The Everton AU.

by ssunsxt

Partners in crime (and sashes!)

She hated this. She hated this stupid, itchy uniform; these stupid, ugly shoes; and she hated this stupid sash that was supposed to showcase how ‘special’ she was. She hated Sunday afternoons and the horrible musty smell of the old community center, as she and her girl scout troop were made to stand in ordered lines and listen to their instructions for the day.

She never asked for this. The only reason she was in this mothball-scented mess was because her third grade teacher had recommended to the support staff of her foster— right, children’s home— that Sunset make some new friends and widen her social circle; but all it did was give her one more thing to hate, and one less thing to look forward to.

Well, to be specific, three more things.

Torment took the form in Sonata Dusk, Ariana Blaze and last but certainly not least, Adagio Dazzle: three other girls in her troop. Sonata was the smallest of the three; her azure hair pulled back into a short ponytail; bright magenta eyes punctuated, almost, by a small darkened freckle beneath the left. As much as she hated to admit it, Sunset found her to be quite cute— if she wasn’t pulling her hair and calling her names, that was. Not that she liked cute things, anyway!

Ariana’s bangs fell just short of the thick, black, horn rimmed glasses that sat against the bridge of her nose, with the rest of her hair tied into a neat braid that came over her right shoulder. She’d only ever seen Ariana by herself once, when Adagio and Sonata had been on a long weekend trip away with their mothers; but with the other two at her side, the purple-haired girl’s timid frame filled out— with fake confidence— and she crossed her arms over her chest smugly, taking up the other side of the leader of their small pack: Adagio Dazzle.

Adagio was… Perfect. As perfect as any eight year old could be, that was. She was talented, wealthy, and she knew how to present herself well. She was confident, and bold, and all of the things Sunset would never be. She’d already been awarded with twelve badges this season— despite the troop only being formed a couple of months prior.

Sunset sighed as the troop dispersed into their friend circles and clenched her hands into tight fists as she watched the three girls approach, just like clock work.

“Alone again, Sunset Shimmer?” Adagio teased, causing the other two girls at her side to snicker, “don’t you ever get bored of looking so miserable?”

Sunset furrowed her brows and tried her best to stammer out a witty come back. “Oh yeah? Well— you guys look dumb.”

To no avail.

Ariana narrowed her eyes from behind her spectacles, “We’re all wearing the same uniform, stupid. If we look dumb then so do you.” She jabbed a firm finger into the centre of Sunset’s chest, which then caused her to stumble back with a wince.

“Yeah,” giggled Sonata, reaching forward to tug at Sunset’s hair, “and who did your pigtails for you? Your mommy?”

Sunset bit her lip and swallowed past the bile that was forcing itself up her throat. Her face twisted into a scowl as her nails dug half moons into her palms, “S-shut up.”

Her voice was weak and frail, but she did her best to hide the waver in her tone. But the smirk Adagio Dazzle shot towards her was enough indication that it hadn’t been enough. “Awe, is the wittle baby gonna cry?”

Shut up.

“Haha, look at her, she’s tearing up!”

Shut up.

“She’s such a baby!”

“Shut up!” Sunset screamed. Her body whirred to life, pouncing onto the ginger girl in front of her and tackling her to the ground. Sonata let out a shriek of terror as Ariana did her best to pull the red-head from her friend. Adagio struggled desperately to fight back, but Sunset’s grip was firm on her wrists. “I’m not a baby!”

Adagio kicked her legs frantically as Ariana wrapped her arms tightly around Sunset’s waist and tugged as hard as she could, but Sunset had already begun to dig her nails into Adagio’s skin, and the other girl whimpered out in a cry.

Adagio’s resistance faltered for a moment as she recoiled, and with the older girl suddenly defenceless, Sunset pulled back a fist and aimed for her face.

Before her clenched knuckles could make contact, a scout leader caught her wrist and firmly yanked her from the wriggling girl below.

“Sunset Shimmer! Just what do you think you are doing?” Roared Ms Peachbottom, and Sunset flinched in fear. The older woman’s brows were furrowed sternly as she stared down at the red-head, hands now resting on her hips as she awaited a response.

The small girl’s mouth hung open as she stammered for the words to say, her eyes flickering from the scout leader’s face, to the three other girls who were currently sobbing to her right. Sunset wrung her hands, her breath becoming ragged as she watched Adagio rub at her tender wrists, Ariana and Sonata having also sunken to their knees at her sides; the tapping foot of the older woman between all four girls wasn’t doing anything for Sunset’s anxiety, either.

So, she cried. The tears that had threatened to spill from before had come back with a vengeance, and brought with them a little friend called guilt.

Another assistant approached to aid the situation swiftly and took the three shaken girls to the infirmary— to patch up any injuries Sunset may have inflicted, the red-head could only assume.

Rubbing at her eyes as she wailed, Sunset tensed at the pair of hands that came to rest on her shoulders. “Sunset, sweetie, please take a breath. We need to know what happened. You’re a smart girl, and it’s not like you to lash out. Do you want to sit at the side and talk about it?”

The small girl suppressed another wail in her throat as she sniffled, which, in turn, caused her trembling frame to wrack with a series of coughs. The scout leader pulled her in for a hug and rubbed her back gently as she did her best to sooth the shaken child.

Once Sunset’s whimpers had died down somewhat she was led over to a bench at the side of the hall, where she stared down at her lap through raw, bleary eyes. “Now, I’m going to ask again…” Ms Peachbottom said in a softer tone than before, “What happened to make you lash out like that? You know fighting and raising your hands is wrong, so tell me what happened. I just want to help, Sunset.”

The red-head bit her bottom lip as it quivered once more and she wiped at her nose with the back of her hand. Ms Peachbottom reached into her pocket to pull out a packet of hankies and offered one to her. “I—...” she croaked, “A-Adagio and Sonata hurt my feelings…”

The scout leader nodded in understanding, “Mhm, go on.”

Sunset coughed. “They called my— my pigtails dumb. And they asked if my… They asked if my mommy—...” Her chest rose as she began to hyperventilate once more. Ms Peachbottom let out a click of her tongue and pulled Sunset in for another tight hug, rubbing the small of her back as Sunset, in turn, wrapped her arms around the older woman’s neck, to bury her face in her shoulder.

“Shh, shh, it’s alright,” she cooed, “I understand. I’ll make sure to have a word with them, alright?”

Sunset nodded weakly against the fabric of her sash with a whimper.

The situation of Sunset’s parents— of lack thereof— was a topic that most, if not all, the scout leaders and assistants had been made aware of by her social worker. They’d been asked to monitor any sort of anti-social behaviour from the young girl, and report back had anything arisen. But it wasn’t long at all before the scout leaders had simply found that she… just lacked proper social skills as a whole.

She found it difficult to make friends and join in with group activities or discussions, or even so much as keep up a conversation when the other members of her troop had tried initiating things with her instead.

Sunset kept to herself, and the other girls in the troop decided that merely giving up was probably easier for everyone, much to the scout leaders’ dismay.

After she had calmed down somewhat, Sunset asked if she could go to the bathroom to splash some water in her face and calm down some more, to which the older woman had agreed.

As this was her first real offence, she had told Sunset that it would be their secret, so long as this kind of behaviour was never repeated. Sunset nodded, thankfully, in agreement.

She hadn’t meant to hurt Adagio, after all. She only wanted her to shut up and leave her alone. She’d only meant to scare her and the other two girls enough to make them go away so that she wouldn’t have to deal with them anymore. She thought standing up to them was what she was supposed to do. Apparently she hadn’t done it right.

Sunset frowned once more as she stared at her tear stained cheeks and red, puffy eyes in the reflection of the dusty old mirror. She’d never felt so alone.

“Hey, uh… I hate to be a bother, but.... Can you pass me some toilet paper? I, uh, ran out.” A voice from behind the closed toilet door cut her from her thoughts and caused her to scramble in panic, wiping her eyes furiously once more before she turned swiftly on her heel. Sunset hesitantly paced to the free bathroom stall to take some extra paper, and passed it under the occupied stall’s door.

“Oh, thank you! I’ve been in here forever. You’re a real lifesaver!”

Sunset wrung her hands and stared at the ground as she leaned against the sink, “Not really… it’s just some paper.”

“Hey, are you okay? I didn’t really mean to eavesdrop but I heard you sniffling a bit… Is everything alright?”

The small girl stared at the navy door and took in a deep inhale of breath before letting it back out. Normally she hated opening up to people— she didn’t like being vulnerable— but there was a calming sense of safety granted by the anonymity of the stranger behind the closed door.

“I… I got in a fight. I hurt another girl in the troop and— and I got into trouble.”

“Oh! So you must be the Sunset Shimmer everyone’s been talking about!”

Crap.

Sunset tensed and cleared her throat, eyeing up the bathroom door as she contemplated making a break for it. But what good would that do? Everyone in her troop had already labelled her as a freak, probably, and this other girl no doubt would laugh at her just the same.

She was drawn from her thoughts once more when she heard a flush and the stall creaked open, a taller girl with thick-rimmed glasses— and a furious pair of even thicker eyebrows— stepping out and crossing the room to wash her hands. Sunset side-stepped and stared down at her black shoes before clasping her hands behind her back awkwardly.

“I heard you really put Adagio in her place!” The other girl laughed, “Serves her right! All she ever does is tease people anyway. It’s about time someone stood up to her.”

There was a pause before Sunset raised her head to meet the other girl’s bright smile and she mumbled out a “Y-you really think so?”

“I know so! I got a new book a couple weeks ago from my mom, and Adagio took it and hasn’t given it back yet! I thought she wanted to read it, too, but I bet she doesn’t even know how to read! What a butt-head.”

Sunset tilted her head as the other girl pulled some paper towels out of the dispenser to dry her hands and nibbled on her bottom lip hesitantly. “So, uhm. What’s uh… What’s your name?”

“Oh-! I’m Moondancer. It’s nice to meet you!” Moondancer smiled once more and dumped her towels into the trash, holding out a free hand to shake Sunset’s. “My friend Twilight and I always see you hanging around the sides a lot by yourself and we’ve always wanted to come say hi, but…” She trailed off, but brightened up as Sunset accepted her hand shake, “we weren't sure if you, y’know, wanted friends. You give me that cool lone-wolf type of vibe. Like Edwin from that new vampire book series!”

Sunset narrowed her eyes, “You mean Midnight?”

“You know it!?”

“Hate it.”

“Aw… But you got the reference, right?”

Sunset smiled and nodded, “I guess.”

The smaller girl followed after Moondancer as she pushed the bathroom door open, listening intently as she gushed about her favorite books. She led Sunset over to another spectacled girl who was curled up with a book on one of the benches at the side. Once Moondancer and Sunset had stepped closer, she peeked over the pages and gave a shy smile and a small wave.

“This is Twilight Sparkle,” Moondancer introduced before pointing a thumb at her chest, “we’re kinda the smartest ones in our troop.”

“And how’d you figure that?” Sunset piqued a brow.

“Because we’re the only ones smart enough to know how cool you are.”

Sunset’s chest tightened up and her breathing became laboured once more, a bright smile warming her cheeks. “Well— uhm,” she rubbed at her neck, “would you two want to, maybe— I mean you can say no, but— would you two… want to be a team for when cookie sales roll around?”

Twilight and Moondancer shared a look before beaming back at the red-head, both giving enthusiastic nods. “Boy, would we ever!”

She hated it all. She hated girl scouts, and she hated the itchy uniform. She hated badges, and Adagio Dazzle. But, she supposed, Sunday’s weren’t so bad, now, after all.

---

The front door burst open at once, and Sunset Shimmer threw herself through the frame as if her life depended on it— before slamming it behind herself promptly, leaning back against the wood as her chest heaved. She could taste blood. Not in the literal sense, but the familiar metallic twang hung in the back of her throat no matter how much she tried to swallow it down.

“Holy fucking hell, Sunset!” Moondancer snapped, brows snarling at her as the other girl clutched at her heart. “Were you trying to kill me?! You gave me a fucking heart attack!”

Her eyes shot over to stare at her sister. “Starlight tried to kiss me.” She blurted out, not shifting from the door, too terrified to move.

Moondancer blinked then shook her head, her face twisting before she tilted her head incredulously. “What?”

“Starlight tried to kiss me.”

“I don’t understand.”

Sunset finally mustered the strength to push herself from the door and paced the space between the armchair and the breakfast counter. “I-I don’t know!” she brought her hands out in front of her to flex her fingers before she wrung them together. “We were just-... we were looking at stars and then we were alone and she just looked really pretty under the lights and she caught me staring, I guess and-”

“Well, that’s super gay.”

“Moondancer!” The girl in question raised her hands defensively, shifting the bowl of popcorn she had been eating onto the coffee table in front of her. Sunset raked her hands through her hair and groaned. “I didn’t- why would she-? Why did I-?”

“Why did you what?” Moondancer turned her ear closer.

“I just stood there like an idiot!” Sunset exclaimed, waving her arms out wide before wrapping them around herself. Her lip trembled and she raised a hand to her mouth to bite at the side of her thumb. “I just froze. Like- my brain just couldn’t-... it just couldn’t process that it was actually happening and-... and I just clammed up and before I knew it she was just standing really awkwardly and she tried to laugh it off and-”

The more Sunset retold, the more flustered she got, before Moondancer moved over for her to sit down on the couch. She accepted the gesture without hesitation, swiftly moving to wrap her arms around her sister’s neck and bury her face into Moondancer’s shoulder. “I tried to speak but I just couldn’t talk. It was like-... It was like I’d swallowed my own voice and I couldn’t-”

“Hey,” Moondancer rubbed at her back. “Just breathe.”

Sunset squeezed her sister tight, and closed her eyes even tighter, pressing her lips together to stop them from quivering. “She just looked so embarrassed, Moondancer. She didn’t talk to me the entire way home. She didn’t even let me walk her back to her dorm and I-... I just ran- I’m such a fucking loser!”

Moondancer bit the inside of her cheek and pulled back to rest her hands on Sunset’s shoulders, fixing her with a firm stare. “Stop. Stop beating yourself up. You just got scared. You haven’t ever been in that situation before, and it freaked you out. There isn’t anything wrong with that.” She gave the younger girl’s shoulders a squeeze, softening her gaze with a smile. “You’re a control freak, Shim,” she scoffed, “I’m honestly really not surprised. Are you? Realistically?”

Sunset stayed quiet and dropped her eyes.

“Look,” Moondancer sighed, “sure, you fucked up. But it isn’t the end of the world. Just talk to her. Explain what happened. Starlight knows you, and it’s very obvious that she likes you. I’m sure she knows by now how much of a loser you are— and she’s still willing to try and kiss you!”

Sunset stared at her hands in her lap and toyed with her fingers, mulling over her sister’s words. She puckered her cheek and let out a sigh. “But-... what do I say if she tries to kiss me again?”

The older girl blinked and arched a brow curiously before raising the other and tilting her head. “Well… do you like her back?”

“I don’t-...” Sunset frowned, “I don’t know.” The space between her eyebrows wrinkled as Sunset tried her best to envision Starlight. She tried to focus on the way she felt— the way her chest tightened and her cheeks warmed; how her stomach fluttered; how she knew she’d messed up, big time.

“Well,” Moondancer sighed. “You have until the next time you see her to figure that out. The longer you leave things like this, the more awkward and weird it’ll get. For the both of you.”

Sunset knew she was right. She would’ve shot the other girl a text right then and there if she knew what to say. If she were being completely honest with herself, she knew exactly how she felt; and she felt like a coward the more she tried to deny it. Everything had been laid bare for her, by Starlight, and still she was so… terrified. She couldn’t even imagine how the other girl must have felt.

The way the light faded from her eyes— replaced only by a bitter sense of regret. She hated it.

She hated the way Starlight’s hollow laughter sounded in her ears, and the way she’d pulled as far away from Sunset as possible. She hated the way she’d scratched at her cheek and kept her eyes low, mumbling about how late it was and how they should probably head back home. She hated the way Starlight’s smile never met her eyes once after that. But most of all, she hated the warmed skin of her cheek when Starlight had pulled her hand away. She wanted to feel the cold for as long as possible. She wanted and wanted and wanted.

She was such an idiot.

“But in any case,” Moondancer dropped her eyes and leaned back to get a better look at Sunset’s shirt, “what the hell are you wearing?”

“It’s uhm… It’s a really long story.” Sunset frowned and twisted the watch on her wrist. As the two sat in silence for a few moments, the rest of the day came rushing back to her, and how disastrous the entire afternoon had actually been— and still Starlight had tried to kiss her. Who was the bigger idiot, really? Sunset allowed herself to smile, but just a little.

She paused once more and narrowed her eyes before she turned back to Moondancer. “Hey, Moon?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you know a ‘Twilight Sparkle’?”

Author's Note:

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Comments

[Autumn Colors Fall]

I'm curious to see how Twilight ends up playing into all of this. She's the only connection to the entire magical world of MLP/EQG right now.

[Fillyfoolish]

“I don’t-...” Sunset frowned, “I don’t know.”

Cut the crap you lesbian princess

[ssunsxt]

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:3c