All That Sparkles
Twilight was sitting off to the side, her knees pulled up to her chest as she leaned against the steps that led up to Canterlot High. Dean Cadance had just left after talking to her about transferring to this school, but Twilight wasn’t sure. It was a guarantee all of her classmates hated her. They continued to shoot her dirty looks as she tried to avoid them, Spike in her lap as they waited for nothing in particular.
But on the other hand, Canterlot High students could be just as cold. She hadn’t caught any of them glaring at her like the Shadowbolts were, but they could just be sneakier.
She heard footsteps descending the steps behind her and suddenly someone plopped down onto the step next to her. She didn’t take her eyes off the grass to look at whoever was not sitting next to her.
“I heard you might be transfering schools.” she said. Twilight couldn’t put a name to her voice, but when she looked over she knew that it was undoubtedly the one girl who should hate her the most.
“Yeah. I don’t know if I will though. Everyone hates me no matter where I go.” Twilight scratched Spike’s ear as he slept. The girl began to laugh.
Twilight looked at her, puzzled. The smile faded from her face.
“Oh. You weren’t joking, were you?” Twilight shook her head.
“Well that’s not true. Nobody at CHS is going to hold a grudge. If they did I would have been run out of school by now.” She let out a watery laugh. “Trust me. There’s no other school you could go to that would be nearly as accepting than us.” She placed her hand overtop of Twilight’s. Twilight bit at her bottom lip, pondering.
“Really? I tried to rip apart dimensions and kill everyone. How could they forgive me?!” Twilight was certain the girl was just messing with her at this point.
She laughed again.
“Canterlot High is a friendly school. I was in your boat once and they all forgave me. Not to mention that you already have six friends, and if you ask me they’re some of the best around.” The girl pointed across the field over to the Wondercolt statue, where five girls were sitting around and talking.
“Six? There’s only five over there…” Twilight adjusted her glasses, wondering if her eyes were deceiving her or if the girl had just misspoke.
She raised an eyebrow at Twilight.
“Me silly! I’m your friend too.”
Twilight blushed, embarrassed.
“Hey, it’s okay Twilight.” Her tone was softer, and Twilight found the soothing voice calming her nerves. “We want to be your friends, you just have to let us in. We won’t judge you, and we forgive you for everything that happened. Believe me, it’s not the first time.” She pulled her hand off of Twilight’s arm, where the purple girl hadn’t even noticed it had been.
“I’m Sunset by the way.” She held out her hand.
“Nice to meet you, you know, formally.” Twilight shook her head, finding a smile appearing on her lips.
“I’m sorry I yelled at you by the way. I kinda have some anger issues, and my friends are the most important thing to me. So, I kinda freaked out and let my anger get the best of me. Sorry, again.” Sunset was looking at the concrete of the sidewalk, clearly ashamed. Twilight bit her lip again.
“It’s okay. If I had listened to you, none of that would have happened.” Sunset looked up at her, a smile on her face.
“Hey, uh, do you want to come back to my apartment for the night? I know you barely know me, but speaking from experience, tonight isn’t going to be easy for you, and because of those NDA’s you can’t really talk to your family about it… I kinda thought it might be easier to spend the night with someone who understood.” Sunset went quiet for another moment. “Uh, you don’t have to! If you aren’t comfortable, I’m not trying to make you! I won’t be offended I promise. Just- the offers there, and will be for as long as you need it…”
Sunset rested her elbows on her knees, burying her face into her hands. Twilight didn’t know what to do. Sunset said that tonight wouldn’t be easy, but at the same time Twilight didn’t know how she felt about staying the night in a strange place with a girl she barely knew. Twilight took a deep breath.
“If you’ll have me, I want to get to know you better. And I kinda don’t want to be all alone.” Twilight felt herself scooting closer to Sunset.
“Really?! You wanna?” Sunset looked up at her, teal eyes shining.
“Yeah. If I’m not being a bother…” Twilight’s eyebrows creased, a worried look appearing on her face once again.
“You aren’t. I wouldn’t have invited you if you were.” Sunset stood up. She held out a hand.
“I take the bus home, and it’ll be coming in a few minutes. We can talk to the girls before we leave.” With her free hand Sunset picked up her backpack off the steps. Twilight nodded, waking Spike up and grabbing her own bag.
“You don’t mind if Spike spends the night do you? I can drop him off at home if he’s going to violate a rule or if you just don’t want him there.” The two began walking after Sunset helped Twilight up, Spike in tow. Sunset shook her head once again.
“I don’t mind. He’s okay to come. I have a pet lizard though, I will warn you.”
Twilight giggled.
“Hear that Spike. She has a lizard.” Twilight looked back to her dog. Spike licked his lips causing Twilight to laugh again.
“You can’t eat her lizard Spike.” Twilight shook her head. “How would you feel if someone else’s pet ate you?”
“Fair.” Spike responded. Twilight nodded, still getting used to the idea of having a talking dog as a pet. She wasn’t opposed to it, it was just odd.
After getting to know all of Sunset’s friends formally this time and a very weird interaction with her counterpart from a pony dimension, Sunset and Twilight were on their way to the bus stop down the street. Twilight sat at the window seat, Spike in her lap while Sunset sat next to her.
When Sunset stood up at their spot, Spike and Twilight followed. They walked down the sidewalk in silence, heading towards the apartment building on the corner. Sunset led them up the steps and to the second floor, pulling her keys from her jacket pocket and unlocking the door that led to the balcony. They walked down three doors and Sunset used a different key to open her apartment door.
They walked in, and Twilight was surprised.
“Sorry it’s a little messy. I wasn’t expecting company.” Sunset said as she kicked a hamper of dirty clothes into the closet behind the front door. Twilight looked around the one room apartment. It was a loft, where Sunset’s bed, dresser, and a few bookshelves were placed, a kitchenette was over on the far wall across from the front door, a couch and TV in front of that, and her was desk set up underneath her loft. There was another door off to the side next to a larger wardrobe that Twilight could only assume led to a bathroom.
“No, it’s fine. I don’t mind the mess.” Twilight set her backpack down on the shelf by the door next to Sunset’s.
Sunset looked back at the clock.
“Huh, didn’t realize how late it was. You wanna get pizza?” Sunset pulled off her boots, setting them neatly by the large wardrobe. Twilight followed suit.
“I’m not really all that hungry. If you want to get something we can though.” Twilight yawned, looking over towards Sunset’s desk.
“That’s okay. I’ll get pizza now and if you want some later I’m sure there’ll be extra. You want anything in particular?” Sunset pulled out her phone, beginning to tap on the screen.
“Uh, what are you getting?” Twilight had wandered underneath the loft, looking through the papers all over Sunset’s desk. They were various drawings, all very detailed and obviously a great deal of time had been put into each one. Each was signed with Sunset’s name. Sunset Shimmer : written in a pretty font at the corner of each picture. Some were of Sunset and her friends, others were of colorful horses that resembled her friends and even a few were of a red-toned demon.
“Cheese, I’m vegetarian. You can get whatever you want though.” Sunset sat down on the couch, Spike crawling over into her lap.
“Canadian bacon.” Twilight responded, leaving the desk to come over and sit next to Sunset.
“Okay. I’ll get half and half.” Sunset opened up her contacts, scrolling until she found the nearby Pizza Shack’s number.
“I can just get pineapple or something if it’s a problem! I don’t want to make you uncomfortable…” Twilight shook her head, worried again for no reason.
Sunset laughed at that.
“It’s a choice thing Twilight. You’re fine. We just don’t eat any meat where I come from, I don’t care if you eat it or not.”
Twilight relaxed, leaning back against the couch. Somewhere between Sunset going to order the pizza and it arriving, Twilight had dozed off.
She startled awake, images of her demon form littering her nightmares. She shook her head, trying to fix her breathing. Sunset was bringing the pizza back from the door after paying the delivery boy.
“Hey, you okay?” she asked, looking over at Twilight.
“Oh, uh yeah. I get what you mean by the first night is rough…” Twilight stood up, following Sunset up to her bed.
“Yeah. Let me go get drinks,” Sunset said, shooting her a smile before dashing off. Twilight sat on the bed, the pizza box next to her. There were Christmas lights wrapped around the railings on the loft and Twilight smiled, the decorations reminding her of the lights she had on her canopy bed at home.
“Water, soda, or lemonade?!” Sunset called from the kitchenette.
“Lemonade!” Twilight called back. She heard Sunset pull two cans from the minifridge, bringing them and a few napkins back up to the loft.
She handed Twilight one of the yellow cans, sitting down next to her on the bed. She opened the pizza box.
“You hungry now?” she asked as steam rose up from the box, a teasing tone in her voice. Twilight nodded.
“Yeah. I guess I just needed a quick doze.” She grabbed one of the slices of bacon pizza, raising it to her mouth and taking a bite. Sunset did the same with the cheese side.
After a few moments, Twilight spoke up again.
“What did you mean nobody ate meat where you’re from? Where are you from? Who was the girl who looked exactly like me?” The questions spilled from her mouth finally after plaguing her mind for what felt like hours.
“Okay, slow down. It’s okay to ask questions, I get it. It’s confusing, but slow down. Okay, so I’m from Equestria, which is a parallel universe to this one. You know, the one you ripped serval portals to today? Well there the main race is talking ponies, but there are also other animal species. There’s earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi, as well as a few select alicorns. I was a unicorn. And the girl you met, that’s Princess Twilight. She’s an alicorn, but she used to be a unicorn. She and I both studied under Princess Celestia, but I ran away a few years ago when she wouldn’t make me an alicorn.” Sunset shook her head, laughing to herself.
Twilight stared at Sunset, her mouth agape.
“Easy there, you’ll swallow a fly.” Sunset reached out and gently pushed Twilight’s jaw up. Twilight just stared at her.
“Hello? Earth to Twilight? You there?” Sunset waved her hand in front of Twilight’s face. Twilight blinked, shaking her head.
“Yeah. Uh I’m okay. That’s just a lot to take in,” Twilight almost whispered, looking down and staring at the pizza instead of looking at Sunset.
“I know. And you don’t have to try and wrap your mind around it all tonight, or even believe me tonight, but just know that I’ll try my best to explain it all when you’re ready. I mean, beyond what I just told you.” Sunset took another bite of her pizza.
“Twilight? You listening?” she asked again, reaching out and lifting Twilight’s chin so she was looking Sunset in the eyes.
“I-I believe you. It’s just a lot, and bringing back up all the memories of today I’ve already tried to block out.” Twilight set her piece of pizza down on the open lid of the pizza box, pulling her knees up to her chest.
“Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to-” Twilight cut her off by shaking her head.
“It’s okay. I asked. I just- it’s just a lot to process. Not just the parallel dimension stuff, all of it. The Friendship Games, transferring schools, the idea of making friends…” Twilight looked back down to the pizza, suddenly losing her appetite.
“I know. It’ll get better, I promise. I’m here to help, so don’t be afraid to ask questions or just come over anytime you want some company.” Sunset reached out and rested a hand on her shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze.
“I sure hope it does.” Twilight looked down to the apartment, searching for Spike. When she didn’t see him anywhere, she assumed he was curled up under the loft somewhere.
“Can I borrow some of your pajamas and use your bathroom to shower? I-I just kinda need to clear my head.” Twilight adjusted her glasses as they slipped down her nose.
“Of course. It’s that door there next to the kitchen. Use as much water as you want. I’ll get you some clothes.” Sunset pointed to the bathroom door, climbing off the bed and crossing the loft to her dresser. She opened the bottom drawer, pulling out a light blue t-shirt and pair of dark blue flannel pants. She brought them back over to Twilight, handing them to her as she crawled off the bed.
Twilight took the clothes and slipped into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. She found the switch to turn on the fan and set down the pajamas on the counter. She stripped down, turning on the hot shower. As she looked in the mirror, she found the source of the pain on her shoulders. Deep under her skin were two dark, thick, red scars. Exactly where her wings had been. Twilight didn’t even notice as the tears started falling down her face.
Twilight climbed into the shower, letting the water burn her skin. She closed her eyes, the hot water falling down all around her. Suddenly, the image of Midnight Sparkle appeared. Twilight jumped back, hitting the wall with a loud thump. Her knees buckled underneath her and she fell to the shower floor. Twilight began to cry again, the sound of the water drawing out her tears.
Twilight suddenly heard knocking at the bathroom door. “Twilight!” Sunset shouted over the shower and fan. “Are you okay in there? I heard you fall!”
Twilight didn’t respond, trying to quiet her crying so Sunset wouldn’t be worried.
“Twilight? Can I come in?” Sunset knocked on the door again. Twilight shook her head, realizing that Sunset couldn’t see her after a few moments. She pulled herself to her feet.
“I’m okay! No need to come in!” Twilight could hear the shaking in her voice and hoped Sunset didn’t notice it. She thought she heard Sunset sigh quietly before retreating back up into the apartment. Twilight let go of a breath she didn’t know she was holding. She picked up a bottle of shampoo from the shelf on the shower wall. As she opened it her nose was assaulted by the scent of lemon and berries. Well that explained why Sunset smelled like a berry orchard on a spring day.
She cleaned herself off, trying to wash away all the dirt and grime of the day. She turned the water off all too soon for her liking, but she didn’t want to waste Sunset’s water and she was starting to get ridiculously tired.
She changed into the clothes Sunset had lent her, towel drying her hair and throwing water onto her face to bring her body temperature back to normal. She slid her glasses onto her face.
She left the bathroom, finding Sunset watching TV on the couch. Twilight walked over and sat down next to her.
“You okay?” Sunset asked, seeing the shaken look on her face. Twilight just bit her lip.
“I-I don’t know… and I hate not knowing.” Twilight’s voice was barely above a whisper as she crossed her arms over her stomach and leaned forward, staring at the floor.
“Hey, it’s okay. You don’t have to try and figure it all out right now.” Sunset said again, this time wrapping her arm around Twilight’s shoulders. Twilight leaned into Sunset, resting her head on Sunset’s chest.
“It’s only been a day that I’ve known you, but it already feels like lifetimes,” Twilight whispered. Sunset smiled.
“Me too.”
Twilight closed her eyes. She was immediately greeted with the image of Midnight Sparkle’s grinning, demonic face. Twilight jumped back, her eyes flying open and a quiet scream escaping her lips. Sunset tightened her grip on Twilight, pulling her close to stabilize her.
“It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s okay,” Sunset repeated, stroking Twilight’s hair and rocking her back and forth gently. Twilight cried into her shoulder, shaking.
“Come on, let’s go to bed. You need some sleep.” Sunset picked Twilight up, standing and carrying her up to the loft. She laid her on the bed, removing her glasses and wiping away the tears on Twilight’s cheeks.
Twilight shook her head.
“Every time I close my eyes, I just see her! I don’t wanna sleep,” Twilight rolled over and buried her face into the pillows. Sunset laid down next to her.
“I know. But you’re tired, and you’re gonna feel so much better once you get some sleep. Believe me, I’ve been where you are, and you aren’t alone. You’re gonna have nightmares, but I’m here for you, so let’s get some sleep.” Sunset wrapped her arms around Twilight again, leaning back against the pillows and pulling Twilight into her chest, Twilight sniffed.
“Okay… If you say so.” Twilight pulled the blankets up around her and Sunset as the red head leaned over to turn out the light.
Twilight closed her eyes, suppressing the images of her demonic form as she succumbed to sleep.
Twilight was floating through a void. It was dark, but slowly small purple patches of stars began to appear. It was peaceful, it was nice. She was lost among the galaxies. A small part of her knew it was just a dream, but a bigger part of her was content to ignore that fact.
Then the laughing started. Dark, low pitched cackles that grew in volume as they came closer to her. Twilight spun herself around, searching for the demon she already knew so well.
“Twiiiliiight…” the voice that was eerily similar to her own called out. Twilight let out a small yelp.
Midnight Sparkle appeared, hovering over her a thousand times her size. Twilight curled in on herself, whimpering into her knees.
“G-go away. Leave me al-alone!” Twilight’s attempts at getting rid of the nightmare were dead ends.
“Don’t listen to her Twilight, she’s been lying to you…” Suddenly, Midnight Sparkle materialized in front of her.
“W-who?” Twilight asked, even though she thought she knew who.
“Are you really that naive, Twilight?! You know who!” Midnight’s voice boomed through the void. Twilight curled in on herself.
“What do you want?” Twilight asked.
“Oh, poor, simple little Twilight. You know what I want, after all, you created me.” Midnight Sparkle shrank in size, floating over to her. She lifted Twilight’s chin with a gloved hand. Twilight tried to jerk away, but Midnight’s grip was too strong.
Twilight thrashed, trying to get away from the demon. Her body began to shake uncontrollably as the tears fell down her face. She heard another voice in the void.
“Twilight! Twilight, wake up! It’s just a nightmare, it’s okay!” Twilight recognized the voice as Sunset’s.
Twilight shut her eyes tightly and when she opened them again, she was back in Sunset’s bed. The bedside lamp was on and Sunset was leaning over her, shaking her gently.
“It’s okay Twilight, it was just a bad dream.” Sunset brushed the damp with sweat hair off of Twilight forehead. Twilight tried to sit up.
Sunset moved back the pillow behind her and helped Twilight sit up, leaning against the headboard. Twilight pulled her knees up to her chest.
“Is it ever going to stop?” Twilight asked, eyes watering. Sunset smiled at her sadly.
“I can’t say that it does, but it gets better with time. I promise you that much.” Sunset bit her lip. Slowly, she brought a hand up to Twilight’s face and wiped away the tears on her cheeks.
Sunset climbed out of bed and walked around to Twilight’s side. She held out a hand to her.
“Come on,” she said, a small smile on her face.
“Why? Where are we going?” Twilight asked as she took Sunset’s hand. In the few hours she had known her, Twilight had learned to trust Sunset’s judgement.
Sunset led her out of the apartment, not saying anything.
She led her to the end of the hallway, taking Twilight through a door. She pulled twilight up the staircase, then through another door. She used a brick to prop the door open. Twilight surveyed the rooftop where they stood now. Sunset didn’t drop her head, instead reading her over towards a porch bench up against a stack of crates.
“Do you come up here often?” Twilight asked, sitting down next to Sunset.
“Yeah. I like to stargaze. They’re always so pretty on a clear night.” Sunset wrapped an arm around Twilight’s waist. Twilight found herself leaning into Sunset’s grasp. She didn’t know why, but she felt safe with Sunset.
“Why did you bring me up here?” Twilight asked after staring at the sky for a few minutes. Sunset hummed.
“You were freaking out. I always like to come up here to help myself calm down.” Twilight nodded.
“It is nice out here.” Twilight started searching the sky for constellations.
“There’s Ursa Major,” Twilight said, pointing up to the sky. Sunset followed her gaze.
“Isn’t it also the Big Dipper?” Sunset asked.
“Yeah. The tail and back half of the bear make up the big dipper. I thought a smart girl like you would know that,” Twilight’s eyebrows furrowed.
Sunset smiled. “I did. I just wanted to take your mind off the nightmare.” Sunset reached down and slid her free hand into Twilight’s. Twilight bit her lip with hesitation before laying her head on sunset’s shoulder.
“Can we talk about it?” she asked, her voice quieter than Sunset had heard her all day.
“Of course. What happened?” Sunset kept her eyes on the sky but all her attention was on twilight. Twilight took a deep breath.
“I was in this- this void thing. I could hear her voice, my voice, everywhere. She-she was taunting me. She said that- that you were lying to me.” A tear fell down Twilight’s cheek.
Sunset was quiet for a few moments. Twilight shivered against her.
“Wow, it’s almost scary how similar that is to my own.” Sunset looked down at Twilight, a sad gleam in her eyes.
“Why would you get nightmares, magic turned you into something beautiful?!” Twilight asked, alarmed.
“Not at the Fall Formal. Twilight, I was horrible. I was a terrible person when I came to this world. I bullied the students of Canterlot High for three years. It took me stealing a crown and turning into a raging she-demon and getting blasted by a magical rainbow laser of friendship to start me on the path of becoming what I am today. I wasn’t always popular, well- I was- but not because people liked me, more because people feared me. I wasn't always a model student, I was really a horrible person. Now, I don’t want to scare you, but I had terrible nightmares for weeks after my transformation. You probably will too, just know that I understand, and I’m here for you.”
Sunset moved her hand from Twilight’s waist and up to her hair, stroking it gently, trying to calm her down. Twilight’s breathing sped up then slowed down again as she processed all this new information.
“Please don’t hate me, Twilight. I just needed you to know the truth. I wasn’t always the beautiful angel you think of me as. I’m still not! I’m still working on myself, and everyday I get a little bit better. I’m not trying to hurt you, but I need to be upfront and truthful with you.” Sunset moved to hug Twilight, trying to do anything she could to help the smaller girl.
“I-I’m not mad at you for that. You’ve done so much to help me, I couldn’t hate you. I just, I felt like nobody could ever understand me, and here you are, telling me you’ve been through everything I’m struggling with, it’s so overwhelming.” Twilight rested her chin on Sunset’s shoulder, trying to control her breathing. She hugged Sunset back just as tight.
“You make me feel safe,” Twilight said after a few minutes of silence between the two girls.
"I want to always be here for you. I want to help, Twilight. There's so much good to come out of this than bad. You already have six amazing friends, and we're all here for you.
She looked up to the sky. “After all, who said midnight couldn’t be beautiful?”
And Twilight smiled. Really, truly smiled.
"Only people who don't like sparkles."