Tears of Sunlight

by JWolfSilver

Chapter 3: Magic Returns

Sunset walked in the door around 9 and sighed.

Celestia, who was lying on the couch with a book, followed the girl with her eyes until she slumped down in the recliner, “That bad, was it?”

Sunset chuckled, “No. Apparently the big ‘emergency’ was because she needed an extra guitar string.”

“That doesn’t sound like a mature use for an emergency text.” Celestia commented.

“Tell me about it.” Sunset groaned, “Then she had us practice for three hours in the school hallway.”

Celestia laughed.

Sunset rolled her eyes then frowned, “I was sitting on the steps writing to Twilight when this person came up and started feeling around the portal. I tried to get a look at them but they got on a bus before I could catch them.”

Celestia studied her, the situation obviously worried the younger girl but when it came to Equestria, Celestia was at a loss. The only thing she knew about the world on the other side of the statue was that ponies were sentient, the princess that caused Sunset to run to this world in the first place was her counterpart and a bit about Sunset’s personal life. Well, and the fact that it was filled with actual magic.

“I’m going to go paint my bike before I go to sleep.” Sunset announced after a moment then, wordlessly went out to the garage.

***

Sunset grinned at the paint job. It was her cutie mark that faded into orange, yellow and red flames. Now all she needed to do was let it dry overnight then, after school the next day, she would apply the glossy coat before she could ride it.

By the time she got inside, Celestia had already gone upstairs to bed, only leaving the upstairs light on so Sunset could see. So, the teen went upstairs and dipped into the bathroom for a quick shower then went to sleep.

***

The next afternoon, Sunset’s brain was still wracking itself, trying to figure out who that mysterious person was and why they were tampering with the portal. Rainbow believed it was a student from crystal prep.

It did make sense, they have been Canterlot High’s biggest rivals since before Celestia went to school. However, the person didn’t look like they were trying to prank them. They looked like they were deliberately checking out the portal.

And what was that gadget they were using. Sunset though, It looked like some sort of spectrometer.

When the bell for class rang they all dispersed until they were called into the gym for an assembly. Sunset knew that Rainbow and the school marching band have been rehearsing for this assembly but she surely didn’t expect a full-blown concert and was certainly not expecting her rainbow haired friend to grow wings without the use of her electric guitar.

“Woah!” Pinkie said.

Sunset sat in her seat slack jawed, Woah is right.

The assembly was dismissed shortly after and the girls went to meet a pretty happy Rainbow Dash backstage.

“Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy said as the group approached their friend, “That was amazing. Even I feel like we can win.”

“I feel like my school pride is at an all-time high!” Rarity said excitedly.

Sunset was thankful when Applejack, the queen of honesty, spoke, “Is anybody else wondering how Dash ponied up without playing her guitar?”

“I know right?” Rainbow said cockily, “It’s probably because I’m so awesome.”

“Maybe.” Sunset said, only half paying attention, “I mean, you are awesome, but there’s got to be more to it than that, right?” She placed her hand to her chin in thought, “It just seems so random.”

“Well it would be nice if you girls could get a handle on it.” Another voice said from behind Sunset. The fiery haired girl immediately recognized it as Luna’s, “We’d like to keep magic as far away from the friendship games as possible. We don’t want to be accused of cheating.”

“We don’t need magic to defeat those hoity-toity Crystal Preppers.” Rarity said.

The rest of the girls agreed save for Sunset who furrowed her brows.

“Still,” Vice-Principal Luna said, grabbing their attention again, “The Friendship games are serious business. We don’t want any surprises, especially those that could cause us to forfeit.” She looked to Sunset, “Sunset Shimmer. You came from a world of magic; perhaps you can get to the bottom of our magical development.”

Sunset found it odd to listen to Luna talking to her as just a student now that they have been living under the same roof for months. She was grateful for this of course. Neither of them wanted the student body to think the Vice-Principal was playing favorites with the former bully when Sunset had just started to be accepted by the students again. They even voted her to be one of the students to represent them in the Friendship Games.

“I’ll do my best.” Sunset said which earned her a simple nod from the educator before she walked off.

“OK!” Rainbow said once she had left, “Anyone have any guesses what the events are going to be?”

All eyes went to Sunset.

“Don’t look at me, they won’t tell me anything. They don’t even discuss the events at home.” Sunset said.

“They won’t even let us see what they’re doing to the field.” Applejack said. “You’d think that they’d at least tell competitors what they’re competing in.”

“It could be anything.” Fluttershy spoke worriedly.

That is when Rarity chose to panic, “Anything? How will I ever pick the right outfit?”

Sunset sighed, “I really want to help but I’d better go focus on why Rainbow Dash ponied up. See ya later!”

“Seems like she’s got everything under control.” Pinkie pie said as Sunset slipped out the door.

I wish. Thought Sunset.

She ended up going to her locker to grab her bag and headed to the school library to try to work through things in a place that was most comfortable.

An hour later, she let out a groan. She had written down everything she knew about Equestrian magic but she was well aware that this wasn’t Equestria and magic did not behave how she was used to. Her eyes fell to the journal that connected the human world to Equestria and, without hesitating, she jotted down a message to Twilight, hoping to get a little ‘outside’ help but it had been days since Twilight had returned any of her messages.

She’s a princess in Equestria. Sunset thought to herself as she put the book into her bag. She’s way too busy to be bothered with such a small problem. This caused sunset to frown at the memory of how Princess Celestia always seemed too busy to deal with her.

Sunset knew very well that wasn’t the case with Twilight but she couldn’t help but dwell on her insecurities of the past she had been working through since the night of the fall formal. She’d come to accept the other members of the Rainbooms as friends, though she still wasn’t able to fully trust them which was another aspect she was working on. Out of all of them, Sunset knew she could talk to Rarity if she really needed someone to talk to.

Then there was her family. She liked to talk to Celestia though, most of the time, she had to be prompted and through them she allowed herself to just be a teenager. She’d stopped trying to grow up so much at once but she still had a more mature demeanor about her that she couldn’t seem to shake.

All in all, though, she had come a long way.

If I’m right and our magic is changing, She thought, then what is causing it to change? There has to be a factor in there somewhere that I can’t see.

The bell for home jolted Sunset out of her train of thought. She quickly packed her bag and walked to the front of the school to wait for Celestia or Luna to get off of work.

***

Sunset sighed heavily when she plopped down on her bed only for there to be a knock on the door moments later.

“Come in.” She said and Celestia poked her head in.

“How was your day?” She asked, entering the room and closing the door.

Sunset scooted over so Celestia could sit down, “It was school I guess. Other than Rainbow’s surprise pony up during the assembly.”

“Yes, and I heard Luna tasked you to try and get it under control.” Celestia commented.

Sunset could tell that Celestia wasn’t happy about Luna asking that of her.

“Don’t be mad at her.” Sunset said, “She has a point. I’m pretty much your only option for controlling this. It’s just…” She sighed.

“That you have no idea how magic works here?” Celestia offered.

Sunset nodded. She often didn’t discuss magic with her family as none of them really understood anything she was saying. It was the one thing she knew she was alone in. It was fine though because now she had a way of asking for interdimensional help.

“I miss things making sense.” Sunset said finally.

“So, do I.” Celestia said, “My job was so much simpler before I was introduced to magical teenagers from parallel universes.”

Sunset frowned slightly.

“But,” Celestia added, “It makes everything a little more interesting.”

Sunset smirked, “A little?”

Celestia laughed then stood up, “I am sure everything will work out.”

“Yeah I guess.”

“Now, come down stairs to help us pick what to order, Luna and I don’t feel like cooking.” Celestia said.

Sunset smiled and followed her adoptive mother down stairs.

After stuffing themselves with Chinese food, Sunset went out to the garage where she put the last coat of paint on her motorcycle then went in the house to draw until she felt like sleeping. She checked the journal before she went to sleep but still no reply from Princess Twilight.

Looks like I’m on my own for this.

Author's Note:

And here is last Friday's! See you guys tomorrow for the next chapter!

Comments

[Pr1deM0rn1ngstar]

I'm going to be so stoked if the author puts the magic experiments into this cuz I find it funny as hell