Freaking Out [7/17/20]
It ended up close to midnight that Sunset awoke, suddenly sitting up. Her body screamed at her for the motion, and she instinctively felt for her bedside table. She couldn't remember anything past falling over at the school.
She rubbed her eyes and glanced around, taking in the antiseptic smell and general clutter of a hospital room. Cursing under her breath she felt for the stone that Harmony had laid around her neck, before using fingertips to explore her skin. It seemed softer than she remembered, and she winced as she found bandages wrapped around swaths of her body that were tender to the touch.
She tugged at the hospital johnny barely covering her frame with mild distaste. Her boots were on the floor next to her bed, and what remained of her jacket hung up nearby.
“Alright Sunset. Get your stuff, get out of here, get home. Figure out what the hell happened, put your life back together.”
Someone was slumped over in the visitor’s chair pulled close to the bed, and they stirred at her voice and motions. Sunset gawked before crossing her arms over her stomach and hunching her shoulders slightly as she stared into the slowly opening eyes of her biggest victim and easiest target.
Fluttershy reached a slender hand up and brushed her hair away from her face. It really was a shame that Sunset was pure evil, if she cared about other people in the slightest… She thought about the vision she had seen on the ash path, of a yellow hand in her own and a soft kiss shared. She looked away from the shy girl and frowned deeply.
“I thought you were never going to wake up. I was so worried.”
Sunset cringed a little bit, reaching to fold fingers around the gemstone against her collarbone. Grief wracked her as the anguish she’d caused burned in her heart.
“What happened? Everything hurts. Why am I in the hospital? I can’t… really afford a hospital visit.”
Fluttershy’s eyes fell to her lap, and she reached to nervously stroke her forelock. “I’m sorry. Princess Twilight explained it but she used a lot of words I wasn’t familiar with and I’m pretty sure she was talking a different language for most of it. When you transformed, it tore your body apart and burned you pretty badly. She said that whatever we did hurt you a lot. She called it a “scathing”.”
Sunset frowned as memory began to return. A sensation of being trapped in her own head and screaming in agony, begging for anyone to help her. She folded her arms around herself a little more tightly, pursing her lips at the angry red lines burned into her copper skin.
Fluttershy looked like she was gathering courage to speak again, when the door snapped open and the lights flicked on. A tall, unnaturally slender woman clicked her way in on towering heels, flanked by a man with the same dusky gray-black skin as her and a ridiculous haircut, both of them in sharp-pressed black suits that practically screamed ‘Fed’. The woman smirked slightly and removed mirrored sunglasses to reveal a pair of brightly green-blue eyes.
“Ah, Sunset Shimmer, you’re finally awake. I’m Agent Lovelace, and this is my associate Umbra. We’ve got about as many questions for you as I’m sure you have for us.”
Fluttershy moved to leave the room, but Lovelace held up a hand and gestured for her to remain where she was.
Sunset let out a deep sigh and stared at her lap under the thin hospital blankets, settling her features into an impassive scowl. The woman clicked closer and spoke again.
“But that’ll have to wait as I’m sure you’re anxious to get out of here. We’re handling the paperwork and then we’ll run you two girls home.”
Once the excitement had died down a bit, an entirely new form of excitement formed in the shape of lights and sirens. Twilight supposed a place like this had to have some form of authority analogue to the Royal Guard she was used to and squared her shoulders.
A black car rolled up without any nameplates, that seemed a lot more square and much larger than the other ones Twilight had seen in her short time here. Two persons stepped out. The male pulled a blocky thing from inside his suit and began pacing out a perimeter, and the female started towards the site of the battle.
Principal Celestia moved to intercept her but she beelined towards Twilight. Shrugging off the other woman by shoving something in her face and smoothly dropping something that sounded like “DHS, Division Six.”
Twilight swallowed as she approached, the taller woman looming over her. The woman before her bore a striking resemblance to Chrysalis, once Twilight thought about it. She pulled to a stop and leaned her weight on one of her high heels, clapping hands together and peering over Twilight.
“Right. You must be “Twilight Sparkle”. I'm Agent Lovelace, pleased to meet you. Imagine, a government employee like me meeting a real Princess.”
Twilight reached and grasped the slender proffered hand, shaking it decisively. “What was that you said to Celestia that made her turn whiter than usual?”
Lovelace slid a companionable arm over Twilight's shoulders, leading her off to one side and away from the little clot of people. “DHS stands for ‘Department of Homeland Security’. From what I remember of the brief on your world, the closest equivalent to you would be the Equestrian Security Council that was formed after the attack in Canterlot.”
Twilight blinked slowly, so nonplussed she was practically minused. She started to speak, but Lovelace glanced at her watch and up at the moon meaningfully and cut her off.
“Kinda on a time limit, don't really have time to explain everything. We're pretty much the only reason that Earth isn't a smoking hellhole what with all the junk you guys keep tossing over to our side. Think of us as a friend on the other side of the mirror. Especially when it comes time for Celestia to think about our operations budget.”
Twilight glanced at Sunset, whose unconscious form was being loaded onto a bigger, boxier vehicle than she'd seen yet before speeding off. Her mind flicked through the proposed discussions at the Summit, about securing Equestria against Changelings and other threats. She thought of Tartarus, where the worst and most unreasonable threats were contained.
“What will happen to her?”
Lovelace spread her hands. “Listen. Excalibur has been around for a little over a thousand years. We mess around with a lot of Equestrian magical artifacts in doing our job, but we know better than to touch that.” She indicated the tiara resting atop Twilight's head. “If Harmony says everything is cool, then she's golden. We exist mostly to observe and to slap down anything that means to break the masquerade.”
Twilight thought for a moment, closing her eyes. “When the Elements triggered, I felt the darkness bleed out of her, or be burned away. I don't know what punishment was decided for her, but I know that she's no longer a threat. She said she wants to change, and I trust her at her word.”
Lovelace nodded and slapped hands against her thighs as she rose in one fluid motion. “Whelp, that's it then. You girls put up a hell of a beacon tonight and made a lot of work for us. Well, other agents. As of tonight we’re permanently assigned to Canter County, specifically your friends there and one Ms. Shimmer. We’ll do what we can to get her the help she needs.”
Twilight rose as well, and they returned to the statue. She knelt and let Spike hop up into her arms, distractedly stroking his ears as she glanced up at the blown-out foyer of the school.
“I know, I know. You want to go in there and go back to the dance. But you're currently in possession of seriously dangerous magic, and I'm sure you have people waiting for you.”
Twilight felt her cheeks heat a little bit as she thought of a pink pony. She'd pretend to not be nervous in the slightest, would be raising the spirits of the other waiters, but inside she'd be frantic.
“Yeah. I'd better get home.”
Lovelace nodded and pushed her towards the other girls. Blocky vehicles with letters on their sides were pulling in, and people were getting out.
Like raptors, the vision of cameramen was based on movement. As the stunningly attractive Fed clicked into their fields of view on staggeringly high stilettos, all eyes turned to her. She reached up to her throat and caressed her ladybug tiepin.
“If you'll all look right here for just one moment.”
Twilight shielded her eyes as a bright green flash lit up the courtyard, and Lovelace began to speak. She glanced at her new friends, and then back at where the medics were snapping shut the doors of the ambulance-car. “You'll look out for her, won't you?”
Rarity beatboxed briefly and flicked her hands like she was having a seizure. “Of course we will.” Her eyes narrowed and her voice took on a deadly seriousness. “Although I do expect some sort of apology for last spring's debacle.”
Twilight chuckled briefly and glanced around at the party-goers split between watching and heading back inside. “I have a feeling she'll be handing out a lot of apologies.”
Spike patted her cheek from his position curled in her arms. “We better get going.”
Twilight cleared her throat and peered back up at her new friends. “I know we've only been friends for a short time, but I'm gonna miss all of you so much.” Her shoulders drooped in a sigh, as she turned and started walking towards the statue hiding the portal.
Spike nudged under her chin to lift it, reminding her to walk with pride. “That crown really does suit you, Princess Twilight.”
A small smile crossed Twilight's face, and she squeezed him gratefully. “You know what, Spike? I am starting to feel a little more comfortable wearing it.”
“And the wings?”
She let out a sharp, musical giggle. “I've been walking on two legs and picking things up with these!” She freed a hand to wiggle her fingers demonstratively. “Wings? I'm thrilled that's all I'll be dealing with back in Equestria!”
Applejack steeled herself and walked purposefully after Twilight, reaching to catch her elbow. Her mind spun, clicking briefly on every time her hand had stretched in friendship only to be slapped away. Her thoughts were of a frozen pond, and the killing dark beneath the ice.
Twilight stopped and turned. It took a few tries for Applejack's words to come out, but when they did they were rocksteady.
“D'ya really think she wants ta change this time? Ah've known Sunset, an Ah've seen these crocodile tears before.”
Twilight chewed her lip, resting a palm on Applejack's broad shoulder. She leaned in and brushed her cheek against the farmgirl's neck, pulling back with a small sigh.
“I do. In the moment, you saw Sunset's true heart the same as I did-- so I think you know too. Sunset isn't a monster, Applejack. She's a scared and lonely teenager.”
She patted Applejack’s shoulder. “I know you'll do the right thing.”
With that, she let herself fall into the shocking cold of the portal.
On the other side, her friends immediately mobbed close to her. Nuzzling, touching, helping her up. She caught Pinkie's eye for a second, and shared a small smile with the party pony.
“Twilight!” “Ah, you're back!” “You've got your crown!” “I knew you could do it!” “Oh, we were so worried.”
Everyone broke off as Twilight stared into the face of her mentor. The Princess Mask was shattered completely, and Celestia's voice shook with uncharacteristic emotion. Choked with tears, she managed to get a sentence out.
“Sunset Shimmer, is she alright?”
Twilight felt like crying, herself. She turned to look back at the mirror, which had gone perfectly still.
“She’ll come home someday. Until then I think she just needs some space, and some time. I think… I hope that she’ll end up being just fine.”
Later, once the commotion had died down, Twilight was finally allowed to go to bed. She lay there, breath steaming in the slightly chilly air of the bedroom as she listened to Spike snore.
Her ears twitched and she sat up, staring at the door. She immediately relaxed and turned over, shuffling to make room as a pudgy-framed pony slid under the covers and hooked forelegs around her barrel.
She immediately twisted, Pinkie stroking her mane and cooing quietly as tears stained her pink fluff.
The spooky Feds were as good as their word. Sunset reached for the door, eager to stretch her newly taller frame after the silent car ride. When she stood up, she felt her back pop. She turned to thank them and was met with a glare from Umbra.
His hand came up, two fingers pointing at his own eyes before flicking forward to point at her chest.
“Right. Message received.”
She fumbled in her pocket and was rewarded with the jingle of keys. Her housekey had luckily not been destroyed with the heat that had fucked up her jacket. She took a step to enter and cursed as her forehead hit the doorframe.
Rubbing her face, she sighed as she kicked off her boots and entered her little home. She had to hunch her shoulders slightly to avoid scraping the top of her head off the ceiling.
She left a trail of discarded clothing and bloody bandages on the way to the bathroom. She left the door wide open behind her; she'd torn down her life around herself and didn't care if a thief made off with her things in the middle of the night.
She stopped in the bathroom, staring at the towel covering the mirror hung on the wall. She balled her hands into fists, fingernails cutting into her palms.
“It's just a stupid mirror, Sunset.”
She jerked away the towel and clamped her eyes tightly shut. She opened them slowly, to be confronted only by her reflection. She smiled softly to herself- her waking nightmares were gone, and she'd never felt so clear-headed.
She stared into the mirror, reveling in the ability to take in her own face. Her jawline was a little stronger than she remembered, and her cheekbones a little more pronounced. Her eyes were bloodshot from crying and where the magic had burned her. She rested a fingertip on the perfect cupid's bow of her lips.
“How long have I been this hot?”
Her hands slid along her burnished-gold skin, quietly examining her own frame. She'd always been slightly heavier built, but now her recent period of undernourishment was apparent. She counted ribs with a small frown.
She twisted, stretching to peer over her shoulder and hissing at the sight of her back and the painful tugging there. Twin lines of sutures ran down either side of her spine where the wings had torn their way free. A burn lay at the small of her back where the tail of flames had erupted.
She sighed and stepped out of the bathroom, forgetting her increased height long enough to slam her forehead off the doorframe hard enough to knock herself on her ass. She screamed in agony as wounds and sore muscles protested their impact on the floor.
She laid there for a while and slowly pulled herself up. She padded to her living room and absently slid her door closed out of sheer habit. She continued into her bedroom and picked through her clothes. Nothing stretched enough to fit her new height and expanded curves. She crammed herself into a pair of sweatpants and a stupid Wondercolt sweater anyway.
Back up, through the living room again. Into the kitchen. Underneath lettuce that had seen a few better days was her prize, a bottle of red wine.
Forgoing a mug, she carried it in two fingers by the neck to the living room. She settled down on her couch and stared at the hems of the sweatpants baring her calves. Her chin rose as she took a deep swallow of wine, eyes settling on her battered guitar and cheap amp.
She smiled at the memory of Flash's arms around her waist, showing her where to put her fingers and how to strum the instrument. A sudden fancy took her, the echoes of a song she imagined she'd heard in The Moment.
She grabbed her guitar by the neck and parked her ass atop her amp. She clicked it on and strummed. Nothing special, no real song, just random notes.
She took a slug of wine and got serious, coaxing out a steady rhythm on the guitar. As she built the melody, her voice lifted in a mournful croon.
“I couldn't see what was right there in front of me…”
She closed her eyes and leaned into the guitar, thinking of Applejack smiling behind a hand held in friendship. Of all the missed chances she'd spurned.
“Turned my back, got my mind off track…”
Her voice shook. Twelve year old Sunset coldly told Applejack she'd meant to kill her. Just earlier this year, telling Flash she’d never cared about him even with his delicacy towards her differences.
“You saw a world that was something new entirely…”
Twilight, learning her way around this world. Making friends quickly, undoing her best laid plans.
“Helped me to see all the possibilities.”
Slamming her back to Earth with the power of the omnimorphic spell. Burning her hatred away. The Ash Path, and the better roads she'd seen branching off it. Her eyes snapped open and she came in hard and heavy on the chorus at a sudden realization.
“Like a star in the daylight, or like a diamond at night. Your light was hidden from my sight.”
The sister she could have had. The friends she could have made. The bright sparks extinguished in her wake.
“A friend for life; that's what you are to me. When I put my hand out, and I thought I would fall… You knew what I needed and you came around to fix it all.”
Celestia, wishing she'd make friends. Dew Drop. Crystal. Rose. Violet. Everyone who had looked out for or after her. Twilight, offering a hand to help her up with no judgment.
Sunset sat in perfect silence with the notes of her song fading. Her head lowered, and hands pressed against her face as her shoulders jerked with deep, wracking sobs.
She twitched, and her shoulders jerked at a soft gasp. She blinked slowly as she felt yellow hands gently grasp her own, and looked up into the angelic face of Fluttershy. Her brow furrowed a little bit and she frowned.
“What are you doing here? Did the Feds not take you home?”
The shy girl glanced downward. “I’m… No, they did. I came back because I felt you shouldn’t be alone tonight. A-And… My dad would be really mad if I went home. I wasn’t supposed to go out tonight but I got kinda swept up in all the excitement.”
Sunset sighed slightly and slowly rose to move to the couch. She tilted her chin up and swallowed a deep pull of wine, her brow furrowing slightly as she watched Fluttershy practically cringe at the sight. She let out a deep sigh as she stared at her toes. “Alright. You can sleep in my bed tonight. And… please don’t tell anyone where I live.”
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Well, those names don't bode well...
Umbra and Lovelace... Sombra and Chrysalis...
Well, we'll just have to see if they're the same or not.
Ah, brings back memories of Men in Black.
"Especially when she started making horse noises. Which was most of the time."
I'm sure those two are completely trustworthy and in no way plotting their own sinister agendas.
The blue one waved "Hi! So, I'm Sonata, this is—"
The purple one grabbed her by the ear and dragged her off, muttering dark vengeance against the entire Wranglish language.
The yellow one in the clown wig just shook Twilight's hand and said "Very sorry about the confusion. Looking forward to working with you soon." Then she ran for the hills with the others before the agents noticed them.
This is a fantastic sentence, and you should feel proud of it.
If anyone else had done that, Twilight might have been concerned.
In any case, excellent start. Definitely looking forward to seeing where you go from here.
9585762
Well... if they ushered my magical-creature ass back where I came from (or help me) to prevent me from getting blackbagged or something, and then made a big flashy masquerade-breaking event basically not happen, and then falsified my new friend's medical data so nobody would be scratching their heads about the new patient with a K blood type I'd be inclined to trust them.
Then again, Twilight probably has enough experience with Mayor Mare to take "I'm from the government and I'm here to help" with a moon sized grain of salt.
Also the siren aside had me crack up a bit. It's always interesting to see where your mind will run off with little things I feed you.
Cannot tell if this is mild sarcasm. I've gotten a lot of mileage out of it!
Twilight is probably already drawing up dossiers and assigning similarities. "Oh so human Rarity does the "ugh pff ptch" thing too".
9585774
For the record, I was completely sincere about the nonplussed pun. I'm a big sucker for wordplay.
9585783
I've used it a lot! I don't think I'll ever tire of the phrase either. It's a "go to".