I know that this is a difficult time for you. But it can be a hopeful time, too, if you let it. I'm proud of the new direction you are taking and I want to help you along in finding your way.
This book contains my notes on all I've learned. I do apologise for the handwriting on some pages. Not all of it might be easy to figure out, but I have the utmost faith in your abilities.
Best Wishes, A Close Friend
Sunset didn't know how many times she had read the letter ever since finding it between the first few pages of the old notebook. It had been a few weeks since then and much of that time had been spent going through the hand-written notes, drawings, and pasted-in cut-outs.
Magic. The notes were on magic. Theory, practical application, encyclopedic entries, the thing was a more inconsistent mess than a teenager's diary. Sunset should know, she had burned hers a few days ago.
If anyone had asked her if she believed in magic this summer, she would have laughed in their face and probably called them a mean nickname. But considering the method in which this notebook arrived, she had been willing to give this "close friend" the benefit of the doubt.
Weeks of work led her to some understanding and some successful experiments, but most of the contents were still impenetrable. And the mystery that was nagging at her the most was the letter. Or rather, the identity of its sender.
She folded it up and tucked it back into the desk drawer. Picking up the notebook, she slipped it into the inner pocket of her leather jacket. She wasn't going to find any more answers by staring at the same papers over and over again. At this point, she had to go out and investigate. And as of today, she had a good idea of where to start.
=====***=====
Sunset looked up at the school building, looming against the night sky. It seemed a lot less welcoming at this time of day, devoid of students. She stood by the monument on the front lawn, her hands in the pockets of her jacket, zipped up against the nightly chill. She could try and go in straight through the front door, or see if there was an easy window somewhere. The last time she sneaked into school this late had been for a ridiculously petty reason, in hindsight.
Tonight was more important. Or so she hoped. There was no guarantee she wasn't just following an imaginary lead, given how little experience she actually had at this. The faint, thumping feeling in the back of her mind had returned as soon as she had reached this side of the road, but for all she knew, it was just the early sign of a migraine.
As she contemplated, another sound caught her ear. Wheels halting on the gravel-covered parking lot just around the corner and a motor stalling, then turning off. She quickly darted around the monument to hide around the other side. She didn't run into anyone last time. Was Mister Doodle coming in this late for work?
She carefully peaked around her hiding spot and watched the path leading around the corner, listening for the heavy steps. But who came walking around, briefly illuminated by one of the sparse street lamps, wasn't a teacher. Though she was certainly tall enough to be mistaken for one.
Sunset's tension shifted but didn't go away. Getting caught by another student wasn't going to be as bad as being seen by staff, but still not ideal. She ran through her options while she watched the tall girl head up to the front doors. Really, sneaking around the school was trouble enough, not having to evade another person was probably for the best.
But that meant having to talk to her. And considering their previous encounters, that almost made her want to turn and leave entirely.
With a sigh, she stepped around the stone monument. If she wanted to repair her reputation even a little bit, this needed to happen sooner or later anyway. She just needed something to say, something casual. "Hey, AJ. Small world, huh?" Yes, like that, except not at all.
As Applejack turned around, startled, Sunset had to shield her face from the sudden bright cone of a flashlight. "Sunset Shimmer? What in tarnation are you doin' here?" Her tone was surprised, but Sunset didn't miss the irritation that came with it.
"I'm looking for something," she said honestly, but evasively, "I didn't think anyone else would be here." Way to make yourself sound less suspicious.
Finally, Applejack lowered the light, pointing it at the doors instead. "Well, fine. I ain't got time for arguments," she said seriously, putting one hand on the door bar and pushing it open, as it was surprisingly unlocked.
"Wait, why are you here?" She quickly followed the taller girl up the steps to the entrance. "I know I'm not one to talk, but I didn't think you a rule breaker."
"If ya must know, I am looking for someone," Applejack said firmly, pressing on into the entrance hall.
"Who?" She wanted to shrink away from the distrustful gaze Applejack shot over her shoulder, but didn't. "Maybe I can help?"
With a sigh, Applejack turned back to the hallways, starting down one, letting her flashlight glide over the doors. "Rarity. She was stayin' behind to work on costumes for the drama club. But her lil' sis called my home, sayin' she never came back and wasn't answerin' her phone."
Sunset followed a few steps behind her, biting the inside of her cheek. She knew Rarity, not especially well, but well enough for the news to be distressing. Especially if the feeling in the back of her mind was what she thouht it was. "Okay, that's definitely more important. If she was working on costumes, I'll check the Crafts classrooms."
She split from her down another hallway, briefly getting illuminated by the flashlight again. "By yourself?"
"You're by yourself too. Don't worry, I have my own light."
The quiet, steady beat of the sewing machine was the only thing she could hear now. Her ringtone had stopped a while ago. Good. She needed to work. This was important.
Her phone had turned off entirely. So did the ceiling lights. That was fine. She only needed the little bulb in the machine, illuminating nothing but the fabric and her trembling hands. She didn't remember why, but this was important. She had to keep going. She couldn't stop now.
The first magic trick Sunset had gotten the hang of was making fire. The second was putting it back out so it wouldn't burn down her apartment, arguably a more important skill. But after some practice, she felt confident enough to make proper use of the flame. Dancing in her open palm, it illuminated part of the hall in front of her, bathing the walls in orange light.
A flashlight would have absolutely been preferable. She could have brought one, easily, but no, she needed to show off how great she was at making flames now. Show off to no one but herself. She groaned at herself and closed her palm, smothering the flame, before pulling out her phone instead to use its light.
The softer, clearer light showed her more of the hallway ahead. Around the bend in front of her were the Crafts rooms. She didn't take any Crafts classes, but she did pass through here to take a shortcut this afternoon. Which is when she noticed the thumping, which was just becoming more intense again now.
She slowed down to quiet her own steps and lowered the light a little when a steady, mechanical sound caught her attention.
A shuddering breath escaped her dry lips as she pulled the tangle of fabric away from under the needle. No time to inspect her work, she had to keep going or she'd never be done.
"Rarity?"
She didn't recognise the voice. It didn't matter, she was busy. They needed to come back later. Or never. She'd never be done.
The door was pulled open. Immediately, her work moved, rustling and shifting as it went to keep them from interrupting her. She ignored the voice as she set a new ribbon against the central piece.
Applejack was a woman of clear priorities. Family came first and close friends might as well be family. She didn't like Sunset Shimmer, simply because of how she had treated her friends. It was true that she had stopped that behaviour, and that she seemed to be feeling guilty enough, but she had yet to apologised. That's why she didn't like her still, even if she didn't feel as hostile to her as Rainbow Dash did.
But all that wasn't important right now. Finding Rarity and making sure she was okay was the only thing at the front of her mind right now. And if Sunset genuinely wanted to help, then that was alright in her book. And any questions over why she was even here or how much she had changed didn't have a place in the here and now.
She had gone through half the main hallways on the first floor now. Maybe Sunset's idea had been right. If anything had happened to Rarity, the first clues would probably be at the Crafts rooms. Once she had reached another empty hallway, Applejack turned to double back. Even if she didn't find her yet, maybe it was best to meet up again.
Just as she turned, the cone of her flashlight clipped something moving around the corner. She fell into a short sprint, whipping the light around the corner when she reached it. "Rarity!?"
She got a better glimpse this time, as the figure darted up the stairs. The girl was wearing a short skirt, much shorter than the one Rarity had worn this afternoon, and a plain grey hoodie, with the hood pulled over her head, the kind that Rarity wouldn't be caught dead in. Then who--
A sudden shout carried down the hallway to her left. Applejack followed the sound with her eyes, then looked back to the stairs. Without losing more than a second, she turned and followed the voice.
=====***=====
Her first flame had caught one of the ribbons and burned through it. The second had gone wide, splashing against the corner above the door. It had all gone downhill from there quickly. Her phone was on the floor, a few feet away. It had landed on the back, leaving only the screen as a dull light and the rest of the hallway in darkness.
Several ribbons and a long band of fabric had wrapped around Sunset's wrist and arm, pulling it back towards the room. She tried to snap her fingers to light another spark, but her thumb being covered in fabric made that impossible.
Her other hand was busy trying to get a finger or even just a nail between the ribbons and her throat, but they had wrapped around tight and no amount of clawing and scratching made breathing any easier.
She had rooted her feet firmly against the linoleum floors, trying to keep herself from being dragged into the room. She had only caught a short glimpse of the writhing mass of cloths and ribbons, before realising she did not want to be in there.
Something snatched her leg, but only wound around once, before it reached the other, forcefully pulling them together. Sunset could only just turn her head and raise her free arm to avoid smashing her nose on the floor. Landing on her chest should have knocked the air out of her, but her throat being squeezed closed worked both ways.
Something, anything, any word, any spell, anything to grab. Her eyes darted around wildly, trying to see some hope in the dark. Rational thought had left her, now that panic had set in, all she could do was struggle.
Then, light flashed, engulfing her for a moment.
SLAM!
The tendrils shuddered and loosened. Sunset gasped for breath and quickly pushed herself a foot away from the door, coughing loudly.
"You mind tellin' me what the hell is goin' on!?"
She quickly struggled to her feet and looked behind her. Applejack had pushed her weight against the door, trapping the mass of fabric snakes between it and the frame. They were motionless now, but their assault was still evident by how entangled they still were around her limbs.
Now that they had come this far, she might as well bite the bullet. Sunset quickly pulled herself out of the ribbons, muttering a single word. "Magic."
"Come again?"
In the half-light, Sunset made firm eye contact with Applejack as she snapped her fingers, lighting a small flame, hovering over her palm. "Magic," she repeated as seriously as she could.
...tak-tak-tak-tak-tak...
Something slammed against the door from the other side, making Applejack tense her body again and ripping her out of the short stupor. "Right. Okay. Magic. Now what do we do?"
Sunset took a deep breath. Now that she could think clearly, she quickly put together what she had seen and connected what dots she could. "Rarity is in there. We open the door, I burn as much as I can, and we get her out."
=***=
As far as rescue operations went, this one was a mess. AJ tore open the door and the first thing that came through was a torso mannequin. She instinctively braced and let it slam against her raised arms. It was hollow and not very heavy and she could push forward.
Rarity was sitting at a desk, in front of an old sewing machine. The only light in the room was the small bulb set above the needle. She looked tired, her eyeliner having run down her cheeks and dried again, her hair a little frazzled, her hands trembling.
Magic or no magic, that was enough to motivate AJ. She held up her arm when the tendrils leapt for her, gathering as many as she could to yank at them, pulling at the centre of the mass somewhere in the middle of the room. A bright flame leapt into the mass, singeing and snapping a good number of the ones she had a hold of.
"Rarity, get over here!" Her eyes darted aside, seeking Applejack's own, but they snapped back to the fabric under he needle. Her lips trembled but no words came out.
Anger gripped her, but she grit her teeth and pushed herself back in-between the sewed hydra and Sunset, catching what she could, while some wrapped around her waist and her thighs, trying to drag her in. Another hissing flame, more of them snapped.
"Applejack...?" Rarity's voice was hoarse, like she hadn't spoken all day.
When the next leap came, AJ raised her leg and stomped down on the ones slithering on the floor. She turned the flashlight in her hand, grabbing a firm hold of it, and dragged herself several steps further into the room, against the grip of the ribbons.
Raising the heavy light, she slammed its butt into the housing of the sewing machine. It cracked, tipped, and clattered straight off the desk. With the crash, it came to a stop, silencing the incessant beat of its needle.
A long, tense moment passed, before the ribbons loosened and slipped off of her. With an exasperated sigh, Rarity slumped forward. Applejack quickly had her arms around her and her friend's weight shifted against her chest.
"I am so tired," she whined quietly. "I wanna go home."
Sunset stayed in the car while Applejack helped Rarity to the door. She didn't need to be carried or supported, but AJ had insisted to at least walk with her. From the car window, Sunset watched as Rarity was tackled by her sister first, then pulled into a tight hug by her father. They all exchanged brief words with Applejack, before she turned to head back over.
Before she disappeared into her house, Rarity looked over to Sunset and waved, smiling through her exhaustion. Before Sunset could decide whether she should smile or wave back, she had already disappeared.
They drove in silence down the road before AJ had to stop at a red light. "I don't even know where to take ya," she noted, like she realised for the first time. Maybe she actually did.
"There's a convenience store on 24th. Let's stop there."
Applejack set her indicator and they fell back into silence until they had arrived at the indicated store. Sunset quietly headed inside and went straight for the display fridge.
"Heya, Sunset." She glanced to the counter, from where a blonde girl was happily waving to her. She smiled back courteously. She was never sure which eye to look at.
"Just these," she said as she set down two cans of iced coffee. She paid for them and briefly said goodbye to the clerk to get back outside, where Applejack was leaning on the side of her pick-up. Sunset handed over one of the cans and sat on the floor, leaning against the wall of the store.
"So... you mind explainin' now?"
"Where do I start? I don't really know much myself." She looked down at the can after taking a sip. "And it'll sound crazy."
"Sugar, after tonight, I'm willin' to give crazy a try."
She leaned her head back and looked at the open sky. "I didn't know anything about this until a few weeks ago. Someone gave me all I needed to start learning. Until now, I only tried little things by myself. But today at school, I felt like something was off. I can't really explain it, it's a... sixth sense of sorts. So I wanted to look into it tonight. I thought maybe it would give me some clues."
Applejack took her time with her answer. "So, what exactly did happen? What was happenin' to Rarity?"
"My best guess is... the sewing machine was enchanted." She scratched the back of her head. By herself, thinking things through, it all made sense to her. But saying this kind of thing out loud still sounded ridiculous. "She couldn't stop, even though she wanted to."
"And you think smashin' it did the job?"
"I... I don't know. It all stopped moving, so, maybe?" She sighed heavily. "I better check on things first thing in the morning."
"Ya mean we are gonna check on things." AJ stepped over and crouched down next to Sunset, putting a hand on her shoulder. "No offence, Sunset, but it didn't exactly look like you had it handled when I got there."
She avoided her eyes and subconsciously rubbed her neck. "Right. Thanks, by the way."
"Of course. You're not the first person I'd choose ta have around, but I ain't gonna let somethin' like that happen. Besides, you saved Rarity tonight, so you're alright in my book."
She dared look up at her and was met with a smile more genuine than she had expected. She wasn't sure if she stared for just a second or much longer, but she finally pushed herself up. "I, uh... better go home. It's not far from here. I'll... see you at school."
"Right. You be safe now." With one more pat on Sunset's back, Applejack finished her coffee and tossed the can into the waiting bin on the way back to her car.
Sunset hesitated for a moment, before finally resolving to answer. "You too. Good night."
=====***=====
School had changed a lot for Sunset. Instead of striding in confidently as an announcement of her arrival, she quietly shuffled into the halls behind a crowd of other students. She preferred to not draw too much attention to herself now. Not that that was always feasible. No one just forgot what she used to be like and some students still regarded her with glares or avoided her in the hallways.
But no one followed her around and no one picked any fights, so she was able to make her way back to the Crafts rooms with no complications. When she rounded the corner, two students were already waiting in front of the door. She slowed her steps as they turned towards her.
"Mornin', Sugar. Told ya I'd be here." AJ smiled, a simple backpack sitting on her shoulders. But Sunset's attention lay more on the other, clutching her purse.
"You sure you wanna be here, Rarity? I mean, no offence, I don't know how much you remember..."
"Everything," Rarity said darkly as Sunset trailed off. She quickly shifted her tone and smiled. "And I am grateful, Darling, but I also need to know what is going on. And Applejack hasn't been too helpful as of yet."
"Yeesh. Sorry, Rares, I'm just really not sure where to start."
Sunset stepped up to the door and put one hand on the handle. She let her backpack slip off her shoulder on the way there, depositing it against the wall to have her arms free. "Well, first would be this. See what's left after last night."
She looked to the others. AJ halfway stepped in front of Rarity and seemed to brace herself. Sunset shook out her own hand, ready to light things up if she needed to. She pulled the door open and stepped into...
A perfectly clean room. Each desk but one was set with a sewing machine. Mannequins stood against one wall, shelves with rolls of fabric and boxes of ribbons against another. A single pair of scissors seemed to be the only thing out of its place.
"Uh, is this the right room?" Applejack asked carefully, as she peaked inside.
"Yes. It definitely is." Rarity stepped past both of them into the room and put her hand on the only empty desk. "This is where I sat down to work yesterday." She glanced around the room, then walked up to the closed shelf in the corner, checking inside. "And here are the costumes I made."
Sunset slowly walked into the room, her eyes scanning the floor while she tried to reach out to find that thumping feeling again that had nagged her so much the day before. She found it, but dull at the edge of her senses, a far cry from what it had been like previously.
"The machine should have been right here. It smashed on this floor. Cleaning that up is one thing, but where did all the fabric end up? It looked like there was enough to fill the room."
The three of them stood in silence, suddenly interrupted by Applejack's hand hitting her forehead. "Last night! There was someone else here! I forgot all about it!" She pulled the door halfway closed and lowered her voice a little as the others stepped closer. "I was lookin' for Rarity, when I saw someone runnin' up the stairs. She was wearin' a sweater with her hood up, so I have no idea who she was, but maybe she knows more."
"A single girl wearing a hoodie in autumn. That narrows it down to about half the school," Sunset commented drily. Another few moments passed before the bell sounded.
"Something for later, then," Rarity said quickly, making for the door. "But I'm not letting either of you off the hook yet."
Applejack exchanged an uncertain look with Sunset before they both headed to class as well.
=====***=====
It kept coming back to Sunset during class. She glanced over at the other girls in the room, like any of them would obviously be the mystery girl. But every time she saw Applejack or Rarity, her thoughts shifted, to something a lot more mundane. And especially when she spotted two other students in the crowd between classes. A short, athletic girl, her multi-coloured hair and blue varsity jacket easily standing out, with her arm over the shoulder of one much taller, but walking just a little hunched, like she was trying to hide in her knitted vest.
She stood and stared for a few seconds, before realising that she didn't have the courage in that moment. She had to secure a way in that didn't involve just walking up to her.
So when lunch came, she was relieved to see that Applejack and Rarity were already there, but she had beaten the others. She put her tray down next to AJ's and sat herself down, starting into her explanation before even any greeting.
"Applejack, I... need a favour." The weight on her chest doubled. This was a lot harder than she had thought. "You know I made a lot of mistakes. I mean, of course you know." She cringed at herself. "I, uh, I've been meaning to do something about that. I mean, to do better. But, I can't until I, um... fix some things first, so..."
She had been rambling for the entire time it took Applejack to swallow her bite and she finally cut her off. "Slow down, there. Just be straight about it."
"Just cut to the point, Darling," Rarity added, though not unkindly.
Sunset took a breath, her eyes glancing over to the doors. "I... need to apologise. To everyone. So, for everything I said about your work before, Rarity, I'm sorry."
"It's forgiven. But not forgotten." Ouch. "Go on?"
"Well, most of all... I need to apologise to Fluttershy. And I have no idea how to start. You're her friends, so..." She trailed off, hoping the thought was complete enough. But when no answer came, she added the rest quietly. "...please help me."
The next few seconds were agony. After how the two of them looked at each other, she half expected them to tell her off.
"Look, Sugar, I'll do my best. You wanna set things right and that's great, but you did a number on that girl."
"I know! And I feel awful about it. I just want a chance to tell her without Rainbow Dash threatening to beat me up."
"Alright, well, here comes your chance."
She tensed. She wasn't really ready yet, but as she followed AJ's gesture, sure enough, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were heading for their table and just as she looked up, she locked eyes with the tall, skinny girl, who seemed to try and hide behind her friend, letting her hair fall into her face.
Rainbow was far less subtle about her feelings. She set her tray down so hard part of her stew skipped from its bowl. "What is she doing here?" she asked sharply, looking straight at Sunset but clearly not addressing her.
Sunset felt herself tense up. All previous confrontations with the athlete had either led to a physical fight or at least threats to that effect.
"Now, Rainbow Dash," Rarity started, putting a hand on her arm, "Let's not start a fight. At least listen to her."
Rainbow's glare remained, but she bit her tongue. Sunset shifted in her seat and tried to relax, but the tension remained. Why was this harder than fighting animated ribbons trying to strangle her?
"The way I behaved in the last school year was terrible. And... before that, too. I don't want to do that kind of stuff anymore. I really want to be better. So..." She firmly countered Rainbow's look. "I'm sorry for all the times we fought. It was my fault. And I'm sorry I almost got you kicked from the soccer team. And most of all, Fluttershy..."
She looked past her at Fluttershy, who was still standing, holding on to her tray. She couldn't hold Sunset's gaze but seemed to desperately try to not just look away, either.
What could she even say? Sorry I humiliated you. Sorry I made you break down in the middle of the hallway. Sorry you were so scared you didn't come to school. Her shoulders slumped and now she was the one who couldn't look at her anymore. "I'm sorry for everything."
The next seconds stretched to infinity, as all the shame that had suddenly collapsed onto her that day came rushing back.
"...okay."
Fluttershy's answer didn't release the tension. Sunset bit the inside of her cheek and quickly got up, taking her tray full of probably cold food and stepped over the bench. "Right, I'll... see you girls later."
=***=
Dash finally sat down, watching Sunset Shimmer head towards an empty table. Fluttershy came to sit next to her and just silently started eating.
"Is she for real?" Dash asked finally, looking up at her other friends.
"Seems honest to me," Applejack said with a shrug. "She helped out last night, too. Looks like she's makin' a real change."
"Believe that when I see it," she said under her breath, then looked to her side. "You okay, Flutters?"
"Yes." She didn't look up from her food, peeling off more of her bread than she was actually dunking into the stew.
"You know you don't have to forgive her just because she says sorry. Just forget about it."
"I know. Don't worry about me." She smiled at Dash, but it was short-lived.
Rainbow shared a glance with AJ and Rarity, but they were interrupted again when their missing member bounced up, somehow not spilling anything.
"Hey, you guys! I was sooo busy all morning that I couldn't talk to Miss Harshwhinny before class, so I had to do it after class, and then saw a bunch of flowers on the way here and I thought 'Oh, hey, sugar flowers on that cake!' so I sat down to draw the flowers and I completely forgot it was lunch, but now I finally made it! Please tell me I didn't miss anything important!" Pinkie looked between her friends before her expression dropped. "Aww, dang it!"
P.E. used to be Fluttershy's least favourite subject. She didn't have a lot of stamina, her reaction time was bad, and even when she could catch a ball, she was just as likely to flinch away from it if it was coming at her too fast. It was the eyes, all the eyes on her, when she was out on a playing field. And her teacher's attempts at trying to get her more pumped and active ended up having the opposite effect.
But halfway through the previous year, P.E. had actually become one of her favourites. Ever since she had come to an agreement with Mister Will and Vice-Principal Luna, to take on special responsibilities instead of standard participation. Cheerleading, refereeing, score-keeping, it sounded like a lot put in a list - and especially on the extra credit section of her report card - but what it really meant was that she got to sit at the sidelines and quietly shout encouragements to her friends.
So as the others changed into their gym clothes, Fluttershy did the same before putting on her cheerleading uniform; a short skirt over her gym shorts with a fake horse tail, a blue sweater with the team logo on it, and a horse-ear hairband. She loosely tied her hair back and followed everyone out of the changing rooms and into the gym, getting started on bringing out the equipment for today's class, while Mister Will addressed the other students.
"Remember, kids! They try to score," He flexed his pecs for emphasis. "SHOW THEM THE DOOR!"
Fluttershy giggled to herself and waited for the teacher to conclude his pep talk, with two soccer balls under her arms. It felt like today was going to be another good one.
=====***=====
When the bell rung, a lot more than two balls had ended up spread across the gym. As usual, Iron Will's class had turned somewhat chaotic. He then had to quickly excuse himself for a teacher conference and left Fluttershy in charge of cleanup. Others might have acted annoyed, but Fluttershy liked being trusted with tasks she knew she could handle. Even if preferably not on her own.
"Um, could someone help me clean up? Please?" she asked quietly. It didn't carry far over the louder conversations of everyone heading to the showers, but as per usual, at least one person was already at her side.
Rainbow slung her arm over Fluttershy's shoulder, making her subconsciously hunch a little more to make up for the height difference. "Come on, you don't need anyone else, the two of us will handle this in no time flat."
"Well, I could still help." Fluttershy shrank a little closer against her friend as she saw who else had stayed behind. Sunset Shimmer stood in the doorway, halfway out, like she wasn't entirely sure of the offer herself.
It had been three days since their talk in the lunch hall. Since then, they hadn't crossed paths more than usual. But the tension had been different whenever they did. Instead of the mutual silent treatment, they had both tried to make small talk at least once, but attempts from both sides had failed quickly.
She wasn't sure if she did want Sunset helping out, but she could already feel Rainbow straightening herself next to her, like a bird puffing its feathers to try and be more intimidating. If she didn't say something, the two of them would argue again.
"Okay. Th-thanks, Sunset." She lightly tugged Rainbow's arm to get her to back off and quickly hurried over to the first ball to pick it up. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw her friend kicking another towards Sunset, maybe a little more forcefully than necessary, but the redhead caught it with no issue.
=***=
There was a good amount of force behind the ball. If she hadn't caught it in her hands, it might have nailed her in the chest pretty hard. Evidently, getting on friendly terms with Rainbow Dash wasn't going to be easy.
You don't need to be her friend, Sunset reminded herself, Just keep it up and don't mess up again.
She tucked the tip of her sneaker underneath another ball and lightly kicked it up to herself, catching it in her free hand, then brought both balls back to the equipment room, just as Fluttershy came back out. They both pushed themselves to the edges of the wide doors as they passed each other in silence.
Great. This isn't awkward at all.
She glanced into the equipment room, stacked to the walls and the ceiling. It was rather small for holding all of this stuff. She'd never been inside before, since she had never volunteered to clean up like this. There were hockey sticks, baseball bats, jump ropes, several crates of balls, rolled-up badminton nets, but the one thing that caught her attention was a big, yet sunken, hollow figure stuffed into one corner.
"Since when did our school have such a big mascot suit?" she asked out loud as she came back out of the room.
"No idea," Dash said curtly, throwing another ball at her.
"Oh, um... that's Commander Hurricane," Fluttershy said quietly, carrying a jump rope back while rolling it up. "I think they still bring him out sometimes, but Crystal Prep used to steal the costume after competitions, so..." She trailed off, her enthusiasm dimming out again quickly.
"Huh. Never knew that," Sunset said in what she hoped was an encouraging tone. She shrugged and turned to bring the ball in, Rainbow catching up with her after a moment with two hockey sticks.
"The hell are you doing, Shimmer?"
"I don't know, trying to be friendly?"
"Yeah, well, you make her uncomfortable, so-- agh!" She flinched back, almost dropping the sticks. Sunset followed her eyes and spotted the puffy humanoid pegasus mascot she had asked about not even a minute ago, rising up out of the corner, awkwardly shifting and stumbling. Its ridiculous headpiece was more like a parody of a horse, with a flattened muzzle and eyes too big for comfort, wearing a felt recreation of a roman legionnaire helmet. Its wings seemed proportionally too small and stuck out stiffly from the back.
Rainbow Dash recovered quickly and groaned, rolling her eyes. "Yeah, very funny, Pinkie, you got me."
Sunset scoffed but smiled for a second, then reached to take the sticks out of Rainbow's hands, but stopped with only one when realisation struck. "Pinkie isn't in this class."
They looked back to Commander Hurricane, finally squeezing himself through the very tight gap between a shelf and a ball crate, dragging behind him an unravelled badminton net that had gotten caught on his wing.
"Okay, then who's pranking us? Thunderlane, if that's you again--" Rainbow reached over and yanked off the goofy head. Their screams were almost in sync when no one appeared underneath.
Sunset stumbled back in shock, regaining her composure only after dropping the stick in her hands. Rainbow's first response was to instead grip hers tighter and slap the blade against the mascot's chest. The chest caved with no body inside, but the rest of it lurched forward, pushing its hoof-like arm against Rainbow's face to shove her out of the way and into the corner behind the door.
It was heading in Sunset's direction now, stepping awkwardly, like something had filled its insides the way a body should, but imperfectly. Still reeling a little from the surprise, she finally pulled herself together and tried to reach out with her mind. The thumping came in heavy. The suit practically reeked of enchantment, in addition to sweat.
Fleece and cotton, if her best guess was right. One good hit with a flame and the whole thing would light up. She raised her hand, but before she could do any more, Rainbow shoved herself back against the thing, trying to grab the arm and pull it back.
"How the hell is it this strong!?" she grunted, getting dragged over the gym floor. But its gate didn't take it towards Sunset, but on a path directly past her. She glanced behind her and a second, weaker feeling entered her mind, a pulse like a string leading straight towards...
"Fluttershy!" Fluttershy hadn't screamed. Instead, she stood stock still, covering her mouth with both hands, her eyes fixed on the empty suit coming her way. Sunset's voice seemed to shake her out of a stupor, but her legs still trembled. "It's the costume! Take it o--oof!"
Having managed to shake off Rainbow Dash, Commander Hurricane pushed into a stumbling sprint, shoulder-checking Sunset with surprising force, shoving her to the ground. Fluttershy let out a short shriek and finally found the strength to turn and run towards the other end of the gym hall, grabbing at the edges of her sweater, but no amount of tugging got it away from her waistline.
"I- I can't!" she cried, reaching the back wall and pressing herself against it.
Sunset pushed herself to her feet and darted after the mascot, but was overtaken by Rainbow on the way there. The athlete skid to a halt just past Hurricane and slammed the shaft of her hockey stick against its chest, glaring intently at the empty hole between its shoulders.
Sunset hesitated for a moment. She might have a shot, but with both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy so close, setting it on fire would just end disastrously. She could only hope that her contingency might work. "Rainbow Dash! I have a plan, but can you hold it on your own!?"
=***=
"Whatever it is, hurry up!" Dash kicked at the mascot's leg to try and put it off-balance. It worked, somehow, but it seemed to re-balance on a single hoof quickly. Still, enough of an advantage to push it back a few feet.
At her response, Sunset turned and ran for the door to the changing rooms. Rainbow couldn't guess at what her plan was, but that didn't matter now. All she could do was keep this thing from getting to Fluttershy.
With some footing regained, she swung the stick wide, trying to get the other leg. Again, it stumbled but re-balanced, its empty body staggering like a puppet with tangled strings. Dash ducked away from a wild hoof-swing. This wasn't like fighting a normal opponent and she wasn't even sure what to do to win, other than tear it up. But the further it backed away, the better. And now that she was over the initial shock of what she was looking at, she could get her head in the game.
Getting her bearings, she shot a look over the floor, at what was still lying around. Darting to the side, she stepped behind a soccer ball and went for a goal shot. It slammed into what would have been the wearer's stomach, making Hurricane stumble again, then bounced back and rolled in her direction. Now this she should could work with.
"Hey, Flutters, give me some team spirit!" she called behind her. Her answer was a scared whimper, but followed by an almost whispered setup.
"Th-they make a push..."
"We kick their tush!" She kicked the ball again, hitting Hurricane's shoulder. Spitfire might be captain, but she was the team's striker.
"They d-dare attack...!"
"We force them back!" She caught the ball with her foot on the rebound and struck a leg this time.
"G-go, Wondercolts!" Fluttershy stammered, raising her voice into a squeaky shout.
There was her opening. Taking firm hold of her stick again, she rushed to close the distance and swung... through the empty space above the shoulders.
"Shit!"
The stiff weight of Hurricane's body slammed into her chest and knocked both the wind out of her lungs and her back onto the floor. The hockey stick went clattering aside. Awkwardly, Hurricane pushed itself back up to lurch in Fluttershy's direction again...
=***=
...just as Sunset came sprinting back across the court. She leapt onto the back, dropping her notebook and brandishing her black marker like a knife. She managed to draw a shaky half-circle on one of the wings, before the thing shifted back, trying to shake her off. Her free hand gripped tufts of faux fur and she grit her teeth as she went for the final line, roughly smearing it downwards through the curve. It was scraggly, but hopefully it would work with even this vague a shape.
Something sizzled loudly as she pressed her palm on the rune. Hurricane trembled and tumbled forward, the stiffness vanishing as it collapsed onto the floor, no longer providing much padding for Sunset's knees as she hit the floor after it.
Relief washed over her when the distinct sense of magic vanished and she let out a mix of a groan and a gasp, her breath going heavy from sprinting all the way to her bag and back. She quickly looked up at Fluttershy, then back towards Rainbow Dash. "You girls okay?"
Fluttershy whimpered, sliding down the wall and onto her trembling knees. Rainbow Dash took a few deep breaths of her own. "That... was... so awesome!"
=====***=====
As soon as the tension started to go, Fluttershy couldn't stop the tears, but they came softly and quietly. She was sitting in the girls' changing room on a bench, clutching the arm of Rainbow Dash to one side of her and with Sunset on the other, only sitting close enough so she could carefully draw a rune on the sleeve of her sweater, more smoothly now.
With her fingertips briefly touching the mark, the sizzling sounded again. "I think you can take it off now."
Fluttershy quickly peeled herself out of the sweater and took off the hairband as well, before pushing herself back against Rainbow's arm with a soft "Thank you..."
Sunset slid further away again, closing her marker and putting it back into her bag alongside her notebook. "I... bet you have a lot of questions right now." Great start. "I'm not sure where to begin. But I promise I'll tell you as much as I can. I'm sorry you had to go through that, I hope..."
She stopped rambling when Fluttershy's hand briefly found her arm. "Thank you," she said again, smiling hesitantly through her drying tears, not quite looking her in the eyes.
Sunset smiled back awkwardly, fidgeting with the edge of her gym shirt. "Yeah, sure..."
The door flew open, a girl bouncing in on her heels. "Hey, you guys! You were late to lunch and so I remembered you all have this class together and I figured I should totally check on you and help you with whatever amazing thing is happening, so I don't miss it this time!" Pinkie's eyes darted from one friend to another, her smile slumping into a pout. "Aww man, again!?"
Sunset looked at everyone gathered at the table. Applejack and Rarity, who she had managed to help on Monday night. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, with whom her attempt to patch things up had turned surprisingly scary. And Pinkie Pie, who was just tired of being left out.
She looked over her shoulders both ways. The lunch hall was starting to clear out, only a few students still sitting in small groups. It wasn't the most private place, but at this point nobody wanted to drag things out longer.
"Alright. It started when this appeared in my room." She set her notebook onto the table between them, opening it on an early page. Everyone leaned in to take a closer look, Pinkie halfway getting up and almost climbing onto the table. "There was a letter, too. I don't know who sent it but it sure seemed like they knew me."
"Ooh, creepy!" Pinkie noted cheerfully. Sunset put a hand on her shoulder and gently made her sit down again.
"Yeah, before I continue... there's no easy way to say this." She made an effort to look as serious as possible. "Pinkie Pie, magic is real."
The wild-haired girl looked back at her, blinking slowly, before snorting a short laugh. "Well, duh!"
The air seemed to freeze for a second. Disbelief, irritation, and disappointment all mixed into one before vanishing just as quickly.
"Okay, cool." She turned back to the book and pointed at a page, but stopped short of continuing when someone else popped up, jumping up in-between Fluttershy and Rarity, making the former squeak in surprise.
"Did somebody say magic!? The Great and Powerful Trixie will show you the true meaning of the word!" With a flourish, she retrieved a hand of cards from somewhere inside the night-blue cape she had thrown over her shoulders. "You, Squeaky One, pick any of Trixie's--"
There was a tug on her cape as Rarity pulled it closer to herself. "Ooh, that is some well-made stitching. Where did you get this?"
Trixie's attention immediately shifted and she pushed her chest out proudly. "Trixie made it herself!"
"Amazing, Darling. Do tell me all about that later. After my... private conversation with my friends," Rarity emphasised with a stern look, never dropping her customer service smile.
Trixie shrunk back and smiled sheepishly. "Oh. I'm sorry." Dropping her persona, she quickly turned away and instead caught up with a few other students on the way out, starting her spiel over again.
"Say what you will, her tricks are getting better," AJ said casually, before Sunset let out a heavy sigh.
"Okay, as I was saying... I didn't believe what I was reading at first, but I also couldn't explain how it got into my place. I thought it was just some weird stalker at first. Honestly, haven't really ruled out the stalker part. But when I started actually reading these notes and tried some things out, I--"
"Hey, Fluttershy!" Two girls appeared at one end of the table, the shorter twin putting her hands on it. "Are you still coming to my Pet Party on Sunday?"
"Oh, um, yes, thank you Cloudchaser. I'm very excited for it," Fluttershy answered quietly.
"Cool, see ya 'round!" Cloudchaser took her sister's arm and started walking off again, a small group of students following the both of them.
Sunset waited a moment. "Anyway," she then said pointedly, "when I started to try some things, I did get results. First it was just kind of an uncertain feeling, but--"
"Goo'bye, Sunset, see ya at work!"
Her eye twitched and she strained to just smile and wave at Derpy, who nearly walked headlong into the doorframe amidst her excited waving. As soon as she was out the door, Sunset rested her head on her arms and groaned.
"Okay, this is not going to work. Let's eat up and find an empty classroom."
=====***=====
Sunset looked both ways down the hallway for any potential distractions, before closing the door and heading to the desks the others had pushed together.
"Okay, I think we have enough privacy now."
"Finally, we can get started!" Pinkie groaned with an exaggerated gesture.
"Could have started much sooner if ya hadn't gone for seconds," Applejack noted drily.
"Hm. Oh yeah." Pinkie shrugged and leaned an elbow on the desk, fishing into a pocket with her other hand to start snacking on a cookie.
Sunset put the notebook down between all of them again. "As I was going to say earlier, I learned a few things from these notes. Detecting magic for instance. Then there's this." She snapped her fingers, lighting a small flame, just enough to demonstrate, before snuffing it out again.
"If you could do that, why didn't you burn that thing earlier?" Rainbow Dash asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Because you were close to it and it was heading for Fluttershy. I didn't want to risk hurting either of you."
Rainbow settled back in her chair, crossing her arms, begrudgingly satisfied with the answer.
"Everything else is still theory, though. I haven't even read everything in here. And a lot of it doesn't make sense to me yet. Whoever put these together didn't exactly have an organised process."
"So, um, what was it you did with my sweater earlier?" Fluttershy asked softly.
"A disspell rune. I thought I saw something like it during my reading and after what happened to Rarity on Monday, I made sure to check it again." She opened the notebook on a page marked with a small slip of coloured tape, featuring a cleanly hand-drawn image of the rune on one side and scrawled notes on the other. "Luckily it worked the way I interpreted it. I couldn't exactly test it until today."
"That's all well an' good," Applejack started, "But this is twice our friends ended up in danger in one week. And I have definitely never heard of anythin' like this before."
Sunset nodded and took out a small, black leather calendar from her bag, far more organised than the magic notes. "First the sewing machine in the Crafts room, then the mascot and the team sweater at P.E. For all we know, that's not all of them, either. If it can happen twice, it can happen again."
"Dreadful. I almost couldn't work all week because of that horrid day," Rarity commented, playing with a lock of her hair, "I certainly won't wish that on anyone else."
"But, here's the thing. If I'm thinking about this right, magic doesn't just... happen. If these were enchanted, someone must have worked the magic. Someone with access to the school facilities."
"Ooh, ooh!" Pinkie raised her hand so high she had to stretch out her shoulder.
"Yes, Pinkie?"
"That could be any student or any member of staff! Any at all!" she declared excitedly.
"Or any who know magic," Rainbow Dash said pointedly.
Rarity gently laid a hand on Dash's shoulder. "Now, Rainbow Darling, I know you two have history. But I for one will give Sunset the benefit of the doubt here, no matter how badly behaved she was before. Um, no offence."
"Um... none taken. I really was like that, after all."
"I'll hafta agree," AJ added firmly. "On Monday night, Sunset might've nearly gotten herself seriously injured tryin' ta help Rarity. I doubt she would go that far for a setup."
Sunset smiled at the support and put a hand on her chest. "Rainbow Dash, I know you don't trust me. And I'm not asking you to. But I'm letting you in on this because I trust you. Because all of you have been through this now and if you feel the same way about it as I do, then you can't just let this go."
She looked around the circle of girls, most of them nodding their silent agreement.
"I didn't go through anything!" Pinkie volunteered, then shrugged at the looks she got. "But you guys are my friends, so I'm in anyway!"
Rainbow looked between all her friends before sighing in defeat. "Fine. So what do we do?"
"I suppose... find the enchanter and stop them from causing any more chaos. At best, they are dangerously negligent. At worst, they are deliberately trying to hurt people. Not to mention what we could learn from them. And we already have a lead, too."
"Mystery girl," AJ chimed in with a nod.
"Exactly. On Monday night, someone else besides the three of us was at school. We don't know who she is, but from what Applejack described, we can probably conclude she's a student. If she's not the enchanter, then she might know something."
She looked up from her personal notes, trying to gauge everyone's state of mind. "So... who's in?"
"Ooh, I am!" Pinkie called immediately, reaching out and putting her hand over Sunset's on the calendar. "It's like playing detective, except we're actually detecting and not playing at all!"
"You can count me in, Sugar. If anyone else is bein' endangered, we gotta do somethin' about it." Applejack placed her hand on Sunset and Pinkie's as well.
"Well, I never said I wouldn't help." Rainbow Dash leaned forward to put her hand in. "And... I guess what you did was pretty awesome."
"I can hardly pretend none of this is happening. Besides, I am far too curious about those notes of yours." Rarity daintily placed her hand on Rainbow's.
"Well, um, since you're all helping, I also want to do my part." Fluttershy added her hand on top. "You know, if that's okay."
Sunset looked around at all of them, their expectant faces looking back at her. Her heart fluttered a little and an involuntary smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. "Thank you, girls. I don't think I could do this by myself. Let's solve a mystery!"
She pushed her hand up and everyone raised their hands in sync.
For all the excitement that day, not much happened after what Sunset could tentatively consider a team meeting. Sunset had to leave almost immediately to get to her shift at the convenience store and had split up from everyone outside the school doors.
She scrolled through the list of contacts on her phone, now with five more entries. Only Rarity had texted her so far, to ask about having a look at her notebook. She didn't feel right about being the first to message any of the others. It didn't feel real yet, to have suddenly made friends of people she used to treat so poorly.
Friends? Is that what they were? They had barely talked to each other and really only about the unusual events that had brought them together. She hardly even knew anything about them. Really, if it weren't for what had happened this week, they wouldn't have any reason to talk to her.
Sunset sighed and put her phone away, looking up into the small store. A pair of middle-aged men were standing by the rack of magazines, discussing some article or another, while three girls in Crystal Prep uniforms were arguing about the snacks they were buying.
"You don't want something coated in sugar?"
"It's my name, Zap, not a personality."
Sunset scoffed quietly to herself and ducked under the counter to straighten out the displays again, for the third time since she started work less than two hours ago. She heard the door open and was about to come back up when someone was already shouting over the counter.
"Hey, Sunset!"
She flinched and hit her head on the edge of the counter. Coming back up, she stood face to face with Pinkie Pie, leaning on the counter far enough that her feet had left the floor. "Um, hey. What's up?"
"Oh, I rotate stores every weekend, so I never get tired of the snacks I buy for my hang-outs! And I didn't even know this one existed! I sure am lucky that my nose led me here!"
Sunset leaned forward as well, resting her elbow on the counter and her head on her palm. "I dunno. We don't really have anything unique. You sure this is the place you want?"
"Oh, absolutely! This is already a great place, because you're here, silly!" Pinkie's grin only widened and she tussled Sunset's hair with one hand. Sunset resisted the instinct to slap her hand away and tensed her jaw.
"You sure you're happy to see me? I mean, I wasn't exactly nice to you until this summer."
"Oh, yeah, you were a big meanie!" Her smile still didn't falter. "But you stopped being a meanie now, right?"
"Um, right." She moved to the side a bit so she could ring up the students who had come up with their selections.
Pinkie eyed the snacks and pointed to a box of colourful gumdrops. "Ooh, that one's one of my favourites! Great choice!" The girls only regarded her with silent looks ranging from dispassionate to mildly annoyed.
Sunset had never been one for school spirit or rivalries, but she had never met a Crystal Prep student who was not looking down their nose to some degree. She flatly told them the total and handed them their change, before her attention returned to Pinkie.
If she didn't try and do some small talk, she would feel awkward around her new teammates forever. If that was what they were. "So, Pinkie... you have plans this weekend?"
"Yup! I have a big hang-out with my friends every weekend! And if I don't have any friends to hang out with, I'll just hang out with my sisters, instead! And if neither my friends nor my sisters have time, then I'll hang out by myself!"
"And... who are you hanging out with this time?" Sunset started shuffling the trading card displays around to keep her hands busy.
"Oh, I don't know yet, I totally forgot to ask anyone." She giggled to herself, then gasped like she was suddenly short on oxygen. "Sunset, do you wanna hang out!?"
"Are... you sure?" She looked over to the other two customers, whose discussion had deepened and were unlikely to overhear them. "Even if you're not mad at me anymore, you don't have to feel like you need to invite me."
"No, no, I love hanging out with new friends! Oh, but I don't know what you like yet! We'll have a Getting-To-Know-You Party!"
She wasn't sure when she had started smiling herself. This girl's energy was infectious. "Well, I guess I don't have plans tomorrow," she said more to herself.
"Yay!" Pinkie pushed herself over the counter even more and threw her arms around Sunset's neck for a short hug, before skipping off again and running for the door excitedly. "See ya tomorrow!"
Sunset watched her go, feeling tense again from having been embraced so suddenly, but her smile lingered. What did I get myself into?
She shook her head about the boundless energy on display, but didn't have to wait long to see it again. "Forgot my snacks!" Pinkie announced, weaving into the aisles, grabbing an armful of candy bags and boxes and dumping them onto the counter for Sunset to ring up.
=====***=====
Sunset couldn't quite remember when she had last been invited to a friend's place. Sophomore year, maybe, before she had messed things up with Lyra and Bon Bon. Since then, sure, she'd been to Flash's place a few times, but that had been different. Awkwardly different.
Conveniently, stopping at Rarity's house wasn't a big detour. She wasn't entirely comfortable with handing off the notebook, but she wanted to build trust and a second pair of eyes on it might turn up more clues than she had found on her own. So after leaving it with her and getting the promise that it'd be treated carefully, she walked the rest of the way to the address Pinkie had texted her.
She didn't have to wonder if she had found the right place. The house looked overall rather plain, but a pair of windows on the second floor was decorated with bright pink curtains and an assortment of balloons were tied to flowerpot hooks on the windowsills.
She still wasn't sure about this, despite coming all the way to the front door. She knew nothing about Pinkie, aside from her tendency to be loud and physically affectionate, both of which had only annoyed her in the past and still made her feel uneasy. But she also wouldn't learn anything new about her if she didn't make an effort. While Sunset was still occupied with that line of thought, the door swung open and Pinkie bounced out to her.
"Heya, Sunset! Come on in!" She grabbed her arm and pulled her inside. She barely waited for her to take off her shoes before leading her through the plain house, decorated in grey and brown tones, and upstairs, into a bedroom that looked as though it had sucked all colour from the rest of the building.
Everything was painted in bright tones. Between the solid pinks, there were shades of blue and yellow, with some flashes of others here and there. An old TV was set up on a low table with a classic gaming setup underneath it. The shelves were filled with boxes, the contents indicated with stickers, next to figures, plushies, and stacks of comic books. A large plush alligator sat among the piles of pillows on the bed, the posts of which had more balloons tied to them, and several beanbags were stacked against the foot end, with only two - a pink and an orange one - moved into the room to sit on.
While Sunset got over the visual sugar rush, Pinkie tossed herself onto the pink beanbag and sounded a party blower that she ahd pulled from somewhere. "Welcome to the Getting-To-Know-My-New-Friend-Sunset-Shimmer Party!" She picked up a bag of candy from the floor next to her and tossed it over to Sunset. "Go on, pick the music!"
Sunset opened the bag of gummies and put one in her mouth while she found the stereo system sandwiched between a tightly-packed set of figurines and stacks of CDs. She only got through the first few before she found exactly what she wanted. "Oh my god, you have a signed PostCrush album!?"
She could hear Pinkie springing up from her seat again in excitement. "Oh my gosh, you like PostCrush!?"
"I love PostCrush! I never got to see them live, but I started guitar lessons because I wanted to be like K-Lo!"
"Ooh, best new friend EV-AR!" Pinkie leapt at her and pulled her into a tight hug. And surprisingly, now, Sunset didn't mind the sudden over-affection as much. "Put it in, put it in!"
=====***=====
Sunset's apprehensions were completely forgotten with the first song. Both of them knew all the words and Pinkie drummed with her fingers along her bed frame during the solos while Sunset tried to keep up with the finger placement on an imaginary guitar.
After they had sung their hearts out for a bit, Pinkie started showing her a bunch of other things to gauge her interests. They ended up looking through a bunch of comic books together and cycled through several games to play, while chatting about all sorts of small things. No magic, no bullying, just silly memories and favourite movies.
Time flew by and it was dark out before Sunset had noticed. They had both sunken into the beanbags, absorbed in the relaxingly monotonous shoot'em'up on the screen, stuffed with candy and a filling dinner that Pinkie's sister - a girl as shy and quiet as Pinkie was bright and energetic - had brought up to them.
"Hey, Pinkie," Sunset started after a longer silence than they had had between them all day, her thumbs moving almost on autopilot across the controller.
"Uh-huh," Pinkie answered, staring blankly at the screen. Her energy had died down into a comfortable exhaustion. Maybe the sugar crash was finally happening.
"Thanks for today. You don't know how much I needed this."
"You mean because you were a really mean bully and you were worried that you couldn't make friends because you think everyone is just putting up with you because of the crazy magic stuff and no one would hang out with you otherwise?"
She waited for the same feeling of irritation to set in over Pinkie's uncanny responses, but it didn't come. "Okay, maybe you do know."
"Sunny-Sun-Sunset..." Pinkie drawled, like she was just dragging her name out for fun, "My granny always said that people are usually always nice. And when they're not nice, it's because something hurt them." She shifted to look over at her guest. "Are you still hurting?"
Sunset hadn't been ready for that direct a question and bit her lip as she felt a flutter in her chest and her eyes welling up. She paused the game and sat up, quickly wiping her eyes. "Hey, I'm the one who hurt others. Your friends, too."
"And you're really really sorry, right?" Pinkie asked quietly. Sunset didn't want to look over, but she felt those big, innocent eyes on her. She wasn't sure if she wanted this kind of pity. Wasn't sure if she even deserved it.
"Y-yeah. I don't wanna be like that anymore." She still didn't look up, but she heard Pinkie move and felt her weight joining her on her beanbag, putting her arms around Sunset and resting her head on her shoulder. The scent of bubblegum came with her.
"Then I forgive you. And my friends will too."
Somewhere between the exhaustion, the relaxing atmosphere, and the honest conversation, Sunset's walls had been stripped down. She choked down one quiet sob and finally allowed for her tears. Pinkie's hand found her hair and started petting it. Sunset silently accepted the affection and swallowed down the guilt building over it.
"Yeah, Pinkie invited me to a... Get-To-Know-You Party?" Rarity couldn't quite read Sunset's expression. 'Unsure' was the best way she could describe it, which wasn't uncalled for given she hadn't really experienced Pinkie's enthusiasm much yet.
"Oh, well you have fun, then, Darling. Thanks for dropping this off. I promise you will get it back in unchanged condition."
"Thanks. I'll see you at school."
They waved each other goodbye and Rarity closed the door with a somewhat concerned hum. If Sunset was to spend more time with everyone, Pinkie was definitely a tricky one to start with. She was either the best or worst choice, in one way or another. Especially with how unsure Rarity still was about Sunset in general.
But worrying about that now wouldn't solve anything. And her curiosity was piqued by something a lot less mundane. On the way upstairs, she cracked open the notebook, flipping through a few of the hand-written pages, though the details blurred slightly before her eyes.
She smoothly dodged Sweetie who came rushing down the hallway, pushed open the door to her room, and in one fluid motion slipped inside before closing it. Halfway to her desk, she had to double back and open the door a tad again, at Opalescence's indignant scratching. The cat mewed with self-satisfaction and went straight back to where she had been napping.
Rarity moved aside a few sketches on her desk to have room and put on her work glasses before starting to read. In short, it was a mess. Clearly this had never been intended as a learning tool to begin with and had only been used as personal notes and reminders, leaving it utterly confusing for anyone else, especially someone not familiar with the subject matter.
But somehow, Sunset had taken these jumbled notes and learned a little bit of actual magic. And Rarity was not the kind of person who backed down from a challenge easily and even less so from such an opportunity. She flipped open a spiral notebook of her own and started drawing up an association chart to hopefully unravel some of the intertwined trains of thought.
=====***=====
"...and sure, all that's pretty cool, but that doesn't change who we're talking about, you know?"
Applejack huffed and pushed another stack of wood onto the back of her truck. "Rainbow, ya think if ya come here to complain, ya might consider helpin' out?"
Rainbow grabbed a few pieces and moved them onto the truck, but continued regardless. "I'm just saying, maybe we shouldn't get so friendly with Sunset Shimmer of all people, just because she can do cool magic now."
"Everyone deserves a second chance, Rainbow. And she apologised. Now that doesn't mean we should just forget, but if she really wants to be better, someone needs to give her a chance." She took what Rainbow was carrying and added it to her own stack. "Besides, I don't think the old Sunset would've helped ya'll like she did."
Rainbow Dash buried her hands in her pockets and kicked a loose branch, looking out over the farm. "Okay, if you say so. Doesn't mean I have to like it. ... So, what kind of awesome magic do you think she can teach us!?"
"Uh-huh. There it is." Applejack leaned on the bed of the truck once she had stowed the last bit of wood. "Sounded to me like learnin' that involved some studyin'. Ya sure you're up for that?"
"Hey, I can learn if I really want to! Do you think it could make me fly!? Or shoot lightning!?"
AJ chuckled to herself and walked around to the driver's side. "If I'm bein' honest, I'm kinda tryin' not to think about it. It's a bit too much to wrap my head around. Now hop in, you're helpin' me drop these off."
=====***=====
Rarity prided herself in quite a few things. Grace, humility, a sharp fashion sense, natural beauty, and also on that list were precision and focus. Admittedly, she wasn't always the best student. When a subject eluded her, she often fell to frustration. But when she did push through, once she had grasped the basic concept, the application of it was no problem.
Too bad the same didn't apply to magic.
"This is impossible!" She tossed her pen onto her desk. Carefully. She wanted to express indignation, not break an expensive work implement. "What do they even mean by 'inner focus'!? Is it so much to ask to get some basic definitions!?"
She sighed deeply and threw herself onto her bed. She had spent her whole day reading, writing, and puzzling out connections. And what she had come up with seemed right, as far as she could logically tell. It had internal consistency, at least. But some basic elements just didn't make any sense to her. And without those, there was no way to put her theories into practice.
She should have asked Sunset to tutor her from the beginning, but she'd been too uncertain about how to approach her. It was true that she had saved her - or at least helped to do so - but that didn't clear away the perception she had had of her previously. Maybe she did deserve more of a chance, though, like Pinkie seemed ready to give her.
As if on command, Rarity's phone played a short jingle, indicating a text message. It was followed by the same jingle two more times. She stood up and fished her phone out of her purse. The messages had appeared in a group chat she shared with her friends.
"Party Success!!!" the first one read, flanked by a small assortment of emojis. Before she had started texting with Pinkie regularly, Rarity had never known there were so many different balloon emojis. She still wasn't sure where she got all of them.
The second message was a picture, before the third finished with "💗 u all, have a super-amazing weekend!!!"
The picture was a selfie, showing Pinkie beaming and sticking out her tongue, her cheek pushed close to Sunset's, who was smiling, hesitant but genuine. Her eyes were slightly red, but she had her arms lightly around Pinkie's shoulders.
"Right." Rarity straightened herself and held a clutched fist against her chest. "This is no time for me to be wallowing in defeat. If I can't do this on my own, there's no shame to ask for help!" On Monday, though. After a well-earned spa day.
=====***=====
Fluttershy sat by her bed, listening to the squeaking and chittering of her two companions. She finally shook her head, waiting for her bunny to take the gesture as a cue to let her respond. "Oh, I know I was in a bad condition after that. But doesn't everyone deserve another try?"
He started squeaking more excitedly than before. Fluttershy picked him up and sat him on her lap. "I know you're upset, Angel. And I'm grateful that you want to defend me, but I really think I should try and get along with her. She has really been trying this week."
A soft chittering followed with the little parakeet she was watching for her brother landing on her shoulder. "Oh, of course it's difficult for me, Miss Chicory. But I think she hasn't had any friends this whole time. I never see her talking to anyone else and she always sits alone at lunch. I feel so sorry for her."
Angel protested again, but Fluttershy once again shook her head. "She already apologised. That is all I can ask of her. If she wants to be a better person, then I want to help her. After all, that would be better for her and everyone else too. I think."
Chicory chimed in again. "Oh, no. Of course I want to help everyone find out what is going on. But I don't think I could ever learn any kind of magic. That sounds way too complicated. And... a little scary."
Angel squeaked loudly and indicated himself wildly. Fluttershy giggled softly. "Oh, don't be silly, Angel Bunny. I couldn't ever ask you to do something so dangerous. But I am so happy that you would even offer. Now, it is time for all of us to go to bed. We're going to Flitter and Cloudchaser's party tomorrow and-- eek!"
She flinched at the sound of her phone. Quickly realising what it was, she reached over and looked at the messages in the group chat. "Aww, now does this really look like a bully to you?"
Angel stuck up his nose. Fluttershy giggled again as she picked him up. "Come on. I know how excited you are to see Bunzilla tomorrow. You should get plenty of sleep so you're all ready to spend tomorrow with your little crush."
By the time Monday came around, it had already been a week since this whole thing started. And yet, it had only been a week. Having a traumatic experience and ones worldview shattered - well, perhaps slightly cracked - certainly did make time seem almost meaningless for a while.
But damaged worldview or not, Rarity stuck to her daily routine. Shower, hair, makeup, light breakfast, pack bags, go to school along with Sweetie Belle, split up, meet friends. Nothing was supposed to disturb this routine, and yet after she parted ways with her sister in the entrance hall, she found the hallway leading to her locker sectioned off with striped tape.
"What in the world?" She pushed her way past the students crowding near the hallway to get a better look, ending up next to Rainbow Dash standing at the front.
"What gives!? It's just some water!" the athlete exclaimed, gesturing at a slowly spreading puddle coming from somewhere around the near corner ahead, getting some of the surrounding students to agree with her. Vice-Principal Luna, standing just behind the tape, raised her hands and - when that didn't get everyone to lower their voices - whistled sharply.
"I'm sorry, kids, but we have to wait for the repair firm to get here. Our janitor had no luck fixing the fountain and now he claims it keeps attacking him whenever he tries. Until everything has been fixed and cleaned up, we have to ask you to go around through the yard. If anyone slips or your textbooks get damaged, it'll fall on the school."
The students groaned and mumbled, but dispersed, giving Rarity the opportunity to address Rainbow more privately. "What in the world happened?"
"That new drinking fountain broke down or something. Started spraying water everywhere, while people were trying to get a sip. It nailed Trixie in the back of the head, so that was kinda funny." She shrugged.
Rarity resisted the schadenfreude smile that crept up on her. Certainly Trixie's hand-made cape getting wet and her hair ruined wasn't anything to find that amusing. "Do you think it might be... you know?" She fluttered her fingers, trying to mime casting a spell.
"I dunno, it looked like it just broke. But we could take a look." She smirked and glanced back into the hallway, now that the Vice-Principal had left.
"Let's not break any rules before we discuss it with everyone first," Rarity said quickly, gently putting her arm around Dash's to lead her the long way around.
=====***=====
By the time everyone could sit down for lunch, Sunset had already heard about the drinking fountain, pondering it over her meal and while looking at the notes Rarity had made after going through the notebook.
"I don't know, it could really just be broken. Wouldn't surprise me if the manufacturers made fixing it deliberately obtuse. If we start seeing magic in everything, we'll miss the forest for the trees. I think." She slipped in the last two words when she realised how firm she was talking, still used to taking charge.
"I concur," Applejack nodded, "Though if we're wrong, someone might get hurt. So perhaps we aughta check things out just to be safe."
"As for inner focus... I don't know if I can explain it verbally. But maybe I can help guide you into it?" Sunset offered, hoping she wasn't promising too much.
"Ooh, like guided meditation. That sounds like way more my style than trying to bang my head into this wall of a book," Rarity commented with a smile, sliding the closed notebook back over to Sunset.
Sunset cast another glance over Rarity's clean handwriting, as Rainbow Dash came up to the table, Pinkie in tow, who was still wearing the horse-ear headband of the cheer team uniform. "Shimmer, the soccer balls are definitely enchanted!"
She glanced up at her, chewing on a piece of carrot. "What makes you say that?"
"I couldn't hit a single shot all practice!" She slumped into her seat in a huff.
"No offence but... are you sure you're not just having an off day?"
"No one else could hit any either. At first we just weren't making any passes or goal shots. But then we kept missing the balls entirely."
"Uh-huh, I was cheering for them the whole time," Pinkie added cheerfully, "but they only kept doing worse!"
Rainbow glowered and picked up Pinkie's fork for her, shoving some of the food into her mouth.
"Alright, that does sound strange. But not as violent as either of last week's incidents."
"Yet," Rarity said warningly, holding up an impaled piece of broccoli, "That machine seemed harmless enough at first too."
"Okay, I'll have a look at both after school. Before anything like that can happen again."
Fluttershy finally joined the rest of them, setting her tray down on Sunset's other side. "Um, actually... if you don't mind..."
"You found something enchanted too?" Sunset asked with a sigh.
"I was setting up for the school play auditions and, um... someone saw the props hopping away."
There was an uncertain pause, finally broken by Pinkie. "Wow-wee, three in one day? I'm finally not missing out!"
=====***=====
After their last class period, the group split up. Since the fountain wasn't going anywhere - hopefully -, Sunset took Rarity and Fluttershy to the auditorium, while Rainbow and Applejack volunteered to gather up the soccer balls, with Pinkie casually strolling along.
She'd never seen any real magic before, but Granny Pie had always talked about it. Mom and Dad never liked to bring it up, but then there were a lot of things they didn't like talking about. Like TV, and pop music, and whatever Limestone's "college experience" was.
But the balls littering the soccer field definitely seemed magical. Not as magical as making her friends smile, but the more unusual kind. There were half a dozen of them, since the team always did practice shots in groups instead of one by one. The team had left without picking them all up, maybe out of frustration. Maybe they needed a little cheer-up party, but that had to wait until Pinkie was done helping her friends.
Rainbow Dash strode up to one of the balls right away and went for a clear shot, but the ball seemed to only bump to the side slightly, making Dash stagger. "See!?"
"Maybe ya'll are just havin' a klutzy day," Applejack said with a chuckle before bending down for one of the balls. It slipped past her fingers and rolled a few feet away. "What in tarnation?"
Pinkie stood on the bleachers and took a long, hard look at the balls, rubbing her chin like everyone always did in cartoons when they were thinking really hard. After watching a few more attempts, she hopped down and casually strolled closer to her friends. Just as Dash went for another kick and the ball rolled aside, she stepped in quick. "Gotcha!" Just where the ball had rolled, her foot connected and it went flying, hitting a goal post and bouncing back, rolling closer to them again.
"Oh, you got one!?" Rainbow asked, sounding both impressed and annoyed. The ball shifted a little on the grass.
A shiver ran up Pinkie's spine, up to her neck. She didn't know how she knew, she just knew that she knew that the ball would come flying, so she ducked, making it whip over her head, tussling her curls. Another two shivers shook her sides and she grabbed Dash's arm to drag her aside, out of the trajectory of one of the others, while yelling for Applejack, who luckily took the warning quick enough. The balls shifted and started to roll across the grass, beginning to circle them.
"Um... whoopsie. I think I made them mad--WATCH OUT!"
=====***=====
Sunset glanced around the auditorium after climbing onto the stage. A desk was set up in front, for the principals and the drama club instructor to sit at during the auditions and some chairs had been moved out of the way for it, but otherwise the room was unchanged and empty.
"Fluttershy, who did you say saw the props?" she asked as she continued to glance around.
"Um, well..." She shifted a little uncomfortably. "The birds."
"The birds?" both Sunset and Rarity said in unison, the latter sticking her head in from backstage.
Fluttershy nodded and pointed to one of the high windows. "They're nesting in that tree. I heard them singing so I thought maybe they saw where the props went and--"
"And you talked to them?" Sunset asked with disbelief.
"You don't believe me," she concluded, casting her eyes down.
Sunset shot a look at Rarity, who shrugged with a similarly confused expression. She walked over to the edge of the stage and sat down to not be looking down at Fluttershy too much. "So, they said they hopped away?"
Fluttershy nervously ran her hands through her hair, but nodded and pointed to one of the backstage passages. Rarity turned to look there again, but Sunset called to her quickly.
"If it's all the props individually, and all the soccer balls, this might be faster if we have more people who know how to disspell." She pulled two markers out of her pocket. "So, how about that guided lesson?"
=====***=====
Sometimes, Rainbow imagined whatever or whoever she was mad at in place of the ball, so she could physically kick her bad grades, or Sunset's head, back when she would have really deserved it. But she had never actually been mad at a soccer ball before.
"Come on, you round piece of shit!" she screamed, tossing herself on top of one of them, clutching it to her chest. It wiggled, like a very bloated cat trying to escape a hug, but she had a tight grip on it now. "Ha! How do you like that!? Not so tough--"
Her head spun and her vision flashed with stars for just a moment. When she could tell what was happening again, she had let go and both the ball she had caught and the one that had hit her in the side of the head rolled away over the grass.
And were promptly pounced on by Pinkie, wrapping one arm around each, trying to grapple with both of them. "You okay, Dashie!?" she half-shrieked, glancing wildly between her and Applejack, her hair somehow far more frazzled than usual. She'd avoided getting hit at all, but her nerves seemed to stand at end.
AJ was coming closer with the mesh bag, trying to keep the four balls inside from hopping back out, getting bumped in the leg a lot instead. Her hat was lying in the grass a few yards away from when she had been hit in the back.
Rainbow cursed under her breath and wiped her face, briefly spotting blood on her fingers as she stood, staggeringly. At least the throbbing pain helped her ignore the bruises on her arms and stomach. "I changed my mind, I hate magic."
Pinkie pushed the balls into the bag and quickly pulled her arms back as AJ pulled the opening closed. They both dropped it and watched the balls bounce and wiggle, but they weren't making it anywhere, all trying to get away into different directions.
"Ya might wanna get some ice," Applejack said with a sigh, "And have someone check on that nose."
"Smelling is overrated," Dash grumbled and sat back in the grass, tilting her head back and accepting a handkerchief from Pinkie, "I just hope Sunset is having a bad time too."
=====***=====
"This is amazing," Sunset said softly, forgetting to even take notes as she watched Rarity. They had spent some time sitting together on the stage as Sunset tried to explain how to reach out for the spark, to find the magic somewhere inside her.
When Sunset had to figure it out for herself, it had taken days, often interrupted by frustration breaks and loudly wondering if she was crazy to even try. But she had managed to explain it in a way that led Rarity to it in just a few minutes, even if she struggled with finding the words a few times.
A small hexagonal shape hovered over Rarity's hand, barely the size of her own palm. She carefully closed her fingers around it and managed to pick it from the air, inspecting it by slowly turning it before her eyes. With another short gesture, it vanished, dispersing into a glittering dust that seemed to just melt into thin air.
"It's so pretty," Fluttershy said with similar reverence, "What is it?"
"I'm not sure," Sunset admitted, "When I managed to cast magic for the first time, it was my flames that came to me. But apparently it's something else for both of you."
"Both?" Fluttershy looked down at herself, like she had missed something. "Um, but I didn't do anything."
"I think speaking to animals counts as magic, darling," Rarity said with a gentle smile, finally finding her words again. "But don't we have some work to do?" She picked up one of the markers.
"Right. Once we find the props, draw the rune I showed you and touch it. Hopefully it works for you as it does for me." Sunset closed her eyes and reached out with her magic. Only a faint feeling was there, but it was enough to follow. "Now, what kind of props are we even looking for?"
"Well, we should have a crown, a sceptre, some candlesticks..." Rarity started, only for Fluttershy to finish for her with a concerned whisper.
"...and a dagger."
"A... prop dagger. Right?" Sunset asked carefully, looking between both of them.
=====***=====
It was a prop dagger. An extraordinarily sharp one. Sunset shouted in pain and tossed it onto the ground on instinct, immediately wishing she had just grabbed the handle with her other hand. She tried to step on it, but it clattered over the ground and slid under one of the chairs like a cornered animal.
"Careful, darling," Rarity warned, though that wasn't exactly helpful advice. Fluttershy stood in the back corner, near where they had piled the disspelled props. Only two were left.
"I'm not going to lose to a disembodied knife," Sunset huffed, quickly looking at the shallow cut in her palm. It wasn't worse than a papercut, but still more than any school theatre prop should even do.
The dagger shifted, clattering over the floor without leaving its advantageous spot. Sunset kept her eyes on it while she started to slip her arms out of her leather jacket. Once she had it properly in hand, she quickly stepped towards the chair, provoking the prop. As planned, the dagger shot out towards her. She tried to close her jacket around it, unsure for a panic-filled second whether it had slipped out somewhere, before she could close her hand around it, wriggling but unable to harm her through the leather.
"I got it," she announced with a relieved sigh, letting down her guard for the last clattering thing to come rolling towards her. Knocking over a half-empty water bottle, the carved wooden sceptre threw itself in her direction once it was close enough.
Sunset scrambled to get up while still holding on to the dagger, but Rarity already stepped in front of her. She raised her hands as if to try and catch the sceptre, but it never even reached her. A similar shape than her first creation, but large enough to count as a shield, appeared before her palms, stopping the assault short with a dull thud.
Fluttershy scrambled forward and grabbed the item with both hands. Rarity quickly uncapped her marker and managed to draw the rune on it while it was jittering in her friend's grasp.
Uncovering just the hilt and trying to draw on the small dagger while it was still trying to escape was cause for some more frustration, but after some struggling, it was finally still. Sunset took a deep, shuddering breath and shook out her jacket.
"Um... go team?" Fluttershy said quietly, weakly raising a fist, cutting through the stressed silence.
=====***=====
The group sat in silence on the steps outside the front doors. Sunset was lying on her back at the top of the stairs, her jacket bunched up as a makeshift pillow. The other half of the team had done a good job catching the enchanted balls, but trying to disspell each one individually had been a struggle. She had bruises on her fingers, a small bandage wrapped over her palm, and her hair and top were slowly drying from getting sprayed by the drinking fountain several times during her fight to get close enough to draw the rune on the side.
"This has gotta stop," AJ said firmly after a while, being met with tired affirmations from the others.
"Three in one day," Rarity said thoughtfully, checking her hair in a compact mirror.
"More like a dozen in a day!" Rainbow added, still holding an ice pack to the side of her face. At least her nose had stopped bleeding.
"I know, it's so exciting!" Pinkie called out. Four pairs of eyes burrowed into her. "Ugh, who am I kidding, this was a mess."
"At least we learned something." Sunset sat up and rubbed her neck. "Rarity picked up a different kind of magic than I did. And even though Fluttershy and Pinkie never learned, I don't know how to explain their abilities otherwise."
"I just... always could." Fluttershy sat on the bottom step, her arms wrapped around her knees. She'd gotten away with no bruises or cuts, but didn't seem any less shaken. "No one ever really believed me, though."
"So, we all get different magic powers?" Rainbow chimed in again, checking the ice pack for any new blood stains.
"I don't know. The book has descriptions of spells and all that, I learned the rune and how to sense magic, but it looks like different things come naturally to us."
"Then about time you share, isn't it?" Rainbow sat up properly and looked back to Sunset over her shoulder.
"Right. Are you girls feeling up to meditation today?" She was met with uncertain mumbles. "Then, let's postpone until tomorrow. It can't be as bad as today, right?"
"The auditions are tomorrow," Rarity said more cheerfully, "And thanks to us, they won't end in disaster."
"It's almost like we're school heroes," Rainbow grinned.
"Yeah, except no one's gonna believe us," Applejack pointed out.
"Then that's settled. We'll go over magic again after the auditions." Sunset picked up her jacket and stood up. "I'll see you girls tomorrow."
She headed down the steps, past all of them, getting goodbyes in varying degrees of warmth. She waved as she tossed the jacket over her shoulder and carried her backpack in the other hand. The smile she gave the others remained with her as she started heading down the sidewalk. It had been a rough day, but she had spent all of it with them. Circumstances aside, it felt like she really had friends again. And she had almost forgotten that feeling.
Tuesday classes passed like molasses. Sunset was frazzled from a night of inconsistent sleep and kept returning to her personal notes over what she was actually supposed to be reading, hiding the pages behind her course book. She had compared her own results with Rarity's observations and added what her method had turned up. But the nature of her magic was still a mystery, not to mention what Pinkie and Fluttershy had described.
She couldn't wait until after school, to try and explore the possibilities further. Of course she wanted to find whoever was leaving enchantments around school and make sure they didn't hurt anyone else. But she would lie if she said she wasn't excited just to discover as much about magic as she could.
She sat at the table with the others during lunch, but nothing new came up. They parted with the same plan as the day before, to meet again after the auditions this afternoon. And so the other half of the day dragged on just as much as the first until the final period ended.
The auditorium was decently busy when she got there, about two dozen students sitting in the audience seats, some of them waiting their turn, others just there to watch or to support their friends. Sunset scanned the seats until she spotted Applejack and Fluttershy sitting on one side of the room. She started to head over but stopped when someone stepped into her path.
"Sunset Shimmer!" She pointed at Sunset's face, the other hand on her hip. "You think you can upstage me? The great and powerful Trixie was born for many feats of greatness, and this play is one of--"
Sunset put her hand on Trixie's to push it back down. "Trixie, I'm not auditioning. I'm just here to watch."
She watched surprise and then slight embarrassment play over the other girl's face. "Oh. Well, good, so you know your place then. Be sure to cheer for Trixie's superior art of acting!" She tossed the edge of her hand-made cape as she turned, in an attempt to make it billow dramatically.
Sunset rolled her eyes and smiled to herself as she walked the rest of the way to the others, slipping into a seat next to Applejack. "Did I miss anything?"
"Nothin' important. Rares didn't go up yet. Neither did your friend." She motioned to Trixie making her way up into the waiting row of students.
"Oh, I really wouldn't call us that. I think she just got it in her head that we're rivals or something like that. On the bright side, I guess she never took me too seriously when I was... worse."
An uncomfortable moment passed, having brought it up again. Then, Rarity took the stage and all three of them leaned forward a little, smiling and waving as she looked in their direction.
Rarity looked at the sheet in her hand only briefly, before looking past the audience into the distance, raising one hand dramatically, gesturing at the prop dagger, now dangling from a string nearby.
"Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. I have thee not, and yet I see thee still!"
She continued well past the section the others had recited and only stopped when Principal Celestia cleared her throat, indicating that the display had dipped a little into showing off. She bowed sheepishly and jogged off the stage and around to her friends.
"Great job, Rares," Applejack said with a smile, "I only caught about halfa that, but it sounded good."
"Not the role I thought you'd audition for, but well done," Sunset added.
Fluttershy just nodded and squeezed Rarity's hand as she came to sit next to her.
The doors opened and a few more students flooded in, some of them hurrying up to the line, while others went to find seats. Rarity proudly laid a hand on her chest.
"Well, I do take theatre quite seriously. And I do so love long soliloquies. Perhaps the casting would be unorthodox, but I'm confident that my--"
"Skirt!" Applejack hissed suddenly.
"Um, no, darling, I meant that my efforts would speak for--"
"No, that skirt!" AJ pointed squarely across the room to one of the students who had joined the line.
"Flitter's skirt?" Fluttershy asked, trying to follow the way she was pointing.
"Oh, it is rather fetching," Rarity noted, "but I don't think rhinestones are your thing, darling."
"That's the skirt mystery girl was wearing," Applejack said seriously, lowering her voice.
"You're sure?" Sunset looked past her, trying to get a good look past the other students.
"As sure as the rooster crows every mornin'. Those stones reflected in my flashlight. And I remember thinkin' it was too short for somethin' Rarity would be wearin'."
"True, it is pretty daring, but she pulls it off well," Rarity mused before getting back on topic. "So, she was there last Monday night?"
"Flitter?" Fluttershy asked again, her voice a little panicky. "No, no, you must be wrong."
"I'm sorry, Shy. I don't think I'm wrong. I didn't see Flitter, just someone wearin' that skirt. But I didn't see anyone else with the thing until now."
"No!" Fluttershy insisted. Somehow she seemed paler than usual. "I don't want to believe that she has anything to do with this! I've been to her and Cloudchaser's place several times! They wouldn't do all this... right?" Her voice shook on the last word.
"We're not saying she did anything malicious," Sunset tried to calm her down, "but this is the only clue we have right now. She might have been there by coincidence, but she still might know something."
Fluttershy cast her eyes down and nervously played with the hem of her dress. The four of them sat in silence for a moment while Trixie began to bellow out her performance.
"So... Flitter and her sister are your friends?" Rarity tried to start the conversation again.
"Oh, not really... but Cloudchaser has this cute little bunny and Angel has a bit of a crush on her." She smiled to herself. "Um, on the bunny... not Cloudchaser."
"So you've been to her place?" Sunset prompted.
"Oh, yes. This Sunday, they invited me and Angel for a little pet party again. It was the third time already and it is always so much fun I end up falling asleep and taking a nap there. They are both so nice. Although..." She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "This Sunday, when I woke up from my nap, I heard them in the other room. They were arguing about something, but I knew it wasn't any of my business, so I didn't pry. It also sounded kind of scary, the way they were yelling at each other..."
"So when is another one of these pet parties?" Rarity asked, leaning closer to her.
"Oh, no, I really don't feel comfortable with this."
"Fluttershy, please," Sunset said gently, leaning a bit past Applejack to be closer too. "This might be our only lead. We need to find out where all this magic is coming from and Flitter might be a witness."
"You know we won't do anythin' if it turns out they're innocent," Applejack added with a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"Well..." She looked down again. "I'm actually seeing Cloudchaser again... tomorrow."
=====***=====
"You have a date!?" Rainbow slammed her hands down, making Fluttershy flinch. "With Cloudchaser!?" She leaned over the table in the empty classroom, until Rarity gently pulled her back a little.
"It's not... a date," she said slowly, uncertainty in her voice, "We're just having dinner."
"Alone. Planned three days in advance," Rarity pointed out drily.
"But... we're just trying out the vegetarian place at the mall," Fluttershy continued to protest, though her confidence faltered.
"Just one question," Sunset bargained, sitting back to try and not crowd Fluttershy with the others, "Just ask her about last Monday. It's not even an accusation. After that, you can enjoy the rest of your time together."
Fluttershy still looked unsure, but she shook her head regardless. "But... I-I can't lie to her."
"No lyin'," Applejack said confidently, "I was there lookin' for Rarity and happened to see Flitter. Just wonderin' why she was there. If she has nothin' to do with this, she might even be in trouble and they might need our help."
"Sorry, darling. I would ask them directly, but Flitter was gone so quickly after her audition. It's like she always had a small fanclub around her, too."
"Totally! They're always at the centre of a tiny party! And for the record, I am totally not upset that nobody invited me to any pet parties!" Pinkie chimed in from her sulking position on the windowsill.
"But-but what if she did leave the magic!?" Fluttershy suddenly sat up straight, clutching her hands to her chest. "Not that I believe it, but... what if they did want to hurt Rarity and me!?"
"Then some of us will be there," Sunset said right away, "We'll hang by close enough to see you. If nothing is wrong, we won't interrupt. But if something happens, we'll be right there."
Fluttershy looked up at them, then back down, then glanced around the room nervously. "...okay."
"You know, sunglasses only make you look suspicious."
"Sunset, darling, this isn't my first time shadowing a date. I know what I'm doing."
"Wow, should you really sound that proud?"
Rarity scoffed and took off her sunglasses. Begrudgingly, she had to admit that she saw a lot more of the lamp-lit streets this way. "I have a younger sister. I am only making sure no boy tries anything funny." She adjusted her headscarf and crossed her legs. She could see Fluttershy clearly, standing in front of the mall entrance in the light dress and cropped jacket that she had picked out for her.
Sunset hadn't dressed up, but at least she had changed her style up a bit, wearing a short blue dress and jeans under a lighter jacket. A more casual style she pulled off rather well and that wouldn't stand out too much. Though her hair would stand out as it always did, not much to do about that on short notice.
"If she gets wise, pretend we are also on a date," Rarity instructed her while still keeping an eye on Fluttershy from afar.
"You're assuming they are. Fluttershy didn't seem sure and maybe Cloudchaser really just wanted to meet with a friend."
"And look like that?" She gestured across the street. Cloudchaser came jogging up to Fluttershy in a frilly top and a short skirt over cloud-patterned leggings. "She dressed up for tonight. It's a date."
"She dresses up for school. I'm not convinced." Sunset quickly got up when the two of them headed into the mall. They crossed the street and managed to get to the doors just in time for Fluttershy's nervous glance over the shoulder.
"The way she's holding her arm? She is trying to make a move tonight."
"You sure sound like you're having fun."
It was true, the thought of sweet Fluttershy finally getting some romantic attention did excite Rarity. She deserved it, in fact it was long overdue. Of course, the excitement was slightly dulled by the possibility that Cloudchaser and her sister were enchanting random things around school that went on to hurt students, but no one truly came without baggage.
Rarity took a seat in the open-door café across from the vegetarian snack bar and Sunset followed her lead, sitting with her. The date - which was absolutely what was happening - was still in direct view of them, but at enough of a distance for their presence to not be suspicious. Fluttershy was talking, even smiling at Cloudchaser's answer. Rarity's chest fluttered a little.
"I do hope things turn out alright. Wouldn't this be so sweet?"
"Maybe. Depends on what she knows."
"Darling, where is your sense for romance?"
"I dunno. Back in last year with my ex-boyfriend?"
Rarity put a hand on Sunset's and gave her a smile that she was confident was just the right mix of pitying and reassuring. "There is always someone out there for you."
"Thanks, but I don't think I'm looking for anything while I'm... in the middle of changing a lot of things about myself."
Rarity glanced to her charges across the way, then back at her new friend. "I understand. How is that going, by the way?"
Sunset sighed, resting her chin on her palm. "I'm not sure. I'm reevaluating a lot of things. Considering if I should try and fix things up. Not just with Flash, but some other people too. But so much crazy stuff is happening. I thought I could just decide to be better and then go it step by step, but turns out I hurt myself too, more than I realised. And it took Pinkie of all people to make me notice."
Rarity settled back, her eyes quickly darting over to Fluttershy every couple seconds again, but staying quiet to give Sunset space to vent, now that she had gotten her started.
=====***=====
"I should be there, you know," Rainbow said for the fourth time this evening, looking at her phone for any messages for the seventh. Last time there had actually been one, though the report that the date had started only made her more antsy.
"Calm down, RD, it's probably nothin' anyway. She'll just ask her and then they'll enjoy the rest of their time."
"But what if they don't!? What if she's some evil witch who is just trying to enchant her?"
Applejack shot her a firm glare. "You sound ridiculous."
Rainbow stopped pacing and sank into the blue beanbag on the floor of Pinkie's room. "Ugh, I know. But why can't I be there spying with them?"
"Because, Sugar, you're the least stealthy person I could imagine."
She groaned loudly and stretched herself out. "Waiting is killing me. And Sunset's magic lesson totally did nothing!"
"Oh, I dunno about nothing!" Pinkie leaned out of her bed, looking straight down at Dash. "I got this all tingly feeling, but different from the tingles that I already had! Like a heart-shaped tingle, but all over!"
"Yeah, the tingles, we got it. But I totally didn't get any magic! I did the whole routine, I felt the tingles, and... nothing!" She threw her hands up, her fingertips brushing past Pinkie's curls.
"Oh, don't be so upset, RD. I didn't get anythin' neither. Maybe it just takes us longer."
"But waiting is killing me!" Rainbow shouted.
=====***=====
"I mean, I don't think I cried like that since I was a little girl. How is she that sweet? Does she know what she's doing to me?"
Rarity hesitated, unsure whether Sunset wanted a real answer. Even if she did, how would she begin to explain the way Pinkie did things? She just hit the nail on the head sometimes, whether by chance or because she just had a knack for it and it was impossible to tell which it was at any given time. While she still wondered what to say, a loud clattering ripped her eyes back across the way to the snack bar.
Cloudchaser quickly put her cup back onto its saucer, but she had already spilt tea over the table. Fluttershy had flinched back and sunken into her seat. Cloudchaser was speaking, but she was glancing about now. Rarity quickly pushed a menu in Sunset's face and pretended to be absorbed in her own.
Fluttershy relaxed a little again at whatever Cloudchaser was saying and within the next minute, they had gotten up from their table and she was being led away at a quick walking pace. Rarity pulled out the bill she had prepared - enough to pay for their coffee plus a good tip - and left it on their own table as she got up with Sunset, but the moment they stepped out of the café, she had suddenly lost sight of Fluttershy.
"They went this way," Sunset said firmly, heading down one direction, "Around this time, there's not a lot of open stores. There's only so many places they could have gone."
They briskly walked to the two open stores in this part of the mall, but didn't find their friend in either of them. Sunset quickly went ahead to the exit and Rarity hurried to follow her. The doors opened onto a small plaza, trees planted all around. Rarity glanced around in a near-panic. Every second she didn't see Fluttershy made her more nervous about where she had been taken.
She spotted Sunset at a corner and quickly caught up with her again, looking into the small dead-end spot between the mall and an assortment of tall bushes, giving the two girls they were following just enough privacy. Rarity's heart skipped a beat at the sight, before it suddenly sunk.
Fluttershy had sunk back, lying in Clouchaser's arms, one wrapped closely around her waist, the other hand resting on her back. Cloudchaser was leaning over her, her lips against Fluttershy's neck. It looked like one of the illustrated covers of one of Rarity's romantic period novels.
Except for the blood.
Sunset seemed to notice at the same time and they both stepped out of hiding. Cloudchaser flinched, suddenly noticing them, and looked up. Her lips were coated in blood and so was Fluttershy's neck, staining the collar of her dress.
"You... what..." Rarity stammered, trying to formulate an accusation. Sunset seemed to struggle in a similar way, but finally composed herself enough to stay firm.
"Let her go, Chaser!"
"No! Not her too!" Cloudchaser quickly moved one arm under Fluttershy's legs to pick her up. The tall girl just slumped in her arms, passed out. Rarity stood apart from Sunset to cover the exit of the small space better between the two of them. Chaser's light scarf unfurled, spreading into two wide ends behind her back. "Just let me have this!"
The ends of the scarf beat like wings and pushed her off the ground and up towards the roof of the mall. Instead of landing there, her wings beat again and she darted across the sky above them. Rarity's mouth was left agape, trying to parse what was happening, until Sunset grabbed her shoulder, shaking her lightly.
"Rarity! Where does Cloudchaser live!?"
She tried to compose herself, remembering what was at stake. "On the North side of town. So if she's headed that way..."
"She's heading back to school," Sunset concluded quickly and fell into a sprint. "Get everyone to meet us there!"
=====***=====
On her way down the stairs, Rainbow almost slammed right into Marble and didn't even find the time to apologise. She pushed out the door and turned at the gate. AJ and Pinkie were right behind her, but she couldn't wait for them. She was panicking, scared for Fluttershy, angry at the others for not letting her watch her, and blindingly enraged at Cloudchaser.
She ran as fast as she could, panic pushing her ahead. Every couple steps, she leapt, getting quite a bit of distance, like she was hovering over the ground, before her feet touched down again. She didn't have time to think about it. She pushed off the ground harder and reached the roof of a car, kicking off that as well and managing to sail up to the roof of a small house. She could cut across streets this way. She'd make it to school in no time.
=***=
Applejack and Pinkie stood with their mouths wide open as they watched Rainbow leap away, two spectral blue trails behind her back. AJ quickly shook herself out of it. Today of all days she didn't come into town with her truck. She pulled at Pinkie's arm to get her moving and started rushing down the street as well.
=====***=====
Sunset sprinted almost all the way. It wasn't too far from the mall to the school building, only a few blocks, but she was already winded regardless. But there wasn't much time to catch her breath. Cloudchaser must have made it here much faster and it was a big building to search. She pushed through the front doors and quickly made to head towards the nearest stairs.
The hallways were dark, just like the previous week when she had come here this late. And if Flitter had been here then, maybe she was here now. And Chaser took Fluttershy right back to her sister.
She found the stairs, but stopped, despite every impulse yelling at her to run up and find her friend. But she stopped and listened, for the steps coming down. She snapped her fingers and held up a small flame in her palm to see the two people coming towards her.
"Sunset, you can't be here," the boy said firmly, not stopping as he approached her.
"Flash?" She went to snuff out the flame but something stopped her, just holding it aside instead of between them. The warm light danced over his features, bringing back a slew of memories, one more painful than the next. "What are you doing here?"
"We're here to keep you out," the girl answered for him, stepping into the light of the flame.
"Lyra?" The knot in Sunset's stomach tightened even more. A former boyfriend was bad enough, but a friend she'd lost too?
"You're not supposed to be here," Flash said again, raising his hands like he was trying to talk her down, "Just go home."
"I can't. Fluttershy is here and she's in danger. I have to--"
"She's fine," Lyra interrupted sharply, "She's with Flitter. You're the one I wouldn't trust around her."
Staying still was almost painful. She wanted to just push them aside and run up past them, but faced with the two of them, she found herself incline dto argue instead. "She's not fine! Cloudchaser did something to her!"
"Like what you did to her?" Lyra stepped closer and pushed Sunset back by her shoulder. "Like what you did to me and Bonny?"
Sunset stumbled back, closer to the wall. "That's not... no, not like that! This is so much worse!"
"That's funny, I didn't think you could get any worse, Sunny. I can't believe we used to be friends."
"Just go home," Flash repeated, but his tone was more stern now and he was closing in on her again.
Sunset grit her teeth and went to push past them, but Flash grabbed her jacket by the shoulder and pushed her against the wall, while Lyra grabbed her wrist and held her arm against the wall at the same time. The flame fizzled out. Two pairs of eyes stared down at her, their irises shining in the darkness.
=====***=====
The door to the roof was open, leading down through the glass dome into the library. Rainbow could see it as she was leaping up, stumbling as she came to a halt. But before she could make a break for it, a figure already appeared in the door, coming out towards her.
"Flitter, where is Fluttershy!?" Rainbow demanded right away, tightening her hands into fists.
"You can't see her right now. I'm sorry, Dash, I promise she's okay."
"Bullshit!" She glanced past Flitter, towards the door. Lights were on in the library. She was so close. Without wasting another thought, she went to run past her, but Flitter's hand reached out and caught her arm, shoving her back with surprising strength.
"I'm sorry about my sister, but you don't know what you're doing! I can't let you in there!" Flitter looked at her with a pained expression, but Rainbow had no time to parse that.
"I know I'm gonna kick her ass! And yours if you don't move!" Instead of running, she leapt at her, the same sudden burst of speed carrying her against the frail girl. She wrapped her arms around her waist and threw her to the ground with her body weight, then scrambled to get to the door.
Flitter reached up and grabbed both of her shoulders, dragging her to the floor and rolling on top of her. In the sparse light from the dome, a pair of fangs glinted in her open mouth before she dove down to bite her neck. Dash quickly grabbed her jaw and held her away, her arm trembling with the effort.
"I'm sorry," Flitter repeated, straining against Dash's grip to speak, "But I have to protect my sister right now!"
Pinkie sunk against the wall next to the back door and took a long, wheezing breath. Applejack was feeling spent as well, but they couldn't stop for long. Rainbow Dash definitely already made it here, but she wasn't about to leave things to her, or anyone else.
With her heart pounding from the long sprint and continued worry, she pushed through the back door and felt over her pockets "Dangit, of course now I didn't bring my flashlight."
"Don't worry, I got this," Pinkie wheezed as she came in behind her. She stomped her feet and the floor around her was lit up by pink and blue LED lights from the soles of her sneakers.
"Not much light, is it?" AJ noted, but pushed on, one hand on the wall.
"No, but I always wanted to do that." Pinkie seemed to recover quickly, but the lack of skipping or rushing ahead was notable.
"Last week, Flitter was runnin' up the stairs when she noticed me. I'm thinkin' we gotta get upstairs. But, ya might wanna stay behind me. At this point, we better assume they're the bad guys here."
Pinkie hummed her agreement and stayed beside Applejack as they made their way past the craft and art rooms. The very stairs she had seen Flitter run up the week before were not far away. From there, they would just have to see for themselves. If Rainbow didn't make it obvious where to go, loud as she was.
She could see the stairs in what moonlight came in through the windows beyond them, but no sooner did she spot them did someone rush out from one of the classrooms beside her, tackling her. She leaned her weight against them and set her feet firmly against the floor, managing to not be thrown down. With a grunt, she managed to grab some part of the attacker's jacket and first pulled then shoved, sending them staggering back.
"And who are you s'pposed to be?" she asked sharply, looking in the direction of her attacker, who managed to blend in pretty well with the darkness, except for Pinkie's LED lights illuminating his grey pants.
"It's Thunderlane and Spitfire," Pinkie said casually, "Gee, AJ, don't you know, they're on the soccer team."
"I can barely see!" she protested, before processing the full statement. "And Spitfire?"
Pinkie ducked aside and a gruff feminine voice grunted as the second attacker slammed into the wall where she had just been. Applejack managed to find Pinkie's arm and pushed her back, putting herself between her friend and the soccer players.
"What do ya'll think ya'll're doin'?"
"Right back at ya," Spitfire said after recovering, "You're not supposed to be here."
Applejack couldn't make either of them out well, but now that they were both focusing on them, their eyes couldn't be missed, even in the darkness of the hallway. She raised her arms, fists closed, shifting her weight the way she had learned.
"I'm just here to pick up my friend. Ya'll don't mind if I get Fluttershy and get out?"
She wouldn't have caught the movement fast enough if Pinkie hadn't yelped "Right!" just before it came. She caught Thunderlane's arm with her own before his fist could reach her and struck a jab against his cheek, having aimed for his jaw but slightly misjudged.
"Left!" She backed off a little, Pinkie stumbling back from her as she anticipated her movement, but making Spitfire's hit come in more shallow than intended, connecting with her shoulder but as little more than a fist bump. Capitalising on the moment, she took the same step back forward and used the short extra distance to wind up an uppercut, this time hitting exactly like she wanted. Spitfire tumbled and barely caught herself on the wall.
"Ya'll didn't know I go boxin' on weekends?"
=====***=====
"What is wrong with you?" Sunset asked quietly, staring straight into Flash's eyes in the darkness. Her eyes only slowly got used to the light conditions, with only some dim moonlight coming from the stairway, but what she could see didn't match how she remembered him at all.
"What is wrong with you!?" Lyra spat back, grabbing her shoulder and trying to twist her arm, but Sunset tightened her muscles and yanked her arm back from her.
"No, seriously, what is wrong with the both of you? Why are you here, this isn't like either of you!" Lyra grabbed for her shoulder again and Flash started to pull her forward, so she ducked and slipped her arms out of the jacket, managing to slip past Lyra with a quick shove, getting a few steps away. "You're supposed to be better than me."
"You could have been better," Flash said more quietly, still holding on to her jacket.
"I'm trying to be! That's why I'm here! Let me help my friend!"
"I wish I could, Sunset." There was a genuine sadness to his tone as he dropped her jacket and stepped back in front of the stairs while Lyra continued to glare at her. "But that's not what Flitter said to do."
She could feel the tension in her shoulders. She didn't want to fight either of them, but she also couldn't stop here with Fluttershy in danger somewhere. And even if she did fight, she didn't know how she would fare against Flash, let alone against both of them.
A door slammed open in the hallway across. With a loud, dramatic wheeze, Rarity stepped into the room, pointing her phone in front of her as a flashlight. "Ugh, finally... my feet are killing me. That's all my calories accounted for this week."
Flash and Lyra both looked behind them to Rarity, distarcting them for just a moment. Sunset pushed forward and grabbed Flash by his jacket. She yanked him down while pulling her knee up at the same time, slamming it into the pit of his stomach. He double over with a gasp and dropped to his knees.
"Can't explain, we gotta go!" she shouted to Rarity, who groaned and started jogging to the stairs. Lyra tried to step in the way, but with a dismissive hand motion, Rarity created a large hexagon that slowly but forcefully pushed her out of the way and trapped her against the wall.
"Sorry, you deserved better!" Sunset shouted behind her as she ran up the stairs, Rarity struggling up behind her.
"Why are we fighting your ex?" she managed to ask at the top of the stairs.
"I honestly have no idea." Sunset didn't have to look for long now. Light spilled out of a pair of glass doors further down the hall. "They're in the library, come on."
Rarity took a deep breath but kept following despite her obvious exhaustion. With her behind her, Sunset moved up to the library doors. A quick glance inside gave her a surprisingly clear overview.
Fluttershy was slumped in one of the armchairs of the lower sitting area. Cloudchaser was stood over her, a hand on her cheek and leaning on the armrest. Sunset pushed the door open and hurried in, lightin a flame in her hand, just as Rainbow came tumbling down the stairs from the dome.
=***=
She had tripped over the slightly raised frame of the roof door and Flitter had shoved herself into her back. She rolled to try and reduce the impact, but the vampire was after her immediately, pushing her to the curved stairs leading to the lower portion of the library. Rainbow heard the door open at the same time as she saw the steps coming towards her.
She tucked her head in and managed to land on her shoulder. As she flipped over herself, her toes caught a step a few down and she managed to grab the rail with one hand, catching herself mid-fall.
"Rainbow!" Sunset called to her from below.
"No! Get out!" Cloudchaser screamed at both of them.
"Just stop!" Flitter begged from above.
"Will anybody just tell me what's going on!?" Rarity half-shrieked.
Her head was pounding with anger, but she remembered why she was here. She quickly looked down, spotting Fluttershy, Chaser standing next to her. Without thinking much, she vaulted over the rail and set her feet against the side of the stairs, pushing herself off for her spectral wings to carry her forward.
She caught Cloudchaser by the shoulders, trying to topple her to the ground, but the skinny girl set her feet against the floor and managed to hold against the force of the leap, instead throwing Rainbow to the ground once her momentum was spent. The air left her lungs all at once and she gasped, pain throbbing through her chest.
She needed a moment to recover and push herself up, seeing in a blur how Sunset ran up and grabbed Chaser's arm, holding her back from striking down at her, though she was visibly struggling to do so. Rainbow pushed herself up but a pair of arms wrapped around from under her shoulders.
"I'm sorry it came to this!" Flitter shouted near her ear, "But we really don't want to fight!"
"Then maybe explain your welcome committee!" Sunset spat back, finally managing to pull Chaser back enough to shove her away from Rainbow. Her fists were clenched, but both of them stood still, tensely waiting for the situation to develop.
"I'll explain anything you want! Chaser, please stop fighting!"
Rainbow Dash grit her teeth and strained against the vampire's grip. Her strength was the real deal, she couldn't just wriggle out, so she took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. Cloudchaser looked between them and her sister. Only now did Dash notice the elongated nails as they retracted to their normal length.
"Then start with what you did to the others," Sunset demanded, her voice and posture still tense, but giving her focus to Flitter now.
Flitter hesitantly loosened her grip. Rainbow yanked her way out but strode over to Fluttershy to check on her instead of picking up the fight again. Rarity was already at her side, one hand on her cheek and the other lightly holding her wrist. Fluttershy looked pale, even more so than usual, like the colour had started to drain from her face. With her head tilted to the side, the two closely-set puncture wounds in her neck were clearly visible. Blood had dried around the wound, but looked much fresher on her lips.
=***=
"They're... charmed," Flitter said nervously, hesitantly making eye contact with Sunset, "But they're fine. I mean... they'll be okay."
Sunset tried to push aside the agitation to start making sense of things. But the conclusions she arrived at didn't make it easy to stay calm. "So you bit them, too!?" She was still shouting, despite her best attempt not to.
"We have to!" Cloudchaser spat back, similarly failing to hold back, "We don't get to be noble about it, we need blood!"
"We're just scared!" Flitter raised her hands, raising her voice to be heard but quickly lowering it again to bring the agitation down. "We... got enough from them that they listen to us. When we ask them to do things. And we're just scared of someone finding us when we're alone."
"So what about her!?" Rainbow interrupted. She was crouching down next to the chair Fluttershy was seated in, still unconscious.
Flitter's eyes went to Cloudchaser and Sunset followed the gaze. Cloudchaser avoided both of their looks. "I... made a mistake," she said just above a whisper, her voice cracking, "I didn't mean to hurt her, honest."
Sunset's eyes darted back to the other sister. "Flitter, what is happening?" she urged.
She had to start twice, her breath hitching the first time she tried to answer. And when she finally did, her tone was heavy with guilt. "My sister got a little... possessive. Fluttershy is okay, I promise, she'll just... go through some changes."
The room fell into heavy silence. After two long seconds, Rainbow Dash got up and knocked over a stack of books on a low table with a kick and a frustrated yell. Sunset felt her jaw clench but for the first time all day, she had no idea what to do next.
The door was pushed open and the remaining two members of their group entered. Applejack's hat had moved to Pinkie's head and she had a notable bruise on her jaw, but otherwise just seemed tense. Pinkie jumped past her into the room, tried to read the situation, before spotting Fluttershy. She visibly went from confusion, to excitement, to the realisation that it wasn't quite a happy ending.
"I'm sorry," Cloudchaser murmured again, clenching a hand on her own arm and fighting tears. No one answered and Sunset knew at least two people in the room who were still contemplating a violent response.
"If all that was just a mistake," she said tensely, "then why enchant stuff around school? Doesn't that just draw more attention to you?"
"What?" Flitter's eyes widened. "You're the ones coming in flying and holding fire! I thought that was you!"
Rarity finally looked up from Fluttershy, though she didn't let go of her hand. "But, weren't you one of the ones handling the props for the play?"
"I took stock of them, but Trixie was the one who brought them in."
Sunset could have sworn she heard a mechanical click somewhere in her head. "Trixie."
Everyone looked to her, as they seemed to suddenly share the same realisation.
"Her tricks were gettin' weirdly good lately," Applejack said slowly.
"If she made that cape herself, she would have used a sewing machine," Rarity continued.
"Trixie... was cleaning the soccer balls for detention on Friday!" Rainbow suddenly called out.
"Which means she was in the gym storeroom," Sunset concluded.
"And she was totally at the drinking fountain, almost everyone was!" Pinkie added.
Rainbow Dash looked down at Fluttershy and watched her shift, as she seemed to drift from unconsciousness to rest. "AJ, you and me should take her home," she said firmly. "The rest of you, go and get Trixie."
"Dashie?" Rarity carefully touched her shoulder. "Are you sure?"
"We said it has to stop, right? But I'm not leaving her side right now. You'll be fine, it's just Trixie." She started to awkwardly try and pick up Fluttershy, who had a few inches on her, before Applejack stepped up and did it instead.
"What about them?" Pinkie asked, pointing directly at the sisters.
"We're not done yet," Sunset said firmly, "You two will send Flash and the others home. And we'll talk about this tomorrow."
Flitter had stepped up to Cloudchaser and pulled her into a hug, having her rest her head on her shoulder. She just nodded quietly, making no attempt to argue.
Trixie's house was a small one-family building in the centre of town, with a tiny front garden but nothing else to greatly distinguish it. Luckily, Pinkie had already known the way from when she had organised her birthday party the previous year. On the way over, Rarity's quick look through Trixie's social media had brought up a rather convenient circumstance: She was home alone all week.
Sunset stood in front of the house with the both of them, still feeling the tension that had set in when she had first lost sight of Fluttershy while shadowing the date, and that hadn't left since then. She was stirring with a cocktail of unpleasant feelings. About Fluttershy, about Flash and Lyra, about the revelation that there were vampires just walking among the student body, about a bunch of other small questions on her mind. But this took priority right now and it required focus.
"So, how do we play this?" she asked sternly, looking at the light in the upper floor window, dulled by the layers of shawls and thin curtains hung behind the glass.
"I don't suppose asking her politely to stop is an option?" Rarity said flatly.
"Then we make her stop!" Pinkie felt the looks of the others on her and turned to return it. "What? You think I'm not pissed about tonight? Or about everything that happened to you guys? I need to vent!"
Sunset nodded and opened the small gate, heading past the sculpted bushes to the front door. She rung the bell and crossed her arms. While she waited for an answer, she looked around the corner, looking up and down the wall for any open windows, feeling uneasy about standing still.
"Hey, Trixie!" Pinkie shouted up at the windows, "We know you're in there!"
There was no response, neither at the door or the window, and after a moment the light turned off. Sunset sighed and patted down her pockets before reaching over into Rarity's hair, taking one of her pins. "Sorry. Watch my back." Ignoring her friend's short protest, she crouched down in front of the door and held her ear close to the lock, while moving the pin inside.
Pinkie stepped between her and the street, tapping her foot and whistling in an attempt to act normal. After a few moments, Sunset heard the telling scrape and click of the last tumbler and stood up, quietly opening the door.
"Why do you know how to do this?" Rarity asked pointedly as she took her hairpin back. Sunset just shrugged and avoided answering, quietly stepping inside.
The stairs were straight ahead. Framed family pictures and potted plants decorated the nearby dressers in the dark hallway. The only sound was the heavy ticking of a grandfather clock coming from the next room. Once they were all inside, Rarity quietly closed the door behind them.
Sunset pushed on, glancing at one of the pictures. The two adults in it were smiling, though only the man's expression seemed genuine. The young girl, who had to be Trixie, didn't even make an attempt. Her eyes snapped forward when the steps creaked and the soft padding of feet came slowly closer.
As soon as she was halfway down, Trixie locked eyes with Sunset and yelped in surprise. Immediately, she turned and scrambled back up the stairs.
"Trixie!" She made to follow her, but Pinkie already darted past her, running up after her and leaving Sunset as the third in line, coming around the bend in the stairway just after hearing the others tumble to the floor.
Pinkie had caught Trixie around the waist and thrown her down with her weight on top of her. "Gotcha!" she yelled, somehow still cheerfully despite the agitation in her voice.
"Get off of me! What do you want!?" Trixie struggled, trying to push Pinkie off of her but having a hard time doing so while she was lying on her front.
"We know what you've been up to, Trixie," Sunset said firmly, walking up to stand over her, crossing her arms. "You have to stop."
A look of realisation crossed Trixie's face but she quickly hid it with an accusatory squint. "You need to stop breaking into people's houses."
"It was an emergency this time."
"This time!?" Rarity asked, after having finally made it up the stairs behind them.
"Not the point," Sunset said quickly. "Trixie, you need to stop with your enchantments."
Trixie scoffed and tried to get up again, but Pinkie got up a few inches with her before letting herself drop on her back again. "You couldn't st-oof! stop Trixie if you tried."
"Wow, that's a toughie. I really am trying," Pinkie pointed out.
"Trixie, this is serious!" Sunset insisted, feeling her patience slip again. "I am not in the mood for arguments right now!"
"Oh, I see..." A cocky smile played on Trixie's lips. She propped up her elbow and rested her chin on her palm, trying to make her trapped position look casual. "You're jealous of Trixie's newfound power. Too bad, Sunset, Trixie's secrets are sealed within her mind."
Sunset growled and grabbed Pinkie's shoulder, pulling her up and with restrained anger pushing her behind her, before picking Trixie up by the front of her hoodie, dragging her up to her feet and glaring at her up close. "Listen, I don't know if you're reckless or just stupid, but your little stunts have seriously..." She trailed off as she noticed a glint under Trixie's collar. Tugging her a little closer still she glanced down her hoodie.
Set around the base of Trixie's neck was a thick necklace, flat against her skin. A wide band of black metal links, coming to a shield-like piece in the front, in which was embedded a red gem, glinting even in the darkness of the hallway. A stylised horned horse's head and spread wings stood out from the central piece.
She was distracted by the amulet for just a few moments, but long enough for Trixie to grab her jacket in turn. Her eyes glinted as if reflecting the light of the gem and with a sudden yank, Sunset's jacket sprung to life, forcefully pulling her back a few feet. Her hands slipped off of Trixie's clothes and her back hit the low shelf in the corner, toppling the empty vase sitting on top of it.
"That's enough now," Trixie said with a threatening calm, "You don't want to make an enemy of the Great and Powerful Trixie."
"Well, no of course not," Rarity finally spoke up again, "but perhaps you should at least... disenchant things when you're done?"
Trixie fixed her glare on Rarity. The glint returned to her eyes and stayed, a red haze drifting from her eyes like steam. "Trixie dispenses her gifts generously. You should be grateful."
"Your sewing machine enslaved me!" Rarity insisted, her indignation pushing through the intimidation. "And the fabrics nearly strangled Sunset!"
"That's silly, I didn't tell it to do that," Trixie said flippantly, making a dismissive hand motion.
"The soccer balls beat up Dashie," Pinkie added.
"And the mascot was chasing after Fluttershy!" Sunset yelled, trying to pull her arms out of the tightening sleeves of her jacket.
"Pffh, so what, no act is immediately flawless." Trixie made a beckoning motion and her hand-made cape fluttered out of her bedroom door and laid over her shoulders, the clasp sliding into place by itself. "Trixie just needs a little more practice."
"What you need," Sunset grunted, finally pulling her arms free, "is to take off that thing. It's not good for you."
"No!" Trixie's cape flared and she firmly glared at Sunset again. Her hair rose as if by an impossible breeze in the closed hallway. "It is the best thing that has ever happened to me! You can't take it!"
"Okay, I totally get that," Pinkie said with a nervous chuckle, "I used to take my favourite new toys to bed with me and my parents would get so mad and tell me to at least not bring it to the dinner table, but--"
"Quiet." Trixie pointed at Pinkie and two colourful handkerchiefs slipped from her sleeve, leaping towards her. Rarity raised both hands, creating a wide hexagon the flying cloth slapped against, before ineffectively fluttering to the floor.
Taking the chance while Trixie was looking at them, Sunset darted for her again, trying to reach for the amulet, but the cape billowed up between them, blocking her view. She tried to reach past it, but misjudged. Trixie easily stepped back and then skipped backwards, the billowing cape carrying her back through the bedroom door.
"You weren't supposed to know anyway! Trixie was going to keep it a secret until she had perfected it!" She landed in front of a tall trunk, the top opening by itself at her gesture.
"For trying to be secretive, you were pretty sloppy!" Sunset strode straight towards the door, her thumb and middle finger already coming together for a snap. In the last moment before she stepped through, Pinkie grabbed her arms and pulled her back. Simultaneously, Rarity stepped into her space instead, holding up her shield. An open pair of handcuffs slapped against it and fell to the floor, quickly followed by two juggling pins that landed with heavy thuds.
"Trixie, if it wasn't for us, who knows how many people would have found out. Found out by getting hurt," Rarity said firmly, slowly heading through the door with the shield up so they could approach. The cuffs on the floor sprung to life again, one half snapping around her ankle and the other around the leg of a heavy shelf. She nearly tripped and the magical construct faltered and vanished as she caught herself.
Sunset quickly ran forward when she saw Trixie's next hand motion, pointing towards Rarity, but Pinkie was faster again, pushing past her and catching the third juggling pin as it sailed towards her friend, though the impact was still heavy against her chest, not quite able to break its momentum with just her hands.
Sunset's fingers moved again, completing the snap. The by now familiar heat sprung to life and she rushed for Trixie. She wasn't sure what her plan was at this point, back in her brawler mindset of just rushing down her opponent before they could pull off anything else.
Something clamped around her legs, forcing her shins together, and she stumbled and fell, hitting the floor with her chest and chin. It was carpeted, but not enough to make it painless. She looked over her shoulder to see her own jacket, wrapped around her shins, the sleeves tying themselves like a straitjacket.
Trixie loomed over them now, the tables completely turned. With a triumphant snicker, she pulled more tools from her chest to hover behind her. The jacket was tightening, Rarity was trying to lift the shelf to slip the cuff away, and Pinkie was trying to keep the pin down, which was still lively.
Sunset held out her hand, reaching for the glint she still saw past the hoodie and cape obscuring it, past the slowly dying flame in her own palm. Just a bit more! Just reach further! She grit her teeth and with a slight thrust of her wrist, the flame obeyed, leaping up towards the magician.
Trixie yelped and stumbled back. A whole deck of cards fluttered from an inner pocket of the cape, catching the flames and burning to cinders. But she was startled enough for the temporary life to leave the jacket, letting Sunset push it off and push herself up again, enough to grab Trixie's hoodie and yank her down to the floor.
She ended up on top of her, pinning her down with one hand and grabbing the amulet with the other. It sizzled, suddenly growing hot in her hand. She grit her teeth against the searing pain and tried to block out Trixie's shouts struggling kicks, her hand on Sunset's face, trying to push her away.
Even though she didn't call on it, her magic sense flared up, a splitting headache instead of a dull thumping. Her vision tinted red, sharing the haze with Trixie for a moment.
Finally, the back of the necklace snapped open. Sunset ripped it away and tossed it behind her, making it clatter against the wall and fall onto the carpet. Her heart still pounding and her anger at a high, she balled her burned hand to a fist. Trixie flinched, trying to cover her face instead of holding her back.
"Sunset!" Pinkie wrapped both arms around hers, grabbing her fist with one clammy hand. Sunset yanked at her grip but she didn't let go, giving her enough pause to really look down at Trixie again.
The magician's expression had changed from smug triumph to bare fear. Sunset's hand was tightly wound into her hoodie, holding her by the front. What would have given her a rush of superiority before, now just left a cold sense of failure behind.
While her fist didn't unclench, she let go of Trixie and stood up, turning away from her. Pinkie still held on to her arm, more loosely, until she walked over to the amulet, picking up her jacket off the floor to not take it with bare hands again.
"It's not fair..." Trixie whispered into the sudden silence of the room, "You all get to have magic, too."
Sunset grit her teeth before consciously relaxing her jaw. "Yeah... life isn't fair, is it?" She looked down at the necklace, the red gem glinting like it was sneering at her.
The still night air had picked up into a cold breeze when she reached the flat roof. He stood at the edge, his hands in his pockets, the jacket and tie of his suit billowing as he looked out over the sea of lights that was the city beneath them.
"I see you still have the same flair for the dramatic."
"And you seem to have lost some of yours." He turned to her with a courteous smile. "Owing to your circumstances, I would hope."
She sneered. In this body, it had taken her long enough to make it here, she barely had any patience left for this conversation. "I had hoped you called me out for more than gloating jabs at my condition."
"My dear, I know we've had our differences. But I consider you a kindred spirit, in a fashion. I assure you, I have deep sympathy for you. Call me sentimental, but I would rather you had a more... malleable host."
"And you thought a teenage amateur would do," she concluded with barely concealed bitterness.
"Granted, it didn't work out the way I had hoped. But in a way, didn't we catch a bigger fish with this bait?"
She crossed her arms, tightening them against her torso against the cold. She hated this sensation, this need for warmth that reminded her how alive this body was in a way that was only just out of reach for her now.
"Sometimes a victory arrives in an unexpected form," he continued. Of course he did, he loved to talk. He always did, as far back as her memory still served her. "For instance, the presence of magic surely did you some good."
"And cost quite a lot to wrap up, no credit to you."
"And, of course, we have a broader group of candidates now. Could you really say you'd have found them without my gentle push?"
"So you failed with one teenager and you're just going to slip the next one another artifact?"
He hummed, like he was considering the option. All rhetoric, of course, he had already made his choice long ago. "I think my next approach is going to be more direct. It just so happens I found another host you might find suitable."
He retrieved a small picture from his shirt pocket and held it out to her. She took it and turned it over to have just a short glance at it. "You have a disturbingly narrow taste."
"She's for you, my dear, not for me." He made a show of looking at his expensive watch. "Just wait and see. You're fed now and soon you'll be able to stretch someone's legs again more consistently."
She watched him head to the roof access door, biting down the irritation boiling in her throat. Fed. Like she was some kind of pet, a foundling that needed someone to ration her food. She turned to look out at the streets below as the door fell closed behind her.
As much as she hated it, she would take whatever he offered. Once she commanded a body's will again properly, she wouldn't owe him anything anymore.
Trixie didn't know where the amulet had come from. She had found it in her bag with no clue as to who might have left it there. Pinkie was the one who had gone back to ask about it. Sunset would have gone herself, but she didn't entirely trust herself with Trixie right now. She had almost punched her even after getting the amulet away from her, and the guilt of that, the thought of going back to doing that kind of thing, it nagged at her.
Apparently Trixie had been in a similar panic. In retrospect, everything she did suddenly seemed a lot less reasonable than when she was wearing the amulet. Or so she had explained. For now, Sunset had wrapped the thing in a dish cloth and shoved it into the back of her dresser. Out of sight, out of mind. Hopefully. There were no magic authorities she was aware of, otherwise she might have rather handed it over.
A few days later, Trixie came to everyone to awkwardly apologise. Making excuses throughout and then quickly leaving again, but she seemed genuine. By contrast, Flitter was keeping her distance and only finally came to Sunset alone.
Cloudchaser hadn't left home in a while. Heartbreak and guilt was what Flitter attributed it to. They both wanted to apologise, but weren't sure how to. The conversation ended up tense. Was it even okay to leave them be, even if they stopped?
Flash, Lyra, and everyone else they had charmed kept acting like they did before, kept coming to school. Talking to Flash was too awkward, so Sunset tried talking to Lyra instead. It was meandering, between reminiscing and dancing around the fact they really weren't friends anymore. When Sunset could finally bring up the night in question directly, Lyra seemed confused, vaguely aware of something having happened but unable to recall details, like it had been bad dream.
One thing Flitter left with Sunset was a small stack of neatly-written notes. She went through all of them herself, but they were intended for Fluttershy. Details about her new condition, advice on how to deal with it, tinted with remorse and threaded with apologies, which seemed to come easier in writing, even if they felt empty considering what they were apologising for.
Fluttershy took it terribly hard. She didn't come to school either, for nearly two weeks. They all took turns visiting her at home, Rainbow and Pinkie most of all. She slowly improved, going from inconsolable grief to silent, guilty acceptance over those weeks. Initially, Rainbow practically had to force her to take the blood she offered. By the time she had come back to school, she accepted whenever one of the offered, but was still scared to ask for anything.
A new normal set in, over time. Between visiting Fluttershy and trying to help her, working with Rarity to try and decipher more of the notebook, and meeting with everyone in smaller groups to try and find the limits of their magic. Applejack felt a little outside the group for the latter, but still offered her help every time.
Still, Sunset felt strange about taking it easy. No more enchantments popped up at school, but she couldn't quite call this case closed yet. Neither the notebook nor the amulet would have come from nowhere. In both cases, someone left them with her and Trixie. And in the case of the book, someone must have written it initially, someone who knew her personally for some reason.
There were too many questions still open to fully relax.
