Sunset Shimmer has her eyes on Starlight, one of the most popular girls at her new school, but what starts as a plan to save Starlight from her worst enemy/best friend takes on a life of its own, and soon their high school is feeling a lot emptier.
Sunset Shimmer just wants to take it easy at her new high school, get her spot at the food chain set up, maybe beat up a few jocks, and dating the popular girl who won't stop making eyes at her would really bring it all together. Then what starts as a plan to save the girl she... let's say "really likes" from her worst enemy/best friend goes way further than Sunset ever imagined.
I bit off a corner of my Pop-Tart and studied the bite marks, looking at how the crust had broken past the wound with rivulets of strawberry filling oozing out of the fissure. “Ya know, most people who get their breakfast here don’t eat it here,” the convenience store clerk said.
“Yeah, and most Snappy Snack Shack clerks don’t bother me when I’m patronizing them. Or do you want me to get my slushies down the street?” I sucked on the straw for a blast of Berry Blue to make my point. Harder until the first spike of pain stabbed between my eyes.
He shrugged, looking back to the register. “Hey, maybe I just want to cut down on juvenile delinquency. Don’t you got to be at school now?”
“Like you never skipped a day,” I said, as words crept back into my head, leaning on the counter. “Or does slinging slushies and ringing registers require a 4.0 GPA?”
“It requires me to put up with punk kids like you, and it don’t take a 4.0 GPA to see you’re trouble with your big leather duster and motorcycle,” he said. Like he was old enough to be calling me a punk kid. His face had a hatchet sharp look to it, but no big wrinkles yet. Thirty at the most, probably younger and just beaten down by a shit excuse for living.
“Sure, sure,” I said. I took another bite of my Pop-Tart. “Still gonna eat my breakfast here unless you’re kicking me out. And you can call the store at 16th and Q in Manehattan or a dozen other Snappy Snack Shacks, and they’ll tell you Sunset Shimmer is a great goddamned customer to have around.” I gestured around at the emptiness with Pop-Tarts and slushie. “But if you’d rather me leave so I don’t scare off the nobody who’s here, just say the word.”
He looked around the store and then down at his hands, defeated. “Fine, just don’t start a fight, and if I get robbed while you’re here, maybe come in on my side, will ya?”
I mock saluted him “Aye-aye. Thank you so much for generously letting me buy my slushies here. I promise to make you proud.”
“Christ,” he sighed. “You're an asshole.” He shook his head. I slurped down more of my drink. “But don’t you got a house or friends at school to eat breakfast with?”
“At Westercolt?” I laughed in his face, ignoring the talk of home. “I haven’t been there yet, but I know exactly what to expect.” I finished off my Pop-Tart and set the slushie down on the counter. “There’s gonna be some popular bitches with zero souls between them, probably three, but maybe they’ll have a fourth; a couple of dumb, asshole jocks whose only claim to fame is how great they are with their balls; then the rest of the school chafing under their yoke and just dreaming of the day they’re finally free of those assholes. And maybe I’ll get lucky, and I can slide into the badass, biker chick slot without competition.” Still’d have to do something appropriately badass to clinch the spot. Otherwise, just a poser with a cool duster and a motorbike. “Trust me, no one in this backwater’s going to stand out.”
***
The most amazing girl I’d ever seen stood on the opposite side of the cafeteria as me, surrounded by the standard three popular bitches,, outfits neatly coordinated to red, yellow, and green. But who cared about that when she hadn’t taken her eyes off me since she entered the cafeteria. I waved, enough to let her know I saw her, but not enough to act interested.
She had purple hair with cerulean highlights running the length, and her skirt and top were mostly blue with a black vest, striking against her light purple skin. She stood a step away from her “friends” as they huddled around, watching whatever girl they decided to torment today. I didn’t know the victim’s name, but did it matter?
My admirer and the red one peeled off from the pack, walking my way. “So, my friends and I do this lunchtime poll,” Red said, rose pinned to the lapel of her blazer. “And we wanted to know–”
“Do you have a cousin who lives in Canterlot?” the girl that mattered said, earning a look from the red one.
I laughed. Not the question I expected from her, and based on Red’s look, not the question she expected either. “That’s gotta be the dumbest question I’ve ever heard,” I said. “You’re asking everyone if they’ve got a cousin going to school in Canterlot?”
“Just you,” the girl that mattered said, eyes never leaving me, probably hoping I didn’t see the way her foot was playing with the ground as she tried to act cool.
“Starlight, what are you doing?” Red asked, giving me a name to go with the face. The two went to communicating entirely through looks and head pointing as I chewed my burger and turned the page of my book, The Flowers of Evil, scanning the first line of the new poem. Soon, they reformed their united front. “Just answer her question.”
“Nope, don’t know anyone in Canterlot. Always kind of just wanted to grab my motorcycle and drive over, though. I hear it’s a hell of a view climbing that mountain. Be a lot better if they got rid of the people, though.” I looked at Starlight. “Can’t you imagine it, you and one other person climbing the mountain, then seeing the whole world. No parking garages or condos or highrises or billboards selling you the shortest skirts, just things like they should be.” She gave the faintest smile, imagining that and if I played my cards right, maybe a little more. I smirked. "That's pretty close to here, isn't it?"
“Great,” Red said. “Another antisocial loser. Just what Westercolt needed. Come on, Starlight.” She turned to go and stomped. Starlight stayed where she was. Red noticed. “Come on, Starlight,” she said, this time pulling on the girl’s arm. Starlight followed, still managing to look over her shoulder at me as she left. I grabbed my book, reading it nonchalant and holding it so if she was paying attention, she’d see the title.
I got to read for all of forty seconds before a grey hand blocked the view. “Hey, sweetheart, what did your girlfriend say when you announced you were moving all the way out to Colt Lake, Winniesota?”
There were two of them. One brown, one grey, both with bangs covering their eyes and obnoxious letter jackets, that would be the jocks, then. I weighed my options as the brown one joined in. “My buddy Score just asked you a question.”
“Hey, Hoops,” Score said as I made up my mind on just how to deal with them, with more and more eyes turning to us. “Doesn’t this cafeteria have a no dykes allowed rule?” Yeah, they’d do just fine for my demonstration.
“Well, they seem to have an open door policy for assholes, though, don't they?” I said. Their brows scrunched up in confusion and anger as I stood up, slowly putting together that I’d insulted them. I didn’t give them time to finish making the connection as my book arced from it’s spot on the table into Score’s face, hardback proving it’s worth as he stumbled back. Then a turn and a hard knee to go between Hoops’s legs, to get him out of the fight and even their number advantage.
For good measure, I grabbed him by the varsity jacket and shoved him off against the wall as he collapsed, then pivoting back to Score for another fist to the face. And another. He lashed out and I juked to the side, his meaty fist sailing past me on an undisturbed voyage. I kicked his leg out from under him while he threw off his center of balance.
Right as my foot was stomping his gut for the fourth time, the cafeteria monitor, some chick teacher I hadn’t had yet, got between us. I stopped, impression made, every eye in the room on me, their expressions saying what I wanted them to:
Holy shit.
Everyone except Starlight, she was looking at me instead of my carnage, a little, dreamy smile on her face. I grinned at her even as some cafeteria monitor shouted at me, ordering me to the principal’s office, the two jocks still writhing on the ground.
“You going to be coming here a lot, kid? Because it’s kind of weird just having someone hang out at a Snack Shack,” the shopkeeper said. I tried not to hear him over the sound of me sucking down cherry-flavored slush for that not-quite cough syrup taste.
“It’s a free country, isn’t it?” I said, standing next to the slushie dispenser, a.k.a. The only thing in the store worth a damn.
“Maybe, but it’s my store, and I say no loitering. Especially from weird, punk kids.” He stayed behind the counter, body language not giving that much of a shit. He just wanted something to complain about, and I fit the bill.
“If I’m buying food, isn’t it just me being a customer?” I took another hit of frozen cherry right between the frontal lobes, missing the first half of his response, but catching the end.
He paused at that, turning the concept over a few times before giving in. “If I catch you harassing the customers, I’m calling the cops. Got it?” I waved him off, both of our heads turning to jingling store bells as she walked in.
“Regular or BQ, Rose?” Starlight asked, shouting out to an idling car.
“BQ!” Rose’s voice cut through the air like a cheese grater. Starlight turned to fully enter the shop and froze as our eyes met.
“I didn’t expect to see you here,” she said, almost hiding her blush. Adorable. “My friends, not me, thought you might go to jail for that stunt you pulled in the caf.”
“Just suspended for a few days, given a warning, a ‘this is not how we do things in Westercolt–” I did my best to sound like the principal, who was old enough to be on a first name basis with dinosaurs. “–And I’ll be back at school on Monday.” With all the badass cred I’d need to make my brief stay here bearable.
“And how are your parents going to react?” Starlight asked, cool completely regained as she walked over to the corn nuts. “Do they know they’ve raised a juvenile delinquent?”
I swirled the straw around in the drink. “Dad's too busy with work to find out, and Mom doesn’t care about much of anything.”
“Oh?” Starlight leaned against one of the shelves, carefully not to knock over the rows of Bugles. “Is she where you get your ‘too cool for school’ attitude from?”
“I like to think so, but it’s mostly because she’s been dead for nine years years.” Gave me one last wave goodbye, and then gone in a puff of smoke. Just how it goes.
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry,” she said, hands going over her mouth in performative grief. Not really caring my mom died and more just caring she might have screwed up her chances with me. I mean, she didn’t, but she didn’t know that.
“It’s whatever. Let me buy you a drink, break the ice. Do you want cherry or lime slushie?” I grabbed a medium for her. Good starting size. With experience, she could probably put away a large in less than ten minutes, but right now? ICU.
“I think a Big Gulp’s the customary drink for when you embarrass yourself in front of… I don’t even know your name.” She walked up closer, still giving me a few feet, closer to the soda machine than the slushie one. That would change.
“Well, I’ll end the suspense. Sunset Shimmer.” I stuck my hand out and half-curtsied as she took it. She giggled. “And slushie is the house specialty, so will that be cherry or lime?”
“What if I want the blue one or the yellow one?” She pointed at the half of the options I neglected.
“You don’t want your first slushie to be as mainstream as lemonade, and the blue’s extra cold. You’ve gotta build up a tolerance. But, if you want to try to show off how cool you are, you could try it. And if you really wanted to be badass…” I trailed off, dangling the bait and setting the cup down on the counter.
“If I wanted to be badass, I’d what?” she stepped closer and closer, less than a foot between us. She grabbed the edges of my duster with both hands, popping the collar.
“Suicide.” I tilted my head at the machine. “Mix up all four drinks and down it as fast as you can. Props if you can finish it in five minutes, but I’m guessing you won’t make it a third of the way before you tap out.”
Starlight picked up the cup I’d set out for her and pressed it into my hand. “Hit me.”
I poured. Red, green, yellow, and blue layering on top of each other, mingling in the margins and blobbing into a dark black mass, bit by bit. “But blue is the best flavor. Cherry tastes like Drano, but it’s got this weird, compelling aftertaste that just won’t leave you, lime is sour as hell, and lemonade’s unexpectedly sweet. But blue? Once you build up to it, it’s the one.”
“And this toxic, black sludge you're handing me?” she asked, taking the drink and looking at it cock-eyed.
“Like I said, suicide.” I grinned. “But hey, if you’d rather not, I can pour you baby’s first slushie.” The clerk looked at me. I rolled my eyes right back. Yeah, yeah, I'd pay for the wasted slushie if I did that.
“I think I can handle a bad drink.” She brought the straw to her lips. “How long did you say I had?”
“Five minutes for maximum badass cred, but you’re getting a few points for at least attempting it. You don’t have to impress me.”
“Good, because I’m not trying to.” She looked at her watch on her left hand, and then took her first hit, contorted revulsion immediately sweeping across her face. But she took another hit. And another. And then she got to slug five, and I could see the brain freeze hit, her brow furrowing as she winced, every thought in her head smashed under the assault of frozen sugar.
“Pretty great, right?” I said, taking a long draw from my cherry slushie, taste twisting from sickness to almost sweet.
“I feel like I’m on the bad side of one of Rose’s parties,” she said, eyes still closed. “Senses I didn’t even know I had hurt.”
“Isn’t it the best?” I asked, reaching the dregs of my own drink.
“It’s intense.” To her credit, she took another sip, not giving up, and instead choosing to keep going with the challenge I laid down. Good. “So, is this what you do? Get suspended from school so you can drink Snappy Snack Shack slushies?”
“That, ride my bike, and convince cute girls with bad taste in friends to hang out with me. Speaking of which, cut school, hang out with me tomorrow.”
She pulled back, still holding on to her slushie. “I’ve never skipped school in my life.”
“What better time to start? You’re the smart one in your little clique, right? The one the other girls cheat off of? Probably were the smartest girl in school ‘til I showed up. So instead of doing what you’ve done for the last twelve years, sitting in the front row, bored out of your minds, taking notes only so the person sitting next to you can copy them, you can have fun for once in your life.” I smiled, reaching out and touching her arms. “Seems like an easy choice.”
She didn’t pull away. “You think you know everything don’t you?” she asked. “But I’ll have you know, I have a lot of fun.”
“You say that so convincingly.” Damn, I wanted to suck down more slushie, but I was out. I went back to my altar, grabbing a cup and bowing the lever for blue in supplication.
“I mean it,” she said. “I’m going to a party tomorrow; I’d invite you, but after that stunt you pulled, Rose might kill us both if I brought you.”
Almost on cue, we heard a scream coming from the parking lot. “Starlight!”
She winced, not from brain freeze. “Sorry, I should go.” Starlight pulled back, heading to the corn nut display. “Thanks for the Slushee, and maybe I’ll see you tomorrow. You’ll be here?”
“All day.” I put a lid on my drink.
“Good,” she said, moving to the clerk. “Because if I do decide to cut school and come here, and I probably won’t, but if I do come here and you’re not there?” Yeah, yeah, friendship over. “I’m kind of not the best at dealing with people letting me down.”
“Noted,” I said as she passed a few dollars across the counter. She turned to look at me as she left, and I flashed the biggest smile I could. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“You have a girlfriend?” I asked the clerk. Despite my objections, today felt like a lemonade day. Sometimes you needed a little too sweet. “Wife? Boyfriend?”
“A wife,” he said. “She’s going to Winniesota State for business.” He looked at me across the counter. After I hit the fifth Slushie for the day, lurking in my little corner and not bothering anybody, we’d reached a sort of detente. Not friendly, but not irritating each other. “You think your girl’s going to show up?”
“Obviously,” I said. “I’d guess by third period. She went to school today thinking she’d never skip, but now she’s sitting bored in trig, running circles around everyone else, and just wishing she could be here, doing something interesting with someone interesting. So she’ll bail, come here, and we’ll go for a ride somewhere. Do something she’s never done before.”
“You’re pretty confident about that.” He looked out the window as a car filled up. “But I don’t see any other teenage girls here, do you?”
“Give it time.” I shrugged it off. At noon, I might get a little worried, not until then. “I don’t want to brag, but I have a knack for reading people. She’ll come because she wants something different in her life, and I’m the solution.” She’d probably be on the outs with her friends by the weekend.
“Well, someone knows everything, don’t they?” he said. “Have you been wrong about anything?”
I gave the matter a cursory thought. “Nothing’s jumping out, but if I thought about it hard, I might find something.”
“God, was I as obnoxious as you when I was a teenager?” He checked out the window again for any customers. I rolled my eyes before checking for any Starlights. As if on signal, a blue car pulled into the lot with a driver I recognized instantly. 10:47. Three minutes until the end of third period.
“I don’t know, but you sure as well weren’t as right as me as a teenager, or as an adult.” Starlight got out of her car, heading to the door and walking past my bike. The door chimed and the clerk stopped being relevant. “Wasn’t sure you were going to make it,” I said, punctuating the sentence with a long slurp of slush.
“Oh?” she asked, walking towards me. “And what would you have done if I didn’t?”
I shrugged. “Driven to Canterlot without you,” I said. I held up my drink. “You’re lucky the Snack Shack has the best slushies in town. If I hadn’t stopped for a refill when I did, you would’ve skipped school for nothing.”
She took the drink from my hands, index finger pushing the straw around in circles. “You would do that to me? Even after I warned you not to?”
“Hey, you might be the coolest girl in Westercolt High, but I’m not about to waste an entire day hanging around the convenience store, no matter how much I like it. Or you.” She took a sip of my drink, raising an eyebrow.
“So, we’re going to Canterlot?” she asked before tossing the rest of my drink into the trash. “Let’s go. If I’m cutting class, I’m not going to spend the whole day waiting around a convenience store. I don’t like it that much.” She looked at me and smiled, trying to make it harsh, but she didn’t have it in her. “Or you.”
She walked to the door, I followed, pulling out my keys. “Of course.”
***
Several hours later, we reached the entrance to Canterhorn National Park, me sitting under a picnic pavillion, waiting for Starlight while she used the restroom. I twirled a pocket knife over and under my fingers, keeping careful of the edge. We did a little sightseeing, she took a photo of the view from the Canterhorn, and now? I waited.
The sound of footsteps falling through the underbrush, twigs snapping and leaves crunching. I looked up to see something purple and blue and not Starlight sprinting towards me.
“Sunset!” the mare I’d never seen before said, moving to the concrete platform of the pavillion. She dropped a box on the table. “Good, I found. Take this, get it back to school, and whatever you do, don’t open it, like, no matter how badly you want to. Nothing good will come out of it. I’m going to double back to keep him busy, alright?” Looking at her this close, I could see her hair was dark purple, almost indigo with lighter streaks of lavender running throughout, with a nice little blue blouse now scratched up from running through the woods.
Clearly, this was just a case of mistaken identities. She knew someone else who looked just like me… and had the same name as me, and now she wanted me to help her out of whatever situation she got herself into. The nice thing to do was tell her she had me confused with someone else, and blah, blah, blah. Who cared about that? Whatever was in the box was probably cool as shit. “You got it,” I said, standing up and taking the box from her, and it was a nice box. Dark, black wood engraved with what looked like a bunch of dudes in togas on the edge of the lid with the weirdest creature ever standing in the middle. I stared at it. The thing looked like an assembly of left-over animal parts, with a goat's head sprouting a pair of mismatched horns, a snake-like body, and one arm looked like a bear paw, with the other being more like an eagle's talon. The eagle's claw reached out, offering an apple in it's grip. It had to have a couple of good stories inside it. “I’ll see you back at school.”
She wrapped her arms around me, before pressing her lips against my cheek. “Thank you so much, Sunset,” she said, breaking the bond and backpedalling towards the woods. I stared at her, watching her go, and then everything was quiet. I traced my finger over the lid, imagining just what could be inside. Drugs would be the obvious guess, but the box had a weight to it. Just holding it, I seemed to thrum with energy, imagining what I would do with... whatever was in the mystery box.
"Sunset!" Starlight said right as I gripped the box, ready to open it. I shoved the box in my bag. We could open it together. A minute later, a pair of arms were wrapped around me.
“I was wondering when you’d get back,” I said, turning to Starlight and smiling, shoving the box out of my mind. Canterlot dazzled behind her in shades of gold and amber. How did you tell someone that a crazy lady visited you while they were in the bathroom? Later, probably. Or even better, never. “I was starting to get bored.”
“You’d manage,” she said, turning to lean against me, joining me in the view of Canterlot. “I preferred your version of the view better.” She waved her hand, gesturing at the skyscrapers down below and suburbs as far as the eyes could see with great asphalt ribbons binding the city together, little, stupid gnats crawling along them, more joining with every minute. “Can you imagine how it’s supposed to look, without everything we put in the way? Just alpine glades, pristine meadows.”
“I didn’t know you were such a hippy.” I smirked. Well, maybe her weird, little beanie hat should have clued me in, but it looked more like the thing you’d find in some smoky Prench cafe than at a wilderness retreat.
“Because I’m not.” She tensed up, standing straight instead of leaning against me. “I’m a genius, you know. MENSA level, if you put any stock in that.” She looked over at me as I raised an eyebrow. “I’m not bragging about it, I have the tests to prove it. When I was little, me and my friend both took exams to get into this big, prestigious accelerated-learning school in Canterlot.” She pointed off to a dark purple dot. “We both got accepted, but my parents thought it would be better if I stayed at home with people in my own age group.” She made a fake, grimacing smile. “‘Oh, Starlight, we know it’s a big opportunity, but we don’t want you to forget how to socialize.’ I could be in college now, Sunset, doing something that mattered with my mind. Instead, I’m using it to make sure I use the right shade of lip gloss to accent my outfit.” She went back to looking at the city. “So I appreciate things that are real, that have weight and sincerity, and Canterlot? There’s not a drop of sincerity in it.”
I nodded. “Ok, then let’s go somewhere else.” What was sincere around here? More importantly, what did Starlight consider sincere?
“Actually,” Starlight said, frowning, “Score’s throwing a party tonight, Rose is forcing me to go, and I just decided if I’m going, you’re going.”
Yeah, right. “Or, you could skip it and keep hanging out with me, because if you want sincerity, it’s not there.”
“Sunset, they’re my…” She frowned. “Not friends. More like coworkers. Still, do you know what would happen if I pissed off the boss? My life would be hell. Your life would be hell.”
“And? Let them try to drive us underground, we’d be together, and if we’re together? Westercolt doesn’t stand a chance.” And I’d rather fight the entire school until graduation than fake hobnob with the jocks and the… “What’s the name of your little clique?” I asked.
“The Flowers,” she said. “From back when it was just Rose, Daisy, and Lily.” She walked around to stand in front of me. “And you’d really go to war against an entire school for someone you just met yesterday?”
I shook my head. “Don’t be stupid. I’d go to war with the entire school for you. No one else.”
She smiled, a thin line bending upwards. A second later, the heat of her lips was pressed against mine. I leaned in as the seconds stretched on, more and more of the outside world crumbling away until it was just the two of us and an endless void. I broke the connection and the world came pouring back in. Starlight’s cheeks were flushed, and my own felt way warmer than the late autumn sun could account for. “Careful, Sunset. Keep talking like that, and I’ll never let you leave. Now come on, if we leave now, we’ll only be fashionably late.”
***
Indistinct people leaned against the front porch, drinks in hand as music pumped through the air. I didn’t want to be here, the other students didn’t want me to be here, but Starlight did. Plus, Hoops and Score were apparently hosting, which meant I could piss them off all over again.
“You won’t cause a scene, right?” Starlight said as I put my keys in my bag, catching sight of the mystery box as I did. Soon enough I’d see what the hell the weird purple girl thought was so important. But first…
“Of course not,” I said, following her as we walked to the front door. A few students not in the middle of a makeout session looked at me, but even more looked at Starlight.
“Thank god you made it,” one of the girls said. Pinkish with light green hair and a yellow blazer, a daisy pinned on the lapel. “Rose is getting pissed at you and–” She saw me. “What is she doing here?”
Starlight didn’t break her stride. “I’m allowed to bring a friend to a party, aren’t I?”
“Maybe if she didn’t get suspended for beating up the hosts yesterday.”
“Hey, I’m not going to start anything tonight, I’m just supporting a friend.” I draped my arm over Starlight’s shoulder and Daisy frowned, catching the weight I’d attached to the word friend.
Starlight held up a hand for Daisy and whispered in my ear. “We’re just friends in public, Westercolt’s not as progressive as wherever you came from.”
“I came from a lot of places.” Still, I took my arm off her.
“Yeah. Westercolt’s still not as progressive as them.” We turned back to Daisy.
“And if you think they’re not going to start something, you don’t know Hoops and Score..” She turned to the door. On the contrary, I knew them just fine. Assholes who looked decent enough and thought they were entitled to the world. Me being here would set them to fuming, and unless they wanted to punch a girl, they’d just sit and spin. Not that they could beat me up, but if anything happened, they’d be starting it.
And if I happened to say something that got under their skin? Well, violence was hardly an acceptable reaction, was it? “I’m sure we just got off on the wrong foot,” I said. Starlight laughed under her breath, remembering just what foot we got off on.
The three of us went through the front door, led by Daisy, and the inside was the outside but more. Students sprawled out on the furniture, either passed out or making out, red cups littering the ground.
“Welcome to the party,” some skinny dude with oversized glasses said, passing us two drinks. Was he watching us approach? “Oh, hey, you’re that beat up Hoops and Score, right? Punch it in!” He held out a fist, waiting to be bumped. In the interest of not being rude, I obliged with my non-drink holding hand, earning a look from Daisy.
“Going to try to bury the hatchet, huh?” she said as we continued our trek to the back, walking past stairs littered with garbage. Next to me, Starlight gulped down her drink. I took a sip of my own.
“What, you want me to be rude to someone I just met?” I asked, making the faintest attempt to feign innocence. “I would never dream of it.”
“Starlight, I have to say, I’m really starting to doubt your taste in friends,” Daisy said.
“Me too.” I said, taking a sip of my drink and getting hit with a wave of hops.
Starlight looked between the two of us, and I could see something flash in her head. She drained her cup. “Hey, Sunset, do you want another drink?” She crumpled up her cup and tossed it out the window. “I’m going to get another drink.” And before I could say anything, she’d run back to the drink table, pouring herself from punch sometimes.
“You think your clever, don’t you?” Daisy said. She crossed her arms, any pretense o civility she might have been making for Starlight’s sake dropped.
I shrugged. “I’m not dumb.”
“Then you’ll stay away from Starlight.” We watched her pour a drink, spiked punch. “She’s one of the most popular girls in school, but that only lasts as long as Rose likes her. And she’s kind of… selective about who our friends are.”
“So you let her do all your thinking for you?” I asked. I swished my drink around in my cup, not taking another sip. “And why can’t I be friends with Starlight?” Not that I was going to stop being friends with her, but hearing the rationale could be good for a laugh at least.
“Rose says we need to project solidarity and exclusivity, and having friends outside the group jeopardizes that.” She glanced over at me. “And if you’re the type of friends I think you are? Colt Lake is pretty old-fashioned, and if Rose finds out, she’ll crucify the both of you.”
“Wow, really convincing me to not hang out with Starlight and that you’re not just using Starlight because she lets you cheat off her,” I said. Speaking of Starlight, she finished her drink, poured one more, and then headed back to us.
“No, if we were using Starlight for anything, we’d be using her to fake hallpasses,” Daisy said before Starlight rejoined us. “If we wanted to cheat off someone, we have, uhmm, let’s see, every guy in the school.” Yeah, the Flowers were just the best.
“Okay, I’m good,” Starlight said, smiling at me, looking at Daisy. “Who knew you’d get so thirsty riding on a bike.” She shot me a look apologizing for what we both knew was coming. So, without further ado, let’s go see Rose, right?” She tried to smile, act like she didn’t know how bad things were headed, but she was too smart for that. “So, what were you all talking about?”
“I was just welcoming her to Westercolt,” Daisy said, smiling. “And it’s so great you’re taking the time to make her feel welcome. You even brought her to this party she wasn’t invited to.” So, she was smart enough to now this would end poorly, but she still thought I should cme? What reward outweighed the risk for her? Did she want me to blow up her friendship with the Flowers? Because if so, done.
We exited the house into the backyard, skinny dippers splashing around the pool while more students orbited around the gazebo. In the center of it, I caught a flash of red. “Yeah, she’s been really good about making me feel welcome,” I said. Almost enough to make me say the world wouldn’t be better off if we burned Westercolt to the ground.
“It’s what I do,” Starlight said, bumping against me, pretending to sway or just being the lightest lightweight in the world. “And I’ve got to say, Sunset’s pretty cool. We actually just got back from a trip from Canterlot.”
“So that’s where you went when you skipped lunch today.” The voice cut through all other conversation and Daisy and Starlight stuttered in their walk as the Queen Bee of Westercolt turned her attention to us. “I had hoped you were dying, but instead you were hanging out with this discount James Dean? And now, you’re bringing her to my party.”
“Hosted at Score’s house,” I muttered under my breath, just loud enough for the approaching Rose to approach. Or maybe it was Hoops. Fucked if I could keep them apart.
“Excuse me,” she said, focusing her attention at me as she descended down to the concrete. “Did I give you permission to talk? But then, how could I expect you to know the rules of Westercolt.” She circled around me, cutting me off from the rest of the party and trying to intimidate me. “So here’s a bit of free advice, I run Westercolt. I show up to a party, and it’s my party. You got it?”
“Whatever you say.” I smirked, and we stared each other down in the battle for Starlight’s soul. “You know, I didn’t want to come because I didn’t really know anyone besides Starlight and those two jocks I beat up, but Starlight insisted. I guess that must mean she really likes me.
Rose looked from me to Starlight. “I guess it does. What do you have to say for yourself?”
Starlight finished her drink, giving her the most convenient excuse to bail ever. “I think we should both get a drink,” Starlight said to Rose. “Come on.”
“You know what I like.” Rose reached out and traced a finger down from my shoulder along my neck. “I’m going to get to know your new friend here. After all, if you like her, I’m sure there’s more to Sunset than meets the eye.”
Starlight lingered for a second, looking back at me. I gave her a nod, and she was gone. Rose rolled her eyes, walking over to Daisy and whispering something in her ear, dismissing her and leaving the two of us. The little court attending her earlier now vanished. “Christ, I knew Starlight was a lesbo, but I didn’t think she’d be stupid enough to date a girl until she got to college.” Rose stopped. “Or at the very least, she’d have a little more taste.”
“That’s a bit of an assumption to make,” I said, walking to lean against a gazebo post. “The two of us are just friends.”
“Please, I admit you’ve got a certain… ugh, charm. At the very least, you’d make for decent shower-nozzle masturbation material, and if she was the same lame nobody she was back when I first found her, fine. But now? She’s a Flower. Every guy in school has at least thought about her, and now, to throw that all away because she likes a bad girl?” She rolled her eyes. “It’s pathetic.”
“Glad you think so highly of your friend’s choices,” I said. “So, is this where you tell me to stay away from Starlight for her own good?”
She rolled her eyes, still sharking around me. “Like I care about what you do. My only concern is making sure Starlight doesn’t undo everything I spent twelve years working on.”
“So, it’s just about your legacy? About status?” I took a sip of my beer.
Rose laughed. “And she’s not to you? The only reason you made googly eyes with her at the caf, was because of my work turning her from a greasy nobody into one of the hottest girls in school. You want one of the most popular girls in school hanging off your arm because it gives a little tiny taste of power. Of being somebody. Back before I found her? You wouldn’t have looked at her twice.”
I shrugged. “If saying that helps you sleep at night.” I tossed the beer cup aside, beer splashing on the lawn.
“Here you go, Rose,” Starlight said, running up to us, wobbling, and holding two drinks, one close to the chest, the other extended. Rose took her cup, taking a drink without even giving it a second glance. I craned my neck to see Starlight’s cup already half-empty. “So, what were you all talking about?” I looked at her. Again, what the hell was her goal with this? If she wanted this to blow up, why act nice? And why go through, what, four cups of booze? Or did she load the gun but get cold feet after she had it pointed at her target.
“Just talking about how I was liking Westercolt,” I lied. Starlight nodded.
“Actually, I was just saying how cute the two of you were together.” Rose smiled, and I think I knew how soldiers felt when the realized they’d stepped on a landmine, but hadn’t taken their foot off it yet.
“You were?” Starlight asked, clearly not believing Rose’s lie, but not wanting to cause a scene in public.
“Of course, Starlight, I just want all my friends to be happy.” She looked at me, daring me to say something. Better to wait if Starlight didn’t want me making a scene“But, you never know who’s listening, and some people can be so intolerant. Maybe we should talk about this somewhere more private? You know, in case somebody overhears.” Yeah, this was 100% a trap. And based on the weight she put on ‘so,’ probably something that ended with us getting outed to the whole school.
“Are you sure we’ll find somewhere?” Starlight asked. She looked around at the crowd. “We could just talk about this tomorrow.”
“Nonsense,” Rosa said, wearing the coldest smile as she walked back to the house. “If there’s not a private space, I’ll make one.” We followed her into the house and towards the stairs, Starlight doing her best to walk in a straight line.
“We should get out of here,” Starlight whispered in my ear. “This is... she’s being too nice.”
I nodded, barely perceptible, just in case Rose had any agents listening. Daisy was absolutely up to something, and I kept my eye peeled for yellow in the crowd. Our hands found each other side by side, and for a second, we twined our fingers together, before pulling away. We reached a fork with the door straight ahead and the stairs on the right, I marched ahead before a tug pulled me right. Starlight stood, looking at me. “Not that obvious,” she mouthed. Because apparently walking into Rose’s trap was so much better.
We ascended, letting go of each other as we pushed past people just loitering on the stairs like complete monsters. At the top, Hoops and Score leaned against the wall, glaring at me, a great, purple, book-shaped bruise covering his left eye. “That looks like a nasty shiner,” I said, smiling.
“Whatever, you’re just lucky I don’t hit girls,” the grey one said said. Weird, because I remembered his fist definitely trying to hit me.
“Yeah, come at us again without any cheap tricks, and we’ll see how it is, dyke bitch,” the brown one, probably Hoops based on the basketball stitched to his jacket, said.
“You got it,” I said, snapping my fingers and pointing at each of them as I passed by. I dared a look backwards. “See you Monday.”
Rose opened a door at the end of the hallway, revealing an empty bedroom. “What luck, we have an entire room for ourselves.” She held it open for us. We obliged her, and the door shut behind us. Rose rested her chin on her hand. “You know, Starlight, I think I see it. You know, if I was into that sort of thing.”
“Thanks, Rose” Starlight said. I took in the room: we had a closet, slatted doors; bathroom, door cracked and lights on; and a window leading to the street, my motorcycle, and freedom. Starlight saw the window, too. We both nodded. “You know, I didn’t expect you to be this nice.”
“Starlight, you’re my friend.” Rose laughed before resting her hands on Starlight’s shoulders. “And it hurts me that you’d even think I’d be rude about this. I only want what’s best for my friends.” She enunciated every word way too crisply for her to be telling the truth.
“You’re fucking beautiful,” Starlight said, tone agreeing with my assessment. I rolled my eyes. “So, what are we doing now?”
Rose stepped back and put her hand over her heart. “Why, I just thought we could talk somewhere quieter.” She looked at me. “I want to get to know you, Sunset Shimmer.”
“That’s so nice of you, Rose,” Starlight said, “But maybe we can talk about it Monday.” She put her hand to her head. “I think I had a little too much to drink, and I just want to lie down.” Rose shoved at our chests, sending us both backpedaling to the bed.
“There’s a bed right–” A knock came from the door.
“Rose,” a voice said from the other side of the door. It cracked open and I saw a hint of green. Lily, I guess. “You need to get out here right now, Hoops and Score are trying to–”
“Rude much,” Rose said, glaring at Lily. She took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, you two, but I need to take care of this, I’ll be right back.” She smiled as she reached the threshold. “You two have fun.”
“What have I done?” Starlight said, staring ahead at the vanity mirror as I got up and moved to the bathroom. “Why did I bring you here? Did I just want you to piss off all my friends? Or get outed to the whole school?”
She curled up, wrapping her arms around her knees. I opened up the door to the bathroom and flipped the lights on, looking for someone. “There’s no way out, she’s planning something right now, and it’s only a matter of time until she barges back in here with the entire school to–”
I wrapped my arms around her before she could finish the thought. “We’re going to get out of here,” I said. “We’re going to get out of here, and I promise, after tonight, you’ll never have to deal with Rose or the other Flowers ever again.”
She made a muffled laugh into my duster. “You really don’t know Westercolt, do you?”
“Then let’s not stay here. We can sneak out the window, hop on my bike, and be halfway to Seaddle by breakfast. New names, no Flowers, what do you think?”
Starlight looked up at me, purple cheeks paler. “I like it.” She looked at the window. “Let’s go.” She kissed me, lips burning against mine. For only a second, I got swept away and leaned in. Then, I heard the click and a flash came from the closet.
“We got it,” Daisy shouted, pointing a camera at us as we pulled away. The door opened, and Rose walked in, Lily right behind her.
“Good job, Starlight, you managed to keep your hands off your little girlfriend for a whole minute,” Rose said. Daisy passed her the camera. “Now you need to decide are you going to keep wasting time with future Miss Burnout or are you going to stay with the Flowers, the people who made you and can unmake you just as easily. Because if you choose her, I can promise this photo will be all over the school Monday morning.” She popped open the back case and took the film roll, putting it in her purse. Apparently Colt Lake didn’t get anything made after 1989.
“Why are you doing this?” Starlight asked, stepping closer to Rose and putting herself squarely between the two of us. “I haven’t done anything to you. I’ve forged notes for every prank you came up with, gone along with everything you suggested. I came to this party, didn’t I?”
“Yes, and you brought her.” Rose pointed at me. “Being a Flower only means something if we don’t hang out with trash. People see you just acknowledging her, and you’re not ‘in’ anymore. You’re just another loser and the rest of the Flowers look bad by association. I’m not letting you drag us down with you.”
Starlight sighed. She brought her hand up to rest her forehead against, and I could imagine her closing her eyes to try. “You are a mythic bitch, Rose.”
Rose laughed. “I know. Now, what’ll it be? Stay on the team or am I going to have to make some cuts?”
“I–” Before she could go any further, Starlight doubled over, a wave of bile erupting from her mouth and splashing directly onto Rose’s top. Rose and the Flowers screamed, I laughed. Instant karma can be great sometimes.
“You!”Rose snarled, losing her composure. “I raised you up from nothing, and this is how you repay me? In puke?!” I moved back, heading towards the window, fighting the urge to charge into the fray. We could take on the school another day. On our own time and terms.
“Lick it up, baby,” Starlight shouted back, not just standing her ground, but even stomping forward, getting within inches of vomit-soaked Rose. “Lick. It. Up.”
“That’s it,” Rose shouted. “Come Monday, you and your girlfriend are done for. You’ll have to move out of state before anyone, anyone, will even think of talking to you.”
“Yeah, well…” Starlight looked back to me. “Get the window, Sunset!” I opened the window before she could even finish saying my name, and she shoved Rose, pushing her back out the threshold and into Lily.
“Come on!” I scrambled out the window and onto the patio roof, Starlight coming along right behind me and shoving the window mostly closed behind her. I looked down at the drop.
“Did you see that?” Starlight laughed, running up behind me before coming to a staggering stop, inches away from the drop. She reached out and steadied herself on me. “Rose is going to kill us.” She stopped, looking down at the several feet to ground level. “That’s… that’s a drop.”
“Eight feet at the most,” I said. “I’ll grab onto the edge, hang down, and from there that’s only a three foot drop. Then, you can hop off and I’ll catch you. Ok?”
From the room, we could hear Rose shouting, alarm spreading as the least drunk party goers realized someone was on the roof. “Let’s go,” Starlight said. I got down on my knees, tiles digging in as I grabbed the edge and dropped down.
A shock ran up my knees, but I stayed up and heard people on the patio gasp. Not important. I looked up at Starlight, holding out my arms wide for her. She jumped, and then I was on my back, her great, purple eyes inches from mine, as all the air rushed out of me.
“Hey,” she said, grinning at me. “Funny us running into each other, huh?” She moved a finger to wrap around a lock of my red and yellow hair. Then, the front door banged open. Right, if we just stayed down here like this, Rose wouldn’t need the stupid photo.
“Ok, Starlight, time to get up,” I said, wiggling out from under her, and she took the cue, pushing herself up.
“Don’t let them get to her bike,” Hoops, at least, the one I decided was probably Hoops, said, him, Score, and another couple of their jock buddies heading to my motorcycle. I clenched my fists and stepped forward, just in time to watch Score snap the side view mirror off my bike. They wanted to make things tough? I could be tougher than tough.
“Sunset.” Starlight tugged at my arm. I looked back at her. “Let’s just get out of here, my place is close by.”
Ugh, she was right. Fighting on the enemy’s terms was the quickest way to lose a battle, and we couldn’t afford losses right now. We turned away from the party, and she led me into the dark, running through backyards and hopping fences as flood lights switched on, triggered by our escape.
Starlight gulped for air as we crossed a street, the sounds of the party now absent, no signs of any pursuit. Who knew high school students would rather stay with the alcohol than go chasing after two girls through the suburbs. We slowed down. “So, you were right,” she said, leaning against me. “Bringing you to that party was a bad idea.”
“You don’t say, Miss Genius. Want to tell me just what you were thinking?” Besides her just wanting me around, which, fair.
“We were having a good time, and I didn’t want you to leave me,” she said. “I wish I could say I had some big master plan, but I just really like you, and for some reason, I thought that would be enough.” She pointed back to where we came from. “We’re dead, Sunset. I used to get bullied for having a zit, and now we’re going to stick out like two gay, sore thumbs.”
Starlight reached a two-story house, old and cloaked in shadows and turned, heading off the sidewalk towards a gate leading to the backyard. “Fuck ‘em,” I said. “We’ll be together, and by my count, we’ve only got seven months until we’re blowing this town.”
She laughed, leaning against the wood gate, looking down at the latch. Then, she turned on me, grabbing me and pulling me against her as our lips made contact. Her tongue slid into my mouth as her left hand moved to cradle my head.
The force of our kiss bent me back, her hands supporting me as I dipped. I dug into heras tight as I could. The moment stretched on, the two of us wrapping around each other as the vacuum in our mouths forced us together. Then, she broke the connection, grinning down at me.
“Come on,” she said as I stood up straight. She undid the gate latch with one hand as the other unbuttoned her jacket. “If we’re going to be social outcasts come Monday, then I think we’re owed two days of whatever we want.” She opened the gate and walked back into her garden, holding onto my hand. “And right now, there’s only one option that I like.”
I stared up at the night sky, stars fading as grey crept in from the east, my fingers running through Starlight’s hair. “That was…” My hand drifted to the croquet mallet that turned into a prop at some point during the night. I tilted to my head up to see Starlight’s head rising and falling with my breaths.
“Yeah,” Starlight agreed, not needing to hear the end. How long until her parents woke up?
Time to move. “I should probably head home,” I said, gently lifting her off me and sitting up, looking for any signs of my clothes in the dark. “Sun’s going to rise soon, and I don’t think your parents are going to be super thrilled if they see this.”
“No, stay.” Starlight wrapped her arms around me, pulling me back to the ground. “We can clean this up, move to my room, and my parents will never know. You’re not going anywhere until Monday.”
Well… I looked at her, then thought about the boxes of unpacked junk still in my room, and my dad. “You don’t have to convince me,” I said, lying back down. “Just, in about two hours, I’m pretty sure your parents are going to get around to looking at your backyard.” Honestly, it was a small miracle they hadn’t woken up already, but why complain when life breaks your way.
“I know,” she said, getting up on all fours and crawling towards her top. “So we won’t stay out here, but I do have a bedroom, and it’s not like my parents just burst in without knocking.” Lucky her. “Besides, they’ll probably just be happy I’m hanging out with friends who aren’t the Flowers, and why would anyone have a problem with a chaste, friendly sleepover?” Even in the dark, I could see her winking at me.
“Ok,” I said, standing up and grabbing the duster which had been doubling as our blanket up until a few seconds ago. Now where the hell did my jeans go? I checked near the gate. My shoes were a few paces off the path and… There! Something that looked like denim in the bushes. I walked over, plucking my pants free and wiggling them back on. Next up, shirt and bra, and… shit, I can’t believe I forgot it.
“Looking for this?” Starlight asked, calling me back to where she sat, pinching my underwear and holding them up. I picked my bra up off the ground and really gave it a good look. It had been lying on the grass, did I really want to put that back on or just stick with my shirt and pants until I got back home?
“Just put it in my bag.” I pointed, tossing the other garment at her as I grabbed my shirt and slid it back on.
“Sure,” she said, grabbing the bag from next to her. How had it stayed so close to us while my bra went all the way… Didn’t matter. I watched as she unzipped my bag and then stopped. “What’s this?” she asked, pulling the box out. Right, the second most dramatic thing from yesterday. "And what's that thing on the lid? Looks like some sort of chimera, but not a popular one."
“No idea.” I rejoined Starlight and sat on the ground next to her. “When you went to the bathroom at the Canterhorn, some chick I’d never seen before came up to me, thought she knew me, and then asked me to take the box while she distracted someone.” I shrugged. “Been meaning to check it out.”
“Wait,” Starlight said, rubbing her head. “You just took a package from a stranger? What if it’s something important? What if it’s someone’s medicine?”
“Then hopefully, they’ve got a doctor who can prescribe them more,” I said. “Look, someone runs up to you, leaves in their hair, shouting your name, and they tell you to take a box while they go back and distract ‘them,’ are you really going to get into a debate about it or just end the conversation ASAP?”
“Maybe.” She stood up, dressed enough for us to sneak back in the house, the clothes she didn’t put back on now draped over the box. “So, are we going to open it?”
“Obviously,” I said, getting up and following her to the patio door. “I planned on opening it up by myself and–” She turned back to shush me. Right. We crept through the house, Starlight cringing with every creak of a floorboard as we climbed the stairs heading towards what I could only assume was her room. We reached a door.
“Promise not to laugh?” Starlight asked, voice low.
“Promise,” I said. How bad could her room be? Probably a bunch of stuffed animals and posters for some boy bands. Basic suburban girl shit. “Just between you and me, I have a stuffed animal that my mom gave me that’s one of the few things I make sure I pack every move.”
Starlight smiled. “Thanks, but that’s… just see for yourself.” She opened the door and holy shit. Even in the dark, I could see the black wallpaper running floor to ceiling only broken up by posters with skulls and people with long, black hair and brooding looks. Awesome.
“Oh shit, this is so cool,” I said, entering the room and closing the door behind me. Holy crap, did she have a skull guitar hanging from the wall? “Sorry, but this.” I pointed at her in mostly a skirt and blazer. “And this. I definitely didn’t see this coming.”
“I went through a dark phase in middle school,” she said, sitting on her bed, tossing the clothes she’d stacked on the box off into a convenient pile. “And most of high school. The Flowers have never seen my room, if they did…” She stopped “I guess it wouldn’t matter now.”
Ok, maybe she was a bit of a poser, but it was still cooler than the Flowers. I stood up, moving to her closet, and found a black corset dress and way more t-shirts than Rose would ever allow. “I would do some dark shit to see you in some of these outfits,” I said, turning back to her.
Starlight leaned against the wall, stroking my box. “We can arrange that, but first, do you want to crack this open?”
“I’ll give you the honor,” I said, sitting on her bed next to her.
She smiled, unlatching the clasp and opening the box, and the smile stopped. She twisted the box so I could see, turning on the lights as she did. The box held a polaroid camera with a little pamphlet next to it. Presumably, an instruction manual for the five people who’d never seen a camera before. I picked it up and turned it over to see Memory Saver on the side, red and in all caps. “Huh,” I said.
“Guess I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up,” Starlight said, taking the camera from me. “I don’t even know what I expected.” Maybe a cursed amulet or stone tablet. Something more than just a camera.” Or drugs. People run out to you in the middle of the forest screaming about distracting someone and shoving a box in your face, it’s probably drugs.
“Well, it’s kind of retro,” I said, taking my duster off. “Come on, take a photo of me.”
“Alright, strike a pose,” she said. I stood up. What to do? I mimed holding a pistol and pointed it out of frame. Which, ugh, as soon as I did it felt dumb. Still, Starlight laughed, the camera flashed, and everything went white.
No, like, everything went white. I rubbed my eyes, blinking a few times. What the fuck? I stood in the middle of a white void and– “What the fuck?” My stomach squeezed, bile rising up in my throat as my breathing quickened, faster and faster. Get a hold of yourself.
“Ok, ok,” I said, looking around and fighting through the fear, taking a few deep breaths to steady myself. Ok. Starlight took the photo and then I found myself here. So, what were my options? Most likely option, I had a stroke or something and was dead or in a coma, and this was purgatory or just my own mind. “No, my mind’s not that empty.” But if it was purgatory? Maybe I’d get to see mom again.
Alternatively? My entire understanding of the world was a lie, magic existed, and I had a camera that could imprison people? But what the hell? People didn’t just stumble across magic artifacts. “But here I am.”
Fair. Hard to be incredulous when you’ve got the evidence all around you. “So, assuming we’re not dead and in purgatory, how’re we getting out of here?”
I crossed my arms and started walking forward. Moving, at least, was something. Maybe my prison had boundaries. “Ok, Sunset, you might be here for a while, so time to figure out ground rules.” Mainly, could I die here? I held my breath and waited. And waited. And waited.
And I felt fine. Cool, I exhaled air that didn’t exist, getting a little more used to my temporary (hopefully?) home. So, I could stay here indefinitely and be fine, which… points for purgatory, I guess.
Up ahead, a sliver of color revealing Starlight’s bedroom. So, yeah, not purgatory. I sprinted towards it, and as I ran more and more of the white unravelled, threads of white unspooling as the color outside my temporary prison expanded, more and more of her bedroom becoming visible. I stood on the edge, looking as the threads of nothing ripped away. I did what anyone does standing over an unknown precipice. I jumped.
“It worked,” Starlight said as I stumbled forward, bracing myself on a bedpost back in the real world. I looked behind me to see her standing, holding my photo, torn slightly, in one hand and the instructions in the other. A second later, her arms wrapped around me and her head was buried in my duster. “You don’t know how scared I was that I lost you.”
“How’d you get me out?” I asked, stroking her hair and back.
“The instructions, they said if I wanted to stop saving a memory, I needed to rip the photo so the border was broken but not completely in half.” I looked at her bed, seeing the camera resting on a pillow. “I can’t believe we have a magic camera. I can’t believe magic is real.”
“Yeah, it’s a little heavy,” I said, looking at the camera, studying it, thinking about it’s potential. “But it’s fine, I’m here, we’re safe, and look, the sun isn’t even up yet.” I yawned, exhaustion creeping up on me now that I was out. And had a physical body. “And maybe we can use the camera for something good.”
“Like what?” Starlight asked, joining me in looking at the camera.
“I don’t know,” I lied. Yeah, lying to my girlfriend, great move. “But we have to have it for a reason. Think about it, the day after we met, on our first date, we get this.” The same day you burn bridges with your best friend. “I don’t believe in coincidences, Starlight. We met for a reason, we got this camera for a reason.” I kissed her forehead. “We’re going to do something great together, Starlight.”
Starlight smiled, looking at the camera before pushing me down on the bed. “You’re a real sweetalker, aren’t you?” she asked.
I shrugged as she took my duster off me, not missing what she was saying. “Just telling the truth,” I said, pulling her down onto the bed with me. “Because, Starlight, the two of us? That’s fate, and you don’t have to be a genius to see that.”
She kissed me. I kissed back. The camera could wait until after.
***
I woke up to Starlight screaming, my arm damp with her cold sweat. “It’s alright,” I whispered into her ear. “You’re here. With me.” The screaming stopped, and she turned back to look at me, eyes wide.
“We need to talk to Rose,” she said. Outside her room, I heard footsteps coming towards us and hopped out of bed, locking the door and leaning against it.
“Starlight,” her mom (presumably) asked. “Are you alright, sweetie?” I heard her try the handle.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she said, sitting up and looking at me. “I just had a bad dream, that’s all.”
“Alright,” Starlight’s mom said. She stopped trying the handle. “Do you want to talk about it? Your father and I are here for you.”
“No.” She rolled her eyes. “I can’t even remember what it’s about, now. I think I’m just going to lay down a little bit.”
“Oh, well, whatever you think is best, dear.” Footsteps moved away and we both exhaled, and Starlight patted the bed next to her for me. I sat down.
“So, you want to talk about it?” I asked, looking at her and the camera resting on the nightstand.
“What’s there to talk about?” She shrugged. “We’re both screwed unless I apologize to Rose.”
“You said last night, you didn’t care about that, that you were fine with it being us against the world.” What good would her talking to Rose accomplish? Unless… My eyes flicked away from her for a second to the camera.
Starlight sighed, looking at the door. “That was a beautiful dream,” Starlight said. “But Rose rules Westercolt with an iron fist. There’s no way we’re surviving to June without doing at least something to placate her, and if that means we both beg, we both beg.” She narrowed her eyes. “Are you with me?”
God help me, how could I say no to that face? “Always. But do you think I can borrow a few of your clothes before we go?”
***
I dressed almost entirely in black, in one of Starlight’s old torn T’s that fit way to well to have been purchased in middle school. My bag bumped against my side, camera ensconced inside, the last thing I grabbed from Starlight’s house before sneaking out the back window while she kept her parents distracted. Now, I stood in the foyer of the most ostentatious McMansion I’d ever seen, with a heraldic symbol of a gold rose hanging from the wall. “Are you sure she’s here?” I asked.
“Trust me,” Starlight said, leading me into the kitchen and the stairs up. “She skips her Saturday visit to her grandma’s even when she’s not hungover. Rose!” She shouted the last word. “Rose?”
“What is it?” she shouted, voice coming from upstairs.
“We came to apologize, Rose.” Starlight stood at the base of the stairs, looking up, I leaned against the kitchen counter. Someone had left a thing bottle of Drano out on the counter like it was a pitcher of tea.
“Make me a prairie oyster and I’ll think about it,” she said. I looked back at the bottle. Interesting idea, but I already had the camera. Anything more was overkill.
“A prairie oyster,” Starlight said, joining me in the kitchen proper. “That’s an egg, pepper, what else?” She snapped her fingers, trying to recall the missing ingredients.
“Tomato juice, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and salt,” I said. She looked at me for a second before opening the fridge. “Don’t act too surprised, I’ve been giving my dad hangovers and curing them since I was ten.” Mostly mixing drinks on request, because what girl didn’t dream of her dad shouting at her to make a Jack and Coke and shouting even louder if it wasn’t perfect? Starlight went rummaging through the kitchen, looking for what she wanted, while I had what she needed resting safe inside my bag.
Starlight needed Rose out of her life. The only reason we were here was because she freaked about fallout. She needed to be free of Flowers, she just didn’t know the fight to get there. Lucky for her, her girlfriend grew up fighting. “You’re not going to make some joke about that Drano over there? You know, like, ‘maybe we should pour her a glass of this. It would kill her, thus ending her hangover,’” Starlight asked.
I smiled, arm resting easily over my bag. “That’s a little morbid, isn’t it?” I picked up the Drano. “Do you want me to pour her ‘Sunset’s 100% Patented Hangover Cure?’”
Starlight laughed, cracking the egg hard into the glass. “No, we’re not murdering my friend just because she’s a bitch.” She stopped, adding an amount of Worcestershire and hot sauce. It might even be a decent amount. “Lots of people are assholes. Should we get rid of them, too?”
“Interesting proposal,” I said, feeling my bag. “Making the world better one jerk at a time. But that’s up to you, I’m just here for moral support.”
She finished the drink and walked up to me. “And I appreciate it.” We kissed, one arm wrapping around my waist, the other holding onto her drink. “Now let’s go give Rose some hair of the dog.”
***
“What is she doing here?” Rose asked, the two of us standing in front of her. I rolled my eyes.
“We came to apologize, Rose,” Starlight said. “And she’s here because I want her to be.” And to knock off the Wicked Witch. “I want to patch things up between us, but you can’t control who I see.”
“Well, if you’re going to beg, get it over with.” She waved a hand dismissive as Starlight offered out the drink. My hand drifted into the bag, feeling the outline of what I needed. Rose grabbed the drink. “And I hope you brought kneepads.”
Starlight balked. “You can’t be serious.” Rose stared, dead serious. About to be just dead. Or close enough to it, anyways.
The moment stretched on, Starlight shuffling, about to lower herself down. Fuck it. “Hey, Rose,” I said.
“What?” She looked at me, Starlight forgotten for a second as I pulled the camera out of my bag, and I got to see sweet comprehension run across Starlight’s face.
“Say cheese.” The camera flashed and her glass shattered on the floor, prairie oyster spreading across the glass coffee table. Rose was gone. Ding dong ding.
For a long second, the only sound was me shaking the polaroid, watching for any signs of development. Starlight broke the silence. “Sunset, what the fuck have you done?”
“Uhmm, saved your ass. You’re welcome, by the way.” She stared at me for more of an explanation. “She’s not dead. She’s not going to die in there, so we can sit on her for as long as we want, and then when we’re about to graduate, we pop her back out. Plus…” I trailed off to see if she could finish the thought.
“If she goes missing, no one should be talking about us Monday morning.” Fast learner. Definitely earning some of that genius cred today.
A copy of The Bell Jar sat on the coffee table, absorbing broken yolk. “Especially if we write a note.”
She looked from the book to me, I looked at the photo, I could see the first traces of Red in the photo. “A suicide letter?”
“We don’t have the body for that,” I said. A few pieces of paper were on her desk. “But Rose, overcome with a myriad of regrets for all her misdeeds, she decides to run away, and leaves a note saying how awful she feels for everything she’s done. It’s terrible, it’s tragic, and it’s all anyone’s going to be talking about for a week.”
Starlight stepped up, moving to the desk. “I knew about pain, I knew about loss.” She looked back at me. “Something like that?” She shook her head. “But we can’t do this. We should just let her go.”
“Yeah, because she wasn’t pissed off enough at us before. Now that we imprisoned her with a magic camera, I’m sure she’ll be way more reasonable. Look, it only has to be for a few weeks. She goes away, we write her letter where she’s so sorry for everything she’s done, and I bet you know some real horrid shit she’s done, right?”
“I faked the notes,” Starlight confirmed.
“So admit to those things, make up some other ones, then when we release her in a few weeks, she’s a nobody. The queen bee cracked and the whole school got to see behind the curtain.” And hopefully, the other Flowers wouldn’t be stupid enough to try and bring up the not-magic photograph.
Starlight sat at the desk, grabbing a pin and tapping it. “And it’s not like anyone’s going to believe her,” she said. “We trapped her in a photograph? Even I’m having a hard time believing it.” I could imagine her chewing her cheek, thinking over all the options. And it’s not like we were killing anybody.
I walked up behind her and hugged her, wrapping my arms around her neck as I whispered the clincher in her ear. “And with her gone, there’s nothing that can get in the way of us being together. Now, what would she write?”
For a second, neither of us moved as I waited to see what she’d do. Then, she decided, writing the first lines of Rose’s goodbye. “Dear world, believe it or not, I knew about fear, I knew the way loneliness stung.”
“That’s good.” And it was. A couple more faces flashed in my mind. And if we were smart, it could be even better.
I held a copy of Rose’s farewell letter along with the rest of the school, now packed into the cafeteria and listening to that one teacher who broke up my fight with Hoops and Score read it out loud. “I sit at my desk and weep for all I’ve failed to be. When I think about what I could have done with my time at Westercolt, the genuine friendships I could have made if I had only lifted up my fellow students instead of tearing them down, I feel an immense sense of loss.” I looked at Starlight, leaned a little heavy on the thesaurus there, I thought, but she insisted. “I cannot go another day living in this life I’ve constructed for myself, so to all of those I hurt, I say goodbye, and hope you might find peace with my absence, and hope that one day, I can find some measure of absolution.”
As running away letters went, not bad. I looked at Hoops and Score and flashed back to yesterday and finding my bike trashed. We’d do better next time. Just as soon as I could get Starlight to agree to next time. “We all misjudged, Rose,” the teacher, Felcher(?), said. “We all have hidden depths, hidden pains we can’t express, and now we can see the depths of her suffering.” She reached out. “I want you all to really feel it.” I reached out to Starlight and rested my hand on hers and could see her relax almost imperceptibly. Anyone else wouldn’t have noticed.
“Are you feeling her sadness?” I asked, whispering into her ear. “Really feeling it.” Starlight laughed and the teacher’s head swiveled to her.
“Ms. Glimmer, is something funny to you?” she asked, stepping toward Starlight. “Tell me, what’s so funny about your friend running away?”
Starlight’s laugh deepened, she bent her head down, and under the table, she sunk her fingernails into her thigh. When she looked back up she was crying. “It’s just, Rose was my friend, and she never told me any of this.” She broke down sobbing then. Damn, my girlfriend had some acting chops. “And I wish I could have been theerreee.”
The teacher rested a hand on Starlight’s back. “Listen to how open you’re being. Rose would be so proud of you.” I looked out the window to roll my eyes. “We should all learn from Starlight’s example. If we were in touch with our emotions like her, Westercolt would be a much better place, and Rose would still be with us.”
Please, it’s not like Rose was dead. For all they knew, she could come back tomorrow. Not that she would, but she could if I wanted her to. The bell rang, and everyone in the school except Fletcher let out a sigh of relief. “Alright, everyone, I want you to really think about what we talked about tonight. Let’s take Rose running away as the spark we need to transform Westercolt.”
And half the class was already at the bus. “Damn, color me impressed,” I said to Starlight as we left the cafeteria. “Crying on command like that, well done.”
“Well, I wouldn’t have had to if you hadn’t made me laugh,” she said, shoving at me. “Can you believe–”
“Hi, Starlight,” some blue girl said. “I’m sorry, I know we haven’t talked much, I just wanted to say how sorry I am about Rose. All this time, I thought she was a stuck-up bitch, but who knew she was so relatable? She really was just like us, wasn’t she?”
Starlight nodded, smiling. “She was, and if she could have heard you say that, I think she’d be happy.” The two of us traded a glance, and Starlight did a very good job not smirking.
The other girl hugged Starlight. “Well, if you ever need anyone to talk to, I’m here for you.” And then she ran off, leaving the two of us drifting back towards my locker.
“Damn, Starlight, should I be jealous?” I asked, pushing against the swarm of students.
“Please.” She leaned against me as we walked, no one apparently caring. “She couldn’t hold a candle to you on her best day. It’s amazing, though. How many of these kids were at the party? And now, we’re completely forgotten about us.”
“Yeah, well, Rose missing was a fucking asteroid crashing into Earth. Anything that happened before then got buried.” I wrapped my arm around her. “It’s a new age, Starlight.”
We turned the corner to see my locker and a few of the dinosaurs that were still hanging around. “Oh, look, it’s Starlight and her widdle girlfriend,” Hoops said. They parted, revealing ‘Dyke’ spray painted on my locker. Lovely. A few students walking to the bus laughed when they saw it.
“Uh-oh,” Score said, walking around us. “Did someone vandalize your locker? Who could’ve done it?” I sighed.
“I bet it was those same jerks who vandalized your bike.” And back to Hoops. “We’re sorry.”
“Hey,” Score said, laughing. “Maybe you and Starlight can come to my place and we can take care of you.”
“Dude, she beat us up.” Hoops looked at his traitorous friend. I just waited for them to go away.
“Yeah, but she’s still hot. Can you imagine getting sandwiched by the two of them?” Score thrusted, and I tried not to gag.
“Oh, nice!” They high-fived. I just walked past them and opened my locker. “You want us to layoff? Then you know what you need to do.” Beat the shit out of them again before taking their photo? That would get them to lay off.
“Could you two get any more disgusting?” Starlight asked. I opened my locker, tossing a few books in.
“Yeah, we can, baby,” Hoops said, pulling my girlfriend against him. “Come over tonight, and we’ll show you how disgusting we can be.” I slammed my locker door shut and my fist clenched
“Get off me,” Starlight said, shoving Hoops away before I could do anything.
“Fine, be that way,” Hoops said. “Offer still stands whenever you want to see how much better it can be with a man. The two of you, the two of us, one big, sexy sandwich.”
Yeah, propositioning the only two confirmed lesbians in the school. Well, maybe Starlight was bi, but still. Not like they were bringing anything to the table. “Come on Starlight, let’s get out of here.” We walked away, the two of them lingering behind us.
“Can you believe them?” she asked, once they fell far enough behind. “Rose goes missing, and Hoops is propositioning us less than twenty-four hours later.” Were Hoops and Rose going out? Whatever, they could spend eternity together soon enough.
“The two of them being incorrigible horn dogs?” I asked as we left the school and moved to the parking lot. “Yeah, I can buy it. Good thing we don’t have to deal with them outside of school.”
“Well, I might,” she said, pulling out her keys. “There’s a vigil tonight where we’re asking Rose to come home. The remaining Flowers are supposed to attend, and…”
“You’re actually going to that?” I asked. When she could be hanging out with me.
“It wouldn’t be proper if I skipped.” She sighed, opening the door. I followed her. “Besides, it’s kind of fun, isn’t it? Hearing them talk about how great Rose was, when they’re just reading my words? Everything they were mourning her for, I made.”
I laughed. “Damn, I didn’t think you’d be so down with us taking care of Rose.” I took my seat and buckled in as Starlight started the engine.
“You said it yourself, she’s not gone for good. We’re not murderers. And if I enjoy the way getting rid of her made Westercolt a better place to be? That’s not a crime, that’s just enjoying the fruits of our labor.”
We peeled out of the parking lot. Maybe getting rid of Hoops and Score would be easier than I thought. But if I handled it wrong, she’d dig in in opposition. “So, Hoops and Score, huh?” I asked. “Can you believe the two of them propositioning us? After they vandalized my bike and my locker.”
Starlight turned us. “It’s what they do. They’ll settle down in a few weeks, and we can ride out the rest of the year.”
“Sure,” I said, cramming as much doubt as I could into that word. “And you don’t think they’ll stop trying to coerce us? They know about us, and it’s clear they’re going to hold it over our heads if we don’t do what they want.”
“And what would you propose, Sunset? Have two more students go missing?” Damn, I pushed too hard.
“You’re the one who suggested that,” I said, watching her face for any tells. Tense, but not full upset. “I’m just pointing out the problem. But do you have a better solution?”
“I just told it to you: We wait, they find some other target, and we move on with our lives. We got lucky once. Rose is gone, Westercolt’s being introspective for once, and no one suspects us. Two more popular kids who have every reason to hate us go missing? Someone’s going to start asking question, and then we could both go to jail.”
Damn, no photos tonight. “Alright, we play it cool, then.” I shrugged. “You want to crash at my place before you go to your little vigil? Or maybe just skip the vigil entirely?”
“Sure,” she said. “I guess it’s time I finally see your place. But just for a few minutes.”
***
Several hours later, she was resting her head on my lap as we watched the vigil on TV. “I just hope Rose sees this outpouring of love and support and how much she means to us,” Lily said live. I rolled my eyes.
“So, did she actually like Rose, or…”
“Please,” she said, tossing some popcorn in her mouth. “The only person who maybe liked Rose was Daisy, and even then, I’m not convinced. But Rose’s is a lot easier to like when she’s away, I guess.” She tossed a kernel of popcorn at me, and I opened my mouth trying to catch it. Instead, it bounced off my lip and down into her purple hair. I plucked it out for her and dropped it in her mouth. “And I guess her parents. Maybe.”
“Wow.” Say something better.
“And now, thanks to us, everyone loves her,” Starlight said before I could think of a better response. “Whenever we send her back, she’ll be more popular than ever.”
“Maybe,” I said, changing the channel. Another interview, same Lily. “Or maybe we’ll have a new Rose-less Westercolt equilibrium that she won’t be able to get back into.”
We trailed off, watching the news. It would be all Rose for the next few days, probably. At least, unless a couple of jocks bumped her out of primetime. “Hey, Sunny,” Starlight said. I looked down at her. “What’s with those suitcases?” She pointed at a couple I had packed at the door.
Right. Shit. “You know how I kind of move around a lot?” I asked.
“I think you mentioned something about it.” She frowned seeing where I was going. “You’re not going to leave Westercolt, are you?”
“Don’t really have a choice,” I said. “If my dad gets a new job somewhere else, we go there. Although I turn eighteen in March, and then I can do whatever I want.”
“Hmm,” she said. “Then, hopefully he doesn’t have to go anywhere until then.” And speaking of my dad, the door slammed open and shut and I heard footsteps going to the kitchen, pausing, then falling our way.
“Hey, dad,” my dad said, coming to my door and leaning heavily against the frame. “Sorry for breaking your rule and bringing a girl into the house.”
“Well, Sunset,” I said, glaring at him. “You’re almost an adult, and I think you can have whoever you want over, no matter what my personal views are.” Starlight sat up, looking between us.
“But I know how much you disapprove of my terrible life choices, and I’d never want to upset you.” He just fucking stood there, overgorged stomach heaving for air, open beer in his hand.
“True, true, but that doesn’t change the fact this is your house as much as mine and you should have your friends over if you want.” If he scared Starlight away, I’d never forgive him.
“Geeze, Dad, I’m still real sorry for not respecting your rules, and especially for not introducing my ‘friend’ to you.”
I looked back at Starlight. “Starlight, this is my dad, Mirror Catch. Dad, this Starlight Glimmer.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Starlight lied, nowhere near as convincing as in the cafeteria. She offered him her hand. He just passed her his beer.
“Hey, Dad, I guess it would be polite of me to invite my friend to dinner. Sorry about not doing that yet.” We both looked at Starlight.
“Starlight, you want to stay for dinner?” I asked her. I could already see the answer in her eyes.
“That’s ok,” she said, setting the beer down. “I just remembered Mom’s making spaghetti for dinner, and you know, that’s my favorite.” She squeezed past Dad and out into the hallway. “I’ll pick you up for school tomorrow.” And then she was gone, and the world got that much shittier.
“Well, sorry, Dad, guess my girlfriend was too rude to accept my invitation. Just goes to show.” Or maybe she freaked out because he came in acting like a psychopath. Just a guess. He grabbed his beer can.
“Well, you know I give you shit for being a lesbian, but I’d freak out just as much if you ever bought a guy home,” I said, stomping up to him and keeping him from going any further in my room. “Not that you ever would, because even I can see how gross and disgusting men are.”
“Dad, I’m going to stop bringing this up, because I know you’re paying for my motorcycle repairs, and I’d hate to be ungrateful when you’re being so kind.” He backed up, moving to the edge of my room. I looked at the nightstand and a certain camera resting there.
“You’re fine,” I said, turning back to him. Later. Maybe. “But since you’re little friend isn’t going to be staying for dinner, I hope you’re fine fending for yourself tonight. These old demolition tapes aren’t going to watch themselves.” He glared at me. I glared back, daring him to prove me wrong and actually fix a meal for once instead of leaving that to me.
“Ok, Dad, but I’m going keep my door open a crack because I know how much you worry about me getting into trouble,” said the man who didn’t even know I’d gotten suspended from school last week. I cracked the door and flopped back down on my bed. As long as I didn’t kill him by March, I’d never have to see him again.
I looked at the corkboard hanging over my desk and the photo of Rose hanging there. Maybe soon, she wouldn’t feel so alone.
“Sunny, we should talk more,” my dad said sprawled out on his recliner, beer in his hand. “You’re always locked up in your room or out on a bike.”
I looked at the door, to freedom and school and Starlight, and back at the swamp of his drunken self-loathing. “Did you get any sleep, Dad?” I asked, stepping closer to his orbit.
“Enough.” He took another pull of his beer. Muted implosions flashed on the screen. At least he was too drunk to talk for me. “Not to say I’m supporting of you running around with girls, but at least you’re bringing good cutlets home.” Why did he have to ruin everything? “Starlight, right? That’s a damned nice, looking girl. If you were my son, I’d be proud.”
“Ok, Dad, I need to get to school.” A honk came from outside. Starlight didn’t want to come in after yesterday. Definitely a genius..
“You can stay and talk to your old man. I’ll drive you.” He grunted, finishing the bottle.
“Dad, you’ve been drinking all night, and Starlight’s right out just. Just let me go.” And let get the hell out of here.
“Sunny, you’re my little girl.” He climbed up to his feet and lumbered towards me. “We should be spending more time together. Let me drive you to school.”
Fuck it, I moved to the door. “Got to go, Dad,” I said as he drunk staggered closer. My hand gripped the knob and I turned. “I’ll see you after school.” Or I’d stay at Starlight’s, if she’d let me. Or maybe his inevitable heart attack would hit him, and I’d be free forever. I felt the weight of my bag pulling on my shoulder. Or maybe I could free myself.
“Come back and talk with your old man,” he said, sticking his head out the door as I hopped into Starlight’s car.
“Drive.” And she did, hitting the gas before I could finish buckling.
“What’s going on?” Starlight asked as we turned a corner too hard, sending me into her.
I took a breath, calming down. “Just my dad being an asshole.” And we didn’t need to say anymore about that. “Hope you’re ready for another day of pretending to miss Rose.”
Starlight smiled, but not like when she was actually happy. “Yep, it’s like you said, right? Rose going missing was an asteroid, and nothing else really matters.”
“Well, stuff from before then doesn’t, but new stuff’s new stuff, and right now, seeds are being planted that will shape the whole post-Rose equilibrium.” She just drove, lips puckered slightly. “Are there any seeds you want to talk about?”
“No, no,” she said. She looked at me and flashed an unsteady smile. “Just thinking how lucky we are everyone’s forgotten about that party.”
“Ok,” I said, and I let her deception lie.
***
The school day passed normally until second period when I heard a couple of girls giggling behind me, giggling at me, while the teacher explained the finer points of quadratic equations for the idiots in back. I looked over my shoulder at them, just in time to catch one of them pointing at me.
By the time lunch came around, I’d turned into the most popular girl to ever walk the halls of Westercolt, and heads turned to follow my every step, laughter following soon after. “What’s so fucking funny?” I asked to the closest looking dweeb, giving him a death glare.
“Nothing.” He smirked. I didn’t punch him. “Just, have you seen your girlfriend today?”
“She drove me to school,” I said. What the hell sort of question was that?
“Oh, so you did watch last night. I thought that part sounded like bullshit, but shows what I know?”
“Watch what?”
More laughter from the other end of the hallway. Starlight walked down the hall, eyes down on her feet. “Score told me there was a big sword fight in her mouth,” A Flower, maybe Lily, said loud enough for me to hear every word. “And after that, Hoops and Score just bent her over while her girlfriend watched!” And everything made sense.
“I bet she got off watching, that’s what lesbians do, right? Because they don’t have dicks of their own,” the other girl said, ending the stupidest thought of all time with a vacuous laugh. I took off towards Starlight.
She looked up as I blitzed down the hallway towards her. If the school knew, fuck it, we were out. Why make even the pretense of hiding anymore? “Sunset.” This close, I could see the tears in her eyes. “I’m so sorry, I swear I didn’t–”
Before she could say another word, my arms wrapped around Starlight. “I know,” I said as she pressed her head against my duster. “I know you, and I know them.” Sobs wracked her body. I held her closer.
“Hey, baby,” Score said, grey thumbs hooked into the pockets of his varsity jacket. “Been thinking about last night all day.” I turned to him and he winked at me. “You missed a great time last night. Did you know she was such a freak? Bet you did. Probably why you keep that honey so close to you.” He licked his lips.
“Get out of here,” I growled. “And stop spreading that bullshit.”
“Bullshit?” Scored asked, twisting his face up in mock hurt. “The time Starlight and I shared was very important to me, it’s not just some bullshit. Or… you’re not saying I made the story up, are you?”
“You know that’s exactly what happened,” I shouted, Starlight wasn’t clinging to me anymore, but she still looked like a mess. How much worse had the rumors been for her?
“If that’s what you have to tell yourself, I get it. Just…” He looked me in the eyes, throwing the gauntlet down. A circle had already formed, everyone in school knowing what was about to happen. “A shame you’ll never know how great she is at giving head.”
I launched my fist at him and he leaned out of the way just in time as he punched the air out of my stomach. I stayed on my feet. Surprise blinked across his face that he didn’t immediately bowl me over. I threw another punch at him, following it up fast with a third, barreling into him and backing him against the lockers. No escape for him or his stupid–
Something detonated behind my eyes and I imploded onto the ground. I stared up at the ceiling, blinking in fluorescent light. I was supposed to be winning, wasn’t I? I punched and I punched and he was against the wall and now my head throbbed against cold linoleum. Someone laughed above me, a blur of brown. “Boom, not so tough when you’ve got a fair fight on your hands, huh?”
Hoops. I rolled onto my stomach and tried to push myself up, before the tip of a shoe slammed into my stomach and I crashed back onto the ground, a beat-up sneaker in my periphery. “Just stay on the ground, we don’t want to beat up a girl, just needed to teach your place.” Another kick in my side and they walked away.
Like hell I was staying down. I tried to sit up before crashing back, Starlight catching me.
“I’m so sorry, Sunset.” Starlight held me close, tears soaking her face. “I’m sorry for not telling you what happened in the car, and I’m sorry for–”
“It’s not your fault.” I tried to smile, and the back of my head roared at me for daring to move anything. “Hoops and Score are jerks. Always will be.”
“But it is my fault,” she said, wiping the last few tears away from her eyes. “I should have listened to you yesterday. If I had…” Her eyes hardened. “But, I’m listening to you now.”
***
“Hey, Hoops,” Starlight said on the phone. “I wanted to say just how hot watching you and Score today was, and it got me thinking: What if we made all those things you said I did actually happen? Two guys at once has kind of been a guilty fantasy of mine.” She tried not to smirk as I crept up on her, planting a kiss every inch from her hip to her neck. She was already a great liar, but it didn’t hurt to give her a little more motivation.
“Mhmm, yeah,” she continued after Hoops said whatever enthusiastic affirmation he thought made him sound cool. “Why don’t you and Score come to the woods next to the train station tomorrow morning at dawn?” She sank her other hand into my hair, guiding me down. “And remember, it’s the two of you or nothing.”
I kissed her again, she gripped tighter. “I can’t wait.” Starlight hung up and laughed. “Wow, I thought I’d have to convince Hoops just a little bit, but just hinting at a threesome hooked him.” I looked up at her and her smile.
“Now all we need is the note,” I said, pulling away from her and tugging her to the desk.
“It won’t need to be too long.” She moved to take her seat; I rested my hands on her shoulders. “Not like Rose’s, one quick goodbye painting them as star-crossed lovers, and then we’re done. What do you think of ‘Hoops and I leave because we can no longer hide our gay, forbidden romance from a misapproving town?’”
“Perfect,” I said, and she started writing. I went to my bag resting on the dresser and pulled the camera free. Just a few more hours and 60% of the assholes in school would be gone. The remaining Flowers would have to go too, but then? Westercolt might be an alright place. “After that we should probably get to bed.”
Starlight put her pen down and looked back at me, smiling, hungry. We’d be going to bed alright.
***
I leafed through one of the copies of Stud Puppy we’d picked up from the 7-11, failing to get the appeal of the naked beefcakes crammed in the pages. But I didn’t need to understand, just take the photo when it came time.
Starlight shivered in the morning chill, arms crossed. “We need to do this,” she repeated under her breath.
“Of course we do,” I hugged her, dropping the magazine on the ground. “The only thing they can offer the school is date rapes and gay jokes. And if you stand them up now, what new lies are they going to spread? Who else will they hurt?” I whispered in her ear. “Remember, we’re making the school better.” I reached into my bag and pressed the camera in her hands. “Do you want the honor?”
“No.” She shook her head. “It will work better if you ambush them.” We waited in the stillness of the forest, early morning fog rising up. “You’re not going to leave me are you?”
What? “Where’s that coming from?” I asked, turning around to face her and taking my camera back. “Of course I’m not leaving you.”
“Ever?” Uhmm. Not that I planned on?
“No,” I said. I kissed her. “Never ever.” I put the camera in the bag.
“I’m sorry,” she said, looking away. “I know I shouldn’t be so insecure, I like you so much, and there’s this voice in my head whispering you’re going to abandon me as soon as something better comes along.”
“Most people do,” I said. What kind of shit was that to tell my girlfriend when she was in an insecure mood? “But not me. Do you know how many towns I’ve been to? And how many of them had kickass girls with an itch to make the world better?” I guided her chin so she looked me in the eyes. “If something better existed, maybe you’d have to worry, but you don’t.”
Heavy footsteps crashed through our moment and work began. I ducked behind the nearest tree, clutching the camera close. “Dude, she better be here,” Score said as they stumbled around. “We beat up her dyke friend and six hours later, she’s calling us to meet in the woods at dawn?”
“Yeah, bro, we showed her how alpha we are, and now she wants a real man. Classic psychology,” Hoops said. “Should have heard her on the phone, she sounded super horned up. You can’t fake that.” I smirked.
“I’m right here, boys,” Starlight said in her sultriest voice, stepping out of my view. “I thought you might stand me up.”
“No, no, we wouldn’t do that, Starlight,” Hoops said. “Right, Score?”
“Nope!” I didn’t laugh at their desperation. Like they’d never had a girl who actually wanted to sleep them before, which… they probably hadn’t. “Nope, we’re here. So,do we just whip it out?”
“Not so fast, Score,” she said. “Strip for me.”
“Ok,” they both said. A minute later, I saw a sock tossed into view. If they weren’t reprehensible assholes, I might feel bad for hurting people so stupid. But they made Starlight cry. I pulled out the camera.
“Wait, what about you?” one said.
“Oh, well, I was thinking you could tear my clothes off me, sport.”
Another chorus of ok’s.
“Close your eyes and count to three,” Starlight said. My cue. I stood up.
“One…” the two of them said. I stepped out of hiding to see Starlight looking at the two of them, holding a hand over her mouth. I lifted the camera up to eye level and aimed, spotting my targets through the viewfinder.
“Two…” I could take the photo now. Just one flash and they’d both be gone. But then they’d never know just who got the better of them, and where was the fun in that? I wanted them to see me triumphant before the camera flashed.
“Three,” I said. Both pairs of eyes snapped open and zeroed in on me. Hoops stood there, stupefied, trying to catch up to what was happening, but Score bolted right as I pressed the button.
A flash and Hoops was gone, and Score was running into the bushes. “Get their keys,” I said, shoving the photo in my pocket, and pointing at the pile of clothes. “I’ll take care of him.” Legs pumped through the forest, and I did my best to duck out of tree branches, working even harder to get Hoops into view.
“I’m sorry about your bike,” he said, crawling through the bushes. “Please let me go!” A sob broke in those last few words.
“If you ever want to see your best friend again, you’ll get out here this minute!” I shouted, stomping through the bushes after him, protecting my camera.
“Come on, why are you doing this?” I looked around, trying to figure out where he went. Shit. He’d head to the parking lot to escape, right? Or… no, back to Starlight and the keys.
“Come on, Score. Are you really going to run from a fair fight?” I asked, heading to where I thought I heard some noise. “Or is a girl and her camera really going to get the better of the toughest jock in Westercolt.” Lean into the machismo. He’d run to save his life, but he’d die to protect his stupid sense of masculinity. “Can you imagine how much Starlight’s going to laugh when she hears the big, strong man begged for his–”
The world spun around ninety degrees, and Score’s knee pressed into my kidney. “Give me back my friend!” I brought my hands up to shield myself as his fist came down. Well, I got what I wanted. No more running..
I grabbed his arm as it came down, stopping his fist inches away from my face. I just needed to beat him up, and then– Where was my camera? I tried to find just where it landed in the collision. “You want your friend back?” I asked. “He’s in my pocket.”
“What?” he asked, not getting it, which… considering the truth involved magic cameras was a little understandable
“Lower left pocket,” I said, acting patient. Acting disarmed. “He’s in the photo I took.”
He looked down to my pocket and reached in with his free hand. “My left,” I told him when he came up empty, and he found it on the second stab.
Score stood there, transfixed, looking at the last image of his friend. “You put him in the photo?” he asked, focusing entirely on the photo and shifting his knee off me.
“Yeah,” I said. “And all you have to do to get him out is tear the photo, not completely, just enough to rip the border.” And then I struck, squeezing out from under him and kicking him in the stomach, sending him stumbling back into a tree. And then the world lit up, blinding.
“Impressive,” Starlight said as I pushed myself back up. She was leaning against a tree, camera in one hand, the developing photo in the other. “I was going to get an angle so I could photograph him with you out of frame, but you saved me a step.” She walked over and offered out an arm I pulled myself up with.
“Happy to be of service,” I said, brushing some leaves off my duster. “So, do you have the keys?”
“Obviously,” she said. She stopped, and I could see her mind going back to our earlier conversation. “Sunset, I’m sorry about earlier. I hate feeling stupid, it’s just so hard to tune that voice in my head out, especially after Hoops and Score–”
I took off my duster and handed it to her as we started walking to the parking lot. “Take this,” I said, passing it to her.
“Your duster?” she asked, picking it up and tilting her head at it.
“Yeah, my most prized possession. The one thing I’d never leave behind. As long as you’ve got it, I can’t leave you, can I?”
She smiled at me, passing me the camera as she slid the duster on. The black duster made her blue pop all the harder. “No, you can’t.” We moved from forest to parking lot and she fished the note out of her purse. “You want to plant the mags?”
“Hell yeah,” I said, taking the keys from her and opening the back door, immediately getting hit by the stench sweat-stewed shoulder pads and codpieces and whatever else they gave you to try to stave off brain death while playing football. I tossed the magazines into the backseat fast and shut the door, trying to save my poor nostrils as much harm as possible. “How’s it look on your end?” I asked, turning back to Starlight.
She smiled, holding the camera to her heart as she inspected the car, our note pinned under the windshield wiper. “Beautiful.”
At school that day, everyone breathed easier with Hoops and Score gone. The students didn’t know why they were breathing easier yet, but they were, and that was what mattered. No one got concerned until that night, when their dads noticed their kids hadn’t come home. By lunch of the next day, they’d found the car, and the news caught the cafeteria on fire. Having a school assembly about it that afternoon was the next logical step. Obviously.
“I thought it was terrible how Hoops and Score went after you,” the girl sitting next to me who wasn’t Starlight said. “But I guess it makes sense if they were trying to hide their own relationship.” She looked past me to Starlight, the real person she wanted to talk with. “Deflection, right?”
Starlight smiled, her old, black making a comeback with my duster tying it all together. “That’s what I think. It’s terrible they didn’t feel like they could be themselves and they took it out on us.” She twined her fingers around mine. “But I think it’s important we look at what caused them to feel that way. Isn’t that right, Sunny?”
What was her game? “That’s right,” I agreed, trying to figure out Starlight’s plan. She’d been quiet ever since the photo.
“Alright, everybody,” that one busybody teacher said. “We’re going to talk about why you shouldn’t run away from home. Your problems might seem insurmountable, and I know running away can seem enticing, but that just won’t fix anything. Do you want to be homeless on the streets of some big city, not knowing where your next meal is? Is that better than just dealing with your problems?”
“Ms. Fleming,” Starlight said, her voice cutting through the auditorium and catching everyone’s attention. “Rose and I were friends, and in a way, I feel responsible for Hoops and Score running away.” Damn. I checked her expression: completely sincere. “Not that I did anything wrong, but my relationship with Sunset feels like it served as a catalyst for them leaving.” That was a way to put it, certainly. And if you twisted the words enough, it was an honest one “Please, can I say a few words?”
But Starlight was already standing when she asked the question, making her way to the mic, not that she needed it. “Of course, Starlight,” Fleming capitulated, making way for the new order. “This should be a place where we all feel free to share what’s on our minds.”
“Thank you,” Starlight said, finally reaching the microphone. She turned to face the school. “I wake up every morning thinking about Rose. About all this pain she held bottled up inside her for years that she never felt she could express. I think about Hoops and Score, two passionate, gay lovers who closeted themselves for years and lashed out at anyone who reminded them of their own buried shame. And I think: Why were they like that?” She paused, letting the question hang over the audience. “Why were these three beautiful, compassionate souls so monstrous to everyone else?” She looked me in the eyes. “To find the answer, we have to look within ourselves. And who do we see? People who are cruel, who will turn on you the second you step out of line, people who are just itching to dear down their peers.”
More than a few students fidgeted at that. “Why did they keep so much from us? Because we would have eaten them alive if they hadn’t.” She smiled. “But there’s good news. Our friends aren’t gone forever. We aren’t cursed to be like this forever. We can grow and learn to be generous, be kind to each other, to make our friends laugh instead of just laughing at them, we can turn the school into a place no one’s afraid to tell the truth, and most importantly, we can be there for each other. If we do that, if we dig deep and put in the hard work, we can transform Westercolt.”
“And that transformation?” she asked. Most students were leaning forward now. “It starts with us. I’m done trying to fit in. I’m done hiding what I’m feeling. And let me tell you, it feels so much better to just be me than shove myself into the ‘popular student’ mold however I can.”
A few students murmured at that. Mostly the ones in the periphery, who were watching a popular girl defect and join their cause, but still. “It’s time to take back Westercolt and make it a school we can be ourselves. It’s time to make Colt Lake our town!”
Students applauded. No standing up and cheering, but they still clapping. At least a little onboard. Lily stood up from the front row and walked next to Starlight. “May I?” she asked when the applause finished, reaching for the microphone.
“Of course,” Starlight said, relinquishing her grip.
“Thank you so much for that speech,” Lily said. “I know if she were here today, Rose would have loved hearing you say that, and I’m pretty sure Hoops and Score would have as well.” Starlight kept her smile frozen on her face. “And I promise, no matter what, I’ll be right by best friend’s side.” She looked at Starlight before turning back to her audience. “So come on, Westercolt. Let’s change the world!”
And the crowd went wild.
***
“Lily’s such a sad little poser, isn’t she?” Starlight asked hunched over her desk, working on plans for some school event or doing homework or something. “Two days ago, she’s telling everyone I had a threeway with Hoops and Score, and today, she’s standing next to me and saying how we’re best friends. If she thinks it will keep her at the top of the social pyramid, she’ll do it.”
I leaned back on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. “Yeah, a little bit,” I said. “So, you want to put her on the board?” I pointed at the cork board she’d pinned the photos of our missing classmates.
“Obviously. It’s just a question of when do we get rid of her? And what’s the pretense?” Pretense? “We can’t say she’s tired of pretending to be something she’s not, when she’s ‘being herself.’” She gave a long sigh. “We’ll have to discredit her first. Or fix it so something else makes her disappear. Maybe she goes missing hiking? Lots of reasons a person could disappear that’s not them running away.” She never took her eyes off her work to look back at me..
“Wow, you’re really going all out on this, huh?” I asked.
Starlight clucked her tongue. “We’ve got a lot of work to do, Sunset. I can’t sit on the sidelines anymore and do nothing while the worst sorts of assholes make life worse for everybody else. Hoops and Score taught me that.” A second later, she was climbing on top of me. “No one’s ever going to hurt you ever again.” She pressed her lips against mine, breathing fire into me, stroking my hair. “We can’t finish until every asshole is gone. Are you with me?”
I looked up at her, held under her power. “Yeah, that works for me.”
I looked at Daisy, sitting in her own table of the cafeteria, off by herself. I took a breath and walked to the table, taking my seat next to her. “Mind if I sit down?”
“Don’t you have a girlfriend?” she said, not looking at me, simply glancing at Starlight’s table, now an unofficial hub for school activity in the weeks after the assembly.
“Yeah,” I said, spearing the slimiest bit of mac and cheese ever with my fork. “And I love her to death, but I’ve never been what you’d call a ‘people person.’ Some days, a girl’s just got to eat lunch alone. Or as close to alone as you can get in Westercolt.”
“Oh, well, I won’t talk with you then,” she said. Nice, but that wasn’t the plan. “I’d just as rather be by myself, too.”
“Really,” I said, looking across the table at her. “Figured the head cheerleader would be a bit more of an extrovert. At least, that’s how it’s worked in every other school I went to.”
Daisy finally looked up at me, frown ground into her face. “And I bet in those schools, the head cheerleader didn’t have her best friend run away followed by her sort-of-boyfriend.” Around Starlight’s hub, people laughed. “And then, the two other girls who were supposed to be my friends just stopped talking with me, because I guess no one but Rose even even liked me, and she didn’t like me enough to tell me how much she was suffering, so maybe no one likes me. Hoops wasn’t really into me, right? I was just his… What was the word? His beard! So maybe, no one likes me. Maybe I’m unlikable.”
Yikes. We… we kind of fucked her up, and maybe she deserved it, but she didn’t seem like a mega bitch right now. “Well, you know, if you hadn’t helped Rose take that picture–”
She laughed, throwing her head back. “Oh, god, that stupid picture. You know, if I’d known Rose was about twelve hours from disappearing, maybe I wouldn’t have helped her, but I didn’t, so I chose surviving at school over protecting a girl who was going to get found out anyways. Ooh, or maybe after the vigil, I shouldn’t have– For being a secretly gay couple, Hoops and Score were great at acting straight.”
“Have you tried apologizing to Starlight?” I asked. Ok, so out of the Flowers she wasn’t the worst, but that was a low bar. She’d still thrown her lot in with them. Just like Starlight had, right up until she hadn’t.
“Would it matter?” Daisy asked? Knowing the plan: No, but…
I shrugged. “Starlight can surprise you sometimes. Maybe I’ll put in a good word for you.”
“It doesn’t matter, does it? Unless you’re secretly wanting to get rid of her, in which case, sure, I’ll be her friend.” Uh-huh. Not what I expected to hear from a Flower. I more expected chomping at the bit for a chance to be back in the center of attention. That’s what we’d built the plan around. If she wasn’t going to jump through every hoop we set up to be popular, I needed to make some alterations.
“No, I like having Starlight around, but you know, you’re not as awful as I first thought. You’re more than just a vapid Flower,” I said, charging right in with the new gamble.
“Is that…” She narrowed her eyes at me. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”
“A little,” I said, glancing out the window and nibbling at my mac and cheese. “Look, I’m not a bullshitter, I’m honest, and you made a shitty first impression on me, but now…” I looked back at her, doing my best to look reassuring. If only I had Starlight’s gift for acting. “Maybe my first impression was wrong or you’ve changed.”
“Oh,” she said, looking down at her food. My bet was on her changing. Maybe she just needed to get away from Rose to blossom. And now we were going to cut that blossom short.
I reached out to her and smiled. “Don’t worry, I have a feeling things will look up soon.” God have mercy on my soul.
***
Starlight and I laughed, running down a back alley, the camera clutched in Starlight’s hand. “Your turn, Sunny,” she said as we reached another street. “Who’s your pick for biggest asshole in Canterlot?”
Hmm. I took the camera from her, trying to remember any news stories involving Canterlot. “Didn’t Crystal Prep’s former headmistress get in trouble for bribery last year?” We’d decided to take a weekend vacation to Canterlot to blow off some steam and nothing blew off steam like asshole removal.
“That could be fun,” she said, pulling me down a street. “That reminds me, on the Westercolt front, what do you think of taking care of Ms. Fleming? She’s helping me out now, but the way she handled the disappearances was just so insensitive, can we let that stand?”
“The disappearances we caused?” I asked as a few raindrops came down. I followed behind Starlight, not sure where she was leading me to.
“Yes, but at least treat them with respect,” Starlight said. “Can we really afford to have narcissists like that in the utopia we’re building? People who just want to make everything about themselves?”
“No.” And obviously, Starlight was the very heart of generosity. “We don’t. But how many people are we talking about getting rid of? A few dozen? A hundred?”
“As many as needed.” She stopped in her tracks. “Sunset, do you… do you know where this headmistress is? Or her name? Or are we just going to be wandering around the city for hours?”
“No, but we know where Crystal Prep is, right?” She nodded. She did. Intensely. “So, maybe they’ll still have her address on file.”
She smiled at me. “Then let’s go.”
***
I watched the croquet ball Daisy had given me bounce off the wicket and right back at me. “You’re doing it wrong,” Daisy said as the ball came to a stop further away from the gate than it had started. “Aren’t you supposed to be athletic?”
“Sure, and if we were punching the croquet ball, I’d be stomping right now, but we’re not, so I’m not.” Also, how did you even get points? She explained it to me at least twice, but all I knew was hit ball through wickets. “Besides, playing with balls just isn’t my thing.”
She laughed, taking her mallet and tapping the ball through. She beamed at me. “See? Easy.”
“What can I say, you’re a natural,” I said, leaning against an oak tree. “And if it makes you feel better, I’m happy to lose to you anytime.”
“Thanks, Sunset.” She nodded at me and I moved to tap my ball to the wicket. It went through this time. “I’m sorry for being awful to you when we first met. I guess we both made bad first impressions.”
“Well, we’re fixing it now,” I said, watching her hit the ball towards the next gate. Croquet really was the dullest game ever made. But talking with Daisy made it at least a little better.
***
“Can you hurry up?” Starlight asked as I bent over the door to Crystal Prep’s head office, hair pin in hand.
“I’m going as fast as I can,” I whispered back, focusing on the lock and not my girlfriend standing over me with a flashlight. Hopefully no security guards would turn the corner on us in the minute or so it took to pick the lock. “Picking a lock isn’t easy, especially if you don’t keep the flashlight on the lock.”
“Sorry.” She directed the light on the handle, and I went back to work, feeling out the tumbler. “Do I want to ask how you learned to pick a lock?”
“Girl needs a hobby,” I said as I felt the lock catch. I turned the handle and opened the door wide for her.
“Thank you,” Starlight said, stepping past me. “Now, where are those academic records?”
“Don’t we need staff records?” I asked, looking at the rows and rows of cabinets. We’d be here all night looking. Did I even know the headmistress’s name?
“Oh, right,” Starlight said, still moving to the student records. She entwined her fingers and stretched. “While you look for that, is it ok if I indulge a personal itch?”
“Sure,” I said, pulling open the first staff filing cabinet and seeing the long list of everyone employed by Crystal Prep, every name in alphabetical order. I sighed and started at the beginning.
“Not long.” Behind me, Starlight was hunting down the letters, stopping when she reached ‘S.’ She pulled open the lowest cabinet. “I know the name, I just need to pull the file if they still have it.”
Uh-huh. I hurried my search, moving on to the ‘B’s.’ Just teachers and cleaners so far. And did this even matter? Rose, Hoops, Score, they made everyone around them miserable. They made the world a shittier place to live, and we lived under it, so sure, we needed to get rid of them. But looking up old teachers who might or might not have even existed just because? My hand hovered over the next file: Cinch, Abacus. Maybe that was making the world better, but–
“Found it!” Starlight shouted before peeling off into laughter. “He’s staying at Canterlot University, and he went through all the trouble of updating his mailing address with Prep.” She shook her head. “That’s so him.” She looked back at me. “So, Sunset, you want to take care of your principal or do you want to meet my middle school boyfriend?”
I closed my cabinet.
***
“Well done, Sunny,” Starlight said as she opened the bedroom window for me. “Daisy called a few minutes ago to apologize, and I told her it was all water under the bridge, and I’d love for her to sit with us Monday. What did you say?”
I pulled myself up through her window, swinging into her room and standing up. “Just that she should try reaching out to you and she’s not as alone as she thinks she is. But, hey, Starlight, I think we should change the plan.”
“Oh?” Starlight tilted her head and pursed her lips. The ice beneath my feet cracked. “Go on.”
“Ok, so as Flowers go, she’s not the worst, I think she’s doing some growth and self-reflection, and we kind of messed her up. Honestly, some of the stuff she said reminded me of you.”
“She reminded you of me?” She looked down at the duster I”d given her in thought. “What did the two of you do together?”
“Nothing much,” I said, sitting on the side of her bed. A second later, she was sitting next to me. “She tried to teach me how to play croquet, and I realized I fucking hate croquet.”
“You played croquet in her backyard?” Her voice was soft when she asked that question, then she wrapped her arm around me and tightened her grip. “I’m sorry, Sunset, but we just can’t. I know you think Daisy’s sweet, but you don’t know her like I do. If we let her stay, she’ll just undo everything we’re working for. I know it’s unpleasant, but it will only be for a few years. Once we’ve got things stable, we’ll let her go, rehabilitate her, and she’ll be so much happier than she is now. But first, we need to solidify our hold on Westercolt and Colt Lake, and we need to figure out how to expand our ideas, and there’s just no room in that for her. We need to stay focused, Sunset.”
Hadn’t I told her the same thing a few weeks ago? And Daisy did take that photo for Rose. So what about tomorrow? Would she still be nice and sweet then? Or would she fall under the sway of some other asshole and go back to making the world worse. “And we’re not getting rid of her forever, just getting her out of the picture for a while.” Or putting her in a picture.
“Exactly.” Starlight kissed my cheek. “I promise, once it’s time to start reintegrating and reforming the people we captured, we’ll let her out first. She can be our test case for redemption.” I looked at her and she smiled. “We’ll take care of everyone, Sunset, you’ll see.”
***
“I’ll take care of the talking, Sunset,” Starlight said in front of the dorm room, rain dripping from her hair. “You don’t even have to be here, you can just wait in the lobby and I’ll come get you when I’m done.”
“Please, and miss my chance to see the dumbest man in the whole world?” I asked, trying not to be too loud.
“Dumb? He graduated high school a year early,” Starlight said, either not getting what I hinted at or wanting me to be explicit.
“Yeah, but he left you. That seems like a pretty dumb thing to me,” I said. She blushed and knocked on the door.
“Did you lose your key again, Mac?” a high, nasal voice said from inside. “Well, just hold on a second. The door opened, and the guy who broke Starlight’s heart looked… way different than I expected. He had a shock of orange, unkempt hair, an almost emaciated frame, and his skin was about as orange as mine. If I didn’t know better, I would’ve said we were cousins, which I guess is what started this.
He blinked, eyes unsure who to focus on first. “Starlight?” he asked, scrunching up his brow. “It’s the middle of the night. And don’t the dorm’s doors lock?” They did, but we looked like we belonged and just lost our keys. Eventually, a good Samaritan took pity on us.
“I know,” she said, laughing. “But I was in the neighborhood, and I was talking with Sunset here, I said my old, best friend was in the area, and we decided to pay a visit. You know, talk about old times.”
“Best friends, huh?” he looked at me, I kept my expression neutral. “That’s how you introduced me to her?”
“Well, sure,” Starlight said, stepping past him into the dorm. I followed. “Ok, Sunset, Sunburst and I did date for a few months before he got accepted into his program, but after I sent a few letters to him and his parents, I moved on with my life.” She chuckled and smiled. “And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry about those letters.”
“Oh, uhh, it’s fine.” He scratched the back of his head and looked from me to Starlight. “We were twelve, I’m sure we both changed a lot since then.” I shut the door for him.
The smile thinned and she looked at the photos on his desk. A few of people I figured were his family, a lot of friends, and no Starlight. “We did. But anyways, I’m with Sunset now, life’s great, and I’m sure things are great for you too, right? Tell me everything.” She sat down on the lower bunk and looked at him, hand resting over her bag. Resting over the camera. “Or are you expecting your roommate to come back soon?”
Even if he said yes, the only thing that would change was how much time he left. But for a second, I imagined him showing us the door and the two of us just leaving and never coming back to this stupid city. “No, I think he’s staying over at his boyfriend’s house. It’s amazing how accepting Canterlot is compared to Colt Lake. You feel like you can be anyone here and people will accept you no matter what. And did you say the two of you are–?” He pointed at us, signalling dating the way you did when you weren’t comfortable enough to actually say dating.
Starlight nodded. “She really has changed my life for the better.”
“I see,” he said before looking at me, doing his best to convey a warning without alerting Starlight, not knowing how much trouble we were both in. I smiled back, nodding my head, before the two of us turned to Starlight.
***
I sat next to Daisy in the cafeteria for the final time. Apparently, she’d gotten cold feet, so I needed to give her a shove. “How was sitting at the popular table?” I asked her over cheeseburgers. “I think it sucks, but some people must like it.”
“It’s… fine,” she said, taking a bite of her cheeseburger. “I liked talking with Rose. I knew people thought she was this big bitch, and now she’s supposed to be some tortured spirit, but to me? She was just my friend, and she always made sure to look out for me, and I guess I did whatever she wanted, but why wouldn’t I? We’d been friends forever, and it’s hard to throw that away. But being popular? I know you like spending time with me because you like spending time with me, not because you just want something for me. You don’t get that when you’re popular.” Twist the fucking knife, why don’t you?
“Starlight likes you,” I lied. “I thought you were going to call her and talk.” I struggled to swallow my bite of cheeseburger.
“I did, and she said I should sit with them, but I don’t know. Maybe I should just make a clean break and try to be my own person.” She chewed on that, eyes drifting to the popular table. Starlight and I exchanged a look. I nodded.
“Trust me, friendship isn’t something you just throw away.” I gave her one final shove. Every utopia had a price, and we weren’t killing her, just… sealing herself away from everyone she knew for a few years, unable to talk to anyone else or even see anything that wasn’t a white void. She’d be fine. “There’s no harm in just talking with them, right?” I smiled, but not with Starlight’s natural, duplicitous charm.
“You’re right.” We both stood up, and I made for the exit, pausing at the cafeteria door to watch her make her way over to Starlight and Lily. To watch as Lily stood up, fueled by weeks of Starlight whispering into her ear about everything Daisy ever ‘said’ about her.
“You want to ‘reconcile?’” Lily laughed. I closed the door, heading to my locker, and slumping my head against it. We were making the world better. People like Rose and Hoops and Score and Lily, they needed to go, and Daisy? Collateral. It sucked, but if doing the right thing was easy, everyone would be doing it. And sometimes innocent people got hurt, that was life. For the majority, though, we were making things better. Westercolt was way more tolerant now, and that was completely on us. And it completely benefits you, too.
“I’m not a bad person!” A thud rang out as I slammed my fist against my locker, echoing towards where my hallway got bisected by another. I helped Starlight. I saved her from Rose. Would a bad person do that? Would a bad person save their girlfriend from a person they already hated?
From the split, from the cafeteria, I heard footsteps coming fast and looked just in time to see Daisy running by. I had just enough time to notice something orange in her hand before she ducked into the women’s restroom. I sprinted after her, shoving the door open just in time to see her empty a bottle of pills into her mouth.
“Go away,” she said, seeing my reflection in the mirror. “I want to be alone for this.” Mascara ran down her cheeks, and a few pills falling out of the side of her mouth.
“Well, too bad,” I said, walking towards her, my backpack feeling Starlight filled it with stones as some sort of prank. “Because I don’t think anyone should cry in a bathroom without a friend next to them.”
“You’re not my friend,” she said through sobs. “I thought you were, but why would you tell me to go talk with Starlight?”
“Because…” I looked at the Sunset in the mirror standing next to a crying girl. I reached out for her. “I thought she did. It’s been harder and harder for me to really get what’s going on in Starlight’s head, and I thought I could make things better, but it seems like everything I try, shit just gets worse, but believe me, I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Really?” she asked through sniffles. At least the sobbing’d stopped.
“Really,” I answered, holding a hand my other hand out under her mouth. “And I promise, no matter what anyone says, I’m not leaving your side. That’s what friends do, right?”
She opened her mouth and tilted her head down, saliva-slicked pills pouring out onto my hand before bouncing on the floor. I hugged her tight, pulling her away from the pills. “Do you have anymore on you?” I asked. She shook her head, another round of sobs hitting her.
“I’ve felt so alone since Rose left,” she choked out. “And then with Hoops and Score going missing, and Lily and Starlight turning their backs on me, I just felt like I was alone on a boat in the middle of the sea, alone and tossed about by every wave. But now? You’re here with me.” She closed her eyes.
“Hey, it’s ok,” I said, lifting her arm off me and trying to sneak out. “And don’t worry about that first night we met. I get what it’s like, feeling like you have to do something awful because the person you care about most in the world wants you to do it.”
She looked up at me, eyes opening. “You do?” I nodded, looking through my bag and pulling out the camera. Behind me, I heard the door crack open and I knew who was checking up on me. Who was making sure I did what I said I’d do. I looked over my shoulder to see her standing there, watching. Waiting. If I turned, I could surprise her and she wouldn’t know what hit her until too late. I looked down at my camera and took a breath. No time like the present.
***
Starlight laughed, sitting on Sunburst’s bed, her hand resting on the camera bag. “I can’t believe you were in Colt Lake just a few months ago and didn’t tell me. That’s so… something.”
“Well, from what I heard, you were doing pretty well for yourself. One of the Flowers? Never thought you’d be one of the popular girls, I thought your parents would have you graduate early or you’d still be down in the science lab conducting those little experiments, trying to figure out some way to make the world better.”
Starlight smiled and spared me a glance. “Well, I like to think I’m still trying to change the world, but I can do more working with people than hiding behind a bunsen burner.”
“By hanging out with the Flowers. Trying to find out if Rose has a heart? Or Daisy has a brain? Or Lily has a soul?” He shook his head, more relaxed than earlier, even as his time ran out. “I can’t wait to see your findings.”
Starlight clicked her tongue. “So, I guess you didn’t hear that Rose ran away? She left quite the note.” She reached into her bag, pulling out the camera, and beneath it, a copy of Rose’s farewell. “To think all this time, she was so complicated.” She passed him the copy. Did she just keep a copy of the faked farewell letters on her as a trophy? Or did she plan on meeting Sunburst this entire time?
“Wow,” he said, looking through the note. “I didn’t realize she had so much going on in her head.”
“Yeah, Daisy and Lily aren’t taking it too well, I hope neither of them does something drastic.” She sighed. “But you know what I’m thinking about right now?”
“Tell me,” he asked, studying the note, rereading it.
“I’m thinking about in third grade, when you didn’t want to run the mile, so I faked a note from your mom to say your asthma was acting up. I was so good at faking notes back then.” Her eyes drifted down to the note. “Well, I still am.” She stood up, standing between him and the door.
Sunburst dropped the note, standing up, back to the window. “You killed Rose.”
“Is that what you think of me? I’m a murderer?” She glanced at me. “I never killed anyone, I never even hurt anyone. I’m just trying to make the world better, and you know what I realized?”
“That you’re still a fucking crazy person and they never should have let you out of that hospital?” Damn. Also, hospital? Starlight never mentioned a hospital.
“No!” Starlight stomped a foot. “ I realized, Sunburst, that I could solve world hunger tomorrow, and it wouldn’t matter as long as assholes keep stomping around, demanding everything be their way, doing what they want, not caring about who they hurt or who they leave behind.” She blinked, and I could see a tear clinging to her eyelashes. “You were my only friend, Sunburst, and I loved you, and you just left me. And you never even wrote me back.”
“Somebody! Help!” he shouted. He tried to spring to the door, but I stood up, blocking his escape. “You’re really going to stand next to her? Even though she’s obviously only dating you because you remind her of me?”
“You know that’s a lie,” Starlight said, turning back to look at me. “You showed me so much more than he ever did, you opened my mind to the truth. I love you, Sunset. I couldn’t do this without you.” She smiled at me. “Please…”
I gripped his arms, staying on deck as the last lifeboat lowered. “The only way this ends is with your head hanging next to mine the moment you step out of line.”
“Then I guess–” I shoved him away from me and into frame. “I better not be a moron and break her heart.”
And god help me if I did. The camera flashed.
***
Blinding light faded, and I rubbed my eyes, looking at the spot where Daisy used to be as Starlight embraced. “I’m so happy you did that,” she said, plucking the photo from the camera. “I thought for a minute you wouldn’t. I thought you’d choose some girl you didn’t even really know over me, just because she acted a little nice to you. Did I ever tell you, she tried offering me up to Hoops and Score the night of Rose’s vigil? I wanted to tell you then, but you told me it didn’t matter, and I was just so embarrassed.” She shoved Daisy into the deep pockets of the duster, making sure I could never question her about it again. “She needed to go, just like Lily needs to go.” She hugged me tighter even as she pried the camera away from me. “They all need to go, Sunset. Every jerk, every asshole who makes us hurt, we can’t allow them to do that anymore, can we?”
I looked back at where Daisy had been, curled up against the bathroom wall, the only other person who might’ve understood what I felt at that moment, of clinging to anything you could find that would keep your head above water, and I might as well have killed her. “No, we can’t. We won’t.”
“Hey, Dad, I’ve been meaning to talk to you, and I’m not trying to sneak out of the house at all.” I sighed, looking back at the dark den. I should just go, but when the hell did I walk away from toxic relationships?
“Well, Sunset,” I said, dropping my voice an octave and stepping down into the den. “I know you have a life of your own, so I won’t keep you long.”
He chuckled, lolling his head to look at me as he stretched back in his recliner. “You goin’ to that pretty li’l girl of yours?” he asked. I closed my eyes. Of course she was my first girlfriend Dad halfway approved of. Not that I didn’t love her. I loved her. Even if she could be intense. And homicidal.
I forced a smile, playing nice and taking a few steps down into the sunken den. “That’s the one.” I’d go over and we’d talk more about ‘the work,’ and what we’d do now that we’d taken care of Lily, and Starlight had finished framing her for Daisy.
“That’s… Ya know, that story about them two gay boys who ran off got me thinking.” Please, no. “I ain’t been the best, not even before your mother passed. I know it. I haven’t been the father you needed, and maybe that’s the way you turned out like you are.” I rolled my eyes.
He wanted to make amends now? Again? Let’s see how long it stuck. “It’s fine,” I said. “I’ve got to go talk to Starlight, but if you want, we can talk about this more tomorrow.”
And now he’d protest and be all ‘I’m your father, you ain’t running off with your skank girlfriend when I want to talk with you. We got to talk about this, Sunset.’
My dad sat up and frowned, stroking stubble with his free hand. “Alright, Sunset, I… I suppose I understand.” Huh? That’s not how this went. He looked me over and shook his head. “You’re almost a grown woman now, capable of making your own decisions. And I don’t want to lose you like...” Mom.
“Thanks, that’s… it’s nice to hear you say that,” I settled on. “And I promise, we’ll talk more about this tomorrow, alright? Just, I promised my girlfriend I’d meet her, and I’d hate to disappoint her.” He smiled at that, thinking he understood. If only.
***
I couldn’t stop thinking about my dad even after I got to Starlight’s house. Did he really want to change or was this just the next step in him getting increasingly pathetic. And if he could change? I looked at Starlight. “Do you want to do something different tonight?”
She frowned. “Like what, Sunset? How are we following up the end of the Flowers? Who’s next?” Starlight leaned forward, all ears on my new diabolical scheme.
“No one.” She stared like I started speaking German. “We took care of the worst people at school and a few others as well, so I’ve got this crazy idea: Let’s be normal. See bad movies, sneak a beer, and watch TV.”
Starlight laughed. “Ooh, or we could bake brownies or go bowling, right? Get real, Sunset. That’s not what people like us do, and you’d be going out of your mind by the time the first act was over.”
“Well, I’m tired of ‘work.’ We made the world better, yay, so let’s see how things shakeout and enjoy ourselves. We don’t have to give our lives for the cause.” And maybe we could put that fucking camera behind us or bury it in the box it came in.
“Yes we do,” Starlight said automatically. “If what we were doing before was ethical, then stopping now must be unethical. Stopping just because we got rid of the jerks in our life is beyond selfish. What we need to do is scale up. Start separating the good people from the bad as quickly as possible.”
“But I don’t care about that,” I shouted. “We’ve done more than enough. Can’t we just be together? Without trying to save the world?”
“You can’t uncross a river, Sunset.” Starlight rubbed her temples, the camera hanging around her neck from a convenient strap. She never let it leave her side these days. “We can’t go back just because the right thing is hard or makes us feel bad, but…” She looked down at me. “I love you, and if it means that much to you, we can take a few days off.” She smiled getting down on her knees. “The Winter Formal is next week, what do you say we go together, and until then, I promise I won’t talk about the camera or work or any of that?” It was a start, at least.
I nodded, and we embraced. I tried to let myself just get lost in the hug like I did so easily when things started. “I’d do anything for you,” Starlight whispered in my ear. I could almost believe her.
“And I’d do anything for you,” I echoed back, letting her rest her head on my shoulder. What else could I say?
We stayed like that for a long minute, neither of us wanting to break away from the other.
Starlight broke the connection, flopping down onto the bed. “You’re right, though, I’ve been terrible, completely focused on myself and what I want, so… how are you? Can I do anything for you?” Beyond what I just asked? The thing she refused to do?
“I’m good,” I said, trying to ignore how similar her request to help sounded like my dad wanting to talk. “And I’m about the same, if we’re not talking about the photos. Dad’s still my dad, which sucks, but I’m used to it.” And hey, maybe that might start changing, too.
Starlight nuzzled against me, taking my hand in hers and rubbing little circles on the back of my hand. “There’s an easy answer to that problem, Sunset. You should just live with me.”
I laughed. “Really? Your parents would be ok with that?” Also, that might be moving a little fast, but I’d be damned if I told Starlight that.
“They will be if I say they should be.” She perked up. “Ooh, you should come over tomorrow after school and meet them.” She threw her arms around me again, squeezing the life out of me. “I’m sure they’ll love you as much as I do.”
Well, it beat talking about the camera and who was next, at least. “Ok,” I said, cuddling up against her. “Just, we can’t spend all night talking to your parents. I promised my dad I’d talk to him tomorrow.”
“Don’t worry,” she said, twisting a strand of my hair around her finger. “That won’t be a problem.”
***
I sat opposite Starlight’s parents in their living room, breaking eye contact with them occasionally to look at the rows and rows of books on the back wall. I’d been passing the awkward silence waiting for Starlight by trying to count the spy thrillers I could identify. “So,” Starlight’s dad began, leaning back in his chair, rolling an unlit pipe between thumb and forefinger. “You say you’ve known our Starlight for how long?”
“Since September,” I said, keeping up a cramping smile, glancing at the clock. Where the hell was she? “Should we be worried?” Why didn’t we just meet at school like normal?
Her mom laughed, sitting straight up and all right angles, her smile worn into her face. “Oh, no. She told me this morning she might be a little late because of something to do with the Winter Formal. Said someone cancelled and she wants to make sure it’s perfect.” Or she was going overboard with a project to impress me. How very Starlight.
“That’s our little girl,” her dad said before taking a bite of liverwurst and dabbing at the corners of his lips with a purple pocket handkerchief to compliment his skin. “Always taking the world on her shoulders.” He didn’t know how very much.
“She’s going to do something great,” her mom chimed in. “I know she had her trouble in the past, but she’s beyond that now, and it’s so good to see her making real friends again. One day soon, everyone’s going to hear of our Starlight.”
“Yeah,” I nodded, not touching the liverwurst. “What did happen? I know it involved someone named Sunburst, but I haven’t gotten the full story.”
Both of them drained of color. “Oh, our Starlight is very sensitive, you have to understand. She cares about people with her whole heart, and when she feels like they’re rejecting her…” Her mom trailed off, leaving the obvious unsaid.
“It’s important we always tell her how much we care about her,” her dad finished. “And remind her what a good person she is.” Yeah, and now I had enough to get the broad strokes of how Starlight became Starlight. All she needed was someone she cared about to point her in whatever direction they picked, and away she went.
“Ok,” I said, nodding along, trying not to piss her parents off. “But did you teach her how to handle rejection or deal with a mistake?”
“Oh, Sunset,” her mom laughed. “You are a card. Our Starlight’s a genius. If she makes a mistake, she’ll figure it out on her own, and as for rejection? Well, who likes being rejected?”
I cursed under my breath, hopefully quiet enough they couldn’t hear me. “No one, but aren’t there better ways of handling it than others?”
Her mom’s calculated smile dropped a fraction. “Of course there are, but Starlight learned that lesson with Sunburst, she saw the problem, we sent her to some very good doctors, and it turned out to all be blown out of proportion. Our little girl had a hard time dealing with her first, big crush, she wrote some letters to Sunburst, and when he didn’t respond, she got a little upset. Perfectly normal behavior, but when you hear his parents tell the story, you’d think she tried to kill him.” Yeah. Funny how you’d get that impression.
The phone rang. “One second,” her mom said, standing up to get it. “Hello?” A pause. “Oh, Starlight! Your friend’s here and we’ve been waiting for you.” A longer pause. “What’s that? The Winter Formal?” I sighed, getting the feeling I wasted my time coming out here. “Yes, I’ll tell her. I love you, sweetie.” She hung up. “I’m sorry, Sunset, but Starlight says the issue with the Winter Formal is taking longer than she thought, and you should just go home. She said you had something with your father she didn’t want to keep you from?”
How nice of her to remember tha– Something tickled the back of my neck as I rose.“It was nice meeting you,” I managed to say before dropping my smile and turning towards the door, heading home with all due speed, gut screaming at me someone as meticulous at Starlight would have planned out every detail of the formal weeks ago.
***
Starlight’s car was parked in my driveway, right next to my dad’s. I stopped my bike on the curb and sprinted across the grass, into my house. “You made it!” Starlight’s voice rang out from the den. She didn’t. She couldn’t. She smiled at me as I got to the living room. “I know we said we’d take the week off work, but after I thought about how much you helped me with the people who made my life miserable, I thought it was time I returned the favor.” I saw a photo resting on my dad’s recliner, right where he’d be sitting now if she hadn’t–
“I didn’t want this,” I managed to say as my throat tightened. “I never wanted you to–” I lunged towards the photo, this madness needed to stop right now.
Starlight grabbed at the photo, looking like she wanted to rip it in half. “Careful, Sunset. Right now, he’s safe in his photograph, but if we start fighting? Who knows what might happen to the photograph? I don’t want it to get damaged, do you?” She twisted her face into mock horror at the very notion.
“Starlight, you need to stop this,” I said, keeping my eyes on the photo. “Just let him go, and we can talk.”
“If I let him go, he’ll tell the cops and try to take you away from me, just like Sunburst’s parents tried to do.” Dark shadows haunted her eyes. “Did you know he broke up with me before even leaving for Canterlot. We could have had a few more weeks together, but he just–” She gave a gargled shout as too many words tried to get out at once. “He wouldn’t even tell me what I did wrong.” Those last words came out quieter, and she shoved the photo into her bag, making sure to zip the compartment up. I weighed the chances of me getting it from her without destroying the photo. “Maybe I shouldn’t have vanished your father without asking, but you did the same thing with Rose, and it was the nicest thing anyone ever did for me. That instant? It gave me my purpose. I thought if I returned the favor, you’d understand.” Tears welled up in her eyes. “I just wanted to make you happy like you made me happy.”
A wave of nausea rose up inside me. What had she done? What had I done? “Jesus.” I staggered against the wall, world tilting around me, fighting the urge to hurl all over her. “How did I ever fall for your act?”
“What act?” she asked. She stepped closer, tears catching her mascara and smearing it down. “I love you!”
“Yeah, sure, just like you were heartbroken when Rose vanished, right? And tell me, did we really need to get rid of Daisy or did you just hate the idea of me having a friend who wasn’t you?”
“I couldn’t live if you left me,” she cried. She dried her eyes off with the sleeve of my duster. “I can’t take that again, not from you. But, do you really think what we’re doing is wrong? That we’re not making the world a better place?”
“I’m kind of coming around to the idea,” I said.
“Well, if you really think that, then…” She sniffled. “Then I have to make this right.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me. “Follow me.” We went to my dad’s bedroom, and she moved to his nightstand. “I hope you don’t mind, but after I took care of your father, I looked around his room to find some of his handwriting, and I found this.” She opened the drawer and pulled my dad’s pistol, gripping it by the barrel. She shoved the grip at me. “If what I’m doing is wrong, then I need to be stopped. And if what you think I’m doing is wrong, if you think I’m manipulating you, I don’t want you to disappoint you anymore.” I could almost visualize the scene in third person, me standing there, not bothering to hide my horror as Starlight shoved the gun at me. What would an outsider watching this say? What could I say?
“There are ways to handle this without me shooting you,” I decided on, grabbing the gun and trying to take it away from her before she hurt someone. “You could go back to your therapists, we could–”
“No!” She wrenched the opening of the barrel to press against her heart. “You’re not putting me back there. If what I did is wrong, then I’m worse than anyone we’ve ever vanished, so I need to go. Just, please don’t force me to live for eternity without you. After Hoops and Score, I realized if we were right, we had to keep going. To keep making the world a better place. And if I was wrong? Then I needed to be stopped. Logically, consistently, nothing else makes sense.” She let go, leaving the gun pointed right at her heart. “I chose to believe I’m a good person, Sunset, but if you don’t? Do what you have to do.” She closed her eyes, and I could see little palpitations running up her arms.
“Me not wanting to kill doesn’t make you right, it just means I don’t want to kill my girlfriend,” I said, keeping the gun pointed. If it was Rose or anyone else, would I be hesitating right now? Or would I have saved the day?
“Too bad, because I can’t stop. Not for you, not for anyone. Because I have to believe what we’re doing is right. So what’s it going to be?”
I should. I should just pull the trigger and put her out of our misery. But dammit, when I looked at her, tears staining to her cheek, hair clinging to smeared makeup, I only saw my girlfriend suffering, being eaten alive by guilt and fear. Yes, if I shot her, I could get to the photos, free everyone, and maybe the town could start to heal. Who knows, maybe, I wouldn’t get sent to jail for being an accomplice to magic kidnapping. All I had to do was squeeze the trigger. It was the smart choice. The choice that undid at least some of the damage we caused. My finger wavered as I started pulling back the hammer.
“Fuck,” I shouted, tossing the gun down onto the bed. “You need help.”
Starlight stepped forward, holding me tight against her. “I have you. And I knew you’d see I was right once I explained myself. I never doubted you for a second.”
“You need to get out of my house.” My voice sounded tinny and far away, like I was watching the scene unfold through an old television, unable to change Starlight’s script or do anything to help anyone, not even myself. Instead, I watched horror and disgust and hopelessness war on the love interest’s face, Sunset unable to reconcile herself with what she knew she needed to do, even though everyone in the audience could see the answer. She stumbled back into despair she thought she’d escaped six years ago.
“Sunset, please don’t shut me out,” Starlight said, clinging to her girlfriend. I shouted at Sunset to just do something, to do anything.
“You need to go. Right now,” Sunset said, dragging Starlight to the door. She fought Sunset every step.
“But I love you, you know I do. I’d do anything for you.” Starlight clutched at the camera. “If it means that much, I can free your dad! We can just… chain him up, but he’ll be nice and safe and there and he won’t be trapped in the photo anymore. Please, just talk with me. Let’s compromise!”
Sunset heaved, shoving Starlight stumbling backwards out the door, not wanting to say another word, not wanting much of anything. “You know I’ll never leave you,” Starlight shouted as the door slammed on Starlight and Sunset’s chance to do what needed to be done. “As long as I live!” Sunset knew.
Sunset couldn’t admit this to herself, and instead clung to a few pathetic scraps of life, persisting in her bedroom, staring at the ceiling and dreaming about doing something, about being the badass she always pretended to be, but everyone in the audience could see it was the only way to escape Starlight. She dreamed of hanging herself with her bed sheets, of Starlight being unable to reach her. If Sunset couldn’t stop Starlight, she could at least do that one thing. She could march into a building seconds before implosion just to spite the people who made her life unbearable. It’s not like she had a daughter counting on her. The only person left to care about Sunset was Starlight. She’d gotten rid of everyone else.
“Hi, Sunset,” Starlight’s voice came from the answering machine Sunset had brought next to her bed. “I’m sorry for losing my temper earlier, you just don’t know how important you are to me. It’s just, have you ever loved someone so much, it hurt?” Sunset had. She’d loved Starlight, and now everything hurt. “It hurts thinking about what I did, and I just want to make everything right. Please, tell me how to make things right. Ok, I love you.” The answering machine beeped and Sunset deleted the message. The next call would come soon.
Sunset should have stopped her. If she did, maybe she’d still deserve to live, but she didn’t, she still couldn’t. She’d been given the opportunity three times, and each time, she balked. She chose to love and love and love until all she could feel was hurt. What type of ‘badass’ would do that? Her mother made the same mistake, always standing next to her husband, always being the obedient child, and always being there for her daughter.
“Hi, Sunset,” the answering machine went again. “I didn’t see you at school today, and I’m starting to get worried. I know we had our fight, but I love you and I just wanted you to know how much I care about you. Please don’t leave me. Love, Starlight.” Delete.
The last time Sunset saw her mom was a few days after her parents had their 12th anniversary. Her dad rented a big, hotel lobby for the occasion, hanging a giant banner. ‘Congratulations Mirror Catch and Morning Gleam,’ and Sunset remembered fidgeting in the dress her dad made her wear, purchased for her 10th birthday, and now struggling to keep up with the latest growth spurt. “Please, just be a good girl,” her mother whispered in her ear. “Your father wants this night to be special, and we can’t let anything ruin it.”
And nothing did. Her mom talked and smiled when her parents told her about the best new diet they heard about on the news. She smiled when Mirror Catch came to her defense, grabbed out at her and pinched her ass, saying she looked fine as she did they day they married. She cried tears of happiness as she caught up with friends from college, listening as they talked about anthropological expeditions or conventions, and whispered to her daughter later that night that “all of mommy’s friends have jobs just like daddy does. Can you imagine mommy if she did something like that?” Sunset laughed. Why would mommy want to do anything else?
“Sunset!” Angry Starlight now. “Stop avoiding me. I know you’re in there. I drove by your house today and saw your motorcycle. You haven’t been out of your house in two days! Why won’t you let me help you? I know what it’s like to feel lost, to question yourself, but you were my voice in the dark. You reassured me what we were doing is right. Why won’t you let me help you now? I’ll always love you.” Delete.
A few days later, they were supposed to go do back to school shopping, but her dad had a demolition scheduled for that day, and Sunset didn’t stop crying until her mom took her to see the site. She loved seeing the buildings explode, the way they grumbled and collapsed in on themselves. She liked watching things break, and her dad was the best thing-breaker ever.
Her mother lit a cigarette, looking at the library entrance, minutes counting down until demolition. “I’m sorry, Sunset,” she said, tapping the ashes onto the pavement. “You’re a smart girl, just like mommy.”
Sunset pulled at the door, safety lock keeping her from stretching her legs. She was ten, but her mom still treated her like a kid. “Why are you apologizing? Being smart’s a good thing, that’s what you always said.”
“Because, one day, you’re going to look at the world and your life and see it for exactly what it is.” She leaned out the car window and blew smoke. “Do you know, this is one of the first libraries in the nation?” She pointed at the words ‘Knowledge is for Everyone’ engraved on an arch hanging over the door. “And after daddy’s done with it, they’re going to build a brand new strip mall. With hair salons and movie theaters and a Snappy Snack Shack. What do you think of that?”
From the backseat, Sunset laughed. Her mom was in one of her funny moods again where she talked about things Sunset never quite understood, but always wanted to. She thought hard. She liked books, but with libraries, she had to give them back, while Snack Shacks had slushies. But her mom still seemed sad about it. “But if they didn’t replace the library, Daddy wouldn’t have any work, and then what would we do?”
Her mom opened the door and stood up, she looked back at Sunset one last time. “I ask myself that all the time, Sunset. Let me know when you find the answer.”
“Hi, Sunset.” Sunset pushed herself out of bed, stumbling into the kitchen for food. “I hate how I came off last time, you don’t know how weird I’ve been feeling these past few days. I can’t stop thinking about you and what I did to lose you or how I can get you back. But don’t worry, Sunset.” Sunset poured a bowl of cereal, dry, for herself to subsist on for another few days, too cowardly to just starve to death. Sunset didn’t deserve dry cereal, and she knew it. Sunset only deserved to rot. “I promise, I’m going to get you back, and once I do, we’re going to be so happy together! We’ll never be separated again, and nothing’s going to come between us again.” Sunset screamed. And screamed. And screamed. She screamed until her voice gave, until it hurt to make a sound. And then she kept screaming.
Her dad pulled her out of the car, grabbing her by the arm. “What did you do?” he shouted, as Sunset sniffled back tears. What did she do? A fire ignited inside her, feeding on every kind thought she had about her dad. She looked back at the rubble that used to be a library.
“It was you,” Sunset shouted, trying to break away, not strong enough to escape his grip. “Not me. She wanted to escape you.” Her dad might as well have killed her. He’d set the fuse, he’d planted the charges, and when the time came, he flipped the switch, and he took her away. “You killed her. You– You–” She saw it, the last thing her mom wanted her to see. To understand a truth she could never quite vocalize. Unable to find the words, Sunset settled for screaming. She would do better. She owed her mom that much.
Sunset flopped down in the den, laying down on her dad’s recliner when she heard it. Footsteps crunching in the flowerbed that came with the house, now barren and dead due to the change of seasons and general neglect. Sunset needed to hide or she’d be hanging with Daisy soon enough. And she deserved it, she knew, but still a stupid part of her clung to life. She rolled out of the recliner and crawled on her hands and knees, moving away from the sound and towards the bathroom, the only room in the house without windows. She shut the door behind her and leaned against it, locking the door and turning herself into a wedge to keep it shut. And then, she waited, listening for any other sounds, absolutely quiet in the dark.
“Hi, Sunset!” She’d woken up when the phone started ringing again, back to being alone in her house. At least she hadn’t gotten vanished while she slept on a bathroom floor. “Why did you hide from me, Sunset? I came to see how you were doing, and instead of letting me in, you just hid in the bathroom. Are you that afraid of me? You know I’d never hurt you. You’re the only thing in my world that matters.” Sunset crawled to the toilet in the dark. “Anyways, because I’m worried, when I was at your house, I took your dad’s gun and the sharper knives, because I refuse to let anything bad happen to you.. I’ll see you at the Winter Formal, love you!”
After she flushed her sickness down the toilet, Sunset didn’t rest until every door to the house was locked and boarded up, and every window papered over. She tore up her schoolbooks, taping the pages to the windows to keep any eyes or cameras out. Sunset couldn’t stop until she’d shut the world out. It was the only way to be safe.
“Hi, Sunset.” Sunset thought about destroying the stupid answering machine for half a second before thinking about how Starlight might respond if she did. “Do you know what I keep thinking about? When you promised you’d never leave me and gave me your duster. Because, vanishing of me for five days? That kind of feels like you trying to break that promise. I know you’re going through some stuff, but I’m starting to get upset over here, so why don’t you just call me? I love you unconditionally.” Delete.
On the stage, I watched Sunset flip through old photo albums, a chronology of her family’s life together, always ending at her parents’ wedding anniversary and the three of them smiling together, her mom wearing the blue dress she’d purchased special for that night. In her mind, Sunset always wore that dress, even as she walked into the library.
“Hi, Sunset. I’ve been thinking day and night about how to get you back, and I’m pretty sure I have it all worked out, and I can admit I was wrong.” She laughed on the other end of the line. “No wonder I couldn’t convince you when my plan was so terrible.” Sunset sat up. Did she win by doing nothing, by letting Starlight vent all of the fear eating her alive. She dared to dream. “The new plan’s perfect, though, and I promise, once you see it, you’ll understand, and we can put all this behind us.” No, she hadn’t. Just found a new way of being terrible. “I’ll see you at the Formal. I love you!” Like hell she would, at the very least, Sunset could deny her that satisfaction.
Morning Gleam made a choice. She felt trapped and powerless and like if she stuck around, life would only get worse for her, so she went somewhere life wouldn’t hurt her anymore. She could have stuck around, but I guess she figured Sunset was old enough to survive on her own, like a ten-year-old girl could just handle watching her mom get blown up or live with her dad after the one thing keeping him in check went away. Because at the end of the day, Sunset had to accept her mom just didn’t care.
And now, Sunset thought about the same, and... I just wanted to shake her. Yes, her mom killed herself to escape her problems, but the problems didn’t go away. They just fell on other people. Like Sunset, could just go away and not have to deal with any of her problems ever again. She could talk with her mom in hell about philosophy or about how killing yourself in front of your daughter is an awful thing to do, but that just made things worse. Mirror Catch didn’t stop being awful, and tearing down old landmarks in favor of new strip malls was still the way of the future. It wasn’t rebellion, it was a forfeit. Would James Dean do that? Would the baddest, punkest chick in Westercolt just leave the mess she made for everyone else to deal with because that’s what mommy taught her? Sunset closed the photo album, looking at the last photo taken of her family, seeing how happy they pretended to be as the phone rang again, and then she closed the book on it.
“Uhmm, hi,” a very not-Starlight voice said. “This is Twilight Sparkle calling for Sunset Shimmer. Sunset, we met back in September.” She knew that voice. “We met at the Canterhorn, I gave you that box, told you not to open it, and considering the wave of disappearances that started the day after we met, I feel like you ignored me.” I watched Sunset move to the phone, willing her to just… pick it up. “I don’t know what you’re like, Sunset. My Sunset tells me I’m more adorable and a lot less insufferable than the other me, but there are still similarities, so there’s at least the seed of a good person in you, and I feel like if you really are this universe’s Sunset, you’ll help me make this right. Call me back at 467-7475. Please, I want to solve this without anyone else getting hurt.” I stood up and forced my way onto the set, grabbing the phone. Fuck me if I was letting this have an ending where Sunset didn’t at least go out swinging. Then, you-know-who pounded on the door.
“Sunset!” Starlight cried. “Sunset, I want you to know I took care of everything. Everything that could get in the way of us being together? It’s gone. I know I made a mistake with your dad, and if I could bring him back without jeopardizing everything we worked for, I would. But instead, we can live together, and I promise I’ll take care of you, and never let you out of my sight. And because I know you don’t want to live with my parents, I got rid of them as well. Consider that just the first part of my apology about what I did to your dad. Now, we’re both orphans, and if you want to talk about what it felt like to lose a parent, I’ll be able to relate!” Starlight gave a tortured laugh that quickly choked into a sob.
“I can’t stop thinking about what I did wrong, about what I did that drove you away, and I promise when you take me back, I’ll spend the rest of my life apologizing for it, but you have to take me back. You can’t just not be with me, Sunset, we– I was meant to be yours. I know that in my soul. I know we belong together no matter what, and do you know why? Because it’s destiny. Think about it, we meet, twenty-four hours later, we’re having our first date, you find the camera, I have a falling out with Rose, we find out what the camera can do, and then you take Rose’s photo. It all fits together so perfectly, how can it be anything else? Why are you fighting destiny, Sunset?” I could stay. Do what my mom didn’t, and stand by Starlight, trying to tone down Starlight’s worst impulses, and I could be with her and why did I still want to be with her?
“Listen, I don’t like making threats, but the Winter Formal’s in a few hours, and I’ve done everything I can to make it special for you, but if you don’t show up, you won’t see how much you mean to me, and I can’t have that. So, if you decide to keep sulking and avoiding me, then we’ll see what happens when I start burning photos. I’m not sure if I’m going to start with Daisy or your dad first, and I hope I won’t have to decide, but I will if it’s the only way I can see you again. And try to look nice, this is a big event, I don’t want you wearing jeans for it.” She paused, and Sunset could hear her moving on the other side of the door. “Oh, and don’t act smart and try to call the police. Like I said, I took care of everything.”
What the fuck had I done? I hurt everyone I knew, and instead of trying to fix it, I hid in my house from the one person I’d damaged the most. Starlight didn’t deserve to die, no one did, but if I let her keep going, a lot of people might.
I headed to the phone and dialed.
“Hello, this is Twilight Sparkle,” the other woman said, picking up after only a couple of rings.
“Hi,” I creaked, voice scratchy from a week of not talking, except for the one screaming session. “This is Sunset Shimmer. How soon can you get to Colt Lake?”
***
I hated dressing up under the best of circumstances, I even more hated that the only dress we had in the house was the one my mom wore at her anniversary, kept by my dad for sentimental reasons, and most of all, I hated how well I’d grown into it. I shivered in the cold, wishing it hadn’t been summer when she’d gotten the dress and winter when I needed it, but what would family be if they didn’t disappoint you? “Do you know what’s the hold-up?” I asked the rando in front of me. If I survived this, unlikely, and if I didn’t go to prison, unlikelier, I really should bother learning my classmates names.
“Oh, hey,” he said turning behind him and recognizing me. “You’re Starlight’s girlfriend, right? I heard you were sick.”
“From Starlight, right?” I asked, rolling my eyes and checking my watch. Six more hours to go until Twilight could get here, maybe more depending on how awful traffic was.
“Yeah,” he said, nodding his head. “She seemed real shook up about it, sounded like she didn’t know if you were going to pull through. You’re looking a lot better, though.”
“Uh-huh.” I glanced again at my watch as we shuffled forward. “And I guess I was sick, but I’d be sicker if I didn’t come out tonight. Now, why is this stupid line taking so long?”
“Your girlfriend didn’t tell you?” he asked, and my stomach dropped to my shoes. “She wants to get photos of everyone for the yearbook. You know, so we’re all looking our best.”
I shoved past him, running to the entrance. “You need to go home,” I said, turning back as I sprinted. “Everyone here needs to go home right now.” I pumped my legs, thanking the stars I decided to wear regular boots under the dress instead of heels or something equally inconvenient for fighting your crazy girlfriend. “Formal’s cancelled; there’s a big gas leak, and the whole school could blow at any moment.” I pushed past anyone in my way, trying to dodge when I could, but never ever stopping until I got to the front of the line, getting in front of the couple about to enter.
“What the hell, man,” the guy said. Again, needed to work on names. Hey, maybe if I saved their lives, they could be character witnesses at my trial or give a super bomb eulogy. “No cutting.”
“You two, get out of here right now,” I said, pointing to the parking lot. “Get in your car and do literally anything else with your night, I promise it will work out better for you.”
He pulled his girlfriend next to him. “Look, I know Formals are the weakest high school dances, but if I play my cards right, I think I might get…” He dropped his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “L-A-I-D.”
And I wanted to save this idiot, why? I took a half-step back, getting out of his way before catching myself. “First, stop thinking with your dick, dude. Second, your girlfriend knows how to spell. Third, get out of here before I change my mind.”
“But we–” I didn’t have time or patience for this.
“Out!” I shouted, pointing again, not giving them any room to disagree.
“Fine,” the guy relented. “Come on, babe, this dance was probably going to suck, anyways.”
“Everyone needs to get out of here,” I shouted as loud as I could. “Go home, sneak into a bar, watch whatever movie’s playing in the theater, just get out of here!” The crowd shuffled and a few people left, but most just glared at me. Well, I’d saved a few, at least, and if I could stop Starlight, I could save the rest. Easiest thing in the world. I opened the door and pulled back the black curtain she’d used to darken the vestibule, keeping it safe from prying eyes.
“Sunset, you made it,” Starlight said, happiness clinging to every word. “I was so scared you wouldn’t show and would force me to do something terrible.” I tried to find where she was in the dark room, eyes struggling to adjust. “But you’re here, so we don’t have to worry about that anymore. Tonight’s going to be so magical, I promise, and I’m sure you look stunning, but I’m not quite done with the decorations, so you’re going to have to wait just a little bit longer while I make everything perfect.”
And then the world flashed and everything was white.
In the endless void, I wrote. Not like I had anything else to do while I waited for Starlight to decide it was showtime, and I found a pen and notebook in my bag after a minutes searching. The first letter were some simple instructions to Twilight in case she got here after everything happened and I wasn’t around. Simple stuff like if you see someone that doesn’t look like me, run. If you see someone holding a camera, run. If you see any polaroids, with one exception, please break the border but don’t rip any further. Just the basics of what to do to not get caught and start cleaning up the mess we made, plus a little apology for stealing a magical artifact. Then I turned to the other people I’d be leaving behind, assuming this didn’t end with Starlight’s complete and total victory. Or me flipping back to her side. Which – I clenched my jaw – wasn’t impossible.
Daisy, I wish we could have gotten to know each other more. I hate myself for betraying you and sending you to this fucking void, but if it’s any consolation, I’m probably going to be spending a lot of time here, and if you’re reading this then obviously, you escaped. I think if things had been different, we could have been pretty great friends. The fact I’ll never know for sure is one of my biggest regrets.
Apologies, Sunset
Dad, you kind of sucked and made my life miserable after Mom died, and I’m not going to give you a pass on that just because it puts a pretty, little bow on our relationship. But, the last time we talked, it sounded like you might be trying to make amends, and maybe that wasn’t just drunken rambling. If it was real, then I want you to know I would have at least tried to fix things on my end. Maybe it wouldn’t have worked and things were just too far gone, and I’m definitely blaming you for fucking up my views on relationships. Still, I wish we had time to at least try and fix things, and I’m sorry for robbing us both of that chance.
Your Daughter, Sunset
Jesus, when did I turn into Colt Lake’s biggest sap? I guess having a sensitive side was kind of badass in a new age-y way. Better than being an emotionally closed off bitch who wouldn’t recognize she was sinking into a toxic relationship just because she got to have amazing sex with someone who adored her, right? Still… I started on my next letter.
Rose, I wanted to say something I never got to tell you when you were around: You’re a bitch, I hate you, go fuck yourself. But I am also sorry about imprisoning you. I guess I was kind of a bitch, too, and I my plan didn’t work out well for either of us.
Sincerely, Sunset
Anyone else? I tapped the pen against the next sheet of paper in my notebook. Maybe one more.
Hoops and Score, you both suck, but I just want you to know that I’m the one who’s saving your asses, I got the better of you in the majority of our fights, and if you’re reading this note, you will never, ever be able to even the score, so suck it.
The Best, Sunset
And just in time, I saw the little rift of color that meant in time in purgatory was briefly at an end. I got back on my feet, stretched, and walked towards freedom.
***
Freedom looked a lot like an empty hallway leading to the gymnasium. Of course, Starlight still wanted to make an entrance, it was our big night after all. On cue, speakers in the hallway crackled to life and the first notes of a song drifted through as I strode towards the double gymnasium doors.
“We can start and finish wars,” Starlight crooned, voice distorted by the machine. “We’re what killed the dinosaurs, we’re the asteroid that’s overdue.” I ripped out Twilight’s note and folded it before setting the book down resting against one of the doors.
Starlight’s voice rose as I opened the door, surrounding me. “The dinosaurs will turn to dust, they’ll die because we say they must.” The door shut behind me, pinching the note to Twilight and ending Starlight’s sentence with a bang, as I got my first glimpse of the horror show.
If you didn’t know what they represented, the polaroids taped to the bleachers might look weird, but not that alarming, and otherwise, the winter decor didn’t look too bad. But I did know what they represented, and the imprisoned spirits of our classmates serving as captive audience were... exactly what I expected from Starlight.
Starlight sat over an electric piano, rising up and looking over her shoulder at me. She smiled, hitting the next line of her song without instrumentation. “The new world needs room for me and you.” She smacked a button on the keyboard and two great spotlights lit us up. Like I said, something dramatic. “I worship you,” Starlight said, taking a step towards me, light following her.
Even now, a part of me just wanted to run up to her and never let go, I fought the urge. “I know.” I made my own movement to the center, and the light went with me. “Good job programming this. The lights must’ve been a pain to pull off.”
She giggled, cheeks tinging red like I’d just said she looked pretty on our first date. “I wish I could take credit, but the AV club are actually the ones to thank. I told them I wanted to do something special for you at the dance, and if they helped me, I’d let them watch.” She pointed at a photo pinned to the piano. If I squinted, I could make out a few faces bound inside its borders. “I hope you don’t mind if I keep that photo close by, I don’t want them to feel short changed.”
“Why would I mind?” I asked, stepping closer to our rendezvous at half-court. “Got to admit, this is kind of impressive.” Terrifying, but impressive. “You worried you’ll run out of ideas?”
“Not at all,” she said, still smiling. She wore a tuxedo under the duster, all black and white with a single red carnation pinned to her. “I’ve spent the last week brainstorming, and I promise, I’ll make every milestone of our relationship one to remember. For our engagement, for instance, we’re going to really start making the world better.”
“Oh?” We stood at half court, feet away from each other, the camera hanging down from her neck, as the spotlights merged. “And tell me, how are we going to get there?”
“You’re going to love it.” She reached out and took my hands. “We were too strict with our standards before. We assumed people were basically decent until proven otherwise, but that’s not right, because no matter how good they try to act, they still live in a society that’s rotten to the core. No matter how good they pretend they are, they still have that poison flowing through their veins, passing it on from generation to generation. Even you! By all rights, you should be hanging on that wall for what you did to me, but I understand. You felt sympathy for the wrong people, and you doubted yourself. So, instead of punishing you, I made things easier and just took away the wrong people. Now, no one can come between us.”
“And so, that’s the plan? Just get rid of everyone else until it’s only me and you left?” Destroying the human race? I guess that would get rid of human suffering in a roundabout way.
“No.” She rolled her eyes as a song came on over the speakers. “Can we dance?”
I nodded, acting submissive, disarmed, doing my best to ignore the camera pressing against me. I didn’t enjoy the smell of her hair or the way her hands felt against mine. This was strictly to do what was necessary.
We swayed to the music, hundreds of unseeing eyes on us, watching from the crater walls as we danced. “That’s just genocide. No, we’re going to save the children.” She beamed with her brilliance. “Think about it, before kindergarten, we’re so sweet and innocent, but then? Society starts getting shoved in our brains, so if we can get to the kids before then?”
“Then we can raise them to be however we want,” I finished.
“We can raise them to be good,” she said, resting her head on my shoulders. “We can teach them all the right ways to do things, to be sweet and innocent and kind, and they can teach their children, and we can give them a better world. Yes, it won’t be nice for the people we’re imprisoning, but you can’t put a price on utopia.”
Maybe. Ok, so I felt bad and had cold feet, but did I really want a lifetime of interactions with people like that one idiot from outside? Did I just want to grin and bear that stupidity because he deserved to pollute the world with his stupidity. I sighed as we circled around each other, spotting the photo of Daisy crying in a bathroom corner posted right next to the photos of Rose and Lily. “It could almost work,” I said.
She picked her head off me at that. “Almost? What’s wrong? I spent a week working on this plan, thinking through every aspect of it. It’s extreme, I admit, but it’s the only thing we can trust will work.”
Beyond the fact that we’d be lucky if we could vanish everyone in Colt Lake, let alone the world, it had another teensy little issue. “Starlight, the people you have teaching the new generation about morality? Are us. We might as well have Genghis Khan teach about pacifism.”
Starlight threw her head back and groaned. “Sunset, are you still on this? If you really thought I was doing something wrong, you would have shot me, but you didn’t.”
“You’re right, a part of me just wants to say ‘fuck it,’ let the world burn, and be with you, and I know if I give it time, and you keep acting nice, I will give in, because people are terrible, and we have a camera that can get rid of people without a trace. That temptation’s pretty hard to resist.”
“So you are with me,” she said, smiling as we continued our dance around center court, staying in the spotlight.. “I understand you still have issues, but I promise–”
“No,” I said, tightening my grip on her. “I love you, but we have to stop this, we have to at least try and be better than our worst selves. Why don’t you leave the camera, hop on my bike, and we can just get out of here?”
“Because if I’m wrong, then neither of us deserve to live. We can’t just hop on a bike and go to Seaddle, no matter how nice it sounds.” She tried to dip me, I let her, helping the camera wiggle out of the space between us.
“Ahh, but I’ve been thinking, too,” I said, holding up a finger on my right hand, disentangling it from her. “What if we say I tricked you? That I came in with my sexy bike, amazing hair, and your womanly emotions overrode your judgment. And as for me? I saw this cute girl, I wanted to impress her, I found a magic camera, so of course I used it. We were both just victims of teenage hormones, and when we came to, we realized how much we screwed up and fled to start a new, crime-free life together.”
“And the students of Westercolt?” she asked. “Our parents? Sunburst? We’re just leaving them in their photographs?”
“Already way ahead of you.” I angled her so she could see the door I came in from. “I left a note for the next person who comes in through that door explaining how to free everyone. Assuming these are all the photos, they can save the day while we just get the hell out of here, what do you say?”
“That sounds so nice,” she said. I twirled her around, setting the camera swinging, and when we came back together, I caught it with the free hand, keeping it from getting stuck between us. “Could we take the camera?”
“No,” I said. She frowned. “Nothing truly good can come from that camera, and if we brought it with us, it would just be a matter of time until we used it again. We need to be better than that, Starlight, but I believe we can.” I kissed her, drawing her into me, shrinking the world outside us into non-existence. I gripped the camera, doing my best to position it.
“But what if there’s another Hoops? Or Score? Or Rose? Someone else who just wants to hurt us? How can we take that chance?”
She was so close, so fucking close, to getting it, but could I blame her for standing at that final ledge and not being willing to jump? “Starlight, you were right about one thing. The world’s filled with assholes, and even the decent ones, the ones who love you more than anyone else, can be real, unbearable jerks sometimes. We’re always going to have another Hoops or Score or Rose, and there are people out there that make them look like saints, and we’ll probably run into them, too.” For instance, if we looked into a mirror. “But some of them can change and get better. And some of them aren’t as bad as you think. And most aren’t monsters at all, just hurting and desperate to make the pain stop anyway they can. We don’t know them well enough to make that judgment. We can’t say who’s who. We don’t know everything, and if we start acting on those snap judgments? That’s how you turn into one of the assholes you’re trying to get rid of. So, we can be better, right?” In the moment, I believed it, but if I held on to the camera? Bit by bit, that attempt at morality would break down with every new irritation.
Starlight sniffled, tears welling up in her eyes. Maybe these were real. “I want to believe that, Sunset, I do, but can’t we just take the camera with us? Put it in a safe, just in case something comes up?”
We could, and we’d be back here in a few years. “We both suck at being good, Starlight,. Even if we mean well today, even if we wake up every morning from now on trying to be our best selves, us holding onto the camera is like a toddler holding onto a loaded gun.”
She shook her head, and I saw I lost her in that moment. Well, we’d have time to convince each other later. “No, I can’t accept that,” she said. “This has to have happened for a reason; you don’t find actual magic and chalk it up as random chance. We have a destiny, Sunset.”
Destiny. That sounded nice. Like every awful thing we did was pre-ordained for the greater good. Like maybe my mom was meant to walk into the building so I’d grow up damaged enough to decide getting rid of Rose was a good thing and start this chain reaction. And maybe Daisy, if we didn’t get rid of her, she’d grow into an unbearable bitch, and we did the world a solid. If I listened to Starlight long enough, I’d probably believe anything. I made my decision.
“I know we do,” I said, kissing her forehead and stroking her ego. “People are going to remember us for a long time, I promise.” She closed her eyes and rested against me. When she opened them again, she’d be somewhere… safe, at least. Where no one could hurt her.
In a way, it seemed fitting. I started this with a photograph, and I’d end it the same way, and maybe that revealed how little I learned through it all. Sunset Shimmer, still breaking things, still pretending she’s the hero even though everything she touches turns to ashes. I really didn’t know the first thing about being a decent person. But I knew how to stop the damage. Raising my free arm, I lifted the camera up above us and pressed the shutter release, making sure to smile for posterity as the world turned brilliant and blinding.
