" asked Twilight.

Applejack looked at her, saying, "Yep. Every Saturday and she loves it. I have to admit that I enjoy the fresh air too. So I heard you were going over to Sunset's this evening. You looking forward to it?"

Twilight's smile dissipated into a deep frown. She had hoped the subject of Sunset wouldn't be brought up. She had a hard enough time just thinking about it.

She thought about changing the subject. But she figured that maybe talking to someone might help.

"To be honest, no. I am not looking forward to it," replied Twilight, her voice was quieter than usual.

Applejack took notice of Twilight's demeanor. She wondered what seemed to make her uncomfortable, almost scared, to be around Sunset.

She looked at Twilight, sitting next to her. She placed a hand on Twilight's shoulder. "Want to talk about it, sugarcube?" asked Applejack.

Twilight looked at Applejack, her eyes wide with amazement. She was glad that Applejack seemed to be willing to listen. She looked down, feeling her eyes stinging with the start of tears.

"Yes. I haven't been able to talk about what happened at Crystal Prep. And the one person who I want to talk to is miles away." replied Twilight, her voice cracking as she started to talk about her brother.

Applejack stared at her boots. She was unsure of what she could, or should, say next. She didn't want to say something and upset Twilight. Deciding to be honest, she said, "Mind my asking, but what did happen at Crystal Prep? You seem pretty torn up."

Twilight sighed. She managed to calm herself to keep her voice steady as she spoke.

"I was academically gifted which was the main reason for much of the bullying. I told my brother and he helped me deal with them. And for the first three years, everything was fine. But I still was unable to make friends." said Twilight.

Applejack glanced at Twilight, moving her arm around Twilight's shoulders. She listened intently as Twilight continued.

"My last year at Crystal Prep was the reason I changed schools. After my brother left, the bullying started again. This time it didn't stop at pushing me around or making me do their homework for them. It went to threatening texts, mean social media posts, and the worst one; a video of someone my reading my confession that I liked girls." continued Twilight.

As she finished speaking, the sobs she held back came forward. She felt the pain all over again as she cried. She hadn't realized that she laid her head on Applejack's shoulder.

Applejack rubbed Twilight's arm, doing her best to calm the sobbing girl. After hearing Twilight's tale, she felt a tear of her own stream down her check. She wiped it away before Twilight noticed it.

"Wow, sugarcube. I didn't know that students at Crystal Prep were that mean. No wonder you wanted to transfer." was all Applejack could manage to say.

Twilight had slowly stopped sobbing. She let out a few sniffles as she wiped her eyes dry. She was sure that were red from her crying. She looked at Applejack's sleeve, noticing the tears stains.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Applejack. I ruined your shirt," said Twilight. She looked down at her shoes, hiding her face from Applejack.

Applejack smiled at Twilight, saying, "Oh, that! It's nothing. I get much more than tear stains on this shirt, so don't fret."

Twilight looked at Applejack. She noticed that cowgirl's green eyes seem to understand her. She looked at her watch, realizing that she and Applejack had been there for more than an hour.

"Oh, my! I am truly sorry Applejack, but I must be heading home. My mom is a bit strict when it comes to the rules, especially her rules." said Twilight.

Twilight called Spike over as placed his leash on his collar. She heard him whimper in disappointment. She sighed. She knew that he hated being pulled away from the park.

"Spike, I promise next Saturday I'll take you, okay?" said Twilight, trying to cheer Spike up.

"And I'll bring Winona as well." chimed Applejack.

Spike wagged his tail as he heard that. He looked over at Winona who was busy chasing her tail. He enjoyed having another canine friend. He barked happily as he spun around in a circle.

Twilight and Applejack laughed at Spike's display. They looked at each other and exchanged smiles.

"Well, I take that as a yes. See you at school, Applejack!" shouted Twilight as Spike pulled her away.

Applejack waved back, sitting back on the bench.

Twilight walked home, her mind going over her conversation with Applejack. She realized that she felt emotionally drained from having cried so much. But she also felt that a weight was lifted.

She felt good, almost happy. Twilight felt that she could actually look forward to talking to Sunset.

Meanwhile, Diamond Tiara was sitting in her room. She had finished eating and was waiting for her hair to dry. She opened her laptop. She googled 'Filthy Rich's first daughter'.

The results that popped up mentioned her. She scanned through, ignoring the headlines as she went. She found an archive website which had a birth certificate.

She clicked on it. Immediately she saw a picture. She could tell that the certificate was old. The edges were tattered and yellowed with age. She couldn't make the first name of her supposed sister. But she could see that the father of the child was indeed her father. She looked at the date and was taken aback.

Birth Date: 5/17/1786

She dropped her laptop on her bed. She couldn't even look at the screen anymore. "There is no way my dad is that old," said Diamond Tiara, to no one.

Just as she went to open her door, it opened on its own. She immediately closed her laptop as her dad walked in.

"Sorry for interrupting you, sweetie. But I just wanted to let you know that the reservation was moved from 6 to 5, okay?" said Filthy Rich as he walked in.

Diamond Tiara looked at her watch. It was already 15 minutes to 4 o'clock. She nodded.

"Thanks, daddy. I will get that beautiful dress you got me and be ready in 45 minutes," replied Diamond Tiara.

Filthy Rich smiled at his daughter. "Okay. I am sure you'll look amazingly beautiful," said Filthy Rich before he left.

Diamond Tiara breathed a sigh of relief. She was worried her dad might say something about her laptop. She was glad that he didn't. Turning off her laptop, she got ready for her mother's birthday dinner.