Tempest avoided mirrors as a principle. Nothing she saw staring back at her ever struck her as especially flattering, and vanity was a vice that she and the Storm Army had mutually held in contempt. A memory came to her, unbidden. Herself and the Storm King, staring at reflections not too different from these. A pair of simian paws around her withers, the Storm King's carefree smirk sizing her up and down.
"That's what I like about you, Shadow. You were born this cutsey wutsey little filly, but look at you now. Hardened by the real world. You're what every little pony should be. Tough, resourceful, smart. When Equestria is under my paw, I want those fuzzy, candy-coloured weaklings following your example." He'd poked a digit at her chest, and she'd felt, for just a minute, a little bit more complete.
It had been a lie, of course. That shell of cynical pride had fallen away the moment the Storm King had betrayed her. She'd thought she'd found a kindred spirit in the Storm King. She'd been stupid. What about the Storm King suggested he knew anything about hardship? He was a king, a warlord. Had she ever even see him fight his own battles? But anything had felt better than being incomplete. Damaged.
And with that gone, what was left? She was back where she started, and only allowed to start again but by the grace of a pony she'd called her enemy. Another memory came bubbling up.
She looked over the Princess of Friendship. The reports had called her an enigma. Once a magical protegee who focused exclusively on the study of spellcraft, she'd abruptly jumped into the limelight as the mastermind behind the defeat of several tyrants even the Storm King had dreaded facing. Nightmare Moon. Discord. Tirek. Her student had toppled Queen Chrysalis, no less.
"How?" Tempest said to the bashful-looking alicorn in front of her.
Twilight tilted her head. "Well, under Equestria Pathways Restorative Justice Act I can put the onus in restoring your debt to society on you, rather than enforcing a fixed punishment. There's good precedence for its successful implementation in several cases, especially with the recent defeat of Queen Chrysalis at the hooves of several EPRJ program beneficiaries!"
Tempest blinked at the sincere smile before her. She'd thrown this pony in a cage. Forced her to watch her home burn to the ground. Marched her past her parents and friends in shackles. And somehow this person was genuinely looking forward to giving her a chance to live a better life. Nothing about the moment made sense.
"Individual acts of apology and reconciliation need to be negotiated between you and the parties you wronged, of course." The Princess of Friendship prattled on. "But ponies can be very forgiving. You should talk to a pony named Minuette at the Canterlot Timekeepers Association. She can be a little, y'know, peppy, but I think she'd have a lot of inroads to finding common ground with--"
"No, I mean." Tempest cleared her throat, cutting her off. "How did you know, that...That I would...be better, than the Storm King. That I would care about your friendship." She rubbed one hoof against the other. Her gaze remained rooted to the floor. The pony who had volunteered to lead a charge against Princess Celestia couldn't stare an honest friend in the eye.
Twilight's voice came out small. Not proud of her achievement, but afraid of something. Maybe the same thing Tempest was. "I didn't really know for certain. I wanted to do better than I had, that day. I'd let a lot of good ponies down, and...if I was going to spend the rest of time as a statue in the Storm King's castle, I wanted my last moments to be moments worth remembering."
That made some sense to Tempest. Being honourable in the face of defeat. Trying to hold onto her values in her last moments. But what Twilight said next...
"And also...I know a bit about being...the way you said you felt. I don't have, y'know, any scars or anything...like that." Tempest could feel Twilight's gaze on her horn and hated it. Hated it to her core. But the words that came out next hit her like a punch to the gut. "But I do know what it's like to feel like a part of me is missing. I have this...I'm not exactly..."
Tempest looked up to see the Princess of Friendship and saw herself trying to explain what had happened to her horn. The same pose. The same tone. That fragile, flagging hope that they would understand something that cannot be understood. That they would care about you as a person instead of cringe and look away. That the broken part of you was not so terrible that they would keep to themselves and walk away.
"It's called 'scrupulosity', although some medical textbooks have started calling it 'obsessive-compulsive behaviour'. I won't, uh, bog you down with the details. And I remember being bullied for it, like the way you sort've...implied your friends did. But, eventually, I found friends who cared about me, even then. And my friends promised they would help me keep a handle on it. Work through the things in life that were holding me back. And they did. We did it together." She smiled a type of smile Tempest had never seen before, then.
"And I just thought...somebody should be there for you. To help you with that, that sense of...well, like you described. And now it sounds sort've presumptuous, I know, because physical problems and mental problems aren't the same and it's a false equivalency but I--"
She'd been shocked that Tempest had pulled her into crushing a hug. But she settled into it happily, herself. It had only been later, facing the implications, that Tempest knew she couldn't stay. The answer had been there the whole time. She'd been so...angry, at the entire world. The unfairness of being broken, when so many got to be whole. But her endeavor to hurt the world back had been pointless. She didn't need to break everybody else. Everybody else could help her feel whole.
And she had ruined that. So she'd very politely and gratefully told Twilight that she would be taking sabbatical to find a way to pay off her debt to Equestria herself. And then...what? Nation after nation. Zebras and buffalo and diamond dogs and bird creatures. Some quick, halfhearted friendships. But nothing that really repaired this burning feeling inside of her. That sense she was broken in two ways, now. One that had always been forgiveable. Her horn, her scar. Things sincere friends could have cared for. Admired. And one that was not forgiveable. Her actions. Her folly. The ruin she'd brought on countless lives for something so petty and...small.
So now she stared into the mirror that a Klugetown vendor smiling with far too many teeth was offering her for three thousand bits. She had five hundred.
"How do I know it will work?" She said to him, raising an eyebrow. She was already weighing her options. Everything she knew said the dealer was anything but honest. She didn't want to part with her hard-earned bits. Even carrying this many would have been a risk for most ponies. But she didn't actually need the mirror. She just needed to go through. A plan began to formulate in her head.
At this, the dealer stuck his claw through the mirror, then pulled it back out. He wiggled the digits to show the magic mirror hadn't caused any due harm.
"That tells me it's a portal. Not that it goes to another world." Tempest kept her gaze icy and unimpressed.
"You want a look through? That's extra. One hundred bits for the viewin' pleasure."
Tempest considered simply forcing the creature aside. A quick-up-and-down of the pudgy creature told her he wasn't especially athletic. The quills on his back wouldn't be an issue in a frontal assault, but this particular breed of Klugetowner could curl themselves into a ball, meaning an ankle sweep wouldn't keep him stunned. He didn't need to outrun her, either. He could simply sit in front of the portal to deny her. Still. She could simply steal his bits and lure him away from her target. It would be easy.
He wasn't a particularly pleasant-seeming creature, either. And she'd worked hard for her bits, doing security detail in Ornithia and hauling gems in Diamondia. It would be easy. It would be simple. Tempest growled to herself. The only thing stopping her from pushing through him and into this new world was the sense that she'd be adding to a different kind of debt.
"How much to go through?" The merchant blinked. Then shrugged. Money was money.
"Three hundred." He said, throwing out an offer.
"One eighty." Tempest countered. This, this she could do.
"Two eighty." He said, testily.
"Two thirty." She raised the offer to something reasonable.
"Two fifty." His tone turned final.
. "Done." She said, at last. "Two hundred and fifty bits for the transportation." She stuck out a hoof, satisfied.
The merchant darted his eyes down, searching for deception. When he saw none, he flashed that toothy grin again, extending a claw. They shook, and Tempest pushed towards the mirror.
"Safe travels." The merchant said, halfheartedly. It wasn't even really that he seemed satisfied that lightened the load on her withers. It was just the knowledge that she hadn't broken anything on her way through his world. That sense that when she worked at it, she wasn't an engine of destruction anymore. The scarred and damaged visage in the mirror parted, and Tempest stepped through to the other side.
Tempest noticed her balance was off the moment she stepped through the portal. She instantly shifted to a crouch, scanning her surroundings. She was in a dark room, the only light coming through the cracks in a door at the other end. There was enough light to see shapes, colours and outlines, but not enough to get a full handle on her surroundings. She could make out chairs and wardrobes, blankets draped over them haphazardly. Crates full of objects she couldn't make out were tucked to the sides of the room. Everything pointed to a spare room, or a storage space. Safe. Next, she felt around the floor. It was level. Sturdy wooden planks glazed over with varnish. So why was she off-balance? If the floor wasn't throwing off her balance--
With a start, she noticed that the portal had shifted her body. Some kind of transformation magic? She narrowed her eyes, looking over her new form. A quick assessment told her she had been changed into some kind of scrawny flat-faced Yeti with all of its fur shaved off. "Huh." She looked over one bald and spidery arm. Not the worst thing she could have been transformed into. Part of her filed away the idea of sharing the experience with Grubber and the other Storm Beasts. Common ground they might appreciate.
She kicked out her legs. Long and thin, but ending in sturdy combat boots that helped keep her balance on one leg. She smiled in approval. the portal hadn't taken her goods with it, either. Rather, they'd been reworked into a new wardrobe for her. Presumably one that fit this world better. Her scarf and rucksack remained unchanged, but her black robe had been replaced with a pair of tight black pants and a matching jacket. At least the mystery spell had remembered her fondness for leather. She idly wondered which monster these skins once belonged to. So long as it wasn't a horse...Underneath the jacket was a dark purple top that matched her mane in colour.
She hauled herself onto her back legs, flexing the digits on her forearms. Her full height was quite impressive in this form. No magic, true, but it was easier to see. Her stride length was longer, and, when she investigated her grasping forepaws more closely, she guessed she could climb much more easily if she tried. She could live with th--The thought cut off when she caught sight of her right hand. Ugly, jagged scars loudly announced that there were stumps where fingers should be. She compared the injured dominant hand to its uninjured counterpart. Where Yetis had three fingers total, including a thumb, her healthy hand held five. The ruined hand held only two, with her thumb and two forefingers healed over as if they had been torn off.
Tempest clenched her teeth and her fists as one, feeling herself begin to shake. Months of chasing rumors, searching for an entirely new world. A new start. And the mirror that took her there had seen fit to find some new way to cripple her to match her broken horn. No matter where she went, no matter what she became, that single moment of bad judgement would haunt her into eternity. She noticed that her fist didn't even form properly on the crippled hand. The outlines of bones on the back of the hand twitched and clenched, but the tiny stubs of fingers couldn't comply. Even the simple gesture of rage was impossible for her.
All in a rush, she let out a scream and kicked out at the mirror behind her. Her back leg connected with nothing. She punched the frame of the mirror, but this only dented the shimmering portal's outline. The spell remained intact, mocking her. Red fury swam in her vision. With another scream, she grabbed the mirror by its frame, preparing to let gravity shatter whatever cruel entity decided her scars should haunt her even here. Heavy, shuddering breaths reached her chest as she prepared to smash the twisted spell, whatever it took.
"Hello?"
She turned around to see a local looking at her with concern. The door had partially popped open, and a hairless Yeti with a ridiculous colour scheme was peering through the door at her. She looked as though someone had poured out ketchup and mustard all over her head, red and yellow tresses of hair trailing down from her scalp in flowing streams. Piercing blue eyes stared out at her from a bright yellow face, the local's expression of shock turning into a smirk.
"Y'know," the creature began, stepping more fully into the room. Between the jarring feelings of shame and shock that Tempest was wrestling with, she dimly noted that the newcomer had an excellent taste in jackets. "Seven years' bad luck is nothing compared to getting the drama club mad at you. Trust me. Nothing cramps your style like someone following you around all day angrily miming at you."
Tempest blinked. Sunset motioned to the mirror. "I promise, it's not worth it." She said, smiling gently. "There're better ways to work out whatever's up." Tempest set the mirror down, not sure what to say. Her emotions screamed at her that this was a step backwards. That she'd let her temper take control, and that if not for the sudden intrusion, she'd have once again ruined something to sate some petty rage inside her. But the creature in front of her looked at her with a casual, friendly smile. There was understanding in her eyes. Maybe even a little bit of joy.
Tempest stiffened. Comedy was something that she still struggled with, excepting the very, very occasional moment of sass. Awkward silence hung in the air. Fortunately, she had picked something up in Appleloosa to help her with exactly these sorts of scenarios. She leafed through her jacket pocket for a moment, before procuring a pamphlet with a six-pointed star on the cover. "Good afternoon." She said, stiffly, reading from one of the recommended greetings. "My name is Fizzlepop. It is good to meet you. What's your name?" She looked up from the pamphlet and desperately hoped the pre-approved Friendly Greeting list would work its magic.
The creature gave a little smirk. "Not trying to be rude, but I didn't take you for a 'Fizzlepop'. Good to meet you, though! My name's Sunset Shimmer. Are you new?"
"More or less." She said, shoving the leaflet back into her jacket.
"To the school or the world?" Sunset asked, her tone still that odd mix of playful. Tempest stiffened. "I may have noticed Twilight's cutie mark. She's an old friend."
"Really?" Tempest blinked at that. "Where did you meet the Princess of Friendship?"
"Long story." She said, and her eyes said 'and one I wish was happier', and Tempest immediately knew something about this playful stranger. In some ways, Tempest had set down one mirror and found another.
"It's funny." Tempest offered, hoping to pull this 'Sunset' away from the past. "The cynical part of me never expected the Princess of Friendship to be any good as a friend."
Sunset gave a little laugh. "Right? It makes it sound like you're friends by royal decree. But...she's nice." Sunset smiled softly, rubbing her arm and focusing her attention on one of the drama club's hat boxes. 'Nicer than I deserve', Tempest's mind translated for her.
"Which tribe are you?" She asked, hoping to break the tension. "I'd hate to be a pegasus here. It's hard enough getting used to these things." She waved a hand. And then froze. Her right hand. She'd waved her right hand.
If Sunset had noticed the scars, she didn't say anything. "On the other hoof, most of the humans I know hate being earth ponies. Lots of strength and no dexterity to go with it. No, I'm a unicorn. And losing magic isn't fantastic, but y'know, these little fellas are surprisingly helpful anyway." She looked down at her own fingers. "It took me ages to get used to walking, though. Wanna come with? I can show you around the school."
"School?" Tempest blinked.
"What, you thought the town hall had a drama club?" Sunset smirked. She offered Tempest a hand, which Tempest took with less hesitation than she thought she would. Her left hand grabbed Sunset's right, and together, the two made their way into the hallway of what was unmistakably a school. Pimple-dotted teens carried books to classes, made pit stops at a water fountain and rifled through their lockers for supplies.
Some ponies stopped to stare at her, and Tempest bristled and drew closer. She could feel their eyes looking down, and she pushed her right hand behind her back. Sunset shot the offending teenagers a pointed look, and abruptly, they snapped their eyes away from the pair. Almost like they were scared of her..."Weirdly, this dimension has arbitrarily decided that if you are below the age of thirty you are a teenager and must therefore be looking to attend high school. Imagine my surprise. I'd just finished running away from a school, and boom! Executive-mandated high school dimension. I was thrilled."
There was a pause, and Sunset's eyes widened. Her free hand flew to her face for just a moment, and her smile went from easygoing to bashful, maybe even apologetic. Tempest could see some fear in her eyes. She gave Sunset's hand a squeeze. She didn't even know why. She'd just met this stranger. They could want anything from her, have a history even she would find horrifying. But some type of sympathy made her want to tell her everything would be alright.
"You seem to like it here." She said to Sunset. It was a guess, but she seemed very comfortable with the high school she'd ended up running to. By the shift in Sunset's expression, Tempest reckoned she'd guessed correctly.
"It's a really nice community." Sunset gave the passing crowds an almost grateful smile. "They can be a little judgmental at first, but they know a good pony when they see one. Or, uh, person. They say 'people', here."
"And the species is called 'humans'?" Tempest looked around. Getting a proper look at the species, they reminded her, perhaps a bit morbidly, of storybook depictions of Tirek that she'd seen when she was growing up. Smooth skin and long limbs, as if his top half continued all the way down, uninterrupted by equine body parts.
"That's right." Sunset nodded. Tempest spotted some students matching her stare, their eyes flying down towards her hands. Instinctively, she clenched it and pulled it behind her back, her curious expression turning into a stony glare. The students quickly fond they had more important things to do than stare at her, and she gave a satisfied smirk.
"I'm sorry about that." Sunset offered to Tempest.
"I'm used to it." Tempest's voice was blunt, and invited no further conversation on the topic. Maybe Sunset was different, but her school certainly wasn't. Just more shallow, judgmental creatures with shallow, judgmental lives. How did Twilight do it? How did Sunset do it? Maybe the Ursa Major had broken more than just her horn. Or maybe they had it easier, being able to keep what was broken inside of them hidden, instead of broadcasting it to the world. The sound of Sunset's voice cut through the gloomy thoughts.
"When I first came here, I used to be a very angry person." Sunset's voice was, uncharacteristically, both shy and soft, almost apologetic. "I didn't leave behind anything important in Equestria. I felt...betrayed, by the only person who cared about me. I wanted to make it everyone else's problem. And being angry I learned that you can make people care about you if you make them afraid of you."
Tempest looked over at the other girl, who was transforming before her eyes. Everything about her seemed to shrink. Her expression was distant and tired. Her hold on Tempest's hand was faltering and timid. Her shoulders bunched and slumped.
"When you're angry, really angry like that, you can do almost anything to anybody. Because you can just...convince yourself they don't have it as bad as you. And it made things so...easy. I could get anyone to do anything for me. I got some nerds to vouch for me being an exchange student, made them fill out the documents to match. I broke the school into little pieces, all bowing at my boots. I--"
Tempest put her right hand onto Sunset's shoulder, turning to face her. "You don't have to tell me this." She tried to force warmth into her voice.
The life came back into the girl at the gesture. She grabbed Tempest's broken hand, taking both hands into hers and looking Tempest in the eyes. "The point is." She said, warmth entering into her voice. "It was hard for me to stop doing that. I don't have all the answers--I'm still learning how to do this, too." They shared a smile at this, a small, almost shy thing. "But I don't have to be perfect, now. The respect that I got from fear relied upon my power. I needed to be strong to have anyone care about me."
"Weakness is opportunity." Tempest said, simply. As if she were explaining that gravity pulled things downwards, or heat caused things to rise.
"But it doesn't have to be." Sunset gave her clasped hands a squeeze and locked eyes with Tempest's steely gaze. "The hardest part of changing who I was was making that first step. Pulling back that tough shell that could take on anything and being the real me. Because when people know the real you they can hurt the real you. But...once you find people who will be friends with the real you, they'll help you up when you get hurt. If you can open yourself up, accept getting burned by the nasty person here and there, you can find friends who respect you however good or bad you are at something, whatever mistakes you make along the way."
Tempest bit her lip. "I don't...have anyone like that. Who would just vouch for me, if someone else was trying to use me."
"Well..." Sunset smiled warmly, if still a little shyly. "Now you have one person like that. If, y'know, you'd like to."
Tempest blushed at this, but looked at Sunset's shimmering eyes with that same infectious hope. "I'd be honoured to call somebody like you a friend." Warmth crept into Tempest's voice as she spoke, and their expressions both changed to match. The clanging of the noon-time bell interrupted the warm moment. Sunset gave a theatrical eye roll, nodding in the direction of a classroom.
"Listen, I gotta get to class soon." She walked over to one of the lockers and pulled it open, beginning to stuff binders and textbooks into a denim backpack. Tempest caught sight of a journal with half of Twilight Sparkle's cutie mark joined to a fiery sun that was presumably Sunset Shimmer's own. "If you like, you can hang out here, maybe find something in the library to read--"
"I'd.." Tempest bit back the thought. It was an old dream. One she'd buried long ago. Not really worth bringing up.
"You'd...?" Sunset tilted her head.
"I never really...got to go to school." She said. "Or, maybe I did have the chance, but I didn't see the point. I wanted to, when I was little. I wanted to be part of Celestia's School, but..." She looked down at the ruined hand held in Sunset's. "Things got in the way."
Sunset smiled gently. "I'll tell the teacher that you're from the other side, that you want to learn. That sound okay?"
Tempest gave a little nod. Almost shy. Sunset pulled away, over to the class, and Tempest waited for the inevitable. Paperwork would be demanded. Money required. She'd need to find another odd job. Maybe, if she worked at it, she might earn the right to walk through the doors as a student--
"Okay." Sunset returned, her eyes lit up with embers of excitement. "So we're going to have to share a textbook, but if you promise to take it seriously, Mr. Cranky says that if I vouch for you you can come along."
"Really?" Tempest blinked, and a thousand possibilities rose before Fizzlepop's eyes. She felt...young. The world was, suddenly, impossibly, full of potential again. What did they teach in this 'human world'? What was there to learn?
"'I'm not going to turn down another student actually interested in learning, no matter what dimension they're from'. His words, not mine." Sunset elbowed her, and then pulled her along to class.
To Fizzlepop's relief, nobody stared when she entered the room. They were either busy following along with the lesson, or trying to escape its clutches. Sunset opened her notebook and set to work, and Fizzlepop looked for her place.
The topic she was trying to parse was wave mechanics. These humans had found out that not only how to calculate how fast and tall waves like the waves on the ocean could be, but that other things traveled in waves invisible to the eyes. Sound travelled in waves. Light travelled in waves. It was incredible! The teacher kept smiling at her eager expression, too.
It was hard writing with her non-dominant arm, but easier than writing with her mouth had been. She couldn't keep up with everything, but when she needed time to write more, Sunset would slide over her own notes so Fizzlepop could read them. Midway through the lesson, she raised her good hand. The teacher had picked her out, his expression a mix of curious and expectant. "So sound travels through different mediums at different speeds, right? Is that true for light, too? Is that why light becomes distorted underwater?"
The teacher gave her a knowing smirk at that. "That's the next unit." He winked, writing 'Reflections and Refractions' on the board. Fizzlepop felt a bit of satisfaction mix in with her curiosity.
"Also. Why does sound sometimes move slowly?"
"Move slowly?" He raised an eyebrow at this.
"If an explosion goes off, you see it and feel it before you hear it." Tempest explained. Some of the students began to stare at her in confusion. "Like, uh, with thunder and lightning. You see the flash before you hear the boom." The brief intrusion of tension in the room released, and Fizzlepop allowed herself some measure of relief.
"The sound is still travelling at its normal speed, but it isn't the only wave that's moving towards you when lightning strikes. Sound may be fast, but it isn't the fastest force out there. What you're experiencing is light travelling even faster." Fizzlepop gave a nod, returning to her seat.
The rest of the day continued with even more curiosities. In biology, she learned about the regeneration abilities of the body. How cells divided and multiplied. In chemistry they discussed something called super-suspension, when there was too much matter in a liquid it would produce a solid, like a crystal. Side by side, she and Sunset worked on the questions together.
At first, there was a prevailing sense that Sunset was stooping to her speed. That she was just slowing her down. But Fizzlepop caught her moving a decimal place between equations during their calculation of crystal stoichiometry, and Sunset made a sound like an engine running out of gas, pointing to her brain and rolling her eyes. The two of them shared a laugh, and Fizzlepop's worries fell away.
Eventually, the last bell rang, and Fizzlepop had to fight down the glow she felt rising within herself. She could be a chemist, or a physician, or a physicist. She didn't need a horn to make it happen, either. All she needed to keep up was knowledge. But more than that. It wasn't just the triumphant feeling of rekindling a dream she'd thought had died years ago. It was the sense she was sharing it with someone who was happy to see her triumphant, too.
"Did you want to hang out after school? I could introduce you to the girls." Sunset's voice probed into her thoughts, tethering her back to the real world. "They're a great crowd."
Fizzlepop gave a pause at this. One part of her stiffened at the idea of meeting anyone, let alone a crowd of new people, that could potentially jeopardize what she'd just found. But more than that, another part of her didn't want to share her new friend with a group of strangers. Sunset backpedaled at Fizzle's frozen body language. "It doesn't have to be all at once. If you want some time to yourself, first, I'm sure--"
"No!" Fizzlepop said, a bit more forcefully than she'd wanted to. "I, uhm." She cleared her throat. Took in her bearings. "I'd like that." She tried to organize her thoughts. "Eventually. But. I'd like to get to know you, better, before I meet your friends." Fizzle ran her good hand through her mohawk at that. "One thing at a time, I think. I'm still not used to this sort of thing."
Sunset gave that easygoing smile she'd expressed when they'd first met. "Sure. One thing at a time." This time, she took Fizzlepop's right hand in hers, and for the first time since she'd lost herself, Fizzlepop truly felt like someone wanted it to be there.
"You want I can show you my dirt bike?" Sunset broke the silence as they walked out the school's double doors. "You seem like a dirt biking gal."
Fizzlepop's mind tried to piece together what that might be. "Is that a building or a transport?" She hazarded a guess from Sunset's look of pride that it had to be something relatively big and impressive.
"It's like a..." Sunset's eyes searched around for a suitable metaphor, then lit up when she reached one. "Think of it like some crazy pony strapped a generator to an adult-size scooter."
Fizzlepop couldn't help but smile at the description. "What?" She intoned, searching to see if Sunset was pulling her leg.
"A motor-powered super-scooter."
"Do humans have a death wish?" Fizzlepop prodded her. "Is the high school motor-powered, too? Is it going to explode if I close a locker the wrong way?"
They shared a giggle together. "Listen, I've done a lot of odd jobs around this city but I never worked for Workplace Safety. I dunno who signed the papers approving them, but the principal okayed them for the Friendship Games and we kept them after enough begging and scraping from yours truly and a fellow hothead by the name of Rainbow Dash." Sunset elbowed her. "If you're really scared you can just watch me ride the oil-powered death wish for a bit."
"Never." Fizzlepop let Sunset lead her around back, searching around for this absurd-sounding vehicle that Sunset was describing. "Danger's an old friend."
"Explosions, too, apparently." From Fizzlepop's falling expression, Sunset dialed back the teasing. "Sorry." Sunset bit her lip. "If I ever say anything that steps on your history, let me know, okay?" She gave her a look of empathy.
Fizzle gave a single, little nod, and Sunset started over. "So. Was any of that danger the fun kind of danger?"
"I used to have a zeppelin, for work." Fizzle admitted. "Soaring through storms was always dangerous, but spells kept us safe enough. On the other hoof..." She gave a little smirk. "I may have had a reputation for...regulation non-conforming driving."
"You're telling me you used to stunt drive a zeppelin?"
"When sufficiently motivated." Fizzle gave a smirk. "You know by now I'm not always what we call patient."
"That," Sunset said, her eyes lighting up, "sounds like the kind of thing a madpony would do to get her kicks." Sunset led her over to a shed on the back wall of the school, opening up the double doors and revealing their prize. "I don't know if the principal will agree to insure a zeppelin-crashing stunt pony."
"Well. We had a policy back in the unit. Never break what you can't fix." Fizzle looked the vehicle up and down. It wasn't far off from Sunset's description. It was like a scooter built for sitting on instead of standing on. The colour scheme matched Sunset Shimmer's own, but unlike her, it was less streaky yellows and reds and more a naturalistic blend of oranges, yellows and reds together.
Fizzlepop ran her good hand down the frame of the bike, enjoying the feeling of cool metal on her skin. Following the nostalgic instincts that rose in her, she traced her hand all the way down to where she presumed she'd find the engine. "I don't know how to fix a dirt bike. But I'm ready to learn, if needs arise."
"It's not just the bike we'd be worried about. Make sure you don't break anything important out there." Sunset tossed her a helmet, kicking off her boots and pulling her legs through a skin-tight jumpsuit that matched her colours.
Fizzle strapped on the goofy blue headpiece and pulled on the biking suit reluctantly, reasoning she didn't want to add any more scars to her generous collection, and then waited for Sunset's signal. "C'mon. I'll show you how to take it out for a spin."
Sunset eased her body into the bike's frame like they were two halves of one single entity, always meant to be there. Her arms flowed up to the handlebars with practiced care, her body lowering to flow with the direction of the frame. She even narrowed her eyes to match the angle of the visor on her helmet.
"So, what, do I just watch now?"
Sunset gave her a look. "Look, I may be a showoff but I'm not an ego maniac. You want my friend with the crazy rainbow hair for that. No, you climb on and grab hold of me, and we ride together."
"Where? In the back?"
"That's right, you wrap your hands around the rider's waist to stay balanced with them. Just sit behind me."
Fizzlepop made to grab onto her, a bit awkwardly all things considered. Where Sunset practically melted into the seat, her arms grabbing the handles and her body leaning forward into the bike with practiced ease, Fizzlepop was rigid and stiff and not sure how best to wrap her hands around Sunset.
Sunset took Fizzle's hands in hers again, letting them snake around her waist and pressing their bodies together. Sunset was stronger than Fizzle had expected. She'd thought she'd looked skinny, up to now, but athletic was a better description. She held Fizzle tightly to her lithe and taut frame, sending a current of electric feeling through Fizzle that was as foreign as it was welcome.
Sunset kicked the stand away from the bike and turned on the engine. For once, Sunset had been under exaggerating. This engine didn't just purr. It roared. The flare of life in the engine sent her spirits soaring, and she laughed with the spin of the wheels as the bike shot out of the shed and onto the race track at the back of the facility. The bike kicked and sputtered as it ran its way across the dirt track, taking hills and valleys in sudden jolts that shot adrenaline into her veins in time with the momentum swings.
When Sunset at last skidded the bike to a stop, Fizzle was squeezing her for more than just her safety. "That," she said at last, "was fantastic."
"Am I hearing a request for another go-around?"
"In no uncertain terms." Fizzle chuckled.
A few rides (and some hollering from both girls) later, they drove back to the starting point again. Fizzle slid off the bike. "Okay. I'm going to need you to teach me how to do that." The two began to peel off the biking suits, sure to hang them up where they'd found them.
"So that's a yes to signing up for the team, then?" Sunset gave a little smirk.
"If I can even get paperwork done to stay in this crazy primate dimension." Fizzle rolled her eyes.
"I'm sure that we can work something out, between Twilight, the principals and I. For the time being, you have a place to stay?" Fizzlepop's breath hitched at that.
"I have...money. But it's Equestrian bits. I don't know if they take that."
"There's an antique shop in the neighbourhood that does. Good exchange rate, too. Just don't flood the market all at once. Til then, you can crash at my place, alright? Providing you're planning on staying."
That thought gave Fizzle pause.
"I'm still thinking about it. But...between the school and the company..." Fizzle looked at Sunset a bit bashfully. "I think I'll work something out."
"Well, if you like, I'll walk you back to my place and we can work things out from there? See the living conditions first, and all. Besides. There's something I want to show you over there, anyway."
"Well," Fizzle began, "if it's anything like dirt biking, consider me signed on."
"A little more subdued than that." Sunset admitted, smiling softly. "But I like to think it's something special."
"Well, lead on."
The two fell into a comfortable silence, walking through the streets side by side. Fizzle kept her right hand firmly shoved in one pocket, minimizing the attention from passerby. Sunset was very adamant about where they walk. Self-driving carriages called cars sped up and down the road at a regular pace, and they were big and heavy enough to cause injury, according to her.
Fizzle, for her part, made sure that she kept Sunset and herself between the carriage portion of the road. She wanted time to focus on getting her bearings, and fear of colliding with a rolling slab of metal was not something she wanted weighing on her understanding.
"I noticed that there are more colts on average over here." Fizzle said, idly.
"Yeah. I don't know why the gender ratios skew like that. The only real difference is that it makes for fewer lesbian couples." Sunset shrugged. "Which isn't really a problem for me."
"No?" Fizzle prodded.
"My barn door swings both ways." Sunset looked over at her. "You?"
"Never really gave it thought." Fizzle admitted. "I had bigger worries."
"Well, humor me." Sunset looked more curious than her casual tone implied. "What's the ideal colt or mare look like for Fizzle, then?"
"Absolutely not." Fizzle laughed, rolling her eyes. "If lightning strikes and I find the right person for me, I'll let you know." Sunset crossed her arms, but laughed with Fizzle. "But, to humor you just a little, we'll put me down as fairly flexible on he-versus-she until proven otherwise."
The comfortable silence resumed, and Fizzle returned to her people-watching. "So I haven't seen any nudists yet." Fizzle said, curious.
"Oh. Yes. That. Well, they're hairless, right? Clothes are for warmth and protection from dirt as much as for show." Sunset said, looking around at her fellow bald primates. "Also, nudity is a big taboo here. It's something you keep between yourself and your partner."
"Partner?"
"As in, your romantic partner." Sunset stressed. "Being naked is considered sexual."
"So only take them off when you want to catch somebody's eye."
"Uhhhh." Sunset's eyes widened. "No, no, no. Once you've done all the dating steps to catch their eye. Then you do the undressing."
"Glad I asked." Fizzle said, wryly.
"Yeah. Fortunately, we haven't had anyone crossing over jump into stripping the minute they got here, but it's a bit of a culture shock for humans coming to our side."
Fizzle snorted at the thought of some of their classmates surrounded by naked talking ponies. "I always liked clothes better, anyway. More practical for travel. A wash of clothes is easier to do than a full coat brush."
"Where's the furthest out you've been?" Sunset asked, suddenly curious.
"Mount Aris." Fizzle admitted. "Which lives up to its reputation. I could have lived with fewer stairs, though."
"That must have been incredible." Sunset's expression turned wistful.
"I wasn't there for a...happy reason." Fizzle admitted, slowly.
Sunset took Fizzle's hand in hers and gave it another squeeze at this, falling into a quiet understanding, again.
Fizzlepop took in a breath. Sunset had said that making friends was about being brave, right?
"I was fighting a war. On the...well. The wrong side. We stole from Mount Aris." Fizzle looked over at Sunset. "I'm still a criminal there." She expected to see shock on her face. Horror, or contempt. What she saw instead was sympathy.
"You don't have to tell me this, either." Sunset said, softly.
"I want to." Fizzlepop stressed. "I need you to...to understand. I don't want to be insincere to you." Fizzlepop clenched her bad hand. "Knowing me comes with baggage. I want you to know what you're getting into."
"Okay." Sunset squeezed her ragged hand. "I'm listening." She said, softly.
"My own troops turned on me. It was like you said. I used fear to control them. The strongest survive. But together, they overwhelmed my loyalists, and our leader betrayed me when the battle turned against us. I only survived because Princess Twilight took pity on me. She was the only one who cared, in the end." Fizzlepop gave a little shrug.
"I guess we have even more in common than I thought." Sunset said, almost amused.
Fizzlepop gave her a flat look. "Look, don't take this the wrong way, but you don't look like a veteran, Sunspot."
"Sunspot, huh?" Sunset worked the nickname back and forth in her head. "Cute. I like it." She gave her head a shake. "No, I didn't do my own fighting. I used dark magic to try to take a brainwashed army of teens from this world to Equestria. Twilight stopped me with a different magic artifact. Believe me, your evil plan sounds way more impressive. Mine was like the dollar store knock off version. Good value tyranny."
Fizzlepop actually laughed at that. "Why?" She paused. "Uhm. You don't have to tell me. If it's still bothering you."
"Usually, when I talk about this, the other side is horrified. How could I be so selfish? What kind of monster would do something like that? Didn't I care? It's...something I have to own. I was selfish. I didn't care who was I hurting. I didn't stop to think, and I should have. All of that is true. All of that is important to admit to. But it doesn't make it fun to talk about." Sunset's expression dropped again.
"Or live through again." It was Fizzlepop's turn to squeeze her hand. Sunset's expression changed in an instant.
"Normally, when I talk to someone about this, they want to distance themselves from me. Tell themselves they'd never be the kind of person who did what I did." She gave Fizzlepop a strange look, then. Expressing an emotion Fizzlepop had never seen before. Some kind of mix of distant longing and a quiet joy. "But not you." She said, softly. "You could have acted like my story petty or cheap, next to yours. But you were worried about me. What being that person had done to me." Sunset blushed, twirling her hair around one of her fingers. "I've never felt...safe...talking about my past before. Not like now."
Sunset's expression brought a sense of pride to Fizzlepop. Not out of what she had done, or earned, but...out of who she was. She clasped her hands to Sunset's shoulders. "So. Why the evil teens? What did you want out of it?"
Sunset's voice came out in a tiny hush. "I thought I wanted power and control. To force ponies to like me. But what I really wanted was to be...understood." She said, at last. "It's...a long story."
"Do...do you want me to hear it?" Fizzlepop asked, gently.
Sunset took in a deep breath, giving a little nod. She turned to look Fizzle in the eyes. "I think I do. Do...do you want to hear it? We just met, it's a lot to dump on you..." Sunset's pupils quivered, staring into Fizzle's own.
Fizzlepop weighed what Sunset was saying. It was true. This stranger from a different world could be lying. Could be telling her things she wanted to hear. And maybe she didn't belong in Sunset's life, even if she was sincere. She was stiff, and cold, and gruff. Brooding and awkward and quick to anger.
But Sunset saw something in her. And, unlike the Storm King, she spent time with her for fun. She seemed to like just doing things together. She hadn't asked anything out of Fizzlepop but her company. And the teachers and classmates she met seemed to like her. If she had an ulterior motive, she'd made no steps toward it that Fizzlepop could see. What she could see was someone who saw something more in her than hired help or a useful puppet.
"You deserve someone who wants to know that part of you better." Fizzlepop replied, at last. "And I'd like to be that somebody. If you would like, uh, somebody like that."
Sunset gave her that same strange expression at this. "I was a very...angry pony, growing up." She said, at last. The words coming out more plainly, now. "I never knew why. I just blew up at the littlest things. Everypony was afraid of me. And I had a lot of magic, so I had...outbursts. That turned ponies away, y'know?"
Fizzlepop resisted the urge to squeeze away the pain in Sunset's voice, her own memories of her fractured horn's outbursts welling up. Instead, she simply said "I do" with all the warmth that she could bring into her voice.
"My parents tried to enroll me in magic school, to control my spells and learn how to control my temper." Sunset said, continuing on. "But all the time I kept feeling like something was wrong with me."
"I was good at the magic, though. Princess Celestia noticed. Quick to learn and full of ambition." Sunset sighed. "It didn't change who I was, though. Whenever somebody tried to tell me what to do, how to act, I just got so...angry." She looked to Tempest with a small, sad smile.
"I was stubborn. And we fought a lot. Celestia is very patient, but...something about how she's always so patient just...drives me bananas. She was always so perfect. And I was so...impatient, angry, jealous. I wanted to be good! A good student to her. But every part of me just felt like...there was this broken part of me--"
"That could never be good enough." Tempest said, at last. Sunset looked up at her in surprise. "So you wanted to make her understand. That you could be a success, even with that broken part of you. Show them all how much better you could be than any of them thought. Is that why?"
"I was so...stupid." Sunset said, at last. "It's only when I realized I didn't have to be...bigger than my anger, better than everyone who ever doubted me that...I got a handle on it. Even now, sometimes it still comes out."
"And sometimes you wonder, why would they bother? What's the point when they're going to get tired of humoring me." Fizzle said, softly.
"How do you..." Fizzle turned their hands over so Sunset could see the missing fingers.
"When I was little, I...picked a fight with an Ursa Major over a lost ball." Fizzle gave a sad attempt at a joking little smile. "I lost. And when I lost. I lost my horn. That's why I wanted to be so...strong. So much better. To show the world someone like me could do it. And to...to break down all the happy little lives they were living. Make them feel their world falling apart."
"And what about now?" Sunset asked, at last.
Fizzle gave a little blush at this. "Even right now, I still feel like I'm at square one again. Less than square one." Sunset tilted her head. "I'm starting that hardest step you talked about."
"You're right, you are. It's part of why I knew right away I would like you."
Fizzle blinked. "You lost me."
"Because, from personal experience, it takes a lot, and I mean a lot of resolve to realize you've been living your life the wrong way. It's that hardest first step." Sunset said, softly. "I didn't do so well, when I was first trying, either. And I had five people guiding me into being a better person. And you...you're just trying to make yourself that, through sheer force of will." Sunset blushed, curling her hair around her finger. "I don't know if I could ever be that strong."
Fizzle blushed with her. "I didn't get there myself, either. Someone showed me how to be better."
"You don't have to be ashamed of that, either." Sunset added quietly. "Being able to reach out to someone is a risk, too. It means someone meant enough to you that you were ready to admit they were right, and you were wrong. That isn't a defeat. It's getting wiser."
Fizzle smiled and shook her head. "So why does it feel like I know less than I did when I was younger?"
"Maybe because you're smart enough, now, to know you don't know as much as you thought." Sunset gave a small smile. "And maybe when someone who's put themselves through this looks at you, they see someone who's quicker on the uptake than they were when they were where you are."
Fizzle felt warmth rise up in her core and her cheeks at the admission. "It's a lot easier when you're there." She admitted. "I feel more...together." She gave Sunset a tender little glance. She frowned at her wording, turning her right hand over and looking at the scars. "Speaking relatively."
Seeing Fizzle fade into silence, frowning at her hand, Sunset decided to take a small risk of her own.
"This might sound really ignorant, but...I think it looks cool."
Fizzle looked up at her, momentarily stunned.
"I mean come on. The mohawk, the leather, the ripped jeans. You pull off the tough guy look better than I ever did. And I really had to work at it. But you? I take one look at you and everything about you screams you've won fights I wouldn't dream of picking with people."
"Is that right?" Fizzle settled into a softer smile.
"I mean you tussled with a star bear as a filly."
"It wasn't much of a fight." Fizzle admitted. "I took one paw to the head and ran home crying."
"Most kids can't get themselves out of a fight with the Tickle Monster, Fizzle." Sunset replied. "You're tougher than you're giving yourself credit for."
"Yeah, well, just don't make one of those inspirational movies about me."
"If you start up on breaking drama club property like you were planning, they just might threaten you with that."
Fizzle snorted, more of the tension leaving her body. The pair turned a street corner, and Sunset pointed to a shop that read 'Horse Feathers: Antiques and Artifacts'.
"Well." Sunset announced. "Here's what passes for a bank for us magic horse immigrants. Give me a holler if you need me."
"I may be new to friendship and humans, but I like to think I can handle a pawn shop, still." Fizzle gave a small smirk.
Sunset put her hands in her jacket and leaned up against a street light, looking expectant. Fizzle gave a single glance back, then walked into the store.
Sure enough, when she walked back out twenty minutes later and a hundred-and-fifty-odd human dollars richer, Sunset peeled off the street light and fell in with walking with her.
"So," Fizzle asked, glancing around, "what's this surprise you were wanting to show me? A magic pony dirt bike?"
Sunset gave a little grin, extending out a hand for Fizzle. She took it, this time with her right hand again, and let Sunset lead her up the stairs of an apartment and through the door of a small rectangular room . There, Sunset tugged Fizzle onto a rooftop patio, pointing to the brick wall of the room they'd just exited to get onto the patio.
Painted across the brick wall was a mural brilliant oranges, yellows and whites. The mural depicted a phoenix, rising up out of a black pit with a fanged, red-skinned she-demon lurking in the shadows. Its wings were curled and swarmed by embers, feathers reaching up towards six logos. Butterflies, balloons, lightning bolts and gems, a six-pointed star and a bushel of fruit.
The six were arranged so they were being buoyed on gusts of wind that also reached down and lifted up the phoenix's wings, as if at once they were pulling the bird up to their heights and its own wings were surging them ever higher. A neat little optical illusion achieved with the motion implied by the way the winds curled.
"So this is me." Sunset said, softly. "Or, um, at least, what I painted to express me. It's not gonna win any prizes or anything, but I really like looking at it."
"You look pretty." Fizzlepop said, looking over the use of colours and shadows, the way the phoenix erupted towards the audience. She gave Sunset a sideways smirk at this.
"Are you saying that about the mural or the person?" Sunset met her tease.
"Maybe I'm saying a beautiful girl painted a beautiful mural." Sunset blushed at this, smiling softly, and Fizzlepop grinned through her own little blush.
Sunset's look became playful again, but also ever so slightly nervous. Her eyes traced the lines of Fizzle's body, rising up to rest on her face. Fizzle smirked once again. "What are you doing?"
"I'm feeling inspired." Sunset admitted. "Thinking about my next mural."
"The Fizzlepop mural?" She asked, smirking.
"Well, I have to up my game." Sunset said, matter-of-factly. "Which means I had to find something even prettier."
Fizzle blushed even more at this. Smiling a gentle smile. "Sunset..." She said, looking into her counterpart's eyes. "You remember how I wasn't sure of some things..."
"Yeah?" Sunset's voice came out shy, a bit uncertain, her previous courage gone.
"I don't know about this world yet. I think I like it here. I might like your friends, I don't know. But you know, when you asked me...about finding someone special." Fizzle looked down at their clasped hands, squeezing Sunset's tight with the fingers she still had. "It makes me feel pretty certain about you." She said, at last.
Sunset's expression turned to one of shock, then relief, and then she leaned over to Fizzle. It was a gentle kiss. A shy thing. Like the two of them were scared that too much joy, too much passion would break the illusion, and wake them both back up in their darker past lives. But when they pulled away, they both felt the fireworks going off in their chest.
Fizzle had always hated looking in mirrors, it was true. But when she stared into Sunset's eyes, seeing her expression of quiet, sincere happiness mirrored in her own, Fizzle decided there were some reflections she wouldn't mind seeing more often.
