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Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter Eighty Six: Make Me, Break Me | A sound somewhere between a whinny and a shrill scream ripped through the darkness, tearing free of Sunset as she jolted awake harshly. The former unicorn sought to push the magic burning just under her skin into her horn to cast a light spell, only for searing agony to lance through her skull, making her curl up in a ball of suffering to wait it out. As she lay there on her side, catching her breath, her brain shook off the lingering traces of her dream and re-engaged with her reality. She wasn't in Equestria, a creature of magic with hooves and horn and fur...she was on Earth, twisted into an uncomfortable position in a naked, ugly primate body, listening to the sound of a train in the distance and the occasional car driving by.
She rolled into a position more suited for her body, arms curled defensively around her midsection as heat and ache and want made her body tingle until it hurt. Tears made tracks down her cheeks and dripped onto her blankets as fragments of the dream replayed themselves no matter how hard the redhead tried to stop them.
Sunset hated her dreams, all of them, with all the passion she'd once felt for Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Princess Twilight, but this was one of the worst yet with how much it twisted a knife in her chest....
Her mother's Sun beamed down on her with late spring warmth, making the wavy, plush amber coat practically glow gold and turned her curling mane and tail of red and gold into living flame that streamed behind her as she kicked into a canter across a rolling sea of verdant grass. A snort puffed from her lungs, playful, primal enticement and challenge to herself and her companion, as she slowed to prance around the smaller form, neck arched proudly, every movement, every stride screaming 'Look at me!' She reveled in being in her own body, powerful and strong, with muscles that rippled under her coat and her horn rising from her forehead right where it belonged...
She broke into renewed sobs from the echo of how it felt to be a unicorn again, in the body that felt so right, grass under her hooves and wind in her mane, and the freedom of magic singing in her veins as she ran. Being human was awful, and her body subjected her to so many indignities and disorienting feelings that it felt like she was choking on them. Especially with the dream so fresh in her mind, this beautiful fantasy that had made her dreaming mind feel like she had an alicorn's wings.
The unicorn mare she was showing off for was, in Sunset's eyes, the cutest thing on four hooves she had ever seen, with dancing purple eyes she recognized in a heartbeat, and a sleek lavender coat that contrasted sharply with her own...and it didn't take much before that mare turned her efforts into a game, the two of them galloping through the grass, magic flaring and swirling between them, power dancing up one horn and down the other in a combined effort that sent erotic thrill straight to Sunset's loins...particularly when the smaller unicorn had winked at her right as the magic had reached the base of her horn.
Amidst the tears she could feel just how flushed and overheated her whole body felt, on edge and craving release with a ferocity that not even her first cycle in Equestria could match. She could still feel the magic going through her, lighting up her body in a way that only one unicorn could do to another...the impossible scent of honeysuckle, paper, ink, and machines still burned in her nostrils from when she'd brought her muzzle down to nip at the place where neck met withers and that dark mane had tickled her face. "...Sparky..." she moaned in pained desperation into the dark of her loft, acutely aware of just how alone she was.
And that was what made it so torturous. She knew who the cute mare was. If she had been rendered blind, she still would have known...and it was all nothing but a beautiful, wonderful lie constructed by her subconscious. The one who occupied her thoughts and had started invading her dreams and nightmares had never been a mare, and she didn't belong in Equestria. The images dancing in her mind, taunting her were something that could never happen, not with her very human girlfriend and her own exile still being in effect. She let out another low whimper when her core throbbed.
The other mare rubbed along her side, and Sunset felt teeth nibbling at one of her ears, before the muzzle pressed to her neck, kisses ghosting along her pelt, sending fire heating her up inside. It made Sunset flick her tail with purpose, deliberately letting the silky hair drag along a lavender coat, tickling the nerve endings sensuously, even as she breathed sweet nothings and passionate promises in her companion's ear. The encouraging whicker and the way that the body had bent and twisted only served to inflame her senses more, leaving her dizzy with pure carnal desire.
Sunset dragged herself out of bed, staring at the numbers on her clock. 3:24 AM. Far too early to be awake on a Monday morning, but she had lost all desire to sleep, even if her body hadn't been tingling and charged with arousal. Pushing back mental images of a dark tail flicking flirtatiously across her nose, carrying a heady perfume she could still taste on her tongue, the former unicorn stumbled down the stairs, before heading for her attic, her steps jerky and uncoordinated as she fought to remember how her human body was meant to move. It was a struggle, and she kept having to correct a body that instinct wanted to put on all fours.
"Stupid monkey body," she muttered, sounding more snuffly and pathetic than angry, and she scrubbed at the tears on her face before facing her new punching bag. Sunset had to get some of this energy out, and she wasn't about to give in and touch this horrible, hairless body--she knew it would only leave her feeling worse, disoriented and twisted up with how wrong being human felt.
Fists clenched and swung, smacking into the bag with a satisfying noise. "Stupid!" Smack. "Monkey!" Smack. "Hormones!" Smack! Tears that had almost stopped now fell in fresh streams in an outward reflection of the agony she felt inside, and she attacked the bag in a wild frenzy.
Purple eyes met hers, that achingly familiar voice panting her name needily...
A foot slammed into the bag hard. "Stupid!"
Soft lips brushing the fur on her barrel, whisper light and teasing...
Another punch. "Feathering!"
A dark tail flagging, a passive glamour dispelled to show her just how badly the other mare desired her...
The double smack of a one-two punch. "Dreams!"
Her actions were as much a form of self-punishment as they were catharsis, each strike paired with harsh words and choked sobs, with no regard for how her muscles ached and protested the abuse. Pain in her arms and legs, in her knuckles and wrists was better than the ache between her legs...
Burying a muzzle into a soft flank, feeling the sleek coat over powerful haunches...
But try as she might, it did nothing to banish the dream, all too soon, she collapsed into a sobbing heap, a miserable ball on the frigid attic floor, exhausted in every possible way.
Eventually, the tears spent themselves and the cold left her shivering, having sapped the heat from her body to the point where her fingers were nearly numb. Sunset shuffled down the stairs again, soaked with sweat that made her clothes feel clammy, snot and tears dried on her skin in a gross film, and feeling drained and filthy, covered in the stink of human exertion and other odors. The clock on her microwave read somewhere in the neighborhood of five thirty, too late to go back to sleep at all. So instead she headed for her bathroom and a wonderfully hot, steamy shower and copious amounts of soap.
The water beat down on her chilled, exhausted body, chasing away the tremors that rippled over her. Sunset let it warm her up, let it wash away the salty grit on her face and lips and soak into her curly, tangled mane. This was the third night in a week she'd woken up this way, though the first to actually hurt something inside her. Telling that this was the first of the erotic, steamy dreams that had featured her and Sparky as ponies instead of humans...
And that was at the crux of it all. She knew herself--just because she'd never pursued anypony had not excluded her from having a regular cycle in the few years before she left, or from noticing the curves of some rather fetching mares in Canterlot. Nor had it stopped her from sating the occasional physical urge with a clever spell she'd written herself for just that purpose. But that was in Equestria, in her natural body, thinking about other mares. Mares were pretty, mares had all the physical traits that registered to her as desirable. In this world though? She hadn't been lying when she'd told Rarity and Flash how sexually unappealing the average human was, and how little it did for any kind of libido the unicorn-turned-teenage-girl had. Even her Twilight was appealing to her more because it was Sparky, her best friend, her nerdy, adorable girlfriend, and the person she trusted the most in this world, not out of some burgeoning attraction to primates.
The dreams that had them as they were in the human world left her body wound up, but she could sort that much easier, feeling detached from the physical need and able to push it down...but to dream of them in the bodies of her own kind had gotten to her, ignited something inside her she couldn't ignore, but the very nature of it left her more aware of the body she was in than ever.
Sunset scrubbed herself down roughly with soap, eager to strip the stink from her skin in favor of the mild scent from her bodywash. As vigorous as the cleansing was, however, it didn't completely dispel what the dream had done--it had presented the girl she was dating in a whole different way, in a context that Sunset couldn't get out of her head. The physical desire was no longer disconnected, and her breath caught as she thought about Twilight Sparkle, with her eyes dancing and her nose crinkled up with laughter while she pressed close to Sunset for a kiss. Heat pooled low in her belly, a sensation that had become all too frequent of late, but this time, it was accompanied by a whispered thought of desire and longing that was as much in her head as it was in her groin.
She wanted Twilight Sparkle. She wanted to pin her down and let her mouth explore every inch of lavender skin...wanted to hear those pleading sounds and breathy devotions falling from her lips...wanted to spend hours physically professing how the other girl made her feel, making sure she repaid her best friend for every kind word, every hug, every moment that made her heart soar and battered soul feel a little less broken. Because of the dream, human curves and angles that seemed so ugly and wrong everywhere she looked--even on herself--had taken on a different appeal when she pictured Twilight. They weren't pony ones, but she could feel her mind catching glimpses of traits that were exactly what she'd want in a mare.
Soap stinging her eyes was a useful distraction, and Sunset made herself focus her attention on getting clean, and then on drying off. Paying attention to the little things, like combing through her mane and getting dressed pushed back the thoughts that were plaguing her...at least until she stepped back into the main part of the loft. The air there felt cloying and heavy, thick with the reek of human pheromones and sweat, and the walls felt like they were closing in on her, suffocatingly tight. The former unicorn shook herself, trying to squelch the feelings, but her body moved of its own accord, grabbing her backpack and shoving her boots on so she could step out the door in a hurry, needing fresh air and to just escape.
The sky was just turning to that midnight blue touched with pinks and purples that would never fail to remind her of the girl that consumed her thoughts when her boots hit the sidewalk, and frost covered everything, making her shiver and shove her gloved hands deeper into her pockets. It was too cold to even drive...and the walk would clear her head. Boots on concrete didn't sound the same as hooves on stone, and the steady beat of a human gait could never be mistaken for a quadrupedal pony...but for just a little while, Sunset let her mind drift, not really seeing her surroundings, and let herself pretend. Her thoughts drifted in a space somewhere between memory and dream, seeing the pristine white, purple, and gold of Canterlot's spires of years long past instead of the drab slice of human suburbia, and remembering what it felt like to just be a unicorn pony.
A car driving by at a speed well above the limit, followed by a set of sirens and a police car jerked her out of the daydream, the terraced mountain city fading away and leaving the frigid winter morning in a human city, passing under the flickering street lights lining the sidewalk. Bitter regret and a longing for the crisp clean air of Equestria and the powerful sense of magic under her hooves rose up, making her eyes burn with tears and the sensation went to war with the aching desire left by her dream. With a heavy sigh, Sunset turned her feet towards the bakery, needing to assuage the hollow feeling in her stomach with something while she sought to get her thoughts in order.
Was she becoming so human that she was developing a taste for them, she wondered. Was Sparky just the first? Or was it just because it was Sparky, a girl who had already elicited a reaction from her body that no one else had? Was this just the next step in that? Was she losing part of who she was, just by the virtue of being exiled in this world and trying to make the best of what she had? Were her growing attachments, to her friends, to Twilight and the rest of the family...were those things changing her? The stress she had felt the previous week when the family was at odds, when they were sick from exposure to dark magic...even the warm feelings that she'd felt when she'd managed to find a way to help them...or the way she'd felt Friday and Saturday night when she and Twilight had laid awake into the late hours of the night, kissing, cuddling, and talking about anything that came to mind...it made her realize how deeply attached to not just her best friend but the other members of her family she had become.
Her mind shied away from delving too deeply into those attachments, especially from the way she was starting to view Velvet, something about it rubbing against a raw spot inside her, the warm eyes and soft hugs burning like acid because it was filled with emotions she'd once craved, emotions she'd long since had drilled into her were emotions she didn't deserve and would never have. It was something she dared not give a name, because some part of her felt as though the instant she did, she would have it torn away, and she wasn't sure if she could deal with that on top of everything else going on in her life right then.
All the same, those feelings, those attachments, and the desires that came with them...were they making her more human and less of a pony? Or was it that only some of the people she was close to knew about what she was? Would Twilight and her family be like the girls, be like Pinkie and her sister, like the principals if they did? Would they still expect her to act human? Or...would they accept that she wasn't, that she would never truly be one of their kind? Sunset started to crib on a fingernail as she walked, but a shiver went through her with a sharp gust of wind, and just the short duration made her fingers go numb. She huddled deeper in her jacket and stuffed her hands deep into the pockets to try and retain a little warmth in them. The redhead's thoughts twisted back on themselves, bringing with it the faint beginnings of fear...that the dream and the emotions that came with it were a sign that she was losing touch with the pony she had been.
Even as she thought it, it sounded ridiculous, but the thoughts lingered, nipping at her hocks. It made her glance surreptitiously at the other patrons in the bakery, looking to see if any other humans seemed suddenly more appealing than the week prior. It made her choose some raisin and oat bran muffins and a pear for her breakfast out of all the potential sweets and pastries, needing something that linked her to her nature that felt like it was slipping through her grasp like grains of sand. It gnawed at her the rest of the way to school, making her question her identity even as it made her hyperaware of everything in the human world that was different from Equestria.
She put a hand on the door and pulled, only to realize the school was locked. Her eyes took it all in, and dimly, she realized that she had gotten there so early that no one, not even Principal Celestia, was there yet.
"....now what do I do?" Sunset groaned aloud. She had no desire to walk all the way home, only to have to do it all over again, and she had been hoping to distract herself with an old tried and true method: magical studies.
The redhead turned around and sat down on the frigid stone of the steps, staring at the polished marble of the statue and taking solace from the buzzing of Equestrian energy that resonated from it like a faint but steady heartbeat. She might have been in a monkey body, but at least she could have the presence of familiar magic pressing against her senses.
Time lost meaning as she ate her breakfast, senses narrowing to focus on the calming presence of magic. In a way, the icy cold helped, numbing her senses to the body she was in, letting her distance herself from the ungainly limbs and furless body, from the smell of ozone and fumes and tar, from the faint buzzing of electricity like insects against her inner ear, until all she could think or feel or sense was the soothing thrum of Equestrian magic singing in her mind. She wasn't sure how long she sat there, staring at the polished white stone of the Wondercolt's hindquarters. It was long enough that the winter cold seeped through leather and denim, leaving her extremities near numb and a shiver making her body tremble. She put it out of her mind, one more thing trying to join the messy jumble in her head--she could thaw out in class anyway.
"Sunset?" For a moment, she thought she was hallucinating, that her desire to hold onto being a pony was making her hear the Princess' voice in her head.
"Sunset? Are you alright? What are you doing here so early?" A hand touching her shoulder brought her around, and she realized it was no hallucination as the worried face of her Principal came into view.
"I...no..." she found herself admitting.
The older woman hurriedly opened the door and deactivated the alarm, before helping Sunset up. "We need to get you inside before you catch pneumonia."
She was too numb in both body and mind to protest, and she followed the administrator to the office, shivering in earnest now that she was aware of just how cold she had gotten. Principal Celestia fiddled with the office coffee pot, turning it on and filling a mug with steaming hot water and a teabag. She pressed it into Sunset's grip. "We need to warm you up, Sunset. Your lips are blue." From her office, she retrieved a thick blanket, and draped it around the teen's shoulders.
The former unicorn said nothing, only huddled under the blanket and gripped the mug of tea in shaking hands so she could drink without spilling it. Her principal gave her a few minutes to let some of the warmth seep into her, before asking very gently, "Sunset? Can you tell me what happened?"
Maybe it was the genuine concern in the woman's voice. Maybe it was how achingly similar it sounded to the voice that had always made her feel safe as a filly. Maybe it was the combination of cold and stress...or maybe it was just that she felt so overwhelmed and wrong and desperately homesick for Equestria. Whatever it was, homesickness welled up inside her, a painful longing for Equestria, her real body, and for Princess Celestia to take away all her fears. Before she could stop it, the words were in the air. "I...I want...my mo--" No, whispered a little voice from her memories. Not your mother. You don't have a mother. "...I want Princess Celestia..."
The human woman gave her a look of pained sympathy, and sat down beside her on the couch. "Sunset," she began in that same tone that the Princess always used when she was worried. "I know I'm not Princess Celestia, but I am here to listen if you want to talk to me."
It wasn't what she really wanted...but maybe it would be enough. Sunset nodded once, a jerky, stiff motion, gathering her thoughts as best she could. There was no way she could admit to the details--she wasn't comfortable with that much, but...
"...The entire time I've been in this world...I've always known who I was. What I was. What I was doing here..." She took a sip of the tea to help a throat that felt too dry. "I was Sunset Shimmer, a unicorn, and this was just part of a plan to go home and prove to Princess Celestia that I was worth more than she'd ever thought. But then..." she trailed off, frowning.
"Then the formal occurred and your plans changed." Though soft, it was not a question.
"My plans ended in a rainbow to the face," Sunset corrected. "One I deserved." She wasn't going to sugarcoat the truth here. "And my sentence was Exile. I can't go home again. I don't have a home in Equestria anymore...though...sometimes I wonder if I ever did." Another drink of the tea let her keep her voice level. "I have to live here, in this world, because there's no place left for me to go."
Principal Celestia touched her shoulder with one hand, concern written on her face. "Are you that unhappy here, Sunset?"
"No! That's just it! I love it here--I have friends here, people who care about me, who treat me like I matter, who don't think that I'm dangerous and different or less than nothing because I don't have a family. I...didn't really have that in Equestria." The former unicorn was shaking from more than cold, as the numbness in her heart had started to replace the chill in her bones. "I've got a life here, one I'm making for myself," she confessed, "and I love it, but..."
Once more she hesitated, and the woman next to her made a soft sound. "But you still miss your home in Equestria?"
She shook her head, letting out a wry snort. "No...and that's just it. I'm...I feel like I'm losing myself. Before, I was always just pretending, playing at being human to protect myself from the things that could happen...but now...I'm not so sure I'm pretending anymore." Sunset dimly felt the tingling in her limbs as they regained feeling, but the ice that had formed in her chest blocked out most of the sensation. "I feel like the more I try to make a life here, the more I'm losing who I am. I can barely remember what some of my favorite foods taste like, or what it's like to have hooves instead of hands. And every day, there are thoughts...feelings...I don't understand, that I've never had before because that's not how ponies are."
Silence, thick and nearly choking pressed down on her, and for a minute, Sunset wondered if she'd said too much. Eventually, her principal took a breath. "You feel like you're becoming more human and less of a unicorn, and it scares you."
Sunset's voice cracked on the response. "....Yes. I don't want to be human, Principal Celestia. I don't want to stop being a unicorn, even if I have to live in a human body for the rest of my life."
Celestia made a thoughtful sound. "Why can you not just be Sunset Shimmer, who is a unicorn living in the human world? Embrace all the aspects of your life that make you happy, and find a balance between the two parts of your life?"
The former unicorn recoiled a little, some of that ice settling into her guts. "Because I'm not a unicorn right now..." she tried to explain. "I don't have my horn--except when I pony-up, but it doesn't last--or hooves, or my fur, and I'm stuck in this awful monkey body..." Her hands shook so bad that the administrator took the mug from her before she scalded herself with its contents. "This stupid, horrible body! It does awful monkey things and makes me want things that I never would have thought about as a pony, and I can't seem to make it stop, because it's only getting worse and it's getting into my head now--" Teeth clamped shut to stop her from babbling. Not that she would have done so much longer with the way the ice was now squeezing her lungs, until black spots danced across her vision.
"Sunset, I need you to try and breathe for me," Principal Celestia said, sounding like she was speaking over a waterfall. "Slow, deep breaths. You're okay. You're safe." The teen did her best to follow the instructions, going so far as to mimic the technique her girlfriend used, bringing a fist to her chest and concentrating on breathing in time with its slow, slightly unsteady rhythm. "There we go," the woman next to her encouraged as the roaring in her ears faded and some of the ice in her chest had melted away.
Once she had calmed, her principal spoke again. "Sunset, can you look at me for a minute? I need to ask you a question."
The redhead turned to face the pale skinned woman, confused by the sudden seriousness she could hear in her voice. "....what is it, Principal Celestia?" she croaked, her throat still tight.
"You don't have to give me details, but I need to know. When you say your body is making you want things that you wouldn't want as a pony, are these things that are dangerous, harmful, or illegal? Is it anything that's going to hurt you or cause you harm?" The administrator's face was painted with worry.
It didn't take a genius to realize what she was referring to and Sunset shook her head vigorously. "No! It's...nothing like that. Drugs are stupid, Principal Celestia, and I learned the hard way about a hangover back in Equestria." She sighed, sharing a little more than she'd intended, mostly to assuage her principal's fears. "It's...because of a girl."
Celestia let out a quiet sigh of relief that Sunset wasn't sure she was meant to hear. She could practically feel the tension draining out of the principal. "Thank you for being honest. I didn't think you would, but I needed to ask for my own peace of mind. There's a lot of bad peer pressure involving children your age, and I don't want to see you get mixed up in anything like that."
"That's...not something you have to worry about," Sunset offered. "Drugs...alcohol...they take away a person...or a pony's control. Bad things happen when I lose control." Memories of fire and screaming flitted through her mind before she squelched them.
"Yes...I suppose I can see you responding in a highly displeased fashion to anyone peddling poison in your direction." Principal Celestia laughed softly, before she returned to gentle seriousness. "That aside...if I may offer a little wisdom, Sunset?"
At this point, Sunset would have been happy with a shot in the dark, let alone some actual wisdom from an adult human she respected. She nodded, giving the woman the signal to continue.
"You will always be Sunset Shimmer the unicorn--the body you're in doesn't define who you are inside. The place you came from, the culture, the world, the way your experiences shaped you? Those things will always be part of your identity, even if how they affect that identity changes; you aren't losing them or replacing them, and you aren't 'turning into a human.'"
A low sound of frustration bubbled up, "Then why does it feel like I'm losing who I am, like I'm turning into someone, something I'm not!?"
Principal Celestia patted her shoulder again, the gesture bringing some measure of comfort. "Part of life is growing and learning new things about ourselves, and I suspect that is as true for your people as it is for mine. Instead of seeing those changes as replacing or taking away a part of you, you might consider seeing how they add something instead, whether that thing is a new favorite food, a new friend, a hobby you never considered before, or even falling in love with someone you would never have imagined falling for."
The former unicorn fell silent, mulling over the words, picking them apart and letting them sit in her brain. The principal let the words sink in, then added, "You will always be Sunset Shimmer, the unicorn who is living here with us humans...but you are so much more now than the unicorn who first came here to our world and ruled the student body with an iron fist. You are a unicorn who is growing into an intelligent, compassionate young woman, one I am exceptionally proud to have as one of my students. You are so much more than you were just as recently as the beginning of the year, not less, and that is something to be embraced, not feared."
She didn't respond--she couldn't, not really. The words stuck in her head, and she found herself ignoring her Principal to turn the statement over in her mind, feeling for all the world like she was caught in the same kind of mental trap that her girlfriend ended up in so often, stuck with her thoughts circling back around over and over again with no escape in sight. She knew she was being rude at this point, but she couldn't turn her thoughts to anything else, not until she'd picked everything apart.
It didn't seem to bother the administrator all too much. The woman pressed the hot mug back into her hands. "You sit here as long as you need to, Sunset. Warm up and think about what I said. There's no rush." She patted her shoulder one final time as she stood. "If you need anything, or need to talk more, I'll be in my office, looking over the paperwork on that 'semi-anonymous donation' from the 'Sunny Skies Education Foundation'--which is not as anonymous as its benefactor might hope."
Sunset ducked her head at the comment, knowing very well that another Celestia would probably have used the same alias as the Princess on occasion, and resolved to worry about the questions from that later. She was already too caught up in her current crisis to deal with another.
Was the principal right? Could she adapt and change to fit this world, this new life without sacrificing everything that made her who she was? Were the feelings and wants starting to affect her head just about personal growth, and not about some horrible transition into being a human being inside as well as out? Could she have traits from both species, and still keep herself a pony?
And, her circling, spiraling thought patterns asked as she came back to the issue that spawned it all: her feelings for Twilight Sparkle. Even Celestia had tapped the subject without really knowing what was going on, her words echoing as Sunset pictured the dark haired girl in her mind's eye: "....or even falling in love with someone you would never have imagined falling for..." Sunset wasn't ready to call it that yet...but...could she? Was this dream, and the way it affected her a sign not of becoming more human...but of Sunset...reaching a point where she could potentially find that kind of intimacy and connection with someone here--Twilight or otherwise?
The redheaded teen thought back to the bakery, where she'd taken the time to observe the other patrons. They all still just looked like humans--weird, skinny, long limbed bipeds--and while they didn't look quite so horrifyingly ugly as they had in the past, she had to acknowledge that none of them, even ones who would have been considered far more attractive by human standards than her girlfriend, made her mind wander in the direction of fantasy or send a thrill down her spine into her core. Yet when she focused again on a mental image of the girl as she'd woken to her that Saturday morning, hair tousled from sleep, wearing a pair of flannel pajamas and cuddled into Sunset's side while reading an old, tattered paperback book, she could feel her cheeks heat and her breath catch. More than that, the longer she focused on the memory, the more her mind found things to notice about Twilight that made Sunset feel hot all over again. Like the way she fit neatly against Sunset's side, or the way she smelled...the way her hair fell down around her shoulders in an adorable mess, or how her lips moved slightly when she read, as if she were resisting the urge to read aloud...
Wrenching herself out of those thoughts before she ended up in the same state she'd woken up in, Sunset took a long drink from the mug in her hands. Okay, Shimmer, she told herself, you can deal with this. Maybe Principal Celestia is right. Maybe this isn't all bad--it's not every human right now. Just Sparky. That's not the worst thing in the world, since she's already your girlfriend... She was aware that she felt a connection to her best friend, something that was different than her other friends. Twilight's personality just meshed well with hers in all the ways she never knew she really needed. The human girl was smart, well read, and intensely curious, but her special skills and areas of expertise were different than Sunset's, nor did she attempt to hold herself as superior to those around her, so it never really roused the former unicorn's competitive streak or ire. Instead, it made conversation with Twilight incredibly fascinating, especially when they compared different approaches and understandings and ended up spring-boarding each other's own knowledge and ideas to new heights. She never challenged Sunset's sense of internal power and control, but she wasn't a cringing doormat either, and she had a way of communicating her thoughts and feelings in a way Sunset inherently understood.
Then there were the emotions that flared and surged back and forth between them. She cared fiercely for Twilight, for Twilight's family who had shown her that they cared, for her friends...but the way Twilight affected her had always been different. They just...connected...in a way she couldn't fully explain, and the dark haired girl made her feel good and content and just happy, just by being in the room with her, and those feelings only grew when they snuck little intimacies like soft touch and eager kisses, or when Twilight was in her arms on Friday nights, pressed against her and sleeping soundly....
Her body had already started responding to her girlfriend's touch, to the desire she could see burning in purple eyes...was it awful if she started seeing her the way she might have if Twilight had been a mare in Equestria? If her mind started finding things about her girlfriend that made her want, not just with her body but with mind and heart as well? Was she capable of being happy and okay with desiring physical intimacy with her very human companion? Or would giving in to that make her lose something she was desperately trying to hold onto?
Sunset didn't have an answer for that, especially when one of her fears began gnawing on her again. This whole dating thing had started as an attempt to explore what they felt and to let it develop at its own pace in its own way...what if Twilight changed her mind? What if she ended up wanting to stop being so close to her best friend? As they were, right now, Sunset could probably cope with that as long as they remained friends...but if she let herself go further, if she opened her heart like that, took that plunge...only to have it end...could she cope with that loss, or would it destroy her from the inside out?
Ponies weren't like humans when it came to relationships, flitting through partners like a bee amongst wildflowers. Her kind tended to form romantic and emotional attachments from among those with whom a pony had already bonded, usually as friends, as a growth of those already established relationships. Like she'd explained to Rarity, there wasn't a socio-cultural push to find a partner and have as many foals as possible, the way humans seemed to do. Relationships were about mutual happiness and enjoyment...but it also meant that the concept of casual relationships was fairly alien. Ponies invested a part of themselves when they did find somepony they bonded with, and it was that emotional investment that often drove a relationship more than any amount of physical, sexual desire. If she was desiring Twilight the way she would have as a mare, then she'd crossed a threshold without realizing it, and if her girlfriend wasn't invested in the same way and ended things...
A low sound escaped her, as did a few tears, before she shoved the rest of that thought down roughly, to keep a hold on her emotions. She couldn't be thinking of that when she hadn't yet told Twilight that she was a pony. Twilight deserved to know that, to have all of Sunset known to her before they crossed that point of no return.
Sunset squeezed her eyes shut. She wasn't ready to tell her--to tell any of the family that had welcomed her so readily, really--that she was an inhuman exile from another world and a creature that most of their species would consider an animal...even if it was a mythical one. Fear kept her silent, fear of their response, and just like Twilight telling her parents about her sexuality, it was something Sunset was trying to work towards having the courage to do.
And if she was starting to see Twilight the way she would another pony, if she had reached a point where she could fall in love with a human, where the emotions of the unicorn she had been raised as merged with the physical desires of the human form she lived in, then Sunset was running out of time to make the decision with a level head... |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter Eighty Seven: Tutoring For Dummies | "This is such fucking bullshit!" There was a loud SLAM! as Rainbow Dash brought her a textbook down hard onto the lunch-table, jolting Sunset from her own reading on the advanced theories of the interaction between active magic use and leylines. The former unicorn made a shrill sound in her throat in surprise, half out of her chair and her apple rolling down the table with a few bites missing before she could stop herself.
Dash stared at her for a few seconds before her sour face turned into riotous laughter. "Oh holy shit, Sunset! I didn't know you could make a noise like that!"
Fluttershy stopped the runaway fruit from falling to the floor as she pulled out her chair, offering it back to Sunset. "That's not very nice, Dashie..."
"It's fine," Sunset took her apple back and eased back into her chair with a hammering heart. "And I'm soooo glad me being startled out of my wits provided you with a momentary reprieve from your bad mood."
The soccer player had degenerated into snickering. "You sounded like one of AJ's pigs!"
"I did not," Sunset grumbled. "I'm a pony, not a pig. Now what's got you so mad that you're trying to break our table with your trig book?"
The laughter stopped, and her colorful friend glared at the book like it had personally offended her somehow. "I'm failing math--bombed my midterm. Coach says I have to bring my grade up or I'll be suspended from the team."
Fluttershy gave her a look of sympathy. "Oh, Rainbow, I'm so sorry..."
Rainbow slumped in her chair. "Yeah. I can't help it that I suck at math. When am I ever going to use this stuff?! None of it makes sense!"
Sunset frowned. "What part is giving you trouble?"
"All of it!" the athlete complained. "Numbers and formulas, and this sine/cosine stuff! Even paying attention in class doesn't help, and the notes might as well be horsey hieroglyphs for all I can use them!"
With a sigh, Sunset slid the book over, opening it to the section marked by a piece of paper--the latest quiz Rainbow had failed with a bright red 48 scrawled across the top in ink, along with a note from the teacher. "Okay, I know this. What parts do you already get, Dash?"
"I get it's about triangles, and finding like, angles and stuff. That's it. I don't understand anything else."
Sunset skimmed it, looking over the quiz too, to see if the athlete had gotten anything right. Her eyes flicked up to watch her friend playing absently with a small rubber ball, rolling it around her hands, tossing it up and catching it, or bouncing it off the nearby wall only to snatch it out of the air. An idea began to percolate in the back of her mind. "I can try tutoring you if you want?" she offered. "Math is something I'm good at, but I learned it all for applications and not theoretics. I'm wondering if you might learn it better my way."
"I dunno..."
"I'd take her up on it, Dash," Flash's voice broke through the background noise of the cafeteria. "Sunset's the only reason I passed Algebra II last year." He was standing there with a tray, two girls just behind him, and he winked at Sunset.
She laughed, tossing her head. "Probably the only good thing that came of dating me, right?"
"Oof. I wasn't going to say that," Flash said with a wince.
"No big deal. I know it's the truth," Sunset shrugged.
The blue haired young man shook his head. "Mind if we join you guys?"
Rainbow squinted at Sunset. "Alright you can try but I'm no egghead. Don't expect much." Then she turned back to Flash. "Well, don't just stand there, sit down!"
All three took seats at the table. "Hey, Lyra, hey, Bon-bon."
"We were actually coming over to ask kinda the same thing," Flash said sheepishly. "Lyra and I aren't doing so hot in math either, and you're the best math tutor I know..."
Sunset rolled her eyes but the smile never left her face. "What class?"
Lyra made a face. "Trig. The same as Rainbow Dash. I am sooo not a math person."
Bon-bon rubbed her back. "I tried helping her, but we learned that I...don't really have the patience for it," she told Sunset.
"We got talking after class," Flash chimed in again, "and I was talking about asking you if you'd tutor me again, so..."
The pieces came together neatly. "So you figured you'd both come ask me, and I'm guessing you're in the same class as Dash too, since you're not surprised by her wailing and gnashing of teeth."
"Hey!" the athlete protested.
Flash had the decency to at least look guilty. "...yeah...basically."
Sunset shook her head. "I'll help...but not at lunch. I think we can all agree that we enjoy being able to eat." She mulled her schedule over in her head, and compared it to Rainbow's. "How about Wednesdays, right after school, in the library? I'm sure I can catch you guys up pretty quick and keep you up to speed with about an hour a week."
Rainbow scowled. "Awww man...that'll cut into my practice time...".
The former unicorn arched one brow. "Do you want to pass math, or not?" she asked. "You've got to put effort into it."
"Can't I just talk you into doing my homework for me? You're a math nerd, Sunset." Leaning back in her chair, the soccer player waved a hand. "It's not like it would even be work for you, since you do your own math without a calculator!"
A tanned skin hand swatted Rainbow with a stetson, catching her by surprise and making her tumble out of her chair with a yelp and a loud smacking sound of her hitting the floor. "Do yer own work, lazy ass. 'S not Sunset's responsibility ta pass yer classes."
Dash dragged herself back into her chair after giving Applejack a one finger salute. Sunset shook her head with a laugh. "I do it in my head and without a calculator because Equestria doesn't have calculators, Dash. Not to mention I spent four years of concentrated effort studying high level math at CSGU so I could do it on the fly. I have to run massive equations through my head very quickly to calculate a teleport. After that kind of study, high school math is barely a warm up."
A finger pointed at her triumphantly "See?! She could totally do it!"
Sunset arched a brow, before letting her down with a point she hadn't considered. "Sure, I could do your homework, but I can't take your tests for you. You still need math for that."
Rainbow wilted. "Aaaaawwwwwww man...I forgot about that." Then she perked up a little. "Wait...can't you just...I dunno...do some fancy unicorn magic shit? Make everyone think you're me and take the test?"
"Fancy unicorn shit?" Sunset repeated in a voice as dry as the dunes of Saddle Arabia. Down the table, Flash slowly brought his palm up to meet his face, and Applejack looked like she was about to use more than her hat on the back of her friend's skull. "Rainbow...we've established that I can barely use my magic safely here...and also, that's cheating, and we all know you're not a cheater."
Her friend's expression fell, and she looked away. Sunset reached out and laid a hand on her wrist. "Dash, why are you so against even trying? This isn't like you."
She shrugged. "I'm not an egghead. I just don't get this stuff. You're going to be wasting your time. My parents have tried to get me a tutor before."
The redhead frowned. "Dash, look at me." When the soccer player met her eyes, she continued. "It's my time to 'waste' how I choose, and I think I can help you. Let me try."
"...fine...but don't expect much."
"Then...Wednesdays after school? Meet me in the library." She looked at Flash and Lyra. "That work for you guys?"
"Yeah, I can do Wednesdays. I'll just let my boss know I can only do closings on that day." Flash shrugged, before biting into a chicken sandwich.
Lyra followed his assent with a nod of her own. "Oh yeah, totally. Thanks, Sunset. My mom would be furious if I failed math."
"And then she'd try to make you participate in whatever chakra balancing juice cleanse or whatever she's into this month," Bon Bon added with a chuckle.
The pale haired girl groaned. "Bonny...please don't remind me. I still can't look at a pineapple." She draped herself over her companion's shoulders with some over dramatic whining. "Especially because you don't want to know what the latest fad from her favorite celebrity is...."
Sunset arched an eyebrow. "That sounds..."
"Terrifying? Interesting? Like Lyra's mom is a few pineapples short of a fruit salad?" Pinkie plopped into a chair, ignoring the pained groan Lyra gave. "Hi Lyra! Hi Bon Bon! Hi Flash!" She tilted her head. "This is the fourth time in a week you've had lunch with us, Flash!"
He laughed awkwardly. "Yeah I guess it is. Do I...need to sign a guest register or something?" he joked.
"Nope!" Pinkie grinned. "But if you're gonna keep joining us, we should have a party to make you officially part of the group!"
"We're a group now?" Sunset commented.
"Of course we are, silly filly!" Pinkie poked her in the nose, which made Sunset want to bite. "Twilight got us all back together, and then you joined us, which made the group even better, and now Flash is here more which is super neat and fun, and he's bringing his friends too! Which calls for a celebration!"
Sunset stared. Mostly at the party hats Pinkie had pulled from somewhere and was putting on everyone at the table, despite any protests being made. She reached up to her own head, finding one of the conical cardboard hats already in place, trying to decide if she should wonder where the cake sitting on the table had come from.
It must have shown on her face, because from her other side, Rarity patted her shoulder. "Don't think too deeply about it, Sunset. Pinkie Pie has a way of challenging sanity and rationale on a good day. Its probably best to label what she does as a form of Pinkie Pie magic and move on."
"I'm beginning to realize that," she agreed. "It makes me wonder if this world has an equivalent to Discord or if it's just a manifestation of human magic--which I seem to be mostly blind to until it's actually happening." That conclusion, which she had reached after both the journal that had been left in their care, and the incident with Shining Armor, was unsettling. The idea of a magic whose energy she couldn't pick out of the background until right before it activated was dangerous, and difficult to study or even find. It meant there might very well be extremely powerful magic here, and she would never know it unless the user decided to reveal themselves.
"Hey, Sunset," Rainbow laughed, "I think Flash is trying to get your attention! Dude, come on, that's not gonna work if you don't know what a unicorn's mating call sounds like!"
"Mating--what?" Sunset shook herself out of her thoughts to stare at Dash first, then slowly pan her gaze to Flash. "What in the--really, Flash?"
Flash had adjusted his party hat so it sat on his forehead in a parody of a unicorn horn, and added a set of the Wondercolt ears. "What? I don't want to be left out! Whaddya think, pony-girl? Would I pass as a Rainboom? Or as a pretty unicorn?"
Lyra leaned forward, staring at Sunset intently. "Actually, that's a good question--are there even boy unicorns? Or do you have to use other magical equines for reproduction?"
Her face heated, and from the way Rainbow Dash started laughing, Sunset decided she must be as red as the red in her hair. "There are unicorn colts and stallions," she responded a little stiffly. "But they are a lot fewer in number than fillies and mares."
"So unicorns are mostly female! Is it because of their purity?"
She stared blankly at Lyra for a long moment, trying to decide if the bubbly girl was on some form of illicit substance. "...no. It's because ponies' natural birth rates as a species skew heavily in favor of female offspring," she explained, her voice giving away how uncomfortable the subject of discussing her species' reproductive statistics was.
"What about the idea that unicorns are only interested in vir--" Lyra was cut off by Bon Bon's hand over her mouth.
"Lyra, sweetie, love of my life, manic pixie that haunts my nightmares," she deadpanned, "we've talked about this. Time to put your feet back on the ground and stop using intensely personal questions about our friends and classmates to further your conspiracies or monster theories."
The green-skinned girl mumbled something that might've been an apology underneath the hand. Bon Bon nodded. "I'm going to let go, and try to keep to normal conversation that doesn't include other people's sex lives, please?"
Rainbow laughed again. "Aw c'mon! We didn't even get the part where she asks if unicorn horns double as a--WHOOOOAAA!!"
The table--Sunset included--fell apart in uproarious laughter when Applejack calmly upended her friend's chair and dumped her unceremoniously onto the floor. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Interlude XX: Zwischenzug | Acid green eyes stared intently at one of the monitors arrayed before their owner, brows pinching together as the older woman frowned. A few keystrokes and a click of her mouse zeroed in on the alert. "Hmmm...again? We can't have you doing that, little mouse." Dark, inky black fingers flew over the keys, counteracting the curious investigation of a bright young mind into alterations she'd put in place months before.
Her opponent gave pause, only to start following a trail in another direction, dismantling--possibly without even realizing it--another security precaution, leaving her to try and repair the damage and shunt the intruder away from anything important. "Clever girl, aren't you? I can see why she likes you...but this is not for you, little mouse. Find some other kind of cheese." Fingers danced over the keys, shutting out the intruder and opening up a pathway that would lead them back to safer subjects, leaving a few breadcrumbs to satisfy curiosity.
The person on the other end was quick, seeing through the ploy and making it quite clear what they thought of it. "Cheeky of you," the woman murmured, fingers typing so fast they were nothing more than a dark blur, even as her phone began to play an upbeat tune.
A quick tap on her bluetooth headset answered the call with barely a pause in her typing. "Hello, dear."
"Auntie," the woman on the other end greeted with warmth. "Is this a bad time?"
Her lips curled in a smirk, and she reached across her desk to pluck the fancy cigarette holder from its resting place, lighting the waiting white cylinder at its end with neat precision. "My dearest, darling little gemstone, it is never a bad time to hear from you. How are you?"
"I'm just fine, Auntie. With everyone back in school, and both Greenie and Cinnamon applying to colleges, it was a busy winter break." The younger voice sighed, thick with emotion. "I'm going to miss my girls when they leave for college."
Her beloved niece had such a huge heart, just like her mother. "It's hard, my dear, but you'll always be their mother, remember that. Just like your sisters will always remember Synergy as their mother." She drew a long drag of tingling smoke into her lungs.
"Thanks, Auntie...that means a lot, coming from you. I always worry if I'm living up to Mom's legacy. And speaking of sisters...Active did what you asked. She said to tell you she gets a good feel for him--he really was genuinely concerned over the girl's wellbeing, and that it was a personal investigation."
"As I suspected. Red's been making waves, and it's stirring things up. Keep your girls close, my dear. Unpleasant elements in the city are growing anxious again, and my children can only do so much." Her fingers flew over the keys again, blocking two more holes in security and sending the little mouse where she wanted in the digital maze.
"We will, Auntie. We've put the earlier curfew into check like you suggested. Hot also did maintenance on the House's security system, so thank you for sending him. He's been a godsend." There was a note in the younger woman's voice that made her smile.
"I'll have him stick around in the meantime then. Can you put him up in your spare room? Or should I arrange for him to have an apartment nearby?" Hot Head, despite his name, was a loyal Child who would protect her nieces and their girls.
"We can manage, I think, especially if he's willing to give the wiring a good going over in the dining room and bathroom on the main floor." There was a soft note in her voice, one that suggested the woman would enjoy having Hot around for reasons beyond just protection.
She suppressed a laugh. "Very well, gemstone. You keep him there until this is over. He can take the chance to redo all the electrical in that building. It needs it, and if money is an issue, I'll see some wired to the foundation account."
Her niece let out a soft but happy sigh. "Okay, Auntie. Is there anything else you need from us in the meantime?"
"Only for you to send along any rumors or information about Red and her collective, or about the school--no matter how bizarre. Especially from your girls who go there. Other than that, I'll see you and your sisters for dinner on Sunday."
"We're excited to see you again, Auntie--it's been too long and we all miss you. More so now that Dad is gone..."
"You have my word, gemstone, as soon as this is over, you will be seeing me more. Give your sisters my love in the meantime, and stay safe."
"We will, Auntie--and you please do the same. I don't want to lose you too, not in the same year that we lost Dad." Her voice was ragged with pain. "We don't have anyone else."
"I will be fine, dear. I've been playing this game for a long time. Have a little faith in me." Movement caught her eye and she saw one of her Children waiting patiently for her to finish her call. "Now I have to go, but I will talk to you soon. Goodbye, gemstone."
"Goodbye, Auntie. I love you."
The call ended with a click, and the woman took another drag on her cigarette. "You have something for me?"
"Yes, Mother," the young man said. "Ghost sent this file over."
Her eyes watched the progress on screen--the mouse had finally taken the bait and followed the path she'd been laying out for it. "Bring it here." A few more keystrokes left the information she wanted the mouse to have and none that she didn't. You're playing a dangerous game, mouse, right in between the claws of a panther... She just hoped she could act in time to finally see the panther caged...
Taking her eyes off the screen for the moment, she opened the file folder set neatly in front of her with the same precision Shadow always conducted himself with. It revealed a thick stack of papers and photos, and she carefully looked through them one at a time, scrutinizing them with a practiced eye. Her grim expression morphed into a dark smile--not for the implications or the likely fate of the missing girl mentioned in the files, but for the opportunity it afforded her.
"Maybe your waves will be beneficial after all, Red..." she murmured, taking a long drag on her cigarette.
She flicked her eyes to Shadow. "Call Echo and Whisper, have them come in. I have a task that requires their delicate touch."
Shadow inclined his head. "Of course, Mother. They'll be here before morning." He turned crisply on his heel and left the room.
She turned back to the files for a moment, before rising from her seat, gliding to a clever set of panels on the wall. Resting her hand on the concealed sensor, she waited for the safe to slide open, humming a tune from decades past. "This could very much work in my favor..." she murmured, glancing over her shoulder at one of the files open on her computer, showing the detailed service record of a blue haired CCPD detective. "Let's see if you are as noble as I've heard, Detective...and if you care about your sister more than you want to conform to that snake charmer's tune..."
She took a thick stack of folders from the safe, beginning the arduous process of sorting and organizing them so she could make copies. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter Eighty Eight: Whispers in the Dark | Purple fingers adjusted the last bit of wiring inside the heavy duty casing. "There. That should do it!" She held up the finished product for Wallflower to see. "My prototype detection device for Project Aurora is finished!"
"And it does...what, exactly?" Her friend sounded bored.
Twilight elaborated, too giddy with having finished the device to be offput by the harsh tone. "It's a mobile variant of the machines in here that detect the frequency of the strange energy that I'm researching for my project, except this one can lead me to the sources of energy by giving me directional input, almost like radar. I am hoping to narrow down an area or a source and perhaps procure samples of either the source or affected mediums to run further tests." She could barely contain her excitement, bouncing on her toes. "It'll also help determine if it's one source or multiple different ones! I'm so excited to test it out!"
Wallflower raised her gaze from an ancient looking book on medicinal plants that she'd procured from one website or another. "Great...absolutely fantastic," she deadpanned. "Practically overcome with emotion, can't you see?" With that, she buried her nose back in her book, pausing only once to add, "Dibs on any mutated plants you find, especially if your pet energy has turned them into ravening meat eating monsters. Could you imagine the look on Suri's face if we put one in her locker?"
"Why would we do that with a valuable specimen?" Twilight asked, not sure where her friend was going with the strange suggestion.
The green haired girl smiled. "Because maybe it'll bite that perfectly sculpted nose off her perfectly crafted face. I'd love to see her plastic surgeon fix that." She laughed to herself like it was a hilarious joke.
Seated at her desk, Twilight frowned slightly, not really caring for the joke--at least she thought it was a joke. It was hard enough for her to read most people, but Wallflower was harder to get sometimes, because her voice had even less intonation and inflection than anyone she'd ever met, and that included Moondancer. In this case, there was something in Wallflower's eyes that she couldn't define...but whatever it was, it made her uncomfortable. She found herself glancing surreptitiously at the clock, eager to have the bell ring and signal the end of the day, because the air in the room now felt too close, too crowded, despite the room being empty but for the two of them.
Twilight felt her stomach squirm a little more, as the silence stretched longer than she knew was considered socially acceptable...but she couldn't come up with a response that felt right, not without knowing the real intention behind the other girl's words. Eventually Wallflower sighed, sounding frustrated--an emotion Twilight could place. "It was a joke, Twilight," she pointed out flatly. "You're supposed to laugh."
So it had been meant as humor. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "I wasn't sure...and...I'm not certain medical insurance covers acts of mutated plant life, at least not in policies I've read about. Without coverage, it would be difficult to find a surgeon to fix such injuries at a price her family could afford, since her family does belong to one of the lower income brackets that attends this school."
Wallflower stared at her, before bursting into laughter. "Oh my god, Twi! Do you know how furious she would be if she knew you called her poor? She would be more purple than you are!" The girl grinned, but it didn't teach her eyes the way Sunset's smiles did. "Suri Polomare, Princess of the Paupers, Diva of the Destitute. Has a bit of a poetic ring to it, I think."
"I...that is--I wasn't..." Twilight cringed. That hadn't been what she'd meant, at all. She had been merely espousing some basic facts, not providing a scathing social commentary on the bully's family status or financial state. "You're reading it--"
She was cut off by the final bell ringing, a shrill sound that always dug painfully into her ears. Wallflower jumped up, shouldering her bag with an ugly curse that made Twilight uncomfortable all over again even as it made her grateful for Sunset's odd manner of speech and somewhat endearing epithets. She understood that cursing was a part of language, but the unpleasant focus and emphasis that her peers often put on the slurs of a sexual nature was more than a little awkward for a teenager who didn't conform to heteronormative standards.
"Tell me later, Twilight--I have to go actually buy food since my parents decided to extend their stay in Fiji for another two weeks. And if you do find some kind of man eating plant monster, I call dibs for my garden!"
Then the other girl was gone, leaving Twilight's brain buzzing and her explanation of her thoughts dying unsaid on her lips. She sighed, and gathered up her bag. She wanted to test this detector out anyway, and the sooner she got started, the sooner she'd have something to show for it.
Twilight stopped outside the music store, baffled. Her detector had led her to the mall first, for reasons she couldn't quite understand. Surely someone in the mall would have seen something strange? She carefully made her way inside the store, watching her scanner as she did a slow circuit of the open space filled with instruments, racks of CDs, and various supplies that she secretly thought about surprising her girlfriend with. The entire room held an echo of the unidentified energy, with its strongest concentration in the section where they kept electric and acoustic guitars.
Glancing around, she saw only one clerk--a bored looking college age boy wearing a grimy band shirt for an old metal band her father liked, and a head full of longish, greasy looking dreads in a virulent shade of green that clashed heavily with neon orange skin. He wasn't looking her way, so she pulled a few of her little sample vials out, and used a pair of tweezers to gather up some loose carpet fibers from the baseboards, and some paint chips from a spot on the wall that was peeling.
She made another circuit, even slower, testing the readings at different heights, but nothing pointed to a definitive source. It was as if whatever had caused the lingering energy signature had simply walked out--or been purchased.
"So are you gonna buy something, or are you gonna stare at your weird Gameboy all day? Like, I don't care but the boss does, so like, you might wanna look like you're gonna buy something."
The voice of the clerk made her jump. "Oh! Um...." Twilight spotted a set of spare strings for a guitar, and she grabbed it, before pretending to look through some music CDs. Maybe she could get Sunny a little something... Her eyes spotted a CD in the new releases rack that was from a band she knew Sunset loved, and she grabbed it too, wandering towards the counter. Maybe the clerk could tell her something.
"Oh cool, you found something after all!" Bloodshot eyes and the reek of what could only be illicit substances greeted her at the register. "Aw man, I saw this earlier, and I sooo wanna hear the new stuff. You a fan?"
"...My...best friend is. It's a gift for her," she responded awkwardly, the word 'girlfriend' sitting on her tongue. "I've listened to them with her. They have talent."
"Oh for sure!" His head bobbed in an uncoordinated nod. "So what's with the gizmo? Aliens probing our stock again? Am I gonna glow in the dark? That'd be awesome..."
"Um. Just some strange energy readings, but it's probably nothing...unless something weird happened here? Out of the ordinary weird?" It wasn't much, but maybe?
"...nah, nothing weird ever happens here...unless you count those girls a couple months ago. That was super weird and awesome..." The clerk stared at the wall with a broad smile. "It was totally the weirdest thing ever...they were having this rocking guitar duel, right? And I dunno, maybe the hit I took on my break had something in it, but the music was so out there it was like an explosion! Have you ever heard something that sounded so good you could see it?"
"I...can't say that I have..." she responded, watching him scan the CD.
"It was that good...like the music was making sweet love to my brain. I've never seen colors like that before--and that one girl was so good the music gave her wings to fly, girly. It was the best feeling of my life!"
Or maybe not. Clearly this man was on something particularly potent, and what he was recounting was obviously some kind of hallucination induced by illegal, mind altering substances. Someone flying because of music? Preposterous. And the rest just sounded like the standard signs of a 'bad trip.' She forced a smile. "That...does sound...interesting." So much for a potential lead.
Beep! He scanned the guitar strings. "Your girl play too?" he asked, blinking blearily at her.
Her cheeks felt hot, and her breath caught. Had she given herself away? She had said 'best friend', right? Not girlfriend? "My best friend is in a band," she said evasively, just in case.
"That's awesome! I was in a band once. We called ourselves the Limp Lizzards." More of that empty eyed smile was directed towards her and she could practically smell his lunch on his breath under the acrid odor of what was probably marijuana. "Didn't last though. That'll be thirty three seventy eight, girly." Her stomach lurched as the stink rolled over her and flooded her nostrils.
Twilight peeled a few bills out of her pocket and shoved them at him, beyond ready to get away from him. "That should be forty..."
"Aaand...six thirty in change. Here you go! Enjoy listening to the CD with your girl!"
She gave an internal scream of frustration, and practically ran from the store with her purchases, not bothering to correct either his math error or his assumption.
Twilight stared at the white vehicle in sheer confusion, and double checked her device. The signal indicator did not change, and when she moved around the parked vehicle, the screen changed with her movements to always point at it. Somehow, this car had been in contact with the energy...a good bit of the energy, but how? Why?
Circling the car slowly, she glanced around for anyone to see her, and quickly and quietly used a small tool to scrape a little rubber off one of the tires and some of the metal off the underside of a wheel well, quickly pocketing the tiny vials containing each sample before anyone noticed her doing anything strange. Then she circled the car again, scratching notes down in a notepad: make, model, license plate, and even the VIN which she had to squint to make out. She intended to do a little digital snooping later, to find out more about the vehicle and its history, since it was an odd sporty looking car but not particularly remarkable. The backseat was filled with what looked like sound equipment, including DJ turntables, microphones, and speakers, as well as school supplies. Nothing that stood out as unusual or a likely source for the readings she was getting, which spiked quite a bit higher than the music store had.
She was doing a quick and very rough sketch when a throat cleared behind her, making her whip around to face a girl about her age with ragged blue hair and pale skin. Pink tinted lenses blocked her ability to see the other girl's eyes, but her lips turned up in a smile and she waved before making a series of hand gestures that she recognized as some form of sign language, though the exact meaning was lost on her. She started to say something, but the girl had already moved on to the car, sliding into the driver's seat. With another smile and wave, she drove off, leaving a confused Twilight Sparkle coughing in a cloud of exhaust.
Purple eyes glared down at the screen of her device, at the readings that told her she was standing right on top of the greatest concentration of energy. It couldn't be broken, since it was built off the same measuring devices that had already recorded so much data. That meant it was picking up something, but....
Twilight raised her gaze from the device to look around her. She was standing in the middle of the stage at the local amphitheater, looking out at empty space and surrounded by nothing but an empty stage floor. Even looking up only showed her the thin skin of the stage's cover, so if there was something up there, it was impossible to access alone and without complex equipment. So why was this spot so high in readings? She started manipulating the scanner's calibration, trying to see if she could further pinpoint the origin of the reading.
"......feel the wave of sound...."
Her head snapped up at the faint echo of music, and she looked around for its source. "Who's there?" she called out.
"....let's battle!" A voice whispered faintly.
The dark haired teen shook her head, and charged towards a darkened corner of the stage. "It's not funny! Come out of wherever you're hiding!" She could hear more faint whispering, behind a heavy curtain, and she grabbed it, jerking it out of the way, fully expecting to see people.
Only to find nothing. There was no one there. Twilight hugged herself with a shiver. Something wasn't right, and it was making her stomach tie itself in knots. There had to be a logical explanation for this. There had to be a reasonable source for the sounds--someone must be playing a prank of some kind. Other teenagers from the sound of it, which would line up with her experiences; her peers had no respect for scientific progress and those who pursued it.
"...Sunset Shimmer!"
Twilight jolted, whipping around. That sounded like...like her own voice. But when had she ever cried her girlfriend's name with such desperation?
"....you were filled with...a lust for something...wasn't yours to have...and so We became...Does your soul hunger so badly it bleeds?" A dry voice that bore a faint resemblance to Sunset at her most sarcastic whispered from beside her.
At that faint voice, emotions welled up from somewhere inside her, so strong they felt almost disconnected from her sense of self. Her knees threatened to buckle and she almost dropped her device under the wave of longing need and a desperate, despairing loneliness so profound it brought tears to her eyes. For an indeterminable moment, she was drowning in it, haunted by a single question that almost seemed expressed without words...
Where are You?
Sunset. She needed Sunset. She had to find Sunset.
Before she could stop and think, Twilight was running, leaving the amphitheater far behind, the sound of her footsteps keeping a tempo for the words repeating in her head. Find Sunset.
Twilight leaned against a tree just out of view of the sidewalk, struggling to catch her breath and not get noticed by the occasional student leaving the grounds of CHS. She wasn't sure how aggressive the rivalry would get if they saw her in her CPA uniform, but she didn't want to risk it, not with how nasty they'd been to Sunset when she was the target of their ire. She'd run here on some kind of panicked autopilot, only to recover her wits just before she'd entered the parking lot of the school, and ducked out of sight to avoid a group of players from one of the sports teams. She sank to a seat on a stump, trembling from cold and exhaustion, and set the device she had managed to maintain a grip on in her lap so she could retrieve her phone.
It was shaking fingers that punched in a message to Sunset's contact, a very messy and borderline incoherent string of letters that she hoped would get her girlfriend's attention.
The response didn't take long. "Sparky?" came the worried voice when she picked up the phone. "Where are you? I'm on my way. What's wrong?"
"Behind your school. I...I don't know. I just...I need you, Sunset. I had to find you...Please..."
"I'm on my way. Stay put. Are you in the parking lot?"
"...no...behind it. In the trees." She squinted. "...I see your bike."
It didn't take more than another minute and she saw a familiar head of red and gold hair heading her way, Sunset pausing at the edge of the woods to see if anyone was nearby, before she plunged into the trees. She came right to Twilight, making the dark haired teen wonder if she was not as well hidden as she would have liked. Twilight had just enough time to get shakily to her feet before she all but collapsed into Sunset's embrace. "Sunny..." she breathed into an amber skinned neck, feeling her heart rate finally start to slow, and her lungs feel not quite so tight.
"Hey..." the other girl breathed. "I'm here. I've got you. You're safe." A hand rubbed up and down her back soothingly. "Deep breaths for me, okay, Sparky?"
A few minutes of breathing and being held worked a strange kind of magic on Twilight. The painful feeling in her chest eased and the panic that had caused her to flee the amphitheater finally melted away. "...I'm sorry. I don't know what happened...I was doing some readings for my project, and I thought I was hearing things, but I couldn't find who was doing it, and one of them sounded like you, and I had the weirdest panic attack I've ever had...all I could think of was getting to you, and I ran all the way here, but I didn't want to get attacked because I know CHS and CPA are rivals and after everything they did to you, I wasn't sure they wouldn't just do stuff like that to me for my uniform so I hid and--"
Sunset kissed her into silence, and Twilight went limp in her arms, trusting her partner to not let her fall. She savored the heat of warm lips on hers contrasting with the bitter winter chill, her fingers gripping the leather of Sunset's jacket collar. The redhead made a sound in her throat, almost like a growl and her grip tightened in a way that made Twilight feel safe rather than confined. It was a relief, after the stress of being dragged around all afternoon for a whole lot of disappointment and agitation.
When they broke apart, Sunset rested her forehead against Twilight's. "Better?" Her hand cupped Twilight's cheek gently, wiping away the remnants of tears.
"...yeah..." Twilight leaned into Sunset's palm, feeling the warmth send a tingle through her.
"Now...can you tell me a little slower, what made you so upset?"
That, she could probably manage. "...I was taking some readings for my project, and I...I got freaked out because I thought some people were playing a prank on me. I couldn't find them, and it...triggered a panic attack."
A soft smile crossed Sunset's face. "...so you came to find me?"
"...I can't explain it. I needed to find you. I knew you'd make it better." Twilight smiled. "And you did."
Sunset chuckled. "Glad I was able to meet your expectations, Sparky." Then the taller girl bent down to pick up the device that had fallen from Twilight's lap when she had jumped up. "So what's this?"
Twilight froze, her principal's words echoing through her mind about the nature of her research project. "...It's a device I built to give me some readings for my research," she offered, taking it back from Sunset and checking it for damage...only to realize that it was registering a massive reading in the form of the entirety of CHS' grounds.
"What kind of readings?" Sunset asked.
Evasively, she waved the device. "Atmospheric conditions, local EMF readings, background radiation scored, that sort of thing."
Her girlfriend gave her a long look, a frown pulling her lips down. "Twilight..." she responded in a tone that made it clear she didn't one hundred percent believe the other girl.
Shoulders slumped. Of course Sunset of all people would be able to read her, particularly since she already knew more about Twilight's fascination with the energy than most people. "I...it is for my project, but I can't really talk about it right now. Can you just think of it like an NDA that I have to try and stick to for the duration?"
"I don't like this, Twilight...you don't know what you're dealing with, not really, and all this? Skulking around behind my school? Lying to me? Blowing up at your parents?" Each word was delivered with gentle concern but struck her like a blow. "This isn't like you, Sparky."
"I..." She shuffled awkwardly, stomach back to twisting in knots. "...I don't mean to..." she said softly. "...I know there's something strange going on, with this energy, Sunset. It's not very scientific, but I feel it. This could change the world, and if I'm the one who figures it out..." Even to her girlfriend, her best friend and partner, the words wouldn't form, and she let the sentence hang.
Sunset Shimmer sighed. "Alright, nerd...but you can't be around CHS like that. Not with the Friendship Games coming up. Everybody is on edge about them at school, and anyone seeing you in that uniform is going to lose their minds. I don't want you to get hurt or overwhelmed...so here's the deal. We go back to my place, you change into something less conspicuous, and I'll bring you back to get your readings. By then, most of the school will be clear, and you won't be basically waving a red flag at a bull." Fingertips brush along her throat. "And maybe while we're at my place, I can kiss you the way I really want to..."
The husky note in Sunset's voice made her legs feel like jelly, and the fingertips on her skin left a burning trail that only more if that touch could douse. Twilight swallowed. "Okay," she breathed. "Let's go to your place."
Sunset's lopsided grin was better than any amount of data collection.
Her back hit the cool surface of the wall, leeching heat from her skin even through Sunset's old dark gray hoodie. Twilight was almost grateful for it, because the hands pressing to her stomach were so very, very hot....as was the tongue that slid against hers in a passionate kiss. Sunset had pinned her up against the wall aggressively, sending her brain into a complete tailspin of babbled thoughts and secret desires. Oh yes, Sunny, please, some part of her begged. Like that, oh please, more like that! I want it, want you! Can't you see how badly?
And when that mouth pulled back so they could both pant for air, it was Sunset's body pressing into her that held her up. Her knees wouldn't have supported her even if she'd wanted them to, not when Sunny's mouth was on her neck like that, finding the exact spot that drew a long, pleading moan from Twilight's throat. She arched herself reflexively into that stronger, taller body, feeling the way her girlfriend's limbs with their deceptive strength kept her trapped, the way those amber skinned fingers slid along the skin of her stomach to her sides, lifting her up just a few inches and putting her entirely at Sunset's mercy.
Fingers dug into Sunset's shoulders for purchase and instinct made Twilight wrap her legs around the girl pinning her. "....Sunny...." she moaned again, finding one hand tangling in fiery curls. "....please..."
Whatever else she'd meant to say was swallowed by the mouth that covered hers with a low, almost animalistic growl. It was a growl that went straight through her, making her want nothing more than to surrender to the feelings it roused. She wanted to hear it again, that rough, possessive noise, and she ached with the need to give in completely to the desire calling to her own. Make me yours, Sunny, that corner of her mind pleaded, unable to give the thought true voice.
Yet as badly as she wanted to end up in a tangle of sweaty limbs on Sunset's bed or couch, she couldn't let it happen. Not without making sure Sunset was really okay with it. Twilight could recall, with clarity, just how shaken Sunset had been the few times they'd pushed the boundaries, how awful her girlfriend seemed to feel after, and she refused to destroy what they had for a few moments of hormone driven release.
This time it was Twilight who ended the kiss, pulling reluctantly away from Sunset's lips and meeting gleaming eyes with a smile. "We should probably stop," she murmured, pressing her palm to Sunset's cheek.
Her best friend let out a breathless, husky laugh. "Yeah...probably. I just...really wanted to kiss you." Carefully, she lowered Twilight back to her feet, bracing her until the dark haired teen could stand on her own, somewhat wobbly legs. Only then did she pull away, but not without one final, soft kiss filled with affection.
"I...didn't exactly say no," Twilight giggled, running her fingers along the collar of the leather jacket Sunset had never taken off.
Sunset smirked. "I'm glad you didn't...because I like kissing you. A lot." To prove her point, she brushed their lips together, a featherlight touch that sent a tingle up her spine. "See?"
Twilight couldn't help but giggle. "It's a mutual like, Sunny." She hugged her girlfriend tightly. "...one I'd love to keep indulging in, but I need to get my readings completed." She toyed with a bit of her hair. "Will you still go with me?"
Another brief kiss made her lips tingle. "I said I would. C'mon. Let's go get you your readings, nerd."
CHS was deserted by the time they got back, and the sun had sunk below the trees, leaving long shadows across the grounds. Sunset parked her bike in the lot, and offered Twilight a hand. "So where do you want to take your readings?" She ran a hand through her hair. "The only place I don't recommend is the area near the front doors--there's a camera there that has a view of the whole front steps and sidewalk. I don't want either of us to get in trouble."
That was quite logical, and Twilight nodded, already looking at her device. "I wouldn't want that either...for now, let me get closer to the building...maybe see if I can narrow down the source further." She started walking, adjusting the scanner's sensitivity as she moved. "Are there more cameras back here?"
Sunset bit her lip. "A few, but I know where most of them are." She pointed out a few points--mostly near the doors, but Twilight could only barely make out small, dark smudges that might be cameras.
Turning in a slow half circle, Twilight determined a nearby concentration of energy. "Can you get me close to your greenhouse? Are there any cameras there?" Perhaps the source was a biological one? Mutations could arise, and plants did handle radiation and energy a lot better than animals did.
Blue-green eyes glanced towards the structure of glass and wood. "...no cameras on the outside, but they lock it at night, so we won't be able to get inside." The other girl paused, then added, "Unless I pick the lock."
Twilight stared at her girlfriend, her train of thought entirely derailed. "Can you do that? Pick locks?" she blurted out before she could stop herself.
Sunset rubbed her arm awkwardly, staring at the ground. "I...sorta. Simple ones. Like a front door or a locker or simple locks like that. It's...not exactly something I'm proud of....I misused the skill a lot when I was a bully to get dirt on people for blackmail. Or to plant evidence. Or so I could use their phones without them knowing." She kicked a rock into the grass. "It was...pretty handy for all of that."
It was clear that Sunset was discomfited by the subject, and Twilight gave a quick glance around before standing on her tiptoes and kissing an amber cheek. "No matter how much I want data, I would never ask you to do something that makes you upset, Sunny."
A crooked smile was sent her way. "Thanks, Sparky. I know you wouldn't, but it is nice to hear it. Now come on, let's get you where you can get your readings." She laced their fingers together and tugged Twilight towards the greenhouse, picking a route that kept them out of sight of any cameras.
Up close, the green house was intimidatingly large--thirty feet long and probably fifteen wide, its tall sides and sloped glass roof black in the faded light. All around it grew medium sized bushes and vines on trellises. Twilight checked her device, and realized there was a more solid reading around the other side. "Keep watch?" she asked Sunset. "I want to scan the entire perimeter, but you are right about our schools' rivalry, and I'd rather not put you in a potentially uncomfortable position."
Amber skinned fingers brushed her cheek. "Alright, nerd. Go do your thing."
Twilight let herself lean into the touch briefly, turning her head to kiss the tips of those digits. Then she turned her attention back to her device. She needed to focus, and her girlfriend was proving to be extremely distracting just by being in close proximity. The teen started walking around the outside of the greenhouse, watching as the signal got stronger with every step. On the other side, the high point in her readings turned out to be a collection of berry plants growing up a trellis that bore a great deal of resemblance to blackberry brambles...but thornless, and with leaves shaped wrong. What was most unusual was that the bushes were in peak bloom. In January.
Lowering her scanning tool, Twilight studied the plants and their fruit more closely. The leaves were long and blade-like, and the fruit looked like blackberries or raspberries with fewer of the little fruit nodules on each berry. It was hard to tell if they were the purple black of blackberries or if they were another color that only looked black in the low light conditions. The air around them was sweet smelling, fruity and tangy--strangely familiar, too, though she couldn't place where or why--and even the greenery of the plants smelled pleasant. Twilight retrieved some more sample containers from her bag, using a pair of tweezers to pluck a few leaves and some of the berries--all of which seemed fully ripe, rather than existing in various stages of ripeness and growth like a normal plant might. Something was definitely off.
She'd barely managed to finish sealing her samples when Sunset's voice called to her. "Sparky, come here!" It wasn't quite a yell. It was more a stage whisper hissed around the side of the greenhouse.
Twilight put the samples in her bag hurriedly and rushed back around to rejoin her girlfriend. "What is it? Is someone coming?"
Sunset was dusting off her jeans, putting something back in her coat pocket. "....no, but I..." One hand pushed the door open to the greenhouse. "Thought you might want to see the inside?" she offered sheepishly.
"You...did you pick the lock?" Twilight was shocked. "I wasn't going to ask you to do that, Sunny..."
A crooked smile is sent her way. "I...I know, but it's just the greenhouse, and we're not going to touch anything...and I thought maybe..." The redhead rubbed the back of her neck. "I thought maybe you could get better readings inside...and it's pretty in there. They grow all sorts of neat plants and flowers and it smells good and it's soothing to me. I don't come out here much but I always enjoy it when I get the chance."
Biting her lip, Twilight stepped close to her fiery maned paramour, reaching out to take her hand. "Thank you for doing this, Sunny--I really do appreciate it." She paused, hugging that arm to her chest. "I just want to make sure that you don't think you need to compromise on what you're comfortable with to make me happy..."
"I...wasn't...we're not going to mess with anything or break anything, and I'll relock it on the way out. I...guess I'm okay with it, just this once because I wanted to show you our greenhouse--it's Principal Celestia's personal project at CHS--she loves gardening and sometimes she joins in with the horticulture classes on her lunch. It's pretty...and you can take your readings..." Sunset tugged her inside.
There were some low level emergency lights casting the whole greenhouse in a mix of sharp shadows and pale light, but even in the dimness, Twilight was dumbstruck by just how impressive this small space was. Filled with flourishing plants, some with gorgeous flowers despite the time of year, others the kind that would produce fruits or vegetables, and still others that just smelled like springtime, the greenhouse was something else, and it put the one at Crystal Prep to shame. "Oh..." she breathed, staring. "Oh, wow..."
Sunset brought their linked hands up so she could kiss Twilight's knuckles. "Told you it was pretty..." she murmured against lavender skin, her face half hidden in the shadows of her hair.
"It...it really is," Twilight agreed, allowing her girlfriend to lead her deeper into the building. "My friend at school--Wallflower? She would go crazy over a greenhouse like this. The one at my school isn't this nice or this big."
The redheaded girl chuckled. "Well...maybe after all the Friendship Games nonsense dies down, you can bring her over after school, and I can see about getting permission...and a key...to show it to her?"
Smiling, Twilight leaned into the warm body next to her that chased away what chill lingered in the relatively comfortable building from the door being opened. "That might be nice. I...I've been thinking about introducing you to Wallflower. She could use more friends since the ones we used to have at school are mostly gone now, and I think she would be happier if she had other people in her life besides me." She bit her lip. "Her parents are kind of awful."
"I'm happy to meet your friend, Sparky, however you want to introduce me. If you want, we could plan something at some point, maybe shopping or milkshakes or something?"
Twilight nodded against a leather clad shoulder. "I will have to find time to arrange something. Maybe I can inquire deeper as to her personal tastes and interests, so I can find a mutual activity that all three of us will enjoy. I've known her for several years, but I realize I have not been the best friend to her...and I want to remedy that."
Her girlfriend chuckled. "There's always room for improvement, right?"
"Exactly." The dark haired girl was once again reminded of how nice it was to have someone like Sunset, who just understood what she was trying to say. A happy little smile grew on her face as she started to fiddle with her scanner, preparing to scan the room.
"You know," Sunset murmured, leaning close to nibble on her earlobe, "there was another reason I wanted to show you the inside of the greenhouse."
A shiver went down Twilight's spine at the sound of her best friend's voice practically purring in her ear. "Y-yeah?" She stumbled over the word when Sunset's tongue traced the outside edge of her ear.
"Yeah...there's no camera in here, Sparky...which means I can do this without getting caught..."
Hungry lips claimed hers a moment later, and Twilight let out a little squeak of surprise...though it quickly became a moan as Sunset's tongue warred with hers. Later, she would dimly recall placing her scanning tool on a table so she could wrap her arms around the redhead and return the tight embrace she found herself in, all thoughts of scientific readings and unusual energy chased from her mind by the sheer intensity of the feelings racing through her body. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter Eighty Nine: Magical Overload | Sunset found herself pacing under the bleachers by the soccer field, feeling disconnected and agitated...and more than a little guilty. Right now, the rest of her friends were up in the bleachers, cheering on Rainbow Dash during early tryouts for the varsity soccer team. Her ears caught snippets of the conversation as she paced in an oblong path underneath them.
"Rares...do we have ta wear this get up? Ah know we're here for Dash, but we look like a gay pride parade got lost."
"Dearest, they're her colors. We are trying to look supportive and keep warm at the same time," Rarity responded to her partner. "And you know very well that the Pride rainbow has some significant differences and variations."
Applejack groaned. "Don't go there. Ah've been tryin' fer years ta block that memory from mah mind. Those weren't shorts, they were a glorified technicolor belt."
"They were not. Honestly, the way you go on sometimes, Applejack! You'd think I do naught but torment you. And since your memory works that well, I trust you are capable of spotting the differences without me pointing them out." She paused. "As for what we are wearing today, they're nothing more than a slight accent to our attire in an attempt to cheer on a friend."
"Besides!" Pinkie chirped cheerfully. "They match the cupcakes I brought! Want one, Fluttershy?"
"Oh thank you, Pinkie..."
She should have been up there with them, watching their friend put her all into making the team. Instead, she was here, hiding while her mind went over the events of the week, trying to make sense from it all. It had started when Rarity and AJ had met her in the hall the other morning in front of her locker, both with worry etched into their faces....
"Girls? What's wrong?" Sunset looked between the pair, feeling her stomach twist.
"Mac got the truck stuck in mud this mornin'..." AJ began. "So we got some boards down an' Ah went ta maybe lift the front an inch'r so ta get the boards under the wheels..."
She trailed off and Sunset furrowed her brows. "Okay...so why do you look upset?"
"Sunset, Ah lifted the whole front half o' the truck with mah hands...an' it felt like it weighed nothin' at all." Applejack looked at her. "Couldn't do that before...an' Ah had that feelin' inside, like when Ah Pony-Up."
Sunset blinked, rocking back on her heels at this information. "You're saying you had some kind of magic surge...and it made you super strong?"
"Eeeeyuuup." AJ took off her hat and scratched her scalp. "Didn't last too long. Maybe twenty or thirty seconds--Rares saw the whole thing."
"I did," the tailor confirmed. "She did seem to glow a bit, like we do sometimes right before a Pony-Up, but it wasn't...it...seemed different? I do not know how else to describe it, as I am...not accustomed to magic, Sunset. It's quite the new experience for me."
Sunset had spent most of that day worrying, instructing all of her friends to let her know if anything unusual happened or if they had any unexpected magical events. They hadn't, but her weekly scans around the school had shown that the ambient magic was still creeping upwards, and she was beginning to catch brief flickers of what the former unicorn thought might be newly active leylines beneath their feet.
It didn't help that she had so little she could offer in the way of answers, not to her friends or to the principals, who were counting on her to research and understand the magic and provide them with some kind of guide or instructions on how to best handle it. The former unicorn had gone through every book she'd gotten and all the notes Princess Twilight had given her, looking for answers, and found nothing more concrete than ancient Equestrian myths, mostly from her people but some from other creatures as well. Myths that had been old when Princess Celestia had been a foal. Only a fool relied on myths as hard fact without a lot of evidence to back it up...evidence that was lost to time.
She found herself cursing Discord--the Princess of the Sun had always been adamant that the bulk of their ancient culture had been lost in the Discordian Era, more than had been lost in the Warring Tribes Era. Knowledge of not just history, but of ancient magics, and wonders that ponykind hadn't seen since, some of which were periodically rediscovered--like the Sonic Rainboom--and many of which would be lost outside the annals of legend and myth.
"Sunset?" Fluttershy's voice broke through her thoughts, making the former unicorn halt in her pacing. "Are you okay?"
Blue-green eyes looked towards the voice, finding Fluttershy peering down at her through the gap in the bleachers. "Hmm? Oh...Yeah, I'm okay, Fluttershy."
"But you're hiding under the bleachers and pacing in circles..." Her friend looked concerned. "...is something bothering you?"
Sunset's shoulders sagged, and she ran her hands through her hair. "It's just more of the same, Fluttershy--I still have no idea what's going on with our magic, which is still growing, and now it looks like I'm not the only one having magic surges, and I don't even have any real information to know whether or not this is good, or bad, or some kind of manifestation of human response to having magic. All I've got are legends and myths, folktales thousands of years old."
Fluttershy frowned, glancing back briefly as their friends cheered for Rainbow Dash. "You mean like Applejack getting really strong? Do you think something like that might happen to all of us?"
Isn't that the two million bit question? Sunset thought bitterly. "I don't know...like I said, all I've are my people's equivalent of..." she searched for a comparison, and remembered something her English teacher had commented on. "...It's like your Arthurian mythos. Sure, maybe ponies like Rockhoof or Mistmane or even Gusty the Great were real, and maybe they did do something important, but the stories they came from were pieces that were passed down from more than six or seven thousand years, including an entire thousand years where Discord's Chaos and pandemonium meant creatures and cultures across Equestria lost nearly everything, since the effects of his roving chaos storms meant a village was lucky if it survived two decades. We were almost driven to extinction--Princess Celestia once told me that the population of ponies in Equestria by the time Discord was sealed away was less than a hundred thousand. A thousand years of that...we lost almost everything that we couldn't carry, and when you have starving foals, you're going to prioritize food and shelter over old books. Most of the knowledge that lasted was either sealed away and rediscovered later, or it was passed on from one pony to the next, orally or by demonstration."
The animal lover's eyes were wide by the time Sunset finished her explanation. "That so awful!" This time she didn't turn to see what Applejack was suddenly yelling and stomping her feet over. "That...can't happen anymore, can it?"
Sunset blew air out her nostrils. "Not unless somepony does something foolish and frees Discord from his prison. He was sealed away thousands of years ago by the Elements of Harmony." She sighed. "It's the last known use of them before a thousand years ago, when the pony I now know was Princess Celestia used them to imprison her sister in the moon. Then they went missing until Princess Twilight and your pony counterparts found them and fixed Princess Luna." Her skin prickled, mimicking the way her hide would have rippled as a pony. "Each of those stories is self-contained, and two of the wielders were alicorns, so they were already super powerful, bigger, tougher, stronger, and more magically capable than the average pony, meaning they are data points I cant use. And I've looked over everything the princess gave me--there's so little there because she's lacking data. Yes, her Dash is faster than before and her AJ is super strong, but how much of it is their own magic as a pony or even just pony biology? Its left me with nothing to work from, Fluttershy. Not for any of this. I'm going in blind."
Head resting on her hands, Fluttershy asked, "So why not treat it like a completely new thing? Like when they discover a new animal, they try to get all kinds of notes on its behavior first before they start comparing it to other species."
The former unicorn stopped in her pacing, turning the suggestion over in her head a few times. Was she looking too hard at the magic she'd always known for the answers? It was hard to tell if she was, because the magic that they had felt like the magic of the Elements, and her own power was decidedly unicorn magic flavored...but there was also an unknown quality to both now, something that felt....different than any magic she'd ever seen or touched.
"Sunset?" Fluttershy's voice pulled her out of her thoughts once more.
"Sorry...I was just thinking about your suggestion. I...don't want to completely throw out what I know from Equestria about magic because some of it does apply and our magic does have the same feel as magic in Equestria...." She scuffed a foot along hard-packed earth.
"But...?"
Sunset blew air out her nostrils in a snort that steamed in the air. "...but I guess instead of getting angry and frustrated when I don't have an answer or something contradicts what I know I should look for the answer or take more notes, and realize maybe this is a thing that makes our magic different."
Booted feet start pacing a path along the earth again, her mind racing. "So far, we've had several major events that have caused powerful magical effects and the creation of powerful wards, enchantments and even impossible transmutations, the spontaneous generation of native Equestrian plants, and now Applejack is reporting magic surges that are increasing her strength a hundredfold." Sunset looked up at Fluttershy. "Maybe the rest of you should be on the lookout for new magical effects."
"Like what?" Fluttershy asked.
The former unicorn sighed heavily, throwing her hands up. "I don't know!" came the frustrated growl. Fluttershy made a sound of surprise and distress that forced Sunset to rein in her temper forcefully. "I'm sorry, Fluttershy," she apologized. "I'm not mad at you...I'm just frustrated at the situation--I want to help, I should be able to offer you something, but I can't. As many years as I had at CSGU, it's no good when the magic here seems to be operating on its own set of rules." Her hands tangled in her hair in a very human gesture of frustration, gripping her scalp for a moment. "I guess...just look out for magical things happening that have never happened before, or anything far above and beyond your normal abilities. You should feel the magic inside you....rising up...like it's responding to something, even if nothing is going on. If there are people around...try to be away from them or at least point yourself in a direction they aren't."
In her mind's eye, she saw herself on the bed with Twilight, magic burning in her veins so strongly it hurt, and the moment of fear she'd felt when to felt like her power was about to burst out of her, that she might do to her girlfriend like she'd done to ponies and objects in the past. Sunset shuddered, shaking herself to throw off the memories. "Magic surges can be dangerous," she added.
They could also attract attention that neither she nor the girls needed. If Twilight could detect the energy, then any one with the right technology and know how could. Sunset was already having to invent ways to distract her overly curious girlfriend until she could figure out what to tell her--if she even could. Equestria was an entire world that was not prepared for broadscope contact with humankind, and Sunset was an Equestrian exile who had no authority to make a decision to tell someone who wasn't already in the know about the magic about the world of her birth. She could ask Princess Twilight, but the mare had only just found out she had a friend other than the girls and she wasn't sure if she was up for explaining the relationship she had with the human Twilight Sparkle to the pony one.
The former unicorn turned in a smooth arc, pacing back the way she had come, brows pinched together in a frown. Guilt and self loathing gnawed at her. She wasn't even sure if the princess was still talking to her, given their last conversation and it's abrupt end, with the alicorn no longer responding in the journal after Sunset had been...less than kind in venting some of the bitterness that still lingered around the subject of Princess Celestia. It wasn't something she meant to do, but her temper had slipped a little and before she could stop herself, the words had been written, something she couldn't take back.
Her stomach twisted sourly, making her regret the vegetarian burrito she'd had for lunch. Sunset was slipping badly in the last two weeks. She'd gotten ugly with the princess over nothing, she'd snapped at Fluttershy, and just the other day, she'd panicked when she had found her girlfriend behind her school, and misused the affection the other girl had for her to derail her investigation. Just like the kinds of tactics she'd used in her past...though it was the first time she'd ever used her own body as the tool, and it made her feel...
"...set...?"
Dirty. Sunset felt dirty, and showering didn't make it go away. Twilight was her best friend, her girlfriend, the one person who she trusted more than anyone, and what she had done was wrong. She'd used the way Twilight felt, the desire and affection and trust between them as a way to manipulate the situation.
"...unset?"
And the fact that she had enjoyed it made it even worse! The entire thing had been instigated with an ulterior motive, but once she had started, she had lost herself in the heated kisses and tight embrace. It hadn't been her original plan--she had mostly been focused on keeping Twilight away from the statue--and the greenhouse had been a perfect way to let the inquisitive teen get her readings without actually scanning anything important.
"...Sunset?"
Granted, Sunset would be lying if she said she hadn't wanted to show off the small, quiet space that was the greenhouse just a little. It was private, intimate, and it reminded her of Equestria, surrounded by the low level hum of magic and vibrantly growing plants, many of them that were both food and decorative to her, and she thought it was pretty...but when Twilight had started to mess around with her scanner, Sunset had seized upon the memory of how Twilight had been utterly invested when they had been kissing in the loft, and before she could stop herself, she'd had her girlfriend sitting on the nearest open space on one of the plant platforms, legs wrapped around Sunset's waist while the redhead had kissed her until she could barely remember her own name.
It had worked better than she anticipated, especially since she'd gotten caught up in it herself, surrounded by the scents of growing things and clean air and freshly churned earth and it was only when Twilight's phone went off with a call from her concerned parents that they'd realized how long they'd been making out in the CHS greenhouse. She'd driven Twilight home, and left her in her driveway with a silly little smile on her face, getting a sweet kiss and a giddy sounding thanks from her girlfriend before she'd headed home herself.
By the time she had gotten home, she felt nauseous and awful, the warm feeling replaced by shame and self-loathing, and she'd limited herself to the nightly text chats and short good night calls that Twilight liked to sneak in before they both fell asleep, feeling like she barely even deserved that much. It hurt inside, knowing that at the first sign of panic, she'd fallen right back into her old habits without even realizing it until it was too late.
"Oh my gosh! Sunset!? Are you okay!?" Fluttershy's voice finally cut through the mental static, and the former bully jerked herself to a halt in her pacing to stare at her for a long minute. Fluttershy frowned in worry. "Sunset?"
"I--" Her voice broke, and she cleared it, trying to dispel the choking lump that had lodged itself there. "Why wouldn't I be? I was just a little lost in thought." The feeling of something squeezing her chest, making it impossible to breathe, intensified.
"Sunset," her friend said gently, "you're crying..."
One hand came up to her face and found that her cheeks were wet. "Oh..."
Fluttershy ignored the frantic call of her name, staying focused on Sunset. "Did you want to talk about it? Or want me to come down there and hug you? Dashie will understand."
Sunset scrubbed the tears away furiously, before looking at Fluttershy. She couldn't explain, not yet, and--
"Fluttershy! Look out!" came a cry from the field, and several things happened at once.
Magic surged along her awareness like a powerful bolt of lightning, stunning her with its intensity. There was a rush of wind, a blur of color, and then Fluttershy vanished from where she was peering through the bleachers at Sunset. A second later a soccer ball smacked into the spot that the animal lover had been in, followed by a thud from behind Sunset.
"Fluttershy, are you okay?" Rainbow asked from over Sunset's shoulder.
The former unicorn pivoted, already hearing the rest of their friends clamoring off the bleachers to come find them. Rainbow and Fluttershy were standing about a dozen feet from her and the athlete was hurriedly checking her friend for injury. The soft-spoken teen just looked bewildered more than anything. "I'm okay Rainbow Dash. What...just happened?" she asked.
"Flitter kicked the ball all wrong when Lightning Dust hit her in the ankle," Dash explained. "It was gonna hit you in the head, Shy. So I got you outta there."
"Exceptin' the part where ya were all the way across the field, an' ya covered it faster than Ah could blink," Applejack drawled.
"Or the massive magic surge you just had," Sunset said quietly. She shuffled in agitation, resisting the urge to pace again. "Which was definitely some kind of surge--did you pony up at all?"
Rainbow reached up and ran a hand over the top of her head. "No ears, and I didn't feel wings. Are you sure it was really magic? I didn't really feel anything like that..."
"I know a magic surge when I sense one, Rainbow," Sunset responded tightly. "And I know what your magic feels like. It was definitely a surge from you."
Rarity made a thoughtful sound. "And you did cross a considerable distance rather quickly, darling. As fast as you are, even you are not capable of those kinds of speed unaugmented. No human would be."
"Eyup...crossed the field on a diagonal in less time than it took that ball ta fly. Ain't no one that fast, Dash."
Rainbow shrugged. "I dunno. I just saw Fluttershy was gonna get nailed and I had to stop it. It's not really a big deal, even if it was magic--and if it is? Cool! Maybe I'll end up like the Flash!"
Sunset rubbed her temples. "Dash, it's not really something you can--"
Shouts for the athlete interrupted Sunset, and Dash grinned apologetically at her. "Sorry, Shimmer. Gotta go back to tryouts. My team needs me to win it! We can talk later, okay?" And then she was running back towards the field.
Exasperated, Sunset thunked her head back against one of the support posts of the bleachers, much to murmurs of concern from the other girls. She heard Rarity clear her throat uneasily. "Sunset, darling, please correct me if I happen to be misremembering and misunderstanding your previous conversation on the matter...but I was under the impression that uncontrolled surges of magic had an element of danger to them?"
"There can be," Sunset sighed. "Which is why I'm worried and I wish Dash would take this seriously." The former unicorn took a deep breath to calm herself. "Magic surges for a unicorn don't come with things like super powers. Its more uncontrollable spell effects for us--I used to start fires or cause explosions." A faint memory of a study room ablaze and panicking while she tried to keep the flames away from the terrified alicorn filly, fire licking painfully up her own legs made her shudder. "It almost killed me more than once. I can't say these could be like that, but think for a moment. AJ could pick up a car. What happens if that strength shows up when she goes to clap a hand on someone's shoulder or worse if it happens when she goes to hit someone?"
"Oh dear. I can see where that would be problematic." Rarity touched Sunset's arm with a concerned hand. "What can we do?"
With a shake of her head, Sunset looked at her friends. "Honestly? I don't know. This magic is similar but different to what I know. I'm sorry. I should be able to help, and you guys are relying on me to help figure out all this magic, but I...don't have an answer for you."
She hung her head, feeling guilty that she had no real answers to give, when Rarity squeezed her shoulder. "Sunset...that's quite alright if you don't know. No one here is expecting you to be all-knowing. We will figure this out together, darling--we always have, and you said yourself, no one person is meant to have all the answers." Rarity glanced in the direction that the soccer player had run off. "As for Rainbow, in all the years we've been acquainted, I've never known her to take anything overly serious...but it does not mean she's not paying attention to what you're saying, or the warnings you are trying to convey."
Applejack tipped her hat back from her face. "...Rares is right, Sunset. We're in this together, like ya said before, an' that means figuring out the magic as much as it does hittin' magic monsters in the face. We're here ta help, an' ya need ta let us."
"Yup!" Pinkie chirped. "And if that means we have to really work hard on learning about magic like you, Sunset, we'll do it! I can tell you all about my Pinkie Sense!"
Fluttershy moved to hug Sunset around the shoulders. "...This magic is as much our responsibility as it is yours. We might not understand everything, but we can try our best to help you figure it out, even if it's just us being a sounding board for your thoughts and ideas."
Blue-green eyes took in the faces of each of her friends, even as the faint trickle of magic from each of them wrapped around her soul. "...I...you're right. I guess I got so caught up in being the only Magus among us that I forgot that I can ask for help."
"Who knows," Applejack added, rubbing her chin, "mebbe we'll think of things that you wouldn't, cuz we're not workin' off thousands of years of rules and traditions about magic."
The pale skinned tailor made a loose gesture at the group, arching a brow at Sunset as if to say 'See?' "So why don't you tell us what we can do first to take some of the weight off your shoulders, darling?"
Sunset felt a smile creep onto her face. "...Alright," she agreed. "Well, to start, we need to all be on the lookout for potential surges in ourselves and each other, which means each of you needs to get familiar with not only the feeling of your own magic, but the feel of each other's..." She found herself relaxing as she fell into the rhythm of working with her friends to prepare themselves for whatever their magic threw at them next. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter Ninety: Light the Night with Stars Part I | Idling at a red light, Sunset glanced skyward, pleased to see that the late afternoon sky was remarkably clear. The weather was the one part of the evening that she couldn't control, and she'd spent the last few days checking the weather constantly and hoping that there wouldn't be any surprise storms to ruin all the planning she'd put into the evening. She didn't expect the night to go perfect--she didn't expect to get that lucky--but she wanted it to go well. She needed this. Twilight needed this, and she'd spent weeks planning how to make it happen the way she wanted.
That was truer now than it had been a few weeks ago, after what she'd done to keep Twilight away from the magic. Sunset had to do something to make amends for using the younger girl's feelings against her like that...even if Twilight didn't know it was an apology. She'd already sworn to never resort to those kinds of underhanded, deceitful tactics ever again, but there was still this urge to do something to balance the scales, to set things right somehow. Hopefully, this would be a step in the right direction.
Hopefully it wouldn't blow up in her face.
The redhead laughed, a self-mocking sound stolen by the winter wind as she waited for the light to turn. There was a fair chance that she'd guessed wrong, and this whole thing would just upset her girlfriend, but Sunset was determined to give it a try anyway. Even if it ended with Twilight upset with her--something she felt she deserved, given her manipulative actions in the greenhouse--Sunset could say she did try her best.
An icy wind gusted as the light turned green, cutting through her and making her more than a little glad that she'd dressed warmly in some of the winter clothing that the her girlfriend's family had gifted her over the holiday, and that, on top of a blanket to keep them off the frosty grass, she'd brought a thick, soft warm blanket to cover up with once it got dark and the temperature plummeted. It would be no fun for either of them to end up with frostbite while watching the meteor shower.
Right at that moment, the blanket was serving a secondary purpose in the storage compartment of the bike that was equally important in her eyes...
Night considered her question for a long moment. "You'd need a pretty powerful telescope for that, Sunset, one with several attachments to allow for a camera to be used with it with significant power and sensitivity to capture anything. Those are pretty expensive, kiddo, and you'd probably have to custom order it."
Her shoulders fell with her mood, and she sighed. Money wasn't as much of an issue--time was, and even though her finances were such that she could afford to splurge sometimes, she couldn't justify the amount of money it would take for a rush job to get her what she wanted in less than two weeks. "Oh. Never mind then. It was just a thought, because I know she's really wanted to get into stellar photography, and the pictures she can take with her current setup are just not as vibrant and pretty as she wants. I wanted to do something that would make this meteor shower even better..."
The man held up a hand. "...I might have a solution for you, Sunset, one I think will help you give our Twily the best night she's had all year. I have a nicer telescope that would work for what you want, and it does have the attachments you need. I use it sometimes for work, when I need to go out and get imagery from much more remote locations or locations from specific geographic coordinates. Normally, I'm the only one allowed to touch it, but you're a very responsible young woman, and I'd be willing to loan it out to you for the night, if you're interested. I'd want to walk you through the setup and use of it before you could take it with you, just so you know how to do what you want with it, but it is an option..."
Night had made good on the offer, showing her how to work the telescope that was now secured carefully in its case in her bike's storage, the thick blanket wrapped around it for added protection...and to keep it a surprise until she set it up later. Of course, it meant she had to pack other things in the backpack that was heavy on her back, that Twilight would have to shoulder on their way to the observatory...but something told her than the reaction she'd get when she pulled out Night's high end, expensive telescope would be worth the inconvenience.
Sunset smiled faintly, the prospect of the night already lifting her spirits as she pulled into the neighborhood and onto Twilight's street. They had the meteor shower at the observatory, and then it'd be back to the Sparkle house for the Friday night sleepover that was, in many cases, the highlight of her week, surrounded by the feeling of a family that cared about her, and with her sweet nerd of a best friend and girlfriend curled up in her arms and hugging her tight. It was more often than not, the one night a week where she didn't feel like her problems were closing in on her.
Pulling in behind Cadence's cheerful little four-door, she shut the bike off and headed for the door. It was a little earlier than they would need to beat the crowd of sky watchers to a good spot, but that was all part of Sunset's plan. She knocked, and jolted back a little when it was a very chipper looking Cadence pulled her inside. "Come on in, Sunset! Twilight is just getting changed!" she said, her voice loud enough that it would carry up the stairs. The resulting thud from overhead suggested Twilight had heard her...and tripped over something in the process.
"Hi, Cadence," the redhead greeted.
The pink skinned woman beamed at her, and lowered her voice. "Did you get everything okay?"
On some level she should have expected this, given how the woman had acted when she had sought her advice while Twilight was in the shower the Friday before...
Cadence let out a loud, ear piercing squeal, and Sunset flinched--partially from pain and partially out of worry that the other residents of the house would want to know what was wrong. "Cadence!" she hissed. "Do you mind keeping it down?"
"I'm sorry," the woman apologized, "but this is a big deal! I can't help it!"
The redheaded girl shook her head. "Except the whole point is to not make a big deal of it. That's the opposite of what Twilight would want...and it's not really what I want either."
Twilight's sister-in-law sobered, considering Sunset seriously for a long time. "Then what exactly do you want?" she asked at last. "And how can I help make it happen?"
Sunset ran a hand through her hair. "...Nothing big, nothing overly showy or obvious. I want it to be something that fits for us. Something that will mean a lot to Twilight, make it everything she could ever want, without drawing attention to her, or to us. That's a definite no-go, with how upset and anxious she gets if she thinks someone has an inkling about us."
That almost set the woman to squealing again. "Oh, you're so sweet! Twily is so lucky to have a girl like you--do you know how many women would kill for a boyfriend half as caring and attentive?" At Sunset's glare, she lowered her volume. "I mean it, Sunset--it's hard to find any kind of partner who is as sweet and focused on the other person's happiness as you are with Twilight. I hope Twilight knows how lucky she is to have you."
"...I'm the lucky one," Sunset responded with heat flooding her cheeks. "...Twilight is the amazing one, not me."
The smirk on Cadence's face was filled with an emotion that Sunset couldn't quite put a name to. It was more than amused, but not arrogant enough to be smug. "If you say so," she commented, before her face turned much more contemplative. "...On a more serious note, I have a few ideas of what you could do..."
Sunset smiled, nodding her head and feeling somewhat bemused by the other woman's excitement. It was hard to tell whether or not this was some kind of human thing, being so overly delighted by someone having a romantic relationship and the various 'milestones' involved, or if it was the kind of thing present more as a result of certain personality types and age groups. Given both the nature of a number of girls at the school and Rarity's reaction to even the idea of a romantic partnership for one of her friends, she was willing to believe the real answer might have been 'both.' "Yeah," she said, rubbing her neck a little awkwardly. "I did. I picked up several of the choices on the list you gave me. It gives her the ability to decide what she likes better, and whatever's left can be saved for tomorrow."
Clapping her hands, Cadence couldn't resist and swept the former unicorn into a hug that would have made her ribs creak if she hadn't gotten used to hugs from Pinkie Pie and Applejack. "This is going to be so great...our Ladybug is just going to adore this when you pull it off!" Her eyes were dancing brightly when she pulled back, an arm remaining to start leading Sunset towards the kitchen. "Come on, Mom's got the rest organized for you like you asked for. It should be all ready and secure to stick in your bag. We want to get it all hidden away before Twilight remembers how to put on pants," she whispered impishly. "That way we don't spoil your surprise."
The woman was still grinning when she dragged Sunset into the kitchen with her, and Velvet chuckled. "Calm down a little, dear," she chided Cadence gently. "Let Sunset walk on her own--honestly, the way you're behaving, anyone would think you were the one heading up to the observatory tonight instead of Twily."
Cadence released Sunset with a sheepish expression. "I'm sorry, Mom..." She shifted from foot to foot a little. "I've just been worried about Twilight too. She's not been quite herself the last few weeks, and I'm with Sunset on this--she needs a fun night out of the house and away from her project and her worries about school to destress."
Velvet smiled warmly at Sunset, pulling the former unicorn into one of her hugs. "And who better to see that she gets it than her best friend," she said with a light laugh.
"Yes ma'am," Sunset responded cheerfully, taking her backpack off so Velvet could carefully rearrange the items inside to accommodate her contributions to the evening. "I swear, she'll have a good night, even if I have to sit on her and tickle her until she's laughing so hard she can't talk."
Carefully settling several containers in the bag, Velvet shook her head. "I don't think it will come to that, sweetheart. You've put so much effort into it that I can't imagine Twilight being anything but delighted with the surprise."
Sunset felt more than a little relieved that Mrs. Velvet was taking this calmly--more like she'd hoped, honestly, without the dramatics and noise Cadence had been expressing--and that her girlfriend's parents took her carefully presented explanation for the night's plans that, while not a lie, didn't explore the depth of exactly what she had in mind to do.
And if Velvet's smile seemed a tad bigger than normal, or her hug just a little tighter, the redhead believed it was because she was a worried mom, hoping that the night would pull Twilight out of her anxious, stressed mindset that was becoming more and more prevalent as the days went by. It didn't take a genius to realize that the prospect of Twilight's general disposition becoming less moody and short tempered would make Velvet happy, and since it was Sunset's idea, Sunset was the one on the receiving end of her reaction.
"I'll finish repacking your bag, Sunset. Why don't you go see if Twilight's ready to go yet?" Velvet suggested. "You know how she can get when she's really excited."
She laughed brightly. "I do, and I'll do that! We don't want to lose out on a good spot!" It was all the excuse she needed to take the stairs two at a time so she could start the night off right with a proper hello for her girlfriend before they were out in the public eye...and this time, the only ulterior motive behind it was in making this whole evening as close to perfect as Sunset Shimmer could manage. "Sparky?" she called, knocking on the younger girl's bedroom door.
"You can come in, Sunny! I was just putting my socks on!" Twilight answered back.
The chipper excitement in her voice boded well for the beginning of the night, and Sunset slipped into the bedroom, dodging Spike as he darted out to run down the stairs, collar jingling. "Hey, nerd," she greeted playfully, shutting the door behind her and clicking the lock.
Twilight grinned at her from her seat on the bed, her hair still loose around her neck and damp from the shower. "You're earlier than I tho--"
Sunset crossed to the bed, stepping into the space between Twilight's knees and leaning down to capture her mouth, swallowing the rest of her sentence. Amber fingers tangled in dark hair, and the former unicorn focused on drawing out the kiss, focusing on affection and sweetness rather than the heated hungers that had colored so many of their recent encounters. She could feel her companion's momentary surprise give way to an eager response, feel Twilight's hands come up to rest on her shoulders--not quite a hug, but still a touch that communicated to Sunset that she wanted the embrace to linger as long as possible.
The redheaded teen broke the kiss to let them breathe, only to close the distance again to continue after a few panted breaths, still wanting more and not done trying to turn Twilight into a giggling giddy mess. It wasn't until her girlfriend fell back on the bed, pulling Sunset down with her that she pulled back, brushing their lips together one final time as she rested their foreheads together. She could feel Twilight panting for air under her; each time her girlfriend inhaled, it pressed her up into Sunset's chest, making her nerves tingle and magic flicker in her soul.
Twilight gave her a soft, silly smile, running fingers along the outline of one ear and down her neck. "...hi..." she giggled. "...I missed you all week."
"Missed you too, Sparky," Sunset admitted in a whisper. "...I'm sorry."
"For what?" the other girl asked, her arms going around Sunset in a hug and in no hurry to have her girlfriend move.
Sunset felt guilt rear up. "...for being distant most of the week, and for...going a little too far in the greenhouse. It...I should have stopped way before I did, or maybe not started kissing you there at all--"
Lips found hers this time, keeping her from going off on a downward spiral of apologies and self-recriminations. "Sunny, it's okay. I understand you were busy and had a lot on your mind--more than I realized." Twilight stroked fingers over her cheek now. "...You didn't go too far in the greenhouse--we didn't go any further than we have here, and there was no one there to see us. I know I was frustrated because I lost track of time and didn't get as many readings as I wanted to, but you also didn't have to help me...and I wasn't exactly an unwilling participant in kissing you hard enough to almost knock those tomato plants off the table."
She ran a thumb over Sunset's lower lip, sending a tingle through the former unicorn's nerve endings. "Besides, Mom and Dad weren't even mad when I explained that you were with me while I was looking for readings, and that you brought me home rather than letting me walk it. They just ask we maybe pay better attention to the time next time."
Her mouth went a little dry. "N-next time?"
"Uh-huh..." Twilight answered with another soft giggle. "...I can't really have you help me with my semester project much...but I was thinking...you do make a pretty good research partner...maybe we could work on some projects together this summer?" She bit her lip, suddenly shy and uncertain. "...that is...if...if you wanted to? Be...my research and lab partner?"
Wanted it? Sunset's breath caught in her throat, stuck inside the sudden boulder that had formed there, making swallowing painful. There had been a time, long ago, where she'd wished desperately for a friend who loved the things she did, studied things at her speed and with the same hunger for knowledge and learning. That had been back before she'd been overcome with rage and bitterness and the knowledge that she could trust nopony besides herself, during her early years at CSGU. Back then, Princess Celestia had filled her ears with how the school was going to be good for her, a place where she could make friends who loved magic like she did, and that she would love going.
That bright eyed enthusiasm had taken its first blow in the same week that the bigger colts had picked on her in the courtyard and goaded her into her first real act of violence against other ponies, when the filly who had approached her with an offer of friendship stole her work on a project, and turned it in ahead of Sunset under her own name.
Sunset was upset and hurt, and she stared at Diamond Aurora and Azure Light with tears in her eyes. "Why would you do that? I thought we were friends!"
"Friends?" The sky-blue unicorn with the pink and purple mane tossed her head with a derisive snort. "With you? I'm the daughter of Duke Brilliant Diamond and Duchess Dazzling Mirage--why in Equestria would I ever lower myself to associate with a nameless mongrel like you? You're practically little more than a dirty mudpony with a stubby, crooked horn like that--no proper unicorn would be like you."
The amber filly flinched back, unable to resist bringing a hoof to her horn. It always looked fine to her, and Princess Celestia had never said there was anything wrong with it. "...I am a unicorn just like you! I worked hard to get in and pass the entrance test!"
Azure Light laughed. "Passed? You didn't pass anything. You were let in because the princess felt sorry for you."
"You're not our equal," Diamond sneered. "You never will be. You should be grateful I'm teaching you this now, mudpony. It's a lesson you'll have to learn sooner or later, and better now so you don't waste anypony's time trying to do things meant for real unicorns with skill and talent."
"You're wrong!" Weren't they? Princess Celestia said that it was a pony's cutie mark that told them who they were and what they were meant to do, to be. She'd already earned hers not that long ago, and learning magic tugged at something inside her that felt right. "I can do magic just as good as you! If you're so much better at magic, then why did you steal my work instead of doing your own!?"
Diamond looked her over in a way that made Sunset's fluffy, wavy furred coat prickle uncomfortably, and the amber unicorn flattened her ears defensively. The blue filly stamped a hoof pointedly. "I didn't steal anything--that work belonged to a real unicorn, so I merely appropriated something you can't possibly have the ability to do on your own. It's why the teacher didn't believe you."
"Don't you understand?" Azure added flippantly as they turned to trot away, "You're not here to learn magic or be our equal. You're here to learn how to be a proper servant to your betters--doing that work for Diamond was part of your place in the world. We have proper unicorn bloodlines and family lineages, and you're a nopony with no pedigree. That's the way the world works. You're here to serve our needs."
Laughing nastily, the two fillies left Sunset Shimmer there, shaking with shock, tears streaming down her muzzle and the sharp sting of hurt and betrayal making her feel like she was going to be sick to her stomach.
"Sunny?" A worried voice and gentle hands roused her from her memories, Twilight's thumbs on her cheeks to carefully wipe away tears that were burning tracks down amber skin.
Sunset gave a watery smile. "I'm okay, Sparky...just...old memories."
The younger girl pecked her lips. "...it's okay if you don't want to be my research partner," she said timidly. "I didn't mean to upset you..."
"No!" Sunset interrupted, pressing closer. "...I...I'd love to." She met those lips with her own, drawing comfort from the kiss. "...be your research partner, I mean. I...always wanted that...someone I could...relate to, engage with on my level and study things that interested...but the others...at my school didn't like me. They...only pretended so they could steal my work. The teachers never believed me--why would they believe the orphan charity case over the daughter of an aristocrat?" As much as she tried, she couldn't stop the bitterness from leaking into her voice or more tears from spilling down her cheeks. "...it didn't take long for me to stop trying."
"Oh, Sunny..." Twilight held her tightly. "...I promise...it's not pretend for me. You're my very best friend, and I wanted to invite you to be my research partner, my lab partner, because I want to share my love of science and learning with you, with someone who is as smart and knowledgeable as I am, who clearly loves learning like I do..."
"No one loves learning as much as you do, nerd," Sunset said with a small, crooked smile. "...and I know...it just...brought up old memories...but...I'd really enjoy that. Researching stuff with you, maybe building things...we could even overhaul my bike if you wanted? I know I promised you a while ago you could have a go at her under the hood..."
"Can we? I'd love to do a few upgrades for you, and you need new shocks badly. I feel every pothole you hit, Sunny."
Chuckling, Sunset pushed herself up off her girlfriend. "We sure can, but later. Tonight, we have meteors to stare at, and we need to get going soon to get a good spot." She held out a hand to help Twilight to her feet. "So finish getting ready, and we'll get out of here."
Twilight gave her one of those brilliant, dazzling smiles that only Sunset ever got to see. "I just have to put my hair up. Do you think we'll have time to stop for something to eat on the way? I didn't get dinner yet and I'm kind of hungry."
"Already taken care of, Sparky," Sunset said with a mischievous smirk. "Now hurry up before it gets too late..." |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter Ninety One: Light the Night with Stars Part II | When they'd left the house, Twilight's entire family seemed to be having one of those silent conversations that she couldn't quite decipher. Under any other circumstances, she'd have been agitated, but tonight, she couldn't bring herself to care. Not when she felt so good, pressed up against Sunset's back on the bike, arms around her girlfriend's waist and feeling the warmth of her body soaking into Twilight's arms and palms, and they were on their way to engage in one of Twilight's favorite pastimes, something that had become intrinsically bound up with the beautiful redheaded girl that made her heart beat faster just by being in the same room. Her parents had given them permission to stay out as long as they wanted to stargaze...and the night was perfect for it, crisp and clear--even while on the road, looking through the visor of the helmet Sunset had given her for Christmas, she could see how bright the stars were.
Some time later, after handing over their tickets to the security guard at the road entrance to the observatory, they pulled into the parking lot just down the hill from the big observatory, amid the last vestiges of light from the setting sun. They were early--only a few other cars were in the parking lot, and given where they were parked, they were likely staff at the observatory and planetarium. Twilight released her girlfriend and they both stood up and stretched--as fun as being pressed together on the bike was, a forty five minute drive out of town on a mountain road when the bike was in desperate need of new shocks left both of them a little sore.
The backpack Sunset had handed over to Twilight to carry was fairly heavy and didn't make it easy to stretch, but when her girlfriend retrieved a thick bundle of blankets from the bike's storage when she stowed their helmets, the dark haired teen only adjusted the bag and looked around to see if there was anyone nearby. Determining the coast was clear, she leaned close to Sunset and kissed her.
The older girl blinked at her in surprise when Twilight pulled back. "...what...was that for?" she asked, also casting her gaze around the area.
"For you to think of bringing blankets. It's colder up here and now that the sun is going down, it's going to get cold fast." She kissed her a second time. "You're an amazing girlfriend for thinking of it--with all the work I've been putting into my project, I completely forgot to make a checklist of things to remember for tonight."
Sunset laughed. "...you're such a nerd, Sparky. You're lucky I like you." She rubbed her now cold nose against Twilight's, before stealing a third kiss. "Now come on. Let's go get our spot--I think you'll like where we're going to set up."
Hurrying after the tall redhead, Twilight couldn't help but ask, "What do you mean? We have to find a good spot, there's no assigned seating."
Blue green eyes danced as Sunset turned around to walk backwards for a moment and talk to her. "...That's true...but...maybe I drove up here the other day and scoped the place out, and found two or three great places for us, but there's one in particular I really wanted to snag, because I think it's perfect." She turned back around, her lopsided smile faltering with sudden uncertainty. "...I just hope you agree when you see it..."
Twilight couldn't help but respond, wanting to assuage Sunset's worries and bring back the smile that she loved to see. She skipped a step or two forward so she could hook her hand on her girlfriend's arm, fingers pressed to the inside of her elbow. "Sunny...whatever place you found, it's going to be wonderful because I'll be there with you. As much as I've been looking forward to seeing the meteor shower, it's like I told you when we were talking about New Years...the most beautiful panoramic view of the heavens in the world feels empty if you're not at my side to see it with me." She leaned her head against Sunset's shoulder briefly. "This is going to be a great night because we're spending time together, because you were really sweet and got me these tickets and are sharing this experience with me."
That seemed to restore Sunset's confidence, and she gave her one of those smiles, the kind that always reminded Twilight of the sun her girlfriend was named after, brilliant, fiery, and all warmth and light, sending a tingling shiver all the way down to her toes. The night had barely started and it was already the best night she'd had since Christmas.
Sunset led them along confidently despite the gathering shadows--her girlfriend had the best night vision Twilight had ever seen--her blue-green eyes almost seeming to glow in the dimness that left Twilight more than a little impaired. "Just a little further, and then we can unpack everything," she said, after the shorter teen had stumbled and caught herself with Sunset's arm for the fourth time in their trek across the grassy slope that terminated in the edge of the ridge that the observatory was located on.
"Here we are, Sparky," came the announcement a minute later, and Twilight did her best to get a look around. They were on the downward slope, towards the far edge of the grassy field, about halfway down its distance. Sunset had set down her blankets and was spreading one out on the grass near a broken boulder that had fallen over into several pieces and created a rough L shape, picking up some fist sized fragments and using them to hold the corners down. "Come take the backpack off and sit down. The rock makes a great backrest."
Twilight did so, and realized something else. "Oh! It blocks the wind! Sunset, this is a great spot! We won't get as cold here!"
Her girlfriend chuckled. "...It's also off and away from the main area, so unless it's really crowded, we shouldn't have too many people close to us, so there will be less noise, and less chance of some little kid with a flashlight shining it at us. It was the best spot on the entire hill, and it's one of the main reasons I wanted to get here this early." She was carefully unwrapping the other blanket. "...and it means we'll get full use out of this."
She held up the object that had been concealed in the blanket, and Twilight gasped. "When did you get an Aldebaran Startracker?" she asked, stunned. She had assumed that Sunset had brought their normal telescope, a small affair that was easily portable, and much cheaper than the one Sunset was putting together. "Those are expensive!"
"It's...not actually mine. I talked to your dad about telescopes, and he offered to let us borrow it...with the camera attachment...so we could try and take some pictures," Sunset explained. "...you keep talking about wanting to get more into stellar photography as a hobby, but I also know that our normal setup just doesn't do well to get you the kind of detailed shots you really want..."
Twilight was speechless. "Dad let us bring the Startracker? He never lets anyone use it without him..."
"I was pretty surprised too, but...I'm not going to complain--after all, it means I had the budget for this." From the blanket came another object. "This right here was the best rated digital imaging camera for stellar photography on the market that I could find and afford," she explained, "and it's a match for the telescope attachment...I also got the sixty-four gigabyte SD card for it, so we can take all the photos we want tonight."
Sunset passed her the camera to look it over while she finished setting up the telescope. The younger teen turned it over in her hands, marveling. "...Dad's been talking about getting one of these for the Startracker himself," she murmured.
"Yeah," Sunset agreed. "He told me when I showed it to him. I already told him he could borrow it if he ever needs it as long as we aren't using it. After he was willing to lend us the telescope, I figure it's the least I can do to say thanks, you know?"
Twilight chewed on her lower lip, her thoughts darting around like particularly energetic minnows, and as the silence stretched on between them, Sunset turned away from the telescope in concern. "Talk to me, Sparky?" the older girl coaxed. "Please? Did I do something wrong?"
At the words, the dark haired girl shook her head quickly. "Oh! No no, Sunset...it's perfect. You did perfect, and I'm excited and I love that you put so much thought into all of this..." The words tumbled out, Twilight desperate to erase the note of pained worry she could hear. "I really do like all of this, and the idea of being able to do the things we've talked about is amazing and wonderful, so please don't think that I'm upset or that you did anything wrong..."
She took a breath. "...It's just...Sunny, this camera costs a small fortune--that's why Dad has only been thinking about one and not actually bought one yet. It's amazing and wonderful for stellar photography, the sort of thing a professional would use...not a beginner like me."
Her girlfriend canted her head to the side a fraction, going from worried to confused. "...That's why I got it, though? It had the best reviews and highest rating for this specific type of photography. You deserve to have a good one, because otherwise you're just going to get frustrated and disappointed with all the flaws you'll pick up on--just like you have the times we've tried before....right?"
Heat rushed to her cheeks, and Twilight was gratefully it was probably too dark at this point for her blush to show up easily. "...I...well...maybe? But..." Pausing again, she struggled to gather her thoughts up into something coherent, trying to identify for herself what it was that left her uneasy. "....I'm worried about just how much you spent on this camera, Sunset. It's really expensive, and I don't want you to go without things you might need, just because you wanted to buy something for me...I would feel awful about that..." Twilight bit her lip, the sting of pain from the act helping to ground her and give her focus. "...and I don't want you thinking you have to..."
Sunset scooted closer, slipping an arm around her and pulling her into a warm hug that smelled clean and faintly of Sunset's shampoo. "Don't have to what, Twilight?" she asked, her palm rubbing affectionately up and down the smaller girl's shoulder.
Considering and discarding a dozen ways of wording it, Twilight finally just blurted the thought out as it was, cringing and hoping that Sunset wouldn't take it as an insult. "...It's this...thing in relationships in media and popular culture. This idea that...a person has to buy expensive gifts for their significant other as some kind of proof of their feelings...which is stupid and discounts entire other methods of showing affection and committment and I really hope you don't feel like you have to do that because I really do care about you no matter what and I don't want you to feel like this is something you have to do for our relationship to be real or my affection for you to be genuine and--"
An amber finger came up to place itself over her mouth, cutting off her rambling. "Twilight, stop," Sunset said in a gentle but firm tone.
Heart racing, she blinked up at Sunset anxiously, hoping she hadn't just messed up the night. Sunset glanced around to make sure no one was nearby and kissed her briefly. "That's not why I did it. I did it because I wanted to, and I could afford it. I didn't spend money that I needed for any of my bills or for essentials, and I didn't feel pressured into doing it because of some societal expectation that equates dollars spent to the value I place on having you in my life, okay? I did it because I knew we'd get a lot of use out of it--not just for this, but any time we want to take really nice pictures and not just crappy phone ones--because I figured I'd keep it at your house, so anyone there can use it whenever they need it, and because I knew how much you really wanted to start trying to take better photos than what we were getting with our old setup. I did it because I'm happy when you're happy, and I wanted to see you smile and be excited when you get those first photos of the meteor shower tonight, and later, when we point this whole setup at your favorite constellations to get some great photos of the stars."
Twilight felt her thoughts start to settle and calm with Sunset's explanation, the tightness in her chest from rising anxiety abating. "Are you sure?" she asked, needing hard confirmation.
Sunset nuzzled her, making a soft, throaty sound. "...Absolutely certain, Sparky. I even talked to your dad about keeping it at your place. He was all for it, and offered to add it to the list of things in the house they have insured, in the event it gets...lost, or stolen, or somehow broken. Maybe we can use it over the summer if we go to the beach or something? Your dad mentioned something about a beach house, and how taking pictures with the camera on a family beach trip would be great."
She took another breath, and organized her remaining thoughts, some of the tiny sparks now able to coalesce into complete ideas that she could verbalize. "I...didn't want to sound offensive or insulting with what I said...I've...realized..."
The dark haired girl wavered a little, and Sunset tightened her hug. "You didn't insult me, Twilight. You were trying to express your feelings, and I'm able to listen to that without getting my own hurt."
Breathing deeply, Twilight nodded again. "I...think...it's related to my issue with...the concept...of a public relationship... At the least, I want to add it to the things I intend to address with Dr. Soft-Spoken. I...think I'm...uncomfortable with the...expectations of society in regards to how a relationship is to look and progress." She picked her words with care, taking time to breathe, both to avoid misunderstanding and to prevent another surge of anxiety that might overwhelm her. "I...don't want to come off as ungrateful or demanding...because you always try so hard to be considerate and thoughtful in regards to my desires, and that means so much to me, and this...right here, with the camera, and the telescope, is another sign of how much thought you put into everything you do for me...and that means so much to me, that you listen to me, that you do try so hard...it means more than I can truly put into words."
Sunset pressed her forehead to Twilight's. "...It's not about what other people expect from a relationship, or from us, I promise. It's about me doing things because I thought they would make tonight even better. I know how long we've been looking forward to this, how long you've been looking forward to this, since you told me about it back in...November?"
Pulling back a moment later, the redhead confessed, "To be honest, I really don't understand 'normal dating' at all. My one experience with it was what I told you: a carefully planned manipulation for the sake of reputation and an end goal. It was scripted and I let Flash do most of the work on the activities because I didn't really care what we did, only that people saw what I wanted them to see. So everything I do for you, for us, is based entirely on you and I, and no one else...though I did ask Cadence for some advice on what to get for dinner for us."
Twilight was still absorbing the first part of Sunset's words when the ending statement registered. "Wait--dinner? What?"
Her girlfriend laughed. "I told you I had us covered for food, didn't I?" She reached over and grabbed the backpack, pulling it into her lap and unzipping it. "What did you think I meant?" A small battery powered lantern was set on the blanket and switched on, casting a soft light to see by now that the sun was below the horizon.
"I thought maybe you brought snacks and drinks?" Twilight said, her nose catching a faint whiff of delicious odors from the heavy bag.
"I did, but I got us dinner too, since I wanted to get here so early. I got us sandwiches from that sandwich place you keep talking about taking me to--Cadence told me several of the sandwiches you like to order from there, and I picked them up on my way over. I got a couple of different ones, because I didn't know which one you'd want tonight, but I figured what you don't eat tonight can be lunch tomorrow or Sunday." Sunset pulled out an insulated soft cooler, and opened it. The smell of hot sandwiches hit Twilight's senses, making her stomach growl hungrily. "I really liked what I saw on the menu there--I haven't seen anyone in this place that knew how to make a hot sandwich with grilled eggplant and zucchini, let alone one with mushrooms and cheese. And they didn't even look at me weird for asking for them to throw some peppers and onions on it."
Lips curling up into a smile, still trying to process the fact that Sunset had gotten them dinner, Twilight stared as Sunset started pulling out paper wrapped packages. "...that's why I wanted to take you sometime," she said. "They have a whole bunch of real vegetarian options that aren't based off 'fad veganism.'"
Sunset nodded. "And it's amazing--I love places like that, because it's so hard to be a vegetarian here. It's like either you put dead animals on everything or you are expected to eat only plants and weirdly processed pretend animal products that smell awful and taste worse. Or they think all you eat is salad." She inspected the label on each wrapped sandwich, setting two aside that were hers. She held out three more. "You, on the other hand, have three choices, nerd. A chicken Florentine panini with added tomatoes and extra cheese, their bistro turkey sandwich, or the calorie laden offspring of a BLT and a grilled cheese on steroids."
Every choice made her eyes go just a little wider--those were the sandwiches she liked most from the restaurant. The fact that Sunset had asked Cadence for the information was touching and sweet, and it made her want to kiss the other girl until her head spun.
The only thing that stopped her was the sound of voices nearby as other people were starting to arrive and set up their own spots. So she settled for letting their fingers brush when she took the loaded grilled cheese. "I'll settle for the calories--I worked through lunch today."
Sunset sighed as she put the other sandwiches back, and retrieved two small thermoses meant for soup. "You shouldn't skip meals, Sparky," she said. "I'm glad I got your Mom to heat us up some of her vegetable soup to go with the sandwiches then." She passed one of the thermoses over to Twilight with a spoon.
"Mom was in on this too?" she asked, worry starting to rise. What did Sunset tell them? Was this why they were looking at them the way they were on the way out? Did they suspect?
"Hey...it's fine. I just told them the truth: that I wanted to make tonight as amazing as possible since you've been so stressed the last few weeks. I wanted to make sure you had fun tonight and got to relax. They were all too happy to help, because we've all been worried about you."
Twilight was quiet as she took in the food, the blanket, the fancy telescope and camera, and of course, the beautiful girl sitting shoulder to shoulder with her. She had not come out expecting any of this, and it left her having to completely reevaluate her emotions. "I...didn't realize I had worried everyone so much...have I been that bad recently? ...I mean, I know I got into that fight with them...but..."
"Not bad...just...not like you. Stressed, and...something I don't know how to describe, but not bad? I just thought maybe a fun night would be a good thing, and this is...you said yourself that this is kind of our thing, looking up at the stars, you know? So what better night to try and make even better than the one where we're doing something that's special to you?" That crooked smile, shy and hopeful, was flashed at her as Sunset opened her own soup. "Did...did I do okay with this?"
"Oh, Sunny..." Twilight murmured, taking amber fingers in hers and squeezing tightly. She could feel the heat in her cheeks and the way her heart raced--it was an effort to keep her voice steady. "...this whole evening is...it's already so far beyond just being okay that I'm having a hard time remembering that we aren't alone, that there are other people around, because I just want to kiss you until neither of us can remember our own names." She swallowed, her voice growing choked up and happy tears prickled at the corners of her eyes. "Sunny...this has been the most amazing, wonderful, perfect evening...and we haven't even gotten to the stargazing yet!"
Sunset perked up, bringing their linked hands surreptitiously to her lips and pressing a brief kiss to the knuckles. "I'm really glad to hear that. I thought you would be happy but there was always a chance." Then she let go, bumping Twilight's shoulder with hers. "Eat your food, nerd. I know you're hungry; your stomach sounds like a rock slide."
Laughter bubbled up from inside her, the kind that left her heart lighter afterwards. "It's not that loud!" She protested, only to have half her words drowned out by her stomach voicing its opinions on the matter. Sunset merely raised an eyebrow and pointed as if to say 'You were saying?'
The dark haired girl dug into her food after that, the sandwich and her mother's soup leaving her comfortably full and warm. Once they'd polished off the main part of the meal--and Sunset had gathered up their trash to put back in the bag--they sat in comfortable quiet, Twilight murmuring occasionally as she pointed to the stars that were now visible, naming and describing them.
At some point, Sunset pulled out a pair of sandwich sized bags, offering her one. "Cookies? They're double chocolate fudge."
Twilight beamed at her, and took the bag. "You said the magic word."
"Cookies?"
"No," she giggled. "Chocolate."
"That was my next guess," the older girl admitted, taking a berry from her snack bag and popping it in her mouth with a blissful sigh.
Twilight tilted her head. "No cookies for you?"
Sunset shook her head. "Not tonight--I found some of my favorite types of berries, and I haven't really had them since before I...came here. They don't grow anywhere nearby."
It didn't take much to read between the lines: It was some kind of foreign fruit native to the place she'd run away from. Probably a rare subspecies or offshoot that only grew in specific climate and soil conditions and would cost a small fortune to buy in Canterlot. Twilight nibbled on a cookie. "Are they good?"
Sunset was quiet for a minute. "You ever have something you loved but then you forget about it because life happens, and when you remember it again later it's ten times better than nostalgia tells you it was?"
"Not personally, but...I think I understand what you are getting at." She gave the redhead a soft smile. "Can I ask to try one?"
In response, Sunset held a dark berry up to her lips. "Here."
The berry was a burst of flavor in her mouth she wasn't expecting. Sweet but with a little tang of tartness, it reminded her a little of a blackberry, but also of strawberries. What really shocked her though was the odd sensation on her tongue, the faint buzzing, tickling feeling like a mouthful of soda from a freshly opened can. "Oh! They're good! And..." She realized the taste was familiar...but where...
She began looking back through her memories. There had been something recent that tasted like this... It came to her, with the memory of Sunset in her kitchen, offering her a tart that tasted even better than chocolate. "...these taste like those pastries you brought over! Is this what you used in them?"
A grin met her question. "Sure was. My friend helped me turn some into the filling. You like them?"
"They're really delicious--not too sweet but not too sour either....but...what is it doing to my tongue? Are they supposed to do that?"
Giggling, her girlfriend nodded. "They are! We called them fizzleberries because of it! Most po--people don't like the fizzle, but I do. I used to eat them by the bowl....I...just kind of forgot about them after I ran away, you know?"
Twilight nodded in understanding. "You had to move on with your life, to worry about your well being in the here and now, and looking back on something you could no longer have would have been detrimental to that." She winced inwardly when she realized how detached that sounded, like the recitation from a passage in a textbook.
"Yeah...but I'm able to enjoy them now, and share them with my best friend in the universe, so...it's not all bad." She ate another berry, with a happy smile.
"There is something to be said for that," Twilight conceded, trying to parse why the scent and hard to make out fruit was making an almost thought flit through her mind just out of reach, like she was forgetting something important. Unable to catch it, it faded away, and she was left leaning against her girlfriend with a slight shiver. Sunset was always so warm to the touch, even in the dead of winter, and she enjoyed the way that warmth seeped into her.
"Getting cold?" Sunset murmured in her ear, sending another shiver down Twilight's spine for a completely different reason.
She nodded, hoping the lantern light was too dim for her blush to show. "A little," she responded.
Amber fingers grabbed the blanket that had concealed the telescope and camera. "That's why I brought this." Sunset draped it around both of them, trapping both teens in a cocoon of soft warmth. "Better?" she asked, her hand resting on Twilight's leg just above her knee and squeezing now that no one could casually glance over and see the touch.
Another nod, and Twilight rested her hand over Sunset's. "You really thought of everything tonight," she joked with a light laugh. "The only thing you're missing is a by the minute timetable."
Sunset's free hand reached over and tweaked her nose. "I thought about it, nerd, but that's more your thing. Didn't want to step on any toes." Then she checked the time on her phone. "Although if I remember the timetable of astronomical events I did look at, the meteor shower should be starting in half an hour...so I need to finish setting up our telescope so maybe we can get a good view."
While Twilight stayed wrapped up warm in the blanket, the redhead finished working on the telescope, even going so far as to move the bag with their leftovers and extra snacks out of the way so she could bring the telescope close enough where they could use it while seated leaning against the rock.
Sitting back down next to Twilight, she asked, "How's this? Good view of everything?"
Twilight peered through the telescope, panning it carefully to do a sweep of the sky. "It's perfect, Sunset, and this attachment with your camera is everything I wanted for stellar photography--plus I was looking through the camera bag, and it's got all the individual lenses and adaptors for taking sky photos from a tripod too."
"It should," the taller teen laughed. "I ordered all of them with it for just that purpose. There's even the easy tripod in the bag too."
Opening her mouth to respond, Twilight was interrupted by an excited exclamation further along the slope, right as a brilliant streak lanced across the sky. Sunset squirmed back under the blanket with her. "It's starting!" she pointed out gleefully, reaching out to switch off their lantern and plunge them into darkness.
Twilight couldn't help her own excited sound as she hurried to snap the camera into place on the telescope. Even with the sudden rush and the way her heart raced, her fingers were sure and steady, methodically securing one expensive piece of equipment to another, and she felt a broad grin form on her face as she finished just in time to capture what she felt was going to be an amazing shot of a triple streak of meteorites arcing across their view, as well as half a dozen ones of meteors passing through some of the winter constellations, including Orion.
Next to her, Sunset made one of those indefinable sounds that Twilight knew meant the other girl was happy to the point of giddiness, her face turned heavenward to watch the celestial show. Something about it all made her pause in her own scanning of the sky to lean over and kiss an amber skinned cheek, barely even registering the ever present worry that murmured 'Someone might see.'
In that same moment, Sunset turned her head towards her with that soft, lopsided smile, and instead of Twilight's kiss finding her cheek, she ended up brushing their lips together. It was a brief, light touch, yet somehow it seemed even more electrifying than kisses they'd shared to date, even the steamy ones taking place in her bedroom. "Sunset..." she breathed out, words filling her mind and demanding to be expressed. "...this evening is everything I needed. It's been beyond wonderful--you've made it a truly magical night, more than I ever could have dreamed it could be..."
Warm amber fingers threaded through lavender ones, and Sunset squeezed her hand tightly. "I'm so glad," she murmured in response, "because tonight was meant to be special for a reason."
Pulling back from the camera again, Twilight put her attention back on Sunset. "What do you mean?"
The redhead seemed to gather herself, and she gestured beyond their little piece of quiet serenity, where other star watchers were, some with kids running around, some talking loudly by lamplight, some just sitting quietly in ones or twos like them. "Look around, Sparky," she said in a voice barely above a whisper. "All these people and barely any of them are looking twice at us. And when they do...they just see two friends who are sharing a hobby..."
Her brows furrowed. "Because we are best friends sharing a hobby?"
Sunset snuggled close. "That is true...but...that's not what tonight was. To everyone else, maybe we're two friends sharing a hobby...but for me...tonight was getting to spend the evening with my girlfriend, making her happy and watching the stars together...to me, this was a date."
Twilight's mouth went dry. "What?"
"For me, I did this as a date....because...I know you aren't ready to be open about us...but..." Sunset paused, her voice faltering for only a second before she forged ahead determinedly. "Look, it's like I was trying to tell you a few weeks ago. We don't have to check all these stupid traditional social checklists for something to be considered a date for us. It doesn't have to be some big obvious courting gesture, it doesn't have to involve me trying to impress your father, or fancy clothes, or putting on some visual show for everyone around us. It can just be something small, something we enjoy doing together, just us, whether that's getting milkshakes after school, or reading books together in your room, or just like tonight, sharing a picnic under the night sky and watching the most gorgeous meteor shower of the year." She pointed up to where the sky was awash with streaks of light.
She felt like her head was suddenly spinning, whirling with the rush of new thoughts crowding her mind, everything about the night reevaluated in a blink through a completely new and different lens. At first she felt the shock of her perceptions being completely shifted, but the tender emotion in gleaming blue-green eyes made that melt away, replaced by a growing warmth and a sense of delighted wonder taking its place,
Sunset was right, Twilight realized.
All of the things that bothered her about the idea of dating, about going on dates, they were all, at the heart of it, about societal expectations and the opinions of others...something she hated even under normal circumstances, both because of her own inability to truly understand why they were given weight at all, let alone the sheer amount most people ascribed to them, and for her own situation of not wanting to conform combined with the number of ways she was simply incapable of doing so while still being who she was. Why had she never really noticed that before?
Twilight found herself backtracking through dozens of conversations, most of them with Cady, picking out her own worries and seeing them in this new light. They all matched her realization...and with that new perspective Sunset had provided, all of the suggestions and hints and advice her sister-in-law had dropped in those talks suddenly sharpened from vague, nonsensical statements into crystal clarity. She didn't need those things society declared a requirement to have the emotional and personal depth of meaning to have it be a romantic outing instead of a purely platonic one. After all, tonight was proof of that, and in hindsight, dozens of little outings to museums or for milkshakes, or all the times they'd looked up at the stars had meant more to her, been more romantic and intimate than any traditional romantic date she'd ever read about or seen on television.
There were no words she could think of that were enough to encapsulate such a profound epiphany and all the emotions connected to it, so she acted on her feelings instead. Leaning in with a murmured, "Thank you," she let her lips meet Sunset's, expressing everything she was thinking and feeling in the tender kiss she shared with her girlfriend under the beautiful starry sky. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Interlude XXI: Family Affairs | Four sets of eyes, all holding a complex mix of emotions, zeroed in on the vibrating cell phone. Velvet calmly picked it up, and smiled as she read the message. "Twily says they are just leaving the observatory now and it was amazing," she informed the other adults as she typed out a short reply.
Shining cleared his throat, the sound awkward, particularly when he hesitated before speaking. "....anyone want to hazard if she's speaking of the meteors or the company?"
"Given that they are just now heading home at one in the morning and the meteor shower ended almost two hours ago," his father observed, "my estimation is 'both.'"
Cadence glanced at Velvet. "I wonder if they used those blankets for more than just keeping out the cold," she pondered with a sly grin.
Velvet laughed and shook her head, mostly at the suddenly uncomfortable expressions on the men's faces. "Cady, dear, I'm not sure that's an appropriate discussion to have right now."
Clearing his throat, Night responded, "Or ever, in my hearing, if you please, Cadence. That's not a subject I ever want to contemplate when it involves any of my children. A father has his limits."
Shining flinched at Night's last words, then seemed to try and force a smile. In the end, the expression was more of a grimace. "I... have to say I'm with Dad on this one, Cadence. I'm sorry...but please, can we not talk about this? It's just... just TMI and kind of gross when it involves my baby sister."
The pink-skinned woman rolled her eyes, then mouthed 'Wimp' at him with a bit of a smirk. Her fiance flinched again--a common response in the few weeks, despite the fact that she'd forgiven him, and so had his parents. Cadence sighed. "Come on Shiny, it's not that bad..." An impish smile started to make its way onto her face, and she opened her mouth to fluster him again with another ribald attempt at humor.
Before she could though, Velvet cleared her throat. "I believe that's something better saved for girl-talk later, Cady," she chastised gently. Then she studied the depth of her hot cocoa. "All the same, I am extremely happy that their 'not-a-date date-night' seems to have gone well. Maybe this will turn out to be one of those things that makes Twilight more comfortable with the idea of telling us."
Cadence tapped her own cup with a finger. "I think part of it is Sunset's 'do instead of debate' approach. By showing her first and then explaining it, she's eliminated a lot of Twilight's worries with hard proof."
Her fiance snorted, the sound laced with frustration. "Then maybe we should do the same, he bit out, anger from more than just the situation at hand leaking into his voice. "Just tell Twily that we know she's gay, we know she's head over heels for her best friend... and that...We. Don't. Care." Cadence reached over and touched his hand briefly, trying to soothe him without words. She knew that it was more than the secrecy of this whole 'not-a-date-date-night' that was eating at him, but this wasn't the time for that to be addressed.
"I'm not sure that's the best course of action. Keep in mind," Velvet reminded her son, her words soft edged and calming, "that out of all of us, Gently and Cadence are the only people besides Sunset that Twilight has spoken to at length on the subject, and Gently has repeatedly advised that Twilight has to come to terms with how she expresses that part of her identity to others on her own, and that we need to leave that choice in her hands if we can. I don't think it's reached any kind of point yet where her health or well-being is at risk--Sunset is not the kind of girlfriend that is bringing Twily into dangerous situations or pressuring her into unhealthy behavior--quite the opposite, actually. In the months since they met, she's proved a remarkably stabilizing influence on your sister."
Taking a sip of her drink, Cadence added her thoughts on the matter, drawing one what she knew from experience. "Twilight needs that control, I think. She wants to tell you all, but she's trying to work up the courage to do it and just is not there yet. She's got a lot of those fears like any queer kid trying to 'come out' about themselves, but her anxiety problems makes the fear worse. Still, she's got a lot of the signs of psyching herself up for it, and I think Sunset is a big part of that."
Shining shook his head. "And how is that fair to Sunset? I've said it before--she's just as much a child as Twily is, and deserves the same amount of consideration and care, but no one has asked how she feels about this! She's about as 'out' as they get without wearing a rainbow patch on her jacket. Do you honestly think she's happy sneaking around about it--we all know that Sunset doesn't exactly do subtle." He stood up abruptly to begin pacing, the things on his mind meaning he could not sit still any longer, and the pink skinned woman knew she had to do something to stop him from winding himself up further.
"I'm not sure that Sunset is as 'out and proud' as you seem to think, Shining," Cadence pointed out doubtfully, remembering the storm of confusion in blue-green eyes over the holidays and the way the teenager had admitted to ignorance of modern views of sexuality and identity--or at least, some kind of disconnect from them.
All three of them looked at her curiously. "What do you mean, she's not?" Shining asked. "She couldn't be more obvious about being in love with Twilight if she actively had it written on her forehead in permanent marker!"
Laughing, Mi Amore Cadenza shook her head. "No, I get that her feelings for Twilight are extremely transparent. That's not what I mean. It's more that...she is far too in-the-dark about sexuality and romance as a whole compared to most people who are public about their identities. She openly admitted to me that everything she knows about 'dating and courtship,'' Cadence said with her fingers making air quotes, "came from a handful of teen movies, and observation of her peers at school." She paused, thinking back on something Luna had said. "The same movies that depict a high school 'mean girl' that Lu has implied was her previous persona before this year."
Night arched his eyebrow. "You're suggesting she learned how to be a teenager from movies rather than just being a teenager," he commented, seeking clarification.
"Not quite. I'm suggesting she learned how to be our kind of teenager from movies."
Velvet frowned. "From what she let slip, it sounds like the person who adopted her was a very busy person and sent her to boarding school almost immediately, with a focus on academics...but didn't bother to pick one where Sunset's intellectual abilities would be challenged. Given her similarities to Twilight, and her lack of positive social exposure until recently, I'd wager she spent a lot of time alone, reading and working...and otherwise avoiding human contact when she could."
"And if you couple that with a completely different cultural environment--because let's face it, Europe has dozens of tiny countries, fiefdoms, and glorified dukedoms, all with their own histories and cultures--it is like Sunset is operating from a completely different playbook than the rest of us," Night noted. "One that has overlap in some areas, but not in others."
Shining added his own two cents to the conversation, his pacing slowing as he'd absorbed their words, "...and there could be more cultural disconnect if you consider she spent the first handful or so of her years in this country, before being uprooted..."
The four adult members of the family were silent and thoughtful for a time, before Cadence continued, "It makes sense, and it would explain why Sunset sometimes..." she hesitated, looking for the right way to phrase what she wanted to say. "...Why she sometimes seems like she's operating from a completely unrelated point of view that has very little in common with what we would expect from your average teenage girl wearing leather and driving a motorcycle. Which was my original point. I don't think she's 'out' so much as it is that she doesn't really grasp the entire concept of 'the closet' at all, much less being 'in' or 'out' of it.. At least not on any kind of personal, emotional level that we would relate to."
Twilight Velvet stirred a few more marshmallows into her cocoa. "From her words to you, sweetheart, the entire concept of romance may have been a non-issue before Twily as well, so I'd be hesitant to ascribe any feelings or opinions to Sunset she hasn't explicitly expressed to us." She glanced at her son. "She may very well be chafing under the secrecy, or she may not even notice it. We have no way to guess for certain if her behavior does not always conform to our societal interpretations."
Night nodded along with his wife, adding, "As much as it frustrates me, and as much as Twilight's fear of our reaction hurts...your mother's right, son. It's not as simple as telling Twilight we know about her preferences." He adjusted his reading glasses. "Though it might interest you to know that we were considering going out to the beach house for Spring Break and inviting Sunset along for the trip."
A grin split Cadence's face. "They'll spend the whole week staring at each other like lovesick puppies," she chortled.
Shining's brows furrowed. "Do you think that'll work? Like do you think letting them play house for a week at the beach will get Twily to just tell us?"
"Not necessarily," the older man answered slyly, "but we suspect talking to Sunset privately a week or so before break will help on that front. That gives your sister a few months to gather her courage on her own, but in the end, if she can't, maybe Sunset will have some ideas on what we can do to settle her fears."
Cadence looked between Night and Velvet. "So you intend to tell Sunset that you know they're dating? Or just that you know about Twily being gay? Or..."
"Both, really," Velvet answered. "That we are aware and have been for some time, but that we want Twilight to be able to tell us so she has one less thing that she is constantly stressing over....because, at the end of the day, we love Twilight and we won't react badly." She smiled. "Twilight wants to tell us, but she loses her nerve at the last second--it's happened two or three times now since Christmas--and I suspect all she needs is something--or someone--to give her that last bit of courage."
Laughing, Cadence set her empty mug on the coffee table. "That someone being Sunset."
"That's the hope," Night said. "I'm half hoping that after Sunset learns it's a secret that isn't actually a secret to anyone, she'll work her 'Twily Whisperer' magic and get her to just talk to us. She's blowing this whole subject out of proportion, and it's just going to get worse the longer she and Sunset are together--at this point it's only a matter of time before someone slips up, and my money is on Sunset. Like you said, son, the fact that she loves your sister is completely unsubtle and might as well be a tattoo on her forehead."
Crossing his arms, Shining's face twitched as he fought off a scowl again. "That's why I think that it's unfair to Sunset for Twily to insist on it being a secret. They should be enjoying their relationship, not skulking around like they're doing something illegal."
A pink skinned hand rested on his arm, trying and failing to get him to sit back down. "Shiny, to a lot of people, they might as well be. As loving and tolerant as you and your parents are, you are in the minority. Look at the fight going on right now just to try and legalize the right for people like your sister to marry, and how aggressively nasty the opponents of the idea are. Twilight and Sunset face extremely different challenges to you and I at that age and stage of a relationship, and being cautious is one of the ways they protect themselves from people who would hurt them just for how they feel about each other."
The blue haired young man gave an explosive sigh. "I know that...but that's out there, not in here. Not with us. We love Twilight--she's family--and we aren't going to just stop because she likes girls. She's supposed to feel safe at home, and she clearly doesn't..." He rubbed his face. "I feel like I've failed her twice now."
"I understand how you feel, son," Night said. "I hate that Twilight is afraid of repercussions from her own family, and in some ways, I wonder if that is our fault for not speaking out louder at the big gatherings against some of the beliefs perpetuated by people like Jade and her husband, or the way Alabaster is always looking to correct behavior she sees as 'socially unacceptable.'"
Velvet interrupted them both sternly. "We could talk about reasons and blame all day long, but in the end, that's not fair to Twilight, Sunset, or us...and it's explicitly what Gently told us we should avoid when Twilight does have these kinds of behaviors. The things that motivate Twilight to decisions like these rarely have any connection to our emotions, or to what we want to assume they do, and if she ever got an inkling that we were blaming ourselves or assuming things that she hadn't considered, or thought about, all it would do is make her anxiety and mental state worse. It will feed right into one of her spirals, and turn into a meltdown that could have been avoided."
"Not only that, but you're both wrong," Cadence said in a very pointed tone.
Shining blinked at her. "What do you mean?"
His fiancee frowned and poked him with a forceful finger, making the pale skinned man move back from her with an uneasy expression. "Trying to take on any measure of blame for what happened to Twilight in the park is a load of bull. This house is in a suburban neighborhood, in an area with an extremely low crime rate, and she was in a park that is only a mile away. A park, mind you, that she has been to a hundred times before at all hours with no trouble. You had no reason to suspect that anything would happen, that there would be any danger, and it's not your doing that there was. Taking that blame on yourself, seeing it as your fault is no better than saying 'Twilight should have known better.' Its bull, and just like victim blaming, it takes the responsibility away from the people who are really at fault: the attackers."
Twilight Velvet made a noise of agreement. "Cadence is right, Shining. No one here did anything to put Twilight in danger, nor did Twilight openly seek to do things to put herself in a bad situation, and the blame should go completely to people who believed it was their right to do whatever they want to whoever they want with no consequences."
Frowning, Shining Armor returned to his pacing. "I still feel like I should have done something, told her to stay home, not suggested the park instead of the backyard, or checked in on her, or even made sure she knew how to defend herself better."
"And none of that would have guaranteed any different outcome," Cadence countered. "Or done much to change the minds of her attackers. You can't change what has already happened, not without a time machine, and I don't think Twilight has built one of those yet."
He fell silent, pensive and thoughtful, and Cadence turned her attention to Night Light. "...As for the way you and Mom stood up to the attitudes of the close-minded crowd...the fact is, Dad, that it wouldn't have changed anything either. This is a really volatile time period for the Queer community, where we're making actual headway in the area of equality and acceptance, and just like any fight for equal rights, it's being met with strong opposition from those against it. Twilight would come face to face with those attitudes eventually, and have to learn that there are plenty of people who are offended by her existence and how she loves, and no amount of you shouting at Artful Jade or Ringing Endorsement or Shining Aurora would change their minds. He'd still be pushing his legislation to provide protections for conversion therapy as a 'legitimate practice' to 'cure' certain 'psychological maladies,' and Jade would still be going at Dancer every year at the dinner table about his 'eternal bachelorhood.'"
"It still might've made Twilight feel more like we were in her corner."
"Would it? I've been vocal for years, to the point of earning more than my share of animosity from them for it, and it hasn't made a difference in their opinions, or in Twilight feeling more open at home." Cadence shrugged. "And it's pretty likely that any increased hostility towards all of us is something she would have internalized as her fault."
Setting aside her empty mug, Velvet added, "Much as I know your inner cavemen would like to prevent all problems for the women in your lives, sometimes things just are what they are, and we must do the best with the hand we've been dealt."
Night cleared his throat. "You're both right, I suppose. It's just hard sometimes when we try so hard to protect the people we love and it feels like we fail."
Cadence sat forward, waiting a moment until she had Night's direct attention before she spoke. "Dad...don't ever think for a moment that you aren't doing an amazing job. You know the kind of things I see and hear about with my job, from the Dreamwalker kids, from other people in the Queer community, and that's not even touching on the stuff Shining sees and hears about at work.... believe me when I say, you and mom are in the top one percent for parents of a kid like Twily. And she knows that too, even if she never says anything."
He gave her a small smile. "Thank you, Cady...It means a great deal to hear you say that."
"Speaking of good parenting," Velvet mused, looking at her phone, "perhaps you and I should discreetly take ourselves upstairs so that the girls don't come home to the whole family waiting up in the living room like we intend to interrogate them. That would ruin any progress made tonight by triggering Twilight's anxieties."
"I'll wait for them," Cadence offered. "Maybe I can find out how it went if it's just me down here." Her eyes danced with glee.
A shake of her head and Velvet began collecting empty mugs. "Try not to be too excited, dear. They may not want to share too much right yet."
She grinned. "I'll be careful, Mom...but I can usually get Twilight to spill with just a little coaxing. Big sister rights and all that."
Shining hesitated. "I... don't think my presence will be productive for any kind of girl-talk, and...well...I'm not sure Sunset will feel comfortable with me around just yet anyway...She keeps giving me these...looks." He shrugged when Night frowned at him. "Dad, I know what I'm seeing, and I'm the only one she didn't come to when planning this not-a-date of theirs. It's better for everyone that I...respect her clear wish for space." He picked up his mug, and after another hesitation, leaned down to kiss the top of Cadence's head. "I should get some sleep anyway, I offered to take the crap shift for Oakstaff tomorrow so he could go to his son's Little League game." |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter Ninety Two: Feel the Magic All Around You | Twilight half stumbled as she climbed off the bike, feeling warm hands catch her and pull her up against a body that always smelled of leather and sunshine. "Easy, Sparky," Sunset murmured in her ear. "It's been a good night--falling in the driveway would be a terrible way to end the evening."
She found her arms hooking around an amber neck and pulling the taller teen down into a quick kiss in the safety of the shadows of that moonless night. "....night's not over," she responded when they parted. "You're staying over, which means I get to fall asleep next to you..."
"Wouldn't be Friday if I didn't," Sunset laughed.
Twilight kissed her again. "Perfect end to a perfect night."
What little light was around seemed to catch brilliant blue-green eyes, making them visible in the dark. "I did okay tonight then? With the date?"
The question was tremulous, far too nervous and shy for Sunset, telling Twilight just how important the evening had been to her girlfriend. She hugged her tighter, giving her a soft smile. "It was everything I could have dreamed of, Sunny, and then some. No one could have done better, or found a way to do something that was us in such a perfect fashion."
A laugh, ringing and bright, broke the night's stillness and Twilight found herself in the air as Sunset picked her up and spun them around in excited joy. It was contagious, the laughter, and by the time she was on her feet again, neither of them could stop giggling. She clung to Sunset, dizzy from the spinning, and pressed her face into the older girl's collarbone.
Sunset separated from her a minute later, still smiling and laughing, to press the backpack full of leftover food into her hands. "Carry this in so I can bring in the telescope? I don't want to leave it out in the cold."
The two of them managed to get to the door without dropping anything, exchanging a few more stolen kisses on the way where no one could see them. They stumbled through the front door, shushing each other between bouts of laughter, not sure who might be awake and who might be asleep. Twilight knew someone had to be up--the living room had a light on and the tv going--but she couldn't take her eyes off Sunset, didn't want to shatter the happy bubble of freedom and joy they'd found themselves in for the night. Her girlfriend seemed so carefree in that moment, head tossed back as she laughed, eyes bright and dancing, all the normal tension just...absent from her frame. And Twilight? She now knew what it meant to feel like one was 'walking on air,' all while her heart raced and butterflies danced in her stomach.
A voice broke through the laughter. "I'm guessing you two had a great time tonight?" Cadence was grinning at them from Night's favorite armchair.
Twilight found herself unable to contain her excitement. "It was amazing, Cady! The meteor shower was beautiful, and we got some fantastic photos of the Orion Nebula and the Pleiades!"
Sunset met Twilight's glance her way with one of those crooked smiles. "I'm going to go put this in your dad's office," she said, hefting the telescope case. "You want to put the leftovers up, nerd?"
Rising from the chair, Cadence grinned. "I'll help, Ladybug, and you can tell me more about your date."
"I--How did you--" Twilight tripped over her words on the way into the kitchen, and Cadence just gave her a long look.
"Twily," she said, hugging her around the shoulders. "Sunset came to me for advice about her plans. How do you think she knew what sandwich shop to go to or what you like to order?"
The dark haired girl mulled that over for a few minutes, then practically pounced on Cadence with a tight hug. "Thank you," she told her sister-in-law. "Thank you so much for helping her...tonight was everything I ever dreamed of..."
Cady hugged her back. "Oh, I can't take that much credit, Ladybug. Sunset planned the whole thing. All I did was offer my opinion on her plan and answer a few questions...this whole night was her doing." She pulled back so they could start putting the leftover food away. "Sooooo...We can call your first date a success, then?"
Twilight couldn't help the giddy smile that spread across her face. Her first real date and it had been perfect for her and her girlfriend, regardless of what society often portrayed. "It's...it's a night I will never forget," she answered truthfully. "It was perfect for us, and...I didnt feel..."
Another hug from the woman she had always confided in soothed the small burst of anxiousness in her throat. "Like you were doing something wrong?" When Twilight nodded, the arms around her tightened. "Because you weren't, Ladybug. There's nothing wrong with your relationship with Sunset. It's sweet and beautiful and surprisingly healthy given your age and experience, and you shouldnt be ashamed for how you feel about her."
Cadence moved out of the hug to stand in front of her, both hands on her shoulders. "I know you're still working up the courage to come out, even if only to the rest of the family, Twilight, but I cannot stress enough that there is nothing wrong with who you are--you are valid, and have just as much right to exist and be happy with yourself as any other person, even if your love just happens to be different than most people. Don't let small minded bigots convince you that you have to be ashamed of how you love."
"I...I'm trying, Cadence," she admitted, "but it's not always that easy or simple." Twilight pulled from the hug. "As much as I try to acknowledge that there is nothing wrong with my sexuality, and that bigots are just that, the fact is that that bigotry can impact my life, my education, and my future career. I'm already facing an uphill fight simply because of my gender and neurological differences...and I cannot just pretend my sexuality won't give those detractors more ammunition. As much as I would love to not care at all, it would be shortsighted and foolhardy of me not to recognize that."
The pink skinned woman squeezed her shoulder. "I know...I just don't want you to believe the things they spew, even if you have to play some of the social games, Ladybug. You deserve love and happiness just like everyone else."
Twilight nodded. Cadence had a valid point, one she was aware of, but as much as she loved her brother's fiancee, as much of an elder sister as she was, her situation had never been quite the same as Twilight's. Still...the support was welcome, and she hoped her smile communicated that where words could not.
Light footfalls from behind her that she instantly recognized were all the warning she got before Sunset, still in a good mood, tugged her away from Cadence and into a warm embrace. Twilight pressed her body back against her girlfriend's front as Sunset dipped her head to nuzzle her cheek. "Food all put away, nerd?" she asked, before kissing Twilight's cheek.
The goofy, bubbly feeling in her chest made her smile widen, and the dark haired girl nodded. "All taken care of, Sunny. I now have lunch for the rest of the weekend."
"Good." Sunset glanced towards Cadence. "...thanks again for your help with tonight. I...really appreciate it."
The woman laughed. "I was happy to offer my extensive knowledge of Twily's sandwich preferences to the cause." Her smile softened to something that Twilight knew was heartfelt and genuine. "I am really glad you both had a wonderful time on your date--not every date is a winner, especially not first dates, but you two deserved it."
Sunset and Twilight glanced at each other at the same moment, their noses brushing together in the motion. Feeling bold, Twilight pecked Sunset's lips with a brief kiss, one hand coming up to run fingers through red and gold hair. When they finally parted, She looked to her sister-in-law, still smiling. "Thanks, Cady. For everything. It...means more than I can explain."
"I know, Ladybug," Cadence responded. "Now it's late, so we should probably call it a night before all this girl-talk wakes the rest of the house."
That made Sunset chuckle and nudge Twilight along towards the stairs. "She's right, Sparky. I don't want to accidentally wake up your parents..." Then the redhead lowered her voice, lips barely an inch from a lavender ear. "Besides...nothing says we have to go right to sleep..."
Heat rushed through her, forgoing her already reddened cheeks in favor of settling a lot lower, and Twilight threaded her fingers through Sunset's to tug her hurriedly up the steps. Outside Twilight's bedroom door, Sunset separated from her, gaining a confused look from Twilight.
"I'm going to grab my pajamas from my room and rinse off quick. I feel kind of sweaty and I don't want to smell myself all night," she explained.
Twilight nodded in understanding. "Okay. I'm going to change then...see you in a few minutes?"
"Fifteen minutes, tops. I promise I'll be quick." Sunset gave her a crooked smile. "I won't leave you waiting long..."
Leaning in close, Twilight captured her girlfriend's lips sweetly. "Trust me, Sunset Shimmer....you're worth waiting for."
Sunset blushed, and pulled back reluctantly. "I still want to make it quick. You might be patient, but I'm not good at it." Then she slipped away to shower, leaving Twilight to enter her room.
It took only a few minutes to change into her pajamas, and Twilight stretched out on her side of the bed, grabbing her phone to check on the day's science news; she needed something to help avoid thinking about Sunset in the shower. When it showed "6 Unread Messages" on the lock screen, the teen pulled up her texts in confusion. The only people who texted her were her immediate family and Sunset...so who...?
Glamour's contact name was highlighted as the source of all six messages, all in the last forty minutes. Twilight checked them, worry knotting in her throat.
-Twi?-
-You awake?-
-I really really need to share this with SOMEONE, Twi, message me ASAP!-
-I dont have anyone else I CAN share this with-
-doesnt matter how late it is, plz let me know when you get this-
-Twi?-
Lavender fingers raced over the keys. -Sorry, Glamour. I was out with Sunset, and we were driving home. Are you still up? What's wrong?-
Almost immediately, her cousin responded--still with grammar that made Twilight cringe. -Nothings wrong-
-Tonites wonderful. Can i call?-
Twilight took a breath, letting it out slowly. -You can call. I have a few minutes.-
Her phone rang, and she answered, more than a little confused. "Hi Glamour."
"Ohmigosh, Twi! I'm so glad you're still up! You'll never guess what happened tonight!" Glamour's perky, excited voice was almost too loud, and Twilight pulled the phone back to lower the volume right as it dinged with a picture message. Staring back at her was her cousin's hand, wearing a pretty ring in gold, one stylized with what looked like wings or feathers as it wrapped around the digit. "Song gave me this--it's not technically an engagement ring, because we can't get married yet, but it's a promise that when we can, she wants to!"
Breath catching, Twilight found herself with a few happy tears in her eyes for her cousin, her own mood returning to its previous high. "Oh wow, Glamour," she managed, smiling even though the young woman on the other end of the line couldn't see her. "That really is amazing, and I'm so happy for you!"
"Right?!" Glamour made a sound that was both a laugh and a sob. "I'm laughing and I'm crying and I've never been this happy, not once in my entire life, and I just needed to tell someone before I exploded!" Her enthusiasm waned a bit. "You are really the only one I could tell that would understand why it's such a big deal..."
"It's a huge deal," Twilight agreed. "And I understand why you would be so ecstatic."
"I know I still have two more years before I can risk anything," Glamour said, her perky, bubbly optimism returning, "but this...this is something I can hold onto to get me there, even when we can only be ourselves in this dorm room, and I can wear it anywhere, because it doesn't look like people think an engagement or promise ring should look!"
Thinking of her evening and the epiphany that Sunset had helped her reach, Twilight answered in a quiet but happy tone, "And that's okay--it doesn't matter what society says it should look like. You can give it whatever meaning you want it to have, and it can mean that to you."
"Twi?" Glamour sounded a little confused.
"Sunset...made me realize something tonight, and she was right, and maybe you already know it, but..." She was smiling so hard it was starting to make her face hurt. "...it's not the eighteenth century anymore, or even the fifties. It's the twenty-first century, and we're allowed to define our own relationships instead of being hidebound by our grandparents or great-grandparents traditions... A couple can decide for themselves what they want to be, how they express their commitment, what is and isn't a date, not centuries of heteronormative mandates that are designed to treat women like property and allow males to show off to other males like peacocks flashing their tail feathers."
Her cousin giggled over the phone. "You're right, but did you have to give me that image? Now every time I have to put up with the men my parents try to throw at me, I'm just going to see their suit coats as peacock feathers!"
Twilight laughed with her. "Oh! Now that you've said it, I think that's all I'll be thinking of at New Years next year!"
The pair of them giggled and laughed for several minutes, until they couldn't breathe right and there were tears of mirth on Twilight's face. When she'd caught her breath, Twilight wiped the tears away. "Anyway...as I was saying, I could go on a two hour lecture into the intricacies of the diamond industry and deceptive marketing, but neither of us wants to spend time on that tonight...especially since I'm fairly certain that you will never have any intention of walking around with some oversized hunk of compressed carbon on your finger like Summer does, flashing it to anyone that looks her way to show off how much she was bought for."
"Ohmigosh, no! I love Mom...but I hate that about her, how everything is always about money! It's like 'there's more to life for me, Mom,' but of course she doesn't get it." More giggling. "You know, I never realized you had a sense of humor."
Sobering a bit, Twilight took a long few heartbeats to answer. "...not a lot of people even understand my jokes, much less find them amusing, so I suppose I've learned not to bother most of the time unless I'm with family or Sunset. People I trust."
Glamour made a soft noise into the phone, not quite a sigh, and Twilight couldn't quite identify the emotions. "It means a lot then, Twi, that you are comfortable enough to trust me enough to get to know the real you. For what it's worth, you're the one member of the family I really trust--ever since New Years, it's been amazing to have someone I can just talk to without having to remember what I can and can't say." A soft laugh escaped her. "Especially because you understand in a way most people don't the parts of my life that are secret from everyone."
Twilight played with a bit of her hair. "I know what you mean--I was talking with Cadence before I came up, about coming out, and I love Cady, She's the best sister ever, but...it's not as easy as she talks about."
Her cousin sighed. "Twi, Cadence is a wonderful person, and for all she's supportive of you, she's with your brother, and always has been. Even if she likes girls too, when she goes out with Shining, no one can tell she's anything but normal. Your parents are great, and it sounds like her parents are too, so her family loves her anyway, and her career doesn't come with those expectations of fitting a particular mold. She's never been terrified that someone will read into your friendly outing and see more, or look to ruin you out of some kind political or financial agenda by trying to cause a scandal."
"I know my anxiety problems are a big contributor to my stress over telling anyone," the teen acknowledged, "but Cadence doesn't seem to quite understand what I mean when I say it's more complicated than just talking to my therapist and working up the courage to be open about it. I know it won't be all sunlight and rainbows--not with my desire to get into science and technology fields for a career." Her words carried a hint of frustration.
There was a sound of a person snorting from the background loud enough for the speaker to pick it up, and a voice Twilight didnt recognize commented sarcastically, "And the sciences are worse than even the corporate ladder for women as is, let alone those who follow in Sappho's glorious lesbian sandals."
She and Glamour both laughed, with her cousin introducing the speaker--Wildsong, as Twilight had already guessed.
"They are, and I have a plan, if people will just let me do it at my pace without trying to pick apart what I'm doing. The only one who hasn't really been pushy about this is Sunset--she's so sweet and understanding with respecting my wishes and space, while still somehow knowing exactly when I need to be shown a different perspective. Like tonight!" Twilight glanced up as her bedroom door opened to admit the very girl she was gushing about, unable to stop the deliriously happy smile that crossed her face.
Sunset closed the door with a click of the lock, and finished getting as much water as she could out of her damp hair with a towel. A moment later had her slithering under the covers with Twilight, arms going around her in order to cuddle close to her. Sunset was delightfully warm against her back, and she could feel her placing little kisses against the back of her neck.
"What happened tonight, Twi?"
Lavender fingers rested over amber. "We went to watch a meteor shower that Sunny got tickets for back at Christmas. I thought it was just another outing, but she surprised me by telling me it was supposed to be a date--but a date that was perfect for us, that no one could tell was a date!" She thought back to Sunset's confession under the celestial tapestry, the quiet, fervent intensity in her murmured voice, and the soft kiss they'd exchanged by accident. "It was magical."
Sunset made a throaty sound close to her ear, nuzzling into her happily. "I'm glad," the redhead whispered for Twilight's ears alone.
Glamour squealed with glee, and Twilight had to pull the phone away from her ear with a wince. "Ohmigosh! Twi, that's fantastic! What did she do for the date?"
Twilight gave Glamour a summary of the date itself, her fingers drawing constellations on the back of Sunset's hand. "...We were out way later than we really should have been, but Sunset had gotten Mom and Dad's permission, because we were testing out her new camera for some stellar photography."
"I'm so happy for you, Twi! Sunset sounds like she's a keeper!"
In the background, Twilight could hear the other voice talking too low to make out, and Glamour giggled. "Song is reminding me we have a fairly early day tomorrow and that Sunset is probably waiting for you to finish talking, so I should let you go. I'll text you later in the week, okay?"
"Yeah...it is really late. I'll talk with you another day, hopefully not so late at night next time?" Twilight yawned.
After setting the phone on her nightstand, Twilight twisted in Sunset's arms and hugged her tightly. Her girlfriend brushed lips against her forehead. "Hey..." she said.
"Hey," Twilight answered. "Missed you."
The taller girl chuckled. "Sparky, I was gone for like fifteen minutes."
"Fifteen minutes too many," came the response into her shirt as Twilight pressed their bodies together tight enough to send a shiver up her spine at the way their contours fit together nicely.
"Nerd," Sunset teased, tilting Twilight's chin up.
She smiled. Trust Sunset to be able to turn the word into an endearment. "As long as I'm still your nerd, Sunny."
"Always," the girl holding her responded, before kissing her. The lips working against hers sparked a fire in Twilight, and she pushed harder into the kiss, hands moving until one gripped Sunset's shoulder and the other was tangled in damp hair. Sunset made a throaty sound into her mouth as her tongue begged entrance, one of her long legs hooking over Twilight's hip possessively tight.
By the time they parted for air, both of them were breathless and grinning, and Twilight felt the heat on her back from Sunset's hands through her shirt. She left a trail of little kisses along the other girl's jawline. "...are you tired yet...?" The soft question barely disturbed the air.
Sunset rubbed their noses together lightly. "Not really, why?"
Twilight teased her girlfriend's mouth with her own. "Me neither..." She nibbled on Sunset's lip. "And after all the effort you went to to make tonight so special...I find myself wanting the night to last just a little longer."
One of those soft, lopsided smiles tugged at Sunset's lips, and she stroked her hands up and down Twilight's back. "Then kiss me again," she said in a voice that was practically a purr, "and we'll make sure the night doesn't end just yet..."
Streaks of light lit up the night, passing from one end of the sky to the other against a backdrop of stars. It was beautiful, and made all the more wonderful by the presence surrounding her, holding her with warm arms. As they sat there, leaning back against the rock, Twilight could feel sharp nails sneak up under the hem of her shirt, stroking along her skin in a way that sent tingles through her body. And when heated breath ghosted over her ear to wash down her neck, it trailed its own fingers along her nervous system to send lightning jolting along parts of her as yet untouched. The teen had to bite her lip to avoid reacting audibly, not wanting to draw attention to them with a sudden, loud sound.
"Do you like that, Sparky?" The voice that murmured to her was husky with desire, but still welcome and familiar in the best of ways. "Or are you just cold?" her companion teased. "You're trembling..." Those fingers became a palm pressed to her stomach, searing hot in all the right ways.
With a soft whimper, Twilight arched into the touch, shuddering. Her mouth opened to answer, but the feeling of sharp teeth nipping at the side of her neck turned it into a gasp. "Can't have you getting cold on me," her paramour chuckled. "Let's see about warming you up..." A snapping noise of thick fabric filled her ears right before a warm, fuzzy textured dark blanket was wrapped around their shoulders and covered her front all the way to her thighs. "How's that?"
She nodded, tilting her head back to try and look at her companion. "It's perfect...." the dark haired girl managed to get out, catching a glimpse of gleaming blue green eyes shining in the dark. Her hands came up to touch the blanket, feeling along the thick, heavy surface with its soft, plush texture, feeling it shift against her touch.
Twilight's head lolled to the side as a mouth descended on her neck, placing little kisses and love bites on the skin. It quickly put her mind into a dreamy haze where the only thing that mattered was who she was with and how good she felt, quieting the constant storm of mental noise that was her normal state of mind. She savored the sense of...drifting, just like she did every time that those arms held her tight.
More hot breath tickled her ear. "Twilight Sparkle," came the soft murmur from lips just barely tickling her skin, "I want to make you mine and mine alone...if you would let me..."
Her mind still hazy, Twilight mumbled something incoherent in reply. Forming a structured sentence was hard when she was so very relaxed and content. Still, more words drew her mind back from that space full of nothing but the pleasure of just Being. "Be mine, Twilight Sparkle, until the last star of eternity cools...mine to have...to keep...to hold, so that no other may touch you who are my light, the keeper of my soul..."
Something nagged at her, further grounding her and coaxing a response that she knew in some undefinable way she needed to give. Twisting around in the embrace and unsettling the heavy, dark warmth blanketing her, Twilight slid her arms around her girlfriend's body and pressed them together in a tight hug. "I want that too," she whispered. "I want to be yours, to feel you hold me, to know I'm safe with you..."
"Then open your eyes, and answer me..."
Without a second thought or moment's hesitation, Twilight opened her eyes, taking in red-amber skin and catlike eyes glowing in the dark. "Yes," came the fervent, heated reply that fell from her own lips and onto Sunset Shimmer's. "A million times yes, Sunset. I'm yours..."
In the darkness, under a blanket of stars, there was heat and pleasure coursing through her veins as hungry lips fastened on hers, rough passion communicated from one body to the other. Sharp teeth nipped her lower lip as Sunset pressed her to the blanket, flared wings silhouetted against the night. Clothing was pulled aside or vanished as if it never was--Twilight couldn't tell which and it didn't really matter anyway. What mattered more was silken skin pressed against her own, warmth and softness over strength like she'd never imagined that her girlfriend could possess, and how right it felt to her.
More kisses left a trail of fire down her neck, and the dark haired teen could hear that voice breathing words like a mantra and a prayer. "You are mine, Twilight Sparkle...I swear it on all that I am...you belong to me and no other... my light, my soul..." Every word uttered resonated with the core of her being, making her body thrum with energy and growing need that passed between them, shared without words, as their bodies sought to melt together into one...
Waking was a shock to her system, not unlike frigid ice water upended over her, and she panted and gasped painfully for breath as her heart hammered against her ribs. The surge of adrenaline that kickstarted her body into a waking rhythm from deep sleep left her disoriented, her nerves hyper-sensitized, and her brain frantically clawing for a rational explanation as to what sent her so roughly from the arms of sleep.
It hadn't been something in the room, she decided, taking in the stillness and shadows of the familiar darkened space. If it had, Spike and Sunset both would have alerted her, yet both slept on, undisturbed. That also ruled out either of them having woken her. Spike was curled up in his bed in the corner, snoring soft little doggy snores, and Sunset? Twilight could feel, even through pjs that felt like sandpaper against her skin, the too warm body pressed against her back, the sensation of breasts pressed against the top of her shoulder blades, of a leg still hooked over her hip and trapping her close. Slow and steady breathing and the sleepy murmurs against Twilight's scalp gave her every indication that her girlfriend was still sound asleep. There was a possibility of a far off noise, but that too should have woken Sunset, at least, who she knew from experience didn't handle exceptionally loud noises with any sort of decorum when they jolted her awake.
Twilight sought to bring her breathing under control, running her fingers over the amber arm that was around her waist. It could have been the dream, she decided, cheeks heating at the memory and her body aching in response. The dream had been an intimate, visceral thing, full of the desires that had been plaguing her since the early part of December, and like so many before it, left her feeling entirely unsatisfied in the lack of conclusion. Her body throbbed again, reminding her that this was the first time she'd had such a dream when the subject of it had been curled around her in bed. It had been her Sunny in the dream--no matter how bizarre the form her subconscious liked to fashion for Sunset might be, Twilight would always know who she was. If she was ever struck blind she would still know Sunset Shimmer by presence alone, because the way Sunset filled a room was unmistakable to her....and the memory now, of a dream where that presence was wholly fixed on her, where Sunset's touch and breath and being was fulfilling every sordid little desire Twilight had possessed in her slumbering state set her ablaze with renewed want that sent a shudder through her.
Suddenly it was hard to breathe again--not from panic, but from the feelings that made it hard to keep quiet, to keep that moan from escaping to wake Sunset up. Twilight squirmed, managing to extricate herself from the hold without disturbing her dreaming girlfriend, needing a few minutes alone to deal with the way her feelings were affecting her physically....
What she never noticed, in her hurried rush to escape to the bathroom, was the way glowing blue-green eyes followed her exodus, or the frustrated tears that stained the pillowcase. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter Ninety Three: ...It's Bringing Me to My Knees | It was officially the longest week in the history of long weeks, and it was only just starting. Sunset took a moment to rest her forehead against the icy cold metal of her locker, wondering if she could get away with sleeping through to Friday.
Probably not, she decided after several minutes of serious consideration. The principals might have relaxed some of their restrictions on her at school, but almost a week of missed class would be pushing even their forbearance to the limits. Just suck it up, Shimmer. You can do this. You have to, she told herself. It wasn't like there was another unicorn prodigy living as a human that could study magic in her stead. She had yet to hear back from Princess Twilight--it was highly likely that the alicorn was still upset with what Sunset had said about Princess Celestia, but Sunset couldn't bring herself to apologize.
That meant she had to power through, even if her dreams had started making sleep impossible. Sighing, the former unicorn lifted her head and set about opening her locker to put her books away.
"Hey, pony-girl," a voice called from over her shoulder.
Sunset turned towards the voice, sending a wan smile Flash's way. "Hey, Flash," she responded.
Almost immediately the friendly grin on his face morphed into one of concern. "You okay, Sunset? You...don't look so good." He looked around and lowered his voice. "I thought you said your date went great."
Her lips turned up more as her mind flitted back to Friday. "It did,"she said, the ghost of Twilight in her arms and holding her under the stars making her stomach feel as though it were full of butterflies. "I don't think it could have gone any better than it did--it was practically perfect."
His brows pinched together. "Then why do you look like someone replaced your lunch with the Meat Lover's Delight?"
Shoulders sagging, Sunset slumped against the lockers with a harsh sound. "It's complicated," she bit out, pushing down the memory of dreams and nightmares.
Flash watched her for long enough she started to feel twitchy, the instinctive pony need to get away from a predator's stare fighting her own natural tendency to respond to such with aggression. She bent her knee, resting the toe of her boot lightly on the tile, resisting the urge to turn the motion into a complete kick. "What?" Sunset finally asked, a little harsher than she intended.
"You need a break. No band practice today right, since Rainbow has soccer stuff after school?" Flash glanced at the calendar she'd stuck in her locker to keep track of important after school activities.
The redhead nodded. "Yeah...I was going to sort through some of my data and run a few more tests."
Her ex-boyfriend shook his head. "It can wait until tomorrow, pony-girl. You and I are going to go get something horribly deep fried and unhealthy, take it back to my place, and then I'm going to beat your ass in some Smash Brothers."
"Flash, I can't. I have to try and figure out what's going on with this magic." Sunset shook her head, wild mane bouncing around her shoulders. "As much as I'd love to, I can't afford to just skip my responsibilities, even for a day."
Gentle hands on her shoulders made her look at him, and idly she wondered if she'd gotten taller in the last eight months--she didn't remember being so close to eye to eye with him when they'd been 'dating.' "Sunset," he said, "I know you feel the need to throw yourself into your work...but when was the last time you just took a day for yourself, and actually acted like a teenager?"
"I--" When was the last time? Sure, she let herself have Fridays, and she'd had a sleepover with the girls recently...but a corner of her mind nagged her that she'd spent half of that sleepover testing their magic.
"You need a break, Sunset. What good will figuring out the magic do if you're so burned out when you do that you just collapse? You need to take better care of yourself--if not for yourself, then for those of us who care about you." The blue-haired teen squeezed her shoulders lightly. "And if that means I have to be the friend who makes you do stupid teenager stuff once in a while, to make sure you come through this okay, then I will."
Sunset couldn't help but laugh. "Really 'taking one for the team' with that, aren't you?" she commented with more than a little sarcasm. "Such a sacrifice."
He raised an eyebrow at her. "Considering I'm offering to spend my money on buying my ex dinner and then spend the afternoon getting my ass kicked in video games to help her feel better, yeah."
They both went silent for a minute before Flash rubbed the back of his neck. "Wow. When I put it like that I sound pretty pathetic."
"I don't think so," the redhead disagreed. "I think it makes you sound like exactly what you are: a really nice guy who cares about his friends. And...youre right. I haven't really stopped since the Sirens showed up. Maybe an afternoon just hanging out will help me get my head on straight."
Flash chuckled. "That's the spirit! And, you know, if you just want to rant to me about whatever's bothering you, Sunset, I'm all ears. I know there's some stuff you're not ready to tell the girls, but...I've got your back."
With renewed vigor, Sunset dumped the books and notebooks she didn't need into her locker, retrieved the few she needed for homework--world history, joy--and shut the door with a resounding clang. "Let's get out of here--are we going to the place that makes the beer battered fish?"
"The same. They've got these new cheese and bacon potato bites that are amazing, and they added fried cheese bites to the menu last fall....along with a few weird vegetarian options that sound pretty gross to me, but you might enjoy them." He nudged her shoulder with his own. "You can get whatever you want, my treat. Some weird old guy with the ugliest striped suit tipped me a hundred bucks yesterday for making his coffee order 'to absolute perfection.'"
Sunset snorted. "You may very well regret that, Flash--I skipped lunch today to run tests around school and to prep for tutoring on Wednesday--apparently word has gotten out and I had a dozen people asking me about what subjects they could get help with. Speaking of, you're still solid on your world history, right?"
The blue haired young man blinked at the question as Sunset shut her locker and started walking with him down the hall. "Yeah...why? Are you failing again?"
"Not yet, but I could always use a little help. No, it's just that Flitter and Wisp asked me today about if we had anyone who could help with history if they were willing to help others with English. I thought it might be smarter to build on each others strengths so that no one person is doing all the heavy lifting." She shrugged. "And I know you and Bon-Bon both sleep through history and ace the tests."
He considered her suggestion. "That's...actually a really good idea, Sunset. Wondercolts helping each other. Maybe you ought to talk to Principal Celestia, make it an official after school thing. She could do sign up sheets or something."
The former bully bit her lip. "I'm kind of banned from running any kind of official extra-curricular school activities...it was one of my punishments from the Fall Formal," she admitted. "No dance royalty, no club leadership positions, no committees or councils, nothing that would put me in any kind of position of power. If it weren't for me being the only student with any kind of Magus Certifications to my name, I doubt I'd even be in charge of the magic research."
Holding open the door to the parking lot for her, Flash tilted his head back. "Maybe you should ask anyway, pony-girl. That was something given out right after the Fall Formal, right?" When she nodded, he grinned. "That was back before you saved us all from being mind slaves to a bunch of shrieking seahorses. Maybe things have changed, and they'd be willing to let you help put together an after school tutoring thing that's open for people to sign up."
"Maybe..." Sunset worried at her lip, her hands otherwise engaged with holding a few extra books that wouldn't fit in her backpack. "I guess it can't hurt to ask."
She followed Flash to his car, pausing long enough at her bike to secure her backpack and books in its storage, then slid into his passenger seat. "Alright, I'm good to go--let's go spend your hard earned tip money."
The other teen laughed. "Sure! And on the way, you can tell me how your surprise date went," he ribbed her, grinning.
That made her blush to the roots of her hair. "It went great," she confessed. "You were right. I didn't have as much to worry about as I thought. Twilight had the best night, and when I explained it all to her...it just all clicked, and now she wants to see if we can do a few more dates during some of our free nights or on Fridays....when we're not bogged down with schoolwork or other commitments." She glanced his way, wondering if this was weird for him, given his feelings for the princess.
A hand lifted off the wheel while they sat at a red light and squeezed her shoulder. "I'm happy for you, Sunset," he told her, flashing one of those cheerful grins her way. "And I knew it would work out--from the way you talk about her, your Twilight sounds like she cares about you a lot."
Staring out the window, Sunset could feel wayward thoughts intruding. "Yeah," she responded softly. "She's more than my girlfriend...she's my best friend, and that....that matters more to me than I can put into words..."
The former unicorn trailed off, the conversation having dredged up the thoughts that had been eating at her all weekend from where they had settled in her subconscious. She did care about Twilight...more than she could ever remember caring about anypony or anyone. The human girl really was her best friend, the person whose company she would seek out in the worst moments just as much as the happy ones...and in recent weeks, it had become impossible to deny that the dark haired girl was eliciting a number of very physical reactions that no other human could manage, something Sunset was struggling to come to grips with. Before, the physical, carnal desires had been just that...physical; manifestations of hormones and an adolescent body that was still in a state of flux with the chemicals it was flooding her brain with. It had been something she could ignore the way she did her best to ignore her monthly cycle--inconvenient and discomfiting but survivable--but ever since the dream with Twilight in the body of a pretty little unicorn mare, teasing and enticing her amidst a field of wildflowers and sunshine, it was no longer just physical.
Now, the dreams made her heart race and her body ache for hours afterwards, and she felt that old, familiar hunger in her soul. Sunset found herself dwelling on the Twilight from her dreams, of soft moans and whispered pleas and bared skin pressed to her own, and part of her wondered if the real Sparky would be like that if they went further in their intimacies.
And that Friday night? It had been the first time she'd had one of those carnal dreams while in the same bed as the source of those desires. Jolting awake from a much more intense rendition of the end of their date and finding Twilight's body warm and soft and still very much present and solid in her arms and tangled up with her had almost been her undoing. The other girl waking up and wiggling free for a trip to the bathroom had been a relief, and she'd cried into her pillow until the ache in her core had finally subsided and with it, the rising magic that had been making her blood burn and her limbs tingle, just before Twilight had returned. She'd managed to feign sleep as her girlfriend had returned to the spot in her arms, but it had been over an hour before she'd relaxed enough to fall back asleep herself.
Flash, as if sensing her withdrawal, had fallen quiet during the car ride, interrupting only when he pulled into a spot outside the unsung treasure of Canterlot: Batter Up!--a tacky looking theme restaurant with interior decoration dedicated to the human sport of baseball, and enough fried goodies to clog every artery of every person in the city and surrounding counties. Sunset gave him a thin smile as she followed him inside, assaulted by the scent of oil, breading, half of the potatoes grown in Idaho, and a myriad of meats and other edibles.
Sunset's thoughts wandered again as they stood in line, drifting back to her girlfriend and her own uncertainties. It was hard to separate the various emotions from each other, they were such a tangled mess, especially with how her magic was reacting to them. The unicorn turned teenager knew she cared about her best friend, and felt genuine affection for her, just like she did for her other friends, but there was another layer that muddled it, a stronger affection that was wrapped up in a desire to protect Twilight from the things she was vulnerable to, and a need to see the younger girl smiling and happy that sometimes felt as strong as any nudge from her cutie mark.
What was more, that didn't even touch on the way their physical intimacy made her feel...the way Twilight's hugs and soft touches filled a hole inside her that she hadn't even known needed filling, the warmth that grew inside her whenever her girlfriend kissed her nose or whispered, "Sunny..." in that tone that made Sunset feel like she was flying without wings.
"Sunset?" Flash's voice broke through her thoughts, so much less welcome than Twilight's would have been, regardless of how twisted up she made Sunset feel. "What do you want?"
At some point she and Flash had reached the register without her realizing it. "Oh...uh...get me a number four," she said absently, her focus still turned inward.
The blue haired young man looked at her oddly. "Sunset," he said again. "That's a double bacon cheeseburger meal. Last I checked, you don't eat cheeseburgers. Or bacon. Unless you've decided to try a new diet?"
That finally jerked her back to the world around her and she blinked confusedly at the menu. "Horseapples," she swore. "Yeah, no...the number ten--the seafood basket, with the Old Bay breading, curly fries....and can I get a side of your fried okra too? And a large Dr. Pepper." Her face felt hot from the embarrassment of almost ordering something she would never in a million years eat.
"Get what you want, pony-girl," Flash told her. "I told you, it's my treat."
She smiled at him as best she could, still flushed from her near mistake. "That's good for me," the former unicorn said, running a hand through her frazzled mane and trying to corral her scattered thoughts back into some semblance of order.
It proved a nearly impossible task, as each thought spawned several more, even if they were fractured, half formed things, and by the time they got back out to the car with several bags of greasy food, she was ready to scream frustration to the heavens. So maybe that was why when they had settled in the car again, and Flash turned to her, his brows pinched in concern, and asked, "You wanna talk about it?" Sunset blurted out a question without even considering an answer.
"How do you know if it's love?"
Flash sucked in a mouthful of his drink, causing him to hack and sputter to clear his airway. Sunset took the bag of food he was holding so he wouldn't drop it. "Dammit, pony-girl," he rasped when he could breathe again. "Don't do that to a guy when he's drinking."
"Sorry," the redhead said, feeling guilty. "I just...you asked...and I'm just..." she trailed off, unable to voice her feelings.
"....Love, huh? Is it that serious then? You and Twilight?" Blue eyes studied her curiously.
Sunset groaned. "I don't know! That's the problem! How am I supposed to know? I never had any friends before the disaster at the formal, and I've told you that my dating you was not about feelings. And humans do things so differently than ponies, so I have no idea how to judge these things!" A fist struck his dashboard in frustration.
"Whoa! Okay, Sunset, calm down. Don't break my car." He reached over and squeezed her wrist gently. "Take a few minutes to breathe while I get us back to my place, so we can talk while we eat, instead of having these super important conversations in a car."
Nodding, Sunset adjusted her hold on the food. "I'm sorry, Flash. It's driving me a little crazy."
"Don't sweat it, pony-girl. Love's a big deal, I get it. Just focus on holding our food, and I'll get us to the house and we can talk." He pulled away from the curb with one last calming squeeze to her wrist, leaving her to sit in silence for the ten minute drive back to his house.
Once they were firmly settled on his living room couch, containers of their takeout spread on the coffee table, Flash gestured at her with a chicken strip. "So. Love. You said it's different for ponies. Want to start with explaining that?"
Chewing viciously on a fried shrimp, she grimaced. "Humans...are both fixated on romantic partnerships and disgustingly casual about it. Look at people at school--how many boyfriends has Whisper Song been through since the beginning of the year?"
He rolled his eyes. "Probably a dozen. Rumor has it she hit three dozen last year before summer break."
"...that's what I mean. Ponies don't do that. We...aren't constantly looking for a partner, and we don't dip in and out of relationships like that. Not every pony wants a partner, especially when we're young, and most don't go hunting for them like it's the most important thing in the world...but when we do find our Special Somepony, it tends to last. Maybe not forever, but years, even decades." Sunset popped another popcorn shrimp in her mouth, giving herself time to organize what she else wanted to say.
Flash studied her. "...in other words, you're not into casual dating and hook-ups."
Shaking her head, the former unicorn replied, "Not usually, no. I mean, there are some ponies who are, but they're...a minority and culturally, they're...outliers. But...that's not who I am."
"Except when you're faking a relationship for the social games?" her ex joked with a raised eyebrow.
Her face heated. "I felt uncomfortable the whole time," she admitted, unable to look up from the food in her lap. "In a lot of ways, I was...relieved...when you broke up with me."
A fist punched her shoulder lightly. "Relax, Sunset. I'm not angry, not anymore."
Sunset sighed. "I can't help it. I still feel terrible for what I did to you. I really am sorry about that."
"It sucked at the time, but it's okay, pony-girl. You were a different person then, and that person is not the one I'm friends with now." Flash gave her one of his goofy grins. "And as your friend, I'm curious. You say you're not into humans, and that you aren't one for casual dating...so....why Twilight? What makes her different?"
Her mouth opened to answer, but the weight of the question gave her pause. Why Twilight at all? Brows furrowed, she spoke haltingly, trying to find the right words to explain. "Twilight's...she's not like any human I've ever met," she said quietly. "She...she's smart, and funny in this dorky, endearing way, and she's the first person or pony I've really ever met who can have an intellectual conversation with me on my level--"
"Wow, ouch."
She snorted. "I don't mean it like that--I mean, I could talk advanced spatial calculus with her and she can do something other than stare in confusion at me because I'm throwing around high end theoretical math. We can talk for hours on all kinds of subjects, and even the ones I'm not great at she can somehow make interesting..." The redhead's expression softened as she thought about her girlfriend. "She also always seems to know just what I need when my head is at its worst, and I don't have to try and put feelings into words with her. She just...knows, as weird as that sounds. And it's the same with her--there's no games or manipulation with her. We just click, and...I trust her, more than I think I've ever trusted anybody. She's..." Twilight's own words came to her, and she smiled. "Sparky's my very best friend, and I wouldn't give that up for anything..."
The young man opposite her on the couch nodded, swallowing a mouthful of fries. "She sounds like a pretty cool person, Sunset, and a great friend." Then he canted his head to the side like Spike when he was curious. "What about when you kiss her? What's that feel like?"
Sunset felt her face go crimson. "Flash!" she yelped. That wasn't the kind of thing she was going to share with anyone else. "Inappropriate much?"
He shook his head. "I didn't mean it like that, Sunset. I mean in your heart, in your head? How does being with her as girlfriends make you feel? Like when you kiss her, what does it feel like?"
Relaxing and trying not to get hung up on the memories suddenly clamoring for her attention, the former unicorn took a few deep breaths. "...I feel...warm....happy. It's usually just the two of us, and she's a hugger, which means all I can see and smell and feel is her..."
She could feel the echo of that soft, slim body pressed against her, setting her nerves aflame and tying her up in knots with how badly she desired more. Her breath stuttered awkwardly in her lungs as she fought the reaction her body was having from memories alone. The last place she wanted to deal with her body betraying her was in front of Flash.
When she finally managed to look at him again, her face was even more flushed than before, but the redhead had managed to stave off the hunger that settled into her core. "...sorry..."
Flash arched a brow, looking amused. "I can safely say you definitely feel something for Twilight that goes beyond 'just friends.' I've never seen you look like that before."
"Like what?" Sunset asked, feeling a little uneasy. Had he been able to tell she was--
"Happy....but...happy in a way that comes from the heart and soul of a person. You never smile like that, and the way you sounded when you talk about your Twilight...like she's the world's greatest Christmas and birthday gifts all at once. You've got it bad for her, pony-girl."
Sunset thumped her head into the back of the couch. "But is it real feelings or is it something brought on by this body and its hormones?!" she demanded in a frustrated tone. "How do you humans tell the difference?!"
Her almost shout faded into silence, and Flash sighed. "...I wish I could give you a better answer on that, Sunset, but...everyone is different. The best advice I've ever heard is just 'you'll just know.'"
Bitterness crept into her response. "That doesn't exactly help me now...or help me figure out what she feels for me."
Flash stared at her for a long time, before he said, "Why are you in such a hurry to know, Sunset? Did Twilight give you some kind of ultimatum or deadline to figure out your feelings?"
The former unicorn shook her head sharply. "Of course not! Twilight wouldn't do that."
The young man nodded. "Okay, what about someone else putting pressure on you? Her family? Someone else who wants to date one of you?"
Sunset snorted. "The only member of her family who knows we're dating is her sister-in-law. And even if they did know, her parents...they aren't like that." Her ex-boyfriend seemed to mull over something for a long minute, and it made the redhead wonder exactly where he was going with his line of thought. "Flash, why are you asking me things like that?"
He held up a hand. "I have a reason, Sunset. Just one more question."
Scowling, she crossed her arms. "Fine. Ask."
"Is this need to know and define your feelings some kind of pony thing that I'm missing?"
That gave her pause. "...not exactly?" she hedged awkwardly. When he made a 'go ooon' motion with one hand, her shoulders sagged. "It's...it's complicated...and more of a 'Sunset the pony exile' thing that I really don't want to get into."
Flash sighed again. "Look, you want my honest opinion, pony-girl?" When she bobbed her head in a quick nod, he chuckled. "I think you're doing that thing where you overthink everything in order to have total control over the situation, Sunset. Just like our sophomore Spring dance--do you remember that?"
Her face flushed. That had been a near disaster that had almost undone her plans involving her staged relationship and after that, she'd governed the whole 'dating Flash' thing with a much lighter hand. He'd had a much better grasp on what human dating was supposed to be like anyway. "....yeah...that was..."
"Pretty awful?" he laughed. "That's my point here though. There's no reason to rush it. You don't have to know today, or tomorrow, or this week. Stop worrying about whether its some kind of 'monkey sex thing,'" he chastised, making air quotes with his fingers, "and just let yourself feel the way you feel with her. Sooner or later, you'll realize that you know the answer to what you're asking, without having to pick your relationship and your feelings apart like a math problem."
Sunset fell quiet, thinking over his words while she finished off her food. Maybe he had a point. She still had time--maybe not as much as he thought, given her girlfriend's insatiable curiosity and investigation into magic, not to mention the way it was becoming harder and harder to ignore the desire that burned inside her when she and Twilight were curled up together. And hadn't her and Twilight's whole foray into dating been about "trying and seeing where this goes?" It was definitely going somewhere, but it wasn't there yet, wherever "there" was. Sure, she would need to make a decision about what she was going to do eventually, but ...that could wait until she knew for sure what she felt, right?
Setting aside the empty styrofoam, she took a long swallow of her soda. "...maybe you're right. It...maybe I am overthinking it."
With a chuckle, Flash squeezed her shoulder with one hand. "Then stop, and let it just happen, Sunset. Maybe it's love, maybe it's just a high school romance, maybe it's just teen hormones and platonic feelings getting all twisted up together, maybe it's a love that will be the stuff of legends. Who can say? What matters is that you two are happy with where you are in the present moment. The rest you'll figure out in time. And with everything else you're worried about, you could stand to stop stressing about something."
She blew air out her nostrils on a resigned snort. "...you're not wrong. I need less stress in my life..."
A controller was dangled in front of her nose. "Then let me make good on my promise about today, and help you destress with some video games. You still like Smash Brothers, right?"
Her lips curved up into a competitive smirk. "Prepare to eat my fists, Sentry."
Flash made an overdramatic gurgling squeal, throwing himself half off the arm of the sofa. The hand not holding the controller stretched out towards Sunset beseechingly, and he rasped, "How...could...you? I thought...I was...one of your...favorite monkeys..."
It was so ridiculous, she couldn't help but laugh until her sides hurt. "There are no friends in Smash Brothers, Donkey Kong," she giggle-snorted. "Only enemies to be crushed!"
He went limp, hanging off the sofa arm like a ragdoll. "....betrayed!" Flash cried, "Betrayed by someone who abuses Kirby for a cheap victory!"
"Don't be such a sore loser," she returned. "I used the character as intended. It's not my fault you need to get good at the game." Her face was still scrunched up with laughter. "I don't even own this game and I kicked your flank up one side and down the other!"
The door opened as she gave him a shove with one booted foot and he fell dramatically onto the floor with an exaggerated sound of fake pain. "Sunset! How could you!" came the muffled words from where his face was smooshed into the carpet. "I trusted you!"
She barely heard him, freezing in place as his mother and sister stared at her from where they had just come in the front door. His mother was looking between the two of them with a slight frown. Sunset swallowed uncomfortably. "Um...Mrs. Sentinel...hi."
Flash immediately pushed himself up off the floor and back on to the couch. "Hey, Mom."
Before the woman could answer, the child at her side piped up with her own commentary on the scene. Flash's sister was...nine? Ten? Sunset couldn't remember exactly, and human ages were still something she had a hard time narrowing down, but it was definitely in that age category where both children and foals tended to say whatever came to mind, with no filter. "Is Sunset your girlfriend again? She didn't do a very good job last time--girlfriends aren't supposed to make boys cry."
The redhead winced, both at the remark itself and the way it changed the room's atmosphere into a tense mass of awkwardness and embarrassment. Her ex-boyfriend turned a bright shade of vermilion. "Ivory, that's not really--" he started, but again the child interrupted.
"Yeah it is! I heard you crying!"
Flash's mother put a firm hand on her daughter's shoulder. "That's enough. Leave your brother alone. Go in the kitchen and get your snack, then sit at the table and do your homework."
Pouting, Ivory scuffed her feet on the floor on the way to the kitchen, making squeaking sounds with her shoes the whole time. She gave Sunset a dirty look, like the former unicorn was somehow at fault for her being yelled at. It didn't help make her any less uncomfortable and she decided maybe she should leave before it got worse or Mrs. Sentinel could throw her out.
Just as she was gathering herself to make an excuse to leave, the older woman turned her attention back to the two teenagers. Her mouth was pressed into a thin line--not a frown, but definitely unhappy. Flash rubbed the back of his neck. "Thanks, Mom. It's really not something I wanted the third degree over..."
Mrs. Sentinel flicked her gaze to her oldest child. "Tactless as your sister was, she did raise an interesting point. I'd like an answer as to what is going on here, given everything she put you through last September."
Oh, ponyfeathers, horseapples, and flaming hydra farts. Sunset cringed back, trying to decide if making a break for the door would generate enough surprise to get her unscathed past Flash's mother, or if maybe going through the window was a better option, despite the hassle of glass shards in thin human flesh. It'd probably be the less painful option, truthfully.
Flash narrowed his eyes, his blush fading only somewhat as embarrassed awkwardness gave way to frustrated indignation. "Mom!" he protested.
"I know it's a personal detail, Flash, but it doesn't take a lot of inference to put together what happened and how badly you were hurt," Mrs. Sentinel responded, brushing some dark green hair back from her face. "I'd hate for that to happen again, just because someone is playing games with your feelings."
The look being leveled her way didn't do anything to alleviate the guilt and shame overtaking Sunset, and she shrank into her seat, mentally preparing herself for a dressing down that frankly was well deserved.
The young man on the couch with her had other ideas, however. "Look, Sunset and I talked about that," Flash said firmly. "Why we broke up and why it didn't work between us is not really anyone else's business but ours." Blue eyes glanced towards Sunset worriedly. "There was a lot going on I didn't know about at the time, and I forgave her for what happened. It's my choice to be her friend now."
The words burst out of Sunset as a fresh wave of painful guilt and shame rolled over her. "Flash, your mother's right. I was horrible to you, and you didn't deserve any of it. I used you for my own reasons and my own gain, and then treated your feelings like garbage. She has every right to hate me and be suspicious, because she's your mom, and she loves you." The words hurt to say, but she could see it, the fierce protectiveness in Mrs. Sentinel's dark eyes that was the same as the one in Twilight Velvet's when she'd finally detailed her grievances with Crystal Prep to her family, and she knew it was true.
"....Sunset..." Flash started, but trailed off.
She gave him a crooked smile, more to mask the pain that stabbed through her when she realized she couldn't ever remember the Princess of the Sun looking at her that way than it was out of any humor. "It's fine. You're lucky, you know? To have a mom that loves you that much. Don't get mad at her for it." You're lucky to have a mother at all, her mind added for her, the thought steeped in bitterness and hurt.
She started to collect her trash--no use in leaving behind a bigger mess--partially to give her a chance to put emotions back in the box she tried hard to bury in the corner of her soul. Flash made a sound in his throat, before he turned on his mom.
"Mom, she has a girlfriend." The words were surprisingly soft spoken, but they cut through the suddenly silent house like a cannon shot.
The silence felt like a heavy suffocating blanket, weighing down on Sunset's whole body until she felt like she couldn't breathe right. Her hand clenched harder around her empty soda bottle, the creaking of strained plastic providing some measure of relief from the strained absence of noise. She watched as the expression on the older woman's face shifted through a variety of emotions, all directed at Sunset herself: shock, confusion, mistrust, anger, and finally, slowly enough that Sunset could practically read her contextualizing her former knowledge with that new piece, a sort of understanding. It lacked the warmth and welcome of Velvet and Night had always been so quick to show her, but at least it didn't seem quite so unpleasant as before. It didn't help with the oppressive lack of sound either, but at least the unicorn-turned-human no longer felt like she was being stared down by an angry bear.
Then from the kitchen, Flash's sister called, "No wonder she was a bad girlfriend--she likes kissing girls! Maybe you'd have had better luck if you had boobs, Flash!"
Flash rolled his eyes in annoyance, before giving Sunset an apologetic smile. His mother snapped towards the kitchen, "That's enough, Ivory Raven! You know better than to interject in conversations that are not your business! Now either pay attention to your homework, or you can do it in your room, without your snack!"
That shut Ivory up, and made Flash sigh with relief, rubbing the back of his neck again. "So...yeah..." he said awkwardly. "It just took until we talked again to understand why I'm really not her type."
Sunset shook her head. "It doesn't excuse how awful and ugly I was to you before, Flash. You're too nice a guy to deserve that, no matter what my personal reasons may have been." She could recall, with clarity, just how devastated he'd looked when he'd come to her that day, a week or two into the school year, presenting her with an ultimatum about her behavior and their relationship, and she'd laughed at him.
"So let me get this straight. You don't like how I run this school, and if I don't give up everything I've spent years working towards, you'll...break up with me?" Her eyes were like blue-green ice chips as they raked over the young man in front of her.
Flash nodded. "Sunset, you don't need to do all this to be great and popular. It's not worth it, and you'll have more friends if you're nicer to people. Like you used to be. All this popularity is going to your head, and it's...you've changed." He looked down, saddened. "...and I don't know if I can love the person you're becoming."
It was almost too much, the hilarity of it. This stupid human boy really was a gullible fool who'd believed her entire act. Where had someone like Flash been when she was a filly? She burst into laughter, the sound tinged with both mockery and bitterness. "Love me? You don't love me," she sneered, "and the fact that you've deluded yourself into believing that is the most pathetic thing I've ever heard."
His head snapped up, blue eyes wide and startled. "What? No, that--I do love you, Sunset...You're a lot of fun to spend time with when you aren't focused on being popular."
More laughter filled the air, and she let her disgust and sour amusement twist her flat face into as much of a nasty expression as this body could get. "You really mean that, don't you? You really are a stupid creature," the redhead mocked. "Especially if you think I would change my plans for someone like you." Sunset got closer, staring him down. "Your threats are nothing more than the hollow barking of a puppy on a very, very short chain. You see, I don't need you anymore--and I certainly don't have any actual feelings for an underdeveloped, emotionally unstable, simpering ape that follows me around with so much air between his ears."
"What?" Flash's voice wavered. "Sunset--"
"Maybe I didn't make myself clear enough." She spoke slowly, enunciating each word with emphasis and clarity, driving each one home like a dagger. "I. Don't. Care. About. You. I never did. You were a means to an end, and you have served your purpose admirably."
Her ire spiked as his eyes filled with actual tears. "You--but I--how--I love y--"
"That's your problem, not mine. Snips! Snails!" She snarled, snapping her fingers.
Her two flunkies appeared at her elbow. "Yes, Sunset Shimmer?" one of them asked, practically saluting her.
"Get him out of here. His whimpering is giving me a migraine, and I have more important things to do." Like the final draft of plans for the theft of one of the most powerful magical artifacts ever known. She turned, ignoring the way her two lackies mocked and pushed the stunned, distraught form of her now ex-boyfriend out of the room.
She shook herself out of the memories. "You deserved a lot better than me, and I know that eventually, some girl is going to be very lucky to have you."
His brow furrowed, searching her face. "Sunset, we talked about that. I had a chance to get it all off my chest and I forgave you. It sucked, but it's behind us, and I'd like to think we're pretty decent friends now."
Mrs. Sentinel chose that moment to interrupt the teens. "Your ability to forgive others is one of your most wonderful traits, dear," she told her son. "I just wish it wasn't something you needed quite so much." Then she turned her focus back on Sunset. "I'm...still not happy with how you hurt him," she told the redhead, "but I can understand why it happened. Figuring out who you are as a teenager is hard enough without throwing sexuality into the mix."
Sunset's gut churned, the food that had tasted so delicious a short time ago now sitting heavy in her stomach. The woman was offering something like a smile, but it was a smile Sunset had grown up seeing--polite, but it didn't quite reach the woman's blue eyes. "I've had to do a lot of...self reflecting since the fall," she admitted, not entirely sure herself if she meant the season or her nosedive into a crater courtesy of a rainbow. "There were...a lot of things I did because I didn't know there were better options, and because I was afraid. It doesn't undo what I did, Mrs. Sentinel, and I know that, but...I am trying to be better."
The eyes might have softened just a fraction, but it was hard to read. "...I guess there aren't many ways to break that kind of news pleasantly to someone who believes that you return their feelings, especially when you went to such trouble to make it look like you did."
Sunset winced. "I...I know. I could have handled it better...but at the time I was..." The former unicorn hesitated. "At the time I was in a really bad place, and I wasn't a very good person. I had things I thought I wanted, and I was willing to do whatever I had to to get them." Guilt gnawed at her--she wasn't lying, but it felt...wrong, somehow, to let the woman think this whole conversation was about her being like Twilight: afraid of people finding out her preferences in a partner, when it very much wasn't. But she also knew that the real truth would just put her friends in danger, risk her own cover, and potentially make the woman think she was either insane or on drugs, so she shoved the feeling down. "I learned the hard way how wrong I was, and in the end, it left me with nothing."
Flash reached over and patted her shoulder. "You have friends now, Sunset, and we accept you for who and what you are. And we all forgave you for what happened before."
Smiling at him, the former tyrant queen of CHS, nodded. "I know, and I can't tell you how grateful I am because of that."
Mrs. Sentinel made a noise Sunset couldn't place, addressing her son. "You really are such a sweet and compassionate young man, dear. Your friends are very lucky to have you in their lives."
The words struck home, hard, and Sunset found herself mulling them over. His mother had raised a lot of good points, especially the last, considering her own history with her ex. With everything she had done, the fact that he had been willing to forgive and just let it go, no strings attached, and without the sense of obligation that had jumpstarted her friendship with the girls...it was something amazing. He really was a good person, and she was glad to be able to call him a friend.
Sunset realized something else in that moment. Even after everything, Flash had believed that she had changed, was capable of change...and in a way, she wondered if he had always seen her, and not the facade--as Rarity was keen to point out, her acting skills weren't really that great. It was a sobering revelation, and she studied the young man with new eyes and a warm smile. "Yeah...you're right. I am pretty lucky to be his friend." |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter Ninety Four: In the Middle | Hopping out of her father's car, Twilight barely looked back as she called a goodbye and shut the door, not really hearing the words that the car door slamming cut off. Her mind was already elsewhere--continued tests with her portable tracker had led her to random locations for seemingly no reason, and she needed to refine its design. That meant disassembling it and redoing several core components, and she'd spent most of her Sunday sketching and refining schematics for those parts, and she could finally act on those ideas.
The halls had a surprising number of students in them given how early it was, and Twilight did her best to remain out of their way as she hurried to her lab. The path there had never felt so long as it did now, with the sensation of eyes periodically boring into her back, and she wondered if it was in part a trick of the light. Maybe it was the early hour, or the fact that it was winter, but the school felt unnaturally dim...
By the time she escaped into the safety of her lab, Twilight was more jittery than if she'd drunk three cups of coffee in short order. She took a few minutes to lean against the back of the closed door and breathe, trying to calm her racing heart and dispel whatever the feeling was that had come over her in the hall. It was highly irrational, and the dark haired teen scolded herself for it, before dropping into her chair and retrieving the updated blueprints for her tracker.
Deft fingers worked the screwdriver to start disassembling the device into its component parts as Twilight added to her audio logs on the project, her voice steady and even as she detailed her thoughts, her theories, her intended alterations to the device in hopes of refining its detection...
Only to be interrupted when the door slammed open, the startled yelp escaping her as she practically flung her scanner across the room in her surprise. Twilight tried to calm her racing heart as parts from her device went skittering everywhere, disrupting the perfect layout she'd created on the desk in front of her, and her keen ear caught the tell-tale tinkling sound of delicate components being rendered into useless shards.
Wallflower eyed her with an odd expression Twilight couldn't parse, a strange gleam in her eyes. "I swear, I should rename you Twilight Kitty..." she commented in her flat, dry tone. "Then I could film the way you look when someone jump-scares you and post it up on a page for startled cats--I bet if you had a tail it would be straight out behind you right now and puffed up just like my neighbor's cat."
The other girl's lips twisted in something resembling a faint smile, but it seemed somehow...off...to Twilight, for reasons she couldn't explain. She cleared her throat, seeking clarification when the confusion did not resolve after a dozen seconds or so. "Am I safe to assume you were attempting some kind of humorous joke, Wallflower? I'm afraid I seem to be lacking some kind of context for it." At least Wallflower never seemed to mind her asking.
Her friend stared at her for almost twice as long as Twilight had, until Twilight shifted, feeling uncomfortably akin to an insect under a microscope. Had Twilight misinterpreted entirely what was said? Surely it had to be humor, since they were friends. Sunset teased her all the time, and it was one of the many ways she showed her affection and attention to even the smallest actions. At last, Wallflower's smile twitched just a hair, and she answered. "Yes Twilight, it's a joke. One of those things people do. Well done."
Twilight shook her head a little, turning her attention back to consider how to salvage the mess her workstation was now in, only to have to suppress another yelp when a firm hand grabbed her by the shoulder. "Oh no way, Twilight, not after the conversation I just had in the hall. No disappearing into nerd-land right now for you, kitty-cat," Wallflower told her flatly, physically tugging Twilight away from the desk. "Cinch grabbed me, and I'm now grabbing you. We have an assembly to attend, and apparently you are Cinch's guest of honor--I can't see any other reason she'd take time out of her day to ensure you made it."
It was times like this that Twilight hated her difficulties with reading people. As always, the green haired girl's delivery was emotionless, but for a brief second, she thought there was something else layered beneath the normal indifference. A fleeting thought went through her mind, that she wished Sunset were with her, because her girlfriend was exceptionally good at both deciphering and explaining people's emotions and behaviors in a way that always made sense to her.
The thought was knocked away when the grip on her shoulder became a grip on her upper arm, and Wallflower made to lever her up out of the chair by force. She made a vague sound of protest--she was capable of getting up on her own, after all--and tried to pull away from the other teen's grip.
Wallflower gave an exasperated sigh, and pulled on her again. "Look, Twilight," she said, terse now. "I might be your friend, but no friendship is worth Cinch's displeasure. Get up and let's go, before the principal comes for you herself, because if that happens, its my head. So if you're having one of your little weird Twilight Sparkle emotional fits or whatever, just...deal with it later. We have to get to the auditorium now."
Suddenly the rough words and invasion of her personal space made sense. Wallflower was her friend, but Principal Cinch was an intimidating woman, and it was completely reasonable for her to fear reprisal if she failed the task the administrator had given her. Twilight herself had no want to be on the receiving end of the principal's temper either, and she realized that Wallflower's actions, unkind as they appeared, were merely the actions of someone trying her best to keep them both out of trouble, and Twilight wasn't helping matters with her behavior.
She gave herself a little shake and replied in a voice smaller than she would have liked, "I'm sorry Wallflower. Let me just straighten my uniform and we can be going. I don't want you to get in trouble with Principal Cinch." Her friend smiled in response, an expression that seemed to hold more than a little satisfaction, though Twilight assumed it was because she had finally gotten the message Wallflower was trying to impart on her.
Once in the hall, the green haired girl kept harrying Twilight with little pokes and none too gentle prodding that left her feeling even more off balance than normal, leaving her to stumble awkwardly over her own feet. If Wallflower hadn't been her friend, Twilight would have found the constant and unwanted intrusions into her personal bubble as not just unpleasant but also upsetting. As tactile as she was with people she cared about, she didn't care much for being touched by people she didn't invite to initiate contact.
In order to distract herself from the growing discomfort, she started to ask a question. "We didn't have an assembly scheduled for today. Did Principal Cinch say--"
"Don't get distracted, Twilight. We don't have time. Just focus on getting to the auditorium--preferably before Cinch starts, not after, like the principal wanted. And no, I don't know what this is for. I didn't ask, because honestly, I don't care that much."
There was a surge of emotion through her that Twilight almost wanted to label as resentment, which she did her best to squelch. Wallflower was her friend, and for all her abrasive tendencies, she meant well. This was likely just the way in which her friend's anxiety and stress manifested, as biting commentary and aggression. Twilight herself knew just how badly a person's behavior could be affected by those feelings, and how they could make someone act in a way that wasn't nice to those around them.
Her own anxieties over being potentially late to whatever this assembly was began making her worry, and she tried to hurry along faster, focusing on not tripping over her own feet in the process. It didn't help much, as not more than twenty seconds later she stumbled. She would have gone crashing to the floor painfully if Wallflower's grip on her upper arm hadn't hauled her up short, tightening so forcefully in the process that Twilight was concerned she might develop a bruise from it.
"Oh for the love of--seriously, Twilight, get your head out of whatever useless doohickey you're daydreaming about and pay attention? We're almost there, and we're cutting it close as is. I really don't want to get a tongue lashing from Cinch." Her tone shifted from exasperation to something Twilight couldn't place. "And if you're worried about whatever piece broke, don't. Just ask your dad to buy a new one when he picks you up later. I'm sure he'll be happy to."
Confused and unsure, Twilight tried briefly to puzzle over why Wallflower's tone had turned momentarily ugly at the mention of her father. Her father picking her up from school was such a normal, prosaic thing, something parents did, as far as she was aware....but maybe that was the problem. Her friend had made a number of mentions of parents who seemed a bit absentee--was it possible she was envious of Twilight having parents who paid attention to her?
A forceful tug on her arm snatched the thoughts away and sent a jolt of pain through her shoulder as she almost tripped again, and Wallflower caught her awkwardly. She opened her mouth but once again she was cut off by her friend as the auditorium door was jerked open.
"....just move Twilight. We can talk once we're inside and won't get in trouble with the Wicked Witch of West Canterlot."
Twilight gave up on trying to talk in favor of freeing herself from the grip on her arm and heading for an empty seat that was towards the back and well away from anyone who had it out for her. If she tried to say anything right now, she was likely to bungle it--her agitation and anxiety had risen too high for her to communicate effectively. Unconsciously, her fingers found the key on the lanyard hidden under the formal uniform, pulling it out to run her fingers over the bumps and ridges to sooth her emotions and bring her back to something akin to equilibrium.
Wallflower plunked herself down a moment later next to the dark haired teen with a heavy sigh. A lot of the tension seemed to bleed out of the other girl as she slumped into the chair and kicked the seat in front of her. Twilight decided that it was proof positive that Cinch's words had intimidated her friend badly, and resolved not to mention the bruised ache in her upper arm and shoulder.
"Looks like we're right in time to sit here like adoring little minions while our Supreme Leader favors us with her attention and wisdom." Grimacing, Wallflower rolled her eyes. "Probably for how to achieve the perfect life of emotional solitude and detachment from such human failings as love, empathy, and compassion." Twilight thought she detected a faint sarcastic lilt to the words, one she was used to in Sunset's voice when the redhead was being snarky, and she decided that Wallflower was attempting to cover up her earlier distress with humor. In response, she offered her friend an uneasy smile, still trying to calm her own emotions.
Fingers traced the key again, counting each ridge and contour, and calling to mind Sunset sitting next to her, leaning close to murmur in her ear. She could practically feel amber fingers closing around the hand gripping the house key. "Deep breaths, Sparky," Sunset's voice echoed through her mind. "I'm right here. You're safe..."
Her breathing eased, and she started to relax, only to be interrupted by the reality of Wallflower replacing the fantasy of her girlfriend. Mental Sunset dissolved away with a frown toward the green haired teen, and Twilight fought the urge to mirror it as she tucked the key back safely under her shirt. "What did you say?" she asked, aware that the other girl had spoken to her.
Another eyeroll and her friend whispered, "I was saying 'Who knows? Maybe certain rumors going around are true, and she feels we need a lecture on the iniquities of being distracted from our studies by temptations of the flesh.' Wouldn't that be something? So much for CPA's oh-so-important 'reputation.'"
'Temptations of the flesh?' What could Wallflower possibly mean by--
Twilight's brain ground to a halt as memories rose unbidden, memories from half a dozen incidents in the hall in the last few weeks since the incident in the locker room with Indigo.
"Sparkle! Is it true? Did Suri really catch you with her boyfriend in the locker room?"
"I heard it was behind the bleachers after school."
Twilight tried to push the thoughts away, but more floated up from her subconscious mind.
"Hey, Sparkle, I heard that your tuition is being paid for by the old one knee approach. Couldn't Mummy and Daddy afford to pay the old fashioned way?"
The rumors were bad enough, but the brutal fashion by which some of her peers were trying to pry into her personal life was worse in her book.
"So what kind of boy does it take to get the great and brilliant super genius Twilight Sparkle to look up from her books? He can't possibly be attractive at all, because...well, look at you! If you were any more of a huge dork, you'd be dressing like an eighty year old librarian."
Anxiety rose as she shook herself out of the memories, warring against her better judgment with a painful need to know what Wallflower. Taking a slow, deep breath, she imagined holding hands with Sunset in her mind, until she would swear she could feel the strength of warm amber fingers squeezing hers, that strength flowing from her girlfriend into her. How would Sunset deal with this?
"Just ask casually," she imagined Sunset saying. "Like you want clarification, not details. She looks eager to overshare anyway, and you are both just killing time."
Right. Easier said than done, but...
"It...would have to be some kind of particularly salacious rumor for Principal Cinch to call a surprise assembly--she's a busy woman with a very important job, and it is a Friendship Games year." Twilight was proud of the fact that she managed to speak without her voice giving her away. "She doesn't really possess enough free time to be concerned with the day to day drama of teenagers."
At her side, the mental projection of her redheaded girlfriend gave her an encouraging, crooked smile, one of the smiles that always made butterflies swarm in her stomach and her heart skip a few beats. It was almost unfair that even in her imagination, Sunset was able to affect her like that. "That's my girl!" Or that even a fake version, created by her mind and memories could somehow still manage to possess enough of the real Sunset's charismatic personality and inflection to turn her insides to jello.
Wallflower shifted her gaze towards Twilight and gave a slow, laconic shrug. "Twilight, you should know by now that certain people are never too busy when they have a chance to exert their control or drive home how immoral and disgraceful the behavior of teenagers today is. After all, we're all headed straight for a life in the gutter or on a street corner without them providing strict structure and guidance." Her tone still managed to convey sarcasm despite the complete lack of emotion. "Adults do that, it doesn't matter who. Parents, teachers, librarians, cops, even that little old lady in the park feeding all the pigeons, they all just want to police our lives to tell us all the things we can't do. Which usually amounts to anything that would feel good, make us happy, or make us be anything but obedient little adults in training. And they especially want to control teenagers' sex lives."
Twilight's ears grew hot, and she shifted uncomfortably, her nose wrinkling before she could stop it. "While on some level that may be true, Wallflower, do you really think the principal will lecture us about it?"
The green haired girl studied her intently for a minute, before rolling her eyes. "Twilight, if she's paid attention to even half the rumors I have, she'll be salivating over the chance to do so."
Something in her tone made Twilight's stomach shift and squirm unpleasantly, and suddenly she didn't want to know about these rumors. The Sunset in her mind's eye squeezed her hand, making her feel warm inside for a different reason. "Whatever it is, you're not alone, Sparky."
It was a comfort Twilight soon found herself grateful to have, as her friend began detailing some of the rumors she'd heard in the halls from other students. The ones relating who had been caught cheating on who were bad enough, but the last rumor Wallflower started describing--about one of the senior girls and a number of boys from the football team--made her feel downright ill.
What relief she might have gained from the fact that none of the rumors involved her or the incident in the locker room showers was drowned out by the way Wallflower was talking now.
"I don't know how much is true, of course, but she kinda seems like the type to enjoy three guys from the team pinning her down all at the same time. I can't see them being overly interested in her otherwise--she's not exactly a runway model." Wallflower shook her head.
Twilight swallowed both bile and words, feeling like her skin was crawling with the half remembered touch from the boys in the park, trying to fight off the way her brain fixated on the rumor and its similarities to her assault. There had been four of them that night, after all, and they'd made their intentions clear...
"Twilight..." whispered that warm voice in her ear. "Breathe. It didn't happen, and I made sure they won't hurt you ever again. It's okay." The mental form conjured by her mind gave Wallflower a dirty look before turning a smile on Twilight. "And if she's talking about something that bothers you like this, ask her to change the subject."
That was a good idea. Even an imaginary Sunset seemed capable of helping Twilight find practical solutions to problems. She opened her mouth to speak, but it was at that moment that the lights in the auditorium dimmed and Principal Cinch stepped out onto the stage with all the regal bearing of a queen, becoming the instant focus for the whole school.
Wallflower fell silent immediately--Principal Cinch was legendary in the school for her ability to zero in on someone who was not paying her sufficient attention and respect, and unspoken but equally legendary was how she could reduce the most arrogant of students to a quivering wreck with little more than a stare and a few deliberately chosen words. Twilight watched as the woman began her walk across the stage, not for the first time in awe of her Principal's ability to effortlessly draw every eye in the room to her. Between one step and the next, she radiated a sense of presence and charisma that demanded attention. It was a skill that the teen had only seen in a few people in her life, though it seemed a bit different depending on the person, but it was definitely not a gift that Twilight possessed.
As one, the students in the auditorium rose to their feet when Principal Cinch began her trek across the stage, waiting with what felt like baited breath as her stern gaze surveyed them as a general might her troops. As the silence stretched, starting to become tense and full of disquiet, the woman finally spoke, her voice never seeming to rise above conversational levels and yet reaching every corner of the room with crisp clarity.
"You may be seated, students of Crystal Prep."
Once again, the students moved, still in almost eerie silence and unison, like an army of automatons preprogrammed to function as a collective, returning to their chairs. The only sound that could be heard was the very faint rustle of clothing, as even the fabric did not want to risk Abacus Cinch's displeasure. Twilight's anxiety spiked, making it hard to breathe, as her principal's face grew even more stern and pinched, gazing out at the students as if they were a group of puppies she expected to piddle on a priceless rug at any moment.
"Reputation." The word echoed painfully through the cavernous room with all the edge of a weapon. "In this world, reputation matters. It can open...or close...doors. It can make the difference between success or failure. Your reputation as an individual affects the reputation of the institutions you are associated with." Sharp eyes raked over the room. "And...the reputation of those institutions can improve yours." Those eyes settled on a member of the audience. "Miss Flare, what does Crystal Prep Academy's reputation mean to students like you?"
"The best of the best, ma'am. Crystal Prep students have the best, brightest futures and are successful. It means acceptance to almost every school worth mentioning in this country, and several internationally." Sunny Flare answered promptly. "It also makes people listen in business and political circles, acting as an endorsement by association alone."
"Correct. Crystal Prep has a reputation of excellence and quality, far above any other school one could name, and that reputation is passed, in turn, to its alumni." There might have been a hint of...approval? Pride? Something...yet the Principal's countenance darkened, making Twilight cringe in her seat, shaking.
"But," and the word was more frigid than the weather outside, "a reputation means expectations."
Oh no. Wallflower had been right...and Principal Cinch had to know about the locker room incident by now. Twilight struggled to draw in a full breath, seeking futilely to push down the rising panic in her chest.
"Hey..." came the soft voice in her mind, an image of Sunset reforming as Twilight grabbed for it in desperation. "Breathe, Sparky. You don't know yet what this is, and you're just winding yourself up. Don't borrow trouble."
Twilight drew on the memory of arms holding her tight, and felt the panic recede until she could breathe again and properly hear the principal's speech again.
"The Friendship Games are fast approaching, and Crystal Prep has a reputation to maintain. The truth is, it does not matter if this school wins the Games. What matters more is that we are expected to win. It is part of the school's reputation--Crystal Prep Academy is leagues above some trite public school filled with the offspring of the working class, and thus, the outcome of the games should go to the superior school every time."
Mental Sunset made a face. "Ponyfeathers...I bet she's a real laugh at parties. This is the woman that intimidates you, Sparky? She looks like she's just bitten into a really sour lemon." A glance towards the stage and she snorted. "Make that two lemons."
Part of Twilight wanted to laugh until she cried, not because she agreed with the vision of Sunset her mind had conjured up--quite the opposite, since she felt her principal was a talented and skilled woman, and her severity was just how she got the respect she was due. No...she wanted to laugh because of the sense of lightheaded relief running through her. Principal Cinch never deferred disciplinary actions for other matters. If she had been intending to make an example of a student in front of their peers, it was always done first, so that the full impact of her displeasure and disappointment carried through while she had their undivided attention. That meant that she was not about to get called up in front of the school and have strips taken off of her verbally for what happened the other week.
The teen settled on allowing herself a small smile at the fact that her girlfriend really would make a terrible joke like that, if for no other reason than to settle Twilight's nerves. Mental Sunset gave her a playful wink. "That's my girl," she said, and her hand moved to toy with Twilight's neat bun. Not that she actually felt anything, but Sunset was prone to little physical touches like that, and so her imagination supplied them to the facsimile.
A sharp nudge from Wallflower pulled her from her contemplation on Sunset's traits and manner of dispensing affection back to the stiff and unpleasant atmosphere of the auditorium and the Principal's speech. "Superior breed, hmm? I'm guessing Cinch has never tried to have a one on one conversation with Suri or Upper Crust." Wallflower's eyes gleamed with amusement, despite her flat expression and the way she never turned her head, but something about the whole thing...felt wrong, somehow.
"Speaking of lemons, Sparky, she's a real sour one. What's her issue?"
Twilight shook her head slightly at both Wallflower and the mental projection of Sunset. She didn't want to get caught talking over the Principal, not with one of the teachers walking past their row of seats. Not to mention, if she chose to answer a figment of her own imagination, where others could hear, they'd question her sanity. Instead, she tried to tune back into the speech.
"...field their team by a ridiculous popularity contest among the drooling masses. This ensures an even greater lead, as Crystal Prep selects our team for the Games based on skill and ability, fielding our top twelve students to uphold the reputation for superiority and excellence that this school is known for..."
Twilight frowned, finding herself disconnecting from her Principal's spiel as the woman began to rabble rouse the student body's 'school spirit' against Canterlot High even as she talked about the team selection process. The dark haired girl had no interest in where she could find the posted results of the names who had made it into the "top ten percent of performers" in the school--even with her improvements in her physicality, she was solidly average, and thus not even in the running compared to some of the outstanding athletes on the sports teams. Nor did she particularly care about the selection process that would be used in a month to pick the final members of the team as well as those who would be allowed to come on the trip to the games themselves to "support CPA's crushing victory," since she wasn't planning on going at all. Her project was more important, and going to her girlfriend's school where she would have to pretend they were utter strangers as well as rivals for some sports competition would stress her out far too much.
Instead, she turned her attention to her scanning device--she knew Wallflower had broken one of the components in her earlier haste, but she hadn't seen which one. There were only so many it could have been, and she gave thought to how to replace each one if it turned out to be the broken one.
Speaking of Wallflower, her friend was still keeping up her low running commentary of Principal Cinch's speech.
The other teen's eyes flitted around and once she was sure the patrolling teacher had her back turned, she rolled her eyes. "'Hail Caesar,'" she whispered to Twilight. "'We who are about to die salute you' and blah blah blah...seriously. Someone needs to tell her that the Games aren't the Roman Circus, and this isn't a gladiator school..." Then a smirk curled up the corners of her mouth and she gave Twilight a nudge. "Not that I'd object too strongly to some of the seniors on the sports teams battling it out wearing a leather jockstrap and oiled up like a Greek Olympiad. They're jerks, but they could still provide a girl with some nice eye candy."
Her stomach twisted, and she could picture mental Sunset making a face. "Ugh...that's gross, Sparky," she could hear her girlfriend say. "Not only would they reek of sweat, they'd smell like a stale fry vat from a cheap fast food place. I need a shower just thinking about that."
"I...think I would pass on that, Wallflower," she whispered back. "Physique does not really compensate for a toxic personality and the way they treat me." That was a safe statement. It wasn't overly negative, and the reason she gave was factual and logical, while not mentioning the fact that she was not attracted to men.
Wallflower stared at her for a long moment, before sighing. "You don't have to care about their personality to enjoy the view, Twilight. Taking a few peeks at some well toned abs doesn't mean you're asking a guy to marry you."
She didn't really have a response to that that wouldn't potentially out her, so she shrugged and fell silent. While it was true she did enjoy the sight of a physically attractive woman--especially Sunset, her subconscious reminded her, along with a few mental images that had been the cause of more than one intense dream--she never felt quite right about ogling them, even in photos. It felt...intrusive? Crude maybe? Even the few peeks she'd gotten of Sunset were things she felt a little guilty over and they'd been accidents.
Her cheeks grew warm at that thought and her friend snickered. "Yeah. That's what I thought. Guess the high and mighty Twilight Sparkle isn't so different from the rest of us mere mortals after all."
That only made her blush more as the vision of Sunset conjured by her imagination blew her a kiss with a playful wink. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter Ninety Five: Highway to Hell | Twilight frowned at the broken component, wracking her brain for how to replace it. It was a piece she'd scavenged second hand from a failed project she'd made last summer, and she couldn't remember exactly which thing she'd pulled apart initially to acquire it. It might've been an old television, or a small radar gun, or any number of a dozen broken and scrapped machines. And that was the piece that Wallflower's frantic behavior earlier had destroyed--all for an assembly that had nothing to do with her.
With a heavy sigh, she began taking notes on the broken piece, so she could look up where she might find one to replace it. This would set her research back several days, and that was upsetting, and she hoped she could make up for it before her weekly progress meeting with Principal Cinch on Thursday.
The friend responsible for her setback had followed her back to the lab, still hung up on offering her commentary on the assembly, but Twilight had long since tuned out what Wallflower was saying...which worked fine until it didn't.
"Twilight, are you even listening?"
Stress and anxiety made her tone a little shorter than normal. "Not really, Wallflower. I don't particularly care about the Friendship Games, or this petty 'rivalry' with CHS. I plan on spending the day of the games right here, in this lab, working on my project. And right now, that project has hit a snag because your somewhat aggressive manhandling of my person earlier caused the destruction of a delicate and difficult to replace component integral to my energy scanning device."
Wallflower looked taken aback by Twilight's brusqueness. "It was an accident, Twilight," she responded stiffly.
"I understand that, but I do not remember exactly where and how I acquired it in the first place, and that will take me time to sort out and replace. Time I do not necessarily have." The dark haired girl gave her friend a long, somewhat hard stare. "While your desire to not be on the receiving end of any ire by our Principal is reasonable, you may have simply created a situation where her displeasure will be felt in other ways."
It looked like Wallflower was trying to determine if Twilight was serious or not and she finally shook her head. "There's no need to try and scare me Twilight--it was an accident and I'm sorry a piece of your project broke, but I don't understand why you can't get your parents to buy you the parts you need. It's not like they're hurting for the money."
She frowned. While it was true that her family was well off, her parents had never had the kind of frivolous spending habits often found among the upper class members of society. Her mother shopped at sales and used coupons, and her father was often content with cheaper, storebrand goods for generic purchases. Plus, both of them had been firm with Twilight and Shining--if they wished to spend money on things, they had to either work for it or provide a reasonable explanation for why they needed it. Otherwise, they were instructed to save their weekly allowance and birthday money. They didn't just buy whatever she asked for immediately. "That's not really the point, Wallflower," she responded finally. "My parents don't just buy everything I want when I ask. I have to explain myself."
"So do that. It's for a school project, so they can't complain, and you told us you love taking stuff apart. They can buy a bunch of stuff for you to do just that. Win-win for you." The other girl shrugged. "If anything, I've kind of accidentally done you a favor that means you'll get all kinds of new things to take apart."
Twilight blinked at her friend, unsure how to take that. A favor? By wrecking her work? How did she even reach that conclusion? "A favor?" she repeated dumbly, trying to make sure she'd heard that right.
"Yup," her friend responded cheerfully. "A favor, and one I kind of want to cash in right now."
Her head spun, confusion and disbelief drowning out her other feelings. Had she missed something somewhere? "Cash it in?"
"Oh yeah, totally, because it seems you've been holding out on me."
"I...don't understand, holding out what?" Twilight asked, now completely lost.
Wallflower's smile became a smirk. "I heard that you got caught sucking face with Suri's ex boyfriend--and you didn't tell me that you'd gone and gotten one over on her...and maybe a leg too, over that statuesque hunk of muscle and abs?" Her voice was as dry as the Sahara. "I'm hurt."
Twilight turned red. "Because there was nothing to tell! It was a stupid rumor started because Indigo mistook a bruise for a hickey in the locker room and she only has one volume setting: obnoxiously loud."
Her companion took in her hunched shoulders and red face. "Are you sure? Because if you're getting some on the side and its pissing Suri off, that's worth sharing."
"I'm not 'getting some,'" Twilight replied, hoping Wallflower would drop it. Especially because there was a part of her that very much wished she was--with a girlfriend like Sunset it was a very easy thing to wish for. "And I certainly wouldn't want Suri's leftovers. The guys she dates are the exact opposite of what I would consider for a romantic partner. They're all big, dumb jocks who are easily led and manipulated and are from wealthy families. I would be very surprised if any of them even knew any three syllable words at all, or if they were even capable of a halfway decent conversation."
There was another eye roll from Wallflower. "Ugh, not this again," she complained. "You are listening too much to that sister of yours with all her talk of love and romance." Her voice dry, the green haired girl explained, "He doesn't have to be 'Mister Right' for you to get a little action, Twilight. He can be as dumb as a box of rocks, but if he's hung like a horse you can enjoy the ride. And if he's got money, you can enjoy spending some of that for him too."
The mental image made her feel queasy, and she took a few breaths through her nose, calling up the visualization of Sunset to dispel the unpleasant thoughts, imagining what her girlfriend would have to say about this. "Bright moonlight," the redhead would swear--and Twilight could hear the inflection almost perfectly--even as she rolled her eyes harder than Wallflower ever could. "Where do you find these people, Sparky? She sounds just like those stuck up relatives you were telling me about. Its like sex is a currency for them!"
That helped, and Twilight took a deep breath. "I'm not one of those people, Wallflower. I'm not interested in casual sexual encounters, because I was taught that its meant to be an act of intimacy and trust. I wouldn't consider it if I didn't and couldn't form some kind of connection with the other person." Like she had with Sunset, for example, though she wouldn't admit that aloud. "It's just not who I am."
Wallflower rolled her eyes yet again, and Twilight wondered absently if it was possible to strain them doing that particular gesture overmuch. "Suit yourself, Twilight. Keep your secrets. I've got to get to class anyway...and don't you have gym?"
Twilight glanced up at the clock and realized Wallflower was right. She hurriedly began putting tools and components away, rushing as the bell rang. By the time she was done, her friend was already gone, and she shouldered her bag with a sigh. It was probably best to just chalk the conversation up to a bad morning and stress on both their parts. She already knew that she was already feeling overwrought and nearing her limit for social stimulation. "You just have to survive gym and then you have two whole hours before English. You can do this," she told herself.
Taking a deep breath, Twilight stepped out of her lab and into the hall, locking the door behind her. As she did, she heard whispering from nearby.
"Can you believe it?" an unfamiliar voice said grumpily.
"She certainly didnt earn it," another responded.
Twilight fought a frown. Earn what? What had the rumor mill kicked up now? Shaking her head, she turned to hurry towards the gym so she wouldn't be late. Eyes followed her through the hallway, and whispers continued to chase her hearing in snippets and snatches of conversation.
"Of course, she gets it..."
"...much they paid?"
"Well I heard..."
"...suck up. Wonder if she actually sucked someone to get in..."
Her heart rate increased, the hairs on the back of her neck prickling at the nasty glares directed at her, and escaping into the locker room was almost a relief.
Almost.
For about seventeen point four seconds.
Until Suri, Sour Sweet, and their posse surrounded her, cutting off her ability to even get to her gym locker.
"Well, well, well," Suri said, her accent making her voice seem overly saccharine...in the same way antifreeze was sweet to the taste, despite being deadly poison. "It's not enough for you to ruin everyone else's grades by being an overachieving suck up, but now you have to go and get yourself special treatment for the Games too?" She sneered at Twilight. "Ugh, you are the most inconsiderate, self centered person in the whole school, Twilight Sparkle."
Twilight drew back away from the girl, resisting the urge to cower when Sunset's voice whispered from a memory, "No matter how terrified you are, don't let them see it. Predators of any kind are drawn to it. Plus it's harder to maintain a stance if youre all hunched up and tense. Stay loose, Sparky."
Heeding that, remembering how it had worked well against Silver Dollar, she squared her shoulders and did her best to meet Suri's gaze without taking her eyes off the other girls, her feet shifting subconsciously into a ready stance. "What are you even talking about, Suri?" she asked, trying to project just how tired she was of the harassment from her classmate.
"Don't play coy with us, 'kay? We're not as stupid as you like to make us look." Her gaze raked over Twilight. "It's easy to figure out that money has to be involved--no one is as good at everything the way you pretend to be. One thing? Maybe two? That we could buy, especially here, where only the best get in, but not every subject."
One of the other girls, Ruby Necklace, sneered. "Yeah, and we all know that your family has the money to buy your grades so that you get all the attention."
Twilight frowned. Not this accusation again. Just because she was smart and applied herself in her studies didn't mean she was sabotaging them--they had every opportunity to do the same instead of spending all their time going to the mall or gossiping like nosy old women. "I--" she started, but Suri cut her off.
"Still talking here. Don't be rude. You'd think with all the old money in your family you'd at least know better how to act in public. I guess it isn't your fault though that you're just too wrapped up in your little fantasy that mommy and daddy are buying for you to learn how to act like a normal person." She crossed her arms over her chest. "The worst part is, if you'd stuck to your weird little academic fantasy where you pretend to be some kind of super genius, you probably would have gotten through your time here and we would have let it go."
No you wouldn't have, Twilight thought grumpily. Suri and her pack had had it out for Twilight since freshman midterms had ended. That's what had started the accusation that Twilight bribed her way to good grades.
"Let's face it, Sparkle--we all know who is really the best here, and it's not you...and mommy and daddy's money won't work well at college. When that happens, you'll realize just how sad and stupid you really are," Ruby added.
Except If she was having her parents pay people off it would have worked better at the college level than high school. That was, after all, what her cousin Starry Night's father had done. "That still doesn't tell me what has you upset today," she said in that same bored tone. "This is all the same thing you have been baselessly accusing me of since freshman year in some kind of attempt to make excuses for your grades without addressing the real source of the problem: your own refusal to place more value on your academics than your social life." The words were out before she could stop them, and a part of her wondered what made her say it, internally cringing at just how mad Suri was likely to get over her standing up to them.
"See? This is exactly the attitude I'm talking about, where you think youre so much better than us, just because you're your family's little princess. Except you've gone too far with it." Suri looked her over, lip curling in disgust.
Sour Sweet backed her friend up, "Way too far, Princess, and we're not going to stand for it anymore."
"Yeah, Princess," stressed a fourth girl--Twilight thought her name might've been Diamond Dazzle--and she pointed a finger at Twilight. "You may have got what you wanted through bribery, to be seen as the best of everything, so you could make us look bad, because after all, who could compare to the great and powerful Princess Twilight Sparkle?"
The word princess rubbed her wrong, not just the way they meant it, but the way it made her feel, with all the connotations that it held. "I haven't bribed anyone," she responded tightly. "I don't need to, when people like you, who seem barely capable of English Comprehension, are my academic competition."
She could picture Sunset nodding approvingly at her for that one. "Now stand your ground, Sparky, and look for your escape route."
"I think that's enough out of you, Princess, 'kay? The fact is, maybe we don't have the ability to counter your parents' money--you've got Principal Cinch too tightly in your corner for that, but we can promise you this: you'd better succeed now that you've done this, because if you don't? You are going to regret ever coming to Crystal Prep." Suri's expression had become a dark glare, but it only served to make Twilight even more frustrated and angry. She still had no idea what had triggered all this.
It was one step too far, given how bad her morning had been, and she was getting so very tired of the same old lies and vitriol falling from Suri's mouth. "So now it's not enough for you to accuse me of bribery because I do better in class than you," the dark haired girl said, arching a brow at her tormentors, "but now youre bold enough to accuse Principal Cinch of taking those supposed bribes? Not even you can possibly be that stupid, Suri Polomare."
That took them all by surprise, and Twilight kept talking. "Principal Cinch has a reputation for being an upstanding citizen and administrator of this school, with contacts and connections in all fields of academia and society, and her reputation is very important to her--as is the school's. Yet here you stand, so committed to this farce you desire to perpetuate that you are now slandering her and the school as well. Do you honestly think she will be happy when she finds out about that?"
She could see Sour Sweet go pale, even as Suri drew herself up to speak again. The girl well known for her erratic mood swings covered Suri's mouth before any words came out. "Of course we wouldn't question our Principal's honor," she said sweetly with a smile before shifting back to sour, "but that doesn't mean there aren't others you bribed."
Suri tried to move her head to talk, but Sour Sweet shot her a dark look, silencing her struggle for the moment. Then she returned her focus to Twilight. "We're going to end this discussion here, today, Princess, for your sake..." Those eyes narrowed, cold and icy as a winter night. "...but you've had things your way long enough. So you'd better hope you can make good on what mommy and daddy's money has gotten you into. Because if not, we'll be there, waiting...and you will learn just how insignificant you are in this world."
Then she nudged Suri and the other girls, hard. "Let's go."
Twilight stood there, dumbfounded and trembling for several minutes, unable to truly process that she had stood up to her bullies and actually came out of the exchange the victor. That was, of course, overshadowed by whatever had upset them that she was still in the dark about--her gut churned with anxiety at the idea of something unknown looming over her with consequences she didn't particularly feel keen on suffering.
"Yo! Sparkle!" The shout of her name made her jump nearly a foot in the air, only to realize a second later that it had been Indigo calling out to her, and not one of the girls who loved harassing her.
"Oh, Indigo. Hello...?"
Indigo looked wild eyed and a bit frazzled herself, and she motioned to Twilight. "How are you not dressed yet? Oh man...look, if you're late, it's both our asses! C'mon!" The other girl gave her a gentle nudge towards her locker. "Change quick, there's only a few minutes."
Sighing, Twilight opened her gym locker and started to do just that. "Believe me, it's not by my choice. Suri and her friends took intense offense to my existence this morning. Probably because its a day that ends in 'y.'"
Honey colored eyes went wide. "Then what I heard coming in here was true? You had it out with her in front of everyone? Holy shit, Sparkle, do you have a death wish?"
Tugging her shirt down, Twilight stuffed her uniform in her bag and secured her locker. "It doesn't matter if I do it or not," she bit out. "Suri has had it out for me since freshman year for reasons that only exist in the space between her ears she calls a brain." The words were more than a little bitter, and part of Twilight felt guilty for being ugly, but she was tired of being Suri's verbal punching bag, and her time spent with Sunset had made the prospect of just suffering through it until she graduated unbearable.
Indigo frowned, but hooked her arm with a hand and tugged her towards the door to the gym. "Yeah, but embarrassing her in front of everyone is only going to make her go after you more. For a nerd, you're a decent person, Sparkle--it would suck to see something happen to you because you pissed off the wrong girl. So think carefully before you piss off Suri and Sour Sweet and them too bad. Now c'mon. Move faster...coach wants to see us both, but then I've got to figure out how much help you're going to need to get ready."
They had passed through the door and into the echoing gym, and Twilight had had enough. She jerked to a halt. "Get ready for what!?" the lavender skinned girl demanded. "All morning long I've had nothing but nebulous demands and a million whispers, and somehow, unbeknownst to me, I've managed to yet again offend the bulk of the CPA student body, and send Suri and her friends on the warpath, and now you're telling me I have something to get ready for, but no one in this entire school seems willing to tell me what it is I'm supposed to have done!" She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Indigo.
The athlete stared at her. "You...the Friendship Games? You've been put on the team by Cinch?"
Anger guttered out even faster than it had come, leaving behind ice in her veins that froze her to the spot. "What? No no no...I'm not going to the Games. I'm not one of the school's physically capable students. Why would I be on the team?"
A powerful hand clapped her shoulder and their gym coach's booming voice echoed in her ears so loudly it made her teeth itch. "Because Principal Cinch thinks you're going to be instrumental to our victory this year! And with Indigo training you up, you'll be a fine asset to our team!"
No no no no no...this could not be happening. This was some kind of horrible nightmare, like the one where she got up to give a lecture only to learn her notes were all in the wrong order and she was in her pajamas. She couldn't go to the Games--she had too much work to do! That and having to pretend for a whole day that she and her best friend didn't know each other, when she had a sneaking suspicion that the girls Sunset was friends with would be on the Canterlot High team...she wasn't sure if either of them could do it, and she didn't want to be the reason for Sunset to get bullied again.
The coach was talking again, but Twilight couldn't hear any of it over the roaring in her ears. The ice had stolen her lungs' ability to draw breath, and black spots started dancing across her vision. She struggled against the rising panic, against the maelstrom of thoughts and feelings, trying to find something to hold onto before she passed out.
It came, as it often had of late, in that mental construction of her girlfriend. She imagined those warm arms enfolding her, the fiery redhead putting herself between Twilight and the source of her negative spiral. "Hey," Sunset's voice echoed in her mind, the single word with so much inflection dredged up from a hundred memories. "Sparky, it's going to be okay. Just focus on breathing for me."
Mental-Sunset was right. She needed air desperately. She struggled against the ice, felt that phantom brush of fingers over her heart, and suddenly the cold spear in her chest was melting away. The first breath was almost painful, ragged and tearing, but the warmth encircling her was safe and encouraging. "That's it. Deep and slow. I've got you. Now nod your head for me, so your teacher will go away instead of thinking you're ignoring him."
Twilight refocused briefly on the real world, eyes opening enough to see her gym teacher looking at her expectantly, and she followed the command from her subconscious by giving a short, jerky nod. He smiled and walked away, blowing his whistle and seeming to yell at the rest of the class.
"There. Okay. Keep breathing. Lets get you calmed down for now. Do you have your medication?"
It was in her bag in the locker-room. She'd have to wait until after class to take it.
"Ugh. This school of yours is a nightmare, Sparky. I don't like it. Alright. New plan. Lets focus on something else. Your friend here is starting to get worried. Can you focus on what she's saying?"
Friend? She looked around sharply, half expecting Wallflower, and finding Indigo instead. Did she really think of Indigo as a friend?
"Twilight! Focus!"
Okay...Indigo was talking. Twilight pushed past the buzzing to try and hear her classmate. "...arkle, cuz you dont look so good."
Assuming it was an inquiry about her state of being she gave a second, jerky nod. As her breathing finally found a more normal rhythm, she croaked out, "I didn't do this."
Indigo tilted her head. "Do...what?"
"Games," Twilight managed. "...I...don't...even want to g-go." Her breath hitched again, and she focused for a moment on her mental projection of Sunset Shimmer, watching and trying to match her breathing pattern. "I...didn't...ask...for this..." Her arms came up and she hugged herself, leaning against the wall.
The other teen watched her for a long minute. "...I believe you, Sparkle...despite what Suri and her pack of bubblegum zombies have convinced themselves, the spotlight isn't your style." Indigo frowned. "But you can't go against Principal Cinch. Which means you're on the team, and you have to go now...but it also means I've got the next two months to train you up."
Twilight's brain threatened to halt all function then and there. "W-what?!"
"That's what coach was telling you. You and I are training buddies until the Friendship Games. Your gym classes from now until then will just be you and me, doing our thing. So at least that gets you away from Suri, right?" Indigo gave her an attempt at a smile.
The dark haired girl swallowed hard. "Me? Train? Train how? I...I'm no athlete, and I'm clumsy and terrible at sports and I can barely throw a ball for my dog, or run too long without running out of breath..."
Indigo cut her off, the friendly firmness in her tone doing more to settle her than the words themselves. "I don't expect you to be a sports star, Sparkle, but we are going to work on your speed and endurance at least. You've already gotten better since last fall, and even if thats cuz you're getting laid or because you just found a reason to care about fitness, it's something we can work on."
Something akin to discomfort and resentment bubbled up inside Twilight. She worked with Sunset on her fitness and actually enjoyed it because of the company, not the fitness, and because it meant Sunset was teaching her more ways to protect herself. Doing it for a school competition that she was being forced into, and with someone she barely knew and certainly didn't trust? The very idea soured in her stomach and made her nauseous.
"I..." the words failed to exit her throat.
Her companion sighed. "Look, let's go for a warm up jog around the indoor track--its on the opposite side of the gym from everyone and you can tell me what's the problem, and no one will hear as long as you don't shout."
She could practically see Mental-Sunset giving her a crooked smile. "Sparky, it's going to be okay. If you need me, you know I'm here for you in a heartbeat, and your Principal won't scare me. I've faced bigger harpies and lived to tell the tale." A phantom hand brushed her cheek. "And your friend there is right--you'll be away from that pack of slavering, inbred, manipulative popular girls who like to bully you...they make the Queen Bitch of CHS look like a newborn foal."
She resisted the urge to nod and followed Indigo across the gym, feeling like everything was swirling wildly out of her control. They began warming up for their jog, stretching their muscles out, and Indigo glanced at her briefly. "Look I know you don't want to do this, but let's face it, that ship has sailed. Cinch isnt gonna change her mind. So what's the issue, Sparkle?"
Twilight exhaled slowly. "...I...I'm not...my love life...or lack thereof," she stressed firmly, "is not really the kind of thing I feel comfortable having be the talk of the school."
Indigo rubbed the back of her neck. "Aw shit...I'm sorry, Sparkle...I didn't mean it the way that came out. I'm not trying to dig into your personal life or find out what motivated you to improve. It's not my business, and I'm really sorry for what happened the other week."
Once again, Twilight could hear Sunset gently nudging her mentally, as if her girlfriend were really there and not just a complex coping mechanism to help Twilight handle extremely stressful situations when her support network was not present. "This one's not that bad, Sparky...Definitely less nasty than anyone else so far today...including your friend from earlier. Now say something--she's starting to look like your dog after his tail gets stepped on."
There was a moment of confusion at why a part of her subconscious seemed to prefer the school sports star over her actual friend, but it was pushed aside as she realized that Indigo did look rather crestfallen and upset, her shoulders slumped in and head down as she stretched out her legs. It...reminded her a little of both Glamour on the balcony and Sunset when she talked about her past with her school.
"It's...well...it's not alright in the sense that I am frustrated by the rumors being spread about me," Twilight stated awkwardly, "but...I don't blame you for that, and I...forgive you for your unintentional outburst. It's wrong for me to throw it in your face after you have apologized for it...just...in the future, could you perhaps minimize inquiries in that direction? It's not a subject I'm comfortable with."
The athlete shrugged and rubbed her neck, dropping her foot back to the ground with a thump. "I'm not great at thinking before I open my mouth, Sparkle. It's why I stick to sports stuff and sports related motivational speeches, y'know? Balls and nets and sweaty teens who are good at kicking balls around don't care if you're not good at talking, and they don't make fun of you for not wearing the latest fashion or being sweaty and dirty." She sighed. "I can try, but sometimes I get excited and things just...come out of my mouth."
Again she saw Glamour apologizing to her on the balcony, and it made her reexamine Indigo's behavior and words. "You said before you were excited at my improved fitness, that it was why you said something. That excitement was not related to the Games? It was...because you thought someone else might have found enjoyment in something that you have a passion for?"
Indigo glanced up at her again, her face twisted into a somewhat pained expression, before she looked away. "Uh...yeah...I guess I did."
"She's lonely, Sparky. Maybe even more than you are here. Unlike most of this place and the people in it, she seems like a halfway decent human being--if about as observant as a half blind mule with a hornet in his ear." The sarcasm softened away into that tone Sunset took when she was trying to show compassion and empathy towards someone--Twilight wondered idly if her use of this coping skill was delving into unhealthy territory given the detail she was starting to put into the mental facsimile of her girlfriend and best friend. "I know that teaching you to protect yourself is an us thing, but letting her help you with this wouldn't cut into that."
Twilight bit her lip. It was true that the weekly self defense practice was something special to her and Sunset, but it was also fair that running and doing push-ups and sit-ups and learning some other ways to stretch was not the same thing. Taking a breath to calm her jittery nerves, she imagined her fingers were entwined with warm amber ones. "I suppose you raise a valid point. While I have absolutely no desire to participate in the Friendship Games, if Principal Cinch has made this decision, I am unlikely to be able to convince her otherwise...and I also imagine that your place on the team may be contingent on my performance, yes?" That was, after all, how things were done at CPA. No reward was ever a given--it had to be earned through accomplishment or some assigned task...
"Uh...something like that, yeah." Indigo scuffed a toe on the gym floor. "I'm not the only athlete in school."
"Which makes this a source of stress for both of us." She imagined Sunset squeezing her hand and flashing her that encouraging, crooked smile. "It stands to reason then, that we should come to an agreement that reduces as much of that stress as possible."
Relief was evident in the way Indigo's body bled tension at those words, and her lips twitched into that confident smile once more. "Yeah! Working together, we're gonna make you a hell of a Friendship Games Team member! CHS won't stand a chance!"
The dark haired girl made a face. She did not understand the rivalry between the schools, especially because she had Sunset for a best friend. "I suppose...though I doubt my physical performance will be that stellar."
"So maybe we don't think about it as training for the Games," Indigo stated abruptly, elaborating when Twilight looked at her in abject confusion. "Maybe we can just look on it as trying to improve your personal fitness instead."
Her brows furrowed. "...O...kay?"
It was Indigo's turn to look flustered. "Look, maybe it'll sound stupid to you, Sparkle, but...I want to go into sports medicine. Physical therapy, personalized training programs, the nutrition side of it, all of it. I've been working my ass off for years to get the grades and study what I can before I graduate. I'm already prepping my applications for the schools I want to try for after I graduate next year." She rubbed her neck again, looking self-conscious. "I could...put some of that to work, you know? Get a feel for where you are, and help plan out goalposts, milestones, daily goals, that sort of thing? Like I will eventually for real clients."
Now that sounded like a much more beneficial use of her gym class, Twilight decided. Especially because those kinds of plans often involved carefully measured spreadsheets and scheduled activities. "I think, Indigo, that that sounds like a far more preferable use of our time, and a compromise I can agree to." A slight smile crossed her lips. "While I still believe that these 'Games' are a waste of valuable time, especially given such a blatant misnomer as applied to a competition that seems to engender anything but, perhaps you could use this as an independent project of a sorts, simulating the way you will one day assist a client in reaching their fitness goals?"
And while she knew it was just part of her imagination, she couldn't help but feel like Sunset was smiling approvingly at her actions. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Interlude XXII: Obtenebration | Time ticked far too slowly in a place that had never seen true light. The only illumination in this place came from rivulets of molten earth that ran like trickles of water down dark stone walls and pooled in cracks and crevices on an uneven floor. Here, in the dark, the scent of brimstone and ash, of char and hot stone permeated everything--had anything of flesh and bone ever set foot in these labyrinthine tunnels, its throat and lungs would have burned from both the heat and fumes in the air. It was a place most unpleasant...
Behind a heavy door, sealed within a chamber where not even magma spilled its ruddy false-light, the shadows were so thick that they were more suffocating than the foulness of the air. The only light in his prison--if one could call it light, for it was not, not in any sense of the word--was the far wall, a wall of obsidian, whose surface was fractured and spider-webbed like a cracked window, its smoothest sections polished by sheer determination and countless hours of touch from powerful hands.
He languished in the dark, the air silent and still, with even the voices of the shades contained in the cell muted to a distant murmur. Each breath pulled in sluggish air that felt unnaturally thick and heavy as it coiled in his lungs; it was a never-ending conscious effort to inhale and expel the fetid miasma, leaving mouth and tongue coated with a noisome residue. The figure's face twisted into a scowl, his carefully contained rage fueling raw determination. Soon. He would be free of this cell soon, and all would be as it should be. That which rightfully belonged to him would once more be his.
With that thought in mind, he rose from his seat and paced to the obsidian wall, staring at the flickering images he could dimly discern in each broken facet, more shifting shades of black that only countless hours of dedication had allowed him the ability to read. One taloned hand lifted, hovering just above the stone, and he inhaled, drawing a deep breath and focusing his anger to overcome the way his prison pulled on him. He forced his shadow to meld with the wall, and with it, his very sense of awareness.
It was like forcing his way through a thick, viscous, tar-like medium, that tore at mind and body alike, and with honed determination he seized on that pain, using it to fuel his anger, his rage, and demanded of the shard to do what he wished. Slowly the image took shape, detail and muted, twisted color spilling across the fragment, til he could perceive Itheadair addressing a girl colored in greens and browns...
The world skewed, and with a sound like rushing wind, he could hear and see as if he were standing right next to them, watching from a crystal column's polished surface.
As he watched, the sidhe let the barest hint of a predatory smile curve the corners of their lips upward. Most would not notice it, of course, but he had observed his servant long enough to know, and with that smile came a hint of borrowed power, sending mortal drudges skittering out of the way through some primal fear they could not place.
With the obstructions removed between Itheadair and the girl, his servant prowled forward at a measured pace, eyes beneath the glamour fixated on their target with a basilisk-like gaze. While the sidhe lacked the ability of the king of serpents to actually turn its victims to stone, it still caused the rumpled figure to freeze in place, fear fluttering anxiously in the mortal child's mind at what had been done to draw the attention of the stern faced 'Principal.' His servant's pleasure at this mock hunt was evident, as was the way they savored the same fear he could sense in the way some mortals savored a glass of fine wine.
Coming to a stop just inside the girl's personal space, the sidhe looked down their nose, and in a tone that managed to be sharply condescending and more than a little dismissive, said, "Ah. Just who I was looking for...Miss...Cabbage Rose, is it not?"
Fear fizzled in favor of sour indignation that flashed across pale green features. "Wallflower, Principal Cinch," she corrected in a voice carefully devoid of inflection. "Wallflower Blush."
"Yes, yes, of course." One hand twitched in an even more dismissive gesture, casting aside the correction as one might a soiled napkin. Itheadair's eyes glittered, and they continued, "You are Miss Sparkle's little...assistant, yes? Because that is why I require your attention."
Increased indignation made pale green skin darken to an unpleasant shade, and the girl-child once again corrected her superior. "I'm Twilight's friend and I sometimes share laboratory space with her for projects, if that's what you're asking about, Principal Cinch."
Itheadair's lips twitched into more of a smile, albeit a dangerous, predatory one. "Is that so?" the sidhe purred, a spike of power making the human suck in a sharp breath as magic set off a reaction of primal unease and a prickle of fear. "Whatever you wish to delude yourself into calling it, I desire your attention now in your capacity as Miss Sparkle's assistant." That shark-toothed expression stretched further into a mockery of a smile, each word driven home with the precision of a knife.
The human child swallowed, cowed to a sullen, bitter silence. When she offered no retort, the fae nodded, and continued, issuing instructions in a firm, exacting tone, expecting nothing but complete and immediate obedience. "There is an assembly being held in the auditorium in fifteen minutes. Miss Sparkle will be there before it begins, and I am tasking you to ensure that it happens. Moreover, consider the following incentive: for every minute Miss Sparkle causes me to delay the assembly, I shall see to it that your professors deduct ten points from the final grade of whatever little project you have supposedly going on in this 'shared laboratory space' that I am most certain I did not sign off for you to use. Am I understood?"
Brown eyes widened, and the girl trembled before the taller figure. Itheadair made a dismissive motion with one hand. "Best get moving--the clock is ticking, Miss Rose. Be on your way, and do not forget what hangs in the balance..."
He didn't get to hear the mortal girl's reaction. Instead, the world skewed around him as one of his shades dragged his attention to another part of the complex.
As reality refocused, he saw two of the children arguing. The female's voice was shrill, painful to even ears buffered by crystal, and the male's face was crimson with embarrassment and rage.
Yes...this would do nicely...
He could sense the way the power of the school, his power, woven into the very earth and anchored by dozens of sacrifices that wailed in glorious, eternal terror and suffering, draped over the arguing children like a thin film. It wasn't much, but it was enough for him to weave mental fingers through, the shadows twisting the gathering darkness in their minds.
Shut the simpering harlot's mouth...one whispered. She has no cause to treat you this way. Assert yourself...
And when the loud, ringing sound of a slap filled the air, silencing the yelling and filling the air with the fear of one and the guilt and anger of another, he laughed, dragging the fears out of both of them, delighting endlessly at how the girl-child cowered and the boy-child glanced around as if expecting reprisal from a witness.
What if someone saw? the shadows taunted the boy.
What if you make him angrier? they hissed at the girl.
No one can know, they reminded both. Keep it secret...for who knows what will happen if someone finds out...
Delicious terror, feeding back into the darkness and making it stronger. He grinned, satisfied, and let the world shift again...
Another group of mortal youth, huddled in a forgotten nook behind which dwelled a tortured soul. One was doling out little bags of capsules in exchange for money, his smile oily and serpent like the whole time...
At least, until one sniveling wretch did not have enough green.
"You know the deal--cash up front, or no study pills," the keeper of the capsules sneered. "Forty bucks short means you can't even afford a half dose."
"Please!" begged a reedy thin boy with unhealthy perspiration on his reddened face. "I really need it to study for this chemistry test!" Fear of failure and his own inadequacy poured off of him in greater rivers than his foul smelling sweat.
The other human shook his head, delighting in the power he held over his peers. "Not my problem. You want them, you pay for them like everyone else. This is business, not charity."
Again, the thin youth begged, and He supped on the fear like He once savored fine wines and sumptuous feasts. "But I need it! I'll fail without it, and my parents will kill me!"
Hard eyes stared him down, remorseless and without an ounce of pity. "Then you'd better find a way to pay for it. Might want to hurry--if I remember right, you have that test in three days....and who knows how long my stock will last..."
The shadows twisted with an idea, one whispered into the sweaty boy's mind and echoed with a shaky and weak attempt at a threatening tone. "M-maybe you should c-cut me a deal--unless you want s-someone to find out about t-this!"
Anger and rage flared from the dealer, and he gave the reedy boy a hard shove. "Do that and you think anyone else will want to sell you your study pills? And then where will you be? No more 'A's' in chem means that daddy of yours won't be happy. Especially if he's been drinking again."
Hissing with laughter, the shadows latched onto both boys, tenebrous tendrils digging into their essences and gnawing at the edges...which in turn would strengthen his hold on them and the property--more vessels to draw power from was a hard necessity in an era without much magic of its own.
That elicited something akin to pleasure in him, along with the knowledge that things would soon change. There was magic near again, and it was growing...and soon...it would belong to him. If Itheadair managed to do things right--progress with the girl he had chosen was...not going as quickly as it should.
For a moment, he was back in his prison, pacing before the wall of shards. The sidhe was always looking out for themself first, but they had always known their place as his subordinate. This time though...something was different. Something was wrong, and he did not like leaving things so utterly to chance. Best to watch his servant closely, and start preparing contingency plans...
That meant observing the speech Itheadair planned to give, he realized, lips curling back from fangs in distaste. Time spent listening and watching them preen and posture like they were reliving their days in Eire, before the old ways were challenged and driven out. It was pathetic, really, how the fae beings were incapable of truly adapting and insisted on this pale imitation of bygone eras. So much energy wasted instead of finding new methods of control, new fears to manipulate.
Turning back to the wall, he found a source of darkness and despair that drew his attention like a moth to flame, not far from his ultimate destination...
The girl shivered as she crept into the deserted locker room, thin hands trembling as she strained to push the heavy door open and almost too weak to do so. Unhealthily thin and wan, she wore too many layers even for the time of year, and still she shivered and shook like a brittle leaf in a stiff autumn breeze.
Shadows nipped at her heels, and her thoughts were practically an open book, fleeting promises to her parents to stop, the niggling sense of self preservation telling her that she was wrong, that she needed to walk away from what she was about to do...and the anxious, suffocating fear that gripped her heart and threaded through her veins like ice.
A fear that spiked when he whispered through the shadows in the voices of her peers, her family...herself...
"Glutton...."
"Pig..."
"No restraint..."
"Just look at you..."
The fear threatened to consume her, tears streaking down her face as she stripped down to nothing, bones standing out in sharply defined contours on paper thin flesh, casting harsh bruise-like shadows where there should only be smooth shading and curved lines. She needed to know for herself, to see how bad the damage was...
"Look at you, bloated thing!"
"So hideous, so corpulent..."
"You should see yourself..."
Her eyes rose, dragged by the mocking whispers, to stare in the mirror, and with delight, he twisted her perceptions further--until the chubby figure in her mind's eye was a thousand times worse; a swollen, marshmallowy creature that only barely looked human beneath the grotesque, bulging fat. The teen sobbed, nails digging into bones and sinew where there was almost no muscle or fat left beneath flesh, leaving crescent shaped welts she could not feel over the chill that only seemed to grow. Shaking legs brought her onto the waiting scale, as her mind wailed and pleaded for numbers to not betray her..
Her suffering was sweet music, and he drew as much as he dared from her, savoring the particular flavor of her torment. He nudged her towards a precarious edge--too far and he'd push her beyond the point of no return, and he enjoyed watching the torture be drawn out, but not enough and his hold would weaken. Better to keep her balanced on the knife's edge of despair.
His feast was interrupted by one of his more autonomous shades, a lesser thing imbued with its own sense of intelligence and vague consciousness, and he glowered at it through space and time.
It cowered before his sight. Please, Master, this one only does Your Will. The gathering begins, and this one cannot find the sacrifice--she is not there, Master.
Rage. It filled him, threatening to spill over into violent action, and he ripped himself from the scene before him. What?!
His shade shivered under his power. We search, Master, but nowhere is she!
Show me! He thundered, forcing his senses into the shade. In a flicker, he was in the auditorium, staring out at the sea of students from the harsh shadows under the heavy stage curtains. He scanned the room, extending his senses, but it appeared his shade had been speaking the truth. The girl was not there.
Itheadair... He hissed. Damn that fae and their games. They knew he needed the girl present if he was to temper her properly as a sacrifice!
Another look over the youth in the auditorium, confirming that the girl was missing. He even found her companion, the mortal that Itheadair had so recently terrified. That girl was there, the empty seat at her side mocking him, radiating apathy and distaste. How dare they?!
And with his duplicitous underling now speaking at the podium, he couldn't punish them properly. He would have to wait, sitting through the immortal creature's pedantic prattling and half delusional recreation of the days when they actually held true power over mortals instead of being relegated to playing nanny for the spoiled children of the upper class.
Rage seethed in him, and he reached out to one of the shadows, to the shade that had brought the bad news. His presence filled the shadow, unseen by the students and staff, but centered in Itheadair's line of sight, channeling his fury into power, and willing that power to make his form visible. He glared intently at them, and felt a pleased satisfaction when the fae's eyes landed on him. To the mortals, the pause was natural, organic, but he knew otherwise. His underling had faltered, felt true fear for a single instant, and he felt their mind quail when he hissed so only they could hear, The office, when thisssss is finisssshed. I have wordsssss for you, Itheadair. Do not tarry, or you will not enjoy the consssssequencessss.
Skin went a few shades paler under the glamour, and He sneered. There was a reason he preferred his shades--loyal and obedient and incapable of plotting against him. He departed the shade a moment later, heading for a different part of the school.
When Itheadair opened the door to their office, they were treated to a sight that was meant to drive home exactly what their place was.
He had possessed yet another shade, planting this one firmly in the sidhe's chair at the polished desk, looming over the rest of the room, his might far too great to be contained in a human sized form. Darkness was winning against the single dim light, and more illumination came from his eyes than the bulb, casting a faint red glow wherever he turned his focus.
He could see it in their face as they shut the door, glamour nothing more than a nuisance he tore away to expose their true countenance; the sidhe's mind was clearly racing, despite the effort they put into schooling angular features into a neutral expression. Itheadair drew up into a regal but deferential pose, voice belying the strain they were under, trying to to keep the tremor of fear in what blackened husk passed for their heart from showing.
A wasted effort, of course, but he wasn't about to overplay his own hand. He could sense the glorious touch of it, and his shadows hissed for the chance to gorge on it, to feed, to breed, to birth more of their kind. Patience, he urged them, the lesser demons under his will. They would get their chance to sup on that emotion, but not yet. Not unless Itheadair had truly betrayed him.
The form he inhabited glowered down at the smaller figure, and the ancient creature swallowed their pride, kneeling before him on the expensive carpet. "I have displeased you, Master," came the acknowledgment in the Old Tongue of the sidhe, the submissive and demeaning posture a show of contrition from such a proud being as this. "I know not how, but pray, inform you servant how amends may be made, and it shall be done." The head bent, twisting that too long neck slightly to expose pale skin as if to a blade.
If they thought that would mollify him, they were gravely mistaken. He leaned forward from the position of waiting, and if he had loomed before, now he towered over his subordinate, the red pits of his eyes glowing brighter with a hellish, unholy light that reflected his rising fury. He drew it out, the waiting and the silence, until discomfort started to compete with Itheadair's fear.
Sharp tenebrous claws drummed on the antique desk, a staccato pattern that unsettled more than just mortals. Amendsssss? echoed the voice from another corner of the room. You wissssh to play gamessss and put on a sssshow of repentance when you are even unwilling to admit what you have done? Do you think me a fool, Itheadair, blind and deaf to the kind of ssssnakes you and your ilk are? For the moment, his tone was commanding but contained, giving only the faintest hint to the true depths of his rage.
"What I have done matters not, Master, only that I have transgressed in some fashion," the sidhe responded, "even if it was unintentional." They watched him with the eyes of a rabbit staring down a starving hellhound,
The refusal to admit what they had done coupled with the attempted guile disguised as ignorance only incensed him further. The drumming of talons on wood continued, hard enough to leave marks in the polished surface, despite the semi-insubstantial nature of the body he possessed. If you are truly assss ignorant assss you claim, sssspawn of the bogssss of Eire, then you are no better to me than a broken tool, he hissed dangerously his voice coming at the elder fae from a different place in the room than before.
His voice cracked like a whip, each syllable in time with both the impact of a talon on wood, and a flash of crimson from the reddened puts that were his eyes. Why wasssss the girl not in attendence of your little asssssembly? This time, his voice erupted from the darkness just in front of the kneeling figure.
Discomfort had fled in the face of renewed fear, and now confusion pushed it down as his servant spoke. "My...my Lord..." Itheadair looked up for the first time at him for the barest of moments, before fixing their gaze once more on the floor. "I...do not understand--she was present, Master. I ensured it myself--I checked as I entered the auditorium."
That the sidhe had become so bold as to defy him this way was either very brave or very foolish, and he let them know it, his voice thundering from everywhere at once. SSSSHE WASSSS NOT THERE! The drumming stopped as the shade he filled flowed over the desk and stalked forward until it almost touched Itheadair, eyes burning enough to cast the suggestion of terrible fangs and horns into sharp relief as it stretched its head down to be on a level with the cowering creature. I will give you one chance to ssssave your misssserable, pathetic hide, wretched sssswamp-sssspawn, sssso conssssider that carefully before you ssssspeak. Issss thissss act of ignorance truth, or one of your twissssted faerie gamessss?
"I swear it, Master," the fae uttered, voice trembling with true, primal terror that stripped away all pretense. "When I entered the auditorium, my eyes beheld her seated beside the Cabbage chit, as I instructed the girl to do. On my Word, if something hid her from your sight, it was not I. I play no such game with something so important to you, my Lord."
For a long moment, he said nothing, picking apart what he felt and heard through his shade, his eyes boring holes in his underling, never quite touching the pale thing. At last, he returned to the seat at the desk. Fix it, Itheadair. You have one chance, before I see if one of your lessers might do better at your job than you. I will not have this conversation again.
"As you command, Master."
Move quickly, sidhe. Time does not favor you.
He released the shade, his presence returning to his prison, in need of a moment to recover. Full possession of his shadows was something only done sparingly for a good reason. He retreated for a time to his throne, tail lashing as he drew energy in from the darkness surrounding him.
If Itheadair was planning against him...or worse, becoming so incompetent that the lesser fae beneath the elder one could pull off such blatant acts...then it was past time to consider a replacement....but not a fae this time. He needed someone or something he could more easily control, something that could be taught to follow him loyally, as he had once had, long ago with Urtur and Beltezzar. They had followed him, served unquestioningly until that wretched priest-king and his army had destroyed them, sent them to this damnable prison where all that they were had been ground to dust millennia ago.
Anger and hate rose and he breathed deep, letting it replenish his energy with its black flames. He would find a replacement, but would do so carefully. Groom them carefully. Test them. Ensure their loyalty....
Shaking himself from the thoughts of a time long gone, he focused his thoughts on the here and now. His strength had returned, and so he returned to the wall--there were seeds to be sown, all with the intent of tempering the girl he had chosen for the ritual, and while he had eternity himself, the timing in the physical realm was against him.
The world slewed around him once again, and he watched from the polished surface of a mirror in a girl's bathroom. He could see several pairs of feet under the stalls, and smiled darkly. A nudge to several of his shadows, and a false conversation began, spoken in feminine voices that vaguely resembled students, audible to the real students in the room.
"Did you hear what I heard?"
"About what?"
"About Suri!"
"Oh, something juicy about Polomare? Now you have to share?"
There was a sudden hush in the room and he knew without a doubt that every word was being absorbed by the listeners.
"Well, remember how she was going out with Gold Clover until a few weeks ago?"
"Yeah, and then he broke up with her in the cafeteria, with that huge fight. It was a mess and she was even more of a bitch for days. Made a few girls cry in the halls."
"Guess who found out why he dumped her?"
"Don't leave me hanging! Why--I mean, besides the fact that she's a total bitch!"
"Turns out, she cheated on him--"
"No! Get out! She cheated on Gold Clover? He's already well out of her league! She could've been set for life! Do you know how much money his family has?"
"It gets better. She didn't cheat on him with just anyone--Suri was caught with a girl from East Valley who turns tricks on the weekend for money."
There was a sharp gasp from several of the stalls, as the listeners couldn't contain their shock. One of them even called out, "A public school student from that ghetto rathole? And a girl?! Are you sure?"
"Oh yes, my cousin saw it himself. Suri was caught seeing her off, and as soon as it got back to Gold, he was furious!"
The room was now filled with the chatter of speculation and the original voices were forgotten in tumult left behind in their wake. He praised his shadows and their creative cleverness, and set them to watch, maybe encourage the rumor here and there. Then he turned his attention to locating his true quarry--now that he knew something was interfering with his sight of her, it would prove a simple thing to break through that.
It turned out to be unnecessary. Whatever enchantment had concealed the girl was gone, and he located her in the locker room, surrounded by a pack of other girls--and one of Itheadair's minions disguised as a girl--who all radiated displeasure and menace. He brushed against his target's shadow, using it to whisper foully in one purple ear.
Why do you stand for this? It's the same thing, time after time, and they keep coming after you... he found the kernels of anger inside her, beneath the anxious, fearful shell, much of it wrapped around the burgeoning but powerful magic he felt within her. Claws sunk into that anger, that raw frustration, drawing it inexorably to the surface.
"I haven't bribed anyone," the girl responded to her tormentors accusations in a tight voice, annoyance starting to show in the tone of her voice. "I don't need to, when people like you, who seem barely capable of English Comprehension, are my academic competition." The last bit was delivered with the beginning of what might be called a proper sneer, if he had been feeling generous.
He was not and when the leader of the pack spoke again, he paid careful attention to his quarry's reaction to the words.
"I think that's enough out of you, Princess, 'kay? The fact is, maybe we don't have the ability to counter your parents' money--you've got Principal Cinch too tightly in your corner for that, but we can promise you this: you'd better succeed now that you've done this, because if you don't? You are going to regret ever coming to Crystal Prep."
Interesting...that one word caused more rage than most of the others. It wasn't the accusations or the threats that got to her, but a royal title...
Are you going to let her get away with this? Aren't you tired of it? He whispered, goading her, though her conscious mind could not hear him. Or are you really a spoiled princess, waiting for someone else to fight your battles for you?
He felt the moment her patience snapped, and he waited gleefully to see how her fury would manifest. It was always such a telling moment.
The girl with dark haired straightened her spine and arch a brow at her tormentors, expression growing cold. "So now it's not enough for you to accuse me of bribery because I do better in class than you, but now youre bold enough to accuse Principal Cinch of taking those supposed bribes? Not even you can possibly be that stupid, Suri Polomare."
Her tone was sharp, cutting, but every word was calculated with machine-like precision. "Principal Cinch has a reputation for being an upstanding citizen and administrator of this school, with contacts and connections in all fields of academia and society, and her reputation is very important to her--as is the school's. Yet here you stand, so committed to this farce you desire to perpetuate that you are now slandering her and the school as well. Do you honestly think she will be happy when she finds out about that?"
It seemed, then, that her rage was like ice, something he mused on and found pleasing. Such rage was easier to manipulate, and paired well with her fears and anxieties. He had chosen his victim well.
And if a part of him practically cackled with glee over the panic that suddenly rolled off the lone changeling amidst the pack of mortal girls, that was just a delicious bonus. He watched as the changeling halted whatever the mortal pack's leader was going to say next, offering their own hasty retraction, lest Itheadair learn one of their own was speaking ill of their "honor."
Foolish fae and their rules. It made them far too easy to manipulate.
He watched as the changeling used bravado and empty threats to cover up the group's forced retreat, already pondering how to best prod his target's anxious thoughts now that anger was spent, when one of his shades found him.
Master! Trouble, Master! The mortal law-keepers return! They seek audience!
Irritation soured his mood. What of it? Mortal lawssss and their guardianssss are none of my concern!
Itheadair is afraid, Master. Bids Master come, watch, prepare... the shade sniveled.
So now the sidhe was incapable of placating mortals without aid? It truly was time to replace the doddering old wretch. With a last look at his quarry he shifted his focus, sending the shade back to its post, even as the world ran like ink around him, the locker room melting into the office that the sidhe liked to pretend was their throne room.
His underling was seated at the desk, opposite two humans, a male and a female, both well dressed. The sidhe was in the middle of greeting them when his vision of the room cleared. "--can I do for you, Detectives?"
The female's expression was grim. "I was handed the case file for Jeweled Design, since the previous detective attached to it retired, and I had a few follow up questions for you about her as a student here. I'm hoping it might give me a clue as to her disappearance."
Itheadair steepled their fingers and their glamoured face stretched into an attentive expression. "Of course, Detective...Advocate, was it? Here at Crystal Prep, we do what we can to cooperate with law enforcement such as yourself--as your partner well knows, since he was a student here once."
"So he told me," the blonde woman said in a dry tone. "But my focus is on a missing girl who disappeared in November, right around the Thanksgiving holiday. What can you tell me about her life here at school? Did she have a lot of friends? Was she anxious or stressed? Was she well behaved? I know her file said she was on the track team..."
He sneered. This is what Itheadair had interrupted him for? One human female rising above herself and a male who was likely still affected by the geas from his time as a student of the school to ask any real questions?
Pathetic, Itheadair...
The sidhe never looked directly at him, but he could feel the spike of irritation at his mocking. Good. He didn't appreciate having his time wasted. He studied the detectives again. The female was listening to the responses to her questions with far more scrutiny than most mortals displayed, but it was her next statement that made him pay attention.
"Forgive me, Principal...but is your office always this dark? Doesn't that make it hard to do some of your work?" She gestured to the way the room was illuminated by only the single light over the desk.
There was that insincere smile. "I manage," was the carefully crafted response. "Its these old buildings--the lighting isn't always the best, and we prefer to spend our budget on the students than on adding more lights to my office when its not really necessary."
Now the detective was frowning--and more importantly, the male detective, who should have been blissfully and forcibly ignorant of the quirks of the facility was looking at the room himself intently, as if with new eyes. "Maybe you should think about it, Principal Cinch. It's a lot darker than I remember," he commented. "That can't be good for your eyes, and it probably makes the students feel like this is a dungeon..."
The smile wavered for a fraction of a second with surprise, but was smoothed quickly with a practiced effort that even the shadows had to respect. "I might have to," the ancient being conceded, "have to have someone look at the room. It does seem as if something is not working as it should if you noticed the difference, Detective Armor. But in the meantime, were there more questions?"
"No," the female responded. "I think that's what I needed." She rose fluidly, and extended a hand for the principal. "Thank you for taking time out of your schedule to talk to us."
Itheadair, under the false smile looked as though they had just been forced to consume spoiled milk, shaking the offered hand. "We here at Crystal Prep do strive to maintain a positive relationship with authorities such as yourselves, detectives. We have an example to set for the best and brightest of tomorrow's leaders, after all, and respect for the law and those who keep it is an important lesson to learn."
He saw it in smokey eyes--the detective could see right through the duplicitous faerie double-speak. "If only more people in your position were so helpful," she responded. Then her eyes flitted down, and she ran fingers over the inlay on the desk. "This desk of yours is gorgeous, by the way. It's an antique, isn't it? And is this ivory?"
"It came with the building," was the reply. "I understand it was used by the previous owner when this was a home for troubled youth."
He twitched in the shadows. Damn the sidhe and their need for half truths! Not to mention the way this complicated matters--the mortal should not have been able to even see the bone inlay, since it was enchanted! This whole thing was making the mortal investigators suspicious, and as he reached out to hurry this along, to nudge the male into hurrying his companion out, he recoiled as if burned. The power that should have been there wasn't just gone--something was actively protecting him from the darkness...something that seared his awareness painfully when he touched it.
With a hiss, he was forced to retreat, glowering from his prison at the vision before him as the pair of mortals left the office...leaving him with the growing feeling that he could no longer trust his followers to act in accordance with his will.
And that certainly would not do. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter Ninety Six: Magic 101 | "Whaddya mean we aren't playing today?" Rainbow demanded, waving her hands. "How are we supposed to do magic if we don't play?!"
Sunset leaned back against the desk, arms crossed over her chest. "Because the music is just a shortcut. Your magic is starting to manifest under other circumstances and you girls are starting to exhibit actual magical abilities beyond summoning the Rainbow of Light and growing pony appendages." The redhead indicated the magic cabinet with a tilt of her head. "It seems like it's all fun and games right now, but you have to learn to control your magic actively if it's going to be effective the next time we have something show up."
"I take it you have something in mind to help us do that, darling?" Rarity asked from the desk's chair where she was carefully stitching something onto her school bag.
Nodding, Sunset waggled a hand in the air in a 'maybe' gesture. "Sort of. When I was a filly, Princess Celestia had to work with me a lot to get my magic under control, and I was...a lot younger than most foals are when they start learning, so she had to start with getting me to learn what my magic felt like." She ran a hand through her hair. "I thought that might be a good place to start, since you all aren't used to feeling magic at all."
"You are quite right there, Sunset," the tailor agreed. "I know I do feel...something when our magic activates, but...much of it feels more akin to a personal emotional reaction than an active sense, and it is quite difficult to put into words."
"I know I feel all warm and good inside when we use our magic," Fluttershy offered, "like I know there's nothing to be scared of."
Dash is frowning. "I know I felt something...when we did the magic that day in here, when we zapped the school. But it just felt like you needed our help, Sunset."
The former unicorn blew a breath out her nose in something that was more than a sigh but less than a snort. "That's a good start, but now we have to get you to feel your own magic and each other's...when it isn't a crisis or a surge. I don't want any of us to accidentally hurt someone."
Applejack took off her hat to scratch her head. "Alrighty then, where do we start? Cuz Ah ain't got the slightest notion on what I'm s'posed to be feelin' around for."
That would be a bit more complicated, Sunset knew. "Honestly, I'm afraid that is going to have to be a bit more trial and error, girls. We...don't usually have to teach this kind of thing as ponies." The redhead searched for a way to explain. "It's like humans and hands. You didn't have to be taught how to use them. They're part of you, and while doing more complicated skills with them--like playing guitar or writing--had to be learned, using your hands didn't."
Rarity's eyes were sharp. "But you did, didn't you? You didn't come with an instinctual grasp of how to use them, and you had to learn."
"I had to practice a lot, yeah. It's why I took up guitar, actually. It's good for learning and practicing finger manipulation." Sunset paused for a moment. "I kept it up more than any of the other hobbies because I like making music, but in the beginning, it was about learning how to do what humans already knew. Same with some gymnastics. I had to learn this body and what it could do."
Rainbow Dash stared at her. "That sounds like a lot of work."
She laughed a little. "It was, Dash. Learning a completely alien species' body and culture good enough to pass as one of them is hard."
The soccer star squinted. "How the hell did you find time to take over the school, plus get straight A's, if you had to do all that?!"
"Consider me a chronic overachiever," she responded dryly. It was more complicated than that but Sunset wasn't interested in detailing the lonely days and nights of an angry, friendless, wannabe tyrant with a huge chip on her shoulder. "But we're getting off topic. The point I was trying to make is that I don't know exactly how to go about teaching you how to sense your magic, because it's innate for me. I'm going to do the best I can to guide and help, but we may have to try a bunch of different methods before we find one that works...and there's no guarantee one method will work for everyone."
Her friends absorbed that, and Sunset took the chance to take a sip from a bottle of water she'd snagged from the vending machine. It gave her a minute or two to consider the basics that she could build off of, and an idea came to her from one of those early lessons with the princess.
"Alright," Dash said, flopping onto a beanbag chair. "So how do we do this? I wanna learn to fly whenever I want...goodbye bus!"
Sunset laughed. "Hey, you're the one that hasn't told me when you want to work on that bike I got you. I know some guys who can get us good deals on parts."
"Can't get a real bike license until I take a course. Dad's orders. Can't do that til summer--I have to pay for it myself, and that means summer job money. So wings before then'd be great, Shimmer--chop chop!"
Shaking her head, she stepped away from the desk, feeling more comfortable if she could move while she talked. "So each of us has this...reservoir of thaumic essence inside...like a tank, but for magic instead of water. Yours are all new, but growing and filling with magic pretty steadily. I have one too, but I was born with mine because I'm a unicorn. Yours were created when you channeled the Elements at the Fall Formal. Princess Twilight and I are still looking into why your powers seem to be growing, but for now, what we do know is that you girls act as if you are in possession of the Elements all the time." She found herself pacing the length of the room. "Theoretically, you should be able to feel not just the energy inside you, but also the energy given off by other sources of magic. Rarity, you mentioned feeling something when AJ lifted the truck?"
Blue eyes blinked. "Why...yes, darling, I did. It was...well it reminded me of the way that first sip from a mug of hot tea or cider feels when you are quite chilled. A sort of warmth that spread from core to extremities."
The former unicorn bobbed her head. "Then it's definitely there. So I'm going to...demonstrate since I can still...manipulate my magic to a limited degree. You girls don't have to do anything but close your eyes, breathe, and feel."
"Sit...and like...'use the Force, Skywalker?' Sounds pretty boring," Rainbow joked.
Pinkie giggled, then pitched her voice to a creaky warble, poking the colorful athlete with a drumstick. "Patience you must have, young Padawan. Feel the Magic you must."
She shook her head with a low laugh. "It's not a bad analogy, honestly. Magic and emotions are connected, and you've all seen what happens when they get twisted up. You get a raging she-demon instead of a Sith Lord, but the principle is the same." There was a hint of self deprecating humor in the wry expression she gave them. "Just lucky for everyone I didn't know what a lightsaber was at the time."
"We've also seen what happens when someone lets go of their anger and resentment, and comes back to themselves, Sunset," Rarity pointed out, stopping Sunset's pacing with a hand on her elbow. "Unlike in fiction, it does not 'forever dominate your destiny.' The past taught you lessons, and it will influence your future choices, but it doesn't define who you can become, and it does not have to always hang as a stone around your neck."
Warmth suffused her bones, and her magic pulsed in response. Her lips quirked into a real smile. "I...know that now, and I'm trying. It's easier because I have friends who've forgiven me, who remind me that I've changed for the better. I'll...get there...someday." She blinked back moisture and cleared her throat to dispel the lump lodged in it like a whole apple. "Anyway. Just...feel. And don't worry if you don't feel anything. It's...not a pass or fail, it's...an experiment."
Maybe this was a bad idea, Sunset mused, but as long as she didn't think about Sparky too much it should prove okay. She grasped the feeling of gratitude and friendship and trust Rarity's words had evoked, letting it trigger even more positive emotions in a cascade of memory, of moments with these five girls, of times spent with Twilight's family, even of recent conversations with Flash. Her magic responded, and she felt the crawling sensation followed by the disorienting POP! of ears suddenly able to hear in a much greater range than humans that signaled a Pony-Up.
"Um," Fluttershy started, "you aren't going to try and cast any spells, are you? That really hurt you, Sunset, and we don't want that."
She smiled at her soft-spoken friend. "I'm not going to cast any actual spells, no. What I'm going to do is just project a little magic out through my horn near you guys, to see if you can feel any of it." Carefully, because she truly had no desire for a migraine, she tried to just let the power rise up and flow more naturally out of her horn, the way smoke rose to the highest available point. Crimson light tinted her world view, and while it was definitely not as easy as it was for a unicorn body, it didn't feel like her nerves endings were being fried.
"Ooooo...." Pinkie giggled. "It's like a warm hug and hot chocolate! And maybe some of those cinnamon candies!"
"The really spicy ones?" Fluttershy asked.
Pinkie grinned. "Yup!"
"Ah don't taste or smell candy," Applejack muttered. "But Ah do keep catchin' a whiff of woodsmoke. Like from a firepit or a bonfire. The warmth though...that Ah feel."
Sunset watched them for a moment, mulling over what she was hearing. Having the humans register magic as if they were perceiving them with their already existing senses was interesting, and that both examples so far were associating her magic with heat and fire when she herself had always done so was even more intriguing.
Dash shook her head in frustration. "I don't really feel anything but bored. Isn't there a way to do this that doesn't involve sitting around like I'm trying one of Treehugger's stupid high-on-drugs 'meditations?'"
"Dashie," Fluttershy chastised. "That's not very nice. Treehugger takes cannabis for medical reasons."
Sighing, Sunset ran a hand through her hair. "It's okay if you don't, Dash--like I said before, I'm kind of making this up as I go. I still have a few more things to try." She knew Dash's pony energy was that of the pegasi, and so the former unicorn thought for a minute about what she knew about pegasi arcanobiology, even flipping through one of the text the princess had loaned her. "Okay. Idea. Stand up, Rainbow, but keep your eyes closed, and take three steps into the middle of the room."
Her colorful friend laughed but obeyed. "Okay, Ben Kenobi, now what? You going to make me dodge lasers with my eyes shut?"
"Kind of, yeah."
"Wait, what!?"
Without giving her a chance to really react, Sunset just held on to the magic, letting it fill her extremities too, and started swinging an open palm towards Rainbow's head. The first swing ended in a light but firm tap to the other girl's skull, followed by two to her shoulder. "Feel for the energy in order to avoid me. Don't think about it, just...feel. Just do what feels right. You're supposed to be fast, right?"
The flurry of strikes, modified from the fighting arts she'd been taught, still struck at vulnerable points but without the violent intent to cause harm. It did serve, however, to get Rainbow Dash's attention in a way she couldn't ignore: a challenge.
The first dozen or so hits got through, but abruptly, something changed. An expression crossed her face that Sunset couldn't quite identify, and she watched as Rainbow ducked under the next two blows. The third hit, but the soccer star twisted away from the fourth, and intercepted the fifth. Three more strikes after that were danced around, and the redhead could see the expression on Dash's face turn into one of dumbstruck surprise.
"Holy shit, Shimmer--that's you? That's what magic feels like with you? To you?"
Sunset backed off, taking a drink from her water. "What does it feel like to you?"
The short teen frowned. "Like...you ever gotten a face full of really hot air when you open an oven? Or felt it when there was one of those really hot summer storms coming? It's like WHOOSH! Hot air that burns a little rushing you? And it just makes you feel overheated instead of relieved?"
Applejack snickered. "So what yer sayin' is that Sunset's a blowhard who's full of hot air?"
That set off laughter, even from Sunset, who shook her head good naturedly. "Thank you for that wonderful assessment of my character, Dash," she said dryly.
"Dude! You know I didn't mean it like that. It's like with Pinkie talking about hot cocoa, and AJ about the campfire. You're hot." It took about two and a half seconds for the words to register, and it set off the entire group into laughter again, especially because Rainbow Dash turned red and looked like she'd swallowed a bug. "Oh, c'moooooon!" she whined. "That's not how I meant it! I mean Sunset's magic or whatever, we're all talking about it like its hot things, things that can burn the shit out of you if you're stupid."
Sobering, Sunset took another drink from her water, and noticed Rarity had an intense look on her face. "Hey, you okay?" she asked.
"I am beginning to think Rainbow Dash may be on to something, and that perhaps the...emotional response is not what I thought it was." The pale skinned girl met her gaze. "Especially if I stop and consider the way certain elements have particular traits associated with them in various aspects of myth and mysticism."
Sunset wrinkled her nose. "With all respect to your species' beliefs, I'm not sure much stock can be put in anything religion says about magic."
Rarity nodded. "In respect to modern monotheism, yes, but we do have older beliefs on record, ones that talk about magic. And some of those older beliefs have common threads that are far too common to be coincidental." She pulled out the sketchbook she often used for her design ideas, and flipped to a new page, scratching down what looked like loose notes. "Because, given what Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack have said, all three have interpreted your magic as was just suggested: something burning, hot, intense. You've also suggested that your magic, when out of control, manifested 'explosively.' And I too, have interpreted what I perceive from you in a way that calls up fire and flame and the blazing brilliance of the sun."
The former unicorn arched a brow. "I had noticed the correlation, yes, and I know my magic always feels like fire inside me, something I have to control as much as my temper or it will burn me and everypo--everyone else."
Fluttershy spoke up. "But isn't that an easy one for each of us to apply? Sunset is named Sunset, and she's very...fiery...in appearance, plus...well...tempers and anger can be seen as 'hot' too."
Blue eyes remained fixed for a moment on her before dipping to the paper. "Perhaps, but...Sunset has also detailed that magic is tied to emotions...and I'm not just talking about Sunset's magic. Applejack, darling, what did you feel when Rainbow Dash was dodging Sunset?"
Put on the spot, the farmer blurted without thinking, "Smelled more woodsmoke, but also that weird smell that tells ya a big storm is almost on top of ya."
Sunset's eyes widened. "Grogar's oversized bells...you might be on the right track." She'd caught a flicker of Dash's power responding to hers, and she could remember it always raking across her magical sense like a bolt of lightning, going all the way back to the formal.
"I think," Rarity continued, "that lacking our own unique sense, our minds are translating the information to a language we do understand."
"And with a common cultural background, emotional ties, and deep familiarity with each other, you're perceiving our magic as a representation of the individual in a way that 'feels' like them?" Sunset asked for clarification, trying to make sure she was following the tailor's thought process.
Before Rarity could respond, Dash broke in again with a frustrated groan. "Oh come oooon. Who cares why it works like that? Egghead won't help me fly faster--can we go back to focusing on the actual magic?"
Sunset rubbed the bridge of her nose, resisting the urge to snap at the soccer player. "Because it could be important, Rainbow. You have to understand how your magic works and why to be able to actively bring it out...and honestly? This feels like a good thing--it means all of you might have a better sense for each other's magic than I thought. Which means we can look more at teaching you to find your own, and work on bringing it out."
Raising her hand, Fluttershy asked, "How do we do that?"
The redhead found herself shifting her weight from foot to foot in an effort to control her urge to pace. "That's...a little harder, but thanks to Princess Twilight's notes and some of the texts I have, I think I know where to at least start. We've talked about the Elements of Harmony and the Magic of Friendship before, and how it comes from our friendship with each other...but there's more to it. Each of the Elements corresponds with a virtue, and each of those matches up with one of you girls." She started ticking them off, pointing to the girl she connected to each Element. "Honesty. Loyalty. Kindness. Generosity. Laughter. And Princess Twilight is Magic in Equestria." Though once more, her mind conjured not the image of the princess, but of her human counterpart, who had been the one who had truly brought friendship's magic into Sunset's life.
"So what does that make your virtue, darling?"
Pulled from her distracting thoughts, Sunset stared at Rarity. "What?"
"If each of us has a virtue, then what is yours? It assuredly was not the same as Twilight's at the Battle of the Bands, and it has continued when we play, or like what happened when you collapsed." Rarity tapped her chin. "Is there another Element of Harmony?"
Her brows furrowed. "I...don't know. None of the texts I've read mentioned any such thing, so if there was another, its been gone for over five thousand years. Possibly closer to eight or ten thousand, because there aren't even stories left." She rubbed her face, trying not to think about the nightmares involving her demon side. "It's...more likely that my powers are a side effect of putting on the Element of Magic, turning into a murderous she-demon, and then getting my soul scrubbed by the Rainbow of Light. Any one of those could have left lasting changes behind, but all three together? On a unicorn with an overabundance of magic that was already unstable?" Sunset shrugged, turning towards the wall so she didn't have to look in their eyes. Her arms crossed in front of her chest, knowing she words had just a tinge of bitterness to them. "It's better if we keep my case separate, because I can skew the data for a bunch of reasons."
An acid voice whispered in her memory, echoing her words with ones she'd heard more than once. "I'm sorry, Miss Shimmer, but given the unstable and erratic nature of your magic, we simply cannot in good conscience count your scores with the other students'--it's simply not an accurate reflection of the situation, since your magic skews the data with inaccuracies."
Giving her head a sharp shake, the former unicorn focused back on the present, pushing the memory away. Her friends were watching her now, and Rarity replied, "I don't think that discarding yourself from information we're gathering is a wise idea, Sunset. You seem to be tied into our magic as much as we are."
Applejack frowned. "Ah dunno, Rares. Sunset might have a point--but not fer some nonsense about ya being unstable, so don't even try that. Yer not unstable in any way, not more'n any of us, Sunset. We'd've noticed if ya were." She crossed her arms over her chest. "But...ya are right about skewing data...because of other reasons. Yer a unicorn, we're human. Yer trained, we're not. Yer magic is somethin' that was part of yer whole life an' where yer from. Any of those things is gonna make ya different from us in magic."
Blue-green eyes blinked. "That's...actually a much better point, Applejack," she conceded.
"It's also not a reason ta dismiss yerself from the study entirely. Way Ah figure it, what's important is that ya are part of our magic. Ya pony up with us, ya were part of that big rainbow thing against the Sirens, and yer magic called ta us ta do it here at school again. Whether that means yer one of them Elements or not, Twi was right. Our magic needs Sunset Shimmer ta work right."
Sunset found herself falling silent as she turned the words--and the feelings they evoked--over in her head. The quiet conviction in the blonde farmer's voice vibrated with magic, a sense of veracity as solid as the stones of the earth and just as stubbornly adamant as the speaker. It filled her with a strange sense of comfort and a reprieve from the unpleasant feelings that had been twisting her insides. "...that's...as much as I might want to argue...you aren't wrong about a lot of it. I...hadn't considered the fact that I'm a unicorn being more likely to skew data...and I have nothing to debunk the statement that I am some integral part of this magic. Whether that will change in the future...well, I'm not good at divination, so I have no idea."
"Uh...can you repeat that in plain English?" Rainbow asked.
Giggling, Pinkie poked the athlete's shoulder. "Silly! She said that being a magical pony makes her different from us when she studies the magic, and that she can't say she's not super important to our magic yet! And that she's a reeeeeeally bad palm reader, but that's probably because ponies don't have palms to read!" Pinkie beamed at Sunset. "You don't have to worry about reading palms, Sunset! Rarity knows how to do that!"
Rarity sighed. "Pinkie, I read that book out of curiosity, not so I could make up futures for my friends."
Blue eyes went wide. "Does that mean you won't tell me if Friday will have a fantastic, super amazing and delicious dessert? I need to know so I can prepare!"
"Prepare?" Fluttershy asked in confusion.
"Yup!" Pinkie responded, popping the 'p' enthusiastically. "If it's lime jello and not cake, I'm bringing cake!"
Sunset arched a brow, and pointed put dryly, "Pinkie...why don't you just check the school site on your phone? They post a monthly cafeteria menu there. Besides, you'd probably be better off using math to predict it than...whatever 'palm reading' is."
There was a scoffing sound from Rainbow. "We don't need math, Sunset. Of course there'll be cake on Friday!"
"And how do you know that?"
"Duh! Pinkie just said she's bringing it! One hundred percent chance of cake!" Dash looked inordinately pleased with herself.
Most of the girls giggled, especially when Sunset rolled her eyes. "Right. Anyway...back on topic. I thought I could have you girls try--"
The bell rang, cutting her off and signaling to six hungry teens that it was time for lunch. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter Ninety Seven: It's All in Your Hands... | Sunset glanced around the room, watching three rather subdued and thoughtful girls work with trying to both draw their own magic up and sense each other's power. They were making considerable progress in a very short time, with flickering spikes of power trying to respond to them, despite the emotional toil that they were all feeling.
Sighing, the former unicorn ran a hand through her hair. Lunch had been a near disaster, but it had certainly driven home the very warning she'd been trying to get them to understand in a very visceral and real way. She just never would have expected the one to have a near uncontrollable magical surge to be Fluttershy. That had shocked her just as much as it had the rest of them--even back when she'd been Fluttershy's primary tormentor, the mild mannered, sweet teen had never shown herself to be anything but pleasant. It had driven the old Sunset more than a little crazy, trying to find ways to get under her skin--and was why she'd finally used the girl's love of animals to drive a wedge between her and Pinkie...but even that had been a sort of sullen hurt and betrayal.
And what had happened today could not be classified as hurt or betrayal.
Sunset lunged as she felt the magic impact her senses like a freight train, grabbing Fluttershy by the shoulders amidst the sound of the normally soft voice rising in righteous anger. "Fluttershy!" the redhead called her friend's name urgently, trying to pull her attention to Sunset. "You've got to calm down--your magic is going to surge if you don't!" She could see pale yellow ears reshaping as they migrated higher on the animal lover's head, and they looked all wrong, far too round and furry for pony ears.
Her instincts screamed at her as she realized that Fluttershy now stood several inches taller than her, and shoulders under her own grip bulged with muscles that hadn't been there thirty seconds ago. Blue-green eyes looked to Fluttershy's face, seeing the familiar features starting to warp and disappear under a feral, animalistic visage as the sound of grinding bones and squelching insides registered to her ears.
Shuddering, Sunset shook herself out of the memory and back to the present as Applejack managed to finally draw forth her magic in a strong enough fashion that she ponied up, ears set with unconscious determination. "Alright, AJ," she said encouragingly. "That's it--now tell me what you feel....and maybe what you were focusing on to make it happen?"
The farmer frowned. "Just that Ah'm worried about Fluttershy," she admitted, toying with the brim of her hat. "...and Dash. They've been with the principals a long time now, an' Ah'm startin' ta worry that something's wrong."
Rarity hugged Applejack. "I do believe we are all more than a little concerned, dearest," she murmured soothingly to the blonde. "Though I can't imagine Vice Principal Luna truly punishing either of them for that fiasco. Not when Zephyr was clearly the perpetrator. It is more likely that she had to call their parents and then wait for them to arrive. It is a rather delicate situation given that Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy have known each other long enough that I imagine their parents are at least moderately acquainted."
"Mebbe...just wish Ah knew for sure. Ah can't help but feel like Ah wanna be there, standin' up for them both." The farmer sighed, and her pony features faded away.
Pinkie frowned, passing something appropriately sugary and sweet to AJ. "What did they want to talk to you about, Sunset? They asked all of us about what happened, but you were in there lots looooonger."
Chewing on a fingernail, Sunset scuffed her foot on the floor. "She did ask me about what happened, but she also asked me questions about magic...."
"Fluttershy had a surge, Miss Luna. It's something I've been working to try and avoid by teaching them to use their magic consciously. It was triggered by her emotions."
The dark skinned woman frowned thoughtfully. "Can that happen to any of you girls?"
Sunset slumped back into the chair, unwilling to lie to the woman she had come to respect, but feeling like she was about to betray her friends. "Yes," she admitted. "I've had problems for years--it was one of my biggest issues in Equestria for most of my foalhood, and the girls have been having bursts of magic for a few weeks now. I'm trying to teach them, but it's hard because their magic isn't exactly what I know. They aren't ponies."
Tapping a pen on some paper, Luna asked, "How do your people handle a situation like this?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean," Luna elaborated, "how would ponies handle a situation like this: where one pony who had powerful magic threatened to use it against a pony who had no magic?"
The three girls looked uneasily at each other, then at Sunset, before AJ voiced what they were likely all thinking. "It wasn't Shy's fault!" she bit out, bitterness under the anger in her voice.
Rarity broke in, her voice soft, "I must concur with Applejack on this. The scenario was not instigated by either Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash--that blame should reside solely with Zephyr Breeze and his behavior, and I am fairly confident that the ultimate outcome will reflect that." Blue eyes slowly passed over each of them. "However...Fluttershy's loss of temper, as unpleasant as it was, did illustrate one failing on perhaps all our parts: we have not taken Sunset's warnings as seriously as we should have...and today someone almost paid a terrible price for that."
Silence reigned once more, all four of them lost in their own thoughts. At last, Sunset broke it. "I'm sorry, girls. I probably should have tried harder to make you understand. Or started working sooner to help you learn how to control your magic instead of letting it just...happen."
"Now see here, Sunset," Applejack chastised. "It ain't yer fault we didn't take it as serious as ya meant it. Fact is, we were all kinda riding the high off beating the Sirens, and Rares is right about us not listening. Ah thought--Ah'm sure we all thought--'it's the magic of friendship, and it don't work if we ain't being good friends...' Turns out, we were wrong."
The former unicorn paced a few steps, thinking. "But that's the thing--Fluttershy was being a good friend...to Rainbow Dash. She was trying to protect a friend." She rubbed her face. "It's not that she was abusing the magic, but that it was responding far too aggressively in a situation that it wasn't needed."
That got a snort from the farmer. "Iffin ya ask me, it was necessary--ain't much else seems ta deter that horse's ass." At Sunset's arched brow and Rarity's frown, AJ coughed. "Uh...no offense."
A rueful smile twitched at her mouth. "You know," the redhead commented, "I think I'm going to ban the use of that phrase around me."
Flash's voice broke in. "Maybe wait until you hear us out first."
Sunset turned around to see Flash, Lyra, and Bon-Bon entering the room. "Hey," she responded, waving at them. "Should I be worried?"
He winced a little, rubbing the back of his head in a nervous gesture she recognized. "Maybe? Hard to say?"
"Uh oh..." Sunset sighed and put her hands on her hips. "What did I do now?" came the tired question. She was aware of her friends coming to stand on either side of her in support if she needed them, something she was grateful for. It certainly made it easier to deal with the awkward silence that stretched on as Flash, Lyra, and Bon-Bon all exchanged glances. "Look, will one of you just tell me? Whatever it is, it can't possibly be as bad as the fallout from the Fall Formal."
Bon-bon straightened up. "It's not, but it's serious and you're the only one who can help us. We've been trying to do our own research, but with what happened at lunch, Lyra and I realized that nothing we've found is any good against real magic."
The former unicorn studied them, a growing suspicion nipping at her hocks. "What do you mean? What research? Good against real magic? What exactly are you trying to do?"
"Fight back," Lyra said cheerfully. "Every magic has a counter, right? We just need to know how to counter it."
Blue-green eyes sought out Flash. "Sort of, and I've been looking for solid ways to defend against magic without it, but I haven't got anything to give you yet. I told Flash that a few weeks ago." He had the decency to look away guiltily.
"We know," Bon-Bon clarified, "because he told us. But that's not good enough, Sunset. Twice now, magic has gotten the better of all of us, used us, restrained us. How long before the next magical threat takes over the school and tries to take us hostage again?" She raised her chin defiantly. "I refuse to let that happen--maybe I can't win, but I refuse to be a victim a third time. I'm not going to be a hostage; I'm going to be a problem."
There was a giggle from Pinkie. "My science teacher says I'm a problem all the time!"
"Pinkie, darling," Rarity interjected, "I do not believe that is quite the same thing."
Sunset frowned. "Even if it's not," she admitted, "what do you want from me?" One hand pushed wild hair back from her face. "All of the ways I know come from creatures who have some magic of their own, and...as much as I'd like to be able to hand over a book full of answers, I can't." She couldn't hide the hint of exasperation in her tone--she was already struggling with the magic the girls had, and there simply weren't enough hours in her day to be a full time student, work with the magic research, worry about what was after Twilight and her school, and start another research project for a separate topic. Not unless she started giving up sleeping.
"We thought maybe you could give us your thoughts on some of the ideas we've had," Flash confessed, "because this isn't just the three of us, Sunset."
It was Applejack who narrowed her eyes at them. "Whaddya mean by that?"
Bon-Bon made a loose gesture with one hand. "We're here on behalf of a large portion of the school who feel the same way."
"How large is large, darling?"
Lyra's whole face lit up and she held up a notebook. "Right now the Wondercolt Student Defense Force has three hundred and eighty two members signed up."
The former unicorn stared, her brain grinding to a screeching halt, dimly aware that her mouth was hanging open in shock. Pinkie said what she was thinking, though perhaps not in the manner Sunset was thinking it.
"Wow! That's a whole lot!"
Flash looked sheepish. "It's mostly our class and the sophomores. Some seniors, a portion of the freshmen, and a handful of eighth graders."
"Ya done got the middle school young'uns involved in this malarky?!" Applejack did not look any happier than she sounded.
"No one younger than eighth grade," Bon-Bon clarified. "But some of them wanted to help, and we figured at least this way they're supervised."
A pale hand rested on Applejack's broad shoulder to calm her down, Rarity clearing her throat. "Supervised doing what, exactly, if Sunset does not have any known methods of opposing magic without possessing it?"
The trio looked at each other, and Bon-Bon took the lead again. "For starters, I was thinking self defense instruction. It'd be good for them to all know how to fight back against an attacker--even just a human one."
The tailor's expression was tight and critical, lips pressed to a thin line. "I see. And who would be the instructor? One of you?"
"I was actually thinking of talking to my dad," the other girl answered. "He's taught kids before, not just me. Sunset can attest to his skills--she was his student too--according to him, she was one of his most driven students."
Her eyes widened, and Sunset tried to connect Bon-Bon's face to the grizzled, heavyset, middle aged man with the scar on his chin that taught her how to protect herself. She saw none of him in the teen's pointed chin and high cheekbones, but as she thought back, the redhead realized she could hear him echoed in Bon-Bon's voice, the grave seriousness with which she had refused to be a hostage again, the hard edge in her gaze. It echoed the harsh sternness in dark predator's eyes and a gravelly voice that once told her, "When you do this, you commit, girl. Strike hard, strike fast, and commit. They aren't going to hold back, so you don't either."
Shaking herself out of her thoughts, she exhaled. "He's good, but that's a lot of students, and he'd need parent permission for them." Sunset rubbed her arm. "I'm also not sure it would do anything but make them overconfident and get them into more trouble."
"Speaking of permission...ya got the principals' permission ta form this little group of yers?" Applejack was looking even more agitated by the minute. "Cuz Ah can't imagine they are gonna be keen on the whole...child soldier deal yer proposing, and Ah'm not so sure Ah'm keen on it either, since Ah know Applebloom and her friends are gonna be itching ta be a part of it."
"Oh no," Lyra said. "This is not any kind of official extracurricular at all. They'd never let us. We were just planning on doing it and not telling them--after all, if they don't know, then the watchers working for secret magical societies won't know either, and we'll have the advantage when they show up trying to take over the school!"
They all stared at her, even Bon-Bon--who had a slight twitch to her eye as she tried to process the words. "Lyra, sweetie, best friend whom I love with all my heart? This isn't one of your weird roleplaying games with the Vampires or the Werewolves. We're being serious--this is real life."
Rainbow's voice broke in behind her. "It's definitely not a game," she agreed, sounding cutting, even for her. "Sunset tried to tell us that before, and I didn't listen. None of us really did, cuz we didn't get it." She walked in, brushing past Flash to lead Fluttershy over to her friends. "But she was right. Magic is dangerous, even ours. People can get hurt, or killed--we've gotten lucky. There's no do-overs, not time-outs. And if people die...they're dead. Game over."
Silence weighed down on the room, oppressive, choking, and Sunset had to clear her throat before she could speak. "That's why I don't think making yourselves bigger targets is a good idea. The instant you pick up a weapon or raise your fists, you become a prime target." Her eyes met Bon-Bon's. "Don't take up arms unless you're committed to dropping your enemy. We have a similar attitude in Equestria."
"So what do ponies do instead, Sunset? Do you guys just run?" Flash asked, sounding genuinely interested. "Because Twilight didn't. She stood up to you at the formal, and the Dazzlings at the band competition."
Sunset rubbed her temples. "Right, but Princess Twilight is a grown mare, an alicorn, and one of the most talented magical prodigies Equestria has ever seen. She has the power, knowledge, training, and experience to back it up. We dont send foals in to fight--foals are taught to avoid, disengage, and run for safety." The former unicorn began to pace again, moving restlessly in a back and forth arc, the motion repetitive but also helping her to think clearer. "Which is, ultimately, I think the best angle for your little 'defense group'--getting yourselves and others out of the situation, away from danger, and to somewhere you can defend until it's clear."
He rubbed his neck. "Okay...but...how?"
"I still say being able to take someone down is a good plan," Bon-Bon groused.
That earned her several hard stares and a sharp head shake from Sunset. "Avoidance, remember?"
The only male in the room raised a hand. "What about defensive weapons that we cache around the school--slingshots, smoke bombs like Trixie's always using, stuff like that? There's plenty of empty lockers and other places we can hide stuff."
Rainbow looked enthusiastic. "Yeah, you could totally hide stuff all over, maybe some flash bombs or stink bombs too, or like extra baseball bats in your lockers--could even raid the gym storage. You know we have bows and arrows in there, from like...back in the sixties?"
This time it was Rarity who rained on their parade. "You do realize most of those things are technically banned from school grounds and having weapons is grounds for expulsion? I'm not so sure we should engage in a solution that will get the well meaning student body in legal trouble, darling."
Wincing, Sunset paused in her pacing. "Yeeeah...let's try and avoid getting in trouble, guys. I just got to the point where people aren't wanting to throw things at me in the halls, and I don't think getting some of them expelled will do me any favors. Plus I'm still on thin ice myself--any kind of major infraction and I'm the one they'll expel."
Pinkie latched onto her with a choking bear hug. "No! School wouldn't be the same without yoooooou!"
"Which is why I'm advising against getting us all kicked out." The redhead carefully untangled herself from Pinkie Pie's arms, feeling a little like she'd just been hugged by a particularly exuberant boa constrictor.
Lyra's phone played an eerie melody, making the girl check the screen immediately. "Oh wow! Did you know someone spotted a sasquatch in White Tail Woods last week? They don't come this far south--do you think magic is drawing them here?"
Sunset blinked. "A...what?"
"Sasquatch. You know...Big Foot? The Yeti, but not as frostbitten?" Lyra grinned.
Blink. Blink. "You guys have yeti here? And they come this far south? This close to civilization...and the human government hasn't had them hunted?" That made no sense--yeti were aggressive and violent, and lived in highland mountains close to the snowline or in the extreme northern and southern ends of Equestria on frozen tundra. Yakyakistan had a huge problem with them and was half the reason that they never had time to really make war on any other creatures. "That sounds...super dangerous."
It was too quiet, as if the entire room had stopped breathing, prompting her to look up. The Equestrian native found everyone except Lyra staring at her in stunned fascination. "Did...did I say something wrong?"
"Uh...not really," Applejack said. "Just...yeti and Big Foot and stuff like the Loch Ness monster and sea serpents and ghosts are fake. Tourist traps. Stories. Never proven." She furrowed her brows. "Only folks inta alien abductions and conspiracies believe that kinda hooey."
Sunset filed that away as potentially important. "Well...yeti are real. At least in Equestria. They're really big and ugly and dangerous. You know Coach Will? Imagine something built like him but...like almost twice as tall, hairy, smelly, and with lots of sharp teeth. And super angry, all the time." She thought about it. "Actually, yeti are probably the closest things Equestria has to humans, now that I think about it--unless you count actual monkeys and apes from the jungles."
She found her shoulders grabbed by Lyra, who shook her. "Oh. Em. Gee! You have to tell me everything about the monsters in your world! Like do you have sea serpents? Dragons? What about gargoyles or basilisks?! Harpies? What abou--URK!"
Bon-Bon had latched her hand onto Lyra's collar and hauled her back out of Sunset's personal space. "Sweetie, I love you, but we don't have time for this right now. So unless you can use your network of conspiracy nuts to come up with ways to fight magic that isn't completely made up nonsense, can you focus, please?"
Instead of being deterred, Lyra's grin only widened. "Oh, Bonny, I already did that! I even checked out some of the prepper stuff from a few places on the dark web that I thought we could use to fortify shelter spaces in the school in case whatever shows up has big teeth!" She fished an entire three ring binder out of her backpack and held it out to her girlfriend. "I thought we could have Sunset look through it and point out which ones were best!"
Taken aback, Bon-Bon let go to take the binder. "...O...kay..." she responded slowly. "Why didn't you tell me that before?"
Lyra's tone remained cheerful. "I was going to, but then lunch happened and you were busy keeping Zephyr on the ground so Flutter-Bear would listen to Sunset and not get even madder, and then I was gonna tell you in last period buuuuut then one of my favorite ghost hunters posted a video about how they'd caught an actual spirit conversation on camera and I forgot."
What was that faint sound? Sunset could pick it up faintly, and it took her a few minutes to realize it was the sound of Bon-Bon grinding her teeth. The girl with the mint colored skin seemed to ignore it as she flipped the binder open, revealing a very neatly organized collection of pages. "But look! Something like this--a protective circle of salt, plus warded crystals carved with magical symbols that have been soaked in salt, herbs, and holy waters in a new moon's light."
"But the new moon doesn't have light...." Pinkie commented in mild confusion. "So wouldn't that be the new moon's not-light?"
Sunset chose to focus on the binder page, seeing a diagram that did bear more than a superficial resemblance to a real warding circle and spell matrix. It would never work, since it was clearly incomplete and mangled, and all that chatter about moonlight was mostly made up human nonsense. On the other hand, between that and the book someone had gone to trouble of getting in her hands, there might be something useful. "I'll look through it," she assured them.
Bright eyes jerked to Sunset in shock. "You...you will?" Lyra asked, sounding both excited and stunned.
"Yeah...there's a chance that there might be something in here that could be useful. Maybe not as is, but as...a sort of jumping point?" It was more to add to her plate, but there was no one else, and Sunset had no choice. If she didn't help, chances were the students of CHS would go off on their own and possibly get hurt, and that would be her fault. "I can't do it right this minute, because I'm working with the girls, but I'll try to get at it this week after I get my homework done--I've got that paper due for English on Thursday, and a history report next week, but I should be able to have an hour or so each night to research."
Lyra seemed to hesitate a moment, a look of something Sunset thought was akin to, but not quite hesitation on her face. "I... uhhh..." Her eyes flicked briefly to Bon-Bon before returning to Sunset. "I know most people call it all conspiracy nut stuff," she admitted, taking a breath, "...but I organized all the information and color-coded it according to what type of source it came from, if there are other references that might back it up, if there's any kind of proof of it working in any kind of context. So, I...hope that helps cut down on how much you have to do, to weed out what is actually useful to you. I know a lot of it is probably no good, but if there is something and it makes a difference in the end, then it was worth it, right?"
The redhead was quiet for a long minute, before reaching out and squeezing Lyra's shoulder. "Yeah," she agreed. "It is. Thanks, Lyra. That will make this a lot easier--in fact, if you're up for it, I might ask you to do this same kind of sort and organization with all the various bits of information people here at school keep dumping on me. There's just not enough hours in a day for me to go through it."
"Totally, Sunset! I'd love to help! And if you can make a list of things I can throw out that you know won't work, I can even weed out the worst of it for you." The other girl was beaming now, and practically vibrating with excitement. She turned to her girlfriend. "See?! I told you it wasn't a..."
Sunset tuned it out, in favor of her own thoughts as she slipped the binder into her backpack. There were a lot of things that needed to be done, and she really couldn't do it all by herself...
"Um...Sunset?" a soft voice and a hand on her arm dragged her from her thoughts.
The former unicorn turned towards Fluttershy. "Hey," she said. "You...doing okay now?"
Her friend gave a nod. "...yes...much better..." And then she was hugging Sunset, hard enough that Sunset could feel the trembling in her frame. "...thank you, Sunset...thank you so much for what you did..." she whispered. "...I'm sorry we didnt take your warnings more seriously..."
She hugged Fluttershy back, willing as much warmth and strength into the gesture as she could, unsure how else to help her. What had happened at lunch had rattled all of them, herself included. "I wasn't explaining it the best way, Fluttershy. It's not always easy, trying to tell you guys about magic because the words just don't exist for you, and I'm trying to explain stuff that ponies...don't really have to be told. We just...know it, by growing up in Equestria. So I'm sorry too."
With a wince, Sunset added, "Your brother is...honestly, a slime...but I wasn't going to let you just go off on him...I'm just glad no one got hurt. Grizzly bears are no joke."
Nodding, Fluttershy squeezed even harder. "It was your voice. You...you interrupted me, interrupted all of the anger I felt, the way I just wanted Zephyr to stop, to make him stop being so smug about all of the things he does and feel the way he makes others feel. The way he makes Dashie feel. When that happened...the part of me that wasn't angry could...do something. And then..."
"And then Bon-Bon put him on the floor and my magic did the rest..." Sunset concluded, recalling the way the energy inside her had reacted, latching onto the power that threatened to consume Fluttershy...how it felt like it was rushing through her veins like a raging river, before she directed it into the faint, ghostly leyline-like conduits that she sensed in the earth beneath the school.
"...yeah...but you kept me from hurting him. So thank you, Sunset..."
Fluttershy sounded so down, so upset that Sunset squeezed her around the shoulders. "I was just trying to be a good friend like you girls taught me. I know you'd have done the same for me in an instant." A hint of a smile quirked at her friend's features, prompting her to go on. "And we know what your powers are now--and I've got to say, they're pretty neat. Shape-shifting is not an easy magic, at all. Even in Equestria, its very limited, takes a lot of power, and decades of training, and that's just for little changes."
That did it--talking about animals usually did, with the soft spoken girl, and this was no exception. "I do like the idea of being able to understand them better...and what better way than turning into them..."
Patting Fluttershy's shoulder encouragingly, Sunset looked up to find Flash watching with a curious, almost excited expression. "What?" she asked.
"What about interrupts?"
The former unicorn's brain did a weird little stuttery, confused stop. "What are you talking about?"
Her ex made a hand motion. "Fluttershy just talked about how you stopped her by breaking her concentration. By interrupting her."
Where in the name of a diamond dog's mangy hind end was he going with this? ".....yessss...?" The redhead furrowed her brows. "Magic often takes some level of focus...the more complicated the effect, the greater the concentration required."
He grinned. "So why not take a page from video games then, and figure out ways to break the concentration of anyone trying to use magic on us? Could do slingshots, like I said, but with packets of chili powder, or water balloons filled with stuff, or the smoke bombs they let Trixie carry? Not to win, but to make it hard for them to use magic on us. Could even tell people to start carrying pepper spray on them, or even just ziplocs of dirt. Get things in their eyes, their noses..."
"Oh!" Pinkie jumped up and down. "Air horns! Glitter bombs! Strobe lights!"
"Chalk powder--there's plenty in the gym supplies," Rainbow added.
"We could use coffee filters and tea bags," Rarity suggested. "Even liquids like soap or vinegars would blind and disorient an attacker. And none of those things are against school rules," she noted.
Sunset's mind raced, taking what they were talking about and combining it with their earlier suggestions in new ways. "Okay...yeah...that could work. If you guys can find places around school to store that kind of stuff, and maybe teach people how to hit what they're throwing at..."
Dash broke in. "Have Fastball help. He's got a great arm and he's worked training before. It's not baseballs but the idea is the same."
Lyra is taking frantic notes in her notebook. "Okay. What about sports equipment? We could keep things like bats and hockey sticks for the older kids, just in case of close fighting. Or some kind of shield?"
With a sullen sort of twist to her features, Applejack speaks up, "Ah still think this is a terrible idea...but...instead of weapons...what about sports armor? Football gear, lacrosse padding, hockey stuff? Ain't nobody gonna question that in a school or a locker, and no risk of folks thinking it means they can beat a monster ta a pulp with it?"
"That's...that's...we could try that, yeah," Bon-Bon said. "People won't be as happy with it, but...if we use some of Lyra's prepper info to create defensive points in the school, places where we can make a stand, that'd probably work."
Sunset took a few steps back, letting the rest of the girls brainstorm with their other friends, mostly so she could crack open the binder Lyra had handed her. If the other students were organizing their own plan in case of another incident with magic and magical beings--and now that they'd been firmly directed away from fighting like soldiers, it wasn't a bad plan--then that was one less detail about protecting the school that Princess Celestia's former pupil had to worry about. That meant she could focus more of her time and energy on being a magic tutor...and on figuring out just what was going on with the dark magic and Twilight's school...
She'd do anything to prevent her dark dreams and visions from coming true.
Anything. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter Ninety Eight: Twilight on the Couch | Wind whipped Twilight's clothes as she hugged herself tight to Sunset's back. Normally, she loved riding on the motorcycle with her girlfriend--and why not? There was a lot to enjoy about it: the speed and the wind, the thrumming purr of a well cared for machine whose owner had put a great many hours into its construction and maintenance, the intimately close proximity to the gorgeous redhead, pressed flush against her back with arms around a body that was satisfyingly warm in winter, the excuse to press her palms to that toned, flat stomach with only a shirt between them and amber skin...
Today, however, she couldn't manage to muster the thrill she normally felt. Her anxiety had her wound far too tight to even enjoy the guilty pleasure of Sunset's breasts brushing against the top of her hands with every breath. The dark haired girl was too fixated on where they were headed and why.
Her therapy appointment with Dr. Soft-Spoken.
It ate away at her as she watched her girlfriend lay on her bed, reading a book on engineering principles meant for college students, occasionally brushing a strand of fiery hair back from her face, lips moving slowly as she devoured the information in the text. Twilight had long since abandoned her spot at the desk to cuddle up under a blanket with the warm body of her girlfriend, and at first, all she'd thought about was kissing her until she was breathless. Slowly, though, another thought had intruded, of uncertain, worried blue green eyes staring at her with fear and a little pain, and the voice of her best friend asking, "...is this it for us, always hiding, always sneaking around afraid that someone else might get it into their head that we don't act in a way they think is acceptable?" and with it, an idea that wouldn't leave her alone.
Finally, she couldn't take it anymore, and blurted, "Sunny?"
Blue green eyes turned her way, and then Sunset leaned in to kiss her nose. "Yeah? What's up, nerd? You going to tell me what's been making you fidget for the last ten minutes?"
Twilight's face felt hot with embarrassment. "Was it that bad?"
An amber skinned arm curled around her snugly, and Sunset pushed her book to the side. "Not really--I could just tell because of how close you are. Now what's wrong, Sparky?"
"I...do you remember what we talked about on the couch the other week? About me trying to come out to Mom and Dad?" She toyed with a bit of Sunset's sleeve, twisting it between her fingers.
Her girlfriend nuzzled a cheek into Twilight's dark hair. "Mm-hmm..." she responded with a low hum. "What about it?"
"...I want to talk to my therapist about it, since she's good at helping me work through stuff like this and come up with ways to overcome my anxieties..." Just the thought of discussing coming out with her therapist made her innards twist into knots, and she had to take a slow, shaky breath or two before she could forge onward. Sunset, to her credit, waited patiently, one hand moving up and down Twilight's back in a comforting gesture. At last, Twilight found her voice again.
"...I want to take you with me to my appointment and introduce you to Dr. Soft-spoken as my girlfriend!" She got it out in a rush before the panic could rise up again and silence her.
The redhead was quiet, her expression curious and thoughtful. "....o...kay..." she said slowly. "...I'm not opposed, Sparky, if it'll help you..."
Twilight frowned. She could detect the hesitation in Sunset's voice. "But...?"
Her girlfriend blushed and looked away. "I...I don't exactly know much about how this therapy thing works. What...would I need to do? Is she going to want to ask me questions?"
For a moment, Twilight was startled by Sunset's confession, but then her brain registered it in context of everything else she'd gleaned over the months she'd known her fiery maned paramour. "I'm sorry, Sunny...it never occurred to me that you might not know what my therapy appointments involved, or even have any personal knowledge about what goes on at them."
Sunset shrugged, her expression shifting to that not-quite-blank one where her eyes were both too old for her face and seeing something a thousand miles away. It was a look that Twilight had learned usually meant that the older girl was going to half share something about her past that was both incredibly vague and evasive but also sometimes seemed as if she were protecting her former guardian and wherever the woman lived. "It's...not something that really existed...where I used to live. If some...body...had some kind of a problem...and they couldn't just...you know, work it out on their own, they'd go to their family. Or friends." Another laconic shrug, and a flicker of real pain in those blue-green depths. "Neither of which I had."
Anxieties forgotten in the face of a flush of true anger, Twilight had to bite back the response that wanted to fly from her mouth: that Sunset's so-called guardian probably wouldn't have wanted anyone official to know just how she was treating Sunset anyway. She knew enough to know that a response like that would make Sunset defend the situation or shut down on the subject entirely. She settled for hugging her girlfriend tight and going with the second option of what to say, since it was less likely to upset Sunset--which was very much not the point of this discussion at all. "I understand, Sunset--I am aware that other countries do not always have the same access to mental healthcare that we do here, and many countries, even well established and well off first world ones, have harsher and even highly negative social stigma attached to the very thought of seeking a trained mental health professional."
Sunset mouth twisted into a wry smile. "That's...a reasonably accurate summary in a lot of ways," she responded, her word choice deliberate and careful, suggesting Twilight had been at least partially right, but also partially wrong in her assessment somewhere, but that she didn't want to pursue the line of inquiry further.
Perhaps it would be a good idea to answer the original question. "You would not necessarily be expected to do much of anything. At most, I'll introduce you, explain what I'm trying to do, and she may ask a few questions to make sure we're on the same page about coming out. That's it, and it may not even entail that much. She might just take a few minutes to facilitate the kind of conversation I can expect when introducing my partner to people...mostly to gauge my reactions and emotions, so she can assist me in ways I can work through my anxieties about the act of coming out to my family."
The older girl was quiet, but Twilight could see she was turning the words over in her mind--not negatively, but in a way that meant she was processing new information...at least, that's what it usually meant when her brows furrowed that way. "...so...she'll want to make sure I...understand what it is you're wanting to do...and that...I'm okay with it...but also not...forcing you to do it?"
Twilight nodded. "That is a possibility. She may also check and make sure its safe for you to be 'out,' since some kids are in environments where that would put them at risk from bigoted relatives or guardians."
The brows pinched a little further. "Definitely not an issue for me. Even...before...I'm not sure it would have been. It just...wasn't something that was worried about. They were all more worried about if the...person...was of the right social group or status...or if it would look good on their family. Still stupid, but stupid in a different way."
Interesting...Twilight filed that information away, right next to the other details Sunset let slip about her upbringing, especially in the realm of relationships. "It can be a very short sighted attitude that is unfortunately all too prevalent, particularly prejudice against the non-heteronormative portion of the population. For reasons I fail to be able to find logic in, there is a great deal of hatred and fear directed at us, as if we are somehow a threat to others simply by existing, and our attraction and affections are somehow poisonous to 'straight people.' It's one of the myriad of reasons that the 'closet,' and 'coming out' are such harrowing things for a great many people."
Snorting derisively, Sunset shook her head. "Yeah. I've heard stories. Back when I was running CHS, I dug up a lot of stuff to blackmail other students and...that one was one of a lot of people's fears." She bit her lip. "At least I can say, as horrible as I was, that was one of the few things I didn't hold over anyone. I wanted control, but the idea that I would threaten to take away someone else's family? I couldn't."
Twilight said nothing to that, but secretly she felt it proof that Sunset had not been as bad as she made herself out to be. "It is a very common fear, and one with some very legitimate weight behind it, unfortunately. Which is why I suspect Dr. Soft-spoken may ask you a few questions to make sure my coming out does not put you in jeopardy."
A sigh escaped the other teen. "So...she'll likely make sure I understand all that, and am comfortable with it. Then what? Practicing this whole coming out thing with her and consider different situations that it might occur? Field questions people are going to automatically want to know about us dating?"
"I may be wrong, but that is my hypothesis of how it will go. Unlike what you might have seen portrayed in movies and television, my therapist does not browbeat me with words until I tell everything. She...lets me come to her with things I feel I need to discuss and asks questions around that subject. I also know from previous sessions where she spoke with a member of my family as well as me, she did focus on me as her patient and whatever problems I was dealing at the time, not on them." She pressed her palm to Sunset's cheek, making her girlfriend look at her. "I promise you that your secrets are safe--she won't try to dig them out of you."
Blue-green eyes met purple, and the world around them fell away as Sunset dipped her face to kiss Twilight. It wasn't the steamiest kiss they'd shared, as of late, but it was deep and intense and it reached inside Twilight, drawing up plenty of emotions that made her feel giddy and a little lightheaded, as well as setting loose an entire swarm of butterflies in her stomach. When they parted slowly, breathing hard, Sunset rested her forehead against Twilight's. "Thanks, Sparky. I...was a little worried about that..." She snuck another quick peck on the dark haired girl's lips. "...and who knows...maybe I'll benefit too..."
"Oh?" Curiosity flicked its tail like a cat in the back of her mind.
"It's...not really the same kind of fear...but...I am a little nervous and...not entirely comfortable with the idea of telling my friends. Not because I think they'll hate me or anything--none of them have any issue with Rarity and Applejack, and like...the whole school knows they're together. But...I...haven't told them about you...they don't know I have a friend they've never met, let alone a girlfriend...and I'm worried about how they'll take that I've been...hiding that from them."
Resting a hand against Sunset's shoulder, Twilight asked carefully, "Are you afraid they'll be angry that you have a friend that isn't one of them?" She certainly hoped not--Sunset clearly cared about her friends, and it would be awful if it turned out they were toxic and unhealthy friendships.
Sunset bit her lip. "No, it's not that...it's..." She blew a sigh out her nostrils slowly. "I've talked about how I lost to that girl at the Fall Formal?"
She remembered. "The transfer student that...managed to work with the girls you're friends with now to break your hold on the student body?"
A self-deprecating chuckle escaped the redhead. "That's the one. She's not here anymore, and before she left in December...We talked. I apologized for all the terrible things I did to her, and I guess we're friends? And kind of pen-pals now?" She tipped her head away from Twilight to look at the ceiling. "Thing is... that girl...kind of reminds me of you--she even looks like she could be your sister or cousin, but a few years older, and she's pretty smart and just..."
Something sour made Twilight's mouth twitch, and it took her a moment to realize it might be jealousy. "Just...what?" she asked before she could stop herself.
Sunset shrugged. "Really good at making friends. That's how she beat me, in the end. She became friends and motivated the whole school to take a stand against me." When Twilight didn't answer right away, she looked back down. "Sparky?"
Twilight couldn't help the way her face twisted, or the tears that prickled at the corners of her eyes. "It's just...she sounds like a better version of me...one that doesn't have half as many problems..." She got the words out as a sharp, bitter set of sounds, mostly because it was better than crying. "Are you worried that your friends are going to...what? Think I'm not as good as her, that you should date her instead?"
Sunset's face was blurry through the tears that she couldn't stop from welling up and spilling over, but this close, Twilight could still tell her face was going through a myriad of expressions and emotions. "Sparky...no." She gently took Twilight's glasses off her face, and used her sleeve to wipe the tears away. "She is not you, and certainly not a 'better version' of you. You're very different people with some surface similarities that people who don't know either of you very well will compare and make assumptions. I have no interest in her at all, and I can't see myself ever having anything with her that's anything like our friendship, and especially not more."
She pressed a soft, light kiss to Twilight's mouth. "You are my best friend, and you...you're special to me..."
Sniffling, the dark haired teen tried to give her a weak, watery smile. "...I'm sorry...I guess I'm used to thinking of myself as...broken..."
"Hey..." Sunset nuzzled her. "You aren't broken. You're smart and funny and you're my first and best friend, and I think you are so amazing that no one can ever compare to you. And I'm not afraid the girls will think I should be with someone else...or anything bad about you at all." She sagged a little into the mattress. "I'm afraid they'll see the similarities I mentioned and think that I'm doing this as some twisted revenge plot to get back at her...or that I am dating you because I have some kind of thing for her that I'm projecting those emotions onto you."
Twilight blinked and before she could censor it, her mouth opened. "Really? If they do, then your friends need to stop watching bad rom-coms and reading trashy romance novels. That's...you've done so much to try and be a better person--thinking you would do something that...shallow and awful?" She shook her head and ran her fingers through her girlfriend's hair. "If they're the kind of friends you claim, then they would never think that of you, Sunny."
Sunset gave a half laugh, half snort. "...ponyfeathers, that's so on point about Rarity, it's like you already know her--she's always going on about these ridiculous 'romance' ideas or theories. She's a good friend, but sun and stars, sometimes it drives me crazy!" Then she sobered, growing thoughtful again. "...and I guess you're right--it probably is silly to be afraid of them making that kind of assumption. It's probably all just in my head." She hugged Twilight close.
"I guess my only other question is 'when are we doing this, nerd?'"
Twilight drew a calming breath in through her nose as they idled at a red light, letting it out slowly, picturing her anxiety as flowing out of her as part of her breath. It didn't quite work, as her mind supplied a rather annoying but comical mental image of an anthropomorphic manifestation of her stress response blowing a raspberry at her and her attempts to oust it from her consciousness. It was a fairly illogical response, one she hadn't been expecting, but it was exactly the kind of thing Sunset would have made jokes about. That did put a smile on her face and this time when she exhaled, her chest felt less tight, her nerves less jittery as some of the anxiety untangled. She pictured the anthropomorphic manifestation wandering off to sulk and giggled a little to herself. It made Sunset glance back over a shoulder at her and Twilight squeezed her waist to let the taller girl know she was okay.
And she was, she realized as the bike turned down another road a minute or two later. Her stomach no longer felt knotted up, nor did she have the urge to have Sunset turn the bike around so she could flee to the safety of her bedroom. She could do this--especially with Sunset by her side.
Which was probably a good thing, since the bike was pulling into the parking lot outside a large structure that housed her therapist's office. Sunset dropped the kickstand and pulled her helmet off, shaking out her hair. "Wow...this is...not what I was expecting at all."
Twilight looked at the modern style, two story building, with its large windows, terraced balconies, and copious amounts of plants--including more than a few hardy evergreens and pots of pansies still providing nature's greenery and splashes of bright color despite the yellow brown grass of winter. "What were you expecting?" she asked curiously.
"Something that looked like a hospital. Not...this. Not do bright or cheery." Sunset slid off the bike and offered her a hand.
"It's a private practice with ties to a number of outreach programs. The second floor has a bunch of rooms and studios they rent out to stuff like art therapy and yoga classes, or to group meetings for grief counseling or addiction struggles," Twilight explained. "It's designed specifically with mental health needs in mind, and hospital-like environs are both unnecessary and stress-inducing to a lot of people."
Sunset did a slow turn. "It just seems...more like an office building or some place you'd come to get help with your taxes. My finance guy has an office in a place like this..." she murmured.
Hooking a hand around one of her girlfriend's arms once she put her own helmet in the storage compartment of the bike, Twilight giggled. "The inside is nice too--and it's warm. Come on."
She led her compliant companion inside, bypassing the larger lobby in the front to head right down the left hand hallway. Around a turn towards the end, she pointed to a dark stained wooden door. "Dr. Soft-spoken's office is through here. They're designed like this so that the people coming for therapy with one of the doctors here aren't shoved into a crowded waiting room to get called on publicly like they are waiting to be yelled at by a principal."
"Smart--sounds like it'd be a lot more relaxing that way." Sunset reached for the handle. "Um...can we go in?"
Twilight nodded. "Yes. This opens to a waiting area just for her clients."
The redhead nodded and opened the door, holding it open so Twilight could enter first. Beyond was the familiar small waiting room, one corner of it taken up by a child's playmat and a bucket of miscellaneous toys. Along the wall was a comfortable couch, some small end tables, and a waist high bookcase full of various books, usually meant for teens.
At a slim desk near the door to the doctor's actual inner office, working quietly at her laptop, was the secretary. She smiled at them when Twilight walked in. "Hello, Twilight." She indicated a basket on the corner full of carefully wrapped cookies. "If you and your friend want a snack while you wait, Momo baked cookies with her Grandmother yesterday, and these were the extras."
That helped her relax--Mrs. Sakura was a kind lady, and she barely even registered Sunset's presence as anything to comment on. "Thank you, ma'am. A cookie does sound nice--what flavor are they?"
"What else?" The woman laughed lightly. "Chocolate and peanut butter, like everything else sugary my daughter wants to put in her mouth."
Sunset's eyes lit up and she politely accepted a cookie before joining Twilight on the couch. "These are pretty good," she murmured, offering a second one to her girlfriend.
The dark haired girl took it, nibbling at it lightly. Her anxiety had settled but hadn't vanished entirely. So far, everything had gone smoothly...almost too smoothly. Even her evasive explanation to her mother about why Sunset was going with her to her appointment instead of Velvet taking her had been accepted with no suspicion or real question...
Twilight stood on the bottom step, mentally rehearsing what she wanted to say for the ninth time, going over her logical arguments and the justification for why she wanted to do this that had nothing to do with the real reason for it all. For one wild moment, the teen was struck with just how irrational and illogical her entire plan--and her fears--were, that developing these complex workarounds and evasive explanations and borderline lying to her parents was ridiculous... In that second, she just wanted to spill the truth, to just tell her mother that she was dating her best friend in the bluntest way possible and dealing with whatever came from it. Cadence had been telling her for years that it would be okay, and she could not imagine her mother and father discarding her or being upset with her for the kind of people she was attracted to...
But just as she'd had that thought, her mouth opening to call out to her mother, her throat constricted painfully and her heart began to race. Vague fears began to coalesce in the back of her mind, whispering worries that made her anxiety spike, and even in the privacy of her own mind she couldn't manage to form the words that she wanted to just get out there and be done with. Frustrated, Twilight pushed a fist against her mouth, biting her knuckles as an unintelligible sound rose in her throat, a manifestation of her emotions right then.
The noise drew the attention of her mother, and Velvet stepped into the hall, drying her hands on a dishtowel. "Twily, sweetie, is everything okay?"
Cheeks hot, Twilight slumped and crept her way down the last step to stand in the hall. It took a minute to sort her thoughts to a point where she could articulate in a way that was satisfactory. "...yes...I...just had an idea, but it refused to come out in a way I was happy with." She felt a little guilty but reassured herself it wasn't entirely a lie--she did have an idea and it didn't come out, and she wasn't happy with the results yet.
Her mother nodded. "I'm sure you can work it out, Twily. You're a smart girl, and no problem is truly unsolvable when you put your mind to it. You'll find an answer you'll be satisfied with soon, I'm sure."
She tried a smile as she tailed her mother into the kitchen. "Thanks, Mom. I know I will...I just need to do a little more research on it first." She sat down at the table, and accepted a drink and a small snack plate with a few cookies on it from her mother, nibbling on one to regather her courage.
"Mom?" Twilight finally ventured when she felt brave. "My next appointment with Dr. Soft-spoken is on Thursday..."
Velvet smiled. "Yes, it is...unless you have something going on and you need to change it to another time?" She gave her daughter a puzzled look.
"Oh! No, no...I don't have any need to change it," she responded hurriedly. "That's not why I was bringing it up." She gripped her cup with both hands. "I was just...Dr. Soft-spoken has met with each of the members of the family, as part of my therapy, gotten to know them a little and how each of you factors into my emotional support network and coping methods...but I realized that one of the people who has become extremely important to that support network is someone she's only heard about second hand..." Her stomach flipped and flopped agitatedly. "I was thinking...do you think it would be okay to take Sunset with me to an appointment so I can introduce her to Dr. Soft-spoken?"
Her mother was watching her, and Twilight swallowed, before hurrying through her train of thought. "It's just...she really is super important as my best friend, and she has become part of my everyday emotional support network, plus you guys have given her a room and told her she's part of our family, and all of that means she's also been added to our family dynamic...which should be taken into account and I know I spend an awful lot of my sessions mentioning her just because we spend a lot of time together and she's been with me during some really rough panic attacks--" Twilight dimly realized she was babbling and it took physical effort to make her mouth shut and stop the waterfall of words that was spilling out before she said something that gave her away.
Thankfully, Twilight Velvet didn't seem to notice that part, turning from the stove with a bright smile. "That's actually a wonderful idea, Twily! You're certainly right that Sunset has been brought into our family and its dynamic just like Cadence was, and I think introducing her to Gently is a wise decision on your part. Did you want me to contact her office and set that up then, or would you prefer to take the initiative to do it yourself?"
The dark haired teen paused for a minute, worrying her lip. She had to rearrange her planned arguments and statements, having not anticipated her mother's instantaneous agreement with her idea. "Uhhh..." she offered--probably not her most intelligent moment, she noted to herself.
Velvet patted her on the shoulder. "It might be better if I do it, now that I think about it. I can arrange with the office then to have Sunset added to the family account with the practice."
Twilight blinked, confused. "Wait...why?"
"Because, while it might be a little soon for her to be comfortable with the idea if we broach it with her right now...the fact is that she could probably benefit from seeing a therapist herself, given everything." Her mother's voice was gentle, but Twilight couldn't deny how true her words were and that they came from a place of worry and compassion for her fiery haired girlfriend.
Still, she had no desire to go behind Sunset's back, so she kept her response fairly simple. "...that's...probably a good idea..."
Her mother checked the water and dumped the box of pasta shells into it to cook. "I don't want her to feel pressured, but if she goes with you, she might gain a positive perception of mental health care from the experience, and in turn might consider it for herself. If that happens, then she's in a position to make an appointment without concern for the cost or needing to disclose it to any of us. I know her privacy is important to her."
After some consideration, Twilight decided that her mother's idea was probably a better cover for her real reason than any of the explanations she'd planned out, and that this worked thoroughly in her favor. So she nodded along with it. "Maybe I'll bring it up to her after my session," she ventured carefully. "Encourage her without accusations or demands..."
A warm hand on her forearm jolted her out of her thoughts and made her jump a little in her seat. Sunset was quick to reassure her. "Hey...hey...Sparky, calm down...It's just me. You got super quiet on me. You okay?"
Trying to slow her heart rate, the younger girl nodded. "I'm fine, Sunset...I was just...a little lost in my own thoughts, that's all." She squeezed amber fingers in affection and reassurance of her own. "It's just been a long and tiring week." Which it had--she'd spent a good portion of the week going over the data from the area near and around Sunset's school, as well as running extensive tests on the strange plant that had been growing by the CHS greenhouse. It had yielded baffling results, and kept her up late speculating.
"Don't get too caught up in your own head, nerd," Sunset told her, tweaking her nose. "You still have to introduce me to this therapist of yours."
She wrinkled her nose in response. "I know...that's part of what I was thinking about..."
The redhead gave her one of those crooked smiles. "It'll be fine, Sparky. I'll be with you the whole time."
That helped more than Sunset likely realized. "Thanks, Sunny..."
"Hey..." Sunset winked. "What are best friends for? Besides making this jacket look good?" She popped the collar on her leather coat in mock arrogance.
That set her off for some reason, and Twilight collapsed against Sunset on the couch, giggling uncontrollably. Her girlfriend soon joined her, and they were still laughing a few minutes later when the door to the inner office opened, and a boy of about twelve shuffled out, his mint green hair spiked up with copious amounts of gel, and more chains than was probably necessary on his oversized black clothes. He gave the two giggling girls a disaffected scowl, as if they were laughing at him.
Sunset caught the expression and stuck her tongue out at him childishly. Twilight elbowed her, but couldn't seem to stop laughing long enough to chastise the taller girl. The boy glared at them both and made a huffy sound.
Twilight finally managed to rein in her laughter about the time Dr. Soft-spoken leaned out of her office. "Twilight? You can come in now."
What laughter was left dried up, and her legs felt more than a little shaky as she walked to the office, Sunset Shimmer in tow. She stepped inside, and looked at the woman who had been her therapist for nearly a decade, searching her face for any sign of her personal opinions about this meeting.
Dr. Soft-spoken looked the way she always had, if with a few more age lines than the previous years. She was a woman of average height, five to ten years older than Twilight's parents. Her orange hair had wide streaks of white at the temples--what some people called 'witch's locks'--but was otherwise up in a serviceable bun and complemented by the comfortable yet professional outfits she wore. A pair of reading glasses hung from a decorative beaded string around her neck, and all in all she'd always reminded Twilight of a no-nonsense but kind grandparent or teacher. And right now she had her neutral expression on, her greeting as she stood up from her seat giving nothing away. "Good afternoon, Twilight. I see you've brought someone with you today."
She opened her mouth to respond as Sunset quietly shut the door to the office behind them, preparing to answer with the planned introduction speech she'd practiced at home several nights in a row. Instead, she felt the words lit out of reach and the fluttering anxiousness in her stomach became a violent churning that crept up the back of her throat and lodged there. She couldn't do this, she realized. As much as she tried to reason that the doctor already knew she was attracted to girls, it felt like this new admission, this open acknowledgment of the girl standing next to her was her significant other would be crossing a line.
Even though part of her chastised her for her silliness and irrationality, she found herself searching the older woman's face, and while overtly her expression had not changed, it felt like it had. She could see it, swimming within placid features, an expression familiar and alien, in lips thinned into a faint smile that was almost mocking her, and a coldness in dark golden eyes that she had never beheld from her therapist before but that Twilight knew from somewhere....and that she also knew didn't feel right to be witnessed here.
Her lungs burned, unable to draw in a proper breath, no matter how hard she tried to suck in air. She could feel Sunset's concerned form stepping up beside her, but even that didn't help with the raw panic threatening to make her mind shut down. Sunset said something, and Twilight could see her lips moving but the sound was lost in a distorted roaring that filled her ears.
Warmth settled over her shoulders and she felt Sunset's fingers curl around her upper arm, pulling her into a sideways hug. The taller girl breathed slowly and deeply, and with them pressed together side by side, Twilight could feel her every inhale and exhale, knowing Sunset wanted her to match them. It gave her something to focus on amidst the rising panic, and as if someone had thrown a switch, the panic attack cut off abruptly, leaving her feeling tired but her thoughts crystal clear. Sunset's fingers squeezed in reassurance, and she could feel the message in the touch: "I'm here."
She gave a small, weak smile in gratitude, before looking back to her therapist. Whatever horrific hallucination had fallen over her was gone now, leaving only Dr. Soft-spoken, waiting and observing patiently, but her gentle smile offering welcome to both girls.
Twilight straightened, breathing deeply to prepare herself, then focused on the formal and polite introduction she'd rehearsed. She stepped out of Sunset's warm embrace to begin. "Dr. Soft-spoken, may I present to you my best friend and girlfriend, Sunset Shimmer?" Part of her knew it was far more formal than the situation really warranted, but relying on that overly formal method of address had grounded her before in circumstances that caused her panic, and as Twilight had hoped, it did the same here, letting her get the words out without completely losing her nerve. There was however, an unforeseen consequence...
Her somewhat stiff, formal words prompted a curious reaction that Twilight had not anticipated from her girlfriend. Sunset's posture went ramrod straight, her head held high, and her boots made a noise as the sides of her heels came together. Twilight turned her head to watch with interest as the redhead stuck out her hand to the older woman. "Good afternoon, Doctor. Twilight has spoken exceptionally highly of you. It's a pleasure to meet you." As she shook hands firmly and briskly with the psychologist, she inclined her head ever so slightly.
The whole thing struck Twilight with a sense of recognition that was not quite deja vu, and she wracked her brain trying to place it. The answer came a moment later, swimming up from a memory from when she was about seven, of her mother making a joke while Twilight was fixated on a woodcut illustration in the reprint of an 1800s guidebook for "Young Ladies" and "Proper Etiquette and Deportment When in the Presence of Members of the Peerage."
It had been not long after an emotionally devastating encounter with Great Aunt Alabaster. Twilight had gotten away from Cadence and found the library at the estate, intending to read some of the fascinating old books she found there, when the elderly woman had discovered her. What had followed was a furious interrogation followed by a crushing and scathing lecture about Twilight's inability to engage in proper manners and basic socialization, some of which had been thinly veiled implications that Twilight was mentally defective. Cadence and her mother had found her in a sobbing, hyperventilating heap after the fact, and during her very next trip to the local library, Twilight had located and borrowed as many books on proper etiquette and manners as they had, bringing them home and pouring over them for weeks.
The book that had illustrated various greetings had been a particularly dry and dusty tome, detailing the minute variations in greetings based on both parties social status, and her mother had read the page she was on over her shoulder, before gently addressing the issue. "Twily, sweetheart, I know you want to be prepared, but even if some of your father's family likes to pretend they are displaced nobles slumming it in the states, they aren't, and none of them has any right to expect you to show them this level of bowing and scraping. Its enough for you to be a polite and well mannered little girl."
That memory floated before her mind's eye, and with it, the caption: "Appropriate postures from an heir apparent showing courtesy to a lesser noble, esteemed professional, or foreign dignitaries on official business." The knowledge settled uncomfortably as she looked at the girl wearing comfortably worn blue jeans, a t-shirt for one of her favorite bands, and a leather jacket who slipped as easily into the bearing of a princess as she did the black boots she loved to wear. The pieces she had been gathering about her best friend's past were starting to add up more and more, and she wondered if she had enough yet to figure out who the unnamed guardian had been, and what locale Sunset had called home for years.
Sunset settled her hand back at her side as the therapist smiled politely. "The pleasure is mine, Miss Shimmer," the woman responded with surprising warmth. "Twilight has mentioned you and how much she values your friendship quite extensively in our sessions over the last few months. It is quite nice to finally be able to put a face to the name. Why don't you go ahead and make yourselves comfortable?"
When Twilight didn't move, Sunset glanced at her girlfriend and realized she was frowning and slightly out of it, lost in one thought or another--probably over having openly acknowledged their relationship to someone new. The older teen put her arm back around Twilight and moved them both over to a couch, nudging her to sit down. Sunset dropped into the seat beside her tugging her back into a sideways hug, and kissed the top of that dark haired head, offering soft reassurance. "Hey...I'm proud of you, Sparky."
Purple eyes blink owlishly at her from behind thick glasses. "What?"
"I'm proud of you."
Lavender cheeks flushed. "R-really?"
Sunset pressed another kiss to her hair. "Really. I know how hard this is for you...but you did it, all on your own. I'm proud of you for it...and you have every reason to be proud of yourself too." Twilight smiled up at Sunset.
Dr. Soft-spoken waited a few moments longer before clearing her throat. "You do have every reason to feel accomplished, Twilight. While you have previously discussed your preferences with me, it still took courage to make such an introduction...especially since I believe you still have not broached the subject with your family?"
Twilight shook her head. "Just Cady, but I told her a long time ago."
The former unicorn cuddled close to her girlfriend. "Did you ever actually tell Cadence that we were dating? Or did she just do that thing where she knows?"
A lavender nose wrinkled. "She knew I liked you the day she met you. She...was the one who pushed me into at least telling you about that." Her head tilted. "I...don't think I ever actually told her--I mean, she pulled me into sister talk after that weekend at your place, and she just...she knew. I...didn't really feel the need to say it in so many words...just acknowledged that it worked out and that I..." she trailed off, blushing again.
Blue green eyes danced with humor. "That you what?" she asked teasingly. "That you interrupted our superhero movie night to kiss me?"
Twilight made a face at her, but Sunset felt her body become less painfully tense when she elbowed the redhead's side.
The older woman made an interested sound, before interjecting in her calm, level voice. "Do you think you can remember how that made you feel, Twilight? When Cadence showed positivity and support for your relationship without the expectations that you had to 'come out' to her?"
There was silence for a long minute as Twilight screwed up her face in thought, and Sunset knew she was going back over her memory in a meticulous, methodical way. Slowly she responded, "It...felt good...I didn't really think about it, so I was more...excited to share how good I felt...it was nice to be able to have someone understand and be happy for me."
"And now that you have gotten through the obligation and expectations surrounding introducing Miss Shimmer to me as your partner, how do you feel about talking about your relationship with me?" The woman was relaxed in her chair, Sunset noticed, with a calm and open posture that didn't make this feel like an interrogation.
Biting her lip, Twilight said, "I'm...not bothered or anxious like I was before? I...I'm not as excited as I was with Cady, but she's my sister in all but name, which is very different from a semi-professional relationship with my therapist."
Nodding, Dr. Soft-spoken tapped her finger thoughtfully on her chair. "Then would you say that it's not as scary as you anticipated, acknowledging your orientation and relationship once you actually do it?"
"It's...it's not, because you already knew...but telling people who don't know at all, that's...I've tried, a bunch of times, to tell Mom...but I panic at the last second, and I can't make the words come out." She started to wring her hands in agitation, but Sunset reached over and grasped her hand instead, giving her digits to squeeze in lieu of potentially rubbing her wrists raw. Purple eyes flitted to her, and a slight but firm squeeze of her hand let Sunset know it was the right action to take. "That's...that's part of why I...brought Sunset today," Twilight explained. "I...I want to tell my parents...so we don't have to hide anymore....but I need help, because doing it on my own isn't working."
One hand raised to take off her reading glasses so she could study both girls for a long minute. "I see...and...if I may, Miss Shimmer, how do you feel about this?"
Having anticipated the question from her talk with Twilight the weekend before, she took a breath. "I don't like lying to Mrs. Velvet and Mr. Night...they're always so nice to me, that being...dishonest and hiding feels..." Sunset shrugged uncomfortably, the nagging sense of her recently found morals eating away at her. "It feels wrong...and I feel guilty for doing it."
Twilight jolted and her eyes went wide as she refocused sharply on Sunset's face. "Oh, Sunny..." she said, "I...I'm sorry. I know you mentioned not wanting to continue keeping it secret from them but...but I never really considered the deeper emotional implications of why you felt that way..." She squirmed, looking upset and guilty, then glanced at Dr. Soft-spoken. "I...believe I would like to add that to the reasons why I'd like to work up to coming out to them in a reasonable timeframe. The situation has become..." Anxiety broke through as her hand tugged free of Sunset's grasp to make a wide, vague gesture. "...it's become untenable and attempting to persist is irrational, even more so than the phobia itself. I recognize intellectually that its based on a completely unreasonable idea and I need to bring my emotions in line with my logical side, rather than continue to be ruled by their projection of something not even remotely close to reality!"
Sunset suppressed a wince, recognizing all the signs of her girlfriend about to go off on a rant, but the older woman in the room was entirely unphased, sitting calmly with that neutral-but-inviting expression and occasionally making a sound that encouraged Twilight to keep going. It was pretty impressive, all in all, and Sunset found herself taking mental notes on the technique. It also told the redhead that this particular rant was something that did not need her intervention, and to instead just let Twilight get it all out. She settled to just rub her palm along a lavender skinned forearm in light affection and support.
Not that Twilight seemed to notice, still gesticulating in a manner in line with the outpouring of words tumbling over each other. "Given everything about who Cady is and what she does, it does stand to reason that if my parents had any problems with non-standard relationships, it would have come up or been expressed in some fashion by now...if anything, it seems quite the opposite, with somewhat vocal opinions in regards to the actions of some of the more conservative members of my extended family and on on the stories Cadence has related from the Dreamwalker Foundation, of children and teens expelled from their family homes or worse by bigotry and intolerance. On a rational and intellectual level, I know that my mom and dad will love me regardless of my preference in romantic partners and I can imagine my mother will be happy to take any advantage she has to make Sunset even more a part of our family..." As her rambling petered out, she shifted her attention back to Sunset with a smile that was both fond and slightly exasperated. "Mom would outright adopt you if she thought she could, you know..."
Dr. Soft-spoken shifted in her seat, drawing attention to herself. "That is all a very logical estimation of reality in comparison to some very emotionally driven anxieties and fears, Twilight, and I commend you on being able to separate the two--which is something I know you struggled without the last time we talked about this. I would be happy to help you devise some step by step strategies in working through your fears to be able to express yourself openly to your parents...but first, I would like to ask Miss Shimmer a few more questions. Is that alright with both of you?"
"Yes, ma'am," Twilight agreed immediately, "as long as that's okay with Sunset."
Her innards twisted, and Sunset answered carefully, falling back on the ingrained manners she'd used not long ago, scripting her reply along the lines of what Princess Celestia might say. "You may ask, but depending on the question...I may decline to answer it..."
"Something I am more than willing to accept--you are not technically my patient but my concern is in assuring that what advice and suggestions I make to Twilight will not be putting you at undue risk, Miss Shimmer." Steepling her fingers, she asked, "First and foremost, will Twilight engaging in more open behaviors or speaking up about your relationship with her put you at any risk of negative consequences from your own family situation?"
Well...that was a question with a lot of things in the answer that she didn't want to explain to the woman. Better to keep it all simple and plain. "Not in the slightest--my living situation is secure and will not be changed by my relationship with Twilight or anyone else anytime soon." She offered a slight smile to her girlfriend in reassurance that she was okay from the question.
The slight quirk to the doctor's lips as she studied Sunset left the former unicorn with the unpleasant sensation that she might have inadvertently given away more than she wanted, and she resisted the urge to grimace. She did not like playing this kind of social game against others who could read her behavior in ways she didn't deliberately allow. She considered her options as Twilight added, "Even if there was a possibility of that, Sunset already has a room that's hers at my house."
Sparky, she thought tiredly, please stop sharing.
Still, the way the woman seemed interested in that knowledge might prove useful in misdirecting her and ending the conversation's focus on Sunset. "Mrs. Velvet and Mr. Night have spoken with me at length on the matter of where I live, and what options are available to me in the event that it ever becomes unsustainable."
Blue-green eyes watched, and a brief sense of satisfaction tickled her when she saw the faint line of concern on the therapist's forehead smooth out and the expression returned to that neutral one that she had worn most of the meeting. "Thank you for being forthcoming on that, Miss Shimmer--it sounds as though you have already put careful thought and consideration into your own situation, and that you have resources and support available should you need it."
Sunset decided that this was a good place to take her leave of the conversation, before the therapist found other questions to ask. She leaned over and kissed Twilight on the cheek. "I think this is the part of the talk that is meant for you and her to talk privately, so I'm going to step out..." She cupped Twilight's cheek gently as she stood. "You can do this, Sparky...and I'm here to do whatever you need me to do to help."
Twilight gave her a smile, pressing her cheek into Sunset's palm and soaking in the affection for a moment. "Thank you, Sunny. For coming with me, and for being understanding..."
"Hey...I told you...I'm here however you need me. Just like you are for me." She tweaked that lavender nose playfully. "Best friends, remember? But I also know that this part is just between you and the doctor right now, because that's how these things work. So I'll be right in the waiting room if you need me back in here, but I'm going to give you that privacy, okay?" Maybe it was a little cowardly of her, to hide behind the veneer of politeness and respect when half the reason for her exodus was not wanting to have more questions leveled at her that she didn't want to answer...but she wasn't ready to have those things revealed to Twilight and certainly not in front of a stranger who would likely take her history as a sign of mental instability. That was the last thing she needed.
At least Twilight wasn't bothered. "I appreciate that part too, Sunny...that you respect my privacy enough to give me that space while still being close by. I'll be done in..." Purple eyes studied the clock. "Forty two minutes."
"No problem--I'll do some homework or drop into group chat with my friends on my phone. If you need me, just let me know." She pulled away with reluctance, before focusing on the therapist still watching them. "Doctor," she said, slipping back into formality. "It truly was a pleasure." It wasn't a pony body, but the act of holding her head high and keeping her carriage straight and steady was the same, as was the slight dipping of her head. She was the former protege of the Goddess of the Sun--if Twilight felt this woman was due the level of respect and formal courtesy she would show someone in Celestia's court, then she would not act like a sullen mule, no matter how uncomfortable the questions had made her. "I greatly appreciate you allowing me to accompany Twilight and sit in on part of the session..." She paused, a fraction too long, but it would have only been noticed by sour old Kibitz anyway. "...and your concern for my well being despite me not being your patient tells me that I have nothing to worry about with whatever plan you and Twilight devise in regards to this. You have my complete cooperation and support in whatever part I need to play in it."
Perhaps she was reading too much into it, but Dr. Soft-spoken seemed to be taking her cue from the redhead's own behavior, continuing to display a warm but professional air, enabling Sunset to maintain the emotional distance between them. It was a mild relief, but she still searched the woman's face for any indication that she might have given away more than she intended with her words. It didn't take a genius level intellect to realize that this doctor who focused on the mind and emotion was a great deal more perceptive than her façade presented.
"Thank you for your willingness to be a part of this, Miss Shimmer--it is not an exaggeration to say your attitude and willingness have me feeling confident about the situation under discussion. Please feel free to help yourself to a snack or drink while you wait. There are vending machines down the hall, and if that doesn't appeal, Mrs. Sakura has cookies and fresh coffee available as well."
Sunset murmured her thanks and exited the room, closing the door quietly behind her so that her girlfriend could have privacy for the rest of her therapy session. She flopped onto the couch, the tension in her muscles making her back ache--stretching out on the soft surface would let her relax a bit before she had to drive Twilight home. One hand fished her phone out of her jacket pocket, so she could mindlessly read one of the books she'd downloaded onto her reader app.
She was lost in a mystery about a stolen fortune when fingers ran themselves through her hair, and a giggle reached her ears. Blinking, blue-green eyes looked up to meet purple. "Hey..."
Twilight gave her a smile, but she could see the anxious tension behind it. "Hey, yourself," she managed.
Sitting up, Sunset looked her over in concern. "You okay, Sparky?"
"...I'm okay, Sunny." There was a slight stiltedness to her words that hinted at stress she didn't want to address right now. "It was...hard...but knowing you were close by...helped. Dr. Soft-spoken assisted me in devising a series of acceptable plans, strategies, and stages."
The former unicorn stood up, giving her girlfriend a brief hug. "I'm proud of you, Twilight..." She tugged on a dark ponytail lightly. "What do you say about a stop by the used bookstore and then milkshakes on the way home?"
A beaming smile was all the answer she needed. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Interlude XXIII: Flash of Insight | Pulling up to the curb, Flash Sentry threw his car into park, glaring irritably at his steering wheel as if it had personally wronged him. His phone vibrated in his pocket; he ignored it, knowing full well it was his mother, either trying to guilt trip him after their fight that morning or trying to continue the ridiculous story his parents were insisting on pushing on him.
"You were out late last night, son," his father commented as the family moved around each other in the kitchen, preparing for the day.
Flash shrugged. "Working the closing shift on Wednesday now--stayed after school late. Sunset's organized a group tutoring and is helping several of us bring our math and science grades up. In return, I'm helping a bunch of people out with history, and our friend Rarity and this guy, Thunder Strike, are working on helping with English."
His mother's gaze sharpened. "Sunset organized it?"
"Uh...yeeeah...kind of. A bunch of us were asking her for math tutoring and this was what she came up with so she could help all of us at once."
A frown pulled at her features. "If you're having trouble with your schoolwork, you should have said something to us. We can get you a real tutor."
Blue eyes narrowed. "I've found a tutor, probably the best math tutor in the tri-county area. And it's free."
"I don't think its a good idea for you to be spending that much time with Sunset Shimmer, son," his father commented. "You're just setting yourself up to get hurt again."
Flash looked back and forth between his parents. "What are you talking about? I told you, Sunset and I are just friends." A friendship he was learning brought him way more satisfaction than dating Sunset had. Sunset the friend was much more open and emotionally upbeat, with warm smiles and laughter and jokes. It felt...good...to be counted among the redheaded former-pony's friends and confidants. "And I like being friends with her."
"How do you know it's not another of her games? She claims to have a girlfriend, but can you prove it? Have you even met this girl--do you even know if she really exists? Because there's a chance that Sunset is playing on your sympathies and making the whole thing up to get you to stop being upset over her." His mother's words were crisp, and she'd stopped in the act of packing his sister's lunch to give him a long, piercing look.
Rolling his eyes, he stabbed his waffles with a fork. "Yes, Mom, I know her girlfriend really exists. When she got smacked in gym, I gave her a ride to her girlfriend's house so she wouldn't be home alone with a concussion." Sensing the next words about to come out of his mother's mouth, he cut it off early. "And that's all I'm going to say about that, because her girlfriend isn't out, and it's not my place to say. The only reason I told you is because you didn't want to believe me otherwise."
Bitterness crept into his voice. "Not that it seems to have done much good."
"Flash," his dad said warningly. "Your mother and I are just concerned. This girl hurt you badly, and we know what it's like to be a teenager. We just don't want you to be leaving yourself open to getting hurt again."
"Or to being used," came his mother's addition. "Like to give her free transportation, or do homework for her because she doesn't want to do it herself."
Annoyance and frustration became a defensive anger, and Flash stood up from the table with the ugly sound of his chair scraping on linoleum. "Stop it! Do you even hear yourselves? You're so busy trying to find a way to cast Sunset as a villain that you aren't listening to anything I've said! She's not the same as she was when she dated me--she has busted her ass to turn her life around, by herself, and figure out who she wants to be! Yeah, I was hurt, and I was angry for a while, but she and I talked, and I found out things I didn't know before, things that explained why it all happened..."
He scowled. "Sunset isn't manipulating me. Before we talked, she was avoiding me. I approached her. I confronted her after I made some choices I'm still not proud of. I chose to listen to her, to hear her out. I chose to forgive her. I chose to be the bigger person and offer her my friendship, because she doesn't have anyone else but her friends. I chose to hang out with her, to ask her for math help because she's the smartest kid in our school. I chose. Me. Not her. So if you want to be mad at someone for it, be mad at me."
Stalking to the trash can, he tossed the breakfast he'd made away, his stomach too sour feeling to even contemplate eating. "Or maybe," he said over his shoulder as he grabbed his backpack, "maybe you guys can actually trust that I'm not an idiot or a little kid, and believe that I'm capable of taking care of myself and choosing my own friends."
With that, he slammed the door behind him on the way out.
Flash unbuckled his seatbelt. He was angry and he needed time to clear his head, which made him glad he had another closing shift at his job that night. Of course, his anger didn't stop him from making good on his promise from earlier in the week to his mother to take some boxes of books to the used bookstore before work. Which was why he was in the city proper, awkwardly parallel parking, and even more annoyed than before.
Why they couldn't just take him at his word, he couldn't understand. Yeah, so maybe he hadn't told them everything about what had been going on since the Fall Formal, but...that was understandable, given...well...everything. His folks were not likely to believe a wild sounding tale about magical otherworlds, fiery demons, and mind controlling fish horses--no person who hadn't seen it for themselves would, and was the biggest reason it had all been kept secret by the students. No point in telling someone the truth only to be called a liar and for parents to assume it was a cover for something else. Besides those specific omissions though, he'd always been honest and straightforward with his parents, and they'd always trusted his judgment before...so why was now any different?
He hauled himself out of his car, still trying to puzzle that out. Had he acted that different when he'd dated Sunset? Did they think he'd hidden the depth of their relationship the few times they'd come home to find the pair firmly ensconced on the couch playing video games or watching a movie? There hadn't been anything to hide, really--even then, Sunset had been...he would have called it emotionally reserved, or even shy, and at the time he had thought it meant she was letting her guard down, that he was seeing the softer side of the school's most popular girl. As a result, he'd been careful about his conduct, letting her take the lead while he focused on trying to be the best boyfriend he could, the way his parents had always told him he should treat a girl.
He hadn't been entirely wrong--it had been an act, her relationship with him, but he could see that reservation had definitely come from somewhere a lot deeper, since he could see it in the conversations they'd had about her Twilight.
Lips curled subconsciously into a small grin as he lifted the heavy boxes out of his trunk. Sunset Shimmer was dating Twilight Sparkle--the human one, but...Flash couldn't blame her for her taste in girls. If she was even half as cute and smart as the pony princess he'd crushed on, then he wouldn't be afraid to admit to being a little envious of his redheaded friend.
And wasn't that the crux of it all? He was genuinely happy for Sunset, for the fact that the person--pony, he supposed--that he thought he'd glimpsed a year ago had really been there, buried deep, and that she'd managed to bring that person out. Seeing Sunset smiling and laughing...seeing her happy made him feel good, and having his parents suggest that he was still pining after her, with only the thought of 'winning her back' or soaking up whatever affection she decided to throw his way made him angry. Made him feel...dirty, in a way, because such a thing would mean he was trying to break up her and Twilight...and just from listening to her talk about her girlfriend, that would be an act simultaneously cruel and selfish to both Sunset and Twilight. Flash was a lot of things, but cruel was not one of them.
Hefting the boxes, he pushed the door of the bookshop open with his elbow, nodding to the guy behind the counter. With as much as his mother exchanged books there, Flash coming in to drop off a few boxes in exchange for store credit on her account was normal. Once the boxes were set down, it was a quick and fairly quiet exchange, which suited Flash just fine. His mood meant he didn't feel much like small talk, more focused on brooding over his fight with his parents over Sunset.
There was an old saying his grandpa had been fond of: "Speak of the Devil and he shall appear." Flash had never really understood the real depth and meaning of that saying until he realized he heard a familiar voice laughing in one of the aisles.
"Sparky! That's terrible!" More laughter. "Merciful moons--I will never be able to unsee that!"
Girlish giggling, and another voice that he recognized answered. "Misery loves company, Sunset. Consider it payback for what you told me on the way over."
Flash cast his eyes heavenward as he took the receipt with his mom's updated store credit amount on it. Clearly someone up there thought this was funny, and he found himself unsure as to what to do. Should he say hello? Or quietly slip back out? Sunset had said neither of them was quite ready to show Twilight off to Sunset's friends.
Biting his lip, he put the decision in someone else's hands, messaging Sunset. -Do I want to know what it is you can't unsee, pony-girl? Or should I just leave and pretend I heard nothing?-
There was more giggling and laughter in the aisle, before it suddenly quieted at the chirp of a phone. A moment later, he heard, "Sunset?" Then the sound of booted footsteps with that familiar, confident stride, as his ex-girlfriend strode from one of the aisles and locked eyes with him.
"Hey, Sunset," he offered with a sheepish wave. "Thought I heard your voice."
Abruptly, he found himself the focus of a pair of sea-green eyes that seemed to see far too much in that moment, and he knew he hadn't covered his emotions well enough to escape her intuitive perception.
"You alright, Flash? You...look kinda rough--did something happen?" The redhead gave him a visual once over, head canted slightly to the side.
Rubbing the back of his neck, Flash hesitated, weighing how to answer. Part of him did want Sunset's advice, but not only was it not fair to dump on her about how his parents viewed her, doing so by barging in on what was probably a covert date by being the needy ex-boyfriend was really not the kind of introduction he wanted to have with her Twilight.
Instead he settled on, "Long day, math quiz, big history test, and I got into it with my parents this morning and I'm just glad I've got a closing shift at work to calm down. Just...normal 'rough stuff', nothing to worry about..." Flash caught himself before the 'pony-girl' slipped out, remembering at the last second that she wasn't 'out' about her origins to her girlfriend yet.
And given the nervous purple eyes staring at him from around Sunset's shoulder, a girlfriend that was probably unsure of what to make of him anyway.
"Are you sure you're okay, Flash?" Sunset pressed, and he knew this definitely wasn't the time or place for him to talk about their shared history.
"Oh, um...yeah, I'm good, Sunset. It's nothing to worry about. Mom and Dad just...don't like some of my...uh...recent life choices...and I told them where to go. Nothing they won't get over and that I won't survive..." Flash raised a hand, shifting his weight and hoping he wasn't about to make a total fool of himself. He waved in what he hoped was a friendly fashion, smiling in his friendliest manner. "I'm...guessing this is the...um...friend...you told me about last week? I'm totally crashing here on you guys hanging out...I'm sorry for invading your space and all, I just overheard you talking and wanted to say hi...so...um...hi? I'm Flash Sentry...one of Sunset's friends?"
Shit. Just from the expression on Sunset's face he knew he was babbling, and he really wished he'd just left quietly and said nothing. Or that the floor would swallow him. That'd be really great.
He glanced down, hoping he would get his wish.
Nope.
No such luck there. The floor stubbornly didn't eat him, and no weird magic or explosions interrupted, and he didn't wake up from an embarrassing dream.
Damn.
Then he heard a giggle, and looked up to see Sunset's Twilight hiding her mouth behind a hand, eyes crinkled up with laughter.
Sunset's staring turned into a wicked smirk, and she nudged her companion. "You'll have to forgive Flash. He forgets the English language around pretty girls."
The dark haired girl turned and poked Sunset's shoulder. "Sunny! Dont be mean." She turned back to Flash and with a slow breath to steady herself, she stuck out a hand. "I'm Twilight Sparkle. It's nice to meet you, Flash. Sunset's told me all about her other friends."
He grinned, trying to put her at ease. "I can only imagine what you've heard," he laughed, shaking her hand with the lightest touch he could, and the instant she started to pull her hand back, he let go.
Getting his first real good look at her, Flash could see right away what Sunset meant about the two Twilights being very different. The pony princess he called friend had been about five or six inches taller and now that he saw a Twilight who looked like a high schooler a year or so younger than himself, it made him realize that the one he knew didn't look like a teenager. She looked like a college student masquerading as one. If they'd been side by side, he'd take them for sisters but not identical twins.
"Good things," the lavender skinned girl said, bumping her shoulder into Sunset's arm in a way that seemed so natural and right that Flash couldn't help but feel his grin grow more heartfelt and less awkward and staged--especially when Sunset responded by draping that arm casually across Twilight's shoulders, tugging the smaller girl into a sideways hug that even he could see held a hint of protectiveness to it.
Flash chuckled. "I'm glad she stuck to the good stories and didn't tell any of the more embarrassing ones." He glanced at Sunset as he spoke, catching her while her gaze was focused on the girl at her side, and what he saw hit him with the full force of a mack truck on the highway.
There was a light in those blue-green depths that he had never seen before, and as her lips curled up into a warm, affectionate smile, that light spread to her whole countenance. Even here, among the teetering old shelves overstuffed with tattered paperbacks, her presence and emotions burned blindingly bright, and all of that was turned on the petite girl who was hugging her now around the waist with one arm, all laughter and friendly smiles.
"How do you know if you're in love?" Sunset had asked him, and he'd fumbled with a vague, uncertain answer he'd heard from his parents and from how he'd come to that conclusion about her when they'd been dating.
His answer had been wrong. You look at somebody like you are right now, Sunset, he thought. Like they're the reason you draw breath...That's how you know...
It hurt a little, rubbing an old scar that had just really healed, but not in a bad way, he realized. It confirmed what she'd said to him, what he'd been coming to grips with since the day they broke up: that it was never going to be him that she loved. Not the way he'd wanted and hoped at the end of the summer.
Because Sunset never looked at him that way...and...for all his infatuation...he had never looked at her like that either. This was on a whole different level than anything he'd ever witnessed or felt, not from any of the kids at school or even from his parents and his grandparents. Even just standing there in that unguarded moment, when the two girls in front of him were looking at each other, emotions written on their faces as surely as any ink, he felt it warm him inside the same way the rainbow magic had, an uplifting, airy sense of something good and right and full of light and wonder...kind of like being a kid on Christmas morning.
No...she'd never looked at him like that. Or anyone, as far as he'd seen before. This Twilight was special, more than he'd realized. Though...given what had happened with the princess one, maybe it was all the more appropriate that the human Twilight was the one to bring this light out in Sunset Shimmer.
Sunset tore her focus away from her girlfriend--and anyone who saw that display would never mistake them for anything else--and grinned crookedly at Flash. "Oh yeah, lots of good things, I promise. I focused on the fun stuff and not on how awful you are at Mario Kart."
Twilight laughed again and nudged the redhead with a hip. "Sunny! Give him a break. You have a distinct advantage in subconscious reaction times far faster than most people." Purple eyes dancing with laughter met his again. "She told me about how nice you were, how you reminded her of my brother. Which tells me that you're a great friend and a great person, Flash, because Shining Armor is my BBBFF--Big Brother Best Friend Forever."
He felt his face heat a little at what was clearly the highest of praise from Twilight. "I...try. And believe me, I wish I had a sister like Sunset--my actual sister is..."
"A mouthy brat who likes to make you turn funny colors?" Sunset offered dryly, adding in an aside, "His little sister is like nine or ten."
The young man made a face. "Something like that. So yeah, Sunset's kind of like the better sister, and..bonus, we don't have to share a bathroom in the morning." The words were out almost before he thought of them, and it shocked him to realize they were true. The care and affection he felt for his ex-girlfriend was more akin to what he felt for Ivory, or even his cousin Dancing Lights, than it was to the intense emotions he'd felt months ago, and...that felt good and right to. Like this place somewhere between friends and siblings was exactly where their relationship had been meant to end up.
"Lucky me," came the sarcastic response. "You have more hair products in your bathroom than Rarity, and that's an accomplishment."
Flash groaned. "Please don't remind me...". When Twilight gave him a puzzled look, he elaborated. "My sister, Ivory, keeps convincing our mom to buy her a whole bunch of different brands of hair products because she's sure this time that these ones are going to be just right for that frizzy mess she calls hair. Of course, that's until she hears about the next newest brand from a friend, and that's the perfect one...". He rolled his eyes. "And of course, lucky me gets all her unwanted products dumped on me, because 'it's wasteful to just throw them out, so just use those up.' Except with the endless cycle, I never can."
Twilight bit her lip, then suggested in a soft, somewhat nervous tone that the princess had never used, "If you really don't want the products, what would you say to boxing them up and donating them somewhere they could really use stuff like that?"
Rubbing the back of his neck, Flash shrugged. "Sure, I'd be down to do that. What kind of place are we talking?"
Toying with a bit of her hair, the nerdy girl explained, "There's this charity that my sister-in-law is involved with that could really get use out of stuff like that. It helps kids in need, especially teenagers and stuff who've either run away or been kicked out of their homes by their parents. They have a center in town that's a safe place, and the kids can have a hot meal, a shower, a dry place to sleep, stuff like that. Even if the hair products have already been opened, it would be a major help, and the kids would be happy to have nice things to use."
Flash's smile broadened--he was going to like this Twilight, he decided, for more than just her effect on Sunset Shimmer. "You are every bit as brilliant as Sunset said, Twilight," he told her earnestly, amused by how she flushed at the compliment, "and a total lifesaver."
"I...wouldn't go that far..."
Sunset reached over and tweaked her nose. "No, he's pretty on point there, nerd. You're amazing."
He laughed as the smaller girl made a flustered sound. "I mean it, Twilight," Flash reiterated. "Absolute, total lifesaver. I swear, if I didn't know better, I'd think the bottles were breeding--not only are they overflowing the bathroom, but now they're even finding a way into my bedroom to crowd me out!"
Sunset cackled with laughter, curling the fingers of her free hand into mock claws and making a wet sounding growl. "Watch out, Flash!" she warned. "They're coming for you to make you smell like a girl--all flowers and sugar!"
He pretended to recoil in terror. "No! Anything but that! Help me, Twilight Sparkle! You're my only hope!" One hand stretched out beseechingly.
It had the desired effect--the dark haired girl dissolved into giggles, and from the grateful look Sunset shot his way, Flash decided he'd done exactly the right thing with this encounter. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter Ninety Nine: In Proving Foresight May Be Vain... | "...so then he just looks up, covered in mud up to his eyebrows, with this ridiculous grin that reminds me of one of those Labrador dogs, and says, 'This is why I'm really not a cat person, Sunset.'"
Twilight lost it, the giggles that had carried her through most of her girlfriend's story turning into full on laughter until she couldn't breathe right. She fell back against Sunset's chest, sides heaving and tears of mirth streaming down her cheeks. Something inside her relented at the laughter, a painful tension that had been knotting her up all day, that had nearly made it impossible to give her weekly progress report to her Principal without feeling dizzy and lightheaded. It was such a relief that by the time she caught her breath, not all the moisture on her face was from laughter--some were from relief.
Sunset cuddled her closer, a warm presence surrounding her while the taller girl reclined back on the pillows on the bed, Twilight seated between her outstretched legs and resting back against her chest. Sunset's arms were wrapped around Twilight's waist, palms pressed to her stomach over her sleep shirt. "So yeah, that's how that disaster of a 'date' ended. I was pretty glad, because it meant I could leave without him expecting me to kiss him. Flash is a good guy...but...I...wasn't a fan of that part of the whole deal."
Twilight tilted her head back to look up at her girlfriend, bringing fingers up to brush the lips that she loved to have on hers. "Did you know, when you started dating him that...well...you know?"
In response, Sunset rested her chin on Twilight's shoulder. "It's...complicated. Like...you know how I didn't have any real friends before we met?" At Twilight's nod, she exhaled and pushed forward. "I...wasn't really any better in the romance department. I just...didn't see anyone who caught my interest--male or female was kind of irrelevant, because...it's not really about what people look like. I don't..." she flexed a hand. "You're the first person I've ever wanted to kiss me, Sparky."
That made her cheeks flush and her heart race, and the dark haired teen snuggled deeper into the embrace, absently tracing her fingers along the skin of Sunset's forearm, thinking. "In a lot of ways, it's mutual," she admitted quietly.
Lips pressed to her neck lightly, before that husky voice murmured in her ear, "Oh?"
"I...mean, I've known I liked girls for a long time--with Cadence as a sister, it's...pretty hard to be in the dark about human sexuality, or about my attraction to the female form. But...while I might've had fantasies, or indulged in crushes on fictional female characters...I never actually found any real life girls that I really wanted like that..." Twilight turned her head so she could brush her lips to Sunset's, smiling. "And now? I can't imagine wanting to kiss anyone else."
Sunset pressed in closer, covering Twilight's mouth with her own for one of those kisses that left the lavender skinned girl weak in the knees and desperately wishing that the hand on her stomach would slide under the shirt fabric. She made a soft sound of encouragement in her throat, shifted so her shirt tugged up a few inches, but other than those calloused fingertips brushing along the exposed skin, Sunset didn't take the bait. She remained frustratingly polite and PG rated in the way she held Twilight. There was no doubt in Twilight's mind that her girlfriend desired more--the sheer number of heated make-out sessions that they'd halted because that physical desire threatened to get out of control was well into double digits now--but whatever it was that made Sunset hesitant to go further with physical intimacy was firmly a boundary, one Twilight had no idea if and when the older girl might change. She was determined to stick to her promise to go at Sunset's pace, but when she kissed her like that it was hard not to wish Sunset would just--
The burning need for air and Sunset pulling back so they could catch their breath derailed her thoughts from a very dangerous route. "...like that especially..." she managed, knowing the expression on her face could probably best be classified as 'dreamy.'
Sunset chuckled, nuzzling her nose against Twilight's jaw. "Nerd," she murmured affectionately, gaining a soft hum in reply.
They lay there for a long time in relative silence, exchanging light kisses and sharing body heat under the thick winter blankets on Twilight's bed, occasionally feeding each other bits of chocolate sweetness from the plate of brownies that had come up with them as a snack.
Thoughts wandering back to the story she'd heard, Twilight giggled. "So I guess that explains why you never seemed interested when I suggested the zoo as a potential spot for an intellectual outing."
"Oh yeah. I'd never be able to walk past that exhibit with a straight face."
Grinning, Twilight joked, "And now, neither will I."
A snort escaped Sunset, followed by a long silence, and then, in a quiet voice, she said, "I'm...sorry about Flash getting sprung on you like that. I had no idea he'd be at the bookstore..."
"Sunny, it's fine," Twilight reassured, kissing her cheek. "Flash seems like a really nice friend and good person and it was nice to meet him."
The redhead's arms tightened. "I'm glad. Got a little worried when he was just there, and I had no warning. I thought you might be upset..?"
Twilight felt her lips pull into a frown. "I have been a little stressed and out of sorts the last few weeks...this project is huge, Sunny, but I keep running into snags. I'm on my third iteration of a device to track and analyze the anomalous energy readings, and I keep getting taken to random locations--or to places near your school. Are you sure you haven't noticed anything strange?"
Her girlfriend was silent for a long time, and Twilight took it to mean she was sorting through recent events at her school. Finally, she answered, "I haven't seen anything I would classify as...strange. It's a bit crazy, because everyone is hyped over it being a Friendship Games year--they really want to have a shot at beating CPA and not just..." A shrug that Twilight could feel suggested Sunset was not particularly invested in the school rivalry. "...not just getting stomped all over. But there's nothing recently that's happening that isn't in line with the rest of the year."
She sighed, slumping a little. "I'm just...having a harder time with this than I thought. It feels like someone is toying with me, these readings popping up in random places, with no discernible source or even anything in common with each other." And it was driving her crazy--there was no pattern she could discern, not even a radius based one hinting at a central location, at least not a helpful one. Just a bunch of places in the greater Canterlot area, sometimes miles apart. One had even taken her out towards a rural stretch of road, something she was unable to really pursue further because the city buses didn't go further and she was too young to have a license.
Sunset's hands moved to hug her tight. "Hey," the taller girl said, having picked up on Twilight's despondency. "Talk to me, Sparky. How can I help? Maybe I could double check your readings and devices, see if I can come up with anything?"
Silence stretched between them as the dark haired teen weighed how to answer Sunset. On one hand, she valued Sunset's sharp intellect and keen perceptions, and the older girl had shown in some of their weekend projects that she had a knack for machines and engineering. Letting her have a look at the energy detector and scanning device could prove helpful...
Yet she hesitated, her voice dying in her throat as something her principal had said at one of her progress report meetings swam to the forefront of her mind. "You must take care, Miss Sparkle. Your work here is quite important and there are a great many unscrupulous individuals who will appropriate your findings to claim them as their own. It would be wise for you to take care of just who you place your trust in." Twilight found herself hearing those crisp tones as she mulled over a niggling, bothersome sense that Sunset's comments about her school did not match the data Twilight had already collected. Every piece of evidence said the energy manifestations came with some kind of visible phenomena, and affected electronic equipment. Surely with readings as consistent as they were around Canterlot High, someone at the school would have noticed an issue with their computers or science equipment or even their cell phones...right? So was Twilight's scanner more faulty than she thought? Or...was Sunset not telling her the truth? The other girl had solved the math equation that let her track the data, claiming she'd seen its like on secret documents held by her guardian, and she'd also been really insistent that Twilight take care or avoid studying the energy all together--what if there was a greater reason for that beyond an angry encounter with an abusive guardian?
Something deep inside pushed back with an anger that surprised her, anger at even the entertainment of the idea that Sunset was doing something so manipulative and petty. It was Sunset, her Sunny, her best friend...the girl who knew her even better than even her parents did these days. If there was one person in the whole world she trusted above all others, it was Sunset Shimmer, and she felt disgusted at herself for even considering otherwise.
Still... another part of her whispered in her mind, ...if Sunset helps you and solves the problem...then did you really earn your accolades for it? What happens if someone asks questions you can't answer?
Twilight frowned, brows pinching together, which prompted a soothing, if distant touch from warm hands massaging her shoulders. After all she'd done lately to try to prove her maturity, her ability to succeed without her parents holding her hand or clearing obstacles, and if she turned around and had Sunset help her...was she just trading one crutch for another? Was it really showing she was capable of doing things for herself, that she had what it took to survive in academic fields where there was intense pressure and fierce competition?
Gentle fingers moved from her shoulder to her neck, tipping her head back to meet concerned blue-green eyes, an act that snapped her out of her thoughts. "Hey..." Sunset murmured softly. "You okay in there, Sparky? You don't usually take this long to think something over."
Exhaling slowly, Twilight turned her head so she could kiss Sunset's wrist. "I'm sorry, Sunset...I was...thinking...about how I wanted to answer your query."
A faint hint of a crooked smile crossed Sunset's features, and she brushed a thumb over Twilight's cheek. "Did you come to a conclusive answer, or should I wait for your brain to finish running the diagnostic, nerd?"
She could feel her cheeks heat. "It...is a complicated situation," she replied. "Not something I could easily come to an answer about."
Sunset nuzzled her nose into dark hair with a soft hum. "Okay...do I get to hear the answer you reached?"
"You do." Twilight took a breath. "I...appreciate your offer, Sunny, really...I know how smart and clever you are, so please don't take this wrong, but I think..." She took a shaky breath to calm the spike of anxiety that went through her. "...I think I need to do this on my own."
Another soft sound, and those arms were hugging her again. "Can I ask why, at least?"
She gave a nod. "I...I need to know I can stand on my own, handle the pressures of the field I want to go into...and more than that...I...it needs to be my project. It'd be different if it was a joint project, if we were lab partners, but..." Words failed her, and she faltered, looking back at her girlfriend with the worry that Sunset might be upset.
Instead she found an understanding smile. "Hey...I get it, Sparky."
Do you? Twilight wondered bitterly, thinking about the twinge of suspicion she'd felt.
"Oh yeah. Used to go to a place like your school, remember? The pressure, the paranoia that somepo--someone--especially someone you think you can trust--might take your work, that if you don't perform to the standards you set for yourself everyone will know...the way you have all these expectations to meet, and you don't want to fail, and even asking for help feels like you failed?" A wry expression crossed her face. "I get it, just like I get wanting to prove to yourself that you are everything you want to be. I was that way for a long time...and I still am, in a lot of ways. I don't like losing--it tends to make me a little crazy."
Confusion made Twilight's response slow--had she inadvertently spoken aloud? She didn't think she had, but she must've. "...I...guess you do. Get it, I mean." She bit her lip. "You're not...mad, are you?"
Lips brushed her forehead. "Nope. Like I said, I understand. Just...if you change your mind or if you feel like you're in over your head with it...remember that I'm here to help. That's what best friends are for--something you taught me."
Settling once more against her girlfriend's warm torso, Twilight fell quiet and contemplative for a long minute. Her mind was filled with snippets of thoughts and perceptions that she couldn't quite manage to assemble into a complete idea--every time she tried to put the pieces together like a puzzle, they twisted back in on themselves into a new shape. More data was needed, she decided, and cleared her throat softly. "You've mentioned that before--going to a school like mine, from before you ran away--is Canterlot High really so different from it?"
Now that the words were out, she found herself wondering about the answer. How different was CHS from the schools she had known? Sunset didn't seem to worry about her classmates there stealing her work or projects, or competing viciously enough to go as far as sabotaging each other...or at least, she assumed the older girl didn't have to, given her mentioning it happening at her old school, but only really bringing up her own unpleasant history or the spate of bullying she went through after her fall from the peak of the school's popular crowd.
The answer was spoken in an equally soft voice close to her ear. "Like night and day, really," Sunset murmured. "So many things are...just different. Better, in a lot of ways." Fiery hair tickled Twilight's neck and shoulders as she shook her head. "People there..care. They treat each other like people. Friends. We help each other out, learn from each other. Like the group tutoring we've put together on Wednesdays--it started as me helping Flash and my friend Rainbow in math. Every week though, it's a few more people, and they're getting help with where they're struggling but helping others in areas they're good at." A low sigh of hot air across her ear made her shiver. "It's nice...being in a place where it's not all pulling each other down to make yourself look better...I feel bad, sometimes, because I tried to destroy all that...and I'm really glad they stopped me."
The arms around Twilight tightened, emotion leaking into Sunset's voice. "I wouldn't go back now...even if I could."
Even as something in Twilight was moved by the picture her girlfriend's words were painting, this enchanting image of a school like nothing she'd ever experienced, some other part of her pushed it violently away, rejecting it as almost too good to be true, a fleeting dream at best. After all, this was the same school of students who had spent most of the fall bullying and abusing her Sunny. Almost unconsciously, she found herself reciting words from the research on Crystal Prep that she'd done before submitting her application to the school.
Sunset hummed thoughtfully. "Eloquently worded, but...is it really true? All that effort to paint the school and its students as perfect and far superior to the average teenager...I remember the same kind of rhetoric from CSGU, and I also remember what the reality was for any individual who didn't conform to what they thought you should be like."
Twilight felt something twist in her stomach, the truth in Sunset's words unsettling her in ways she couldn't articulate. Breathing slowly, she replied with the same words she often used to remind herself when the other students at her school were at their most vicious. "...perhaps I am more non-conforming than the average high schooler is capable of accepting. It is not arrogance to say I already out-perform my existing classmates at CPA to a degree which they are unable to rationally accept or cope with, so I can only imagine what it would be like at a regular school that isn't designed for everyone to be in an advanced curriculum. And for all it...can be upsetting at times, I cannot fault them for reacting in a manner indicative of their age and maturity level. That would be, for all intents and purposes, like 'getting mad at a cat for being a cat.'"
Sunset's sharp, derisive snort shook her body physically with the vibration it sent through her chest as much or more as it startled her mentally--she hadn't expected the response to be so...blunt and visceral. The puff of heated air from her girlfriend's breath ghosted over her neck, and her innards shivered in subconscious reaction despite how uncomfortable the conversation was becoming.
"Twilight, that's a complete and utter load of steaming, sun-baked, mouldering horseapples, and we both know it. Who ever convinced you of that line deserves a mule's kick right where the sun refuses to shine." A low, odd growl escaped from the older girl's throat. "Look, you'd agree that on an intellectual and academic front, you and I are reasonably comparable enough to be considered equals, right?"
Nodding, Twilight pushed some of her dark hair back, out of her face, before her hands twisted together to help her bleed off her anxiety. "I...given the observational and anecdotal evidence, I would be willing to concede that in this case, though it would take some actual, measurable tests with scores we could compare to judge accurately. Still, in areas of science and mathematics, we are comparable in our knowledge and capabilities, though our approaches are decidedly different." She breathed in and out, taking time to further compose her thoughts. "One of my favorite things about our relationship is that you challenge and engage me mentally, and because of your high intelligence, I find I very rarely need to translate my thoughts into a format that you are capable of comprehending in conversation."
Lips pressed soft kisses to the spot where neck and shoulder met. "I'm not saying this to bring you down or sound arrogant, but the fact is that both of us are far ahead of our age-mates in our schools, and sit close to the top of our class rankings...but for all of that, even at my worst moments in CHS, both as the bully and as the bullied...no one at the school has ever suggested that it was at all acceptable for anyone to bully a person because they did better than you in a class. If anything, it's the opposite--even when I ran things there, I knew there were lines I couldn't cross because the Principal and Vice Principal would tear me apart. And when they found out what was happening to me, they were just as swift to come down on the people doing it. If they ever got an inkling of a teacher saying stuff like that? I'd bet a sack of diamonds that the ink wouldn't even be dry on their termination notice before they found themselves on the sidewalk outside."
Tucked into Sunset's warm, soft body and embrace, Twilight wrestled against what even she could tell was an almost irrational want to leap to the defense of her school, her principal, and her teachers...she had no desire to get into an argument over something that didn't really matter in the long run. She was already most of the way through high school; at this point changing schools would be a hindrance not a boon. So the dark haired girl pushed the ugly words down with a frustrated sound.
"Sparky? You're all tense and wound up now--what's wrong?" Sunset moved a hand from her waist up to across her shoulders and collarbone. "Talk to me." Genuine concern filled the now alert voice.
Now that the thoughts had been pushed away and the thread of conversation broken, Twilight could put the words together she needed to. "I...I am...discomforted by the points you've raised, but I feel this whole topic is something I need time to think over alone, when I am less under pressure from all sides. My mother is still advocating that I consider transferring, and I...need time to weigh the situation without the expectation of someone wanting a response looming over me." She let out a shaky breath. "Is...that okay?"
Those arms hugged tighter, before warm hands found her shoulders and began to rub soothingly, transferring their heat into a body that felt more than a little chilled. "Of course, Sparky...I didn't mean to upset you," came the tickling whisper against her ear, before her girlfriend began to hum, a soft pretty little song that seemed to be her go to when she was offering comfort to Twilight. It let the younger girl just drift for a little while, feeling the cold that had frozen her inside melt away in favor of the contentment that just being wrapped in Sunset's arms created.
The silence between them stretched on companionably for several minutes, broken only by the rich musical tones of Sunset's humming. Finally, even that petered out for a double handful of heartbeats into comfortable quiet.
At last, the redhead broke it, after Twilight had gone completely limp in the embrace. "Want me to go raid the fridge for leftover chocolate cake and some ice cream?"
Drowsily, Twilight considered her choices. "Hmmm...chocolate cake versus keeping you here as my pillow and heater...hmmm...you arent making this easy on me, Sunset Shimmer."
That earned a laugh. "I'm so sorry, Twilight, but I can't just levitate the cake out of the fridge and up the stairs with my mind." Sunset kissed her close to her ear. "If I could, I would, because I'm pretty happy to have you all to myself like this." The fingers on her shoulder wandered in to her throat, tracing up and along Twilight's jawline in a featherlight caress, before they tucked some dark hair behind one ear.
Breath hitching now for an entirely different reason, Twilight licked her lips "I think...I think the chocolate cake wins...after all, it was an exceptionally good dessert you brought this week.... " she murmured, twisting around so she was kneeling between Sunset's legs, seeing a grin on the other girl's face as Twilight leaned in to brush their lips together. "...especially if you bring up the chocolate syrup to go with the ice cream..."
A light went on in blue-green eyes as Sunset clued in on what Twilight was hinting at, and she scrambled off the bed in a hurry to get the requested items. "I'll be quick," she promised, tweaking Twilight's nose playfully. "...chocolate flavored nerd sounds like an even better dessert than cake...and a great way to spend my time before bed."
It was some indeterminate amount of time later, long after dessert had been reduced to a sticky memory in bowls shoved carelessly to the side on the floor and to the lingering scent-taste of chocolate that was on their lips, after Twilight had finally determined after some heated and intense data collection that chocolate flavored Sunset kisses were definitely better than regular ones, that she had another idle thought tickle at her brain.
She shifted in Sunset's arms, propping herself up on one elbow. "Dr. Soft-Spoken is going to be pleased with me at my next session..."
A crooked smile teased at Sunset's kiss bruised lips as she let her eyes drift up to Twilight's face from where she lay, stretched out under a shared blanket. One hand reached out to run down a lavender skinned arm. "Oh?" came the response.
Twilight smiled at the other girl, snagging amber fingers with her own hand. "After you left the office yesterday, we talked about my apprehension and difficulties with being open in regards to our relationship. One of her suggestions was to remove the sense of 'all or nothing' I can sometimes be prone to distilling problems into, and instead focus on it as a project with many small stages and steps."
Sunset tugged their interlaced fingers towards her face, placing soft kisses on Twilight's knuckles. "Okay, I can see that. So what are these stages, Sparky?"
"To start with, she proposed the idea of small things, like meeting someone you know as just your friend in a one on one fashion, then taking the time to analyze my feelings after, to determine what, if anything, about the interaction caused me anxiety." Twilight laughed softly, feeling each of the kisses brushing her skin as a tingling warmth that made her heart beat faster. "I wasn't sure about it at the time, to be honest."
Watching her intently, Sunset asked, "Is that why you were a little out of sorts when you came out?"
"Yeah...it had me pretty tied up in knots, even thinking about it..." the dark haired teen admitted. "...but then we bumped into your friend by accident, and it went so well that it made the idea less intimidating. I don't know if it was because it was a chance meeting, or because Flash is just really patient and relaxed, or because I didn't have time to get overwhelmed by anxiety...but...I was thinking it was a method that does seem to work."
A gentle tug pulled Twilight back into Sunset's arms, and her girlfriend nuzzled into her neck with one of those throaty noises that she had come to associate with Sunset being relaxed and happy. "I'm glad, Sparky...I was worried when he messaged me from the front of the store...I didn't know how it would go, and I really wanted to have my friend and my girlfriend on good terms." She laughed into Twilight's ear. "It was a bit nerve-wracking for me until you smiled and said hello."
"And for what it's worth, Flash commented today that he thought you seemed really fun, and that he hopes someday you'll be able to come to some of the group hang-outs."
Absorbing that knowledge felt...good, and she found herself smiling for reasons beyond the way Sunset was snuggling her tightly. "I...would not be opposed to that, someday." She breathed deep, enjoying the odor of faint shampoo, leather, and sunshine that was Sunset's personal scent, letting loose ideas start to coalesce into something solid. Before anxiety could make her indecisive, she forged ahead, blurting out the thought before her courage was lost. "Since it went so well, what do you think about repeating the experiment, as it were, but perhaps under more controlled conditions?"
Her girlfriend lifted her head so they were almost nose to nose. "Like what?" came the curious question, carrying with it that hint of chocolate from earlier.
Twilight rested her palm against a warm cheek, before she moved to thread fingers through strands of red and gold. "I met your friend, so what do you think about an afternoon outing with myself, you...and my friend Wallflower? The girl you helped me pick out the birthday gift and the tea for?" Her voice carried a hopeful note as she searched blue-green eyes.
What she saw was a hint of playful mischief. "I could be convinced," Sunset murmured. "Tell me about this Wallflower?"
"Well...she's...not quite as smart as either of us, but she's really adept with botany and horticulture..." Twilight started.
Lips teased hers. "Okay...?"
"She's kind of quiet, but also sarcastic..."
Another kiss. "I don't mind quiet, and I've a been known to make a sarcastic remark at times."
It was getting a little harder to focus with Sunset insisting on kissing her, but Twilight forged on. "Sometimes, I worry I'm not the best friend to her since I get so caught up in my work, and I also have a really hard time deciphering what she means sometimes....but she's really nice, and I feel bad because it sounds like her parents don't have a lot of time for her. I think she's a little lonely."
The redheaded girl paused in her playful assault of Twilight's lips to study her closely. "That's...yeah, I'd be okay with meeting Wallflower, Sparky. She...sounds like a decent person, and I can understand where she's coming from if she's lonely. I've been there--surrounded by a crowd and feeling alone...it's...it's not great." The quiet seriousness in her voice made Twilight's heart ache for the girl she considered her closest, dearest friend, and it must have shown on her face, because Sunset rested their foreheads together. "It's not that way since I made friends...I promise...I'm just saying that I understand." Then she smiled. "Besides, anyone who can appreciate a pretty garden and a nice cup of tea has to be someone I can find common ground with, right?" |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred: Crawlin' In the Dark | There was a curious sense of numb detachment as Twilight's body collapsed to its knees like a marionette whose strings had been severed. There was a curious roaring echo in her ears as she dimly noted that such a collapse would have, in the waking world--for surely she had to be caught in some kind of terrible nightmare--would have left her bruised and aching, and at the moment, with her heart pounding in her ears, she could barely feel her body to tell if it hurt or not. A sarcastic part of her mind that sounded more bitter than anything pointed out, "If its a nightmare, at least it had the decency to leave you clothed..." She brushed the errant thought away, unable to focus on anything beyond the want--need, really--to scream or cry or...something...anything...that would wake her up.
Lavender fingers scrabbled futilely against linoleum tiles that were too slick and somehow greasy under her fingertips, and she was overcome with the sensation that any moment now her digits would push through the surface into something even more horrific. Abstract patterns and lines that before gave the impression of a faux wood grain seemed to melt and warp before her sight, twisting into a hellish representation of agonized, screaming faces. Around her, scraps of paper--that was her handwriting, her research, please, no--slid just out of reach, moving on unnatural gusts of air that felt far too warm and fetid against her skin in a building that was always cold, as if some monstrous thing were behind her, unseen and breathing down her neck.
As she scrabbled, growing frantic, broken bits of electronics and wiring skittered like metallic insects in shadows that oozed, too black and opaque to be just darkness, from all the corners of the room, bringing with them faint cacophony of unintelligible but decidedly unpleasant whispers--her classmates? Had they done this? Who else would have? But why??--and the susurration of distant, mocking laughter.
Twilight Sparkle choked on bile that rose in her throat, thick and burning and corrosive, and in her rising panic, all she could think of was Sunset. She desperately needed the warmth of flame, of amber and the smell of sunlight, to draw her out of this nightmare landscape she was imprisoned in. Stiff, numb fingers that felt like they were moving through molasses, barely responding to her mind's commands, searched her pockets for the phone she knew should be there. Relief ghosted over her before anxiety swallowed it whole, and shaking hands struggled to get to Sunset in her contacts, raw, animal terror rising as a chittering sound grew closer, eclipsing any other noise with the way it drilled into her skull painfully.
Her breath turned to gasping sobs as she typed, words scrambled and misspelled, a desperation personified in an amalgamation of sentences and broken characters that her mind tried to force into some semblance of coherence. The image of her smiling girlfriend at the top of the screen was her only lifeline to sanity, and she gripped the phone like a talisman, trying to will the older girl into existence at her side.
"Breathe, Sparky..." A faint sense of a whisper broke through the noise, but it was gone almost before she registered it, and she curled into herself, caught in a loop of her own fear.
This is a nightmare...it's not real...this can't be happening...make it stop...
As if in counterpoint to the inhuman sounds, a thread of all too human laughter, stifled--possibly behind a hand--tickled her ears. It was...familiar...the actions of an adolescent trying to avoid sharing their mirth, lest it garner adult attention.
So it was her classmates...they had swept her lab clean, destroyed months of work, all to see her falter and fail...
Yet it was crisp tones that followed, not the sniggering mockery of her peers. Each word was too precise, as frigid as if it had been carved from crystallized nitrogen ice. "While your devotion to maintaining school property is...entirely admirable, Miss Sparkle, I do believe such a menial chore as collecting what trash remains in your former laboratory can be safely entrusted to the janitorial staff."
Cold lightning shot through Twilight as she turned her face upwards toward the voice, her body left wreathed in ice and her stomach twisting nauseously. There, staring down at her was the immaculately groomed visage of Principal Cinch, expressionless eyes somehow giving off the impression of a viper, poised to strike.
What? Cinch had taken her lab away? Why? The woman was pleased on Friday with her progress--or at least she had seemed so, providing the rare words of praise that had bolstered her confidence despite her difficulties with the scanner. Why would she do this? Maybe not the lab, but to throw away all of Twilight's data and work? Without letting her know some line had been crossed?
"Up."
The single word, laced with venom, brought Twilight to her feet before she even had time to register what was happening. Her senses reeled, her stomach churned, and she could feel the tears on her face still making their way down her cheeks to drip to the floor.
Principal Cinch turned sharply on her heel, movements as neat as a drill sergeant, yet elegant enough to be more at home in the courts of old. To blurry eyes, shadows swirled out behind the attenuated figure with the motion, like some kind of oily black cloak that billowed before it vanished between one blink and the next, leaving the teen dizzy and disoriented.
"Come."
A second command, as cold and devoid of emotion as the first broke the air, and the dark haired girl found her feet moving of their own volition to obey. Dimly, amidst the sensory overload and the racing thoughts, she became aware of a shadowy figure that stepped up, a little behind and to one side of her. Scrubbing her eyes furiously, she focused on wilted green smudged with a muddy shade, and the figure resolved into Wallflower, the normally restrained girl possessing a rare smile that seemed entirely too satisfied.
Her principal began to walk, and with Wallflower urging her onward, Twilight was forced to follow. The dark haired teen did everything she could to concentrate on both making her legs move in a coordinated enough manner to approximate walking, and on breathing. Her inner voice tried counting, some part of her desperately grasping for a memory of Sunset's reassurances, coaxing her to draw in enough oxygen with that warm, familiar voice with the faint hint of an unidentifiable accent. Twilight's external awareness dimmed, Wallflower fading into the background until all that seemed to remain was a cheshire grin, hanging mockingly at the edge of her peripheral vision. It was still enough of a distraction to make it hard to conjure more than the faintest wisps of memory, particularly when it was paired with the way the footsteps echoed around her, somehow both too loud and close to her person, but also echoing back distantly, distorted and muffled, as if she were hearing it underwater.
The shadows in the corners of her vision returned amidst black spots as she struggled to draw in enough air to feed her oxygen starved lungs. She caught glimpses of them, too-dark things that seemed to stretch into an impossible infinity even as it felt like they were dogging her steps, as though they wanted to nip at her heels. Their very presence seemed suck the air away that she was so desperately trying to inhale, and Twilight swallowed a whimpering gasp, clenching her teeth and triggering the sensation of stinging pain on the inside of her cheek and a coppery taste on her tongue that made her want to gag had she not already been choking from the inability to draw a real breath.
Vibrations tickled her thigh, her panicked mind taking a moment to recognize it as her phone going off with a message. It bounced slightly with her movements, but even as it vibrated again the teen dared not look at the screen--she couldn't, not with Principal Cinch right in front of her.
Her mind was too happy to jump in and supply her with the obvious answer: after the mangled message earlier, it had to be Sunset. That knowledge was a comfort she clutched at like a lifeline as the phone buzzed again, the faint sound and feeling driving the blackness back and bringing sweet relief in the form of a real breath at last. Whatever was happening, whatever had gone wrong, she told herself, her Sunny would be there for her at the end of it....she just had to hold on and get through this.
That faint thread of warmth was all that sustained her as she followed the ominous clicking of Principal Cinch's heels through polished halls, the periodic and insistent vibration against her leg keeping her from breaking down. At first, Twilight believed them to be heading towards the woman's office, but when they continued on beyond it without so much as slowing down, the cold weight in her stomach grew heavier. This path led to the auditorium. Was that her punishment for whatever transgression had cost her her lab? Public humiliation for her failure and shame, paraded before the school as an example of what not to do, along with the mocking laughter of her classmates following her in the halls until the day she finally left for good?
Caught as she was, the lavender skinned girl did everything she could to keep from making a sound, knowing full well that the instant she let even the barest whimper free, she would break and she wouldn't stop screaming until her voice gave out...Almost missing the moment when the Principal's brisk clip took them past the entrance to the auditorium and continued deeper into the heart of the school, crossing an invisible and unspoken threshold to enter the set of corridors that by tradition...and more than a little covert enforcements by the inhabitants, belonged solely to the senior students.
Twilight shuddered as her mind dragged up memory from the times she'd attended classes here in her first year at the school--it was one of the reasons she'd been so happy to do the independent study projects...so she could avoid all the baleful glares and hostile murmurs that followed after her, directed at her, all for being a 'middle schooler' invading their territory, especially one beating them academically in every way possible. One spot in the hall brought up a particularly vicious encounter, of her back pressed to icy metal, surrounded by angry glares and--
She crushed the memory down hard, forcing herself back to the present, dismissing unimportant events from two and a half years ago. None of that mattered right now, not compared to the present. With them now deep into the senior halls, Twilight's panic and fear was now at war with confusion, and the teen set herself to do the only thing she could in moments like this: focus on continuing to breathe, and to endure. The detached sensation of vibration against her leg was the only thing left to help ground her, each twitch like a squeeze of Sunset's hand in her own.
After what felt like an eternity, Principal Cinch halted, abruptly enough that Twilight only just caught herself and prevented her body from colliding with the administrator. Like a bucket of icy water, cold terror went through at the the thought of almost having done something like that, and Twilight forced herself to refocus on the older woman. Just in time too, she realized, as the precisely cultured tones registered to her ears as speech--speech that was directed at her.
"Of course, I do apologize, Miss Sparkle." Her voice was crisp and cold, with an edge that Twilight couldn't quite explain--the part of her mind that sounded suspiciously like Sunset whispered that it was contemptuous amusement, but that was an unfair thought. Principal Cinch was an upstanding educator who valued her students...she gave herself a mental shake and tried to pay attention.
Principal Cinch continued, steepling her fingers. "I had planned to present this to you a great deal earlier; however, the previous occupant did not grant this honor the...respect...it was due. As such, it necessitated the outlay of significant resources to bring it back to the standard I expect a student of your caliber to... appreciate." With deliberate slowness, the woman turned towards the door they'd halted in front of.
Like a record scratch across her mind, the sound of a key turning in the lock made everything jerk to a grinding halt. And when the door opened, harsh, bright overhead lighting almost blinded her after the dimmer corridors, sending a stab of pain through her brain like an ice pick. Twilight faltered for a moment, her feet unable to move while she tried to cope with the assault on her senses.
Suddenly, there was a sharp feeling in her side, like a jab or a pinch. It sent her stumbling over the threshold into the room after the principal. The older woman smiled, a thin thing that held Twilight's attention, even as she gestured elegantly around the room. "After all, it would not do for my...prize student...to work in substandard accommodations any longer, and quite inappropriate for me to present you with an upgraded space that resembled a low budget bachelor pad after a drunken celebration....don't you agree, Miss Blush?"
And just like that, the focus was off of Twilight for a moment, and the weight crushing her was gone--the world no longer felt like it was coming down around her ears. She could breathe again--and she did, her side aching with each glorious inhale of fresh oxygen. It banished some of the haziness, and helped slow her heart rate down from the frantic runaway gallop to something a bit more sedate...like a run.
She heard Wallflower respond, but the words themselves seemed inconsequential in lieu of what Principal Cinch had said. The phrase 'prize student' echoed in her mind over and over as she tried to come to terms with what was going on, overwriting her earlier assumptions. She hadn't failed or done something to disgrace herself. She wasn't being punished...
Purple eyes roved over the room, taking in the little details. Lab equipment, brand new and shiny, cabinets with plenty of space for supplies, a refrigerator for samples or experiments that needed chilling (or for stowing her lunch, the 'Sunset portion' of her hindbrain suggested), and plenty of space on counter tops and the workbench for her to spread out her work. And atop the surfaces, there were parts she recognized, a sheaf of notes, stacked haphazardly, her own handwriting plain to see, and even her tools, all arrayed in a fashion that was close enough to her own preference to be familiar...but just off enough to know she didn't leave them there and to trigger her need to reorganize for herself.
Except it was all here, in the large laboratory that was the coveted lab space in the school...a lab that traditionally went to a couple of senior students at the beginning of each year...A lab that she had known to already be filled. The principal's words drifted through her mind, and so did a stab of new worry. This lab was for seniors, which she was most certainly not, and there was always a long list of the top seniors who wanted to have it for themselves. She wondered briefly how many of them had been skipped over for this space to be granted to her.
But that concern would have to wait, as Principal Cinch was speaking to her again. "Of course, you mustn't let your focus be siphoned off by such mundanities as organization, paper filing, or errand running. The contract you signed makes allowances for a fellow student to act as your assistant, and I have taken the liberty of assigning Miss Blush to fill that role for you. I also recall that you have come across some botanical samples in the course of your search, and I believe her background in botany and horticulture shall serve you well in expediting your research results in those areas." One of those thin smiles Cinch was known for crossed her face, this one with the barest hint of her teeth as Twilight tried to force her scrambled and disordered thoughts into some kind of order that let her comprehend what was being said. Assistant? Wallflower?
"Isn't that great, Twilight?" Wallflower was grinning broadly, an expression so out of place for Her normally dour and sarcastic friend that it felt strange and unnatural to Twilight. "Principal Cinch offered to let me use this as a semester project to replace my science course if I help you out. Plus we'll get to spend more time together!"
Twilight had a sour taste in her mouth. She recognized that her Principal had made the decision and she couldn't just countermand it, but she really hadn't wanted an assistant in the first place. She didn't care much for someone getting underfoot during her projects, and as much as Wallflower was her friend, this was not really a project where she wanted to have to spend time explaining every little thing she was doing to someone else when that time could be better spent actually working towards an end goal.
Now that's not true, her mind whispered traitorously. There's one person you'd love as an assistant.
The image of Sunset in her garage lab, wearing her spare lab coat while they tinkered with the stabilizers on her custom camera drone, the redhead's eyes bright as she explained a change she'd come up with that would improve the drone's maneuvering capabilities, came to her mind. No, she corrected herself. There definitely was one person she'd want in a lab with her...and it wasn't Wallflower.
Nor was Sunset just an assistant, either. In every instance so far that they'd worked together, and in every fantasy in Twilight's mind--both the illicit and 'safe for work'--Sunset was her lab partner, her equal in every way.
Wallflower was very much not Sunset Shimmer, and that knowledge just made her innards twist unpleasantly.
Yet there was nothing she could say or do--Principal Cinch had decided, and the other girl's grade now depended on it. Plus, she looked so excited to be working with Twilight...to spend time with her friend...what kind of friend was Twilight being if she pushed her away?
She'd already been a less than stellar friend this year to both Wallflower and Moondancer, caught up in her projects and all the time she spent with her girlfriend. Was it right or fair to be upset about spending time with a friend? Especially one who didn't have a lot of other people in her life she seemed close with?
Guilt gnawed at her over her knee jerk reaction, and it made the hand that pressed down on her shoulder feel too heavy and painful, as if the thin fingers were digging into the nerve that crossed her collarbone. Her stomach lurched and roiled in borderline rebellion, but she forced a smile onto her face as best she could. Something socially appropriate and grateful must have passed her lips, because her principal seemed pleased with it before she departed with a final weighty statement.
"We expect great things from you, Miss Sparkle."
Twilight was left in the lab with Wallflower, the echoing, heavy sound of the door shutting feeling somehow ominous despite the circumstances...or maybe because of them.
"I did what I could to keep things together when I moved them," Wallflower admitted. "I hope I set everything up right for you--Cinch didn't exactly give me a lot of warning..."
The words, paired with the hand still on her shoulder, felt like acid dripping steadily onto exposed nerves. "I can see that," Twilight acknowledged, doing her best to keep the emotion out of her voice. "Thank you, Wallflower." While it was only loosely felt, she could still do her best to express the socially acceptable amount of thanks so she didn't hurt her friend's feelings.
"I even tried to follow that weird system of yours...doesn't really make any sense to me, but it's your stuff..." The girl shrugged.
Twilight took a deep breath, her eyes falling on things that were just enough out of place to make her hands itch with the compulsory need to fix the disorder. "I needed to do some reorganization anyway," she said, doing her best to sound offhanded and casual. It came out strained.
"Well, that'll give me something to do--Cinch's orders say that I'm your assistant, but since most of your project does not involve plants, I'm basically here to keep you company and do all the menial labor and tedious tasks that might distract you from being the 'Shining Star of CPA.'" Wallflower's lip curled at the last part of her sentence, and even Twilight was capable of detecting the sarcasm and annoyance in the tone.
The dark haired girl took a deep breath, twisting away from Wallflower's hand in a way that didn't make it seem she was repulsed by her friend--she really wasn't, but uninvited contact was not something she could handle when she was this keyed up. She then sank into the desk chair, depositing her phone on the empty counter surface and trying her best to rein in her thoughts and emotions, letting Wallflower's words sink into the background for a moment, like sticks floating by in a stream's current.
Did it really matter if Wallflower did reorganize her things? The space Twilight had felt was hers was not, and the abrupt shift to this new lab space had shown her that. This was not her space, not in the way she naively thought the old lab had been, and while she could work in it, she wasn't sure she could ever be comfortable.
This lab, and any other in the school belonged to Principal Abacus Cinch. She could inhabit it, make use of it, but only so long as she met the expectations--demands, her inner Sunny corrected with an unpleasant sneer before Twilight pushed the thought away--placed before her. Fail, and she would be removed, just like the previous occupant had been.
That's not fair, another corner of her thoughts whispered. It's no different than what happens in the real fields of science and academia. Research funding comes with an expectation of results. In this, Principal Cinch was providing a mimicry of that, allowing her and other students the chance to adjust to the rigorous and competitive field in a safe--mental Sunny snorted derisively--a safe, she repeated mentally to drown out the facsimile of her girlfriend her mind had created, and relatively controlled environment.
Really, Twilight should have been grateful for the Principal's foresight, and she felt guilty and ashamed that her impulsive reaction had been the desire to throw a tantrum like a toddler. She needed to stop acting like a child so often.
Her phone vibrating on the counter coaxed her out of her thoughts, especially when Wallflower saved it from falling to the floor. "Jeez, Twilight--whoever this Sunset character is, they're real hot to get a hold of you. They are blowing up your phone like crazy. Sixteen unread messages. That's nuts."
Right. She had yet to reply to her. "That's my fault. I panicked earlier when I went into the old lab and I sent her a pretty incoherent text. She's probably trying to figure out what's going on."
Wallflower rolled her eyes. "That does not require sixteen messages in like ten minutes. Sounds like she's desperate to me." The phone lit up in her hand. "Oh, and now she's calling you. You want to take this or should I tell her to get lost?"
Twilight snatched the phone back. "No!" came the yelp, before she could stop herself. "...I...I can handle it. Let me just answer this and talk to her real quick."
The green haired girl rolled her eyes, but flopped into her own chair, playing with one of the microscopes. Twilight answered the phone, only half paying attention to her friend. "Hi, Sunset..."
"Twilight!?" Sunset's voice on the other end sounded agitated and tense, coming out more demanding than the teen was used to hearing. "Are you okay? I couldn't understand most of your text."
Sighing, she hastened to reassure her girlfriend. "I'm okay, Sunset. I...jumped to conclusions and then had a panic attack as an overreaction to the whole thing."
That seemed to do little to mollify the other girl. "Overreaction...Sparky...what happened?"
"I..." Twilight hesitated a moment, looking back at the door, then at Wallflower, who was watching intently. "It's complicated, Sunset, and I don't really have a lot of time to talk about it right now--I need to get some work done."
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine," she reiterated. "...can I call you tonight after dinner? I can explain then."
Sunset made a dissatisfied sound. "...alright..." she said at last. "...we'll talk tonight."
Twilight winced at the frustration she could hear in those words. "I'm sorry for making you worry..." she told the redhead.
"You scared me." Sunset's voice had grown quiet and soft. "I was afraid something terrible had happened when I got your message...especially when you didn't respond to me after that..."
Guilt found some new to chew on. "I'm so sorry, Sunny! I never meant that--I sent the text on accident when I was interrupted, and then I couldn't really answer my phone right away."
"As long as you're really okay, Sparky. That's the important part." Sunset exhaled noisily. "I'll let you go--but if you do need me for anything, call or text me. I'm always here if you need me, no matter what or when."
Twilight mumbled a neutral sounding goodbye, doing her best to keep her tone in 'best friend' territory, because while she was planning on introducing Sunset to Wallflower as her best friend, she wasn't comfortable with broadcasting their intimacy yet...and Wallflower was watching her with more interest than really felt polite.
As she hung up, she sent a hurried text to said girlfriend for added reassurance. --Sunny, I'm sorry for cutting the call short, but I wasn't alone and I wasn't ready to air what I'm feeling here. If you're available to come over tonight, I would really appreciate your company, and I could tell you better then.-- Her eyes skimmed the barrage of increasingly agitated texts Sunset had sent her, and she sent a second quick text to her mom, letting her know that her day had been stressful and that she had asked Sunset to come over that night.
"Boy," Wallflower commented as she was hitting send, "that Sunset chick seems kind of intense and pushy."
Twilight put her phone back in her pocket. "Sunset isn't pushy," she defended. "She was just really worried about me."
Her friend scoffed a little. "Sure, Twilight, whatever you say. How'd you even meet someone like that?"
Discomfort spiked, making her stomach churn. "We bumped into each other in the park and got to talking," she responded, knowing she was being evasive. "Turned out we have a lot in common and get along well, and we got to be friends." Change the subject, Twilight. "I was actually thinking of inviting you both out for an outing with me. I...would like to introduce my old friend to my new friend."
Wallflower raised an eyebrow. "I'm not so sure that'd be a good idea..." she said with hesitation. "How do you know this is not some repeat of freshman year? You remember that girl from your chem class, I know you do. What's to say this isn't another situation like that? She could be using you."
Twilight shook her head, trying to avoid the memories that Wallflower had stirred up. "Sunset's not like that. She's been nothing but a good friend to me--she's smart and caring and warm hearted."
Her friend snorted. "I've seen plenty of girls who act like that to people they want something from. How long exactly have you known this Sunset chick that you are that confident she isn't using you for something? She's not a student here, is she?"
Something in Wallflower's tone reminded Twilight unpleasantly of Alabaster, and her response came out somewhat shorter and snippier than she'd have preferred. "Long enough to know what kind of person she is, and that she's not going to do that to me. As for her not attending this school...quite frankly, given how poorly most of the students here are prone to treating both of us, it would seem to me that such a fact is a positive point in her favor."
"Sure, Twilight." Wallflower rolled her eyes. "How did you even meet her? Since she doesn't go to our school. It's not exactly like you're a social butterfly."
Frowning, Twilight felt her agitation rising and swallowed the immediate, snippy response she wanted to give at the repeated inquiry. Taking a breath was harder than she would have liked, as she fought down memories of that fateful night and tried to avoid having a reaction that her friend would detect. It was a struggle; between that and her earlier meltdown, she resigned herself to taking a dose of her anxiety medication when Wallflower dipped out to either fetch her lunch or to take a bathroom break. "We met by accident, last fall," she responded carefully.
Cynical and skeptical, the other girl crossed her arms over her chest petulantly. "That doesn't mean you really know her."
Twilight had reached her threshold of tolerance for what felt like an unfair interrogation. "With all respect, Wallflower, I'm not sure why the details of when and how I met Sunset are something you're so fixated on, and why you seem unwilling to at least give her a chance before you assume she's up to some nefarious purpose." She took another breath, let it out slowly, and continued. "What matters is we met and became very good friends, and I was hoping to introduce you, a friend whom I have known for several years, to a new friend I've made this year, because I think you could find common ground with her if you tried. She's the one who helped me pick your birthday present, after all, and she's the one who gave me recommendations for that tea we've been sharing during lunch since your birthday breakfast."
Wallflower was silent, watching her with furrowed brows, and the inner Sunset in Twilight's mind filled in with a thought that was more accurate than Twilight would have expected. "She looks like someone who just got bitten on the hind end by what she thought was a rock."
It really did, when she looked at her carefully. The other girl finally noticed her watching, and rolled her eyes again. "If I didn't know better, I'd think this Sunset was actually some hot, rich dude and not a chick, the way you talk about her."
Twilight laughed, nervousness making her stomach flip flop. "I didn't know what I was saying sounded like that," she hedged. "I just...really do think she's a good friend, and we could both use more of those."
"...not so sure more friends is really the answer, but I guess it can't hurt to meet this Sunset for myself--form my own impression, see if she really is all that you're making her out to be..." Wallflower leaned back in her chair and kicked her feet up on the counter. "So when did you want to do this?" |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and One: The Nightmare's Just Begun | Bedsprings creaked as the occupant shifted, rolling to the other side and reaching for something that wasn't there. When lavender fingers fell on the unused pillow instead, a whimper escaped her, and she twisted further in the sheets. Outside, the first drops of freezing rain and sleet began to fall, creating a staccato sound on the roof like running steps.
Running...she was running, barefoot, feeling the painful sting of sharp rocks and broken terrain under her soles...
Despite the house being heated, the room had a chill to it that made exposed skin shiver and prickle with goosebumps.
Everywhere she looked, it was all wrong. Everything was dead and decaying, a landscape devoid of all life and with her only company writhing shadows and foul, sulfurous miasma that sapped the heat and life from her...
The sound of whimpering woke Spike, and he climbed up on the bed, trying to figure out what had upset his human so...only to find her sleeping, her clothes soaked in sweat in spite of the chill.
She needed Sunset. Had to find Sunset. Sunset could get her out of this place. Sunset would make the light come back to the world. She screamed her name, hoping to hear an answer in turn. She only heard silence.
Spike pawed at Twilight, licking her face and nosing her as forcefully as he could, trying to break the nightmare's hold.
How long had she been looking? Forever it seemed, before she had found her. But something was wrong. Sunset wasn't moving. Why wasn't she moving? She grabbed Sunset by the shoulder to get her attention, only for the figure to fall backwards into a pool of liquid shadow that wasn't shadow...eyes that once shined with laughter and love now empty and vacant...
And it was only then that Twilight realized her own hand was holding a jagged, dripping spiral...
Twilight sat up with a ragged, painful sound, one somewhere between a gasp and a sob. Her heart was pounding and the fragments of the nightmare left her whole body shaking with a cold that did not want to leave no matter how many blankets were wrapped around her. Spike, who had fallen back when she woke, crawled into her lap and whined, trying to soothe her as best he could, and she petted him with one hand while she shook and trembled, desperate to push back the lingering images of her nightmare.
Yet as the image of those familiar blue-green orbs staring blankly at her swam before her mind's eye, Twilight couldn't hold it in anymore and she burst into tears. Even the faded image of Sunset like that from a purely fictitious nightmare sent sharp, crippling agony through her, and she hugged Spike tight, wishing Sunset were with her.
For a fleeting moment, she thought of calling Sunset, but the blurred numbers on her clock stopped her--it was a little after three in the morning and Sunset had a history test in school she needed to be rested for. So Twilight changed her mind, and settled for recounting the nightmare and her fears to Spike. At first, the words wouldn't come--even after her sobbing had trailed off into little hiccups--her mouth refusing to form them as if by speaking it aloud she would somehow will the horrible nightmare into existence.
"....I'm scared..." she managed, rocking back and forth with Spike clutched tight to her chest. "....so scared, Spike..." The admission came haltingly, but labeling it helped her deal with it easier. "...I...saw something...a nightmare....it was awful...and it scared me, Spike..."
Her dog whined, licking her face in sympathy, and it helped loosen some of the words lodged in her chest, past the lump in her throat. "...I...It happened to Sunny...in the dream...and I just wish she was here now, Spike...I want Sunset so badly right now to be here...so I can hug her and know she's okay...that it was just a dream..."
Spike perked up and wriggled free of her arms to scamper over to the other side of the bed, grabbing her phone in his mouth and bringing it to her, tail wagging. That made her tears start anew. "I can't, Spike. She's sleeping and she has a test in the morning at school..." She took the phone from him and set it in her lap.
Twilight tried to scrub the tears away. It was illogical, irrational, to be this upset over a nightmare. Especially one so bizarre and completely disconnected from reality. Yet as much as she told herself that, as much as she tried to dismiss it, some deep seeded part of her cried out in fear and despair, and she just could not shake the sense of impending doom hanging over her.
It had happened before, she realized with an odd start, right before winter break, when Sunset had been pulled into drama at her school, trying to stop those three girls from following in her former bully persona's lead and potentially getting people hurt. She had been suffering nightmares then, and left with this same feeling of dread and worry....but Sunset was not under duress at the moment, so why?
The teen wracked her brains, mumbling to her dog the whole while. "It...it doesn't make sense, Spike. Last time...she was upset and agitated and I couldn't help her, and so my brain translated that into anxiety and nightmare, but she's been doing wonderful lately. Every time we talk...she's...just overflowing with stories and anecdotes about her friends and how good things seem to be going for her right now!" She hugged herself as a shiver passed through her thin frame. "So why do I feel this way now? Is this...some kind of manifestation of jealousy? Stress? I...I don't want bad things to happen to her, Spike...so why is my brain showing me this!"
Her oldest friend whined and snuffled at her face, before licking her cheek as if to tell her it was alright. Then he hopped down and once more padded across the bed, this time across Sunset's side to grab something off her desk and bring it to her.
Twilight stared down at the faulty detector in her hands, absently wiping off the dog slobber from the device she couldn't manage to get right. "Spike?" she asked in confusion. She knew her dog was smart, but...was this random, or was he trying to tell her something? What did her research have to do with th--
Images slammed to the fore in her mind, not of Sunset and the nightmare, but of readings and dates. Of the spikes she'd missed in early December. The same week Twilight had been wracked with nightmares. The same week Sunset had had important things going on at school.
No. It was ludicrous. Ridiculous bordering on superstitious and nonsense. People did not have the ability to sense such things...No amount of science had ever proven any such thing existed as more than random chance or hoaxes, all easily understood as being interpreted by hopeful humans as 'wishful thinking.'
Right?
It had to be. She was a logical, rational mind, and science was how she explained the world around her--it had rules and patterns and explanations for everything, even if those explanations had not yet been deciphered. And there was no place in that rational pattern of existence for silly things like premonitions and gods and the spike of an unidentified energy triggering an emotional response in someone nowhere near the events.
Her feet hit the floor before she could stop them. She needed to debunk this nonsensical idea before it turned into some kind of flight of fancy....
Once she changed into clothes that weren't soaked with sweat, tears, and snot from her bout of crying and distress. She couldn't go out to the lab like this--she'd freeze before she got there. Twilight shuffled over to her closet, digging through it for something that would be warm and comfortable that wasn't pajamas.
Past her extra uniforms and formal attire, beyond a plethora of jeans and skirts, her fingers hit soft, thick fabric and she pulled the item out, revealing a worn hoodie that might've started out black but was now a faded dark gray, and a pair of old sweatpants...along with memories.
At the time, she'd been curious about Sunset's strange association between eating meat and being a violent, unpleasant person. On and off over the ensuing months, she speculated about the source of that, coming up with and dismissing several potential theories, such as wondering if the redheaded girl's former guardian had perhaps been Buddhist...yet Sunset's lack of knowledge and utter disinterest in religion of any kind--to the point where she only seemed to remember religion existed when it was brought up by someone else--suggested otherwise.
Other things though, jumped out at her now, in more detail than they perhaps had at the time, and she let her mind drift through the memory as she rubbed the well worn, soft fabric between her fingers...
"I'll get you something you can wear, so you aren't out and about in pajamas."
Visceral revulsion made her body go cold and her innards twist at the very thought of touching the clothes she'd been wearing the day before, let alone putting them back on her body...never mind that the blouse was ruined, the buttons gone and the fabric torn violently at the hands of...of those...those--
Twilight jerked her thoughts away, focusing back on Sunset Shimmer. The fact that she recognized without Twilight voicing her feelings exactly how she felt brought a sharp sensation of relief that made her eyes prickle with tears of gratitude. Gratitude that immediately became concern when she realized the older girl was moving slowly and gingerly, taking several tries to push herself up off the couch, and her steps more a limp than a walk.
Blue-green eyes met hers, and Sunset seemed to realize Twilight was watching her. A crooked hint of a smile tugged the corner of her lips upward. "...Though I might have to walk you home. I'm not sure I could keep the bike upright with how my hips feel right now." She pulled open a standing cabinet that turned out to be a small but neat wardrobe to start rifling through its contents.
"You're in pain? What happened?" Maybe it was meant to be reassuring, but Twilight felt her stomach sink and sick horror crawled up her spine. Particularly once her mind started conjuring up images and ideas of where the other girl might be injured significantly enough to make using a bike difficult and how she might've gotten hurt that way. She swallowed around a pained lump in her throat. "Was it... it wasn't from the fight was it?" Unconsciously, her hands twisted, nails scraping over her skin as she tried to combat the sensation of a thousand ants crawling along her skin and trying to avoid digging deeper into the flesh to rid herself of the feeling of harsh, violent male hands touching her.
"No. Earlier in the night." Sunset shrugged, her words faltering for just a split second too long, enough for even Twilight to notice. "Part of my public humiliation included a bit of a fall. Nothing broken, but I'm feeling it today."
Relief warred with anxious distress at the nonchalant tone. Twilight knew that tone, had heard it far too many times over the years from her own lips. It was the tone of someone who had been hurt--not once, but many times--while others did nothing to prevent it or intervene, and all a person could do was not let anyone, not even themselves, see how much it hurt.
"Did the other girl push you?" the dark haired teen asked, suspecting the answer she'd receive even as the words left her lips. Given the amount of self-recriminations and self loathing from the night before, Sunset would find a way to blame herself.
The redhead shook her head, her expression darkening for a brief instant before she schooled her face back to neutrality. "...no. I did it to myself. I did something incredibly stupid that I thought would get me what I wanted... and it all went horribly wrong."
Twilight took no satisfaction in her hypothesis being correct, but said nothing as Sunset continued talking, pain poorly hidden in blue-green eyes.
"It's sheer luck that no one was hurt badly or worse because of me. Including myself."
Except you are hurting. She didn't have it in her to say it aloud, knowing that it would not be appreciated. She certainly wouldn't have wanted someone to puncture her denial either, nor would she have been happy at any person who did confront her in such a manner.
"Here. These should fit you okay."
Instead she allowed the abrupt subject change and accepted the offered clothing being thrust into her hands, nodding at Sunset's somewhat hesitant follow up statement.. "I...figured you might not want to put last night's clothes back on, so you can have these. They don't fit anymore, so I don't care if I don't get them back."
The clothing given to her was warm but fairly shapeless, all encompassing, and let her hide from prying eyes. It smelled of warmth and sunshine and fresh air, and even touching it calmed her nerves. Just one more little thing that made her marvel at this girl she'd just met, who seemed to know what she needed even without Twilight ever saying a word...
Twilight brought the old hoodie to her face, inhaling the scent that she now knew was synonymous with Sunset, and feeling her nerves settle. She'd never bothered to give the clothes back, not out of a desire to keep them, but because she'd stuck them in the back of her closet so her family wouldn't ask questions. Now she was glad she hadn't--in Sunset's absence, they gave her comfort. It didn't take long for her to strip out of sweat soaked pajamas and into the clothes that had once been Sunset's. Almost immediately, the tremors that had been wracking her ceased, and she hugged herself, more determined than ever to prove her unusual hunch wrong.
"It's not rational," the teen told her dog, "and I'll prove it. I need to prove it." If she couldn't, then...
Twilight shoved her feet into a pair of old shoes, and hurried out of her room, barely remembering to put her phone in her pocket. Spike scampered after her, still whining softly. She ignored the noise and his attempts to herd her towards her parents room. The teen had more important things to do in her lab and no reason to interrupt her parents' sleep; she had her own key to the lab and they wouldn't understand what she was anxious about anyway.
Her brief trek through the yard made her huddle even more into the hoodie, as sleet and freezing rain pelted her with needles of icy cold. It was a miserable night, but she continued on with a sort of dogged persistence, unlocking the lab and slipping inside to its relative warmth, Spike whining and shaking ice particulates from his coat just behind her. She spared him a brief pat and the effort to cover him with a blanket in the lab's doggy bed so he would stay warm, then turned her attention to the lab computer and her collected data...
The computer seemed to take forever to boot, and Twilight tapped her foot in a restless gesture, even as she tried to organize her thoughts. She needed to verify that her estimation of her nightmares did not coincide with her readings from December, and then cross check that with her instruments to see if there was any source of energy spike that day to correspond with the nightmare that woke her up. "There won't be," she told Spike, though it was half to herself.
Spike huffed at her from under his blanket. The dark haired girl frowned. "Because it's a silly notion, Spike, the same assumption that has religious people drawing corollaries between disconnected events as some kind of divine punishment or opinion." She rolled her eyes. "There's a reason I'm a woman of science and not one of faith."
A brief piece of classical music and a neutral woman's voice interrupted her speech. "Good morning, Twilight Sparkle," the voice said, resembling the cool tones of the computer from Star Trek. "The time is three thirty seven AM..."
"Good morning, Athena," she responded absently, even though her machine couldn't hear her. She was still working on her ideas for complex voice recognition software. "Now, lets see that data..."
Click. Click. Click. In moments, she had the data opened on several windows and she began searching through it, using her phone to double check the dates of the texts she and Sunset had exchanged during the week Sunset had been dealing with trouble at her school. As she did, her premature sense of triumph began to drain away, replaced by a growing unease. "No...thats silly..." Click. Click. Clickity-click-click.
Pushing herself away from the machine, Twilight jumped to her feet and hurried to the simple detection instruments she'd set up in her home lab to help facilitate triangulation, dumping the data to Athena. She needed that day's information.
Dropping back into the chair with enough force to send it rolling, she pulled herself back to the computer screen, willing the analysis program to work faster. It was all she could do not to jump back up and pace, her feet tap-tap-tapping against the floor as she watched the spinning icon on the screen that told her Athena was compiling as fast as its processor could. Twilight groaned, slumping against the desk and fisting her hands in her hair. "I should have upgraded you last summer," she lamented. "I could have sprung for that new processor with birthday money, and maybe more RAM..." Her voice rose in volume and pitch as she berated herself. "I shouldn't have spent it all on books. This is taking too long and I need to know now."
Spike whined from his nest of blankets at her, sounding worried. Twilight tightened her grip on her hair. "No, Spike...If there's a correlation then there has to be a scientific basis behind it and I need to know!" Pain flaring in her scalp and made her gasp, and Twilight forced herself to unclench her hands and lower them to her lap. She stared blankly down at strands of dark hair clinging to her fingers, not quite comprehending its connection to the way her scalp throbbed in time with her heartbeat.
She had no idea how much time had passed before a melodic chime from Athena caught her attention, making her jerk back to the screen. Frantic eyes checked back and forth on the timeline, over the spikes of energy and how it seemed to affect things like seismology...then fastened on the most recent data from the last few hours.
There was a faint roaring in her ears, and her stomach knotted up even as it fell to her toes. "No...no..." Staring back at her from the screen was a modest spike of the energy that very evening, starting a few hours before and while it was still active, it had been dying down right about the time she'd pulled the data. "This isn't rational...can this energy affect the human psyche?" she asked, half to Spike, half to herself, the words sounding strangled. "...no! This has to be some kind of error! I need to recheck the data!"
It didn't help. Double checking it changed nothing. Neither did triple checking it. Even flushing the download and redownloading the data to Athena to recompile it didn't change the results.
Twilight sat back, her thoughts swirling wildly. What could this mean? Was the energy capable of affecting the human psyche? She had only been exposed to residual traces and a few objects. Was it dangerous? Could--
Rationality and cold logic reasserted itself. "This is still not more than circumstantial evidence," she reminded herself. "Correlation is not causation, and a good scientist does not jump to conclusions without more evidence. The first time it happened, I was under considerable stress and worry about Sunset. That was when she was hurting and upset, and the events at her school disrupted our established routine."
There was a snort from Spike, and she turned in her chair to look at him. "Yes, I am aware that I do not do well with a disruption in my routines. So that could logically be responsible for the nightmares the first time..." She considered. "And this time...I'm...not suffering worry about Sunset. Our relationship, maybe...introducing her to Wallflower...working up to coming out to Mom and Dad, maybe..."
Spike growled, shaking his head and causing something in his mouth to flop around. When the motion stopped, Twilight recognized one of her old school uniform socks that Spike had stolen after she'd thrown it away. "...but I am stressed about school, about my project...and my routine has been completely disrupted because of my--" Twilight caught herself and recanted part of her statement. "Because of the loaned laboratory at school being changed on me. And since Sunset and I talked about it just the other day, it's all still stirred up in my mind."
Her dog huffed at her, as if chastising her for what was a gross misrepresentation of events...well, okay, maybe not that, but at least a carefully worded understatement of what happened.
Sunset had been there when Twilight had gotten home from school, and the dark haired girl had barely had time to accept the offered snack and hug from her mother before Sunset had ushered her upstairs and into the bedroom, where the redhead had hugged her so tight that her ribs protested. "Sunny..." she protested with a squeak. "Too tight."
"Sorry, sorry...you really scared me today," Sunset admitted, shadows in her eyes. "I was on the verge of cutting out of class to...come to your school or call your mom or something." She rested her forehead to Twilight's, refusing to let her go just yet. "Are you going to tell me what upset you so badly?"
Twilight felt her face flush with heat, and her eyes skittered away from those worried blue-green ones. "I...overreacted...to a perfectly normal situation, and...I'm really sorry for that, Sunny." She gripped Sunset's shirt tighter. "It wasn't my intention to cause you worry, and at the time, I had an audience when you called, meaning I couldn't speak as freely as I might have otherwise."
Silence stretched between them, and Twilight let her eyes track back to her girlfriend. The older teen didn't look the slightest bit reassured--if anything, she seemed more concerned than anything, the lines on her forehead deepening alongside her frown. "Twilight..." she began.
"My principal decided that I needed to move to a larger, better equipped laboratory space on campus," she cut in. "It seems this had all been organized for some time, but unfortunately the presentation of the space was held up by the necessary refurbishment of the equipment, due to the previous occupant having left things in a bit of a state." Twilight did her best to keep tone level despite a large portion of her wanting nothing more than to bury her face into Sunset's shoulder and cry out all the emotions caused by her unpleasant discovery that the space in school that she had long considered her cherished, personal sanctuary from the other students and their harassment had been nothing more than an illusion.
"That.." Sunset took a breath, and continued. "That seems...really shady and unfair, Twilight. Not just to you but to whoever used this lab right up until she kicked them out of it. And...shouldn't you have been told about it in advance? I mean, it's your lab, your workspace."
"No," Twilight said, perhaps more terse and sharp than intended, and she did her best to soften it as she continued. "No...it was a misunderstanding. Principal Cinch had informed Wallflower, who she has decided shall be my new project assistant for the rest of the semester."
Her girlfriend interrupted, sounding more than a little incredulous. "She decided. Without asking. In a project where you've repeatedly told me you want to handle it on your own? And...you're...okay with this?"
She squirmed. "Given that Principal Cinch and Crystal Prep are providing some funding to it, it gives her the right to make some decisions in the project."
"Sparky...that's messed up."
The dark haired girl cringed a little. "It's not great, but...it's one more thing that I need to get used to if I intend to go into science and academia. Principal Cinch is aware of that." It sounded weak, and both she and Sunset knew it.
One eyebrow arched, and Sunset blew air out her nose in a snort. "Uh-huh. Alright, Sparky. So...Wallflower didn't think to let you know that this plan was in the works?"
"Wallflower was under the impression it was meant to be a surprise..."
Blue-green eyes looked right through her. "Twilight," Sunset's voice was flat, "you hate anyone messing with your lab space without permission or direction from you. Didn't Wallflower know that? She's supposed to be your friend, and...well...you're not subtle about stuff like that."
Twilight struggled with the emotions threatening to boil over, focusing on keeping her voice even. "Except it was never my space, my lab, not really. It was the school's and Principal Cinch's. I...was under a false assumption and this move helped me to understand that."
At that, Sunset brushed fingers along her jaw, tipping her chin up to make Twilight meet her eyes. "Helped you?" she repeated, and the tone could not have been flatter if she'd taken a steam roller to it. "How is leaving you upset and distraught to the point that you couldn't type a coherent text or manage to reply helping you? How is driving you to tears--and I know you'd been crying, I could hear it when you finally answered your phone--helpful or educational? That just seems...unnecessarily cruel and malicious, especially since your Principal deliberately didn't inform you in advance."
"That was...my own fault..." she countered weakly, feeling her emotional wall starting to crack with her voice. "I...came in and everything was gone...and I thought...I'd done something wrong...and I panicked."
Sunset made a noise in her throat and snorted again. "Sparky, are you listening to yourself? You didn't overreact. Your principal did something that's really questionable and kind of manipulative--and believe me, I know, because that's exactly the kind of thing I used to do to people at my school to hurt them or get them to react a particular way. And this...putting your friend into a position on your project without asking? Going through your notes and equipment? That's...not okay, and you're reacting like you did something wrong instead of her...that this is some kind of 'tough love' to teach you something about 'the real world...'" Those brows pinched together. "That's the same kind of thing I heard a lot from my old school when other students would do lousy things to me to 'show me my place' because I was an orphan and they had families that mattered."
Too stunned to respond, Twilight watched as her girlfriend pulled out of the hug they'd been in to gesture with her hands. "And more than that, I'm a little worried about why your Principal is paying so much special attention to your project. Don't you think it's...I don't know...a little weird?"
A measure of irritation rose in her core and Twilight couldn't help but snip a little. "How is that any different from what you've mentioned about your principals being interested in your project? I mean, you did say that you've been meeting weekly with them about it and that they gave you a workspace to use with your group?"
A low sound burbled up from the redheaded teen's throat, and she ran a hand through her mane of wild curls. "Because that's literally part of the conditions for my probation at school. Sparky, as much as you don't want to hear it, because you never knew that side of me, there's no sugarcoating it. I spent years being a manipulative, tyrannical bitch, who enjoyed making people dance to my tune, and not only did I torment other students for over a year, I caused major property damage to the school and came within a hair's breadth of killing both someone else and myself with what I did the night of the formal." She made a sweeping gesture with her hand. "I have weekly meetings because that was part of the deal they made with me for not calling the cops and pressing charges or expelling me. They are doing this to make sure I'm still keeping up my end of the bargain, and the only reason I have the workspace is because it's a group project, and I have done my best to turn my life around from what I was. But that doesn't mean they trust me yet, or that they should."
Twilight shook her head, not wanting to get sidetracked by the extremely negative and exaggerated way Sunset always talked about her past like she was...some kind of hardened criminal, rather than having behaved in a way that, in Twilight's experience, was quite common for high school popular girls. She pushed those thoughts away, searching for a response instead. "...it doesn't change that Principal Cinch has invested a...significant amount of money in providing me with this new laboratory--some of the equipment in there costs as much or more than a high end motor vehicle! It's only natural that she would want to keep a close eye on the whole setup, to ensure I don't make frivolous use of it, and...just like in the real world, I need to produce results that justify the funding I had received."
Sunset took a breath, visibly struggling to calm herself down, and Twilight thought it sounded like she was counting under her breath. If it was counting though, it wasn't a language the younger girl recognized. When she opened her eyes, she focused on Twilight with an intense stare. "Okay, Sparky...judging by the fact that your mom was in a good mood when I came in, I'm guessing you haven't told her what happened today."
"Um..." Twilight looked away from those eyes that could see right through her, focusing on the way Sunset's hair fell over her collarbone.
Her girlfriend frowned and the stubborn set to her jaw gave away how unhappy she was. "Right. Let's go."
Twilight's gaze snapped back to stare at her girlfriend, "...what? Go where?"
"Downstairs." Sunset's voice was short, but the arm that curled around the shorter girl's shoulders was gentle, suggesting that none of the negative emotions were directed at Twilight herself.
"Why?"
She kissed Twilight's temple. "Look...I might be this--the world's worst person to speak on the subject of how families work, but even I know this much, Sparky: your parents need to know what happened, and they are not going to be okay with how this was handled by your school."
Twilight looked at the data again, drumming her fingers on the desk restlessly. Sunset had gotten increasingly cagey the more they talked, more suspicious about Principal Cinch's interest in the project. "But...it's not just because of this," she said to Spike thoughtfully. "She's been...uncomfortable with my project all along."
Spike growled and barked quietly. Twilight nodded. "She was. Like...back at Thanksgiving...when she solved that equation I was working on...". Her lips thinned in a frown, thinking over that first incident where Sunset had reacted negatively to her research. "In fact...it felt more like she knew more than she was willing to tell."
There was a low whine from the doggy bed, and the teen gave a huffy sigh, giving him a long look. "Yes, I know it's possible she signed some kind of NDA with all the stuff around her emancipation and her guardian, but it feels like she should tell me--especially if she believes it really is dangerous! I'm her girlfriend and her best friend, and I'd like to think that in a real scenario, my well-being would rank a little higher, don't you?" If it sounded a little scathing and whiny, there was a reason for it, she decided, pushing away a nagging sense that she was being unduly harsh.
Her dog barked, wrinkling his muzzle up in clear admonishment, and it made her shift uncomfortably in her seat. "It's not unreasonable--I understand that such things are considered a matter of personal integrity, but such integrity when weighed against safety of someone should place higher value on that safety...and it clearly has to be about that, with how she keeps siding with Mom and Dad, and is all kinds of worried and paranoid about the project and my principal's motivations! So what isn't she telling me?"
Silence fell for a long minute as Twilight and her dog engaged in a staring contest that seemed almost a contest of wills, and it was Twilight who looked away first. "There's got to be something she isn't saying, Spike. It's the only thing that makes sense. Sunset doesn't jump at shadows..." Spike cocked his head. "But what?" Twilight asked, just as much to herself as to him.
Memory tickled her mind insistently, and Twilight let it play out, searching for the answer to her questions...
"Do you remember where you saw the equation before? If it was in a book or a paper somewhere, I might be able to track it down...." She could barely contain her excitement--that equation had been a thorn in her side for weeks, and she'd nearly cried in frustration more than once over it.
Sunset paused. More than paused, Twilight noticed, in a way that didn't seem like her normal thoughtful pause, and seemed more like uncomfortable hesitation. And when she did speak, the humor from moments before had been lacking as she shifted her weight, eyes focusing everywhere but on Twilight's and the nervous way she'd chewed on her thumbnail before answering.
"...it was before I ran away..." she said, her words slow, deliberate, and careful, like each one was meticulously chosen. "I found papers with high end research on them in her private study. She was angrier than I could ever remember when she caught me--there was lots of yelling, and it is why she sent me away..."
She. The guardian that treated Sunset as disposable. She brought Sunset in for a hug, trying to help push away any of the negative feelings that had been stirred up...waiting to see if there was more, or if this highly succinct, sanitized version was all the redhead would part with at this moment in time. Sunset gripped Twilight tighter, and for a time they just breathed together, sharing warmth.
"Look...Sparky?" Sunset's voice trembled with emotion. "Promise me you'll be careful?"
Twilight pulled back slightly, worriedly searching her girlfriend's face. The other girl looked like she felt guilty, but also somewhat scared, an emotion so strange on Sunset's face that it hit her hard. It recontextualized the tightness of the hug, and the way Sunset did not seem to want to let her go. Sunset spoke again into the silence between them. "If she got...that mad about me looking at the equations with no context...I'm afraid of what other people might do if they learn you're researching this energy."
The dark haired girl frowned, mulling over the memory. At the time, she hadn't really thought too much about her behavior and words, more concerned with comforting the older girl, and letting her change the topic to something less fraught with an emotional minefield.
But now... those words came back to her, along with sea-green eyes filled with fear and guilt... It was as if the older girl had wanted to tell her, to warn her...but she was frightened enough by what she knew to be afraid to actually speak...scared of what the consequences might be of breaking her silence. Almost as if... by telling her, she risked losing her somehow.
Twilight pondered that thought in her mind, turning it over and examining it. What if that was the heart of it? She knew from the nightmare that had woken Sunset up screaming, from the way she had talked about it, that the older girl feared losing her with a terror that went beyond rationality...not that she was much different, she acknowledged, shying away from her own nightmare and its implications.
But why?
"I found papers with high end research on them in her private study..."
Sunset's guardian. A woman who was wealthy, important somewhere, and had reason to have research on the anomalous energy in her study. A woman who, Twilight was starting to suspect, was Old World royalty. Which meant connections, connections to agencies and organizations that had power and goals, who could bypass a lot of the rules 'lesser people' had to follow...
A former guardian who knew where Sunset was, since she would have had to have been involved with the emancipation process. Important enough to have everything redacted from Sunset's files according to Shining, yet still never be in the news or forced to face justice for what she'd done...
What if she was still watching her former charge? Who in the area did she have as contacts?
Who would someone like that be friendly with? Who would be looking for signs that Sunset had violated the gag order, the clearly enforced silence about her history?
Her own mother's voice echoed in her ears, full of frustration and worry. "Because someone like Abacus Cinch doesn't do something like that for nothing. People like that are always looking out for number one and there is something in all of this she hasn't told you and won't tell you until she knows you can't get out of it, Twilight. Everything has a cost, and if they aren't telling you upfront what it is, then you can be damned sure it's a cost you don't want to pay!"
Icy dread gripped her heart. Had her mother been right?
Twilight thought back to the inventory she'd taken just the day before, of all the equipment in the new lab space, marking its condition and serial numbers meticulously. How she'd started to realize that every piece of equipment was brand new and not cheap. How some of the devices cost as much or more than a new house on their own...and even Wallflower had been impressed with the funding that had been put into outfitting the lab. At the time, it had driven home to Twilight that she needed to put forth her best effort forward in her project...
But now? Now she wondered.
Where had the hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment come from? Who had access to that? Why would a private high school level academic institution pour that kind of funding into equipment that was going to be used (sometimes unsupervised) by teenagers?
Doubt joined anxiety in making her stomach twist. Was Principal Cinch working with Sunset's former guardian? What if there was another reason she was excited about the energy Twilight had discovered?
The dark haired girl struggled to breathe, feeling like she was surrounded on all sides. Sunset wasn't telling her everything, had practically admitted as much. Her parents, her brother, even Cady had been exchanging looks recently that suggested they were keeping something from her. Now she wasn't sure she could trust her principal...or Wallflower, who had shown she would jump to doing whatever the principal asked of her without a second thought...and there was the possibility of Sunset's former guardian sniffing around her, her research, and her girlfriend.
The energy and the research... she realized, the dread from her nightmare resurfacing. That was the common factor. The guardian knew about it. She'd discovered it. Sunset feared it. Cinch was excited for it. But who could she trust, other than herself? She didn't want to put Sunset at risk. Or herself...but if they already knew she was doing the research...
"What do I do, Spike?" she asked, feeling close to being overwhelmed.
Her dog looked at her, then at her computer, whining. His teeth found her sweatpants and he gave a tug, still whining.
Could she keep it here? The school computers all had administrative access that her Principal could use to go through even hidden or encrypted files. Athena's mainframe was away from them physically...but she was still connected to the web.
A stand alone terminal? That...that might work. One with no hardline or wireless connections where she could store her data, only putting it on Athena when she needed to do calculations, only putting select data on her weekly reports, carefully controlling what part of her tests and experiments her principal saw until she knew for certain who to trust.
Anxiety became fuel for action, and Twilight jumped from her chair to the cabinet and containers full of computer parts, old cases and outdated pieces donated to her from a dozen different sources, from old lab tech at her fathers job, to pieces parts not quite right to go into refurbished PCs she often built over the summers for Cady's Foundation, to things Shining had brought home to the disassembled bits of appliances, televisions and other tech that she had scavenged from everything from other people's trash to yard sales to bargain bins at electronic stores. Everything was inventoried and sorted, and she began retrieving what she needed.
The computer would be primarily storage...but it needed to look unassuming. Perhaps not even like a computer at all. Twilight sorted through her parts and found the old washing machine she'd claimed when her parents replaced it a few years back. She'd long since gutted the insides for circuitry, wiring, and of course the drum and agitator...but she'd held onto the big boxy outside in case she found a use for it. For now, it would serve as a special housing for this computer with some minor tweaks and a few mounting brackets, all hidden near other imperfections and mounts. The back provided plenty of ports for venting waste heat, and she had some old fans that with some modifications to a liquid cooler heatsink would do to keep the whole thing running at optimal temperatures....
Twilight rambled as she worked, first to Spike as she put the hardware together, then to herself once she booted the machine and began to upload her custom OS, the one she had used and refined on Athena. This one...she tweaked the settings as it installed, then went into the code itself, searching and changing pieces as she went, adding new sections and commands at a furious pace, layers of security and encryption that she'd learned from books and websites and plenty of "online communities" in places that no one in her family knew she was even aware of.
Then she ran the updates she'd added, checking it for errors. When it all came up green, she smiled at the query that came up in the text box on the screen.
[Parameters?]
She typed quickly, something inside her urging her on. The commands were accepted after a minute.
[Parameters saved. Medusa Security Protocols Engaged.]
Satisfied, she began to work on copying all her data to the new terminal that she'd named Artemis and checking over Athena's security at the same time, implementing portions of the Medusa program to Athena to increase security. At school, she would have to be careful, and decide what of her data to keep to herself and what to allow Wallflower--and therefore Cinch--to know about. She would have to do most of her actual work at home in the end...because she couldn't risk anyone catching on to what she was doing.
The teen bit her lip hard enough that a coppery taste flooded her mouth. The hardest part was going to be keeping this from Sunset... as much as she longed to get her girlfriend's input, to tell her any of this, would be to put her in danger. She knew Sunset, knew beyond the shadow of a doubt, like she knew her own name, that the older girl would do anything, go to any lengths, no matter the danger to herself, if she thought it was needed to protect Twilight... |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Interlude XXIV: Wondercolt Strong | Bon-bon pushed the door open to the classroom in the history hall, her target seated at his desk, eating his lunch in silence. She shut the door behind her firmly, making him look up. "We need to talk, old man," she said bluntly.
Mr. Doodle set down his fork patiently. "Test grades for last week's test are not up for negotiation," he said plainly. "It was multiple choice and short answer, not essay. I'd also appreciate a little more respect from my students."
"I'm not here about the test." Bon-bon smacked her palms down on his desk. "I want to know why you're playing this wishy washy game."
He gazed up at her, frowning. "I have no idea what you are talking about."
"No?" Her eyes narrowed. "Really?" She dropped a folder on his desk, and flipped it open, raising an eyebrow. "C. Doodle, born June 12, 1888. Passport issued, 1906. Here's a rare newspaper photograph from early 1906, showing a young Mr. Doodle grief stricken at the disappearance of his fiancee, one Miss Matilda Mulesworth." She glanced between him and the photo where a younger version of the teacher was being led away from a house by family. "Unless you were magically born on the exact same day as your grandfather or great grandfather, and also managed to marry a woman with the exact same name...that's you. Born more than a hundred years before I was. And yet here you are, teaching high school and looking younger than my dad."
Cranky sighed. "So what if that's me? What's that got to do with anything?"
"Magic." Bon-bon glared. "I've seen the book some unknown person left in Pinkie's locker. Heard Sunset talk a little about what's in it, how the book is magically protected. How it was written by someone trying to rescue his fiancee. I'm not stupid--its your book. You don't look ancient. And you're one of the only teachers who hasn't been affected by what's happened. You know about magic."
Another sigh. "I know enough to stay out of it. That was a long time ago, another lifetime." He looked tired.
"Except now it's this lifetime," she argued. "Magic is here, it's all over our school, and no one is stupid enough to believe that there wont be another incursion. But while we're all trying to come up with ways to fight, you already know. And you're not helping."
"Kid, you don't know what you're asking."
This time her fist hit the desk hard enough to make his lunch container bounce. "Bullshit. I'm asking you to help us not waste our time on shit that won't work. I'm asking you to actually teach us how to fight back!"
That turned his frown into a sour glare. "Because fighting back has consequences! Because once you take that step, you can't go back! Magic changes you forever, and if you don't know what you're doing you end up causing a whole lot of trouble for other people, and get yourself into a worse situation, just like Sunset Shimmer! She started meddling with something she didn't understand, and now look what its done to the school!"
Bon-bon stared at him, before she started to laugh. "Wow. Maybe this was a mistake--you don't even know enough about magic to know the truth about Sunset." She rolled her eyes, but managed to compose herself. "The fact is, old man, that people are already involved, and they don't want to be hostages next time. They want ways to fight back..."
Luna stepped into the massive cathedral for the first time since her parents' funeral, more than a decade and a half prior. Emotions swirled in her chest, memories of a childhood spent attending mass with her mother's gentle souled encouragement and loving faith, of her father's warm voice teaching the Sunday school classes, explaining Biblical tales to curious children, until her life had been turned upside down in one horrible weekend. Since then, the thought of stepping beyond the doors had brought pain, and she avoided it, unwilling to praise an entity who had taken her wonderful, kind, generous parents away and almost stolen her sister in the same moment.
But here she was now, carrying a long narrow box, and a hope that its contents could help protect her sister and their school. Within the cardboard container sat a newly repaired and restored blade. It was a family heirloom of sorts, stumbled across when she'd been in the attic, looking through her father's old things: a rapier, several hundred years old, from back when such things were weapons and not show pieces, brought from Italy by her great-great-great grandfather when he immigrated to the "New World." It had been tarnished and battered, the leather of the sheath stained and cracked, but now it looked brand new; white leather trimmed in gold and blue, and the hilt and blade both polished to a mirror shine, the ancient crest of a golden sun behind a beast. At first she'd thought it a badly done rampant lion, but the repairs had revealed its tail to be that of a scorpion instead.
A manticore before the sun's glory, she mused, and wondered if it had been a family crest or simply the maker's mark. Given how prevalent the sun and moon had been in their family's history, it was probably the former. Idly, she wondered if she could adopt the manticore into her own things, perhaps marked by her preferred crescent moon?
"Little Lu?" An elderly voice spoke from her left. "Lord's grace, child...I have not seen you in years..."
The woman turned, her eyes falling on the priest who had been in this cathedral since her earliest memories. "Hello, Father...I am glad to see you well."
Father Malleus stepped forward, pulling her into a hug. "My dear child, I have missed having you among my flock. Are you returning to us at last?"
Luna returned the hug carefully. "...I am...considering it...much has...troubled me of late. This visit has a more...immediate purpose."
He released her, but guided her towards the back with a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Come then, we can speak in my office."
Slender, smooth hands with skin of old gold accentuated by designs in warm colored henna carefully sorted and counted the paper bills and heavy coins from the register, adding up the day's profits. Their owner paused at the end, confused, and counted again, twice, then a third time just to be certain, before she turned around to call to the back of the shop, "Amma! Today is almost triple our usual...did we sell one of cousin Kefira's big carvings or something?"
A light laugh echoed back to her. "No, no...those are right where they always are, guarding the window displays and providing spiders with many homes." Her mother came out of the back with a tray of trinkets to put in the display cases by the register. "It was teenagers, all coming in after school. There must have been three or four dozen of them..."
Dark brows furrowed. "Why? What did they want so badly?" she asked.
The older woman held up a small item between her fingers. "These, and anything like them. They bought every single one of our personal protection charms, beads, amulets, and runestones...and I ran out before I could satisfy them all. I'll be making orders for weeks to meet the demands."
"What could they possibly want them for? Is something going on? A new movie perhaps?"
Her mother brushed strands of dark purple hair back from her face, before shaking her head. "No...something is coming. I read my tea leaves after dinner...troubled wind blows foul weather to our town...and the children know it. As do the beasts. The cats are restless."
There was a heavy metal song blasting out of the stereo speakers, a counterpoint in the form of the precise ringing strike of a hammer on metal timed to the beat of the song. Iron Will straightened up when the song switched to a new track, lifting the face shield he was wearing and inspecting his work in progress.
So far, so good. The spiked steel strips meant deter climbers on a wall were easily heated to malleability a few inches at a time with his blowtorch, enough to hammer them down around the head of the sledgehammer. He still had plenty more of the strips to go, encasing the large, heavy steel head in extra weight and deadly spikes, but when he got done, the former twenty pound sledge hammer would be a suitable weapon against the next monster to show its ugly face in Iron Will's school and threaten his students. He chuckled, running his hand down the haft of the hammer--he'd replaced wood with steel, and then wrapped it in meticulously woven, olive green cordage. He knew from his experience in the army that the cord was reliable, durable, and easy to grip even with hands covered in blood and sweat.
Picking up his torch and dropping the face shield back down, he began to heat the next section of the metal, tapping his foot in time with the music. Perhaps if he had enough left, he would add some of it to the altered football pads and body armor he'd been working on. Nobody would mess with his students then--he'd be the one carrying The Big Stick.
Laughing at his own joke, Will lent his booming voice to the vocals coming out of his stereo.
Footsteps scampered over in that uneven gait of early adolescent awkwardness, joining a like group of youngsters, all of them guilty of restless shuffling leg movements and furtive glances to make sure no one was watching them.
"Didja get it?" an excited voice asked the new arrival, trying and failing to remain hushed.
"Uh-huh," came the response, alongside the crinkling of plastic. "Got enough for all of us too. They were practically giving it away!"
"Awesome!" Cried a third member of the group, fishing his own ziploc bag out of his backpack. "Go ahead and dump my share in here with the rest."
Murmurs of agreement and more bags were retrieved from pockets and packs, eagerly held out as the seeds and bits of unidentifiable plant matter from easily a dozen different sources mixed with the slow cascade of yet more seeds into each of them.
"Do you think this'll work?" came the nervous question.
"If we do it right, it should," was the response. "Just don't go showing it off to the teachers."
The first youth stared hard at each of them in turn. "She's right. No tattling. This is our thing, and everyone else has enough to deal with."
A chorus of agreement rippled through the group, just as the bell rang out. Hurriedly, they all hid the bags away again, and took off to go back inside the school.
The ringleader of the little group paused, pulling a somewhat tattered piece of paper from one pocket, and grinned in satisfaction as she ticked off another item on the list, "This is awesome, now that we got that...that's every herb off Granny's list for keeping bad things away. All we got ta do now is scatter the seeds n' stuff once the snow is gone, and once it all sprouts, ain't nothing getting in our school!" She grinned at her two closest friends, before the trio raced after the other middle schoolers to head to class.
Flash adjusted the stack of boxes in the empty locker. "Are we still clear? We've still got three more of these to hide away in F and G halls."
Brawly nodded. "Yeah, dude. We're good. VP's on the phone, and big C's in her office." He checked his phone. "Watermelody and Micro Chips both reported in. Locker rooms, gym, and the boiler-room are prepped with full kits now. Apparently old Leaky is in, and he's giving Chips a list of other great places to store things and ten more hiding spots for people."
The blue haired young man blinked. "Wow...Leaky Pipes? The same guy who gives you the stink eye for even looking at a floor he's just mopped?"
His bandmate laughed. "I know, dude, I can't believe it either, but Micro Chips is talking to him now. Guess he didn't like the Dazzlings much either."
Shutting the locker, Flash made sure to affix the Wondercolt Pride sticker across the top of the locker--markers for the student body to recognize the drop points for the boxes and their contents. Since they were unused lockers, usually ones "broken" in some way, there was little worry about them being assigned to any random new student who arrived. Especially since Miss Inkwell, the secretary, was also in on their plans, and had specifically provided them with the list of lockers...and other unused storage spots unlikely to be bothered any time soon.
"Alright, this one's good. Let's hit F hall next. Numbers?"
Brawly Beats glanced down at the paper behind his phone. "Twelve seventy three and fourteen nineteen. One's by the computer lab, the other near the home ec room."
Nodding, Flash tipped the blue painted hand-trucks stacked with boxes and headed down the hall. There was work to do.
Green skinned hands, once carefully manicured as her single concession to vanity, now chapped and raw with nails bitten to the quick, worked with the exacto knife to slip under the seam in the tile square to pry it free. The woman kneeling on the floor whispered ancient prayers from her homeland, ones to call upon guardian beings to protect her, to hear her pleas and lend their strength to her in a time of trouble.
As the tile came free on three sides, she exhaled slowly in relief and glanced at the shut and locked classroom door to make sure no one could see what she was fairly certain was against her contract to do. The window in the door remained empty, and she ducked her head back down to focus on opening a pot of paint, one specially crafted in the country she had been born in, one entirely made for the powerful act she was about to undertake. She checked a worn piece of actual animal skin parchment that had a complex series of symbols and words meticulously drawn for her, along with the prayers she had to speak for each part and the order she needed to draw them in.
Preparing herself, she began to work, the first of the prayers falling from her lips in an ancient dialect of the language she had learned at her father's knee, carefully recreating the lines and symbols as directed. Her heart fluttered with anxiety the whole time--she'd worked so hard to leave the old ways of a backwards country behind, to get an education and move to a new place, but here she was, calling on the very ways she'd scorned to protect her from something that she'd long believed was superstitious nonsense babbled by addle brained elders.
Perhaps her grandfather's tales held a kernel of truth after all.
She could hear the heavy bootsteps behind her as her grandson followed at a hurried clip. She ignored it for the moment as she stepped into her bedroom where the farm's gun safe was located, retrieving the key from where it was safely hidden out of knowledge and reach from the youngest in the family.
"Granny..." Macintosh drawled out, his tones full of worry and for a moment, she could hear the echoes of her own long-dead husband in his voice. Macintosh was a lot like his grandpappy, and it made her feel good to know he lived on in a way outside of her memories.
Still, that didn't change the fact that she was not about to be argued with. "Don't you 'Granny' me, young man," she retorted. "Ah been runnin' this farm since yer Uncle Cortland was in diapers, and Ah ain't ready ta retire from makin' family decisions just yet!" Fingers twisted by years of arthritis managed to maintain a steady movement to turn the key in the lock.
The shuffling sound of him stopping behind her, several yards away, was accompanied by the creaking of floorboards as he shifted his weight. His already deep voice went down another notch with his disapproval. "But..."
"But nothin'! Ah ain't goin' back on this." She pulled the gun safe open with a forceful tug, revealing the family's collection of firearms. There weren't as many as some people might've expected, but there were enough that they had one designated for a specific role. Granny Smith wrapped her hand around the ancient shotgun that had belonged to her own father, pulling it out and checking it over.
For a long few minutes, there was no sound but the disassembly, cleaning, and reassembly of the firearm...Not that the battle of wills had ended. It was simply a silent one, with Granny and Macintosh staring each other down while she cleaned the shotgun.
It was broken when she stood up again, reassembled weapon in one hand. "Answer's still no," she told her grandson, relocking the gun safe and leaving her room behind, heading for the locked room in the barn where she kept the ammo.
Macintosh followed, down the stairs and out to the barn, not quite wringing his hands but close to it. "AJ said..."
"Yer sister says a lotta things, but Ah ain't heard one yet about us sittin' around an' bein' as useless as a screen door in a submarine, boy! And even if she did, that's too damn bad. She's gonna have ta get on a step ladder if she wants ta lay down the law on me." The old woman stepped into the barn from the cold outside. "Mah ass ain't no welcome mat fer troublemakers, and it's mah job ta make sure you kids survive ta graduate. Now either make yerself useful, or get outta mah way."
Sighing in defeat, Macintosh helped her grab the two cases of salt shot and the big bag of rock salt from the storage room in the barn, hauling them to the truck for her so they could store them and the shotgun in the case behind the seats in the cab.
Age worn beads slipped one by one through Celestia's tired fingers, finger-pads sliding over the time-darkened ivory. It was comforting in a way the woman couldn't describe, the knowledge and weight that not just her mother and grandmother but numerous generations of Solare women had held this rosary in the same fashion as she did in the present moment. That knowledge and the steady flow of the Italian she'd learned in childhood at her great-grandmother's house falling from her lips served to help steady her emotional state, even if it didn't do anything to solve the problem before her.
Celestia was paralyzed by indecision. She was not ignorant--she knew very well what both her students and her staff were up to, what they were attempting to do 'under the radar.' She knew all about the coffee filters full of pepper and chili powder, the smoke and stink "bombs," the bottles of various holy waters or hidden sigils of varying religious significance. She knew they were preparing them to fight back if and when something magical came to the school again. And in a way, she couldn't blame them--part of her wanted to be helping them, finding ways to cache anti-magic weaponry around school, to join in her sister's group of staff who were making use of storage rooms and cabinets to squirrel away tools and defenses, to talk to Sunset Shimmer about magic crystals and barriers...
But she hesitated, and questioned whether it was the best choice. By arming themselves, even with tools to distract and disorient rather than directly fight, they became targets, or worse, it would make them overconfident, and by extension, put them in danger. Not to mention it was against every established policy the school had. By all rights, she should be handing out detentions and suspensions, administrative warnings and even a few employment termination notices...
Yet she couldn't do that. Not after everything that happened, the students, the staff, even she herself no longer felt entirely safe in school. There was this eternal sense of waiting for the other foot to fall, for the next magical creature to show up and make trouble, only for Sunset Shimmer and her friends to need to engage it in some kind of magical throwdown.
Guilt ate at her, twisting in her guts. She should be leading them. Guiding them. Finding more effective ways to protect the children in her care, so they didn't feel it necessary to hide boxes of slingshots in unused lockers. She should be enforcing policies to make the combined campus a safe, healthy learning environment for the students, encouraging them to learn and grow. She should have answers to ease their fears, to make them believe that she could protect them from the monsters of the world while they were in school.
Once more she circled back around to the question eating her, even as she started a new circuit of the rosary beads. Should she stop them?
Some of what they were doing was laughable according to her limited understanding of magic and the reports Sunset presented to them...but those same acts brought comfort to them and who was she to take away what she had failed to provide?
Certainly, some of the measures had the potential to be dangerous, though the students--and the involved faculty--had firmly dissuaded the group that suggested making flamethrowers out of super soakers, or the ones interested in raiding the gym storage for the old archery supplies. Most of it though, was harmless, or at least, harmless in a way that wouldn't cause other students harm.
If her students needed that feeling of control to feel safe, then did she really have any right to stop them...particularly since she had consistently failed them so badly?
Pale fingers continued to worry at the rosary beads as the owner stared out the window at the statue of the school mascot, the thoughts still chasing themselves in circles.
Cranky crossed his arms over his chest grumpily. "They'd be better off not getting involved. And whatever story Sunset Shimmer has spun you to justify meddling in forces well beyond her ability to grasp or control does not change the fact that a teenage amateur mucking around with a few old books nearly cost her her life and instead of taking it as an object lesson, she is continuing to delve deeper. Even worse, now she's dragged other students into her insanity." He scowled. "Magic attracts magic, and she's basically put a giant flashing sign on the front lawn."
Bon-Bon shook her head. "You really don't get it, do you?" She ran a hand through her hair. "Let me elucidate, since you haven't realized it yet on your own. Sunset isn't the amateur you think she is--this isnt 'teen girl finds witch books and screws up.' This is 'experienced sorceress who grew up with magic trying to do damage control on a critical error' with the long distance assistance of another experienced sorceress, all while trying to teach a class of accidental sorceresses how not to blow themselves up, and also trying to prepare for when the next magical being comes knocking on the door."
She had him. She could see the confusion in his expression replacing the mulish stubbornness. "The fact is, Teach, that Pandora's Box was opened months ago, and once the box is opened, closing it again and putting it under a blanket in the closet doesn't change the fact that it got opened. Neither does pretending you don't know about it. Us kids? The ones trying to learn how to protect ourselves? We don't want to learn magic--most of us don't have it, and that's half the problem. Sunset does. She always has, and where she's from, they use magic to fight against magic. She doesn't know how people like me, or Lyra, or any of the non-magical kids defend ourselves. She's done the best she can to come up with suggestions, but guess what? She's already busy. Top student, magic teacher, magic researcher, and probably has a near full time job to pay her bills because she doesn't have family in the area....I'm not sure when she finds time to sleep. Sunset doesn't have time to spare to research stuff you already know. She barely has time to read that book you dumped on her."
Each word now made the teacher flinch back ever so slightly. "We're going to defend ourselves regardless of whether or not you help. But I think, somewhere inside, you actually care about your students, about this school, about what happens. I think you want to help, but you're scared, because you're right. For you, that was another life, and doing it means being someone you're not anymore...but it's not. You're helping others so they don't have to go through your life." Bon-Bon could hear the words the way her father had said them once, when he talked about why he taught self-defense for a living, could see the way his eyes had...gone distant, staring at something else for a while, and seeing that same expression now on Mr. Doodle's face, she knew she was right.
It just needed one more push. "So...are you willing to help us?"
Silence, and for a minute she thought he'd refuse. Finally he let out an explosive sigh. "I'll work with you. Just you. I'll give you a list of things that work, and what they work against, give your contact info to a few people who...sell...some of the supplies you'll need. You coordinate with the rest of your friends, and you leave my name out of it."
"I believe I can work with that, Mr. Doodle."
"Yeah, whatever, kid. Come by before lunch tomorrow and I'll give you the list. Now get out of my classroom so I can eat in peace. You're giving me an ulcer." |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Correspondence IV: Is Anypony Out There? | Hey Twi,
Haven't heard from you in a few weeks, and I know we didn't part on the best terms, but...I have a few things I need.
I've managed to acquire a book that has some details on possible magical manifestations in the human world, and I was hoping to compare it to some of the oldest knowledge we have on some of the other species. I've got a book on zebra shamanism, but I was hoping for some of the older books on the minotaur and on the deer-folk.
I was also hoping for a translated version of the minotaur fortitude treatise, because it turns out that my ancient Minoan is super rusty and I don't have time to translate it.
We've had some interesting developments on this end I thought you'd want to know about. For starters, the girls are developing magic of their own and have had magic surges of their own. So far, each of them seem to be different...well...'powers'...for lack of better phrasing. Applejack is strong, but Rainbow is fast, and Fluttershy...Fluttershy seems to be able to shapeshift. That was...not great to learn. She almost turned into a bear because she wanted to maul her brother.
For the time being, I've started them on trying to do some of Princess Celestia's meditations and sensing techniques so they can learn what their magic--and each other's--feels like. Mixed success on that--how do you explain what knowing your magic is like to a species that was born with none, for whom possessing magic is completely foreign? It's not exactly a picnic in the Memorial Park, that's for sure, and I'm...mostly having to feel my way through it. I know some magi would be ecstatic to found a new branch of magical study, or to be the first to document a new type of magic use...This is technically the first one since Nebula Scroll's study of Cervine Treeshapers twenty five hundred years ago, and I suddenly have amazing respect for her. This kind of thing would be boggling to just write down, and here I am trying to not only study it but teach it to the wielders fast enough to avoid them accidentally causing destruction or injury.
Truth is, I wish there was literally anypony else available to do it, but...there's not, and nopony else is quite equipped to deal with the human world like me other than maybe you, and I've got about four and a half years on you with that.
There was also a massive surge for me a few weeks ago, and it...it triggered the girls into releasing the Rainbow of Light again, but with no real target. It caused a bunch of strange transmutations and enchantments that don't make sense by any rules of magic I know of...which is exceptionally concerning, because transmutation is my primary specialty, what I got my magus certifications in. I'll draw in and write down all I can about them at the end here, maybe you can find something about the Elements being able to permanently transmute things?
Speaking of, have you found anything more about the Elements in general? Or on their history? The more I look at the magic here, the more I research it, the more the girls use it, the more I'm convinced this has to be tied into some lost knowledge on the Elements themselves...but all I have is this crazy text that triggered my original idea to steal your Crown in the first place... Which is less helpful than you might think, because it's mostly written in Old Ponish and another dialect I can't translate because I've never seen script like this before. It does not match any language I ever came across in my studies in Equestria, suggesting that its one of the lost languages. It suggests there's more to the Elements than our current knowledge tells us, but the details are missing...or hidden behind a writing style that looks like someone had an obsession with triangles.
Sorry for being a bit all over the place...I'm a bit stressed out right now. Every time I turn around, I've got to add something else to the list of things I'm the only one able to deal with, and some days I feel like I'm drowning. I can only imagine how you feel with this on top of all your other responsibilities.
Sunset Shimmer
Hey again, Twi,
Haven't heard back from you yet, so I was wondering if my messages got through? The book seems to still be functioning on this end. Kinda hoping you're just busy...
Sunset
Princess Twilight?
Look, I'm sorry if I offended you or said something wrong last time we talked. I understand if you don't want to talk much to me anymore on a personal or social level, but I'm asking that you don't cut off contact entirely. If not for me, than for the girls--I can't help them without your help. You have access to the libraries, and frankly, you've got a way better grasp of Arcane Theory than I do, which means you can make more sense of my notes than I can.
I've included copies of those, by the way. Sorry about the mess on the next twenty pages. I was trying to write as tiny as I could.
Sunset Shimmer
Sunset,
Hey, it's Spike. Sorry about it taking so long. Twilight is actually out of town right now--the castle has this magic map that's been sending ponies places, and she also needed to go talk to Princess Luna about some stuff, so she's been gone for a while.
If you wanted, I can send her a copy of your letter by Dragonfire.
Oh that makes sense. I was worried she was mad at me. If you could, that'd be great. Its not an emergency but it is kinda time sensitive, I guess?
Took care of it. I'll let you know when I hear back.
Thanks, Spike. Hope everything is going okay in Equestria.
Hey, Sunset!
Just heard back from Twi, and she gave me a list of books to get you. I found most of them. Did you want me to bring them by like...tomorrow afternoon? I can just pop through the portal real quick to deliver them to you guys.
Would you? That would be great, Spike. I can pick them up during my study hall just before lunch or even after school.
It's cool. I can bring them through...maybe I can talk you into getting me like some human comic books or something, sometime?
I'll see what I can do. I know where the comic shop is. See you tomorrow. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Two: Heat and Pressure | A pen took absent notes in a notebook as Sunset turned another page in the magical diary. She'd finally reached a section that was useful, and she was making copies of the information as best she could. This whole section appeared to be some kind of makeshift bestiary of magical creatures that supposedly lived at one time in the human world. Some of them seemed like made up superstitious nonsense...but there were a few that she recognized as being Equestrian in origin, with data fairly consistent to the version she knew. That suggested that there was, at the least, some grain of truth, even if a good bit was wrapped up in human myth. Like minotaurs being born from the liaison of human women and cattle. Minotaur calves were born the same way any mammalian species had their young, not through some form of divine punishment for 'coupling with beasts.'
The former unicorn rolled her eyes. Humans were so strange sometimes. Still...the book's entries had just enough truth that it might be important to her research and for defending the school from external magical threats...and that alone would be valuable to her principals.
So despite the cramping in her hand and sheer boredom from committing to book research, she copied carefully and paid close attention to each entry. It was certainly one of the easier sets of notes to take, given that the original writer had organized it neatly in each entry. She was still struggling with distilling the useful parts of the minotaur treatise into English, even with now having a copy written in modern Ponish, simply because she was having to invent approximations for so many terms that just didn't have human equivalents.
It felt like she was starting to get somewhere though. The girls were now starting to be able to actively feel their magic on command, and she'd started them on trying to bring it out under controlled circumstances. That was proving a bit of a mixed bag. Applejack found bringing out her power far easier than sensing it, for example, while Fluttershy cowered from using hers again, afraid she might hurt someone by accident. Meanwhile, Rainbow had proven hit or miss, Rarity was surprisingly sensitive to feeling magic...and Pinkie? Sunset winced a little. Pinkie was an anomaly that gave the redhead a headache trying to measure in anyway. Half the time she seemed to have no idea what she was doing, the other half of the time it felt like she knew more than she was letting on, and Sunset was left wondering which one was the truth, or if both were and Pinkie was somehow this world's answer to Discord himself.
Taking a deep breath, Sunset glanced around the research room. Nowadays it resembled a cross between a science lab, a band practice room, and a clubhouse, with each of her friends having added personal touches: curtains, fancy cushions to sit on, and a rolling rack of costumes and half finished sewing projects courtesy of Rarity, a case of sports drinks, a discarded soccer ball, and a bunch of CDs alongside a portable stereo from Rainbow, stacks of sheet music, a few bags of dog and cat treats, and here and there clumps of shed fur from Fluttershy and her furry friends...The mini-fridge was full of snacks, many of them made by Pinkie, and over by her drums sat bags of balloons and confetti, and even Applejack had contributed to the clutter with a case of fizzy cider, more than a few boot prints, and a forgotten pair of work gloves (as well as a few forgotten worksheets from her chem class.)
Sunset shook her head good-naturedly. Sure, she should probably have them try and clean up a bit, but the fact was that the room was thrumming now with ambient layers of magic that felt just like her friends, right down to the touch of Harmony's power laced through it. It was turning out to be more of a boon to her research than anything, since it let her analyze how their magic was growing, how it was affecting their environments...she'd even managed to compare the ambient SET of the school and their research room to several of the girl's homes during sleepovers, and the differences were striking. Whatever was causing them to produce vast amounts of magic was 'dialed up to 11' as Rainbow put it, but mostly in school. Or, more specifically, in places where they were more likely to be together as a group.
Flipping pages in her notebook to prepare a new entry, the redhead turned the page in the diary in front of her...
And felt her blood turn to ice.
Staring back at her, in neat but blocky script were the words Infernales Daemones. The heading had a short description and generic data, before it gave a table of contents on the opposing page. It was not a short table of contents.
The former unicorn struggled to breathe, her heart pounding so badly that all she could hear was it thumping in her ears.
Alp/Alf.
She wanted to look away, to close the book, but she couldn't stop her eyes from slipping over the list of words, many of which had no meaning to her...
Imp.
Her pen clattered to the desk from nerveless fingers, rolling until the nearby keyboard stopped it.
Shadow demon.
Sunset could feel it, the burning pain that had started in her head and traveled down her nerves with the rush of magic.
Aluqah.
Hands curled into fists reflexively, and she found she couldn't breathe, couldn't stop, couldn't tear her eyes away from the damning words that felt like they weren't just written on the page, but burned into her screaming soul.
Efreet.
In her mind she could hear her own maddened laughter, dark and sadistic, full of all the cruelty she could conjure.
Se'irim.
She could feel the heat of that searing ball of plasma and flame, her hate at Princess Twilight and the desire to kill her boiling over into the magic...
Utukku.
The rush of air as she plummeted, wings desperately trying to slow her deadly descent...right before they vanished in red-flame, leaving her to fall to her death...
Succubi/Incubi.
The door to the room slammed open, jerking her out of her paralysis. Sunset tore her eyes from the book, slamming it shut before she could look again. Lungs burned as the former bully sucked in a much needed breath of air, and she swiveled her chair towards the door to see who had inadvertently rescued her from the collapsing spiral of the book, its contents, and the fears deep in her core.
Rainbow Dash was looking over her shoulder, down the hall. "Too slow!" She crowed, even as a puffing Applejack crossed the threshold a minute later.
Applejack gave her a good natured punch in the shoulder. "Rat," she grumbled. "Ain't a real race when ya use magic ta cheat."
"Even without magic I'm faster than you," came the athlete's smug response.
The fist slugged her shoulder again. "Pack yer ego in, Dash. An' that's fer yer prank earlier."
By the time they looked her way, Sunset had managed to school her expression and recover from the reaction she'd had. "Um...what's going on?"
A broad grin spreading across Rainbow's face was not really the most comforting thing in the universe. "Applejack and I figured out how to be able to practice our powers without having to be cooped up in here!"
Sunset arched an eyebrow. "Alright...that's potentially a good thing, since this space might be okay for Applejack's strength, but it's not great for your running. You'd be going around in circles and stirring up a cyclone."
Pinkie's voice called from the hall, "Yeah! Rainbow Dash would get reeeeeeeal dizzy if she did that!"
She failed at holding back a snort of laughter, even as she responded with a dry, "Thank you, Pinkie."
Applejack cleared her throat. "Anywho, afore we get led down a rabbit hole by the pink rabbit...Ah realize Ah got a place fer us all ta practice usin' our magic and stuff without worrying about breaking too much. We can use the farm."
Biting her lip, the redhead objected. "Applejack, I don't want to risk damaging your trees or your family's livelihood...."
"Ah appreciate the thought, Sunset, but Ah ain't jawin' about the orchard." She pushed her hat back, even as she cracked open a fizzy cider. "See we also got four good sized fields out there. We run a rotation on 'em fer the family garden and the livestock grazing. Two years as a garden, two as pasture and grazing space fer our horses and cows, and four fallow ta let clippings and manure break down inta good farming dirt again...always got two plots fallow. Would give us a good place ta work Dash and Shy's powers since they cant be seen from the road--they're out behind the barn, and we can open up the back room in the barn ta get at the exercise gear there."
Sunset mulled that knowledge over in her mind, eventually nodding. "....that...that could actually work." She glanced out the window. "And today is a good day for it, if you girls are up for it--it's not too cold."
"Awesome!" Dash crowed, punching a fist into the air. "Let's do this!"
Reflecting on it, the redhead decided AJ's suggestion had been a good one. The big, sprawling fields backed up to the large barn, and when her friend had opened the double doors to the backroom, it revealed a space holding exercise equipment set up as a mini gym. It meant setting up was easy--she had Pinkie helping Dash mark out a running lane, marked with flags every fifty yards, had helped Applejack drag an ancient plow meant to be pulled by oxen out into the field, and had Fluttershy working on tapping into her powers to run a treadmill--out of all the potential things to set her to doing, Sunset figured that was the least violent.
Sunset herself was working at the punching bag to vent some of her earlier agitation. She hadn't gone quite so far as Applejack--the farmer had stripped to jeans, her work boots, a white tank top, and her battered hat, despite the winter temperatures--but she'd shrugged out of her jacket and sweatshirt, leaving her in a t-shirt and jeans. She'd even taken off her boots so she could get in some solid kicks without messing up the leather or the bag.
It felt good to loosen her muscles up and get into the rhythm of punching and kicking the bag. For a long time, working with a bag had provided an outlet for her to sort through emotions, especially anger, long enough that it had become a habit. The demon from her nightmares danced across her mind's eye in between bits of memory and the slowly growing worry that maybe that part of her hadn't been as thoroughly purged as she'd initially believed.
Five minutes in and the redheaded teen had worked up a sweat, pausing to tie her wild mane back in a ponytail to keep it out of her eyes and to wipe away the sweat on her face with a rag. Blue-green eyes swept over the area, checking on her friends. Rainbow was running and flying along the measured area, Pinkie bouncing and cheering while manning the stopwatch. Fluttershy was meditating near the treadmill, her arms and legs moving and twisting slowly as if they were made of taffy, producing fur that appeared and disappeared as bones and muscles reshaped with unpleasant noises that made Sunset's stomach churn. Applejack was using the plow on one of the fields, pulling the ancient hunk of metal so that it dug a deep furrow in the earth behind her, while Rarity watched from a pair of hay bales nearby, the faint flush on her cheeks and the intense stare telling a great deal about how she felt about the sight.
After a moment, Rarity seemed to feel Sunset's gaze and turned towards her with a raised eyebrow. "Is everything alright, darling?"
Sunset coughed, grabbing a bottle of water and taking a long drink. "I'm fine," she deflected.
Blue eyes stared right into her soul in that way Rarity was so good at. "Sunset, dear, it's unbecoming to lie. It is also difficult to....admire the scenery...when you are clearly out of sorts." She rose and padded over to hold the punching bag as the redhead began to throw more punches at it. "Why don't you tell me what's going on, get it off your chest?"
"It's..." How could she explain any of it without giving it all away? She might've been getting to the point where she was okay mentioning her girlfriend was okay, but Twilight was not ready for her friends yet....and the situation was fairly wrapped up in things that had happened around her girlfriend. "...it's...complicated..." she hedged, her fist impacting the bag twice in rapid succession.
The other girl raised her carefully manicured eyebrows. "Sunset," she said in a dry tone, taking one hand off the bag to gesture with it. "Look around you, darling. Rainbow Dash is flying under her own power and about to break the sound barrier, Applejack's strength can now be measured in horsepower, and I regularly sprout horse ears and a unicorn horn when I play music. Our lives are complicated now." She gave the redhead a challenging smirk. "I think I can handle 'complicated.'"
Sunset looked away, her hands lowering a moment. Her friend continued, "Darling, something has been bothering you for weeks now, and avoiding it doesn't seem to be helping. Maybe talking to a friend will--that's what we're here for."
"...I'm having nightmares." It was hard to admit it, and she covered her discomfort by hitting the punching bag again.
Rarity made a thoughtful sound. "Are they...about something in particular?"
"....kind of..." Taking a breath, she forced the words out. "...I'm seeing myself. From the formal."
The pale skinned tailor scrutinized her. "I assume you mean the rather unpleasant, crown wearing version of you?" At Sunset's nod, she made another thoughtful humming sound in her throat. "Is there something specific that seems to be triggering these nightmares? Something going on in your day to day, as it were?"
She rolled her shoulders in a half shrug, before focusing on a rough combination of blows that would have sent the bag swinging if Rarity had not been holding it. "I guess there could be a lot of things...Magic, my research, the way my own magic is having awful surges...trying to figure out how to teach you girls...that freaky...vision that I had..." Worrying about her girlfriend, about her girlfriend's school, she added mentally.
"Is it possible that these nightmares are being caused by the stress of all the magical endeavors you have taken upon yourself as your responsibility despite the fact that we have offered our assistance repeatedly?" Rarity's tone was ever so slightly chastising, and Sunset felt her ears heat.
Still, she shook her head. "...I don't think so...and I'm trying to get help from you girls," she added. "I'm just...the only one with all of the knowledge of the laws and math, and I'm the only one fluent enough to read all the texts because they don't exactly offer Old or Modern Ponish as a foreign language credit here, let alone any of the other possible languages texts from Equestria are written in." Sunset stared off into the distance for a long minute, while Rarity waited patiently for her to continue.
"It's...what if the demon I became...what if that's not gone? What if it's still inside me? What if my surges are because of it?" The former bully of Canterlot High shuddered. "I don't want to hurt anyone, especially my friends...but if...if I turn back into her..."
Rarity interrupted. "If you turn back into her, we will stop her, and get you back."
She blinked. "What?"
"Darling, we're friends. I do not believe for a minute that you are harboring some hidden evil--not with how dedicated you have been to changing your entire outlook on life. But on the off chance that something forces such a transformation upon you...we're your friends. We will deal with it together, as friends are wont to do."
A shiver went through her, remembering the rainbow and how much she had hurt for days after. "What if it's stronger? What if it can't be stopped?"
Rarity let go of the bag to step around and put a hand on her shoulder. "I do believe we are up to the task, should it arise."
"I can't ask that--I don't want to risk any of you..." Sunset tried to pull away.
Her friend held firm, her other hand coming up to Sunset's other shoulder, turning the redhead to face her. "...you don't have to. We would do it freely, because you're our friend, a member of what I would tentatively call a sisterhood, and it's not in human nature to abandon a friend. We are not as helpless as we appear, Sunset."
"I never said you were, but...it's just..."
A small smile was on Rarity's lips. "I know. Care to put that to the test though? Or do you prefer a stationary target?"
The redhead's brain ground to a painful halt. "Wait...what?"
One eyebrow arched upwards. "You do understand the concept of sparring, yes?"
"I...yes? But...since when...?"
Rarity laughed, guiding Sunset away from the punching bag and over to the open stretch of flat ground with close cut, winter-brown grass. "Darling, please. Do you honestly believe for a second Daddy wouldn't have made sure I can take care of myself? He hired a private self defense instructor years ago, and truthfully, I find the exercise it provides quite good for my figure, so I kept it up."
"Oh." That made sense, Sunset decided. Rarity was a lot of things, but at the heart of it, the young designer was independent and self-confident. Shaking her head to clear it and gain focus, Sunset shook out her limbs and let her body fall into a ready stance. "If you're sure," she told her friend, "then I'd love a sparring partner." At least, a sparring partner that she wasn't teaching and that she did not get distracted with fighting because she wanted to kiss her.
Rarity took a moment to tie her hair back out of her face. "I'm quite certain, Sunset. It will allow me to stretch myself as well--it has been some time since I've fought a skilled opponent." She brought her hands up, and Sunset's focus narrowed to the sparring ring and Rarity, blocking out everything else.
Sunset was not the kind of person to fight defensively--her training had not been passive, but active. She took only moments to size up the other girl's posture and stance, before launching into motion. Bare feet stepped in close, and she lashed out with a series of sharp jabs, watching intently as Rarity stepped away, pivoting and putting distance between them. Blue eyes watched her with just as much scrutiny, and pale hands redirected an open palm strike with ease.
The former unicorn felt something shift after they exchanged a few more testing blows and blocks. Rarity hadn't been joking--if anything, it was beginning to feel like she'd downplayed her skills. A faint grin grew on her face at the thought of an actual challenge to her skills. As much as she loved teaching Twilight, her girlfriend was still a beginner, and Sunset had focused on teaching her skills to disable and get away, or how to break holds, not on crushing her opponents. In any matches with her nerdy partner, she had to keep herself in check, providing the services of a living punching bag more than actually testing her own skills. She could have gone to the gym not far from her house to find a sparring partner, she supposed, or called up her former instructor, but before she hadn't cared much, and now she just didn't have time.
This match though, against her fashion fixated friend, was something different, and it was exhilarating. Discarding her testing strikes, Sunset's brain engaged on a higher gear, analyzing and modifying her own behavior, adapting to the style that was starting to emerge in Rarity's movements. She stepped in again, with a series of rapid strikes; most never made it past Rarity's guard, but the last one did, catching the other girl in a glancing blow.
She paid for it though, when a retaliatory jab made her elbow go briefly numb, and Rarity moved away again with the fluid grace of a dancer. Sunset growled in her throat, a sound that made her friend arch one eyebrow at her. "Problem, darling?"
"No," she responded, her muscles singing with enthusiasm. Her fist was slapped away with a pale hand, and Sunset was caught by surprise when Rarity took advantage of her mistake by stepping in instead of away and actually shoulder-checking her, throwing her off balance enough that the follow up leg sweep sent her to the ground. "Just didn't expect you to be this good."
Rarity smiled. "I am more than fabric and lace, Sunset."
Arching her back, Sunset hopped to her feet and shook out the sting from the fall. "What happened to 'a lady doesn't condone violence?'" she asked in genuine curiosity as she came in again, only for her friend to practically dance out of range--something that was starting to frustrate her.
"A lady does not condone brawling like an unwashed savage," Rarity corrected, blocking a one-two punch that would have left her breathless. "A lady does not seek violence as a method of solving problems...but that does not mean it is inappropriate for a lady to be able to defend herself effectively from violence brought upon her."
How the other girl could offer such a long winded speech in the middle of a fight, Sunset didn't know. She saved her own breath for the fight itself, and for the unpleasant, guttural utterances that always seemed to unnerve her opponents. Sunset shook off the distracted musings in favor of the sparring match at hand.
With a feral pony sound that would have been a source of mockery in polite unicorn society, Sunset darted forward, delivering a satisfying jab to the shoulder, followed by several more successful strikes that got through her friend's guard. The tailor fell back, keen on putting distance between them, but Sunset pressed the attack, not letting her gain an inch. Her whole world narrowed to action. Strike. Block. Twist. Step in. Punch. Redirect. Close again. Counter.
It worked for a while, her brain adapting to Rarity's strategies almost as fast as they were presented, and for a few minutes, they were both in constant motion as each tried to out-maneuver the other, to find an advantage or a weakness. Sunset briefly registered that they had an audience--the rest of their friends had come over to watch by the fence, and even Applebloom and her friends had been drawn away from their clubhouse to stare at the spectacle. She pushed it away when another of those surprise body-blocks from Rarity rattled her senses.
Pay attention, Shimmer, she told herself, shaking off the disorientation from turning an almost fall into a roll that brought her back up into a fighting stance within seconds. The redhead drew on the frustration and annoyance that had made her an agitated mess, turning it into fuel for another aggressive assault, ears pinning back a fraction instinctively. The explosion of action soon had Rarity on the backfoot, though the smile on her face and the Pony-Up features told her that her friend was enjoying this as much as she was. Grinning, Sunset committed to what should have been the finishing blow in the fight, ignoring the hits that got through her guard in her pursuit of victory, fixed solely on the strike-that-wasn't-a-strike that would signal the end of the match--she didn't intend to actually hit her friend with a crippling blow, after all. Tasting victory on her tongue, her fist launched forward, knowing Rarity's arm was out of position by enough that she'd never get it up fast enough to block...
Only for her mind to register a surge of powerful magic, and her knuckles to crash with all of her force into something that felt like punching a smooth wall. The air rang with the sound of the collision, the soft edged chime the only sound to break the abrupt silence that fell over the whole yard. Sunset froze, her eyes meeting Rarity's equally startled ones, before both of them looked at where Sunset had impacted a glimmering construct that resembled a flat polygon of hard light and gem-dust...with a fist wreathed in crimson flames.
"...A question...if you will, darling," Rarity began.
"Uhh..." Sunset responded, still processing what had happened, even as she straightened up and stared blankly at the crackling, blood-red fire that covered her hand and part of her forearm without burning her skin. It was warm, and its movement felt faintly like the ticklish brush of a feather against her nerves, but...it did not harm her.
"Did you...mean to do that?"
The former student of Princess Celestia shook her head, trying to shake the flames out--to no avail. "...no...did you?"
Rarity looked down at the shield that had protected her from the unintentionally burning blow, the whole thing fading from existence. "Completely a surprise--though I suppose I am thankful I did. Burning hair smells awful and it is nearly impossible to get the stink out of fabric."
Sunset attempted several times to put the fire out on her hand. Even dunking it in a water trough did nothing but violate several laws of physics and create a generous amount of steam. "Now if I could just figure out what I did, so I can stop doing it, that'd be great."
"Holy shit!" Rainbow yelled, leaping into the air. "Did you see that?! That was so awesome!"
As if her yell had broken a spell, the rest of the watchers all started talking at once. Sunset winced, but a moment later the flames guttered out on their own, and she offered a hand to Rarity to help her up. "You okay?" she asked as Applejack leapt the fence to come check her partner over.
Rarity gave her a warm smile and patted an amber skinned arm. "I'm quite alright, Sunset. Though perhaps we should call that match a draw." |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Interlude XXV: Who You Are in the Dark | Being invisible was something Wallflower Blush had a lot of experience with--it was practically the story of her life. Her parents forgot she existed, except when it was convenient for them or something reminded them that they had reproduced. This invisibility was so complete that even actions that should have garnered her attention went completely without recognition--even swiping one of her father's credit cards out of his wallet had gotten no reprisal. Neither of her parents seemed to notice or care that she used it for everything from ordering meals to buying clothes to a few grand at a time dropped on music, video games, and the latest high end laptop over the last six years. What passed for extended family never had time or interest in sparing her a single thought; her only still living grandparent lived across the country in an assisted living facility, unable to do more than send her letters and cards when her health allowed. Paired with a long succession of short term nannies until her thirteenth birthday and a school full of people who didn't even care enough to bully her half the time, the green skinned girl decided her parents had given her the world's most appropriate name.
Growing up unseen and unheard had made her a quiet child--what's even the point of speaking if no one even notices you're there? She saved her words for the few people who did try and see her, like the group of three she'd stumbled into her freshman year.
Being quiet and invisible had its positives, of course, many of which she enjoyed. Wallflower managed to fly under the radar of the same bullies that made Twilight Sparkle and Moondancer's lives hell, and since her grades didn't stand out too much, she could pretty much guarantee access to a good university without being part of CPA's cutthroat social environment.
It also meant she was a good listener, a fantastic observer. People forgot she was there, and it let her watch, listen, learn....and she enjoyed that. Going through her day to day at Crystal Prep in a fashion more akin to someone watching a dramatic teen movie than a participant allowed her to hone her skills into an art-form, able to take in body language, tone of voice, even the way a person's eyes moved, pairing it with their words to read them like Twilight read books. And when the drama wasn't enough, she could easily leave a little rumor here or a fake note in a locker there, just to see what could happen when secrets were spilled anonymously.
When it came to her small circle of friends, she learned their personalities, their quirks, their flaws, their tells, and was fairly adept at picking up when something was wrong. She knew about every one of Moondancer's exhaustive list of allergies, about Lyra's mother and history of getting way too caught up in nonsensical conspiracy theories. It certainly didn't take a genius to realize Twilight Sparkle was really bad at being a normal human being, or that even basic social behavior was beyond both her and Moondancer. It was kind of sad, when she thought about it, that the most socially capable of the little group of four had been the crazy girl who hunted for Sasquatch on her weekends.
Sure, she probably had more skill in the social arena and 'being normal' than Lyra, but while she could certainly ape the way everyone around her behaved, right down to the minutiae of their interactions, why should she? What was the point? People wouldn't find her any more memorable, and she had no desire to be surrounded by sycophants. In the end, it was far more appealing to take advantage of her inconspicuous nature to learn what no one else was good enough to notice.
It meant that Wallflower Blush noticed when Twilight Sparkle came back to school different. Some might've said some of the changes were for the better, but she wasn't so sure she'd agree with that. The whole situation made her feel...odd. Out of sorts. Like her whole universe had shifted three inches to the left without her knowledge--everything seemed like it was still in the right places, but her instincts could tell. As if the very nature of Twilight being this unchanging constant in her life was some kind of touchstone that grounded her, and a shift in that status quo was...far more disorienting than she'd ever thought possible.
A lot of it wasn't even drastic change. Twilight was still this socially inept nerd who aced all her classes and couldn't catch a clue if it walked up to her and offered her change for a dollar. But it was enough for Wallflower to pick up on, where the already anxious mannerisms ticked over into borderline paranoia at any sudden movement or loud sound from classmates, as if she was expecting far worse from the other students than being tripped up or body checked into the lockers. It was there in those moments when she'd catch Twilight staring into space in a way that didn't scream one of her scientific frenzies, or how she seemed practically fused to her phone some days, texting furiously when she thought no one could see her, or how her casual indifference to ribald topics of conversation had shifted into something between revulsion and fear.
It was even present in how Twilight treated Wallflower herself. Twilight had always been aware of her, seen her, even if her inability to understand how people worked meant that she hadn't the slightest understanding of what she was looking at, even when she drifted off into whatever geek interest or scientific fact that had captured her admittedly formidable brain...it wasn't the same kind of invisibility Wallflower had felt from almost everyone else in her life, nor did it carry the faint sense of superiority Moondancer gave off. Twilight didn't make Wallflower feel...lesser...beneath her and her unnatural intellect. If anything, it had always felt like Twilight was looking to her for indications of social cues and explanations of why something had everyone around snickering, or what to do to respond to another person.
Lately though, that had changed. Twilight seemed less interested in seeking her social guidance, and while she'd actively retreated from any and all unnecessary interactions...suddenly she noticed Wallflower more. Like some of the invisibility had been torn away, and Twilight felt the urge to try to remember and include Wallflower, to acknowledge her socially, even in little ways. Like on her birthday... A birthday breakfast, composed of things she loved, things mentioned in moments of rambling where she'd believed Twilight too engrossed in her project of the week to actually pay any attention to what she said. Yet, somehow, Twilight had heard, and when she'd presented the breakfast and a personalized gift to her, the green haired girl had felt something new. She felt...seen, and somewhat vulnerable, glad more than ever before that Twilight had no social circle that she might spill secrets to...but at the same time, she hoarded that memory close, taking it out and looking at it whenever the isolation of her existence felt like it was closing in on her, taking comfort in a brief respite from the coldness of the world around her.
Regardless of the benefits, Wallflower wasn't quite sure she cared for the changes, especially as she tried to puzzle out what was causing them. The answer had come, quite casually from Twilight herself, but it generated more alarm and mistrust in the teen rather than easing her worries. It was a bombshell on its own: Twilight had a 'new friend,' someone who wasn't part of their group, or even their school...and after Twilight mentioned this 'Sunset' the first time, they were suddenly all she ever seemed to talk about. It didn't matter what the conversation was originally about, the dark haired girl would find a reason to talk about her brand new friend like they walked on water. Talk about more than a little annoying. There were times that Wallflower had bit back some really ugly comments and accusations about the whole affair; there were lovesick airheads who didn't gush as much about their boyfriends as Twilight did about this 'new friend' of hers.
Then the identity of that friend had been revealed, and Wallflower knew she was right to be skeptical. She'd known for a while that Twilight was not great at people, and that she avoided social media, even to lurk, but missing not only a year and a half's worth of updates from Lyra when her parents' divorce and subsequent move meant she had to switch to the public school, as well as every conversation between Wallflower and Moondancer on the subject their sophomore year was a new flavor of socially blind that Wallflower didn't think there was even a word for.
Lyra had spent the entire weeks at a time in texts and chat and even a few weekend get-togethers complaining loudly about her run-ins with "Sunset Shimmer, Bitch Queen of Canterlot High," and how the popular girl was so nasty that she would have buried Suri and Sour Sweet's entire pack of girls with all the effort it took most people to tie their shoes. Sunset Shimmer was bad news wrapped in a pretty, plastic package. So what was someone like that doing 'making nice' with Twilight Sparkle?
She'd tried to find out--and maybe drop a few not so subtle hints that Twilight might want to ask more questions about someone who spontaneously wanted to 'be her friend'--but Twilight had been remarkably close-mouthed about it, and Lyra hadn't responded to her message yet. And that wasn't even getting into the way Sunset Shimmer had been blowing up Twilight's phone or the phone-call she'd overheard. The phone-call in particular had been...enlightening, with Wallflower playing witness to the dark haired girl struggling to placate the person on the other end. Listening to it had been all too similar to the conversations that she'd overheard in the bathroom from some girl with an abusive boyfriend, and she couldn't understand, for the life of her, why Twilight would bother wasting her time on someone who probably treated her like crap.
Which was why the green haired girl had agreed to the day's outing with Twilight and Sunset. She wanted to figure out exactly what the popular girl was holding over Twilight to ensure her loyalty.
She parked outside the Canterlot Botanical Gardens, glad at least that Twilight had chosen a venue for the outing that was at least tolerable. Twilight was uncharacteristically chatty as they headed inside, going from frosty temperatures to steamy warmth. While the outdoor gardens were brown and dead because of winter, the greenhouses were full of color, and that included the little cafe in the center of the building.
"Sunset told me she'd meet us in the cafe, so we could get a snack before we check out the exhibit," Twilight said as she led the way to one of the tables near a planter of colorful tropical flowers and ferns. "I tried to pick something we could all enjoy, and the recreation of an ancient Egyptian temple garden was too good to pass up!"
Wallflower couldn't resist the urge to offer out a sarcastic, biting comment about someone she didn't care for, even though it would probably go right over Twilight's head. "From what I've heard about this friend of yours, I can't imagine her hobbies include cultivating plants...unless you count the lettuce and tomato that goes on a cheeseburger."
"Sunset doesn't eat cheeseburgers," Twilight responded with a smile, her eyes focused on the entrance. "...but she does enjoy greenery, parks, and being outside in the fresh air, and she and I have gone to a bunch of museum exhibits too, and since you have an interest in botany and horticulture, I thought this would mean everyone enjoys some part of the trip!"
Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, she settled for a deadpan reply. "I'm sure it'll be the most fun I've had all month. I'm going to go get a drink." It's just too bad it can't be a stiff one. As Twilight nodded absently, still watching the entrance like a dog pining for its master to come home, she idly wondered if her 'affliction' had morphed from invisibility to inaudibility.
Wallflower kept her eyes on the situation when she got her drink, lingering by the line longer so she could get a look at Sunset Shimmer when she didn't know she was being observed. She could certainly tell the moment Sunset arrived--Twilight jumped up out of her chair, practically vibrating as she raised a hand in a vigorous wave that was so unlike her that Wallflower almost choked on a swallow of her soda. Eyes narrowed and followed Twilight's focus, getting her first actual look at the petty, spiteful princess who ran the social circles at the public school.
What she saw did not fit her mental image of a petite, super feminine, plastic doll in expensive clothes from a designer. The girl smiling brightly at Twilight was almost as tall as some grown men (though the heavy duty black boots she wore might've contributed a few inches), and wearing slightly worn blue jeans and a sweatshirt with a band logo on it. The nicest part of her outfit was the jet black leather coat that looked brand new, and Wallflower didn't detect a single bit of jewelry on her other than maybe some small, understated earrings. She wasn't even wearing makeup!
This was the infamous Sunset Shimmer, the popular queen of Canterlot High who ruled with an iron fist and nobody dared oppose for fear of reprisal? She looked more like a disaffected wannabe anarchist that viewed the height of rebellion as smoking pot at a trashy metal concert and dating a boy who was part of a tone-deaf garage band for the sole purpose of upsetting 'Daddy.' Suri would steal her boyfriend for kicks, before starting rumors that would ruin her social life, and Sour Sweet would absolutely eat her alive. If this was the top dog at Canterlot, it really was no wonder that Crystal Prep walked all over them every four years at the Friendship Games.
More confident now, Wallflower reached the table just before Sunset, slipping back into her seat nonchalantly. She wasn't going to give Sunset a single inch of anything that might be seen as deference, and she watched for the inevitable flicker of frustration across the popular girl's face.
Instead, Sunset reached out and tweaked Twilight's nose when she got close. "Sit down, nerd," she said with a laugh to cover up the order.
"I just wanted to make sure you saw us," Twilight said, cheeks darkening, as she sat back down.
An eyebrow arched and Sunset glanced around. "Twilight," she said with a measure of sarcasm. "There's like ten people in here, and you're the only ones that aren't old enough to be my mother. It wasn't hard to find you." Then she looked at the table critically. "Scoot over," she told Twilight, this time without the laugh to soften it, bringing her chosen chair around to be next to Twilight.
As Wallflower watched, Twilight obeyed the command, shrinking a little in her seat when the redhead sat down and their shoulders bumped. Wallflower bristled a little--not only had Sunset masked any signs of being upset at her slight, but she'd turned it back on Wallflower by treating her as a non-entity while she made it clear that she controlled the table. Only when she was comfortable, lounging in the chair like some indolent predator animal did she turn her gaze on Wallflower, sizing her up, judging her with eyes as calculating as any of the manipulative popular girls she'd ever known.
"Hey. You must be Wallflower--Twilight's said a lot of good things about you. I'm Sunset Shimmer."
Perhaps she'd judged too quickly based on how Sunset dressed. This was familiar now, the silent judging and careful verbal sparring to test what an opponent was made of, all subtly designed to assert dominance. Wallflower had seen this game played out a hundred times in school. And she knew how to deal with it.
She let her lips curl into the sort of expression she'd seen Upper Crust and Suri use a million times or more, a perfect little 'social smile,' disarming to people who wanted to be fooled but effective at putting more aware individuals off balance if used right. "Pleasure to meet you, Sunset Shimmer. I just love your jacket. Did you..." she paused just a fraction of a second, half raising the hand not curled around her drink and wiggled her fingers in a lazy looking gesture. "...get it on sale just for such an occasion?"
Her lips fought the smirk wanting to break free, and only partially won that battle when the mean girl's smile faltered on her way too perfect face. Sunset self-consciously tucked some hair behind her ear, finally shaking her head. "It was a gift, actually," she responded once she'd recovered from the implied insult. "My friend Rarity helped me pick it out over the holidays, and then insisted on buying it for me." Fingers touched a small red and gold sun that had been embroidered on the front. "She even helped personalize it."
Twilight interjected, and Sunset's eyes immediately snapped to her, as if Wallflower no longer existed. "Oh! I was meaning to ask you where you got it done. I thought you'd taken it somewhere."
"Nope. Rarity sort of confiscated it at one of our sleepovers at her place, and before I knew it, she'd added it to the jacket." Sunset touched the sun again.
Wallflower wished she was anywhere but here; her idea for a fun afternoon did not include listening to some stuck up popular teen casually drop all the people she knew and what she could get them to do for her for free because they were sucking up to her in hopes of benefiting from her social standing. "It must be nice to have people willing to do stuff for you like that," she commented, her tone brittle and dry.
Sunset frowned slightly, her eyebrows pinching together as the dig struck home. "I try not to--a lot of stuff like that is just how Rarity is as a person. She has a habit of doing things for her friends--not just embroidery, either. Like last week, she offered to make dresses for prom for the girls who are going, and AJ let slip that all of her formal wear has been done by Rarity for the last few years. Something about it being easier to get things in her size."
Barely resisting the urge to grind her teeth, Wallflower took a drink to avoid the blatant retort that not even Twilight would overlook. A homemade prom dress by an amateur seamstress who probably acquired her skill with patching hand-me-downs for a horde of younger siblings who their parents couldn't afford to buy new clothes for? Who would want something like that? Except for maybe an overweight wannabe metalhead going by the moniker 'AJ.'
"Really?" she said, managing to keep a straight face. "I had heard that Canterlot High offered a much more...diverse...range of classes, since a public school doesn't have the funding to provide some of the advanced academic materials that a private school like Crystal Prep can." She took another sip of her drink, just to draw out the moment. "Is your friend the shining star of your school's...domestics department?"
Now those sharp eyes were on Wallflower, and she could sense she'd finally made some sort of dent in the popular girl's armor. "Rarity is already making a name for herself, not just at school," she said a bit stiffly. "She runs her own shop, part time, and makes outfits on commission."
There was a noise of surprise and interest from Twilight. "That's actually quite fascinating when you look at the history of clothing manufacture and the profession of tailoring..." she began in what Wallflower could tell was the beginning of a long winded spiel about a subject no one cared about.
She allowed Twilight about a minute of talking uninterrupted, watching to see if Sunset would shut her down, rolling her eyes when the mean girl let Twilight to keep rambling on some random history lesson about green dye. Whatever Sunset Shimmer was after from Twilight, she must've wanted it badly with the way she was putting up with a veritable recitation of several chained wikipedia articles. Wallflower stretched her foot out, having finally heard enough, and none too gentle poked Twilight's ankle. "Yeah, yeah, we get it. Green dye bad, rich women are stupid, green dye made them somehow dumber. Not much has changed. Next topic, please."
Sunset smoothly reached in her jacket and pulled out a twenty. "Hey," she said to Twilight, getting the lavender skinned girl's attention with a touch to her arm. "That green dye might've been poison, but why don't you take this green dye and get us some drinks and snacks to have while we walk around the exhibit, okay?"
Twilight had wilted a little under the chastisement from Wallflower, but as soon as Sunset spoke to her, she practically tripped over herself to follow the command. "What did you want?"
"....mmm...I heard they have a pretty tasty chai tea here. Get me a large? I'm pretty thirsty--had a pretty rough practice at lunch today, and my throat's a bit sore." Sunset gave her a smile and shooed her off, leaving her and Wallflower alone at the table.
The silence stretched between them until Twilight was in the line and out of earshot. Then angry eyes fixed on Wallflower, and Sunset showed her true colors openly for the first time. "Look, I'm not sure if we got off on the wrong foot somehow, or if you're just having a bad day or whatever, but is there a reason you're taking it out on Twilight? If I did something wrong, tell me instead of...whatever this is." She made a loose gesture, her voice pitched low to avoid carrying.
How typical of someone like her, to make herself out to somehow be the victim when someone made it clear they were not falling for her game. "Off on the wrong foot?" Wallflower couldn't keep the sneer out of her own voice. "Oh, no, Sunset Shimmer. I'd say it was the perfectly right foot." She leaned forward. "See, you may not know me, but I know you. I've known about you for a long time, about exactly what kind of person you are. I've heard about your exploits, 'Oh Mighty Queen Bitch of Canterlot High,'" she hissed, feeling extremely satisfied at the way Sunset paled at her words. "I know about the lies, the manipulation, the blackmail, about all the underhanded tactics you use to stay at the top of the pile in that cesspool of lower class mediocrity you call a school."
Wallflower held the other girl's gaze the whole time wanting her to know that she was serious. "I know plenty about you, and people just like you, who only care about yourselves. I know that someone like you wouldn't waste your time with my friend without an ulterior motive, and that once you get what you're after, Twilight will be yesterday's news, just like dozens of other people you've used and forgotten."
For a moment the green haired girl though Sunset might have a retort for her, only for the other teen to look away with...was that humiliation in her eyes? It was nice to see it on the face of someone who deserved it for once. Then she steeled herself, and answered Wallflower, still looking away. "You aren't entirely wrong," she conceded. "I was a pretty terrible p-person for a long time. I manipulated and hurt a lot of people who didn't deserve it, and for a long time, I enjoyed having that power over others..."
Oh, she should have been recording this, Wallflower realized. So she could play it back for Twilight, to make her realize she was being used.
"But..." Sunset kept going, "...it didn't make me happy, or any less alone. Having real friends, friends like Twilight, has. I've worked hard to change, to be a better person." She finally looked back at Wallflower. "So you're partially right...but partially wrong. I don't want anything from Twilight other than her friendship. That's it. No ulterior motive, no manipulation, no games. Just whatever friendship she is willing to give me."
Wallflower snorted openly. "You can fool Twilight with that kind of crap, and probably the idiots you go to school with, but I'm not falling for it," she said scathingly. "Because people like you don't change, Sunset Shimmer. You are always going to be looking out for number one, and you'll do whatever you have to to get there, because you don't care about anyone but yourself." The redhead flinched back from her, and Wallflower could practically taste the victory right in front of her. "If you did, you'd see what was right in front of your nose: that Twilight deserves better for a friend than some dirty, rebellious, mean girl and her group of fellow trailer trash rejects. If you want to play power games amongst the children of blue collar laborers, I won't stop you, but you need to stick to your own kind and stop sniffing around people who are so far above you that you should be thankful for the chance to even work for them in your future."
Sunset's eyes were focused on the table, her knuckles white. For a moment Wallflower felt savage glee at having laid the popular girl so low with the truth that she honestly thought the other girl might burst into tears. Good. Someone needed to knock Sunset down a peg--despite her words, not all of the public school kids were bad, and they certainly didn't deserve to suffer under this pathetic excuse for a bully.
It was at that moment, as she stared intently at the top of Sunset's head, that something changed. All of the hair on her arms stood up, and from the prickling sensation on the back of her neck, it wasn't restricted to her arms. A low sound escaped the mean girl, and she straightened up, locking eyes with Wallflower.
Her heart felt like it stopped in her chest for half a second before jolting to beating a hundred miles a minute, and she couldn't breathe as cold, icy fear went through her body--not a little fear, like from seeing a garden snake or almost falling, but the kind of primal terror triggered by the instincts in the back of the brain, from the animal part that had evolved in a jungle full of apex predators who wanted to eat it. For a second so brief she would later decide she'd imagined it, something else was looking at her through Sunset's shadowed, glinting eyes, rage and hate and the promise of violence communicated without words. Wallflower practically jumped out of her seat, stumbling backwards, overcome with the need to be anywhere but here, all thoughts of putting Sunset in her place eclipsed by the fear that made her want to run and never look back...except to do so would be to look away from those eyes...and she found she couldn't no matter how hard she tried.
The moment was broken by Twilight's voice, calling out to Sunset; those eyes blinked and the head turned away from Wallflower, releasing her from the hold they'd had on her. The green haired girl sucked in a breath, her heart pounding, her guts churning, and cold sweat soaking her body, feeling like she'd just narrowly avoided certain death. Was Sunset on drugs or something? Normal people didn't look like that...
Whatever it was, it left her shaken and shaky too. Twilight looked at her in concern after handing Sunset her tea. "Wallflower? Are you okay? You don't look so good."
She needed an escape, and Twilight provided one. "I...yeah. I might be coming down with something, Twilight--I don't feel well all of a sudden. I think I'm...going to go home."
"Oh." That word was laden with childlike disappointment. "Okay, I understand. Are you going to be okay with driving home?"
"...Yeah." It didn't matter if she wasn't. She needed to get away from...from...her mind shuddered, refusing to complete the thought.
As she backed away from the table with uncoordinated, lurching steps, she could hear Twilight being reassured by Sunset Shimmer. "It's okay, Sparky. We can have some fun just the two of us today, and maybe we can try..." The voice faded as the door shut between her and the other two girls.
Wallflower fled to her car, shivering miserably in it for long after the heat had warmed the inside to a toasty temperature, suddenly understanding why Lyra had always talked about her like this unstoppable force, this tyrant queen of the student body who crushed anyone beneath her who stepped out of line. She had underestimated Sunset Shimmer and had been forced to abandon Twilight to her clutches...
She wouldn't make that same mistake next time. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Three: Misery Loves Company | "...so I go into the manager's office, thinking I'm in trouble for something--like a Bob-Cut complained that I didn't fashion her latte with the exact percentage of whipped cream she was willing me to know by telepathy or something. And she starts asking me if everything is okay."
Flash stopped for a moment to take a sip of the horribly unhealthy fast food milkshake, and Sunset gestured at him with the end of her double bean burrito. "That's pretty strange....how does this tie back to what you were saying about your parents?"
He grimaced. "That's the worst part. Apparently, my dad called and wanted to get a copy of my updated work schedule from my boss, and when my boss asked why they didn't just ask me, my dad told him it was because I 'wasn't making the best judgment calls lately about things going on in my life,' and that 'I had been distant and closed off.'" The blue haired boy made a sound of frustration. "My boss thought he meant I had started doing drugs or had gotten involved with a gang or something like that, so I had to explain to her that my parents are overreacting because I've mended fences with my ex-girlfriend since we enjoy being 'just friends.'"
Sunset winced and shrank a little into the seat. "Ponyfeathers...I'm sorry, Flash. I didn't mean for you to get into it with your parents over me."
Glancing over, the other teen shook his head. "It's not your fault, Sunset, not this time. My parents are the ones incapable of accepting that I am capable of making decisions and don't want to believe that I'm over what I felt for you last fall...or believe that you're a much better friend for me than you ever were a girlfriend. They have it in their heads that I'm still head over heels in love with you, and that all of this is me being willing to be your doormat for any scrap of attention."
"...they...are aware that you were the one who broke up with me, right? I mean sure, I didn't fight it, and you know why, but..." She opened up her burrito to squeeze a packet of hot sauce into it, along with stuffing some cherry tomatoes and a few slices of red bell peppers into it from a snack bag leftover from her lunch, before rewrapping it and taking a hearty bite. The crunch of crisp veggies added to the otherwise fairly plain meal, and she hummed in appreciation, deciding to look up some recipes and experiment to make some kind of Equestrian style tacos and burritos.
Her friend sighed again. "It's...it doesn't matter. They can't see that--only how badly I handled it when we broke up and I realized you'd used me." He popped a loaded nacho into his mouth and made a face. "Ugh. Maybe a milkshake was not the best choice with this." When Sunset snickered, he pointed a chip at her. "Uh huh, laugh it up, pony-girl. I'm sure you've got some bad food combo horror stories."
"Anyway...I think it's just that thing parents do, you know? When they just don't get you, or have totally forgotten what it's like to be a kid. Even my grandparents are telling them to get over it and stop overreacting about stuff that's 'just part of being in high school.'" Flash looked over at her. "Do pony parents do that kind of thing too? Or is that just a human thing?"
The former unicorn fell quiet, using the large bite of food she'd just taken as a chance to organize her thoughts on the subject and figure out exactly what to say to him. Finally she swallowed, and took the plunge. "I...don't think they do it over the same things as humans," she admitted. "Or at least...Princess Celestia never needed to get upset at me over what you're talking about. Most adolescent foals are usually focused on their cutie mark, either earning it or experimenting with the things related to it to figure out exactly what they want to do with their talents, and that's...encouraged by other ponies. You don't interfere in somepony's pursuit of where their cutie mark is driving them." She ran a hand through her hair. "With me she was just always on my case about making friends, or about my behavior towards other students. Truth is, I started most of our arguments, not her."
A frown pulled the corners of his mouth down. "What about your mom and dad?"
Of course he'd be the first one besides her girlfriend's family to ask. Her other friends were curious about who she was in Equestria, but they were content to take what she gave them and focus on safer topics than on home and family. Her shoulders sagged a little, knowing the truth was going to spawn more questions. "...I don't know. Kind of hard to fight with ponies who I never knew." Deciding to preempt at least a few questions and have control over the narrative, she added, "Princess Celestia found me abandoned in a forest fire when I was a newborn. She could never even identify who my parents were or what happened to them. I grew up as her ward."
Silence, heavy and suffocating, filled the car for a long time as Flash sat there awkwardly. "Sunset...I...I'm sorry. I had no idea--"
"Of course not," she interrupted. "I don't bring it up for a reason, Flash. Not because it upsets me." Could it really count as upsetting when it was just an ever present, half healed wound that never seemed to go away? "...but because of how others react. Can we...not make this weird?"
Flash watched her for a minute. "Yeah...sorry. I guess we all just kind of assumed you had a falling out with your family or something."
She shrugged. "Honestly, I think that's the better choice...it's...not too far from the truth anyway. I had a massive fight with Princess Celestia which is why I ran through the portal. She's the closest thing I had to a parent." Sunset took a drink of her Dr. Pepper, before trying to change the subject. "Anyway, I wish I had better insight for you about the stuff with your parents. I'm not sure what to say--I still barely understand Twilight's parents, and I spend a lot more time at her house than I ever did yours."
With a nod, he returned to working his way through his container of nachos. "Speaking of your girlfriend...you said something happened? You sounded pretty pissed."
The burrito she'd just consumed turned into a lead weight in her guts. "....I am--not at Twilight, but...at this friend of hers. And I'm not even sure if I have any right to be angry, because she didn't say anything that wasn't true, but I was just getting used to not having everyone bring it up all the time..."
"Sunset," Flash admonished. "Start at the beginning so I know what the heck you're talking about."
Blushing, the former unicorn ducked her head in embarrassment. "Right. Sorry." She ran a hand through her wild mane. "Okay, so...after we bumped into you last week, she wanted to introduce me to one of her friends from school, this girl named Wallflower."
He nodded. "Okaaaay. With you so far. So what happened?"
Sunset blew air out her nose in a frustrated snort. "Twilight's talked a bit about Wallflower before. They've been friends for a couple of years, they used to have a few other friends at school, but those friends moved or something. So it's just Wallflower and Twilight left there, and according to Twilight, Wallflower is quiet, kind of lonely, and doesn't really have the best home life, but she likes gardening, tea, and is a decent friend. I even helped Twilight find her a birthday gift. I figured she'd be a little like Fluttershy, you know? Maybe a bit like Twilight."
"I'm guessing that wasn't the case," Flash commented.
"Not exactly...Twilight planned for us to meet up the other day after school at the Botanical Garden, because she figured it would have something for everyone." Sunset took a drink from her straw. "I showed up, tried to be friendly...but...friendly in a way that was more calm and less...Pinkie?"
"So not screaming and setting off noise makers and throwing confetti?"
She snickered. "Yeeeah. I like Pinkie, but...I didn't want to be too much for someone I was told was 'quiet.' I said hi to Twilight first, sat down, and tried to keep it...relaxed. Like when you introduced me to the guys in the band?"
When he nodded, Sunset leaned her head back. "I really wanted it to go well. I want to eventually be able to tell her the truth and introduce her to the girls, because I know she'd like them, and this is kind of like...it's me meeting her friend, so I figured she felt the same way about it that I do about that. I want to like her friends too."
Flash gestured at her with his drink. "Of course you do--because that's what a good friend, a good girlfriend does. And despite what anyone else thinks, you're a good friend, Sunset. You've become an amazing person."
Her cheeks heated, and she ducked her head. "...Thanks, Flash."
"So then what happened?"
The former unicorn puffed out a dramatic sigh. "She said hello back...sort of. It...wasn't ugly or anything, but it felt...wrong. It felt like she was insulting me, but she wasn't? I can't explain it, but it just made me feel really uncomfortable."
Blue eyes watched her. "Did it feel...fake? Plastic?"
"Kind of?"
He hesitated a moment. "Did it feel like something you might've said in the way you would have said it...say a year ago?"
Sunset froze, remembering how she'd spoken of Princess Twilight when she'd learned the other pony was going to run for Fall Formal Princess. The smiling mask, the neutral-to-slightly-saccharine tones, the double meaning in her innocent sounding statement...even the way Applejack had seen right through the ruse and scowled at her.
"Horseapples," she swore. "That's it exactly. It even set all of my old instincts on alert. I thought at first I was reading too much into it, that maybe I was...backsliding? But..."
Her friend patted her shoulder. "I doubt that. Nothing else has made you go back to the old way you did things, so why would this? You need to listen to those instincts, pony-girl when they say something is wrong. So she was... making thinly veiled insults?"
"It felt like it." Sunset cribbed her thumb in thought. "I just kept trying to be nice. She asked about my jacket, I mentioned Rarity bought it for me as a gift, you know, talked a little about my friends, but it was like everything I said, her responses were...like you said: fake." She hung her head. "I tried to ignore it, told myself it was me."
Flash snorted. "So what happened next to make it so you couldn't? I know you. Something else happened."
Was she really that transparent? "...Twilight...likes to talk...but it's...more like she likes to share her knowledge. I like it--I learn new things or get a new perspective, and it means we never run out of things to talk about... When she...gets on the subject of something though, she...can just keep talking about it, until she either runs out of information or you interrupt her. I usually wait it out or ask questions." She frowned, feeling anger bubble up from the memory of the other day. "Wallflower just...cut her off. And she wasn't nice about it. She was...pretty...curt? Brusque? It was enough that it hurt Twilight's feelings."
"Which pissed you off."
Sunset glanced at him. "In not so many words, yes. I gave Twilight some cash, and asked her to go get us some drinks, and then I confronted Wallflower."
Nodding, Flash dumped his empty nacho container into the bag they were using as trash. "I can't say I blame you..."
She didn't blame herself that much either, not with how Twilight had looked, a mixture of surprise and a little hurt that Wallflower had been quite so cutting. "I don't know what I expected...but it wasn't what she said. She...knew. Who I was before the Formal, I mean. Called me out for my past, accused me of using Twilight for my own ends...told me she didn't believe people were capable of change...and even when I tried to explain that I'm not that person anymore..."
An arm draped around her shoulders in a friendly, comforting hug. "She didn't believe you."
Eyes burning and guts twisting, Sunset leaned into the hug. "Worse. She...she told me to stay away from Twilight. That Twilight...deserved better than someone like me bothering her. That she didn't care what I did to people at CHS, but that someone like Twilight, like Wallflower herself, were superior to me. Like I was some kind of dirty mudp--" She caught herself, realizing that the slur wouldn't translate easily without a long explanation. "...it was just like what I used to hear when I was growing up in Equestria."
The hug tightened briefly. "Spoken like a real Crystal Prep student," Flash said in a sour tone. "That school really pushes the rhetoric that they are a million times better than others, that we should be happy they even acknowledge we exist. But it's not true. You know that, right? Twilight deserves a girlfriend...and a friend, if this is an example of the friends she has, that makes her happy, who cares about her the way you do. And no one should dictate who that person is besides her."
The former tyrant queen of Canterlot High nodded tiredly against his shoulder. "I know...but...it made me so angry when she said it. It was like she was everypony who ever said those things, packed into one body, and she wanted to tear Twilight and me apart to prove it." She pulled out of his hug, putting her face in her hands in shame and exhaustion. "I was so angry at her, I wanted to go over the table at her. I could feel my magic reacting, and it was all I could do to hold back a surge--I don't want to hurt anyone, and it would have probably killed her with how I felt..."
Sunset could feel his hand rubbing her back between her shoulders now. "You had a right to be angry. I would have been furious in your place... If you want my opinion at all, this Wallflower sounds like a real piece of work, even for a Shadowbolt." Flash paused a second, before asking, "Did your magic get away from you?"
"No," she whispered. "I contained it. Barely...but I was so angry with her, and when I looked at her..." The image flickered before her mind's eye, of Wallflower giving her that victorious, arrogant...not a smirk but...expression that said she knew she'd gotten to Sunset...of that expression faltering and then giving way to actual fear. "I...she was scared of me, Flash. One second she was ready to drive me away from that table, and the next..." Green skin had turned ashen, eyes going wide and sweat breaking out on her forehead. Scared was an understatement. Wallflower had been utterly petrified of Sunset...but Sunset wasn't sure why. She'd been furious, and she knew her death glare was something she perfected in her time ruling over CHS--more than one student had been intimidated into hiding in a locker until she left--but even that had never triggered such a response.
"I mean, you can be pretty intimidating when you want to be, pony-girl. Especially when you're wearing your jacket and those boots," the boy with her admitted. "And when you're angry...it's like this..." He wiggled a hand, trying to find the words. "You're suddenly bigger than yourself, and everyone can feel it."
Sunset rubbed her face. "It didn't feel like that. It..." Swallowing hard, she shook her head. "It was way more scared than just me being angry." Guilt and fear of her own gnawed at the back of her mind, but she refused to give it a shape, a voice. "I didn't threaten her or anything like that--all I did was give her a look while I was angry. I couldn't do anything else, not with my magic threatening to surge."
Flash studied her for a long minute, before nodding slowly. "Other than being intimidated, what did she do after that? She make any more threats to you? Say anything else nasty? Or did she back down?"
With a scowl, Sunset tipped her head back against the headrest. "She jumped back...almost knocked her chair over in the process. Then Twilight came back, and she made this excuse to leave. Claimed she was feeling sick." She closed her eyes, replaying the scene in her memory. "Twilight believed her because she looked pretty bad. She was pale, and shaky, and looked like she wanted to throw up. She couldn't get away from us fast enough."
"She wasn't really sick though. She just looked that way because of me." Her old friend shame returned, bringing its sibling guilt with it.
Her friend was quiet, thoughtful. "You want to know what I think, Sunset?"
"...yes?" the redhead responded, preparing herself for some unflattering truth.
Drumming his fingers on the steering wheel, Flash started slow. "First, I think you need to learn to trust your instincts about people more--you felt like something was off from the get-go and you were right. Now, what exactly was going on is...hard to say. This Wallflower does go to CPA, and that superior attitude, with the whole 'our money and breeding makes us better than you' is pretty much something that gets drilled into them. Lyra used to go there, and she's commented that they even do that to each other there. Maybe that's what caused it."
"Or...maybe she's had a shitty home life. Twilight told you she doesn't have a large friend group, right? You said it sounded like it wasn't a great time at home?"
She nodded. "Yeah. Twilight suggested she's lonely."
"Maybe she is," Flash agreed. "Maybe she's afraid that with someone like you in the picture, Twilight wont have time for her anymore. Especially if all she's heard is about the old Sunset, plus your girlfriend singing your praises."
Sunset sighed glumly. "I was kind of a bitch, and I didn't share with others well, you mean?"
Flash coughed. "I wasn't going to put it that way, but...kind of?"
"You don't have to be nice, Flash. I was pretty awful. I turned into a demon--hard to argue for the innocence of my soul when that happened."
He gave her a light punch to the shoulder. "Stop that. I'm not trying to put you down. I'm trying to give you my thoughts here on why Wallflower was antagonistic. And if she was agitated about you 'having an ulterior motive,' maybe she was trying to protect Twilight in the only way she knows. In this case by being a Crystal Prep bully."
The former unicorn turned the thought over in her mind. "...then...why was she scared at the end?"
Flash let out a heavy, slow sigh. "Do you know why you were so intimidating when you were a bully?"
That drew her up short. She'd never considered it much, assumed it was much the same reason other foals had been intimidated by her. "...because of my temper?"
He laughed, the sound a tad bitter. "Hardly. No...it's because most bullies are full of hot air. They threaten and puff out their chests and talk big, but most of them crumple the instant you call their bluff. One punch, one challenge, one person who doesn't cower, and they've lost. You weren't like that. Everyone knew you could back up anything you threatened with, whether it was putting someone on the ground or ruining their social life or making good on whatever blackmail you had on them. Princess Twilight was the first person--well...pony, I guess--to be able to out do your games...and she was the first one to be able to call your bluff."
The once-bully was silent for a long time. She had never given much thought during her reign of terror to why her tactics worked so well, but now that Flash had drawn her attention to it, she thought about it. She analyzed her own memories carefully, seeing the truth in his words, and pushed some hair behind her ears tiredly. "I didn't mean to," she whispered, feeling ashamed more than ever at how she'd reacted to Wallflower. "I wasn't trying to bully her back..."
"Hey--none of that now, pony-girl!" Flash admonished. "I never said what you did was bullying her. She was being a bully herself, and you had every right to react badly. What I'm saying is that when you get upset, especially when you're angry, you are willing and able to act, and people can tell. So you went from being super friendly and trying to be nice to 'wanting to go over the table at her'...and I don't think she was prepared for that." He made a face. "It freaked her out because she's probably never met anyone like you, Sunset. The bullies she's used to talk big, but the one who does all the heavy hitting for them is their dads and their parents' money."
She blew air out her nostrils slowly, more a sigh than a snort. " ...maybe..."
"It's more plausible than you spontaneously developing like, angry magic eyes or reverting to the former Sunset ala 'Mean Girls 2: The Re-Bitch-ening.'"
Sunset sat in silence for a long time, deciding that maybe Flash had a point. The behavior she had witnessed had been everything she'd heard CPA accused of, and it would have fit right in with the noble brats of CSGU. She rubbed her face. "...but what do I tell Twilight?" When he looked at her oddly, the redhead elaborated. "Twilight was really excited to have me be friends with Wallflower...and I'm not entirely sure how to break it to her that I don't think that's going to happen..."
The young man in the car with her drummed his fingers on his steering wheel in thought. "Maybe...just tell her the truth? That Wallflower thinks you're still the old Sunset, and that's going to make it pretty hard to be on friendly terms?"
"I guess...I just don't want her to think I'm making this all Wallflower's fault?" Sunset cribbed her thumbnail worriedly...
Only for her friend to reach over and pull her hand away from her mouth. "Be honest about that too. That her suspicion of you makes you feel lousy. At that point it's less about one person 'being more at fault' and more about you and Wallflower rubbing each other wrong." He smiled. "If she's half as amazing as you make her put to be, pony-girl, she'll probably be more concerned with how bad it made you feel than anything." He winked teasingly. "If I was in her place, and my girlfriend told me that, I'd be worried more about that than my girlfriend not getting along with my friend from school."
"Haha, Flash. You're a regular comedian," Sunset told her ex-boyfriend. Crossing her arms over her chest, Sunset hunched in on herself a bit in her seat. "...I hope you're right though..." |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Four: All the Things She Said | The room was quiet but for the soft click of laptop keys, as Twilight squinted at the screen, reading through the various local events at museums and gardens and other venues, striking off the ones that wouldn't work and jotting down potentials in a neat, precise list. The entire time her laptop's speakers projected music from her iTunes at a low volume, not loud enough to disrupt her, but enough to provide a background track that kept her from noticing all the other noises in an otherwise quiet house.
Quiet that was shattered when Spike lifted his head at the sound of a familiar engine coming down the street, the dog leaping down from her bed and barking excitedly as if to announce Sunset's arrival like a fuzzy herald. He seemed confused when Twilight barely acknowledged him, other than waving at her partially open door. "Go ahead and get Sunny, Spike...Bring her up."
The canine needed no further urging, bolting from her room and flying down the stairs with how fast he ran. Twilight could dimly hear her mother and dog greeting Sunset, and even registered the other girl's laughter as she picked up the wiggly dog to say hello while simultaneously trying to avoid having him lick her face--there was some spluttering involved.
It didn't take long before she could hear the approaching footsteps, and she turned to see Sunset slip into the room, flopping down on Twilight's bed with her backpack on the floor and an exhausted groan. "...Hey, Sparky..." she managed. "...sorry I'm later than I planned. Got held up at school over a project for English..." The redhead rolled onto her back a moment later, staring up at Twilight's ceiling. "Have I mentioned I hate the Bronte sisters and their writing? Ugh."
"Oh?" she responded distractedly. "Not a fan of nineteenth century sexism and classism in the form of tawdry overly dramatic romance novels that imply that all a woman needs to be happy is the right marriage, and that pining after the wrong man or wishing to be master of herself is a guaranteed route to heartache and death?"
A snort escaped her girlfriend. "Not even a little." Her face pulled into a grimace, one laden with many emotions, too many for Twilight to identify them all easily, even with how well she could read Sunset. "Besides, I don't understand how anyone can do that to a person--demand they give up what makes them who they are to make another person happy...and then to view it as the height of romance?" The last word was practically spat out, as if it tasted sour in her mouth. "There's absolutely nothing romantic about destroying someone's sense of self--it's no better than killing someone, and worse, it's all because some male is so uselessly self-absorbed and completely lacking in any depth of personality that would effectively attract a partner in the first place!"
Twilight blinked a moment, startled out of her hunt for a suitable event by the vehemence she could hear in her girlfriend's words. "That... you sound pretty serious about the subject, Sunny."
Sunset looked at her, her expression still twisted up with emotions. "Because I am. It's something I don't understand, can't understand, and I'm not sure I'd even want to... There's nothing anyone could use to justify denying someone the things that make them who they are that would ever make it okay, especially not claiming it's some kind of passionate declaration of love. Relationships shouldn't work that way--they should be about the people involved supporting and enriching each other's lives and passions, not one person being forced into some kind of mold to satisfy the wants of the other and told they should be glad for the opportunity to be used that way."
Her own lips curled into a soft smile on their own. "You're pretty amazing, Sunny, did you know that?" A thought occurred to her. "Is...that why you're always content to just let me ramble and go to things I enjoy?"
That coaxed a laugh and an answering grin from her fiery haired companion. "Maybe," Sunset said slyly. "Or maybe it's just that you're adorably cute when you get super nerdy on me." Blue-green eyes danced brightly.
"So which is it?"
Sunset never stopped grinning. "You got me. I can't help it. I am happy when I watch you get so excited and passionate about something that you just have to share it. Even if it's not something I'm interested in, its worth learning about it because it makes you happy."
Twilight was torn. She really wanted to see where this conversation was going, maybe shift to the bed to cuddle up with the redhead and explore the idea...and the undercurrent of emotions it was generating further, but the open browser on her computer and the notepad in her hand was like a persistent itch demanding to be scratched, and she knew she wouldn't be able to truly relax and focus on discussing 'passions' and 'relationships' with her girlfriend until she addressed it fully. Although the crooked smile and the way Sunset was looking at her made it a hard choice.
In the end, she decided work before play was the best option, and turned back to the task at hand. "Before we...go further in this line of thinking...perhaps we can make a detour to a different subject?"
Blue-green eyes burned with an inner fire that Twilight could practically feel on her skin. "Is that subject 'the best way to go about kissing you?'" Sunset teased in a low, husky voice.
For a moment, Twilight seriously considered responding in the affirmative. Then she shook her head and pushed her hormones to the side. "Perhaps later, after dinner," she replied with a small smile, reaching out to brush fingers over Sunset's cheek.
Her fiery maned paramour turned her head towards Twilight, one hand capturing those fingers so she could kiss them. "Okay...what did you want to talk about instead?"
"I was attempting to come up with an event that would work for rescheduling our three person outing with Wallflower," she explained, "and was hoping for your input."
Sunset went quiet for a long minute, her brow furrowing and her face becoming tight and pinched, leaving Twilight feeling a pang of loss for the soft, affectionate space and the rising warmth between them, and the dark haired girl felt regret at having diverted the conversation. Perhaps she should have just left this until later...
She sighed and shook herself out of the thoughts to focus back on Sunset, who also seemed unwilling or unable to meet Twilight's gaze. Finally, Sunset let out a slow sigh. "I'm...not sure rescheduling is going to work, Sparky."
Twilight's expression pulled into a frown, not liking the echo of what she'd heard already from Wallflower when they'd talked the day before. "But...it's the socially acceptable way to handle a situation like this. We barely accomplished the goal of introducing you and Wallflower to one another, let alone spending any time in a mutual bonding activity in hopes of forming the start of a friendship..."
Amber fingers tangled with red and gold hair. "I recognize that, but I'm not sure that trying again will change the outcome, Twilight. I don't know if Wallflower and I will ever really get along..." Sunset refused to meet Twilight's eyes, staring determinedly up at the ceiling.
It was once again an echo of Wallflower from the day before, and Twilight found herself comparing the two conversations...
"Yeah, I don't think that's a good idea, Twilight..." her friend said evenly from her chair while looking at the plant samples she'd taken from several places the dark haired girl's energy detector had indicated as hot spots of activity.
"Why not?"
"Because your so-called friend doesn't like me....and I don't trust the girl who has been bullying Lyra since she switched schools. I also don't get how you could miss that--even for you, that's pretty oblivious." Wallflower never even glanced her way. "I think we should both cut our losses and let her stick to bullying the public school."
"I do not understand how a few minutes of fairly meaningless, albeit socially normative dialogue is sufficient enough to allow you to make that determination, Sunset. It is certainly not enough to form any kind of rapport." Twilight took a breath, fighting her frustration down to maintain control over words. "Our outing was interrupted by an unforeseen and unfortunate case of Wallflower being struck with an illness. It's not as though it was a planned circumstance on her part."
The redheaded girl sighed. "Normally, I'd agree with you..."
Twilight tapped her pen forcefully on the desk. "Then the only proper course of action is to reschedule and try again--you should know this, Sunset."
"I said 'normally,'" Sunset stressed, "but not this time. Wallflower made it quite clear to me that she has no wish to be friends..."
Confusion made her comb through her memories of the short time her girlfriend and Wallflower had interacted, trying to figure out when such a thing had been said to Sunset. "I don't recall that being indicated at all," she pointed out. "Not through direct statement nor through some form of implication."
Blue-green eyes still did not meet hers. "It was when you were getting our drinks."
An unpleasant suspicion crept over Twilight, the words bringing up another point from her talk with Wallflower...
"Please tell me you aren't really that oblivious, Twilight." Wallflower was now looking at her with an expression of disbelief. "It's one of the oldest tricks in the book--it happens in TV and movies all the time."
Twilight shifted in her seat. "I can't see Sunset trying to trick me or anything..." she hedged, only vaguely grasping what her friend was alluding to.
The green skinned girl rubbed her temples with one hand. "She handed you money and sent you off to get drinks," she pointed out. "It was a tactic to get you out of earshot so you wouldn't hear her get confrontational with me. It was deliberate, because she knew you wouldn't sit for her talking like that to me. It would shatter this little persona she's built up around you."
"Sunset isn't like that," she defended. "Yes, she has a rough past, but it's a lot more complicated than you know, and I've had the chance to get to know her."
Wallflower sighed. "She's playing you, Twilight, and you're letting her. She tried to play me, and when I refused to fall for it, she threatened me. Just like she does to the kids at her school. In CHS you do what Sunset Shimmer says or you pay for it."
Her stomach twisted in knots, and she found herself asking the question more to prove Wallflower's words wrong than anything else. "...Sunny...did...did you send me to get drinks on purpose?"
Sunset finally looked her way, guilt and shame written all over her features. "Kind of...I was getting the impression that I'd done something to offend Wallflower somehow, and when she started taking it out on you, I..." She bit her lip briefly. "...I didn't want it to be a scene, or to upset you, since I knew how badly you wanted the day to go well..."
Twilight could practically hear the 'I told you so' in the back of her mind that sounded like Wallflower, and her hand tightened around her pen. "...are you saying that you were embarrassed by the thought of me 'making a scene'...if I heard you say whatever it was you had to say to my friend?" Hurt and something else leant an edge to her voice.
At that, her girlfriend sat up, swinging her feet off the bed so she was completely facing Twilight. "What? No! No no...Sparky...I'm never embarrassed by you...why would you even think that?" Sunset reached out and took both of Twilight's hands in hers, forcing the dark haired girl to relinquish her hold on her pen. "I was afraid of me making it into a scene, because I didn't like how she spoke to you, how she kept making those...comments...about my friends..."
A thumb ghosted over the back of her hand as Sunset continued. "Turns out, my temper is...still pretty hard to control when it comes to defending the people that matter to me."
Mollified somewhat, and trying not to get distracted by their proximity, Twilight took a breath, and asked the second half of her real question. "Then what did you say to Wallflower that led to your belief that the two of you cannot be friends?"
The other girl looked down at their hands. "I asked her if I'd done something to offend her...because if I had, then I'd prefer she either tell me or take it out on me, not be rude to you. You don't deserve to be attacked because I upset someone somehow."
Perhaps that was the real misunderstanding? Twilight frowned, then decided to clear it up--if she could solve the misunderstandings that had clearly occurred between her friend and girlfriend then there would be no reason they couldn't be friends. "Sunny...while I appreciate your desire to protect me, Wallflower wasn't being rude..." She squeezed Sunset's hands in hers. "She's used to keeping me from getting too deeply distracted, drawing me out of mental tangents verbally."
Sunset's features became tense and tight, lips twitching. "Twilight...that's...that's not how friends talk to each other. It was...it felt mean, not funny or like she was playing. Even AJ and Dash don't talk to each other like that, and I've seen those two get into a wrestling match in the barn over a difference of opinion..."
"And of course you are somehow a capable expert when it comes to proper friendship behavior now?" The words snapped out of her, cutting and harsh, as her irritation at her girlfriend grew. It meant the words bypassed her normal attempts at self-censoring, hanging heavy in the air between them. At the same time, Twilight pulled her hands from Sunset's grasp; she needed to move, to gesture and pace in order to dispel the thoughts and feelings winding her up.
The other teen flinched back, expression twisting with hurt and shock, leaving Twilight with the sense that she had gone just a little too far--but if Sunset would just listen to reason--
"I never said that," Sunset finally answered, her voice quavering. "...Just the opposite. The way Wallflower talked to you, talked to me...that's the way I used to talk and act to people...before...and it's not how any of my friends act to each other or anyone else..."
Twilight found she resented the implications. "Wallflower's personality and mannerisms make her a touch abrasive, Sunset. I understand that might make her seem a lot more harsh than she means to be, especially to people who don't know her, but she really is a good friend."
The redheaded girl crossed her arms over her chest, hugging herself slightly. "This was more than 'abrasive,' Twilight. She told me outright that as far as she was concerned I was always going to be the Queen Bitch of CHS, and that I had no business even talking to you or her. That you deserved a better friend than me, and that the only reason I would want to be your friend was to get something out of you."
For the second time in as many days, she was being given a story that didn't match with what she knew about her friends...
"Twilight, I think you need to really think about what I'm saying. This is Sunset Shimmer--she's been the queen of mean at her school for years. Lyra has been complaining about her since day one! People like that don't just magically stop being horrible--you being friends with her is like making friends with Suri."
Twilight exhaled slowly, trying to fight her rising anxiety. "Sunset has changed. She's worked very hard to be a better person since we met, and it's not been easy for her...but she's trying. Why won't you give her a chance?"
Wallflower scowled. "This so-called friendship is not real! She has to want something from you, and you're so blinded by her that you're not only oblivious to that, but you don't notice how she treats you. She orders you around like a dog, Twilight. Or a slave. She hasn't really changed at all."
That made her frown. When had Sunset done something like that? "I have no idea what youre talking about, Wallflower. I know Sunset has a somewhat assertive nature, but I'd hardly equate that to treating me as an inferior."
Her friend snorted derisively. "Yeah, you aren't exactly known for having good judgment with things like that. Remember freshman year? That girl pulled the wool over your eyes for months, all while she copied from your work to up her own grade."
Twilight was torn. Her two friends were telling contradictory stories and she wasn't sure how to handle it. Especially because they seemed like opposing viewpoints of the same events. Was it just possible the two of them had misjudged, partially because Wallflower had realized beforehand that the girl Twilight was excited to introduce her to was someone she'd heard negative things about in the past?
That had to be it, and she decided to follow that logic, as it made the most sense. "Is it possible you misinterpreted her meaning at all? I know she is often concerned by my difficulties in spotting subterfuge--perhaps she just came on too strong?"
Her girlfriend made a frustrated sound. "No. It was not a misunderstanding. She was pretty direct in what she said, and made it quite clear what she thinks of me."
It had to be though. Sunset had no reason to lie to her, and had been pretty enthusiastic about the whole plan before it had happened. By the same token, Wallflower was a friend she'd known for several years, who had not reacted this way to any of her other friends--they'd all gotten along fairly well, even Lyra, who had been extremely high energy and a little weird. "Are you sure?" she pressed, her own frustration rising as she sought a real answer instead of this nebulous game of "he-said-she-said." "Because I really think this has to be some kind of gross misunderstanding, and that only by trying another meet up will we be able to solve it so that we can all hang out."
She watched as Sunset took a deep breath before exhaling slowly through her nose. The older girl's lips moved like she was counting to herself...maybe...because Twilight wasn't great at reading lips. "I'm more than certain," she responded. "Your friend Wallflower was extremely clear on what she felt, and how little she wanted to even breathe the same air as me. This isn't some kind of social faux pas or personal misunderstanding. I know that you really really want us to be friends, but at this point, that is not going to be possible."
"Why not?" Twilight demanded, her hands curling into fists at her sides. "Why aren't you willing to try?"
Sunset made a face. "I am willing, but she is not. She has already decided who she believes me to be, and she isn't interested in anything that doesn't fit that narrative. Until she does, there's no point! There's no point in pushing myself on someone who wants nothing to do with me, because it will only make it worse!"
"Someone has to be willing to try first, Sunset!" Why was Sunset being so difficult? If they just tried, she and Wallflower could be friends and put this silly misunderstanding behind them.
"It's not that simple, Twilight!"
From downstairs, she heard her father call up, about going to go get the takeout that the family had decided to order for dinner. It was a welcome interruption, Twilight decided. She needed some air and to calm down before this turned into a fight. She didn't want to fight with her best friend.
Purple eyes flicked to Sunset. "I think we need to put this conversation on hold. Right now, we both need space. I'm going with Dad to get dinner," she told her firmly, her voice tight and strained. Then she turned and stalked out of her room without a backward glance. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Five: Take A Step Back | Sunset stared at the empty doorway, bewildered and stung. This conversation had not happened at all like she'd anticipated, and now Twilight had--
Hugging herself, the redhead cut the thought off. Twilight had done the right thing, stopping the argument before either of them lost their tempers. She certainly didn't want to run that risk, not with how her magic had been behaving recently. The knowledge didn't make her feel better, but it did mean she didn't feel any worse...
She pushed herself off the bed, and shuffled towards the door, then down the hall towards the stairs. The former unicorn had been looking forward to the night, but now...with how the uncertainty and hurt made her stomach churn and her chest feel tight...maybe it would be better if she went home. Facing Twilight right now was not a prospect that she was looking forward to--she needed time to sort through how she felt and what she wanted to say. With how Twilight had snapped at her and thrown her bullying, friendless history in her face, her emotions were a wreck. Of all the people she knew, the one person she had truly believed would never hold that over her had been Twilight Sparkle. It was an illusion that had been soundly shattered now, and it hurt more than Sunset wanted to admit.
The redheaded teen grabbed her boots from by the front door, glancing down the hall towards the kitchen, where she could hear Velvet moving around. She debated with herself, before creeping into the kitchen with hunched shoulders; Twilight's parents at least deserved to know she was going to head home. They would be worried if she just vanished, and after all they had done, she didn't want to worry them.
"Mrs. Velvet?" Sunset said hesitantly, gripping her elbow with her other hand.
Velvet turned, her face creasing with concern as she took in the sight of the teenager standing in the doorway, boots in one hand. "Sunset...I thought you'd gone with Twily and her father to pick up dinner?" She seemed to look her over a second time, with more scrutiny, and immediately set aside the dishcloth she'd been using to dry a drinking glass. Her footsteps carried her across the room quickly, reaching out with a gentle hand to touch Sunset's shoulder. "Sweetheart, are you alright? You don't look well..."
She shook her head. "...she...went without me...I...we...we had a fight...and she said she wanted space..." Shying from the touch a little, she dropped into a kitchen chair to start putting her boots on.
Her girlfriend's mother frowned a little. "Why are you putting your shoes on?"
Sunset pushed her hair back from her face. "...I was...going to head home...since Twilight wanted some space..."
The frown on the older woman's face deepened. "Did Twilight tell you to leave?" Some part of Sunset's mind noted that Velvet had dropped the shortened form of the girl's name, and seemed more than a little upset at the very idea.
Cribbing her thumbnail out of habit, she shook her head. "...no...but...I made her mad at me, and I...thought it might be best..." She cringed inwardly when concern became disappointment--she had never wanted to disappoint Twilight's mother...but that was something that had been bound to happen sooner or later. "I'm sorry..." she mumbled.
"Sweetheart, can you look at me?" The gentle tone was at odds with the darkening expression on the woman's face, and an equally gentle hand reached out to guide the abused digit away from Sunset's teeth.
Belatedly, she realized there was a foul, coppery taste on her tongue--blood, she realized, her stomach threatening to rebel over it. She'd bitten her nail down to the quick and then some. Sunset swallowed, trying to settle her guts, even as she raised her eyes to meet Velvet's, her boots forgotten for the moment.
Pulling a chair closer with her free hand, Twilight Velvet sat down, still holding onto Sunset's hand and rubbing soothing little circles on the back of it that felt extremely comforting while she doctored the injury with supplies from a nearby kitchen drawer. "If you want to go home, Sunset, you can, but I would prefer if you'd let either Night or myself drive you home. I'm worried about you being on that bike of yours when you're upset like this..."
Sunset was quiet while Velvet finished wrapping a band-aid snugly around the end of her thumb, before she gave a slow and jerky nod. "If...if you'd rather, Mrs. Velvet, I..." She had to swallow several times when the words got stuck in her throat, hung up on what felt like a boulder lodged there. As Velvet smoothed back a lock of hair that had once more fallen into her face when she looked at her toes, she managed to get her voice to work. "...I don't want to make more problems for you..."
"You are never a problem for us, Sunset. Not now, not ever." Despite the firm, fierce tone, the fingers now running through her hair were caring and comforting. "You are welcome in this house, with this family, even if you and Twilight are having a disagreement over something right now."
The former unicorn let out a shuddering breath, but was unable to stop the flow of words that spilled out. "But she's your daughter...and I--"
Velvet interrupted smoothly, "You're an intelligent and exceptional young woman, Sunset, who has, in the months we've known you, always conducted yourself politely and respectfully. There's no reason to think otherwise of you, despite a fight with Twilight." She continued carding her fingers through red and gold curls. "Everybody fights, Sunset, no matter how close they are. Even Night and I fight sometimes. It would be silly of me to expect different with you and Twilight, or to automatically assume you were somehow in the wrong without knowing what happened."
She paused for a moment, giving a chance for Sunset to absorb those words, before adding, "Though I'm here to listen if you want to talk about what happened?"
Indecision waged a war in her head. She wanted desperately to talk about what has happened, but she didn't want to betray any confidence or seem like she was somehow 'tattling' on her girlfriend to the younger girl's mother. Finally she sighed, leaning into the hand stroking her hair. "...okay..."
Once the choice was made, the story spilled out of her: agreeing to a joint outing with Twilight's friend Wallflower, the awkward and uncomfortable meeting, how the girl had been...catty and unpleasant, how she doubted her own reactions until the end confrontation, how she'd felt at the end, and then the subsequent argument she'd just had with Twilight when she tried to explain her hesitation on meeting Wallflower again...laid out as honestly as she could recount it. Her memory was nowhere near as precise as Twilight's, so she summarized several points and bits of dialogue, but tried to keep it as close to what she could recall as possible.
Velvet listened, making the occasional encouraging sound whenever Sunset's words faltered, giving the redhead the courage to keep going. When Sunset finally finished the recount of events--even the conversation with Flash because she had wanted an outside opinion--she sat for a few minutes in one of Velvet's hugs, fighting back tears out of sheer determination. It was a losing battle as a few escaped to make damp tracks down her cheeks, followed soon after by more of them. A box of tissues was passed to her without a word, allowing her the chance to wipe her face and blow her nose without overt attention being called to it.
When she'd put herself back together, unable to really look her girlfriend's mother in the face, Velvet resumed the soothing motion of fingers in her hair. "For what its worth," the older woman began, "I am proud of you for how you handled all of that, Sunset. Considering the circumstances, you acted in a very mature fashion."
"Y-you are?" she croaked in disbelief.
A motherly kiss was pressed to the top of her head. "Yes, I am. You maintained a polite disposition in a very unpleasant and confrontational situation, took time to work through your thoughts, and sought an honest opinion on whether or not your reaction and feelings were appropriate for the situation. I am proud of you for that...and not particularly pleased with my daughter at the moment for how she responded to you."
Fingers caught her under the chin, making her meet Velvet's gaze. "Sunset, I want you to understand something. You are allowed to say no to anyone when they demand something of you that you are not okay with, even if that someone is your best friend. I understand that you want to be a good friend, but when it is something that is causing you distress, it is perfectly healthy and acceptable to refuse."
"Then why'd she get angry with me?" Sunset needed an answer to that, because she still wasn't sure what had sent the conversation off the rails. "When I told her, she..." She hunched her shoulders. "...she didn't believe me. She said I must have misunderstood Wallflower, and I should just try harder..."
Lips thinned at the question, before Velvet shook her head. "I...do not agree with Twilight in this case, Sunset. It seems to me a pretty hard thing to misunderstand when someone openly says 'I don't like you' and 'I don't trust you not to be a terrible person.'" She closed her eyes for a few heartbeats. "Now, I will admit, I barely know Wallflower--I have met her a few times, back when Twily had more friends at her school, but not often and never for very long. However, her actions are hardly the kind of behavior I would want to see in a person either of you was associating with..."
While her words trailed off, Sunset got the impression that there was more she wanted to say, but had decided against voicing it in front of a teenager. The former unicorn worried at her lip with her teeth. "...then why did Twilight say I did?"
Velvet was quiet for a minute or two, as if considering her response. Finally, she replied, "While I believe I can make an educated guess, it would be just that--a guess. It's a question I would very much like to ask Twilight myself, in addition to several other questions. I am not particularly pleased with her behavior as of late, and this is yet one more example of her acting in a fashion that is unacceptable." She gave Sunset another hug. "I'm sorry that you two had a fight, sweetheart, but I really do not think you should take the blame for it all on yourself."
Sunset sat there for a time, trying to sort out and untangle the emotions roiling and twisting in her guts like a swarm of Abyssinian Firebees. Twilight Velvet sounded...almost like she was angry...at Twilight over the whole thing. Which...while it made sense for the woman, it...felt jarring and out of place to the former unicorn. She was not accustomed to parents siding against their own offspring in her defense. It...just didn't happen. It certainly had never happened back in Equestria, and it hadn't occurred in the human world either in the few instances of people getting parents involved over the years.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a concerned, "Sunset?" from the older woman. "What's wrong?"
She floundered, trying to come up with an answer that would satisfy. "I..." Blue-green eyes made the mistake of meeting Velvet's, and she found the truth, though carefully worded, spilling out. "...just...I'm not used to...to...well...this!" She made a gesture in the air.
"What do you mean?"
Sunset closed her eyes, seeing again the angry faces of teachers and parents, taking her to task for confrontations with her peers. "...taking my side," she said at last. "Whenever...someone was angry with me, and...adults found out...especially parents...they always blamed me. I'm...not used to someone saying their...child...might've been wrong."
The arm hugging her tightened, and with her eyes shut as they were, the noise Velvet made was one she could pretend came from a mare instead of a human. "A lot of parents do not like to acknowledge that their children are anything less than perfect," she murmured, kissing the top of Sunset's head again. "I have no such illusions--both of my children have their faults, just like every other person who has ever lived, and I am all too aware of what those faults entail for both of them."
"Because of that, I can plainly see you are trying your best to be fair and truthful in what you've told me, and I can see where some of Twilight's faults could create a situation very like what you've explained. It would be entirely unfair and wrong of me to do exactly what Twilight is doing and putting the whole of the blame on your shoulders when it is not yours."
A rattling, rough sob escaped before Sunset could stop it, her eyes squeezing shut against more tears. "...thank you..." she rasped.
"Any time, sweetheart..." There was a pause. "...and thank you, for trusting me enough to tell me all of that."
She nodded into Velvet's shoulder, and they sat there for several minutes, Sunset drawing comfort from the warm motherly hug that soothed that old ache. Her girlfriend's mother eventually broke the silence again, just about the time they heard someone pull into the driveway. "I know you were thinking about going home, and I will still respect that choice, but I'm hoping you will at least stay for dinner, even if you aren't ready yet to patch things up with Twilight."
Twilight barely restrained the urge to slam the door of the car when she got in the front seat next to her father. It wasn't his or his car's fault that Sunset was being ridiculously difficult, after all. She settled for stewing in silence for a minute or two before she realized he hadn't started the vehicle. Turning her head, she realized he was looking over at the front door with a concerned, confused expression, and it dawned on her that he was waiting on her girlfriend to appear.
"Just go, Dad," she bit out in a huff, her voice sounding more petulant than the firm-but-calm tone she'd been aiming for.
Night frowned, starting the car. "What about Sunset?" he asked curiously.
"She's not coming."
He arched a brow, but began backing out of the driveway. "Wanna talk about it?" her father offered a minute later.
"There's nothing to talk about," Twilight responded tersely, annoyed that her tone still possessed more than an acceptable level of petulance to it. That irritation merged with her frustration at Sunset's pigheadedness, and, in doing so, prodded her to keep talking despite her decision to leave it at that. "Sunset is just being unreasonably childish is all. She took something Wallflower said in completely the wrong way, and is now acting like it's a huge problem...but she's upset over nothing!"
Her father said nothing, and she took it as a cue to keep going. "When I explained that to her, that she had clearly taken things in the wrong way and misunderstood Wallflower's intentions, and then pointed out that she was being exceptionally rude to be so hostile over a misunderstanding, turning down the social outing I was trying to organize to help them sort through their misunderstanding, she dug her heels in, becoming even more obstinate in her refusal!" She scowled out the window. "Someone with her obvious upbringing should have a better grasp of proper etiquette and social niceties than that--I shouldn't have had to explain it!"
Twilight blew out another breath in a huffy sound, glaring into the evening gloom. "So she can just stay behind and think about it until she's ready to apologize for her ridiculous behavior and act in a more reasonable manner."
More silence, and the teen felt the urge to fill it with more sound, more words. Besides, getting it all off her chest had helped a good bit. "I'm doing my best to handle this in a mature fashion, Dad...removing myself from the situation until Sunset decides to come around and get over this snit about Wallflower." She considered for a moment, organizing her thoughts. "Dr. Soft-spoken would probably say it's a result of insecurity on Sunset's part, or maybe from jealousy over me having another friend...What do you think?"
A small smile tugged at her lips while she waited for her father to confirm what she'd hypothesized about the whole situation...only to fall away when she registered that her father was not responding with the expected alacrity. Twilight stole a glance at him--instead of nodding and agreeing, or even being overly focused on the road, Night's expression was the worryingly neutral one he wore when he heard something he didn't like the sound of, but was holding back until they had finished.
She didn't know how to feel about that look being directed at her, particularly in this situation. As a result, her attempt to prompt a response came out smaller and weaker than she wanted. "...don't...I mean...that was the mature and reasonable way to handle it, wasn't it? I thought that space and a time out to think until she understands how badly she's been acting over this is the proper way to deal with this whole mess...that's what you and Mom do, after all..."
At that, Night did respond, his tone that very mild and neutral one that suggested he was incredibly unhappy. "I do believe, Twilight Sparkle, and I am quite certain your mother would back me up on this, that I have never 'put your mother in time out until she apologized' for disagreeing with me. Not once, in the entire history of our thirty-plus years of knowing each other." There was a crisp snap to the end of his words that made the dark haired teen twitch.
For a brief few seconds, she considered protesting, but her father continued, and what he had to say made her mood sour even further.
"I am going to be completely frank with you, Twilight," he said, his voice firm. "I really don't care for this new attitude you've affected over the last month. It comes across as arrogant, spiteful, and is downright unpleasant to interact with. I understand you have been extremely stressed with your schoolwork, and that this year has had several large changes, but that's not an excuse for it, and it's not a flattering persona you're projecting. What you were just saying, a minute ago, about Sunset, who you claim is your best friend, was cruel, mean spirited, and derogatory--you sounded like Alabaster and Jade, sneering down your nose at someone who was less than you..." Golden eyes were hard and his expression had turned stern. "It is most certainly not how your mother and I raised you to treat others."
Twilight opened her mouth to protest, but as they were idling at a red light, Night held up a hand to forestall whatever she'd meant to say. "Let me finish, please, and then you can respond."
The teenager made a face, crossing her arms over her chest again. She'd expected her father to see the logic in what she had done and agree with her steps to handle the whole disagreement without screaming and yelling. Instead, here he was scolding her about a completely unrelated, irrelevant point that had nothing to do with that night and everything to do with the fact that her parents were leery of her desire to assert her independence, or even about her mother's mistrust of her looking to Principal Cinch as a mentor figure.
In the end, she tuned most of what he was saying out, in favor of mulling over it herself. She could get the general gist of what he was saying to her, and mentally ticked off a number of items on a mental list. Twilight had not been wrong. He didn't care for her standing up for herself, or making decisions on her own, or trying to handle these things by herself. Basically, Night didn't care for Twilight doing anything that showed that she was an intelligent young adult on the cusp of adulthood, instead of a dependent child who relied on Mommy and Daddy to make all her life choices. It wasn't fair, either--didn't he realize that she needed to do these kinds of things now so she could survive as an adult without having an overly emotional meltdown every time life got stressful?!
At some point, Twilight realized the car had stopped, and her father was looking at her expectantly. "Yes?" she asked, her tone short and sharp--even she recognized she was being snippy with him, but she felt vindicated since he'd just seen fit to dress her down like a recalcitrant toddler. Besides, she couldn't bring herself to let go of the sense of injustice that coiled in her guts at the way no one ever seemed to actually listen to her.
A small voice in the back of her mind, sounding wounded and huffing a little at the direction of her thoughts, retorted in a tone Sunset had never used to her knowledge, "I listen, Sparky. I'm just less inclined to listen when you're acting like the north end of a southbound mule."
Twilight pushed the voice away. Well, I don't want to listen to you right now, she thought back. It was nigh on intolerable, she decided, when even her own mind refused to back up her own decisions.
"Were you planning on coming in with me to retrieve the food?" Night asked coolly.
The dark haired girl shook her head sharply. "I'll stay with the car," she said irritably. "You should go get it though--the app says it's ready for pick-up, and it's no good cold."
Night Light watched her for a long minute or two, and she did her best to remain impassive, despite how it made her feel. "Very well, Twilight....but this conversation is not over yet. I will be right back."
It was fairly obvious that her father hoped she would spend his absence thinking on his words, but Twilight felt little inclination to do so. Instead, she mulled over her indignation at his complete and utter dismissal of both her points and her struggles to grow as a person, viewing the latter as some kind of...attitude! Worse yet, he compared it to the mannerisms of...of... One eye twitched just a little. She was nothing like Alabaster or Jade, and she would never be! The whole point of pushing herself so hard with her project, with her grades, with her academic achievements was to prove that the beliefs about her from family members like that were wrong!
"Are you really sure about that, Sparky?" whispered that part of her that sounded like her girlfriend. "Maybe you should really think about what you've been spouting off this afternoon...it's...not like you at all--it sounds like you're repeating what someone else has told you..."
Unbidden, a scrap of her conversation...such as it had been...with Wallflower floated up from her memories.
"Look, Twilight, I get that you're not the best judge of character, and you're a pushover, but even you have to admit it's not a great decision here. Why in the world would a public school kid be trying to hang around with people from a private school like CPA--they're different worlds!" Wallflower was looking at her with a severe frown--from her, that was practically a scowl, Twilight noted absently.
Still, she tried to counter the point. "When we met, she had no idea what school I went to! There wasn't any kind of weird ulterior motive that you keep suggesting. Sunset and I have a lot in common!"
A snort escaped her friend. "I have a hard time believing that someone who probably lives in a leaky apartment or a dingy trailer has a lot in common with the smartest girl in Crystal Prep. You're better off not getting too chummy with public school kids...but it's your funeral when the truth of what they're really up to all comes out. Just leave me out of it."
"...could've called that one. I'm surprised she didn't give you the speech about how 'while you can make allowances for those of lesser breeding, it doesn't do to let their kind of people too close. It gives them ideas, and your expensive cutlery goes missing.' Really, Sparky, how do you put up with that?"
Twilight shoved the rest of the memories down, uncomfortable and starting to question both herself and the little voice in the back of her mind. Sure, it was pretty harsh, and she was as unhappy with Wallflower as she was with Sunset, but to be fair, Canterlot High did have a bit of a reputation for the way they handled problem students--everyone knew it was where the kids in the area who had run out of schools to get kicked out of ended up.
"That's just a rumor and you know better than that."
A sound escaped her and she buried the voice. This wasn't supposed to be how her night went, but Sunset had thrown off her carefully scheduled evening. Why did she have to turn this into an overly dramatic mess! Twilight took off her glasses and rubbed her face, trying to relieve tension and relax. The last thing she needed on top of the rest of the evening's disastrous events was a headache.
When she lifted her head and put her glasses back on, she spotted her father exiting the restaurant. Her stomach twisted at the stern look he gave her--it felt like he was even more displeased with her than he had been when he'd left the car. For once, the smell of stir-fried meat and vegetables, along with the delicious tang of soy sauce and ginger, failed to make her mouth water. In a curiously distant and numb way, she found herself wishing that her mother had opted to cook dinner instead.
Night started up the conversation again once they were moving, and Twilight could see how angry he was--a rare sight, but one that had been happening more since the beginning of the new year. It was something that made her squirm a little in her seat, as it was directed at her...just like it had been the night she and Shining had gotten into it with their mother.
"Maybe there's a reason for that," the traitorous voice she'd tried to bury whispered sarcastically.
It made guilt twinge, the memory of shocked hurt and betrayal in blue-green eyes feeling like a knife to the heart.
Still, despite the fact that he was angry, her father managed to keep his voice level and at a normal volume--in some way, she was grateful for that, because she didn't know how she would react if he had actually been angry enough to raise his voice. In all of her life, she couldn't remember a time when he had yelled in anger...it just wasn't who he was. At the same time, him being outwardly calm left her with nothing to rail against, leaving her riddled with impotent frustration and forced to listen to what he had to say so she could prepare a counter argument.
"Alright...since I'm fairly certain that you were choosing to ignore me when I was talking before, I would like to start this conversation over again." As the car stopped at a red light, he took a moment to pin her with a gaze that made her face heat with embarrassment. "And just so you understand, if you attempt to ignore me again, I will lock your laboratory down for the rest of the weekend. I do not care how old you are--deliberate disrespect of a family member comes with consequences. Do you understand, young lady?"
Twilight squirmed in her seat but nodded reluctantly. She didn't really want to listen to the lecture all over again...but she definitely didn't want to lose access to her laboratory for the whole weekend, not when she had so much work she needed to do. That would put her behind schedule. More behind schedule than she already was, anyway.
"Verbal acknowledgement please, Twilight." Her father wasn't giving one inch, and the dark haired girl wondered briefly if this had been what Shining faced, after he'd yelled at mom that night. If it was, it was understandable why he'd been so subdued since then.
"I understand, Dad." Her voice was shakier than she liked, wavering a little in the middle. Night Light was not a harsh or even stern man--he didn't do something like this over trivial matters. That he was doing it here spoke volumes about his seriousness, and that he meant every word that was about to come out of his mouth.
"Maybe you should listen properly this time, Sparky, and consider the points he makes. If you don't, then how are you any better than those scientists and researchers you complain about--you know the ones who twist the facts to match their hypothesis rather than admit they were wrong?"
Her father nodded, satisfied with her answer, and continued, "I am well aware of the fact that right now, you are extremely stressed with the school project you have taken on, and that, at the same time, you are also trying to explore what it means for you to make the transition from a dependent child to a more independent teenager in preparation to eventually become a fully independent adult. The truth is, Twilight, neither your mother nor I are unsympathetic towards the fact that such a transition is a tough time of trial and error for you, even more so than many of your peers, and we understand that you will not always get it right on the first attempt. We are also acutely aware that this may mean you might wish to make choices that are different from ours, to try things we had not considered you might desire to try, and we know that such a thing does not necessarily make those choices wrong...merely different."
The teen's stomach twisted and contorted until it felt like her guts were trying to impersonate a mobius strip. That....was not what she'd assumed her father was going to say before...now she felt like a fool.
He wasn't done, continuing his lecture after a handful of heartbeats to let the first part sink in. "However, part of being an adult is the ability to stop and reconsider our choices and actions, when we see that what we are doing is causing unneeded harm to someone." Golden eyes flicked briefly to her, a look that left her no doubt that he was talking about her behavior, not his....especially when she had a mental flash of the way Sunset had flinched, her face crumpling with hurt and betrayal.
Hanging her head, Twilight hugged herself as her heart sank further. Her mind had decided to dredge up an older memory immediately following the one from a short time ago, from one of Cadence's more important discussions with her in sixth grade.
"While consent is usually spoken of in regards to sexual conduct, Ladybug, I want you to understand that it's actually super important and applies everywhere and everywhen, not just for you, but each and every person. It doesn't matter what its about, the second someone asks you to stop or tells you no, you need to stop--I don't care what it is you're doing or how much you want it. You put it on hold and you listen to what they are saying. It's not okay to tell them they're wrong, or to argue about it. You listen, respect their no, and talk about the situation with concern for their wants and needs, just like you would want someone to respect yours."
Twilight blinked at her sister in all but blood. "But what if they are being stupid and their reason is irrational? Do I still have to listen even when they are wrong?"
Cady rested both hands on her shoulders. "Yes, Twily. You don't have to believe them or agree, but you need to respect their right to choose and their right to say no, just as other people need to respect those things for you." Her tone was firm but gentle when she asked, "For example, someone else might think your reason for not wanting to date a boy because you like girls is stupid and irrational, but you'd want them to respect your decision and not be mean, wouldn't you?"
Blushing horribly, Twilight nodded and looked at her toes. Cadence tipped her chin back up. "Then you need to give other people the same respect."
She took a breath to steel herself, then quietly said, "Do you think that is what I did earlier, Dad?"
Night was silent for a moment. "In my opinion, having heard your rendition of what occurred, and having received a text from your mother, who is seeing to Sunset..." He paused, and she bit her lip, wondering about his final verdict. "....yes, Twilight, I do believe you did that, even if it was accidental and not deliberate." His voice had started to thaw, just a little, but was still far too stern and flat, making her fidget with the sleeve of her sweater.
"Oh..."
A heavy sigh escaped him. "Wanting your friends to get along is not a bad or wrong choice, Twilight...but attempting to force them into each other's company and socialize when one or both of them have expressed discomfort with that is a bad choice. It would be the same as if I decided you had to spend time with Silver Dollar just because I suddenly developed a friendship with his father."
The utter absurdity of that scenario made Twilight choke on a laugh. "Dad...no, you'd never make me do...do..." Realization hit her like a brick. "Oh..." she whispered again, and her laughter cut abruptly.
"Yes." Night said, aware that what he'd been saying clicked with her. He made a face. "Obviously, this is a hypothetical, since I'm well aware that he's the definition of a creepy cad, but my point remains valid. How would you feel if I ignored how you felt or anything you said about him or his behavior or how he made you feel? Especially if I told you that how you felt about Silver Dollar was just a misunderstanding, and you needed to get over it."
Twilight felt legitimately sick now. Was that what she'd tried to do to Sunset?
"Pretty much. It's me, Sparky," mental Sunset chipped in, leaning forward from the backseat. "Have I ever been this adamant about something like this for no reason? Or been a bad judge of someone's feelings and motivations towards either of us? Do you really believe I'd lie about something important like that? You know me."
It was really hard to ignore the facsimile of her girlfriend making reasonable arguments and backing up what her father was saying. It certainly didn't make her feel any better about what she'd said and done to Sunset, and how she had been so fixated on what she wanted that she hadn't cared that she'd hurt the one person who mattered to her more than just about anyone...
"I... need some time to think, Dad...Is that alright?"
Night nodded in acquiescence. "I think that is a very good idea, Twilight. Take some time to think about your actions, and if the way you've been acting of late is really the kind of person you want to become." He paused, then added, "And maybe think about what you need to say to Sunset, because I think at the least you owe her an apology."
The rest of the drive home was silent, as Twilight was left with only her own thoughts, uncomfortable as they were. Particularly one that rose up again and again as she struggled to analyze the interpersonal interactions she engaged in in the last two months.
Why does this have to be so difficult for me? |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Six: Breaking the Habit | This was officially the most awkward meal Sunset had ever eaten--and she'd once sat through a dinner involving griffon dignitaries from warring clans who spent the entirety of the meal trying to assassinate each other with dirty looks. Velvet and Night were carrying most of the conversation. She furtively watched her girlfriend, who wasn't seated beside her as normal, but rather down the table on Shining's normal seat. Twilight refused to look at her--at least directly--and hadn't said one word since she'd gotten back with the food.
"Sunset? How's school going?"
It took her several seconds to realize Night Light was addressing her, and she shrugged. "It's...about like normal, other than the craziness of it being a Friendship Games year." Her lips twisted at the mention, an outward reflection of her inner feelings.
He tilted his head--the same way Twilight did, she noticed--and made a thoughtful sound. "Oh? I remember my Friendship games year. It was...exciting. You don't look so enthusiastic though."
Sunset sighed. "I'm not, really. I just don't see the point in wasting time, money, and resources to host a bunch of people who remind me of the same kind of po--people I used to go to school with once. The kind of people who lord their victories over others, and take great pleasure in making others feel bad because they got bested in some silly sport or another. The kind of person I used to be. No matter how hard CHS tries, we've never won before, and I'm not sure we will this time...and even if we did, would CPA let us have it? I doubt it--they'll either look for a way to say they actually won, or to discredit us, like an accusation of cheating." She drummed her fork against her paper plate of shrimp lo mein. "Honestly, I've got enough on my plate there, between advanced classes, an independent project I'm working on at the principals' behest, being in a band with the girls, and being the main organizer in a student group tutoring thing that a bunch of us started...I don't have time to worry or care about some silly sports competition."
Looking even more thoughtful, Night rubbed his chin. "I confess, I never considered what it must be like for the students of Canterlot High during the Friendship Games, and how it all must feel..." He shook his head ruefully. "You raise a lot of very valid points, Sunset."
"I think for a lot of people at school, it's a mixed bag," Sunset admitted. "Some people are excited, because they think we have a chance to win, some people just don't want to give up...but honestly? A lot of them are just...going through the motions. Our school has never won a single event, in a competition that goes back something like five decades, and there's not even any sense of sportsmanship from the other school. We're not even asked if we even want to continue the Games. It's just some stodgy, hidebound 'tradition' at this point. If I could, I'd give the whole thing a pass."
"You know," Night said with a sly glance at Velvet, "...given Sunset's feelings on the matter, and the fact that I know Twilight doesn't usually enjoy competitive events either...maybe we could organize a 'family hooky day.' I could take the day off work, the girls could call in sick from school, and we could go do something fun ourselves far away from school functions and sporting events."
The redhead had to admit it was a tempting thought--she certainly didn't expect to be voted onto the team, and she really didn't care much about the Games...but...
Rainbow would make it onto the team. She was the best athlete in school, star of the soccer team, and that pretty much guaranteed her to be voted in as part of the Games team. And after the events of the last six months, she wagered several of her other friends would get voted in too--after all, who wouldn't vote for the 'magic using superheroes' to represent Canterlot High? It made her glad that she was technically still under probation from those kinds of activities and thus, votes for her wouldn't count.
Blue-green eyes flitted automatically across the table, to see what Twilight thought of this, and she was surprised to see that her best friend looked...almost ill and on the verge of panic. Why, Sunset couldn't say, and despite their...disagreement...argument...whatever it was...earlier, she decided to step in before whatever was ratcheting up Twilight's anxiety triggered a panic attack.
"That sounds like it would be a million times more fun," she told Twilight's parents, smiling tiredly at them, "and I really wish I could...but I don't think I can."
Velvet watched her for a minute. "Why do you say that, sweetie?"
Sunset ran a hand through her hair. "Well...partially because I'm still technically on probation for the rest of the year. Miss Luna and Principal Celestia made it clear last fall that I'm to be a 'model student'--skipping school kind of falls into the list of things I was explicitly told not to do." She played with her fork, eyes dropping to her plate as she didn't want to see the disappointment in their eyes. "And also because I'm pretty sure at least a few of the girls are going to be on our team, and even though I think the Games are a waste of time...I want to support my friends. They've done so much for me, been there for me...I want to be there for them, even if it's just a stupid competition, you know?"
She could feel the silence pressing in on her, somehow managing to make the low grade headache she'd been trying to ignore worse, and she closed her eyes, not sure she wanted to see the expressions on the other faces at the table at that moment. The week was catching up to her--after what had happened earlier she was feeling like a rag that someone had wrung out, and dealing with any other emotional stress, even just disappointment over the offer being rejected, was more than she could handle right now.
"That's a real commendable attitude, Sunset," Night Light broke the silence at last.
Her head snapped up quickly to stare at him. "What?"
Twilight's father smiled warmly. "Wanting to be there to show support to your friends, even though you really don't want to partake of the Games. Given the name of the event, and the supposed wording of the charter that they are organized under, you saying that is more in the spirit of them than the competition has ever been. It's commendable," he explained. "Looking back at it now, from an adult perspective, I wish even half the students from either school had such beliefs--it might've led to a very different sort of Friendship Games if they had."
Ducking her head a little in embarrassment from the praise, Sunset risked a quick glance at Twilight to see if she was still panicking. The panic was gone, but the expression she found instead made her feel worse, not better. Twilight was frowning down at her plate, shoulders hunched--the frown was practically a scowl, her brows pinched together, her eyes narrowed, her very demeanor closed off and agitated.
Was it because Sunset had implied CPA students were unpleasant? Or was this about the...argument...from earlier? Or was it something else? Twilight had never been overly defensive of her schoolmates before, but...her recent behavior around anything to do with her school and the people there had become increasingly volatile...and after the vision, the nightmare, and the dark magic, Sunset couldn't be sure. Especially because the digging into Crystal Prep and local history that she had asked Lyra to do had yet to bear fruit--not for lack of trying on the part of the girl who loved her conspiracy theories.
The former unicorn didn't have any answers, and right now, trying to pick the whole mess apart made her headache throb painfully in her temples. She looked away before her girlfriend could catch her watching, answering Night with a half smile and an awkward, "...I...didn't think about it like that. I was just wanting to be a good friend..."
Whatever response they had, she barely heard, and the conversation moved away from her to other things. Sunset let herself tune it out until it was all just a vague buzz to her ears, focusing on eating. She wasn't feeling hungry, if she was being really honest with herself, and it might as well have been cardboard for all she tasted it, but she knew she'd skipped lunch earlier to run some tests on her magic alone, and her body needed the calories.
It didn't help that said magic was skittering erratically along the inside of her skin in fits and bursts, like a horde of crawling insects. She was struggling to push it down--not out of fear of a surge, as it didn't feel like it was going to get away from her, but because it made her feel even more agitated, stirring up buried instincts and old habits alongside unpleasant emotions.
Sunset put another forkful of lo mein in her mouth, chewing mechanically. She couldn't taste it...didn't want it, not really, but a little piece of her nudged her forcefully, prodding her into finishing it and taking another bite, driven by a habit she'd thought she'd broken after her situation in the human world had stopped being so dire. It wanted her to eat her fill quickly, so the redhead could escape to someplace where she felt less exposed, less raw.
She told herself it was ridiculous, that she was acting like a neurotic mess, but it was just one emotion in the storm that was building inside her, especially when she caught Twilight staring at her with yet another frown she couldn't read. Her hands shook as she scraped her plate clean of food, drained the tea from her cup...
"Sunset, sweetie, are you alright?"
Velvet's voice broke through the haze, and the amber skinned girl jerked her head up to look at her. The older woman looked worried. "...I..." How should she answer? "...my head hurts..." she settled on lamely.
Her girlfriend's mother nodded in understanding. "Are you finished eating?" When she made a sound that was some kind of affirmative, Velvet reached over and touched her arm. "Then why don't you go upstairs. Take a shower, get comfortable, and maybe have an early night?"
That was the escape she needed. Wanted. With a mumbled thanks that even she could barely hear, and one last, furtive glance at her girlfriend, Sunset fled up the stairs.
Shower...she thought. That sounded nice...a way to ease the pounding in her head and the way her eyes felt grainy. Sunset grabbed a towel and her pajamas, and sought sanctuary under scalding hot spray and clouds of thick steam. With the lights on their dimmest setting, and the water cascading over her, the tangle of feelings rose to the surface, as if drawn up by the water itself, the way poison was leached from an open wound.
Hurt. She was hurt. Not just by the way Twilight had tossed her past in her face...no...if she was honest with herself...what had hurt most was that Twilight...
Tears fell, only noticed because of the burning in her eyes. Twilight...didn't believe her. Twilight had accused her...not of lying outright...but...of her perception of events being skewed...
Just like Princess Celestia...
Bitterness rose in her throat. It was too like the situations when she was a filly, when it had been her voice against her peers...and no one had ever believed her. They always believed the other foals. The foals who made her life a nightmare, who tormented and teased and mocked her, until she lost her temper, only to then point hooves at her and make her the villain.
Twilight had always given her a chance before...but this was the first time it had been a choice between Sunset and someone she considered a friend...and she'd believed Wallflower.
Anger rose up at the thought of the name, and of the girl who wore it. Wallflower...whose words and mannerisms could have been copied right from any of the noble-born fillies from CSGU...who treated Twilight with thinly concealed disdain and mocking...
The tears dried up quickly as her anger took hold of her, fought with her. Wallflower had been toxic from the get go, and the more she looked back at her own memories, the more little signs jumped out at her, registered to the part of her that had once held Canterlot High in her iron grip. She'd implied Sunset had stolen her jacket. Had disparaged her friends. Had treated Twilight--intelligent, curious, friendly, caring Twilight--like the lavender skinned girl's inquisitive and knowledge-loving nature was annoying, something to be curtailed the way one did a puppy's habit of jumping up on people. Sunset growled, fighting with her magic as little tongues of red flame flickered in and out of existence along her knuckles and forearms.
And yet, for all of that, Twilight acted as though Sunset were the one in the wrong...as if she had no right to be angry and upset with Wallflower. For some reason, Twilight felt it was okay for the green haired girl to treat both of them like that, but Sunset not wanting to be subjected to that was crossing a line.
Her anger snarled and growled inside her, not just at Wallflower, but at Twilight. That hurt, and it washed over her like ice water a moment later as she wrestled with her magic. Sunset didn't want to be angry at Twilight....but the former unicorn couldn't help herself. The dismissal of her feelings, the questioning of her point of view, the insistence that she just try harder...she found herself seething from the sheer injustice of it all...
She'd thought Twilight was different. Different from Princess Celestia.
It was a bitter pill to swallow.
Grief and guilt swamped her. Twilight was not Celestia. It wasn't right to compare them, even under the circumstances. Her dark haired girlfriend had never done this before, and something about it wasn't right, even now. It felt wrong, like some other hand was at work...like there was something Sunset was missing...and here she was getting mad instead of asking questions, instead of looking for answers.
Falling right back into old habits again.
Tartarus take her, she was pathetic.
The fury guttered, threatening to go out like a spent candle for just a moment, then reignited at an errant thought: the dark magic that had triggered a similar argument the month before, that had left the family spiritually wounded for most of a week. Other thoughts pushed forward...the vision that had triggered the Rainbow of Light...her nightmares of that shadowy, twisted landscape...the...hint...of something else in Twilight's eyes...even Vice Principal Luna's words about Crystal Prep...
Sunset's stomach twisted unpleasantly, the question of whether or not what had happened was another attack by the same dark force that had been skirting the edges of her life since the beginning of the new year. She hadn't openly sensed any dark magic during her disagreement, but experience reminded her that this magic had proven capable of hiding from both her active and passive senses before. It had been Twilight and Shining going at their mother the first time when she had sensed it, but the day before Twilight had gotten into a screaming argument with her parents...and Sunset had sensed nothing. The parallels were too strong here to ignore, the teen decided with a pained grimace. She hadn't witnessed the first argument but the way Twilight had turned on her the moment she said no bore too much similarity to previous events not to be suspect.
Was that why her magic was so...active? Churning inside her like it was seeking a target, spilling out alongside her emotions? Flames gathered on her fingertips again as her anger had found its target in the form of that nebulous enemy behind the dark power that had been targeting her girlfriend's family. Despite the way her head pounded, her focus sharpened, until crimson fire became a blood colored ball of seething plasma that hissed and spat steam when stray droplets of water touched it.
It had to be that twisted thing she'd seen in her vision...somehow...that was the creature responsible...but she had no idea what it was or how to fight it. Or what reason it had for targeting her Twilight, why it wanted her girlfriend.
The thought left the former unicorn cold, and her hand clenched into a fist around the fireball, snuffing it out. Think, Shimmer, she hissed to herself. Don't go charging after the shadow in the woods like a foolish foal...you know perfectly well how that story ends.
She slumped under the spray, her magic moving and writhing against the inside of her skin, fighting against her control. Something evil was after her Sparky, and a sense she still couldn't identify but that had become increasingly attuned to Twilight--call it her gut, her magic, her instincts, even some kind of seventh sense--whatever it was, it was warning her that Twilight was being targeted...by something, somewhere that had an interest in Crystal Prep.
Sunset was finding it hard to breathe, the hot steam that had been comforting only minutes ago now feeling like it was suffocating her, hemming her in like a fluid, shifting wall. Amber fingers shut the water off and pushed the door open to the shower cabinet, allowing the steam to escape, its thick blanket replaced by chilled air that made goosebumps prickle along her skin as she stepped out onto the bathroom rug. Somehow, even that did not dispel the sense of being trapped but also exposed, and the shudder that passed over her was from more than just the cold as she hurriedly dried off.
The rough treatment, first from a shower far too hot and then from drying herself off with more haste than care showed, even through the layer of condensation on the mirror. Her skin was reddened and flushed, and that coupled with her earlier tears and pounding headache left her eyes bloodshot and the flesh around them looking dark and bruised. Sunset yanked her pajamas on, paying little notice to the way the moisture still in her hair left wet spots down her back and shoulders. She needed to think. To figure this out...to plan...to sort through the rest of her emotions even...she couldn't protect Twilight from an enemy if she was a breath away from screaming or crying.
For a wild moment, she actively considered calling the girls for help to...
To what? Her mind bit back, pointing out the obvious. What could they do right now? She didn't know exactly who her enemy was, or where they lived. All she had was some hunches and suspicions. It's not like she could even tell the family of her suspicions as things stood right now. They'd never believe her, and it would shatter everything she'd worked so hard to build here. Something in her mind laughed darkly at the mere thought of it. What would she even say? "Please, Mrs. Velvet, I think Twilight is being targeted by dark magic by an inhuman monster! I know because I'm actually a magical unicorn Magus from another world, pretending to be human because I screwed up so bad back home I've been exiled from my world! How, you ask? Oh, you know, stole a magical artifact of world ending power, turned into a rampaging she-demon, and nearly killed your daughter's interdimensional pony princess counterpart." They'd think her insane and delusional.
No...she needed more than she had. She needed proof. Not just magic she couldn't control or visions and nightmares. Hard evidence to prove that magic was real and Twilight was in danger...and what it was the enemy wanted. Why Twilight in the first place?
As much as she cared about her adorable, nerdy bookworm of a girlfriend, in the grand scheme of things, she wasn't exactly globally important. Twilight Sparkle was brilliant, but she was a teenager, not a princess, or a demigoddess, or some important cultural figure...and it wasn't like with her and the girls, who possessed powerful magic and the echoes left by the Elements...Twilight had no magic at all--unless Sunset counted the way the younger girl made her feel when they kissed, but that was a different kind of 'magic' all together. So why would anything magical, dark or not, target her?
The question gnawed at her like an oversized Saddle Arabian Sand Flea when she left the bathroom, but she couldn't get her thoughts in order to even begin looking for the answer. Instead, she stared numbly between two doors, one marked with Twilight's magenta star, and the other bearing her own name and cutie mark. Habit wanted to carry her to Twilight's bedroom, to the bed with the pillow and side she thought of as her own, so she could bed down amidst the scent of honeysuckle, old books, and the myriad of little scents that were Twilight...but her twisting, unsettled emotions halted her.
Though she ached for the familiar, she felt uncertainty rise--would Twilight let it go, or would going there turn into round two of their not-quite-fight? She wanted to work through it...but not right now. Swallowing, Sunset forced herself to turn away from Twilight's bedroom, her footsteps echoing oddly in her ears--something that they shouldn't have done anyways since the hall was carpeted. Each step was almost as painful as the throbbing in her skull, and she was trembling and breathing hard by the time she shut the door behind her.
Leaning back against the wood, she let her eyes sweep the dark room, her hand clenched on the doorknob in a white knuckled death-grip. Her skin prickled, and her back brain screamed about how exposed she felt, how even the empty shadows looked menacing. Sheer will forced her magic down as it threatened to spill out, and the redhead felt her ears pin back with the effort...
Her ears...oh, no...
One hand reached up, and she flinched as she realized she'd Ponied-Up, her fingers running over the sensitive furry appendage.
She also discovered that she needed to trim her nails, when she accidentally scratched her ear. Horseapples, that stung!
Shaking her head and jerking her thoughts back to the now, she let her head drop back against the door with a dull THUD that did nothing for her aching head. Her hand loosened the grip on the knob enough to turn the lock--she couldn't let the family see her like this, not yet, not until she could prove Twilight was in danger.
Sunset let out a whimper, a low sound of pain, and began to shake, her legs barely able to support her. The instincts to flee rose up, a desperate need to seek the safety of her friends, of Twilight's family...of Princess Celestia--the herd, some dim part of her that sounded like her nerd pointed out, the pony part of her wanting to seek safety in numbers. It was a lesson drilled into every colt and filly, to run for help, to regroup with others, for adults to tackle dangerous foes with the aid of numbers.
She didn't have that though. Not that she ever did. She'd handled her fights alone back in Equestria...and here, until recently. There were the girls, but they weren't here right now....and Twilight's family couldn't help. Couldn't fight this enemy...or help Sunset with her magic. It was too dangerous, and she could hurt them, badly. That was a risk she could not--would not--take.
A scrap of memory floated to the surface of her roiling maelstrom of thoughts, of a lesson learned long ago, one that had been distilled into a mantra for the first year she lived in the human world...
"If fleeing is not an option, or would put you in more danger, Sunset," Raven Inkwell had cautioned her, "then you must hide. Mask your scent as best you can, hold as still as you can in some place small, some place hidden where the danger cannot reach you easily. Always pick somewhere with an entrance and exit--if a foe approaches from one angle, then you can flee from the other. Never box yourself in..."
Her eyes swept the room again, discounting the corners and the closet immediately. She would be trapped, and there was nothing protecting her from above. Blue-green eyes fell on the bed, and muddled thoughts drove her forward with lurching, zombie like steps. "Safe...not soft..." she mumbled, tears trickling down her face from the pain lancing through her skull and the burning of magic in her nerves and the pathways the Crown had torn and seared into her body when it had transformed her into the demon of the Fall Formal...
The unicorn-turned-teenage-girl forced herself to act quickly, pulling breath into her lungs despite the building agony in every part of her body and the anger that seethed like a living beast in her chest, thrashing and wanting out to burn the thing that dared target her Twilight to ash and cinders. This was her home. Twilight was hers. Twilight's family was hers. CHS and the girls were hers...
Blankets and pillows were pulled from the bed to the floor as her legs gave out, and she crawled under the bed with straining, burning, shaking arms, burrowing into a nest of fabric and softness that smelled of laundry soap and fabric softener, while her body was wracked with agony of rage and magic that wanted out, against a mind so muddled from exhaustion and pain that she had forgotten why she had to keep it all inside, but was determined to do so regardless...
Any predator that wanted anything of hers would have to go through her first, and she would make them wish they'd never been born, she promised amidst the flashes of crimson light and harsh shadows...
Then it was too much and she blacked out, the last sight before her eyes a hazy vision of a terrible taloned hand reaching out for an oblivious Twilight Sparkle... |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Seven: Fact Check | Twilight felt an obscure, unsettling pain in her chest as she watched Sunset push back her chair and make her way from the dining room on shaky legs. Dinner had been awful--all the little details she'd caught in those stolen glimpses of her girlfriend had rattled her. The way her eyes were half shut against the intrusion of the overhead light, the way her hands kept curling into loose fists that tucked defensively against her chest when she wasn't actively focused on eating, and of course, the uncomfortable silence...as if all the animation that made the redhead so uniquely Sunset Shimmer had been drained away...
And it was all Twilight's fault.
She wanted nothing more than to rush after the older girl, babbling all the apologies she could think of, promising never to do this again, whatever it took to bring back her Sunny and the light she always saw in her eyes. Yet the words stuck in her throat, her whole body paralyzed; it felt like she was entirely encased in lead, immobile, frozen, unable to move no matter how her mind demanded her limbs respond. Only her eyes seemed capable of following her command, watching as her mother moved to walk with Sunset out of the room, instructions accompanying the sound of headache medicine being shaken free of a bottle. "Go have a hot shower, sweetheart, and then get some rest. We'll be here if you need us..." Velvet's voice murmured from the hall.
Innards twisted painfully as Twilight stared at the door and listened to the exchange, Sunset mumbling something before her footsteps carried her up the stairs. It should be her taking care of her girlfriend when she was upset, not her mother...but she had no right this time. Not when she had caused this, with careless, harsh words spoken and a single minded fixation on getting the results she wanted.
The teen bit the inside of her own cheek to help fight back the tears that wanted to flow, not for the first time cursing the way her brain was incapable of functioning normally and how that always seemed to cause disaster at the worst possible moment. How could you? she berated herself as she listened to the exhausted, dragging sound of Sunset's footsteps make their way upstairs and down the hall. After everything she's told you, how could you be that stupidly insensitive?
Looking away from the door caused her eyes to fall on her father's, and she couldn't hold back the tears any more. They made tracks down her cheeks, and the words she forced out felt like jagged glass in her throat. "...Da...daddy," she croaked, feeling more like a child than ever, "how...how do I fix this?"
Night Light closed his eyes, and Twilight could feel the ticking of seconds marching by at a painfully slow pace, as if time itself had slowed to a near halt. She felt like it took an eternity for her father to make his judgment, and time only resumed when he moved his chair and held out one arm to her. It was all the invitation she needed to scramble from her chair, almost tripping in her haste to accept the offered comfort, catching herself came with the pain of biting her tongue and the numbing agony of her elbow hitting the edge of the table, the blow making her whole lower arm go tingly and numb.
She half collapsed into her father's embrace, hot tears scalding her face and soaking into his shirt. In the way her parents always had, he offered no comment at first, only held her in a tight hug with one arm and used his hand to rub feeling back into her wounded elbow while she cried. "I h-hurt Sunset," she wept into his collar. "R-really hurt her!" Twilight knew she sounded like a small child, but at that moment, it didn't matter. Not compared to the gaping wound in her relationship with Sunset. With that hanging over her, she desperately wanted her parents to swoop in and...
And what? her mind demanded
...and just fix everything. Find a way to turn back time to the start of the evening, before she'd opened her mouth and said those awful, hurtful things, to undo the act that put a look like that on her Sunny's face. It didn't matter that it was an impossible wish--there had to be a way to fix it, and she needed them to tell her how, because she didn't know how to do it on her own.
"I s-said such horrible things! I didn't mean them, not really," Twilight continued. "I never wanted to be like that...I wasn't thinking right and I got so caught up in being frustrated that...that it just came out!" Her breath caught in a hiccupping sob, the words tumbling out. "Sunset's my--" she swallowed the truth, the half second pause barely discernible. "...my best friend, the best one I've ever had, the...the f-first person who wasn't f-family to j-just accept me and get me..." She knew she was babbling at this point, but she didn't care. "...I messed that all up...and I don't know how to fix it, to make it better!"
Through it all, her father just held her in that tight hug, rubbing circles on his back like when she was little. At some point her mother joined them, murmuring her name softly and combing fingers through her hair. In that moment, it bothered her that they were being so kind...she was the one who had done something wrong!
"You should be mad at me...why aren't you mad at me?" Twilight mumbled into her father's shirt. "I did an awful thing to Sunset--you should all hate me!" Her breath hitched in her throat; deep inside, a part of her mind begging for a scolding just as long as it came with a way to fix the damage she'd done, to undo the whole horrible evening.
"I'm not mad at you, Twily." Her mother's voice, gentle, so gentle, held a firmness that she couldn't evade, even if she wanted to. "None of us hate you. I don't hate you. Your father doesn't hate you...and Sunset doesn't hate you. I am, however, disappointed in your behavior." Velvet pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
The teen sniffled. "...but I...I h-hurt her...I did to Sunset what she'd never, ever do to me. Worse than anything Alabaster or Jade could do, b-because n-no one expects them to be n-nice...and I don't understand why you're being n-nice to m-me. I don't deserve it!" She struggled to breathe around tears and snot and her own ragged airways. "You should be mad and punishing me!" Her hands came up as she pushed away from her father, her voice spiraling higher with her agitation. "Consequences...something...just give me a punishment...and help me fix this! I can't lose Sunset! I can't!"
Night sighed softly. "Twilight, you need to stop and breathe for me. Nice and slow..." The firm tone registered and she found herself obeying, working to slow her breathing and heart-rate to a manageable pace that didn't leave dark spots at the corner of her vision.
After she'd calmed, he spoke again. "Now...am I to understand that you feel a consequence being imposed on you for your behavior will help you calm down and more rationally handle how you can set things right with Sunset?"
Twilight nodded frantically, her thoughts spilling forth unfiltered. "Yes, because that's how it works," she admitted, thinking back on all the lessons of her childhood. "It has to. I did something wrong...there's a consequence, and then it can all be fixed..." It made sense, even if she cringed inside at the childlike simplicity of her words...despite that, she needed it to be that simple. Trying to do things in an adult way had been what had gotten her into this situation in the first place...
She sensed, rather than saw, her parents having one of those wordless conversations, the silence pressing down on her. Eventually, her father broke the silence. "...and...just what...exactly do you think would be a reasonable punishment for having hurt a member of this family?" he asked carefully. "Taking away your books? Denying you your lab? Giving you extra chores?"
Right then, she didn't care about the details of the punishment, only that it happened. "Any of them, all of them," she croaked.
"While I know those things have been used as punishments in the past...I'm not entirely sure they're appropriate in this case," Night pointed out, frowning deeply.
The teen shook her head, trying to explain. It made sense in her head, was calm and rational, a formula she could follow. It was that that she did her best to communicate. "It needs to be a fair and equal consequence...my behavior didn't just hurt Sunset--it took something away from her that I know she looks forward to immensely." Her mother twitched, and Twilight pulled free from both parents entirely, pacing slightly back and forth in the dining room as she laid out her thoughts. "Dinner and family night on Fridays mean do much to her, more than she ever says...losing something something of equal value or importance is...only fair...and I need to apologize."
She paused in her pacing to look at her parents, seeing unreadable expressions on their faces. "Yes, I do rather think an apology to Sunset is definitely something you should do," Velvet acknowledged slowly, frowning slightly. "But...Twily...can you explain to me...why you think so?"
Confusion rose, battering at the edges of her mind. "Because I hurt her!" she reiterated. "I need to apologize, accept the consequences from you...to help put things right. Then I can try to make it up to her with a movie night tomorrow or something, because I spoiled today, and..." Twilight furrowed her brows. "That would fix it, wouldn't it?"
As she watched, her parents' eyes locked in one of those frustratingly unreadable conversations that didn't involve any actual spoken dialogue, relying on subtle body language cues laden with information that even a lifetime of association hasn't made any easier for the lavender skinned girl to understand.
"Are you sure about that, Sparky?" The inner voice that sounded just like her girlfriend--Sunset was still her girlfriend, wasn't she?--chuckled in the back of her mind, sounding just as tired and strained as the real Sunset had seemed when she trudged up the stairs.
...she supposed yes, it was something she was fairly certain of, as she didn't quite know what her parents were conveying to each other at that moment.
And now she was over doing it, holding mental conversation with a facsimile of Sunset Shimmer created by her overstressed mind. Again. Maybe she should bring this up to her therapist at her next appointment. It couldn't be healthy. An invisible iron band constricted around her lungs, making it hard to breathe. Was she starting to lose her mind?
"Calm down and breathe, Twilight," Mental-Sunset said firmly. "You're not going crazy, and that isn't the important thing to focus on right now. Stay with me on this." The words were so Sunset that she found herself following the instructions automatically, imagining the older girl standing right next to her, a hand resting on the back of her neck, right where Twilight carried a lot of tension. "There we are. Good girl. Now...take another look, and stop trying so hard. You know your parents...just absorb the way they look right now."
Twilight blinked slowly, as time seemed...to move at the speed at which molasses poured. Her parents...looked...upset...uncertain?
"They're trying to decide if it's better to be painfully honest now or if another time might be better."
Focusing on her parents one at a time, she struggled to take in the details of each one. Her father looked tense, his shoulders stiff and his face creased with frown lines, and his fingers fiddled restlessly with his napkin. "He wants to protect you," the husky voice close to her ear supplied in something close to a whisper, "but he's come to the realization that keeping the truth from you might do more harm than good right now. He doesn't like it." Her mother, on the other hand, had her jaw set in a way that looked just like Shining's when he got stubborn, and she was leaning forward slightly, still standing. It had the effect of making her mother seem like a much larger presence than her father. "She wants to protect you too, but she wants to just rip the bandage off quickly. She knows you value knowledge over ignorance."
The teen filed the knowledge away, her emotions in flux now. She shook her head, feeling somewhat...bemused...but also...
She wasn't sure how to label the emotion, she determined. It was...positive but neutral? There but not all encompassing and somewhat dwarfed and diminished by the other emotions fighting for dominance inside her head.
"Trust me, I get it. Been there, done that, got the souvenirs to prove it. Now...you can do this. You need to do this, Twilight Sparkle. Not for me...but for yourself."
...why was it starting to feel like her conscience had hijacked her girlfriend's personality?
Rich laughter that was far more sexy than any mental creation had a right to be. "Oh, if you only knew...but now is not the time for that. Go on."
Mental-Sunset was right. Twilight forced herself to take several slow and deep breaths as time resumed its normal pace. Gathering her courage and pretending she could actually feel long amber fingers massaging the back of her neck, she interrupted her parents' wordless exchange. "Mom, Dad...? You're...doing that conversation thing again...and it's about me. You're trying to decide on...how to tell me something you...don't think I'll appreciate hearing?" She felt more than a little pleased with how level her voice came out, barely any wobble to it at all. Swallowing hard, she pushed forward. "I think...if...if you would like to consider my opinion in this matter... then...I would like you to tell me, please."
It was getting hard to breathe again, and her throat hurt, necessitating another round of slow breathing exercises before she could keep going. Both her parents were now giving her their full attention. "Even if it's...h-hard to hear...I w-would rather be told." The dark haired girl squared her shoulders with a rush of confidence. "I caused this situation...and now I need to fix it, somehow, but given that you did not agree immediately with my previous...proposal...I am quite capable of extrapolating that it is...not the best solution. That I am...clearly missing some cue or rule of social behavior, and I won't know what unless you tell me."
Twilight had fallen back on formal speech--it gave her something to focus on amidst the tempest her emotions felt like they had become, allowing her to have some kind of mental clarity as she watched the expressions on her parents' faces shift and change. She detected sadness...but...pride?...on her father's face, echoing the sad smile on her mother's, and she realized with a jolt that she had arrived at the conclusion that she had hit upon the very thing they had been uncertain about telling her.
"See? You're not as bad at this as you think, Sparky. You just have to learn to use that beautiful mind of yours instead of treating this like some kind of magical knowledge."
...and now her conscience or Id or whatever Mental-Sunset represented was going a bit too far into recreating the older girl. It was getting weird.
"Only the best for you, Twilight." She would swear she could feel hot breath on her ear. "But...I can take a hint...just remember...if you need me...I'll be here. It'll take more than a little fight to get rid of me..." And then the manifestation was gone, leaving the room somehow colder and more empty.
Twilight exhaled slowly, trying to keep from shuddering as she let the air leak from her lungs, trying to conceal her state from her parents, lest it cause more worry. Unfortunately, Velvet had noticed the slight tremble in her breath.
"Why don't I make us some hot tea, and we'll discuss this further?"
"...tea would be....wonderful...right now..." Twilight agreed. A hot mug to hold in her hands would help to push back the cold and maybe dispel the icy lump at the core of her, even if just partially. Not to mention, she associated hot tea with Sunset, who kept a stash of it in canisters in her makeshift kitchen that would be right at home in some fancy British household--yet one more clue that the redheaded girl had spent formative years overseas. Most people in the states didn't even know that many kinds of tea existed. "Then...maybe we can...discuss whatever alternative proposal you have, and help me understand why...why it is better than mine?"
She was determined to put it all right, no matter what it took.
Silence reigned for several minutes as containers of takeout were put away in the fridge and dinner plates replaced with steaming mugs, the family trading the dining room table for the smaller kitchen one. Twilight sat back in her chair, idly playing with the teabag. Her mother paused as she stepped past the teen's seat, squeezing her shoulder warmly. "I'm proud of you, Twily.."
"What?" The dark haired girl jerked her head up to stare at her mother. "Why?! I caused the problem!" Hadn't Velvet just been acting disappointed in her earlier?
"Even so. I admit I was...disappointed in your earlier actions, and I am not happy this whole situation has occurred, but I am proud of your willingness to learn from this and improve. Sometimes the hardest part is admitting our own mistakes." The touch on her shoulder became a hug that Twilight leaned into, basking in the warm comfort from her mother. "I'm also proud of you for your dedication in wanting to make amends with Sunset, sweetheart."
Deep inside, something twinged painfully as she remembered that this kind of familial love and support was something her best friend had lacked for most of her life. Before she could self-censor, Twilight blurted, "...you were there for Sunny earlier, after I left with Dad...weren't you?"
Velvet nodded. "She and I talked when she came downstairs," she acknowledged.
"...Thank you..." Twilight's eyes swept the room, avoiding her mother. "...for being there for her, and...listening to her...when I wouldn't. I'm glad she wasn't alone." Something tickled her perceptions and she blinked, realizing that Sunset's boots were tucked up against the front wall of the kitchen, and her leather jacket draped over the back of the solitary empty seat...instead of in the front hall where she normally shed them. The knowledge hit her like ice cold water to the face: Sunset had been going to leave.
Her heart hurt, as though someone had jammed an icicle through it.
Settling into her own chair and taking a sip of her tea, Velvet hummed in her throat. It was a sound of agreement, if a neutral one. "While I have no intention of sharing the details of what Sunset said--much of it was said in confidence, which means telling you about it is her decision--I will say that your words and actions had a..."
The woman paused, giving Twilight the sense that her mother was choosing her words extremely carefully. It made the teen sit up and pay closer attention to her mother's words, placing them in context of what she knew of her girlfriend. "...I believe they affected her more severely than you may have intended or realized." Twilight Velvet frowned. "Though...and this is mostly conjecture on my part...I suspect that..." There was another poignant pause, her mother making a face before continuing, the expression suggesting she had several stronger and more unpleasant labels in mind than what she ended up using, "...this other 'friend' of yours...may have been far more aware of the effectiveness of her words on you..."
What? Twilight stared at her mother in disbelief. "Wallflower wouldn't--" Then she stopped, the rest of her declaration drying up as Sunset's words in her room came back to her.
One finger tapped the rim of her mug, and Velvet spoke again, careful and deliberate, as if she wanted to remove any ambiguity from her statement. "That is not an accusation, but a suspicion I think you would do well not to dismiss out of hand. I could very well be wrong--I am not privy to this other girl's mindset or perspective, but I cannot shake the gut feeling I have after Sunset recounted her experience with your friend."
Twilight flinched, and forced herself to breathe steadily, pushing down the anger and frustration she felt, as well as the desire to defend Wallflower from the words. Sunset had been honest. Her mother was being honest. Neither had demanded or encouraged her to take their side...and her mother was only asking that she follow her normal procedure of logic and investigation.
So what were the facts, as she had them?
Fact: Wallflower was typically abrasive in words and mannerisms.
Fact: Wallflower's intentions, emotions, and meanings were often difficult for Twilight to read accurately.
Fact: Wallflower had repeatedly expressed mistrust for Sunset, before having met her.
Fact: Sunset had been excited and happy to meet Wallflower prior to the meeting. She had listened to Twilight's description of the other girl and been attentive and reassuring, showing obvious interest in not overwhelming Wallflower.
Fact: Sunset had shown up to the outing and been friendly but reserved, but not unkind.
Fact: Wallflower had left early, not more than ten minutes after Sunset's arrival.
Fact: The very next day, Wallflower had immediately started on her insinuations that Sunset was up to something.
Fact: Sunset had said nothing for several days, until Twilight had brought Wallflower up to her.
Fact: Wallflower's idea of funny sometimes struck Twilight as...mean or bitter, when it involved those she didn't like, such as Suri and her friends.
Fact: While Sunset did not always give her full details in regards to questions about her past, she had yet to lie to Twilight.
The dark haired girl stared into her tea, as if she could somehow find answers therein. Instead, memories about both Wallflower and Sunset flitted across her awareness, and she found herself unsettled by what the facts and her own experiences were telling her. Why did I never consider that she might have been 'putting a spin' on what happened? That her previous negativity had no weight on her comments about Sunset?
Purple eyes lifted to meet her mother's. "You are...suggesting that...Wallflower may have exaggerated or misrepresented events to influence my perceptions?" she clarified, trying to make sure that she was on the same page as her mother.
"...yes...that is the sense I am getting from the situation as it has been presented to me, Twily."
It hurt to say, especially because acknowledging it out loud was one more indicator that she had messed up beyond measure with her girlfriend--the best friend she'd ever had, her mind reminded her cuttingly--but it needed to be said. "...I...am beginning to believe you may be right..." Her face felt hot in counterpoint to the way the rest of her body was icy cold, but she forged ahead. "...in thinking back, I...can admit to noticing a certain level of paranoia, mistrust and even hostility to those outside our friendship circle in the last three years...it is not beyond the realm of possibility that she might interpret events in a way that fits her preconceived notions and perceptions."
Night Light made a low sound in his throat. "Unfortunately, people can be like that, Twilight."
She frowned. "What I fail to understand is why, in regards to Sunset. It...doesn't make sense. What does she stand to gain?"
"Twily, it could simply be the fact that Sunset is an exceptionally intelligent girl," her father pointed out, his words, like her mother's, carefully chosen. "From everything we've seen, she is very much your academic and intellectual equal, which is no mean feat."
Twilight couldn't help the small smile that turned up the corners of her mouth. "...I'd noticed...it's one of my favorite aspects of our...friendship..."
He nodded and continued, "It makes us happy to see, because strong personal relationships like you have with Sunset require both parties to be equals, which is hard if there is too much of a discrepancy in key aspects...but that is not my point." He took his glasses off and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Or at least, not my entire point."
She wasn't sure what Sunset's intellect had to do with anything they were talking about. "...o...kay...?" Twilight ventured in confusion.
Her father made a loose gesture at her with a hand. "Twily...you have not been one to make friends easily...but Sunset quickly became your best friend. In weeks, rather than months or years, correct?"
The emotions inside her stilled a little at the warmth that she associated with her feelings for Sunset. "Yes...I connect with her better than I ever have anyone else, especially because of the aforementioned intellect. She...feels more like my equal in discourse and scientific pursuits, as you have intimated previously."
Night rested his hand on the table. "And that's a wonderful thing, Twily, one we're extremely glad for, but...you've become closer to Sunset in the last six months than you are to any of your other friends, even ones whom you have known for years."
Brows pinched together as she frowned. "...and you think that might be why Wallflower was trying to...influence my perceptions? As a case of jealousy because Sunset is my best friend or smarter than her?"
"Or possibly fear, sweetheart," her mother interjected, drawing her attention. "We don't really know your other friend, but you have mentioned that she seems lonely. She might simply be scared that she is going to lose you as a friend to Sunset because you connect better with her."
"But I wouldn't--!" Twilight stopped. But you did, didn't you? her mind whispered traitorously. You have been wrapped up in Sunset. You forgot Moondancer's letters, you have barely talked to Wallflower for the first half of the year...
Velvet gave her a gentle pat on her arm. "We're not saying you would, or that this is exactly what's happened, but I do feel it's a lot more plausible than any kind of Machiavellian scheme."
Silence fell as Twilight sat there, her thoughts and emotions a maelstrom that threatened to drown her. It took everything she had to just focus on breathing over the roaring in her ears. Distantly, she heard her parents saying her name, but she couldn't make them out, couldn't focus on the sounds, so she shook her head to get them to stop.
It took several minutes before she had pushed the storm down enough to do anything else. "...I...I need to think..." she managed. "...If...if it's alright...I...have some data to transfer in the lab...I need to be by myself for a little while."
Her parents conferred silently, and Twilight was grateful to just have the chance to keep breathing and get her body back under something resembling control. She lifted her head when her mother cleared her throat. "If you need some time and space to work through things on your own, that's fine, Twily..." A brief hesitation, and then she added, "What would you like us to do if Sunset comes looking for you before you're done?"
"I..." The dark haired girl froze for a minute, uncertain how best to answer. Then she decided blunt honesty might work best. "...If she wants me..." Did Sunny still want her, after this? "...then either you or she can call me, and I'll come back in...I'm not working on anything overly important...just data entry and file transfers...I'm...hoping that the fairly mindless and repetitive tasks...will allow me to organize my thoughts and calm down...so I can work through my thoughts, feelings, and actions in light of...everything, really."
At her father's raised eyebrow, she tried to manage something like a thin, wan smile. Twilight was not entirely sure she succeeded. "I...don't intend to do anything I might get caught up in, or that can't be paused and saved at any time... If Sunset...decides she wants to talk or...or...anything...I can drop it and come back inside."
That got an approving nod from him. "That seems like a good plan, Twily. I would caution you though, to keep in mind the fact that Sunset may want to wait until tomorrow to talk to you, if she is tired and doesn't feel up to it tonight--and that it's okay if she does. It does not mean she won't talk to you ever, but some people take longer to be ready than others."
Twilight remembered back to the night where she and Shining had argued with their mother, and how Cadence had slept in her old room for the night while Shining had gone back to their apartment alone. It had not signaled that the pair were breaking up, or that they would never talk it out, and while it had taken a while, whatever damage had been done had been repaired in a few weeks time. Then an older memory intruded, one from when she was small, a sort of soap bubble of time with sharp edges to where it began and ended. She'd been...four? Or five, maybe...but she'd taken it upon herself to take Shining's brand new 10-speed apart to know how it worked...only he had interrupted before she could put it back together again. And he'd gotten angry. Yelled at her. Told her he never wanted to see her or talk to her again...
It had crushed her...and for three weeks she had cried and hidden in her room, thinking her big brother would never talk to her again. That he didn't love her anymore.
But that wasn't the case--eventually, he talked to her, and she apologized, and they'd worked out the problem--which involved him getting another bike and her doing chores with her mother as punishment. And the cracks had healed, leaving their family just as close as before. Sunset was just as important to her as her brother, Twilight decided, so if it took time for Sunset to be ready to talk, she'd wait.
Realizing he expected more of an answer than a nod of her head, she said softly, "I...will take that into account when thinking everything over, Dad." |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Eight: Use Your Heart and Not Your Eyes... | Purple eyes watched as the file transfer ticked along at a snail's pace, each file and folder carefully scanned by the Medusa security program Twilight had written herself the summer before. Maybe it was overly paranoid, but she had never trusted any 'out of the box' antivirus software, and Medusa had been her answer to that. Now she'd taken it a step further, altering the program further to be even more hyper vigilant, preventing outgoing transfer of files without the right protocols. Anyone who tried to hook into her system with a hardline would have their equipment last long enough to take it back home, and then the hidden commands would activate, sweeping through the offending system until it destroyed all the software, and left the hardware useless.
She'd been quite proud of the idea to have the protocols target first antivirus software, then the actual hardware controls that were the safety net for a system in regards to overheating and cooling fans. And in her test of an old laptop, it had proven exceptionally brutal and effective. The plastic case had actually warped from overheating.
Twilight rubbed her arms against the chill in her lab. "I'm...not being unreasonably paranoid, am I, Spike?"
Her dog raised his head from his doggy bed and made a querulous noise back. The lavender skinned girl leaned back in her chair. "It sounds silly, but I...I don't know. That nightmare, Sunset, all the things about my research that don't make sense, and even Principal Cinch's questions at my last few updates...I can't stop now--I need to know what I've found...what this energy is and where it comes from...but...I'm scared, Spike. Sunset isn't telling me everything, and...I don't know. What is really going on?"
She glanced at the big cork board with all the printouts and data for her project, connected by colored string. So far, she had more questions than answers, and a bunch of half formed hypotheses about everything and very little hard proof. "Sunset's school is involved somehow, but I can't exactly walk in there...maybe the woods behind it? Or another after-dark excursion?" Then she remembered another problem that tied into her other problems for the evening.
"And what do I do about Wallflower?"
Spike growled, rolling over slightly with a rumble. "She's my friend, Spike," Twilight sighed. "We've been friends since freshman year. She's looked out for me. She was the one who discovered that Nebula was using me for a science grade, and she and Lyra got me away from the seniors that year too." The dog gave a soft whine. "But lately...I don't know. She...she's been assigned as an assistant by Principal Cinch, and I should be happy--she's my friend, and we can spend time together at school, and I can trust she's not trying to take my work for herself...but I don't know. Something about it feels...off. Wrong, somehow."
Rubbing her face with her hands, she heard more than saw the dog get up and pad across the floor to lean against her leg. "And that's not even getting into what happened this past week with Wallflower meeting Sunset and how I handled it and what I said to Sunny--I hurt her so bad and I'm scared I messed up, Spike. Messed us up! And I don't understand why Wallflower doesn't like her...It's...I trust Sunny, but I thought I trusted Wallflower..."
She hugged herself, shivering again. "What do I do, Spike?"
Spike looked up, then hopped into her lap to burrow his way into her arms. Twilight hugged him, fingers stroking through soft fur. "You're right...I'm getting worked up. I need to calm down." She focused on the fur texture under her fingers, steady doggy heartbeat--still optimum for his age and size, she noted absently--and forced herself to breathe.
"It's two separate issues," she acknowledged a few minutes later. Spike yipped in agreement. "Right...I need to tackle them one at a time..."
Twilight rested her chin on top of Spike's head. "...this is a lot harder when the person I'd normally have helping sort through this kind of thing is the person I fought with," she complained. The dog huffed reproachfully, and a small giggle escaped. "It's not that you're not my most amazing number one assistant, Spike and you're a great listener, but I need someone who can...understand and explain things I don't understand."
Her pet's eyes watched her for a minute, then he settled with a heavy sigh. "I know," she laughed. "It makes me wish you could talk--that would make things so much easier." Fingers scratched behind his ear. "What could I--" Twilight froze, thinking back to how her subconscious had coached her through reading her parents' expressions. It couldn't be that easy, could it?
Furrowing her brows, she focused on the way her subconscious had fashioned a mental Sunset, from the battered leather jacket and boots with the thick but sturdy heel, and imagined her standing nearby, arms crossed and with that lopsided smile that made Twilight feel good inside.
One mental facsimile of Sunset Shimmer, check!
"I need advice. A sounding board. Starting with this whole Wallflower and Sunset disaster..." She waited to see if the obvious answer from the part of her subconscious that had adopted Sunset's attitude would respond the way her girlfriend would.
Silence, leaving the teen sitting their long enough that Spike started licking her arm and whining. "Why is this so hard when I'm actually trying to do it?" Twilight asked him. The canine screwed up his muzzle in pure puppyish confusion. "You're right again--I just need to try harder."
Twilight took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and focused on the problem, trying to project how she thought Sunset would respond. The tilt of her head, the raised eyebrow, the crooked grin, even the way she'd bump shoulders with Twilight and tease her...but none of it seemed to work to do anything other than threaten to give her a headache. She gave up when it actually felt like she strained a muscle in her brain--impossible, she knew, but that was the only analogy she had for the strange, somewhat uncomfortable twisting sensation in her skull.
"I wish I could just talk to Sunset about this," she complained, rubbing her temples.
"Given the subject material, I would advise waiting as your father suggested."
She almost fell out of her chair, caught completely by surprise when Sunset's voice was proffered up by her subconscious. "It worked?"
The mental picture she had of Sunset did raise an eyebrow as she would imagine Sunset would. "If you mean your visualization technique, then it would seem so, Twilight."
Wincing, the dark haired girl frowned. "Apparently," she noted to Spike, "I didn't do a very good job. My attempt to actively recreate Sunset in my mind has resulted in a somewhat formal version." Spike sneezed in then wiggled until she let him jump down.
"That might have something to do with the events on your mind," Mental-Sunset commented.
That was a very valid point, Twilight decided. "I...probably. I screwed up, and Sunset is upset. I'm giving her space until she's ready to talk, and trying to work through this on my own. It's...hard." She could see the amber skinned hand in her mind now, making a 'go on' gesture. "Wallflower...presented a version of events from her perspective that painted Sunset as...not the friendliest...and I believed it. At the time, it made some sense to me--Sunset is still learning the ins and outs of friendship, and I haven't observed her interacting with many people in a personal setting outside my family and myself."
A familiar itch started between her shoulder blades and she hopped to her feet to start pacing. "I assumed, I now believe incorrectly, that the solution was to try again, for an event that lasted longer than ten minutes, since Wallflower left early from our last outing. Today, Sunset presented me with an opposing view: that Wallflower was actively hostile and unpleasant during the few minutes I left them alone together, which led to a fight."
She shook her head. "Now, after talking to my parents...things make less sense. Not only was Wallflower extremely negative in her recount, but she insinuated heavily that she believes Sunset has ulterior motives for our friendship. A continuation of her attitude from the day I suggested the meeting--something that upset me at the time, because she persisted with a very demanding and invasive...interrogation...about Sunset, while trying to suggest that Sunset was...manipulating and using me."
"And that is the part that does not make sense?" Mental-Sunset shifted her weight to her back foot as she followed Twilight's pacing.
Twilight paused as she got to where Spike was sitting, looking up at her, ears akimbo. "Yes and no...what bothers me is that it really made me angry when it first happened, before they met--angry enough that I snapped at Wallflower. Yet after the failed outing, I...didn't feel that same anger or annoyance. It..." She frowned. "...for some reason it seemed reasonable that she would have concerns about someone she didn't really know, who hadn't made the best impression." She pivoted on her heel to resume her pacing. "Looking back...it almost feels like I was someone else in that conversation..."
Her mental creation made a thoughtful sound. "Maybe there is a reason for that, Twilight. The mind is a curious thing..." There was something...strange...about the way her mind was presenting Mental-Sunset's tone to her. "You can instantly recognize one of your own, even at an age far too young to know anything else, instinctively recoiling from that which is not what it appears to be..." Blue-green eyes for a moment felt like they were burning into her mind's eye, leaving her feeling as if she was both numb and frozen. "That recognition works just as well when such a thing intrudes into the very sanctity of your mind..."
Spike let out a low growl, his hackles bristling as he stared at Twilight. Her control over her visualized Sunset wavered. "W-what?"
As the figure began to fade from her perception with her loss of focus, one final thought leaked through. "If it felt like it was not you...then maybe it was not you...at least, not entirely..."
Concentration shot, Twilight sank shakily into her chair again, her body trembling all over. Spike shook himself, collar jingling, and scampered over to her, whining and pawing her leg. She ignored him for the moment, trying to rub warmth back into her arms and regain her composure. "...what was that?" the dark haired girl finally whispered.
That had been nothing like the other times her mind had conjured up a version of her girlfriend. All those other times, it had really felt like talking to Sunset. This time it hadn't even sounded like her. It was too...detached. Clinical even, and far too formal. More than that...it felt...washed out. Like it was lacking in some vital piece. The real Sunset was as vibrant as her hair, full of passion and vitality that translated into every part of her person. She was always in motion, even when standing still, and even something as normal and passive as breathing carried with it some of the redhead's intense energy.
What she couldn't figure out is why it worked when she wasn't trying, and failed when she was. Not to mention that she was starting to grow concerned about her own mental health--especially if her subconscious was creating mental constructs whose entire purpose seemed to be to warn her that she wasn't herself lately.
"...Could it be from stress?" she asked Spike worriedly.
He yipped and tugged on her pants leg, trying to pull her towards the door. Twilight rubbed her face. "...you're right. I need to go inside...maybe this will make sense after I rest. At the very least...I think I need to mention this to Dr. Soft-spoken next week at our session. If my stress levels are so high my body is starting to generate hallucinations and not just visualizations to help me process behaviors, then I need to change how I'm handling that stress...." The teen turned back to her computer to see the file transfer had finished. "Let me finish this and shut everything down, Spike, and we'll go inside. I think I want a hot drink to warm up."
A few minutes later saw her firmly ensconced at the kitchen table in an abandoned main floor, pouring a mug of hot cocoa that was nowhere near as good as the cocoa her mother could make. It would do for what she wanted though--chasing away the cold that felt like it had taken up residence in her core. Holding the mug in shaky hands, she let the heat seep into her, attempting to plan her next moves.
She had given Sunset a few hours of solitude, and while she would keep to her promise to her father, Twilight would check in when she went upstairs. At the very least, she would offer the beginnings of an apology before bed. As for the rest....
Wallflower was her friend. They'd known each other for years, and she was the only friend Twilight had left at school; for those reasons, she didn't want to sever the friendship over this...but she would start paying more attention to the other girl's words and actions. Maybe even discuss them with Cady or her parents if she couldn't figure them out on her own. Clearly there was more going on than she realized, and while she didn't want to lose her friend...she was willing to admit to herself that Sunset mattered a great deal more to her than Wallflower did. Perhaps she'd also write to both Moondancer and Lyra for their advice--she had Lyra's email address, and she owed Moondancer a few letters anyway. It was possible one of them could shed light on Wallflower's strange behavior.
Her precautions about her project would remain. In fact, she would step them up, she decided, during the hours that Wallflower was in her actual classes, so the other teen would be none the wiser about the added layers of security. The niggling, wary sense of potential danger still persisted, and she wasn't sure where the source was--though a part of her still feared it had something to do with Sunset's unnamed former guardian. Better to only trust herself with the full access to the data from her research.
Sipping her cocoa, she tried to figure out what interest the energy might have to non-scientific minds. The obvious was the energy output--whatever source the energy had, it could generate large amounts under unknown conditions. If those conditions could be detailed and the energy harnessed, it would be at least on par with the energy generated by large scale power plants or fields of solar panels...in what she suspected was a much smaller object than any other power source she could think of. If it was something that could be replicated easily, that could mean a nearly infinite source of energy for the person who did it. It would completely change life for the beneficiaries of that power.
The other potential she saw was potential weaponization. Show a human anything powerful or energetic and they'd try to find a way to use it to kill someone else. So far nothing suggested the energy emissions or residue were hazardous, though she was starting to wonder if repeated exposure meant developing some kind of sensitivity to it. That would explain the pattern she'd noticed of being agitated or suffering nightmares in or around large spikes of the energy. Perhaps it acted the same way extremely high concentrations of electromagnetic fields in unshielded areas could supposedly trigger paranoia, whispers, and the feeling of being watched in individuals with a hypersensitivity to it...
Twilight sighed, setting her now empty mug in the sink. She lacked enough detailed data on the phenomenon to determine if it had any medical or communications applications, though the greenery she'd found outside the Canterlot High greenhouse suggested potential mutative properties to flora. The samples she had taken didn't match any known species in her preliminary investigation, though Wallflower was due to look them over that week. She was more familiar with botanicals, and it was part of what Principal Cinch had assigned her to do.
A part of her stewed in resentment and irritation that part of her project was now in the hands of someone else against her will, even if that person was her friend... It was out of her control, and there was nothing to do now but make the best of it. At least it was a friend and not a stranger, or worse, someone who wanted to make her life miserable.
The dark haired girl climbed the stairs, more than ready to change into her pajamas and climb under the thick, warm blankets on her bed. She still wanted to check in with her girlfriend--Twilight would be lying if she said she wasn't hopeful to at least apologize to Sunset so that she wouldn't feel awkward or guilty about curling up close to the redhead for extra warmth. Sunset could chase the cold away like nothing else--she was practically a space heater, which was deliciously wonderful as far as Twilight was concerned, since she got cold fairly easily.
Disappointment and worry flared when she nudged her bedroom door open to find the space dark, empty, and cold. Sunset wasn't there...but she was still at the house; a quick look out her bedroom window confirmed the presence of her bike in the driveway. Twilight frowned as she changed into her pajamas, eliminating places Sunset was not. She wasn't in the bathroom, or on the main floor, unless she'd been hiding in either her mother's study or her father's in-home office. That suggested she was in the bedroom Twilight's parents had given her.
Once changed, Twilight slipped out of her room to the door a little further down the hall. She rapped on it gently, though the lack of light under the door made her wonder if Sunset had already laid down for the night. "....Sunset?" she called after a minute, knocking a little louder. When no answer came, she tried to turn the knob, at least wanting to peek in and make sure Sunset was okay...
Only to find it locked. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Nine: Believe It or Not... | Everything felt stiff.
That was the first thing that Sunset became aware of as she fought her way back to consciousness. She was stiff all over, like she'd done a full workout without cooling down, leaving her muscles with a faint ache and her joints slow to respond.
The second thing she noticed was that she was tangled up in a mess of blankets in the dark. The former unicorn fought to free herself from the slightly stuffy cocoon, and eventually sat up to do so...
Only for her forehead to come into painful contact with something above her that was only barely softened by the blankets. Sunset swore vociferously, tears burning at the corner of her eyes from the pain. "Hydra licking, kraken rutting, son of a three legged, inbred, cross-eyed, rotten toothed, mangy yak!" Fingers gingerly checked her forehead for blood or a lump, and she laid back, trying to gather her scattered wits before she did anything else.
Slowly, the fog cleared from her brain. She vaguely remembered the headache she'd developed the night before, along with the burning pain in her limbs as she struggled with her magic and the unintentional Pony-up...even more hazy was the memory of dragging herself under the bed with the blankets.... Part of that might have been the fault of the nightmares and sour dreamscape that left her feeling more exhausted than when she'd gone to sleep. Sunset could recall fighting her way to the edge of wakefulness several times, seeking the familiar body that she had been expecting...craving...near enough to touch, only to be dragged back down into the black morass of shifting shadows and twisted wastelands and a Twilight who wasn't...
Sunset rolled to her side, finally squirming free of the blankets once she was half out from under the bed. No wonder she felt like utter garbage--anyone would after a night like she'd had. Running a hand through her hair, she sat heavily on the bed. At least her headache was gone, and her Pony-up had long since ended. A glance at her phone told her it was way too early to even consider being awake and alive...but there was no way she was going to get any more sleep.
"...shower it is," she muttered, hoping the water would help loosen up the stiffness she had from sleeping on the floor. And maybe help wake her up the rest of the way. Grabbing clean clothes from her bag, she staggered down the hall to the bathroom.
Thirty minutes later and it was still an evil hour of "too early to be on this side of the sunrise," but at least she felt marginally more mortal and less like the discard pile from a necromancer's lair. After squeezing most of the water from her hair and giving it a quick once over with her brush, Sunset tiptoed her way downstairs where she caught the faint scent of fresh coffee.
The kitchen was dim, lit only by the thin, grey light of pre-dawn and the eerie lights of appliance displays in red or green; those weak sources reached into the spaces between objects, slowly drawing each one out from the formless shadows. Despite that, Sunset could easily make out a masculine figure, outlined in the same pale light that exposed dark blue skin and golden eyes as he turned in her direction. A tired smile tugged at Night's face as he greeted her in a voice that did not shatter the peace of the early morning hour, instead weaving deftly through the quiet like it belonged there. "Good morning, Sunset. There's coffee, if you'd like a cup." He left it at that for the moment, his vocalization fading smoothly back into a contemplative yet welcoming stillness.
For a moment, Sunset was caught by a sense of deja vu, the scene reminiscent of more than a few times during her adolescence in Equestria, where she would stumble back to her room after yet another all night study session, opening the door to her balcony to let in fresh air and catching sight of Princess Celestia on her own balcony. The mare's coat had been washed out from its usual brilliant white and pastel hues to grays and blues in the dark as she stared down over the terraced mountain city and the lands beyond for a long time before she lowered the moon and raised the sun to mark the beginning of another...
Though Night did not bear even the remotest physical similarity to the ancient alicorn, there was still something in the way he stood in that moment, surrounded by a meditative silence that felt like it curled around and welcomed her that struck her as the same as those long ago early morning vigils she'd watched and had desperately wanted to be a part of. Back then...she'd turned away from her balcony, from the sight of the ageless immortal, reminding herself quite firmly that belonging like that was nothing more than an illusion. Wishful thinking from an orphan filly who had still dreamed of the mother she so desperately desired, unable to fully admit that she had no place at the alicorn's side...that her dreams were nothing more than that, a fantasy that could never be reality.
Here though...here there was a pervasive sense that she was welcome in the quiet and dark, not some kind of intruder or observer. She stepped forward, deeper into the kitchen, until she reached the counter where the coffee pot sat. There she found her mug waiting, the colorful custom words printed on the surface echoed some of her own tired morning ramblings just as brightly as it had on Christmas morning when she unwrapped it to expectant grins from Cadence and Shining--the latter of which was far too pleased with himself over the whole thing. A tired smile tugged at her lips before she could stop it, even as she filled the mug with bitter ambrosia and set about liberally doctoring it with creamer and sugar that sat at the ready on the countertop nearby. Heat seeped into her palms as she held the mug, closing her eyes and letting the richly scented steam fill her nose for a long minute before she took that first sip, savoring the way the hot coffee managed to taste sweet as it washed away the night's foul dryness from her throat.
Night spoke again, the soft pitch once more picking its way through the quiet instead of disturbing it. "I was going to sit outside and watch the sun rise from the back porch. Would you like to join me?"
Blue-green eyes opened at the question, their owner surprised by both being asked and her own positive response, despite it being a cold winter morning. Sunset gave her answer with a shy smile and a nod, before following him quietly out the back door to the small patio, pausing in the journey only once as he offered her a thick, warm coat to put on--it was one of several in the laundry room, and the teen suspected that it had once belonged to Shining Armor, from breadth of the shoulders and the way it enveloped her like a blanket.
Settling into one of the chairs, hands still wrapped around a mug whose heat should have burned her but had ended up more in the zone of 'comforting,' Sunset stared at the navy sky that was slowly becoming touched at the bottom edge with achingly familiar shades of magenta and purple. The colors of early morning twilight giving way to the sun's fiery presence stirred up memories not just involving her relationship with the nerdy girl who called this house home, but also of a time long ago, of when she was a fiery little filly with a curly coat that danced around alabaster hocks and tugged on pristine wing-feathers excitedly. "Is it time yet, Princess?" the filly in those memories asked excitedly, on those rare and important mornings where she looked forward to waking early or staying up late. Golden magic had caught her in its grip then, and warm wings enfolded her, as Princess Celestia had laughed and reassured her, "Soon, little sun, soon..."
The ache became bittersweet as the former unicorn stared at the changing skyline, emotions spinning themselves into words that spilled forth in a waterfall before she could even properly register that she'd begun talking. "I can remember," Sunset murmured, the sounds turning to clouds of steam that drifted lazily upwards like dragon smoke, "once upon a time, the story of an immortal princess who was wisdom and compassion made real, whose strength was such that her magic granted her dominion over the heavens. The sun and moon danced across the sky at her behest, but despite being a goddess, she was ruled by her wisdom and compassion, and turned her powers to protect and serve the people of her realm, that they could rise and go about their days with joy, and rest peacefully at night, knowing that she was watching over them always..."
Her mind's eye saw Princess Celestia as a little filly once had, larger than life, the sun and life, magic and love, warmth and safety, a being who engendered trust with her very presence...before the reality of her situation had torn the veil from her eyes. "Goddess of the Sun, Ruler of the Celestial Spheres, Princess of the Dawn..." Sunset couldn't stop the soft, sad laugh that escaped her. "When I was small, I clung to that story, to the myth of that princess. I wanted to be just like her, a true Daughter of the Sun..."
He turned towards her, expression concerned but thoughtful, and she sighed, taking a sip of her coffee. "I outgrew the fantasy...but it was a legend that shaped a lot of who I became...and who I'd like to be someday, I suppose."
Night's concern gave way to a warm and understanding smile. "Stories like that go hand in hand with the heavens in a lot of cultures, and I've always had an appreciation for them. It's fascinating, how we can look back at how the myths and legends of a people are shaped by and how they influence their search for understanding of celestial phenomena....though I must confess yours is a legend I've never encountered before. Do you happen to know a book that has it in there?"
Sunset shook her head, half cursing the moment that let her spill the truth dressed up as a myth. "I've...never found a book here that had the story in it...unless you count the book I gave Cadence for Christmas...but I made that one myself, from memory. Not exactly a credible academic source..." The excuse she'd given and the way he accepted it without suspicion made her heart twist painfully for more than one reason. For the incomplete truth, and for the fact that it was a truth, of sorts. No book in the human world would have history or myths from Equestria...one more reminder that she was the outsider here, no matter how much she pretended otherwise.
"That's too bad...I've seen some of the stories in the book you gave Cady." Night leaned comfortably back in his chair and looked out at the sky that was slowly lightening to a lavender streaked with shades of pink and red. "Would you like to hear some of the myths I know then? Ones about the sun always seem to sound better when watching it rise or set. Something about it captures the majesty and awe that the original storytellers were trying to impart, I think."
The former unicorn nodded, not particularly trusting her voice at that moment. It was much easier to keep silent and stick to simple gestures, letting the familiarity and...something else, something she couldn't quite define because it was different to anything she'd experienced--a part of her dared to suggest that it was the same emotions projected when he interacted with his children, but she shied away from that. It would hurt too much when it turned out she was wrong.
So instead, she basked in the warmth of both the slowly rising sun and the emotions his presence and tone conveyed, letting it all wrap around her and serve as a soothing balm on a restless, nightmare rattled mind. Night Light was still turned toward the view as the last stars vanished one by one before the sun's light, his voice rising and falling in a soft cadence that would have matched any of the storytellers that had graced Princess Celestia's court....and all of his stories about the sun, or gods tied to it. Some stories were foreign, others she had heard read aloud by Twilight, and still more were familiar, as though half remembered and drawing on echoes from her past...
"...and so, Inari resolved that the Sun must be made to slow, or else Their children would not have time to tend the rice, and neither would the rice have time to flower and grow...depriving all of the grain that they depended on for food. Resolved, Cunning Inari wove a net of music and clouds and time itself, with fingers clever and nimble..."
With every story, every sip of the warm drink, Sunset could feel some of her tension drain out of her, drifting away with the receding shadows in the face of the dawn. It was such a powerful feeling, that had she been anypony else, she might have thought that the Princess of the Sun's magic had somehow reached her here, driving away her inner demons with golden light. In a way she was both sad and glad--sad that it wasn't, glad that she wasn't fooled, and both that she had once been close enough to Princess Celestia to know the difference.
She put it out of her mind, choosing to float in a half daydreaming state as stories filled her ears, only rousing back to full wakefulness when the last of the coffee had been drunk and the full warmth of the winter morning sun was on her face, the air silent once more. The redhead turned towards her girlfriend's father, giving a half smile. "...thank you. I liked listening to your stories...it reminded me a lot of...when I was very little..."
"I'm glad," he responded, finishing the last of his own drink. "I always enjoyed sharing those kinds of stories with Twilight--Shining too, but he was never as interested as my daughter--and it's nice to be able to do the same with you..." There was amused affection now in his tone. "...Especially since it seems you and Twily have a shared passion for staring at the sky in all its splendor."
Sunset felt her cheeks heat a little at what she knew was meant to be good-natured teasing, particularly when a part of her mind that sounded suspiciously like a voice that was both stupid and little suggested to her that that wasn't the only passion she and Twilight shared. "Uh...yeah," she acknowledged. "It's...kind of become our thing, since...it's...relaxing. Fun. ...makes all the stuff that we worry about seem small and insignificant...plus it makes her happy, and seeing Twilight happy is important to me..." Oh, ponyfeathers, please stop talking, Shimmer...before you basically give away that you're panting after his daughter like a diamond dog after a Fire Ruby! "...I want to be a good friend," she tacked on lamely as a misdirection. "...I'm...starting to think her previous friends weren't...actually that great..."
His eyebrows arched, and Sunset tried to shift focus, change the subject to something else. "...it was really nice though, to hear those stories. It makes sense now why she loves mythology despite being more a student of the 'hard sciences.' You're a good storyteller, Mr. Night."
"...a better one than that visiting historian at the museum last November?" Night Light teased, his eyes dancing with laughter. "What was it I overheard you describing him as? 'A reanimated yak fossil whose mother had dallied with a passing camel, his brain nothing more than a lump of algae stained swamp mud' whose vaunted 'expertise' was little more than a 'borderline creepy fixation on the worst aspects of a group of primates who discovered they loved sticking sharpened sticks into other primates?'" At her sheepish expression, he chuckled. "No need to be embarrassed, Sunset. I find your flair for descriptive insults to be both delightfully amusing and highly impressive."
That made the teen smile crookedly. "I was being nice about him--what you didn't hear was what Twilight had just gotten done saying about him." She bit her lip, then confessed, "I had to look about half those words up later. She...uh...has a very impressive vocabulary."
More chuckles escaped the man. "I am aware...I am also aware that her commentary is likely justified. I may have memories of the same...lecturing 'yak fossil' during my undergraduate studies. Vague and hazy memories, mind, since I may or may not have fallen asleep due to his...monotonous cicada-like droning, and possibly dreamed most of it." He paused, before adding wryly, "At least, I hope it was a dream. He certainly didn't strike me as the sort to do his history lecture on the Punic wars in a burlesque skirt and Roman legionnaire's helm while dancing the can-can."
Blinking, the redheaded teen stared at him for a long minute before sputtering with awkward laughter. "Stars, that's an image...one I never wanted. For everyone's sake, sir, I hope that it was a dream. Watching his attempt at reenacting ancient human combat was bad enough, especially with his desire to add 'realistic' sound effects. Those poor audience volunteers..."
"Indeed," Night responded sagely. "There are some things not even years of therapy can fix."
Sunset lost it, falling into a full blown fit of laughter until her sides hurt. By the time she had recovered and wiped away the tears of mirth, Night was gathering their mugs and setting them aside so they wouldn't get broken. "I'm glad to see you seem to be feeling a little better this morning....did you and Twily have a chance to talk things out last night?" His tone grew quiet and curious without feeling like he was demanding. "I know that after she came to fully understand what she had said and done, she was very keen to apologize and set things right with you. That realization gave her quite a bit of a mental shake-up."
Regardless of the tone, the subject made the teenager stiffen at first, at least until the end. Her girlfriend's parents had so far always been honest with her. If they said that Twilight wanted to mend things after what had happened yesterday afternoon, then it was true. Feeling herself relax again, she answered his question, first with a shake of her head, then elaborating further, "I...only just woke up a little while before I came down; I think she might still be asleep." She gripped her elbow with her other hand, eyes looking everywhere but at Night. "...I...I'm happy that she wants to..." Her voice faltered, trailing off as she lost her nerve and floundered with exactly how to word her thoughts. She also cringed inwardly at the growing realization that she was not sure she was entirely in the right mental state to handle that conversation yet.
Night made an encouraging sound, the lack of judgment giving her the courage to keep talking. "I...know she didn't mean to...that she wasn't acting like herself...but..." Sunset stared at the red and gold streaks in the sky, trying to regain the emotional quiet she'd found just minutes prior. "...what she said...the way she said it...it was...people have said it before... It...hurt...because I never thought...that she'd throw that in my face..." She gripped her elbow tighter, hunching in on herself in her seat. "...she knows how much it hurts...how it makes me feel."
"That is one of the unfortunate sides to being close to someone," Night acknowledged gently. "They know what hurts the most, and in anger, people sometimes say things when they lash out, things they regret later."
The former unicorn blinked rapidly, swallowing back the ragged emotions and the magic curling under her skin like a barely contained animal. "I...I know. I have that problem a lot...when I get angry...I'll just feel like I'm burning up and when I open my mouth ugly words come out, and I hurt people...but this time..."
Night Light nodded understandingly. "This time the shoe is on the other foot, and you're the one who has been stung."
She sighed, trying to push her magic deeper. "Yeah...and I feel like I need to let all of the old feelings settle first before I can deal with the new, before I can hear her out...I know that's probably silly or cowardly...but I'm afraid of what will happen if I don't. If my head is still all..." She made a vague gesture with her one hand, "...it will be me who says something I'll regret. That's something I don't want to do, something that...as much as what she said hurts...that I don't think she deserves." It was easier, somehow, in this liminal space, to voice things so intimate and painful without shame and embarrassment. Night Light was a surprisingly comforting listener, an air of calm acceptance and rationality to his presence that reminded her so much of how Twilight normally behaved when Sunset had things to get off her chest.
Even his voice, when he spoke, reminded her of Twilight from discussions past, and she swallowed around a lump in her throat as she realized how important that Twilight's patient rationale had become to her, and how the increasing lack of it in the last month had been eating at her. "If that's what you need to do, Sunset, that's okay. Do you have something in particular that helps you organize your thoughts and feelings the way you need?"
"...physical activity," she admitted. "Running, riding around on my bike, working out--I...have a small workout space in my attic...it's a lot easier to not think and just put all my feelings into what I'm doing. It...burns it away." Sunset smiled faintly. "One of my friends, Applejack, lives on a farm out past the old mill, and lately, I've been going out there...I help out with some of the chores, and sometimes, we use the workout space in the barn..." Her eyes turned towards the direction she knew the farm was. "It's...hard work, but it feels good after..."
"I can imagine. There is something satisfying about a job well done...and a good workout."
Sunset chuckled a little. She definitely had gotten both lately working with their magic at the farm. "Yeah. I was actually heading over there today to meet up with some of my friends. I've been helping plan a park beautification project--we've been getting people at school and around town to contribute time or money for supplies to help us pick up trash and add animal feeders and new park benches. AJ was gonna borrow the truck and she and I were going to hit the hardware store to buy the supplies. Means AJ is probably already up and halfway through her morning chores..."
Biting her lip at something that occurred, she glanced over at her girlfriend's father. "...I would have invited Twilight to help out, but...I...didn't know if she was ready to go back to the park yet...." It was partially true, and the reason that she'd discussed briefly with Twilight. Luckily for her, the younger girl had soundly agreed with Sunset's hesitation--she wasn't sure she was ready to go back yet either.
His features pulled into a frown as he considered her words and the meaning behind them. "I never did thank you for what you did," he commented.
"I didn't do it for thanks," Sunset whispered. "I did it because I couldn't let something like that happen."
He reached over and squeezed her shoulder briefly. "I know." There was silence then, things unspoken but somehow instinctively understood between them. After a few minutes he changed the subject. "Your project takes monetary donations?"
The redhead nodded. "Yes, sir. We're putting the money towards supplies like trash bags, tools, and safety equipment. We don't want our volunteers picking up broken glass or anything like that bare handed."
Night pulled out his wallet, counting out a handful of bills, before holding them out to her. "Consider this the family's donation to your project then."
She stared. "This is...a lot. Are you sure?"
"Quite sure. If there's more than you need for supplies, use the extra to feed your volunteers. You can get party sized catering orders of sandwiches from the deli on Ninth. And you might consider, if it's open to walk-up volunteers, talking to Cadence for a mention on the radio."
Asking Cadence was not something she'd considered, but it couldn't hurt. Sunset tucked the money into her wallet. "Okay...thank you..."
The early morning quiet closed back in around them for a time. Eventually, Night rose and collected their empty mugs. "Let's get back inside before we freeze," he suggested. Sunset nodded, following him back into the toasty warmth of the kitchen. They were refilling their coffee when he brought up the previous topic of conversation, his words measured and thoughtful, as though he had selected each one after careful deliberation. "For the record, I want to commend you, Sunset, for the amount of mature self-awareness you exercise in regards to your emotions, both in how you recognize your mental state and in finding healthy outlets for yourself."
Blue-green eyes widened in surprise--she hadn't expected to hear something like that. "...I never really thought of it that way...I just...I don't want to hurt Twilight...or anyone really, and if I get angry...that's what happens. People get hurt."
"It does not take away from the fact that you have developed self awareness and what a therapist would likely call a 'healthy coping mechanism.'" Night's smile was warm and touched with...pride? He was...he was proud of her and her actions. It produced an odd, happy sort of satisfaction in Sunset, one that persisted even with his next question.
"You mentioned wanting to have space to sort your feelings before you sit down and talk things out with Twilight?" Golden eyes studied her over the rim of his coffee mug.
Sunset was torn. Part of her wanted to deny it, knowing that if she put it off, her girlfriend would just stew over it and end up in an even worse state with her anxieties running wild. That was something she didn't want to put the younger girl through that, no matter how badly she wanted time to sort through the morass of feelings and memories last night had unearthed. "I...do..." came the confession, guilt leaking into her tone as she hung her head. "...but...Twilight...I don't want her to get even more upset because she starts...you know, imagining the worst case scenario?"
Sipping at his drink, he leaned against the counter. "Sunset, I understand why you're worried...but in this case, it is completely reasonable to look after your own needs instead of putting them aside in favor of what will benefit Twilight the most. If you need to take a few days or even a week to get your head straight before you're willing to talk things out with her, then do so. Part of any healthy relationship--friendship included," he clarified with an odd note to his voice, "is learning how to balance both parties needs, rather than one constantly sacrificing for the 'good' of the other." When she opened her mouth to respond, he held up a finger to stop her. "More than that, Sunset, you are forgetting one detail: Velvet and I are more than willing to help when it comes to Twilight's struggles with her anxieties."
The former unicorn made a face as she looked into the swirling depths of her coffee. She had automatically discounted any outside assistance, mostly out of the habit of solving her own problems. It had never even crossed her mind that Twilight's parents might be able to help keep the nerdy girl on something of an even keel while Sunset took some time to breathe. Instead, she had assumed that it was a choice between her desire and Twilight's...and that wasn't much of a choice at all. Twilight would win, every time.
Still, Sunset wrestled with it, and it took quite a while before she responded to Night. "...if...if I was to take some space...would you and Mrs. Velvet be willing to make sure that Twilight is okay?" At his nod, she added, "I won't leave without telling her...that's something I should tell her myself. I want to make sure she knows I'm going to come back...and that things will be okay...that I'm not going to leave her or not be best friends anymore or...or anything like that that she might get worried about." She rubbed her elbow. "Would you be able to make sure she...doesn't get the wrong idea before we talk...?"
He reached over and gave her another of those soothing shoulder pats. "We can handle keeping Twilight firmly grounded for the week, Sunset. She will be fine while you take your time and space."
Nodding jerkily, feeling that gnawing sense of her own instincts demanding that no one could protect her Sparky the way she could, Sunset blurted. "If...if she's not though...you'll let me know, right? So I can come over and fix it?" The redhead hugged herself reflexively, struggling with the conflicting feelings and finally settling with the offered compromise when Night agreed.
"I believe we can do that, if Twilight shows signs of handling things poorly despite intervention. I do not believe she will, especially if you give her a specific deadline to wait when you explain this to her." Night smiled encouragingly. "It will work out, Sunset. Both of you want to make this right between you, and as long as both of you feel that way, you will get through this. The strongest bonds are not so easily broken by a few fights."
Her shoulders relaxed and she set her mug in the sink. "Alright...thank you...I...if it's okay with you, I'm going to message AJ and see if I can head to her place a little early." With that, Sunset headed for the stairs to gather her things and make a phone call. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Ten: Time and Space | For once, Twilight was not particularly keen on getting out of bed right away when she woke. Her sleep--if one could even consider calling it that--had been almost nonexistent, and she woke feeling groggy and far more tired than she had been the night before. Falling asleep had been nearly impossible on its own after her discovery that Sunset hadn't just been avoiding her because of the unresolved fight--the older girl had actively locked herself away from Twilight. Learning that had sent her back to her room in a numb haze, where she'd ignored the whining Spike to sit numbly on the bed and stare blankly at the wall for what might have been minutes or hours, until something inside her broke with the knowledge that she had driven her very best friend in the whole world to a point where she would cut contact--even temporarily--so completely that Twilight couldn't even try to apologize.
She couldn't even blame Sunset. It was wholly, utterly, entirely her own fault. And so Twilight had fallen to pieces, curling up around Sunset's pillow on the redhead's side of the bed, and sobbed like her heart was breaking--it had certainly felt like it at the time. In the end, it had been hours after Twilight had climbed the stairs that unconsciousness had finally taken pity on her and she had passed out in a snotty, hyperventilating, miserable ball with a pounding headache and red, sore eyes.
Yet even that mercy had been short lived. Shapeless nightmares had cast her repeatedly into distorted mindscapes, full of twisted forests or warped hallways, urban hellscapes and storm-wracked wastes... In some she was searching for, chasing, missing something she never saw, always just too slow, too far behind, to find it. In others, figures tormented her in various ways, some fashioned to resemble real people she knew, others monstrous parodies that blew past 'uncanny valley' tumble straight into 'horror movie antagonist.' And every single one, ended with her dragged to barest awareness to gain the knowledge she'd been dreaming nightmares before she was dragged back under to drown once more in her subconscious fears.
Twilight knew she couldn't lay there forever, though, and she shivered as she left her bed--her room seemed colder than ever before. As the dark haired girl went through her basic morning routine, she used it to think about literally anything else but the night before--which worked handily until she'd stepped into the shower. Then her brain took advantage of the white noise and closed-off-from-the-world nature of the shower to pummel her again with the knowledge that this whole mess was solely and entirely her fault. She had been beyond unreasonable--and over what? That her girlfriend should spend time with her old friend?--to the point that Sunset had ultimately been driven away, driven to locking her bedroom door...presumably because she thought Twilight might...
Might what, exactly? Continue to press the issue about Wallflower? Browbeat Sunset into capitulation? Heartlessly get her digs in about things that Twilight very well knew made Sunset feel awful?
Her eyes burned and she began to shake; despite the heat of the water, Twilight felt icy cold inside. Sunset was the bravest, strongest person she had ever met. She had come through terrible trials, and even if she'd lost herself for a while, she had come through it without losing the intelligent, caring person she had buried for so long. The redhead wasn't just strong or resilient...she was inspiring, meeting challenges that left Twilight grasping blindly, and she met them with confidence and plenty of clever wit...So many times she'd stepped up without being asked to stand as a shield between Twilight and Twilight's own fears, anxieties, and struggles, without a murmur of complaint or sign that she was bothered at all by the burden she'd shouldered.
To know that that same fiery girl, as bright as the sun and as proud as a lion, had felt terrified enough to hide and cower in what had been meant to be a safe refuge...all because of the one person who should have been defending her against all comers?
It was wrong.
Twilight felt her eyes burning again, and her throat ached, but she struggled against it. She had cried last night...now she needed a plan. She needed to make this right. Starting with an apology...nothing further until she opened her mouth and admitted her fault, her failing, and her guilt freely.
No matter what Sunset's response might be, that had to happen. Too many talks with Sunset that had divulged bits of her history had made something quite apparent: no one ever apologized to Sunset when they hurt her. In fact, most never seemed to ever see they had done anything wrong, and in those cases where adults had gotten involved between children, Sunset had always been treated as the aggressor, the problem, not the victim...even when she was the victim.
So an apology was vital. Twilight had messed up, had been terrible...but she wasn't like those people in the past. She was able--even if it had taken a blunt reality check from her father--to admit her mistake and make amends. It was what people were supposed to do, especially when they hurt people they cared about.
Cady had taught her that, years ago, after a much younger Twilight had witnessed a bad fight between her brother and his girlfriend. Shining had been angry, and yelled at her with something ugly, something that had made Cadence burst into tears and run to her room. Twilight had yelled at her brother, then chased after Cady...
The six year old peeked into Cadence's room. "Cady?" She crept in and shut the door behind her, before crawling onto the bed to hug the teenager. "I told Shining that he's a big mean stupid jerkface."
Sniffling, Cadence hugged her back, crying and laughing a little at the same time. "Did you?"
"Uh huh. He was mean. Why was he mean? I thought he loved you..."
The pink haired girl frowned sadly. "He does, Ladybug. We just had a fight, and we both said some things we didn't really mean..." When purple eyes just stared at her in confusion, Cadence sighed and did her best to explain. "Part of loving someone means that you let them in. They learn your secrets and you learn theirs. It can be a risk--they could use those secrets to hurt you, but part of love is trusting them not to. Unfortunately, even people who love each other more than anything in the world fight, or get angry, and sometimes when that happens, we say things we don't mean. Remember when you took apart Shining's bike?"
She sure did--Shining yelled at her, told her she wasn't his sister anymore and didn't talk to her for weeks. "...yes..."
"And he said a lot of things that hurt really bad?"
"...he didn't want me as his sister..."
Fingers ran through the child's hair. "And did he mean that?"
"...no. He said sorry for it later. After I said sorry for his bike." Twilight sniffled.
Cadence nodded encouragingly. "Right. It happens...but when you do get upset and fight, the most important thing is to say you're sorry and show that you mean it, because hurting people like that, even with words, is not okay. Especially if it's someone you love."
She considered it for a long minute. "How do I do that?"
"Show that you mean it? Well, that depends on the person and what you did or said, but...I've found that asking them how to make it right after you apologize is a good place to start..."
Fingers absently worked soap into her hair as she began to construct her plan going forward. Her goal was to apologize to Sunset. That came with several steps, the most difficult of which was proving to be working up her...courage...to go to Sunset. Would Sunset even want to talk to her yet? Would seeking her out now be welcomed, or should she wait? Her parents' words about letting Sunset have space had stuck with the teen, and she didn't want to push her away further when what she really wanted was to apologize...
As the logical part of her planned and the anxious part began asking questions and imagining all the ways it could go wrong, a hopeful third part of her mind tried to shape a best case scenario. It offered up several potential solutions, based on her independent readi--research, plus Cady's conversations with her, and even times her father or brother had needed to apologize. Twilight's logical side dismissed Shining's trick of copious flowers--it was far too early in the morning for any florist to be open, after all. Plus, she noted with a spike of anxiety, apology flowers pretty much screamed 'romantic relationship' and her parents couldn't miss something so blatant. The same went for possibly planning something for Valentine's Day next week--any complicated plans would be hard to conceal, plus she needed to apologize sooner...
Even if coming out to her parents and admitting she was actually dating her fiery haired best friend was a pretty declarative way of showing Sunset how much she meant to Twilight...
No...none of that would work.
But...it didn't have to be complicated or showy to work, did it? Their date for the meteor shower had been fairly simple after all, and left no one the wiser...
Twilight could see it now. She could go find Sunset in her room, knock, and ask to talk to her alone. Her girlfriend would let her in...Twilight could then apologize. A real apology, citing all the things she had done wrong and offering recognition that she had been in the wrong with what she had said and done...
Sunset would accept it--at least, she hoped that the other girl would. She...didn't seem like she wanted to hold grudges, at least, not since Twilight had known her. Plus, if she wasn't interested in at least hearing Twilight out, wouldn't she have just left last night instead of risking staying and bumping into Twilight?
And then, after they talked a bit about it, Twilight could invite Sunset out to brunch...maybe? There was a little cafe not too far from the cluster of stores they both loved, about three blocks from the used bookstore they loved and next to this second hand store Sunset liked to browse.
That was if Sunset was amenable to Twilight furthering her apology with an activity, of course. Perhaps instead of a specific destination, she could see about offering Sunset the choice of if and what to do? Would that be a more appropriate way of showing her sincerity and remorse for her behavior?
The more Twilight considered it, the more sensible her plan seemed. It left things mostly in Sunset's 'court,' so to speak, dealt with her own actions in a fair and honest way, and was strictly short term without too many assumptions based on incomplete data. Even if it hit a few snags, or certain parts didn't pan out, at least the core of it should succeed. She smiled as she finished rinsing her hair, feeling positive for the first time since the conversation with her father in the car the night before. It was all going to turn out okay...
Those thoughts kept her going as she finished her shower and got dressed, giving her the chance to plan out exactly what she would say when Sunset let her in to talk. She had to get it right, and she discarded several short speeches for not quite conveying what she wanted. It took until she was finished in the bathroom, and her hair brushed and tied back in a ponytail before Twilight had something that she was satisfied with. Now all that was left was walking down the hall and knocking on Sunset's door.
The dark haired girl stared at her reflection, taking a deep breath. "You can do this," she told herself, wishing she was as sure as she sounded.
Twilight exited the bathroom and turned towards Sunset's room instead of her own, gathering her courage. Her steps took her to the door and she knocked, her stomach twisting unsettlingly when the door moved away from her knuckles loosely. "Sunny?" she called hesitantly, pushing the door open further to see into the room.
Her stomach sank to her toes at the sight of the empty bedroom, the falling sensation coupled with its earlier churning to make her feel slightly nauseous. Swallowing reflexively, she let her eyes scan the bedroom, every sense clawing at her with some instinctive knowledge she couldn't articulate that something was horribly wrong with the room. It looked off, with the sheets and bedding twisted and half trailing on the floor, some of them even wadded up and shoved under the bed. It sounded wrong, as if the insulation in the walls--something she rationally knew was no different to the insulation in the rest of the house--was somehow trapping and eliminating all noise entirely, leaving the room far too quiet and still. It felt wrong, the way the air currents from the now open door rubbed against her skin, too hot and stifling, like a summer attic instead of a winter bedroom. It smelled wrong, the heated air tainted by sweat and a faint acrid odor she couldn't place, mixed up under the even fainter whisper of Sunset's scent of 'sunshine, summer, and leather'...
Her imagination shivered with the suggestion of an all too real conclusion: Sunset, her Sunny, caught in the grip of a nightmare like before, suffering and unable to wake, with no one to hear her cries, no one to hold her when she finally came out of it...no one to let her know she was safe and cared for no matter what the demons of her past might say to her... Shame twisted a knife in her chest; whether she triggered the nightmares or not was an irrelevant factor, because had she not been so selfish, so blind, Sunset would not have had to face the darkness alone.
It made her even more determined to find Sunset and apologize.
Twilight considered for a minute, trying to decide where Sunset most likely was if she wasn't in the bedroom the family had given her. The most likely answers were either downstairs in the kitchen or living room, or in Twilight's room--the latter would suggest she was doing what Twilight had attempted to do. She'd start there, then go downstairs if that turned out to not be the case.
She'd taken all of three steps towards her own door when a sound from outside sent her organized thoughts scattering to the four winds like a flock of frightened birds. Twilight knew that rumbling roar from her driveway with the same familiarity she felt about the smell of her girlfriend's jacket, or the husky sound of her voice when they were alone--it was Sunset's bike starting, before falling into the purring, thrumming idling sound. And that sound could only mean one thing.
Sunset was leaving.
Panic drowned out any other thought, and the teen tripped over herself in her mad rush for the stairs. Sunset was leaving, and Twilight couldn't let her go before she apologized. If she left...
No. She couldn't. Not without Twilight apologizing first.
Twilight ran, taking the stairs two at a time, disregarding her own safety, practically leaping over Spike, and then stumbling as she hit the last step wrong and pitched forward right as a form she hadn't expected came in the front door.
Warm hands reached out without thinking, their owner catching Twilight mid-fall and steadying her as she put her feet under her, Sunset's voice breaking the silence with one word. "Careful!"
The touch, the voice, they burned her senses in a way that felt so good it hurt, and she found herself scrambling mentally, trying to recall her planned apology and failing miserably. Twilight tried anyway, the words spilling out in an unintelligible waterfall of stuttered, half sobbed syllables, truncated sentences that never lasted longer than a few words, and fractured thoughts that she couldn't manage to make the shape of with her tongue.
"Twilight," Sunset said, her voice gentle but firm. "Stop. Breathe."
The dark haired girl stopped, and they stood like that for a moment, time itself grinding to a halt as purple eyes met blue-green, both of them just taking in the sight of the other.
Sunset looked tired, and her eyes stormy. Her posture was stiff, far too stiff around Twilight, lacking the open welcome and subtle physical contact that existed between them. Twilight blinked back tears at the tangible proof that she had hurt Sunset deeply--even the night they met, Sunset had never been adverse to her touch.
This time, her voice worked, though it was a weak, broken thing. "...Sunset...Sunny...I...I'm so sorry...I...you didn't deserve..."
Tension eased just a fraction, as those eyes searched her, not just her face, but seeming to peer right into her heart and soul. Whatever the taller girl found must have satisfied her, and she reached out, catching Twilight's upper arm in a squeeze. "...I know...and...we'll talk about it...but not right now."
Confusion made her frown, her eyes falling to the floor and Sunset's hand moved to tip her chin back up. "Hey...look at me, Sparky..." As she raised her eyes back to her girlfriend's--she was still her girlfriend, right?--that amber skinned hand moved to cup her cheek, thumb brushing over Twilight's lips. "We'll talk about it, work through it...but not right now. What you said last night stirred up a lot of stuff...stuff I need to sort through."
The tears that had been welling up spilled over. "Sunny, I--"
Sunset used her thumbs to wipe away the tears. "I'm not angry at you, Twilight. I am...upset. You...what you said hurt, and we need to talk about it for a lot of reasons. But right now, I'm not in a good headspace to have the conversation we need to have. I need some time to deal with all the things that got stirred up, or I will get angry and say things I will regret. Things you don't deserve to have thrown at you because I'm angry and being a bitch."
Biting her lip, Twilight asked, "...are we still...?"
Casting a quick glance around, Sunset leaned forward to kiss Twilight's forehead. "You are still my best friend in the world, Sparky," she answered, then tilted her head to rest their foreheads together briefly, voice lowering to a whisper meant for Twilight alone. "...and my girlfriend, as long as you still want to be. I'm just asking for some time to work through a few things, that's all. Can I have that?"
Twilight nodded as best she could, remembering what her parents had said, about respecting Sunset's needs and wishes, as well as her own earlier promise to let Sunset have the final say about the apology and the conversation they needed to have. "...take as much time as you n-need," she croaked out, her throat tight with emotion.
Her girlfriend gave her the faintest of crooked smiles as she stepped back into her own space. The unspoken, invisible barrier was still present, but seemed less now about Twilight's actions and more about Sunset's own emotions. "...we'll be okay, Twilight. Just...give me the week to get my head on straight, and we'll try again next Friday, alright?"
"I'll be here," Twilight managed, her own smile faint, weak, and watery. "...and I really am sorry, Sunset...for last night. I was wrong, about a lot of things..."
One last brush of amber fingers touched her cheek, and then Sunset's warmth was gone. "...thank you, Sparky...for saying that much...it..." Sunset's eyes blinked moisture back rapidly. "It means more than you know to hear that."
With that, the redhead bent to grab her backpack off the floor, and then she was gone, leaving Twilight cold and alone in the hall, wishing that the week was over already... |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Eleven: Get It Together | Applejack was waiting when Sunset pulled into the driveway, her bike's tires slinging gravel as she stopped sharper than normal. One blonde brow arched as the farmer helped Sunset wheel the bike out of the way under a tree. "Ya look like a carcass dragged half a mile behind a plow, Sunset. Wanna talk about it?"
"Not really," she replied, feeling drained for the moment. The brief confrontation with Twilight at the base of the stairs and the rough, somewhat reckless drive to the farm had left her feeling emotionally wrung out, but the former unicorn knew that feeling wouldn't last. Not after what she'd sensed when she went digging this morning through Twilight's essence--there, almost invisible, were the barest tendrils of dark magic, fresh but already withering, and Sunset's touch had burned them up, just like at the Battle of the Bands, or the day she'd stood between Shining and his mother.
The fury was simply banked for the minute, the slowly building inferno in her chest gaining strength the more she thought about the fact that something malicious was trying to use her adorable nerd for some terrible end. She wanted to take that available time to sort through the unimportant things cluttering up her mind after the night before. Being reminded of snotty aristocratic brats who had long aged past her in a world and kingdom she may never return to was painful and distracting and a lot less important than the more immediate fact that there was something using dark, corrupt magics on her best friend, or the fact that her other closest friends were practically bursting at the seams with magic they were struggling to learn how to use and control.
She looked up to meet worried emerald eyes, and hugged the tall girl impulsively. "Thank you for caring, Applejack...I...I won't say I'm fine, but I need to organize my thoughts before I'm ready to talk."
Scratching at the back of her neck, AJ nodded. "Alrighty then...c'mon then. Best way Ah know ta clear yer head is a bit of mindless work. Gotta muck the barn and pull some bales down from the loft."
"Sounds good..." Sunset followed her into the larger stock barn, where they kept the cows and the family's few horses during the winter cold. It was still unnerving to have wall-eyed primitive equine faces hanging out over stall doors at her, but at least they smelled better than the pigpen. "Are you putting them out in the field today?"
"Eyuuuup. Think ya can set the horses out while Ah muck out the stalls?"
With a noise of agreement, Sunset fell in beside her friend for the work. It turned into a longer, more grueling and physically taxing endeavor than anticipated, especially when Sunset caught the distinctly off gait in one of the horses that she knew all too well--something was caught putting pressure on the fleshy pad on the underside. That had led to her appropriating the Apple family's hoof care kit, and with more than a little grumbling about how awful it was to get something stuck up between the hoof wall and the frog, had cleaned the offending foot until she located a sliver of thick, unyielding haystalk that had wedged itself in good and was jabbing awkwardly into the one part of a hoof that was sensitive to pressure. Its removal had been met with such approval from the mare that she'd practically knocked Sunset over when she'd headbutted the redhead.
Applejack was still giving her plenty of teasing as they headed in to wash up. "So...looks ta me like yer part of the herd now," she laughed, "an' Ah think Daisy is sweet on ya! Gonna take her ta prom?"
Blowing air out her nostrils in a snort, Sunset gave her friend a glare with no heat behind it. "She was just appreciative for me getting the annoyance out of her hoof," she grumbled. "There's no comparison to what that feels like for a pony, not even a rock in your shoe. Maybe a sliver under your fingernail, or a piece of wood stuck in your foot, but even that's not quite the same."
"Sunset, she done followed ya around the paddock the rest of the morning, making doe eyes. An' after ya put Rufus in his place, it was like Moses an' the Red Sea!" Applejack stepped into the mudroom and stripped off the soiled work clothes and muck covered boots.
Sunset just removed her boots and went to wash up in the big basin sink. "...he's a gelded stallion, AJ. Of course he's going to give way to an assertive mare. He just wasn't expecting a unicorn mare to walk into his home wearing this body." She rolled her eyes. "Also you have the weirdest take on pony body language I've ever heard of, by the way--none of what that mare was doing would count as flirting, even in the most primitive fashion. She was trying to make a friendly overture after I made one to her."
Green eyes study her. "Uh huh." Her expression turned sly. "So what would count then? Magic ponies give each other flowers? Show off their ears and shiny coats ta each other?"
Her face grew hot as her mind wandered to Twilight and parts of the girl that most assuredly were not her ears. "Um...we don't look at ears. Flowers are a pretty good way to show interest though--there's so many plants and ways to arrange them in bouquets, and a lot of them do have meanings..." Sweet sunfire, this was not a conversation she really wanted to have with anyone. Especially not things that counted as instinctive flirtatious gestures for her species. Redirect, Shimmer! "Especially since many of them are delicious too. I used to buy this snack, during late spring and early summer in Canterlot, where the vendor would sell spring flowers coated with other things, like chocolate or honey, and sometimes, she'd add things like chopped nuts or dried fruit. Her dark chocolate walnut daffodils were so decadent they should have been illegal."
"Chocolate covered flowers? Huh. Ah guess Ah can see why pony-folk would like those." The farmer joined Sunset at the sink, to wash the worst of the grime off her arms, hands, and face. "So ponies give each other flowers just like people, huh? Guessin' pony flower language ain't the same as human ones."
Sunset blinked. "You guys have flower language?" She paused, thought about it for a minute. "You know flower language?"
The blonde laughed. "Aw, Sunset...don't sound so shook up!" Her eyes danced with humor. "Rares loves gettin' flowers, so Ah made a point ta know what Ah was sayin' years ago." Then she sobered a bit. "'Sides, Ma was big on flowers and Ah used ta help in the garden."
Wincing, the former unicorn tried to focus on something that wouldn't poke at the loss of her friend's parents. "I guess it makes sense. I never considered that humans would have a particularly complex flower language, but...you guys do cultivate a lot of them, despite the fact that almost none of them are edible for you...."
"Eeeeeyup. Most people know the big ones. Red roses fer a lover, white or pink fer yer mum or granny, yellow ta say yer sorry. But there's lots more, and ya can send all kinds o' messages with how many of what kinds and colors, and even how they're arranged together." There was a measure of smugness to Applejack's grin. "Ah like sending Rares flower notes an' seeing how long it takes her ta figure out what Ah said."
There was an amused throat clearing from the inner door. "And you are quite exceptional at subtle messages, dearest," Rarity said. "But if you keep wowing Sunset with your exploits in the fairly lost art of speaking with floral arrangements, breakfast will get cold."
At this rate, Sunset was going to end up with mental whiplash. She turned to stare at Rarity, who was already dressed--though her hair was still damp from a shower and pulled back in a simple ponytail. "...I didn't know you were here," Sunset blurted without thinking.
Rarity smiled, beckoning her inside. "Mother and father are off on an anniversary trip, so Sweetie and I are spending the next two weeks here. And I took the liberty of assisting Granny with cooking breakfast." She paused, her expression faltering. "That alternative is Sweetie helping in the kitchen."
Sunset tilted her head in confusion, until AJ leaned over to whisper, "Sweetie Belle can't make a sandwich without burning boiling water."
"That...I...how?"
Rarity made a face. "We aren't sure, darling, but it's just best to keep her out of the kitchen." She led them inside. "Thankfully, Applebloom helps keep her distracted on mornings such as this. They're off doing minor chores upstairs."
Granny patted Sunset's shoulder as she set a bowl of sliced fruit on the table in front of the former unicorn. "Mornin', young'un. More trainin' today?"
Pushing her hair back from her face, Sunset shook her head. "Not really...until later maybe. We're getting the supplies for our park clean up. Maybe painting some bird houses or feeders. If we have time after we're done, I might do some more training or research."
"Eat up first. Can't get any real work done fer the day if yer belly's chewin' on yer backbone!" the old woman instructed before she shuffled back to the kitchen, half muttering to herself about teenagers. Sunset just looked at her friends--she had a hard time grasping Granny Smith's behavior on a good day, and this was not a good day. Applejack just shrugged and started loading up a plate with a heaping mound of eggs and sausage, along with several large biscuits of a type Sunset had only ever seen come out of the Apple kitchen. Rarity just rolled her eyes and pushed the eggs her way, mouthing 'Just eat,' at her.
Deciding to take her friend's hint, Sunset filled her plate--despite her awful night, she had an appetite, and managed to eat more at the breakfast table than Applejack...who had gone back for thirds. It...was a nice change of pace from the normal tendency to be ill before, during, and after nightmares, but it was still embarrassing when she got teased about it, especially when it was Applebloom and Sweetie Belle poking fun at her during the clean-up.
It was overwhelming enough that she ended up fleeing outside as quietly and quickly as possible, leaning against the battered farm truck to wait on AJ and shivering in the February sunshine. It was stupid, she berated herself, to get agitated over a couple of middle schoolers teasing her in a way that was clearly not malicious, but she couldn't help it. She was still a little too raw to be able to deal with any teasing. Even Applejack's earlier jibes had felt a little more pointed than intended, and she knew perfectly well that that had been her blonde friend's way of trying to get her mind off whatever was bothering her and to maybe make her laugh a little.
Footsteps crunched along the gravel nearby, and she looked up into green eyes, even as Applejack unlocked the truck. "Ready? Rares gave me the list. Said you have all the donation money." Sunset just nodded, and climbed into the passenger seat, hunching her shoulders inside her jacket and fiddling with her scarf.
As they sat there, in the idling vehicle, the tall girl cleared her throat. "So...ya ready ta tell me yet about what's got ya lookin' like yer dog just died and snippier'n Rarity when she's got a weeks worth of sewing ta do two days before a deadline?" She gestured. "Ain't one here but us, and no one ta overhear."
It was an oddly familiar scenario, sitting in the passenger side of a vehicle, trying to decide whether or not to spill what was on her mind. Sure, it was a truck instead of a sporty car, and Applejack in the driver's seat as opposed to Flash, but it held the same mental and emotional feeling, with her friend offering the same quiet patience and open ear as her ex. Sunset blew air out her nostrils in a heavy sigh, absently chewing on her fingernail as she warred with herself.
"None of that now," her friend interrupted, nudging her hand away from her mouth and offering her a bag of fruit flavored lollipops instead. "Chew on one of these, not yerself--no need ta risk needing medical attention if ya bite too hard."
Flushing, the former unicorn took one and then took her time unwrapping it. Her hand was still sore from the abuse her cribbing had subjected it to the night before, and she didn't really want to subject it to any more. "I'm...worried," she admitted.
"'Bout what?" Tanned fingers fiddled with the truck's heat, and soon the chilly cabin was being flooded with warmer air.
She warred with herself, then decided to tell as much as she could without mentioning Twilight by name. "This might sound a little out there...I've been having nightmares," she started. "...and...not-quite...visions. Like what happened the day we blew the school's power out."
Green eyes studied her, before AJ turned her attention to putting the truck into gear and pulling out of the gravel patch into the driveway proper. "So not just weird shit cuz ya ate too many jalapenos durin' a slasher movie marathon right before bed then."
"Um...no?" She gave her friend a somewhat confused glance. "That's...weirdly specific."
There was a snort of laughter. "Dash did it on a dare when we were eleven. Still not sure what kept her up more--nightmares or her gut's opinions on an entire jar of jalapenos."
Well. That...was certainly something. Sunset shook her head to dispel that mental image and refocus on the topic at hand. "...right. No, it's...not like that. Because there's more...I've...encountered people affected by dark magic--" There was a sharp sound from Applejack, and she paused to give her a chance to absorb that, before continuing. "Except it's not the same as with the sirens. This dark magic is...hidden...somehow, until it activates."
"That ain't good. Any ideas on who these folk are?"
Taking a deep breath, Sunset said, "The only link I've seen so far is that they are either Crystal Prep students...or the family of Crystal Prep students. Obviously, I can't just go up and ask about who might be casting dark magic on them, or what they have in common with each other, you know? Most people would call the cops, and I'd like to avoid that."
Applejack made a noise in her throat. "Yeah, Ah can see that. Prolly shouldn't draw attention ta ourselves and our magic." She was silent for a minute, but the expression on her face suggested she had more to say, so Sunset waited.
She was not disappointed. "...gonna be honest, though: wouldn't surprise me all that much if it were someone at CPA behind it. Some of them folks are...not exactly ethical types. If it'd give them a way ta get what they want, they'd go fer it."
Thinking about the way Wallflower had acted, even without the presence of dark magic, Sunset grimaced. "I've...gotten that impression," she acknowledged, rubbing her face. "Which is part of what worries me. Dark magic...can be addictive...to those who crave power."
The farmer makes an unhappy sound. "Definitely ain't good. So what do we do?"
Sunset rubbed the back of her neck, trying to relieve some of the tension in the muscles. "We prepare ourselves. We can't exactly go hunting for whoever or whatever is responsible, but dark magic users usually seek out more power. And with you girls acting like living vessels of Harmony magic..."
"Then it's only a matter of time before the next magical so-and-so comes a'knockin'." Applejack shook her head.
She let air escape from her nose slowly in something that wasn't quite a sigh, but was filled with tired resignation. "Exactly. So us practicing, getting all of us to the point where we can access and then use our magic is important--unfortunately, I highly doubt whatever is responsible for what I've sensed is going to give us the time we really need before it comes looking for our magic." Sunset rested her head back against the seat. "It doesn't help that there just isn't enough time in the day to get everything done I need to do."
The truck pulled into the parking lot of the local hardware store, and AJ turned to face her once the vehicle was safely parked in a space. "...Mebbe you should start delegating."
Delegate? Blue-green eyes must have showed her confusion because Applejack sighed. "Look...Ah know yer doing what Rares suggested, talking to us and not keepin' everything in all the time...but yer still trying ta do most of everything by yerself." She tapped her fingers on the steering wheel. "Some of it, Ah get. Yer the only one with know-how about using magic, so yer the only one who can teach us. But there's other stuff we can do."
The redhead frowned. "I'm not dismissing it, but...what exactly do you think I should hand off to you girls? I...can't exactly see Dash being particularly enthusiastic about research."
Her friend laughed. "Aw, shit...no, Dash'd be bored and playin' hangman in the margins before ten minutes was up! Ah meant...okay, research is a good place ta start. Lyra's already organizing what folks at school bring in, and any of that stuff she finds on the internet. So...why not let her do more? Give her...and Flash, mebbe, since he's level headed, a way to sort the good from the bad, an' let them read through it all. Then you only have ta go through the most promisin' stuff ta see if its legit at all."
The more she mulled it over, the more she liked the idea. "...I could...I'd still have to be the one to go through the books from Equestria, but...that would save me a lot of time with all the human folklore..."
"Sure would. Bon-Bon and Flash are already handling the rest of the school--with some help from Rarity--and Miss Luna seems ta have the teachers under control..." AJ took off her hat and fiddled with it. "Ah also thought mebbe you could teach Dash ta work yer scanner, and let her fly around town at night ta take all those readings. Takes you a few hours, dont it?"
Sunset nodded slowly. "Yeah, because I've been driving out to both the observatory and near the beach to get ambient baselines far from the epicenter of our school. It eats up a good bit of my Saturday and Tuesday afternoons."
Applejack shrugged. "Let Dash do it at night. She can fly, and it'll let her use her magic. She can get it done in less than an hour, without having ta pay money fer gas."
This was not the conversation she expected to have, but that wasn't a bad thing, Sunset decided. "I...could do that. Make a list of locations and teach her the thaumameter's scan functions...I can read the data later for myself, and she wouldn't have to learn more than four or five glyphs." She ran a hand through her hair. "That would give me more breathing room...Thanks, Applejack."
"Oh, Ah ain't done," the farmer responded. "Ain't just magic Ah think could use delegation. Like...this park project. Ah get that it was yer present ta Fluttershy, but...we can help more. Like the feeders and birdhouses. Pinkie and Ah had an idea fer getting them painted all nice and colorful if yer willing ta let us handle it?"
Warily, Sunset arched an eyebrow and made a 'go oooon....' gesture.
"We take 'em over ta Starlight House with the paint, and let the girls there paint them and sign their names on the bottom. Mac and Ah can put them all together lickety-split with our nailgun, and the kids can paint them. They'll be ready ta go up in the park by the time we get ta the event." She worried at her hat's brim in a way that suggested the action was an old habit. "Yer not gonna be able ta help anyone, Sunset, if you work yerself ta death. Ah know how ya feel--like if you don't do it yerself, yer letting folks down..."
Sunset's eyes couldn't look at her friend, gaze falling instead to the dashboard. "...because this is my fault. I brought the Element of Magic here. I put it on. I unleashed all that energy here. Everything that's happened since is my fault, and if people get hurt or killed...that's my fault too. I've got to do my part in keeping that from happening!"
"That's not true, Sunset. Not entirely. Yes, the whole mess at the Fall Formal? The Crown and the demon and that? Sure. That is yer fault. But...yer not responsible fer what the sirens did. You weren't holding a gun to any of 'em, telling them ta enslave the school or drain our magic. It wasn't you that was making us act lousy ta each other. Just like yer not the one using dark magic on Crystal Prep students, right?" Applejack's voice was firm, and magic hummed between them.
The former unicorn shook her head. "No, but--"
She was interrupted by a loud noise from Applejack. "No buts, Sunset. A person--or a pony," the blonde joked, eliciting a faint laugh, "is only responsible fer their own choices and actions. You ain't gotta carry the world on yer shoulders alone, Sunset."
Tears burned behind her eyes, and she tried to respond, but the sound got stuck in her throat. Movement caught her ears and then she was being held in a warm hug by her friend. "Ah mean it. Rares has been telling you that you can rely on us ta help, and she's right. We ain't gonna get anywhere working alone--we're a team, and our magic works best when it's working with each other. We're here ta take some of that weight from you, but you gotta be willing ta trust us."
Swallowing hard, Sunset managed to get out, "I do trust you girls...I just..." She hesitated, realization coming slowly to a tired mind. "...I guess that's something Princess Twilight and I have in common..." she admitted as she pulled back from the hug.
AJ slugged her shoulder lightly. "Well, take yer own advice."
One hand rubbed her eyes--she hadn't cried this time, but her eyes still felt gritty and sore like she had. "I guess I'm so used to having to do things on my own that I...don't think about asking other people to do things. That's...something that's...as hard to let go of as it is to trust people."
"And do you? Trust us?"
Sunset fell silent for a minute, mulling the question over. Her mind nudged the faint sense of fear away with a memory of another time, the first time, really, that anyone in two worlds had ever asked that question. The mental image of a lavender skinned hand extended to her, palm up, a body close enough to her own that she could feel the warmth radiating off it, and purple eyes fixed on her face danced across her mind's eye, and she could hear the soft question whispered by the girl who was her first and best friend. "...would you be willing to try and trust me?" Twilight had asked her then.
Just like Applejack was asking her now. Did she? Did she trust the girls with something this important?
Magic filled her senses, solid as the earth itself and it plucked at her soul, making her laugh quietly as she became aware that this waiting magic would accept nothing less than the truth...and neither would AJ. She lifted her head, meeting green eyes, and nodded. "...yes....I do...because it's not enough to be honest with your friends is it? You have to be willing to trust them with your truth too."
********
The sound of AJ's nailgun at work was a passive background sound, one that let Sunset know she was somewhere real while she had her focus turned inward, her magical senses wide open as she walked Rarity through meditation exercises designed to help unicorn foals strengthen their connection to and awareness of their magic.
"In ponies," she was explaining, "our magic follows what we call 'thaumic pathways'--imagine it as a sort of...cross between a nervous system and a circulatory system, designed to carry our magic through our bodies."
Rarity made a thoughtful, considering noise. "Humans don't have anything like that. Is that why your magic can't be used the pony way here?"
She felt her expression turn wry. "Pretty much. The energy feels like it tries to borrow my nerves instead, and that's dangerous. In Equestria, thaumic energies passing over the nerves can create degenerative conditions and is one of the most common causes for mental decline in elderly unicorns. But that's...beside the point here. Those energies still come from within our cores--you girls aren't using any kind of spellform or ritual to pull magic from the ambient environment, and everything I can feel shows me the magic is inside you. What I want to learn is...how the magic is traveling through your bodies without a thaumic pathway system, and without using your nerves. I can't look at myself, because I'm a unicorn despite everything, and I likely have spell damage from the dark magic at the formal--the princess and I discussed it, back during the battle of the bands, and my forays into trying to cast since support it."
A concerned frown twisted the corners of Rarity's mouth. "Are you sure we shouldn't be more concerned about you, darling?"
"Weirdly, I seem to be fine as long as it's whatever magic is causing the Pony-Ups in me. My problem is the unstable surge fluctuations I'm encountering, but that's a completely different situation, one I've dealt with most of my life." Sunset waved her hand. "Anyway. What I want you to do is just...focus on the feelings, your friendships, the things that draw out your magic. Don't force it, but...let it happen slowly, and naturally. Don't try to control it--we're alone in a grassy field, and I can handle any surge that might happen. Just let it come, and focus on what it feels like as it moves through you."
Her friend studied her, one of those scrutinizing looks that always left Sunset feeling a little exposed. "I will try, of course, but I will also not have you attempting to change the subject on me, Sunset Shimmer, not when the subject is your well being." The designer's tone was serious and firm. "I understand you are much better educated on the matters of magic, but if using it presents some kind of danger to your health, we should like to know. I speak for all of us when I say that we would much rather have to muddle through our powers and have you hale than learn them faster at the expense of you. You are not expendable, do you understand?"
Thoroughly chastised but also feeling warmed by the sentiment, Sunset sighed and nodded. "...okay, I...I will tell you girls if it becomes something to worry about, but I really don't think it will, as long as I don't push it. The magic that makes us Pony-Up is...different, and I'm not entirely sure my Pony-Ups are...the same as yours. For all I know, it could be simply my body responding to the large amounts of magic you five radiate when your powers are active--keep in mind that being a pony is my natural state of being and this form is just..."
"...some kind of complicated illusion?" Rarity offered with a hint of a smile. "Very well. I shall bow to your knowledge in the field of magical studies, but I stand by my concerns and will say something if it seems as though you are at risk. There will be no more repeats of your collapse in the school, darling."
Sunset didn't respond verbally, but Rarity seemed to take her lack of argument as agreement. The pale skinned tailor relaxed and closed her eyes, her breathing becoming slow and steady. The former unicorn tuned out everything else but her magical senses, focusing those on Rarity and the area immediately around them both.
She sensed the magic well before Rarity actually Ponied-Up, and it was nothing like the former student of Princess Celestia was accustomed to. It didn't come from a particular location or source, wasn't energy traversing the body like she would see with a pony... In hindsight, it almost made sense why she'd never really been able to catch the moment the magic started before, because it...didn't 'start.' It just...was, a faint presence of magic that, for lack of a better term, suffused Rarity's whole being, starting out barely there--what she realized she had dismissed as being simply part of the ambient energy in places like the school--and growing stronger and more...concentrated?' Sunset was finding it hard to put into words, even with her own culture having terms for magic; what she was perceiving was different in ways that pony scholars had never encountered before.
With a bit of strain in her voice, the redhead told Rarity as much. "Do you believe it cause for alarm, Sunset?" Rarity questioned in response, pony ears flicking and twitching erratically towards every sound.
"...no..." she answered after a minute. "It...it feels like Harmony magic, and while my...debacle at the Formal might suggest otherwise, I don't think I know of any other occurrence in any story where the Elements brought harm to any wielder..."
"Darling," her friend pointed out dryly, "I don't know if it's dawned on you yet, but the only one in this group who has wielded anything of the sort...is you. We all touched the Crown, briefly, but the rest of the set were in your world....and the Crown was taken back by Twilight."
"Tirek take me for a horncap," Sunset swore distractedly, realizing Rarity was right. The former unicorn wracked her brains for some kind of answer, someway to make sure this wasn't a reason to panic.
Strangely, an idea nudged her, the faintest scrap of...memory? Maybe? From long ago, when she was a very young filly but too old for the magic surges she was still having, and how the palace doctors had run a barrage of tests. She kept melting down the equipment, shattering crystals and otherwise causing a problem. It had been at that point that the fox-folk ambassador, the sweet, nice fox she had met at one of the fancy dinners and had loved baby Philomena so much happened to step into the palace infirmary, offering his assistance...
Shaking her head to dispel the memory, Sunset frowned. It was a long shot, but maybe...
"...I...I want to try something--is...that alright?" she asked, still focusing on the magic.
Rarity was looking at her--she wasn't looking at Rarity, but Sunset knew that the tailor was staring at her, could feel it in the same way she could feel the magic, a sense separated from the other five, but bearing touches from all of them. "Will it hurt you?"
"...It shouldn't," Sunset admitted honestly.
A heavy sigh that actually sent a curling zephyr of magic into the world sounded, and she could sense the head nod. "Go ahead then, darling."
Sunset steadied herself with a slow, deep breath of her own and reached out to touch Rarity's hand, lowering the barriers that kept her magic in check slowly, letting her senses mingle with it, and that faint pulse of power came into contact with Rarity's magic.
What happened next was nothing she could have prepared for.
If there was a word to describe the unfathomable, she would have chosen 'abundance.' The magic, Rarity's magic, was a woven tapestry of Harmony magic and something else that could only be Rarity herself. Her own awareness was surrounded by it, warmth and light and familiarity, tickling her senses with half flickered, hazy impressions of other things: a bite of oven fresh bread, rich with real butter and a drizzle of cloudflower honey, laughter, rich in her ears with a vibe of welcome, the touch of arms drawing her into a place of warmth from the bitter cold, a hot drink pressed into her hands that smelled of rich chocolate...
It was comfort. Joy. Friendship's endless depths from which there always seemed to be more to share, no matter how much there already was filling a room or a person... Something deeper called to her, a ringing that seemed to be excitement and greeting and undiluted happiness, and with a sudden shock she realized that the magic itself was...happy she was there studying it.
That made her pause, and the welcoming joy paused in turn, and now she felt she was the one being studied. She could feel the magic touching back, followed by...reassurance? It was hard to translate, to wrap her mind around something that wasn't thoughts but rather emotions and impressions of them that were not her own...yet...
Reassurance was closest, and the magic drew her in more, its power dimming enough that she could really get a good feel for how it was woven into her human friend. Woven...that was a good word for it, she decided, in the end. The source was not latched onto Rarity like some kind of parasitic force, nor was it seeming to be in danger of taking her over. Instead...it seemed as though it had actually joined with her the way one could weave threads together to make fabric, each still their own substance and singular identity, but much like the power of the Elements of Harmony themselves, the magic that had come from Equestria had come together with Rarity to help her become...even more herself than she'd been before.
Sunset pulled herself free of the connection, trailed by a sense of farewell. She swayed as her own magic retreated, leaving her feeling worn and more tired than before. "Sweet sunfire and moonlight ice," she whispered, not really connecting with her surroundings for the moment.
"--nset?"
That wasn't...what had the Crown done to her friends? This wasn't residual magic from the formal catalyzing their own potential, nor was it just the leftover energy of the Elements of Harmony.
"...Sunset? Darling?"
Fingers touched her arm, jolting her back to the present. She blinked rapidly, as Rarity came back into focus. "Are you okay?" the tailor asked, worry etched into her features. "You went completely still, and you were glowing all over, but you didn't seem to hear anything I said."
Breathing deeply, Sunset rubbed her neck. "I'm okay, Rarity...it was just weird...and intense."
Rarity watched her. "What happened? Do we need to be concerned? I could...feel some of what your magic was doing...but it was so strange..."
Did they need to worry? The redhead thought back to the way the essence of Harmony...of Generosity, she corrected absently...had looked, how it had interacted with Rarity's core, her essence. "No," she said with certainty. "The magic is not a danger to you...it...if anything...it just seems to make you..." She found herself echoing her initial perception. "...more you."
Her friend relaxed some. "I suppose that is a relief then."
Sunset distractedly ran her fingers across the grass beneath them, glancing down when she discovered it felt different than it had felt when she sat down. It was longer and softer--the yellow brown had been replaced with dark green fresh growth in a circle around her and Rarity. It wasn't as extreme as the grounds of their school, but it was enough that Sunset made a mental note to look into if it was a normal side effect of Harmony magic and the Elements, or if this was just magic in general. Such things fell more into the scheme of Earth Pony magic, and as a unicorn whose talents lay in spell construction, she was only loosely read up on the magic of non-spellcasters.
It wasn't the only thing she needed to look up. She wanted to read back through the book she had stolen from the palace on the Elements. The old, strange one that had no title, that didn't have a duplicate among any of the other texts Princess Twilight had sent her. It had a lot of theories about the Elements that officially published works seemed to lack...
It was the text that had suggested the idea that separating an Element from Its world and the other Elements would "confuse" the object enough to allow someone other than a chosen wielder make use of Its power. She had built her entire plan off the one text, once she had realized the Elements had been found, saving her the trouble of having to hunt for them.
And it was also the only text she'd read that suggested the Elements were more than just powerful artifacts...she'd assumed that was exaggeration, a way of articulating the way Harmony magic worked, the way the Elements chose wielders, bearers, relating it to the way thinking beings thought...
But now...she was starting to question it. What she had encountered was...more than just energy, and while it was part of Rarity, it was also...not her subconscious or conscious mind as far as Sunset could tell.
Were the Elements...aware? Had the Element of Magic...left something behind besides energy? The memory of that dry, somewhat cutting voice that had picked apart her excuses and her actions during her transformation into the demon and in that strange white void surfaced. At the time she had assumed it was the Element drawing on her own subconscious, of Harmony magic acting in accordance with its nature and stripping away lies, falsehoods, and corruption, combined with the deleterious effect dark magic had on the psyche. What if it...wasn't just that? What if there was more to it? What if the Elements of Harmony...were...not alive, per se...but sentient somehow?
And what did that mean for her friends? What had her hubris done to them?
She didn't know. At present, Sunset didn't have definitive answers, only half formed worries and suspicions...something she didn't want to scare her friends with unnecessarily. Not without some kind of proof. But she couldn't lie to them either. That was wrong and the mere thought made her feel nauseous.
"I--" the former unicorn began, only to be cut off by yelling.
"The Great and Powerful Trixie demands you put her down this instant, you ham-handed giant! Before Trixie decides to punish you by turning you into a toad!"
Sunset and Rarity were both on their feet, turning towards the yelling in an instant. Sunset found herself staring at the scene that met her eyes. Big Mac had Trixie Lulamoon slung over his shoulder like a sack of flour, and was carrying her over to where Applejack and Fluttershy had been quietly constructing birdhouses and animal feeders. The wannabe stage magician was yelling, pounding on Big Mac's shoulders and demanding to be let go, her feet kicking futilely.
"Oh for heaven's sake," Rarity sighed, sounding more than a little exasperated as she grabbed Sunset's arm and began to stalk towards the impending disaster.
They interrupted the early stages of an argument, with Big Mac having set Trixie on her feet in front of Applejack, one meaty hand gripping the intruder's shoulder firmly to keep her from running. Applejack was already scowling. "...ill trespassing," she was saying, her voice tight. "And spying."
"It was not! Trixie was ensuring that amateurs did not accidentally cause problems with more mismanagement of ill-gotten magic that you were never meant to have!" Trixie crossed her arms over her chest. "Trixie is also a member of the Canterlot High Student Defense," she added in a petulant tone.
Great. Not that again. Also, who was she calling an amateur? Arrogant little--
Sunset forced her emotions down, breathing deeply as Rarity interjected smoothly, "Trixie, while we appreciate the thought, Sunset has things well in hand with our magic tutelage..."
"Ah, yes," Trixie said with more than a hint of mockery. "How could we forget Sunset Shimmer's command of the craft after her phenomenal display during this year's past Fall Formal. Tell me...was the rampaging demonic transformation 'working as intended?'"
"Now that tears it!"
AJ started forward, but Sunset held her hand in the way. "No, Applejack, she raises a good question...and she deserves an answer, if she's willing to answer a few questions of mine in turn." She could play this game too, and she was starting to get tired of being a verbal punching bag, especially about the formal. Besides, trapping Trixie in her own ego would feel cathartic without being harmful.
The other girls stared at Sunset, completely lost and confused. She smiled pleasantly, thankful for years of having to put on a public face. "To answer, no. The power I acquired was the initial intention. The forced transformation and the warped worldview was unintentional, and a very good example why you are right about amateurs dabbling in those powers unguided, since even an experienced Magus can be caught if they aren't careful."
"Um...Sunset?" Fluttershy started. Applejack was staring at Sunset like she'd grown an extra head. Rarity was watching with shrewd eyes.
Trixie preened, and Sunset could practically see her ego growing in real time. "Exactly! Which is why the Great and Powerful Trixie was here!"
Sunset nodded again. "Of course, completely logical. You wanted to ensure that all moral and ethical practices were being followed when teaching fledgling spellcasters how to use an incredible amount of power safely. Again, completely logical and reasonable." She turned her attention briefly to her friends. "It's not really that big a deal, girls. The same thing happens in Equestria--the Equestrian Board for the Standards and Ethics of Thaumaturgical Practices exists for a reason and they are very firm about the standards for behavior they set forth, more so than just about any other such body except perhaps the Equestrian Board of Alchemy and Apothecarium...for the same reasons, really."
Applejack blinked. "The...who-whut-now?"
"Magical Ethics organizations...kind of like how all the major human nations agree to follow certain rules about science or war, kingdoms in Equestria have similar rules for magic and potions."
"Huh." The farmer rubbed her chin. "Never thought about that. Interesting."
Rarity arched an eyebrow, looking between Sunset's easy smile and Trixie's self assured expression. "Indeed, that's very fascinating, darling, but...I trust you are going somewhere with this?"
Trixie couldn't help herself. "Clearly, Sunset Shimmer understands that Trixie is the best qualified teacher of the magic arts that you all could have, and she is going to turn herself and all of you over for Trixie's instruction!"
Gotcha! Sunset couldn't help but feel more than a little smug at how easy it was to trap Trixie like this.
"When Hell freezes over!" came the retort from a now very irate Applejack.
Waving a hand, Sunset said calmly, "No...Trixie has the right of it...provided, of course, that she can produce her certifications."
Trixie's triumphant expression faltered. "Uh...my what?"
By this point, Rarity had caught on. "Why your official documents in regards to being qualified to train others in using magic, darling. What else would Sunset be referring to?"
The teenage magician couldn't seem to formulate a response, eyes wide as it started to dawn on her that she'd been caught in a situation she couldn't win from. If she backed down about the ethics and standards, then her justification for trespassing and spying would fall apart, but if she persisted, she would likewise be escorted away from the situation she was trying to insert herself into with no reason to argue for being allowed to stay. She resorted to her only option. "Well, what about you, Sunset Shimmer! Where is your paperwork!? Trixie demands to see it!"
Sunset's smile became a smirk. "I'd be happy to show you," she responded, suddenly glad for the pit stop home to grab her enchanted saddlebag-turned-backpack. "Fluttershy, hand me my bag?"
As they watched, she opened it up, reached into a pocket inside, and retrieved a rather official looking leather-bound object about the size of a human passport. She showed it to the whole group, first the cover--with the impressed and gold embossed seal of the kingdom of her birth marked deep into the smooth, chocolate brown leather, and then flipped it open to reveal the two page spread of legalese inside. On the one side was a photo of herself, as a teenage unicorn, her hair still slightly frazzled from a week's worth of certification exams, along with her name, species, birthdate, place of residence, a copy of her cutie mark, as well as a few other notations that only mattered to government and bureaucracy for records purposes. On the other was her official certification for her Magus level masteries.
All written in Ponish, of course.
Sunset traced a finger over the glyphs. "This side is just my personal details, a lot like what's on my driver's license here. Sunset Shimmer, born...well, it'd be about early August here. Different calendars. Species, unicorn pony, native of Canterlot, my cutie mark...that sort of thing."
"And this side reads: 'On this day, the twenty first of...I guess it would be about April?...in the year nine hundred and eight four SSC, the Equestrian Board for the Standards and Ethics of Thaumaturgical Practices certifies that Sunset Shimmer has attained board-certified Magus level Mastery in the following areas...' followed by the listing of the various branches of magic and subjects of study I passed the examinations for. A bunch of them are not really important here--like my basic mastery in artificing--but among the list are transmutation, teleportation, spellcraft and deconstruction, and a minor mastery in artifacts and enchantments. If I hadn't come to this world, I would have gone on to finish my Archmagus certifications in spellcraft and deconstruction."
Silence.
She couldn't even hear them breathing. Looking up from the object in her hand, she punctuated it by snapping it shut. "No sensible Magus goes anywhere without theirs." Blue-green eyes bored into Trixie's. "If your certifications out-rank mine, Trixie, and you can produce them, then, of course you can teach the girls magic and how to use it...but given where I'm from, that's going to require you to do more than make a rabbit appear out of a hat. Especially if you expect to be trusted with the safety and lives of my friends. Magic in the hands of amateurs is one of the most dangerous types of magic, as you pointed out..."
By now, Big Mac had let the stage performer go, and Trixie stared long and hard at Sunset, giving the redhead a glimpse behind the ego and the mask at something...much more serious...and holding a faint glimmer of something that almost felt like...respect?
From Trixie? No, she must have been more tired than she thought, Sunset decided.
And yet...as the girl broke the stare down to look at the closed certification booklet, she nodded. "Perhaps...you have a valid point, Sunset Shimmer--your time is best spent teaching your friends control. Trixie will spend her time seeing to defenses around the Canterlot Campus. Such a project is a more appropriate use of the Great and Powerful Trixie's time and skill."
She gave an arrogant sounding sniff, and inclined her head. "And perhaps someday, you can provide Trixie with a demonstration of your skill that does not involve property damage or a power outage?" With an expression that was challenging, the girl with silvery hair made a hand gesture that created an explosion of blue smoke, blocking their view of her. When it cleared she appeared to have vanished from view.
Applejack snorted derisively. "Overblown showpony," she said with an eye roll. "Prolly just hidin' behind a tree ta sneak off when we ain't looking. Waste of fifteen minutes. Now...about that thing-a-ma-jigger ya showed off...Ah gotta know..is that really what ya looked like as a pony?"
As Sunset stammered out a response and found herself having to let her friends get a good long look at her frazzled teenage filly self, she couldn't help but disagree with Applejack's assessment. The day had given her a lot to think about, even the encounters with Trixie. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Research Log III: Dissenting Opinions | "Research Log: Project Aurora. Private Log #27. Timestamp: Sunday, 9 February, year 2014, 4:39 PM. Location: Home Laboratory.
"Once again, I am met with mixed results from my mobile tracking unit. It is successful in bringing me to general locations, but then fails to pinpoint the specific source of the anomalous energy. I'm trying another iteration for this week's tests. I just hope it is a better result than last week, which kept going off at seemingly random times in places where the energy, as far as my research has determined, isn't present...at least, not in amounts significant enough to detect.
"Overall though, the project is going well, despite some...setbacks and obstacles. I'm still keeping these logs separate and hidden away from the main body of research, since I can't shake the unpleasant sense that someone from Sunset's past may be involved. It might all just be unreasonable paranoia, but Artemis and the upgraded Medusa Protocols make me feel better, at least."
A heavy sigh echoes, along with the sound of fabric shifting.
"I also wish Sunset was my partner on this. I know she goes to a different school, and I know it's silly to feel this way since Wallflower's my friend, but...I just don't feel like Wallflower would understand most of what I'm doing with this project.
"That's awful of me, I know. Despite whatever happened between her and Sunset to make them antagonistic to one another, Wallflower is my friend, and she means well...plus she was picked by Cinch, so she didn't have much choice...
"But I can't help but feel like my project and space are being infringed on now. Like, if asked, she'll report everything I say and do to my principal..."
A scoff.
"Now I know I'm being ridiculous. Back to the experiments and project. The strange energy has shown fluctuations much more regularly, and the area affected seems to be growing, though slowly. Estimates show it is only by a few inches every couple of days, but that suggests that the energy is getting stronger. I've narrowed down a primary epicenter, plus at least three smaller locations--is it possible that these are the locations of the Large Events?"
"The first, and primary epicenter is located somewhere on the campus of Canterlot High School and Canterlot Junior High School--the combined campus and heavy woods surrounding one and a half sides of it make pinpointing the exact location difficult. Particularly as the staff and students of the school are not known to be friendly to Crystal Prep students showing up. I chalk that up to my school's population having a long history of defacing their mascot statue over the last several decades."
"The others, as much as my research indicates, as well as my use of simple cartography skills, indicates that one of the secondary locations is the local amphitheater--I have not returned to the site since my unnerving experience and panic attack--a stretch of farmland at least an hour's walk from the furthest stop of the city bus-line, and somewhere in Everfree Forest Park, possibly where it backs up to the old quarry or the reservoir. Only the amphitheater is easily accessible to me, unless I can convince Wallflower or Sunset to drive me out to those other locations to take some readings...
"I'm not sure that will be possible in either case."
"Research Log: Project Aurora. Log #72. Timestamp: Monday, 10 February, year 2014, 11:17 AM. Location: Crystal Prep Laboratory."
A derisive snort comes from some distance from the microphone. "Why do you do it that way? It sounds kind of pretentious, Twilight."
"Because it helps me keep things organized and in order. If I need to search for a specific entry later, I can find it quickly. Now where was I?
"Right. The newest iteration of my portable scanning device is finished, and intended to be tested tomorrow after school. Today, however, I wanted to go over some of the samples taken from several of the sites."
"To begin with, I did my best analysis of the paint and carpet fibers from the music store. Aside from evidence of extended exposure to marijuana's active compounds and possible traces of other illicit substances, nothing out of the ordinary turned up. The same goes for the samples taken from the car tires, the pawn shop, and outside that dress shop that seems to be an exclusive boutique of some kind...It has a 'by appointment only' sign at least, and I can't come up with a justifiable reason to go inside."
"Why do you need some kind of reason? Just go in, and if some sales clerk asks, lie. None of their business anyway."
"...because I would be entering their place of business...I would think that would make it exactly their business what I was doing there." Fingers drum on the table. "It's a moot point anyway. The readings were faint, and none of the samples showed anything unusual. I'm more interested in running tests on the biological samples I managed to acquire from outside Canterlot High."
"Yeah, those are definitely weird, Twilight."
There's a long moment of dead air, with the sound of a creaking chair. Then, "How do you know that?"
"I was looking at them earlier, while you were in your gym uniform, sweating to death under the watchful eye of the school's most obnoxious soccer and field hockey player. After all, that part of the project is my grade now too, remember?"
"...yes. I do. But I had intended procedure to do the updated documentation on those samples, and--"
"And it wasn't necessary. I did all that for you, not that anything had changed--which is part of the weirdness with whatever X-Files crap you've got going on here."
"...could you clarify with more than that, Wallflower?"
"Okay...look, some of it is normal. You brought me samples of maple and oak and pine, but also things that look like leaves from vegetables and common fruit bushes."
"Most of those should be labeled as having come from the greenhouse."
"Yeah. But that's not what's making them weird. It's that even though these samples were picked...what, like two weeks ago? They're fresh. None of them have wilted or dried or become discolored. And let's not start on the fact that these are green oak leaves in February. I'd make a joke about global warming, but the news this weekend was talking about how it's been way too cold this winter, all over the northern half of the state."
"And then there's this sample. I have no idea what kind of plant this is. I can tell you what it looks similar to, but I've looked up every part of it in every book and horticulture website and reference guide I know of, and it's not listed. What can you tell me about the plant you cut these from?"
"It was hard to tell in the dark, but it was a row of bushes--or perhaps one bush? About four feet tall, give or take a few inches. The berries were what I smelled first. I thought it was a blackberry bush at first, until my light was on it. Then I realized the berries were all wrong for blackberries."
"It's definitely not a blackberry bush--blackberries don't grow on bushes. They grow by sending up long cane stems from a much longer lived root system...Not only are the berries not right, the leaves are the wrong shape." Crinkling plastic. "The berries look more like Rubus caesius--that's the European dewberry--but the color is wrong, as is the texture of them, and the leaves don't match. Everything in the samples suggests its something in the Rubus genus, but it doesn't match any of them."
"I'm still looking, but it could be a brand new hybrid species and those kids at Canterlot probably have no idea what they've got if it is!"
"Perhaps it is not a good idea to get too far ahead of ourselves, Wallflower. Isn't the blackberry part of a rather extensive family of berry producing plants all over the world?"
"Over thirteen hundre--ow! Shit! Mmmph!"
"What happened? Are you alright?"
"Clearly, I decided my thumb was lacking in the number of holes it possessed, so I used a thorn to add a new one." The tone was dry. "It's fine. In fact, I barely--wait. That's..."
"What?" The other voice sounded frantic.
"Those Canterlot nobodies really have no idea what this is worth...Twilight, my thumb is numb now. There's sap on this plant...if it made my skin go numb, this could have medical applications. Do you have any idea what a discovery like this could be worth to the right pharmaceutical company?" There was the sound of pen on paper. "We need to go to CHS, get some viable cuttings. If I could cultivate one of my own, I could submit my own findings and get credit for the discovery of a new species..."
A long, drawn out moment of fairly dead air ensues, the faint snippets of one voice mumbling to herself and the other painfully, pointedly silent.
"...probably don't even know where it came from...just smile dumbly and use the berries for some kind of baking recipe...have to...paper...write down all of it...come up with a name for it...Rubus erysi, I think, with the common name 'Blushberry' since people will know those better than anything else about them.
The muttering is finally broken by a ragged, agitated breath. "I think you are getting way ahead of yourself, Wallflower. First of all, you have completely compromised any of the data you are attempting to gather with those samples because you have compromised the protocols necessary to prevent contamination. Second, you have barely done any research--you have no idea if this is a new species, not yet, or if it is some known variant or documented hybrid. A forty five minute class period does not allow for thorough research. Thirdly, you are not even monitoring or treating your injury which has apparently been involved with some kind of foreign compound that caused numbness. It could be a toxin or something triggering an allergic reaction! While--"
SLAM!
"The only thing that matters is being the first to publish, Twilight. That's it. If I'm going to scoop this discovery before some public school idiot figures out what they've got, I have to work fast, and be willing to make sacrifices. It's all well and good for you, since you study just about anything--the chances of you finding some kind of physics law or space anomaly or inventing a new computer chip are good, but the wonderful world of botany isn't exactly crawling with brand new discoveries unless you're interested in sweating your ass off in some malaria-infested jungle a thousand miles from anything remotely civilized, hoping you aren't about to be eaten by a jaguar. If avoiding that means risking an infected cut or meaning your OCD just has to deal with me not using all of the steps you want to use, then you can just learn to live with it. That's how academics works."
"And seeing as how you barely know a chrysanthemum from a radish, you need me on your project to figure out the plants. That's why Cinch put me here as your assistant. You need my help. I don't need yours."
Tension leaks across the recording, despite the several seconds where no one speaks.
"I was perfectly capable of doing my own research, and I did not ask for nor did I need an assistant." The words are clipped, tight, and more than a little upset. "I am perfectly capable of recording my own logs, and looking up information--and at present, I seem to be more capable than the so-called assistant dumped on me without any thought to what I might have desired."
"Oh yes, Perfect Princess Twilight Sparkle, the genius who is absolutely perfect at everything she does and never needs anyone because she's sooooo much smarter than the rest of us mere mortals." A nasty noise. "Just forget it, Twilight. You can't possibly understand what it's like to not be the brilliant prodigy who never has to actually work at anything."
The sound of a chair shifting almost drowns out the next accusatory statement. "Are you actually recording all this?"
A pause. "I never stopped. You were the one who interrupted my audio notes." A ragged breath. "I think we're done here for the day, Wallflower."
"Oh no, not yet...but this thing is certainly going off. I don't want to be part of your creepy recordings."
"Don't touch tha--"
UNEXPECTED END OF FILE.
"Research Log: Project Aurora. Log #72.5, Supplemental. Timestamp: Monday, 10 February, year 2014, 4:23 PM. Location: Home Laboratory.
"Given the unprofessional nature of Log 72, I have felt it prudent to make an addendum to it from the solitude and safety of my home laboratory. There is a lot to go over, and I shall endeavor to avoid going off on emotional tangents. We've had enough of those for the day.
"First and foremost, while Wallflower's knowledge of botany outclasses my own, I do not agree with her assessments on the unknown berry bearing plants I acquired samples from. In my discussions with Sunset, she has made allusions to the principal of her school having a horticultural hobby, and also implied that the woman in question donates funds, equipment, time, and specimens to the school's greenhouse and green spaces. This principal, as far as I'm aware, is actually a member of a family that travels in the same circles as my father's family, meaning she likely has the ability to cultivate foreign contacts and afford import fees of exotic plants."
"And that's what I suspect the plants are: a foreign import of some unusual but well documented member of the same family as blackberries and raspberries. Because I recognized them when Wallflower inadvertently crushed one of the berry samples in her emotional outburst. The plants she was so quick to jump to naming after herself are just Sunset's source of those fizzleberries she let me try during our observatory outing. Given what I know about Sunny, the plant is probably from the same place that her guardian is from, and all signs point to that being some small European province where English is the language of politics and business but little else. Since Wallflower isn't fluent in any language but English, she wouldn't even think to look through any European botanical texts that aren't written in English.
"I'm extremely put out with her for getting so caught up that she has thrown research out the window in favor of...I'm not even sure what to call it. Not only is she overlooking the likely truth, she completely ignored all procedures and protocols for studying samples from my project...without even talking to me first! I understand that she is meant to be my assistant on this, but that means she should be taking her cues from me, not using my samples to do her own project on the side. Because of her, I now have to go back to Canterlot High and other locations to collect more of the botanical samples. Granted, that will give me a chance to test the new iteration of my detector, but it's the principle of the matter.
"In a real working environment of science, actions like hers could compromise a study, and with it, any funding. She should know better! I should report it to Principal Cinch, but I don't want to make things even more unpleasant. At least Wallflower is my friend...for all she hasn't been acting like one today, and I'm not sure any student in the school that might replace her would be any better.
"I'm almost going to be glad when this project is done, because this is not what I thought it would be. My old independent study projects were completely different, and nowhere near this stressful."
Tap. Tap. Tap. Plastic is tapped against metal in a steady sound of agitation. At last, the voice breaks from the stiff, stilted, carefully cultivated control.
"I know I said I was going to leave emotions out of this, but I find myself needing to verbalize in order to move forward. The...disagreement...between Wallflower and myself has left me...more out of sorts than I first realized. Under normal conditions I would call Sunset...but I promised to allow her the space she needed this week, and breaking that in two days to vent to her about the very subject of our own fight is..."
The trailing sentence ends with a heavy sigh. "I suppose I could contact Dr. Soft-Spoken, but...that doesn't feel right either. I have an uncomfortable suspicion that if I did bring up what happened, I would have to provide context, context that, once given, will verge into a situation where she would strongly suggest we have a joint session with my parents."
The voice is joined by the sound of receding and then approaching footsteps as it gets closer to and further from the microphone. Pacing, each direction a measured count, with just the same amount of time between each step.
"That would be a circumstance I wish to avoid at all costs. This year Mom has been particularly vocal about her desire for me to transfer to a different school, and in recent weeks, I'm getting the impression that Dad is starting to be swayed to her way of thinking, despite the excellent quality of academics at Crystal Prep--his own high school alma mater! The troubles around my project have only served to exacerbate the whole thing, and while I am not normally a fan of relying solely on 'gut instinct' without at least a little objective proof to provide clarity, something tells me that combining today with the hostility between Sunset and Wallflower, and my own...admittedly poor behavior...Friday...would be enough for my parents to enact Parental Override Protocols, consequences on my education be hanged, and take the decision to stay or leave Crystal Prep out of my hands entirely.
"Especially if Dr. Soft-Spoken backs them about it...and I already know she likes Sunset. She's told me as much, commenting on her intelligence, maturity, and 'sensitivity.' I'm...not sure she'd approve of my actions last Friday, and I can't see her having the same kind of praise for Wallflower...even if she is my friend."
A longer pause, while the sound of restless pacing continues.
"...Wallflower is my friend, right? She's never acted like that before, and it was..." A shuddering breath. "I didn't like it. It felt all wrong, like this project is messing up our friendship, messing with Wallflower's head. I know she's always been a little classist talking about public school kids, but she's never gone to a public school ever, and I always thought before it was her trying to be funny, because she always treated it like she was being sarcastic. Was...was I mistaken in my interpretation? Today she was...just mean. About the CHS kids, about me, about...well...everything.
"Is...is this because of the pressure at school? Or is this a part of Wallflower I've overlooked?"
The sound of movement stops, giving way to measured breathing, slow, deliberate, calming.
"Perhaps I did. Or perhaps this is a recent development. It might even be a response to recent changes...
"I am not so socially blind as to miss the changes that have occurred in myself in just six months--has it really only been that long? It feels longer. And I have changed, more than even Dr. Soft-Spoken or my parents are aware of. My developing relationship with Sunset has come with beneficial side effects that I'm still discovering. I feel so much happier most days, and it's been a long time since my anxiety levels were this low...these last few weeks notwithstanding. My therapist noted an increase in self confidence and even remarked on the emotional animation in my speech...perhaps another side effect is a greater awareness of others'...social flaws?"
"Or it could be that Wallflower's behavior is new, and a direct response to the changes in me. I know from past experience that Wallflower does not handle abrupt change well--she's almost worse than I am about it. I am able to rationalize the need for change and work on overcoming my initial, anxiety-borne reaction, but Wallflower shows little inclination to do the same. Rather, she does often exhibit surliness and becomes...more sarcastic and biting, and not necessarily just about the source of her upset..."
A rueful, tired chuckle is picked up on the audio. "I suppose if I ever wanted proof of my own change, that would be undeniable evidence. Exposure to Sunset has taught me to be more alert and observant to other people's behaviors, to recognize certain reaction patterns and what they mean...
"I guess there had to be some benefits to spending time with Sunny besides what an amazing kisser she is..."
An awkward, throat clearing cough cuts off any further musing. "Anyway. Wallflower. Many things--the school environment, our friend group, myself--have changed since the beginning of the year, and her reacting with anger and upset, even to me or Sunset, is very likely just a result of her projecting her emotional reaction to the change around her that is out of her control.
"If that's the case, then I suppose I can forgive her reaction, if not the initial actions. It also makes it easier to deal with--I can prepare and make allowances for this in my calculations and plans. It doesn't mean I'm not still upset with how today went, but...I think the best thing I can do for both of us and our friendship is buckle down and work as hard as I can on my research. The sooner the project is done, the sooner that pressure is removed from the equation."
"With that in mind, I will combine a field test of the new tracker with replacing my samples tomorrow. I can then take them back and analyze them at home without...interference." |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Interlude XXVI: Forget About It! | Wallflower barely resisted the urge to slam her car door in irritation at Twilight. The nerd was being utterly insufferable, insisting that Wallflower park like six blocks away from their destination--it had been a chore to convince her they could take the car in the first place. Twilight had wanted to take the city bus! The green haired girl suppressed a shudder. After she'd swiped several caches of "vacation money" from her parents and purchased the sporty little dark silver car, she'd sworn to never suffer through the cramped, smelly conditions of public transit ever again.
It was already ridiculous enough that Twilight had insisted they change into different clothes before they went, with some weak explanation of not wanting to inflame the school rivalry even more if they were seen. As if. If any of the Canterlot kids saw them, they'd probably think they were just getting high out of sight of adults.
Just who did Twilight think she was, ordering her around like that?
At least she would be able to scope out where her key to fame and independent wealth was planted. Whatever protests the younger girl had were weak--Wallflower knew what she had on her hands was the discovery of a lifetime, and with medicinal properties? The right pharmaceutical companies would be lining up for the privilege of buying it from her.
She doubted Twilight would let her get too close, but Wallflower could just sneak back at night. For all the talk of 'security cameras', she highly doubted that a public school could really afford many, especially not ones of a decent quality, and that Twilight could probably hack into it anyway but was deliberately choosing not to do so. What was there of value to be had at a run down eighty year old building that relied on state funding to operate anyway?
Her eyes searched the place Twilight had had her park. "Twilight...this is nowhere near the high school. What are we doing here?" They were on a sidewalk in an older middle class neighborhood, and they stuck out like sore thumbs next to Wallflower's car.
Twilight, for her part, walked towards the end of the row of houses, where they gave way to a bunch of trees. "There's a path," she explained, pointing to a bit of exposed, bare earth that disappeared into the scrubby pine trees near the sidewalk's end. "It goes all the way to Canterlot High, and through most of the woods around the one side of the school."
That caught her by surprise. Just how many times had Twilight snuck around by the public school in order to discover a questionable shortcut like this? She followed the other girl into the woods, and spotted the telltale signs of teens and other people using this as a place to do things of a questionable nature: discarded beer bottles, cigarette butts, various types of trash. "You just happened to find this path? You?"
The glance sent her way was...ashamed? Embarrassed? A bit of both? "Sunset showed it to me, actually," she confessed. Her shoulders tensed, and she turned away, walking quicker. "Last time I was here."
Well. That didn't take long. Wallflower resisted the urge to scowl when Twilight brought up Sunset Shimmer less than five minutes after getting out of the car. And after such a pleasant couple of days where the younger teen hadn't mentioned the popular girl once. She had actually thought briefly that maybe Sunset had listened to her warning to leave Twilight alone, but it seemed like that had been too much to hope for.
"Why am I not surprised? I can only imagine how she came to know about this particular avenue of travel." As she rolled her eyes, she spotted yet another discarded bag with the burned out remnants of what could only be marijuana in it, and Wallflower began to wonder...
At first glance, Twilight seemed like too much of a goody two-shoes rule follower to ever do something even potentially illegal, but Wallflower knew better. She was a rule follower, until a situation came up where her logic and rational thinking determined that bending the rules into a pretzel on a technicality would be the best course of action to further whatever end goal she had in mind. Then she'd get quite duplicitous and go about bending the rules in question until they begged for mercy to get the end result she wanted, all while maintaining the fact that she never actually broke the rules. Knowing that, and knowing that their friend group had discussed the pros and cons of medicinal marijuana use...she began to wonder if that was the answer to everything that had been off for months, and why Sunset Shimmer was interested in Twilight at all.
While smoking pot or making and eating edibles wasn't necessarily part of the popular girl image...Sunset looked more like a wannabe street thug or a punk rocker than a girly princess, and that was a demographic that did have a reputation for drugs and alcohol use. She hadn't noticed the smell of pot around the popular teen, but that didn't mean anything given it was a planned outing and she knew Sunset was supposedly cunning and clever.
As they traipsed through the woods that smelled strongly of earth and pine, the green haired teenager mused on the topic, wondering if it would even be worth the effort of bringing it up to her friend. For reasons that she was still trying to understand, Twilight was extremely sensitive and quick to defend the leather clad redhead...though if Twilight was involved in some attempt to self-medicate her anxiety, and Sunset was the source of her supply, either by dealing or sharing what she acquired, that would make sense. And it would even explain why Twilight asserted that Sunset was so 'nice'--no one was mean when they were high on marijuana.
Wallflower wondered if Twilight's parents knew about her association with Sunset. She didn't actually know much at all about Twilight's parents beyond what little the girl herself said. She'd met them, of course, once or twice, but that wasn't really enough to get any kind of read on them. Maybe they didn't, and if they were the super straight laced type--highly probable with Twilight's own rule following nature--then they probably wouldn't be keen on the idea of their genius daughter getting a special prescription for medical marijuana. If that was the case then Twilight might be worried about losing her access to something that helped with her often crippling anxiety problem if people looked too deeply...or if she did anything to anger the notorious bully.
And if Sunset was selling it to her, or if Twilight's rich-girl allowance was paying for her supply, then that would explain why Sunset Shimmer was keen to pander to Twilight's more annoying neurotic tendencies. No need to upset the goose that laid golden eggs, after all, and a naive, socially inept introvert like Twilight was quite the score indeed for someone who probably got her spending cash by stealing lunch money.
Of course...this was all just speculation at this point, but it did fit, and it certainly was a more plausible explanation than Twilight's insistence that she and Sunset Shimmer were somehow actually friends. Yet she couldn't just confront her with it, not with how agitated she'd been since Wallflower's confrontation with Sunset, and how vehemently she defended the popular girl against perceived slights.
Maybe Wallflower needed to back off on being blunt about Sunset's reputation and work at both finding out the truth of what was going on, and if the answer was weed, then...maybe...subtly opening Twilight's eyes to some alternatives and that she didn't need Sunset Shimmer? She needed to play a much longer game against Sunset anyway--the way Sunset had glared at her...
A shudder went through her that had nothing to do with cold. It was as though just thinking about that look had dragged icy talons across her soul. Sunset Shimmer was no innocent school girl like Twilight believed. She was a dangerous predator, one that was fully capable of using violence to get what she wanted. And right now, for reasons only known to Sunset herself, she wanted Twilight Sparkle in her orbit.
No. A more subtle approach was the way to go.
For now, some probing to see if that was what was going on, and if she was right, then accept it for the moment. Look into alternatives she could suggest...hell, it couldn't possibly be that hard to actually grow the stuff. She had enough experience in her greenhouse to be able to grow three or four pot plants at home. It wasn't like her parents would notice or even look in her greenhouse..or barring that, she could add to the hydroponic system she'd had installed in one of the spare rooms. The maid service had long since learned which rooms were off limits.
Wallflower hunched deeper into her jacket as faint flurries managed to get through a break in the evergreen canopy, mentally nodding to herself. If Twilight needed whatever Sunset was offering, then all she needed to do to get her friend away from a toxic, fake 'friendship' was to provide a better, safer alternative. Something that didn't come with strings attached or some ulterior motive someone like Sunset Shimmer always had.
She was jerked from her thoughts by Twilight finally answering her earlier question, her tone stiff. "I believe she and some of her friends use the path through here on occasion. Like when she has no choice but to park her motorcycle further from school. She mentioned it's easier to park it in the neighborhood back there and then cut through the woods." She shrugged. "I didn't really inquire further, since it is such a convenient way to avoid much of the potential unpleasantness that comes from the rivalry between our schools."
Biting her tongue physically to remind herself to not say the first sarcastic comment that came to her mind, Wallflower carefully schooled her voice into one of practiced neutrality. "I imagine it is. You haven't considered alternatives though?"
Twilight tensed. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"Twilight, we're friends. I've been your friend for years now, since that disastrous English class freshman year when Lyra did a paper on Bigfoot." She pushed hair out of her face, took a breath, and continued, "Did you honestly think I wouldn't notice? I may not be a super genius to rival General Relativity, but I'm not stupid."
The younger girl froze in place, and Wallflower could see her shaking slightly. "...you did?"
Wallflower rolled her eyes. "Twilight, of course I noticed. You've been like a completely different person for months. A blind man could see that you've been way less anxious and stressed, and that for you, you've been downright giddy more days than not." Still the younger girl didnt move, but her breath seemed to catch, prompting Wallflower to speak faster. "And...it's great, really..." she said, though she didn't fully agree with her own words. "...and if this is something that makes you happy, then...I'm glad. For you. I know shit can be hard for you sometimes, especially at Crystal Prep, what with Suri's petty crap. Anything that makes that easier to deal with is understandable--Suri's a Grade A bitch."
Slowly now, Twilight turned to face her, and Wallflower saw an expression of genuine terror give ground partially to the expression that meant she was puzzling her way through the words and trying to figure out the social context in which Wallflower meant them. The terror was a cause for a little bit of alarm--would Sunset now target Wallflower for finding out their secret? Or would Twilight be made to pay the price somehow? That thought settled unpleasantly in her stomach. "Relax. I'm not going to tell anyone--you're my friend, and what you do with your free time is your choice, really. It's just...as your friend...I want to make sure you're...safe."
Fear and puzzlement gave way to worried confusion. Confusion, like a puppy trying to understand a strange animal standing before it...she would have laughed at the comparison, but Twilight was eyeing her and her words came out in a nervous rush, "Safe?"
How to put this so Twilight wouldn't go back to being defensive? Perhaps some vein of the truth, carefully worded to be friendly and no confrontational--Wallflower was good at that. "Safe. Doing what you're doing because you want to. I know you keep saying how great you think Sunset Shimmer is, but...I mean, Lyra's complained about her since she got to CHS, about how she lied, bullied, and blackmailed people into doing what she wants."
"I'm well aware of Sunset's past," Twilight countered. "I know what she did not because of Lyra's gossip or the way you've brought it up half a dozen times in the last week! I know because she told me! I know more about her than you or Lyra possibly could. She's not that person anymore, and I don't understand why you just won't believe me when I say that." Bitterness and frustration crept into her voice and she was scowling now.
Wallflower frowned back at her. This wasn't going well. "Lyra has no reason to lie to us for over a year, Twilight. She was telling us all about Sunset Shimmer long before you apparently stumbled across her, and she was bitching about her like a month and a half ago." 'Was' being the operative word, given the phone conversation over the weekend, but Wallflower didn't want to voice that, not in this discussion. "And I know Sunset's been nothing but sunshine, rainbows and fairy unicorns with you, but you're my friend, Twilight, and you aren't always the best judge of people and social situations, and you don't always know how to tell people no! The last thing I want is for you to end up hurt, or in serious trouble!"
Twilight was silent, and her friend wondered briefly if she'd started to get through to her. "I didn't mean to make you worry so much," the lavender skinned girl apologized, "but I don't know how to convince you that Sunset really has changed, has worked hard to be a better person. I know you don't trust her, but...can you at least trust me?"
She knew a losing fight when she saw one, and she reminded herself that she had to do this smart, not fast. Backing off could make Twilight relax, and maybe this could work to her advantage. "Okay...fine. I do." She trusted that Twilight believed what she was saying, at the very least, and for the moment, maybe it was true.
"Thank you..." Twilight still looked far too nervous and agitated for this talk to be finished. Wallflower waited, and the other girl finally blurted out a question. "How....how long have you known?"
Known? She shrugged. "I've known for months that something had changed--you were acting so...different. It's why I asked about the rumors, the ones saying you had a boyfriend. That was me trying to figure out what was going on..." Wallflower leaned back against a nearby tree. "It's kind of a short list that makes a person relax like that when they are wound as tight as you are: alcohol, sex, and drugs...our trip here today just tipped me off."
Twilight's voice was pitched an octave higher as she responded incredulously, "That's why you implied I might have stolen Suri's boyfriend?!"
"Not implied, asked if the rumor might be true. I was hoping you would tell me what was going on with you."
Her friend just stared, her expression gaining attributes of what Wallflower could only label as disgust and nausea. Wallflower raised her hands in a placating gesture. "Okay, look...I apologize for even considering you'd have the poor taste to take Suri's sloppy seconds. I thought it was hilariously unlikely, but in hindsight...the joke fell a bit flat."
Hands moving restlessly, Twilight nodded, the motion stiff and her cheeks flushed. "Humor is something I continue to struggle with at times, Wallflower, particularly social humor. It is difficult at times to tell when you are trying to be funny." She huffed a little, her breath steaming in the air and blowing a few snowflakes away in a swirling dance. "But really, even if I was considering someone at Crystal Prep as a potential...romantic interest...it most certainly wouldn't be anyone even remotely associated with Suri in any fashion, not after the last three years of near constant bullying and verbal abuse."
Did Twilight even hear herself sometimes? How could she miss the obvious parallel? Wallflower rubbed her forehead, trying to keep her thoughts out of her voice. "I get it. I feel the same way, which is why it was a ridiculous rumor. People like Suri and her cronies..." And Sunset Shimmer, she added mentally, before continuing, "...they just...taint everything around them and they don't care about anyone but themselves. From what I've heard, Suri's been a total bitch since like fourth grade, and her mother is just like her. People like that just...they don't change. The best you can do is avoid them until graduation and then never see them again."
There was a sound that Twilight made that she recognized as meaning something like thoughtful, tentative agreement. "I will admit, I am hard-pressed to imagine Suri changing unless something significant forces her to reevaluate her life choices..."
Closing her eyes briefly, Wallflower breathed, trying to word her next statement carefully. "Which comes back to why I've been bringing it up repeatedly, Twilight, because I don't really get it. Sunset Shimmer, from everything I've heard, from Lyra, from rumor, from transfers...all of the stories about what that she does to others...Sunset Shimmer is Canterlot High's own version of Suri, and yet somehow, according to you she's...just decided to be magically nice? Can you see why I'm having a hard time buying it?"
"I--"
She gave into the urge to frown. "And I know you asked me to trust you, and I know you said you believe her, but youre secretive and cagey about her--even about something as simple as how you met and 'became friends' in the first place! It doesn't make sense, Twilight--look at it from my perspective, and tell me you wouldn't be worried that someone was making your friend do things against her will?"
"That's--"
Wallflower cut her off. "Look me in the eyes and explain it to me, Twilight. Really explain to me why I should believe that Sunset Shimmer isn't using you for her own reasons with this, that you aren't just completely blinded by what she's offering you and how that makes you feel!"
The younger girl stared down at her feet for a long time before raising her head to meet Wallflower's gaze, hugging herself as she fidgeted, as though she was fighting the urge to pace. "I didn't intend for it to happen this way," she admitted. "We really did meet in the park, like I said...she...Sunset helped me out of a bad situation, and made sure I was okay. That I was safe and calm, before she took me home." Her voice caught and she seemed to struggle with breathing. Whatever panic attack she was referring to, it must have been one of her really bad ones, Wallflower decided, and in some place as public as the park would have made it ten times worse with its lack of hiding places.
"She tried to warn me away, told me everything you've been saying about her. How she was this awful person and I should stay away, but I...I just thought she maybe needed a friend, so I decided to be that friend, and..."
The green haired girl bit back a groan of annoyance and frustration, fighting to keep her expression neutral. Maybe there had been a single moment of basic human decency, but she highly doubted that lasted long before Sunset Shimmer had realized the golden opportunity dropped into her lap, especially once Twilight got all starry eyed over the 'magical power' of friendship. It wasn't exactly hard to guess how Sunset had resorted to dealing with Twilight's panic attack, and if Sunset was using too, then she very well might have been momentarily mellow enough to lull Twilight into a false sense of security, blissfully unaware of any potential ulterior motives.
Twilight had continued talking, and Wallflower tuned back into what she was saying as she wrung her hands and seemed to be pleading her case in an increasingly anxious and frantic voice. "...she's harder on herself than anyone about what she used to be, and yes, I know a lot of it does sound just like what Suri does, but Sunny is just so full of hurt and regret for it all and she's worked so hard for months to start putting things right and make amends to the people she hurt--she's nothing like Suri, not deep down, and I just dont think she ever was, and for all she's talked about the 'old her,' she's never been anything but intelligent and nice, worrying about how I feel and making sure I'm okay, without acting like my anxiety is a huge problem she doesn't like dealing with..."
It was at times like this that Wallflower wished that her friend was at all capable of getting to the point before she died of old age. Right now, this just sounded like a pitch for the Sunset Shimmer fan club and not any kind of logical argument that she was used to hearing from Twilight Sparkle.
"...and we got to be friends, good friends, and I didnt mean to, but she was just so smart and pretty and fun to be around, that I couldn't help crushing on her--"
What?
"--didn't think it would amount to anything because what are the odds, you know? Here's this person I really like, but there's no way, except, then it turned out it wasn't so one-sided after all, and I had no idea until she kissed me!"
The words echoed through the strangely heavy, still air of that winter wood, leaving both girls staring at each other as the sound faded far too slowly. Twilight's eyes widened, as if the words that had come out of her mouth had not been a conscious choice, leaving her with a dawning panic that she had once again overshared.
For Wallflower the only sound she could hear now was the eerie not-sounds of the winter weather, that hollow but faint whooshing sound that only came with frozen water falling from the sky. Which was fine because she needed a minute herself. This...this was not where she thought this talk would go when it started, and at first, she wondered if it was some kind of joke or a last ditch effort to throw her off the scent of Twilight's real activities with Sunset Shimmer. The look on Twilight's face though, told her it was the truth, one the girl hadn't been intending to share so openly.
It made some measure of sense, she supposed, Twilight being gay. Looking back, the signs were there--she had taken them for a lack of interest in romance at all, like a lot of socially inept hyper-nerds were known to have, or at least the ignorance of that aspect of a social life. It was half the reason she'd poked fun at her with the topic, because she'd need to learn sooner or later...And if Twilight was gay, hiding it at CPA was the smartest thing she could do, because someone like Suri would use that for ammunition.
...but this...? She wanted to clarify, and so she broke the silence, not even trying to frame her words positively. "Are you telling me you've been sucking face with the queen of Canterlot High?"
Twilight stared at her, and went from anxious hand wringing to pure incredulity. "Really? That's what you're going to go with? Crude humor?"
"Look, Twilight, I wanted to make sure I heard right, and not everyone is as much of an uptight prude as you are--though I guess you really aren't as much of a prude as everyone thinks." Wallflower rolled her eyes. "Now answer the question, because I was not expecting to find out Sunset Shimmer was a secret rug-muncher, or that you're apparently telling me you've been inspecting her tonsils."
The younger girl stiffened, managing to look offended even as she edged back into 'freaked out' territory. "Can you not use slang like that? It's insensitive and extremely derogatory." She searched Wallflower's face, wringing her hands again. "And what do you mean you weren't expecting it?! That's what we've been talking about for the past ten minutes!"
"I thought she was supplying you with weed!" Wallflower countered. "I thought you were getting high with her! Not feeling each other up in the woods or muff-diving on the sofa!"
She watched her friend's face flush, a sure sign that the dig had more than a little truth to it--which Wallflower didn't particularly want to think to closely on, given that she couldn't see someone as domineering as the redheaded bully choosing to be the one going down on anyone. Twilight did manage to glare a little...not that it did much. "All this time, you were trying to tell me you thought I was on drugs?! That Sunset was...what, my dealer?! Why would you even consider such a ridiculous idea!?" Then all the color drained out of her face. "But you didn't really know...and I...oh no...no no no no no no..."
Twilight was starting to hyperventilate, mumbling things to herself that Wallflower only caught snatches of. All the same, what little she cared to make out amongst the nonsense made her angry and more than a little annoyed. "Twilight, would you just stop and calm down! What is wrong with you?" Her fists clenched tightly, nails biting into her palms. "We've known each other for years, been friends since freshman year--do you honestly think so little of me?"
Wallflower kicked a fallen branch through the leaf litter. "You've gone on and on about Sunset Shimmer being this wonderful friend, but you're willing to believe that I'm going to...what? Put up fliers and tell everyone I see that Twilight Sparkle kissed a girl and liked it?" Hurt crept into her voice despite her attempts to keep it to its normal flat neutrality. "After everything, despite the fact that I'm still friends with Lyra too, you think I'm going to be some kind of raging bigot? I thought you knew me better than that. I would never do that to a friend."
Her rant seemed to have stopped whatever spaz attack Twilight was in the middle of, and Wallflower took the chance to drive the point home. "I don't care, Twilight. If you prefer sitting on some attractive girl's face to riding some hot guy like a prize stallion, that's all you. It doesn't hurt me, does not affect my life as long as you get that I like my eye-candy to be of the decidedly male persuasion, so I have no reason to judge what kind of person does it for you. What I care about is if you're getting involved with people who will hurt and use you, just like I said earlier, and I'm still not entirely convinced Sunset Shimmer isn't one of those people."
Silence again, except for the sound of the winter storm that was slowly growing stronger, and the wind that was becoming decidedly bitter. Wallflower rubbed her arms through her sleeves to generate a little more warmth.
Finally Twilight seemed to come to some kind of decision. "I...I apologize for sounding as though I was implying you would out me to the world, Wallflower. But your comments, while perhaps not meant that way, were rife with language and demeaning slang used by bigots to shame and control people who are different, and even when you were directing your comments towards Sunset, every single one of them applied to me too. If they were another of your attempts at humor, they fell flat when you began...punching down, as the saying goes." A shiver went through Twilight and it was hard to tell if it was from cold or from her leftover anxiety. "As for everything else, this...this is not the time or place to have this conversation, so I am requesting we put that on hold until we can have it in a place that is both private and climatically suited for a long discussion. Suffice it to say, I am not out to many people at present, and I would appreciate very much if it continued that way."
"And I said I wouldn't do that to a friend, Twilight," Wallflower bit back. "It's a lousy thing to do, especially to the only person who remembered my birthday." She crossed her arms over her chest.
"Right..." Twilight tried for a weak and fairly pathetic smile that didn't really reach her eyes. "For now, let's agree to disagree on your assessment of Sunset, while I acknowledge your right as my friend to be concerned and appreciation that you care about me, while stating respectfully that I am accepting responsibility for my choices and the fallout of those choices."
Stubborn, obstinate--Wallflower grimaced, cutting off her thoughts to give Twilight a grunted, "Fine. We have work to do anyway, gathering samples. Let's get that done before this weather gets any worse."
The pair continued on in uncomfortable silence, Wallflower grinding her teeth in irritation. The fact that this was some kind of creepy romance meant she would definitely have to reevaluate her approach...maybe she could talk to Moondancer for ideas. Or at least to preempt Twilight roping her into this 'We Love Sunset, The Sun Shines Out Her Ass' club. Lyra was already a lost cause, since she too had been singing Sunset's praises on the phone on Saturday. Of course, if Sunset Shimmer was a dyke, that would explain it--the queers always seemed to stick up for each other, even if one of them was a total bitch.
Her darkening thoughts were interrupted when she took a step and realized the air was...warm. Blinking, Wallflower looked around and realized she had crossed some invisible threshold into spring. The trees around her had leaves, lush and green, on them, and the cold half frozen precipitation landed here as a light and refreshing misty rain. It was as if winter had...never come here.
"What in the world?"
Twilight glanced over. "It's really strange, isn't it? Now you get why I want to really do some deep investigation here. And why I wanted to be careful? This energy is affecting living things and the environment in unprecedented ways. Go ahead and start gathering plant samples? I'm going to test my new detector."
Wallflower muttered something like an affirmative, already working at taking clippings and bits of bark from the trees, and even a few soil samples for her own study. Whatever was going on here, it was better than any fertilizer, and she wondered briefly if it was the result of some project by the CHS students...before dismissing that as fairly ridiculous. No one at this school would be smart enough to do something even Twilight Sparkle was having difficulty puzzling out.
She crept through the trees until she could see the grounds of the school, searching for the greenhouse with her future money maker growing outside. She could see a number of the public school kids loitering under overhangs and in doorways, waiting for a ride, and others, dashing across the parking lot through the wet weather. She even saw Sunset Shimmer , straddling a sleek, well maintained motorcycle, talking animatedly to a girl with long purple hair styled to within an inch of its life--one of her air headed sycophants, no doubt. She held back a snort at the sight--Sunset Shimmer really wasn't that subtle, was she? Between the leather, the boots, and now a motorcycle, all she was missing was the awful butch haircut and a pet cat to complete the stereotype.
Pulling away from watching the source of her current ire, Wallflower spotted the greenhouse, and the strange chest high bushes growing along one side. Even from her vantage point, she could see they were covered in the berries....and that there was a pink skinned girl happily picking them off the bush with several others, periodically popping one in her mouth and giggling.
Satisfied with her reconnaissance, she moved back into the woods to look for where Twilight had disappeared off to. She found the younger girl circling a small clearing slowly, focused on her device. "Find something?"
With a distracted hum, she nodded, before squatting down next to a good sized rock sticking up out of the ground. "Yes, actually. These three rocks...do they look deliberately placed to you?" She fished out her phone to take pictures.
The rocks in question seemed to form a rough triangle, though one was much larger and laid out on the ground, like it had been knocked over. It...reminded Wallflower of the pictures she'd seen of Stonehenge, now that she thought about it. Just...smaller, and with fewer rocks. She said as much.
"I noticed that too. It's curious as the natives in this region were not known for any kind of henges, which suggests this was something done much more recently. Perhaps a student project or prank at some point in the school's history? They aren't new, by any means, if the one is indicative of the others and how deeply they've been buried over time..." Twilight finished taking pictures, before digging around in her bag and retrieving two small spades. "Shall we dig down and see whats setting off my detector?"
With that, the pair of girls began to slowly excavate the circle, the damp earth easily removed in a somewhat muddy affair. They were over two feet down before discovering that the whole thing was much bigger than they thought, as the stone on the surface was broken off a much larger stone.
"Twilight," Wallflower muttered, "I swear if this is some kind of ancient Indian burial ground and we end up cursed, I'm going to be pissed."
Her friend bit her lip. "I...don't think it's anything like that. It's more likely that--"
CHINK!
Wallflower's spade hit stone, and they both looked down as she scraped away the dirt and mud to reveal a smooth, curved stone surface. "This is getting weird...I figured we'd find some kind of...I dunno...radioactive rock, or weird busted machine, Twilight."
Twilight didn't look any happier than she felt. "That is clearly some kind of man-made object," she said quietly after a minute, pointing her own tool at the rounded surface. "It's too smooth, and natural weathering doesn't produce a rounded object that looks almost perfectly spherical, which this seems to be."
Another eyeroll. "I could have told you it was man made by the fact that someone wrote on it. Even if I've never seen letters like this before."
Her friend blinked. "Letters?" She looked closer when Wallflower pointed. "Oh! That...does seem to be a kind of writing..." her hand reached down and she brushed a finger along the curve of one of the strange markings.
Purple-pink light flashed from her fingertip, making her real back with a startled yelp, landing on her butt in the leaves and mud. "What was that!?"
"How am I supposed to know? Maybe it was your weird energy you can't manage to find?" Wallflower kept scraping, and discovered what looked like a crack. "Looks like whatever this is, its broken." She fished out her own phone and took a few pictures of it--she bet Moondancer would be able to recognize the writing, since the girl was a massive nerd for lost civilizations and ancient ruins. Something told her this was not a prank from a previous generation of students.
Then she was back to work, wedging her spade into the crack to try and lever the thing open. If there was some kind of curse or whatever protecting it, she figured Twilight had already triggered it and that she'd be safe now.
Speaking of Twilight, she was already back on her feet, looking very agitated. "Wallflower, I think we need to stop. This...this isn't...something is very wrong here. My detector is going haywire, and whatever that was, it wasn't normal or logical."
"Stop?" she questioned in disbelief. "When we're this close to cracking it open and finding out what's in here and just what is going on at this school? You said this is the center of all your readings, right? What if this thing is the source? Not only would you ace your project, but then we could study it and figure out what makes it tick."
The other girl shook her head. "I'm not saying it shouldn't be studied, but...I think there needs to be precautionary measures taken, and that we should be following a much more in depth procedure. Like you suggested, I didn't expect to be digging up an energy source--these tools were for botanical and geologic sample collection. This...energy source could be dangerous and handling it may not be the best idea."
Wallflower made a sound of triumph as she finished breaking the seal on some kind of circular lid to the stone...container? It ended up splitting into several pieces, revealing a dark interior that seemed to have a faint, diffuse glow inside. "Got it!" she exclaimed, and tossed her spade aside to reach in. She couldn't explain it, but she needed to know what was in there, to see the glowing object in the light for herself.
A lavender hand reached to stop her. "Wallflower, wait, it could be dangerous!"
She shook it off. "That's been true of any discovery worth discovering," the green haired girl countered. With that, she plunged her hand into the darkness and wrapped it around what felt like two objects: smooth stone that was far too warm to the touch for having been in the ground, and...a roll of paper? Fabric? Wallflower pulled them out. "See?"
The ground rumbled under them, and the stone container collapsed into gravel, as if thousands of years of erosion and aging happened in the blink of an eye. The standing stones and all the loose earth fell into the now collapsed space as gravity took hold, leaving both girls staring down at a somewhat messy, but much shallower hole than they'd had a moment before. "Convenient," Wallflower muttered, absentmindedly shoving one of the remaining mounds of dirt and debris back into the hole, covering up the last vestiges of the big stones.
Twilight was staring. "This is officially dangerous and well above what we're capable of handling...please Wallflower, I think you need to put that stuff down and we should reevaluate--"
Wallflower stopped listening, studying the fist sized, egg shaped rock in her hand. It was etched and grooved with lines and symbols she didn't understand, all terminating in what looked like a staring eye on the face of it. All of the carvings were glowing with a faint, somewhat sickly green light, and a few drops of some kind of green-tinted fluid dripped to the damp earth beneath her. It was warm to the touch, almost hot, and it tickled something in the back of her mind as that warmth made her arm tingle all the way to her elbow.
The other item was a sealed and tied...scroll? Like the kind found in history museums or fantasy games. Something to be looked at later. The stone...it was more important...she could feel it.
"--I should have listened to Sunset and not researched any of this. She was trying to warn me, but I just thought she was being silly..."
Ugh. Sunset, again. Now Twilight was explaining that she wanted to abandon their find, rebury it, and scrap her project...because of Sunset Shimmer? "Would you just shut up about Sunset, Twilight!? I'm so sick of you constantly talking about her like she's the greatest person in the world! She's not, okay? She's mean and ugly and no different than Suri, and you're so stupid about her because of some ridiculous crush that you can't tell you're being used for a cheap thrill by someone looking to experiment before she graduates! I am not letting you take this away from me because you've got your lips glued to Sunset Shimmer's ass!"
Twilight stared at her, shock and hurt written on her face. "That's not what this is about! That rock could be dangerous, and I don't want you to get hurt because of me! You're my friend, Wallflower, and I would feel terrible if I caused something to happen to you!"
It was hurt that was echoed, years of being forgotten and ignored, pushed aside in favor of something or someone more important--not as much by Twilight, who, admittedly, was better than most--and Wallflower just couldn't keep it in any more. Not when she could see what was coming, knew that Sunset would isolate Twilight from her real friends until all she had was Sunset. It had already started, after all...and she said as much.
"You'd feel terrible, Twilight? You? You barely remember you even have friends! When's the last time you bothered to call or text Lyra? Did you even know her crazy mother nearly put her in the hospital with one of those ridiculous 'juice cleanses' of hers? I bet you don't even remember us talking about it last year! You certainly didn't show up to see her with Moondancer and me! And speaking of Moondancer, when's the last time you wrote to her without me reminding you? Have you even bothered to read her latest letter?" Wallflower's voice grew more angry and hurt with every word, but she was on too much of a roll to stop now. She was barely aware of discarding the scroll so she could grip the stone in both hands. "You forget my existence half the time when I'm in the room with you, because you're so caught up in your own delusions of winning some Nobel prize before you turn twenty five that nothing and no one else matters! And when you do manage to remember you only do things because you feel guilty! That's not friendship, Twilight! You don't care about me--you don't even want me around most of the time! Like with this project! Cinch put me on as your assistant, whether I wanted to be or not, and you treat it like some big inconvenience!"
Twilight was still gaping at her, mouth moving in some futile effort to produce words, as Wallflower panted for breath. The stone clenched in her fists burned into her palms with painful heat, matching the pain in her heart and head. "So don't tell me that you'd feel terrible! You've done nothing but complain and criticize and boss me around for weeks, and the only thing you'd feel bad about would be getting in trouble for breaking some imagined rules, or for putting you in a bad position with your so-called girlfriend!"
"That's not--I--it could be--"
She cut her off. "This was your project, your idea, your excursion, and you were all ready to do this until the last second! Now, when we might have something potentially world changing in our hands, you want me to give that up? You can forget it, Twilight, the same way you forget your friends all the time!"
"But, Wallflower, your hand--"
"Just forget it, Twilight!" she snarled.
But it was the stone in her hand that answered. It lit up with a powerful green light that flashed bright, slamming into Twilight like a battering ram. Twilight crumpled, and a thin, faint wisp of something like luminescent liquid smoke drew itself off her skin, the same purple-pink as the light from before, threaded through with fainter hints of other colors, like red and pale blue and sharp hints of a sickly yellow green, like an old highlighter. The stone seemed to gobble up those smokey tendrils hungrily...
It was so shocking that Wallflower dropped the stone in shock, where it landed in the mud at her feet with a splat. The green light emanating from it flickered, then went out. She stood there for most of a minute, before she felt the stirrings of her own panic--Twilight hadn't moved.
"Twilight?" Wallflower called in concern. "Crap...Don't be dead, please don't be dead..." If Twilight was actually hurt, Wallflower would feel bad. Not to mention how much trouble they'd be in for trespassing on CHS grounds...
Just as she'd resolved to run for help, Twilight groaned, sitting back up, leaf litter stuck to her hair. "What...what am I doing on the ground?" She fixed her glasses that had been knocked askew, and looked up at Wallflower. "What happened? Did you get the samples?" She frowned, rubbing her temples and leaving a dirty smudge. "I was...following a reading...?"
Shock almost broke her composure, but Wallflower squashed it down with more than a little of her earlier anger, keeping the worried expression on her face through sheer effort. Was Twilight seriously going to play like the last half hour had never happened, the way a middle schooler might do, out of pettiness? Was that the level Sunset had taught her to sink to?
No...she realized, as the younger girl took in her damp, somewhat muddy state with real confusion in her eyes. Twilight wasn't capable of that kind of subtlety--it was honestly too emotionally complex for someone who barely understood humor that wasn't bad puns, much less something subtle like sarcasm. Even someone like Sunset Shimmer couldn't teach Twilight duplicity, no matter how good she was.
Which meant this was genuine. Somehow, Twilight had...forgotten...a good twenty or thirty minutes. Should Wallflower tell her what they'd found, what had occurred? Wallflower though back to how Twilight had reacted over the Blushberries, how agitated and demanding she'd been just a few minutes ago about the stone...the likelihood of her going right back to demanding they abandon the whole thing or turn it over to someone else...she didn't want to go through that again, and she certainly didn't want to give up the stone they'd found. Not of it could do things like alter memories--what if it could do other things as well?
She'd be stupid to give up that kind of power to just anyone, to give them something they could use against her. No. The stone was hers now, and Twilight didn't need to know about it. No one did.
Shifting her stance, Wallflower crouched down to offer one hand to help Twilight up, using the action as a cover for her other hand to retrieve the strange rock and stuff it in her pocket, mud and all. "I was hoping you could tell me. I was collecting plant samples, and heard you cry out. You were already on the ground before I could get here..." It took some effort, but she kept her tone normal as she spun the lie.
"That's...so strange. I don't remember yelling or falling...just talking to you and turning to follow my detector, then suddenly I'm on the ground, all muddy." She frowned. "Are you sure you didn't see or hear anything odd?"
Wallflower shook her head firmly, searching for a way to divert Twilight's attention. "Other than you, no." She got the hint of an idea, and decided it would work as well as any on Twilight's overactive mind. "You sure this isn't something else you haven't bothered to tell me?" she asked in return, putting just a little accusation in her voice. Purple eyes blinked behind thick lenses, and she could see the hesitation and uncertainty there. Time to drive the point home. "Just seems an awful lot like Dancing Petal's spazzie fits last year, just without the gurgling and thrashing."
That did it. Twilight pushed Wallflower's hand away and got to her feet on her own, swaying briefly. "That's a horrible way to put it, but no, I've not impossibly and spontaneously developed epilepsy," she told her tersely. "And before you jump to false conclusions, it's not the result of me being on some kind of illicit substance either."
"Just telling you what it looked like," she said with a shrug.
Twilight stared at her again, shaking her head before searching for her detector. "I'm going to get my readings now."
Crap. No, she couldn't do that. What if it could see the stone in her pocket? "I think we should be done for the day, Twilight. Get out of here, get some Starbucks or something on the way home, and come back another day."
Her friend frowned, and she recognized the stubborn set to her jaw. "I can't. I need my readings before I go for the day."
"Twilight," she ground out, "Its freezing, it's starting to sleet--despite being in this weird magic bubble that feels like summer, and we're already cold and soaked. Maybe you don't care about catching pneumonia, but I'm not thrilled by the idea. I'm done. I'm going back to my car, going to get a hot coffee, and going home. And since I'm your ride, you don't have a choice. Pack it in and let's go." One way or another, she couldn't risk Twilight discovering what was in her pocket, even if that meant being a bit of a bitch to her.
Still, Twilight resisted, even though she was starting to shiver. "I can't go yet! Just give me ten minutes."
Wallflower shook her head. "No, Twilight. We've done enough, you've collapsed once. We're done. I'm leaving. You want a ride home, you'll be done too, or you can find another way home. I'm sure Sunset Shimmer would be happy to give you a ride."
The last sentence came out sour, and rather than risk another argument, Wallflower turned and made for the path through the woods, intending on putting as much distance between herself and Twilight's device as possible before the girl recovered enough to start using it. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Twelve: Not All Heroes Wear Capes | Numb. That's how she felt, and not just physically, as she stared at the rectangular space where Wallflower's car had been parked. Gray, dirty slush and half melted sleet outlined tire marks that headed out of the neighborhood, away from the bare spot that was quickly becoming coated with what the weatherman called a 'wintery mix.' Closing her eyes and counting to twenty did not change the view; it only gave the wind time to blow harder and send needles of cold straight through her body, the wet, mud stained clothing doing nothing to stop it. The car was gone, and so was Wallflower. This was definitely the right spot--she had noticed the mailbox across the street when they'd parked earlier. How could she not, decorated as it was with a cheery plastic snowman perched atop it, defiant of cultural norms in this slice of mundane suburbia with its rainbow colored scarf and matching flag attached to one faux twig hand? Before, she'd smiled secretly to herself, heartened by the display, but now...
Given everything, the color seemed less bright and cheerful, washed out, the flag now coated with a thin layer of frozen water, limp and dreary. It felt like it served more as a reminder to her own mistakes that afternoon, than of any kind of proud declaration.
Wallflower had been upset enough that she drove off without her, leaving Twilight there in the cold to find another way home. She didn't even wait a minute--Twilight couldn't have been more than twenty or thirty seconds behind Wallflower, having taken that long to snap out of the stunned shock at her friend abandoning her with parting words that sounded...ugly and harsh, somehow dirty, like the idea of her calling Sunset was worse filth than the mud on her clothes.
Was...was that it? Was it her admission of dating Sunset that upset Wallflower so badly? It didn't seem to be whatever sent her to the ground and got her clothes muddy and soaked--Wallflower had been concerned, but...that didn't seem like it was it. And they hadn't talked much after their disastrous conversation in the woods.
It stung her a little that her friend had been more okay with the idea of Twilight doing drugs than having a meaningful relationship with Sunset...but was it really because it was Sunset, or...was it even simpler--because it was a girl? Intellectually, Twilight knew what homophobia looked like, had seen it thrown around on television and movies, talked about it with Cadence, even heard it whispered by members of her extended family...but she'd never quite been on the receiving end of it, and there was a surreal, disorienting sense to her brain, like she couldn't quite figure out of it was real or just some kind of misunderstanding.
She was used to the unpleasant feeling that came when she realized she was missing some important social cue and it was upsetting people. This...wasn't that, and it was far worse than that had ever been, a gnawing sense of something very wrong and that she should be trying to find the answer on top of the normal frustration and...not quite embarrassment, leaving her feeling extremely agitated and unsettled. Her stomach twisted and taking full breaths in the icy air was getting harder and harder, the more she thought herself in circles, trying to understand what had set the whole chain of events off and why Wallflower was so upset with her about someone she really didn't know at all.
For a moment, Twilight was overcome with an aching need to call Sunset and beg her to help. Sunset would understand what she was feeling and be able to explain it in a way that didn't leave Twilight feeling ignorant and confused and ashamed. She might even know how to fix it, to mend the situation or at least mitigate the damage, and even if she couldn't--or wouldn't, given her and Wallflower's apparent mutual dislike--she would at least be able to hug Twilight and take her home to someplace warm and safe, where sleet and freezing cold rain and bits of ice weren't pelting her and the wind wasn't going to make her teeth chatter...
...Except she couldn't call Sunset. Twilight had promised her space on Saturday, and this was only Tuesday. What would it say if she called her now, begging and pleading for Sunset to drop everything she was doing to come help her deal with a problem? That would be her problems once more steamrolling over Sunset's emotions...and her fiery haired paramour would want an explanation about what had occurred. Which would mean explaining why she was even here in the first place, why she was wet and muddy and upset...and that meant bringing up Wallflower, which she felt might...
No, she corrected herself, it would hurt Sunset that Twilight had brought Wallflower to the grounds of CHS, even if the whole thing had been more a necessity because Wallflower contaminated her previous samples than any actual desire on her part. Not to mention it felt like a form of betrayal to admit that her botanically inclined friend now knew more than her girlfriend and preferred lab-partner about the project that Sunset already had reservations about.
Another thought wiggled into her brain, making Twilight bite her lip and twist her hands anxiously enough that she could detect discomfort from the actions. What if Sunset did feel like this was a betrayal, and needed even more time apart, leaving Twilight to stew in yet more worries and 'what ifs?' Or worse, what if she--
Twilight cut that thought off, hard, in a desperate bid to avoid panicking. Sunset would come back over, and they would talk. She had promised Twilight she would, and Sunset had never broken a promise to the dark haired girl. Promises were important to Sunset--she was sparing with them and took them seriously, and with what she knew of her past, Twilight wondered if broken promises had been a facet of Sunset's childhood.
Trying to take deeper breaths, Twilight's resolve hardened. That was an even more important reason why she couldn't call Sunset right now--while she herself hadn't used the word 'promise,' she had in a sense meant it as a promise to give her girlfriend the time and space she needed to sort her own feelings out. All things considered, she couldn't be responsible for breaking any more promises to Sunset, not after she'd broken one Friday and thrown her past in her face like that.
She'd already started walking, if for no reason other than to generate some warmth in her legs to counteract the biting wind, and she rubbed her arms through the damp hoodie sleeves, and tried to figure out who she could call. Her parents were the obvious answer--her mother would come get her in a heartbeat, and be very concerned about her state too. However, that came with its own problems, one of which came back to Sunset. When Twilight had mentioned to her parents on Saturday about Sunset needing space, her father had simply nodded, and acknowledged that he had already known, explaining Sunset had talked with him that morning over coffee. He also mentioned that her girlfriend had insisted that he'd contact her if anything happened.
Twilight wasn't stupid. She knew that her mother would take one look at her physical state, her location, and her emotional distress, and expect an explanation of what had happened to leave her like this, when she had told her mother she would be working on her project after school. Most of it would be okay, other than Velvet being unhappy that Twilight hadn't let her know she wouldn't be at Crystal Prep to work on her project like had been implied...but not the stuff with Wallflower. Not with how Wallflower had ditched her in winter weather almost two miles from her home in a neighborhood on the far side of CHS. That would mean explaining exactly why Wallflower had been upset enough to leave her, which meant talking about both her strange collapse behind the school, and the conversation in the woods.
The conversation...where she'd accidentally outed herself and Sunset...because she had assumed Wallflower had already guessed. She let out a whimper, hugging herself tighter. That had been a disaster...and it was everything Twilight had always feared about coming out to others. There was no way she wanted to go through a second tortuous conversation, and she was not ready yet to tell her parents about her sexuality yet. She certainly did not want to come out to them under duress in a conversation about a fight with a friend. When she told them, she wanted it to be in a controlled environment, in a controlled setting, with Sunset by her side to help her have the courage to say the words.
Her teeth were chattering steadily now, almost painfully so, and she clenched her jaw firmly to stop them as she made up her mind to not call her parents. That would be as bad as calling Sunset, albeit for different reasons... The dark haired teen focused on putting one foot in front of the other, trying to school her thoughts into some kind of order. She needed to be methodical, but it was hard in the face of the panic that was wearing away at her after almost an hour now of fighting to push it down, to prevent it from overwhelming her and making her breakdown where she stood.
Who else could she call? Twilight forced the thought through determinedly, ignoring the way her breath was still short and fast, and every beat of her heart was painful, feeling like it was trying to tear free of her or choke her or something equally impossible but painful.
Shining?
No, Shining would require the same explanation as her parents, and he would be even more vocal in his anger at Wallflower...and he didnt know she was interested in girls yet either, unless Cady had told him--and she'd promised Twilight she wouldn't tell. Plus he was at work, and that would mean his partner might learn that she had been trespassing in the woods behind a school she didn't attend. While Shining himself would chastise her, his partner might not be so lenient.
That left Cadence...and she knew without a doubt that her sister-figure would not be comfortable keeping this from her parents, not with the way the situation had played out. Cady would absolutely see Wallflower leaving Twilight with no ride like that as a 'dangerous and unsafe situation'. That would mean she would be forced to tell them about how Wallflower had acted...
Twilight stumbled to a stop, unable to keep going as the panic crashed into her hard enough to almost overwhelm her completely. Wallflower was her friend, and Wallflower had...had... The teenager shook in the brief, partial shelter offered by an awning outside of a closed florist shop, trying to fight the thoughts and losing. Wallflower had abandoned her to the cold and wet, and the only logical reason for it was because she had found out Twilight was dating Sunset, since that was the only thing of note the whole afternoon that had put them at all at odds as far as she could see...
What if Wallflower told? She said she wouldn't but that didn't mean anything really, especially not with something like this. Not when it could slip out so easily in a fit of temper or be mentioned so offhandedly in all kinds of circumstances, and Wallflower did know who all of Twilight's worst bullies were, or she could also tell their old friends who weren't around any more, and she didn't have any idea how Lyra or Moondancer would react to learning she was a lesbian...or that she was dating Sunset, who it sounded like may have run afoul of Lyra during the previous school year, before Twilight had met her...and if they found out, would it get out to Canterlot High that Sunset Shimmer was dating a girl from their biggest rival school? Would Sunset be subjected to bullying and harassment over it? Her school had certainly turned on her quick enough before over--
"Twilight Sparkle?"
She'd been so lost in her own cascade of increasingly terrifying thoughts that she hadn't heard the car pull up nearby, or the footsteps of someone getting out of it. So the male voice, full of concern and far closer to her than she expected made her cry out as she jumped in surprise, half stumbling as she whirled to face whoever it might be.
Concerned blue eyes peered at her. "I thought it was you," Flash said, keeping a few feet away from her--well outside her personal space, she numbly realized. His voice sounded far away due to the roaring in her ears, but she could tell it was meant to be calming. "...are you okay? It's freezing and you look terrible."
Twilight wanted to answer, but she couldn't get the words past her throat. All she could do was stare at him, her mind recognizing him from the bookstore. Sunset's friend...he was Sunset's friend...and something else gnawed at her, something the amber skinned girl had admitted to her in private...but what had it been?
The memory swam up, distorted and mostly filled with the taste of chocolate and Sunset's downcast eyes full of guilt, struggling against getting lost in the riotous noise of her mind. All she got was a snippet, but it was enough. "...he's a lot like I imagine Shining was in high school..."
Sunset trusted Flash, that was it. Maybe not like she trusted Twilight...but enough to say hello to him with Twilight in the bookstore, and enough that she'd been willing to be places alone with him during her bad times...and if Sunny trusted him, thought he was like Shining, who Twilight trusted completely...maybe she could trust Flash just a little? He had been nice to her before, and he had the same look on his face now that Shining got when he was worried about her.
The sound that made its way from her throat wasn't any kind of real words, just a gasping, keening whine of distress. It was all she could get out, her thoughts racing even faster than her heart, and even that she regretted as she struggled to remember how to breathe right.
Sunset's friend seemed to take some kind of meaning from it though, and his voice was even more gentle. "Twilight, I don't know what's wrong or what's happened, but I have my phone on me--did you want me to call someone for you? Your parents? Or maybe Sunset? She's still at the school and she'd be able to get here fast."
Nothing in her world seemed to feel right at that moment. Here was someone who didn't know her, who had only met her briefly, and he was being kind and was genuinely worried about her well being, where her own friend had been biting and callous before abandoning her to the elements. She wanted nothing more than her girlfriend's arms around her, holding her and making everything alright again, but she couldn't have that right now, and even the option of seeking solace in her mother's embrace was full of negative consequences she dared not risk. She was alone, and half frozen and she couldn't breathe right, and yet here was Sunset's friend trying to help her, with an offer meant in kindness that would only make everything go even more wrong.
In the end, it was just one thing too much, and something had to give. Her mouth opened, and sound poured out in a desperate attempt to stop the hand holding up his phone from dialing Sunset. She wasn't sure what she said, or how much of it was actually words--all she could hear was the rushing roar in her ears and the thudding pulse of her racing heart, and she only stopped when she ran out of air and found she couldn't draw in another breath. Her vision blurred as she fought to remember how to suck in air against the crushing weight on her chest.
Flash's voice broke through the cacophony, sounding even fainter and further away than before. "Twilight, it's okay," she heard echoing in her ears, "but I need you to breathe with me." The exaggerated sound of a deep breath reached her, and she tried her best to mimic it, with some success. The rushing, wind tunnel sound in her ears eased, and she managed to focus her eyes properly on him. The young man smiled encouragingly. "That's better. Just keep doing that for a minute. I'm going to stay right here and make sure you're okay while you focus on breathing."
It was hard, but she did as she was told, until she wasn't quite so much on the verge of passing out. Flash spoke again after a minute. "I'm going to ask a few questions. You don't have to answer with words, you can just nod yes or shake your head for no." He was exactly where he had started from, making no move to get any closer, which was a relief. As nice as he seemed, she wasn't sure she could handle it if he had tried to come any closer or touch her right now.
Still, Twilight gave a jerky, uneven nod. Flash chuckled. "Okay, that's good--I'm not sure what I would've done if you said no." Blue eyes studied her briefly, assessing her in the same way Shining might. "It's cold out and you're soaked--your lips are pale and turning the bad kind of blue. It's not a perfect solution, but my jacket is nice and warm and dry...if I give it to you, will you put it on?"
His...jacket? She stared blankly, first at him, then the thick winter coat he was wearing, unable to comprehend at first. When it finally registered, she gave another of those stiff nods and another hiccupping breath.
Flash never stepped closer as he took off his coat. "I'm going to come just close enough for you to be able to take it from me, is that alright? I promise I won't get any closer than that and I'll step back out of your space once you take it from me." He stayed perfectly still until she nodded again, and then took one careful step towards her with the coat extended in his hands. "It's a pretty warm jacket--even Sunset thinks so. She borrowed it earlier when our friend Rainbow hauled all of us outside to show off some new moves she'd learned. Apparently leather looks cool, but it's not the most insulated thing...you know how Sunset is about her leather jackets. Telling her to give it up is like kicking a puppy or something."
Sunset had worn it recently? The thought of that was strangely soothing as Twilight took the coat from him and fumbled with numb fingers to put it on. The warmth was immediate as she settled it around her shoulders, and the dark haired girl huddled deeper in the thick coat, chasing the heat that promised to bring back feeling to her nerves. As she did, she caught the faintest whiff of...was that Sunset's shampoo? Even if it was just her brain looking for any port in a storm, she felt herself latch onto it.
For a minute or two they both just stood there as she soaked up the heat from the coat. He didn't complain or even speak for most of it, instead he stood quietly and waited until both her breathing and her trembling were more under her control. "I...didn't understand all of that," he admitted, "but from what I did get, it sounds like you've had a pretty rough day, and you're super stressed out from it. Is that a fair guess?"
Her hands twisted together in an attempt to dispel some of her anxious energy and she nodded at him. "....y-yes..." she managed.
"I'm sorry it's been a bad day, but even if you don't want me to call Sunset or your folks, I can't just...leave you out here like this." Flash shuddered. "I don't know about your parents, but when Sunset found out? I could hide out in another world and she'd still find me." When that made her lips twitch up slightly, the blue haired boy smiled at her. "See? You get it. So...I don't want to push you into anything, but..." One hand, not dissimilar in shade from Sunset's warm amber tones, gestured to the vehicle idling by them. "...my car is warm and out of the wind and ice...would you be willing to sit there with me so we can talk about what's wrong and how I can help you at least get home without frostbite?"
Twilight hesitated, looking between him and the car. She knew what Sunset had said, what she'd implied about Flash's moral integrity, her own fears still clamored for attention, and being alone in a car with a male she didn't really know personally was pushing the limits of what she thought she could handle...
Another wintery gust kicked up, needles of cold going through her legs. Still...it would be nice to be warm while she reorganized her thoughts and tried to get them under control.
Watching her waver, he added, "I even have a thermos of hot chocolate--Sunset and I have a friend who is this amazing cook, and she's testing all kinds of new hot cocoa recipes on us. It's...pretty good, and it should help warm you up the rest of the way, plus my grandma always talks about how holding onto a hot cup of something is good for the soul or something..." He trailed off as a shiver went through him with another cold blast of wind.
The dark haired girl bit the inside of her cheek, feeling a stab of guilt for having taken his jacket, which was so wonderfully warm. It took effort, but Twilight mustered up the effort at something resembling a smile. Her voice came out a little stronger than before. "Did...did Sunset tell you that good chocolate is my kryptonite?"
Sunset's friend looked inordinately pleased by her response, but shook his head. "She never said anything about it, but I've seen how she and the other girls devour the stuff, and I've been informed that 'when in doubt, most women won't turn down free chocolate.' I thought it might be a safe bet on how to cheer you up, maybe make your day at least a little better?"
Twilight fought down a weak laugh. "Whoever gave that advice was pretty smart--it is fairly accurate."
"That checks out. Sunset is the smartest person I know, and it always seems to work on her." Flash laughed. "Like yesterday, one of our friends brought this bag of chocolate coated kale chips--her mother is always on one weird fad diet or another, and insists on her taking these strange foods. I thought they smelled like someone deep fried yard clippings and rolled them in cheap chocolate, but Sunset loved them. She ate the entire bag at lunch, and was talking about hunting down more like they were the greatest snack in the whole world..."
Whether it was the odd similarity to Shining Armor's mannerisms or the way he was content to fill the space with a running batch of anecdotes about her girlfriend that Twilight had never heard before, Twilight found herself accepting the offer to warm up in the car, fighting a giggle as the heater blasted warmth onto her legs and a thermos of hot chocolate was passed to her almost before she could blink. Flash had cheerfully segued into a new story about Sunset, and listening to this part of Sunset's life she didn't talk much about left Twilight wanting to hear more. She certainly recognized the bright, intelligent personality in the stories as Sunset's, but the young man telling them was painting a vibrant picture of someone who was liked by a solid circle of friends as well as respected or admired by a sizable portion of her schoolmates.
It was a completely different viewpoint from the excessively negative one bordering on paranoid that Wallflower had been espousing, and it was comforting to know that the people Sunset surrounded herself with when Twilight wasn't with her saw the redheaded girl the same way that Twilight and her family did, regardless of how she had acted in the past.
When Flash's story ended, she shyly reciprocated with a few short stories of her own about Sunset, mostly about some of their outings or antics in her lab, where she enjoyed Sunset's wit, intelligence, and humor, and the older girl's ability to not just meet her on her level but in a few cases challenge her. Her words trailed off though as she was hit with unexpected distress, and she gripped the thermos in her hands tighter.
"...I wish Sunset was my lab partner, not Wallflower..." she admitted, the words coming out before she could stop them. Working with Sunset just felt...right, and didn't leave her frustrated or hobbled with the unwanted presence of another person slowing her down.
Flash looked over, taking a drink from a soda before answering her. "...I'm not sure I got all of what you were saying before but...you mentioned someone named Wallflower and getting plant samples from the woods back by CHS? Something about a school project? Were they with you?"
She nodded, the motion jerky and uneven. "...Wallflower's my friend from school, really my only one left there, and we don't usually work together...but my principal assigned her to work with me, and botany is her preferred area of study..." Twilight cut herself off there--she didn't feel up to explaining that it was really her project that Wallflower was inserting herself into in a far greater fashion than Principal Cinch had meant in making her friend her 'assistant.'
"And so you needed actual samples for her part of the project. You guys picked a really bad day to do that--this storm is a mess!" He gestured to the sleet now coming down heavier outside the confines of the car.
Twilight made an irritable noise. "We wouldn't have had to, but Wallflower compromised the integrity of samples I had already taken with Sunset's assistance, because she didn't follow the procedures I had gone to the trouble of writing down for her, and this was the best day this week for both of us." She stared out the window. "She's my friend, and she was so excited to work with me but...does it make me an awful friend for thinking I'd rather work alone than with her?"
He shook his head. "No, Twilight, it doesn't. Just because you like hanging out with someone doesn't mean you're good work partners."
Sipping at the drink, Twilight made a soft noise, allowing Flash to continue after a brief hesitation. "...plus Sunset...told me about her impression of her..."
Purple eyes snapped sharply to him. "What? She told you about it?" Did Sunset also tell him about the fight?
"She came to me for a second opinion," Flash explained. "The day after. She bought us food and told me about the whole meetup, about what she was feeling...she wanted to make sure she wasn't overreacting or anything." He looked away for a second then back. "She was upset because she said she knew it was important to you that your friends get along and she didn't want to let you down."
Twilight winced. "...she said that?"
He made a loose gesture. "Not those exact words, but...yeah." Flash rubbed his neck then, looking awkward. "Point is...it...says a lot to me about this Wallflower, as a person, since it sounds like she has some kind of immediate hate-on for Sunset even though they barely met. She sounds...like not the kind of person I'd want to be friends with, you know?"
She couldn't help but try and defend Wallflower a little. "...it wasn't entirely out of the blue--I didn't realize it, but...Wallflower's talked to people who went to your school...before. When Sunset was not the person she is now, and she's heard all kinds of bad stories...." Her shoulders slumped. "...but that doesn't make it any better, I guess, especially since I made it all worse by not listening when Sunset tried to tell me..."
The young man reached into the back and fished around in a box, before offering her one of those prepackaged brownies from the grocery store. "Don't get too upset about that, Twilight. If that's the reason Sunset is walking around in a funk, I'd say she's past any anger and into the 'dealing with her crap' part of it already. Doesn't mean she hasn't been...what did AJ say? Something about a mule and a burr?" He gave her a smile. "She'll come around soon, she just...likes to work out her emotional stuff by herself. I think it has something to do with how she grew up."
Taking a sip of the hot chocolate--it was really good, but privately, the teen thought her mom made better--masked the frown that marred her face. Flash was probably on point with his observation, and she wondered privately how much Sunset had told him versus how much he had figured out on his own. The redhead had admitted more than once to Twilight that she didn't like talking about that part of her life to a lot of people.
"I don't like being pitied, Sparky. It's worse than people being angry at me."
Instead of commenting on that, and risking Flash doing any digging Sunset might not appreciate, she said quietly, "...that's why you can't call her, why I didn't call her. She asked me for space this week and I promised I'd give it to her..." Twilight couldn't look his way, hunching in on herself in guilt. "...and I can't go back on that...not after hurting her with some of the things I said."
Flash didn't say anything for long enough that Twilight started to worry, before tapping his fingers in a light rhythm against the steering wheel. "For what it's worth, I think she'd understand in a case like this, but that's your call, Twilight." He left the thought hanging in the air for a few heartbeats before he continued on the previous subject. "So you came out to take plant samples in the woods...and then...you fought with Wallflower? Because...she...accused Sunset of...being a drug dealer, on top of being the biggest bully of CHS? Did I hear that part right?"
The dark haired girl couldn't help the frustrated noise that escaped her. "Yes! I have no idea why, but she got it into her head that the only way I could be dealing better with my anxiety was if I was on drugs! And that somehow, Sunset had to be the one supplying me with them! That doesn't even make sense!"
The young man shook his head. "That is a big jump to make. My bandmate does a little weed at home with his brother, and when he is high or was high, we can tell. There's a lot of little things that aren't there with you that we see with Brawly. This Wallflower ought to go into a career of writing those melodramatic TV shows with an imagination like that."
She almost laughed, except his next words froze her blood.
"What I don't understand is why she decided to be weird about it instead of straight out asking. She had to have been super vague for you to get the impression that she'd figured out about you and Sunset dating--that's not even remotely the same as 'doing drugs.'"
Twilight struggled to breathe, feeling her panic coming back. Had she outed herself by accident a second time when she'd been trying to keep him from calling Sunset? Her hands shook, and with it, the thermos, threatening to send cocoa spilling everywhere.
A hand steadied the cup, careful not to touch her directly. "It's okay, Twilight, relax. It wasn't anything I didn't already know."
Now she stared at him. "...H-how?"
"I'm not as smart as you or Sunset, but I'm not an idiot. Back before Christmas when Sunset and I talked about--" He broke off the explanation to ask, "She...did mention we dated last summer, right?" When Twilight nodded, he kept going, "Cool. Well, we talked about why she broke up with me, and why...why it never would have worked...and she ended up telling me she had a girl she was seeing. She didn't tell me anything other than that, no name, not what school said girl went to, or even if she lived in town....though I am the only person she's told."
His expression turned...the word that came to mind was 'soft.' "When she talked about the fact that she'd met this girl, who did not know the old her and just...accepted her for who she was, her face lit up in this way I'd never seen before...and when I ran into you guys at the bookstore...it was pretty obvious when she smiled at you that you had to be the girl she'd mentioned. It was the same smile."
"Oh..." she croaked out. "Y-you don't--I mean--I'm--" Her hands were white knuckle tight on the thermos.
"Mind?" he finished for her. "Not at all. Honestly...I'm actually glad." At her blank stare, he rubbed his neck. "Look...you didn't know Sunset before. Truth is, no one really did, because she didn't let anyone get close enough to see the real Sunset underneath...but I caught glimpses, when we dated. She was never happy....but you make her happy, in a way none of us can. And I'm glad she has someone who does that for her...Sunset is special, you know?"
That made Twilight's cheeks heat up. "...I think she is," she agreed, feeling like the conversation itself was more than a little surreal.
"See? Then you know why I'm glad...and as for you being a girl and her being a girl, I don't really care about that. Half the people I hang out with qualify as 'not-straight.' Sunset having a girlfriend isn't going to raise any eyebrows with me or any of our friends really. They'll care more about if you're a good person who is good for her...and from what I can tell, you are."
Twilight felt the pressure in her chest ease as the ice thawed in her veins. "Okay...it's...okay." She focused a minute on her breathing until it leveled out and the world settled on its axis.
He looked at her with sympathy. "...your friend really must have reacted badly to the news, the way you are reacting."
A tight shake of her head confirmed his words. "She took it badly...to hear her, me becoming a sensory addled substance abuser was preferable to being a lesbian and d-dating Sunny..." She grimaced. "I...am not sure if it was the fact that I was with a girl or that I was with Sunset that set her off--she made it sound like the second, but she did just about everything other than call me a dyke."
The young man snorted derisively. "So on top of everything else about her, it sounds like she's a bigot too."
Her eyes fell back to the thermos in her hands. "...she says she's not, that she doesn't care, but...it's just hard to believe when she relied on the same crude slang that bigoted people use to dehumanize people like me."
Flash tapped his fingers rhythmically against the wheel--it seemed like an unconscious habit--and asked, "Why exactly are you friends with her? She...doesn't really seem all that likable, or a good friend."
"I...she's usually not like this," Twilight explained. "Normally, she's a lot more relaxed and shy, but I don't know...something about Sunset..."
"Or her assumptions about Sunset," Flash interjected.
She nodded. "Or that...has her really on edge where she's not acting like herself."
He gestured at her. "Is that why you look like you got in a fight? She...shove you or something?"
Twilight frowned. "...I don't know." At his confused expression, she explained what she could remember of the incident as best she could, about them splitting up to gather samples, about her searching for indicators related to her own project. "...and the next thing I know, I'm opening my eyes on the ground, and my head feels weird. Not really hurting, but...not right either. Like I was searching for a word that was on the tip of my tongue? Wallflower was next to me looking upset--worried-upset--and said I'd made a sound and that made her come check on me, only to find I'd...collapsed somehow." She frowned. "I was thinking I must have tripped on a rock or stepped in a hole, since the whole area was churned up and uneven."
Skepticism colored his tone. "That seems kind of suspicious, Twilight. You said you were near the path, right?" When she nodded, his frown deepened. "We all use that path, because CHS has a lousy student lot, and our VP goes on about how we're not allowed to park in the faculty lot. That area has rocks and sticks and leaves, but it's never been what I'd call 'churned up' or 'uneven.' Just the opposite. It's usually kept fairly clear...." His fingers drummed out a pattern again. "You guys were there to gather samples...do you have them? I'm guessing you have proper stuff to do that and a way you'd go about it, with how smart Sunset says you are."
His words stopped the argument forming on her lips--she knew what she saw, after all--and she immediately moved to verify his question. "I'm assuming I do have them stored where I--" Twilight stopped, her hand in the pockets of her hoodie finding none of what she expected. "...I only have empty sample bags. All of the tools I use to collect them are missing, even my gloves." Her brows furrowed. "That suggests I had begun the procedure to do so, but was interrupted from completing it. Why don't I remember that?"
Flash rubbed his neck. "I...I think you were pushed, Twilight. Maybe it was just a little shove that turned a lot bigger if you stumbled over a rock, but...you really do look like you got into a fight and were rolling around in the mud. You're missing time...you said your head feels weird...and you've just spent ten minutes talking about how unpleasant and upset Wallflower was at your accidental reveal..."
She bit her lip--surely Wallflower hadn't been that angry over the whole thing, had she? The other girl wasn't prone to violent outbursts, as far as Twilight knew...but a small part of her reminded her that homosexuality often brought out the worst in people for some reason she could never understand. "My head does...feel achy and muzzy, reminiscent of how Sunset described her headache after the dodgeball accident....but that doesn't mean Wallflower...attacked me. I just can't see her doing that."
"Maybe she didn't. Or maybe it wasn't a full on attack, just something like a small shove or a bit of rough shoulder checking, but...you don't look like that," he gestured at her, "from tripping and landing on your ass in an icy mud puddle. And if she pushed a little too hard, and you hit your head when you fell or slipped or whatever, then you might have some kind of concussion."
A wave of exhaustion washed over Twilight as she nodded. She really just wanted to go home and take a shower and...relax. "I can't see her attacking me...but I cannot say your hypothesis is without merit. I certainly have no hard proof to refute it....but I can't say I'm happy with the idea at all..."
Flash gave her a sympathetic look. "Believe me, I get it. This is someone you thought was a friend, and the idea that they could be capable of that kind of betrayal is hard....I've been there. Took me a long time to accept it, and even longer to forgive. And if she did push you, it might not have been with the intent to hurt you--that might even be why she bailed. If she shoved a little, lashing out, and it snowballed out of control, maybe she panicked? It doesn't make it right, but...I dunno. I just get this feeling you didn't just fall, Twilight. Maybe don't jump to conclusions, but...don't dismiss it without investigating either?"
"I won't," she agreed, leaning her head back and blinking back a few tears that stung the corners of her eyes. It was just too much on top of everything else to think that Wallflower might have been responsible for injuring her. "...this is...this has not been a good week so far."
He sighed. "I'm sorry to dump that on you--it's a crap situation and you probably don't need any more stress--I hear CPA is already bad enough for that. I wish I could help more, you know?" Tap-tap-tappity-tap went his fingers. "At this point, about all I can offer is a hug. I know I'm not Sunset, and you don't really know me, but...you just look like you need one."
Twilight shifted awkwardly. "...I do really just want one of Sunset's hugs right now...her hugs are like nothing else in the world, and they make me feel like nothing can get to me..."
"It's a Sunset thing--I always liked her hugs when we were dating, and I found out recently they're still great." Blue eyes danced with mirth. "It's like she's such a force of personality that she gives some of it away in her hugs...."
The dark haired girl couldn't help the small smile that tugged at her lips. "...yes, that! And...she always smells like sunshine and green and warm leather and it's like holding onto summer, somehow...". She blinked back some more tears, this time for a very different reason; the ache for Sunset's presence and touch almost undid her.
Flash was quiet for a minute. "You know, she hugged me earlier today when she gave me my coat back. Maybe instead of a hug from me, I could pass along this Sunset hug? It's not as good as her being here to hug you, but..."
A tearful laugh escaped her. "...if...you're holding a Sunset-hug hostage...I would very much like it released to where it belongs," Twilight tried to joke. "It's probably missing the rest of the hug-herd."
Something about that made him burst into hearty laughter, even as he held one arm out to her for a quick around the shoulders hug. "Run free, little Sunset-hug, your herd missed you!"
Twilight's giggles were more a sound of relief, and something in the brief gesture made her feel better, almost as if there had been some lingering bit of her girlfriend in the light pressure around her shoulders.
"Better?" Flash asked when her giggle-fit ended. She nodded and he smiled. "Good. Now...back to your problem...there's really only one thing you have to solve right now." He motioned out the window. "And that's you being stuck out in this weather, a few miles from home. Everything else can wait, until you have a chance to think or get some advice, or do some digging."
She blinked, and realized that he had a good point. Whatever had happened--or not happened--in the woods, even her accidentally outing herself to Wallflower...it was something she could reexamine after she was clean and warm and dry and at home. Twilight let out a heavy sigh, feeling some of the weight come off her. "You are...correct. I was so upset that I had not considered breaking the situation into many parts and dealing with them separately."
"Trust me, Twilight, it happens, and getting that outside perspective can help." He drummed out that pattern on his steering wheel again. "As I see it right now, you said you don't want to break your word to give Sunset some space, and you didn't seem like you wanted to call your folks..."
A shiver went through her. "If I called them, they'd want to know what happened. And..." Twilight grimaced. "They would come get me, but...I'm not out at home yet, and after what happened earlier, and with you figuring it out ...I'm...I can't. Not today."
He made a noise of understanding. "It's hard and it's a big deal, even if you don't think it'll go bad. It sucks and it's not fair, but what can you do?"
Twilight stared. "...no one has ever...just gotten it like that. How...?"
"You and Sunset aren't the only couple I know, Twilight. I've got friends who are going through what you're going through, and I listen when they talk too. It's not that hard to understand, even if I don't have to do it myself." He shrugged. "So how about we keep all that drama from happening, and I just give you a ride home? Saves you a walk, you'll stay warm the whole way, and I avoid a date with Sunset's steel-toed size ten."
"...you...you would do that?" Twilight fidgeted. "It's not...out of your way?"
Flash gave an easy shrug. "Sure. I dropped Sunset over at your place that day she got hit in the head, and I don't work tonight, so I've got time. Not exactly looking to go home just yet, since I'm kind of having a fight with my folks." One hand ran through his hair. "I know you don't know me too well. Since this is really the first time we talked, but...Sunset's one of my best friends, and you are more than just her best friend...and I guess I was just thinking maybe we could be friends too? If you don't think that sounds weird?"
For the third time in only a few minutes, Twilight had to blink rapidly to avoid tears. This was what she'd hoped to happen between Sunset and Wallflower, instead of the animosity that had sparked between them. "...I...think I would like that..." she said softly, looking out the window so he wouldn't see how the words had gotten to her. "...It...would be nice...when I'm finally ready to meet the rest of Sunset's friends...to know that I already have a friend along them." |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Thirteen: Confrontation | A grimace crossed Twilight's face as her steps halted, then changed direction in the school hallway as she realized that she'd been automatically heading to her old la--the previous laboratory space in the school she'd been given access to, she corrected herself. There was so much on her mind that she'd allowed herself to become horribly distracted again. With a sigh, she quickened her pace as she traversed the new route to the spacious, bright, up-to-date lab that her Principal had moved her to, the part of her that sounded more like her girlfriend than was healthy referring to it as a "poisoned chalice."
She glanced at the hallway clock, uncomfortable as the knowledge that if Wallflower wasn't already in the lab space, she would be soon enough settled over her like a heavy weight. Between this week and the last, her view of her friendship with the green skinned girl was clouded by doubt, mistrust, and a myriad of emotions that had yet to be sorted properly in her mind, which meant that right now, Twilight didn't even want to be in the same room with her, let alone in any kind of conversation. Her attempts to reflect the night before both on the disastrous events in the woods, plus the girl's general behavior had done little to soothe her nerves, and that wasn't even beginning to touch on Wallflower's increasingly unsettling and unreasonable dislike of Sunset that was really starting to get under her skin. She had spent over an hour trying to find an alternative explanation the night before of her fall at CHS alone, but try as she might, she couldn't debunk Flash's suspicions or come up with a logical answer that made as much sense.
Twilight didn't even want to think what her parents would have had to say if she'd told them the whole of what happened. She was approximately ninety three percent certain that they would have reached the same dark conclusion as Sunset's friend, and been highly displeased with the knowledge. They'd certainly been upset enough last night when she'd come home and simply told them that she'd slipped and fallen while gathering data for her project--going so far as to show them the broken scanner in her pocket, its casing cracked and matching a bruise on her side that suggested she'd landed right on the delicate device when she fell. Or was pushed.
The front door had felt heavier than ever to Twilight's re-chilled fingertips, and Flash had had to help her get the key to turn properly in the lock. Her attempted entry had made enough sound that her mother was half down the hall with Spike yipping at her heels when it finally opened and she stepped inside, still with Flash's coat over her shoulders.
"Twily!" Velvet fussed. "What happened? You're soaked and filthy! Are you alright!?" Her eyes flicked between the two teens for an explanation.
"I'm f-fine, Mom," she managed tiredly. "I had stopped to g-gather some data for my project on the way home...but I slipped and fell into the d-ditch."
Flash took back the coat as Twilight shimmied out of it. "I was going home after getting some stuff at the bakery," he added, "and I saw her trying to walk in the weather, so I offered to give her a ride. Didn't want Sunset's best friend to freeze, you know?"
Twilight sent him a grateful smile for being willing to keep her secret. "Thank you, Flash. Your assistance w-was t-t-timel--" She broke off with a sneeze. "..timely."
"Anytime, Twilight. Just glad you're okay." He glanced at her mother. "She seemed a bit foggy when I first got her in the car, but I'm not sure if it was from the cold or if she maybe hit her head when she fell?"
The teen sighed. "I still believe it was from the c-cold," she said, trying to remove the look of alarm from her mother's eyes. "I don't have any lumps or abrasions or sore spots on my head that would indicate I hit it on anything..."
Velvet pulled her into a tight hug anyway. "We'll make sure she's okay...and thank you again, Flash. This is the second time you've made sure one of our girls got home safe."
His response was an easy shrug as he put his jacket back on. "It's not a big deal, ma'am. Sunset's my friend, and Twilight means a lot to her, so I wasn't going to just ignore her. Besides, it never hurts to show a little kindness, right?"
That earned him a warm smile as Velvet let her daughter go. "I don't suppose I can coax you to warm up with a hot drink this time, before you go back out into that weather?" she asked wryly.
Flash chuckled. "I'm afraid not. Someday, maybe, but it's getting worse out there, and I want to get home before I give my parents yet another reason to give me grief." He gave them both a cheerful wave. "Have a good night! It was good to see you again, Twilight--let's do it next time under better circumstances, okay?" He gave her an exaggerated wink, which made Twilight laugh.
"No promises," she said with a faint smirk Sunset would have been proud of.
"Stay warm and drive safe," Velvet responded. "The roads are looking bad, and I would hate for you to get into an accident."
"I will--it's not too far, just a couple of miles. I'll be home in fifteen minutes, even going slow." He stepped out and shut the door behind him.
Silence.
Awkward, uncomfortable, tense silence. Twilight could see her mother watching her, scrutinizing her intently.
Then the woman broke the silence. "I wish you had at least let us know you were making a stop on your way home, sweetheart. Next time, please message me? You could have been seriously hurt, and no one would have known where to start looking." She ran her fingers through Twilight's messy hair that had almost completely come out of the neat bun she kept it in for school. "This isn't a slight against your capabilities, Twily...it's a safety concern. I don't want anything to happen to you."
She leaned into the touch. "I will, Mom. I...wasn't too far from the house, and I did not expect to fall like that. It was barely even flurries when I started." Twilight had no desire to argue, and now that she was inside a nice warm house, she felt exhaustion creeping up on her. For a moment, the thought of confessing what had really happened crossed her mind, this sudden desire to unburden herself with everything welling up alongside the want for one of her mother's tight, comforting hugs. It didn't matter that she would be admitting to Wallflower possibly causing her fall, and actually leaving her in the winter weather, or that she would be admitting to the unpleasant not-quite-an-argument that had spawned from Twilight accidentally outing herself and Wallflower's hostility towards the girl she had chosen to date...
"Why don't you go upstairs and take a shower, put on some dry clothes after. By then, dinner should be just about done. I made that beef stew you and your father like." Velvet guided her to the stairs, unaware of the internal war Twilight was fighting. "I don't want you to come down with anything because you sat around in cold, wet clothes."
Plodding up the stairs at the gentle order, Twilight pushed the urge aside. The moment had passed...she would consider it after a shower and dinner had fortified her.
Unfortunately, by the time she'd gotten cleaned up and filled her hungry stomach with a surprising amount of stew, the familiar tightness had returned to her throat at the mere consideration of telling her mother any more than she already had...so she'd let it go, in favor of returning to the quiet solitude of her room. There, she'd spent most of the rest of the evening mulling things over. Wallflower...was either changing, or had never really been the person Twilight had thought her to be, and she was starting to question everything Wallflower had ever said to her...
The other girl's reaction to her admission in the woods had really hurt, regardless of whether it had been about her dating a girl or dating a specific girl. Logically speaking, Twilight had always known that it wasn't even uncommon--not everyone would be accepting and happy about her orientation. That was the biggest reason for keeping the information to herself for so long, because she didn't want to have hate and vitriol thrown at her for something that was as beyond her control as the color of her skin or her IQ. In an ideal world, she would have had both Wallflower and Sunset in her life and social circle...but this was the real world, and it seemed like Wallflower had already made up her mind. A preferable compromise would be for them to agree to disagree on the matter of Sunset, and her social activities with Wallflower remaining separate from anything with Sunset, but she wasn't sure that would happen either...
Twilight knew, somehow, that it would eventually come down to a choice, one Wallflower would demand...
When it did, she already knew who she would choose.
She just wasn't sure Wallflower knew that yet, and she wasn't keen on finding out just yet.
Which is what led to this moment, hurrying through the corridors even as she fought the urge to move at a snail's pace, desperately wanting to delay that moment where she would be face to face with Wallflower Blush. Maybe it was childish, or avoidant, maybe it came from the fact that she was still reeling from exposure to this new and ugly side of her long time friend, but Twilight had no desire to be in the same room with Wallflower, let alone engaging her in a confrontational conversation. ...and it would be a confrontation, because she was going to lay down an ultimatum of her own. Whatever the girl's personal issues were with Sunset--and really, it was verging on farcical, how hard she was pushing her personal narrative that Sunset was some kind of predatory monster preying on 'poor socially incapable Twilight'--she intended to put her foot down. Wallflower could have whatever opinion she wanted, but she would keep it to herself and stop bad mouthing Sunset to Twilight.
Her grudge made no sense whatsoever, even if it was like her parents had suggested and she was afraid of losing her friend or if it was because Sunset had caused problems for one of their other friends...
Note to self...ask Sunset if she knew Lyra.
Regardless of the reason, Wallflower had no reason to make it such a personal issue. She had not met Sunset until recently, and had spent less than fifteen minutes in her company, nor had she been personally impacted by Sunset's previously unpleasant behavior. When even people who had been her victims were willing to forgive and even become friends with the redheaded girl, Wallflower Blush didn't have a leg to stand on.
However, if Wallflower wanted to hold onto that, it was her choice, and Twilight wouldn't force the issue...but she also wouldn't let Wallflower harass and bully her about Sunset in return. Twilight had no intention of giving up her friendship with Sunset Shimmer under any circumstances, and Wallflower would respect that choice. That was non-negotiable.
More than that, she wanted to address the previous day's events. Regardless of what had or hadn't happened in the woods, Wallflower had run off and left Twilight stranded several miles from home in the winter weather. Such an act was not just petty or mean spirited, it was dangerous, just like Velvet had pointed out. Coupled with her behavior over the samples, riding roughshod over Twilight's own project out of some desire to "one-up" and preempt the imagined person Wallflower believed the berry bushes were a project for, and Twilight was no longer comfortable staying quiet on any of it.
Twilight gathered her courage, fixing an image of Sunset in her mind, eyes bright and lips turned into that lopsided smile. I know I don't have the right to ask this right now, she thought, imagining her girlfriend could somehow hear her mental whisper, but I need your strength and support on this, Sunny...I'm doing this for you, for us...because you're so important to me, more than a fractured friendship, more than this project, more than all the scholarships and academic accolades in the world...
A year ago, Twilight would have balked at the thought, but now? There was no hesitation. Sunset mattered, as her best friend, as her girlfriend, as someone who believed in and accepted Twilight as she was, not who she thought Twilight should be. Like Flash had said during their talk in the car, Sunset Shimmer was special.
And Sunset deserved Twilight's best effort. That was why she was thinking seriously about having a conversation and coming clean to her parents either during Spring Break or when summer started. Admit to them that Sunset was her girlfriend, that she wouldn't ever be bringing a boy home... She hoped that when it happened, Sunset would be at her side, because she still wasn't sure she could do it on her own.
Twilight was abruptly jolted out of her plans for how to broach the subject with her parents and what parts to focus on in order to preempt any questions they might have, when she slammed into an oddly yielding wall, bouncing off and staggering back to catch herself on the lockers. She managed to remain upright, but at the cost of the stack of books and the folder of papers in her arms. Those crashed to the floor and scattered in a messy arc.
Blinking, her head a little rattled from the impact with cold steel, Twilight fixed her glasses and focused on the source of impact.
Tall, with messy hair that might have been generously called pale yellow instead of white, the boy in front of her was also blinking a bit. The colors of the school uniform looked unpleasant against his dark skin that reminded her of charcoal and it was when she noticed the pin with a cluster of stars on his jacket that she realized she recognized him: Polaris Hyades, the senior who was just barely behind her in school-wide scores now that Moondancer was in Italy.
Twilight didn't know too much about him beyond his name, and for good reason. Not only was he a senior and several years older, but after an incident in her freshman year, where one of Suri's nastier rumors had involved both of them as yet one more attempt to make people believe that Twilight was bribing people in order to achieve her test scores. The entire thing had proven doubly unpleasant as Twilight had been noticeably younger than the rest of her class, and Polaris had been very vocal about how appalled he was at the mere suggestion in the rumors.
True to form, she had been oblivious to the rumors herself until he'd stood up in their shared history class and loudly fumbled his way through denials that he would even consider such a thing with a 'middle school kid.' While she understood and had been as uncomfortable and grossed out as he had been--she'd already figured out at that point that boys were not something she was interested in--the whole thing had caused them both a number of problems for months.
"Uhhh..." Polaris looked as startled as she felt, taking a step back and holding his hands up as if he was trying to avoid even the possibility of being seen touching her. "...Twinkle, right? Sorry...I wasn't..." He gestured a bit helplessly, then seemed to notice her scattered supplies. "Shit...um...sorry..."
She knelt down to start gathering them up, deeming him as surprised as she was by the encounter and thus unlikely to try to cause trouble. After a moment, he did the same. "...l-let me h-help..." he stuttered. She glanced up from the task of stacking her books, briefly wondering if the furtive motions and awkward shuffling was how she looked to others outside her very small social circle.
It...made her sad, for some reason.
"Why not try being friendly then, Sparky? You're good at that..."
Gathering her courage and listening to the part of her subconscious that had hijacked her girlfriend's personality, she managed a small smile. "It's...Sparkle, actually. Twilight Sparkle....and it's okay. Really. I think this may have been one of those cases where neither of us was paying enough attention to where we were going."
He looked at her sharply, staring in a way that suggested he was trying to figure out if this was a trap...or at least, Twilight thought she recognized the wary confusion she felt sometimes in similar situations. Then he pasted an awkward smile on his face. "Oh...uh...y-yeah. P-probably."
It served to cut the tension...at least until they both grabbed the same page of notes without realizing and the paper tore down the middle with a ragged sound. It was an accident, pure bad luck and happenstance, but Polaris went ashen gray and quickly let go, his hands now shaking uncontrollably. Twilight furrowed her brow--this was more than just feeling bad over damaging a page of notes she could easily tape back together or print a new copy of, and she didn't need Mental-Sunset to interpret what it meant when the senior's breath got hung up in struggling, tight sounding inhalations. Her stomach twisted in agitation as she saw the way his unfocused eyes darted wildly, a familiar panic in them.
It was a situation she couldn't ignore and couldn't walk away from. "So help him," Sunset's voice whispered in her ear.
She could try--she knew how her family, how Sunset talked her down, and knew the tools her therapist had given her to help herself. Twilight cleared her throat. "...Polaris?" she tried, awkward because it felt so surreal to be on this side of a panic attack. "...It's okay. You're okay...just take slow breaths--try and match my breathing..." Just like Sunset did, the dark haired teen took several slow, exaggerated breaths once he looked her way.
Despite her misgivings, it worked enough to bring a little color back to his face and keep him from hyperventilating on the hallway floor. It gave Twilight the chance to quickly pack her notes back into the folder--she could reorganize them somewhere safer than the hallway.
Polaris finally took a deep breath, seeming more collected--though he still shook slightly and his color seemed...off...somehow. He avoided looking at her, and she realized that what twisted his face unpleasantly was shame, even as he croaked out a stuttered, halting apology.
Twilight came to a decision then. "It's really okay," she answered, deliberately 'misunderstanding' his apology. "I can print a new copy later."
"Letting him keep a little dignity?" Mental-Sunset commented approvingly. "Good job, Sparky. See? You've got this."
Pained silence fell, even as she stood back up and her fellow student followed suit. She thought the awkward encounter would end like that, until he spoke again, voice unsteady. "...Y-you...got m-my lab."
For a moment, the dark haired girl was confused, but then it clicked. "You mean the big lab?" She hesitated, then added firmly, her recent thoughts coloring her tone. "It was always the school's lab, for Principal Cinch to give out and take away at any moment. You or I or any student who thinks otherwise is simply deluding themselves with a comforting falsehood."
He frowned, but nodded slowly. "...I...k-know that n-n-n-now..." Shuffling and shifting his weight he asked, "You haven't...found any of my n-notes, have you? M-maybe some that were m-m-missed or overlooked?"
"His notes?" Mental-Sunset sounded as baffled by the direction the conversation had taken as Twilight felt. Still she dutifully thought back through her inspection of the space, trying to recall if she had seen anything that resembled someone else's notes.
She hadn't, as far as she could recall. "I'm sorry, Polaris," she said as gently as possible. "I haven't seen anything like that, not even accidentally stuck with my own papers."
Desperation leaked into his voice. "C-can...I...j-just check, real q-quick? M-make sure t-that there's not even something in a c-corner c-cabinet?"
Carefully, Twilight responded, "I...suppose? I'm fairly certain that who ever cleaned and rearranged everything between labs was very thorough, so I'm not sure you'll find much of anything." It wouldn't hurt to let him take a quick look, and all of the important parts of her project were stored primarily in a digital format with backups inaccessible at the school. She didn't leave much out in the open when she wasn't working...at least not here, not since the very lab move they were discussing.
Mental-Sunset had other opinions. "I don't like this, Twilight," she commented, reminding Twilight she was there. "Something about this doesn't feel right. Why's he asking now, like two weeks later?"
Her subconscious might have a point, and Sunset had been at her for months, teaching her to trust her instincts when they crept up on her like this. She decided a probing but innocuous question would be a good route. "Did...some of your project get misplaced when everything was moved around?" she asked.
The noise that escaped him was bitter and ragged, and for a second she was concerned he might be on his way to another breakdown. "M-misplaced?! D-d-do you know w-why you got m-my lab?"
"I know...the reasons Principal Cinch gave," she said carefully without stating if she believed those reasons or not.
Harsh, stilted laughter that sounded one step away from being hysterical made her jerk and increase the distance between them another half step or so from the already 'more than arm's length' distance. "S-she probably told you I trashed it, right?" When she said nothing, Polaris kept going. "I d-didn't. Why would I destroy my own work? Why would I shred my own notes and b-break equipment?" His hands fisted at his sides. "Told my p-parents it was obviously stress! As if being stressed would make m-me decide to do all of that and then s-soak everything with a mix of cheap sports drinks and urine!"
"What?" Twilight was horrified.
"...yikes...Sparky...are you really sure this school is all you make it out to be? That's...animals don't act like that." Even the mental construct resembling her girlfriend was appalled, which spoke volumes. "Also...I really don't like this...I don't think you should be alone in a room with him..."
She didn't entirely disagree, but at present, they were simply walking down the hallway towards the lab, and he hadn't really stopped talking. It was like a dam had been breached and the story couldn't be stopped from rushing out of the shaking teen near her, his skin still looking unhealthy in its shade and sheen of agitated sweat. It certainly didn't smell too nice, she decided. Twilight couldn't be certain if it was the reek of teen male sweat or the story that made her stomach curdle and twist, what with its similarities to her own. Arriving in "his" lab space, just as she had, only to find it violated with no warning, months of work dashed to pieces...the arrival of a stern Principal...only in his case, there was no happy ending, no bright new lab space, only a dismal walk to the office and a phone call home.
"...I'm out of the p-program...if I don't ace the exams for classes I haven't been in all year, I fail for the year...she didn't even try to find out who really d-did it. I need something...p-proof I can show my family!" Polaris made a grasping motion at the air as they stop outside the lab door. "Cinch hit my parents with a b-bill for all the broken stuff--they're talking about using my college money to pay for it!"
There was an anguish to his words that she could feel, but it teetered warningly on the verge of something else, as his body blocked a good portion of the light coming through the doorway into the shiny-but-poisoned lab space in question. She heard a low, animal-like snarl in her ear, and for a brief second, thought she both smelled the scent of Sunset Shimmer overlaid with something hot and sulfurous, and felt fingers dig warningly into her shoulder. "Twilight, move!"
Mental-Sunset was right. Twilight shuddered as her field of vision seemed to narrow in on the boy looming in front of her, suddenly too close for comfort, the light at his back casting his face in harsh shadows as one of the hallway lights decided at that moment to go out. His eyes were almost fever-bright as he continued to ramble, about proving it wasn't his fault and the injustice that had been done to him.
Her senses were unable to cope with the assault, and she fell back a step with a low whimper when his ashen sickly pallor was overlaid by another, and the memory of the scent of cheap cigarettes and alcohol flooded her mind. "Please...get back..." Twilight's voice was a weak thing, lost to the flow of words and the growling by her ear that no longer sounded human, far weaker than she knew she could be...far weaker than what Sunset had been training her to be...
A sweaty, frantic hand tried to grasp her wrist, and she found herself finally reacting the way she should, twisting free of the grab without thought and falling into the stance Sunset had drilled into her. "No!" Her voice was a sharp yell that echoed through the empty hall, yet somehow no doors opened, no teacher came to check, no curious student poked their head out to gawk. It was as if they were the only living people in the whole building. Not even Wallflower, who should have been in the lab, was coming to intervene...
Something flashed in the boy's eyes, and those harsh shadows on his skin seemed to move and undulate before her vision, like the tendrils of some mockery of life, and his voice was an unpleasant rasp, touched by something Other. "You...I thought you understood...but you're just a stupid little girl, doing whatever they tell you to do! You're helping them do this to me!"
Time and space slowed into a distorted, warped tunnel around her, where sound boomed and echoed as if she were underwater.
Another light blew, this time in a shower of quickly fading sparks. Sparks she could see dying as they fell in slow motion.
He staggered for her, hands crooked into something more...
The growl became a feral scream that she knew somehow was Mental-Sunset, and the last of the dying sparks ignited into something else, shadow and flame fighting for supremacy in that warped landscape that felt too much like one of the art pieces by Impossible Triangle.
And then he was in her space, his face as twisted as her perspective had become.
So she reacted.
Just like Sunset had taught her. Drills had, at some point, become a muscle memory she didn't know she had, and in that space, where her mind was falling apart and she couldn't trust her eyes, her body knew what it was supposed to do...
Leaving her conscious mind to float, hazy and disconnected from reality.
How long that lasted, the parade of sensory data that she couldn't seem to compile into a complete picture, Twilight wasn't sure. Somewhere along the way, even the mental construct of her girlfriend had vanished, leaving her adrift with nothing and no one to ground her, trying to numbly parse snatches of audio that had replaced the growling, snarling, and screaming.
"...unfortunate incident, to be sure..."
"...no witnesses..."
A touch on her shoulder made her tense, until she dimly registered her mother's scent and familiar hand.
"...ilight wouldn't have fought without reason!"
Her mother's hand became an arm, and then she heard her father's voice, angry and raised in a way she had never known.
"...twice her size and three years older!"
Something flickered in her vision, the faintest hint of another shadow...but it didn't seem to want to come any closer. She felt her face twist into a frown...or try to...but the muscles felt sluggish and slow to react.
"...mitigating circumstances, of course...the boy...unstable...documented..."
Unstable?
Polaris came to mind, not when reality had broken, but when he'd been spilling his agonized tale in the hallway, stammering and anxious.
No, she tried to say, this isn't right...
But her throat refused to work, and for a moment she thought the shadows were laughing at her.
"...a suspension, but...merely formality...expunged at the end of the year...placate the Hyades family...must look like we're handling it...I'm sure you understand..."
Things were slowly melting back into focus, though she still felt...half outside her body, as if something else was in the driver's seat, and she was naught but the passenger.
Her father was still angry, but it was her mother's voice that cut through the haze with how sharp and accusatory it was. "And the security footage? With how much money you pour into lab equipment for teenagers, and how much money tuition costs each year, a school as well lauded as this one should have state of the art cameras watching a room filled with half a million dollars worth of delicate and easily damaged assets...has that been reviewed yet to determine what happened involving my daughter?"
And her father, backing it up, "I would very much like to see that footage myself, Abacus. Especially if you're going to punish her for being so badly threatened by a boy who outweighs her by at least forty pounds that she reacted like this." No title, no hint of respect, just the tense stress on her principal's name.
"...We are in the process of reviewing all applicable footage," came the response, and Twilight wondered if the administrator had always sounded so...oily. "It should never have come to this, of course..."
The tight hug from her mother muffled all the sound for more than a few heartbeats and she missed a good portion of the rest, her head starting to pound painfully.
"...Monday...hopefully by then we can have this properly sorted and it will have blown over..."
Twilight forced herself to try and focus through the agony in her brain as she was led from the school by her parents, still only half in control of her own body in a world that was blurry and distorted. She managed to tilt her head enough to see herself, and the sight of a few red streaks on her uniform made her awareness lurch painfully as she got into the car.
Then her body was hers again and something snapped and she choked on a sob. There was a soothing sound in her ear and Twilight could feel her mother pull her back into a close, tight hug, even as fingers loosened her hair from the messy remnants of the bun she kept it in at school so Velvet could run fingers through it the way she had so often when Twilight was a little girl.
She felt very much like a little girl again as she huddled in her mother's embrace, trying to make sense of what had happened, even as the emotional impact of it reduced her to a sobbing wreck. Velvet just made more of those comforting noises and let her cry herself out.
Eventually the tears ran their course, and she felt...drained. Exhausted and empty in a way she could not remember feeling ever before. Even her bones ached, as though she'd been running a fever for days. Twilight lifted her head from her mother's shoulder. "...I...I'm sorry," she croaked, her voice sounding thin and ragged.
"Why are you apologizing, sweetheart?" Velvet asked gently, tucking some hair back from her face.
Twilight rubbed her nose, which was stuffy and gross from crying. "...I...you guys had to come get me...you're missing work...and I...I got in trouble at school...and..."
"Twily, you have nothing to apologize for," her father said from the driver's seat as he navigated busy city traffic. "My lectures can be handled by my TA, and I wasn't about to let your mother go into the lion's den alone to get you...you are always more important to us than anything else."
Velvet made a sound of agreement. "Your father is right. I was only waiting on notes from my editor today, and you needed us....more than that...I have a hard time believing you sought out some boy you barely know just to get into a fist fight. That's not you, Twily."
Relief crept in around the exhaustion. "...no...I...I tried to...he didn't seem...but Sunset thought--" Twilight halted, the words as garbled and disjointed as her thoughts.
Her mother rubbed her back. "Deep breath, sweetheart. You don't have to explain everything in one sentence. Take your time."
"We definitely have that," Night joked from the front. "Traffic is terrible--someone decided that they should do construction from Churchill Road all the way to Belmont in the middle of the day."
The dark haired girl did as they asked, but it...still made no sense. Not at the end. The beginning was easy, though, so she could explain that. "...Principal Cinch changed my lab a few weeks ago," she confessed. "Sunset made me tell you guys about that."
"Yes, and believe me, I brought that up today," her mother responded.
"...she told me that the last student trashed it, that...they had to replace the equipment...I didn't ask who it was." She shivered, remembering how that day had been an emotional rollercoaster. "...Polaris was that student...and I ran into him in the hall today..." Twilight pressed her face back into her mother's shoulder. "He...I felt sad for him. He was...he looked like I feel sometimes. Scared. Anxious. He couldn't talk without a horrible stutter. I was...I tried to be nice. It was an accident, running into each other...but then he was talking about his notes and the lab and wondering if I'd found anything of his, which I hadn't because someone else cleaned the labs..."
She frowned. "It was okay at first...he just wanted to take a quick look in some of the cabinets to see...I didn't think it would hurt...especially because his side of what happened was terrible...he says he didn't trash the lab...and I believe him!" Hands shaking, she struggled to control her breathing. "I believed him...but...Sunset wouldn't have...and I could almost hear her saying something was wrong, and when we got to the lab..."
That was where her memory failed her, because none of what she remembered made sense. "I...I don't...he got weird...angry...when we got to the lab...saying I was helping...cover things up." Once again, she had to stop and breathe, to get herself under control, because the memories of the hallway in that moment made her skin crawl. "I yelled," she whispered. "Told him to get away and to not touch me, but he...he tried to grab me and...I..." What had she done? She'd heard a warning in Sunset's voice, and she obeyed it. "It was like...like I could hear Sunny telling me what to do in the backyard, and I did it...I don't...remember...what I did...only that I did something, and that it was what Sunset had told me to do..." She shuddered.
Her parents were quiet for a minute, the only sound in the car was that of the turn signal ticking away as they idled at a red light. Finally, Night spoke, his voice firm and tinged with something she couldn't quite label. "What you did, Twilight, was defend yourself against a boy who was much older and larger than you who was acting erratically and had unknown intentions. No matter what nonsense your school is trying to push to save face and cover their backsides, do not believe otherwise. You did right, and we will back you on it."
The arm around her squeezed tighter. "Your father is right, Twily. While the situation is unpleasant, you tried your best to do the right thing, being understanding and compassionate to a peer, and there is nothing wrong with defending yourself. I can't put into words how glad I am that Sunset has taught you to protect yourself like that, when we didn't ever think that it was something you might need." She laughed softly. "I'm going to be making all of her favorites this weekend, to thank her. This is not the first time her actions have protected you in some way."
"...I..." How could she respond to that? There was so much to unpack in her parents' words, and she wasn't sure she was in the right place to do so, even if she was no longer feeling ready to jump out of her own skin.
When she failed to continue, her father cleared his throat. "I understand that you're shook up, Twily," he told her, "and that you're probably second guessing yourself, because we are constantly told how violence is bad and we shouldn't engage in it...in this case, however, it was the right choice. It shouldn't ever have to be, but unfortunately, that is not how life works sometimes. I want you to understand that I am proud of how you handled the entire situation, from start to finish, even the fight. I would take a call like this a hundred times over if it means avoiding the kind of call that means one of your brother's colleagues is involved and something terrible has happened."
Abruptly, something clicked inTwilight's brain, as though the words had formed a bridge between her memories and the disconnected thoughts and concepts in her mind that she was struggling to organize. Neurons linked up in new patterns and correlated information in a way she hadn't considered before, bringing up the idea that what had happened in the hall was not unlike the night in the park, albeit on a smaller scale.
The concept made her panic start to creep back up, before a second thought intervened, reviewing her father's words. She had fought back this time, not just struggled futilely to fend off hands and screamed for help in hopes of someone else saving her. This time, it had been her own hands and feet that had gotten her away from someone who...while maybe not like the boys in the park, had definitely not been in his right mind and had come after her with unclear motives. The bloody marks staining her uniform weren't from her, it was...
"The enemy," Sunset's voice whispered in the back of her mind, the tone filled with dark satisfaction.
The whole realization was heady, and Twilight pushed it back long enough to question if she should feel bad for the fact that she...didn't feel bad. Maybe Polaris had been put in an awful situation, but he had attacked her out of nowhere. Whatever injuries she had left on the senior...she couldn't really bring herself to care beyond a mild sense of regret that it had been necessary at all...
"I..." Twilight took a breath. "I was trying to be kind, and he turned on me, for no reason," she said, her voice growing more even and level with each word. "I stopped him from hurting me..."
"That's exactly what you need to take away from this," Velvet agreed. "You didn't seek out the confrontation, but you handled it as best you could when it happened."
Twilight nodded, and relaxed, content now to let the car ride happen in relative silence, the presence of her parents helping to ground her further. They didn't press her for conversation now that they'd learned what happened; her father even went so far as to turn on the radio to the local station Cadence worked for, rock songs playing out on a low volume to fill the empty air.
It wasn't until they were free of the city traffic and most of the way home before Night spoke again. "Once we get home, I'm going to contact Sunset's school--I think that's much better than if one of us sends her a message directly while she's in class. The school can call her to the office so I can fill her in..." He made a thoughtful sound. "Maybe I should also offer to pick her up after school. This is likely to upset her as much as it has the rest of the family, and I don't really want her trying to fight traffic after school like that..."
Her calm vanished in a surge of sudden panic, like when Flash had offered to call Sunset the day before. It would be so easy to say nothing, to give in to the part of her that wanted nothing more than to be hugged by her girlfriend...but she couldn't do it. She had promised Sunset something and she wasn't going to break a promise to the girl who had already been on the receiving end of too many broken promises.
"Dad...please...you can't call Sunset..." she choked out, trying to wrestle with her rising anxiety and form words that wouldn't give away too much while still communicating her thoughts coherently.
Her mother's arm tightened around her, voice so laden with worry and concern that it washed over Twilight in a wave. "What's wrong, Twily...why don't you want to let Sunset know what happened?"
The words were hard to force out, her chest feeling crushed and tight. "I promised her...that...I'd give her space...after our fight," she explained. "I want to call her...but..." She dragged a breath into her lungs that felt too warm and heavy. "...people have broken promises to her...a lot...and she tries so hard to keep her word...I don't want to be...just another person who can't keep a promise."
Night cleared his throat. "I understand that, Twilight, and normally, I would let you choose when to tell Sunset, but I also made a promise to her last weekend. I gave her my word that if anything happened that I felt she needed to know about or be concerned over, I would make sure to contact her. She was worried about you and wanted to make sure that if you needed your best friend's support, you would have it. While I doubt she specifically imagined something like this, I do feel it qualifies."
That gave Twilight pause--as much as she didn't want to break her promise, she couldn't fairly ask her father to break his either. It wasn't fair to weigh her word's value against his. Still, the presentation of the problem calmed the agitation she was feeling, giving her something to focus on.
What would Sunset want? More than that, what did she need most? Knowing Sunset like she did, the way the older girl was quick to put her own problems aside for those she cared about, Sunset would want to be told...but Twilight wasn't sure that was what Sunset needed right now. Not if she was still...coping...after the weekend. Sunset...needed time to process her feelings. Twilight had learned that early on, and Flash had all but confirmed it with his own comments. She had to turn each one over in her head, deciding how she felt about the feeling, what she was going to do with it. When that process was interrupted...it festered until it all came out at once. Like after the week of nightmares, or the locker room incident.
As much as she wanted to feel Sunset's arms around her...Twilight couldn't. Not like this, not right now. The danger had passed, and while Twilight was rattled, she was safe.
The faint wisp of Sunset's voice echoed through her mind, sounding tired and worn thin, the creation of her mind reflecting her thoughts. "Doesn't have to be one or the other, Sparky...my needs or yours. Maybe find a balance between the two?"
Just like that, the constricting feeling on her chest loosened, and she leaned against her mother. "I...understand why this...would fall under her request, but...can I be allowed the chance to see how I fare tonight? Calling her right now is going to interrupt her day and she would be forced to stew in that until the day ends--she's still on academic probation and can't skip or miss too much class without getting in huge trouble..." She looked up to meet her father's gaze in the rearview mirror. "I'm...safe...and...I..." It was bitter and awful to say aloud, because she had never been in trouble at school before, "...I'm home until Monday, right?"
"We will be fighting any suspension on your record," her father asserted. "You were provoked, assaulted by a boy who is likely eighteen and legal, and defending yourself. The school has no right to punish you, even if you broke bones, given it's a problem they created unnecessarily, and failed to anticipate."
"R-right..." Twilight forced herself to breathe. "But until then...Monday?"
"If you even go back to that school," her mother said with a scowl.
Twilight ignored that for the moment--she wasn't ready to deal with the emotions that sentence created. One crisis at a time, a dispassionate part of her decided. "I...am safe. I'm going home. I have an appointment tomorrow with Doctor Soft-Spoken anyway...and I...think I need time to organize my thoughts on what I want to talk to her about...as today showed me that while I am...coping...with..." Harsh laughter and the reek of beer-sweat-smoke tickled her brain and stole her breath for a double handful of seconds, but she forced the words out in as even a tone as physically possible. "...being a-assaulted...I am not...healing...the way I s-should from the experience..."
Several slow and careful breaths, and she continued, "I know she said that my friendship with Sunset was a good thing, but...also cautioned me not to become so enmeshed with it that I made Sunset bear the responsibility of keeping my mental health stable. I have a wider support system in place, and it isn't fair to expect that of Sunset anyway."
She blinked back tears, fighting the desire inside her, because more than anything she wanted Sunset there with her, to be wrapped in deceptively strong arms and surrounded by that scent of leather and sunshine, just like she had wanted the day before. She wanted...but just as much as Sunset needed time to sort herself, Twilight needed to know she could stand on her own two feet. "...I'd...prefer to wait...if I can handle it, I'd like to work through this some with..the other resources and support I have...and then tell her what happened after we talk on Friday about what...what I did last week."
Her parents were listening now, the occasional flicker of her father's eyes in the rearview mirror telling her he was giving her as much of his attention as he could while driving. Twilight squared her shoulders, feeling stronger for their patient willingness to let her get everything she needed to out. "She's entitled to her own life and to know her needs matter just as much as anyone else's--not be expected to drop everything whenever her best friend hits a rough spot."
The car pulled into the driveway, but they sat in it for several minutes, even after her father turned off the engine. Her parents were locked in one of those silent conversations. At last, some sort of tension seemed to lift from the atmosphere and Velvet gave her a soft smile that was filled with pride. "Alright, Twily. We will hold off for now, but we'd like to reserve the right to contact Sunset early if we think you're not handling the situation and would benefit from the way she grounds you emotionally. Is that fair?"
Twilight considered it, but nodded quickly. "More than fair. It is no secret that I draw from her strength when I am upset. If I use the other tools available to me and fail to manage, then Sunset would expect to be contacted so she could help."
Pride was laced with some undefinable pain as her mother hugged her tightly. "Twilight...I hope you realize how proud we are of you--you've grown so much in so many ways this year..."
The tears that burned in Twilight's eyes then were things of happiness and relief... |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Interlude XXVII: Love and Hatred | Night looked up from where he sat on the edge of the bed as the door opened soundlessly to admit his wife. He indicated the phone he held to his ear with a finger and she nodded, closing the door behind her in the same soundless way, despite the fact that she was doing it while carrying two steaming mugs.
Over the phone, the shuffling of papers stopped, and the voice of "Great Uncle" Stalwart came back on the line. "I found it, and I'll be placing some phone-calls come morning. For now, keep yourselves safe, son. I don't trust how easily this principal is gaming the system. Sign nothing, say nothing, and instruct young Twilight that she is forbidden from signing anything they give her either without our lawyers reading it first."
Switching it to speaker, he nodded. "I understand, sir. In the meantime then, Velvet and I will look into a different school...One of Cadence's close friends is the administrator at the school Twily's best friend goes to."
Velvet passed him his tea. "Luna was very adamant that she did not like Crystal Prep's...policies, and that should we ask it, Twilight would have a spot in her school within twenty four hours."
The old man on the phone made a thoughtful sound. "Can she be discreet, Velvet?"
"I would believe so," Velvet responded. "If nothing else, she is the one who cautioned Cady and Shining about Abacus Cinch having an unhealthy level of influence and encouraged them in being careful."
More quiet. "What's the school she oversees? I want to look into that, myself. Make sure."
"Canterlot High School," Night supplied. "It's a public school, but it has an amazing amount of supplemental programs for both gifted children and children who need extra help. Twilight would have gone to their Junior High, except the district lines were redrawn that year and she was placed in a different school."
Stalwart made another humming sound. "If you trust this Luna to be discreet, go ahead and get the paperwork from her. Fill it out, but wait to turn it in until we are ready and give you the go ahead. In the meantime, son, make sure young Twilight is safe. I will be in touch in the meantime."
With a click, the call ended, leaving the couple alone. Night set the phone down on his nightstand, and took a steadying sip of his tea. Velvet settled next to him, and he drew comfort from her closeness.
"What else did he say?"
"He got the fax of the letter the school sent us this morning. He's furious, but we knew he would be."
Velvet's expression was more scowl than frown. "I am too. The nerve of them, trying to make us believe the whole altercation was Twilight's fault, and they are doing us some kind of favor by covering for her!"
Rubbing the bridge of his nose did little to disrupt the throbbing headache that had formed behind his eyes. "That whole thing was so..." he searched for the right word with a tired mind. "...blatant in its threats. I can't believe they would actually put something like that in writing! Is the school really that arrogant?"
A warm hand brushed the back of his neck in a light touch. "Migraine?" Velvet asked him.
Night closed his eyes against the pain. "From trying to read that thing. It made me so angry that it just felt like the blasted words kept twisting on the page."
His wife hummed in agreement, and the hand left his neck. He missed the soothing sensation, but a moment later the sound of the nightstand drawer opening explained why she had pulled away. "Take some tylenol, Lighty," she encouraged, pressing the bottle into his free hand. "It helps. I actually think some kind of chemical was spilled on the paper they used--I kept getting this whiff of...metal and sulfur. Like some of Twilight's early chemistry experiments in the kitchen?"
Setting his drink aside to shake a few pills into his palm, Night sighed. "Maybe that explains the insanity in that office, because this whole thing has been insane on their part." Tossing the pills back, he washed them down with a swallow of tea, sitting in silence for a time with his wife. It had been a long day, no matter how he looked at it, and tomorrow...he wasn't sure if it would be better or worse.
"How's Twily?" he asked eventually.
Velvet had risen to change into sleepwear. "Subdued. It sounds like she talked to Gently about the park events finally, as well as yesterday, and that took a lot out of her emotionally." She glanced towards him. "Gently and I talked briefly today. She did say that she is also concerned about the school environment and the effect it is having on Twilight's mental health."
Night's brows furrowed. "Do you think she would be willing to put that in writing as a professional opinion?"
"I believe so. She also commented that she believes that the strong and supportive friendship Sunset and Twilight have formed is one of the primary reasons that her mental health is not suffering worse." She ducked into the bathroom, but her voice carried easily.
He nodded, though she couldn't see him, and took the time to sip at his mug of tea, savoring the flavor this time. "This isn't the usual night time blend you make," he commented.
She poked her head out of the bathroom briefly. "Oh, yes...On a whim I made the blend that Sunset brought us when we were all sick--maybe it's just a bit of whimsy, but just the scent of it seemed to help my headache."
Giving her a thin, tired smile, he savored another sip. "It does feel like my headache is already easing off. Perhaps it's got something in it that is good for headaches." Night adjusted his hold on the mug, the warmth seeping into his palms. "Speaking of Sunset...did Gently have anything to say about Twilight's insistence that we not alert Sunset to this week's events? I'm still not convinced we did the right thing by not letting her know...and with everything, I'm afraid Sunset might be hurt when she gets here and learns we didn't keep her in the loop."
Velvet acknowledged him with a sound that suggested she was collecting her thoughts, so Night contented himself with finishing his tea as he listened to the familiar sounds of his wife's nightly routine. After a few minutes, she came back out, stopping by his side of the bed to press a kiss to the top of his head. "She did, actually," she told him, finally answering his question.
"And...?" he responded, wanting to know the rest. She wouldn't have deliberated this long if there wasn't more.
"She's tentatively in favor of it, stating that Twilight's reasoning was a mature and healthy one that encourages her to respect boundaries that are set, even under stressful circumstances...and because she believes it will be good for their developing relationship if both girls are able to realize that Twily can manage an upsetting and stressful event without Sunset's immediate presence."
Night Light sighed, setting his empty mug on his nightstand. "I still think I'm going to make sure I talk to Sunset and make sure she knows why we held off on contacting her," he murmured. "I don't want to give her the impression that it was from lack of trust or that I didn't consider my promise to her important." He paused for a moment, something about her words jumping out at him. "Evening star, did Gently actually say 'relationship' when referring to the girls?"
Velvet stretched out under the covers with a tired but relieved sound as she relaxed after a rough day. "She did, why?"
He joined her, holding one arm out so she could cuddle against him. "She's always been a woman who is very precise with her language, so it just made me wonder...did she use 'relationship' instead of 'friendship' for a reason? Is it possible that Twilight finally got comfortable enough to be open with her about her and Sunset?"
His wife was quiet a moment. "Well..Twily did take Sunset with her to one of her recent appointments. She claimed it was to introduce Sunset as part of her 'family and support system' but there's always a chance..." She cuddled against him, resting a head on his shoulder. "So I suppose it's very possible--I know that I have been privately hoping that she did just that...but it's not the kind of thing I could really ask for details about from any of the people involved. I know Gently takes ethics and privacy extremely seriously though--she only ever discusses subjects about Twilight with me that I discuss with her first, and she's very careful not to give away what they talk about. I can't imagine she'd consciously give something away..." Her tone turned wistful. "But maybe...it would be a good sign, wouldn't it, Lighty? I'd like to think maybe it's a sign that Twilight is getting closer to being ready to tell us..."
Kissing her forehead, Night reached over to flick off the light. "I know...I think...maybe it's okay to be hopeful, because we need it right now. Because maybe then this whole horrible event might have some small good come from it, if it means Twily finally feels comfortable enough with us to open about the fact that she and Sunset love each other in a way that goes beyond 'best friends...'"
The office was dark, unnaturally so despite the winter clouds that reflected city light back down on the world around. The shadows hissed and writhed, baleful eyes winking in and out of existence as they seethed and roiled across every surface available in the space. From the abyss that covered the windows and blocked out the world beyond, the Master's voice was cold and cutting as an icicle laced with dark magic. "You have missssscalculated, ssssssssidhe. Again. Thisssssss isssss becoming a pattern with you."
Suppressing a desire to shudder, the being who went by the moniker of Abacus Cinch among mortal cattle managed to keep the facade of calm emotionless. Even so, it was a near thing as the fae displayed the precise amount of deference and respect due the dark power in the room, and not a whit more or less--never mind that deep in the dark recesses of their psyche, they felt neither of those things, only contempt at their required subservience and fear of the Master, who, even now, held the power to end them should He so desire. "My Lord, perhaps it is merely that the missive has yet to arrive at its destination? While we used a courier, they are still mortal messengers...mortals are...unreliable in an age when one is no longer permitted to so readily apply proper incentives for failure."
Darkness billowed and swirled with sudden aggressive violence, reaching towards the figure and tearing away the glamor with grasping talons and hungry maws, the motion unending and dizzying to look upon. It hurt, tearing agony into the sidhe's essence and leeching away magic that had been hard won, squeezed from the misery and suffering that the shades fed on, but they dared not react in any fashion. Weakness...was to be eaten...
Silence ticked on, until at last, the voice spoke again, in a way that spoke of anger barely contained beneath a thin veneer of control. "You are becoming quite adept at blaming othersssss for your failuressss, Itheadair."
Keeping from flinching this time was harder, especially without the glamour to mask their face further. "Nay, My Lord," they ventured, seeing the unpleasant potential in this conversation already. "My Honor will not allow me to speak less than truth to you, even should it cost me. I cannot lie to you, Master." The words rang oddly in the air, but they were an incomplete truth--the sidhe did not lie, but neither was it the nature of their kind to speak the whole truth...
A fact the Master knew well.
"It has been but a single day," the fae being continued in the ensuing silence, "and the parents are known for doting on the girl, defective though she is. I remember well the sweet anguish that was supped on from the mother when the elder of their spawn attended our halls...how richly she grieved every failure, how prevalent her fears...it may simply be that their antics of late are that fear turned in a new direction. If so, they shall be easily brought to heel once more...with sufficient reminders."
They could sense more than see, the claw like shadow that inched along the ceiling just behind them as if meaning to reach out and grab the sidhe...only for it to melt back into into the black morass consuming the room. "Is that what you would call it?" came the deadly hiss. "A sssssimple sssshow of missssdirected fear?" The sound of talons across crystal shrieked in the air, painful and shrill. "Wasss it missssdirected fear that dessssstroyed my sssshades, Itheadair? Or perhapssss you would blame that on the girl'sssss burgeoning gift, playing the fool and turning a blind eye to the sssstench of another magic sssseeking to undermine me?!"
True fear made the sidhe freeze in place. "Master, My Lord, I would never--!"
The shadows in the room swarmed, a pandemonium of invisible mouths and hateful eyes and chittering, hissing fury tainted with a touch of mad laughter, assaulting them until they could see nothing, feel nothing, except the horrifying agony of the darkness filling them, in until even the breath in their lungs had been replaced with an endless abyss. In all their centuries, the fae had never known such abject terror, such inescapable certainty that they were about to meet their end...
And then, in a mockery of mercy, the shadows released them, leaving the inhuman being to right themselves and try to recover some measure of composure. "The girl'sssss importance is the only reasssson why you sssstill sssserve, Itheadair," the Master growled. "That growing power which sssshall be mine hasss made her role all the more irreplaceable, ssssomething that cannot sssstill be sssssaid for your ilk, sssspawn of Eire!" Those eyes bored into theirs, full of rage despite the now deceptive calm of the voice. "My power hassss become compromisssed becaussssse of you."
Struggling now to maintain their calm, to not display the fear that had rattled them so utterly, even though their Master would sense it regardless at this point, the sidhe tried to speak in a level tone the words that they could not have stopped even if they'd wanted to...and they did very much want to. "If by my word or deed I have failed You, My Lord, then state how You wish amends made, and I shall carry out Your will."
"Amendssss will be ssssimple, Itheadair," the voice in the shadows began, smoother and calmer than it had been. "The bindingssss have been weakened from the outbursssssst, ssssignificantly. Mortal ssssouls are insssssufficient to fix it, sssso you will."
There was an intake of breath that the sidhe could not stop, eyes going wider than they intended. The fear threatened to overwhelm them, the words almost hesitant. "Personally, My Lord?"
His voice became soft, whispering and sibilant behind one pointed ear, the feeling of smoldering embers ghosting over pale skin. "You are sssstill of usssse to me at pressssent, Itheadair...." The slight sound of the floorboards creaking under heavy footsteps echoed from one side of the room. "...but one of yourssss will now reinforce what issss Mine," He finished, His voice coming from everywhere and nowhere.
The ancient fae did not relax, even as they cursed inwardly. They were already stretched thin, their underlings barely numbering three dozen, and this would cause more problems than it solved... not that the Master cared a bit about that. No...this was their punishment for something that wasn't their doing, for misdeeds that only existed in the mind of the warped being now holding it over their head. "As you...command, Master. Have you then made your selection?"
In the thick, impenetrable darkness, the high backed chair at the desk creaked, rotating around and causing papers to rustle faintly. "No, Itheadair," was the haughty response, tinged with the faintest hint of smug, sadistic pleasure that said its owner knew exactly what it was doing. "You all sssserve My Will...but they are yourssss to manage. You will decide which to ssssacrifice to correct your error in judgment."
Were it possible, they would wish a curse upon the mortal wretch for putting them in this position, all while frantically considering which among the underlings could be given up to the Master's demands, and how to make it seem as though the selected candidate had somehow brought the fate on themselves...it wouldn't do for it to taste of a betrayal. "As you command, My Lord. When do you wish to carry out the ritual?"
The muffling effect of the shadows did nothing to mitigate the sudden, jarring sound of a slam, or the way the heavy desk jumped on the floor. Nor did it do anything about the smoky sulfurous smell that flitted past the sidhe's nostrils. "NOW, Itheadair!!" was the command, unmistakably in its threat.
Bowing their head to hide the internal rage, they said in a tone perhaps a fraction too terse, "It shall be done, My Lord." They dared not say otherwise, and with gritted teeth expended their own magic to call their servants to assemble, venting their fury in the only way available--by adding to the end of the command, "Whichever among you is slowest feeds the Master's wrath!" That would have to suffice in directing the rest of their kind on where the blame truly lay. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Fourteen: Beautiful Disaster | Sunset dropped the kickstand once she had the bike parked at the very edge of the driveway so it was out of the way. She wasn't sure if Shining and Cadence would be there for the evening or not, and decided it best to err on the side of caution, since the weather report had been iffy on the chance of more winter weather from the mountains, in a week that had been nothing but a mess of winter storms, cold rain, ice, and snow. The redhead didn't want to risk her motorcycle getting hit by either a skidding vehicle or a plow if it was parked in its usual spot on the street.
The weather hasn't been the only part of the week that had been bizarre, unpleasant, and unpredictable. Ever since she'd left Twilight's house the previous Saturday, things had been...weird. Her magic had persisted in its erratic almost-surges, and caused several incidents in practice with the girls, and also a small fire in her science class--explaining that to Miss Luna had been...embarrassing, to say the least. Then there was the way Rarity's magic had felt when she inspected it, and the situation with Trixie...and of course the somewhat invasive questioning from her friends about her certifications and the photo of her as a teenage filly...once word had spread to the rest of the group, she'd been pounced on Monday at lunch by a very excited Pinkie Pie and Lyra who was practically vibrating with her want to 'see an actual photo of a mythical creature.' Even Flash had teased her about the picture...
"Suuuuuuuuunseeeeeeeet!!!"
The voice, loud and shrill and gaining the attention of every person in the cafeteria was the only warning Sunset received before a body almost knocked her out of her chair. It was only the steadying hand AJ put on the chair that kept it upright.
Sunset blinked. "Hi, Pinkie. What's going on?"
Pinkie squeezed her in an exuberant hug, but it was Lyra who demanded in an excited rush from just behind Pinkie, "Weheardyouhaveapictureofyourunicornself! Can we see?!"
"Uh...."
Bon-Bon hauled Lyra back and into a seat. "Give her some breathing room, sweetie." Then she translated for Sunset, "Fluttershy told us you have a photo of your non-human form. Lyra has been ready to burst since she heard."
"Oh..." Sunset made a face. "It's...not really a great picture. It's just part of some legal documents."
Lyra leaned across the table to grab Sunset's wrist. "Don't take this from me, Sunset! A real, non-blurry, guaranteed-it's-not-photoshopped image of a mythical animal--I've been waiting my whole life to see a picture like that!"
The former unicorn sighed. "I'm not an animal, Lyra," she told the girl with patience she didn't feel. "I'm a person, like you, I was just born in a different body than your species."
"Sooooooo..." Pinkie bounced and pressed her cheek to Sunset's. "Caaaaaaaan we see it? I want to know if I'm right!"
"Right about what?" Sunset pried Pinkie off her with some considerable effort. "Also, Pinkie, personal space, please."
The pink haired girl bounced away with an apology and plopped in the nearest empty chair. "About magic pony huggability! See, I think, because you're a good hugger, Sunset, as a human shaped pony, that pony shaped ponies are even better huggers!"
If she lived to the ripe old age of two hundred, she would never understand the pink one, Sunset decided. "...Right..." she rubbed the back of her neck, before sighing again and reaching into her bag. "Prepare to be disappointed." The friends who hadn't seen the picture before crowded around when she opened the slim book to show it to them, and she braced herself mentally for the squeal that was bound to come from Pinkie.
She was not disappointed. Pinkie made a sound of delight that made her teeth itch with the audio frequency it vibrated at. Applejack reaching around to clamp a hand over her mouth was a welcome reprieve and Sunset gave the farmer a grateful smile. Lyra was studying the image with obvious intense interest, looking back and forth between the picture and Sunset as if comparing them. "I didn't know unicorns were Curlies," she gushed. "That's so cool!"
What in the name of Nightmare Moon's moon-marked backside was Lyra on about? The redhead managed to avoid being snarky, but only just. "...what are curlies?" she asked, not entirely sure she wanted to know.
Lyra gestured at the picture. "Horses that have this neat curly hair gene. They look fluffy...or sometimes poodley, and their manes and tails are all curly too."
Sunset cleared her throat awkwardly. "Oh...um...that's...not a unicorn thing. That's just me--I've still got most of my winter coat in that picture, because the Canterlot I'm from is perched up on terraces on a mountain range, and spring tends to come later at the higher altitudes."
The other girl looked mildly disappointed. "Oh...too bad, because that would be neat!" She went back to looking at the picture. "I can definitely tell it's you though! It still looks just like you!" She looked over at Pinkie. "Do you think if we went through to Sunset's home, we'd turn into unicorns too?" Which inevitably set off a conversation between the two of them and Fluttershy on the subject of 'what it would be like to be a magical pony.'
Flash sat down across from her and his gaze slid between the conversation and the object Sunset was holding. "Oh, is that the thing Rarity was telling me about? Some kind of pony work badge?"
"It's...more like a driver's license meets a diploma," the former unicorn responded with a surge of relief that he had a real question and wasn't going to gush over the Equestrian equivalent of her driver's license photo. "In Equestria, higher forms of magic--not just the dozen or so spells every unicorn foal learns or the powers related to a cutie mark--are regulated and require certification to verify that a spellcaster knows what they are doing and is aware of the ethics of that field. Kind of like how...lawyers here are required to study law and then pass the bar exam in order to actually advertise themselves as a practicing lawyer?"
"Oh, that's...really cool, actually. So is it for...magic in general, or is it like in WoW where there's different 'schools?'" Flash squinted at the pages. "I'm sure it probably says, but I can't read any of those weird pictograms on it."
"Different branches of magic, yeah. A lot of human games call them schools, but...we have our own breakdown that...has to do with the spellforms used in the spells themselves, and not whatever arbitrary thing humans come up with that fits the game or book or show." Sunset glanced down at her certifications. "I got my certs in a couple of branches of study...basic artificing, transmutation, teleportation, spell craft and deconstruction, and a minor mastery in artifacts and enchantments."
Half the table was staring at her, wide eyed. It was enough to make her already unsettled brain nervous. "....what?"
It was Bon-Bon who found her voice first. "This all happened before you came here, right?" When she nodded hesitantly, the other girl continued, "I'm no expert in how magic horses age but...how old were you?"
"That's a good point," Applejack mused, having been listening in silence since she'd already heard most of this. "Yer picture makes ya look like a gawky yearling, but everything ya've told us says yer kinda pony don't grow as fast as horses here."
Greasy hydra farts. Of course they'd notice that.
"I...actually set the record at the time for the youngest certified Magus," she admitted slowly. "...I was fifteen. Not sure if I still hold the record--Princess Twilight might've broken it."
Bon-Bon whistled. "You mean you basically graduated college with something like five or six degrees at fifteen? No wonder you can basically reach advanced math in your sleep! You never mentioned being some kind of genius!"
"Wait a minute. Time the fuck out, Shimmer." Rainbow's voice interrupted everything and everyone. "How could you get those at fifteen if it was before you came here? You were going to CHS at fifteen!"
Now the whole table was staring at her, and her hide itched uncomfortably at so many eyes boring into her. "I didn't lie," she bit out defensively.
"No one said you did, darling," Rarity soothed from a few seats away. "Though it does beg the question, as I quite remember you as a rather quiet and somewhat surly seventh grader in my history class."
Sunset rubbed her face. "It's...complicated. The long and short of it is that the portal...has some kind of temporal distortion going on. The first time I went through it took...several years off me before dumping me on this side...and from what I could see, it's a permanent change now, on both sides of the portal."
Applejack tilted her head, using a thumb to adjust her hat. "So...how old are ya?"
Wincing, Sunset couldn't look at her friends. "...I don't know...."
"How could you not know?" Dash asked, frowning.
"It's not just me. The temporal issue is on both ends--I'd lived here for five years when I stole the crown, but from what Princess Twilight and I have figured out, I've been gone for close to twenty years." Sunset snagged a carrot stick out of her lunch and munched on it, concentrating on the sweet, slightly earthy flavor to keep her tone even as she explained. "Plus Equestrian days and years are not exactly equal to ones here, and human puberty is completely different from the pony one--trust me on that one, I've done both. And that's not even getting into my social experiences that are apparently required for certain milestones of growth."
She had their attention and she pressed on, trying to explain something that even she had trouble wrapping her mind around sometimes. "The fact is, how old I should be or was or whatever is...it's irrelevant. The portal changed me forever, and this...this body I'm in here, in this world, this is how old I am, and I'm aging just like you girls do, as far as I can tell...so it's just easier to go by what it says on my identification here than to try and figure out the answer." It was a distressing thought, in a way, because it meant that her real body, the one she had been born with, had been destroyed and remade into something else along the way and she had no way of ever getting it back, and she hugged herself, gripping her elbows tightly with her hands.
A strong arm went around her shoulders and pulled her into a hug, and she realized belatedly that Applejack had decided to do something about her obvious distress. "Ah think..." she started, "that Sunset's got a point. Mebbe it's a might strange, but it ain't like having a friend who was born a horse is something that happens ta most folks." The farmer winked at her, the playful joke meant to garner a reaction.
"Pony," Sunset corrected, feeling her lips turn up at the edges.
"That too," Applejack agreed. "Point is...Ah'm not sure the exact number of years you've seen is more important than ya being here right now with us. Yer one of us, our friend, and it ain't no different ta the fact that Fluttershy's a few months older'n Dash." Then she laughed. "Of course, that just means Pinkie's gonna do her best ta find out when yer birthday is so she can throw a big party."
"You bet I am!" Sunset was latched onto from the other side by Pinkie, who squeezed her so hard her ribs protested. "So! When is it, Sun-Shim?! And how old will you be turning?!"
Sunset shouldered her bag, careful not to slam it around too much, for fear of damaging the contents. Monday had been weird, and after the revelation of the disaster that was her age, her friends had focused on teasing her about 'how adorable' her pony self was. Rarity had even gone so far as to point out that she could make and market plush toys of Equestrian ponies if she ever needed a steady income...something about little girls wanting them by the dozen. The redheaded teen had tuned it all out at that point.
Monday had set the stage for the week though. Tuesday had been normal, except for the terrible weather, at least until she was leaving the school. Something had triggered a faint pulse of magic nearby, but it was rapid, faint, and so short a duration that had it not been for Rarity reacting to it as well, she would have believed she'd imagined the whole thing, and the weather had been too abysmal by that point to do more than give the parking lot and outbuildings of the school a quick search. They'd found nothing and it had left her worried and on edge the rest of the day for reasons she couldn't quite put her finger on, and she couldn't even search for it Wednesday, because that morning school had barely started when she'd developed an awful migraine that left her feeling drained, wiped out, and sensitive to all light. She'd spent most of the day napping in the nurse's office until the pain had dimmed enough to go home, at which point she'd slept through her alarm the next morning and been twenty minutes late to school, her shirt on backwards and her hair a mess. Miss Luna had actually asked her if she was okay before sending her on to class with a pass. Sunset had spent the rest of the day playing catch up.
Now it was Friday, and Sunset had been full of restless energy all day, unable to focus on anything but talking to Twilight after a week of silence between them. She...wasn't entirely looking forward to the talk they were going to have, but the prospect of curling up with her girlfriend to sleep was enough to push her past that worry into anticipation at seeing the lavender skinned girl.
The prospect of one of Twilight Velvet's home cooked meals also helped improve her mood.
She laughed slightly, before twisting the doorknob to the front door and stepping inside. Instantly, she was hit with the smell of food that made her stomach rumble demandingly. "Oh wow, Mrs. Velvet," she called as she pulled off her boots by the front door. "Dinner smells amazing!"
Velvet poked her head out of the kitchen. "I'm glad you think so, sweetie--I made your favorite tonight."
Sunset perked up, and headed into the kitchen after Velvet to both inspect the pot of chowder on the stove and to give the woman a hug. "This is just what I needed," she confessed, gesturing to the house as a whole. "It's been a weird week..."
The older woman's eyes flicked to the table, and Sunset realized Twilight's father was sitting there...and that neither Twilight nor Spike had greeted her yet. The two adults looked...agitated, and Sunset cast her senses wider, immediately searching for trouble of the dark magic kind.
Her senses brushed something, tucked away deeper into the house, and her magic retaliated with a vicious pulse, tearing the dark, odious source to shreds. Then she looked over her girlfriend's parents; they seemed tired and stressed, but whatever had come into the house had not gotten hooks in them, as near as she could tell. Blue green eyes blinked. "What's going on?"
Night Light pinched the bridge of his nose, looking more worn than she had ever seen him. "This week has been...difficult," he said with a slow sigh. "Some of it is for Twily to tell you--I think she would be upset with us if we preempted her being able to do it herself."
The two adults exchanged another long look, and Sunset found herself frowning as she saw a myriad of emotions playing across both their faces, frustration, fear, worry, and general unhappiness among them....plus more than a little guilt in the way Night Light wouldn't quite meet Sunset's eyes. Her gut twisted as the uneasy feeling grew, her senses casting about for the missing girl who always greeted her when she came over. If something had happened to Twilight, why hadn't they called her?
She didn't realize that she'd voiced the last bit aloud until Night addressed it directly. "The answer to that is not black and white. I did not forget my promise, and I very much wanted to--I still think it would have been much better for everyone if we'd brought the whole family together on Wednesday, but I was overruled."
Sunset gripped the back of one of the chairs so tight that the wood creaked, her world tipping out of alignment. Wednesday? Something had happened on Wednesday and no one told her?
Some of what she was feeling must have shown on her face before she could think to put her emotional mask on, because Night reached over to put a steadying hand on her elbow. "I assure you it was not a lack of trust or desire to inform you, Sunset. Twilight asked me not to, providing several well thought out and sound reasons that we felt...were acceptable at the time."
The former unicorn dimly felt herself nod, hurt that Twilight had not wanted her to even know something was wrong. "...oh..." Her voice echoed strangely in her ears, tiny and far away sounding.
Velvet set her spoon down at the stove and crossed the kitchen to hug Sunset again. "It wasn't from a desire to exclude you, sweetheart," she reassured. "Twily has been fighting herself for two days, but she was adamant about not breaking her promise to you from last weekend. It was important to her that she show you that she valued her promises to you as things that shouldn't be broken lightly."
Swallowing, Sunset felt her heart unfreeze and start to beat again, offering out a shaky and rueful half smile to let them know she wasn't about to fall over. "I wouldn't have been mad or anything--it sounds like it wasn't a small thing. Exactly the kind of reason I asked you to let me know about..." Blue-green eyes looked at her girlfriend's father.
"I know," he said, voice brittle, "but Twily was determined to keep her promise--and I wasn't sure pushing her on it at that time was a good idea. Plus she...wanted to prove to you, to us, and to herself, I think, that she can manage on her own if she has to. That she can stand on her own feet and allow others in her life the ability to prioritize their own needs..." His fingers drummed restlessly. "I can't say for certain, but I suspect this is connected to her recent push to be 'mature and independent'; she's searching for safe ways to assert herself and feel in control of herself and her life."
Sunset's brow furrowed as she turned that knowledge over in her mind and felt the truth of it. Twilight had said and done a number of things in the same vein in the last few months, so it was possible, but it didn't make it feel good. "...that...sounds like something she would do," she agreed quietly.
"However, I insisted on a compromise, because I had also promised you to keep you in the loop." Night continued tapping his fingers on the table. "We agreed that Twilight could try to manage using all of her other available coping skills, but if at any point we felt her approach was not working, we would override her decision and call you."
It all clicked very abruptly, even as she tried not to laugh at the image her mind conjured of Twilight with a stubborn set to her jaw, hands on her hips and brows furrowed as she attempted to work out a way to go through with her twelve step plan or whatever. "Let me guess," she said with a fond chuckle, "Twilight took it as a challenge, and completely committed to forcing herself to manage, at the cost of remembering literally anything else she should be doing, including silly things like eating? Which is why I'm only being told now...because that'll snap her back to normal?"
He laughed, more than a touch sheepish. "You've got it in one, Sunset. She attacked the whole issue of coping with her usual determination and drive for accomplishing a goal...and she did it. Maybe by the skin of her teeth and with a few bad habits raising their heads again..."
"Although," Velvet interjected, "I do believe she has been counting down the hours and minutes till your arrival, even if she didn't want to admit it to anyone. At her age, all the coping skills in the world are no match for the comfort and presence of a best friend." She smiled, running her fingers soothingly through Sunset's wild curls. "We're proud of her--even if we wish it hadn't been a necessary thing--but we are glad you're here now, because whether or not she wants to acknowledge it, she needs broader social support than just her parents, even if all you do is tell her she did the right thing."
The redheaded teen leaned into the gentle touch, feeling a lot of her stresses from the week already washing away, and even the sudden added worry of what had happened to her girlfriend seemed less daunting. Velvet and Night were too calm for it to be anything utterly awful, and she grasped that thought like a shield against the negative thoughts and fears that wanted to drown her if given half a chance. And looking at it, Twilight's want to hold out and cope on her own made sense--no one knew better than Sunset Shimmer how that stubborn need to prove oneself could feel, or the way it colored her choices and feelings to the point of blinding her to things that didn't fit that self perception of failure or inadequacy. As much as she wished she could have been there to support her girlfriend, it may very well have been something that her presence would have inadvertently made worse in the long term. This way, at least, Twilight had gained a bit of self confidence that had hopefully done something to silence the negative voice inside she suspected plagued her girlfriend just the way it did her sometimes. Voices like that liked to take up residence rent free at the worst possible times, she decided, though in this case it may have proved a boon in disguise. After all, how much help would she have really been given the massive migraine on Wednesday and the sheer exhaustion that had plagued her until just this morning?
Sunset's shoulders relaxed a fraction. "I understand, Mr. Night," she said softly, "and I'm not mad. You did the right thing, I think, because Twilight needed to know she could, and me being here would have made her doubt herself. I do appreciate you telling me right away though and explaining why--that helps...a lot more than I can really put into words..."
Relief painted itself plainly across his features, taking several years off his face in an instant. "I...I admit that I do not like feeling as though I have to choose between members of this family, so thank you, Sunset, for being so understanding..."
Trying not to get caught up in how easily both Night and Velvet seemed to treat considering her part of their family, Sunset cleared her throat. "I try to limit my explosive moments to the second Tuesday of every month. I couldn't afford the damages otherwise," she quipped.
"If it needs to be more often," Night returned with a smile, "I'm sure we could make up the differences. It's not like Twilight hasn't set the garage on fire before."
They all shared a laugh, before Velvet gave her a long look. "Dinner should be ready in about an hour, if you want to go up and talk to Twilight before we eat. I'll call you down when it's ready."
Sunset pulled away, picking her backpack up from where she'd set it on the table. "Yeah, that...that sounds like a good idea. We need to talk about a lot of things it sounds like..." |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Fifteen: Balm for a Wounded Soul | Sunset stood in front of the familiar wooden door, looking at the carved wooden plaque with her girlfriend's name on it. Her stomach twisted, but the worry that had been growing pushed her forward more than her nervousness held her back. She needed to know what had happened, and if Twilight was really okay. So she squared her shoulders, took a deep breath, and knocked on the door.
"Come in," Twilight's voice responded a few seconds later, though she had to strain to hear it fully.
Without giving herself any time to think about how this could go wrong, Sunset pushed the door open and stepped into the room. Spike yapped happily and jumped down from the bed to greet her, but the pat she gave him as she sat her backpack on the floor near a bookcase was absent-minded at best. She only had eyes for the girl who was barely able to remain sitting, perched on the edge of the bed itself, all of her desired movements translated into fidgeting and twisting her hands. "...Hey, Sparky," Sunset managed, swallowing hard but holding out one arm in a way that said she was open to a hug.
In less than a breath, a smaller body slammed into her, arms vicing around her torso like a full body hug from a kraken. This close, she could feel the faint tremor in both of them; she wasn't the only one that felt utter relief at the contact as she managed to kick the door shut with her heel.
Sunset tugged Twilight's face up to look at her. "I'm glad to see you too," she murmured, running knuckles lightly over a lavender cheek and savoring the jolt the simple skin contact sent through her nerve endings. Then her brows pinched together. "Though you could have at least texted me when things went to Tartarus in a picnic basket."
Her girlfriend blinked several times in rapid succession, purple eyes gleaming with a hint of unshed tears. "I promised," the other girl said quietly, shaking her head. "I know I didn't say it out loud, but I meant it as a promise, and I needed to keep it." She released her death grip on Sunset with one arm long enough to swipe at her eyes. "I wasn't just a bad girlfriend last week, I was a bad friend...and..."
"You weren't a bad friend, Twili--"
A finger pressed to her lips interrupted her. "I was. Not because we fought...but because I said something to you I shouldn't have because I was upset with you. I hurt you...and in doing so, I broke a promise I made to you months ago."
The finger over her lips had stopped her because it was cute and adorable of her girlfriend to stop her talking that way, but those words completely derailed any coherent thought Sunset had intended to voice. The "What?" that fell from her mouth was said like she'd been punched in the solar plexus.
Twilight bit her lip before explaining, "It was a long while ago, when...when you were being bullied still, and you told me about some of your past...I didn't exactly promise it when you were awake or even out loud, but I told myself I'd never hurt you like that."
"Sparky..." Sunset didn't have a word for the emotion in her core now, but it had certainly showed all her earlier fears the door and pushed them unceremoniously through it. "That's..."
"It's the truth," Twilight said, voice so soft that it didn't carry beyond their embrace. "You've had so many people use things about your past your whole life to hurt you--I'm not the best with people, but you've told me enough to let me figure that out with simple logic."
Breathing felt tight with the lump in her throat, but the former unicorn managed to give a brief nod acknowledging that her girlfriend had gotten it right. The dark haired girl watched her for a moment, then kept going. "You don't always see it, Sunset, but you are this amazing, intelligent, caring person who is always there for me whenever I need you...and you deserve better than hurtful, hateful words that use things in your past as weapons, or a thousand broken promises from people you trusted. That's why I didn't let Dad call you. I couldn't break another promise to you like that. I couldn't undo what I said, but I could do better this time...not as some kind of way to 'make it up to you,' but to show you that I care. That your thoughts, and feelings, and all the things you've trusted me with matter to me...more than...than..."
More than ever before, Sunset was convinced that this was the real Twilight, this awkward, clumsy, dorky girl who had reached out and held a sobbing stranger while she wept, and that whoever or whatever had been manifesting in the last month or so was not just some hidden facet to her best friend. She couldn't sense dark magic on Twilight right now, but she was going to find the source and make it sorry for targeting her. "Hey..." she whispered, trying to put the smaller girl more at ease, even as she struggled to organize thoughts that were all over the place. "...thank you, Twilight. For...everything you just said."
Twilight wiped her eyes again and managed something of a shaky, half hysterical laugh. "...I'm sorry...I had this whole speech planned out...and now I can't remember any of it!"
The redhead pulled her back into a tight hug. "I don't need a grand friendship speech, Sparky...what you managed to convey meant so much more, because it was real, not rehearsed. It came from you." She locked on to purple eyes, and couldn't hold back any longer. "Now...can I kiss you? Because that was a pretty kiss-worthy speech in my book, and I have it on good authority that today is supposed to be one of those days where we're supposed to indulge our kiss-impulses."
Cheeks darkening with a blush, Twilight nodded. "I...I'd like that, but what do you me--"
It was Sunset's turn to interrupt Twilight, and she did so by covering Twilight's mouth with her own, willing even half of what her girlfriend's words had made her feel to be communicated in the way she pressed into the kiss. Even if she didn't manage that, Twilight still let out a soft noise into her mouth, and one hand fisted in the black leather of the jacket she'd forgotten to shrug out of downstairs. Sunset's own hands slid down, coming to rest on Twilight's hips, and making sure she stayed as close as possible while she got reacquainted with her favorite nerd.
When she finally pulled back, both of them were flushed and panting for air. Twilight let out a silly little giggle, leaning against Sunset. "Oh...wow...Cady was right...about making up..." Then she blinked away the haze. "But...why..." Her brows furrowed, then realization dawned. "Oh! Valentine's Day! Right?"
"My school looked like a cheap rose garden exploded inside it today, right after a chocolate factory accident," Sunset said dryly. "And then I had to listen to my friend Rarity go on and on about the nature and beauty of romance."
The shorter girl wrinkled her nose. "She's the one obsessed with rom-coms, isn't she? The coffee house romance one?"
"Got it in one, and she keeps trying to drop hints that she thinks I should 'consider dating again.' Flash thought it was hysterical until she started trying to not so subtly hint that he and I should try dating again. Like there's not enough baggage there or anything..." Sunset rolled her eyes. "But...you know...I figured nothing wrong with going with the flow of the holiday when my girlfriend gives me a speech like that." She moved one hand back up to the back of Twilight's neck, letting her fingertips ghost across the skin. "And...I forgive you...in case you needed to hear it said. I know better than most what it's like to say something in anger....and I'm sorry if it felt like I was being unfair about Wallflower. I...wasn't sure how to tell you about what happened and I probably didn't do it in the best way. I know it was important to you that I get along with your friend..."
Her girlfriend snuggled in closer, pressing her face into Sunset's collarbone and closing her eyes. "Thank you, Sunny..." she whispered with a long sigh that took some of her tension with it. "...it helps to hear you say that you forgive me..."
Sunset chuckled, before turning them around and walking backwards until her legs touched the bed, allowing her to sit down, pulling Twilight into a cuddle. "Why wouldn't I?" she asked. "It hurt and it brought up some old stuff...but...I've been taught that friendship is stronger than angry words." Another snicker escaped her. "You should see Rarity and AJ fight--it's both terrifying and fascinating, but they always make up within a few days." She nuzzled into dark hair that smelled of honeysuckle. "You're my best friend, Twilight. Our friendship is made of stronger stuff than any one fight."
Silence fell between them for several minutes, exchanging light touches and sweet kisses. Eventually though, Twilight began to fidget again. Sunset pulled away from her neck to study her. "What is it?"
"...I owe you a second apology...for doubting you about Wallflower," she confessed. "I've learned...that you weren't entirely wrong...about her behavior, and it's making me reevaluate both my friendship and past interactions with her...."
The words and the level of distress in Twilight's voice made Sunset's brain switch gears back to concern. "What happened, Sparky? Was it..." Her voice trailed off, uncertain. Had she somehow been responsible, if indirectly, for whatever it was?
Twilight brought a hand up to cup her cheek. "It's not your fault, Sunset Shimmer, so don't immediately blame yourself," she told her, clearly trying to be firm and authoritative--ruined by the sad little smile that said she knew Sunset was doing just that. "Wallflower...some things happened, and because of it, I got to see the side of Wallflower you described...and hear some of her unfiltered opinions on both of us." She grimaced. "It wasn't pleasant."
She could hear the hurt and the faintest hint of bewilderment in Twilight's tone, and it made her wish for a second that she could do something to make Wallflower sorry for hurting her Sparky....but she pushed that feeling down in favor of hugging the younger girl closer. "I'm sorry, Sparky...I...wish I had been wrong. That it was just me being unfair or some kind of personality conflict." Tilting her head down a fraction, she asked, "Would talking about what happened help? Or do you want me to drop the subject?"
Biting her lip, the dark haired girl seemed to weigh the options, and Sunset remained quiet, letting her sort through her thoughts. Finally Twilight sighed. "You deserve to know, since it's about us, and about you. We...were talking, and I was trying to understand why she was...saying things very similar to what you said about her last weekend: that she didn't trust you, that she was sure you didn't like her, that she felt you were operating with some ulterior motive, that...you were still...the old you, from before we met..."
"Okaaaay....?" Sunset frowned, the words already making the gears turn. Trying to pick apart a problem with logic and questions was very in line with how the dark haired girl handled things, but it could be a bit...invasive, if you weren't prepared. "So then what happened?"
"The conversation...went wrong. She started acting oddly, saying things that implied she was aware I like girls and was involved with you in more ways than just platonic companionship. She...came off as more concerned that I had potentially found myself in a relationship with someone who might be an abusive partner, and that her concern was for my well being. That she...wasn't trying to be unsupportive, just wanting to be a good friend, even if she didn't agree with what I was doing..."
The former bully sucked in a sharp breath, the scene unfolding before her with a crystal clarity that came from having done exactly what Twilight was describing to others in her own history. "She manipulated you into telling her we're dating, didn't she? Made it seem like she already knew the secret, so you'd talk freely about it?" Anger bubbled and seethed in her chest, making her grip tighten on her girlfriend.
Twilight looked up at her and then away. "...yes...except the secret I spilled was not the one she was expecting--she made that abundantly clear."
"...if she wasn't expecting to hear that you and I are together...then what was she fishing for?" Sunset asked, confused.
Now it was Twilight's turn to get angry. "She thought you were selling me drugs!" she exclaimed in a whisper-yell. "That the whole reason I've been less stressed in the last six months is that I'm smoking marijuana, supplied to me, by you!"
Sunset stared at her, before bursting into disbelieving laughter. "You can't be serious," she gasped, before taking in Twilight's expression. "Oh sweet merciful sunfire, you are! She honestly thought--but that makes no sense! Even if she's hearing rumors out of CHS, I took care of the drug pushers! It was one of the first things I did when I ran the student body--someone on drugs is a liability, and more loyal to their habit--and dealer--than to anything else!" Not to mention, while she ignored people who smoked pot, the concept of alchemical poisons being used to get high was something that ponies were taught early was dangerous to do because of unintended side effects. It was the entire reason she'd been banned from the greenhouse at CSGU, after a misfired growth spell, and an unfortunate combination of Dragonlands Embermoss and Abyssinian kra'dafii vines had ended with half of the Emerald Terrace of Upper West Canterlot being drugged out of their minds for the better part of three days.
Then the thought of her girlfriend doing drugs caught up and it sent her into another paroxysm of uncontrollable laughter. "And you! Does she even know you at all? Twilight Sparkle, smoking? You don't even like to take Tylenol without double checking the dosage!"
Sunset's reaction seemed to do a lot to soothe Twilight's ruffled feathers, enough that she made a little giggle snort of laughter. "Exactly! Even if she was assuming the worst about you, because she's operating on hear-say, why would she assume that the only reasonable explanation for me being happy is drugs?" She sobered quickly and was soon back to frowning. "And her reaction when I admitted that we were together..."
Amber skinned hands rubbed up and down Twilight's back lightly. "Less than stellar?" Sunset guessed.
"That's...one way to describe it." Twilight pressed closer, her hands worming under the leather of Sunset's jacket to grip at the thick, warm material of the sweatshirt she was wearing. "I would call it a thinly veiled diatribe of bigotry masked as an expression of jokes and disbelief."
Arching one eyebrow, Sunset commented, "That...sounds pretty bad when you say it that way."
"She called you a rug-muncher," Twilight told her bitterly. "And while it was you she targeted for name calling, it all applied to both of us, as derogatory slang used against women in relationships with one another."
Rug-muncher? What in the name of Discord's mismatched crabapples does that have to do with dating Twilight? Sunset frowned. "It sounds like a stupid insult from people not clever enough to come up with anything better--I'm not even sure what it's supposed to be insulting me about. It's not like I'm some kind of goat."
Fingers rubbed over her side, sending pleasant tingles along her nerves even through her shirt. "It's derogatory slang," Twilight explained. "It is a somewhat dated, but offensive term that is meant to be a crude reference to someone performing cunnilingus--oral sex--on a woman, because of how our pubic hair grows." She flushed under Sunset's gaze. "It's used to denigrate lesbians because it carries the implication that the act is demeaning and the person performing it is deviant and unnatural."
Humans and their fixation on sex, Sunset grumbled mentally. "So I was basically right--it's a stupid insult created by people who aren't clever enough to actually come up with a real insult to use on me." She kissed Twilight's forehead affectionately. "You don't need to worry about me being upset by it--it's just silly, empty words that mean nothing to me, Sparky...but I'm sorry that you had to put up with that kind of ugliness from someone who is supposed to be your friend."
Twilight made a frustrated sound. "Even if it doesn't upset you, that doesn't make it okay that she thought she could use that kind of bigoted language and I...wouldn't care? Wouldn't view it as also applying to me?" She shook her head. "Like, because she perceives you as being on a lower social strata, it's okay to say those kinds of things, whereas with me, she treated it the same way some of my relatives talk about queer relationships, as if it's some kind of 'experimentation' that goes on in high school and college, before you decide to 'settle down with a suitable husband.' Like she didn't view you as human in the same way she views herself or me."
The obvious joke about her not being human flitted through her mind, but she forced her laughter down in favor of the rest of what Twilight was saying. It was a problem Sunset could understand. Classism was classism, regardless of species. "Classism is like that, Twilight. Those who have something they use to measure success or quality socially using it to put those who don't have that thing into a place they perceive as beneath them. At that point, it's not even about who you date or what kind of things you find attractive in a partner; it's about the perception of who has and who doesn't. If I had to guess, because I go to public school and don't wear designer labels, she's decided to classify me as one of those who doesn't. She's not the first, and she won't be the last." She squeezed her in a hug. "Which makes me wonder, is she against our relationship because we're both female, or because I'm Sunset Shimmer?"
"Probably a mixture of both," her girlfriend responded with a sour, frustrated tone. "She's made comments before...and she's not shy about her belief that a boy's personality is not something she considers worth noticing, only how much money he has and if he's..." The dark haired teen flushed and squirmed in discomfort. "...uh...hung like...well...you know."
Sunset blew air out her nostrils in a derisive snort. Rainbow had made the same joke at her once, and she responded with the same sarcastic remark now as then. "Spoken like someone who has never been in the same room with a stallion."
The younger girl blinked at her in brief confusion before her brain made the connection, and she had to let go of Sunset in order to plaster a hand over her mouth to contain her laughter. "Oh...oh...I never thought of it like that but--oh that's horrible, Sunny!"
One eyebrow arched upwards and Sunset smirked. "I'm not wrong though." She was fairly certain she wasn't, as she'd passed her various Biology courses in CSGU--a requirement for anypony taking greater than beginner alchemy or medicine classes--and while they were ugly as an inbred diamond dog, human world horses had enough physiological similarities to her own species that it was comparable in this instance.
"You are not," Twilight agreed.
The pair of them shared a few more giggles, and Sunset was glad to see that Twilight seemed to be in an okay mood despite the heavy conversation. "...Wallflower still goes to your school though--are you going to be okay there with her?" Another thought intruded. "This isn't what happened that has your mom and dad so upset, is it? Did Wallflower tell people?"
Her girlfriend shook her head. "No. For all that she was...spewing unpleasantness, she got very upset at the idea that she might use the information against me." She fiddled with the collar of Sunset's jacket. "Mom and Dad don't even know about the conversation with Wallflower...for obvious reasons....but I did talk to Dr. Soft-spoken about it. About my plans going forward to set some non-negotiable boundaries with Wallflower. She's allowed her opinions, but there are a few subjects where she and I are going to have to agree to disagree, and I don't want her pushing me on it."
Trying not to sound too hopeful, Sunset cleared her throat. "...like me?"
"Yes, like you. If she is unwilling to believe you have changed, that's her prerogative, but I don't want to hear her telling me how I need to worry about your ulterior motives, and how you're using me to get something." Twilight leaned up and kissed Sunset, a featherlight brush of their lips together. "As far as I'm concerned, the only ulterior motive here is getting you to kiss me more, and I'm the one with that motive."
"I don't consider that an ulterior motive, nerd," Sunset growled back at her, chasing the too-brief kiss with one of her own that was much more satisfying in duration. "That's a mutual motivation. If there's an ulterior motive here, it's eating your mom's cooking."
Twilight grinned, her fingers tangling in fiery curls, as Sunset pressed their foreheads together. "I think that's also acceptable. Mom's a really good cook, so I can forgive you for wanting to find excuses to eat here."
Sunset flashed her an impish grin. "That's good, because she made her chowder tonight, and we all know that's one of my favorites."
More laughter warmed her insides, as did the feeling of those hands in her hair. "I swear," the dark haired girl in her lap said with obvious affection, "Mom has made every single one of your favorites over the last two days. I hope that your freezer is empty because she plans on packing it full of all kinds of homemade meals for you--she even went and bought a new set of containers to package them in."
Internal alarms were going off in Sunset's mind now, but it just didn't add up. Mrs. Velvet's go-to when she was upset was to retreat to the kitchen--a place in the house that was unquestionably her domain--where she would bake or cook. She'd explained it once as 'making food for people was a way to express her emotions.' However, the fact that she was concentrating on Sunset's favorite foods and not Twilight's over the past few days made no sense.
It couldn't be because of the Wallflower incidents, because her fight with Twilight had been a week ago, and the incident they'd just discussed was something her girlfriend hadn't even mentioned to them....and both parents had alluded to something happening to Twilight --or at least, involving her--that had left the other girl struggling to cope and both parents visibly stressed and exhausted...and feeling guilty that they hadn't contacted Sunset.
Plus she had felt dark magic in the house and destroyed it, part of her mind reminded her firmly.
So what had happened?
"Sparky..." she said slowly, taking the time to examine Twilight's essence much more thoroughly than the brief once over she'd given her the moment she walked into the bedroom, hunting for any hint of dark magic--something she should have done from the start if she hadn't been so focused on kissing the girl who had bolted into her arms. "What happened this week that you haven't told me? Your parents said something happened, but that it was your place to tell me, not theirs....after they gave me this big apologetic speech about not contacting me on your request. They looked exhausted and so do you, and now you tell me your mom has been cooking like crazy...except she is making my favorites not yours..."
The unease in the pit of her stomach only grew when Twilight tensed and refused to look her in the eyes. Instead, the other teen mumbled something incoherent that Sunset couldn't decipher.
"...Sparky?" the former unicorn prompted her with a little more urgency. "...you're starting to scare me. What is it?" Ice began to form in her veins, a chilling cold that spread from her core outwards and made it harder to breathe. There weren't too many subjects humans were this avoidant about, and fewer still that Twilight would balk at telling her....which meant the ones that remained were dire.
Anything else she'd intended to say was forgotten as the air was forced from her lungs in a grunt, as Twilight twisted in her lap to lunge forward and wrap arms around her with all the swiftness of a striking cobra, grip tight enough that for a second it felt like she was being hugged by Pinkie and not Twilight Sparkle, since only Pinkie and AJ could make her ribs feel actively compressed. She looked down, only able to barely see more than the dark hair in its messy ponytail, but from the way hot breath was soaking into her sweatshirt, it seemed like Twilight was trying to hide in her chest, an unintelligible mumbling coming from just above Sunset's navel.
Whatever it was, it had to be bad.
Attempting to bring them both a little comfort, she started rubbing circles on Twilight's back. "...hey," she murmured, putting as much warmth and affection--and a little gentle teasing--into her voice as she could. "...I know you were just waxing poetic a bit ago about how awesome I am--" And by the moon, wasn't that a flattering thing for her ego! "--but, while I admit I have many talents, hearing through my belly button is not one of them. Can you come up here for a bit to tell me? I promise that the rest of me is just as good for cuddling after a bad week. We've tested it, remember?"
She kept up the gentle touch and even started to hum 'Shine Like Rainbows' softly as she waited for her girlfriend's response, unsure of what else to do to reassure either of them. After a minute, something the thought might have been a childish "Don't want to..." came from the girl clinging to her like a limpet. Either that or it was perhaps a particularly nasty curse in the old form of Yakyakistani's mountain dialect that used to be shared with the now extinct musk-ox that once shared their range. Sunset was willing to wager that the first was more likely, all things considered.
"Still can't hear through my stomach, Twilight," she pointed out.
Twilight sighed and raised her head up from her hiding spot just enough for Sunset to make out her next words. "...it's comfy here and if I move I have to tell you...and it's awful, and embarrassing, and I don't know how it's ever going to get better!"
Sunset pressed a kiss to dark hair. "No matter how awful it is, I'm not going anywhere, Twilight Sparkle. You're stuck with me, especially after all the ways you've managed to sneak in friendship speeches about the enduring and powerful nature of being someone's best friend." She did feel some of the cold ebb--embarrassing was not the word she would use for anything that was dangerously permanent or devastating, so the worst case scenarios were off the table at least. "Besides...it can't be worse than anything you've heard from me, right? Between blowing up the front of my school, being a horrible bully, and all of the horrible stuff about my past...unless you're planning on world domination or some mad scientist scheme to blow up your school, you'd still be coming out on top."
Another whining sound and Twilight mumbled something else she couldn't make out. Part of that might have been from the distracting pressure of having Twilight's face wedged between her breasts though. "Seriously, Sparky, it can't be that bad...just tell me?"
Finally, the younger girl lifted her head. "...I got suspended..." she mumbled, still unwilling to meet Sunset's eyes.
The redhead was fairly convinced that the sound of her entire train of thought leaping free of the rails and careening into a cliff face with an earth-shattering KABOOM! must have been audible in the real world. She stared blankly at Twilight, struggling to wrap her brain around the words she'd just heard.
Letting her head rest against Sunset again, although this time she turned it so that she could be understood, Twilight closed her eyes. "I...got suspended...until Monday..." She hesitated, then seemed to force the rest out in a rush before she could stop herself, "Or at least, it's supposed to be until Monday, but it could be longer because now it's a big legal mess, and Mom and Dad called Great-Uncle Stalwart and the family lawyers are involved and investigating and its a huge mess, and I cant really afford to miss all this school! I don't know what I'm going to do--I know I'm a month ahead in all my classes but I can't fall behind in my project and I really just want to forget it all happened and go back to school like normal!"
Sunset gave herself a mental shake, and said the first thing that came to mind. "What did you do to warrant all that, Sparky? Don't tell me you actually managed to blow up your school." Then she proceeded to want to kick herself for the lack of brain to mouth filter. Way to go, Shimmer, she told herself. Not going to make her feel any better with that one! Stop acting like Rainbow and remember you have more than three brain cells to rub together!
Twilight winced. "...no...I...um..." Her voice got even quieter. At this point, it was reaching Fluttershy levels of quiet, and Sunset was actually glad she'd gotten used to deciphering her friend's near inaudible whispers. "...I...beat up a senior..."
For a second, the former unicorn thought she had completely misheard. "You...beat up a senior?" she asked. When Twilight simply nodded, staying tucked as close to Sunset as possible, all of the disparate puzzle pieces started slotting into place in her mind. The agitation from the adults. Twilight wanting to cope without her but her parents really wanting to call Sunset. Velvet making Sunset's favorite foods. The level of violence required for Twilight to classify her actions as 'beating someone up', and the circumstances under which the anxious bookworm of a girl would feel compelled to respond that way. The techniques Sunset had taught her meant to inflict damage against a larger, stronger opponent... The way Twilight didn't want to talk about it while simultaneously trying to crawl inside Sunset's skin. The fact that she was suspended over the incident...
It was all adding up to a very unpleasant image, and she began to check her girlfriend over with eyes and frantic hands "What happened? What did he do? Are you okay? Did he hurt you? Because I swear by the sun, moon, and stars, if he did, there is no hole in the deepest pits of Tartarus that he can hide in--I will find him and--"
Her threat was swallowed by a kiss, and she froze, going from burning with anger to a different kind of warmth. "I'm...unharmed, Sunny," Twilight told her. "He didn't get that far before I stopped him--he grabbed my arm, that's all."
Sunset searched Twilight's face, at purple eyes that were finally willing to meet hers. "You're sure? You're not...trying to spare me the details or anything, are you?"
The smaller girl shook her head. "I promise, Sunny. It got to me emotionally and mentally more than physically. Whatever he intended when he grabbed my arm, he never got the chance." Her cheeks flushed. "...actually...I feel kind of...bad. Like I went too far. Mom threw my uniform out because it had blood all over the front..."
"Blood!?"
"None of it was mine, Sunny..." She bit her lip. "I think I gave him a nosebleed. Or scratched him really badly."
Grim satisfaction welled up inside her along with pride in her girlfriend. She also felt vindicated in her decision to teach Twilight to defend herself--all of that training had been used twice now to fend off older, larger, stronger opponents. "So you managed to not just fend off a senior boy, but completely win in the fight and leave him bleeding?" Sunset hugged her tight. "I knew you had it in you, Sparky, and now you know it too. I'm proud of you."
Then she mulled the situation over in her mind again. "There's just one thing I don't understand....why are you suspended for defending yourself against a boy probably twice your size? Why would you be in trouble for that!? Is there like some weird policy in Crystal Prep that makes them punish everyone or something!?" Sunset didn't like that thought. It was too close to what used to get done to her at CSGU when the other foals would set her up.
Twilight made a distressed whining sound in her throat. "I don't know," she told Sunset, "but it's why my dad called the head of the family, and it's why the family lawyers are involved, because all the money that goes into my tuition at CPA comes out of a family educational trust. And Great-Uncle Stalwart used to be a judge, so he's really familiar with the law and he's apparently angry..." She buried her face back into Sunset's shirt, her rambling voice growing muffled again. "...and I know it probably sounds silly, but I don't want to miss school. I just want it all to go away so I can go back to school and do my schoolwork."
The former unicorn hugged her tighter, pressing her cheek to dark hair. "I'm sorry, Sparky..." she said softly. "I wish I knew how to help..." She really did, because the tired strain in Twilight's voice hurt to hear, and she wished she was able to make her girlfriend feel better.
The voice mumbled into her shirt sounded even more strained and was definitely pitched up several notches as Twilight's anxiety spiked. "This is going to end up on my permanent record," she whimpered. "Colleges will see it in my transcripts--what if it means I can't get into a good school? And if I end up having to transfer, how is that going to look? They'll think I couldn't handle the high stress environment of an academically intense school..."
Brows pinched together. "I don't think it will, Twilight. Be on your record permanently, I mean." Her hand idly returned to rubbing Twilight's back. "It...I dunno. It sounds more like upper class politicking than anything, and if your great-uncle knows law, and the lawyers your family pays think there's a reason to fight against the school, then...chances are it's your school posturing to keep it quiet. After all," she wrinkled her nose, thinking of similar events in Equestria, "what would the papers say if they found out some darling heir to a family fortune was in trouble for assaulting a minor--you said he was a senior, right? So there's pretty good odds he's already considered a legal adult by age. Maybe you should wait to see how this all shakes out before you worry yourself sick, okay?"
"But...what if it does go on my record?"
Sunset snorted. "So what if it does? Do colleges really care about that? Or are they going to care that Twilight Sparkle, genius girl who is going to change the world, wants to go to their campus for an education?" She coaxed Twilight into looking up at her, and caught the hint of a smile starting to turn the corners of her mouth up. "At that point, any school that doesn't want you because you protected yourself isn't worth your time, Sparky. You're too smart to settle for some place that judgmental."
Twilight sniffled a little, but she sounded a little better. "Why do you always seem to know what to say to make me feel better?" she asked.
Laughing, Sunset flopped backwards on the bed so they were laying sprawled out together. "Fairly certain that's my job, both as best friend and girlfriend. Besides, I like seeing you smile. Makes me happy to see you happy."
The lavender skinned girl shifted so she was hovering over Sunset, propped up on her elbows. "You're sweet," she said, eyes bright. "How much longer do you think we have before dinner?"
Not as long as she wished they had, that was for certain. "Don't know. Long enough for you to do what you're thinking?" Sunset offered cheekily.
Giggling, her girlfriend leaned in to kiss her. "Sunny, we wouldn't have that long if we had a whole week alone to ourselves..."
"Guess we'll just have to pick one thing then." Sunset grinned. "How's kissing sound?"
"...it sounds...like an excellent suggestion."
And an excellent distraction for them both, Sunset decided a few minutes later as she found herself squirming while Twilight nibbled on her ear. She knew, in a distant sense, that she should be focusing on how these recent events tied in with the source of her visions and the dark magic she kept encountering trying to latch on to Twilight and her family, but she didn't have any real way to search or ask for more information that wouldn't make them think her insane...not without the girls to help...which Twilight was not ready for, and she herself wasn't ready for. As much as she loved her friends, the phrase "human Twilight Sparkle" would be the extent of what they heard before stampeding to meet her...and some of them weren't always the picture of tact. Like Rainbow. Or Pinkie. Or even Fluttershy sometimes. Plus, while she knew they wouldn't do so on purpose, the potential for subconscious expectations was high, and her girlfriend was very much not the princess.
Sunset shook herself out of those musings by flipping them over on the bed so she was on top of Twilight and able to latch her mouth onto the sensitive spot on that pretty neck that made Twilight make that cute little whimper that she loved to hear. "I missed you," she growled against Twilight's ear, nipping at it. "My week sucked...not as bad as yours...but I missed talking to you...those little messages? Morning and night? They make everything so much better..."
"Sunny..." Twilight gasped, fingers digging into her shoulders.
The sudden rapping on the bedroom door made them jump, and Sunset almost fell off the bed, flailing her arms wildly. Twilight hurriedly straightened her top. "C-come in..." she called, managing to sound like she hadn't been kissed senseless not thirty seconds before.
Cadence poked her head in. "It's just me, girls, no need to panic. I was sent up to tell you it's dinnertime." She winked. "Don't forget to give yourselves a once over in the mirror before you come down--unless you want everyone to know that you were having your own Valentine's Day celebration up here..."
Sunset flushed, adjusting the collar of her sweatshirt that had been tugged and twisted in weird ways under her girlfriend's eager hands. "We'll do that...thanks, Cadence."
"Happy to help!" the pink skinned woman responded brightly. "Although, Ladybug?"
"Y-yes?"
"If you want to keep this a secret, maybe don't leave a hickey on Sunset's neck the size of a silver dollar--nobody is going to believe that's a bug bite." |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Sixteen: Where the Heart Is | Sunset sprawled on the floor in the living room, her stomach happily full of chowder and fresh bread, her girlfriend close enough next to her that she could feel the buzz of proximity against her nerves, and she was surrounded by people who made her feel welcome. For the moment, life was good.
Then she realized neither of Twilight's parents were hurrying to set up a movie, and Cadence was strangely absent. "Are we....not doing movies?"
"Nope!" came Cadence's voice as she came into the room carrying a huge box that was practically overflowing. "It's Valentine's Day, so we have a different tradition..."
She set the box on the coffee table with a heavy noise, and Sunset realized it was filled to the brim with chocolate, cards, flowers, and other odds and ends. A glance at one of the tags on a chocolate box showed Cadence's name written on it. "...what is all this?"
Twilight laughed and had already started pawing through the box, handing some sealed envelopes to her mother. "Besides a few months worth of free chocolate?" she joked. "Cady gets stuff like this on Valentine's Day from her fans. We help her go through it all, and get the first pick of the best candy." She held up a fancy looking chocolate rose in a box. "Like these."
The redhead arched an eyebrow and picked up a bundle of flowers. "There's way more than just candy in here," she observed, pausing to give the flowers a sniff. They smelled delicious, and she privately lamented that she wouldn't be able to dip those in chocolate and eat them.
Cadence sat on the couch, plucking a few stuffed toys out. "Fans send a lot of things in. A lot of things like the toys and excess flowers the station and I donate to good causes. This year we're sending the stuffed toys to the children's hospital, and the bulk of the flower arrangements already went to a couple of hospice and elderly care facilities. I always bring a few of the ones I like the colors of home to put in the kitchen here." She held up a couple of bouquets. "They provide a nice bit of cheer to a very gray month."
Sunset nodded, setting the flowers in her own hand aside and watching everyone else for a minute as they rooted through the contents of the box. Velvet and Night seemed to be focusing exclusively on sealed envelopes and cards, while Twilight was quite delightedly cherry picking out the best chocolate. Cadence seemed to just take whatever came to her hand first, organizing it into piles. After a minute she shrugged and stuck her hand in, helping Twilight in fishing out the candy so her dork of a girlfriend could decide if the chocolate was going in the pile to keep, or the pile to give away.
Still, it made a tendril of worry tug at her over the object still carefully hidden in her bag upstairs. "So...do you guys...not like this holiday then?" She asked, passing Twilight a box of expensive chocolate truffles.
The pink skinned woman paused, scrutinizing Sunset in such a way that she suspected meant Cadence had an idea as to why she was asking, before laughing lightly. "Oh, nothing like that! It's just that because I'm a bit of a well known face here, any attempt to go out on Valentine's Day is a bit of a social disaster--and I usually end up working anyway. After all, what would Valentine's Day be without the 'CNTR Love Goddess' taking calls and love song requests from lovebirds all over the tri-county area?" She waved a plush pink rabbit around like she was making some kind of point. "With all of that, Shining and I prefer to go out and have a date night on a quieter day, usually in a very different month, because I believe that you don't need a specific date dictated by card companies to tell your partner you love them. Love can be shared and shown at any time, for any reason."
Yeah, she knew why Sunset had asked, and that wink sent her way was more than a little embarrassing. Thankfully no one else seemed to notice it or Sunset's blush.
Night carefully cut open an envelope with a pocket knife. "As for us, we don't particularly have any objection to the holiday, but it's become a family tradition to make this evening about spending time as a family because of Cadence's circumstances. Love for your family is just as important as any other kind of love, after all...and if Velvet and I decide we want to have a private night out, we can do that any night we want, especially since Twilight is old enough to be left home alone for the evening without having to worry too much that she's going to burn the house down."
The teen made a grumpy face at her father--the effect was ruined by the chocolate staining the corner of her mouth, but Sunset thought it was definitely cute to watch her try. "Daaaaad! I swear, I set the kitchen counter on fire one time, and you're never going to let me live it down!"
"The kitchen counter, yes," he teased his youngest child.
Twilight groaned and looked at Sunset. "It was only once, I swear," she whispered. "The other times there was no flame."
Snickering, Sunset tweaked her nose. "You are not helping your case, nerd."
Her girlfriend stuck her tongue out childishly at Sunset, but did not answer, choosing instead to grab a card out of the box. The adults all shared a round of chuckles, before Velvet commented, "To be fair, missing out on the Valentine's hullabaloo is beneficial--when we do go out we avoid the ridiculous price mark up they put on anyone they perceive as potentially being a couple."
Cadence rolled her eyes. "Which basically means any male and female pair that looks like they're in the same age bracket, forgetting that friends and siblings exist and in a lot of places also refusing to allow any other kind of couple to enjoy the romantic promotions."
Blue-green eyes flicked briefly to Twilight, who had gone just a little too still, and Sunset found herself drawing the attention in the room to her so that the younger girl could catch up to her emotional response unnoticed. "Which I really don't get," she blurted out, flushing when realized it sounded petulant and childish. The adults focused on her, and she kept going, making a hand gesture. "Why does it matter so much when it doesn't affect them? Why are people so invested in the relationships of strangers?"
Twilight Velvet sighed. "That is a very good question, and I'm sorry that the answer is not a good one, sweetheart. The truth is, it comes from centuries of strongly held religious beliefs and cultural outlooks that distilled a woman's worth and success in life to...finding a suitable husband and providing him with children." Her eyes were full of a deep sadness and pain that pulled on Sunset's heart, and some of it leaked into her voice. "It is not something easily shaken off, even when those beliefs and attitudes have faded. There is still a subconscious bias that views a woman--and men to, to a lesser extent--as failing in some fundamentally important way if they are unable or unwilling to procreate...even if the reason is something like a medical condition beyond their control, or the kind of person they choose as a partner."
Night Light tugged his wife into leaning against his shoulder, kissing her hair and murmuring something Sunset couldn't make out. Her eyes looked to Cadence and Twilight, and noted both of them looking down with their own quiet and pensive expressions that she didn't quite grasp the reason for...but she couldn't find her voice to ask. There was something about this moment of silence that seemed too...sacrosanct...to break just yet, so she held her tongue, and let it pass by. Only when Velvet cleared her throat, did she relax and even consider a response.
"You're right, Mrs. Velvet--that is a bad reason." She made a face. "I think, if it's alright with everyone, I'll file that under 'stupid things to never believe because I'm not an idiot.' Right next to ghosts and trusting Rainbow Dash when she tells me she wants to show me something funny on April Fools Day." That was an eighth grade prank she had never quite forgiven the athlete for and part of the reason she'd trashed so many of Dash's friendships during her reign of terror.
Cadence pointed at Sunset with another of those chocolate roses. "You've got the right idea, Sunset. It is stupid. Love is love, and it shouldn't matter to anyone but the people involved. Who cares if it doesn't fit some outdated model from sixty years ago?"
The redhead checked on Twilight again as subtly as she could, and was relieved to see that her girlfriend had managed to look like the topic at hand wasn't a personal one...though that almost failed when Velvet spoke up again. "It doesn't matter, at least not here. I'm of the mind that if a couple is happy and they love each other, then that is the most important thing in the world, and other people should celebrate that there is more love in world."
From beside Velvet, Night made a grumbling sound. "Especially parents--the ones who toss their kids out make me sick. There's never a reason to abandon your children, and doing it over the fact that they've found someone that puts stars in their eyes?" He made another sound, and pinned Sunset with a long look. "If you ever find someone, Sunset, and you bring them around here, I don't care if they're a boy, a girl, or a green alien from Andromeda--I'll just want to know if they care about you."
She felt her cheeks redden, and it was everything she could do to keep from looking at Twilight. Letting her gaze go to the girl at her side would have been an unmistakable signal to both parents, and something about the tension she could feel with the other girl sitting only inches away told her that despite this being the perfect moment, Twilight wasn't ready to seize it. At the same time, Twilight's father once again so casually including her as a part of his family...she was smiling so much--she couldn't have stopped herself if she tried--her cheeks hurt. "I'll keep that in mind, Mr. Night...but right now, I'm just happy being here, with all of you." A somewhat nervous laugh escaped her. "Having some of you meet my ex-boyfriend was already weird enough, anyways."
Her joke made everyone laugh, even Twilight, and the atmosphere returned to being relaxed and calm. At least until Twilight made a noise of excitement as she read one of the cards. "Oh, Cady! Here's one for your wall!" She held it out to the bubbly woman, who took one look and made a sound that would have left Sunset's ears ringing as a pony. As it was, the teen shook her head to dispel the echo of the sound from human ears before trying to see what had caused such a reaction in everyone.
It wasn't hard to do--Cadence was holding the card out for everyone to see. Brows furrowed, Sunset found herself looking at a picture of four individuals clustered together, one of them holding a tiny bundle of pink.
What in the wide world of Equestria...?
Her brain caught on a moment later and she realized the pink thing was a human infant, wrinkly, slightly red, with its features all scrunched up. Blinking, the former unicorn determined that what she was looking at must be a newborn human--she's seen a few older human babies before in public places, and they looked a lot more...finished...than what she saw now... The mystery was why a random fan would send something so personal to Cadence.
Velvet read the card aloud. "'We are pleased to announce the birth of Joyeux Melody, beloved of us all.'" She smiled. "This was the group you told me about before, right? Such a sweet thing to send you!"
Cadence was grinning brightly and the room felt...lighter with the mood sweeping through everyone. "I'm so happy it all worked out for them--they always credited me for the relationship, even though I really didn't do anything except encourage them to try! I am glad that they found a name that isn't exactly like mine. It was flattering...but a little weird too, as happy as I am to hear good things came of my encouragement."
Grabbing a piece of folded paper out of the box, Sunset found herself looking at a child's drawing, full of bright colors, rainbows, hearts, and what she assumed were people. "This one's from a kid--is all of this from people like this? Kids and families you helped get together?"
"Oh, I wish I could say it was," was the wry response. "I love things like this--I have a whole wall in my office at the station dedicated to them, and I post shots of it on my big blog. Unfortunately, for every good letter there's a weird or bad one. The station guys filter most of the worst out, but some of them still get through."
Night snorted and held up a sheet of paper looking like it was torn from a legal notepad. "Like this. Someone wrote you a...I assume its a love poem. The French is atrocious."
Next to her, Twilight snorted with laughter. "Google translate at its finest, Dad?"
"Google translate would have been better. I don't know what word they meant, but they compare Cadence's voice to..." He squinted at the paper. "'The smell of wet cheese in a thunderstorm.'"
After they recovered from another round of laughter, Sunset shook her head. "Okay...I can see why you guys do this."
Borrowing her husband's pocket knife, Velvet cut open an envelope and pulled the contents out. Her expression was one of momentary shock, then rapidly morphed into a disapproving frown as she looked over what was in her hands. Shaking her head, she put it back in the envelope and handed it to Night, who put it aside on the end table.
It was so odd that Sunset asked without thinking, "What's in that one?"
"A lawsuit in the making," he told her in a very dry voice.
At her confusion, Cadence sighed. "Some of my more...amorous fans send inappropriate photographs on occasion. The station gets most of them, but one or two always seem to slip through."
Twilight wrinkled her nose up, and leaned over to whisper in Sunset's ear. "That's why Mom and Dad take all the envelopes, and we focus on cards and loose notes on the candy. So we don't accidentally open up a thing photos of some creepy naked guy."
Sunset wasn't sure if the shudder that went through her was from the terrible mental image or from the feeling of Twilight's lips almost brushing her ear. "Wow."
"The station sends all of the really bad stuff--hate mail, threats, stuff that sounds like they could be a stalker, to the CCPD. It's...an unfortunate side effect of putting myself out there the way I do," Cadence said with a sigh and a smile that wasn't quite as bright as before. "...but then I get messages like this one, where a boy says he got out of a bad situation thanks to the resources on one of my articles, and I remember why I do this: because by spreading joy, encouraging love in all its forms, and helping others to understand themselves or others, I'm making the world a better place for everyone."
The former unicorn was reminded of something Princess Twilight had said, when she looked down on Sunset from the rim of a crater, and Sunset smiled at Cadence now. "Love and friendship have a magic all their own, I think, and it's the strongest magic of all, in this world or any other."
It wasn't as eloquent as something the princess might've said during a friendship speech, but it was good enough that the shadows fell away from Cadence's eyes and Twilight wrapped her in a hug that lingered just a breath too long for a best friend.
Things fell into a lull as they went through the box, reading out happy messages, or laughing at the weird and unusual items fans sometimes sent in, and helping themselves to various items of chocolate. It was a great excuse to hold a bit of chocolate out more than once for Twilight to try. She would never admit it, but she secretly enjoyed the way her girlfriend lit up in a smile whenever she did it, and the way she seemed to savor the chocolate like Sunset had offered her a bit of fine cuisine instead of bite sized heart shaped candy bar from the local corner store made her feel as if her magic was a warm buzz inside her.
Perhaps the part of the evening that surprised her the most was when Twilight held up a stuffed unicorn with the chunkier, stockier proportions that would have been right at home in comfort toys made for foals in Equestria. In fact...
"Look, Sunny! She looks like the one you have on the shelf next to your bed."
Her heart twinged, and she studied the toy. A creamy colored coat, just a smidge too colorful to be white, and a bright, sunshine gold mane, tail and horn...Reaching out, she took it with a hand that looked steadier than she felt, giving the toy a squeeze. "She's...in better condition than Princess Sunbottom," she said, her voice raspy with emotion. "But my...mom...was never much of a seamstress. Her talents lay elsewhere." Her hand brushed over a patch on the haunch that was different in texture, and she realized the toy had a series of hearts embroidered right on its flank. "I've never seen another toy with a cutie mark before," she commented, before realizing it was said aloud.
"Cutie mark?" Twilight asked with a soft smile.
Oh, ponyfeathers. Way to go, Shimmer. Quick, think of a way out of this one!
Thinking rapidly, she pointed at the hearts. "The mark on her flank. Mine has a sun on hers...it's...what...my mom...called it when I was little." Because it was--the homemade toy from her fillyhood was a lopsided, somewhat well loved copy of Princess Celestia, right down to the eight rayed sun on its flank. She shook herself out of the memory of the bed full of stuffed toys made by an amateur seamstress, all mismatched limbs and oversized heads, from the softest fabric Canterlot offered, a kernel of sunshine magic in the heart of each one, surrounding a frightened filly with the Princess' magic even on the darkest night to chase away her nightmares, none so beloved as the one that looked like the alicorn herself. Wiping her eyes, she held out the toy to Cadence. "Sorry..." she apologized. "...sometimes...memories, you know?"
With a warm smile, Cadence pulled Sunset into a hug. "Keep her--a friend for the one your mom made from your family here."
The warmth inside her grew, and she gripped the toy tight as she returned the hug and Twilight joined in on it. "Thank you," she whispered, already deciding on the name for the new addition to her bedside bookshelf--Princess Heart Song had a nice ring to it. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Seventeen: Ultraviolet Is a Wicked Spell | They made it inside Twilight's room tripping over each other and giggling, as they called goodnight to the adults. Sunset pushed the door shut behind her just in time to turn and catch an armful of her girlfriend. Twilight squeezed her around the middle in a hug, and Sunset responded by pecking her lips with a brief kiss. "Nerd," she teased. "You need to watch where you put your feet--that could have ended badly."
"You'd never drop me, Sunny." Purple eyes met hers, bright and still full of laughter.
Another soft kiss on those grinning lips, and Sunset made a show of rolling her eyes. "Not on purpose, no, and if I can see you to catch you, I will...but when my back is to you? Even I'm not that flexible, Sparky."
Twilight pressed closer, squishing Sunset between her and the door, standing up on her toes to kiss the redhead, tongue flirting across parted lips teasingly. "How flexible are you?" she asked when they came up for air a few minutes later.
Growling playfully, Sunset twisted in place, and a moment later, she had Twilight swung up in her arms. "Flexible enough, nerd. Five years of martial arts and a regular gymnastics routine make a body pretty limber..."
Cheeks flushed, her girlfriend squeezed the unicorn plush that had ended up on her stomach when Sunset had picked her up. "Don't say things like that," she mumbled. "...it's putting thoughts in my head...and I can't do anything about them yet..."
Sunset sucked in a breath, heat racing from her head to her toes in a tingling rush. "Oh...um...oops?" She coughed, adjusting her hold on Twilight.
"I'm not pushing, Sunny. You're ready to go further when you're ready. I'm just saying..." Twilight bit her lip. "If you're worried about me, I'm...I'm more than happy to go as far as you want."
Oh. Oh. Sunset took a few slow breaths to slow her heart rate. "That's...good to know....but I shouldn't tease like that, I guess. It's not fair, and I'm sorry for not thinking about what I was saying." She bent her head down to kiss the girl in her arms. "Teasing you is a lot of fun, but I'll try to avoid the more...obvious innuendo until I'm ready to follow through."
Silence settled over them, both girls blushing madly and feeling more than a little flustered and awkward. Twilight looked down at the toy in her hands and found a change of subject. "I...didn't know the unicorn on your shelf was made by your mom."
Maybe not a better one, Sunset decided, but at least it wasn't about the sexual tension thrumming between them like a magical feedback loop. Clearing her throat, the former unicorn moved and sat on the bed, one hand moving to brush along the toy's mane. "...she made a bunch of them when I was really little. I...had these awful nightmares back then--about what exactly, I couldn't tell you. All I can remember are...flashes. Heat. The smell of smoke. Shrieking and screaming. But they were awful, and I'd have them if I was in my own bed."
A lavender hand rested over hers, squeezing gently. "Night terrors are a pretty common occurrence in young children, but more so with any that have any trauma in their background."
The redhead gave a humorless chuckle. "Yeah...doesn't get much more traumatic than being an unwanted orphan, I guess. Anyway...nothing else seemed to work, so she took fabric from old dresses that were hers and made me these...stuffed toys. Princess Sunbottom was my favorite, but I had a whole bunch of them, a horde of monsters and animals. A bear made of stars, a dragon whose head was too big and his wings too small, a manticore with a mane made from her hair, a deer, a cat-boy with mismatched beads for eyes, even a cow." Memories pushed their way to the fore, of lessons and games and stories played out with her horde of stuffed toys, and of nights surrounded by a soft textured pile, all stuffed with feathers shed from the princess' own majestic wings. "They were pretty much the closest thing I had to friends when I was little, and I felt...safe...at night, surrounded by them. Like the bad things in the dark couldn't get me."
Twilight pulled her into a hug, quietly comforting while Sunset was lost in memory for several minutes. Eventually, she raised a hand to brush a few stray curls back from Sunset's face. "Sunny?" she queried in a soft voice, pulling her out of the memories.
"What is it, Sparky?"
"Can...do you mind if I ask for clarification on something that's been bothering me for a while? You...don't have to give me the details if you don't want to..." At Sunset's nod, the younger girl continued, "...you told me a long time ago that you didn't remember your parents, that they actually died when you were really young...but you've mentioned your 'mom' several times now to me, or to mom, or dad, or even Cady and Shining..."
Oh horseapples. She'd forgotten about that long ago talk in her loft, not long after they'd started dating. Sunset breathed a sigh out. "Yeah...I...did...and I didn't lie. I don't remember them. Anything about them, really. I don't know their names or what they looked like. It's...it's just an empty space and me on my family tree." It hurt to say it aloud, but she clenched her jaw.
Nodding in acceptance of the answer, Twilight pushed on. "Then...is the woman who made your toys, the one you call your mom...is she the same person you also call your guardian, or are they different people?"
Sunset couldn't meet her eyes. "The same person. It's...a complicated mess Sparky." She grimaced. "It's best summed up as 'being an orphan sucks.'"
The arms hugging her tightened, and her girlfriend made a soft comforting sound, nuzzling into Sunset's body. "Thank you for trusting me with that, Sunset..."
"Who else would I trust? You're my best friend, Twilight." Sunset cleared her throat to push away the emotions she didn't want to really unpack right now.
Fingers squeezed her shoulder. "Its okay to not be okay about something that hurts you. You don't have to pretend if you don't want to, and if you want to talk about it, ever, I am here. I may not entirely understand, but I'm willing to listen, just like you listen to me."
Taking a shuddering breath, the former unicorn shut her eyes, debating...and realized she wanted to tell Twilight the truth. Maybe not all of it yet, but...
"She was never really my mom....but I wanted her to be, so badly that it drove me to do a lot of stupid things to try and prove that I was worth it. That she wouldn't be making a huge mistake if she adopted me into her family. When I was little...I thought she was my mom--I never called her that, but it was because I didn't even know the word until I was...almost six, I think?" The words, once they started, flowed out of her like a raging mountain river full of spring meltwater. "I never questioned it when I was that small, because she took me everywhere with her, taught me to read and write, taught me languages, and how to behave in different kinds of dinners, how to greet guests...she's even the one who taught me chess, or took me to see plays and operas."
The toy was in her hands now, turned and squished in her fingers. "Everything back then was so easy. I believed that she loved me, that she wanted me, wanted to be my mom..." She sniffled a little. "It was a fantasy, beautiful and wonderful...and not real....but it drove me for so long...right up until I almost got myself killed at the Fall Formal. I realized that I was destroying myself for a dream that would never come true...and letting it go is the hardest thing I've ever done."
"Oh, Sunny..." A hand was pressed to her cheek.
Laughing, the sound a little wet and choked, the redhead kept talking, letting the words spill out.. "It's funny if you think about it. I spent years trying so hard to belong to her family, and the same night I finally gave up on it as an impossible thing...I met you." 'And your family,' she thought, avoiding voicing it...but the look in Twilight's eyes told her that she picked up on the unspoken addition. It was bittersweet, admitting it, and Sunset was afraid of the potential that it could be used against her, but she thought maybe if she laughed enough, it would be taken as a joke.
Twilight's fingers moved to card through flame colored locks gently. "...you don't have to give up entirely on a family, do you?"
Blue-green eyes flicked to her, sharply, and Sunset wondered if Twilight could feel the way her heart raced. "What do you mean?" she asked hesitantly, aching for the answer and terrified of it in equal measure.
Her girlfriend looked...shy. Nervous, almost. "...you...you're part of my family...if you wanted to be, I mean. That's...why Mom and Dad gave you a room. We want you with us..." She chewed on her lip. "Even if something happens in the future and you and I break up...you'd still have a family. I'll still be your best friend, as long as you wanted me to be, and you would always have a home here."
Sunset squeezed her in a hug so tight Twilight made a squeak of surprise. "I don't even want to think about breaking up, not now or ever. I never want to lose you, Sparky." The words were heated, intense, and fierce, and it brushed against a subject that Sunset had been putting off with herself for too long. She needed to face it soon, before it ate her alive.
"I...don't want to think about it either," Twilight soothed, bringing Sunset's head down to rest against hers. "But I want to make clear that you being part of this family is not conditional based on whether we are romantically involved or not. As long as you want it, you have a place here, just like Cady would, even if she and Shining called off the wedding for some reason."
Sunset cleared her mind of the conversation she wasn't ready to have with herself, not here and now at least, and found herself smiling crookedly at Twilight. "Like they ever would. They're so sappy it's sickening sometimes. Do you think she calls him embarrassing nicknames in private?"
Giggling, the other girl responded with a cheery, "She does, but I swore never to tell." Her hands tangled in Sunset's wild mane. "Also..." Her voice was soft again. "...you do realize that there's a good chance that when I do finally tell them about us, they're going to want you to call them Mom and Dad too, right?"
She went still. "...they would?"
Twilight's smile made her feel lighter in her soul. "Mom absolutely would--she's slipped and referred to you a few times as her third daughter."
Sunset's lips curled into a full smile. "...I suppose that explains your dad's little speech earlier." The smile became an impish smirk. "If you decide you want to come out to them on Easy Mode, I could do it instead. Introduce you to them as my girlfriend."
The girl in her lap blinked, made an odd sound, blinked again, then beamed at Sunset. "Sunny, you're brilliant! I mean, you always were before but that's pure genius!"
"Uh...."
"No, really, it is! One of the things I talked with Dr. Soft-Spoken about is that I struggle more with telling someone who doesn't already know...but if you told them that you have a girlfriend, and then tell them it's me, then they'd kind of know, and it...would take away the pressure of having to tell them!"
The poor unicorn-turned-teenage-girl felt like her head was spinning as she tried to suss out the logic her girlfriend was using. It all sounded more like a snarled tangle of Pinkie Pie's 'logic' than anything she was used to from Twilight. "Um...I was mostly joking, but we can do it that way, if...if you want?" She fixed her with a look. "Are you sure that's what you want?"
Twilight's expression faltered and became uncertain. "I...I still want to try on my own...but...if I can't...I would be okay with this as an option, yes, if you would be willing?"
She chuckled. "I wouldn't have made the joke if I wasn't. I don't care if they know that I..." she paused, trying to decide how to explain it. "...enjoy the company of other females far more than I would from males," she settled on. It was true, although she was leaving out the part where she definitely preferred mares to any option that wasn't a pony...other than Twilight herself. "Or that I prefer your company to anyone else's." Sunset winked at her. "You...just have to tell me when."
The smaller girl turned thoughtful. "I think I still want to try coming out on my own...but if I find I just can't...maybe then, when a moment like what happened tonight comes? Tonight would have been a perfect moment, and I...I'd want it to be like that. Relaxed, where we're all happy and feeling good, and then it wouldn't be a huge deal. You could just say it, and I could be like 'yeah, I'm a lesbian and Sunset is the best girlfriend ever, can I keep her?'... and then they'll make a huge fuss about you being theirs and me being gay won't be a huge deal!"
It seemed a bit convoluted for a plan, but if it would make her girlfriend feel better and more in control of telling her parents that she was dating Sunset, then the redhead was happy to do it. Tonight's conversation had solidified in Sunset's mind, at least, that there would be none of the social backlash she'd heard about when some teens told their parents about their preference in partners. Besides, her affection for Twilight was the absolute least of her secrets that she was keeping...
Shaking herself off that train of thought, Sunset tweaked Twilight's nose. "If that's what you want, Sparky, then consider that our backup plan, and you can even write it down in some kind of seven step form if it'll make you happy."
Her words earned her an exuberant hug and several ecstatic kisses. "You really are the best girlfriend I could ask for," Twilight told her. "How am I so lucky to have you?"
Sunset shrugged lazily. "If you ask me, I'm the lucky one--after everything I've done, I don't exactly deserve to end up with an amazing best friend and an adorable nerd that I get to kiss whenever I want in the same package."
"Whenever you want, huh?" Twilight rubbed her nose against Sunset's. "What about whenever I want?"
A low, burbly sound escaped her throat. "That too, Sparky. You just say the word, and I'll kiss you until you can't remember math."
Twilight's grin turned sly. "You already do. I can think of several times already where you kissed me until I couldn't function!" Her proclamation was followed by her bursting into giggles.
Blue-green eyes blinked, and it took about ten seconds for Sunset to put it all together. When she did, she groaned. "Did you seriously just make a horrendously awful math pun?"
Still giggling over her joke, Twilight nodded. The redhead rubbed her face. "You aren't just a nerd, you're a huge dork," she told the younger girl.
"But I'm still your dork, right?" came the giggled query.
Sunset gave a long suffering sigh that wasn't as legitimate as she tried to make it sound. "Yes, Sparky, you are. I've got to protect the rest of the world from your awful jokes."
"Dad laughs at them!" Twilight informed her with a grin.
Rolling her eyes, she shook her head. "Of course he does. He's as dorky as you are and his jokes are equally awful--it must be where you learned it." Stealing a brief kiss, she smirked. "You're just lucky I think you being dorky is cute...although you might want to lay off the bad puns for a bit if you want your Valentine's gift."
Purple eyes went wide and startled behind thick lenses. "You...you...even after...l-last weekend? You s-still--" Twilight broke off, unable to articulate whatever she was trying to say, and Sunset was genuinely concerned she was going to cry...which was not the reaction she had been going for with a present for her girlfriend on the strange imitation of Hearts and Hooves Day that humans celebrated.
"Hey..." she responded, trying to salvage the mood. "I said last week and earlier that I forgave you for that...I didn't want space because I was angry at you, Sparky. I needed it to deal with some stuff from my past that our fight and the whole mess with Wallflower dragged loose--something that left my emotions all over the map. I didn't want to take all of that out on anyone, like old me would have, that's all..." Rubbing the back of her neck, Sunset added, "I've actually been working on this for a while anyways...back when I started planning our date to the observatory. I was coming up with ways to do things for you that could...mean something between us that wouldn't be obvious to others, but would...you know, let us feel more like we can just...be together?"
The redhead had more to say, but once again arms viced around her hard enough to compress her ribs slightly, forcing the air from her in a gusty huff. She was starting to wonder if Twilight was somehow either part boa constrictor or related distantly to Pinkie. Tilting her head down, she listened to the happy sounds being emitted from the vicinity of her chest, where Twilight had once again mashed her face--a very different experience since she'd swapped out her sweatshirt for a sleep shirt without a bra.
Sunset tugged her up out of her hiding place a bit. "I need to breathe, Sparky, you think you could ease up on the grip a bit?" The arms loosened with a faint apology, and she chuckled. "It's okay...I was going to say, it was actually a fun project, coming up with ideas...and...this one, it took me a while to get just right, so that it...said what I wanted, put how I feel into something that you can see and touch. Something that you can look at and know those things are true, even if we fight or say the wrong things, or if I'm not here for whatever reason..."
Twilight sniffled a little, but there was a big smile to go with it, so Sunset hoped they were happy tears. "Oh, Sunny...I wish you could see how amazing you are...how you really are the best girlfriend anyone could ask for--you put so much thought into not just what you want to do, but how I feel about you doing those things..." She wiped the tears off her cheeks. "You really are so much better at friendship and our relationship than you ever give yourself credit for. I mean it...and I really wish I hadn't totally forgotten the holiday, because I wish I had something to give you that's even half as sweet as what you've done!"
Suddenly she froze and sat up, pulling out of Sunset's arms. "Oh!" A second later she was on her feet. "Sunny? Do you mind if I go get something real quick? It won't take long, I promise."
By this point, Sunset was truly beginning to wonder if there really was some connection between her girlfriend and her bouncy, zany, pink friend, but she gave the dark haired girl a sort of bemused nod. "...sure, Sparky. That'll let me get your present out of my backpack."
Grinning brightly, Twilight ran out of the room with a call that might have been a thank you, but given that it started in the doorway and finished at the top of the stairs, it could have been a lot of things. Sunset shook her head with laughter as she could hear the heavy sound of her favorite bookworm taking the steps two or three at a time like an excited foal on their birthday.
It did give her time to retrieve the rectangular package, neatly wrapped in brown paper that had once been a couple of grocery bags. To make up for the plainness of it, Sunset had doodled animals and monsters of Equestria all over it, peeking out from behind large hearts or holding little bunches of flowers or sometimes eating them, because she'd been daydreaming about her favorite honey dipped daisies with powdered walnuts dusting the outside in a bit of a crispy crunch at the time.
True to her word, Twilight was back in under five minutes, reentering the room at a slightly more sedate pace. Closing the door, she moved to stand in front of Sunset, one hand presenting the older teen with a white envelope. "It's...not exactly a Valentine's gift, since it's really more from Mom and Dad than anyone, but...after tonight...it feels like the right time to give it to you..."
Curious now as to what it could be, Sunset took the envelope, taking in the little details: how the contents felt stiff and heavy despite being small, her own name written neatly on the front in Velvet's smooth cursive script, and how Twilight was practically bouncing in place as she waited for Sunset to open it--the former unicorn could almost taste her excitement.
When she opened it, the envelope spilled a key and a rectangular card with a string of numbers and letters on it into her palm. Reminded of her secret Christmas gift to Twilight, Sunset looked at her girlfriend with a tiny little flower of hope starting to unfurl inside her chest. "Is this...?" she trailed off, unable to finish.
Twilight nodded excitedly. "A key to the house? Yes! And that's your personal code so we can download and install the program for our security system onto your phone...that way you can come here whenever you need to, even if no one is home." She reached out and curled Sunset's hand closed around the key. "Just like you gave me a place in your home, I want you to know you have that same place here." She stepped closer and wrapped her arms around Sunset's trembling shoulders, letting the redhead press her face into a lavender skinned neck and dark hair. "You do have a family, Sunny, and a home, for as long as you want it." A little laugh escaped her. "I should probably work up the courage to come out before Mom decides to file adoption paperwork, honestly."
Laughing and crying at the same time, Sunset kissed the smooth skin of her girlfriend's neck. "Probably--it'd be weird to date you if she did. Be a weird way to tell her about us too. 'I'm sorry, Mrs. Velvet, I can't--I'd love to be one of your children, but I make a habit of kissing your daughter on weekends, and I think that would be frowned on if we became sisters.'"
The response from her girlfriend was soft laughter and a wistful admission. "You could kiss me a lot more if I came out though...and then we could do things like hold hands whenever we wanted...oh, Sunny, why can't I just do it?"
Pulling back, she nuzzled Twilight's cheek with her nose. "You will...but you need to tell them when you're ready, Sparky, and not before. It's okay. I can wait, and when you're ready, I'll back you up the whole way. Now...smile for me and open up your present so I know whether I guessed right or chose horribly--the suspense is killing me!"
Dropping a kiss on Sunset's nose, Twilight took the package off her lap, taking a moment to turn it over in her hands, studying the drawings on the brown paper and searching for the seams so she could undo the wrapping with as much care as she might handle a fragile gift. "I love the paper...did you draw all these yourself?"
Shyly, cheeks hot, Sunset nodded, resisting the urge to crib on her thumb. Instead, she clenched her hand tightly around the house key she'd been given. "I...didn't have wrapping paper at home, and I didn't have time to call Pinkie about where to get some."
Twilight carefully set the actual gift on her desk so she could neatly fold the paper and slide it into the drawer in her nightstand. "I'm going to keep it...and when my parents know about us--when, not if, because it's going to happen--I'm going to have Mom help me use the drawings to add to the photos I have of us, so I can always remember this."
Sunset squirmed in uncharacteristic nervousness as she watched Twilight pick up the picture frame and take the last of the tissue paper off it, revealing the image preserved under the glass.
It was representative of weeks of work, carefully researched and replicated in a unique design, the colors chosen with care and the cost of the art supplies putting quite a dent in Sunset's fun budget for the month...but she thought the results had been worth it, even after she'd had to restart the piece three times (especially after she'd learned that humans had a flower language of their own.) The end result was a crystal vase, the kind Princess Celestia used to use in her private quarters during spring and summer to display the bounty of the palace gardens, filled with a faithful reproduction of a complex floral arrangement that, to Sunset's gaze was heavily laden with layers of a deeply personal message for the human girl who occupied so many of her thoughts.
She knew Twilight would recognize some of the flowers, maybe even realize they had meaning, but others she never would, since the flowers and their meanings were entirely unique to Equestria and the ponies who loved there. What she didn't know was if Twilight would understand why she had done it like this.
Twilight sucked in a breath, one shaking finger tracing some of the depicted blooms, her voice barely more than a tremulous whisper. "Oh, Sunset..." The smile on her face was everything Sunset had hoped it would be when she saw the gift, and the nervous feeling melted away into joy-filled relief and satisfaction that her girlfriend was so obviously moved by the painted flowers.
"...I couldn't get you regular flowers," she offered. "They're too obvious, and I didnt want to do that...but I thought...something like this...it's just art, and I do take art at school, so...it could be explained away as something like that. That you liked it so I gave it to you, but secretly it's...flowers for my girlfriend...you know?"
The dark haired girl's smile and the light in her eyes as she flicked them between Sunset and the picture in her hands was better than sunshine and summer summer flowers. "...oh, Sunny...I do, and it's perfect...thank you so much..."
Lavender cheeks flushed a little and Twilight murmured, "I'm not the expert Cadence is...and this is me assuming here that you do know the meanings and chose the flowers you did specifically for them..." Fingers ran over the shapes of petal and leaf, fern and ivy, dancing lightly across the glass to outline wild roses in soft pinks and yellows, sprigs of lavender with tones that blended with those smooth fingertips, across chamomile and the coriander peeking shyly from between Equestrian blooms... "...but..." her eyes raised to meet Sunset's steadily. "...I treasure you and our friendship too, and I will be as patient as you need me to be to wait until you are ready...I promise you that."
Another breath, and Twilight scrubbed a few stray tears from her eyes. "Friendship that will last a lifetime, yet is becoming so much more...which is more that I ever could have dreamed of...Sunny, this is a beautiful gift." She faltered, reaching the center of the arrangement. "I...don't know this one...but..." Purple eyes glittered with emotion. "It looks like my star. And that one...it's like fire--like you."
Sunset leaned forward, guiding Twilight's fingers over the rich purple petals and the small white star shaped flowers carefully placed around it. "We call it a Nightlily, and these are Moonlit Stars. They...only bloom under the full moons in summertime...and when paired together, they mean a hidden treasure, something of undiscovered majesty and wonder...something of great worth that not everyone notices. I...made them look like your star...because it's you. That's why it's in the center, and everything is arranged around it...it's you, and all the things you make me feel, and all the things I see about you that no one else does." She led those fingers over to the fiery bloom twined with another nearby. "Which is what this is. A Sunfire Bloom--" she didn't explain the symbolism in the barely open blossom so deeply associated with Princess Celestia's sun, or how the alicorn had always put them on the table for her birthday meal every year: "little suns for my little sun," was the soft joke from the solar ruler the first time. Instead she focused on the flower with it, three blossoms on a single stem, each one a rich riot of color that was its own pattern. "--with Wishful Wonder...it means I See you, Twilight. The real you, not a false front or what I think you should be...but the truest parts of you."
With a voice full of emotion, Twilight breathed out, "Sunny..." like it was some kind of prayer, even as she set the frame onto her desk, upright so it could still be seen from the bed. Her fingers then moved to twine with Sunset's, bringing their joined hands up so she could press her lips to amber knuckles and then rest them over her racing heart. "I am going to treasure this gift for the rest of my life..." She glanced towards it, unable to resist another look, then focused on Sunset again. "You put everything I ever dreamed a relationship could be into something I can see and touch...into something so beautiful..." A few tears made tracks down her cheeks but her smile was full of soft affection and happiness. "I...this means so much...I could almost run to my parents right now, even though its late and they're probably asleep, and come out to them tonight, just so I can share how truly wonderful and touching this is, so they can know the real meaning...and not just appreciate it for how beautiful your artwork is..."
The former unicorn felt dizzy and light, her magic bubbling and thrumming under her skin and making her nerve endings feel hypersensitive and tingly everywhere she and Twilight touched. She wanted...needed...that touch, because words paled beside the emotions arcing between like lightning in the clouds of a mountain thunderstorm. Amber hands squeezed tighter around pale lavender, using their touch to pull Twilight closer. There was no resistance to that or the soft command that fell from her lips. "Kiss me."
Their lips met in an awkward kiss, one girl leaning forward over the other's legs to reach. Sunset made a sound of frustration in her throat; she wanted her girlfriend as close as possible, and the position wasn't cutting it as far as she was concerned. Twilight seemed to feel the same way, breaking off the lip-lock in order to solve the proximity issue in the most expedient fashion available--by climbing into Sunset's lap, straddling long, toned thighs and bracing her palms on the taller girl's shoulders. Sunset hummed in approval, one hand reaching up to pull Twilight's hair tie out, even as she captured her mouth in another heated kiss. Dark locks tumbled down around her girlfriend's shoulders, allowing her to run her fingers through it.
Twilight whined into Sunset's mouth, but she was eager, pressing for more and shivering when the redhead flicked a tongue against her bottom lip, lips parting under the silent question. The hand not tangled in dark hair splayed against the star-speckled fabric of Twilight's pajama top, keeping her flush against Sunset and unable to escape from the way Sunset explored her mouth, aggressive and hungry for more. A tingle of heat and pleasure went through the unicorn-turned-girl with every tiny whimper and soft moan that her ministrations coaxed from her girlfriend, pushing out any thought but ones that utterly revolved around the smaller form in her lap.
Unfortunately, air was a necessity, and they had to part far too soon to catch their breath, though Sunset refused to relinquish her hold--having the smaller body pressed so close against her was intoxicating, burning hot wherever they touched. She nibbled on Twilight's lower lip in between little kisses. "....Sparky..." she whispered, the word made up of all the things she didn't know how to voice right then.
Her girlfriend leaned back a fraction. "...are you...okay...with this, Sunny?" she asked, hands squeezing Sunset's shoulders.
In response, she pulled Twilight back close, nuzzling her, cheek to cheek, in an action that was all pony but seemed to work well enough with the human girl as an intimate gesture. "...mmm...yesss..." she murmured, giving Twilight a half smile. "...you? Not too much?"
"No...it's...I like it," Twilight wiggled a little on her lap. "Being this close...having you hold me...feels good..."
Making a nickering sound before she could stop it, Sunset latched onto a lavender skinned throat, kissing and sucking on a spot she knew would get a reaction. She took full advantage of the hand in Twilight's hair to tip her head back and expose her throat even more fully to Sunset's efforts...and to stop her from wriggling in such a distracting way...Though that might have backfired, she realized a moment later when Twilight moaned and for all it was good at trapping heat, flannel was not so good at dulling any sensation from a lapful of her girlfriend instinctively grinding against her.
Magic pulsed in her soul in response to the rising feelings and the ache in her core, but it had become a familiar sensation over the last few months, and Sunset pushed it down under her skin with control born of long hours of practice and iron will. She did her best to focus on Twilight, distancing herself from what her nerves were telling her brain about her body's reaction.
The hands on her shoulders clenched and flexed against them for support, bracing the shorter girl just as much as her knees did on either side of Sunset's hips. To Sunset's ears, sensitive as she was to all the little variations in Twilight's vocalizations, the sounds her girlfriend was making shifted in some subtle way, taking on a breathless quality that almost broke Sunset's control and stoked the heat in her from a low smolder to a burning hearthfire. Distracting herself, the redhead went back to kissing her partner's neck, dragging her teeth along flesh as she worked her way down and over, lipping at Twilight's collarbone where the neck of her top had left it exposed.
Twilight gave a low cry, arching against Sunset and twisting to give her better access. "...ahh...yes...please, Sunny...." she pleaded, one hand leaving a shoulder to dig into red and gold curls and clutch at the back of Sunset's head.
Sunset growled in response, a thing more felt than heard, and nipped sharply at the exposed skin before she could stop herself, and then realizing that what meant 'hold still' to a pony had a completely different effect on her very human girlfriend. The gasp and moan that escaped were loud, loud enough to make the former unicorn freeze and strain her ears to make sure they hadn't alerted Twilight's parents.
Silence broken only by a panting, mewling plea met her ears. "...don't stop..." They were in the clear...but it wouldn't stay that way if she didn't do something to muffle those outbursts. A smirk tugged at her lips as she pulled back from a patch of lavender skin now peppered with love bites. It was a good thing she preferred being on top, she decided, before putting her plan into action.
Like she had earlier when she'd picked Twilight up, the redhead twisted in a complicated maneuver that relied on her being more flexible than the average high schooler--her recent decision to go back to honing her body in case of magical problems turned out to have a few benefits she hadn't thought of at the time. Twilight was deposited neatly on her back on the pillows, Sunset looming over her on hands and knees. A perfectly executed switch of positions, she thought smugly, leaning down to cover Twilight's mouth with her own, the cascade of red and gold around their faces creating a private space of heat and passion for just the two of them.
Except for one small detail: when she shifted her weight from one arm to the other, her hand inadvertently pressed into soft flesh, and Sunset became acutely aware of the fact that under the old, worn Star Trek shirt, her girlfriend was definitely not wearing a bra.
She was not prepared for her girlfriend's response to the touch. Purple eyes went wide behind her glasses, and she shuddered violently, a gasp quickly becoming a needy moan. "Oooh! Sun-Sunset!"
Sunset pulled her hand back as if burned. "Sorry! It was an accident!" she hastened to tell the other girl. "I didn't do it on purpose!"
The dark haired girl grabbed at Sunset's hand with her own shaky one, and tugged it back down towards her body. "...it felt...good...Sunny," she panted, smiling up at her. "I...please? D-do it again?" She released Sunset's digits just above the soft, well-loved fabric of the shirt, looking up with a pleading expression and eyes full of desire.
It left the redhead suspended in momentary indecision, wrestling with her magic and with the hearthfire that was threatening to turn into a raging wildfire. She wanted to...her resolve was crumbling under the onslaught from so many directions...and the way Twilight arched her entire body underneath her made something break free inside. She wanted more...wanted to see Twilight writhing and panting under her, pleading with that needy voice and wide eyes, for something that was entirely in Sunset's hands to give her...She needed to hear her name fall from her best friend's lips in that breathless whisper laden with passion...
Her hand moved, almost of its own accord, and she found herself squeezing pliant, yielding flesh through thin fabric to another of those noises of pure pleasure from Twilight. She could feel the nipple pressing into her fingers, a counterpoint to a piece of anatomy that would never be found on a mare, not like this. The former unicorn didn't know how to feel about it at first--pony bodies were soft, but not in the same way. Not far under the padding was always muscle, and even a nursing mare didn't have anything that matched a human's breasts....
But there was something intensely fascinating and satisfying about squeezing slightly and having Twilight squirm and cry her name in response, in feeling contrast of the soft flesh and pert nipple even with cloth in the way, and Sunset leaned into it, indulging in seeing just how many different sounds she could coax out of her if she paired this new touch with what she was doing before to Twilight's neck. Lips found that delightful place where neck and shoulder met, and the redhead sucked hard on the sensitive spot of muscle and nerves. She wanted to leave a mark on Twilight--even if she couldn't announce to anyone that she was dating this girl, Sunset wanted some sign of her affection painted on her girlfriend's skin.
Twilight's reaction was everything she wanted and more, her body thrashing and voice keening something that may have been intended to be Sunset's name but came out as a garbled mass of syllables. Hands had already been gripping her back, and she could feel nails through her own shirt as those digits clenched and unclenched, searching for something to hold onto and just not finding it...
Until they moved lower in their frantic movements, and Sunset's eyes snapped open in surprise at the feeling of Twilight's hands gripping her rear. Her mouth came free of the skin she'd been worrying at, a blustering, snorting whinny mixed with a human yelp rending the air.
The hands she could feel on her froze. "Sunny?" her girlfriend asked worriedly, her voice still breathless and soft but now laced with concern rather than desire. Slowly, as if she were afraid of making it worse, Twilight moved her hands back to the small of her back, loose enough that Sunset could pull away if she wanted.
She didn't want to--for all the way it shocked her, moving away from Twilight was the last thing she wanted. "...sorry...I...wasn't really expecting..." she trailed off, slowly pushing herself up enough to meet Twilight's eyes--and to take her hand off Twilight's chest, placing it on the mattress instead. "...you surprised me," she finished lamely.
Echoing Sunset's own long, slow exhalation as a sigh, the dark haired girl studied her. "Okay...but was it a good surprise or a bad surprise? I...couldn't really tell there.
Sunset grimaced a little. "I...don't know? I've never really had anyone do anything like that to me before--at least not besides a couple of handsy guys freshman year who learned my boots aren't for show--and...I didn't exactly have time to decide if it felt good or not..." Her brows furrowed. "I'm not sure if that makes sense or not?"
"It makes sense to me, yes." Twilight gave her a slightly wry smile, running fingers through her hair. "Sometimes unexpected things can...override anything else. Is it something you would be okay with me doing again, so you can determine if you did like it, or...would you prefer I didn't?"
The former unicorn took a minute or two to think it over, doing her best to ignore the tingling heat where their bodies pressed together and the racing of both of their hearts that seemed strangely in sync. "I...I think I'd like the chance to see if I like it," she answered at last, acknowledging privately that it was an area she would have expected another pony to pay attention to, and that...made the prospect that much more enticing. "I don't know if I will, but so far..." Her grin to Twilight was more than a touch sheepish. "...anything you've done has felt...good. Sometimes too good."
Twilight's soft laugh and embarrassed smile made Sunset feel less flustered. "I feel like I need to say the same back to you," she confided, looking away as her cheeks darkened with a blush. "What you were doing? It felt...amazing."
She watched Twilight as she spoke, searching for the little signs of distress or hesitation. "All of it?" Sunset asked, fingers brushing her cheek and turning her back to meet blue-green eyes. "Even me...being on top of you like this while I was? I never want to hurt you, Sparky, or scare you."
Her girlfriend's blush grew, until her whole face was reddened under the pale lavender skin tone. "Uhhh...actually..." she stammered, "...that was part of what...felt so good." She chewed on her lip as she searched for the right words. "Being...pinned down...like that, I mean..." One hand twitched, like she was fighting the urge to gesture with it. "...I think...not just anyone...could get away with it...but...it's you, Sunny. I've told you before, I trust you, so much...and something about it, when it's you on top of me like this?" A little wiggle of her body drove home the position they were still in. "Physically it feels...good, and in my head it feels...even better. It's like...I know you'll never hurt me, and I can trust you when you want to be...like this, when you seem to need to be more in control..." Purple eyes were surprisingly bright in the lamp light and shadows of the room. "I...like the way it feels to let you."
Sunset swallowed hard, and the breath she took was shaky from how thoroughly what Twilight said affected her. "O-oh." Another attempt to swallow with a throat that felt way too dry. "...you...do?" Control...was that what it was about? The way it made her body hum with something that felt so good in so many ways? Sunset wasn't sure what to make of that idea...or if she wanted to connect it with the way every beat of her heart was echoed in her groin with a whisper of need and desire.
It was impossible for Twilight to turn any redder, but she nodded. "I do...but...only with you." Biting her lip again, she seemed to think it over, then repeated herself. "Only with you...I don't think I could ever trust someone else the way I trust you." Her hand, trembling slightly, moved from Sunset's hair to rest against the side of her face. "You're special, Sunny."
The redhead leaned into the touch, drawing comfort from the contact of skin on skin and the affection she could see in the other girl's eyes. "Going to make me cry again, nerd," she groused, trying to blink back the moisture forming at the corners of her eyes. "...but...thank you...for trusting me like that." She leaned down, brushing her lips to Twilight's gently. "And I promise, I won't ever break that trust...you're safe with me."
"I know," Twilight said softly, taking a slow breath as if to keep her voice even. "...and Sunny?"
She nuzzled into the hand on her cheek. "Yeah?"
"I...just want you to know...it's okay for you to like...being more...in control...and being the one to...do more things like...you were just doing to me." Twilight still looked just as flustered as Sunset felt, and she realized that at the moment they both matched, with faces as red as they could get. "...I also...don't mind if you want to...to explore that a bit more...?"
Clearing her throat, Sunset decided she needed to do something to bring the tension down before one of them died of embarrassment. "Are you sure you can keep it down if I did?" she joked. "...because...that's also on the list of 'awkward ways for your parents to learn we're dating.'"
That was when Sunset learned that Twilight could actually turn redder, and she was a little worried that her girlfriend might combust. Even her ears were crimson. "Um...I...uh...p-perhaps we can...work out where the limits are for...noisiness?" She stumbled over the words a little.
"Sounds like a research project for our free time," Sunset purred playfully, happy to redirect the topic. "Maybe we should pick up where we left off and test a few variables. What do you think--want to be my lab partner for this?"
Twilight couldn't seem to help the needy little sound that escaped her. "...yes, please...Sunny..." she stretched underneath the taller body pressing down on her, arching up against her, before letting her hands drop back on the pillows over her head. "...you can consider this an open invitation to explore whatever variables you want..."
Sunset inhaled sharply and this time when she captured Twilight's lips, it was for a fierce, aggressive kiss that towed the line fairly close to indecent. She found herself returning to her earlier ministrations, and savoring the way Twilight whimpered into her mouth, every time her touch ghosted over a sensitive spot. It did feel more intoxicating than she wanted to admit, being able to cause these reactions...
Was it about control, she wondered as she found herself nibbling on one lavender ear. Did she...take pleasure in having power like this over Twilight, being able to wring sweet sounds of pleasure and desire from her with just a touch of the hand, a kiss from her lips on smooth skin...
And if...if she did...was it okay because Twilight had told her she could?
She didn't want Twilight to be right. It had been hard to walk away from old habits and terrible behaviors, and even now she still struggled when her temper got the better of her. What did it say about her if those negative qualities were seeking a new outlet...twisting up her physical desires for her girlfriend with a hunger for power and control over another person...especially Twilight, who trusted her to not to take advantage of her in a moment of intimacy...
Could Twilight really trust her so deeply with this? How could she be okay with...with surrendering control in any fashion? Sunset could never do that, even with Twilight--she had to maintain a little control over at least herself, her own body, or she'd never be able to relax. Yet here Twilight was, her arms pinned above her head now by one of Sunset's hands, shivering and trying to keep her moaning cries to a low volume that wouldn't wake the house, while the redheaded teen left a new mark on the other side of her neck.
Her voice, in between cries, pleaded with Sunset...not for freedom...but for more of that touch, for Sunset to press down harder, to do more to stop the squirming thrashing movements of her body...and it didn't repulse Sunset to consider it.
Worse...
She wanted to do it. There was a hunger in her, a desire to trap Twilight under her and see how loudly she could make her beg and plead, how many different noises she could coax out of her, how much she could tease her until she--
A shudder went through Sunset and she jerked herself out of those thoughts. She wasn't going to do that to Twilight...no matter how enticing a prospect it was...
Sunset shifted her hand, sliding it away from soft breasts until it was curled around Twilight's back, dragging her nails lightly against t-shirt fabric. The moaning cries slowly settled down into soft panting, the kind she was more used to hearing, and that grounded her. It meant she could feel good about hugging Twilight to her tightly, changing their positions just enough so that she could throw a leg over her girlfriend and keep her in a snug embrace despite the shivers and faint shudders that rippled through them both. "How was that?" Sunset breathed against one ear, before placing light kisses to her neck.
It took a moment for Twilight to reply, still panting and breathless. "...incredible...mind-blowing...indescribably perfect..." she managed.
"That good, huh?" The former unicorn smirked a little, the line of kisses leading her back to her girlfriend's mouth slowly.
"...mmmhmm..." Twilight murmured. "...just like you..."
A snort escaped her. "I am far from perfect, Sparky...but I'm glad you liked it." She kissed her, slow and soft, feeling strangely satisfied with the way the heated make-out session with her girlfriend had gone, even with the parts that had left her uneasy.
Twilight snuggled deeper into her, wiggling a little until she was comfortable. "...I hope you enjoyed it too..." she said with a yawn. "...though...for proper scientific procedure...we should repeat the experiment..." Another yawn interrupted her. "...several more times...on other occasions..."
Amber fingers combed through dark hair. "Tired?"
"Haven't...been sleeping well this...week," Twilight explained.
Sunset frowned. "Nightmares?"
Purple eyes looked away, but the younger girl gave the tiniest of nods. "...some...when I could get my brain quiet enough to sleep."
Making a soft nickering sound in her throat, Sunset leaned in and kissed her again. "I'll take care of your nightmares, Sparky, and if any get through me, I'd bet Cadence has some ice cream at the ready."
Her joke earned her a drowsy smile from Twilight. "You're here...don't have nightmares...when I'm with you..."
Still running her fingers through Twilight's hair, Sunset hummed Princess Celestia's lullaby, hoping to get her girlfriend to relax enough to doze off. Sure enough, in only a few minutes, she felt the body in her arms relax, breathing slowing to the familiar rhythm of sleep.
Ever so carefully, Sunset pulled the glasses off Twilight's nose, twisting her upper body to set them on the nightstand before turning off the bedside lamp. The sleeping girl mumbled a protest until Sunset settled back, pulling one of the blankets over them both. "Relax, Sparky," she soothed, kissing her forehead. "I've got you. You're safe. You can sleep now--I won't let anyone get you, I promise."
Blue-green eyes cast one last look around the dark room that looked as bright as it did at noon, before she tucked her face into the crook of Twilight's neck and sought sleep for herself... |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Eighteen: Sweet Dreams Are Made of This... | Hunger.
It was the first thing she registered as part of her awareness, this ache that sat, not in her stomach, but in the core of her soul, a desire that was as much a part of her as her magic or her heartbeat, and deep down, she knew there was only one way to sate it for even just a little while.
Breathing deeply brought the scent of aged paper, worn leather, and ink to her nostrils, and she felt herself smile at the memories and emotions it evoked. The scent was familiar, comforting, and even though the hunger never eased, she found herself relaxing. Flicking her eyes open, she confirmed that she was standing in a library of some kind, shelves of thick books stretching in all directions as far as her eyes could see. The library was dimly lit, with a soft golden light that seemed to just emanate from everywhere and nowhere at once, and it was almost silent.
Almost.
Her ears twitched, swiveling towards the faint sound of paper rustling and a murmured voice talking to itself. She knew the voice, and it was like sweet music to her ears that she would never get enough of, no matter how much time went by. That voice soothed her and excited her in a marvelously impossible combination, and the owner of it even more so... she wanted to get closer...but where...? Her ears moved and corrected as she narrowed down exactly where its source was located...
Target acquired, the smile transformed into a smirk, and with barely a conscious thought, she began to move towards the sounds, her steps silent and predatory.
It didn't take long to find her quarry, tail swishing in excitement. The other form was happily tugging books off the shelf, opening them to read a few pages, and either putting them back or adding them to a growing pile on the floor. Clamping down on the growl that wanted out, she crept up behind her, waiting until the last second to slide her arms around that familiar form, pulling her back and flush against her front. "Sparky," she breathed huskily against the other girl's ear, palms ghosting up and down Twilight's sides.
Instantly the smaller form relaxed against her, pliant and willing. "Sunny," came the happy response, and she could feel the joy seeping into her, filling the emptiness within.
"Books again?" she teased, tugging the ponytail out of the way so she could kiss and nibble on her partner's neck in that way she knew Twilight loved.
There was a shaky inhale as a shudder passed through the body in her arms. "I...love...books..." was the reply. "This library is..." she broke off with a whimper when teeth nipped her jawline. "Ahh...Sunset..." She pushed back against the fiery maned figure, tilting her head to give better access.
She was all too happy to oblige that obvious want, leaving a trail of heated kisses and love bites along neck and collarbone. It elicited the most wonderful responses from the dark haired girl in her arms: more of those soft whimpers, panting breaths, and even a few moans that she tried to swallow. One hand pressed to Twilight's stomach, under the shirt, claws scratching lightly across lavender skin, and a burst of pleasure nearly made her eyes cross in the process.
"Sunny...." Twilight whined. "...teasing me with this...do you know how long I've wanted this, with you?" Her body pushed back against the taller form again, pressing and shifting in a way that felt like more.
"...such a nerd," she teased in that low voice. "Even your fantasies are nerdy..."
Twilight twisted in her arms, bringing them face to face, and the smile that lit her face was warmer than a summer sunrise. "Maybe....but I'm your nerd, Sunset Shimmer, and right now? That's all I want to be."
This time the growl did escape her throat, and she captured the smaller girl's mouth, fingers twining into dark hair. The kiss seared their senses, filled with passion and providing a conduit for her to communicate the hunger thrumming in her veins, hunger that only the girl in her arms could sate. Twilight gripped her shoulders, whimpering desire into her mouth when her legs went weak.
"Mine," she purred, pulling back to nip at Twilight's bottom lip. "My Sparky..." Her hands found the curve of her partner's rear, pulling their bodies flush together again.
Purple eyes were fixed on her, filled with emotion. "...yes," she agreed, a strange note in her voice. "Your Sparky, Sunset..."
The books rocked warningly on their shelving when she lifted her smaller partner and took a step forward to trap her up against it. Her leg nudged Twilight's knees apart, allowing her to rest a foot in an empty space on the bottom shelf, bringing her thigh up high enough to keep the other girl trapped off the ground. Squeezing the rounded rump in her grip, she smirked when it earned her a squeak and a gasp that advertised pure pleasure. "I can see the appeal now...though half of it might be the noises you make, Sparky..."
Cheeks flushed, but Twilight's eyes sparked with lust and laughter in equal measure. "...you know...there's no one to hear me here but us...so...we don't have to worry about volume control...."
A long tongue flicked out, dragging wetly up a lavender neck. "Good..." she purred happily, tail flagging higher, "...because I want you to scream my name, Twilight Sparkle..."
Claw tipped fingers had no trouble hiking up the back of that skirt, or snaking inside panties to grab smooth flesh directly. The taste of desire and Twilight's need was a delightful buzz to her senses, making her head swim with ideas. She was going to coax every last pleasurable sound she could from this girl, and by the time she was done, there would be no place left on her for anyone--or anything--else to claim.
Twilight Sparkle was hers.
If any lurking, opportunistic shadows wanted Twilight....they would have to pry her from a pair of cold, dead hands at great cost.
Sunset was pulled back to consciousness abruptly, her eyes snapping open and her heart racing as she stared at the ceiling of Twilight's bedroom. Fire in her veins tingled with the hum of her magic, and fragments of the dream flitted through her mind, making her face feel hot. She'd had dreams like this before...but usually she didn't have them when she was tangled up in bed with the same girl who starred in them.
For a moment, she wondered what had woken her up, trying to ignore the feeling of disappointment over the dream being interrupted...and the unease she felt from the unpleasant way that dream logic had incorporated all manner of things that had been on her mind the past week, including a previous nightmare, and the sense that something was after her girlfriend. Despite the discomforting nature of some of the elements in the dream, it had been the furthest thing from a nightmare, and what had been happening before she woke had been...intense...but not bad. Since none of that accounted for what had jolted her back to consciousness though, it had to be something else...something external.
At present, the room was dark and silent, and she could make out the numbers on the clock. Far too early for her to be awake--if she had her way, her eyes did not open on this side of six AM unless she had to pee. There was no sound outside--no one going out early for work, no cars--and the house itself didn't seem to hold anyone else stirring. Even Spike was quiet in his little bed, soft doggy snores a familiar noise that wouldn't have woken her.
Then her bedmate twisted in the sheets beside her with a whimper that raked along her awareness like an electrical jolt. Rolling onto her side, she studied Twilight, thankful for once of whatever magical side effect had given her night vision that an Abyssinian would be jealous of, since it meant she didn't have to squint through the darkness for some vague hint of her girlfriend as a featureless shape. Instead, Twilight was crystal clear, and what Sunset saw was concerning. The expression on her face was not relaxed in any way, not with her features twisted up with tension, pajamas askew and hair messy and sticking in places to a sweaty forehead. The former unicorn immediately drew her girlfriend into her arms, hoping to soothe the nightmare before it woke Twilight up.
"Hey...It's okay, Sparky," she murmured softly, kissing her forehead.
Another whimpering sound, and Twilight's back arched, pressing their chests together. Sunset couldn't breathe, couldn't move...her heart rate thundered in her ears, the flash of her lips closing around a pert nipple on a lavender skinned breast dancing before her mind's eye. She did her best to squelch the desire while it was still half formed--this was not the time for that! "Shh...You're safe, Sparky," she offered as reassurance. "I've got you."
On most nights where she was with Twilight and these nightmares hit, that was enough to calm the other teen back into restful slumber. Tonight seemed to be different--Twilight's state worsened, her head tossing from side to side, her hands scrabbling in uncoordinated desperation until she latched onto Sunset's pajama top, fingers digging into her arm and side. "...Sunset..." came the plaintive whine, the sound sending a shiver down the redhead's spine and the dream rushing right back to the forefront of her mind...
Twilight threw her head back against the spines of old leather-bound tomes with a loud, breathy moan. "Ah! Sunny!" Her back arched under the smooth motion of nails dragging down her unclothed back, making it all the easier for her companion to use her tongue and teeth to draw more of those sounds from her.
Pulling back from a nipple, she tilted her head to look up at Twilight's face in that omnidirectional, ever present mood lighting. "If you don't stop moving, I'm going to have to hold you down..."
The growled, seductive words in her own voice echoed in her ears, and Sunset struggled to focus, to breathe right....particularly as her girlfriend's writhing became more and more pronounced, leaving the redhead to tighten her arms around Twilight to keep her from sending either one of them out of the bed and onto the floor. It would be so much easier if she rolled them until she could pin Twilight under her larger, stronger body...
It would feel good too.
Shaking her head to try and clear it of the intruding thoughts spurred by the still lingering dream, Sunset adjusted her body so she could tuck her face close to Twilight's ear, trying to wake her. "Sparky," she coaxed, falling into that firm tone that worked so well. "Stop. You're going to hurt yourself. I promise, I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere. You're safe. Wake up."
For a moment she thought it worked, as the frantic thrashing stilled, and the hands fisted in her shirt relaxed. But then a low moan escaped Twilight, and her legs jerked, locking around one of Sunset's securely. The redheaded girl sucked in a sharp breath, hot lightning lancing through her innards as her mind shoved more of the dream back into her conscious thoughts.
Claw tipped fingers trailed up a smooth lavender thigh, even as gleaming blue-green eyes observed the figure half sprawled now across a veritable bed of forgotten paperbacks, many of them tawdry romance novels with women locked in a thousand different intimate embraces printed on the covers. None of the pictures compared to the vision before her now, of dark hair, free and mussed from passion and her touch, pooled across cover and page like a waterfall of spilled ink...of lavender skin at last exposed, covered in love bites and kiss-bruises, a canvas brushed with loving care by the artist's proud signature...and purple eyes, staring at her like she was the key to the secrets of the cosmos...
Hunger welled up, more powerful than ever, and she found herself kneading at the flesh under her palms, shuddering with pleasure of her own at the keening, pleading, begging cries that echoed off the bookshelves around them and drove themselves into the depths of her soul. It drove her touch higher, until knees were draped over her shoulders and the moaning of her partner was sweet music in her ears.
A shudder passed through her, her body aching with want. Here, in bed, surrounded by the familiar scents of shared bedsheets, with the smaller form pressed against her, a pleading whimper coming from Twilight's lips, it was all she could do not to lose control.
Wait.
Sunset's eyes widened as her attention was suddenly focused on her girlfriend's voice, breathy and full of sleep. "....please, Sunset...." Twilight begged, her tone needy and desperate. "...more...Don't stop..."
Sudden clarity brought with it a hyper awareness of the situation. The fact that that wasn't fear in her voice, but desire, the way her hands were gripping Sunset's arms in vice grips, the flush on her cheeks, the way that Sunset's leg was trapped between the dark haired girl's thighs in a way that could never be construed as anything but intimate. Sunset froze, eyes wide and startled, all other thoughts fleeing her head in that moment. Her control was already balanced on a knife's edge--she could hear her own breathing coming in harsh pants, and her nerve endings tingled in a way that she couldn't decide was physical, magical, or both.
There was a throbbing ache between her legs that worsened with every beat of her heart, and she let out a low, panted moan of her own before she could stop it. Sunset clenched her fists against Twilight's shoulders, fighting with herself; the urge to roll them over, waking Twilight up even as she pinned her to the mattress wouldn't leave her mind.
"Sparky, please, wake up..." she hissed in desperation. This couldn't be happening, shouldn't be happening, but it was, and she had no idea how to stop it...and she cursed the part of herself that didn't want to stop it.
It would be so easy...and Twilight's words from the night before raced across her mind like a tantalizing piece of fruit just out of reach. She could pin her down, reenacting the dream in the waking world, until Twilight couldn't remember anything but Sunset's touch...the thought of her begging, arching needily into whatever the redhead decided to do, however she decided to touch her...it almost broke her.
She had to get away before she lost control completely.
Tears leaked from her eyes as she struggled to extricate herself from the tangle of bodies and sheets, fighting Twilight's gripping hands and sleepy whimpers. She could feel the way the soft body arched and writhed against her despite trying to get away from the touch... Heated breath panted against her shirt, the warmth passing through the fabric to tickle over her breasts until her nipples ached and making the hot need between her legs that much worse.
Twilight whined, and a jolting movement from Sunset pressed the dark haired girl's knee higher, and pleasure slammed into the former unicorn that almost sent her careening off the bed. She dug her nails into her own palms hard enough to hurt, using pain to hold onto the last threads of control she had. It lasted just long enough to let her tear herself free, landing on the floor in her mad scramble with a thump, shivering and shaking violently.
Her girlfriend whined in her sleep at the loss of contact, reaching for the now missing body. Sunset wanted nothing more than to soothe her, to hug and hold her, but she didn't trust herself, not with the dream and desire almost ruling over her. She needed to get away...to push it all down and get her control back before she gave in and did something that would destroy both her and her relationship with her best friend.
Lurching to her feet, she fled to the bathroom, leaning against the sink in the dark, panting. Sunset brought her hand up, scrubbing the tears off her face, trying to tell herself that she wasn't a horrible mare, that she would never force herself on Twilight like that...that her reaction was a result of her emotions and her human body's biology...but somewhere, deep down, she didn't believe it. For the briefest of moments, in the near total darkness of the bathroom, it felt like when she looked in the mirror, the demon of her nightmares looked back, smugly satisfied and pleased with herself... |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Interlude XXVIII: Love Advice | It was earlier than Cadence preferred to be up, but a frantic phone call had roused her almost before the sun rose. After talking down one of her friends from the station from a panic after a particularly disastrous Valentine's Date, she found herself shuffling about the kitchen, setting on a pot of coffee to clear the cobwebs from her brain. As she stared petulantly at the percolator, cursing its slow speed, she could hear the ceiling creek overhead, suggesting that someone else was awake and she would soon have company. She half turned towards the kitchen door, expecting Twilight Velvet or Night Light, given the hour.
So when Sunset dragged herself into the kitchen, eyes shadowed and bloodshot, Cadence immediately became concerned. That worry increased when those eyes lit upon her with something akin to desperate relief, and the fiery haired girl spoke in a shaking voice. "....C-Cadence?"
It was a tone she was far more used to hearing from Twilight, when her Ladybug was overwhelmed and stressed and fighting off a meltdown with everything she had. It was so like Twilight that the pink skinned woman couldn't resist her instinctive impulse to leave her mug by the coffee machine to gather the teen into a gentle hug. "Sunset, what's wrong? Bad dream?" When Sunset leaned into the hug, Cadence felt a bubble of happiness well up inside her...though that quickly deflated when a sound of distress escaped the younger girl. "...I'm here to listen if you want to talk about it."
The redhead started to nod, before shaking her head, then going still. After a quiet moment, she finally voiced a soft, "...I-I don't know...Maybe? It...wasn't really that, but other stuff...and...can...can we talk?" Her voice quivered a little, and as she pulled back from the hug, the expression on her face, so lost and exhausted and stressed, that Cadence's heart went out to her, even as she realized that Sunset trusted her enough to confide something in her.
Patting her on the upper back the same way she would for Twilight, she gave her an encouraging smile. "Of course we can, Sunset. Here? Or would you like us to move somewhere a bit more private?"
"Private, please," Sunset responded quickly, her hands curling into awkward fists close to her chest, shifting from foot to foot. It was a mannerism that the woman had noticed her display in times of stress or agitation. "If...I mean...if it's not too much trouble...?"
Gentle fingers smoothed some of the wild hair back from Sunset's forehead, trying to help her relax. "It's perfectly fine, Sunset. That's why I offered. We can use Mom's office--before you worry, she doesn't mind at all. It's where I often go to talk with Twily when she doesn't want to talk in her room. Everyone knows not to come in without knocking, and it's almost impossible to hear anything when the door is shut. Everything talked about there is private and in total confidence." She met the girl's eyes. "Does that sound like someplace you'd feel safe talking?"
She gave a slow, somewhat jerky nod, her face still wearing that lost expression. "...yeah...okay..."
Cadence suppressed the urge to frown, knowing that the warm, slight smile was more effective to helping lower stress and make someone feel comfortable about opening up than a scowl would be. Still, it did nothing to help combat the growing urge to find whoever had made Sunset feel like it wasn't okay to seek out emotional support, so she could practice a few of the self-defense moves Shining had taught her on their person. "You think this is an ice-cream talk? Or is it more a hot-cocoa-slash-coffee talk?" she asked, keeping her voice to the calm and comforting tones.
The girl blinked, not expecting the directed question, an odd, startled sound escaping her in her confusion. It took her a moment to focus, clearly running the question through her mind again before she answered. "Um...coffee? My stomach is..." She trailed off, grimacing and pressing a hand to her stomach, clearly nauseated. Cadence took a closer look, realizing that Sunset was a few shades paler than normal, and remembered a recent talk with Velvet where her mother-in-law commented that she felt Sunset's emotional stresses led to the girl's stomach rebelling, sometimes violently.
"Coffee it is then," she responded, giving her one more gentle shoulder pat before crossing back to the coffee pot, reaching into the cupboard for a second mug. She filled them both, prepping hers with the appropriate amount of creamer and sugar and glancing at Sunset in thought. The pink skinned woman decided it might be better if she took charge for the moment, with how Sunset was standing there, hands still fisted up against her chest. "Two scoops of sugar and a generous splash of creamer for you, right?" Once she got a jerky nod in assent, she finished preparing the teen's drink and led the way to Velvet's office.
Cadence settled her on the well worn, well-loved, much used little couch in small room, clicking on the desk lamp to bathe the space in soft golden light, snagging the soft blanket that Twily always liked to hug during their private chats, and tucking it around Sunset's shoulders. Her smile returned full force when Sunset turned her face immediately into the fabric and inhaled, relaxing a fraction. She pressed the mug of coffee into amber skinned hands and found a seat on the other end of the couch. "Okay, before we start this talk, I want you to know that anything that gets shared here stays between you and me, unless you choose to share it with someone else. The only exception I make for that is if I believe you or someone else is in danger of coming to actual physical harm, but if that happens, I'll tell you that, and tell you who I believe we need to tell--and why." Wrapping her hands around her coffee mug and taking comfort in the heat seeping into her palms, Cadence watched Sunset closely. "This is the exact same rule I have when I talk to Twilight. Is that okay with you?"
"...that's fine... It's not something I want Twilight to...find out about...not right now..." Sunset shook her head, sending sleep-tangled curls this way and that. "...but I don't want anyone to get hurt," she whispered, almost too soft to hear. "Especially Twilight."
The woman still heard it, but for the moment she let Sunset talk at her own pace, in her own fashion, listening patiently rather than asking too many leading questions or making any kind of demand. Someone like Sunset, who didn't open up easily, with a rough past and a history of extreme self reliance couldn't be pushed into opening up--that would only alienate her, drive her further into her own head. As it was, the way the teenager was talking, it sounded like something more than just a bad dream--Twilight was usually Sunset's go-to for those, and the fact that she didn't want to tell Twilight whatever was eating at her right now was fairly telling.
Fingers toyed with the coffee mug before Sunset took a tentative sip, her eyes a million miles away. "I feel like I'm losing control," she said at last.
Blinking, Cadence watched Sunset for a minute. None of what she saw looked 'out of control' to her. In fact, other than seeming immediately exhausted and emotionally overwrought, Sunset looked healthier than ever, with six months of Velvet's cooking having filled out her frame and a wardrobe that was no longer comprised mostly of worn, well patched and repaired things. She scanned restless arms, but saw no signs of track marks or bruises, and the hug had detected no scent of alcohol or smoke--just whatever faintly scented shampoo the girl used. "Sunset," she asked carefully, "can you explain what you mean by that?"
Silence, as troubled, shadowed eyes stared into the coffee mug as if it held the secrets of the universe. "...It's hard to explain," she admitted after a minute or two. "...I...I feel like I'm fighting myself, all the time. What...what my body is feeling, what I find myself wanting..." Sunset hesitated, hunching in on herself as if trying to seem even smaller. "...I want it so badly sometimes that it hurts, but I'm..." she broke off, as if registering that her babbling was making no sense whatsoever.
A few, slow deep breaths, and the redhead tried again, slower this time. "I want her. Twilight, I mean. Every day that goes by, I want her more. She's...one of the best things to happen to me since I came to this city..." A humorless chuckle. "...By the Sun, if I'm honest, she's the best thing to happen to me in my entire life. And I know that as much as I want her, she wants me too...but...what I want is all wrong! I almost--" Her voice cracked and the flow of words halted.
Never had she been quite so grateful that Lu had talked her into getting that degree in teen counseling on top of the journalism studies as she was in that moment. Cadence reached out a gentle hand and touched Sunset's shoulder. "Sunset, I want you to stop and breathe a minute for me, okay? In and out, nice and slow, just like we make Twily do."
Blue-green eyes shut, and the teenager did as she suggested, until the agitation bled off to a level where she was at least able to communicate. Cadence patted her shoulder before moving her hand back to her own personal space. "Better?"
"Yeah...sorry..."
She smiled. "You don't need to apologize, Sunset. It's obviously a subject that is very personal to you, and I'm flattered that you trust me enough to confide in me about it." The she made a thoughtful sound. "Though I would like to ask for a little clarification on what it is you are 'wanting,' and the situation with you and Twilight before we get into why it's creating these feelings for you?" She gave a soft chuckle. "I want to make sure I'm not misunderstanding and offering bad advice based on a false premise. Can we do that?"
Sunset nodded, setting her coffee mug on the low coffee table. "...sex. I...Want...Twilight physically...but you...know about that part." Her hands fisted and twitched in her lap now that she wasn't holding a scalding hot beverage. "But...last night...I realized...it's more than just the physical...I had her...under me....and I liked it...which was...we talked...because I don't want to hurt her, and it was like how I first saw her, and I didn't want to make her feel like they did...but she said it was okay...because she trusts me...."
Her voice filled with painful anguish. "She trusts me, and she shouldn't....I feel like I'm at war inside, with wanting to do things to her..." Horrified eyes full of self loathing looked up at Cadence. "I had a dream. I've had them before...but not like this. It was...I was like the old me...exerting power over her...but with...sex...instead of bullying...and when I woke up...I wanted to do it all while I was awake. Just wake her up and...do what I was imagining...and it took everything I had to stop and get away before I hurt her."
She watched as the redhead curled in on herself, rubbing at her eyes with the back of one still fisted hand, looking for all the world as if she was expecting condemnation and judgment. There was a part of her that wondered, not for the first time, if wherever Sunset had lived, before being tossed out on her own, had been an environment where sexuality and sex where considered shameful, or at least forbidden to discuss openly, because it was starting to feel like Sunset had been taught the basic mechanics and little else--things she could have easily read in a textbook or off the internet.
Cadence kept her voice very calm, and not for the first time when faced with someone in the throes of an emotional breakdown, wished she could manage Luna's cool, professional, yet caring tones that seemed to work wonders with teens of all backgrounds. "Focus on breathing again for me, Sunset. It's okay...you are safe here. I'm not going to judge or condemn you for things you did in the past." Pausing, while she waited for the teen to look less distraught, "Alright...I'm wondering just how much do you know about how sex and intimacy can work between two consenting individuals? Has anyone--besides me or Twilight--ever talked to you about sex, or let you ask questions?"
Those eyes went wide and Sunset turned red, though whether it was embarrassment or shame, Cadence wasn't entirely certain. "...that's complicated," she mumbled. "...it's different here from back...home." The hesitation was slight, but telling. "I...know how things work. I read the biology books, and I'm not ignorant of 'where babies come from.'" She looked away. "...I forged a parental note to get out of sex ed--I had better things to do with my time than spend an entire month every year getting the same lecture about information that took ten minutes to read on my own...and since I never planned on letting anyone get that close to me, it...never felt worth looking more into it." She grabbed her coffee and took a long, bracing sip. "...so not really. Just you and Sparky..."
The pink skinned woman mulled over the words, then asked, "Can you explain how it's different here to where you were?" She searched for an example, then said, "For example, in some cultures, a girl wouldn't be told anything until her wedding night and the expectation is that she would refrain from engaging in any intimacy with anyone except her husband. Is it that kind of different?"
Sunset visibly shuddered. "Nothing like that, thank the stars." Licking her lips, she fell quiet for several minutes. "It's...I talked about it before...it's like everyone here is oversexed but repressed at the same time?" She sighed, the air escaping from her nose in a way that was almost a snort. "Here...people just...have sex for the sex, but then there's also people putting all these...restrictions on who or how or why, which just...it makes no sense." One hand gripped her elbow. "I can't do that. It's...it's supposed to be about...trust...and feelings, and wanting to share all of yourself with somepo--somebody else."
A small laugh escaped Cadence before she could stop it. "That is...an exceedingly accurate representation of sex as portrayed in mainstream media and to an extent, mainstream culture." Sobering, she made a loose gesture with one hand. "I'm going to guess then, that most of your knowledge other than what Twily or I have told you is from that source?"
Another awkward shrug, Sunset's face still slightly flushed. "...such as it is. Before Twilight....I never wanted to let anyone that close, so I mostly ignored anything to do with it. I...had a boyfriend last summer, but it was all part of my plans to control the school, so it...never went anywhere. I barely even kissed him unless it was for the social games--you know, 'popular girl has cute boyfriend who everyone likes?'"
"I'm familiar," Cadence responded dryly. "I imagine it also served to prevent unwanted attention from other boys?"
Sunset wrinkled her nose in disdain. "...which was the other reason for dating Flash. He respected boundaries, and I had to introduce fewer guys to my size nine and a half."
Rolling her eyes, the pink skinned woman nodded. "That's 'guy code' for you. A girl says no, and it means 'keep trying', but the instant they realize they are treading on another man's 'territory,' they back off." She huffed. "It can be infuriating." It felt satisfying when Sunset laughed, and she shook her head. "However, I think we're off topic here..."
The teen seemed more relaxed with the banter, which she counted as a win. It made the next bit go smoother. "To summarize, most of your knowledge on sex comes from mainstream media and textbooks, the latter of which is heavy on biology and light on anything more than 'this is how babies happen, don't do it.'" At the nod of agreement, Cadence continued, "Now, if you'd like to learn more, I do have some materials I can loan you that focus more on the aspects of sexual and emotional intimacy...or I'm happy to answer any questions you want to ask."
"...I like books," Sunset said quietly. "...but...that...doesn't help...with losing control..."
Cadence took a drink from her own mug before she addressed that. "To a certain extent, yes it will...because what you're feeling is completely normal, Sunset, just like I told you before. Sexual desires are a complicated thing, and every person has different things that triggers desire...but desire itself is a normal thing. It's not bad or wrong to feel desire, and doing so does not make you a bad person or some kind of twisted evil monster." She paused as she saw the girl whiten a little, and it hurt to realize she'd hit the nail on the head with her words. Sunset did see herself as a monster for having normal teenage desires.
It was official, she decided. If she ever met Sunset's former guardian, that person was in for a world of hurt--forget the self defense moves from Shining. She'd raid Luna's SCA weapons cache instead. Maybe shove a bardiche where the sun didn't shine.
First though, she needed to focus on the teenager who sat nearby. "I will freely admit, being caught up in the moment with someone you care deeply for, when all the kisses and touches makes your heart race and it feels hard to breathe...desire at that moment can feel like you are losing control...because in a way you are. You're letting go...and...like you said earlier...you're letting someone see the hidden parts of you. You're trusting that they won't look at the things you hide away from the world and laugh or be disappointed. You're letting them in. Letting them see things most people will never know...and that can definitely feel like you're losing control of yourself and the situation, especially when you're dealing with fear or shame about some of those aspects of your identity." Her hand reached out to steady the shaking ones holding a coffee mug, her voice as soothing as she could make it. "But let me ask a very important question. When you woke up, let's say you had followed through with your desire from your dream...but when Twilight woke up she said, 'Sunset, stop, I don't like that.' What would you have done?"
"I...would have tried to stop. I promised her I'd never hurt her like that..." There was another of those distressed sounds from Sunset. "...but what if I couldn't? If I really lost control?" Her voice grew even smaller. "Bad things happen when I lose control. I hurt po--people."
Thinking about what Luna had told her about Sunset, about comments Twilight had made, and about what the adults had put together from Shining's findings, Cadence was starting to get a better picture of Sunset, and it was heartbreaking. Even the girl's own words were painting a painful picture of the kinds of things the girl would have to have been told to internalize an attitude like that. It wasn't 'people get hurt,' it was 'I hurt people.' "Sunset..." She chose her words carefully. "...while I believe you, like any person, have the capacity for terrible violence, the Sunset I've come to know, the person my Ladybug adores, is compassionate and considers other peoples' feelings with an empathy and care beyond her years. No matter what people may have blamed you for in the past, you are a good person, deep down." Cadence winked. "Twily is very vocal about that."
Sunset sagged, discarding her cup again, this time to hug the blanket tighter around her shoulders. "Twilight's got a weird bias," she mumbled.
"Almost like you showed her the real you from the get go," Cadence pointed out. "A bad person doesn't jump into a fight against physically stronger opponents and terrible odds for a complete stranger." She scooted closer, and hugged Sunset around the shoulders. "You are more than you've been convinced you are, and we see that, even if you aren't ready to yet."
Hands clutched at the blanket, but Sunset leaned into the hug for a minute. "...I'm trying...I want to be someone Twilight can be proud of. I want...I want to show her that being my friend wasn't a mistake."
The woman shook her head. "She will never consider being your friend a mistake. You've changed her life--are changing her life, with every day that goes by." Idly, she ran her fingers through Sunset's hair, the same way she had done when Twilight was little, and the way Velvet had done for all of the children under her care over the years. "She talks about you all the time, you know. I haven't had a single conversation with her since you two met that hasn't involved her talking about you at some point."
That got a tiny, lopsided little smile out of Sunset. "...nerd..." she murmured with affection. "...I can only imagine what she's said."
"Can't tell you. Big-sister confidentiality." The grin on her face coaxed a stronger smile out of the teen. "The point is, you are being a little too harsh on yourself. I don't believe for a single second that if Twilight asked you to stop, that you wouldn't do everything in your power to do so."
She considered something else that she had noticed. "...I'm also beginning to wonder if this loss of control is not the problem but a symptom."
Sunset's full attention was on her now, and she pulled out of the hug to turn towards Cadence more fully. "What do you mean?"
She answered with another question. "When you 'control' your emotions, what do you do?"
Brows furrowed. "It's like fire...under my skin...wanting to burn out and explode...so I...pull it in, and..." she made an obscure gesture with her hands, "...I push it down deeper, so it doesn't explode...deep, like into my bones...wrap myself around it until it stops trying to get out. Eventually, I can calm down and it stops."
Just as she thought. "Do you ever take the emotion out to figure out why you felt that way?"
"Um...sometimes? If I'm alone I can do that...but it's not usually too complicated...." Sunset grimaced. "It's pretty easy to figure out what made me angry."
Sighing, Cadence thought for a minute about how best to explain it. "I...think that might be part of the problem. You are suppressing your emotions, and then never working through them. Is it safe to assume you do the same 'squish it down until it stops' technique with your recent desires for Twilight?" At the slow nod, Cadence tapped her fingers on her knees. "That's...not exactly healthy, Sunset. Containing volatile emotions in the moment to keep them from getting away from you is a reasonable response, but you still need to deal with them eventually. Otherwise they build up until you can't contain them any more and they have nowhere to go but out."
The teenager looked away, staring at the wall. "I've been trying to be better about stuff like that. It's why I asked for space last week. I had to fix all the stuff that got stirred up in my head." She chewed absently on a thumbnail. "...it...helped...some."
Cadence could work with that. "Alright...so let's look at your desires for Twilight. You said it's a mutual desire for physical intimacy between the two of you?"
Sunset's cheeks turned red. "...yeah. We talked a bit last night...but I'm...not ready...there's just so much about it...about me...about what it means. I want to, so bad it hurts sometimes..." Her voice was shaky and she wouldn't look at Cadence, shoulders slumped like the weight of the world rested on them. "...but it means things I don't know if I..."
She had that million mile stare again, and Cadence wondered briefly if she was even aware entirely of what she was saying. "It means this thing between her and I is more than I ever thought it could be...it means I want this, want her, maybe forever..." she paused, and when she spoke again, it was words voiced so softly they were almost inaudible. "It means telling her everything about me, including all the things I've been avoiding...It means never going home again..."
The pain in that whisper was almost tangible, and Cadence's heart twisted in empathy for the redheaded girl seated beside her. While it wasn't the first time--nor would it likely bet the last--that she heard that kind of pain from someone, they usually weren't someone she was as close to as she had become to Sunset Shimmer, who in many ways she was coming to think of in the same ways thought about Twilight: as a younger sister with whom she could share sisterly laughter and secrets with, someone whose successes and joys she could celebrate, whose sorrows and suffering she could help alleviate with hugs and copious amounts of ice cream and chocolate. There was little that she could offer in this matter though, beyond pulling her into a tight hug. "Oh, Sunset...I wish there was a magic way to make this better, I really do, because I'm guessing that wherever your home before this was, it is not in a place where you can be open about your relationship with Twilight."
When the body in her arms stiffened, she hastened to reassure Sunset that her privacy was still respected. "You don't have to tell me where, or any of the details as to why. I just want you to remember what we said at Christmas and last night. You have a home here, with this family, with Twilight and her parents and Shining and me too, for as long as you want it. I know it doesn't undo the past or change it, but I hope that it does help...and for what it's worth, that part of your life and your past won't always be as bad as it feels right now."
Sunset made a sound like she was choking on a laugh. "No...no...I couldn't take Sparky there...that would end in a huge disaster, for so many reasons." She let out a breath. "...and knowing I'm welcome here...it doesn't solve the problem. I don't want to make a choice--it's...No matter what choice I make, I lose...and I feel like I'm running out of time."
Cadence tilted her head, feeling a little confused, "Why do you feel that way?"
Blue-green eyes finally looked back and met Cadence's gaze, tired and strained by far more than just the current topic. "...I...I'm not good with temptation," she admitted at last. "...I'm fighting with myself every time I'm with her to not just...go through with it and take it that far...and on top of that...there are things I...things I need to tell Twilight that I've been putting off, because I'm not ready, because like I said, then it's real..." It wasn't much of an answer, and it was abundantly clear that Sunset was avoiding disclosing something at the core of the whole knotted up mess.
Once again, Cadence had to consider her approach, not wanting to destroy the rapport that had formed during the conversation by pushing too hard about what Sunset was going out of her way not to share. "Maybe we can look at this from a different angle? What's the worst possible outcome that you believe could happen, if you were to give into temptation?"
The redheaded girl stopped, her expression twisting up with contemplation as she genuinely considered the question. "...besides sex?"
Cadence nodded encouragingly. "Yes, besides the fact that you would have engaged in some kind of sexual intimacy. What are the possible bad things that doing this could cause?" She laughed softly. "I know it might seem a little strange, but sometimes verbalizing what has you tied up in knots can help you see it from another angle. Do you think you can try that for me?"
"I can try..." Sunset's brow furrowed in thought. "It...it would mean that I've made my choice, even if I didn't actively make the choice. It would mean that I...have to tell her the...things I've been avoiding talking about, because she...she would deserve to know about it. It would mean...coming clean to her about all of my past, about everything, even the stuff I've only touched on before." Despite the curiously detached manner in which she spoke, Sunset Shimmer was trembling all over, minute muscle twitches that made her seem about ready to bolt.
One hand started to rub slow, soothing circles on Sunset's back, as Cadence mulled over the response. "...Okay, so for you, having sex means that you've chosen Twily over the past, and that you feel you'll need to be completely honest with her about that past. I can't see anything there to really disagree with--honesty and communication with your partner are two of the fundamental foundations of any healthy relationship." Voice still gentle, she continued after giving that a minute to sink in, "It seems like something about doing that is extremely terrifying for you, Sunset. Do you think you can explain to me why it frightens you, what about it is so upsetting?"
"....Because it could change everything. Because it could cost me everything. I...I don't know if Sparky will still want me once she knows the truth of who I am....and if...if that happens after everything, after I've gone that far...made that choice..." There was something broken in that hanging thought, something full of fear and the potential for despair.
She tilted the redhead's face up to look at her. "Sunset, I've known Twily since she was born, and I am very confident that she would never, ever do something like that to you." Cadence tried to inject a little levity into the situation, "Even if you were to turn out to secretly be a princess in disguise, Sunset, on the run from movie-style bad guys and shady government agencies... I promise, it wouldn't change you being important to this family, or how much we all love you. Especially Twilight."
There was a biting harshness to clipped words. "I'm no princess. I've proven more than once that I will never deserve a title like that." Sunset picked up her coffee mug, drinking deeply. "...but how can you be so sure it won't ruin everything?"
It was time to put some cards on the table. "...because...I know how you feel. I know what it's like to be afraid that you're going to lose a friendship because of the complicated mess that sex and secrets creates."
Sunset looked at her oddly. "I was under the impression you and Shining have been together longer than Twilight's been alive."
"I'm not talking about Shining."
The silence in the room was so total that it was almost oppressive. She forced herself to clear her throat and explain. "I...felt that way once about my best friend...afraid that one night of lost control and confessed secrets was going to mean I would no longer have her in my life." Cadence smiled faintly at the memories that she now looked back on with amused fondness. "But...like your friendship with Twilight, it was made of stronger stuff...and our desire to remain friends was stronger than anything that could tear us apart--it was certainly stronger than a six pack of cheap beer and some brownies laced with more than just chocolate chips."
Cadence could tell she had Sunset's attention now. "Think honestly about your friendship with Twilight, Sunset. Would you turn her away if she told you some deep dark secret about herself?"
"No!" Sunset's response was immediate and intense, like the very thought was offensive.
She tilted her head curiously. "...then do you honestly believe she would do it to you?"
Silence, but this time it was a thoughtful, contemplative one. "You can't let yourself be ruled by fear, Sunset," she encouraged. "If you let fear get a hold of you, it will take your ability to choose away from you. Have a little faith in the people in your life. We love you for who you are, and I can't see any revelation changing that." She nudged her playfully. "It's obvious to all of us that Twilight is totally and completely head over heels for you, and we couldn't be happier about that. You're family, no matter what you do or say, because that's what family means--no matter what kind it is, real love is unconditional, and it persists, even when things are at their worst."
They sat quietly for a long time, Cadence allowing Sunset the chance to think things through. It gave her a chance to finish her coffee, and feel a great deal more awake than she had been. It was interesting to watch the emotions playing across the girl's face, cycling from worried to afraid to angry, before finally settling on something Cadence would call 'determined.' "You're right..." she admitted. "I've been...letting fear rule me..." Blue-green eyes meet Cadence's. "Thanks...for listening...and helping me."
"Do you feel any better?"
The teenager shrugged loosely, but it was missing the coiled tension from before. "...better than I did. I still need to do some thinking about...what I want...and I still don't feel ready...but...I'm not an emotional wreck anymore, at least?"
Cadence reached out to brush some of the tousled curls from Sunset's face, "You'll be ready when you're ready, Sunset, and I promise, you'll know when that is. You won't need anyone to help you there, so try not to let it get to you too much. I'm really glad though, that you felt comfortable enough to come to me with this." She held her arms out, letting the girl choose whether or not to initiate a hug this time, "And I meant what I said before, I'm proud of you for seeking help."
The teenager did hug her, though it was much shorter than one Twilight might've given her. "...Um...I did have something else I wanted to ask. You can say no, and I won't be upset...but...I've been organizing a park beautification project for next weekend with a friend. We're going to try and clean up in the park, and we've gotten permission to install some new animal feeders. Is...there any way you'd be willing to mention it on the radio or something--we've been advertising around school and to neighborhoods where people from school live, but...it's a big project that could really use as many volunteers as we can get to help out."
The pink skinned woman beamed, "Oh, what a wonderful idea! Of course I can! You write down the details, and I'll make sure word gets out. Do volunteers need to bring anything with them, or does your group have supplies organized already?"
"I'll get you the details before I leave today. And...we have all the basics--we've gotten a ton of donations and a bunch of local businesses have chipped in with supplies. They just need to wear old clothes that they don't care if they get messed up or dirty." Sunset smiled. "...one of our groups will be repainting park benches, and others will be picking up trash or hanging animal feeders and bird houses."
Cadence laughed and ruffled Sunset's hair, "That's why I know nothing can change you being part of us. No one who can care about the little things like that could have done something all that terrible in the past." She hopped up, and offered the girl a hand, "Anyway, I feel an urge to make pancakes for breakfast. Want to come help me, then you can surprise Twily with breakfast in bed for the two of you? How does that sound?"
Sunset made a strange sound. "...that...sounds wonderful," she answered. "...when I was little...that's what..." she halted awkwardly, then forged ahead. "...my mom would make...I've never managed to find pancakes as good, anywhere...but maybe these'll be close?"
It was small, but it was progress, and Cadence would take it. "We can give it a go, and even if it's not quite the same, I'm sure pancakes eaten with Twily will have their own sweetness." With an exaggerated wink, she led the way back to the kitchen. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Nineteen: Breakfast in Bed | Sunset balanced the tray carefully so she could open the door to Twilight's room. It was a challenge; breakfast for two was fairly cumbersome, particularly when she had to balance the heavily loaded tray with one arm so her free hand could twist the knob. Several failed tries where her movements almost unsettled the tray and she had to let go of the door to stabilize the food made her long for her telekinetic abilities. Hands had some definitive bonuses, however, multiple object manipulation was not one of them--as a unicorn, she could juggle carrying a few dozen heavy objects in varying, complex orbits and patterns, as well as never spill a drop from a rapidly moving porcelain tea service and never even blink.
All the same, she managed, shutting the door behind her with a hip...though that part was more accidental than anything because of how she had to maneuver herself through the doorway with the delicious smelling breakfast. The sound of it shutting caused Twilight to stir in the bed, purple eyes blinking owlishly around, one hand fumbling to find her glasses. Chuckling, Sunset set the tray on the desk. "Easy, Sparky," she murmured. "Here..." She picked up the glasses that had been on the nightstand on her side of the bed, sliding them onto the other girl's face. "You fell asleep with them on last night after our talk. I took them off so you wouldn't mess them up."
There was still a little twinge of discomfort in her guts when she thought about the night before, but it was rapidly dissolving away before the eyes staring at her with so much affection in them. "Thanks," Twilight responded, sitting up further. "You're up early..."
"No, I'm not, nerd," Sunset countered. "You're up late. It's almost ten AM." She couldn't help the smirk that played across her features, especially when Twilight whipped her head around to check her alarm clock in surprise.
"I never sleep this late..."
Sunset sat on her side of the bed, leaning over to twine their fingers together. "Hey," she found herself saying, automatically trying to make her girlfriend relax a little. "You had a rough week, Sparky, and you said yourself you didn't sleep well. You needed to rest."
The dark haired girl shifted closer, tilting her face up to brush Sunset's lips with a featherlight kiss. "I always sleep better when you're here," she whispered, voice soft and eyes bright.
A shiver passed through the former unicorn, and she reflexively clamped down on the stirring magic that wanted to respond to the emotions. "And I'll be here anytime you need me, Sparky."
A lavender skinned hand came up, tucking some of her hair behind her ear before pressing a palm against her cheek. She nuzzled into the touch, her lips quirking into a smile, and realized she shouldn't have been worried. Despite the rough night she'd had, it hadn't ruined their closeness, or the feelings of affection and trust between them. Twilight still occupied this special place within her mind and heart that made her different from any other human or pony Sunset had ever known. Cadence's words played through her mind, and she exhaled slowly. She wasn't going to let fear paralyze her anymore.
"Sunny?" Twilight's voice broke her out of her introspection. "Are you okay?" The hand pressed to her cheek shifted, fingertips stroking delicately against her skin.
"Yeah..." she responded, her own hand tangling into Twilight's loose hair so she could drag her forward. Covering her girlfriend's lips with her own, she stopped fighting against the rising hunger in her soul quite so fiercely, letting it influence how she explored Twilight's mouth with a playful tongue, the surprised squeak from the other teen becoming an eager whine.
That sound echoed in more than her ears and she pressed forward even more, until they tumbled back against the pillows, wanting--no, needing--to hear more sounds like that from her companion. Her mouth reluctantly parted from kiss-bruised lips, but she found other places to press it, nibbling and dragging her teeth against the smooth, soft skin of Twilight's throat, each playful love bite eliciting another of those whimpering noises...and when she made her way to the place where neck and shoulder met, she bit down lightly, on flesh already marred by a mark from the night before. That action drew a gasping cry from her Sparky, and eager hands tugged her back up to crash their mouths together again.
They broke for air when they could no longer fight the burning in their lungs, and Sunset finally pushed back the urges into the corner of her mind, dazedly panting. Blue-green eyes met purple ones that were equally dazed and passion-drunk, and Twilight let out a little puzzled noise. "Sunny...you taste like strawberries..."
Strawberries? Why...oh. Right. Oops.
Sunset rolled off her girlfriend and back into a seated position. "Um...right, because..." she stammered, before twisting to retrieve the tray. "I made us breakfast. Well....Cadence and I made breakfast, but I wanted to bring it to you and surprise you?" Heat made her ears--thankfully still human--burn with a bit of embarrassment.
Twilight adjusted herself so she was sitting up with her back against the headboard. "That was sweet, but you never get up early. Are you sure you're okay?"
"...yeah, I am now," Sunset said, scooting to join her so they could share the breakfast tray. "I woke early--I was really stuck in my own head, all twisted up, ya know? I went to get some coffee, and Cadence was there. We ended up talking and she...she gave me some good advice, made me realize a few things." She gave the dark haired girl one of her crooked smiles. "I realized I've been letting fear control me, letting it make some choices for me...and that's not who I am."
Twilight gave a nod, then looked down at the plate Sunset was offering her, piled up with heart shaped pancakes, real butter and a light coating of syrup drizzled over it, with an arrangement of sliced strawberries around the base of the fluffy stack, all of them trimmed into heart shapes. Curious eyes flitted back to Sunset, who blushed. "Cadence showed me how to cut them like that. I made the pancakes though...it's a recipe from when I was little. She loved to make pancakes for breakfast, since she always got up with the Sun." The former unicorn was proud of herself; she was getting better with talking about those early moments without the heart wrenching longing and ache that had plagued her for years. "....Do...do you like it?"
Twilight leaned over to kiss her cheek. "It looks delicious, Sunset, and it means a lot that you used a recipe that has such a special connection to your childhood...that you wanted to share something special like that with me."
Pleasure warmed Sunset's heart as she watched her girlfriend dig into the meal with even more than her usual enthusiasm, fighting the urge to laugh. Twilight always seemed to eat like it was going to be taken away from her if she didn't finish it fast enough (so did Shining Armor, now that Sunset considered it), and Sunset wondered where she'd acquired that habit. Still, the fact that she seemed to really enjoy the pancakes she was rapidly decimating into a few crumbs and sticky syrup puddles made her feel accomplished, and she turned her attention to her own breakfast, her stomach reminding her irritably that it too desired food.
For a long few minutes, there was only the sound of silverware on plates as the two teenagers made short work of the meal. Once both had finished eating, Sunset stacked the plates back on the tray and put it back on the desk so it was out of the way. When she turned back, she found Twilight studying her intently. "What? Do I have something on my face?"
"No...I'm just...wondering what it is that you were afraid of, and..." she bit her lip worriedly, "...and why you didn't say anything to me? Did I do something wrong?"
Sunset blinked, then reached out to put an arm around Twilight's shoulder, pulling the smaller body close to her side. "No!" she told her urgently, resting her forehead against dark hair. "You did nothing wrong, Sparky, and I don't want you thinking that! You have been nothing but patient and accepting of everything about me that is strange and backwards and messed up."
"You're not messed up, Sunny," Twilight responded firmly. "You're you, and it's you that I care about." Her fingers found Sunset's, lacing them together and squeezing. "But if it wasn't something I did, what were you afraid of?"
That was the million bit question she still wasn't ready to explain. She needed a little more time to get her thoughts in order, preferably at home alone, where Twilight's....everything...wasn't slowly driving her to distraction. The redhead fidgeted a little, trying to focus."I...I'm not ready to tell you yet," she admitted at last. "Not about that, or about...well...everything I haven't told you about me. I'm...just not quite there, but...I'm getting there." She gave the other girl a solemn look, "I promise, when I am ready, I'm going to tell you everything. No holding back, no secrets, everything about the screwed up life of Sunset Shimmer, yours to know...Just...give me a little more time?"
Her girlfriend stared at her blanket covered toes for a long time, brow pinched and eyes narrowed, before she blew a frustrated breath out between her lips. Sunset had to swallow a giggle at just how pony-like the sound was, before tilting Twilight's face towards hers and kissing her softly. "I promise, Sparky, okay?"
"I know...and I meant what I said last night about waiting until you were ready--that goes for this as much as anything else really," the lavender skinned girl said finally, eyes wandering to the picture frame on her desk where the colorful flowers could be seen still announcing their secret message in bright colors. "I...just...I hate knowing that I don't know something...but that's what Doctor Soft-Spoken calls a 'me thing.' Not having an answer I know exists to a question does things to my brain, because when that happens all it wants is to figure out the answer."
She gave Sunset a sheepish smile. "I was even worse when I was younger, because I didn't understand the concept of personal privacy and social boundaries. It took Mom and Dad a long time to teach me how to realize when someone didn't feel comfortable with something...and I still miss the cues sometimes when I get fixated on something...which you've seen."
Chuckling, the former unicorn nuzzled her affectionately, dropping another kiss on lips that tasted faintly of syrup and strawberries. "It's fine, Sparky. Most of the time, your enthusiasm is kinda cute. And...again, it's complicated, but I don't want to let my issues keep getting in the way of being as close to you as I really want to."
Purple eyes searched hers intently, a faint blush rising in Twilight's cheeks as she ascertained exactly how Sunset meant those words, and she stumbled over her next sentence. "...You...and...but...I..."
"Sparky, breathe, and try that again. I only speak one language here, not whatever that was," she teased.
Twilight gave her a long look, but it was hard for Sunset to find it intimidating in any way when the smaller girl was blushing to the roots of her hair. Composing herself, her girlfriend tried talking again. "I just want to make sure you don't feel pressured--last night was...intense...and even though I told you we could go at your pace...I...know I was a little pushy last night." She glanced away, then back. "...but if you really wanted...to...advance things further physically...I would...enjoy that a great deal."
Swallowing the flicker of nervousness, Sunset pressed her face into the crook of Twilight's neck, kissing that sensitive spot that never failed to get a reaction. "I...think I'd like to..." Her fingers trailed down the other girl's arms, then back up to her shoulders, before moving down to her hips, all so she could tug her girlfriend into her lap. Twilight went willingly, blankets left behind as she sat facing Sunset, smiling brightly. Amber skinned fingers found the place where Twilight's pajama top had ridden up, exposing her stomach, running over the skin there, Sunset taking in not only how Twilight reacted, but how she herself did. The flesh quivered beneath the pads of her fingers--for once, Sunset definitely appreciated human anatomy over her pony body's limitations, because sweet sunlight, fingers were wonderful!
She leaned back on the pillows so she could watch Twilight as her hand crept higher. "Is...is this okay? Going under the shirt?" she asked, placing her palms flat against a lavender skinned stomach, scant inches below the bottom of Twilight's breasts, watching for any sign of discomfort.
Something twitched across Twilight's face, too fast for Sunset to identify it, but she melted into the touch. "I...I love it when you touch me, Sunny..." she confessed. Pupils blown wide, cheeks still flushed, she rested her hands over Sunset's. "Please...don't stop?"
The echo of the needy, desperate pleas from the night before made Sunset's nerve endings burn, and she had to take a few heartbeats to breathe and make sure her grip on her magic was secure--this would be an absolutely terrible time to sprout pony ears. Her hands felt steadier than they should have been, her thumbs ghosting along the bottom curve of Twilight's breasts, blue-green eyes focused entirely on the girl in her lap. Twilight's back arched slightly, a shaking sigh escaping parted lips, and from the angle she had ended up at, Sunset realized she could see the definitive outline of nipples distorting the fabric of the dark haired girl's shirt. "Still good?" she murmured, though she was fairly confident in what the answer would be.
Nodding, Twilight shifted and squirmed, leaning into the touch. The redhead felt the goofy grin quirk her lips upward into a lopsided smile, savoring the expression on her companion's face and the way the soft, pliant flesh felt when her hands moved higher. Experimentally, she squeezed just a little, trying to work out exactly what would feel good for her girlfriend. She hadn't done much more than squeeze them through the shirt last night, which was not helpful in figuring out where all the sensitive spots were. It also didn't help that she couldn't remember any time that she manhandled her own breasts where it felt like much of anything, so she was still a little dubious on how they could possibly be some kind of erogenous zone. The quiet gasp when her fingers pressed into them confirmed that, at the very least, she was doing something right, and the way that Twilight's hands found purchase on her shoulders, grip tightening when her thumbs flicked over her nipples made it very apparent that Twilight was enjoying herself. Confidence growing and a heated knot of desire settling into her center, Sunset set to exploring every inch of Twilight's breasts with the intense focus that she brought to bear on every important task she'd ever encountered.
She found it difficult to keep her concentration a few minutes later, when the hands on her shoulders found their way down her sides, the tips of lavender fingers brushing against the bottom of her shirt, occasionally finding a bit of exposed skin where the fabric had shifted. The touch was gentle, careful, and she realized dimly that it remained firmly in a place where Twilight had touched before, never progressing further. Her heart ached from the emotions swelling in it, all for the human Twilight Sparkle, who, even in the midst of such a moment, was trying to remain respectful of Sunset's comfort level.
The lopsided smile brightened as she pulled her hands free of Twilight's shirt. When the other girl whined in disappointment, pulling her own hands back and looking worried that something was wrong, Sunset tugged one of Twilight's hands to her lips, kissing the palm. "You're okay, Sparky, really," she soothed. "I...um...I just thought you might like...that maybe it would be easier if..." She knew she was completely red in the face now, her voice failing her as she found herself unable to put what she was trying to communicate into spoken words. Giving up on explaining that way, the former unicorn lifted herself up off the pillows she'd reclined against just enough so that she could lift her shirt up and drop it onto Twilight's currently vacant side of the bed.
Cool air made goosebumps rise along bare amber skin, but the chill was worth it as she took in the sight of wide purple eyes drinking her in with something akin to awe. "Oh," Twilight managed in a squeaky voice. Sunset relaxed back against the pillows once more, Twilight's reaction so typical of her nerdy girlfriend that she almost burst into laughter..
When it didn't seem like Twilight could muster the cognitive ability to do more than stare, Sunset tugged at her hand again, this time bringing it to rest just over where her heart pounded in her chest. "You...you can...touch...if you want. I..." she took a breath, drawing strength from the familiar hand and its warmth seeping into her.
The action brought Twilight back to reality, and she tore her gaze away from Sunset's chest, meeting her eyes with concern that had quickly banked the arousal. "Are you sure, Sunny?"
"I... I'm okay, Sparky." She exhaled, the breath shaky on its exit from her lungs. "I'm making this choice on my own, no pressure. I want to do this right now." It was still a struggle to hold both magic and the fire in her veins in check, but she could manage, enough to take this step. She was Sunset Shimmer, and she wasn't going to be beaten by her own insecurities and fears.
Twilight leaned forward to rest their foreheads together. "At any point, if you say stop, I'll stop. Don't hesitate to do so if it becomes too much, or if you don't like it."
Even after months of the gesture, even with the lack of a horn on either of them, Sunset still felt the rush of good feeling and emotional intimacy from the sensation of their foreheads touching. "I know," she responded. "I trust you."
The girl in her lap kissed her sweetly, little, light, short brushes of their lips coming together, while her hands snaked around Sunset's body. There she ran her hands up and down Sunset's back, mapping and exploring the contours, angles, and curves with slow and careful touch, almost like she was painting a mental picture of how amber skin would look when she moved. Much like a blind woman might use her hands to 'see' Twilight let hers slowly move outward from Sunset's spine as they strafed up and back down in a light caress, eventually bringing them to ghost up Sunset's sides.
The redhead dropped her head back against the pillows, her senses consumed by the feeling of those hands on her back sending hot tingles through her nerve endings. Her breath came in short pants, in between kisses, she found herself grinning that silly smile against her companion's mouth. "...wow..." she managed, before giggling goofily.
Twilight's hands came up Sunset's sides again, but this time she let her thumbs stretch out and run in a gentle arc against the sides and bottom of Sunset's breasts, just as Sunset had done to her only minutes before. Blue-green eyes went wide and a weird noise burbled up from her throat, her brain registering tactile sensations that were completely new. Twilight immediately stopped, concern taking precedence over physical desire.
"Sunny? You okay?"
Sunset was quiet for a moment, mulling over her response to the touch and how it made her feel. Then she nodded, releasing a slow, somewhat shaky breath. "Yeah," she confirmed, her voice catching, "...that was...new. Very new. I wasn't expecting it to feel...good. I've never felt much of anything when I've handled them."
"Did you want me to keep going?" Twilight asked carefully. "Or did you want to stop?"
Did she want her to stop? A tiny part of her said yes, but the heat building in her core that was starting to feel like fire in her veins demanded more, and the magic she was spending so much time trying to understand, the very magic that Twilight was doggedly researching and pursuing, that magic thrummed in harmony with her emotions and encouraged the desires in her heart. "I...don't want you to stop...not yet. Keep...keep going, Sparky. I'm okay."
Those hands moved again, calloused fingertips tracing the curves of her breasts, palms gently cupping and supporting their weight. Sunset bit back a groan, arching into Twilight's hands. "Ooooh...yeah. Waaay different...but....aaah...way better..." she panted, before kissing Twilight, hard, to make sure the shorter girl knew how much she liked it.
When they parted, Twilight lightly pinched her nipples between index finger and thumb, making Sunset gasp. "Would you...be alright if I tried something a little different, Sunny?"
She restrained herself just barely from making the noise that her pony instincts wanted her to make, knowing that not only was it nigh impossible with her current vocal chords but would probably freak Twilight out. Sunset settled for making a throaty sound instead. "...o...okay..."
Twilight shifted in her lap, sliding her body down slowly, which made Sunset angle her head down to watch in confusion. Purple eyes met hers once Twilight was level with her chest, and all rational thoughts vanished from her mind a half a heartbeat later.
Discord's mismatched horns! Suddenly the human interest in teats made more sense than she would've cared to admit; the hot mouth that had closed around her nipple sent signals to her brain that made her feel like every nerve ending was hypersensitive, and the only thing that stopped her from crying out loudly was the quick act of biting down on two of her knuckles. And when that same mouth began to apply sucking pressure, tugging and teasing on its prisoner? Sweet sunfire flooded her veins, making her feel lightheaded and hot, like she was charging her magic without the intent to release it as a spell. Nothing short of gagging her could've stopped the sounds that fell unbidden from her lips, a babbling mess of pleas, groans, moans, and gasps, intermixed with things that might've been words, drawn forth as the dark haired girl switched from one breast to the other and then back again.
When Twilight finally slid back up, Sunset was shaking and trembling, limp on the pillows and struggling to catch her breath. Purple eyes danced with affection and humor, as her hand came to rest against Sunset's cheek, and she drew in close to kiss her. "...was that okay?" she asked shyly.
It took her pleasure-addled brain a minute to comprehend the question being asked. "Was that...oh, Sparky," she chuckled breathlessly, before tilting her head and snaking an arm around Twilight's back so she could drop a searing kiss on the mouth that had worked magic on her. "...that was...amazing. You're amazing."
For several more minutes, Sunset allowed herself to indulge in the way the intimacy and closeness made her heart race, the way Twilight whimpered against her when she slid amber skinned hands back up under her shirt. Just as she had managed to wrestle Twilight's shirt off, leaving them pressed together with skin on skin from the waist up, there was a knock on the door that almost made them both jump right out of their skins.
Twilight froze in Sunset's arms, eyes wide and fearful. Sunset nuzzled her. "Hey...it's okay. Breathe, Sparky."
"Girls?" Cadence's voice calling through the door made Twilight relax.
"Um...yes...?" Twilight asked nervously.
The door opened a crack, enough for Cadence to poke her head in, the one hand shielding her eyes. "Ladybug, I know you've got decent insulation in the walls, but...if you don't want Mom and Dad to clue in about you and Sunset, you might want to keep it down. They can't hear anything downstairs, but it sounded like you were watching amateur porn from out here in the hall."
Twilight whined in mortification, burying her face in Sunset's chest. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Twenty: Indulgence | After Cadence's interruption, Twilight had slipped out of bed to lock the door, before crawling back under the covers and returning to her place curled up on top of Sunset. Hopefully the lock would prevent anyone from barging in; with her sister-in-law's reminder, she didn't want to push her luck and get caught by her parents making out with her best friend, both of them bare from the waist up. She just wasn't quite ready to end the quiet, deeply emotional and intimate moment with her fiery maned paramour, not when it was helping Sunset work through some of her thoughts and feelings.
She rested her cheek on Sunset's chest, the feel of warm skin sending a tingle through her body, close enough that if she tilted her face up and Sunset tilted hers down, they could continue their kissing. Which they did, long, slow exchanges that let them explore each other in new ways that they hadn't before. Twilight was pleased by the faint mark she'd left on Sunset's collarbone, low enough that her shirts would cover it, and by the way Sunset was pressing kisses to skin that had so far gone unmarked by the touch of her lips. Amber skinned arms wrapped around her, holding her tightly, the other teen also in no hurry to cut this shared affection short. The heat of Sunset's body contrasted with the cooler air of her bedroom, making her shiver and snuggle further into her girlfriend's embrace.
"Cold?" Sunset breathed in her ear, causing a shudder from something other than cold.
"Maybe a little," was the admission that followed.
Sunset pulled the blankets up further, creating a cozy cocoon around them, making Twilight sigh in happiness. "Thank you, Sunny." She leaned up to press a kiss to the corner of her mouth. "How do you feel? Still okay and comfortable with everything?"
Quiet reigned for a few minutes, Sunset trying to gather her thoughts. Her brows furrowed and her nose scrunched up in the process. "...I didn't know it would feel so...so..." The redhead shrugged, seeming to lack a way to describe what it felt like.
Twilight let a happy little sound escape her, content in the way she was surrounded by Sunset's warm touch and pleasant scent. It made her rub her cheek against where it rested, hearing the steady heartbeat speed up when she did so. "I liked it too," she offered quietly. "It was..." Blood rushed to her cheeks. "I...I've always...had this idea of...the kind of person I wanted to be with, way longer than I've known you..."
Blue-green eyes watched her curiously, and she found herself stumbling a bit over her words. "It...you...you're everything I've ever thought about wanting...in every fantasy...every dream..." Twilight felt like she was going to combust from how hot her face felt. "...Like this, right here, with you holding me and touching me and..."
Sunset's expression was soft and filled with surprised wonder, her fingers stroking through dark hair, tucking some of it behind her ear. "...you think about me like that?" she asked, her voice trembling and husky with emotion.
"More than you know," Twilight responded honestly. "You're gorgeous, smart, funny...when you hold me like this, I feel safe, wanted...when I'm with you I don't feel awkward or strange or like something is wrong with me. You get me, like no one else, and you always seem to know just what I need, before I even tell you..." She tilted her face up to smile at Sunset.
Leaning forward, the redheaded girl kissed her, a short, sweet kiss that ended far too soon for Twilight's liking. Sunset's eyes danced with...an undefinable something in their depths, before a hand slipped between their bodies, a calloused thumbpad rubbing over her nipple, drawing a whimper from her, the heady need for more of that touch making her squirm. "Sunny..."
"You really imagined someone like me...doing things like this to you?" The tone was playful, teasing, but Twilight knew there was something more serious underlying the question, that Sunset needed the knowledge the answer held, even if Twilight found it embarrassing to admit to the years of daydreams and fantasies aloud.
"This...and more..." Her face must have been glowing from how hot it felt. "So much more..."
Sunset shifted under her, those dexterous fingers coaxing another whimper from her throat. "Tell me..?" she asked, her voice barely more than a whisper, and Twilight could finally put a name to what she saw in those eyes: fear, hope, longing, desire...
She found herself answering in a flustered rush, falling back on her old safety net of science and logic. "It's...many adolescents fantasize while learning about their sexuality, and most of the time they begin vaguely formless with only basic ideas of pleasure. I was different--I already knew that I was noticing other girls and I never looked at boys like Cady looked at Shining, so all of the fantasies I've ever imagined had another female in them, and she was always a certain kind of person...held me, made me feel safe and special and wasn't turned off by my intellect or the parts of my brain that just don't work the way that everyone else's does...I've always imagined her as someone who didn't mind taking the lead so I can just stop overthinking everything all the time and ever since I met you, all I see when I close my eyes and think about those things is you, and it makes me want you so bad that you're in my every fantasy and dream--do you have any idea how many times I've dreamed about you pushing me up against a shelf in a library, or on a blanket under the stars?" Twilight ran out of air, forcing her to suck in a breath, and allowing her to get a handle on her thoughts before they ran away with her.
Her girlfriend licked her lips. "A...library, huh?" she managed. "Sparky, you're such a nerd...even your fantasies are nerdy..."
The familiarity of the words brought back her dream from the night before, of heat and passion and glowing not-quite-right-but-still-familiar blue-green eyes, of Sunset pressing her hard into the library shelving and a bed of old paperbacks, teasing her, dominating and assertive in all the right ways to make Twilight's heart race and her breath catch. There was only one response she could give, pressed together intimately as they were. "Maybe," she said with a shy and affectionate smile, echoing her own words in the dream. "...but I'm your nerd, Sunset Shimmer...and right now? That's all I want to be..."
The sharp intake of breath, and wide, blue-green eyes fixed on her told her just how thoroughly Sunset had been affected by her response. She scooted a little further up to rest her forehead against Sunset's. "I mean it, Sunny. I'm yours."
A hand found its way to the back of her neck, and she was being kissed, hard and rough, Sunset's tongue exploring her mouth. The hands on her kept her where Sunset wanted--not that Twilight was interested in getting away. She melted into the aggressive, hungry embrace of her companion, happy to surrender and let the other girl indulge in kissing her senseless. It was enough to make her heart pound and her ears ring...
She whined in frustration when Sunset broke the kiss, and tried to beg her with pleading eyes to not stop, never stop, to kiss her and hold her until the heat death of the universe and beyond...but the ringing was interrupting her attempts to seduce her girlfriend into more kisses.
Hold on...what was the source of that ringing?
"Sparky..." Sunset panted. "Your cell's going off."
Crap. Why now? Twilight half rolled off Sunset to reach the phone on her nightstand. She blinked in surprise at the name on the screen. "It's my cousin," she mumbled as Sunset pulled her back into a cuddle.
"So answer it," was the reply, Sunset tucking her face into Twilight's neck. "Put it on speaker. I want to meet this cousin of yours that apparently was the one not-snob at your family reunion."
Since it seemed the moment was broken, she answered the phone call. "Glamour?" she asked, puzzled.
"Twi!" the perky voice of her cousin called. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything important!"
"Um...not really? Sunset and I just finished breakfast." She was proud of herself for managing to keep her voice level. Especially with Sunset kissing her neck like that.
"Oh! Sunset's there? Put me on speaker!" Glamour Shot's voice sounded again, this time away from the phone to answer a voice in the background. "It's Twilight, Tiger, and Sunset too! Come say hi!"
Sunset pulled her face away from Twilight's neck to mouth 'Tiger?' with a perplexed expression. Twilight responded with a shrug.
There was some shuffling on the other end of the call, and a much grumpier, raspy voice bickering with Glamour Shot--"I'm not a zoo attraction, Glam."--before Twilight's eternally perky cousin was back.
"Twi? You still there?"
"Yes, Glamour," she said, shaking her head. "We're here. You're on speaker."
"Ooooh! Hiiii Sunset! It's nice to meet you! I've heard so much about you! Twi raves about you every time we talk!"
Sunset burst out laughing, and she tweaked Twilight's nose playfully. "Is that true, nerd? Do you really talk about me to your cousin?"
"Some?" she squeaked.
"All the time!" Glamour corrected. "Only the good things though!"
Sunset nuzzled Twilight, even as she took a moment to greet Glamour. "So you're the infamous Glamour Shot, the one person that Sparky could tolerate out of a batch of stuffed shirts?" She furrowed her brows. "Thanks for helping her out when she needed it."
"Happy to help! Silver Dollar is a creep, and I wasn't going to leave my favorite cousin alone with him...and Twi, you were right! Her voice is sexy as hell!"
"My voice is what?"
"Glamour!" Twilight cringed. She had let that slip during one of her chats with her cousin, completely by accident.
"You know I'm right here, Glam. Hearing you gush about your cousin's girl...you're lucky I don't do jealousy."
Glamour giggled. "I'm just happy for Twilight, Tiger. You know it's you that I love."
Twilight sighed. "Did you just call to make things awkward?"
"Your cousin's an airhead sometimes, kid. She called because I had an idea, but it's gone in one ear and out of her mind at the first hint of gossip."
A snort of laughter from Sunset interrupted Twilight's response. "Okay, I like your cousin's girlfriend, Sparky."
"That's because you're a connoisseur of sarcasm. It's like fine wine to you," Twilight told her, before addressing the phone once more. "What's this idea?"
Wildsong was quick to explain. "Right. So Glam and I are off starting next Friday for three weeks, because Spring Break here never manages to mesh with Easter, and I was thinking, it's two hours from here to Canterlot City, and from there it's an hour to my hometown, which flies some serious rainbow flags. Whaddya say to us picking you girls up on a Friday or Saturday one of those weekends, and we'll do that double date that Glam has been dying to go on. I know some great places that we'll fit right in, and where I'm from? Nobody knows any of you, so you don't have to worry about outing yourselves."
Uncertainty gnawed at Twilight. On one hand, the idea of being somewhere no one knew her and having an actual date with Sunset sounded like the most wonderful thing in the world. On the other hand, it was still taking a risk, and she was afraid of how people might react to the two of them being together, of it potentially getting back to her family. "....I don't know..."
"C'mon, Twi! It could be a lot of fun! You were just telling me a few weeks ago about how you would like to just be able to relax and not worry when you went on a date! This is our chance to do that, and Song knows all kinds of great places where no one will look at any of us twice." Glamour's tone softened. "You won't be alone either. It'll be a first for me too, and...I know...there's a part of me that's terrified. What if someone sees, what if it gets back to Mom and Daddy? ...but...I can't always live in fear, everywhere I go. It's a hundred and fifty miles from where I go to school, twice that from the estate, and the odds of running into anyone who will recognize me on sight is so low... I'm willing to take a chance, because...I'm tired of feeling like I'm ashamed of who I love. Aren't you?"
Twilight was silent but her brain was buzzing with variables, with potential outcomes, good and bad, chasing down and playing out a hundred different outcomes if she said yes, of all the things that could go right...or wrong. She couldn't focus, and as her mind threw out more and more mental simulations, it forgot to remind her how to breathe right and her lungs were beginning to burn as they started and stopped, failing several times to draw in air and--
"Twilight." The interruption of Sunset's voice broke through the buzzing. "Sparky. You need to breathe. It's alright. Come on, breathe with me so you don't pass out, okay?"
The buzzing was still there, and against it, she thought she could hear worried voices, but Sunset's was the only one that mattered right now. And Sunset was telling her to breathe. She could feel the rise and fall of the body she was laying on, and she tried to focus on copying the pace of that breathing like Sunset wanted her to. Everything else needed to wait.
"That's it." There was a familiar warm hand rubbing circles on her back, and it helped ground her, bring her back down to the tangible world, out of that space inside her own head where she got lost so easily. Sunset was talking to someone else now, and she listened, focusing on her girlfriend's words. "She's okay. It happens sometimes--just give me a minute to bring her around, okay?"
Blue-green eyes were fixed on her, holding her gaze in a way that was hypnotic, and Twilight felt something brush across the very fiber of her being. The buzzing and the panic that it brought began to drain away, and she felt...exhausted, as if she'd been out running instead of spending a lazy day with her girlfriend in bed. She sighed, dropping her head back to Sunset's chest tiredly.
"You back with me, Sparky?" Fingers carded soothingly through her hair, and it felt so good, so right, being held and cared for like this that it made Twilight feel brave. This wonderful girl holding her wasn't a dirty secret, even if she wasn't ready yet to tell her parents, she knew she would be soon.
She gave a small nod. "Sorry..."
Sunset tweaked her nose. "No apologies, remember? I'm here for you, like I promised. Best friends help each other." Twilight could see the worry on her face. "And if you don't want to go, it's okay. I won't be upset, and I'm sure your cousin will understand. This is a big thing for you to decide to do, and if you aren't ready, then I'm not going to force you."
Gnawing on her lower lip, Twilight watched Sunset. "Let's do it. Go on the double date, I mean."
The other teen blinked in surprise. "Are you sure?"
"Glamour is right. We shouldn't be ashamed of who we're with...." Her sudden courage flagged under an errant thought. "...unless...you don't want to?"
That sexy crooked smile was back on Sunset's face. "I'll go anywhere with you, Sparky. Any time, any place...all you have to do is ask me." She raised her voice, "Hear that? I'd say that's a yes!"
"Oh you two are adorable!" Glamour Shot's squeal was reaching Cadence levels of glee, and it made Twilight realize the whole exchange had been broadcast over the phone.
Groaning, she responded with a hunt of a whine, "Glamour...please don't. You're as bad as Cadence."
"I'm sorry, Twi, but you are so sweet together, and I'm excited!" Whatever else Glamour Shot had been about to say was cut off with a startled yelp. "Tiger!"
Wildsong broke in. "Glam, I love you, but your mouth is running off chasing squirrels again. Focus. You can gossip when we pick them up. You'll have them trapped in the car for an hour, completely at your mercy." She cleared her throat. "Which weekend, kids?"
Twilight glanced at Sunset. "It can't be next weekend--don't you have that park event with your friends?"
"Yeah," the redhead nodded. "Next weekend is bad for me, since it's kinda my Christmas present to Fluttershy. While everyone else is picking up trash, I'll be basically coordinating the whole thing and making sure it all runs smoothly. Fluttershy's great, but she's...not so great at things like dealing with bureaucrats or speaking forcefully enough to get anyone to listen to her...but I am. Figure all my years of being a bitch and a tyrant should go to good use, you know? And if I get any kind of break from making sure everything runs smoothly, I'll be helping her figure out where to put up animal feeders for all the small fluffy creatures who live in the park. I expect she'll have me climbing trees like I'm some kind of monkey." Then her eyes lit up. "What about the last weekend? Three weeks from now? That's the big city founders holiday, remember? Everything's closed, they do the parade, and all those events at city hall, the college, all of that? School's closed that Friday, so we could take advantage of the three day weekend."
She had totally forgotten about that, buried as she was in stress and work at school, and some of her frustrations with her research... "That could work..." An idea tickled at her. "Hey, Glamour? Wildsong?"
"Yeah, kid? We can do that Friday if you want."
"You are already off that week, right? What if...you guys drove down on Thursday, and stayed overnight?" Her eyes found Sunset's again. "Sunset could come over after school Thursday too, and we could get up early to leave, make a whole day out of it?"
"Oooo! Do you think we could? Would your parents mind us using a guest room?" Glamour sounded even more excited than before.
"I don't see why not. I have to talk to them about us going, anyway. We can frame it as a friendly social bonding activity--Mom and Dad are always happy to see me engage in those, and they were happy to find out I'd connected with you, Glamour. Mom will probably love having someone new to feed."
Sunset snorted. "That's an understatement. Your mother is the reason I had to replace all of my clothes, Sparky."
"It's not like you're fat, Sunset," Twilight countered. "You were way too thin before, and living off stale cereal, frozen dinners, and takeout. If it weren't for your love of fruit, I'm fairly certain you would have had a vitamin deficiency long before we met."
"I eat just fine! It's just so hard to find quick food that isn't made of plastic or covered in dead cow, and I didn't exactly have a lot of free time when I was evil. Being a horrible bitch and controlling an entire student body took way more time and effort than I realized--I didn't know just how much until I wasn't doing it anymore, and suddenly had time on my hands." Sunset wrinkled her nose. "If I had, maybe I would have stopped being a bitch sooner."
Twilight gave her a quick kiss to stop the self flagellation before it started, and Wildsong asked, "So...full vegan or just vegetarian? A lot of the places in town have options."
Sunset flushed. "I...don't eat anything with hooves," she explained. "I like seafood though." She paused, making a face. "I...don't understand the whole vegan thing, honestly. Fake meat? That stuff is so processed its...not really food anymore, and it smells awful. Dairy substitutes? Have you ever heard a cow complain when they need to get rid of some milk--they aren't quiet. Plus it's impossible to make good baked goods without eggs."
"Eh. It's not for me--I like bacon and eggs way too much. But I can at least respect people who choose to be vegan or vegetarian or whatever, as long as they respect that I choose to eat dead cow. You're chill with me eating a burger at the table, right?"
"Just don't wave it in my face, and there's no problem." Sunset gave Twilight a playful wink. "Sparky though, has to brush her teeth before I'll kiss her."
"It was one time, Sunset Shimmer, and I said I was sorry!" Twilight pouted, but she was also fighting a laugh. It had been awkward and upsetting at the time, but now it was almost a joke.
"I'll have Glam pack the travel size mouthwash just in case then." Wildsong chuckled in amusement.
Glamour giggled. "Oh this is going to be so much fun! I can't wait! We need to get going though--we're getting together with the rest of the floor for a movie marathon this afternoon. Talk to your parents, Twi, and let me know if coming down that Thursday evening is okay?"
Twilight nodded, even though her cousin couldn't see it. "I'll ask them when we take our dishes downstairs, and I'll text you then, Glamour."
"We'll let you two get back to making out. Looking forward to meeting you in person, Twilight, Sunset! Later!"
The phone beeped as the call ended, and she set it to the side. "So...I guess we're going on a double date with my cousin and her girlfriend."
"Yeah. Sounds like." Blue-green eyes sparkled. "Right now though? I'm more interested in doing what she suggested." When Twilight looked at her blankly, Sunset grinned and flipped them so she was on top. "Making out," she murmured in explanation by Twilight's ear, hot breath causing her to shiver. "Thoughts?"
Twilight answered with a kiss. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Twenty One: Iridian Council | Sunset was starting to get used to the concept of a 'working lunch.' She was sitting at a cheap card table that Applejack had brought in, enjoying the scent of the steam wafting off the little container of vegetarian lasagna Mrs. Velvet had sent home with her--she'd be eating good for a while, since her girlfriend's mother had filled her freezer and then some--surrounded by the girls and waiting on the rest of the members of the meeting to arrive. Flash had wandered in a few minutes prior, showing off his most recent math test, and was now deep in discussion with Fluttershy and Rainbow about songwriting. Rarity was reading a book with some very scantily clad humans on the cover in a passionate tangle, and Applejack just looked bored, idly working on a bit of science homework. Pinkie...
Actually, where was Pinkie? Sunset paused with a forkful of lasagna halfway to her mouth. The party planner had been there just a few minutes ago, helping set up the table and putting a container of cookies on it....
"I foooooooound theeeeeem!"
Pinkie bounced in, pulling Bon-Bon and Lyra along like they were a three person length of chain. "They were making out in the library!"
Applejack rolled her eyes. "Don't ya think it's a might rude ta interrupt them then?"
"Nope! We have important stuff to talk about! My Pinkie Sense told me that and that it's suuuuuuper important for them to be here!" Pinkie was all happiness and cheer. "They can kiss later!"
File that under 'more reasons Sunset was cagey about the girls knowing about her Twilight.' The last thing she needed was Pinkie casually showing up when she and Twilight were...otherwise occupied. Pinkie had no sense of privacy sometimes. "Right. Sorry to interrupt your private time, girls...but I wanted to make sure information and communication keeps us from tripping over each other's work."
Bon-Bon waved it off. "It's fine. We got distracted. What's the first order of business?" She pulled a chair up to the table and turned it backwards before she sat in it.
"I'm curious as to the status of your efforts, dears," Rarity addressed Flash and Bon-Bon directly. "Considering I am responsible for Sweetie Belle's well being, I would appreciate being kept up to date on things she is almost assuredly involved with."
Pulled from his chat with Dash and Fluttershy, Flash rubbed the back of his neck. "I've mostly been handling the equipment end. We've been sourcing things like Sunset suggested--prank items or regular stuff we can get away with at school...." He pulled out a notebook from his backpack, and began giving an inventory list, along with where the students had been rat-holing the supplies. There was even a map of the school with precise labels added to it.
While he was talking, Sunset studied Lyra--the normally cheery girl was pensive and mostly silent, the first clue that something far more than having a make-out session with her girlfriend interrupted was wrong. There was a shadowed look to her eyes and a measure of obvious tension in her frame, as if she was expecting an enemy to jump out at her at any moment. And she wasn't eating, despite the lunch bag sitting on top of her ever present mound of binders and texts on human world cryptids.
Catching her eyes, Sunset gave her a concerned look and raised an eyebrow. The other teen gave the barest shake of her head, then mouthed 'after' at her. She gave a nod of her own before focusing back on the conversation in progress.
"...prepacked an entire five hundred count box of coffee filters with the most noxious spice combos the Home Ec kids could come up with," Flash was explaining. "Each of the lockers has twenty five. We also stuck boxes of rock salt, baking soda, and bottles of vinegar in them."
Applejack nodded. "Stink and smoke bombs?"
He made a face. "We managed to get different people to order them: fifteen boxes of ten stink bombs. No smoke bombs though--those are a bit more regulated since the easiest ones are illegal fireworks."
Sunset tilted her head back and an idea came to her. "Get Trixie involved."
Where Pinkie found a record player to perform an actual record scratch in that moment was...a question for another time. Everyone stared at her like she had gone mad. "Hear me out," she told them, gesturing with her fork. "Trixie wants to help defend the school. She has those 'Magician's Exit' smoke-bombs all the time and never seems to run out, and I'm not sure she has a part time job...." Sunset thought back to when they'd talked to Trixie at the farm. "She seems...genuinely concerned about the magic...and there was something about her at the farm..."
Fluttershy cleared her throat. "Actually, I've been wondering about that too. How did Trixie know where you live, Applejack?"
Green eyes widened. "...now that's a damned good question...one Ah can't answer, given we've never been friends. Coulda followed us from the hardware store?"
"What if she didn't?" Now all eyes were on Rarity. "Trixie has been a magician since we've all known her in school. When she's not put on the spot, her stage magic is actually quite good...and how many times have any of you seen her do something...unusual?"
Sunset blew air out her nostrils. "I've never sensed much from her...but...that doesn't mean she doesn't know something about magic either." It was starting to come together in her head. "That's what's been bugging me. Trixie talks big all the time, right? Always boasting?"
Flash rolled his eyes. "Boy does she. She's the biggest blowhard in school."
"Yet she's the only person who hasn't given me a copy of imaginary love spells or a bag of river rocks or asked how to make a magic wand." Sunset frowned. "Not once has she come forward to school me in her superior knowledge--when by all accounts...that's exactly what she would do. The only time she's said anything since the Battle of the Bands was at the farm, and for all the bravado..." she looked at her friends, "she was genuinely concerned about your safety under my instruction."
"Holy cotton candy hot-sauce!" Pinkie's summer-sky blue eyes were huge...and a great distraction from what abominable culinary item she was using as an expletive. "Are you saying Trixie is a real magician?!"
Sunset winced. "By Equestrian standards, she is--prestidigitation is not exactly high level magic, but it is a respectable focus used by a lot of entertainers." At the fairly blank looks, she clarified, "Stage magic. For her, I always thought it was sleight of hand, but...maybe it's not just that. If there's a chance she is knowledgeable about magic in this world, we have to look into it. Flash, I hate to ask, but do you think you could bring her in on your end? Ask her for her expertise in recommending more distractions and see if she can point you at where she gets her smoke bombs."
Her ex gave her a long-suffering look. "If it were anyone else, pony-girl, I'd tell you where to go...but sure. I'll go talk to Trixie."
"I'm sorry, Flash--I just think you're the best person to talk to her. She doesn't see you as competition in any way, so her ego is less likely to be touchy with you." Sunset offered him an apologetic smile. "Lyra?"
The girl perked up. "Yeah?"
"Once he does, see if you can draw her into your research and sorting. See if her knowledge lines up in any way with what I've told you already, and if it does, use her to help you sort through data to weed out useful bits from trash." Reaching over, the former unicorn tapped the binders. "That'll help you work through this faster, which may mean the difference in what we do here in the future."
Bon-Bon looked skeptical. "This is all hinging on a couple of really big ifs," she pointed out. "If Trixie is willing to help, and if she even knows anything useful."
"She's got a point," Rainbow said with a snort. "I mean, relying on Trixie? We'd probably have better luck with a magic eight ball."
The former bully set her fork down, arm moving to grip her elbow so she wouldn't crib on her thumb--it was sore from all her worrying in the last week. "...I know Trixie is a difficult person to get along with," she said softly, "but so was I, once. I had an ego and was loud and arrogant and demanding..."
As blunt as ever, Applejack grunted and pointed with her cider bottle towards Sunset. "Yeah, but ya got knocked off yer high horse, and it turned out there was a person under all that malarky."
Nodding her agreement, she forged ahead. "That's...true...but it's also true that...that I did a lot of that to hide my own mess of insecurities and issues. It doesn't make it right, but part of the reason I was a bully and a bitch was to avoid being bullied myself. Control others before they control you, get them before they get you." Her shoulders hunched, and she folded in on herself in the chair a bit. "...and...I don't know...but I wonder if it's the same idea here. If Trixie puts on a front, an ego, all that bravado and boasting...for other reasons? Because at the farm...something was different. I saw it, for just a minute." Blue-green eyes lifted to look around the table at her friends. "...you gave me a chance when I didn't even deserve one, when I did a lot worse than Trixie ever has...isn't it only fair that we give her a chance too?"
Dash looked like she'd bitten into a particular spoiled and sour piece of fruit, but she sagged back into her seat. "I fucking hate you sometimes, Shimmer," she complained with no real bite to the words. "...especially when you're right about shit I don't want to do." One hand tossed a french fry at Sunset, but Pinkie caught it out of the air and popped it in her mouth.
"Giving a chance does not mean being blind or foolish," Rarity commented to Bon-Bon. "Be fair, but if she treads on the opportunity, or proves that her ego is her most important self, then no one will judge it unfair of you to...insist she find her own way."
The scowl on Bon-Bon's features eased a fraction. "Fine, but Flash, she's your responsibility. If I have to interact with her, I'll deck her the first time she talks about herself in third person."
It was as good as she was likely to get, so Sunset accepted the small victories. "Speaking of decking people..." she ventured carefully, "how are things on your end?"
Bon-Bon shrugged. "We've sorted out who has taken self defense from who hasn't. Dad has an entire new class--two dozen juniors and seniors--and we're doing a weekend instruction on getting out of holds for the younger crowd. No actual fighting," she added hurriedly at the looks from Applejack and Rarity. "Just...breaking free of being grabbed in a bunch of ways? And we're in the process of designating safe zones and lockdown plans--because let's face it, the ones the school has are bullshit, even for normal things, like a shooter. This school is so old it has a lot of places to hide away that are off limits to people now. Like the attic space over A-Hall, and the catwalk areas over the stage...and the crawl spaces under it that connect to where they used to have a pool under the gym...back in like the forties? Fifties? Point is, it's a big empty space that the drama department stores old sets and stuff...but you could hide a hundred people there easily."
Who knew there were so many undiscovered hiding places in the school? Not that Sunset didn't know a few of her own. "The roof door in the Science hall doesn't lock right," she offered. "I used putty in the door several years ago and so it looks closed and locked but it doesn't latch. There's a storage space up there that I think used to be by maintenance for like...smoke breaks or lunches. It's dusty, but it's hidden from sight." She tilted her head. "If people are outside, the storage shed by the soccer field has a busted window latch. There's a bunch of tools and a lawnmower in there, but...you could get people in there too."
Flash's pencil made soft scratching sounds as he wrote that all down. "What about here?" he asked, gesturing to the room they were in. "Ever since you guys made the door weird, it's been different in here."
Sunset shrugged. "Yeah, this is a defensible spot because the door is warded now, but the problem is that I close it when we aren't here, and only the girls and I can access it unless someone has a special key...which I have yet to figure out how to make work without being able to cast spells. Better to leave this as an 'only if people are coming to get us' option."
"Bummer," the young man sighed. "Alright, scratch that. Anything else?"
Applejack cleared her throat pointedly and caught Sunset with a green eyed stare. The former unicorn grimaced. "Yeah...I've discovered something I can't do much about right now other than make sure everyone stays alert." She took a swallow of her water. "I've picked up dark magic again."
Everyone in the room was on alert as she finished the sentence. "Where?" Bon-Bon demanded in a tight voice.
"Not a where entirely. Who. I've...encountered it on Crystal Prep associated people--students, former students, family members. I've done what I can to burn it out without being noticed, but it's...it's not good...something about it is...sneaky. I can't feel it until the moment it activates, but it seems to make the victims agitated, angry...warps their emotional state. I have no idea of where or what the source could be, or what it wants...but..." Sunset spread her hands helplessly.
Flash caught on right away. "But we're hosting the Friendship Games in like a month and a half. Which means a huge chunk of CPA will be here..."
Slamming a fist on the table, Dash contributed her own two cents. "And if they're here, then it's a good chance the magic user will be too, and they'll want our magic for themselves!"
One hand rubbed her temples tiredly. "That is definitely one possibility." She gave a half hearted shrug. "But without knowing anything else, I can't say for sure. Which is why I want everyone to keep their eyes and ears open for anything that could help us. Rumors, sightings, people asking too many questions..."
Her friends all exchanged looks. "In short," Rarity filled in, "keep our eyes and ears open for the one responsible or anything that might lead to them."
"Yeah...I'm sorry I don't have anything better," she apologized. "It's not Equestrian style magic either, so I can't even tell you what kind of being could be using it...only that it's probably someone who is naturally human. Or started out that way."
Fluttershy leaned over to hug her. "It's okay, Sunset. You're doing the best you can. We all are...and that's all anyone can ask." She gave a tentative smile. "We're going to do our best to be ready for whatever happens in the future--we promise."
It felt like someone had lifted weights off her shoulders, and Sunset couldn't stop herself from blowing air out her nostrils in a heavy sigh. "Thanks, Fluttershy," the redhead mumbled, squeezing her friend back. "And...thank you, all of you, for helping me--I can't do this all alone, and it was stupid to think I could."
A blue skinned hand rested on her arm. "We get it, Sunset," Rainbow said with a grin. "This is the first time you've had a team before, instead of flying solo...and that's going to take some getting used to." Then she slugged Sunset's shoulder. "I learned talking horse picture words for you, Shimmer. I wouldn't do that for just anyone."
That made her roll her eyes. "You learned to read four words, Rainbow. Four. That's barely a complete sentence worth of words."
"But it's enough to use your scanner thing." The athlete's grin widened. "Gonna do that today after practice. You said school, beach, observatory, and downtown, right?"
Sunset nodded. "Add Whitetail out by the farm and a bit north, up near Everton? If it's not too much for you?"
Dash cackled gleefully. "Too much? Are you kidding? I'll get to practice my magic and fly at the same time! This is great!!" She wrinkled her nose. "Though it gives me a major case of the munchies when I fly a lot."
"Maybe it's like on TV?" Lyra suggested. "Like how in things like Dragon Ball or Slayers where they need to eat a lot to generate all their energy and power?"
With a strange amount of unspoken coordination, seven sets of eyes turned to Sunset, and she shuffled uncomfortably in her seat. "...um...I don't know?" The former unicorn ran a hand through her hair. "It...doesn't work like that in Equestria unless a unicorn burns their reserves of thaumic energy to dangerously low levels, but...there's also a large amount of ambient magical energy that our bodies draw in naturally, in the water, air and general environment just by being there. And any unicorns that burn themselves out like that typically end up receiving medical care to avoid death--we need a bare minimum of magic in our bodies to live. It's why any area in Equestria with a SET rating lower than one is typically an inhospitable waste--almost nothing, plant or animal will survive there."
Considering it for a moment, she tapped her fork on the container her lunch had been in. "However, I will note that Princess Celestia and Princess Cadenza both were prone to eating a lot more on average than most ponies, without it going right to the flanks." The former unicorn grimaced. "...something I was more than a little jealous of when I was at CSGU, I'll admit--I always came out of winter and all those study sessions with a few extra stone packed around my haunches and barrel." She snorted. "Turns out that turning yourself into a burrito with as many blankets as you can find, having the palace staff bring you your meals, and refusing to come out except to go to class or shower...isn't good for keeping fit."
Rainbow started snickering. "So...you had junk in your trunk as a pony?"
Sunset stared at her hard, before sighing. "...yes, Rainbow. I don't know if you've noticed, but ponies tend to have large rounded hindquarters. We tend to pack on weight in the winter in the colder climates because unlike humans, most ponies see clothing as optional. I lived in the mountains, at an elevation about two or three times higher than here, which means frigid cold and lots of blizzards. Besides...it's...not quite the same? The truth is, rounded hindquarters are...appreciated by ponies as an attractive feature." Her ears felt hot, and she tried not to think about how distracting Twilight's rear was in tight pajama bottoms.
"Soooo...you're saying ponies like big butts and you cannot lie?" Pinkie's grin was near manic, and it sent Rainbow into riotous laughter, and most of the rest of the group was grinning or snickering behind their hands. Flash caught Sunset's eyes and gave her a wink that made her face feel like it was on fire--and from the way he was smiling, he knew what she was trying not to think of her girlfriend.
The unicorn turned human took refuge in her old friend Sarcasm. "If you must know, yes, I happen to like rounded haunches on a fetching mare. Like most ponies. I could also detail you the attractiveness in the appropriate ratio of length to thickness of the cannon and gaskin, or how the curve of the crest can turn heads, but it would be as boring to any of you as figuring out the human obsession with teats has been to me." Granted, she'd discovered one reason for some of that fixation, but...that involved touching. Lots of touching. She and Twilight hadn't gotten much done on Saturday until almost dinner time.
Everyone looked at her now with a whole host of reactions: surprise, confusion, quiet understanding, amusement, and burning curiosity--that last one was mostly Rarity and Lyra. Rarity looked her up and down. "I do suppose we deserve the verbal jibe on that," she commented wryly. "It certainly never dawned on me just how different physically our two species really are, or how those differences might affect standards of beauty and attraction."
"I'm not sure those standards are that different for humans," Bon-Bon joked. "Furries exist, remember?"
The tailor arched her brow with such a look of disappointment and disapproval that Bon-Bon winced. "I am aware, darling, but that is a conversation no one here really wants to have, considering how most of us have partial equine transformation sequences."
"Sorry..."
She waved a hand. "Forgiven, Bon-Bon, but do be a dear and let's not bring it up again. Some corners of the internet are...best left where they are." Then blue eyes were fixing on Sunset again, and the redhead squirmed a little in her seat. "Is the human appearance truly so alien to you?"
It took a minute to gather her thoughts, and Sunset offered a wry smile. "...not anymore? I've had five and a half years to get used to this body...but you're so different from ponies that..." How could she word this in a way that made sense and did not come off as insulting? "...that I'd have to do a lot of mental work to find most people enticing in that way...and a lot of the innuendo just...falls flat?" She shrugged loosely, not sure what else to say, though a small corner of her mind prodded her about how she didn't seem to mind that mental gymnastics routine when it came to her Twilight.
"I suppose that makes sense," Rarity mused, thinking about it. "I likely would feel somewhat similar were our situation reversed and I was in a world of talking horses...as fascinating as I would find them. They do look very different from people--not in a bad way, but I couldn't picture myself wanting to kiss one."
Fluttershy spoke up, "That doesn't make them ugly either...just different, I think. Horses are beautiful creatures, especially when they run." She hugged Sunset again. "Next to dogs and cats, horses are some of our oldest friends. No matter how different they look from us, we just see them as friend-shaped, and worth admiring."
Somehow, Pinkie glommed onto her other side. "You see, Sunset! You're friend-shaped, no matter what you look like!"
Feeling warm and fuzzy was good, but they were way off topic and lunch was going to be over soon. "Thanks, girls...but we need to focus more on what we're trying to accomplish and less on how ponies rate each other as 'Hot or Not' like one of those trashy gossip rags you see in the checkout." Sunset rubbed her nose after extricating herself from the hug. "We've got the park to clean on Saturday, bright and early. I'll be getting over there at six to help set up, but the actual start time is eight. That means no regular magic practice, but I was thinking we could do something on Sunday for a few hours? And an extra long band practice tomorrow afternoon? I want to test something with our magic."
Applejack picked up her hat from her lap and put it back on her head, now that she was done eating. "If yer convinced what yer seeing is setting its sights on Canterlot High, then we can't be slacking now. We gotta be prepared so no one gets hurt." Determination radiated from her like an aura. "Ah'm in. Ah'll tell Granny ta expect me late tomorrow and everyone can eat dinner at the farm Sunday."
"Nothing's stopping us from practicing at home either," Rainbow pointed out. "Even if it's just...you know, turning out Pony-ups on and off."
"'S a great idea, Dash," AJ agreed. "Mebbe Ah'll just start using mah magic fer morning chores too."
Frowning slightly, Sunset gestured to the magical cabinet. "If you girls are going to do that, I want you to each take a dozen or so of the Sun Bites that Princess Twilight brought us. In the event you feel woozy from overtaxing your magic, eating one or two of them should help."
The farmer nodded absently. "Sounds like a plan. Question though...ya talked ta the principals at all about all this new stuff? About it mebbe being something going on at Crystal Prep?" She wrinkled her nose up. "Seems like the kind of thing they'd want ta know ahead of time."
Sunset sighed, waiting to answer as the warning bell sounded, signaling the end of lunch. "Not yet--I wanted to check in with Princess Twilight first for her thoughts."
"Fair enough," AJ said, before cautioning, "but it might be a good idea ta tell them sooner rather than later. Be bad if something happened because we weren't warning them fast enough."
Gathering her things, the redheaded teen sighed again. "I know, but I need to get a few answers from her first...or some more books on the subject. We're talking about highly advanced thaumaturgical theories of dark magic--one of the most restricted subjects in all of Equestria, for a good reason. I'll write to her this evening--she's got a lecture at CSGU or something this week, so I'm not sure how available she is going to be. Once I have my answers, I'll be able to give the principals a little more than my feelings and some anecdotes about encounters."
That seemed to settle her friends, and they filed out of the classroom...all except Lyra, who lingered, looking on edge. Sunset waited until everyone else had gone, before speaking in a quiet voice. "What's wrong? What happened?"
One hand pushed a bit of pale hair back from her face. "I wanted to warn you, but everything you were saying today makes what happened make more sense..."
"Warn me about what?" Now Sunset was worried and confused.
Lyra took a breath. "CPA knows about you. Or...at least some of the students do. I mean, some of them knew about you from last year because they were my friends...but not like this..."
Confusion melted away, replaced by concern, and part of her wondered if Wallflower had blabbed--Twilight hadn't messaged her, but that didn't mean anything. Taking a slow and deep breath, she decided to not jump to conclusions. "Why don't you start at the beginning."
"I...got a call from one of my old classmates. I...she was kind of a friend, but...well." The girl grimaced. "You've heard all the rumors about Crystal Prep, I'm sure. And you've encountered some of the students, so I'm sure you know what I mean when I say she was what passed for a friend at Crystal Prep. There were a few of us, but honestly, I think they just felt sorry for me and let me hang out with them because there was safety in numbers."
"...I'm familiar with what you mean. Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns was very like CPA at times." Sunset could practically taste sand in her mouth, her voice was so dry. "So your...classmate called you?"
"Yeah. She's called several times in the last two or three weeks. When she does, all she seems to want is to grill me. Asking about you--not good stuff either. She's looking for dirt, I think. Like...she wanted to know if you were potentially involved in anything illegal, or if there was any real ugly secrets I knew." Lyra hugged her notebooks to her chest. "I didn't like the way she sounded, and how every time she calls, she sounds...off. Angry. Worried."
Swallowing, Sunset cribbed on her thumb. Briefly before discomfort forced her to pull it out of her mouth. "...honest answer? Was she fishing about magic, do you think?"
Lyra's face screwed up in thought. "Maybe? It's hard to say because her questions have been all over the place. One minute she's asking if I've seen you do anything strange, the next she wants to know if you date a lot of people at school, and if they are boys or girls..."
"...I see..." Sunset replied, her concern growing. It could go either way--either Wallflower had run her mouth, or the source of the dark magic had learned of her involvement in purging the dark magic off Twilight's family. Regardless of which it was, it meant trouble.
Her friend shook her head. "I really can't tell you much more than that. I'm sorry, Sunset. It could be about the magic, or it could be about something else. She keeps asking for more information, and she was pretty upset at first to find out that we're friends now." Lyra considered something for a moment. "She was also asking about you and Twilight Sparkle...but I don't know which Twilight she meant."
Sunset jerked in surprise, and Lyra, seeming to take it for the admission of there being more than Twilight, explained, "There's a Twilight Sparkle that goes to Crystal Prep--nothing like the one who took you on at the formal. She's...super smart, but she is really not a people person like the other one, you know? I was super confused last fall, but after you explained about the whole world you come from and how there's more versions of people there, it didn't take much to realize she's the pony one, and the one at CPA is from here."
What should she do? Play ignorant, or damage control before Lyra mentioned Twilight to anyone else? She thought back, to the conversation she and her girlfriend had, about Twilight not being ready to meet a whole gaggle of girls at once, and made a decision. "I...wasn't aware," she said in a voice that only Lyra could hear, "that you knew about Twilight as well...but I suppose I shouldn't be surprised--I knew you used to go to CPA."
The other girl blinked in surprise of her own. "You know Twilight?"
Running a hand through her mane, Sunset shrugged nonchalantly. "Ran into her in the park sometime after the formal. We ended up talking." She chuckled lightly. "You're right about her being different than the princess, though, and it's why I've not said anything to the others."
Brows pinched together, and a moment later Lyra nodded "...yeah...that's kind of why I didn't say anything before."
"Because she wouldn't handle everyone's over-enthusiastic stalking and bombarding her with so much friendship all at once with anything short of a 'full blown, Grade A, Twilight Sparkle panic attack?'" Sunset asked wryly.
"Yeah. That."
She nodded. "Same...which is why I'm asking you to keep this just between us for now. I'm...trying to work her up to it, slowly, because I think she'd like the girls, but it's a delicate process."
Lyra smiled brightly. "I can do that! It's just really good to hear that she has someone as a friend who...doesn't go to Crystal Prep. That school is an awful place and the people in it are either jerks or paranoid that other people are." She made a face. "Like the classmate who has been bugging me about you. She's a...mutual friend of mine and Twilight, but I'm not really sure she's the best kind of friend for someone like Twilight. Not that shes a bad person but..." One hand made a loose gesture of uncertainty.
It was starting to make sense now, and Sunset's concern started to fade. "This...classmate who called you...her name wouldn't happen to be Wallflower, would it?" When Lyra nodded, Sunset groaned. "We've met." Why couldn't Wallflower have turned out to be shy and awkward like Twilight had made her sound? She was starting to feel like the green haired girl was a particularly pernicious garden weed trying to choke out vital parts of her life. "She made it very clear from minute one that she hates me and knows who I used to be. Tried to tell me to stay away from Twilight." Her eyes hardened. "I told her it wasn't happening--Twilight has become...my best friend, and I'm not giving that up."
Sunny yellow eyes studied her speculatively. "...part of that might be my fault. I complained a lot in group chat with them last year about you and all the stuff you did to us. ...sorry about that."
"You don't have to apologize. I was a huge bitch to everyone. I'm surprised as many people have forgiven me as they have." Sunset rolled her shoulders uncomfortably. "It still feels weird, to be in a school where most people tolerate me instead of hate me. Kind of a first."
"Well...I still need to say it, especially if it's causing problems now. I certainly don't agree with a lot of what Wallflower was saying about you--I wouldn't have even when you were the mean girl. You certainly never tried to sell drugs--you stopped Lightning Dust from trying to push them on the middle schoolers, everyone knows that! Truth is, I'm actually glad you're friends with Twilight; the group she and I were part of..." Lyra hesitated, then took a breath and forged ahead. "There were four of us, and I was the most socially capable one there."
Sunset winced. "Oh. That's, um...not great."
Shaking her head, Lyra laughed. "It's definitely not. Twilight you know--shy, socially awkward, and nervous. Wallflower...she puts a whole new meaning to 'abrasive personality', and Moondancer? If Twilight is socially awkward, Moondancer might as well be an alien or a robot, because she does not understand how to people at all."
Sweet sunfire. No wonder Twilight had latched onto being her friend so hard.
Her thoughts must have shown on her face, because Lyra spontaneously hugged her. "You're a good friend, Sunset, and exactly the kind someone like Twilight or me needs, because you don't seem to mind the parts of us that are weird or freakish."
"Neither of you is weird or freakish," Sunset countered. "And even if you were...hi. I'm a magical unicorn from another world. Fairly sure that means I don't have room to talk here." She sighed. "Still...thanks for telling me about Wallflower. She has apparently been giving Twilight a hard time about me, but I didn't know she'd gone that far--I thought she was sticking to insulting me in ways that really upset Twilight."
Lyra made a face at that. "Probably the same ones she used the other day when she called me again. I know she's abrasive and tactless but what did she expect anyway? Calling you things like that to me, of all people? I told her if she was going to talk like that she could stuff her bigotry where the sun doesn't shine and light it on fire. She...accused me of being your sycophant and hung up on me." She rolled her eyes. "Because me not wanting to hear her call you slurs means I'm sucking up to you. Especially when she knows about me and Bonny."
The former bully felt terrible. "...I'm sorry for that--it's because of me that she said those things to you, and I hate that I'm turning into a catalyst that wrecks other people's friendships."
Her friend gave a sharp head shake as they started moving to the door. "It's not your fault she's a closet homophobe and I'm just now finding out. I know she's dealt with bullies her whole life and her parents suck, but that's no excuse for what she's doing. It's certainly not being a good friend to either Twilight or me...and even if she hadn't heard things from before about you, I'm not sure things would have turned out differently. She was always very protective of the group and keeping others out..."
She paused a moment, then squeezed Sunset's arm. "Don't let her get to you, but...be careful, okay? Wallflower might be abrasive...but if what you were saying is true, then whatever is behind all that evil magic might pay attention to what she's saying."
"I'll do my best," Sunset promised. "Thanks again for telling me..."
The other girl winked. "Hey, Wondercolts stick together, right? Well, so do those of us flying rainbows."
Awkwardly, Sunset responded, "I never said--"
"Sunset, please. I went through a horse phase when I was little--most girls do. We know the difference between mares and stallions, colts and fillies." Lyra arched her brows. "You specified mares earlier, and you told us before that your species has more females than males. It doesn't take a genius to put it together. Sure, you're really a unicorn, but that doesn't mean you don't count." The girl shook her pale haired head. "We stick up for our own, because if we don't, no one will stick up for us." Then she was all smiles again. "Oh, and tell Twilight I said hi! She can still message or call me, anytime--I'd love to catch up!"
She swept out of the room, joining the crush of students in the hall and leaving a somewhat stunned Sunset in her wake. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Twenty Two: Make New Friends... | Twilight resisted the urge to hug herself as she hurried through the halls. She hadn't even gone to her first actual class yet and she was already wishing the day was over. Glancing at the clock, she realized she still had an extra ten minutes before the bell, so she tucked herself into an alcove. Her phone was in her hand in an instant, and she sent a short message to Sunset, hoping that the other girl might send her something back quickly enough to help her get through the day. Starting a Monday morning off with her parents in a very uncomfortable and prickly meeting with her principal had absolutely destroyed her nerves for the rest of the day and she needed something to ground her. Even if it was just silly texts from her girlfriend.
The dark haired girl rested her head back against the cool stone of the wall, taking several slow breaths and trying to push back the headache already forming in her temples. All throughout the meeting and even now, Twilight felt like she was at war with herself. On one hand, she recognized why her parents were upset on her behalf--she was upset too, given that she had done her very best to keep the confrontation with Polaris calm and friendly, and it didn't seem fair that she had been so severely punished for being forced to defend herself. At the same time, however...there was a part of herself that felt like the whole thing had been blown up way too big and that her family shouldn't have antagonized her school principal so openly. Principal Cinch had earned some measure of respect and trust in her ability to do her job over several decades...hadn't she? It made her feel queasy that none of them--herself included--had given the woman any measure of the respect and deference she was due, even as it rankled her to even think the thought.
It didn't seem to matter much that Principal Cinch had done a great deal of things wrong--the family lawyers had walked both her and her parents through every step of how the administration of the school had circumvented or outright broken the rules, not just in the handling of the altercation the week before, but in many ways over the last three years when it came to Twilight and her education. She still felt, on some deep level, that she needed to be polite and defer to the woman's expertise, and it wasn't her place...or her family's...to tell Principal Cinch how to do her job. Twilight was grateful she hadn't told them anything else, not about being picked for the Friendship Games Team, or that Wallflower had been made her project assistant at the principal's decision. Somehow, the teen knew they would have taken that information and twisted it to suit the narrative the lawyers had settled on.
Deep breaths, she told herself, taking time to draw and release several lungfuls of air as she wrestled with her own mind, trying to reconcile the disparate emotions and perceptions. Why was this so hard? On a logical and rational level, she understood that no one was perfect, and it was reasonable to say that Principal Cinch was not an absolute paragon of education and administration, just as she understood that her parents were correct in their assertion that respect was earned or lost through word and deed. By that metric, Principal Abacus Cinch had lost any respect she had accumulated, and the meeting had reinforced that.
The door opened with a loud sound that shattered the quiet that blanketed the office, and Twilight followed in her parents' wake as they strode into Principal Cinch's office, her father as hard and unyielding as she'd ever seen him and a defensive tightness to her mother's eyes that seemed out of place on someone who was always the picture of love and welcome. While they weren't marching in lockstep, there was a fluid coordination to their movements all the same, and the light from the hallway seemed to follow them, highlighting in a way Twilight had never really paid attention to just how unpleasantly dim the office was.
In fact, if it wasn't silly and irrational, Twilight might have said that the shadows were retreating from her parents more than the light itself, reminding her of some of the nightmares she'd had...where the darkness had somehow been alive and hungry. She shook her head and pushed the feeling away--it was silly and irrational, after all, and she was more concerned with this meeting. It needed to go well--she didn't want the suspension on her permanent record, but she also hoped her parents did not antagonize the situation so much that she ended up expelled. Principal Cinch was not someone to cross.
Speaking of the Principal...
Seated at her desk, the older woman had been startled when her parents walked in, though she'd quickly hidden that...and Twilight could see the slight tensing of her jaw muscles when her mother and father sat down before the principal could offer them a seat. That made the teen flinch, but she'd already promised her parents she would say nothing unless either of them directly asked her a question, so all she could do was politely remain standing and hope.
"I was not expecting you quite so promptly," her principal commented, still shuffling through some papers on the desk. "You'll have to give me a moment while I finish this--important paperwork that cannot be put off, I'm sure you understand."
Night raised an eyebrow at her, then glanced down at his watch. "You have five minutes, Abacus. After that, we will take it to mean our daughter's health, wellbeing, and future are unimportant to you, and we will be pulling her immediately from this institution to attend a different school."
Twilight felt frozen to the spot she was standing, an icy chill washing over her as her father's words, as well as his tone, registered with her. She struggled to remember to breathe, and it made her vision swim; around the principal, the shadows seemed to swarm and thicken. It hadn't occurred to her until he said the words aloud just how little control she had over the situation, whether she was silent or not. Her parents could pull her from Crystal Prep at any moment if they decided to, regardless of how she felt.
And she didn't want to leave, despite everything. She had put so much effort into succeeding in CPA, in all her projects, in having the highest grade point average out of everyone in the school... Leaving now would mean it had all been for nothing, and to colleges that saw her transcripts, it would look like she couldn't take the pressure of a competitive academic environment. Places like MIT and CalTech would simply reject her rather than waste a slot on a student who couldn't handle the pressure, and she might have to settle for going to a school with lesser credentials, which in turn would affect her job prospects later.
As she felt her future begin to crack and crumble before her eyes, Twilight held her breath, waiting for her principal to react to her father and the words spoken so crisp and cutting, not sure whether she expected the woman to immediately expel her and save them all the trouble, or to become displeased and upset at her father's tone.
So the teen was incredibly surprised when Principal Cinch looked...taken aback in a way that just didn't happen to the principal of Crystal Prep. Smooth hands began hastily collecting the papers, uncaring about order as she shoved them into a folder and then into a desk drawer. Twilight could even hear the telltale sound of paper crumpling as she closed the drawer.
"...of course, Mr. Light. It will press me for time but I can see to those later..." Each word almost seemed like it was pulled from her, but her expression was carefully neutral. "I...apologize for any...unintended slight. May I offer you both some refreshments before we start this meeting?" One hand slowly gestured to the same crystal pitcher and glasses that she had offered Twilight a drink from weeks prior...and the teen decided she could do with the distraction of a cold glass of water.
Twilight Velvet responded before the younger Twilight could move. "No, thank you," she said, curt and cold, cutting off any plan her daughter had to pour herself a drink. "I don't believe that will be necessary."
Once again, the dark haired girl found herself waiting for the outburst that somehow never came, from someone rebuffing the principal's efforts to be hospitable--something that everyone knew was a quick way to earn displeasure from the woman who took such old world etiquette seriously. Instead of upset, Principal Cinch had an expression that Twilight almost thought meant she was uneasy, shifting a few things on her desk for no reason. "Perhaps then...you would wish to speak first, that we might quickly put this business behind us and Miss Sparkle might return to her day before her schedule is disrupted any further?" Her smile was a little sharp, like an angered predator staring out from the shadows on her face, and the teen found herself actually relaxing at the sign that Principal Cinch was upset, just...mostly concealing it.
It seemed her father was disinterested in any posturing or conciliatory gestures, his tone cold and clipped. "A schedule you disrupted, Abacus, with your preliminary choice of punishing my daughter--the victim--to placate her attacker's family instead of doing your job as an educator and administrator properly." He reached into the leather case at his side, and placed a slim object on the normally untouchable, polished expanse of the woman's antique desk, adjusting it with practiced ease. "Decisions you can begin by explaining and justifying. I trust you understand that I intend to record this meeting so that there can be no...misunderstandings later on either side."
With a start, Twilight recognized the object on the desk as an item she'd gifted her father, one of her own inventions: a digital audio/visual recording device with two independent cameras that could be trained in two directions. It had been a Mark I prototype of a device she used in her home lab to record experiments and her own observations, and he had made great use of it in recording his lectures in a way that allowed him to display both a board with diagrams and himself with another board of actual notes. She had no idea he'd brought it and intended to record the meeting.
Principal Cinch went unpleasantly pale which made the harsh shadows that seemed as though they were clinging to her even more unsettling. "I--"
"Unless, of course," Night interrupted her protest, "you would like for the three of us to leave." The 'permanently' was unspoken but it was very clear in the set of his shoulders and frown on his face. Twilight trembled, unseen, behind her parents.
Faltering, the principal searched for the right words, gaze darting around the room, and for a minute those eyes locked onto her; Twilight felt even more frozen than before, unable to look away or move or even smile or frown.
"Easy, Sparky. I've got your back..." Sunset's voice whispered in her ear, and she wished beyond measure that the amber fingers at the corner of her vision were real, solid hands resting on her shoulders, supporting her.
A chuckle. "Real enough in the ways that matter, nerd. I won't let this hydra have you without a fight."
She could see it, in her mind's eye, almost without trying, Sunset standing behind her, pressed up against her back, hands on her shoulders...all while the taller girl glared daggers at her principal and told her exactly what she thought of her in those silly, endearingly funny euphemisms Sunset was prone to spouting instead of actually swearing.
Twilight couldn't help the tiny smile that worked its way onto her face, and she realized that she could breathe again. Even if Sunset's actions would have been the height of blatant disrespect, the mental image still amused her.
"That's my nerd. It's going to be okay."
As she watched, feeling less like she was going to collapse, Principal Cinch jerked her gaze away as if burned. "Of...course..." she fumbled, looking as out of sorts and distressed as Twilight had ever seen. "You have...always been intelligent and devoted parents...I can...respect your wish to...protect...your...progeny."
The meeting had continued and concluded in the same vein, with her parents refusing to back down and give the principal an inch, leaving Twilight even more agitated than she'd started out that morning. She was half convinced that this wouldn't be the end of the discussion about where she went to school, regardless of what Principal Cinch was willing to promise--her mother was increasingly vocal about her dislike of Crystal Prep, and now her father was of the same mind. They had even instructed her that the only conversations she was allowed to have with anyone who worked at Crystal Prep had to be in direct relation to her project or classwork. Anything more, and she was to say nothing before contacting her parents...and they'd impressed the same thing onto Principal Cinch.
It felt like a noose slowly closing around her neck, and she had no way to get out of it... Twilight shivered at the dark thoughts. This is not the time for that, she told herself. She was headed for the gym, and the teen knew she needed to be on her guard when she entered the locker room.
"Sparkle! Yo! Hold up!"
Twilight was knocked from her thoughts by Indigo racing up to her from a side hall, skidding to a stop next to her, hands on her knees as she panted. "Indigo? I was just about to go get changed." She indicated the door to the girls' locker room just a short distance away. "What--"
The athlete put her hand on Twilight's shoulder, making her flinch back from the contact. "Whoa--easy! Sorry, look, I'm just glad I caught up to you! I've been looking everywhere! You can't go in there!"
Baffled, Twilight studied the girl, anxiety shifting to wariness--though whether it was wariness of Indigo or something else, she wasn't entirely certain. "...why not?"
Indigo made a face and her eyes darted around the hall, though the students around them mostly seemed to be ignoring them. She leaned closer and lowered her voice, "Because they're waiting on you in there...everyone's heard about what happened, and Suri and her gang of bitches intend to catch you where there's no teachers to interfere."
Something settled in Twilight's guts, a knot of...some kind of emotion that existed somewhere between fear and anger and exasperation, related to all three but somehow distinct in its own right, an emotional taxonomic classification that was strange and new to Twilight. "...of course they are," she muttered, shoulders slumping. As if dealing with the locker room wasn't already hard enough for her. "I still have to dress for gym," the dark haired girl pointed out to Indigo.
"Yeah, I know, but I got a solution for you, and me too. C'mon. There's a bathroom down C-Hall that used to be for teachers. Three stalls, and everyone forgets it's there. But it's also right across from one the library, and this is when Mrs. Stacks takes her lunch break, so she's guaranteed to be right on the other side of the hall." Indigo's expression was grim. "I used it freshman year when Sapphire started all those rumors that I was a lesbian. It kept me out of trouble, let me still ace gym, and my dad didn't get called in to school."
She scrutinized Indigo carefully, worried that this might be a trap of some kind, and dismissed the thought almost as soon as it formed. Indigo had been...if not a friend, at least friendly and had actively helped Twilight dodge Suri a few times already. "...okay. I know the bathroom you're talking about...but what about our bags? We can't take them into gym..."
Indigo led the way towards the library. "That's the thing. Mrs. Stacks will let us stow them in her office during gym. She...doesn't like bullies. Or people who mess around in the library, so the odds are slim that someone will get at them." She gave a sheepish grin. "Worked my freshman year, at least."
Twilight didn't really know the librarian that well--despite her love of books, the library at Crystal Prep wasn't exactly a welcoming place to read or browse. Many of the books were fancy copies of texts donated by or purchased to appeal to the wealthy elite who sent their children to the school, and what was left was often not on subjects that interested Twilight...or were of a high enough level to be engaging. However, her few dealings with the librarian had shown her that the woman was firm and no nonsense...but not without warmth.
There was a calm silence between them as they ducked into the small bathroom, and she headed into a stall to change...only broken when Indigo asked, from the next stall over, "So what actually happened last week? The rumor mill's gone crazy, but...I know that most of that is not even close to the truth. I just know Coach told me I wouldn't need to help you again til Monday."
She was quiet for a minute as she mulled over what she wanted to say and how much detail she wanted to go into. Particularly if the rumor mill had already sunk its teeth into the events. "I...was suspended...for defending myself against a senior," she admitted in a voice just loud enough to carry into the next stall.
The sound of the other girl moving stopped, an unsettled hush falling over the room. Then, "...oh my God, Sparkle..." Indigo sounded horrified. "Are you okay? He didn't...?"
It took a second for her to register what Indigo was not able to ask, and she felt cold all over again, just like when Sunset had asked. "No. Not like that...he...was agitated and upset about something else and he...lost it. He grabbed my arm." Then she exhaled a heavy breath. "That was enough...and I...I reacted...and injured him badly enough that he required medical attention."
"Holy shit." Indigo's voice had gone from horrified to awed. "I can't believe that part of the rumors is actually true." She laughed. "Oh man, Sparkle, this is what's gotten you all toned up, isn't it? You've been learning martial arts, and you went Kung Fu Panda on a senior!" The laughter became a delighted cackle. "You are full of fucking surprises for a huge nerd! No wonder Suri is so pissed off--with that in the rumor mill, her tactic of getting even by sweet talking boys into harassing someone has a snowball's chance in Hell of working!"
The dark haired girl paled. "She...does that?"
Indigo broke out of her laughter. "...she has before. It's never pretty. Maybe this will make her think twice. Or she'll just get more creative, and take matters into her own hands."
Twilight hesitated a moment, before asking quietly, "Is...that what was going on in the locker room? Why you brought me here?"
The stall door unlocked and she could hear Indigo moving into the main part of the bathroom, packing her things into her backpack. "Pretty much--I overheard them in the hall, and you don't deserve to get bullied like that. Suri's a bitch who gets off on twisting other people up and making them miserable. You're okay, Sparkle, and...well...I know I'm not really your friend, but I couldn't just leave you hanging in the wind like that if I could stop it."
She could feel the air twist oddly, something prickling at her with the same sensation she felt before a big thunderstorm. It left her with a feeling of expectation but also urgency, like she had forgotten what she was supposed to do.
For the first time since the meeting in the principal's office, Mental-Sunset made an appearance, interjecting with a tired but pleased sounding voice, "You know, Sparky, for all she might not think you two are friends, she went to an awful lot of personal effort to help you."
Mental-Sunset wasn't wrong, Twilight realized. Indigo had been hunting for her, to keep her from walking into the lions' den, and then offered her a safe haven and alternative to it...something that was almost certain to get back to Suri and her cronies.
"She did this at a cost to herself--and it's not the first time, Sparky. For all the belief she isn't your friend, I'd say she's probably the best friend you've got in this Tartarus-touched pit you call a school. She's trying to watch your back because it's the right thing to do, regardless of the damage to herself--where is that kind of loyalty in your plant loving friend? You can't possibly think someone who listens to gossip like that didn't have any inkling of what those girls were planning. So why didn't she at least text you a warning?"
There was still quiet from Indigo, and Twilight hurried out of the stall, fixing her hair into a ponytail. "Indigo..." she started, waiting until the athlete turned towards her. "...I...know I'm not exactly the greatest at friendship--it's hard for me a lot of times, because I miss things about people unless I know what I'm looking at--but...you've done a lot for me you didn't have to. Today and before this. Things that have made you a target too, now, because we both know Suri will hear about you stopping me from walking into her trap." She straightened her shoulders, meeting Indigo's eyes and remembering the same look in a pair of blue-green ones what felt like a lifetime ago. "That...that makes you a pretty good friend in my book."
There was a sharp intake of breath, and honey colored eyes stared at her, searching. "...Don't be so quick to say that, Sparkle," she retorted. "I don't have the slightest idea how to be a friend to a genius like you. I'm just a meathead jock that's smart enough to study."
"Last I checked, Intelligence isn't one of the primary virtues of friendship," Mental-Sunset joked. "If it was, some of my...closest companions would be out of luck. Loyalty's a pretty good one though."
So was selfless sacrifice, the dark haired teen told herself, almost picturing the wink and nod Sunset would give her. Twilight offered a smile. "You don't have to be a genius to be a good friend, Indigo. You cared about me, enough to do something kind to help me when you didn't have to. That matters more than whether or not you can do calculus or understand the theory of relativity."
"...you think so?"
"I know so," she said, feeling herself straighten under her conviction. "I'd be honored to call you my friend....if you'd let me."
The other girl stared at her, as if she couldn't quite believe what she was hearing, then shook her head and laughed. "Anyone ever tell you that you're insane, Sparkle?"
"Me," Mental-Sunset drawled in Twilight's ear. "Turns out though, that I like your kind of crazy. It's hot."
It took everything in her not to react to the fact that her subconscious was now having her mental construct of her girlfriend flirt with her. Twilight really needed to address this with her therapist.
Clearing her throat, Twilight replied as levelly as possible, "My best friend. The day after we met. So I suppose that puts you in decent company." Then, before Indigo questioned that too much, she asked, "You don't have to consider us friends if you don't want to, but it's not going to change my mind."
Laughing, the other teen shook her head. "You really are nuts...but you know what? Sure. It might be totally batshit, but it would be nice to have an actual friend in this Hellhole." She stuck out her hand. "Friends?"
Twilight shook it firmly. "Friends," she agreed, before shouldering her bag.
"C'mon then, Sparkle. Lets hide these with Mrs. Stacks and get to gym. I kinda want to see the look on Suri's face when she comes out of the locker room and sees us." There's a hint of cocky smugness to Indigo's grin.
"Once more unto the breach then," Twilight managed with a laugh, following the other girl to the door. "And Indigo?"
"What's up, Sparkle?"
"My friends call me Twilight." |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Twenty Three: ...But Keep The Old? | "Can you believe the nerve of her? It wasn't enough that she pushed him out of his lab--she had to completely eliminate her competition." The voice was hissed, but at not so quiet a volume that Twilight couldn't hear it.
Another person, just as waspish sounding as the first, responded, "I heard it was worse than that. I heard that he was going to replace her on the Games team--which would make sense, since a senior is a way better choice for the team than some stuck up little girl who should still be a freshman. But little Princess Sparkle wasn't going to let that happen."
Twilight cringed internally, but there was no way to tune out the chatter from all around her. She wanted to, badly, so she could focus on studying for the upcoming test...but the snippets of basic conversational Italian were too hard to ignore when she knew they were talking about her.
"What I don't understand is why she's even still on the Games team when she got suspended."
To be fair, Twilight didn't understand that either--she would have been happy if last week's events had meant her removal from the Friendship Games team.
"Oh, didn't you hear? Guess who showed up holding Princess Sparkle's hand this morning and had a long meeting with the principal?"
Another voice interjected. "Heard? I saw them. Her dad had this briefcase he was carrying around, and he looked mad."
"Wow. How much do you want to bet the briefcase had cash in it?"
It didn't, Twilight thought sourly. It was paperwork, and the recording device. Yet she said nothing--there was little point, given that no one would listen to her anyway. She frowned and struggled to tune it out, glancing to see if the teacher was paying any attention to what was going on. He wasn't. Ignoring the chatter earned her about five minutes of peace before the sharp voices intruded on her awareness again.
"...the money has to come from somewhere. Jeweled said that she heard its a mob connection."
"The mob? Isn't her dad some nerdy professor not good enough for one of the real universities?"
Her father was plenty good enough for the larger universities, she seethed. He had turned down offers several times because the family didn't want to move. And the mob? Seriously? Where did the rumor mill come up with this stuff?
"...brother's on the take because he's engaged to a mob boss' daughter..."
This wasn't the movies, it was real life. Did they realize how bizarre and outlandish what they were saying was?
Twilight forced herself to take several deep breaths, fighting both the rising anxiety and the urge to correct gross misinformation being spewed by her classmates. Especially since they were talking badly about her family, making baseless and slanderous statements that implicated them in being involved with highly illegal activities. Implications that would see her brother under investigation at his job if they said it to the wrong person--it didn't matter that it was completely false, IA would be required to look into it, and it would be on his record forever, all because Suri Polomare and her gang of harpies had been pushing this narrative since Twilight had destroyed the bell curve one of her math exams her freshman year, a class that the older girl had failed. Because in Suri's mind, it wasn't her own preference of going out with friends instead of doing homework or studying that caused her poor grades--somehow, it was the fault of people who did, as though only so many people were allowed passing grades or something.
"...maybe Hyades wanted a little something since she took his lab and his spot on the team too!"
Great. Now they'd abandoned all pretense of pretending to be practicing their Italian in favor of just gossip.
The worst part was, Twilight hadn't even shared an actual class period with Suri in freshman year--only the same math course and level. And none of their other classes had corresponded, so Twilight couldn't have been responsible for her failing the next two years in a row...in most of her classes. How embarrassing was it that Suri was making an attempt at her senior year for the third time? Only the money her family continued pouring into the school kept the girl from being encouraged to go to another school--facts Wallflower had been overly eager to share when she'd finally discovered the why behind Suri's long standing campaign of bullying against Twilight (and Moondancer) a few weeks prior.
"...Lime said she heard from Tropical that her boyfriend was in Mr. Angle's math class when it all happened and he saw Sparkle flirting with Hyades in the hall...."
None of that mattered to anyone else though. Suri was reasonably popular, and had friends in the right places, while Twilight was antisocial, quiet, and preferred books to people more often than not. She could stand up and show them a recording of the truth, and they'd just assume she had doctored the video, because popularity talked, and no one at CPA really cared about anything beyond their own successes and tearing down anyone they saw as competition.
Like a junior who had skipped two grades and was still the top scoring academic in school in every class she was in except for gym.
Not to mention, if the dark haired girl had stood up and spoken out, they'd know that it bothered her, and they would up their level of harassment. Sunset had put it best, once, when they had talked about the bullying the redhead had received at her school over the fall.
"But why didn't you tell a teacher, or the principals?" Twilight had asked.
Sunset's smile had been pained. "Because, Sparky, in my experience, it's always been me against everyone else. Who are the teachers going to believe? The girl who wrecked the Fall Formal? Or everyone else? How was I supposed to know that Miss Luna and Principal Celestia wouldn't do the same thing adults have always done?" She shook her head. "Besides...reacting...reacting shows them your weak spot. The break in your shields...and they'll come at them harder and harder until they break you. I refuse to let anyone break me. I didn't let them break me at CSGU, and I refuse to let them now. Principal Celestia stopped the locker graffiti and other stuff...and I've lived with ugly words my whole life. I can deal with it words as long as I have you and the girls."
Her girlfriend had a point, and Twilight had taken it to heart. If they saw her react, they would try even harder. She'd pushed it too far already when she'd confronted Suri in the locker room. So she said nothing, ignoring the harsh voices that had given up all pretense of subtlety and where no longer whispers.
"...I figure her place on the team is one of those quota things. Look at her. There's got to be something messed up about her head--everyone knows she has medication and that she has those freaky meltdowns sometimes. My dad thinks she's actually retarded and that her parents' money pays for her grades and to make everyone think she's smart."
"Nah...she's smart, but it's like that old movie with that guy. What was it...Rainmaker?"
"That's Rain Man, idiot."
"Yeah that one. Where the guy is like retarded about anything except, like, numbers. So like, Sparkle is smart with math and science and books, but she's stupid when it comes to anything else."
A girl nearby laughed nastily. "Yeah, like being human."
That bit hurt more than she would have liked, not because the opinions of her peers truly mattered that much...but because the words had bypassed any defenses to spear deeply right into one of Twilight's secret insecurities. It was something that she'd barely even mentioned to her therapist and never to her family.
The feeling that she was some kind of imposter, pretending to be human and failing at it.
It had started when she was little, when she'd come across a book of "fairytales" accidentally left behind by her aunt. Unlike the normal variants written for young children, of princesses awoken from enchanted sleep by handsome princes, or sword wielding felines with excellent taste in footwear defeating evil ogres, this had been closer to the original folklore. Dark, cautionary tales on the dangers of the strange Other, the Unknown, of the beings who dwelled just beyond the edge of civilization...
Creatures called by so many names: fae, dark elf, dwarves, brownies, sidhe, the children of Oberon, the Third Race...
Changelings.
Of course, to her young mind, it had just been seen as a neat looking storybook she'd never read, which had prompted a young Twilight to dive right in. For the most part, it had simply been...darker, somewhat unsettling versions of familiar stories. Until her child-self had stumbled across the tales of Changeling Children; those tales of human infants stolen from their cradles and replaced by a fae-child in some macabre exchange only understood by the fae themselves. It was often children who were deeply wanted and loved by their parents who were taken, exchanged for fae infants who grew either wild and uncontrollable...or in some cases were far more intelligent than they should be at a given age, but incapable of comprehending emotional warmth and social norms that made humans...human. In either case, the inhuman child unsettled their peers and did not fit into the human social groups well at all.
It had been like reading a description about herself, and it had all come together in her child's mind very neatly, feeling like it explained everything. Why she was so different, and had no friends and why no one wanted to be around her except her family and the occasional teacher.
Her parents had been quick to step in when they found her staring blankly at the page and crying--Twilight was unsure how long she'd sat like that, her mind swirling and racing, before they came in. Night Light had taken the book away, some choice words for his sister on a very upset phone-call that same evening about the book she'd so carelessly left behind.
Or had it been deliberate? Twilight was never sure. Her aunt was strange, invested in the esoteric and mystical of 'New Age' beliefs, and something like that meant she might have made the same connection.
In the end, it had prompted her mother to buy and present her with the first of many psychological texts (age appropriate, of course), and for both her parents to reassure her that such fairy stories were just that, stories from a long ago time.
The books stressed that for all she was different, she was still a person. Her brain just worked differently to most people, and that didn't make her less, or Other...just someone with different struggles.
She knew better now, of course, that her parents had been right, and her own delving into the way myth and folklore worked made Twilight understand that labeling people with neurodivergence or mental health problems as things like changelings or possessed was just the way people had tried to explain what they didn't understand. Silly things like magic and fairies and goblins, dragons and demons and unicorns...they were nothing but fiction and fanciful imaginings of the human mind.
But sometimes...usually when she was struggling the most with trying to understand people...Twilight couldn't help but feel that unpleasant sensation of Otherness...of being an Outsider...creep up on her, and a tiny, scared voice in her mind whispered 'what if?' in her ear.
Which meant that hearing such a statement, right now, hurt in a way she wasn't expecting, and she had to squeeze her eyes shut to focus on breathing away her distress quietly so they wouldn't catch on, all while feeling desperate for the bell to ring so she could get somewhere away from the whispers in the hall, away from the accusations and rumors and prying eyes. Even if it meant dealing with Wallflower, the relative safety of her lab seemed like a paradise by comparison to what the rest of the school was like.
"...let her get away with it?"
"It's like Suri always says, Viola...her parents--"
Whatever the girl was going to say about Twilight's parents went unheard as the shrill sound of the bell drowned out any other noise. The dark haired teen packed her things quickly--though she waited long enough for the bulk of the students to exit the classroom before she made her own escape into the hall, doing her best to disappear into the shadows and faceless crowd.
It kept her from being accosted, but it did nothing to stop the whispers. She could still hear them, far too clearly, each separate vein of nastiness feeling like it was spoken directly into her ear.
"...heard it was all a way to take out competition."
"Me too--Hyades did edge her out in a few exams this year. Maybe the little princess isnt the smartest--she just gets rid of anyone better."
"Yeah, like that other nerd...Moonflitter? Moonraker? Whatever. The one that was just as much a freak as Princess Sparkle. Notice she didn't come back this year...."
Twilight continued to do her best to ignore it all, focusing on getting to the lab as quickly but unobtrusively as possible, struggling to breathe right, to keep all the hurt and anger and anxiety that was stewing inside her from boiling out.
"...connections with the Board of Education..."
"I thought it was the mob?"
"You're both wrong. Its the city council. Blue said..."
"...said she overheard the parent's threatening to send her to another school if Principal Cinch didn't meet their demands..."
The lab wasn't far away, only two more stretches of hallway, but given that this wing was predominantly the domain of the seniors made it a harrowing stretch...with a 'sanctuary' at the end that felt like little more than the lesser of two evils than any kind of safety. And given the likelihood that Wallflower would be there, waiting, with all kinds of questions about the last four or five days, Twilight actually felt herself longing for the relative peace she'd had in gym, and the uncomplicated, tension free nature of her new friendship with Indigo...which in turn made her feel even more like she was caught in some weird 'Through the Looking Glass' nightmare of her life.
Because truthfully, that's what it was beginning to feel like. How else could she explain away wanting to spend time engaging in running and stretching instead of working on a science experiment and solving a puzzle in a lab? What else would create a reality where it was her gym teacher offering solid praise and discouraging her bullies, while all of her other teachers were turning a blind eye to the nastiness going on right in front of them?
Her life at school had become a nightmare, and for all her intellectual capabilities, Twilight had no idea how to stop it.
"So I heard from Melody, that Seashell's boyfriend's chemistry partner saw--"
She pushed the door open to the lab at last, darting in and shutting it firmly behind her, cutting off the latest unpleasant rumor with the slamming of the door. Her heart was thundering in her ears, and her breath ragged as she sought to calm herself down in the relative emptiness of the sterile laboratory.
A voice cut the stillness, making Twilight jolt from the suddenness of it. "There you are!"
Wallflower followed her vocal exclamation by appearing inside Twilight's personal space bubble, scrutinizing every visible inch of her intently. "You aren't hurt!?" came the question.
Confusion warred with other emotions at the question. "Hurt?" she managed, not able to follow quite what was going on. "I...was just coming from Italian..."
The green haired girl huffed. "Not that," she returned. "From last week! You never showed up, and then I had to hear from the grapevine that you were in a fight and they had to call an ambulance!" She put her hands on her hips. "I had no idea what happened, and you didn't show up all last week, or even this morning!"
Twilight shifted uncomfortably. She'd prepared herself for a lot of possible encounters with Wallflower after what had happened in the woods, but this was not one of them. "It was a bit hectic," she explained tightly. "I was in no condition to talk to anyone, after the fight, and I spent the weekend with my family trying to decide on how we wished to handle the whole situation."
"What about this morning?" Wallflower said in a tone just shy of being demanding. "You're here now."
Her back stiffened. "My parents and I had a meeting this morning with the Principal in regards to my being unfairly suspended when a senior student attacked me in the hall. It ran long, and I had to hurry or risk being late to gym."
"Oh." Stepping back a fraction, Wallflower frowned. "You should have at least texted--I spent all weekend worried sick that you were in the hospital or something."
What? Twilight stared at her, disbelief creeping over her. "You...were worried...all weekend?"
The green haired girl nodded vigorously. "I was--I didn't know what to think."
Disbelief coupled with something like icy anger. Wallflower was claiming to be worried after abandoning her the week before in the woods when she might have been hurt?
"Don't forget, she might have been the reason you fell," Mental-Sunset's voice murmured in her mind.
That didn't make it any better, Twilight decided. Even if her fall had been accidental, leaving her behind when Wallflower was supposed to be her ride home during unpleasant winter weather was still unacceptable, especially when Twilight might have been hurt.
Something else niggled at her, and the words were out before she could stop them. "If you were that worried, Wallflower...why didn't you text me yourself?" came the pointed question.
Wallflower's lips twitched, as if the frown wanted to become some other expression. "Because I thought you might be in the hospital," she answered. "I had no idea if you'd even answer."
...yet despite her supposed worry, she hadn't even made an attempt to contact Twilight?
"...why were you so convinced I was unresponsive in a hospital bed that you didn't even try to message or call?" she asked instead, trying not to give in to the indignant agitation she felt.
That got her an eye roll from the other girl. "Really, Twilight?" One hand gestured towards her. "What was I supposed to think? You didn't show up or message, and then all the rumors are saying you got into a fist fight with a senior before lunch, and that a student got taken away in an ambulance. Let's face it, you might be getting trained up for the Games by Zap, but you aren't exactly the Karate Kid. All the seniors are like twice your size--they'd wipe the floor with you!"
Twilight took a deep breath. "For your information, Wallflower, I am perfectly capable of defending myself and getting away from attackers."
Several emotions flitted across Wallflower's face, including something that might have been relief. "That's good to hear, Twilight," she said, then added, "but I didn't know that before. You never said anything, and have never done anything before any of the times people have bullied you."
She sighed, willing herself to sound much less tense than she felt. "Because not every action deserves a violent response, Wallflower. Most people here only ever use words, and I've been ignoring those for a long time." Her features twisted into a frown. "Polaris Hyades did not stick to words...and from the conversation we had before he...advanced on my person...his mental state was at least momentarily unstable for unknown reasons. I reacted, because his goal was unknown and I sincerely felt threatened by his actions."
Wallflower's face shifted to an expression Twilight might have called thoughtful...though Sunset probably would have called it 'calculating.' "So...he got a bit handsy...and you put him in the hospital for it?"
The dark haired girl responded in a slow and deliberate manner. "That...is a gross underrepresentation of the circumstances, I feel."
Her brows pinched. "But that's what other people are going to see, Twilight," Wallflower pointed out. "You've gone and made a huge spectacle out of something that you probably should have handled a lot quieter."
"What do you mean by that? Are you suggesting I should have let him grab me?" Twilight couldn't believe what she was hearing.
Her friend shook her head. "No! Of course not, Twilight...but you could have, I don't know...maybe not gone so far? Gotten away and hid instead of a full fledged fight that led to an ambulance and you missing school for the rest of the week? Do you know what you've done?"
Twilight stiffened, indignation now a frigid fury. "Why don't you tell me, since you seem to already know."
Wallflower gave her a long look like she was a bit dim. "The rumors say he's been expelled, and Hyades was the next smartest kid in school, which means he was on the Games team. Plus you took his lab after he messed it up--do you have any idea how that's going to look to the rest of the school? To the seniors? You've basically painted a huge target on your back...and they won't let this one go, Twilight. This is going to follow you until you graduate."
Her voice was crisp and clipped. "I am not certain how that would be any kind of change from the way things have been since I started at this school," she countered. "I have been a target of harassment and bullying since I walked in and aced my first test. It matters little to the student body what I do or don't do, because they have their own narrative that has little to do with the truth, and they will find a way to twist any event into somehow being something they can feel angry at me over."
"That's not a reason to paint an even bigger target on yourself, Twilight. Especially when it could affect more than just--"
She cut Wallflower off. "Honestly, I'm done caring about the opinions of the student body, Wallflower. I had every right to defend myself from harm, and despite what everyone seems to be saying in the halls, I did not seek a confrontation, nor did I jump right to violence...but I am not a doormat or a punching bag for other people. Polaris had already decided I was guilty of whatever conspiracy he believed was going on in these halls and felt fully justified in trying to assault my person in some form of imagined retribution for things that I had no hand in. I am sorry that it went the way it did, but I am not sorry for protecting myself."
Arms crossed across her chest, Wallflower stared at Twilight hard, her frown and narrowed eyes communicating her displeasure quite effectively. "So that's it then? You're going to ignore what this is going to do to your school life? You're prepared to spend the next year and a half looking over your shoulder everyday? Because I'm not really interested in being collateral damage, Twilight--and I will be. I'm your friend, and with something like this, I'll be fair game too."
Twilight didn't need the mental version of Sunset to tell her how wrong that sounded. "...it sounds an awful lot like this worry and concern you claim to have over my well-being is actually you being worried about blowback on yourself, Wallflower."
Wallflower scowled. "That's not what I meant by it," she defended. "But we've always avoided the worst of the bullying by not drawing attention to ourselves. That's how people like you and I survive in places like this. And you've gone and destroyed our best defense in one week."
"Avoided the worst of the bullying?" she repeated. "Maybe you have, but given that I've been Suri's personal verbal punching bag for three years, I hardly consider that a true statement. The fact is, I'm tired of being her target. I'm tired of trying to ignore it in hopes they'll find a better target...because they won't." One of Sunset's bits of advice swam up from the depths of memory, and she found herself repeating it. "Not only that, I have a right to protect myself from assault by whatever means is necessary to prevent harm to my person."
Brown eyes bored into her, but for once, Twilight found herself holding her ground instead of looking away. "Do you even hear yourself, Twilight? You're advocating violence now, defending it! If this is the kind of change that your new friends are advocating, then maybe you need to reconsider if spending time with them is a good idea, because I'm not sure I like who you're turning into."
"Well maybe I do!" she snapped at the green haired girl. "Maybe I like this me who isnt hiding in a glorified closet and barely has any friends. Maybe I like the idea of a me who isn't constantly afraid of Suri Polomare and what she might do to me if I happen to breathe air wrong in her presence. Did you stop to think that maybe I might enjoy being someone who doesn't let other people take advantage of her! Maybe now I like who I see in the mirror, a person not afraid to reach out and make friends with people who are different than me." Twilight straightened her back defiantly. "Maybe I like who I am when I'm with Sunset--the person she gives me the strength to be, because I know she supports my choices, even when she doesn't agree with them."
Now she was pretty certain the emotion on Wallflower's face was a mixture of hurt and anger. Her friend clenched her fists at her sides. "Support? What do you call me worrying and trying to make sure you're not in over your head all these times, keeping you from being taken advantage of by people looking to use you! I look after my friends!"
Twilight observed her carefully, making mental notes of all the little details to go over later, from the way the other girl stood to how her jaw was set to even the tone of her voice, which had discarded some of its flat, monotone with her riled emotions. "While I appreciate your friendship, as well as your desire to assist me when I am struggling with social situations, or when you share information of which I am unaware, what you have done of late has crossed a line."
The other girl's eyes narrowed. "How is being a concerned friend crossing a line?"
Taking a deep breath, Twilight collected what she wanted to say into some semblance of coherent thought. "Telling me you are concerned about something is fine, letting me know you are worried about what a person's motivation is if they have a history or have changed their behavior is acceptable, even appreciated...but you have progressed well beyond that. I have repeatedly stated that your concern is appreciated, but I feel as though I know Sunset Shimmer a great deal more intimately," she stressed the word on purpose, "than you, who've spent a sum total of eleven minutes and thirty two seconds in her presence. I trust that the person Sunset has been with me is genuine, and I have been privy to her struggles to overcome her history and the behaviors she used to engage in, to grow and change into a better human being. Yet instead of respecting my ability to make my own choices, and even my own mistakes--like all of the other people in my life, including Sunset--you continue to push your rather presumptuous opinions on me, having made it quite clear that poor little socially inept Twilight Sparkle is completely incapable of handling herself."
Wallflower stared at her, mouth opening and closing a few times as she struggled to respond. Finally, she countered with a weak but almost accusatory way, "...but it's true! Everyone knows that--you talked about how your parents had to send you to those special education things when you were in when you were younger, and you've got that legal paperwork with the school that says you're allowed all kinds of aid and assistance, even if you don't ask for it!" Her arms crossed over her chest. "And I've seen it too, so I know it's not fake! ...I was trying to help..."
"Helping was what you were doing when you expressed concern the first time, Wallflower. Past that, you were refusing to respect my decision, and trying to push your point of view on me." Twilight frowned, chin raised defiantly and so she could look her friend in the eyes. "Due to our friendship, I have done my best to be understanding--it is part of the reason I tried to organize a social outing to a venue that would engage all three of our interests, as I mistakenly thought that introducing you two would help you see the real Sunset and not the rumors you have heard second, third, fourth, and even fifth hand. I even went so far as to explain my perspective and assessment of Sunset, in an attempt to find a peaceful middle ground."
"What's more, I find it rather telling how much you have attempted to push your narrative while Sunset has merely told me that she simply does not wish to interact with you as you have spoken plainly of your dislike, and she has no desire to force her presence upon you. Before that, she was actually excited to possibly make a new friend, something you ruined before it ever had a chance because you cannot accept that what you have heard is wrong."
If Wallflower had thoughts, she didn't seem capable of voicing them, staring slack jawed now--she couldn't have looked more shocked if Twilight had slapped her across the face. Twilight pressed her point, laying out the boundaries she had agonized over for days. "It stops, Wallflower. You can feel however you like about Sunset Shimmer, but you will keep it to yourself. Not one word of negativity, no more attempts to 'make me see' your point of view on her, not one single off-color joke or sarcastic remark in my presence. In addition, your unpleasant slurs and bigoted comments are offensive. It's not funny, it's not a laughing matter--to you, it's humorous, but there are plenty of people who use those words to spread hate and dehumanize people who are different. No more."
Silence reigned for more than a minute, growing into a tense standoff and contest of wills the longer their eyes stayed locked.
Finally, Wallflower looked away with a huff. "Fine," she hissed, as though she was making some great concession. "I don't know why you're being so unfair about it--it's not like I was insulting you or anything. You shouldn't be so sensitive..."
"It's not being overly sensitive," Twilight responded sharply. "Every single slur you used about her applies to me, given that the very actions you are denigrating Sunset for are things I've been a willing participant in with her. This isn't a case of being offended on her behalf. This is me saying I will not be subjected to hate speech by someone who is supposed to be my friend." She brushed past the other girl, heading for her desk so she could get some work done. "Those are the boundaries I am placing on our friendship going forward, Wallflower, and they are not negotiable. I don't care whether you think them fair or not--they are my personal boundaries and I have a right to set them. If you don't feel you can respect me as a person enough to respect my boundaries, then there's the door. No one is holding you hostage here." |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Correspondence V: Down the Rabbit Hole | Hey Twi,
I know you're probably still busy with your trip for your lecture, but when you get a moment, I...have updates and I need to impose on you again for research materials.
Updates first, so you have a better sense of why I have the requests I do.
The girls are continuing to practice with their magic--so far everyone but Pinkie has seemed to manifest some kind of ability. They haven't changed at all from what I reported earlier--speed for Dash, strength for AJ, shapeshifting for Fluttershy (which is something they don't get as being as phenomenal as it is, because human folklore is rife with shapeshifting beings of different kinds...)--so I'm fairly comfortable with saying that the powers they have acquired are unlikely to change type, though they may further evolve in strength and versatility as the girls get used to them and grow more confident. It's Rarity's new power that really surprised me, and has tremendous potential for some very creative application. She conjures energy projections but they're solid like magical shields. It...seems almost to combine aspects of conjuration and abjuration all at once...
At this point, I'm watching Pinkie, but she just doesn't ever seem to get into a situation where she's on an emotional edge enough to trigger anything. I suppose I should be grateful--knowing my luck, her power is to make cupcakes explode or something. It's bad enough that I can now apparently create fire on a whim. Could you imagine what kind of DISASTER something like Pinkie being able to make explosions would be? I'm really hoping that whatever ability Pinkie ends up with is fairly non-destructive and benign. She's my friend, but some beings should never be given that kind of power. It'd be like somepony dyed Discord pink and let him out again.
Speaking of Pinkie...does the pony Pinkie Pie ever mention something called 'Pinkie Sense' or somehow know things she shouldn't with no explanation as to how? Because the human one does and it...I'm afraid to look too much into it. Something tells me that 'that way lies madness.' Are we sure Pinkie didn't have an ancestor that had a rowdy night with Discord?
Anyway. I'm getting off-topic, but you'll have to forgive me. Things have been...pretty busy and kind of insane here. I've delegated what I can, but at the end of the day, I'm the only board certified Magus and the only one capable of reading the various languages of Equestria to take down notes. On top of practicing their powers, we're also taking down readings and running regular tests on magic. The levels here at CHS are only growing, and the affect its had on the flora in and around the school has persisted, but without any ill effects, although the repeated waves of magic and exposure to the Rainbow don't seem to have had any affects on students other than the girls--Flash, Lyra, and Bon-bon have graciously been my volunteer test subjects for that.
All of what we're doing has also motivated the school...which is weird, in a way. The students are trying to find ways to defend themselves from magic, and I'm pretty impressed with some of the ideas these humans have come up with to disrupt a spellcaster's magic. I just really hope they never have to use them...
We both know I'm not that lucky.
Especially because I've picked up on dark magic again. Very dark magic, the kind that the Ethics Board would weigh in on and then put on the list of banned magics--the kind of stuff Darkblossom and Quietus the Blackhearted got condemned to Tartarus for.
I wont bore you with the human details that require complicated explanations, but my other friend? The one the girls don't know about? She goes to another school, and several times now I've had to...burn off...purge...dark magic from her and her family. (It's another of those complicated things I can't explain how it works yet or why, but I think it's tied into whatever power makes me Pony-Up.) The dark magic...it makes them angry and aggressive and not themselves, that keeps coming back, and that seems to be invisible until it's triggered. And the thing that seems to trigger it most? Things related to her school. I can't prove it, but the school seems the only common denominator, especially since Lyra had another friend who goes to this other school, and that friend is...also acting pretty hostile and aggressive lately when they've talked. It's enough to make me extremely suspicious...and very worried.
The worst part is that there's a special competition coming up between that school and Canterlot High, hosted at CHS. If theres a being or person or artifact causing this...I'm extremely concerned about it trying to either tamper with the portal, or worse, go after the ambient magic present in the school and the students.
Which is why I need information on dark magic that might fit this. It's not Equestrian magic, but it reminds me of some things I do remember from researching in the past. And it's not like mind altering magics are super common as a subject... I'm hoping it might give me a starting point to combat it proactively, rather than being forced to react to it all the time.
I've also acquired a book...I think I've mentioned it before--the journal of a human chasing after a wife taken by unknown creatures? Anyway, I've confirmed that its legitimately magical, and very heavily spelled, which lends credence to it, and in it...I've discovered a bestiary of sorts, full of magical creatures, some of which I know are Equestrian, some of which I've never heard of, and some that are so much more expansive than anything I've ever read on some of the worst things rotting in Tartarus. Which brings me to my second request, which may be pushing boundaries all things considered, but there's something I can't shake about it.
I need to know what our people have on demons and demon-like creatures, anything that falls under the Nightmares, Fearlings, and old Dream-Eaters stories, and anything else that can attack the mind or traverse the place between awake and asleep. I can't bring myself to trust this information one hundred percent by itself. I need other sources, and Equestria is where I can find them.
Ive been having nightmares, Twi, and you'll understand when I say 'they don't just feel like dreams.' ...and somehow, I have powers of my own, without being an Element...and I don't know where its coming from.
I need answers, and I need your help.
Please--I need to protect her.
Sunset Shimmer
Sunset,
Applejack here--er, the pony one, obviously. Twi and Spike are both out of town. Some big high faluting thing in Canterlot or something. She been heading there a lot lately--Princess Luna's been getting her help, I think.
Anywho. Read through your letter, in case it was an emergency, and while I cant help much with the magic stuff, the nightmares thing...look, we Apples have had a few ponies in the family over the years that were Moondreamers, and so Granny always taught us that if your dreams don't feel like just dreams, listen to that. Its a good chance that feeling is right. And we cant really get any restricted stuff, but I'll have Rarity and Pinkie help me look through whats here to find what Twi's library has. Would it be okay for one of us to deliver it to you or your friends through the mirror? I can make sure its either me or Rarity--I'm not sure letting Pinkie loose on another world where theres already a Pinkie is a good ide--
Terribly sorry about the abrupt end of Applejack's message, darling, but Pinkie appears to have caused a minor explosion in the castle kitchen. She is right about us searching the library, though I cannot guarantee we will find overmuch. Would you like us to send Princess Luna a message with your questions? Perhaps her role as the Dreamwalker might mean she has the answers you need.
This dark magic you mention sounds positively dreadful...I am no expert like Twilight, but have you considered using some of the gems to create a protective accessory? I've done that before for clients who needed the added defense. I understand humans don't have tails, but based on Twilight's description, it sounds like they have other types of accessories. You could either carve the array into the accessory itself, or if size and concealment is a factor, perhaps the use of sympathetic magic instead, by creating a smaller and more understated piece from parent stones and then keeping the parent array somewhere where it will be both safe and easily charged?
I will sketch in some of the arrays I'm familiar with--perhaps your Rarity can assist you in the craft...or, if you think it could be done with runes embroidered into fabric, I would be more than happy to do some of the enchanting legwork for you and send some of my special thread and fabric across. We may not be Twilight, darling, but we are happy to help somepony in need.
Let me know? I have a slow few weeks--no major client orders are due at the moment, so I have time so long as Sweetie Belle does not disassemble my loom for parts again.
Sincerely Yours,
Rarity of Ponyville
Proprietor and Seamstress of Carousel Boutique
[Smudges of glitter and excess hot pink ink dot the page]
Hiiiiiii Sunset! Pinkie here! Of course I have Pinkie Sense, silly filly! All Pinkies do--its part of THE PINK inside of a Pinkie! Thats how I knew you were talking about me! See, I got this twitchy feeling in my tail and then my nose itched and my front left hoof taped the ground six times two fast and three slow and one hard, and I just knew someone was asking about Pinkie Sense in a magic letter. And then I accidentally had another twitch and knocked a thing of flour onto the fire and BOOM! Applejack had to help me air out the kitchens cause the flour made it super smoky! Oh, and she mentioned your letter!
Also, you don't have to worry about the other Pinkie blowing stuff up. Thats a DIFFERENT Pinkie who gets to do that! Though I suppose your Pinkie might borrow her sometimes...
Since we're sending stuff through, I'll make sure to send you a batch of my fizzleberry muffins! They're good for chasing away the sad with smiles! |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Twenty Four: Mercurial | Sunset was not a huge fan of pep rallies. In all truthfulness, she had never cared for them before her reformation, and she was learning now that the dislike had not been tied to the unpleasant personality she had been prior to the Fall Formal. It didn't help that Pinkie and Rainbow had suggested that they go Ponied-Up, instead of wearing the fake Wondercolt ears and tails...and then made a very persuasive argument about how holding onto their transformations for an extended period of time could be a great test of their magical stamina. Which it was, curse them, but it meant she was now subjected to the sound of the entire student body all talking at once on top of all the other sounds bombarding her sensitive ears. She'd practically buried them in her hair they were pinned so hard to her skull, and it didn't do a lot to block out the noise. Not to mention, some kind of equipment in the gym space was vibrating at a frequency that made her horn hurt.
She glanced around. Most of her friends where nearby, though Rainbow Dash was down on the front row with the rest of the sports teams, all in uniforms, and Pinkie was with the cheerleaders and the Pep Squad, coordinating...because of course Pinkie Pie was involved in anything and everything that could be seen as a party or was about school spirit. Fluttershy was hemmed in between her and Rarity, listening to the tailor and a few of her friends from the drama department discussing costume fabrics, and AJ sat behind the three of them, looking bored. They didn't seem to be having the same issue with the noise level as she was, though...
Blue-green eyes scanned the wider crowd as a new sensation hit her--the feeling of eyes watching her. It brought a prickly feeling of agitation and anticipation, and her ears instinctively overrode the conscious muscle control to prick forward and start swiveling to and fro to search for danger.
There it was! Whispered snatches of her name, people staring at the group then looking away quickly when her eyes tracked to them. What was going on?
A hand settled on her shoulder and nearly made the former unicorn jump out of her skin until she realized it was Applejack. "Relax, Sunset. Ah see it too, but Ah think they're all tryin' ta get a good look at our Pony-Ups. An' yer ears are...well, even fer non horse folk, they're kinda givin' you away."
Sunset reached up and ran her finger tips over the velvety texture of her ear. It felt normal, and was moving normally--although the muscles that controlled them felt sore since they weren't usually in use quite so much on humans. "What's wrong with them?" she asked, confused and a little worried.
"Nothing's wrong," AJ replied with a chuckle. "It's just...well...they move a lot, like a real horse. Rest of us...don't do that." She pointed up at her own ears, which lay splayed and relaxed because of her ever present hat.
One ear flicked back in annoyance. "Wait. You are saying that people are staring at my ears because I'm moving them?"
"Seems like. It's...pretty noticeable, an' most folk have dogs or cats and are assumin' yer ears are like those. From here, kinda looks like yer mad about something, especially with yer face all scrunched up."
"...I'm not angry," she defended. "Annoyed, maybe, because the noise level hurts a bit. Also something in the room is making my horn itch in a really unpleasant way." Her ears drooped slightly. "...I didn't think humans could read my ears like that."
The blonde shrugged. "Pets can't talk our way, so humans got real good at learning to see what they were saying their way."
Fluttershy joined in. "It's very interesting, studying the symbiotic forms of reciprocal communication that humans and certain types of animals have learned from each other. Dogs read human faces completely differently than they read each other's or even other animals--they do it in a way that mimics how we read each other! And cats have developed a complex language of vocalizations they only use with human companions to communicate different needs!"
It was going to be one of those talks. Steeling herself, Sunset asked, "And your horses?"
"Horses have some of the most expressive emotional capabilities I've ever seen," the other teen gushed happily. "They can suffer from a lot of the same problems we do, like depression or anger management issues, and they are extremely sensitive to our body language, especially when they've bonded with a rider. The best of them stop being a human and a horse and actually function as a unit!"
It was weird. "So what you're telling me," she clarified, "is that it took me years to master acting human and figuring out what your body language meant, and you all just have an encyclopedia of interspecies body language and communication in your brains? All of you?"
Her friends--even Rarity now--were all watching her. At last Applejack nodded. "Eeeeeyup. Pretty much. Some folks're better than others--like Fluttershy, or mah cousin who's a regular horse whisperer--but most people can figure out the important ones."
Sunset shook her head. "Of course you can. I'm not angry though. Just...annoyed. Maybe frustrated, because whatever is making that noise is driving me a little crazy!" She rubbed the base of her horn, and glanced at Rarity. "Can you feel it or is it just me?"
Frowning fractionally, Rarity nodded. "I had detected a weird buzzing sensation, but I wasn't sure if that was normal or caused by the crowd. This is the first time we have had our powers active while in the middle of a crowd for an extended time like this."
"It's making my horn itch all the way down into the core--the longer it goes on, the more it's making me feel like my brain is itching too!" Her ears pinned back fully. "I'm getting a migraine out of it."
One of the drama kids sitting on Rarity's far side one tier lower was watching her, before turning towards the sound booth and waving her hands. Her fingers moved in a deliberate fashion, and Sunset pushed the building headache down a minute. "What...?"
The girl shrugged and glanced over her shoulder. "If it's a weird noise that isn't people, it might be the sound equipment. I was telling Vinyl to check it." Her words were punctuated by a horrendous squeal of feedback that rang through the gym and made everyone wince in pain.
When it stopped, Sunset realized that the sensation of ants crawling around in her horn core had stopped, and she slumped back in relief. "Oh bright stars, that fixed it."
"Great!" The girl made some more hand movements, paused, then made a few more. "Vinyl says that next time you pick up on something like that, give her a high sign so she can check the equipment. A sound cable was plugged in in the wrong port." She turned and smiled at Sunset warmly. "You don't have to sit and suffer, Sunset, just because we can't hear it."
"...I guess I didn't...think about saying anything?" The redhead ran a hand through her hair. "Thanks, though." She felt really bad for not knowing the girl's name--Golden something? She hadn't really been on Sunset's radar during her reign, and so the name escaped her completely.
"Happy to help out!" With a smile the girl turned back to her group of friends, returning to their conversation.
Now that she was no longer suffering from whatever feedback had been bothering her, Sunset found it easier to filter out the noise and relax. Her mind wandered for a bit, onto her most recent experiments with their magic. The girls were getting the hang of activating their powers, and using them was definitely becoming less haphazard. Except for Pinkie. Despite all the weirdness that existed around Pinkie Pie, her powers seemed to be taking their time in manifesting in any particular way.
That was starting to worry Sunset--Pinkie was not exactly the picture of restraint, after all.
"Hey, Sunset! Mind if Bonny and I sit here?"
Jolting, she realized Lyra had appeared on her other side. "Oh...sure, no one's sitting there. Pinkie is part of the organizing committee for this and Dash is sitting with the team, so it's fair game."
"Fantastic! We wanted good seats for this. Flash wouldn't give us the details, but he said it's going to be a pep rally to remember." Lyra was grinning from ear to ear.
Next to her, Bon-Bon snarked, "Maybe they'll burn the Crystal Shadowcolt in effigy this year in some attempt to make the Crystal Prep students tolerable to be around."
"With likely few exceptions," Sunset responded dryly, "I doubt even setting the CPA students themselves on fire would do anything to improve their attitudes. Trust me, it didn't work at CSGU. They just got more unpleasant, not less, and the teachers looked for any excuse to come down on me after that."
Bon-Bon arched an eyebrow. "I'm not sure if that says more about the state of the equine education system or you before you came here, Sunset."
She wiggled a hand. "A little of both?" she offered. "I didn't just start out being terrible the instant I ended up on two legs....but by the same token, CSGU was a magic school, so...things like being set on fire or accidentally turning yourself into a polka dotted toad in an alchemy mishap was...planned for?"
Lyra looked beyond excited. "Magic school sounds like so much fun! Did you have a class all for learning about magical creatures?"
"Um...I mean there was a track for those looking into things involving monsters and beasts. Arcanobiology, a few ecology and monster biology courses. Those were mostly on the medical side of stuff at CSGU though, for ponies going into healing professions. The kind of intensive course I suspect you mean wasn't a CSGU thing, it was actually a major part of Guard training."
Fluttershy piped up on her other side. "Guard training?"
Sunset nodded and explained, "The Equestrian Guard is...it's not really an army or a police force--I mean, yes, guardsponies do serve in a constabulary role when crimes occur, but other than the occasional scuffle, petty theft, or vandalism, there's not a lot of regular crime for them to worry about. What Equestria needs them for more is dealing with dangerous monsters and wildlife, especially on the roads or in more remote villages. Packs of timberwolves or a chimaera--especially a nesting mother--in the forests, hydra and sandmirks in swampy areas, and let's not even talk about things like pukwudgies, tatzlwurms, wyverns, and rocs...these things can be devastating for small communities or travelers, so the guard is our primary source of keeping monster infestations away from ponies. That means they have to know how to fight them, to drive them off or kill them, and how to avoid getting eaten...since most of the problem monsters think pony is a tasty snack."
"That's..." Bon-Bon paused, looking at the rest of the group. "Yikes."
The former unicorn shrugged. "It is what it is. Most of them are apex predators and a single pony is...I dunno, probably about four or five hundred pounds of food for one of them? Unlike humans...we didn't end up on top of the food chain, so we defend ourselves as best we can."
Applejack frowned. "Why ain't ya just gotten rid of them?"
Rubbing her neck, Sunset explained as best she could. "They have a right to live too, and are part of the ecosystem. We focus on pruning them back away from our settlements and make ponies less appealing as food options than easier meals. There's a few exceptions--timberwolves are elemental blights that come from mutant magic, so hunting down and destroying Packhearts is always a priority, but most of them...they're only more dangerous than wolves or lions or bears because they're bigger or magical. Plus there's plenty of space for all of us. Ponies are nowhere near as numerous as humans are."
"So what kind of weapons do ponies fight monsters with?" Bon-Bin questioned. "I can't imagine you guys have submachine guns."
"Oh no--we do have explosives, but most of those are thaumic, not alchemical. Spears, javelins, staves, polearms are pretty popular. Some of them have heads inspired by tools--shovels, pitchforks, hoes, scythes...sometimes you'll see hammers. Magical spells, for unicorns. Pegasi sometimes uses their ability to manipulate clouds and air as a weapon--the Wonderbolts train to do just that, because a concussive blast or a tight spiral of air can be as devastating as an explosion, and not much is immune to lightning. We also have our hooves--a lot of the Guard has special shoeing done, or wear enchanted guards on their cannons that have blades or spikes when they kick. For bigger weapons, there's catapults, ballista, magic launchers that amplify a spell and hurl it at a target further than any caster can."
"Ya know, Ah thought Equestria was some kinda paradise," Applejack drawled, "but it sounds like it's just as scary as this world in its own ways."
Sunset gave a slight smile. "You're...not wrong," she admitted. "Equestria--"
A loud bass track followed by a burst of electric guitar and heavy drums interrupted not only what Sunset was about to say, but also the conversations going on in the bleachers around her. The chatter around her fell off as attention turned to the stage and the open area of the gym floor below.
"Canterlot High!" came Flash's voice as he took center stage, sporting a pair of Wondercolt ears and a CHS jacket. "Are you ready to rock?!"
The response was...somewhat lethargic, and Pinkie bounced up next to him a moment later, school spirit-wear practically coming out of her pony ears. "Hey! I thought this was a CHS pep rally, not a Crystal Prep one!" She pouted at the crowd of students, looking disappointed with her hands on her hips.
Someone called out, "As if Crystal Prep kids would be caught dead in a place like this! Not enough silver spoons and tacky fake diamonds on everything!"
Flash grinned in challenge. "Then let me hear you act like Wondercolts! We're a million times better than those snobs!"
This time the cheering was noticeably more enthusiastic, with people stomping their feet and roaring back at the stage. Sunset winced from the volume, and from the surge of aggression she could practically taste in the air... She felt Fluttershy give her a loose hug around the shoulders in sympathy, the other girl also cringing a little from the noise level.
"I guess we're in the right place after all!" Pinkie chirped happily into the mic once the crowd settled back down.
Strumming a power chord on his guitar, Flash agreed, and gave the room one of his boyish grins. "Which is good, because we've got the Friendship Games coming up, and we're gonna finally show those Crystal Preppers what it feels like to lose!"
Once again, someone from the bleachers called out, "How? By example?"
"Yeah, we never win against them!" someone else yelled. "They've already started their victory celebrations on MyStable!"
Sunset frowned, seeing her friends falter on stage. Her magic pulsed with that familiar static shock tingle when Rainbow Dash jumped to her feet. "So what!? We can win this year! Look at what we've already done!" Her wings flared, making her look much more imposing than her short stature allowed for, punctuating her statement with a visual reminder of the changes at the school.
Her own magic responding had the redhead on her feet before she could register getting up. "I thought you were Wondercolts," she said cockily, hands on her hips. She could feel the eyes of every student in the room on her as well as the teachers...and the principals. "Are you telling me that you all are frightened of Crystal Prep...after you stood up to me? A bunch of stuck up rich kids who need their parents' money to solve their problems are harder to challenge than the 'Demon Queen of CHS?' As if." Sunset let just a hint of the old smirk play across her face, one eyebrow raised.
"Yeah!" Rainbow cried, leaping into the air with a fist held high. Her fluttering wings held her aloft as she spun around in a slow circle. "Where's that Wondercolt Pride? We've fought evil magic, crazy demon fish horses, and pulled the whole school together to help Princess Twilight! A bunch of private school kids are nothing compared to all that!"
Sunset caught Flash's eyes and lifted her chin, a subtle signal for him to go ahead with what she knew he was thinking. Her ex winked at her. "I don't know about you guys, but I dated Sunset--she's way more terrifying on a bad day than anyone we'll face at the Games."
Pinkie giggled. "Have you seen the size of her boots? Those make me super glad you're on our side now, Sun-Shim!"
"It's just Sunset, Pinkie!" she yelled back, half laughing now at the over the top act of her zany friend mock cowering behind Flash Sentry.
"Hide me!" she heard.
Flash looked bewildered. "Hide you? From Sunset? Sorry, Pinkie, friendship's magic and all that, but a wise man knows not to get between his ex-girlfriend and her target!"
The pair made a spectacle of trying to throw the other into the 'line of fire,' all while Sunset stood in the bleachers, rolling her eyes. "It's probably a good thing I'm not trying to get them," she joked rather loudly to her friends nearby. "With all of that, I'd've already kicked their butts and gone out for pizza afterwards."
Laughter rippled through the crowd, and she felt good as she found her seat again. Pinkie, who had 'tripped' Flash and was hiding behind a fake tree belonging to the drama department, peeked out. "Pssst, Flash!" she whisper-yelled into the mic. "I think it's safe! We gave her the slip!"
The blue haired youth stopped cowering behind a box. "Oh good. We're safe now--take it from me, guys, those boots are a deadly weapon. It's like getting kicked by a horse!"
As a unit, her friends--led by Pinkie--yelled, "Pony!"
More laughter, and the mood in the crowd had brightened, the faint stirrings of discontent and frustration scattered to the winds by Sunset's willingness to make her own poor history a point of pride for the school. It...took a lot of the sting out of the reminder, she realized, when she was the one bringing it up as something other than a slip of the tongue or reference to the girls' track record against magical threats.
It helped that once the attention was off her, she'd been put into a group hug by the girls around her--including Lyra and Bon-Bon--and Rarity had placed a worried hand on her wrist, asking quietly, "Are you alright, darling?"
"I'm...okay," she said back, equally quiet under the booming audio from the microphones as Flash and Pinkie continued to talk up the Wondercolts in the upcoming Games. "...I...don't like it when I'm...raked over the coals...about what happened, but this is different. It's no secret that I used to be pretty awful to everyone, and...I don't know...they weren't laughing at me. They were laughing at Flash and Pinkie acting ridiculous."
"Because no one was making fun of you, Sunset...and I do apologize if it has felt that way in the past. We...do not intend to make you feel bad when we mention what occurred at the formal, I do hope you know that..." Rarity's lips thinned into a worried frown.
The former unicorn hastened to prevent her friend from following that line of thought further. "I know, Rarity--it's never brought up with anger or anything like that, or directed at me. It's...a reminder...I don't like to have it brought up because looking back..." She rolled her shoulders, trying to push down the prickly feeling in her skin. "...looking back at it, I can see now how much of a miserable, unpleasant, nasty mare I was, and how I took all of my misery out on people here...when none of you humans were the source of how I felt...and when some of you even made the effort in the beginning...to be kind." Her eyes met the tailor's pointedly. "It reminds me how much I hated myself, and how I almost ruined everything forever..." The words she'd told her girlfriend came back to her. "...and all for something that was nothing but a delusional dream."
"You...don't still hate yourself," Fluttershy asked worriedly, "do you, Sunset?"
Shaking her head, Sunset hugged the other teen reassuringly. "No...I...worked through all of that because of the Battle of the Bands. Helping there, against the Sirens, being able to really start giving back to you girls and making things right in some small way with all the people I hurt...it...felt like...this weight...coming off me."
"That's good," Lyra said firmly, "because you've been doing more than just 'making things right.' You're a good friend now, Sunset, and you should be proud of who you are now."
Her lips turned up at the corners when she glanced towards Lyra. "...I'm just trying to live up to what Twilight and the girls have taught me," she admitted, knowing that after their discussion the former CPA student would get what she meant.
She was not disappointed when Lyra's answering grin became more than a little mischievous and she winked at Sunset. "I bet Twilight's proud of how far you've come too."
Sunset fell silent. Lyra wasn't wrong--Twilight had told her more than once how proud she was of her...and backed it up with more than a few kisses too. It felt good to hear it from others though, especially those who had suffered under her tyranny. It made her feel like she really was moving forward as a better pony...and a better person. She'd never forget how far she'd fallen, but it was definitely feeling as if it no longer hung quite so ominously over her head, with those around her concerned if she would fall back into her old ways. In many ways, it was a relief--
"Oh my heavens, what have they done with their outfits!?" Rarity exclaimed with horror.
The former unicorn jerked her head up. "Who? What?"
One pale hand gestured imperiously towards the cheerleaders who had taken center stage while Sunset had been talking. "There, darling! Look at what they've done to themselves!"
Blue-green eyes followed the gesture in puzzlement and confusion as the cheerleaders began some complex routine that was part dance, part gymnastics routine. "Um..." Sunset wasn't an expert on cheerleaders by any means but she'd seen them at the games and pep rallies she'd attended in the past, and they didn't look much different than any other time. "What am I supposed to be looking at?"
Rarity huffed in exasperated annoyance. "Their skirts, Sunset, honestly, how does no one else notice the terrible stitching and the awful choice of materials? And don't get me started on the cut and style..."
Riiiiight. Skirts? Sunset tilted her head looking at the skirts more critically, but she couldn't figure out what her friend was talking about. They...seemed to be about what she expected...if shorter than most girls wore, exposing a host of long, lean legs to her eyes. Her gaze lifted to see if anyone besides Rarity had noticed anything. They hadn't seemed to, though a number of the boys looked fairly invested in the routine...
Freaky monkeys and their hormones...
Sunset looked back at the cheerleaders, absently noting how the whole thing was meant to entice those who were attracted to the human female form. Even trying to imagine her girlfriend in one of those skirts didn't really make it any more interesting to watch, hunting for whatever Rarity was still complaining about.
"...it's nothing more than a cheap thrill to tease the boys and they could have done that without showing off the short shorts they are all wearing underneath the skirts to prevent flashing anyone...why, if they had just come to me, I could have designed..."
Sure, Sunset had snuck a few glances at Twilight's rear and thighs, especially when she wore some of the tighter pajama pants, but she just couldn't picture her favorite bookworm in a skirt like that in a way that was appealing--the mental image was more comical than anything, of Twilight being flustered and awkward and that making her more clutzy than normal. The mental action sequence ended with Sunset having to catch her when she inevitably tripped and crashed into her.
Okay, so she would enjoy that part of it, but in her defense, Twilight was very huggable. And cute in a dorky way when she got all flustered.
Now that was an idea...
Looking at the skirts more intently, she wondered if she could find something in her favorite colors that did that when she moved...to wear in the privacy of the loft, of course, when Twilight was over? She could finagle a whole self defense lesson on fighting in a skirt to justify it...
Twilight would be a blushing, stammering mess in less than five minutes, and Sunset would enjoy absolutely every moment of it. It would make wearing a skirt like that worth it. She could even picture the expression on her girlfriend's face, a twin to the one from the previous Saturday, eyes wide and cheeks practically glowing, mouth hanging slightly open.
Sunset liked the idea the more she thought about it, and wondered what other things she could do to elicit specific reactions from her best friend. Not just interest or embarrassment, but other things too, like surprise or delight, or even prod her into laughing. It could even be fun to try and predict how Twilight might react to something...
"...nset?"
She blinked, realizing that the cheerleaders were done and she'd gotten lost in thought for not one upbeat song, but three. "Huh?"
Lyra smirked at her, leaning close to one pointed pony ear so only Sunset could hear. Obliging, Sunset swiveled the appendage to catch what she whispered. "Look, I know Emerald Lace has an ass you can bounce a quarter off of, Sunset, but you probably should be a little more discreet if you want to enjoy the view."
Her eyes bugged out of her skull at that. "What?!"
"It's considered rude and creepy to stare like that even if you're a girl."
"But--I wasn't--it's not--I don't--" Sunset sputtered, feeling her face heat up.
Lyra laughed. "It's okay if you were, Sunset. There's no harm in looking--Bonny and I look all the time. Just don't be weird about it, or do it in places like the locker room, that's all."
"It's not like that!" she managed, face burning up. "I was lost in thought!" Her voice sounded shrill to her own ears.
"Okay," the other girl said soothingly. "They must have been some good thoughts, though, judging by your expression."
"...was working on plans for something I was going to do later," Sunset offered nebulously.
Lyra glanced back at the cheerleaders hopping down from the stage, then towards Sunset, her face growing speculative. "Hmmm..."
"What?"
Her expression became a broad and cheery grin. "Go for it. You definitely have the figure to pull it off, Sunset." Then she turned back to Bon-Bon and picked up a conversation with her, leaving Sunset staring and not sure how to feel.
Schooling her features before the rest of her friends noticed, Sunset forced her attention back to the pep rally--and resolved to be more careful about where her eyes were focused the next time she got lost in thought. Thankfully, the next bit of the event seemed safe--a couple of big guys from the lacrosse and football teams--Curly and a boy who insisted everyone call him 'Teddy,' if she remembered right--carrying the largest pinata Sunset had ever seen, shaped vaguely equine like and done in Crystal Prep's colors in what, to Sunset, looked like a mockery of the official Wonderbolts stunt uniform. They brought it to a cable hanging down from the gym's rafters, hooking it up and starting to hoist it up into the air.
A flash of light and bright blue smoke heralded the return of Flash and Pinkie on the stage, drawing her attention. As Pinkie bounced forward comically, Sunset caught a glimpse of Trixie backstage, the magician meeting her gaze briefly and giving her a slight nod. The former bully returned it--it looked like her guess about the silver haired braggart was at least a little accurate.
"Look-ee what we have here!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Where did this come from?!"
Flash smirked. "We caught the Crystal Prep Shadowcolt trying to sneak onto school grounds to see the Wondercolt!"
The pink girl gasped. "What was it doing there?! Planning a surprise party?"
"Maybe it was a forbidden romance?" Flash joked. He wiggled his brows suggestively at the crowd. That drew laughter and jeers from the assembled students, and he held up his hands placatingly. "Okay, okay, you're right. It probably wasn't fraternizing with the enemy. It was probably part of the plan to redecorate the Wondercolt...but it failed! So what should we do to the Shadowcolt?"
"I think the cheerleaders have a suggestion," Pinkie giggled.
Sure enough, several of the cheerleaders had stepped back out on the floor with a detached broom handle that had been painted blue and gold.
"I think you're right--hey girls! See about finding an audience volunteer! Get some participation going!" The proclamation made people yell, stand and wave, or stomp their feet, eager to get picked to have a shot at the pinata. A shiver passed through Sunset at the barely restrained violence bubbling to the surface in her classmates--she wasn't sure what bothered her more at this point: the predatory aggression surrounding her, or the way the mood tugged on a part of her that had frightened her own kind that would fit right in with the humans around her. She also wasn't sure she wanted the answer to that question.
The cheerleaders went into a huddle to confer, before one of them skipped over to retrieve someone from the bleachers, a quiet, but awkwardly smiling Bulk Biceps. The towering frame of the surprisingly sweet and kind boy was led almost by the hand out into the center and turned in a circle to show him the cheering, excited crowd. Bulk's pale cheeks were flushed, but he smiled and waved at everyone, before the painted stick was pressed into his hands.
"Go ahead, Bulk!" Flash called. "Give that Shadowcolt your best shot!"
Looking at the stick, Bulk gave a testing jab at the pinata's side, only to look startled when he ended up going straight through it and out the other side....and then the stick got stuck inside it and Bulk started trying to wiggle it free, sending it bouncing and swinging on its tether wildly.
"Oh maaaan," Pinkie called. "It's super good pinatas don't feel pain! Cuz that looks like it would hurt!"
"Then maybe it's good we stuck to a pinata instead of kidnapping the real mascot like some people suggested," Flash joked. "I'm fairly sure the fursuit Shadowcolt is not filled with a candy surprise."
"And who can say no to free candy?!" Pinkie seemed aghast at the very notion. It was Pinkie Pie, Sunset mused, so the odds of that being exactly the case were...pretty high.
Meanwhile, Bulk's efforts to free the stick had torn open the side and taken off most of one front leg, candy spilling out onto the floor. He was grinning happily now, as the cheering and chanting rose to a fever pitch, and he completely forgot the stick as he yelled out, "Wondercolts! Yeah!" and struck the neck of the faux-mascot with one melon sized fist. The pinata didn't stand a chance.
Candy, tissue paper, and bits of paper-mache exploded onto the gym floor, and the cheer squad scattered, grabbing handfuls of sweets and tossing them into the crowd of students. Two of them were parading Bulk around like a king, holding his arms up in a victory pose.
The cheers had turned to excited laughter, as people jumped and scrabbled for the candy. Even Sunset found herself laughing as candy pelted her, fingers reaching and snatching the sweets from the air. A few pieces she tucked into her jacket pocket for later, but most of it she passed to her friends around her--she still had a bag full of much better candy from her girlfriend's house. "You know, this is...actually kind of fun when I'm not trying to put on a show or hated by the student body," she commented to Fluttershy, handing the animal lover some mini 3 Musketeers bars.
"I'm glad to hear you're having fun," came the soft murmur in response. "I...don't usually like these things, but I want to support Dashie because I know they're going to to pick her for the Games."
"Yeah...I...figured I'm going to be cheering Dash and some of you girls on from the sidelines," Sunset agreed. "Though I draw the line at embarrassing posters and body paints," she quipped.
"Hoo boy...now don't give Rares no ideas," Applejack warned. That earned her a swat from a pale hand and a petulant frown from the tailor.
"No promises--she probably could design spirit-wear that doesn't look terrible." Sunset grinned unrepentantly.
"Already done, darling. Tasteful Wondercolt spirit-wear designs have been submitted to the student council, and the designs have gone through. They'll be sold as part of a pre-Games fundraiser in March." Rarity smiled. "I do hope all of you will consider purchasing something--the money goes back into the school, into the Spirit and Dance Committee, and a good portion will fund prom this year."
Sunset smiled back and nodded, mentally doing some budgeting math. She might have to contact Max and have him increase her monthly budget. Having a social life and a girlfriend was not going to be sustainable much longer on what went into her account, and there was no way she could find the time for a job right now, not with all the magic problems. Maybe over the summer? If the magic settled down and they stopped whatever was going on that possibly involved CPA students...or at least the one CPA student she cared about. "I'm sure we'll all find something to support the--"
Thud-Thud. Clap.
Her sentence ended abruptly, as the noise ripped from the speakers with bass she could feel. Sunset took a long second to realize what the thumping noise had been, and her eyes widened as her hackles prickled. It came again, the sound of heavy boots on a hard surface and she remembered the one thing that had always bothered her most about pep rallies...
Stomp-Stomp. Clap.
It was downright unnerving, watching some seven or eight hundred humans fall utterly silent in less than ten seconds, every single set of eyes drawn to the stage where Flash and Pinkie were already getting in on the percussion.
STOMP-STOMP. CLAP.
The bleachers vibrated from the force of the entire student body, even her friends around her, joining in on the opening to a song that seemed to be the go-to song for riling up sports fans and high schoolers alike. It didn't seem to matter that her research into music history told her that this song was older than some of the teachers, let alone the student body, every human she'd ever seen exposed to it seemed to know all the lyrics and felt the urge to sing and stomp and yell along with it at the top of their lungs.
STOMP-STOMP. CLAP.
If the earlier yelling and cheering had left her feeling rising aggression and predatory dominance from the crowd, this was on a whole other level. The music hadn't even started yet, and people were on their feet, a rising fervor sweeping through them like some kind of pack mentality.
In every pep rally prior to this, Sunset had been forced to grit her teeth and fight the instincts in her hindbrain that wanted to either challenge the predators or run away before they decided mare was on the menu. It had always left her unsettled, and after the third or so pep rally in the first year she'd been in the school, she had always pretended to need a bathroom break about halfway through so she could miss this part.
STOMP-STOMP. CLAP.
Then Applejack was pulling her and Fluttershy up with help from Lyra, and a surge of something went through her. She didn't feel the urge to leave... No.
She wanted to join in.
And when Fluttershy grinned at her and raised her own foot to stomp in time with everyone else, Sunset Shimmer followed suit, her boot slamming down in a way, that to a pony, was even more a gesture of raw aggression than to a human.
STOMP-STOMP. CLAP.
She'd never really done any illicit substances--there was one Gala where she had drank way too much champagne for a thirteen year old filly, but that had also been when she'd almost gotten into it with some of the aristocrats present too. And despite the greenhouse accident that left an entire three terraces of Upper Canterlot higher than a pegasus setting a flight record, she had avoided anything that might have messed with her head...but she was starting to feel like she had heard people describe being drunk or high...
A buzzing tingle had taken up residence in her brain, and was traveling down her spine and through her nerves, leaving her heart racing and her emotions swirling. She wasn't in danger because she was part of this herd, this pack, this group, and their enemies were her enemies, and she would protect them from those who sought to bring them harm. Or humiliation, or distress, or anything like it.
STOMP-STOMP. CLAP.
Her magic agreed, pulsing under her skin and then out in a nimbus of scarlet flames that somehow didn't burn the friends around her. As she laid her ears back and slammed her hoo--boot, she was human right now--into the wood with such force that it stood out even among a sea of noise, the magic in her leapt to her friends, reaching out for familiar tendrils within them, and pulled them to the surface.
This was their school, and they weren't going to let anything bad happen, even losing the Games.
STOMP-STOMP. CLAP.
Then the lyrics started, Rainbow Dash jamming in the air near them with sparks of errant energy bursting and popping, drawn close by magic that called to Its own. All around the girls--when did Pinkie end up in the bleachers, bouncing and screaming along like everyone else?--the air was glittering with rainbows refracted again and again off the crystalline manifestations of Rarity's powers, and the wood of the bleachers creaked warningly under Applejack's boots...
Sunset couldn't focus on anything but the rush of magic and adrenaline, of fire and flame and the powerful connection between herself, the five girls with her, and the Elements of Harmony, of the tsunami of feelings and emotions she was drowning in, screaming the lyrics she would have sworn that morning she did not know as if they were engraved on her scarred soul like a defiant epitaph to the Sunset Shimmer she had once been. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Twenty Five: Making the Grade | Blue green eyes blinked dazedly up at the ceiling, her brain struggling to work through a sort of exhausted fog. That was the ceiling in the gym...why was she looking up at the gym ceiling? Hadn't she just been...
Oh no. What had her magic done now?
Her head started to clear, and she struggled to sit up, against hands that were supporting her. "'M fine," she slurred, then realized belatedly she'd apparently forgotten how to speak normally, and for some reason she didn't know, her brain had defaulted to a dialect of Middle Ponish that Princess Celestia had taught her when she was little. "...sorry..." she mumbled. "...I'm okay..."
Bon-Bon asked wryly, "Are you sure about that? You were...actually on fire and glowing for a minute there, and you sound pretty drunk."
"...Thaumic over...overload..." the former unicorn managed, realizing in a detached sort of way that she was back to being fully human again. "....is anyone hurt?" Her emotions were fairly slow to respond, her brain wrapped in a sort of numbing cotton.
"Nope!" came Lyra's chipper voice from far too close to her right elbow, and Sunset realized that she was one of the set of hands that had stopped her from crashing into the wood of the bleachers when magic took her off her feet. "We all feel amazing! That rainbow wave just swept over everyone and it felt tingly and warm and good! Like some super mixture of the best parts of chocolate and the world's steamiest, hot se--" The rest of her sentence became muffled as someone briefly covered her mouth.
"Sweetie, you're oversharing again."
"Whoopsie! Sorry! Anyway, it felt really great and I don't know about you, but even the soreness from gym class earlier is gone! Magic is so cool--I wish I had magic!"
"Perhaps so, darling, but right now, I believe I wish I didn't--whatever just happened has left me feeling a bit...under the weather." Rarity sounded as foggy and tired as the redhead felt.
Sunset forced herself to sit up, feeling the hands against her back help. "...I...was a little caught up in the surge...but it sounds like it was a little like what happened last month...but not as severe." She looked around the gym, which seemed to still have power, and blinked, because for a brief second, she thought she was seeing Pinkie Pie in two places at once. A second look showed that there was only one Pinkie, the one being propped up by a few of the guys from the lacrosse team a few rows down.
"Wheeeee! That was awesome, Sunset! I didn't know you could do that! Best pep rally act ever! ...even if you forgot to sign us up and I feel kinda party-pooped and dizzy!" Pinkie tried to sit up, giggling when it failed. "The show must go on! Take me to the stage, minions of fun!"
"Uh...is she okay to go?" one of the boys asked, looking to Sunset.
The former unicorn rubbed her head and tried to shake off the cobwebs. "...she should be...it doesn't sound like it was dangerous...but..." she reached for her bag, fumbling to retrieve one of the Sun Bites she'd started carrying around. "Here...Pinkie, eat one of these just in case."
One of the other boys hopped up the three levels to take it from her, then jumped down to the floor to pass it to Pinkie. Then the group carried her like a queen back to the stage as she waved and laughed at the cheering from the reinvigorated crowd.
"We're okay!" She yelled. "Surprise! We did a magic trick for you! Did everyone like that?" Riotous cheering and whistling came from every corner of the room, including some of the staff. (Except for a very grumpy looking Mr. Doodle...but Sunset wasn't sure that man knew what a smile was.)
Sighing, Sunset checked in on the rest of her friends, who all seemed in the same place as her: suddenly worn from whatever their magic had done. "...and here I thought we were getting a handle on it," she groaned in frustration. "I don't understand why it keeps doing that--even if it was some kind of echo of the Elements, none of us represent Magic, which is sort of the one Element that is the lynchpin of the whole Elements of Harmony! And why it seems to draw me in is an even bigger mystery! I was corrupted by my own evil and Magic's power--the Elements shouldn't even like me!"
"...but we do, darling."
That stopped the former bully cold. "What?"
Rarity had a speculative look on her face. "We like you. All of us, even Twilight. And you said that the magic inside myself, at least...was both of the Elements of Harmony, but also a part of me that 'made me more myself.' Then if that is true, in a way, we are the Elements...or at least acting on Their behalf ...and we do like you, very much."
Hands squeezed one of hers, and Fluttershy joined in. "Maybe that's why the magic happens like this?" she offered. "Whenever your magic is having a reaction to something, maybe our magic is trying to help?"
Brows pinched together as she thought about it. It had never occurred to her because that wasn't really how magic worked most of the time for unicorns. It wasn't impossible, she supposed, given that even for ponies there were cases where one pony's magic responded to distress in a spouse or foal or sibling, but those were usually life or death situations.
Applejack cleared her throat. "Fluttershy might have a point, ya know. This is the second time our magic has done that when yers was acting up, Sunset."
"There's another angle I don't think any of you have considered," Bon-Bon suggested. "The five of you are somehow channeling those wonky Element things that are related to the crown at the formal, right? The one that made Sunset into a giant succubus with the huge knockers?" She glanced down at Sunset's bust. "Not that the second part has changed much..."
The redhead crossed her arms defensively over her chest, face burning. "...that's the gist of it, yes. Somehow the girls have some kind of power core or connection to the Elements of Harmony from Equestria."
"But you keep saying you don't. Why not? From where I'm sitting it all looks like it's the same magic. You transform the same, you get the horse ears and the hair extensions and a horn, you were part of their little rainbow attack squad against the Dazzlings, and this is twice you've triggered the rainbow blast thingie with them."
Her shoulders slumped a little. "Because there's six Elements, and the only one left unaccounted for is the Element of Magic--the one that was in the crown from the formal. Despite wearing It, the Element...rejected me..." Her memories swam up, that hazy, nightmarish recollection of her time as a demon, and she shuddered. "It...pulled all of the ugliness in my soul up and looked at it, and...It...had a lot of thoughts on who I was and what I'd done...Magic...would never choose me."
Bon-Bon made a thoughtful sound. "Setting aside potential gemstone based sentience for the time being, how do you know there's only six of these things?"
"Because...that's all that any records of them state. There's six Elements of Harmony: Kindness, Honesty, Loyalty, Generosity, Laughter, which come together to create the last Element. Magic. According to Princess Twilight, they represent the virtues associated with friendship." Sunset managed to sit up all the way now on her own, her strength returning quickly. "She's the closest thing we have to a living expert on Harmonic magic and the Elements."
It was Lyra who spoke up. "'Fifteen hundred years ago everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat, and fifteen minutes ago, you knew that humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow.' How do you know that there didn't used to be more? I can think of a lot more 'virtues' that matter in friendship. Like Love...or Hope..."
"Resolve," Bon-Bon suggested. "Knowledge. Forgiveness..."
"...Empathy," Fluttershy volunteered quietly. "It's not the same as compassion, after all."
"See?" Bon-Bon said. "So what if your magic is some lost or even brand new Element thing?"
Sunset went from having her arms crossed defensively to desperately gripping her own elbows to avoid hugging herself. "...because that would be too easy an answer.." Because she wanted it to be true. "Because the odds that ponies have missed a key part of the Elements of Harmony in some eight to ten thousand years of history, is astronomically low." Because it would mean the Elements had forgiven her for what she tried to do, and what she remembered of the dry voice and that empty space where it had broken her down into the truth of herself, she had already received what the Elements of Harmony considered 'forgiving.' "Because I...don't think I've done anything to deserve that kind of honor, especially after what I tried to do."
"Can't you check?" Lyra asked curiously.
She couldn't help the wince. "That's...sort of one particular flaw in the way I sense magic. I can perceive my own power, and things like damage or death, invasive energy...but it's kind of like trying to see your own face. You can feel what it feels like, touch it with your hands, manipulate your face muscles to blink or frown or talk, and you know when you get hurt...but you're looking out from it, so you need a mirror to see yourself, or someone else has to look at you. And...there's not really any options for that here. It would require a high end medical grade thaumometer, the kind used in very rare cases and medical research in Equestria...or someone here that was trained to scan and explore someone else's magic."
"...I could do it," Rarity volunteered. "If...it's something you could teach me how to do."
Chewing on her lip, Sunset hesitated. "We can try, but...first of all, it's not something you'll be able to even attempt until you can master what I'm already teaching you, about feeling your own power and sensing each other's in the broadest of terms. That ability is really the precursor to it, the more broad scope and less detailed version. The ability that lets you learn more than just the basics is a much more...invasive analysis, and it requires a lot more finite control and understanding over your own power, so you don't do more harm than good. Which...brings me to the second part..." She closed her eyes, pushing the memories down. "When we were learning this in my magus mastery classes...the ponies who partnered with me for it...always got hurt. Either because I did something wrong and learned a lot more about them somehow...or because my magic attacked them."
Rarity made a thoughtful sound. "Was it like what you did with me at the farm?" At her slow nod, her friend made a dismissive noise. "Sunset, darling, that didn't hurt at all. I was...on some level...aware you were prodding at...part of me--my magic, I'm guessing--but it didn't hurt. I suppose it felt...more like a hand pressing down on my shoulder. Odd, and definitely not an experience I've had before, but hardly something I'd even call uncomfortable."
Feeling eyes on her, Sunset squirmed a little. "I was as gentle as I could be," she confessed, "because I didn't want to make a mess of it. And...truth is, I think it's because I just can't access most of my magic in this world. Like the difference between a garden hose and a river. But if you're trying to investigate my magic as anything more than the surface sensing...my magic will be somewhat more able to react, and history shows it reacts...violently."
"Violently how?" Applejack asked, arching one brow.
"At least three ponies were tossed across the room into a wall, two ended up with horrific, thaumic backlash induced migraines, and six...including two different professors...caught fire?" Sunset rubbed her neck awkwardly.
Lyra gaped, then squeaked excitedly, "Magic school sounds like the best thing ever! Forget Hogwarts--I want to go to a school like that! You caught your teachers on fire?"
"Accidentally!" Sunset defended. "I didn't mean to, it's just...I...have an affinity for fire magic. It's pretty much my primary offensive branch of magic. And it's not as magnificent as it sounds...a lot of the ponies there didn't like me much."
AJ snorted. "Ever think that might've been why yer magic went after them then? If they didn't like ya, would ya really want them diggin' around in yer magic? Ah know Ah wouldn't. Sounds kinda invasive."
"Maybe? I don't know," Sunset responded in exasperation. "It was years ago, and I tried to forget a lot of the worst bits...and trust me, setting other ponies on fire always upset Princess Celestia." She looked for a distraction, and found it on stage, "Look, we can talk about this later. I think they're about to announce who is on the team for the Games."
"And we wouldn't want to miss Rainbow Dash's big moment, now would we?" Rarity murmured without a hunt of overt sarcasm. "Still...when it comes to it, Sunset, we'll make sure to have a fire extinguisher on hand during further lessons...just...maybe not that novelty one that Pinkie bought. It apparently sprays out cotton candy. Somehow."
Nope. Sunset refused to ask or even think about that. She shook her head and focused entirely on what Pinkie and Flash were doing on stage, as they called up the student council and were joined by the principals.
"This is so super duper extra special exciting and I can't wait!" Pinkie gushed to the student body. "Aren't you all just as excited as I am to find out how the votes went?!"
"I mean, I'm curious," Flash laughed. "On who is going to be lucky enough to stick it personally to those jerks. Besides Rainbow Dash, of course. I don't know anyone who didn't vote for her."
The head of the student council, a somewhat preppy looking senior, cleared her throat. "Rainbow Dash is the captain of at least two sports teams," she acknowledged. "In a competition like this, she is a somewhat obvious choice. After tallying the votes, I think we have a good, solid team this year."
Throwing her arms wide with exuberance, Pinkie yelled, "Do you hear that? You guys picked a super amazing awesome team this year! We are soooooo gonna kick the other team's butt!"
"Miss Pie," Vice Principal Luna sighed, "while I commend you for your enthusiasm, please stick to not exaggerating too greatly on such matters?"
"Whoopsie-daisy! Sorry!" The boisterous bouncy pink haired girl gave her an apologetic smile.
Principal Celestia gave Pinkie a gentle smile. "It's quite alright," she reassured her, before addressing the room. "Good afternoon, students...and thank you to those members of the student body and their faculty support who organized and performed for us today. I think I speak for everyone when I say that this has been a pep rally to remember." People clapped and stomped, and the woman gave them time to settle before she continued. "It is now time to announce those who were chosen for this year's Canterlot High Friendship Games Team--as always, the twelve competitors were chosen by their peers to represent them in the upcoming event."
The student council president handed her a thickly stuffed envelope, which Principal Celestia opened, retrieving a stack of index cards. "The competitors are asked to join us as your names are called." She smiled. "Micro Chips!"
An awkward, geeky boy with knobby knees tripped his way down the bleachers, eyes wide in surprise. Sunset winced and reminded herself to apologize and pay him back at some point--she had bullied him out of a few hundred dollars worth of pocket and lunch money during her reign of terror.
"Sandalwood!"
The tall, goofy senior with with dreadlocks thrust his arms up. "Alright!" He high-fived his buddies and then several other kids on his way to the stage, slinging a friendly arm around Micro Chips on the way in a show of camaraderie as he got him moving faster.
"Ditzy Doo!"
Who? Sunset looked around, trying to put a face to the name. She finally spotted the clumsy blonde who had helped her in the hall on one of her bad days after the formal. The girl was bouncing down the steps with a sunny smile on her face, waving at her friends....only to trip and almost faceplant into the gym floor. The quick reaction of one of Flash's bandmates was the sole thing that kept her from a nasty concussion.
"Lyra Heartstrings!"
With a painfully loud shriek in Sunset's ear, Lyra jumped up, pulling Bon-Bon with her in some kind of exuberant hug that nearly knocked Sunset over onto poor Fluttershy. "Sorry!" she exclaimed before hopping excitedly down the steps.
"Flash Sentry!"
Sunset led the cheer for her ex, cupping her hands around her mouth to yell, "Way to go, Flash!" over the roar of the crowd. He grinned in her direction and flashed her a thumbs up.
"Bon-Bon!"
At least she didn't practically squash them like Lyra tried to, Sunset thought as she clapped, hoping to save her voice at least a little bit for Rainbow. Bon-Bon caught up to her girlfriend and they linked arms to join the group at the stage.
"Pinkamena Diane Pie!"
"Wheeeeee!" Pinkie cheered, doing a cartwheel on stage. "We're gonna have so much fuuuun!!!!" She somehow completed the maneuver to stick the landing next to Flash. "Hi again, partner!"
"Hi, Pinkie," he laughed.
"Rarity Belle!"
Rarity blinked. "Oh my. I didn't expect to hear my name."
Sunset shook her head. "Rarity, you're one of the most popular girls in school, and you're an honors student. We have some solid athletic folks, but they need people for the inevitable academics portion."
"Yes, I suppose there is that. Well. I shall see you after the rally then." She waved and made her way gracefully down the steps.
"Applejack Apple!"
Chuckling, the farmer accepted the hug from Fluttershy. "Couldn't let Dash have all the fun, now could Ah?" she said with a wink at the two girls sitting in the bleachers amidst all manner of empty space.
"Just remember that you and Dash are on the same side and not competing against each other!" Sunset yelled as she crossed the large open space on the floor.
"Fluttershy!"
The soft spoken girl next to Sunset couldn't have been more surprised if she'd been slapped, the redhead decided. "M-me?"
"That's what Principal Celestia said. Congratulations!"
"Oh..." Hiding in her hair, she got up to join the others.
Sunset touched her shoulder as she moved by. "Are you going to be okay?" she asked.
"I'll manage...thank you for asking though..." Her smile was shaky, and she suddenly hugged Sunset tight. "Because of you, I've learned that I'm stronger than I ever thought."
There was a painful meaning behind those words, and Sunset gaped like a fish as she watched her friend reach the end of the bench, take a deep breath, square her shoulders, and descend to the gym floor with her head held high to join the rest of the team.
"Rainbow Dash!"
She almost missed Rainbow's name being called out as she was still processing. Putting her emotions aside for the moment, Sunset jumped to her feet, cheering and pumping her fist in the air for her friend. Everything else aside, she wanted to support Dash...support all her friends, really.
She...just hadn't realized she'd be cheering alone from the sidelines.
Once the soccer star made it to the group on the stage, Sunset sank to her seat again, rubbing her arms to ward off a chill. It was just her on the bleachers now, with noticeable space between her and the students around her.
Shaking off the sensation, and trying to smile, she looked towards the principals. There was still one last name, and she wanted to know who would be filling that spot. As she did so, the former unicorn realized something was wrong. Principal Celestia was frowning, and had stepped back from the microphone. Her sister was reading over her shoulder, one eyebrow arched, as they both turned to the student council.
The president of the council straightened as Celestia turned to speak to her, shaking her head in a negative. Snatches of conversation were picked up, however faintly, by the microphone as the girl stood her ground against the administrator.
"...going to have to...first alternate..."
"...almost...whole school...my responsibility to..."
"...sorry, but in this...just have to..."
Sunset cocked her head, now very lost as to what was happening--there was clearly some kind of problem with the last student, but...what? The redhead wracked her brain, trying to think if there were any likely candidates who were on some form of probation like she was. Maybe one of the athletes? They had to maintain a certain GPA to stay on the school teams--maybe one of them was slipping? Like Hoops, maybe? He was about as dumb as a box of rocks, in her experience, and most people who weren't on the basketball team with him gave his company a hard pass. He was a jerk to anyone who wasn't a sports star. Or maybe someone like...
"...set Shim..."
Her head jerked around, and she realized a lot of people in the bleachers were looking at her...but why...?
Then she heard the whispering...just like at the beginning of the pep rally, people were staring and whispering...except this time she couldn't blame it on the Pony-Up. That had faded a while ago. Her gaze moved from person to person, searching for some answers, and when it landed on Flash, she felt her gut twist. He was looking back at her confused and concerned...but for her...and when he jerked his head towards Miss Luna...
The Vice Principal was staring right at her, scrutinizing her intently...and that was when she felt her stomach sink all the way into the toes of her boots.
Sunset had a pretty good idea exactly whose name was written on that last card.
Hers.
All around her, people were staring and whispering and pointing...and here she was, alone and exposed with no friends to look to for support because they were all the way across the gymnasium, watching her with worried eyes and puzzled faces.
The former queen of CHS wanted to be sick.
It didn't take a genius to figure out what it looked like. That it looked just like all the rigged elections for the dances and other events that she'd cheated, lied, blackmailed, and humiliated her way into winning. They would think she did something to get her name on there, even though she hadn't...hadn't even tried to nominate herself, in any way. When voting time came, she chose from the basic list with careful consideration as to who she thought the best fits for the Games Team were rather than filling in the blanks at the bottom with her own submission. Among all her friends, only AJ and Dash had actually been on the ballot, and she'd tried her best to weigh them fairly with all the other options (she'd voted for both, of course, but Applejack was the strongest teen in the school and Dash was undisputedly the fastest and the most well rounded athlete.)
Miss Luna's eyes bored into her, and Sunset could feel the hairs on her neck standing up in a frisson of fear. Then the woman looked away, took a few steps closer to where the girls were standing, Rainbow Dash crossing her arms and looking angry. One dark skinned hand forestalled the athlete's comments, and the assistant principal gestured to Applejack with some kind of query.
Applejack took her hat off, and shook her head, making a wide gesture at the group, then mimed guitar playing followed by what was meant to be pony ears on her head.
Whatever she said seemed to satisfy Miss Luna, who rejoined her sister just as the student council Vice President, Octavia, held out what looked like an entire ream of paper to the principals, expression just as defiant as the rest of the student council. Sunset couldn't read lips well, and definitely not from like a hundred feet away, but whatever she said seemed to shock the Principal. Her dark haired sibling seemed less startled, but she took the stack of paper and began thumbing through it, her expression becoming more and more thoughtful. She made some kind of comment, waving the stack of papers.
Finally, Principal Celestia stared out at the assembled students of her school, taking in the coiled, now antsy nature of them, until her eyes fell on Sunset. The woman studied her in a way that made Sunset feel like all her flaws were on display, a way that made her feel hot and cold and sick all at once, because in her memories it was associated with the Princess of the Sun expressing "how very disappointed" she was with Sunset's latest actions--never raising her voice, of course, but filled with so much weight that it made the amber unicorn feel guilt and seething anger for days after.
"Given the nature of the petition, letters, and signatures the student council took the liberty of obtaining, I realize you all are aware of who the last nominee for the Friendship Games Team is. While Vice Principal Luna and I appreciate what you have tried to do, at this time, we are not accepting or rejecting the nomination outright." Her expression lost the searching look, and Sunset felt herself breathe again, and the faint smile made her feel hopeful that this would at least have a favorable outcome for her nerves. "In addition, I must commend every single one of you for the maturity, respect, unity, and virtues of true friendship you have shown us today with this. I am extremely proud of you all, and so very happy to be your Principal."
The vice principal took the microphone. "I must concur with Principal Celestia on this--you have, each and every one, demonstrated the very behavior the Games are meant to embody. Whether we are victorious over Crystal Prep or not is irrelevant--with this action, you have proven yourselves beyond any shadow of a doubt to be the best Wondercolts ever to grace the halls of this institution in its almost ninety year existence. I applaud you."
Principal Celestia waved her hand. "With that, I declare this pep rally--and the school week--over...I know it is a few minutes early, but you've all earned it. Go start your weekend!"
The cheers were deafening, even to Sunset's human ears, but that didn't stop her from hearing Miss Luna's voice rising above her classmates' thunderous exodus.
"Sunset Shimmer, would you please meet us in the office before you depart for the weekend? It seems we have some things to discuss with you." |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Twenty Six: Are We Havin' Fun Yet? | It was a relief to pull into the driveway at her girlfriend's house--Sunset's mind and emotions were in too much of a tumultuous mess for her to be considered a safe and attentive driver at the moment. By all rights she probably should have walked, but she wasn't about to leave her bike overnight, and she might need it in the morning if any last minute problems came up at the park. So she'd driven, a bit too fast and aggressive and she was glad no cops had seen her--there was no way something like that wouldn't get back to Shining Armor...and both Twilight Sparkle and Twilight Velvet would get that furrowed brow and slight frown that meant they were worried about her.
It was one of the mannerisms her nerd had inherited from her mother, and it was guaranteed to hit Sunset right in the feelings. Especially if they both hit her with it at the same time.
She didn't fancy the idea, so the former unicorn was glad she didn't get stopped. Instead, she secured the bike and retrieved her overstuffed backpack; she was spending Saturday night with the girls at Rarity's house, so she packed everything for one long weekend. The new house key jingled on her keyring, bringing a surge of happiness to her despite how emotionally overwhelmed she felt, even as she dragged her body up the steps and into the house.
"Sunny!" Twilight was there to greet her just inside the door, holding a wiggly, happy Spike in her arms.
"Hey, nerd," Sunset responded, managing a crooked smile for her girlfriend.
Purple eyes studied her intently, and Twilight set Spike down, pulling Sunset into a hug immediately after. "Sunset?" she murmured after kissing her cheek, "Are you okay?"
A glance around made sure they were still alone, and the redhead kissed Twilight's lips. "...better now that I'm here...but...I...I...don't know."
Twilight slipped an arm around her and pulled her towards the kitchen. "Come on..."
Sunset went, allowing the shorter girl to lead her into the kitchen and push her into a seat at the table. Twilight let go and turned to where her mother stood at the stove, stirring a pot. "Mom? Do you think we can make up some cocoa? I think Sunset could use some."
Velvet turned away from the stove to greet Sunset and answer her daughter, only to take in the redheaded teen's frazzled appearance. "We most certainly can, Twily." The sympathetic expression on her face and hand that squeezed Sunset's shoulder helped settle her slightly. "Was it just a cold drive, or did something happen today at school?"
"The drive was okay..." Sunset said quietly. "And nothing bad happened--the opposite, honestly...but...I am not sure how I should feel about it? How I do feel about it..." Amber skinned hands pressed into her curling mane as she slumped at the table, and Twilight joined her in another chair after bringing the ingredients to her mother for the hot cocoa.
With a loud sound, she scooted closer to Sunset, and put an arm around her shoulders. "Take a minute to relax?" her girlfriend suggested. "I think there's some of your oatmeal raisin cookies left, did you want one?"
That sounded nice. Velvet's oatmeal raisin cookies reminded Sunset of the way the palace kitchens always smelled, of fruits and pastries and batter and dough, of sugar and spice, warm and cozy even during the worst weather or coldest days when the only time Sunset would leave the warmth of her rooms was to go to class or to creep into the kitchens for food. "I like cookies," she admitted with a crooked smile at Twilight.
Twilight hopped up to get them, and Velvet spoke again. "There's no hurry, and you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, but we're here if you do. Twily's got the right of it--sit for a little bit, get some cookies and cocoa in you, and just let your mind and body relax. Whatever it is does not have to be analyzed or solved right this minute."
The former unicorn nodded slowly, and decided that felt like good advice. When her girlfriend came back with cookies on a plate, Sunset took advantage of her publicly stated emotional state to lean against the lavender skinned girl, resting her head companionably on Twilight's shoulder. After all, Fluttershy did that to the rest of them sometime, and Pinkie regularly violated personal space bubbles in much more questionable ways, and no one read anything into any of it. "Sometimes I wish things elsewhere were as simple as they are here," she mumbled around a mouthful of oatmeal and raisin goodness. "Things here make sense, and don't leave me..." A hand still holding half a cookie gestured at herself.
Twilight giggled softly, her eyes pointedly following the gesture and then dipping further south. "You just gestured to all of you."
...and you looked, Sparky, Sunset thought sarcastically, though she felt...good...about the fact that Twilight felt comfortable enough to do it in the kitchen, even if it was only because they had their backs to Velvet. She bit her tongue to avoid saying the thought aloud, but it must've shown on her face because Twilight blushed when their eyes met. Sunset gave her another half smile and a wink, which only made the blush creep its way to the tips of her best friend's ears.
"Life can be complicated sometimes," Velvet agreed, oblivious to the not-so-platonic exchange. "People are complex, nuanced, and flawed--everyone, not just some, and not everything has a right answer the way a math problem does." There was a pause, as though she was considering something. "It doesn't seem that way here because Night and I work very hard in this house to make it a place where everyone, especially our children and their friends feels safe, heard, and accepted for themselves..."
"Which...I do," the redhead admitted in a soft voice, still leaning against Twilight. She could feel one slim hand squeeze her knee in response. "I can't tell you how much I look forward to Fridays because it means I get to be here."
Sunset could hear the happiness in the woman's voice as she came around and set two steaming mugs of hot cocoa in front of the two teens. "...and it makes me very glad to hear you say that, Sunset. We always want you to feel like you can just be who you are without fear of judgements."
The thought of just blurting out that she was really a unicorn and could do magic came to her, and she wondered if it would be readily accepted by both humans in the room. Twilight would need proof, but...would Velvet? Sunset shook the thought away. No...not now. Like Twilight's view of admitting to their relationship, Sunset...needed time and a plan for exposing her origins. "...thanks, Mrs. Velvet," she murmured, both for the words and the drink.
"Of course, sweetheart...careful though, it's hot. And here's the marshmallows if you want them." She set the bag of tiny marshmallows on the table.
For a while, Sunset followed their advice, and just sat in silence, sipping the chocolate ambrosia and just letting her mind...exist. It wasn't until Twilight Velvet joined them at the table while dinner cooked that she finally found herself ready to explain.
"We had a pep rally today," she started, the words stilted and awkward considering the topic and rivalry between her school and the school Twilight went to. "...to get everyone excited for the Friendship Games. It's...hard, because CHS always loses...and well...CPA aren't exactly gracious winners, you know?" She sighed. "It went...okay. Flash and Pinkie were MC'ing, and I was in the bleachers with all my friends...we even sort of participated when the crowd got sour...I reminded them that they stood up to me, and..."
Her voice faltered and Velvet raised an eyebrow. "And...?"
With a guilty glance at Twilight, Sunset finished the sentence, "...and I was ten times more vicious and horrible than anyone at CPA could dream of being. That they didn't have a reason to be afraid of them. We made everyone laugh, and it was...well, it felt good to use my old self for something positive for once."
Twilight didn't look too put out--she was thoughtful. "You're not wrong--the kids at CPA would not be able to handle you when you get sarcastic," the dark haired said with a faint smile. "And anyone who threw a punch would regret it..."
"Right? Anyway...it was going good, and then they started announcing the people who would be on the Games team. We all knew Dash was going to get picked--she plays like three different sports in school and is really good at all of them, especially soccer. And we figured Applejack would get chosen too, since she's stronger than anyone else, even all the guys."
"Then they all got called, all my friends, even Bon-Bon and Lyra..."
Velvet interjected, "Twily, didn't you used to have a friend named Lyra?"
"Yeah, but she changed schools because her parents got divorced and she and her mom moved. I wonder if it's the same one..."
Thinking of the conversation she had had with Lyra, Sunset laughed a little mirthlessly. "I'm pretty sure she is...given that Wallflower has apparently been calling her up to try and dig up dirt on me."
Twilight went rigid beside her. "Wallflower is what?!"
"We'll talk about that later, Sparky. I'm not worried about it, honestly--you already know that I used to be Queen Bitch of Canterlot High, so there's not much Wallflower can use to try and drive us apart. Besides, it...sounds like she offended Lyra pretty badly in the call. Lyra did say she would enjoy hanging out with you again though." She draped an arm around Twilight's shoulders in a brief hug to soothe her girlfriend. It helped some, but Sunset knew that she would have to have a much more in-depth talk about it before they went to sleep. A private talk, with lots of cuddling and kissing and reassurance.
"Anyway...they had eleven out of the twelve people up there, the five girls, Flash, Lyra, Bon-Bon, and three other people from our school that I don't know much about...and then the Principals stop on the last name, and there's some kind of discussion up on stage. They weren't happy, but...the student council was...they didn't want to back down....and people were whispering and staring and that's...when I realized who the last name belong to."
"You," came Velvet's voice, and it wasn't a question.
Running a hand through her hair, Sunset nodded. "Yeah. Me. But...I didn't do it, and I had no idea I was even in the running. Even before the Fall Formal, the kids at school didn't like me--they hated me, but they were too afraid of me to do anything about me other than what I wanted. And after...they spent until Winter Break hating me outright. It's only been since then that people have...started to change their minds. Plus...the principals banned me from stuff like official club positions, dance royalty, competitions, and any kind of post that would give me any kind of authority or power. So I couldn't even if I wanted to..."
The older woman frowned thoughtfully. "Was it some kind of mean-spirited prank?"
Shaking her head, Sunset slumped a little in her chair. "If it had been, I wouldn't be feeling this way. I expect pranks and mean games like that from anyone who doesn't like me, and I've dealt with it for years." She could feel that hand on her knee squeeze again in sympathy and understanding. "...but no...this wasn't a prank, and I found that out when I met with the principals..."
Sunset knocked on the door to the office, glancing over her shoulder at her friends who had insisted on following her the whole way. "I'm just glad you girls believe me..."
"Of course we do!" Rainbow slugged her in the shoulder good-naturedly. "It's not like you had the free time to do any of your old shit anyway!"
Rarity chimed in. "Perhaps poorly worded, but Rainbow Dash does have a point. We've spent most afternoons with you for months and I think we would have noticed something if you had. Besides which, our magic has taken up most of our free time, dear, yours more than anyone."
"And if ya need us ta back ya against the principals, we're right here at the ready, but Ah think yer gonna be fine." Applejack thumped her on the other shoulder encouragingly. "Holler if ya need us ta come in."
Swallowing, Sunset pushed open the door at the command from within, wishing she felt as sure as AJ did. "Miss Luna? Principal Celestia...?" Entering the office felt like walking into a manticore's den.
"Come in, Miss Shimmer...and feel free to take a seat." The vice principal offered a faint smile that lifted her spirits slightly.
She did so, settling into the cushioned seat quietly. "...I..." Squaring her shoulders, she looked up at them, wanting to get the words out before anything else. "I didn't interfere with the votes! Or the voting, or the student council!" she blurted. "I didn't make it so my name was one of the ones that made it on the Games team!"
Principal Celestia held up a hand to halt the flow of words. "We know that, Sunset. We are not here to accuse you of anything."
The former bully faltered, hugging herself to divert the restless, agitated energy thrumming through her. Her magic was at least quiet, spent in the outburst at the rally. "...Oh..." she responded quietly.
Vice Principal Luna set a thick stack of paper in front of Sunset on the desk. "Do you know what this is, Miss Shimmer?"
"Uh...I think it's the papers that the student council gave you?" Sunset hazarded as a guess.
"Indeed," the dark skinned woman replied. "This is a six page petition of names, followed by hundreds of letters personally written by students...about why they feel Sunset Shimmer is one of the most exemplary members of the student body and why we should allow you to be on the Friendship Games Team to lead and represent Canterlot High this year."
....what?
Shock, somewhat numbing and enfolding her brain like a soft and squishy pillow, kept Sunset from completely losing her cool. "Petition? Letters?" She fumbled brilliantly.
Not her best moment, to be sure.
The administrators exchanged a look. "See for yourself, Sunset," Principal Celestia encouraged, pushing the papers towards her slightly.
Amber fingers picked up the first few pages to see a page full of names and signatures, and skimming them made her realize that most of the school had signed...people she'd hurt, people she'd ignored, people she didn't even know...some of them were even the middle schoolers--she picked out Scootaloo's messy scrawl between Applebloom and Sweetie Belle's--and the paragraph description and neat heading on the first page made quite clear that the signatures and petition were done on her behalf.
But it was the letters under the pile of signatures that felt like being kicked in the gut. Each one she read, short or long, some typed, some handwritten, in scratchy print, elegant cursive, or neat script...was about her, and the good things she'd done for them. Much of it was generic--like the Battle of the Bands, or trying to help protect the school from magic--but others were...more personal. Like someone talking about the unofficial tutoring she'd started on Wednesdays, and how, in just a month or so, they had brought home their first A on a science test in their life, or someone bringing up how she'd stopped to help them pick up their books in the hall...
There was even one in there, near the top of the pile, written by Flash Sentry. He went on for most of a page on how Sunset was not only a great student, but a good friend and an example of how people could change for the better.
The writing blurred and Sunset found herself fighting back tears. "I...are they...are they all...like this?" she whispered, not expecting any kind of answer.
"My preliminary reading suggests that is the case, Miss Shimmer," Luna answered. "It seems you have made a much bigger impact on your peers in recent months than any of us realized. Enough that they are willing to challenge our decisions on your behalf...without you needing to campaign for it." There was a hint of wry humor in her tone. "I dare say you have more sway over the student body now than you ever did when you desired to control them."
It didn't make sense, and Sunset felt like the ground had fallen out of her world. "...but...I..." Her hands were shaking so badly she had to drop the papers back on the stack before she dropped them on the floor. "...how could they--all of this? ...I was horrible to them!" The former unicorn could hear the touch of hysteria in her own voice. "I bullied them...ruined their friendships! I was so awful and evil that I turned into an actual demon! I violated their minds the same as the Sirens!" She looked at them in disbelief. "...they hated me and then they stopped...but how can they..."
Something inside her, a cracked and trembling thing held together by defiance and willpower and fear that had long since hardened into defensive anger, shattered into a million shards, bleeding years of poison out of her soul as she laughed and cried until her sides ached and her eyes burned.
The kitchen was quiet for a long minute after Sunset finished recounting what had happened. She rubbed her face, feeling strained and worn out. "...so I don't know how I feel. This...I was happy when they stopped hating me outright, after Winter Break...but...after everything I did, I don't deserve this, and I don't understand...why they are so willing to forgive me."
"I hate it when you talk about yourself that way," Twilight said abruptly. "You aren't a monster, Sunset Shimmer, and you have done everything in your power to become a good friend and a better person than you used to be. You deserve a second chance, and you deserve forgiveness because you actually mean it when you say you're sorry."
Sunset turned towards her girlfriend, brows furrowed. "I do mean it...but it doesn't change what I did--being sorry doesn't undo all the hurt and suffering I caused, or fix the friendships I ruined."
"That's true," Velvet commented, "but you can make amends..."
Twilight placed a hand on her arm. "Which is what you've been doing. You've changed, Sunset, and you've worked hard to make things right with the people you hurt. We see it...people at your school see it. Your friends see it. Why is it so hard for you to believe that you have earned this?"
"Because things like this don't happen to me, Sparky. There's always a catch, always some kind of ulterior motive, always something that makes things worse than ever." She could feel the weight of the emotions pressing down on her like a suffocating heavy blanket, and the memories stirred up in the process flitted before her mind's eye distractingly.
Hurt filled Twilight's voice. "That's not true, Sunset. What about me? What about here? There's never been a catch..."
Ponyfeathers. Nice going, Shimmer, she berated herself, before trying to explain. She drew Twilight into a tight hug. "...no, no...not you, Sparky." Sunset's voice was low, intense, and rough around the aching, burning lump in her throat. "You're the only one, in my whole life, who has wanted me. Just me....and you brought me here. Everyone else has had something else they wanted, or was driving them."
Purple eyes stared at her searchingly. "What about your friends that you talk about? Or Flash? Are you saying they aren't really your friends? I don't believe that for one second, Sunset Shimmer. Not with how you talk about them."
"They are now, Twilight...but they didn't start that way. Flash initially spoke to me because he had a crush on me before I dated him, and after the formal, he spoke to me so he could yell at me. Our friendship didn't start until after that...." Sunset sighed heavily. "As for the girls...they were some of the people I did the most awful things to when I ran the school. They were the ones who teamed up with the girl who challenged me at the Fall Formal. I nearly got them killed with what I did."
She felt guilt gnawing at her for that, but pushed it away to deal with later. "They didn't reach out to me after the formal to be friends because they liked me, or from the goodness of their hearts. They did it because the girl who beat me that night tasked them with keeping an eye on me. They were meant to keep me from starting more trouble."
Twilight frowned at her. "Why would she do that? Isn't that...the job of the teachers and the principals?"
How could she explain that the princess had every right? "...I don't know. I didn't ask her why. Maybe she thought the girls would do a better job...maybe she thought they could help me be better as a person..." The redhead shrugged. "Maybe she thought I'd think twice before crossing the people who put me in my place, or maybe she figured if I went back to being a toxic bitch they'd do what would be necessary to stop me for good. They certainly did a much better job in three days than the administration did in fifteen months."
"Sunny..."
Sunset shook her head at the younger girl. "Whatever her reasoning, she did it, and they've become an amazing group of friends I wouldn't trade for anything...but it doesn't change that they had a reason for associating with me in the first place besides wanting to be friends. There's too much history there, too much pain and anger and hurt otherwise." She couldn't help but reach out to tweak Twilight's nose in an attempt to make her smile, even just a little. "You're unique, nerd," she told her, her voice soft, and her fingers lingering to brush over the other girl's cheek for a half second. "I never had anyone who was a real friend before you. No one ever just...wanted me for myself. Not my family, not my guardian, not my classmates...given everything...I don't even know if my parents wanted me--it's not something I can ever ask, after all."
Standing up, the unicorn turned teen girl held her arms out as if to invite Twilight to study her whole self, from her flaming hair and black leather coat to the tips of her black boots. "I don't believe it because it doesn't work that way for me. I'm Sunset Shimmer, the one nobody wants." It hurt, saying it out loud, admitting that much, and what she couldn't voice hurt even more. I'm Sunset Shimmer, the mare who wasn't good enough for anypony, that Equestria was happy to get rid of and completely forget existed.
Suddenly, a body crashed into her, hugging her so tight the air was pressed from her lungs in her surprise. She wrapped her arms around Twilight, feeling her expression go from carefully controlled to soft and affectionate. "...hey..." she wheezed. "Let me breathe...?"
Twilight's vice grip loosened a little, and Sunset could hear her mumble something into her shoulder. "...what...?" She rubbed her back, more than a little confused.
"...I want you..." the dark haired girl mumbled a little louder. "...here...with me..."
Sunset rested her cheek against the top of her girlfriend's head, the faint scent of honeysuckle and books tickling her nose. "...I know...and I want to be here with you..." she responded. I just hope that when I tell you everything, Sparky, you still want me...
They stayed like that, drawing strength and comfort from the hug, until a faint sound drew Sunset's attention, and she realized that they had forgotten about the presence of Twilight Velvet. Blue-green eyes darted around, and she realized that the woman was actually looking in the cupboard for something, and the sound she'd heard was her moving some containers. Nudging Twilight, she indicated the distracted woman, and whispered so softly that even the girl hugging her would have been hard pressed to hear it, "Later?"
Nodding, Twilight let her go, and they sat down as Velvet turned with a box of brownie mix in her hand. "I thought maybe I'd make some dessert for tonight," she offered with a smile, but Sunset saw the faint hint of tear tracks on her face, the kind that had been hastily wiped away. It made her feel a little guilty for upsetting the woman who had been nothing but kind to her.
"...that sounds great...maybe with ice cream? I still haven't...decided what I'm going to do...and this still has me mixed up, but...if it's the real deal...I think I'd like to try and be happy that people are willing to try and forgive me for what I did."
Velvet smiled faintly as she moved by the table for the stove, stopping momentarily to squeeze Sunset's shoulder. "For what it's worth, we all want you here for who you are, Sunset, not just Twily..."
Sunset reached up to touch the hand on her shoulder briefly. "I know, Mrs. Velvet...that's...that's why here is so important to me. ...thank you for that. It gave me light when things were very dark."
For a second, the woman's eyes glinted with tears. "I hope you know," she said quietly, "that we will always leave a light on for you, sweetheart, especially when the nights are darkest." She let the words hang in the air for a few heartbeats before continuing on her way, taking a moment to check on the contents of the oven. "How do you girls feel about white chocolate chips in the brownies?"
Accepting the change in subject to let Velvet have her dignity and to keep from inadvertently advertising just what she felt about the woman's daughter...or that Twilight was resisting the urge to crawl into Sunset's lap for an emotionally charged cuddle, Sunset cleared her throat. "I...like the sound of that. What do you think, Sparky?"
"...that sounds delicious. You know I never say no to more chocolate." Purple eyes never left Sunset. "And what do you mean you haven't decided what you're going to do?"
Sheepishly, Sunset rubbed her neck. "Well...I was on probation from the principals, for what I did last fall...but..."
"What?" She couldn't possibly be hearing Principal Celestia clearly.
The administrator steepled her fingers. "When we set your punishment last fall, it was with the intention of ensuring you had the chance to learn better behavior without temptation, or to at least show us that you intended to follow a path of self improvement, Sunset Shimmer." A light chuckle escaped her.
"Needless to say," Vice Principal Luna commented dryly, "you exceeded any expectations tenfold, Miss Shimmer. More than that, you have become not only a model student but an inspirational one to your peers. I have spent a little time reading some of those letters submitted with the petition, as well as the cover letter the student council drafted with the petition, and when I compare it to the student complaints I was fielding at the beginning of the year about your behavior...it is hard to believe you are the same student."
Despite it being meant as a complement, Sunset winced slightly. It wasn't entirely untrue--some days she didn't even recognize herself when she looked back at her own memory--but that didn't mean it didn't sting a little to have the woman voice it. "Okay...but that doesn't change that I'm banned from stuff like dance royalty and the Games team...so what do you mean about making this my choice?"
"In light of your actions and the overwhelming support of your peers, we are...reevaluating...the duration of your punishment. If you remember correctly, we said that we would consider at the end of the year whether it would continue or be allowed to end...this has just...pushed that timetable forward," Luna told her seriously.
Yeah, that was the part she wasn't sure she was hearing correctly. "...uh..."
The principal took over the explanation again. "You have more than exceeded any possible expectations, Sunset, and we are willing to consider...I suppose you could consider it a type of parole for good behavior, that would allow you to participate on the Friendship Games Team. We would still be monitoring you, and if it proves a mistake, we would reinstate the punishment fully."
She took a sip of her coffee. "However, we also know that you have a great many things on your plate at the moment, between academics, your band, your magical research, and serving as a sort of liaison with your homeworld..."
Luna chuckled. "...all of your burgeoning relationships with your friends..."
Her sister gave her a long look. "Those too, yes. With that in mind, I felt it would be best to let you have some say in the final decision. If you think that it will be too much, you can refuse the position on the Team and we will offer it to the first alternate on the list."
"The choice is yours, Miss Shimmer."
Accepting the chocolate batter covered beater Twilight was holding out, Sunset paused in her story to lick some of the chocolate off the metal surface. "...I ended up asking them if I could think it over this weekend and tell them my answer on Monday morning."
Velvet made a thoughtful sound. "Given how you seem to be feeling about the whole thing, it sounds like you made a very mature decision, sweetheart."
She nodded absently. "...what do you think I should do?" the redhead asked.
There was quiet, as her girlfriend and her girlfriend's mother considered the question. Velvet answered first. "When it comes to serious decisions, Night and I encourage Twilight to make a list of pros and cons, and weigh them to help her decide."
Twilight made a sound of agreement while freeing her tongue from the other beater; the smudges of chocolate on her lips and even the tip of her nose made Sunset sincerely wish Velvet would step out of the room for a few minutes, providing a much needed distraction to her emotions. Meanwhile, unaware of the sudden detour the redheaded teen's thoughts had taken, Twilight added her thoughts. "When it's a very complicated issue, I personally like adding a weight to each item on the list. Something like a one to five scale, which allows me to compare them better, because sometimes the cons might be a longer list, but if they are all ones, and the pro side is shorter but has a few fours or fives...then I get a more accurate picture of the situation, and can consider each factor or outcome sufficiently to make an informed choice."
Then she paused, looking at Sunset intently for a minute, "However, if you're asking which choice I think you should make, I feel I will not be much help. In your place I would not want to be on the team, as public spectacles make me uncomfortable and affect my anxiety levels. I feel, in this case, you need to do what you want to do, not what others want you to do."
Wrenching her thoughts back to reality and away from the enticing ideas of what she could do with extra brownie batter and her girlfriend, Sunset let her breath out in a snorting exhalation through her nostrils. "You're right...I need to decide for myself. Before, I didn't mind the attention--in fact, I loved it, and I think some part of me always will...but ever since the formal I've just found that being in the spotlight makes me agitated. Like I'm surrounded by beings who are trying to decide if I'd go better with mustard or barbecue sauce."
They all laughed at the description, and Velvet shook her head in amusement. "Cadence has complained of something similar before," she acknowledged. "Though, whatever you choose, Sunset, you should still recognize what has happened as something to feel happy and proud of. You earned this chance yourself through hard work, dedication, and a lot of self reflection, and that is commendable for anyone, but especially someone your age...and I'm proud of you."
Twilight echoed her mother's smile, and when the woman had turned back towards the stove, she reached up to press her hand to Sunset's cheek. "Maybe you should look at this as the results of an experiment in just being the real you, instead of a persona you sought to project in order to gain a specific response from others..."
Sunset leaned into the touch, soaking in the affection it communicated. "...maybe... it's just...this feels like they're putting a lot of trust in me...and I don't want to let them down in any way..." The former unicorn turned the idea over in her head, weighing the choices before her like they had suggested. She had a lot on her plate, true, but...a lot of her magic research required her friends, who were all on the team... Her thoughts drifted to the pep rally, and the stack of papers the students turned in on her behalf...of the way they had laughed with her during Flash's antics, and seemed to care when they thought she was upset.
"...I think...I think I know what I'm going to do," she said at last. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Twenty Seven: Minutes to Midnight | Soft murmuring tickled Sunset's ears as she lay cuddled up under the blankets with Twilight. The younger girl was dozing off in sleepy contentment, nuzzling her face into Sunset's chest. Warm and drowsy, wrapped in blankets to ward off the night's chill, the former unicorn savored the way her companion was cuddled up to her, even if her slow breaths tickled when they brushed across bare skin. Yet despite the warm lassitude that had stolen over her, Sunset felt wide awake.
The redhead knew she needed to sleep--she only had seven hours until her alarm would wake her up...and she couldn't afford to hit the snooze button. Not if she wanted to make it to the park in time for what was likely to be a very stressful and busy day, since she was the one handling all the coordination of volunteer teams, supplies, refreshments, and all the other administrative details that went into such a complex project. Many of those duties required a polite smile and talking to a lot of people and giving orders--not something Fluttershy was suited to at all, so Sunset had taken them on. She was just lucky she was good at it.
Princess Celestia's lessons hadn't entirely fallen on deaf ears, after all.
Which wouldn't amount to much if she didn't get any sleep.
Sunset wasn't sure why she was finding it so hard to follow her girlfriend into slumber. She could tell she was tired from a long day--a long week, really--but her consciousness hovered frustratingly in that place between active wakefulness and sleep, as if the relaxed contentment from kissing Twilight breathless had somehow sated her body's need to rest. The very concept seemed asinine, but it was the only explanation she could come up with that felt even close to accurate.
Her mind drifted over the day, settling on the events of the pep rally and the conversation with her girlfriend's family about it all, since it had continued into dinner when everyone else had arrived....
"That's pretty impressive," Shining said, pointing to Sunset with a fork. "Rallying the whole school to support you without anyone finding out? Your student council has a hell of a future in politics if they can do that."
Cadence rolled her eyes. "I don't think that's the takeaway from this, Shiny," she told him. Her gaze fell on Sunset. "It's really exciting to hear that you and all your friends will be together on the team! It sounds like the CPA team will have to bring their A-Game if they want to win."
"Yeah..." Sunset shrugged. "I don't think we really expect much. I don't understand this...school rivalry...thing...but we're going to do our best with what we have. I mean, Dash is the fastest person I've ever met, and I'm a little scared to know how strong AJ actually is...and then there's Pinkie. I'm...not sure she abides by the laws of physics sometimes, like even the fabric of the universe decided that it's best just not to ask, you know?"
Her question got a laugh out of Night Light. "I think we've all met someone like that!" He chuckled and turned towards his wife. "Remember Rake?"
"From college?" Velvet smiled fondly. "Of course I remember him. I'm still convinced he was made of rubber."
"He would almost have to have been, with all the stunts he walked away from." Night laughed again at the memories, before his attention returned to Sunset. "I guess it's a good thing you nixed the idea for you girls to play hooky that day!"
Sunset had almost forgotten about that. "...yeah, probably wouldn't look too good if I had skipped out after everything the other kids at school did to vote me onto the team...I'm still not sure how they did it without me hearing anything. Even the girls were in the dark."
Night took a sip of his iced tea, nodding. "Well, even though we won't be there, this family is rooting for your team. If both of you were on the teams at your schools, we'd have to root for both teams, and I'm sure somewhere someone would call that a conflict of interest." He winked, indicating it was a joke.
"Especially for a couple of Crystal Prep Alumni," Velvet pointed out dryly.
The redhead took the chance to tease her girlfriend, poking her in the shoulder with a breadstick. "Guess we're lucky that you're not interested in sporting competitions, right, Sparky?"
Twilight blinked up at her, startled. "Why do you say that?"
"Because," Sunset told her with a playful smirk. "You're already the smartest person I've ever met--if you brought even half as much talent and enthusiasm to sporting events, I'd say CHS should forfeit now."
Ducking her head, the younger girl looked flustered. "I--but--Sunny..." she spluttered, then realized that Sunset was clearly teasing. She swatted her shoulder. "Last I checked, you're no slouch--I'd say that with you on the Canterlot team, CPA is going to have to work to keep the title." Her voice was quiet, and something about it felt off, but Sunset couldn't tell why, and resolved to bring it up later...
"I wouldn't go that far, but I do intend to try my best."
Velvet smiled. "Consider us 'Team Sunset' then," she said with a warm smile. "Now, who wants dessert? I made brownies to celebrate."
The open support and excitement they showed for events in her life felt good in a way that called to mind the days before her relationship with Celestia had degraded into constant arguments and endless frustration. It made her want to embrace the family she was being offered with open arms and no reservations...but she held herself back still. They didn't know who Sunset Shimmer was...who and what she had been, and the true depths of her darkness. This wasn't quite like Twilight's anxiety induced fear of coming out--there were similarities, sure, but there were plenty of examples in the world of other humans who preferred one gender over the other in a romantic way. As far as she knew, she was the only Equestrian unicorn who had been exiled into this world after being so twisted and evil that she'd transformed into a demon.
Letting out a slow breath, her grip tightening around Twilight's body, pressing the smaller form deeper into her embrace. Reading the mysterious journal had offered her unpleasant enlightenment on the human perspective on demons, and talking with her friends had solidified a lot of what she'd read as accurate to human beliefs. For all humans were capable of being far more savage and violent, it was one area they seemed to share pony views on: that demons were utterly horrific and regarded with a mixture of fear and disgust. This even extended, or so her history class had taught her, to other humans even loosely suspected of cavorting around with demonic beings--even unproven, they still executed thousands of people over the last millennia or more for suspicion alone.
Sunset shivered. Reading The Crucible had left her with nightmares for weeks the year before.
And she had become one. Human beliefs aside, pony research had always been clear. It required a truly warped and damaged soul and a lot of power to trigger such a transformation--part of her questioned still if that was why Celestia had kept her at arm's length for so many years, if the Solar Ruler could see the path she was on, and what she would become...
Morosely, Sunset stared at the model of the solar system hanging down from the ceiling. She was a disaster and dangerous, and had been even before she'd put on the Crown and her soul's state had reconfigured its vessel to better reflect its nature. That had been the reason so many foals in her years at CSGU had avoided her, mocked her, teased her, feared her...
Whispers of memory tickled her ears, accusations and speculation from young unicorns about her ancestry...the most harmless had been to suggest other pony tribes in her background, but there had been some who suggested the reason for her horn's curve, curling, fluffy coat, and instinctive affinity for fire magic in her unstable core had been from a far more disturbing source. What that source was had varied with the teller...dragons, Sunblaze Salamanders, Fire Elementals...one particularly inventive student had once wondered if one of her ancestors had had a liaison with one of the fox-folk, as impossible as that would have been. New students were nice enough at first, but to the very last that had changed when they learned the truth of her: fiery surges, an unwanted orphan with no family that would have her, and of course, her terrible temper.
Then they couldn't avoid her fast enough.
Her human friends were better, but they'd beaten the demon, seen the monster inside her defeated, though she wondered...
No. That thought was not worth dwelling on, not here and now.
Still, it made Sunset worry and wonder...
Would Night and Velvet, and their happy, welcoming, generous family...be quite so when they learned all she had hidden from them? When they found out about the demon and violence, about the fact that she wasn't really the person they believed her to be, but the pony they had never imagined? Would they tell her it was okay and they still wanted her...or would they shy away from having such a terrible black mark near their family tapestry? She certainly couldn't think of a pony that would want their family's good standing ruined by the inclusion of such a disgraceful mare with a nightmarish history and the shame of exile hanging over her head.
...and there was a worse option, the dark, negative corners of her mind reminded her, dragging up Twilight's insistence on keeping her word to give Sunset space, even in the face of events where no one would have blamed her for calling for help--or at least company--from her best friend, and the way her parents had acquiesced to that insistence. What if...she told them, and they felt an obligation to not go back on what they'd already said, regardless of how it made them feel? Twilight had not come by her belief in keeping her word in a vacuum, after all.
The former bully pressed her face into Twilight's hair. She was not ignorant of her flaws the way she had once been--how could she be when the Elements and the Rainbow had laid them bare, made her see the truth of herself and left her soul raw and bleeding from the experience? It meant she knew the unpleasant truth...
The truth was, in some deep seeded, desperate corner of her psyche, she was still the orphan filly who would give anything to be part of a family, who Wanted to belong with every ounce of who she was. For all the changes she'd struggled to make, she was still the foal who had clung so tight to the hope that if she did enough, Princess Celestia would want her, and pushed for that despite every indication to the contrary, despite all the ugliness, and fights, and the terrible truth that other ponies kept repeating to her that she never listened to...
Sunset wanted to tell them the truth. She wanted to spill her secrets, all of them, to Twilight, and then to Night and Velvet, Cadence and Shining, and even deeper, she ached for them to tell her that none of it mattered, that they still wanted her as part of their family...that Twilight still wanted to be her girlfriend...that she didn't need Equestria, because she could have her heart's desire and then some, right here in the world of man.
She Wanted it so badly that it terrified her.
Because the unicorn-turned-teen-girl knew herself, knew the lengths she had been willing to go to in the past when she Desired something that strongly. Last time, it had eaten her alive, had twisted her into a heinous monster driven only by that hungering, soul deep Want, even before she'd stolen the Element of Magic.
In a way, that was what frightened her the most: wanting something that badly again, and then having it snatched away at the last second when she believed it was finally hers. It was why she was hesitant about truly accepting the family saying she was one of them, why she had been avoiding the subject of her growing attachment to Twilight, and, she admitted to herself in the dark of the night, the reason she was so unsettled by what had happened with the school and the vote for the Games Team competitors.
After so many times of the universe twisting the knife when she had just begun to think things were going her way, she couldn't just blindly trust. Anything that felt too good to be true usually was, especially for the mare named Sunset Shimmer.
In her arms, Twilight let out a sleepy sigh and shifted, nuzzling into her chest more. "...Sunny..." came the happy sound from the sleeping girl.
Sunset's lips quirked into a faint smile, unable to resist--the affection in her sleep from Twilight was sweet and achingly wonderful. Amber fingers ran through dark hair lightly. "I'm right here, Sparky," she breathed. "I'll always be here, as long as you want me..." Even though Twilight was asleep, it felt right to say, and some of her voice and touch must have communicated to the other teen's sleeping mind, because she relaxed, settling into a deeper sleep.
Okay, so maybe there was one person in her life that maybe she felt she could trust to not pull the rug out from under her at the last moment. She just had to convince her brain of that.
Her mind drifted, the subject of trust dredging up a subject of their earlier talk when they'd retreated to Twilight's room, where she'd finally had to explain what she had meant when she mentioned Wallflower in the kitchen...
Stretched out on the bed together with Twilight's back to Sunset's front after some very satisfying 'I missed you' kisses, Sunset was enjoying the simple pleasure of holding her girlfriend close. Twilight was idly tracing patterns on the arm wrapped around her waist. "Sunset?" came the hesitant query. "...what did you mean about Wallflower trying to dig up dirt on you?"
Sunset sighed. "I only know what Lyra told me, because she was concerned. According to her, a friend from Crystal Prep had started calling her out of nowhere, asking her about me. Asking what she thought, what I was like, if she knew about any dark secrets or gossip or 'if I dated a lot of different people at CHS.' Lyra was worried because, according to her, this friend sounded angry and upset, but also at one point if she knew anything about me and you." The fingers tracing over her arm stilled. "That's when I asked if the friend in question was Wallflower, since as far as I know, she's the only one who goes to your school that even knows we're friends."
"...and Lyra confirmed it?" Twilight sounded tired and sad as she asked the question.
Wincing in guilt, Sunset squeezed her tight in a hug. "Yeah. Explained to me that the three of you and another girl--Moonprancer?--were friends when Lyra was at CPA."
"Moondancer," Twilight corrected, before rolling over so she could face Sunset. "I'm sorry, Sunset...I didn't think she'd go that far."
The redhead leaned her face down to kiss her girlfriend. "Hey...it's okay. The bad stuff I did is already public knowledge anyway, and you know about most of the worst of it. She's not going to be able to dig up anything she can use against me with you...and other than the mess at the Fall Formal, I was always really careful about not actively breaking any rules or laws. Besides, from the way Lyra was talking, it sounded like she told Wallflower to take a long run off a short steppe."
Purple eyes scrutinized her. "But she and Wallflower are friends...why would she do that?"
For a minute, Sunset considered whether or not to tell the whole truth. In the end, she decided honesty was her best defense against Wallflower's antics. "I don't know for certain, but it sounded like Wallflower used the same kind of derogatory slang about me to Lyra...who is pretty openly dating this girl at our school named Bon-Bon." She shrugged. "I'm guessing she felt pretty much like you did about the terms."
Twilight blinked, and Sunset could practically hear the gears turning in her head as she processed that information. Sudden realization flashed across Twilight's face and her eyes narrowed. "That...that.." The sound that escaped her throat was surprisingly like the sounds that Sunset herself tended to make when she was frustrated.
Hearing a sound that was pony-like to that degree coming from the younger girl was somewhat surreal, but it was also...adorable...and probably more interesting to her than it should have been. Sunset dipped her chin down to kiss Twilight before she could stop herself.
It definitely prevented Twilight from finishing the sentence and voicing whatever caustic thing she'd been about to call Wallflower. While it probably wouldn't have been undeserved, Sunset felt like it was better if she didn't, simply because Twilight would likely feel bad about it later. So she deepened the kiss until her girlfriend's hands started to wander...
Looking fondly down at Twilight, who was smiling in her sleep, Sunset sighed. Twilight had told her all about the confrontation with Wallflower, about the boundaries she'd laid out and how the girl had reacted to both those and Twilight's scuffle with the boy at her school...and then talked extensively on how she didn't want to just give up on her friendship with Wallflower. She still wanted to give the green haired girl a chance to change how she acted--or at least, to respect the boundaries Twilight had set.
Sunset worried about the whole mess. She wasn't stupid, and she'd observed this kind of thing enough in her time ruling the school to know where it was headed. Wallflower had already made up her mind, and from Twilight's recounting of events, she had not cared for the boundaries that were set or how Twilight had responded to what she had said about the behaviors of the other students. Which meant this was going to go one of two ways: either Twilight's friendship with Wallflower would fizzle out and die, or it would get progressively more fractured and turbulent, until it came down to one of them--likely Wallflower--issuing the inevitable ultimatum.
There was little doubt regarding the response to something like that. No one ever sided with the person issuing the ultimatum, not that she had seen.
The former unicorn hated that. Twilight was going to get hurt, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Anything she could try to do beyond providing emotional support would only make things worse, because she was Wallflower's main point of contention, and she wasn't willing to sacrifice her own relationship with Twilight to appease the mean spirited girl who was starting to feel more and more like an entitled brat.
It was definitely not something she was looking forward to, but at least there seemed to be a silver lining to the impending storm: Lyra. Due to Wallflower, Twilight would be given the chance to reconnect with an old friend...a friend who was a mutual friend of Sunset's, which meant the events with Wallflower wouldn't be repeated.
Thank the sun, stars, and little green parasprites for that.
Of course, Twilight was anxious about it, which was why Sunset was playing the messenger and going to be present when she and Lyra met up. Not that the redhead minded. More time with her girlfriend was a good thing, especially since both of their schedules had gotten so overwhelmingly busy this semester...
Twilight had that uncomfortable look on her face that Sunset knew meant she was winding herself up. "What's wrong, Sparky? Do you...not want to reconnect with Lyra?"
"No!" Toning her voice down, Twilight's face darkened with embarrassment. "No, nothing like that. In fact, I've missed Lyra. She was...cheery, even if her fascination was cryptozoology, which mostly contains hoaxes and misidentified creatures, but likely also includes a few undocumented creatures and extant members of long thought extinct species. She was quite adept at brightening the room and she never said anything unkind about any of us, even when we sometimes didn't listen to what she was talking about." She bit her lip.
"Then what's wrong?"
Sagging against Sunset, she mumbled into amber skin. "...what if she doesn't like the person I am now? Wallflower doesn't."
Biting back the urge to point out that Wallflower was a snobby, stuck up, entitled rich brat with an entire bugbear stuffed up her tailpipe stinger first, Sunset rubbed fingers along the back of her neck. "Lyra isn't Wallflower...in fact, do you know what she said when she learned you were my best friend?"
Purple eyes looked up at her, and Twilight sniffled a bit, looking more stressed than Sunset had first thought. "...what?"
"She told me she was super glad to hear that you and I were friends, because she thought you could 'do to have a friend that didn't go to Crystal Prep.'" Sunset winked. "Given how unpleasant most of your schoolmates sound, I can understand why she said that." She kissed Twilight's nose affectionately. "Lyra is glad to hear you are happy and have friends that make you happy...and I think she really wants to be one of those friends if you'll let her."
Twilight scrubbed at her eyes. "I'd like that...I...I'm just worried that she will see how different I am from the end of ninth grade..."
A finger over her lips cut her off. "Lyra likes you for the person you are, Twilight, not how you act. Trust me, I think she'll celebrate the changes, not fear them, because they came from you being happier and more sure of yourself."
Now the smaller girl was smiling slightly up at Sunset. "...I like who I am now," she confessed. "I don't have panic attacks nearly as often, and my anxiety is better, mostly." She paused, biting her lip again. "It would be nice to have a friend who knew me from before be happy for me. I know my family is supportive and all, but..."
"It's not the same as a friend? It's okay, Sparky, I get it. Believe me, all things considered, I absolutely get that." The two of them shared a quiet laugh, less from humor but as a release of tension. "Look," Sunset said after the giggles faded, "if you want, I can go with you when you meet up with Lyra as emotional support or just to give her a second person to talk about manticore and dragons and yeti with so she doesn't talk your ears off."
Her girlfriend tilted her head. "...you don't mind all of that when she does, do you? A lot of people have made fun of her for it."
Sunset snorted. "Mind?" Technically the only thing she minded was when the monster was an actual Equestrian creature and the human info on them was wrong. Like minotaur. Or manticore. Or unicorns and pegasi--especially unicorns and pegasi, considering they were her own species. And then she just explained where the information was wrong, and Lyra would ask all kinds of questions about Equestrian Arcanozoology. "Not really. Some of it is a little out there, and not backed up by any kinds of facts, but..." she hesitated, then decided to test Twilight's response. "...the world is a big place, and humans aren't everywhere all the time with cameras. How can we say that some of these things don't exist? Weren't gorillas undiscovered and considered a hoax until like eighteen fifty?"
"Eighteen forty-seven," Twilight clarified. "Nineteen oh-two for the mountain gorilla. And you are right--absence of evidence is not necessarily evidence of absence. Some cryptids are very much hoaxes, but there are plenty that match extinct fauna, and several more consistent and long lasting sightings have turned out to be true. We discover dozens of new species every year, and that's just on Earth." She rested her head back against Sunset's chest. "I'm glad that you give her the chance to talk about it...I know how she felt when people would shut her down."
The former unicorn frowned, knowing what Twilight meant. "Which is...not something I would do. Honestly, back...where I used to live...stories about things like dragons and monsters were...pretty common." Because they were real. "...so I guess her talking about that stuff is...kind of...nice. Maybe a little nostalgic?"
With the way Twilight kissed her after that suggested that Sunset had said exactly the right things.
Sunset shifted, wriggling her way deeper into the warm covers, making a mental note to catch Lyra at some point either at the park or at school to pass along Twilight's invitation to get milkshakes after school next week.
All in all, it had actually been an okay, if weird, day, and it had ended on a high note....and a pretty intense make-out session with her girlfriend, so Sunset wasn't about to complain. Plus she'd decided what to do about the Games Team, and felt pretty confident in her choice, so she wasn't worried about the weekend or Monday.
She smiled, yawned, and pressed a drowsy kiss to the top of Twilight's head. With the matter of what she was going to do about the Friendship Games solved, and all the emotions that it had brought up around the competition, she was really glad that Twilight had been spared the insanity that was the massive showdown between their schools. The dark haired girl wasn't even going to be in the audience, since that seemed to be reserved for mostly seniors. Twilight would be well away from it all, and maybe the day of the Games themselves would give her a respite from all the toxicity of her classmates since they'd be focused on hating CHS.
Her sleepy mind laughed as she settled into unconsciousness, and her last thought was that she was thankful that she wouldn't be put in the position of facing her girlfriend across the divide between the two schools. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Twenty Eight: Green Day Blues | Sunset paused for a moment to wipe her brow--even though the sun was barely up over the horizon and it was a cool morning in what promised to be a nice early spring day, she had been running around for over an hour and a half already, setting everything up. The checklist on her clipboard--her girlfriend's contribution to the event had been to make that for her--was fairly long and detailed, but she was almost to the end of it, and just in time, as volunteers were starting to arrive, being directed to the check-in table by a very boisterous Bow Hot-Foot, Rainbow's dad. He had been the perfect person to stick on greeter detail, big, muscular, loud, and extroverted just like his daughter.
Rarity had likewise been put in charge of the check-in table with Fluttershy's mother, a meek, soft spoken woman whose mannerisms explained so much about her children's behavior. The tailor had assured Sunset she would match teams of volunteers based on abilities and age, making sure that the middle school aged volunteers would be with at least two adults, preferably parents or guardians. Friends of Pinkie's from the Home Ec classes were overseeing the food and drink stations--the local grocery store had donated an entire truck full of the refillable sports water-cooler barrels to the project which Sunset planned to turn around and donate to the school after all was said and done, and several bakeries and cafes had contributed snacks and energy bars. Lunch was being provided by the sandwich shop that Sunset had used for her date to the observatory with Twilight, paid for by Night Light's generous donation, huge platters of cold sandwiches and condiments that Big Mac had volunteered to pick up with help from Sandalwood and Brawly in a few hours.
Her eyes continued to sweep the area, checking off the organized supplies--bins of work gloves, big bags for the garbage, brushes and outdoor paint in big buckets for the park benches, boxes of nails and screws, tools, the neat stacks of colorful bird houses and different animal feeders on a table--and even the first aid station that the school nurse had showed up to run in case someone got scrapes or splinters or blisters from working. Off to the side some trays of spring flowers and heavy bags of dark earth and mulch waited for their turn to be planted in the park's neglected butterfly garden to attract both the colorful insects and local bees. She'd even gotten big bins to use for recyclables like glass or metal--she never did understand why humans wasted so many valuable resources in landfills, when a lot of them could easily be melted down and used again with no issue.
They were ready to go.
The redhead turned to look at Applejack. "I think it's all ready to get started. You're overseeing benches and birdhouses. Pinkie and Rarity are here at base camp...Dash is helping clean the playground equipment with Fluttershy's and Pinkie's dads, since they brought those power washers..."
Chuckling, AJ adjusted her hat. "That'll keep her from getting bored."
"That was my hope. After that, they'll see to laying more sand and stuff there since it needs it so badly. Rarity is going to send a lot of the lacrosse and soccer team their way so they have plenty of help lifting the heavy things. I'm just glad Pinkie's family was willing to provide a lot of the mulch and sand and garden stuff they couldn't donate to us at cost. It helped a lot with our donation budget." Sunset lifted her ponytail off her neck and enjoyed the breeze hitting her skin.
Applejack nodded. "They're good sorts. Apple-kin usually are, even distant ones. Ah know they'd have donated it all if they could, but money in winter is a mite tight fer 'em." Green eyes watched. "What Ah can't believe is that Marble wanted ta come." She gestured to where Pinkie's twin was seated away from the commotion of people arriving, carefully filling the feeders with either seeds or the sugary artificial nectar, depending on their type. Her eyes met Sunset and she waved shyly.
"I invited her along," Sunset explained. "We got to be friends when Pinkie gave me some baking lessons, and I just asked her if she wanted to join in." Her lips quirked into a smile as she waved back. "I think it's because I'm a unicorn--Pinkie spilled that and I had to explain, and she really relaxed after that. I guess being a pony makes me less scary than if I was human."
"Fair enough," AJ said with another chuckle. "She gonna help you and Fluttershy mark trees then?"
Sunset set her clipboard down for a moment on one of the tables so she could check the time on her phone. "That was tentatively the plan. Fluttershy went to go meet up with the person who is supplying the yarn we're using to mark where things are going." Her phone played a trill of birdsong. "That's her now." She flicked her thumb across the screen to read the text. "They're on their way."
Tanned fingers tipped a battered hat. "Ah think Rares and Rainbow's Pa kin hold down the fort here. Ah'm gonna go get the first couple of paint teams started." She winked at Sunset. "We got this, Sunset. Go grab Marble and find Fluttershy before it gets too crowded here."
Spotting a large group of what looked like their classmates with extended family members heading towards the cheerfully shouting rainbow haired man, she nodded. "...yeah...good idea. My phone is on loud if I'm needed for anything though, so message me if I'm needed."
With a final wave, she let Applejack head out and moved over to where Marble was. "Fluttershy is coming back with her friend--are you ready to help us color code some trees?"
Marble glanced up through her hair. "Mmmhmm..." came the soft hum in response as she screwed the top back on a now full feeder. One hand lifted in some kind of abbreviated sign, and Sunset became aware of a heavy presence at her shoulder.
It was Maud. She blinked at Sunset in that slow, unemotional way of hers. "I will take over here," she informed Sunset. "I can inform them of the best uses for the geological landscaping items." One hand gestured to the bags of dirt, sand, gravel, and mulch. Another slow blink and she turned to Marble. "When you want to leave, I will take you home. Have fun."
As always, Sunset couldn't detect any kind of variation in Maud's tone or inflection, but apparently her immediate family had no such issue. Marble gave her older sister a smile and a brief hug before joining Sunset.
What did it say that Pinkie sometimes felt like the most normal person in the family, the former unicorn wondered.
Blue-green eyes searched the area, and she saw a familiar head of pale pink hair held back in a neat braid--Rarity's work, judging by the look of it--followed by another figure in much brighter colors. "There's Fluttershy. Now...I don't know her friend, but she said they're a very calm and laid back person. If it gets to be too much, just let me know and I'll get you back to your sister."
A grey hand made another abbreviated gesture that Sunset had learned meant 'Okay,' and Marble held up a cell phone.
"Good. It should just be the four of us, marking trees. We shouldn't need more than that." Sunset kept her pace at a brisk walk, shortening her longer stride so Marble wouldn't have to run to keep up--it was a habit after going to so many museums with her much shorter girlfriend, anyway, and she didn't want to do anything to make Marble feel uncomfortable or upset. Pinkie had mentioned in quiet tones earlier just how surprising Marble's insistence on accepting Sunset's invitation had been, and how the rest of the family was worried about how things would turn out. That made the redhead even more determined to make sure the day went smoothly for both Fluttershy and Marble.
Halting near Fluttershy and the other person--a woman who seemed a little too old to be a high schooler--Sunset let her eyes do a quick but subtle once-over of the unknown individual. The disaster with Wallflower had made her a little more wary of the 'friend of a friend' scenario, and old instincts were given a little leeway when it came to determining if trouble was headed her way.
What she saw seemed promising. The woman, whose skin reminded Sunset more of the shade one might find on green grapes or a green apple than Wallflower's washed out pastel green, was smiling widely, and everything about her posture seemed relaxed. Red-orange hair fell in neat dreadlocks, faint stripes in the color visible when the early morning sun hit it just right, and there was a pretty flower print kerchief crowning her head. Her clothes were old and well worn--washed out jeans, and a tie-dye shirt that had probably once been much more vibrant in shade before a hundred washes or so.
Sunset knew she wasn't the best guess with ages for humans, but felt she could safely place her as older than her friends and younger than Cadence and Shining, so probably college age or a smidge older. Taking initiative, she held out her hand. "Hi, I'm Sunset Shimmer, one of Fluttershy's friends and the head organizer for this event. I wanted to thank you so much for donating the yarn we're going to be using to mark the trees."
Eyes in a pastel shade that was a distant cousin of violet were half lidded, as if the woman was still two lattes short of being awake. "It's no problem at all," she said, her voice slow and drawn out. "Happy to help reclaiming a little square of Gaea from human greed and apathy..."
Fluttershy hefted up a small canvas bag with 'Sunshine Tidings' and a smiling sunflower stenciled on the side. "All natural wool, all natural dyes, so it's safe for the environment and for any birds who might want some to use in their nests!"
Before Sunset could respond, maybe ask for the woman's name, she found herself in a hug by this complete stranger, unable to even move her arms. "And namaste to you, Sunset Shimmer," she heard from collarbone level. "I am Treehugger."
Struggling to breathe and avoid lashing out in a mixture of anger and primal panic, Sunset managed to free herself from the unwelcome hug, placing herself between Marble and Treehugger to prevent an even worse reaction. She heard, very faintly, from Marble, "...I'm not a tree..."
Clearing her throat, Sunset took a moment to flash Fluttershy a look, getting an apologetic smile from her friend. Internally, she let out a sigh, and decided she was going to have to be a little more overt about space. "It's nice to meet you," she managed. "I'm not really a hugger, myself, and my friend Marble here isn't either, so...we'll stick to handshakes in the future, if that's okay."
Treehugger stared at her with that same half lidded expression for so long that Sunset was beginning to worry that she might've offended her somehow. She almost looked to Fluttershy, but before she could, Treehugger was speaking again. "Oh for sure, Sunbeam," she agreed in that same drawn out speech. "I would never hug someone whose aura has such dark indigo in it like your friend does...physical contact heightens perceptions of other people's emotions and is super overwhelming for someone that sensitive...."
"Uhhh..." Sunset did look at Fluttershy, who seemed curious about what Treehugger was saying. "...right. Auras...." The word registered vaguely with an understanding that it had a human meaning in one of their fake magic practices...or maybe one of their religions? Certainly not the way ponies used it, to describe the visual effect of a user's actual magic. "...and it's Sunset. Just Sunset."
Fluttershy spoke up in her quiet way, reminding the redhead that Treehugger was one of her friends. "Treehugger has told me some fascinating things about auras," she commented, though the way she focused on Sunset said that there was more than casual interest there. "They come in a rainbow of colors, did you know that?"
A rainbo--oh. Understanding hit the former unicorn. "I...don't really know anything about them," she responded, trying to sound casual. Inside though, her thoughts were racing. What had Fluttershy heard that made her think it was worth investigating? Sunset had already accepted that there was some kind of magic in the human world, but between that strange diary and her own experiences, it was well hidden and disguised among plenty of false information, religious dogma, and half baked superstitions that had been passed down more as tradition than any form of real belief. It was something that had proven frustrating to the unicorn-turned-teenage-girl, for whom magic was a well researched field in the same vein as any other type of scientific study. The human emphasis on 'magic' as some unexplainable, esoteric force that couldn't be quantifiably measured was, in a word, ridiculous to her.
Treehugger's face never lost its smile. "Oh it's totally righteous, Sunbeam..." Her eyes actually opened fully for a moment as she stared intently at Sunset...to the point where it was a tad unnerving. "Like...your aura is nothing like Fluttershy's...Hers is all green with pink, signs of kindness, compassion, and a love for Mother Gaea's creations...so smooth and soothing..."
The strange woman traced a hand through the air around Sunset, and she had to resist the urge to shy away from the gesture. "Yours..." came the slow response. "...so much chaos...twists of red and orange...it lacks the smoothness...cracks of darkness surrounding rich purple and draining the light from the other colors..."
Sunset shivered at the description. "...and...what does all of that...mean, exactly?" she asked, keeping her voice even.
"Powerful energy and creativity, Sunbeam," was the reply, the insistence on the nickname rubbing Sunset just as wrong as the dreamy tone that didn't fit with the words being spoken. "But your power...it's being strangled by exhaustion and a massive imbalance in your chakras, blocking the gift of Mother Gaea from flowing freely through you..."
She resisted the urge to snort, knowing that the sound would be far more aggressive than was appropriate for hearing the answer to a question she had asked. Yet the whole thing felt off, wrong somehow, unpleasantly personal and completely foreign at the same time. So she kept silent, letting Treehugger continue talking, quietly ignoring the reference to a deity from three thousand year old human mythology from a country she'd never visited, her eyes flitting briefly to Fluttershy, who was glancing her way with hopeful curiosity. Clearly, the animal lover was trying to help research magic in the human world, and had addressed the subject with the intent to get Sunset's opinion later. Not that Sunset had much to offer as of yet.
Not that Treehugger seemed to realize any of this. She seemed to have no idea about the magic Fluttershy possessed, or Sunset's own otherworldly origins. Instead, she was beginning to explain something that the redhead had come across once or twice in her original research to find magic in the human world she could use...something that she loosely remembered as being heavily tied into a completely different human belief system a few thousand miles from ancient Greece.
"Your energy paths are horribly blocked and twisted," Treehugger was saying, "stopping the energy from flowing as it is meant to, as debris can dam a river. These blocks are created within, from our own negative emotions..."
The former unicorn took a slow, deep breath, resisting her natural urge to correct a bad premise. In her case, while there was an issue with the flow of thaumic energy from her internal source of magic to outside of her body, it had absolutely nothing to do with her emotions and everything to do with biological limitations and her sincere desire to avoid giving herself brain damage. "...and just what causes the negative emotions," she asked, trying to sound neutral and mildly interested, "to become 'blocks' on a person's...energy?"
Treehugger's mannerisms had gone from appearing somewhat sleepy and relaxed to looking more...vapid and disconnected from reality. "...it varies from person to person, Sunbeam...each of us has our own struggles with our shadow self..." Once again, she stared long and hard at Sunset. "...yours..."
She trailed off with a long pause, to the point where Sunset idly wondered if she'd fallen asleep with her eyes open or entered some kind of trance. It lasted so long that Fluttershy cleared her throat. "Treehugger?"
"...totally sorry...I was reading deeper into her aura, Butterfly..."
Butterfly? Sunset almost lost the fight against the desire to roll her eyes. This was...almost too much, even for her. And she was a magical unicorn from another world where dragons were real and fantastical beasts were a regular menace or household vermin.
Then Treehugger grabbed Sunset's hands, derailing her thoughts. "...I sense much strife...your body and mind are out of sync, and you are stressed in your own skin...your soul's shape is not human..." Her lazy smile was even more unnerving as she talked, her words far too close to reality for comfort. "...you need to embrace the truth within you and accept yourself for who you are...and let go of the paths that are closed to you..."
Her mouth went dry and if it weren't for the surprisingly firm hold on her hands , they would have been shaking. From Fluttershy's somewhat surprised expression, she knew her friend had not shared the secret of her identity with Treehugger. "...I...see..." she responded, trying not to read too much into it, all while attempting to get her hands back from the grip that held them.
As she did, Treehugger pressed something into her palm. "...you're not alone, Sunbeam...there are others like you out there, and they can help you understand what you are going through..." she smiled even more, and let go of Sunset's hands.
What?
Blue-green eyes tracked downward to stare at the business card in her hand. It was an internet address and a fancy title--The Elysium Otherkin Association, whatever all that meant--along with what seemed to be the weirdest looking seven pointed star she'd ever seen. "Um...thanks? I think?"
One more of those vapid smiles and Treehugger...practically floated her way over to Fluttershy.
Sunset stuck the card in her pocket, and decided to worry about the whole thing later. "Okay. Trees. We need to mark them. We'll start in this cluster here and then follow the path to the next. Fluttershy, do you and Treehugger want to mark spots for four or five birdhouses, while Marble and I find some good spots for the feeders?"
Fluttershy beamed at Sunset. "Of course! That's the blue yarn, right?"
"Yeah. Blue for houses, green for seed feeders, red for nectar. We've got a hundred birdhouses, so I was thinking a few per copse and then spread out along the paths and a bunch in each of the garden areas. Less by the playground and the playing fields--we don't want stray balls hitting the birdhouses." Sunset caught the green and red yarn Fluttershy gently tossed her way.
"A great use for your gifts, Butterfly..." Treehugger commented, as the pair headed for the nearby trees. "You can commune with our animal friends and learn where they would like their homes to be..."
Sunset tuned the voice out. She wasn't sure how she felt about the odd woman, and the things she had said that made no sense, or the parts that had been too close to a truth she couldn't have. "Right...so, any thoughts on where we should put some of the feeders? I'm thinking one of each in each copse, some along the paths, and some in the gardens."
Marble gripped her jacket sleeve, tugging slightly. The redhead leaned closer to hear what the gray skinned girl wanted to tell her. "...most of what she was saying...isn't correct..." Marble said in her whisper quiet voice.
That made Sunset grin a bit crookedly. "...I...kind of got that."
"...I study gems," Marble explained. "...a lot of them have...connections...to the stuff she was talking about...I've read about them. She was...not really wrong...but also not right."
Chuckling, Sunset squeezed her shoulder in thanks. "That makes me feel a bit better then. I did research when I first came here, looking for magic in this world, but all I found was human religions and human fiction...so I could tell something was off...but hearing you confirm it helps." She shook her head.
"Also Otherkin aren't like you..."
One eyebrow arched. "I don't even know what they are."
Marble brushed a bit of her hair out of her face as she took the yarn from Sunset and pointed at a sturdy, nearby tree. "...they're people who think they're magical creatures born as humans."
The unicorn turned human stopped her trek to the tree to stare at Marble. "That's a thing?"
"...mmmhmm..."
Shaking her head, Sunset used a small pocket knife to cut a length of green yarn and tie it around the tree trunk at eye level. "That's...weird. You humans are really strange sometimes. We...don't really have stuff like that in Equestria. Most creatures are happy to be what they are. Thanks for explaining it though. I...have honestly never heard of anything like that."
"...one of them buys big rocks from Dad...for sunning. He wants to be a dragon."
She rolled her eyes. "Dragons don't sun themselves. They're connected to elemental fire. They have an internal body temperature in excess of boiling water and can swim in lava. About the only use a dragon has for rocks is gemstones they can eat, since they need the minerals to grow their scales." She glanced over, to see questions written on Marble's face and wide eyes, and continued, "Princess Celestia actually knows a bit about dragons, since she personally meets with the Dragon Lord every hundred years. They're...kind of grumpy and they have a lot of value on being strong and independent these days, but a long time ago, she says they were actually pretty clannish. And they're one of the longest lived creatures in Equestria. The current Dragon Lord, Torch, is almost as old as Princess Celestia, and he's middle aged, although he's only been in charge for...like a thousand years or so. She told me he's..." Sunset paused, doing her best to convert the measurements to a human one. "He'd be like a hundred feet tall."
"...and they eat gems?"
"As part of their diet, yeah. It goes to their bones and scales...though they eat a lot of other things too. Pretty much anything they can catch, and all kinds of fruits, vegetables, and grains. Princess Twilight has a young dragon, and he likes hayfries with cheese and bacon, and he eats a lot of chicken and fish..but he also makes sapphire cupcakes." Sunset searched for another good sized tree nearby to mark with the red yarn. "Spike's actually pretty interesting--he's the only dragon to ever be adopted and raised by a pony, as far as I know."
The painfully shy and normally anxious girl was hanging on Sunset's every word, drinking in the information about Equestria like someone dying of thirst. She tilted her head in thought and jumped back to a previous topic. "Dragons aren't the only species we have that eats gems--there's Diamond Dogs, Gemsilk Spiders, basilisks, several species of Salamander..those are big lava and fire serpents, by the way, not the weird little amphibians you humans have here, and a bunch of others. Gems grow in Equestria like wildflowers. They're everywhere, and they get huge." She held her hands a good eighteen inches apart to demonstrate what she meant by 'huge' and watched Marble's eyes grow even larger. "We use them for magic too," she added.
"...you do?" The whispery voice was awestruck.
Sunset grinned and nodded as she marked the next tree she'd chosen with bright red yarn. "We do. I actually have a magus certification in artificing--working with gems and metal to create magical devices like a thaumometer. Think...engineering, I suppose, but for magic instead of robots and cars." She remembered something, and fished around in the inner pocket of her jacket. "We use all kinds of gems for different types of magic, and we have a bunch of gemstones you don't have here, like this." She found one of the small shards in her pocket and offered it out to Marble.
It was a small, unassuming piece of gemstone about the size of an acorn, purple-blue so dark it seemed black until light hit it, and to Sunset, it hummed with protective energies. It had been a part of a much larger stone, until the redhead had deliberately fractured the charged parent stone into a few dozen smaller stones and inscribed each one with protective glyphs and runes...and then scattered the bulk of them strategically around her girlfriend's house and yard in places nobody would notice, like in the backs of cupboards or shelves, or in the rose bushes. It had been a somewhat desperate attempt to further protect the family from the dark magic she kept sensing when she wasn't there to burn it up with her own power. "We call it Nightstone," she explained. "It's meant to absorb dark magic or nasty energy, and we use it for protection. You can have this one, if you want?"
Marble studied the small stone curiously, tracing over the neat sigils carved into each side, and broke into a real smile. "...thank you."
With a laugh, Sunset joked, "Unfortunately, it won't do anything to protect us from getting headaches trying to understand..." she gestured to where Treehugger and Fluttershy were headed their way.
She counted the faint giggle hidden behind long hair as a sign of success, especially when Marble placed the small gemstone safely in her pocket.
Now to just do her best to steer conversation towards non-magical topics with Fluttershy's friend. She was probably much nicer when she wasn't talking about a quasi-religious subject.
"Oooooooooohm...ooooooooooooooohmmmmm..."
Sunset's eye was twitching just a bit. This entire tree-marking process had taken three times as long as it should have because every new group of trees they approached had required Treehugger to stop and take up a meditative pose to make that really irritating and repetitive humming to 'connect with Mother Gaea to help find the most harmonious places' to put the yarn markers.
Conversation had also been a little bit of a disaster...every time she tried to shift it to something neutral, like animals, or plants, or even the weather, Treehugger had either rambled on about things that made no sense, or somehow brought conversation back to auras and fake magic and 'spiritual harmony.' The only reprieve had been the fifteen minutes Treehugger had spent in the bathroom halfway in, where Fluttershy had inquired if Sunset thought Treehugger's information on auras might be helpful...and Sunset had had to break the news to her that most of it was just a mishmash of several unrelated religious pieces and probably no more accurate than a human horoscope was. Or at least, not related to their magic in any way that would help. She had felt bad for causing the disappointed look on Fluttershy's face, but that had faded when Treehugger had returned, reeking of burned plant fibers and an even more vacant expression than before.
The redhead was on the verge of either losing her temper or tears--it was a close race--and so very frustrated with herself. This was the second 'friend of a friend' she'd met that had been a disaster, despite her initial attempt at friendly positivity and trying her best to look for the good...but it just wasn't working. Standing here, listening to Fluttershy's story of how she and Treehugger had met and become friends had been Sunset's last hope for finding some kind of common ground or way to be friends with this woman, and it had failed as soon as Treehugger interjected to talk about how 'the spirits' and 'Mother Gaea' had 'meant for her to find the bright and pure soul' that was Fluttershy.
"...a true alignment of souls and friendship...the world sang in joyous harmony that day..."
Right now, Sunset wanted to show Treehugger a little of her version of Harmony, in the form of 21.1211 SETs of Rainbow of Light to the face...preferably before she cracked a molar with how hard she was clenching her jaw.
"Sunset Shimmer. Your presence is required at the main check-in desk."
Maud's flat but firm tone was a welcome interruption to Treehugger's slow and hazy speech, and Sunset turned around. "I am?" She checked her phone to see if she'd missed a text, but she hadn't. "I wonder why they didn't text me."
"I am unaware of that answer, but I was heading this way and I volunteered to find you." Maud turned towards her sister. "Marble. How are you doing?"
Marble raised her hands and signed rapidly, making a low hum in her throat. Her face was almost completely hidden by her hair and she was still careful to keep Sunset between her and Treehugger, who had continued to prove that personal space was not a thing she ascribed to.
"I see. I will walk back to the front with you." She turned her dead eyed stare onto Fluttershy and Treehugger. "You can finish this task without them."
"Totally," Treehugger responded. "Butterfly and I have this, Sunbeam....I can feel the proper alignment needed to maximize the happiness of the local spirits..."
Sunset didn't have to be told twice. "Thanks, Fluttershy," she told her friend. "I'll take care of whatever is wrong up at the front, and then it should be about time for lunch if you want to come get some sandwiches after you put out the last of the markers."
Fluttershy enveloped her in a hug. "This has been so much fun, Sunset. Thank you for helping me with everything....I couldn't have done all this on my own."
Smiling crookedly, Sunset shook her head. "You could have, Fluttershy. You're stronger than you think...I just wanted to do something to try and make up for all the times I ruined your projects and events....you didn't deserve what I did, and while I can't undo what happened, I'm...trying to be better. To be a good friend now."
"Maybe I could have...but never something this complex or big...or that has been this fun for me. I would have worried all day about everything." Another hug. "We'll see you when we come for our lunches."
Nodding, she stepped away from her friend and joined Maud and Marble as they started walking back to the other side of the park. "...so...do you know what's wrong that they need me for?" Sunset asked the messenger.
Maud glanced over her shoulder, and waited until they were well out of earshot of the pair they'd left behind. "Oh. That. I lied. They don't actually need you."
"...wait, what?"
A giggle escaped from Marble and Maud continued to explain. "Marble texted me, and said that you two needed a rescue from the cannabis addict."
Sunset stared at Pinkie's sisters, before she broke down into laughter.
Wiping her forehead, Sunset closed the back of the truck. "You're all loaded," she called to Big Mac. "Thanks for taking these to the recycling center!" He gave her a thumbs up and the truck pulled away a minute later. Blue-green eyes surveyed the area to see what was left to be done, one hand shading her gaze against the glare from the setting sun; AJ and Rainbow were loading the remaining bags of dirt, mulch, sand, and gravel into the Pie family work truck, and Sandalwood had a group of his pals loading the actual trash into the back of his. The tables had been broken down and put back in their owners cars, and most of the volunteers had already headed home, many of them taking leftover sandwiches for their dinner.
The day had been a successful one, and Sunset's final once over of the park had shown a place that would have felt right at home in Equestria, if it weren't for all the benches meant for bipeds. The former unicorn felt extremely accomplished, smiling broadly despite her exhaustion, and she was looking forward to the 'victory sleepover' at Rarity's house that night...mostly because Rarity's house had a hot tub big enough for all of them that they had already discussed making use of since all six of them were tired and sore from a hard day's work, even the tailor--who had gotten into it with some Bob-Cut who had been incensed over the fact that the power washing of the playground equipment meant her bratty children had been unable to play. That one incident had ended when Sunset had simply walked off to the bathrooms and called CCPD--by way of Detective Shining Armor's personal extension of course. The patrol car that had hung around the rest of the afternoon had deterred any further trouble, and Sunset approached them to thank them for the help.
The first officer was leaning against the hood of the car. "Everything good to go, kiddo?"
Sunset smiled. "Yes, and thank you so much for dealing with that woman...she didn't really want to listen to any of us."
The woman snorted. "Takes all kinds. We see people like her a lot, and they're mostly hot air." Red eyes lifted to look around. "Don't let her get to you--the park hasn't looked this good in years. Besides, babysitting this meant Bolo and I didnt have to bust shoplifters or deal with fender benders."
Offering out the large paper sack in her hands, Sunset responded, "It's not much, but here. We had a bunch of leftover sandwiches, so I thought maybe you could take some for yourselves and maybe give the rest to whoever has the night shift tonight. They aren't anything fancy...mostly grilled cheese, turkey and cheese, or BLTs, but they've been kept fresh in coolers all afternoon, and from what I've heard, way better than your vending machine contents."
From inside the car, the other cop laughed. "Kid, you have no idea. I wouldn't give the stuff in those machines to a starving hog! I'm fairly certain that the peanut butter crackers in there are petrified, and I know the twinkies are older than I am!"
"Yeah, this'll be really popular for the guys who have the short stick this weekend." The woman chuckled. "You're Armor's kid-sister alright; all those treats your mom sends over during the holidays are everyone's favorite."
Sunset felt her face heat and she stammered, trying to correct the assumption, but the woman had taken the bag and slid back into the car. "Dont worry about it, kid. You ever need anything again, don't hesitate to call the station. We'll tell Spots to keep his ears open in dispatch in the future."
The patrol car was gone a moment later, and Sunset glanced around to see if anyone had heard. Thankfully most of her friends were out of earshot, still helping with the last of the cleanup.
"That's funny," Lyra said from her other side. "Sounds like Twilight's family likes you. Shining's her brother, last I checked."
Jumping a foot or more in the air with a startled sound, Sunset whirled to find Lyra grinning at her. "Lyra!" she yelped.
"Oopsie! Didn't mean to spook you!"
Sunset took a few breaths to calm her now racing heart. "It's okay...and...yeah. Her family's fantastic; I go over there Friday nights for dinner and stuff, and they keep inviting me to spend holidays with them."
Her friend looked even more excited. "That's great! I always liked her mom, whenever I got to see her or she took us places. Way nicer than my mom," she added with an eye roll.
The redhead shrugged awkwardly, then remembered her conversation from the night before with her girlfriend. "Oh, right! Okay, so Twilight said she's really interested in meeting you for milkshakes or something, and was wondering if you're free next week sometime. Like maybe Tuesday or Thursday?"
Lyra brightened. "Oh yeah--I can do Tuesday. She wants to hit the place near the discount bookstore?"
"That was the plan, I think...it's where we usually go, and...she's nervous, so she asked if I would tag along, at least for the first meetup."
The other girl bounced in place a bit. "The more the merrier--I'd bring Bonny, but she's teaching a couple of classes those days at her dad's dojo. Why don't we do Tuesday? Say...four?"
Sunset nodded. "I'll let her know, and we'll see you there."
"Cool!" Lyra hugged her. "Gotta go--Bonny and I have a dinner date to get ready for! See you Monday!" And then she was gone, jogging towards the car in the parking area that Bon-Bon was waiting by.
Shaking her head, Sunset pulled out her phone and sent a message--and a somewhat candid selfie to her girlfriend. -We survived, nerd, and the park looks great! Your lists were the real mvp of the day!-
It didn't take more than a few seconds before the other teen responded. -That's great! You look exhausted though--you didn't overdo it, did you?-
-No, I'm OK. Had to call CCPD on a Bob-Cut tho. That was fun. It'll be storytime next Friday. How was your day with Cadence?-
She couldn't help but grin at the long stretch of emoticons that came before the next reply. -The police?! No one was hurt?- Several blushing faces came through as their own message, and then, -...Cady took me shopping in Everton. Clothes shopping...among other things.-
Uh oh. Sunset wasn't stupid. Cadence was a bit nosy, and she had talked a bit with the woman the previous weekend about her and Twilight's relationship. -Cadence wanting you to kiss and tell? I hope you told her that I'm amazing at it.- Hopefully the teasing joke would help Twilight feel less embarrassed. -...-
-...I did...because you are. That's when she decided I needed some new additions to my wardrobe. Especially when I told her we're going on an outing with my cousin.-
Checking to make sure she still had a few minutes before the girls came her way, Sunset sent a few teasing smileys. -So do I get to see what you bought?-
There was silence for long enough that she began to worry that she'd teased too much for her girlfriend. And then the picture came through, of her favorite nerd wearing a new skirt and a flattering top that made Sunset's mouth go a little dry. Twilight was slightly flushed, but smiling, and she was holding an oversized, fancy chocolate milkshake while leaning against a garden wall outside some restaurant. -Hows this- came the hesitant question a minute later, the lack of punctuation telling Sunset that Twilight had been more anxious than she let on about the outfit and the photo.
Licking her lips in a vain attempt to help settle the sudden fluttering in her stomach and heat in her veins, Sunset typed her response quickly. -Wow. It looks great on you, Sparky. I like it...- And she did, especially the way the skirt looked with Twilight's legs.
Maybe she should take a cold shower before doing the hot tub thing at Rarity's house.
-...you think so? I thought it looked okay, and Cady says it looks cute, but...-
-Sweet sunfire, yes, Sparky. If the rest of what you got looks even half as good on you, I'm in trouble. I won't be able to stop kissing you.-
More of a long pause. -...we might both be in trouble then, because I already dont want you to stop kissing me.- Another long pause between messages. -maybe i can model soem otthem next weekens foryiu?-
Another text where Twilight had been too anxious to type carefully. Sunset tilted her head, seeing her friends coming her way. -I'd like that, if you want to- she told Twilight. -gotta go though--the girls are ready to head to Rarity's. Oh, and Lyra said she's good for milkshakes on Tuesday, around 4.-
Just what had Cadence talked Twilight into buying?
The question niggled at her for the rest of the night. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Twenty Nine: Retail "Therapy" -- Sisterhood Edition | Sliding into the passenger seat of Cadence's cheery little car, Twilight couldn't help the smile that seemed permanently affixed to her face that morning. Waking up when Sunset's alarm went off, her face snuggled into soft breasts and her cheek pressed to warm amber skin, had been like opening her eyes from one dream into an even better one. And when Sunset had been convinced to indulge in fifteen minutes or so of needy kisses and soft touches before she slipped out of bed to go shower, it had left Twilight feeling downright giddy. It had been all she could do to keep her goodbye to Sunset at the front door a few hours ago to a hug. She let out a dreamy sigh as her gaze turned in the direction of the park, knowing her girlfriend was there right now, taking charge and coordinating the large scale event.
"Sounds like you're having a good morning already," Cadence said from the driver's seat as she tested the heat--it was still a little cool until the sun had been up for a few hours.
Twilight felt her cheeks heat, and she nodded, knowing that she was firmly in a "sisters having girl-talk" zone. "...Sunset and I spent a little time together before she left..." she admitted, simultaneously hoping that would be enough and knowing it would only pique her sister-in-law's interest.
Backing the car out of the driveway, Cadence smiled slyly. "Is that what they call it these days?"
"Cady!" the dark haired girl protested. "We haven't--" She broke off with a distressed sound.
The woman laughed. "It sure sounded like you were last Saturday. And last night when I got up to pee. You might want to invest in a gag, Ladybug. Neither of you is any good at being quiet."
A mortified noise escaped her, and her stomach twisted with sudden worry. Had her parents heard anything? They hadn't given any sign they had when she had come downstairs earlier, only hugged her and Cadence, with heartfelt wishes for the two of them to have a great "Sisters Day Out." Surely they would have--
"Ladybug, you need to breathe." Cadence broke through her racing thoughts in a calm, familiar voice. "I was mostly teasing, and if I had thought it was loud enough to be heard by anyone else who wasn't walking right past your door like I was, I would have interrupted to warn you."
Right. Cady was right...she knew how much Twilight was struggling with this. They'd already discussed it several times. She did as she was bid, working to calm herself down.
Twilight finally found her voice as Cadence pulled into a drive-thru for one of their favorite unhealthy fast food places. "...so where are we going today?" She asked the pink skinned woman, deliberately changing the subject.
Her sister let her. "Oh, I thought it might be fun to make the drive up to Everton. They have the big outlet mall and all those different specialty shops we both like."
"Everton?" Twilight blinked--she'd assumed they were going to do something local. "Isn't that a bit far?"
Cadence grinned. "Maybe, but if it gets too late, we'll just get a hotel room and drive back tomorrow. Already cleared it with Mom." She winked at the teenager. "Besides...you know that old, antique looking theater?"
"...yesssss...?"
"I happen to have it on good authority that they are showing a marathon of 'Questicon Galaxia: 2099' tonight..." She dangled the knowledge like a baited hook, and Twilight could not stop herself from taking it.
Purple eyes were wide and excited at the mention of her absolute favorite bad B-movie science fiction franchise. "Ice Fields of Abraxus? Cyborg Amazons from Alpha Centauri?"
As the car moved forward in the line, Cady nodded. "And the best of the dozen: Captain Stardust and the War of Tomorrow," she pointed out. "This weekend only, in Everton."
The dark haired girl could barely contain herself. "Yes! We have to go see them, Cady--we've never had the chance to watch them in the original theatrical environment with full widescreen aspect ratio and surround sound! And I'd love to hit some of the electronic and second hand appliance stores...I'm looking for a few replacement components that they just don't make anymore, not since they switched to LCD screen manufacturing!" She paused when it was their turn to order. "Two of the loaded breakfast croissants, an order of hashbrowns, and a large Coke, please?" she told Cadence with a grin.
Cadence relayed that while Twilight pulled out her phone to make a list of the stores she wanted to visit. "Oh, and the big bookstore for new books--the next volume of the Dresden Files is due to come out soon, and I need to find a replacement for my copies of For a Few Demons More and some of my Earthsea books...and I want to see if I can find a book on Mesopotamian mythology--Sunny and I are just about finished with the one on Norse Myths, and I think it might be fun to go back to some of the oldest civilizations for their stories...there's also a couple of thrift stores and second hand bookshops too, and I'd love to see if there's anything interesting..."
Her sister interrupted as they reached the window. "I was also thinking we could do some clothes shopping--see about getting you a new wardrobe."
Twilight looked over, puzzled. "A new wardrobe?" she asked. "...what's wrong with the clothes I have?" She took the drinks from Cadence, noting as she did that the teenage boy manning the drive thru window was staring at the two of them oddly. Probably another of Cadence's fans.
"Besides the fact that in the last year you've outgrown them?"
Shrugging, she held up her phone. "It's not that hard for me to just have Mom order the next size up in things I like--I have a lot of my lists saved."
There was silence as Cadence passed her the food and pulled into a spot in the parking lot so they could divide up their food. "Except, Ladybug, you really need to try things on. It's not just a matter of growing a few inches taller." She took the offered hashbrowns first since and they were best while still hot.
She shifted uncomfortably, and focused on powering through one of her sandwiches, avoiding the problem for a minute. "...I don't...what is it then?"
"Twily...you aren't the same shape you were eighteen months ago or even a year ago. You're not a little kid with a kid's proportions anymore." Cadence spoke softly, gently, but the truth still hit her in the face.
The teen hugged herself. "...I know I'm not, but what does that have to do with anything? I don't need anything other than clothes that fit. A larger size will do just fine."
Sighing, she took a sip of her drink before answering. "Twilight," she said, using her full name instead of a nickname in a tone that made the dark haired girl twitch. "...we have this same argument every time...do we really have to do it again?"
Defensively, Twilight countered, "We just did this a year and a half ago. It's too soon. I should be good for another two years at least. You know I hate clothes shopping."
Cadence shifted to face her, since they were parked. "I know, Ladybug, and I don't do this to be cruel...but you need new clothes, and more of the same but a larger size isn't going to help...especially because you are probably close to the limit on the sizes meant for middle school girls." She reached over to rest a hand on Twilight's shoulder. "Plus, you've got a figure now you didnt have eighteen months ago--I'd wager that everything other than your school clothes and your baggiest sweatpants and hoody...which I believe you got from Sunset...I'd wager everything else, including what you're wearing now is not half as comfortable as it used to be. It's pinching in some places, loose in others, isn't it?"
Twilight refused to look at her sister-in-law, frowning at her sandwich instead. The words had opened a floodgate to a stream of data in her mind she had been mostly ignoring. "...but I like what I have...and I don't want to look like I see a lot of girls looking. It's..."
"Oh, Twily," she said with a soft laugh. "I would never do that to you. The lucky thing is, there are clothes made for every type of body and comfort level. Just look at Sunset--well, more objectively than your staring usually is..."
Her ears heated. "I don't stare!" Twilight protested. When one eyebrow went up, she deflated a little. "...much..."
The woman smiled. "Of course you don't," she teased. "The point is, though, that if you look at Sunset, she wears clothes that fit the shape of her body--her body type--but they are clothes that are both modest and flattering, not things that attach a flashing sign to her chest saying 'Stare at me, I'm hot.'"
As far as Twilight was concerned, Sunset didn't need a sign for that. People noticed it anyway. Sometimes to a frustrating degree.
Cadence continued, unaware of Twilight's thoughts. "There are clothes that will fit you, Twilight. Clothes that will not only feel good to wear but look good on you without having to be overly revealing or flashy." She looked at her very seriously, before chiding lightly, "Do you really think I would try to dress you up like a doll or stick you in a tube top and a miniskirt?"
The dark haired girl winced. "No," she admitted. "You never have..."
"And I don't intend to ever start, Ladybug. I love you, and I'm trying to make this as easy as possible on you because I know it's not something that you enjoy doing too much." Cadence squeezed her shoulder. "That's why I figured we could do like we did last time, and space out the clothing stores in between visiting other stores. Plus a break for lunch--even if we just pick up something snacky at the food court to go with something hot to drink." She made a face. "That place is always a freezer!"
Twilight managed a faint smile. "That...sounds like something I'd be amenable to...though I want an extra hour in the bookstore and six extra books as payment for all of this."
Her sister-in-law narrowed her eyes. "That's highway robbery! Twenty minutes and two paperbacks."
Oh. It was on. Twilight rolled her eyes. "No way. Fifty minutes, four paperbacks, and a hardback of my choice, or..."
The store around Twilight hummed with the faint buzzing of a thousand and one electronic devices and appliances. Many people would have found the sound annoying, but for Twilight, the low and constant noise of electricity and the things that used it was as comforting and familiar a companion as the scent of old books. She headed for the big bins marked 'clearance'--it didn't matter to her if the items were outdated, since most of what she bought was going to be cannibalized for components anyway.
"So what are you looking for?" Cadence asked from the next big bin that was full of discontinued radios.
Twilight picked up a clunky, obsolete laptop that was clearly a model from a few years back, turning it over in her hands. "I need parts for a new detector for my project--I'm having to redesign it almost weekly because none of the previous designs seem to work quite right."
Her sister-in-law looked at her in puzzlement. "You seem to be having a lot more issues with this semester's project than I can remember you having with any of the others. Is everything okay?"
That made the lavender skinned girl sigh heavily. "...it's...complicated," she responded vaguely. She really didn't want another lecture about signing the special project contract with her principal.
"Well, I'm all ears if you want to uncomplicate it," Cadence said.
Did she? Cadence had been the quietest out of everyone she knew on the whole thing, only asking questions so far about Twilight herself and not expressing too much of an opinion one way or another. "...it's a lot of little things," she finally said. "The energy I'm researching is...proving elusive to locate, and I am uncertain if it is my detection devices or the source of the energy itself..." She frowned--that was a bit of an understatement on the situation, but she wasn't sure Cady would understand the anomaly she was studying. At present, it wasn't just elusive, it defied all logic and several of the laws of thermodynamics; sources appeared and disappeared seemingly at random, with no consistency in time, duration, location, or intensity. Sometimes the sources were stationary, but sometimes they were mobile, and she'd tracked them all around town, only for the source to vanish before she arrived and leaving only dissipating remnants behind. "So far I have found only locations and plants affected by the energy..."
Picking up a large blender box and looking it over, Cadence asked, "It's affecting plants? Is it dangerous? It's not radioactive is it?"
She shook her head. "No, no, nothing like that. I have a Geiger counter I reference as part of my standard tool kit of detection devices. I have no desire to end up as an honorary member of the Fantastic Four." Sunset was way more attractive and engaging than the Invisible Woman, in her opinion. In a world of hypothetical super powers, Sunset's would be far more interesting than manipulating and refracting light and magnetic fields. Given her personality and her name, Sunset would probably throw fireballs or something.
Laughter brought her out of her musings. "That's good--there aren't many people that can pull off brightly colored spandex, neither of us is one of them," Cadence said with a grin. Then she winked. "I bet Sunset is though."
Heat burned up her cheeks to her ears. "Cady!"
More laughter filled the air. "Oh come on, Ladybug, you know I'm right!"
"That's not the point!" Twilight felt like her face was on fire, and she hissed, lower, "You can't just go saying things like that--what if someone heard?!"
Cadence lost her smile. "Twily...there's no one near us, and even if there were, they are strangers who don't care..." She studied Twilight for a minute. "I thought you were working towards telling Mom and Dad--that's what you said before."
The teen winced. "I am...but...I don't know. After everything with Wallflower..."
"...what happened with Wallflower?"
She placed the obsolete laptop in the cart next to them. "...Mom didn't tell you?"
Her sister-in-law shrugged. "She mentioned you and Sunset got into a fight, and that she and Wallflower didn't seem compatible as friends. So what happened?"
While she may not have wanted to discuss the details of her project, Wallflower was another story, and before Twilight could stop herself, she was spilling the whole sordid mess to Cadence--minus the bit about trespassing onto CHS, of course.
Cadence listened without comment until Twilight was done, before drawing her into a hug. "I'm sorry, Ladybug...I wish you had called me when it happened."
She leaned into the embrace. "Thanks, Cady...when it all happened, I...had a lot of thinking to do. And after my most recent conversations with Wallflower, while I don't want to break off our friendship completely, I feel like I need to seriously reevaluate and consider how close a friendship I desire to maintain until she does some emotional growing."
"That's a good way to look at it. It can be hard to find out someone you think of as a friend holds views that are biased and even bigoted. I've had it happen more than a few times in the past, especially in high school and college." Cadence sighed. "But...who knows? Maybe she'll come around, and realize that it's just who you and Sunset are. That Sunset is a nice person, despite what Wallflower has heard...and until then, maybe a little space would do some good."
Twilight's face twisted into a grimace as she went back to digging through electronics. "...I...don't necessarily disagree, but it is not exactly feasible to put actual physical distance between us at school for the foreseeable future." At the confused noise from the woman, she elaborated. "Principal Cinch elected to offer Wallflower a position as my assistant and is allowing her to do her own project as well, so we are sharing the laboratory space at school for the rest of the semester."
Wincing, Cadence made a face. "Oh. I can see where that would be a problem."
"Indeed. Particularly since she has decided that being my project assistant means she can help herself to my samples, findings, and research for her own project, without even so much as asking me. It is throwing off my organization and her careless disregard for lab protocols has already invalidated an entire collection of samples!" Twilight shook her head, setting another laptop and three two-way radios in their cart. "Yet she fails to see that what she is doing is wrong!"
A hum of understanding escaped from her sister-in-law. "And you can't really say anything to the principal because things there are already tense enough, and it would make the issue with Wallflower worse, not better, right?"
"Yes! That's it exactly!" Twilight rubbed her face. "So all I can do is put my all into this project and finish it as soon as possible. Until then...I just have to deal with it."
There was a moment of hesitation, before Cady said, "I'm worried about you, Twilight...is the stress you're under really worth what you're getting out of all of this?"
Pulling away, she turned her back to Cadence for a minute, wrestling with her own thoughts. Maybe she would understand when no one but Sunset seemed to grasp it at all. "I have to keep going, Cady. I have to prove I can do this, that I can hack whatever the world throws at me. I'm a woman who wants to go into STEM fields...the most misogynistic 'old boys club' in the world of academia. I have to be tougher, stronger, smarter, work harder, and have thicker skin than all of them or I'll never make it. Especially because there will never be a 'husband' in the picture to act as some kind of checkbox of femininity that will make me acceptable. If I give up now...how do I know I wont always give up the instant it gets tough?"
Cadence stepped back to rest a hand on her shoulder. "It's not quitting if you're removing yourself from an abusive, hostile environment that's impacting your mental health, Ladybug. Especially if there's a healthier environment you can go to."
Twilight flinched. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Lu is the Vice Principal at another school in the city," Cadence explained. "It's not a private prep school like Crystal Prep, but it is a good school, with a nicer environment. And while it doesn't have the upper class social clout that CPA does, Lu and her sister are members of a very old family and have their own sort of influence in the academic world. If you chose to leave CPA, you wouldn't be hurting for letters of recommendation when you choose a college."
Her stomach twisted. "I...I don't know. I know I don't want to quit in the middle of the year. I need to at least finish the year. Which means finishing my project..."
"Which means sucking up the things CPA, Cinch, and Wallflower throw at you," her sister-in-law acknowledged. "Just...think about it...and if you need someone to vent to, you can always call me. I'm here to listen."
She gave the pink skinned woman a watery, grateful smile. "Thanks, Cady..."
"Now come on, let's find the rest of the things you wanted for your lab, and then see about finding you some new clothes."
The teen found herself being pulled along to a clearance bin full of bargain priced kitchen appliances.
Twilight stepped out of the changing room for what felt like the hundredth time--okay, so it was really only the twenty third, but after an hour and a half of picking out and trying on outfits, she felt like she was entitled to a little bit of self-pitying hyperbole--and held her arms out. "It's comfortable," she told Cadence. "I think I like it. Does it look okay?"
The woman looked her up and down and had her do a slow turn in place. "Hmm...you know what, I think it looks cute. It falls well, the colors look good on you, and it makes you look pretty without being revealing. I bet Sunset will like it. You said it feels comfortable? Not pinching or rubbing weird? No odd or itchy textures?"
Lavender fingers smoothed the soft fabric of the skirt down as their owner flexed and bent and stretched. "No...I really like the way it feels to wear it, and it's something I could wear out but also at home...and it's the right type of thing that I could be not too hot or cold for a good bit of the year." She bit her lip, and looked up at her sister-in-law. "This might seem silly, but do you think we could buy it and I could wear it for the rest of today?"
"Absolutely, Ladybug!" Cadence hugged her. "You still have to try on those fun shirts, so take it off and I'll go get it rung up by itself so you can just change back into it before we leave." She pointed a finger at Twilight. "No less than six of those fun t-shirts, young lady. I know you love sleeping in your brother's dorky hand-me-downs, but a lot of those are reaching a state where they need to be retired to a quilt square or Mom's rag bin."
Ducking back into the changing room, Twilight was quick to hand the outfit over the top of the door to Cadence, and busied herself with sorting through a dozen and a half or so t-shirts they'd picked out from the extensive offerings of geek paraphernalia. Some had a texture she didn't like, and others on a second look didn't really make her laugh. The remaining ones she tried on, looking at herself in the mirror; by the end, she had a selection of nine of them that she could use to replace her night shirts and her 'super casual outing' shirts, including a periodic table one and a programming one that sent her into giggles every time she read them.
"All taken care of, Twily," Cadence's voice interrupted her laughter. "Also, what do you think of this shirt for your brother on his birthday?" Black fabric draped over the door, allowing her to read the words written on the front of the t-shirt. Once again, Twilight succumbed to laughter. "I'll take that as a yes. I figured I'd get this one to go with it for me..." Another shirt was draped over the first to show off what it had written.
Twilight snickered. "Absolutely! Those are hysterical, Cady!"
The shirts disappeared, pulled back by her happy sister-in-law. "Perfect. Now, we've gotten you all the basics for outfits, so is there anything else you want or need in clothes before we hit the bookstore?"
Looking down at the neat pile of clothing that she was going to be taking home, Twilight considered. "Shirts, skirts, pants, pajamas, a light jacket, two new pairs of sneakers...I should probably pick up a package of socks to replace the ones that have holes in them..." Was there anything else she needed? She and Cadence had even managed to find her two or three fairly formal outfits that she could use for fancy events--like the next family New Year's Party.
As she looked everything over, an idea occurred to her. Chewing her lip, she said, "There is...something. Maybe. I...could use your opinion, I guess?"
"On what, Ladybug?"
Swallowing, Twilight pushed the words out before she lost her nerve. "Glamour and her girlfriend are coming down, and Sunset and I are going on a double date with them!" It came out in a bit of a jumble, the words almost running together at points.
Silence reigned for several seconds, long enough that Twilight began to wonder if her sister-in-all-but-blood was preparing to unleash a squeal that would achieve frequencies normally considered the purview of dog whistles and the echolocation of bats. ...but she was wrong, and Cadence surprised her with a soft intake of breath and a sniffle, before answering in a quiet, serious voice, "...I would be honored to help you pick out your first true date outfit, Ladybug."
Twilight let out a relieved sigh, glad she didn't have to spell it out. "Thanks, Cady. I...I think I'm hoping this double date, even though we'll be a couple of hours away in Glamour's girlfriend's hometown, will...get me that much closer to being able to tell Mom and Dad." She hugged herself, rubbing at the goosebumps prickling her arms from the cool air. "...I want to be able to tell them by summer break."
"Of course, Twilight...you know I'll always be here to help and support you. That's what sisters do." Cadence was right on the other side of the flimsy door. "In fact, would you like me to take some pictures of you in the outfit we pick out, to hold onto so that when you do come out to Mom and Dad, you can share the moment with them too?"
Her heart ached--she knew that things like this, with Cadence, were more traditionally something a girl was meant to go to her mother about, and some part of her felt guilty that she typically sought Cadence for help instead. Maybe...this was a way to bridge some of that unintended gap. "I think I would like that a lot, Cady."
Purple eyes pulled themselves away from reading the spines of the books on the shelf. "Are you sure you don't mind me borrowing them?" she asked hesitantly.
Cadence smiled. "I'm sure, Twilight. This is important--I know Mom has yours ready, but I also know she wants to give them to you herself, and if she knew she would. This way, I'm helping carry on the tradition, since she gave me mine for my first date with Shining." She hugged Twilight around the shoulders. "And then, after you tell them, Mom can give you yours and you can wear those on your first real 'out to the family' date with Sunset."
The teen leaned into the hug. "Thank you, Cady...that...means a lot."
"I just want you to have a great time out with Sunset. Do you know what you guys are going to do for the day?"
She shook her head, going back to running her fingers along the book spines. "No, but I'm guessing that Glamour's girlfriend has some ideas? Or we'll talk about it the night before--they're coming down that Thursday, having dinner with us at the house, and spending the night so we can get up early and go."
Nodding sagely, her sister-in-law tapped her chin in thought. "Doesn't Dad have to go to the big fundraising event at the university on that Friday? The one that ends in the big dinner and awards thing? Sort of an all day event?"
Twilight shifted evasively, pulling a book of Mesopotamian myths off the shelf. "....yes?"
"And Mom always volunteers to help out at the bake sale booth in the quad, since we all know college students love homemade baked goods?"
"...yesss...?" The teen's voice was even more forced.
"Which means they'll both be out of the house nice and early, and gone until really late...meaning you likely can avoid them seeing you before you have a chance to change." Twilight could feel the force of Cadence's stare.
Giving a half hearted shrug, Twilight caved, knowing that the woman saw right through her. "That's basically it. If they don't see me, they won't ask questions or suspect anything."
"Twilight..."
"I know!" she exclaimed, grimacing as she heard her own voice edge into whiny. "...I want to tell them, I do! I promised Sunset I'd deal with this, and I'm trying...but it's hard...and after Wallflower found out, it's even harder..."
Cady's voice softened. "Because she pulled your confession from you without you really wanting to tell her. You weren't ready for your friend to know, and she manipulated the conversation unfairly." Twilight nodded. "Twily, that's one of the most awful ways a conversation about sexuality can go. I can tell you one hundred percent that Mom, Dad, and even your brother won't react negatively." She ran her fingers through Twilight's ponytail lightly. "Look at what they said to Sunset on Valentine's Day...and they didn't freak out when I expressed my attraction to all kinds of people, male, female, and otherwise. All Mom did was give me a hug and Dad?" She laughed. "He just sort of looked up over the top of his glasses, and asked me what I thought of that actress from Lord of the Rings, and if I thought they could have cast her better."
It was something she could see her father doing, Twilight acknowledged privately. "Intellectually, I know that...well, about them reacting positively. Not the bit about the actress. That's new." Shaking her head, she forged on with her actual point. "It's...it's not them. It's me. I want it to be perfect--I only get one real chance at this--and I want it to happen when I'm capable of saying it, when Sunset is there, and when I'm in the right mindset to answer questions that I know they'll have about our relationship...it's not as simple as saying 'I like girls,' and walking away. I've kept this whole side of my relationship with Sunset away from them, and they love her as much as they love you and me. They are going to want to know...and they deserve to know. Part of me wishes I'd found a way to tell them earlier because I wish I could have included them from the beginning...but I can't change the past unless I build that time machine idea I came up with in seventh grade."
Her sister-in-law chuckled. "We talked about how you shouldn't mess with temporal physics, Ladybug."
Blushing, Twilight joined her in laughing. "I know, but you get my point, right?"
"I do...but remember...no moment is ever really perfect," Cadence cautioned. "It's the memories and our attitudes that make them special. And I just want you to know you have more support than just Sunset. I'm here too."
Twilight let the words sit in silence as she flipped through the book in her hands, reading the titles of the various myths, some of which she recognized, all of which were accompanied with beautiful illustrations by someone who had done at least a modicum of research into the historical cultures involved in the myths. There was a version of the creation myth involving Marduk and Tiamat, pieces from the Epic of Gilgamesh, the stories of Adapa and Etana, the post-flood story of Atra-Hasis, Ishtar's Descent into the Underworld--a rather interesting one to compare to other similar myths in other cultures--half a dozen stories of the various gods, including some she'd never heard of, and at least as many on various mortals--usually kings--who sought out something mortals weren't allowed to have. Like immortality.
She was pulled from the splash page illustration for a story called 'The Long Shadow of King Simush' by Cadence clearing her throat. "Sorry...I...I know, Cady, and you've been the best sister ever with all of this...and not just with me, but Sunset too. I would have messed this up a long time ago if it weren't for you to give me perspective."
"That's what sisters are for. Besides, you and Sunset really are good together--anything I can do to promote that kind of healthy relationship is part of my job as both a sister and Canterlot's own Goddess of Love!"
Twilight eyed the store that specialized in women's intimate apparel. Intellectually, she knew a properly fitted bra was a wonderful, comfortable thing, but like the girl's locker room, there was something about the store that made her feel like an intruder doing something wrong. "...let's make this quick please?" she pleaded quietly with Cadence. "I always feel so weird about being in here."
"We're not here to ogle the models in the catalog or peek into the changing rooms," was the response, Cadence patting her shoulder in solidarity and understanding. "And if there are some cute ladies in the store, there's nothing wrong with appreciating that as long as we don't act like drooling idiots."
She rubbed her neck awkwardly. "I guess. I still don't want to linger--you said the Galaxia marathon starts at six? And we should probably eat before then--breakfast and those pretzels are not going to last me that long." Her stomach offered its input with a low growl. "See?"
That got a snicker. "Curse that teenage metabolism?" The dark haired girl nodded sheepishly. "Don't worry. We'll head to the car after this and pick a place to eat." Then her sister-in-law rubbed her hands together. "Now, I do have one question before we get started."
The excited gleam in Cadence's eyes and bubbly manner set off a warning alarm in Twilight's brain. "What...?" she asked worriedly.
"Well...we got you date clothes, and I know you and Sunset have been...getting more frisky as of late, so...did you want to maybe pick out something pretty to wear that only Sunset will get to see?"
The air in Twilight's lungs turned into a solid in a nanosecond, and her face felt like it was about to achieve nuclear fusion all on its own. Was Cadence really asking if she wanted to buy se--no. Her brain shied away from even completing the words in the space of her thoughts. Twilight Sparkle and fancy undergarments didn't belong in the same paragraph let alone as a single idea...
Then her mind wandered back to the night before, and the way Sunset had tugged her shirt up and off with quiet fascination. She shivered at the recollection of amber hands running over her skin under that heated gaze...and she wondered. What would Sunset think of something designed for form as well as function, something pretty and accentuating her body--not that Twilight felt she had that much to accentuate, especially compared to her drop-dead gorgeous girlfriend. Would she appreciate the effort, the attempt at...seduction...was not the right word...but... Twilight searched for a word that felt right, and came up a little short on finding the right terminology. Perhaps...attractive presentation? Effort at her appearance? Whatever the word was, she...wasn't sure. Sunset barely seemed to notice physical parameters--she had admitted as much, on her own, that she was less focused on physical attraction...
By the same token, though, Sunset had also confessed to finding Twilight attractive in all sorts of ways...and the way their explorations had gone verified that Sunset wasn't immune to physical attraction. Like last night, when she had--
Anyways. Did...Twilight want to brave the embarrassment of the shopping aspect for the potential but unknown reaction her girlfriend would have?
A husky voice seemed to murmur next to her ear. "It's kind of adorable to see you worry so much about whether or not I want to see you in lacy nothings, but you're really over-stressing, Sparky," Mental-Sunset told her with a smirk.
She barely registered that her rising anxiety had conjured her latest favorite coping skill. Was she over thinking?
"Absolutely." She could practically see the older girl winking at her. "It's not some big question of if I would like it or not--I'm happy with whatever you want to wear, because it's you, Twilight Sparkle. You're magic to me, no matter what you wear. The more important thing to ask is if the panties with pink fluffy unicorns dancing across rainbows is fitting the mood you want to establish the first time your girlfriend takes your pants off?"
Oh no. She could see it now, Sunset, kneeling on the bed, having hooked her pants with dexterous fingers, pulling them down...only to come face to face with the aforementioned underwear--in her defense, it was cute when she had picked it out at thirteen--and stopping cold. She could even picture what would follow, of one eyebrow arching upwards, even as blue-green eyes sought purple. Sunset would give her that amused look, mouth turned up in that crooked smile as she fought the urge to start giggling.
That was, without a doubt, not the reaction she wanted when under those circumstances. She wanted more of last night, of what she saw in her dreams in a Sunset that had glowing eyes and sharp teeth and those adorable, fuzzy ears like some kind of fan service-y anime version of her girlfriend...where her Sunny looked at her with raw Desire and carnal hunger that made Twilight go weak in the knees.
Swallowing and hoping she wouldn't find a way to defy the laws of physics and spontaneously combust from embarrassment, Twilight nodded to the patiently waiting Cadence. "....yes...but I...don't know..." The words trailed off.
Her sister-in-law smiled reassuringly. "It's okay to not know, Ladybug. I'll teach you the basics, and you can narrow the specifics down with future experimentation."
"I'll help too," the construct provided by her less than helpful subconscious offered with a smug smirk. "You try stuff on, and I'll let you know which one is going to completely ruin my underwear."
Twilight really needed to mention her concerns about her subconscious to her therapist.
They were waiting on dessert at a quiet little eatery that Cadence had stumbled across at one point, when Twilight's phone buzzed insistently on the table. The pair were seated outside at one of the tables arranged on a cute little patio that benefited from being warmed by its proximity to the kitchen. Cadence grinned at her. "I'm surprised it took this long for Sunset to message you."
"She was extremely busy today--she's been planning this thing for months with one of her friends." Twilight flicked her finger over her phone screen to reveal the message and a selfie of a sweaty, tired looking Sunset with her hair tied back from her face flashing her a peace sign.
-We survived, nerd, and the park looks great! Your lists were the real mvp of the day!-
She tapped a quick response, smiling at the knowledge that her attempt to contribute to Sunset's efforts had proven valuable. -That's great! You look exhausted though--you didn't overdo it, did you?-
-No, I'm OK. Had to call CCPD on a Bob-Cut tho. That was fun. It'll be storytime next Friday. How was your day with Cadence?-
Her surprise must have shown on her face, because Cady asked, "Is everything okay?"
"She says she had to call the police on someone," Twilight explained, sending a series of shocked and worried emoticons before she asked, -The police?! No one was hurt?- She really hoped it had been for someone throwing a verbal tantrum and not assaulting people.
Then she read the second part of the text, and wavered on what to say, initially only sending an image of a blushing smiley, before attempting to compose a response. -...Cady took me shopping in Everton. Clothes shopping...among other things.- That was informative without delving into the details she wasn't comfortable sharing over something as unsecured as a cell phone owned by a teenager who went to a public school full of other, often nosy, teens.
In the meantime, she told her sister-in-law, "I don't think anyone was hurt. It sounds like a Bob-Cut wanted to speak to someone's manager."
Snorting, the pink skinned woman shook her head, just as their server returned with two old fashioned diner style milkshakes for them. "Oh no...I'll have to ask Shining later if he heard anything about it."
"She said she'll tell the story next Friday."
The phone buzzed again as Twilight sipped at her shake. -Cadence wanting you to kiss and tell? I hope you told her that I'm amazing at it.- -...-
She considered the text, and thought about a response and realized she was feeling suddenly emboldened. "Cady?"
"Yes, Ladybug?"
"Sunset thinks I should tell you she's an amazing kisser." A pause. "Which she is." Then she responded to the message. -...I did...because you are. She decided I needed some new additions to my wardrobe. Especially when I told her we're going on an outing with my cousin.-
Twilight could almost hear the smirk in the next message--though the smilies with the waggling eyebrows helped set the tone. -So do I get to see what you bought?-
Her cheeks warmed, and she bit her lip a moment. "Cady? Can...you help me take a picture? I want to show Sunset my new outfit."
Grinning, the pink skinned woman plucked the phone from her hand and gestured to the nearby half wall. "Go lean up against that. Take your milkshake with you, yes, like that. Now make it look like you're taking a sip from the straw. Smile a little, Twily, and look at the camera."
Following the instructions, Twilight felt a little silly, but after she could see beyond the afterimage of the flash, she realized that it was a cute photo. Cadence did have an eye for photography. "Thanks, Cady..." she said, as she sent the image to a certain redhead. -Hows this- she fumbled nervously, hitting send before she could erase the question and type something more complex. While she and Sunset had sent images back and forth plenty, few of them had been anything more than candid shots--this was the first time she'd sent the other girl one that was quite so deliberately posed to be attractive.
The response wasn't long in coming. -Wow. It looks great on you, Sparky. I like it...-
-...you think so? I thought it looked okay, and Cady says it looks cute, but...-
-Sweet sunfire, yes, Sparky. If the rest of what you got looks even half as good on you, I'm in trouble. I won't be able to stop kissing you.-
Twilight felt her ears go hot as she processed the words, sipping fast enough on her shake to risk a brain freeze in an attempt to cool down.
"Soooo?" Her sister-in-law was grinning like a loon from the other side of the table.
"...she says the outfit looks good."
One eyebrow arched up. "Just good, huh? If that's how you react to 'just good,' you're in trouble when she really turns on the charm."
"Shut up!" Twilight retorted with more embarrassed laughter than anger. Her fingers flew over the screen. -...we might both be in trouble then, because I already don't want you to stop kissing me.- She hesitated, then with a burst of confidence that came from somewhere she couldn't explain, she added hurriedly, -maybe i can model soem otthem next weekens foryiu?- Okay, maybe not a lot of confidence--her hands were shaking so bad she typo'ed everywhere in the message, and mashed send in her haste to keep from once again deleting it.
She didn't have to wait long for the response. -I'd like that, if you want to- she told Twilight. -gotta go though--the girls are ready to head to Rarity's. Oh, and Lyra said she's good for milkshakes on Tuesday, around 4.-
By the time Twilight had recovered enough to finish her milkshake, it was half melted. It was worth it though--the smile on her face stayed with her the entire rest of the night, even when she and Cadence drove home at some awful hour in the middle of the night. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Thirty: Ties That Bind | Sunset held the door open for her girlfriend, the other hand holding Twilight's helmet out to her. "Figured if we have a little time we could hit the used bookstore for a few minutes. If traffic isn't too terrible, that is." The grateful smile the younger girl flashed her spoke volumes about how nervous she was about this meet-up with Lyra.
"Please be safe," Velvet said from the front hall. "Traffic can be bad, and this time of year the roads are almost more dangerous than the dead of winter, since the temperature has been so erratic lately."
Smiling, Sunset quipped, "We'll be safe, Mrs. Velvet, and I'll get her home by dinnertime--wouldn't want to miss the best part of her daily schedule. Sparky would never speak to me again if I did that."
Her girlfriend gave her a mock glare from inside the star marked helmet. "I would not!"
"Sparky, the last time I disrupted your schedule, you were grumpy at me all night."
Velvet laughed lightly. "She's not entirely wrong, sweetheart. You are very particular about schedules." Then she looked at Sunset. "Are you joining us for dinner tonight? I'm making a spin on a breakfast casserole, so it wouldn't be hard to make a small pan and put spinach and zucchini and maybe some bell peppers in it instead of bacon and sausage."
Sunset brightened. "...that sounds amazing--I've been living off take-out and delivery all weekend."
"Yes, Shining mentioned your weekend had been a little eventful." Velvet patted her shoulder. "Stay for dinner tonight, and we can hear all about why he had to ask a patrol car to pop over."
Shaking her head, the former unicorn chuckled. "That wasn't even the weirdest part of the day," she admitted. "That honor goes to this friend of my friend Fluttershy...I'm still not really sure what she was saying half the time." She flipped the visor down on her helmet. "We'll be back for dinner and stories then."
"Have fun, girls!" the woman called as Sunset swung a leg over her bike and waited for her best friend to climb on behind her.
There was more than a little bit of guilty pleasure in feeling Twilight press close against her leather clad back and snake arms tight around her middle....especially now, when the girl took a brief second to let her hands move higher than strictly necessary. "Sparky..." she teased as they backed slowly out of the drive. "...those aren't handles."
She felt the helmets tap together, and the two way communicators that they had rigged up using some modified radio transmitters and a pair of bluetooth headsets inside the helmets so they could talk while on the road clicked. "...but Sunny...I feel safer this way..."
"Nerd. You know I can't focus when you do that. In the interest of doing like your mom said and driving safe, those greedy little hands of yours need to be lower." She paused for effect. "...not much lower, of course..."
Twilight obliged by reluctantly moving her hands down until Sunset felt safe enough to drive. As she turned out of the neighborhood onto the regular roadway, she asked, "You okay? You're pretty tense."
"...just nervous. What if Lyra's upset that I stopped talking to her?"
The redhead made a thoughtful sound in her throat. "I...didn't get that feeling from her. If anything, she seemed...more concerned about how you were doing at Crystal Prep with it just being you and Wallflower these days." Sunset was proud of herself for not hesitating or putting negativity into how she said Wallflower's name.
Twilight was quiet for several red lights, processing that. "Oh," she responded at last, fingers twitching restlessly against Sunset's stomach. "That's...I didn't realize I'd made her worry."
How to phrase this without triggering Twilight's need to defend her school? "She...is pretty aware of the school environment of CPA, and how hostile it was for you," she began hesitantly. "She said that it...wasn't a setting that encouraged a lot of healthy friendships, and that since your social circle was...small already, losing a good bit of it would leave you open to some pretty unpleasant people who might want to take advantage?" At least, that was the impression Sunset had gotten from reading between the lines in the two conversations they'd had about Twilight and CPA.
"...now I feel even more terrible for never really trying to keep in contact," Twilight said softly.
Putting as much reassurance as she could into her voice, Sunset responded, "I'd say the more important thing to focus on is that you're making the effort now, Sparky...you can't change what's already done, but you can decide how to do things differently now--you taught me that, remember?"
Sheepishly, the other girl sighed and answered, "l...you're right, Sunny...on both counts."
"Look, as far as I can tell, Lyra reached out because she misses you as her friend, and you're willing to meet her in that, even if you are worried about it. If she was upset I dont think she would have been so concerned about what was going on with Wallflower, and she wouldn't have wanted to get together to catch up. I really do think you're going to be okay. And if you want to try and go in best foot forward, maybe you can find her a little something at the bookstore?"
Again, silence other than the roar of the engine and howling of the wind whipping at them persisted for several turns and stop lights, as her girlfriend processed her words and her suggestion. Finally, as she eased into a spot against the curb about halfway between the bookstore and milkshake place, Twilight answered her. "I think that sounds like a great idea, Sunset. She was always a fan of cryptozoology...maybe they'll have something on that."
Dropping the kickstand and taking off her helmet to shake her hair out, Sunset chuckled. "They might, Sparky. We can look--we've got about fifteen minutes until Lyra's supposed to be here."
Once the helmets were stowed in the bike, the couple stepped into the familiar bookstore, waving at Quill behind the counter, and ducked into the stacks. Sunset glanced around, and determining they were alone, reached out and slipped her hand into Twilight's.
Purple eyes met blue-green, and the younger girl gave Sunset a soft smile, squeezing her hand. "Help me look for a good gift book?" she asked softly.
"Of course I will..." Sunset bumped her shoulder to Twilight's and they shared a giggle as they began picking through the non-fiction section on everything from space aliens to ESP to werewolves to things like bigfoot. Likely nonsense, most of it, by Sunset's measure--there were very few hard facts, instead relying on folktale, anecdotes from questionable sources, and religious superstitions to flesh out the texts.
While skimming over Twilight's shoulder as she flipped through a book on a giant reptile called the 'Mokele-mbembe,' Sunset pressed her body briefly against her girlfriend's back, pressing a light and brief kiss to her ear. "Maybe something a little closer to home?"
Twilight shivered, and set the book back on the shelf. "Like...what?"
Sunset scanned the shelves, and reached out to pull it out. "What about this one?" she asked.
Lavender fingers brushed hers as Twilight took the book, and the pair shared a smile. "Oh! Cryptids of America, a Comprehensive and Historical Encyclopedia! Sunny, this is perfect!"
The former unicorn grinned crookedly. "Glad I could help." Another kiss was stolen, her lips brushing Twilight's cheek. "Now c'mon. Let's pay for this so we're not late."
A few minutes later saw them stepping into the little shop that sold sweets, desserts, and beverages (hot and cold) of every descriptor. Sunset was holding their purchases with one hand and holding the door for her girlfriend with the other. They were barely inside when Lyra's voice called out, "Sunset! Twilight! Over here!"
The bubbly girl was practically bouncing as they wandered over to the booth she had gotten for them. "Hey, Lyra," Sunset said casually, setting their bag of purchases on the table. "Sorry we're a little late. We got here early but made the mistake of killing time in the used bookstore."
"It's fine! I get it! Bonny and I have the same problem in the games store!" Then she turned her attention to Twilight, and Sunset could practically feel the giddy joy rolling off her in waves. "Omigosh, Twilight! It's been too long, and I'm so glad to see you again!" Bouncing a little in place, she looked a bit uncertain. "...would it be alright if I hugged you?"
Twilight's face lit up at the words, and Sunset could almost feel the tension drain out of her. "...you remembered," she said, almost too quiet to hear, before clearing her throat.
Lyra's smile only grew wider. "Of course I did. We're friends, even if it's been a few years. It's not like we had a big fight or anything."
"I would definitely welcome a hug right now, Lyra..." The dark haired girl took a step forward, opening her arms for said hug. "One of your real, proper hugs."
As Sunset watched, Lyra gleefully gave Twilight a hug that lifted her clear off her feet..something she'd only seen her do before when she greeted Pinkie or Flash. "I'm so glad to see you!" Lyra exclaimed as she set Twilight back on her feet and slid into one side of the booth. "You look great! How have things been going for you....?"
The lavender skinned girl slid into the seat on the opposite side of the table. "It's a mixed bag," she confessed. "Suri is still making my life miserable at school, and..."
Sunset smiled, and slipped off to the counter to get their milkshakes while the two friends caught up. She watched them while she waited in line, less trying to listen in and more focusing on Twilight's body language in case her girlfriend needed something. What she observed told her it was actually going well, even when the subject matter was less than pleasant--from the snippets she could hear, it sounded like Twilight was catching her up on the happenings at Crystal Prep. Something that might offer useful insight if she said anything in passing to the former CPA student that she wouldn't think to mention to Sunset.
Speaking of...
It was a bit awkward, extending her senses while waiting in line, but necessary, as she swept them both for any hints of the dark magic that seemed to be originating from CPA. Lyra was clean--but after being exposed two or three times to the Rainbow of Light (Sunset wasn't sure if the impromptu one in their research room during her vision counted or not), Sunset was not surprised by that. Not much she knew of could handle being exposed to the full power of the combined Elements, not even beings like Nightmare Moon or Discord or the worst beings in Equestria stood a chance once the Elements called down the Rainbow. As for Twilight...she seemed free of any malignant magic...but Sunset had learned not to trust it, and as she paid for three milkshakes and a couple slices of chocolate cheesecake, she pushed a probing tendril of magic at both of them.
Her magic passed over Lyra without issue, but when it brushed Twilight, she could feel something ignite and shrivel up, a horrible twisting feeling on her senses. Tirek's teeth chewing on Grogar's bells! When she figured out the source, she was going to have the girls shove a rainbow laser up their sun-forsaken backside and--
"Two double chocolate and strawberry, one mint chocolate, and three slices of chocolate cheesecake?" The server offered her a tray that balanced their goodies. "Enjoy, and thanks for choosing Caramel's Delights."
Nodding in thanks of her own, Sunset took the tray and headed back to the table, sliding in next to Twilight in the middle of a talk about their other mutual friend...Moonprancer? Moonracer?
"...got a letter from Moondancer a week ago," Lyra was saying. "She sent some gorgeous sketches of some of the statues in town! There was this one, that was supposed to be..."
Right. Moondancer. Sunset should probably remember that name at some point before the girl came back from her year abroad. It would be a little rude to mess it up since she was one of Twilight's friends...even if Twilight had very little to ever say about her.
She wordlessly slid her dork of a girlfriend her milkshake and dessert treat, which was accepted with a genuinely happy smile. The smile made the redhead feel even better for encouraging this meeting--it was going a hundred million times better than her first meeting with Wallflower, and ironically, Lyra was someone who had seen her at her absolute worst. It was something Twilight needed, both to reconnect with an old friend, and to see that Wallflower was the exception, not the rule.
So for now, Sunset sipped her milkshake, listened with half an ear--an old skill learned from many years of formal dinners and parties where nobles and dignitaries prattled pedantically about things that would only interest a bureaucrat, not a teenage filly who would much rather be studying magic--or getting a painful and embarrassing medical procedure with no anesthesia--than listen to the inane details of how construction mortar needed the right balance of ingredients to deal with both the rigorous winters of the Luminary Range and the horrendous summer storms that always seemed to target Mount Canter and the terraces of the city specifically. Much of what was being discussed was related to mutual experiences the other girls had had at Crystal Prep, with classes, teachers, or classmates, and she had little to add and almost no frame of reference outside of how much it reminded her of CSGU.
Until Twilight brought up something Sunset did have a vested interest in.
"...so...Sunset mentioned you had talked to Wallflower recently...?" Twilight toyed with the remnants of the cheesecake on her plate.
Lyra rolled her eyes. "If you can call it that," she complained bitterly. "I've barely heard from her outside of email and instant messages all year, and now all of a sudden, she's calling all the time...but not to talk to me about anything. She's just trying to dig up dirt, and bad mouthing Sunset." She sighed and sipped her milkshake. "I know part of that is because I used to complain a lot about how big of a bitch you were, Sunset--no offense--"
Sunset sighed. "None taken," she managed without grimacing. "It's not a lie, and when you were talking about it, it was the truth. I was a bully and a total bitch to everyone, and I was an awful person. You had every right to complain about my behavior to your friends."
"Right...but you've changed. You're not that person anymore, Sunset. And I've told her that...that you realized what you were doing was wrong, and have worked hard to be a better person."
Twilight made a frustrated sound. "I've told her the same thing, but she doesn't want to believe me either."
Lyra's expression turned serious. "And she won't likely change that opinion anytime soon, Twilight." She rubbed her temples. "Wallflower doesn't like change...and she's always been very standoffish with people outside the friend group. That's just who she is--she isn't the most welcoming person in the world, and she can be abrasive. For whatever reason, she has decided that Sunset is her nemesis in some way."
Slinging her arm around Twilight's shoulders, Sunset hugged her girlfriend. "And that's not your job to change her mind, Sparky. She has to make her own choices...just like I did. It's okay if she doesn't like me--I'm sorry that it didn't work out, having her and I be friends, but we just need to let it go, and realize there will be other opportunities for us to have mutual friends in the future."
Her brows furrowed, Twilight glanced between the two of them. "...I...know you're right. I just really wanted it to work with Wallflower."
"And you tried, Twilight," Lyra said. "You and Sunset both tried...but friendship is a two way street. Wallflower wasn't wanting to meet you halfway, either of you." She reached across the table to pat Twilight's arm. "But it's not the end of the world--I have a lot of friends I'd love to introduce you to, that I think you'd really like, and a lot of them are Sunset's friends too. Like my girlfriend, Bon-Bon! She's awesome, but super understanding of even weirdos like me, so I know she'd like you! Oh, or Fluttershy, who is super sweet and nice, and she'll love talking about Spike! She loves animals, and knows a whole lot about them. Or..."
As the conversation turned to Lyra listing all her various friends and acquaintances that she wanted Twilight to know, Sunset let herself go back to skimming the conversation. She gave Twilight one last shoulder squeeze, before removing her arm back to her own space--too long and it would be entering into 'more than friends' territory. It didn't stop Lyra from giving her a not so subtle grin and wink when Twilight had turned her head to look out the window for a moment, thinking about how to answer a question.
Great. She'd probably have to explain it later like she did with Flash.
Thankfully, for Twilight's nerves and Sunset's sanity, Lyra didn't say anything. Which was good, because the one thing she wasn't prepared for was Twilight having a panic attack if someone else pushed her into admitting that she and the former unicorn were dating. She may not have witnessed the Wallflower thing first hand for that, but she'd been dealing with the fallout since Twilight had told her, and a part of her really wanted to dig into some of the old Sunset's tactics to get even and teach the little plant obsessed bi--
Breathe, Shimmer. Just breathe, she told herself firmly. You don't do that anymore, as tempting as it is. Yes, she really has hurt Twilight, but you shouldn't go Queen Bitch on her. You've decided that's not the way anymore.
Exhaling slowly, Sunset forced those thoughts down and away. She could rant and scream into a pillow at her loft later. Right now she was here to be Twilight's moral support--not that the younger girl really needed it as she was shyly offering her gift out to Lyra with a sort of apology, her face lighting up in delight when Lyra got super excited over the book. That was okay though. This was the best sequence of events she could have hoped for, and seeing her best friend so obviously happy made every other bit worth it. Sunset smiled and leaned back sipping her drink and just let the world around her flow over her like water...
Until she thought her eyes caught a glimpse of frizzy, ugly colored yellow hair that reminded her of old mustard. Jolting forward, she focused out the window, searching the people on the street...
...to find nothing. No one familiar. Just random people on the street.
She really needed to get more sleep. Her mind was starting to make stuff up. First her own nightmares with the demonic version of herself, now fleeting glimpses of Adagio. What was next? Nightmare Moon's shadow threatening to cover the world in darkness? ...wouldn't that be a real Diamond Dog in the treasury?
Sunset shook herself out of her own thoughts when she heard the opening bars of a rather aggressive song start playing. Lyra gave them both an apologetic smile. "One sec--that's Bonny." She answered the phone.
Taking the chance while Lyra was chatting with her girlfriend, Sunset checked up on her own. "How you doing, Sparky?"
Twilight beamed up at her with one of those bright smiles that never ceased to make Sunset feel all warm and satisfied inside. "Really good, actually. I...I needed this. Thank you, Sunny."
"Anytime, nerd." Sunset reached out and tweaked her nose. "It's what best friends do, remember?"
That got the laugh she wanted, and a hug. And if they were still a hug tangle when Lyra hung up and apologized again, well, Sunset really couldn't find it in herself to care.
"I'm sorry about that, but I'm going to have to head out--Bonny is picking me up and I'm eating at her house tonight. Mom's on this super vegan diet kick, and doesn't seem to get that I'm allergic to soy." Lyra rolled her eyes. "Sunset, you ought to give her pointers sometime about how to eat a restrictive diet and not be a dick to everyone about it. Someone needs to--I'm sooooo tired of the diet fad of the month. I'm seventeen! I like pizza and fast food and eating my weight in sugar at sleepovers with my friends! How is that hard to understand?!"
Sunset frowned. "I'm not sure she'd listen to me, but...Lyra, if it gets bad, and Bon-Bon can't always let you eat at her place, tell us. If you don't mind regular vegetarian, Twilight's mom keeps filling my freezer, and I'm happy to share. Or I can float you some extra cash and help you grocery shop on a small budget--there's this local grocer a few blocks from my place that's great for fresh foods and while it's...not my thing, they get their meat sourced from the local butcher. I can introduce you to Mr. Yama and his wife--they own the grocer and they're very sweet people." Memories of gnawing hunger so consuming that even the smell of cheap hotdogs had made her drool and fishing things out of the trash behind more than one restaurant made Sunset shudder. "I won't see a friend go hungry, and neither will any of the rest of our friends."
Lyra had gotten up to leave and she leaned into the booth to hug Sunset tightly. "Thank you, Sunset. I'll be okay for now--Bonny's dad loves cooking, and he likes me--but if it's ever an issue...I'll remember that." She let Sunset go and looked at Twilight. "Don't let Wallflower's bad attitude poison you. You could have done a lot worse than Sunset as a best friend, Twilight. I hope you know how lucky you are."
The redhead couldn't see it, but she could hear the warm affection in Twilight's voice when she answered her departing friend. "I do...Sunset's the best friend I ever could have asked for."
Sunset could do nothing to hide her blush, or the pleased smile tugging at her lips. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Interlude XXIX: Lost in the Echo | When Indigo was in middle school--a private school that had been a hell of a lot better than the absolutely toxic hellhole that was Crystal Prep--her dad had talked all about how he didn't care what career she and her siblings pursued, he was going to make sure they had the best chance at it through a good education. That was why he was paying for CPA, and why Indigo had spent three years busting her ass to get solid A's and B's; not as part of some contest to beat the rich trust fund kids, but to make her family proud, continue the legacy her dad started by being the first person in their family to go to college (even if it had been on a sports scholarship), and make sure that the money he spent wasn't a waste. She was the oldest, and with her brother coming in next year as a freshman, she was setting the precedent for the others to follow. So she'd done her best to keep her head down, study hard, and blow off steam on the girl's basketball team and during track and field.
But after everything she'd seen this year, and after several weeks of helping Twilight Sparkle dodge her bullies, Indigo Zap was beginning to wonder if her dad's money had been wasted after all. Not because of Indigo's actions, but because no education was really worth the garbage that the other students got away with because money made teachers look the other way.
It was this thought that made her drive an aggressive elbow into the guy who'd almost knocked poor Twilight over on the track as they ran laps. "Asshole!" she hissed at him as he wheezed in pain and staggered to a halt. Then she caught up to the smaller teen who looked like she was on the verge of tears. "You okay?" she asked, feeling concerned.
Twilight gave her a look of pure frustration and she held up her hands. "Sorry, standard question."
"...I've had better days," Twilight complained. "I wasn't even supposed to be here today, but after the fight with Polaris, I had to be. I can't risk anything else on my record."
Confused, Indigo tilted her head as they jogged along. "Why weren't you supposed to be here?"
The dark haired girl's mood improved fractionally. "...my older brother finally got engaged over the winter to his girlfriend, and she's always been like a sister to me, since she's practically lived with us for as long as I can remember. And they're looking at wedding venues, and it was supposed to be this family outing, with all of us, because Mom and Dad are helping pay, and I'm Best Girl for my brother since he doesn't really have a lot of guy friends that he's close enough to ask to stand up for him at the wedding." Then her shoulders slumped. "But I'm here. All because of that stupid fight that wasn't even my fault."
If Twilight sounded whiny, Indigo decided it was probably earned. Her new friend was not having a good day. Or a good week really. Their efforts to deny Suri and her clique their victory meant the school was now acting like it was open season on Twilight Sparkle. Shoving in the hall, things being thrown at her--Indigo had been deflecting balls during gym for the last week and it was starting to piss her off--and now they were hassling her whenever the Coach wasn't looking. Poor Twilight had already been tripped twice today alone, her knees turning a lovely shade of violet bruise against lavender and her hands raw and a little scraped from catching herself.
"That sucks, Twilight. At least gym's almost over though. You sure it's cool if I spend study hall and lunch in your lab again? I'm getting tired of Jasper poking me in the back with his damned pen. What an asshole!"
Twilight shrugged. "As long as you understand I'm working on my project and not likely up for conversation unless you have a homework question. I'm really behind, and I can't fail this."
"And the plant girl isn't making it easier." Indigo didn't care for the girl who shared Twilight's space. She was abrasive and hostile, just like the rest of the school, and she treated Twilight like a misbehaving pet that wasn't quite smart enough for the current trick she was trying to teach. And she definitely didn't like Indigo being in the lab space at all. Not to mention she couldn't seem to remember what sports Indigo played in, despite being reminded every time she got catty over Indigo's presence.
Shoulders slumping further, Twilight answered, "...yeah..."
Shit. Indigo was trying to make things better, not worse. "Sorry..." she offered. "Come on, let's finish our run, so we can go cool off."
Twilight took a breath, managing a thin, tired smile at Indigo that seemed more for the athlete's benefit than any actual feeling on Twilight's part. "...thank you...it should be me that should be apologizing. Wallflower's behavior is not your fault, and I shouldn't..." She stopped there, shaking her head. "Anyway," she continued, picking up the pace with a little grim and dogged determination, "...honestly, of late your presence has made this part of the school day the only truly tolerable part. Thank you for that."
Indigo jostled her a bit with a shoulder--even she had picked up that Twilight Sparkle didn't like to be touched too much unless she invited it. "No sweat--that's why friends exist, right? To make shitty places suck less?"
It got a tiny laugh, so Indigo figured she'd take it. The day was pretty much already lousy, but they only had one more to tough out and then a three day weekend. She was going to enjoy that too--her family had plans to order stupid amounts of pizza and play video games all weekend long, interspersed with a few pickup games in the backyard or whatever. Thankfully, gym class was just about over, and Coach was still happy with her and Twilight's work in preparing for the Games, so their grades were good. It was about the only thing that had been good lately: her grades. Hanging with Twilight had meant help when she didn't get something in math or chemistry, and the girl had figured out a way to make it make sense to her.
As the gym teacher sent them on their way to get changed, Indigo was almost thinking the day might be looking up. Until Suri opened her big fat stupid mouth. Holy shit, did Indigo just want to punch her hard enough to ruin that orthodontist-assisted row of perfect teeth.
"Running off to your secret clubhouse to change clothes, Princess? Still too good now to use the locker room like everyone else?"
Indigo growled. "Oh fuck off, Polomare. Everyone knows the reason we stopped coming in was the permanent reek of cheap perfume and low tide that rolls off you like you're some kind of Halloween fog machine."
"You should really learn to mind your own business, 'kay? We were talking to the princess here, not you." Suri stared down her nose at Indigo--though she had to tilt her head back pretty far to do it and Indigo thought it made her look even stupider than normal.
"And you should learn to shut your mouth before someone who doesn't care about your mom's money beats the shit out of you," Indigo shot back. "No one actually wants to hear your voice. It's like speaker feedback on the soul and it smells just as bad as the rest of you. Learn to use mouthwash after you get done gargling whatever boy you're paying for this week."
Suri turned a rather interesting shade of...well, actually Indigo wasn't sure what color that was. Something ugly, just like the rest of Suri. "I was going to let you off easy, because you've always known your place, Indigo, but if that's how you want to play, 'kay. You'll be sorry."
"Maybe she's just desperate for a girlfriend, and Princess Twilight's the only one at the school willing to put out for her."
Twilight went about four shades paler and was starting to look a little ill. Indigo didn't know why, but the words hit the girl hard, and that wasn't okay. As far as she'd ever seen Twilight never did anything to any of her bullies other than avoid them until she couldn't. Drawing herself up to her full height and looming over the other girls, Indigo gestured coldly. "Look, just because the rest of you have tastes that run towards whatever's cheapest on the nearest street corner doesn't mean the only thing the rest of us are interested in other people for is their tongue game. Did it ever occur to you that maybe I hang with Twilight because she's the only one in this school who isn't a massive bitch with her head up her own ass? Because seriously--get a damned life, and maybe a personality while you're at it, Suri, cuz you're about to age out of this school and your mom and dad aren't so rich that they can pay men to overlook the one you have."
While Suri stood there, gaping like a fish, Indigo nudged Twilight gently. "Come on. Let's get out of here before the stink makes me lose my appetite."
In the quiet of the halls as they headed for the library, Indigo watched Twilight. The younger teen was still shaken and a bit too pale from the hostile encounter; she looked a bit wild around the eyes, like a frightened animal seeking an escape. Indigo wasn't sure what about it had rattled her so badly, but she felt bad for not ending it sooner. "...you gonna be okay?"
The eyes staring at her through thick lenses were on the verge of tears, and the voice came out with a tremor, tongue stumbling over words like there wasn't enough air behind them. "...I...it's...no...y-yes...I n-need my m-meds. In...in my b-bag."
Frowning, Indigo hurried her along. She hadn't known the genius girl took meds. Couldn't be asthma--anxiety maybe? She seemed like the type to maybe need meds for that. What the hell were you supposed to do for someone freaking out? She had no clue--panicking over stuff was not something her family did. They tended to get shouty instead, or did like her aunt and got quiet and stressed out. Was she supposed to hug her? Not touch her? Help her get her meds? Ugh. She needed a playbook for how to deal with high-strung smart people!
Okay, Indigo, think. She said she needs her meds, so let's get her to them. Worry about the rest after.
It didn't take much encouragement to get Twilight to speed walk to the library, though it was strangely quiet when they entered. Normally, the librarian was seated at the check-in desk when they got back, and had a smile and a wave for the two girls. She wasn't there, and Indigo felt an uncomfortable prickling at the back of her neck. Something was off. Wrong. Like 'going past an alley at night and knowing you're about to get mugged' wrong.
Her instincts were right on the money when they rounded the desk to enter the librarian's small office. She could see the devastation right away in the form of torn papers and scattered textbooks. "Aw, shit..." she moaned, knowing that this was going to take forever to pick up.
What she didn't quite expect--though she probably should have, with how agitated the other girl already was--was how Twilight let out a sharp, loud sound of distress and ran into the small room, dropping to her knees. "No!" she whimpered. "Nononononononoooo..." Desperate hands scrabbled for the backpack that had been ripped open, searching frantically for something.
Indigo followed, surprised to learn that only Twilight's bag had been ripped apart and gone through by whoever had done this. It angered her, the level of bullying that was going on, and she squatted down to start picking up the papers that had been violently ripped from the girl's neat notebooks, or from the well loved paperback novel that had been in the bag. "I'm sorry, Twilight...this has never happened before. Ms. Stacks is always here to watch the stuff."
There was no answer other than some stressed breathing that was picking up speed, and a stuttering, incoherent whine.
Her head whipped around. Twilight was on her knees, rocking slightly, clutching her inside out bookbag. "Twilight?" Still no answer, other than a choked breath. What was--her medicine, Indigo realized belatedly. She had been talking about it in the hall, and she wasn't holding any kind of pill bottle yet. "Your meds were stolen."
A jerky nod, and then eyes widened, looking around wildly. "...p-pho...ne..." she hiccuped.
Honey colored eyes started to help her look, and she spotted it under an open text book, not far from a pretty shattered laptop. "Here," she said, grabbing the phone...only to realize that it looked like someone had stomped on it, hard. "...I think it might be broken," she finished lamely.
Snatching it out of her hand, Twilight started trying to make it work with hands that were shaking worse and worse as gasping sobs ripped free of her. "Nononononono..." she babbled, before dropping the phone from nerveless fingers and curling up into a hyperventilating, crying ball.
Now Indigo was starting to freak out a bit herself. What could she do? Grabbing the phone, she began trying to see if she could even turn it on. A few hard presses of buttons and holding it just so, she managed to get the screen to come on...not that she could do much with it.
She could, however, make out part of a recent message through the cracks on the screen. The name and contents of the message were undecipherable, but the number was clear to read. She pulled her own phone out of her bag. Twilight's phone might've been busted, but Indigo's was working. Maybe she could let Twilight's family know things had gone wrong, before she tried to get the girl to the nurse. It wasn't like the nurse would be any help--that bitch was an entitled Bob-Cut who thought all the kids who came into her office were faking it for attention. She would never call Twilight's parents for anything, and Indigo's gut was telling her that her friend's parents needed to know as soon as possible.
"Don't worry, Twilight," she told her. "I've got your back, like I said."
Resolutely, the blue haired girl began to enter the number in her phone, hoping the recipient would be someone in Twilight's family. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Thirty One: Into the Silence, Will You Answer? Before the Chaos, Will You Come? | The morning was dragging on painfully in Sunset's opinion. She was stuck in history, watching the clock tick at what felt like a glacially slow pace, pencil tapping restlessly on the one hundred and fifty question multiple choice test that she'd still managed to finish with almost half an hour to spare. Restless and twitchy and wishing she could do something, she turned the test sheet over and put the booklet on top of it. It kept her from doing like her girlfriend might and check her answers for the fourth time.
Instead, she pulled out a notebook and began puzzling through a song she'd finally gotten around to finishing after months of agonizing over the lyrics. It was a deeply personal piece, a musical reflection on her journey to being a new, better mare, and the people who helped her get there. She had gotten Fluttershy's help on the parts for Pinkie's drums and Rarity's keytar, and she was satisfied with the main guitar part, but she was struggling with how to work in AJ's bass.
Maybe she could--
Her phone began vibrating in her pocket. Sunset frowned. Everyone she knew that might message her knew she was in class, and most of them were in class themselves. One hand fished into her coat's inner pocket where she kept her phone, keys, and wallet to retrieve the device and surreptitiously check to see who was sending her a message. It could have been Twilight--she was upset the night before and before school about being left out of the family trip to check out wedding venues for Cadence and Shining. Sunset had done her best to cheer her up, but the former unicorn could still pick up on the bitterness in the replies.
She swiped her finger across the lock screen to unlock it and saw a message from an unknown number. Snorting, she figured it was spam, but decided to check anyway--sometimes it was messages from her utility company or bank, or from her finance guy, who had about four different work numbers at his office. It could also have been in regards to a package she was expecting to be delivered the next day.
Her blood ran cold at the words she saw.
-Plz dont delete! My names indigo & im twilights friend at school. Her phones busted this is the only # i saw. I need to call her parents its an emergency. Can u help? Plz?-
Sunset was on her feet and halfway to the door before her history teacher could object to the sudden flurry of movement. She could feel her whole class staring at her, wondering what was going on....saw Fluttershy starting to get up, mouthing a question at her: Magic?
"I need to go! I feel like I'm going to be sick!" she yelled out the first excuse that came to mind, before bolting out the door. She needed to get to her library sanctum....no. The magic study room. It was closer. The redhead took the hard left at full speed, nearly crashing into one of the janitors. "Sorry!"
Slamming the enchanted door open, she was relieved to find the room empty. Shutting it behind her ensured privacy and she skipped texting the mystery number back in favor of calling it directly.
Ring. Ring. Ri--click. "Hello?" came a strange girl's voice.
"Is this Indigo?" Sunset demanded, barely managing to check herself to avoid sounding like an angry bitch. "You messaged me about Twilight?"
"Shit, you're fast. Yeah. I'm Indigo--are you like...Twilight's sister or cousin or something? She's pretty messed up right now." The girl sounded a bit agitated.
"Her best friend. What happened? Is she hurt?" Sunset felt her heart twist, because faintly, in the background, she could hear the sound of her nerd choking and gasping for air.
"Not hurt--freaking out. Like a panic attack. But...we were in gym and someone got into her stuff while we were there and trashed everything and stole whatever meds she kept there. Her phone's fucked, and the school nurse is a total asshole who won't call her folks." Indigo's voice turned angry. "They tore her backpack apart, and there's stuff everywhere."
Moonlit madness and blazing sunfire, if Sunset ever got her hands on the people responsible, they would regret the day their great-grandparents even met. "She has panic attacks. That's what her medication is for...ponyfeathers...okay. I can call her parents--are you able to at least get her to the nurse's office safely?"
"Uhhh..." There was an uncertain pause. "Twilight? Can you hear me?" This was followed by an even longer pause. "...she's not really responding to anything. Is it safe to touch her right now?"
Sunset rubbed her face. "No. It's not. That'll make it worse. Okay...um...can you put me on speaker, and close to her so she can hear me? I might be able to get her at least moving with you."
"Sure. And while you do that, I'll try and repack her shit so it's not left for anyone to find. Its a mess, but she'll at least have it." The audio changed. "What's your name, anyway?"
"Sunset. Sunset Shimmer." She leaned against the door, hearing the sound of Twilight's struggle to breathe and cry at the same time. "Twilight? Sparky, it's me. It's Sunset. I know you can hear me, even if you can't talk right now. It's going to be okay. Indigo called me, and I'm going to call your mom and dad, so we can get to you. But I need you to listen to me and do something for me too. Can you do that?"
Silence but for the sound of hiccupping and sobs, and the background of papers and books shuffling. Then...a weird feedback sound that Sunset realized was Twilight tapping once on the phone.
"Right. Once for yes, twice for no. Indigo is there. She called me. Do you trust her?" She hoped so or this wasn't going to work.
Crackle-tap.
Thank the stars. "Good. She's going to take you to the nurse. I'm calling your mom after this. I want you to stay with Indigo, do what she says. She's going to help you until someone can get to you. If not your folks, then me. I'll sign myself out and drive to your school if I have to, okay?"
Pause. Long pause, and a few quieter hiccups. Then...Crackle-tap.
"Alright. I need to call your mom. I will call or message Indigo back when I know more about what's going on. Is that okay, Indigo?"
The phone shifted, moving around. "Yeah, I'll turn the ringer on, and next period is a study hall for me anyway." The girl sighed. "They really did a lot of damage--I think someone kicked her laptop into the wall...it's in about six pieces. I'll finish packing up here and get her to the nurse's office."
Sunset chewed on her thumbnail, something in her core gnawing at her like a dog with a bone. It...it might not do much of anything, but...she had to try, because she really didn't like the bad feeling rising up her spine at the thought of Twilight being without any defense against anything predatory or potentially magical in her school. "...this is going to sound strange, and you can tell me it's crazy if you want, but...can you stay with her until her parents get there?"
"I sure as hell am not leaving her alone with the nurse," Indigo answered tightly. "All she'll do is send her back to class and tell her to stop wasting her time."
The feeling urged her onward, and magic pushed at her under her skin, burning like lava in her bones. She could almost hear it in her voice, when she spoke, making her shiver with how much it sounded like she had at the Fall Formal. "Promise me, Indigo Zap...promise me you will not leave her side until she's safe with her family." There was something in the air now, wrapped in her magic that sparked with red flames across her vision as she stared hard out the window on the other side of the room.
Indigo exhaled sharply. "I promise. They'll have to have the police take me down first. I don't ditch my friends." There was another sound, and Indigo added, a little defensively, "And she is my friend."
Sunset flexed her fist, trying to put out the flames that wreathed it. "I believe you, Indigo. I do. But Twilight is my best friend, and things haven't exactly been great at your school lately for her. I don't trust most of the students, and I definitely don't trust the people who work there. That's why I need you to stay with her...because she trusts you, and for reasons I can't explain, I do too." She did, she realized.
"....yeah...I get that. This school sucks." Indigo took another breath. "Okay. I'm finished, but I wanna wait until the bell rings and the halls are clear before I take her out into them. You sure you can get a hold of her folks?"
Humming in her throat and giving up on putting the fire out just yet, Sunset drew serpents in the air with it, realizing that it responded to her will sluggishly. "I have their numbers all programmed in as emergency contacts for when we're out. I'll update you after I talk to them." Her biggest concern was that they would be somewhere with lousy reception. If that was the case, she'd try the CCPD, and see if they had an emergency way to contact Shining. "Let me go so I can make that call."
With one parting goodbye directed at Twilight, Sunset ended the call and started to go through her contacts, only to realize the group text chat with the girls had exploded.
Fluttershy: Sunset? Is everything okay? Are you sick? Or is it magic stuff? Should I follow?
RD: Magic shit? Oh plz say its magic so I can get out of math. I h8 this class.
Fluttershy: I don't know. Sunset left really fast. Said she was sick.
Rarity: Sick? Oh dear, darling are you alright?
AJ: if shes sick she prolly wont answer til shes dun pukin
Pinkie: [an unreadable and indecipherable chain of about thirty emoticons.]
AJ: Pinkies right.
RD: still dont know how u can read that.
AJ: dunno but i can. She says we should wait for sunset to tell us if its puke or magic.
Pinkie: [more emoticons, including an open mouthed face and a rainbow.]
AJ: ....right. Or magic puke.
Glad that her fire seemed uninclined to burn her own things, Sunset tapped out a quick response.
Sunset: Its not puke, but right now theres not much you girls can do. If that changes, I'll tell you, so be on standby in case I cant figure this out.
RD: what happened?
Sunset: it's complicated.
Rarity: Your magic?
Sunset: well, I am a little on fire again and I cant get it to go out. Thankfully its not burning me or my stuff...yet.
AJ: Yikes.
Pinkie: [more emoticons, including a line of campfires and a sun wearing sunglasses.]
AJ: Like Pinkie says, maybe try relaxin?
Sunset: I'll do my best. I'll keep you girls posted.
Sighing, she went back to her contacts and found Velvet's number. One finger hit the button, and she waited for the woman to pick up.
It didn't take long. "Sunset?" came the concerned tones of her girlfriend's mother after the third ring. "Sweetie, is everything alright? It's the middle of the school day."
Guilt that she was about to ruin what had likely been a nice day made her stomach churn, but anger and her own worry at what was happening to Twilight squelched it. "I'm fine, but no, everything's not alright. Something has happened to Twilight at CPA."
Velvet's response was immediate. "What happened to Twily? Why are you calling and not her?"
"At this point, I'm not sure her school admins even know yet. I just talked to this girl she's mentioned from her gym class, Indigo...someone got their hands on Twilight's bookbag and trashed everything in it, and Indigo was pretty sure they stole her meds. Twilight's having one of the biggest panic attacks I've ever heard her have."
There was a long moment of stunned quiet from Twilight Velvet--enough that Sunset could hear the rest of the family asking worried questions in the background. This was followed by the first time the teenager had ever heard Velvet swear, a string of profanity that made Sunset's eyebrows shoot up almost to her hairline and the fiery serpent on her hand explode in a shower of crimson sparks.
Well...at least she wasn't on fire anymore.
"One second, Sunset...I need to update Night on what is going on."
She could hear rapid-fire conversation away from the phone's speaker, and Night Light's very agitated voice speaking faintly. "...don't like...at all...one day that...and...one day...go critically wrong? Something...rotten..."
To be fair, Sunset agreed with that. More so because of her sensing dark magic in things as associated with the school. She could feel the unease in the pit of her stomach grow, and she began to pace restlessly back and forth. If they were outside of town, that meant they were at least a half hour or more out, and Twilight couldn't wait that long.
Sunset made up her mind: she had a couple of doses of Twilight's meds stashed in the little first aid kit in her bike. She would bring it to her. The principals would just have to understand it was an emergency.
Velvet's voice interrupted her thoughts. "Sweetheart, are you still there?"
"Yeah...sorry, I'm still here, Mrs. Velvet. What's up?"
Her girlfriend's mother let out a frustrated sound. "We're heading back in just a few minutes, but we're over an hour away."
Breathing deeply, she said, "I can get to her, Mrs. Velvet. I have some of her meds in my bike. I'll sign myself out for a family emergency or something, and I'll go over there."
The older woman made a sound, and Sunset could feel her indecision. "As much as I don't like the idea of you missing school," she finally acknowledged, "in this case...that may be our best, most expedient option to helping Twilight. I hate asking it of you--Twilight's mental health is not your responsibility."
"You're not asking," Sunset practically growled, feeling the gnawing pressure of her magic and the underlying need to protect Twilight digging into her soul painfully, like when a pony was denied doing what their cutie mark was telling them. "I'm going. I can help. I need to help. I can't really explain it, Mrs. Velvet, but I have to. Let me do this. Please." Her voice cracked at the end.
Speaking in that warm, encouraging way that made Sunset feel warm and at peace in a way that was almost foreign, Velvet said, "Take some deep breaths for me, Sunset, please?" She obeyed, and felt some of the agitation level off as Velvet continued talking. "I'm not saying no--we both know I cannot legally or physically stop you, and it means a lot to us all that Twilight is that important to you."
Cheeks flushed, Sunset mumbled an apology. "You don't have to apologize, sweetheart. Your words are coming from a good place and a good heart." The woman let out something like a soft chuckle, if one that seemed a bit strained. "We are, however, going to try and arrange things so that you do have some form of quasi-legal backing...that way the administration of Twilight's school will not attempt to deny you entry and have the law on their side."
"Oh." The former unicorn hadn't considered that part--she was too busy focusing on the magic aspect of the problem and had completely forgotten that CPA was a Tartarus-touched pit of stuck up, spoiled, upper class entitlement and an attitude that came with phrases like 'don't you know who i am?,' 'wait until my lawyer hears,' and 'I'm calling the police.' They would not want her coming in the doors and since it was technically a private facility, she could get charged with all kinds of things.
Not that she cared, if it came to that. She had the funds for a lawyer or three of her own if it came to it, and there wasn't anyone in this world with enough power and authority to keep her away from her Twilight. She'd go through them with fists ablaze if she had to. A low, harsh sound burbled up from somewhere in her chest. She needed to get moving.
Once again, Velvet's voice grounded her, her voice sounding a little angry and brittle. "I agree with how you feel, Sunset, but please...let's try this the easier way first, sweetie. If that doesn't work, then I give you my full permission to do what you need to do to help my daughter, to hell with whoever thinks they can get in the way. If that means a little legal trouble, we'll make sure that any repercussions will not come down on you."
Sunset exhaled, trying to bring her emotions under control and her magic with it. "Okay, Mrs. Velvet."
"Before you leave the school, please go to your principals. Tell them what's going on, so it's officially documented, don't just leave out the nearest side door. We're going to be contacting Luna, and Night is going to be making some calls as well, starting with our lawyers."
She could do that. Miss Luna already knew she had a friend at CPA, and she had talked to Mrs. Velvet before on the phone. She would understand that it was an emergency, and potentially a magical one as well. "Okay. I can do that. I'll message you when I get to CPA."
Velvet might have started to talk again, but Sunset was already ending the call as the pressure against her mind and heart became too much to resist. She was running down the empty hall at full speed to the office before she had even registered that her phone was no longer at her ear.
Get to Miss Luna. Get to Twilight.
It was a mantra now, pounding in her ears with every heartbeat, with every thumping sound of her boots on cheap tile floors. Twilight needed her and she'd taken too long already.
The former unicorn skidded to a halt as she careened around the corner into the office's open doorway, practically taking out a parent and the attendance lady. "Sorry!" she panted, before launching herself at the Vice Principal's open door. "Miss Luna!" One hand was held up as she came into the dark skinned woman's line of sight--she was on the phone.
"I'll take care of it, don't worry. I need to go though. Duty calls." She hung up, tucking the cellphone into the purse that was sitting on the desk. "You need not yell, Miss Shimmer," she admonished. "Despite my appreciation for heavy metal, my ears do still work."
"I'm sorry," Sunset said quickly, "but it's an emergency. I need to sign myself out for the day." She pushed the office door shut so that the parent outside wouldn't overhear her. "It's my friend. The one at CPA? Someone vandalized her stuff and stole her medication, and her entire family is out of town for the afternoon...she needs help now!" Her hands fisted automatically as she paced the length of the tiny room. "I have some of her meds in my bike for emergencies and I need to leave so I can get them to her...and it has to be me because I think there's dark magic involved--I think it's related to what I saw that day, when I triggered the rainbow and the Elements..." It all came out in a babbling rush, but Sunset didn't have time, and the administrator needed to know why she was doing this.
Miss Luna interrupted. "While I was unaware of the magic involved, I have been notified by your emergency contact about a family emergency, Miss Shimmer. I have no grounds to deny you your right as a legally emancipated minor to sign yourself out of school for the day. However, I am concerned about allowing you to drive when it is very apparent that you are in a dangerously charged emotional state, particularly when you claim magic may be involved."
Fire made her blood boil in her veins, and her shoulders stiffened. "I'm not changing my mind. She needs help, and I'm the only one close enough before things get worse." She glared at the woman in open defiance. "Don't try to stop me."
"I am not trying to stop you. Just the opposite. I am offering my assistance to you and your friend's family--you are not a legal adult, despite your emancipation. The school would be well within its legal right to deny you access without the proper paperwork. I, on the other hand, can act as an intermediary, a sort of in loco parentis situation, given that I am your principal, and in contact with the parents of the child in question, who I have been made to understand are...at odds with Abacus and her methods of handling their daughter's needs."
It took the redheaded girl a minute to process what she was hearing; she hadn't expected anything like that response. That left her with her mouth working and no sound coming out, looking for all the world like a stunned fish. "Uhhh...you...but...how...I didn't..."
"Miss Shimmer. Breathe and try again."
Stopping her rambling mouth, she forced herself to push down the disbelief and shock, taking several deep breaths. "You're...going with me?"
Retrieving a ring of keys, her vice principal nodded. "We're taking my car. It will be a more comfortable ride, and less likely to be stopped by police at ten AM than a teenage girl on a motorcycle." Luna zipped up her purse and slung it over her shoulder. "I also feel it might be safer, Miss Shimmer, given your hyper agitated state and the presence of magic--you did indicate before that you have extreme negative reactions to darker energies, which I feel is safe to assume this is?"
Sorting her thoughts and adjusting her plan with the same rapid-fire mental gymnastics that had served her well right up until the variable of Princess Twilight Sparkle came into her life, Sunset decided this could work. "If it's what I've encountered already, or its source, it's worse than the sirens by a large margin, Miss Luna. Way worse."
Luna paused in her trek across the office, staring hard at Sunset, expression something the former unicorn couldn't quite place. "Miss Shimmer, if you are correct, and pair that knowledge with what I know and have heard from others, we are on our way to walk into a lion's den. I have no intention of letting one of my best students make that journey alone--quite frankly, if there were a plausible, legal way to allow you to bring your entire magical girl troupe without arousing suspicion, I would encourage just that, because it seems to me your little rainbow laser light show solves most magical issues. As it stands, however, all I can offer is myself and what legal authority I can muster that I am all too happy to use to slap Abacus Cinch."
Sunset considered the words as they left the office and then the school--after she'd done the required sign out, citing 'family emergency' as the reason. When they stopped at her bike to retrieve Twilight's medication, she finally said, "If it comes to it, the girls will come to us, Miss Luna. I want to avoid involving them if we can, but if the source of the magic wants a fight, then the six of us will give it one, to Tartarus with any consequences." Her voice was a low growl as her fingers closed around the small pill bottle with her girlfriend's name printed on it. "I won't let it have her without a fight."
The administrator raised one eyebrow. "Hmm...if it comes to that, I suppose it will be a case of 'Save the girl, save the world' now, and 'be concerned with collateral damage later.' It seems there are a few things Hollywood gets right."
Cheeks heating, Sunset followed the woman to the jet black SUV, waiting until she slid into the passenger seat to answer. "...something like that..." She tucked the meds into her inner jacket pocket, alongside her wallet, and pulled out her phone. "I'm going to call her other friend back to let her know what's going on."
Indigo answered on the third ring, her voice a bit echoey and distant from the mic. "Please tell me this is good news?"
"Kind of." Sunset sighed. "Her folks are close to an hour away, but they're heading back now."
The girl on the other end swore. "I don't know if Twilight can wait an hour--she was doing better after you talked to her, but then the nurse decided to open her big fucking mouth and that all went out the damned window!"
A frown crossed her face. "What do you mean? What did the nurse do?"
"Not her job, that's for sure!" Indigo's voice seemed momentarily directed at someone else. "Yeah, I'm talking about how useless you are, you wrinkled old hag! What are you gonna do about it? Call my parents? Oh right, you don't do that!"
Sunset could hear an arrogant, reedy voice in the background arguing with Indigo now. "There is no reason to inform Miss Sparkle's parents; there is no medical emergency, only a spoiled little girl throwing a temper tantrum when she can't have her way. I refuse to pander to such immaturity and entitleme--"
Indigo's voice was dripping with derision and anger. "It's not a temper tantrum, you washed-up incompetent cunt! She's having a fucking panic attack!"
Holding the phone a short distance away as Indigo argued with the Crystal Prep School nurse, Sunset glanced over to Luna. "The nurse is refusing to believe it's a panic attack," she explained. "She's trying to send them both back to class for 'wasting time' and claims it's just a tantrum. It's a good thing that I have numbers for Mrs. Velvet and that Indigo could call me...the nurse is refusing to call them herself."
As they passed through an intersection, the dark skinned woman's angry scowl deepened. "That--Legally, she can't do that. If it's significant enough to bring a student to the nurse's office, and the nurse lacks the means to treat the problem, she needs to contact the parents or guardians of the child in question, even if she has to do it after calling an ambulance!"
The redhead twitched in agitation. "I don't know if you heard that..."
"Sure did, and I'm guessing it's an adult that knows her ass from a hole in the ground?" came the sarcastic question.
Rolling her eyes, Sunset acknowledged her statement. "I'd say she is. That's my vice principal. Which brings me to the better news. I had some of Twilight's meds in my bike, and I'm bringing them to her. So I'll be there in a few minutes."
Luna gave Sunset a curious look, but she was too busy on the phone to pay much attention. Indigo had let out a nearly explosive sigh of relief. "Maybe you can get her to calm down then...she's gone back to curling up on one of the cots in the corner and mumbling to herself. I thought she was gonna pass out for a few minutes there." There was another pause, then Indigo continued. "I'm blocking the door so the nurse can't get into the room with the cots and make it worse again."
Her own relief was practically tangible. "Thank you, Indigo."
"I promised I'd stay with her. Twilight's my friend too. I won't abandon her, not when she needs someone. I don't care what they threaten me with, I'm not moving."
Magic humming under her skin, Sunset said softly. "Twilight's lucky to have a friend like you. We'll be there soon." She raised her voice, hoping it might get through to her girlfriend. "You hear me, Sparky? I'm on my way. Just hang on."
The call ended and she sagged back against the seat. "I'm beginning to understand why our school hates CPA," Sunset told her vice principal. "That nurse sounded horrible."
"What she's doing is also highly illegal. The instant she realized that she had a student who needed help she couldn't give, she should have picked up the phone to inform parents. Why she is refusing is a mystery." Luna's hands clenched around the steering wheel. "She could lose her job and her license. Is this the doing of some evil magician?"
The use of the word 'evil' caught Sunset by surprise. That was not a term often used to describe magic...or much of anything in Equestria. "I...don't know, but it is possible it is connected to the dark magic I've picked up on...it did cause a massive fight between members of the family. I'm not even sure if the source is something you could call evil--I just don't know enough about it...but either way, we should be careful."
Pulling into a parking lot, Luna set her jaw. "I will not argue semantics with you, Miss Shimmer, as we have more important things to do, but I...appreciate your candor on the matters of magic. Your insight has...proven more helpful than you know, and you have my word I will tread as carefully as possible." She pulled the car into a parking spot close to the front. "Now, I realize you wish to get to your friend quickly, but perhaps we should stick together until we at least announce ourselves to the office."
Sunset exited the vehicle, squaring her shoulders. "I'll try not to run off," she said, the humor a poor attempt to rein in the jittery agitation she felt, not to mention the magic that made her bones burn, and a sense like molten glass stewing in her gut. The former unicorn swallowed, looking up at the campus of the infamous private school that was causing her girlfriend so much stress. It was...something. Tacky, she decided, with all the accents on the building and the fancy pathway. "It certainly doesn't look like anything other than another school--CSGU was much fancier to look at," she commented to Luna.
Then she stepped onto the path before the fancy, open gates, and she was almost driven to her knees. Only Luna lunging and grabbing her arm saved her from a painful meeting with hard stone.
Not that she was aware of it at that moment.
Black agony raked over her senses, magic so twisted and dark that it made the sirens into slightly grumpy kittens by comparison, attacking her very being at her deepest core. It was inside and under her skin--
--a million white hot hooks burrowing into her flesh and peeling her apart--
--It burned. Sunset burned, inside and out, scarred soul writhing in torment--
--something rose like bile in her throat, a dark, choking lump of something--
--lava in her veins, fire crawling along her skin, it burned. She burned, the pressure of the magic assaulting her threatening to crush her battered, still healing soul into a million million jagged shards of suffering and despair.
Twilight's face swam before her mind's eye, and a whisper of words made it through the haze of pain. "...would do anything in your power...if I needed you..."
Twilight. Twilight, her Sparky, her very best friend, who trusted her...needed her. She wasn't going to fail her. She couldn't. She'd promised.
Sunset Shimmer screamed her defiance to the magic suffocating her, reaching deep inside for the rage and stubbornness and raw refusal to ever surrender that was as deeply a part of her as her cutie mark, letting the burning magic surge forward, filling her blood, her bones, her muscles with pure fire, and pushed back, throwing off the dark power that had almost overwhelmed her. Where it touched her presence, now it burned, shriveling and recoiling from her to hover ominously just out of her personal space like a dark cloud.
Her vision cleared, and the ringing in her ears passed, allowing her to breathe and assure her worried vice principal. "...I'm alright...but I...I stand corrected..." Chest heaving like the former unicorn had just run several miles at top speed, she straightened. "...this...this is bad, Miss Luna...very bad..." |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Thirty Two: Carry Light Into the Darkness | Sunset caught her breath, her brain sorting information now that she was not being assaulted by the darkest, most malevolent ward scheme she had ever encountered. It was a completely alien form, made of magic that felt nauseating and warped almost beyond recognition, but she could see, inside the dizzying, almost putrid darkness, spellforms that were similar enough to some of the oldest Equestrian wards to be identifiable, even if she couldn't decipher all of what they were designed to do. Although, given how she had been assaulted and Vice Principal Luna had not, it probably had something to do with her SET level.
She was certainly thankful for her SET level now--had it not been as high as it was, she would have been unlikely to be able to counter the wards' violent assault. More than that, her reaction had...broken...some kind of illusion that had been able to fool her senses. Not entirely--she was now subjected to two overlapping viewpoints that seemed to phase in and out, making her stomach churn and her bones burn hotter.
Swallowing bile, she forced her gaze to take it all in. The first image was the illusion she had seen before, of pristine, expensive, if tacky buildings and overpriced paths, precisely manicured lawn and deliberate and tended decorative plants only just starting their spring growth...an epitome of wealth and privilege in architectural form. The second, underlaid visual, one that fritzed in and out of being like an outdated recording format...it was like the Nightmare had infected the place. Gone was the carefully kept grass, replaced by an eerie, damp, and dying moor-like terrain, the pretty trimmed trees now crooked, aged, but sick things in the twilight of their lifespan, heavy with fungal shelves and lichens. It felt like a place that had not seen summer or the sun properly in decades.
Then her eyes found the buildings, and her head swam, vision confronted with geometry that didn't quite match what was possible, angles and curves and joints that should never have stood, with too small windows and slanted doors...the clean brick structure replaced by stones that had no business being so old in this place, ancient in a way Sunset was familiar with, a way that was physically impossible in a mere century or two, and required maintaining a structure for millennia against the elements. Her Canterlot had buildings like that--most of the Upper Terraces were that way, having been built more than four thousand years in the past when Princess Celestia and her sister had set the seat of governance there for the new Equestria built following Discord's defeat. Breathing out in a shaky way, Sunset wondered for the first time if she was in far over her head.
"Are you alright?"
Taking a breath, Sunset forced herself to straighten, knowing that she had tripped the wardline and that anyone who was tied to them would be searching for the intruder. The last thing the former unicorn could afford to be was weak or vulnerable. "I'm fine," she said, forcing her expression into the one she had practiced for years as the student of the princess. "...but this is bad, Miss Luna. The school grounds are warded, and they attacked me. They're dark, very dark...this whole place is...and..." Sunset swept her gaze around again. "It's under an illusion." She described what she could see, in quick, brisk detail.
Arching a brow, the woman glanced at Sunset then back at the building, reciting something in another language from memory.
"'Per me si va ne la città dolente,
per me si va ne l'etterno dolore,
per me si va tra la perduta gente.
Giustizia mosse il mio alto fattore;
fecemi la divina podestate,
la somma sapïenza e 'l primo amore.
Dinanzi a me non fuor cose create
se non etterne, e io etterno duro.
Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate'.'"
Sunset blinked. "Um...what?"
"Dante Alighieri's Inferno. Canto III, in the original Italian. It's an inscription the titular author describes as being engraved upon the gates of Hell when he and the character Virgil arrive there. It describes Hell as a city of woe, a place of eternal suffering for those eternally lost to the goodness of a...greater light...I suppose...and entreats one to 'Abandon all hope, you who enter here.'" She paused, thoughtful and concerned. "It came to mind with your description of the reality of this place, and I could not help but make the comparison. Which I must freely admit unsettles me."
A shiver crawled up Sunset's spine. "...that's...not something I would call inaccurate, Miss Luna. This place is wrong. Twisted to the point where even the magic is in agony..." She hugged herself. "Something bad has happened or is happening here. I didn't know any place in this world could feel like this...there are places, sometimes, in Equestria that feel this way, but they're always old ruins, from the Warring Tribes Era, ancient places where something terrible happened and magic was used in hate and anger by creatures driven mad by the Windigo..." Exhaling slowly, she set herself to be prepared for anything. "...maybe you were right when you called it evil magic."
Luna stared up at the building and the gates before slipping her fingers up to her neck and freeing a necklace hidden previously in her shirt, the gold cross now hanging openly. As she did, she uttered something that might have been a prayer, and seemed to gather her own courage, as if Sunset's words had shaken her. "Once more unto the breach then?" She made to step forward.
"Miss Luna, wait."
She hesitated, long enough for Sunset to say what she needed to. "If...if I tell you at any point, to leave, I need you to do just that. Turn around and walk out. Don't look back, and don't run--it would attract attention you don't want--come to your car, go back to CHS, and tell the girls they need to contact Princess Twilight immediately, that it's an emergency, and the Elements are needed. Do not try and wait for me, don't try to help me, don't question me, just...go."
The vice principal stared at her hard, before nodding. "I do not like it...but under those circumstances, I...understand. My lack of magic would be a detriment, and I would better serve getting help."
Sunset met her gaze a moment, and nodded. "...yes...and be careful here. Take nothing, touch nothing. Not food or drink or objects. Watch yourself. Anything could be imbued or enchanted..." She could still feel the darkness all around them, pressing in, trying to crush her, even as her magic pushed back and burned it away again and again like a cleansing flame. Idly, Sunset wondered if pure sunfire would destroy the darkness. The radiant golden flames were normally the purview of Princess Celestia, but she had figured out as a teenager in Equestria how to cast them herself, albeit, not efficiently or without risk.
So warned and alert, the two of them continued on the way to the front doors, and Sunset watched as the shadows seemed to pull away like living things, leaving a trail behind them...it reminded her uncomfortably of some of her nightmares, and she wondered, distantly and not for the first time, if this is what she had been dreaming of. It made sense, since Twilight had to go here daily, and it even matched with the dark, insidious power that had affected the family on several occasions...and why it seemed to keep coming back on her girlfriend. She'd only ever been to a location that felt like this one time in Equestria, a year or two before she ran away through the mirror. It had been a very carefully supervised expedition for students seeking their Archmagus certifications, a form of cautionary tale on what unscrupulous magical actions could cause if a spellcaster was careless or ignored warnings set forth by the Thaumic Ethics Board...and they'd been hit with some strong monitoring spells before going in, their duration in the border zone of the ancient ruins very short to avoid the risk of the magic affecting them negatively. Everypony knew extended exposure to dark magic had consequences...
The unknown factor was whether or not this was like those half buried ruins northwest of Canterlot, a place where the darkest of magic had left its eternal mark, thrumming through forgotten wards that only targeted those with a significant amount of their own magic, or if this was an active site, overseen by a practitioner darker and more vile than any Sunset could have imagined. Eyes darting around the dim hall with its harsh yet somehow weak fluorescent lighting, the former unicorn kept her head high and shoulders back, intent on giving no sign that her bones were so hot they felt like they were melting.
Luna steered her down a hall and up a flight of stairs to the office...though the hand on Sunset's shoulder served more to keep her at the dark skinned woman's pace than anything. Her own stride kept trying to speed up as the pulsing need to get to Twilight tried to override anything else. They entered the office and garnered the attention of a rather pinch faced secretary who started violently when the door shut behind them. "Ms. Solare, what is the meaning of this? You don't have a scheduled meeting with Principal Cinch this week...and certainly not one in the middle of the school day. And who is this...riff raff...with you? Not one of ours--we have standards here..."
"I will get to that in a moment," Luna said firmly to the secretary, before addressing Sunset. "The nurse's office is down that hall there, fourth door on the left. If you reach a left hand turn in the hall, you have bypassed it." Then her flinty gaze turned on the receptionist. "As for the purpose of my visit, get Abacus down here from her ivory tower, NOW, if she does not want the police to show up and start investigating her staff for criminal negligence and her students for a potential felony." Her voice was positively glacial, and though she never raised the volume of her voice, it held all the authority of her sister's solar aligned counterpart. Sunset briefly wondered if this was what Princess Luna sounded like.
Only briefly. The directions to the nurse were a dismissal that she had been needing, and she stopped fighting the need to get to Twilight. She broke into a run, her boots thudding loudly on antiquated wooden floors and leaving more than a few black marks behind in her haste. Sunset counted doors in her head and charged through the fourth one, finding herself in a sterile little exam office, blue-green eyes searching.
The woman who was obviously the nurse was arguing with a blue haired teen that could only be Indigo. The girl looked about the same age as Sunset herself, if an inch or two shorter, with wild hair that looked frazzled and windblown. She was still wearing a gym uniform and had an athletic build that hovered somewhere between Rainbow's wiry frame and Applejack's sculpted physique. Her hands were clenched as she stared daggers at the nurse, a plump, older middle aged woman with cherry colored skin and hair that was graying despite desperate attempts to dye it back to a dark brown. "I must insist you return to class," she hissed, and Sunset could just barely feel the dark energy that hovered around the woman like a miasma--it was hard to pick up anything other than that in the foul magic of the environment itself.
"And it'll be a cold day in Hell before I'll do that," Indigo sneered. "I'm not moving until Twilight's family gets here. What are you gonna do? Expel me? At this point you'd be threatening me with a good time!" She settled herself more firmly in the doorway he was blocking.
"When Principal Cinch--" the woman shrilled, only to abruptly stop mid-sentence as Sunset stepped into her space bubble from behind. She whipped around to glare at Sunset. "Who are you? You can't be in here. What do you want?"
Sunset was as polite as she could be under the circumstances, as the dark magic trying to press in from all sides, the fiery burn of her own magic, and the agony of her scarred psyche's reaction to this dark magic vied for supremacy in her awareness. "I'm here for Twilight Sparkle," she said, her voice level and even. "I was closer than her parents and I have some of her medication for emergencies." She dipped a hand inside her jacket to retrieve the small pill bottle.
Glowering, the nurse raised a hand to point at either Sunset or the pill bottle. "I have never--"
What it was she had 'never,' Sunset would never know, not when dark eyes with irises that were far too large met hers squarely. In that moment, her own magic flared defensively, just like it had when she'd gotten between Shining and Velvet...and the nurse went just as ashen as he had, reeling like the redheaded teen had physically punched her. Sunset took advantage of the sudden deathly silence. "I am here for Twilight Sparkle," she said, putting every ounce of authority and conviction she had into her tone, just like she'd learned from Princess Celestia, unable--or unwilling--to stop the magic leaking into her voice. "Unlike you, I called her mom to tell her what was happening. Unlike you, I care about her well being. Unlike you, I'm going to go in there and help her...and I will not let you stop me."
The power she was fighting to control pulsed with her words, washing over the nurse and the room, driving the skittering darkness away to writhe and undulate just out of sight, and when Sunset took another step forward to go around the nurse, the woman broke and bolted for the door like a pack of ravenous timberwolves was howling at her heels. "Principal Cinch will deal with you!" she called out as a parting shot.
Sunset snorted. "Bring it on," she murmured, then looked at the somewhat awestruck and bewildered Indigo. "...Indigo, right? We talked on the phone. You...mind letting me by now?"
"Holy fucking shit," Indigo managed. "What did you do? I've been trying to shut her up since we got here. That was amazing."
Shrugging uncomfortably, Sunset made a vague gesture. "I was in the right, she was wrong, and I am here with more than a little authority from people who have a bigger say about Twilight than a school nurse. And I was serious--she wasn't going to stand between me and Twilight, not when Twilight needs me."
Indigo shook her head. "No wonder Twilight's been fighting back this year. With a best friend like you, I'd do the same thing."
Flushing, the former unicorn did her best to deflect. "I'm nothing that special," she said as she slipped past the other teen. "I'm going to get her these and see if I can calm her down. You...good to keep standing guard or do you need to get back to class?"
"Are you kidding? After that, I'm here 'til this wraps up--I kinda wanna see if you can do that scary face thing to Principal Cinch!"
...which was really the last thing Sunset wanted, all things considered, especially if Cinch was as affected by the dark magic as everyone else seemed to be...even Indigo, though she as she checked the other girl over she could see where her magic's touch had burned away the dark tendrils just like it did for Twilight's family...and possibly the nurse. "Right...then...keep an eye out and let me know if anyone else shows up?"
She barely waited for the confirmation of her request, before she turned to where she could practically feel Twilight's anxiety and panic and knot of thoughts that never seemed to let up. There, in the darkest corner of the already dim room, she could see her girlfriend huddled in a ball of misery, sobbing and hiccupping, dark magic latched into her like parasitic roots.
Blue-green eyes narrowed, and Sunset let her magic have more free reign, faint flickers of red and the crawling sensation of her ears not staying entirely human tickling her skin. It rolled through the room, and the dark, slimy pressure on her body pulled back even further, away from not just her, but Twilight. For a fleeting moment, she would have sworn she saw a reflection of glowing eyes in a bit of crystal, but by the time she focused on what she thought she saw, it was gone.
Pulling the magic back under her skin, Sunset scanned the room with her senses once more, grunting in satisfaction when she determined this room, at least, was free of the dark magic entirely, even if she could still feel it around her, smothering and claustrophobically close. Her feet carried her to Twilight's side, and she sat on the uncomfortable cot next to her, one hand gently reaching to touch dark hair. "Sparky?" she murmured. "I'm here."
In an instant there was a sob of relief and a body clinging to her for dear life. She pulled the younger girl into a full body cuddle, humming the princess' lullaby into dark hair, in between affectionate nuzzling and soft words just barely loud enough for Twilight to hear. Twilight, for her part, was burrowing into her until she was practically inside Sunset's jacket, repeatedly mumbling, "You're here...you came..." in between ragged breaths.
Sunset gave her a minute or two to relax enough to be able to hear her words before she sought to accomplish what she came to do. Getting one of the pills into her hand without letting go of Twilight was quite the exercise in creativity, but she managed, finally tugging Twilight's face out of her boobs. "Sparky?" the redhead entreated, voice firm. "I have your meds. I need you to open your mouth for me. Can you do that?" There was something like a short, jerky nod, and Twilight opened her mouth, reminding Sunset of when she had taken care of the hatchling Philomena. Deftly, she popped the quick-dissolve tablet under her girlfriend's tongue. "Okay, Sparky. We just have to let it work now."
The other girl returned to pressing her face into Sunset's shirt. She had stopped sobbing and her breathing didn't seem like it was as much of a struggle, but the former unicorn suspected that she wasn't going to be much in favor of doing anything or interacting with much of anyone for the rest of the day. Not that she was too bothered by that--she personally wanted to get Twilight away from the grounds of her school and go over every inch of her essence with her own magic to purge any lingering darkness. Until Twilight's parents got there, though, all she could do was hold her girlfriend close and protect her from the darkness.
Time crept by, and eventually it felt like Twilight dozed off in her lap, her breathing finally slow and even, the trembling in her limbs abating in favor of the little movements Sunset knew from when she was asleep. She smiled faintly and kissed her forehead. "Just like I promised," she whispered. "You needed me, and I'm here. You're safe with me..." She fell back into humming, working her way through Friendship Through the Ages, Shine Like Rainbows, and even through a piece or two of her own design that were incomplete, hovering just at the edge of a Pony-Up and letting her magic fill every inch of the room.
"...catchy tunes," Indigo's voice broke the shell of near-quiet.
She glanced up from Twilight's hair, seeing the Crystal Prep girl in the doorway, looking their way now. "My friends and I have a band," she offered as a way of explanation. "It started out as part of a fundraiser thing, but it's...turned into kind of a group hobby."
"That's...pretty cool. Is Twilight part of it?"
Sunset adjusted Twilight's position in her lap to be somewhat more comfortable. "I haven't introduced her to the girls yet--they can be...kind of a lot...and I'm not sure she's ready for the 'hundred and fifty percent friendship a hundred and fifty percent of the time' vibe they emit. So I'm trying to ease her into meeting my friends...slowly. Eventually though? I think they'd be good for her, just like they've been good for me."
Indigo watched her for a long time, before nodding. "...Sparkle could really use some better friends," she said quietly. "This...this is my fault. Some friend I am."
That made the redhead raise an eyebrow. "How is this your fault?"
"I told her our stuff would be safe if we left it in the librarian's office. It's my fault something happened to it. I should have known somebody would want payback after the Polaris thing." The girl's shoulders slumped.
Motioning her into the otherwise empty room, Sunset said, "That's not your fault, Indigo. You didn't advertise where your stuff was, did you?" When she shook her head, Sunset sighed. "Then it wasn't your doing. I don't blame you and neither will Twilight. You're only responsible for your choices and actions. Today? You didn't fail. You were the friend who was there for Twilight when no one else was. You messaged a stranger on her behalf, you risked trouble for yourself to protect her against adults, and you care enough to feel guilty that it happened in the first place." She could hear the echo of her own friends' advice in her mind, different moments in her own friendship lessons where they had soothed doubts just like Indigo's. "That makes you a really good friend from where I'm sitting."
A snort of laughter escaped her. "Wow. You really are her best friend. She gets the cheesy friendship speeches from you."
"Hardly," Sunset countered with a dry chuckle of her own. "I can assure you that the 'you can't stop me, we're friends now' thing? That's all Twilight. I learned all my friendship lessons from her and the girls."
Quiet resumed, before Indigo reached for a familiar backpack. "Don't panic...I want to take pictures of all Twilight's vandalized stuff to send to you, so there's proof. Things like this have a weird habit of disappearing here." She started laying all the torn paper and broken things on the cot, spreading them out so she could take pictures with her phone from different angles. "Who's the woman you brought with you? She's out there tearing strips off Principal Cinch and the nurse so loud I could hear it."
"My vice principal. She's not the biggest fan of this school." Sunset couldn't help but smirk at the thought that Miss Luna was giving the other principal a serious dressing down.
"Well, she's not happy, and the weirdest part is that it's working. I've never even heard of anyone taking Principal Cinch down like that, and she's just fucking swallowing it like Suri Polomare on a Friday night!" Indigo's expression was one of delight as the flash from her phone camera went off repeatedly.
It took Sunset a minute to realize what Indigo meant, and she made a face. "I've never even seen what your principal looks like, and that was still a mental image I could have done my entire existence without." Then she frowned. "...and if you think my vice principal is bad, I'm actually more concerned about what's going to happen when Twilight's family gets here. Her mom and dad are really upset lately with this school, especially after your principal suspended Twilight."
Indigo was repacking Twilight's bag, and she looked up at Sunset. "...you think they're going to pull her?"
"...they want to, I think."
The other teen frowned. "Would they send her to your school?"
Chewing on her lip, Sunset hesitated. "...that's very likely," she hedged. "I'm already there, and so Twilight wouldn't be alone."
Running a hand through her hair, Indigo asked, "You...think CHS would be interested in taking on one more Shadowcolt washout?"
She chuckled, shoulders shaking enough that Twilight grumbled softly. "I don't see why not--they let me stay, after everything I did." Indigo looked at her curiously, and she explained, "I used to be Queen Bitch of Canterlot High. Then I got knocked off my pedestal last fall at the Fall Formal. Totally and completely humiliated myself, almost got myself and others killed in the process. They've forgiven me enough that they fought the principals on my being included in the Friendship Games. So...I think you'd be more than okay."
Silence again, thoughtful more than anything, and then Indigo said, "...I think I need to talk to my dad. I don't know if it's worth going to this school any more...especially if Twilight leaves. I'll stay while she's here...I don't want to ditch her here...but if she leaves, I don't wanna stay."
Sunset smiled. "For what it's worth, Indigo, I think you'd make a great Wondercolt." |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Thirty Three: Find Hope Alive Among the Hopeless | For the thirtieth time in the last twenty minutes, Sunset's phone buzzed. The previous messages had all been the group chat with the girls, who were worried because Sunset had failed to appear at lunch. It had taken some time for her to convince them that things were...not better...but settling. That she'd had to deal with something extremely personal--if magic related--and that Vice Principal Luna had given her a ride to ensure her safety. She promised to talk to them the next day.
Sunset wasn't looking forward to that talk.
Or the one she now owed Miss Luna and Principal Celestia.
"You sure are popular," Indigo joked. "Friends again?"
The redhead flicked her thumb across the screen to bring it up, fully expecting another offer from Pinkie to bring her cupcakes at home...which worried her, because Pinkie had no way to know where she lived...and yet, some part of her knew that was not a deterrent to a determined Pinkie Pie. It wasn't her friends though. It was Velvet.
-We just arrived at Crystal Prep. Are you still here, sweetheart?-
"Twilight's mom," she mumbled, texting as rapidly as she could with one hand. -With Twilight @nurse office. Meds helped. Shes Zzzzz.-
-We'll be there in just a minute. Parking the cars.-
They would be entering this pit of dark magic. "Ponyfeathers..." she muttered. She wasn't about to leave Twilight vulnerable, but she needed to keep the ambient darkness that she could feel boiling and seething just beyond her presence from trying to get their hooks into the rest of the family. "I need to meet them in the main office, and Twilight's out, and I refuse to leave her alone here..." Looking down at her sleeping best friend, Sunset made a decision. It would mean even more questions from her principals later, but she wasn't sure the cat hadn't already been let out of that bag already.
Standing up was an awkward experience that required her to twist in a few ways that made her thankful for the gymnastics routine she'd taken up practicing again in her attic. Soon though, the redhead was standing with Twilight carried in her arms, face still tucked against her collarbone. She flicked her eyes to the quietly watching Indigo...dragon droppings...that was another conversation she was not sure about. "You...mind carrying her bag for me? My hands are a little full."
"Sure thing." A pause. "...and ummm...?"
Sunset arched a brow questioningly.
"Your secret's safe with me. I won't tell anyone about..." One hand made a gesture towards Sunset. "...you know...your feelings and stuff. Not my business or theirs. That's between you and Twilight." The girl slung her own backpack on, before picking Twilight's up by the strap.
"Uhhh..." That...was unexpected...but she wasn't about to correct the girl's assumption--it wasn't a hundred percent wrong, after all. "...thanks, Indigo. You're a good person and I know I appreciate what you did today."
"Twilight's my friend. She didn't have to be, but...she wanted to be friends, and I don't have so many of those these days. I stick by my friends...and my promises."
There was something heavy in the air again, this time from Sunset's magic, and she felt along it, trying to decipher the odd tug on her soul, like a nudge from her mark. It...was....she pushed more power into the instinct, and sensed her magic settle lightly over Indigo, creating a faint shimmering barrier around her invisible to the human eye. Almost like a ward, or a form of protection spell, Sunset realized, but one that didn't feel entirely like Sunset herself. A closer study, and threaded into the fiery energy she associated with herself were faint strands that felt like her friends and the Element magic they wielded.
Indigo preceded her out the room, and to her perceptions, the thin barrier rebuffed questing tendrils of darkness from the teen...
Fascinating...
Yet when Sunset tried to repeat the gesture over Twilight, she couldn't seem to call up the energy to do what she wanted. Growling under her breath, she held her girlfriend tighter and followed Indigo out to the main office.
There she saw the proud form of her own Vice Principal staring down an older middle aged woman and the cringing nurse. From the severe bun and lined scowl, coupled with the professional attire, she was fairly certain this woman was the infamous Abacus Cinch, Principal and Headmistress of Crystal Prep. She also looked like she sucked on lemons as a hobby to perfect her scowl.
Sunset was not impressed.
Her magical senses still open, she scanned the Principal...like everyone else here, darkness coated her, but in her case it was so thick and choking, it was like the woman had been soaking in a pool of tar. Though...if she remembered correctly, Night had mentioned her being principal when he was in school...which meant a great many decades of living on the property, given its status as a boarding school as well as one that accepted local day students. Pulling her senses back away from the nauseating darkness, Sunset gave a mental sigh. There was nothing she could do at the moment--it was taking all she had to push the dark magic away from herself and Twilight, and after nearly an hour, she was struggling. Even she wasn't a bottomless font of magical energy.
Their presence was noticed, and both administrators turned in the direction of the three teens. Sunset saw the moment Luna's eyes widened in recognition of just who was in Sunset's arms. Yeeeah, that was going to be an awkward talk later. The reaction that surprised her more, however, was Cinch. She went pale, eyes widening behind the tiny gold rimmed spectacles that sat perched on her nose, and Sunset felt a queer twist in her gut as she realized that something about the three of them standing there together scared the woman. It rolled off her, sending the warped, twisted energy around her into a near frenzy.
Sunset's own eyes narrowed, and she fixed the woman with a defiant, furious glare of her own. This sour woman was the reason her Twilight was stressed and tying herself up in mental and emotional knots. She let her own fury and protectiveness of the girl in her arms rise to the surface, and just a touch of her magic, and felt extremely satisfied when Abacus Cinch flinched and looked away first. Then she turned to her own Vice Principal. "Miss Luna? I just got a message from Twilight's mom. They're here."
Luna gave her a smile that had a touch of visceral smugness. "Thank you for letting us know. Is...Twilight...alright?"
She caught the hidden question in the words. "She's...exhausted from it, but I got her meds into her before it got too bad. It...took a while to calm her down."
"No thanks to Nurse Ratchet over there," Indigo muttered sarcastically.
Humming in her throat, Vice Principal Luna commented, "Indeed...but with great thanks to you, I surmise."
Running her free hand through her hair, the athletic teen shrugged. "Just doing the right thing, ma'am."
"Perhaps, but--"
Hurrying steps and a blur of pink cut Luna off by colliding with her at top speed. It caught everyone by such surprise that for a second, Sunset almost thought the girls had found her and was about to be the second one receiving a Pinkie-missile...only for her brain to catch up to what her eyes were seeing.
"Lu!" Cady said as she hugged the dark skinned vice principal in a bear hug. "Thank you so much! You are the absolute best best friend in the whole wide world!"
And promptly derail completely, careening off the tracks to slam into a rock wall at full speed, exploding violently into pure confusion.
This was only added to when Luna returned the hug with genuine warmth. "Cady," she said, "I would never have said no. We have been friends for far too long for me to not help you in an emergency." She gave the pink skinned woman a playful wink, and a nudge. "And later, we can talk all about the venues you did get to see."
Anything else exchanged between the two women was lost when Velvet and Night saw Sunset standing there with their youngest child. They hurried over, and Sunset couldn't help but feel relief--the dark magic had left them alone so far...and now they were inside her bubble. "Mrs. Velvet," she started to say.
The woman didn't wait. She just hugged her and Twilight both, tight enough that Sunset couldn't quite get a full breath, but...it was kind of nice, and something about the gesture made her feel less tired, more energized. Her flagging magic flared, and she saw over Velvet's shoulder the nauseated look on the principal's face. A satisfied feeling crept over her--while some of the woman's problem might have been the dark magic, Sunset still couldn't shake the sense that she was responsible for a lot of Twilight's troubles in the last few months, if not years. So if the open affection and short term exposure to Sunset's magic made her uncomfortable, she hoped the woman spent the night with a stomach ache.
As Velvet released her, Sunset realized Indigo was standing there awkwardly, still holding Twilight's bag. The former unicorn cleared her throat, interrupting Velvet's fussing over Twilight, who whined in her sleep and clutched Sunset tighter. "Mr. Night, Mrs. Velvet, this is Indigo. She is Twilight's friend who messaged my phone to tell me something had happened. She also took pictures of all the damaged stuff in Twilight's bag, and stayed with her the whole time."
Her girlfriend's parents studied Indigo a moment, before Night offered the teen a warm smile. "We owe you a thanks then, Indigo. You went above and beyond for Twilight today."
Principal Abacus Cinch decided at that moment to interject, as if she wanted to recover some control over a situation that had been taken out of her hands. "Noble as Miss Zap's intentions may have been, she has skipped almost two full class periods and deliberately refused to follow the order of a member of staff...there will be consequences for that--rules are not to be broken lightly."
Sunset frowned, remembering when Rainbow Dash had been punished for skipping over the MyStable page. That had made some measure of sense--the situation had not been an immediate emergency, and had Dash waited to do it the next evening or a day later not much would have been different for Sunset--nor had Principal Celestia done it for personal reasons. The principal had clearly done it as a gesture of fairness, which allowed her to also punish the people who had been involved with the webpage. Yet as blue-green eyes watched the stern visage of Cinch, she became acutely aware that this had nothing to do with fairness or the rules. This was about power and control; the dark satisfaction in the woman's seemingly soulless eyes was at being able to wrest control back over at least one of her students and punish them for their part in the day's events.
That made Sunset angry, angry enough to challenge the woman on her own turf. "Indigo Zap did exactly what I asked her to do," she declared hotly, shoulders back and head high, every inch the mare who had been raised by a princess--a goddess, a part of her mind added--and had grown up interacting with creatures belonging to a social strata that this private school principal could only dream about meeting. "She gave me her word to stay with Twilight until her family arrived, because everything I've heard and seen about this place makes me trust the staff here less than I would a starving lion not to eat me."
Silence fell, so total a person could have heard a pin drop.
Then Cinch focused on Sunset, a faint flicker of a grimace crossing her features before it was schooled into an expression she was used to seeing on sycophants trying to suck up to their betters. "...I...am afraid my hands are somewhat tied," she murmured. "There is a need to maintain discipline in my school, and rules are rules, no matter the circumstances. I am certain you can respect and understand my position, Miss...?"
The former unicorn met her gaze unflinchingly, and her lips twitched into a frown...but she did not offer this woman the courtesy of her name. It was...perhaps...a bit petty, but it was a calculated insult. A way of showing both mistrust...plus, she didn't want her name coming out of Abacus Cinch's mouth--something about the very idea of it made her feel the kind of primal revulsion that made her want to shower in scalding water and scrub her skin red and raw.
At her unspoken refusal, those eyes darted to Luna, who stood next to Cadence--the pink skinned woman had one arm looped through Luna's and the other through Shining Armor's--as though hoping Luna would give her what Sunset would not. The dark haired woman's eyes narrowed and her lips twisted into a stern frown; Abacus Cinch would gain no help from that quarter.
Cinch moved her attention again, to Velvet and Night, but Velvet was, at present, ignoring her pointedly to take Twilight's bag from Indigo with loud thanks. And Night Light? He turned on the principal with a thunderous anger on his face.
"Respect? Discipline? Are you really going to stand here and try to hide behind that, Abacus? Particularly when my daughter has cried herself to sleep from anxiety and stress, while the very girl you're talking about disciplining had to do the job of the insensitive and callous subordinate you just claimed you were placing on suspension pending an actual investigation into her negligence of her duties--not to mention an egregious violation of the Hippocratic oath--all because she had the mental aptitude and foresight to realize before you did that said subordinate was in the wrong?" His voice was stern and scathing. "More than that, you are now trying to brow beat a teenager who isn't one of your students because she called attention to your failures as an educator, all while my wife is collecting a bag of destroyed property--an act that was perpetrated by your students. Where is the disciplinary action against those who committed an active crime? You'd best hope that the value of property destroyed is less than the total required for it to graduate from misdemeanor to felony, Abacus Cinch, because I can't imagine that police investigation being good for your schools...reputation."
Clearing her throat, the principal backpedaled, trying to assuage Night's fury and Sunset's icy stare both. "Of course not, but I was just trying to be fair all the way around. I would hate for anyone to cry favoritism during any investigations that might...affect the outcome of guilty parties being punished for their actions." Her eyes flicked to the pale and cowering nurse, who looked like she wanted to throw up. "But...since the young lady seems willing to vouch for Miss Zap's actions, I suppose I can...allow leniency in this case. Perhaps...a few detentions after school?"
A low growl threatened to burble up from Sunset's throat, and Night pressed a warning hand to her shoulder to keep her from telling the woman what she thought of the idea.
Night turned towards Indigo. "Indigo, do you happen to know if your parents are available? I'd like to speak to them on a personal matter--and to relay the truth of today's events to them. I feel it will come better from an adult to counter whatever narrative the faculty here decides will best serve their reputation."
Indigo, who had been watching the exchange with a mixture of emotions, held up her phone. "Actually, I was just about to call my dad. He works from home--it's easier on his bum leg. I'll talk to him and then pass it over." She punched in a number, put the phone to her ear. "...hey, Pops...no...not exactly. Some shit went down, and I need to come home early." She listened to the person on the other end. "...it's too much to explain, Pops...no, less Devil Bounce, '92, and more like Red Runner and '76... yeah." More talking from the other side, Indigo listening patiently and scowling. "No...yes...yes...my friend, Twilight? Her parents are here to get her. Yes, she was involved. Her dad was hoping to talk to you. Yeah. Okay, one sec." The teen offered the man the phone. "Pops wants to talk to you."
Twilight's father took the phone and stepped into a nearby alcove to talk quietly to Indigo's father. It wasn't a long call, and he was turned in such a way that his words were muffled. Sunset watched the rest of the room warily, pushing her magic out as far as possible to fill the office, stripping a layer of darkness off Cinch and the nurse in the process. The clear discomfort and way the nurse grabbed a nearby trash can to vomit into did a lot to run interference for Night and she couldn't help the smile that crossed her face.
It wasn't more than a few minutes and Night was holding the phone back out to Indigo. She spoke to her father again, mostly nodding and looking pretty grim faced. "Sure thing, Pops. I'll see you in a bit." She hung up after that.
Not more than thirty seconds later, the office phone rang, and the secretary slowly reached for it as though she were half afraid it would transform into a venomous snake and bite her. "Hello, Crystal Prep Academy, how may I help you?" A pause, and her eyes darted towards Indigo, before she pressed a button. "Would you repeat that for record purposes, sir? Yes sir, it's school policy." Silence. "Yes sir. I'll inform your daughter right away, sir. Have a nice day, sir." She set the phone back in its cradle, paling when Principal Cinch glanced at her....though she addressed Indigo instead. "Indigo Zap? That was your father...you are being picked up and taken home by Mr. Night Light and Detective Armor of the CCPD..."
"Which would be me," Shining said, finally speaking up. "Do I need to show you my badge again, Principal Cinch?" The words were almost a challenge.
Looking for all the world like she wanted to say anything but what came out of her mouth, the principal swallowed her pride. "No, Detective. I am well acquainted with both your identity and...integrity." Cinch smoothed some wrinkles from her shirt. "And since this is all well in hand, if there is nothing else, I have...an investigation or two of my own to start as a result of today's events. There are still those in need of a firm hand and some unpleasant reminders that certain standards are held for those here, and that today's...events were...unacceptable." Hard eyes turned to the nurse. "Nurse Cherry, my office." With that, the woman swept away, and with her, a portion of the darkness in the room.
Sunset exhaled. "Bitter, pinch faced daughter of harpy and a three legged yak..." she muttered, making Velvet and Indigo both laugh.
Shining stepped over to her, holding out his arms. "Did you want me to carry Twilight? She must be getting heavy."
Panic edged her brain from her very soul, and Sunset recoiled from him, feeling her grip tightening on the girl in her arms. As she did, Twilight whined and shifted until the redhead felt a hand scrabbling for purchase under her shirt, fingers finally curling around part of her bra. "No!" The word was loud, and harsh, practically snarled, and Shining backed off immediately, raising both hands placatingly. Forcing herself to calm--with her magic running so hot underneath her skin here a surge would be devastating--Sunset shook her head. "Sorry...no. I've got her, and...she's kind of got me in a death grip. It's okay. She's not heavy." It was a poor explanation for the near primal fear that coursed through her at the idea of anyone taking Twilight away from her in this dark, tainted place, as if relinquishing her hold physically meant removing the magic that protected her sleeping girlfriend. That was irrational, Sunset knew, but still she held Twilight possessively tight, unwilling to even entertain the chance.
He nodded. "Okay...let me at least walk down the stairs ahead of you just in case though. That way, if you trip, you won't break both your necks."
The group of adults surrounded the three teens after Night signed a sheet on a clipboard for the two girls he was responsible for getting home. Sunset caught her vice principal's eyes and she nodded carefully; this was acceptable to her because it kept the whole group inside the bubble created by her magic pushing out. Despite the way she felt revitalized, Sunset was leery of having to stretch her magic any further...she could feel the pressure on her, the strain and struggle from the dark magic that surrounded her in this place that still wanted to crush in and flood her with that addictive, hungry, choking void. The mere thought made her stomach churn and her head throb, and she gritted her teeth.
Just a few more minutes, Shimmer, she told herself. And then you'll be out of this place.
The journey down the hall was arduous--Twilight was not quite as light right now as Sunset had pretended, not after standing and holding her for a while and with a lot of her focus and energy going to her magic...and the stairs were a nightmare of pain in her back and fire in her bones, each trembling step half blind because she had to lean back to compensate for Twilight's weight at her front. By the time she reached the bottom, she was sweating and shaking, still refusing to give up her grip on the girl in her arms even after Night, Shining, and even Luna offered to take her.
"No," Sunset growled out each time. "I've got her. I promised."
As if sensing her weakness, the shadowy essence that permeated the building to its very foundation--what horrifying atrocity of ancient magic had happened here to corrupt it?--renewed its attack, until Sunset's every breath was labored and her head felt like it was being squeezed in a vice. Several times, her magic faltered, like a sun fighting gravity but running low on nuclear fuel...each time, she stopped, taking a breath, and then forced herself to keep going, gritting her teeth and pushing her magic out with sheer willpower.
She was Sunset Shimmer, Magus of Equestria and Former Student of the Princess of the Sun, and she would not allow something like this to win. She would not fail Twilight, and she would not fail her family.
A hissing noise at the edge of her hearing made her jolt, which turned into a stagger that ended when her shoulder came into contact with one of the small alcoves along the wall.
Pain.
Oh bright moonlight, the pain.
It was unlike anything she could ever describe--not her first trip through the portal, not her demonic transformation at the formal, not the way this place's wards had attacked her...not even how her own soul had felt like it had gone through a cheese grater after she ate the Rainbow of Light could compare to the information bombarding her brain. Sunset's soul felt like it was being choked and squeezed by a boa constrictor, turned inside out and upside down in the process, and she pushed back against the awful sensation, against lightning agony that burned the surface of her again and again, every nerve ending and neuron registering utter agony that seemed endless... She struggled through the haze of sheer mind numbing agony until she could see it, on the wall, some kind of spell matrix...a ward or a ritual or something foul...and then she found the dangling end, a piece of it that she could grab and pull with the magic inside her...
If the formless and metaphysical could be equated to a physical thing, the act of undoing the magic she'd come into contact with was best compared to that moment when one popped a huge, horribly painful and infected abscess, where there was both a wet rupturing sound and the feel of pure relief as the core and a stream of pus and blood shot like a rocket out to splatter nearby surfaces. Something burst, and Sunset felt the pain abruptly stop--it wasn't her pain she had been feeling all along, some part of her supplied--and something soft, featherlight, wounded and timid, brushed against her awareness with a moment of such gratitude and relief that the teen had to blink back tears.
And then whatever it was was gone, whisked away somewhere she could not see or follow, fading with a burst of joy and bright energy that soothed the lingering tremors in Sunset's limbs.
As she straightened upright, the hand that steadied her was Vice Principal Luna's, and a voice murmured, "I trust this is where we walk quickly and do not look back, Miss Shimmer? Even I felt...whatever that was."
Sunset exhaled, and cast her somewhat tender senses wide, surprised by what she found. The whole area felt...lighter. Not cleansed by any stretch of the imagination, but it was as if whatever Sunset had done had scrubbed a sizable portion of the darkness away in the building, and made what was left retreat away from the group. "Yeah, Miss Luna, I'm okay," she said, loud enough to reassure the rest of the family. "Got a muscle cramp in my back from carrying Twilight down the stairs."
"Are you sure you don't want me to carry her the rest of the way?" Shining asked again.
Stubbornly, the redhead shook her head. "No, it's not much further. I'll manage. She's...not going to want to let go anyway..."
Cadence leaned over and studied her for a moment. "I'm not sure she'd want anyone's hands reaching to untangle where Twily has a grip anyway." She made a face. "That's going to leave a bruise."
The woman wasn't wrong, Sunset decided with a wince. Twilight might have had one hand death gripping her bra, but the other was now clenched tight on one breast. "It's a best-friend merit badge," she quipped with a wince, quoting a line Applejack had said to Dash once when one of her shoulder punches had been a little too hard.
"Is it now?" Cady glanced over at Luna. "How come we never got that one?"
It was hard to say who felt more embarrassed in that moment: Luna, whose face had darkened to a near midnight shade at the obvious implication in front of one of her students, or Sunset, who really, really, really did not want to focus on the knowledge that Cadence had let slip before, or think too deeply on what her assistant principal might have drunkenly done in college with her girlfriend's sister-figure...or maybe Shining, who had just clued in on what Cadence was talking about, and refused to look anyone in the eye.
Stiffly, Luna said, "This is not the place or time for that, Cadenza. Particularly in front of one of my students, whom I must keep at least a semi-professional relationship with. I am sure that learning I am the best friend of her best friend's sister is already a little more personal than she expected to be with the same person that gives her detention." She grimaced. "Not to mention I still have to return to work and finish doing my job for the day, now that I have done my due diligence for an emergency."
Cadence flinched, as if realizing that maybe she'd overstepped. Sunset decided to lighten the mood by snorting. "Yeah...the whole pink hug missile caught me by surprise. I thought I was the only one with a friend like that."
It did the trick in softening the dark skinned woman's tense expression into something more neutral, and she patted Cadence's shoulder lightly as the group stepped into the fresh air. "Yes, well, I suppose you could say my time rooming with a certain someone prepared me for what I would face at CHS in a few years."
Sunset stared at her. "Nothing prepares you for that," she deadpanned.
Her vice principal considered that. "Perhaps not entirely, no."
Once they passed beyond the wardline, Sunset felt like she could breathe easier, and she said, "...thanks for everything today, Miss Luna. I...couldn't have done this without you."
"Of course." Luna took a deep breath. "I must return to work, and I assume you are taking the rest of the day." She glanced at her watch. "I shall endeavor to tell your friends that you are home safe, as they will undoubtedly be haunting the front desk when I return. Come by my office in the morning early, and I will give you a pass to show your teachers so you do not get punished for disappearing before lunch."
She could read between the lines readily enough. The woman would run interference for her friends, and Sunset would have to come clean in the morning to both her and the principal.
Sunset was not looking forward to that conversation. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Interlude XXX: Winterborn | The office door slammed behind the Principal of Crystal Prep with a sound of terrible finality, the lock clicking a moment later to ensure that there would be no outside disturbance until such time as the occupants were ready for it. Both figures that had entered the room found seats--one behind the enormous desk, the other in a lone chair before it--collapsing with a weariness neither had wanted to show to prying eyes. A wavering breath escaped the being called Abacus Cinch, and with it, the tenuous threads of magic still holding their glamours about them collapsed into a shimmer of dust that then ceased to exist.
Beneath it, both looked awful.
Described by the fanciful tongues of poetic mortals, the sidhe and their kin were painted in vivid color as shining, ethereal beings, humanoid but not human, with gleaming hair that flowed like liquid metal and felt like the finest of gossamer and silk, with pale, milky skin free of blemish and age, shining eyes that seemed to glow with charisma and power, and elfin features far too delicate and perfect to ever be found on a mortal...
That illusion had been stripped away with part of their essence, by dangerous and furious power wielded so casually by the unNamed invader. Now, high cheekbones and pointed chins were little more than withered death's heads with papery, dry skin stretched over bone, and dry, lank hair that looked brittle enough to break off at the slightest touch. Even their hands looked gnarled and bent, like the roots of an ancient tree.
Nothing was said for the stretch of several breaths as both of the fae attempted to steady themselves. Finally, it was the elder of the two that broke the pained silence.
"I cannot save you," Itheadair said, studying the one who had served under their hand for more than fifteen hundred years. "Not this time..."
Cànanach had always been...worth more than others, with a cunning and loyalty far superior to most of their kin, from the very beginning. It was intrinsic to the stern faced sidhe's very nature, as immutable and permanent as the stars in the sky, and from the very first, that loyalty had belonged to Itheadair. Even now, wounded deeply, they sat straight and did not debase their impeccable record by wailing or pleading or blustering. Instead, eyes like large, dark pools on frost touched moor started resolutely straight at the older fae, waiting for the rest of the decree.
"He would never allow it." The words came almost unbidden, a lapse of control and judgment brought on by something that Itheadair might almost call regret, if one of their kind was privy to such mortal weaknesses. "Not with potentially costing Him His prize."
Those eyes remained without the rage so many others, much younger, might have exhibited. "I know," Cànanach responded, voice rough.
There was another, tight, heavy silence that stretched between old allies.
And then...
"My essence will never touch the Dreaming, nor the wheel turn for it ever again." It was not a question, but a surety.
"No." The answer to the statement that was not a question was short and cutting in its finality, but spoken with a brutal, curt honesty that belied the respect Itheadair had for Cànanach. They rose from their seat behind the desk and moved to a locked, polished cabinet in the corner, near the carafe of water from their former realm. "Such a thing is deserved least by cunning Cànanach, out of all here. It...should not have come to this." Long fingers opened the cabinet and selected two fine goblets of purest gold and silver, studded with a fortune in precious gems, and a crystal bottle.
Still those dark eyes watched--even with back turned, Itheadair knew that they waited only for a word, a signal.
Instead, the sidhe placed the goblets and bottle on the desk, and did the same with a platter of fruit, bread, and honey, and the carafe with its empty crystal glasses. "Our first meeting was done with broken bread, milk, and honey, Loyal Cànanach. Let our parting be savored but bittersweet, in bread and honey, with the wine and water of the foreverlost." It was the only way to appropriately prepare for the inevitable, a rite older than even them, to send a valued companion--never one who was just a servant, no--to the final days of their winter. And even if this was an end come early at the behest of their master, Itheadair would ensure that Cànanach went to oblivion knowing they had earned the elder sidhe's respect.
Those eyes, for the first time, showed a hint of something more than acceptance. "As seasons turn, so does the wheel," they responded in the old tongue.
"What was carried up is now to be cast down, dissolved to make dreams anew," both intoned as two sets of hands broke the bread and selected pieces of fruit, letting sparkling golden honey paint each piece in turn.
"May the memories be savored by your dream and mine," Cànanach said, pouring water and wine into glass and goblet.
"And both the bitter and the sweet carry to the Dreaming with you," Itheadair returned, mirroring the gesture. "Loyal and Cunning Cànanach...Once well met, and now fare well. You shall be long remembered, and I shall honor your loyalty with blood."
With great solemnity, the two fae creatures, inhuman and ancient, exchanged both the plates of food and the paired drinks, before dining upon that which each had gifted the other in the quiet of the office, knowing that soon, their Master would come to collect what He was owed...
It was halfway through the ritual meal that it happened. Cànanach had just set the crystal glass down when they began to seizure, mouth open in a soundless scream as their body twisted and bent and jerked in impossible directions. The room grew darker, shadows hissing as they slithered across all manner of surfaces, angry, gleeful sounds; the encroaching void stole all the heat from the room until the fae expected to see hoarfrost forming on the desk's surface.
Cànanach slumped forward, still for some few suspended moments before jerking unpleasantly upright again like a marionette. Dark eyes were pits of blackness now, and liquid shadow oozed from the corners of their lips like spittle, dripping without sound to vanish before it ever hit the floor. With a somewhat disgusted sound, a hand was slowly lifted to be stared at, as if the owner of it were trying to decide if it truly belonged to them or not.
Those fingers closed stiffly around the goblet again, raising the finely crafted gold and silver piece up as if to contemplate its existence. "Itheadair..." came the deeper voiced rumble from Cànanach's throat, dripping with condescension and reprimand, followed by a level of displeased annoyance, "...Would you care to tell me what happened here today?" The Master stared hard at them through borrowed eyes.
Itheadair tensed, searching for the words to answer. "...initially, all was progressing according to plan, my Lord. The girl's alchemical remedy was stolen and her paltry possessions ruined, as you requested. She even reacted as we anticipated..."
Eyes weeping liquid night at the corners gave the sidhe an arch look. "And then?" He asked, much like disapproving parents did when they dragged a story from their recalcitrant spawn.
"...her latest companion dragged her to Cànanach's rooms, where Cànanach was poised to see to it that her mental state was appropriate to accept your influence, Master..." Itheadair swallowed hard. "...but there was an unforeseen complication that occurred to disrupt the events."
It proved to be the exact wrong answer. "Complicationssss?" He hissed, his words echoing from a dozen tenebrous shapes around the room. Smoky miasma created a haze in front of the borrowed face briefly. "Complicationssss are exactly why you and the resssst of your glorified cradle robbing ilk are here, Itheadair!" He snarled over the rim of the goblet. "Were you really sssso incompetent and usssselessss assss to be overwhelmed by ssssome big breasted ssssuccubus!? A ssssuccubussss, you overblown night terror! Not even a demon worth mentioning, but a lusssst addled piece of trassssh who doessssn't deserve to be called a demon, in the body of ssssome half grown harlot, and you act assss though Pazuzu himself came through the doorssss for all the fight you put up!" He took a long drink from the goblet, and the face twisted in fury. "Asssssh!" He spat, control over the body wavering as he hurled the whole thing at the wall in contempt.
Succubus? A shiver went through the ancient fae. The thing wearing the skin of some teen couldn't have possibly been one such, not with all she had done even before she set foot on the grounds. "A succubus, my Lord?" Itheadair uttered in pure disbelief. "She could not have possibly been one of the concubi breed--their kind never have that much...focus...and the magic..." Over the centuries, they had encountered a dozen handfuls worth of distinct demons--the Master's army of shadow things did not count--and among that number had been a few of the aforementioned ones whose abilities lay wrapped up in the baser urges of humans. Not a single one had ever carried within the kind of discipline and raw magical power that had been behind those glittering, baleful eyes turned upon them in the office earlier.
The Master stared a moment, as if digesting the fact that Itheadair had challenged His assessment. "It was a ssssuccubussss, Itheadair," He said pointedly. "Unlessss you have ssssuddenly become a greater expert on ssssuch matterssss than the King of Demonssss?"
This was dangerous territory, and not meant to bring into question Him. "No, Master...I only thought that...perhaps you had not witnessed all of her activities..."
His voice became edged and deadly. "Explain."
Fear clawed at their senses, but... "Concubi, my Lord...they are weak, beneath notice. Their fixation on the baser urges and desires of their selected prey means they lack foresight, and operate entirely on their own hungers. They very rarely expend power over more than one or two mortals at a time, because they lack the ability and discipline to do so." As the stare grew more intense, Itheadair gripped their own goblet tightly. "This she-demon...was not that. She had bound one of the students to her will in a way that escaped notice of all Your servants, Master, and when she arrived..."
The arrival had been felt across the entire property by every shade and fae on the grounds. Even the shackled souls, endlessly trapped in their own misery, had felt her entrance. "She tore through the wards that should have kept her at bay as easily as one might wave away a troublesome insect, and sent magic like I have not felt in a thousand years back through them...there was no fear in her...only rage, and she thought nothing of destroying anyone that attempted to stop her. Your shades learned this lesson the hard way...as did You, Yourself, Master, when she broke your connection to this realm for a time."
Silence, and one hand raised imperiously to gesture at the sidhe to continue when they hesitated to keep going.
Steeling themself, the fae did so. "Cànanach attempted it as well--confronting the intruder--standing between her and both the she-demon's marked student and the girl You have Marked. The demon tore a portion of their essence away and proclaimed her intent with all the power and authority of one who expects to be obeyed and feared, as if she were a Queen herself, and not in the body of a scruffy teenage peasant..."
Cànanach's possessed form stiffened, a sign that the Master was tearing through their memories to find the event. When it passed, the being that went by the name Abacus Cinch continued. "She was there for the girl, and the chambers that were once Cànanach's are now no longer usable by any of your servants--the magic she used in them prevents any of us from entering now. Moreso, her power did not include only the one student under her aegis--she has somehow enchanted Twilight Sparkle's entire family and one--if not both--of the last remnants of the Solare line."
A bitter draught that had been--confronted by Luna Solare and realizing that the line curse laid upon her ancestors for challenging the sidhe hundreds of years ago had been purged from her blood. That, if nothing more, convinced Itheadair that this could be no mere succubus. That line curse had been ancient magic, a powerful rite that took a fae lord's full court to cast, not once but thrice for it to take hold. Nothing so weak as a succubus could possibly have undone it--even Itheadair would not have been able to cast the counter rite anymore--their court of followers was too weak and too few in number.
Still the Master did not react. "Issss that all, Itheadair?"
"The soul, Master, at the end. It was not enough that she made the wards falter, she plucked a soul from its bindings...took the pain from it...and released it to its final fate....and still had the strength to walk from this place under her own power, carrying the girl she came for and her own glamour in place. Surely no succubus could do all of that?"
Steepling long fingers, the Master let out a heavy sigh, and spoke as if trying to explain something to a very young and particularly dim-witted human child. "Sssshe could if sssshe has been feassssting on the very girl who is meant to sssserve My ends, you ignorant, sssshort ssssighted fool! The girl who issss meant to have been under my control before now, if it weren't for your bumbling incompetence, Itheadair. Insssstead, My prize issss now in the filthy, dissssease ridden clawssss of a former peassssant trollop, the power that issss desssstined to be mine allowing gutter trash to put on airssss and insult me within my domain instead of pleading for my indulgence of their very exisssstence..." His voice trailed off and He leaned forward. "Which raisessss a very, very interessssting quesssstion, Itheadair."
"My Lord?"
He stood abruptly, talons snagging the sidhe by the throat and lifting them into the air. "You brag sssso often about knowing everything that goessss on in thissss city, and yet thissss sssshe-demon ssssomehow esssscaped your notice? How did you missss another demon traipssssing around My territory, Marking humanssss for herself, and whittling away at land that issss Mine?" His voice was low and deadly, almost an animal-like growl. "Either you have grown far more incompetent than issss acceptable, or you chosssse to keep thissss knowledge from Me..."
Already wounded from the earlier assault by the intruder demon, the sidhe had little defense from the power in that grip or the terror it evoked. "I...I swear, Master...I had no prior knowledge! None of my informants and spies ever mentioned anything--the she-demon was completely unknown to me until she overwhelmed the defenses!" Itheadair swallowed, trying not to consider how the talons around their neck could end their existence. "If I had, I would have told you, so that they could be strengthened--they were meant to keep such things out!"
He released them, the sidhe dropping unceremoniously back into the high backed chair. "Which they would have, if they were properly maintained." His voice was icy calm again. "A failure on the part of you and yourssss. I told you to bring me more ssssoulssss, and every time, you have whined and mewled about the feelingssss of the humanssss. Now your failure hassss cost me a ssssoul and allowed a ssssuccubussss to believe sssshe can challenge My might...perhaps even My crown."
The air in the room was so thick with shadows it was hard to breathe, and Cànanach's form that contained their Master loomed impossibly large over the desk, pure void pouring from every orifice like a waterfall of tar, running over the desktop as a smoky miasma before melding with the red eyed shadows closing in around the desk and threatening to put out the light overhead. "An error you WILL rectify, Itheadair."
"I....I live to s-serve you...my Lord..." Oblivion licked at the sidhe's calves as waves on a shore, brought by the shades trying to climb their legs. Was this to be their end as well, then? came the stray thought as pain gave way to numbing cold, creeping higher inch by inch.
He sneered down at them. "Yessss, you do." A gesture was made with one hand. "Even you are not irreplaceable, Itheadair-Anam, and your repeated failuressss of late mean your exisssstence hangssss by a thread...and at my longanimity, which issss quickly reaching itssss end." The subtle insult was a slap to the face, but the cold froze breath and prevented speech as surely as any gag, so all that Itheadair could do was seethe in silence. "Your grossss negligence allowed an enemy to waltz into My domain, and tear free one of My ssssoulssss that powered the magic and defenssssessss here. And sssso thissss precioussss Cànanach of yourssss will take itssss place to repair the damage."
Itheadair felt a shudder pass through them at the decree. It had been bad enough to know that the Master would consign Cànanach to nothingness, denied the Dreaming that had long fled with the magic of the world to somewhere the fae could no longer reach. But to use their essence in place of the soul of human cattle...? To commit them to what would be endless suffering until the very magic of the wards finished dissolving them into itself, chewed apart slowly for what could be centuries?
It was a fate Loyal Cànanach did not deserve, an agony and an indignity all at once...but what choice did either of the sidhe have?
Unless...
"My Lord?" The query was forced out of a throat that still felt stiff and chilled, everything from the stomach down numb. "...might I...suggest an alternative? One that may grant more power to the wards in the long term than Cànanach's magic?"
From the abyssal pits that Cànanach's eyes had become, the Master scrutinized them for several frigid minutes as that cold crept ever higher. Finally he raised a hand and the shadows melted down and away, allowing feeling to return to Itheadair's extremities. "You may sssspeak," He said flatly.
It would have to be done carefully. The Master was no fool, and it would need to appeal to His deeper desires, rather than seem like a way to circumvent His wishes. "...there may be...more suitable sources. Among the knowledge we brought with us from the old homeland, were many elder rituals of power from my kind and from others even older than they. There are...several rituals of sacrifice meant to do exactly what you seek to do, to empower or bolster protection to a demesne."
"I ssssee. And what makessss you believe thissss ritual would be more potent than your underling'ssss essence?" He asked.
The sidhe forced their voice to remain level, practical, calm. "Numbers and intent, my Master. It would still sacrifice all of Cànanach's magic and being, but such a ritual also requires at least two others of age and power to pour a considerable portion of their own magic into it. It will leave them weakened for a time, but the magic created would be of a magnitude greater than Cànanach's being alone."
Fingers tapped an absent pattern on the desk with long nails. "And...how long...would they be weakened for, Itheadair?"
Keeping their expression schooled to careful neutrality was a battle against a faint sense that they might convince Him after all. "A moon, my Lord. Two at most, given the lack of magic in the world."
His voice became deadly and intense. "And in two moonssss you expect nothing of conssssequence to happen? That thissss ritual will make this place ssssomehow...invulnerable to another assssault?" He did not raise his volume, but the sidhe still fought rising terror at his tone. "Never mind that in just one moon, we have planssss for a ritual that cannot be posssstponed, the key to My resssstoration in the world that issss rightfully Mine?"
Cracks appeared in ancient fae's carefully controlled mien as the power of the even more ancient Master they served pressed down upon them. They struggled to speak, aware now that any misstep might prove their undoing. "T-that is my sincerest d-desire, my Lord. It should be more than enough t-time to discern more about this intruder and how to dispose of her," they dissembled.
The darkness and shadows swirled around the possessed form of Cànanach, until the being on the other side of the desk swelled into apparent immensity, towering over Itheadair. His voice echoed from a thousand places around the room, overlapping again and again until it was a multitude. "Your dessssires and My reality have differed assss of late...." He growled with scorn, "...and now you sssseek to reduce our forcessss by three of our most powerful, with the belief that nothing further will occur? That thissss...interloper...will not take that weaknessss assss an opportunity?"
"Master, I--"
He interrupted, voice scathing. "Have you completely taken leave of your ssssensessss?"
For the first time in centuries of dealing with their Master, the sidhe had miscalculated. Badly. "N-No, my Lord. I had merely thought to offer a more effective alternative to repair the damage done by the intruder..."
"I ssssee." That shadow covered face, almost impossible now to see any features of as it devoured all light that reached it leaned close enough for Itheadair to smell sulfur on each word. "You would do well to remember that blind faith and trusssst are not virtuessss of My kind or yourssss,... however...I am amenable to an...exchange..."
Breath struggled amidst the frigid cold that had returned. "An exchange, my Lord?"
"A deal, assss it were." For a moment, He turned, pacing a few paces in the longest part of the room, night swirling around him like a cloak. "I will be willing to take your ssssuggestion....and even allow you to pick another to be ssssacrificed in Cànanach'ssss place, provided you can meet your end of the bargain...." He began, pausing pointedly.
It was a pause that did not bode well. Itheadair knew this, even as the response fell from numb lips. "W-what...would that be, Master?"
The suggestion of his horns brushed the ceiling of the room, and smoky wings flared aggressively. "What, ssssidhe? ...,the girl and the ssssuccubussss both, before the ssssun ssssetssss on thissss day, that we might rectify all that hassss gone wrong."
It rang with dreadful finality, like a terrible tolling of some ancient bell, and whatever faint delusions the creature feared and respected as Abacus Cinch, Principal of Crystal Prep had were scattered as ash before a stiff wind. Admitting it was sour and bitter on the tongue, poisonous and infuriating all at once--no fae being ever liked having someone beat them at their own game.
"Well?" The Master turned back, and they could hear the arrogant sneer in the tone. "Your answer?"
Fingers gripped the arms of the high backed chair tightly, though they could feel almost nothing except winter's chill in their essence. "You ask for the impossible, my Lord."
Palms came cracking down on the desk's surface with a horrid crash and the smell of sulfur and heated wood stain. "Then I expect you to do assss I have already commanded and sssstop quesssstioning my orderssss, you pressssumptuoussss sssspawn of a lowland baen ssssidhe!" He roared, His power--though currently weakened--driving pure terror into Itheadair, making their vision gray out at the edges, eclipsing even the indignation created by the deliberate insult. "Or the next ssssacrifice I require will be yourssss!"
Silence became a deafening thing.
Then He straightened, His voice once more firm and commanding rather than on the verge of rage. "And when you get done with that, I expect you to find out everything about thissss thrice damned ssssuccubussss who thinkssss to challenge my ssssovereignty--am I abssssolutely clear?"
"A-as crystal...my Master..."
All of that coalesced darkness exploded violently from every inch of Cànanach's body in an instant, choking and blinding the elder fae with primal emotions their kind were not made to feel. By the time Itheadair's sense had returned to some semblance of normal, all that remained was a pale, gagging, ragged Cànanach, trying to recover from the possession with the knowledge that what awaited them was infinitely worse... |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Thirty Four: Eye of the Storm | "....can you pass me the water?"
Sunset smiled affectionately down at Twilight and pulled her fingers out of dark hair so she could grab the bottle of water on the desk next to the bed. "Here," she said, passing it to the girl that was stretched out, laying half on top of her under a blanket.
Twilight sat up just enough to take a long drink, and hand it back, eager to cuddle up close and not move from where she'd pretty much spent the last several hours. Sunset polished off the water and returned to stroking her fingers soothingly through Twilight's hair. "You sound like you're feeling a little better."
Purple eyes looked up at her, but the other girl remained laying with her cheek pressed to Sunset's chest comfortably. "...the nap helped," she admitted, her voice still sounding rough from her earlier panic attack. "...but I think having you near helped more..." The arms encircling her hugged tighter. "...when I realized you came for me...it was like I could remember how to breathe..."
"I promised, Sparky...when you need me, I'll be there." The redhead dipped her face down to kiss her girlfriend's nose.
The arms shifted until the younger girl was hugging her around the neck. "I thought I was imagining your voice talking to Indigo...especially when it kept happening, but then you were there, and real...thank you for coming for me."
Her own arms squeezed back, and she twisted a little so she could hook her long legs around Twilight's, feeling the intense need to surround the smaller form entirely, to keep the rest of the world out. "Wild monsters couldn't have kept me away," she murmured. "I will always come for you."
Silence fell over them for a long time, the couple content to bask in quiet closeness and soft brushes of their lips against each other's. In between the kisses, Sunset found herself humming music that she thought of as calming.
Sunset knew Twilight needed time, but they...needed to talk too. So she decided to go with a safe topic. "...I like your friend Indigo."
"You do?" Twilight asked, the hope in her voice digging into the former bully painfully.
She nodded, nuzzling into her hair, resisting the urge to lip playfully at dark strands. "I do. She...reminds me of my friend Rainbow...she was willing to blind text my number to get help for you." Pausing, she considered her next words, before forging ahead with what she was thinking. "And she was willing to stay with you until your family showed up, because I asked her to."
The other girl was quiet for a long minute. "...so when I thought I heard you talking to Indigo a bunch of times? I thought I was just imagining what I wanted to hear..."
"I was on the phone with her twice, and then I talked to her in the nurse's office too," Sunset confirmed. "She told the nurse off more than a few times...and I think your principal is going to end up firing the nurse to avoid some lawsuits."
Twilight made a distressed sound, burrowing her face back into Sunset's chest. Amber fingers resumed their gentle stroking through midnight colored locks. "Hey...what happened wasn't your fault, and if the nurse gets fired, it's because she broke the law. My vice principal told me that a school nurse has to call your parents when something happens--her refusing to do that was a huge deal that had less to do with you and more with people that even your principal has to answer to."
No answer, other than a low sound that she felt through her shirt more than she heard it. "Sparky..." she murmured, cuddling her close again. She really didn't know what else to do at this point other than be a giant body pillow for her girlfriend and offer emotional support, but deep down, she knew that wasn't enough. Not for Sunset, not after feeling how tainted and twisted the grounds of Crystal Prep really were, and certainly not after observing how both her girlfriend and Indigo were treated by the staff. She had thought it was like CSGU...but she couldn't have been more wrong--it was far worse than CSGU could ever hope to be. "...I know you don't like hearing this, but...your school is awful and toxic--what are you actually getting out of it that makes it worth being attacked in the halls or having people ruin your possessions?"
Twilight tensed, but then sort of slumped in defeat. "...it'll help me get into a good college."
Sunset sighed, rubbing her girlfriend's back. "Sparky...you're brilliant. You blow every test you take out of the water, you're so above high school that you finished the advanced math and science courses they offer in your freshman year...Colleges are going to be begging you to grace their halls, and..." She hated to call it out, but... "...and your family can afford to pay for your college without going into debt. You're pretty much guaranteed a spot anywhere you want to go after graduation. You don't need CPA. CPA needs your test scores to look good, to offset the spoiled rich brats who use gold to pave their way in life rather than work."
More quiet, and it made Sunset uneasy. "Look, I'm not telling you what to do. It just seems to me that you aren't getting as much out of going to Crystal Prep as you keep saying you should be...and the rational, logical response to that would be to reevaluate whether you want to continue attending school there."
Twilight made a soft sound of frustration. "I...I realize you're probably right, Sunset, but...can we not talk about it just yet? My parents are probably going to bring it up too, and I can't deal with having the conversation twice, not tonight."
The former unicorn mulled that over with a thoughtful expression, and decided to draw a little bit on the diplomatic tactics Princess Celestia had used. "I can respect that, Sparky...but can you promise me that in return you will really listen to everyone's thoughts too? No one believes you aren't capable of succeeding or even surviving what Crystal Prep is throwing at you...none of it is an attack on you. They're worried. I'm worried--Indigo was there today, and I managed to get to you after she let me know, but..." she left the thought hanging pointedly.
Lavender fingers gripped her shirt tightly, and Twilight pressed deeper into her embrace. "...I...I know that, but..." She made a muffled whining noise into Sunset's cleavage. "Why can't this just all go away? I don't want to talk about it, or think about it, or argue with Mom and Dad about it because I know this is way bigger than how any of us feel about my school!"
Her voice hitched in the beginnings of a sob, and Sunset immediately tried to soothe her. "Hey, hey...it's going to be okay, Sparky. We don't have to talk about it right now..." She could feel her magic pulsing under her skin, itching to help, but she was wary of using it now with Twilight wide awake.
"I know I'm going to have to," Twilight sniffled, "but it's too much right now and I can't think straight..." she lifted her head, turning her face up towards Sunset, her eyes pleading with the redheaded girl. "...can you...just hold me? Kiss me like you do, and make everything in my head go quiet? Please, Sunny? I...I need to be in that place where nothing else matters except you and how safe you make me feel."
Sunset sucked in a breath, possessive hunger igniting in her veins at the plea, and she couldn't have stopped herself any more than she could have chosen to have been born something other than a unicorn. Her hands slid lower on Twilight's back, until they found the girl's rounded rear; using both hands on it to tug Twilight higher up elicited a surprised but not distressed squeak. That put her girlfriend's mouth close enough now to capture with her own. Twilight wanted to clear her mind of anything but Sunset? She was going to make sure that was exactly what happened.
Lips met, searing heat and needy fervor accompanied by roving hands breathless sounds that held no real words yet communicated eager want and needy desire. Sunset made a low, burbling growl in her throat as she conquered the now familiar territory of Twilight's mouth, one hand tangling in dark hair. Amidst it, she could feel the dark, furious emotions that had given her strength earlier, when the stuffed shirts and dark magic thought they could keep her from her Twilight, and beneath that, a desire to leave a mark on Twilight that could not be denied. Her magic pulsed, not unlike it had when it had moved to protect Indigo, and following that feeling, Sunset let it seep into Twilight where skin touched skin, leaving a tingling trail of magic behind where her fingers blazed a path under her girlfriend's top.
Purple met blue-green, and Sunset's thought's crystallized into a single idea, one that thundered across her mindscape. Mine, it growled, in passion and fire.
Twilight pulled back from the kiss to catch her breath, and her fingers brushed along Sunset's cheek, pushing hair out of her eyes, her face flushed and lips kiss bruised. "...yes..." she murmured, before closing the distance again. "All yours, Sunset Shimmer..."
It was exactly the right response, and the redhead painted Twilight's skin with magical afterimages, instinct urging her as she drew ancient spellforms and sigils her magic knew was protective, even if she didn't quite remember in the lust haze what they stood for. And with each completed shape, the power filling the room grew, Harmonic magic and Sunset's crimson energies reaching for some kind of crescendo as one girl pressed the other into the mattress, their eyes closed and their breath mingling together.
SLAM!
SLAM!
The sound of car doors shutting loudly in the driveway below cut through the intimate bubble, breaking the spell that kept them from the world beyond. Sunset's magic fell away, leaving only lingering, unfinished traces, and a sense of frustration at not succeeding at her goal. She flopped her head back on the pillows, hands resting on Twilight's hips, and chuckled breathlessly. "How's your head now?" Sunset asked, pushing her magic back down along with the sense of annoyance. It was probably good they got interrupted before any clothing got tossed away this time--she was fairly sure neither of them had locked the door.
Her girlfriend stared at her, expression a bit dazed, and with a smile tugging at her mouth. It took her a full fifteen seconds to register what Sunset had said, and she pressed back close with a dreamy expression. "...head's good...everything's good...you're good....and warm..." Her hands had found their way under the redhead's top and were pressed to her sides, soaking in the heat radiating from amber skin. "Mmm..." she murmured, nuzzling into Sunset's neck.
Another chuckle escaped her, and she sat up against the pillows, tugging the hands out of her clothes. "Not quite what I meant, nerd," she teased, kissing her forehead. "And my eyes are up here."
"But your boobs are down here..." came the muffled voice as Twilight buried her face into Sunset's chest once more. "...bury me here..."
One eyebrow went up. "That would make the funeral very awkward, Sparky. For me and for your parents. Not to mention your brother." She considered it. "Cadence would just laugh at me though."
The dark haired teen burrowed her face further onto the soft fleshy 'pillows', and Sunset let out a noise of pain when she found the sore spot left behind from earlier. Twilight immediately jerked her fully back to reality. "Sunset? What's wrong?"
One hand tugged up her shirt to show the discoloration on her flesh that would look pretty ugly by morning. "You were pretty grabby when you dozed off earlier. One hand got my bra, but..."
"Oh, Sunny, I'm so sorry!" she apologized, leaning in to kiss the tender spot.
Sunset laughed. "You're adorable, nerd...I'll be okay. I told Cadence I'm calling it a 'best friend merit badge.'" Even if she was never a foal-scout, or whatever humans had. Kid-scouts? Child-scouts? The ones who sold cookies and popcorn.
Twilight giggled. "I'm fairly certain neither of us was ever a Girl Scout."
"You got me..." Sunset's grin was unrepentant as she straightened her clothes. "But you laughed, and that's what I was hoping for. Now how are you feeling? Seriously."
The other teen sobered quickly at the question, but Sunset recognized it as 'Twilight.exe is processing' face. So she waited, giving her the time she needed to do some self analyzing. At last, Twilight took a breath. "...I am...more clear headed, yes, which has helped reduce my anxiety levels," she responded in the clinical tone she used when she was falling back on logic to help manage emotions. "...but I am...not in the best headspace at present. Today has been...too much...for me to hope for that."
Reaching out, Sunset brushed knuckles against her cheek lightly. "I didn't expect you to be--today was a bad one, probably the worst I've ever seen you have."
Her girlfriend drew in yet another breath of the kind that preceded bad news. "...I used to have ones like that a lot before you met me. Sometimes I would spiral for hours...sometimes days when I was little. I think my parents would almost be relieved when I finally snapped and went into the hysterical part and then cried myself to sleep."
Sunset closed her eyes for a moment, her heart twisting from the raw pain underlying Twilight's detached tone that she could almost feel, empathy for her best friend dredging up old memories of a similar grief in herself. Her volatile magic and the temper tied to it were different from Twilight's panic attacks and anxiety, but the shame, guilt, and frustration had been the same for a long time, and it had been part of what made her hateful and bitter. She could remember the looks from other foals and teachers at CSGU, the servants, passing nobles...but most of all, she could remember Princess Celestia and the tired disappointment on her face every time Sunset lost control. In the end, she'd become a surly shut in to avoid it all as much as possible, focusing on her studies and then later Ascension.
So she knew exactly what Twilight was feeling. Even if they both knew that Velvet and Night did not resent their youngest child's difficulties, Twilight had met plenty of others who had, and the shame-guilt-hurt from that was hard to dispel. The former unicorn tossed her head to shake free of her own memories, and wrapped her arms around Twilight in a hug that Pinkie would have been proud of. "Doesn't matter to me," she said gruffly, "how good or bad it gets. I'll always be here to make sure you come out the other side, even if the only way I can help is by being a snot rag and a body pillow. You're my first friend, my best friend...and you can't chase me off that easily." She leaned her head down and tipped Twilight's chin up to kiss her sweetly. "That's why I will always come for you when you need me...because you taught me that being a friend means being there at our worst, not just our best. And if it means I get to scare the horseapples right out of your principal, then I will even break a few speed limit laws to get there in record time."
Twilight didn't laugh this time, but her lips did turn up in a smile so Sunset counted it as a win. "...thank you, Sunny...but please don't go terrifying school administrators on my behalf."
"I mean, it was sort of on Indigo's behalf and I didn't mean to scare them? I just wasn't going to let her get away with punishing Indigo for doing what I asked her to do--what I made her promise to do. She kept her word...and that...that means something to me, Sparky. She protected you until I got there." She sighed, cuddling her girlfriend tight. "But I'll try to be good, even if your principal is a lemon sucking harpy with all the disposition of a yak with half a tree branch stuck up his rump."
"Sunset!" Twilight chastised her, shocked but also trying not to laugh.
The redheaded girl grumped, "It's true! It's like someone forgot to tell her that the lemon in the water glass is to clarify the water, not to eat." Then she gently redirected the conversation. "That was probably your dad and brother getting home, and it's getting close to dinner time. Are you going to be okay to go downstairs? To eat, at least, even if you're not ready to talk about today?" As if in response, Twilight's stomach let out a long gurgling growling sound that made the teen flush a little, especially when Sunset chuckled, "I see your stomach has cast its own vote."
"...I am hungry," Twilight sighed.
Sunset nodded. "Probably because we both missed lunch, and you skipped breakfast again, didn't you?"
Looking a little sheepish, Twilight wouldn't meet her eyes. "...I was looking over the latest readings from my equipment," she admitted. "I didn't have time to eat."
Amber fingers tweaked her nose. "All the more reason to go eat dinner. If I know your mom, she's either been cooking all afternoon or had someone pick up enough take out for a small army."
"...yeah..." Shoulders slumping, Twilight stared at the wall. "I know they're going to want to talk about today and my school..."
Time to try this again then. "Sparky...look at me." When the smaller girl focused on her, adjusting her glasses, Sunset said, "I'm here to support you, Twilight--I'm not your enemy in this, but I am worried. You're my best friend, my girlfriend, and where I am sitting, you are being bullied and taken advantage of...and if there's something I'm familiar with, it's what bullying looks like, since I was a bully for a very long time. Which is why I'm asking you to be willing to listen to what your parents have to say, and all the worries they have too. None of us believe you aren't strong or capable enough to handle yourself--we just believe you shouldn't ever be in a position where you feel like you have to, because what is going on is wrong. None of this is an attack on you." She leaned forward and touched her forehead to Twilight's gently, letting just a little bit of magic rise up where skin touched, willing the faint warmth to carry with it the concern she felt. "Can you please promise me you'll listen with an open mind this time...and maybe be willing to consider a compromise?"
She could feel the deliberate, slow breaths Twilight took to match her own breathing. "...I...yes...Sunny...I promise to do my best to keep calm and try to listen to what they say rationally..." Twilight said after a minute. "It's...it's not the conversation I want to have, and I still don't think I could do it more than once right now, but..." Her arms snaked around Sunset's neck and she clung to her, trembling slightly. "...maybe it's because I know you'll be with me, or maybe because you helped get my mind off it all for a while or maybe you're just some kind of magic, but whatever it is...I feel like I can handle it now."
"That's my nerd," Sunset encouraged. "I'll be right with you if you need a hug or to see if you can break my fingers--maybe go easy on leaving bruises in public places though? I don't think anyone will believe I fell off my bike. As it is, I'll be dressing out in a bathroom stall for a few days." When Twilight tried to apologize again, Sunset put a finger to her lips. "I'm teasing, Sparky, relax."
Twilight climbed off her, stretching the kinks out of her muscles from several hours of cuddling and a nap. "If you want to head downstairs, I think I want to wash my face and fix my hair. Just because everyone knows I had a huge panic attack today doesn't mean I want to look like I spent the afternoon crying."
Impishly, Sunset poked her side where she knew Twilight was ticklish, making her yelp. "Probably a good idea. You've got my lip gloss all over your neck and face. It's nothing like that lipstick Rarity wears, and I don't mind it, but...your folks might ask questions." She rose and sauntered right by her somewhat dumbfounded girlfriend to look herself over in the mirror, making sure she didn't have any visible marks from their heated make out. She didn't, and a quick finger combing settled her curls enough to be presentable.
The redhead went to leave the room, pausing to lean down and kiss Twilight's lips. "Don't be too long, nerd, or I'll come back up and get you." With that, she left the room with all the confidence she'd once used to command the halls at CHS, stifling the giggle at the squeaky, flustered noise that escaped the girl she left standing red faced in the bedroom. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Thirty Five: Jericho | Twilight made her way to the bottom of the stairs, hearing voices in the living room, the scent of fried food tickling her nostrils. Sunset met her in the doorway, pulling her over to the couch with a grin. "Your dad hit the fried food place," she said with excitement. "You have to try some of these fried veggies."
Before she realized it, Sunset had tugged her down, so that Twilight was sandwiched between her and Cady on the couch. Her brother chuckled from the floor where he was leaning back against his fiancee's legs. "I have never seen someone get so excited over deep fried zucchini."
"Excuse you," Sunset said haughtily. "I'll have you know that where I'm from, deep fried vegetables are something to get excited over." She plucked some battered kind of fried vegetable slice from one of the containers in front of her and bit into it. "Mmmm...."
The faint sound of pleasure sent a thrill up Twilight's spine, and she hid it by accepting the container Cady handed her way, finding all of her favorite treats from the restaurant inside. "It smells good," she said quietly, glancing over at where her parents sat in their favorite chairs.
Night smiled at her, "I thought we all deserved unhealthy comfort food after today." His smile turned to a chuckle when Sunset made the weirdest sound and promptly stuffed some kind of leafy vegetable coated in batter in her mouth and closed her eyes in bliss.
Shining smirked slightly, "I told you we should have got a double order of the kale pakora, Dad."
Curious, Twilight snitched a little piece of it from Sunset and nibbled on it...before promptly regretting it. She gave her girlfriend a betrayed look. "That is the most disgusting thing I have ever tasted. It's like someone put salt on the weeds Mom pulls from the garden, and then decided to batter and fry it."
"It's delicious," the redhead countered happily. "I just wish I had Lucky's seasoning to go on it..." At the confused look, she explained, "It was a sandwich shop, and they did seasoned fries and potato wedges. The seasoning was amazing, but it was a secret family recipe from the original Lucky. Pri--" Sunset paused, then corrected herself. "My guardian had a soft spot for Lucky's, and used to say that the seasoning was so delicious it would make paperwork taste good."
Having watched all this, Twilight's mother chose that moment to interject. "Technically, a fair number of what you call weeds, Twily, are actually edible in their own right. In fact, when I was looking into what I wanted to plant this year, I read an article on using uncommon edible plants in meals. I was actually considering incorporating some of the recipe ideas into meal planning."
Shining turned a mock horrified face towards Twilight, before saying, "I think I'll pass on the weed and dandelion salad, Mom."
Her girlfriend chirped brightly, "I'll take his share."
Velvet laughed lightly. "I was actually going to ask if you would like to go with us on the day I pick out the seedlings for our garden this year, Sunset. Twily usually helps me pick out flowers, but I thought it might be fun to get your help in picking out vegetables, fruits, and maybe enhance my herb selection. Maybe we could even talk my daughter into researching which flowers are both edible and beautiful..."
That made Sunset's whole countenance light up--whether it was from the prospect of a larger variety of vegetarian edibles or from the fact that the older woman was including her in something that sounded like a family activity, Twilight couldn't be sure. Either way, her girlfriend leaned forward and began talking excitedly with Twilight Velvet about vegetable gardens and vegetarian recipes, and Twilight was content to let the conversation go on without any real input from her.
Instead, she nibbled on her food, her body far hungrier than her head wanted to be, and being far more insistent about that fact than normal. While she ate--and snuck peeks at Sunset's happy smile--the dark haired teen let her mind wander, distracted for a time by the mundane idea of whether or not they could build some kind of hothouse adjacent to her garage lab, allowing her to set up the equipment for a year round hydroponics garden. The hardest part would be the structure itself, what with construction material costs, blueprints, permits, actual labor costs since they didn't have anyone in the family with the time or expertise to build it...but for the internals... Twilight pondered the difficulty in writing software to control the lights and hydration levels of different common vegetables and herbs that she knew Sunset liked and decided it was well within the margin for acceptability with her current skill level. The hardest part would be programming the sensors in the nutrient trays to not only analyze but register a number of different potential inputs based on that data, since nutrient and fluid balance could be so much more finicky in a hydroponic setup than a traditional soil based garden bed.
It was soothing to focus for a while on the simplistic and familiar logic of coding languages and the rationale of numbers and hard, concrete, well defined sciences, further settling her nerves after a trying day. For a time, it let her completely escape thinking about the real reason her family was gathered in the living room, why not just Sunset but Cadence and Shining too were practically on top of her personal space bubble.
But they were, and it was the little details that kept pulling her from her thoughts of nicer things. Like how, despite the light conversations going on, there was a coiled tension in her family members, present in the set of her brother's shoulders, in the way Cady kept leaning over to hug her shoulders, in the lines that marred her father's forehead...and in the worried glances her mother kept sending her way. Her mother wasn't alone in that either...each of them she caught flicking their eyes towards her. It made Sunset's words come back to her.
"They're worried about you, Sparky..."
Only Sunset seemed calm and relaxed, her body having lost the coiled tension sometime between their arrival home and coming down the stairs for dinner. Except, Twilight realized belatedly, that the seating was too deliberate, too thought out. It placed her brother closest to the front door, and Spike guarding the doorway to the front hall with his whole furry body...something that made her realize that her dog had been there, focused on the front door and not upstairs with her and Sunset. Strange, given he normally plastered himself to her side when she had a bad day...and he kept looking over, not at her, but at Sunset, as if waiting for some kind of signal... Sunset, who was currently the dominant force in the room, who had had some hand in the seating arrangements, and who, she realized, had placed herself with a clear, unobstructed view of the window, and thus the street and driveway in front of the house.
Her mind circled back to the talk with Sunset, and Twilight had to acknowledge her girlfriend was right. Everyone was worried and upset, not with her, but for her. The things that had been happening at her school had affected them almost as much as they had affected her...well...the things they knew about. The rational part of her mind then recognized that Sunset's request was more than reasonable in light of this new understanding, and that things could not continue entirely as they had, because the situation at Crystal Prep had escalated beyond Twilight's ability to manage...as much as she hated to admit the last part.
So she ignored that part of her mind that wanted to get angry and upset when her father finally set down his empty take out box and cleared his throat. "I know it has been a long day, but I would like to discuss what happened and where we go from here, if you are mentally and emotionally up for it, Twilight. If you aren't, we can postpone the discussion until tomorrow, since there are some things that we need to do before you can go back to school anyway."
"Like replace your phone and your school supplies," her mother added in a neutral way.
Twilight took a deep breath, and felt Sunset's hand drop onto her forearm to squeeze lightly. "I...understand, but I believe I am able to have at least part of the conversation now. I already discussed a little bit of it with Sunset, and she helped me gain a bit of perspective I had been lacking."
Night gave a slow nod. "Alright, if you're certain." He paused, then added, "We understand that this has been a tough day for you, so if at any time you need us to pause or take a break, you only have to let us know."
The hand on her arm squeezed again, silent support from Sunset, and when Twilight glanced over, she knew her girlfriend would speak up if Twilight couldn't get the words out when she needed a break. It helped ground her emotionally when her anxieties started up at the mere thought of the impending talk. "Okay, Dad," she answered, her voice shaking a little.
"I thought it might be best to start by recapping today's events so we are all on the same page and operating with the same data set before we start discussing any decisions....particularly since no one person here was present for all of it." He looked around the room, and, seeing only agreement, began, "According to your friend Indigo, the two of you left the gym and headed to the library, where you had been leaving your stuff with the librarian in her office. She explained that this was because some girls have been trying to corner you both in the locker-room as a bullying tactic. Is...this accurate, Twilight?"
Night looked extremely concerned already, and Twilight struggled to defuse it. "It's...it's just Suri and her followers. More of the same stuff--name calling, taunting, accusing me of having my parents buy my GPA. She's been doing it since freshman year...you knew about her."
Her mother tilted her head. "This is the same girl who was bothering you two years ago? Wasn't she an upperclassman when you were in ninth grade?"
Grimacing, Twilight responded, "Yeah, that's her. She's attempting her senior year for the third or fourth year in a row, and she blames me for it because I blew the bell curve in the math class I took in ninth grade...not that we were even in the same class or anything. She's had it out for me ever since, and this year has been the worst."
Sunset arched an eyebrow. "Boy, she sounds like a real winning example of 'Crystal Prep superiority,'" the redhead joked.
"It's mostly talk," Twilight explained, "but after I fought Polaris, something set her off, and the rumor is that she wants to 'teach me a lesson' in the locker room. Indigo found out, and we've been changing in the bathroom across from the library instead, and having Ms. Stacks watch our bags. It's been working fine for weeks..."
Her father nodded. "We'll get back to the girls in the locker-room problem later. For now, we're focusing on today. So after gym you returned to the library, found the librarian gone, and your bag in her office had been vandalized?"
"Yes sir."
Still going through it methodically, Night ticked off events. "This triggered an anxiety attack, and you discovered your medication was missing, at which point Indigo decided to try and contact someone for you."
That was when Sunset interjected, "That someone was me. She texted my number, since she managed to get it from Twilight's phone. I bailed out of my class, and called her. Tried to help calm Twilight a little, got the story and told her I'd call you guys." She rubbed her neck, and looked at Twilight. "I also made her promise that she'd stay with you, Sparky, until your parents got to you."
Night waited to see if Sunset had any more to say, before he continued, "At which point Sunset contacted us, made plans to get you some of your medication, and we began heading home as quickly as possible."
Next to her, Cady added, "I called Lu as soon as I found out what was going on," she confessed. "That way she wasn't blindsided by Sunset wanting to leave school for the afternoon..."
In bits and pieces, the family reassembled the timeline of events, with a good bit of input from Sunset. In fact, the redhead was particularly agitated with what she had seen. "The woman was trying to threaten Indigo for doing the right thing, and then she tried to threaten me with authority figures if I didn't do what she said," she complained about the nurse. "I didn't much care for her attitude, and I told her off. Told her I was going to help Twilight, and she could get out of my way." Or "According to Miss Luna, her refusing to call you about Twilight is illegal! Why would she do that?" It painted a very vivid picture for Twilight about what had happened when she had completely shut out the outside world and later after she'd fallen asleep in Sunset's lap.
"After we saw you ladies to the car, Shining and I took Indigo home. That's where she explained everything from her side, and I had a long conversation with her parents, offering to connect them with the family lawyers in the event that the school tries to punish their daughter--I felt it was the least I could offer, given the circumstances." Night paused to take a sip of his drink.
Velvet hummed in agreement. "Absolutely--Abacus Cinch was far too eager to punish the girl if you ask me, when it was her staff who had grossly mishandled the entire situation."
The dark haired girl shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Hearing all of this negative talk about her school and principal made her anxious; she had grown up being taught to respect authority figures and be polite and respectful to them, even if you disagreed...that there were appropriate ways to handle such conflict. And while she recognized that her parents were the exact people in a position to criticize her principal and her school, it still made her stomach knot up. Sunset shifted her arm, moving her hand off of Twilight's to pull her into a tight hug while the adults discussed what Indigo's parents had said.
"You okay, Sparky?" she asked in a low whisper.
Nodding her head slowly, Twilight still leaned into the embrace for as long as she thought she could get away with it. "Have I told you that you are the absolute best best friend in the whole world?" she mumbled into Sunset's shoulder.
"Not today," she said with a small laugh. "I learned from the best though."
Warm affection settled over Twilight, like a cozy blanket that warded off everything from the cold to the bogeyman. It gave her strength in a way, made her feel far more able to deal with the knowledge stealing over her: her days at CPA were numbered. Her parents cared too much about her mental health and physical wellbeing to let her stay at the school, not with the ever growing list of problems and altercations. It was really down to a matter of when, and where Twilight would go next.
There were other private schools, of course, but the only other one inside the city was a Catholic school, and Twilight held little interest in going to a facility where part of the curriculum required her to pay lip service to a deity she didn't believe in for a religion that considered her a little more than a deviant animal. That left being shipped off to a boarding school, or going to one of the local public schools. As much as she would enjoy the accelerated learning, rigid schedule structure, and emphasis on self study at a boarding school, Twilight did not care much for the idea of being completely cut off from her family support for months at a time...and she didn't think her parents would care for it either.
As for public schools...
The closest one to her house was Canterlot High. Sunset's school, full of people who watched the redheaded girl's every move and judged her accordingly. These days they were apparently singing her praises, but Twilight remembered the cold November nights she had held her in the dark while she sobbed or writhed in the grip of terrible nightmares. She remembered in excruciating detail, the shattered, empty eyes and numb voice that had confessed to being some kind of monster, or the broken way she had talked about having several gallons of blood and offal upended over her. She remembered watching this strong, marvelous, magical force of nature that was Sunset Shimmer cracking and crumbling under the combined weight of guilt, shame, expectation heaped on her, and how she had pushed herself to the brink of collapse to prove herself to them.
Twilight could recall with painful and precise clarity the way Sunset had sounded when she finally said, "I don't hate myself anymore..."
And she wondered if Canterlot High was really any better than Crystal Prep...
"...hey, what's wrong?" Sunset's voice intruded on her musings, and she blinked up at her girlfriend for a moment as the real world came back into focus on the other side of her glasses.
It took a second to realize her thoughts must have shown on her face, and she sighed. "...just...thinking...about my alternatives to Crystal Prep. I know Mom wants me to transfer."
Sunset nodded, rubbing her back lightly. "You know you'd be welcomed with open arms at CHS."
Biting her lip, Twilight said, "I don't know...I know you've said your friends are nice, but the rest of the school seems so fickle...how are they really any different from Crystal Prep students? Look at what they did to you last fall."
"Sparky, that's different. What happened to me was a mess of my own making. Yes, some people took it too far, but it wouldn't have happened in the first place if I hadn't done my very best to deserve the title of 'Queen Bitch of Canterlot High.' And even then, as soon as the principals found out about it, they put an end to it--half the junior and senior class were suspended for like a week, and they did a big assembly to call everyone on it. That's...a lot different from what happened today at your school."
Her fiery-maned paramour made some valid points from a logical standpoint, but that didn't assuage all of Twilight's lingering mistrust of people who had, at one point, gone after Sunset in retaliation. She knew the older girl had been a bully, but she questioned if that could in any way justify what had been done in turn. Two wrongs did not make a right, and an eye for an eye tended to leave behind a lot of depth perception issues. "...maybe..." she mumbled.
"Girls?" her mother's voice interrupted further discussion on the matter. "Is everything alright?"
The rest of the room was looking at them, and Twilight stiffened under the scrutiny. Sunset, however, gave her another open, friendly hug. "I was just checking to make sure everything was still good to keep going while you were discussing lawyers, Mrs. Velvet--I'm happy to talk to the ones looking into the stuff about Twilight and her school, by the way, if they want to know anything from me."
Velvet nodded and looked at her daughter. "Do you need a few minutes, sweetheart?"
"No, Mom...I believe I am capable of continuing the conversation at present." Part of her just wanted to get it over with, if she was being completely truthful.
Night Light cleared his throat. "Legal details aside, Indigo's father was fairly displeased by what happened today and the faculty reaction to events. For the moment, he is not pulling your friend from the school...but only because she insisted." He looked over the top of his glasses at the pair of them. "In her own words, she refused to 'leave Twilight with the hyenas,' especially after she told Sunset that she'd 'stick with you.'"
That made her blink, and look over at her girlfriend. "You must have made a serious impression on her."
Shrugging, Sunset rubbed the back of her neck. "I was honest, that's all. She's a good friend to you, Sparky, and she needed to hear it...and I wasn't going to stand there and let your principal or that nurse make an example out of her just to feel like they were in control. Not without saying something."
Her father chuckled. "It seems to me that both of you have made an impression on Indigo Zap, but that's...her business to explain or not." He took another sip of his drink. "After that, your brother and I went to the station to file a police report on both the vandalism and the stolen medication. Particularly the last, since your medication is a controlled substance, which is a very serious crime."
"So is the vandalism," Shining added. "Destruction of property in excess of a thousand dollars falls pretty solidly in 'felony' territory. That's jail time, not just a fine."
There was an unpleasant weight to Shining's words, as if they were an unintentional proclamation, and speaking them aloud crystallized the reality that Twilight found herself in. She was silent, but nodded in understanding, still processing everything.
Night gave her a minute or two, before clearing his throat again. "That leads us to where we are right now, which is trying to decide what to do next." He focused directly on Twilight. "To start with, Twilight, I want you to understand that we are in no way angry or upset with you, and while your mother and I have some strong feelings about what has happened and is happening at your school, none of that is directed at you."
Twilight fidgeted. "...Sunset was saying something like that earlier..." she admitted.
The adults looked at Sunset, and she smiled awkwardly. "I was telling her we're not attacking her, that you guys are just worried like I am about the bullying and the school staff breaking the rules."
"Sunset is right, Twily," Velvet said gently. "We are very worried about what has been going on at your school. It has had a deleterious effect on your mental health, and the school has crossed the line from being difficult about your IEP to actively breaking the laws and rules the school has to follow." She sighed. "And I cannot help but ask 'if they're breaking the law here, what other ways are they willing to sacrifice a child's health and well-being to further their agenda?'"
When she didn't say anything, only frowned because her mother's question made her reexamine things that went on at Crystal Prep from a new angle, her father picked up the conversation thread. "At the same time, you are old enough that it does not seem right or fair to leave you entirely out of the conversation, even if, from a legal standpoint, the final say belongs to us. So we want to discuss our options and take your feelings into account as much as we can."
Furrowing her brow, Twilight sifted through potential responses, and settled on cutting to the heart of the matter. "I understand, Dad, and before you start, I would like to acknowledge that I have considered some of what you are about to say and I concede to the statement that CPA is no longer a viable educational option long term."
Her parents looked a bit startled, but once again, Sunset put a hand on her arm. "Twilight," she said, voice low but full of such firm authority that the dark haired girl immediately gave her her undivided attention. "You promised to hear them out and listen to what they had to say. Part of that is actually letting them say it, instead of jumping ahead and assuming you know it already."
It was all said in that same level, firm tone with very little personal emotion, but regardless of that Twilight could feel the gentle rebuke in the words. "You're right, Sunny..." she said, earning an encouraging smile. She turned back towards her parents. "I...apologize. I should not have jumped to conclusions, not when you are trying to be fair and include me in the discussion."
Night took a moment to respond, but when he did, he didn't dismiss her initial statement. "In this particular case, Twily, you are not wrong. Your mother and I have thought for several months now that Crystal Prep was not the school that it markets itself as, and certainly not the school I remember graduating from." He grimaced, rubbing his temples. "...or at least, that I think I remember it being. Some days I wonder if time has blurred the negative aspects of my years there." Her father shook his head after a moment. "Anyway...we had planned initially to have a discussion with you, either over your spring break, or the beginning of summer, but between the suspension you received from your altercation with the Hyades boy, and what happened today, it is a conversation that can no longer wait."
"In short, you have hit it on the head: finishing your high school education at CPA is no longer on the table. I know that you would have preferred to graduate from it next year...but..." Night Light trailed off with a tired sound.
Twilight slumped a little bit--although she had expected that response, it was still a bitter pill. "...what are my options?" she asked, wanting all the data before she composed her response and any additional points that needed to be considered.
Velvet set her tea mug aside with a gentle click of the ceramic against a wooden coaster. "If you were interested in another private academy with high accolades, there is one outside Everton. It is a forty five minute commute, but at this point that is a sacrifice I'd be willing to make to see you in a healthier environment."
She knew of it--if it had been closer, she would have wanted to go there, but at the time, the proximity to her house had been a big factor--younger Twilight didn't like the idea of her mother being an hour away in an emergency...and she wasn't sure that had changed. "What else? The Brewster Educational Institution and Atheneum is a fantastic school, but I am not certain an hour commute is fair to you, Mom." She made a face. "And please don't suggest the one connected to St. Francis Church either."
"I would never, sweetheart, not after the last time your aunt and uncle were here for Thanksgiving." At Sunset's raised eyebrow, she explained, "My baby brother married a very devout woman. Twily spent an hour arguing with her, picking apart her beliefs with all the tenacity of a bulldog. It ended in a bit of a screaming match."
Shining snickered. "Aunt Mahogany thought it was funny."
"Your aunt is what I would call a 'pot stirrer,' dear." She rolled her eyes. "I had not planned to suggest that, however. I also had not planned on suggesting any of the boarding schools either, Twilight. I'm not sure I'm comfortable with a situation that would remove you from your entire support network and isolate you far away."
That had been a given, Twilight thought, and one she was okay with. Being away from her family meant being separated from Sunset too, and that didn't sit right with her. "I...agree that you are probably correct in that. So that leaves...the local public schools? Since it is too late in the year for me to consider early graduation--I have the credits, but all of the submissions for that need to be planned well in advance...and my current year is on the books as my eleventh grade year, not my twelfth grade one."
Velvet picked her mug up, idly stirring her tea. "Yes. Now there are several public high schools in the area, and any of them are acceptable...but Canterlot High is the closest, has a surprisingly thorough curriculum, and Cady's friend Luna is actually one of the principals. Of all of the public schools, I will admit that one is the most appealing to me, since Luna has made it clear that she would personally ensure you had everything you needed if we chose to enroll you there."
Amber fingers curled lightly around Twilight's wrist. "I'd help," her girlfriend added quietly. "Since I go there...we'd probably be in the same classes...except maybe history and if you take a language."
Tempting as that thought was, Twilight was determined to think rationally through the options. Not that there were that many, at least not as many as her mother made it seem like. It came down to the Everton school with a commute or one of the public schools in town...and really, if she was going to go to a public school, she would want one where she knew at least one person.
"I believe," she said at length, "that...among those options, Canterlot High would be the most appealing option..." Then she steeled herself for the part of what she had to say that she didn't think her parents were going to like hearing. "For next year though. I can't transfer yet."
Her parents exchanged a concerned look. "Twilight..." her father started, sounding concerned.
Blue green eyes were also scrutinizing her, Sunset's brow scrunched up as she tried to add up wasn't making sense to her. Abruptly, it seemed to click. "You've thought of something the rest of us haven't," she realized, eyes searching Twilight's for something. "I'm right, aren't I?"
Now Cadence was staring at her too, and she tilted her head. "I think you are right, Sunset. What is it, Ladybug?"
Twilight grew fidgety again, and almost stood up to pace until Sunset's hand pulled her back into her seat. "Sparky, just breathe and explain. It's going to be okay."
"Right." Settling back in her seat, Twilight started to explain her thought process. "My grades. I don't have grades yet in my math and science for the last few months. My grades only exist in the system for the first half of the year in two of the four core courses, because of my independent study projects. I don't get any credit for the semester at all until I submit the final project to be graded...by Principal Cinch." She could see the understanding dawning on her family. "If I transfer before I submit my project for a final grade, what are the odds that Principal Cinch will send my transcripts with a failing grade for both my math and science courses for the year? And with it being most of the way through the year, there would be no chance to recover my GPA."
Night Light looked disgusted and furious. "And she'd get away with it too," he said tersely. "Because it would be within the rules, and with her recent behavior, it would be exactly her style to use it to get even for the 'loss' to her reputation."
The dark haired girl hugged herself. "And that would affect my future, because competitive colleges do look at GPA when weeding out entrant applications. So I cannot transfer until my project is complete and the grades solidified as part of my transcript."
"For the paper trail," Sunset said. "So she can't change it later. Because if I was her, that's what I would do--set it up so you didn't realize anything was wrong until it was too late to stop me." Now it was Sunset's turn to get up, pacing restlessly to the window to stare out at the lawn for a long minute. "The divide and conquer worked for a while," she murmured, turning back, and the expression on her face was one that Twilight had never seen before, not even when they played chess. It was...distant...intense...and there was darkness in her girlfriend's eyes that sent a shiver of a different kind down her spine. "Now she's got you calling her on legal matters, and the police report is going to put pressure on her, unless she has a way to make them quietly lose that report or bury it under a mountain of bureaucracy. Blackmail would be my first guess, especially if there are more CPA alumni that she can manipulate in the CCPD other than Shining Armor. Perhaps a few pictures, or leaking some secret they don't want to get out--the kind of thing that would ruin social standing or make career advancement downright impossible. I'd wager she's also got a Plan B, C, and D, using what she knows against you on a personal level. Like Twilight's grades, or your emotions as her parents, or any ugliness from your history that could be brought to light and used to turn the narrative back around on you. Suspensions, job reprimands, any past legal trouble..." Then she gestured at Shining and Cadence. "With you two, I might look for a way to put pressure on you to encourage Mrs. Velvet and Mr. Night let it go--like threatening your jobs, or anything that could be classed as embarrassing or as a 'indiscretion' that would discredit you to your peers...you might want to think about if she has anything on you like that. Some kind of scandal in the police department, or having a rich alumni buy out the radio station, with the intention of 'downsizing.' She wouldn't even need to go through with it--I hardly ever did. Alternatively, she might try some way to set you all against each other or throw Twilight's credibility into doubt...paint a picture of her as emotionally compromised or unreliable as a witness...maybe use the school's long standing rumor mill from some of Twilight's bullies as a way to show that Twilight has long caused trouble and had family put pressure on the administration in less than legal ways..."
It was then that Sunset seemed to register the way the family was staring at her. Her eyes went wide and the color drained from her face; Twilight saw her hands curl into awkward fists as she hunched in on herself. "...I..." she started, before she sought Twilight's eyes.
Twilight reached out to pull her best friend back to the couch. "Exactly," she confirmed, moving beyond Sunset's dark description--she had long accepted that the redheaded girl had a rough history and a dark side that had gotten the better of her for a long time, and in the end, it had driven home her worries to her family, if perhaps a tad more viscerally than she would have communicated. "Principal Cinch and Crystal Prep have money, connections, and reputation, and I'm not willing to rule anything out or take risks. If I can work harder, I think I can finish my project sooner than the end of the semester...but until then, I am trapped with her having that power over me."
Between her statements and Sunset's insight into things Principal Cinch might do to retaliate or keep her at Crystal Prep, the room fell silent. It was the kind of heavy, unpleasant silence filled with dark thoughts and anxious worry, as each member of the family brooded separately, periodically glancing at her or Sunset. She let it happen--she didn't know entirely how to navigate the situation this was going to put her in the middle of, and if they could come up with ways to mitigate the damage of her getting through the next eight weeks, all the better.
It also concealed the other factor she was less inclined to voice...that on some level, she wanted to finish her year as a point of personal and academic pride. She didn't want it to look like she'd run off, unable to handle even just a few more months of the pressure--even if her family didn't believe that, Twilight would forever feel like a failure and a quitter. She needed to at least complete her project--which she felt she could probably finish by the end of the Friendship Games if she put in the extra hours after school and on weekends. It would mean less time with Sunset for a few weeks, but the benefits would make it worth it.
...and that was the other, even more private motivation. She wanted to resolve her issues with being open about her relationship, at least with her family, before going to a new school...Sunset's school...because then she could walk in and feel confident about her place at Sunset's side as at least her best friend, even if they didn't advertise to Sunset's other friends and peers that they were dating. Twilight wanted to be strong enough to be seen as Sunset's equal, her partner in crime, the person who had her back, not as someone Sunset constantly had to defend. Especially when she did meet the rest of Sunset's friends, who the redheaded girl made sound interesting and amazing to be around--if a touch...exuberant in some cases. She didn't want to just be "Twilight Sparkle, that girl who hung out with Sunset Shimmer," but someone recognized for herself too.
Thinking of Sunset made her eyes drift towards her girlfriend, and she realized that Sunset was sitting with all the coiled tension of an overwrought clock-spring. It was bad enough that it pulled her out of her thoughts so she could scan the room, trying to piece together the problem. Everyone was still quiet and stuck in their own thoughts for the moment, so it couldn't have been something one of her family said. Was it...their reactions to Sunset's words perhaps? She searched each of their faces, trying to understand what they might have been thinking or feeling.
Her father's brows were furrowed and he was looking at Sunset in a way Twilight might have called 'speculative,' while her mother just looked worried and concerned and a little upset--something Twilight chalked up to how agitated the CPA situation made her. Cadence looked like she'd had some kind of epiphany, though not a happy or exciting one...and as for Shining... His expression was one that immediately put Twilight on the defensive. It was the tight frown of a police officer in an interrogation room, picking apart a suspect's behavior--it was an expression she knew well from years of trying to pull things over on her brother as younger siblings often do.
Twilight contemplated telling Sunset it was okay, that they were not upset with her, but she realized explaining what they were likely thinking wouldn't help, because it was not what Sunset was perceiving. Sunset had let slip a little glimpse into the person she had been before, the person she was trying so hard to never be again, and she was terrified that their silence, their reactions, were a form of rejection.
So the younger teen countered that fear in the only way she knew at that moment. She hugged her best friend. "Thank you, Sunny," she said, loud enough to get the family's attention. "It's like you can read my mind when I don't know how to explain something, and you always say it in a way that makes sense."
It seemed to work, shattering the tension filled moment that had hung frozen for far too long. Sunset hugged her back, making Twilight's ribs protest from how tight she squeezed, and she could feel the faint hitch in Sunset's breath as the older girl rested her head on Twilight's shoulder. With her attention mostly now on her girlfriend, she heard more than saw her father's response. He cleared his throat. "...yes, thank you, Sunset," he agreed. "Some of those were scenarios neither I nor the lawyers had thought to anticipate...but all of them are absolutely plausible and well within the realm of believability for how Abacus might respond." There was the sound of shuffling, as he reached for his phone. "If you don't mind, I'm going to jot those down so I can compose a letter later to the legal team so they can game plan contingencies just in case any of them are necessary."
The chuckle that followed seemed a little forced from Twilight's perspective, but as Sunset further relaxed, she wasn't going to question it too deeply. "We'll have to watch out," Night joked. "Or Uncle Stalwart is going try and talk you into considering a career in the legal arena."
Sunset's own laugh was weak and stilted. "...I'm not sure that would be a good idea...I don't think I'd want that kind of power over anyone's life..." She hesitated, then in a quieter voice said, "...anymore..."
That was when Velvet interjected, her tone the firm-but-loving one that Twilight recognized instantly. "Your ability to identify and see through emotionally manipulative tactics, and the ability to reasonably predict the actions of another person is not inherently a bad thing, Sunset. It's a gift that, like many, can be used for both good and bad reasons--the gift itself is neither good nor evil. What you choose to do with it is."
Twilight let go as her girlfriend pulled half out of the hug to look at Velvet. "...I only ever did a lot of bad with it though. I don't want to fall back into that--it's...it's not okay."
"You are correct--using it to harm others is not okay...but you also recognize that, and you are keenly aware that you misused the ability in the past, with the intention of never doing that again. That takes a great deal of self awareness, sweetheart, and I'm proud of you for how far you have come and how hard you work to keep on the path you've chosen for yourself. Self improvement is hard, and you have done wonderful in what is, truthfully, a very short span of time." Velvet smiled at her.
Her girlfriend settled back on the couch, still looking a little pensive, but at this juncture, Twilight decided that probably meant she just needed time to sort the feelings in her head...which was something Sunset did best when she didn't feel under scrutiny from others. Therefore, as much as she didn't want to go back to the previous topic, she did, so that Sunset could have that few minutes where the attention was off her and on Twilight again.
"All of that means I still need to go back to Crystal Prep for the foreseeable future...but I assume you will want to have plans in place to hobble Principal Cinch from continuing her actions while I work to finish my project as expediently as I can." She hated phrasing it that way, but the evidence showed that she was caught in between a war between her parents and her principal and at the end of the day, she knew her parents cared primarily about her health and wellbeing.
Twilight Velvet did not disappoint. She tapped her fingers on her knee and said, "I suspect your father will want some time to discuss things with your uncle and the lawyers, but I was going to have you stay home tomorrow so we can replace your things--particularly your cell phone. From now on, I do not want you going anywhere without one, especially at school. If your gym clothes do not have a viable pocket to store your phone in, we will buy you something acceptable to wear that does. That will buy us until Monday to have a better plan worked out." Her ice blue eyes turned towards Sunset. "Are you staying for the night, Sunset? Or do you need to get home before it gets too late?"
There was no hesitation in Sunset's answer. "Staying. There's ice cream in the freezer, right?" She didn't elaborate further, but Twilight did wonder whose nightmares she was preparing for--Twilight's or her own.
Cady laughed. "In this house, always!"
"Just making sure I don't need to go get some before I switch to pajamas." She took a breath, and gave Twilight's glance one of her lopsided smiles to reassure her. "I can't play hooky with you tomorrow though. I've got to go in and make up the work I missed--Miss Luna said I'd be excused for the second half of the day, but I do have a math test to sleep through, and a science project I needed to ask questions about."
Twilight couldn't help herself. "You missed a math test to help me?"
Fingers tweaked her nose. "Of course I did, nerd. My best friend in the world needed me--that was way more important than a test in a class I could teach better than my teacher."
Her cheeks heated. "...oh..." Twilight made a mental note to reward her girlfriend with kisses when they were alone.
Something seemed to occur to Sunset, and she asked, "Are we still on for this weekend?" she asked worriedly. "We were supposed to hang out with your cousin and her friend. Are you going to be up for that still? Because they're supposed to be here tomorrow night."
It was an out, and Twilight felt affection and gratitude that Sunset had thought to offer it. To the dark haired teen, it was one more example of how Sunset cared, how she paid attention to Twilight and simply took into account Twilight's struggles and flaws without making a huge production about it, and she always seemed to remember it, even when Twilight herself had forgotten or overlooked it. Sunset really was an amazing girlfriend and the very best friend she could have ever asked for.
That gentle and steady support gave her spine steel she wasn't entirely prepared for, and Twilight was shaking her head before she could register that she was talking. "No," she told Sunset firmly. "I still really want to go. I would like to get to know Glamour better--she's trying so hard to reach out and make a connection, and she deserves for me to be willing to meet her halfway..." The younger girl locked eyes with her companion, willing Sunset to understand what she couldn't say in front of her parents. "And you'll be there. I know I can handle it when I have the world's greatest best friend with me."
"If you're trying to flatter me, Sparky, it's working," Sunset chuckled. The wink she sent Twilight's way communicated what it needed to though--she knew what was unsaid.
Twilight nudged her with an elbow. "Your sarcasm is showing."
"Doesn't it always?"
Sunset had a point. "I concede to that. The point I was trying to make, however, was that I have been excited about the day out with you...and them...and I'm not about to let some bullies ruin that for me." Not when it was a date with the girl who was making her insides try to reconfigure to new and interesting shapes just by smirking at her with burning hunger in blue-green eyes.
Oh yes, Sunset was definitely getting kissed when they went back upstairs. Twilight mused on whether she could kiss her thoroughly enough to earn some of those throaty moans that set her senses on fire.
In order to distract herself from the errant thought that she should just kiss Sunset right now, and add 'coming out' to the list of today's emotional overload, she cleared her throat and turned back to her parents. "I have also thought on your extremely valid points about the deleterious effect the environment and people at Crystal Prep are having on my mental health. I believe I have come up with a plan that will... mitigate some of that, as well as alleviate at least part of your worry."
Shining grinned a little at her despite the tension she could still see in his body. "Would you care to elucidate on that, Professor Sparkle?" he asked dryly. It was a touch of normality--teasing sibling banter--and it coaxed a laugh from her.
"I will have you know, big brother, that it is a perfectly valid use of rational speech. It allows me to convey information intellectually when the subject matter is emotionally loaded." Twilight adjusted the glasses that had slid down her nose more than was comfortable, and returned to what she had intended to say. "I thought I would try to arrange to see Dr. Soft-Spoken more regularly, perhaps upping my visits to weekly, depending on her availability. My intention was, use it as an opportunity to discuss the situation with someone who can give a balanced perspective without the emotional... pressure we all feel about this."
Her parents exchanged a thoughtful look, and then Velvet smiled. "I think that sounds like an excellent idea, Twily. We can bring it up tomorrow with her when I take you for your regular session."
Twilight took a breath. "I was thinking that, if she is amenable, I would ask Dr. Soft-Spoken to be an impartial and professional judge going forward--if she believes it has reached a point where the situation has reached a point where it is compromising my mental health beyond what she feels is both reasonable and acceptable, she will inform you as my parents. At that point, you can then go forward with expediting my removal from Crystal Prep, with or without my consent at the moment." She gave her parents a wan, tired smile, feeling her energy flagging. "It would classify as an extension of the existing Parental Override, I believe, but as my therapist, Dr. Soft-Spoken has a neutral perspective unbiased by any personal emotional feelings that all of us have."
Velvet studied her for a minute. "I think that idea has merit, sweetie, but we can talk about it more tomorrow, I think. It's growing late, both of you are going to want showers before bed, and Sunset has to get up for school in the morning. For now, we can table this, and you girls can go wind down."
Next to them, Cadence grinned. "You know, there's a box in the kitchen that may or may not contain some of that double chocolate cheesecake that a certain bakery sells...we won't know until someone opens the box to confirm its reality."
Sunset tossed her head back and laughed. The laughter didn't stop when Twilight jumped up and started pulling her towards the kitchen. "Schrodinger's dessert, huh? I guess we can be the ones to perform the observation, whaddya say, Sparky?" The sarcasm dripped from her tone, considering that Twilight had her by the wrist.
Oh, she had several things she could say in regards to the idea of having both Sunset AND that particular dessert, but that would have to wait. Instead, she turned back to look over Sunset's shoulder to ask innocently, "Do you know if we have any chocolate syrup to go on top of it, Mom?"
It was worth it to see the way Sunset's eyes widened and she turned red all the way to the tips of her ears. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Interlude XXXI: Ephemeris | Usually it was Mondays that Luna cursed the existence of, but this week, it was Thursday. A Thursday morning that she had pried herself out of bed for at an even earlier hour than normal, for once indulging in the breakfast her early-bird of a sister prepared. In her defense, it helped with the hangover--this year had certainly gone a long way to remind her that she wasn't twenty-three anymore, and that her body didn't appreciate the sudden abuse. Maybe she should look into buying one of those stress balls or something before she became an alcoholic.
As it was, she dumped her things in her office, including some packages she knew full well were technically a violation of school policy--those she locked away in her cabinet in the corner, and hoped they would never be needed. Then she grabbed the sixty-four ounce jumbo coffee that was as black as her mood and as bitter as Abacus Cinch's soul--if the old bitch had one--and made her way to Celestia's office. Her sister looked up from the small handheld mirror, clearly having touched up the makeup she wore to conceal the fact that she too was more than a little sleep deprived and hungover. Luna was thankful her own darker complexion hid her state far better than her sunny sister.
"Sunset Shimmer will be along shortly," she told her sibling. "Cadence just texted me to say the girl left the house a few minutes ago, but she is walking, as her bike is still in the student lot."
Celestia rubbed her temples. "Please tell me you brought the migraine medicine with you today. I have a feeling I'm going to need it before we even get to the morning announcements."
Luna smirked and shook a pill bottle at her sister. "I already took some. Preventative maintenance on a day like today. You might consider the same, Tia."
"To be frank, Lulu, when I went home yesterday afternoon, I didn't expect to learn that the rival school we're allowing to visit in a month for an academic and sporting competition is located on some kind of real world Hellmouth." Her older sister grimaced.
She swallowed a mouthful of coffee before answering. "What did you expect me to do, Celestia? This is not the kind of secret I needed to be keeping from you....though the thought crossed my mind. You have been dealing with a lot because of the magic nonsense and how it has affected our school."
It wasn't a lie. She had considered it during the entire drive home the night before, had been on the fence until she stepped up to the front door that had been their home for their whole lives, and remembered that while she had Cadence and Shining and other friends to watch her back, to confide in, and look out for her...
Celestia didn't.
Her sister had been standing on her own since their parents had been killed in the accident all those years ago. Even swathed in bandages and in a hospital bed, her indomitable older sister had taken charge of everything, including the sobbing teenager whose last words to their parents had been petty teen anger. She had worked so hard to be strong and independent that now, years later, she had nothing else besides her career, the students, and Luna.
And after all that had gone on, Celestia deserved to know. Maybe it would even help her focus, give her something she could fight, instead of the shadows that stalked her sleep, and the worried indecision that seemed to be eating her alive.
That, more than anything, had been what compelled Luna's response when she got home...
The door closed heavily behind her, and the scent of homemade spaghetti sauce tickled her nose as Luna hung her purse up and shed her shoes. "Tia? I'm home..."
Her sister managed a warm smile as she plated their food in the kitchen. "Perfect timing," she said. "I'm glad we had the forethought to put sauce in the crockpot. Come sit down, Lulu. You look dead on your feet. Is Sunset Shimmer alright? And her friend?"
Luna looked at the spread on their kitchen table and gave Tia a strained smile in turn as she hiked to the liquor cabinet. She surveyed her options intently for a minute, before selecting the bottle of Father's favorite top-shelf brand. "It is too early to know. Tell me, sister...do you remember what Grandmother used to say about Crystal Prep?"
Worry flooded Celestia's voice. "She used to tell anyone who listened that it was cursed. That the Devil himself walked its halls and touched those who entered. That her great-grandfather had challenged the Devil there and barely escaped with his life...Oh no...Luna, what happened?"
She poured two glasses of the scotch, before taking both and the bottle to the table. "It turns out, Grandmother's story may not have been entirely fantasy. Sunset Shimmer was nearly driven to collapse crossing the threshold of the property, and she confirmed that it was so saturated with 'dark magic' that it was all she could perceive."
The color went out of Celestia's already pale features, and she took the second glass from Luna readily. "Is she alright?" she asked again. "Are you?"
Nodding, Luna took a bracing swallow of the alcohol, feeling the smooth burn of it going down. Father had always had good taste in liquor. "I'm fine. Sunset...I do not know. I cannot prove it, but I believe she expended a great deal of her own magic to protect us." She shuddered. "Tia, I saw shadows moving like they were alive...shadows that had no body to cast them."
Glancing up, she watched her sister shiver and cross herself reflexively. "And Sunset Shimmer has a friend going there daily? The one that's related to your friends?"
"Not for much longer, if the family has anything to say on it..."
"Thank you all the same for being honest with me, little sister...no matter how troubling the news might have been, I am glad to be aware." Celestia flicked her gaze over Luna's shoulder and straightened. "Sunset Shimmer," she called. "We are in here. Please join us and have a seat."
The teenager from another world winced, but slipped into the office and shut the door behind her. "Principal Celestia," she said awkwardly. "...I didn't know I'd be talking to both of you this morning." Then she seemed to consider it, and added, "But I should have. This isn't exactly a small deal. What did you tell her so far, Miss Luna?"
Luna sat back on the small couch in her sister's office. "The basics, Miss Shimmer. That we discovered, when I took you over to assist with an emergency involving a CPA student you are involved with at the family's behest, that Crystal Prep Academy is a place of magic so dark and foul that it frightened even you."
Celestia spoke up then. "Before anything else, Sunset...are you alright? Luna said that the environment had a strong effect on you."
Sunset blinked, looking briefly surprised by the question. "I'm okay."
That earned the redhead led girl a long, searching look. "Are you certain? It's okay to tell us if you are not--there is no need to put on a false front." Celestia exhaled. "Your well-being is important to us as much as it is to your friends...regardless of anything that has happened...you are still one of my Wondercolts first and foremost."
Blue-green eyes went wide and the girl went far too still for a good ten seconds or so, making Luna believe that in that moment, her sister may have reminded the girl of a different Celestia...and exactly why the sisters had decided to let Luna field most of the day to day interactions with their otherworldly student. "I...I'm fine," she finally answered. "Really, Principal Celestia, I am. It was bad at the time, because I accidentally tripped some kind of ward scheme and I had to use my magic to break it. That...took a lot out of me...and it was dangerous, but none of it was permanent. A good night's sleep and a couple of good meals did a lot to restore my magic."
"So it was more than just a place with ambient dark magic then?" Luna queried, making note of the reference to wards.
Here, Sunset frowned. "I...don't know. The wards felt...not new. It's hard to explain. They were...faded. Sunken into the earth in a way that says they had been leaving an imprint there a while, maybe a few hundred years? They didn't feel as old as the wards in the palace in Equestria, but that's...not really a fair metric when those wards are several thousand years old. What I can tell you is that they were there, which means someone put them there at one point, and the magic wasn't any type of Equestrian magic I know." She ran a hand through her hair in a nervous gesture. "Whether that means there's an active source now or if the school is so dark because awful, terrible magic did something in the past, I can't say--there was so much ambient dark magic that I could barely tell the difference between the environment and the people, especially the ones who spend lots of time there."
That was an unsettling thought. "I know," Luna commented, "that I felt the same unpleasant...itching...in my mind that happened at both the Fall Formal and with the Battle of the Bands. However, it was as though it came from the other side of a door that I had the choice of opening or not." Her smile was a grim, tight thing. "As you can infer, I chose to keep the door shut. That still did nothing to...prevent the feeling of needing a shower after, or the sensation of having passed through some kind of oily substance that very much stuck to my skin."
Sunset tapped her foot restlessly on the ground. "I'm not sure if its because of repeated exposure to both mind altering magics and the power of the Elements, but that sounds like you've built up some defense to it....I wasn't able to push the darkness back as far as you when I was in the nurse's office with Twilight and Indigo. There was too much there, and I was fighting it the whole time, trying to keep it from attacking Twilight, and I wasn't going to let it have her." When she looked up at them, her eyes gleamed unnaturally bright, as though her magic was reacting to her emotions somehow. "I'm sorry about that..."
Luna waved off the apology. "Given the circumstances, Miss Shimmer, I can understand your choice perfectly well. I am an adult capable of standing on my own. Twilight Sparkle is not, and she was under assault by dark magic that she had no way of defending against. Besides, for all your statements about not being able to fight off the magic around myself once we separated, I suspect your power did have some kind of ripple effect. Abacus certainly seemed unsettled and borderline ill the entire time, and never have I known her to capitulate so easily."
The unicorn turned teenage girl furrowed her brows at the description. "What do you mean? What happened before we came out to meet Twilight's family?"
"I can assure you, I was in no mood to be trifled with after I sent you down the hall..."
"Vice-Principal Luna," came the frigid voice of Abacus Cinch. "What is the meaning of this intrusion during the middle of the school day? And what's this I hear about you bringing some urchin to my campus?!"
Luna turned sharply and fixed the private school principal with a dark glare. "For once in your life, shut your fool mouth, Abacus!" she snapped, feeling anger rising at the mess this woman had likely caused with her rhetoric. It didn't help that Sunset's departure had come with that crawling, itching feeling against her brain, like a thousand spiders chittering at her thoughts. "I do not normally put much thought into what kind of school you run or how you choose to operate, but you have officially crossed a line today, and you'll be lucky to keep your job, let alone stay out of prison."
There was something incredibly satisfying in watching the woman reel as if Luna had just given her a right hook to the jaw. She'd never liked the woman, or how she encouraged the cutthroat politics of her school, not to mention the family history of hostility against the school and the grounds it occupied and today was just the cherry on top of a generational sundae of spite that was over a century in the making. "...what are you talking about?" Abacus finally managed.
Shouting came faintly from down the hall, but Luna tuned it out. "I am talking about the fact that one of your students contacted one of my students so the two of them could do your nurse's job--your administration's job, really--for her. About the fact that at least one felony, possibly two, has been committed in this building, against a girl whose brother is a detective in the CCPD." She pointed a finger at the sour faced spinster. "You screwed up, Abacus. Big time."
She watched the woman's bluish complexion go waxy and ashen gray, her eyes darting towards the hallway, where the yelling kicked up a few notches as someone--the nurse, Luna suspected--tried to take control of the situation--and Sunset Shimmer, which frankly, was an exercise in futility. Even a magical princess and super-powered rainbow laser beam hadn't done that; Sunset had made her own choice to change course. Cinch's jaw tightened, and the words she bit out seemed falsely conciliatory and a poor attempt at exercising her own control over events. "...I...understand that you believe you have reasons for concern, Miss Solare, however I must confess you have me at a disadvantage. I am completely unaware of what situation you are speaking of, and how my students are...involved."
Luna's eyes narrowed, and she refused to play the game the sour old harridan wanted. "And yet, this is your school, and the actions of students and the staff reflect upon you, Principal Cinch," she pointed out scathingly. "A student in dire straits, beyond your nurse's capabilities to treat or handle, and the state mandates that the parents be immediately contacted. Instead, your staff have decided that the appropriate response is to berate a child for something beyond their control, and attempt to force them back to class without even attempting to contact the parents. What does it say that the administrator of a school for which they have no children enrolled is more communicative to them than the one they fork out tens of thousands to?"
"I assure you," Cinch began, taking a step back from Luna's rising righteous fury, "that my staff are capable of assessing a situa--"
Running footsteps and the Crystal Prep nurse--a stern faced woman as unpleasant as Cinch herself, in Luna's experience came huffing and puffing out of the hallway looking as though she was being chased by some terrifying monster. Luna couldn't help the faint smirk that tugged at her lips--that was a woman who had run afoul of a determined Sunset Shimmer and lost, and it was somewhat satisfying to know that it wasn't just her sister and herself who had failed to control the redhead when she put her mind to doing something. "Principal Cinch!" came the wheezy gasp from a woman who probably had not moved that fast since she was in high school herself. "There's an intruder interfering with my work and Indigo Zap refuses to return to class."
"That intruder," Luna said while trying to contain her internal glee, "is authorized for exactly what she came here to do, by the parents of the girl whom you refused to contact when she was brought in by a friend with a severe anxiety attack and her medication stolen in an act of vandalism. That intruder, for the record, is my student, and I have been in contact with the parents myself."
Abacus Cinch's eyes studied the nurse, and then both of them looked back down the hall, looking even more unsettled by the moment. "Nurse Cherry," she asked in a very low and shaky voice. "...which student did Miss Zap bring to your office?"
Defeat rang in the response. "Twilight Sparkle, Principal Cinch."
Now it was Luna's turn to try and cover her reaction--lucky for her, the two women were still staring pensively down the hall.
Twilight Sparkle...
How had she never realized...?
Her mind sifted through her memories, looking for the time she had met Shining's baby sister, back in their college days. Vaguely, her mind conjured up the images of a small, anxious child, with washed out lavender skin and dark hair that suggested she needed more time in the sun, peering nervously out from behind her father's pants leg. She had barely said ten words, all of them in a whisper quiet voice, and had shied away from any contact. It coupled with that same child's voice in later memories, coming over the phone, exceptionally polite and a touch nasally, sometimes tearful but always shy. And most recently, when the girl had been in tears, asking for Cadence and then pleading for Luna to just fill the silence while she waited...
And while it made a weird sort of sense--especially given Sunset's apparent secrecy about the girl from her other friends--Luna found it hard to reconcile the memories she possessed with the figure in her mind that was Princess Twilight Sparkle, who had stood tall against monsters and magic to defy them and save the day twice over, who looked and acted more like a young adult than a teenager.
"After that, I spent about half an hour tearing down her excuses and blocking her attempts to go after you and interfere. To that end, I called Twilight Velvet's number and let her make some not so idle threats."
Sunset nodded, seeming to slot the information into what she already knew. "Thank you, Miss Luna...for all of that. It took me a while to get Twilight calmed down and someone yelling at us would have just made it worse again."
Celestia had been fairly quiet. "I have some questions," she said at last, making them both turn to her. "To begin with...Twilight Sparkle?"
...well, that was for Sunset to field. Luna was alright with letting the otherworldly teen have the first shot at being under her sister's intense cross-examination.
Sighing, Sunset shuffled in her seat awkwardly. "A lot of people here have Equestrian counterparts--Princess Celestia and Princess Luna aren't the only examples. I met this world's Twilight the night of the formal...on my way home from here, actually. There were some guys in the park..." Her fists clenched in her lap and her expression grew dark, and she fell silent for a long time, enough for both sisters to exchange worried looks. Luna had an inkling after a night spent drinking with Shining a few months back, but to find out that such a thing had occurred the same night of Sunset's demonic transformation was shocking.
"...anyway. After that, she decided that I was her new best friend, and it...kind of went from there." The teen shrugged. "She's not the princess, she's her own person, and no, the girls don't know. I haven't told Twilight or her family about magic...I need to, but it's complicated and not entirely my decision, and..."
Luna chuckled, "And it is not easy to admit to the princess that you are dating this world's version of her, which would definitely come up when you explain your desire to share what are probably state secrets with her."
Eyes like polished turquoise darted up in brief shock. "How did you--" she started, only for the answer to come to her mid-sentence. "...Cadence. Right. I'm an idiot. Of course she'd tell you." She rubbed her face with her hands.
"In her defense, neither of us realized you were my student when she first told me. It was not until she mentioned your name as more than 'Ladybug's girlfriend' that I made the connection." Luna took a long drink of her coffee savoring the bitter bite to it and the way it cleared her muzzy thoughts.
Sunset sighed again. "...good to know. It's...not something we're wanting to become public knowledge, Miss Luna, Principal Celestia...so...if you could just...keep this between us? It'll all come out eventually when Twilight transfers, but...it's a process, for so many reasons."
Celestia leaned forward to rest a reassuring hand on Sunset's shoulder. "We will do nothing to violate your trust, Sunset. I am just trying to understand what transpired, and what I need to be concerned about in regards to the school." Her eyes twinkled with amusement as she glanced Luna's way. "Although I am quite entertained by the fact that my sister never realized Twilight's identity until now. How did you miss that, sister? You've known Cadenza for almost a decade."
Flushing because she'd struggled to figure out the same thing, Luna groused, "A virtually non-verbal seven year old is a great deal different than a magical pony princess in the body of a high school senior, Celestia. And I only physically met the girl once before yesterday."
"And the name? Twilight is not that common a first name." Now her sister was openly needling her, and Luna fought the urge to stick her tongue out. "Especially because Cadenza tells you about her 'little sister' all the time."
Salvation came from a surprising corner. "They...don't call her 'Twilight' most of the time," Sunset explained. "They usually call her Twily, and Cady calls her 'Ladybug' sometimes. Plus I think Twilight is a family name on Mrs. Velvet's side. Her name is Twilight Velvet, and I think Twilight's grandmother's name is Twilight...Twinkle? Something like that."
After a generous swallow of coffee and a minute to squelch a few childish urges to get even with her sister's teasing, Luna trusted herself enough to respond again. "Hence why hearing and seeing Twilight Sparkle caught me by surprise. Despite Abacus and the nurse saying the name, it was not until you carried her into the main office that it truly sunk in."
The teenager made a face. "To be fair, Miss Luna, I was just as shocked to learn that the 'Lu' from the story about the...'lightsaber'...was the same person who put me in ISS."
Lightsab--oh.
Rubbing her temples, Luna exhaled slowly. She and Mi Amore Cadenza were going to have a very pointed discussion about what stories were appropriate to share at family dinners and which ones needed to stay between them. "I apologize, Miss Shimmer. Cadenza sometimes fails to understand the concept of professional boundaries and the idea of 'oversharing.' I will be having a talk with her about that, now that there is no longer the separation of ignorance between us about my identity as her friend and former roommate."
Sunset winced. "Boundaries would be good," she said stiffly. "Cadence...tends to be extremely enthusiastic about the personal anecdotes..." She tucked some hair back behind her ear. "I think it comes from a good place, most of the time, but there's just some things..." The teen trailed off with a huffing snort that spoke volumes.
"I shall endeavor to do my best to remain professional, Miss Shimmer, despite my personal relationship with Cadence. I only ask that you do the same and that you not go...resharing any of her stories with your peers." With hope, they could gloss over this without drawing overt attention to--
"Lightsaber story?" her sister asked with a note of amusement.
Oh, to have been an only child...that would have been glorious.
She would have to settle for putting rubber snakes in her sister's bed. Or maybe bribing one of the students into pranking Celestia's car. Perhaps young Mister Rover and his friends would be up to it...
Luna pulled herself out of her thoughts of abusing her authority for petty revenge to hear Sunset quickly say, "Don't ask, Principal Celestia. There are just some things I do not want to think about, especially involving my vice principal. What happened to her in college needs to stay there."
There was that damned look in her sister's eye again. "Ah, yes. Not many people appreciate embarrassing stories being known to many people...though I can say I have never had the opportunity to hear the aforementioned story from my sister. I will have to ask her later." The long look sent her way told her that Tia would remember to ask later. Then she moved smoothly on to the more important topic. "What should we be doing now that we have confirmation of the dark magic at Crystal Prep?"
Sunset leaned back in her seat, tilting her head up to stare at the ceiling tiles. "First...don't go to CPA. If you need to have a meeting for coordinating the games, do it here, or some neutral ground like wherever the school system has all their central bureaucracy...but stay away from Crystal Prep. I don't fully understand the magic there, but the fainter forms of it on people are practically invisible until they trigger, and by then, it's too late to avoid all of the nasty things it stirs up. Other than that...be on guard. Pay attention to what the people from there ask, and avoid giving them anything that could clue them in about the magic here, or about the girls and me. If there is some conscious mind behind it..."
Celestia frowned, and voiced the thought at the same time it occurred to Luna. "They will make their move at the Friendship Games."
"That's what I would have done," Sunset agreed.
Heavy silence, and her sunny sister straightened suddenly, a steel in her that had been lacking since the Sirens had broken her. "Sunset Shimmer," she addressed the pensive teenager.
For the second time that morning, Sunset reacted, jolting in her seat from the commanding tone that would not be argued with or ignored. "Y-yes, Prince--Principal! Principal Celestia?"
"My primary concern is the well-being of the students in this school, be they Wondercolts or Shadowcolts." Power and authority settled over her like a cloak, and even Luna was ready to jump if Celestia asked. "Therefore, I am making that the mandate here. Whatever you and your friends might need to do to ensure their safety against dark magic...you do, without hesitation. Property damage, laws that do not account for magic, defying figures who would otherwise be considered authority...those are acceptable collateral damage if it means keeping students safe..." She exhaled slowly. "That includes the not so secret 'Student Defense' group that has been moving under the radar." She flicked her eyes to Luna, then back to Sunset. "I would also like to meet with you weekly until further notice to be updated on the magic defenses and progress with your research on the subject. I have...wallowed...long enough."
Sunset relaxed a fraction, but nodded jerkily. "I won't let you down," she promised.
Celestia reached out and put a hand on the girl's shoulder again. "I am not worried about that, Sunset. You and your friends have proven yourselves, and I couldn't be more proud of all of you. I am telling you that you are not doing this alone--we are here to support you. I am here to support you." She paused for effect. "Because you are also one of my Wondercolts, and that matters."
Luna couldn't tell if it was a trick of the light, but there might have been unshed tears in Sunset's eyes. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Thirty Six: And I Cannot Lie… | One of the benefits to her library hideaway was that very few people knew it existed. The second floor of the CHS library was mostly a repository of forgotten reference materials and dead media formats, along with old records from the school and something like ninety years worth of yearbooks. That meant that few people ever braved the dust other than true bibliophiles and Sunset herself--not even the librarian went to the second floor any more than she had to. Which was fine with Sunset, because it was the place she retreated to when she needed to have space and quiet to sort her thoughts and emotions. It had gotten less use over recent months, but the former unicorn still found its soft lighting--courtesy of a couple of desk lamps and a few strings of large sized Christmas lights--and solitude soothing.
Which was why she was there right now, trying to cope with the emotions the meeting with the principals had stirred up...and figure out what she was going to tell her friends about the previous day, because she knew they would want to know. The former unicorn didn't want to lie to them...but she wasn't sure she wanted to tell them everything. Her two lives were on a collision course, and there was nothing she could do to stop it...but there was some, small, selfish part of her that just didn't want to share Twilight just yet. Not until she'd told her the truth about everything--Twilight deserved to be told first, when she was in a better state of mind, so she could have time to process everything and prepare herself, not be thrust face first into a Pinkie Pie Party with no warning, surrounded by people who knew her name and were two hundred percent friendship by volume a thousand percent of the time.
Groaning in her throat in frustration, Sunset put her face in her hands, hunched up in one of the beanbags she had put in the room for when she needed a nap or to relax. It didn't help that Principal Celestia had stirred up memories and feelings and things she'd been trying so hard to put behind her...stuff she'd thought she was getting better about letting go, but one conversation with the principal and it was all there at the surface again, boiling under her skin.
She belonged here, to this school, with the humans who had embraced her...even after they'd suffered under her ego. They trusted her, stood up for her...Principal Celestia was proud of her. Vice Principal Luna respected her. Her friends cared about her--Applejack had called her family at the New Years party. They encouraged her to be who she was, and accepted that Sunset Shimmer was a grumpy little unicorn from another world that messed up their lives with magic.
So why did it matter so much that it wasn't Princess Celestia who said those things? That it wasn't other ponies who accepted her? That wanted her? Sunset Shimmer was being offered everything she ever wanted, and all her stupid mind could seem to focus on was a childish reaction that it wasn't being offered by the right beings.
The worst part was, she didn't really get why it still mattered to her. She knew--had known since before she ran away through the portal--that the Princess did not see Sunset as family, and all of her belief that she could prove herself worthy had been wishful thinking that she could force an outcome of her choosing. She accepted that--she'd said as much to her girlfriend, and she really meant it...yet it didn't stop the longing ache that had risen when the principal had spoken, sounding so much in that moment like the Princess of the Sun.
Principal Celestia was proud of her, even after all her failures and turning into a raging she-demon...so why had she been such a disappointment to Princess Celestia?
It could have been the lack of closure that was getting to her. Knowing she would never have the chance to ask the princess why her best hadn't been good enough...why she had never been enough. Like the secret of her origins and her birth parents, it was one more thing that she would never have the ability to answer. Maybe that was it, especially given how being in this world, finally taking the chance at opening herself up to others, and being accepted, despite all her mistakes and flaws and all the awful things she'd said and done, had drawn the lack of acceptance from anypony in Equestria into stark relief, and made her question it for the first time in her life.
Sunset scrubbed her face with the edge of her shirt sleeve, trying to wipe away the few tears that had managed to escape. She had more important things to do than running her mind in circles over and over about something that wouldn't ever have an answer. Like the questions about her parentage, it needed to go into the little box in the corner of her soul that she just avoided opening at all costs. Maybe someday, when she wasn't dealing with dark magic infesting a school and a potential attack on both CHS and the portal to Equestria, she could sort through some of the things she'd shoved in there, but for now...
For now, Sunset Shimmer couldn't afford to waste the time thinking about it.
Which left her back at her square one, trying to decide what to tell her friends about yesterday. "Ponyfeathers..." she groaned, flopping completely back into the welcoming embrace of the bean bag chair. She could feel a headache coming on, and it wasn't even eight o'clock yet.
Footsteps caught her ears, and then a knock as the door was opening. Sunset tensed--it was too early for a lot of people to be at the school yet, and even fewer knew to look in here. Her suspicions were confirmed when Rainbow Dash stepped in and shut the door behind her. The athlete looked windblown and red faced from the early morning chill, and more than a little tired, but that didn't stop her from holding out a Dr. Pepper and a paper sack that turned out to contain half a dozen of Sunset's favorite danishes. "Here. Didn't know if you ate since yesterday, so I grabbed breakfast on the way."
The former unicorn took them with a surprised expression etched onto her features. "Dash..." she started.
"It's not a big deal, Shimmer, but I know you don't eat when you're stressed. You don't usually sleep either. Wasn't sure you did either yesterday after you bailed from history. Figured I'd make sure you made up for it."
Guilt ate at her. "...thank you, Dash," she whispered, voice thick with emotion.
"It's cool. You'd do it for me." The colorful teen flopped backwards into the desk chair and spun to face Sunset, taking a long drink from her own soda bottle. "You okay after yesterday? Shy said you were super rattled when you ran out. Like something scared you...and then you said you were on fire but couldn't make it go out."
Nibbling at a danish, Sunset sighed. "I'm better now," she answered honestly. "There were a couple of rough moments though, and I was worried I was a fire hazard."
Her friend nodded in understanding, and they fell into an easy silence as they worked on their breakfasts. Then, just as suddenly as she appeared in the library, Dash spoke again.
"How about your friend? Are they okay?"
Sunset choked, soda threatening to backflush out her nostrils. She sat forward, hacking and coughing , trying to clear her various airways, before staring at Rainbow Dash. "What--?!"
Spinning lazily, the soccer star responded, "That's what yesterday was all about, wasn't it? The friend you made a while ago, the one that doesn't go to our school, they were in some kind of trouble, right?"
Still gaping like a fish, Sunset stammered, "That's...right...but how did you...?"
The spinning chair stopped, and her friend rolled her eyes. "It wasn't hard to figure out, Shimmer. I knew about your friend already--remember? Back before Thanksgiving?" She took another swig of her drink. "Fluttershy said you looked really upset, and then you said your magic was doing stuff...and it's Friendship magic, right? So it had to be about a friend or family, and since you're from Equestria and it was a message on your phone, it couldn't be your pony family, so it had to be someone here. And if it was someone at CHS, you would have just told us and we would've been called to help...so it had to be your secret friend who doesn't go here..."
She had completely forgotten about that long ago conversation by her locker, she realized. Partially because Rainbow had just never mentioned it, and partially because after that point, the girls had seemed to come to some private agreement that they didn't make plans for Fridays, so she hadn't needed to keep evading the subject. Now she wondered--had Dash subtly discouraged Friday plans to cover for her?
"...anyway, I decided since it's still a secret that I'd get here early and catch you alone, so I could ask. So is your friend okay?" There was such worry hidden in that raspy voice, care and concern for someone that she didn't even know, all because they were important to Sunset...and even now, Dash had kept her word. Not told anyone else...
Sunset felt the magic in the air around them, sky-blue wings framing Rainbow's back, and the sudden weight of an extra eighteen inches of hair on her head, the rush of sounds suddenly coming into proper focus to pony ears, and fire dancing around her horn to cast flickering shadows on the walls. She opened her mouth to answer, and the truth came tumbling out.
"Twilight. Her name's Twilight Sparkle, and she goes to Crystal Prep..."
Eyes widened, but Dash focused on the part she cared most about. "She okay?"
"...not really. She had nightmares last night, and she has to go back to Crystal Prep..."
Another nod. "You wanna tell me what happened?"
Taking a deep breath, Sunset nodded, and what came out was everything. The whole story. Every sordid detail from their meeting in the park and the boys who Sunset beat the crap out of, to the awkward and shy friendship between the unicorn who never really had one and the nerdy bookworm who had never had many but was determined to be Sunset's first friend, to even the awkward romance that had bloomed. Nothing was left out, not how Sunset had been welcomed by the rest of Twilight's family, not how things had been going downhill for her best friend at CPA and with Wallflower, not even Twilight researching what she didn't know was magic.
She even found herself talking about why she hadn't told any of them, first out of fear that they'd take Twilight away when she was the only thing keeping Sunset going, then from worry and fear about losing her best-friend-turned-girlfriend if she wasn't careful about how and when she chose to reveal the truth, to the realization that she would have to sooner rather than later...and why she still wasn't ready right now to let everyone know.
Rainbow blinked owlishly at her when she finally exhausted herself talking, and took another drink of her soda. "Soooo...let me see if I've got this straight. You met the Twilight that's human like us and not a pony like you, like, the same night you tried to barbecue the Princess version, except you saved her from dirtbag rapists instead. Then she did the Twilight thing where she decides you're friends and she wants to help you, and she did what Princess Twilight asked us to do...except she goes to the shittiest school ever with a bunch of fucking assholes, and it turns out that school--our biggest rivals--has evil magic that's hurting her, and that's how you knew about it...and she's gonna be transferring here as soon as she can do it without her bitch of a principal fucking her over?"
"That's...the bare bones of it, yeah."
One wing flexed and extended, pointing her leading flight feather like a finger at Sunset. "And somewhere in the middle of this you figured out you're gay? Bi? Wet for humans? Whatever. And now you are sucking face with her too and you bailing and have your magic go nuts was because your girl was in danger and you ran to the rescue again? And did some stuff to kick the evil magic in the face."
Sunset pinned her ears back instinctively in both frustration and embarrassment. "We're dating--I'm not using her to satisfy the weird monkey hormones in my body or whatever like you're making it sound. I wouldn't do that to her. She's...she's my best friend, Dash."
The soccer star nodded. "...I get it. It's cool, Sunset. I have a couple of questions though."
Sunset fought the urge to crib on a thumb, and nodded, half afraid of what Dash was about to say. "Okay...?"
"How the fuck were you ever evil? Like...what the hell!?"
What? Of all the things that could have been asked, that was one that had never crossed her thoughts. "Uhhh..."
Dash gestured at her with the soda and a wing. "No, seriously, Sunset--how were you ever able to act like a bitch? Like...do the Elements...rewrite a person's personality or something when they hit them with a rainbow laser? Because holy shit, dude!"
She shied back a little from the reaction. "I don't--what are you talking about?"
The rainbow haired athlete just gave her a deadpan look. "Sunset. You just told me that less than a few hours after you went all 'Rawr! I'll get you and your little dog too!'...after being all fucked up by the rainbow thing, you jumped right into a fight against four dudes who were all bigger than you to stop them from raping a girl you didn't know that looked just like the princess you had tried to turn into sidewalk pizza. And then you let her talk you into being friends. All in less than a day." Rainbow made a face. "And it wasn't a fluke--you keep doing it. Like at the pep rally, or with the sirens--after we treated you like shit and didn't do what Twilight asked, and then really bombed it by only half-assing the whole friendship thing while the sirens were messing with everyone...you were sick that whole week, and you still stepped up to help save everyone. And this--you went alone into a place all messed up with evil magic for her, to protect her..." She locked eyes with Sunset. "This is you, Shimmer. The real you. And I don't get how you could have been evil. It's not who you really are."
For several minutes, all Sunset could do was sit in stunned silence, struggling to process her friend's words. It was a lot to take in, especially all at once, and coming as the most recent thing in a morning that was already far too emotionally stressful made it even more so. Eventually though, she struggled to put her answer into words. It came out ragged, rough, and...maybe a touch hysterical, if she were honest with herself when she looked back later.
"I..." she started, before her voice cracked. Sunset took a long drink of the beverage in her hand. "...I don't know..."
Rainbow frowned. "...you don't know?"
Shaking her head, the former unicorn fumbled. "It's...not like it happened overnight. I didn't just wake up one day and decide to be a heinous bitch, and I still don't understand how I'm here and not still a raging, maniacal she-demon." She closed her eyes, pressing the heel of her hand into the depression caused by the socket in some attempt to massage out the growing pressure in her skull. "Maybe I could tell you that when you have a little filly who is full of hurt and anger every day, who wants to belong but no one wants her, that that's what happens. Maybe I could tell you that the combination of my already overpowered, unstable magic, my rage, and the want to be wanted by somepony, anypony, worked together in twisting me up until that was all that was left inside me. Maybe I could tell you that it's because other ponies treated me like a dangerous monster my whole life and eventually I decided if they wanted a monster, I would give them one. Maybe I could even tell you that some of it was from the sheer terror of being completely alone in a world where I was surrounded by violent, insane predators that like to torment each other...."
Sunset exhaled harshly. "...but the truth is...I can't really point to any of those things because I don't really know. Looking back, it wasn't about one defining moment, or even a series of little steps. I'm not even sure this is who I was when I was a very young foal." Her head ached and her eyes felt dry and burned at the same time. "Maybe you're more right than you know. I barely understand what happened inside the Rainbow of Light...but maybe the original Sunset Shimmer died inside there...and I'm what was left over after you get rid of the rot. I don't know..."
The quiet was deafening and she opened her eyes to see Rainbow frowning at her. It was enough that the redhead's guts squirmed. "...sorry..." she started, prepared to turn it into one of those self-deprecating jokes to diffuse the sudden tension.
Except Rainbow had other ideas. The athlete set her drink on the desk, and in the next moment abandoned the chair to flop on top of Sunset and the beanbag both. The words died in her throat as pale blue arms came around her and the former bully found herself enveloped in a full body hug. Her breath caught on the lump in her throat, and she found herself melting into the embrace, magic flickering with little tongues of crimson flame that reflected off the barrier of feathery wings that shielded her senses from the outside world. In the end, she buried her face in Rainbow's shoulder and soaked in the way the magic felt to her perception, like laying in the damp grass after a summer thunderstorm, the air smelling of ozone and earth and water and life, all the heaviness taken away with the clouds.
The hug lasted for a long time, mostly in that strange silence under a sky of feathers, before Rainbow said anything. "...and maybe none of that matters because this is who you were always supposed to be: our friend, Twilight's girlfriend, and a super awesome person."
It...felt good, the short, blunt support from a friend who didn't waste her time with flattery. Dash always said exactly what was on her mind and it always reflected how she felt, even if she downplayed it. "...Thanks, Dash. I...needed...all of this."
"We're friends, Shimmer. Maybe I didn't do the best in the beginning, but I'm gonna do my best now. Even if your girl is your bestie, we're still solid."
Sunset laughed, dropping her head back. "You know, maybe you should be careful talking like that and let me up, before I have to worry that Twilight has some competition."
Pushing herself up, Dash swatted her shoulder with one wing. "In your dreams, Shimmer."
"Hardly," Sunset said with dry humor, batting the wing away gently with her palm. "We'd kill each other inside a week--not exactly what I'd call my idea of a fantasy romance."
The other girl guffawed. "Too right," she snickered as she shook out her wings and folded them against her back. "Besides, if we're being real, that's the one kind of competition I'd rather not even be involved in. Totally not my thing."
Shuffling to readjust on the beanbag now that Dash was flopping back in the chair, Sunset shrugged. "I understand that; with the exception of Twilight--my Twilight, not the princess--humans just...don't do it for me. Your species is ugly, and you're all nuts."
"You're just jealous because we have thumbs."
Arching a brow as she fished out another danish from the bag, Sunset snarked, "Dash, fingers are the only thing humans have that I'm jealous of."
Brightly colored brows waggled at her. "Your Twilight's got some good finger game then?"
Sunset choked with embarrassed laughter, face going red. "Rainbow!" she shrieked, tossing a balled up napkin at her friend. "For your information, I wouldn't know. We...haven't..."
"But you totally want to. I can see it in your face, Shimmer, don't lie."
Ears burning, she shrugged as an answer that wasn't an answer. Rainbow shook her head. "Hey, I get it. Just because I only care to rub one out like once a year doesn't mean I can't recognize that the princess is cute, and that means an even bigger egghead version probably has that sexy repressed librarian thing going on...plus youre smoking hot. I'm ace, not blind." She winked at Sunset and shot her a pair of finger-guns.
The former unicorn groaned. "Please don't tell me this is going to be every talk with you now--it's still a secret." Her shoulders slumped. "A secret that is making telling everyone about yesterday hard. I still feel like I owe her the whole story before I spill it to the other girls."
Dash cocked her head. "So don't tell them the secret stuff." She ran a hand through her hair. "You're allowed to have secrets, Sunset, even from your friends. It's okay, as long as the secret is something that won't hurt anyone or put anyone in danger. Far as I can tell, the important part is the evil magic at Crystal Prep that's attacking people, not that you know the human Twilight or that you guys want to play tonsil hockey on weekends. The magic part is the big deal, and that would be the same if the person who got attacked was some dude named like Number Cruncher or Yardline, and you guys were just bros who kick each other's ass at Smash."
Blinking, Sunset thought it over. "...that...maybe that could work..." then she grimaced. "Until Rarity decided she wanted to know more. She's already tried to get nosy about my 'love life' when there wasn't one, and something like a friend I won't talk about is going to make her go right to the idea that it's some kind of illicit affair. Which it's not. Sparky's not out, and I'm still trying to figure out how to prove magic is real and explain I'm a unicorn in a way that doesnt risk setting her house on fire."
"Would you chill?" Dash rolled her eyes. "I got your back on this, Shimmer. You just focus on telling everyone the important parts, and I'll handle my part. That's what you do when you're part of a team."
Rubbing her face, Sunset started mulling it over. "...okay..." She started trying to piece together exactly what she wanted to say, falling into comfortable silence for a while.
Until Dash broke it.
"...so I gotta know...your Twilight got like...a bubble butt? Since you said you're kind of an ass girl?"
"Dash!"
"What?! It's an honest question! You told us ponies like big butts!" "..."
"Sunset? C'mon, I was just messing with you." "..."
"Shimmer?"
"...yes, okay? Her butt is super distracting, especially when she wears this one pair of pajama pants, and if you ever tell anyone I said that, they will never find your body."
The sound of Rainbow's laughter rang through the small room. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Thirty Seven: Council of War | "...And that's when we got out of there as fast as we could and not make it look like we were running. I still don't know what hit me inside that wall, but it was some of the foulest, most corrupted magic I have ever felt, and it was definitely way older than anyone who goes there." Sunset resisted the urge to crib on a fingernail as nine pairs of eyes stared at her, each one holding a different reaction.
AJ was frowning, the action setting deep lines in her forehead, while beside her, with one arm threaded casually through the farmer's to rest a pale hand on her forearm, Rarity looked Sunset up and down, blue eyes calculating. Fluttershy was hugging a bunny, deeply distressed--though given the somewhat graphic description Sunset had given about whatever magic she had ruptured open, that was unsurprising. Pinkie was half heartedly doodling in a notebook, and seemed unable to really meet her gaze...there wasn't a positive spin she could put on this, and Sunset knew that despite Pinkie's love of frivolity, the party planner knew when jokes were inappropriate. Dash fidgeted in her seat, before hopping up to fiddle with her guitar. Bon-Bon had her arms crossed--like Applejack, she seemed to be mulling over the information and what it meant for them. Flash and Lyra--who both knew exactly who her unnamed friend was--were clearly worried about Twilight, and fighting to hold their tongues. The wild card in this meeting, however, was Trixie Lulamoon; the stage magician was staring at Sunset with surprising intensity and actual worry...something that unsettled Sunset more than anything. Trixie had never dropped the ego before but the whole time she had recounted the magic she'd experienced, the latest addition to their magical defense meetings had grown progressively paler, until her skin tone nearly matched Rarity's.
It was Applejack who spoke first. "Explains why ya lit outta here like yer tail was on fire. Magic visions and an someone in trouble, all comin' together like that?" She took off her hat to scratch her head. "What a mess..."
Flash broke before Lyra. "Is your friend okay?" he asked.
"They're...they'll be okay, but it's going to take time. The good thing is that their family is on their side and want to get the police involved." Sunset sighed. "Especially with how much the laptop was worth. It was a brand new, top of the line model. They got it at the beginning of the school year."
Bon-Bon made a noise in her throat. "Good. Police breathing down the school's neck means if there is some kind of evil magic user there, they'll have to be careful or it'll get found out. That might slow them down if they've got any kind of plan going on."
"Or it'll make 'em desperate," Applejack said pensively. "Which could be good...or bad." The group fell into silence, each of them digesting what they'd been told more than they were the lunches that lay mostly forgotten on the table they sat at in what was becoming known as 'the Magic Room.'
It was in this quiet that Rarity struck. "...so...Sunset, darling...I have to admit, I am curious. This friend of yours...when did the two of you meet? You never mentioned them before...?"
She was fishing, and Sunset focused as hard as she could on staying relaxed. "Rarity, they go to CPA--with how everyone in this school gets, and how things have been for me for most of the year, I didn't want to paint an even bigger target on myself...or give people here new reasons to despise me. Or worse, turn an innocent person into a target for something that had nothing to do with them."
"But, darling, that was all months ago--things have been so much better since the Battle of the Bands, and we wouldn't have reacted with such negativity..." The pale skinned girl actually sounded a little hurt and confused, and Sunset felt guilty.
Dash, on the other hand, made a derisive sound. "So Shimmer's got another friend. Big deal. Can we get back to the important part? The whole 'Crystal Prep isn't just snobs, it's basically like some kind of...I don't know, Evil Wizard Lair,' and they'll be here next month for the Games? Which means monsters and magic fights again!"
A pencil tapped restlessly on Lyra's open notebook, which had notes taken from the meeting thus far. "Hey, Sunset. You said the magic you found there was older than the students, right?"
The redhead thought back. "Definitely. I'm not an archaeologist, and I wasn't in a position to run some of the diagnostics that let me verify age, but this wasn't new magic. It was...too sunken into everything. And the wards..." she shuddered at the memory of it digging into her, trying to tear her apart. "...it wasn't old by any standard of measurement--maybe a century or two, but...it couldn't have been more than five hundred years old."
There was a quiet throat clearing from Fluttershy. "A hundred years is pretty old..." she said softly. "And five hundred years is really old..."
She shrugged. "I guess by human standards, it would be...but..." Sunset made a vague gesture. "You have to understand, my bedroom as a filly was something like forty five hundred years old. Most of Canterlot's Upper Terraces date back to the founding of the city after Princess Celestia ascended and reunified ponykind under one banner. The magics there were layered, and the oldest spells and wards were as old as the palace itself. A few hundred years is...not new, but it's not really old, either." The former unicorn sighed. "The point I was making is that it's definitely older than any of the students or staff."
Lyra frowned. "Then...if it's that old...it's not Equestrian Magic, is it? It didn't come from your world, and it didn't happen because of the Fall Formal." She frowned. "Which means it came from here. From this world." She tilted her head. "Right?"
"It's...it doesn't feel like Equestrian magic, so the only other option is that it originated here." Sunset rubbed her temples--her headache had only worsened as the day had gone on. "Unfortunately, I'm still deciphering that weird journal that got left in Pinkie's locker, and it doesn't have a lot for me to work with. It's all personal anecdotes, references to human superstitions, and transcribed conversations. The most useful part so far has been a bestiary and a botanical guide whose information just bridges the gap between Equestrian alchemy and apothecary practices, and human folk medicine involving so called 'plant magic.' There's very little about how magic works here...no formulas or numbers, no accurate theorems or concrete measurements."
Help came from a...well, perhaps not entirely unexpected corner...but one she had not expected to be so vocal so soon. "Trixie...might be able to help with that."
Sunset relaxed a little, but waved at the magician to keep talking. Everyone else watched her curiously, some of them wondering if it would be useful or another dead end. Regardless, Trixie cleared her throat. "The Great and Powerful Trixie is a performer, not a historian, but she is also a descendant of the House of Lulamoon, one of the seven lines that can trace their lineage to the Ancient Line of Madji, the most powerful Sorcerer who ever lived!" The air flashed with bright sparks from the out thrown hands...and a little confetti provided by Pinkie. When no one said anything, Trixie cleared her throat. "Anyways. What Trixie can tell you is what her father told her: once, magic was everywhere, and powerful sorcerers could shape reality to their will...but as time passed, the magic...went out of people. Fewer could grasp its power, and eventually, even members of the seven lines had less and less, until magic was almost gone from everywhere. By the time of Trixie's grandfather, magic was seen as...parlor tricks and sleight of hand, and many of the teachings of magic have been lost."
Her voice grew quieter. "...were it not for Sunset Shimmer's transformation, Trixie...would have given up on her magic even being more than her own wishful thinking."
That staggered Sunset for a moment. The other girl's voice held a painful amount of sincerity and a touch of something she might have called 'melancholy.' And then her mind reminded her that once upon a time she had told Trixie that she was a charlatan and a hack who would never be a real magician. It had been back when she had exhausted her attempts to determine if there was real magic in the human world and decided all of what was talked about was fake...but that didn't make it right. "I..."
Trixie held up a hand imperiously, her ego covering the brief moment of vulnerability. "The Great and Powerful Trixie does not require apologies at this time. Perhaps later, when there are not true problems with yet more foul magics afoot." She continued, her expression darkening into a frown. "I was unaware of any places of such unpleasant evil," she mused, dropping the act in her moment of worry. "My family has kept many records over the centuries of places of great power and great danger. I trust you have such places in your world, Sunset Shimmer? Where there is so much magic that everything is teeming with it?"
"We do," she confirmed. "In Equestria, we have leylines--think of them as subterranean rivers, but for magic, instead of water. Places where they intersect...it can muddy the flows a bit and cause the magic to become more highly concentrated--again, like the currents in water can be disrupted when two flows meet, creating...whirls and eddies and saturation of the ground. Some of the strongest places in Equestria with the highest naturally occurring SET levels exist at major leyline conjunctions where two, three, or sometimes more lines cross one another. I...can perceive what feels like proto-leylines under the school. It's something that...well...before the formal, I honestly believed it was nothing more than excess magic leaked into this world by the portal in the statue, but...it's no longer the faint sense of lingering magic. Now it's much larger, very distinct, and it is growing stronger."
There was a thoughtful nod from Trixie. "Your fights, here and at the amphitheater, plus the two times you Rainbooms have unleashed that Rainbow Wave thing...generated a considerable amount of power--your research concurs with this, yes?"
Sunset agreed readily. "On all counts. The Rainbow of Light--which is what that's called, by the way--is estimated to have a SET in excess of fifteen or twenty. The one time we were able to measure it supports that estimation." She thought of a comparison. "If I were to...compare it, the difference between that and the ambient energy levels of the world from what I've seen is like the difference between a candle and the sun."
"...Trixie's magic has...improved...in recent months. What was prone to failure is now easy, and there is magic that was inaccessible that seems possible. Each...burst of improvement...has followed Trixie coming into contact with your foreign magic."
Rarity leaned forward. "Are you suggesting what I think, darling? That our magic might...infect others?"
She shook her head. "Not infect, and not anyone. But one of the...tenants of magic that the House of Lulamoon follows is that magic calls to magic. Trixie believes your magics are infusing more magic into places that already have magic. Such as Trixie and her father..." Her eyes met Sunset's. "...or places with old spells that had been placed and then gone dormant when the magic was no more."
The former unicorn's eyes grew wide, "Discord's laughing madness... which would explain why Crystal Prep's grounds were powered up enough to catch me in wards." She twisted and rolled her chair to the computer, where she brought up her spreadsheet with the various SETs she'd been tracking and her other notes. "The ambient SET level of the school has been gradually increasing, and by the measurements I've been tracking...but I didn't think...dragonfire and endless ice!"
She grabbed a notepad and furiously began scribbling out a complex formula, her free hand grabbing a heavy tome from the shelf and flipping through it for the theorem she needed. There was shuffling behind her, and a moment later Trixie spoke from her elbow. "Trixie's theory has backing then?"
"More than you know," Sunset sighed. "I think...it might be a little more complicated, but accurate." She started crunching the numbers in what she had written, Equestrian glyphs sprawling across the crisp paper. "I think I can explain several things with it. The first is why the Harmonic energy didn't purge something dark like CPA...why your magic is stronger, Trixie." The answer staring back at her confirmed it. "And why the portal is here."
"Well don't keep us in suspense, girl," Applejack drawled.
Sunset dropped her pen. "I believe this world used to have magic. More than it does now...possibly a lot more, like Trixie said, and like the book from Pinkie's locker talks about. It might even be why there's so much human folklore about magic and monsters that Equestria has but Earth doesn't now. I don't know why it doesn't anymore, but...if it did, then we're sitting on a nexus of what used to be its leylines. In this world, it's likely that only a nexus would have enough power to anchor a permanent portal to Equestria...which is why it's the statue here and a mirror on the other side. Equestria has enough raw magic and the materials naturally charged enough to act as an anchor if a unicorn or other active caster chose to transfer it to an object..." She ran her hand through her mane. "If that's true, then the energy of the portal has been...maintaining the leyline here, but at a slow trickle rather than a river. It builds up over a natural cycle until it reaches a critical mass...and bam! The portal opens for a few days, magic floods the leyline just enough to stabilize it, but then burns off most of the excess until the portal collapses as unsustainable."
She found the other formula she needed and began running the numbers. "But what we've done...we've increased the energy in that leyline remnant. First through a massive infusion that would have flooded it and then carried much farther and with more energy than has probably been seen in a while--like a flash flood in a dry riverbed--and then through several more infusions on top of the fact that I have a history of unstable magic and all of you girls have become a constant source of magic. And that's not even accounting for the magic that comes through from Equestria every time Princess Twilight uses the quantum entanglement in the journals to force the aperture open from the Equestrian end."
Pinkie Pie piped up helpfully. "Oh, so it's like trying to fill a pool at a big waterpark with all the cool rivers and slides! Except before it was like doing it with a garden hose while waiting for it to rain and so it took forever, but then we came in with fire hoses!"
Dash groaned. "Pinks, that made no sense. Besides, even I kinda got Sunset's egghead speech. We're making magic and it's making CHS more magical. Which, for the record, is awesome!"
"How does that affect Trixie though?" Fluttershy asked. "Or Crystal Prep being an Evil Wizard Lair?"
Grabbing a big sketchpad she used for technical drawings in the research, Sunset pivoted back to the table and began to draw a loose diagram on the page. "I don't know for certain, but my hypothesis is that if our magic is being dumped into the leylines under us first, that would turn it into a much more neutral form--Harmonic energy, according to Princess Twilight's notes, seeks to heal and repair things that are not the way they were meant to be, whether that's scrubbing a corrupted soul, returning magic to ponies drained by a mad centaur, or, in this case, repairing damaged leylines and charging them. That energy, in turn, seeps naturally into the environment around it...and CPA is not really that far in a straight line: ten to fifteen miles at most."
"Trixie...is not certain she understands..."
Sunset laughed. "Trixie, you go to school here. You eat school lunches five days a week. You get peanut butter crackers from the vending machine outside the gym every day. You drink from the school water fountains. You are eating food that is soaking in magic all the time, drinking water saturated in it, breathing air charged with it. You may not need thaumic energy to survive like a unicorn does, but you still need magic to do magic. Until now, you've been running on a mostly empty tank, and now there's energy for you to access."
A throat cleared, and Rarity asked, "And you believe then that the energy we released may have...charged the batteries on some dormant evil magic from this world then?"
That sobered them all very quickly. "It's a possibility--if there's no conscious active user of dark magic involved, then it's the most probable. It's happened in Equestria--powerful wards and ancient curses powered by ambient magic outlasting their creators by millennia." A grimace crossed her features. "Archaeology is a very dangerous field in Equestria, and any intelligent dig team always includes at least two active spellcasters who specialize in spell-breaking. Usually with a minor mastery in abjuration."
"And what if it's not passive?" Bon-Bon asked. "What if there's a...person...or monster...behind this?"
Taking a deep breath, Sunset squared her shoulders. "If that's the case...then we need to be prepared--all of us." She included everyone in her sweep of the room, even Trixie. "Because if there is a conscious mind behind it, whether that's someone using dark magic or just someone who has become twisted by it accidentally, then the Games is where they'll make a move."
"That means more training," Dash said. "Think we can get the principals to give us access to the building later than normal? Or maybe on Sundays? We need the band practice."
Applejack tapped a hand on the table. "If not, we kin practice with our music during free period and lunch, and stay late at the farm ta practice our new powers. Granny'll understand, and with it bein' early spring, there's no seasonal folk ta see us. We always do spring pruning and the family patch ourselves. Saves money."
"Yeah, that'll work--it gives us a short break after school for homework and an early dinner, or any after school commitments we have...like tutoring. We could probably use Sundays for practice at the farm too, I think," the redhead said thoughtfully. "If it comes to a fight, the new powers we've all gotten are probably going to be useful, and we've learned from the Battle of the Bands that it's the friendship and connection between everyone in the group that makes the magic work, not how good we are at performing."
Then she remembered what Celestia had said, and she turned to Flash, Lyra, and Bon-Bon. "As for you guys, I talked to the principals this morning about all of this. Principal Celestia has stated that as of now, safety of any student on campus is top priority in the event of a magic event. Every student. Whether they attend CHS or not. She's given the go ahead for the 'Student Defense Force' to have leeway to prepare for doing just that. That means drilling people, just like we do for fire and tornados. Make sure everyone not only knows where the safe zones are, but have practiced them enough to do them without thinking. Rapid response time to a magical event will be critical for us to be able to protect the school and the students. Train them on the tools you have. Get them to practice hitting what they throw stuff at." She hesitated, then forged ahead. "If you need any kind of supplies, bring me a list of what and how much, and I'll order it. Thanks to Princess Twilight..." And her own accounts, after her call to her finance guy while Twilight was in the shower the night before, but she didn't need anyone to know that... "...we have a budget. A large enough one that it can absorb supply costs. I opened an account for it after I had the Equestrian bits converted."
"Bits, darling?"
"Converted?"
"Budget?"
Sunset got up and went to the magical cupboard, reaching into the small bag that still held some of the bits from the Princess of Friendship. Retrieving one, she brought it over and placed the coin on the table, heads up so they could see Princess Celestia's profile. "Equestria's standard currency is the bit."
Licking her lips, Rarity asked tentatively, "Is...is that a gold coin, Sunset?"
"Almost pure gold, actually. Magic in the earth and in the minting means the metal isn't as soft as it is here, but that minor enchantment is broken when the gold is melted down. Sold through the right people, every one of those coins is about twelve hundred dollars. I can't offload the gold too fast or I'd crash the market, but...a few dozen at a time every month adds up to a nice budget for our research. I donated most of my portion to the school because of how much my actions at the formal cost them in damages, but the research budget is in the account, and what's left is actually to pay my research team." She looked around at them. "Which would be the nine of you, at present. It'll have to wait until probably summer before I can start to pay that part out though, and I need you guys to not go crazy with it. We can't draw attention to ourselves. The plan is to set it up with the same budget account under a small start-up research company, with all of you listed as part time employees. Then there's a paper trail, you'll pay proper taxes, and I can give it out in reasonable amounts either through bank transfers or a 'company check-book.'"
Applejack's brows furrowed. "Ah don't really need charity, Sunset."
The redhead had anticipated that. "It's not charity. You're earning it with all the hours you are putting into practicing magic and protecting people. If this gets...not worse...but stronger...then most of us won't have time for a regular summer job. This will offset that for you girls, and pad things for the rest of you. What you use it for is really up to you....though with the economy, you might want to save it as a college fund. By the time we graduate, it should be enough to mean way less in loans."
Letting that sink in, she turned to Trixie. "...your help would be appreciated in understanding how native magic works here. Unicorns have a completely different arcanobiology, and it sounds like humans lack the tools or the arcane theory backing enough to take proper measurements."
Trixie considered that for a long time. "There are many things that are secrets to the House of Lulamoon," she started, "but The Great and Powerful Trixie is willing to collaborate...provided her father agrees. If magic is returning..." The magician trailed off, then changed thoughts. "In the interest of that, Trixie would ask a question. You spoke of the magic's shape you encountered, as if it were a design. Can you reproduce it on papers in parts, so that Trixie may bring it to her father's attention? He may know what it is, allowing us to better know our enemy."
She nodded. "I can do that. I've got a pad of tracing paper, and I can do it in layers on that. Do you have a light table? Like for art? It makes it easier to see the complete image after."
"Trixie will acquire one."
The bell rang, signaling the end of the meeting. "Okay. We have our game plan. If there's any issues, I keep my phone on and charged at all times, and if not me...Rarity, Flash, I'm putting you two in the position of being the next people on the list to contact." Sunset rubbed her neck. "I'm going to be out of the city tomorrow--I have some things I need to do, but I should be back by late evening. I'll leave the book with you, Rarity--if an emergency crops up that can't wait for me to get back, do what I showed you to call Princess Twilight for immediate help." She scanned them all one more time. "Any questions? No? Alright...I'll see you guys later. Girls, we'll start the new practice schedule Monday." |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Thirty Eight: A Moment to Ourselves | Sunset swung her leg over her bike, glad that the day was finally over. Her headache had finally cleared up in her art class, after AJ had convinced her to visit the nurse for some Tylenol at the beginning of gym...but band practice had run long and there had been the issue of Sunset almost melting her guitar. Her poor instrument was going to need some serious TLC, but Vinyl had promised her that she'd take good care of it. Sunset was just going to need to use one of her other ones for practice for a week or two. Lucky for her she had two others, even if she didn't like them as much as the one she'd paid to have done in a custom design. It meant she was looking forward to the long weekend, even if she no longer felt like someone had taken a hoof to her skull right at the base of her horn. As she grabbed her helmet, she heard a voice calling her name.
"Sunset!"
Resting her helmet on her lap, she twisted to see Flash and Lyra jogging over to her. "Hey..." she responded as they got close. "What's up? I thought you'd have both gone home already."
"We were gonna, but we saw you," Flash said, rubbing his neck. "And we...wanted to catch you alone."
"Is Twilight going to be okay?" Lyra asked in a rush.
In hindsight, she should have expected it, she realized. "I..." she started, then sighed. "It's complicated. "I think she will be, but it's going to take time, and it won't be all better until she transfers here."
Lyra gasped, and Flash went wide eyed. "She's transferring?"
Tapping idly on her helmet, Sunset nodded. "Even she recognized she can't stay at CPA anymore...but...she can't transfer until she can make sure Cinch can't ruin her grades for the year, because she's...not really in regular math and science classes. She does these projects instead...and that's part of what complicates it."
"How so?" Lyra wanted to know. "I mean, she always did the stuff that made my head hurt trying to understand but it was usually on space or physics or chemistry."
"...because she's trying to study magic, but she has no idea it's magic." The former bully sighed. "And I can't just...you know...demonstrate. You saw what happened today--I almost torched the magic room. We're just lucky that the weird rainbow surge warded it, or I'd be responsible for property damages. Again."
Flash hummed in his throat. "So you have to figure out how to tell her first and then show her safely? Without involving the girls first?" He winced. "I do not envy you."
Her eyes rolled. "Thanks," she told her ex. "You're such a supportive pal."
He had the decency to look a bit apologetic. "Sorry, but I've been in the doghouse with an upset girlfriend before." The look he gave her was pointed and it was her turn to look abashed. "But I'm sure it won't be as bad as you think. Twilight cares about you too much to be too angry or stay that way for long."
Sunset tried to smile, but it felt like a grimace. "I hope you're right..." She still had to talk to Princess Twilight, and she wasn't looking forward to that conversation either. She wondered in part if it would be easier to have that conversation in person or over the journal. "Anyway...she and I are going out tomorrow with her cousin to get away for a day. I'm hoping that by removing her from the vicinity of the magic for a while, I can destroy any lingering dark magic--that seems to be the one major use of my magic I can do without needing a fire extinguisher."
Lyra jumped forward and hugged her. "Pass that to Twilight for me, and tell her I'm glad she's okay. Now get out of here--you said you're running late and that girl gets twitchy about tardiness."
She didn't have to be told twice, popping her helmet on her head and making sure it was secured. Giving them a thumbs up, she revved the engine and gunned it out of the parking lot.
Fifteen minutes and more traffic than she really wanted to deal with later, she pulled into the driveway, walking her bike until it was pulled up close to the house. Velvet's car was in the driveway, as was Shining's. Good. Sunset wanted to see if she could fish for updates from him about what the police were going to do...and that would determine what she could do to help. If she could.
Sunset opened the door, and the absence of Spike told her that Twilight was upstairs in her room. She waved at Shining as she passed by the living room for the kitchen and the delicious smells emanating from it. "Hey, Mrs. Velvet," she said when she poked her head in.
"Welcome home, sweetheart--how was school?" Velvet turned from the stove where Sunset could see she was finishing up some kind of chicken and veggie dish so it could go in the oven. Next to it was a second, smaller tray that Sunset knew was her meat free portion, packed with a much more complex array of vegetables--she could pick out zucchini and tomatoes, peppers and a few mushrooms, and it made her smile.
"It went okay. I got caught up on what I missed." She hesitated, then asked, "How's Twilight? I tried not to wake her when I left. She had nightmares all night."
Velvet took a moment to slide both dishes in the oven. "It's been a very long and trying day for her," she admitted, taking a minute to sit at the table.
She looked tired too, Sunset noted, and she retrieved a container from her bag. "Maybe these will help. My friend Pinkie sent them and said she hopes everything gets better." Inside were chocolate cupcakes topped with cheerful sprinkles shaped like stars--she'd pressed them into Sunset's hands in art and told her that it was for her friend so they'd feel better after the dark magic. Even without trying, Sunset could feel the faint magic in it that felt like Pinkie.
"Oh!" Velvet perked up noticeably. "Your friend who helped you make those tarts?"
Fetching a plate to bring one up to her girlfriend, Sunset nodded. "That's the one. These are just as tasty--she's a great baker." She breathed out a low sigh, then asked, "Guessing she's upstairs?"
The older woman helped herself to one of the cupcakes. "She has been up there since the detective investigating the vandalism left. He needed to interview her...and that was difficult for her."
Her heart sank, and she tucked a second cupcake on the plate in her hand. "I'm going to go see if I can cheer her up."
"I have every confidence in you, Sunset. I'll call you girls when it is close to dinner or Glamour and her friend arrive."
Sunset hurried up the steps, worried and wanting to check on Twilight for herself. Had she missed some of the dark magic last night? Maybe she should try and use what she could to make sure she had gotten it all.
She knocked on the door. "Sparky? Can I come in? I come bearing chocolate."
She heard Spike whining and rapid steps, before the door opened in a rush. "Sunny?" Twilight's voice trembled, and Sunset's chest hurt at the stress in it.
Gently, the former unicorn slid an arm around her and walked her back in the room. She nudged the door shut with her heel, and kept moving them until she could set the cupcakes down on the desk. That freed up her other hand and allowed her to pull the shorter girl into a tight hug. "Hey...I'm here..."
Twilight collapsed against her, trying to climb inside Sunset's skin with how she clung to her. Her breath kept catching, like she couldn't get her diaphragm to do its job properly. Sunset tucked her girlfriend's head up under her chin. "I've got you, Sparky. Let it out..."
It wasn't quite crying...just hiccupping breaths and a shaking series of distressed whimpers. Sunset held her the entire time, rocking back and forth in something that might have been mistaken for an intimate, slow dance under other circumstances, especially because Sunset was soon singing "Shine Like Rainbows" in a low voice, letting her magic bubble up carefully, until the energy filled the room around them. Slowly but surely, Twilight calmed, until her breathing was normal, but...Sunset could feel it now, a faint tendril of something, hiding in her girlfriend's essence like gum stuck to the bottom of a desk, trying to fight back against her. She switched to humming the intro to the song from the Battle of the Bands, trying to recapture some of the emotion that let her burn out the siren's influence from her friends, but something was missing...
An idea came to her, and she pulled back a little so that Twilight looked up at her. "I know I've sung this one enough that you know the words by now," she teased, resting her forehead to Twilight's. "Sing it with me?"
Purple eyes were still watery behind her glasses. "...I don't know. I'll sound bad...my nose is runny and my throat..."
"It's not about sounding good...it's about pushing out the bad feelings for some good ones...and this song is great for that..." Still rocking to the beat in her head, Sunset tried to coax her with the opening lyrics. "...You're never gonna bring me down..." Twilight's indecision wavered, and Sunset pressed again. "You're never gonna break this part of me..."
Hesitantly, Twilight croaked out the first few words of the next line with her, and while it was as bad as some of the Princess' initial attempts at the counter-spell song, that wasn't the point. It was the missing component needed for the magic in Sunset to respond to. As she drew her companion further into the music, she could feel the conviction and anger again, like she had that day, could feel her magic responding, and the dark thing attached like some kind of parasite to Twilight writhed and dissolved as they reached the chorus...and by the time the last lines of the song faded away--along with the faint, almost Pony-Up that the close proximity had concealed--her girlfriend was even smiling. She could feel the heat left behind by her magic where her horn would be, where her forehead rested against Twilight's, and the faint sensation of the magic she had let seep in wherever skin touched skin. Twilight shifted, pulling away to rub her forehead with an odd expression on her face.
Sunset was concerned for a minute. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I just felt weird for a second..." The younger girl lowered her hand and pressed back into Sunset's embrace.
Lips were pressed affectionately to Twilight's forehead, an apology and attempt at soothing the reaction she was having from Sunset's magic. "Better?" she asked after, giving the dark haired girl a lopsided smile. "Or do I need to kiss elsewhere too?"
Lavender fingers slid from her shoulder to the back of her neck, tugging just enough to make her desires clear even before Twilight responded, "...I wouldn't say no to that...we haven't said hello yet..."
"You're right..." Sunset teased, letting Twilight pull her head down enough that their lips brushed. "Let's fix that."
It wasn't one of the electrifying kisses they had had a lot of lately, but that didn't mean it wasn't the best thing Sunset had done all day. Even Pinkie's cupcakes paled next to that familiar mouth working against her own, the faint taste of Twilight's toothpaste on her lips when the other girl snuck past them with her tongue, and her nostrils inundated with the scent of honeysuckle and old books. Fingers tangled in each other's hair, they lasted as long as they could, finally parting when the desire to breathe eclipsed the desire to not let anything come between them, not even a pesky thing like air.
Twilight let out a breathless giggle. "...hi..."
"...hey, nerd. How was that...for a real hello?" Sunset rubbed noses with her affectionately. "Satisfactory? Or should we keep trying until we get it perfect?"
Purple eyes gleamed, and she could tell her girlfriend was a little flushed. "...it's always good to practice a skill," she murmured, toying with a few fiery curls near her fingers.
Practice it was then.
She lost herself in Twilight for several minutes, magic enveloping her senses outside their little shared personal space bubble. Hands wandered, and Sunset started trying to maneuver them to the bed, wanting to get into a position where she could attack the sensitive spots on her neck and ear--she wanted to get Twilight to really relax, and she had learned a number of methods over the last few months to turn her to putty. The added bonus of some of those cute little sounds was just a plus.
In the haze of emotions and teenage hormones, however, Sunset had forgotten about the third party in the room: Spike. Spike, who was not happy about being ignored by his human's companion, and decided that now was the perfect time to try and rectify that. As Sunset was blindly guiding them towards the bed, Spike yipped and scampered in between their legs, trying to jump up and get Sunset's attention. What he got was a startled yelp and a squeaky shriek as they tripped over one another and the two teens tumbled onto the bed gracelessly.
They lay there for a bit, at least until Sunset's brain unscrambled itself. She had ended up on the bottom, and it felt like Twilight's knee was digging into her leg. "...that was not how I intended to get us on the bed," she chuckled. "You okay?"
Her girlfriend pushed herself up on her arms, and tried to straighten her glasses. "...I'm not hurt, but I wasn't expecting that. What happened?"
"Spike," Sunset jerked a thumb off the bed to where the dog was wagging his tail and trying to jump up. Then the amber skinned teen reached down, hooking her digits into the belt-loops of the jeans Twilight was wearing, and used that to tug her up and into a better, more comfortable position for them both. "Like the outfit, by the way. You look cute. That one of the ones Cadence helped you pick out?"
Twilight nodded, her cheeks darkening. "...you...really think it looks cute?" she asked.
Sunset let her eyes wander, a slow and deliberate up and down as she drank in the sight of the only human to ever make her heart do a gymnastics routine in her chest. There was something about the way the clothing looked that made her girlfriend look...cute. Definitely cute, but in the way that was...enticing, not the kind of cute that one used when referring to animals and children. "Sure do," she responded with that lazy, crooked smile still on her face. Her back arched a little to lift her up so she could peck Twilight's lips with a kiss. "Makes me want to kiss you more, just like I said before."
"I'm not going to stop you..." Twilight leaned closer, until she was almost back to laying on Sunset.
That was invitation enough, and then Sunset discarded thinking for a bit in favor of kissing the girl on top of her. They started out fairly innocent, but it didn't take long for that familiar heat to start building and growing more intense. She nibbled on Twilight's lower lip, earning an eager little moan from the younger girl. "Sunny..."
Letting go of Twilight's jeans, she playfully slid her hands up under the hem of Twilight's shirt, her palms and finger-pads sliding along the skin of her stomach, before breathing in one lavender ear, "More?"
Her girlfriend whined. "...please, Sunny..." she could feel the shiver that passed through her, feel the pulse racing under her lips as she lipped and nibbled her on a lavender neck, the way Twilight's hands gripped her shoulders for support far more than any kind of control.
She teased higher, touch featherlight and gentle, still exploring and learning this new part of Twilight's body. Her fingers finally worked high enough to encounter her bra, but instead of soft cotton, she found a silkier textured fabric...and was that lace on the outside? Pulling back in puzzlement, she cocked her head.
Twilight made a disappointed noise. "What? ...why'd you stop?"
Smirking faintly, Sunset hooked a finger under the shoulder strap. "...Sparky...what's this?" she asked, playfully tugging and letting go so the strap snapped lightly against the younger girl's skin.
A squeak of surprise escaped her girlfriend, and she blushed to the tips of her ears. "...um...I...took some of Cady's advice when we went bra shopping?" Twilight explained, nervousness making it come out more question than statement. "...do..." she bit her lip. "...do you...like it?"
That got a raised eyebrow, and Sunset sat them both up into a sitting position so she could hike Twilight's shirt up enough to get a good look. It was still fairly comfortable looking, but the cut was...more like the stuff the redhead had seen on mannequins in the upscale lingerie store Rarity had dragged her into back in December, designed to draw the eye along the curved, rounded flesh, and the fabric--a very pretty dark blue that reminded her of an early evening sky--was soft and covered with lace in a delicate pattern, was far more...visually striking than the plain cotton affairs that Twilight normally favored. So...why...?
The reason came almost as soon as the question, and the former unicorn felt...both awkward and stupid. This lace touched undergarment wasn't acquired with Twilight in mind. It was meant for Sunset's enjoyment. What had Rarity said? A different bra for a different purpose? Something like that. And this one, was meant for Sunset's interest and approval.
To buy herself time, Sunset made a show of running her fingers curiously over the fabric that covered lavender skin and concealed the darker nipples from her vision. "Mmmm..." she hummed in her throat, as if she were studying the whole affair.
It was a strange concept to the former pony--underwear in general was...alien. They didn't have breasts--the teats weren't even in the same location on the body!--and with a lack of thumbs, a completely differing arrangement of certain portions of their anatomy, and the passive magic combined with certain natural...design features...that concealed the intimate details of that anatomy, underwear and bras just didn't really exist. However...as her eyes wandered again over that pretty skin and the fabric that looked nice against it, she was starting to understand...if not the human perspective...then at least a way that she could find it enjoyable.
"...Sunny?" came the anxious voice, breaking through her musings. "...oh, I knew this was a bad idea. It looks stupid, doesn't it? I knew I shouldn't have listened to Cadence, and just stuck with a few more colors of my normal styles rather than think I could ever pull off something that's meant for pretty girls and not someone like me..."
Sunset jerked herself out of her thoughts to deal with the impending spiral her silence had triggered. "Sparky," she interrupted, cupping the younger girl's face in her hands. "It doesn't look bad at all--I like it! Really! It looks good on you..."
Twilight trembled under her hands slightly. "...you mean that?"
"I do...I'm sorry I took so long to answer..." Sunset looked away, a tad uncomfortable now. "...this is...you have to understand, a lot of this is new to me...even newer than it is to you. You had Cadence and your mom to talk to...I had...biology and health textbooks. Maybe the occasional scene in a novel...but since I don't read a lot of romance...that's...less common than you think. There's...not a lot of fancy bras in mystery novels, you know? Tartarus, I didn't even know there were that many different styles of underwear until Rarity helped me buy new clothes in December and practically had manticore kittens when she realized I just sort of...guessed...at the store and bought the cheap three and six packs to save money." She laughed a little. "I think the phrase she used was 'bargain bin Walmart hooker panties.'"
The joke had the exact effect she hoped for. Twilight looked somewhat aghast, but a small giggle still escaped--for which she then looked ashamed. "She said that?"
"Oh yeah. Rarity has some...very strong opinions about clothing," Sunset said, smiling now. "Though, if you ask me, she's allowed--her work is beautiful and creative, and she has a fantastic eye for color. I trust her opinions on clothing far more than I'd trust my own, and I could fill a book with all the things I've learned from her in six months." Cuddling Twilight close, she continued her previous train of thought. "The point is...this is something I'm new to, and I...I want to know how I really feel about it so I can answer you truthfully, instead of just guessing at what you want to hear. Sometimes, it might take me a minute to sort it out in my head and find the right words, but I won't lie about something like this. If I don't like it, I'll tell you, I promise, okay?"
She nodded slowly, still sounding anxious. "Okay..."
Sunset let her fingers brush along the lace again, drawing an intake of breath from the smaller form in her lap. "I...don't know the word I'd use to describe it...it's..." She tilted her head down for another look. "It's...I wouldn't say 'cute,' because it's more than just that...but I wouldn't say 'sexy' either, because there is something about it that is cute...maybe flattering? Enticing?" She shook her head. "I don't know the word I'm looking for, but it looks good on you...and it makes me feel...feel...happy? Warm? Special? ...that you've done something like this just for me, wanting to make me feel...good? I guess?" She blew air out her nostrils in frustration at her struggle to articulate exactly what she was feeling.
Twilight smiled shyly, then reached up to slide her fingers into Sunset's hair, the gesture full of tender affection. The redhead leaned into it the touch, and allowed her girlfriend to gently pull her head down until their foreheads were touching again. Even though they had been dating for months and Twilight had copied the gesture that Sunset used fairly readily these days, something about her doing so still caused a rush of heated sensation to course through the former pony, and she let out a throaty nicker from both instinct and habit.
Her girlfriend smiled and pecked her lips briefly with a kiss. "...I...think that makes me feel better than if you said it was sexy," she whispered, "or hot, or any other description using synonymous adjectives, Sunny."
One brow arched in curiosity. "I'm glad I said the right thing then, but...why do you say that?"
"Because..." Twilight nuzzled into her, arms draping around Sunset's neck and hugging her tight. "...me wearing this for you makes you feel good...and that's the best possible outcome. I wanted it to be something that made you feel that way, which is why I picked this with you and only you in mind."
Humming thoughtfully, Sunset took the chance to kiss Twilight, wishing she could convey what she was feeling through touch alone. "...which means a lot, Sparky," she said softly, her hand coming up to press to her cheek. "...and it's not just this...I had the same feeling when you sent me that picture of your new outfit. I know you're not usually one for posed shots, or even a lot of selfies, so...that's a pretty special picture to me."
Silence fell between them, the comfortable, content kind of quiet that was only broken by soft breaths and the rustling of clothing, as they cuddled together and basked in the shared joy of being intimately close and emotionally connected. Sweet kisses were exchanged, wordless affection left behind wherever they touched that left both girls with bright smiles. Sunset found the stress of the day melting off her like snow under warm noonday sun.
Eventually, Twilight let out a happy little sigh. "...That makes me feel better about the outfit Cady helped me pick out for tomorrow," she confessed.
Sunset made a noise of interest and curiosity. "Oh?"
The dark haired girl nodded against her shoulder. "...it's nothing fancy, since it sounded like we're just going to have a day out...but technically this is the first date I knew was a date before it was almost over."
"...I'm not sorry for that--not with how well it went," Sunset responded, running fingers through Twilight's ponytail.
Her girlfriend smiled. "I'm not complaining, Sunny. That night was beautiful and it will always be a treasured memory... It's just...this is kind of our first official date, and I wanted to wear something nice for it. I'll probably do it again for the first official date we go on after...after I tell Mom and Dad about us...but..."
Chuckling, Sunset sat back against the pillows. "I get it, Twilight. You're not the only one who decided to wear something nicer tomorrow." Amber fingers trailed along a lavender forearm. "Do I get a sneak peek? Or do I have to wait until morning?"
Twilight hopped up, almost tripping over Sunset's bag in her haste to get to her closet. She glanced over her shoulder. "I'll show you mine if you'll let me see yours too?" she asked with barely contained excitement.
One eyebrow arched up, and Sunset was unable to resist the smirk that formed on her face. "Are we still talking about the outfits?" she asked teasingly.
It took about fifteen seconds for Twilight's expression to go from excited to confused and then from confused to sudden realization...followed of course by her blushing so hard she practically glowed. Twilight started to stumble over an explanation about the accidental phrasing, but couldn't hold back her laughter anymore and burst into giggles. It proved infectious, and soon both of them were laughing so hard they had tears in their eyes.
Once they calmed down, Twilight wiped her eyes. "The phrasing was...perhaps unintentional, but...I would love to see what you picked out for tomorrow." She retrieved an outfit on a hanger and held it out in front of her. "This was what I planned on wearing." It was a pair of new blue jeans paired with a t-shirt cut in the style meant for female bodies that Sunset could never get away with wearing--her bust was just too large, and getting one big enough to fit her there meant it was too loose everywhere else--and a short jacket made of a material that Sunset couldn't name, but had a loose spring-like floral pattern to the fabric. "Isn't it cute?"
Sunset pictured it on Twilight and smiled warmly. "It's going to look cute on you," she agreed. Then she winked, and commented impishly, "I guess this is where I show you mine?"
Her girlfriend blushed again but nodded. "Yes, please?"
Still grinning, Sunset grabbed her bag off the floor and fished inside, retrieving her clothes for the next day and laying them on the bed. "I was going to wear this, with my boots and jacket over it," she told Twilight, gesturing. Her own choice had been kind of fun to pick out. There was the pair of black jeans she'd bought that Rarity had described as "hugging and accentuating all her curves without looking like they were a size too small" and a top that her fashion-minded friend had actually hand made for her recently, a prettier, not quite dressy number that was in a shade that made her eyes stand out, as opposed to colors that normally called attention to her fiery hair and warm skin-tone. It felt particularly appropriate because Rarity had given it to her with the excuse of it being good for more formal outings or for if Sunset ever decided to try dating again...wearing it on a date with her girlfriend, even if Rarity didn't know that she was doing so, definitely fell under using the garment for what its creator had intended. "My friend Rarity actually made the shirt for me as a gift," she added.
"That's your romance obsessed friend, right? The one who keeps dreaming up weird 'love at first sight rom-com' scenarios for you to have? The one in your Honors English class?" Twilight asked curiously.
She rolled her eyes. "That's the one. I honestly prefer listening to her talk about sewing and clothes to trying to get me to 'put myself back out there.' Took me over a month to convince her that Flash and I were much happier with the friendship we've developed and that it's completely platonic. Then it was another month of her trying to helpfully suggest different guys at school she thought I might enjoy going out with before I got her to give it up." Sunset huffed. "...and Applejack had to help get her to stop."
The younger girl wrinkled her nose. "That doesn't sound like a friend who listens to your feelings."
Shaking her head, Sunset sat back down on the side of the bed. "It's not like that--Rarity means well, and it's because she wants me to form more healthy connections with people. After everything I did, and all of the fallout, she...wants to help me, and this is an area where she's kind of the only one of my friends with both interest and experience...there's Applejack, Lyra, and Bon-Bon, but...they don't think about that kind of thing often." She flopped backwards. "Of course, she's started up again in the mornings because I let slip some things in a conversation about...well...attraction. So now she's trying to suggest girls I might want to ask out and try dating."
"Would...would it just be easier to tell her the truth?" Twilight asked softly, moving the clothes over to sit beside the redhead.
Sunset put her arm around her girlfriend. "Maybe, but probably not. If I told her I was seeing someone, she'd go all 'Shadow Spade' trying to figure out who. You should have heard her fishing for details today, when I explained that I ran out of class because I have a friend who had an emergency...and well...she's...a biiiiiiit melodramatic when it comes to romance, as you can guess."
Twilight winced. "I can. I have a few cousins like that...and then there's Glamour's mother, Summer Breeze. She's focused on...the more financial aspect of romantic relationships than anything and is constantly giving unsolicited advice on how to 'snag a rich man.' She makes a production of everything." She was quiet for a minute, then leaned against Sunset, peering up at her. "...she's going to know eventually--I don't want to keep us a secret from everyone forever--and...I think...I would rather have you tell the truth if you need to, rather than be forced into a lie or an uncomfortable situation."
The former unicorn kissed Twilight on the top of her head. "I appreciate the thought, Sparky, but...it's okay...I can put up with Rarity's antics for a few months, until we're ready..."
Her girlfriend sighed. "But Sunny, you shouldn't have to hide things from your friends...not because of me."
"It's...not just because of you," she confessed. "I...have reasons for not telling them. Part of it is because...we talked about how you don't think you're up for the sheer amount of overwhelming friendship they bring to everything they do. And...I'm still working up to..." Sunset hesitated, looking for the words to explain it. "...letting them know about this part of my life. In the beginning, I didn't know if I could trust them with knowing, because I half thought they'd try to take you away from me. And...I guess I'm still a little afraid of what will happen when those two halves of my life crash into each other full on."
She could tell that Twilight was thinking intently about something--her eyebrows were doing the little scrunchy thing they did when she was analyzing a math problem or a chessboard--so Sunset waited it out. Twilight would talk when she was ready. It didn't take long; not more than a minute or two had passed by when the other teen met Sunset's eyes again. "...maybe...we can consider a plan to inform your friends...over the summer? That way, I can tell Mom and Dad first, but your friends will still have time to...adjust to the concept...before we start a new year and I'm a student at CHS?" It came out as more a question than anything, her uncertainty obvious, though whether it was about Sunset's response or just the plan in general was hard to say.
Sunset hugged her against her side. "That actually sounds like a pretty good plan to me. Are you sure though?"
Shrugging, Twilight said, "I'm...I don't want us to be a secret from everyone forever. That's...not fair to you or to me or to us." She sniffled a little. "And you've been so understanding and patient with me for months about this."
The redhead tugged her companion into her lap so she could hug her properly. "I'm just doing my best to be a good friend...like I've been shown. You've respected all of the weird hang-ups and baggage that I came with, and never once pushed me when I wasn't ready to talk about something..."
Twilight turned into the embrace and wrapped her arms around Sunset. "...is it...weird...if I say that you having problems like that actually makes it easier for me?" She bit her lip. "N-not that I'm glad you struggle...but...some of those things you struggle with are things I can help you with, which is not something I've ever been able to say before...and...it helps. For the first time, I don't feel like I'm constantly trying to play catch up. I feel like I contribute as much as I take from our friendship."
"Sparky..." Sunset nuzzled into dark hair. "You have given so much to me since we met. I can truthfully say that if it weren't for you and the support you have given me as my best friend, I'm not sure I'd still be here. You have been my light when I needed one the most. Don't ever believe that you have not given equally to our friendship."
She nodded, face half smooshed into Sunset's chest. "...I'd be lying if I said it was hard. Being friends with you...even dating you...sometimes it feels so easy that I worry that I must be dreaming. That I'm going to wake up one day and realize it's still last October." At Sunset's curious sound of encouragement, she took a few slow breaths and kept going. "...we click., Sunny. I can understand you without having it explained, and there's so many things about you that just seem tailor made to make my heart jump. Even traits I'd never thought about before...not to mention you are extremely physically attractive, but also smart enough to challenge me intellectually...and we have this relationship where it doesn't feel like you're doing all the work. It feels like a real partnership, instead of being...lopsided, like all my other interpersonal relationships."
Laughing softly, Sunset squeezed her. "I can assure you, I don't stop existing when you leave the room." Her fingers rubbed up and down her girlfriend's back. "...I think for me...it's easy because I don't worry that you have any issues with the old me. I've told you about how awful I was...but you never saw it. I never hurt you like I hurt every other person I've ever known. I can...just be me, and I don't get the painful reminders, or comments that I can't get angry over because they're true. Besides, I seem to recall that someone told me that we were friends and to just accept that."
"I did not!" Twilight protested half-heartedly. "I just said I was only willing to believe hard data, not anecdotal evidence!"
A smirk played onto her face. "You were also very insistent that you wanted us to be friends."
She could hear the pout. "...you could have said no."
More laughter, and she poked teasingly at Twilight's ribs, making her squirm. "I really couldn't have, Sparky. You were...very set on it. Besides...I needed the push, I think...and I'm glad you did. You're the best friend I could have, and you have been exactly what I needed in my life this year." Sunset pressed her face into dark hair, still smiling. There were no words to really express just how much she had needed someone like Twilight--and by extension her family--in the aftermath of the Fall Formal and the Rainbow of Light to help pick up the pieces that were left and put some of her back together.
"It's something that I will never forget, Twilight, no matter what happens. The girls may have stopped my reign of terror at the formal, and I may have chosen to turn my back on what I used to be...but you've been here to help me figure out who I want to become." |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Thirty Nine: Anchor Chains | Twilight exited her closet, arms held out as she did a slow little spin, showing off another of her new shirts for Sunset's approval. This one presented an alternative dictionary definition of 'programmer' as 'an organism that magically turns caffeine into software.' The redhead burst into laughter. "Where do you find these?" she asked.
"Different stores," Twilight answered, leaning against the wall next to her closet door. "They're honestly easier to find online though."
Sunset stood from the bed where she was being treated to an impromptu fashion show, and padded across the carpet, in a slow, deliberate stalk towards her girlfriend, trapping her against the wall. "I like the new wardrobe," she teased, leaning down to kiss her. "It's all very you, Sparky..." Her hands found Twilight's hips, and she pulled the smaller girl flush against her.
Lavender skinned arms wrapped around her neck as their lips met, heat and hunger and more than a little tongue involved in the kiss. Sunset growled as she pushed Twilight harder up against the wall, lifting her up an inch or two off the ground with hands that had migrated to her backside. As Sunset moved her lips down to nibble on Twilight's throat, her girlfriend threw her head back and let out a soft moan. "Sunny..." she gasped. "...please...don't stop..."
The former unicorn was happy to oblige, panting in Twilight's ear and clenching her hands slightly. "Sparky..." she breathed, tongue flitting out to trace the curve of that ear and then down her jaw. "My Sparky..." One hand hooked the other girl's leg higher, until Twilight wrapped it around Sunset's thigh.
Unfortunately, the rest of the universe had other plans, and whatever Twilight was going to say was interrupted by the sound of a car door slamming. Both girls froze, Sunset's mouth still on her girlfriend's skin, Twilight's mouth open with another moan half on her lips. Their eyes met as they stayed motionless for almost a full minute, before they both broke down into breathless, flustered giggles.
"...I guess we should go down and say hi," Sunset said after the laughter ended. "I still haven't officially met your cousin--though she sounds like some weird fusion of Rarity, Pinkie, and Cadence...which is not the strangest thing I've said all week."
Twilight giggle-snorted. "I'm afraid to ask what else was in the running."
Thinking back to a few conversations she had with Pinkie at lunch or in art, Sunset made a face. "Trust me...sometimes it's just better not to ask."
Rolling her eyes, Twilight opened the bedroom door to let Spike out. "I can imagine," she said sarcastically, watching the dog race out and down the hall. "Come on." The two teens continued laughing and chatting as they made their way towards the stairs.
It was Sunset who picked up on it first, foot pausing just above the second step from the top. She frowned, holding out a hand for Twilight to indicate that something was off. Instead of the happy chatter of greetings and family reunion, there was the familiar noise: the kind of suppressed whimper and too fast, harsh, short breathing of a person on the edge of panic. Exchanging a worried look, both teens hurried down the steps.
In the front hall, Velvet and a young woman that had to be Wildsong were bracketing another young woman with dark amethyst hair that had streaks of gold going through it. To her eyes, it seemed like they were the only thing keeping her together, and as Sunset studied trembling features, she could pick out physical traits shared by Twilight and her father, confirming that this was Glamour Shot on the verge of a full fledged hysterical meltdown. Velvet looked up at their arrival and asked, "Sunset, can you be a dear and make a cup or two of that tea blend of yours? I think we could use some."
"Sure thing, Mrs. Velvet," she responded, glancing back at Twilight as her girlfriend made a distressed sound of her own upon seeing her cousin's state. "Sparky? I think there's a small container of some homemade cookies left in my backpack--can you go get them for me while I brew some tea?" The definitive task would take a few minutes, and give Twilight something to focus on so she could manage whatever was going on with less anxiety.
Turning back once Twilight raced back up the stairs, she met Wildsong's eyes, recognizing the helpless fury in them for what it was. "Hey," she offered, "Wildsong, right? It's...it's going to be okay--whatever it is, I'm sure there's a way to fix it."
Velvet hummed in agreement as Sunset slipped by them to head to the kitchen, and Night voiced his own warmly. "Well said, Sunset...and she's right, girls. You're both here and in one piece, so no matter what is wrong, we're here to help--that's what we do in this family. Come sit down in the living room..."
With her back to the door and her steps carrying her into the kitchen, Sunset couldn't see it, but she could feel the relief that took away a portion of the anxious tension that had filled the front hall like a choking cloud. She held onto that feeling as she found the pretty, well-used tea service Velvet kept for everyday usage; something about the familiar actions of measuring out the loose tea for the pot both sharpened her focus and soothed her nerves. Sunset enjoyed soda and cider and coffee well enough--the fizz of a freshly opened bottle of Dr. Pepper in particular was a guilty pleasure for the former unicorn turned teenager--but there was something about real tea that filled her with the comforting sense of nostalgia and the times when she had been happy in Equestria.
She could remember, with clarity, the meticulous way Princess Celestia had made their evening tea when she was a filly, and how hard she had worked to quietly memorize the measurements and the steps without letting on what she was doing...step one in a master plan that she executed on the princess's birthday when Sunset was six. The look on the Solar ruler's face had been one of happy shock, when Sunset had presented her with a prepared tray with teas that she'd made herself, and plate of dessert goodies that the unicorn had pilfered from the palace kitchens when the cook was...busy...chasing down the group of chickens that had...maybe...kinda...sorta...found their way into the pantry...
With a little help from a mischievous little filly and a guard who'd been easily bribed with two slices of raspberry rum cake, of course.
A faint smirk tugged on her lips--stolen palace cake had always been the best cake, and even now she stood by that.
But all that aside, she could remember the several failed batches of tea before she'd finally managed to mimic the steps perfectly, and the surprise on the princess' face when she'd taken that first sip only to find it exactly to her liking. After that, they would take turns making tea, and Sunset had been introduced to the subtle art behind different blends and styles, different cultural variations, and even a few more formal ways of serving tea to guests. It had been among the lessons that she'd gotten that had nothing to do with magic or academics that she had thrown herself into with ready abandon, a form of bonding with the mare she had seen as the closest thing she would ever know to a mother; even after the lessons themselves had run their course, Princess Celestia always made time in her day to have tea with Sunset.
Shaking herself out of the memories, Sunset checked the tea and determined it was ready, and let her gaze wander over the tray, a critical eye checking it over to ensure it was as it should be.
"...I'm not sure which of you is more of a fan of tea," Twilight's voice came from next to her. "You or Mom." When Sunset turned her way, she offered out a small container. "Here's the cookies you asked for."
Noticing a smudge of chocolate on the corner of her mouth, Sunset chuckled. "I see you found the cupcakes I brought up earlier too." A quick glance showed them alone in the kitchen, and she bent close even as she took the cookies to kiss away the chocolate. "Did they help?"
Twilight kissed her back, tasting of chocolate and sprinkles. "Yes...thank you."
Sunset shook her head with amusement and began arranging the cookies on a little plate on the tray. "Anytime, Sparky. Now...you want to help me get this in there? I think your mom is right--it'll help calm everyone's nerves."
Together they carried everything out into the living room, where Glamour and Wildsong had been placed on the couch, with Velvet still on Glamour Shot's other side. Night was in his customary armchair, and Shining had taken to leaning against the wall near the big window, his arms crossed and the way he kept shifting his weight suggesting to Sunset that he was fighting the urge to pace. The redhead set the tray on the coffee table and began the work of serving tea to everyone who wanted a cup. The low murmured questions she asked and the actions that accompanied them gave her a chance to really study both the new arrivals and read the room.
She wasn't sure what shade Glamour's skin normally was, but even she could tell that the young woman was pale and washed out looking from anxiety and stress. Her hands trembled when Sunset pressed the cup into them, and amber fingers had taken a moment to press Glamour's tighter around it so she wouldn't drop it on her lap. Watery eyes had focused on her long enough for Sunset to smile encouragingly, and a little coaxing from Velvet had her sipping slowly at the calming infusion a minute later. It was very reminiscent of some of Twilight's more anxious moments.
Wildsong was a different story entirely. Her short hair had alternating stripes that made Sunset wonder if her Equestrian counterpart was a zebra...or at least part zebra. The black stripes contrasted with the rainbow of color that was the rest of her hair, but also with the honey colored skin that was flushed with anger and agitation. She had one arm curled around Glamour's shoulders, her fingers tapping a restless pattern on her upper arm, and she took the tea from Sunset distractedly.
Whatever had happened, it had to be serious but in a way that neither of them could fight easily.
Her eyes checked in on the rest of the family. The atmosphere was one of concern and comfort, even as Velvet thanked her for getting the tea. Sunset settled Twilight into Velvet's normal armchair, before perching with her own tea on the arm of it, hoping her protective actions would be overlooked in favor of the immediate crisis.
For a while, no one said anything. The only sound was the sipping of tea, a few sniffles, and Glamour's breathing slowly returning to a normal rhythm. Eventually though, the silence had to come to an end, and it was Night who broke it. "Glamour," he began, "it is very apparent something happened. We want to help, but we need you to tell us what it was so we can."
Sunset watched an expression of panic come over Glamour's face, and Velvet took the shaking cup from her gently to prevent her dropping it. Wildsong let out a slow sigh, and got her girlfriend's attention. "You told me this was the part of your family that cared," she reminded Glamour. "You need to tell them, Angel, or I'm going to, because it will be a frigid day in Hell before you go back to that bastard or his control after what he said to you today!"
The anger in her voice made Sunset tense--it was a kind of righteous fury, not the same as the former unicorn's own searing flame but akin to the way she'd felt when Twilight told her about the encounter with the creep over New Years. It filled the large living room with its presence, and she could almost taste the coppery tang in the back of her throat, her stomach twisting with a faint sense of nausea. Her free hand immediately sought Twilight's shoulder, needing the contact to stabilize her own emotional response to a scene she was mostly a spectator for, and she felt a shaky lavender hand come up to grip it. Across the room, she caught the motion of Shining Armor becoming even more tense, saw his face take on that calculating, intense look she knew meant he was thinking hard.
She could understand why; at first glance, it sounded as though Glamour had some kind of abusive boyfriend...but Sunset was fairly certain that she was remembering the conversations correctly and that the only person Glamour was actually seeing was the woman next to her doing the talking. So who could Wildsong possibly be talking about?
And then Glamour broke under the mix of peer pressure and gentle encouragement, starting to speak around hiccups and choked off sobs, her sentences broken and full of false starts...and Sunset felt her confusion morph first into shock and numb horror, before that gave way into a fury so deep that she could feel herself shaking and her magic screamed within her for a violent release against the perpetrator.
Laughter echoed in the narrow stairwell as the two girls headed back up to their dorm room after lunch. Glamour was excited to finish packing and get on the road--they were both looking forward to the weekend away, and she was desperate to be able to just be out of easy reach of her parents' social games, if only for two or three days. She'd long gotten used to them dragging her to fancy dinners and parties hosted by the wealthy elite, but in the last year, they had taken an unpleasant turn. Instead of encouraging her to mingle with other children of the wealthy in her age bracket, it was becoming more and more about her mother introducing her to specific rich bachelors--some of then as old as thirty five!--and her father expecting her to engage with and entertain the sons of his business partners and clients as some thinly veiled ploy to get more concessions from them in a deal.
Lately it had seemed like they were accosting her every week, sometimes two or three nights, sending couriers to deliver outfits for her to wear to whatever they were demanding she attend. Plus her mother had started lamenting her "pickiness about men" over the phone, telling her repeatedly that if the money was good enough, she could work around any flaws...and that nothing was stopping her from having a cute personal trainer or 'driver' on the side. The whole thing upset her, to the point where she had started screening her calls and only answering her mother if the woman called more than twice in a ten minute window.
It made her Song angry, an impotent fury that had nowhere to go, other than to run it off or go to the gym to work herself to exhaustion to burn it off. The prospect of spending the weekend down at cousin Night's house had them both excited, as did the upcoming double date with her sweet, shy cousin and the girl who was responsible for bringing Twilight out of her shell. They would be able to sleep in a bed really meant for two people, not cram themselves into a tiny single bed really meant for one person, converse with people and not worry about policing their language, and would spend a whole day being allowed to be together, in love...just like a normal couple.
Plus she'd be able to gush with Twilight about their girlfriends! Her cousin was turning out to be every bit the mix of friend and little sister Glamour had always wanted when she was younger--at least until she'd been old enough to recognize that she wouldn't wish what she had to deal with on anyone, especially not a shy and soft spoken girl like Twilight had been. Being pushed towards guys was taking enough of a toll on her own psyche, and she was glad that Cousin Night and his wife were nothing like her own parents.
Still...for one or two wistful moments, she allowed herself to imagine what life would have been like if she had been born to different parents, if she'd grown up as Twilight's sister with Cousin Night as her dad instead of her actual father, with a mother who didn't measure every relationship in dollar signs...to have parents that loved her like Twilight's so clearly did... Even as an errant train of thought more than any concrete fantasy it almost brought her to tears.
Then a niggling thought intruded, sinister in its simple truth. If she'd had different parents, a different family, would she still be her? And more than that...would she still have her Song?
Was this stolen, secret love worth the hard parts she had to deal with?
Glamour froze for a few seconds, her brain shuddering to a halt, refusing to address the question, and when her girlfriend paused next to her, a worried touch against her back registering to her nerves, she almost threw herself into a warm body, hugging Wildsong for all she was worth. Arms of corded muscle folded around her a moment later, squeezing her close. "Not that I'm objecting, Angel, but...what brought this on?"
Her response was a shrug, still unwilling to touch the question her mind had put forward. It was too much, too painful and bitter, and it would sour her for the day. She did want to waste time thinking about her parents now. So she plastered as real of a smile on as she could. "You looked especially huggable right then?"
Wildsong rolled her eyes. "Goof," she teased. If she knew Glamour's smile was faked , she didn't call attention to it. Her Song was good about that when it was something she really wasn't ready to talk about.
Then fingers poked at her ribs, aiming for her most ticklish spots. The young woman let out a squeak, trying to get away from being tickled, but those fingers followed. She squealed with laughter, bringing her own hands up to retaliate in kind. "Oh! It is on!" The two of them began chasing each other down the hall of their floor, weaving around bodies, furniture, and the odd misplaced sock on the floor, laughing loudly. Despite the childish nature of the impromptu game, there was another layer to the way those hands touched her that made Glamour's nerves tingle, and one look into her partner's eyes told her Song felt it too. They might be getting a bit of a later start than intended...and Glamour was okay with that.
She fumbled with the doorknob to the room, all while she had Wildsong's arm around her shoulder, acting as though Glamour was carrying her weight. It meant she was bent forward a little as she finally managed the feat of unlocking their door with her key and pushing it open. "I swear, Tiger, you're going to get it!" Glamour Shot threatened playfully.
"Dear," came a voice from within the room. "You shouldn't play such games or slouch so much--you might end up with scoliosis."
Jerking like someone had electrocuted her, Glamour stared at the sight of her mother sitting placidly on her bed, taking a file to one of her long, manicured nails. "Mom?!" the young woman yelped, her voice a strangled squeak. "What are you doing in here?"
Another new voice answered. "Since you refuse to answer your phone as is proper, young lady, we came to find out why." Her father gave her a disapproving frown from her desk where he sat, hand resting on Glamour's open laptop. "And we find you shouting and carrying on in the public spaces of this rat infested habitation with a member of the help like a drunken toddler."
Sunset interrupted. "The help?" she asked, the control she had over her own emotions slipping, and the word came out of her mouth the exact same way she'd heard Canterlot nobles had used it in her hearing. "He did not seriously--?!"
"Oh yeah," Wildsong responded. "Sure as hell did, kid...though I kinda expected worse. People like him? I usually hear things like 'nappy haired bandy.' Being called a servant was actually pretty tame." Everyone else in the room looked sincerely uncomfortable, and Sunset was smart enough to figure out it was a slur...probably akin to 'mudpony,' 'featherduster,' or 'ringer.'
The redhead's face twisted up. "But to assume you were, what? A maid? Because...what? No designer jeans? No gaudy fake rocks set in pretend gold?"
A shrug was given as part of her reply. "Who knows? Could have been that, could have been my stripes, my haircut, my clothes, the fact that I'm butch...shit, maybe I just didn't have enough carats hanging off me? Maybe he just figured his money meant that his kid had a live-in maidservant? Don't worry, I gave as good as I got."
Glamour Shot's insides felt like the heart of a glacier: frozen, dark, and bitter as she took in the sight before her eyes. The refuge that she and Song had crafted, a slice of privacy away from judging eyes and expectations had been invaded, violated. Her desk, where her father Lucky Shot sat, had been gone through, most of the drawers half open and her laptop open and on and pulled up to one of his many accounts. Her neat stack of notebooks with her homework and projects had been shoved to the side in favor of his briefcase, and he appeared to be using her favorite mug as an ashtray for one of the foul scented cigars he loved to smoke. That of course meant that their dorm now reeked of fancy male cologne, her mother's perfume, cheap tobacco, and the open thing of nail polish her mother was using now on her nails. Nail polish that the young woman realized was hers, taken from the beauty kit that her mother had apparently pilfered from their bathroom and helped herself to.
She felt violated. Was there nowhere that she was safe?
Wildsong snorted, and stepped into the room. "Real original, Thirsty Howl. I wasn't aware B&E or petty vandalism were now part of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous." She went to move by him, plucking the cigar right out of his mouth on the way and dropping it in a half empty water bottle from a vending machine to douse the end. "And no smoking in the dorm rooms."
Oh no. This was bad. Her father was going to lose it.
"Just who do you think you are!?" Lucky Shot began to heave himself from the chair.
Panicking, Glamour intervened. "Daddy, she's like, my roommate, and she's totally right! We could get in serious trouble--there's a big no smoking rule and they kick you out for breaking it!"
Her mother frowned at her hand as she painted her nails carefully. "She has a point, Lucky. A black mark on her record would be a bit unseemly--what would your grandmother say?" Her eyes flicked up to meet Glamour's and the young woman could tell her mother was trying to help deescalate the situation. "Though I'm not sure why you insist on staying here, dear."
Bracing herself for what she knew was coming, Glamour said, "I like being able to connect with my classmates, Mom, and it's a lot easier to get involved in group study sessions in the common room here. Besides, I totally have the best roommate!"
"I understand you're happy to have such a good friend and that you're serious about your grades, but you could still have that if you were to join my old sorority." Summer Breeze gave her daughter a warm smile and then turned the expression on Wildsong. "I'm sure I could even get them to give you an invitation too," she told the wild haired young woman. "Then the two of you could be roommates and study buddies in someplace a little less...on the edge of being condemned as a biohazard." She set the polish on the nightstand. "Especially if you were to offer your assistance to any of the sorority sisters who needed tutoring."
Wildsong let out a slow, deep breath, a sign that she was trying to resist saying something without thinking. "I appreciate the offer, but it's a little bit late in the year to think about uprooting our accommodations," she responded, managing to keep her voice level. "Maybe I'll think about it over the summer."
"You really ought to," Glamour's mother gushed. "It would present you with so many wonderful opportunities! Especially if you grew your hair out in a more even style--Glamour or the sorority sisters can show you how to really make yourself stand out as an even more exotic beauty, and I'm sure they could introduce you both to some nice boys from very good families!" She turned back to her daughter, who was trying to keep her expression vapid and neutral. "I know you're a little uncomfortable by yourself with some of the young men your father and I have introduced you to, but maybe having your friend with you on a double date will help you break the ice!"
Summer meant well, but it didn't help her feel any better. Particularly when her father interjected. "Stop coddling her, Summer. She needs to get over this hang-up of being distant and frigid to her dates, before she starts to gain a reputation." His face twisted in anger. "No daughter of this family will be thought of as being like one of those people. Tranquil Dancer has brought enough shame on the family with his inappropriate behavior."
It felt like her heart had completely stopped, transformed into pure ice that was so cold it burned even to breathe...so she didn't. Song's knuckles were white from where she gripped her own desk chair, biting her tongue to keep from exploding at the balding man with the world's worst comb-over. Even her mother was coming as close to frowning as she got, and that said something. "Lucky," she challenged her husband, "while we both want Glamour to find a nice match from a good family, you should also completely respect her desire to finish her education for a career of her own--it means she can be much more selective about which suitor she decides to pick since she won't be entirely dependent on an allowance to be happy. If she wants to put a little more focus on that for a few years, and engage in more casual meet and greets to gain a wider feel for her options--"
"Enough! Her attitude has already offended half a dozen clients, and cost me the Luxurious accounts! And now she's packing her bags to go who knows where when she is supposed to be preparing to play her part in tomorrow's charity gala. It took me months to plan this and even longer to convince Blue Oryx to attend!" He whipped around to his daughter. "Pack your things--you're coming home for the weekend, and we'll have a service move your things to the sorority house for when you come back. It's time you start acting like a proper member of this family and doing what you're told--this low class teenage rebellion ends, and it ends now."
"After t-that," Glamour sniffled, "I snapped a little. I t-told him I couldn't...that I had plans here..." she trailed off.
Wildsong picked up the story for her when it became clear Glamour couldn't continue. "She spun a complicated lie about going to a fancy party as your guest, sir," she addressed Night, "as the date of an Italian cousin of someone named Cadence? It was enough of a story that her mom played middle man again and told him that Glamour could come home and play next weekend, and suggested he offer up his assistant or something to be arm candy for some rich creep. Then we packed as quick as we could and came here...I told her we needed to tell you, since...it feels like there's no way what he's threatening is legal--she's twenty, not ten or fourteen...and she said you're reasonable and pretty chill." She fell silent, hugging Glamour tighter around the shoulders. There was worry, but from where Sunset was sitting, she was hiding it well.
At that point, the room was so deathly silent that Sunset was fairly sure she could actually hear the sound of her heart pounding with magic and fury. She forced it down--the worst thing in the world right now would be if she caught fire, but the emotions didn't stop. Not when the story that Twilight's cousin was telling struck deep in direct opposition to the Equestrian native's cultural sensibilities. The fire inside only cooled when Twilight squeezed her hand, though Sunset was not sure if she was seeking or offering comfort. Regardless, it served to remind her that she needed to get her emotions--and by proxy, her magic--under control, before they got out of hand.
She forced herself to breathe, slowly, a steady in and out of air that she could hear Twilight copy, even as she clutched Sunset's hand like a lifeline. The former unicorn tuned that out for a moment, focusing on why she was so angry on Glamour's behalf. The first part was obvious--her father was little better than the scummy would-be rapists that Sunset had attacked in the park. He treated Glamour and her body like a commodity for him to use in his business dealings, the way another person might use a fancy office or a gift or an extra item in the purchase bag 'thrown in' to 'sweeten the deal.' Even the most unpleasant of nobles didn't do that, even the most xenophobic of tribalists--sure, maybe they deliberately made sure their foals' friend circles were entirely 'the right kind of pony,' or encouraged them to keep their partnerships to their same social strata, but that was a far cry from this...nopony would ever treat another's body like that. Only a few treated their own bodies like that, and they were few and far between because it didn't get them far. Most ponies just didn't have the interest for such to be an effective method of manipulation.
The deeper discomfort took longer to recognize, but when Sunset realized what bothered her so badly, she actually felt part of her anger drain away like water in a sink once the plug was removed. It wasn't something that would ever sit right, but as far as she knew, humans were much less at risk of being driven to madness if someone prevented them from following their passion, the way it did for ponies. What Glamour's parents were doing, and how her father at least seemed to be pushing her in directions away from the education and career she wanted, all to make her do what he thought was her obligation and duty...it was wrong, even for a human...but it wasn't the jarring, soul-deep anathema for them that it was for a pony. It would never elicit the same kind of anger, fear, and disgust as it would in Equestria. Sunset exhaled, reminding herself of some of the princess' lessons on interspecies diplomacy.
"Remember, little sun, these aren't ponies, and they don't have the same traditions we do. They eat different things, view their families in a different way, and have their own language and holidays. As long as no creature is being harmed or forced against their will, we need to respect that their ways are not wrong. Only different, and that differences have no bearing on whether they are capable of being our allies or not..."
Sure, Princess Celestia had been talking about Hippogryphs and some of the more baffling aspects of their culture at the time, but the lesson...it wasn't a bad one, she admitted privately. It made her feel more than a little guilty about how she had behaved in regards to humanity...now that she'd actually gotten to know some humans closely, and started to see them more as beings instead of intelligent monsters. Way to act just like the Canterlot traditionalists, Shimmer, she grumbled bitterly to herself.
It didn't stop her from feeling a deep seeded sense of offense and fury on Glamour's behalf that her father was trying to dictate her life's path, of course. Especially because it was a violation of both the 'no harm' and 'consent' clauses. Glamour had tried her best to be friendly and kind to Twilight, and she didn't deserve to be driven to being on the verge of tears and panic because her sire was a terrible man.
Twilight made a distressed sound, and her grip tightened further, pulling Sunset out of her thoughts. Blue-green eyes looked down at her girlfriend, whose face seemed to switch rapidly between anger and worry. Spike had crawled into her lap, and she was hugging the dog tight with her other arm. The redhead followed both their gazes and realized that while she'd been lost in her own thoughts, wrestling with her rage--and the magic that still buzzed like a hornet's nest under her skin--Glamour had finally given in to tears, sobbing into her hands. Despair hung about her like a cloak, and Wildsong had pressed tight to her side, looking about on the edge of furious tears herself.
Velvet was the first member of the family to move, enveloping both young women in one of her 'mom hugs'. She murmured reassuring words into Glamour's hair, alongside gentle praise for having the courage to tell them what was going on. Glamour collapsed brokenly into the embrace, weeping in a way that Sunset remembered doing herself on more than one occasion...and she felt her own eyes well up as Twilight Velvet weathered the storm and provided comfort to both a relation and a total stranger.
"You girls did exactly the right thing, coming to us...I just wish you had told us sooner," she soothed. "Don't worry...it's not the end of the world, and it's going to get better. You both have a right to be angry and hurt--what Lucky and Summer have been doing are wrong, and you don't have to put up with it."
Wildsong spoke up again. "I've been telling her that for a while," she said, voice rough and thick. "But she was afraid they'd disown her like they did her sister, taking away the money she needs to finish her degree, and cut her off entirely from the rest of her family."
Night stilled. "...is that what Lucky told her?" he asked, his voice low and frosty. When Wildsong nodded, he took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.
"Oh, sweetheart," Velvet said, her voice filled with heartbreak that Sunset could practically taste in the air, even from across the room. "...your sister was never disowned from the family, even if your father cut her out of his life."
Glamour hiccuped and stared up at Velvet with something like faint hope and trepidation. "What? But...Daddy said...and she never wrote...or called...and she just went away..."
Taking another one of those deep breaths, Night pulled his glasses off to rub the bridge of his nose. "He lied then, and if he did that, I wonder if he had a direct hand in cutting contact between you and her. Your sister is part of Doctors Without Borders--she's been traveling the world for years as a surgeon..." He settled his glasses back on his face. "Your father cannot cut you off from the family educational trust, Glamour, nor can he remove you from the family. Only Stalwart Veracity has that power, and it's one he has never exercised, regardless of how unpleasant some members of the family can be."
She dissolved back into tears at that, though these seemed to be tears of relief. For a long minute, it was the only sound in the room, and Sunset moved so that she and Twilight were squished together in the armchair, her arm going around her girlfriend's shoulders as they watched events unfold. Twilight pressed into Sunset's side, hugging Spike tightly now with both arms, her face buried in his fur. Across from them, Velvet was now rocking Glamour gently, soft apologies joining her litany of reassuring words.
Night focused on the less agitated Wildsong, his expression having hardened into a stern frown, so cold that Sunset half expected hoarfrost to start forming on the lenses of his glasses. "You both have my word that this situation will not be continuing as it has been, nor will either of you suffer academic consequences because of my cousin's overblown ego." Sunset shivered--the icy rage in his eyes actually made it feel as though the room's temperature had dropped ten or twenty degrees, and part of her wanted to recoil when he rose abruptly to his feet. "If you will excuse me," he continued, "I have some calls to make and people to inform of the situation. I assure you that this will be dealt with swiftly; Stalwart will be exceedingly upset to learn what cheap games Lucky has been up to..." Golden eyes flicked to Glamour then back to Wildsong. "If you wish it, it will be arranged so that neither of you has to suffer his presence in your vicinity ever again."
Wildsong's lips twisted into a feral expression. "You'd better damned well believe 'I wish it.' He's made her cry too many times."
As he nodded and began making his way out of the room towards his office, Shining spoke up from the window, adding his two cents. "It's more than just a restraining order he's looking at," he stated, and Sunset recognized Shining Armor, Detective of the CCPD in his tone and posture. "What he has been doing can--and often is, for investigation purposes--considered a form of prostitution or trafficking. Given the behavior you described, and the ease with which he has been trying to push his own daughter into the arms of strange men in exchange for financial gain, it is very likely that this is the least of his transgressions. Say the word, and I will happily contact my superiors at the station to file a report, as well as have my partner contact the local FBI liaison to give them a tip." His mouth was set in a grim line, and Sunset realized she could entirely see how his counterpart had become Captain of the Royal Guard in Canterlot Castle. "Between that and Uncle Stalwart's connections, that will have people crawling up his backside with a microscope, looking for every misdeed he and his 'associates' have ever even thought about doing."
Twilight's cousin raised her face away from Velvet's shoulder to stare at Shining. "...y-you mean y-you think he's d-done this to o-others? Is...is that why Dia l-left?"
"I don't know," Shining admitted, "but with your permission, I can get the ball rolling to find out...and if he has, then he'll have to face the consequences."
Her brows pinched, but she nodded. "D-do it."
He reached out and gently squeezed her shoulder. "I'll take care of it. You ladies worry about having a good weekend. We'll fix this."
After Shining went to join his father in making some calls, Sunset found herself falling back into thought from her position as an outside observer. With the knowledge that action was being taken, her own rage had cooled to a low simmer, and she could take in what was going on with a much more level head. This was a family dealing with an internal crisis...but...they were just as focused on Wildsong as they were on Glamour--even now, Velvet still had both of them in her hug, despite Wildsong being more calm and mostly attending to her partner. Night had addressed both of them, and had asked Wildsong what she wanted.
And with a very eye opening jolt, Sunset realized that it was exactly how they'd treated her when she had a crisis in their presence. Like the night she'd woken up screaming from a nightmare...or...back when they had barely known her for more than a month or two...when she'd come in after the prank in the locker-room. Not only had Twilight spent two nights and a whole day trying to put her back together, buy Velvet had cleaned her clothes without question--including her battered jacket, going so far as to even stitch up the worst of the tears in the old leather, cleaning its surface with leather soap that Sunset knew they had no reason to have 'just laying around the house,' meaning they had bought it just for the purpose of cleaning her jacket. On top of that, they'd made her favorite foods, and provided her with reassuring hugs, and Night had picked up a gallon of her favorite ice cream for the inevitable nightmares she suffered. At the time she'd been so out of it, she barely registered it, and by the time she'd been in a place to reflect on everything, she had avoided thinking too deeply.
However, Sunset couldn't deny it now, not watching how they reacted and cared for Glamour and Wildsong in this moment. They really had been treating Sunset like family the entire time...it wasn't an illusion, or a delusion, it wasn't the wishful thinking of the lonely little filly locked away inside her who had only ever wanted a family...a place to belong. Her eyes burned with the tears that filled them and her throat constricted tight around an aching, painful lump lodged in it. The former unicorn could feel it...the subtle ties that had been weaving around her for months, anchoring her reformed, reinvented self to this world and people in it.
Twilight was the strongest among those anchors, a chain wrapped willingly around her heart, but she was not the only one. Each of the people in her life she had forged a relationship with was a connection binding her to this world, the life she had here, and to the person she was becoming...and each of them had taught her something about herself along the way.
Applejack, dependable and true, who had been the first of those she'd harmed to reach out a hand to help her up and not knock her down...It had been the blonde's firm strength and blunt, honest nature that helped Sunset make sense in those early days of her own emotions, of what was okay to feel and want, and that she could be true to who she was deep down. That real friends were those she could trust to accept who she really was. Applejack, who told them all at New Years that they were family without the need for the bond of blood, who cared enough to ask about the world Sunset had left behind, and worried about whether or not the unicorn-turned-human had food to eat and a warm bed to sleep in...she was the roots of a great tree--not unlike the ones she cultivated so carefully--dug deep into the earth and preventing the ground from washing away even in the worst storms of Sunset's life.
Never far from the farmer was Rarity, whose selflessness and giving spirit could see through her, who had put aside her own feelings, her own lingering resentments, her own wants, to reach out and give Sunset the chance she had not earned...who showed her by thought and word and deed that giving her best without expecting anything in return touched and inspired those around her in turn. She was always there for advice, or to lend an ear, and even the smallest request for aid would mean a hundred and ten percent of Rarity's attention to the task, as if she were incapable of half measures and care little for its detriment to herself. For all her flightiness, there was something grounding in how readily Rarity was there when Sunset needed her, even if she didn't know what it was she needed her for.
Crazy and chaotic Pinkie Pie, with ability to help her find the silver lining on the worst of days, always ready with a smile or a joke or an observation that lifted Sunset's soul, no matter how much life weighed it down. Pinkie, who was joy unfettered, and brought with her her own family that, in spite of some of their equally odd quirks,were endlessly supportive in their own ways...whether that was Marble's slight smiles and soft words, the firm unyielding presence of Maud and their parents, or even Limestone's sour grimace as she held Sunset to her word to be a better pony. The avalanche of pink that lifted up everyone around her had taught Sunset to look for the little joys in life, and to help others find it...If Rarity and AJ grounded her, then Pinkie was a life preserver in stormy seas, keeping her from being swept away in the tides.
Her thoughts drifted to the most unlikely of her friendships...one that the old her would have scoffed openly about: Fluttershy. The animal lover was practically a spirit of mercy and compassion, who showed by example that balance was possible, that even Sunset could temper her fury with understanding, her frustration with patience. She had forgiven Sunset for not just individual episodes of ugliness but for a long, drawn out, concentrated campaign of abuse and malice designed to wear her down and isolate the shy girl...and then gone beyond forgiveness to reach out and offer succor. In Fluttershy, Sunset had learned not just forgiveness and kindness, but that she could heal and move beyond her scars...that she could learn from the past...and eventually she would be able to free herself from the hurt that past had left behind. Without that, Sunset was not sure she would have been able to let go of enough to form any of the ties that bound her to anyone other than her Twilight and Twilight's family... In a way, that meant that Fluttershy was responsible for her ability to form friendships and find an emotional anchor in any of her friends. It was a sobering realization.
Then there was Rainbow Dash. Loud, brash, and more than a little obnoxious, Dash had surprised Sunset with her conviction and devotion. Sunset had never lacked in the first herself--even as a filly, her drive to succeed at a task meant she found ways to do so, even against the most frustrating of obstacles or limitations. It was at least half the reason she'd stolen the crown from Princess Twilight, and why she had an entire host of contingency plans as one after another her plans failed. But...loyalty...devotion...reliability in another...that had been something that was in short supply, with far too many other ponies trying to play head games with her until she grew too wary of all of them and just isolated herself. After years and years of pushing everypony away and then years of being a bully, Sunset had...lost...much of her ability to believe any being would actually stick to their word with her...or that she was deserving of anything other than the inevitable sting of betrayal. Rainbow had changed that, when she had stood by Sunset against what felt like the entire school, even getting herself in trouble just to 'make things right' when she didn't have to.
And it wasn't just her--Principal Celestia had, perhaps without realizing it, stood up for Sunset in that same dark moment, something the princess...hadn't. She hadn't assumed that it was immediately Sunset's fault, even though given the events of the formal and her sophomore year she would have been well within her right to. Instead, she gave Sunset a chance and held all of the students accountable, not just Sunset. It...was a sobering revelation that maybe Princess Celestia...was not perfect...and made mistakes that had hurt Sunset, even if that wasn't the alicorn's intention. Seeing her former mentor's counterpart make different choices, and explain those choices rather than answering with some cryptic riddle.... Knowing that, she decided that maybe what had happened between her and the princess wasn't one hundred percent Sunset Shimmer's fault. More than that, between Dash and the Principal, they had made her realize she deserved the loyalty of the people she cared about, that cared about her...and that she had every right to expect a bare minimum amount of reciprocity when it came to loyalty. That the former unicorn should be able to count on her emotional anchors not giving way at the slightest hint of trouble.
The principal's choices paired with Vice Principal Luna turning out to be a person who placed a high value in fairness and justice meant that Sunset had adult authority figures that she not only had come to trust but knew her history in its entirety and still gave her a chance. Miss Luna was honest without being cutting, and she wasn't afraid to point out mistakes--hers as much as Sunsets or anyone else's--but she was always fair about it, looking at as many sides of the problem as possible. Some part of Sunset wondered if the Lunar Princess was the same way, and if so, had she not fallen to the Nightmare...would her presence have made things better for a young Sunset Shimmer? It was certainly a possibility, though there was no real way to know. Regardless, the human woman had provided someone who Sunset had come to trust to be truthful and fair with her, while providing an adult perspective someone like Applejack or Rarity lacked...and she had proven just how far she was willing to go to have Sunset's back. Sunset couldn't think of many beings in Equestria who would willingly follow another into the kind of dark magic soaked area like Crystal Prep, after all--what did it say that some humans were more loyal and steadfast than her own species when it mattered most?
Sunset's mind continued to mull over the people she had in her life, that tied her to the here and now, to this world. Like Flash--next to Fluttershy, she had wronged him the most out of anyone, had broken his heart and wounded him deeply...and he had not only forgiven her, but forged a friendship with her and kept her secrets. Or Lyra and Bon-Bon, who she wasn't close to, but had shared a measure of mutual respect and trust as they helped in every way they could to make sure that the students and teachers of Canterlot High would be safe during the next inevitable magical showdown that occurred. She was even starting to form something of a professional working relationship with Trixie, of all people, though she wouldn't call that a friendship just yet. Trixie's ego was still a bit too much for Sunset to handle, even with being friends with Rainbow Dash for months.
All those people, plus Twilight and Twilight's family...they had bound her more and more to this world without her realizing it...and now that she had, Sunset Shimmer was confronted with another, very sobering fact.
The fact that she had more connecting and binding her to the human world than she had ever possessed in Equestria. Sunset had more of a life here in less than a year...than she had from almost two decades in the world she'd been born to. She still missed her real body, her horn and hooves and the easy use of her considerable magic, and some part of her would always miss her favorite foods...but with every passing day, the part of her that ached for Equestria was being supplanted by the attachments to this world and its inhabitants...
And the most terrifying thing about it was that that thought no longer terrified her. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Forty: Into the Stillness | Twilight stirred, feeling consciousness steal over her in a slow and deliberate fashion--something that rarely happened to a teenager often woken abruptly by an alarm clock. She snuggled deeper into the warm softness of her pillow, trying to decide if she could go back to sleep for a little longer. Though, she thought in the detached fashion of early morning grogginess, that would be easier if her pillow stopped moving. Then her brain caught up with her, and her eyes snapped open because pillows were normally inanimate objects that didn't breathe.
It was dark in her room, that odd pre-dawn grayness that was slightly better than pitch blackness but leached all the color from the world, and without her glasses everything was blurry when it got more than a few inches from her nose. Regardless, she could translate the washed out curves and form close by into Sunset's body, and that while her face might not have been resting on her normal pillow, the 'pillow' under her cheek was almost better despite it rising and falling steadily with every breath the sleeping redhead took. She shifted a little, worming deeper in the arms holding her, a tiny thrill running down her spine from the sensation of skin on skin contact, even as she tilted her head to observe her girlfriend.
In truth, it was mostly a study of contrasts rather than details--red and gold hair translated to a tangle of darker and lighter grays against the pale off-gray of amber skin, and how all of them stood in sharp relief against the dark midnight of the bedsheets and blankets. One hand slid up to gently trace along the contours of Sunset's face, over her brow and cheeks, and brushing over the lips that had left trails of fire on her skin hours before.
She let out a little sigh of relief at finding Sunset's features completely relaxed in sleep. After the emotionally stressful explanation of what had happened to Glamour, Sunset had...not withdrawn, exactly, but faded into the background. She still participated in the big family dinner, and moved to help wherever it was needed, but the bright presence had been...shuttered...like the sun behind the clouds or one of those old fashioned lanterns with the cover that let a person adjust the light they gave off. That quiet had persisted even after they'd come upstairs to get ready for bed, but Twilight had been hesitant to address it then, between the long day, how they were both at the ends of their individual emotional ropes from a stressful week, and the fact that neither of them had seemed to feel much like talking. Instead, Sunset had sought and offered wordless comfort, and Twilight had latched onto that, allowing herself to be dragged down into a world that was made up of soft instrumental music played over her laptop, breathless whispers, calloused fingers, wandering lips, and the leather-and-summer-sunshine scent that was Sunset Shimmer, drowning out all the external stimuli as well as her own racing thoughts that were worrying about a thousand and one things.
Now though, in that soft space between sleep and truly awake, Twilight could assess the situation without having to go right into uncomfortable questions. She felt relief in knowing that Sunset still felt safe enough to sleep deeply and relax utterly at her side. The lines and tension were banished from her face, her brows smoothed and lacking the little furrow that meant she was dwelling on something, her lips no longer pulled into a slight frown. She still worried about what had made Sunset retreat emotionally, but that would have to wait until the older girl was awake and ready to talk; she made herself a mental note to try bringing it up before the weekend was over.
Exhaling slowly, Twilight shifted again, trying to get comfortable enough to doze back off for a while longer. Just as she was starting to relax and feel like she might be able to, she realized that Sunset's whuffly snores had stopped. She glanced up to see that her girlfriend's brow had creased.
"...it's too early to raise the sun, Princess...five more minutes..." Sunset mumbled.
Stifling a giggle, Twilight wondered what the other girl had been dreaming about. That seemed to register with Sunset, and one eye pulled itself halfway open to peer down at her. "...Sparky...?" came the husky murmur in a voice still muzzy with sleep.
She smiled and teased lightly, "Yes, it's me. Why? Were you expecting someone else?"
That blue-green eye was joined by its partner in peeking out from under half closed lids, both bright and distinct in her otherwise washed out field of vision. "...never know...with Pinkie..." she answered. "...no concept...of personal space..."
Twilight frowned. "I'm not sure I'd be okay with your friend ending up topless in bed with you."
Sunset let out a husky, sleepy chuckle. "If she ever does...you'll know, because you'll be there...beside me...don't sleep like this just anywhere..." One hand came down to run through dark locks. "...what time is it?"
That necessitated rolling over and fumbling out for her glasses to check the alarm clock. She squinted at the glowing numbers that reminded her of Sunset's eyes in the dark and in her dreams. "Five forty." Then she rolled back over to wiggle back into her spot against that warm body; sleep might be proving elusive, but that didn't mean she was ready to leave that warm cocoon under the blankets yet.
"....'s early...even for you," Sunset said, nuzzling into her hair. "....you okay?"
She was silent for a long time, listening to Sunset's heartbeat and slow, steady breathing. "...not really?" she admitted. "...This week has been...a nightmare. I was just starting to find my equilibrium with what's been happening at school and that I'm being made to transfer and all the work I have yet to do on my project, especially since the energy source is the most frustrating and uncooperative scientific phenomenon I have ever encountered...and then Glamour showed up last night and..."
The hug tightened, and Sunset kissed her forehead. "Her story was pretty terrible."
"It's worse than terrible! I always knew Lucky and Summer were shallow and self absorbed and fixated on money to an unhealthy degree, but...practically...selling Glamour as some kind of escort during big important dinners is...something I can't believe they would stoop to!" She pressed into her girlfriend's warmth. "And she was so upset and I couldn't do anything to help, not even say anything to make her feel better..." Tears welled in her eyes, frustration and pain bleeding out of her into her physical reality.
"Shhhh..." Sunset soothed her, humming softly, the soft lullaby-like tune that she always started with whenever she did that, something that Twilight always felt reached down in her soul. "...know it's hard--I couldn't do much to help either...but it sounds like your dad is fixing it...and you did help...You were there. You listened...You validated how violated she and Wildsong felt." Amber fingers brushed her hair back from her face. "...and right now, you're crying for their suffering...hurting because they are...and it's all we can do."
Through her tears, she could see moisture tracking down Sunset's face too, even as the words drilled right through the lump in her throat to pierce her heart. Twilight pressed her face into Sunset's collarbone and cried. She cried for herself, for her cousin, for Wildsong, for Sunset. She cried because of the stress that felt like it was eating her alive. She cried over the cruelty and unfairness of other people, over the way the worst things always seemed to happen to good people while bad people got away with their actions. She cried for her own helplessness...
The entire time, she could hear Sunset again, singing while tears dripped onto Twilight's hair. It was that same song, but this time with lyrics she had never heard before, lyrics in a language she couldn't even begin to place. Something about it was strangely melancholy but also soothing, and it pulled her from her own tears to listen in silent rapture. Sunset's eyes were faraway, shadowed and pensive like they had been the night before.
As the song trailed away into silence, Twilight reached up and cupped Sunset's cheek. "...I didn't know it had words..."
Blinking, the redhead was brought back to her, and she gave a wan, crooked smile. "I...don't actually remember all of it. She...didn't sing the words often. Usually...midsummer...midwinter...and...Nigh--Halloween...but it was a lullaby she used when I was little."
"It's beautiful...Do you know what the words mean?"
Someone shrugging while holding her felt...weird, but she ignored it. "Kind of. Dead languages are a bit cumbersome to translate, but she taught me the meaning of some other songs and literature in the same dialect. I can try, if you want? Might have to take a lot of poetic license though."
Twilight nodded timidly. "...if it's okay with you? I'd love to know what it's about?"
Sunset's expression was still dim and lacking its light, but she obliged.
"Destiny cruel, Harmony lost,
I did not wish you away...
Bearing wounds for a failure all mine,
The music is silent this day."
"Yet into the still night, I sing you a song
In hope your company it keeps,
Until your weary eyes and my lullabies
Carry you softly to sleep..."
Several verses of the original language followed, places where Sunset could not translate or recall the exact wording, along with at least a verse worth of humming, before she shifted back to English.
"....there was so much more love for you than you ever knew,
May it take the hurt away from your mind,
Please forgive me for being so blind..."
"Centuries stretch out before us,
Full of fear and rife with the unknown,
In all my darkest moments I never dreamed
I'd face each one alone."
"May all the lonely winters
Swiftly fly, I pray...
I lo-love y-you...I m-miss you...
All these m-miles away..."
Sunset's voice had started to falter in the last verse, and then she stopped singing abruptly, curling forward to let tears soak into Twilight's hair. "Oh, Sunny..." she whispered, shifting their positions so Sunset could tuck her face into the younger girl's neck.
"...'m sorry..." Sunset mumbled.
Twilight rubbed her back gently. "Sunny, no... you don't need to be sorry. It's okay to be hurting...you loved her so much, and that kind of hurt lasts a long time."
Shaking her head, Sunset choked a little on her sobs. "...but your family wants me. My friends want me...she didn't. After everything I've done...people here want me in a way she never did...and I'm happy, and I want to be happy here, have a family, a home, you...I can belong here. Have a life here...so why do I keep thinking about her?! I don't even miss anyp-anyone else, so why can't I let her go?! Why am I letting this hold me back?!"
Holding her girlfriend close, Twilight tried to be as gentle as she could in her reply, biting back the unpleasant things she felt about the woman who had been Sunset's guardian. "Because she is your mother."
"...but she's not..." came the immediate retort. "I was her ward, out of necessity. She never asked for me."
That made Twilight's eyebrows shoot up in surprise, but she filed it away for another time. Sunset did not need the 'Twilit Inquisition' right now. "That doesn't matter. What matters is that she raised you. You lived with her from a very young age, she was the primary authority figure in your life above all others, and she obviously spent time with you when you were little, teaching you things and modeling behavior for you--like manners, or how you bring gifts to a host, or even how you carry yourself in public. Whether she intended it or not, she stepped into the role of a parent, and that is exactly how you viewed her...exactly how any child in your situation would have viewed her."
The older girl didn't answer, even when Twilight left a deliberate and extended pause to let her, so she continued. "It doesn't matter if a piece of paper said 'So-and-so is the legally adoptive parent of one Sunset Shimmer' she was the one you saw as your mother, the one you wanted to be proud of you and love you and make all the bad things go away when they happened..." Her hand was still rubbing up and down Sunset's back. "...and her rejection wounded you deeper than anything else--you told me that. That her love and acceptance drove every little thing you did, right up until the night we met...which is normal, Sunny. No matter who we are, our parents and our relationship with them...especially with our mothers...is something that impacts people their whole lives, and it's something that is...perhaps not impossible, but extremely difficult to excise completely." Twilight tried to keep her breathing slow and even. "Did you know that one of the most common individuals someone who is gravely wounded cries out for is their mother? It does not matter the circumstances, or how old they are, or even what kind of relationship they have with their mother...they still call out for 'Mom.'"
More silence, but it was the kind of silence that told her Sunset was listening. "So you...not being able to let go of her...that's normal. That's...very human...and it's okay to feel that way. You don't have to let go if you don't want to or aren't ready. You may never be ready...and that's okay too."
Sunset's shoulders slumped, and she went more than a little limp in Twilight's embrace. "...but what if I want to?" she bit out, sounding somewhere between angry and more tears. "I have so much here--people who want me, who respect me, who are proud of me...who care about me...and...". Fingers gripped Twilight's arms tight, almost painfully so. "...and I...I want to try. I want to embrace everything I've found, everything I've earned without her and everything about the place I came from and who I used to be..." She pulled back, and the only word Twilight had for the emotion etched across her face and in gleaming eyes was anguish. "...but how can I if I'm still holding on to the past?"
Twilight reached out, letting her hands follow the contours of cheek and jaw until her palms rested lightly against amber skin. "You don't have to cut yourself off completely and cast away everything and everyone, Sunset. Your life doesn't have to be divided into 'Before' and 'After.' You can embrace your life here while still having things from your past you aren't ready to let go of or that you still need closure on."
"...but...how is it fair to be part of everything here if I'm not willing to..." The redheaded teen's words faltered as whatever she was trying to articulate fell drastically short.
Biting her lip, Twilight tried a slightly different approach. "Sunny...no one here expects to replace her...or anyone else from your past. Mom and Dad definitely aren't. Finding home, finding family...isn't subtracting your old connections and relationships from your life and overwriting them with new ones. It's about adding on to it. You can accept the friends you've made and all the changes in your life without removing anyone from it that you don't want to remove."
She could feel more than see Sunset's brows furrow, before her girlfriend reached out and pulled her back into that warm hold. "...I...want to..." Sunset mumbled, trailing off again into that pensive silence, as if the weight of the world was crushing down on her.
Resting her head against smooth skin was soothing. "Are you up for going on this date today, Sunny? I'll understand if you aren't." There could be other dates, but Sunset deserved the chance to sort her thoughts and feelings out.
A humorless chuckle escaped the older girl. "I was actually planning on asking you the same thing."
Twilight had not composed a response for that question yet. She had been fairly excited the night before, but everything just felt...heavier now. Full of a weight and expectation and stress that hadn't been present before, as if the world itself was holding its breath in some...indefinable and irrational way, waiting on the next thing to happen.
The words hovered in the early morning quiet long after they stopped vibrating the air, before Sunset shattered it again. "...maybe the question should be: are we up for going on a date today, or is it going to be too much on top of everything else we have yet to deal with?"
"I...don't know," the dark haired teen found herself answering. "...if you had asked that last night, I believe the answer would have unequivocally been yes from me. Despite--or perhaps because of it--I...was looking forward to a day where all I had to worry about was you and me."
Sunset shifted positions, and Twilight could feel the kiss she brushed against her ear. "I know what you mean. The last few months have been...stressful...even with things going so much better at my school for me. I've got so much I'm trying to do--band practice, making time for the girls, running that weekly tutoring that now has like a hundred people showing up every week--we actually had to take over the cafeteria because they wouldn't all fit in the library--the big group project, the upcoming Friendship Games...I have less time than ever and more people that want part of it, and its cut into the time I used to spend with you..." A frustrated sigh escaped the redhead.
Making a humming sound of agreement, Twilight added, "It's not been much better on my end. This project is driving me insane--normally I'd be pretty much done by now, and I'm not. I feel like I'm not any further than when I started. Plus the trouble with my school and Principal Cinch now...I mean, the family lawyers and Great Uncle Stalwart are involved--that's bad and huge and I didn't ask for any of it and I don't know why it's all going so wrong..." Air ran out and she had to force herself to breathe. "...plus the troubling revelations about my friendship with Wallflower, and all the work I'm doing to prep for college applications, not to mention trying to work on my plan for coming out to Mom and Dad...it feels like I barely see you anymore other than Fridays and I miss you...so I was really excited for this. I was hoping it might help me with coming out to Mom and Dad sooner."
Then she hesitated, chewing on her lip. "But then..."
Her girlfriend understood where her thoughts were going. "...but then your cousin showed up, and you're asking yourself if it's fair to expect her to still want to go out today after everything she's been through with her parents?"
Twilight found herself nodding silently, acknowledging that Sunset had voiced exactly what she had been thinking. Her eyes fell, finding the dark vagueness beyond the older girl's shoulder to be a fascinating place to focus so that she wasn't looking into bright, knowing, blue-green irises.
"Sparky?" The word was barely more than a whisper, and full of concern.
She couldn't keep the edge from her voice as guilt weighed her down. "...that's not even accounting for whether or not she even wants to associate with me any longer."
Amber fingers turned her back to face Sunset. "Why do you think that?"
The dark haired girl frowned. "...I...can't help but think...if I hadn't spent years dismissing her as vapid and shallow...if I'd done something other than look for the quickest possible exit to any and all conversations and actively avoiding her...and...maybe tried to be a friend...then this would have come to light sooner. She could have been around my parents and she would have trusted them with this when it started, instead of putting up with it for years and she could have had a chance to reconnect with her sister years ago and--"
"Twilight, stop and breathe for a minute, okay?" Sunset sat completely upright, pulling Twilight with her. A warm hand moved soothingly up and down her back. "You are not to blame for what has happened with your cousin. Could you have done things differently? Sure, but she could have too...and who is to say it would have made much difference in the long run?"
Sunset had a point, something she couldn't deny from a rational perspective. "I know...but it might have."
Sighing, the older girl pulled her into her lap so she could enfold Twilight in her arms. "It might have, but you can't know for certain and unless you've got a magic spell or a time machine, what's done is done. And I don't believe Glamour or her girlfriend blame you in any way for anything, because there's nothing to blame you for." She nuzzled into Twilight's hair. "I do agree that we need to ask them if they are still interested in continuing with today's plans or not, but we need to assess ourselves first. There's no point in even bringing it to them if we come to the conclusion that we don't want to go out today or we're going to be unable to really enjoy our date...so let's finish talking about that first."
Twilight was silent as the words tumbled around in her mind. Was she up for this? Did she still want to? Could she handle it and still enjoy herself, despite how stressed and anxious she was already? And was it fair to even be dismissing Glamour's feelings, even for just a few minutes? Wasn't that selfish?
Yet the more she thought it over, the more she realized Sunset had a valid point. Yes, she felt awful for Glamour and what had been happening to her, for what she and Wildsong had been putting up with for months...but...she still needed to be honest with herself and consider her own feelings too. Twilight's own school year had been terrible, growing even more so since the start of the semester, and she felt more stressed and anxious now than she ever had, overloaded with responsibilities and fears and the pressure of her project and trying to escape Crystal Prep with her GPA intact...it wasn't fair to expect her to deal with other people's problems on top of everything in her own life...even if her knee jerk reaction to that thought was shame, shame and guilt over how petulant and childish it sounded.
Her girlfriend must have read something in her body language, because she nuzzled into Twilight's hair. "It isn't wrong to take time to consider your own needs, Sparky, remember? That's what you keep telling me."
It was something she had said to Sunset more than once...and something she suspected her parents had also tried to reinforce to the redheaded girl.
...and it was as true for her as it was for Sunset.
Going back over her own thoughts, she acknowledged her sadness at Glamour's treatment by her own parents, but set it to the side to consider herself and what was right for Twilight Sparkle.
She wanted time with Sunset to help forget, even if just for a little while, all the awful things going on that were threatening to drag her under. Twilight had been looking forward to this date and day out--she'd carefully planned as much as she could, looked up the town they were going to to get an idea of potential places they could go and made sure to have a map handy on her phone, opened up a brand new SD card for her new phone so they could take all kinds of pictures and store them on there for when they didn't have to hide anymore...she'd even had her date outfit organized and ready to go, along with a secret plan to wear one of the more...enticing and daring sets of underthings Cadence had encouraged her to purchase, just in case things went in the direction she was hoping for. More than that...Twilight realized that she didn't just want the day with Sunset...she needed it, with the same urgency as food or water or even air. Some part of her craved the attention and connection with her fiery maned best friend, knowing instinctively that it would help ground her and soothe frayed and shattered nerves.
Words burst out of her then, as she clung to the girl whose presence enfolded her like a blanket. "Oh...you are going to think I am a terrible and insensitive person, but I really do want to go, Sunny! I've been looking forward to this, holding onto this weekend to get me through the worst parts of the week...through the talk with Mom and Dad, through the stress of this project, all of it...I..."
"Hey..." Sunset murmured. "It's okay. You're not insensitive. It's been a hard few months, and it's okay to want to do something for yourself." The taller girl nuzzled into Twilight's hair, inhaling through her nose. "If I'm honest, I want to be selfish too. I'm exhausted, and tired of being pulled in twenty different directions. I need a break, where all I am doing is something that makes me happy, makes me feel good...something that doesn't have baggage or a past I can't really forget...and for me, that's spending time with you. With you, I can just be Sunset, and not constantly second guess if I'm going to remind you of some awful thing I did to you as a bully."
Her hands rubbed over Twilight's arms. "I need a day that's just us. Whether that's out on a double date with your cousin, or just the two of us driving to the next town over and forgetting everything for twelve hours while we go to a museum and dinner and maybe a movie or whatever, or drive out to the beach and just enjoy the fresh air and majesty of the sun on endless waves before stargazing on the sand, or maybe one of the million and one ideas I know you can come up with with a location, five minutes, and Google maps...I don't care. I just need time where all I have to worry about is seeing you smile, and whether or not I need to stop and breathe or I can keep kissing you for a bit longer...a day to forget about your school and my friends or our various projects and responsibilities..."
Twilight sighed softly, feeling some of the stress melt off her. "It sounds like we feel very much the same way about the situation then...that we both need a break from everything." She cuddled deeper into the warmth her girlfriend gave off to chase away the cool air that made goosebumps prickle at her exposed skin. "Maybe it is insensitive, maybe it's not, but...I think if Glamour and Wildsong don't feel up to going out, then I'd like to take your suggestion for the two of us to go do something ourselves." Trying not to grimace, she added, "Last night was intense, and a little too much on top of everything else and I don't think I can manage a whole day here where it's just...omnipresent..."
"The manticore in the ballroom, you mean? Yeah, I'm not sure I could deal with a whole day of that and not be a bitchy mess by the end of it." Sunset rested her chin on Twilight's shoulder. "How about we get up, go take our showers, and go down for breakfast. After we get food in our stomachs, Glamour should be awake, and we can talk to the two of them then? See what they want to do so we know how to plan our day going forward?"
Twisting a little, Twilight pulled her girlfriend in for a brief kiss. "Ten minutes? I want to start our day with a proper good morning..."
"I can agree to that..." Sunset purred, before capturing Twilight's mouth with her own...
Dawn was underway by the time the two girls had showered and dressed, the first rays of golden sunshine sneaking into the house through east facing windows and warming away the coolness of the early spring morning. They came downstairs and passed the living room where Night was already relaxing, smartly dressed and reading a book. "Good morning, girls," he greeted. "Your mother and I will be leaving soon for the day, and probably won't be home until late. Cadence said she'll pop by after work to collect Spike and take him to her place for the evening--that way, you don't have to worry about cutting your own plans short. Just let him out before you leave and make sure you put a fresh pad down for him in the laundry room just in case."
Sunset canted her head. "You look like you're going to a ball," she commented, the question in her eyes obvious.
"I wish it was a ball--at least I could talk Velvet into going with me then." He shook his head. "Every year a few of us get tapped to schmooze the big financial donors for the university, and as you can imagine, I get to be one of the faculty go-to's when dealing with upper class snobs--apparently my family ties impress them."
Wrinkling her nose into something like a sneer of disgust, Sunset offered her sympathy. "Ugh. Those kind of 'parties' are the worst. Business meetings without a boardroom, all of them, and full of beings who strut around like peacocks showing off how much more important their family is than anypo--anyone else's."
Night arched an eyebrow. "I see you have experience." He didn't question further, but Twilight could see him taking mental notes.
"More than a little. If there's one thing I don't miss living here, it's that." Sunset gave a full body shudder. "Good luck in the peacock garden, Mr. Night."
He chuckled. "It feels more like a shark tank, most of the time."
The redheaded girl shrugged. "That's because you've never been pecked by a horde of peacocks," she countered, before heading for the kitchen. Twilight exchanged a bit of a bewildered look with her father before hurrying after Sunset. Her girlfriend had never been so casual in admitting to her guardian's upper class status in front of her parents before, and she really wanted to ask what was up with that.
It would have to wait, she determined, as she heard the soft sound of voices in the kitchen as she caught up to her fiery maned paramour. Sunset looped an arm through Twilight's and pointed through the doorway as half muffled but genuine laughter trickled through it. There she could see her cousin and Wildsong at the table, both looking a bit tired but otherwise happy, with a stack of papers and a manila envelope on the table in front of them. Glamour was pushing her girlfriend's shoulder, protesting half heartedly, "Tiger! That's terrible! Just think for a moment how those poor fire ants would feel! That's cruelty to animals!"
Twilight exchanged a look with her girlfriend. The good mood seemed to her to be a positive sign, and it was with that in mind that she let Sunset tug her into the kitchen. "I'm afraid to ask what you are doing to those insects that constitutes cruelty," Sunset said dryly as the pair at the table looked up at them.
Glamour giggled. "You should be--it was terrible!"
As Sunset slipped away to make herself a cup of coffee, Twilight dropped into a seat across from her cousin. "You sound like you're already having a better day," she ventured carefully.
"We are," Wildsong answered with a bright grin. "Thanks to your dad, and this." She tapped a finger on the paper stack.
Her cousin nodded in agreement. "It's great--Twi, I'm free!" She gestured at the papers. "A courier showed up a few minutes ago with these--Great Uncle Stalwart must have pulled some strings--and I'm free of Daddy's games!"
Padding back over with a steaming mug of coffee and Twilight's orange juice, Sunset squinted at the papers. "What is it?"
"Restraining order, copies of papers drawn up against the school--someone had to unlock and let him into our dorm-room, which is a huge no-no, apparently? Your parents volunteered as my emergency contacts when I need someone over twenty-one, as well as a temporary mailing address for important papers from...well...everywhere...until I either get done with school or get a PO box. A completely new bank account from the bank, with all my spending money transferred into it, along with extra in case I need it for school, and all the cards and a checkbook for it...and also the paperwork for an apartment in a building owned by a friend of Stalwart's that he offered to pay for while we're in school to keep Mom and Daddy from trying to surprise us again...if we want to do that. The building has security, and according to his note, if we take the offer, my parents' names and photos will be on the 'No Entry' list." Glamour looked like she was about to cry. "I...I'm a little overwhelmed," she added quietly as Wildsong hugged her around the shoulders.
Twilight could understand that. "It is a lot to take in...it explains why Dad was on the phone so long last night...but I'm glad that they could help." She hesitated, then asked quietly, "...did you want to cancel our plans for the weekend?"
Sunset added, "We understand if you do--like you said, this is a lot to have to deal with all at once, and it wouldn't be fair to ignore how you feel and expect you to just go ahead with the original plan."
Wiping away the tears that had gathered at the corner of her eyes, Glamour managed a real smile. "You're both super sweet and considerate...and it means a lot that you're worried about me." She leaned into Wildsong's hug, even as she reached across the table to squeeze both Sunset and Twilight's hands.
"We're still planning on having our 'day out,'" Wildsong confirmed, her free hand making air quotes at the end of the sentence and wiggling her eyebrows suggestively as if to imply something much more scandalous than just a date day. "I refuse to let something little like this ruin the weekend for any of us!"
Glamour Shot bit her lip to stifle her laugh and failed. Then she recovered enough to address Twilight more directly. "We want to do it for two reasons, really. One..." she lowered her voice a little as she glanced down the hall, "I know how much you two were looking forward to this after we talked last week, Twi...and I know you've had a pretty lousy month too, even if it is for different reasons. You two deserve a day out and away from all that stress."
At Twilight's side, Sunset made a noise of agreement. "We were going to take the day for ourselves either way," she admitted. "We talked about it when we woke up...but we didn't want to push you into feeling like you had to cater to us."
The two young women smiled with what Twilight thought was gratitude, before Glamour turned serious. "And that's the second reason, really. This is the first day of freedom in my whole life--in a way, it's the first day of the rest of my life! Maybe that's corny but...I feel...liberated. Mom and Daddy can't use me as a dress up doll anymore, and I can make my own future that I want, and I have people who will support my choices about what I want, even if it's not the biggest moneymaker." She let go of their hands to wipe her eyes again. "I'm free, really free, and I want to celebrate, to do things that make me feel happy and good, and not dwell on just how much my parents have taken from me...And that means I want to spend the day with the woman I love and get to know my favorite cousin better! I can be sad and hurt and upset about what my parents did later, like...when I talk to a therapist."
"Which we're gonna do," Wildsong interjected. "Therapy, I mean. Not just for Glamour, but both of us together, as a couple. Your mom recommended it, actually."
Twilight nodded. "I've seen a therapist since I was little and I know Mom and Dad have had therapy from time to time with traumatic life experiences. The value of good mental health professionals and the tools they provide you with cannot be overstated. It really does help provide an unbiased understanding of what is going on in your head and why."
Wildsong nudged her partner pointedly, and Glamour stuck her tongue out at her childishly. "Yes, Tiger, you made your point, you can stop beating the dead horse now. Before you accidentally turn it into one of those creepy zombies from that show you like."
"Please," Sunset added dryly. "I happen to have a personal attachment to equines, and I'd rather not deal with one that spontaneously reanimates to file a complaint with the manager."
There was a brief breath of silence as the other three stared at the redhead before they lost in, breaking down into laughter that Twilight thought might have carried with it a touch of hysteria--a release of some of their stress and trauma with the ridiculous visual Sunset had provided. At the very least, she felt a touch better once she had managed to regain enough control that she didn't worry she was going to shoot orange juice out her nostrils. Sunset, for her part, just smirked at their reactions--she knew very well what she had done and radiated all the smugness of a satisfied cat.
Shaking her head, Wildsong chuckled, "Okay, kid, that was a good one. Now I'm just picturing a horse with a bob haircut dyed a hideous shade wearing yoga pants that are one size too small and more make-up than a streetwalker shrieking in a loud voice about how she wants me fired from a place I don't work from. Thanks for that--that's gonna live rent free in my head until the end of time, right next to a few catchy theme songs and childhood trauma." She ran a hand through Glamour's hair, addressing her girlfriend playfully. "Still...babe, you won't let me indulge in venting what I'd love to say about and to your old man. I gotta let the feelings out somehow--y'know, the whole 'repression is bad' and all that. It's also not considered arson."
Sunset didn't miss a beat. "I'm not sure setting a person on fire is counted as arson," she countered. "Also, people on fire tend to scream a lot."
Twilight arched one brow. "I'm going to avoid inquiring too deeply into that and just go with continuing to advocate for therapy as the healthiest option, while ensuring that going out is something you're certain you want to do for yourselves and not because of Sunset and me?"
Her cousin ignored the way Wildsong and Sunset were cackling over their bad jokes. "I'm sure, Twi. Song and I talked about it this morning too. I don't want him to ruin this too, for any of us. We're going to go out, we're going to have fun, and we're going to spend the day free from the shackles other people have put on both of us." She beamed at Twilight, happier and more relaxed than the dark haired girl had ever seen. "I haven't been able to just be me in so long..."
The words struck a core in Twilight, and she found herself agreeing, aching for the freedom Glamour was describing, and her own chance to throw off the chains her own anxieties and other people's expectations had bound her with. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Forty One: Double Date | It took them a full fifteen minutes away from the Sparkle house before Wildsong flicked her eyes up to look at Sunset and Twilight in the rearview mirror. "Didn't get to ask before with everything else going on, but how long've you two been together?"
"Since...early November?" Sunset answered, glancing at Twilight for confirmation. "We were friends before that, best friends. We ended up talking about it, and decided to...try, because...there was something there that was...special." She didn't want to go into the personal details, but that much felt safe to say.
The young woman laughed. "That's way better than the awkward crush on your straight best friend, let me tell you! You want to talk about uncomfortable times? Shit. My best friend in sophomore year couldn't look me in the eyes for two months." Wildsong laughed.
Glamour Shot giggled. "At least you all knew! I dated so many boys in high school--they were nice boys at least, interesting and funny and friendly--and I couldn't figure out why I never really clicked with any of them!" She shook her head. "It never occurred to me to even look at girls."
"Not even a little?" Twilight asked curiously.
"Not even," her cousin confirmed, her whole mien becoming quiet and serious. "You know how my mom is, Twi. Always going on about how to attract and win the perfect rich boy? She never ever even mentions anything even remotely resembling an alternative to heterosexuality. It never really crossed my mind that I could look at girls until I was at college, and even then...I...fought it, pretended it was anything else--this one's make-up, that one's fashion, anything that didn't mean admitting that it was the girls themselves I was drawn to."
The dark haired girl frowned. "I...always kind of knew," she admitted, leaning her head against Sunset's shoulder.
"Oh yeah?" Wildsong chuckled. "Who was your first girl-crush? Mine was this singer, Pink Lemonade. I had it baaaad."
Twilight blushed. "Cadence," she confessed. "When I was younger, she was the only one really outside my parents and brother who I felt comfortable around--plus she was my babysitter. And she's just...so pretty, and I loved spending time with her. But...she was dating my brother, and I got over that childish infatuation super quick."
"Oooo...crush on the babysitter. Yeah...that happens more than you'd think. What about you, Sunset? Got a stereotypical 'baby-dyke's first crush?'"
Sunset blinked. "Um...no?" she ventured hesitantly. "Wasn't really my thing. I...had a lot of trouble with fo--kids my age when I was young and...mostly I stayed in my rooms and studied." She nuzzled her face into Twilight's hair, inhaling the familiar honeysuckle scent. "The only other person I dated was this guy at school, but it was entirely for the sake of popularity, back when I was the Queen Bitch of CHS." She wrinkled her nose. "Don't get me wrong--Flash is a nice guy, and one of my best friends now, but kissing him was...something I had to force myself to do, and I hated it. It felt...wrong. Dirty. It's why I only ever did it when it was absolutely necessary for public appearances." The former unicorn tried not to dig too deeply into it, and part of her wondered how much of what she had felt had come from her lack of attraction to humans in general and how much had been from the remnants of her conscience railing at her for using her body to manipulate a good person for her own gain.
Glamour sighed from the front seat. "It does feel weird and off, doesn't it? Kissing a guy, I mean. I always thought maybe I was doing it wrong, but the first time I kissed Song it was..." she trailed off, hand waving loosely as she tried to find the words.
"Different," Sunset supplied, thinking back to the first kiss with Twilight, how she had compared it to kissing Flash and learned that was almost impossible. "It just...was...you can't compare them because it's not even the same thing. Feels different, tastes different, is different." She found herself kissing Twilight on the cheek before she could stop herself, murmuring for her girlfriend's ears alone, "For me, it is better in every way..."
Twilight blushed. "Sunny!" she whispered back, flustered.
Oblivious to the private exchange, Glamour responded to Sunset's statement. "That's it exactly. It's so different and it makes me feel different, feel something instead of nothing at all, like I found something I never realized I was yearning for."
"You're getting sappy again, Angel. Try to rein in the bodice-ripper speak." Sarcastic as the words were, Sunset saw Wildsong reach across between the seats to squeeze her partner's hand affectionately. "Especially around the kids. They don't need to know what kind of trashy literature you indulge in."
"It's not trashy! It's romantic!"
Laughing eyes look in the mirror at the couple in the back seat. "The covers are riddled with nearly naked women half a breath from a nip slip, and half naked, oiled up men with bulging expanses of rippling muscle. It's basically porn written for desperate housewives. And lonely college girls who haven't managed to realize they're gay yet."
"So...basically you and your mom, Glamour?" Twilight offered with a straight face, though Sunset could see the humor dancing in purple eyes.
Silence lasted for ten or fifteen seconds before Wildsong burst into laughter amidst Glamour Shot's incoherent sputtering. Even Sunset found herself smirking at Twilight's playful dig, and secretly she felt that Rarity should be added to Twilight's list--she'd seen some of the covers of the books Rarity read, and outside of her penchant for noir detective novels, most of them looked exactly like what Wildsong had described.
The laughter died down after a few minutes, and they rode in companionable quiet. The former unicorn indulged in lacing her fingers with Twilight's and bringing their linked hands up so she could press affectionate kisses to lavender knuckles. It was nice to be able to do this without worrying that someone from Canterlot High might see her with someone who looked like the Princess they knew, to not have to consider proximity to where her classmates were likely to go in their free time, and to just be able to relax totally with Twilight somewhere other than her loft.
It didn't hurt that her girlfriend was pressed into her side, watching her, her face lit up with one of those brilliant smiles that sent warmth all the way to Sunset's toes and made the magic inside her thrum in response. Grinning back crookedly, she nuzzled the hand she was holding, trying to communicate without words what she felt.
When Twilight tugged her hand free, Sunset opened her eyes in confusion, trying to figure out why the smaller girl had pulled away. Twilight's fingertips brushed some of her hair back, tucking red and gold strands behind one ear, before she leaned up to press their lips together in one of those soft, sweet kisses Sunset couldn't get enough of. She sighed happily into her girlfriend's mouth, slipping an arm around her shoulders to hug her even closer, wanting to enjoy the moment of intimacy before they were interrupted by the other occupants of the car.
Sure enough, it wasn't more than a few minutes before Glamour let out a squeal Rarity would have been proud of. She and Twilight broke apart, and the nerdy girl straightened her glasses, cheeks flushed. "Glamour..."she grumbled in annoyance.
"I'm sorry, Twi, it's just so neat to see you so happy! It's so different from any other time I've ever seen you! You always look so tired and frustrated at the estate, just...miserable and lonely. Seeing you like this makes me so happy, because you deserve to be happy and smile like that all the time!"
Sunset kissed a lavender skinned temple. "She's right, Sparky," she murmured. "Your smile makes me feel like nothing else. It's like the Sun: it makes the world brighter and beautiful, and when it's not there, everything feels a little grayer and more lifeless." She wasn't sure what drove her to voice the thought aloud, and in front of two people she'd only just met, but something in her needed to say it so Twilight could hear.
Twilight's eyes went wide, and the smile that had faded into annoyance with Glamour's interruption came back full force. The former unicorn ducked her head down to rest their foreheads together, reinforcing her sincerity with the gesture that had come to mean so much to both of them. "I mean it," she breathed, audible now only to the girl who was gripping her arm tightly. "...you and I might be named for the end of the day, but for me, everything began the night I met you."
Somehow, despite being tethered by a seatbelt, Twilight managed to wrap her arms around Sunset's torso in a bearhug tight enough that the redhead wondered briefly if there was any kinship between her girlfriend and the Apple clan. The smaller girl didn't offer any verbal response, beyond a tiny sound in her throat and a sniffle from what Sunset thought were happy tears, but the hug and the way her body quivered said more than words could have. From the front seat, Glamour let out another one of those gleeful noises, which finally prompted a response from Wildsong, who had been focused on driving.
"Okay, kids. Try and keep it PG-13 in my backseat, alright? I'm open to a lot of things, but watching Glamour's cousin and her girl get busy in my rearview isn't one of them, sorry. Besides, I wanted to have a serious talk before we get into town, so...gonna need your focus for a few. You too, babe."
Sunset felt Twilight let go reluctantly, and they both sat back normally in the seat. Wildsong had sounded far more serious than they had expected. "Um...Sure," Sunset began. "...We're listening, Wildsong. What's up?" Her hand rested over Twilight's, calming the rising nervousness she could feel in the air.
"Cool. So you girls are all used to being in the closet. That's not what today is. Today, all of us are out. We're almost a hundred miles from where you two kids live, and after everything, Angel, you don't have a reason to hide anymore. No one knows any of you here, and more than that, my town is big on Pride. We've got a large queer community, and even most of the straight folks here support us. A lot of places are super open and accepting, and no one there looks twice. More than that, I know a lot of the safe places for us to go, where we will be with other people like us, and we all understand the closet. Most of us have spent time in the closet, a lot are still in, and we know. We know how hard it is, we know about that constant fear of discovery, and we take care of our own. You're all safe with me today, and I want all three of you to just...be yourselves. Enjoy being in love, enjoy yourselves, and don't worry about being anyone other than who you are today." One hand ran through striped hair. "...Its okay to love and be loved today, even if that love is with another girl."
The whole speech evoked that surreal disorientation that Sunset experienced every time she was reminded of the glaring and harsh differences between her culture and the one she was trying to blend into. The concept of concealing one's affections towards their Special Somepony was still alien to her, at least, it was if it was based on something so trivial as gender--the only reason she had wanted to keep her relationship a secret had had nothing to do with being ashamed of dating Twilight Sparkle, and everything to do with protecting her girlfriend from the level of paradigm shattering weirdness that came from the 'whole other worlds, magic, and princess doppelganger' thing. It was present in her life--Twilight's anxiety over their relationship being public had become a more and more prominent issue as time had gone on, and they did discuss it, but at some point Sunset had filed it in her mind as a Twilight thing, more than as an actual human cultural thing. Especially since it was something that just didn't crop up elsewhere in her immediate social circle, despite people like Lyra and Bon-Bon or Rarity and AJ; no one at school mocked them and they didn't seem to have issues with their families being judgmental. To hear it this way, from someone's else's mouth, as if it were the standard of normal rather than the exception or the rarity was more jarring than she had expected, and reminded her once more that she was an outsider and a pretender...and that Twilight really deserved to know the truth if they were going to make this relationship work long term.
The other two were silent, so Sunset took it upon herself to speak first. For her, the simple act of being far enough away that no one here would know who she was all she really needed to be able to just relax for the day. There was no magic here, no people who knew her as the horrible tyrant or the she-demon, no monsters or mayhem, nothing to interfere with her spending time with her girlfriend, nothing to worry on or fret over, not school or magical defenses, or balancing the busy facets of her newfound social life and responsibilities. She hugged Twilight. "...I like the sound of that," the redhead said with a grin, before she nuzzled into dark hair affectionately. "...nothing matters today but us, Sparky, and she's right, we should enjoy this--who knows when we'll have a chance again?"
She could feel the tension in Twilight, the way her breathing sounded, the way her pulse had quickened, all signs of the rising anxiety brought up by the subject. Nuzzling her again, Sunset tipped her chin up. "Hey," she murmured. "It's going to be okay, Sparky. I'm here, and I've got you. You're safe. Anyone tries to bother you, bother us? I'll teach them not to mess with a girl who wears boots." Kissing her lips teasingly, Sunset winked. "I know you. You've got this, Twilight. There's nothing we can't do, as long as we do it together."
Twilight exhaled, nodding. "You're right. I can do this. We can do this. It's going to be a great day." She snuggled closer. "Thanks, Sunny. You always seem to know just what I need." Purple eyes looked towards the young woman driving. "So...where exactly are we going today? Besides your hometown?"
"Well, for starters, I thought we'd check out the local museum--it's mostly about the town, but a little bird told me you like things like that, and I thought it might get you into the groove of just relaxing. After that, I thought we could hit the park--it's actually really pretty this time of year, since everything is starting to bloom, but not so badly that you choke on pollen. For lunch, I know this cafe--at night it's a queer bar (Drag Competitions on Thursday nights)--but during daylight it's a restaurant, basically. Thought all of you could benefit from really being among your own kind for a change. Besides, Mama Orchid and I go way back. She marched with my uncles back during the early Pride events decades ago." Wildsong laughed. "I think she'll like you, babe. She's been after me to 'bring home a decent girl' for years!"
At the word 'museum,' Twilight had gone starry eyed, which made Sunset laugh. "...probably a good thing we're doing the museum first," she told the other two. "I have a chance of actually getting her back from Nerdvana before the day is over with." Twilight pouted at her, which made Sunset reach over and tweak her girlfriend's nose. "Such a nerd. You're lucky it's cute."
Glamour had been strangely quiet for a while, but cleared her throat. "There's something I want to do today, if it's okay with everyone..."
Twilight flashed Sunset a concerned look, but took it upon herself to answer her cousin. "What is it?" she asked.
"...I've talked about it before, with Song...about how when I was finally able to be free, I wanted to get a tattoo--Mom and Daddy would never allow that either, of course. 'Proper ladies' don't get tattoos or piercings anywhere other than the ears..." She took a shaky breath that sounded more than a little teary, and the air of bittersweet melancholy hung around her like a cloud before it was forcibly dispersed by something that Sunset could only classify as a desperate hunger, need that could not be silenced until it was sated. "And now...now I am. Free. This is...my life has changed forever. I doubt I'll ever speak to Da--to my father--again, and I'm not sure about Mom...but it means now I can live my own life, be who I am instead of who they tried to make me into. I...do you think it would be okay if I did that? Today?"
Sunset understood the tremor in her voice, and the hungering desire that drove her to the brink of tears--how could she not, when it was an old friend? And the catharsis of a mark sunk into skin and hide, something unique that cried for all the world to see 'This is me!'...any pony could grasp that instinctually. Combined together it was something the former unicorn could empathize with, and she was the first to speak. "Absolutely." She couldn't deny something that came far too close to getting a cutie mark; the very idea of doing so made her feel ill inside.
Wildsong hummed for a moment. "There's a couple of parlors not far from the park. We could do it after, if you guys didn't mind a later lunch. Or I could go with her while you two are enjoying the sunshine--it takes a bit and if you aren't getting ink done, it's boring to sit and wait."
The dark haired girl at Sunset's side looked thoughtful, and shared another glance with her. "Why don't we do that? This is your day too, Glamour, as much as it is any of ours."
**********
"Oh! Look, Sunset!" Twilight grabbed her hand and tugged her over to another exhibit, eager to study everything written on the informational displays, before launching into an expanded explanation on the subject in that adorably dorky way of hers, eyes bright. Sunset didn't have the heart to stop her, even if she now knew more about nineteenth century seafaring vessels than she had ever wanted to know or thought possible for a single person to cram into a ten minute lecture. She couldn't--Twilight loved learning, but more than that, she loved sharing her knowledge with others, especially Sunset; the redhead suspected that stemmed from the fact that she was one of the few people who actually listened and engaged Teacher-Twilight on the level of an intellectual equal.
"Sparky," she laughed, "there's no rush! We have time!" She tugged her hand free so she could snag her companion around the waist, pulling her back against Sunset's chest for a tight hug. "The exhibits aren't going to run away--I'm fairly certain those animals are all stuffed."
The shorter frame tensed a moment, then relaxed back against her, Twilight leaning her head back. "There's just so much to see, and I don't want Glamour and Wildsong to get bored," she protested.
Sunset couldn't help but snort. "Twilight, they are bored, trust me. I looked back a minute ago and they were extremely invested in kissing each other. I think it's fine."
Twilight glanced behind them and flushed. "Oh," she responded, looking forward again quickly. "I...suppose you're right."
She let Twilight go, looping their arms together instead. "Now c'mon, nerd. You can tell me all about these freaky looking dead animals that can't have possibly looked like that in life. I've seen a fox before, and it didn't look like that. That looks like a nightmare from a video game I saw on Youtube!"
Glamour Shot giggled again, watching the younger girls head for the next display arm in arm. "This was a great idea, tiger," she gushed. "Look at Twilight! I've known her since she was a baby, and this really is the first time I've seen her actually act like the person I knew was there! She never laughs this much, or is this excited about anything, but with Sunset? She's a whole new Twilight! It's beautiful to watch!"
Leaning over to kiss her cheek, Wildsong shook her head. "She seems like a sweet kid, Angel, but she's got her own struggles. They were never yours to help her with. She needed someone like Sunset to balance her, to challenge her, to love her, and to make her feel like it's okay to be herself."
She sighed, knowing instinctively that her partner was right. "Just like I needed you, tiger, to get me out of my own ego and realize I was a shallow, pushy bitch?"
"Babe, I love you, but we're putting that in the past where it belongs, remember? You've changed, you learned what not to do anymore, and I'm proud of you. No more calling yourself names, no more self negativity. Brighter future, remember?" Song stared at her until she relented. "Speaking of futures, they look pretty serious for a couple of high schoolers."
Rolling her eyes, Glamour made a put out sound. "Ugh. I think it's something about that part of the family. Her father and grandfather were the same way, finding true love on the first real try, and I swear, Shining Armor has been engaged to Mi Amore Cadenza before they were even old enough to know what that was."
"...Wait." Wildsong stopped cold. "...Your cousin is engaged to Mi Amore Cadenza? Twilight's brother--the cop from last night? The Cadence she was talking about earlier is the same person, right?" She went a little cross-eyed, and Glamour felt concerned.
"...Yes? Tiger? What's wrong?" She curled her arms around her partner's body in worry.
Song shook her head. "...How is that girl still afraid to tell her parents? Her brother is engaged to Cadenza? That woman is the closest thing I've ever seen to a patron saint for anyone under the rainbow flag! She's very openly pan, she's a huge name in advocacy, she's got one of the most comprehensive blogs on the web for sexuality, gender identity, romance, equality, you name it, and she's a smoking hot bombshell that makes every lesbian in a five hundred mile radius weak in the knees?" She whistled. "...Damn. No wonder she was your cousin's first girl crush. If someone like that had been my babysitter, I would've figured out I was gay that early too. Shit."
"Cadence is that famous?" she asked. It had never occurred to her that the perky, pleasant woman that always accompanied Shining Armor was someone that her girlfriend would know by name. Glamour had always just thought she was a radio DJ.
"...Oh yeah. She's a major advocate for all kinds of causes, is the co-founder of a non-profit for queer runaways, marches in Pride parades every year, signs petitions, joins in protests, helps raise money for like...women's shelters and halfway houses, writes all these really well researched articles on sexual health, mental health, all kinds of stuff like that. She even did a series on stuff like depression, trauma, and anxie--" Wildsong stopped, her head turning to stare at where Twilight was eagerly regaling Sunset with something about the bird skeleton in the glass case they were looking at. "...Suddenly the article on anxiety and panic attacks makes sense. So does her article on coming out."
Glamour considered it. "Yeah, Twi does have bad anxiety. Super bad. She had a major panic attack at New Years. I ended up hanging out outside the study she hid in--I thought about getting her parents, it was so bad, but...I...heard her talking to someone towards the end." She tilted her head. "...Now that I think about it, I bet she was talking to Sunset."
"Probably. Look at what happened in the car. She calmed your cousin down in less than a minute. Useful skill to have if that happens a lot." Wildsong gave the younger pair a last glance to make sure they were staying in one spot for a few minutes, before pulling Glamour closer. "But enough about your cousin, Glam..."
It felt so liberating to be able to tilt her face and kiss her partner right there that Glamour didn't even hesitate.
"I'll be right back, Sunset. I'm just going to hit the ladies room."
Twilight slipped her hand free and ducked through the door, giving Sunset a chance to wander back to where the older girls were standing. "...Hey," she started, trying to get their attention. "Can I ask a tiny favor?"
"Sure!" Glamour said brightly, snuggled up to her girlfriend's arm.
"...If you're going to talk about Twilight, could you...keep it down? She was too busy with the exhibits to overhear, but I did. The whole 'coming out' thing really winds her up badly, even though her parents are super nice and kind. It really makes her upset, and today is supposed to be all about...well, leaving all that behind and just enjoying being on a date. She can't do that if she's stressed about something like her parents finding out." She hadn't meant to eavesdrop on the pair, but it wasn't her fault they were talking so loud where she could hear, and she meant it. Today was supposed to be a good day, and she was going to do her best to make sure Twilight didn't have anything to end up having a panic attack over. After everything, Twilight desperately needed the time to relax and just have some fun, without thinking about what was happening at school or her dangerous attempts to figure out magic.
The effect on Twilight's cousin was immediate. Glamour's bright expression fell away, and she twisted her hand on Wildsong's arm anxiously. "...Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't even think about that!" she whimpered. "Are you sure Twi didn't hear? I don't want to ruin her day--this is supposed to be about having fun..."
"Hey, look, I think it's okay. I only barely heard you, and I have really good ears. She was also listening to one of those recorded spiels at the exhibit. I just...wanted to put it out there," Sunset hasten to assure Glamour Shot. "Even I can't talk to her about it. She just gets all wound up and freaked out."
"She's right, Angel. Relax." Wildsong ran her free hand through her wild hair, blowing a bit of one of the black stripes out of her eyes. "...and I'm gonna be honest, kid. Her parents? After seeing them in action last night, I'd wager they already know she's gay. Parents like that? Parents that care, that pay attention to their kids? They usually know all kinds of things the kids think are secret. My mom and dad sure as hell did. If it's that big a stress for her to try and come out, then maybe the normal kind of coming out isn't what she needs." She shrugged. "Not every coming out has to follow the stereotypical formula. Shit, you could test the waters for her, come out to them yourself, or find out if they know, and if they do, they could, ya know, come out to her that they know."
Sunset's brows furrowed. That was something she hadn't considered--the possibility that Twilight Velvet and Night Light already knew about her girlfriend's preferences had never even crossed her mind. While she herself had...said and done things that might have given away her more-than-platonic feelings for her best friend, it had always been one directional, and not anything that indicated Twilight might have felt that way about her. Twilight had seemed extremely convinced they had no idea, and she'd taken that information at face value, particularly because they hadn't said or done anything to suggest they suspected.
Now that it had been pointed out to her, though, she had to wonder. Neither of the adults were stupid, and she did spend a lot of time over there with Twilight, and they did act on some of their feelings in the house...Had they ever implied that they had some inkling of what the two of them felt for each other? The more she turned the concept over in her mind, the more she realized that it was very possible--if nothing else, she concluded that Night Light, at least, was probably aware of how Sunset felt about his daughter, and if he knew, he had likely told his wife. "I hadn't thought about that," she acknowledged. "...I just assumed that they had no idea, because Twilight said they didn't." She shrugged. "I...don't exactly have any comparable experiences."
"You don't?" Glamour asked, confused. "Why not?"
The former unicorn snorted. There were so many ways to answer that, but she settled on the one that would still work for a normal human. "...Experience with parents kinda requires a person to have them. I don't, and even before I ended up in Canterlot, my guardian and I weren't exactly on the best terms." It came out far less bitter and angry than it would have even six months prior, and Sunset realized talking about the Princess hurt a lot less than it once had.
Wildsong nodded in understanding, elbowing Glamour gently before the other girl could open her mouth. "How long have you been on your own, kid?"
She shrugged a little, finding to her surprise she didn't mind the older girl asking, "For the last five or six years, really."
"Oof. That's rough. You fixed okay for funds and stuff now?" Wildsong hugged Glamour close to dispel the distress the bubbly girl was radiating.
Another shrug noncommittal shrug. "My finances are pretty decent--I get by okay, and manage to have money to spend on silly stuff. Or on Twilight." She thought back to the discussion. "I never considered that her parents might already know."
"Well, for what it's worth...I bet they have some idea. Especially if she's always preferred other females. Parents like hers pick up on those kinds of things."
Sunset shook her mane out. "I believe it's definitely possible, now that you've pointed it out. I'll have to think about what you've said...but not today. I have a nerd to make smile today." She turned just in time to see Twilight walking towards them, and couldn't help the crooked smile that tugged at her own lips. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Forty Two: Rainbow Connection | It was a surprisingly warm day for so early in the year, Twilight noted absently as they wandered through the park, at least eight degrees warmer than the average day for this part of March. Perhaps it was because they were a little over an hour further south than Canterlot, but that was a very large discrepancy for the seventy-four mile distance. It might be fun later to look up the long term annual temperature variations for the region and compare numbers. There might even be a correlation between the temperature difference, unusual weather, and the strange energy going on in her hometown? It was something to consider...
...but not right now. Sunset had been right--she needed this day off, this weekend off, after the week she'd had. Plus, she was on a date with her gorgeous girlfriend, no parents, no Shining, no familiar faces in sight besides her cousin, and Sunset had never acted so loving and demonstrative before, not anywhere that wasn't the quiet privacy of the loft. Twilight felt her breath catch a bit when she glanced at the girl walking hand in hand with her--the sun caught Sunset's hair just right, making it look like flowing, living flame cascading around her shoulders and brought out the warm undertones in golden skin. She looked like a goddess, her face turned up to catch the sunshine, her eyes closed and a lopsided smile on her lips. It was enough to make Twilight eager for warmer weather, when it would be too hot for the long jeans and heavy leather coat.
"Sparky?"
She jumped a little, pulled from her fantasy of Sunset in a swimsuit by the real thing nudging her. "Sorry, Sunset. I...guess I zoned out a little. What is it?"
Her girlfriend made a face at her. "Still in museum heaven, Sparky? Am I going to get you back before the day's end?"
"Sorry, Sunset," she apologized, feeling her face flush.
"It's okay. You like stuff like that--I don't mind. Museums are interesting and fun, after all." The hand holding hers tugged her closer, so Sunset could draw her into a hug. "I just wanted to ask you something."
Twilight could feel Sunset's arms around her waist, holding her close, and she couldn't help but rest her cheek against her collar. "Mm?" she asked, savoring the feeling of safety and contentment surrounding her like this.
"Your cousin and her girlfriend are going to be busy at the tattoo place for a while--at least an hour or two, they said--so we have some time for just us," Sunset murmured, kissing her forehead. "And there's a nice spot over there, in that group of trees that looks fairly private and cozy...I thought maybe you'd like to sit there with me?"
The group of trees did look nice. They were on a side path, deep in the park, and no one was around. The trees stood a ways off the path, surrounded by some low shrubs on all but one little break on one side. The time of year meant the center of it was still dappled with the warm sunlight, and the grass had already grown in lush and green. It would be a perfect place to sneak in some kisses with Sunset Shimmer, Twilight realized. "I like this plan," she responded. "Lets sit."
The two of them tripped and giggled over to the sheltered spot, neither wanting to let go of the other. In the end, Sunset had simply tightened her arms around Twilight's waist, and lifted her up off the ground so the redhead could walk them into the perfect place. Twilight got her revenge by pulling them both to the ground once her feet hit the earth again, and they ended up in a laughing, tangled heap of arms and legs, their faces close together on the grass.
It didn't take much for Sunset to close the distance between them, kissing her softly while sunlight danced across them and a gentle breeze stirred their hair. They were deep enough in the park that all Twilight could hear was the occasional bird, leaving her with the sense that they were the only two people in the world. That sense of isolation made her normal fears about getting caught lose their voice, and she found herself pressing Sunset for more, deepening the kiss and feeling those familiar, wonderful hands rubbing up and down her sides. Her own hands snuck inside dark leather, palms flat against Sunset's back, fingers digging into her shoulder blades.
They parted for air but came together again, and Twilight reveled in how good it felt, to be kissed and held while outside, in the beautiful light of a gorgeous day instead of hiding their romance away in a dark room in fear if being judged. She felt...alive...in a way she never had before, with an energy in her veins that left her giddy and lightheaded...and when Sunset, her Sunset, broke away from her lips to leave a trail of damp fire along her jawline and breathe hotly in her ear words of possessive affection, she discarded all rational thought just to label this moment as magical.
"Sunny," she whispered into fiery hair, inhaling the smell of Sunset's shampoo and clean scent, touched by the green odor of the grass and the way sunshine left its mark in more than warmth. "I..." she trailed off, the words not quite formed enough to give utterance to. "I'm so glad we came today," she finished instead.
"Me too, Sparky...I needed this. You needed this." Lips brushed teasingly along the hollow of her throat. "It's been so hectic...I didn't realize how much I've missed our time together until now."
"We still see each other on...ooooh...Fridays..." She sighed in pleasure as a shiver went through her.
"It's not enough, Sparky. I miss...going out for milkshakes, or afternoons at the museums, and whole weekends with just us..." Sunset laughed. "Maybe it sounds dumb, but I can't get enough of you." Twilight could feel Sunset's fingers slip up under her shirt, tracing along her stomach.
She whimpered, shifting against her girlfriend's body, rubbing their legs together, as she arched into the touch. "....it's not dumb, Sunny...Spending time with you...is amazing..." Twilight tugged Sunset's face to hers so she could get another kiss. "...no matter what we're doing."
Lips pressed to hers curled into that crooked smile she adored. "...What if I had something we could do I know you'll love?" Sunset murmured against her mouth.
Twilight pulled back, curious. "What?"
Sunset adjusted them, wriggling until they were partially propped up by a tree trunk, Twilight tucked against her snugly. Her hand dipped into one of the inner pockets of her jacket, and she pulled a battered paperback from it. "...I happen to have this. It's unabridged..." She wiggled the text temptingly in front of Twilight's nose. "Thought maybe I could read to you this time."
That got her girlfriend another happy kiss, and it was another five minutes before either of them remembered the book lying forgotten by Sunset's side.
Twilight couldn't say how long they had been laying there, alternating between Sunset reading aloud and exchanging affectionate kisses while they enjoyed the sunshine and fresh air. The shadows had definitely moved since they had arrived, the sun climbing higher into the sky, but neither of them had bothered to check the time until Twilight's phone chirped at her, interrupting Sunset from nibbling on her ear.
"That's probably them," Sunset said, nuzzling her before nudging her to sit up properly.
With a disappointed sigh, Twilight read the message and confirmed her girlfriend's guess. "Yeah. They're wanting to meet us at the fountain."
Sunset hauled her up as she stood, giving her a last tight hug to help her push past her clear reluctance to move. "C'mon. Our date isn't over yet--we haven't even done lunch yet...and I'm curious about your cousin's new tattoo."
There was something about the way she said the last that made Twilight pay close attention to the taller girl. She threaded her fingers through amber ones as they started to walk. "Sunny?" she asked with concern. "Are you alright?"
A crooked smile was sent her way. "I'm...I think I'm okay. Just...thinking about what we talked about this morning...and all that's going on with your cousin..."
"About your mother?"
"Yeah." Sunset turned her face into the sunshine, chin tilted up as she regarded the bright blue sky. "Your cousin's whole life has been completely redefined in less than twenty-four hours. She's commemorating it with a tattoo--an open declaration of who she is and the life she wants to make for herself. She's stepping out of the shadows cast over her by her parents and into the light..."
She scrutinized the redhead's body language and thoughtful expression. "And you're thinking of the similarities to your own situation, particularly your attachment to your mother-figure that you are struggling with."
Sunset chuckled softly. "You know me all too well, Sparky." Blue-green eyes drifted shut as she tilted her head to turn her face directly at the sun that was nearly overhead. "I've been away for years, but the princess has the longest shadow I've ever known, and it's always been there, for as long as I can remember." She ran her free hand through flame colored tresses, and Twilight saw a hint of moisture reflecting the sunlight at the corner of her eye. "...and here I am, acting like a frightened foal when I realize I can finally step into the sun on my own merits."
There was less shock and more a sense of triumph in the back of her mind about the revelation that Sunset's guardian had been not just nobility but royalty--Twilight's guess had been right. Schooling her features and suppressing the urge to ask questions about that, the dark haired girl focused on the more important part of the conversation. "Everyone is afraid of the unknown, Sunny, of the future that they can't see and only hope for." She released her hold on Sunset's hand to put an arm around her in a hug. "But you don't need to be afraid--you're not stepping completely into the unknown, because your friends will be here in the sun with you...and so will I." Twilight could feel the faint tremor in Sunset's frame.
Taking a deep breath, Sunset returned the sideways hug. "I want to. I'm trying...I guess in some ways I'm still trying to figure out who I really am, and who I want to be..." Her free hand fell to her hip, rubbing absently at the dark denim. "...that's always been a struggle for me." Then she chuckled. "I'll get there...eventually...now come on, I think that's them."
Laughing, she let her girlfriend pull her along to where Wildsong and Glamour Shot were.
"So where did you say we were going for lunch?" Sunset asked casually, holding the hairbrush Glamour had loaned Twilight as they left the park. Twilight was in the process of fixing her ponytail, a hairband held momentarily in her teeth as she adjusted her gathered hair. Rolling around in the grass with the other girl had caused twigs and leaves to get caught up in their hair, but while Twilight had had to take hers down to brush out the debris, Sunset had simply tossed her head, shaking out anything clinging to red and gold curls.
"It's a cafe--during the day, anyway. Queer friendly place, has been for decades, all the way back to when there just weren't places for people like us to go. It used to be run by a couple of guys back when it opened, but after they passed away when I was really little, Mama Orchid inherited it." Wildsong had a spring in her step now. "It's the best lunch date spot in town, hands down. Mama has some great recipes, and while she doesnt turn anyone away, it's almost entirely queer folks who go there, so you never feel like you stick out...especially if you're a teenager and it's your first date."
Taking the brush back from Sunset, Twilight brushed out her ponytail and then passed the brush back to Glamour. "That's actually fascinating. Canterlot has a few bars and clubs that cater to the non-heterosexual portion of the population, but the bulk of those are ones that serve alcohol and you have to be of legal drinking age to get in. Nothing like what you are describing."
Sunset draped an arm around her shoulders, letting Twilight lean into her side. "Yeah, Sparky and I just usually go as 'friends' to restaurants and stuff. Casual places, nothing too fancy. There's this place near her school that does great milkshakes."
"Song and I do the same thing. No one pays any real attention to a girl who gets dinner with her best friend. Especially in a college town." Glamour had threaded her fingers through her partner's as they walked along.
"Well today, we're on a double date. We are, each of us, on a date with our girlfriend, not having lunch with our best friend. Remember that." Wildsong very openly stole a kiss from Glamour, making Twilight's cousin flush.
"Speaking of remembering..." Twilight fished her phone out and turned it so she could take a photo of Sunset and herself. "Smile, Sunny!"
Sunset grinned, and just before the flash went off, pulled Twilight into a kiss, making her nearly drop the phone in surprise. When she managed to pull back, ready to scold the taller girl, she realized she couldn't, not with how Sunset's eyes sparkled with delight. "What was that for?" she asked, secretly enjoying the way her lips could still feel the kiss.
"Making some good memories for today, look." Sunset turned the phone to show her the picture, which had somehow captured their lip lock without any blurring.
"Oh..." Twilight felt her heart lurch with emotion. It was the perfect photo, and she could see in it the affection and feelings between her and the girl who was both her best friend and her girlfriend. "You're right," she said softly. "It's perfect...and only the first of many." She frowned. "Now I wish I had taken some at the museum."
Glamour glanced back. "Don't worry, Twi! I've got you covered! I took a whole bunch! I can send them to you when we get to the cafe!" Her grin couldn't have gotten any bigger if she'd tried. "I even got a few of you two in the park!"
She would have normally been upset at being photographed like that, but today, all she felt was gratitude that her cousin had captured more of the day for her. "Thanks, Glamour," she mumbled, casting a glance at Sunset and meeting her eyes. She could feel her own desires mirrored there--they both wanted to capture and remember as much of this day as possible.
"And here we are, ladies!" Wildsong called, getting their attention, releasing Glamour's hand to spin around and face them all, doing a theatrical presentation of the building that they were now in front of.
Twilight stared at the cafe, not sure what to think or how to react. It was set back from the sidewalk and the buildings nearby, and the area in front of it was scattered with outdoor seating like one might find at any similar location. The door to the place itself had a flickering "OPEN" sign, and a list of hours, and the standard addition of extra information printed out and taped to the glass. What she could see inside showed more tables and what looked like a long bar-counter.
All of that was fairly mundane, fairly commonplace, nothing that made this eatery stand out from any of its ilk. Until she looked up and saw the name, the lights of the large logo over the front done in a bright array of color. She looked at Wildsong and in a sarcastic deadpan said, "A gay cafe and bar called 'Rainbow Connections?' Really? Dont you think that's a little on the nose?"
"Kid, youre talking about the community that includes drag queens, leather bars, and the most ostentatious flag colors in history. We are not exactly the height of subtlety when we aren't in the closet." Wildsong laughed. "Now c'mon, ladies. Allow me to introduce you to your people!" She tugged the door open and motioned them all in, bringing up the rear.
The lighting inside was dim, and one color, for which Twilight was thankful. It made up for the steady buzz of conversation and the surprisingly crowded interior. She must have tensed up, because Sunset hugged her closer, kissing her ear. "Hey," she murmured. "You okay?"
Nodding, Twilight tried to not cringe from the sudden stares being directed their way, years of paranoia creeping up on her again when Sunset kissed her with strangers watching. "Just...nervous. Still not used to people seeing me...seeing us...like this."
Sunset nuzzled her hair. "They're just jealous that I'm with the best girl here," she murmured, making Twilight's face flush.
"We don't stand on ceremony, ladies, so you just find yourselves a seat. No one here is gonna bite you," called an older woman, her voice husky and surprisingly soothing. "I'll have someone come get your drink orders in a hot minute, once Baby Song remembers her damned manners and comes to give Mama a hug!"
Wildsong was all smiles as she threw her arms around the heavyset woman in an exuberant hug. The woman had skin in a beautiful shade of dark blue, which paired nicely with her hair in tri-tones of silver, white, and ice blue. "I'm sorry, Mama Orchid," she told her. "I just wanted to let the girls take it all in. It's their first time out without stressing over being outed." Turning a grinning face back to them, she offered introductions. "This is Delicate Orchid--we all just call her Mama--and she owns the place. Mama, this..." she stepped out of the hug to tug Glamour Shot forward. "This is my girlfriend, Glamour, and that's her cousin Twilight and Twilight's girlfriend Sunset."
"It's about damned time you found a decent girl. Caramel and I had just about given up hope! Well, c'mere, girl, let Mama get a good look at you." Glamour seemed suddenly shy, hands twisting together nervously as she was given a once over by a stern faced Mama Orchid. The inspection lasted a long half minute, and seemed so tense that Twilight felt her own anxiety rising on her cousin's behalf. Then the woman broke back out into a broad smile. "Oh, aren't you just precious?! Come here and give me a real hug--Baby Song's girl is family, and in my family? We hug."
"Oh! Um..." Glamour didn't seem to know how to react, and Twilight couldn't blame her. Glamour Shot herself and Twilight's immediate family aside, most of their relatives weren't touchy feely people, and that definitely included Glamour's own parents. For all that Summer Breeze inserted herself into everyone's business, she very rarely touched anyone, even her own daughter. Twilight's brows furrowed--she'd never considered before last night how sad and lonely her cousin must have been growing up, and the parallels to the redhead who was still nuzzling her hair stood out sharply. She turned away from where Glamour was being enfolded by large blue arms to burrow her face into Sunset's neck, hugging the taller girl tightly.
"Sparky?" came the soft question, a hand stroking along the top of her head. "What's wrong?"
She shook her head, unable to really explain her emotions in any way that made sense. "...nothing. I...just wanted to hug you."
Sunset chuckled, adjusting her hold to press them close together. "...I like your hugs," she responded in that quiet voice for Twilight alone. "It feels good, in that way I only get with you." There was a pause, and Sunset's next words were directed away from Twilight. "...What?"
Lifting her head away from amber skin, Twilight looked back to realize her cousin, Wildsong, and Mama Orchid were all watching them. She hurriedly let go, straightening her shirt. "Sorry...Um..."
"Oh honey, you've got nothing to be ashamed of here," the older woman assured her. "Love is always welcome here, no matter what form it takes. None of us have any room to judge you, and we don't want to. This is our space, our haven, away from judgment and disapproval, where disappointed parents and angry churchmen have no voice, where love is celebrated and cherished, where we can all be ourselves, free and open and unfettered, instead of suffocating in whichever closet life puts you in." She nudged them as a group towards a booth and out of the main walkway. "And we all understand what it means to hide part of yourself, so I promise, no one here will out you to anyone else. What happens here stays here, always. While you're in Mama's house, you can be true to yourself."
She wasn't sure how to feel, beyond overwhelmed. It was too much to process all at once. Her fears hadn't been so bad in the car with her cousin--their mutual situation and bonding since New Year's Eve meant Glamour was safe, that the secret was one they shared in keeping from their families. It had been fine in the museum, because the museum wasn't crowded, and mostly, she'd just pulled Sunset along to look at exhibits, just like they had done before in museums in Canterlot, no romance involved. Even their intimacy in the park hadn't agitated her anxieties, because they'd been alone and secluded, away from prying eyes and ears...but here, here in this crowded cafe, surrounded by noisy strangers, being looked at...it made all the discomfort and fear and anxious worry claw itself up. Even if it wasn't entirely rational, it felt like they were watching her, scrutinizing her behavior, the way Sunset was touching her and holding her and everywhere she looked she expected to see disapproval and mockery in their faces. Little Twilight Sparkle, a deviation from the norm in yet another way.
And somehow, the constant reassurance and encouragement to not worry, that that wasn't what was going on--that was making it worse. It felt the same as when someone at school was overly pushy in telling her that they were sincere in their behavior, when really it was an attempt to make her let her guard down and fall victim to whatever nasty social manipulation or harassment they had planned. The more this woman or Wildsong tried to help her feel safe, the more panicked and trapped she felt. It was hard to breathe, like the walls were closing in on her, and the crowd pressing in tight, the sound of their voices digging into her eardrums like wicked talons. Even the smells were getting to her, the various perfumes and colognes mixing with sweat and the scent of food and drinks in a noxious, cloying odor that she could taste as much as smell.
Twilight knew Sunset was worried about her--she knew it in the same way that she could always understand what Sunset was trying to communicate to her, as if the information passed between them through simple touch. The hands suddenly on her shoulders, guiding her to a seated position in the booth, squeezed, breaking through the claustrophobic haze, and she opened eyes that had clenched themselves shut to block out the stares, to find that blue-green gaze and fiery hair and dark leather filling her vision, blocking out everything else in the room. She lunged forward, needing that safe embrace more than she feared what others might think, clinging to Sunset like a lifeline that might pull her from the emotional morass sucking her down. Twilight buried her face in soft breasts, surrounding herself with the scent of Sunset and leather, while lips kissed the top of her head and murmured soothing, caring words, coaxing her to breathe, pushing back everything threatening to overwhelm her synapses.
She heard a voice talking, someone other than Sunset, and a moment later, an amber skinned hand gently turned her head so her ear was pressed to fabric, the sound of Sunset's heart reminding her of falling asleep during their sleepovers. Something cool and damp wiped the tears away from her face--it took her some time to realize that her girlfriend had a damp napkin in one hand and was cleaning her face with it, still smiling down at her, holding her close. "It's okay, Sparky, I promise," she murmured. "...Just keep breathing for me, and take your time. We'll stay right here as long as you need it."
How long they sat there, in the corner of that booth, Twilight couldn't say. It felt like hours before her heart no longer raced so fast it hurt, and she found herself enjoying the body heat she was soaking up from her girlfriend rather than hiding in her arms to feel safe. She sat up a little, seeing her cousin and Wildsong sitting across the table, concern on their faces. "...I'm sorry," she apologized in a small voice.
"You've not got a thing to apologize for, honey." Mama Orchid set a glass of ice water in front of her. "It happens to all of us at some point. Even ones like Baby Song, the unafraid ones who were raised around us, who seem like they've never been there, have times like that, that moment when they realize they can first be seen for who and what they are and they realize how nerve wracking it can be to confront that fear, even if they never realized they had it." She smiled. "You're in like company, dear, and you've got one hell of a lady to help you through it."
Sunset leaned even closer to Twilight's ear, whispering jokingly, "She's saying I'm amazing."
Twilight actually managed a giggle, turning her head to rub noses with her girlfriend. "...She's not wrong. You are amazing." Then she looked at the older woman. "...everyone feels like this? Like people are...staring? Like they're going to point and laugh or give you a nasty look any second because you're not...not like everyone else?"
"Pretty much, honey, maybe not always for the exact same reasons. I remember the first time for me, years ago. It was the most stressful thing I'd ever done...but a little advice, from an old woman who has helped blaze that trail? The worry and fear and stress of being the real you in front of others is better than living a lie forever. Even if you have to wait for a time when coming out is safe for you to do, you'll be much happier if you tell the truth about yourself. You can't learn to love yourself if you feel ashamed of who you are inside." Mama Orchid gave her an encouraging smile. "Now. Baby Song said you girls are here for a lunch date. So let's get some food in you--my treat, since it's your first time with us. I'll send Ruby over to get your orders in a few minutes, but the menus are right here."
After the woman walked away, Twilight sighed deeply and shifted against Sunset. The redhead rubbed her arm lightly. "You feel any better?" Across the table, Glamour and Wildsong tried to look like they weren't really listening in.
"...I...I think so," she said quietly, her eyes finally looking beyond her girlfriend and the booth they were in. Now that she was more in control of herself, she could actually see that the other people in the room weren't paying them much attention at all, not anymore than one might when taking stock of a room. "...Yeah. I am." She sat up a little further, more in her own seat on the bench.
Sunset smiled at her, giving her hand a light squeeze. "Okay, but if you need another hug, or some air, say so." Her head tilted slightly, teeth worrying at her bottom lip for a moment. "You're having a good time today, right? Because...if it's too much, we can just be like we usually are in public. I don't mind, Twilight, really."
"No!" Twilight gripped the hand in hers tighter, afraid Sunset would pull away. "No," she repeated, not quite as harsh. "...I want this. I want to be with you, even if just for today, without pretending you're just my best friend. I want to be able to show how happy you make me, how much I love being with you, no matter what we are doing."
There was no doubt in her mind that her answer had been exactly the right one--Sunset's whole countenance brightened, and she brought their joined hands up to rub her cheek against Twilight's knuckles, nuzzling the skin before leaving a few light kisses there. "You make me happy too," she responded with a goofy grin.
They stayed like that for a while, before Sunset reached over and gathered up the damp, wadded up napkins off the table, and started to slide out of the booth. She paused, halfway out, and leaned over to kiss Twilight's forehead. "I'll be right back, Sparky. I'm just gonna toss these and hit the restroom."
Twilight gave her a smile and nodded, watching as her girlfriend headed across the large space, weaving deftly between other patrons and the tables. The smile on her face grew as she found herself entertaining a daydream or two...at least until Wildsong's voice interrupted the mental image of Sunset Shimmer in an incredibly short skirt strutting across Twilight's mental field of vision.
"Holy shit, Sparkle, I seriously hope you plan on putting a ring on that, because...wow."
Her head snapped around so hard she was worried she might've pulled something. "What?!" she squeaked, the word warbling badly in the middle.
Wildsong seemed unfazed by her reaction, sipping on her drink. "Look...when Glamour told me about you guys back in January, I honestly figured it was a high school fling. Teenage girl's first same-sex relationship. They're fun, but they are usually more about figuring out the details of what kind of person you're really attracted to." She blew a bit of striped hair from her face. "Pretty much like any high school romance, except double the amount of tits. That's what it was like for me, for my friends, for pretty much everyone I've ever talked to."
That thought didn't sit well with Twilight, and her brows pinched together. Sunset was her best friend first, and the idea of just...using her like that to explore what she liked in a partner felt...wrong...somehow. Not to mention, as Twilight had pointed out to Sunset already, the amber-skinned girl was pretty much everything she'd ever wanted in a girlfriend. "...It's...I wouldn't have wanted to do that to Sunset. She's my best friend, and that means everything to me," she countered, a touch defensive.
"Believe me, I can tell. Like I said, I was expecting some goofy high school fling. That is not what you've got going on. Look at her. That girl is so in love with you that it's amazing she even realizes there's anyone else in the room when you're around." She nodded her head, towards where Sunset was actually talking pleasantly with what seemed to be one of the waitresses, making a series of hand gestures. While her expression was friendly, she didn't seem to respond to the very interested way the waitress was eyeing her curves, instead pointing back towards the table with the group.
As they watched, the waitress ducked behind the bar and started filling two drinks, and rather than enjoy the show of the girl bending over rather deliberately to fill the cups with ice, Sunset's eyes immediately shifted back towards the table where they sat, meeting Twilight's gaze and smiling in that way that only Twilight ever got to see.
"See what I mean? Ruby is practically begging your girl to take a peek, and Sunset couldn't care less. All she sees is you. When you started to get a little shaky there? It was like everyone else stopped existing. Sunset only cared about making you feel better. Sparkle, you are the envy of half the women in this room, and some of the boys too, because not only is she hot as hell, she looks at you like you're the reason for the sunrise."
Glamour giggled. "Don't you mean 'the reason for the Sunset?'" she commented slyly.
Twilight felt her face heat to dangerous levels. "...I..." Words failed her. Her mind was racing too fast, seeing Sunset as if for the first time, the way others saw her. Watching how she got two drinks from the flirty waitress with a friendly smile, how other people turned their heads when she passed, checking her out, how all Sunset was looking at as she moved gracefully between obstacles was their table where Twilight sat. "...Oh..." she murmured, as it all came together in her mind, the missing pieces clicking into place.
Sunset finally returned, leaning over to slide one of the drinks to Twilight before she slid into the seat next to her. "Got your favorite, since we were busy when drinks were ordered," she explained. "...You okay, nerd? What'd you two say to her? Please don't tell me you broke her."
"I'm...fine, Sunny. Just thinking about some things." And for the first time in a long while, it was the truth. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Forty Three: Carnevale | Festive, bright music drifted on the early evening air, reaching Sunset's ears long before they reached their destination, and the sounds reminded her of a Summer Sun Celebration in a small town when she was a filly, tagging along with the princess. The wave of nostalgia was bittersweet, and the former unicorn blew air out her nostrils in a sigh, turning her attention to the arm looped through hers and the way Twilight was leaning against her side. That was enough to bring her mood back from its momentary descent.
"So...what did you call this?" she asked Wildsong.
"Pride Picnic at the Pier. I totally forgot that it was this weekend, but we do it every year here. Its a lot of fun--local businesses put up booths, and there's all kinds of fun, food, games, souvenirs, activities, performances, not just on the pier and the boardwalk, but on the beach too. There's usually a big bonfire too, and sometimes they get fireworks." The older girl was grinning from ear to ear. "We get people from all over the area, from neighboring towns and stuff, and a portion of the money--including the admissions money--is donated to charities. I'm just glad that Power mentioned it, or we would've missed it!"
...Mentioned it. Yes, that was one way to describe the conversation that had happened in the cafe, Sunset mused with more than a touch of mental sarcasm.
"...Okay...This place lived up to your hype," Sunset conceded, leaning back against the seat. "I'm so stuffed I'm not sure I can move. I've not had something like that since--" she broke off, then continued, "...for a long time, well before I moved to Canterlot City." From one Canterlot City to another, at least, she thought with a chuckle.
Twilight leaned against her with a sigh. "You are not the only one. That was the best gyro I've had since we went to this one place on a family vacation when I was eleven. I probably shouldn't have eaten so much. Are you sure you don't want me to pay for mine, Sunny?"
She shook her head. "Nope. I've got it. You can pay for our next date. I've got today."
Wildsong squinted at her partner. "...forgot to ask, Angel. You wanna go dutch or you want me to cover today?"
Fingers played with the long part of Wildsong's hair. "...I can get my own, Tiger, but if you wanted to treat me, I wouldn't say no." Glamour Shot shifted closer to whisper something in an ear studded with piercings, making Wildsong sit up straighter, a smirk coming over her face. "Sound like a good idea to you, Tiger?" she teased, winding a bit of multicolored hair around a finger.
"...Yeah that sounds--"
"Song! Sweetie, is that you? Oh its been way too long!"
Four heads turned to see a young man with an extremely chiseled physique heading for their table like a man on a mission. Song stared at him, surprised, but recovering. "Po? What are you doing back in town? Thought you were in LA!"
He pulled her into a bear hug. "Oh I am! But I couldn't miss the festival! You know I go every year, and this time, I had someone special to bring." His eyes crinkled at the corners. "Just like you, huh? Maybe we'll see you there?"
What had followed that was a confusing amount of gushing as Wildsong's old friend had, in Sunset's mind, firmly earned a spot in her mind's competition for most piercing squeal, right behind Glamour Shot but ahead of Pinkie Pie. Rarity was still the winner there, of course. He had reminded her a great deal of Pinkie Pie, except male, and not pink, his joyful exuberance and cheer translating to extremely touchy-feely, trying to hug even her and Twilight, all while making exclamations of joy. She'd barely managed to get between them with her most dangerous looking glare, making it clear that Twilight was not to be randomly grabbed by someone she didn't invite to hug her. It had made things awkward for all of ten seconds before Power Lifter's natural happiness reasserted itself and he moved on to another topic and hugged Wildsong again instead.
Still, his chatter about the festival had reminded Wildsong of its existence, and she talked them into going there for the evening. Sunset couldn't say it was a bad idea--it actually sounded like a fun way to spend the rest of the day. The former unicorn wondered if she and Twilight could get some form of trinkets to remember the day with. A keychain or something?
"Oooh..." Twilight murmured from next to her, distracting her from her thoughts. "...This is...bigger than I expected..."
The dark haired girl was not exaggerating. Sunset had expected to see a series of booths and stalls set up down the pier. Not a sprawling carnival that had taken over the boardwalk, the pier, several huge parking lots, and a stretch of beach for a half mile in both directions. "...Yeah....Wow." Flag poles flew flags and streamers in bright colors, and everywhere she looked, there were more rainbows than could be found in Bow and Windy's shrine to their only child.
It was strange, Sunset decided, to see a celebration that looked like it belonged in Equestria, not the human world. At the same time it felt...good. The atmosphere was charged with positive energy that felt almost like a kind of magic in and of itself, and just getting close to it was making her feel a strange excitement that she could only recall feeling once before... Memories of a Crown landing in her hands made her shiver, and she shoved it to the back of her mind, pushing down the feeling until she had it under better control. This was completely different than that night, in every possible way, and she wasn't about to let memories ruin it.
"It's a big deal here," Wildsong confirmed. "...Everyone really gets into it. C'mon. Admissions are usually this way."
Sunset let go of Twilight's arm to fish out her wallet and pay for their admission. A rainbow stamp was pressed to the back of their hands and they stepped through the turnstile into pandemonium. Lavender hands grabbed her arm again, and she turned her head questioningly.
"I...don't want us to get separated," the smaller girl said, further tucking herself up against Sunset's side.
The redhead grinned, kissing her girlfriend's cheek. "Stay close then, and let's see what there is to do."
Twilight fought her laughter at some of the slogans on the t-shirts they were looking through, many of which were brightly colored. Sunset had an arm comfortably around her waist, more bemused by her reactions than by the t-shirts themselves.
"See something you like? Seems like it with you laughing like that."
She shook her head. "No, I can't buy any of these. They're too obvious, and Mom and Dad would ask questions..." Her eyes lingered on a shirt that made a science joke that had managed to make her giggle. "As much as I might want a shirt, I can't risk it."
Sunset nibbled on her ear lightly, sending a tingle down her spine. "...idea...what if you kept it at my place as a sleep shirt? They'd never see it, and when you're finally able to tell them, you can take it home."
That was an idea she hadn't considered, and Twilight thought it over, trying to figure out any way it could go wrong. When nothing glaring jumped out at her, she reached out and ran her fingers down the sleeve of the shirt that she wanted. "...I suppose...it would be prudent to start keeping a set or two of sleepwear at your place, in the event we do any spontaneous sleepovers," she agreed.
Laughing, her girlfriend hugged her tight. "Then why don't you pick out two t-shirts you like to sleep in? And I'll find one for me too, so we can both have some fun new sleepwear for the next sleepover at my place." Lips pressed to her neck, a tickly, light kiss that made her shiver in delight. "And don't worry about cost. It's my treat today, Sparky. I can afford to spoil you on our first full blown not-hiding-as-just-friends date."
"Alright," she acquiesced, sliding out of the embrace and away from the mouth that was threatening to compromise her ability to think straight. The science shirt was one she wanted--periodic table jokes were great!--but there were others that had piqued her interest with equally funny puns.
Sunset started looking through the racks of shirts while Twilight found her first choice in her size, and a moment later let out a sharp surprised laugh. "Okay! I found my shirt," the taller girl called to her, holding up a black t-shirt with a rainbow banner across the front that had an equine silhouette across it, and the words "Proud Unicorn" below it.
It gave Twilight an idea...one that under any other circumstances she would have never had the courage to go through with. Feeling emboldened by the day and by Sunset's unflagging confidence, she found a shirt that she wouldn't have looked at twice before. "Only if I can get this one so we'll match." And before she could combust from embarrassment, she held up a similar shirt with a colorful horned equine on it wearing a saddle and the slogan "So Queer I Ride Unicorns."
The redhead's answering grin was wicked, with just a hint of sexiness to it. "Oh absolutely," she agreed. "We can even wear them at the same time." Checking to make sure the shirt she had was the right size, she tossed it over one arm and moved back to Twilight's side. "Besides the shirts, did you want anything else? They've got a bunch of little stuff near the register."
Twilight kissed her cheek. "Maybe? Can we go look?"
Sunset grinned and offered her arm, and escorted her giggling girlfriend up to the front to find out.
Her eyes spotted a booth among the many games that she might've had some chance at actually winning. "Hey, Sparky," she murmured to the girl tucked up against her side as they walked along, her whole body suffused with warmth and happiness. "Wanna see if I can win you one of those cliched date prizes? Could be fun."
The dark haired teen gave her a long look, arching a brow. Sunset snorted. "Yeah, I know they're usually rigged, but I dunno. It could be fun to at least try? Unless they are glued together, I can usually knock down a few bottles. Besides, when are we going to get another chance to do silly date cliches like this?"
Twilight chuckled and shook her head. "Okay, one round, but if physics doesn't beat out the rigged carnival game, then we go find something else to spend money on." Purple eyes danced. "I heard someone talking about bumper cars a minute ago..."
The thought of a challenge made her grin. "Oh, you're on! I bet I can cream you in bumper cars!"
Fingers played with the sleeve of her jacket. "Or...if they're two-seaters, we can cream everyone else..." Twilight suggested.
"Even better. But first, let's see about me hitting things." She pulled Twilight over to the game booth, handing her girlfriend the bag with their souvenirs in it, and paying the operator a few dollars for a chance at a prize.
The objective was fairly basic, hurling a lightweight rubbery ball at a stack of plastic bottles, with the goal to knock over as many as possible with only three shots. Sunset felt the ball in her hand, getting a judge for its weight and density, her mind crunching the same physics problem she would have used to hurl it like a projectile with her telekinesis, and gauging how much weight they had used in the bottom of the bottles to make the game difficult. Then she was left deciding how much she wanted to leave to chance. An easier throw with more likelihood of hitting would guarantee a smaller prize, but a riskier throw with more power gave her a chance at a larger prize. Eventually, she decided to split the difference, using her first throw to get a feel for the wind affecting the ball. As expected, it went wide. Smiling Sunset adjusted her aim with her second shot. It flew true, smacking right into the desired spot with just enough force to send about half the bottles scattering.
Victorious, she pumped her fist in the air. "Ha! Take that!" She turned to Twilight with a cocky smirk on her lips. "Pick your prize, Sparky." She eyed the operator.
"Any of the ones on the middle shelf, right?" Twilight asked with a light blush on her cheeks and a smile on her face. When the young man nodded, she looked over her choices and then pointed. "That one. The one with the wings."
Sunset grinned as the girl hugged the small plush owl to her chest. "Knew I could win you a prize," she murmured. "Sorry it's not the biggest one, but...I didn't think I could get enough force to win one of those."
Twilight's eyes shone behind her glasses, and she threw her arms around Sunset, hugging tightly. "It's perfect, Sunny. It's not about the prize anyway--it's about you being sweet enough to want to do something like that for me."
The former unicorn wrapped her arms around Twilight in return, holding her close. Honeysuckle scent tickled her nostrils as she rested her face against Twilight's shoulder. The contagious positive energy of the crowd was making her feel downright giddy, and the magic that was singing in her veins was only making it worse. Holding Twilight grounded her, gave her energy and mind focus, as she turned it towards making sure the other girl had the best date ever.
Glancing around, she spotted a little alcove between two nearby booths and tugged her girlfriend into it so they weren't in the way of the crowd. This gave her the chance to cover Twilight's mouth with her own, the want in her soul craving more than just the feel of a hand in her own or a friendly hug.
Twilight went still in her embrace, her arms loosening enough that Sunset started to end the lip lock, only for the dark haired girl to make a small sound and push further into the kiss, her tongue flitting along Sunset's lip, begging access. She drew Twilight deeper into the alcove, completely out of sight of prying eyes, all so they could spend a few minutes getting utterly lost in each other. When they came up for air, Sunset touched her forehead to her girlfriend's, finding comfort in purple eyes. "Still interested in wrecking people in bumper cars, Sparky?" Her hands slid down to rest on Twilight's hips. "Or...did you wanna stay here just a little longer where no one can see us?" She smirked, before capturing Twilight's lower lip with her teeth, nibbling playfully.
She smirked when the shorter form pressed closer, Twilight murmuring against her lips, "...What if I want both? Do I have to choose?"
Twilight was pulled to a halt when Sunset stopped walking, face turned up and sniffing the air with obvious interest. She inhaled through her nose, trying to figure out what had Sunset's attention. That's when her cousin popped up out of nowhere with a squeal of glee. "Twi! Sunset!" A paper plate was thrust at them, piled up with several sweet smelling treats. "Look what Song and I found! I bought you guys some too!"
Blue-green eyes zeroed in on the plate. "Is...is that funnel cake?!" Sunset practically snatched it from Glamour's hands.
It did look like funnel cakes, Twilight decided, if a single funnel cake had been made using several different colors of batter, creating what resembled a collapsed rainbow dusted with sugar.
"Yup!" Glamour said cheerily. "That ones for you two to share. Song has ours..." she handed the funnel cake off to Sunset, before snuggling back close to Wildsong. The older girls exchanged a sweet kiss, before starting to pick at their funnel cake, engrossed once more in each other and paying Twilight and her girlfriend little mind.
A small piece of the festival food appeared in front of her nose, surprising her. Twilight jumped, only to realize Sunset was offering her a bite with two sugar dusted fingers. "Want some?" came the husky purr from the redheaded teen.
Twilight licked her lips, looking between those hungry eyes and the food being held for her to take. "Yes..." she whispered back, but instead of taking it with her hands, she leaned forward slightly to take it with her mouth--drawing the two fingers holding it past her lips as well.
Sunset's eyes went wide, sucking in a sharp breath, especially when Twilight used her tongue to clean the extra sugar off those digits. A shudder went through her when Twilight pulled her head back to reveal two clean, if saliva-damp fingertips. "O-o-ooh," she managed, her voice raspy with a hunger for more than funnel cake.
There was a saying that came to mind, in regards to turnabout and fair play, and Twilight broke off a piece of funnel cake, holding it up to Sunset the same way that her girlfriend had offered it to her, smiling at her. Then it was her turn to shiver in delight when Sunset took her time sucking the powdered sugar off her fingers, the sensation of the other girl's tongue twisting itself around the end of her thumb sending a bolt of electricity right to her center.
A look was shared, and they stepped out of the main thoroughfare to spend the next fifteen minutes feeding each other the funnel cake, periodically sneaking in sugary kisses as well.
Glamour and Wildsong had found them again--somehow, Twilight's perky cousin appeared to possess the unerring ability to hone in on her and Twilight, despite being in a moving crowd of a few thousand people spread out along most of a mile of beachfront in the gathering dusk. "Sunset! Twilight!" she called, like some freaky fusion of Rarity and Pinkie Pie (now there was a nightmare!). She had managed to locate the two of them exited a funhouse--they'd spent some time getting "lost" in the dark, in what was meant to be some mind of freaky hedge maze. Mostly that meant she'd taken every dead end corner as a chance to tease her fingers over Twilight's stomach and sides.
"Hi, Glamour," Twilight greeted her, smiling happily. Sunset had given Twilight her jacket, and she was happily wrapped up in the black leather, her arm looped through Sunset's, head resting against her shoulder.
"So I checked--the Ferris Wheel line is actually super short right now, and its the perfect time to ride it, if you and Sunset wanted to go up before it gets super dark. Song and I were gonna go so we could watch the sun set out over the water--its super romantic! I thought we could wait in line together if you wanted?" Glamour gave Wildsong a look of utter adoration.
A giggle escaped the former unicorn at the unintentional symbolism and play on their names. "Could be fun," she murmured in Twilight's ear, "watching the sunset move into twilight." It was far more forward and laden with meaning than she'd normally be comfortable with, but today? It just seemed right, and it was worth it to hear the sound that Twilight made and see the way her cheeks reddened.
"O-okay," her girlfriend managed, voice practically a strangled sound.
Wildsong smirked knowingly, her arm around Glamour's waist. "Then let's hit the line before we miss our chance." She kissed her girlfriend's neck. "C'mon, Angel."
Sunset and Twilight followed the older pair, and the redhead was a tad bemused at how Twilight's cousin had also seemed to open up and relax over the course of the day, just like the nerdy girl tucked against her. This day really had been a good idea, she decided, for all of them. Glamour and Twilight were clearly enjoying being able to be more open, Wildsong was pleased to be out and about with her partner, and Sunset herself? She was finding herself watching humans acting more like ponies than she'd realized they could in a public setting, without that constant undercurrent of behavior that always left her constantly on edge and wary of danger, instincts screaming at her that she was surrounded by predators. The former unicorn wasn't sure if it was the nature of it being a festive event, or if it was the portion of the human population being represented, or even this town itself, but she had never been quite so calm in the presence of any humans besides the girls and Twilight's family.
The line for the Ferris Wheel was short, as Glamour had promised, and in only a short time Sunset was sliding into the seat next to Twilight. The bench was narrow enough to squish them together, but the redhead didn't see that as anything to complain about, especially when a lavender hand fell on her thigh, giving a squeeze. She covered the hand with her own, wasting no time in leaning her head closer, rubbing her nose against the rounded curve of the shorter girl's ear. "No one will be able to see us once we're above the crowd," she teased.
The fingers on her thigh clenched, and Twilight turned her face so they were looking at each other. "That's...a very good point...and Glamour was right that this is...considered an exceptionally romantic activity," she noted nervously. "So perhaps...some more...romantic gestures would be perfectly acceptable given the atmosphere and privacy?"
"If you wanted me to kiss you, Sparky, all you had to do was ask," Sunset teased, brushing her lips against Twilight's briefly, before trailing more light kisses down the line of her jaw to her neck.
"I am asking," came the whispered response. "Please, Sunny..."
Her innards squirmed at the plea, and she couldn't resist the nickering sound that escaped her throat--it wasn't perfect, but it was as close as a human could make, and it felt good to do. Twilight responded with a whimper, tilting her head back to give Sunset better access to her purple skinned neck. She nibbled lightly, carefully, with human teeth in the same way she would have with a pony partner, something she had teased her girlfriend with only briefly before.
She was not prepared for Twilight to let out a quiet moan, or for one of Twilight's hands to wind its way into her hair, tugging her closer. "...Sunny..." she breathed, squirming in her seat.
It did wonders for her confidence, and with another soft sound, she bit down with just a little more force, less afraid of causing damage or upsetting Twilight. The fingers against her scalp tightened, nails scratching against her skin in a decidedly pleasant fashion. She moved along exposed lavender skin, until she could nip at Twilight's ear. "This okay?" she murmured, feeling her heart racing.
Twilight exhaled a shaky sigh. "Yes...it's you, Sunset. Everything you do feels..." She giggled. "...like I never want it to stop, even if it means we miss the view..."
Sunset let a smirk play across lips that rested against Twilight's cheek. "Speak for yourself...I'm enjoying my view, and look, it's even the same colors as the view over the water."
"A superstitious person...might see that as a sign we were meant to be together," the shorter girl commented.
That got her to chuckle. "And what does your impeccably rational and logical mind say about it?" Sunset asked, her fingers teasing along Twilight's stomach.
Biting back a whimper, Twilight kissed her, an eager, hungry kiss that left her lips tingling. "That on top of having complementary personalities and comparable levels of intellect, visually we look good together..."
As she returned her attention to Twilight's neck, Sunset couldn't help but agree.
Now that dark had fully arrived, it was time to light the big bonfires that had been set up along the beach. Glamour shivered in the cool night air, using it as an excuse to huddle further in the circle of Wildsong's arms, soaking up her lover's warmth. She wasn't going to complain about that though--being able to be in her arms somewhere besides their tiny, cramped dorm room was beyond compare. The two of them were a bit away from the blaze, shrouded in shadows while they watched people around them.
"This was an amazing day, tiger," she said, looking over at Wildsong with a smile. "I was scared earlier, about people seeing us, but...for the first time...I felt normal. No Mom on my case about how I should act to be in a relationship she thinks is successful, none of my family telling me about how I don't act like a proper lady should, no one judging me for loving you...part of me never wants this day to end."
Song kissed her forehead. "First day of the rest of your life, Angel...you've got support from good people in your family who will love you regardless of which way you swing...you don't have to deal with your folks anymore, and now you can focus on your schooling instead. Soon, you'll get your degree, get your business started. You're free to be who you are now."
They cuddled together in silence, letting that thought and the warmth of their closeness seep into their souls. Around them, other couples took advantage of the darkness to steal kisses and intimate conversation, and even in the light of the blaze, affection ran rampant. She could even see her cousin, seated in Sunset's lap, the two of them looking through pictures on Twilight's phone from the day. It was a beautiful sight, seeing the painfully awkward, ever introverted member of her family come out of her shell, laughing and smiling and displaying the brilliant, vibrant and happy personality that Glamour had always known lurked under that anxious exterior. As she watched, Sunset said something, her eyes gleaming, and Twilight burst into laughter, bumping her shoulder into the fiery haired teen in mock chastisement.
"The picnic has really exploded this year," her girlfriend commented. "I've never seen it so alive and active, not with this many people being quite so open." Glamour could feel the hand at her waist hook fingertips into the top of her jeans and run lightly over the skin. "Reminds me why I'm out and proud, and why we advocate so strongly."
Those fingers were distracting, but Glamour managed to make a noise of understanding that coaxed the other to continue. "Look around you, baby. Nothing has exploded, no one has been smote by an angry god, children aren't in danger of corruption, and society isn't collapsing because two girls are kissing or because two men are holding hands. All I see is a celebration of love and family and community, whatever those words mean to a person. It didn't start out this big, or as well loved and accepted a celebration, but people like Mama, and my uncles, and our families and friends, they didn't give up. They just kept standing up, saying, 'we are people too, just like you!' And look what it's done."
Glamour shivered again, but not from the cold this time, and she stilled Wildsong's playful explorations with a hand on her wrist. "Its...I've never seen anything like this before. I don't have words for how it feels to be here, tiger, but I love it."
"And that's it exactly. That's why I do like those before, standing up and saying as loud as possible 'we are people, and our love is valid.' Because I want this feeling everywhere all the time. Look at your cousin, how stressed she is about being caught, being found out, and how she is right now. They're looking at pictures from today, and I'd wager, the two of them are talking about how to hide the files at Sunset's place, just like those pride shirts they bought." Wildsong growled in exasperation against her neck, which had the side effect of making Glamour melt a little. "They should be celebrating how they love each other, not about how many layers of encryption should be on a hard-drive containing pictures of their first real date. People in love shouldn't have to hide or lie because it will affect their future careers or sabotage their chances at success in life."
Glamour snuggled closer, tracing her nails along the back of her girlfriend's hand. "Tiger, you make more difference than you know. You changed my life, and you helped give my cousin something special today." She turned in the embrace so she could loop her arms around Wildsong's neck. "Both of those are things I intend to show you my appreciation for later, when we're back home..." Glamour Shot grinned into a kiss a moment later when her lover purred into her mouth. Oh yes, this was a wonderful day.
It was getting late, and the group was making their way towards the exit, but it was a slow and meandering trip, neither couple wanting to end the night just yet. Twilight couldn't remember the last time she had felt this good, this relaxed, even with the warm desire that had simmered in her core all evening, fueled by Sunset's constant touch and open affections.
As they neared one of the parking lot areas that had the gate to the outside, they found a crowd gathered around a small stage with a sign that declared 'Open Mic! Musicians welcome!' and a man on the stage playing a guitar, singing a rather pleasant cover of a popular rock song from her parents' college days. Sunset's eyes lit up, and she tugged Twilight with her to get closer to the stage. "Oooh! I like this song!" Twilight followed, amused--it was something else to see her girlfriend so bouncy and excited over anything.
They watched the singer play another song or two, before he stepped down to take a break. By that point, her cousin had managed to make her way over, grinning from ear to ear. "So, Sunset's into music, hmm?"
"Yeah, she plays guitar." Twilight wondered briefly why the question had been directed at her and not her girlfriend, only to realize Sunset was no longer standing next to her. "Sunset?" She began scanning the crowd in concern, because she hadn't even registered the redhead moving away from her.
"Um, Twi?" Glamour said, touching her arm.
Twilight turned towards her cousin. "What?"
"You might want to look at the stage."
Curious, she turned her eyes towards the empty platform...only it wasn't so empty anymore. A familiar figure was up there, a borrowed guitar in hand. She stepped up to the mic, a smile on her face. "Hey, everyone...so, none of you know me, but...I'm Sunset, and I just...wanted to play a little something I've been working on--I think it's finally ready to be heard by someone other than the walls of my house. Hopefully it's not totally terrible." That got a chuckle from the crowd.
Sunset bowed her head for a moment, her fingers already strumming over the strings--something Twilight would never get tired of watching her girlfriend do--and her foot tapped out a beat on the wooden floor of the stage. Then she raised her head and she started to sing.
Glamour put one hand to her mouth, eyes wide and startled. "Oh my," she managed before falling silent, entranced. It was something she had in common with a number of people nearby, as the chords of the guitar blended with the clear voice that filled every ear nearby with something that was less a song and more an experience.
The emotion in the song was almost tangible, cast over the crowd like an enchantment from folktales of old; with each measure and syllable tugging on memory and heartstring, until music and emotion blended into one, seen and felt and heard in the growing crowd. Twilight could see the old pain rising up in Sunset as she sang, sang about a past when all she sought was power and control, and the way it had nearly destroyed her, painting a picture of a girl who had been in a very dark place when it all came down around her head. It made her breath catch and her heart ache, even as a deeper part of her cried out for Sunset that she was there--had been there, every step of the way--and if Sunset Shimmer would just look at her, she would do her best to banish that pain. She tried to move, wanting nothing more than to push through the crowd and climb the stage, but the press of bodies was packed too tight the closer the sea of humanity got to the stage...and her feet were frozen to the floor, refusing to answer her brain's command that they move.
Twilight could only watch, and ride the emotional wave that crashed into her like a tsunami. Some part of her realized she was crying--and that she was not alone. The people around her teared up, and some among them...like her cousin...wept with her. She railed at that, for how could any of them truly know? For them, there was a distance, a disconnection. They didn't know her Sunset, didn't know the depths of the pain and anger there...not like Twilight Sparkle did.
Memories of Sunset sobbing into her shoulder on the floor of the loft, broken and battered and filled with self hate....memories of the haunted eyes of someone unable to sleep under the weight of their guilt, and alone in the world for so long that she had no idea what to do with kindness...fear and shame and confusion in a thousand moments where Sunset did not know how to feel or act when shown that people did, in fact care for her, about her... Twilight remembered them all, seared into her mind with utter clarity for the rest of her natural life--the blessing and curse of someone with near perfect recall--and the emotions they stirred in her now were as powerful as they had been when the events in question had originally occurred.
And when the notes of the song picked up, describing how in her darkest hour, she was buoyed by friendship and love, Twilight remembered the light in those eyes that had finally started to overcome the shadows when she had gained friends--first in Twilight, then in some of the people at her school...the first shy kisses and building emotions in their hidden, ongoing journey from best friends to something so much more...the way Sunset had tried so hard to change, to overcome her own past and the walls she had built to protect the heart of who she really was...the indescribable joy from the way Sunset had been drawn in and enfolded into Twilight's family and how much it had meant to the redheaded teen whose entire life had been utterly defined by loneliness and the desperate need for someone to care...it transformed the agony that kept her frozen to the spot into a relief so powerful her knees threatened to give out.
The air that left her lungs was so much more than a sigh, full of the feelings the music was making her relive, and in that moment, it felt as though the crowd sighed with her, teary faces and watering eyes transforming into smiles as the song rose towards a crescendo and drug the audience along for the ride.
It was more than a little appropriate, Twilight decided, that Sunset compared herself to a phoenix in the song, standing there under the golden spotlight in the otherwise dark night. Her girlfriend was always like a being borne of elemental fire: passionate, intense, full of a drive and a vibrancy of existence that could easily overwhelm the unprepared, but never had she looked more like the embodiment of flame than she did right then. The illumination over her was at just the right angle that it turned red and gold curls into living flame cascading around her shoulders, and the way it reflected off the surfaces made it seem like Sunset's entire body was alight with a faint glow. Standing there under that spotlight, fingers strumming confidently over the guitar strings, her shoulders back and head held high, Sunset Shimmer had an undeniable and powerful presence, a majesty that blazed outward and touched every person in the crowd with its inner light. In that moment, Twilight couldn't help but stare, unable to even breathe as she realized exactly how the girl she cared about could have held dominion over an entire student body as its queen--in that breathtaking moment, Twilight would have done anything Sunset asked of her without question or hesitation...
Some of that fiery hair fell forward as Sunset turned her head to lock eyes with Twilight, casting Sunset's face in shadow. Despite that, Twilight found herself ensnared even further by the glowing of blue-green eyes right out of her most intimate and passionate dreams, eyes she would never mistake for anyone else's. A shiver of want crawled up her spine, making her mouth go dry and her body feel like there was an inferno in her soul, even as the song reached its ringing climax. She had already been Sunset's best friend, her girlfriend, her confidant...but right then, it was like she could feel Sunset's very soul calling to hers, begging her for more, and all Twilight could think and feel and focus on was Sunset Shimmer, and how much she needed her. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Forty Four: Sweet Surrender | Twilight's hands were wandering again, making Sunset grateful for the darkness as they traveled along the highway, back towards Canterlot. Those deft hands kept slipping their way up under her shirt to rove along her abdomen and sides, occasionally braving a little higher to brush against her breasts. She kept drawing them out from under her shirt, while trying to distract her girlfriend with kisses, but they kept making their way back. "Sparky," she breathed against the other girl's ear. "Your cousin and Wildsong are right here...can't this wait until we get home and are alone in your room?"
That seemed to cool some of the fire in Twilight's blood, hands returning to outside Sunset's shirt. "I'm sorry..." she apologized, looking out the window.
"Hey...it's okay. We'll be alone in a little bit. Besides, I don't think it's just you." Sunset nodded towards the front seat, where Wildsong kept having to remind Glamour Shot that she was trying to drive. "I don't know if you noticed, but after we stopped for gas, and they hit the restroom...your cousin came back with her shirt on inside out."
Twilight's eyes grew wide behind her glasses. "Nooo..." she whispered, squinting at the front seats. "Omigosh," she squeaked. "It is..."
The backseat was soon filled with shared giggles, enough to make Wildsong glance in her mirror. "That better be from a bad joke. PG-13, remember? Clothes stay on."
"We remember," Sunset snickered, "but maybe you should remind Glamour to put her shirt back on right-side-out the next time you guys take a bathroom break."
Glamour Shot made a strangled sound of mortification. "Tiger! You let me go out with my shirt like this?! Why didn't you say something?"
"Probably because she was busy noticing other things," Twilight murmured in Sunset's ear. That earned a snort from the former unicorn.
A few minutes later, Sunset was pulled away from kissing by Wildsong getting their attention. "What was that?" she asked, a little out of breath.
"Look...I know we were supposed to crash at Twilight's place and head back to campus tomorrow, but...would you guys be offended if we dropped you off and headed back tonight?" Wildsong had lifted a hand off the gearshift to run her fingers through Glamour's hair in an intimate caress. "We have a lot to talk about, to start with, and well..."
Sunset and Twilight looked at each other--even though Sunset was fairly certain her girlfriend could see very little--and they seemed to be on the same page. Twilight laced her fingers with Sunset's, leaning into the redhead's side. "We wouldn't be offended at all," Sunset answered diplomatically for both of them. "I can understand wanting to get back home to your own bed."
"We'll probably do that then...but we'll have to do this again sometime," Wildsong smiled. "I had a pretty good time today--what about the rest of you?"
Twilight rested her head on Sunset's shoulder. "I couldn't have planned a better day if I'd made a list," she confessed. "Thank you, all of you, for that."
The former unicorn nuzzled her face into her girlfriend's dark hair. "It was a great day, wasn't it? I'd be up for doing it again sometime, maybe during summer? Maybe make a weekend of it?" She knew it was the right answer with how tightly Twilight was hugging her in response.
Glamour giggled from the front seat. "Oh that would be amazing! I'd love to spend more time getting to know you, Sunset! And if you were interested, I'd love the chance to do your hair! It's just so gorgeous, and that curl! Do you know how hard I have to work to get my hair to have that look?"
She snorted. "My friend Rarity says that a lot. I could be convinced, I guess." Hair and makeup and the like were not really something she fixated on, but like with human fashion, it meant a lot to one of her friends. In the last six months she'd been learning to at least be a good sport and appreciate the results when Rarity got into one of her 'inspirational' fits. She could do the same thing to bond with the one cousin her girlfriend had managed to find common ground with.
"It's gonna have to wait until next time," Wildsong interjected. "We're here." The car pulled into Twilight's driveway.
They climbed out of the back seat, where Glamour intercepted Twilight with a tight hug. "...I'll text you when we get back to the campus, Twi! And we'll talk soon, okay? ...Especially if Song and I decide to get that apartment that Uncle Stalwart suggested." Releasing the dark haired girl, she swept Sunset up into an embrace next. "Get my number from Twilight and text me, Sunset! I'd love to be able to talk to you too!" Then, like a whirlwind--or some form of abrupt natural disaster that was over almost before you realized it had destroyed everything in a hundred miles--Glamour had let her go and was back in the car, waving vigorously out the window.
Sunset watched as the car backed out of the driveway and drove off, before scuffing her foot awkwardly. "...so...it's not late yet...any ideas what you want to do tonight, since it's just us?" She set the bag of their day's purchases down on the asphalt so she could drape an arm around Twilight in a hug.
Her girlfriend leaned into it. "...Movies maybe? Maybe we could order a pizza or get take out too?"
"You know, I did pick up that batch of old sci-fi movies we were talking about last month. They showed up at my place the other day in the mail. I could go get them and we could have a marathon of making fun of how bad they are. Throw popcorn at the screen and everything." She nudged the bag at her feet with one boot. "I could use it as a chance to drop our shirts off too, so that's out of sight of your parents and Shining."
Twilight cuddled closer, pressing up against her side. "...Can...I go with you?" she asked, a strange note of longing in her voice. "...I...I'm not ready to be away from you yet."
It didn't take her more than a few seconds to process and consider the request, before she squeezed Twilight's shoulders and let go. "Alright, nerd," Sunset said with affection. "Let's go then." Scooping up the bag, she headed for the bike, retrieving their helmets and storing the goodies in the compartment. The smaller teen settled behind her on the seat quickly, helmet in place and arms snuggled tight around Sunset's middle. The redhead glanced down, then over her shoulder. "You know, Sparky, if you're going to interfere with my driving like that, at least buy me dinner first."
Her girlfriend at least had the decency to look embarrassed as she lowered her hands to be around Sunset's waist instead.
After reaching Sunset's loft, the pair had decided to stay there for the night, and Sunset had ducked out to the pizzeria next door to get dinner. "Hey, I'm back. Two pizzas, one mushroom, one extra cheese, and I've got a bottle of soda here too." Sunset nudged her front door shut with her hip, hearing it click. "Old man Asiago upsized the pizza, so I hope you're hungry, Sparky. You figure out which movie we're going to make fun of first?" Twilight took the soda from Sunset, and the redhead got a good look at what her girlfriend was wearing. Day clothes had been exchanged for one of her new t-shirts and a pair of sleep shorts that had been in the pile of things that Sunset had outgrown that winter. It showed off lean lavender skinned legs that had just a hint of muscle definition where the thighs disappeared into those shorts, and Sunset swallowed reflexively. "...New shirt looks cute on you," she managed, tearing her eyes away from Twilight's legs.
Twilight beamed at her. "You think so? I love it!" She set the soda on the coffee table, where she'd cleared space for the pizza boxes. "I figured I'd go ahead and get ready for bed, in case we fall asleep on the couch...again." She wrinkled her nose. "We have a really bad track record of doing that here."
Sunset laughed, reaching out to tweak her nose--it was just too adorable not to. "It's because the couch is comfy and we're together, nerd. I'll go change too--we have to match, right?" She nodded towards Twilight's shirt.
That got a giggle from her girlfriend. "I'll set up the movie and the food then."
Twilight shifted, leaning back against Sunset, snuggling more into her arms. A horrible sci-fi film played out on the screen, one they had been laughing at for almost an hour. The pizza had been decimated and the soda bottle had been tossed in the trash, casualties of two hungry, thirsty teenagers. The body she was resting against was warm, and Twilight found herself acutely aware of her girlfriend in ways she'd never thought about before. Being held by Sunset had always felt good, and always made her feel safe, even in her worst moments of panic and fear, but she'd never realized how well they fit together...how Sunset's soft curves and lean muscle combined in just the right fashion to mold perfectly to her own body, no matter how they were positioned. Even the way that amber skinned arms fit around her, holding her with her hands lightly brushing along her skin where her shirt had ridden up a few inches felt right, and she savored the not-quite-ticklish sensation of calloused fingertips against her stomach.
The fiery haired girl was also the reason the day had felt the way it did, she realized. Sunset had gone out of her way to make the day a good one, and every time Twilight's anxiety and fear threatened to overwhelm her, Sunset had been right there, bringing her back down and letting her know she was okay, that she was safe, that she was with someone she could trust. That had given her the courage to try, to be herself in a way she never had before, to be open and expressive about parts of herself that she'd kept secret for years...and no one had said a word to her. She hadn't been stared at, mocked, or treated like some kind of anomaly to be studied or avoided--she hadn't felt like some kind of freakish outsider, too other to fit in properly.
That too, was Sunset's doing. Even Twilight's other friends--with the exception of Moondancer--had always struggled with some of the more extreme parts of Twilight, whether it was her tendency to go off on long, extended, highly informative tangents, or her bad habit of fixating on her project of the moment, or simply trying to keep up with a hyperactive intelligence that far exceeded most of those around her, and that always left the dark haired girl feeling a little awkward and out of place, and when one added her own difficulties with trying to wrap her mind around social cues and boundaries and how to properly interact with her peers, Twilight had always believed she wasn't really meant to belong to any kind of social circle. And then she'd met Sunset Shimmer, and the redhead had shown those fallacies for what they were--false assumptions made on incomplete data. Sunset got her, understood her in ways that no one else had ever managed, and none of the things that made Twilight different ever seemed to phase her or even give her pause. Sunset took everything in stride, a smile on her face and arms always open to offer a hug and reassurance, and some days, Twilight would swear that Sunset knew what she was feeling before she did--and much to her joy, it went both ways. Sunset was the only person she'd ever met who she could read like an open book, whose words and feelings and body language all matched with what she had had to learn intellectually instead of through an instinctive knowing like most people were born with. With Sunset, Twilight Sparkle felt like she belonged, and even when other people were added to the mix, the presence of her girlfriend grounded her.
Her thoughts wandered, her brain supplying an intriguing hypothesis: Was today an example of what a future with Sunset would be like? Could every day be like this one? That was an answer she wanted to find out, and her mind began to follow those potential outcomes, paths of 'what might be' in increasingly painstaking detail, until she lost track of the outside world in favor of the one in her head, where she and Sunset were blissfully happy and together in a thousand imagined lifetimes.
She was brought back to reality by lips ghosting over her neck with little featherlight kisses that evoked shivers of delight. "You still awake, Sparky?" came the breathy voice in her ear a moment later. "Or did the movie just shatter your ability to function with its terrible pseudoscience that violates everything we know about physics?"
Twilight turned her head, sealing her lips to Sunset's in response, unable to articulate the emotions and thoughts going through her head at that moment, but wanting...needing...to try anyway. It was probably the most aggressive kiss she'd ever given, willing Sunset to be able to read her emotions in that amazing way of hers, to know just how much Twilight was feeling for the redheaded girl in that very moment.
It didn't take long before Sunset's hold on her tightened and she pushed back into the kiss, taking control in the way that Twilight secretly loved. A little noise escaped her unintentionally, and she raised a hand up to tangle it in that wild mane, wanting to keep them like this as long as possible.
All too soon, they had to come up for air, and Sunset tucked her face into the crook of Twilight's neck, panting heavily, but still placing little kisses along the skin.
"Sunny..." Twilight whispered, angling her head to give her girlfriend more access to her neck.
The kissing paused. "Yeah?" a breathless, husky voice asked against her skin.
Twisting in Sunset's arms so she could look her in the eyes, Twilight smiled. "...I wanted to say thank you...today has been special and it means so much to me...but it was only special because of you."
Sunset exhaled, resting her forehead against Twilight's. "You deserved a good day, Twilight, one with no bad stuff, no stress...just you and me, being happy doing things together. I wanted to make sure you got that, and I'm glad I succeeded." She teased Twilight's lips with her own, barely brushing them together long enough for it to register before she had pulled back.
"You really did, Sunny," she murmured. "If I had to pick a single word to describe today, it would be 'magical.'" She reached up, running lavender fingers through the forelock that always fell down across Sunset's face, "You are magical.."
Blue-green eyes grew wide and startled by the declaration, searching her face with some undefinable emotion in their rich depths. There was a vulnerability there that Sunset rarely showed, a glimpse at the soul inside that was capable of tremendous love, compassion, and empathy, but was still so very afraid of being hurt again. Twilight found herself tracing her fingers along Sunset's hairline, then down her cheek to soothe her fears, her own smile feeling awkward and shy.
Drawing courage from the day and the feelings warming her, Twilight continued, her voice soft. "You wanted to know what I was thinking of before? It was us, Sunny, how amazing today was, how wonderful I felt, just how...free I felt. How much I want to feel like that again, with you. How much I want more magical days, spent with you. A-as many days as..." Twilight's courage ran out, and she trailed off, not quite able to articulate the rest of the thought. Instead, she tilted her head up to press her forehead back to Sunset's, letting the gesture speak for her.
Sunset's breath caught in her lungs, her whole body frozen from one heartbeat to the next, time seeming to stand still. Emotions warred within her for supremacy, fear and trepidation against hope and happiness, as she tried to figure out exactly what Twilight meant, particularly since she was struggling to separate it from the aching want in her soul that had been growing steadily for months. She knew what she desperately wanted it to mean, what it would have meant, coming from another pony...but Twilight was human, and for all the similarities between their species and cultures, the differences were profound, and that was only compounded when navigating the frustrating subtleties and subtext of language.
Was her Sparky saying what she thought she was hearing? The subject of their intimacy and attachment was something they'd discussed before...but always in terms of their 'friendship that had progressed to something more,' and rarely about the 'something more' by itself...and Sunset had avoided ever voicing the depths of her own emotions on the subject. Was Twilight admitting to what it seemed like she was? That the feelings and affections between them that had grown out of their friendship meant as much to her as it had come to mean to Sunset? That it was more than just an exploration, more than just a 'try and see where it goes' experiment between two high schoolers to the dark haired girl?
Hope grew, a fragile little thing that she was almost more afraid of than anything else. After so long of warring with the question of that in her own heart, of realizing that what she was feeling was making her seriously consider a future with the human Twilight Sparkle, of how deep her own emotions ran...to hear the other girl give voice to everything she felt in such a way...it was both a thing of wonder and a source of a familiar fear.
That fear was an old friend as much as it was an enemy, a nagging form of trepidation and negativity that whispered to her that such things wouldn't last. That as much as she...cared...for the lavender skinned girl, with emotions that surpassed any she had ever known, Twilight couldn't possibly feel the same way. It tormented her with the knowledge that it couldn't possibly mean the same thing to the human girl, that eventually, she would grow apart from Sunset and move on, in that way that seemed so common for humans, leaving behind a lost little unicorn in the wrong body and nowhere to call home, discarded by yet another being that she had hoped would love her.
Yet as she searched Twilight's face, looking into those shining purple eyes, the fear lost ground. She could see in her girlfriend her own emotions reflected back, and that knowledge burned through her veins like cleansing sunlight, filling up even the darkest corners of her heart and soul with a brilliance beyond the dawn. This was happening, and it was tangible and real, and her eyes were wet with happy tears. Her hand found the back of that dark haired head, bringing the smaller form as close as possible, so she could seal their lips together in a blistering kiss that put every one before it to shame with its intensity.
Twilight went rigid for long enough that Sunset almost broke the kiss, but then the dark haired girl melted into her embrace, a whimper escaping her as the redhead plundered her mouth hungrily. Her hands found a resting place on Sunset's chest, fingers curling into the shirt there while she tried to press herself even closer to the taller frame. When she finally allowed the kiss to stop, Twilight let out a protesting sound, nuzzling against Sunset's neck. "....Sunny..." she whined. "...Do you have any idea how incredible you are?" She pressed soft kisses to the skin there. "...gorgeous...sexy...intense...all passion and charisma and fire...you're everything I've ever wanted in a girlfriend...and you could have anyone at all...but you're here...with me and kissing me like this and holding me like that..."
A tingle ran up Sunset's spine, half emotional response, half magic that she pushed back down in order to respond to her girlfriend. "...Sparky..." she murmured, tipping Twilight's face so she could lock eyes with her. "...I don't want anyone else..." she confessed, her voice so thick with emotion it threatened to get stuck in her throat. As it was, it sounded odd to her own ears. "No one else has ever, in my entire life, made me feel the way you do, made me want them like I want you...I've never needed anyone like I need you." She stroked over a lavender cheek with her fingertips. "...it's only ever been you...and I never want it to be anyone else..."
The words...they felt so good to say it almost hurt, making her heart race with anticipation and her lungs struggle to bring in enough air. Fire burned in her core, that aching heat and simmering desire she'd been struggling to contain for months, reminding her that the words she had uttered had layers of meaning and the time to make her choice was fast coming due.
They also had a noticeable effect on the girl cuddled up against her. A slight shiver ran over her skin, and Twilight's hand slid down Sunset's front to the bottom of her shirt, fingers slipping just underneath the edge to brush over amber skin. Purple eyes stared from behind lenses, large and with a hint of what Sunset fervently hoped were happy tears at the corners. "...Sunny..." she whispered, voice almost pleading. "...Please...I need to hold you...feel you against me..." Those fingers traveled higher on her skin, pushing her shirt up and bunching it under her breasts, palms pressing to the smooth skin of Sunset's stomach and making the former unicorn's innards squirm pleasantly. "...Please?" her girlfriend asked again, pecking her lips with several soft, short kisses.
Sunset let out a shaking breath, taking Twilight's hands away from her body in a firm grip. The other girl whined in disappointment--at least until Sunset let go of her hands so she could peel her own shirt off, then divest her nerd of her own top, leaving them both bare from the waist up. Lavender arms snaked around her in a tight hug, pressing their bodies back together with the delightful sensation of skin on skin. Twilight nuzzled into her, a happy smile on her face. Sunset tugged her girlfriend's dark hair free of its ponytail, so she could run her fingers through it in an affectionate caress. "...This what you needed, Sparky?"
Twilight nodded, resting her cheek against Sunset's collarbone. "...I can feel your heart," she offered as an explanation. Her hands rubbed up and down Sunset's back, the touch sending more warm tingles into the redhead's center. Sunset kissed the top of Twilight's head, burying her nose in her hair and inhaling deeply, nose filling with the well known scent, this time touched with a hint of sun and sea from their day. Contentment filled her, and she held Twilight close, closing her eyes to revel in the sense of being with the most important person in her life.
How long they lay there on the couch, Twilight couldn't say. She'd lost herself in Sunset's words, in more fanciful imaginings of what the future might hold for them, in the soft breasts pressed against hers, in the steady heartbeat and clean, mild scent that she associated with her companion. The contact between them was intimate and tender, loving touch that was more about the emotions that had been aired than physical desire--not that that wasn't very much present.
Twilight was not ignorant of her own body, nor was she oblivious to the way Sunset responded to her on a physical level. She was familiar with the heat that pooled low in her belly, and the delightful shock of pleasure when Sunset shifted position and she could feel their nipples rub against each other in passing in a way that made both of them gasp. She knew how her hands traversing up and down Sunset's bare back made her girlfriend feel, and the way her own body reacted to being held was a welcome sensation that was part of her most erotic dreams. For all that part of their relationship developed slowly compared most of their peers, she never doubted that they were physically attracted to one another.
She felt Sunset shift again, and tilted her head up. "Everything okay, Sunny?"
The redhead smiled crookedly. "Not the most comfortable position for me," she admitted sheepishly. "Its putting a weird pressure on my hip....but I..." A faint flush colored her cheeks. "This feels nice and I don't want to stop."
"We could...move to the bed?" Twilight suggested. "It's bigger and more comfortable than the couch, and you won't be crammed back into the cushions like that." She slid her arms free and sat up, trying not to feel self conscious about her state of undress--and to not stare too much at Sunset's breasts, as much as she really wanted to ogle.
Sunset's eyes wandered over her, but the motion of her fingers tweaking Twilight's nose playfully put the dark haired girl at ease. "Good idea, but you have to let me up first."
Scrambling to her feet, she picked up their discarded shirts, draping them over her arm. Sunset turned the tv off, then held out a hand for Twilight. Curling her fingers around it, Twilight let herself be pulled gently up the stairs to the bed, pausing only a moment to hang their shirts over the railing before sliding under the covers with her girlfriend.
The taller girl tugged her close once more, tucking her face into the crook of Twilight's neck, nuzzling and kissing. Her hands were drawing random patterns on the small of Twilight's back, making her squirm, half from pleasure and half from how it tickled a little. "Sunny!" she giggled. "That tickles!"
Lips murmured an apology close to her ear, and then Twilight's laughter turned into a low moan when Sunset nibbled at the sensitive spot where neck and shoulder met. In the months since they had started dating, the redheaded teen had figured out all of the places on her neck that got the strongest reaction, and she wasn't shy about evoking those responses whenever they had time alone like this. It felt so good, but it also drove her crazy, making her want to beg Sunset to keep going, to never stop touching her like that.
"....oooooh..." she panted, feeling one of her girlfriend's hands wander to her stomach. "...Sunset...please..."
"'Please' what, Sparky?" came that husky voice in her ear.
Twilight whimpered when the fingers of that hand dragged fingernails carefully against her skin. "...That..." she managed. "...do more...like that..."
A warm, happy laugh, and Sunset was kissing her on the lips again. That hand on her stomach crept higher, until it rested between her breasts, calloused fingertips and short nails teasing over her skin. She could sense it more strongly now, the tinge of desire rising in both of them, but it wasn't the frenzied fire that authors penned in romance novels, or the all consuming race to a climax seen in movies and television. This need was different than anything she had ever imagined in any of her fantasies or dreams, slower, deeper, and yet...somehow she knew it to be more powerful and intense than any solely sexual urge could ever be.
Her own hands, needing to find purchase on something, found their way to Sunset's shoulders. It gave Twilight the leverage to deepen the kiss, a ripple of delight going through her at the playful taunt of Sunset's tongue wrestling with hers. She had been wrong earlier when she thought watching bad sci-fi cuddled up on the couch had been the perfect end to the day. This was a much better way to end it.
The noises Twilight was making were addictive, and Sunset found herself wanting to hear more of them. She had returned her attention to her girlfriend's neck some time ago, getting lost in the nibbling and kissing that was so integral to pony intimacy that for a while she forgot her 'Special Somepony' was in fact, a 'Special SomeONE.' It wasn't until she dipped lower to run her tongue over the hollow of Twilight's throat and a hand tangled in her hair tightly that she remembered her companion was a human.
"Sparky?" she questioned. "Everything okay?"
Purple eyes opened, and their owner smiled at her dazedly. "...yeah...just...feels really good. Don't stop?"
"Mmm, alright." The former unicorn pressed a kiss to her girlfriend's collarbone, completely unprepared for the way Twilight gasped and arched against her. A thrill went through her, the same kind she used to get when she learned a new spell, and she kissed the same spot again, this time scraping the edge of her teeth along lavender skin. Twilight made an incoherent sound and those fingers on her scalp tightened their grip.
Sunset smiled wickedly, an idea building in her mind. She started at Twilight's throat and ran the tip of her tongue down the exposed skin until her head was level with her girlfriend's breasts. Once there, the redhead started leaving featherlight kisses against her chest, listening to the way Twilight's breath caught and feeling how her heart was pounding in her ribcage.
There was something about being the cause of those sounds that resonated with Sunset, filling her with a heady sort of euphoria....and so she decided to indulge. She remembered what Twilight had done to her a few weeks prior, and how Twilight had responded to just the touch of her hands. Those memories guided her actions in the here and now, her lips kissing a path across one breast, eyes flitting up frequently to watch Twilight for any sign of discomfort or distress.
Then, with a smirk still on her face, Sunset dropped a kiss on the perky nipple that was a few shades darker than the surrounding skin, pleased with the whimper that came from her companion. Another kiss, then a flick of her tongue to trace the sensitive flesh, filing away just what kind of cry each act coaxed out of Twilight. "Remember, Shimmer," she reminded herself, "more sensitive and thin skinned than on a pony..." as she captured it between her teeth with a careful nibble.
Twilight bucked on the bed with a sharp cry. "Sunny!"
The former unicorn immediately let go, sliding back up in concern, resting a hand on Twilight's cheek. "Hey, hey...did I hurt you?"
Her girlfriend shook her head vigorously. "...no, it didn't hurt," she assured Sunset. "It felt...amazing..." She pecked Sunset on the lips, quiet for a minute before offering a more helpful response. "...if it's something you're comfortable with...I would be very okay with saying that you have my permission to use your mouth like that anywhere on me you want to..." The dark haired girl looked away nervously. "You know, add it to that list of 'touches we're okay with?'"
The former unicorn knew she was operating mostly blind now, delving like this into unfamiliar territory. Ponies and humans were different, not just from a biological standpoint. Popular media and culture portrayed human intimacy as having a focus on sex, and even the books that Cadence had loaned her had made it clear that a large part of most humans' romantic intimacy tied back into sexual intimacy...or at least physical. And that was not even delving onto the way movies and media and literature portrayed sex as the entire reason humans engaged in intimacy at all.
It was a far cry from the pony way...where intimacy was an extension of deep, abiding emotional ties. Ponies saw most kinds of intimacy as simply one of the deepest demonstrations of those bonds, of trust and care. For Sunset, there were the physical desires, true, but so much more of it was wrapped up in behaviors and instincts which centered around wanting to make Twilight happy, make her feel loved and wanted and cared about. It was a way to express her deepest, most intense emotions without having to say them out loud, something that made her tremble when she glimpsed the depth of what she felt and shied away from a truth she still wasn't quite ready for.
Coupled with the biological differences--many of which she still only understood in a clinical, textbook fashion--reading on a subject could only impart so much knowledge after all--and she found herself floundering.
Her hesitation lasted long enough that the hand in her hair relaxed and moved to rest against her cheek. "Sunny?" Twilight asked softly. "What's wrong?"
Sunset leaned into the contact, exhaling slowly. "...I...don't really have any idea what I'm doing," she confessed, feeling her cheeks flush. "...This is...new territory for me, in so many ways...and I don't want to mess it up. You're too important to me, and--" Words failed her, and she had to look away from Twilight, staring off towards the wall.
Twilight was quiet, thoughtful for a minute or so before she responded. "...relationships like ours are not...often portrayed favorably, in terms of media and popular culture, and this extends to helpful guides and recommendations on engaging in physical intimacy," she started, a hint of 'Teacher Twilight' coming to the fore. "...and...intimacy is a complex and complicated subject, where no two individuals are alike." She stroked her thumb along Sunset's cheek. "...in the end, it's okay, Sunny, if you have to learn. I don't want you to be perfect...I just want you to be you." She paused, then added, "Everything else, we can figure out together. We're both intellectually gifted, after all, and a lack of experience shouldn't hinder us for very long."
Oh. Oooh. For some reason, that caused a very strong reaction in the redhead, a wave of heat and want sweeping over her so powerfully that it took her a handful of heartbeats to remember how to breathe. "O-oh...o-okay..." she managed to get out, before that feeling urged her southward on Twilight's body again.
This time, when she closed her lips and teeth on Twilight's breast, she didn't jerk away at the rising cries that filled the air. They actually served to spur her onward, giving her the courage to suck and nibble and play to a wonderful litany of sweet sounds, Twilight writhing against her on the bed until Sunset was forced to pin the smaller girl down. When she finally drew her head back with a wet pop, Twilight's chest was heaving from exertion and the hand that had returned to Sunset's hair trembled. "Still good?" Sunset asked, getting a shaky nod in return.
Using Twilight's responses to her touch as a guide, Sunset worked her way lower, taking the opportunity to enjoy not only kissing Twilight's stomach, but to playfully tickle her, sending the dark haired girl into a fit of laughter and leading to the two of them wrestling on the bed. Sunset came out the winner, sprawled out on Twilight's legs, face nuzzled against her stomach. Her hand had fallen on Twilight's knee during their tussle, and she bit her lip, letting her fingers trace along towards the outside of her girlfriend's thigh, following the line of the lean muscles as they gave way to softer flesh the closer she got to the shorts Twilight was wearing.
She turned her face into the other girl's skin, inhaling the mixture of scents that she automatically registered as 'Twilight', taking the moment to once more gain some control over the sharp pulse that went through her whole body as Twilight arched her hips up off the bed, pressing herself against Sunset with a whine. It proved harder to do than it had in months, and she struggled, her body crying out with how badly it craved that physical affirmation of the way her heart felt. Panting, she couldn't stop herself from peppering Twilight's stomach with kisses and love nibbles, a surge of pleasure jolting through her every time the smaller girl's knee inadvertently pressed up against her groin.
Sunset could sense it, the way something in the air changed, something ineffable that had been building for days and weeks and perhaps even months shifting into something more, and she knew, in that same way she knew when her cutie mark was driving her to act, the same way she understood Twilight without the need for words, that they were approaching a point of no return. It should have terrified her, made her pull back, stop this before then, because there was still so much hanging unsaid, about herself and her origins, about magic and the monster she had become...but this time, none of that felt like it really mattered. What mattered was the feelings between them, the soft admissions spoken in the privacy of the loft, and her best friend who was so much more than that, laying pinned under her and looking up at her with absolute trust and open desire.
In that moment, something gave way inside her soul, and Sunset dropped a near reverent kiss on the quivering skin just below Twilight's navel. "...Sparky..." she whispered, unable to say more, but putting her heart, her very being into that single word.
If Wildsong's words in the cafe had opened her eyes to the possibility that Sunset Shimmer was in love with her, the look in blue-green eyes staring up at Twilight drove the fact home like the impact from an asteroid. Sunset had always treated her as someone special, and freely referred to Twilight as her best friend, but Twilight had never seen her eyes shine with so much emotion before. Her heart had been beating fast before, but now it was racing. Sunset loved her, was in love with her, even if she hadn't yet said it aloud, and it nearly brought tears to Twilight's eyes. The beautiful redheaded girl could have had anyone she wanted, but she had picked Twilight. "I've never needed anyone like I need you..." she had said earlier, "...it's only ever been you...and I never want it to be anyone else..."
It had meant so much when Sunset had said it before, but it meant even more now that she had seen the other girl looking at her as if she were the only other person in the world. Her cheeks hurt from how much she was smiling, and she realized she could be happy if only she could spend the rest of her lifespan having Sunset look at her that way--even if everything else in her life crashed and burned, to be loved by the girl she loved in return would soothe the pain and anxiety of even the worst failures.
Twilight's brain stuttered to a grinding halt when her own perceptions caught up to her train of thought. She analyzed it carefully, turning it over in her mind, comparing their relationship and her own emotions to what she knew of love and those who had happy, healthy relationships--notably her parents and Cadence and Shining--and with a sort of building, happy wonder, she realized she had meant the thought. She loved Sunset Shimmer.
Her gaze refocused on her girlfriend, who had moved down further, her hands running up and down the outside of Twilight's thighs, her face nuzzling affectionately against the skin above her knee. "...Sunset..." she breathed, wanting to say something, knowing on some level just how much it would mean for the redhead to hear a declaration of love, "I lo--oooooh!"
The words were lost when Sunset's mouth pressed a kiss and a nibbling bite to the inside of her thigh, a few inches higher than her knee. What came out instead was a long, low sound of pleasure that accompanied a hot bolt of lightning that traversed her nerve endings to the lust in her core that threatened to overwhelm her.
In her somewhat addled state of mind, she thought she saw Sunset smirk at her, before she repeated the gesture, just an inch or so higher. Twilight gasped and moaned again, her hips coming instinctively off the bed. And then she did something she could almost never do, something utterly alien to Twilight Sparkle: she stopped thinking, as her girlfriend's mouth and hands led an assault on her thighs.
There was something heady and intoxicating about the way Twilight was responding to her touch, squirming and twisting while making a vast array of breathless sounds. It fed into that buried part of her that thrived on control and her ability to make someone do exactly what she wanted and how...there were no words to describe the rush that she felt now, from being in control, of being responsible for Twilight's state of existence, the knowledge that she could read the other girl well enough to know what she had to do to wind Twilight up and push her to the brink, knowing that she use a kiss here or a nip there or a whispered word at the right time to get the reactions she wanted...but instead of using that part of herself for selfish reasons, she was turning it towards making her Sparky feel good.
Sunset found herself drunk on the feelings it triggered, ripples of pleasure going through her with each moan, each cry, each mewling, incoherent gasp, and she found own breath coming in harsh pants. She needed more. She hungered for more, to wring every last drop of ecstasy from Twilight until the other girl collapsed in a barely conscious heap--that thought brought with it burning in her blood and her bones, and it felt so good it almost hurt.
With a nickering sound burbling in her throat, she levered herself up long enough to roll Twilight over, giving her unfettered access to the back of those lavender thighs. Her lips and teeth found new skin to explore, her tongue following suit, slowly working higher, finding that oh so delectable spot where the lean muscle gave way to a softer bit of padding...only to find fabric barring her access to her partner's flanks. She slid her hands higher, trying to push the fabric up and out of the way to no avail.
Frustrated, she nipped as high up as she could reach, before moving her fingers up to hook into the waistband of those shorts. She felt Twilight move, could see her twist to watch Sunset briefly, and then the dark haired girl lifted her body up, nodding to Sunset. Tugging, Sunset drew that fabric down and away, tossing it at the railing and missing. That didn't matter though, not with the smooth, rounded curve of Twilight's hindquarters on display for her now. She nuzzled into the spot where a cutie mark would go, kissing and nipping the soft flesh, before using the tip of her tongue to draw in the six pointed star that her girlfriend was so fond of using onto her skin.
Time lost all meaning, as did anything but Twilight Sparkle and making her feel like the most important being in the whole universe. The air around her was filled with those beautiful sounds of her Sparky's pleasure, and Sunset couldn't stop herself from making the low, throaty, nickering noises in response. Fisted hands curled around Twilight's thighs, holding her where Sunset wanted, how she wanted, feeling the lean muscles flex under her touch.
The fire that had been smoldering in her for months flared into an inferno as she rolled Twilight back over, driven back to the soft skin of her inner thighs. She traced out Equestrian glyphs with her tongue in between heavy, whuffling breaths that made her companion shiver when the air traveled across her flesh. Every inch of flesh she marked sent a pleasurable tingle to her groin and without thinking she squeezed her thighs together to ease the tension there.
Her eyes slipped shut, cutting off vision so she could savor touch and scent and sound, her mouth moving progressively higher, hearing the cries take on a needy, pleading edge. She inhaled through her nose, nostrils filling with a scent unmistakably Twilight, but laden with something new, something enticing and undeniably female that made the former unicorn's lips curl into a smile. Sunset switched to light, little kisses, moving at last from inner thighs to the place she knew Twilight wanted her badly.
The first of those kisses made Twilight's body jump, then sigh happily as Sunset nuzzled her in affection. It was unfamiliar territory, and yet not. It was still her Sparky, and she had spent months learning to read her in ways no one else could. In a fashion not that dissimilar from the way she'd mapped the sensitive places on Twilight's neck, Sunset made another sound in her throat, licking and nibbling and exploring this new area with a dexterous tongue, savoring the way that her girlfriend's scent was translating into taste, memorizing not just the shape and texture and taste of every inch, but which spots coaxed the most response. Twilight gave her plenty of subconscious input: little gasps made it clear when she'd found a pleasure spot, whines that suggested the touch was too much on sensitive flesh, and breathless moans and whispered pleas for more were what she needed to drive her onward. Teasingly she ran her tongue over the entrance hidden within Twilight's folds, and when the other girl gave another long moan, hips flexing upward, Sunset responded by dipping her tongue within, and testing out her responses to the same exploratory touches inside, filing the knowledge away with everything else she knew about her girlfriend.
Sunset was burning up from the inside out--and it was intense and right in ways she couldn't explain. This was everything she wanted, everything didn't know she had needed, and it filled a hollow space in her soul she hadn't realized was there. Her face pressed closer to her companion, filling her senses with "Twilight," drowning in how it felt, how it made her body throb and ache. Nothing in her life had ever felt made her feel like this, and the former unicorn never wanted it to end.
Eventually she drew her tongue upward in a slow trail, her mouth settling on the hooded bud that had caused such a strong response from Twilight in her exploration. She knew, in a dim sort of intellectual way, what it was and why Twilight reacted the way she did when Sunset tested running her tongue over it, but knowing something out of a book did not impart any practical knowledge on what to do with it. That left her once again, with experimentation, letting her girlfriend's sounds and behavior serve as a guide. That yielded very quick results and she found herself brushing just the very tip of her tongue against Twilight--anymore and the reactions told her it was too much stimulation--making use of skills learned as a filly to be far more capable with her tongue than the average human.
As she traced the shape of the hood, Twilight cried out louder, her hips bucking again. At this point, she seemed entirely nonverbal, reduced to instinctive sounds of pleasure, her cry becoming mewling whimpers that seemed to beg for more. Sunset finished tracing an outline and on a whim, decided to start drawing Equestrian glyphs with her tongue like she had on Twilight's thigh. At first it was just whatever symbols came to mind, random and teasing...but as she felt the heat in her own center rising, she switched to specific words... Twilight's name, a few adjectives...
The fire inside her was paired with the growing sense of her magic, the soft warmth of power that manifested when she ponied up. Hesitating just a moment, she got an idea, one of those eureka moments that used to come to her at CSGU, though she wasn't sure it would work. Using what remained of her willpower, Sunset focused on her mouth and her emotions, doing everything she could to try and combine that with the tiny trickle of magic, as she spelled out the words she couldn't bring herself to say out loud, needing Twilight to understand how she felt.
She wasn't sure it was doing anything at all at first, but she could feel that power pulse abruptly, and Twilight's voice changed mid-moan. Lavender fingers tangled tightly in her hair and Twilight's legs hooked around her, pulling her even closer, until Sunset could barely breathe. The lack of air didn't make any difference, however, as she finished tracing the last few glyphs on her girlfriend's flesh. Twilight's whole body arched and thrashed on the bed, and Sunset pricked her ears forward to catch every last nuance and fluctuation in the wailing scream that filled the loft. And then nothing mattered at all as the pressure and heat and sensation that had been building inside her own nethers crashed into her, waves of pleasure like she'd never felt in either world wracking her body.
Somewhere in the midst of Twilight's release and her own pleasure making her see stars, Sunset lost all connection with the real world. She wasn't Sunset anymore...She was flesh and blood and bone, but she was also fire and light, spirit and soul...she was the universe burning and fading to darkness only to be born anew from the ashes of the old, she was destruction and creation and healing...she was the endless hunger that never stopped in its Desire for more, even as she was the fulfillment and satiation that filled that nagging internal void...She was incomplete, she was whole, she was a multitude thrumming in Harmony, and for a moment that lasted an eternity, she was everywhere and everywhen at once, a heart beat shared by a billion billion souls and every star in the cosmos, before she crashed back into the organic shell of mortality and the knowledge was whisked away from her as it it had never been, leaving behind only the faintest sense of having glimpsed something important and profound and the darkness of her inner eyelids.
Sunset couldn't be sure how long it took her to come back to awareness, but given that Twilight was still panting for air, it couldn't have been that long. The former unicorn felt shaky as the full impact of what had happened finally registered, but strangely warm and content as well, settled in her human form in a way that she had never felt before. She placed a soft kiss to damp flesh, before slowly crawling her way back up Twilight's body on trembling limbs. Collapsing on her pillow, Sunset curled her arms around Twilight in a hug, trying to process what she had just done.
On some level, she had known what she was doing...but now that she lay in her bed, holding Twilight's form close to her own as they both came down from the high, she realized the full measure of her actions with crystal clarity... that they had crossed the final boundaries into physical, sexual intimacy...and by all rights, Sunset thought she would be upset or bothered--after all, she hadn't planned on it going that far. Yet, thinking about it, she found she wasn't even slightly distressed or even worried...the feelings, the words they'd shared and the way they'd clung to each other, even the way she had practically worshiped Twilight's body with her mouth...it all felt...right. Like everything was exactly as it was supposed to be with the two of them in her bed, skin pressed to skin with the signs of intimacy and lovemaking marking them both.
Twilight twitched in her arms, managing to roll onto her side despite uncoordinated limbs. Purple eyes shining with emotion and still have glazed from pleasure, she kissed Sunset sweetly. "...Sunny..." she breathed, shifting to be as close as possible to the redhead. Sunset tightened her grip, nuzzling into sweat dampened dark hair, and felt Twilight pepper her jawline and neck with more kisses, in between contented little sighs. Lavender fingers stroked over her arms, her back, her shoulders, gentle touch that carried affection from one girl to the other.
Sunset luxuriated in the sensations she was experiencing, her mind absently trying to draw a parallel between how wonderfully and totally right this moment felt and any other moment in her life--in either world. After searching through her memory, she could find nothing that matched--the closest she could find came from a long ago and deeply treasured memory from a time when she had been young, before CSGU, before she'd realized that the white alicorn she idolized and adored was not the mother she saw her to be. She had been five, maybe a bit younger, still prone to those wild and uncontrollable magic surges that only the Princess could halt in their tracks, and in an effort to help her get a handle on her power--and some of her emotions, Sunset realized now--Celestia had spent several days coaching her through a very basic task that would give her some active control: controlling a feather with her telekinesis.
The former unicorn burrowed her face more fully into Twilight's hair, a rueful expression on her lips. That had been a frustrating three days, filled with anger, tears, and more than one magic surge that incinerated the delicate feathers, until Celestia had supplied one of her own wing feathers which had the benefit of being immune to the fire that seemed to so often come with the turquoise colored aura. In that moment, when she was no longer trying to worry about so many things at once, Sunset had succeeded, taking the shimmering white feather from the golden aura with her own. She could remember prancing in place, ready to burst from joy that she had finally managed to do something other than start fires, and the look of pride on Celestia's face had been worth the three whole days of misery. Especially when the Solar Princess had swept her up in those wings, held her tightly, and touched the tip of her horn to Sunset's the way unicorn parents sometimes did. "I'm so proud of you, my little sun," she told her then, words that only added to the euphoria of mingled magical auras and pure happiness.
That was the closest she could come to how she felt in the here and now, curled up with Twilight in the darkness of the midnight hours. Despite the lack of magic in her Sparky, and her own extremely limited powers--which seemed to do very little beyond threaten to surge at the worst times and make her pony-up with the other girls--there was a sense of something far greater than either of them, a kind of magic of its own, that filled her body and soul with pleasant heat and an inner peace she had never known.
Hands tugged her head down gently, bringing the redhead out of memories. Twilight kissed her lips again, murmuring something Sunset couldn't make out and then pressing their foreheads together. Sunset smiled. "Hey," she breathed.
Her girlfriend giggled, the sound colored by sleep. "...that was...the best way...to end the day..." Twilight managed around both a yawn and a bit of returning shyness. "...thank you, Sunset...for making it everything I'd ever imagined and more." She hesitated, biting her lip nervously. "Was...did you like it?"
Sunset brushed their lips together, a soft, brief touch. "I...I never imagined anything could be like tonight has been, Sparky...it wasn't planned, and I never thought it would turn out like this..." Another kiss, meant to reassure, and she continued. "...but for all that, nothing has ever felt so right."
Twilight hesitated again, a faint blush staining her cheeks. "That's how I feel too." She took a breath, then continued, "Stay like this with me for the night?" Fingers caressed Sunset's bare shoulders and down her back, and lean legs tangled with hers. "I want to...to feel you like this for as long as possible...I'm not ready for it to end just yet..."
"I think I can manage that," the former unicorn murmured, sitting up just enough to retrieve the blankets to pull over them. "Come here..." Laying back down, she tugged Twilight back against her, shifting the smaller teen until they were in her favorite position for sleep. She tucked her face into her girlfriend's neck, leaving a goodnight kiss on bare skin. "G'nite, Sparky." Twilight whispered something back, but sleep had already stolen over Sunset's awareness, meaning the words hung in the air unheard. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Forty Five: Morning Sunlight | Something was tickling her nose, drawing Sunset from the deep reaches of contented sleep and back towards the waking world. She fought it at first, not wanting to be drawn out of the warm and happy bubble her mind had been drifting in between dreams, but the sensation would not go away. Blue-green eyes drifted open, squinting against the early morning sunbeam that was falling across her face--she really ought to get some sort of curtain or shade for the windows to stop that happening, she mused for probably the hundredth time since she'd moved into the loft--and realized that the source of the tickle was some of Twilight's dark hair brushing against her nose.
Sunset carefully smoothed down the sleep-tangled hair, not wanting to wake the other girl, a soft smile finding its way onto her face. Twilight was curled up against her, snuggled happily into Sunset's bare chest like an oversized kitten, her legs tangled with Sunsets further under the covers. In the drowsy afterglow the night before, she'd forgotten to take off her glasses, and they rested crooked on her nose as she rubbed her face against amber skin. It was, the redhead decided, the most adorable sight she had seen in a long time, and she wasnt sure how long she lay there, drinking in the sight of her companion with a goofy smile on her face.
She felt...good, she realized some indeterminate amount of time later, a sense of sated contentment having stolen over her. All of her fears, all her worries, all the things that had been dragging her through an emotional wringer seemed so far away and insignificant now that the very choice she'd been agonizing over had been made. Looking back at her memories of the night before, she found no regrets, only affection and wonder for the girl curled up in her embrace. Sunset dropped a kiss onto the top of Twilight's head, one hand running lightly down her side and over the curve of her hip, reliving the intimacy they'd shared.
The former unicorn would have been utterly content to lay there, cuddling her girlfriend until Twilight woke up, but her stomach had other ideas, growling its annoyance. Squinting at her bedside clock, she realized it was after ten, and that food was probably a good idea. Sunset started to move to rouse Twilight, but stopped, remembering how positive the reaction had been a few weeks ago when she brought her breakfast in bed. Shifting away from her girlfriend carefully, she managed to slide out of bed without waking the still sleeping girl.
After a quick stop in the bathroom to wash her hands and face, Sunset stared into her refrigerator, contemplating what she could make fairly easily. Spotting a carton of eggs and some veggies that could stand to be used up, she got to work on making omelettes. Cooking was a task that left her free to think, and she found her thoughts turning to the one thing her choice last night had meant that hadn't yet been addressed: telling Twilight the whole truth about who and what she was. She had to tell her--for this to work, for there to be any hope that they would last, she had to tell her everything.
It wasnt something she could just blurt out over breakfast though. Sunset needed time to plan what she wanted to say, how much detail she was going to give, and when she would do it. For starters, Twilight was a scientist at heart, and that meant Sunset would have to provide a logical explanation and hard proof that her adorable nerd would want to test. That was something she wasnt quite sure how she could do without the girls--while most of them had had magic manifest individually as well as with the group, Sunset's own pony-ups seemed entirely tied to the group and their friendship. The only other time her magic did anything was too dangerous to try and use as a demonstration--with her history of magic surges equaling fire and explosions...which had been reinforced with her recent expressions of power being brilliant crimson flames--she wasn't about to use that to prove its existence to Twilight Sparkle. Sunset grimaced as she finished dicing some onion and a bellpepper up to toss into a frying pan on her makeshift stovetop, alongside some thin sliced mushrooms. She would need to take some definite time to figure out a form of hard proof that didn't rely on the girls or risk blowing up.
Leaving the veggies to sizzle and cook in a thin coating of oil, Sunset started whisking the eggs in a bowl to get them nice and fluffy like the Princess had shown her years ago, adding a little bit of shredded cheese to the bowl. It took a lot more effort without magic, but the end result would be worth it. As she considered other options for how to prove magic to Twilight, her mind presented her with another concern: how Twilight would react to learning that she was from another world and wasn't human. Sunset wanted to believe that it wouldn't matter, that her Sparky would accept it the same way she had accepted everything else, but there was that fear that she wouldn't.
She didn't know what she would do if telling the truth drove a wedge between them--after so many months of having the dark haired girl as an integral part of the life she was building for herself in this world since the Rainbow of Light and Elements of Harmony had knocked some sense into her, the thought of not having that singular bright presence who did her best to not judge her for who she used to be was something that left her stomach twisting unpleasantly. Sunset pushed the worry down savagely--after the words they'd shared last night, she just couldn't believe Twilight would be turned away by even something as outlandish as Sunset's origins and the revelation about magic. Her fingers closed around a spoon to stir the veggies in the pan, adding a bit of baby spinach and some diced tomatoes, letting them sit on the heat just long enough to add a few herbs and spices give them a good stir to mix them all up thoroughly, all while trying to find a positive thought. Twilight was already trying to study the magic, even if she didn't know thats what it was exactly--she might be a bit put out over Sunset not sharing the details before, but then maybe they could work together on it, away from Twilight's nasty schoolmates and that overbearing principal who actively seemed to encourage the toxicity at the school.
Sunset found herself smiling at that thought, a fanciful daydream of herself and her girlfriend in the lab, wearing lab-coats and bent over equations and thaumaturgical diagrams, puzzling out the intricacies of mana flows and adapting Equestrian spell matrices for the human world. They would sneak kisses and plenty of touches, she decided as she dumped the veggies into a bowl so she could reuse the pan for the eggs. In the daydream, the redhead ponied-up for her partner, all so Twilight could run her fingers over the thin, sensitive skin of her real ears. Sunset really wanted to know what it would feel like to have them touched and played with by human fingers, but it was too intimate to even consider for anyone but her girlfriend to do.
A blush warmed her cheeks as the unicorn-turned-girl let the fantasy play out and daydream Twilight's fingers went from her ears to her horn, those familiar fingerpads tracing the groove of the spiral. Sunset bit her lip, feeling the want rise up in her soul, and tried to focus on not burning breakfast. Her body throbbed with every heartbeat, crying out for her to forget the food in favor of returning to the nude form curled up in her bed.
"Down, Shimmer," she mumbled to herself. "Food first, and see how she feels." She licked her lips, realizing that the desire was nowhere near as overwhelming as it had been in the last few months, more a smoldering hearth-fire and not a raging inferno. A slow smile, cocky, smug, tinged by hunger and desire, crept its way onto her face. This feeling inside her at that moment felt as right as the night before, and the magic inside her seemed to agree, a thin tendril of it mixing with her emotions without causing a surge.
Basking in her newfound surety and confidence in her choices, Sunset hummed to herself, hips swaying with the beat in her head, oblivious to the shadowy wings that flared open from her bare back before caping themselves as they dissolved into nothingness.
It was the delicious smell that tugged Twilight away from the dream she was having, Dream-Sunset's glowing blue-green-on-black eyes going hazy and indistinct as the laboratory setting dissolved into nothingness. Twilight whined in protest, not done enjoying the view of her sexy girlfriend in nothing but a lab-coat, but Dream-Sunny gave her a wink. "Wake up, nerd. You won't be disappointed." And then she too was gone, leaving Twilight staring at the inside of her eyelids.
She sighed softly as her body shifted from asleep to awake, snuggling more into the thick, soft quilt that smelled faintly of apples and cinnamon, the texture of it wonderful against her bare skin. The afterglow from the night before hadn't entirely faded, leaving her brain to wake slowly and without the usual deluge of thoughts that made her unable to laze about most mornings. It let Twilight drift briefly into her memories, of Sunset's mouth on her and the look in those eyes as they met hers, reliving how wonderful it had felt. She'd had plenty of fantasies over the last few years, both before and after Sunset came into her life, but none of them had come close to the real thing. Not even the few romance novels she'd delved into had managed to paint a picture even remotely close. Being with Sunset...it had been an unquantifiable experience; the gorgeous girl had made her feel like nothing else existed or mattered beyond the two of them.
Twilight stretched and sat up slowly, reaching up to fix the glasses she had forgotten to take off the night before, cleaning the smudges off them with a corner of the quilt before resettling them on her nose. The bed was empty, but the sound of humming and smell of food told her that her girlfriend was down below. The dark haired teen sat there, taking some time to just enjoy the morning. Footsteps on the stairs got her attention, and she turned to see a wild, sleep tousled mane appear.
Then she forgot how to breathe properly. Sunset's eyes were focused on her as she came into view, lips quirked into a sexy smirk. She moved with all the fluidity of a predatory feline, balancing two breakfast plates easily...and she was still completely bare from the waist up, her breasts bouncing slightly with every step she climbed. Twilight's mouth went dry, but nothing would tear her from the pleasure of this moment. As much as her stomach was hungry for food, she found she was craving something else.
"Morning, Sparky," Sunset greeted her, voice sending a tingle down Twilight's spine. "I made omelets." She offered Twilight one, before sliding back under the covers while holding her own plate.
Twilight found herself grinning back. "Morning, Sunset," she replied, scooting close to the amber skinned girl. "It smells great."
Breakfast was a short affair, but Twilight used every chance she had to initiate some form of physical contact with Sunset, from leaning against her side, to touching her knee under the covers to finding spots on her shoulder to kiss. Her girlfriend seemed unfazed by it at first, at least until she'd finished her food. Once the empty plate was on the nightstand, warm hands began running over her neck and shoulders, and the same lips that had worked magic on her were back at it, leaving a line of burning kisses across her collarbone.
Twilight almost dropped her fork when lips tugged on her earlobe, and Sunset's breath ghosted over her skin. "After you eat," the redhead murmured between nibbling kisses, "I was wondering if you wanted to join me for a shower?" Sunset's tone was soft, and there was an almost hesitant note to her voice.
A shiver went through her. A shower with Sunset, one of the few fantasies that she'd indulged in that didnt involve books, science, or astronomy? "I...I'd like that!" she blurted out before her brain could compose a much more intelligent reply.
Sunset nuzzled into her neck, even as one arm curled around Twilight, leaving amber fingers pressing warmly to her stomach. She could feel every breath pressing Sunset's chest to her back and shoulder, making it a struggle to finish her food instead of crawling into Sunset's lap to beg for more of her touch. It felt like an eternity before she finally set the fork onto an empty plate, her own voice sounding shaky. "...d...done...Shower?"
Arms closed around her in a hug. "Hey...you sure you're okay with it?" Sunset asked gently. "We don't have to if you're not up for it, Sparky. I just thought..." The taller girl trailed off. "It doesn't matter what I thought. If you're not ready, you're not--"
Twisting in the embrace, plate practically hurled onto the nightstand, Twilight lunged at Sunset. Lips met in a sloppy, heated kiss that quickly deepened as they fell back on the pillows. The arms around her tightened after the initial surprise wore off, and what had started as Twilight's frantic need to communicate how much she wanted that shower and the intimacy that came with it became an exchange of passion. Sunset rolled them so she was on top, the kiss breaking to become smaller kisses, ones with teeth and tongue involved as much as lips, until every breath was a whimpering plea for more. Twilight dug her fingers into amber skinned shoulders, wanting her beautiful girlfriend pressed against her. She arched and bucked and writhed under the body that pinned her, trying to find an angle that put pressure right where she needed it...and when she found it, right when Sunset was worrying the spot where neck and shoulder met with a hungry mouth, Twilight saw stars, and time itself seemed to stand still.
When she came back to herself, Sunset's lips were pressed to the hollow of her throat, the touch electrifying enough to send aftershock-like tingles through her nerves. It didn't take long for blue-green eyes to be staring into hers again, a slight smile on her girlfriend's face. "...so...was that a yes on the shower?" the redhead asked, her voice still soft but touched this time by mirth.
Nodding, still breathless and panting, Twilight brought her hand up to tangle it in fiery tresses. She kissed Sunset again, this one a brief brush that lasted only a few seconds. "You...have to let me up though," she managed, cheeks hot as she glanced downward.
Sunset chuckled, before rolling off the bed and onto her feet. Seemingly without thought or care, the redhead shed her sleep shorts, stepping lightly out of them and arching her body into a stretch that made Twilight's breath catch. Turned as she was, the smooth curves of her hips and backside were on near full display, while the way she raised her arms over her head called attention to the lean muscles of her back and shoulders. The nerdy girl drank it all in, her hands itching to touch the newly revealed parts of her companion, restraining herself only barely--even as much as theyd done last night, she still didnt want to push too hard, too fast.
Her staring must have lasted too long, because Sunset half turned, that sexy smirk on her face again. "You coming, Sparky?" she teased, even as she turned back to start down the stairs.
Twilight scrambled after her, her brain still half fuzzy from endorphins--she was amazed she made it down the stairs without tripping.
Sunset's bathroom had been an oddity from that first night in the fall. Accessible by way of the door that also led to the unfinished area that held things like Sunset's heating and air conditioner, as well as her washer and dryer, most of the bathroom itself was fairly utilitarian, with a sink, medicine cabinet, toilet, and even the cabinet for towels being durable but budget models. The shower though? The shower wasn't just nice, it was a top of the line, expensive shower, the kind with all manner of 'bells and whistles' that even her parents thought was too much when they'd redone the upstairs bathroom when she was eleven. The shower was perhaps the most incongruous thing about the loft--though the refrigerator and Sunset's computer came in close second--and was one of the things that had helped Twilight make some educated guesses about her girlfriend's previous guardian.
At the same time, she wasnt going to complain, especially when Sunset leaned in to fiddle with the shower, turning on the water and adjusting the settings. The painful, harsh white noise of the water shifted into a pattern and frequency that didn't make her teeth itch, and as she closed the door behind them, she took the chance to step forward, until she was up against Sunset's back, arms going around her in a hug. She pressed her nose into red and gold curls, making a happy sound in her throat, while they waited for the water temperature to adjust.
A hand came back, fingers stroking over her hair. "Hey," came the affectionate murmur. Sunset turned her head slightly, still smiling, and her other hand rested on the hands around her waist, squeezing lavender digits. She grinned back goofily, resting her cheek against Sunset's shoulder and enjoying the close contact.
They stood like that for several minutes, as steam curled around them. Then the redhead tugged free of the embrace to offer Twilight her hand, stepping into the shower. Twilight followed, feeling warm water cascading over her head and shoulders as the taller girl guided her under the spray and plucked her glasses off her face to place them on the nearby counter. Sunset's form became an indistinct, amber-and-reddish blur, but as fingers began massaging her scalp, Twilight stopped caring.
It didnt take much for her to be willing to let Sunset take charge again, as the massaging fingers moved from her scalp to her neck. Pure bliss rippled through her, escaping as a low moan she couldnt stop, especially when those thumbs found a knot of tension that the right pressure and friction undid, relief and pleasure coming on the heels of a slight pain. Her head lolled forward, coming to rest against Sunset's collarbone. "...mmm...Sunny...that feels...ooooh..."
"You've been way too stressed lately, Sparky," came the soft response. "I wish I'd thought to do this sooner. You need to relax." Twilight felt her girlfriend kiss the top of her head. "Let me help you?"
Something deep inside her fluttered at the words, and Twilight found herself nodding against Sunset. "...okay." Her arms wrapped themselves around the other girl's body in a tight hug.
Another kiss was dropped onto her head, and those amber skinned fingers stopped their ministrations briefly. "Tilt your head a little to your right? Straighten your neck?" When Twilight did as she was bid, Sunset started working away at another muscle knot. "There we go," she murmured with playful affection. "Good girl..."
The words washed over her the same way the water was, soothing and warm, leaving a sense of comforting contentment behind. Her anxieties and stress, which had already been banished to the far corners of her mind, dissolved away, leaving behind a sense of rightness. Here, with her girlfriend, standing under the hot water and blanketed by steam...this was exactly where she should be, where she needed to be. Twilight gave a happy sigh, melting under Sunset's touch as weeks and months of frustration and strain fell away. Nothing else mattered right then, not school, not her peers, not the project or the energy that kept eluding her...only the two of them and the feelings they shared meant anything in that moment.
Twilight let her consciousness drift, eyes slipping shut while she basked in the sensations: Sunset's fingers working over her neck and shoulders, the water and steam and heat around them, the way their bodies still fit together perfectly, even in the shower, the way she felt so safe and happy in the intimate space, away from questioning eyes with the person she cared about more than anyone else in the world. It was as close to perfection as was humanly possible, and it was hers.
Another happy sigh escaped from Twilight, making Sunset smile. Ten minutes under the hot water and a massage for her neck and shoulders had left the shorter teen slumped against her bonelessly. The former unicorn let her hands slide back up into dark hair, before gently maneuvering them both, putting her back to the water so she could wash Twilight's hair. Purple eyed blinked up at her in brief confusion, until her girlfriend saw her retrieve the shampoo.
Sunset worked the shampoo into a lather, but took her time, fingers and fingernails massaging Twilight's scalp as much as she was shampooing her hair, slow circles that worked their way from the base of her neck to her forehead, savoring not just the contact, but the intimacy of the moment, especially because bathing for humans was almost exclusively a solitary activity. That made this moment, with Twilight cuddled close, all the more special, maybe even more so than the night before.
She reached back to rinse her hand before grabbing the showerhead and detaching it from the mount in order to rinse the shampoo out of her girlfriend's long, dark mane. Special care was taken to avoid getting water in her ears, and then Sunset repeated her efforts with conditioner. Twilight kissed her skin. "Mmm...Sunny...that feels wonderful...." she managed, sounding half drunk on pleasure.
"Glad to hear that," Sunset responded, working bodywash into a soft cloth and then running it over Twilight's back and shoulders. The smooth movements--similar to the massage she'd given--elicited an even deeper sound of enjoyment, and gave the redhead the confidence to continue the action over the rest of Twilight's form. She wasn't a hundred percent sure if human couples commonly engaged in this more intimate type of bathing or not, but from the flush on her cheeks and the way her girlfriend was responding, it at least wasnt a completely unheard of endeavor.
Once the soap had been washed down the drain, Twilight kissed her, hands sliding down Sunset's sides to rest on her hips. "Sunny?" she asked shyly. "...would it be okay if...if I did the same for you? Or is that too much touch for you still?"
Any lingering doubts Sunset had about her choice the night before melted away as happiness bubbled up from inside her, escaping as a soft chuckle. She pressed her forehead to Twilight's, smiling with tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. "...oh, Sparky," she mumbled, hugging her companion as tight as she could. "...yes, yes, it's okay...after last night, after this morning, I'm okay with this, with all of this. That includes your touch." The former unicorn stared into purple eyes. "...I meant what I said last night--nothing has ever felt so right as this, with you."
It was apparently the exact right thing to say, and pretty soon, Sunset wasn't thinking about anything but the girl in her arms amidst water and steam. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Forty Six: Revelations | Twilight watched as Sunset's bike revved once she was back on the street, her own hand raised in a farewell wave at her girlfriend. Sunset gave a parting wave of her own before she drove off into the sunny afternoon. The dark haired girl lingered on the porch until the leather wearing form on the motorcycle disappeared around the corner, her lips turned up unconsciously into a smile. Only once Sunset was completely gone from view did she turn back to enter the house amidst the eager barks of her dog whose tail was wagging so hard his whole back half wiggled.
She closed the door behind her, leaning back against it with a soft and happy sigh after she picked up her dog. "Oh, Spike," she whispered, hugging the furry body tight mostly out of a raw desire to have something warm and alive in the circle of her arms again. "...I miss her already..."
Which was the truth. Despite everything bad that had happened, the last two days had been unimaginably wondrous and she hadn't wanted it to end, hadn't wanted to leave the warmth and intimacy they had achieved in the privacy of Sunset's loft. Neither of them had, really; Sunset had lingered in the shower with her until the hot water ran out, and there had been little resistance when Twilight had practically tackled her to the couch for another round...or two...
Though the third round had been initiated by her Sunny, when she'd flipped them and pushed Twilight into the couch cushions. Not to mention the way Sunset had interfered with the process of finally getting dressed, all wandering hands and heated kisses.
Real life had intruded all the same as the afternoon ticked away, however, and with reluctance, Sunset had brought Twilight home. It didn't stop the dark haired girl from reliving the memories, letting the night before drift across her thoughts with a faint flush on her cheeks. Things had changed between them, not just because of their physical encounters--Twilight felt like she was floating, buoyed up by the knowledge that whispered in her ear with the memory of blue-green eyes staring up at her: Sunset loved her, and she loved Sunset in return, even if neither had spoken it aloud yet. Perhaps it had been there for a while, but now that she had acknowledged it in her own mind, she could feel the way things arc'ed and buzzed between them, thrumming like an electrical current fashioned from emotion rather than energy, coating every interaction and word. If nothing else it made their current separation that much more tolerable and gave Twilight something to look forward to when they reunited next...
It had another benefit she had not realized until after the fact, but it was a benefit that the teenager hoped would continue and not wear off after a day or two. For the first time in her life that she could recall, her mind was tranquil and quiet, completely lacking the constant noise of a thousand trains of thought coming and going at all hours and endless scenarios painted in vivid color for her to see. Instead there was only Sunset, her touch, her voice, and the way she made Twilight feel, the ghost of their night together running along every nerve ending in time with the memories. Twilight let out a soft and contented sigh, basking in the stillness and light within and savoring the crystal clarity of the world that had been lacking for years. She had no idea if this was normal, or if it was something unique to her because nothing Cadence had ever spoken of had mentioned anything like it, and for all the books she had read could be both graphic and fantastical in the narrative of the love lives of characters, they too had failed to paint a picture that matched her experience.
Twilight had been so lost inside her own head that she hadn't paid much attention to Spike, and only belatedly realized that the dog in her arms had quieted. She glanced down to find him staring at her almost quizzically, ears akimbo, even as he sniffed her shirt. It struck her as funny for reasons she couldn't explain, and she giggled before kissing the top of his head. "She had to go home, Spike. I wish she didn't, but..." she sighed, before setting him down.
"The date went well then?" Cady's voice broke through the quiet of the house. When Twilight jumped, staring at her wide eyed--she hadn't heard Cadence enter the room, for all she had noticed her car was the only one in the driveway. Her sister-in-law giggled, before she was in motion, pulling Twilight first into a hug, then unceremoniously pushing her up the stairs. "Girl-talk time, Ladybug!" the pink skinned woman informed her cheerfully, opening the door to her room.
Bewildered and unprepared, Twilight allowed herself to be directed to the space decorated in soothing colors that featured heavily in a lot of her memories of safety and sisterly companionship...but also in memories where Cadence plied her for embarrassing secrets or listened to her talk about her struggles at school or with her peers. Her current state of mind left her more than a little unable to process Cady's excitement.
Closing the door behind them, Mi Amore Cadenza bounced over and sat on the edge of the bed. "Sooo...spill!" The grin on her face was wider than Twilight would have believed possible.
"I...it...we had a good time?" Twilight sat down nearby. "Glamour got a tattoo...we went to a big local Pride festival that was going on for the weekend." The dark haired girl bit her lip. "Sunset bought me a couple of shirts...but I'm keeping them at her place until I tell Mom and Dad."
Her sister-in-law nodded along with her description of events, before giving her a long, appraising stare that made Twilight more than a little twitchy. "Mmm...sounds like a good day then...but that's not what I meant."
Lavender fingers tugged nervously on the messy ponytail. "I...don't understand?" she squeaked out--a small lie, as the answer started to dawn the instant the words were out of her mouth.
Cadence failed at restraining her laughter, and she reached over to rest her hand on the teen's shoulder. "Twily, I love you like a little sister, but that means I know you and all of your tells, and right now you couldn't advertise any louder that you got laid if you used a megaphone to announce it to the whole neighborhood."
Twilight squawked, turning bright red, and she stammered out a long string of nearly unintelligible denials. Cadence never wavered in her amused expression, and eventually she wilted when it became evident that none of the attempted denial or deflection was working. "How could you tell?" she asked in surrender, hoping to figure out damage control to avoid outing herself to all and sundry.
"Twily, do you own a hairbrush?"
The abrupt non-sequitur confused Twilight. "Yes," the dark haired girl answered slowly, puzzlement leaking into her voice, "but what does that have to do with--"
"You should get an extra one and keep it in your bag with you."
She was completely lost now. "Why does that matter?"
Cadence gave her a wicked grin that would have been right at home on a Cheshire Cat. "So you don't come in the door with 'she fucked me' bedhead," she pointed out, seemingly enjoying watching the myriad of reactions that Twilight could feel playing out on her face as the words sunk in and then were mentally evaluated on a second, third, and even fourth pass, her eyes widened with each subsequent review.
Hands darted up to her hair, feeling over the ponytail that had been fine when she'd first put her hair up after the shared shower. "That's a thing?!" she yelped in dismay.
"It sure is, Ladybug, and you've got a serious case of it right now." Cady's eyes were bright with mirth. "That and you need to start keeping concealer either in your bag or at Sunset's, not just here at the house..." She tipped Twilight's chin up and turned her head slightly to get a better look at her neck. "Or you need to convince her to leave bite marks somewhere much more discreet, because no one is going to believe a mark shaped like human teeth is a bug bite."
A part of Twilight had blown right past embarrassment into pure mortification, but a larger and growing part of her was just upset. She knew Cadence didn't mean anything bad or demeaning with the playful, sisterly teasing; such things were just part of having a sibling, regardless of gender, and Cadence was never one to be cruel or mean spirited with any of her actions. Quite the opposite, when it came to "Girl Talk" moments between them...while it had never been stated aloud, Twilight had put together years before that this was Cady's way of filling in both as the blood-sister she lacked and all of the female friends she didn't have to talk about personal things with, giving Twilight an aspect of social interaction and development she couldn't get anywhere else that she needed for her own mental health. However, the young woman's good natured ribbing was missing its mark today, leaving Twilight feeling as though the intimate moments of the night before and earlier that day were being belittled or made light of, when to her they were something special.
"Cady..." she started, watching as her sister-in-law took notice of her tone of voice. "...I know that you mean well...but...can we talk without teasing, just this once?"
The results were immediate and visible. Cadence dropped the playful grin in favor of a very worried and concerned expression and she scooted so she could sit next to Twilight and put an arm around her shoulders instead. "Twily? What's wrong? I thought from the way you were acting that things must've gone really well."
"They did," the teenager responded, leaning into the hug. "Even with my considerable vocabulary in several languages, I lack the words to accurately articulate my feelings." Just talking about it made that blissful happiness and warmth steal back over her. "...but that's why...it's too special a memory...does that make sense?"
She glanced over when Cadence did not respond right away, and saw her frowning in the way she did when she was upset. "I'm sorry, Ladybug," she said, voice gone quiet and contrite. "I didn't mean it in a negative way, or mean to make it seem like I was making fun of you--I can't tell you how happy I am that you and Sunset are so good together...I want to see you happy. You deserve all the love in the world, from a woman who cherishes the real you, flaws and all." Fingers combed through Twilight's ponytail lightly. "And if that woman is Sunset, then I'll be the first one to toast at your wedding, because she deserves happiness just as much as you do."
Twilight let out a slow exhale that wasn't strong enough to be called a sigh. "I...think I want it to be," she confessed softly. "I...love her. Sunset, I mean. Not like a best friend or as a family member...but...like you and Shining love each other. I...realized it last night, and I think she loves me...even if we didn't say it to each other. It's...part of what made it mean so much. It wasn't j-just...s-sex...I felt alive and wanted and special in a way that I never have before..."
Cadence rested her cheek against the top of Twilight's head. "First times are different," the woman murmured understandingly, "especially when it's with someone that's special to you."
"It was...nothing like what books make it sound like..."
Laughter made her sister-in-law's shoulders shake gently. "Because the people who write those books have never experienced it, Twily, or if they have, like you, they can't put it into words that do it justice..."
There was something reassuring in knowing that Cadence understood what she was feeling, and could verify that Twilight wasn't alone in her experience. Although, if she was honest, she had no interest in the details of her sister-figure's personal encounters, nor did she have any want to discover what intimacy would be like with anyone other than Sunset.
In any other circumstance the reliance on a single case study or data point was a foolish error, in this case, Twilight felt she could draw a satisfactory conclusion to a long held hypothesis. Though...if Sunset was interested in...repeating the experiment...perhaps under a variety of conditions...she wouldn't be opposed to that.
She could see it now: Sunset dressed in a lab coat and little else, leaning forward across one of the tables in her lab to grin at her with a smug, sexy expression. "Glad to hear you find my skills in this area so...satisfying..." Sunset's voice purred in her mind. "Now, Dr. Sparkle...what variable are we testing for next?"
Swallowing, Twilight tried to push the mental images away, and could almost hear Mental-Sunset chuckling at her. This was not the best time to be beset by part two of that morning's steamy romantic lab fantasy.
"Right...so tonight then? Say...bedtime? It's a date!"
That mental facsimile of her girlfriend's voice was going to be the end of her.
Cadence's voice broke into her thoughts. "I'm glad it was a positive experience for you, Ladybug...and while I'm not teasing, there's a couple of things you are probably going to want to do to help make sure that you aren't inadvertently advertising to the public any more than you want them to know."
She bit her lip. "...like the hairbrush?"
"Yes, like the hairbrush, but also a small bag of the little wet wipes--the ones like you get at a barbecue place or fried chicken restaurant? Little things you can pack in a purse or backpack to clean up from any spontaneous encounters. Its less messy in some ways with another girl than with a boy, but not always."
Twilight fought the urge to whine and bury her face in her hands. On second thought, perhaps having the lab fantasy at an inappropriate moment was the lesser of two evils.
Sunset reentered her apartment with a lightness to her steps and a smile on her face that she couldn't seem to get rid of, despite having dropped the source of it off at home. She found herself humming as she shed her jacket and wandered to the fridge for a drink, body swaying to the beat once she had a chance to turn on her music. It was almost shocking, how much of a difference twenty four hours could make, she marveled as she unpacked the groceries she'd picked up for the week and retrieved one of the multitude of frozen meals Velvet had filled her freezer with, setting it atop her microwave to thaw. Or maybe it was just a testament to how much of her stress had been tied into worrying about her double life and the human girl who had ensnared her so completely...
Sparky...
The images danced across her mind's eye with barely any effort, and Sunset could see the other girl the way she had looked that morning, skin touched with moisture from the shower and raw desire in her eyes when she'd pulled the redhead into a heated kiss and another round of steamy lovemaking, right there on the couch. Sunset could still feel the fingers against her inner thighs, as if Twilight's touch was permanently branded into her flesh. She wasn't entirely sure if the noise that had torn from her in climax had been entirely possible for her throat--the faint scratchy ache suggested it wasn't--or entirely human...
Good thing her only neighbors were separated by some alleys...and that renovations to the building before she moved in had included new insulation with good soundproofing. The former unicorn was not particularly keen on Mr. Asiago knowing about her intimate life. As funny and charming as the wizened old man was, she wasn't sure if he would chastise her or offer her a drink in celebration. Probably the latter.
Shaking her head to clear it, Sunset flopped bonelessly onto her couch. She still had to figure out a solid plan and a few backups to tell Twilight about the magic, but with her decision made, she was no longer hovering in that in-between space. The decision itself was somewhat bittersweet--she loved her magic and being a unicorn, but...this world wanted her as she was...and more than that...she wanted this world, this life, and the people in it that had found their way into her heart.
Like Twilight Sparkle, her adorably dorky human girlfriend, whose voice and touch made her battered soul sing.
She wanted to see what their relationship could be in ten years or thirty, to let the feelings between them blossom and grow into their own. When she pictured her life going forward, it was her Sparky that formed the center of the image, by her side every step of the way, a partner and best friend in good times and bad. Everything else was vague and suggestive at best: college and career, home, hobbies, even friends...but Twilight was in focus and high definition, giving her that smile that said everything would be okay.
"Sun and stars, Shimmer," she chastised herself. "You've become such a sap."
It didn't help that she was cuddling a couch pillow that held a lingering whiff of their scents, and air that was touched with the night's passion. Maybe she should open a window so she could think clearly without the hormones muddling her senses or fueling her own desire to drive right back over to Twilight's house and continue where they had left off on the couch.
--Someone's randier than a deer in rut. Must've been some good sex. Certainly a change from all your denials and moping, horn-head.-- It almost sounded like praise and approval. --You're welcome, by the way.--
Whatever thoughts she'd had ground unceremoniously to a shrieking halt at the sudden reappearance of that sarcastic and somewhat dry toned inner voice that had been missing for months from her inner monologues.
--Awww, did you miss it that much?--
That would be pushing it, Sunset decided. Though she might have appreciated being able to use the inner voice as a sounding board for the things that had been weighing on her....Although that did beg the question of how a part of her own psyche could just disappear for months without a trace, even when she was actively trying to trigger what Twilight would call 'a coping mechanism.'
--Not sorry. You had it under control, and there were bigger problems to worry about.--
She fought the urge to roll her eyes. "If that's what I sound like when I get sarcastic, I owe a lot of people apologies," she muttered to herself. Stupid little voice.
Laughter, a touch darker than expected, drifted up from that corner of herself. --Sarcasm is a natural defense against gross stupidity. We've mastered that.--
Sunset curled into the pillow, trying to tune it out. Focusing on memories of the night before and earlier in the day were much more satisfying than getting mocked by herself. She indulged in playing back the way Twilight had looked on the couch, eyes dilated and hungry as she'd parted Sunset's towel from her hips.
--Sparky's going to be an insatiable little minx now you know.--
"Like I am really going to mind," Sunset countered with her own snark. "The sounds she makes are worth a little more exercise and a little less sleep."
--...again, you're welcome. You two didn't exactly make it easy.--
Something about that statement made the former unicorn stop and really focus on what was going on. She'd assumed that the voice was simply a repressed corner of her own mind...like her subconscious or her own personal 'devil's advocate' as the human term would describe it. That, however...there was something there that unsettled her, and she couldn't quite pin it down with a hoof. "What?" she whispered, speaking to the voice directly now.
It sounded mildly amused and a little frustrated. --You both have been panting at each other like cats in heat for months, but at every turn you fought any encouragement. Both of you. You should get a medal for self control, horn-head.--
Her mouth was dry and her stomach dropped unpleasantly into the vicinity of the local sewer system to hang out with alligators, rats, and discarded goldfish bodies. "You? But...you're..." Sunset paused to take a deep breath and collect her scattered thoughts. "You're just me. My own mind."
Even as she said it, doubt filled her. The voice had been something she never actively controlled, and when she had tried, it failed to make an appearance, even in situations where she was mentally mocking herself. And the last time she had heard it was...
--The Battle of the Bands, because that needed all of us to put those shrieking, scaly, walking sushi platters down hard. Between that, your gaggle of new apprentices, and keeping the filth from getting too into Sparky's head, all of you has been spread too thin, and comparing notes has been difficult at best, especially since you're afraid of parts of yourself.--
That was way more to unpack than she was prepared for, but she fixated on the part that mattered. "What do you mean, keeping filth out of Sparky's head?"
The voice--which was becoming less stupid and little by the second--sighed heavily. --You're smarter than that, horn-head. You know already--you were just there last week...and Sparky isn't theirs to have. You knew it was bad news before too, and you wanted to protect her. So you did.--
Sunset bit back an unpleasant laugh. "By...what? Sending a detached portion of my own subconscious brain to fight dark magic? Newsflash, it wasn't working--she keeps coming home with it hooked into her."
--It would have been worse if you hadn't.--
"I find that hard to believe." Sunset rubbed her face, wondering if she was just going mad.
--You know better,-- the voice in the back of her mind chastised and in that moment, everything froze for Sunset Shimmer.
Because she'd heard those words before, in that exact tone...in her nightmares, from the fanged mouth of the demon she'd once become...
She couldn't breathe, couldn't move. Her mind echoed with those same words, spoken again and again in different hellish dreamscapes of crawling shadows and desolate darkness. All along, she'd been looking for signs that the demon was still present...had it truly been right there in front of her from the very beginning? Whispering in her ear, goading her, pushing her towards her best friend, commiserating with her woes...and then just...disappearing for months?
None of that made sense, and it was that that got her breathing again. Sunset needed answers, something to bring clarity to a scenario that...didn't match up with what she knew. At the formal, she'd been consumed by her anger and desire to prove herself, to show she was worthy of Ascension, of Celestia's love and attention, and she'd been willing to murder, torture, and enslave any being necessary to accomplish that goal. If the voice in the back of her mind was whatever was left of the monster she'd transformed into, then why in the wide world of Equestria was it fixated on encouraging teenage romance or providing her with an outlet for her frustrations with the growing pains of new friendships? Or...somehow...trying to protect Twilight--the counterpart of the pony who'd defeated it the last time that part of her was in control and free--from dark magic...if that part was to be believed, and not some kind of lie to earn her sympathy.
--No point in lying to yourself, horn-head. Doesn't serve much purpose.--
That still didn't explain why it would want to encourage her relationship with Twilight.
Another sigh echoed up from the back of her mind. --It's not that complicated, you know. Why? Because it's what you Desired...and honestly, the little pushes were what you both needed. Now you're happy, and you can plan how to do your big reveal to Sparky, and the two of you can live happily ever after in nerd paradise, inventing all kinds of new technologies, researching magic, and having lots of wild sex. Everybody wins.--
Sitting up on the couch, Sunset squeezed the pillow in a death grip. "Now I know I'm being lied to," she hissed. "What are you really after? Who else have you targeted? What's your game?"
--Paranoia isn't all that attractive a feature, you know.--
"Neither is being a demonic abomination, so I guess we're even."
If there was the auditory equivalent of an eye roll, the voice managed it. --And things were going so well. Fine. If you must know, there was some consideration for turning Abacus Cinch into a greasy smudge, and maybe Wallflower ran away that day because we were fed up with her threats about Sparky, but other than that, nothing you haven't secretly wanted. Why work against yourself?--
Sunset fought back a growl. "I don't believe it. The old me always had a motive. I was nothing but manipulative schemes, lies, anger, hate, and full of the desire to crush my opponents by any means necessary. Hurting others was part of establishing my own superiority, and destroying competition. And when I put the Crown on, all of those things were magnified a hundredfold. I wanted to kill Princess Twilight, I enslaved half the school. I was a monster."
--We've been over this. Last time, you were filled with hate, with a lust for something that wasn't yours to have, and so we became those things. It's different now. You don't want those things anymore--you are not who we used to be!-- The voice, or demon or whatever it really was seemed agitated and almost pleading. --All that matters here is what you desire...what Sparky desi--
Anger boiled in her and her magic throbbed warningly against the inside of her skull. "No!" the redhead barked out. "You...you don't get to touch her--stay away from Twilight! She's the only thing in my life you never corrupted and twisted!" She felt like she was wrestling with a piece of her own essence as she zeroed in on the stupid voice. "I won't let you hurt her, or anyone else, ever again!"
--If there's one person above all others that is in no danger from any part of you, Sunset Shimmer, it is Twilight Sparkle. You know that--all of you would do anything for her, even the parts of yourself wish didn't exist.--
She clenched her hands tightly, knuckles white, and vaguely registered the tearing of fabric under her fingertips. "I can't believe that--you stay away from her!" It hurt, and for the first time in forever her magic burned her as she fought a part of herself, crimson flames along her arms and hands leaving the skin tender and even blistered in places.
The smell of charred fabric filled her nostrils as the voice answered with a bit of tart petulance, --You don't want to do this, horn-head. It's only going to make things worse.--
Sunset ignored it, grimacing through the pain as she worked to build a cage of will and defiance around the whispering monster in her mind that had revealed itself. Never again, she told herself, holding onto that thought like a mantra, giving her the strength to blink back tears. She would not allow it to take her over again, or to bring harm to the people in her life, even if she had to beg the girls to hit her with the Rainbow of Light a few more times just to be sure--that had to be what weakened it at the Battle of the Bands and driven it to silence for months.
--You're making a mistake,-- it warned her testily as she slammed the cage shut and sealed it tight with magic and something not unlike a prayer.
"I'm finally doing...something right...about one thing I can control," the former bully bit back. "I won't be you...again..." Her magic guttered out, and her vision grayed from the effort it had taken to lock the monster away. The walls of her loft swam dizzyingly, in time with the pain in her head, and she decided that maybe laying back was a good idea with how light-headed she felt. As she did, she cursed her body's inability to work with her magic properly...
And then she didn't think of much else as the cool darkness of unconsciousness claimed her. Her body settled into the couch cushions and the arms drawn tight to her relaxed, one falling towards the ground and spilling the charred, tattered pillow from a blistered hand and fingers tipped in black claws... |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Interlude XXXII: Umbrage | Adolescent mortals scurried to and fro like frenzied rodents in a grain silo, as oblivious to the eyes watching from the clinging shadows and crystal accents as the aforementioned rodents were to the farm cat lurking nearby. The comparison was apt, He sneered--they were little more than annoying vermin or cattle, only tolerable as long as they served His purpose. Once He no longer needed them, He would be as happy to crush them under His hooves as any other annoying insect.
For now though, they were a necessary irritant.
Ignorant of how close they were to their own demise, the humans were entirely caught up in the drama of their own little lives and the incessant theatrics that seemed to choke them in the halls of the so-called school. They bit and snapped at each other, laughed at the misfortune of others amidst their small divided social groups, and jockeyed for better positions in the social hierarchy through any means they had to. A lesser being would have been disgusted at how they turned on each other so easily, but He merely felt contempt. It was an illusion, the power they believed they had or could attain when compared to True Power...to the fae that manipulated them with centuries of skill and inherent magic...or to Him, an imprisoned God who would soon be free once more.
As He slipped His sight from one flickering shadow to the next, He spied the telltale glamour of one of Itheadair's underlings, clad in the guise of one of the very adolescents they tormented. This one was mid-torture, trailing after one of the female humans like a hound after a rabbit.
"Where ya' going, Pacific?" the changeling called mockingly, prompting the prey's distress to ratchet up enough to start crying. It was a weakness that was leapt upon eagerly. "Aww...gonna go cry in the bathroom again?" The loud vocalization drew attention from the unruly crowd of onlookers, and cruel laughter rippled through the masses adding to the fleeing female's suffering.
It was not hard to see why she was a target, even for Him. While she wore the same uniform as her peers, her satchel was a lurid mix of hues that were eye-catchingly painful to look at for long, and adorned with a plethora of decorative patches and hanging trinkets. This was paired with a shock of red-pink hair worn in twin tails and held up with equally brightly colored ties. Topped off with still more color in the form of bangles around her wrists and neck--pushing the limits of the strict dress-code He knew that Itheadair enjoyed enforcing--the loud visual look made her a target for predators, human, fae, or otherwise.
She fled to a bathroom, still pursued by her tormentor, and He chose to follow, wanting to savor the misery and fear. It was all too easy to take up a new vantage point in a darkened corner, spotting the victim huddled in one of the stalls like a trapped animal while the changeling kicked at the door.
"What's wrong? Why're you hiding? I just wanted to help you out, give you a little haircut!" They laughed nastily at their own twisted joke and struck the door again with a carefully measured amount of strength. After all, it was not about breaching the small space, but rather about causing more suffering to their young victim. "You know what the boys all call you, right?"
Silence but for the sobbing, and the fae's guise sneered. "Handlebars. They call you handlebars, because that's what your hair is good for! Sounds like those pigtails of yours are reeeeal popular with them!"
The petty spite and childish antics exemplified the very problem that had become something He could no longer ignore. Itheadair had outlived their usefulness to Him. Too many decades of playing petty games with children and vermin had dulled the fae's edge and turned the remnants of the once proud and powerful race into little more than the very immature vermin they watched over. Now, the mistakes were mounting, and had crossed the line into unforgivable--their failure could have cost Him His sacrifice and the powerful magic it held.
A replacement needed to be found, and the sooner the better.
For a moment, He considered promoting one of the other fae to their leader's position, but as He watched the tableau before His gaze, He discarded that idea. The underlings were no better than their leader--many of them were far worse.
The crying continued, overlaid by the regular banging, and the harsh voice digging into the mortal's insecurities.
He drew back into Himself for a time, mulling over his options. A decision made in haste would be a mistake, and lead to greater problems He could ill afford. The fae could no longer be relied upon for anything, that much was abundantly clear...He needed someone new, but the mortals were no more useful to his ends than the fae. They were too young, too fragile, and most importantly, lacked the magic to accomplish critical tasks...
And they were the only other option available at present.
The watching shadow hissed a curse in a long forgotten tongue. It was suboptimal, but He might have to make do until He had a body again, and could range further afield than this small square of territory awash with His power. Still...He was confident He would determine a solution, given time. He just needed to find it.
His eyes were drawn back to the events in the material, as the banging stopped and the glamoured fae spoke again. "What's wrong, Handlebars? Don't you think you'd look better with short hair? I'm sure my friends and I could give you one that suits you so much better!" The fake adolescent cackled viciously. "Or maybe you like when the boys use them as handlebars? Is that it? Because I'm sure that some of them would be happy to take you off for a ride!"
There was a calculated escalation of the verbal abuses going on, and while it was effective for what it was, He curled His lip in distaste. Where was the manipulative finesse? The clever and cunning wordplay? The backhanded compliments and subtlety that were meant to be hallmarks of the fae, especially from those who had once been the upper echelons of their people? This was base, like watching filthy peasant children jabbing a pathetic wounded animal with a stick until it cried out in pain, or gutter whores completing over a laborer's meager coins.
As He grew sour and contemplated finding another place to brood and watch over His domain, the door opened and in wandered an answer to His previous dilemma, in the form of the female made of shades of green wearing the uniform in such a way that the clothing appeared dull and shapeless, uninteresting to such a severity that most eyes slid right over her. He could sense it as she gauged the situation she had walked in on, and moved to clean her hands rather than draw attention by immediately fleeing; there was a faint magic clinging to her, similar in kind but different to His chosen sacrifice.
He could use this, and when she made as if to leave a sharp pulse of His power instead directed her to the stall closest to the door and farthest from the abuse going on on the other side of the room. The green child muttered something under her breath as she huddled in the toilet, confusion rolling off her at the change in plans that had little to do with her need to empty her bladder, that kept her there well after that animal need had been satisfied. Confusion turned to frustration as she fidgeted in place, wanting to leave but unwilling to do so.
Now that there was a potential witness, the changeling gave up their game, stomping out on costly footwear with one final jibe at their victim. "We'll be waiting, Handlebars! See you after class!" The door slammed on the end of that painful promise.
Quiet after the obnoxious braying of the moor-born waste of good magic was almost a relief, and He took several minutes to organize His thoughts for His next action, leaving His current target to squirm as the sobbing faded into sniffling. She dared not go--a touch of terror against her primal hindbrain kept her in hiding, left wondering if the victim in the far stall was even aware of her presence...and if she muttered under her breath? It was still less grating to His senses than the chittering of a Nightmare gone beyond seed into dead chaff to be tilled under.
If memory served--and these days it certainly served better than Itheadair--the plain and ghostlike waif was His sacrifice's sycophant, riding her coattails to higher status and selfish gain. It put her in a position perfect for His use, though he despised having to lower Himself to such lowly, unrefined, and pugnacious tactics as forcible possession. A body gained in such a way deteriorated quickly, lasting only a few moons as a soulless puppet husk before it expired completely and began to rot.
Beneficial then, that He only needed it for a single moon, until the day of His release from the foul prison that fought to contain Him and strip Him of His essence like it had so many others. Then the puppet would be easily disposed of. It would give Him several weeks to search out a true replacement for Itheadair.
With that decided, He focused His essence through shadow and crystal, seeping unseen into the green female, beginning to invade her thoughts and tear at the edges of her soul...
Her thoughts were open to Him as she fell into a coughing fit, unable to catch her breath as her soul fought back against the intrusion and her body manifested the assault in a very physical way. Her fear and pain as she couldn't breathe, couldn't stop coughing and gagging, to the point that she pivoted and retched into the toilet, vomit and mucus streaming from mouth and nose yet doing nothing to clear her airways. Tears streamed down her face as she struggled for control of her body, adrenaline surging and a forceful push from her soul granting her a reprieve enough to draw a breath and growl out, "Dammit, Handlebars! Help me!" towards the fellow occupant of the washroom.
It was futile, of course, He noted with dark humor. The bullied female no one had helped was too busy fiddling with devices in her ears and one in her hand to pay attention to the coughing or the raspy cry for aid. He pressed harder, feeling the edges of the soul begin to stretch and tear from their flesh housing--
"Where do we go? Every day's the same..."
His senses caught the flicker of new magic in the room, but it took some moments to catch up to His awareness. He was too busy fighting His quarry on the battleground of the soul, and feeling the satisfaction of finding a solution to His problem. He would soon no longer have to rely on Itheadair or their ilk to maneuver His sacrifice and He could use it to locate replacements.
"Did we lose the magic...magic...magic..."
He snapped away from the attempt at possession as foreign magic filled the room, new and yet kin to His chosen sacrifice and to the power that had been released in the last half a year...and to that damnable succubus. The green child was dropped, unceremoniously as He searched for the source of the magic--she had mostly given up struggling by now, and He could conclude His efforts at any point. This new magic was more important.
His search turned up nothing but the colorful victim turning the audio up on her device, the echo of a recorded performance vibrating the air with the ghost of magic.
Within His prison His eyes widened and then He began to smile. This was true magic, weak though it was in the recorded song. What must it be like at the source? And the longing for magic, for power, in the music was tangible, a hunger He could exploit. He just needed to know the source.
A quick scan of the victim's thoughts gave the answer. Good. Now He could finish possessing the other female and search down this group of musicians and their magic.
Fury tickled faintly when He returned to the first stall and found it empty, the door still swinging. Somehow, the mortal had managed to flee without Him realizing it! Growling, He chased, leaping from shadow to crystal and back again, trying to locate His quarry! He refused to be thwarted so close to His goals.
He caught up just as she entered a pristine room, the very vault of machinery that she often met His sacrifice in to work, and He felt a hint of gleeful anticipation at being able to get right to work with His new puppet once He could finish the possession. With the revelation that there was more magic than the sidhe has sensed...magic that tickled a memory blasted indistinct by centuries of fighting His prison's attempts to scour His essence to shreds...
Still, things were progressing apace, and now evolving in a fortuitous way that would allow Him to shed the dead weight of the corporeal Nightmares who had persisted long beyond their time and outlived their usefulness to Him.
Possibilities lay before His mind's eye, many and varied, dozens of paths He could choose to get to His true end goal. When He possessed the human who reeked of dirt and leaves, not only could He ensure the sacrifice's readiness for the ritual, but He could use the body to seek out the other sources of magic...perhaps more exposure would knock the memories loose. There was also the chance that He could entice the source to His side...with a little observation, it shouldn't be hard to discern what they would sell themselves for. Mortal beings were predictable like that.
He grinned. Patience was already paying dividends.
Shadowy tendrils were just starting to dig into flesh gone ashen and pale when the door opened and His sacrifice stepped in, His possession attempt interrupted for a second time. Snarling unseen, He whipped his attention around to stare through the darkness under a countertop at what had intervened to grant the green human more life.
He smelled it first, a wave of stench that rolled off the mortal girl in waves, a disgusting reek of pheromones and magic that no amount of water could hope to wash off, the strongest clue to any other demon that a concubus of some description had used their foul, stinking, infuriatingly potent yet conceptually limited powers to claim a soul as their own. Resisting the urge to lash out violently, His focus narrowed in on the source: His sacrifice, entering the room with a carefree, lighthearted bounce to her step, swirls of magic and power painted on her skin like glowing red flames to His sight, visible even through the starchy stiffness of layers of clothing. It was mocking, a challenge, and a complete dismissal of His authority and sovereignty, from the same arrogant succubus who had strutted into His domain like she owned the place.
And now she had dared to go so far as to claim a soul He had marked, that had signed itself over to Him? That was beyond brazen--it was an insult of the highest order, and a declaration of war...
No lesser demon had dared, not in a thousand years or more, to challenge Him for His crown...and certainly none of His prior challengers had been concubi. They lacked the stomach for such a confrontation, and the power to do much more than make mortals dance to their tune.
Yet this one had...which suggested she honestly thought she had a chance to win. Which in turn suggested that she had a plan or some way that she believed would outwit Him and overcome His power...like a weakness she could exploit, or allies against Him.
Or a traitor who had betrayed Him.
White hot fury coalesced into a single name, and he roared into the aether of His prison so savagely that the walls trembled. He lost connection briefly in His tirade, as He vented His spleen to the rocks, crystals, and shivering shadows that lurked in the prison with Him.
"ITHEADAAAAAAAAAAIR!!!"
Drawing in as much of his magic and power as He could, He dove back into the connection to the material realm, ripping through the halls and from focus to focus, birthing hissing shadows in His wake that immediately sunk into the ones attached to mortal bodies. The building around Him shuddered, and every denizen of His domain, mortal, fae, and shadow alike was filled with an inescapable sense of creeping dread.
There was no subtlety, no finesse, no sadistic calculation as he filled the office claimed by the Lord of the sidhe. Only raw fury, black hatred, and darkness so total that the void between stars was a brilliant and dazzling dawn by comparison. His essence coated every available inch, choking and all consuming as he bellowed a Command with the traitor's Name, one that could not be ignored.
"ITHEADAIR-ANAM, PRESENT YOURSELF BEFORE ME!!! NOW!"
The sidhe arrived quickly--they could do little else when He invoked the full breadth of their Name. He could see, in eyes and manner, that the being who had been His majordomo for over a thousand years was rattled and on edge, clinging desperately to some measure of their normal dignity and regal hauteur in order to conceal their deeper emotions.
Like fear.
For the moment, He allowed them the delusion and savored the fear...and the shame that accompanied it. It left Itheadair's normally organized essence open to Him, and He rifled through its contents in search of overt proof...yet He did not find it. Fear aplenty, and ripples of unease that echoed up through the rest of the dirty island spawned moor-trash, and a twinge of something that had no name to Him...but no overt evidence as He had sought.
As soon as the door clicked shut, He made His move, bringing as much of His power as He could to bear. The shadows deepened, intensified until the room itself was a true void, darkness swallowing every last speck of light and closing in on Itheadair like a devouring wave. "For your loyalty and sssservice," He hissed in fury, "power was granted. I lifted you above the rabble, Itheadair-Anam...and now I take back what is rightfully Mine. Return it." His voice echoed from the darkness, issuing from a million places and more until He was a legion, the earlier fury cooled to a frigid iciness, one that cut as sure as any knife.
That was when the shadows fell upon the fae, withered arms and grasping talons tearing away magic housed inside like a skilled butcher carving away pounds of flesh. Itheadair collapsed in a heap under the assault, unable to even manage the pretense of kneeling. They resembled a puppet whose strings had been cut, glamour of the haughty Abacus Cinch dispelled as they withered, clutching at the carpet with gnarled, claw like fingers, sucking in air as a wheezing rattle that was laden with sounds of agony as centuries of dark magic returned to its true Master.
When the harvest ended, Itheadair was a trembling mess, unable to stand and clinging to existence with what vestiges of their own magic remained. He drew closer, until the impression of teeth and glittering eyes was in their personal space and too close to their face for comfort. "For centuriessss, I have allowed you and your misssssbegotten brood to run rampant, granting the lot of you leave to drink of My majessssty to ssssussssstain yourselvessss..." The shadows around echoed and hissed their displeasure, and He paused for a few seconds before continuing. "But no longer, ssssidhe. That endssss now....becausssse you have turned againsssst Me. You have broken Our deal and forssssaken your oathssss to Me. There can be only one punisssshment for Oathbreakerssss, and once I have taken back what issss Mine, I will do thissss without you."
Terrible confusion broke through the haze of pain and fear that choked the weakening fae-creature, and Itheadair struggled to answer. The sounds were barely more than pitiful, animal whimpers, struggling to refute the condemnation of the words. It was enough that He stayed the executioner's proverbial blade. Instead, the impression of heavy hooves clopped close to them, and then their whole upper body was hauled backwards and upwards, the same way an animal would be hauled up by the scruff. "Sssspeak!!" He commanded, power threaded through tenebrous form so deeply that hellish heat leaked through from His prison.
"Ma...ster..." Itheadair protested feebly. "...I...swear...I am no...O...Oath...breaker..." Agonized indignation that could not be feigned leaked into the desperate words at the gravest of sins for the creature's kind. "...how...have...I...be...tray...ed?"
It was almost laughable, the degree of deluded ignorance. "You allowed a ssssuccubus to run unchecked through My domain, ssssnatch My prize, and free a ssssoul that belonged to Me!" He snarled, the bass rumble reverberating through the void. "And now, you have allowed a glorified prostitute to put on airssss and Mark My ssssacrifice with itssss dissssgusting taint!"
Sunken eyes widened. "My liege...I never...before this...past week...the...concubus...was unknown...to me..." Each word was wrung painfully from the sidhe's skeletally thin and twisted frame, as if they had been bound to one of the laughable human attempts at a torture device inventions that were but a pale mimicry of demonic artistry.
He released His hold contemptuously, letting Itheadair crumple to the floor once more, and then pressed the suggestion of His hoof in shadow to its brittle chest, threatening to stave it in. He spoke over the pained gasp. "Are you telling me that thissss creature hassss not only been wandering thissss city for who knowssss how long, but it breached the wardssss under your very nosssse and dissssassssembled the defenssssessss like a child destroyssss pottery, and yet you were completely ignorant and helplesssss, too incompetent to even protect your own interesssstssss, let alone Mine? And now...you have allowed that ssssame filth to not only touch the girl, but to imprint itssss foul Mark on her after it rutted her like a common animal?"
"Master, I--"
Looming over Itheadair, He thundered, "Do you mean to claim that you are sssso incompetent that you didn't even think to have the thrice-damned ssssuccubussss followed and watched, to prevent thissss very outcome and gain information on the foul, loathssssome little cockroach that daressss to Challenge My sovereignty?! Because it is one or the other, you crussssty relic of a dried out moor! Either you have betrayed your oathssss to Me, or you have become worsssse than usssselessss in your ssssheer incompetence!"
Another rattling wheeze, and the fae struggled around the crushing pressure against their body. "...I...tried...Master...but...the shadows were...destroyed...and...following undetected...only...Can...anach...could..."
Disappointing. Even in the face of annihilation, the sidhe made excuses, thought Him a fool. His power flexed again, and the nothingness exerted itself on reality in the small space, until that reality creaked warningly from the strain. "Your sssswiftnessss to blame otherssss for your failuressss isssss tiresssssome, Itheadair..." He remarked flatly.
Then there was silence, as the room fell still, as the true Master of the domain decided His vassal's fate. At long last, He receded from the fae, bringing that terrifying void back into the confines of His self. "You ssssold yoursssself and your people to Me, Itheadair-Anam, bound yoursssselves to My Will." A thread of power--not all of what he had snatched away, but enough to prevent the creature beneath him from gasping its last--passed back into Itheadair. "I grant you one lasssst chance to honor that..." The shadow of His hoof ground down just a fraction. "Take care to remember that My patience and mercy are...a finite ressssource."
Still helpless and trapped like the insect they were, Itheadair abased themself before Him, fully aware of how close they were to being snuffed out. "...I swear...my liege...I have done nothing that would dishonor my oaths...I swear it...Master...on my magic and my life! I am...no Oathbreaker!"
"Your life issss Mine, Child-Sssstealer!" He roared. "And it wassss already forfeit--I have sssstayed My hand to grant you one final chance to enssssure My Will issss done!" Shadows lashed, catching the sidhe in the torso and flinging them hard enough into the nearby furniture that the heavy oaken desk slid several inches back. "The ssssacrifice is inchessss from ssssslipping from Me forever, and you have allowed a rival to Me to grow unchecked in my Exile. You are a failure...and you are not indisssspenssssable, Itheadair! I do not care by what meanssss you bring the girl back under our control, but you will do it and do it immediately, or it shall be YOU who layssss upon the altar assss the ssssacrifice!"
Pride stripped away by suffering, poise ground down to nothing in the face of the same damnation they had believed was a fate meant for lesser creatures, the ancient fae cowered. "It shall...be as you decree...Master..." They spoke with the bleakness of a man facing execution.
"Enssssure that it issss."
With that, He retreated to His prison to recover the energy expended, leaving the room as it had been before. Only the slow, slight turning of the desk chair belied the fact that another presence had been in the room...and it was a very long time before the sidhe even attempted to drag itself into that seat, inhuman features twisted up further by emotions that had never been meant for their kind to experience. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Forty Seven: All This Burning in My Soul | Crystal Prep Academy had a reputation for a lot of things. It was a school for the elite, a place where the best of the best in society sent their offspring. It was a place where every student was to strive to be the best, to compete with all the others for academic standing. Most of its students were picked up by chauffeurs, the rest either had their own vehicles paid for by their parents or lived within walking distance, so the unfamiliar rumble of a motorcycle caught everyone's attention.
It was a sweet ride, a sleek, well maintained vehicle with a custom paint job in shades of red that made it look like it had captured fire in the frame. It rumbled like a beast, sliding into a parking space out in front of the school, the engine ramping down to a thrumming purr. More than one young man with an interest in motor vehicles found themselves staring at the bike, taking in its unique design.
For the bulk of the students leaving the school, though, it was the rider that drew their eyes. Curvaceous, with long legs that the comfortable jeans did nothing to hide, the figure moved with an easy confidence as she parked the machine and dropped the kickstand. With the fluid grace of a tigress, the rider swung off the bike, giving anyone in the right place a view of her denim clad backside. Amber skinned hands stretched upwards to grab her helmet and pull it off, the owner shaking out a mane of wavy, red and gold hair. Coupled with a leather jacket, she oozed the vibe of a 'sexy bad girl,' one that all of those watching were suddenly insanely curious about.
She set her helmet on the seat, opening up the bike's storage to retrieve a second helmet when Blueblood, a city Councilman's son, came up behind her with every intent on getting her number, if not a date. The other boys ground their teeth--the insufferable blond was wealthy and very few girls said no to a first date, even if most never said yes to a second. Blueblood's delivery and charming smile were on point, but the rider merely chuckled and patted the second helmet, shaking her head.
Blue came storming back to his friends. "Apparently," he sneered, "she's here to pick up a friend."
A ripple of curiosity spread through the collection of students. Who was this girl and who at school could she possibly be here to retrieve? Jealousy and speculation ran through the crowd as the mystery rider got back on her bike, helmets stacked in her lap as she took out her phone.
The tension rose as no one stepped forward for several minutes, the redhead ignoring the well dressed children of the rich and famous to tap away on her phone. And then someone gave an excited call from the doors of the school, garnering the rider's attention and a smile all at once.
"You made it!"
With an amount of coordination that bordered on unholy, the student body turned to see the one student most of them despised: Twilight Sparkle, certified genius prodigy, top student in every academic area of the school, and huge, socially awkward nerd who did everyone a favor by not speaking to them anymore. Her face was lit up with joy, and she was already jogging towards the bike. The students parted away from her slightly, sheer confusion overriding their normal inclination to shoulder the girl about roughly.
About half of them expected the rider to give the dorky girl with glasses the brush off, only to gape when she pressed the purple helmet into Twilight's hands. "Get on, nerd," she teased, putting her own helmet back on, scooting forward so Twilight could get on behind her, the motion of mounting the bike and wrapping her arms around the redhead's waist practiced enough that this clearly wasn't the nerdy student's first ride.
A large portion of Crystal Prep's population was left with their mouths hanging open as the bike and its rider peeled out, accompanied by the most unpopular girl in school. Gossip started soon after...what possible reason could someone like dorky Twilight Sparkle have for being associated with someone like that?
Twilight let out a soft moan under her, fists gripping the back of the sofa tightly. "Sunny..." she mewled, pleading for more, unable to do much more than that with the way she was kneeling on the cushions, trapped between the piece of furniture and her girlfriend's body.
The former unicorn pressed affectionately against her back, lips trailing down the back of her neck and over her shoulder in intimate kisses. Their heated kissing had left most of Twilight's Crystal Prep uniform scattered on the floor, from the nerdy looking vest hanging off the edge of the coffee table, to the short trail of shoes and socks leading away from the front door, to the tie that was half undone that Sunset was grasping in one hand so she could tug on it any time she wanted to get Twilight to shift her position. It paired well with the mostly unbuttoned dress shirt and pretty bra that stood out against lavender skin...
She curled her arm around the smaller girl's frame burying her face in dark hair. "...Sparky..." she breathed out in response, savoring the sensation of skin on skin. Sunset let out a breathy whicker, her nerves buzzing as her fingers trailed down her girlfriend's stomach to tease along the waistband of her skirt, testing both of their reactions now that she done her best to lock away what she now suspected was her inner demon.
Mercifully, her desire for Twilight seemed to be her own, a hot and pulsing need to twine their bodies together and explore with hands and lips and fingertips, something she gave into as she let go of the tie to run a hand over the curve of the other girl's rear, squeezing the soft flesh as she did. Twilight pressed back into the touch, raising herself up more fully on her knees and arching her body against Sunset with another moan...cementing the idea that her girlfriend was no less eager a participant than she had been before.
--Of course she is. You can't encourage something that isn't there in the first place, horn-head,-- came the sarcastic bite from the cage of magic and willpower she'd formed around her personal tormentor. --You're good, but not that good.--
Sunset did her best to ignore the taunts, but the voice was never far from her mind. As much as she could tease and play with Twilight, she had to make sure she kept her own head or risk it breaking out of her control. It was hard--the memory of what Twilight had made her feel just a few days earlier on the very same sofa danced like a ghost across her nerve endings, a wispy song that beckoned with the promise of how good it would be...the building of tension from some unexplainable, indefinable place inside her, little flames and shivers wracking her...culminating in what felt like her very soul shattering apart and collapsing back in on itself.
There was no way she could ensure the demon stayed suppressed if that happened. Though to be fair, Sunset was not sure how often she wanted to experience that moment of communion with the color of Eternity--which turned out to be a pleasing mix of blues and purples...funny how that worked out, wasn't it? The way it left her energized and sated and tingling all over was heady, and the redhead was afraid she'd become addicted to it.
--Looks like Sparky might already be addicted.--
Blue-green eyes took in the way Twilight had tossed her head back, glasses askew and face locked in a panting, open mouthed expression of pleasure and begrudgingly admitted that the stupid voice may have had a point, much as she hated conceding even that much. Her hand slid to where Twilight was pleading for it to go, and for a little while, Sunset found herself ignoring the voice in favor of something much more important.
The bike made noise as she whipped it into a space as close to Crystal Prep as she could without getting close enough to trigger the wards. It was rough, bailing out of school to do this so she could be there before Twilight exited the building. Thank the sun, moon, and stars for Miss Luna, and the pass she wrote to get her out of art ten minutes early for the foreseeable future. This was a little more important than still life techniques.
--Sparky would have opinions on you deciding that finger practice is more important than your classes.--
Exhaling an annoyed sigh, Sunset rubbed the bridge of her nose. She had been referring to her reconnaissance of the area full of foul magic, and her attempts to determine if there was a mind behind it or just an unlucky location.
At this, the sarcastic voice in her head scoffed derisively. --There's no need for this then. The answer is yes, there's a mastermind, and Abacus Cinch or whatever it calls itself is so much its little bitch that it's more bowlegged than a knock-kneed minotaur sky-pirate with tinnitus and vertigo.-- A long pause made Sunset think the voice was done, but then it added, --Us being here is going to make it mad if it sees us, after what happened last week.--
Savage glee burned strong enough that Sunset felt her lips fight the urge to smirk. Good. If there was someone using Cinch like a puppet, she hoped they got mad enough to make mistakes. That had always been her undoing, so it would be nice to see the shoe on the other hoof for once. This whole school offended her on some deep seeded level, and not for the first time since she'd breached its wards did the former unicorn give serious consideration to how to get away with burning the whole campus to cinders, crooked stone buildings with their freaky angles and all.
If she could use her unicorn magic, it would be all too easy. She'd have to modify a spell of course...Maybe her Pirouetting Pyromantic Protoform spell? That had been her Magus project for Spell Construction...and earned her the certs towards what she had hoped might eventually be an Archmagus title in Elemental Mastery. It was certainly big enough and powerful enough to spread over the campus on a weekend when most of the school was empty except for the boarding students, and if she started with the far corner of the property, people could evacuate with plenty of time. She'd have to tweak the spell to make it hot enough to melt metal and stone though. Maybe borrow from the welding spell used by artificers? Though she would have to figure out how to invert the power flow to fill the dancing flame shapes rather than compress and concentrate the flame to a tiny point...without accidentally creating a solar flare or nuke. And that wasn't even getting into what shape she'd let the flames take. Dragons, maybe? Or a phoenix, to honor Philomena?
--A hound, in purple. Spike would love the chance to get at the place that makes Sparky so miserable. Also, look alive. Sleaze alert.--
Jerking herself out of her musings, Sunset realized the voice was right. A presence was getting too close for comfort, and she twisted to catch a muscular arm by the wrist as it descended towards her shoulder. The athletic boy was taller than she would have been if she was standing, so she had to look up at him from her bike seat. The uniform shirt he wore was probably a size too small on purpose, giving the almost-assuredly-a-senior the appearance of being so muscular he was straining the seams of his clothing every time he flexed. The redhead held his arm firmly despite that, and pushed against his strength to get him to take a step back.
"Whoa! No need for hostility, beautiful! Just wanted to ask you a question." He held up his hands as she let go, as if to sue for peace.
One eyebrow arched upwards. "Talking doesn't require touching," she pointed out, then sighed internally. She had a pretty good idea of what he wanted to ask her, but a tiny part of her hoped it would be something else. Like where she got her bike painted, or where she bought her jacket. "If you can handle asking without bringing your hands into it, then go ahead, ask your question." Sunset wanted to tell him to go leap into a nest of sandmirks, but she was better about coming off angry and bitchy out of the gate these days.
"So...I was wondering if you have a boyfriend..." He glanced away, and she could see him glancing at a group of what was probably his friends.
Another sigh escaped, this one blown slowly through her nostrils. "No, I do not have a boyfriend, and I'm not in the market for one any time soon," she said diplomatically, trying to get this disaster over with quickly.
Gray-green eyes sharpened. "Maybe I could change your mind? I know this place, does live music on weekends and they don't card..."
Sunset shook her head. "No thanks. I'm sure it's great, but like I said, not looking to date anyone new. I've got too much else on my plate and that wont be changing for the foreseeable future."
He slumped, but before he could say anything, he was jostled out of the way by another guy. "As if she'd be taken in by a meathead like you, Fast Break. You should stick to lacrosse and the cheerleaders. They're more your type." The new fellow smiled at Sunset in that way that made her skin crawl and her instincts want to plant a hoof so hard into his apples that he'd spend the rest of his life coughing them up in installments. "Silver Pocketwatch," he introduced himself. "And you are?"
"Beyond done with this conversation," she deadpanned.
The former unicorn enjoyed about twenty seconds of blissful silence as the young man tried to recover whatever his pitch had been about to be, while the first guy tried to stifle a laugh. Then it ended, as he tried again. "I get it, a gorgeous girl like you probably gets asked out by every guy you meet...but how many of them can offer you a first date to the finest French restaurant in the city? The lamb is exquisite."
And now Sunset wanted to vomit. She wondered if zucchini and eggplant lasagna would be an improvement on this Silver Pocketwatch's appearance, and decided that it probably would be. Sure, sheep in Equestria were...not the most intelligent of species--it varied by type of sheep and region, same as with goats--and the common belief was that it was a lingering curse by Grogar, but they still fell under the loose definition of 'people' in her mind...and the thought of someone chowing down on their young like a depressed Rarity with a tub of her favorite ice cream was enough to put her off eating for the week.
Shuddering with revulsion, she let a bit of the old Sunset creep into her expression and voice. "Not even if you were the last option available on Earth. I have standards, and they are way higher than 'a mouldering pile of manure left behind by a centaur with the green apple two-step that somehow attained the ability to walk and talk.' Now go away before I feel forced to make my point in a much more unpleasant manner--these boots have reinforced steel toes."
Sunset rubbed her face as both of them found other places to be--the first young man was now regaling his friends with how she deflated the second one, and as for the pompous one, she didn't care where he went as long as he wasn't breathing her air and undressing her with his eyes. Seriously, first the human version of Prince Blueblood, and now this? She wished Twilight would hurry up and come out so they could leave.
Footsteps and a softly cleared throat alerted her to yet another approach, and it took everything she had to resist the urge to glare at what was probably some poor freshman. "Can I help you?" the former unicorn managed with more than a touch of exasperation.
The freshman boy shook his head. "Wouldn't dream of it after watching that trainwreck," he said with a cheery grin. "Besides..." Brown eyes looked at her speculatively. "You're no more my type than I am yours, know what I mean?"
It took a few seconds but as she studied his body language and analyzed the stress he put on 'type,' the answer lit across her synapses like lightning. It made her snort back a laugh. "Ah," she offered noncommittally. "Nothing personal, but that's kind of a relief."
"I get it. I actually wanted to thank you for putting both Blueblood and Silver into their place. Both of them tried that same thing on my older sister and she fell for it, both times." He made a face. "Not enough girls ever say no and they tend to be...insistent with the ones that try."
She rolled her eyes. "And that would be why I wear this brand of boots. Nothing says no quite like a swift kick somewhere painful. Maybe I deflated their egos a bit, enough for them to realize girls are not a menu item."
Running a hand through shaggy purple hair marred by streaks of black and bright green, he laughed. "Yeah, we can hope. If nothing else, it was worth it to see them both crash and burn before a few hundred witnesses." He bit his lip. "By the way, I'm Razor Wing."
Her mouth had opened to instinctively respond, but the demon she had caged inside her mind slammed itself sharply into the restraints with a surge of its own power, catching her with the way it sent a shock of pain through her. --Don't!-- the voice yelled. --It's not safe! Look at him, horn-head! He's asking for his master! Your Name is what they're looking for!--
The warning came with a spike of fear, enough that Sunset opened her senses to look. Sure enough, faintly threaded through this boy was that increasingly familiar, foul taint that pervaded CPA, in concentration enough that it looked like sickly veins of black under teal skin. Keeping her face as normal as possible, she waved off his concern. "Sorry. I think I'm getting a headache." One amber skinned hand extended purposefully, as she settled on an alias, one she'd used a few times back in Equestria but never here. "You can call me Misty Morning." Sunset wasn't sure if she could trust the voice even that far, but considering how Abacus Cinch had also been intent on her name and the unease she felt at that information being given over...she wouldn't rule it out just yet. It made her doubly glad she hadn't gotten around to washing the dried mud off the bike's license plate after she'd accidentally gone through a puddle Sunday at the farm.
"I get headaches like that sometimes. They suck so--" Razor Wing started to shake her hand, and her magic leapt erratically at the darkness in him through where their hands touched. Sunset could feel it as searing heat in flesh still tender from her episode the other day, and the boy yelped in pain and pulled away sharply. He backed up, holding his hand to his chest defensively, but not before she caught sight of skin that was already starting to blister.
Sunset flinched, blue-green eyes hoping to convey some small bit of apology; if he was anything like Twilight or Shining, he was an unwilling accomplice to the dark magic and any potential 'mastermind,' and he had genuinely seemed nice. The redhead curled her own hand up against her body, gripping her elbow with the opposite hand, as she pushed her magic and the demon both into submission. She hadn't meant to hurt the freshman, only get rid of the darkness inside of him...it hadn't burned anyone else before when she did that, not her friends or Twilight or Twilight's family...
Was she losing what little control she had over her magic?
Shuddering, Sunset hugged herself and watched as Razor Wing fled completely, and the various students lingering in the area whispered conspiratorially among themselves. By Discord's missing tooth, she was really starting to hate this school! Between the way the magic grated against her senses to the interactions with the various people who went here to the fact that proximity to the place was making her magic almost hostile, to the voice who she more than suspected was the demon she had been, she felt like she wanted scrub the top layer of her hide off with a wire brush and some industrial grade cleanser, just so she'd feel clean again.
Twilight's arrival a few minutes later was a welcome thing. She hadn't had anymore wannabe suitors approach--though the intense glare and sour frown might have contributed to that, but the former unicorn was a hundred percent done with the day, and wanted the hour or so to unwind before she had to go right back out to the Apple family farm for evening magic training. The girls needed her on top of her game to instruct them, now that they'd progressed beyond the basics and could activate their powers at will.
Her girlfriend saw her expression and slipped right onto the bike, barely waiting until their helmets were all the way on before asking over the internal radio, "Are you okay? What happened?"
Kicking off once lavender arms were tight around her waist, Sunset exhaled. "Your school has a lot of desperate creeps looking for sex," she complained, deciding to stick with the simple explanation. "One of the ones today tried to bribe me with the promise of an expensive dinner."
There was more than a touch of frost--not directed at Sunset so much as the boy--in Twilight's response. "Someone propositioned you?"
"In not so many words. He mostly addressed his spiel to my chest rather than my face, and it wasn't too hard to figure out what he was hoping for in return for buying me dinner. Of course, he probably shouldn't have led with the fact that the restaurant is famous for its lamb dishes." Her face twisted back into a grimace.
"Oh, Sunny..." the chill was gone in favor of sympathy, and slim fingers were rubbing along the skin of her stomach just under the hem of her shirt, sending tingles through her. "Can I make it better?"
Chuckling and pressing one hand on top of Twilight's as they lingered at a red light, Sunset murmured flirtatiously, "Without a doubt...though right now I feel like I need a shower..."
Laughing so hard it became a snort, Twilight stumbled out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel and her hair in soggy disarray. Sunset tripped after her, half heartedly tying her robe shut. "That was not quite what I had in mind with my suggestion," Twilight informed her.
With a shake of her head, Sunset used a towel to squeeze the water out of her hair. "...I think I need to get some of those no-slip things for the shower before we try that again," she replied with an amused expression.
"Are you okay?" her girlfriend asked.
Sunset rubbed her backside with a wince. "Only bruised my pride, I think. How about your shoulder? You hit the wall pretty hard."
The other girl stepped into Sunset's personal space, leaning up to peck her lips with a kiss. "Lucky for me, you broke most of my fall...but yes, let's not do that again until we take anti-accident precautions. The last way I want my parents to find out about us is because we had to go to the emergency room for a sex-related accident."
Arching a brow, Sunset poked her with a finger. "Definitely not something I'd want to have to explain. 'Oh, the broken wrist? Made the mistake of moving wrong in the shower while trying to get a better angle for my girlfriend. No, not for washing her back.'"
That set Twilight off into another round of giggles. "Cady would never let us live it down."
"Yeah, probably not." Sunset pulled her over to the couch and flopped down onto it, barely noticing when the robe came undo in the process. "She is way more invested in our relationship than I would have expected."
Discarding the towel in favor of the blanket on the couch and cuddling into Sunset's warmth, Twilight curled up half on top of her. Lavender fingers traced over skin that prickled with pleasurable goosebumps. "I think it's because Cady knows just how lonely and awful things were when I was little. I wanted to make friends so badly, but it was hard when you're five and talking like a miniature adult and your peers are still playing house with dolls...not to mention crippling anxiety and my tendency to get overwhelmed in social environments." She tucked her face into Sunset's neck and sighed contentedly, prompting the former unicorn to nuzzle into her hair. "She's always wanted me happy, and gone the extra mile to help me because...she's the closest thing I have to a sister. Plus, she likes you, and she's...big on encouraging romance."
Humming in her throat, Sunset curled her arms loosely around her girlfriend. "That makes sense...and she is right about one thing."
"What?"
She tilted Twilight's chin up so she could kiss her. "That you deserve to be happy." Sunset smiled crookedly. "I'm just glad you seem to be happy with me."
Twilight melted into her when their lips met, making a soft sound that Sunset felt as much as heard. It sent a shiver down her spine as it traveled through her where skin touched skin, an odd contrast to how she felt like she was on fire inside. Her hands slid up the smooth skin of her girlfriend's back to pull her as close as possible, knowing the clock was ticking down to when she would have to take Twilight home and head to the farm, and not wanting the moment to ever end.
The other girl seemed to be of the same mindset, and by the time they pulled apart, both were panting heavily and clinging to each other. Twilight gave her a warm smile, her eyes full of soft affection. "How could I not be?" she murmured. "...Sunny...you have been everything I ever dreamed a partner could be...and so much I never even considered was possible. Maybe there's someone out there that could make me happier among the nearly seven billion people on the planet, but I'm not sure anyone could measure up to you and how you make me feel just by saying my name or giving me a hug."
Blue-green eyes had to blink back the hint of tears caused by the rush of emotion. "...ponyfeathers...we're turning into a couple of saps, Twilight," she laughed, fighting for composure. "You're making it hard for me to take you home in a half hour."
"You could keep me here..." Twilight offered, nuzzling along her jaw with light kisses. "...and we could spend the night continuing this discussion on happiness..."
Sunset snorted. "Clothing optional?"
The dark haired teen shrugged. "Pants are overrated?"
At that, both of them dissolved into giggles against each other. The redhead pressed her face into Twilight's hair, shoulders shaking as she held her tight. "...I see more than just my sarcasm has been rubbing off on you," she teased, deliberately raising her leg slightly, feeling the smaller form twitch with pleasure as well as mirth. "Pants are very...very...overrated...when it's just us."
It didn't take much to turn Twilight into a limp and boneless shape on top of her, one that giggled goofily in between panted breaths against Sunset's collarbone. She smiled, absently running fingers through dark hair, before an unwelcome thought disrupted the aura of bliss and satisfaction. "...I have tutoring tomorrow after school," Sunset stated quietly. "...did you want me to cancel?"
Silence met her ears as Twilight retreated into herself to process the request. The former unicorn waited, keeping her girlfriend close and never stopping the light touch in her hair. Finally, Twilight let out a shuddering sigh. "...no. Go ahead and do your tutoring thing. Your friends need your help, and people are relying on you to oversee it."
"Are you sure? They'll understand if I need to take a week or two off."
Nodding against her chest, Twilight answered with a little less waver to her voice. "I'm sure. I'll use the time to work on the project--I feel like I'm close to a breakthrough...and I'll arrange for Dad to pick me up on his way home." She tried to give Sunset a reassuring smile, but to the older girl, it just looked slightly nauseous.
Privately, she hoped things would be as fine as Twilight was trying to pretend they would be... |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Forty Eight: Monsters Hiding Deep Inside Your Own Life | Sunset patted Flash on the shoulder. "Do the rest of the homework problems from that section just like that, and then I'll walk you through the second batch and how to do them." Then she stepped back to survey the cafeteria.
The unofficial tutoring she and her friends had started had grown into a huge hit after school, with students coming in for help but also offering it, leading to small clusters at different tables where the tutors held court over the handful of people needing their help, or pairs and trios of kids going through their homework and taking turns helping each other. Even though it was only once a week, many of the regular attendees had bragged about drastic improvements in their worst classes--like Dash, who had gone from almost failing to a solid B+ in her math class. It certainly had helped Sunset's own history grade where she had even managed to get an A (if barely) on her last essay. She would never be top of the class in the subject, but it was better than the C she had been struggling to maintain since she started human school.
One hand slipped into her pocket to retrieve her phone, checking worriedly for a response to her earlier text. Twilight had been quite chatty that morning and at certain points during the day, but had gone fairly quiet after school let out. Sunset hoped it was just that her nerd had gotten invested in working on her project and nothing more sinister. Her phone showed no new messages, which made her crib her thumb in order to resist the sudden urge to hurl the phone at the wall.
It didn't help that her agitated worry was being paired with the burning hum of want and desire that lay just under her skin and craved privacy and Twilight's touch. The mixture was leaving her on edge and ready to crawl out of her own hide at the slightest provocation. She'd nearly melted another guitar during lunch practice when Pinkie had startled her and three separate times during the day she'd accidentally set things on fire, leaving her hands reddened and slightly painful from minor burns. Each time, that stupid little voice had mocked her from its cage, even as it tried to talk her into letting it out. Sunset wasn't sure she'd make it to afternoon the next day before she combusted, and was already planning for a very long shower when she finally got home.
As she slid the phone back in her pocket, she happened to gaze out one of the windows, her eyes sliding across the lawn and parking lot, past the trees that were only just starting to blend in with the foliage in the surrounding neighborhood as spring was coming into full swing everywhere else. It was a rainy day, but the sort of warmer rain that made it clear winter was over for good, rather than the icier varieties that plagued them over the colder season.
Then her eyes found a color and pattern that shouldn't be there, a pattern she almost overlooked because she was used to seeing it on her best friend's slight frame. For a minute, she was worried something had happened to drive Twilight to CHS for help.
Except that wasn't one person, it was two, and one of them was clearly a boy. Both were Crystal Prep students, dressed in the uniform, lingering on the sidewalk outside the school and staring right at her from under their shared black umbrella. "What the--?" she managed, trotting to the window to get a better look. This had the side effect of alerting the entire room to something going on.
A rush of air and Dash was at her side, looking out across the school yard. "Oh hell no," she hissed. "Not on my watch! There'll be no mascot statue vandalism this year! Flash, grab Teddy and Curly and tell them to meet me by the statue! Flitter, Kicks, you're with me!"
Before she could storm off, Sunset grabbed her elbow. "They may not be here about the statue, Dash. Don't give them anyone's names, and don't answer any questions that might be about the magic."
Her friend nodded and took off, two of her teammates on her heels. They hit the side door exit a few heartbeats later, and Sunset could see them heading across the grass right towards the pair of CPA students. What followed was a tense exchange with Dash clearly giving them an open challenge and the pair finally backing down when half the boy's lacrosse team showed up right from the practice field, caked in mud and all carrying their sticks.
"Guess they didn't want to face down an entire sports team," Bon-Bon observed idly.
Sunset snorted. "I'm not sure I'd want to face down five to one odds against a dozen big guys all armed with metal staves either, and I can set things on fire," she pointed out wryly.
Laughter rippled through the room, cutting some of the tightly wound tension in everyone but Sunset herself. She refused to look away as the CPA students vanished from sight, or as Rainbow held a brief discussion with the various athletes, sending them scattering to search the school yard for any other lurkers. Her stomach twisted when Dash finally turned back towards the school, meeting her eyes with a grim expression that told her everything she needed to know.
It had never been about the Wondercolt statue at all. They were watching for her, trying to spy for their principal.
--For their master,-- the voice within corrected. --Don't be fooled into thinking that thing that calls itself Principal there is in charge of anything. It's a slave...one just as sick and twisted as its master, but still bound in servitude.--
A shiver went through her. This was bad.
Dash's words played back through her mind as Sunset headed for the office.
"They were looking for you, Shimmer. Described you and everything. Tried to say you got into a fight with one of theirs. Total bullshit, and I told them off. No names, like you said--they didn't like that. And I could feel it--the evil magic. It was like being covered in diesel exhaust. No wonder it makes you puke."
There were magics...old ones, sympathetic ones, that could affect a pony if you had something of theirs: blood, hair, saliva...even deeply personal objects or anything imbued with their magic. A lot of families had magic like that, tied to blood and kinship, especially the old unicorn ones. There were even theories that you could use a cutie mark in some way to connect you to a specific pony magically for a spell or ritual--something Sunset suspected was more than supposition, given Princess Twilight's notes on cutie marks.
It made her wonder...could names be used the same way? The stupid little voice seemed to think so. A shudder went through her. That was a terrifying thought.
Either way, the principals needed to know that she was being stalked now, by CPA students. That Cinch might be...fishing for information. So she had left the tutoring in Rarity's hands and headed across the building. Now, as she neared the office, she could hear a raised voice, one that sent even greater shivers down her spine. Principal Celestia was very upset at someone.
"--have about had it with your overblown sense of entitlement and self-aggrandizement, Abacus," the principal barked sharply, her voice carried into the main part of the office through a partially open door. "You are a high school principal, not some ancient feudal queen or oil baroness from the nineteenth century!"
In the space of heavy silence, Sunset crept into the main office, where Raven Inkwell and Vice Principal Luna both stood in uncomfortable and somewhat dumbfounded disbelief, staring at the door to the principal's office. Her arrival netted a quick glance from Luna and a motion for continued silence.
"The last time I checked, your authority extends the edges of the schoolyard and until the moment school lets out for the day," Celestia countered whatever had been said. "And only for those students whose parents made the mistake of entrusting an arrogant witch like you with them. There is no policy or rule of law that says a student from another school cannot come to the parking lot of yours after school has ended to provide one of your students a ride."
Sunset felt the urge to bang her head into the nearest wall. This was getting ridiculous.
"No, I absolutely will not divulge that information to you! You heard me! N. O. No. A statement to the negative. A denial of your request. A student parked after school for ten minutes in your parking lot with a legally owned and operated vehicle is perfectly allowed within law, and you have no justification for demanding personal information about one of my students who just happens to be friends with one of yours."
Her vice principal turned towards her with a raised eyebrow and made a motion towards the door, then towards Sunset questioningly. Sunset nodded and mouthed, 'Picking up Twilight,' at her. Luna rolled her eyes in response.
"At this point, I grow weary of your whining, Abacus. Were it my choice I would have canceled the Friendship Games my first year in this position, solely to be able to minimize the amount of time I am forced to spend listening to the incessant whining of an arrogant, self centered egomaniac like you. And while I lack the political capital in the city to talk the board into completely eliminating this farce of a competition, I do have some influence of my own. You will stop attempting to dig into any of my student body, and cease whatever campaign of harassment you've concocted to get even with a teenage girl and my sister for having to come to your campus and do your job for you, or I swear to God, I will be on the phone to the FBI and the state to report your sudden and unhealthy fixation on a high school student who doesn't even attend that Hellhole you have the audacity to refer to as a school. Have I made myself perfectly clear, Abacus?"
Silence, expectant and pointed.
And then, "Unless there has been a law broken or it's in regards to the Games, do not call me again. I neither need nor want your advice on how to run a school. Given that none of my students are currently looking at potential felony charges for theft and vandalism, I would say I feel pretty confident in Canterlot High's methods of dealing with student behavior."
The phone was slammed into its cradle with the sound of heavy plastic, and Principal Celestia let out a noise that was practically a growl. "The nerve of that woman!"
"That makes three calls since last week's incident," Luna observed casually, pushing the door open to the principal's office all the way. "She is getting desperate for some reason."
Principal Celestia turned and jolted at the sight of Sunset standing there. "I apologize, Sunset, if you overheard any of that. I should have shut my door, but I was not expecting the call."
Gripping her elbow awkwardly, the former bully shook her head. "It's fine, Principal Celestia--I was actually coming here to warn you about pretty much the same thing." She paused, grimacing. "At least, if that was Principal Cinch calling about me."
A frown marred the woman's features. "It was. She was...demanding to know your name and information because of your trespassing and assault of students at her school." Her eyes met Sunset's and she hastened to add, "It was very apparent to me that it was a complete fabrication--even when you were troubled, you did not make a habit of attacking other students."
Sunset sighed. "I've been picking Twilight up from CPA this week right after school. I told Miss Luna about it, so I could get permission to leave a few minutes early from my last class."
"I am aware," Principal Celestia responded with a gentle smile. "Luna told me on Monday at lunch, and I am very proud of you for going out of your way to support someone in need, Sunset. Are you willing to come into my office and tell us what actually occurred?"
When she nodded, the three of them convened in the principal's office with the door shut. Sunset then outlined the previous two days picking her girlfriend up from school, and all the different people--mostly boys--who had approached and tried to chat her up, who she had realized were fishing for her name, or where she lived, or anything else that could be used against her. She talked about her magic's negative reaction, how she had somehow accidentally burned one of the nicer people to talk to her when she shook his hand...and then graduated to explaining why she was even there that day.
"Rainbow and the lacrosse team chased them away, but Rainbow said that they were trying to get my name." The redhead sagged against the wall, hugging herself. "I'm sorry, Principal Celestia. I know the magic is part of why she's looking into me, but I didn't realize she'd be this intent on finding out who I am."
The two women exchanged a long look, and her principal folded her hands on her desk. "Sunset, you have no reason to apologize. You did not do anything wrong. It is Abacus Cinch who has crossed just about every conceivable line possible, and what she is doing is towing the line between unpleasant and illegal levels of harassment and abuse of her position. If there was no magic involved, her behavior would be extremely suspicious--she is not your principal or guardian, and her abrupt interest would be downright unacceptable and inappropriate."
Luna tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Actually, I would go so far as to refer to the behavior as predatory," she remarked. "Removing our knowledge of magic, Miss Shimmer is a legally emancipated minor--children with troubled backgrounds are considered vulnerable and at risk for predators, because of the lack of adults invested in their safety and wellbeing." There was a shrewdness there in stormy eyes. "Maybe we should add some more pressure from an external source by doing our due diligence as mandatory reporters and tip off someone higher than the local branches of the right Alphabet Soup Agencies."
At this point the conversation was going over Sunset's head. "Um...what? Are you saying you can get her in legal trouble for being nosy?"
Principal Celestia watched her for a minute, then seemed to come to some sort of realization. "That is a simplistic way of explaining it, yes. As educators, Luna and I are trained in recognizing behaviors that indicate a child may be in some kind of dangerous situation, such as abuse from a parent or guardian, and part of our jobs is being what is called a 'mandatory reporter.' That means we are required by law to inform the appropriate authorities if we even suspect a child is being targeted or harmed in some way by an adult, or we could lose our jobs and be investigated ourselves. This is true for teachers and principals, but also medical professionals, emergency service personnel, law enforcement, and anyone involved in social welfare organizations."
The gears began to turn. "Would they investigate me?" she asked warily. She was certain her identity would hold up to most scrutiny, but she wasn't sure about how well it would do with being picked apart by a government agency. "I don't want to risk exposing myself and Equestria to the human government. We would never survive an invasion by your species. I might be an exile but I have to protect my homeworld."
Principal Celestia frowned. "I don't think so, no. Other than taking a copy of your information for the file, the investigation would be against Abacus, since your first interaction with her was barely a week ago, in an emergency situation that your vice principal was present for. At most, you might be questioned by someone for your side of events..." She sighed. "I will not file such a report without your consent, Sunset, but only because I am aware of magic and the extenuating circumstances, but I am concerned with the level of interest she is showing. Can you think of why the magic there would need your information so badly?"
Tension that had begun to fade with the knowledge that her identity as a fairly illegal alien was safe returned with a vengeance at the new question. She wasn't certain how much she wanted to believe what the voice inside had to say. "...it's possible that if there is a mastermind behind all the magic there, they could be trying to figure out about our magic. Or they could be looking to use human means to remove me from the picture--there is something there targeting my Twilight specifically, and I've been trying to keep it away from her." The former unicorn began to pace along one side of the room, scouring her brain for everything she could remember about sympathetic magic or attuning spells to a specific individual. "There are ways to use somepony's identity to target them with spells or rituals, but those methods usually require something of the pony's, like hair or blood or some object that they imbued with their magic or have a deep attachment to..."
She hesitated, then asked, "Is there a human belief in magic associated with a human's name? That seems to be the one thing that keeps getting asked, and she was not happy when I did not offer my name last week--she even tried to get it from Miss Luna."
The dark skinned woman's brow furrowed. "I'd almost forgotten about that," she commented. "...now that I think about it, some sort of nagging feeling told me not to use your name in the building."
--Yeah, there was a reason for that,-- came the snarky remark from Sunset's internal peanut gallery. --And before you ask, yeah, it was a nudge to her from us. You knew then it was bad news to let them have your name.--
Feeling nauseous, Sunset ducked her head. "I felt the same way...and I'm beginning to think my magic has been reacting in ways I can't control and was completely unaware of, to combat whatever the source of the dark magic is. I'm sorry! I'm not trying to use magic to control minds again, I promise!" Her breath caught, as she recalled the way it had felt to dominate minds at the formal, enslaving them to her will. "I don't ever want to be that demon again!"
Luna stopped her with both hands on her shoulders. "Sunset Shimmer, look at me." When she did, shaking and afraid of anger or reprisal, the woman squeezed her shoulders and fixed her with a firm stare. "It kept us safe, and you were the one who came out of the whole thing much worse for wear. If your magic had to influence me to not give the enemy an advantage, I can understand and respect the necessity--I could have chosen to ignore the feeling at any point, but I did not, because I have long learned to trust my instincts. At no point was I unable to act and think on my own. I was not enslaved or controlled."
Sunset let out a low sound in her throat. "But...I didn't ask. My magic could have been making you feel and do things without permission. Just like the Sirens or at the formal when I turned into a demon."
"It is not the same thing, Sunset," Principal Celestia said gently. "Last week, your sole focus was on protecting Twilight Sparkle from both mundane assaults and magical ones. You did your best to keep that same twisted, evil magic away from her, from my sister, from Twilight's family, at what sounds like a considerable cost and risk to yourself. It sounds to me that your magic may have reacted to a perceived threat with the best of intentions to protect the people you cared about to the best of your abilities. If part of that was your magic keeping those people from inadvertently opening the gates and letting the enemy inside the gates, then it did the right thing. There's a very big difference between that and removing someone's free will and right to choose. It's certainly not what the Dazzlings did to the students and staff here--as one of their victims, I can speak from experience on that, and so can my sister. Do not punish yourself."
She didn't have a response for that, and her innards churned. It still felt wrong, the idea of her magic pressing on others like that, even if it was to protect them. "...I still don't want to be doing that," she mumbled, gripping her elbow tight. "And it doesn't answer why the name thing is such a big deal."
Principal Celestia glanced at a stack of books on a nearby shelf, one of which was a brand new hardback fantasy novel. "I do not know if it has any bearing on real magic, but in a number of tales from folklore and myth the concept of having a magical being's True Name gives a person power over them. It sometimes appears nowadays in fiction. Could that be it?"
"True Name?" The former unicorn searched her memory.
"It stems from the idea that certain beings, unlike humans, have multiple names, and the one that is their truest identity is a very closely guarded secret. Faeries, some gods, demons, nature spirits, underworld guardians..." The vice principal had paced to the window to stare out at the statue. "Do you suppose such a legend might have originated in fact?"
--No, of course not,-- snarked the stupid little voice rudely. --Clearly the warnings were just rampant paranoia and delusions of importance. What is it with no one wanting to believe two plus two equals four without four pages of citations?--
Maybe people--herself included--would be more inclined to actually believe such things if they didn't come from what was either an abomination against the natural order lingering like a bad smell inside her thoroughly messed up soul or an extremely complex manifestation of a mental illness that did not bode well for the state of Sunset's sanity.
--We really need to work on this self-loathing of yours, horn-head.--
"...in Equestria, most legends have a kernel of truth to them, so I don't see why that might not be true here too." Sunset frowned, trying to ignore the voice. "We don't have...fairies, and gods...are a bit different, because ponies don't do religion. Princess Celestia actively discouraged that sort of thing, because it made her uncomfortable...but..." Her mind dug up some of the oldest legends. "There are stories...old stories, ones that are too old to prove, ones that are more fantasy than fact. Like Grogar, the Nightmare King, or the fox-folk story about how Inari bound their sibling to a form through a name...and it's not names, but there are suggestions in a few books I...wasn't technically supposed to have read about binding souls or imprisoning by their true essence, which I figured was about spell forms and getting a piece of them."
Luna rested her palms on the window sill. "Then perhaps whatever is behind the magic at Crystal Prep believes you must operate under those rules. That may be to our advantage, because it leaves them scrambling in the wrong direction for a weapon against you and your friends, Miss Shimmer. It suggests that whoever or whatever is running the show--whether that is Abacus or someone else--is ignorant of your magic and how it works. That provides a tactical advantage."
"And I dare say we can use every tactical advantage we can get."
Despite her misgivings, Sunset couldn't help but feel her vice principal was right. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Forty Nine: Crawling In My Skin | Her desk was in utter disarray, with half a dozen Equestrian tomes scattered and open on a hastily cleared surface, alongside the diary from Pinkie's locker, one monitor on her computer showing a google search, the other with an academic archival database digital library on mythology and folklore--not just first hand sources, but various translations, research papers, texts and cultural information on the societies that created the folklore. Sunset was scouring through them, trying to find anything that would help her figure out what Cinch was up to...or that would help her with her own problem prisoner.
--Really feeling the love here, horn-head. And a prisoner is inaccurate...that implies unwilling incarceration. Roommate is better, but that's still got a degree of separation that's lacking.--
Unhealthy manifestation of a magical demonic transformation that she couldn't be rid of, then.
--Rude. You really need to learn a little self love that doesn't involve that thing Twilight does with her middle finger.--
Did it really count if it was Twilight doing it?
--It would if you'd relax enough to go with it.--
Sunset resisted the urge to grind her teeth, and turned her attention back to the texts in front of her. "I'm not interested in giving you any opportunity to take over," she hissed. "Now, unless you are into giving me straight answers, shut up--I'm trying to figure out what is really going on at Crystal Prep, and why whatever is there wants Twilight so bad."
The voice was silent, but the redhead could practically feel the judgment from it as she skimmed through the texts and hunted for any human folklore that might've matched what she saw and felt. Stupid voice...is it any wonder she didn't trust it? It was all too willing to spew things when it wanted to give her a kick to the jaw, but when it might actually be useful? Of course not.
Shaking her head she turned her attention to the database and her good friend Google. There had to be something... Sunset discarded most of the things she found attached to any human religions newer than a hundred years, and anything so obscure and far away that it was unlikely that any magical beings or spellcasters would have traveled that far. It ruled out Australia, South America, and the remotest parts of the various tiny island cultures in the Pacific, at least. That still left all of Europe, anything native to North America, a good portion of mainland Asia, and parts of Africa, she noted sourly, before buckling down and getting to work.
She hated pure text research.
Two hours later, she groaned and sat back, frustrated beyond all measure. "This is getting me nowhere..."
--It's not. You don't need to be doing this. You already know everything you need to protect her. Why won't you listen?!--
"Listen? To you?" Sunset pushed to her feet and began to pace in the open space near her couch. "You want me to spell it out for you in bright, bold glyphs? Maybe because a demon who represents the worst, most violent, angry, and hateful parts of me is the one offering the advice? A demon whose entire purpose for existence was to dominate, enslave, and conquer two worlds? How about the fact that that same demon has been tormenting me with nightmares for months?" She ran both hands through her hair, tugging painfully on the curling locks. "Or the fact that not once since I've accused you of being the demon I became, have you denied or refuted the accusation!"
--Because that's not how this works, and deep down, you know that too. Just like you know those weren't nightmares, or hallucinations. They were warnings.-- The voice somehow managed to sound hurt and offended at the same time, and Sunset found her ire rising, her hands beginning to grow hot.
"Warnings? A bunch of shadows, a Twilight who was possessed by some kind of evil magic that gleefully murders me, my own demon just standing around and letting it happen? The world, burning in shadow and flame, no one left alive? Turning back into you and seducing Twilight?" She sneered at the air, and clenched her fists by her sides, struggling to contain the magic rising with her temper. Crimson sparks flickered into being, and she rushed to the bathroom, plunging her hands into the sink under icy water. "If that's your idea of warning me, don't. Try plain Ponish instead. Tirek take me, I'd even settle for Old Ponish--at least I could use a translation guide if I didn't know the dialect!!"
Sunset made the mistake of lifting her gaze from where blood colored sparks and flames were violating the laws of physics under a deluge of water, and had to resist recoiling from the sight that stared back. Her eyes were glowing brightly, her pupils reduced to catlike slits in a field of blue-green, set against a sclera that was as black as the cold void of a bottomless pit. The skin around them was no longer the sunny, warm shade of the rest of her, having darkened to a terrible red-amber that brought back flashbacks of the night of the Fall Formal, and the dreadful reflection the Elements had shown her, and over her shoulders, the faintest hint of wings hovered, molded from darkness and flame.
A low, agonized whine escaped her throat, like a wounded animal.
--There weren't exactly a lot of options,-- came the snippy response. --It's a case of working with what we have. There wasn't another way besides dreams at the time. You burned everything we had against those seaside karaoke bar rejects, and it took months to recover. Especially with a good part of any energy gained going to protect Sparky. Which, frankly, was a lot more important than you getting a full night's sleep.--
Her hands were stinging and throbbing with faint pain now, feeling like they were sunburned from the wrist down. Steam billowed up from where fire and water waged war, neither side giving an inch, and Sunset was thankful for it, because the thick white clouds cut off her view of her reflection. "What part of protecting her was seducing her?" she demanded.
--Maybe you should ask yourself that. It was what you wanted...and also what she wanted. She's a frisky little monkey.-- There was smugness in that tone. --And it gave us a way to protect her, a connection that our magic could use to keep them away from her.--
Sunset seethed at the answer that told her almost nothing, and cursed under her breath in seven different languages. "Yeah, because it was working so well, given all the times I had to get rid of dark magic on her."
That stupid voice snarled irritably back at her, --It would have been a thousand times worse!--
"I'm sure," she retorted. "Here's this awful dark magic tainted place and people, and they're after Twilight for some reason--hey, I've got an idea, let's just delve into dark magic of my own to keep her safe!" She slammed her fist into the sink's stone countertop, pain of a different kind lancing up her arm. "You've got more than delusions of grandeur if you think I'm going to trust her protection to the worst decision I ever made."
For a long, uncomfortable moment, there was nothing but spitting flames, splashing water, and the hissing of steam. At last, that little corner of her mind sighed heavily. --Even if you can't believe there is no ulterior agenda, you have to realize, deep down, that no part of you could ever hurt her...can't you trust yourself?--
"No!" It came out in an explosive rush, on the edge of furious tears, and the intensity of it shocked both of them to silence. Sunset gripped the countertop, the sparks having guttered out with her admission, and she refused to look up and see the demon staring back at her.
"...no," she repeated, feeling tired and wrung out with her anger's real target achieved. "...I don't. How can I possibly trust myself--nopony knows better than me just how easily I turned into you...how easy it would be to become you again..." Her hands were red, burned and painful from her own magic--at least, she hoped that it was her magic and not because of the demon. "I can't risk that...I won't put all the people in my life at risk by taking the easy way out. I told you before, I have to do this in a way that won't undo everything...a way that Twilight will be proud of me when it's all over."
Sunset hugged herself, ignoring the way water soaked into her shirt. "I have to find a way to make everything okay and protect her and everyone without having to sacrifice who I am now. The ends don't justify the means anymore, not for me."
The voice made a thoughtful sound, as if it were actually listening to her for once. --If that's what you really want, horn-head...-- it said dubiously. --But real life is a lot messier than some story...what will you do if it comes down to an impossible choice? Will you sacrifice your friends? Sacrifice Sparky? Just to be able to avoid 'the worst decision you ever made?'--
With that, the presence locked away inside her settled and went silent in its prison, leaving that final query lingering in her mind for the rest of the night.
And the worst part was, she wasn't sure she liked the answer.
The whispering was driving her to distraction, even when she was firmly ensconced in the laboratory space. Part of that might have been from Wallflower's insistence on repeating every hint of rumor and speculation from the halls, complete with an undercurrent of 'I told you so,' in her retellings, but just as much was from what she heard, or from people stopping her in the hallways.
Twilight wasn't even sure where some of them acquired their ideas. Like the girl in her Italian class who had demanded to know who the 'yellow skinned bitch making eyes at her boyfriend' was,' like it was Sunset's fault some boy had tried to ask her out. The girl had detailed exactly how she planned to get even, and still expected Twilight to give up her best friend's name! Or the smug expression from Suri's cackling pack of hyenas in gym, as one of them asked if Sunset was paying her to do her homework for her, while another had suggested Sunset was just 'a dyke who had a thing for future librarians.'
Other whispers in the halls had ranged from suggesting that Sunset was a Canterlot spy, trying to help the public school students cheat their way to victory, to a future transfer student, to Twilight's attractive cousin from New York. It was all rampant speculation with next to no facts, and about someone who had picked her up from school twice. Twilight thought the whole thing was ridiculous...
In addition, it was clashing harshly with the emotions she really would have preferred to bask in as much as possible. Her weekend with Sunset had surpassed any expectations or fantasy, and sneaking away in the afternoons to the older girl's loft to engage in more intimacy had reinforced the fluttery feelings and the quiet, private realization that she was in love with Sunset Shimmer.
Twilight couldn't help the smile that tugged at her lips with just the thought alone. There was no other way to describe what she felt, even after several nights laying awake in bed long after the bedtime schedule she did her best to keep to during the school week, turning her feelings over in her mind. It hadn't been an impulsive decision, even if it had occurred during a highly charged moment where people were often prone to declarations in 'the heat of the moment.' Her conclusions had survived into the light of day, and withstood careful analysis and mental dissection when she was in the quiet dark solitude of her room with only Spike for company.
She loved Sunset Shimmer, was in love with the fiery girl who exuded charisma and passion from every pore. Certainly, she'd loved her as a friend for a while now--friendship was its own form of love, after all, one rooted in common bonds and camaraderie and equitable social standing--but this surpassed that, in a way that bore very little resemblance to the love she felt for her family members. What she felt for her mother and father, or Cadence and Shining, or even for her various cousins...that was solid, steady. Dependable in the sense that it was always there, even when things were at their worst...but it also didn't ask anything of her. Familial love...supported her unquestioningly, unwaveringly...and it went both ways, of course, though she'd only recently experienced the giving instead of the receiving, with what had happened with Glamour.
Her feelings for Sunset weren't any less...dependable...but they challenged her. Not in a negative fashion--Cady would say that would be a sign of an unhealthy relationship, most likely. No...they challenged her to be better, to strive and push herself beyond her comfort zone. With Sunset in her life, it was no longer about the drive for perfection for the sake of 'doing things exactly right'; instead, it inspired her to become her best self, which included tackling challenges that always seemed like insurmountable mountains, while Sunset murmured encouragement and walked with her every step of the way. It paired with a desire to see Sunset grow into the best person she could be, the person Twilight had caught glimpses of from the very night they had met. Together they drove one another to do more, to be more. Sunset made her feel alive, more than she ever had; the redhead's own fire kindled a spark inside Twilight Sparkle that had only just started to catch, yet already it held within the promise of a future that was greater than she had ever imagined.
The reminder on her phone tugged her out of her thoughts, and she glanced down to see the screen flashing at her. <Appt. w/ Dr. Soft-Spoken. 3:30PM. Mom at 3PM.> She sighed, and began packing her things, fiddling with the removable drive she was using to carry data during school, her thoughts wandering absently back to Sunset.
There had not been a good moment to reveal her feelings to her girlfriend. The week had been stressful and their stolen moments had been spent tangled up in physical embraces... none of them appropriate for something so huge as telling Sunset that she loved her. Love was a word Sunset seemed to actively avoid using, and from the conversations about her guardian and struggles...it was something that the older girl had heard only rarely, if at all. Dropping the words offhandedly in a conversation, or breathing them in her ear while she was making use of those magnificently talented fingers to--
Laughter from the hall and the sound of the senior bell ringing reminded her that such thoughts did not belong in the here and now.
Anyway.
It needed to be special, said with sincerity at a moment where Sunset would not see it as being tied into some sort of giving action. Twilight did not want to reinforce her girlfriend's subconscious belief that love, affection, and acceptance were contingent on Sunset performing some service. Love was not a currency or a commodity.
Which meant she had to watch for an opportune moment to capitalize on, and her brain was all too eager to map out potential scenarios where it would be a good time to tell Sunset...and that was made exceptionally difficult when she could barely hear herself think with all the whispering.
Or worse, the questions.
Like the one confronting her now, as she left the lab space to go meet her mother in the parking lot.
"Excuse me!?" Twilight asked in utter disbelief, only barely managing to keep the hysterical edge out of her voice.
The boy standing in front of her was in her year...or the grade below her, she couldn't remember anything besides that they shared a history class. He shrugged and repeated himself. "Look, it's none of my business who you wanna go down on, Sparkle. What I want to know is how some mousy little dork who never looks up from her books scored a smoking hot college girl. She's got to be what? Twenty-three, maybe twenty-four? Not to mention way out of your league. So what's your secret?"
Twilight kept herself from rolling her eyes so hard Sunset would have been both proud of her and concerned for the amount of ocular strain. However, after a few milliseconds of consideration, during which her brain suggested several much more unpleasant scenarios that would have been much messier and catastrophic and make her already uncomfortable legal situation that much more complicated, she decided the eye rolling was probably the safest course of action...no matter how much some part of her wanted to perform a battery of very painful experiments on this drooling imbecile and his stellar example of why inbreeding was not just a problem in pedigree dogs and some lines of racehorses...as a way to alleviate her rising anger and frustration over this entire situation and all the whispering she'd had to put up with for almost an entire week.
Summoning up a measure of control and channeling the casual courage Sunset brought to interactions like this, her voice was cold and clipped, with the same frosty edge to it that had worked so well on Silver Dollar. "If there is some secret to having positive verbal discourse with a aesthetically attractive older female, perhaps it can be found in the fact that making assumptions and asking questions in an invasive and derogatory manner is an exceptionally expedient manner to rouse anger and remove any desire to see if there is anything more under your cretinous exterior and oral sewage." She watched with a measure of chilly satisfaction as he tried to parse out what all the large words meant, going from confusion to offended after almost half a minute. Definitely not the sharpest scalpel on the operating tray then.
She continued before he could open his mouth and allow more stupid to fall out at her feet. "She happens to be a friend, one with whom I share a large number of intellectual interests with--and I am not sorry if that punctures your salacious daydreams with basic factual data, since I find the idea of you having such things nausea-inducing and offensive on every conceivable level. Now," she said, so frigid that the boy shivered and the temperature felt like it plummeted twenty degrees, "if you will excuse me, I have an appointment to get to."
He recoiled as she brushed by him, still stunned by her reply to his query, and before he could put his thoughts back together, Twilight had successfully turned a corner and taken a stairwell to the ground floor, wanting to get out of the school as quickly as possible. She could still feel the eyes on her, hear the whispering voices full of speculation, but she held onto that icy demeanor, and it seemed to deter any more answer-seekers.
The teenager hit the front doors of the school with more force than was necessary to open them, a part of her surprised by the anger that enveloped her thoughts as she hunted for her mother's car in the parking lot. That enraged section of her mind proposed a suggestion that she didn't like in the slightest: her principal was smart enough to see the writing on the wall, that Twilight was going to be finishing her education somewhere else...was this the result of what Sunset had been warning them about? Things orchestrated to punish and manipulate Twilight and her family, to make the situation so bad that Twilight would have some kind of psychological break or her parents would be forced to pull her before she could finish her project, thus ruining two of her core grade point averages for the year...for her high school transcripts? It seemed a little far-fetched to the analytical portion of her, but...there was the fact that Sunset had been able to lay out something akin to it in barely two minutes flat. If her girlfriend could figure it out that quick, what could a cunning and experienced woman like Principal Cinch do?
She had to acknowledge that the sheer number of people this week who had succeeded in jabbing their verbal barbs far too close to the truth was exceedingly high, even with altered odds from Suri's posse to target her in the rumor mill.
Anger swirled in a maelstrom around stress and anxiety as she dropped into the front passenger seat of the car next to her mom. Velvet looked over, her smile fading to an expression of worry. "Sweetheart, what's wrong?"
It was unintentional--her mother was not the cause of her foul mood--yet the words formed and escaped before she could reevaluate them, tinged with the same frost that had been directed at the boy in the hall. "The story of my life; what else is new? This time the school has taken offense to something other than my breathing. In this instance, my supposed peer group does not appreciate the fact that someone like Sunset picked me up from school. They have taken umbrage with the fact that a physically attractive girl had formed a friendship with the reclusive, dorky, unattractive brain with legs that ruins the bell curve for all of them, as if friendship operates in weight classes like some sports. It is somehow inconceivable to them that she might actually be my friend and they are putting their time and effort into discussing how I have trapped her into interacting with me, while simultaneously attempting to rescue her from my unwanted company by providing her with suggestions that she would prefer the company of the right boy," she seethed. "It's gone beyond insulting at this point."
Her mom reached over and gently tucked a few loose strands of hair behind her ear. "Children--especially teenagers--can be cruel and selfish, Twily, especially to those who don't follow the crowd. But you know Sunset, and they do not, and you know for yourself that she spends her time with you because of how deeply she values your friendship, not based on something silly like how you would score in some silly magazine quiz about appearance."
Twilight sighed in annoyance. "I know that, Mom," she responded, still bitter. "It doesn't make it any more bearable. I understand intrinsically that I am not in the same physical category as a supermodel or a girl like Sunset, but to have people I have never even met using it to tell me why I have no place being her friend or that I must have cheated somehow to force her to be around me..." She searched for the right word.
"It sucks," her mother offered. "Though I would remind you that physical standards of beauty are incredibly arbitrary. You are not an unattractive person, sweetheart, and you have a lot to offer others, including a beautiful smile and good heart. Try not to let the words of shallow people convince you otherwise."
Scowling, she bit back, intellectually realizing her mother was not at fault and that she didn't deserve the coldness, but unable to stop what she was feeling from taking control of her tongue. "That's a little difficult at times when it seems like every person I encountered today had an opinion on the matter--including two teachers who decided to 'warn me' about the dangers of associating with 'criminal riff-raff'--and were not subtle about their need to air their viewpoints at me being seen with someone that they did not deem suitable for one reason or another!"
Velvet frowned. "Your teachers are a separate matter, and one I want to talk about later when you've had a chance to calm down, Twily. Right now, I think you need to do your breathing exercises, and consider discussing this today with Dr. Soft-Spoken...perhaps she can offer you some strategies to help cope with the verbal offenses and gossip mongering. At least until we can get you out of there."
Her mother was nice about it, but Twilight could hear the gentle rebuke in her words, and she deflated. It wasn't fair to take her anger out on her mother, she noted, and forced herself through the careful breathing she had been taught. With each breath, she could feel some of the unpleasant feeling in her chest ease, and felt some of the ice melt away. As she settled, she half expected an appearance from Mental-Sunset to have some kind of witty commentary on the afternoon...yet there was only the sound of her own thoughts. Which was how it had been all week. Somehow, her coping mechanism had failed right when she needed it the most...something else to mention to her therapist at her appointment.
Twilight was beginning to wonder if she could fit everything into her allotted hour time slot. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Fifty: And You Became My Favorite Drug... | Pulling into the driveway, Sunset looked around in confusion at the complete lack of cars. Taking off her helmet, she twisted a little to look behind her at her girlfriend. "Where is everybody?"
Twilight sighed and fixed her glasses once she was free of her own helmet. "Mom and Dad had a meeting with the lawyers today, and both Cady and Shining are still at work. Shining and his partner have apparently been handed a pretty big case and he's pulling some very long hours because of it, so we probably won't see him much until they get a break in the case."
Stowing the helmets and shouldering Twilight's bag as well as her own, despite the nerdy girl's protests, Sunset arched a brow as a thought came to her...along with a renewal of the heated buzzing under her skin that had been plaguing her since Wednesday morning. "What time will they be back?" she asked.
"Probably in time for a late dinner, why? Mom said something about picking up pizza on the way home."
Stepping inside, Sunset rested their bags on the floor and pulled off her boots, giving Twilight time to enter and close the door entirely...before pulling her into her arms and pressing both palms to that cute rump and squeezing. "Well...I haven't seen you since Tuesday," she teased, "and I was wondering if we had the opportunity here for a little alone time..."
The shorter girl squeaked in surprise and went up on her tiptoes to kiss Sunset, arms going around her neck. "...Oooh!" Her lips turned up in a smile that the former unicorn had started to realize spoke to arousal and interest; it was an expression that Sunset had also started to think of as sexy, something that was more than a little disorienting but so very right.
After all, if there was any hairless primate on this nearly magicless dirtball that she would want to think of as sexy, it would be the one in her arms right now that was kissing her with such interest. Flicking her tongue playfully against Twilight's, she reluctantly pulled back to ask, "So...is that a yes?"
"It's the best kind of yes," Twilight responded with that smile again, body pressing flush to Sunset's, rubbing up against her like a cat. "My room?"
Sunset felt a smirk playing on her own lips and she swung the smaller form up into her arms. "If that is what you desire," she purred, watching with satisfaction as Twilight gasped and let out a low whimper of pure carnal want.
The best part was, this...this was all herself. That stupid voice had been silent all day, and the feeling of pleasure that tickled her when her girlfriend responded so ardently to her actions came from her own self...not the toxic remnant of her past mistakes. Buoyed by that, she hopped over Spike--who gave them a doggy huff of annoyance--and took the stairs two at a time while Twilight held on for dear life, squealing out, "Sunny!"
Sunset kicked the bedroom door shut behind them with a heel, before tumbling them both onto the bed in a delightful tangle. "C'mere, nerd," she growled, tossing jacket and shirt over her shoulder as she stripped them in one smooth motion. "I missed you," she whispered against Twilight's neck as lavender fingers fought to get rid of that pesky sweater-vest...thing, and then the shirt underneath. "Once you've had your last day in that pit of a school," she promised, lips brushing lightly against Twilight's ear, "I am going to enjoy getting you up here and tearing this uniform right off you. Forget all those stupid little buttons and consideration for that itchy wool--just grab the front of it and pull with my hands until the buttons pop right off."
She couldn't say where the thought came from, or why even the image of destroying the hideous outfit was so viscerally satisfying, but from the way Twilight frantically managed to get out of the offending garment and throw herself into Sunset's embrace, her girlfriend liked the thought as much as she did. Amber skinned hands slid down working to get the skirt out of her way as well--anything to end up skin to skin with Twilight as soon as possible. Sunset found herself aching for the contact.
Her wish was granted not long after, when her own jeans and underwear joined her jacket on the floor. She pressed her body to Twilight's and hugged her tight. "Mmm..." she hummed happily, nuzzling into dark hair. One hand soon wandered southward, tracing a line down Twilight's stomach while Sunset spent some time reacquainting herself with the other girl's mouth. Even though they had a limited window, the former unicorn was content to take her time, brushing her fingerpads over soft skin in a series of intimate caresses that made her lover sing her pleasure to the old glow-in-the-dark stars scattered across the ceiling.
Just as she was intending to take her exploration further, starting to press kisses down Twilight's front, her girlfriend stopped her with hands in Sunset's mane. Blue-green eyes blinked up at the other girl. "What's wrong, Sparky?" she murmured, resting her cheek on one breast.
"Nothing at all," Twilight said, smiling as she brushed red and gold strands back from Sunset's face. "I just wanted to see if you were interested in doing something a little different. As much as I like what you were about to do--and please believe me when I say I really like it--I thought it might be fun to explore what we can do together..."
Licking her lips, Sunset nuzzled against her. "Of course, Sparky...I'm okay with trying new things with you." She let a slight smile play across her face. "What did you have in mind?"
She could feel the way Twilight's fingers trembled as they ran over the skin of her bare shoulders and down her arms. "...I...noticed you like...taking the lead...that is...doing things to me...and it's wonderful...but I'd like the chance to find out what feels good to you? The way you have been doing for me? Like I did last week after the shower?"
Memory of those petite, slim fingers dancing between her legs until she saw stars made Sunset's breath catch. "Oooh..." she breathed. There was no doubt in her mind that it would be fantastic to let Twilight do exactly what she was suggesting....but her fear lingered. What if the demon took advantage of her state of mind? Sunset prodded the awareness in the corner of her mind, and got no real response--the voice had been...sulking...in silence since their argument the other day.
Maybe it would be okay? She didn't want to disappoint her girlfriend, who was looking at her so eager and hopeful...and a big part of her wanted to feel Twilight's touch like that again.
Temptation won the day. "...okay..." she murmured, shimmying up to peck Twilight's lips with a kiss. "I'm all yours to memorize, Sparky," came the teasing jibe, even as she rolled off her partner to sprawl comfortably on the pillows in a comical spread eagle pose.
It broke any tension that had built up from Twilight's nervousness about asking the question. The dark haired girl giggled, before shyly leaning over to kiss Sunset. "Thank you for trusting me, Sunny...and if you don't like something I do, it's okay to stop me and let me know. I want you to feel as good as you make me feel..."
"Sparky, it's you. If there's anyone I trust, it's you." She reached out and tweaked Twilight's nose. "And I'll speak up if something hurts or feels weird...but I'm not worried. Relax, okay? You're not going to hurt me." To prove her point, Sunset snagged Twilight's hand and pressed it just above her breast, close to her heart, knowing that the steady--if slightly elevated--pulse would reinforce her words. "See?"
Fingers curled slightly, tips pressing into her skin in a way that felt good. Twilight hovered over her, leaning close; her lips met Sunset's briefly, before she moved, leaving a trail of kisses down the redhead's jaw and throat. Her nose bumped briefly to Sunset's collarbone, and she whispered in a voice somewhere between fascination and curiosity, "...you always smell like sunshine..."
"Do I?" Sunset wondered, amused. "What does sunshine smell like to you?" She knew what the concept meant to her, of a white stone balcony overlooking palace gardens, golden magic, and a warm alabaster coat that always smelled clean, buzzing against a filly's senses in a way that felt right, smelled good and safe.
"Mmm...like a summer picnic under a tree," came the response from her chest between tickling kisses. "Warm grass and summer flowers and green, growing trees, but also this smell that...just is from the sun itself somehow..." Twilight flicked her eyes up to look at her. "You're like the sun, Sunny. It's in...every part...of you..." The kisses changed from light on her skin to more intense, mingling with the damp heat of the other girl's tongue flitting out to draw patterns and lines on her skin, sending Sunset's pulse skyrocketing until she couldn't hear Twilight's murmurs over it pounding in her ears.
Sweet sunfire... Her thoughts spun dizzily, and she struggled not to pant at the surge of unfiltered desire now crawling up through her veins. A low, needy groan worked free of her throat and she clenched her fists into the comforter under her--it was either that or bury them in that midnight hair, freeing it from the rather severe bun her girlfriend wore to school.
Twilight smiled against amber skin and took that as her cue to really make Sunset's nerves thrum with pleasure, mouth and fingers finding their way to her breasts. Coherent thought scattered utterly to the winds when her devious, adorable nerd began humming, even as she brought her teeth and tongue to bear on the nipple in her mouth. While the vibrations might not have normally done much at all, any time the teeth worried at the sensitive flesh, those vibrations were transmitted right into those sensitive nerve endings...
What would that be like somewhere even more sensitive?
...oh stars...maybe this was a bad idea...
Thankfully, Twilight didn't linger on her chest too long, and the moments where she chose to place more of those feathery, soft kisses on a lean stomach gave Sunset a chance to catch her breath and attempt to bring her thoughts back together in some semblance of order...albeit, a loose one. She could feel the ache in her core, the way her body didn't just crave but demanded more of her dark haired lover's attention. Her magic tingled in warning, and what control she had left went to grasping her power and keeping it contained...
She really should have found a way to say no. This was a terrible idea...
"Sp-spar...ky..." Sunset started to say, the husky, throaty half moan of sound almost unrecognizable as her own voice to her ears.
And then she stopped caring about anything other than how this was the best idea Twilight had ever had, because that questing mouth had gotten between her legs without her registering it until it was too late. She bucked wildly, body arching with a startled cry of pleasure that no amount of insulation would have dampened, and the hands that had been gripping the bedding under her jerked free to dig into her girlfriend's hair, pulling her against heated flesh and where her lips and tongue--and oh by the dark side of the moon were those her teeth?!--were sending pure pleasure right to her brain.
Traitorous hands.
Or were they the best hands?
Besides Twilight's, of course, since those hands were touching her intimately, rubbing over her skin and squeezing her hip...
Why had she insisted on waiting so long again?
Sunset tossed her head back against the pillow, every breath a litany of desire and encouragement for what Twilight was doing to her. Fingers tugged insistently on that bun until the hair came free, tumbling down in a dark cascade over eager amber digits and bare lavender shoulders. And that was before she was able to look down the length of her body and watch what her girlfriend was doing.
Deep inside, her control had been steadily fraying in the face of a consuming hunger and rising arousal...and in that moment, seeing Twilight's tongue flit out before she could feel it drag over her in the world's most intimate kiss, the thin, ragged thread of control snapped like a bad rubber band.
Twilight let out a startled squeak when Sunset let out an aggressive noise and sat up. The redhead was tired of being on her back, and looking at her girlfriend, lips wet and eyes a little hazy from her own desire, she knew Twilight would enjoy what she was about to do. Hands reluctantly let go of her hair in order to push the other girl over on the bed, guiding her onto her back firmly. "We're not stopping," she assured her, her lips tugging into that confident, cocky smirk from the bad old days...before she swung her leg over and straddled Twilight's head, her own palms grabbing the headboard for support as her hips rocked and rolled against her companion's renewed efforts.
Sensation exploded behind her eyelids, making her squeal one that was more pony than human. Why had she been avoiding this? It felt amazing...and Twilight was definitely having her own brand of fun, if the sudden addition of her fingers slipping into Sunset and the other hand latched into a death grip on one amber thigh were any indication. She found herself trying to utter encouragement and praise, but it came out as a garbled mess that might have been smattered with Old Ponish, Gryphonic, and a few curses in ancient Minoan, all stumbling over each other and woven into the English and modern Ponish.
The first climax that hit her made her muscles jerk and spasm, her hands clenching hard enough against the wooden headboard that the boards creaked warningly under her fingers. She ground herself against the source of the feeling between her legs, chasing it as it rose, crested, fell, and rose again...she wanted more, she wanted it to never stop...she wanted Twilight to touch her like this forever...something her girlfriend seemed in agreement with.
With each subsequent peak, Sunset's magic rippled under her skin, filling her as if it were part of the physical pleasure Twilight was inflicting on her body. As she cried out again, feeling the magic twining with the stew of emotions swirling in her brain, something clicked in her addled mind. The magic was responding...to her feelings for Twilight, just like it did for her friends...the magic felt stronger because her feelings were that much more powerful...
She also realized that she didn't need to fight it quite so much--it was related to the Elements and Friendship magic, surely...and Twilight couldn't see her if she Ponied-Up right now. Sunset couldn't help herself; it felt so good, and Twilight was the one she wanted to be with for as long as possible, her best friend, her girlfriend, her lover...as close as she would get to a Special Somepony in the world of humans.
Sunset shuddered, and as her body tensed for another wracking spasm of bliss...
She surrendered.
Magic burst within her and out, the Pony-Up happening so fast her ears popped painfully, and she dug her nails into the soft wood under her fingers. Her horn was a beacon of magic, red light and blazing crimson flames that made it hard for her to see, magic that finally rushed outward when Twilight's fingers curled just right inside her body, timing it with a swipe of her tongue.
The former unicorn came apart completely. Magic flooded the room in a brilliant flash of light, the only part she perceived before all external thought and perception was driven from her mind. She opened her mouth, aware on some level that she must have screamed...but she didn't care if it was heard by anyone... Not when every part of her was melting and being reborn in an instant, at the mercy of ministrations by the only other individual in the universe that mattered right then.
When it finally ended, Sunset was boneless, her upper body slumped against the headboard her hands had locked themselves into gripping. She was covered in a sheen of sweat, muscles trembling with aftershocks and her heart pounding in her chest. The magic faded, dispersing from her and the room and leaving only the faint feeling of its presence behind. Her brain struggled through the fog of satiation, contentment, and lassitude that had enveloped it, only barely doing so when the hand on her hip tapped a bit insistently and gained her attention.
Grunting with the effort it took, Sunset attempted to lever herself off her girlfriend, only to realize her limbs felt like limp noodles and none of them were responding quite right. The nerves were still tingling and it made it hard to not have her legs go right out from under her again, even when all she was trying to do was get up on her knees. In the end, she resorted to falling to one side in a heap, mumbling something that might have been an apology. Twilight grinned dazedly at her, hair mussed and skin flushed.
Sunset lay next to her girlfriend as she recovered from the overload of both her central nervous system and her thaumic one. As she did, she grew increasingly concerned that Twilight had done little but smile and make little humming sounds in her throat. It dawned on her--now that she was back in control of herself--that in her enthusiasm, with her superior strength and greater mass, she could have actually hurt Twilight with her actions. "Sparky?" she ventured, starting to feel that sickening twist in her guts.
"Mmm-hmm?" was the response.
The older teen reached over and cupped her cheek gently, afraid she had hurt her in some fashion. "Twilight, please, are you okay? I didn't mean to lose it like that--"
A little giggle escaped and Twilight nuzzled into her hand. "...'m okay...sooo very okay..." she murmured. "...you taste good..." the dark haired girl added as an afterthought, licking her lips.
Frowning, Sunset began looking her over. "I'm serious, Twilight. Does anything hurt? Did I push down too hard?" One hand raked through sweat soaked hair. "....I shouldn't have lost control like that. I should have stopped you, or said no..."
Purple eyes blinked, their owner finally registering that something was wrong. Twilight sat up carefully, taking Sunset's hand in both of her own. "Sunny?" she said gently, squeezing amber fingers. "Sunset, please, look at me."
Swallowing down a lump and a bit of nausea, Sunset forced herself to meet those eyes, terrified of finding pain or distress there. She found only confused concern. "I'm sorry..." she whispered. "I could have hurt you with what I did. I wasn't thinking..."
Twilight shook her head. "Sunny, I'm not hurt. You didn't hurt me, or scare me, I promise." She kissed Sunset's knuckles. "In fact, I really liked what just happened." Her eyes lit up with delight as she leaned close to breathe in Sunset's ear, "I meant it when I said you tasted good."
Sunset leaned into her lover's body, curling arms around her in a tight hug. "...I could have, though. I...I don't think I could have stopped, even if I wanted to." Whether she could have stopped if Twilight wanted her to, she didn't know, but that was something she didn't like thinking about.
--You would have, if she'd needed you to.--
Great. Now the stupid voice was done sulking and back to offering unsolicited advice, opinions, and feedback. Just what she needed.
--It seems even a tail curling orgasm wasn't enough to sweeten your disposition any.-- There came the long suffering sigh Sunset was half expecting. --You need to stop worrying that every little thing is going to go bad, and stop worrying that you are some kind of unexploded bomb waiting to go off. It's about your choices, horn-head. It's all about what you want.--
"But you didn't need to stop, Sunny," her girlfriend said, kissing her cheek. "I didn't want you to stop. I...mentioned this before; it feels good to me when you take charge like that, even if I had been initially wanting to do things to you." She shifted until she was curled up in Sunset's lap, cuddled close and nuzzling into amber skin. "It's not just about what makes me feel good, Sunset. It's about what you want too."
The fact that her girlfriend echoed the voice's words made her immediately suspicious. What did you do?! she demanded internally of the demon. I told you to stay away from her!
--Nothing, horn-head. Don't get your tail in a twist.-- There was a pause as she focused her attention on it and its cage. --Look, Sparky matters--no part of you could or would hurt her. We want her safe. Is it too much to hope you might just be learning to relax a little and be a little less uptight? And that maybe that's why you reacted like you did? Suppression isn't healthy, you know; even Celestia knew that, and that mare is the most emotionally constipated being you know.--
The barb about the princess did not sting like it might have once, but it did set her mind on her magic. Had the demon done something there to coax her into releasing her magic? Or was it telling the truth this time, and had it all been her?
Either way, it was dangerous. She was lucky that it had been the Harmony-flavored power the girls granted her, and not her normal magical energy. She couldn't guarantee that would be true if it happened again. Sunset pressed her face to Twilight's shoulder. "What I want is for you to be safe. I don't want to hurt you, and I very much could have."
Twilight sighed, pulling back from Sunset but not leaving her lap. "I'm not made of glass," she pointed out, frustration and hurt leaking into her voice. "I know I've had a tough time this year, but I'm not fragile or helpless, Sunset." Her hands made Sunset meet her gaze and kept her from turning away. "Do not think I have no agency, no say in what happens to my body--you know damn well that's not true, not with everything you've spent the last half a year teaching me!"
--Oh...you just stirred the Fire Bee nest, horn-head. Sparky never swears.--
"I...didn't mean it like that," Sunset tried to reassure her. "It's just--"
The younger girl sighed again, calming slightly. "I understand that you may not have, but that's not really the point. You made sure that I can never be a helpless victim again...that I can at least put up some resistance. I'm not fragile or alone anymore--I'm stronger now than I've ever been, and not just physically." She brought her forehead to rest against Sunset's own, fingers tangled in red and gold locks.
Reaching up to curl her fingers around those skinny wrists, the former unicorn tried to choose her words carefully. "I know you are, Sparky. You handled that senior all on your own, and you survive daily in that awful school." She searched for a way to explain it, because how could she explain that there was a difference between a high school boy and her, when she had enough magic inside her to level a dozen city blocks in every direction with pure fire and rage, in less time than it took to blink? "It's...not the same though. I'm not a stranger, and I hurt others when I'm not careful."
Purple eyes stared into hers, and Twilight tugged her hand free of Sunset's grip to press a palm to her cheek and kiss her lips. "I understand that you are physically larger and stronger than me. You have close to four or five inches of height and probably about forty pounds on me, which puts you in a different weight class in a one on one fighting match. I also recognize that you are far more trained than I am in physical fighting arts...but those people are wrong. They've always been wrong." Her thumb brushed along the skin of Sunset's cheek. "I know you've been told for so long by so many people that you are this dangerous, horrible, violent monster that hurts others by existing...but that is so far from the truth. You are loving and kind and caring, and I do not believe for a single instant, that even in the height of passion or the throes of anger, that you would hurt me."
She paused for effect, then added, "What I need you to believe is that not only are you not a danger to me, but that I would not just be a doormat in the face of your whims and urges. I'm your girlfriend, and I'm just as invested in every little thing we do, whether that's kissing, or cuddling, or very, very enjoyable sex."
Sunset sagged against her, unable to explain further. "But I have hurt people," she protested.
"Yes, you have. So have I. So has every person you've ever met...what you need to understand is that that doesn't mean you are some kind of monster or unstable psychopath. It just means you're human, and you messed up in life a few times. The fact that you are so afraid of hurting me tells me you never will. I trust you, Sunny...please, trust me?"
"I do..." she whispered, voice catching. "I trust you more than anyone else in this world, Twilight."
"Then please...trust me now," her girlfriend pleaded. "You have never treated me like I was broken, Sunset Shimmer...please, don't start now. Everyone in my life has looked at me that way at some point or another, except you. Even when things have been at their worst, when I was an anxious mess or a victim you had to save, you have always treated me like I'm just Twilight, and I can't lose that."
The redheaded teen could feel the distress coming off the body in her arms, and she hugged her tightly. "You're not broken, Twilight...you've never been broken," she murmured, heart aching even as her stomach twisted into unpleasant shapes. "You're so strong, in ways I can't even explain, stronger than anyone I know. Being different or having different problems than most po--people doesn't mean there's something wrong with you." She laughed softly. "At least you've never lost your temper and set your classmates on fire."
There was a sniffle against her chest, and Twilight's muffled, disbelieving voice, "...you set your classmates on fire?"
"...it was a long time ago, and it's a rather complicated story," Sunset confessed. "I...feel bad about it now, but...at the time I wasn't thinking of much besides how angry I was."
Her fingers moved to run up and down Twilight's back affectionately. "The point is...this...its not about you, or what I think of you in any way." It really wasn't, since the problem at hand was her own magic and the monster caged inside her.
--Rude much?--
Ignoring the voice was easier this time, and she turned her mind to what she was saying...and the plan she'd been roughing out during the last week to come clean to Twilight and her family about herself and her origins. "...a few weeks ago, you called something 'a you problem.' This...this is a 'me problem.' I...need to feel like I'm in control of myself, because...loss of that self-control has always been followed by bad things happening. I've trained myself to remain in control as much as possible, and as wonderful and good as it felt, I can't do that again right now. I can't say that wont change, but...for right now, I have to be careful until I learn my limits with this."
Twilight was quiet for a long time, long enough that Sunset almost broke with the need to reassure her. Anything to fill the silence that was becoming uncomfortable. However, she held off once she pulled back enough to get a good look at her girlfriend's expression; Twilight had that look on her face that said she was analyzing something mentally. It was normally safest to let her reach a conclusion without interrupting.
It gave Sunset a chance to refine her own plans. She needed to try again to talk to Princess Twilight, because she needed the other pony's insight as well as permission for her plans to go through. She couldn't, after all, tell Twilight and her family about being a unicorn and having magic without discussing Equestria.
Finally Twilight spoke, pulling Sunset back to the present time and place. "If I am understanding what you said, then...what you mean is that being in a situation where you feel like you have lost control over yourself causes you anxiety?" At Sunset's nod--that was close enough to the truth to work for the time being--she took a breath and continued, "As a result, you are requesting time and opportunity to learn how far you can push yourself in an intimate situation before it triggers that anxiety. What we just did was too far over your current threshold, too quickly... and while pleasurable, the aftermath when the anxiety hit is too uncomfortable for you to want to repeat it right at this time? Is this an accurate assessment?"
"Pretty much," Sunset agreed.
The dark haired girl kissed her. "Is it safe to assume that sexual activity as was conducted earlier this week and last weekend is still acceptable?"
"Sparky," she responded with a laugh, "if you keep making that moaning sound when I curl my middle finger, then you can assume that it'll never not be 'acceptable.'"
The color Twilight turned was worth the pillow to the face that Sunset got, as well as the mad chase through the hall to the shower.
"I still can't believe you did that," Sunset complained, using the towel to squeeze excess water from her hair. "I can still taste the soap in the back of my throat."
Twilight laughed as she brush the tangles out of her hair so she could put it up after. "All's fair in love and war, Sunset," she countered. "It's your fault for tickling me while I was holding the shampoo bottle."
Her girlfriend made a face at her, sticking her tongue out childishly. "I didn't know you were going to explode shampoo all over my face when I did it!"
"And I didn't possess foreknowledge that you were going to tickle me when I picked it up to wash my hair," she responded back primly, before dissolving into giggles at Sunset's expression. "The look on your face though!"
Finishing with the towel, the older girl ran her hand through clean and tousled curls, finger combing them into some sense of order in a way that Twilight never could with her own hair. "I'm so happy to have provided you with entertainment through my suffering," was the dry response as she tossed the towel on the end of the bed and bent down to retrieve her clothes.
That's not the only thing you're providing me with, Sunny, Twilight thought as she paused what she was doing to openly ogle the curvaceous amber backside pointed in her direction, feeling a stab of disappointment when Sunset finished pulling her underwear up. Part of her wanted to say something flirty about it, but she wasn't really good at that sort of thing...and she wasn't sure how Sunset would react to the somewhat blatant comment in her head--they hadn't done much flirting overall, and most of what had occurred had been accidental or at least born out of the sexual tension between them.
Chewing her lip, she weighed the options, then decided that she wouldn't know unless she gave it a try. At least Sunset would never be angry at her for it, even if it was a disaster, and the older girl had never demanded perfection of Twilight.
Twilight took a breath and then the proverbial plunge. "...wow, Sunny...do you have any idea how attractive and distracting you are when you do that?" When her girlfriend paused in pulling up her jeans to look over her shoulder with interest and curiosity, she forced herself to keep going in a rush. "It's...something about the way your muscles flex and just how smooth and perfectly your..." She blushed. "...butt...curves, when you bent over...and with just a hint of..." Her courage failed her but she gestured pointedly down to get her meaning across.
Sunset's face lit up with a pleased smile, and she deliberately took her time in pulling her jeans up the rest of the way, looking over her shoulder at Twilight, while the dark haired girl could do nothing but stare as the denim whispered its way up those curves and hugged the body that she was enamored with. "Like what you see then?" Sunset teased, finally turning around and sauntering over to Twilight, still bare from the waist up.
Face hot, Twilight nodded. "...yes..." she squeaked.
Amber arms snaked around her, and she found herself hugged to Sunset's front--if she tilted her head down she could happily press her face into soft breasts to hide her awkwardness...though she didn't this time. Not when Sunset was nuzzling a cheek against hers in blatant affection. "You're allowed, Sparky...I don't mind you looking at me like that. It's...flattering and makes me feel good when you stare, nothing like when boys at school or worse, strangers on the street do it."
"O-oh..."
Soft lips with just a hint of teeth caught her ear in their grip, just for a moment, and then Sunset whispered in that husky voice that left her weak in the knees, "If it helps any, I am not above some longer looks at you. You've got a really nice backside--just the right mix of lean leg muscle and padding on your rump...you do things to me, Twilight Sparkle, like no other human being ever has."
Leaning into the embrace and sensations of skin on skin, she let out a quiet laugh. "You're way better at this than me."
"At what?"
"Flirting."
Sunset gave her own laugh, kissing Twilight before she answered. "I'm not though--I was just telling you the truth. I enjoy the way you look, Sparky, with or without clothes." Her eyes flicked downwards. "Though I should probably let go so we can get those clothes on before your parents get home. Don't want to ruin the good feelings we've got going here by having to explain to your parents why your pants are inside out and my shirt's on backwards."
She wanted to protest, to snuggle deeper into the warm embrace holding her tightly and spend the rest of the night there in Sunset's arms.
Or the rest of forever. That would work too.
Which was why she made herself let go and step back. "...you're right." She stole one last kiss, before sitting on the bed heavily.
"Sparky?" Sunset tilted her head, worry in her eyes. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong," she said, smiling up at her best friend and wonderful girlfriend. "This week was amazing, despite everything, and it's because I got to spend time with you. Intimate time alone, with just us, I mean. Being with you is indescribably wonderful."
The redhead studied her. "Then why are you upset?"
Twilight twisted her hands together anxiously. "...because as much as I want every week like this, it's too much of a distraction. I barely got anything done on my project this week, and I can't afford to keep doing that."
Sunset frowned, and sat on the bed next to her, pulling her into a sideways hug. "Oh," she said, subdued. "...yeah, that makes sense."
Leaning into the embrace and the body heat that came with it, Twilight felt Sunset nuzzle into her hair. "I want nothing more than to spend every week like this, with as much of my free time spent with you as possible, Sunny," she whispered. "...but it has to wait. I have to finish this project, so I can leave Crystal Prep with my grades intact, and on my own terms."
"I know," came the quiet response. "As much as I hate it, I do understand, Twilight." Soothing fingers rubbed at her bare shoulder. "It's okay. You're smart, and you'll finish your project in no time, and then you can be done with that place forever. And I'll be okay if I have to wait until Fridays to see you--I have a few projects of my own I need to work on, plus tutoring--can you believe my history grade has gone up twelve points in a month?--and the girls and I are enjoying having a band together."
Her head tipped back with a sigh, her eyes closing in some desperate attempt to shut out the world. "...does life ever feel like some kind of joke the universe is playing? I have something...someone...that is all I've ever wanted and dreamed of, I'm finally happy...you're the best friend in the whole world, an amazing girlfriend, and my family adores you...and..."
"Sparky, you have no idea. I'm Sunset Shimmer. Anytime a good thing happens it usually just means I'm being set up to have further to fall." The older girl rested her cheek to the top of Twilight's head. "Sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure that I didn't just dream the last half a year."
She pressed closer into the hug. "...If it's a dream, Sunset, we're both having it....and if that's the case, don't wake me up." The unfairness of it all hit her hard, and she found herself in the unfamiliar position of wanting to both cry and hit something. "It's not fair. I just want to spend my time with you, and not have to worry about this petty, underhanded bullying and manipulation tactics," she groused, putting all her annoyance into her words, "all from someone that I thought was better than that."
Sunset pulled her into her lap, and hugged her close. "That's how life is sometimes. People can be awful...but we'll get through this, Twilight. Together."
It was childish and silly...and maybe more than a touch needy, but she found herself wanting the reassurance. "Promise?"
"I promise. I'm here for you, Twilight, just like you have been here for me. We'll get through this, and when you come to CHS, I will personally show you around the school on your first day and introduce you to the best quiet spots in the library." There was teasing and light in her voice. "I even promise to show you my private study room in the library--it has a door that locks and it's soundproofed too..."
Suddenly Twilight found herself motivated to finish her project more than ever. Sunset was right too--they would get through this. She would get through this, and the girl holding her would be cheering her on every step of the way. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Correspondence VI: Objects In Motion | Twi,
Sorry I haven't had a chance to update you in over a week--things have gotten crazy here. Thanks again for the books. Light reading they certainly aren't, but at least I can search for some answers. Please convey my gratitude to Princess Luna for the information on Nightmares and Fearlings as well--her insight, I suspect, will prove invaluable in the long run.
As always, updates first.
The biggest and most important one is that I've confirmed the source of the dark magic, and...
Tap-dancing Tirek in a turquoise tutu, Twi, it's BAD.
The school my other friend goes to is a corrupted forsaken pit of the darkest magic I have ever felt in my whole life. The whole place is saturated with it, and while I'm not a hundred percent certain if the original creator is still around, it's not accidental. I had to go there to help her, and the wards almost killed me. If I was a lesser unicorn, we wouldn't be having this conversation. And while I was inside, I saw...I can't call them spellforms, because they aren't Equestrian magic the way we think of it. I'd at best classify them as a cousin to some of our earliest magic, before magi started getting fancy with how they constructed spells...but these were...beyond dark. Vice Principal Luna referred to them as evil, and I think her belief is correct. This magic isn't just dark, Twi, it's evil beyond anything I've ever heard of.
Thankfully, my friend...her family is trying to remove her from that school for good, but in the meantime, I'm watching over her as best I can.
The other concern is that this is the same school that will be sending members to CHS for the Games. I suspect that if there's going to be a conflict between our magic and whatever is at that school, it will be then. I'm going to recommend that as we get closer to the Games, you move the mirror to a secured room under guard, just to be safe.
At this point, I've got the girls on an accelerated curriculum to master their abilities. Time is not on our side.
I'll be honest...I don't even know if I'm handling this all in the best way. I keep second guessing myself, and the girls can only help so much. They're human, and this is still new for them. What if I make a terrible mistake somewhere? What if I get my friends hurt...or worse? I've already proven I can't be trusted with power and authority.
Which brings me to the important bit of this letter. I need to talk to you about something urgent, but...it's a talk that needs to be had face to face, not over the journals. Are you willing to come through and meet up as soon as possible? It's...not something that can wait.
Please let me know as soon as you can.
Your friend,
Sunset Shimmer
Sunset,
I'm so sorry for reading your letter to Twilight, but she has asked all of us to check on the journal when we come over, and it was glowing. She'll be back shortly--she had to go to the train station for a big book delivery from Canterlot. This is Fluttershy, by the way. I'm sorry, I probably should have led with that.
It's okay, Fluttershy. Thanks for telling me. Could you definitely make sure she knows I need to speak with her?
Of course, and it's lovely to meet you, Sunset. Are...you okay? You seemed a little upset in your letter.
Stressed more than upset, honestly. There's a lot going on, and I'm trying to oversee all of it. There's not a lot that can be done to help that though.
...oh...well, please remember you have friends here in Equestria who will help too, if you need us. I...don't know much about magic like Twilight, but...I can help you with something. You...said you're afraid of making a mistake...
Because I don't have the best history with being in charge and not making things worse for everyone around me. I'm sure Twilight has told you what happened after she followed me through the mirror.
...she did, but...she's also told us about the kind and good pony you've become since then...which is something you need to remember. You might have been bad before, Sunset, but you've changed and you don't WANT to be that pony anymore.
...I really don't.
Then you won't be. Trust the good pony you are now, and do your very best to just be good and kind. It will be okay as long as you do your very best to be the pony you've become. The same goes for your worry about making mistakes.
Nopony can ask you to do anything but your best effort, and to do what you think is right. It won't always be the right choice, because sometimes bad things just happen or other creatures make bad choices of their own...but that's okay too. Just do your best, and your friends will support and love you no matter what.
Sunset?
...sorry, Fluttershy. I...did anypony ever tell you that you're really good at putting things in perspective?
I don't do anything special, Sunset, but if it helped, then I'm glad I could help. Spike just came back by the way, so I'm going to have to leave you with him. Rainbow Dash is getting a little impatient, and I promised her we'd go check on Tank today. He sprained a leg a few days ago, and she's worried about him.
Oh! It's fine, Fluttershy. Go see to Dash's pet--I know I used to worry about Philomena when I was a filly and she even molted funny before her burning day.
You know Philomena? I guess that makes sense...Princess Celestia's former student knowing the princess' pet phoenix. She's a very pretty bird, even if she did play a mean trick on me.
Princess Celestia's pet phoenix? The princess kept her?
Yes? Sunset, is something wrong?
No, Fluttershy...it's just that Philomena was...she was my pet, back when I lived in Equestria. I was surprised to hear she's Princess Celestia's now. Makes sense, I guess. I left, so somepony had to look after her. Is...she happy?
I think so, but I only met her once, just before she immolated. I thought she was sick, and I didnt know she was a phoenix, so...I thought I killed the princess' pet. Except it was apparently a joke by Philomena.
...yeah, that sounds like 'Mena alright. We used to prank the palace staff a lot. I'm sorry she pranked you, though.
It's okay! I learned a valuable lesson that day, and I think Philomena is a sort of friend now. But I do need to go--Rainbow is getting antsy. I hope things get better for you, Sunset!
Thanks, Fluttershy.
Hey Sunset, it's Spike. Fluttershy caught me up--Twilight should be back soon. She was getting more books for the castle library from Canterlot. Lots of research and reference materials. This whole project to study the Elements and Harmony magic is becoming a huge deal on this side too. Especially with them being returned to the Tree but the Elements and the Tree creating this castle and Twilight going back to study the Tree.
Well, if anypony is qualified to study the Elements of Harmony and Harmonic magic, it's Twilight. I'm trying to do what I can, and I've ended up with more questions than I've managed to answer.
I don't understand a lot of it, but Twilight was talking about testing your theory about the Elements having the ability to think? Like a pony?
...not exactly like a pony, but yeah. I...encountered something in my Rarity that was part of her magic and it possessed some kind of thinking awareness. Emotions, maybe? They weren't words as much as feelings, memories even? And since the only powerful magic any of them have been exposed to was the Elements...I thought maybe that would be a good idea. It might explain how they choose Bearers, at the very least.
That is not how Twilight put it.
Let me guess, she used a lot of big words and didn't stop to breathe between them.
Oh yeah. I see you're familiar with it.
More than you know. But she wouldn't be Twilight if she didn't have these traits...and I kind of like her how she is.
I guess you're right.
Are you okay, Sunset? The dark magic thing sounds like it's gotten really dangerous, and I know I wasn't allowed to go with Twilight on the trip to see the ruins of Moongale because Princess Celestia didn't think it was safe for me. She almost didn't let Twilight go. And you've already got that bad reaction to dark magic.
...I am not going to lie to you, Spike...it was awful. The wards there tried their best to kill me, and I think I did some real damage to them. That place is horrible and that's not even counting the fact that the school itself is like CSGU--all the bad parts of it. You know the parts. The entitlement, the arrogant noble foals who only like those with the right pedigrees? That treat anypony different like they are beneath them?
The parts that wanted me banned from campus when I was a hatchling? I know them. The bullies and the ones who used to make fun of Twilight for having a baby dragon when she couldn't hear them.
I see some things never change, if they still have it out for orphans.
Is that what they targeted you for?
Among other things.
Point is, the school here is toxic like that, but the magic makes it worse. I think it's...feeding on the dark emotions that it encourages. I think that's what sustained it before the magic I brought here and that keeps triggering in the girls gave it more power. I'm okay, but it wasn't fun. I'm more worried about my friend who has to go there every day.
I don't blame you--I wouldn't want any of my friends or Twilight going someplace like that every day. Which includes you, Sunset.
And you didn't answer my question. Are you okay?
I'm...okay. It was bad at the time, but a weekend off and time spent with friends has made it better. The one benefit to being exposed daily to the Harmonic magic the girls produce means that any nasty magic I run into doesnt get a chance to stick around.
...that's good. I'll lead with that when I tell Twilight about your letter. Otherwise, she'll panic and be through the portal before she even finishes reading the letter.
Please. I don't need her rushing through in a panic.
Don't worry. I've got a lot of practice with how to handle Twilight.
...she just walked in. Let me go prep her before I let her at the book. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Fifty One: As the Boundaries Start to Blur... | "...That's when Long Shot was up my ass about who was picking you up after school, and I told him in no uncertain terms to get wrecked, because it's none of his business. It's not my business either, but I'm not gonna go running my mouth on something you didn't seem to want people to know about."
Twilight observed Indigo for a long minute. The athlete was flopped into one of the chairs, leaning back slightly and seemingly relaxed, despite her complaints about the student population. "...thank you. The rumors are already bad enough, and all because Sunny picked me up two days in a row."
Indigo snorted. "I don't see what the big deal is. People get picked up by strangers all the time--family, friends, that boyfriend they dont want daddy to know about because he's from the wrong side of the tracks--so why they care so much is stupid, and probably just because Suri is looking for dirt. She's the one behind the bulk of the rumors if I had to guess."
Sighing, Twilight loosened a screw on her last failure of an energy detector. That particular iteration had actually been a few steps backwards in her efforts, since it had been defective, going off crazily whenever she turned it on, but never pointing her in a particular direction, no matter where she was. "I wouldn't be surprised. Suri has made it her personal mission to make my school life here as miserable as possible. This is just the latest round in three years worth of attacks."
"Why's she got such a hate-on for you anyway? It's like it's personal with her."
The dark haired girl made a face. "It shouldn't be...according to Wallflower, it was because of my math midterm freshman year. I aced the test and beat the next highest scorer by seventeen points. It blew the bell curve and the teacher decided that because I aced it, the test wasn't the problem, the students were. So she blames me for her not passing the class that year."
Her friend rolled her eyes and munched on a protein bar. "What's her excuse for every other class and every other year? She's about to age out if she doesn't pass this year. Ugh. She's such a petty bitch. Is it okay if I say I hate her?"
There was such a disgusted honesty in the question that Twilight couldn't help but smile. "I certainly won't stop you," she responded. "I can say with absolute confidence that I dislike Suri a great deal, and would be extremely happy to never have to see her again."
Laughing, Indigo tossed her food wrapper in a nearby trash can. "All the more reason to finish this weird project of yours and get us both out of here, Sparkle. Anything I can do to help? I'm no genius, but I can follow instructions pretty well."
"Not at the moment, unfortunately. I've run into a roadblock with my tracking devices that are meant to detect this anomalous energy that seems to crop up in the area, and all I can do is test different iterations until one seems to work." She gestured to the disassembled device in front of her. "It sounds insane, but at this point it almost feels like the energy doesn't want to be found and studied."
The other girl frowned. "Not crazy...have you considered that maybe there's a reason for that though? That maybe if it's gone unseen for so long, that maybe looking into it is something you shouldn't do?"
Twilight hesitated, before sighing. "Several times, but at this point I'm committed to this project. I can't back out or change it, and this is the only thing keeping me in this school. As soon as I'm done and I get a project grade, my parents are pulling me out of here."
With a roll of her eyes, Indigo pointed out, "That can't happen soon enough. Can you...I dunno, fudge something for the project? Pretend you've got answers or provide some conclusions that are vague enough that you can just use it for the grade and get out?"
Could she? It would be lying...but not much more than she already was, since she'd deliberately kept the bulk of her findings solely on Artemis in her home lab, and only very superficial data on her official project. That itching, nagging compulsion to keep her real data from Principal Cinch had only grown stronger as weeks passed. She was already doctoring her project to allow her to pass without giving any real information away...was it much of a step to falsify a conclusion?
It bothered her, the idea of lying in the face of real science...but what would the Principal of CPA do with the knowledge of such a truly powerful energy source?
Foreboding stole over Twilight, a certainty that welled up from her core that said she would not like the answer to that question one bit. That it would be something completely opposite her own ethics and morality. --Don't give it to them...it will be Our undoing...--
She jolted, barely able to keep from looking for the voice of her inner thoughts, one that for once, wasn't the mental facsimile of her girlfriend she'd conjured so often, but rather a whisper that sounded like herself at her most emotionally detached, heard through a recording underwater.
"I..." she looked at Indigo, biting her lip. "I wouldn't normally. Science is about a hunt for answers...for truth..."
"But...?" Indigo pressed. "I can hear the 'but' in there."
Her shoulders slumped. "Some feeling I can't explain is telling me your suggestion has more merit than I would consider under any other circumstance."
Indigo sighed, looking almost relieved. "You feel it too then. I thought I was the one losing it, Twilight."
Twilight looked around, lowering her voice, "...the sense of disquiet here? Like there is a game afoot of which we are only peripherally aware? ....yes. It is something I have...become more cognizant of in recent weeks."
"That...and the way some things just feel wrong. People. Parts of the school. Even just the way the windows look or the way shadows fall. Ever since..." Indigo hesitated. "...ever since your friend talked to me, I can't unsee it. It's happening right now. I don't even want to say her name, like...like if someone hears it, they'll do something bad with that information."
Humming an agreement in her throat, Twilight mulled over the information being presented. When it was just her, she could dismiss it as stress or an overactive or overtired mind, or even a touch of paranoia...but Indigo had none of those reasons to be pointing to the exact same sensation, which lent credence to it not being some kind of product of Twilight's mind. "...I believe I would like to discuss this at length with you, Indigo, but not here, not now. Perhaps one day after school this week, you and I could--"
SLAM! SLAM!!
Both teens jumped out of their seats in surprise and more than a touch of fright, turning to see a seething form of green that had slammed the door to the lab twice, once upon entrance and then again upon getting fully inside. It did nothing to hide the short bit of mean-spirited laughter from the hallway outside that made it into the room in the short span between slamming sounds.
"Wallflower?" Twilight ventured. "Are you alright? What happened?"
The green skinned girl was soaked to the skin, by what appeared to be muddy water...except the odor that clung to her suggested some manner of...animal based fertilizer...had been mixed into whatever had been slung on her. "Do I look alright, Twilight?" came the bitter response.
Indigo jumped to her defense. "Whoa, relax. She didn't mean anything by it. It's a standard question. So is asking what happened."
Wallflower glared at Indigo and then turned her expression on Twilight. "What happened is exactly what I warned you would happen, Twilight!" she hissed, dropping her backpack--the one part of her not dripping mud and manure--onto a clean section of countertop. "You couldn't keep your head down and your mouth shut for just another year and a half, could you?"
Twilight had been concerned, but her back stiffened at the blatant accusation in Wallflower's voice. She narrowed her eyes and asked in a frosty tone of her own, "And what, exactly, is that supposed to mean, Wallflower?" It was a thin, vain hope that it wasn't intended as she perceived it, but judging by the fact that Indigo also looked incensed, that hope was about to be left broken on the floor like a dropped beaker.
"Exactly what I said," Wallflower retorted. "You've been mouthing off to Suri for months, you were absolutely stupid enough to beat up a senior instead of running away or screaming for help, and now you've been having the biggest bitch of CHS pick you up on that tacky piece of noisy junkyard trash she drives in front of the whole school!" She gestured wildly. "And your friends are suffering for it!"
"You, you mean," Indigo cut in. "You're finally having to put up with a small taste of what your so-called friend has been putting up with for years."
Brown eyes cut to the lean athlete. "This doesn't concern you. Why don't you go chase a ball or something?"
Indigo Zap slid fully from her half standing pose in her chair, meeting Wallflower's gaze steadily. "I think it does. See, I've watched and listened to you for a while now, Blush. You talk a big game here, behind a closed door, about being Twilight's great friend, but out there?" She pointed to the door. "Out there, where your support would matter a helluva lot more, you're invisible."
The green haired girl went completely rigid, fists clenching in what could only be fury. "How dare you--"
"Because I'm not a spoiled coward like you, Blush," Indigo shot back. "I've seen it. You watch and smirk at what they say about Twilight, listen to the awful rumors, and you've not once stood up for the person you claim to be friends with. You're only saying something now because it's inconveniencing your life." She pointed at her. "Youre a shitty fucking friend at best, and a toxic, two-faced, lying, stuck-up rich bitch no different from Suri Polomare at worst."
Wallflower looked like she'd swallowed something foul. "And like you're any better? A meathead like you? You've been in this school all along, and you've never stopped Suri before this year. Not only that, what could you possibly have in common with Twilight? I highly doubt the two of you can share intelligent conversation--so what's your sudden interest all about? A passing grade? Or are you hoping for a pity date?"
Rolling her eyes with a laugh, Indigo shook her head. "Wow, do you just repeat whatever you hear in the halls, Blush? Congratulations, you're aware of the 'Zap's a dyke' rumors, but you're about two years too late for me to give a shit about those. I study and work for my grades--have every other year...but I guess if anyone in this school would know about riding the coattails of Sparkle's lab coat it'd be you, so I'll bow to you on that." She indicated the side of the room that Wallflower had overtaken without ever bothering to ask Twilight.
It was getting out of hand, and Twilight stood up herself, holding out her hands. "Okay, stop! Both of you!" She rubbed her temples, feeling her own anxiety starting to rear its head. "This arguing is getting us nowhere."
That drew Wallflower's ire from Indigo to Twilight. "Isn't it? I don't exactly hear you disagreeing with the jock, Twilight."
Taking a deep breath like Dr. Soft-Spoken had taught her, Twilight responded as levelly as she could, "I have yet to voice an opinion on the matter one way or the other, Wallflower...and while I can understand you have just gone through an extremely stressful and unexpected situation, taking it out on Indigo and myself is not a healthy or appropriate reaction. I recommend cleaning up and taking a few minutes to calm down before we continue this discussion."
It didn't help. "Not everyone can turn themselves into a robot at the drop of a hat," she sneered back. "I think I have every right to be pissed off at you for painting a target on my back and at your new minion for talking shit to me."
"It's not shit if it's true," Indigo murmured quietly, arms crossed over her chest. Wallflower either didn't hear her or chose not to react, but Twilight did...
And she didn't entirely disagree with the sentiment.
"I am not a robot, nor do I turn myself into one. I only seek to prevent emotional over responses by relying on logic and rational thought. Rational thought which, for the record, tells me you are out of line blaming me for the actions of others. I am allowed to defend myself, and I have every right to refuse to be a whipping girl, emotional punching bag, or doormat to the rest of the school just because I'm smart..." She paused for a moment to let that sink in, before adding, "That includes you, Wallflower. Friends don't treat each other the way you're treating me right now."
Wallflower stared at her, expression twisting incomprehensibly as she went through a myriad of unidentifiable emotions. "So you do agree with her," she bit out, pointing at Indigo. "You think I'm a bad friend because I don't want to pay the price for you challenging people who can make all of us miserable for the rest of our high school careers."
"That is not what I said, Wallflower."
"Isn't it?" Expression angry and her voice low and terse, Wallflower reached into the pocket of her backpack, retrieving something in a plastic ziplock bag. "But answer me this: if I'm such an awful friend, Twilight, why do I care so much that you might be being used by a public school bully who is likely some kind of gang member? Why would I spend the last month tracking down information and trying to make sure you're safe? Do you have any idea some of the places I've had to go, the gutters I've had to crawl through, and the people I've had to talk to in the slummiest parts of this city to make sure you're not being set up?"
Not this again. Twilight bristled, an icy fury building. "I am not disparaging your concern, but I am tired of your persecution of someone who has never done anything to you. I already told you that I acknowledged your words, was aware of her past, and that I was choosing to pursue my friendship based on my own personal observations. I also told you that this was a boundary I would have respected. Stalking someone to dig up dirt on them and harassing the people they go to school with is not what I would call respecting my boundaries."
Wallflower glared. "Because I knew something fishy was going on, and guess what, Princess Sparkle? I was right. You sit there on your high and mighty horse, talking about how you know your carpet-munching 'BFF' so well...and she's been lying to you as easily as breathing from the moment you met! And I can prove it!"
Indigo snorted derisively at the green skinned teen. "Turning into one of those crazy overprotective stalkers is not helping your case, Blush. Not to mention, anyone can fake 'proof' with good editing software, some pics or video and a bit of cash."
"No one asked you," the other teen countered, then stared hard at Twilight, holding up a USB drive. "You think you know her, that you can trust her. Maybe you should think about asking her about this energy that you're so fixated on, that's all over her school...and why she's not given you the answers about it you've wasted time hunting for. I wonder what your super best pal 'Sunny' would have to say about where this energy comes from."
Something about Sunset's nickname coming from someone else's mouth made that icy anger deepen, and having it twisted with such disgust by someone who had been her friend made Twilight snap. "You don't get to call her that name," she practically snarled. "That's my name for her, and you don't get to turn something precious into something hateful. Which is what this is all about--it's not about you really caring about me as a friend, or being concerned I might get hurt. It's about the fact that you cannot let go of your preconceived notions of who my best friend ought to be based on third and fourth hand information. It's about you being petty, homophobic, and spiteful, and doing anything you can to ruin a relationship that is important to me because you don't like that I'm not the same neurotic, anxious, fearful little girl you've known for the last few years."
Straightening her shoulders and trying to draw on everything Sunset had taught her, Twilight met that angry gaze with her own. "I warned you once, Wallflower, in the interest of our friendship, that I had boundaries you would respect. Boundaries that weren't even that complex or severe. You have broken both of them here several times, all in the name of some petty crusade to make me choose you over Sunny." She crossed her arms over her chest defiantly as she prepared to put the final nail into the coffin of what had been a friendship.
"Well guess what? You half succeeded. You've pushed me to choose, and I'm choosing. The problem for you is that I'm not choosing you. Now get out. I have work to do and you're interfering with my lab space."
Wallflower had gone from angry to stunned. "You can't be serious."
"Deadly so," Twilight said tightly. "Take your things and go. I have nothing further to say to you--besides 'leave my botanical samples behind.' My project materials are not for your personal use."
It took a minute to truly sink in, but when it did, Wallflower was back to cutting and spiteful in a way she had never seen before, making Twilight wonder if this was the Wallflower that Sunset had seen. Wallflower hurled the USB at her, only to look even more upset when Indigo caught it before it hit Twilight in the face. "Fine! But don't come crying to me when you learn just how wrong you are, and that you're nothing but a bed warmer for a psycho who isn't quite bored of you yet!"
Then she swept up her things and stalked out with all the air of a scalded cat, leaving Twilight and Indigo in awkward silence.
After a minute, Indigo cleared her throat. "No offense, Twilight, but where did you find someone like that? That girl needs some serious therapy. Mierda..."
Twilight sank back into the chair in front of her new laptop. "She didn't used to be like this. She was always cynical and sarcastic," she acknowledged, "but never hostile and cruel."
Indigo looked down at the thumb drive in her hand. "...think we should see what's on this? It sounds like she dug up blackmail material, if it's not all just fake."
She nodded at her friend and held out a hand. "I want to scan it first, make sure it's not loaded with malware or a virus." Once the small storage drive was in her hand, she plugged it into the computer via a device of her own design, one that immediately quarantined the drive and put it through several layers of antivirus scans, including one of her own design. It came up clean, and Twilight worked up the courage to open the lonely file folder that was on it.
It contained only three files, all videos.
"You know, for attempted blackmail, these are either so damning that Blush didn't need anything else, super fake, or as deluded as she is. Which one should we check first?"
Purple eyes read the filenames, and deduced the dates from the string of numbers at the end. "Probably this one. It's the first in the chronology." She double clicked it.
Immediately a low fidelity video taken from some kind of shaky cell phone with a scratched lens began to play. A raspy girl's voice could be heard a bit tinny and touched by mic feedback. "Move it, losers. If there's a fight going on, I want front row seats. People will pay good cash to see Shimmer get into a throw down with the new golden girl..." The video shook worse as the holder of the phone jogged and pushed through a crowd of fancy dressed teens in a hallway full of lockers towards an open rotunda...
Then everything went screwy as the entire front section of the school was ripped open in a screech of tearing rebar, breaking glass, and crushed concrete...
...to admit a figure Twilight had only ever seen before in her most intimate of dreams...or at least, very like her. It was supposed to be Sunset, she could tell instantly. The fiery--in this case quite literally--hair in shades of red and gold, glowing blue-green eyes, and the way the figure carried herself as she hovered with lazy wing-flaps in the air...it was all her Sunset, even hidden behind fangs and wings and red-amber skin that looked burned, and buried under a voice full of mocking.
"And you WILL be loyal to ME."
Screaming and more running jostled the camera, and then a turquoise light that made the video go to static, before the phone fell and landed camera down on the floor, the screen going black. The screaming slowly died, replaced by groaning sounds, and a muffled voice commanding sharply, "Round them up and bring them to the portal." Then there was about a minute of blackness, muffled sounds, groaning, and incoherent yelling before the video ended.
"Um..." Indigo glanced at Twilight. "What the hell did we just watch?"
The dark haired teen shook her head. "...I...am uncertain...it...seemed like an amateur movie project." Thinking hard, she pieced it together with things Sunset had made reference to. "...I think that might have been an...alternative interpretation of the events of Canterlot High's Fall Formal. It was a pretty defining moment for Sunny...changed her life, according to her."
That didn't explain how the Sunset in the video appeared with something close to her sexy and alluring transformation from Twilight's dreams. She had told no one of those dreams, not even the girl who starred in them. Something wasn't adding up and her stomach twisted in agitation.
Indigo shook her head. "Right. Try the next one and hope it's not another movie project?"
She considered it, then decided that was probably a safe course of action. She clicked and braced herself for the worst.
However, the second video was...disappointing, at best. It showed a distant view of the local amphitheater, with two groups of teens on the stage, before one of the teens from the smaller group did something that opened the trapdoor in the floor, dumping the larger group and their equipment into the black pit beneath their feet. A cocky voice off to the side sneered, "See? I told you someone would give them a shove."
It was answered by someone who sounded...like they were more than a bit ditzy. "She didn't shove them though. She pulled a lever."
A third voice deadpanned, "Ugh. Go back to sleep, Sonata. So this is your great plan, Adagio? Trap them under the stage and hope that it's enough to be able to drain them? And what happens when it doesn't work? We won't have enough power to control more than a stupid high school."
Growling, and a scuffle made the camera point towards three new teenage females, one of them watching the other two have some kind of...grappling match...that the mustard colored one seemed to win. "They are already on the verge of cracking. Didn't you see Sunset Shimmer? She's so miserable that it's coming off her in waves, and it's absolutely delicious. I can't wait to feed on the rest, if just one of them tastes that good when full of despair." She was practically salivating, and Twilight frowned. It was creepy and disgusting, considering this 'Adagio' was talking about her girlfriend like she was a menu item.
"Ugh. Fine. Whatever. Let's just hope this doesn't blow up like all your other plans, Adagio. I want to have a real meal."
"It will. And you! Turn off that stupid camera and carry this stuff!"
The video ended, leaving them even more lost. "Okay... don't know how it's supposed to be blackmail if the person Blush wants to blackmail is barely in the video." Indigo shook her head. "Did she maybe give us the wrong drive?"
"...I don't..." Twilight shook her head, frowning. As much as she wanted to decry these videos as nonsense like Indigo, something about them felt...important. Like there was more truth to them than she wanted to admit... "Maybe we should watch the last one before making a final judgment?" It sounded weak and tremulous to her ears, but the other girl nodded.
"Alright. Play the last one. Maybe it'll make this all make sense."
Biting her lip, Twilight clicked the last video, trying to avoid holding her breath. The video was the longest of them all, lasting almost a good ten minutes, and it opened up on the very stage of the amphitheater they had just seen in the previous clip from a distance. The mustard colored girl with the frizzy hair--Adagio, she reminded herself, able to at last put a face to a name Sunset had mentioned a few times when talking about the mayhem from December that had brought her to Twilight's doorstep looking like death warmed over and allowed to congeal--was front and center, dressed and made up to look like a punk rocker from another decade. "Make sure you're recording this," she snapped tersely. "I want to be able to watch my victory in the future."
"You got it, Boss-Lady," came the raspy voice from the first video. "Not like Shimmer and the Sunshine Patrol don't deserve what's coming."
"Exactly..." Adagio was looking right at the camera, and her eyes were catlike, the pupils narrowed to bare slits, and Indigo let out a yelp when some kind of...inner eyelid blinked over the inhuman orbs.
"Okay, that's freaky! What the hell was that?! What is wrong with that chick's eyes?"
Twilight frowned as the blinking happened a second time. "It's an inner eyelid...like some animals have. You see it like that in crocodilians, actually." There was an unpleasant itching between her shoulder blades. "For an amateur movie project, they have exceptionally good quality make-up effects."
Several sharp orders later and the camera woman was in a position to see the whole of the stage while also being able to pan the view towards the audience. The feed went a little green and staticky along the bottom, but what caught her attention was the trio of girls and their reactions. They all breathed deeply, hands resting against large, identical gemstone pendants that seemed to be...the focus of a faint glow and misty distortion.
"Feel that, girls?" Adagio said smugly, her sharklike smile even more unsettling than the eyes had been. "Do you know what this is?"
The one with the blue ponytail tilted her head. "Uh...magic?"
"Dinner," the dry voiced girl suggested. "Duh."
"No, you idiots!" Adagio snapped. "It's the taste of victory and my plan coming together. Their magic is ours now, and with it, this whole world will soon bow down to us..." Fingers caressed the gemstone resting at her throat with all the intimacy a normal person might show a lover. "It's so powerful too...like no magic I've ever tasted before....who knew the Elements could be used like this? By us?"
The air around the trio shimmered, and the glowing, mistiness became gossamer wing...fin...protrusions... and animal ears--horse ears, her mind noted, somehow still able to categorize such things regardless of how ludicrous this situation was becoming. "Come on, girls. We have a show to do, and we wouldn't want to disappoint our fans."
As they took center stage and the music began, Twilight realized that...somehow, there were no instruments. This group was either using some kind of background track that was pre-recorded...or the strange harmony was being done a cappella...an impressive feat if it was the second. Twilight assumed the pre-recorded track was more likely.
Indigo pulled up a chair, sprawling in it. "Okay. So the music is catchy. Like...hypnotic catchy, but...what does this have to do with--" she started, then broke off as a strange red light began to emanate from the singers, and the cheering crowd suddenly went still, as if they were statues of people, rather than a rowdy crowd of teenagers. "...that's...freaky, right?"
"...it is certainly unusual, and seems to cast these three girls as the villains in...whatever this is."
"...feel the wave of sound as it crashes down..."
It was also familiar. Weirdly so.
It wasn't until they were interrupted by a drumbeat and a strummed chord that made the camera holder pivot towards the crowd, and a voice rang out over an amplified sound system. Twilight knew this song...had sung it just recently with Sunset in the privacy of her bedroom...
"Don't need to hear a crowd cheering out my name.
I didn't come here seeking infamy or fame..."
They jolted in shock as Twilight's own voice came pouring out of the laptop speakers, slightly distorted by the fact that it was a second hand recording of a concert performance, but still recognizable as her. It drew the dark haired girl's attention to the intruding group on the hill, lit up by mobile spotlights. It was too far away to make out any real fine details at first, but she picked out the familiar red-and-gold-and-black of her girlfriend's signature appearance, standing a bit away from the group as the song swelled through the first verse and into the chorus.
"Just so we're clear and I'm sure I'm not hallucinating, that's you singing, right? Is that you in the video?"
That got her to look away from Sunset's image. "What? Where?"
"Front and center, Twilight. Man, I wish the camera would zoom in some."
Twilight followed the description, and saw a person that looked...vaguely like her. If Twilight was Glamour's age and about six inches taller. And a bit more physically developed. At least, if Sunset was a proper metric here to measure the girl against. "That did sound like me, but...no, that is not me. She's too tall, and..." She made vague motions about her chest.
"Her tits are too big."
"...yes. That."
"But that's definitely--"
"Yes, I'd know Sunny anywhere. And I think these are her friends from school. She's mentioned them a few times." She frowned, watching as the camera finally zoomed in, following a wave of static that made the audience come to life again and the camera shake briefly, and tried to put names to faces. Pinkie was probably the girl at the drums--the frizzy, manic hair matched Sunset's descriptions too well to be anyone else in the group, and she was willing to hazard a guess that the amazonian blonde girl with the cowboy hat was the "AJ" who lived on a farm. Likewise, the very colorful girl was most likely "Rainbow," but of the other two she wasn't sure which was the shy girl who liked animals and which one was "Rarity," aka "Coffee House Romance Girl."
She wasn't including the girl who looked like a cousin to herself.
Then the video took another turn for the bizarre, as the six girls performing began to glow, each one a in a different shade of brilliant luminescent color, a transformation overcoming them. Ears found perches on the tops of their heads, fluffy and definitely equine, hair grew long and free, while some grew wings or a spiraled horn, and all were awash with color and power that even a grainy cell phone video couldn't hide.
She noticed the one that looked like her had acquired both wings and a horn. For some reason that she couldn't explain, that bothered her. A lot.
"So the Rainbooms want to turn this into a real Battle of the Bands?" Adagio sneered, her voice popping over the loud volume of the mic. "Then let's battle!"
Twilight shivered. It was ominous...threatening...and so familiar...where had she heard...?
The amphitheater. The view was a bit to the left but...she had seen it before. When she was hunting for readings and her detector had been adamant that the location was a massive hit for the energy readings...but she had fled because she had heard...voices...
...and music.
This music.
These voices.
On screen, now flying, glowing hippocampi--that explained the fish fin-wings and the horse ears, she supposed--were having some kind of epic battle against stars and butterflies, crystals and rainbows, set to conflicting pop-punk rock music. It was like watching someone bring to life the album art from an 1980s rock band.
"If this is what being on drugs is like, I think I'll skip the 'experimenting in college' phase and go right to being old and boring," Indigo said from beside her.
Twilight nodded, focused on what was playing out before her eyes, as the hippocampi seemed about to claim victory, sending the band of six sprawling with a screech of feedback. Her eyes were riveted on Sunset as the redhead bent down to pick up the microphone that landed at her feet, anticipating the cry from her memory, of hearing her own voice filled with desperation.
"Sunset Shimmer!"
There it was. Exactly as she remembered it. Her voice, but not from her throat.
"We need you!"
And Sunset stepped up, tossing her jacket to the side and staring defiantly at the stage, even as she swayed. Which made sense, if this was the musical event from December. Sunset had come to her that night, about to collapse from stress, hunger, and exhaustion.
Her voice rang out strong and clear though, as she gripped the mic in her hands like a lifeline, finding strength once she started. She helped the lookalike to her feet, and with voices rising in harmony, created a rainbow that washed over the crowd.
It was something else to watch.
Especially when Sunset began to glow too, a rippling, pulsing crimson light that undulated like flames, carrying her into the air and transforming her the way it had the others: equine ears, a spiraled horn that belonged on a creature of myth, and even longer waves of fiery hair that was barely contained by a hair-tie as it reached the backs of her knees. Her eyes were practically glowing themselves when she opened them with a smile on her face that made Twilight's heart ache with joy.
And from deep within, as the group of seven girls hovered in the air, creating a glowing rainbow of brilliance, a little voice inside, one that was her and not her whispered, Oh...There You are. It was like a heartfelt sigh, one that carried away stress and worry to leave behind a sense of contentment that was not unlike how she felt waking up in Sunset's arms.
The feeling distracted her for a minute as she tried to place it, but couldn't quite pin it down. In the end she attributed it to some part of her subconscious, and resolved to study it more later.
"...you know, if this was an anime, I think I'd want to see more," the girl sitting beside her said with a laugh. "Flying fish horses? Magical animal girl transformations? Musical numbers to save the world? Giant glowing winged unicorns made of stars and rainbows? Sign me up! It's like Sailor Moon on steroids and less shrill voiced crying."
The glowing unicorn...pegasus...fusion was impressive, she had to admit. Apparently, Adagio thought so too, because the video picked up her fearful whisper of "...Grogar's Bane..." right before the beam of light encased her and her fellow singers, causing the poor camera to lose its ability to compensate for the scintillating energy.
When the flash faded, the singers were in shock, their voices warbling out of key. They fled from the jeers of the crowd and the approach of a fully human group of teen girls. The camera operator had shied back, half hidden behind the curtains, but still kept the footage rolling.
Sunset led the group, squatting down to pick up something left behind on the floor of the stage. "Huh. Guess that explains why these were so special to them..." she mused, turning towards the lookalike. The object in her hand sparkled in the lights as she let it fall back to the ground with a sound similar but different to broken glass.
"Without those pendants," Twilight's double spoke excitedly, "and the magic you brought here from Equestria, they're just three harmless teenage girls."
"Rainbooms rule!"
A blur of blue hair and golden skin practically tackling her lookalike in a big hug, coupled with a voice Twilight knew as belonging to Sunset's friend Flash suddenly galvanized the camera operator to flee, and the video ended on about twenty seconds of them not realizing their camera was still on as they booked it for the parking lot.
Silence fell over the lab, as both teens processed what they had seen. Finally Indigo sat back in her chair. "Just to make sure, at no point in that video was that you. Just some girl who looks and sounds just like you."
"Correct. I do believe I would have recalled participating in such a public fiasco, but while the song was familiar, the only place I have done any singing is in the privacy of a home. Mostly my own." She sure would have remembered an amazing public duet with her gorgeous girlfriend that...summoned magical rainbow unicorns?
Her friend shook her head. "Riiight. So...what the hell was Blush running her mouth about?" She frowned. "...because she talked about two things: you being lied to, and your research project. And unless she really expects you to believe that what you're researching is magic--which, gonna be honest, is total bullshit, Twilight--then it's got to be about lying."
Twilight let out a laugh that sounded forced to her own ears. "Magic?" she said incredulously. "I will admit that the energy anomaly is unusual, but that's a bit...presumptuous, I would think. With all the people over the centuries out there who have wanted magic and ghosts and gods to be real, who have actively searched for it, if there was anything considerable that even approximated magic in the world, someone would have found it by now." Even as she said it, the teen realized she didn't quite believe her own words...and was at a loss for why. The videos were clearly the product of clever and talented video editing--impressive, but a technological answer all the same. So why was she not as eager to dismiss the possibility as Indigo?
Because you wished for magic once, a traitorous corner of her mind reminded her. Which...she had, as a little girl. A little girl who saw the world with curiosity and had wished for unicorns and dragons and faeries to exist, because maybe then she wouldn't feel like such an outsider.
Shaking her head, Twilight sighed. Those had been the irrational dreams of a six year old girl who had been unable to make friends her own age, eaten up with loneliness and frustration at the things that made her different. She wasn't that girl anymore...hadn't been that little girl for a very long time.
Indigo flicked a bit of string with a finger. "Not to mention, look how many people were there. No way that many people keep that a secret. There would be other videos and they'd be all over youtube. Someone would blab. Even if no one believed them, someone would still talk." She tilted her head back to look at the ceiling tiles. "So that brings us back to her trying to show you that you're being lied to...but about what?"
She puzzled over that herself, musing aloud, "From the first time I mentioned having made another friend, Wallflower was very demanding about who it was and how we met, and if I could trust Sunny. It got worse when she realized who my friend was, because a mutual friend of ours who had to transfer after ninth grade, had been complaining about a bully from her new school...and..." Twilight found herself pulling the key on its lanyard from under her shirt to toy with it. "...Sunny was that bully. I know about all that though. I have from the beginning, and I've never hidden from Wallflower that I knew what she used to be like."
"But she's harped on the whole bullying thing?"
Skin warmed metal had familiar ridges under her fingertips that soothed her agitation as she let herself turn it over and around again and again. "Excessively. Wallflower is under the perception that I need some kind of minder because I completely lack the ability to properly judge someone's character...which is untrue. I can judge someone's actions just fine, but I prefer to base my thoughts on what I have personally seen and witnessed, not second or third hand data, and I believe in giving people a chance." Twilight found herself smiling faintly. "My mom taught me that."
The other girl nodded, running a hand through short blue hair. "Maybe Wallflower is trying to prove she's lying about being a bully still?" Then she shook her head. "...no, that's too basic and doesn't mesh with the videos...unless..." Something seemed to click for her.
"Unless...?"
Indigo looked her dead in the eyes. "I'm going to ask a question first, Twilight, and please don't freak out on me, okay? I know this is not the way it's normally done, but...just know I'm not as dim as people think. I remember the hickey, I was in the nurse's office that day, and Wallflower wasn't exactly subtle a few minutes ago. Who all knows that 'best friend' is code for 'secret girlfriend?' Does Wallflower know for sure, or was that a shot in the dark?"
Twilight went still, fingers freezing on the key. Her eyes searched Indigo's face, as she struggled to process what she had said. Dismay coiled in her guts, along with the petulant, frustrated question of if she would ever be allowed to come out to someone in her life on her terms. At least Indigo seemed to be handling it better than Wallflower had...at least, if the relaxed way she lounged in the chair was anything to go on. "I-I..." she stammered, trying to form words.
Indigo grinned and leaned over to slug her lightly in the shoulder. "Relax, Twilight. It doesn't really matter to me who you date--if you guys are happy together, good for you. Just because I don't swing that way doesn't mean you can't...besides, I've got more important things to worry about than talking about boys or girls or whatever with you." Then she sobered. "The reason I'm asking is because I'm trying to figure out Wallflower's angle here. So just tell me...does she know for certain or was that just her taking a shot in the dark?"
"...she knows," came the half whispered response. "...I didn't mean to tell her, but I thought she had guessed. I was wrong. She thought Sunny was my drug dealer."
Honey colored eyes stared blankly at her. "She thought what?"
"That I was smoking marijuana."
The other girl rolled her eyes. "Wallflower is an idiot. Ignoring that though, is it possible she's trying to imply your girlfriend is cheating on you? Or that you're some kind of stand in for the girl that looks like you?"
It was a probable explanation--the law of parsimony did state, "'Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem,'" after all.
"What?" Indigo asked. "I don't speak Latin, only kitchen-Spanish. Which, honestly, is mostly dirty words and talk about food."
Twilight realized she had spoken aloud. "Sorry. Just thinking aloud. You would know it better as 'the simplest solution is most likely correct,' though that's an inaccurate paraphrasing of the actual rule. And that would be a fairly likely answer to her actions..." She frowned. Something about it didn't sit well with her--sure it was more likely than any convoluted connection to the anomalous energy, Twilight couldn't shake the sense that the energy was connected to this whole mess.
There was no reason she couldn't entertain the thought experiment however. "It is definitely a possibility. A silly one, considering that I am fairly certain the girl from the last video who looks like me is the same girl who challenged Sunny at their Fall Formal. The resemblance is perhaps a bit more startling and severe than I realized, and I may owe her an apology for not quite grasping that when she tried to explain it, but her existence and her current status as a friend who has since moved away is not a secret from me. More to the point, I have already settled my insecurities in regards to her with my best friend, and I feel no threat to my position from her."
Her friend's mouth twisted into a smirk. "Duh. Of course you have," she laughed. "You have more intelligence in your left pinky that Blush has in her whole skull. Where did she even get her ideas, anyway? One of those trashy teen movies where everyone is a walking cliche that's been smacked in the head with the idiot stick because no one working on it had any idea how actual people function?"
A snort escaped Twilight before she could stop it. "Maybe they were a CPA graduate. I've read a few books like that, and they easily could have changed the school's name to Crystal Prep and been on point."
The pair of girls dissolved into laughter, discussing the finer points of how an entire genre of media was a gross disappointment and barely concealed disaster, but even as they ripped into the plot for the latest popular teen vampire romance series, Twilight's mind was elsewhere. She couldn't shake her desire to verify that the energy was uninvolved, and made plans to go to the amphitheater later in the week...
Maybe seeing for herself that it was ludicrous would put the uncertainty to rest. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Interlude XXXIII: Patchwork | Rarity hummed pleasantly to herself while she sketched out some new design ideas in her shop. It was by appointment only today, and her next one wasn't due for another few minutes, so she had some time to work on a few things.
The bell to her shop tinkled pleasantly a short time later, and she could hear a group of female voices.
"Can you believe Jet's nerve?! He was actually talking about whether or not that redhead was single! He's dating me, and he's advertising his thoughts about the availability of some leather wearing hussy? The absolute nerve!"
"Tasteless!" agreed a second voice.
"And probably pointless--she turned down Blueblood entirely! Blueblood, one of the wealthiest boys in school! The odds of her taking a date from anyone else are low."
"With all that leather and the bike, she's probably a dyke," the first voice said with a nasty undertone that immediately set Rarity's hackles up. "That would explain why she picked up the most unpopular nerd in school. Low hanging fruit."
Just as Rarity was about to say something scathing and curt, a voice she did recognize interrupted with a sigh. "Ladies, it's incredibly unbecoming to spew such vitriol in public, and whatever reason she has for turning down Blueblood or showing up at the school is not reason to be so ugly. About her or Twilight Sparkle. It certainly isn't their fault that most of the boys are being so inappropriate and unsavory."
The words died in her throat. There really was a Twilight Sparkle in this world? She had dismissed Pinkie's offhand comment from months ago as little more than Pinkie being Pinkie. If this was true, Rarity couldn't wait to tell the girls!
Fleur De Lis shook her head as she shut the door firmly on her associates, turning an apologetic face to Rarity. "I am so sorry you had to hear all that. They are not usually so vicious and ugly, and I am actually a little ashamed to have been seen with them today."
The designer moved over to give her friend and longtime customer a warm hug. "Fleur, darling, no need to apologize. We've known each other long enough to realize that sometimes we must keep company with those who do not deserve the status they have. Though, I must admit, I am curious as to what that was all about?"
Fleur took off her coat and draped it over a chair. "The latest gossip at CPA," she said with a laugh. "The whole school has been abuzz with it since last Monday." At Rarity's questioning eyebrow while they moved into the back room for the dress fitting, the pink haired girl explained.
"Last Monday, about the time school let out, a very attractive redhead showed up outside our school on a motorcycle, catching the eye of most of the boys present, as you can imagine. But it seems she was only there to pick up the school's academic front-runner."
"Would it be safe to assume this academic is the 'Twilight Sparkle,' I heard you mention?" Rarity was starting to connect the dots, and if what she suspected were true, then she and one Sunset Shimmer needed to have a conversation.
"It certainly is. I don't know her at all myself, but I do not quite understand the hostility of many of the other students. She is very quiet and shy and mostly keeps to herself. She used to have some friends that she spent time with, but they all moved away, so I always thought she was very lonely." She smiled. "I am actually glad she seems to have a friend--especially one who doesn't go to CPA. You made a smart choice, Rarity, sticking to public school. I wish Mother and Father had let me do the same."
Rarity helped her zip up the dress, before walking around her friend in a slow circle, making slight adjustments here and there. "So you don't know anything about this mystery girl that rides the bike?"
"Nothing at all. She showed up several times last week, and a lot of boys--and a few of the girls--have tried to talk to her, ask her out, but she seems only really interested in getting her friend and leaving. I think she's close to your height, and I freely admit that I am jealous of her figure." Fleur De Lis shook her head ruefully. "Not to be crass, but she's got the body of a gymnast with curves most girls would kill for. Other than that she reminds me of fire--golden skin, red and gold hair, red motorcycle." A pause, and Rarity found Fleur studying her. "Does anyone like that go to your school?"
The designer gave a bemused chuckle. "That could be several people at my school, darling." She was lying, of course, and she mentally apologized for her dishonesty. There was only one girl it could have been, and it presented an even bigger mystery to Rarity than it ever could to Crystal Prep. "You'll have to keep me in the loop about it though. Now, something so much more important! How are you and Fancy Pants doing? He is the one escorting you to the party that will see this masterpiece, isn't he?"
The other girl giggled, and the gossip fell into more safe territory, about parties and boys and high society.
Bustling around the store and picking up the various items after several days of fittings and fits of creative design frenzy allowed Rarity to sort her thoughts and feelings, even as she prepared to receive a particular friend in her store for the very first time ever. The initial invitation had been genuine--she had very much intended to do it long before this, having Sunset over so she could get some precise measurements and test some styles against the other girl's build and complexion. One could only guess so much from memory, and fashion had more nuance to it than most realized. Just a half inch or so change in ratios or proportions could turn a style from flattering to disastrous, and even a few shades or an undertone difference meant a color that might have been complementary became something that made a person look unwell...
Her thoughts drifted for a moment into a realm of fabric textures and shades before she forced herself to refocus on the present dilemma. Her invite had originally been genuine without any ulterior motives, but recent events had made it an opportunity to discuss things in private with Sunset Shimmer. Like the nature of her friendship with Twilight Sparkle of Earth...and why it was such a secret from her friends. Especially if it was as important a relationship as Rarity suspected, given the way their friend from Equestria had flown to her side the instant she was in trouble.
Yet now she was faced with a deeper problem. Sunset hadn't quite been herself, ever since her weekend sabbatical...and all of her friends had noticed. Even Rainbow Dash, though she had kept her own counsel...strange for the athlete, which made Rarity wonder why...
Everyone else, though...they were worried. Sunset was having issues with her powers, and had grown increasingly restless and agitated as the days passed. It was enough that there had been conversations about it, culminating in the talk the tailor had had the evening before with her partner after they'd enjoyed a quiet dinner together while their sisters were at some event for the middle school students.
"Pinkie came ta me today," Applejack said as they curled up on Rarity's sofa, content to indulge in some quiet cuddling while their meal digested.
One eyebrow arched, and Rarity sipped at the glass of wine they would never risk drinking in front of Granny...or where their impressionable sisters could see. Granny would turn them both over her arthritic knee just like she had when they were little girls, and Applebloom and Sweetie were trouble enough without alcohol. Not to mention she didn't want it getting out to anyone--not with her and her sister's situation being as precarious as it was, from a legal standpoint. "What ever about, dearest?" she asked, lips pulling into a slight frown.
Green eyes were troubled as they stared at the ceiling, the blonde head resting back against the couch and her well loved hat resting on one knee. "Sunset. Pinkie said...well. It was one o' them Pinkie things, where she says something that sounds crazy, but ya know she's right and tellin' the truth? She said that Sunset's got some new kinda hurt that wasn't there before and that its bleeding lava into her until her magic boils. Or something like that. Might been a cooking analogy or three in there somewhere too."
"Fluttershy expressed a similar worry. That Sunset has apparently had to be doused with water three times already this week because she almost caught her desk on fire. And the fire alarm that went off--it wasn't a chemical fire in the science room. Several students in Sunset's science class let me know they were worried about her after she had some kind of magical meltdown and triggered the suppression systems that are part of the science wing." Rarity made a concerned sound. "I also don't feel inclined to disagree. Something is wrong."
Quiet hovered between them, soft, serene, until Applejack broke it. "....eyuuup," she agreed, the single word conveying far more than just simple consensus between them. The quiet returned, but less relaxed, as the acknowledgment left them both thinking on the problem.
"...how do we handle it? Hammer or needle?"
Rarity considered the question, and the deeper meaning in its simplicity. Which approach would work better this time, her subtle probing or her other half's more brutally upfront method? She weighed it against the way things had been of late, of Sunset's slow release of years of secrets and sordid history, of what she was beginning to suspect was several types of abuse and neglect that had been going on since well before their enemy-turned-friend had ever had feet to step into the human world with. "...As cagey as she has been, and with how..." she paused, searching for the word.
"Spooky." When she looked at Applejack askance, the farmer made a careful gesture with her own wine glass. "Not like Halloween spooky. Horse spooky. When they get twitchy cuz they smelled or heard something that might be dangerous, but don't know where it is. Instinct is tellin' 'em that something's about to pounce on them." Those deep emerald pools turned towards her, and she could see herself reflected in them. "Think this one's gonna have ta be you or Fluttershy, Rares. Dash seems ta be close-mouthed right now, Ah'm the hammer, and Pinkie...if Pinkie were right fer the job, she'd've just done it instead of saying something ta me."
Which was how she found herself in her present predicament. Rarity had wanted so badly to try and coax Sunset into talking about Twilight--if there was anyone in the group she could hope to be able to engage in girl-talk with, it was going to be Sunset. Out of all the girls, Sunset was the one who had an appreciation and understanding of the finer things in life, who not only listened and understood her when she tended to prattle on about fashion and design and artisan craftsmanship, but actively took time to invest in the conversation with thoughts, questions, suggestions, and more. And while it was clear there was a definite cultural difference between them, even that had become fascinating to the designer.
Really, if she wasn't in love with her knight in a battered stetson, there would be a great deal about Sunset Shimmer that Rarity would have found appealing, regardless of the lingering baggage left from a less than stellar history between them. Even with Applejack in her life, she was woman enough to admit that Sunset was a gorgeous young woman with a very attractive personality now that she'd mended her ways.
Hence why Rarity enjoyed their friendship so much and why she wanted to find some more ways to connect with the redhead, ways that made it even more unique. She wanted to help Sunset create stronger bonds with others and give her the stability that it seemed like her life had been lacking on both sides of the portal until the night of the fall dance.
...and maybe, a little selfishly, she wanted a close friend that she could bond with the way Applejack had bonded with Rainbow Dash. As much as she enjoyed her time with Fluttershy, they were very different and had very different interests.
Rarity sighed, and set about making a pot of tea--she had noticed that Sunset seemed to prefer that as a hot beverage, and the day had been rather rainy and unpleasantly chilled. As much as she did want to broach the subject of Twilight, the other was a thing that was more important in the long run...
She heard the bell chime as someone entered the shop in a rush, but it lacked any sort of greeting she would have expected from Sunset or her friends. Frowning, she stepped out from the back room to identify them, the polite explanation that she was closed dying on her tongue as she realized that not only was it definitely Sunset, but that her friend looked positively dreadful. The rain had soaked her hair through, and with a bit of surprise, she realized that there were traces of...make-up? running down Sunset's cheeks, washed away by the deluge that had picked up outside. It revealed the dark circles under bloodshot eyes that the other girl had apparently been taking pains to hide.
"Sunset, darling," Rarity murmured in concern, hurrying over to pull the redhead further into the shop--into her back room--so she could put her into a chair and get the dripping leather coat off her. "Sit down--you are absolutely soaked to the bone!"
"...Sorry," came the response, "I didn't mean to get water all over your floor."
Waving it away, the tailor used a hand towel to dry her friend's much loved jacket of the worst of the water. "Think nothing of it, Sunset, truly. I'm more concerned about long term damage to your coat...and your health!" Once the coat was dry, she hung it up and moved on to squeezing the worst of the water out of fiery curls. "I apologize--had I realized it was going to rain so heavily this afternoon, I would have offered to give you a ride after school."
Eyes that reminded her of finely polished turquoise barely glanced up from the table as their owner gave a smile that Rarity could tell was faked. "I'm okay. I like riding on my bike--it's...freeing. Reminds me of being a pony in Equestria, you know?"
Proximity allowed her to move from Sunset's hair to her face, carefully wiping away the runny make-up. "Darling, you've been wearing concealer to hide these terrible dark circles. Saying you are 'okay,' is not going to work with me."
Sunset still refused to meet Rarity's gaze. "...haven't been sleeping well. Encountering the magic at Crystal Prep...dug up memories I'd...rather not think about," the redhead said quietly. "In my case...that means nightmares." She paused, then sighed. "More nightmares," Sunset clarified.
With a thoughtful sound in her throat, Rarity set the now damp and dirty towel to the side and retrieved a hair dryer and a brush from the small bathroom in the shop. "Are you certain that's all it is, Sunset? You seem to be having a lot more trouble than just nightmares." She tipped her chin up briefly, forcing the other girl to meet her eyes. "I am perfectly willing to listen without judgment...if you would like to talk about it." Then she let go, setting to work on a simple grooming routine with damp hair the color of flame. It effectively trapped Sunset there, but the noise meant it put off conversation, giving her time to decide if she wanted to talk...and it gave Rarity time to observe her.
A sharp eye for details immediately noticed several things, some amusing, some concerning. Sunset's clothes were rumpled, in addition to being dampened by the rain, and the shirt looked like she needed to wash it before she had put it on that morning. Her hands, especially her fingers, looked badly sunburned, and there was a large band-aid on one finger that she could just barely see the hint of a healing, scabbed over blister peeking out from one edge. The sunburn seemed to fade as it got past her wrists, but without the sharp line one might expect from where clothing lay or how the arm might have been resting; instead, the marks had inconsistent edges, like she had sunburned herself repeatedly in a short span, never quite giving her skin time to heal. Higher up, where Rarity was working with her hair, the designer could see a few darker marks on her neck normally hidden by said hair...a few were definitely hickeys and love-bites, and they paired with the faint ends of scratches from someone's fingernails that she could see at the edge of the shirt collar. Rarity also detected the faintest odor of smoke and matches, but it lacked the stink of burned tobacco, so it wasn't a case of her friend taking up an unhealthy hobby...
Rarity took more time than necessary brushing Sunset's hair until it shone in the lights of the shop, a fiery halo of loose, natural curls that she was willing to admit she was at least a little jealous of, before setting the brush and hairdryer aside to retrieve the makeup bag she kept in her store for emergencies or design assistance--some outfit styles looked better when paired with the right kind of makeup. After a moment of searching its contents, she found what she was looking for--tones that matched the warm amber complexion of her tired looking friend. While she was concerned about Sunset hiding troubles from her friends, she still respected her choice to put on a strong face to the public.
"...my magic..." Sunset said, almost too quiet to hear, as Rarity began applying the makeup.
"What about your magic, darling?" she asked gently, keeping her tone neutral.
Sagging a little, the redhead gave a half hearted shrug. "...something is wrong with it. It's...going crazy. I...thought I had it...but then...it's like..." She closed her eyes. "Like a foreign thing instead of part of me, which has never happened before."
The pale skinned tailor furrowed her brow. "Not the surges you keep cautioning us about then?"
"Not exactly, no. That's always more like..." Sunset considered, then offered an analogy. "Like a pressure cooker. Too much energy and it has to get out or you'll explode. And when you explode bad things happen. This is...different."
Considering the information at hand and thinking back to when Sunset had first begun acting off, Rarity frowned. "Correct me if I am wrong, darling, but this all began after you assisted your friend at Crystal Prep, yes? Is it possible that you are having some kind of...magical allergic reaction to the magic that attacked you there? You did mention you had a severe reaction to the power the Dazzlings used."
Sunset got quiet and introspective at the suggestion. "Maybe?" she ventured after a minute or two. "...it was the darkest magic I've ever encountered--comparable to what I became at the formal in terms of just how twisted and wrong it was...and the way it attacked me could have left some residue or minor damage behind. My essence is already thaumically scarred..."
"Is it something you can check? It sounds like something we should be very concerned about, darling. A bit bigger than a broken nail or a bad hair day, at the very least." Rarity paused in her delicate work a moment to meet her friend's eyes. "Making the fact that you have hidden it even more worrisome."
She couldn't look away with Rarity working on her face, but her eyes looked at some point past Rarity's shoulder. "I didn't want to make you worry about something that's my problem." Sunset exhaled slowly.
One eyebrow arched pointedly. "Sunset, dear, I do not know if it is still something that is sinking in or we aren't making it clear...but we want to help you with your problems...or, barring that, support you through them. That's what friends do for one another...what we'd like to do for you as much as we do for each other, and as you have been trying to do for us." She tucked a loose curl behind Sunset's ear. "Like with this. I imagine it is somewhat difficult to inspect yourself magically, yes? You've implied that in the previous discussions."
"....yes...?"
Rarity set the makeup down and carefully took Sunset's hands in her own, mindful of the bandages hiding blisters. "Then allow me the chance to help you with that. I may not be an expert, but I am certain you can walk me through it well enough that I should be able to sense if something is truly awry, wouldn't you think? At the least, I should be capable of feeling something as dark and evil as you described if it has latched on to you."
The redhead seemed to mull that over, before she nodded. "...I could try walking you through it--out of the five of you, it's you and Pinkie who have come the furthest in feeling your magic...although I'm beginning to think Pinkie should never be used in any kind of data set because she's Pinkie."
Humming in her throat, Rarity squeezed her hands lightly. "Let me finish redoing your makeup, and you can talk me through the process over a soothing cup of tea. Does that sound acceptable to you?"
Laughter, weak but still genuine, escaped Sunset. "I could really go for a cup of tea right now."
"As could I, darling. It's dreary and dreadful outside right now...but makeup first, as I'm just about done." She scrutinized the area around Sunset's eyes, touching up a few spots where the dark, bruise-like discoloration was still visible. "It's not perfect," she apologized, "since there is little I can do for your actual eyes...but I do have some eye drops that I use for when I am suffering through creativity induced insomnia. It should relieve at least a little of the irritation if you want to use them."
Sunset blinked, like she hadn't considered such a thing. "Eye drops?"
"Yes, Sunset. One of the numerous products humans have invented to overcome poor decisions, bad habits, or symptoms of other problems. Do ponies not have things like that? I had rather assumed your medicine was rather like ours, since you and Twilight speak of your culture as advanced and modern." She busied herself with repacking her makeup bag.
The shrug Sunset gave was awkward. "Some things are, some aren't. We don't have mass production like humans--factories and assembly lines are pretty singularly a human invention. The only thing that comes close to that are societal infrastructure, and that's all commissioned by the crown."
Humming thoughtfully, Rarity searched through the bag for the eyedrops. "I suppose medicine uses a lot of magic too, rather than chemistry. Healing spells and the like." Getting her to talk about Equestrian society was reducing the visible tension in Sunset's face, so Rarity pursued it for the moment.
"No, actually. Despite lots of research, nopony has ever discovered magic like that. There's a few spells for...setting bones or sealing minor cuts, and a few for things like pain management...but most of our medicine does use alchemy or physical cures. It's just...we don't really mass produce the kind of things you see on pharmacy shelves." Sunset tipped her head back. "Something like what you're talking about would mean a trip to the apothecary for a specially made concoction that doesn't have the months long shelf life you find here." She laughed softly, at herself. "You'd think, having discovered the wonder of ibuprofen, q-tips, and maxi-pads, I'd've perused the pharmacy for other useful things."
Rarity offered her the small bottle of drops. "I'd be more than happy to organize an informational shopping trip for you, Sunset. I'm sure Fluttershy would be willing to assist. Now, with this, just take the cap off, tilt your head back and squeeze two drops into each eye. It should help the gritty, sore feeling and prevent further irritation."
Following her instructions, Sunset looked up at the ceiling once more. "...maybe we can think about that over spring break or this summer. Everything is so hecti--ahh! That's cold!" she complained, before doing the same to the second eye. "Warn me about that next time?"
Rarity was ready with a cotton ball that proved unnecessary--Sunset's eyes were apparently dry and irritated enough that only the faintest bit of moisture touched her lashes. "Why don't you keep the drops--put some more in before bed tonight," she suggested, growing more concerned by the minute about Sunset's health.
"...Thanks, Rarity," she responded in a rough voice.
Smiling faintly, the tailor bustled over to get their tea. "They're just eye drops, darling."
Her one-time adversary shook her head. "Not that." There was a tiny quiver in her voice. "For...being here...for doing...all this..."
Oh. Pouring the tea into two cups and bringing the tray over with real cream and sugar--Sunset was the only other person in their friend group who drank tea in any manner close to how it was meant to be done, so Rarity indulged whenever she could--gave the pale skinned teen a minute to organize her thoughts. "Sunset...you are one of my closest friends," she said softly. "Whatever may have been in the past, that is the truth now. Seeing you so obviously suffering, how could I do anything else?" She set the tray down and presented Sunset with her cup. "You need someone in your corner, as it were, and I am in the position to help. Everything else is immaterial--despite Rainbow Dash and Applejack's childish competition, there are no ledgers or balance books between friends. What I give, I give freely, and your smile is gratitude enough."
"It still..." Sunset shrugged. "Thank you."
Rarity hummed, taking her own seat and spooning a bit of sugar into her tea. Silence, this time comfortable and more relaxed, fell over them while they sipped their drinks, and she was loathe to break it, but getting answers to some of her questions about what was happening with Sunset and her magic was necessary. "On the topic of your misbehaving magic, darling...does it happen every time? Or just sometimes when you use it?"
Sunset stared into the depths of her cup. "...it's...becoming more frequent. It was sporadic when it started, but now...now it's more than it isn't."
"What about when you aren't trying to use your magic--like in the science lab? I can't imagine you were attempting to pony up and use magic there...unless perhaps you wanted to practice lighting Bunsen Burners."
Shaking her head, the other girl confirmed what Rarity had suggested. "I wasn't. It just...happened, and trying to keep it in...hurt, not like a surge but..." Sunset trailed off.
"...but...?"
A shiver passed through her. "Like hooks were trying to pull my soul in separate directions." Blue-green eyes glanced her way, and Rarity could see how haunted they were as Sunset whispered, "It reminds me of that night. With the crown."
That was a terrible image--Rarity had spoken of it to no one, not even Applejack, but she had caught a glimpse of Sunset's face before the light had become blinding and concealed her demonic transformation behind its brilliance, and she could not remember a moment in her whole life where she had seen someone in that much agony. "...Sunset..." she said quietly. "Is that what's causing your nightmares? You said before that you feared becoming the demon again..."
The empty teacup was left on the table and Sunset crossed her arms, one hand gripping the opposite elbow in a white knuckled grip. "...I...It's worse than that," she confessed. "...Rarity...I don't think...I don't think the demon part of me was destroyed. I...when the Elements let me go...They...It...told me...I was at a crossroads. That I had to decide who I wanted to be...and then I was falling...I had to be over a hundred feet up..."
Horror was starting to bloom in the tailor as she listened in shock to what she was being told. Those eyes never looked away from hers as the awful confession continued. "...I wasn't just falling, it was like I'd been launched from a cannon...I thought I was going to die...I tried to slow myself down...with my wings."
Wings? The realization hit her like a roundhouse kick to the jaw, and Sunset nodded in confirmation. "...I transformed back into a human after the Rainbow ended...while I was falling...I hit the ground so hard I blacked out...but...the crater I woke up in...wasn't caused by the Elements or the Rainbow of Light."
"...Sunset..." she breathed. "Are you saying that terrible hole was caused by your body impacting the ground?"
Sunset nodded her head. "Yeah. I made that crater. Explains why I hurt for the rest of that week."
Her stomach clenched, nausea making her swallow hard. "Darling...an impact like that should have killed you." It was a chilling statement, one that made her feel like her body was encased in ice.
"If I was human. Or a unicorn." Her expression was grim. "But...a demon...isn't fragile like a mortal." Those eyes became somewhat distant. "I've taken...a few hits...since then. Hits that should have hurt. They didn't. And...I..." Those fingers squeezed even harder on her elbow. "I can see in the dark. Pitch dark. Like it's daylight at noon. Like under the stage at the Battle of the Bands..." A shudder went through her. "...she's in my nightmares...and now...I...I thought it was the sarcastic bitch in me...a snarky part of my subconscious talking...when I couldn't say what I wanted to out loud because...I...it would be mean...or upset someone...but its not. I...she's that part of me. The demon...she's still in here." Sunset's voice cracked. "I'm still a monster."
Rarity found herself out of her chair and rounding the table to pull the redhead into a hug. "You are not a monster, darling," she soothed, letting her friend rest her forehead against her shoulder. "You may have fallen into darkness, but you have become a light, a force of good. You prove that every single day."
There was a noise of protest, of denial, and Rarity shushed her, firmly, before pulling back to lock eyes with Sunset. "Do you trust me?"
"...yes."
She squeezed her hands on Sunset's shoulders. "Then trust me now. You are not a monster. You were once before, for a short time, but you, of free will and conscious choice, turned your back on that identity. You have become more than the demons of your past."
The way those eyes were fixed on her told her she had Sunset's full attention. "I do not know how it is for ponies other than you, but for humans, all of us fight against the darkness inside of us. That darkness may take many forms, as many forms and shapes as there are people...but it is there. In me, in Applejack, even in Fluttershy." She smiled encouragingly. "The important part to remember is that as long as you choose to fight against that darkness, it cannot consume you. Evil is a choice, Sunset. Doing evil, surrendering to the impulses to cause harm...that is a conscious choice..."
"And so is good. You have chosen to be good, Sunset. As long as that is true, then even if the demon is still inside you...it has no power over you. One has to choose to sell their soul, after all."
She could feel the way her friend trembled, a faint, periodic shiver that communicated through her hands on Sunset's shoulders. Biting her lip, Sunset was searching her face. "...why...why aren't you more bothered by this?"
Rarity smiled again. "Why aren't I freaking out or afraid, you mean?" When the fiery head nodded jerkily, she told her the uncomplicated truth. "I am...highly concerned, and very worried, Sunset...but not about you. I'm worried for you."
Sunset trembled more violently, then lunged forward, hugging Rarity so hard that she felt the air squeezed from her lungs. It was nothing on Applejack's tightest hugs, of course, but it was enough that she could feel the way those arms compressed in on her with every breath she took. She wordlessly patted her friend on the back, offering silent comfort and support as Sunset mumbled something indistinct into her shoulder.
Once the arms loosened, allowing her to straighten her spine with a masterfully suppressed wince, Rarity cleared her throat. "Now, I do believe we are at the part where you walk me through sensing your magic and looking for unpleasantness that has latched onto you, correct?"
Rubbing her eyes, Sunset nodded. "...right." She cleared her throat, and shifted to the instructor 'persona' that she used in magic lessons--Rarity had privately wondered if it was a subconscious channeling of the princess who had been Sunset's own teacher, since some of it reminded her a great deal of how their principal carried herself. "The beginning is the same as I've already shown you, where you let your own magic sit just under your skin after you Pony-Up. You're still sensing my magic, but you're going to be going deeper than just recognizing that it exists in your vicinity."
Worry and concern for her friend made it all too easy to Pony-Up and call her magic forward. She could feel it flowing under her skin and in her veins like water that wasn't water, seeping into her lungs and being exhaled amidst the swirls of air. She could feel how it buzzed anxiously, but held it, inclining her head to Sunset to let her know she was ready. Already, she could feel the vibration in the air that she associated with Sunset, like a warm and cheery hearth in one of those historic Victorian era manors...except it was...lacking? Dim? As if the fire had been banked or allowed to burn down.
"Right. Well this is normally where I have you draw your power in and look in yourself...but this time, you're going to take my hands..."
The words became a background buzz, instructions followed but not in focus to her consciousness, especially once her magic, mind, and entire awareness sank into the presence of Sunset Shimmer.
As her initial estimation had observed, the bright warmth of Sunset's power had gone dim, weak, and off in some way... but it wasn't until she was inside the sputtering, wheezing flame that she began to understand why. She felt nothing that could be identified as 'dark magic'...nothing greasy or oily or in any way jarring to whatever perception this sense could be classified as. What she did find was Sunset herself...or what her brain was interpreting as Sunset's...core? Essence? Soul?
Had Rarity been asked to describe it, she would have likened it to a very strange patchwork quilt, unlike any she had ever encountered. The elements that made it up were disparate, unalike...translating to her mind as rough, dark red leathers, golden silks, cottons and wools in shades like autumn leaves, matched together as best as ill fitting and irregular puzzle pieces could be the gaps filled in with glowing crimson jewel shards and stitched into place by magenta light that should have clashed horribly, but somehow...its presence dancing in and out of a sea of fiery shades felt...
Like it belonged there.
Curiouser and curiouser.
With a thought that became action, Rarity brushed mental fingertips against what, to her, seemed a battered and threadbare piece of silk that had been through some hard use.
FLASH!
She was staring up at a towering white form, clad in golden regalia as it stretched brilliant, enormous wings and pointed its spiraling horn towards the horizon, golden magic mimicking the light of the sun that seemed to follow the horn's trajectory in a sunset far faster than ever happened on earth. Childish excitement and joy flowed through her, wrapped up in love for a beloved parent, and she felt herself drum hooves on the white stone of the balcony. "Will I be able to do that someday, Princess?" The question was squeaked out in a little girl's voice, slow and careful to avoid slurring sounds wrong.
And then the being--Princess Celestia, with her impossibly flowing mane and the principal's voice--smiled back at her. "I do not know, my little sun," she said in a voice overflowed with a mother's love for Rarity's hearing, "but won't it be wonderful to find out?"
FLASH!
Memories, Rarity registered as she wrenched her perception free of the images of being in Sunset's own past.
If they were memories...then...tentatively, she touched her mental hand to one of the dark red leather.
FLASH!
She was looking at Princess Twilight, who seemed uncertain. "I could try to write one?" she offered hesitantly.
It could work, Sunset's voice echoed from around her, like a television voice over. The girls' magic does feel like Harmony magic, and she does know Friendship Magic, what with being the Bearer of Magic...
Still... Sunset's voice continued, and worry flickered in her chest. Writing a spell from scratch is hard. Yeah, I've done it, but...I'm good enough to make it my Archmagus Mastery...even if I used it for petty reasons. Most ponies aren't...and Twilight's better at theory than she is at something that requires flexibility and outside the box thinking. I dont envy her here...but...will she want my help?
Then Spike spoke up, and she felt cold all over. "Totally! Twilight can write a spell like it's nobody's business! That's pretty much how she got to be a princess in Equestria!"
What?
She earned Ascension how??
"Technically, I helped finish a spell..."
Fury like Rarity had never felt before exploded inside her, the edges of her vision turning red from the effort it took to restrain herself. It burned, to the point that her bones felt like they were melting--was this what her friend lived with? Emotions that caused physical agony?
Of all the moon-banished, yak-brained, half-baked, diamond-dog rutted piles of minotaur shit...Ascension. Because she finished a spell.
Rage and hatred choked her, black and clawing until she thought she was going to cry...she couldn't breathe as Sunset's echoing voice raged around her, competing with the way Princess Twilight argued with Spike, and it took her forever to pull back from the memory fragment that was so very different from the one in her own recollection.
FLASH!
Rarity felt her body shudder in the outer world, and Sunset trying to pull her hands away. Grimly, she held on and reached for one of the autumn leaf shades. She had to know this was all Sunset, because she knew that reassurance would matter to her friend...knew her need for it was greater than the guilt of this somewhat intentional invasion of privacy.
FLASH!
She had braced herself for another memory that jarred her, but this was...nothing like that. She dimly perceived cold air at her face, but she was warm, with a slighter form pressed close under a blanket on a hilltop. It was night and the sky filled with stars, including plenty that shot across the smokey void in a dazzling light show. The sweet taste of berries lingered on her tongue, and her nose was full of the scent of honeysuckle and old books--strange combination, but one that filled the memory with a fluttery lightness. The person with her was a happy ball of energy, making use of a complicated telescope setup to enjoy the heavenly light show, and it made her lips curl into a happy smile.
Rarity understood now what Sunset had meant about the night vision, with the desaturated colors...not black and white, but definitely not the brilliance of the previous memories or her own sight. Her eyes were turned skyward to observe the stars, her throat making a noise that was one of pleasure and joy. The moment was perfect and wonderful, and Rarity knew she would feel guilt later for peeking in on something so clearly intimate.
And then the girl in the memory leaned close just as her head turned, and she knew what it felt like to kiss Twilight Sparkle as Sunset Shimmer.
FLASH!
It took Rarity a moment to reorient herself after that memory, to remember who she really was. Sunset's emotions--even the positive ones--were intense and overpowering. She loved Applejack dearly, but what she had felt from the memory of what was clearly a date with the human Twilight Sparkle...
That was the all-consuming passion and burning intensity poets and lyricists had been trying to capture with words for thousands of years, and experiencing it, even second-hand for a bare minute had left Rarity feeling... exhausted.
One more, she decided, and then she would have enough to confirm that Sunset was not infected or influenced by something dark or evil. With determination, she touched a glowing crimson shard.
No flash. No memories to experience. Only magic, warmth, and...something about it all felt...familiar. Her own magic brightened, and Rarity knew in a way that went beyond instinct that this was no evil thing.
Was this Sunset's magic? The magic that let her pony-up with the rest of them?
Yes...
Yes, it was.
Exhaling a breath held far too long, Rarity broke the connection and opened her eyes to the real world, feeling even more exhausted than she had thought, staring into frantic and distressed eyes. "I'm...alright, Sunset," she assured, before the other girl could speak. "Just...more tired from it than I thought I'd be."
Despite the attempt at soothing Sunset's agitation, her friend checked her over thoroughly. "Are you sure? No headache or pain? Your hands were like ice and you went...gray. Like you were going to be sick." She chewed on her own thumbnail as Rarity shooed her hands away and sat up straighter. "Anypony who tried that before got hurt, somehow...I shouldn't have let you...I don't want to hurt my friends!"
"Sunset," Rarity said with more bite than intended, shocking the unicorn-in-human-form into silence. "I am unharmed--what I saw was...disorienting, and perhaps a touch overwhelming, but it caused me no pain. Your magic did not attack me." She offered a tired smile, already starting to feel a little better. "I do believe our supposition from when we discussed this before may have been correct."
Blue-green eyes blinked at her. "What?"
"Some time ago, when we discussed the subject of how your magic typically reacted to intrusion...it was suggested that perhaps the reaction was not a case of unstable magic, but trust." Without thinking, Rarity took her purse off the nearby counter and dug into it for some of those magical energy bars that Princess Twilight had given them. Unwrapping one and taking a bite, she gave that a few seconds for Sunset to absorb. "Your trust, darling. You trusted me--you said yourself, we are friends, and that you do trust me. That was the deciding factor, I suspect--I found your magic and it did not assault me. It treated me as a welcome guest...our magic recognized each other, and offered strength and support, not violence."
Sunset settled back into her chair, relief etched on her features. "...thank the stars..." she sighed, shoulders going from hunched to slack and slumped. "I tried to break the connection, but you...you wouldn't let me."
Rarity nodded. "Because I was still investigating, and I did not wish to leave without the answers you needed." She took a deep breath. "I do want to apologize for a bit of breach of privacy while I was looking for dark magic on your person. In the process I was...privy to snatches of your memories and emotions."
Shoulders stiffened and Sunset sucked in a breath. "What did you see?" she asked warily.
"Some brief moments from your early life and your perspective of some recent events..." She frowned. "To which I feel I must apologize--I was a poor friend to you during our issue with the Dazzlings. It never occurred to me that you would have such a deep struggle with Twilight and how we acted towards her." The tailor weighed whether or not to address the final memory she'd encountered, but the expression on Sunset's face told her that it was perhaps best to broach that subject at a later date. "Though perhaps, given what you have told us about your time in Equestria, it should have."
Looking away, the other girl sighed. "...I'm sorry you had to see that. I never wanted anyone else to know. It's why I went back to my place for a bit that first night. It helped me put my head on straight."
One hand reached out to squeeze an amber skinned forearm. "Sunset, darling, you have no reason to apologize. You also had every right to be upset, since it seems to me that Equestria and your own people never treated you fairly. It has certainly left me with...opinions...on your native society and culture." A grimace pulled at her features. "That being said, I do apologize for the violation of your privacy--I wished to make sure all of what I was...perceiving...was you."
Eyes narrowed at that. "What do you mean?"
Exhaling, Rarity did her best to describe the patchwork quilt nature of Sunset's inner magic and self. "It...was beautiful in its own way, darling, and very you, but...so many unrelated seeming pieces stitched together like that, and your concerns about your personal demon being present...I wanted to make sure that it was truly all you."
Sunset rubbed her face. "I guess it shouldn't surprise me to learn my soul and my magic are both as much a mess as it sometimes feels like I am."
She hummed thoughtfully. "I wouldn't say 'mess,' really. Some parts were...marred by damage--I suspect that is the 'scarring' you referred to caused by your past transformation--but...Sunset...for all it was like a quilt of many pieces, the whole was truly beautiful and good, and the magic in it was bright and warm." That got Sunset's focus, and Rarity patted the arm under her hand. "I found no trace of anything I would call dark or evil. Not clinging to you...or as part of you."
Disbelief and self-recrimination colored the snort that Sunset let out and was laced through her words. "I know what I've been fighting against, what I've been hearing," she countered.
"And I believe you, darling, I do...but I also believe that you are thoroughly in control of it, and less at risk than you believe yourself to be." Rarity gathered her thoughts into some semblance of order. "If I may, Sunset, I have a theory of what is happening and why, and a suggestion for helping to alleviate some of it."
The redhead was back to gripping her elbow. "...guess it can't hurt. What's your theory?"
Rarity sighed. "That you are trying to do too much." At the somewhat frustrated expression, she held up a hand. "Let me explain. You have a great deal on your shoulders right now, and you have been trying to do it all yourself since the Battle of the Bands. Some of that is understandable, given your unique...qualifications. But when was the last time you really took a break for some self-care? Had a day where you did not do anything for anyone but you? Where you weren't working on one of the myriad projects involving magic, or the homework I know you are loaded down with, being in AP courses, or supporting the efforts of your friends...and also not engaging in the managing of your finances and investments? When was the last day where you were able to sleep in and do nothing but relax?"
Silence, uncomfortable and strained. "...I had a day on the weekend I left town," she finally said--somewhat evasively. Rarity wondered if she had spent the weekend in question with her secret paramour, and decided that it was a likely explanation.
However, that was not the point of her questioning, and she let the opportunity pass by with some restraint. "And before that, darling?"
Sunset didn't answer for a long time. "...I don't know," she said at last. "Maybe New Years?"
"Darling...I know you have many reasons for driving yourself like this, not the least of which is your passionate, determined personality...but you need to take a break. Being on a hair trigger, overworked and overstressed...it's not healthy, Sunset, and I cannot help but wonder if a good part of what is happening to your magic is because you have stretched yourself too thin."
Shaking her head, Sunset argued back. "Rarity, I can't take a break now. The Games are in less than two weeks, we still don't know what might happen there, and on top of protecting the school, I have to train you girls." There was no heat in her words, only a touch of the exhaustion Rarity could see, and a hint of anxiety and frustration that bordered on tears.
She took shaking hands in her own. "Sunset," she said firmly. "You are on the verge of physical collapse and an emotional meltdown. You need to let yourself rest...what good will you be to all of us if you do collapse at the Games? You won't be able to fight with us, to defend the school and our classmates while they get to safety if you can barely function. You need to stop burning the candle at both ends and recharge, before you hurt yourself."
"But..."
"No buts," Rarity reinforced. "The other girls and I will be fine practicing what we already know how to do without your instruction for a few days. Applejack and I are perfectly capable of overseeing that...and I will call Flash to let him know that he and Bon-Bon are in charge of the defense group for the rest of the week. I'm also canceling tonight's group practice, so I can see you fed, watered, and back to your place without making you drive in the rain. I can bring you back tomorrow to retrieve your motorcycle."
Defeated and exhausted, Sunset sagged into the seat. "...fine..." she sighed. "For tonight only though."
Rarity shook her head. "For the rest of the week. We can begin final preparations for the Games on Monday." At the sound of protest, the designer shushed her. "Have a little faith in us, Sunset. We will be ready, and we will not let you down...but we will not let you destroy your health to get there. There will be no repeats of the Battle of the Bands."
Blue-green eyes just stared at her, a stubborn tightening to them, but Rarity refused to back down. "I will have your promise on this, Sunset. Monday, no sooner."
It was a battle of wills, but Rarity had grown up intimately close to the most intractable person on the planet as her best friend and partner. Sunset was good, but she was no Applejack. It was Sunset who wavered first. "...I...promise..." she said, and both of them shivered a little as magic hummed in the air at the declaration.
"...are magical vows a thing in Equestria, darling?" She asked her friend in concern.
Sunset shook her head. "...no. That was weird...probably just in response to the emotions. It got...pretty heavy in here for a bit." She crossed her arms. "I won't go back on my word...and I hope you're right about this, Rarity."
"Good. And I must admit, it's a theory, darling...but unless there's some key detail you aren't telling me, I cannot think of what else it could be." She smiled encouragingly. "Now, think about where you'd like to order dinner from, while I make a few phone calls. Price is no concern, since I'm paying. And maybe after, I can get those updated measurements from you whilst we wait on the food. I do have some designs for you I wanted to show you..."
With that, Rarity gave Sunset another hug and swept off to make sure that her friend could have a few days to recover before all Hell inevitably broke loose. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Fifty Two: Where the Silent Voices Whisper... | Twilight sighed and snapped open the slim binder. "Can you hand me the print-outs?" she asked Indigo without turning from where she was placing a divider marked with the date for the week.
"No problem," her friend said, glancing around the room and lowering her voice. "You sure you don't want me to walk with you to the office? I promised Bacon-head I'd watch your back."
"Bacon-head?" That did make her turn to Indigo, baffled. "Indigo, she's a vegetarian. She doesn't eat bacon."
A grin spread on Indigo's face. "Her hair looks like bacon in the right light. And since I still don't like the idea of using her name where the Crystal Prep Goon Squad might be listening in, I'm sticking to random nicknames. Otherwise, it'll get confusing with any conversation about more than one case of she/her."
Shivering at the reminder, Twilight hummed. "I suppose you have a point. I don't like how intensely fixated everyone is on her..."
Indigo adjusted the collar of her shirt. "I'm actually surprised your ex-pal hasn't spilled her guts yet. She seems the type."
She actually found herself agreeing with Indigo. Why hadn't Wallflower spilled everything she knew over the school after the fight? Or had she, and was behind the rumors in the first place, dropping the information subtly and in ways that couldn't get traced back?
You're being paranoid, Twilight, she told herself. "I am not certain...though I cannot help but wonder if it ties into her somewhat 'us versus them' mentality in regards to anyone outside our initial friend group."
The athlete nodded. "Yeah, I guess. Or maybe she wants to get even herself? Some people do that kinda thing."
That thought wasn't any better than her own, and it hung around with the rest of the anxious what-ifs crowding her mind. "Maybe. I don't know Wallflower as well as I thought I did, so I can't really explain her motives." Her shoulders slumped and she rubbed her forehead, feeling pressure that implied a migraine was coming her way. Probably from exhaustion and eye strain, seeing as how she hadn't slept the night before. There had been too much work in fabricating false results to put in her progress report and lead Principal Cinch on a believable diversion. "I suppose, in the end, it matters little, since I have not confided in her for months...not that I ever confided that deeply in her. She always seemed fairly dismissive of my problems or concerns if it didn't have to do with bullies here."
"I'm still not sure how you two managed to stay friends this long. Feels like this should have blown up sooner."
Twilight exhaled slowly. "...my relationship and the individual I'm with proved to be an unpleasant catalyst for her worldview. Said relationship has built my confidence and allowed for a measure of self-growth that was lacking in my adolescence."
Indigo snorted. "Yeah, well if I was dating someone with that much force of personality who was a total hottie, I'd probably be motivated to be a better me too." She laughed. "Which I think is partly why the rumor mill is so stuck on your bike riding lady friend. First look puts the two of you in totally different worlds, and no one can understand how the two of you could ever be in the same..." There was a pause. "place, I guess. Like how a lot of people look at my dad when we go to a pricier store to buy appliances--we don't look like we belong with people who can afford it. Seeing you two together without talking to you, it's bizarre."
"The tough girl from the wrong side of the tracks and 'Princess Twilight Sparkle' strains their brains, hmm?" The irony was hilarious, though Twilight couldn't make herself laugh. Sunset was the one raised in a palace, not her. And it was totally irrelevant to their relationship.
"More like the tough badass with a personality that smacks you in the face from half a court away without a word, and the quiet, introverted genius who has turned the school upside down because she finally started defending herself with both words and actions." Indigo shook her head. "Plus none of their rich trappings seem to impress someone they figure should be tripping over herself at the sight of them. It's stupid, but...honestly? Rich people are stupid...no offense."
She waved the apology away. "I am perfectly aware of what my extended family is like, and I agree. Something about extensive, generational wealth seems to make the bulk of people excessively stupid and ignorant in the worst ways." Then she sank deeper into her chair. "I'm so tired, Indigo..."
It was true, and not because she'd missed a night of sleep. Twilight was mentally and emotionally exhausted...at this point, she would even be willing to say she was spiritually exhausted too--not in the religious sense, but in terms of her normal level of sensible optimism and her...sense of self, perhaps? The months of stress and growing agitation over the project, over her school, over the friction and growing pains with her family, it was all getting to her.
The other girl was watching her with a worried expression. "You...sure you don't want me to go with you, Twilight? You...honestly, you look like shit that the dog tracked in."
That was a rather apt description of how she felt physically, she decided. Like some giant had stepped on her and then dragged her around on the bottom of its shoe for a while. "I'll be fine, but thank you, Indigo. I'm glad to have you as my friend...having you here has helped me know it's not just my brain making things up all the time out of anxiety."
Indigo patted her shoulder carefully. "It'll be over soon, Twilight. Just...remember, it's like lying to your parents--keep it simple, don't volunteer information, and stick as close to open ended, vague statements close to the truth. Someone like Cinch can smell lies and will talk you in circles until you crack. Don't let her."
Twilight made a face. "...I...don't really lie to my parents."
Her friend let out a laugh. "Bullshit! Everyone does. 'Oh yeah, mom, I'm just having a few of the girls over for a sleepover.' 'I'm fine. Just didn't sleep well.' 'Of course I didn't steal the key to the liquor cabinet and drink half a bottle of dad's whiskey.'"
"I really don't though."
Honey colored eyes bored into her. "I suppose then that you tell your folks everything you get up to in private with your leather wearing bad girl? Hmm? All the naughty little details about where she's left hickeys--speaking of which, she...might want to go a little higher on your thigh next time. The edge of it is just visible when your gym shorts ride up."
Heat rushed to her face and she dropped it into her hands with a distressed noise. "You saw? Oh no..."
"Relax. I doubt anyone else really noticed. It just happened right in front of me when you picked up that basketball earlier." Indigo chuckled. "My point is...be careful, okay? Maybe think about secretly having your phone recording things from your pocket? Or...do you have anything like what the cops use to bug stuff?"
Twilight pushed her embarrassment down--a struggle, but Indigo had pointed out some much more important matters she needed to focus on. She could worry about accidentally fueling the rumors later, after her meeting with Principal Cinch. "...I have a tiny wireless camera for my phone," she murmured after considering. "I usually use it for recording things from my experiments, especially small details I might miss with my eyes. Perhaps that as well as audio? As...insurance?"
"I think you should. Your parents are pretty pissed off at the school, but I think Cinch is mad at us too--I've gotten detention four times in the last two weeks when I didn't have that many in two and a half years. Plus Coach is talking about my place on the team, and how I need to think about if I wanna keep it." The other girl shrugged. "I'd wager they are looking for reasons to get us in trouble."
Indigo was right, and Twilight was quiet as she set up the tiny camera before searching for a place to hide it where it would be invisible. Once again her friend had a suggestion. "Use your bra."
"What?"
"The space between your tits can hide the camera, Twilight," Indigo said with a laugh. "You aren't flat chested. Hide it there, and poke the lens through the gap in between buttons, so it's up against this crappy knitted sweater vest. Knitted shit is full of holes by design. Should be enough to see something. And it'll still pick up audio."
She stared blankly at her friend, before considering the suggestion. It...did have merit...she supposed. Her hair wasn't voluminous to conceal it and it would either be reduced to only audio or obvious anywhere else. "...I suppose that will have to do."
What followed was an incredibly awkward few minutes of getting the camera in the right place where it would not move and was fairly unnoticeable, while still picking up a decent visual of something besides her left boob or the inside of her sweater. This was exacerbated by Indigo making her walk and stand and jump around a bit while laser focused on her chest to see if the little device was noticeable.
"I think you're good to go, Twilight," Indigo said at last. "Those little clamps worked. There's a bit of fuzz at the edges from the sweater vest, but...most of the picture is clear."
Twilight picked up her project binder. "Thanks, Indigo. I still want to get your thoughts later...and there's a few places I wanted to check over for some potential evidence. Maybe you could go with me? So I've got a friend and a second set of eyes?" She wanted to prove she wasn't hallucinating...or maybe that she was, at the amphitheater...and maybe she could find some trace of what had been in the video, even if it was proof that it was just a school project.
"Oh yeah, sure!" Indigo grinned at her. "Am I gonna need to bring like...bolt cutters and gloves, or is this the kind of research that doesn't involve a little B&E?"
"Um..." The dark haired girl found herself at a loss for how to take that. "It's a public space?" she responded hesitantly. "We wouldn't be trespassing technically."
Indigo laughed. "Noted, Sparkle. My lips are sealed." Then she sobered, and squeezed Twilight's shoulder. "Be careful, and watch what you say, okay? ...I've got a bad feeling about all of this, and Principal Cinch is at the heart of it. If you have to, you cut and run outta there and you call me, or you call your bitch-boot wearing badass for backup."
She straightened her shoulders, struggling to draw on the confidence Sunset had helped her to find. "I will, but I really believe it will be okay, Indigo." That was the hope, anyway, but the gnawing anxiety in the pit of her stomach felt like part of her was on the same wavelength as her friend. "I'll see you after the meeting? For lunch?"
"I'll be here as long as Mr. Moor doesn't bore me to death in history. It's Magna Carta week, fun." There was a rolling of eyes to accompany the sarcasm as Indigo shouldered her bag.
Once in the hall, Twilight locked the lab door and headed for the office, Indigo keeping pace until she was forced to peel off at her class. The last third of the journey was made alone, with a stream of hostile students around her, some of them trying to stop her with questions, and even more whispering just at the edge of her hearing...
Twilight entered the office with short lived relief, the kind felt by the primitive hindbrain after escaping one deadly situation only to realize that it was facing an even more dangerous one. She informed the principal's secretary of her arrival and sat to wait, going through the calming exercises that Dr. Soft-Spoken had taught her.
They didn't work. As the minutes stretched on, it felt like the flow of spacetime around Twilight had slowed to a snail's pace, with each tick of the second hand on the outdated analog wall clock feeling as though it lasted an hour. In desperation, she tried some of the techniques Sunset had shown her, before and after their self defense lessons, then moved to just recalling memories of Sunset talking to her, looking at her with love and desire, of the feeling of just being with her girlfriend to try and push back the jittery agitation in her nerves.
It helped, at least until her mind flitted to the Sunset of her dreams, the fanged, dark eyed version whose voice was filled with seductive allure, who whispered heady words and enthralling promises in her ear before filling her with ecstasy. In an instant, she was thinking of Wallflower's 'evidence,' of the demonic figure with red-amber skin and flaming hair and eyes that she would know anywhere. As much as she wanted to believe it was some kind of video project mocking her girlfriend, something in her said that it wasn't fake...that the terrifying spectre with the rasping, furious voice was Sunset Shimmer, not someone pretending to be a caricature of her at her worst.
She wasn't sure how she felt. How she should feel. It wasn't identical to her dream Sunset, but the fangs, the claws, the red-amber skin...even the presence of wings and glowing eyes were the same, and that dream-apparition had been stoking the coals of her physical desire for months...yet its actions in the video were undoubtedly wrong...violent, angry...and they didn't make sense. None of it did, by any scientific rationale.
Sunset wasn't a monster, or some kind of winged demon--she was just a girl who had been a bully and had an eye opening experience. People didn't undergo transformations into giant monsters, or summon magical flying unicorns made of stars out of weird colored rainbows by singing. They didn't have eyes like a crocodile and a clear inner eyelid. They didn't use magic gemstones to summon giant fanged fish-horses.
Magic...wasn't real.
Was it?
Was...was that what the energy was? Some hidden power that could be likened to the magic of fairy tales?
Or was this just a hoax, a project to paint Sunset as a monster in retaliation by the very teens she had once bullied? A farce that Twilight was overthinking because she lacked critical context?
The door creaked open, dragging her from her thoughts. Principal Cinch stared down at her a moment before opening the door wider. "Come in, Miss Sparkle." Then she turned sharply and was gone from the doorway, leaving behind expectations and implications in the shadowy portal.
Twilight forced herself to her feet, trying to ignore the unpleasant prickling along the back of her neck and trailing down her spine like icy talons, and gritted her teeth when she put her hand to the door to push it open enough for her to pass through. The hinges protested the motion, a faint creaking that echoed in a fashion that brought to mind horror movie sound effects, of wailing wind and distant, inhuman screaming that was abruptly cut off by some sinister force.
...and she really needed to stop letting her imagination run wild. First she was entertaining magical nonsense, and now this--Twilight Sparkle was too rational to get caught up in silly fantasies.
The office, as it always was, was dimly lit, with only the windows and a single overhead light doing anything to push back the gloom. Principal Cinch stood behind the monolithic oak desk, one hand on the high backed chair as she surveyed the view out the window, ignoring Twilight's presence for a time. When she finally broke the silence, it had been long enough that Twilight had begun to fidget, her heart starting to pound in her ears. "You may sit, Miss Sparkle." Light caught her teeth and glasses as she half turned, a bit of reflected brilliance that left spots in her field of vision.
Still, Twilight sat, knuckles tightening on her folder of falsified data, trying to calm her heart rate and prepare herself for the meeting that had only just begun. She did her best to mask the fact that her stomach was tying itself in anxious knots, and that she wanted to be anywhere but here, even as her principal finally turned and slid into the seat that was much higher than the low, uncomfortable, wooden one she was in.
"Your continued promptness is...encouraging, despite recent...unfortunate events. There are several matters we need to discuss today...assuming, of course, that you are...comfortable...making considerations...on your own?"
Her jaw clenched, swallowing her immediate reaction. Both Sunset and the family lawyers had warned her about this. "Question everything, Sparky," Sunset had advised. "Ask what the real motive is, because it's never what it seems with a lindwyrm." The teen exhaled slowly through her nose, letting her defensive response go with it, and ran through the list and examples the lawyers had given her to watch out for...right at number four was "Implications of maturity: Either suggesting parental figures are incapable of recognizing maturity or that only the person in question can recognize an above-peer-average level of maturity."
What the principal had said certainly qualified, and her knee jerk reaction would have seen her forging ahead in frustration and upset, which did not allow her to think logically. Twilight drew in a slow breath before she answered carefully, "I am here to discuss the weekly status of my project, Principal Cinch." One hand proffered the binder of project notes. "I was unaware of anything beyond that needed to be discussed, though if there is a question about my performance in one of my other classes, I suppose that would also be appropriate use of this time. Was there some kind of concern?"
The principal's features were a carefully schooled mask, giving nothing away, even as she took the project binder from Twilight. She did not answer immediately, choosing instead to read carefully through it. "There is very little here that has changed from your last few reports, Miss Sparkle," she said at last. "I am...growing concerned with the clear lack of progress as of late. Care to explain?"
Indigo had helped her brainstorm several deflecting strategies if Principal Cinch attempted to dig deeper into the data, and she seized on one of the more basic, truthful ones. "There have been some unfortunate setbacks with sample collection integrity, Principal Cinch." When the woman arched one eyebrow and made a motion for her to continue, Twilight sighed. "With such an unknown as the energy, proper procedure in sample collection is paramount to avoid contamination of any results. This is something I am accustomed to in my preferred fields, which involve adhering to tightly controlled conditions and the removal of as many variables as possible in any study...however, the unfortunate truth is that this is less true in other fields, such as my assistant's preferred field of botany, and due to the difference, several batches of samples have been rendered unusable for my work, necessitating new samples and my personal efforts to catalogue them on my own to ensure procedure is followed. It has...dramatically slowed progress."
Uncomfortable silence stretched, eyes boring into Twilight intently, as if weighing and measuring her explanation. At last, the woman arched her brow. "I see. Perhaps I was hasty in assigning your...friend...as a project assistant." She smoothed a hand over the binder as she set it on the desk. "It is a relief, Miss Sparkle, to learn that it is a problem with conflicting research methods and not the result of you becoming distracted from your work to a detrimental degree."
Swallowing a retort, Twilight decided to feel out what the principal was implying. "I'm afraid I don't understand, Principal Cinch. Distracted?"
The tone in Abacus Cinch's voice felt...wrong, somehow, like honey over moldy fruit to try and conceal the taste of rot. "With your...association with the juvenile delinquent from Canterlot High...what was her name again? Misty...Dawn?" When Twilight did not correct her or protest, she continued, "She has been causing quite the uproar in the student body of late, with her...behavior."
"I wasn't aware of that," Twilight responded, hoping she didn't sound as guarded as she felt. It wasn't really a lie--it was not her girlfriend's fault the students at Crystal Prep were fixated on Twilight's academic and social lives to an unhealthy degree. They did that all on their own, no direct behavior or action from Sunset Shimmer necessary. Anything else had been heard second hand from Indigo...or Wallflower, before the fight.
"It has reached such levels that the faculty is now broadly aware of the events and student reactions."
Twilight kept her tone clinical and level. "I find that paying attention to such things is a detriment to focusing on what really matters...like getting this project back on track so I meet the projected outcomes within the allotted time. I have no desire to turn it in for my final grades at the last second." Her face twisted unpleasantly into a polite smile that made her nauseous, even as she followed the instructions of the lawyers to 'be polite but don't give her any information that isn't about the data in your project.' "I was made to understand it's a good form of preparation for the real world," she continued, "and refusing to allow myself to be distracted by engaging in childish games of rumors and social posturing. Particularly after you advised me last year that such behavior is immature foolishness and to rise above it was a mark of maturity. You do have my...appreciation...however, for your kind gesture of concern about how the actions of my peers may be influencing my mental state."
There was something darkly satisfying about the way her principal seemed taken aback for several seconds, as if Twilight's reply had dealt a physical blow. She recovered after a moment's pause, clearing her throat. "...of course, Miss Sparkle, of course...it is important that the students of this school continue to meet our standards of excellence, and it is my duty as the principal to investigate when something may be interfering with that." One fingernail tapped steadily against the folder. "It is...pleasing...to hear that you are learning to put such things into practice and not allowing yourself to be led astray by the masses..." She paused, then continued on with some delicacy, "However, I would caution you to perhaps...take care that your own choices are not inadvertently fueling said 'immaturity'...or engendering a different kind of unpleasant rumor...that would mean unfortunate long term repercussions for your...personal reputation."
Her gut twisted at the words--it didn't take an IQ of over two hundred to grasp what the woman was alluding to with the statement--but Twilight did her best to not react, to remain logical and calm. "I'm not certain I understand, Principal Cinch."
Distaste flitted across lined features so fast she almost thought she imagined it. "Surely you are not...unaware, Miss Sparkle...that your Canterlot High associate's appearance and behavior are such that they will be making a very loud and specific social statement to the more discerning members of society? While I am certain her predilections matter little in the working class sphere to which she is most likely accustomed, when viewed in conjunction with her haphazard and dangerous choice in transportation, assumptions will be made when she steps out of that bubble. I would not wish to see your prospects tainted by your choice in a companion for your experiments into the rebellious dalliances so common in adolescents of your age."
Hearing the bigoted rhetoric being presented as some kind of concerned plea by an authority figure would have made anyone angry in her place, but for Twilight, whose loving, supportive relationship this woman was likening to painting her nails black or getting her lip pierced, it felt like her veins had been injected with ice. It took everything she had to swallow the urge to verbally eviscerate her principal and her hidebound views. She let out a slow, carefully controlled breath, and stuck to the plan. "I am afraid I fail to grasp how a friend's wardrobe choices or economical choice in personal transportation has any bearing on my schoolwork or the opportunities presented to me in my education...and I feel our conversation has deviated beyond the parameters set forth by my parents and my family's retainers. As such, unless you can demonstrate a link I am unaware of between the subject and my active schoolwork, I believe it should be tabled until my parents can be present to discuss your concerns with them."
It had been Indigo's idea to 'play dumb' if Sunset came up, and Twilight was glad that it seemed to be an effective tactic. "With how she harped last year about deplorable behavior in the stairwells after a teacher caught Ruby Broach and Heliotrope Sky in one, she'll probably try to bring up the rumors. You should just pretend not to 'get it," the basketball player had said with an impish smirk, one hand passing through the air over her head. "Just whoosh! Everyone always assumed before that you were oblivious to social things like that. Play it up. 'Twilight Sparkle is far too naïve and innocent and she doesn't care about anything outside of the wonderful world of exams and a four-point-oh GPA, let alone something silly like dating.' Be that Twilight, and pretend that your knight in bitching leather on a mechanical steed is just your bestest friend in the universe--like a sister to you."
She had been briefly bothered by some of what Indigo had said, but having put the suggestion into practice and watching the way it had once again completely put the brakes on whatever angle her principal was trying in the meeting, the dark haired girl was starting to see the benefit in playing up some of her social flaws as a smoke shield. It wasn't all that different from her avoidance of any discussion of dating or crushes to prevent from outing herself...just...more direct than passive silence had been.
Principal Cinch could not hide the faint frown. "...I doubt it has reached a critical point worthy of involving your parents, Miss Sparkle. Consider it merely a tidbit of advice and concern from someone who has seen such things do irrevocable damage to young women like yourself in the past." With that she turned her focus back to the binder, flipping it open again to read more meticulously, one hand absently fiddling with a bracelet Twilight had never before seen the woman wear.
It was pretty, in an old-fashioned sort of way; polished bits of gem set in antique silver, creating a series of hemisphere-like discs the size of large coins, with thickly braided metal connecting them and containing smaller stones. It was the kind of thing that wouldn't look out of place in a number of fantasy video games or movies, and it made a pleasing sound as it shifted on the pale blue wrist, catching the light periodically in sharp flashes and sparkles.
The woman was talking again, calling up a particular piece of data Twilight had falsified and comparing it to one of the earlier reports from before Twilight had become cagey with the information. Twilight found herself giving noncommittal answers, distracted by the bracelet and a growing sense of disquiet in her gut.
Focusing on that, the teen realized the air felt...off. Like there was a change in air pressure, pressing down on her and making the air in her lungs feel heavy, thick, and harder to push in and out or pull oxygen from. It was similar enough to some of the symptoms of her normal anxiety that she could analyze it without panicking, and in doing so, discovered how disturbingly different it was from normal. This pressure felt external, like the shift in pressure during take-off in an airplane, and it came with a tingling buzz at the edge of her senses, an almost electrical hum at the edge of her awareness, never quite actually impacting her nerve endings.
With every flash of light against the bracelet, Twilight fought the urge to wince. It was starting to irritate her eyes, and coupled with her high stress levels, lack of sleep, and the strange pressure, she was starting to get a headache. Closing her eyes briefly helped, and she let herself breathe slowly to push back the pain building in her temples and behind her eyes.
"Miss Sparkle," the principal's voice interrupted her breathing exercise, "I expect your attention in these meetings--my time is valuable and I am not doing them to hear myself speak."
Cheeks heated and she snapped her eyes open, but found herself focusing neutrally on the woman's forehead rather than her eyes. It was a tactic she had used when she was a lot younger and felt uncomfortable with prolonged eye contact with some people. "I apologize, ma'am. I was listening, but the lighting in here is bothering my eyes."
There was a long pause and the woman finally nodded. "Then I will endeavor to make this quick, Miss Sparkle. I was looking at this map you included with notations of various detections of the anomaly, and I cannot help but notice how many are in close proximity to Canterlot High School." One finger traced across the most prominent of the bracelet's discs, the nail sliding smoothly over the surface.
Twilight forced her gaze back to that point on the lined forehead to avoid looking distracted again. "I had noticed that myself, but...while some of it is close, there are enough data points outside the radius--some of them considerably distant and one of them what I have labeled a Type A Event--which is enough to discredit the theory that the phenomenon is originating at Canterlot High."
Even with her eyes fixed on the principal's forehead, she could see the way her eyes gleamed. "And have you questioned any of the Canterlot students?" she practically demanded. "Since you seem to have made inroads there despite their lower class population and underachieving ideology of social egalitarianism, I assume you have had the chance to get more information?"
Irritation flickered, but it was less than the suspicion rising as Principal Cinch focused once again on the students of CHS--or more specifically, Sunset. "From the students I have engaged in conversation with," she said evenly, "nothing unusual or out of the ordinary is occurring at the school itself. As almost all readings in proximity have been outside the building or off the campus proper, I am inclined to stand by my statement that there is not enough evidence to say that the phenomenon comes from the school itself."
One brow arched upwards. "And how can you be certain that the students of Canterlot High have not deceived you?" Principal Cinch inquired. "There is, after all, a great deal of animosity between Crystal Prep and Canterlot."
Her stomach twisted, and she felt nauseated at the question. "I have no reason to believe that what I was told is a lie, and given that my evidence corroborates their stories, I felt no need to look further in that direction. It felt like a waste of time, which is already a precious commodity for me." Twilight hoped that her clinical tone was enough to sell the outright lie she was telling now.
It was a lie, she knew that. Between her principal's unhealthy fixation on Sunset, the way she was reacting to the project, the data she was keeping back or altering in her project reports, and now the unanswered questions created by Wallflower's video 'evidence,' Twilight knew she didn't have the entire story of everything that had been going on at Canterlot High, and how the strange energy played into it...and how deeply involved Sunset was with all of it.
Principal Cinch scrutinized her, frowning. "While the desire to be fair and impartial is admirable, Miss Sparkle, I do question your trusting nature in this instance. Canterlot High students have a reputation of hostility to members of this institution, a reputation that is, at its heart, propagated by the women in charge. They have a familial history of antagonism with Crystal Prep going back to the school's founding, when a member of the family was forcibly ejected from the grounds." One hand smoothed a wrinkle in the papers of the binder. "It is entirely possible--even likely--that the students of Canterlot are involved in their own experiments with this energy, and keeping that information from us with intent."
Twilight had to fight the urge to scoff at how over the top and ridiculous the accusation was. From what she had seen and experienced, Sunset and those around her couldn't care less about the school rivalry most of the time. If anything, it was Crystal Prep students who relied heavily on the Games and defeating CHS to perpetuate their sense of superiority. "While I admit to not always being the best at peer based interactions, Principal Cinch, I did take the liberty of asking some rather direct questions of a friend who was forced to transfer from Crystal Prep to CHS for familial reasons about the school and its differences from here. I believe, given the quantity of information immediately offered without reservation, that were there any occurrences that could be considered unusual, it would have been at the least mentioned during that. I feel that you are reading too much into a situation and that following that line of thinking will ultimately set my project back an unacceptable amount."
The woman was right about one thing--people were not telling her everything. And Sunset was also right. This energy was something she was starting to regret having put forth as a project topic, because it was drawing attention she didn't want. Twilight listened with half an ear as Principal Cinch continued making noise about not trusting CHS attendees about the energy, her brain working on a deeper problem. Somehow, there were answers she needed about the energy being kept from her, but they were tied to the strange videos, the amphitheater, and the Sunset in the footage who had been casually discussing magic, of all things, with a woman who had looked like Twilight's older, bustier twin.
She was going to get some answers, one way or another, she decided, but not for Principal Abacus Cinch and Crystal Prep. These answers were for Twilight Sparkle, to make sense of the circus her life had become. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Fifty Three: Fragments of an Instant | It didn't take much to slip through the gap someone had cut in the fence around the amphitheater, though getting her backpack with all its books and equipment through was a touch more challenging for Twilight. Behind her, Indigo was shaking her head.
"You realize this is probably illegal. Fences are usually meant as a sign to 'keep out.'"
She glanced back. "It's a public facility," she reminded her friend, "owned by the city. If it was illegal, there would be posted signs. As long as we don't perform any acts of vandalism or destruction of property, we're not breaking any laws. At best, if we get caught, we'll be asked to leave because it is getting late."
Indigo snorted. "Were you a lawyer in another life, Twilight?" Not waiting for an answer, the athlete looked around. "Well, they definitely filmed those videos here. Your girlfriend and her pals were on the hill right over there. So what are we here looking for again?"
Twilight retrieved her latest iteration of the detector and fiddled with it. "Some kind of answers. You said it yourself--something is weird at CPA, and Principal Cinch in the meeting this week was far too invested in CHS and Sunset in regards to the project. Plus...those videos, even though they are silly, fanciful...I have this nagging...feeling, I suppose...that there's more to what we saw than some silly project for a video production course."
The other girl was silent for a long minute as they climbed the hill to where Sunset had been in the video. Twilight's detector was beeping at a low volume with increasing intensity and speed. Finally Indigo said, "You...aren't suggesting that those videos weren't fake? That...what? Magic exists and it's being used by teenagers in some kind of rock'n'roll battle? That your girlfriend turned into some kind of pissed off she-demon?"
Sunset's voice came to her from a memory, a flippant remark in passing about her struggles at school what seemed like ages ago. "...I figured they deserved the chance to get back at the Demon Queen of CHS for everything I put them through...so I didn't say anything. As far as I was concerned, I deserved it."
Shivering, she dropped her eyes to the device in her hand and made note of how high the ambient readings were spiking in the location. "...I don't know," she answered in a weak voice. "I just know that there is something big I'm missing. Something key about this energy and why my discovery and research is making waves like it is. Sunset has been cagey about it, trying to dissuade me from digging into it, Principal Cinch seems almost hungry for more information on it, and ..."
Indigo encouraged her to continue. "And what, Twilight?"
Her shoulders sagged. "...and I've run into hints that a third party is covering up anything involving it. Traffic cams and local city surveillance in times and places around the events have been deliberately wiped, and then someone puts looped footage in place of the missing sections. Then Wallflower brings us these weird videos..."
"And you're still digging into this? Sparkle, are you insane?!" Indigo grabbed her arm, forcing Twilight to look up at her. "You could get hurt! This is turning into some freaky X-files grade bullshit!"
Tears sprang to her eyes, and she pulled back, hunching in on herself. "I know!" she bit out, feeling her stress start to overflow. "I know...but Sunny's involved somehow...and..." How could she explain something she didn't quite understand herself? "I have to see this through, Indigo. I need to know. It's like...like something inside me needs to do this--I don't know why that is, but I've tried to stop, and I can't. It won't leave me alone and it's like part of me is being torn out if I try." Twilight wiped furiously at her eyes, trying not to remember the nightmares, or the terrible, wrenching feeling in her chest, the nausea and shakes from borderline panic attacks whenever she contemplated destroying her research, and this awful feeling that she was abandoning Sunset if she went through with it.
The other teen watched her for a long time, before squeezing her shoulders. "...Okay. Then let's get you some answers." Letting go, Indigo began to search the area, squatting down to run her hands over the early spring grass. "There's tire tracks back here, from a vehicle. Pretty heavy one, considering the tires aren't that big..."
Twilight sniffled. "...just like that?" came the hoarse question before she could stop it.
"Just like that. You're my friend, Sparkle, and I promised Sunset I'd watch your back. The first would be enough, but..." she made a face. "...she didn't know me and she trusted me to really be your friend. Just...just like that. No one's ever just...trusted me without proof like that."
The dark haired girl felt her lips turn up into a watery smile, warmth filling her. "...Sunny's...she's got this way of reading people...but also talking to people. She doesn't see it, but she's incredible."
Laughing, Indigo leaned closer to inspect something in the grass, retrieving a grimy guitar pick. "Explains why you're so gone on her," she joked. "Y'know, besides the whole 'sexy badass in leather' thing."
Heat rushed to her cheeks and she fiddled with her detector, trying not to notice the sly smile sent her way. "...can it be both?"
"Absolutely. I don't have to swing that way to say she's got that whole sex-on-legs strut down, and she has so much personality she dominates a room without trying. You should have seen her send the nurse packing with a look and a threat. Bitch almost shit herself in fear." Indigo chuckled. "And then Cinch tried that manipulative word game nonsense, and she just put her in her place. It was like she'd been slapped with an oversized trout."
That earned some satisfied giggles, but before she could respond, she stepped forward and felt a distinct tingle go up her spine, and wind carried a familiar whispery voice to her ears. "She's right, horn-head. They need you, and without you, they fail. They fail, and this world falls into the hands of those things...and so does everyone in it. Not just the school, everyone. Including Sparky. It won't matter if your friends survive and are immune. No one else is."
Twilight shook off the voice, but asked, "Indigo? Do you...feel that?"
The girl was up in an instant, moving closer. "Feel what--mierda!" She shuddered. "That's...freaky. Like tingling? Up my spine, but not bad?"
She nodded. "Yes. And listen. Do you hear anything else?" Twilight could, if she focused, hear music at the edge of her senses, her own voice crying out for Sunset Shimmer, again and again.
"...no..." Indigo said, after a minute. "...but I can definitely feel the tingling."
Looking down at the detector in her hands, Twilight knew she was standing on top of one of the events. "This spot...one of the Type A events happened right here." She rubbed her face. "It can't be a coincidence that this is the exact space where Sunset and her friends were in that video. Either they chose it for the same reason or..."
"...or the video wasn't a movie project," Indigo finished. "Which...raises some questions. Like, what are you going to do if it turns out magic is real? How...how do we even handle something like that?"
A heavy sigh escaped her. "I...don't know...but let's not get ahead of ourselves." Twilight took notes on the detector's readings and snapped some photos of the spot with her phone. "Did you find anything else?"
"Just a guitar pick and some discolored paper fragments. No telling how long the paper was here though. Not with all the rain and snow we had this winter. It's basically just a mess." Indigo shrugged. "Where to next?"
Twilight turned to the stage. "Up there. I tried it once before, but I heard...voices. Music. And ended up having a panic attack. I ran to find Sunset, and have not been back since." She hadn't wanted to come back until now. The feelings that had hit her on the stage had rattled her badly, and she'd gone out of her way to avoid a repeat from that soul crushing longing that bordered on pain.
The other girl studied the stage, before nudging her. "You aren't alone this time. If there's voices, we'll find them, and if you need your girlfriend, I'll call her. Now, c'mon. Let's find those answers."
They picked their way down the aisle, the detector informing them of a lower but still present amount of energy. "This whole place was affected by the event, but the hill back there was definitely a point of some of the highest concentration of said energy."
Indigo climbed up on the stage, casting a look around. "Well, in the video, they created that magic rainbow and unicorn thing made out of stars on that hill like some kind of Sailor Moon super attack, so...gonna guess being ground zero is the reason it's higher there?" She began checking the equipment and behind the curtains. "There's no one here but us, I think, and nothing is plugged or on. Come on up."
Finding the stairs, Twilight joined her friend, and they began searching in earnest, running the detector over consoles and equipment, along the floor and curtains, narrowing down their search...which led them right to the center of the stage. The sharp tingling had returned, stronger this time, and Twilight felt like her hair was standing on end. "Here," she whispered, kneeling on the floor, running her hand over the faint seam. Her detector was practically overheating in her hand, registering the energy so strongly in all directions on that spot that she was forced to shut it down.
"The air feels...electrified," Indigo commented, rubbing her arms. "Like standing too close to high voltage power lines. I still don't hear any voices or music though."
She hummed in response, her eyes slipping shut. Here, amidst the residue of the energy that had been dominating her life for months with its elusiveness and mystery, she could feel something just out of reach, like a memory that should be there, but somehow wasn't--a first for her, Twilight had to admit.
"The Great and Powerful Trrrrrixie is the most talented girl at Canterlot High," she heard an unknown voice proclaim, rolling the r's dramatically. "It is I who deserve to be in the finals...and I will not be denied!"
Distressed cries made her shake, followed by sounds of pain and impact. Twilight looked around sharply. "Tell me you heard that?" she whispered frantically to Indigo, only for the athlete to shake her head in a negative. "...I'm not going crazy..." Twilight focused on the sounds again, straining to hear more, anything to lend credence to her senses.
"...'S darker than the inside of a coal miner's lunchbox..." an accented voice echoed.
And then, familiar and grounding, came Sunset talking, her voice rough from exhaustion and stress. "I'm looking for a light, hang on."
She clung to that, missing half a raspy response and Sunset talking once more. "--not hoarse, and honestly, I have no idea, Dash--I couldn't see this well in the dark as--"
"Twilight?" Indigo asked, worried.
She got up, hearing the last bit of Sunset's voice as she shook her head.
"...worry about the freaky night vision later, Shimmer. Find a light and a way out of here now...Grogar take it...we're locked in..."
Purple eyes stared down at the seam in the floor, and she remembered the video...the evil singing girls had dropped broken necklace pieces here. Was it possible that some had ended up below? That would be evidence she could prove...
They needed to explore below, in the room under the stage. She barely heard Indigo calling after her, as she bolted, leaping off the stage rather than taking the stairs. "Grab something to prop a door open!" she managed, as she began searching for the entrance, finally locating it around back.
Indigo met her as she was getting it open with a heavy duty chair from backstage. "Why...what did you hear?"
"In the videos..." Twilight grasped the door and pulled it open with a few fierce tugs. "Sunset was dropped below the stage...and those evil girls...they dropped what was left of those necklaces right over the trap door. If there's evidence...it's here. I can..." She stopped, unable to complete the ludicrous statement.
As her voice trailed off, the girl behind her wedged the door open. "You can feel it. That's what you were gonna say. It's part of what you were talking about earlier."
"...yes."
The athlete gave the chair a good shove, making sure it was wedged good and the door wouldn't close on them. "Plus you want something tangible to take to Sunset."
Twilight blinked, marveling at the fact that she had a friend besides Sunset who could follow her logic without being led, even if it was mired in other ridiculous notions and impossibilities. "...I...yes...how...?"
Her friend gave another laconic shrug. "It's not hard to figure out. It's what you do--it's why you looked at Wallflower's thumb drive in the first place. You find proof to support your theories before you do anything, and this is a lot bigger than thinking mold grows on bread in the dark or different acids besides vinegar making a cooler science volcano. You need something that either debunks or supports the videos, and that's what you'll take to Sunset, so you can ask her about it, and get her side of it."
She breathed out a shaky breath. "...you think...she would? She...has been pretty vague about answers now that I think about it, and I know she didn't like me investigating the energy to begin with. She...warned me that it might be dangerous. If I bring this to her, you...think she'll..." Her voice wavered and she hated the feelings of doubt creeping up inside her.
"Tell you the truth? I do," Indigo said firmly. "I saw her when she came to get you. She didn't care about anything but you--she was ready to throw hands if the nurse got in her way, and to hell with the consequences. She wouldn't let go of you once she had you, not even to your brother, not when she looked ready to collapse." She ran a hand through her spiky hair. "I think if you bring her whatever we find, plus the videos, and ask directly, she'll tell you the truth. Especially if the worst of the weird is true, and this is some super messed up anime-is-real and our lives are now a comic book, and Cinch is secretly like some kind of evil supervillain."
Twilight couldn't help but laugh at that, even if it was with rising unease in her gut. "You really think our principal has an evil lair somewhere and what? Runs around in a spandex bodysuit on weekends kicking puppies, masterminding jewelry stores robberies, and designing a ray gun to suck the heat out of the sun to power a doomsday weapon?"
The other teen shuddered and made a gagging sound. "Nope. Nope nope nope nope. All aboard the nope train to 'Fuck-this-shit-ville,'" she asserted. "Please don't, Twilight. I never want that image in my head ever again." She nudged her through the door. "Let's see what's in here. You know, besides about thirty generations of cobwebs in the corners, and advertisements for shows from the seventies...yikes." One hand picked up a yellowed, ancient piece of paper that announced a live performance from before her parents were old enough to drive. "Seriously? Nineteen seventy one? Do they never clean under here? I suppose if what happened left anything behind it would be in here." She nudged a bit of debris with a toe. "Nasty."
Unsure if her detector could be trusted, Twilight began surveying the room. Looking up, she could see a bare sliver of light from the edge of the trapdoor, dim but enough to allow her to follow it to where she would be right below the spot on the stage from before. "This is the right area..."
It had to be. The charged, tingling had become a buzzing under her skin like a million insects humming in concert against her nerve endings, and that driving, almost compulsion had led her here without further direction. Her eyes scanned the room in dim reddish-purple lighting.
"...Twilight...I... don't mean to be an alarmist...but...you're glowing."
What?
Twilight stared at the faint magenta light that seemed to be clinging to her. It encapsulated her hands and disappeared under her sleeves, and seemed to do the same on the exposed portion of her legs. And further down, on the floor...
The source of the red light, in scattered fragments of crystal that pulsed softly, a faint and weak heartbeat that seemed to grow stronger as she squatted down. "...this has to be them. The gems those girls were wearing," she breathed.
Indigo let out a sound and tried to pull her back. "Are we not going to talk about the fact that now you are glowing, Twilight? I think that's a lot more important--what if this is radioactive or something?!"
Shaking off the hand, Twilight checked one of her many instruments. "It's not radioactive--my Geiger counter isn't going off."
"Yeah, but last I checked, people aren't supposed to glow either."
Part of her agreed with Indigo. She should be freaking out right about now. But it was a small part, buried under an inexplicable Need to inspect those crystal fragments. They held something important, answers that she needed desperately, more than she had ever needed answers before. It wasn't just the answers to the energy, but the answers to all the holes in the story of the girl Twilight loved, and answers to some aching mystery in the depths of her soul. It was a connection to something she was missing, and she wasn't about to stop when it was within her grasp. "I need to know, Indigo," she rasped out, voice thick with emotion she didn't have a name for.
Lavender fingers closed around the broken shards at long last.
And then there was light, a flash of white that rippled with the colors of a rainbow and left spots across her vision. She yelped and dropped the crystal bits as Indigo pulled her backwards almost to the door.
"This is getting scary, Twilight," Indigo told her. "I think we need to get out of here. It's not worth it--we can just ask Sunset directly. Forget the stones or whatever."
But Twilight was focused on the spot she'd been standing in, as red and magenta twisted into something else...forming images in the air, images of people. Teenage girls, just like them, as different from each other as people could be. Tall and short, rail thin, buxom, muscular, exceptionally pink, all colors of the rainbow, all standing around and clearly very agitated, as though it was in the midst of some kind of argument. "Indigo...look. Please tell me you can see this?"
"...uh...yeah." Indigo was shaky and pale as she stared at the forming images of the same girls who had been with Sunset in the video clips. "This...this is unreal..."
"O'course it woulda worked, Twilight." The amazon in the cowboy hat suddenly had a voice, the same drawl Twilight had heard above. "Assumin' a certain band member didn' try ta hog the spotlight the whole time we were tryin' ta play it!" Green eyes cut in a harsh glare to the only girl who was probably shorter than Twilight herself.
"Hey!" the colorful girl responded in a raspy tone--that had been the one with the sewer mouth from before--retorted. "If you wanna tell Twilight she's getting a little too caught up in trying to be the new leader for this band, you don't have to be all cryptic about it."
Miss Prim-and-Proper stalked up, hands on hips. "She was talking about you, Rainbow Dash!"
"Me!? I'm just trying to make sure my band rocks as hard as it needs to!"
Four other voices thundered furiously at her. "OUR band!"
Indigo swallowed audibly. "I know that one. Rainbow Dash. She's a mega sports star at Canterlot. You wouldn't think a girl that short would be good at basketball, but she's a whole other level, and it's not even her sport. Shes set to take CHS's girl's varsity soccer to states and maybe nationals this year."
"She's one of Sunset's friends..." Purple eyes flitted across the arguing group, spotting the dark haired lookalike in the back against the wall, looking like she was having a meltdown. Twilight could faintly hear her own voice, one that had the same faint accent she recognized in Sunset, mumbling to herself about failure. She was staring blankly, shaking and seemingly unresponsive to everything around...despite the loud and furious argument going on in front of her. Not even the prissy girl and the amazon getting in each other's faces and screaming seemed to register.
But where was Sunset? Twilight wondered, and spotted her girlfriend, looking washed out and exhausted, exactly as she had looked when she had shown up on Twilight's door after the supposed Musical Showcase events. She was staring at the goings on with bewildered confusion and concern, like she wanted to say something but was afraid to.
"Horn-head!" A voice like Sunset's, but dry and sarcastic and more than a little biting rang out from everywhere and nowhere. "Look! The magic!"
A flash of red light made Twilight and Indigo flinch, and everything about the illusion before them changed. The room was suddenly filled with black, bloated tendrils that extended down from the crack in the trap door above like the roots of a rotten tree, hanging down and creeping down walls and across the floor. They stroked terrible, fetid feelers across whatever parts of the girls they could reach, sinking into them like parasites, allowing blackened veins to start creeping up under their skin. Colorful smoke--like a miasma--was drawn off them and back along the blackness, leaching them of some of their vibrancy.
"Sweet Mother of Discord..." Sunset whispered in horror, and that sarcastic tone echoed out again in reply.
"It's doubtful the draconequus has anything to do with it, him or his nightmarish Mother."
"Oh holy shit," Indigo whispered next to her. "You know I was really joking about your girlfriend being a demon. I'm never skipping church again..."
Her eyes were drawn to Sunset, and she sucked in a sharp breath, fighting a strange mix of arousal and shock. Sunset was there, but she flickered like a bad video, uneven and distorted, like multiple versions of her occupied the same spot. Flashes of red-amber skin, of glowing eyes with blackened sclera, and black claws competed with a pony-eared teen with a spiral horn rising from her forehead, faint cracks in her skin like cracks in glass, and both gave way to the human girl she knew and loved.
Skin flashed red when one of the putrid root tendrils touched her and she flinched back, and Twilight watched as scarlet flames burned the offending bit of darkness to nothing. Those eyes raked the room, disbelieving and searching for answers in each of her friends, finally glancing briefly towards the dark haired doppelganger on the floor. Her frown deepened, and she looked away...
Right into Twilight's eyes.
Time seemed to freeze, and it felt like in that moment, the demonic looking, glowing eyed version of Sunset from her dreams was staring right at her through time as well as space. She heard her own voice, knew what she needed to say, even as she choked on the maelstrom of emotion inside her at that moment. "...you don't have anything to prove to me--I'll always be your friend no matter what you choose to do. Friendship isn't based on conditions or a price. It's freely given or it's not real."
Those eyes went even wider in some kind of realization, and faintly, she felt the whisper against her skin like a caress. "Sparky..."
Then the moment was broken by Indigo shaking her and hissing her name in her ear. She blinked, feeling time restart with a jolt. "I...I'm okay..." she said, voice distant to her own ears. Her eyes were still only for the image of Sunset, especially when, as her face took on a determined glower as she stared at the strange blackness, the flickering nature of her form fell away, and Twilight was left looking at the same Sunset that had been invading her dreams. Blackened eyes glowed and red flame raced along that dangerous looking horn and claw tipped fingers, tail lashing behind her savagely and wings of shadow and fire flaring in a display of threat and anger.
Something twisted in the deepest places of her heart and soul, wrenching her awareness painfully with a strange mix of confusion, desire, hurt, and betrayal as Sunset yelled in a voice that thrummed and echoed with power behind it, "Stop! You have to stop!" The blood colored fire exploded outwards in a rush, blinding and bright and so intense Twilight expected to feel real heat. It drove her and Indigo back, her friend pushing her back against the wall and shielding Twilight with her body.
When they risked lifting their heads, the room was dark once more, lit only by a very weak, flickering bulb on its last legs. The images or illusions or memories or whatever they were were gone, and the strange glow had left the broken bits of crystal.
Indigo let out a breath and a bit of a laugh that was bordering on hysterical. "...that...that just happened, right?"
Her mind was nothing but noise as thoughts and feelings vied for supremacy. Magic was nothing but fantasy, yet here she was, at a loss to explain what she herself had witnessed as anything else...especially with the parts that involved her. How had she seen Sunset in another form in her dreams? Was it Sunset's doing, somehow? It couldn't be, could it? Sunset had been so nervous and awkward and focused on Twilight's consent and her own readiness to venture into physical intimacies beyond kissing and snuggling; there was no way she would have knowingly done something as bold as inserting herself into dreams to engage in the very activities that she was not ready to commit to in the flesh...
Another thought occurred to her then. Mental-Sunset. That had been far too real sometimes--it had worried her despite the comfort it brought on, manifesting in those moments when she needed Sunset's support most. Like when she was struggling against the harassment at school...
Or when Polaris had attacked her, she recalled. There had been a second before her own brain had overloaded and gone to autopilot, where she had heard that mental figure scream in rage and anger against the shadows...
Shadows that had been wrong, in a hallway that had felt distorted and warped. Like the school had sometimes seemed wrong, warped, twisted somehow...or how the shadows in her Principal's office sometimes felt like they moved on their own.
But if all that was true...why had Sunset kept that from her? If she knew, why didn't she say anything? Why had she left Twilight in the dark? Did she not trust her? Did she not expect Twilight to believe her? It was ludicrous, but...with proof, she would like to believe she would have. And...if that strange, monstrous looking version of her girlfriend was real...then...what was it? Had it been caused by whatever had really happened at the fall dance? Sunset had alluded to a fall from grace, but...had it all been a lot more literal than first assumed? The doppelganger had mentioned Sunset bringing magic from somewhere else...Equestria? What was Equestria? Some secret kingdom like in one of her urban fantasy novels? Another world like the realm of the Fae in folklore? Some extradimensional place like Asgard in the Thor movie?
...she was definitely not as freaked out by the fanged visage as Indigo was, that was certain. All other reactions to the situation aside, she found the form even more enticing in the waking world than in her dreams...
Okay. That was a thought she did not need to be chasing while huddled with a friend on a grimy floor in some filthy storage room while wearing a skirt.
It was all too much, and Twilight hunched in on herself as she stewed in anxiety, confusion, betrayal, and the side helping of arousal. She couldn't deal with this right now. Not in an exposed area with only Indigo present, in a place rife with the energy she had been chasing. Twilight needed to be home, safe, in her lab, where she could tear apart every bit of research data she had accumulated and go through her private journals as well, to dredge up and analyze everything Sunset had ever said with this new knowledge. That meant compartmentalizing for the moment, and the dark haired girl took several deep breaths as she squashed the emotions into a box and locked it tight in the back of her mind to unpack in a few hours instead of sleeping.
Clarity made her run Indigo's words over in her head again. "I believe it did, though exactly what we have witnessed and what it ultimately means is still up in the air at the present moment. I...need to take this new data that I have recorded, along with the recording from my earlier meeting with the Principal, and analyze them, before going back over previous information. Once I have done that, I can decide how best to bring this to Sunset, in order to hear what she has to say."
Honey colored eyes stared at her. "You're not freaking out, and I am. Why aren't you more freaked out by this, Twilight? Magic is real, your girlfriend is a transforming magical girl who moonlights as Satan, and our principal is probably some magical chaos monster from the moons of Saturn or inside a mirror or whatever..." Indigo trembled, her eyes wide and starting to show the signs of emotional shock. "Oh man...she asked me for a favor...did I end up selling my soul? Ah, madre de Dios...Hice un trato con una diabla...Abuelita se enojará...Es la chancla para mi! ....Estoy tan muerta..."
It degenerated into babbling in a mix of Spanish and English, and Twilight frowned. "Indigo?" No response. "Indigo? You need to stop and breathe." When she continued to be ignored--even shaking her friend didn't work--and she gauged that her friend was not going to stop, she did something she told herself she would apologize for after.
SLAP!
Indigo's face rocked to one side, but the blow had the desired effect as she registered the sting of pain and Twilight. "Ow! What the hell, Twilight?!"
"I do apologize, Indigo, but I didn't know how else to get through to you." Twilight took a breath. "First, I am frazzled, yes, but I am trying to be logical. I can have a breakdown when I am home. Secondly, while I know Sunset's other form was...somewhat feral...I do not believe she is someone to fear. You said it yourself: she trusted you, and she has only ever protected me, at a cost to herself. Whatever we saw, I cannot believe it's in any way like the monsters in myth it resembles. If anything, I would propose that evidence suggests that it may be like a gargoyle or grotesque, a monstrous figure that wards off evil."
The other teen listened, nodding slowly. "She did seem to ward off the nurse and principal pretty good..." Her breath left her in a shuddering sigh. "Okay...I...I think I'm okay, Twilight." She picked herself up off the floor and offered a hand up to Twilight. "...can we still get the hell outta here? This place is giving me the creeps now."
Twilight grabbed a sample bag from her bag once she was upright. "One second...I don't want to leave those shards behind, even if they seem depowered." She hastily used the bag to scoop them up, noting that they seemed entirely inert now. "I can keep them in my home lab, in a sealed container. That way, any other lingering energy is not where random people can stumble on it."
Eyeing the bag with more than a little trepidation as Twilight stored it in her backpack, Indigo shifted her weight restlessly. "Yeah...that's probably smart," she acknowledged. "...are you sure it's dead now?"
"Mostly? They seem inert--no more glowing or indication of active energy. It should be safe to transport." Twilight gave the room one last look, and finding nothing further, started for the door. "Come on. We still have to catch the bus before it gets too late. I'm not really interested in walking several miles home, even if it's not as cold anymore."
Leaving the amphitheater was faster than getting in, though they did have to dodge a pack of teenagers on the sidewalk in Canterlot High sports uniforms on the way to the bus stop. Including a familiar prismatic colored girl that they had just witnessed in the magical playback. For a second, as Twilight and Indigo hid behind a tree amidst a thick collection of bushes, the dark haired teen thought they would get caught by the group--never a good thing when the two of them were in CPA uniforms...except Rainbow Dash's eyes only lingered on the bushes for a half second before she turned her back and pointed at something across the street, drawing the group's attention. It gave the two girls a chance to slip away and board the bus that had just stopped a dozen yards away without incident.
"That...was close," Indigo breathed. "Lucky for us they got distracted."
"...yeah..." Twilight laughed weakly. "...lucky." Except she could have sworn that the colorful girl had seen her right before creating a deliberate distraction. Why, she didn't know. Had Sunset told her friends about her? Last she knew, Sunset had been keeping the details of their friendship as much a secret as their romance, partially because of the school rivalry, and partially because of her own sordid past. Had that changed in the last few weeks? More questions she had no answers to--it was starting to get infuriating.
The bus rumbled along its route, stopping numerous times to pick up and disgorge passengers...but about twenty minutes later, Indigo stiffened. "Canterlot High," she whispered. "...and...you are not gonna believe this. Look."
Twilight did, and found herself staring at the approaching Wondercolt statue, where her girlfriend stood, talking to Twilight's doppelganger...who had a familiar looking dog sitting at her side. As the bus got closer, Sunset shook her head, and smiling, allowed herself to be pulled into a tight, warm hug by the girl who was an inch or so taller than the redhead.
"...she's definitely a lot taller than you, so not an evil twin," her friend joked.
She made a face. "Evil twin? Really, Indigo?" Her eyes remained glued to the scene as the bus trundled by the statue, blocking the girl from sight until it had moved past it.
Except when Sunset came into view again, she was alone, hand resting with a sort of fond sadness on the marble plinth of the statue.
The girl who looked like Twilight and had an identical dog was gone, vanished into thin air without a trace. |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Interlude XXXIV: Through the Looking Glass | "I'm going, Twilight. Sunset is our friend, and it sounds like this dark magic stuff at the other school is getting bad. I'm not going to let you go alone--what if you need my help again?" Spike's face held a stubborn set to his jaw and a glint to his eye that reminded Twilight of her brother when he got protective.
The mare sighed. "Okay, Spike. You can come if one of the girls agrees to watch the journal for our trip back. If not, I need you here."
He beamed. "Already done! Applejack should be here soon."
Twilight stared at him long and hard until he squirmed a bit, restlessly fidgeting his claws together. "...I asked her yesterday, because I didn't want you to go by yourself..." he confessed, not quite able to meet her eyes. It reminded her of when he was a tiny hatchling, unwilling to let her out of his sight, toddling determinedly to cling to fetlocks or tail to avoid her leaving him in the palace daycare or with her parents.
"Oh, Spike..." she murmured, scooping him into her magic to bring him close enough for a hug and a nuzzle of her cheek across warm scales. "I really don't deserve a dragon like you...but I'm so glad I have you." He was such a good hearted little drake, and growing up faster than the alicorn was ready for.
His arms viced around her neck, and she could feel his breath tickling her mane as he made several false starts with something he wanted to say, before settling on, "I'm glad too. You're the best, Twilight." A hesitation, and even softer, "...thank you."
"Am Ah interruptin'?"
Spike let go. "Nope," he said with a happy smile, reaching down to pick up Twilight's heavy saddle bag and helping her strap it on. "Last minute preparations."
Applejack shrugged, choosing not to press. Instead, she tugged something out of her own bags. "Rares sent this over fer Sunset," she said, offering out a slim book and a small bag. "Something about runes and rays?"
"Oh! Runic arrays for protective enchantments! We'd talked about that! I didn't know she'd finished." Twilight took both and added them to the bag on her back. "Tell her thank you if you see her before I do!"
Her friend waved her on. "Ah'll let her know if she comes by. Now, g'wan, before yer late."
Twilight nodded and scribbled a note in the journal to tell Sunset she was on her way, and then set it in the housing to activate the Lunar Lock Mirror. "We should be back by tonight. Time is still a little bit in flux, but Sunset will be meeting me after school, and I doubt we'll be in the human world for more than a few hours. It's a little before lunch now, so maybe dinnertime? Feel free to make use of the kitchen while we're out, of course."
The earth pony grinned. "Ah sure as sugar will! After Ah check the saplings Mac'n'Ah planted outside. Need ta make sure they don't need nothing ta grow big and tall." Green eyes flicked her way. "Any word yet about them deer fellers ya sent a letter to?"
"Not yet, but they do live far away, and a diplomatic courier still has to pass their checks to be allowed into their forest home. I'm sure I'll hear back eventually--I just hope they are willing to help with the trees. I loved living at the Golden Oak, and...maybe if they can shape some of the new trees into out-buildings around this castle...it might start to feel more like home."
She felt Spike hug her as she stared down at her hooves. A princess wasn't supposed to be like this, and it was ungrateful of her to be so negative when the Tree and the Elements had grown this crystal tree castle for her, but it just felt so empty and austere...so...lifeless.
"Don't worry, Twilight. The castle is getting better--if it's like the Tree and the Elements, and Sunset's right, then maybe the castle is alive and learning what we need. Like, it was super cold during winter at first but then after we started making it warm it got warmer in the castle over time on its own and we didn't need to use so many fireplaces all the time!" Her young drake was smiling encouragingly. "Maybe it's like a foal or a hatchling? We have to teach it what we like and what we need? You could talk to Sunset while we're visiting. She might have learned more about the Element magic on her side of the portal."
Smiling back, she flicked the switch to activate the portal machine. "You're right, Spike. Once we take care of what Sunset needs to talk about, we can see what she thinks about the castle." Adjusting her saddlebags one last time, she took a breath and trotted through the portal, bracing herself for the disorienting trip that always left her feeling like her body had been turned inside out and put back together sideways.
The portal did not disappoint. She found herself flung through at speed after feeling like she'd been flushed down a drain and pulled inside out through her left nostril. Her senses were scrambled as she anticipated the hard landing, but warm arms caught her and lowered her gently to the ground.
"Easy, Twi. I've already cleaned up one bloody nose today--Rainbow and AJ got a bit enthusiastic in practice and I caught Applejack's flying elbow by mistake." Sunset's voice was light, but even with her ears feeling like they'd been stuffed with wool, Twilight could tell she sounded tired. And a bit nasally.
Blinking the spots out of her eyes, she glanced up just in time to see the redheaded former bully catch Spike as he came through. Her nose did look a little red...but so did her hands, which was worrying. "Thanks, Sunset. I'm still combing through Princess Celestia's research on the portal to figure out a way to adjust for the temporal variance, but it's slow going with everything else that has been happening. So it's still going to be like getting shot from Pinkie's party cannon for the foreseeable future."
"Yeah, thanks for the save," Spike laughed. "Falling hurts worse as a dog."
Sunset set him down. "I get it. Humans are kind of squishy and fragile." Despite the tired lines and dark circles under her eyes, she smiled at them both. "How are things in Equestria? No major catastrophes or ancient evils cropping back up this week?"
The alicorn shook her head. "It's been pretty quiet since Tirek. We're figuring out this Cutie Mark Map table in the castle, other than that and a few personal research projects...it's been a quiet year." She rose to her feet now that her senses had finished the strange sort of reset the portal caused. "But what about you? Are you okay? You don't look well."
Her friend gave a loose shrug, not quite meeting her eyes. "That's a complicated question with a multifaceted answer. The short hand is 'I'm as okay as can be expected given the circumstances.' Rarity and the girls have made me take the week off."
That was what felt off--the girls were nowhere to be seen. "Where are they anyway?"
Shuffling awkwardly, Sunset half turned away, towards the building. "...I didn't tell them you were coming because I'm not ready to let them know what I need to talk to you about. In fact, come on. We need to get to someplace we can talk without being overheard or seen."
Alarms bells were going off in Twilight's head. Something was definitely wrong. Sunset's behavior was cagey and suspicious, and she was casting furtive glances around as she ushered the two other Equestrians into the school. "Sunset..." she started to say, "...you're starting to worry me."
"Yeeeeeah," Spike added, "because this is totally starting to feel like you're about to tell us something dangerous."
Sunset's protracted silence didn't do anything to dismiss either of their comments. Twilight exchanged a look with Spike, frowning. "Sunset?" she ventured as they reached the second floor.
"I'll explain everything, Twi...but not here." She followed a path to the magic studies room, pushing open a door that was so out of place it derailed Twilight Sparkle's train of thought.
The princess of friendship stared in surprise at the door that looked like it belonged in Canterlot Castle. "Is...that what your magic did?!" she exclaimed. "You described it, but..." Her thoughts swirled. Radiant sun, the door was a work of art as much as it was a feat of impossible magic. She could feel it, the way it hummed and sang against her senses, defensive magics intertwined with the familiar and potent thread of Harmony's energy. Twilight couldn't resist running fingers along Harmonic crystals inset into the door's frame; they felt and looked identical to the ones that littered the earth and soil of the Everfree, and a match for the very material the Tree of Harmony was made out of. A dozen enchantments of incredible complexity and surprising beauty were woven into every part of the door. "...you're right...this should never have been possible, even in Equestria."
Spike walked into the room, looking around. "Twilight," he said. "I dont think it's just the door."
"It's not," Sunset said, nudging her forward so she could shut the door, leaving them in a room that had more defensive enchants than the Royal Treasury. "Our magic affected the whole room. Cabinet, lights, door, walls, even the windows. Everything is shielded and enchanted to a ridiculous degree, and most of it's impossible by all the laws of magic Equestria knows."
Mind racing, Twilight took in the room, already trying to formulate theories. Between Sunset and herself, they had more experience with Harmonic magic and the Elements of Harmony than anypony the last ten thousand years, but it was such a difficult subject to research. The Elements did not seem to respond outside of extreme circumstances in Equestria, and now even that avenue was closed since they'd been returned to the Tree. "This is so fascinating, but so confusing," she admitted to her friend. "I really wish I had other ways to study Harmonic magic. Are the Elements in Equestria capable of the same thing, or is there something missing? And what about you? How does your magic factor into it--it interfaced seamlessly with the power of the Elements magic in myself and our friends, but is it Harmonic or something else? If it's tied to the Elements, is there a seventh Element that has been lost in Equestria? Or is this just an example of world divergence because this world has different needs or humans possess different values? Or are you perhaps taking on aspects of different Elements that are already claimed and just making them stronger somehow? Was your exposure to my Element enough to alter your innate magic somehow, the way it seems to have permanently altered our friends?"
Sunset leaned against the door, arms crossed, thinking. "It's possible? I mean, each of the girls touched the Crown at the end there, during that game of keep away...but so did Snips, Snails, and Spike. None of them are exhibiting bouts of Harmonic magic--or magic at all in the case of Snips and Snails. I've had them come in for tests periodically, just to make sure I didn't accidentally ruin their lives by turning them into monsters. The only thing that seems to have happened to them is that their grades have gone up, and they aren't quite as..." she searched for a word. "...intellectually challenged...as before."
"Which could simply be a result of their exposure to magic repairing any injuries or minor biological defects," Twilight commented. "The way it does for ponies."
The other mare nodded. "That was my thought. Snails noted that they've taken him off his asthma meds--chemical inhalers that compensate for a chronic condition of the lungs that makes the airways constrict under any form of stress or shock."
Her dragon cleared his throat. "...and I wouldn't be affected as much--I've got magic in me already because of how Twilight hatched me." He and Sunset shared a meaningful stare, even as he leaned against Twilight's leg and hugged her as tight as he could in his current body.
Nodding, Sunset ran a hand through her mane with a sigh. "Right. A surge of the strength to bring the egg back from a fossilized state and hatch you would mean your natural magic is near identical to Twilight's in resonance, and you've been present for multiple incidents involving the Rainbow, or at least close enough to be exposed to it already. If it was going to affect you, it likely would have happened before the formal." She blew air out her nostrils tiredly. "Look, what I know is what I've already described--there is something in the girls' essences...their...minds, souls, magic...their cores. Each one is a little different, and seems to make them more themselves...but it also seems like a separate...subconscious awareness? It doesnt think like ponies or humans. No words, no pictures...just...impressions. Ideas, or emotions, I think, that my brain is translating into concepts that are as close as I can get. None of them are hostile, but I can't help this weird vibe I'm getting that they are important to the magic. It's something I'm trying to keep an eye on..."
Sunset's voice faded out as Twilight's mind raced. She turned the data over in her mind, making vague connections here and there as she put the puzzle together in new ways. The suggestion that the Elements had some kind of autonomous sentience, Spike's comments about the castle learning, reacting to the inhabitants...Sunset's description of what she found in her friends...the growth of magic and the way the girls were seeming sources of magic themselves...
Her own words came back to her abruptly. "...is there a seventh Element that has been lost in Equestria..."
What if...was it possible that the use of the Element of Magic and the Rainbow of Light had either woken up or created a new set of Elements of Harmony in this world? Ones that the girls were somehow connected to and drawing on without realizing it?
"...ight..."
Without her being here...someone would have to be the Bearer of Magic...was that Sunset? The unicorn's approach was different to Twilight's, but she definitely served as the leader for the group of human girls now, especially since she'd stepped up as the official Magus to train them and research what was happening.
"...ilight..."
That might explain what was happening...but if there were Elements here...where were they? They couldn't be too far from the girls, or they'd never be able to draw on them, but if they were nearby, then they should be able to locate them with a thaumometer designed for tracking environmental fluctuations--useless in Equestria for finding the Elements because the Everfree was already a thaumic hotspot and massive leyline nexus...or maybe that was the key to--
She was ripped from her thoughts by Sunset's sharp voice close to her ear. "Twilight! Focus!"
Twilight let out an undignified noise, jolting like a startled foal. "I'm sorry..." she apologized, then gave Spike a dirty look because he was rolling around laughing. "It's not funny, Spike."
"You wouldn't say that if you'd seen your face! And that noise!" He let out something that sounded like a donkey being stung by a bee.
Sunset was smirking. "He's got a point, Twi. It was pretty funny."
The dragon continued to giggle in between mimicking the sound repeatedly, and Twilight seriously contemplated denying him dessert for a couple of nights if he didn't drop it. He still needed reminders sometimes about the boundaries for friendly teasing and how far he could push them before it became hurtful. Collecting herself and making a mental note to talk to him later about it, she rubbed her face. "I was lost in thought. I apologize, Sunset."
One hand made a loose waving gesture that Twilight judged by her next words to be a gesture of friendly dismissal of any need for apology. "It's fine, Twilight. All the stuff that's been happening here in the last few months is pretty nuts, and I've got about six new theories every couple of weeks, so I get it." She winked. "Besides, I did make you bray like a zebra who took a wet sponge to the rump, so we'll call it even."
Cheeks hot, the alicorn scowled. "I did not bray."
"You did. It's the human larynx, I think. It can't really hit the right register for some of the sounds ponies make without some definite practice. Happens to me too--Flash, Pinkie, and Rainbow have made a game of trying to get the drop on me because of it." A loose shrug of her shoulders and another smile soothed Twilight's ruffled feathers, and then she offered the much appreciated 'change of subject.' "Anyway, I didn't really intend to discuss magic today..."
Oh, ponyfeathers. Twilight felt guilty--she had gotten so distracted by the magic talk that the real purpose of her visit to this world had completely been set aside. "Right, I'm sorry. I wasn't quite expecting the room. What did you want to talk about, Sunset?"
Amber fingers turned the lock on the door, and the other pony motioned for Twilight to join her in sitting in a couple of the wheeled chairs humans liked. "Right..." Sunset fidgeted, and even with Twilight's limited grasp of Sunset's body language, with its amalgamation of pony and human gestures, she could tell she was nervous. "So...I...haven't really told you everything, and this is kind of a big thing. It's...very important to me, and I'm...I'm not really sure how you're going to react."
Without hesitation, Twilight reached over and rested a hand on her arm. "You are my friend. I promise I will listen to what you need to tell me with an open mind, and do my best to understand your point of view and reasons for not disclosing whatever it is to me sooner."
"Yeah..." Sunset laughed weakly. "This is kind of a doozy though."
Spike snorted, finally over his giggle fit. "Is it a bigger doozy than finding out that she was the only one who didn't know her brother was engaged to her old foalsitter?" he asked snarkily. "Cuz if so, she might need a few minutes after you tell her."
Twilight expected a laugh, not a moment of confusion followed by a grimace. "To be fair, I only needed a minute until I learned it was Cadence. I had no idea who Princess Mi Amore Cadenza was--I thought she was some snotty unicorn related to Prince Blueblood," she explained to Sunset. "My brother is sweet, and I had thought he would choose someone better than...Blueblood, but a mare. And that...you know, he, or at least my parents, would have told me about the engagement in a personal letter...or face to face. I found out via the royal wedding invitation sent by Princess Celestia."
Blue-green eyes widened. "...oh...yeah. No. Um...wow. I'm sorry, Twi. That's really..."
"...it is." Twilight sighed. "My family hasn't really been as close as they used to be since Shining joined the guard and I started staying in the tower at CSGU. I don't think about it much, but sometimes...it hits me. That was one of those times...so I think you should be okay, whatever you have to tell me."
Shuffling in her seat, Sunset gripped her elbow with one hand. "...okay...so you know my friend? The one the girls don't know about?"
"The one going to the school saturated with dark magic that you had to help recently?" she asked for clarification. "The one that has been present when your magic starts to try and surge sometimes?"
Sunset nodded. "Yeah. Her. Except...I wasn't entirely honest. She's...not just my friend. She's a lot more than that."
Now it was Twilight's turn to be confused. "Okay...? That is a somewhat vague qualifier, Sunset."
"I mean we're a lot closer than I am to my other friends."
She considered the statement with what she knew of Sunset, and remembered the last time she'd come through, when the other pony had confessed to being able to interact with Twilight in a way she couldn't with the girls because they were both ponies, and trained magi. She recalled giving Sunset an understanding explanation of friendships being different, but maybe she hadn't quite made herself understood? "Friendships are incredibly complex and no two are alike, Sunset," she reassured. "It's also perfectly normal for some friendships to be stronger or closer than others. Our friendship, for example, has the added dimension of being intellectual peers and colleagues in thaumaturgical studies, which allows for a point of relation that I can't engage with in say...Applejack, for example. Plenty of ponies have some friends they simply are closer to than others for a variety of reasons. If this friend of yours is particularly close because you have a lot of common interests or your personality meshes really well with hers, that's nothing to be upset or worried over. The 'best friend' label exists for a reason...what?"
Wide eyes stared at her, and Sunset worked her jaw soundlessly for a few seconds too long. "...you're...not serious, are you? This is a joke, right?"
Twilight huffed a little. "I would never joke about something like the inner workings of friendship, Sunset. It really is okay to have somepony you feel closer to than others."
"...I...that's not...I mean...yeah, she's my best friend too..." Brows furrowing, she stopped. "That's...not really what I was getting at, at all."
A sigh came from near her foot. "I think Sunset's dating the human she's talking about, Twilight," Spike informed her.
Dating? Mind whirling, she thought back to the awkward attraction she'd had for Flash--once that had faded, she'd found herself wondering why she'd been attracted in the first place. Humans were...an ugly species by pony standards, and she was not particularly interested in romance anyway. She was still chasing down knowledge on friendship, and she wasn't even thirty yet! She still had a decade or two before she would even want to consider anything in regards to that aspect of her life...something she had assumed was likely even more a thing for Sunset, living in a world of just humans.
However, as she studied the other pony, she came to the realization that her logic had been flawed. Sunset, the new Sunset, was vibrant and passionate, and much more extroverted than herself. She thrived in a situation that Twilight had merely acclimated to, in a world surrounded by a foreign culture and species that could match her intensity with their own. Perhaps it wasn't too out there for her to find a human that suited her as a companion and partner...and if that was the case, then this was something worth celebrating--Sunset had come so far from the angry, hostile, violent tyrannical mare Twilight had first met, and if she was capable of finding love, then she had healed and grown far more than Twilight had realized.
First though, she had to verify if that was the case. "Is...is that true?"
Sunset rubbed the back of her neck. "...um...yes. We've been dating since...a few weeks before the Sirens showed up. There's a lot of reasons we've kept it mostly just between us, but...it's...serious. I...really care about her."
Twilight let out a happy laugh and leaned forward to pull Sunset into an exuberant hug. "Oh, I'm so happy for you, Sunset! It sounds like you found your Special Somepony! Why would you worry about telling me? It's something to celebrate!"
Her friend returned the hug, and Twilight thought she was trembling a little. "...I'd like her to be," Sunset admitted in a voice barely more than a whisper. "But...it's a little more complicated than just that, because of who she is." She pulled back from the hug, looking down at her lap.
"Why?" Twilight asked, laying a hand on her arm again--it was as close as she could get to leaning against her fellow pony's side given the circumstance and species differences. "Why does who she is make it harder?"
Blue-green eyes squeezed shut, and Sunset seemed to brace herself. "Because she's this world's Twilight Sparkle."
Spike made a startled sound. "Whoa. Was not expecting that."
He was more right than he knew. Whatever Twilight had been expecting to hear, it had not been that. Her brain blanked for a good half minute or more, before even trying to comprehend what Sunset had said. Her counterpart? Sure, she was friendly with the dimensional counterparts of her closest friends and even mentor, as well as duplicates of various ponies from Ponyville and Canterlot, but somehow, the idea that she might have a copy in this world had never crossed her mind.
Yet here Sunset was, not only confirming that another version of herself was present, but that the Twilight in question was Sunset's Special Somepony--Somehuman? Someone? She'd figure out proper nomenclature later. The rest of it was more important to deal with, because she was trying to wrap her mind around the implications. This revelation meant that on some level another Twilight had seen Sunset Shimmer and found a loving partner.
She felt paws brace on her knee as she inspected Sunset critically. Blue-green eyes were watching her warily, but Twilight didn't respond. The metric for human attraction was unknown to her, but given Sunset's prior popularity and what little she had gleaned from her excursions to this world, she hazarded a guess that Sunset fell under an above average level of physical appeal for the humans...not that she could see it. She had seen her briefly as a mare in Equestria, and in her recent snooping, had uncovered a few old photos, and Sunset had been...unusual but average for a pony. Her most stand out feature had been her mane...but to a lot of ponies, that may not have been enough to make her personality more attractive.
It wasn't that Sunset was a bad pony, or an unpleasant one...but...there was something about her that Twilight could not pin down with a hoof. In any other circumstance, she might have decided that it was simply an expression of traits that had evolved out of ancient ponies with the right traits to be a lead mare: ambition, leadership, assertiveness, intelligence, stubbornness. Yet this was something deeper, in Sunset's volatile temper, which she had witnessed in their confrontation, her drive and focus, and just the raw intensity she brought to the table in every thing she did. Most ponies would shy away from her or end up butting heads with her in a losing battle, from some deeper instinct warning them.
"Twilight?" Sunset sounded worried.
A paw prodded her a few times, before waving in front of her vision. "...Twilight? Don't freak out," Spike offered unhelpfully. "...I think she's about to freak out...got any ideas for how to stop a total Twilight Sparkle Freak Out?"
Sunset's face reddened. "...um...none I can use on this Twilight, only on mine. Sorry."
Spike made a gagging sound. "Gross, Sunset. I didn't need to have that picture in my head."
"You asked."
"And? You could have done with implying that. How would you like it if somepony talked about doing that to Princess Celestia?"
The former unicorn shuddered. "Okay. Point made, but...you do realize it's going to come up in this conversation, right?"
"If we can stop her from freaking out."
Right. She needed to stop this before it got to the point where she would freak out because they kept interrupting her. Exhaling tightly, Twilight held up a hand. "I am not freaking out. I am attempting to process the rather reality altering knowledge that has been given to me." She shifted to squeeze Sunset's hands before letting them go. "I am not angry or upset, but it is a great deal to take in, this idea that another me not only exists here but that you have kept it a secret while getting to know her well enough to form not just a friendship with her, but to be in a long term romantic partnership with her."
"Trust me, no one was more shocked than I was," Sunset told her with a crooked smile and a slight laugh.
Twilight shook her head, only half hearing her friend. The dam had been breached and the words had to come out now. "Yes, but a friendship is significantly easier to understand than you being her Special Somepony. In a way she is me, and I had never considered you for anything of the sort--not that I'd exactly considered anypony for the position in my life. I'm too busy with Friendship and magic...but she isn't, and clearly the two of you have found that you are compatible, and I'm trying to understand exactly how and why that happened, because I cannot see it in myself." When Sunset winced, she hurried to explain, "Not because you aren't a great pony, Sunset...but...I fail to see the appeal, from an internal perspective, beyond your level of intellectual capability and our somewhat shared personal perspectives. While helpful in establishing a rapport as good friends, it does not form the foundation necessary for more in my eyes...which begs the question what am I missing?"
Hopping out of the seat, she began to pace the open space in the room. "I suppose it could be some socio-cultural factors, since humans are so very different from ponies. Or perhaps there's more to your history with her than I know, which could theoretically craft a shared set of experiences that would allow for deeper bonding but--"
Sunset was suddenly in front of her, interrupting her pacing. "Twilight," she said, tone firm and a faint frown on her features, hand coming down on the pacing alicorn's shoulders. "Stop a minute and breathe, okay?" As she complied, realizing that she had been neglecting that somewhat vital necessity during her rambling, her friend guided her back to her chair. "Okay. First misconception I think we need to clear up--she's not you, and you can't think of her that way. My Twilight might look and sound like you in a lot of ways, but she's a completely different person. Her own person. You're similar, but you're not the same, and you can't use yourself to understand or gauge what she and I have between us, okay?"
Her voice softened, and those eyes weren't really seeing her. "She's...she's everything I never knew I needed in my life, and she's been there for me since the night you hit me with the Rainbow...and she's definitely not you, Princess. I might not be your type, but to be honest, you're not mine either. We make good friends, fantastic colleagues in terms of working out magical puzzles, and you're a cute mare, but...you're not my Twilight...and that's a good thing."
Tension leaked out of Twilight, and she nodded, considering Sunset's words. "...I...had not considered that she might be that much diverged from me...that...is something of a relief, I suppose."
"I can imagine," Sunset chuckled. "I had to deal with something similar when you were here fighting the sirens with us. I'd only been dating her a short time, and it...was a bit disorienting to interact with you when I was so used to interacting with her. I managed to sort myself out finally when we talked in the kitchen that night--I realized that you and I are more alike than you and Sparky are."
Several parts of that contributed to the way she arched her eyebrow, but Twilight settled on one of the more egregious bits. "Sparky?"
The other mare turned red all the way to the tips of her ears. "It's...what I call her. She's Sparky, you're Twi. Keeps it separate in my head. Her family calls her 'Twily' but I figured your family probably does that for you too?"
"You...guessed correctly." Studying her friend, she asked, "She really makes you happy, doesn't she? This other Twilight."
Blue-green eyes met hers, and Sunset hugged herself. "I feel like I'm home, Twilight, in a way I never felt anywhere before. Sparky...her family..." Tears shimmered, refusing to fall. "I belong with them. With her."
Twilight couldn't help but smile, and she drew Sunset into a tight hug. "Then I am happy for you, Sunset. This is a wonderful thing, and you more than deserve the chance to find your home and happiness. You've come so far from when we met, and I couldn't be more proud of the mare you've become, even if you've done it as a human."
Sunset leaned into the hug, never quite breaking into tears but still trembling faintly. Twilight let her soak up the hug for a long time, until the unicorn-turned-human pulled back on her own. Only then did Twilight clear her throat and address the bigger picture. "I can see where her being a Twilight Sparkle would be problematic, but...that's not the entirety of what you wanted to talk about, is it?"
"No, it's not." Sunset rubbed her face and finally flopped back in her own chair bonelessly, the furniture protesting with some loud squeaking. "I want to tell her the truth. About me, about Equestria, about magic. About everything. If this is going to work, I...have to be honest." She sighed heavily. "And...that's where I...need your permission...and maybe your help. I trust Sparky's immediate family--I'm sure you understand why I would, and I trust her...but she's stuck at Crystal Prep until she can get a passing grade on her project from the principal--and there's a hydra in the water supply if I've ever seen one. What's worse, her project is on the 'strange energy' she's detected..."
Twilight frowned. "Strange energy."
"Yeah. You'd recognize it as thaumic discharge, courtesy of the Element of Magic and then our big showdown at the Battle of the Bands...she had no idea what she's looking into, and while I'm sure having Sparky involved in my research team can only help, I don't want whatever or whoever is involved in the dark magic at her school catching wind of it. Or Equestria."
Taking a deeper breath, Sunset was on her feet, pacing restlessly--it was her turn to expel some nervous energy it seemed. "The less humans know about our world, the better, Twi. Our friends are wonderful and most humans are okay...but...they scare the horseapples right out of me. This is a species that goes to war constantly over little things, who built a weapon so terrible that their scientists didn't know whether detonating it would ignite their own atmosphere--and then they did it anyway, twice! On enemy cities! Every legend or myth about humans doesn't even come close to what they can and have done, and there's seven billion of them on Earth."
She stared. "Seven billion? That's roughly two hundred and thirty times the number of ponies in Equestria, and we're one of the most populous sentient species on the planet! And why would they make a weapon like that...?"
"To be fair, some of the stuff that happened during the Warring Tribes Era was pretty awful, Twi. And humans...I don't know. It's just how they are. Rarity tried to explain it to me...but I don't understand it because I'm not human, even if I'm more like them than the average pony." Sunset shook herself. "The bulk of them are decent, they really are. They want to be good and be happy and have friends...but some are just rotten, and they have no problem using whatever means necessary to take what they want."
The pacing stopped, and Sunset stood before Twilight, towering momentarily over her seated form, blocking out the mage light crystals in the ceiling. "I...want to tell Sparky the truth, but I don't want to endanger Equestria, and I won't do it unless I have your permission, Princess. I know I don't really deserve that consideration considering I actually intended to invade Equestria with an army of humans, but...I'm asking for it. Not being able to tell her the truth is eating me alive."
It wasn't until Sunset lowered herself to kneel before her in supplication that Twilight realized she was asking not as her friend, but as a subject. It was...disorienting and disconcerting, to have somepony she considered a peer prostrate themselves before her like this--especially because the human way looked so alien. That it was Sunset made it particularly unsettling--even in the moment of her defeat at the formal, she had never submitted like this. This was a mare, who, crying and covered in snot and dirt and bruises, had hauled herself out of a crater in the earth and stood all on her own with only the barest assistance at the end.
What must it mean for her to cast aside all control and what pride remained in her to plead in this fashion?
Twilight swallowed heavily, and reached out, gently, and touched her upper arms, tugging lightly. "Please, Sunset, no...please get up. You're my friend, and friends don't need to ever do this, even if I'm acting in my role as a princess of the realm. Just because I'm an alicorn does not make me better than anypony...just more specialized, and with extra responsibilities."
"I...it's not like asking permission to eat fish at a formal dinner with the deer," Sunset pointed out. "This is a lot more serious than something small, since it could affect all of Equestria and not just me."
Guiding the other mare unresistingly back into the other chair, she gave her a warm smile. "I am taking it with the gravity you are presenting it, Magus Sunset Shimmer," she stressed, using her friend's full name and academic title to drive the point home. "...and as your friend, I would say yes in a heartbeat, because this is a human you obviously care for very much. As a princess, I do want to know a bit more about your Twilight and her immediate family, as well as exactly what you want to let them know about Equestria, so that I can make an informed decision...and you have made it clear I cannot base my perspective on myself and my own family."
Spike, who was now helping himself to a bag of dog biscuits he'd apparently sussed out of Sunset's bag, pointed one at her. "I dunno," he said, between crunching sounds, "I'm willing to bet Shining is a total dork in any universe. Also a pretty awesome uncle."
Sunset snorted out a laugh. "I wouldn't know about the second--the Spike here is Sparky's dog--but Shining is a big dweeb. And a fantastic police officer. He was promoted to detective a few months ago, and he's training under a more experienced detective." She paused, then translated, "local law enforcement, with promotion from street patrol to crime investigation." Her eyes softened. "He's a good guy--and even though he did some digging into where I live and stuff, he treats me like he does Sparky. He's even told people he works with that I'm his 'other sister,' apparently."
While that did sound like the Shining Twilight remembered from her fillyhood, it did make something twist inside of her at the distance that had grown between her and her brother, who was as busy as Prince-Consort of the Crystal Kingdom as she was as the Princess of Friendship. "So he's law enforcement and still plays Ogres & Oubliettes on weekends then?" Focus, Twilight!
"Here it's called Dungeons & Dragons, but yes. He even LARPs...with Vice Principal Luna, of all people. That is, he dresses up as his character and they go play it in the woods as sort of a blend between O&O and theater."
Spike's eyes went wide. "Oh that sounds soooo cool! Wait til I tell Big Macintosh! We might have to see if some others want to join us for 'Dungeons & Dragons!' as a new campaign!" He bounced over to Sunset, paws on her knee. "Can you get me the books? Please? I'll trade you for it?"
An amber skinned hand dropped to his head and ruffled his ears playfully. "You don't need to trade me, Spike. Consider it an early birthday present or something. You want the core set or should I talk to Shining about supplemental materials too?"
His tail wagged furiously. "Anything he would recommend is great! Our Shining taught me and Twilight to play O&O, so I know he knows what he's talking about."
Meanwhile, Twilight was now frowning. "Luna's counterpart plays O&O? How'd you find that out?"
Her friend rolled her eyes. "Oh, that's the part that still makes my brain hurt. So Cady has been telling stories for months about her best friend and former college roommate. All kinds of funny stories, because she and Shining and this woman are super good friends even now. Except, come to find out, when I had to go to Crystal Prep to bring Twilight her meds and Miss Luna took me so that I wouldn't get turned away at the door, I learned that the 'Lu' from the stories was my vice principal. Very weird experience, I assure you, realizing that the woman in the story about drunken antics in a dorm room involved the same woman who hands out punishment at my school."
"Cady?" Sunset knew this world's version of her sister-in-law too? "You interact with Cadence too?"
Sunset winced. "...I...get on better with the one here. I didn't almost set her on fire when she was eleven, so she just knows me as Sparky's girlfriend-slash-best friend."
Her eyes felt like they were going to fall out of her head. "You set Princess Cadence on fire??!" Twilight squeaked.
Guilt flickered across those features. "...no. I set the study on fire and almost burned down a wing of the palace in the process. It...was a surge, and I didn't mean to, but I got really angry with something she said when she showed up for her magic lesson with me. Princess Celestia wanted me to teach her the basics of unicorn magic after her Ascension...I look back now, and I think she was hoping we would be friends...but...well. Spilled oats." She shrugged and rubbed the back of her neck uncomfortably. "If it matters, I feel really bad about it and intend to apologize if I ever see her again. Especially because the Cadence I know has been so nice. She's....really helped me understand what I've been feeling, and given me some good advice on navigating my relationship with Twilight."
Twilight was bothered to learn that there was animosity between her much beloved sister-in-law and Sunset, but she did feel relieved to learn that the human versions of both her big brother and Cadence seemed to be much like the ones she knew. It made her feel much more positive about the situation she was in. "...I'm glad to hear the Cadence here is the same kind and caring being that I know. Are...she and Shining together, romantically, here?"
A smile broke out on Sunset's face. "They got engaged over the holidays a few months ago. I've already been promised a wedding invitation, and Twilight's the human version of Best Mare for her brother. According to Sparky--and her cousin, Glamour, those two have been together forever. Cady practically grew up in their house, because her parents traveled a lot for business or something. Mrs. Velvet didn't really go into it in detail or anything, but I've managed to piece a few things together."
Her stomach felt a little sour and Twilight began to regret the daisy and daffodil sandwich she'd had for lunch. "...what...about...my parents' counterparts? It sounds like your Twilight still lives at home with them? What are they like?"
"...They're great," Sunset began, before taking a moment to gather her thoughts into some kind of order. "I...never really interacted with a lot of stallions that were not members of the guard when I was a filly. There weren't any I even knew by name until Princess Celestia hired Mr. Slide Rule as my tutor when I was five. So I don't know what having a father is like, but...I like Mr. Night. He's dorky too, but smart, and I can see where Sparky gets her humor from. They make these dumb jokes all the time, and they aren't funny, but the two of them laugh like it's hilarious, and that makes me laugh, how happy they are to make silly math or science jokes. He cares...and he's not loud or aggressive like a lot of adult male humans seem to be, but...he's also fair. Shining and Twilight got into an argument with Mrs. Velvet once, and he made Shining go outside with him to explain why he was upset, and then made him take a walk to calm down. And...he listens, really listens, to me, to Twilight. They both do, and they care about my feelings and what I'm comfortable with."
It was weird to hear her friend describing her dad so well, but then make reference to an aspect of his relationship with her counterpart that she hadn't seen herself in years. Twilight swallowed a lump in her throat as she remembered her own dad telling silly math jokes when he'd taught her algebra, and tried to squelch the faint jealousy she felt for both her own counterpart and Sunset for getting to bond with the human versions of her parents.
"Mrs. Velvet...if your mom is anything like her, Twi, you are the luckiest pony in Equestria," Sunset said softly. "She loves her family so much. She's smart too, but it's not the same kind of smart as Mr. Night, and she makes the best meals--she always makes sure to have something I can eat when I go over there, but she...she talks to me, and encourages me. I think the room they gave me was her idea, and when I got hurt from thaumic backlash and needed to have someone make sure I didn't have anything more serious wrong, she was worried." She laughed, but her voice was laced with something that felt like wonder. "Sparky has joked that we have to tell them we're dating before Mrs. Velvet decides to try and officially adopt me."
Silence descended, but not an uncomfortable one. Twilight mulled over what she had just learned, and how deeply what Sunset had said had touched the core of who she was as a pony. In the time before she had friends, her family had been the central foundation of her life...as was to be expected, and she alone could read between the lines of what the other pony was describing, and see exactly what her counterpart's family intended.
The human Twilight Velvet being willing to adopt Sunset...that was no joke. Her own mother was, despite any failings she had, one of the most open hearted and welcoming ponies Twilight knew. And for the mare of the house to make a call like that...
She imagined what her mother's wider family would say to that. Grandma would smile and demand to meet her new grandfoal--grown or not, you did not disobey Grandma or Great Grandmother. Her aunts would probably find ways to make up for missed birthdays, and her uncle would probably keep away to prevent his wife from making snide remarks about how her family's bloodline was too pure to even consider letting in someone without the proper family reputation...but her uncle's wife was also a sour mare whose family had been trying to marry up into nobility for centuries.
...it recontextualized everything, she decided. Sunset wasn't looking to tell them out of guilt, or because they were kin to her Special Somepony. This was a family wanting to add her to their number, who loved and looked after her friend the way they would someone tied by blood... Even as a princess, it was not her place to interfere in family matters like that--and to deny Sunset's request would mean permanently creating a barrier between her and her new family.
She couldn't do it. Not with what she had learned about Sunset since her last visit, and what she and Luna were starting to suspect about the unicorn's past. Princess or not, to Tartarus with Equestria's safety...she could not break Sunset's hope a second time. Sunset had already given so much to an Equestria that failed her, had been denied a family once.
Twilight could not do that to her a second time.
Taking a deep breath, she cleared her throat and did her best to compartmentalize her feelings. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Spike watching her, and knew they would be talking later. Probably at a meeting with Luna. "Tell me about Twilight. Your Twilight." That would buy her time to compose what she wanted to say at the end of the discussion.
"....Sparky's...she's...sweet sunfire, where do I start?" Sunset asked with a laugh. "Like you, she's beyond brilliant and so very talented, though she focuses on math and science instead of magic, and she's refreshingly upfront about what she's thinking or feeling, compared to most humans. When we met, she didn't care that I was an awful person, only that I had saved her from being attacked, and that I was hurting and alone. She...saw me. Just me...and that was enough to make her decide we were friends. That my past was the past, and she only cared to consider evidence she witnessed herself rather than 'anecdotal observation from a third party....'"
Once before, the young alicorn had compared Sunset's smile to Princess Celestia's solar charge, and to the princess herself with how it felt to have that smile directed at her. What happened as she began to speak about the human girl who had captured her heart put that smile to shame, like comparing a candle to the majesty of that self same solar body. Everything about Sunset radiated joy, passion, and love to the point that it flowed over Twilight like a warm summer breeze; the feelings soaked into her skin and fired through her synapses and senses with magic. A pleasant shiver went through her as muscles knotted with months of tension suddenly released, leaving Twilight loose limbed and limp in the same fashion as one of the specialty massages from the Ponyville Spa, with the same revitalized levels of energy.
The effect was so strong that it took her some time to adjust and focus her attention back on Sunset, the other pony seemingly oblivious to what she was doing. "...can't explain it, really, because humans are so horribly ugly, but she's cute--not just physically. She laughs over really dorky jokes and does horrible impressions, but I could listen to her talk all day, even if she was reading the most dry and boring history book in human existence; Sparky just has this way of making it interesting, and she gets so invested in learning and sharing knowledge. We've taken to reading books on myths together, along with stargazing, because humans also tie constellations to stories...and she's been so patient with all the things she knows I'm not telling her about where I'm from..."
She was beginning to see why her counterpart would be drawn to Sunset, if this was even a tenth of how Sunset's presence affected the human Twilight. There was an underlying draw to the warm presence Sunset gave off, as though she could bask in the feelings drifting across her with a gentle push-pull on her own emotions. Her friend truly was something special--Equestria had lost not only a powerful unicorn with Archmagus potential, but a mare of charisma and majesty that rivaled that of both Princess Celestia and Princess Cadence--and it took everything Twilight had not to hug her while she was talking. Even Spike was looking a little glassy eyed, and as she observed, he padded over to Sunset and climbed into her lap, tail swishing in contentment as she started absently scratching his neck and ears.
"....you stopped me from making an awful mistake, and the girls have helped me understand friendship," Sunset was saying, "but Twilight...my Twilight...she's the reason I've worked so hard to change the pony I am. I want to show her I can be what she thinks I am and more. I want her to be proud of me." She blinked rapidly, clearly getting emotional. "She believes in me, supports me, encourages me, and listens to me when I need it. She's my best friend, and I want to make this work, Twi. It's why I want to tell her the truth. All of it, good, bad, and terrible."
Twilight had already made her decision, but this had made her even more confident that it was the right one. Taking a moment longer to arrange the words she wanted to use, she let out a slow, deep breath. She had to do this right, as a princess, not just as a friend, because Sunset had petitioned her as the Princess of Friendship, and that was who was making the judgment call, not Twilight Sparkle, friend and fellow academic.
Standing up, she faced Sunset, expression serious. "I have heard enough, I think, to come to an informed decision," she told the mare in front of her. "You have expressed a desire...and a need, to tell your Special Somepony and her family the whole truth...to reveal magic and Equestria and your own nature as a pony to them. Is that correct?"
Sunset straightened. "It is, Your Highness," she replied formally. "I have learned the lesson that no relationship can be built on a foundation of lies and secrets."
"You are correct--Honesty is not just a virtue in friendship, but in all relationships, and it is an important one. You need to tell the human Twilight Sparkle the truth...and you will. She has a right to know, and you have every right to be the one to tell her. That's my decision, as a princess of Equestria." Blue-green eyes stared in bewildered shock, and she decided to soften it. "Sunset...it is evident that you have found happiness here--a happiness that was missing from your life before, in Equestria. You've spent the last half hour describing in detail your Special Somepony and her family, and how you want to live up to their belief and trust in you. I am...heartened by how your first consideration was a selfless one--the well-being of Equestria and all those who live there--but...you have made yourself a home, a life here, with a Special Somepony and a family who clearly loves you. I cannot--will not--take that from you."
Lifting her chin in a defiant, stubborn gesture that was less impressive with a human face than a proper muzzle. "More than that, I will support your decision and back you against anypony who objects, even the other princesses."
"....I...." Sunset looked down at her hands that were still petting Spike. "....thank you," she finished after a minute.
There was one more thing she needed to say, to make something clear. "Sunset, I consider this no different than if you were still in Equestria and a pony family desired to add you to their family tapestry. You have every right to be part of your family, to have their support in your life, and to share yourself with them, without any outsiders interfering."
The redhead bit her lip. "...but they aren't ponies. Are you sure--"
"That they are a different species or located in another world is irrelevant, Sunset. The truth is, Equestrian law--in actual legal wording, as well as long standing precedent and tradition are clear. Internal family matters are not the concern of outsiders or the government so long as no higher laws are broken. This is not species dependent, and there is no greater law that would supercede the right to privacy in family affairs, other world or not." She gave her friend a somewhat grim smile, one with just a hint of teeth. "There's a few cases that set a precedent, involving foals adopted into cross species families for one reason or another."
Brows furrowing, Sunset nodded slowly. "...I didn't dig too deeply into law when I was at CSGU. Mostly I focused on how to work around the school policies and professors without getting caught. Other than that I was pretty focused on magic."
"I've been brushing up," Twilight replied. "I've got a project I'm working on, and I have also been doing it because it's my responsibility as a princess to understand those things." She smiled brightly. "Now...is there anything I can do to help you with explaining magic and Equestria to your Twilight?"
Sunset's answering smile was lopsided and tired. "You could help me come up with a way to prove I'm telling the truth, if you want. My Twilight is a scientific, analytical mind, and she's going to want to see evidence to back up my words--not because she doesn't believe me as much as...it's just how she is. I can't use my magic, since it's unstable and erratic again. Plus...fire...always a safety hazard?"
Recalling the early moons with Spike, Twilight chuckled. "I'm familiar. We had to enchant everything for Spike to be fireproof when he was a hatchling...and I still make sure all his bedding is, whenever we replace it."
One eye opened. "Sheesh, get sick and sneeze the crib to ash one time and they never let you forget it."
"I almost burned down an entire wing of the castle more than once, and singed Princess Celestia's muzzle fur off on my third birthday," Sunset told him. "It's a legitimate concern for any creature with a tie to fire." Then she looked back up at Twilight. "So...any suggestions?"
She thought about what she would accept as evidence for something outlandish...like Pinkie's 'Pinkie Sense.' "If it were me," she said slowly, "I would want something easily testable that could not be replicated easily by other means. That would allow me to throw out more obvious methods of debunking in favor of more complex ones, and such analyses often follow the principle of 'the solution with the fewest complexities is often the right answer."
The other pony nodded. "I was thinking the same thing, but I don't have much I could show her. I've got myself and the girls, the research equipment, my saddlebag that is now a bookbag, and that's about it."
"What about an enchanted grooming kit? Comb, curry comb, hoof care tools?" she asked thoughtfully. "One of the Ponyville unicorns makes and sells enchanted tools meant for earth ponies and pegasi to use, so they're rune activated rather than needing interaction from unicorn magic. I could send one through the portal--it's only like ten bits for a complete set."
Tilting her head, Sunset considered the suggestion. "That could work. It's fairly basic and humans don't have combs or brushes that style their hair for them. And they use similar hoof care tools for their domestic equines. They even shoe them the same way a lot of the guard does for rough terrain, so that'd be points in favor of proof of pony, too." Her eyes brightened. "Oh! What about the journal? We could let her write to you--you've learned their alphabet here so it wouldn't be too hard to read and write something back."
That was when Spike piped up, never even opening his eyes. "At that point, why not just use me and Twilight? Kinda hard to not believe an extra Twilight and a talking dog."
The two ponies stared at him and then each other.
"Huh," Sunset mumbled. "Why didn't we think of that?"
Twilight made her way carefully down the steps of the school. "I'll stop by Runeworks first thing after breakfast tomorrow," she told Sunset. "And I'll keep the journal close by after lunch. Just message me when you're ready for me to come through."
Sunset adjusted her bag as they walked to the statue. "That'll work, and Flash said he was free tomorrow evening, so I'll talk to him in the morning about the details of the plan. He knows where she lives, so having him drive you over should be easy." Flashing Twilight one of her crooked smiles, she let out a relieved sigh. "Thanks, Twi. You've really helped me out with this. I was sort of thinking myself in circles trying to decide how and when to tell her."
Without hesitation, the princess of friendship pulled the other pony into a hug. "You are my friend, Sunset--I will always do my best to help you when you need it...and something like this? This is something wonderful that I get to assist on, instead of a world ending disaster." Realizing how that sounded, she laughed awkwardly. "Not that I wouldn't help with that too if you asked! It's just nice sometimes to be able to help a friend with something good."
"Trust me, I get it, Twi. After the way this year has gone, I'm looking forward to Spring Break and summer vacation just to have some downtime." A bus rumbled nearby as Sunset squeezed tightly before letting go. "I'll message you later. I might need a last minute pep talk or three if my nerves get the better of me."
"Stay safe," Twilight responded, glancing back one final time as Spike hopped through the portal. "And Sunset? It'll be fine."
The last thing she heard before stepping back through to Equestria was Sunset's timorous, "I hope you're right..." |
Cross the Rubicon: Choices | Chapter One Hundred and Fifty Four: Place Faith in Your Convictions | "Huh...did you know you live about four blocks from Scoots?"
Sunset pushed open her front door, holding it open until Rainbow Dash stepped inside. "Yes. I've known about Starlight House for several years," she admitted. "I don't exactly go out of my way to advertise where I live, but I did learn who lived near enough to me to be a concern."
The athlete watched her for a few seconds after she shut the door behind them. "Yeah, but that's not an issue anymore, so we can totally have sleepovers here now!" She slugged Sunset in the shoulder in a friendly way. "No parents, big open space, and a big screen tv with all the consoles and surround sound! This would be awesome for sleepovers and movie nights!"
She chuckled at Dash's enthusiasm. "I'll...think about it. Maybe after the Games are over and we make sure that we fend off whatever dark magic is going to happen there. Right now there's a few things more important than planning on how to clean my house to make it suitable for guests."
Rainbow Dash sprawled on the couch. "Uh huh..." she said, fishing something out from under one leg. "Seems to me like you have no issues having Twilight over for sleepovers." One hand held up a purple bra. "Seeing as how this is way too small for your tits...and it's too lacy to not wear for show."
In the process of starting up the steps to the elevated loft where her bed was, Sunset stumbled and missed the bottom step. Dash peered over the back of the couch at her, the bra still dangling from her grasp. "Oooooh...that tells me this isn't here from a PG-13 sleepover!" she crowed.
Scowling, Sunset snatched Twilight's misplaced bra away. "So what? She's my girlfriend--we're allowed to get cuddly with each other."
"Uh huh...finally did the Horizontal Monster Mash?" her friend asked.
Sunset stomped up her stairs, not really caring for her friend's choice of comically crude and somewhat insensitive words to describe a very personal part of her relationship that meant more to her than just carnal pleasure.
--Two can play at that game, you know.--
For once, she agreed with the voice. "As a matter of fact, yes." She left a deliberate pause, then added, "Right where you're sitting, as a matter of fact."
Rainbow Dash made a noise and jumped up. "Dude! Did you at least clean the couch after?"
"It's my couch," she countered, "and I live alone." The former unicorn dropped her backpack on the bed and began to sort through what she needed to bring with her when she went to Twilight's in a few hours. "Besides, you were the one being nosy about what we have done--for someone who keeps telling me you're not into that sort of thing, you are pretty nosy about it."
The other girl laughed, and started rooting through her stack of games on the coffee table. "Because you sure as hell aren't going to tell Flash about how going down on Twilight Sparkle gets you going, and if that's how you decided to break your news to Rarity, she would die, Shimmer. That leaves me to be the one to ask. Besides, it's not hard to tell you were ready to explode. So? Was it good?"
She leaned on the railing, looking down at her friend. "...Okay...it was..." she murmured, tipping her head back to stare at the ceiling, "...fantastic. It was right and it was us, and it just happened without either of us feeling...like it was too much." Sunset exhaled, feeling her muscles fight her anticipation induced tension, wanting to relax. "And...it made me decide...to tell her about Equestria."
Silence reigned for far longer than she expected, before Rainbow Dash finally responded. "Holy shit. Are you serious?"
Sunset remained draped over the railing. "I...I've made my choice, Rainbow. You girls...Twilight...her family...even Principal Celestia, Miss Luna, and the rest of the school...this world, and all you insane monkeys..." She flashed her friend a small smile. "You care. You accept me. You don't mind that I'm a unicorn or that I turned into a monster and almost killed you, or that I've brought magic and more monsters into your lives. You still want to be my friend. I go to school, and people welcome me. They fought for me without me knowing, just so I could be on the Friendship Games Team. Twilight's family gave me my own room at their house, they let me spend Christmas and Thanksgiving with them, they treat me like I'm part of their family. Twilight is my best friend...I was still so much a monster that first night, I tried to warn her...and she didn't care. She just wanted to be my friend, and she's become so much more than that to me. This world, the people in it...you want me. You accept me."
The redhead knew she was babbling now, the words just pouring out with all the emotion she'd been trying to contain for months. "I'm in exile from my homeworld, but for the first time since I ran away...that doesn't feel like a punishment. I started out trying to make some semblance of a life here because I had no choice...but now I'm doing it because I want to. Because this world feels like home, more than Equestria ever did."
Running a hand through her shock of brightly colored hair, Rainbow whistled. "That's...that's a lot to unpack, Shimmer....but I get it. And we do want you--we're your friends and you have become an awesome person, even if you're a magic horse. You're our magic talking horse, dammit!"
"Pony," she corrected with a wet laugh.
"Tomato, to-mah-to," was the reply. "Look. You and Princess Twilight are cool, but the more I hear, the rest of Equestria sucks complete ass."
Blinking, Sunset sighed. "Equestria is a beautiful world, Dash, and ponies are not so bad as a species. Just because I couldn't fit in doesn't mean everything there is awful."
With a shrug, Dash fiddled with getting a game into her Playstation. "Maybe not, but it treated you like shit, when it just sounds more like you were a kid with a condition and anger management problems that made it worse. Did they do anything besides yell at you to control yourself? Cuz...that just makes it worse. I've got this cousin, on Dad's side. Kid's like...eight now, but he's got this thing where he just starts cussing people out randomly. Really loud, really nasty...but it's not his fault. He's got a condition that makes him do it, and it upsets him when it happens, cuz he's a good kid and doesn't want to say all that. His folks took him to a doctor, found out he had a condition, and they helped him instead of yelling at him. Yelling just makes it all worse. Any of those other ponies try to do that for you? Or did they just yell and complain and make it your fault for something that wasn't?"
There was no real good answer for that, and Sunset sat down heavily on her bed, holding the magic journal in her lap. "Princess Celestia tried," she admitted, feeling a little raw at the memories surfacing from where she kept them. "When I was very young, there were so many tests, and she consulted with a lot of experts--even a few Abyssinians and fox-folk--but while they could tell her what the problem was, they had no idea how to fix it without damaging me or my magic. Too much magic in too small a bottle, basically, that made it...volatile."
Her friend laid on the couch so she could play the game but also look up in Sunset's direction. "You were a tiny unicorn shaped magic bomb. Heh. Unicorn creeper."
"With less hissing," Sunset said, chuckling at the joke in spite of herself. "And my emotions are...well...you know."
A snort escaped the athlete as she guided a small dragon to roasting sheep. "Right, and that whole magic and feelings feedback loop thing makes it worse, right? But what did they do after that? Besides tell you that it was on you to control yourself?"
--She's got a point, horn-head. Even the princess was just an endless litany of trying to get you to control your emotions so you wouldn't hurt somepony else. But what about the ponies who deliberately tried to goad you?--
What did it say about the state of things when Dash and her inner monster were making the same point?
--That maybe you should listen more?--
Yeah, that wasn't going to happen.
Rainbow took the silence as her answer. "Exactly my point. They didn't do anything but make it your fault...if a 'normal' unicorn," blue fingers made air quotes above the controller, "had some kind of magic surge as a kid, would they have gotten the same treatment?"
Sunset rubbed her face. "I don't know, Dash. I was never normal--nothing about me or my life was ever normal. No other foal was ever documented with a problem as severe as mine. My SET score was beating out some of the most powerful archmagi in ten centuries worth of records before my fifth birthday. My magic was unstable and surges happened all the time for several years past where they normally stop. I wasn't allowed out of the princess' sight until I was five! I had barely even seen other foals my age before I was seven or eight! They never figured out if I even had a family out there, somewhere, but I was too dangerous to let anypony adopt me! Do you know what that's like? What that means, to have nopony but yourself on your family tapestry? I'm not just an orphan--I'm an outcast, and if even my own family didn't speak up to claim me, then other ponies assume there's a reason! That it's me, that something is wrong with me! They barely wanted me around their foals--their foals certainly weren't keen to make friends and tell me what things were like for them."
Arms hugged herself defensively. "I meant it when I said my first friends were here, in this world. That I feel like I can belong here, make a real life for myself, even if it means giving up on ever being in my real body ever again. That's why I want to tell Twilight and her family...so that they know what they're opening their home and family to. If they let me stay after they know everything..." The unicorn-turned-teenage girl scrubbed her face with her hands. "...then I'll know I can truly be happy here. With her. With them. With my friends."
The game paused, and Rainbow sat up a bit to look at her. "Is that why you've been all jittery today?"
"Yeah. It's a big deal...and so complicated. I had to talk to Princess Twilight, for permission, and she's volunteered to help me prove the whole thing to my Twilight. And I just...I have no way of knowing exactly how any of them are going to react..." Forcing herself to her feet, she turned back to the task of emptying and repacking her backpack, sorting through notebooks and clothes and making several piles. "I want to believe that they will be okay with all of it, but...I don't know for certain, and I don't exactly have the best track record."
Abruptly, Dash was there, next to her, an arm slung around her shoulders. "Look, Sunset...one of two things is going to happen when you tell her. Either she believes you or she doesn't. No in between. And if she believes you, then she either accepts you, or she doesn't." The arm tightened around Sunset's shoulders as a faint tremor passed through her.
She couldn't look at Dash, and stared at the cover of the song notebook Twilight had found for her during her outing with Cadence. It was covered in summer constellations with artistic renderings of the beings and beasts around the star patterns, and a sweet yet simple dedication inside the front cover. Written in Twilight's neatest cursive script, in midnight blue ink from her favorite 'space pen,' it read, "Sunny, I hope these stars inspire you the way ours do for me. Yours, Sparky." "....do you think she will?" she asked, running her fingers over the notebook.
Another squeeze of the shoulders settled her urge to bolt and hide, and Dash rested her head companionably against her shoulder. "I don't know your Twilight, but if she's anything at all like the princess, I don't think you have anything to worry about. It sounds like she likes you a lot, and her folks too, if they gave you a bedroom at their house. I don't think you have anything to worry about, even if she has to do like you do and have some alone time to deal with it after you tell her."
The former unicorn had considered and accounted for that, but she couldn't stop the thread of worry and doubt. "...what if...what if it's not enough proof?"
"What? The princess and the talking dog?" Her colorful friend slugged her arm lightly. "Then you call me. My magic is pretty safe, and I don't mind being a labrat so you can get the girl. I'll be there in ten seconds flat, and be the best wingman ever--because that's what friends do."
Stifling a laugh, Sunset tried her best to avoid the mental images that caused, of her nerd in a lab coat, trying to put Rainbow Dash through her paces. "Only if you can promise no rainbow goo this time. That completely ruined my laptop, and her setup is a bit more expensive than mine."
Rainbow flashed her a smirk. "I dunno...rainbow goo would give you an excuse to offer to wash her hair for her..."
Coughing, Sunset shoved her away lightly. "I didn't need your help to do that."
Her friend cackled with laughter. "Kinky."
"Weirdo." She let the laughter fade, before saying, "Thanks, Dash. It's nice to know I have a friend like you."
This time, the smile she got back was open and honest. "You have all of us, Sunset, and we're here for you, no matter what. We aren't going anywhere..." The athlete crossed her arms. "And...if it all goes to shit and she doesn't accept you as a unicorn or because of the magic or whatever...then she doesn't deserve you, and I'll be happy to kick her ass for you...but I don't think you have to worry so much."
Sunset leaned into the hug, grateful for the support from her friend, but couldn't shake the way the offer made her stomach squirm uncomfortably. Thinking about Twilight not accepting her for her she was hurt, she decided, but worse was the thought of what it would mean for Twilight if their friendship ended. She could easily remember how lonely she had been at CSGU, before she'd hardened her heart and retreated behind her anger and hate, how many nights she'd cried into her pillow where nopony but Philomena could see her weakness or how much they got to her...and she could easily grasp how awful Twilight's school mates were to her--she'd seen that evidence first hand.
Without Sunset, Twilight would have only her family again, and maybe Indigo...none of whom she shared her deepest self with, not the way she did with Sunset. The thought of Twilight having to go back to the way she lived before, without her...
"Yo, Shimmer, you alright?"
Something wrenched painfully, and her magic thrummed as the voice hissed, --That won't happen! We won't let it!--
Her inner monster had the right of it. Taking a deep breath, the redhead looked down at Rainbow Dash. "I...appreciate the thought...but...I actually...have a different request...if things go badly."
Brows furrowed, but Dash nodded. "Sure. Whaddya need?"
She pulled away, gripping her elbow with one hand, and met Rainbow's gaze. "If...if telling Twilight goes the worst way, and...I'm not welcome in her life anymore...will you see to it that she has friends in you and the girls? I don't want her to be left alone and with only Indigo for a friend. Please...I know what it's like, and I...I don't want that for her. Can you do that?" Her magic flickered like a candle in a stiff breeze, reaching out to the colorful athlete imploringly, even as blood colored sparks left painful marks on amber hands.
Dash stared intently at her, and the Pony-Up that came as blue digits grasped Sunset's wrist was a relief to the burning in her veins. "I promise, Sunset," the other girl said, not a hint of sarcasm or humor in her tone. "No matter what happens when you tell her, Twilight has a whole new group of friends waiting to meet her."
Magic rippled when she squeezed Dash's hand in turn, like something slotting into its proper place, and the electric tingle of her friend's power caught the sparks and changed them from red to a soft blue white that guttered out. "Thanks, Dash." Sinking back into a seat on her bed, her whole body slumped as pain faded and her magic returned to its semi dormant state.
"Hey, anytime, Shimmer. Besides, it's not like it's a hard ask. Having a Twilight as part of the group all the time is going to be super awesome! Does she play any instruments or sing? We could totally get her in the band! And it would give us a tiebreaker in votes too!" Dash grinned. "I am so stoked! When are you gonna tell everyone else? I know you want to tell your girl first and all but...I'm here to help if you want it when you break it to the others."
Ponyfeathers.
In all the stress of the upcoming Games, planning to tell Twilight the truth, her own magic problems, and all that had been going on for Twilight at Crystal Prep, she hadn't even considered that she would have to tell the girls and CHS students in general about anything. "...I...hadn't thought that far..." she said tiredly. "There's so much else going on right now that it slipped my mind." Sunset rubbed her face, feeling tension build in her temples until it threatened to become a headache.
"It can wait," Dash said, seeming to understand right away. "Gotta tell Twilight first right? And then talk to her about it, because it's kind of about her."
Sunset laughed weakly. "It...would probably be a good idea to include Twilight in planning about a conversation that involves her, yeah... "
The soccer star grinned. "That's because no one ever wants to get couched."
"Cou--you know what, no. I don't want to know what possible meaning there is behind you turning a large piece of furniture into an ominous verb." Sunset turned to repacking her bag with the things she needed, including some of her notes on the local magic, a thing of Sun Bites, and the spare thaumometer. "I need to finish packing--I'm already running late as it is, and Mrs. Velvet was doing Italian tonight. I do not want to miss out on Eggplant Parmesan." Just the thought of the rich, baked and breaded slices of the dark skinned veggie topped with fresh cheese and the vegetarian sauce variant her girlfriend's mother made especially for her made her mouth water.
Curiosity played across Dash's face. "Her mom a good cook then?"
Folding up a pair of jeans to wear in the morning, the redhead made a sound in her throat. "Rainbow, I grew up eating food prepared in the palace kitchens, and I can say without a doubt that Mrs. Velvet is better than all of the palace chefs and pâtissiers combined." She could practically taste the carrot and zucchini slivers that had been cooked in the sauce, to say nothing of the blend of garlic and milder onion and a half dozen herbs all harvested herself from her own garden in the backyard. "There is a reason I had to go up two pants sizes and a shirt size this winter."
Eyes studied her for a minute. "That's not a bad thing. You might've always had big tits, Sunset, but you were too thin before. I just always figured you were one of those popular bitches with an eating disorder you hid from everyone."
She sighed. "Pass me that shirt from the top of my clean laundry basket? No...not an eating disorder. Just a dietary incompatibility issue that means most of the stuff readily available is not something I'll eat."
Dash tossed the shirt at her. "Then it's good someone's looking after you. I don't know a damned thing about being a vegetarian other than 'salads' so..." She shrugged, looking uncomfortable at trying to voice emotions. "I'm glad you have them, okay?"
"Me too. I...just hope I get to keep them."
That earned her a playful shove. "It'll be fine, Sunset. Now...what else do you need to pack?"
Sunset took a breath as she turned onto Twilight's street, repeating Rainbow's final call of support to herself. "Dash is right, Shimmer. You can do this."
--It'll be easier to protect Sparky once she knows about the magic...--
No. She wasn't doing this now. There was too much riding on the next few hours and she wasn't about to risk it to wrestle with her demon.
--Relax. This is too important to mess up...not that self sabotage is ever the plan, even if you are insistent on it.--
The voice needed to shut up and go back to sulking. Or plotting. Or whatever it was violations of sanity and the natural order did.
Sunset could feel that portion of her recoil, drawing itself together as if intending a nasty retort. The former unicorn dropped the kickstand and parked in front of Mrs. Velvet's car in the driveway, and waited for whatever she was about to hear. She expected sarcasm, or a counter insult, or...something...other than what she got.
--Nothing about Sunset Shimmer is a violation of the natural order,-- that stupid little voice said with quiet and surprising sincerity. --You are more than what we were born as, but it was the only way.-- It paused. --And...not that you want to hear it, but...just be yourself tonight. They love Sunset Shimmer, not some image of what Sunset Shimmer should be.--
She sat in stunned silence for a minute on the bike, unsure of how to take that. The voice retreated deeper into her and didn't respond to a few attempts for any explanation...which didn't make her feel any more confident about anything going on in her life, not the voice, not her magic, not her plans to tell Twilight, and certainly not what they were going to do next week about the Games.
Finally, she shook off her stupor and turned off her bike, before adjusting her bag and heading for the door. The existential crisis could wait--she had to survive tonight first. Introducing her girlfriend and girlfriend's family to magic and her otherworldly origins by way of said girlfriend's interdimensional doppelganger and her draconic son was enough of a headache for one evening.
Let her never be accused of doing anything by halves, she thought with a self deprecating laugh, even as she turned the doorknob and pushed it open.
"Hello?" Sunset called out, when Twilight didn't meet her with Spike in the front hall. "Twilight? Mrs. Velvet? Mr. Night?"
Velvet stepped out of the dining room, wiping her hands off on a towel. "Afternoon, sweetheart--we were starting to get concerned. Was traffic bad?"
She shook her head, bending to take off her boots. "No...I got a little sidetracked--a friend came home with me for a bit and I was talking with her about something important. I'm sorry I'm late--dinner smells amazing." While working at the laces, she added, "Twilight engrossed in the lab again? I texted her that I was running a little late...I would have thought she'd have let you know."
Silence, and then Night spoke from her left, in the doorway to the living room. "...you mean Twilight isn't with you?"
Setting her shoe down slowly, Sunset straightened back up. "No, sir. I haven't seen her since last Saturday...she's not home yet?" The little hairs on her neck prickled unpleasantly.
"She isn't, and she messaged earlier saying she was working on her project, that she didn't need a ride right after school..." Night was looking at his wife now, and his expression was unhappy. "She's come home at a reasonable hour every night this week, even if she's spent most evenings in the home lab." He pulled his phone out of his pocket, and dialed a number, putting the phone to his ear.
"We thought you were still picking her up after school," Twilight Velvet said, concern lacing her tone. "She even mentioned seeing you yesterday."
Sunset turned back to Velvet. "I didn't know she needed a ride. We talked about it last week, and she said she needed to buckle down and finish her project--she wanted to try and complete it before the games, I think." Her stomach lurched. "And I couldn't have seen her--I spent the afternoon with a friend who was visiting from out of town..." Had Twilight been looking for her and seen her talking to the princess? Surely she would have noticed that...
Whatever her girlfriend's mother saw in her expression caused the woman to soften fractionally and come forward to enfold Sunset in a hug. "Sunset...it's not your fault," she said, gently pulling one of Sunset's hands away from her mouth--the former unicorn had even realized that she'd started cribbing on her thumb.
"I...I was just doing what we talked about," she said, trying to express something of the unpleasant guilt she felt. "I...had no idea she hadn't told you...I should have...but I've been so busy this week, and we've only talked over texts, and...do you think she's okay?" If something had happened to Twilight, she wasn't sure she could stop herself from burning CPA to cinders and ash this time. Forget the Rainbow...the whole campus and all the dark magic in it would burn from her fury.
Velvet guided her into the living room, where Cadence and Shining were looking on with worried faces. "I believe you, and it's not your fault. We shouldn't have assumed to begin with. And I'm sure Twily is just distracted and hasn't realized how late it is. You know how invested she can become in her projects."
Sunset sank into the couch cushions, nodding jerkily. "Yeah. I hope that's it--her principal has been...really keen to learn who I am since I was there...to the point of even harassing Principal Celestia on the phone. Principal Celestia threatened to call authorities and that made her stop...but what if she changed tactics? What if she tries to force Twilight to tell her about me?" The thought made her nauseous, and made the demon inside her snarl.
--That slimy thing had best keep its claws off Sparky!-- it snarled, causing Sunset's magic to flare dangerously.
The redhead wrestled it down. She couldn't let it start sparking and causing fire now, not with Twilight's family so close. She made a sound in her throat as she pushed everything down, shaking and unnaturally cold after.
The adults were staring at her in concern. Velvet squeezed her shoulder. "I want to hear more about this, but let me get you something hot to drink first, sweetheart. I want you to take some deep breaths in the meantime. Night is trying to call Twily and he'll probably go get her in a minute."
Settling deeper into the cushions, Sunset focused on calming her magic, trying to get the wild power to settle, to lessen the fierce burning in her veins and molten tar that was sitting in her gut, to dispel the cold sensation that felt too much like shock in her hands and fingers. By the time Velvet had returned with a mug of hot chocolate, she no longer felt like she was a breath away from exploding or fainting, but she still felt the shock-like cold creeping in on the edges. "Thank you," she whispered.
"You're welcome, Sunset." Velvet sat next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Now, do you think you are up for explaining what you meant about being targeted by Abacus Cinch?"
A shaky sip of cocoa fortified her enough to start talking. She went into as much detail as she could about the unsettling behavior of the CPA students when she picked up Twilight three days out of five the week prior, of the way there had been CPA students trying to spy on her at CHS--and follow her home, at least once--and what she had learned from her principal, who was very much on the verge of reporting the whole thing to someone a lot higher up the food chain than the school board. "...I'm just worried that maybe she's trying to get my information out of Twilight now," she finished. "I'm not sure why she wants it so bad, but I can't imagine it's a good reason."
Shining Armor narrowed his eyes at her--not suspiciously, or at least not suspicion directed at her--and asked in a tone that gave away his day job as a detective, "Any ideas on why? Even a shot in the dark?"
The former unicorn bit her lip, glad that the obfuscation of what was really going on would soon be at an end. "...I...have an idea or two," she admitted carefully, but did not elaborate.
They were all watching her--except for Twilight's father, who was still in the other room on his phone. Velvet, in particular, regarded Sunset with a serious expression for a dozen heartbeats before asking in a soft voice, "Sweetheart, may I ask you a question about that? I understand if you don't want to answer, but I am asking out of concern for you right now."
Sunset exhaled slowly through her nostrils. "I will answer as best I can," she said after careful consideration of how to respond.
Giving her another hug around the shoulders, her girlfriend's mother asked, "Do you feel that Cinch's sudden interest in you has more to do with something related to your past than the events that took you to Crystal Prep two weeks ago? You don't have to go into detail of you don't want to, but knowing which you believe to be more likely will help tell us how we should handle this as a family."
"I think it's both," Sunset said honestly. "I think that my past is a major factor, but my appearance on the CPA campus made Cinch actively aware of my existence."
Twilight Velvet's brows furrowed in the exact same way as her daughters when she was thinking deeply on something. "Do you believe that it's possible that Abacus might have learned something that means her interest is a risk to you?"
Her next breath was shakier than she preferred, and she wished to the farthest ends of the universe that Twilight was home so she could just tell them and get it over with. Rip the bandage off, as the human saying went. "Without a doubt...which...was why I was meeting with the individual I was yesterday. She's a friend...but she's also the one who could give me permission to tell Twilight...and all of you...the truth. The whole truth."
"About your history?" Cadence asked, toying restlessly with the end of her long ponytail. "The things you mentioned to me before? That you werent ready to talk about to anyone?"
"...I'm ready now. I was ready two weeks ago, but...I had to get..." she hesitated, then decided saying it wasn't anything she hadn't admitted to Twilight on their date day. "...I had to get the princess' permission to talk about it. Some of it involves what are tantamount to state secrets...and I had to figure out how to tell Twilight so she would believe it. So all of you will believe me..." She rubbed her face with her hands. "...I want you to believe me...I need her to...I...I've accepted that I will never go back to where I came from...but...I want to be here, with Twilight and all of you. I want the life I have here now...but you all deserve to know what accepting me really means. And...I want her to hear it first...from me. Twilight is my best friend, the most important human being in my life...she deserves that much."
Sunset glanced at Velvet, who she quickly realized was looking at the living room doorway--sometime during her little speech, Night Light had returned from the other room, and the couple was exchanging one of those looks that only they seemed to understand entirely. Neither looked angry, so that was a good sign, even if her girlfriend's father didn't look entirely happy. Velvet, on the other hand, turned back to the teen with a smile that was present more in her eyes and the joy that radiated off the older woman than it was in the upturn of her lips.
So that was where Twilight got it.
Then she was drawn into a tight, motherly hug--the last time she'd been hugged quite that way had been the night she'd earned her cutie mark, in that nebulous long ago time when she had still had hopeful delusions about the Princess of the Sun. She sank into the warmth it brought to still clammy, chilled extremities. "Oh, Sunset," she heard as fingers carded through her curls. "Of course you should tell Twilight first, and we will listen when you do. And afterwards, we'll do something, all of us, as a family."
Night cleared his throat. "Which sounds like my cue to go get Twilight." Something in his tone was stiff, and it made Sunset pull out of the hug to watch him.
"What happened? Is she okay? Should I come with you?" Sunset all but demanded.
He frowned. "I have every reason to believe she is alright--but she is not just refusing to answer her phone, she is deliberately and repeatedly declining my calls. Which she is not supposed to do. I am hoping that it is simply her fixating on her project and not something more sinister on the part of Abacus Cinch." One hand came up to halt Sunset's rise from the couch. "No. I want you to stay here, Sunset. If you are being targeted by that woman, I will not put you in the line of fire. Shining, would you be willing to accompany me, son?"
Nodding, Shining got up from his father's favorite armchair. "Let me get my badge and sidearm first," he said, already heading for the stairs with a purpose.
While he was gone, Night met Sunset's gaze squarely. "We'll bring her home, Sunset, and then we'll be a captive audience for whatever you need to tell us."
The former unicorn could only nod dumbly, and watch in frustration and worry as father and son walked out the door without her, everything in her crying out to follow them to where her heart was.
> Chapter One Hundred and Fifty Five: There Is No Wisdom Without Regret...
Cables crisscrossed the desk, programs open on both desktop and laptop, as Twilight watched the progress of her program as it fed the monitoring ones normally connected to the various sensor equipment the false data that had taken her all week to come up with. Her eyes kept glancing at the feed that she had tapped into via the school's network--for a top tier private school, their network security was abysmal, aftermarket, out of the box software that barely counted as an antivirus and basic firewall. The feed showed the prerecorded and randomized footage of her in the lab from past weeks, rather than what she was actually doing. She couldn't be too careful...not against the principal, not after what she'd seen. Principal Cinch could not be allowed access to knowledge about magic...or be allowed to sell that knowledge to anyone else.
Her head ached, and she took another sip from the sugary, caffeinated soda she'd bought from a vending machine when she'd gone for her last bathroom break. She could not afford to fall asleep or lose her focus, not during this crucial moment of data forgery. It had to look perfect, legit, and provide records over the week that moved to match the fake answers and findings she was going to turn in.
Forty seven percent. Almost halfway there.
Indigo had gone home some time ago, and Twilight was both glad for the solitude and missing her friend. The athletic girl had provided a sounding board and had grounded her with conversation, keeping her from delving too deep into the thoughts that had kept her from sleeping the night before. Without her there, Twilight found herself going through the last six months with Sunset Shimmer, looking for what she had missed the first time around, set against the revelation that...something akin to magic was real. So many offhand remarks shaded into something more dark and sinister, so many statements that now felt like incomplete truths and misdirection.
Not that she could entirely blame the older girl for that. Until the other day, she would have laughed at something so ludicrous being suggested, before doing her level best to debunk any 'proof' provided with hard science. In fact, she'd spent several hours trying to do that last night and also the day Wallflower's 'evidence' had come into her possession, to no avail. While video evidence could be faked, there had been no sign or trace of any technology that could project the complex visual and auditory sequence she and Indigo had witnessed--technology that could create full color, three dimensional holograms was still firmly the realm of science fiction.
Purple eyes checked the progress bar again. Fifty four percent.
Twilight got up, deciding it was safe to leave the computers at their work, and crossed to the refrigerator that she stored her samples in, taking her list and checking off each one as she removed it to a travel container to take home. She didn't want to leave anything behind that could be used by someone else to track her findings. She'd even reprinted all of her previous reports with slight changes to things like the exact place in the electromagnetic spectrum that her anomalous energy fell into, or the exact numbers of her findings, and gone through the network to make sure there were no other copies floating around.
Sunset might have been keeping information from her--and there would be a conversation about that at some point--but Twilight was not about to put her at risk, not if she was tangled up in this 'magic.' There was plenty of historical and modern precedent to indicate that anyone with a significant difference could and would be treated barbarically by those in power, particularly if they viewed someone as a potential threat...and how could 'magic' be seen as anything but?
Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she sighed, barely glancing at it as she hit the cancel button and checked on the computers. Nothing had changed yet, the progress still ticking along slowly. Twilight returned her focus to her various samples.
As she did, her mind wandered to what she'd seen with her own eyes yesterday: Sunset talking to her doppelganger in front of Canterlot High, being hugged, and then the young woman and the dog that looked just like hers disappearing into thin air.
Come to think of it, Sunset had been touching the base of the mascot statue, looking at it with an expression that had seemed...bittersweet. The same way she looked when she talked about her guardian or her childhood. Was the doppelganger from the same place as Sunset? If the illusion was to be believed, they both had the same faint accent...not as distinct as someone for whom English was a second language, but also not quite the difference between American English and British English. It was more like...regional accents. Like the difference between some parts of Canada and the US.
Was that it then? Was this 'Equestria' where Sunset was from? Is so...what was it? Where was it? Twilight frowned, Sunset's other form coming to mind, along with the questions that had kept her from sleeping. Was it some kind of curse or energy based mutation? Was Sunset actually a non-human being, hiding in human form? It couldn't actually be a demon like Indigo had assumed at first, could it? Sunset was many things, but Twilight knew her, had seen deeper into the identity of Sunset Shimmer than any other, and Sunset was not a being of evil. Hotheaded, yes. Intense? Definitely. In possession of a fierce temper? Sunset admitted that one freely. But no one who could look at someone the way Sunset had been looking at her lately could be some kind of hellish spirit.
What about possession? Could it be some kind of result of what had happened at the fall dance the night they'd met? Had she run afoul of magic? Was that why she was so cagey about Twilight researching the 'strange energy?' If Sunset had run afoul of it somehow, then she would do her best to protect Twilight from a similar fate.
She moved from the fridge to the cabinets, going down her list of samples one by one--and taking back the ones Wallflower had attempted to steal by hiding them from her, dismissing the buzzing alarm on her phone twice more while she went through every inch of cupboard space above and below the countertops full of lab equipment.
An unsettling idea took root as Twilight tried to figure out as many possible scenarios for what was going on as were feasible, based on the data she had. Sunset had indicated her guardian had been aware of the energy...could that guardian be responsible for the dark eyed form as much as she was for the grief and pain in her Sunny's heart?
It was a chilling possibility...one she couldn't discount, and it made her even more restless and on edge. The dark haired teen checked her progress, and fought back a frustrated sigh when it only showed sixty one percent. The dark haired girl had already packed up her research samples and data, and she couldn't reset all the lab equipment back to factory defaults until she'd finished falsifying the data on the computer. That left her, once more, alone with her thoughts and no distractions.
Trying to organize or look through them meant more possible stories put together by her brain, desperate for explanations to the blank spots in her knowledge. Could Sunset's guardian be responsible for that other shape? Or someone associated with the guardian? Was that one of the reasons Sunset had run away, and not just the neglect and anger? Was that guardian hunting for her? Or worse, was she in league with Abacus Cinch somehow?
And if magic and curses were real...what else could be real? Were other myths real? Vampires? Werewolves? Ghosts? Was her world just one big urban fantasy with a hidden 'Secret World' full of magic and nonhuman creatures? Places hidden from human eyes where dragons and unicorns and sorcerers lived freely? Were sightings of Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster just places where the secret world brushed against the real?
She sat back with a sudden thought. Had Lyra had the right of it all along? Was...was that why Sunset seemed completely comfortable with Lyra's fixation on cryptozoology? Because she knew which ones were real?
What if that secret world was real and Sunset had run from it...and it followed her to Canterlot? Was that what caused the conflict between those three girls with the reptilian features and Sunset and her friends? The doppelganger had referenced Sunset 'bringing the magic with her from Equestria'...so was this secret world now trying to take over her town? Was Sunset trying to stop it before it affected too much else?
It certainly seemed to affect Sunset and her friends, if the magical girl transformations and epic musical battle were anything to go on...and they had some kind of incredible power--she was convinced that the winged unicorn made of stars and rainbows had been the second Alpha level event she had recorded, and the energy output from that had put most power plants to shame.
Could it affect more people after prolonged exposure? From what she had seen, it had an effect on the woods around Canterlot High. Were more students than just Sunset and her friends affected?
What about herself? Twilight wondered. She had been chasing the energy for months, and had already started to wonder if exposure was causing her to develop some form of sensitivity to it. Could it affect her further? What about her family? Or...Indigo...
Or Wallflower.
Wallflower, who had been to CHS with her. Who had...acted differently since that ill-fated outing.
Had Wallflower been affected by the magic energy that day? Was that related to Twilight feeling like she was missing time from that day? Had something magic happened?
Twilight put her face in her hands, her whole body aching with a combination of exhaustion and stress. She had to stop this, before she sent herself into an anxiety attack. This was neither the time nor place. Not with twenty one percent left to go on the progress bar of her laptop.
She needed to talk to Sunset, ask for the full story and get answers to all her questions...if Sunset was even willing to answer those questions...or if Twilight could bring herself to ask them with how much of a mess her emotions were about everything right now.
Deep breaths, Twilight, she told herself, half looking for Mental-Sunset to appear.
Silence. The mental facsimile of her girlfriend refused to appear, had disappeared over a week ago, and her brain couldn't seem to make it reappear, no matter how much she begged her subconscious.
Twilight knew she needed to do something to calm down, and threw herself into the exercises and techniques she'd learned for just that purpose. Fist over her heart, she started with the one that worked most often, extending and retracting her arm in time with her breath, visualizing the stress leaving her body amidst the air in colorful swirls. Then she tried counting and holding her exhales and inhales. After that was 'looking around the room and identifying different pieces of sensory input'...and yet...
Nothing seemed to help; her mind could not let go of the ideas, continuing to throw up dozens of possible permutations of how talking to Sunset might go when she saw her this weekend. First it was how she might even broach the subject, which prompted completely unhelpful gems like:
"So, Sunny, are you really from a hidden world of magic? Are dragons and unicorns real?"
"If magic was a real thing, would you tell me?"
"I saw something I can't explain at the amphitheater, involving you and your friends..."
"Sunny...you don't happen to turn into some kind of gargoyle-like creature under the full moon?"
"Are you under a curse? Can we break it?"
Her guts twisted and she rejected both all her ideas to start the conversation and the strange, unidentifiable reaction deep down to the very concept. So she tried to think instead of how Sunset might answer being asked if the energy was really magic. Potential responses there were almost as bad and even more upsetting, because while Sunset might be smiling and happy that Twilight worked out the answer, there was also a chance that the reaction could be angry or scornful. Twilight shook at the image of a sneering, frosty figure staring down at her like she was a misbehaving dog, asking in that stiff, unpleasant tone Sunset usually reserved for guys harassing them when they went out, "I thought you were about science, Twilight, not fairy tales."
Biting back a whimper, Twilight hugged herself and wrenched her mind forcefully away from the thoughts, and fears, desperate to formulate a plan to ask and justify her unbelievable hypothesis...maybe use the videos Wallflower had given her, approach them as 'clearly fake' and gauge the response? Or tell her about the visions at the amphitheater and see how she reacted? All she had were questions, and no real solid evidence beyond some freaky interference in the video recording of her last meeting with her principal, and the video clips from Wallflower, who had a grudge and thus made the videos suspect.
It's not like she could trigger one of these events on command, she decided with a slightly bitter note as she watched the progress bar finally hit ninety two percent.
And then she heard someone at the door, trying to open it, only to be stopped by the lock--and the wooden door stops that she had shoved into it from behind to offer resistance to anyone with a key. After a few heart stopping seconds, someone knocked, a firm pattern she had heard on her bedroom door for years, used between siblings as a secret code.
What was her brother doing here?
Twilight tripped over her own feet scrambling to the door, wincing when she cracked her knee into an open cabinet door she had forgotten to close properly. Limping, she rapped her knuckles on the door in a pattern, wanting to verify that it was her brother for certain. Three short, four long, and four light taps in a diamond pattern on the compass points of the door, and she listened for the reply, casting a worried glance back at her laptop and the barely moving progress bar.
Why did someone have to show now? Couldn't it have waited twenty more minutes?
The answer came, tapped out on points to form a constellation of stars on the door. She moved the wedges, unlocked the door and cracked it with her weight against it to peer out, ready to shut it in an instant...but it hadn't been a ruse. Her brother and father stood there, looking concerned and upset.
"Let us in, Twily," her brother said. "I don't want us to talk in the hall."
Reluctantly, she did so, quickly shutting and redoing the lock behind them, returning the wooden stops to their position at the door. "What are you doing here?" she asked tersely, not looking forward to having to edit her spoofed footage for the cameras.
Her father raised one eyebrow at her, but when Shining pulled in a breath like he was about to respond, he lifted one hand. Immediately, her brother ceased, and took a step back to lean against the door.
"Are you aware of what time it is, Twilight Sparkle?"
The use of her full name, rather than the family diminutive made the anxiety crawling in her stomach spawn a swarm of offspring that set about having some kind of mad brawl for the position of queen of her anxieties. Her father had that extremely polite, excessively neutral tone to his voice that gave away none of his emotions but never boded well for whoever had instigated its necessity.
"I am," she responded stiffly, checking her monitor. Ninety three percent. She did her best to keep any bite out of her response, but from the fractional tightening of the muscles around his eyes, the teen was not as successful as she might have liked. "It is a little after my usual time for leaving. I simply intended to catch a later bus home. I just need to finish running a few things, so that my project report for Principal Cinch is as complete as I can make it."
Twilight was not about to explain what she had truly been doing, instead willing her father to understand what she was getting at with her eyes. She couldn't tell him here, not when every instinct kept telling her that someone was watching and listening in. All she could do was hope he might accept it and hold off on further questioning until they got home.
He did not. "Try again, young lady. You should have been home almost two hours ago--school has been over for four."
What? That couldn't be right.
"What's more," he continued, before she could protest out loud, "you did not let anyone in the family know what you have been up to, and you have misrepresented the situation of your after school activities to both your mother and I."
She could feel the situation spiraling out of control. His words were 'Dad-speak' for saying she had lied to them, but that didn't make any sense. The teen scrambled to answer. "I...what? But...I didn't...I've been staying after almost every day for my project..." she started, wringing her hands. "I know...time got away from me today...I didn't mean to...but I had things I needed to..."
Shining broke in, frowning. "Twilight...you told us your BFF was getting you from school...except she hasn't seen you since last weekend."
Once more, Night Light held up a hand to silence discussion. "You also refused to answer your phone the multiple times I called you tonight--not missed them, but actively declined the calls, Twilight. We have talked about this before. Now...get your things. It's time to go home--dinner has been done for almost an hour at this point."
Frantically, she moved towards her computer. Ninety seven percent. "I need a few more minutes, Dad," she fumbled, "and I didn't know you were calling..." She grabbed her phone, and checked it...and realized what had happened. "I...thought it was my alarm for checking different parts of the project..." It didn't help her understand where the thought Sunset had been picking her up this week had come from, since she couldn't remember saying that at all...only the week before...unless they had just assumed that it was still ongoing?
Rubbing his forehead, her father sighed. "Mistake or not, Twilight, you should have been paying more attention when it kept happening--actually looking at your phone, instead of hitting the big red button that popped up on it. Save your data and pack it in. It's time to go home."
The tone was one that didn't allow much argument, but she had to stall long enough for the program to finish. She began packing the plastic cases of samples into her backpack, taking as much time as she thought she could get away with. "Dad...I understand that I messed up, and that I completely lost track of time, but this is something that I can't just...stop in the middle of--it's critical I let it finish, and I have to be here to monitor it." Twilight took a breath and steeled herself for what she was about to do. "In accordance with the Laboratory Research Agreement, I am allowed to have that time in regards to a situation where stopping or pausing would otherwise render an experiment or observation invalid. I would like to invoke that now, as stopping what I am doing will set me back by weeks."
Her father frowned at her. "That same agreement, Twilight, also stipulates cases in which the Parental Override can be invoked, and I think a situation where you have lied to us about your activities and whereabouts constitutes such an event."
Twilight flinched at that--not only could she not voice the whole truth, when she knew it wasn't safe, but she hadn't lied about anything. Maybe that was the tactic to take...
"I didn't lie," she said simply. "I got picked up three days last week, but last weekend we talked and I told her--" Her eyes widened as she realized belatedly that she couldn't go into why she had asked Sunset to give her space this week, why Sunset was a distraction to her project.
"Told her what?"
"...that I needed to focus on my work," she finished lamely.
Shining snorted, looking around at the lab as Twilight kept herself between them and the laptop screen. "You've certainly done that," he remarked cuttingly.
Clearing his throat to stop a potential argument between them, her dad adjusted his glasses to look at her. "That doesn't explain you misleading your mother and me."
The teenager let out a breath, frustrated at herself and her family members, and trying to collect thoughts that were starting to unravel. "I'm sorry...I didn't mean to..." Apologizing and explaining would take up time, she decided, glancing towards her laptop quickly. Ninety nine percent. Almost there. She could do this. "...I guess I just didn't think to men--"
She broke off as Shining Armor made to reach over and close her laptop.
"Don't!" she yelped sharply, slapping his hand away. She knew her response was too harsh when her father sighed behind her.
"Twilight..."
Using her body to keep them away, she shook her head. "I can't. I worked too hard on this. You'll ruin everything--you have to let me finish! I can't let you ruin it now, not when I'm so close to being done!"
Night rubbed his temples. "Son, why don't you collect those stacks of paper for your sister--they won't fit in her bag with everything else." Having moved her brother out of the way with that, he turned back to her, unhappy. "I know you are invested in your work and finishing in a timely manner, young lady, but it's a school project for a school you won't be attending next year, not the Manhattan Project. You need some perspective. I will not ask again. Close your programs down and pack your things. I do not wish to have an argument with you in this building."
She determined she had pushed as far as she could, and turned to her laptop, just as it emitted a chime. Relief was a brief but welcome emotion as she verified that her data program had finished and she was free to shut everything down. Quickly, she shut the program and disconnected the cables, and made sure the camera program was scheduled to go back to normal in approximately five minutes--just enough time for them to vacate the lab.
Laptop in carry case, samples in her backpack, and Shining carrying her papers, she went around the room under the guise of checking the various machines...and deliberately reset every single one to factory defaults, other than the lab computer...which she had already manipulated to do so upon its shutdown. The actions were a sort of autopilot under her father's watchful gaze, and she stewed in the way both males seemed incapable of realizing there was something more to her actions than what she had said--it made her angry. Sunset would have--
The dark haired girl shook her head to dispel those thoughts. There was no point in dwelling on might-have-beens, especially when she wasn't even sure she was ready for the conversation she was going to have tonight with her girlfriend. She decided to focus instead on making sure everything was prepped for the final adjustments on Monday to completely conceal her real data and present only the false set as her project finale.
"All done?" her dad asked.
Nodding, she put her backpack on. "Yes, sir." Mentally she calculated they had about ninety seconds to leave the room before the regular camera feed came back, so she put up no resistance when the two males flanked her and encouraged her towards the exit. For a moment, her brain threw up the notion that they were acting more like guards than members of her family.
She pushed the thought down, unable to handle even just one more thing at the moment, and took a measure of comfort that there was a guiding hand on her shoulder from her father. It meant that she could give into the desire to disconnect from the constant paranoia and sensory overload of being on high alert all day long while running on about four hours sleep in the last seventy-two and large amounts of caffeine. By the time they got into the car, Twilight was drifting into a hazy fugue-like state, the sounds of traffic and the conversation in the front seat little lore than a distant buzzing in her ears.
It stayed that way the entire trip home, and even once she got out of the car and followed them up the sidewalk to the porch. Sounds, lights, even smells were dull and muted as she stepped into the house, hung up her backpack and coat, and began to take off her shoes. In a way it was...refreshing to not be bombarded on all sides until she couldn't handle it, and Twilight let out a deep breath that felt as though it took some of her stress with it...
Until there was suddenly a body in her personal space, a hand touching her without warning, and a voice full of barely repressed agitation, crying out, "Sparky!" in a volume far too loud for her head at this moment in time.
On some level she knew it was Sunset, excited and worried by her absence and probably an unwitting victim of her parent's misinterpretation of her actions, but right now, none of that mattered. Twilight was not ready for the contact, or for the emotional storm dredged up by a voice she'd last heard in a magical illusion talking about magic and some evil lizard-fish-horse-girls. She couldn't cope, and so she threw her arms up in an instinctive attempt to get everything pressing in on her away, from the lights that made her eyes burn from their searing brightness, to the sounds that crashed discordantly in her ears, to even the fabric of her clothing which suddenly felt like constricting barbed wire scraping against raw flesh.
"Get off!" she yelped. "No! Off! Off! OFF!"
Arms spasmed and flailed, the pain from smacking one hand into the stair railing barely more than a footnote, amidst it all. It was like she couldn't breathe suddenly, air turned to thick, molten taffy that filled her throat and lungs.
The figure recoiled away from her, and her vision caught just the barest glimpse of Sunset's face--her human one, not the strange gargoyle-demon from her dreams--full of hurt and confusion and keen distress. Her lips moved...an apology, perhaps, or a question, but Twilight couldn't read lips all that well, so it was hard to say.
Instead, she hunched in on herself, hands wringing themselves against her wrists. She could dimly feel the way her ragged nails--victims to her frantic efforts with keeping her real data from Principal Cinch over the past week--scraped at her skin, and without thinking, she dug them in deeper. The sting of it permeated the layer of noise around her brain, giving her something to focus on other than the maelstrom of emotions and uncertainties.
Once more, amber hands came towards her, this time trying to stop her from digging into her wrists, and she shoved them away. She followed it up with a look that made Sunset's eyes meet hers with more hurt than confusion--and wasn't that unfair? Sunset had no right to be hurt and confused when she was the one keeping such monumental secrets about things that affected Twilight. Of course, she was the only one who had any inkling, so she was not surprised when her mother pulled Sunset into a brief hug and her words filtered into Twilight's ears through cotton wool.
"Sunset, sweetie, give her a minute to catch her breath and center herself. Why don't you come with me to the kitchen to get everyone something to drink?"
That didn't mean she didn't feel irritated at the way her mother was comforting her girlfriend instead of her. Even if she didn't want to be hugged right then, it would have been nice to get something like understanding from someone in her family--her father and brother sure hadn't given her even that much.
The redhead she was scowling at shook her head. "I'm okay, Mrs. Velvet," she said distractedly. She kept her distance this time, and her voice was softer, full of apology. "Sparky, I'm sorry...I...I didn't think...I was just worried. You weren't here, and no one knew where you were..." Sunset stumbled over her words. "...I wanted to go with them...they made me stay here...I only wanted to know you were okay..."
Later on, when she would try to describe the way she felt in that moment, the closest she could come was to say it felt like liquid ice running over her body and seeping in to her core, coalescing into a chilling shell around her very self, numbing some parts while leaving others untouched. Her mind latched on to the parts that seemed relevant. Sunset was apologizing, and her mother...her earlier irritation doubled. Once again, when there was a conflict between Twilight and her family, Sunset was taking their side instead of hers. Except this time, Twilight wasn't the one being irrational or jumping to false conclusions--her family was. She was doing what was needed--she was protecting Sunset! Sunset should be on her side! Sunset should be supporting her...like she'd said she would.
Instead, it sounded an awful lot like Sunset was the reason her parents thought she had lied! She was responsible for the way Twilight's father and brother had shown up at the school to force her to abandon her work, after their conversation about how she wanted to buckle down and focus on her project. Why?! Why would Sunset turn on her like this? What purpose did it serve...unless she knew? Did she know that Twilight knew? That Twilight had evidence now, had the crystal shards and video and. Hard data?
"Why?" Twilight found herself asking sharply.
Blue-green eyes blinked. "...why what?"
"Why are you sorry? What are you sorry for?" the dark haired teen demanded of her paramour, a tiny part of her hoping that she was wrong.
Sunset shuffled, rubbing her elbow with one hand. "...I didn't mean to upset you. I was just so worried, because you...everyone thought you were with me and then you weren't and I thought maybe something had happened. I was just so glad you were okay, I didn't know trying to hug you would make it worse..."
Twilight squared her shoulders and crossed her arms over her chest. "So you're sorry for trying to hug me...but not the rest?"
"What? For worrying about you being missing?" Her girlfriend's voice wavered with uncertainty. "For wanting to make sure you were okay? For being afraid something else had happened at that terrible, twisted Tartarus-pit you call a school? Why would I be sorry for that?" Sunset stared at her in incredulous disbelief.
"Because you told me you understood," Twilight bit back. "We had this big conversation last week, about how I wanted to focus on my work! You said you understood, that you were here to support me. You knew I planned to spend this week buckling down and getting this done! That I couldn't afford distractions of any kind this week!"
Her girlfriend frowned. "I do understand...but...I didn't realize I wasn't supposed to come over today," she said in a hurt voice. "We never miss a Friday sleepover..." The frown deepened. "And I didn't know that 'focusing on your project' meant lying to your parents about me picking you up, Twilight, about seeing me yesterday, when I haven't talked to you since last weekend."
"I did not lie to anyone," she responded frostily, "and I am beginning to take offense to the fact that everyone is accusing me of that without listening to the facts. It is not my fault that assumptions were made, but I was doing my best to pour as much extra time into the project as I could--you all have been at me to finish quickly, and I was doing my best to comply with that while not leaving anything Principal Cinch could use against any of us." She stared hard at Sunset with the last bit, before sweeping her gaze across her family. "But pardon me for not realizing that I needed to spell everything out in small words to be understood by you. Next time I'll even include pictures to make sure I'm clear about what I'm doing--would that help?"
Nostrils flared and blue-green eyes burned with anger. "Maybe you could try communicating with people at all, Twilight," she sniped back, "instead of yelling at us for caring if you got hurt. Last I checked, no one here can read minds."
Twilight narrowed her gaze, thinking of the image she had seen in the magical illusion, and then back to the same figure whispering in her dreams. "No?" she countered in an icy tone, feeling like some part of her private self had been invaded without her consent. "Are you sure you are willing to swear to that, Sunset? Because I am uncertain if I can believe it." It was a dagger aimed at the weakest spot, Twilight knew that, but she was just so tired of not having the answers to something that had been twisting her life out of shape for months, and all her frustrated emotions from having her paradigm forced shifted this week boiled to the surface.
"What? Twilight...do you even hear yourself right now?" Sunset snarled, her anger starting to break through her control. "You're accusing me of...what? Telepathy?"
"Let's try a different angle then, Sunset Shimmer." Each word was crisp, clipped, and precise. "If I were to ask you about your past, and if it were intimately connected to the anomalous energy I have based my project on, would you tell me the truth? Would you admit to withholding crucial information that could have helped me understand what is going on? Would you tell me now?" Lavender hands made a cutting gesture as Sunset's mouth opened, keeping her from doing anything but stare. "Or would it be another round of dancing around it, with half truths and vague statements that let me fill in the blanks incorrectly? Would you make another bevy of promises you have no intention of ever fulfilling?"
"...I..."
"You want me to believe you, Sunset? Here's your chance. Tell me what really happened at the Battle of the Bands! Who those girls really were! What was going on?"
Silence, and wide, blue-green eyes filling with horror.
Hands tightening into fists, she tried again, wanting Sunset to just tell her. To just trust her enough to tell her the whole truth! "Nothing to say? What about the Fall Formal--your 'fall from grace', the events that had everyone calling you 'the Demon Queen of CHS?' What happened that night? Was it really illegal fireworks and a gas line leaking? Go on! Tell me about it...or would you prefer I believe another story about finding something on a desk."
Seeing the realization in those eyes was enough to tell her she was right. That what she'd seen and heard had been real. "When were you going to tell me that you were responsible for the energy I have been trying to track? Or that you've been studying it for months while I've been floundering, because you knew exactly where it came from and how to access it?" Her voice warbled with fury and hurt, and she struggled to keep her face from showing just how upset she was.
"That's not--Twilight, I couldn't, not without asking for--" Sunset broke off, shaking her head.
She locked eyes with the redhead. One more push, and maybe finally she'd get her answers. "What does the word 'Equestria' mean to you?"
Sunset ran her hands through her hair. "It used to mean 'home,'" she growled. "Now...it's just a place I used to live. A place I can't go back too, after what I did...and that I don't really care about anymore. But...I never lied, not to you, Twilight! Maybe I didn't spill all my secrets, but I wasn't ready to! And I never lied to you!"
Tired of the runaround, of the way Sunset hid critical data that affected Twilight behind the excuse of personal secrets, Twilight snapped. "A lie of omission is still a lie, Sunset Shimmer...and that's all you've done to me since the day we met."
Victory had never tasted so bitter before, as she watched Sunset crumple, all the anger snuffed out in an instant and replaced by something that wasn't quite fear but close to it. It was dead silent--even Spike was sitting still, his ears flat to his skull and looking forlorn, and none of her family seemed able to shake themselves from their stupors.
Her father broke out of his shock first, and he stepped forward to intervene. His voice was flat, more emotionless than Twilight had ever heard in her life, but his eyes were filled with anger like she had never seen, even the night Shining had verbally attacked their mother. "Not divulging information one is legally bound not to speak of is not a lie, omission or otherwise, Twilight Sparkle, something I know you are exceedingly aware of," he told her, his face hard and eyes glittering with the force of the emotions his voice was denied. "I don't care what is going on in your head, or how angry you are with me for interrupting your fixation on finishing your project, but this stops now. I have no idea what kind of information you presume you have, or how that relates to your relationship in any way...and frankly, I'm too angry and disappointed in you to care. Regardless, you will not speak to anyone in this house that way, even your girlfriend. Do you understand me? Or do I need to be more detailed and specific?"
It was like being bludgeoned in the chest with a battering ram. Her heart didn't just ache, it felt caved in and bleeding. After all the talks, after all the reassurances and encouragement, after sharing her feelings and asking for time...Sunset had--No. She had kept a lot of secrets...misled Twilight about the energy and about what was going on at CHS...but she would never have broken that promise. Not after Twilight had confided in her about how she struggled with it and wanted the chance to do it herself, and how Wallflower's forcing it from her had made her feel...
"But she did," a part of her mind pointed out. "Here's the proof. Your father knows--he called Sunset your girlfriend...and no one else is surprised either. You didn't tell them...so who else would have? Your therapist can't, since doctor patient confidentiality is a big deal...that leaves Cadenza or Sunset. Who is the more likely?"
No...Sunset wouldn't...
"She didn't trust you to do your work on your own. She's been keeping secrets that have totally upended your life...why would she trust you to be able to come out on your own?"
Betrayal tore its claws into her already bleeding soul, and she turned to Sunset, blinking back sudden tears. "You told them?" she demanded. "You...you promised me you wouldn't, not until I was ready."
"Told the--No! I never said a word!"
Yet they knew.
Someone had told.
Cadence or Sunset?
Sister or girlfriend?
Which one had betrayed her?
Her head was pounding, her breath was short and felt like it was passing through a tiny straw, and her nerves tingled with ice crystals against the inside of her skin. Furious, hurting, and beyond exhausted, she couldn't help but agree with the little part of herself that hissed, "Only one of them has a history of using people, of lying and manipulating. Even the most well meaning can and will backslide into old habits on the path to change..."
Twilight felt something break inside her, and shaking fingers pulled the lanyard and key off her neck, vision blurring as she stared at it for what seemed an eternity, not hearing anything other than an empty rushing in her ears and the pounding of her pulse in time with the stabbing pain in her skull...
Lips moved, and she formed the words, though she could not really hear them over the roar of white noise. "I see I was mistaken about a great many things, Shimmer," she said, refusing to let anyone know how broken she felt.
The key fell from her fingers, and she did not wait for it to hit the ground before she stormed up the stairs to her room where she could cry in peace.
She would never admit that she did hear the key when it struck wood, and the awful finality with which it settled into stillness after bouncing twice.
> Chapter One Hundred and Fifty Six: Twist and Turn Where Angels Burn
The key lay on the hardwood floor, the special, starry lanyard crumpled around it like the wings of a wounded bird. Sunset couldn't stop staring at it, her limbs like lead and every nerve numb. She didn't even feel when her legs buckled, or the sharp pain of hitting the floor as they crumpled underneath her, unable to hold her anymore. The only thing that registered was that the key was that much closer...and that she could hear a door slam upstairs.
What had just happened? Why had it gone so wrong?
Her ears could hear the rest of the family, but she couldn't take her eyes off the key, and what Twilight had meant by tossing it to the ground like so much trash. Abandoning it there...
"...need to go tell her that it wasn't Sunset, Lighty...she needs to know that...you need to fix this..."
"...I know...I didn't intend to, but it slipped out. I'll go try upstairs...let Sunset know I'm sorry?"
A flash of purple, and her hopes rose, only to fall again when Spike padded over and crawled into the former unicorn's lap, pressing his head to her stomach and licking her hand. Sunset shifted, petting his head gently, feeling the soft fur under her fingers break through the icy cold she was drowning in.
Pressure settled around her, and the scent of a blanket touched by flowery laundry soap and fresh air reached her nose. The redhead realized that she had started to shake when hands on the blanket over her shoulders pressed down slightly. "Breathe, Sunset," Cadence encouraged. "Deep breaths, in and out. That's it," she coaxed. "Let's get you to the couch, okay?"
Why? she wondered, never moving. What was the point?
When she didn't get up, even at the woman's urging, she found Shining there, picking her up, blanket, dog, and all...but all that mattered was the key she was still staring at. Part of her cried out to reach for the key, to hold it close, to collect it and the bleeding, cracked mess of her heart it represented; yet she could not move, only stare, limbs leaden and numb still. She slumped, completely limp and unresisting, as she was carried back into the living room and set on the couch, not caring anymore what happened. Everything was ruined, so why did it matter if she was on the floor or not?
People moved around her in vague blurs, unimportant. At one point, someone--Cadence, she thought dimly--pressed a piece of metal into her palm and curled her fingers around it. Sparky's key, retrieved from the floor. The unicorn in human form stared at her closed fist and the star touched strip of fabric dangling free, feeling that familiar ache of loss and abandonment deep inside, new, ragged, wounded edges to the scar that had only just begun to finally heal.
And it was all her fault. She'd...put it off, hadn't been ready. She knew Twilight was researching magic, but had still put off telling her the whole truth...and Twilight...Twilight was right...it wasn't any better than lying. She should have come clean weeks ago, after having to bring Twilight out of that school. Maybe if she had...this wouldn't have happened. Maybe she wouldn't have somehow given away their relationship--it had to have been that day, when she carried Twilight herself and wouldn't let anyone else touch her.
The couch shifted, Velvet taking a seat next to her. Sunset turned her head, meeting her eyes for only a split second because it was too hard. In response, Velvet put arms around her in a hug, running fingertips through her mane. "Sunset...you didn't give your relationship away or break your word. You are not at fault for what Twilight has accused you of."
But...how...?
Whether she'd said it aloud or something in the way she grew still had tipped the older woman off, she didn't know, but Velvet answered her question. "We knew a long time before Twilight ever met you that she preferred girls to boys--Night and I figured that out when she was nine years old and had the biggest crush on Cady for almost six months." Her voice was gentle and she chuckled. "She couldn't talk to her without turning red to the tips of her ears. It was adorable."
Oh...she supposed that would give it away...not that she had been much better all the times she'd spoken of Twilight and her own feelings had leaked out. "...but how did you know..." Her voice cracked, and she cleared her throat, barely able to rasp out around the boulder lodged there. "...about us?"
Velvet hugged her tighter. "A thousand little ways, Sunset, because we know what love looks like. We have been nothing but happy for you, Night and I...seeing Twilight find someone who she could not only call friend, but also fall in love with...it was something beautiful to see, and we have just been waiting for the day she was able to tell us."
"...you...have?" Each word tore at her throat, and it was all she could do to force them out.
The woman nodded, a motion more felt than seen, and continued carding her fingers through fiery red and gold strands. "More than you know, sweetheart. I couldn't wait for the day when I was able to call you my daughter openly, and not just refer to you as Twilight's friend."
Sunset wasn't sure if that made her feel better or worse. Both at the same time, perhaps, with how good it felt to hear that she was wanted, but also with the numbing despair that threatened to pull her back down. Twilight had been so angry...whatever she had learned, it must have been bad. Maybe it had been a video of the formal? That...had not been Sunset's best moment, and Twilight had referenced her demon form.
Numbness edged at her mind again, and she fell silent. What could she say now that that dreamlike ideal had been shattered for all of them?
Her eyes burned, her throat constricted, and she let out a low sound. "...I need to go..." She couldn't stay here; this wasn't her home, and no matter how much she wanted it...she didn't belong here. This was Twilight's house, Twilight's family...and right now, Twilight didn't want her here. Maybe that would change...maybe Twilight would still be her friend after Sunset could explain everything--she still owed her that much--but that was an uncertain future she couldn't count on.
Velvet's arms tightened further, a wounded sound of protest escaping the older woman. "Sunset, sweetheart, no...you don't have to leave. You haven't done anything that merits that, no matter what Twilight accused you of. Nothing has changed--Night and I still want you to have a home here, no matter what happens with you and Twilight. We care about you for yourself, not because you're dating my daughter."
The redhead struggled to breathe and not cry--if she started crying, she wouldn't stop, and she couldn't do that here, not right now. Not for this feeling. As much as she had changed, some vulnerabilities she couldn't express around anyone...except the girl who had just gutted her emotionally. Sunset shook her head, unable to put into words how she felt, what she needed, how much the offer meant in the end.
She wanted to say yes, more than anything in two worlds...and that was exactly why she had to leave.
Shining cleared his throat. "...I'm not sure it's safe for her to drive," he added. "Not when she's this upset." He reminded her of Flash when he said in a gentle voice, "If you don't want to stay here, Cady and I have a spare room we could put you up in for a night or two, until my sister decides to get her head out of her ass and apologize." The hand that squeezed her shoulder was equally gentle. "Especially because if anything gave it away, it wasn't you--it was Twilight constantly staring whenever you walked away from her."
Making a squeaky sound of distress like an injured foal, Sunset shook her head. "...can't," she whimpered. "I...need to go..." She couldn't make herself call the loft 'home' not when it was just the place she lived. "...to my place..." Unable to meet anyone's eyes and see the disappointment there, she squeezed her own shut and let her head fall forward until her hair hid her face from view.
It was quiet--the kind of tense, uncomfortable quiet that left her instincts screaming in negative anticipation. Shining had backed off, and Velvet refused to relinquish the hug just yet, leaving Sunset feeling hollow and guilt ridden for causing so much strife in this family.
Then the couch sank on her other side, and slim, delicate fingers wrapped around her clenched fist. Cadence. "You feel like you have no control, don't you?" the normally bubbly woman asked. At her flinch, Cadence squeezed her hand. "It's okay, Sunset, to feel that way, and if going to your house is what you need to feel in control again, then no one here will be angry for that."
"But..."
"No buts," she said, and her other hand turned Sunset's face up and towards her. "We won't be angry or hurt. We are giving you the option to stay because we are worried about you. That's it. No other conditions or caveats, no cost or hidden strings. I promise you."
Sunset searched her face, and saw the honesty in the expression. "...I...okay..." she whispered.
Cadence gave her a sad and sympathetic smile. "Shining is right that you aren't in a state to drive. Will you let me take you home and get you settled in safely, while he follows us on your bike? That way, we know you're safe at your place, and you can have the peace and quiet you need to get things back under control inside your own head."
Her head jerked in a rough nod, agreeing to the option. Anything to get back to her place, so she could have her breakdown in the privacy of her shower where no one could see or hear.
"Go collect your things," Cadence told her. "I'll go get my purse and shoes. Mom? Could you maybe pack up Sunset's dinner so she can eat it later or tomorrow?"
The arms still hugging the former unicorn finally released her. "...that sounds like a good idea, Cady." Before her hands left Sunset's shoulders, Twilight Velvet leaned close and told her, "We are not losing you, Sunset. As far as I am concerned, you are one of my children, and I refuse to lose another child. We will fight for you, and we will fix this, as a family...and if you still want to tell us about this...Equestria...you come from, we will listen, even if I have to have Cady and Shining hogtie Twilight between them on the sofa. Never doubt that you are loved, and you are worthy in my eyes, in Night's eyes."
And then she was up and bustling towards the kitchen before Sunset could react fully to her words. Inhaling a ragged breath, the unicorn in human form made herself get up and collect her backpack with its important cargo of the magical book, pull her coat back on--taking solace in the leather as a type of armor--and shoving her feet back into her boots. By the time she was done, heavy steps on the stairs alerted her to Night Light's return.
Her girlfriend's father faced her in the foyer, expression tight. "I owe you an apology, Sunset," he said. "It was my attempt to stop Twilight from verbally attacking you that inadvertently set off a bigger explosion...and I am sorry for that. It was never my intention, but unfortunately, that was the result."
Sunset blinked, and shook her head. "It was an accident, Mr. Night, and Twilight was...already angry at me." She looked away. "...and she had a right to be. I should have told you all months ago...but I wasn't ready. I...let fear drive me...and this is the result."
"No," he asserted, and rested both hands on her shoulders. Internally, she shied away from it, but outwardly she held herself still, fighting the urge to come up swinging. "She had no right to demand anything of you. You are allowed to keep personal secrets, Sunset...any secret, so long as keeping the secret doesn't allow someone to come to harm. It is within your right to decide how and when you want to share those secrets with others, if you ever do. It doesn't matter how badly Twilight wanted to know, or what she's convinced herself the secrets really are, she had no cause to talk to you the way she did, and even less cause to accuse you of responsibility for my slip of the tongue."
"...I...except some of my secrets...have affected her, and your family," she whispered.
Night pulled her into a hug--there was a lot of that going around, and Sunset submitted to it when it became apparent that this was much like one of Mrs. Velvet's hugs...if a bit less squishy, since he was lean and somewhat gangly compared to his wife's rounded figure. It was, she regarded with some detached portion of her mind, the first such embrace from the only paternal figure she had ever had in her life. She could understand now why foals ran to their fathers when they were afraid, because the hug felt like safety, like she could be vulnerable there and it would be okay.
For a moment, she almost allowed herself to break down. Had Shining not come into the front hall, she might have...but he did, and she gave a weak, shaky squeeze back around Night's torso before stepping away and offering out her bike key to Shining.
"I won't get a scratch on her," he promised. "I'll drive like a granny on Sunday afternoon."
Velvet came out of the kitchen with tupperware in hand, one wrapped in a large kitchen towel. "I suspect Sunset will want her bike back before next Friday, Shining, so you might consider driving like a normal person instead of your great grandmother." The container was pressed into Sunset's hands. "I know you won't feel like eating tonight, sweetheart, but please eat tomorrow? I've only just started feeling like you're a healthy weight that won't blow away in a stiff breeze, and you don't really have any to lose."
"...I'll try..." She couldn't promise anything, but she couldn't miss too many meals if she was going to be ready for the Games and whatever the magic at CPA tried next week. Magic still took energy, and energy had to come from somewhere.
She found herself in another hug from Velvet. "Keep your phone on you, Sunset. I will be checking in on you regularly until we fix this--and we will fix this."
The woman did not seem to want to release her, but relinquished her hold and allowed Cadence to guide Sunset out to the cheerful little car in the driveway. Her backpack ended up in the backseat--the car did not have the kind of legroom found in Rarity's oversized sedan or Flash's muscle-car, and Sunset wasn't exactly short. Even with the seat all the way back, her knees felt awful close to her chest.
"Shining hates it too, and Lu always makes me ride with her when we go out," Cady apologized, seeing her shift to try and gain a little more space. "I bought the car for college, and I don't want to trade it in just yet--its a hybrid, and the gas mileage is amazing."
"...it's fine," Sunset replied.
Cadence bit her lip, waiting until they'd pulled out of the neighborhood to start talking. "....please don't give up on your relationship with Twilight, not yet."
Sunset blinked. "...I..."
"Here me out. Fights...they happen. Sometimes you hurt each other, sometimes the arguing can be ugly and angry and loud. Being with Twily is not always going to be sunshine and roses, and tonight was bad...but let sit for a few days, and let us deal with her." She breathed out. "She was wrong in what she did, but...I think there were other factors at work that made it turn ugly, and I want to get to the bottom of it."
Brows furrowed, Sunset went back over the evening in her mind. She hadn't sensed any of the foul magic on Twilight during the whole exchange, but that didn't mean anything. It had been hidden from her before...
It also didn't make it hurt less to feel the key now hanging around her own neck as it sat against her skin inside her shirt. Twilight had still--
"...I don't want to," she said abruptly, not wanting to finish the thought. "...but it hurts. She...she said she wouldn't...she promised." Her voice cracked on the last word.
"And she owes you a huge apology for today. Probably with flowers, chocolate, and lots of groveling, if I have anything to say about it..." Cadence shook her head. "She loves you, Sunset...I know she does. Give it a week, and let us see if we can figure out what wound her up so badly that she lost it--she never has a blow up like that without a cause, even if we don't see what it is at first. You deserve those answers, if nothing else, that and her apology. What you choose to do with both is up to you. I just believe love is worth fighting for, always, and I don't want you to just...give up on it. Not when I think there's still hope."
Sunset rubbed her face, wishing her hands were not shaking quite so noticeably. "I don't want to lose her," she managed. "...I...I've...made my choice, made it weeks ago. I chose her," she confessed. "Her, and your family...over Equestria. I even told the princess yesterday. My home is here..." My home is her, she didn't say. It hurt to even think.
Cadence glanced her way as they idled at a red light. "Princess?" she asked curiously.
"One of Equestria's princesses," she answered, noticing the way the woman's eyes went wider. "We have four. One of them...she's a friend now, even if we didn't start out that way. I...had to get permission, to tell Twilight everything. To tell you all everything. My past is all tied up in...what are essentially sensitive state secrets--unavoidable when growing up the ward of a royal, you know?"
A soft, startled laugh escaped the pink skinned woman. "I don't personally, no. My parents are best described as 'New Money.' They made millions in business ventures during the nineties, and their companies still turn tidy profits...but they were comfortably middle class when I was born."
She couldn't help but snort. "It's not all it's made out to be. Aristocrats are jerks. Nobles are worse. I could tell you about this prince I had to deal with at plenty of parties. He was about as pleasant as a wild boar suffering from a serious case of flatulence. Six years my junior, and he expected me to bow and scrape to him." She couldn't help but smile at the memory. "I might have dumped an expensive dessert on his head and told him where he could take his expectations and stuff them."
Giggles filled the car. "Oh...now you and Twily have to work out. I'm just picturing you as her date for the next New Years Party. Alabaster will spit-take her dentures across the ballroom."
Confusion made her brows furrow. "That's...one of Twilight's aunts, right? Or cousin or something? One of the stuffy ones?"
"The worst of them, and she has been on Twilight for years about how she needs to act like a 'proper lady' in order to 'marry well.' Can you picture her face if you came in with old world palace manners?"
Okay, that...was a funny image she was familiar with, offending the upper class by being better at formal manners than any of them...it had always been a curl of dark satisfaction, showing them up at galas and dinners. Especially when she got along better with the various ambassadors than they usually did. "...yeah...okay...I see your point."
Then she realized something important, and pulled out her phone to text Flash. "...I need to message the princess, and tell her something came up. She cleared her weekend for this, and..."
"Cleared her weekend?" Cadence sounded concerned.
Sunset sighed as she typed out a quick apology to Flash for wasting his Friday night and thanking him for his willingness to help, but that some things had come up and telling Twilight had been postponed until things were dealt with. She didn't feel like elaborating. "...since it's a complicated mess, she offered to come by to put things in perspective and explain any of the fuzzier details that are...not my place to answer? Provide proof that I'm not full of it? Then it's all officially sanctioned and above board, and no one can get in trouble."
The car pulled to a stop outside Sunset's loft, and Cady put it in park. She was quiet and contemplative, seeming lost in thought as Sunset slid out and went to the back to retrieve her things. As Sunset was collecting them, she cleared her throat. "Sunset?"
Freezing in place, the redhead looked towards the driver's seat. "Yeah?"
"...you don't have to answer if you don't want to, or if you can't...and maybe I'm going to sound ridiculous and silly for even suggesting something that sounds like it's from a bad spy novel...but the way you are talking, it...sounds an awful lot like we were going to get...read into...some serious, top secret stuff. Like high level diplomatic secrets or something and not just the embarrassing stories of someone who saw royalty when they weren't dressed for public appearances. A princess being willing to drop everything to come talk to us is...not something of a lark."
In for a bit, in for a diamond. "That's...exactly what I'm saying," Sunset said quietly. "...I understand if your family changes your mind about me being around."
Cadence's voice was shaken but still strong. "Nothing has changed, Sunset. Mom was right--we're going to find out what is going on with Twily, and we're going to fix it."
The former unicorn gave her a weak nod, straightening to direct Shining where to pull her motorcycle into--there was a clean space in the alley that faced Mr. Asiago's windows, and the old man was as good a deterrent for thieves and vandals as an alarm system. She took her key from him, and whispered one last quiet thanks before fleeing inside the safety of the loft.
She made it as far as the couch before she collapsed into tears, pulling the shirt she had bought Twilight on their date off the back of the couch and curling up around it. There she lay, sobbing and broken hearted, until the oblivion of sleep claimed her...
And for once, even her demon was silent.
> Interlude XXXV: When You Eliminate the Impossible...
When Cadence pulled into the driveway of his parents house, Shining was only marginally surprised to see his father kneeling at the very top end of the driveway next to the side door that went into the laundry room. He shared a glance with his fiancee, and got out of the car quickly. "Dad?" he called. "What are you doing?"
Night turned towards him, a rag in one hand. "Your mother is...I suspect she is going to be stress cooking this week, and since I am not certain of the size of Sunset's freezer, I thought I'd clean up the one we got you for college and offer it to her." He patted the minifridge sized chest freezer, before pushing himself to his feet with a groan. "...oof...I think I'm getting a little too old to be kneeling on gravel."
"You're not that old, Dad," Shining countered. "It's just been a very stressful and trying day. I'll put this in my trunk--we'll drop it and food over at Sunset's place once Mom gets through with meal prepping for a small army."
Cady, who had been pensive the entire drive back, gave a small smile and looped her arm through his father's. "C'mon, Dad. Let's go see if we can pull Mom away from baking for a family meeting while Twilight is still holed up in her room, acting like a hormonal fifteen year old." Her glance back at Shining told him she was just as concerned about his parents as he was--they were extremely upset by the current situation, and neither one needed the added stress on top of what they already had because of what had been going on with Twilight and Crystal Prep.
He could hear her talking quietly with his dad as she led him back into the house, and he squatted down to deal with the freezer. It wasn't overly heavy, especially empty, but his father could have waited to get his help with it. Huffing and puffing a bit while balancing it against his torso, Shining Armor hefted it over to his car and popped the trunk. The freezer fit--if barely--and he wedged it to one side before shutting the trunk and taking a minute to lean against the car and think. His eyes traveled up to his sister's bedroom window, and he frowned as he realized it was already dark. It was barely eight...but she had looked...rather frazzled, when they'd showed up at the school. Had she been losing sleep? Or was the emotional weight of everything just more than she could handle, and sleep was a way to reset herself so she could deal with the rest? Could she just be hiding in the dark, thinking herself into circles?
There was no way to know for certain what the answer was, but it bothered Shining. Her whole attitude that evening had been wrong...it hadn't felt like anger. Shining had seen his sister overwhelmed and angry before...but he'd also seen her in a dozen other different types of meltdowns, each caused by a different prevailing set of emotions. Something niggled at him, a subconscious awareness from being an older brother for so long, that told him there was more here than they had assumed...especially with how secretive and paranoid she'd been acting at the school.
"What is going on with you, Twily?" the detective asked the air. "What did you learn about Sunset that freaked you out so badly?"
Unfortunately, the darkened window was as silent as the stars above that his sister loved so much.
Sighing, he rubbed his neck, taking a minute longer to just stare up at the heavens, before heading for the house. Family meetings could last a while, and he had plans to meet up with Dev in the morning to go over one of their recent cases. Better to go get this started so he could hopefully get some sleep tonight.
He entered the house to find the rest of the family--minus their two teen members--in the living room. His mother passed him a plate of the meal that she had cooked, and he took it with thanks, noting to himself that she was even more agitated as his father was...which made sense. She had pretty much adopted Sunset into her heart completely, the girl's romantic status with his little sister irrelevant to the quarter ton of mama grizzly packed into Twilight Velvet's five foot two frame.
"Sorry," he apologized. "Took me a minute to get the mini freezer to settle right into the trunk. It's heavier than I remember."
His father waved him to a seat on the couch next to Cady, and he sank into it, balancing his plate. "We just sat down ourselves, son."
For a few minutes, nothing was said as they ate--though from what Shining could tell, none of them had much appetite and were mostly stalling for time and going through the motions. Giving up after fifteen minutes, he set his plate on the coffee table. It was a testament to the atmosphere that Spike barely glanced at the human food tantalizingly within reach of him, before letting out a doggy sigh and staring at the door and the stairs intently. "...Twily's light is out. Usually means she's gone to bed...so we can get this meeting started any time." Silence. "Fine. I'll go first. Tonight was a disaster, and I think it was on more than Twilight. Dad and I royally fucked up too."
Cady tucked her hand into his, leaning against him. "Why do you say that, Shining? What did you do?"
"I didn't pay enough attention at the school, and looking back, I think we misread something. Dad...how would you describe the way Twily was acting at the school?"
Night furrowed his brows and thought the question through for a minute. "At the time, it felt to me like she was fixated. Engrossed so utterly into her work that she was shutting out both the world and good sense. She didn't want to stop what she was doing, and got aggressive when we tried to intervene. She almost took your head off for reaching for her laptop, son."
"Yeah, and I kind of thought the same thing when we were there...but looking back...there's some things that don't add up." Shining rubbed his neck. "She had the door locked and blocked--she shoved those cheap door stops into the backside of the door, and she didn't verbalize an answer when we knocked. I had to resort to message code from when she was on that cipher kick in third grade...and she demanded a secret passcode verification. I thought maybe Cinch or other students had been barging in on her, but...now I'm not sure. Plus...I think she brought everything home--that plastic container she refused to relinquish? That's her sample transport for things like vials of liquids or other breakables...and I looked at some of that stack of papers. Those looked like project notes."
"You...think she was emptying the lab of evidence."
He nodded. "I also can't prove it, but...I got a bit of a look at the screen for a few seconds. She had a camera feed of the lab up. I thought it was for observing her work...but...what if it wasn't? What if she was up to something else?" Shining tapped his fingers on the back of Cady's hand in a bit of an absentminded habit. "I don't think she was angry...or at least, I'm thinking that her being angry was a side effect of being freaked out about whatever she learned this week about either her project or the principal. Maybe both."
They all considered that, but his mother raised a point. "That doesn't explain the things she was saying to Sunset. How is Sunset involved in her project?" She glanced at Night. "I thought you said her 'anomaly' was likely distorted space weather affecting her instruments oddly. Something about 'solar max?'"
"I was under that impression from the way she described it and checking in with White at the observatory's team. There were several CMEs over the the last nine months that did muck with their instruments and trigger extended auroras over lower latitudes." He frowned. "I didn't see a reason to be concerned at the time.
Cady looked between them, then spoke up. "I talked to Sunset in the car," she said. "...and...I think somehow...this energy Ladybug is tracking is related to what Sunset wanted to tell us about her past." She waved a hand in a loose gesture. "She let some things slip in the car--her guardian was royalty...and whatever she wants to tell us...it's some kind of state secret that she has to explain...that a princess from that country cleared her entire weekend schedule to help with. ...I know royals are on this whole other level than normal people, but...her whole weekend? It can't just be for Sunset saying 'I was raised by Queen So-and-So,' in 'Insert Obscure European Principality Here.' That's not 'state-secret' level news."
His eyebrows climbed upwards. "...not normally, as far as I know. A princess?"
"Sunset was pretty consistent with that bit--she mentioned the same princess before you went to get Twilight," Cadence reminded him.
The gears were turning in Shining's head now. "So we have Sunset whose past involves some high level diplomatic clearances, and Twily who was freaked out by something she learned that seems to connect Sunset's history to this energy anomaly that she's been studying. Any ideas what it could be, Dad? That kind of thing is your field. Sort of."
Taking off his glasses to clean them, Night sighed. "Not off the top of my head--I deal mostly with stars and various subatomic particles and emissions coming from deep space. The only thing I can think of is that it's either a fairly isolated discovery that is relatively unknown...or it is known but it's highly classified. Like the Manhattan Project during World War II levels of classified. Area 51 in Independence Day classified. I'm a little hesitant to put out feelers to find out if it is that, because I'd rather not have men in black suits and mirror shades come knocking."
Velvet looked perturbed. "But what would any of that have to do with Sunset? She's a teenager, and she's been here a number of years, so she would have been a child. What would a child have in common with some kind of top secret research or energy anomaly?"
No one had an answer for that for several minutes. Then Cadence leaned forward. "Okay...this is just...rampant speculation based on what we already know on Sunset...but..." She toyed with her ponytail. "She's pretty smart, and incredible at math and engineering...and we know she was orphaned by an accident, and somehow a royal from this country ended up taking guardianship of her, right? Well...maybe this is a little too spy thriller...but what of they were part of some kind of government sanctioned research? And...the accident...was some kind of lab accident? Or somehow related to their work? And taking her in was a way to keep an eye on her to make sure she didn't blab?"
"Except she ran away from an environment that lacked love and understanding," his mother remarked.
Shining considered what Cady suggested. "It would explain the level of redacted information in her files. She runs away, from people who only took her in for ulterior reasons, and ends up on the other end of some serious red tape. Maybe hush money now that she's old enough to understand the concept of a bribe or settlement? That's how she affords rent without a job, and ended up emancipated--international lines, diplomatic negotiations, and who knows...maybe our government is involved too?"
"And everything would have been...quiet for her, until Twily stumbled into the same thing and started researching. Suddenly Sunset is confronted with something that she worked hard to get away from...if it...was involved with her parents' deaths and fostering by some princess or queen. I...got the sense that this princess is not the royal that raised her--but she mentioned there were four total in this 'Equestria' place. She also said they did not start on the best terms but she's formed a long distance friendship with her." The pink-skinned woman sat back. "Again, I could be way off, but it's the only idea I could come up with that didn't sound like it was one of Shiny's comic books."
Night scratched at his chin. "No, you might be onto something. It would explain why telling us about those missing six or eight years needed someone's permission...It would even explain Abacus' reaction--if she has figured out what Twilight has discovered is something unique enough that a government might consider it classified, then..." His expression darkened. "That worries me."
"If that's true," Velvet said, sounding pained, "then...what are the odds Sunset made contact with this princess...entirely for Twilight's sake? Only to have Twilight throw everything back at her like that..."
Heavy weight settled over the room, and Night sighed. "I know better than to bet against you, evening star," he said to Velvet. "But...whatever Sunset's history is or why it is a secret is really secondary to Twilight's behavior tonight. What she did was not acceptable, and she needs to understand that. Not just assuming Sunset spilled the beans, but the way she went after her tonight, about her secrets."
"At the same time, are any of us really surprised that Twilight had a meltdown?" Cadence asked with a slight frown. "Let's be honest--all of us have been expecting it for months now, even before the vandalism. She's been under a ridiculous amount of pressure from both sides unfairly. Cinch is pressuring her to perform, and we've put her in a situation where she can't escape that school until she finishes her project and gets a grade...or she risks having a devastating blow dealt to her GPA."
Shining grunted. "It's really just surprising it hadn't happened sooner. You've gotta give Twily credit--she's done really well, given everything."
His fiancee leaned against him. "Exactly. She's handling a bad situation admirably, but we can't expect anyone her age to handle it perfectly forever, or be overly surprised when the inevitable happens and she just can't cope anymore."
Night Light cleared his throat. "That is fair, but I would argue that today was unnecessarily harsh, and aimed squarely at the one person in the family who was least prepared or able to deal with the emotional rollercoaster that is one of Twilight's aggressive meltdowns."
"I think that's what I'm most unhappy about," Velvet commented tiredly. "She targeted Sunset, and while Sunset has done exceptionally well with her anxiety heavy episodes, her anger and frustration is something Sunset has only been on the fringes of, and from what I've witnessed, she does not do well with anger directed at her from someone she has let get close."
Nodding, Night responded, "And that is something that needs to be addressed, regardless of what motivated her meltdown. It doesn't matter what her own personal difficulties are, it's never an excuse to be deliberately cruel. Twilight knows that, and she ignored that today. I am leaning towards..."
Shining Armor, Detective of the CCPD, leaned back into the couch cushions and tipped his head back to stare at the ceiling, listening with half an ear as his parents debated his sister's punishment and how they planned to address her actions. He knew that was important, that Twily had crossed lines with what she had done, but he couldn't shake the feeling about there being more to the situation than what they had seen and pieced together. It wasn't something he could logically explain; instead, it came from that same intuitive part of his brain that prodded him in his cases, whenever he looked at evidence and felt like he was missing something important. The same part that prompted him to sometimes ask seemingly out there questions in interviews with witnesses and suspects.
He was missing something big. Something about Sunset, about Twily's research, about this energy that seemed like the key and the catalyst. Shining decided that it was time to do a little digging--or at least run it all by Devil's Advocate. She had a sixth sense even more than he did, and she could tell him if he was on the right track.
That same something told him he wasn't, and that he needed to investigate.
So he would.
> Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-Seven: Broken Mobius
Twi,
I'm sorry about having to cancel on you last minute ...and about my somewhat brusque message. Last night...was a bit of a disaster.
And it didn't even require me to say one word about Equestria or magic.
Oh no, Sunset! What happened? Are the other Twilight and her family okay?
...No one was physically hurt. I...
It wasn't a good evening. I ended up coming home last night.
I've talked about Twilight's school, and the dark magic. Simply put, she wants out and her parents want to transfer her, but she's in the middle of a project that counts for her entire semester grade for TWO of her core subjects, and we're pretty sure the principal will stiff her on the grades for it if she bails before she turns it in. So she's been working hard to finish it.
Slight problem. She's been studying magic. I mean, she doesn't know its magic, just an energy she's unfamiliar with, but I've been working to dissuade her the whole time. Not that it has helped.
Sunset...you didn't mention all of this the other day.
Yeah. I know. I was a little overwhelmed as it is, Twi. Anyway, she wasn't there when I went over...and her parents thought I was picking her up from school. Thought I'd been picking her up all week long. She even told her mother that she saw me--the same day I was meeting with you, so...I can safely say she lied on that...
That...seems out of character. I know we're supposedly different according to you, but lying is something I don't do often. I rarely see the point, and I don't tend to be adventurous enough into rule breaking that lying is necessary.
...Spike is correcting me. He wishes to point out that I will lie if someone is preventing me from following through in my pursuit of knowledge. He has a point; I can be somewhat focused on such things. Is that what happened?
I don't know. It was weird, because you're right. Lying isn't really something she does either--she's...not really good at it.
Anyway...so her dad went to go get her from school because she wasn't answering her phone either. We were worried about her, that something happened. But when she got back with her dad...she was angry.
We got into a fight. A bad one. She accused me of a lot--she must have learned something about magic. Something big, because she asked me about the Battle of the Bands and the formal. Demanded answers. Accused me of lying...
It was bad.
I...She...
[Waterstains marr the page--tears.]
I don't even know if I still have a best friend anymore, let alone anything else.
Oh, Sunset...I'm sorry. What about her family?
They're...upset at her. Angry. They said that they want to help fix this, because Mr. Night...sort of caused the blow up a bit. Accidentally. We didn't know that they knew about our relationship being...anything other than friendship. (Humans...have some weird cultural hangups about what kind of partners are okay to have...I don't quite understand why, but same gender partnerships are something that is hit and miss on acceptance--kind of like pony-zebra relationships would be among the Canterlot nobles, if you catch my meaning. I swear, Twi...humans pay way too much attention to who other humans want to romance and have sex with.)
Because of that, my Twilight has been trying to work up to telling them about us, but...it turns out they already knew, and her dad accidentally let that slip...
And she thought you told him?
That I went behind her back and did it, but yes. That's what made everything go...out of control. Mrs. Velvet didn't want me to leave, Cadence brought me home...All of them are adamant that it's...going to work out...but...
...I'm not sure. I've heard that before and it's never been true.
She means so much to me...I'm not sure what I'll do if she never wants to see me again.
[More tearstains make the ink blurry in places.]
Sunset...if she's really your friend, especially your best friend...then this wont break that. Friendship is stronger than a fight...and so is family.
Don't give up hope, please, and don't let this turn you away from what makes you happy, from making friends and having a good life. The Sunset I've come to know since the Battle of the Bands is an amazing mare, one I'm proud to call my friend. She's bright and full of generosity, compassion, and warmth that she freely shines on those around her, and she knows what its like to struggle, meaning she can show a level of understanding for others better than anypony I've ever met; please don't give up on being that Sunset, on how much you've grown since the night you stole my Element away.
Thanks, Twi...it means a lot, coming from you. Can't get a better endorsement for my rehabilitation than the Princess of Friendship, right?
I'm...not giving up...but...I'm...not in a good place right now. What she said...it hurt. A lot...and it takes two people to make a relationship. She...still might decide that what I kept from her for so long is...too much. Or she may decide that she's better off with another human. I don't know, and I guess I don't want to get my hopes up.
I understand, Sunset, but have hope. If she cares as much about you as it sounds like
Twi?
Hang on, Sunset. I hear Spike arguing with somep---
The magic of the book thrummed sharply, almost aggressively, and the final sentence came through as hurried, hastily scrawled glyphs, the last one half finished and broken by the sharp motion of the reinforced quill being jerked across paper so fast and hard that it tore through the page and left ink splattered everywhere. In all the years Sunset had used the journal, that had never happened before, and she touched the ink stained tear that had appeared in her book with shaking fingers and a sinking stomach. Sure, Princess Celestia had left off mid-message on occasions where duty required, and Princess Twilight had stepped away on numerous occasions to deal with trouble, but it had almost always come with a quick "I'll be back later," message and never with the implication of some kind of fight or act that cut the alicorn off in the middle like that.
Cribbing her thumb, she waited for an agonizing thirty minutes before trying to gain a response from the book. Nothing major or overly frantic, just a "Hey are you there? Did Pinkie blow up the castle kitchen again? That happened once when I was talking to some of your friends here..."
Another ten minutes went by, and then her senses flared with the agony of a brutal burst of magic from the book itself, as if the enchantment had encountered some kind of ward scheme that interfered or interrupted the magic on the linked journals. It felt...wrong, somehow...reminding her of her nightmares and the warp in reality where the portal should be.
--Something bad has happened, horn-head. You need to check the portal, now.--
Demon or not, the voice was right, and she was throwing on her shoes even as she blitzed the group chat with a huge SOS.
Sunset: GIRLS! We have an emergency! Something has happened in Equestria, and maybe to the portal! I'm headed to CHS now! Meet me there ASAP!
RD: WTF happened?
Rarity: Give me two minutes to lock up the shop and wake Applejack. She came by after dropping Applebloom off at my place to play with Sweetie.
Fluttershy: Is Twilight okay?
Sunset: We got cut off in a journal talk.
RD: U sure she didn just hv to hit the can? actually what does a pony shitter look like?
AJ: Not the time Dash.
Sunset: Im sure. The book had something happen to its magic. It felt wrong. Will explain at chs
RD: omw!!!
Racing out, Sunset barely remembered to lock her door, leaping on her bike after shoving the journal in the storage and helmet on her head. The redhead peeled away from the alley like Cerberus was snapping at her hooves, weaving through traffic at a speed that would get her one hell of a ticket if the police caught her. Luckily for her, she didn't pass any on her way there.
She screeched to a halt at the curb and dropped the kickstand, only to realize Dash was already there. The soccer player was already Ponied-Up, vibrating in place with jittery energy being expended by super speed augmented fidgeting. "Youwereright," she said without preamble, words so fast it was one long syllable. "Something'swrongwiththeportalmagic!itslikeantsonmyskin!"
"Dash...not everyone is operating at one hundred times normal speed. Slow down, put spaces between the words and try again."
Her ears pinned back in a seeming subconscious gesture, a first for the athlete, though Sunset had noticed similar gestures from Fluttershy, suggesting the girls were adjusting to the pony appendages as time went on. "Sorry...but you were right--there's something weird about the portal and it feels like bugs crawling on me!"
Sunset turned her head towards the school, and couldn't detect anything openly out of place, but even without her senses focused she could feel the sense of wrongness Dash had picked up on. "Okay. I want to wait for the others before we get close, just in case something comes out of the statue." She fished her phone out. "In the meantime, I'm going to text Flash and let him know we're investigating something with the portal that might be dangerous."
The rest of the girls arrived over the next fifteen minutes, with Fluttershy jogging up out of breath and Pinkie just...appearing from...somewhere...once Applejack and Rarity arrived in the latter's car. Rarity wrinkled her nose. "Oh dear...Sunset, I do not like the way the statue feels right now. I am assuming that such is in line with what you felt from the book?"
"...yes. And given that the book wasn't connected to the portal in any way when it happened, that is...the least likely scenario." Sunset took a deep breath to steady herself and get a handle on her already messy emotions. "Time to see if the practice has paid off, girls. Pony-Up and be ready in case something comes out of the statue or tries to kill us."
Applejack snorted. "Comfortin' thought."
Shrugging, the former unicorn offered apologetically, "In Equestria, it's pretty safe to assume the wildlife thinks you're either edible or a challenge to its territory. That way if you're surprised it's at least a pleasant surprise." Hesitating only briefly, Sunset reached for her magic, and it responded as it should, without any of the pain and twisting from before. Had Rarity been right about her stress and exhaustion levels?
--Maybe. Or maybe for once you aren't fighting yourself.--
Her ears twitched backwards in annoyance, but she refused to rise to the obvious bait. Instead, she led the girls close to the statue and inspected it with eyes and magic. Physically it looked no different than normal, but when she fell into the sense that was her magic it was wrong in a way that defied words. "It's not dark magic..." she told them as she circled carefully around the plinth. "Its...raw. Distorted." Ragged magic writhed around the statue, faint tendrils of arcane power grasping in all directions and dimensions like the tentacles of some kind of cephalopod, and deeper in, where she could normally feel the tether that connected the two worlds...
"Sweet merciful sunfire and a thousand waking nightmares..." Sunset whispered, stepping carefully forward to touch the marble.
"Darling...what is it?"
She shivered. "It's...like touching an open wound...except..." Sunset groped for an analogy. "If you think of the connection between the worlds like a rubber band or a long tube...it's as though the end attached here is fine, and where it starts to traverse the In-Between is normal...but then...the tether just...ceases to exist beyond that. Not severed, not cut, not torn...there's not even some kind of portal or hole or anything. Just...a nothingness where there should be a something, and the nothing is something that should not exist."
Fluttershy pulled her away from the statue with gentle hands, hugging her around the shoulders. "What could have done this?"
A shiver went through the redhead. "I don't know. Twilight mentioned hearing yelling before she got cut off."
"Ya said once that the other side of the portal's a mirror, right?" Applejack asked. "What're the odds someone smashed it somehow? Mirrors ain't exactly sturdy."
Sunset considered that, before shaking her head. "I don't think it's that simple. If someone broke the mirror, it would just snap the spell or enchantment. Like tearing or cutting the line. There might be a bit of leaking magic or implication of the broken end, but.."
"But not some yawning nothingness that has latched onto the other end like some kinda big mouth bass?" AJ offered.
Dash crossed her arms, her wings keeping her several feet in the air. "So what do we do? We can't just leave it...bleeding all over the place!"
It was a valid point. They could not ignore the magic that was thrashing like a wounded animal. Not only was it dangerous, but it furthered the creeping sense of wrongness that Sunset could feel...that they all could feel, she amended. "The question is what to do," Sunset said tiredly, feeling the stress headache starting behind her eyeballs. "If this were Equestria, I could write a spell or modify one to contain the wild energies, or do something to dump the energy into the lines effectively, but...I can't, even Ponied-Up."
"Do you think the Rainbow would fix it?" Fluttershy asked quietly.
"...I dont know. I'm barely sure of what's wrong with it."
Rarity touched her shoulder. "Surely it couldn't hurt to try? It might at least act like a tourniquet or stitches? Or at least encase it in a bubble so it can't harm anyone?"
Running a hand through her hair, she thought it over. "I suppose we could try it, if you girls think you can summon it without our instruments or any music. We can't exactly get inside right now."
Dash did a restless bit of zipping back and forth. "What about that busted lock on the roof access door? I could get in that way and get our stuff using my speed?"
She shook her head. "I don't want to accidentally set off the alarms and have the police show up to witness a magical light show." A flash of pink caught her attention. "Pinkie?! What are you doing?"
The bubbly teen carefully stuck the colorful bandaid to the smooth marble. "Helping!" she chirped, smoothing the sticky surface and pressing it down so it would stay....
Only for the hand to suddenly wind up flat against the stone and a bright pink glow to envelop her. "Oooooo....Shiiiiny!"
"Shit..." Applejack cursed, and moved to grab Pinkie and pull her away. She managed to wrap her arms around her friend's middle, but even her magically enhanced strength failed to separate Pinkie from the statue. In fact, the pink glow spread and shifted into a warm orange where it touched the farmer. "Uh...this ain't good..."
Like a cascade reaction, the glow reached out for the rest of them. Sunset could feel it now, the Harmonic magic in her friends starting to flicker and react...and deep inside, she felt something twinge, like an ache in her magic and soul.
"I...don't think it's bad," Rainbow said, frowning. "I've felt like this before..."
Fluttershy froze, then grabbed Rainbow's hand. "In the magic room, when Sunset saw something, and it felt like she needed our help," she pointed out, pulling the athlete with her to put palms flat to the stone. "We need to help, all of us."
Blue eyes were thoughtful as Rarity studied the blue-violet glow around her pale hands. "I do think you're right, Fluttershy..." She looked to Sunset. "And I think that includes you, darling. You feel it too, don't you?" She gestured with that same hand to where Sunset had clenched hers into fists flickering with fits and sparks of red magic.
Sunset flinched. "I...I don't know what I feel..." It didn't feel nice, she knew that much. Her heart hurt, but that was already there, because of what her mind had dubbed 'The Fight.' She ached, and she did want to fix the portal--it had just started to dawn on her that she may never contact Equestria again, and on top of her already miserable uncertainty about her gir--about Twilight, she hurriedly corrected herself--the realization made her nauseous.
But she'd also felt the twinge in her magic, her soul that needed to help.
Pale fingers curled around her hand. "You are a light, Sunset, a sun. Help us," Rarity urged gently. "You keep talking about how you aren't part of the Elements...but...you are. If we represent the Elements of Harmony, then you do too."
"We can't do this without you, Shimmer. All for one and one for all, remember?" Dash said, extending a wing towards her.
"Ain't gotta know what yer Element's name ta make it count....and ya know denying it is just lying ta yerself again."
Indecision warred. How could she be a bearer for Element based magic and still have a demon as part of her?
--Does it matter right now, horn-head? If you do nothing we could lose everything! You can't let the Bond be severed--They were never truly meant to be Two!--
She couldn't move, couldn't breathe. In her mind, she could see Twilight dropping the key on repeat, could hear it hit the floor. Could hear the accusations all over again, feel her heart being ripped out over and over, the terror and hurt and grief that Twilight might truly believe now that she hadn't changed.
But she had.
Sunset Shimmer had clawed her way back from the brink, denying the broken monster she had allowed herself to become. She had done what some might call the impossible and rewritten herself into someone new, someone she wanted Twilight to be proud of.
Fire burned in her, then out, like Philomena on her burning days, crimson and wild and bright. Even if Twilight didn't want to believe her now, it didn't matter. Sunset would do everything in her power to keep being who she had become...for herself, and for the people that did still believe in her, if nothing else.
"You're right...if you girls represent the Elements, then so do I. Who cares if mine doesn't have a name?" She stepped forward, letting the magic do as it willed, filling her up and flowing out to mingle with her friends as she placed both hands on the polished white marble. It was hot to the touch, and she could feel the magic like a heartbeat, faltering and erratic. She could see the light and colors of her friends around her, as their magic flowed through each of them, mingling, growing, until the it drowned out her senses and left her little more than a conduit for the power that was being pulled out of her.
Everything was white, touched by auroras...and white noise clogged her ears. It frightened Sunset, because it reminded her of her first trip through to the human world. Faintly, though, she thought she could hear...wisps of voices, broken and faint...
"...like...a betrayal..."
"...necess..."
"...the only way..."
"...seems...exactly...nset...Shimmer..."
Some were male, some female, some neither, some both...some soft, some harsh, some broken, some strong. They overlapped and echoed, until it felt like a wave cresting and collapsing on top of her.
"...monster of...making..."
"...sorr...My Other...not..."
"...Desired...no...reason...You..."
"...what has begun..."
"...not...problem...solution to...Shattered..."
"...Show You...how brightly their Light can shine..."
And then she fell back, into her body, just in time to have her backside impact the hard concrete of the sidewalk. Sunset let out a grunt of discomfort, but the cold stone as she laid back felt cool and soothing to a body left steaming hot after being a conduit for incalculable amounts of magical power. "...Everyone alright?" she panted, trying to calm her racing heart.
Groans answered her. "In one piece," Dash groused. "That was freaky--anyone else hear the voices?"
"Do ya one better," Applejack countered. "Ah could swear Ah heard mahself sayin' things Ah ain't ever said."
Sunset frowned. "I...heard a lot of voices, but most of them were...far away and distorted." What had they heard?
It was Rarity who provided a clue. "I distinctly heard Princess Celestia challenging someone called Discord." Blue eyes looked to Sunset. "You've mentioned such a being before, I believe. A being of Chaos that was sealed by the Elements in Equestria?"
"Are you suggesting you heard things spoken of by past wielders of the Elements?" the redhead ventured. "Because the Princesses wielded them against Discord over five thousand years ago."
Fluttershy blinked. "How do you know it was Princess Celestia and not Principal Celestia?"
The tailor sighed. "There was a quality to the voice that our principal...lacks. And I doubt the principal would have made a statement about Discord's 'play time' being over."
Frowning, Fluttershy considered that. "...then I think I heard Princess Celestia too. She was talking about a 'Tree of Harmony' having powerful magic."
Pinkie peeled the wrapper off a cupcake and took a huge bite. "I heard a whole lot! There was Princess Luna, and me, and Princess Celestia and the other me, and me again, and some pony with a weird accent speaking a funny language. I dunno who or what a Stygian is, but apparently they don't find jokes about bees and buffalo funny. Which is too bad because that joke was hilarious!"
Rubbing her face, the former unicorn thought about what she had heard. Some of it was familiar. "I heard...Magic...the Element in the Crown... or maybe it was Harmony itself. I don't know. One of the things I heard was that, though...from when I was the demon at the formal. It addressed me by name then, and it didn't like me much at the time? Told me I got exactly what I asked for."
"How...unpleasant..." Rarity commented.
"But everything I heard was hard to understand, and I didn't recognize most of the voices." She had to consider this. It sounded like the power of the Elements in the girls...and herself...held echoes of the past users of the power...somehow?
Applejack scratched her head. "So what does it mean, if we're hearing...what? Folk who used the Elements before us?"
"I don't know," Sunset said worriedly. "I can't even begin to think of why, and...I can't exactly ask Princess Twilight right now..."
Ponyfeathers! The portal!
She had almost forgotten--a sure sign that she had too much going on right now. Her senses honed in on the portal quickly, and she felt some small bit of relief. It wasn't fixed, but the magical leakage and faltering connection that disappeared into nothing was repaired, surrounded by a thick layer of Harmony's magic that followed it into that infinite nothing. "Maybe...it was a side effect," she mused. "Whatever it was, its fixed the most immediate problem with the portal, but the whole thing is still...disappearing into nothing."
"Priorities, I think," Rarity said firmly. "We took care of the urgent danger--the portal bleeding magic. I propose we monitor it, but focus on the Games and what may happen there. In the meantime, each of us should write down as much of what we heard the voices say, as well as who said each thing, if we can. We can research the details of it later when we are less overrun with other, more pressing matters." The look she threw at Sunset was pointed.
She didn't have it in her to argue, even if she had wanted to. Sunset was tired, her heart hurt, and her emotions were still all over the map. She just wanted to go drown herself in her shower and then faceplant into her pillow and never leave. "...That...sounds like the best plan for now," she said. "Write down everything you can remember, and I'll take a look after this week is over and we survive."
Murmurs of dubious and concerned assent tickled her ears before the other girls hesitantly went their separate ways. Sunset lingered for a long time, staring at the marble as if the answers to all the questions she'd ever asked were hidden inside the stone, and privately wondered if things would just keep piling on like this until she broke under the strain.
Sunset was afraid to find out the answer.
> Chapter One Hundred and Fifty Eight: Guilty All the Same
Sunset practically collapsed onto her couch, every muscle burning and aching from hours of abuse on top of several days of the same. She'd been avoiding thinking about what had happened by any means available, and so far, the most effective was exercising herself to exhaustion, followed by a scalding hot shower and collapsing into bed. Doing it that way meant that she didn't dream, something she was glad about. The dreams couldn't seem to decide if they wanted to be nightmares that woke her screaming and left her sobbing, or wonderful memories that left her sobbing upon waking with the reality of how her heart was broken in her chest.
There had been nothing yet from Twilight or her family, other than a few brief texts from Twilight Velvet reminding her that she needed to eat and take care of herself. Not that eating held much appeal...everything tasted of mud and ashes in her mouth, and made her stomach churn unpleasantly.
The redhead reached up and found the shirt that she had bought Twilight on their big date, and pulled it to her, hugging it and burying her face in the fabric. The faint touch of honeysuckle and old books made her eyes burn and throat constrict, but she couldn't stop herself. It was like being an addict...except her poison of choice was a dark haired human girl who made her feel...
Her brain shied away. No. She couldn't--admitting it had only ever meant pain and loss. It meant abandonment and loneliness and Sunset Shimmer being denied things that every other pony seemed to have.
--Hate to tell you this, horn-head, but...you're already hurting. All you're accomplishing is lying to yourself, and you know nothing good ever comes from that.--
"Nothing good comes from the truth either," she hissed.
--You don't believe that,-- the voice chastised. --You did, once, but you know it's different now. You're not the same mare you were a year ago.--
A low whine escaped her unbidden. "I can't," she said with a shake of her head. She knew the voice was right, but she didn't want to think about it...
--You can,-- came the retort. --You already know deep down. Why are you so afraid?--
Sunset gripped the shirt tighter to her. "You already know the moon-banished reason!" she snarled back.
--Maybe because you need to say it!--
Rage flared, and Sunset hurriedly tossed the shirt to the other end of the couch before her hands burst into flame. "Fine!" The redhead clenched her fists. "It's because any time I admit I love somepony, I lose them! And I don't want to lose her!"
--Because you love her.--
"Yes! I love her, okay! I'm completely in love with Sparky, and I don't know if she still wants me!"
The words took all the white hot fury out of her, and Sunset crumpled back onto the couch, reaching desperately for the rainbow marked t-shirt like a lifeline. She sobbed into the fabric, tears burning like acid on her skin. Admitting it had been both painful and a relief, but it didn't stop the way her heart felt like it was shards of glass in her chest. Nothing except a long talk and an apology from Twilight would fix that--something she had no way of making happen any sooner. Instead, the former unicorn saw the hurt and betrayal in purple eyes, the frustration and anger from believing Sunset had broken her trust...
That part hurt too; that Twilight had so readily assumed it was Sunset who had spilled the oats. In all the time they'd been friends, Sunset had never broken Twilight's confidence. The former unicorn knew all too well what that kind of betrayal felt like, and once she had set her hooves on a path to being a better mare, she would never do such a thing ever again. Lying and backstabbing had been a core part of the monster she had been, and she no longer wanted any part of that side of herself.
Even if the presence of the demon's voice talking to her proved she would never be rid of the darkness of her past.
--You needn't be so hurtful,-- it said quietly. --Your past does not have to define who you have to become.--
"But it shows who I have been, what I'm capable of...and the old me would have thought nothing of breaking someone's trust. Look at all the times I manipulated others," she snuffled miserably.
--And all the times you didn't manipulate Twilight,-- was the reply.
"She thinks I did," she countered, feeling the fresh wave of tears coming on. "I should have told her sooner..."
--Why didn't you?--
Sunset curled into a miserable ball. Why? Because she had been a selfish coward. She was afraid that the truth would be too much for Twilight, afraid that when it all came to light, Sunset would be left behind...again.
--How is that selfish?--
Because she'd also enjoyed the thrill of having Twilight all to herself. Once the truth came out, there was no more reason to keep Twilight separated from five girls who had the potential to be some of the best friends she would ever have...and a whole lot of other people who would be great friends to the nerdy girl. A lot of people who weren't Sunset. Who were better people than Sunset.
Some part of her didn't really want to share Twilight's time with half of the students at CHS, didn't want others to be part of their Friday night sleepovers or museum trips...and that had meant she hadn't pushed more to talk to the princess or worked to come clean sooner.
In the end, it hadn't done her any good.
Instead, her very fear had caused the outcome that terrified her most. She could see it, in the memory of Twilight's gaze and voice, practically begging for answers, her eyes demanding to know why Sunset hadn't told her yet. Even knowing that Twilight had discovered something, Sunset had not shared. She'd been panicked and confused and tongue tied when it had mattered most.
She had messed up. The redhead had been so focused on herself, she hadn't bothered to consider what Twilight really needed from her. Her girlfriend should have been told the truth as soon as Sunset realized that Crystal Prep was steeped in dark magic.
If she lost Twilight now...it would be all her fault.
Wallowing in her own tears and misery, Sunset almost missed the sound of someone knocking on her door. Her heart leapt into her throat--only about half a dozen people knew where she lived, and chief among them was Twilight. Hoping against hope, the teen bolted for the door, threw open the locks and jerked the door open...
Only for it to be Cadence standing on her front step with a cooler in one hand and a very worried expression on her face. "Mom sent me over with some goodies, and I wanted to check on you," she offered gently. "Can I come in?" The meaning was clear--she didn't want Sunset to have to be seen upset on her front porch.
Wordlessly, Sunset stepped aside to let the woman in, and shut the door softly behind her. She didn't care for anyone in her neighborhood to see her looking weepy and upset--she might have changed, but she didn't fancy word of it getting back to the delinquents that had seemed to finally learn to stay away from her loft. Sighing, Sunset trudged back to the couch and flopped down, reaching for the shirt to cuddle it to her some more.
Cadence looked around, ignoring the scattered odds and ends...and the shirt that Sunset was clutching like a child's comfort toy. "I know you're probably still upset and hurting, Sunset...but I need to ask...are you okay?" A head shake made her continue the line of questioning. "Did something else happen...no? Okay, so...it's more about Twilight and what happened? Can you talk to me about it? I can't help if I don't know what the problem is."
Her throat was tight so all she could do was shake her head. She couldn't explain it all anyway--some of it, she just didn't have words for, and some of it... Some of it, she needed Twilight to hear when she said it. Especially the most important bit. That was for Twilight to hear from her before any other living being.
Twilight had to be the first person to know that Sunset Shimmer loved her.
The weight of it all crashed into the former unicorn once more, and she was crying again, those broken, wrenching sobs that felt like her emotions were turning her inside out. She curled around the cotton fabric in her hands, unable to do anything else, startling a little when the couch sank next to her and arms pulled her out of the hunched ball and into a hug.
"It's going to be okay, Sunset...just let it out," Cadence murmured. "Its okay to cry and hurt and be scared."
--She's right, horn-head...bottling it up never did us any favors.--
Sunset struggled with herself, mentally exhausted but clawing at her emotions in an increasingly desperate yet futile attempt to rein it all back in. She hated being this weak and vulnerable around anyone...she had spent so long taking care of herself that the very idea of a crack in the wall was terrifying, even when it was people she felt she could trust. "...no..." she rasped out, sounding like she was choking on glass and razorblades, trying to hold back her tears. It was like trying to hold back the ocean with a net; the tears burned hot tracks down her face and she shook with hiccupping sobs as she fought to contain it all.
Her body and magic rebelled, and the voice that was suddenly not so stupid or little yelled at her amidst the roaring, rushing in her ears, --Stop fighting it! Something has to give, horn-head! Which is safer? Emotions or magic?! Because if you don't let the feelings out, your magic will let itself out, and we are not in the right place for that! It would kill you and Cadence both!--
"No...!" Sunset whimpered, and chose, letting her emotions go to stop her magic from reacting. The world blurred around her, not just from tears, but from the way her magic boiled her nerves. Everything was disconnected compared to that, and she was loosely aware that her body had sagged into Cadence as she hiccupped and wept. It was almost an out-of-body experience, as she knew in some fashion that her girlfriend's sister figure was murmuring soothing things, hugging her and letting her cry herself out, but it felt like it was happening to someone else and she was merely an observer...
And soon enough, she was not even that, as darkness stole over her, and her exhausted body slipped into unconsciousness.
The crying jag had passed, traded in for shuddering breaths that slowly evened out into sleep, and Cadence looked down at the teenager who had passed out into her lap. "Oh, Ladybug," she whispered sadly. "I wish you could see just what you've done...I think it would break your heart even more than it does mine..." Carefully, she moved the sleeping girl onto the pillow that had been laying on the couch so she could stand without waking her up.
Sunset shifted, curling a little until her nose was pressed to the shirt she'd been clinging to--one of Twilight's, if Cadence was to guess. The gesture was so sweet, showing how, even in sleep, Sunset sought out Twilight for comfort...and yet...it was heart wrenching for the same reason, because Twilight had, in a moment of assumption and overreaction, crushed Sunset so utterly that the girl looked like a ghost going through the motions...
And the fact that Twilight couldn't...or wouldn't...see what she had done was perhaps the worst part. According to Velvet, she was refusing to discuss things with her parents, slipping out early to go hole up in the lab all day or make her own way to school before anyone else was on the main floor. When they tried at dinner, where Twilight was barely eating, picking at her food and eager to escape back to her room, Twilight grew defensive and stonewalled attempts at communication. It almost felt like Twilight was acting as if she was the one nursing the broken heart and feeling of betrayal, not Sunset.
Cadence found a blanket to cover Sunset up with, tucking it in so she wouldn't get cold, and took the chance to transfer the cooler's contents to Sunset's freezer and fridge, neatly labeled containers of all of the teen's favorites, including a batch of oatmeal-raisin-and-almond cookies that Sunset could eat by the plate full. This prompted her to also pick up the trash, clothing, and school supplies that were strewn about, and to borrow the bathroom sink to wash a couple of bowls that still had leftovers in them. As she did, she noticed a top draped over the stair railing. Dark blue, it was emblazoned with Canterlot High's mascot and logo on the front, along with "2014 Friendship Games Team." A peek at the back showed a rainbow and more writing that spelled out: "Shimmer - Team Captain."
"Oh!" The exclamation was soft, and Cadence's heart hurt even more, because it felt like this bit of unexpected news would have fallen into the category of things Sunset would have shared with them over the weekend if things had gone better. "Congratulations, Sunset," she told the sleeping teenager. "It sounds to me like you earned it...and I know everyone at the house would be excited for you..."
She borrowed a chair, a pen, and a loose sheet of notebook paper from an open package on Sunset's desk, and started scribbling a note for her to find when she woke up--maybe on the fridge or the back of her front door? As she did, her mind wandered to the Games, and the story Sunset had told about how Canterlot High had chosen its team--a story backed by Lu when she talked to her about it. It was so different to how Crystal Prep chose their team.
Or rather, how Principal Abacus Cinch picked the students for the team...
Mi Amore Cadenza froze in the middle of signing her name to the note, and rewound her thoughts.
Cinch chose the team members, and she chose a rough mix of the highest scoring academics and highest performing athletes in the school so they could steamroll CHS in both the "Aca-Deca" and the "Sports" competitions.
Twilight was the highest scoring academic in the school. Her little sister was always excited to show her scores and grades, and they all knew her class ranking in academics was number one. The only reason she hadn't graduated already was because Velvet and Night had both been concerned that she was already socially behind her peers, between skipping two grades already back in elementary and her particular difficulties with social interaction, and that throwing her into the shark tank of a competitive college environment--likely away from home--was not a healthy place for a girl who still didn't have a driver's license.
So why wasn't Twilight on the team?
Cadence frowned as she thought about it. Principal Cinch might've skipped Twilight because of the recent legal troubles, but...somehow she doubted that. The drive to succeed and beat competition that was the atmosphere of Crystal Prep, and the behavior of a woman who believed herself the absolute ruler of her domain did not lend itself to CPA accepting a subpar Friendship Games Team. She would have wanted the school's "resident genius" on the team to sweep the academic portion of the competition, and Abacus Cinch wasn't the type to take no for an answer.
That meant Twilight was on the team.
So why hadn't she said anything? Why had it not been uncovered by Night and Velvet or the family lawyers? Was this why Cinch was prevaricating over Twilight's case? Did Twilight even know? Or was Cinch intending on pulling a fast one at the last minute the morning of the Games and putting Twilight on the bus under some kind of threat to her project grade or record? The last one fell in line with what she had been learning about her former principal and what Sunset herself had suggested the woman might try just to get her way.
The woman hurriedly finished signing the note and stuck it at eye level to Sunset's refrigerator. She checked on the teen one final time before slipping out, locking the door as best she could. She needed to get home and make some phone calls.
> Chapter One Hundred and Fifty Nine: Last Minute Preparation
"Central, Team Romeo reporting in. We're in the storage room, the door is barricaded." Brawly's voice clicked through the walkies. "Awaiting All-Clear."
Lyra responded cheerfully, "Roger that, Romeo. Standby!" She looked up from her phone. "That's everyone, Bonny!"
Bon-Bon bobbed her head. "Time?"
"Ninety-two seconds, from the start with everyone in the gym."
"Excellent." The walkie crackled as Bon-Bon pressed a button. "All-Clear. You did good today, guys. Go home and get some rest. We'll be running more drills tomorrow at lunch."
The teen then turned to Sunset and her friends. "Best time yet, with no obstacles. We've also done a few drills from the classrooms for different periods of the day. We're averaging between a hundred and hundred and twenty seconds. I think the Canterlot Student Defense is as ready for Friday as we are going to get. Flash, Trixie, Lyra and I are Central, coordinating on the walkies. You six are Team Rainbooms. Teams Alpha through Foxtrot are designated interference and distraction, Teams Golf through November are on the Junior High detail--they're to fan out and get the middle schoolers into safe zones--and Oscar through Victor are doing the same for the High School side. In the event it occurs when everyone is in one locale, like the gym, the plan is to assess if we can secure the room from incursion by hostiles. If not, then the teams scatter and the distraction teams do their job while we get everyone else to safety."
Sunset nodded, her brain still messy, but she pushed it aside to focus on the meeting. "What are the safe zones?" she asked.
Flash unrolled a big map of the school and pinned it to the big board that they had brought into the magic room. "We've marked them here. Eight janitor's closets, the bathrooms down in G hall, both the auto shop classroom and the woodshop classroom, twelve different classrooms on both floors, six different storage rooms, the boiler room, the equipment shed by the woods, the woods themselves since we can get people to the neighborhood behind it, and the hidden spot on the rooftop."
Their vice principal cleared her throat. "In addition, the teacher's lounge, the nurse, and the office are also safe zones--the lounge has locks, the nurse is a safe space for traditional lockdown drills for the same reason, and the office has the protective ward Miss Shimmer provided."
Rarity hummed. "How many teachers are in the group willing to fight back, if I might ask?"
Miss Luna gave a savage grin. "Seventeen, plus myself and my sister. That number includes Coach Will, Dr. Turner, Miss Harshwhinny, Granny Smith, and Mr. Doodle, surprisingly." She tapped her finger on the table. "If there is a dire need for additional arms of a more dangerous nature, there is a cabinet in my office that possesses them. I am...entrusting our resident experts to determine if they are called for if I am unable to make that decision. The key is in my center desk drawer."
Flash took back over at that. "Speaking of supplies, we have things stockpiled in fifty six different lockers around the school. All of them have been marked with a sticker of a modified Wondercolt--we made it into the winged unicorn from the battle of the bands, but in Wondercolt gold."
"It's an alicorn," Sunset corrected.
She felt them all look at her. "The pony with both a unicorn's horn and a pegasus' wings is called an alicorn."
"Huh. I always thought that was what you call a unicorn's horn when it's missing the rest of the unicorn," Lyra mused.
Said unicorn cringed, remembering her horrid nightmares with the not-Twilight separating her from her horn with violence and pain. "...contextual images of painful mutilation of my species aside, you...aren't necessarily wrong--there's a root term in one of the Old Ponish dialects from which both the word for a pony's biological focus for magic and the word alicorn derive. Though the focus is tribe independent, so it can just as easily refer to a pegasus' wings or a pony's hooves, since all three are made of the same keratin analog." She realized she was rambling. "...sorry, Flash. You were saying?"
"Right. Fifty six lockers with the sticker on them all over the school. Each of the safe zones also has a supply cache, marked with the same sticker." He ticked off on his fingers. "In addition to a small supply of fresh water bottles and protein bars--to keep people fed and watered if we are trapped for more than a few hours--there are extra walkies, batteries for them, a burner phone, and a set of defensive and distraction devices. Oh, and a swiss army knife and a package of zipties, since unless they're superhumanly strong, zipties are hard for any captured hostiles to break free of." He glanced over the table. "Trixie really came through for us with smoke bombs and stink bombs. We have several dozen per locker, which is huge. There's also slingshots and premade coffee filter pepper grenades--all packed full of the most horrific combinations of spices the Home Ec kids could come up with--including some ground up, aged, dried ghost pepper. All are packed tight and ground fine enough that the impact will create a localized cloud of the particles, which can and will stick to anything damp. Like eyeballs. Our distraction teams are all fitted with their own supply of slingshots, pepper grenades, smoke bombs, and zipties. Distract is primary, remove from play is secondary, hence the zipties. Trixie also contributed a few other items that I'll let her explain."
They all turned to the magician who was looking rather pleased with herself, and she placed several small objects on the table. "The House of Lulamoon has been hard at work to provide some defensive items for the school and her valiant defenders. First, we have this..." she touched a silvery marble. "When crushed, cracked, or broken, this device creates a burst of...I suppose the non-magi might call it an anti-magic zone. It is designed to end or interrupt effects in a ten to fifteen foot radius. They are not the easiest to make, but Trixie's father was insistent about providing as many as possible. There are only about forty of them, but they could provide a critical advantage."
Sunset whistled. "A null field that temporarily cancels thaumic energies? How long does it last?"
"Approximately fifteen seconds."
The redhead rocked on her heels. "Okay, color me impressed, Trixie. Only abjuration magi specializing in archaeology tend to be able to make something like that in Equestria. They're a pretty restricted item because they can be just as useful as a tool in assassination as they can be for breaking wards or traps." She shuddered. "I'd also request that they not be used around me or the girls if at all possible. I am not sure what it would do to us, given the kind of magic residing in our bodies."
Trixie considered that for a moment. "That is probably something to avoid, yes." She let that sink in for a long moment before moving to a small piece of dark stone. "These are shield stones. Trace the outer circle to activate them. They create a barrier against energy and magic for a short time, though they can be overloaded quicker if under sustained assault. They will cover an area of about ten feet in a dome. There are only a few dozen, so again, sparing usage. Trixie recommends they go to either the distraction teams or those protecting the younger children."
"Younger children," Sunset said firmly. "Most of the distraction teams are juniors and seniors--close to adulthood. They made an informed choice. The junior high kids are just kids...and foals should be protected first. Extras can go to the distraction teams, but foals are always a pony's first priority." She barely even noticed her slip out of human terms to pony ones.
Rarity placed a soothing, gentle hand on her shoulder, the only thing keeping her from pacing at the moment. "In this instance, I find myself more inclined to agree with the Equestrian philosophy. Sweetie is thirteen, and while she wants desperately to help fight, she is thirteen. Too young to even understand the dangers...and she's one of the brave ones. Some of them are just scared of what keeps happening."
Murmurs of agreement went around the table, and Miss Luna nodded. "I concur, ladies, and applaud all of you for your maturity in your choices to treat this as what it is meant to be--a way to get innocent students out of the line of fire in the event of a magical incursion by hostile forces."
Pinkie blinked. "Uh...."
"She means she's glad we're putting safety ahead of kicking butt," Fluttershy whispered.
"Ooooooooooooh." Pinkie beamed. "That's because even kicking butt is about making sure all our friends are safe and happy!"
Trixie cleared her throat. "If Trixie might continue?"
"Go ahead, darling," Rarity encouraged.
"Moving on, we have made these for as many students and teachers as possible--the bulk of our efforts went into these. Even Trixie's mother helped." The magician held up something that looked like a sporty wristwatch band with a flat stone on it. "There are enough for each team to have three, plus leftovers for those in charge, and twenty for the teachers and faculty." She offered a bunch out to the people at the table. "For those of you unable to perceive magic normally, these should allow you to do so, particularly in the areas of illusions and any kind of possession or mind control. Beings with magic will have a faint aura, which varies based on their personal type of magic prowess. Trixie and her family, for example, are silver, as we trace our ancestry back to the house of Madgi."
Luna put one on and scanned the roome intently. "I see what you mean, Miss Lulamoon. You are outlined in a soft silver. Miss Shimmer and her friends are quite bright with a rainbow aurora that seems to be constantly moving. Much of this room is touched by a white glow. But myself and the others..." she looked at Flash, Lyra, and Bon-Bon. "No glow. Good work."
A smile crossed Trixie's face. "Excellent. Illusions should make a person seem as though they are wearing a Halloween mask--it will seem plastic, fake. Dark magic or possession will appear black, sometimes with red or orange streaks in an unflattering and eye watering shade."
Sunset touched one of the bracelets with her own senses. "Interesting...there may be more in common with your magic and Equestrian magic than I realized, Trixie. Some of the enchantment magic here is very similar in shape and flow to primary methods of both artificing and enchanting in Equestria. When we aren't staring down the maw of a tatzlwurm, you and I should compare disciplines."
"Trixie would be pleased to discuss true magic with another professional. Does Equestria include alchemical magics among their studied fields?"
"It does," Sunset answered. "Why?"
"Because Trixie is intrigued by what you might think of these, Sunset Shimmer." She set a small vial on the table. "A House Lulamoon specialty--cleansing draughts meant to purge dark magical influences from a person in a matter of minutes. All children of the house, magical or not, learn to make this as a matter of course, and we keep it well stocked. A hundred doses stand ready to be brought to school and hidden away for emergency supplies. Trixie would recommend pairing it with some emergency medical supplies in first aid kits in each storage and safe zone, along with a first aid kit for each team. We have also made these...though in smaller numbers--not quite a dozen." The last item was a small ziploc bag with a thick bandage folded inside. The bandage seemed...damp. "While healing is mostly a lost art, even for the House of Lulamoon, we did retain our knowledge of what Trixie's father calls 'Triage Bandages.' These are to be used sparingly, but they are meant to save a life in the event of grievous wounding. They will stop all bleeding and seal a wound from infection for up to eighteen hours--which should be enough time to get a person to proper medical professionals."
That last item caused Sunset more than a little surprise. "We don't have anything quite that effective in Equestria. There's a tourniquet spell taught to healers, medics, doctors and all unicorns in the guard, but healing items are not common--according to Princess Celestia, if there were any healing arts, they were a branch of magic lost well before her birth. Most of our medicine is similar to human medicine, though there are sophisticated medical spells meant to perform diagnostic functions or to assist in various procedures...but they aren't 'healing magic' the way humans would think of it."
Nodding her head, the magician made a motion. "These are exceptionally expensive to craft for an item with only one use--it requires three different gemstones in powdered form, and pollen from a flower that is difficult to cultivate. We only have a few of them that Trixie's mother and aunt have successfully cultivated in the greenhouse. That is why there are only nine of these."
There was a throat clearing sound from the doorway, and then the principal's voice. "And it is my hope that we do not end up needing them. Should it be a necessity, however, House Lulamoon has the personal gratitude of the Solaire family, and I am happy to reimburse your parents the cost of their donations to protect the school and my students."
"Principal Celestia!" the group chorused in surprise. Even Vice Principal Luna seemed shocked to find her sister there.
She smiled tiredly at them. "I am proud of all the work that all of you have put into this--giving up your free time and in some cases spending your own money--to work together and make this school as safe as possible. You truly have become Wondercolts that I am proud of."
Sunset swallowed hard against the lump in her throat. "...it's the right thing to do..." she said quietly.
"It is...but sometimes, the hardest thing in the world is to stand up and do the right thing." Principal Celestia studied each of them. "And not only are each of you standing up for what is right, you have organized your peers as leaders to stand up as well, in a way that prioritizes everyone's safety and well being...whether or not something happens in the future in regards to magic, I plan on placing a note in all your records to reflect your leadership skills and dedication to aiding your peers."
They all exchanged looks, but it was Dash who spoke up. "Thanks, Principal C--but you didn't just show up to pat us on the back. What's going on?"
The woman brandished a collection of papers. "I just got the finalized itinerary for Friday from Abacus for their arrival, and I also have the final schedule and location for all Friendship Games activities. While we are not supposed to hand this out to students, Sunset Shimmer and Vice Principal Luna's experience on the Crystal Prep Campus makes me feel it prudent to give you a copy of this so that we can have your teams placed accordingly and prepared for when trouble starts." Her expression grew hard. "Should that harpy try anything, I want her to quickly learn she has crossed the wrong school."
Rarity accepted the papers, flipping through them thoughtfully. "This is quite thorough." She passed them to Bon-Bon. "I expect we can have everything ready by Friday for the inevitable trouble." She canted her head. "I am curious, do we know the names of the CPA students on their Friendship Games Team?"
"No. Normally we would, but Abacus turned my own statements against me on that. We will be finding out at the meet and greet in the gym at nine on Friday...as will they. I refused to cave and give her access to any of your names when she has been so insistent on trying to acquire Sunset Shimmer's."
Applejack snorted. "There's a damned sight difference between what that high falutin' good fer nothin' witch was doin' trying to get dirt on Sunset, an' official papers fer an inter-school game."
"Be that as it may, dearest, it just means we will have to be on our toes and ready for anything come Friday," Rarity soothed the blonde farmer. "We will be just fine, all of us."
Miss Luna hummed. "That being said, I want you girls to make sure you don't over do your magical training this week--take time to rest and relax, so you will be well rested and fresh on Friday morning." She gave Sunset a pointed stare. "Some of you are looking more than a little tired and worn out."
Fluttershy spoke up. "The plan was for tomorrow and Thursday to have only band practice and to get early nights so we are all ready for Friday. It helps that most of the teachers aren't giving homework this week." She peeked at the principals. "I'm guessing you had something to do with that?"
"Something like that, yes," Miss Luna concurred.
Sunset glanced at the clock. "Speaking of practice, we need to wrap this meeting up so we can head to the farm. Was there anything else we need to discuss here today?" Taking the silence as a no, Sunset ran a hand through her mane. "Great. We'll meet again at lunch Thursday for any last minute details."
With that decided, she herded everyone out of the room, hearing the magical lock engage when she shut the door.
> Interlude XXXVI: A Helping Hand Goes Farther Than You Can Dream...
"Oh yeah! Looking good, Kicks!" Rainbow cheered as one of the fullbacks punted the soccer ball between two of the forwards during a scrimmage. She darted in and swiped the ball, heading back towards the other goal, feinting a shot before passing it to her fellow forward and letting Flitter take the shot against the boy's team's goalie.
Fluttershy gave a quiet cheer as it went in, ending the practice, before holding up a hand so Dashie would see her. Everyone had dispersed to do their own thing--even Sunset's tutoring group was taking the week off--and it was the perfect chance to get her best friend alone to discuss her worries.
Dash jogged over after the team huddle ended, accepting the ice cold bottle of water Fluttershy held out. "Sup? What's eating you?"
Glancing around, she patted the seat next to her. "I'm very worried about Sunset," she murmured. "She's been upset and trying to hide it all week...and I don't think it's because of whatever is happening with the portal." She waited for Dashie to disagree, but the other teen just made a 'go on' motion while chugging her water. So she did. "She was nervous the last few weeks, ever since her Crystal Prep friend got in trouble, but...this weekend...something changed. She's scared and hurt. I hugged her at lunch and she flinched, Dashie, like she was afraid I was going to hit her, and sometimes she gets this look when she's staring at a wall, and it hurts me inside."
There was silence between them, and she could tell that her best friend was trying to decide what to say. Finally, Dash asked, "What do you think happened?"
"I...think...Sunset has always reminded me of the dogs we get sometimes at the shelter who have been abused and neglected. Especially when she was a bully. And she's told us some about what Equestria was like, how none of the ponies there wanted her in their groups, and made her feel like she was bad even before she was bad...." She rubbed her arm. "But ever since the Fall Formal, she's been getting better...except now...it's like she's back to being scared of someone hurting her again." It made her angry and upset that someone hurt Sunset enough to take away the security she'd started to feel in the company of friends...
Rainbow Dash rose and tugged her to her feet. "I think something went wrong with her friend at CPA," her friend said. "...but...I didn't ask because she's got that 'I don't want to tell people' thing going on." She hefted her backpack onto her back and they started walking towards the front of the school. "Probably doesn't want pity or whatever--I know I didn't when Gilda and I went separate ways back freshman year."
Fluttershy frowned. "I don't pity her...but I'm worried and angry at whoever hurt her like that. Especially if it was a friend." She looked down at her toes. "I know how that feels and it's awful. Sunset shouldn't have to go through it alone."
Silence stretched as they rounded the building, cutting across the grass lazily. "I think," Dashie said hesitantly, "that Shimmer knows we're here if she needs us. We've all told her that, more than once...but some people...sometimes they just need to sort some shit out on their own, Fluttershy. Sunset's...one of those. She's had to be strong by herself for a long time, and she can't be weak with others around because she doesn't know how, and trying makes her feel worse."
"So I shouldn't do or say anything? Won't that be worse? She might think that means we don't care." Fluttershy hunched in on herself a little. "And we do. I do. I care. She's my friend, and I want to help."
Sneakers scuffed on the sidewalk as they reached it, and Dashie shrugged. "Maybe just tell her that. That you're worried about her and you're here to listen or help if she wants it, and...just leave it at that. Don't push or bug her. Tell her once and then be ready to respect her space. Sunset...she notices a lot of things, even if she doesn't say it, y'know?"
"Like you?"
"Kinda...but not? Sunset notices feelings. I just notice stuff." A blue skinned hand rested on the back of the statue plinth as they watched the road. "Hard to explain..."
Brows furrowed, the teenager considered the advice and compared Sunset to Rainbow. They did have some things in common, so maybe a similar approach might be best, as Dashie had suggested. "I guess I can try that tomorrow--she left right after school. I think Rarity convinced her to go home and sleep."
They fell into comfortable quiet for a bit, even as Dash began to bounce a soccer ball off her knee into the air, keeping count. At least until the athlete did a double take and dropped it. "What the--who the fuck is that?"
Fluttershy followed the gaze, and saw a woman getting out of a very pretty blue car covered in bumper stickers proclaiming a dozen different causes and affiliations scattered in between funny one-liners and silly jokes. Pride Flags, Pro-Choice, the ASPCA...they splashed across her vision among logos for several organizations, at least three stickers for CNTR 104.1-the local radio station that everyone loved--and various joke stickers meant to make fun of traffic, people following too close, and several about dogs and cats. The woman herself was wearing dark slacks and a pretty blouse that Rarity would have loved to see. It complimented the woman's pink skin and tri-colored hair that was pulled back in a neat ponytail. She offered them both a smile as she approached, and when she spoke, her voice was...somehow familiar.
"Hello there! Do you know if the school is still open?"
Smiling brightly in response, Fluttershy responded, "Oh yes...It remains open until at least six..."
Dash narrowed her eyes. "Aren't you a little old to be a transfer student?" she asked suspiciously.
The woman laughed. "Oh much too old," she grinned. "I'm here to see your Vice Principal all the same, however. Can you tell me where the office is?"
"How about we show you? It's quicker." It dawned on her that Rainbow didn't trust a stranger in the school, even as it niggled at her that she knew this woman's voice from somewhere. Fluttershy nodded her agreement to her friend when she glanced her way. Given recent events, caution was a good idea.
If the woman noticed, she didn't show it. She just responded in that same chipper voice, "That would be great! Lead the way!"
Fluttershy took the initiative and took point, knowing Dashie would bring up the rear and watch the woman like a hawk. "It's this way, Miss..."
"You can call me Cadence."
"Right this way, Miss Cadence," Fluttershy said softly, and began walking back to the building, glancing back periodically. "Miss Luna and Principal Celestia usually stay until six thirty, but I think Principal Celestia left to go to a meeting earlier..." She kept up the stream of soft but pointless chatter as a distraction for both her own awkwardness and to cover for her best friend's suspicious, watchful behavior, leading the way quite quickly to the office.
The woman--Cadence--didn't seem to mind, looking around with what her mother might call 'polite curiosity,' but otherwise not interrupting. The only moment of concern was when she paused by the big photos of Dance Royalty from years past, lingering on the ones of Sunset Shimmer for several seconds, a frown marring her face. Then she motioned to the blank space for the most recent fall dance. "You seem to be missing one."
Dash grunted. "Yeah, well, having an explosion nearly kill our Fall Formal Princess kinda put a damper on things that night. We were more concerned with not dying to a giant fireball."
Sharp eyes moved to look between the teens as Fluttershy completely turned around. "That sounds harrowing. The girl from the previous pictures?"
"Um...no. Someone new," Fluttershy answered carefully. She could see Dash tense. "It...was...a very stressful night."
"Yup, and we don't really want to discuss it. Oh look, the office is right here." Dash brushed by the woman, and called out loudly, "Yo! VP! There's a supermodel here for you!"
"Really, Miss Dash," came the vice principal's voice from her office. "Are you so lacking in prank ideas that you are resorting to this now? Surely you have more important ways to spend your afterno--Cadenza?!" Miss Luna had leaned out of her office and caught sight of the visitor. "What are you doing here?"
All of a sudden, the sunny disposition became one of steel. "Lu. I need to talk to you--I need your help."
Their vice principal responded with immediate concern. "Come in--why did you not call me?"
"I just got done talking to Mom about what to do about this. There wasn't time."
Miss Luna nodded. "Alright. We will fix it." She glanced at the teens. "Thank you girls, for showing Cadence the way here. You can go now--I will handle things from here." She ushered the woman into her office and shut the door firmly.
Rainbow stared. "What the fuck was that all about?" she wondered.
Fluttershy tilted her head as she finally placed the woman's voice. "...I don't know, but...I also think that's the lady from the radio!"
Her best friend stared at her. "Uhhhh...do what now?"
"The radio."
Dashie shook her head and started walking again. "Shy, the only time I listen to the radio is when I'm stuck in the car with my parents and forgot my headphones at home."
"Well, we have it tuned to Canter 104 at the shelter. They play music that doesn't upset most of the animals," she explained. "And I think she was one of the DJs who also does lots of news and local interest stories." Her eyes widened. "She was the one who advertised our park clean up project, I think. Do you think that's how Sunset got that to happen? Like...through Miss Luna?"
"Maybe...but that doesn't explain what a local shock-jockey was doing showing up here," the other girl answered grumpily. "Or why she was asking questions about the formal. Even if she and the VP are pals, doesn't she have a cellphone? Why crash the school? I'm telling you, Fluttershy, something is up!"
Luna shut the door and pulled the blinds over the windows, leaving the room dim but ensuring privacy. Then she touched Cadence's arm, guiding her to a chair. "What has Abacus done now?" she asked.
"How did you--?"
Her friend smiled and tugged on her ponytail. "You came here, seeking my help...at work, instead of calling ahead and arranging to meet at your place or a restaurant. You mentioned talking to Velvet first. And you're not upset as much as you are angry and worried. Ergo, it must have something to do with your Ladybug, and by extension either Crystal Prep and Abacus, or Sunset Shimmer and CHS." She pulled her chair around so they could talk as equals without her desk in the way. "So what happened?" she repeated, sitting so that her knee bumped up against Cady's.
"Have you ever known Principal Cinch to accept less than the best?" Cadence asked.
Luna snorted. "Not even a consideration. That woman has an overblown superiority complex a mile wide."
She sagged. "Exactly. And Twily is the top student in her school, academically. Yet we've heard nothing about her being on the Games team...which makes no sense if the principal only accepts the best. So either Twily is hiding it from us, which...makes no sense given everything else...or...she doesn't know."
A frown crossed dark skinned features. "And given that the Games are in two days...you think she's going to force her to compete at the last minute." Luna's brows drew together. "Preventing interference from your in-laws."
It was nice to know she wasn't jumping to ridiculous conclusions. Lu was not one to be prone to over the top assumptions, so hearing her reach the same idea she had was both vindicating and worrying. "That's precisely the conclusion I reached," she answered, reaching out to squeeze her hand. "Which is why I need your help, especially because this is so last minute."
Eyes the color of a stormy sea danced with humor despite the matter at hand. "As if I would turn down a chance to stick it to that foul, soul-sucking harpy. Of course I'll help, Cady--I would never leave you to twist in the wind. Besides...I'm rather hoping that we'll have Twilight here as a student next year, and my sister and I look after our charges like real educators. What do you need?"
This was the part she hadn't been sure on. "I need some kind of official press pass or something that lets me be here on Friday. I can spin it as an article for the Canter 104 news page on local interests, a fluff piece on an enduring tradition of cooperation and sportsmanship, or even do a vlog about encouraging a positive environment in high schools improving mental health in teenagers, and get some interview quotes from you and your sister, and a few student volunteers...I don't really care how I spin it...I need to be here when CPA shows up, and while the Games are happening." Her words came out in a stressed rush, as she hastened to explain. "I'm on the file officially with Shining as one of the adults able to intercede with Twily in school matters. If I'm here , and Principal Cinch has her competing, I can remove her, or at least call a halt until her parents and authorities can be called."
Luna was back to her 'thinking frown.' "And I would be obligated to contact at least the school board, if not the police. Even a principal must obtain parental permission in writing to remove a student from campus during the school day for any reason other than putting them on a bus to send them home as part of end of day dismissal or on an ambulance to the hospital in an emergency. If she brings her here, without them being contacted and giving permission...her family could do a lot with that...possibly even have Abacus charged with kidnapping. Her career would be over in an instant."
"Not to mention the lawyers would have a field day," Cady agreed. "She's already been both overly interested and inappropriate with Twily for months." She bit her lip, leaning forward. "You'll help, then?"
Her best friend pulled away, which surprised Cadence, and stood to move to her desk, searching a filing cabinet. "Getting you a pass to be here for the day is easy enough," she started, but something in her voice was off. "That's not a problem..."
"Lu?"
The older woman took a long, deep breath, and Cadence could see how a faint shiver went through her. "...there are things you don't know," she said in a rough whisper, "things that are not my place to say..."
Such a sudden change in attitude was more than a little unsettling, and Cadence felt herself shudder in response to the feeling creeping up her spine. "Is...will Twilight be in danger? Will Sunset?" The flinch at Sunset's name gave away the answer, as did the oppressive silence. "Then I need to be here even more."
Luna bowed her head forward, the silence stretching on and on, and in it, Cadence could feel the emotional turmoil lurking under her best friend's skin. She was weighing something in her mind, some great and terrible choice that came from conflicting loyalties of some kind, Cadence decided, having witnessed this exact thing before.
She was having none of that, not today. Rising from the chair--which was fairly uncomfortable anyway--she moved to stand side by side with the woman who was closer to her than anyone but her Shiny, and hugged her tight. "I won't make you tell someone else's secret, but I will not stay away when my sister...sisters, really...are in a dangerous situation...to say nothing of my best friend."
Turning into the embrace, Luna returned it with a heavy sigh. "I know...but I cannot let you walk in ignorant. Not this, and not you, promises be damned..." A weak laugh was pressed into Cadence's shoulder. "...and given what happened a few weeks ago, I have to think she would agree with me."
"She? She who?" Cadence was starting to feel very out of her depth. "Your sister?"
"Sunset Shimmer, actually." Luna stepped out of the hug, rubbing her face. "It all ties back to Sunset Shimmer and that damned Fall Formal."
Cadence frowned. Twilight had mentioned the Fall Formal herself last Friday, and Sunset had gone white as a sheet. Sunset had acknowledged some kind of state secret that she wanted to bring the family in on...Now Luna was alluding to some great and terrible secret around the same events and Sunset herself...and all of it somehow tying into why the Friendship Games would be dangerous...
"Lu..." she started, praying she was wrong but knowing it was a vain hope, "...there was never a gas line, was there?"
Her friend met her gaze. "I'm sure there is somewhere on the property...but not involved in the formal disaster. That...was all Sunset."
It was a sobering thought, considering the damage had been extensive and severe, but...how...?
An arm steadied her. "That's the part that...seems unbelievable," Luna explained, making her realize she must have spoken aloud. "How much do you know about Sunset's origins?"
"She was supposed to tell us something important last Friday, but...things didn't pan out. We know she was adopted by some royal...we think from one of those tiny European principalities...She's told Twily about being an orphan, and we figured out she's a runaway or a cast off in some fashion, with so much redacted in her file that it reads like a barcode." Cadence ticked the things off on the list of things they knew about Sunset. "We know she lost her parents young and grew up emotionally neglected in the ways she needed. She mentioned being on good terms with one of the princesses from her previous home, enough that the woman cleared her schedule last weekend to talk to us before things...went completely belly up."
Luna steepled her fingers. "Most of that is true...if you're Ben Kenobi....but it lacks key context from one very important piece of information."
"Sunset Shimmer didn't run away from a European principality."
The pink skinned woman frowned. "Okay...?"
"Almost six years ago, Sunset Shimmer entered Canterlot by way of the base of the Wondercolt statue out front, after running away from the world on the other side of the dimensional gate housed therein. A world of powerful magic and living myths. A world she calls Equestria."
Everything felt...surreal. Like Cadence had stepped away from reality into some quasi-dream realm where existence was...fuzzy at the edges. Yet Luna's expression was serious, with none of the humor or playfulness that was present in her eyes when she was joking around. "A magic world and a portal in the statue?" Cadence repeated. "Sunset's...an extra-dimensional alien?"
Her friend exhaled a slow breath. "Yes, an extra-dimensional runaway. She's managed to make herself a life and identity here--and the less detail any of us know about that second one, the better off we probably are." She walked over to the cabinet on the wall. "Last fall, she returned through the portal when it opened, and stole an artifact of great power from one of the rulers of her former home, fleeing here with it. In the ensuing snafu, the artifact ended up as the regalia for the Fall Formal, meant to be placed upon the head of the Fall Formal Princess, and Sunset Shimmer was pursued and challenged by the very princess from whom she stole the artifact. I will not bore you with the details, but suffice to say the princess in question, in a mere three days, dismantled Miss Shimmer's social empire and united the students against her. And when Miss Shimmer made one last desperate gamble for the artifact after it had been awarded to her opponent, the princess who had replaced her in the eyes of her former guardian and teacher...well. It was a disaster, with the magic transforming Sunset Shimmer into a reflection of her inner self, I suppose, and turning into a fight against the princess and five girls who united behind her. In the end, the princess and her allies called upon the magic in the stolen artifact to defeat the creature Sunset Shimmer had become and return her to herself...a better version of herself, given the way the experience humbled her."
From the top shelf in the cabinet, she retrieved a fist sized, dark colored crystal and held it out to Cadence for inspection. On the stone's meticulously cut surface were glowing sigils that hummed faintly, symbols that seemed somewhat familiar, though not from any source Cadence could name...until she reached out to trace one with a finger. "Oh!" She fumbled with her purse, digging deep into one of the pockets. "I've seen this before...except...without the...glow?" Her fingers closed around the small, curious crystal she'd discovered in her purse a month or so back--she'd kept it because it was pretty, and it looked like someone had carved its surface...much like the stone in Luna's hands. Surprise filled her when she realized the small crystal was hot to the touch and vibrating, and when she pulled it out, also glowing. "...it didn't do that before...what is it?"
"Sunset Shimmer made this as a defense for Celestia and me. It is meant to block dark magic. Ever since the Battle of the Bands events, where ancient magical monsters from Sunset's world infiltrated the school, Sunset has been working with us to protect the school from the next magical incursion. This...Nightstone...she called it, is merely one example. Apparently she was quite the talented sorceress before she came here, and she is using those talents to train her friends in their acquired magical powers and help organize a way to remove others from the line of fire...We all hope it is something we never need...but we are not foolish enough to assume that." Luna studied the shard in Cadence's hand. "If I had to guess, she put that in your purse as a way to protect you from dark magic. I wouldn't be surprised if she has scattered them among the possessions of the entire family, now that we have confirmed that Pandora's magic box has been opened in our world."
Cady marveled at the stones. "Is it...charging? Is that why it's hot?"
"I would assume nothing, but from what little I have come to understand...well. To quote Puck, 'Energy is energy, be it science or sorcery.' It is probable that your little shard is drawing energy from the environment, like a cellphone on one of those connection free chargers. Miss Shimmer has indicated that that is quite common for both entities and objects in her world."
Setting the sliver of crystal on the desk, Cadence crossed her arms, trying to form her thoughts into a coherent understanding. "So this school...is...what? A hot spot for magic? A dimensional crossroads?"
"It might be better to call it a wellspring and a nexus. Miss Shimmer and her five friends are...as much as I understand...sources of powerful magic that has been feeding into natural channels for such power for half a year, including three rather large infusions that were the magical equivalent of benign nuclear bombs when it comes to energy output. The entire school is now steeped in that magic and we have been seeing the way it has affected students, staff, and local flora and fauna." Luna rested the large stone on her desk next to Cadence's smaller shard.
"Affected?"
The dark skinned woman wordlessly pulled up one of her sleeves and turned her arm. "All benign, at present, and nothing I feel the need to trouble Miss Shimmer with, but..."
"You...your scar is gone." There had been a nasty, ropy scar that went deep into the other woman's upper arm for many years, already healed and old by the time they had met, one that spoke to damage to both muscle and bone beneath. A lasting mark of some of Luna's choices during her attempt to 'find herself' after high school.
She nodded. "As is the ache and limitations to the arm. It's...not entirely as if it never happened, but it has been healing over time back to what it was before, what it would be if I had gotten immediate medical care when it happened. And I'm not the only one. My sister had scars from the accident, and they are faded, now little more than marks on the skin rather than deep scar tissue. Some of our students and staff with chronic health conditions--asthma, allergies, arthritis, even autoimmune...seem to be showing signs of those things being reduced or outright eliminated. And it's not just us. The snake in one of the biology teacher's classrooms was elderly and dying, but since Christmas, it seems to have shaved a few years off and is like a much younger animal than it should be, and the greenhouse and forest around the school shrugged off winter. We've had spring here since January, despite the weather."
If anyone else had been telling her all of this, Cadence would have thought them in need of serious therapy, yet she knew her best friend, inside and out. She knew all of Luna's warts and scars, idiosyncrasies and flaws, and she knew her best friend was not a liar, not prone to delusions or hallucinations. And the stones glowing and pulsing on the desk sat in mute testament of the truth. "That's...no wonder you have been busy...I can't imagine what you've had to do to keep this from getting out!"
"Not as much as you might think, actually. The students aren't keen on telling outsiders--to them, having magic and magical heroines in their school is part of their collective identity as Wondercolts...and it makes them special in that way every teenager craves. After all, they experience magic regularly at pep rallies, band practices, and lunchtime gatherings. Plus...who would believe them? Teenagers claim outrageous things often, and most of it is bullshit." Luna shook her head, tucking some hair behind her ear. "As for the adults...many of them came to the same conclusion Tia and I did: talking about it to others is a one way ticket to the nuthouse. 'I was mind controlled by ancient magical fish horse demons from another world and they tortured me for a whole week' isn't going to garner the sympathy they want."
There was something in Luna's tone that set off alarm bells, and Cadence focused on it. "Tortured?"
A shrug answered her, but Luna would not meet her gaze. She could see the way the muscles in her jaw clenched, a sure sign of the woman suppressing something. Again.
Nope. She was still not having that. Cady stepped in, violating Lu's personal space, and took her face in her hands, turning the woman back to look at her. "None of that, dreamer. Do I need to bring you home tonight for ice cream and a cuddle pile? I will. Shining doesn't need to know why, if you don't want to tell him, but nightmares, real or imagined...we carry those together. You pinkie-promised, Lu, and there are no backsies on those." She injected a bit of humor into the situation. "Unless all of this magic business has magically gotten you interested in a girlfriend--if that's the case, I will wing-woman for you so hard..."
It worked. Luna's lips turned up slightly and she touched Cadence's wrists. "No. Having a friend as involved in my business as you is more than enough for me...but maybe the first isn't a bad idea. I...haven't had anyone to talk to about the sirens and what they did to us--they were so cruel but Tia got the worst of it, and she hasn't handled it the best."
Cadence smirked. "I can't help myself--I'm naturally nosy and your 'business' is in great shape." That netted her an eye roll...which was a good sign. "Come to the apartment tonight," she coaxed in a soft tone. "We'll hit that Thai place you like, break open a few drinks, watch some bad horror films, and talk about what's wrong over ice cream. And when Shiny gets home, we'll bunk down in a cuddle pile, and you can be in the middle this time."
"Okay," Lu relented. "...but let me focus right now on the matter at hand? I'll...tell you about the sirens later. After I've got some alcohol in me."
She nodded. "Deal. You need to explain to me how this all relates to the Games, anyway, and why Friday will be dangerous."
One brow arched. "I would have figured it would be obvious by now."
Her stomach sank. "What do you mean?"
"My dear Cadenza...you have the distinct honor of having graduated from Sunnydale. I will say I always believed Hell to exist, but part of me assumed it was in New Jersey or Texas...I guess my great-great-great-grandfather had it right.
Cady stared. "What?"
"Crystal Prep is evil. Full of powerful evil magic. That's why Sunset was wound so tight when we were all there, and why she looked ill by the end of it--she was keeping it from hurting us." She took a breath. "And do you remember when you and Shining were ill for most of a week, after his fight with his mother?"
Unease gripped her. "...Yes...?"
Luna squeezed her hand. "I don't know for certain, but I suspect you were suffering the after effects of dark magic being purged from your systems...by Sunset Shimmer."
She thought back to that horrible evening and awful week, suddenly seeing Sunset's actions in a new light. "...She's...she's known all this time...but couldn't say anything? Oh, Sunset..."
"In all fairness," Luna said quietly, "I suspect the situation is a lot more complicated than just an inability to say anything, and it was not until very recently that we knew enough to mark Crystal Prep as a confirmed source of dark magics--and even then only by accident."
Something didn't quite add up. "If this magic is invading from Sunset's world and the princess you mentioned knows about it...why haven't they sent qualified adults over to deal with the situation? Instead of relying on a bunch of teenagers who have known magic is real...for a few months?"
The other woman made a face. "That is assuming there are experts more qualified than the two already working on it. The princess is the foremost expert on the particular poorly understood and obscure branch of magic in question, and from what I've pieced together, Sunset was...something of a sorcerous prodigy herself before she came here." She waggled one hand in a maybe gesture. "There's also the matter of visibility. Sunset lives here, has an identity, and is enrolled in school here. The princess visits for short periods after school and is mostly providing research resources and what assistance she can. There is no guarantee additional people with no knowledge of our culture would ever be able to blend in while doing research on what's going on. They would have no legal identification, no paperwork, nothing to mark them as belonging, and you know how tightly controlled entry into a public school is these days. Couple that with a completely alien culture..."
Cadence made a face. "I hadn't considered that. It makes sense that they'd have a completely alien culture in another world...so you think something is going to happen on Friday?"
Fingers rubbed dark skinned temples. "We do. If the source of the darkness at CPA knows there's magic in the area, being at ground zero for the largest amount of it in the area is too good an opportunity to pass up. Especially if it's been lying dormant for decades or centuries to have magic to access." She gave Cadence a long look. "Which is why I want you to be aware of the danger and prepared. Can you still shoot and hit what you aim at?"
"...yes...but a firearm on school grounds is a felony, Lu."
"Normally, yes...but these are modified paintball guns. Customized to fire pellets of holy water, salt, herbs, and iron dust." Luna put the dark stone back in its hiding space in the cabinet. "So are you still a good shot?"
"I wasted Shining last month in laser tag for a date night." She gave Luna a grim smile. "And if Abacus Cinch tries anything, I'll put a pellet right between her eyes. Nobody messes with my family, Lu."
> Chapter One Hundred and Sixty: Blurring and Stirring the Truth and the Lies...
Ahead, the black bus was a furious beast, crouched and rumbling ominously, surrounded by the hive of activity that was the Crystal Prep student body that were heading to the Friendship Games. In addition to the team, the top performing twenty-five percent of the school in various areas was given the chance to attend, with empty seats from those who declined then filled by "the next people" on the class list. All in all, it meant somewhere close to two hundred people were gathered, gossiping and speculating, and they kept looking at her.
Twilight bristled. She hated the attention, and she was still angry and hurt by what had happened over the last week. Not to mention still more than a bit sleep deprived. With the way her family had been acting, her only solace had been in the garage lab, trying to wrest the secrets of magic from the shards that had done so much at the amphitheater...
Twilight stared at the shards, then at the device in her hands. It was picking up almost nothing, just a faint...leftover impression of an energy signature, like a battery that had been used up. "...after the holographic display at the amphitheater, there should be more left than this!" She slumped against the desk, but took the reading and did her best to match it to one of her other documented readings of past 'events.'
It didn't take long to find them. There was the big event that she now knew had been the 'Musical Showcase/Battle of the Bands'--the very event caught on video and also replayed before her own eyes as some kind of magical hologram, which made sense...but there were other matches. The event that she had missed during a meeting with Principal Cinch. One more recently, that she now realized coincided with the Friday Sunset had come in shell-shocked about the Pep Rally and being chosen for the Friendship Games Team. One the weekend of Sunset's horrific nightmare that woke the whole house, and another the day Sunset had come to get her from her school.
Every single one came back to Sunset Shimmer. Even the first event, the one she had witnessed change the sky in the park. That had been the night of Sunset's Fall Formal, and the night they met.
Was this particular energy signature Sunset's? If so, why did the gem fragments match it? They belonged to those girls who had summoned the images of the hippocampi.
The dark haired girl made a frustrated sound, and turned to stare at the giant board full of data and images, all connected to various other parts with color coded string, all in an attempt to detangle the things she knew or suspected based on evidence in her grasp. "This would be a lot easier," she complained to Spike, "if Sunset had just told me. Then I'd have what I need, instead of sifting through scraps!"
Resentment and hurt rose up again, and she felt the tears gather in her eyes again, making her vision blurry. "But no," Twilight whined, dropping her scanner on the desk and collapsing into her chair, "of all the secrets she chooses to keep beyond all rationale, even when confronted with it, its this one!" Her breath stuttered and hiccupped as she fought her tears. "Not the one that mattered to me, about us--no! Magic is more important to keep secret from me than not outing me to my parents!"
Spike made a low sound and hopped up into her lap, trying to lick her face, showing love and support as only a dog could. At least...she thought it was support, until he twisted to grab her phone and push the rectangle of glass and plastic against her hand.
"Not you too," she growled, tossing the phone back onto the desk beside the scanner. "I don't want to talk to her right now! I care about her, Spike, but she broke my trust, and she's been lying to me all along. How can I ever trust her again? How do I know everything hasn't been a lie?"
The dog stared at her, hard, and it felt like judgment.
"If you're going to side with everyone else in the house without even asking why, you can go spend the rest of the night with Mom and Dad," Twilight told him bitterly.
Speaking of her parents...
Her phone buzzed, her mom's number, and she read it dully. A text telling her to come in and eat, that she had learned over the last three days she couldn't ignore, because they would shut her lab's power and unlock the door with the master key on her.
"Let's go," she sighed, scrubbing her face and preparing herself for the inevitable argument at the table when they tried to 'talk' to her.
A hand touched her shoulder, making her jump and tense in response as it jerked her from her thoughts.
"Whoa! Easy," Indigo hissed from beside her. "It's just me. Why didn't you wait for me?"
One hand pressed to her heart to calm its racing. "...I tried," she whispered back. "Cinch sent Sugarcoat to ensure I made it. She wouldn't let me wait."
Indigo snorted and looked over at the pale haired girl. "Insufferable kiss-ass," she said, loud enough to be heard, something about the other girl making her hackles bristle.
The other teen stared back dispassionately. "And you are a loud-mouthed, obnoxious, mediocre athlete from a family with more money than social class. Now that we all know each other, do you have a point, or do you just like the sound of your own voice?" Not once did the voice waver from flat, bored emptiness.
"Just pointing out that you seem to enjoy rimming Abacus Bitch," she countered. "Which is funny. I would have thought better of you until recently." Indigo made a rude gesture, then turned back to Twilight. "Alright. Well, buddy system rule is still in effect, Sparkle. We don't split up, you and me."
Twilight could only give a jerky nod and cover a yawn with one hand. Sleep had been as elusive as the answers to her questions, and the dark haired girl had stepped well past exhausted into some transcendent state of being entirely powered by insomnia, anxiety, and borderline illegal amounts of caffeine in her bloodstream. "...yeah. Okay...which bus is ours?" she mumbled to Indigo. In her frenzy of trying to tear the secrets out of the broken bits of crystal, she had completely spaced on the Games itinerary and details...under normal circumstances she would have probably panicked about being unprepared, but it was taking a decided back seat to her world falling down around her ears.
Oh, and the fact that magic was real. That was...kind of a big deal.
Her friend gave her a long, searching look, and put an arm around her shoulders to steer her towards the big black bus. "This one. Team arrives in style. They chartered buses for everyone else." With a flying elbow and lots of threatening curses, the athlete pushed through their teammates and peers to get Twilight on the bus, including an accidental blow right to Suri's perfect face that sent her to the ground with a squeal of pain. "Oops. Sorry. Pollen has my nose plugged. I missed the warning smell of dirty skank!" Indigo called as she nudged Twilight up into the bus, and towards the very back where there was a seat with a bigger gap between it and the next row because of the emergency exit.
Glancing around, she nudged Twilight into the window seat. "Okay, Sparkle, what's wrong? You have been a mess all week but you not having a bulleted schedule for today is huge."
"...I forgot," she said with a tight shrug. "I've had a lot on my mind. Then Sugarcoat basically accosted me the instant I got to the lab to drag me out here."
Blue brows arched almost to her hairline. "You forgot something the size of the Friendship Games? Okay, now I know something is wrong." At the scowl she sent the other girl, Indigo put her hands up. "Telling it like I see it, Twilight. You've been a wreck all week, and you've hardly said two words to anyone, me included. What happened last weekend with the Badass in Bitch Boots that's got you so tied in knots?"
Pain and anger ripped through her, showing on her face before she could stop it, her mind on the betrayal of being outed yet again by someone other than herself, and this time by the one person she trusted to respect her desires. "I don't want to talk about it," she snapped bitterly.
Indigo winced. "Ah, mierda...what happened? She get upset about the questions? Or is it worse than we thought? Does the principal eat baby hearts or make sacrifices to the Devil on an altar made of former students? Did I make a deal with a she-devil?"
Crossing her arms defensively, Twilight hunched in on herself, pressed to the window. "How should I know? She wouldn't answer my questions, and then it turns out she went behind my back and told my parents something personal that she promised she would let me tell them first!" Her voice was a furious, whispered hiss, her mind in just enough control to focus on her volume control. "And now everyone in my family is taking her side! All week, my parents have tried to lecture me whenever they see me about it. 'We don't talk to people like that, Twilight,' and 'you went too far, for something that wasn't her fault...' As if it doesn't matter that not only has she been keeping secrets and lying to us for months, but she also betrayed my trust!"
Her friend stared at her. "....oooookay...maybe you should back up a bit and tell me the details?"
She glanced around the bus--the loading process was slow going, and there wasn't yet anyone seated close by other than Lemon Zest, whose head was bobbing away to the music that was blasting so loud from her oversized noise canceling headphones that Twilight could completely make out the singer's lyrics from two rows away. It was a wonder that the girl didn't already have hearing loss, if she listened to her music that loud. "Fine." Leaning close, Twilight recounted the way her brother and father had fetched her up from school because she lost track of time and hadn't realized that her phone going off had been a call and not the alarm she had set.
Indigo made a confused sound. "What's that gotta do with your...friend...? It sounds like that's on your family."
"They accused me of lying about where I was all week, and then assumed they knew what my reasons were for staying late." Twilight sank deeper into the seat. "And she was on their side for it...she might have even been the reason they were upset when they came to get me--the first thing she did was start apologizing..."
The expression on Indigo's face was one Twilight couldn't name. "Uh huh...apologizing for what? Getting you in trouble with your folks? And why did they think you were lying? Youre not exactly known for it."
She growled irritably. "...they assumed, incorrectly, that she was picking me up after school. They were under the impression that I was with her some of the afternoons last week like I was the week before. We forgot to mention that I had decided to focus on my project."
"So...it was a misunderstanding from your parents? How is that her doing? It's...not really her job to inform your parents about your plans, Twilight. And if she was supposed to cover for you, you should have told her." Indigo made a loose gesture. "Sounds like a case of 'shit happens' to me."
Huffing and regretting how petulant it made her seem, Twilight struggled to articulate her feelings on the matter. "She should know me better than that, that I wouldn't normally do that kind of thing and that if I did, then it must be fore a very good reason...she could have tried to get to the bottom of it instead of just siding with them!"
Silence stretched, before Indigo shook her head. "Twilight...how was she supposed to know? She trusts your family, right? Why would she think what they were saying wasn't necessarily true? Or at least, that they believed it to be true? Did you even give her a chance to find out that it was a misunderstanding on your parents part? Because...it kind of sounds like she was pretty innocent in all of this. Like, yeah, your folks assumed, but...how is that her fault?"
"It's--" Twilight stopped herself, actually finding herself struggling to formulate an answer. "...I guess...it just felt like she should have investigated more," she said, feeling the frustration leak out into her voice. "Maybe given me the benefit of the doubt?"
Indigo cocked an eyebrow. "Like you did with her?" the other girl countered softly.
"I..."
Her friend squeezed her shoulder. "I'm not saying you don't have a reason to be upset. Parents don't always listen, even if they hear us, and I wasn't there, but don't you think you should have done some investigating of your own instead of getting mad at your 'BFF?'"
Crap.
The basketball player was right, and Twilight slumped in her seat. "...maybe you're right," she said, rubbing her face. "I...maybe wasn't as fair to her on that one as I should have been...but it...it wasn't fair. Isn't fair. She should be on my side, not theirs! Every time something goes wrong, it's their side she takes."
Brows furrowing, Indigo asked, "What do you mean?"
The resentment and frustration boiled over as people started boarding the bus in earnest. "Exactly what I said!" she hissed in a low voice as she tried to keep their conversation fairly private. "She keeps...always siding with my mom, and acting like my parents are perfect and wonderful and can't do anything wrong...and the moment she gets upset about something, Mom is all over her, coddling her like she's five!" Her fingers dug into her knees. "After the fight, all this week, Mom has been cooking meals for her and sending my brother and Cady to drop them off, to check in on her..."
"Uh-huh..." Indigo was scrutinizing her. "And you...don't like that?"
"Not really. She's not five, and why is it that she gets hugs and cookies and I just get told how badly I hurt her and how I'm acting out of line--they don't even care to find out why I lost track of time last week." The icy anger curled itself up in her stomach. "It's like they care more about her than me."
The other girl actually chuckled. "Oh. Oh, Sparkle...you don't see it do you?"
"See what?" Now she was confused.
Gesturing, Indigo said. "This...you're jealous of the 'new baby.'" At her affronted sound, Indigo held up a hand. "Hear me out. You're the youngest, right? No kids born after you?"
Twilight shook her head. "Just me and Shining, and he's twelve years older than me."
"Right...now I don't know what her family is like, but I'm gonna guess it's...less supportive than yours. Maybe even lousy."
What could she say to that? It was true--Sunset's former guardian had been out of the picture for a while, and even when she wasn't...
Even as angry and betrayed as she felt, Twilight still wanted to have stern words with the woman if she ever saw her.
Taking her silence as confirmation, Indigo kept talking. "Point is, your folks are probably stepping up to be like part time parents because they think she needs it...in a way that you don't, because you don't have a shit homelife..."
Scowling, Twilight crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't see how you get from there to this 'new baby' analogy. She is not an infant."
Indigo chuckled. "I didn't mean it literally...what I meant is you're the youngest, and you've never had to compete with someone who needed certain kinds of your parents' attention more. What you're feeling is the same thing every kid feels when they get a younger sibling and Mom and Dad have to give them time and attention." She nudged Twilight lightly. "It's normal, but...you need to let that go. They aren't taking something away from you to give it to the 'Bitch With A Bad Attitude.'"
Feeling her insides doing gymnastics was making her feel nauseous, even as she tried to wrap her brain around Indigo's statement. Jealous? Was she? "...I can see how it could be misconstrued as jealousy," she conceded at last. "However, I still find it to be unfair. She is being treated with kid gloves and I'm getting lectured."
Her friend sighed heavily. "Twilight? Do your parents love you?"
"Yes! Of course they do!" she retorted, offended.
"How do you know?" Indigo questioned.
Twilight frowned. "Because...they do. They tell me all the time."
A slow nod, and then: "What about right now? Do they love you right now, even though you're fighting? When they are upset with you?"
This conversation was losing coherency, the dark haired girl decided, but humored her friend anyway. "Of course...they're my parents. Just because we don't see eye to eye doesn't mean they don't still love me...or I them."
"How do you know that?"
Twilight toyed with her hair restlessly, something akin to understanding starting to nip at the edges of her awareness. "Because they're my parents. That's...just what parents do."
"That's just it, Twilight," Indigo told her, expression sad. "That's not true for everyone. Is it true for her? Knowing the people in her life love her, without being told?"
The words crashed into her, and suddenly she couldn't breathe because her insides felt like one giant knot. The world around her stopped, like some omnipotent being had hit the pause button on reality, and a memory took its place.
The guitar lay on the bottom half of the bed, the impromptu musical demonstration all but forgotten with the weight of the words Sunset was speaking. Her voice was soft, not a whisper, but a quiet kind of volume that didn't carry beyond the person it was meant for, and it was painfully neutral, as though Sunset was forcing herself to avoid any emotion at all, good or bad. "I mentioned before that I...I'm an orphan...not sure if you remember that."
Twilight twisted in her girlfriend's lap so she could hug her and press a kiss to her jaw. "I remember. I just...didn't want to ask about it in case it was...too painful."
The body under her rippled with a shrug of some kind. "Painful implies it reminds me of what I miss...but you have to know something to feel its absence." Blue-green eyes glittered with moisture, but Sunset blinked it away rapidly and cleared her throat. "That's...not the kind of orphan I am." Her arms tightened around Twilight. "I...don't remember them at all. I don't know what they looked like, what they sounded like. I can't tell you what their names were, or if they had a favorite song, a hobby...I don't even know if they even wanted me. There were no aunties or uncles to tell me about them, no grandparents to take me in, no cousins to relive old memories with so I could know who they were. I don't even have the name they gave me--the name I was born with."
She got a distant look in her eyes. "My guardian named me Sunset Shimmer...but...a guardian isn't the same thing. At one point...at one point I thought it was, but...after seeing your family...I know it's not." The laughter that bubbled up was bitter and broken. "There was a time when I would have given anything for her to treat me like your mom does, but I learned that all I was doing was fooling myself. By then, there wasn't any pretense of a relationship between us. She was very clear on how much I disappointed her...so I did what she wanted...what they'd all wanted for years..."
"I left."
Twilight ripped herself violently from the memory, trying to control her breathing. She could barely meet Indigo's eyes, and she couldn't find her voice to answer the question. She didn't need to, however, as Indigo nodded. "Exactly--they probably know that and are trying to give her what she doesn't get at home. That's a kind of attention you don't need, because you got it when you were little, and now you just know. Just like they would've if you had younger siblings."
Quiet fell for a time as she digested that, still not able to speak. Indigo...had given her a completely different perspective on the way Sunset interacted with Twilight's family...especially since...since the conversation where Twilight had told Sunset that she was part of the family.
How could she have pushed that knowledge to the side so easily? She had held Sunset when the older girl had confessed the depth of how broken her relationship with her former guardian was...had offered her girlfriend...her best friend...a place within her own family, something that Sunset craved.
Her mother had even warned her, back at Christmas, when she'd explained the idea to give Sunset her own room at the house...
"Why did you and Dad decide this?"
Velvet looked over at her, still emptying the closet of spare bedding. "...Sunset is a very sweet girl who has been dealt a very unpleasant hand, sweetheart. Your father and I like her, and it's very clear that the friendship between the two of you is allowing both of you to flourish in ways neither of you would on your own." She considered it for a minute. "I suppose this is our way of trying to offer her a little bit of stability that she hasn't gotten from other adults in her life."
Twilight packed old clothes away in a box to go into the attic. "...oh." She ran her fingers over a shirt from when she was in kindergarten. "I think it'll make her happy."
Her mother smiled at her. "I do too, Twily. Your father and I are doing everything we can to show her that she is safe here and that we aren't going to do what other adults have done in the past. She needs that reassurance until she believes it's not going to just vanish. That we won't vanish."
Frowning, she looked down. "...oh...can I do anything to help?"
Velvet left the closet of blankets for a minute to sit on the bed and draw Twilight into a hug. "I think you are doing fantastically, Twily. I think you just need to be aware of the fact that kids like Sunset sometimes believe that love and care are transactional, rather than selflessly given, and it will take time and lots of repetition for her to change her thinking."
She finally found her voice as she reexamined the behavior from different angles. "...is that why she sides with them? Because she thinks if she doesn't they will make her leave?"
Indigo sighed, and tilted her head back to look upwards. "It's possible. Some kids with shitty homes do the whole 'appeasement' thing. My kid brother's got a friend like that. He's always going to agree because at home disagreeing means he gets hit by his dad."
Twilight fell silent again, the anger and now-identified jealousy snuffed out by rational understanding. She was still frustrated with the secret keeping and lying--extremely frustrated and upset, if she was honest, for all the reasons she had thrown at Sunset before, considering how the 'magic' had messed up her life for half a year or more. And that didn't even touch on the hurt she felt over Sunset's betrayal.
"...It doesn't explain why she broke her promise," she said dully. "She always kept them before...and I know I was taking more time than she really liked...but she was supportive of it...so...I just don't get why..." Her eyes burned and she looked down at her lap before shutting them against the tears that wouldn't come after all the angry crying she had done in her room that week.
The other girl patted her shoulder. "What exactly happened there? You keep referring to that but I'm not clear on what actually went on."
She rubbed her face. "I was trying to get her to tell me, you know...the truth. And...she just wouldn't answer. She kept playing dumb but I could tell she knew what I was talking about..and then all of a sudden...my dad is...well, he was just there, and he was furious." Twilight sank deeper into the seat. "He started to lecture me about how I wasn't allowed to talk to...anyone...like that...not even her...but...he didn't say her name. He called her...y'know?" She made a noise in her throat but she couldn't say the word aloud.
Indigo gave a glance around, but no one on the bus was listening. They were too busy with their own conversations, it seemed. "Yeah. GF, I get it."
A whine escaped her. "That was it, and it was all that I could really hear. It just repeated in my head, over and over...he knew, and from Mom's expression, she knew too. They both knew, and I didn't tell them..." Twilight twisted her hands against her wrists. "The only two people who could have were her and Cadence...and it had to be her. Cady's kept my secrets for years..."
"...so...wait. You didn't actually hear her do it?"
Her voice was as empty as she felt. "It had to be...and I just don't understand why. Why would she break a promise that important to me?"
Scratching her neck, Indigo said, "That's a good question...are you sure she did? Like, did she admit it? Or did your folks tell you she did?"
Twilight made a face. "I have been avoiding my family all week as much as I could. They keep trying to talk to me at dinner...Dad claims she didn't, and that Cady didn't, and Mom claims they didn't need to be told, but that doesn't make sense. We were careful. I was careful. We didn't give anything away, so the only way they could know is if someone told."
Indigo was quiet. Too quiet, and that look on her face... "What? What do you know?" Twilight demanded.
"Look, Sparkle...you two are..." Indigo sighed. "You aren't exactly hard to read. She came to school to help you, and it was obvious to me that 'best friends' was code. No one gets that protective over a BFF. She carried you out of CPA, Twilight. Wouldn't let anyone touch you--if they tried, she got...aggressive. Like she was gonna kick or bite them. Maybe set them on fire. Are you sure she told? Or that she did it on purpose? Could it have been an accident? Or maybe your folks asking her and her not being able to lie for the answer?"
Her brows scrunched up as she thought about it. "I suppose it's...possible." A part of her desperately wanted it to be, to have a reason to not believe Sunset had betrayed her trust in the worst ways possible. "Are we really that obvious? We've been exceptionally careful, even at home. Nothing that could be seen as anything other than best friends."
The other teen sighed heavily. "We've already established that your parents care about you, right? Well, that means they pay attention...and I don't care how good you are at acting, everyone acts a little different when they get a crush. Especially if the crush goes somewhere. If your parents are the way you've described, they noticed. And...look, tall red, and leather clad is intimidating when she wants to be, but she looks at you and goes all toasted marshmallow."
"Toasted marshmallow?" Twilight blinked. "I...don't understand that reference."
"You know, when you toast those big marshmallows for s'mores? The outside gets this golden crunchy layer that looks hard but it's paper thin, and the marshmallow underneath is gooey and so soft it's basically liquid in the center. She's like that with you. Looks hard and tough but is basically melty goo inside." Indigo shrugged. "Though if I hadn't seen that hickey on your neck before, I would have figured it was an unrequited thing on her part."
She remembered Wildsong saying something similar in the cafe, and it slammed into her like a punch to the gut. "...and if my parents saw that..."
"And any kind of reciprocation on your end, yeah...then they probably figured it out enough that maybe they just asked her so they were sure or something. And if she's trying to please them so she can stay around..." Indigo spread her hands, palm up. "What else could she do? From that side of things, it's kinda an impossible choice, Twilight. Break a promise or never be allowed back."
Anger got the better of her briefly. "But my parents would never do that to her!"
Once again, the answering words were cold water on her emotions. "Maybe true, but...does she know that?"
Doubt filled her. Before she would have said yes, but now...Indigo had pointed out things she had never considered before. At least, not that she considered in the present tense for her girlfriend. She knew Sunset was slow to admit feelings and didn't throw the word 'love' around casually. She was aware, also, that Sunset sometimes acted as though affection she received from others came with some kind of price-tag, that she had to do something to be worthy of it...but she had never thought about how the inverse might be true in Sunset's mind as well. That affection could be withheld or terminated if she didn't perform as expected or pay the assumed price-tag fast enough.
And if that was the case, or if her parents had simply guessed on their own...
Then Sunset hadn't broken her promise.
"But what about lying to you? Keeping all of the information about magic from you with no intention of coming clean? Even when it affected your life, your education...maybe even your family?" the voice in the back of her mind whispered, voicing all the worst of her doubts, fears, and frustrations. "She kept secrets, even when confronted to come clean!"
She wavered. It was a major point of contention. Sunset's secrets were okay when they were disconnected from anything not directly to do with Sunset herself, as they should be, but the secrets about magic were something that should have been voiced earlier, considering how much it was now entwining about Twilight's life. Especially if it was part of the reason things had gone so sideways at Crystal Prep.
Yet she couldn't shake a feeling something was missing. Sunset wanted her free of CPA...had been the one making her tell her parents about things she didn't want to that happened at school. The redhead had even come there, putting herself at risk from whatever was going on...for Twilight. So there had to be a greater reason for her waiting to tell beyond selfishness. Fear maybe? Or was her previous guardian involved somehow? Was that not why Twilight had been working for months on her own to conceal her own real findings from everyone?
"And what was her excuse when you confronted her?"
...she didn't really give one, Twilight realized, thinking back.
"Exactly!"
With a frown, she ignored the flush of dark triumph from deep inside. Sunset hadn't given one...because Twilight had not given her a chance to. She had interrupted and pushed and not really given Sunset much of a chance to get a word in edgewise, and certainly no time to even formulate a response--something Sunset tried very hard to do for Twilight whenever she asked a deep or emotional question.
"What about not telling you she was some kind of monster in human skin, invading your thoughts and mind and dreams without permission? Are you just supposed to ignore that?!"
Twilight recoiled mentally. Sunset was not a monster! She might look like some kind of demonic gargoyle figure in the illusion she and Indigo had seen, or in the video clips, but Sunset was not a monster. Not at heart.
She was scared sometimes. Damaged and traumatized from a neglected childhood and bullies who tormented her until she lost her temper. Yes, she had been a bully herself for a while, lashing out in her own anger and pain in a twisted way of protecting the sweet, compassionate core that had so much love to give...
Love she had given Twilight without ever giving it a name. All those times she'd dropped everything, forgot everything else, just to make sure Twilight was okay. That crooked smile and gentle hugs, the encouragement and challenge, the way she made her feel stronger than she ever believed possible. The warmth and presence in a dozen dreams swearing to protect her and keep her safe, the voice she had once believed conjured by herself, manifesting at her school as a supportive presence that guarded her from dark thoughts and the unnatural shadows that Twilight had not been ready to admit existed.
Love that had burned in blue-green eyes that wonderful night in the loft, in the syllables of the sweet pet name that was for Sunset alone to use...a moment that had shown Twilight that she loved Sunset just as fiercely.
"Love her? You don't even know who or what she really is! She lied to you! Deceived you!"
"...I love her..." she whispered, banishing that hissing voice down to the depths of her subconscious.
Indigo let out a soft sound of relief. "...yeah, that was pretty obvious, Sparkle," she chuckled. "It's enough to make other people jealous."
Twilight shook her head, feeling her body start to shake. "You don't understand," she choked out around the feeling in her throat and pressure in her chest. "I...love her...and...I...oh...what have I done?"
Those eyes, staring at her. She could recall them with utter clarity now, the agony in them as the key fell. As if her world were falling apart, and Sunset was somehow gravely wounded and yet resigned to it.
Sunset had kept secrets, yes...the magic in particular...but...she had still done everything to protect Twilight she could...perhaps she could have done things differently, told Twilight sooner...but it hadn't been a betrayal...and what...what if she hadn't known about the dreams or the manifestation in Twilight's mind?
Twilight didn't have those answers.
She didn't have them because she'd steamrolled right over any response and attacked, without listening. The signs were there that she needed to get away and stop herself. Her mother had tried to intervene and give her that space by trying to get Sunset to leave her be for a bit. Her father had cut her brother off from setting her off several times. She knew her own cues and triggers--even a lack of sleep couldn't justify ignoring them.
And this time, her meltdown had done what might be irrevocable damage to the girl she loved more than she had ever loved anyone before. The girl who loved her and treated her like she was the most important thing in her life.
Breath wouldn't come. Her lungs were trying to function in the pressureless void of space, blood frozen to black ice in her chest cavity. Spots dotted her vision, and it wasn't until someone struck her sharply between the shoulder blades that she could suck in air.
"Twilight!" Indigo hissed sharply. "You've got to breathe and focus before the teachers notice! Before Cinch does!"
It hurt, between the pain in her upper back from Indigo's heavy hand and the needles of ice stabbing her from inside, but she forced her lungs to expand and contract. "I-I...threw it a-away..." she whimpered brokenly, fingers grasping for the missing key that should have been around her neck. "S-she's got...to think that..." In a moment of anger, of frustration, in the middle of a catastrophic emotional upheaval...Twilight had done it again. She'd broken the promise a second time. She had thrown Sunset away, just like everyone else in the older girl's life had, treated her abysmally the instant Sunset hadn't given her what she wanted...after refusing to trust and believe her over something a hundred times more important.
She was an awful person, a terrible friend....and an even worse girlfriend.
Indigo's voice was firm and low, almost as if she were trying to mimic the tone she'd heard from Sunset herself, a thing that was both achingly wonderful and agonizing to Twilight's ears as she pulled her back from the brink of another meltdown. "Twilight, I need you to listen to me. Right now it's not safe... whatever you did, however she took it... you can't fall apart because it's not safe. We're gonna be there soon--we almost to the park on that side of town."
"I-I need to t-talk to her," Twilight choked out, her voice cracking despite being little more than a whisper.
"And you will. When we stop, I'll text her as a neutral party. Or if that doesn't work, I'll find her or someone who can get us to her... and you two can sort this all out. But right now you gotta focus. You can't let anyone know how bad off you are right now. You have to keep it together!"
In a show of support, Indigo grabbed her hand. Strong fingers laced through hers, squeezing tight enough to hurt...and yet the lavender-skinned girl welcomed the feeling, the pain cutting through the noise in her head and the crushing guilt that threatened to overwhelm her. Even more, she deserved to be in pain, to feel what she must have inflicted...
Twilight gasped for a breath, and then another, forcing her lungs to work through sheer determination and she dug the fingernails of her other hand into her leg, "... okay... I... focus now...breakdown...later.."
Her voice was ragged and her throat felt tight and raw, as if each word were jagged glass scraping over bare nerve endings, but Indigo made an encouraging noise. "That's it Twilight, you can do this. I'm gonna be right here with you, okay? I promised to have your back, and I made a deal with La Diabla to stick by you. We'll sort this all out, and we'll be safe once we're off this bus..."
Gripping that hand like the lifeline to sanity that it was, Twilight forced herself to look out the window and breathe, all the while holding back the ocean of anxiety and guilt threatening to crash over her like a tsunami with everything she had. Purple eyes searched for the first sight of their destination, a place that should provide safety enough for her to deal with what was in her head and heart.
She just hoped that it wasn't too late to fix what she had so childishly broken.
> Chapter One Hundred and Sixty One: Bury Fear, For Fate Draws Near...
Sunset ran a hand through her windblown curls as she opened the enchanted door to the magic research room, taking solace from the powerful protective enchantments guarding the room. It soothed the restless, wild screaming from her instincts alerting her to danger that was barreling down on her with the speed of a diving roc, allowing her to slump into her cushioned chair and tear into her third overstuffed breakfast burrito of the morning, mechanically chewing and swallowing each bite without particularly tasting any of it.
Footsteps alerted her to Rarity's entrance, followed by Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. They all looked like she felt. "Morning, girls," she said with a weak smile.
"Good morning, Sunset," Rarity said with a much warmer and genuine expression. "You look...better. And you're eating."
The former unicorn shrugged. "Not from hunger, honestly. I'm eating because I suspect I'll need the energy later for magic. At least I got some sleep though..." Not that sleep had been pleasant. Sunset hadn't dealt with nightmares, per se, but they weren't good dreams either. They were a chaotic mess of broken scenes and irrational cobbled together snippets of people and events in her life, including several intimate moments with Twilight...one of which had been interrupted by her demon side asking for a turn, and that had led to her falling from a great height into darkness and flame while Princess Celestia told her just what she really thought of Sunset...
A shiver made her hands shake. "Point is, I'm here. Still no message in the journal, and I checked the portal this morning. It's still messed up and going to nothing...but I'm trying to put that out of my mind until we deal with today. Once we deal with the dark magic here, we can worry about the portal and Equestria."
Fluttershy took the extra chair next to her and offered a sideways hug. "I'm glad you're here, Sunset, and that you slept better."
Dash grinned and mimed tugging on her shirt. "And that shirt looks great on you, 'Captain.'"
Rolling her eyes, Sunset kicked halfheartedly at Dash's shin. "I still can't believe you all elected me Team Captain for the Games themselves. Isn't that more your thing, Dash?"
"Nah. Not this time, Shimmer. You earned this one...and it makes sense, ya know? I might lead the band and the soccer team, but you lead us. You know magic and you can do that thing where you read people and know who is gonna be good at what thing and how to get the most from them." The rainbow haired athlete shrugged. "And we need that today, cuz even if we don't have to kick magical ass today, we're up against our rivals at Crystal Prep--you're the best chance we have for making them eat dirt!"
"What about dirtcake? Can we make them eat dirtcake instead? With little gummy worms? We did that once for Maud's birthday, and it was the best party she ever had! I've never seen Maud so happy!" Pinkie bounced into Sunset's line of sight, as effervescent as ever.
She shook her head, finger-combing her mane into some semblance of order. "Let's...wait and see how the day goes, Pinkie. If you want to have dirtcake after the games are over and we survive whatever magical mess is going to be made today, then we can do that."
Her friend beamed so brightly she was almost glowing. "Oh I can't wait! It's going to be such a stupendous super awesome 'New Friends and Reconciliation Party!'" She hopped over to her drums to tap out a beat on one of them.
Rarity blinked, watching her for a moment. "Right. Antics aside...Rainbow Dash's points are valid, darling. We look to you for guidance with our magic, and we are accustomed now to following your directions in stressful situations." A brush appeared and she took over the job of reining in flyaway strands of red and gold. "You have more than earned our trust and our loyalty."
She smiled crookedly. "...that...means a lot to hear from you...any of you. I'll do my best..." A pause as she did a headcount. "...where's Applejack?"
"Ah'm here!" puffed the farmer as she staggered through the door. "Gotta get dressed, but didn't wanna ruin mah team shirt with all the manure flying this morning."
Quite frankly, she stank--Sunset could smell manure, all right, the fairly familiar and unpleasant odor of an Equestrian bathroom that was in need of a good cleaning after a whole herd of young stallions made use of it after a feast. "What in the name of Celestia's golden hoof shoes happened to you? You look like you rolled a mile downhill through a Canterlot sewer!"
Green eyes flick to her, set against a face smudged with mud and more, her hair dripping. "Storm's rollin' in, and it's a doozy, plus all the animals were acting crazier than a shoeshiner in a shit storm. Winona knocked me into the compost, half the chickens got loose, and ol' Marigold kicked me so hard in the ass mah teeth are still rattling."
It was Rarity to the rescue. "Good heavens, dearest," she tutted, and produced towels from somewhere. "Fluttershy, be a dear and close the door for us? Pinkie, I need a bucket of hot, soapy water, and a trash bag for her clothes. Sunset, darling, check the big cabinet for a green duffle. I made sure to bring extra changes of everything in everyone's sizes for emergencies. Applejack, love, strip down. Everything goes. There's clean for you."
Thunder rumbled ominously in the background as they all stared at Rarity. "Well?" she asked sternly. "What are you all standing there for? Quickly now!"
The next few minutes was a flurry of activity under Rarity's instruction, and soon Applejack was cleaned up, wearing fresh clothes, and smelling faintly of green apple and watermelon. She cast a look back at her partner from the chair she'd been pushed into so Rarity could brush her blonde hair and tie it back out of her face. "...do Ah wanna know just why you had all this ready, Rares?"
"Applejack, darling, you should know by now that I plan for every eventuality."
Sunset couldn't help but laugh from the sidelines. "I'm almost afraid to ask what you planned for that necessitated several pounds of leather soap."
Blue eyes met hers and one eyebrow arched. "Given that Applejack wears her hat into every situation imaginable and that you, Sunset, are more attached to your leather ensemble than a child is to a security blanket, leather soap was the first thing I thought to obtain." She leaned closet to her partner, smiling happily as she combed through pale golden strands, deft fingers working on a neat, tight braid. "Including making sure your hair is out of your face today, Applejack. In the event you have to engage in fisticuffs with an enemy, this way you'll be able to see properly."
"Mighty kind of ya, Rares. Thanks." Tanned fingers tapped the freshly cleaned hat with fond affection. "This ol' hat aint looked so good since mah Daddy got it as a young'un."
Rainbow groaned. "Enough about clothes already! Are we ready for today?"
The former unicorn got up and tossed the last of her breakfast trash in a can. "I think we're as ready as we are going to be--we don't have any Equestrian backup, but...with the portal being...at least temporarily inaccessible, it means that a lot of the energy an enemy might want isn't easily available to them. They'll have to try and get it from us...and we're prepared to fight."
A throat clearing sound from Fluttershy stopped her. "Um...I don't know if it matters, but my animals and the ones at the shelter last night were acting upset too," she informed them. "Is that because of magic, or is it because they know something is going to happen?"
Sunset cribbed on her thumb. "I...don't know, because I don't have the magic for talking to them. I'm a unicorn, not an earth pony, and that kind of thing is usually an earth pony talent. What I can tell you is that in Equestria, certain species of creature can be more or less sensitive to large amounts of ambient magic, and they can react to that. It's...not impossible for that to also be true here, just for much smaller fluctuations. Things like what keeps happening here may be overloading any sensory abilities?" She shrugged. "I know that something in the air...a mix of magic and...something else has got my own instincts screaming at me that a predator is coming."
Dash squinted at her. "Izzat a horse thing, Shimmer, because I don't hear any screaming."
"Phrasing aside, I must concur with Rainbow Dash, darling," Rarity admitted. "I'm concerned about what the day will bring, but despite the magic I have learned to feel, I cannot detect any kind of instinctual anxiety or fear."
She shrugged. "How should I know? I don't really have much in the way of human instincts. If this body came with any, my pony ones have overwritten most of them. But...given what I know about the apparent insanity in your species, it wouldn't surprise me. Or maybe it's just the aggression? Yeti aren't known for their fear responses either, and they are the closest Equestrian species to humans as far as I know."
Snorting, Dash made an aggressive gesture with her fist. "Something comes at me, I don't really think of running. I think of dodging and then punching it back until it fucks off." She glanced at Fluttershy. "Like that thing you showed me about sharks. They come at a swimmer and you punch them in the face, and they decide you are too much trouble to be dinner."
"That's not really what..." Fluttershy started to say, but trailed off in the middle when Dash didn't seem to hear her.
Sunset rolled her eyes. "You're not doing anything to refute my belief that your entire species is completely crazy," she pointed out, "and entirely lacking in instincts of self preservation."
"Yeah," Pinkie chirped, "but we're the good kinda crazy! After all, it was the kinda crazy that made us get magic in the first place by standing up to a scary demon that had taken over future friend Sunset and made you go all 'Rheeeeeeeee!'" The last was an awful shrieking sound like someone trying to imitate nails on a chalkboard.
What could she say to that? "That's technically true," she conceded.
"And its the same kinda crazy that made us make friends with you, aaaaand it's the same kind of crazy that means we're going to fight super evil magic today while also trying to finally beat our rival school in a contest we always lose!" Pinkie punctuated the whole thing by biting into a large cookie. "Mmmm...sprinkles..."
The rest of the group sort of stared at Pinkie Pie for a long minute or so. "Right..." AJ said with a head shake. "Ah guess she's got a point. Pretty crazy, going toe ta toe with magical monsters and villains. Most folk'd call that brave or stupid."
"I would prefer to see it as bravery, darling, but I suppose that's just me." Rarity finished Applejack's braid with a hair tie at the bottom, and returned the stetson to her head. "All done."
The unicorn in their midst cleared her throat to get their attention. "It is brave. Standing against dark magic and powerful monsters is something only the most courageous of ponies can do. Most are more inclined to run away, to hide until it gives up. Foals are taught from an early age to run, then hide, with the understanding that if you have to fight, you're probably already lunch." She could feel her magic, bubbling and twisting, wanting out, and she let a trickle of it surface, willing it into her voice so her friends could feel her sincerity. "You girls are the bravest beings I have ever known, and you have more heart than any pony. Maybe you're insane, maybe you're foolish, but...I don't care. You are here. You've stood up to be counted among those few who can wield the Elements of Harmony, and you have coaxed more from Harmonic magic than anypony in both recorded history and even ancient legends."
She spread her hands and made a sweeping gesture that included all of them. "You have already shown you can handle what's out there. Ancient Equestrian evils, a demon super charged by the Element of Magic itself...you never broke or panicked, you never gave up. You won...you beat me, you beat the Sirens..."
"We beat the Sirens," Rarity corrected. "You were there with us, and you were a deciding factor in that victory, Sunset."
Nodding, she responded, "I know, but even that comes down to you girls. You are something else--you weren't just strong enough to take a stand against darkness...you were strong enough to make a change. You girls could have done anything at all after the formal and no one would have blamed you...but what you did was become my friends. After everything I did, after everything I put each of you through, all the lies and deceit..." Her magic was a roaring bonfire now, her body infused with a crimson glow that swirled with fiery phantasms in the air around her, around them, and she could feel the magic within her friends reaching back. "...and you chose to show me kindness...generosity...honesty...loyalty..."
"Ooo! Ooo! Dont forget laughter!" Pinkie bounced in the air waving both hands. "That's meeeee!"
Sunset smiled fondly at the zaniest of her friends. "Yes, laughter too...and all of those things...they gave me hope. They showed me that it could be different. That I could be different."
The air was full of light and color...it was full of magic, in every breath they exhaled and every one they drew in, motes and mist and crystalline refractions from every direction. "I know that no matter what happens today, or any day in the future, we can beat it," Sunset affirmed with absolute conviction, "because you have proven to me that there really is no stronger magic than friendship."
She knew it was coming, and braced herself for the impact just in time. Five bodies slammed into her in rapid succession, a fierce group hug that brought their magic to the surface in a rush. The Rainbow of Light flooded the room with its brilliance, causing the crystal lights to ring with bell tones, notes that sounded like the opening bars to Shine Like Rainbows to ears that were now on top of her head.
"We got this!" Rainbow cheered. "There's nothing we can't do if we do it as a team!"
The group broke apart, giggling and giddy from the magic, wings and horns and pony ears on full display, and the faint echo of Harmonic magic passing through the school beyond. It soothed the ache still present in Sunset's heart, and gave her a sense that they would keep everyone safe today, no matter what happened. "I feel so much better already," Fluttershy whispered quietly. "Thank you, Sunset...I was nervous before, but now I know we can take on anything, as long as we work together."
"Darn right," AJ agreed. "We're gonna be the best Friendship Games Team this school ever had, an' we'll give any magical varmints the what for!"
"Bark! Bark!" chimed in a voice from the other side of the door.
Everyone froze. "Did...did anyone else hear a dog barking just now?" Dash asked. "Fluttershy, I thought you were leaving your pets home today to keep them safe."
"I did. Maybe someone else brought a dog?"
"Bark! Bark bark BARK!!" The dog was right outside the room, barking like crazy...and even crazier, Sunset knew that bark.
Pinkie bounced over and pulled the door open, and a purple blur shot in, howling and barking, and then threw itself at Sunset, jumping up at her.
"SPIKE?!" came a chorus of voices.
"But...why's he barking instead of talking?" Applejack asked. "And does this mean the portal is fixed?"
Sunset squatted down, and picked up the dog, dimly realizing he was wearing his service vest. "Because this isn't the one from Equestria," she said quietly, her stomach sinking. Her eyes looked fearfully towards the door, half expecting Twilight herself to come charging through, ready for round two of 'The Fight.'
Instead, she got a bit of a reprieve, as Cadence stepped through. "Spike!" she chastised. "I'm so sorry--he's usually much better beha--Sunset?"
The former unicorn cringed back, knowing that there was no way to ignore what Cadence was seeing. All of them were still Ponied-Up, and there was no hiding the six inch spiral in the center of her forehead...or Rainbow's ten-foot wingspan as she hovered several feet in the air. "Of course," she sighed. "Dear Sunset Shimmer...I still hate you. Sincerely, the universe." She looked down at Spike who was whining and pawing at her. "If I didn't know how much she loves you, I might be angry," she complained, her heart aching again.
"Wait...you two know each other?" Dash looked confused. "...and that's...the other Spike. The one...ya know?"
"Yes, yes, and yes. What I don't get is why she's here." Blue-green eyes went to Cadence. "Why are you here, Cady? Is something wrong? Did something happen? Why do you have Spike?" The questions came out in a rush as Sunset attempted to curb her sudden urge to leave panic. "Is everyone okay?"
Cadence was staring...but not freaking out, so that was a good sign. "Everyone at home is okay. Shining and Dad had to go to work, but Mom is at home...and Twily...is supposed to be at school." She frowned. "Key words: supposed to be."
"She's not?" Sunset said, amazed that her stomach could go lower than her shoes. It was currently hanging out in the basement boiler room of the school, having a party with a hundred generations of cobwebs and bugs.
Miss Luna stepped up behind Cadence, placing a hand on the pink skinned woman's shoulder. "That...is what we are waiting to determine, Miss Shimmer. Cadence realized that Abacus always fields her top academics and top athletes for the team...."
Her eyes went wide. "And that means Twilight would be on the team!" She made a face. "...but she never said anything...not to me, at least..."
"She never said anything to any of us," Cadence assured her. "So either she kept it from us...or she wasn't told anything about it. And I think we've established that Abacus Cinch is shady and underhanded when she wants something her way." She took Spike from Sunset. "Which is why I'm here. If Twily is at the Games and on the team...Mom and Dad have her. Taking her from school without any kind of parental consent form is tantamount to kidnapping."
Rage boiled in Sunset, raw, unadulterated fury that made her magic react, her hands lit up with scarlet fire and her ears pinned flat to her skull before she even registered it. How dare Cinch assume she had any form of right or authority to make a grab for Twilight? Sparky was hers, and she refused to allow that loathsome, festering boil masquerading as an educator put so much as one greasy fingernail on her unchallenged. "She will regret it if she does," Sunset seethed before she could stop herself, or even remember that she and Twilight were existing in a state of uncertainty. "She wants to play with her delusions of being a god over her paltry little domain, I'll show her just how unprepared she is to face someone who grew up in a real goddess' shadow."
Arms immediately grabbed her by the arms and pulled her back from a suddenly anxious looking Cadence. "Whoa there! Simmer down, sally! Don't want you setting off the smoke alarms again."
In front of her, Cadence took a slow breath, putting a hand to her chest and exhaling in a gesture so achingly familiar that Sunset's rage guttered out instantly, dissipated by pain in her heart that made her breath catch in her throat. The flames that had been licking their way up her arms were snuffed out as quickly as they had appeared, and she sagged into Applejack's hold--she needed it to remain upright.
"Right," Cadence began. "Am I correct that all of...this..." She gestured towards the group, and the redhead assumed she meant the distinctly non-human aspects of their transformations. "...was somehow part of the discussion intended for last week? The one that needed the...ah...princess...on standby?"
Miserably, Sunset could only nod at her. Thankfully, Dash had no such issue. "If you're part of her Twilight's family, yeah. This was all gonna be talked about."
"It was?" Fluttershy sounded so confused. "Wait...her Twilight? Is that why there's another Spike here and why he likes Sunset?" And then to Cadence she said, "Is that why you were asking questions the other day about the Fall Formal photos? Because of Sunset?"
The former unicorn fumbled, trying to explain without having to go into detail for an hour. She mostly just managed unintelligent syllables until Rainbow, once again, stepped up. "TL;DR: Sunset's hot for the human Twilight and friendly with her folks, and she wanted to let them know about everything before it got more serious. Shit happened, and by the way, her Twilight is the CPA friend she ran out to help a few weeks ago." She bumped Sunset's shoulder with a fist, murmuring, "Don't worry, I got you, Shimmer."
Applejack snorted in her ear. "Well, ain't that just a surprise that makes everything make sense. Ah was just figurin' videos finally got leaked ta the radio."
Cady blinked, taking in the eclectic group of girls all wearing nearly identical Friendship Games Team shirts, and something seemed to click. Sunset could see her slip easily into her more cheerful public face. "You must be the friends Sunset has talked so much about," she said, smiling happily at all of them. "The ones who are so very supportive of her."
Then she considered something else. "Though...what do you mean by 'human' Twilight?"
Sunset found her voice. "...that's one of those things...Sparky needs to hear first," she responded, feeling stiff and awkward, "...what I don't understand is why you're not...really reacting to..." One hand swept the room in a sort of all encompassing arc. "...well, everything."
Letting her eyes follow the gesture, Cadence sighed. "Lu gave me a crash course yesterday when I came to ask to be here in case Twily is brought along. Magic is real, Cinch is evil, Crystal Prep is a Hellmouth, some of her students have superpowers, and my sister is in over her head." She set Spike down, now that he had calmed enough to not pull his leash from her grip, and reached out to touch Sunset on the shoulder. "I'm not going anywhere, Sunset. I'm not going to start any witch hunts, or think of you any differently knowing that you end up with adorable fuzzy horse ears when you use magic. And I know that when you tell Mom and Dad, they will say the same thing."
Said ears twitched, a nervous, uncertain motion that reflected her internal state, and Sunset was very glad that humans didn't quite grasp the most subtle of tells from her Equestrian body language, despite their sometimes uncanny knack for noticing what her ears did. She had gotten out of the habit of controlling her ears in her time as a human, and they would have given away exactly what she was feeling to another pony.
Miss Luna interrupted. "Part of the reason we were headed this way, Miss Shimmer, is because we are expecting the buses from Crystal Prep to arrive shortly, and the students will be gathering in the gym--"
"Uh...VP?" Dash said from the window. "Not shortly. They're here."
> Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Two: Across the Line
Canterlot High, next to Crystal Prep, looked a lot less impressive. One two-story building with a rotunda one a much smaller campus could not match the full grounds for grandeur, and as an aging public school, it lacked the high end materials to give it the layer of wealthy opulence befitting a private school for the children of the rich and famous. Yet the sight of it outside the bus was an oasis in a desert to Twilight, a beacon of hope...
"Ugh," she heard Suri complain loudly from the back of the bus. "What a dump!"
"What I want to know," another girl asked, "is how they could afford their statue? It must have cost more than they're yearly budget."
Twilight frowned, wringing her hands, some part of her screaming at her to defend Sunset's school. Her mouth felt glued shut, however, and she settled for trying to breathe normally as she waited anxiously for them to be allowed to leave.
Next to her, Indigo was messing with her phone. "Trying to send her a text," she whispered. "Let her know we need to talk to her. I realized still had her number from the other week."
Why hadn't she thought of that? Twilight retrieved her phone from her pocket as well, but before she could even unlock the screen, hands plucked the device from her grip. "There will be none of that, Miss Sparkle," the Vice Principal, Mr. Silverthorn, said firmly, his expression his normal severe scowl...though a bit of...malice seemed to glitter in his dark eyes. "You as well, Miss Zap. You are here to compete in the events and represent our school, not fritter away your time with technology. I'll be holding onto these until the end of the day." He looked around the bus. "That goes for anyone I catch on their phone," he said, as tittering laughter traveled through the bus.
Her friend was on her feet in an instant. "Hey!" she challenged, balling her fists. "You can't do that! Those are our property and used to communicate to our parents! Give it back or we're gonna have more problems than just the Friendship Games, you hear me?"
He loomed, his visage cast in harsh shadows that didn't feel right and made Twilight shiver with unease. "You will sit back down and shut your mouth, Indigo Zap," he snarled, "or I will make you shut it, and by this time tomorrow, you will have an expulsion to explain to those parents of yours."
There was a real threat here, and it wasn't expulsion, Twilight realized, and she grabbed Indigo's arm, pulling her down. "Let it go, Indigo," she urged. "Please."
"Listen to your friend," Silverthorn urged dangerously.
Indigo complied with Twilight's pleading, but it was clear she was ready to fight a man who outweighed her by probably a hundred pounds. "Fucking bastard," she growled once he had moved down the aisle, searching for more phones to confiscate.
"I don't like this," Twilight whispered. "He was willing to hurt you, Indigo. And...he felt...wrong. What is really going on?"
"I dunno...but we need to get off this bus and into that school."
All around, the students were restless, waiting for the signal to disembark the bus. Principal Cinch stood up from a seat near the front, raising her hand imperiously, and everyone stilled in seconds, turning to face her obediently.
"Today is an important day," she began. "A day in which we will prove ourselves before all eyes and the annals of history. The year has not been without its struggles...losses..." Her eyes swept slowly over the bus and seemed to land on Twilight and Indigo. "...and betrayals...and yet, you are here now. You are all here, chosen to stand and represent us." She took a moment to adjust her glasses. "You represent our reputation, our skill, our superior brilliance of body and mind. Your actions today will ensure the success of yourselves and all those who come after you."
Indigo sneered under her breath, "It's not the Olympics, you hag..."
Twilight nodded her agreement--she had never seen the point of the Games herself--but a flash from CHS caught her attention. It was a little thing, several of the windows lighting up with a flood of color, but on its heels came a vibration that passed through the bus like a faint earthquake. Except this vibration...was soothing to her mind. It touched her anxiety and melted some of it off. Even Indigo relaxed a hair. Her principal and several of the teachers went pale, however.
Principal Cinch recovered her momentum after only a slightly extended pause, and something about the way she spoke made Twilight's stomach twist itself into a complicated pretzel. One of the woman's hands made a sweeping gesture at the school they were parked in front of. "Gaze well upon this sight, all those who are true to the ideals of Crystal Prep, where there is no room for anything except excellence. Fix this in your minds, for this! This is the sight of failure. Of weakness, mediocrity, stupidity, and above all, a lack of true breeding of worth and value." Her gaze was icy, dispassionate for all the acidic fire that oozed through her tone, and it swept across the assembled passengers in the cramped confines of the bus, lingering here and there upon one or other of the figures for no reason Twilight could discern. "Listen and mark my words well. There will be no failure from my people, from those who wear our colors...you will end this day victorious...or consider yourselves mine no longer."
"Yeesh," Indigo muttered, before giving a mocking salute with her middle finger. "Hail, Caesar, we who are about to die salute you. Mierda, could she get any more melodramatic and arrogant? She's not some kind of feudal queen."
Twilight shook her head, gripping her knees in a white knuckled grip. She desperately wanted to find Sunset, apologize, and beg her parents to take her home and get her out of CPA. There had to be another way to keep her GPA from being ruined by the Principal of Crystal Prep. The teen struggled to keep her breathing even and not spiral off into a panic attack that would leave her even more vulnerable to whatever madness was going on.
The universe finally took pity on her, as the students began to file off the bus. Indigo put an arm around her protectively--there was something strangely comforting about the fact that her friend took her promise to Sunset so seriously--and stayed firmly at her side as they made their way up the aisle to the front, and then down the steps to the sidewalk.
"All right," Indigo started to say as they got close to the marble statue. "First, we need--"
Suddenly their principal was there, snapping her fingers to get their attention. "Miss Sparkle," she addressed Twilight, and like Vice Principal Silverthorn, she loomed over them, her shadow falling across them in the early morning light. "Let me make myself perfectly clear, in case you did not understand. You are here to serve for a Crystal Prep Victory...not to spend time fraternizing with any so-called 'friends' you feel you might have at this facility. I care not one whit for your perceived...'personal feelings'...on the matter. Today, you are mine. Do you understand me, Twilight Sparkle?"
Twilight opened and closed her mouth, feeling like her throat was unaccountably dry at the way the words were directed at her in that harsh, authoritative tone. It was nothing like the soft utterances of the same phrase from Sunset, which was always warm and rough with desire. This was cold and hard, like metal in winter.
"You will acknowledge me when I speak to you! Now!" Her principal's expression grew dark and intense, and Twilight felt actual fear in that moment.
Pain dragged across the inside of her skull and from somewhere deep inside her that she might have called her soul, a sensation like barbed, slimy fingers trying to dig into her being at the root of it. It demanded she surrender the words Abacus Cinch wanted to hear, to give her what she wanted.
She could not. The words would not come, and her throat seized up. There was some kind of battle of wills going on, but Twilight was not the competitor--she was the prize. A squeak of agony escaped her, as those terrible eyes bored into her, and the pain increased as the air grew heavy and still. If she could just give in, it would stop.
I think not...you are not hers, and you know that very well...whispered a soft voice that sounded like herself, but older, wiser, as her vision blurred. Something rose up in her to push back, and the pain ended, broken by whatever it had done. Twilight shook with barely contained terror, and her vision cleared to give her an even worse shock.
Where her principal should be, for just a few seconds--the span between one heartbeat and the next--there was a monster. Far too tall and thin, with withered skin and narrow pointed features, elfin ears and overly large eyes...Its face was a parody of a human grin with its sadistic baring of teeth. The monster, wearing Cinch's clothes, spoke with a voice that was the principal's and not. "Know your place, Twilight Sparkle...you answer to me. You belong to me. Remember that, and today will pass smoothly."
And she was the principal again, turning smoothly to go address a group of students several yards away. Indigo grabbed Twilight around the arm and dragged her towards the doors of the school. Her other hand was hurriedly crossing herself. "Did you see that? Think I prefer your friend's look--I almost pissed myself!"
Unconsciously, Twilight's hand went to her chest, seeking the starry lanyard and familiar, comforting outline of machined metal, only to find only fabric. A raw, keening sound of agony escaped her lips, as her mind reminded her in exacting detail where exactly she had seen The Key, and what she had done to not have it anymore. Her knees threatened to buckle, and only her friend's sturdy grip kept her on her feet...not that Indigo looked any better, muttering a prayer and apologizing to her grandmother in hasty Spanish, crossing herself and making a gesture that Twilight dimly noted might be the one to ward off 'The Evil Eye.' "...I..." she choked out, her throat finally seeming to work.
Indigo gave her a supportive side hug. "If she were right here, she'd tell you to breathe. So breathe for me, okay? Deep and slow, like she'd tell you."
Jerking her head in a slight nod, Twilight put her fist to her chest and ran through her go to breathing exercise about a dozen times, before she had calmed enough to speak. "...I want Sunny," she whispered brokenly, feeling tears build at the corners of her eyes. "...I want my mom and dad...I want to go home..."
Determination filled Indigo's eyes when she glanced up at the building a moment. "Then we go find her and get you out of here. Fuck the Games, and fuck CPA. I'm done. Let's go, Sparkle."
Turning, they reached for the front doors...
At Rainbow's words, they all broke and crowded the window. Sure enough, there were several buses parked in front of the school, a horde of foreign students streaming from them, all in the ugly colors of their rival school. Even from this distance, she could feel the wrongness exuded from the students, dark magics from their school soaked into skin and hair far too strongly to be just from exposure to ambient energy.
Rarity touched her elbow. "Is that what you felt when you were there, darling? It's foul."
"This is nothing compared to that...but it's too much for there not to be active spellwork. It's showtime, girls. We were right. They make their move today." Sunset scanned them intently, seeking the familiar dark hair and lavender skin, ears twitching as she heard Fluttershy talking into the walkie-talkie earpiece Flash had presented her the other day. If Twilight was here...
"There she is! Omigosh! It really is another Twilight! Hi other Twilight!" Pinkie jumped up and down in front of the glass and pointed.
Sunset found her a split second after Pinkie, and her heart broke all over again at the anxious, jittery figure being led off the bus by Indigo. "Oh, Sparky..." she whispered, not realizing she had shoved her friends out of the way to press both hands to the glass.
Miss Luna let out a displeased sound behind her. "She is here then."
"I need to call Mom," Cady said angrily.
She watched Twilight, eyes devouring the slim form with a hunger that should have made her uneasy, but she couldn't bring herself to care. Not after how things had been left between them, not with her admission of how she felt about the dark haired human girl in the privacy of the loft, not after almost two weeks without her touch, without the kisses and affection she had discovered she craved the way most people craved food and drink. She looked as exhausted as Sunset felt, her eyes dark and shadowed behind her glasses and her hair looking frizzy, tangled, and in desperate need of a wash....but the sight of her?
It was like water to a mare dying of thirst.
At least...it was until Abacus Cinch stepped to Twilight's side, and began talking, looming over both girls intimidatingly. Sunset's blood boiled, and the crowded space around her suddenly became free real estate as fire ignited around her in a blood colored halo. "Get away from her!" she hissed, ears flat to her skull. "Swamp sucking, parasprite infested spawn of a harpy and a bog beast!" she uttered, her temper starting to ramp up as she felt it--dark magic, with Principal Cinch as the source, trying to dig itself into Twilight, to crack her mind open like an egg.
--We have to get to Them, horn-head! Now! Go! Get to Them!-- the voice thrashed in its cage with such ferocious and unexpected terror that the edges of it began to crack. --Stop fighting against yourself! We have to protect Them, or We lose everything!--
Sunset realized she was pounding furiously on the glass, practically screaming a diatribe of foul curses and implications of what the Crystal Prep Principal's parents liked to do with a timberwolf and a sea serpent only when she was hauled backwards by Applejack's super strength and Pinkie's arms around her from in front.
She didn't care.
Sunset fought her friends' hold. Twilight was in terrible danger, and her magic screamed into the aether.
Something stirred. Something that felt...important and impossible. A flicker, like a dragon opening its eye, except this was magic, it was like theirs, but it wasn't the girls or her...and that little flicker of power answered the call, pushing the tendrils away from Twilight.
And then Twilight and Indigo were fleeing for the steps of the school, the Principal no longer focused on them. Sunset sagged, her voice rough and raspy. "I have to get to her..."
"Miss Shimmer," Luna said gently, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Your best place to cross her path is in the gym. Abacus will be directing her students there, and my sister will be seeking that horrible woman out to keep an eye on her."
Shaking herself violently and pulling away from her friends, Sunset fixed her jacket and pushed her magic down until the flames went out. "I...yeah. We need to get there anyway." She looked up at Cadence. "If...if I can get to her, I won't leave her side--"
"Ya mean we won't leave her side," Applejack drawled, tipping her hat to Cadence. "We'll see yer sister safe, one way or another."
"Yeah!" Dash did a flip in the air, before landing. "We're sticking with you, Shimmer!"
Cadence nodded and addressed all of them. "Thank you...all of you." Then she looked at Sunset. "I need to call Mom, but something's wrong with my phone. I will be finding you and Twily as soon as I get done doing that."
Luna touched the pink skinned woman's elbow. "We have a hardline in the office. It should work just fine."
Looking between Miss Luna and Cady, Sunset forced herself to focus. "Be careful. I have no idea exactly what we're dealing with, but it's big, and it's dangerous. I'm afraid it hasn't even made a real move and it's already more deadly than the Sirens." Then the urge could not be ignored, and called to her friends, "Let's go girls!"
As the group of teenagers vacated the room, Cadence cast Luna a worried look. "...Lu," she said, her voice wavering. "...did...did you see her eyes when she turned around? It was...just for a second...but..."
Her best friend nodded grimly. "I did."
"...is Sunset...okay?"
Luna, who had seen eyes like that once before, shivered at the memory of glowing turquoise on a field of night. "...I fear...that if Abacus Cinch does something to Twilight Sparkle, she will unleash something far more terrifying than whatever dark power she commands..."
The dark skinned woman paused, the words hanging heavy in the air, before she added, "Pray it does not come to that."
Twilight felt cool air wash over her as she and Indigo stepped into Canterlot High. The big open space matched the one from the grainy cell phone video she had spent hours dissecting, and she could even see the places on the wall where fresh paint had been applied over the repaired structure. She could see photos and trophies and displays of student accomplishments and events out in the open, and plenty of students hanging around, although the atmosphere was not as lively as she might've expected. They were chatting in groups, wearing school spirit wear and headbands with pony ears and belts with pony tails almost to the very last one, but the laughter was subdued, and each group of older students seemed to take turns scanning the Crystal Prep students that were invading their school.
Indigo glanced around. "...you ever feel like you missed something important and no one wants to fill you in?"
"All the time," she confessed in a whisper.
The taller girl made a noise in her throat. "I'm feeling like that now. Like everyone here knows what's going on, and we're in the dark." She made a face. "I don't like it."
Privately, Twilight agreed with her, though if magic had been abused and used at this school since last fall at the very least, then they probably would have a better grasp of the whole thing. Before she could voice any of it, however, someone smacked into her and sent her, Indigo, and at least three other bodies slamming to the ground.
Amidst yelps and laughter from other peers, Twilight pushed herself to her knees, and found herself face to face with several middle school aged students. "Sorry!" A round faced boy said loudly, before he began speaking a mile a minute, mostly to Indigo.
The two girls helped Twilight up, and used it as the opportunity for one to whisper hurriedly to her, "Sorry for knocking into you, Princess. It was the only way they wouldn't ask questions about you talking to us."
Princess? What?
"Yeah," said the other, acting like she was helping dust off Twilight's sleeve. "I wish Sunset had told us you were going undercover, but it makes sense why she wouldn't. We just want you to know that the students are ready, and they're going to make sure everyone is safe if you and the Rainbooms have to save the day."
"Save the...day?" she questioned. "And what do you mean everyone is ready?"
A nod. "Like with the sirens or when Sunset went all evil! And the older students will get everyone to safe spots where the bad magic cant go. I heard Flash Sentry and Lyra&Bon are in charge, cuz Sunset is busy leading the Rainbooms with her magic while you're back at your home."
Sunset...
"Do you know where she is? I...need to find her. It's extremely important I get to her, as soon as possible."
The first girl smiled. "She's in the magic room--have you seen it yet? They did the big rainbow thing once, and the room that used to have all the ancient TVs and stuff got the best upgrade!"
She shook her head. "...which way...?"
"Upstairs, by the music room."
That didn't help much, but it was something.
"Good, I have to--"
Suddenly fingers were digging painfully into her arm, and she realized Sugarcoat was hauling her back away from the middle schoolers. "What you have to do, Twilight Sparkle, is not go wandering off. Are your ears functional? You are here for Crystal Prep." Her eyes flicked to the middle schoolers. "Not to babysit the spawn of the working class. And if that means I have to stick with you, I will. Not that I want to, but I want to make Principal Cinch mad even less."
Indigo whipped around when Twilight yelped in pain. "Hey!" she barked. "Let go of her, you psycho!" She attempted to shove Sugarcoat away, but the slim girl barely swayed.
"I think not. The two of you seem rather insistent on ruining today for us, which means the rest of us will have to keep you from doing that." A motion with her hand and they were encircled by Crystal Prep uniforms. Twilight's heart sank--she couldn't get away now. In desperation, she found the gap between two shoulders where one of the middle schoolers was looking at her and gave the girl a pleading look with her eyes. Please, she begged mentally. Go get Sunset!
The girl seemed to register what Twilight's eyes were telling her, and she darted off down one of the halls at a flat out run.
Twilight could only hope she found Sunset quickly.
The group made it as far as the stairs when Sunset's backpack started glowing and shaking, and quickly grew so violent she was forced to skid to a halt and drop it to the floor. "What in the world?" Applejack asked, confused.
Sunset scowled. "I don't know, but we don't have time for this!" She jerked it open and found the journal to Equestria buzzing and glowing so bright it was hard to look at. The magic was coming from it in fits and bursts, and it was starting to steam a little at the edges.
Fluttershy winced a little. "Oh my...that can't be good."
"It's not." She flipped it open in a hurry to deactivate the alert spell, and found herself staring at a new message, written in horn-writing she hadn't seen fresh in years. Anxiety ripped through her. "It's from Princess Celestia..."
"Princess Celestia? Has something happened to Twilight?"
She started to read.
My dearest little sun,
I pray this warning reaches you, and you take it as just that, rather than a condemnation of yourself. Stay where you are, in the world you now call home. You will be safe there, from the darkness that is coming with Nightmare Moon's release from her prison.
You were always a treasure, Sunset Shimmer, and whatever anger was between us when last we spoke...I hope you have forgiven me. I know I have forgiven you.
For your safety, and that of your new home...I will destroy the mirror. I failed you before, my precious foal...but I will save you from what my sister has become.
Live well, and be happy.
All my love,
Celestia
Her voice had given out from shock by the second paragraph, and she couldn't wrap her head around what she was seeing. Nightmare Moon? Had Princess Luna fallen again? And why was it Celestia writing instead of Twi? "This...doesn't make any sense..." she said. "The mirror is in Twi's castle, and so is the book. How...did Princess Celestia get it again yet somehow dodge her sister falling to darkness a second time...?" The redhead was deliberately avoiding the rest of the meaning in the message--Celestia had never signed off her letters like that. Not with love, and certainly never with the glyph a mare would use for her foals.
Then the book twitched in her grip, and she realized the words were...fading, until she could barely make it out. Instead, a new writing style came through.
Sunset Shimmer,
It is with a heavy heart I must bear to you bad news. In the war against the Dark Crystal Empire, Princess Celestia has fallen. Her body was recovered at great cost, and shall be laid to rest under the last of the Whispering Firs in the Castle gardens in a private ceremony. At present, she is succeeded by her sister, who remains in the north to hold back the tide of the King of the Dark Crystals.
In her final will and testament, Princess Celestia requested you be contacted, and that you be instructed to stay where you are, safe from the Shadow King's tyranny. I have also been instructed to inform you that upon the fourth day following this missive, the Lunar Lock Mirror and numerous other artifacts of ancient power are to be destroyed.
Stay well, and stay safe, Sunset Shimmer. That was her Highness' greatest wish for you...and know she loved you dearly.
With regret,
Raven Inkwell
It was like being punched in the gut, hearing that the mare who raised her was dead...but it made everything make even less sense. "Something is wrong here," she said, giving the girls a summary of the two messages, even as the book vibrated again.
Another message, in yet a third writing style, this one somewhat aggressive.
How very interesting...Celestia had a daughter all this time, and no one told me? How...delightfully amusing. Especially since no one seems to even remember who you are...Sunset...Shimmer, was it?
As soon as I find out where you are, little pony, I'm coming for you--your mother will regret the suffering she put me through and the deaths of thousands of my children. She will regret crossing the Changeling Queen.
Be afraid, little foal. Your death will be neither swift nor painless.
She couldn't read the rest because it faded sharply, joining the other overlaid mishmash of messages that had become a gray blotch on the paper. Yet another took its place, in a horn writing style and glyphs that were practically Old Ponish.
My little starfilly,
I know you would come home if I asked it of you, to fight at my side, but I will not. My sister's anger burns bright, and I will not see you burned. Nor will I take you from the beautiful world you have come to love or those there you have bonded to.
In Equestria's burning hour, I will hope that those I have sent to seek bearers for the Elements will succeed...but I will not take chances. The mirror and this journal, and all the most dangerous artifacts will be hidden, somewhere safe, somewhere she will not know of.
Be safe, my daughter, and know that as long as the stars shine, my love for you remains.
Now, I must complete my work, and see this well hidden...for The Daybreaker comes.
With all my love,
Mother
"The Daybreaker...? What..." Sunset shook her head. "All these messages, some for me, some for ponies I don't know..." By now, the messages were appearing and disappearing too fast to read.
Rarity frowned. "It's almost as though...different Equestrias are connecting to your book somehow. Is...that possible?"
"Not normally, but to be fair, magic governing things like time and the fabric of reality...are a bit restricted. For a reason. The portal is kinda a state secret I found out by snooping where I shouldn't have..." Sunset growled. "And this is the worst possible time for this!"
"SUNSET SHIMMER!"
They turned towards the frantic cry, and saw one of the middle schoolers crashing to her knees at the top of the stairs. "You have to come quickly! I think the Crystal Prep students figured out that Princess Twilight is undercover as one of them. One of them grabbed her and was hurting her and now they have her surrounded and won't let her leave! And she said had something super important to talk to you about!"
It took all of five seconds for her to realize that the girl had seen Sparky, not Twi, and that Sparky was in even more danger than she thought. She thrust the book and her bag at Fluttershy, cramming her emotions around Equestria, around Princess Celestia, about all of it down into a tiny box in the back of her mind. I can't do this...not now. Maybe not ever... "Put...put it in my locker...please. Leave the book open on the top shelf to avoid drawing attention...I just...Whatever is going on Equestria or the book has to wait. We can't deal with it now. People...Twilight...is in danger...and that has to come first. Our duty to the school...has to be our priority."
Tossing her mane back and squaring her shoulders, she pivoted towards the girl who'd come to warn them. "You did a great job warning me...take me to her." Her voice was firm and unwavering and a part of her winced at how much it sounded like her old bossy self. Sunset had no want to go back to being that mare again, for any reason...but as she looked at the girl's face, expecting to see fear or discomfort like was common a year ago, instead, she saw something quite different.
It was relief, the kind she had seen on the faces of ponies who had a problem that the princess had to step up and help solve. Ponies who looked on the princess as leader, role model, and guide in their darkest hours. Sunset swallowed hard; she had spent years wanting ponies to look at her that way, had tried hard to emulate Celestia so she would be worthy of being Celestia's daughter...It was something she had completely given up on after her experience with the Crown of Magic.
Yet, here, now, she was on the receiving end of that look, and as her eyes flitted around the hall, she saw it on other faces that weren't the girls. The students didn't just trust her to protect them from magic...they saw her as a leader, someone who had their interests at heart, and trusted her to do what was necessary to keep them happy and safe. Deep inside, the part of her that always saw herself as the Daughter of the Sun stretched its proverbial wings, waking from a long time asleep in the depths of her psyche. If that was how they looked to her, then she would take her cue from Celestia--both of them--and assume the mantle for as long as she had to to keep everyone safe.
They needed Sunset Shimmer to be the Daughter of the Sun...and for them, the students who had every reason to hate her forever but had instead rallied behind her, she would. They had given her their trust and loyalty, and she would not let them down.
Meeting the girl's eyes, she nodded, and the girl immediately sped back down the stairs, back towards where Twilight had been.
Sunset Shimmer, now a very different kind of leader at Canterlot High, was fast on her heels.
Her arm hurt--Twilight was certain that she'd have a handprint shaped bruise in a few hours from where she'd tried to get out of Sugarcoat's grip. The slight girl who was even shorter than herself had a grip like iron, and pulled her along forcefully, unimpressed with Twilight and Indigo's actions. By this point the athlete was being restrained by a group of boys Twilight thought might have been on one of the sports teams, all bulky, brawny, muscular seniors. They hemmed her in, moving a strange sort of blank eyed, emotionless lockstep...something that seemed to be true of a good portion of the crowd of students around them.
Once again trying to twist free, Twilight found herself biting back a cry--not that it would have mattered if she had. Somehow, she was incapable of making any sound at all. It was as though something had rendered her vocal chords unable to utter even the tiniest of noises, let alone speech.
Sugarcoat sighed. "Seriously?" she stated flatly. "It didn't work the other nine times. Why do you keep trying? You of all humans should know the definition of insanity is attempting the same thing over and expecting different results. You need to just accept that you aren't going anywhere and stop fighting."
Twilight glared at the girl, despite the ice in her guts. She remembered Sunset's lessons, and one stood out. They had been discussing strategy and superior foes.
"Never surrender, Sparky. Never give in, thinking they will stop. Bide time if you have to, maneuver, look for your opportunity, but don't give up. The instant you give up, is the instant you lose all agency, and they can do anything they want and feel like they have that right. Even if you go down fighting, make them pay for every inch." Sunset's eyes had gone distant, and at the time, Twilight wondered what the bullies of her past had done. Now, she wondered if it had been the bullies...or Sunset herself.
Steeling herself despite the trembling in her knees, she lifted her chin defiantly and did something she'd seen only in movies. She spat at Sugarcoat--it was ineffective, since Twilight wasn't exactly one who had practiced hitting a ranged target with saliva, but it still made her point.
"Suit yourself." Sugarcoat went back to dragging her along in the middle of the pack of students, heading...somewhere. The dark haired girl wasn't sure where.
From behind them, something rippled through the crowd of Canterlot High students. It was a strange hush, a respectful quiet as though the mass of teenagers was holding their collective breath. And then Twilight heard it...the question, seemingly innocent, from Sour Sweet. "Oh my...Suri...isn't that the girl that the princess went off with? I'd recognize looks like that anywhere!" She breathed under her breath, "Biker dyke street rat..."
"Mmm...I think you're right," Twilight's bully purred in utter delight. "I think I'm going to have a little word with Princess Sparkle's ugly rug-muncher."
Sunset? Twilight fought to see through the crowd.
"This should prove interesting," Sugarcoat said, and made a gesture. "Make a hole. I want to watch this."
The first glimpse of Sunset in a week made Twilight's heart jump, and she felt tears gathering in her eyes, wanting Sunset to spot her and help her get away from the crowd. Her girlfriend was striding forward, head high and shoulders back with a commanding presence that rolled off her. She was flanked by two of her friends--Rainbow Dash, and the one with the Stetson and boots who looked like she bent iron bars into pretzels for fun. Applejack? That sounded right.
"Well well well, if it isn't little dorky Princess Sparkle's dyke friend...should have known you went to a hole like this."
Sunset let her gaze rove over the Crystal Prep Student who was now blocking her way. What she saw did not impress her--the girl was about four inches shorter than her, and slightly on the plump side, but in the way that said she fought a battle with her weight--she'd seen it a time or two, when Rarity had pointed it out in magazines and stores, trying to bring the former unicorn up to speed on some human cultural things she had missed learning about. Her hair was a dull shade of purple held back by a hairband, and her skin a somewhat unpleasant shade of pink that clashed with the colors of her uniform....not to mention the top was a size too small.
The ugly sneer on her face didn't help her looks any. "Hellooo," she said, when Sunset's inspection meant she didn't immediately respond. "Did you even hear me?"
Arching one eyebrow, Sunset leaned back slightly on her heels. "Oh, I heard you." Her eyes scanned the crowd, looking for Twilight, only half paying attention to the girl who had seemed to decide Sunset was a target.
"Well, it's rude to ignore someone talking to you, mmkay? Do you have any idea who I am?"
The nasally tone gave the vaguest impression that the speaker was attempting to sound intimidating, but from where she was sitting, it was whiny and overly impressed with her own self importance. "You act as though I should care in the slightest," she responded, voice cool and dispassionate, for all that her temper and the voice in her head demanded she just stomp this interruption into the tiles with her own hooves. Boots. Whatever. "Now, you are in my way, and I'm too busy to deal with a whiny brat high on the scent of her own manure. I'm only going to tell you once: get out of my way."
Before the girl could open her mouth, Rarity's voice approached from behind Sunset. "Why Suri Polomare, is that you?" She paused next to Applejack, pointedly looping an arm with the amazonian farmer, and smiled winningly. "What on earth are you still doing at Crystal Prep, darling? I would have thought you would have graduated ages ago."
Suri--and now Sunset recognized who this must be, because Twilight had complained about her--gave Rarity a somewhat dismissive once over. "Rarity Belle," she said with false friendliness.
"Suri here was a fellow camper, a few years above Applejack and I when we went to a girl scout camp in fourth grade," Rarity told Sunset, never losing the warm smile and ladylike demeanor. "Quite an invigorating two weeks that was." Her blue eyes drifted to her suddenly glowering partner. "You remember that, don't you, dearest?"
"Ah sure as shit do," AJ said firmly. "Ah seem ta remember she was a bully then too, picking on you and Ra-Ra til ya both wanted ta go home early." Her lips curled up into a faint smile at the corners. "Ah beat her ass one night behind the toilets, told her ta stay away from mah best friend and new friend, or Ah wouldn't stop the thrashin' next time."
Sunset just looked Suri over again, and resisted the voice telling her, --If you aren't going to smack her, horn-head, let Applejack have a turn. She looks like a pissed off thunderwyrm with a toothache.--
Instead, the former bully leaned in really close to Suri, as if inspecting her much more thoroughly; it was satisfying to see how Suri took a step back, looking more than a little uncomfortable. "Hmm," she mused. "I wasn't sure what I was expecting from the girl who likes bullying my best friend, but I have to admit it wasn't something quite so...disappointing. I'll have to tell her that a washed up, miserable, lonely person whose only method for coping with how much she hates herself is to pick on someone who is too nice to hurt her feelings...is not really even worth noticing." Her eyes hardened, boring into Suri's. "Because you're not. You are an annoyance, like a horsefly that irritates, but can't do any actual damage and is easily squashed. Twilight is a hundred times the person you will ever be, and in ten years, when you're still struggling to make people care you exist, she'll be a household name for changing the world."
She could see those eyes widening a fraction as she cut right to the heart of the older girl's insecurities and laid them bare in a precise, surgical tone. It felt cruel, but another part of her remembered her own bullying, and how she had needed to have the lies stripped away. "You are a bully, Polomare," she pointed out. "You hurt others to avoid the problem...and the problem is you. You have done nothing worth noticing or remembering. Once Twilight no longer has to see you, in a few months, she won't think of you at all--and that kills you inside. You want people to notice you. To care about the fact that you exist, draw breath, and have thoughts and ideas of your own. Doing what you've been? It won't. Instead, be someone worth knowing. Find something you're actually good at--as a bully, you're mediocre and trite. Find a skill, a hobby, anything, that you excel at, and do that. Push your limits in that skill, learn new things, teach others. Be someone that actually matters."
Sunset straightened. "Or don't. In the end, I don't really care, because after today, I don't think it's going to matter in the slightest. Twilight will never have to look at you again. Now be so kind as to go find somewhere out of the way to process that, because I have a best friend to track down."
Her magic had been building as she spoke, remembering with crystal clarity her own fall at the hands of the girls, of that white space that stood outside of time--or maybe inside her soul--and that dry voice that had told her to know herself, to see what she had become the way others saw her, and as she held Suri's faltering, unsure gaze, she pushed that same feeling into her magic out of some instinct. See yourself as others do, Suri, she pleaded in a mental whisper. Know yourself for who you really are...before it's too late.
The hall was silent, as if everyone was afraid to breathe, and in that silence, her magic obeyed, a small flicker of it lancing out like an arrow to hit the girl standing in front of her. Brown eyes finally looked away, looked down, and Suri crumpled to her knees. "I-I...oh god..." the bully whispered, wrapping arms around herself, face gone pale and eyes brimming with sudden tears as they stared at nothing.
She could feel the silence break with Suri's utterance, and her sensitive ears caught the approving murmur from the Canterlot High students at her back. The Crystal Prep students were a mix between shocked and angry, and as she scanned them, she finally spotted the girl her soul had been screaming at her to find.
Twilight was there, purple eyes meeting hers with desperation, her arm being held in a white knuckled grip by a girl with pigtails and glasses. As Sunset looked her over for damage, Twilight tried to wrench herself free like she wanted to run towards Sunset, but the girl holding onto her tightened her grip and pulled Twilight closer. One booted foot began to step past Suri Polomare and the two girls who had kneeled to try and talk to her, only for a wall of muscle, bone, and dark magic to block her.
The redheaded teen looked up into the thunderous face of one of the Crystal Prep teachers who had decided that this was the best time to intervene, and that seemed to be his cue to attempt to cow her into compliance. "What is going on here?!" he demanded, voice raised. "What did you do, you little delinquent?!"
"Told her the truth," Sunset responded tightly, "after she came up to me to start some kind of fight." She attempted to side step him to continue to Twilight, and saw the hole in the crowd of Crystal Prep students was closing fast. "And maybe you should be more concerned with your students physically restraining each other with physical force than the fact that a bully is busy revisiting her life choices."
He barely glanced over his shoulder, even as he stuck his arm out to prevent her progress. "What I see is a bullying troublemaker right in front of me trying to assault members of Crystal Prep's Friendship Games team in some desperate attempt to gain an edge in a competition that your school has already lost. My students are simply protecting their most vulnerable teammates from your poor behavior." Dark, beady eyes met hers. "I think this needs to be brought up to your principal. What is your name?"
This again? Sunset rolled her eyes. She reached through the annals of Equestrian history and plucked out the name of a famous mare at random. "Gusty the Great," she deadpanned. "What's yours, so I can tell my friend's parents who to have arrested for accessory to assault and battery of their daughter?"
"If anyone is going to be carted out of here in handcuffs, little girl, it's going to be you. Now tell me your name!" He loomed over her, a towering figure with red skin and bright silver hair.
Sunset could feel the rising tension, and not just her own. An ugly, dangerous murmur was rising from her classmates, and she could tell several of them were on the verge of...helping.
And then Flash called from somewhere in the crowd. "That's Princess Leia and our stand-in Chewbacca. So does that make you the fat frog or the old guy who looked like the ass of a hairless cat?"
"Naw man," called Brawly, getting in on things. "He's not important enough to be the big bad! He's like...a discount minion angling for a promotion!"
Soon suggestions were flying from all over, names of fictional characters and pop culture references clogging the air from her classmates. The man was a very unhealthy plum shade by now, and he bellowed at all of them, "YOU WILL BE SILENT!"
"Why?" Sunset countered, crossing her arms. "You're not our teacher, and you're yelling at me for something your student did, and now you're mad because no one at my school is interested in letting you. Why should they be silent against someone abusing their power?" She arched a brow, considering the situation. "Well, trying to, anyways, while simultaneously ignoring the actual crime going on against someone who is supposed to be your responsibility to protect." She scowled at him, anger growing more and more by the second. "I can't say as I'm surprised--if I've learned anything in the last few months, it's that Crystal Prep is full of bullies and bad people, who only care about themselves."
The dark magic oozing off him was plain to her senses, and strong. He was a source--maybe not the only source, but one of them, and her magic pulsed around her, invisible fire starting to eat away at the toxic energy before her. She could see him seething and that dark power rose in a wave that washed over her like oil...and was burned away by the magic emanating from Sunset and her cluster of friends. What little hit the other students was repulsed by the girls' magic, hemmed in and flushed back towards the group from Crystal Prep. "Unlike you, I've learned my lesson about having power--that it's nothing if you don't use it for the right reasons. So call whoever you want on me, I don't care. I'm going to do what's right and stop your students from hurting my friend."
With that said, Sunset pushed past him, heading for where she knew Twilight still was. She had to get to her, and soon, because she wanted to get the other girl to safety before everything blew up...and right now, the situation was an unstable spell matrix one spark of power away from exploding on her. Sparky, she decided. I don't care if you're still angry at me, I'm getting you out of here however I have to. If it means you hate me after...that's okay.
What the redhead had not counted on was the Crystal Prep teacher's reaction. As she moved by him, his face, still purple with fury, twisted into a nasty expression. "I refuse to be ignored," he hissed, "by the gutter-born flesh suit for a delusional deamhain with a desire to be a leanan sidhe!" His hand, with dark power wreathed around it, pulsing with hungry eagerness, grabbed her, feeling like a thousand acid covered knives being driven into her flesh. "You will be lucky if you're allowed to lick my boots when He has finished with you!"
Sunset bit down on the pain, refusing to cry out, as time slowed to a crawl. Her magic responded to the invasion, tearing into the dark, warped energy with extreme prejudice, burning it back and out of her before turning the surprise attack into a battle of mind and magic between two powerful individuals. This...whatever he was...had a lot of magic for something in this world. The reservoir in him was deep and poisonous, and his command of his power, for all his blustering and intimidation, was precise and calculated. It reminded her of how the experienced unicorns in the Guard sparred, each attack delivered to gain the maximum effect from minimum cost. All executed by ponies who had trained and drilled for hours, for years, at using their magic in exactly that fashion, masters of their own artform.
Because of that, she was forced to delve into some of her more esoteric studies as a magical prodigy to counter him. For all her ability to boast as the youngest certified Magus to come out of CSGU, her specialty had never been combative magic of any kind--abjuration was one of her worst areas, and all her engagements with other ponies prodding too deeply into her magic had ended...explosively. Her counters now were creative solutions, things barely meant for what she was doing, fighting against her human body's limitations to twist the magic in her veins into primitive spellforms or an invisible burning lash that seared the power sent at her. More than ever, she wished she had her real body, one where she could actually channel the vast store of thaumic power inside her into real spells--as a unicorn, she could have overcome him with sheer power, instead of in a defensive stalemate.
In that space where time had slowed to a crawl, she could feel sweat on her brow, but she couldn't break away. Could not retreat. There was no one else that could handle a magical battle like this--for all her friends powers, the Elements were a showy, very very tailored set of powers, and none of them except maybe Rarity, had shown any inclination towards the more deft mental end of the arcane arts...and none of them had the training. They were apprentices, in their first year of being under Sunset's tutelage...and throwing them into the manticore's mouth in a hallway packed with students who had no magic to defend themselves would have been an unmitigated disaster. Sunset had to hold the line and find a way to stop him, before someone got hurt or this kicked off the free-for-all between both sides that was brewing.
Then she realized there was something moving at normal speed in a world where time felt like it had stopped. A blur of color and a voice that came through clear body-checked into the man holding Sunset. "Get your hands off my friend!" Rainbow yelled, and in that moment her magic blazed like both a thunderbolt and a lightning rod, drawing in magic from the rest of the girls and pouring raw, furious Harmonic energy into Sunset's opponent.
Inside that shirtsleeve, something gave a gruesome wet sounding SNAP, and her nostrils picked up a strange scent like wet earth and mold. It was enough to break his assault, and Sunset forced herself to act despite the shocked surprise at what Dash had done. Her magic poured into him, burning as much as she could without destroying him, stripping away the excess power to prevent another attack, even as she followed through with the physical reaction of bringing him to the ground. The redhead twisted his good arm behind him and pressed her one knee into the small of his back.
Sunset leaned forward, pressing his face into the tile as time finally moved at normal speed again. He made a sound of pain, his voice rough and wheezy. "...how?" came the weak demand.
She spoke quietly, her voice intense--Sunset knew very well what he was asking, because she, in the moment of her fall, had asked the same question, and craved the same answer about something she could never have understood at the time...but just like Princess Twilight, she gave him an answer...albeit, one that was less friendship speech and did not show too much of their hand. They still had the rest of their opposition to deal with, after all. "Because you are not a threat to us," she told him. "You are a problem to be solved, something that upsets the Harmony of this world and does not belong. We know all too well what power you have, what you think is going to make your victory absolute...but you will fail. That power will abandon you in the worst moment, and you will end up less than nothing. Whatever you have planned today? It doesn't matter--by coming here, threatening my school and my friends, you have ensured that we will do everything and anything in our power to stop you."
He stilled, and the former unicorn was concerned he was gearing up for another assault or to attempt to break her hold. Not that he would have gotten far--beside her, Applejack had joined Dash in looming over her and the Crystal Prep teacher, and the faint orange glow and extra foot or so of blonde braid told her AJ was ready to turn the guy into a pretzel if he moved wrong.
"Mr. Silverthorn!"
Sunset went tense, looking up to see that Principal Celestia had arrived with Abacus Cinch. Without thinking, Celestia asked, "Sunset, what is going on here?"
Cinch's eyes gleamed and Sunset cursed internally, but Rarity stepped in smoothly, eyeing Abacus Cinch with a disdainful, appraising stare before addressing Principal Celestia. "There was a verbal altercation started by a Crystal Prep student that did not end the way she desired," she said primly, gesturing to where Suri had been coaxed to sit, leaning against the lockers with one of her posse on either side of her. "Upon that dismissal, this...Mr. Silverthorn, you said? He accosted us quite aggressively, and when he did not like the answers he received, he got physical in a way I must protest." Blue eyes cut to Cinch, Rarity's mouth twisting into the kind of expression that she probably would have used upon finding a decomposing animal on the floor of a ballroom. "It was highly inappropriate, grabbing a female student physically in such a manner, particularly with the comments he made about her social status and what he felt she was suited for. Had Rainbow not acted quite so swiftly I would have stepped in myself."
The principal of CPA frowned, and that snakelike gaze slid to the man on the floor. "You have been warned about your behavior, Mr. Silverthorn. You are no longer serving at an institution that caters to the educational reform of aggressive juvenile delinquents, and such behavior has now gotten away from you." She moved her focus to Sunset. "If you would release him...he will be taken back to the buses, where he can wait until I have time to...deal...with him." The black look given her subordinate spoke to how dire those consequences would likely be, and she snapped her fingers.
Reluctantly, Sunset let him go, standing up with her friends. The man dubbed 'Mr. Silverthorn' rose slowly, his shoulders slumped and the arm Rainbow had hit was limp and tucked close to his body. He looked around, at Sunset and her friends, then at Cinch...and then he started to laugh. It began as a low, rough chuckle, but escalated quickly into a ragged laugh. "Itheadair-Anam, tá deireadh curtha agat linn go leir! Tá muid le dearmad deannaigh mar gheall ort!" he declared, as two of his startled looking coworkers manhandled him by the shoulders and arm to take him outside. He fought them for long enough to point at Cinch, his laughter mocking. "Mallacht ort, a Itheadair, agus mallacht an Deamhain Rí na Scáth! Glacfaidh sí a Choróin agus a Ríocht, go leir ar son na ndaoine seo a d'eiligh sí!" He managed a half bow, like some kind of theater performer right as they grabbed him again, and called out, "Beannachtaí do Thiarna deiridh na Sidhe, Mór na n-Amadán!"
Crystal Prep's principal watched him go, her face twisting momentarily into an expression that could curdle milk. Then the mask fell back into place, smoothed over and she exhaled. "I regret that I must offer...an apology for Mr. Silverthorn's insults and actions as his superior," she said in a strained voice, "for while they...were not sanctioned, he was still under my aegis, and his choices in the last few minutes reflect poorly on Crystal Prep."
"If you really want to apologize," Sunset growled back, "you can stop your students from holding Twilight Sparkle against her will! Have them let her go! They're hurting her!" It was an opportunity she could not pass up.
Those eyes flashed again. "Are they now? That simply will not do." Cinch turned towards the mass of students in Crystal Prep uniforms, and her hand twitched imperiously. "You heard the girl. Release Twilight Sparkle at once. Miss Sparkle. Come here."
Twilight crept forward as the sea of students parted away from Cinch's annoyance. She was rubbing her arm and her breathing was coming in short, fast bursts, like she was trying to avoid the world's worst panic attack. Sunset met her eyes and saw nothing but anxious fear there, and her heart, already a collection of shards in her chest, fragmented further. Oh, Sparky... her mind despaired.
--We're not out of the hydra infested swamp yet, horn-head. Focus on our enemy!-- the voice warned her.
Blue-green eyes moved to Abacus Cinch, and there was something...calculating there. "Given the circumstances, I trust that we can move forwards towards resolving this particular point of friction between us. Miss Sparkle is free from their handling, and I can assure you that those responsible for such insult and...harm...to yourself and those you have...claimed...connection to...will be receiving further discipline after the Friendship Games conclude. Does this satisfy your honor?"
Magic pulsed, tugging on Sunset's psyche and soul from within. She found herself wanting to agree, despite the fact that Twilight was still in danger.
--You don't have a choice, horn-head. She offered to apologize, and you set the terms. The terms were met, to the letter, by her. No more. No less. That's how it works. You can't twist out of it--the consequences of trying could be dire.-- Her inner demon growled. --You have to accept her apology, but take care how you word it! Promise nothing!--
Right. The voice seemed to have a better understanding here than her, and it was better to be cautious. She dug deep, remembering times when Princess Celestia gave non-answers.
"It is refreshing to know that some people from Crystal Prep are capable of admitting when a mistake has been made," Sunset responded, head high and shoulders back, further cloaking herself in the persona she had developed as Celestia's student and Daughter of the Sun in her own mind. Her eyes never moved from the woman's, her magic flaring with the touch of Fluttershy's hand on her back and her friends close by. Harmonic power pressed the dark aura back, until the hallway was clear of its taint beyond the sources of it. "In this instance, I consider the matter of Mr. Silverthorn's words and actions against my person to be dealt with." She let her lips quirk ever so slightly into a smile the princess would have been proud of. "Your apology is...appreciated..."
--Itheadair-Anam. In all that overblown ass' babble, he spoke Cinch's Name! Use it!--
It couldn't hurt. "...Itheadair-Anam, was it?" Sunset was careful to give the words as close to the same pronunciation as she could. She could not understand this fixation on names, but...in a situation like this, every advantage counted.
Cinch's facial muscles twitched, and the look in her eyes changed. Calculation was replaced by...resignation? That didn't make any sense to the former unicorn, but she was dealing in unknowns here. "Very well then," she said, bringing her hand up to settle on Twilight's back, at the base of her neck. "As Miss Sparkle seems to have nothing to add to this conversation, and the day is moving along at a rapid pace, might I suggest we head into the gymnasium to kick off the Friendship Games?"
Seeing the woman touch Twilight made Sunset go rigid, her magic seething under her skin like a volcano ready to blow. It was everything she could do not to grab Twilight and pull her away physically. Then a comparatively cool hand landed on her shoulder--Principal Celestia, who had joined the girls in giving silent support to the former unicorn. She glanced over at her principal, seeing the same core of steel she remembered in the princess as the woman gave her a slight nod. "I believe," Principal Celestia said in that calm manner that helped Sunset rein in her rage, "that is a sound idea, ladies."
Letting her breath out in a slow and steady exhale, Sunset composed herself--her mask had almost slipped, and she knew Abacus Cinch--or whatever her name really was--had seen the fury in her eyes for just a second. And so had Twilight. "Yeah," she said tightly, hands curling into fists. "The sooner we get this started, the sooner we can end it. I'm tired of waiting."
There was a barely perceptible flinch from Twilight, and the shards of her heart stabbed into one another savagely. Oh, Sparky, no...not you...I'm so sorry...her mind cried in anguish she refused to let show. I promised I'd protect you, and I'm trying my best. Just hold on a bit longer...
Abacus Cinch inclined her head. "May the most deserving side win the day then," she murmured, before turning to pass through the crowd of her students to enter the gym, Twilight swept silently up in her wake.
Dash hissed in Sunset's ear, "What the hell, Shimmer!? You're just going to let her walk away with your girl?! Are you nuts?"
Her jaw clenched. "Look around you, Dash. A crowded hall, packed with students who don't have magic, no room to maneuver. We can't fight here. I made a promise to keep everyone as safe as possible--no matter how much it kills me inside, we have to hold off, time this just right. Up on the stage, we'll have a better chance. Just...be ready when I give you the signal."
Then she watched as the girl who meant so much to her disappeared through the gymnasium doors and her sight, hoping desperately that she had made the right call.
> Interlude XXXVII: ...Whatever Remains, However Improbable, Must Be The Truth.
To say he was frustrated was probably the understatement of the year, Shining decided as he fought morning traffic in Canterlot City proper on his way to the precinct. Six days of digging into what had caused his sister to freak out so badly, and he had more questions now than he had started with, and no more answers than a bunch of vague, speculative ideas that were about as concrete as Cadence's suggestion during the family meeting.
It had started out just as frustrating--trying to talk with his sister on Sunday had been a waste. The teenage girl refused to leave her room or talk to anyone, and when he was up there to knock on her door, giving it the "old college try," he had backed down before even knocking because he'd heard the broken-hearted sobbing on the other side. Monday, he'd slipped over while she was at school and his parents out of the house, using the spare key and the security bypass to sneak into the garage that his sister had turned into a lab, intending to peek through her notes--she was so thorough, and she'd gone through such pains to bring it all home, he figured he'd find something.
The giant conspiracy board with color coded push-pins and string had...not been the something he had expected. There were photos and printouts all over it, scribbled questions in Twilight's more frantic writing, clearly some of it about the energy...but even in the private lab space Twilight had concealed things behind and in the middle of nonsense, like pictures of Halloween costumes, Canterlot High spirit wear--they were wearing dorky fake ears these days apparently--and photoshop jobs giving auroras an array of colors more suited to a post storm rainbow than the effect of solar radiation on the earth's magnetosphere. Whatever had frightened his LSBFF, it was bad. Even her audio-logs had been nearly useless, referring to the 'anomalous energy' in a detached, clinical tone, as she talked about sightings, events, and EMF readings.
Oh, and Sunset...but mostly in the context of a teenager in love, who couldn't keep her thoughts from drifting to the source of her emotions.
By Tuesday, he'd started looking into how Sunset connected to all of this--one of the Halloween costumes had clearly been her, as her hair was fairly unmistakable, even when styled and teased to defy gravity, and photoshop had added a filter to make it look more like actual fire. And Twilight had accused her of being involved with her project's subject, and of some band event and the fall dance at Canterlot High. So he'd combed through the records, found the dates...and the events in question.
The Musical Showcase had been some kind of fundraising campaign for the school, like a talent show. The school had acquired permits to use the local amphitheater, paid for by the principals out of pocket--not surprising, since he was aware that Lu and her sister both donated vast sums regularly to various charities, and donating money to the public school they worked at solely to give the kids there opportunities was in line with what he knew of the Solare women. Interestingly, the largest donation from that had been a jaw dropping amount of money donated by a foundation...and digging into that had gone through a lot of vapid PR write-ups that led him to a wall that was a finance management company, acting on behalf of their 'clients.' The Musical Showcase had also been the same night that the power had gone out for half a dozen blocks of the amphitheater for several hours, only to come back on all on its own--the power company had no official findings on the cause. The CCPD had also received an uptick that night about strange lights in the sky, aliens, Bigfoot, and other nonsense calls usually reserved for nights with a full moon.
What was weird was that something similar had happened the night of CHS' Fall Formal...a date Shining was painfully familiar with. Though the power outages had been explained as connected to the disaster involving a gas leak, quasi-legal fireworks, and a student he now knew had been Sunset, there had also been reports of flying monsters, strange lights, and other phenomena courtesy of the town crazies phoning 911. He remembered that night...it had been 'all hands on deck' even before the explosion had happened at CHS, and after that, the night was a nightmare, as if the gas main explosion had set off a frenzy of misdemeanors. Shining had been on his feet almost eighteen hours by the time he'd gotten home.
It was also the same night Twilight had both met Sunset...and first detected the energy she was now so cagey about.
Frustration mounting, Wednesday morning he had asked Devil's Advocate for help, loosely explaining his concerns and that he felt it all tied into something his sister had learned about Abacus Cinch and his own misgivings about what the woman was doing with her power over future leaders and trust fund babies with deep pockets. Dev had listened intently as they had enjoyed a quiet lunch in her car between questioning different witnesses for a case, and then had jumped right in to helping him. Sadly, she hadn't turned up much more than he had.
Shining pulled into a space in the precinct parking garage, and sighed. At this point, he was looking forward to the personal days he had scheduled for the family trip over Twily's spring break. Assuming the trip still happened--given her attitude, and stubborn refusal all week to talk to anyone at the house, it was a toss up on whether they'd go or not.
"Armor," his partner greeted as he left his car, making him jolt.
"Dev!" One look at her face had him asking, "What's wrong? Don't tell me we have another body."
She shook her head. "Not that I've been told...no. I was looking over your redheaded mystery...and I had a thought. We keep thinking that the missing piece is hidden among all the redacted information about her past, right?"
The young man nodded, sliding to stand near Dev in the space they both knew was out of sight of the cameras. "I mean, it would have to be, right? She has said as much to my family--that her past is some kind of big deal with lots of legal red tape."
"I get that...but...what if it's not in the background information? What if...what if all this stuff we've found...is the smokescreen?" At his stare she held up a hand. "Go with me on this. I used to work homicide in LA...and the number of times we'd discover that a vic's identity was fabricated? Dozens of cases. Hundreds. After a while you get a feel for them. See, fake identities? They're too perfect. Everything is neat. Linear. No mysteries, no dangling bits, no late forms or errors anywhere. No imperfections."
"I looked. Parents' date of death? She was four years, seven months, and three days old. Time from that day until her placement with that mystery guardian? Seven months, three days. Her parents were married two years, four months...and guess what? Three days...before she was born. Her parents have parents...both only children to their parents...but those grandparents? Also somehow only children. All of them. And the great-grandparents? Every single one is neatly on a record. Nothing missing. Not one thing out of place. In an era of paper filing and less accurate bureaucracy, everything is perfect." Dev was making motions with her hands as she talked. "I think that it's a smokescreen, and the concealed portions cover up the fake nature and give the suggestion to anyone digging that what they're looking for is behind the sealed records." She shook her head. "And it worked. You've been looking into that red herring for four months, Shining, and I helped without seeing it for what it was until now."
Leaning against the wall, he frowned. "...but it's all consistent with her tells, Dev. The way she reacts subconsciously to things..."
She shrugged. "The best lies have a grain of truth to them. She's a kid, not a lot older than my own, and she's been keeping up this lie for at least the time she's been here. She probably is an orphan of some kind, and she probably did have a conflict with whoever was looking after her...and she obviously ran away from something. But the rest? I've got this feeling I can't shake now that I've looked at it that all the rest is fake. Made up to give her an identity where people don't ask a lot of questions, especially about some unemployed teenage girl living on her own. In a building that she somehow owns."
His head snapped to her. "What?"
"Her address. I dug into who owns it...and boy was that a complicated paper trail...but it led to a finance management company, who purchased the building about four and a half years ago for a 'client.' The name on the property paperwork is all signed for someone whose initials are listed as 'S.S.'"
Finance management... "What was the name of the company?"
When she told him, his mind went briefly blank. He knew Sunset had funds, but...if he was right, she had been behind the donation to her own school under an anonymous education foundation. A donation sizable enough to buy a large house in a nice neighborhood outright. And yet she lived in a run down, tired neighborhood and dressed in a lot of well worn and sometimes patched clothing--at least she had until one of her friends had 'dragged her shopping.'
"...she is the most financially restrained teenager in the world," he told his companion, then outlined what he had learned, adding it to her information.
Devil's Advocate crossed her arms. "That's the other thing that doesn't add up, and I'm not sure 'time as a runaway' can entirely explain it. Half the time you talk about her it's like she's got the emotional maturity of my eleven year old...but then other times, it's like you're talking about a grown woman your age. If she's got that kind of cash, she's not advertising it, and she's smart enough to have someone manage her money. She makes smart choices like buying the place she's living in and having it renovated, but her vehicle is a junkyard special with repairs and work she's done herself, and she seems to go out of her way to avoid notice or trouble with the law. She's definitely hiding something, trying to fly under the radar...but I just don't think it's in her legal files."
Shining sagged. "So how do we find any answers, other than grilling her?"
"Well...answer me this...how long can you confirm she has been here?"
Thinking back, he responded, "I first met her in November, but Cadence's best friend is the vice principal at her school. And she's been complaining about 'this mean girl she couldn't ever catch doing anything she knew the girl was responsible for' about a year before Twily met Sunset. Plus, her Canterlot High records do go back to the attached junior high. She's in the yearbook for her seventh and eighth grade years." Shining remembered a long ago talk with Luna. "Whatever it is she's hiding, I think Lu knows. She told me off the first time for digging into Sunset's past and refused to tell me anything I didn't already know."
Dev tapped her elbow in thought. "So she's been in town at least five years, give or take. That tracks to the records we can find with her, like the address she lives at, or the first reports of her being a good samaritan in her neighborhood. So what happened five years ago to bring her here? And why is it a secret?"
"More importantly, how does it tangle up in this energy my sister is fixated on studying, and what about it has her so badly spooked that she was scrubbing her data from her school lab? And what does it have to do with that crazy conspiracy board at home?" His head was already warning him he'd have a headache before the day was over.
His partner studied him. "Conspiracy board?"
Shoulders slumping, Shining explained, "I snooped in our garage lab earlier this week. Twily has this big conspiracy board and it's got stuff for her project, photos, printouts and stuff, all connected with pushpins and colored string. But it's insane, Dev. She's got a bunch of random shit tacked up there that makes no sense at all, unless it's some kind of encryption code for herself. Pictures of Sunset in a Halloween costume, photoshopped sky images with false color auroras, and stuff that belongs on those 'hunting for cryptids' shows."
There was a long silence between them, before the older woman exhaled a long, slow sigh. "Look...do you know why I don't talk about my time in LA a lot?"
Shining blinked. "...no? I figured it was your business."
"...it's also because I don't want to be the precinct joke." Her eyes were far away. "I...saw things...working with my previous partner--he was a consultant, and we had an amazing close rate for our cases, for all that he could be an oversexed man-child with Daddy Issues--things I can't explain. Things that...defy logic. Reason. Rationale. Impossible things. It's part of why I left..." She shuddered and came back to the present. "I guess what I'm saying is...don't be so quick to toss out something your sister seems to think of as credible evidence just because it seems unreal."
That made him hold back a derisive snort. "It would have to be pretty unreal and have lots of evidence to make Twily both consider it and also scare her like that..."
And just like that, it clicked, the epiphany slotting into place as Devil watched him with a firm expression. "Oh Hell," he whispered. "The energy. That's what all of this ties back to. That anomaly Twilight picked up...the one for her project. An energy that is some kind of state secret from someplace Sunset and Twily both called 'Equestria'..." Some tiny portion of his nerd brain was jumping up and down in glee, but right now, the adult, rational part of his mind kept it suppressed. "...it's magic. My baby sister, the most brilliant scientific mind I know...stumbled across magic, and not realizing what it was, jumped into studying it like she does anything new she encounters."
Gray-blue eyes watched him with that uncanny focus unique to the woman mentoring him as a Detective. "And Sunset? What's her connection?" she coaxed, giving him room to follow through.
"...She...I thought maybe she knew about the energy. That her guardian bankrolled studying it back where she is from..." His brows pinched together. "...but...what if we have it backwards? What if this...energy...this magic...isn't something she knows about. What if she's where it comes from. Why it's here? What if she's the source...or connected to the source?" The connections were being made faster and faster in his brain. "That's why Twily lost it--why she was wiping her data from the CPA computers, why she brought everything home...and why she went off on Sunset. It all fits. Somehow, she learned Sunset was tied to...magic--boy is that going to take some getting used to--and had kept it from her. From all of us..."
Lu knew, his mind reminded him. She'd told him off for digging into Sunset...kept the girl's secrets. More than that, she'd brought Sunset to Crystal Prep...had talked him and Cadence into realizing Cinch was bad news...
Cinch. Who Sunset had admitted was desperate to learn about her...
"Cinch is looking for the energy source," he said in horror to Dev. "And...if it's magic, could you imagine the damage someone like that could do? That's why Twilight wouldn't leave--she was protecting Sunset...and we just thought she was hyper-fixated..."
Devil's Advocate put a hand on his shoulder. "Shining...you can't get caught up in your guilt. That doesn't help either of those girls now. You're right...Abacus Cinch is rotten...and I think now is the time to bring some of the glaring evidence in past missing persons cases related to that school that show's corrupt cops going against protocols for their old alma mater to IA. We have enough to establish a pattern...and if I do it, then it can't be seen as pettiness or sour grapes--I've no history here. Maybe just having her deal with multiple angles of attack will put that woman off balance long enough to get your sister transferred."
Shining hesitated, everything in him screaming to act, to save his sisters, his family, from the 'dragon,' yet feeling like there was so little he could do...and realized that his partner was right. He let out a slow breath, shaking with adrenaline, and nodded. "...I...you're right. I need to focus on what I can do...what ways I can help...and if me working with you to get IA involved at least comes at Cinch from another angle...then that's what I can do right now." He rubbed his face with one hand. "This feels so above my pay-grade..."
She tossed her hair over one shoulder and laughed. "Trust me, no one ever gets paid enough for this kind of thing. I learned that with my last partner--brilliant, scary, but I had to practically put a leash on him to keep him from snorting evidence." One hand patted his shoulder consolingly. "C'mon. Let's head in before anyone decides that we're having some kind of affair...get you some of that sludge the break room calls coffee, and I'll treat you to the traditional lunch of 'Welcome to Being a Supernatural Insider' Tacos from the best food truck in the city."
Groaning, Shining began plodding after her. "Uuuuuugh," he complained, like a petulant child. "I hate precinct gossip--they always assume I'm having an affair with any attractive woman under fifty who I spend more than ten minutes talking to...and I don't get why. I'm happy with what I have with Cady, and our relationship is great! We're even planning our wedding. Why would I risk that for a quick turn in the evidence closet with Marigold or Silver or a random witness?"
The woman next to him snorted as they entered the building. "Because you're an attractive young guy with a sweet personality, and most of the guys here are not. I think some of it is wishful thinking. On my end, they're just either trying to discredit me or explain why I'm 'a frigid bitch' when they show interest. Never mind that I'm a working single mother trying to help find justice for victims and their families...or the fact that most of them are offensive pigs."
The pair laughed at their shared misfortune at being popular in the rumor mill, only to bump into a colleague coming around the corner. Officer Device was a somewhat round fellow who walked with a limp--his gentle and cheerful personality meant he was perfect for the daytime front desk officer that greeted upset people coming in for help. "Oh em gee!" he gushed. "Just the smiling faces I was looking for! The courier already came by and delivered your package, Shining! I checked it over and put it on your desk. Boy was it ever heavy! There must be a whole ream of paper in there!"
Both detectives paused and exchanged a look. "Courier?" Dev asked.
"Yup, came by this morning super early! I was really surprised but he said it was an overnight job! Really important, and to make sure you got it as soon as you came in." He grinned. "I've been watching the cameras for you since!"
Shining frowned. "Thanks, Plot..." He patted his shoulder. "Consider the message passed on. What did the courier look like? Did he have a company logo on his shirt?"
"Pretty forgettable, honestly! Dark green hair, blue skin, khaki pants, navy shirt. Logo was small and hard to read, but we've had them courier stuff before, so I didn't think anything of it." It seemed to be dawning on the happy man that something was off. "Should...I get the lieutenant?"
Devil nodded. "That might be a good idea, just in case. We'll go see if this is some kind of false alarm." She pulled Shining to the small shared office space for them and two other pairs of detectives. "Let me check something before we open it.."
There on his desk, addressed to him, was a massive padded envelope, easily eighteen by twenty inches and probably close to three inches thick. Dev slid her hand in her pocket and brought it out wearing a ring on her middle finger, the dark stone glittering in the overhead lights. She passed her hand over the envelope twice, before relaxing. "It's clean of dangerous surprises, at least." At his look, she shrugged. "A gift from that consultant of mine. It saved my life twice from letter bombs. I barely understand it, and I'm not really sure I want to dig too deep into it all, but if it means I go home to my daughter, I'll use it."
He stared at her. "...I'm beginning to understand why you transferred."
"Oh yeah, LA was never boring. Now open it up."
He opened it, sliding out a huge stack of colored folders packed with papers, and a bag full of USB sticks. The folders were held together by clamps and rubber-bands, and on the top was a cover letter addressed to both him and his partner.
Detectives Shining Armor and Devil's Advocate,
My sources have gleaned that you are investigating Abacus Cinch and her cohorts at that facility they laughingly call a school, and I felt you were the best chance I have at this information seeing justice done for victims and families too long denied closure. Until now, the one calling themselves Abacus Cinch has had far too much influence in the local sphere to combat, but there has been a shift in her focus of late. One that worries me.
I present to you all of the evidence collected by myself and my sources on the various crimes perpetrated by the staff of Crystal Preparatory Academy over the last six decades. There would be more, but records further back are sketchy at best and not helpful in building a solid case. Of particular interest should be the red folders, which involve several dozen missing persons cases over the years that have never been solved...at least a full dozen of them students...and these were merely the ones we found connected to the school.
I am afraid I must apologize for the graphic nature of some of the photographs, but I cannot stress enough how dangerous it will be to move against the monsters masquerading as educators. Today may be your best chance to make a move, as much of the staff will be off campus for the competition against Canterlot High.
Oh, and Blue...you seem like a nice boy, and your kid sister means a lot to Red, so this warning is for you. Red's going to need some backup today, so I am urging you to back her up. While the rest of the boys in uniform are tearing apart that hell hole searching for clues, you need to get to your sister. That snake has something dark and terrible planned for her, and I'm not sure if Red will be enough.
Lastly, Detective....
A mutual friend of ours told me that you are the most honest, upstanding, and good cop he has ever had the pleasure of working with, and that your thirst for justice is unparalleled. I am trusting you with a great deal here--do try not to make a liar out of him?
As an additional side note...you might start by looking in the walls. For a building so old, there's a lot of rooms missing on the newest maps that are on the original plans.
The note offered no name, only the image of a chess piece, a queen, half black, half white. Shining felt a sickening sinking in his gut. "Dev?" he asked, needing a little guidance from the woman who had been mentoring him for months.
"Call your sister," she instructed. "Don't scare her, but make sure she is alright. I'm sure you have code words ready for exactly this kind of thing. If she's fine, get her location, and we'll see about getting to her first. This..." Her expression was hard and she tapped the chess piece symbol. "I recognize this. The sender is a known informant to the FBI and any task force or precinct west of the Rockies that has to deal with human trafficking and child predators. If this is legit--and I believe it is--then we should take this seriously, and they've as much said that your sister is being targeted."
"I concur," said a voice behind them. The lieutenant swept into the office, already zeroing in on the cover letter. He skimmed it, and nodded, before starting to look through the first red folder, while Shining pulled out his cell phone.
Twily's number failed to ring...just a long spell of dead air before her voicemail came on. Shining frowned, and tried again, twice more...with the same result. He switched to trying Cady--she would be at CHS, where they suspected Cinch would try to bring Twilight for the Friendship Games without his parents consent or knowledge. The same dead air answered him, before clicking to her cheerful voicemail.
A growing unease settled into his core. After a second call to Cadence's number went right to voicemail, he took a breath and tried Sunset's number.
Empty air, and then...
"Hi! You've reached Sunset! I can't answer right now, so leave a message and I'll call you back when I have a minute."
Cursing, he hung up and tried sending texts...that all failed to deliver. Frantically, he tried Luna's cell...and when, like the others, it went to voicemail, he tried the number he'd saved for her school directly.
Silence. Then a rapid and obnoxious pipping sound, before a click and an automated message played. "We're sorry, but the number you have dialed is no longer in service or disconnected. If you feel you have reached this recording in error, please check the number and try again..."
He swallowed and looked at Plot, who was nervously fidgeting in the doorway. "Plot, did you get any message about any local schools losing landlines today?"
Officer Device shook his head. "Not today."
The lieutenant had been staring at something in one of the folders, his bronzy complexion gone ashen. "Officer Device, I need the captain in here and the chief on the phone, and get me the number for the FBI liaison office." Dev was beside him, her lips pressed into a thin line. "Detective Advocate, I want you to hit our internal database and find me a list of every cop in this city who attended Crystal Prep. With the exception of Officer Armor, I'm going to recommend the Captain place every one of them on administrative leave until this is sorted. Then I want you to head down to SWAT and tell them I want both teams ready in an hour. By then I should have a judge willing to give us a warrant."
He turned. "Detective Armor--I have a special task for you. Abacus Cinch is officially under investigation for murder charges, and is at a school other than her own today that you have indicated is unreachable. We cannot risk sending a team in with flashing lights--the last thing we want is to create a hostage situation in a school full of students." He rubbed his face. "You are in plainclothes--take one of the undercover vehicles from the motor-pool and a radio, and get me eyes on that school. Do not engage Abacus Cinch, but if you can, get in to see the Canterlot High admins, under some other errand, and find a way to evacuate that school safely. As soon as you can give us eyes on the situation, we'll know how to proceed. Have I made myself clear, Detective? No heroics. The suspect is considered armed, dangerous, and potentially unstable." His eyes glanced down at the folder in his hands. "Anyone capable of this is."
"Crystal, sir. I'll leave right now." Blue eyes fell to the page the lieutenant was studying, and his stomach twisted. His feet carried him out the door at a near run...though he would be hard pressed to say if he was running to help his baby sister or running away from the gruesome HD photos of his former principal carving someone's chest open with a knife against a wall painted with symbols that would have been right at home in a horror movie...
> Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Three: Devils Never Cry
Walking into the gymnasium that day felt nothing like making her way to start a school competition. The anticipation in the air was all wrong, overlaid with a type of tension that only occurred when a creature was in real danger, and the students following in her wake like the Great Herds of ancient myth following a lead mare were completely lacking the celebratory enthusiasm normally seen at school sponsored events. Everyone was wound tight, coiled, ready to explode in violent and aggressive action at the slightest provocation, and ahead of them, the CPA students were unnaturally silent, standing far too still...like the walking dead from any number of zombie films and games that Sunset avoided. She had no comparison, but she wondered if this was how human leaders felt when marching to war...or how the Guard felt when heading out to confront a dangerous, pony eating monster.
It was sobering, experiencing the mantle of leadership like this...nothing like the flush of power and control she had wielded as a bully, or the freedom she had dreamed of acquiring when she'd imagined gaining wings to soar at the side of the Princess of the Sun. This was stress and worry and a suffocating wave of emotions drowning her from every direction. Sunset was sure that if she had been in her real body, she would be choking on the reek of fear and anger and frustration boiling off the student body, as she led them to what might become a battlefield against monsters, her head high and her white hot fury the only thing keeping her knees from buckling.
Sunset led the Friendship Games Team up the steps of the stage like a Queen at the head of her court, and formed a loosely angled line as she nodded to Octavia, who had volunteered to do the announcements of the teams. The senior inclined her head a fraction, one hand adjusting the pony ears on her head--every CHS student was wearing them, and they had expanded the colors to all the shades of the rainbow--a way for Sunset and the girls to hide their Pony-Ups more easily.
They were facing both the audience and the opposing line of Crystal Prep Students, and she found herself seeing not just Twilight, still within arms reach of Abacus Cin--
--Itheadair,-- came the snarled correction. --Use its Name, and confine it to what it Is.--
She would really appreciate an explanation on this whole thing with names being important.
--Look, we don't have time for the full 101 course, horn-head.--
The cliff notes would work.
--Fine. The short version is that for certain types of Beings, a Name is like your cutie mark. It's a piece of their truest self, expressed as a sound. It's their Soul shaped into language, like your mark is your Soul's colors on your flank. But language is a lot sharper and narrower a defining thing than art. A word has fewer meanings than an image has interpretations. Your cutie marks protect your Soul that way...A Name defines. It gives limits. It's a shape and a container and a chain all at once. So use its Name, and you have power over what it can Be.--
Her mind drifted briefly to one of the older pony myths, a fairy tale that spoke of the first alicorn...she had always dismissed it as a foal's bedtime story...but...if the voice was right...then maybe she should revisit those myths later.
For now though, she took in the sight across from her, her anger growing. Itheadair/Cinch still hovered within arm's reach of Twilight, who was pale and anxious and sounding like she was on the verge of hyperventilating, and nearby, looking scuffed up and with a rapidly forming black eye was Indigo, held hostage between two big guys who looked like they played football. Honey colored eyes were full of defiance, and she continued to try and get free of her captors. Sunset kept her gaze on her enemy, but she managed to nudge her own principal with an elbow and tilt her head at Indigo, breathing out of the side of her mouth, "One of us," in a whisper meant for the educator's ears alone. The reassuring touch of two fingers to her forearm for a split second indicated her message was received.
Several tense minutes crawled by, before Octavia cleared her throat. "Students of Crystal Prep, we at Canterlot High welcome you to this year's Friendship Games, a traditional show of sportsmanship and competition between our two schools. This year's events shall begin with two teams of twelve competing in an Academic Decathlon, scored both individually and collectively as a team. Not only will the points determine the winning team for the round, but will also determine which six members of each team will be advancing to the Tri-Cross Relay Race." She paused for effect, but the audience was unpleasantly silent.
Octavia sighed and continued, "Representing Crystal Prep Academy are: Sunny Flare, Lemon Zest, Indigo Zap, Sugarcoat, Suri Polomare..." Sunset dimly registered that Suri was actually missing from the stage, missing the next few names, only to tune back in when Octavia announced, "...and Twilight...Sparkle...led by Team Captain Sour Sweet."
There was a low and angry murmur from the crowd of Canterlot High students. Many had witnessed the altercation in the hallway, and had heard Sunset's declaration. They didn't know this wasn't their princess for the most part, but they did know Sunset had tried to save her already. She hoped they didn't rush the stage, and remembered the plan. A quick glance and she could see that many of them were already in their Teams for the Defense group, and saw hands in pockets, likely checking their tools. Trixie gave her a thumbs up from dead center of the crowd, tapping her other hand to her ear. She was already wearing her headset then.
Tension built as Octavia began announcing the CHS team, especially when someone in the crowd started a familiar pattern of sound that had once heralded the beginning of Sunset's own downfall, all those months ago.
THUD. CLAP. THUD-THUD. CLAP!
"Applejack...Rarity Belle..."
THUD. CLAP. THUD-THUD! CLAP!
"Pinkie Pie...Fluttershy..."
The sound grew louder as more students joined in, stomping and clapping in sync, timing the sounds to the pauses in Octavia's natural speaking rhythm. It was intimidation, it was support, it was unity...
STOMP! CLAP! STOMP-STOMP! CLAP!
It was a battlecry and a warning to their enemies. Just like they had come together to help Princess Twilight Sparkle win the Fall Formal crown and topple Sunset Shimmer, now they stood with Sunset and the girls, hundreds of them, ready to fight against magic and monsters despite the risks. The former unicorn could feel the upwelling of Harmonic magic, could hear the percussion in her own heartbeat, trust and loyalty surrounding her. These were her friends. Her humans.
Blue-green eyes sought not the opposite team's Captain, but of the woman the voice called Itheadair-Anam. When she did, Sunset very pointedly raised both hands in front of her, and on the next percussion line brought her own foot down in time with a wordless voice almost a thousand strong.
STOMP! CLAP! STOMP-STOMP! CLAP!
"...led by our very own Team Captain Sunset Shimmer!"
Sunset stared Itheadair-Anam/Cinch down imperiously, every inch the prodigy sorceress raised by a goddess, refusing to give even an inch. Twice more she led the percussion, before raising her hands to call an end to the blatant show of intimidation, and as she suspected, her peers immediately quieted. One pony ear swiveled--she saw no further point in the charade, given how...not right...some of the CPA team was starting to look--and twitched it at Octavia politely.
"Right," Octavia said without humor. "Thank you. As is tradition, the Team Captains shake hands to signal the beginning of the Games. Captains?"
Given how her magic burned those tainted by the darkness at Crystal Prep, and how that Silverthorn man's arm had made a horrible breaking sound under Dash's blow and her subsequent disabling actions, she figured this handshake would be the moment that kicked it all off. Nothing like setting an enemy on fire as an opening salvo. Her magic simmered under her skin, in the horn she couldn't hide on her forehead, as she strode forward, knowing the girls were as ready as the young sorceress could make them, and trusted the nature of the Elements to respond to their needs today. Opposite her, one of the girls, whose thin face and cold eyes were locked on her, stepped forward to meet her, and she could see...a faint hint of...acceptance...
She extended one hand slowly. "Last chance to turn around and not go through with this," Sunset declared loudly, her voice firm. "It doesn't have to be this way. You can make a different choice."
A flicker of something in Sour Sweet's eyes...pain? Gratitude? Respect? "I...That is kind of you..." she said in a voice like summer birdsong. Her hand shook, and she flicked her wrist, before her expression hardened, and the voice was a raven's harsh mocking. "But there is no saving yourself from your fate." She held her own hand out, inching it towards Sunset's.
"Or you from yours," the unicorn responded sadly, with a deep understanding she couldn't explain filling her. No matter the outcome, everything would change after this.
Then the other girl's hand grasped not Sunset's hand but her wrist, and Sunset hissed in sudden pain as a band of burning circled her wrist. Face twisting in a snarl, she grabbed the arm with her other hand, feeling her magic lash out aggressively at the assault on her person. The sleeve under amber fingers caught fire in a flash of brilliant red and black, sulfurous smoke, leaving her gripping pale yellow flesh that rapidly began to blister under Sunset's power.
Yet the girl refused to let go, and began to speak, loud and commanding words even as agony played across her features.
"Nomine Tuo Te Religo, Sunset Shimmer,
Argento cum sacro sacraque lingua..."
The blisters swelled, ruptured, and spilled foul fluid that dripped, even as flesh withered and darkened under red-amber fingertips and black nails.
Black nails? Oh no...
"Nomine Tuo Te Vinculo, Sunset Shimmer,
Et verbis meis tua opera dissolvo."
Visceral agony exploded in every nerve, reminding her of that October night when power had ripped through her. Magic was once again tearing into her body and soul with barbed hooks, peeling her open to look for the dark shadow lurking inside.
And deep, deep inside, in the battered cage, the voice that was no longer little or stupid screamed with the cry of the damned and the chiming, crystalline song of Harmony. ---NO! NOT LIKE THIS! NOT AGAIN!!--
Magic rushed out of her in a blood red inferno, engulfing Sour Sweet from head to toe, burning hot and searing the stage black, making the clear sealant on the wood crack and melt, and turning the sharp fanged, gaunt thing with pointed ears into a giant candle...but not before she finished her incantation in a roaring rush that carried with it all of the pain of being burned alive.
"Nomine Tuo Te Impero, Sunset Shimmer
In Nomine Eius, Fiat Eius Voluntas!"
The fire went out, magic and power snuffed in an instant as sigils flared on the silver manacle that was now on Sunset's wrist. Whatever spell on it that had been cast finished activating, and drove Sunset to the ground in convulsions, the foreign power weaving itself into her veins, her lungs, her nerves, her very soul and magic, squeezing and binding and condensing the whole of her down in a way that threatened to kill her or otherwise cause her own power to explode in reaction. She could barely think enough to wrap herself around her power and halt the impending surge through force of will. Her ears rang and she coughed and choked on blood and bile, thrashing violently but unable to stop the spasms...or her screaming. Through the haze, she saw shadows and forms moving, saw a blur that could only be Dash flying around a hulking figure, saw sparks of magic and balls of bouncing pink in too many places at once, heard a manticore roar from the other side of a long tunnel...
And then mercifully, everything went dark...
> Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Four: Battle Symphony
The upper floor was fairly clear of students as the pair walked together towards the stairwell that would put them near the office. Spike trotted between them obediently, seemingly less agitated after his encounter with Sunset, his doggy nails clicking on the cheap tile. Cadence was quiet for a distance, watching the stragglers head down, all quiet, somber, and strangely focused, and Luna resisted the urge to loop their arms together to offer some form of comfort. She had to remain the Vice Principal in view of the students, especially today.
Finally, Cady spoke, her voice soft, "They're...so somber...so focused. Nothing like I remember the year I came to watch the Games when I was in school." Her hand found Luna's bicep. "What has been going on to do this to them? To Sunset? Is my Ladybug really going to be safe if she goes here?"
Luna sighed, and allowed herself the briefest touch of laying a hand over Cady's. "This is the third magical event this year...though it is also the first we have prepared for. The first was a complete shock, and the second..." A shiver went through her at the memory of reptilian eyes and the pressure squeezed around her mind that took motor control away. "...the second was against an ancient evil that had been banished from Miss Shimmer's homeworld many thousands of years ago. At this point, the students and staff are prepared to get everyone innocent out of the line of fire as quickly as possible. None of us are willing to be hostages a third time, and plenty wish they could join in fighting back the way Miss Shimmer and her group of friends seem to have been tasked with." She let her hand drop. "I believe...based on what we saw, that Sunset Shimmer will endeavor to remove Twilight Sparkle from harm's way with all haste. She is...exceptionally motivated, and to listen to it, the group's power operates on the virtues and tenants of friendship."
"Friendship?" Her best friend stared at her, a little dumbstruck. "There's...magic...powered by friendship?"
A light chuckle escaped. "Trust me, it was something I had a great deal of trouble wrapping my brain around...and yet...having witnessed it myself, I can attest to just how powerful it is."
Cady studied her. "What virtues?"
"Nothing like religion might cast under the title. Loyalty, for example, though from Miss Dash's demonstrations, it seems to manifest both literally and as a form of conviction, a sense of purpose. Miss Fluttershy's Compassion, Miss Pie's hopeful Optimism."
Her best friend hummed. "So each one represents one of these virtues?"
She made a loose wobbly motion with one hand. "I believe they represent all of them, but each of them is a paragon of one particular virtue above the others."
"So...Loyalty, Compassion, Optimism...what about the others?"
Luna thought back to her conversation with Sunset. "I believe Miss Apple represents the Truth and Honesty in all its manifestations, and Miss Belle, that of Generosity."
There was a pause. "And Sunset?"
The educator frowned. "That has never been fully explained or identified to me. There is a sixth facet, what Miss Shimmer refers to as 'Elements' but she has clarified that that Element belonged to the princess who came for the crown she stole. That one she named Magic, and asserted it was not hers." Luna mulled it over. "If I had to name Miss Shimmer's strongest virtues since she began to remake herself...while she shows all the other virtues as things she has embraced wholly, her leadership and the surprisingly deep well of empathy for not just others emotions but their thoughts and abilities, are perhaps her strongest qualities. Both are good candidates in my eyes...and they were traits that she has always possessed...just ones that had become...warped by the persona she used to express."
Toying worriedly with her ponytail, Cadence let that sink in. "So this magic is why they had wings and ears and horns?" At Luna's nod, she asked, "And you think that this power is enough to stop whatever is going on? With Abacus Cinch?"
"I...believe so. Abacus is off balance--she has been desperately trying to acquire intelligence on Miss Shimmer for weeks, and is, as far as we know, entirely unaware of both Miss Shimmer's group of friends and the preparations of the rest of the school. In addition, for all its evil...whatever power she commands was something Miss Shimmer held at bay by herself for well over an hour. Yes, it drained her, but she held out, after countering the defenses that attacked her on arrival." There was something satisfying about that, on a visceral level, considering how Crystal Prep's principal had always taken every opportunity to belittle the students of Canterlot High.
Cady's brows pinched. "What do they want anyway?"
Luna shrugged. "If the pattern is consistent? Power. Control. What do tyrants and bullies usually want?"
The other woman made a face. "Why Twily then? We love her--I know Sunset does, even if she hasn't admitted it yet--but...she's just a teenage girl, Lu. She doesn't have magical powers or a position in power anywhere. She's a girl who struggles with anxiety and is so adorably in love with her best friend that it makes your heart melt, and she's brilliant, but...how would any of that catch the eye of some magical evil?"
"I wish I knew, Cady," she responded. "It could be any number of reasons, none of them good. It could simply be because she is young and fairly innocent--we are learning that there may be a grain of truth in a lot of legends. Or maybe there is some reason we are not aware of? Some qualifier or ability she has that matters to Abacus." The halls were fairly empty by now, as they descended to the main floor, thirty or so feet from the door to the office. "Either way, we'll do our part in getting her free of that woman's clutches..."
A low growl of warning interrupted Cadence's response. Both women looked down to see the dog between them had gone stiff, hackles bristling and fangs exposed. His ears were pricked and focused on the open door ahead, and his body sunk low to the ground in a stalking crouch.
Cadence immediately dropped down to unhook his lead, whispering, "Good boy, Spike. Stay with me though." The dog glanced her way, then bobbed his head in something like a nod. She straightened, her hand already reaching into her jacket, revealing exactly where she had squirreled away the paintball gun Luna had given her. "Trouble, I think."
Luna nodded, switching to hand signals from their SCA and LARP days--Cady may not have participated the way Shining had with Luna's favorite hobbies, but she had gone to observe all their major events, and had learned the way the pair had communicated without alerting their opponents. One hand touched the bracelet given to her by Trixie Lulamoon, and the other for the pocket knife she'd concealed in her own pocket. Together, all three crept forward on quiet feet, until Luna could peer into the office.
Her anger rose at what she saw. Two figures, surrounded by the hazy dark shimmer and the plasticky look of a bad Halloween costume were up to no good. One had their secretary backed into a corner, menacing her with some kind of short sword, and the other was kneeled down, having pulled something out of the wall and was busily cutting through it with a large knife. The main office was otherwise trashed, the desk overturned and earth from some broken potted plants scattered everywhere.
Luna withdrew, and leaned close enough to Cadence's ear that her lips tickled the tiny, fine hairs on pink skin. "Both of them are bad. Aim for the head, preferably the eyes."
The pink skinned woman nodded, and as Luna went to pull back into her own space, one hand grabbed the lapel on her jacket, stopping her. Her brows furrowed in confusion, which was quickly dispelled when Cadence pressed a kiss to her lips.
As kisses went, it was brief; a warm but firm contact of lips against hers that lasted only a few seconds. It wasn't a gesture of passion--Luna knew that from experience--but it did come with the brush of fingers lightly along her jaw, a gesture of affection and care. "For luck," Cady breathed against her mouth as she pulled back.
Humor joined the coil of warmth, and she fought the urge to laugh, settling for an affectionate eye-roll at the dorky movie reference. Maybe there was something to the whole 'friendship magic' thing, more than just in Sunset Shimmer and her friends. It certainly had done wonders for her own courage, knowing that she had her best friend facing the monsters with her.
Counting down with her fingers, she lunged into the room, pocket knife primed but mostly serving as the distraction. "Hey!" Luna barked aggressively. "Unhand her, foul knave!" She might as well draw on the old theatrics. "Turn, cowards, and face the wrath of Nightmare Moon!"
It was mostly bluster--at least until she could get to the pole-arm hidden in her office--but it worked as a tactic to draw their attention. Both of the smoke shrouded figures whipped around at her voice, the one closest to Raven staring in utter disbelief at her. "Who?" they sneered. "All I see is the last remnants of the fool bloodline that challenged the Master ages ago." The face twisted into a plastic sneer. "I'm going to enjoy gutting you in your own domain, human."
A vicious snarl, and they lurched as twenty five pounds of canine snapped his jaws closed on their leg, shaking and savaging fabric and flesh. "Blasted hound!" they hissed, trying to dislodge their furry attacker.
It was enough to cover up the fast Pop! Pop! of a paintball gun firing in rapid succession from a fairly close range. There was a follow up SPLAT, as a mud colored splotch blossomed on their forehead, and another splattered against the bridge of their nose, sending more of that liquid into their eyes.
There was a long moment of shocked silence, before their visage--to Luna's eyes a false, mask-like face that seemed both rubbery and plastic all at once--cracked and fell apart like broken glass, the shards dissolving before they hit the floor. Left behind was....something that firmly settled itself in the 'uncanny valley.' It was almost a caricature of a fantasy elf--humanoid, but with features far too long, thin, and pointed to be pleasant to the eye, with a waxy sort of beauty that was too perfect for her eyes to believe it to be real: high, sharp cheekbones, pointed chin, overly large, dark eyes, high forehead, long, pointed ears, and long hair that fell past their shoulders in waves like a shampoo commercial actor. Hands with long fingers that had far too many joints reached up as an acrid smoke rose up from where the pellets had struck, and a pained keening started as those nails tried to claw the mess off their forehead. Black veins of some kind began spreading out from the impact point, a toxic spider's web, that seemed to suck away layers of flesh and fat. Pale skin withered and cracked, soon stretched over bones, paper thin and translucent, and the soft tissue seemed to rot away--nose, ears, even the eyes...
The whole ordeal took less than thirty seconds before the figure collapsed in a heap to the floor, rapidly breaking down into a powdery, foul smelling earth that stank of arrested decomposition. The bronze blade the figure had been holding clanked to the ground with a dull thud against the discarded clothing and cheap carpet. Luna blinked, having not expected that.
Neither had the second not-human being masquerading as a Crystal Prep teacher. "How?!" She hissed in shock, eyes wide and staring at Cadence, who was pointing the weapon at her now. "How is it you pathetic humans could--you don't even believe the old stories, let alone remember how to fight!"
Cadence stared down the sights of the pistol. "It's called google. You should try it sometime."
Rubbery features twisted with hate. "I'll kill you!" She cried, launching from her crouch towards the pink skinned woman. Purple fur impacted her with a ferocious growl as the dog nearby lunged away from the pants leg he'd been tearing at, and latched his jaws at the 'woman's' throat. His muzzle wasn't long enough to actually clamp around her throat, but he provided enough interference for Luna to start moving and Cadence to fire again.
POP! POP-POP!
One splattered on the wall, but the other two pellets burst over the woman's nose and cheek, and she fell backwards with a yelp. The dog barked and snapped his jaws again and again at face and hands as the human guise shattered like the other had, and they began to waste away, until only that foul earth remained amidst a second pile of discarded clothing.
Raven Inkwell calmly picked up her overturned chair and sank into it. "...I must say, I was not expecting that when you came in here yelling, Luna."
"I was not expecting it to be quite that effective," the dark skinned woman responded blandly, nudging the earthy mass with a toe. "Perhaps I will consider sponsoring an after school paint-ball club next year." Her eyes found the secretary's. "What exactly did they want, Raven?"
The woman gestured to where an entire outlet had been pulled from the wall by brute force, along with several feet of thick cable behind it, that had been jaggedly severed by a serrated tool. "They cut the phone line, and were asking if there were any others. I refused to answer either way. They were also quite confident about cellphones being unable to call out either."
Luna swore under her breath. "Then we have no way of calling for aid." She headed for her office, unlocking the door. "Very well then. I suppose it truly does fall to us." She eyed Raven. "Are you with us, Miss Inkwell? Or would you prefer to remain safely in my office until it is over?"
Her secretary gave her an arch look. "Try and stop me," she countered. "Those animals caught me by surprise--I'm not surprised anymore."
Cady reached into her coat. "I've got a spare," she offered, holding out a second paintball pistol to the brown haired woman.
Pale fingers accepted it and the extra clip. "Hopefully I can still hit what I aim at. It has been a good many years since I went hunting with my brothers."
Snorting, Luna opened her office and headed for the cabinet. Once that was open, she lifted the dark chainmail shirt from its box, shedding her jacket in favor of the padded shirt that accompanied the mail, and slipping the navy colored links over her head, before retrieving the dark blue and black leather pieces that went over top the chain on her shoulders and provided protection to her arms while also looking intimidating as all hell. Dark hair was swept into a bun, and she pulled on the helm that had once cost her a pretty penny from a professional craftsman, fingers tracing the batwing-like design that swept up and back from brow pieces. It may have been a mixture of SCA armor and her old LARP costume, but it made a statement, and if it caused her enemy to pause even for a moment, that was to her advantage. Especially when she took that moment to bury a blackened iron glaive in their guts. Adjusting her gauntlets, she then held out one final item to Cady. "Would you please carry this until we find my sister? I think it may work better than anticipated."
Cady took the sword belt and looped it over one shoulder so the weapon fell along her back. "...isn't this a family heirloom?"
She nodded. "Sixteenth century Italian steel, the honor weapon of a half dozen Solaire duelists and reputed to have triumphed in over two dozen duels. It came with the family to America, and it has hung on the wall since my great grandfather's time. I had it restored and repaired."
There was a click, and the school's PA system came on, triggered by an override that she herself had signed off on for this exact circumstance. Trixie Lulamoon's voice came over the speakers, broadcasting to every corner of the school. "Code: Rainbow is a go! This is not a drill!" There was a crackle and then a shriek of something going critical. "The Grrrrreat and Powerful Trrrrixie has something for you, monsters! Courtesy of the Lulamoons!"
Luna took up her glaive. "We have some monsters to slay, ladies. Let's not keep them waiting." Canterlot High was officially at war.
> Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Five: Everybody With Your Fists Raised High, Let Me Hear Your Battlecry Tonight!
Pandemonium came on the heels of Sunset Shimmer screaming, of the Crystal Prep Team Captain going up in blood-red flames. On the stage, the Rainbooms jumped into action the moment their leader collapsed, with Rainbow Dash spewing a stream of profanities that ran together as a single endless word as she led the charge across the stage. Blonde hair in a thick braid swung as a counterweight to the movement of broad shoulders and punching fists that left more than one figure of twisted magic doubled over and gasping, and shimmering barriers sprang in and out of existence to deflect violence aimed at them in turn.
The Great and Powerful Trixie scanned the stage with Father's Mage-Sight spell, saw Rarity trying to protect the other members of the Defense Command Team, even as they sought to get away from the melee. Principal Celestia was moving, crossing the stage with a purpose, and Sunset Shimmer was a thrashing heap, multiple forms of powerful magic at war inside her. Then her eyes turned to the crowd around her, to the way the seething mass of Crystal Prep students were trying to encircle her classmates like wolves around prey. So many of them matched the figures on the stage, but more still bore the streaked and shadowed auras of possession victims. If her fellow students did not act soon, they would be trapped.
Unless....
An idea came to The Great and Powerful Trixie, a stroke of pure genius that she would brag about later when Sunset Shimmer asked, Trixie decided. Two of the silvery marbles Trixie's father had crafted found their way into her hands, and the young mage grabbed for the magic that she could see floating around her as a faint mist of color. Willing it to move, she directed it with increasing speed into the marbles, making them shine brighter in the lights. The power would increase the spell, but she had to time it just right to use it before it broke down. The Great and Powerful Trixie desired an explosive overload, and there would only be one shot for her. The timing was tighter than any performance and she would get no do-overs.
They began to vibrate in her grip, and she activated her headset, hitting the emergency broadcast switch that would tie her into the PA system. "Code: Rainbow is a go!" Trixie snapped, remembering the instructions Bon-Bon had laid out for the different plans. This was the contingency for if something took out the Rainbooms--even if they were still fighting, this was more than five could handle with their most powerful member out of commission. "This is not a drill!"
The marbles were ready, shrieking with the energy packed tight into them, on the verge of going critical. "The Grrrrreat and Powerful Trrrrixie has something for you, monsters! Courtesy of the Lulamoons!" Trixie called out loudly, before hurling the spheres to the Crystal Prep crowd on either side of her.
CRACK!!
Trixie canceled her Mage-Sight a split second before the marbles triggered, but even without it, she could see how the magic ballooned outward, much farther than the initial radius her father had made then for. The CPA students she had marked as magical entities that were closest to the epicenters...just stopped existing, their clothes hanging frozen in the air for a heartbeat before gravity brought them to the ground. All the rest were bowled over, howling, gibbering black masses erupting from their bodies and boiling away like water turning to steam. It was quite effective, and seemed to have cleared the majority of the CPA students off the threat list.
"Snips! Snails!" she called out, reaching down to grab the closest pair of disoriented Crystal Prep students and pull them up to their feet. "Trixie commands you to each grab some of the fallen CPA students and bring them with us!" She raised her voice so it would be picked up over the headset. "Most of them were possessed! The freed ones are innocent! Take them with you!" She clicked it off as the team leaders around her began to act like they'd practiced, some rounding up as many of the younger and freed students as they could and making a break for the doors, and nudged the pair she had righted in that same direction. "Come along, quickly. The Great and Powerful Trixie has only bought us so much time with her genius."
"The who-whuh now?" the tall senior boy asked, confused. Bright blue eyes were dazed and confused, and his legs moved unsteadily. Trixie was unsure if that was a side effect of the possession or if it was due to the prosthetic leg she had gotten a glimpse of when she'd helped him up.
"The Great and Powerful Trixie," Snips offered helpfully, guiding a pretty girl with white skin and hair. "She freed you guys with her magic marbles!"
Beside him, Snails wheezed, "Uh...yeah...like...cuz your school is evil and junk, and now the Rainbooms are gonna kick butt..."
Trixie pushed them through the door into one of the halls, and split them off from the bulk of the groups--she had to regroup and get her things from Command's hiding place. "There will be time for explanations when we are safe. For now, I am Trixie, and these are Snips and Snails. Trixie's Most Useful Assistant Helper People."
"Miles Vignette," said the girl Trixie had pulled along, rubbing at a scar that marred her creamy yellow skin. "That's my brother, Gael."
"Fleur De Lis," the pale girl offered. "How am I here? I...remember arriving at school...and then it was a blur--like a nightmare--before I woke up on the floor of your gym."
"Same," echoed the two girls following Snails.
Sighing, Trixie found the small storage room that the Command team had taken over. "Possession. Trixie determined that most of the Crystal Prep students present today are victims of possession by some type of magic or entity." She listened briefly to the chatter over the headset, and clicked in. "The Great and Powerful is at Command Headquarters. Teams Check in in five." She snapped her fingers at Snips once they were safely inside and the door shut. "Timer. Five minutes."
She turned to the disbelieving Crystal Prep students sharing the space with Trixie and her Assistant Helper People. "Trixie is happy to answer your questions while she gets her equipment sorted for the main event."
Everything had gone to Hell in a handbasket so quickly, that Celestia was left momentarily taken aback by the all out brawl that descended on the stage. Rainbow Dash, wings out and a steady supply of detention-worthy invectives falling from her lips at Mach speed, was a blur that zipped around to lash out at several enemies at once, while Pinkie Pie was...impossibly in six places at once, wearing different outfits. One of the Pinkies was even a medium sized pony that was somehow using a...brightly painted...cannon? She paused to wave at Celestia enthusiastically, before firing...some kind of pie? Into the face of her opponent. Applejack was using a vicious haymaker to send figures staggering back as she stood over Sunset's collapsed and spasming body...
Celestia looked for the two figures she knew Sunset would want rescued the most. The first, Twilight Sparkle, was far too firmly held by what had to be Abacus Cinch--they were wearing Abacus's clothes, for all they resembled a messed up elf with shark teeth and black marbles for eyes--silent and sobbing at the sight of Sunset on the floor, and Celestia offered a silent apology before looking for the other innocent in this. There she was, hollering profanities in Spanish and English, trying to rip free of the arms holding her, one eye already swelling shut and bearing a bruise.
Striding through the fracas, she zeroed in on the figure holding the girl, a hulking mass with crooked teeth and blue hued skin that looked like it should be living under a bridge somewhere, eating goats. "Let go of her!" she snapped, feeling months of helplessness and fear crystallizing into rage. She would be damned if she was going to sit by this time.
It turned, blinking its eyes stupidly at her, one hand letting go of the girl to fend Celestia off. The woman didn't give it any time to get its bearings--she closed the distance rapidly, before shifting her weight and planting her foot with all her weight and force solidly into where the solar plexus would be on a human.
The creature staggered under the unexpected kick, two steps backward...and found its foot over empty air. It let go of the girl to try and recover its balance, but the girl seized the opportunity to use both hands and give it a hard shove. "¡Come mierda, cabrón!"
Celestia felt more than a little satisfaction as it crashed to the ground off the stage, and turned to the girl. "Come with me. We need to get out of here."
She shook her head. "No way, lady. I gotta get to Twilight! I promised to stick with her!" Her feet turned to wade into the fray, but Celestia grabbed her. "Let me go!"
"Listen to me--whatever you promised, Sunset Shimmer wanted me to get you to safety." Celestia was firm, pulling her charge away from the fight. Invoking Sunset's name seemed to get her attention, even if her eyes still cut to the sobbing form of Twilight Sparkle. She let Celestia lead her away with much less resistance. "I am not saying that we cannot help, but neither you nor I are truly equipped right now to handle magic and monsters using it."
The girl froze. "You know it's magic? You know about what's going on?" Then, "You have a way to fight it?"
"For months now--and I understand. You want to help your friend. However, jumping in right now is not the way--you will put yourself in more danger. Sunset and her friends cannot truly focus on this fight if you're in the way."
There was less resistance now. "But you have a way we can fight?" the blue haired girl asked, almost desperate. "Please--tell me you have something? I can't abandon Twilight! She's my friend, plus I promised Sunset I'd stick with her and watch her back..." She hesitated. "If I fail at it...do I lose my soul?"
What?
Turning now that they were off the stage, Celestia placed both hands on the teen's shoulders in concern. The woman wasn't quite certain what the girl was referring to, but it definitely sounded serious enough to warrant being addressed with some measure of immediacy. "Your soul? What do you mean?"
She glanced at the stage again. "...to the badass in black leather bitch boots. I promised I'd watch Twilight's back when she wasn't there...she knew my whole name, even though I didn't tell her. And...we saw her--in the video and under the stage...all red and with the glowing eyes and wings and stuff...like a demon. That's what happens when you make a deal with a demon right? Break the deal, lose your soul?"
Ah. Suddenly it all came together. Somehow, this girl had seen what Sunset had become at the formal--someone had leaked a video, which was worrying, but it was something that could wait until they were not in the middle of a crisis to address. The worries about her soul being sold to what might be a demon, however, needed to be nipped in the bud quickly before it affected her further. Celestia gave her a reassuring smile and made sure her voice was gentle. "No, you did not sell your soul...Sunset is not what you are thinking--what you saw was an effect from an artifact when she was in a very bad place emotionally. She is a person, just like you or me, albeit one with a unique history and magical powers."
"Oh. Sparkle was right then? She's...not some kind of monster? I...didn't sell my soul to the Devil with huge knockers?"
While it was an uncomfortable and crude description of her extradimensional student, Celestia managed to avoid chastising the girl for her phrasing. She could understand the worry, if the girl had somehow been shown the events of the Fall Formal with little to no context. "I can say, with confidence, that whatever promise you made, she more than believes you kept it--that's why she asked me to help you, and she has no interest in taking possession of your soul."
Digesting that, the girl straightened. "Okay...right..." She exhaled, shaking herself as if to rid herself of lingering worry. "...weapons. You...said you have weapons?" It was more a demand than a question, and at the tone Celestia arched an eyebrow pointedly. As intense and agitating as the situation was, it did not call for the girl to address an adult with quite so much...peer-like familiarity. That seemed to have the intended effect, as pale cheeks flushed and with an awkward pause she stuttered out, "Um...sorry.....I'm just...I don't want t just abandon Twilight. She's already having a shit week...and our principal is a monster trying to do something to her..." Another, somewhat awkward pause, and she finally added, "I'm...Indigo..."
"Principal Celestia," she returned, ushering a stream of students out the door into the halls and watching the way her Wondercolts grabbed any bystander who was clearly not part of the opposing forces, and pulled them along to get to safety. They were doing just as she had stressed--saving people from harm. Pride swelled in her chest despite the danger, pride in her students for showing the best of humanity in a terrible crisis.
Indigo blinked. "...mierda. Not the kind of first impression I wanted to make with the school I'm transferring to if we survive this...gonna guess this is going to affect whether or not there's room on your basketball team for me, isn't it?"
"I am certain we can find a spot," she told her with a soft laugh. "Hurry now. I think they are regrouping." She and Indigo were the last two out the door, leaving behind the nearly empty gym and a pitched battle of magic and mayhem. Celestia gripped the rosary in her pocket and prayed that Sunset and her friends would be alright.
Flash ducked as a silver barrier sprang between himself and one of the CPA teachers that had a blade made of...brass? Bronze? Probably bronze--there was an age for that back in history, right? They made swords, if he remembered right. The sword crashed into the barrier and bounced, saving him from a nasty haircut. "Thanks, Rarity!" he called out.
"Think nothing of it, darling! Now go! I cannot hold them off forever and Trixie needs you three to help coordinate everyone else!" The fashionista was struggling to maintain half a dozen different shields against different opponents, and it showed in the sweat beading on her forehead.
He wanted to protest, seeing Sunset sprawled on the hard floor, her body convulsing violently as Applejack kept anyone from getting too close...but he remembered the look in her eyes during their last Defense meeting. She had stressed, over and over, that their priority was getting the other kids to safety, especially the middle schoolers, and blue-green eyes had been filled with relief that she could entrust that task to someone she believed she could count on.
Him.
Their relationship had been a sham, her place once at his side a calculated deception...and he had failed to act in a way he was proud of when the sirens had come calling...but she was one of his closest friends now. Sunset had admitted more than once that she trusted him, and then shown it. She had trusted him with the secret of her girlfriend's identity, trusted him even when she had trusted no one to be a good person and respect her as a person...and now...she was trusting him to protect their classmates.
Blue eyes closed briefly and he whispered a soft apology to her, before straightening his shoulders. "You girls take care of each other," he said somberly to Rarity. "You let us worry about the rest of the kids." He could hear Trixie's voice amplified over the PA system, setting everything into motion as something burst in the audience with a shrill shriek.
Then he grabbed Bon-Bon and Lyra, and ran for the edge of the stage. "Let's go! We have places to be!" He could see Lyra already had her earpiece in, tapping into their communications, and Bon-Bon was already mentally calculating as their sneakers squeaked across the floor. They trio joined the surprisingly orderly exodus through the various sets of doors in the gym, their peers moving like a well oiled machine.
"Looks like all the drills paid off, Bonny!" Lyra chirped. "And they're getting the CPA kids out too!"
Bon-Bon nodded. "We need to meet up with Trixie. She called Code Rainbow, rather than Code Colt, and I want to know why."
Flash took a breath. "I agree with her. Whatever her reasons are...I think it was the right call. Did you see them? That wasn't a few bad guys--they brought an army. We get the kids to safety...and then we help. Wondercolts stand together."
Curly Winds adjusted his grip on the metal baseball bat in his hands as he peered warily into the hall that led to the main office. It had been trashed when their team had arrived but whatever fight had occurred had been over and there was no way to know who had won. It left him on edge as his boyfriend and the other two tech-minded boys--Microchips, and a recent transfer from elsewhere in the state...he thought his name mighta been Toggle?--sat themselves down in the tiny security office, and began working their own brand of magic with both the school installed security cameras and the ones they had spent the last two months covering the school with.
The trio chattered rapidly as they set up their equipment, three laptops wired into the system through a clever setup that Curly was fairly certain Miss Luna had no knowledge about and would freak if she knew. He only listened with half an ear, still searching for trouble, and felt relief when he saw Teddy and Crimson coming back from sweeping the office rooms.
"It's empty, mostly. Nurse's office is jam packed with sixth graders and a couple of CPA girls--one of them's the one Sunset wrecked earlier. She won't stop crying." Teddy frowned. "Did...Sunset maybe rainbow blast her a bit? Cuz I didn't think telling her she was a bitch was all that world ending, ya know?"
He shrugged in response. "Couldn't tell you--I was too far back in the crowd. Did you see any rainbows?"
"Only Rainbow I saw was Dash," Crimson grinned at his joke.
They all chuckled, before turning somber once again. "...you think Sunset's okay?" Teddy broke the silence again, frowning. "Whatever that bitch did...it sounded bad."
Curly looked down at his bat. "...She didn't even scream like that at the formal," he admitted, "when she put on the crown and turned into the she-demon."
His pals looked at him. "How do you know that?"
Fingers tapped restlessly against his weapon. "Snuck out the side door for a smoke," he said. "Heard the arguing, went to watch by the curb. Saw the whole thing--they never realized I was there. She didn't scream--it looked like transforming hurt, but there wasn't screaming like that. Even when they rainbow blasted her...she didn't sound like that."
More silence, before Crimson said, "It sounded like she was dying. It's...it's not right. Why are we hiding? Instead of helping?"
"We are helping," Wiz Kid said from behind them in the room. "We're making sure all the little kids get to safety, and then we're taking the fight to the monsters--and our security cameras and programs are going to make sure we can tell you exactly where the enemies are on the map."
"And then we'll waste them?" Teddy asked.
Microchips gave a nervous, staccato laugh. "That is the plan gentlemen. They will stand as much chance as a room full of imps against the BFG."
Curly decided he could live with that.
Posted just outside the gym, Team Bravo was waiting when the eerily silent Crystal Prep kids came through the doors, providing cover for the last of the middle schoolers fleeing towards the safe zones. Nickel Vision took aim with a Super-soaker loaded with holy water at one of them even as her teammates launched a pair of coffee filter pepper grenades at the faces of the two inhuman things wearing uniforms. A squeeze of the trigger sent a stream of water in a sweeping line across the chests of the lead students.
They froze in unison, and then began to gibber and hiss in voices that sounded like boiling tar and sharp claws dragged down a sheet of slate, words that were in no language she could recognize, but managed to send icy fingers down her spine. Black, sulfurous smelling smoke began to leak from their skin, eyes, and mouths...
"Fuuuuuck," Flitter said from her right. "That's nasty. What language even is that?"
Thunderbass snorted as he took aim with his own water gun at the back row of CPA kids in the group. "Are we sure it's even one? Sounds like a Halloween background track for some kind of haunted maze to me."
"It's a language," Nickel said, adjusting her backpack full of supplies. "It's got the right patterns of syllables and cadence to be more than babbling. I have no idea which one though."
A low whistle came from the athlete. "A language you don't know at first hear? That's got to be obscure--could it be a dead language, like Latin?"
Nickel shook her head, hitting the now wavering students again with a stream from her weapon. "It's not Latin. Latin is recognizable--that's what that Sour Sweet girl was using earlier when Sunset started screaming. I guess it could be a lost language, like that of the Minoans or some of the native peoples from this continent who went extinct...or it could be something really obscure where it's mostly read rather than spoken, like ancient Sumerian..."
With a hellish shriek that reminded her far too much of the Fall Formal, the lead student collapsed as some kind of amorphous black mass burst from his body, caterwauling in that horrible language before it exploded into a nasty goop that splattered everyone and everything in a fifteen foot radius. This was followed by similar shrieks and grotesque popping black things from the other two she'd hosed down.
Thunder spat on the ground. "Gross. Some of it got in my mouth. Tastes like spoiled mess-hall eggs from a cheap summer camp. Are we sure they aren't speaking like...Eredun? Trixie did say they were possessed."
"Not everything is World of Warcraft," his brother, Lightning, pointed out.
"You're just jealous that I got the roll on that sweet chestpiece in Mogu'shan and you lost your trinket to a hunter that bought his account from Ebay." At the glower from his sibling, he huffed, "I stand by it maybe being demon speak."
Nickel elbowed him. "Pay attention! We need to move, before reinforcements show up!"
Thunder blinked. "Yeah, okay!" He touched his earpiece. "This is Bravo Leader. Gym is cleared of good guys. Holy water seems to take out the possessions--Hey, is demonic a thing, Trixie?" While waiting for an answer, he motioned for them to beat a retreat to the first fallback position, pausing to heave a skinny CPA boy over his shoulder in a fireman's carry, rather than leave the boy to the mercy of the monsters who might just possess him again. They couldn't take all of the students, but they would take as many as they could.
Sunset had emphasized that no one was to be left behind if they could help it, and they weren't about to let her down.
Cherry Crash grabbed Sandalwood by the arm as he hurried along the youngest of the middle schoolers during the big escape from the gym. Team Lima was headed for the nurse's office, where they would meet up with November, who was responsible for clearing the Special Ed kids and bringing them to safety. The intention was to put the vulnerable kids in the room where the cots were, and set up a defense in the main part of the nurse's office. He paused just long enough to see what she wanted, the nasty cut on his face from his escape off the stage still oozing blood. "Yeah?"
"...what about them?" Cherry pointed to the lockers, where Suri Polomare still huddled, looking like a shell shocked war veteran more than a high schooler.
One of her friends still remained with her, a girl with orange skin and hair in two shades of blonde. Said girl looked up, confused and frightened. "What...what's going on? Why is everyone running?"
Sandalwood frowned. "They come with us, but they each get one of Trixie's cleansers--not gonna risk the kids if they're puppets. She was pretty nasty about Sunset earlier, and she was with the chick who is now an ashy smear."
Cherry nodded. "Right, up ya go then." She moved to haul Suri up. "Bit of a situation, luvs. Short bit, your school's run by monsters, and they're tryin' to stage a bit of a coup. Magic's real, an' things're a little dicey right now, so we're gettin' the little ones to safety. And you, since Sunset made it clear we save people if we can. Come on now. I'm Cherry. We know Suri after earlier. You got a name, luv?"
Suri offered little resistance as she was pulled to her feet and guided down the hall. The other girl followed, looking lost and out of her depth. "...I'm Kiki," she said. "Kiki Marmalade. What do you mean magic is real and our school is run by monsters? That...that doesn't make any sense!"
Applebloom snorted from the middle school crowd, her friends helping to corral the sixth graders. "Yeah, yer gonna hafta get over that quick. Ya can put boots in the oven, but that don't make them biscuits. Magic's real, alright, and mah sister's got it now."
"Mine too!" Sweetie piped up.
Cherry's friend, Mystery Mint, rolled her eyes. "Kid's right, Kiki. We've been dealing with magic for months--pretending it's not real just makes you a target. It's not all bad though. It made Sunset into a better person."
"Still not sure if that was magic or a miracle," Cherry snarked.
Sandalwood shrugged, his eyes still scanning the hallway as he and Ringo took point, each one armed with a metal bat. "Does it matter? Sunset's changed for the better, and she's fighting for us now."
The girls from Crystal Prep were silent for a while, as they made their way to the nurse's office, where Nurse Redheart greeted them with her no-nonsense expression. "There was trouble in the office a little bit ago, but Vice-Principal Luna handled it," she told Sandalwood. "And they never came to my office. Bring everyone in. We have baskets of juice boxes and snacks in case anyone feels hungry. And then I'll see to your face, young man. Is anyone else hurt?"
"Autumn twisted her ankle," Ringo pointed out.
Nodding, the nurse motioned for Autumn to sit, even as the group began directing the young students into the back room in neat rows. This was where Cherry took both Crystal Prep girls, sitting them next to the door against the wall. "Here you go, luvs. Each of you needs to drink one of these. If there's any of that nasty magic in you, it'll take care of it right quick." She handed each one a small medicine cup she'd filled with some of Trixie's purge...potion...drink...medicine...thing. Potion sounded good. Like a Hogwarts thing but without the slimy git for a teacher.
"...who is Sunset?"
It was the first thing Suri Polomare had said since she had cracked under Sunset's cool disassembly of her character, and her hand trembled as she downed the potion without complaint.
Before Cherry could answer, Applebloom and her friends sat down around the CPA girls. "We got this," Scootaloo said firmly.
There was a moment of hesitation, but the three were joined by a fourth girl, someone who had been on the edge of their friend group for months, and she smiled at Cherry. "I believe we four shall be enough--we know to call if things get rough." Her ebon skinned hand touched the older girl's shoulder. "You have children to oversee, leave this one to them and me."
"Right...but even a hint of trouble and you yell, understand, Nyota?" she said, before stepping away to organize sixth graders into neat rows and break up a squabble. She kept her ear tuned to the conversation all the same.
It was Sweetie Belle who answered the question, as she handed each of their visitors a box of apple juice. "Sunset used to be the biggest bully in school. She ran everything, and made it so nobody could be friends with anyone who was too different. Then she stole this magic crown thingie from the princess, and brought it here, and the princess followed her to get it back!" She paused. "That was scary, at the Fall Formal. Sunset lost, but she got her hands on the crown, and when she put it on she turned into a really scary monster because the magic didn't like how mean she was."
Dark fingers brushed a bit of striped hair away from where it had fallen in front of her face, and Nyota added her thoughts. "A demon she may have become, but with the help of a rainbow, it was undone."
Scootaloo shrugged. "Not undone, but fixed. Ever since then, Sunset has been nice, and she's helpful and cool too."
"She's also the girl you decided ta pick a fight with," Applebloom said quietly. "Dunno why ya thought that was a good idea, not since ya mentioned Princess Twilight." Then her brows furrowed. "Actually...that don't make much sense. How'd ya know about the princess?"
Confused, Suri mumbled, "Twilight has gone to my school for years....Princess Twilight was what we called her because it upset her..." She looked at her toes in shame.
Understanding dawned on all four middle schoolers. "Though separating them will be a pain, there is much this does explain." Nyota pushed her hair back again before folding long, coltish legs under her to sit on the floor.
Privately, Cherry agreed. It explained the terrified Twilight Sparkle with glasses, alright--she must be the one from Canterlot, while the princess was from...wherever Sunset and the magic came from. She personally had money on 'other dimension,' but Mystery preferred the 'time travel' theory, and Valhallen was betting on 'alien'...for reasons known only to him. Cherry chalked that one up to how many edibles Hal went through in a week--it was amazing he had any brain cells left.
The youngest Apple nodded at Suri. "Well, it wasn't the best choice, if ya ask me. Sunset knows bullies, cuz she used ta be one. Now she stands up to them, like she did ta you." Her expression softened. "She sure took you apart in the hall, didn't she?"
Sniffling, Suri nodded. "...I...she said all that stuff...and it just...I could see it. All the things I've done...all the people I was mean to...all the times I stole other people's work or cheated on tests...and I just feel...like I want to be sick." She was crying now.
A look was exchanged between the younger girls. "There is a question now before you," Nyota said, squeezing one of Suri's hands. "A choice that only you can choose--what will you do?"
"What do you mean?"
Sweetie bit her lip. "Sunset didn't call you out to be mean. She wanted you to learn the same thing she did--that what you were doing was wrong...and it didn't make you happy. Now you know that...and you can be better. You can change and be a good person and not a bully....if...if you want to."
Silence fell as Suri retreated back into herself. It was several long minutes before Kiki spoke up again. "...what I don't understand...is why you're all being so nice to us. Our school is evil, some of our classmates are monsters, and our Vice Principal attacked this Sunset and her friends...so why...?"
Smiling faces were turned her way. "Because it's what Sunset and Princess Twilight would do. What our sisters would do." Sweetie Belle shrugged as if it were just that simple. "Friendship is magic, but someone has to be friendly first."
Curly ducked his head back into the security office. "We clear again?"
"Yeah," his boyfriend said, shooting him a smile. "The next closest ones are in B-hall. I think Chips is sending Bravo Team to handle them--those Supersoakers were a genius idea. They're racking up the biggest kill count for exploding tar balls."
His eyes moved from Wiz to the screens. "How're the Rainbooms doing?"
"Pretty good, actually." Microchips pointed to one of the larger screens. "See for yourself."
Sure enough, the monsters on the stage--most of which had been CPA teachers and a few students, had been thinned out, a number of them sprawled out and unconscious or with injuries that put them out of the fight. Applejack was still standing over Sunset, and the sight of the former bully on camera made Curly Winds shudder. Her body twitched occasionally, but her eyes were wide and staring. It made her look an awful lot like a zombie trying to reanimate. The rest of the group had formed a defensive perimeter, keeping the enemy back and slowly making headway. It seemed like the tide was turning in their favor.
"...dude. Why are there four Pinkies and three chubby pink horses with Pinkie's hair?"
Wiz Kid shrugged. "No one can figure that out. I think it's her power? They appear and disappear and sometimes trade places with her."
Next to him, Toggle added his thoughts. "I think it's some kind of Spooky Action on a macro scale."
"Uhhhh...."
A hand squeezed his arm. "Weird stuff usually reserved for electrons being in two places at once. Stuff like that. We're not questioning it too much--magic is kind of strange as it is."
Curly ran a hand through his hair. He needed a trim, but he'd been a little busy lately. Maybe over break. "They look like they're winning though?"
"Indeed," Microchips responded. "They seem to have the upper hand, though Principal Cinch still possesses a hostage and has yet to join the fight. We cannot ascertain her power level until she does, and we do not know if they can summon the rainbow laser attack without Sunset or Princess Twilight both being present. Given what we've observed, the hostage is likely the local variant of Twilight Sparkle, while Princess Twilight is a traveler from another reality where magic is common." He then turned back to his work, letting one of the teams know what was headed their way.
It certainly looked like they were winning, Curly decided. Maybe this could be wrapped up before lunch--hitting discount horror monsters with a bat was hungry work. It was hard to tell though, because the video feed was acting up--the view was getting darker. "Is...it supposed to do that?"
As several sets of eyes followed his pointing finger, the harsh shadows all across the stage came alive with terrifying suddenness, thick coiling appendages that launched a surprise attack from all sides at once. Two of the Pinkies vanished in a puff of confetti when they were speared by the blackness, and Applejack was picked up and slammed down into the stage with enough force to shatter the wooden boards to splinters.
Rarity screamed--they could not hear it, since the cameras had no sound--and threw up more of those sparkling shields to fend off a dozen shadow arms at once, until Rainbow Dash was slammed into her at high speed, trailing a line of broken and torn feathers from a wing that looked now like a dog had gotten at it. The pair went rolling across the stage, only for those black ropes to wrap around wrists, ankles, wings, and throats to pin them down. The star athlete spewed what must've been a slew of curses, struggling against her bonds, desperate to get to the now unprotected Sunset Shimmer. The masses holding her stretched and twisted like taffy, before snapping back into place, keeping her from going far. They were soon joined by the only Pinkie who hadn't burst into streamers or confetti or balloons or sparklers, and by an Applejack who was fighting to right herself against the pull of the shadows--and almost succeeded.
The last hold out was Fluttershy, whose form shrank and grew, darted and twisted in a nauseating vision of parts morphing and reshaping over and over through a dozen different animals, before she stood over Sunset as the horrific cross between a crocodile, a bear, and a rhino, tearing at the shadows until claws and fangs dripped black tar. From the center of the stage the wounded shadows pooled, growing somehow darker in defiance of the light, until they towered almost to the lights overhead as a single massive figure. That shadow opened glowing, evil eyes and the black flame erupted, covering Fluttershy and causing her to falter in pain, before the shadows around reformed and dogpiled her, bringing her to the ground and wrapping her shrinking form up until she resembled a bug in a spider's web."
"Oh fuck me," Teddy said at Curly's elbow. "I think the big boss just tapped in."
The figure tossed the wounded Fluttershy with the others, and flicked a hand. All of the Crystal Prep people and monsters other than Principal Cinch fell to their knees. Seemingly satisfied, it stared down at Sunset Shimmer, and those eyes were filled with...hate and...contempt? Disgust maybe? Black talons reached down and picked her up by the shirtfront, lifting her up to look her over the way a person might inspect a strange bug.
Applejack was roaring and snorting, struggling against the bonds to step his way, and she wasn't alone. All the Rainbooms were fighting their shadow chains and yelling angrily, even Rarity. The figure glanced at them and gestured mockingly to Sunset.
Then that shadowy monster hucked her across the gym like a shot put. Her body flew off of one camera and through the view of two more before it slammed with bone crushing force into the bleachers collapsed against the wall.
Shaking its hand like it was cleaning it of something dirty, the figure bent to stare eye to eye with the devastated face of the glasses wearing Twilight, dragging a talon down her cheek in a way that made Curly's skin crawl.
Microchips was shaking as he stared at the camera feed of Sunset's current resting place, her wide, staring, eyes looking vacantly up towards the rafters. "C-command," he stuttered into the microphone on his headset as the feeds to the whole gym went dark, "...we have a problem."
> Interlude XXXVIII: Wolf at the Door
The last breathing Lord of the Sidhe took stock of what was arrayed before them, and despaired.
Of a force nearly two hundred and fifty strong, there remained less than a hundred. Of their own people, twenty still lived, and several would be long in healing, if they were not executed by the Master for failure in subduing a group of adolescent females who should have posed no threat with that blasted succubus bound and banished from the body she was puppeting. And now, more bad news...
"My Lords, none of those who went after the humans have returned...and any party we send to find them also never comes back." Swallowing at the hard glare, the fae before them bowed low in apology. "...given what occurred here...we...suspect they have some way to counter possessions, severely limiting our efforts."
The dark shadow at Itheadair's right hissed mockingly. "It sssspeaks more to how usssselessss your lot have become if they are unable to round up unarmed mortal children, Itheadair-Anam. But it issss of no conssssequence. Let the rabble hide in their holes like rats--I am victorioussss, and ssssoon My return will be complete." Dark talons lightly touched the throat of the girl the sidhe still held prisoner in their own grip--the deal Itheadair had made with the succubus was still binding, and thus, only they or the Master could touch her--leaving red marks on lavender skin as the Master tilted the girl's face up to meet his gaze. "And with that damnable gutterborn whore dealt with, you belong to Me, girl."
Itheadair kept silent, offering no thoughts or opinions...but secretly, the ancient fae had doubts. The Master had not seen...
A lesser being would have shuddered in fear. As it was, Itheadair's nails twitched against Twilight Sparkle's shoulder. The demon they had been so convinced was some form of concubi hiding in a human shell....Sunset Shimmer...was far more powerful than any of that kind ever known, and even now, bound by blessed silver and Name, its power flexed and struggled, fought against the binding and resisted banishment from its puppet body. It had broken the third eldest sidhe among their people, Proud Silverthorn, warrior of ten thousand battles, made the aged general of shining armies break ties and declare the cause lost and Itheadair in violation of the very liege oath made to protect their court from destruction.
Even now, they could feel the hooks it had on Twilight Sparkle's soul. There had been true Fury in those eyes, and a force of presence when Sunset Shimmer had uttered their own Name in the deal, and acknowledged the fae leader as an equal in station.
No... a part of them whispered in Loyal Cànanach's voice. Do not be fooled. The one Named Sunset Shimmer spoke to you as a Queen to one that had transgressed in Her lands, and you know that perfectly well.
Had Silverthorn been right?
"All hail the last Lord of the Sidhe, greatest of fools!"
And the magic brought forth by that challenger Queen's own court had burned, more than a match for their people's greater numbers and centuries of experience, and in all of them had burned a terrifying conviction.
"....no."
Startled, Itheadair and the Master both looked to the girl in the sidhe's grasp. Purple eyes glared with hate and grief at the towering, horned shadow, and she raised her own chin defiantly.
"What did you say, girl?" Darkness crackled around the form, the Master's power feeding on the ambient magic in the air of the school around them.
"I said no. I don't belong to you, and I never will." Despite the way her limbs shook, she stood under her own power, tears dripping down her face.
The Master chuckled nastily, before backhanding the girl so hard her glasses went sailing to one side and clattered to the ground. "You will learn how little your feelingssss matter ssssoon enough. You ssssigned away your ssssoul to Me, for Me to do with assss I ssssee fit. You sssserve My Will, and My Vissssion. Your upsssstart harlot's dayssss of interference with her King's affairssss is over, and I will enjoy sssshredding her essssence to piecessss sssslowly, ssssavoring her screamssss."
Twilight Sparkle rocked from the blow, but she turned back. "She will stop you, and I will fight you at every opportunity until she does."
The Master laughed again, and turned to Itheadair. "Prepare the ritual. I grow bored with the empty barking of a half grown bitch too sssstupid to acknowledge her place." Those eyes burned into Itheadair. "Do not fail me." He faded from sight, conserving his power for the ritual.
Sagging slightly, the girl shook as the adrenaline took its toll, something that others would mock, but the words struck a chord in the sidhe. Had they missed something? How could Sunset Shimmer have hooks in a soul signed over to the Master? It should not be possible. Had...had they missed a previous claim?
That was a terrible thought--that would mean that the Master had broken a tenant older than even Himself. It would mean that Sunset Shimmer's actions were not rebellion, but tantamount to a declaration of war for the Master and those that served Him over a grievous error.
Itheadair, turned to the nearest of their remaining people. "Gather everyone who remains, and prepare to march as one directly out the exit doors to the ritual location. Have a dozen prepared to carry the power sources out and a dozen more to guard them. We cannot afford mistakes. Not now."
They had no choice but to stay the course and try to save those who remained. Perhaps it would be enough.
You don't believe that, Proud-Silverthorn's voice mocked them.
They really didn't.
"What...what of the succubus...my Lord?" a tremulous voice asked.
Nervous-Houndbane. Of course. "Take it to the storage room over there and leave it hidden for now. The Master desires to speak to it when He is returned."
"Her name is Sunset," one of the bound mortals snarled, tattered wings straining against the bonds. "Fucking use it, you ugly ass Legolas wannabe."
"And she's not a demon," another said in a soft voice . "She's our friend, and Twilight's right--she will find a way to stop you."
Itheadair stared them down, feeling the weight of millennia on their being. "She has no hope to challenge a god."
The one who had been quick to call out Proud-Silverthorn earlier gave the sidhe a long, piercing look. "You would be surprised...Itheadair? I am saying that correctly, am I not?"
Features twitched in further shock. "You are," the fae acknowledged tersely at the strange consideration from a captive.
"Right. Itheadair, darling, I am afraid my friends are quite right. Sunset has no fear of gods or demons. She has been one and fought the other before." That smile was enigmatic, but...sad. "Nothing you can do will deter her when she is determined to see something through..."
"Ain't too late," the strong one pointed out, still standing despite the efforts of the shadow-chains binding her. "Ya kin still stop this. 'Afore it ends too bad fer ya. Cuz Twilight ain't the only one that ain't gonna stop fighting."
Motioning for the waiting underlings to pick up the prisoners, Itheadair gave nothing away. "You cannot bargain for your freedom. The Master will be returned and you will assure that the ritual succeeds."
"Man, fuck you!" The mouthy one headbutted the first fae that got within reach. "Master this, Master that, it's like some creepy ass BDSM club in here every time you talk! You're all just a bunch of cowards who had to have your butts saved by cheating and sneak attacks!"
Ignoring the continued diatribe of profanity, Itheadair turned away, holding onto but otherwise ignoring Twilight--and the other mortals--as they oversaw the needed preparations.
And doubted.
Wondered.
If the one called Sunset Shimmer was no demon...what was she? What could challenge the Master's power, affect deals with elder fae, manipulate and influence mortals on this scale, and fight the bindings sealed by Name?
Dark eyes tracked the body being dragged by several possessed students, reached out with senses that normally lay dormant to conserve energy...and recoiled after only a brief touch.
No succubus had a well of power that deep...
And few demons had a faint undercurrent of something so ancient and timeless.
What had the mortals said? She was no demon, and unbothered by gods? If she was not what they had thought...what was she? So much magic and power had gone out of the world in two millennia that almost nothing still survived to this day...not without being weak and half starved, or being fueled by some source that refused to fade.
A shiver crept up the sidhe's spine. There had been legends once, from their early years, legends told by elders who had heard them from kin long since faded into myth...of ancient things, gods and monsters from the misty dawn of history...and so many of those tales spoke of those beings vanishing, but with an ominous tone of merely being dormant, not gone...and woe unto any that disturbed them.
Just what sort of Being had they awoken?
> Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Six: Show Me How To Be Whole Again
Everything hurt, and her brain felt like she'd had about four glasses too many of undiluted minotaur wine the night before. What...what had she been doing? Vague flashes played back, none of them enough to help sort out what was going on. Groaning, she pried open her eyes, staring blankly at her muzzle against the plush comforter and thick pillows. Sunset blinked rapidly to dispel the blurriness, and lifted her head to look around. Her eyes scanned the room, looking for anything out of place.
Her room seemed in order, but she couldn't shake a feeling that something was out of place. The desk was its usual controlled chaos, with books on spell construction for her thesis alongside her more mainstream studies, like mathematics and English, and the book she used for working on her bike was propped open against the stack. Her computer was off, the keyboard and monitor both dark. The bookcase next to the desk was full of books, many of them stacked two deep, everything from textbooks to novels to guides to various fields of hands-on study. They, too, seemed right, as the unicorn's eyes skimmed the titles, with her neat organization intact.
Exhaling, she rolled her body towards the edge of the bed, hooves clumping dully into the thick carpet she had picked out years ago to chase off the chill of Canterlot's mountain winters. "Ugh...it tastes like I was licking dirty statues in the gardens last night."
"Yeah, well, a near-death experience does that to a mare, horn-head."
Sunset jolted as her own voice came from the doors to her balcony, and she whipped around, brandishing her horn at the speaker before her eyes even registered the nightmare in front of her. "You have three seconds," she threatened, "to explain who you are and how you got in my room!"
"Your room? Is that what you think this is?" The figure crossed arms over her chest, hindered by ample breasts, her claws of red crystal tapping against her elbow restlessly.
She sneered at the winged biped--it looked vaguely like one of the gargoyles that shared clans and blood with the centaurs. "I think I'd know the bedroom I've had since I was a filly."
"Uh huh." Sarcasm dripped from the sounds. "Look again. You know something is off, don't you? You can feel it."
"I--" Sunset paused. She had felt that way. "...what do you know?"
Her visitor sighed. "That none of this is real. This is a place where you've gone to inside yourself to protect yourself from the spell trying to tear you apart and to protect everyone around you from the backlash that would be released if that spell were to succeed."
Not real? Spell? What? Sunset shook herself out, trying to sort the feelings rising mutedly inside her, coupled with more memory fragments. Outside, lightning flashed and thunder rumbled in the distance. "Not real?" she repeatedly stupidly.
"Look around you, horn-head. Really look. Did your room in Celestia's palace have a computer? Or books on mechanical devices designed for human hands?" Reaching over, she plucked a book from a table near a pile of cushions. "Would you read a copy of The Hobbit on your own?" Then her hands found a photo frame. "Would the you that lived in this room have a framed picture of you with Princess Twilight in it?" She turned the picture towards Sunset, showing off the photo of herself with a smiling lavender face and bright purple eyes hidden behind thick glasses.
"That's Sparky, not the princess," she answered immediately. She'd know her own best friend, after all.
One eyebrow arched. "And Sparky is...?"
Blue-green eyes narrowed. "My best friend."
"Just your best friend?"
Cold washed over her, and pain. "...no..." she whispered, as she remembered. "She was...my girlfriend...but we had a fight."
Eyes that were as crystalline as the claws on her finger tips and just as crimson stared hard at her. "What was the fight about?"
Hazy memories swam before her mind's eye. "...she confronted me...about..."
"C'mon, horn-head. About what? Why was she angry at you?"
The answer came slowly, confusingly. "...about the truth...about Equestria...about magic...about me."
Dropping onto a lounge chair near the window that Sunset had used for reading on nice days, the winged biped made a motion with one hand. "And...that doesn't strike you as odd?"
It was odd. "Why would..." Sunset struggled to push through the disjointed fog, wanting to remember what it was that she was forgetting.
Something snapped, and knowledge came back to her in a nauseating rush. The Fight. The Games. Cinch. Sparky. Something being clamped around her wrist. Agony that made her scream.
And now she was glaring at the demon she had once been...sort of. The red crystal for eyes and covering claws and horn was...new. "You!" she snarled.
"Aaaand there it is," the she-demon snarked. "Welcome back. It was a little concerning to be the one that knew the most out of us."
Sunset rolled her eyes. "Forgive me if I'm not glad to see you. Now what's this about being in my head? What did that bitch do to me? That was like no spell I've ever seen before."
Crossing one knee over the other, her demon tapped talons on the arms of the chair. "Because you wouldn't--Equestria locked up all their demons ages ago, and the last few that have happened in some fashion ate a Rainbow of Light. Banishing and binding spells are in the same part of the restricted section that summoning spells are--remember? You passed over them because you didn't--"
"Want to trade being under the control of Celestia for being under the control of some bloodthirsty demon." She remembered now. "Besides, it wouldn't have made me stronger." The unicorn dragged herself over to the pile of cushions and sat down facing the creature. "So that was some kind of binding?"
"Binding and banishing. Someone on the other side picked up on your history, and figured it would work. That's why they were so intent on your name. Doesn't work as well without it."
Snorting, Sunset looked pointedly at the she-demon. "Seems to me it didn't work at all. You're still here."
"Can we maybe avoid sniping at each other?" the demon asked, sounding exhausted under the sarcastic sneer. "This is more important than how much we hate ourself."
"Then what are you doing here?" Sunset demanded. "Come to gloat now that I can't shut you up? Or is this where you try to take over? Because I won't let that happen--I'll fight you. I'd rather die than go back to being you."
Rubbing a hand over her face, the demon sighed. "Haven't you been listening at all? That's not what this is about."
Curling her lip up warningly, she retorted, "I've been trying not to. I've been doing everything I can to be everything you aren't."
Claws scratched at the membrane of one wing, and that tail flicked in annoyance. "Yeah, that's obvious...but you missed one really important detail, horn-head."
"Oh, and what's that?"
Red eyes glowed. "That's not how this," a talon drew a lazy arc in the air between them to indicate them both, "works. You already admitted it once to yourself. All you've done is shove the parts of yourself you don't want to acknowledge away, cutting them off from you like they're a limb you can amputate."
Frustration bubbled up. "Because you're a monster! You're everything toxic about how I used to act! Why shouldn't I want to get rid of you?!" Sunset stamped her front hoof on the carpet, annoyed that the dull thump was less effective than a sharp sound of hoof on stone would be.
The she-demon leaned forward, putting both taloned feet on the floor and resting forearms on her thighs. "Sunset Shimmer...do you know what makes a demon?"
"I--what?" The question threw her for a loop. "...yeah. When a twisted and evil being encounters a high amount of magic."
Ragged, red ears flicked. "Not exactly. You're close, as it's an extension of a principle you already know. By the time you put Magic upon your head, you had spent years full of rage and bitterness, consumed by a Desire for things you could not have. Those emotions had already changed you, eaten you alive from the inside out, until your soul was bleeding." The demon actually looked...apologetic? "We were already a part of Sunset Shimmer ages before you stole Magic, and for a long time, it was our twisted feelings that ruled over your life. Putting on Magic only gave enough energy to complete the transformation. It was inevitable--because that's Magic's true gift. It takes that brightest spark and fans it into being as a fully realized thing, whether that thing is a raging demon...or a Rainbow of Light."
"The demon you became was born of your emotions married to the power of potent magic. Magic and emotion have never been separate things...they never have been and never will be. They are connected, each a part of the other, two halves of a whole...as long as you still have your magic...and you still feel...as long as both are true..." Hands spread wide, palms up.
"...then you will always be there? I'll never escape being a monster?" Her stomach churned unpleasantly, and she shivered as more thunder and lightning crashed outside the window, casting the demon in harsh lighting.
Her dark side shook her head. "That's what your friends have been trying to tell you, horn-head. Emotions are just emotions. They aren't good or evil--they just are. It's not about what you feel, it's about what you do with those feelings, and whether or not you let yourself be ruled by them. Not that different from your magic, honestly."
Sunset narrowed her eyes. "But you're still a demon."
That tail wrapped around the front of her legs, tip curling like a cat's. "Because there's no escaping some things entirely...that kind of transformation leaves its scars, Sunset Shimmer, especially on the soul. You weren't entirely wrong when you posited to Dash that you died the night of the Fall Formal--what you became tore your soul to pieces when it birthed a monster. Without us, there would not have been enough left for you to live through what the Rainbow did that night to stop you." She blew out a slow breath through her nostrils. "Or that fall at the end. We hit the ground pretty hard, as you well know."
The unicorn's lips twisted into a wry expression. "Yeeeeah...that's something I try not to think about too much." She paused, mulling the words over. "So I was right? That was you?"
A fiery head nodded. "All of the remaining power went to reinforcing our body against the impact. We didn't relish dying or breaking every bone we have into shards."
"...thanks, I guess. It sucked, and I was bruised on my everything for a week, but...better than being a smear on the front walk. The girls and Twi probably would have felt terrible about that."
"Undoubtedly," the she-demon chuckled. "The point though, is that you cannot stop feeling emotions, or excise them from your mind and heart and still be whole."
Sunset rose to pace restlessly. "You say that, but how can I trust that? Demons only ever cause pain and destruction. What makes you different?"
Those crystalline eyes flickered with inner fire, dimming and brightening, in time with her own racing heart. "The Rainbow," she explained simply. "Before, the demon that was Sunset Shimmer was being driven by those dark emotions. By Desire and bitterness, by Rage and Pain, by a longing and a Hunger that consumed, and a Want to be Wanted. A Desire to be Desired and be worth Love. Everything that twisted version of Sunset Shimmer did was part of that, furthered those driving feelings, those goals."
The amber unicorn nodded. "I get that. But what makes it different now? What exactly did the Rainbow do?"
One brow arched. "Think back. What happened that night? What were you told? What did you realize?"
That dry voice...the one in the white space...what had it said...?
"I...something...Magic...I guess? Told me that I...was responsible for myself and what I'd become. That...I wasn't without hope, but I wasn't...innocent either."
For some reason the demon rolled her eyes. "Close enough, though that wasn't Magic on Its own. Too eloquent and sensitive. And then what?"
Okay...weird thing for the demon to say...but maybe, if her growing theory about the Elements being at least partially aware was true... "The Elements then?"
Lips quirked into an enigmatic smirk. "Much more accurate, yes."
"The Elements...showed me a mirror. The Mirror...and I saw myself. 'See yourself with eyes unclouded,' they told me. And then I saw everything. All the evil and cruelty I had done, all the ways I made others feel...I saw myself become a monster..." Her eyes burned, and she felt hollow. "And I..."
"Yes?"
"I realized I did that. It was my fault. Yeah...maybe other ponies sucked. Maybe they bullied me...but I chose to start being hateful and ugly. I ruined projects, manipulated others. And then I ran away to the human world and did all those terrible things to people who had never been cruel to me. People who...I now realize could have been my friends from the start." Sunset swallowed, hard.
Her demonic self ran talons through the silky waterfall of curling flame that was her tail, a repetitive motion that reminded Sunset of how she took solace in Twilight or Mrs. Velvet doing the same to her hair. "The Rainbow gave you a chance, by bringing your emotional state back into balance. Into Harmony with itself. That's what let you see your actions for what they were." Eyes met hers. "The Rainbow didn't make you change--you did that. It just gave you a chance by getting rid of the dark magic and corruption that came with it." Another of those chuckles. "Just like it did for Princess Luna."
Frowning, she turned that over in her head. "So...what? Because the Rainbow took steel wool to my soul, you're not evil anymore?" It was hard to keep her voice level.
Some of the disbelief must have shown regardless. "Think about what we've been discussing, horn-head. We are what you make us. No more, no less."
The pieces were starting to fit together in a pattern that was making a frightening amount of sense. "Okay, let me see if I've got this straight. You happened because my emotions were nasty and that twisted my magic, which made my emotions even worse over time, until the Crown and then POP! Rampaging megalomaniacal she-demon with massive issues and something to prove is born...but the Elements reset me to zero, and because of that..." She paused in her pacing to look at the demon. "...you're...what? Still the worst parts of me, but just...less murdery and psycho because I'm no longer a raging bitch? And that means you don't want to take over the world or burn people to ash?"
Humming in her throat, the demon relaxed back. "It was always about what you wanted. Once, you wanted to burn your enemies. You wanted power to control your life and how others saw you, to get what you craved by force when other methods failed you." Those flickering eyes burned into her. "Is that still what you Desire, Sunset Shimmer?"
Sunset shook her head. "No. It's not."
"Then no part of you wants that, not even the parts you want to pretend don't exist."
Ceasing her restless pacing, Sunset sat to consider what she had learned. If all this was true...then... Her head came up. "Is that why you were so fixated on Twilight? Because I...love...her?"
The demon was quiet for a minute, clearly choosing her answer carefully. "Every part of yourself that you are afraid of, that you hate, that you have repressed or cast out is here," she explained at last, tapping her chest with one index finger. "Including...how we feel about Sparky. You fear loving her. Wanting her. Even if you've admitted it to yourself, you're still too terrified to own up to it to anyone else, even her...because you're afraid to lose her. That's all here."
"In you."
Head inclining in acknowledgment of her words, the demon sighed. "No part of you would ever harm her--we want to protect our Sparky. She is..."
"...special," Sunset whispered, her heart aching at the thought of the human girl who had wormed her way so deep into the unicorn's very soul.
Another of those slow nods. "More than you know...and she is in terrible danger, horn-head. If you don't get out of this state, she will suffer unimaginably...and so will our friends."
That got Sunset's attention. "Then what are we wasting time for? We need to get out of here. What do we have to do?"
"Not we. You."
She paused. "I..right. It's my head. And this spell is trying to...what? Banish us? I'm not possessed."
The horrific visage of her flaws snorted. "Correct. The fact is the spell should never have worked at all. Not only was the caster your magical inferior, but despite our...current state, you are not the kind of being it was intended to affect."
The unicorn cocked her head, feeling the thunder outside make the castle rattle. "Then...why did it actually work at all?"
Bright red gems flickered in the motion of an eye roll. "Because...you've mangled your psyche so badly that the spell believes you are possessing yourself, horn-head."
Whatever answer to her question she had thought she might hear, none of the ones she considered came anywhere close to that. "I...what? How is that even possible? This is my body, and if you're telling the truth you're an extension of my subconscious? Just all the unpleasant parts?"
"No idea," the demon replied. "But magical prodigy and former student of the Princess of the Sun, Magus Sunset Shimmer figured it out!! Congratulations, horn-head! After all this time, you're still setting records for impossible feats and world firsts!" She tossed her hands up in the air, her voice--Sunset's own, but off--full of frustration and irritation.
Sunset gave her demon a reproachful look. "I thought we were going to avoid sniping at each other."
Her opposite wilted , hunching forward with arms on her knees again. "...sorry..." came the apology from the demon. "It's...we're running out of time. For all it is elastic and pliant in this state, it's not static. We don't have an eternity." Crimson eyes stared at her hands. "Twilight doesn't have an eternity...and we can't lose Them again." Those digits came up to cover her face, every word, every line of her posture dripping with stress and a sort of...melancholy...that Sunset couldn't understand.
"Again?" she asked gently.
Only silence met her question. It was unnerving, seeing the twisted mirror of herself so full of despair--she had spent months being afraid of what it would do, what would happen if it came back, and weeks trying to crush it into a box, imprisoning it deep inside...but this? This was a sad and broken thing, as desperate to save the girl she loved as Sunset was.
It was hard to be afraid of something like this.
"It's...okay," she offered gently, shifting closer to touch one knee with her hoof. "I...forgive you, if it matters. I'm scared too, and if I'm afraid, you must be terrified."
Then she steeled herself. "So what do I have to do to get out of this mess? Any ideas?"
Wings of shadow and flame shuddered, and retreated from where they'd started to curl protectively around the demonic shape. "You aren't going to like it," her companion rasped.
Fire flickered inside Sunset, determination and drive reignited. "I'll get over it. I always do. I promised Twilight that I'd come for her no matter what. That when she needed me, I'd be there. It sounds like she needs me now more than she ever has. What do I have to do?"
"Are you at least familiar with the human quote: 'A house divided against itself cannot stand?'"
Wracking her brain brought up vague memories of history class and one of the innumerable wars in the last two hundred years fought by the country she was currently living in. "Yeah? It was about the government?"
"About a government sharply divided and fighting about some big issues. But the point here is what it means--an entity at war with itself cannot function. You, Sunset Shimmer, are the house divided against itself." The demon pushed herself out of the chair, and turned to the balcony doors. "You are fractured and constantly at war with yourself, to the point where you are now unable to recognize that some parts of your personality, some of your very emotions, are your own. Your self identity is a disaster and a warzone, and that spell is trying to use it to tear your still healing soul apart." One taloned hand beckoned her over as it opened the balcony doors and showed her the outside.
Outside, lightning and thunder cracked and boomed, huge bolts tearing at Canterlot's terraced mountain face and sending rock cascading down over a mishmashed city, human skyscrapers and roadways intermixed with pony neighborhoods two thousand years old. "If this was a little less dire, I'd make a joke about how my mind apparently is recycling every TV trope Sparky and the girls have exposed me to." Blue-green eyes scanned the unnatural city-scape, which gave way to Equestria's rolling plains and wild forests below, and yet had airplanes flying towards the distant pegasi cities.
"It just means we're as dorky as she is, you know. Plus, the mind uses what it knows to visualize things. It's easier." Hands rested on the railing. "In this case, the visuals show the disaster."
Sunset nodded, and glanced up. "The lightning and thunder is the spell, isn't it? It's still attacking...and if I don't fix this...it'll win, won't it?"
Nodding slowly, the demon stared a bit longer at the city below. "And if it does, you won't have to worry about what happens to everyone, because there won't be anything left to save. Our magic will cause untold destruction in the human realm."
There was no need to ask what the demon meant by that. Sunset knew what her SET was, and how unstable her magic was already. She had the power inside her body to level Canterlot City as effectively as a human nuke. There had been a reason Princess Celestia had been the only pony capable of dealing with her surges as a foal...and a reason she could almost match Princess Twilight's SET without ascension.
"So it's time to deal with...all of the stuff I've been avoiding?" The demon had been right. She didn't like it...but she'd do it, because if not, she'd be responsible for the death of the humans who opened their homes and hearts to her...and she'd fail Twilight.
That was not an option.
Sighing, the demon flicked her tail restlessly. "You can probably leave the integration of pony culture with learned human behaviors to happen on its own. That's actually going pretty okay without interference, ever since your talk with Principal Celestia. Same with your issues involving your attraction and desire for a certain biped--you've got that one figured out, if the mind-blowing sex was anything to judge by."
Now it was Sunset's turn to roll her eyes. "Ha. Ha. You're a riot."
"One of us had to get your sense of humor." A pause. "Which brings us to the manticore in the ballroom."
Sunset wasn't an idiot. "You. It comes down to you. Everything I don't want to be anymore. Everything I hate about myself, everything I'm afraid of and despise." Her body shook and her voice wavered.
The other part of herself nodded. "You have to stop fighting us, stop trying to tear ourself apart. We don't have to hug it out and sing a duet together, but...you have to accept that we're on the same side. That together, we..." One claw made a generous circling motion to indicate them both. "...are the whole of Sunset Shimmer. Sunset Shimmer, who is more than her anger or her mistakes. She is more than her scars, but also more than her magic or friendships. We are more than the consequences of our choices, more than a demon or an orphan runaway or our rage. We are good and bad, light and dark. Anger and fear are just as natural as love and laughter."
It was hard...looking at the being there with her in this strange amalgamation of the two very different worlds in her life, and seeing anything but the worst parts of herself...
Maybe that was the answer.
"...you're...part of me, right?" At the slow nod, she kept going. "Then...what do we have in common? What do we share?"
One brow arched. "Besides our charming wit and penchant for sarcasm?"
"Besides that, yes."
"How we feel about Sparky," the demon answered promptly.
She hummed, thinking. "Let's start there. Common ground. Just how do you feel about her? I've admitted that I...I love her. That she's...so important to me and I don't want to lose her...but what about you?"
Eyes flared brighter. "Sparky is our everything. She's ours. Our...Light. Our very soul. Our Other..." the demon trailed off, shuddering, and Sunset recognized her own intensity, her passions.
"Our equal," Sunset whispered. "She matches us where it matters, but complements our traits. Her analytical mind, our ability to read people and what they're feeling. Her theory, our hands-on nature."
"Our cynicism, her optimism," the demon offered. "Where we are weak, she is strong, and also the reverse. Sparky is our partner, our match. She is all that we have been missing..."
"...and all that we never knew we needed in our life. Best friend. Intellectual equal. Girlfriend..."
"Lover now," the demon teased, despite the seriousness of it all. "Our biggest supporter, and our fierce protector in a very cute little package."
"She makes us want to be better. To improve and succeed...but also challenges our mind and the status quo. She always wants to know more..." Sunset's own voice was raw with love and passion now. "She makes us want to know more, keeps us from complacency."
"She is the one we swore to protect..." Claws dug into the nearby wall, and fire licked up the arm. "She is ours to claim and no one else's. She gave us that, and they cannot take that from us. From her. Only she can take it back..."
Sunset could feel the burn in her chest again, a curious pulsing warmth that was spreading down her body until it concentrated in her haunches. "She needs us...but...right now...she needs all of us, doesn't she? You just as much as me. She needs Sunset Shimmer, not just the darkness or the light." She closed her eyes, and something deep tugged on her, guiding and nudging her in a way that almost brought tears to her eyes. "I need you. I can't save her without you." Her flank was an inferno of magic that came from her soul's deepest reaches to where it was painted on her very hide. "I can't really heal...or be me...without you."
The demon was watching her now, silent, letting her get everything out that needed to be said.
"Darkness and light. Good and evil. Past, present, and future...I am all of my experiences. My...past doesn't have to be today, but it will always be where I came from and how I got here...whether that was Equestria...or as an angry she-demon desperate to get her mother-figure to pay attention to her." She felt something start to give inside, but not in a bad way. This was something out of place being slotted back where it belonged. "And...without all the awful things...without my mistakes...I wouldn't be who I am. Without you...I wouldn't be Sunset Shimmer."
"I can't truly be the real Sunset...the Sunset I need to be...without you."
She was now eye to eye with her dark side, the streams of magic from her cutie mark lifting her up. She held out a hoof to the demon in front of her, an offering of acceptance and forgiveness all in one.
Red eyes met hers, and a crooked smile crossed the demon's face. "Are you sure, Sunset Shimmer? This will change everything...and there is no going back. We..." There was a pause. "...I...cannot promise that you will remain unchanged or free of consequences."
Sunset hesitated just long enough to turn the warning words over in her head, before her resolve hardened. "Yeah, maybe, but we're Sunset Shimmer. The universe likes pulling the rug out from under us--we're used to it by now. But I also know that the consequences for not doing this are something I refuse to let happen..." She tossed her head, her own grin a bit challenging. "So whatever comes...it's worth it to save her. To save all of them." A heartbeat went by, and she added, "And to wipe that smug superior expression off that principal's pinchy face. I reeeally don't like that bitch."
That got a laugh out of the demon as taloned fingers rose to clasp the proffered hoof. "Agreed. It'll be good to be home again, and not just an unwanted guest, horn-head."
Light blinded her, red and gold, white and black, and when it was gone, she was alone in the strange mindscape...but she felt...different. More...settled. More herself than she'd felt in months.
Her head turned, and she realized her cutie mark had gone from pulsing with streams of magic on a pony flank to a soft but brightening glow, one with tendrils that connected to...
Blue-green eyes followed the power heavenward, and realized there was a barrier blocking the lightning, on that rippled with her mark. "What...is that?"
That dry voice echoed around her. --The gift of pony-kind, horn-head. Every foal knows this story. Heart's Gift.--
"Cu te si..." she mouthed. "Mother Mare's Gift?" Sunset blinked. "It's...real?"
--The legend probably has a lot of poetic license, but...our mark is part of our soul, meant to protect our soul from manipulation and attack.--
Satisfied excitement bubbled up. "Which means..."
--Yes. You can tell that spell to go rut a centaur. See you on the outside.--
"Will you still be there? I...kind of enjoy having you around. The snark...keeps me on my toes."
--Guess we'll have to find out. Now get us out of here!--
"Gladly." The unicorn turned her horn towards the sky, charging it with the magic singing inside her core, and pushed...
Reality shattered like glass around her.
> Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Seven: Battlefield
Flash felt sick. Sunset...she couldn't be...
His brain refused to finish the thought. She had to still be alive. She was too stubborn and determined and had too much passion for life to be taken out this way. And the girls...they weren't going to just surrender...they would go down fighting too...
Next to him, Lyra was shaking and pale, tears in her eyes as she clung to Bon-Bon's side. Across the room, Trixie looked...numb. Not even shocked, just numb, and Snips and Snails sat in a huddle in the corner, neither hiding the fact that they were ugly-crying. The cluster of Crystal Prep students with them looked worried and concerned and afraid.
"...I can't believe it," Bon-Bon whispered hoarsely. "She survived the formal. How...what did that bitch do?"
"Magic," Trixie said. "It was an artifact and a spell. It was...attacking Sunset's magic. Given what we know, what she has said..." Her voice was empty of any inflection, lacking ego and bombastic projection...just a tired, scratchy sound heavy with grief. "...if it destroyed her magic...it may well have killed--"
"No," Flash said tightly. "I will not believe it. Not until I see her body cold with my own eyes. Sunset is tougher than that. Tougher than all of us. She's got everything to live for right now...and she wouldn't abandon Twilight. You haven't seen them together. I have. She won't just give up on that...and if magic is real and it can make teenage girls into monsters and heroes, turn a pony into a human, and connect worlds together...then it can mean Sunset is alive."
Bon-Bon slumped. "...I don't know if I can believe that, Flash. Not...if what they say was true. We have to be...realistic. This is real life, not some movie from the eighties."
At her side, Lyra wiped her eyes. "...no...he's right, Bonny. Magic is amazing, and look what it's already done." She paused. "And...I've seen her with Twi too...she won't abandon her." She reached up and touched her girlfriend's face. "Sunset will fight to get back to her...just like I know you'd fight to come back to me."
The pair went silent, staring at each other in a way that was a little uncomfortable to watch. Finally Bon-Bon nodded. "...I would," she admitted, "fight Death barehanded to get back to you."
It seemed to stir Trixie too. "Then it's time we make sure Sunset can do that. The Great and Powerful Trixie is ready to do her part."
At that, the door to their room crashed open, and weapons were immediately turned on the hulking figure that filled the doorway.
"Iron Will is glad to hear that! Because Iron Will brought presents!"
Coach Will stepped in, and set down a massive trash bag on the ground with a heavy THUMP. The teacher--already massive at nearly seven feet tall and the physique of a professional linebacker--was larger than ever, as he was wearing modified football equipment that had...iron strips, plates, and spiked welded to it, and the football helmet on his head sported two shining metal bull horns. He leaned the biggest, nastiest looking sledgehammer Flash had ever seen inside or outside of a video game against the wall. He was even wearing modified steel toed boots, with metal spikes sticking out of the toes and what seemed to be metal studs in the treads, like a pair of homemade cleats. "Good leaders don't hide when the squad goes to war!" he barked. "So you need armor! And weapons! Luckily, Iron Will has prepared for this!"
More sports equipment was retrieved and passed around. Football pads, soccer shin guards, even old catcher's gear that had probably been lying forgotten in the gym's storage since Flash's dad was a kid, had all been repurposed, with bits of iron, steel, or wood attached here and there, creating barriers against the bronze looking blades the monsters seemed fond of carrying. "This is...wow, Coach. You did all this?"
"Sure did. Here. Put this on, protect your grape." A helmet for hockey went on Flash's head. "And since you lot are representing the students...you get special weapons! Mister Sentry!" A modified nail gun was pressed into his hands, a roll of nails already loaded on what looked like a feeder attachment like some kind of toilet paper roll in a box. "Should get decent range, and I know you're a good aim--still sad you won't join the baseball team, son. You'd be a decent pitcher."
Flash took the offered tool-turned-weapon, and familiarized himself with it. Those iron nails looked pretty sharp, but being only an inch long meant that they would be painful against a human at a short range but unlikely to be super deadly in most places on the body. That was good, since some of the enemy were possessed people his own age, not monsters, and minimizing the harm inflicted was good for his conscience. "Thank you, sir, and I'm sorry no...I just don't have time to commit to the team--too many other responsibilities."
A big, meaty hand patted his shoulder hard enough to make him stagger. "Good man, Mister Sentry. An honest man keeps his word!" Then he turned to Lyra and Bon-Bon. "Miss Heartstrings! Iron Will knows fighting is not your thing, but this is something you can pass off as a tool!" He presented her with a crowbar, with metal ridges added to the side of the hooked head, and the tips sharpened to razor edges. "Gold and silver plated steel on the sides, in case whatever you hit can only be hurt by one of those, and the whole thing is iron, which Iron Will hears works well on the ones with pointy ears! And to go with it..." he presented her with...
"Is...that a trashcan lid?" Fleur De Lis asked incredulously.
Coach Will beamed, showing white teeth. "It sure was! Now it's a custom Iron Will Shield! Fixed the handle up, and added a wooden disk to bend the edges around--should give it more resistance against those oversized steak knives they're carrying!"
Before that could properly sink in, he turned to Bon-Bon. "Iron Will has met your daddy, girl, and he knows all about how your deadliest weapon is your hands! So Iron Will made you these!" He produced a pair of gloves, the leather fingerless kind favored by bikers, except these had brass knuckles sewn to the end of the cut off 'fingers.' And welded to the knuckles, some four or five inches longer than the glove itself, were long, thin blades that looked like Coach Will had repurposed some kind of knife blades. "It doesn't look like much, but these should give your punches some real kick!"
Both girls stared, but accepted the new gear, and Bon-Bon pulled the gloves on, flexing her hands and feeling how the blades and knuckles affected her grip. "Huh. I can work with this. Thanks, Coach."
By now, Flash was insanely curious as to what he would give Trixie--the gym coach was about the only other person in school that came close to matching the stage magician for in-your-face personality and bombastic showmanship. It would have to be something pretty spectacular and well matched to top the man's own 'zombie apocalypse armor,' or that modified sledgehammer.
He was not disappointed.
Coach Will pointed a finger at Trixie. "You! Lulamoon! Do you think this is Harry Potter? No! This is no place for waving around a little stick that makes rabbits come out of hats or turns into flowers for your boyfriend!" His hand reached into what Flash had privately dubbed 'Iron Will's Murderbag' and pulled out a wrapped item that was almost six feet long and presented it to Trixie. As she unwrapped the cloth covering, Flash realized that it was wood. Dark wood, fairly straight over all, but with a gnarled and twisted pattern, polished and sanded until it almost seemed to shine on its own, and inlaid with gleaming threads of gold and silver like tiny streams of water cascading down its length. At the top, where it looked like the original root had been torn from the tree, the spreading, curling, grasping pieces had been shaped and polished and worked to enclose an iridescent, polished hunk of glass or crystal, its irregular faces smooth and shimmering in the dim lighting of the old storage room in shades of blue, purple, green, and teal...it reminded Flash of a few pieces of carnival glass his grandmother liked to display.
"A real wizard needs a staff!" Coach Will proclaimed. "And you're a real wizard, aren't you, Lulamoon?!"
Trixie was gaping at the work of art in her hands. "...y-yessir," she stammered, her fingers ghosting over the surface of the staff.
"Wow," Snips said, still snotty and wet faced from sobbing. "...that's...really pretty."
Bon-Bon leaned over, murmuring, "I suppose she could hit people with the bottom end real hard?"
The magician overheard her, and snorted. "Nothing so cheap and brutish. The Great and Powerful Trixie knows exactly how to handle such a priceless gift." She gripped the staff with both hands, lifted it, and brought the silver capped base down with a ringing sound on the cheap flooring.
And vanished with a popping sound.
She reappeared a split second later on the other side of the room, smiling brightly, and ignoring her astonished peers, she inclined her head to the delighted gym teacher. "You have the endless gratitude of the Great and Powerful Trixie for this, Coach Will. And that of the House of Lulamoon. After this is over, Trixie will speak to her father--perhaps we can do something to imbue your weapon with magic of its own?"
"Iron Will thinks that is acceptable!" the big man boomed.
The group of Crystal Prep students, recovering from seeing Trixie perform actual magic before their very eyes, exchanged a look. Gael cleared his throat. "You...got any extras in there? I'd rather go out fighting than hiding in the janitor's closet that time forgot."
His sister snorted. "Sounds like iron does them in. You could just kick them with one of your legs."
He rolled his eyes. "Those are carbon fiber, aluminum and titanium," he replied back. "Not much good if we're fighting elves or faeries or whatever other magical creatures are allergic to iron more than you are to peanuts."
"I, too, would like to be able to defend myself," Fleur said firmly. "You have spoken of Rarity, and if it is the same Rarity Belle who is quite the talented tailor, she and I are old friends. If she is fighting for me...then I would like the chance to return the favor." She paused. "Plus...I feel like I...should have stood up to the treatment Twilight Sparkle has received over the years, rather than pitying her and watching it happen."
Flash studied her, before nodding. "I get that. I...had some bad blood with Sunset back in November...and I stood by and let bullying happen because I didn't want to help her...and I've regretted that decision ever since." He stuck out his hand. "Welcome to a trial run of being Wondercolts--after this, I'm sure Principal Celestia will take you all in a heartbeat."
Bon-Bon snorted. "She'd do it just to spite CPA and Cinch, if nothing else. Today is certainly showing off why CPA is our rival."
Coach Will laughed. "Iron Will has plenty of toys! Can any of you hit a home run?" He pulled out several baseball bats that he had driven iron spikes through. "Or have a fondness for tennis or home ec?"
The students all cringed at the very idea of what kind of deadly weapon could be made from a tennis racket or a frying pan under the creative mind of Coach Will.
Scowling, Cranky was rooting through the trunk of his ancient station-wagon. "I know I put the blasted thing in here somewhere!"
Nearby, lurking in a blind corner between three trucks, his student teacher leaned against the bumper. "Don't tell me the dementia is setting in already, old timer," she said dryly.
"Hardly...I just expected this to go completely sideways and for a bunch of children playing with things they don't understand to need real help." He really hated being right, but there was also a part of him that wanted to tell Sunset Shimmer off for getting involved with magic in the first place. Then he felt guilty and uncharitable for having that reaction to one of Pinkie's little friends. At the heart of it, he desperately wished Pinkie had not gotten involved at all.
Dawn Wings arched a brow. "From the sound of everything, the students are doing just fine, and that the biggest problem was that the other side opened up with a sneak attack and got lucky."
He grunted sourly and shoved a crate out of the way. "And this wouldn't have happened at all if Sunset Shimmer hadn't meddled with magic she doesn't understand to begin with. Stupid girl got it into her head that she could be some kind of powerful wizard and caused all of this, because she's got no clue about the first thing about magical nonsense. So it falls to me to pick up the pieces for her kicking the local faerie lord's dog." He had no idea what exactly Sunset Shimmer had done to piss off the local faeries so badly, but it had to have been huge. For the most part those ugly bastards kept to themselves. "Magic is dangerous, and an amateur mucking around with forces that are ancient and well beyond the ability of a teenager to handle with any measure of restraint and prudence is a recipe to get people killed!"
"You...really haven't listened in on any of the meetings Luna's been having with the Rainbooms and the leaders of the student defense group? You're getting sloppy in your old age." The young woman sounded far too amused for his good or hers.
Looking through one of the duffle bags of supplies, he paused to scowl over his shoulder at her. "I had papers to grade--and Heartstrings is always going on about Sunset Shimmer's magical power, so I have no need to listen to her stroke that girl's ego for an hour three times a week. Besides, you're looking to tell me something you think will shock me? So go ahead. Also, over there. Hit that one with one of your darts."
Dawn Wings glanced and hurled one of her tiny, coated iron knives right at the chest of the fae that had come out to get the man rummaging in his car. "If you had, you'd be singing a different tune."
"Oh? And why's that?"
"Because...she's not some kid who stumbled over magic. She's a magical native to another dimension who ended up here, and she was a trained sorceress where she's from. Turns out, she and the Lulamoon kid can talk shop as professionals. Only reason she hasn't shown off more is something about her body here messes with her spellcasting." The woman flicked some more knives at the fae, even after it fell to the ground and began to seize from the ferrofluid she had coated the small blades in getting into its bloodstream. Or whatever those long eared menaces had for blood. "That mess at the formal was her trying to get herself magic she could use."
His fingers closed around the hilt he'd been searching for, and he drew the ancient blade from the depths of his car with a ringing metallic sound. "Great. So she wasn't a complete beginner, and she brought her problems here instead of leaving it where she's from. She's still out for the count while we're cleaning up her mess." Yeah, maybe it was uncharitable, but it was his students who were now at risk wholesale from death, maiming, or worse, being carted off to some fairy hellhole where they would be slaves at best, all because Sunset Shimmer didn't look before diving off a cliff. "If she was any kind of real professional, she'd have known better."
The student teacher gave him a long look. "And she might also be dead, dying to defend her peers all so half the teachers could talk trash about how much she upset their neatly ordered day."
Cranky felt himself pale. "What?"
"Yeah. That's what was being talked about a few minutes ago, while you were blustering. Sunset Shimmer might be dead, and her friends held captive by some shadow man that seems to be leading the faeries. So. How big do you feel, trash talking a dead runaway from another dimension who wanted to help her friends in the only way she knew?" The teacher could feel the way those dark eyes bored into him, even as she bent to retrieve her knives.
He had no answer--he was too proud and stubborn to acknowledge the feeling in the pit of his stomach, or the guilt now slamming into him. Instead, he focused on a separate piece of information. "Pinkie and her friends have been captured?"
She arched her brow. "That's what I said. Planning a heroic rescue now?"
Looking down at the shining blade in his hand, he grunted. "My hero days are decades behind me. I was just as stupid once, just like these kids." He swung the sword experimentally, rusty reflexes still remembering the proper form. "...but maybe there's enough left in me to help a new generation of heroes."
Dawn Wings smirked. "Careful, teach. You sound pretty heroic there."
"Shut up, kid, and lead the way to where they are planning to go at these faeries so we can help out."
Three students came running around a corner in the hall, skidding to a halt next to a fourth. "Got four more coming!" the lead student panted.
Sure enough, four CPA students came around the corner in that eerie lockstep, eyes dark and shadowed. Upon seeing them, one of them hissed for them to surrender.
"Blow me, fuckers!" Dark Tide called back, giving them a one finger salute.
They came charged in a staggered, lurching run, and Tide reached over to a cord hanging next to her head, pushing a button. In an instant, the hallway began to rain, the sprinklers coming on and water soaking the Crystal Prep students. At first, nothing happened...but then they began to scream and hiss, as black goo wept from their every pore, leaked from eyes and mouths, until there was sticky goo mixed with the water on the floor and splattered along the lockers.
"Four more down," she said into her comm. "Are we needing another reset or is this end clear?"
"Clear the freed students with the others, and regroup at the rotunda," Bon-Bon said crisply. "Operation Rainbow Cavalry is a go. All teams, repeat, Rainbow Cavalry is go. Rotunda in five for Teams Alpha through Foxtrot, any duplicate teams in safe zones, and any teachers willing to fight. Restock from supply drops and meet us there."
Tide's eyes narrowed. "On our way, Command." She glanced at her teammates. "We're going Rainbow Cavalry, gang. Pick these four up and we'll drag them to the cafeteria and pick up Applejack's grandmother and brother after we drop them off. That old lady is madder'n hell, and apparently Mr. Pythagorus is antagonizing her, if what Rose said during her last update is to be believed."
One of her teammates snorted. "He's such an ass."
"He's had it out for Sunset since we got back from break," Caramel grumbled, helping drag one of the CPA students into a supporting half carry as the disoriented boy blinked blearily at his surroundings. "Don't worry," he told his charge. "You're gonna be okay. We're taking you to someplace safe, where you'll get a drink and someone will explain what's going on. Deep breaths and just put one foot in front of the other for me."
A Crystal Prep girl waved off Carrot's assistance, pulling herself up stubbornly under her own power. "I'd appreciate an explanation as to why I am in a back hallway covered in..." Her nose wrinkled at the smell of the goop clinging to her. "...whatever this is."
Tide watched her carefully. The band on her wrist showed she was clean of possession and she wasn't in disguise, so she figured the mask of deliberate emotional neutrality was a personality thing. "Your school's run by evil monsters and they were using most of you as magic meat puppets for some kind of possession by...well. Not sure if they're shadows or demons or spirits or whatever, but holy water makes them pop like giant zits and vacate the host. We hosed you down, and got rid of your passenger. You're welcome." She motioned for the group to start walking and took point with her own super soaker.
"...I see. And you were...prepared for this?"
Next to her, Caramel laughed. "Not our first rodeo. We had a she-demon at the Fall Dance and magic singing sirens at our musical showcase. Demons and dark elves at the rich prep school are basically not a surprise...besides, we had warning there was magic at your school."
The girl was silent for a while, lost in thought as they trekked to the cafeteria. That was where they had been bringing the freed CPA students, where Granny Smith was overseeing a good portion of the teachers who were too chicken to fight. The students guarding the doors nodded and let them in, and they staggered in, right into the middle of a...situation.
Mr. Pythagorus, the math teacher, was on his back, face looking like he'd just gone several rounds with a pro-boxer. Blood covered his face, streaming from a nose that was definitely broken and from his mouth as well. He rolled slightly, spitting blood and what was probably part of a tooth on the floor, and the glare he sent upwards would have looked more impressive if one of his eyes wasn't already squinting from swelling around the socket. Nearby, several senior boys and at least two male teachers were holding Applejack's brother back, having just pulled him off the downed man. His face was practically purple with rage, but the senior's voice was deadly calm. "Say it again," the senior growled, his voice a bass rumble that was felt as much as heard. "Ah dare ya."
Dark Tide immediately leaned over to Lily and Rose. "What the fuck happened?"
Rose looked on the verge of tears and Lily looked like she was about to go help Big Mac rearrange the teacher's face. "That...that bastard!" Lily explained, "He's glad Sunset might be dead!"
"Oh fuck..." Tide could feel the temperature in the room plummet as she realized that most of the CHS students were murmuring angrily. "Look...zip tie his wrists and stick him in the mop closet or something. He's a problem, and with an attitude like that, I don't trust him not to work with our enemy." She gave the downed man a heavy kick with her foot, right in his flabby gut. "Piece of shit. Sunset is the only reason we don't leave you for the monsters."
As the wounded teacher was dragged off, she turned to Mac. "We good?" He nodded. "Good. Go get your grandmother. Rainbow Cavalry is happening and we figured you'd both want to get in there and mix it up."
"Eeeeyup." Shaking off the arms holding him, Mac went to get his grandmother from where she was covering a side door in the cafeteria that led outside.
The Crystal Prep girl who had been asking questions before approached Dark Tide as she was talking to some of the underclassmen, giving them instructions and refilling her team's arsenal. "You're taking the fight to the people responsible for violating my mind?" she asked.
"That's the plan. We've driven them out of most of the school, and now we're going to help the girls who held off their heavy hitters." She just hoped they weren't too late.
A nod, and then the girl asked, "You got room for one more? I dont appreciate having my mind raped and my body used as cannon fodder by some demon."
She considered her for a minute. "Can you aim a super soaker?" she asked after a minute's scrutiny.
"About as well as anyone."
"Good enough. Caramel! Get her one of the backpack units!" Tide stuck out a hand. "I'm Dark Tide. You got a name?"
Her handshake was firm, and her eyes dark with simmering fury. "Penumbra...but you can call me Penny."
"Welcome aboard, Penny."
> Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Eight: Can You Hear Me Screaming For You?
It was all her fault.
Twilight's eyes never left the empty, staring orbs of that warm blue-green shade she had come to treasure in the last half a year, and it was all she could do to hold herself together, to refuse to give the monster that was her principal or that horrible shadow figure the satisfaction of seeing her cry anymore. Sunset...was very likely dead...murdered in front of her by monsters...
But the situation that had led to it was Twilight's fault.
If only she had listened, instead of yelling...
Then, maybe...
She blinked rapidly, fighting the tears that made her eyes burn. No! Sunset had to be okay--something else was at play, and there had to be some reason the monsters were treating her like she was still dangerous! It had to mean there was still a chance! Still a chance to make it right!
If she could even hope to make it right, that was.
Sunset had been furious in the hallway...those eyes had been glowing, blue-green on black in the moment when Cinch had put a hand on her neck. It had been frightening to see the change, to realize the ears seated atop fiery hair and the horn on her forehead were real, not some kind of spirit-wear for the school, and that some of that anger and hurt she saw when their eyes met was directed at Twilight.
Rightly so, part of her acknowledged. She had been utterly awful to Sunset last Friday...Sunset had every right to be angry....and hurt.
If Twilight had spent all week feeling like her heart was broken...how had Sunset felt?
Her mind brought her back to that moment where she had taken The Key off her neck, had lashed out hard at Sunset for outing them, and accused her of lying... Without the veil of blinding anger completely distorting her perceptions she could see with utter clarity the moment that she had ripped Sunset's own heart out of her chest and crushed it cruelly. The way those beautiful eyes widened, full of agony and horror...and then broken resignation, the lively fire in them doused, amber complexion gone gray-tinged and pale, the trembling in an arm that started to reach out to her, as if trying to stop what was happening.
Wrenching herself from the memory, haunted by vision and reality of blue-green eyes, Twilight struggled to breathe and not sob in grief. People always treated perfect recall like a gift--which it could be--but it was just as much a curse. It meant time never softened the memories. It meant she could never forget, not the moment and not her own emotions at the time. Stepping into a memory was to experience it over and over as if for the first time, and right now that clashed sharply with a more recent recollection, of Sunset's screams of agony, and the sound her body had made when it impacted the bleachers with that sickening crunch.
She had done this. She had caused all of it...with hubris, weakness...and cruelty towards the girl who always treated her like their friendship and relationship was something precious. Like Twilight was precious.
Sunset was gone...
And the last words Twilight had ever said to her were hateful.
Full of anger and petulance...when they should have been a declaration of love. Sunny...I'm so sorry... she cried to the cold universe and wishing she could say it to Sunset herself. I didn't mean it...you...you are always going to be my very best friend...I love you...please don't leave me!
Hot tears overflowed and Twilight hated herself, even as she begged for her best friend to be alive.
How could she ever have implied that having Sunset's presence with her was some kind of violation? In that moment, she'd have given anything to have Mental-Sunset manifest and give her a smile, to let her know she was still there.
To give her hope that Sunset was alive.
Their brief view of each other in the hallway swam before her mind's eye again, Sunset's dark fury as she demanded Twilight be freed, as she scathingly called out Vice Principal Silverthorn and spoken so condescendingly to Principal Cinch...and then the expression as she had seen Twilight standing next to Cinch silently. Hurt had flickered, under the fury...but...
Something insistent prodded her, and Twilight played the memory again. And again. And again...until...there! Sinking into the emotional moment where their eyes had met, she felt it. A flutter of something...tiny and faint, masked under everything else going on...as if the very connection that they had always felt between them, that allowed them to understand each other when words were a struggle or language lacked the ones they needed, had allowed them to send a message encoded in that long glance. A feeling of...reassurance...that she was still cared about. Loved. Even if apologies and forgiveness had yet to happen, Sunset was never going to abandon her best friend to the monsters.
It was a thin thread of hope, fragile and faint, but Twilight grasped it like a lifeline. Like a drop of sunlight in the endless abyss, it kept her from surrendering to despair, or worse, to the flicker of icy anger that licked at her heart. She clung to it as much as she did to the fearful way these monsters acted as they moved Sunset's body to the storage room of the gym--it was a hope...a desperate and impossible belief that told her Sunset still had a chance, no matter how small. That she wasn't gone, and that she would keep her promise, somehow.
"Twilight?" A rough voice spoke nearby, making her look at the blurry figures nearby. It was the tall blonde girl talking, judging by the accent. "Ah know it seems bad right now, sugar, but we've gotten out of worse'n this. Don't give up."
"Indeed," said the prim voiced one. "And I must say, darling, we are ever so pleased to meet you, despite the circumstances. I am just sorry it's not a happier moment. All the same, I am Rarity, one of Sunset's friends."
Her own voice felt...cracked and half rusted. "You're the one who makes clothes. Like that pretty top with the embroidery..." Another memory flashed. "...she wore it on our date..."
A soft sound of joy reached her. "Oh! She--Sunset Shimmer," Rarity said with the sound of tears in her voice. "I didn't know she really liked it that much...she never said...but if she..." Her voice trailed off from the emotional overload.
"It's alright, Rares. Ya kin get gossip from her at the next sleepov--"
A dark figure moved and there was the sound of flesh hitting flesh. "Shut up!" the figure hissed. "I have no desire to listen to the inane lowing of animals headed for slau--"
The blonde blur moved, fighting her bonds enough to headbutt the dark shape and send it sprawling. "Kindly shut the fuck up," she drawled. "Afore yer coward of a boss cheated, we were wipin' the floor with ya." Then she called, "Ah'm Applejack, sugar. Lookin' forward ta gettin' ta know ya after this mess is over. Gotta be a special lady that can turn Sunset's head."
"...you have the farm. And there's...Rainbow Dash...Indigo recognized you last week. You...you saw us...didn't you? Made your teammates look the other way."
Cackling and swinging a foot sharply at the downed blob that had struck her friend, Dash answered, "Wow. You are sharp. Shouldn't be surprised. Sunset is an egghead too. Yeah, I saw, but I promised I'd keep Sunset's friend a secret 'til she was ready to let everyone know. So I did you a solid. You can say thanks by fixing whatever happened between you and Shimmer. She's been fucked up all week."
Twilight squeezed her eyes shut, guilt hammering her, and the tears flowing faster no matter how she fought it. "...I want to...but...I'm not sure she'll forgive me..." A sob broke free. "Or if I deserve it."
"She will," Dash said confidently.
The claws digging into her shoulder clenched painfully. "Such desires matter little," Cinch said firmly. "None of you will see the sun set. Now. Enough." Her hand gestured impatiently at the mass of dark forms. "Drag them if you must, but it is time. We must prepare for the ritual."
Applejack snorted. "Shows what you know," she challenged. She fought to her feet against the shadows binding her. "Who's first? Bet Ah kin put a few of ya out of yer misery before ya get me where yer taking us."
There was hesitation among the dark forces, and Cinch let out a frustrated sound. Something burst from a pointed finger, and the girls began moving, their shadowy bindings slithering with unpleasant whispering sounds towards the doors to the outside. "Useless."
"It is hard to find good help some days, isn't it, Itheadair?" Rarity said with amusement. "Though I suppose that's what you get for selling yourself to an uncouth ruffian going through his emo phase."
Stiffly, Cinch responded, "You will show the Master the respect He is due."
Rarity never missed a beat. "Please, darling. Don't you know how terribly gauche it is to involve others in your kinks without informed consent? One would think, at your age, you would have more class." She sniffed. "Though, given the actions of most of your student body over the years, I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised."
Rainbow Dash burst into outright laughter at that, and even Twilight found herself giggling. The monster tightened her grip and shoved Twilight forward. "Move, Miss Sparkle. Your fate awaits."
Twilight fought the hold with renewed vigor--they were trying to pull her away from Sunset--desperate to wrench free of the hand gripping her by any means necessary. She almost succeeded, until the monster that was her principal used both hands to catch flailing arms and pin them behind her back. "Twilight Sparkle," she hissed, low volumed and close to Twilight's ear, enduring the way Twilight thrashed and kicked and even tried to headbutt her. "I implore you: Cease. What will be, will be, and I have no desire to break any of my oaths because you are insisting on throwing a tantrum. Even an oath to an opponent."
The words made her freeze, which relieved some of the uncomfortable pressure of how her arms were being held. Why would it matter? Why did the monster care what Sunset had asked for in the hallway...?
She thinks she bargained with a demon, a corner of her mind pointed out. Sunset demanded she stop her people from hurting and restraining you. For all she's held on...she's trying not to harm you.
Something occurred to her--Cinch thought Sunset was still alive too. She had to. Why else would she keep to a deal made with someone who was dead?
More than that...was Cinch afraid of Sunset?
It was time to test that.
"She's going to be furious," she rasped out, voice still thin and rough. "When she gets free of what you had done to her...when she sees how you treated her friends. Treated me..."
The figure marching her outside and around the side of the building towards the front of the school hesitated just a moment, and Twilight capitalized on it. "She will. You thought it was bad when she came to the school for me, when my meds were taken? I have bruises this time. Her friends have cuts, one might have broken bones..." Twilight could feel the shifting mood around her, especially from Cinch, and her mind raced, shaping all the hints of knowledge and disparate fragments of information into a narrative. "She wasn't even angry the day she came for me...but this...this will make her angrier than you are prepared for."
Silence, but for the sound of whispering shadows and footsteps. Twilight wondered if they were all going to just ignore her rather than answer. It was an uneasy silence, fearful, as if they were waiting to be jumped by an outside force--either Sunset or that monster of shadow these creatures called 'Master'--and it made the teen's skin crawl unpleasantly.
But it was broken when the thing that had been her principal finally spoke, still in that low voice. "...I understand, Miss Sparkle...and I..." There was a pause. "...I accept your warning as it is intended. However, this course cannot be changed or stopped, and we cannot go back--there is no choice but for all of us to move forward and meet our fates, whatever they may be. I believe your kind quaintly refers to it as 'crossing the Rubicon?'" There was a hint of what Twilight thought sounded like resignation...and a touch of bleakness that made her shiver.
Blinking rapidly and wishing her eyesight was better, the dark haired girl tried to focus on her captor. "There's always a choice," she entreated. "Always a way to turn away from something and be a better person. It's only a point of no return if you refuse to see any other way."
For a moment, she thought she might have gotten through to Cinch, but the shadows hissed and chittered, and the hands gripping her tightened. "I cannot, for that choice is not mine to make. It has already been decided."
Closing her eyes, Twilight searched for an appropriate response, and remembered how Sunset had seemed...sad...when Sour Sweet had rejected the same entreaty. She felt that way now, despite all that Crystal Prep had done to her, despite the suffering...it still felt like a failure to have not been able to change their minds. To not give them the chance that Sunset had taken.
However...it was still their choice to make.
In the end, she settled on the words that fit the situation and the phrase Cinch had quoted. "ἀνερρίφθω κύβος." Like Latin, Greek was a language she had learned for scientific purposes as much as intellectual ones, but it meant that the quote flowed as easily off her tongue as the poorly chosen Latin version would have, and there was something satisfying about using the original.
Slowly but surely, the group made their way to the front of the Canterlot High building, and Twilight realized their destination was the space just in front of the mascot statue. Some of the figures wearing Crystal Prep uniform colored blurs were already working to make some kind of large markings on the wide concrete space, and two more were hefting something large and blocky that looked heavy. It was hard to make out exactly what it was, but given the word 'ritual' had been tossed around, Twilight had a few guesses.
Rainbow Dash had more than a guess. "Are you fucking kidding me? An altar and a pentagram? This looks like the set for a college budget horror movie written by drunk frat boys!" Her words were loud and derisive, and from the murmurs, were getting to the beings around them. "You guys already look like Deadpool had sex with Legolas and the babies are trying to cosplay as anime characters, but this? Come on! You can't possibly be serious."
Stiff, uncomfortable silence.
"Ah think they're serious, Dash."
Snorting, the colorful girl started up again. "Man, I hope your ritual doesn't require us to all be virgins, cuz I'm pretty sure that ship has sailed for at least two of us."
Applejack chuckled. "....Eeeeeeyup."
"Three!" called a chipper voice from one of the other girls that was being moved into position at one part of the circle. Twilight guessed it was a point on the pentagram. "See, I went to this camp last summer, and well, there was this really sweet--mrrhrrm nnnrff hrrrm!" Someone had done something to muffle the oversharing.
And then, almost too quiet to hear, another voice, soft and nervous. "....um...four..."
"Oh my..." Rarity murmured.
Rainbow Dash paused, then said in an awestruck voice. "Wow. I...wasn't expecting that...Respect, Shy." There was an embarrassed squeak in reply, and Rainbow started in on the monsters around them again. "So...yeah. It looks like you're lacking the 'virgin' in your sacrifices. Also, we've done the whole 'fight a demon' thing before. We beat their ass into a crater."
Another interjection from Applejack carried ominous weight. "Ah'd wager we kin do it again."
The chipper voice was back--it had to be the friend Sunset called 'Pinkie'--and there was a growled demand to know how she'd gotten her mouth free. "Ooo! That means you should skip this next part and give up so we can go right to the part where we make friends!"
"Though...forgive us, darlings, if we don't invite you to the sleepovers. I daresay you are all far too old for that to be appropriate." Rarity sniffed delicately.
There was something comforting about how confident Sunset's friends were even as they were maneuvered into place for some kind of terrible ritual being conducted by monsters for an evil shadow. It kept Twilight from slipping into full on panic, providing an emotional anchor she had been missing since the mental version of Sunset had stopped appearing...even if it wasn't quite as effective as that husky tone purring in her ear would have been.
She struggled as best she could when Cinch marched her over to the blocky blur that Rainbow had identified as an altar, and quickly found herself on her back, arms and legs restrained. Her breathing picked up as panic boiled over, the reality of her situation becoming clear. Her vision swam dizzyingly, and spots danced before her eyes as she struggled to both draw in air and free herself from her bonds.
Where was Sunset? Why wasn't she here yet?
Sunny, please! Twilight's mind cried out for her. I need you! Help me!
Nothing. Not even the version conjured in her mind.
Around her, dark and blurry shapes moved and undulated, one hovering nearby--her principal, by the clothing--and fidgeting restlessly, something in her other hand that Twilight couldn't make out. Overhead, dark storm clouds left the world in a dusk-like atmosphere, gloomy and shadowed, and no matter how much she strained her senses, she could hear no signs of life and civilization beyond the schoolyard. No cars, no people, nothing. Just the growing multitude of whispering voices that emanated from shadows that moved in ways shadows had no right to.
Suddenly her principal seemed to snap to, and held arms high, speaking in a terrible tongue she could not place. It was harsh, guttural, and felt like talons being raked across her mind and soul painfully. If there was a language of evil and the damned, it was everything Twilight imagined it would sound like. This time she cried in pain from the noise, and how utterly wrong it felt against her eardrums, her skin, against every part of her being.
"Twilight," a voice called urgently. "Ah need ya ta look at me, sugar."
Against the pain of the chanting, Twilight turned her head, looking at Applejack's blurry form held tightly bound.
"That's it, Twilight. Just keep lookin' at me. Don't give them the satisfaction. Keep yer eyes over here, on yer new friends."
It was hard. Terror coursed through her and she struggled and pulled on the things holding her to unforgiving and rough stone, could feel the abrasions left on her arms and backs of her legs. Some animal part of her wanted to see what was coming, but Applejack just kept talking. "At least, we'd all like ta be friends. Sounds like we all care a lot about Sunset, and well, that seems like a good enough reason ta get ta know each other. Especially cuz it sounds like you've been around for her since she started betterin' herself, working through her old ways ta come out the other side a changed gal."
Something loosened a fraction in her chest, at least until her principal made a strangled, agonized sound, and faltered. Her eyes instinctively looked to see what was going on, despite Applejack calling, "No, no, sugar, don't look. Look back at me, please..."
Darkness now clung to Cinch, thick and oozing, weeping shadow from eyes and nose like intangible blood, and the voice coming from her was layered with the deep voice that had come from the dark shadow monster who Twilight had told off. Those arms raised a cruel knife over her as the chanting headed for some kind of crescendo, the intent telegraphed clearly even to nearsighted eyes.
General Relativity's ghost, she was going to die, wasn't she?
"C'mon, Twilight, look over here. Ah don't want ya ta see that. Please, look over here."
Choking on a half sob, she jerked her head towards Applejack again, still frantically pulling on her bindings in animal fear. Everything in her vision was blurred by the loss of her glasses and her tears, but her breath caught at the sight of one impossible thing in complete focus. Standing next to the Applejack blur, faint but in full 20/20 clarity, was Mental-Sunset.
She was still a mental projection of some kind--barely there and see through, but those eyes from her dreams, glowing blue-green on the darkness of space, skin where golden amber shaded to a red-amber hue, massive gargoyle-esque wings, and that beautiful tail with its cascade of living flame were all clear and sharply in detailed focus. Twilight thought her heart might burst from the mixture of hope and relief--Sunset hadn't abandoned her.
"Hey...I promised."
That wonderful voice made her want to weep, tired and faint as it was to her ears. Sunset was alive, she had to be. Sunny, she cried, desperately directing the thought at the figure. I love you! And I'm sorry!
Then the distant chanting became a screaming bellow, and Twilight's world became nothing but searing pain and darkness...
> Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Nine: A Handful of People on a Leaky Boat Are Gonna Save the World...
Sunset sat straight up with a gasp, sucking in air into lungs that felt like they were screaming from lack of oxygen. Her eyes burned, feeling gritty and dry, and she blinked rapidly to try and get whatever was in them out. This time, the tears that welled up were a purely physical response to discomfort, and she welcomed them with near tangible relief as they soothed her eyes. "Dragon farts," she muttered. "I don't ever want to do that again. What...happened while I was out?"
--Dunno, but this is the storage room for the gym, so I'm guessing nothing good.--
The former unicorn was alone, in the dark, and her whole body ached in a way she recognized. She had felt like this after the formal. "Is this going to happen every time we deal with bad guys? If so, I should probably start investing in bruise balm and painkillers."
--It might be a good idea. Also, I'm fairly certain we have splinters in our ass.--
Grunting, she forced herself upright. "Is that what that feeling is? Great. You think Sparky will be willing to help me get them out or am I going to have to get Rarity's help with it?"
--Why Rarity?--
"Because she wont tease me. Or tell anyone details about my backside."
Her other side was quiet for only a moment. --Fair point. Sparky's still the first choice though. We like her hands there. Besides she'll get adorably flustered by it; remember when we were putting on pants?--
Of course she did. It had been incredibly flattering to have Twilight looking at her that way, and the attention had made Sunset want to show off for her girlfriend--there was something about the way it made her feel that she savored, even as it frightened her at times. And the voice was right, Twilight was cute when she got all flustered. "...yeah..." Sunset took a minute to bend and stretch and check herself for any more injuries. "...do you think...she'll ever look at us like that again? Or...have we lost that chance?"
Doubt filled the response. --I...don't know...but we have to get out of here first and find out what's going on.--
Steeling herself for walking into a warzone, Sunset shoved the doors open swiftly and stepped out from the storage area....
Into a gym empty of people, with a dozen decidedly non-human figures of smoke and shadow in front of her. They had been facing outwards, towards the various exits, but as one they twisted their forms in various unsettling ways to turn baleful red eyes on her. A low, hissing, chittering rose, making her very soul itch and eardrums ache, and that wasn't even starting on how much her magic didn't like these shadow wraiths. They were twisted and wrong, dark magic in its most basic and simple format, and as she stared at them, something tickled in the way their forms shifted under her gaze.
Instinct...or maybe something deeper than instinct, made her neck prickle and her nostrils flare. These things...she knew what they were. She knew their name...or at least...she knew what their Equestrian cousins were called.
Fearlings.
Spawns of terror and nightmare. Was her enemy some twisted remnant of the Deathringer with his Pale Bell?
--...I don't think so,-- the voice murmured. --It's as good a name for them as any, but they aren't Equestrian and they lack something important. Feel it?--
Her eyes narrowed, and she inspected the magic brushing hers painfully. Now that it had been pointed out...yes. They felt...hollow. Like some component was missing or substituted.
Still...she decided to label them Fearlings. It felt right despite the difference and more accurate than calling them 'shadows.'
One of them hissed at her, making a threatening motion as it blocked her path several yards from her. The intent was clear--they had no intention of letting her pass, not without a fight.
--Do you mind following my lead?--
Did she? Sunset considered the question, turning it over in her mind, and let a small smirk play over her lips. What do I have to do?
Her magic leapt forward eagerly, filling her with both her own flame and the Harmonic energy that triggered a Pony-Up. In that moment, she knew without knowing, without words being exchanged or the concept explained, and her gaze focused on the foremost Fearling, the one that had threatened her.
"This is my school, my friends," she said, the language spilling forth the same unsettling, hissing, shrieking tongue the Fearlings spoke, and she put every ounce of magical power and regal command she had learned in to her voice; it thrummed with magic and made the air spark. "You have invaded what is mine, have endangered those who are mine, and now your Master seeks to take my Twilight against her will. There are no more chances. Get out of my way." The words were hers, and she formed them of conscious will, but how they were chosen and how she could speak the language the monsters before her used was a curiosity for a later time. Sunset let the words hang, and then began to walk forward just like she had in the hall earlier, with a purpose to her stride and a stubborn refusal to be deterred any longer.
When the leader reached for her, her magic lashed out, igniting it in crimson flames just like it had Sour Sweet on the stage. It burned up just as quickly, leaving a scorch mark on the floor and foul, sulfurous ash behind. The message enforced her words: no more chances.
It wasn't the only one of its kind to meet its end--more than half of them launched towards her, swelling into horrific shapes out of anypony's worst nightmares, and all of them met a grisly fate as Sunset walked right through their ranks. Two of them swelled up and burst like boils or abscesses, several immolated like the first, some melted into toxic puddles that rapidly dried up, and at least one crumbled like sand. Only three survived--all three cowered before her, on what passed for elbows and knees, though they seemed to be fighting their own selves to remain still.
One hissed, and she realized she understood, even if it hurt her ears. "Great Missstressss..." it pleaded. "Musssst obey Masssster. Cannot...fight..."
Her eyes narrowed. "Then leave and never return," she chittered back, enforcing it with her magic. "I banish you back to the darkness that spawned you, Child of Terror."
The one that had spoken dipped its head. "We obey...Great Missstressss..." And then all three dissolved into the aether, their essence fleeing...somewhere that was not Canterlot High.
Sunset continued walking across the gym, one ear flicking as she used the other to seek out distant sounds. "You going to explain how that just happened?"
--It's part of the things that came with what we became, horn-head. It's one of those scars I was talking about. It just happens that some scars are useful for more than impressing pretty mares at a bar.--
Letting out a snort, the former unicorn snarked, "The only mare I want to impress isn't a mare at all." And she didn't need scars for that--her haunches worked just fine on Sparky.
--Point.-- her other side acknowledged. --You know she'd make a cute one though.--
"Sweet sunfire and brilliant moonlight, yes," she admitted. "I would give every coin I own to see that just once for real." The redhead shared a chuckle with the voice in her head, before she focused back on the topic at hand. "So it's a lingering side effect? Like the sensitivity and immunity to dark magic? And what ever happened to my night vision?"
--Yes. As well as a few other details that will have to be sorted out later. We became a demon, and some part of us will forever be touched by that. This is one of those ways.--
She frowned. "And...because you were where I shoved all of the demon stuff...you understand it and I don't yet?"
--Acceptance was step one. Integration may take a long time, horn-head--we're a stubborn, independent thinking mare. Eventually...it'll just be one whole Sunset Shimmer alone in here, but...that may take years.--
Sunset nodded, deciding she could live with that. She...still had a lot of work to do on herself--the time since her fall and the conversation with her other side had shown her just how messed up she still was and how much further she had to go to heal and fix herself. Maybe by the time she had made peace with all of her darkest, ugliest parts, she would be ready for them to fully be just hers. "That...is actually a bit of a relief, honestly."
--We're a complicated mare. It was never going to be quick or easy...but today was a big step.--
She chuckled and reached for the door only to pause. "Do you hear..."
Barking.
Again.
She opened the door as it got close, and Spike darted in, skidding to a halt in front of her. Poking her head into the hall, she found it empty--no Cadence anywhere, and Spike was off his leash. "Spike? Where's Cady?"
He looked up at her, standing directly in front of her and blocking her from moving forward. As he met her eyes he sat slowly and barked a single time, eyes never leaving hers, and memory rose, unbidden.
They were sitting in the kitchen on a lazy Saturday morning, Sunset and Velvet, the former still nursing her second cup of strong coffee and trying to wake up the rest of the way. Twilight was upstairs, in the shower--the teens had plans to hit the art museum that afternoon. She had watched as Spike came trotting into the room, up to Velvet, and barked once while sitting at her feet. The older woman had paused in what she was saying to Sunset and looked down. "What do you need, Spike?"
The dog had cocked his head, then trotted towards the laundry room and back door. "Ah. Sunset, would you let him out? His chain should be right there on the hook outside the back door."
After getting up and doing as asked, she chuckled on her return to her bitter ambrosia. "You know, I never understood that adage about pets resembling their owners until I started coming over here," she admitted. "Spike has to be the smartest dog I have ever met, and Twilight is the most brilliant person I've ever seen."
Velvet had smiled in response. "He's a good match for Twilight," her girlfriend's mother responded.
"Yeah...I just didn't know you could find a dog smart enough to do some of the things he does. Like...last week, he brought her phone when we couldn't find it." Sunset shook her head with another chuckle. "I have no idea how he knew we were looking for it!"
Looking at her oddly, Velvet hesitated a moment, then said, "Sweetheart, he did that because he's a trained service dog." The way she said it was careful and gentle, like she was breaking some news to her that she was unsure of how Sunset would handle.
Except the former unicorn was just confused. "A what?" Did humans have dogs trained as servants? That seemed...out there, even for humans.
Velvet gave her a long, scrutinizing look, then seemed to realize her confusion was genuine. "A service dog," she explained, "is a dog who has gone through special training to learn how to help their owner under special circumstances, usually medical ones. Maybe you've heard of them as 'seeing eye dogs' for the blind?"
A faint tickle of memory from some class or another. "Yes...? But...no one here is blind?"
The woman nodded. "They aren't just for the blind. Some are trained for people with other medical issues. You know about Twilight's panic attacks."
She nodded. "Yeah. I can kind of pick up on them before they start, and I try to get her out of the situation if I can." The connection clicked in her brain. "So he's trained to help her panic attacks?"
Her girlfriend's mother hummed. "Yes, essentially. When she has them, she can't manage talking, and Spike is trained to help her through them, or to get help if she needs it and can't call out for it herself. One of the things he is trained to do is fetch important things for her, like her glasses or her phone, if she drops them." One hand gestured. "He has expanded his methods of alerting us to his own needs, but they are an extension of the training he underwent."
Sunset watched the dog out the window. "Huh. That explains a lot," she mused. "I had no idea you could train a dog to do all that." Then she smiled at Velvet, which made the woman lose the sudden tension she'd acquired. "That's really neat--he's even smarter than I thought to be able to learn all that. Is there anything I should know about that? In case he tries to come to me for help?"
What had followed was a long talk Twilight had joined halfway through, and Sunset realized based on Twilight's face when she walked into the middle of it, that it was a subject that was a bit sensitive for her dark haired best friend. Sunset had just been amazed--the whole thing was just an alien concept to her, using a dog for things like that. Her own kind just helped each other if a pony wound up blind or with some kind of problem. Usually it was a family matter, or in some cases a close friend or neighbor would take up the mantle of assisting the pony in question. However, she had come out of the talk with important knowledge, knowledge she took very seriously because it was about her Sparky.
Which meant she realized that Spike was going through the exact motions of alerting her that something was wrong with his human. "This is about Twilight, isn't it?" she asked the dog.
He stared up at her, and an image slammed into her mind's eye: Twilight, from an extreme low angle, in the middle of a panic attack. It was there and gone in a heartbeat, and it left her momentarily disoriented. Forcibly shaking her head to clear it, the redhead nodded. "Yeah, she's not doing good today, Spike. Do you know where she is? Can you take me to her? She's in real danger, and I have to get to her."
Spike growled, tugged her pants leg, before bolting for the doors that led outside rather than the hall. "Outside? Steaming centaur dung!" Sunset jogged after him. "Lead the way," she told him as they left the building, "but stay close--I don't want you hurt either. Twilight wouldn't want that."
Sneezing in a way she took to be a form of doggy sarcasm, Spike herded her across the grass, heading for the front of the school.
"The portal...is that what they're after?" she mused.
--Hard to say. It may simply be the best place for whatever they plan to do. The barriers are thin there and there's plenty of magi--
A tidal wave of dark energy slammed into her and nearly knocked her off her feet. Sunset swayed, swallowing hard to banish the nausea. "That...that can't be good." She pushed her magic into her hands, spawning blood red fire, and broke into a run. Twilight. Twilight was in danger...she had to get to her. Where were the girls? They wouldn't just abandon her. Or Sunset. That meant they were in danger too--her heart was hammering and felt like it was in her throat as she raced towards the front of the school.
Shadows were spawning slithering shapes that were right from her terrible nightmares, and Fearlings formed by the dozen and were subsequently destroyed as Sunset and Spike barreled through their midst, Harmonic power and her own deep well of magic spreading red fire over tenebrous shapes. Many didn't even have time to form fully before she incinerated them.
Rounding the corner of the building, she slid to a stop, the heart that was already in pieces becoming little more than slivers and dust. The monsters of Crystal Prep were all bowing before an altar steeped in terrible dark magic--magic that was touched by blood and death and fear--her friends bound by shadows around a gruesome sigil...and in the center of it all, sitting up on the altar with a blackened, jewel encrusted dagger sticking out of her chest, was Twilight.
Except this wasn't Twilight.
Nothing about it was Twilight, other than the body.
It was her worst nightmare brought to life. Void clung in patches to her frame, a darkness that seemed to devour any light that touched her. It was like ink splashed erratically across her skin came to life, a cancer of nothingness that coated flesh and clothing, and formed into claws of darkness. Twin horns rose from her forehead, crystalized from the same nothingness that marred her body. Red eyes burned with hate where purple should dance with curiosity, and as Sunset watched with horror, talons curled around the hilt of the knife and jerked it free, dropping it to the ground. "Aaaaaah...at laaaast..."
That was definitely not Twilight's voice. It was a deep bass rumble, growled and full of malice. Whatever was possessing Twilight was male and a source of dark magic and wrongness so deep that Sunset's insides twisted and burned even from her spot at the building's corner. Spike growled and bristled, and she made a shushing sound as she took stock of the situation, her mind analyzing and trying to develop a strategy to free her friends and save Twilight.
"I am free once more," Not-Twilight proclaimed, rising to his feet. The darkness curled around Twilight's form further, making her body tower over everyone by adding to her height through twisted, minotaur-like hooves of void and emptiness. A pair of bat-like wings stretched from her shoulders, adding to the immensity, and something akin to an obsidian crown wreathed in purple flames floated over her head like a halo. "Free to rule as issss My right!" Arms gestured wide. "Look upon the King of Demonssss and behold the glory of your God!"
"Man, fuck you," Dash snarled. "You're a coward and a poser, and you need to let our friend go right now!"
His gaze snapped to her and he strode forward, grabbing Rainbow by the shirt front and pulling her free of the binding shadows to dangle her in front of him. "You would do well to watch your tongue," he hissed. "I was King and God over the most prosperous kingdom in the world when your ancestors could barely figure out how to build a mud hut! You are a worm, incapable of truly grasping with your feeble minds the might and power of the Horned King of Darkness! The world has forgotten fear, but they will soon recall it, and they will bow before their Master once more! They will tremble at the mere mention of My name!"
Rainbow spit right in his eye, and he made a sound of rage and threw her, sending her tumbling across the grass. "Insolent guttersnipe!"
Coughing, Rainbow Dash flipped him the bird from the ground. "Already told Principal Bitch there--we're not into your weird fetish. So maybe go fuck yourself?"
Sunset couldn't hold back as she saw the self proclaimed king give her friend a look of hatred that promised pain. She ran out there, shooting a line of crimson fire between Dash and the dark figure. "Dash! Are you okay?" she asked, kneeling to help her get to her feet. One of her wings was mangled and tattered, missing feathers and bleeding sluggishly from several cuts, and she had a bruise on her cheek that was already turning a nasty purple.
"Sunset?" The soccer player's face lit up with a smile. "You're alright!"
"Yeah," Sunset supported her as they got her upright again. "Sorry it took me so long. That was one doozy of a spell they hit me with." Blue-green eyes turned to glare at the thing inhabiting Twilight's body.
"You?!" her enemy snarled. "How are you even here? You should be bound and captured, banished from that body!" His gaze flicked to the one wearing Cinch's clothing. "Did you fools fail at the one task you were given?"
Amber fingers found the twisted, mangled remnants of the silver manacle on her wrist and she tugged it free, the metal brittle and broken. Sunset held it up. "Oh, they did it right," she responded. "But you miscalculated. This body is no host, and I am not a parasite like you--I am Sunset Shimmer, and I am not some weak shade to be bound by something as simple as the sound of my name, or bested by a cheap knock-off wannabe-Grogar." The manacle fell as she turned her hand over, and it shattered into bits when it hit the ground.
"You are a pathetic succubus not fit to be in my presence!" he roared. "I am your King and your better, and you dared try to claim My prize for yourself! Now that you have lost, you should be on your knees begging for My mercy and for Me to spare your miserable existence!"
Squaring her shoulders, Sunset stared him down, her rage building. "I bow before no king, and Twilight Sparkle was never yours to take." Her voice carried, and she gestured with one hand, willing her magical fire to spring up around the shadows binding Applejack, in a bid to free her friends. "I'm not sure what exactly you've done to be able to possess her like that, but I will free her and send you back to where you belong, along with all your hollow Fearlings and empty Nightmares, and any of your monstrous followers who refuse to surrender."
He narrowed his eyes at her, and suddenly, his rage calmed, becoming cold, icy calculation. "It has been thousands of years since I faced one who would Challenge My crown." He made a motion to his underlings, and they cleared a path between Sunset and the mystic circle. "It will make an amusing first victory for My return to power..." His eyes glittered. "Make your Challenge then, succubus."
Sunset studied him, the shadows and shadow-crystals, the purple flames and smoke, and red edges to the horns on Twilight's forehead. It reminded her...of a conversation with Princess Twilight, and she knew then who he was. Who he was the counterpart for. Fine. He wanted to handle this in some outdated fashion? Lucky for her she had studied ancient dueling etiquette for many cultures. "I, Magus Sunset Shimmer of Equestria, protege of the Goddess of the Dawn, She Who Commands the Celestial Spheres, Challenge you thrice, King Sombra, Horned Shadow and Ruler of Demons. I Challenge your crown, I Challenge your rule, and I Challenge your Claim to Twilight Sparkle. You are an honorless coward using children as fodder for your delusions, and I refuse to let you have this world."
Crimson eyes stared at her. "...Ssssombra...sssso you know of the sssshadow-ssself. Ssshe must have told you hersssself..." Drawing himself up to immensity, towering over all of them, he extended his arms. "I, King Sombra, Horned King of Darkness and shadow, King of Demons and true master of this world, accept your Challenge thrice, Magus Sunset Shimmer. As Challenged, the terms are thus: My Power against yours, My army, against yours." The smile that pulled at Twilight's face was sadistic and cruel. "And when you lose, you shall serve Me and call Me Master. It will be useful should I decide to take your world as well. Celestia and I have a score to settle." A snap of his fingers and her friends were flung at her feet free of shadows but battered and bruised.
"And when I win, you give me back Twilight, and leave her body, and get out of my school."
Sombra laughed. "Should the impossible happen, and you win, you may have the shell. If you want her soul, you'll have to fetch it yourself from its new prison in Hell."
Sunset's heart dropped to her shoes, taking her stomach along for the ride. What?
--Focus, horn-head. We'll see about this first part, then talk about Sparky!--
"Those terms are acceptable, Sombra." Her voice was steadier than she felt.
Shadowy talons began twisting in the air. "It shall be quite delicious to beat you with the power that I took from this girl you want to bed so badly," he laughed.
What power? Twilight was human...she didn't have magic.
Did she?
Or had Sombra mistaken Sunset's lingering magic on Twilight as belonging to the dark haired girl?
Sombra was grinning still, that malicious, toothy expression so wrong on her girlfriend's face, and he brought his hands forward as though completing a spell...
And nothing happened.
"What is the meaning of thisssss?! ITHEADAIR!" The shadows around him came alive as he rounded on Cinch/Itheadair. "You have sabotaged the ritual! Cost Me the girl's power! You cowardly, backstabbing, oathbreaking moor-spawn!"
"M-Master, I swear I did nothing of the sort! It was performed as it has always been!"
Sombra's shadows snatched his follower off the ground. "And yet it has gone wrong. You have failed Me --and now the price comes due for your failures, Lord of the Sidhe." He made a twisting motion with his claws, and as one, the shadows turned on all of the elfin looking beings, tearing them apart and devouring the pieces amidst horrific and terrible screams. "The power that gave your people life shall serve Me one last time. You shall serve Me one last time...General." Dark magic swelled and the shadows birthed more of their own, until they numbered nearly in the thousands.
Cinch/Itheadair was dropped to numb feet, and presented with a sword drawn from somewhere. "Eliminate the enemy, Itheadair, and perhaps I will spare you. Or at least make your death swift." Power infused the pointy eared being as the sword was taken, and left behind dark armor and shadow crystals.
Then those eyes burned into Sunset's. "Behold, My army and My power. Where is yours?"
> Chapter One Hundred and Seventy: Frontline
Things had taken a turn for the unsettling, Luna decided, as a massive wave of what she could only classify as dark magic swept through the school. They had done quite well, the collective defenders of Canterlot High, in pushing back and defeating the possessed masses and unsettling fae creatures. There had been a moment where their resolve had faltered in the face of potential tragedy, but the students had rallied around Flash Sentry's inspired speech, and now the bulk of the defenders was converging on the rotunda, with a smaller group led by Granny Smith circling through the woods with the intention of flanking the enemy that had gathered out front. Chatter and static came from the earpiece she had given Raven, loud enough to hear as Luna picked herself up off the ground.
"I cannot imagine that is anything good," she said with a sigh, offering a hand to Cadence.
"Neither can I," her best friend responded. "I...I'm worried for Twily too. Not only is she in the thick of this...but she...she would have seen it when Sunset was..." She choked on her words. "Oh...Sunset..." Tears welled up and she wiped her eyes hurriedly. "And we don't know where Spike is now," she cried. "I was supposed to look after them all, and I feel like I've failed completely! Spike's run off, Twily is in the hands of monsters, and Sunset might be--"
She made a sound in her throat. "Cady...I must agree with Mr. Sentry's proclamation. Do not count Sunset Shimmer out of the picture just yet. She has abilities and hidden strengths I do not believe anyone truly understands. Not even her."
"I know she's tough," Cadence agreed wetly, still trying to stop the tears. "But...what...they saw happen? What your students saw on camera? She's got to be terribly hurt. She needed medical attention right away, and we are stuck fighting in the halls."
Nodding, Luna squeezed her shoulder briefly. "I know, but...I also know she survived a literal fall from a considerable height last October with no injuries to speak of, and she has alluded to some...lingering properties her magic has...acquired. Right now we are trying to work our way to them--they seem to have moved out front, which is where we will face them."
Before she could say anything else, the shadows came alive around them, disgorging amorphous monsters from every nook and cranny, things made of darkness that flowed from one shape to the other and advanced on them. Luna twisted her polearm and cut through three of them with a horizontal slash. They collapsed into dust, leaving particulates that smoldered on the oil coating her blade. "Something seems to have changed. We need to hurry."
Shining Armor drove as quickly as he could get away with in the nondescript, beat up truck he had borrowed from the motor-pool's undercover cars, but it was still too slow in the morning traffic. He had finally escaped the city proper and was in the suburban neighborhood area near Canterlot High, and he still hadn't heard anything from his fiancee or his sisters. It was making him tense, and he clicked on his personal radio. "Armor, checking in. I should be at CHS in a few minutes."
"Understood," Plot's voice came through. "The captain said I'm to stay on this line for your check-ins. He's giving you another hour to have news before he sends one of the SWAT teams. Please be careful, Detective."
"I will, Plot. Going dark to keep my cover. Will check in as soon as possible." He thumbed the radio off and tucked it into his inner jacket pocket. Just three more blocks...
A beam of what could only be described as purple fire and pure darkness shot into the sky beyond the houses and the trees, and a faint shockwave made the ground tremble and trees bend. He hit the brakes, bracing for the oncoming wave, and felt the truck rock violently...and die.
"Shit!" Shining put the vehicle in neutral and let it roll, guiding it to the side of the road. Then he got out, looking around. Thunder boomed overhead, the sky threatening to split open any minute. It was still midmorning, but the clouds were so dark that everything was cast into a sort of late twilight dimness.
Still, it was enough light for him to recognize where he was: right next to the street that had the entrance to the forest path that led right to Canterlot High's parking lot. Shining took off at a run, the nauseous feeling in the pit of his stomach telling him his family was right in the thick of whatever it was he had seen. "Hold on, girls, I'm coming to help..." Orders be damned--he wasn't going to let them get hurt.
It was almost impossible to see once he passed beyond the treeline on the narrow trail, but he could make out the scattered bits of trash left behind by teens using the area for activities they did not want their parents to know about. He jogged as rapidly as he could get away with, not willing to risk tripping in the woods, and strained his ears and eyes for danger. All was quiet until he reached the fork in the trail, not more than thirty yards from the asphalt of the parking lot...
"You've got ten seconds ta put yer hands in the air sonny Jim, or yer gettin' a load o' salt shot somewhere mighty painful-like."
Carefully, Shining raised his hands over his head, and turned to face the voice. The young detective found himself looking at an elderly woman with a shotgun and several dozen high schoolers in Canterlot High Spiritwear, including the headbands with fuzzy ears. They were also all armed with super soakers, slingshots, and an array of sports equipment. "I'm a friend," he said. "My name is Shining Armor--I'm with the CCPD. Badge is in my hip pocket, left side."
"Izzat so? Mac, search him. Where's yer sidearm, officer?"
He sighed. "Undercover to check out the situation here. Had to leave it behind."
The old woman waited while a red skinned youth frisked him efficiently and nodded. "Tellin' the truth. Detective Shining Armor, CCPD."
She hummed. "School's a shitshow right now, officer. We been freeing hostages and getting kids ta safety, but this ain't a situation yer lot is ready fer."
"You mean the magic? I figured, but I'm here anyway." At the woman's raised eyebrow, he explained, "One of my sisters goes here, and she's involved in the whole mess. I pieced it together on my own. Now I'm worried for both sisters, my fiancee, and one of my best friends, because all of them are here today."
A quiet murmur, and a girl with a baseball bat called out, "Who is your sister that goes here?"
Shining answered immediately. "Sunset Shimmer." He figured it couldn't hurt--they likely knew her.
Sudden tension and somber silence greeted the words, and his heart sank. "What happened? Is Sunset alright?"
The old woman lowered her gun. "...We don't know...she...It doesn't look good. Mah girls were with her, trying ta protect her and save their friend...but..."
"They put something on her," a boy with a sparse mustache said. "It made her scream like she was being tortured. And then they said the shadow monster threw her across the gym. Flash thinks she's alive. We want her to be alive...but it doesn't look good...so we're going to do like she would have. We're going to stop the monsters and save the school and everyone else."
Twily would be devastated. So would his mother. Shining blinked back tears. "I...I need to know...my baby sister...she goes to CPA. She and Sunset are...close. Sunset would have tried to protect her from Cinch...is she here?" He held his hand at about Twilight's height. "Dark hair, pink streak, lavender skin, glasses."
It was then that the boy who frisked him squinted. "Wait just a cotton pickin' minute. Which one's yer sister? Sunset or Princess Twilight?"
Princess...?
Confused, he held up his hands again so they wouldn't attack. "I don't know about a princess, but Twilight Sparkle is my little sister by blood...and Sunset is my sister by choice. Twily started bringing her home last fall and she's been part of the family since." The eyes staring at him felt sharper than any knife, and he swallowed.
It seemed to satisfy the boy and the old woman. "Right. Well, we're on our way ta flankin' those sons of bitches that done attacked our school. You want ta join us, officer? We got spare weapons that'll actually work on these beasties when we roll 'em up like a dirty carpet."
Shining's expression did nothing to hide his pain, but his voice was firm despite the tears in his eyes. "Ma'am...just give me a sword and point me at the dragon."
Laughter, strained and tired from seeing too much erupted from the teens. The woman stared into his eyes before nodding. "Y'all heard the man. Get him a bat and oil it up like the others." She nodded to him. "Ah think we'll get along just fine, Detective."
Indigo had to admit she was more than a little impressed with the Principal of CHS. The woman was nothing like Principal Cinch, and after close to an hour of fighting side by side with her, the pair of them armed with super soakers and a couple of iron rods that had begun life as fireplace pokers from back in the school's ancient past before it was modernized, the girl decided that this had to be the coolest school in the world. Principal Celestia dispatched enemies with brutal efficiency, her eyes blazing with controlled fury at the audacity of creatures that dared attack her school and her students.
They were taking a break now, breathing heavily and gulping down water from bottles that had been stashed in a locker with a winged horse sticker on the front. "This is insane!" Indigo panted. "How many of these things are there?! We only had like two hundred people here!"
The woman with her remained collected. "I feel it would be prudent to assume they have a method of acquiring reinforcements, as not all we have engaged have been solid humanoid forms, Indigo, not since that...wave of dark energy knocked us down."
Her arms felt like jello, and she leaned heavily on the lockers. "...I guess...just feels like we have been at this forever and there's no end in sight."
Pale fingers rested briefly on her shoulder. "We are almost to the rotunda--do not give up hope. If what my students are saying is to be believed...then we have cleared most of the enemy from the school."
"But we haven't rescued Twilight," Indigo countered.
Principal Celestia's expression became one of sorrow. "I know," she said softly. "We have not given up, but it would not have helped to be reckless, Indigo Zap. Sunset would not have wanted you to help Twilight at the cost to yourself."
Frustration made her pull away sharply from the educator. "Yeah? Well, Sunset might be fucking dead, and if she is, then I gotta help Twilight and make sure she gets home safe." Now she was panting and trying to catch her breath for a different reason. "I've gotta! If...if she's gone, Twilights gonna be messed up. They had a fight, and she hasn't gotten to apologize. If...if Sunset's dead...and Sparkle never gets to...God...she might...I don't think she'll make it. Not as the Twilight we know." Why was she crying? This was the worst time for tears--she couldn't see! "Dammit!" She rubbed furiously at her face--she couldn't afford to do this now.
Warm arms enfolded her in a hug, just like her mother or aunts might have given her. "Shhh..." came the soothing voice of the Canterlot High principal. "Let it out...holding it in doesn't help."
She shook her head. "This is the worst time! We have to help Twilight!"
"We have a minute or two. Let it out...It sounds like Sunset is your friend too, and it is okay to be upset and scared when our friends are in trouble." A hand made soothing circles on her back, and she could feel the humming, a soft tune that seemed familiar...
Because it was.
Because the bitch in black leather had hummed it to Twilight in the nurse's office. It's what had gotten Twilight to finally relax, Sunset holding her and humming that same song...
She had failed to protect Twilight like she'd said. And now...because of her failure...Twilight might have lost the girl she loved...forever.
It was Indigo's fault.
"No..." Celestia murmured. "It was never your fault, or Twilight's or Sunset's or anyone but the monster named Abacus Cinch."
Indigo shook her head, and one hand fumbled in her pocket. She'd shoved the rosary her abuela had gifted her in there every morning for the last week, on the off chance it could protect her from the monsters when paired with the discreet silver cross she normally wore when she was forced to go to church with her family. Demonic looking monster or not, Sunset mattered to the only friend Indigo really had...and she had been nothing but friendly to Indigo too. And Indigo contributed to a situation that might cost both of them their lives. Might have already cost Sunset hers.
Grasping the beads, she found herself praying in the rapid Spanish she heard Abuelita use, even if she only understood one word in five. There was something familiar and calming to the rolling syllables and smooth beads. She wasn't sure if it would grant her any absolution for her part in what had happened to Twilight and Sunset, but it was something.
She didn't expect for her hiccupped prayer to be joined by the woman with her, and certainly not in smooth Italian. The teen glanced up through teary eyes as they reached the end of the prayer. "Y-you're Catholic?"
A soft laugh and a faint smile and she was released from the gentle hug. "For at least ten generations," Principal Celestia chuckled. "My father's family immigrated here from Venesia. Mother's was Romano." She picked her fireplace poker back up and balanced it against her shoulder. "What about your family?"
"Abuelita left Oaxaca as a little girl. Mom's family is mostly Irish. You can guess why they came to America a hundred odd years ago." She rubbed her eyes and copied Principal Celestia. "I go when they make me...might have to start going more. I dunno. I'm not keen on the things the church sticks its nose into...but if demons are real..." She left it hanging.
The woman hummed in her throat. "Faith is a very deeply personal thing you should decide for yourself, Indigo, but I will say that there is no shame in seeking inner peace and comfort from it, should it help you. And should you ever simply need to talk about your experiences with magic, both my sister and I have degrees in counseling, and open office doors. I understand you're the Indigo who is going to be joining us for the rest of the year after spring break?"
Nodding, Indigo resumed their trek towards the rotunda, where they could see a growing gathering of students and teachers. "Yes, ma'am. I would have already transferred but I wasn't going to abandon Twilight."
"My sister mentioned that when we were looking at the paperwork your mother dropped off. I would be glad to welcome you as one of our Wondercolts alongside Twilight. You already show the exact attitude I want to see out of my students."
Indigo smiled weakly. "...just doing what my parents taught me..."
Principal Celestia chuckled. "They should be proud of you then."
They stepped into the open space of the rotunda, and one of the boys from the CHS Games Team jogged up. "Principal Celestia!"
"Mister Sentry," she responded. "How is everything here?"
He ran a hand through blue hair. "We're just waiting on the last two groups and Vice Principal Luna. Things are getting bad out there. They've sealed the doors somehow and they caused that big wave of dark magic. Trixie says it was about as dark as it gets. It took out most of our cameras, and about half the headsets. We're mostly blind, and just glad all the coordinating was pretty much done before they went out." His shoulders slumped. "No sign of Sunset, but they have the other girls and Twilight with them."
Indigo stepped forward. "Is Twilight okay? Could you see her?"
Sentry made a face. "She didn't look great...but she was fighting from what we could see before they pulled her to the center of that mess." He motioned towards the doors with one hand--the other was gripping some kind of modified nail-gun. "Before the radios went on the fritz--we need to have Sunset and the princess figure out a way to magic-proof our tech for next time--Bon-Bon had Granny Smith leading a portion of our forces through the woods. They're going to flank the bad guys."
"Tell her the rest," a stern voiced girl told him, before turning back to coordinating with two other group leaders, the pony ears on the headband a bright creamy yellow that matched her skin.
The blue haired boy winced. "Right. Um. Big Mac beat the crap out of Mr. Pythagorus, and Dark Tide had him zip-tied and locked in the mop closet."
Principal Celestia's face turned hard. "What did he do to elicit that reaction?"
Another wince and a frown, which told Indigo it was nothing good. She was proven right when he answered, "He...advertised his personal feelings on the idea that Sunset might be dead. Tide said he was...celebrating that knowledge."
From behind them there was a sharp intake of breath, and the voice of Twilight's sister-in-law. "Lu...I don't know who they're talking about, but I think you may have to stop me from murdering him."
"Stop you?" Vice Principal Luna snorted. "Cadenza, as your best friend, my place is helping you dispose of the body. Someone else will have to be responsible in this case." She paused. "Sister, please tell me we can at least fire him after this?"
Exhaling slowly, the principal turned to face her...sister? That was a weird thought, Indigo noted, having siblings be in charge of a school. What happened when they disagreed? "At the very minimum, yes--we had a crisis, one where our student body is in real danger and he chose to be a useless coward and hide, rather than protect the children. I suspect job termination shall be the least of his worries."
Miss Luna stepped into Indigo's line of sight, and Indigo's jaw dropped. "Okay...this is officially the coolest school in the history of ever," she stated. The woman was clad in honest to goodness armor, leaning on a polearm with a wicked head that gleamed wetly under the fluorescent lights.
Sea colored eyes flitted to her. "The compliment is appreciated, Miss Zap. Are you alright? You...seem to have been in a very physical altercation or two."
She shrugged. "They wouldn't let Twilight or me go once we got in the building. We tried to escape, to get to Sunset, to you, to anyone with an ounce of power and authority, but...they objected to that. With their fists." She grinned savagely. "Sunset returned the favor to our VP. I think she and Rainbow Dash broke his arm. I heard it snap."
"He deserved it." Sentry scowled. "He called Sunset a whore and tried to grab her."
Luna's eyes narrowed. "He definitely deserved it. Sexist pig." Then she looked at her sister. "I have something for you, Tia. A bit more your style than that ancient poker." At her side, Cadence took off a belt that was around her chest and offered out a fancy looking sword in its scabbard.
The principal handed Indigo her poker, and took the sword reverently. "You had it restored," she whispered, fingers running over ivory leather, before buckling it around her waist where it fit perfectly.
"More than restored. Restored, sharpened, and then blessed by Father Malleus, sister."
There was a quiet from all around, and then the tough looking girl from earlier spoke up. "No offense, Principal Celestia, but do you even know how to use that thing?"
Indigo stepped back as the woman drew the sword with a singing sound, holding the gleaming rapier in one expert hand. She took a professional fencing stance, and made a few test movements to check the blade's balance. "I do believe I have an idea--after all, how hard is 'pointy end goes in the other man' to understand?"
"Um...I think it's a little more complicated than that..." the girl responded dubiously.
A smile had come over Miss Luna's face. "What my sister is neglecting to share is that she turned down the scouts for the Olympic fencing team when she was in college, after she took nationals for the second year in a row."
Okay. Yeah. That would do it. It certainly explained why the educator had been so deadly and efficient with a length of iron. The teen rubbed her fingers along the pokers in her grip. "Strange question...but are there any more of those ears?" she asked, pointing towards the decorations they were all wearing. "I can't change clothes, but...I want to make it clear which side I'm on."
Sentry looked her over. "You're Twilight's friend, aren't you? The one that called her when Twilight was in trouble."
"Uh...yup. That's me. Indigo Zap." She juggled the pokers to hold out a hand. "I'll be transferring here once Twilight does. I didn't want to leave her to the hyenas at CPA."
He smiled and shook it. "Flash Sentry. One of Sunset's friends. We'll be glad to have you both. Pony-girl needs you guys here, and Dash'll like you, I think. She appreciates loyalty like yours." Someone passed over some headbands. One he gave to her. "Welcome to being a Wondercolt."
"Thanks."
He turned and offered another to Principal Celestia, this one with ivory ears and a long unicorn horn on it. "We made special ones for you and Miss Luna, but her helmet has that covered--badass, by the way, Miss Luna."
"Thank you, Mister Sentry. Give Cadence mine for now." Luna smirked. "Well, put on your crown, Tia. Your subjects await their leader."
Celestia sighed. "Poor taste, Luna, given what we know of Princess Celestia."
"Who said anything about a princess? We are clearly queens, sister. That makes us better than your nag of a counterpart."
Shaking her head, Celestia slipped the headband on firmly. "Satisfied?"
"Mostly. You still have to give a rousing speech to--"
"It's Sunset!" a girl screamed from the doors. "She's alive!!!"
That got everyone's attention and Indigo followed the principals as they waded through students to the doors. There was some kind of showdown going on, Sunset supporting Rainbow Dash as she got up...and then the crowd parted...
To reveal Twilight, wreathed in shadows like some kind of freaky exosuit. She looked terrifying and monstrous, and the twisted expression on her face was so unlike Indigo's friend that it made her nauseous. "Ay, Dios," she whispered. "What did they do to you, Sparkle?"
Letting Dash stand on her own, Sunset stepped forward, and then her voice rang out. It was no parade ground yell, yet it was as if she stood in the room beside them. "I, Magus Sunset Shimmer of Equestria, protege of the Goddess of the Dawn, She Who Commands the Celestial Spheres, Challenge you thrice, King Sombra, Horned Shadow and Ruler of Demons. I Challenge your crown, I Challenge your rule, and I Challenge your Claim to Twilight Sparkle. You are an honorless coward using children as fodder for your delusions, and I refuse to let you have this world."
The being she called Sombra, who was clearly using Twilight's body as a puppet, stared at her a minute before they heard his booming reply. "I, King Sombra, Horned King of Darkness and shadow, King of Demons and true master of this world, accept your Challenge thrice, Magus Sunset Shimmer. As Challenged, the terms are thus: My Power against yours, My army, against yours." The smile that warped Twilight's mouth was dark and unpleasant. "And when you lose, you shall serve me and call me Master. It will be useful should I decide to take your world as well. Celestia and I have a score to settle." A snap of fingers sent Sunset's battered friends hurled to her feet.
Principal Celestia watched a moment longer, and seemed to come to a decision. She leapt up onto a long table against the nearby wall. "Wondercolts!" she barked, her voice breaking through the angry chatter of the crowd and sending them to silence. "Sunset Shimmer lives, and still fights! She fights for her friends! For each of you! For this school and this world that she now calls home! She has chosen to make herself into someone each and every one of you has come to love and respect! Someone I am more proud of than I can say, just as I am so proud to be principal for such a wonderful school!"
Her rapier swept in an arc to point at the crowd. "Each and every one of you has made me proud today. You have shown courage and honor, loyalty and friendship, kindness and mercy. You have taken a stand against evil with no powers of your own...and yet you have prevailed...because you do have a magic within you. The very magic that powers the Rainbooms, that Princess Twilight showed you last fall--the Magic of Friendship! The bonds you have formed have made you greater than the sum of your parts! It has made you more than teens, more than individuals! It has made you Wondercolts!" The point of her sword gestured to the glass doors, to the monster called Sombra. "Our enemy demands Sunset bring forth an army to face his! I say we are that army! No pale shadows and horrors of darkness, but living, breathing people who have embraced the magic of our school and who will be the greatest generation of graduates Canterlot High has ever seen! I say we show him what it means to mess with the Wondercolts, and to threaten one of our own!"
Celestia raised her sword aloft, the tip pointed heavenward. "Who is with me?!"
The assembled masses roared back, hundreds of makeshift weapons in the air. With a burst of energy, a girl wielding an actual wizard staff appeared beside the principal. "The House of Lulamoon stands with House Solaire!" she declared. "And upon the Wondercolts, I bestow the strength of Lulamoon!" That staff began to move through the air in a complex pattern that left a trail of shimmering, multicolored sparks. "A spell left to his descendants by the Greatest Sorcerer to ever live, that even the most humble of tools may smite evil and drive it from the world!" With a flourish, she brought the staff down on the table's surface, the silver capped end striking sharply, and the energy rushed over the room as a rain of color. It stuck to every makeshift weapon and repurposed tool, leaving behind a faint rainbow glow that flowed from one color to another.
Inclining her head, Principal Celestia smiled at the girl. "House Solaire appreciates the support of the House of Lulamoon," she said quietly. "In the future, in such endeavors, perhaps an alliance can be discussed?"
"The Great and Powerful Trixie shall speak to her father after this has ended."
"Lovely." The woman climbed down from the table, and turned her attention to the biggest man Indigo had ever seen in real life. He was made even larger by the modified football pads and football helmet that had metal bull horns coming out of it like some modern day Viking. "Will? Be a dear--make us a door."
> Chapter One Hundred and Seventy One: Out For Love (And Friendship)
Sombra's words hung in the air ominously, as Sunset helped her friends to their feet, her magic thrumming under skin and passing into them. Their own magic flared brighter, and Pony-ups that had started to fade came back with a vengeance. Rainbow flexed her repaired wing. "Army? We'll show you an army," she snarled at Sombra, right before the doors to the school exploded outwards in a shrieking, shattering cacophony of glass and metal being torn asunder.
The six of them ducked in reflex as an absolute behemoth came flying out through the shrapnel and landed on top of the battered door like a surfboard, even as the door itself landed across three of the Fearlings. His added weight made the shadow-spawn pop with a gross squelching noise as his booted feet drove it all the way to kiss the concrete at the bottom of the steps. "Oh YEAH!" Coach Iron Will roared, hefting a massive sledgehammer over his head. "Do not FUCK with Iron Will's students!"
In his wake Principal Celestia, Vice Principal Luna, Cadence, and Indigo led the way as dozens of armed Canterlot High students poured out of the school. "Her army is right here, Sombra!" Principal Celestia declared, pointing a sword at him. "She may have challenged you, but to the last, we all defy you!"
"We have the coolest principals," Rainbow crowed, pumping her fists in the air. "Nice armor, VP!"
Luna saluted her with the glaive. "We are here to help take down the loathsome beast and his slavering horde! She brandished the weapon at a group of Fearlings. "Come then, abominations! Taste the wrath of Nightmare Moon If you but dare!"
Beside her, Cady slotted a new clip into the gun in her hand. "You'll regret targeting my sisters, you jerk!" Her eyes flicked to Sunset. "I'm so glad you're alive, Sunset--we...we thought the worst."
Just what had gone on while she was putting her psyche back together?
--Beginning to think we missed a lot of important stuff while we were talking, horn-head.--
Me too.
Still, Sunset wasn't one to turn down help in this case--they couldn't fight an army without help, and help had arrived in spades. "My army, False King," she called, spreading her hands, and letting the magic fill her until it flowed out in flames and rainbows. "And my power."
Harmonic magic sang in the air, and her friends began to glow. Rainbow Dash flexed her wings and leapt into the air just as the heavens finally opened up. Fat raindrops began spattering the stone, leaving dark spots on clothing and hair, metal and stone, and thunder boomed above. Lightning crackled and then came down, drawn to the lone figure twenty feet overhead. Sunset raised her hand, called out in warning, but sound would never be faster than light.
Or lightning.
The bolt slammed into Rainbow Dash, but rather than cooking her like a piece of meat, it crackled across her skin as she arched her back, wings spread wide. Her eyes blazed with blue light, and she snapped forward, her hands thrown wide and fingers splayed, and all the electrical energy bounded down her arms to launch itself out of her fingertips in a crackling burst of blue-white brilliance.
Lightning struck the Fearlings and Nightmares, arc'ing from one body to another, dozens of them seizing and exploding in black gore in a single blow. It was absolutely devastating to a large swath of enemies closest to the girls.
It also served as the signal for the student body of Canterlot High to surge forward, with Coach Will and Miss Luna leading the charge.
Celestia flicked her sword deftly, the sparkling edge parting a bestial head from shadowy shoulders like a hot knife cutting through butter. It seemed that the enchanted, glowing nimbus meant that even a sword meant for piercing rather than slicing was extremely effective against the monsters they faced...which was good, because there were just so many of them.
Several more fell to her blade and then she was facing an opponent that she almost didn't expect. Clad in armor of crystal void, wielding a wicked sword of darkness, the figure spoke with the voice of Abacus Cinch. "Celestia Solaire," she--it?--growled. "I suppose I should not be surprised it has come to this. Your family has long been a thorn in my side."
"And it turns out my ancestor was right--your facility was a horrible, hellish place. So I'd say it's rather fitting that we end this today, you and I."
Cinch hissed something that sounded like a curse. "I should have destroyed your line ages ago with my own hands, instead of wasting my time and power on a bloodline curse to do it for me!"
The words hit her like a physical blow, and under them, she could hear the echo of a lifetime of tragedy and generations of bad news, the painful, untimely, and awful deaths that had plagued her family for generations... It clicked, and her brows pinched. "Grandmother always said our family had run afoul of the Devil...but it was you? You were behind all of it?"
"Consequences for challenging a Lord in their domain," Cinch responded with the sneer evident in her voice. "I have no idea how you broke it, but it is of no matter. I will finish it here and now!"
Rage like she hadn't felt in years seethed under the surface, and Celestia took a deep breath, channeling that inner fire into energy for the fight, into the ability to ignore pain and demand more from her body than she would normally believe possible. This...wretch...had taken almost everyone she loved from her. Had been the cause of the accident somehow, had almost cost her Luna a few years later...had likely been behind--
She growled, and lunged, her rapier flashing golden as it moved.
Cadence was torn. She was deathly afraid for Twilight's well being. Her little sister was being used like a puppet for whatever evil they were staring down, and she still couldn't figure out why the being, who Sunset had named 'Sombra' would want to use a teen girl's body anyway; the voice sounded like a gravelly voiced man, which was as far from teen girl as it got. She was worried about Sunset's health--she could see the blood on the back of her jeans and tshirt, crimson tears where glass and sharp bits of wood had cut into her flesh. The glance of those eyes her way, black sclera with glowing irises and catlike pupils, and the way her nails were black and far too sharp...something they hadn't been earlier...it made her afraid for Sunset, and a part of her just kept hearing Lu's warning from before.
And then there was Luna, who had been defending her sister's back and had just heard the exchange between Celestia and Abacus Cinch. Cady immediately turned her attention to her best friend, and saw the second the words hit home. Gray-green eyes met hers, old pain and grief threatening to spill over. It was an unintended blow on Cinch's part, meant for Celestia, but it stabbed Luna just as deeply for different reasons... Reasons Cadence knew, reasons that had been behind a dark and worrying spiral that had led her to reach out to her dorm mate years ago, reasons that had been wept into her shoulder like black poison more than once when Lu was at her lowest.
She stepped into Luna's space without thinking, a hand coming to rest on her forearm, feeling leather and metal under her touch rather than warm, dark skin. It served its purpose, and the pink skinned woman watched Luna...swallow her pain, for lack of another term, and she tipped her head in a nod, eyes now shuttered and focused. Her arm moved, and a gauntleted hand squeezed Cadence's in gratitude. "Cover me?" she asked tightly.
"Always," Cady responded, her decision made. Sunset was surrounded by friends, and they were all trying to help her and Twilight...but Luna needed her now. "Give them hell, dreamer. I've got your back."
A faint smile, more smirk than anything, and Luna twisted away, diving into the fray. Her polearm moved with surprising alacrity, and her grief had become fuel for her vicious assault on the shadows. It was no longer enough to cut them down; now that weapon tore them apart in gruesome violence, its owner making the phrase 'twisting the knife' into a very literal action as she waded through the enemy.
Her own face set into a grim expression, Cady brought her gun up and began picking off the creatures that decided it was a good idea to go at Lu's back.
Iron Will was in his element. He had not enjoyed himself this much since that time he and his squad were stranded in the Carpathian Mountains for six weeks before an evac could be arranged without triggering an international incident. Or World War III. Swinging his great-great-grandpappy's old steel driving hammer, he was singing cadence to time the overhead swings that were reminiscent of one of those 'whack-a-mole' carnival games.
"Wake up to a mortar attack!"
SPLAT! Went something that looked like a giant squid mated with an alligator.
"Hit the ground, outta my rack!"
CRUNCH! Said the black carapace of a bug-like thing.
"Sergeant rushes me off to chow!"
SQUISH! Was the reply of something with too many eyes.
"But I don't eat it anyhow!"
SPLORTCH! That one ruptured like a zit and left foul tar on his boots.
It was good to be alive! He grinned through the mask of his helmet at something that stared back, chittering and hissing. Red eyes bored into him, and he felt something scrabbling at the surface of his mind, like a horde of giant spiders skittering across glass. It wanted something. Looking for a weakness, maybe.
"Good luck!" Will bellowed in its face. "Uncle Sam got rid of all that decades ago! Weakness gets a soldier killed!!"
The nasty thing recoiled from him, and its form rippled as it tried to become something that would give him pause. It settled on some kind of massive eldritch horror with too many eyes and tentacles and claws.
"Is that what you call a game face? Iron Will thinks his bunny slippers wouldn't even run for cover!"
Adjusting his grip, the former soldier began to sing again--it confused his rather dim witted enemies.
"Oh hail, oh hail, oh infantry!
Queen of battle, follow me..."
Diamond shields snapped into existence, causing one of the shadows to splatter against it, wailing as the defensive barrier made of Rarity's magic burned. "Be more mindful, dearest," the tailor called to her partner.
Green eyes twinkled with affection as Applejack tossed her braid over one shoulder. "Thank ya kindly, darlin'!" Unspoken was the trust that Rarity would always watch her back in all things.
That was just how it was.
Rarity let the confident smile play over her lips even as she controlled more than a dozen barriers at once, her focus having no difficulty popping them in and out of existence anywhere they were needed nearby. She recognized the defensive application of her powers, and stood at a distance among the students with ranged weaponry, assisting and defending the close quarters combatants from deadly injury.
As always though, one thread of her capable, multitasking mind was always on her other half. When Applejack was caught between a half dozen shadows, and one of them managed to catch her eyes, before morphing into a dark replica of Bright Mac, causing her to jerk back and almost onto shadow talons behind her, Rarity twitched a hand, spawning a glimmering barrier behind and a simple, saw-blade-like disc in the front that bisected the mockery of the sweet, gentle giant of a man from whom Applejack had inherited her quiet displays of affection, powerful capacity for love, and enough physical features that she was already haunted by her reflection. She would not allow these things to sully his memory or bring her beloved more grief.
They had always looked out for each other, and they would until forever. This was just one more way they did so.
That was just how it was.
And when the dark tide threatened to overwhelm Rarity's group of students on the steps of the school, rolling over the diamond dome in a desperate attempt to overwhelm her magic before it burned them all up, orange energy raced to her aid. Applejack was an unstoppable juggernaut, clearing the enemies with powerful punches and kicks, even going so far as to reach up and drag the higher shadows off the dome by ankles and tentacles and other nameless appendages, hurling them into the sky where Rainbow was gleefully darting around at Mach Two. First a small area cleared, then a ring around the dome, and then a gesture for a step up to clear the top, which Rarity happily provided.
Once the area was clear, she flashed the tailor a thumbs up, before turning back to the melee. It was a promise, that just as much as blue eyes kept tabs on her, the farmer was keeping tabs on Rarity. As she turned her fists on something that tried to form into a giant bear shadow, knocking it in the jaw with extreme prejudice, the tailor caught a glimpse of the edge of faded fabric sticking up out of one jean pocket. It made the pale skinned girl's smile soften into one of love, and with that love, her magic rose to the challenge, filling her from her head to her toes, spilling out of her fingertips as brilliant diamond shards that she commanded like bullets to shred the oncoming ranks of a jungle's worth of shadow beasts.
It was incredibly satisfying to know her knight still carried her favor after all these years, after all. Some might have seen it as cheesy or silly, but the simple act and deep attachment to the tattered fabric that had once been part of a child's costume was a gesture of love and devotion that touched Rarity to her core, and communicated more than any words Applejack might've uttered, how much and how deeply she was loved.
"From always to forever, my dearest treasure," she whispered. Even though the words could never, would never, carry, her magic would, and she let it reach out, shades of rich indigo curling around brilliant autumn orange, communicating her love with it.
No words were necessary, as green eyes met blue across the distance, and knowing passed between them.
That was just how it was, after all.
Flash had managed to find a spot on a big rock that had been uncovered during the reconstruction of the front walk of the school and left on the grass for the art students to paint for school pride. He had enough of a vantage point to be able to peg shadows with nails from his new toy. It certainly wasn't a standard off-the-shelf nail-gun anymore--if it ever was--and the youth wasn't sure he wanted to know exactly what his gym coach had done to modify it to make it spit inch long nails at high speed for at least sixty feet--something about plausible deniability seemed pretty healthy to him in this case. It didn't mean he didn't enjoy it, the ability to hit a shadow beast in the eye from a considerable distance meant he didn't have to deal with what some of his classmates were.
The shadows seemed to twist themselves into the things people were afraid of. Spiders, snakes, and things with too many squid tentacles to be comforting were pretty common, but just as many became people or objects that made little sense to anyone but the intended victim. Flash made it his mission to take out the ones that affected his classmates enough to make them freeze. Whatever Trixie had done to their weapons meant they only needed one good hit on the monsters, but they seemed endless, and judging by the nasty cuts that had already made a few people drop back to get first aid from the med station set up in the rotunda, they could deal a lot of damage quickly. So far no one had been too injured, but they couldn't count on their luck lasting forever. Or their energy. So Flash did what he could to strategically strike to minimize CHS casualties.
"Flash! Behind you!"
Twisting on his foot, he stuck the nail-gun to the skin of the shadow that had almost crept up on him, and fired into it before it could finish turning into a broken bodied form that he knew was his deepest fear: the violent demise of those he cared about. It squealed in pain and shock, falling off the stone with a grotesque, wet sound, before shriveling up into dust. Flash threw Sunset the high sign to let her know he was okay. "Thanks, pony-girl!"
Then he set his shoulders to keep picking off monsters. His friends were counting on him.
Things were absolutely insane, Indigo decided. This was nuts. Completely and totally loco.
The Canterlot students had broken into teams for the most part, and were moving in groups, confusing the shapeshifting shadows into being unable to settle on a single target. They defended each other and employed tactics usually applied to online video games like her little brother loved...and it was working. They were carving large swathes through the ranks of shades, almost faster than...whatever Twilight had become could conjure them.
Indigo found herself moving from group to group, always on the fringes, assisting where she could and trying to find others who needed her help. It was a good thing that she did as much strength and stamina training as she did, because after just a few minutes, she determined that dual wielding iron rods was a grueling exercise. Her arms were starting to feel leaden and numb, but she did what she had done for years when she hit the wall: just kept going, refusing to give in. She would hit the 'runner's high' soon enough, and find that second wind, and when that faltered, she'd find a third. A fourth. As many as she needed to see the day won.
Sure, she'd pay for it tomorrow, but days of agony were better than no days at all. Death and Armageddon were kind of permanent.
Somehow, impossibly, she wound up fighting back to back with Sunset, iron and flames keeping the enemy at a healthy distance and letting them both catch a breath. The athletic teen waffled on whether or not she should apologize for her failure in protecting Twilight, but before she could work up the courage, Sunset was already talking.
"...thank you." Those unsettling eyes, glowing against a black field where it should be white, met hers briefly before a ball of fire flicked out to engulf another shadow. "...for sticking by Twilight when I couldn't."
She flinched. "But...I failed. I couldn't keep her safe, and I couldn't get her to you before Cinch's goons caught up to us." Honey colored eyes glanced at the warped shape that used to be Twilight Sparkle. "I couldn't stop that from happening."
Claw tipped fingers squeezed her shoulder, and Indigo felt warmth flowing into her--the crimson flames felt...revitalizing instead of painful. "You got hurt trying to help Twilight; you didn't have to put yourself at risk, but you did. You stood by her, when I wasn't there."
A deep breath in, and out. "You are a good friend, Indigo, one she needs. You are loyal and true, and I thank you for doing your best. It matters, Indigo, more than I can ever say...to her...and to me. So thank you."
Indigo couldn't manage to form any kind of response before the tide of battle swept them apart. "Sunset!" she called just at the edge of being heard. "She was the friend I needed too! We've got to get her back, okay? Because I'm not ready to say goodbye!"
The answering smile was faint and melancholy. "Neither am I."
Sunset Shimmer disappeared into the writhing mass of dark bodies.
Pinkie Pie did not like what she was seeing. The mean shadow monsters were getting into people's heads just to scare them, and it was making everyone upset. That was not okay.
Which meant it was up to Pinkie to fix it, since Sun-Shim was too busy...and she didn't know she could fix it yet. That was okay. Pinkie would fill in! "Cover me, Pinkie!" she called to three other Pinkies. "I'm going in!"
"Okidokey-loki!" they chorused.
Pinkie's gaze swept the area until she found what she was looking for...
It understood its purpose, why it was here...as did all of its ilk on the battlefield. A Master had called them all from the places they had existed in forever--the shadows, the dark cracks and crevices of the world. Those like it were born in the black places where prey cowered in terror, where breath was stolen, where the depths crushed all under its oppressive weight. They were given existence in the place thoughts, ideas, and memories went to die. Like all those before and all those after, it did not feel. It did not have a name, or a sense of self. It simply was, and a Master had called. It could not refuse, any more than it could be something it wasn't.
That was its nature.
In accordance with its nature it understood its Master's command: Destroy the fleshlings. Make them cower and submit to the Master.
Something that should have been easy; fleshlings feared the places it came from. Whispered around bright lights in the dark their fears, trembled when confronted with darkness and terror and the echoes of the places where death stalked unchallenged. Why then did these fleshlings fight? How could they destroy its kind so swiftly?
Why were they not afraid?
It knew a way to bring out the fear--all fleshlings feared something, but sometimes a fleshling needed a specific fear to know their place. To bend them as a Master wished. It looked at the fleshlings defying its Master and picked one at random, sinking into its thoughts.
What was this fleshling truly afraid of?
The experience was akin to rising up through mists, the fog slowly thinning and parting to reveal the inner terrors... It waited, looking for what it sought.
"Hi!"
The voice came from beside it, a bright colored, alien blur of colors that did not belong, and the sheer audacity of the situation knocked it back into the physical realm. Had it felt emotions, it would have felt shock.
Shaking off the strange events, it picked a different fleshling and tried again. This time the pink presence did not even have the courtesy to wait before it was there again. "You don't have to be so rude! I just want to talk to you!"
Once more it recoiled, and once more it tried again...yet there was the pink thing again. It...could not explain the sensation inside its core--a cold creeping sensation that left it...unsure.
It was a growing sensation that swelled with every new attempt on a different fleshling mind to draw out fear, as the gleeful pinkness followed, addressing it with a pleased voice.
What was this Pink Thing? How could it follow it?!
What was this sensation like being stabbed with ice in its center?
(Had it asked, a fleshling would have been happy to inform it that that was the feeling of dread, the anticipation of something one fears...but it did not think to ask. That wasn't its nature.)
Hissing to itself, it searched for the source. There must be something behind the Pink Thing. It found it, a fleshling as bright and bouncy as the Pink, and the fleshling was staring back at it. Cold was replaced with bubbling heat, and it decided that if that fleshling desired to interrupt its work, it would seek that fleshling's fears instead!
There was no resistance as it found itself in the fleshling's mind...but this was not the familiar mist. It was...pink. And clingy, sticking to it in gobs and strands. A giggle echoed as it struggled to free itself. "I was going to go with cotton candy," the Pink Thing giggled, "but I decided Bubblegum would work better!"
Each word, each laugh, was anathema, and it burned. "Cease!" it growled.
"Can't! See, you were being super mean and hurting my friends..." Bright blue lights gleamed from the pink everywhere around. "...and I don't like it when meanies hurt my friends." Pink strands dissolved but it found itself at a table, a long one, with set for some kind of fleshling fluid consumption. It could not leave the seat it was bent into, and around the table there were dozens of its ilk in the same position.
"Releassssse ussss!" It demanded.
Pink became a fleshling form at one end of the table. "But you wanted to be here," the Pink said. "You came in here...and I let you. So we can have a talk about what you are doing...and why it's wrong. You should use powers like that for making laughter, not fear! I'll teach you how to really party!"
It struggled, the cold sensation returning with a vengeance, and the icy numbness becoming so sharp it burned almost as badly as the Pink speaking did. Yet nothing worked as the Pink kept talking...
That was when it discovered that its kind could feel something after all...
How appropriate that it was fear.
Pinkie blinked, and looked around. The meanie shadows had frozen all over, and she could see streaks of pink flowing and rippling across the surfaces of many of them. It was so nice when a plan worked!
Bon-Bon stopped, stared, and then looked over. "Pinkie...what did you do?"
She grinned and lifted the hat off her head to scratch one ear. "They were being mean, so I made them stop that." A pause as something occurred to her, and she looked at the hat in her hands, a big tag on it that read "10/6." "Huh. This isn't my hat."
"It's mine!" called a pony Pinkie, trotting up. "Discord got it for me as an Unbirthday present!" She took it from Pinkie and tossed it onto her own head.
"Oh! Thanks for letting me borrow it!"
Bon-Bon blinked, then shook her head. "You know what? Never mind. I do not want to know what just happened. All that matters is that we can PRESS THE ATTACK!" She yelled the last bit and made a motion at the students. "Pinkie's weakened them! Go for the kill!"
Giggling, Pinkie bounced away to go help Applejack with some of the mean old shadows.
In the months since she'd gained her powers, Rainbow Dash had learned a lot about herself...and about the world around her. It wasn't just that she was super fast, physically.
She totally was, but it wasn't just her body that was fast.
Her mind had gotten faster too...not smarter...but it had to keep up with how fast she was moving. Sunset had explained it as something to do with reflexes and reaction time, but the TL;DR was "brain is also super speed when body is." It was useful when she was flying and had to dodge things like birds--Fluttershy would never forgive her if she vaporized a pigeon or something by flying into it. Not to mention that it would be totally gross to be covered in bird guts.
Right now though, seeing the world while going fast meant something else.
For her, the world around her was moving in slow motion, a veritable crawl, while very little moved at normal speed besides herself. It meant she could survey the battle from above and see everything that was going on...what was about to happen...and what she could do to change how things played out. Rainbow could see the angles, see the impending blows that would hurt her classmates--or worse, kill them--and she had the ability to do something about it.
So she did.
Where everyone else fought the shadows directly, with weapons or magic, Dash roved the field and changed the outcome of a thousand fights. A hand moved here, a nudge to a weapon there, shifting the position of a student, or even outright moving them out of the way...she did it all, and when a student did get injured, she carried them to the building, where there was a first aid station set up in the rotunda.
Rainbow Dash wasn't sure how many times she prevented death or disaster--after a while, it all blurred together in this numb haze of 'gotta keep them safe' and 'I can't stop yet.' Everything ached, and she'd hit the runner's high ages ago, when her magic flickered and flared inside her approvingly. This was what she was here for. Not to kick monster ass...but to make sure her team won, however she could, and that everyone lived to see the sun come up the next day.
She wasn't alone in her efforts, at least. While Shy could never be as fast, her powers made her durable--she had become some kind of behemoth rhino, blocking the way and protecting a group of injured trying to retreat. Dash took the opportunity to ferry them out, then came back into regular time just long enough to tap Shy on the shoulder. "They're clear!" she told her, and then was off again, to knock a shadow off course from where it was trying to impale her Vice Principal.
It might not have been the lion's share of the glory, and she would have rather been kicking shadow monster ass...but this was where Rainbow Dash was needed right now. It was what her magic was calling her to do...
And she wasn't one for letting her friends down.
> Chapter One Hundred and Seventy Two: Cuz the Angels Don't Fly Down Here
Fire danced over Sunset's fingertips, hissing and sizzling in the rain that was falling, even as it formed into crimson spheres that flew with practiced aim at shadow after shadow. They struck true, burning Fearlings and Nightmares to ash...but for every one that fell, more took their place.
We can't keep this up forever, she realized with a touch of despair.
--No, we can't...and the students sure can't. They're already pushing themselves to the limit, but Sombra keeps summoning shades.--
Sunset twisted between two shadows as they lunged, letting them hit each other and become a sort of confused mass before she laid flaming hands on them, watching them ignite. Then what do we do? We need a way to win this--losing is not an option. Do you think the Rainbow would do it?
Her inner voice was quiet and thoughtful. --Very likely...but there's a problem. We can't do that until we get Sparky back. If he is knocked out of her body while her soul is trapped elsewhere...--
Cold dread ran along her spine, and only muscle memory allowed her to keep dodging. What will happen?
--A body without a soul dies, horn-head. Hers was ripped out in some kind of magical ritual, but you saw him pull the knife out. If...he gets punched from her body and she's not here to reinhabit it...it'll expire in minutes.-- Each word was rife with pain.
The former unicorn grimaced as she took a shadowy lash to the shoulder, the blow stinging something fierce despite the lack of blood. Then...how do we save her? How do we win this?
--There...is a way...but...--
She ground her teeth. Tell me! Sunset demanded, trying to ignore the sense of foreboding stealing over her.
Heaving something like a sigh, the voice said, --We have to go retrieve her. Sombra can't leave the battlefield until this is resolved...but that idiot put a loophole in for us. You wanted Twilight safe and sound and returned, and he agreed...provided we retrieve her soul.-- There was a pause as she lit another Fearling on fire. --From Hell.--
Hell...
Nightmares from months past swam up from the depths of memory. Fire and pain and death, and her demonic form laughing madly before reminding her that she could never escape...
Hell was real? Not just...a metaphor for her self-inflicted suffering?
Silence stretched, allowing her to hear the sounds of fighting amidst the rain. At last, the response came. --All too real, and right now it is the prison for Twilight Sparkle's soul.--
Then the most important question that had to be asked was how to get there. She wasn't about to leave Twilight languishing in a terrible place and a monster rampaging around in her body. How do we get to her?
--We use the rift he's made, almost on top of the portal to Equestria. The fabric of reality is worn thin, allowing us access to the In-Between...from there...-- Sunset could hear and feel the worry in the voice as she speared a shadow with a jet of fire. --From there it's not getting us into Hell that's the problem.--
What do you mean?
--Can't you feel it? Even now, it wants us. Tugging on us, trying to draw us in.-- There was a strange note to the way her other side sounded. --If we go...it's very likely to be a one way trip for Sunset Shimmer. Hell will not allow a demon to leave so easily...and we still qualify.--
Fear prickled at her spine. It's a trap?
--It's a prison. Just like Tartarus, but with protections a lot better at keeping the inmates contained than a giant dog and some magical manacles. There's a reason that shadowy spawn of a swamp rat and a harpy hag had to switch places with Twilight, and go through all of this with the bloody ritual. Hell doesn't let its prizes go easily, Sunset Shimmer...and its calling for us. It wants us for something.--
Sunset scowled, moving to help a group of CPA students that were fighting alongside her classmates, dispatching a shadow trying to hit the one boy from behind. Her senses stretched out, even as they reached inward, and she could feel it. Something...faint...trying to hook into the edges of her, whispering to her soul with an eerie siren song that beckoned. There was something extremely unsettling in how...good and familiar that song was...how the tendrils brushed against her essence and her essence seemed to reach back...how it felt like if she just...let it lead her to the source, she would be greater than she had ever been.
The unicorn-turned-girl recoiled in horror. That's...what will happen to us in Hell?
Her inner voice was distinctly troubled. --That...is not something we can answer. We could be simply trapped forever. Hell might tear us apart. It might twist us, change us, draw the worst of us out and make us back into what we were that night.-- The words were left hanging, but there was more unsaid, and Sunset knew intrinsically what the little voice inside her couldn't say out loud.
Another one of those choices that will change us forever? That I can't come back from? Sunset shuddered, and realized that going meant potentially never coming back. Never seeing her friends again. Never eating another meal at the Sparkle house. Never graduating school or making up with Twilight or having any kind of future...or worse, becoming something so evil and twisted again that they would be horrified at what she had become...
Could she risk that? Could she give it all up? And what if it killed her? Sunset wasn't ready to die...
Yet even as she questioned that, purple eyes invaded her thoughts, looking at her with trust. A hundred memories of Twilight, of whispered words in the dark, of a smiling face and a hand tugging hers as they spent the day just...being friends. Hours spent in museums and bookstores, with no expectations weighing either of them down.
With Twilight...she had finally been free to figure out who Sunset Shimmer wanted to be.
And Sunset Shimmer was someone who loved her best friend...loved her enough to give up a world for her...
Memory rose again, and she could hear her own voice, thick with emotion and magic as words fell from her lips onto her companion's months ago. Words spoken in the quiet privacy of a bedroom, but as fervent a promise as Sunset had ever made..."I'll always be here for you, Twilight," she had sworn, the seriousness of that long ago moment meaning she had forgone the nickname that so often danced on her tongue. "Always."
It was paired with a memory from a dream, one that she knew had been her other side's doing...a promise sworn by demon lips in a dream that had been more than a dream, an oath to protect the dark haired girl that ignited the fire inside her and had been the one to help her reforge herself from the ashes of her past.
If she was willing to give up her form and her world for love...then she was willing to give up her life and soul to keep her promise?
A thousand times yes.
Even if Twilight hated her now, or thought her a liar, or didn't want to be with her anymore...
That didn't matter in the slightest.
Sunset could help her, was the only one who could help her. She couldn't take her friends with her--they had to stay to help take down Cinch and Sombra, especially if she couldn't leave Hell at the end. As much as the redhead wished she could...she needed them here...trusted them to play their parts in stopping the villains. Her magic thrummed in approval.
--...yeah. It's...one of those choices...but...--
It's Twilight. We have to try.
--We can't do anything less.--
Hey. If the worst happens, we'll be our own company at least?
--We could do worse. At least it'll be intelligent conversation...--
Sunset laughed softly, eliciting a querulous growl from the direction of her boots. "Just a joke to myself," she said, glancing down at Spike. Then she took a deep breath. "I'm going to rescue Twilight." The dog's ears perked and he gave a low bark, pawing at her shoe. "...it's going to be dangerous," the former unicorn warned him. "Are you sure you want to come with me?"
Spike huffed, drawing himself up and gave a very deliberate nod and another bark.
"As long as you're sure," Sunset commented. "I might need you to help get her home safe...in case I...can't...come back."
Her distraction almost cost her, but a shimmering barrier blocked a Fearling's charge. "Come back from where, darling?" Rarity asked, her magic shielding the three of them from attack.
The redhead resisted the urge to crib her thumb. "From Hell. That's...that's where Twilight is. I have to get her back...before we can hit Sombra and these shadows with the Rainbow. If I don't, she'll die." The words were heavy, and she could see the way they settled over her friend like a wet woolen blanket.
"Why wouldn't we be able to come back?" Rarity asked, brows pinching in worry.
Shaking her head, Sunset elaborated. "Not we. Me. You girls have to stay here and help everyone keep Sombra and his forces busy. Keep him from leaving with Twilight's body."
A frown pulled at the tailor's lips. "While I see your logic, I feel I must protest it. You should not go alone....you have also avoided answering my question."
"I won't be entirely alone. Spike is going with me." She motioned to the dog. "...I wish you girls could go with me. I wish I didn't have to...but...this is the way it has to be if we want to stop him and Cinch. Itheadair. Whatever."
Blue eyes cut right into her soul. "Yet you feel you will not return. That is...not an acceptable outcome, Sunset. You are not expendable, darling."
Sunset blinked back tears. "I know I'm not, Rarity...but I...I promised...and..." Her inhaled breath was shaky. "...do you remember what you told me? When you looked at my mind and my magic, even though it was dangerous?"
Rarity nodded slowly, but her tone was tight. "I do not feel that such is in any way similar to what you are preparing to do."
"But it is," Sunset countered. "Sparky is my best friend...and I promised her that I would always be there when she needed me. She needs me now, like never before...and I'm the only one who can get to her. I'm the one who can help her...and...I have to try. That's part of being a good friend." She offered a faint, lopsided smile. "You taught me that."
Pale arms were flung around her suddenly, a hug tight enough that the former unicorn could feel the way her friend was trembling faintly. "...and you took everything we've impressed upon you to heart, darling," Rarity said close to her ear, voice wet. "You have become the best of us, you know, and we would follow you to storm the Gates of Hell should you ask."
"I know...and that's why I'm asking you to stay. This is where I need you." It tore at her. "I want nothing more than to beg for your help...but it would cost us what we cannot afford to lose." Her own voice caught in her throat. "...I...do have something to ask though...if...I don't come back."
Rarity pulled back, studying her with a tear streaked face. "Anything, Sunset. What do you need?"
"Twilight...she...she doesn't have a lot of friends and I know this has probably messed her up. She'll have nightmares and she still doesn't know the truth." Sunset rubbed her face. "I wanted it to come from me...but if it can't...will you and the girls tell her and her family everything? Be her friend, and not leave her alone to deal with what happened?"
Porcelain pale fingers reached up to tuck an errant strand of fiery hair out of her face. "You want us to pick up the pieces, should the worst occur." Blue eyes were penetrating. "Because you love her."
Sunset nodded mutely, her own tears threatening to spill over.
Her friend hugged her again, and the shaking was more pronounced. "You have my word, darling...but if you believe we will abandon you to Hell should it keep you, then you have not learned as much as you think. Should that dreadful realm try to detain you, we will come for you, Sunset. Even if we must enlist the aid of both Twilights and all the princesses of Equestria, we will come for you."
The battle had continued to rage around them, distant, muffled, but they could hear the sudden roar that came from the direction of the woods, and the way their fellow students rallied. Rarity brought down the barrier, and Sunset craned her neck to see what was causing it.
From the woods, dozens of CHS students were charging, weapons high and led by Big Macintosh and a grown man with familiar hair in shades of blue, a headband on his head giving him pony ears.
"Shining?!" Cadence yelped in surprise as the force crashed into the shadows from the flank, brutally carving a path towards the center and causing the villain controlling Twilight's body to hesitate.
Sunset stared, until Rarity gave her a firm nudge. "Go, darling. Now's your opening. Bring her home. We'll keep the door open for you!"
Scooping up Spike, the former bully took one last look at the army of students fighting in her name, and bolted for the Wondercolt statue. How do we do this?!
--We have to step into the In-Between...and put our...body inside our soul at the same time. It's more complicated than that, but that's the For Dummies version. Don't worry about the dog. He has his own ability to get there as long as you hold onto him.-- The voice snorted. --His way will probably be more pleasant. The inversion of form and essence was not really designed for fleshy organics.--
Great. Is it going to be like my first trip through the mirror?
There was a pause, and then, --Worse, but in a different way.--
Sunset reached the foul altar that stank of the darkest magic ever, making her stomach churn. Now what?
And suddenly she knew, though she could never explain the process. Gritting her teeth in anticipation of agony, she used her magic to burn a literal hole in space and time, and let the questing touch of Hell grab onto her at last.
Her senses vanished the moment her body slid into that Nothingness that existed between all the Somethings, and all she knew was agony. If her first trip had been her form being reshaped by an angry god-foal, this was like being crushed, turned inside out, upside down, and sideways all at the same moment. She would swear later she could hear color and taste sound and see smells...even in that space where there was nothing to sense. Had she a voice, she would have screamed, but there was no air, no lungs, no way to express anything...
> Chapter One Hundred and Seventy Three: Emotional Support Hellhound
Reality reasserted itself and she crashed into hot, rough stone, overwhelmed and borderline insensate. Sunset croaked out a sound that might have been a groan, every part of her feeling hot and raw.
"Huh," a voice broke through the haze. "...that...did not look fun." A leathery nose pressed into her cheek. "Are you okay?"
It was a voice she was not expecting and it made her sit up, worried that her trip had taken her to Equestria instead of where she was aiming at. "Spike?!" she rasped, looking for the young drake in his real form. "Don't tell me I ended up in Equestria..."
...only to let out a rather undignified sound as her vision settled on not a dragon child, or the small fluffy dog that permanently looked like a half grown puppy to her...but something else entirely. Sunset registered that it was Spike--or at least had his coloring, but it was vaguely canid at very best. It was also enormous, compared to the lapdog she knew; if Sunset had to guess he was almost as big as her pony self. Sleek purple fur, a few shades darker than normal, a long, savage muzzle with much larger and sharper teeth, and oversized batlike ears still managed to be doggy enough, but all four legs ended in wicked talons, and a leathery crest peppered with faint scaling dominated his spine like a parody of a zebra's mane...all the way down a long, snakelike tail that he still managed to wag. Perhaps most disconcerting of all was the eldritch green flames that leaked out of his mouth.
"I don't know what an Equestria is, but we're where we're supposed to be. Twilight's here somewhere." Spike canted his head. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?" His ears drooped. "Did I do something Bad?"
Sunset shook her head. "Um...no, Spike. Not bad...I just...you...don't look like you."
Glowing eyes squinted at her, and he turned in circles trying to see his own body. "What do you mean? I'm bigger, but I'm still me."
She arched her brow. "You've never looked like a pony sized hellhound before."
"Oh, that. It's part of the Choosing, I think? To help fight the Bad Thing and make sure Twilight doesn't get lost on the way back." Spike puffed out his chest proudly. "We're much better at not getting lost than two-legs, even far away like this!" His tail made a slithery sound on the rough stone as he wagged it vigorously. "That's why I came with you! You need me to help find Twilight and find home!"
Ooooookay...that was a plethora of questions she didn't have time for.
Then he studied her. "Your outside is all different too, but you are more you now. I'm the same. Maybe it's how The Good Thing protects us from The Bad Things that are here."
Oh...horseapples. She hadn't even thought to look at herself...
A glance down told her that she was still bipedal in shape, given that she was looking at hands tipped with those dark, dangerous talons, and human arms. Bringing them up to her face for inspection confirmed a flat, human face, though her tongue determined that her teeth were razor sharp. Pony ears were on her head, feeling like they were covered by her winter coat, and the horn on her forehead was the demon's smooth, curved one instead of her unicorn one. Further inspection clued her in on the fact that she was completely nude, a fact dulled by learning that there was a line of curly fur following the slight depression of her spine and feathering out around her butt and thighs, thickest at the base of the long tail and little more than velvety muzzle fuzz down most of her legs. Her feet were taloned but still flatfooted, and the bottoms had much thicker, darker soles than her human ones. The long tail was exactly the same as the demon from the conversation in her own head, with a leonine-like structure that had a long curtain of living flame instead of a pony's tail...
Perhaps the thing that caught her by surprise the most was the one thing that mattered more to her than anything else about her shape. More than her horn, more than hooves or demon talons or hands or that her clothes had apparently been left somewhere and she would be sad if they were gone for good because that Team Captain shirt had meant something to her... Fingers tentatively brushed over the brilliant eight rayed sun on the outside of her thigh, the colors and shape unmistakeable, and uniquely, wonderfully, gloriously hers.
She had her cutie mark back.
"Oh," she breathed, when the mark didn't fade or rub off, the faint tingle in the short fur that covered that part of her mismatched anatomy identical to the way it felt on a pony body. She blinked back tears, swallowing hard.
--It's part of our soul, hornhead. It is always there, even when we can't see it.-- The voice was quiet for a minute. --But...it does mean more when it's right there, doesn't it?--
"Like Equestria hasn't completely abandoned us," she agreed, tracing the mark's pattern. "Like I'm closer to being whole."
"A whole what?" Spike asked, confused. "And what's this Equestria thing you keep talking about?"
Sunset ran a hand through her mane, pushing it back from her face. "It's...the place I'm from. Where I lived when I was very young. It's...very different from where I live now."
The dog tilted his head. "Is it where your mother is? That's where I was before the Choosing. With Mother and Smooth-Gentle-Touch, and my littermates."
"Um...kind of? It's where I was born, I guess...but...I...don't have a mother. Not really. Just someone who looked after me until I could do it myself." No part of the redheaded former unicorn wanted to delve into that right now. "Also, Choosing?"
"The Choosing. It's very important. It's when we meet our two-leg who is special. Not all of us are Chosen, but when it happens, it means they need someone to look out for them. Protect them, help them. I help Twilight." Spike licked her hand. "I protect her--though I'm glad you do too. Twilight is not very big, and she gets into a lot of trouble, all the time. It's a lot of work protecting her, especially when she doesn't like to listen."
--Does the dog have Sparky's number or what?--
Giggling, Sunset ruffled the oversized ears. "She really does get into a lot of trouble, doesn't she."
"Less since you met her," he acknowledged. "She's been too distracted by wanting to be your mate." After a minute of consideration, he added, "You should mate with her more often. It seems to keep her out of trouble and the Bad Things away."
Her eyes looked anywhere but Spike. "...that's...up to her right now," she said tightly. "She...she's angry at me, because I didn't tell her the truth about me, and she found out some other way. I'm...not sure she even wants to be my friend anymore, let alone anything else." And that didn't even touch on the possibility that this might have been a one way trip for Sunset.
Spike leaned against her leg. "Something broke when you fought...but it's still there. It's a Choosing of a different kind--can't you feel it?"
What he was saying made some measure of sense, but... "It's still her choice, Spike," Sunset told him gently. "I won't force it...she...she wasn't wrong with what she accused me of. I had kept stuff from her, important things that did have something to do with her and things going on in her life. I might have had a good reason in my head or a bad one...but I still did it, and that hurt her trust in me." The redhead knew all too well how hard trust was to rebuild when it had been cracked or broken...from both sides of that divide.
He sighed. "Why do two-legs make everything complicated?"
Snorting, Sunset patted his neck consolingly. "I have no idea, considering I'm not one of them...but it's not unique to humans. Ponies are just as bad, and I've met some species who are even worse." She did not want to explain yaks to him, and hoped he wouldn't ask.
"You're not?" The dog considered that, really looking at her. "Huh. That explains a lot. So why are you hiding as one? Is it to hunt The Bad Things?"
She had no idea what he was talking about, so she tried to think of the best way to explain it. "It's...you know how we had to travel to get here? Through a special kind of door? I had to do something similar to get to where Twilight lives from Equestria. Part of that door makes me able to live and survive in that space, where my other body would have failed."
"Oh." Spike was quiet for a bit. "That makes sense. Hunters have to be able to sneak up on prey, and they can't do it if they are bright and shiny like birds...and the Bad Things are very smart, dangerous prey-that-also-hunts."
--He might be referring to dark magic,-- the voice observed, --given the context he uses 'Good Thing' and 'Bad Thing' in.--
Sunset sighed. "It's because it doesn't hunt on its own. It uses thinking creatures, smart creatures, infects and twists them, makes them into monsters, and smart creatures are dangerous prey."
There was a thoughtful calculation in his eyes. "Would you teach me more about The Bad Things so I can help when they come hunting my pack? You and I are the only ones who seem to smell them." His head tilted. "Though, if you're not really a two-leg, then that could be why. They dont notice important things like that."
She exhaled a slow breath through her nostrils. "I'll be happy to explain it to you later, but...we need to start looking for Twilight..." Her eyes took in their dim, dismal surroundings. "...and I have no idea where to start."
Hell appeared to be a cave system of some kind, with the shape of the passages reminiscent of old volcanic lava tubes. The walls and floor were dark stone, and she could pick out patches of column basalt in the walls--the unique columns were telling, even if she only saw parts of them from the side. The floor under her feet seemed a mix of the same thing, large hexagonal "tiles" jutting up in irregular patches...but the space between the dark patches was...pretty in a way she wasn't expecting. It held the cool, smooth texture of obsidian, but this obsidian was a rippling, iridescent rainbow of shifting colors in the faint yet pervasive lighting. In fact, if she didn't know better, Sunset would have sworn it was the source of the light--except she wasn't sure there actually was any light, given the extreme level of low-light vision that had one of those side effects of spending time as a rampaging hellspawn.
--It's very Tartarus in its decor. Just about as depressing, too.--
Sunset blinked. We've never actually been inside Tartarus. Sure, she'd seen the entrance once, when Princess Celestia had stopped on the way to a Summer Sun Celebration to check on the guardian and the seals on the entrance. It was one of the few times Sunset had obeyed the order to stay in the chariot without question. She had felt the dark, yawning oppressiveness of the overshadowed entrance in the rocks and wanted absolutely nothing to do with it.
--Be glad of that. It's actually nicer here.--
"Is it though?" the former unicorn muttered, the way her voice just didn't seem to carry making her skin crawl. The air felt...wrong: heavy and unnaturally still and thick, with an unpleasant odor that coated her mouth and airways with every unpleasant inhale, and it felt like it resisted the vibrations of sound waves to an extreme level.
It also didn't help that it felt like she was being watched.
Spike had been padding in a slow circle around her, sniffing and listening, before he went still, nose pointed down one of the myriad of passages that branched off from the passage they were in. "Twilight is this way," he said. "I can tell."
"Part of that Choosing thing?" she asked, curious. What he described sounded like a form of primitive species magic, but she'd never heard of one that was bound up in some kind of symbiotic--no, scratch that, she had, she realized. The centaurs and gargoyles who lived in the outer reaches of the far side of the dragon lands had something like that. It's why they intermarried and produced offspring of either one of the parent species. Was this another example of the faint, subtle magic in the human world that she had overlooked?
"Yup! Come on!" He started trotting ahead, and she jogged to catch up.
Blue-green eyes scanned their surroundings. "Don't run off, Spike," Sunset cautioned. "We don't know what's in here with us. I don't want anything to happen to you...Twilight would be devastated."
Spike made a sound, a rough, raspy noise that might have been doggy laughter. "She'd get mad. When I was still growing, a mean boy kicked me. Twilight jumped on him and hit him until Father-Night-Wise picked her up off him."
"That's exactly my point. We don't know what kinds of dangerous things are in these tunnels. Stay close, in case we have to fight." She rested a hand on his muscular back. "It's important that we get to Twilight in one piece."
The canine sobered up. "Okay. I'll be Good."
They walked at a fast clip in silence for a while before the oppressive quiet got to her. "So...why do you call Twilight by her name and her dad all that other stuff?" she asked, needing to have something break the pressure on her ears.
"It's who they are. Twilight is...she's Twilight. She's my two-leg. Its who she is, and I know and others can tell. Also...talking like this means it sounds funny...but all names are like that for pack-kind....dogs. Father-Night-Wise, Mother-Velvet-Soft..."
Lips quirking into a smirk, Sunset asked, "Do I want to know what you call me?"
Spike glanced her way. "You are Sunset-Protector-Fire," he told her. "...but you don't need me to tell you who you are--it's part of you, and you put it on all your things."
Her fingers rubbed the mark on her leg. "You mean this?"
"Uh huh. It's you."
"Oh." It had to be a form of inherent magic. Maybe dogs had some kind of primitive form of soul magic? Her ancestors had possessed something like that, long since lost in any conscious form, since it was commonly understood that cutie marks were a pure and ancient form of it that pervaded her entire species. "Are all dogs this smart or...are you special?" Perhaps it wasnt species based, but an individual with an unusual affinity?
"It's because I was Chosen. Not-Chosen are still Good Dogs, but...they're like Bonehead-Shiny-Drools-A-Lot."
Sunset blinked. "The golden retriever that I keep seeing trying to fit multiple tennis balls in his mouth?"
Spike wagged his tail. "That's him. He's a Good Dog, but not Chosen."
--It's definitely a selective form of species based magic.--
I'm thinking it's actually symbiotic soul magic in action. I'd love to study it someday--that's such a rare field, and so bound up in ethics laws that finding something like this to look into is like finding a vein of naturally occurring Thracian Black Steel. Twi is gonna freak out when we tell her.
--Horn-head, that's an alloy.--
Exactly my point. She addressed Spike. "So...you were always this smart then? This isn't new?"
He shook himself, sending embers of green flame everywhere. "I mean, I'm smarter now than when I was Smallest, but aren't you smarter now than when you were a pup?"
"Uh...I was a foal, actually. A unicorn foal." This was quickly competing for the title of Strangest Conversation Ever. It might even beat arguing with her dark side while magic tried to rip her apart. "But...yes. I get what you mean."
Silence fell again, and it was just as choking as before. It served, however, to highlight something to Sunset that caused her to slow down and start scanning her surroundings again. "I don't like this," she muttered. "This is supposed to be a prison...and humans named a whole torturous afterlife after it...but it's...quiet. Too quiet. Where are the guards? Or the roving monstrous demons? I feel watched, but there's nothing here!"
Spike sniffed the air. "I don't smell anything. Maybe it's because Twilight doesn't belong here, and they know we're here to rescue her?"
Twilight might not belong here, but part of Sunset did. "I've got a bad feeling about this," she muttered. "Nothing is ever this easy for Sunset Shimmer..."
--Well now you've gone and jinxed us, horn-head. You've uttered one of the things you shouldn't say in a situation like this. Right up there with 'what's the worst that could happen?' and 'It'll be easy.'--
She rolled her eyes. "Please don't tell me you buy into that superstitious nonsense. It's a sil--"
Between one footfall and the next, swirls of obsidian vanished, and Sunset found herself tumbling into darkness, Spike's howl chasing her into the Abyss.
> Chapter One Hundred and Seventy Four: Just a Twist in Time...
The sensation of falling came to an abrupt and painful resolution as Sunset's head and horn clonked into the wooden leg of the heavy desk that took up almost an entire wall of her study. The blow to her horn sent waves of agony down her nerve endings and made her vision swim with tears. "Son of a wyvern rutted yak!" the amber unicorn swore. "Rot infested, knot-holed piece of dirty driftwood--every time!" As the pain receded she pushed her forehooves under her and flicked one irritably at her desk's leg. "I really need to put padding on you...or stop falling asleep at my desk."
Her ears swiveled towards the sound of amused chirps from the corner. "Haha. Laugh it up, 'Mena. I'll remember that when you miss your landing the next time we get a batch of firebee larva in for you to snack on."
Philomena let out an obnoxious trill while Sunset hauled herself back into the cushions in front of her desk, and tried to sort herself out. She had been dreaming again, those disorienting dreams whose details slipped through her hold like sand through a fine mesh, yet always left her feeling like she had lost something important. They'd been happening for a while now, leaving her feeling unsettled after she woke.
Today proved no different, and she found herself reaching for the dream journal on her desk, scribbling as much as she could recall down on the page. A minute later there was the fluttering of wings and a weight on her head, before her phoenix leaned over to look at what she was scribbling with an inquisitive, "Chrrrr-ik?"
"Yeah, I had another one..." Sighing, the amber unicorn flicked back through a dozen pages with half illegible notes from numerous dreams. "I wish I could remember more, because it feels important..." The phoenix let out a concerned sound, clicking her beak. Sunset closed the book. "Mom says that if they continue or get worse, she'll send a message to Aunt Luna. I don't want her to have to do that--the situation up north is already too unstable. I can deal with it for now, as long as it doesn't start affecting my projects..."
Eyes found the scattered documents she had been working on prior to her unscheduled nap, with theories and long equations and entire books full of her research on both unicorn teleportation and into devices like the three strange and ancient mirrors that sat on the other side of the study. One hung silent and eerie, cracked and broken, because its unstable power had threatened two different realities, and it had its connection broken to save them. Another was on a timer that lasted far longer than the supposed thirty moons to actually transport living things through--though Sunset had discovered she could perceive the reality on the other side on the thirty moon timer, revealing it to be full of what looked like hairless yeti and a large brick structure. The third went somewhere unknown, its activation method lost...all three still possessed the runes and artificing work that was allowing the young archmage to reconstruct their creation. She had high hopes for her eventually creating a form of 'doorway' or 'gate' that could be linked to other such doorways and linked to be opened and shut on command, allowing near instant travel over thousands of miles.
She was stuck, however, on a piece of theory that was outside her wheelhouse. "Remind me to message Twi before I leave. I need to stop by Ponyville on the way back, and get her thoughts on Manifold and Tesser's Theorum of Spatial Disruptions. This way she can research in advance." A smirk tugged at her lips; the other mare would be ecstatic to have an excuse to bury herself in dusty old books for a week or two to escape the attentions of the recently arrived courtiers to her sleepy town.
Philomena let out a trill of amusement, one that ended on a teasing note.
"Of course it's for research reasons!" Sunset refuted hotly, ignoring the flush in her cheeks. "What other reason would I have?"
Chirping suggestively, the avian flew to the corner of the desk, spreading her wings and puffing up her chest feathers.
Sunset sputtered. "What?! No! She's my friend! I don't think of her like that!" She tried not to, anyway...but the dorky filly she had known when she was a teenager and helped her mother teach had grown into a sleek, and newly ascended alicorn mare...Who was still somehow a total dork that made Sunset smile at her antics.
Dark eyes blinked, and a flicker of flame spouted to frame them like spectacles, as Philomena let out a dubious sound.
"....okay, yes, her reading glasses make her look adorably cute when you pull her out of a book. But that doesn't mean--"
The bird clicked her beak derisively, and proceeded to strut across the top of the desk, only to make a show of tripping over herself as she got close to a picture of Sunset with Twilight and Twilight's friends in Ponyville, pantomiming being flustered.
Scowling, Sunset flicked a few sparks at her. "I do not act like that when I see her!" It was a lie. She absolutely felt like a fool every time she saw Twilight...
It probably wouldn't have been so bad, but it was, as near as Sunset could tell, utterly one sided on her part...and something about it felt...off. Like it was less Twilight she was attracted to, and more things about Twilight that she couldn't pin down a 'why' for, like the reading glasses. She huffed at the phoenix. "Look...we're just friends. Some of what she does is really cute and maybe I have a small crush on her, but she doesn't return it. I'm contenting myself with being her friend in the ways she wants. I'm just glad she's a little oblivious to these things unless you tell her." She paused, and glared at Philomena. "And you aren't going to tell her. It would just stress her out."
Huffing, her oldest friend made a somewhat exasperated chirping sound.
"Thank you," she responded, floating over a long roll of parchment and her favorite fountain pen. "Now let's see... 'Hey, Twilight...It's Sunset. I've recently hit a snag in my research project and...'"
Sunset secured the protective scroll tube and looked at Philomena. "Are you still willing to take this to Twilight for me?" she asked. "I know you're not the biggest fan of sea air, which is why I wasn't going to bring you with me, but...you don't have to play messenger if you don't want to."
Her phoenix let out a throaty burble and held out a foot for the scroll case, flexing her talons as if to say 'just give it here!'
"Thanks, 'Mena." She ran her magic lightly through the bird's feathers affectionately. "Feel free to let Fluttershy spoil you while you're there. Twi said something about her testing relaxation techniques for avians. Maybe you'll get a spa day out of it."
Philomena perked up and pecked Sunset's forelock before taking off out the open balcony doors, scroll case clutched in her talons as she flew past a rather bemused Princess of the Sun.
Landing on the balcony with a sharp sound of hooves on stone, Celestia peeked her head in through the doorway. "Philomena certainly left out of here in a hurry. Is everything alright?"
That made her laugh. "It's fine--she was making it clear how much she hates salt water, so I asked her to take a letter to Twilight instead. I need to confer with her on some high level theory for my Gateway project, since that's more her area than mine."
With a nod, the mare stepped into the room more fully. "Are you finished packing?"
"Yeah. I'm all ready to go--are you sending anything besides the coronation gift?" Sunset tilted her head, one ear splayed. "I know the queen was your friend."
The hint of a sorrowful expression tugged at the alicorn's lips. "She was. I'm sending a token to go on the boat with her, a momento from our friendship." One brow arched. "You read up on their customs, I trust?"
Sunset flicked her ears in annoyance. "Of course I did," she responded with a sigh. "I'm not thirteen anymore, Princess."
"It's just a very different set of rites than our gardens, Archmagus," Celestia countered formally. "Very different, as they focus on air, fire, and water, while our rites heavily evoke elements of earth and life. While I appreciate you going in my stead as my representative and unofficial heir, I do not wish to send you in unprepared." The formality slipped and it was her mother standing there, under the regalia. "You have always been a sensitive mare, my little sun, and I don't want to put too much upon you too soon. I already worry I have done so with Twilight, but Harmony dictates Ascension, not I."
Sunset padded across the carpet to hug Celestia. "I'll be fine, Mom. Formal or not, I'm going to be there for Novo. She might be the Crown Princess, but she has always been my friend, and I would bet she needs one of those right now. My focus is going to be on supporting a friend, not on impressing courtiers. If they don't like that, well...they can lick my frogs on a muddy day."
There was a long moment of silence, before a snort of laughter escaped the mare, and a wing curled over her back in affection. "Sunset," she chided, "language. I swear, I do not know where your sewer of a mouth comes from. You did not learn it from me."
"Mom...your sister trained me alongside the palace guard. I picked up a lot more than just how to wield a lance." Sunset breathed in the scent of warm fur and autumn sunshine. "Also, I have it on good authority that you are far more vulgar when you are angry."
A sniff reached her ears. "I see Luna has been telling tales again."
Laughter escaped her, and she pulled back. "Only good ones." Then she sobered. "I'm prepared for this, Mom. I have my things all packed, my formal speeches written and checked over by Kibitz for maximum pedantic pettifogging prattling, and I ensured the official gift from the kingdom to the new Queen in honor of her coronation is packed, sealed, and even enchanted. Did that last part myself, as a personal touch of our House--that ought to really set mites loose in some feathers." Plus it should protect her friend--Novo had confided privately in an enchanted journal that she had concerns about factions who saw her as ripe pickings for their agendas, given that she was barely into her fourth decade and had no heir of her own. "I promise I'll do my best to represent you and our people. You can hold your meeting with Ambassador Nikaru without worrying it will snub our southern allies."
Celestia smiled softly at her, and brushed some wayward curls away from her cheek. "My dearest little sun...you truly have become a mare I am proud of." Then she straightened. "In lieu of that, perhaps you'll permit your mother to spend the evening with you before you depart in the morning? I was thinking we could put on our disguises and have an early dinner at Lucky's, before perusing some of the shops before they close?"
She grinned, practically prancing to get her light cloak to ward off the autumn nip in the air. "I'd love to!"
Salty air gusted, dragging its fingers through the curls of her mane and tail, but it did little to make Sunset feel better. She still hated traveling by zeppelin--for all the enchantments to stabilize them and make them less dangerous, the way the body of it lurched erratically in the rough wind currents over the ocean was enough to make any pony without wings nervous. The unicorn had spent most of the trip firmly ensconced below deck, riding out the turbulence in miserable solitude.
It was where she would have preferred to be, but they were making the approach to dock, having gotten close enough to the island with its towering mountain that the escort had flown out to meet them and guide them into the hustle and bustle of the diplomatic serpents' nest she was about to enter. Straightening and holding herself with force of will, she ran through the mental checklist and made note of which other kingdoms and factions had sent representatives that were already docked, reading the flags and banners the way most ponies read a book. Most of the main players of Equestria's political stage were represented--she could see the vessels belonging to Abyssinia and Thrace, their elegance and raw craftsmanship announcing them better than their flags. There was a rather gaudy, gilded affair that made it clear even Griffonstone had managed to get their act together enough to send someone, and tucked away to the side were two tiny-by-comparison craft, one seemingly grown in one piece but for its balloon and still alive, capped with lush foliage and flowers, and the other beautiful in its simplistic shape that relied on the wood grain in its highly polished surface to showcase the real work that went into it, representing Thicket and the Children of Inari respectively. Scattered here and there between the larger vessels were smaller ones for various factions or individuals from many of the different species and kingdoms.
As docking ropes tied Sunset's transport securely, her eyes found a familiar pair watching her from behind a large honor guard of hippogryphs. Novo had come out to greet the arrivals personally; that was either a very good thing, or a bad one. The amber unicorn hoped it was a good thing.
"...the Good Thing..." whispered a voice in the wind at the edges of her hearing.
Shaking herself, Sunset stepped down onto the docks briskly, glad to be off that cursed zeppelin, and offered a deliberate and well practiced bow to her friend, making it quite clear to the hundreds of watching eyes that the standards and banners flying from her own vessel were accurate, and she was an official member of House Solaire, representing the Diarchy, the kingdom, and her mother all at once. "Your Majesty," she said, "I bring greetings and condolences from Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, as well as their deepest apologies for being unable to attend. The situation in the north is tenuous at best, and the renewal of our pact with Inari's Children is a critical event that cannot be postponed." She paused, then tilted her neck. "My mother has sent a token meant to accompany yours on her final journey, and I would like to offer my own magic to light the Flame of Eternity for the ceremony." Novo's only sister was already handling the water aspect of the ceremony, and the task in question was usually performed by a sibling or extremely close friend of the family--Sunset's offer was calculated. As a respected and renowned Archmagus with an affinity for fire, making the offer was practically a declaration of sisterhood to Novo's people, and the greatest show of respect she could offer both their departed queen and their rising one.
Novo cleared her throat softly, and she inclined her head with the right measure of decorum due, but Sunset could read her well enough to know that she was touched. "Be welcome in my kingdom, Lady Sunset Shimmer, Daughter of the Sun...and know you have my gratitude for both your words and your offer. It...would be an honor to have you be the one to light the Flame for the ceremony, one my mother would have appreciated."
She flexed a wing a bare fraction, and a well groomed attendant appeared. "My servants will escort you to your quarters. After you've had a chance to settle in, would you join me for tea?"
"I would be delighted, Your Majesty."
Sunset stepped into the airy sitting room, enjoying the sea air that trickled into the space as a light breeze now that she wasn't on a zeppelin. She bowed again, "Your Majesty," she greeted.
Novo looked tired and wan now that she wasn't performing for the public or the servants. "Please, Sunset...no formalities. Not here or from you. I...I was hoping for a few hours with my friend, not another dignitary."
"Erring on the side of caution, Novo," she told the hippogryph, before dropping the act entirely and pulling her large friend into a tight hug. "I'm so sorry about your mom."
Tears dripped into her coat, as Novo shuddered with grief. "She was fine--a little tired and complaining of headaches--and then she was just...gone."
The unicorn rubbed a hoof down her spine gently. Queen Aviana had been fairly young and healthy, but...sometimes bad things just happened. "How are you holding up?" she asked, already feeling that the answer was 'poorly.'
"I...just can't believe she's gone. We had so many plans...she was still teaching me what I needed to know to take over--she wanted to do like grandfather had done for her, and let me take on smaller duties while she was still reigning monarch, to make the transition of power gradual over several decades. There's so much I still don't know..." Novo let Sunset guide her to a lounge, sinking into the cushions shakily. "Do...do you think Princess Celestia would mind if I wrote to her for her counsel? She and Mother were close, and Mother always said I could trust her."
Humming and settling next to her friend, Sunset twitched an ear. "I think she would be more than happy to correspond with you over anything you wanted. She really did like your mom, and your grandfather too, to hear her talk."
Numbly, the hippogryph nodded, and they sat in heavy silence for a time, long enough for servants to bring tea and a light snack--Sunset was delighted to see the strips of fish and veggies wrapped in dark seaweed. Even stricken with terrible grief, Novo remembered her favorite snack to pair with the mild teas favored by the denizens of Mount Aris.
It was a break in decorum, but Sunset didn't care as she shooed the servants away and prepared the tea for her and Novo herself, pressing the cup into the young Queen's talons with her magic. "Here. Just like you like it."
Novo murmured in gratitude, taking a sip from the cup and tipping her head back with a heavy sigh that seemed to expel a great deal of emotion with it. "I'm so glad you came. I don't think I could get through this without you...I'm already having to be strong for my sister and my people, and they don't exactly handle it well if I show weakness."
Sunset snorted. "Oversized piles of pillow stuffing, all of them. I'm here for you, and for Ocean if she needs it. I already told Mom that, and that any offended parties can encase their issues in a crystal and stuff it under their tails."
"Oh, honey, you did not!" Unexpected laughter came from the ruler. "You did! Well, consider this my approval of your plan! Someone needs to upset their fishnets." A wing reached out to rest across Sunset's withers. "...Thank you, Sunset. This is already helping."
She sipped her own tea, nibbling on one of the tasty snacks. "Well, I figure I can get away with it. I'm a foreigner, not officially an heir, and also over a decade younger than you. I'm bound to still be a bit 'rough' around the edges."
The other female chortled. "It doesn't hurt that you have quite the reputation after your rather public argument on the Ethics Board floor with that boor Neighsay. Did you know that according to the stories, you turned into a giant avatar of Harmonic crystal and set him on fire that was all colors of the rainbow?"
Groaning, the unicorn curled her lip. "I did not set him on fire. I threatened to set him on fire for being a bigoted, obnoxious, talking dung heap who insisted on airing opinions that smelled as bad as a compost bin. And that was a year ago, after he went after Twilight's attempt to research records of the Elements and Harmonic magic being used by other species besides ponies."
Feathers flicked to ruffle her mane lightly. "I hate to tell you this, but the stories matter more than the truth to anyone who wasn't there and doesn't know you, honey."
Sunset made a face. "They make me sound like some kind of raging monster." She shook her head to dispel the distant sound of unsettling laughter that brushed against her consciousness.
Novo made an apologetic sound in her throat and the pair lapsed into silence. The unicorn shook off the dark thoughts, and glanced over at her friend. The hippogryph was in her own head again, and after a few long minutes of quiet, Sunset cleared her throat. "You...want to talk about it?"
Blinking away tears, Novo sighed. "I...just can't believe she's gone. I keep turning to ask her a question, or tell her something, only to remember that she's...not here." Her neck dropped until her beak was pointed to the floor. "You always think you're going to have more time. Time for all the things you want to say and do."
Her heart twisted with empathy--she knew all too well that aching emptiness of apologies unsaid, of individuals beyond her reach to ever speak to again. Of a gap far too great to bridge by any normal means. "...yeah. That's...never a great feeling. You always wonder if you could have done things different, hate yourself for not saying what you felt when you had the chance. It's even worse when it ends in an argument." Angry accusations and hurt words hurled in anger echoed in her ears and her mind. "I know how that feels..."
Novo jerked away from her, still teary eyed but now furious. "You know how it feels? I thought of all creatures, you would be the one who didnt lie to me with empty platitudes and false sympathy!"
The amber unicorn hesitated, confused. "I'm not lying, Novo, I swear...I wouldn't do that to you, especially not when you're grieving your mom. The breakdown in my relationship with Princess Celestia might not have been caused by death, but it's been just as permanent."
"What breakdown?" Novo demanded harshly. "You have the best relationship with your mother! Creatures talk about how they expect her to officially make you her Heir any day--there are bets going around about just how soon you'll earn Ascension to rule alongside her!"
Sunset's head throbbed with a stab of pain, conflicting memories fighting for dominance. "...no, that's...I'll never Ascend. I...I've proven I don't deserve it. Harmony would never grant that power to a raging she-demon..." Flashes of a ball of fire, of a group of bipeds wielding the rainbow ripped through her thoughtscape. "And...she's...Princess Celestia is not my...mother...maybe...I wanted that...but she never wanted me."
A powerful force slammed into her, angry and shrieking. "Now you're mocking me! Playing me for a fool with this ridiculous story--what kind of friend does that?" Novo was over top of her, Sunset sprawled painfully on her back and with claws threatening her vulnerable underside. "I thought you were my friend!"
She winced. "...I...This isn't right," she told Novo. "I...I'm not in Equestria anymore. I ran away, years ago." Sunset sagged. "And you're not Novo. I haven't seen Novo since I was sixteen, and the last letter between us was a year before that, when I got my certifications." Sorrow bubbled up in her. "Whatever you are, you're not the Crown Princess I knew, and this...this isn't real. I'm sorry...I wish it could be...but this life...it was never mine."
Novo had gone rigid and silent, and Sunset touched her beak with a hoof. "It would have been nice, but I think I still would have been unhappy, because it doesn't have the person who matters most. It never could...and she's waiting for me. Let me go."
Those sharp eyes stared at her and Novo nodded once, before she and the room dissolved like smoke, leaving Sunset staring at Spike's slavering jaws.
> Chapter One Hundred and Seventy Five: A Smile Fuels the Steel Inferno
"Spike?! What are you doing?! Let me go!"
The dog barked happily. "You're back! I was worried! You started walking away and talking to people that weren't there, and I had to knock you down to keep you from going in there!" He pointed his nose at a dark gap in the cave walls. "I don't know what's in there, but if you went in there, you wouldn't be able to come out!"
A shiver went through Sunset, and she hugged the canine before gently pushing him away so she could stand. "I was caught in some kind of illusion...or waking dream. It was...like I was living this whole other life in Equestria, and it was so real..." She scrubbed her face. "It was a lie, but...it...didn't feel like it for a while. It felt..." Like a life she could have had. Maybe a life another version of herself had actually gotten to live, with a mother and a place in Equestria.
But it wasn't her life, and it was missing all the people that made her life wonderful. "Thank you, Spike," she said quietly, scratching his ears as she stared at the yawning hole in the wall. "You saved me from that." Scowling, Sunset ran claws through her hair. "Guess this place does have defenses after all. I was kind of hoping they'd be something I could hit...not weaponized emotional trauma."
--It's a prison for demons, horn-head. They could shred regular guards. Look at what we did at the formal.-- The voice sighed. --I'd expect more of the same and worse. A place like this...it's going to do everything it can to stop us. Permanently.--
The odds of this being a one way trip for her suddenly seemed much higher. "Ponyfeathers...Alright...we need to be super careful then. Can you still tell which way Twilight is?"
Spike nodded. "Sure can! It's this way now." He led her up the passage and down a sharp left turn.
Sunset jogged after him. "You can also feel when a passage is a trap?"
He considered that as they jogged along at a steady pace. "...I know when it's bad. When going that way is bad," he explained, hesitantly. "It feels Hungry, like youre a Treat made of Tasty, and I know if it eats you, it won't let you go."
Yikes.
--Well, that just gives us all kinds of mental images, doesn't it?--
Or maybe it was an ew? Sunset shuddered, quite capable of imagining a giant pony/demon gobbling monster.
--No,-- the voice joked. --Definitely a yikes.--
Either way, the former unicorn gave another full body shudder, feeling the fur along her lower spine prickle--which was a weird way to learn that the line of curly pony fur actually went most of the way up her back in some kind of dorsal stripe. "Just...warn me if you feel it again...and yes, you have my complete permission to knock me down and sit on me until I break out of another illusion if it happens again."
Tongue lolling out, Spike bumped her leg with his shoulder. "I can do that!" He licked his nose. "Maybe you can explain some things to me since I can ask questions now?"
"Sure," she said, somehow not surprised that Twilight's dog was both intelligent and inquisitive. "Though, if it's about why humans do things the way they do, I might not know. I'm still a unicorn, even though I wander around in a human body."
"Hu-man. Is that what they call themselves?" Spike bobbed his head. "It's fine. If you don't know, it just means humans are weird."
Snorting, Sunset shook her head. "Trust me, you don't know the half of it."
Spike didn't seem to register the sarcasm. "Can you tell me about the Good Thing and the Bad Thing?"
Oh. That was definitely a subject she could fill him in on. "I...think what you are talking about is what we call magic," she began. "Where I'm from, Equestria, magic is everywhere. In the air, the water, the ground. It's in all the living things and all the stones underhoof, and in the deep places of the world, in sunshine and moonlight and the blackness between the stars. Magic, on its own, is not good or bad. It's...just magic." She found herself falling into the easy cadence of teaching what was essentially a foal's first magic lesson, talking about how living things grew to use the magic inside them in certain ways, to hunt or protect themselves, or to survive or have clever tricks. "I...think your Choosing thing is like that. A type of magic that dogs can have, that helps you and the humans you live with survive better."
His nose wrinkled, and he sneezed, sending a gout of green fire in front of him. "Okay, but I don't live in Equestria?"
"No, but I've learned that there's a little magic in your world. Just enough for the small stuff like that." She idly traced her cutie mark with her index finger. "And the more magic in our part of the human world, the more that kind of thing will happen. Magic...is growing, and I think the word used to have more but it dried up for some reason."
"Like a puddle on a hot day?"
Nodding, the redhead made a loose gesture with one hand. "Yeah. Except now it's raining again, because I brought Magic to your world."
He thought about that. "So why is it sometimes Good and sometimes Bad, if it's all magic. They dont feel the same."
Sunset winced. "Because...magic is changed by how someone feels. If someone is a good person, like..." She thought for a minute. "Like Cady. She's loving and kind and wants people to be happy and healthy. If she had magic, then her magic would want to be all of those things, to work with what she wanted to help her." It was a struggle to keep the explanation simple without any of the cultural points of reference that would have been used in Equestria. "...but...if someone with magic is a bad person, and they feel a lot of anger and hate and want to hurt others...then that makes the magic go bad...because the magic in them wants what they want, and it just gets worse because bad magic makes you feel even more angry and hurt, which then makes the magic worse." Her shoulders slumped a little. "That was me. I was...pretty bad for a long time. I've worked hard to change and be good now, but...it's hard, and I've got scars from it."
"Huh. That...makes sense. So the Bad Things have sick magic? Like a magic tummy-ache?"
Well, that was one way to look at it. "Yeah, something like that. Except...if someone has a lot of magic..." Concentrating, Sunset formed a blood red fireball in her hand and showed it to him. "...then they can use it to hurt others badly. Like the monsters at the school."
The dog cocked his head. "Like the White Mouth Sick?"
It took her a second to realize what he meant. "Yeah...that's...actually not a bad analogy."
"Ana-what?"
"It means that's a good comparison. It is a bit like a sickness."
--Great,-- came the snark. --I've gone from prisoner to roommate to a disease, all in less than a day. New record there.--
I didn't mean it like that. You're...more like...the embarrassing manecut I had when I was twelve.
--You are comparing me to that ridiculous mohawk we got after sneaking into that music performance with that band that had the zebra drummer and the flirty Abyssinian singer?-- The stupid voice huffed. --I don't think we can be friends anymore.--
That would require us to be friends in the first place.
--Bitch,-- was the response, though it lacked heat.
That's what they tell me.
Spike slowed as they came to a bend, sniffing. "I don't like this. Something's changed."
Sunset tensed, her ears swiveling and hunting for sounds that might tell them what danger was coming, her nostrils flaring instinctively. "A trap?"
"I...dont know." He sniffed. "I...don't smell anything, but I feel it."
Considering that, and the way her ears heard almost nothing beyond the two of them, not even air moving, she flexed clawed hands. "Then we move slowly, and stay alert. We can't stop, and this is the way to Twilight still?"
A low growl escaped Spike. "Yeah, it is." His body dropped into a stalking crouch and together they moved around the curve in the passage...
And stopped cold.
--Okay, this is clearly a trap.--
Staring out at the wide and familiar grassland landscape, with rolling hills and the rising spine of the Luminary Range, Sunset had to agree. Not to mention it was impossible, given how much the path and snaked up and around on this curving route, the way the air did not seem to breach the cave opening, and the angle she was viewing the plains and the mountains from were such that the area was open and free of the terrain features that could lead to an underground labyrinth. "Are you seeing this, Spike?"
"Yes," he said, "but not smelling it. I see grass and trees...but all I smell is the rocks and you and hot." His hackles bristled. "And this is the way to Twilight. I don't like it."
The teen stared at the impossible view. "I don't either, but...I don't see another way...do you? We can't wait forever--Twilight needs us, and I don't know how long the girls and the others can keep Sombra's attention. Does it feel like the other place? Like if I go in I'll never leave?"
Spike looked for a half dozen heartbeats. "...no. It feels like this does...but I don't think it's a good idea. Maybe we can find another way around? There were a lot of different paths."
"We could try," she agreed, "but...do we have time? And can we say that we won't end up looking at something like this or worse?" Steeling herself, Sunset frowned. "I think the only way out is through. Let's see what kind of emotional damage it tries to hit me with this time. Maybe it'll be the world where I'm a princess," she bit out sarcastically.
--Or one where us and Cadenza are BFFs, in some weird three way with her and Shining Armor. Or even weirder, a three way with her and Princess Twilight.--
And that was a mental image she never, ever wanted.
--It was funny...hey. You think Cadenza is into that kinda thing? I mean she is the 'Princess of Love,' after all...and if what we've learned about Cady translates at all to her counterpart...--
Were you not paying attention when Twi told us how things went down at her brother's wedding? I'm fairly certain she'd throw anypony who suggested it right out a window. Sunset clenched her fists. "C'mon, Spike. I refuse to let Hell stop me from keeping my promise to her."
Mustering her courage, she stepped forward, her foot breaking the invisible threshold, followed by the rest of her, and as soon as she was across, it was like it became real. She could see and hear and even smell Equestria. Spike followed her, yelping in panicked worry, but Sunset stretched, savoring even the illusion of sunlight on her skin. It was a disorienting moment, as her body felt like it was twisting in on itself and leaving her on four hooves...though her tail retained its flamelike appearance and she could feel the sharpened fangs in her mouth--even as a four legged unicorn. It seemed the demon features she had been sporting remained. Which was different than the last illusion, suggesting that there was a mind capable of learning behind all this...in which case, she really would have just preferred a face to face conversation to plead her case. It would have been quicker, and it wouldn't have flayed some of her unhealed wounds open again.
Her companion looked at her. "So...is that what your outside is supposed to look like? Like prey?"
The unicorn-with-demonic-overtones rolled her eyes. "Yes, mostly. My kind used to be prey, until we mastered our magic to make us not worth the effort to catch to any but the hungriest or meanest." She arched her neck and shook herself. "I'm also faster this way, and I can use all my magic too, I think. Can you still find Twilight?"
He nodded. "Yes."
"...well then, Spike...which way?"
Spike gave her a look. "That way, but this is still a really bad idea."
"Protest noted. I don't like it either, but we need to keep moving. Tell me if you feel one of those traps."
With a heavy and long suffering sigh, Spike took the lead again, heading along a trail only he could discern, right into the heart of the grasslands and towards the mountains in the distance, Sunset following at his heels and trying not to feel too giddy at being mostly a unicorn again, able to stretch herself into a ground eating canter as the massive hound picked up speed. There was something freeing about going this fast under her own power, with the staccato drumming of her hooves on the earth in her ears.
"Can you be like this at home too? I like having someone to really run with. Humans are slow."
Chuckling, Sunset leapt over a large rock with ease, landing on the other side without breaking stride. "Sorry, Spike. I can't--the transformation happens when you cross between worlds...plus your world would kill me if I was a unicorn. There's not enough magic anywhere but around my school."
Spike huffed. "Oh. Too bad. That would have been nice."
"I can still take you running. I want to get Twilight in better shape anyway, before her self defense lessons advance too much farther." She tried not to think about the fact that she might not get a chance...
Blue-green eyes had strayed to the familiar sight of Canterlot's terraces on the mountains they were heading towards. It struck a painful chord, seeing the gleaming white stone, the spires of the palace visible as the highest point of the city, with the sprawling, curved, interconnected terraces widening out as the layers went down, the city having grown horizontally and vertically over the course of its history. Canterlot was the shining jewel of pony accomplishment, though these days Princess Celestia tended to enlist more than a few minotaur stone workers and architects to ensure that the city was supported on good stone whenever they had to expand.
Then she noticed the smoke rising up from the palace, just before the bright flash of light that blinded her enough that she skidded to a halt. Spike yelped in pain next to her, and she heard him go down in a crash of brush bushes.
The amber unicorn joined him a few seconds later when the first shockwave hit her, the concussive boom accompanied by a blisteringly hot wind and magic that made her shudder at how powerful it was. She was bowled over from the force of it, her ears ringing painfully. "Discord's moss covered hindquarters, what was that?!" She blinked rapidly to clear the spots from her eyes, and then found herself staring in numb shock at the now burning, damaged city. "How?!"
"Uh...Sunset, I think we should find a place to hide."
Sunset tried to plant her hooves under her and get back up. "Why--oh. Horseapples. That cannot be good."
Her eyes had found what the dog was looking at: distant specs, clashing with more brilliant flashes of light and rumbles of distant thunder. Sunset could make out three of them as they got ever closer, and her heart sank as their silhouettes became discernible...alicorns. Three of them, in some kind of two on one battle. Her stomach twisted and sank to her fetlocks, as the battle raged in the distance, blasts of magic or even the titanic impact of a body crashing to the earth only to kick off it back into the sky reducing the beautiful plains to a burning, smoldering disaster.
The air shifted and she could smell the fires, watching them coming closer, with creatures fleeing the destruction in blind instinct. There was nowhere for them to really hide, but Spike pushed her bodily to a spot behind a boulder as fleeing animals stampeded by. "What is that?" he asked.
"That's...those are alicorns...special ponies with magic greater than any others, who do special things in Equestria, like raising the sun. What I don't understand is why they're fighting like that!" The fight was still coming ever closer, and Sunset peered from around the boulder to watch, unable to really look away. "What is this place pulling from my head that would justify all of that?!"
As they watched, periodically ducking to avoid getting hurt by stampeding creatures--including plenty of terrified ponies--one of the figures was hit by a powerful blast of magic, and, after falling for a few heartstopping seconds, with a second that caused a violent explosion on contact. When the smoke cleared...there were only two alicorns fighting.
"No..." Sunset whispered. This was a nightmare.
Spike's eyes widened, and he pushed Sunset with his head. "Move!"
Her eyes tracked to him, and then back upwards towards the fight again, rather than at the spot where the alicorn had vanished. A burning streak was headed for them like a meteor. Yelping, Sunset joined Spike in scrambling out of the crash zone in a hurry.
The force of whatever princess it was hitting the ground still sent them tumbling, and Sunset shook dirt from her mane. "That is getting old, really quickly." She hauled herself back up, determined to figure out who was fighting and why...so she ignored Spike's worried cry and headed for the smoking form still in a crater.
Her heart lurched as she beheld a singed, battered form with a lavender hide and tattered wings. "Twilight?" came the hoarse whisper from the amber unicorn as she stumbled and tripped down the steep sides of the divot in the earth to see if she could help. She knew it wasn't really Princess Twilight, and it couldn't be her Twilight since Spike would have said something, but just standing and doing nothing felt beyond wrong.
A weak cough, and the injured pony raised her head, bleeding freely from a gash across her nose and cheek. "...Sun...set...Shimmer? What are you..." she broke off into ragged coughs.
Spike had run to the rim of the crater. "Twilight? That's not Twilight, Sunset!"
"I know--it's part of the illusion, because even if she was real, she is the wrong Twilight, Spike...but...the real one is still my friend, and it hurts to see this." She summoned her magic to horn when she saw a wound gushing blood from the other mare's shoulder, the flash of white bone visible. It wasn't much, but the tourniquet spell stopped the bleeding on it and several other wounds like it. Another covered the wounded form in a faint mist that cooled down smoldering fur and feathers, and washed away the worse of the dirt from open gashes. "Hang in there, Twi...who...who were you fighting?"
"SUNSET! LOOK OUT!"
Spike's howl jolted her, and she looked up to see a massive ball of molten death streaking towards her...towards the fallen princess, from the other alicorn. In her mind's eye, she could see this from the other side, of her own taloned hands hurling a fireball at the princess while she screamed inside her own head. Something twisted inside, and Sunset leapt...
To intercept the fireball the size of a bus.
Her magic flared so bright her horn was a crimson-white star, and she stretched out to feel the fire that was heading right for her. It was heat and light and Elemental Fire...but it was also Sunlight and golden and Other...demonic fire's opposite number, Sunfire. It burned her mind and magic, and it hurt to grab at it, but Sunset dug into the raw rage at who the caster had to be, and challenged the flames and the magic behind it. "Not...today, PRINCESS!" she roared with guttural effort, as she wrenched the magic into her control and hurled it back at its source despite the way it left painful marks across her mind and magic...
It careened right into the hovering form, knocking it out of the sky. Sunset watched it crash nearby, panting harshly with her coat steaming from the energy coming off her. "Spike...stay with Twi. I'll handle this...imposter." She climbed out of the crater, lighting her horn again and preparing to defend herself, even as the smoke cleared and she could get a proper look at who the nightmare villain was...even though she knew there was only one pony it could be.
Only one pony, alicorn or otherwise, could control Sunfire to any successful degree.
--Seems like it's a day to remind us we have mommy-issues, doesn't it? Also, OW.--
Sunset grunted, tense and angry. "Yeah. It's not like it's not obvious to anyone who knows us even a little--and they've had Sparky down here long enough to read her mind too."
Rising out of the crater was a white alicorn, almost twice the size of a normal pony, but that was where her similarities to the princess Sunset remembered stopped. Rather than the soft, rich white of fresh snow, this mare's hide was the blistering color of bone-white ashes over a cherry red ember, and the aurora of her mane had become flames that burned yellow at the edges, the core a superheated yellow white that edged into blue white in teasing flickers. Her golden regalia was glowing dark red from the heat of her body alone, and eyes that should have been full of compassion--or disappointment, considering Sunsets own warped state--instead were miniature suns in a dark void, the pupils irregular and skittering across the surface like sunspots.
And there, splashed on her flank like a cancer, was a blanket of flame on the fur, surrounding and almost consuming the shimmering golden sun.
Princess Celestia...but with a form that seemed to pay homage to Sunset's own demonic transformation.
"Who dares?!" the alicorn demanded harshly. "Who dares to challenge the will and might of Daybreaker?!"
Sunset snorted derisively, and stepped forward, head high and ears deliberately relaxed in calculated dismissal. "Was that what we sounded like at the Formal? Discord's mismatched apples, no wonder Dash wanted to punch my teeth in."
--It's certainly a bit on the nose.--
"You?" The self proclaimed Daybreaker looked her over with a sneer.
"Yes. Me. The only pony ever capable of setting the Princess of the Sun on fire and having it actually burn." She brandished her horn like a weapon, making her challenge to the imposter clear. "And the only pony in a thousand years who didn't see a goddess when I looked at her. The only one to challenge her authority and get away with it." She smirked, showing off fangs. "What's the matter, Princess? Don't you recognize me?"
Those burning eyes stared at her, taking in her appearance, and then moved towards her flank for a glimpse of her mark. "Sunset Shimmer?" Daybreaker began to smile, a cruel, dark thing. "Of all the ponies I expected to stand against me today, you were not one of them."
"What can I say? You'll find I'm full of surprises. I'm not a fan of imposters who pretend to be ponies I knew turning into monsters." She clicked her teeth, lips curled back in a snide and rude gesture. "I don't know what the game is here but real or not, I refuse to stand idle and watch this play out."
"Imposter!? I am the greatness Princess Celestia has finally chosen to embrace! Better, stronger, more powerful, shed of all the weakness that allowed her to be manipulated!" Daybreaker flicked her wings and set fire to the grass around her. "I would have thought you, of all ponies, would understand."
Sunset laid her ears back and lifted her muzzle. "I would have agreed with you a year ago, but a year ago, I was a monster too. I became a monster and almost became a murderer...but I realized that I was wrong." She raked her eyes over Daybreaker. "You are a murderer. You killed your own sister, and almost killed your 'most faithful student.'" Even now, the title was bitter on her tongue, but Sunset pushed that aside. "You've caused death and destruction to your citizens and completely forgotten your duties and obligations to the crown upon your head."
"They defied me! Refused to yield to my greatness! I have forgotten nothing! I make the rules! I hold the power!"
Shaking her head, the amber mare stepped forward. "All the power in the world is useless if you don't know the time and place to use it...and I've learned that leadership is a responsibility. Being respected, being looked to for direction, it's earned through trust...not fear...and you should never turn that power against those you're meant to protect." Her own magic met Daybreaker's as the alicorn flared her wings and her aura. "Princess Celestia knew and understood that. It's what she spent years trying to instill in me."
Daybreaker met her steps with strides of her own. "Princess Celestia feared your power, feared what you could do if your true potential was realized. She shunned her daughter because she did not wish to be surpassed." That heated magic clashed with Sunset's both of them burning red and touched by hints of gold.
"She could see the terrible path I was walking. She wanted to teach me something I was just too stubborn to learn!" Sunset refused to give an inch, and used the anger inside to fuel her magic once again.
"She wanted you weak!" Daybreaker's magic slammed into her like a sledgehammer to the horn, and Sunset's hooves slide backward several inches.
It burned inside her, and she let the words come out. "I WAS WEAK!" Her magic surged with the words and she shoved the false alicorn's energy away from her, making the mare stagger back. "I was weak," she panted. "Weak and alone and miserable. I hated everyone and everything, including myself. I could not see it, and I blamed Celestia for it, but it was me. I was weak and wrong and I did not deserve what I demanded of her, not Ascension nor adoption."
Daybreaker sniffed, recovering. "As Celestia, I was a fool. You are powerful--look at you, holding off my power. You are everything I could imagine in a daughter, little sun," she murmured, her eyes raking over Sunset again. "The things we could have accomplished, you and I...although it's not too late. You could join me. We can stand together on the thrones as mother and daughter, as you always wished."
It was a terrible, cruel twist of a knife already lodged in a heart that had taken blow after blow over the last two weeks, and Sunset felt tears burn tracks down her cheeks. "I can see why humans believe this to be their realm of eternal torment...but...you're acting by an outdated playbook," she said darkly, all of the broken shards of her heart feeding her anger with pain and loss. "I did want that...sweet sunlight...I wanted it so bad it consumed me, made me into a monster and almost cost me my soul." The air around her shimmered with heat, and she tightened her will around the fury wanting out. "...but never like this. Never at the cost of her soul--she wasn't perfect, but Princess Celestia is a caring, loving mare who sacrifices her own well being for her ponies, losing sleep, giving up free time and hobbies, and working herself to the brink of collapse if her citizens need her."
She lifted her head and advanced on Daybreaker, her magic writhing around her like the corona of a star, and it latched onto Daybreaker like ropes, trapping the figure. "This mockery of her was a mistake, and this twisted version of an offer to love me as her own an insult of the worst sort." She let her breath out, a slow and steady stream of red and gold fire that heated the air in front of her muzzle. "And it failed...because I don't need it anymore. I have a family now, one that wants me freely, despite my flaws. I have friends who support me and showed me what real strength looks like...and I have someone who is counting on me..."
She was face to face with the apparition that called itself Daybreaker. "And that was your biggest mistake, whoever you are...You are getting between me and the girl I love, when I'm here to save her from this place, a prison where no innocent person belongs. You can hunger for broken souls, bind them and keep them and cleanse them...but you can't keep her..."
"And you won't keep me from her."
Red flames burned brighter, and they began to consume Daybreaker, melting her into nothing by inches, then feet, faster and faster. "What...are you?!" Daybreaker demanded, as the flames dissolved her wings.
"I'm Sunset Shimmer."
Fire consumed the illusion.
> Chapter One Hundred and Seventy Six: Just a Kiss Divine...
There was warm stone under her hands as she crouched there on all fours. The false Equestria had gone up in smoke once Daybreaker had vanished, leaving Sunset humanoid but still demonic in another passageway. Spike raced over to her, leathery nose sniffing and prodding her as he worriedly asked a ceaseless flow of questions. It so resembled Twilight that Sunset let out a giggle, before pushing him away gently. "I'm fine, Spike. It was all an illusion--I think whatever mind is doing this is...looking for something other than to kill me. Maybe trying to see how I feel and operate? Or make me trap myself?"
"It was still scary! It smelled real! Why did you call that other pony Twilight? Why did she smell kinda like Twilight?"
Staggering to her feet and brushing gravel off her knees, Sunset tried to explain. "Because the two worlds have different versions of the same people. Princess Twilight is the one who stopped me from being a bad person and from the 'bad magic.' She's...a Twilight who is a pony like me and grew up with magic and has a lot of friends. Our Twilight is the Twilight who grew up human with a close family, and a love of science."
He narrowed his eyes. "Does that mean there's another me?"
"There is, and I've met him. He's a baby dragon instead of a dog, and instead of being Princess Twilight's friend and protector...he's actually her son, because she hatched his egg...though he looks after her too. And before you ask, a dragon is a creature who hatches small but grows up to be a giant fire-breathing, flying lizard."
Silence from Spike had her worried, until he finally barked happily. "Oh good! Then he's worthy of being a Spike! I was afraid he was going to be one of those small diggy prey creatures...or worse, a cat!"
Sunset chuckled. "There's nothing wrong with cats, Spike. They're just different from dogs is all."
"Cats are rude and mean."
She arched her brow. "And some dogs are stupid, brainless, bark machines that drool on everything. That doesn't make all dogs bad. Not every cat is mean--I've met some who were quite sweet and affectionate." Like the elderly street cat she had taken in for about a year before it had passed away...or the alley cats who had shared food scraps with her that first winter. Sunset had certainly preferred them to the mangy street dogs who had growled at her and tried to steal whatever food she managed to scrounge up.
"I still don't like cats," Spike grumbled.
Rolling her eyes, Sunset let it go. "Objection noted." She scanned the area. "This is nothing like the tunnel we were in before." They were standing in a chamber that had a dozen exits, at various levels, with thick columns holding up the ceiling. "What can you tell me?"
Spike turned in a slow circle. "Twilight is over here now...but lots closer, I think? She doesn't feel as far anymore."
She was afraid of that. "...that means this place is a labyrinth and it can move and change on its own...or at least at the direction of whoever controls it." The teen's shoulders slumped. "That means it can play more games with us."
"But why?" Spike asked.
Blue-green eyes looked at him. "Why what?"
"Why play with us? How is that play? It was...mean....and it was mean to you. Why? It's not doing anything to me."
That made her pause. "...I...don't know," Sunset answered honestly. "That first illusion, the one that had me completely lost in it...that was a trap. This though? Its...its like it wants something from me...or wants me to do something...but I don't know what...and I'm not sure it knows either. It's digging into my memories and feelings...pulling up things that I barely even remember, constructing elaborate illusions out of what it finds..."
Sunset shivered. "The trap part makes sense, at least--Hell is a prison for demons, a place to cage them and keep the world safe from them...and I..." The former bully swallowed hard around the lump in her throat. "I...I'm still a demon, by the measurement of that sort of thing. The Elements fixed the dark magic, but...that part of me is still here. It's..." she flexed her taloned hands. "That's why I look like this..." Admitting it out loud was painful, and it made her queasy. "It's part of the reason...I may not be able to leave."
Whining, Spike nosed her arm. "But...what about Twilight? She needs you. She's your mate. You belong with your mate and your pack."
His simple declaration made her throat feel tight. "I know, Spike...but it may not be up to me. I won't give up, and I'll still try, but I already knew this might be a one way trip...and I'm...okay with that, if I can send Twilight home."
The dog absorbed that. "If it tries to keep you, l'll come back to help. Twilight needs her mate. She needs Sunset-Protector-Fire, and it's my job to make sure she has what she needs."
Sunset leaned over to hug him. "Thanks, Spike. You're the best dog I know. Now let's go find our girl."
"Okay! This way!" He trotted ahead when she released him, towards a seemingly random passage. She was already jogging after him when she felt reality shift six steps to the right and everything went sort red, then black, then she lost consciousness.
Sunset jolted awake with a start, her body doing its best to jack knife into a sitting position. This was halted by the warm body curled up half on top of her, and she only succeeded in jerking a few inches off the mattress with a gasp of air, before dropping back to the pillows, panting like she'd run a marathon. The form with her stirred from the sudden commotion, and in a moment, hands were cupping her face gently. "Shhh...breathe, Sunny...it's okay."
Turning into the touch, Sunset inhaled the scent of old books and honeysuckle, the scent soothing and familiar, and let her racing heart and ragged breathing slow to a normal rhythm. Once it had, Twilight scooted up to brush her lips lightly with a kiss. "Nightmare?" she asked, though there was a sense that it was more confirmation than question.
"...memories..." she said after a minute, her arms winding around Twilight to assure herself that the dark haired woman was solid and real.
Purple eyes remained focused on her, and Twilight pressed deeper into her embrace. "Which ones?"
The redhead drew in her scent again, savoring it. "The Games," she responded roughly. "Hell. I was back there. Trying to get to you..."
Another soft shushing sound, and Twilight kissed her again, just as soft and loving as the first time. "You did, and I'm here and alive because of you," she reassured. "You and Spike...you saved me, Sunny, all those years ago. That's just a bad dream now, a memory of a nightmare that you beat."
Sunset clung to her like a drowning mare to a life preserver, letting lavender fingers stroke her hair and scratch at her scalp. It grounded her in the present, as the dream faded to the background where memories lived, and eventually the tension melted out of her in favor of the quiet happiness of intimacy and the love Twilight was whispering into her skin.
Blue-green eyes watched in the darkness of their bedroom; it was still early, and Twilight looked tired. "...sorry I woke you."
"Like I haven't done the same to you, Sunset?" Twilight kissed her nose. "It's alright. We have the day off--plus I might've taken into account my body's current needs and scheduled an hour nap after lunch."
Laughing fondly, the former unicorn sat up slowly, bringing her companion into her lap in the process. "Such a nerd...but you're my nerd."
Twilight shifted against her, resting a cheek against her collarbone. "Mmmhmm. All yours...and you're my unicorn, even when you're a sweaty unicorn." Her nose wrinkled up.
"Are you saying I stink?" Sunset asked with a snort of suppressed laughter.
There was a pause. "Yes. You're all sweaty from your nightmare."
Taking a chance to sniff herself, Sunset winced. "Oof. Okay, point taken. I'm a gross, stinky mare. Is there room in your schedule for an early shower?"
A finger drew patterns on her skin. "Room? Sunny, you should know by now that 'leisurely shower with my wife' is a nice hour long block on any holiday itinerary."
"Right," Sunset giggled, savoring the way the word still made her heart flutter. "How could I forget..." Scooching, she shifted to swing her legs off the bed and adjust her grip on Twilight to something more stable. "And on 'Wife Appreciation Day' too."
Arms snaked around her neck. "Shame on you, Sunset Shimmer, forgetting something so important."
Heat bubbled pleasantly in her core, and she flashed a hint of fangs as she stood up, carrying the smaller woman in her arms easily. "I suppose I'll just have to make it up to you, Sparky," she purred in one lavender ear. "What do you think?"
Twilight let out a little squeak, and nodded. "...I...I like this plan. It's a good plan."
It was nice to know she could still make her partner flustered, even after all their time together. Sunset carted her off to their bathroom, and soon they lost themselves in a haze of steam and pleasure.
Sunset stepped up behind Twilight, letting her eyes rove over bare skin reflected in the bathroom mirror as the other woman dried her hair with a towel. She couldn't help but slide her arms around her wife, pressing against her back as she rested her hands on Twilight's stomach, one index finger tracing at a faint but darker line of skin that had grown more visible in the last two weeks.
Twilight leaned into her touch, but rested hands over hers and stilled the restless movement. "I promise, Sunny, it's normal."
"You sure?" Sunset asked worriedly. "That doesn't happen in mares."
The arched eyebrow made her feel sheepish. "Sunset, mares have thick body hair--it's entirely possible that it does, but you wouldn't be able to tell." Then she poked the amber skinned woman in the side. "Although, should I be concerned with how up close and personal you've apparently been to other mares?"
Snorting, she wrinkled her nose. "Please. My handful of trips back to Equestria under Twi's remit have had you with me for this. You know exactly which mares I've seen, and considering they were mostly doctors, they saw a lot more of me than I did of them."
"I still saw the most." Twilight's grin was impish, and she was definitely pleased to have distracted Sunset. "Not that I'm complaining. You are a very pretty pony."
Sunset flushed, and chose to nibble on her wife's ear. "You aren't so bad yourself in a pony body. I might've won a bet with myself about how fetching you would be."
Twilight twisted in her arms, mostly so she could kiss her. "Mmm...and what did you win from yourself?"
"The choice to walk behind you through Twi's tacky treehouse. You have amazing hindquarters in both worlds." Sunset captured her mouth hungrily, felt Twilight press into it, and for a fleeting moment considered dragging her back to bed and keeping her there until dinner.
Unfortunately, her lover pulled away after a minute, brushing her hand against Sunset's cheek. "We should get dressed, Sunny. I believe you promised to take me out for breakfast before we hit the museum."
She sighed, but acquiesced, stepping away to saunter back into the bedroom. "I did promise, didn't I? Breakfast at your favorite restaurant, the new science exhibit at the museum in Everton, and a picnic lunch at the overlook, if I remember right." The former unicorn could feel the eyes on her backside, and she very pointedly bent over to root through the dresser drawers. Behind her, she heard Twilight's breathing speed up, and counted it as a small win and adequate consolation for not being able to cart Twilight back to bed and make her scream.
"...t-that's right," Twilight agreed, her voice catching. "...and dinner tonight at Mom and Dad's...so we can tell them the news."
Her reaction made Sunset smirk and shift her weight as she made a slooooow show of getting dressed. A brief glance over her shoulder showed Twilight was staring...not as flustered as she had been when they were teenagers, but still with definite interest in what was in front of her. She also had done nothing to dress herself.
As she snugged the jeans up over her hips and did the button, Sunset turned towards her partner. "Are you going to breakfast like that? I wont mind the view, but our next stop would be jail and your folks would have to come make bail for us both."
Twilight hit her in the face with a pillow.
Sitting back in her seat, Sunset sipped at her coffee and took the moment to watch Twilight. She had finished her breakfast of french toast, fruit, and eggs at a measured pace, but her wife was still working her way through a platter loaded up with super thick waffles, eggs, hashed browns, several servings of breakfast meats, and a side of fruit. Intellectually, she knew Twilight needed the extra calories, but part of her wondered where she put it--and coming from someone whose magic necessitated well above the recommended two thousand calories a day all the cereal boxes mentioned, that said something.
Her dark haired partner paused to take a drink, and smiled over the top of her glass at Sunset. Under the table, a foot slid up Sunset's jean covered calf teasingly until it reached her knee, then threatened to creep towards her inner thigh. Sunset leaned forward, and under the table, hidden by the tablecloth, amber hands grasped that foot gently. Blowing a kiss at Twilight, she started massaging her ankle, watching the smile become an expression of bliss. "You were on your feet too long yesterday, weren't you?"
"...I had to be. We had to finish up the project, and make the presentation, and then I was with HR for several hours to finalize the details of my sabbatical...and I had two classes last night that were both labs." Twilight nibbled on a strawberry. "I'm just a little worn and sore."
Working her thumbs into the arch of that foot, she felt the tension. "You need to take breaks, Sparky. Even just five minutes helps you, you know that. The last thing I want is for you to overdo it and fall."
She scowled at Sunset, but it wasn't truly angry. "Yes, Mom," she stressed, sticking her tongue out after.
Sunset let her foot go, wondering if she'd pushed too hard on the subject. "...sorry...I just don't want you to get hurt."
"Neither do I," Twilight said with soft affection. "I do appreciate your concern, and I'll be more mindful...but I read those books too, Sunny, and I've calculated for everything. I'll be okay." She flicked a waffle crumb across the table. "It's sweet that you are like this."
That prompted her to look away with a shrug. "I have no clue what I'm doing, and I don't exactly have anyone I can ask yet. I've kind of been going at this blind, and those books you gave me...didn't really help much."
Twilight polished off the last of her breakfast. "And after tonight, I'm sure Mom and Dad will be ecstatic to give you any advice you ask for. And then some you didn't."
Sunset chuckled. "Your mom is going to have manticore kittens, you know that right?"
"Yes, that's why it's only the four of us at dinner tonight." She raised a hand to flag down the server. "And since I don't want to panic about that right now, let's hit the museum!"
Listening with half an ear to Twilight expositing on the detailed backstory behind a particular scientific discovery of the prehistoric giant towering over the rest of the room, Sunset smiled. They had spent the last several hours touring the latest exhibits, including one of a bunch of dead royals from ancient Egypt and all their grave goods, and Twilight was vibrating from pure excitement and knowledge overload. Sometimes, Sunset felt she enjoyed these museum dates more for the way Twilight acted than for the locations themselves--though in some cases, learning more about the human world was absolutely fascinating. Like when it came to their prehistoric creatures; Sunset liked comparing it to the somewhat limited paleontological record she could recall from Equestria, and seeing where it overlapped and differed was a rather curious point of conjecture in her discussions with both Twilights.
"So if this guy was a prey animal...do I want to know what was trying to eat him?" Sunset joked. "Or should I just assume Earth had dragons once upon a time and this was basically their favorite snack?"
Twilight shook her head. "No dragons, not like you're thinking of, but it's likely the young ones were preyed on by all kinds of predators--from the eggs we found, they were only about this big when they hatched." She held her hands apart by only a foot or so. "They had a lot of growing to do in their first few years of life."
"I'll say," Sunset murmured, trying to reconcile the baby size with the huge bones overhead. "I think this guy is smaller than the current dragon lord, actually. I've heard he's pretty enormous."
Her wife tilted her head quizzically. "I thought ponies had little to no contact with dragons. Spike notwithstanding."
One hand waggled in a maybe gesture. "Not sure if it's changed, but I know when I was a filly, Celestia would have private, one on one meetings with the dragon lord every decade or so. Mostly to make sure polite borders were maintained. Dragons are a bit...inconvenient to have as neighbors."
She gestured to the model of the vicious looking, human sized meat eaters in the next exhibit. "Okay, these guys were in that movie Dash showed me. They were smart, right?"
The dark haired woman beamed at her as she launched into explaining Deinonychus and its relatives.
They had chosen a great day for their lunch. The overlook had been sparsely populated, and they had managed to find a quiet spot on a patch of grass under some shady trees to eat the sandwiches in the cooler. Now they were enjoying the sunshine and contemplating Twilight's scheduled 'naptime,' and whether or not they could get away with it right there on the grass. Twilight was leaning back against the broad tree shading them, and Sunset had packed up their lunch things so she could lay down with her head in Twilight's lap. Her rough night was catching up with her.
Fingers carded through her hair. "Tired?" Twilight asked.
"Kind of..."
"Nightmare really took it out of you this time," she commented. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Sunset nuzzled into her shirt briefly, letting Twilight's scent fill her nose. "Did you bring ice cream?"
Slim fingers toyed with her forelock. "Not today, but I know Mom has some for dessert tonight."
"Good enough," the redheaded woman responded with a faint smile that fell quickly, as she brought her mind back to the memories. "...I was...back in Hell, with Spike, trying to rescue you. Hell was...getting into my head..." She shuddered, and pressed her face against Twilight's middle again, half hiding from reality in the faint warmth, familiar scent, and loving embrace. "Its hard to shale the feeling of still being there..."
Twilight hummed in her throat, her hands still stroking through fiery locks. "Then walk me through the memories," she coaxed. "Take me on the journey, so you can see that its over. That you succeeded, and I'm here and this is real. That I love you and you love me, and we're happy with our lives...that the monster is long behind us."
Sunset whined, hiding in the fabric for several minutes, feeling those fingers and hearing the humming in her ears, and letting it all just wash over her. Finally she rolled onto her back, looking up at her partner's worried expression. "...okay." Amber fingers caught lavender and she squeezed tightly for support as the memories were dragged to light. "Spike and I landed together...it was dark and heavy and just awful, but he could lead us to you. So we walked..." She recounted the hallucination of the past that never was...how it wrecked her, how it fell apart because it didn't mesh, but how it still hurt to acknowledge as pure fantasy and wish fulfillment...and a trap.
The dark haired woman had heard it all before, but she treated the story with seriousness and concern. "You didn't deserve to have your emotions used like that...and...its okay to have wanted her to love you and adopt you. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be loved, Sunny. Everyone deserves love, especially children." Purple eyes were thoughtful. "Is it possible your own anxieties over everything brought this back to the surface?"
"Maybe?" Sunset lifted their linked digits to her lips. "I'm still more than a little terrified I'm going to fail--a distant immortal princess is not exactly the best role model."
Smiling, Twilight pressed a palm to Sunset's cheek. "I have complete faith in your abilities, Sunset Shimmer. You have yet to fail those you care about, and I cannot see you starting now."
"You have far more trust in me than I have in myself."
"I always will. You are always there when I need you most." Twilight brought their hands up to mimic Sunset's affectionate gesture. "After the fake history and Novo...then what?"
Her eyes shut in remembered anger and pain. "Daybreaker. It was the false Equestria with a corrupted Celestia...she burned everyone and everything. Killed her sister, almost killed Twi...but I interfered. I jumped in the way of a deadly fireball--I think you humans are rubbing off on me." She recounted the fight, the argument of perspectives, the offer Daybreaker made...the way she had called Sunset her daughter, and how she'd not only turned it down, but taken her apart verbally. "I was so angry...it was like a twisted version of what I wanted more than anything as a filly...it was shallow and wrong and just..."
Twilight soothed her with kisses and affection. "It's over, Sunny. You beat that illusion. You realized the flawed argument and showed how far you had come....but you need to realize it wasn't real. It was all just an illusion, a deception. You can let it go now."
A wet laugh bubbled up. "You know me, Sparky: Mommy issues for days. Run away, before it's too late!"
"You can have all the mommy issues in the world, Sunset, but I still love you. You're my very best friend."
She watched Twilight's face, searched her eyes and found only truth. "You are a huge sap, nerd."
"I have every reason to be." This time she leaned down and Sunset met her halfway for a kiss. "Now, keep going. Tell me what happened next."
Sunset sighed and prepared to tell her the rest of the story for probably the hundredth time since it happened--this was Twilight's go to for helping her ground herself in reality rather than memory, whenever it manifested as nightmares that left her uncertain. "We figured out after that that Hell was...being rearranged around us...that its physical shape was...transitive and fluid. Spike could still find you though, so we kept going..." The former unicorn trailed off, frowning.
"And then?"
"....I...can't remember." Dread settled into her stomach unpleasantly. She knew that she'd passed a long gauntlet and rescued Twilight, but now, focusing on her memories, everything beyond Daybreaker was...indistinct. "I know I succeeded..." Her eyes focused on Twilight's. "...but I can't remember what exactly happened."
Sitting up, she turned towards her wife. "Why don't I remember, Twilight?"
Twilight was frowning now, her own eyes looking down. "...I...I don't remember either," she confessed. "Which makes no sense because I should. Not only was I there...but you've told me this story before. Many times." She met Sunset's gaze steadily. "And I possess perfect recall."
Having heard her companion regurgitate entire encyclopedia entries, Sunset knew that was true. Which meant... "...I'm still in Hell," Sunset whispered, feeling a wrenching sense of loss. "This...isn't real." The words burned in her chest, her throat. They hurt to say, especially with how Twilight's face fell. "I'm sorry..." she choked out.
Arms enfolded her in a tight hug. "Sunset...no. You don't need to be sorry..." she was warm and she smelled like the real Twilight, of old books and ink and honeysuckle and a touch of electrical wiring, and her voice was perfect...but it was a lie, a beautiful trap meant to keep her enthralled.
Yet even as a trap she was Twilight in so many of the right ways. She held Sunset in that hug, kissing her and pressing their foreheads together. "I won't try to keep you, Sunny. If...if you're right...then I need you, wherever I am. The real me is waiting for you to get her out of Hell, and back home."
Sunset choked back a sob. "I...want this to be real," she admitted brokenly. "I...this is everything I could never hope to even dream about...but it's not..."
"No, it might not be...but..." Twilight smiled at her, wiping the tears away and yet crying herself. "That doesn't mean it can't be someday, if you rescue your Twilight...and I won't keep you from that, no matter how much I want to keep you by my side."
Blue-green eyes could see the blurring, the distortion of reality at the edges, and she knew it was just a dream. Another trap. "I'm so sorry," she managed around the lump of coal lodged in her throat. "I have to go to her. To the real Twilight. To my Sparky...but...thank you for...for reminding me why I'm here. Who I'm here for."
Twilight pulled back, wiping her eyes, and resting a hand against Sunset's chest, right over her heart. "That's...that's what best friends are for, Sunny. Now go. You've got this--I believe in you...and so does she. No matter what she said in anger."
The dream melted away, and Twilight was the last thing to fade, the end of a wish that pulled from the desires so deep and secret that Sunset had never even known the real depth of them. As she found herself in the dark cave once more, Sunset choked on emotion and she crumpled to the floor with a keening sound, sobbing brokenly into her hands as the loss of a dream she never even realized she'd possessed crashed into her. |
Shaka | pre | The sweet smelling miasma rapidly afflicted the nurses, filling their panting mouths and burning into their lungs as the effects took over. The resistance, the fear, the horror in their eyes faded, replaced by the coming pleasure and mind numbing lusts that made their bodies loosen up before squeezing on the cocks plowing in and out of their holes. The zebras only laughed, amused at how they went from fear to longing. This only made them fuck harder and harder, their grunts matching the whorish moans that these mares were now making.
"There, much better." Shaka nodded, turning his attention back to Harshwhinny. "Now, get to sucking, bitch. I plan to knock your whore ass up today."
Harshwhinny eagerly did as her master commanded. The moment he was back at her face, she sucked on it with greater and greater fervor. She longed to feel his hot load back in her belly. She needed to drink on his thick spunk, to have his warmth flood her belly again. Shaka only grabbed her head and thrusted in and out of her throat. He didn't care if the way she lay was causing a strain, or if she was still recovering from a pregnancy. She was his whore, and he was going to cum in her belly like one.
Humping against her face, Shaka's cock bulge in Harshwhinny's throat, swelling as he rubbed in and out of her like a used up pussy. It wasn't as good as before, but he was going to get his first spurt out all the same. The mare was devoted, she was eager, and has proven to be of use. So he would reward her, impregnating her again, and repeat the cycle until he was tired of her. Huffing, he felt as his orgasm was coming.
"Here it comes, drink your master's seed." Shaka commented, fucking harder and harder before bottoming out hard and deep in Harshwhinny's throat. "Here's your reward, whore!"
Bottoming out in Harshwhinny's mouth, Shaka came. The mare eagerly and greedily gulped down as much cum her master was releasing. She slurped and suckled, draining as much cum as she could, not wanting to stop drinking as more and more thick ropes of Shaka's spunk flooded her belly. The warmth caused her body to shiver. She felt so loved, so happy, and content in her purpose. Though Shaka wouldn't care one way or another, he nodded in some show of approval for her.
"Good enough." Shaka replied, slowly pulling his cock from Harshwhinny's mouth. "Now that the weaker seed is gone, only the fertile will be fucked in your whore cunt." Slowly, he walked around her, making sure to give her tits another squeeze.
Harshwhinny let out a whorish moan, laying back as her master moved to now be facing at her still spread legs. Not having any patience, Shaka pulled at the blanket, tossing it off the bed. Then he tore the rest of the mare's hospital gown away. Now bare and naked before her master, Harshwhinny was shivering as she looked at him with needy eyes. Her pussy was quivering at him, as if eager to have his seed again. The doctor was skilled, having used his magic to clean her off. For a moment, it was almost as if she had never had children.
Resting his hands on her legs, Shaka rubbed them for a moment, only to move the mare off the devices that kept her legs open. Now playing fully on the bed, he pulled her almost off the bed, catching her legs and lifting her upwards. Shaka angled his hard, throbbing size against the mare's soaking entrance. Before she even could finish her sultry moans, he thrusted in her. She was tight, tighter than the last time he fucked her wet hole.
Harshwhinny let out her moan, leaning back as she came all over Shaka's dick. The mare's pussy squeezed along his length, letting him slip more and more into her. It was so good, she loved feeling her master's dick inside her. His throbbing mass was the only thing that gave her purpose and meaning. Her insides were tingling as they stretched with his cock rubbing along her especially sweet and sensitive spots.
"Come on, whore. Tighten up." Shaka grunted, fucking harder and harder, not caring for the mare. "I don't care if you gave birth, you're my whore, and I want my whore to have a tight cunt!"
Harshwhinny did the best she could, but it wasn't working. Her body was still sore and weak from the foal birth. Shaka had no patience, only deciding to be especially rough with her. Reaching across the bed, he gripped his hands around her throat again. This was even tighter than before, just barely allowing any air in her lungs. She gasped, eyes rolling back as her tongue was starting to dangle from the side of her mouth. Shaka didn't care. She gave him sons, and if she made more, that would be fine, but that wasn't enough to make him feel concerned for her well being.
"I said tighten. So tighten that whore cunt for my seed, or I'll make you tighten up!" Shaka grunted, choking the mare harder. "You think your life has meaning? You think you matter? You are a whore, a worthless hole to be used and discarded. These nurses my brothers are raping can just as easily replace you." His lips curled into a malicious, almost evil smirk. "Just like you replaced my last whore."
His words, those harsh, brutal, unkind and cruel words. Shaka's voice rippled in Harshwhinny's mind, tingling along her senses. The miasma that had fully and permanently broken her mind only sent her body into endless climax and pleasure. She loved this feeling, she loved to be used and mistreated. She wanted this, she wanted to be hurt, she wanted to be Shaka's whore. The only thing that seemed to bring a mote of sadness, was the fear of being abandoned by her master. She never wanted this.
Harshwhinny tried to say something, she wanted to plead and beg Shaka not to abandon her. Tears burned in her eyes as they trickled out. The air stung as what little she could get drifted into her flaring nostrils and gasping throat. Shaka only fucked in and out, hammering his length in her pussy. His dick was pushing hard and fast, burying itself so deep in her, that her still open cervix was being fucked, with the inner lining of her womb being violently pushed and rubbed.
Harshwhinny was just barely able to stay conscious. She was already still weak from giving birth, and now being choked out by her master was draining what little strength remained. Her eyes twitched, gasping, choked breaths leaked out of her mouth, and eventually, her arms went limp. Her body followed, collapsing back as Shaka released his hold over her throat. Harshwhinny's throat was red, visibly hand prints marked the mare's neck, but she was still breathing.
"Not dead? Impressive." Shaka commented, feeling as the now unconscious mare's pussy was much tighter. "Typically, I only say what I say when I punish her. A problem for later I suppose."
While he continued to fuck the now weak and resting mare, his brothers had moved to enjoying the nursed. The three zebras were busy with a single nurse this time, as the other one had collapsed and was just twitching. The one being handled by all three had all three holes filled with cock. Her mouth, pussy, and ass were filled and stretched by cock, and the way they were at it, they were going to cum at any moment.
Pumping themselves faster and faster, the three of them gave no regard to the mare. The first one was lucky, only passing out and going limp. The second one who is soon filled with their hot seed over and over again. They loved it when Shaka let them have their fun, and the miasma coursing through this mare only made her body moan and tighten over it like a whore. She was just a piece of fuck meat for them, something that could only bring endless pleasure for them.
Panting, the three of them were cumming, hammering faster and faster. The zebras let out a low groan as they pulled back, only to bottom out their full lengths into the mare's body. Her throat, pussy, and ass were stuffed so hard with dick, and then the orgasms pumped in her caused not only her belly to bulge, but excess cum was gushing out between their cocks as they continued thrusting, even as they were letting out more and more hot, thick spunk. The mare's body spasmed as she came from the feeling, only to go limp.
Shaka was getting close as well, feeling as his cock was throbbing in Harshwhinny's unconscious pussy. It was tight, but just loose enough for him to put little effort in bottoming out. He wasn't sure if he could get her pregnant after she had just given birth, but he didn't care. If she did, that might give her more time as his whore. If not, then she can be a plaything for his brothers, and maybe one day, his sons' whore. For now, he was about to cum.
"Good whore, that's a good whore." Shaka grunted, hissing under his breath as he was feeling his cock swelling and throbbing. "This is what you are, a fucking whore only kept to bear my foals!" Pulling back, he rammed his cock into her, shaking the bed. "Get pregnant you fucking bitch!"
Shaka released his orgasm, flooding the mare's previously pregnant womb with his potent seed. The miasma that coursed in her body had an additional affect thanks to the large dosage in her. Her ovaries went into overdrive, ovulating as her master's spunk filled her womb. Her eggs were impregnated, and soon enough, she would become heavy with his next foals. Shaka held himself in place for a moment before slowly pulling out. Looking at the mare, then to his brothers, he smirked.
"I believe that's enough celebrating, for you." Shaka commented, walking over to the camera. Lifting it, he looked into the lens with his sinister expression. "Perhaps I should record my other whores, something of a keepsake when I breed them." With that, the camera feed is cut out.
"That is how I gave birth to my sons." Harshwhinny stated, having some semblance of professional sanity. Her face was now on a monitor, being watched as she continued. "For those of you who are watching this, this is to be expected of you."
The mare had developed more curvature. Her breasts were huge and both her foals were greedily suckling at them, drinking their milk. Her belly was swollen and bloated, implying she was already pregnant with her next foals. Her body was also covered in far more integrated stripes on her body, now constantly visible rather than a flickering sign of her arousal. The mare held somewhat of a serious look, but it was clear she was getting turned on by the foals drinking her milk.
"We exist only to be impregnated by our master, and anything other aspirations only get in the way." Harshwhinny spoke, with almost love in her devoted tone. "Before I met him, I was some nameless mare of no significance." Looking at her nursing foals, she smiled. "Now, Shaka has given me a purpose, and I'm happy to be his broodwhore."
Sitting in her living room, Posey Shy had been watching this video. Her face was in a scarlet blush, and her mind was so confused as to why Fluttershy would've sent this to her. And yet, she didn't look away. The way Harshwhinny's body had been fucked, the way she was impregnated, and how she gave birth. As well as the way the nurses had been fucked into a mentally destroyed mess, no doubt heavily impregnated.
"And so for those of you who are watching this, remember." Harshwhinny commented, her voice taking Posey's attention away from her thoughts. "It is far better to submit now. Resistance is futile, and when you join him, Shaka's splendor is worth every moment of pleasure." There was a knocking at the door that started the mare.
Getting up from the couch, Posey didn't even think to pause the video as she walked over to the door. She did so slowly, trying to quickly compose herself as she approached the door. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door, where Shaka was standing. The mare gasped, stumbling back, almost falling over as the zebra looked at her with a smirk. He looked at her, comparing what he was seeing to what Fluttershy had told him.
Posey was quite attractive. Even in her attempts to hide her from under her long, baggy shirt, and knee long skirt, there was no covering up her sexy allure. Her tits were big, very big compared to her daughter, easily three or maybe four times the size of Harshwhinny's pregnant milkers. Her ass was a perfect balance as it bounced slightly as she stood there, trembling somewhat at the zebra. And the look of fear and yet curiosity was making Shaka's lips only curl into a deeper smile.
"Hello there." Shaka greeted, speaking politely. Bowing his head, he let himself in the house, closing the door behind him. "Fluttershy told me her mother was beautiful, but words fail to really describe your splendor. I am very impressed."
Posey's heart was racing, her mind racing. He mentioned Fluttershy. Was he talking to her? Did he do something to her daughter? Her heart was hammering harder and harder, but there was something else. It was a faint, but sweet smell that was making her body tingle and her mind numb. Her body was starting to get hot, and as she looked more and more at the zebra, her ears perked at the sound of the television.
"Um...hello..." Fluttershy's voice called from the television. "M-my name...is Fluttershy..." Posey looked over to the screen, and her eyes widened in shock.
It was Fluttershy, she would know her daughter anywhere. But her body was different. Her body was bearing stripes similar to how Harshwhinny looked, and her breasts were huge, swollen, and leaking milk out of her plump, darkened nipples. But what really made Posey's body tremble in fear was her daughter's belly. The mare was pregnant, there were no questions of it, but how many could be in her bloated womb was impossible to tell.
"I...I'm currently carrying a bunch of foals...and I'm...I'm...I'm so happy." Fluttershy continued, blushing as she seemed to be speaking to some unseen cameraman. "And...well...I'm sorry, I'm just so nervous."
Posey wasn't sure what to think of any of this. Her daughter was pregnant, she was going to have foals, and so the milf mare was going to have grandfoals. But then, why was she feeling...envious? Her mind was happy that her daughter seemed happy about having foals. So why was she feeling this envy, this jealousy. The more she tried to comprehend these thoughts, the stronger that sweet smell was getting.
Shaka only watched on, eager to see how far things could go. Perhaps this mare wasn't as difficult to break as he thought. Perhaps she was more like her daughter, a natural whore who just needed the right push. He only continued to slowly exhale, letting out his miasma in a much more subtle means, slowly corrupting the mare until she was more eager to submit to him. Looking at the screen, the mare could see the joy on Fluttershy's face.
"S-so...I...I'm sure you'd like to see how I got like this?" Fluttershy commented, carefully and gently groping herself. "I...I guess it would be okay...to show you..." The screen then flickered, changing from her striped, pregnant form, to how she looked beforehand.
Fluttershy was sitting on a hotel bed, fully naked and visibly nervous. Swallowing her fear, she looked at the camera. Her body was trembling, but she was somewhat excited. Posey's eyes only widened as she looked at the television. Within moments, one zebra after another was walking into view. Eventually, there were nearly half a dozen zebras in frame, with some more only somewhat visible on the screen.
"Oh yeah, that was a wild night." Shaka commented, chuckling a little as she looked over at the screen. "I had to call a few friends over, but she certainly had her fun, and her fill." Posey looked at the zebra with a somewhat nervous look, but the sweet smell was putting her mind at ease. He extended a hand. "Would you like me to show you?" She swallowed timidly, but slowly nodded her head, welcoming her into her home. |
The Blood Feud | pre | He was perfect. His eyes were just the cherry on top compared to the rest of him. His smile was wide and sparkling, his hair was well kept and looked so soft. She felt her own smile grow. Though, she felt like she'd seen him somewhere before, now that she got a better look at him.
"Now your mask." Soarin said. Rainbow hesitated though, as she was still lost in his face. "Unless you'd rather not, which is fine." Soarin said, worried that she wasn't comfortable enough to.
"No, it's fine, I will." Rainbow quickly said. She then unhooked her own mask and let it fall to the ground with a thud.
Soarin let out an audible gasp as soon as he saw her face. Not only was she the stunning mare he almost knew she would be, but he knew exactly who she was now. One of the top Wonderbolts, Rainbow Dash.
When Dash looked back at his face and noticed how shocked he looked she started to worry, because it wasn't the good kind of shocked face.
"Not what you were expecting?" Dash said in a disappointed tone as she looked down at the ground.
Soarin quickly walked over while shaking his head. "What? No, no, it's not that....it's just...." Soarin trailed off as Rainbow Dash looked up expectedly.
"What?" Dash asked.
"Do you know who I am Rainbow Dash?" Soarin asked quietly. Rainbow let out a small gasp.
"To be honest, no, but you look familiar. But you know me, have we met before?" Rainbow asked.
"Not until now, but I do know some ponies who have met you." Soarin said. Rainbow frowned.
"Alright, enough of the cryptic stuff, what's your name?" Rainbow impatiently asked. Soarin turned away and took a deep breath before turning back.
"My name is Soarin. Soarin Skies, if you want the full name." Soarin said, finally introducing himself. Rainbow stepped back, finally recognizing him. He was a Shadowbolt, not just any Shadowbolt either, but the adopted son of Night Stalker.
The two didn't say anything, choosing to stay in the awkward silence, not really knowing what to say to such a big revelation. Rainbow just wanted to share a night with a Stallion who wasn't a complete douche, but now here she was, in one of her favorite spots with a Shadowbolt. Soarin finally decided to break the silence.
"Look, I'm not going to do anything. If you want to pummel me into submission and then brag about defeating a high ranking Shadowbolt, then feel free." Soarin said, closing his eyes and sitting down. Rainbow Dash took a moment to process his words, and quickly shook her head.
"What? No! I don't want to hurt you." Rainbow said, almost in an offended tone. This took Soarin by surprise.
"Really? Even if I'm a Shadowbolt?" Soarin asked. Rainbow herself felt stunned by her own words and feelings. Even after hearing straight from his mouth that he was one of her worst enemies, she didn't want to beat him. She still thought he looked handsome, and his eyes were still shining bright. In a way, she already loved him. Rainbow shook her head again, giving Soarin all the answer he needed.
"Really? What about that time with Fleetfoot? She never stops whining about how she should've won that fight." Soarin said. Rainbow sighed.
"Yeah, that thing with Fleetfoot. To be honest, I'm one of those Wonderbolts who doesn't really "take part" in this stupid feud. The only reason I beat Fleetfoot then was because I had Spitfire and a few others watching." Rainbow explained.
"Wow, I like that." Soarin said. Rainbow groaned slightly.
"Why? because that makes me softer and easier to beat while alone?" Rainbow said coldly. Soarin's heart nearly dropped from that sentence.
"What? No, I like that because I'm the same way. Sure I use to fight Wonderbolts enthusiastically and regularly, but now this Feud has gone on so long, I really don't care anymore." Soarin explained. Rainbow then took a step forward.
"So, you don't automatically hate me just for being a Wonderbolt?" Rainbow asked.
"No, in fact, I want to get to know you, because, you are probably the prettiest mare I've ever met." Soarin blurted out, after which he covered his muzzle. Rainbow Dash rose an eyebrow.
"I'm sorry, that sounded creepy." Soarin said. Rainbow walked over so that she was directly in front of him.
"It's okay, I was going to say the same thing about you." Rainbow said before giving Soarin a peck on the cheek. Soarin's vision went fuzzy as he processed what happened.
"Di....I She.....just kiss me?" Soarin thought.
"So, tell me about yourself Mr. Skies." Rainbow said, snapping Soarin out of his trance.
Lightning Streak felt like a wave of feelings wash over him as he witnessed the exchange between the two pegasi as he watched from a nearby treeline.
It was a mixture similar to what his brother felt earlier. He felt nausea, rage, fear, and a loss of pride as Dash kissed Soarin on the cheek.
He had watched the entire conversation and was angry. Rainbow Dash was a tough Wonderbolt, but there she was, flirting with the enemy. Unless she was planning on tricking Soarin, Lightning saw this as a betrayal.
"Something must be done about this." Lightning said quietly to himself before he swiftly and silently made his way back to the Wonderbolt estate. |
The Blood Feud | Afterparty | What started out as a relatively boring and unpleasant night for Soarin and Rainbow Dash, transformed into a night that both enjoyed immensely. After ditching the party to hang out away from the loud, obnoxious, and aggravating party, they started hanging out in a small field away from the chaos.
The night started out with just some chatting while they stargazed into the beautiful night. They shared stories of their childhoods, their interests, and their hobbies, and found they shared a few interests such as flying, food, and sleeping.
After good while just talking, they went for a flight together, making sure to fly over the uninhabited parts to avoid being spotted by anypony who wouldn't approve of them flying together. The calm flight eventually turned into a race back to the field, which Dash won and effectively showed Soarin her bragging side by rubbing her victory in his face somewhat, not that he minded.
Eventually, after a few hours spent together, they found themselves once again, laying in the center of the field, staring at the night sky. Both were lying on their backs, with Dash snuggled close to Soarin, with her head on his chest. Soarin softly stroked his hoof through her mane, thinking of something to say.
"How are ya feeling Dash?" Soarin whispered, slightly cautious that she might be asleep. Dash yawned before responding.
"Great, just a bit confused." Dash said. Soarin lifted his head up.
"Why?" Soarin asked. Rainbow tilted her head up to face Soarin directly, staring into his eyes again.
"I've spent my entire life being told by everyone I knew that all Shadowbolts were terrible ponies, my parents, my friends, everypony. But, you aren't like that, at all." Rainbow said. Soarin smiled at this.
"I can say the same about you Dash." Soarin said before leaning forward and pressing his lips to hers. This caught Rainbow a little off guard, but she quickly returned the kiss. After breaking the kiss, the two stared at eachother again for a few short moments before Soarin spoke.
"Do you believe in fate Dash?" Soarin asked. Rainbow raised an eyebrow.
"Fate? What do you mean?" Dash asked.
"Like, everything that happens is beyond our control. I think fate brought us together. Because, when we first met on that dance floor, I accidentally bumped into you, but maybe that was meant to happen, to bring us together, and I've never felt this way before towards another pony before. I think I love you, Rainbow Dash." Soarin said. Rainbow Dash smiled and kissed him again.
"I think I love you too." Dash said. Soarin grinned and kissed her again. Suddenly, the sound of a distant chiming of a bell brought them out of their embrace. "Midnight." Soarin thought. Soarin stood up, and helped Rainbow up as well.
"I'm sorry, I need to get back home, Night Stalker told all Shadowbolts to be back a little after midnight." Soarin explained. Rainbow Dash nodded in understanding.
"It's okay, I should probably get back too, Blaze is probably starting to get worried." Rainbow said. "Wanna, get together again sometime soon?"
"Of course, we just need to keep this secret, for now anyway." Soarin said. Dash nodded before embracing Soarin once more. She then kissed him again.
"See ya later." Dash said after breaking the kiss. She then turned and flew off into the sky.
Soarin smiled as he watched her fly off before eventually flying off himself.
Soarin landed at the front courtyard of the Shadowbolts mansion and quickly made his way inside. He headed for the door to the basement, but he was stopped by a familiar voice.
"There's our little player!" Thunderlane shouted. Soarin turned and saw Thunderlane, Blossomforth, and Rumble sitting at the dining table. Thunderlane's suit jacket looked ruined, as did Blossomforth's dress, and Rumble was drooling in the table.
"What's wrong with Rumble?" Soarin asked as he walked into the dining room.
"Fleetfoot decided to spike the non-alcoholic punch with Ecstasy shortly after you left, unfortunately, she didn't warn Rumble in time, and he had some of it." Thunderlane explained. Rumble then let out a giggle. "He should be fine in the morning." Blossomforth said.
"So anyway, how was your night?" Thunder asked Soarin, wiggling his eyebrows.
"Oh...well, it was....uh, okay, I guess." Soarin answered as casually and unimpressed as possible.
"Really? I was certain you were gonna get lucky tonight, I mean, I sure did." Thunder said nudging Blossom slightly. Blossom rolled her eyes and slightly smacked Thunder in the muzzle. "She's worth it." Thunder whispered to Soarin.
"Well, I'm tired, so I'm just gonna go to bed." Soarin said as he turned back towards the basement door.
Soarin went down to his basement room and flopped onto his bed, his mind only filled with thoughts of Dash. Her eyes, her mane, her voice, almost everything about her made Soarin smile, even just thinking about her, and knowing that she felt the same way about him made him even happier.
"I'm so glad I went to that party." Soarin said to himself as he began to doze off.
Rainbow Dash entered the Wonderbolt compound through the front door, as she could still hear the party happening out back. She immediately moved to head upstairs and go to bed, but was unfortunately stopped in the hallway by a very intoxicated Fire Streak.
"Heeeey Dash. Listen, I just wanted to apologize for that whole thing o-on....the dance floor earlier." Fire Streak slurred out, while struggling to stay upright. Dash rolled her eyes at this sad excuse for a stallion.
"Yeah, apology not excepted, now I want you and your brother to leave me and Blaze alone, okay?" Dash said sternly before pushing past him and going down the hallway.
She could hear him mumble something under his breath, but Rainbow Dash had no more patience to deal with anymore of Fire Streak's bullshit tonight. She walked upstairs and finally made it to her room. She entered and saw Blaze sitting at her desk brushing her hair.
"Hey Dash!" Blaze said as Rainbow walked over to her bed and flopped down on it. Blaze stopped brushing and turned to Dash.
"So, how did tonight go with that Stallion?! Tell me everything! Is he a good flier? Does he like stunts? Is he nice?..." Blaze began, bombarding Dash with questions, questions that Dash really didn't want to answer.
"Can I just go to bed Blaze? I'm tired." Dash said as she rolled over. Blaze then rolled Dash back over.
"No, I want to know how tonight went." Blaze whined. Dash then sighed.
"You aren't going to stop until I tell you, are you?" Dash asked with a deadpan tone. Blaze shook her head with a grin on her face.
Dash then sat up and placed her hooves on Blaze's and looked her straight in the eyes.
"Blaze, you are one of my closest friends, and I trust you, but I need you to promise, to not tell anypony what I'm about to tell you, do you understand?" Dash asked with a serious look on her face. Blaze's expression then turned from one of excitement, to one of confusion and concern, then fear.
"He didn't take advantage of you, did he?" Blaze asked worryingly. Dash's eyes then went wide.
"No.. not at all! I had an amazing time with him. In fact, he's wonderful, he's the exact opposite of the Streak brothers." Rainbow said. Blaze then raised her eyebrow.
"Then, why do we have to keep it a secret?" Blaze asked.
"The stallion I met tonight, his name is Soarin." Dash said. Blaze gasped, and looked like she was about to start shouting, but Dash covered her mouth before she could say anything.
"Please, just hear me out, and don't freak out, okay? Dash asked softly. Blaze slowly nodded and Dash removed her hoof from covering her mouth. Dash then retold the entire sequence of events that night to Blaze, and told her how different Soarin was to what she had been told Shadowbolts were like.
"He was so nice, and I think I love him Blaze." Dash said at the end of her retelling of events. The expression on Blaze's face was one of intrigue and confusion. Dash's expression saddened upon seeing Blaze's face.
"You're not mad, are you?" Dash asked sadly.
"No, no I'm not, I'm just surprised, and a little worried." Blaze responded with a short hug. "You sure your relationship can work?" Blaze asked. Rainbow shrugged.
"We don't know, and we don't care." Dash responded.
"Well, if you love him, and he loves you as much as you say he does, then I'll keep your secret safe." Blaze said reassuringly. Dash smiled upon hearing this and hugged Blaze.
"Thank you." Dash said as she hugged Blaze.
"Are you going to tell Flutters or Scoot?" Blaze asked. Rainbow Dash slightly gasped upon hearing the question. She wasn't sure how to break this news to anypony, let alone Fluttershy or Scootaloo. But if Blaze could keep this secret safe, so could Fluttershy and Scootaloo.
"I'll tell them tomorrow, but remember, not telling anypony, okay?" Rainbow reminded Blaze. Blaze nodded and walked back over to her own bed.
"Thanks again Blaze." Dash said quietly.
"No problem Dash." Blaze said with a grin before getting into her bed and turning of the light.
Rainbow Dash smiled as she closed her eyes, her head filled with visions of Soarin. She couldn't wait to see him again. |
The Blood Feud | Secret Love | In the week that followed the Summer Sun Celebration, things seemed normal for both the Wonderbolts and the Shadowbolts, as they continued with their bickering, fighting, and intimidating, however there was something else going on, that only few ponies knew of.
Soarin and Rainbow Dash began to see eachother in secret, usually going back to the field where they officially met, although, there were times when they went a little more risk filled route, like sharing milkshakes at Sugarcube Corner. But whenever they planned to meet up, they had to keep making realistic excuses to the others.
Soarin had a fairly easy time being able to meet with Dash, since Night Stalker and the rest of the Shadowbolts either had other things to do, or were too laid back to pay attention, especially Thunderlane, who was too busy with his own special somepony.
Rainbow Dash, however, had a more difficult time trying to come up with excuses to be with Soarin, she even had to resort to skipping on practice with the rest of the Wonderbolt teams, which got her a good talking to by Solar Storm. What didn't help was the Streak Brothers. Fire Streak kept staring at her, often making her dreadfully uncomfortable, and Lightning Streak giving her death glares, even though she had no idea why.
But despite it all, they still had time to be with eachother.
"So, you just sketch things you see, and eventually turn them into paintings?" Rainbow asked as Soarin flipped through his sketchbook to get to an empty page. The two were sitting in the middle of the field where they first met face to face.
"Well, sometimes. I only ever turn a sketch into a full painting when inspiration really strikes me. Most of my sketches, just stay sketches." Soarin said as he continued slipping through all the sketches. Eventually, he landed on the sketch he had regretted not ripping up, the sketch of Vapor Trail.
"Woah, who is that and why is she in there?" Rainbow asked as she swiped the sketchbook out of his hooves. Soarin awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck as Rainbow Dash's face went from one of confusion, to one of anger.
"Who is she?!" Dash angrily asked.
"That's....and old sketch I made, back when I was with my old marefriend, Vapor Trail." Soarin said slowly, hoping that Dash would calm down. Dash did indeed calm down.
"What happened with you two?" Dash asked. Soarin sighed as he grabbed the sketchbook back, ripped out the sketch, and shredded it to pieces.
"She decided to be with another stallion, said I wasn't good enough. I thought she was the one." Soarin said sadly before turning to Dash and putting a hoof around her. "But, then I found you." Soarin said before planting a kiss on her cheek.
Dash smiled as she snuggled closer to his embrace. Soarin, while still holding her close, flipped to an empty page in his sketch book and began to make a sketch of the clearing they were in. Dash watched his movements carefully, the way he smoothly using his wing to move the pencil around the paper, creating an image that was striking with detail of and smoothness.
"You're a good drawer, I'm surprised you didn't get a cutie mark for art." Dash said, impressed with Soarin's work.
"Yeah, well, I didn't get into drawing until after I got my cutie mark." Soarin smiled as he remembered getting his mark. "I'll never forget my mom's face when I showed her. That was the most she ever smiled, or ever would smile for that matter." Soarin said sadly again. Dash brushed her hoof across his cheek in an attempt to comfort him as his happiness faded.
"What happened to her?" Dash asked. Soarin held her closer and sighed.
"She got sick, some kind of disease she got while working for Night Stalker. Some kind of sexually transmitted disease." Soarin explained. Rainbow gasped and held him closer.
"I'm sorry I brought it Up, I..." Dash was cut off as Soarin kissed her on the lips. Dash melted into the kiss, wishing that it would never end. Eventually, the two had to stop for air, and Dash gave Soarin a confused look.
"It's fine, in fact, it's nice to have a pony who at least can be concerned. Besides Thunderlane, Rumble and Fleetfoot, the rest of the Shadowbolts don't give a flying feather." Soarin said. Rainbow gave Soarin another peck on the cheek before glancing at his sketchbook, and she got an idea.
"Oh, I have a great idea for a sketch." Rainbow said as she slipped out of his embrace slowly.
"Do tell." Soarin said intrigued. Rainbow then flew up into the air, her back to the sun, causing an amazing image to come into Soarin's mind. Rainbow, hovering above the clearing, directly in front of the setting sun, with rays shooting out around her, making her look like an angel sent from above.
"Sketch me." Dash said simply, striking a pose in midair. Soarin, now full of inspiration, swiftly nodded, and started drawing the sight in front of him.
After a while of hovering while Soarin sketched, Rainbow began to tire out, but she knew that she could handle it, if not for herself for him. Luckily, Soarin stopped sketching and waved for her to fly down to him. Rainbow flew down to him and he unveiled the sketch to her. Rainbow covered her mouth in shock.
Despite the lack of color, the sketch still looked incredible, and it took up nearly the entire page.
"Soarin, this......this is Awesome!" Rainbow said ecstatically before kissing him again.
"Thanks, but it's not done yet." Soarin said with a smile. Rainbow was at first confused, but then realized what he meant.
"You don't mean....?" Rainbow started, Soarin nodded, confirming her suspicion.
"I think it'd look much better on a canvas with some color, don't you?" Soarin asked. Rainbow nodded and the two embraced once again.
"I'll start on it first thing tomorrow." Soarin said.
"Unfortunately, the passage of time caught up with the couple, and dusk began to set in, and the two pegasi flew back to their separate worlds.
When Soarin arrived back at the Shadowbolts manor, he didn't even bother walking in the front door, instead, he just went in through the small window to his room in the basement. He quickly ripped out the sketch of Rainbow Dash in the clearing and pinned it to his inspiration board where a number of his more important sketches were, most of them having already been turned into paintings.
Soarin began to rummage around through his room, eventually finding his paints and brushes and other art tools, but unfortunately, he was missing quite a few things, including certain paint colors and a canvas.
"I'll have to pick some up tomorrow." Soarin said, writing down a note to remind himself. He then flopped onto his bed to get some shuteye.
"She's going to love this painting." Soarin said to himself as he dozed off.
Rainbow Dash approached the front door to the Wonderbolts Manor when she was stopped by one of the two stallions she was beginning to feel more than uncomfortable around. Lightning Streak stood in front of the door, blocking her way, and giving her a death glare that he had been giving her for the past week.
"Let me in Lightning! I don't know what your problem is, but you can tell your brother that he can get bent, I'm not interested." Rainbow said angrily, thinking he was doing a favor for Fire Streak. Lightning chuckled.
"Fire isn't the one getting bent, you are." Lightning said with a wicked and smug grin. Rainbow gasped and frowned.
"What are you talking about Lightning?" Rainbow asked angrily. Lightning then stepped closer, looming over her.
"I know about you and that Shittybolt Soarin. I saw you the night of the party, and I know about your little affair." Lightning said threateningly. Rainbow stepped back, trying to find a way out of this situation.
"I...I don't know what your talking about...Who?" Rainbow lied, not very well though.
"Look, I haven't told Solar Storm yet, or anypony for that matter, but, if you don't break it off with that douche, then I will tell somepony. Don't make me do something both of us might regret." Lightning explained threateningly before stepping off the porch and walking off, mumbling under his breath.
Rainbow Dash quickly ran inside and made her way up to her room where Blaze was waiting. Blaze quickly noticed Dash's worried expression and went to comfort her.
"What's wrong Dash? Did things not work out with Soarin?" Blaze asked quietly. Dash shook her head.
"Lightning Streak know about me and Soarin. He's threatening to expose us if I don't break it off with him. And I don't know what to do!" Dash explained. Blaze continued to comfort her as she tried to think of something she could do.
"Dash, I need to know something." Blaze said. Rainbow looked up and wiped the tears from her eyes. "What?" Rainbow asked.
"Who do you love more, Soarin, or the Wonderbolts?" Blaze asked. Rainbow then found herself tripping over her words as a lump formed in her throat. This was a question she was not prepared for.
"I....I....I don't know. I love the Wonderbolts, you guys are practically my family! But, when I'm with Soarin, I feel, complete. Like my life has become better when he's around, and in the short time I've known him, he's been one of the best things to happen to me. But, if your asking me to choose, I don't know what to do." Rainbow stuttered out, more tears forming in her eyes.
"It's okay Dash, I know it's hard to choose, so just give it some time to think about it. All I can say is, choose what will make you the happiest, I don't really care, as long as you're still my friend. Maybe you should talk to Fluttershy about it tomorrow, maybe she could tell you some advice." Blaze explained. Rainbow smiled and wiped her eyes again.
"Thanks Blaze, for being so supportive." Rainbow said, hugging her.
"It's what friends are for." Blaze said, hugging back. |
The Blood Feud | The Painting | The next morning, Soarin woke up much earlier than he usually would. Normally, he would sleep in, but today, he was on a mission. He quietly snuck out of the mansion through his window, and headed into town.
As he flew, he glanced at the small list he made of the supplies he needed for another painting, mostly colors and a few different sized brushes he needed. This painting needed to be perfect, it was going to be perfect, for her.
Soarin landed in the Ponyville Market, which was quiet, being this early in the morning, with many of the shops just opening up for the day. Soarin began to browse through several stalls, looking for one that sold art supplies.
As he walked, he was suddenly called by a voice from the other side of the Market. He turned and saw a pony, slumped down next to a stall, waving him over with a hoof. He was pale, with a mane like fire. And he held a half empty bottle of liquor by his side. Soarin walked over carefully, a little unsettled by this pony, who Soarin recognized.
"Hey.....I....I...know you, your that....Fruckin guy from the...party" the pony said, clearly hungover.
"Uh, do I know you?" Soarin asked. The pony wiped his muzzle with a hoof and stood up, stumbling as he did so.
"I'm Fire Streak......Wonderbolt and single stallion lookin for love." Fire Streak said with a frown. Soarin took a step back.
"What do you want with me, I'm busy." Soarin said, trying to avoid conflict so early in the morning.
"I know that was you at the....party, with Dashie." Fire Streak said angrily.
"So?" Soarin said defensively.
"You stole her from me, she was mine." Fire Streak shouted, throwing his bottle to the ground. Soarin took another step back before turning around.
"I don't have time for this, so long." Soarin said quickly as he walked away, not wanting to escalate things further.
"You stay away from her Skies! Don't test me Motherfucker!" Fire Streak shouted, getting attention from some of the open stalls. Soarin quickly moved around a corner, away from the unstable pony. Soarin began to worry, if any other Wonderbolts knew about him and Dash, things could get ugly, fast. Luckily, Soarin's thoughts turned good again as he spotted the art supply stall.
The morning had also reached the Wonderbolt mansion, and as the sun came up, the Wonderbolts all left their rooms and gathered in the dining room for breakfast.
Rainbow Dash reluctantly woke up along with Blaze, and the two made their way to the dining room, grabbed their breakfast, and sat down next to eachother. As they ate, Dash saw Lightning Streak sitting at another table, his stare still making her uneasy.
"Don't look at him, just ignore him, and I'll deal with him later." Blaze whispered. Rainbow smiled and continued eating. Then, another pony sat down across from Blaze and Rainbow at the table. The two looked up and saw Spitfire, giving Dash an angry look.
"Good morning Spits, what's going on today?" Blaze asked, slightly annoyed by her cousin's sudden appearance.
"Good morning girls. Dash, we're training the team for a show in Canterlot in a few weeks, I really hope your planning on attending the entire practice for once." Spitfire said, clearly agitated. Rainbow rolled her eyes, she'd been making excuses to skip practice to be with Soarin, but Spitfire was starting to get agitated with Rainbow's truancy.
"Uh, just get somepony else to be in the show, I did the Fillydelphia show last month, let somepony else perform in this one." Rainbow argued, taking another bite of the apple with her breakfast.
"You're on thin ice Dash! Are you a Wonderbolt or not?" Spitfire shouted, slamming her hoof on the table. Blaze then stood up in front of her cousin.
"Look Spitfire, if Dash doesn't want to perform in this show, she doesn't have to, didn't you choose not to fly in the Blatimare show last year?" Blaze said, adding smugness to the end, knowing fully well that Spitfire opted out of that show for the purpose of being lazy. Spitfire was about to rebut, but Rainbow spoke.
"It's okay Blaze, I'll attend practice today, it's only fair, since I've already missed so much." Rainbow said. Spitfire grinned.
"Good, see you guys at practice." Spitfire said as she stood up and walked away.
"You didn't have to do that Dash. What about Soar?" Blaze asked quietly.
"I can just meet him after practice, it'll be fine." Dash said reassuringly.
Soarin ruffled through his saddlebag full of the art supplies he purchased as he approached the Shadowbolt mansion. He was about to enter the house, when a voice called his attention.
"Whatcha got their boy?" Night Stalker asked as he sat up from one of the chairs on the porch.
"Oh, I just grabbed some stuff from the market this morning, nothing big." Soarin said as nonchalantly as possible.
"What kind of stuff?" Night Stalker asked.
"Art supplies, I'm gonna start another painting." Soarin explained, slightly regretting just blurting out the answer so carelessly.
"Oh, how nice. Maybe we'll have another one of your works decorating the halls." Night Stalker said as he sat back down on the porch bench.
"Heh, yeah, maybe." Soarin said awkwardly before quickly heading inside and going downstairs to his room. Soarin began to unload his haul from the market and began to set up the canvas and his paints. He then flipped to the sketch in his notebook and placed it on the table next to the canvas so he could easily see it.
"Time to make a masterpiece." Soarin said to himself. He took a deep breath, before dipping one of the larger brushes into the green, and beginning the painting.
"Great job today Dash, it's nice to see you've still got skills after missing so much practice." Misty Fly complemented as herself and the rest of the female Wonderbolts cleaned up in the locker room.
"Thanks Misty. Although, I'm pretty sure I'll always be as great, no matter how little I practice." Rainbow said slightly cockily. Blaze chuckled at Rainbow's confidence.
Rainbow and Blaze eventually finished cleaning up and left the locker room. Rainbow was about to head out to her and Soarin's spot, when she was stopped by Lightning Streak. Rainbow felt like her head was going to explode, all she wanted was for Lightning to leave her alone.
"Have you considered what I've asked you?" Lightning asked threateningly. Rainbow furrowed her brow and was about to tell Lightning to blow himself, when Blaze spoke up from down the hall.
"Hey Lightning? Can I talk to you for a sec?" Blaze asked as sensually as possible. Lightning looked around for a second, almost completely forgetting about Dash.
"Really?" Lightning asked excitedly as he walked around Dash and over to Blaze.
Rainbow took the chance to sneak out the door, snickering to herself at Blaze's ability to act. Rainbow knew that she now owed Blaze something for being a good friend. As soon as Rainbow made it out the door, she took off to the field. Practice ran later than usual that day, so the sun was now setting, making the countryside look as amazing as it usually did around this time.
Soarin sat in the field, waiting for Dash. He held a bouquet of flowers that he bought in the Market that morning for her. His face and hooves were also still covered in dry paint. He had worked practically all day on the painting, it was pretty much finished, it just needed to dry.
Soarin smiled as he saw Rainbow fly over the trees and land on the other side of the field. She slowly walked over to him.
"Hey, sorry I'm late, I had to go to practice today to please Spitfire." Rainbow said apologetically. Soarin gave her the bouquet of flowers and kissed her cheek.
"It's fine, I was also here a bit later than usual too, I've been working on something for you." Soarin said. Rainbow's interest peaked.
"Ooooh, where is it?" Rainbow asked excitedly.
"Follow me, and be careful, we're going to my home." Soarin said before he and Rainbow took off.
They flew close together until they reached the outskirts of the Shadowbolt mansion grounds. They landed by the treeline closest to Soarin's bedroom window. Soarin glanced around the yard, and luckily, didn't see any Shadowbolts around, so he led Rainbow as quickly as they could to the window and quickly climbed into Soarin's room, and shut the window behind them.
Once Soarin and Rainbow were in the room, Rainbow spotted what Soarin was talking about, and gasped.
There, sitting on the desk, was a completed painting of the sketch that Soarin had taken of her last night. It was one of the most beautiful things that Dash had ever seen.
The way the colors all blended together and hopped off the canvas made Rainbow start to tear up.
"I spent all day on this, do..do you like it?" Soarin asked with a smile upon seeing Rainbow's reaction to the painting.
Rainbow, almost as soon as she heard Soarin's question, answered it by throwing her forehooves around him, and kissing him. The kiss started simple, but began to increase in intensity, eventually leading to them falling onto Soarin's bed.
"I'll take that as a yes." Soarin chuckled as he and Rainbow stopped kissing for air.
"It's the most awesome painting I've ever seen." Rainbow said as she stared at it. Soarin smiled as he began to kiss her cheek and neck as she laid on him. She then turned back to him so she could kiss him.
After another period making out, Rainbow pulled back and looked into Soarin's eyes.
"I...I think I'm ready." Rainbow said with a tinge of lust in her voice. Soarin's eyes widened in excitement, arousal, and shock.
"Are...are you sure?" Soarin asked carefully. Rainbow grinned.
"Does this answer your question?" Rainbow asked before slamming her lips back onto his. Soarin let himself melt into the kiss, and readied himself for the night of his life. |
The Blood Feud | The Beginning of Violence | Soarin slightly shifted in his bed and slowly opened his eyes, being blinded by the morning sun seeping in through the window. His eyes slowly adjusted, and he noticed the mass of color in front of his snout. He looked down, and saw Rainbow Dash, sleeping peacefully as she's cuddled up next to him.
Soarin smiled and bent down to kiss her forehead. He looked over and saw the painting. It was definitely his most valuable and best work to him.
Soarin then heard a yawn, and Rainbow stretched out her limbs and flipped herself over to look into Soarin's eyes.
"Good morning sexy." Rainbow said before kissing Soarin's cheek. "Have fun last night?" she asked.
"Best night of my life." Soarin said with a smile before kissing Rainbow back. Soarin pulled back after the kiss, stroking Rainbow's mane and gazing into her eyes.
"I love you so much." Soarin said.
"I love you too Soar." Rainbow said. "Wanna do something today, there's no practice for me today." Rainbow asked. Soarin's smile then faded.
"Sorry, Thunderlane and Rumble want me to join them for a day out, I hope your not mad." Soarin said. Rainbow nuzzled Soarin's neck and kissed it.
"It's fine, I don't mind." Rainbow said. She then remembered something important that she was going to ask yesterday, but got, "distracted".
"Soarin? I have a very serious question to ask you, about us." Rainbow said as herself and Soarin sat up on the bed.
"Sure, ask away." Soarin said.
"would.....would you run away with me if we had to?" Rainbow asked. Soarin felt caught off guard by the question.
"What?" Soarin asked, his mind feeling a little sluggish by the question.
"There's this Wonderbolt named Lightning Streak, he knows about us, and he threatened to expose us if I don't leave you. And...I love you so much, and I don't want to leave you, but I'm not sure if I can leave the Wonderbolts, and I feel like I have no choice." Rainbow stuttered out, her voice breaking as she went on. Eventually, Soarin embraced her in a hug, in an attempt to calm her down.
"Rainbow, I understand your scared, I am too. But I promise you, I will protect you from anypony who thinks that our relationship is wrong, and I don't care what anypony thinks. I love you, and I will stand by you, always." Soarin whispered, embracing Rainbow tighter. Rainbow looked up, teary eyed, at Soarin, who wiped the tears from her eyes and gave her a comforting smile.
"But, what about the worst case scenario? What if everypony finds out, and we do have to run?" Rainbow asked.
"Then, I would go with you. But, as for now, is there anypony you can trust, who will stand by you no matter what?" Soarin asked.
"My friends Blaze and Fluttershy, they know about us, and my little sister Scootaloo, I'm sure I could trust her too." Rainbow explained.
"Hopefully, if things get to bad, we can rely on them." Soarin said. Rainbow nodded before embracing him again. After their hug, Rainbow glanced at the clock, which read 10:30am.
"When do you have to meet with Thunderlane?" Rainbow asked. Soarin glanced at the clock along with Dash and lightly gasped.
"11am, I need to get ready, you know how to get back right?" Soarin asked.
"Yep, I'll see you later." Rainbow said. She gave Soarin one last kiss before opening the window and flying off into the sky.
Soarin then proceeded to get ready for the day ahead. Eventually, he heard a call from upstairs.
"Soarin! Wake up sleepyhead, we have to go!" Soarin heard Rumble shouting from upstairs.
"Coming!" Soarin shouted before throwing a sheet over Rainbow's now dry painting, and heading upstairs.
Rainbow Dash flew over Ponyville, not yet planning on heading back to the Wonderbolts HQ just yet, instead, she decided go and spend the day with Fluttershy, and get a chance to ask her about her predicament, like Blaze had suggested.
Rainbow eventually made it to the timid Pegasus' cottage on the outskirts of town, and knocked on her door. Fluttershy answered and her face lit up with joy.
"Rainbow Dash, what a nice surprise, please come in!" Fluttershy said gleefully, hugging Dash before inviting her in.
"Hey Flutters, I need to talk to you about something." Rainbow said as she followed Fluttershy into her living room, where quite a number of small animals were making themselves at home, including Fluttershy's favorite pet, Angel, who was sleeping in his small bed on the floor.
"Well, I have all day, so I'll make us some tea and we can talk." Fluttershy said as she walked into her kitchen to get started on making the tea.
"Thanks Flutters." Rainbow said as she took a seat on Fluttershy's couch, a little uncomfortable with all the animals around, since Dash was not well known for being the best with animals.
Eventually, Fluttershy made her way back to the living room with a tray containing a teapot and two cups. Rainbow wasn't the biggest fan of tea, but she always had it when Fluttershy offered because it made her so happy. Fluttershy placed the tea on the table and poured two cups and gave one to Rainbow Dash.
"So, is this gonna be about Soarin? Because if it is, I want you to tell. me. Everything!" Fluttershy said excitedly. Rainbow chuckled slightly at Fluttershy's enthusiasm.
"Everything's been going great between us Flutters. It's everything else going on that's really worrying me." Rainbow explained, her smile fading. Fluttershy placed a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder, giving her a reassuring look.
"I'm listening." Fluttershy said in her quiet, soothing tone.
"Lightning Streak knows about me and Soarin. He threatened me if I don't break up with him, but I just love Soarin so much, and Soarin gave me the best gift I ever received, and I don't want to loose him. But I also don't want to leave the Wonderbolts, but I know as long as this feud exists, me and Soarin won't be free." Rainbow said, getting more and more distraught as she went on. Fluttershy, kept patting Rainbow on the back to comfort her. Eventually Rainbow looked up at Fluttershy with pleading eyes.
"Rainbow, I know you've been loyal to the Wonderbolts for a while now, and you deserve to be in such a great stunt troupe, but now you have a special somepony, and the way you talk about him, he loves you as much as you love him, and if you two get found out, all I can say is, tell both the Wonderbolts and the Shadowbolts that your in love and nothing they say or do will change your minds." Fluttershy explained in her soothing tone.
"And what if they try to tear us apart?" Rainbow asked.
"Then....get out, if they try to hurt you for your love, then they can go clop themselves." Fluttershy said, unusually bitterly. Rainbow gasped after hearing Fluttershy say something so vulgar.
"I'm sorry for my language, but it's what I think you should do if they try." Fluttershy said, her tone back to normal.
"Well, they haven't completely found out yet, Blaze is going to talk to Lightning Streak, hopefully she can get him to calm down a bit." Rainbow said before taking a sip of tea.
"Wow, that's really brave of her. Also, what was this gift you were talking about?" Fluttershy asked
"Oh, Soarin painted a picture of me, and it's amazing, in fact, it's the most beautiful painting I've ever seen." Rainbow said, her eyes glazing over as she thought back to the painting.
"I wish I could see it." Fluttershy said.
"Maybe someday, me and Soarin can show it to you. I know I want Scootaloo to see it." Rainbow said, taking another sip of tea. "Thanks for the advice Fluttershy." Rainbow said with a smile.
"Anytime Dashie. Also, while your here, I was wondering if you could help me with some tidying up." Fluttershy said, motioning to the mess that some of the animals made. Rainbow downed the rest of the tea in her cup, wiped her muzzle with a hoof and nodded.
"Sure, it's the least I could do for your help."
The pencil moved along the page as Soarin sketched. He studied the paper carefully, with occasional glances to the fountain in front of him as he sketched. The sketch was of the fountain in the Ponyville park, along with Rainbow Dash added in.
Soarin glanced up from the sketchbook and saw Thunderlane and Rumble roughhousing in the field with Blossomforth cheering Thunderlane on. Soarin smiled at the sight. For him, Thunderlane and Rumble were a great example of brothers, they loved eachother very much, but they would tease and fight from time to time.
Soarin looked back and smiled at the sketch he made. It was as good as his usual sketches, and he considered for a moment turning this one into another painting, when a voice shattered both his concentration, and his day.
"She's looking good, even when drawn by a douche." Soarin turned around and saw Fire Streak standing behind the bench he was sitting on.
"What do you want?" Soarin asked angrily.
"I want to know if you've done like I asked. Did you leave my Dash alone." Fire Streak asked, this time not hungover.
"Go blow yourself!" Soarin shouted before turning to go and join Thunderlane and the others. Suddenly, Soarin was shoved down from behind, and he slammed his snout into the ground. He quickly turned and saw Fire Streak with rage in his eyes.
"Hey!" Thunderlane shouted as he rushed over and stood in front of Fire Streak. "Did you just hurt him, Blunderbolt?" Thunderlane asked, using his usual Wonderbolt insult.
"Heh, your friend there is sniffing some tail that's mine." Fire Streak said smugly. Thunderlane turned to Soarin, who gave him an approving look to beat Fire Streak up as Rumble and Blossomforth.
"Hey, he can get any tail he wants, since he knows how to be a good freakin stallion you creep." Thunderlane said, stepping closer to Fire Streak. Fire Streak then glanced to Blossomforth and grinned.
"Oh, I'm the creep? You're piece of tail looks damaged, are you sure she's even old enough?" Fire Streak asked, referring to Blossom.
*Punch*
Fire Streak's head snapped to the side after Thunderlane punched him. He fell to the ground and clutched his eye, which was starting to swell and turn purple.
"Go, now, before I punch the other eye too." Thunderlane said threateningly as he stood over him. Fire Streak quickly scrambled to his hooves and leaped into the air to fly away.
"My Brother will hear about this!" Fire Streak shouted before flying away. Thunderlane turned to Soarin, a little confused.
"You okay Soar?" Thunderlane asked concerned.
"Yeah, thanks. That guy's been giving me shit ever since the party. I think I danced with the mare he was after at the party." Soarin explained.
"Yeah? Well, if he brings back his older brother to defend him and kiss his boo-boos, he can answer to us." Thunderlane said confidently.
"Alright, now lets go get something to eat, it looks like the sun's going down soon." Blossomforth suggested.
"Oh, Yes, let's go to sugarcube corner!" Rumble said excitedly. The group then began to walk from the park back into town.
Rainbow Dash finished sweeping the floor of Fluttershy's cottage as Fluttershy finished feeding the animals outside. Rainbow looked out the window and saw the sun beginning to set once again. Fluttershy entered the room as Rainbow dumped the sweepings into the trash.
"Thanks again Rainbow, I fell a little behind on cleaning this week." Fluttershy said.
"It's fine Fluttershy, what are friends for?" Rainbow said happily. Fluttershy and Rainbow were about to just chill for the rest of the evening, when a loud knock sounded at the front door. Fluttershy quickly got up and opened it.
"Hey Fluttershy, is Rainbow here?" a frantic voice said as she barged into the cottage. Rainbow looked and saw Blaze enter the room with Fluttershy right behind her. Blaze's eye was purple and swelled.
"Blaze? What happened?" Rainbow asked as she stood up and walked over to check on her hurt eye.
"I was talking to Lightning Streak, and I thought I was getting through to him about you and Soarin, but then Fire Streak came in with a black eye, and he told Lightning that Soarin and Thunderlane did it. He then got angry and when I tried to stop him, he hit me. Then I came to find you as soon as I could. I don't know where he went or what he's going to do, but I know it's not good." Blaze explained as Fluttershy got a damp rag to hold over Blaze's eye.
Rainbow's heart nearly stopped. Lightning had snapped, and now Soarin was in danger, and she had to do something.
"I'm going to find Soarin, I need to do something before Lightning does anything drastic." Rainbow said as she ran and threw open the door.
"Be careful Rainbow, please." Blaze called out as Rainbow flew off away from Fluttershy's cottage.
"Nice call Rumble, that was great." Soarin said as he and the other left Sugarcube Corner after their treat. The sun had almost set now, and the amount of ponies out in the streets had decreased, leaving the streets of ponyville mostly empty.
As the group walked home, Thunderlane bumped Soarin's side.
"So, have you seen that mare anywhere after the party?" Thunderlane asked with a wink. Soarin blushed slightly.
"Yeah, but we haven't really hung out much." Soarin lied. Thunderlane chuckled.
"Oh, you're such a bad liar." Thunderlane said. Soarin gulped.
"How...wha...how did you....?" Soarin tried to ask.
"Come on Soarin, did you really think I wouldn't notice how you were sneaking off in the past week. Don't worry, I won't tell anypony." Thunderlane said with a smirk.
"Thanks Thunder, but yeah, sorry for lying. She's amazing." Soarin said.
"I'll bet she is, have you gotten any yet?" Thunderlane asked suggestively. Soarin blushed harder.
"Thunder! Not here!" Soarin said quietly. Thunderlane chuckled before moving back over to Blossomforth's side. The group kept walking until a Pegasus landed in front of them, blocking their way.
"There you are." Lightning said, his voice raspy, and full of rage. Thunderlane stepped forward, in front of the group defiantly.
"You're Fire Streak's brother right? Well, just so you know, I'm not sorry and your brother had it coming." Thunderlane said angrily.
"I'm not here for you Thunder, I'm here for you!" Lightning Shouted, pointing his hoof at Soarin. Soarin stepped net to Thunder.
"What do you mean Lightning?" Soarin asked. Lightning then took off his blue Wonderbolt jacket, and threw it to the ground.
"I'm here to stop you from poisoning Rainbow Dash's mind further with your Shadowbolt lies!" Lightning shouted. Soarin audibly gulped, and Thunder turned his head to Soarin, giving him a confused look.
"What do you mean Lightning?" Thunder asked.
"Oh, you don't know? Your friend there is screwing around with a Wonderbolt." Lightning said, hoping that Thunderlane would get mad. Thunderlane turned back to Lightning before taking off his won Shadowbolts jacket and giving it to Rumble.
"Thunder? What are you doing?" Blossomforth asked, rushing to his side.
"Blossom, please, just stand aside, I need to beat this one too." Thunderlane said, turning back to Lightning.
"You...Your not mad Thunder?" Soarin asked. Thunderlane turned back to Soarin.
"I'm furious Soarin, but also proud, and I'll kick this guys ass for you." Thunderlane said before turning back to Lightning, who was even more furious.
"You..Your just going to let him get away with this, he fucked your enemy, lied to you about it, and now he's affecting other ponies." Lightning argued. Thunderlane laughed.
"I know, it's brilliant!" Thunderlane said. Lightning gritted his teeth and quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out his switchblade.
"I'm not here for you Thunder! I'm here for him!" Lightning shouted before darting toward Soarin. Soarin quickly shut his eyes and braced himself for impact, but instead of it coming from in front, it came from the side, and he was pushed to the ground.
Soarin opened his eyes and looked over to where he was standing, and he gasped. He saw Lightning Streak, standing in front of Thunderlane, with his switchblade buried in Thunder's gut. Lightning had a devilish grin on his face as he pulled the blade out and stabbed Thunder again, and again, and again. After stabbing Thunder several time, Lightning pulled the blade out, and blood began to pour onto the ground. Lightning stepped back and Thunderlane fell backwards onto the ground with a grunt.
"THUNDERLANE!" Soarin shouted as he ran over to Thunder. He was swiftly joined by Blossomforth and Rumble, who also tried to hold his wounds. Blossomforth sat with Thunderlane's head in her lap as she began to cry.
"Help!" Blossomforth cried out.
Rainbow Dash started to get increasingly worried about Soarin as she frantically searched for him over Ponyville, eventually, one sound finally drew her attention.
"Help!" Rainbow heard somepony crying from down below. She looked, and she saw Soarin along with Rumble and Blossomforth huddled around Thunderlane on the ground, and Lightning Streak stood just feet away. Rainbow quickly dove down to where they were.
Rainbow landed near the group around Thunderlane and the three looked up at her. Soarin was surprised but happy to see her, Rumble growled and Blossomforth just kept focusing on Thunderlane.
"Rainbow Dash, nice of you to show up and finally see these shittybolts for who they are, nothing but filthy degenerates who spend their days doing nothing but getting stoned and fucking up ponies lives." Lightning said. Rainbow frowned at him and said nothing as she rushed to help Soarin. She knelt down next to Soarin and watched the panic in his face.
Thunderlane opened his eyes a slit and smiled at the ponies around him. Blossom clutched his head and continued sobbing.
"Well...looks like I got what was coming to me." Thunderlane croaked out. Soarin applied more pressure, even making Rumble use Thunder's jacket to try to stop the bleeding. Thunder coughed up blood before speaking again.
"You must be Rainbow Dash." Thunder said. Rainbow nodded and Thunder smiled at Soarin. "You lucky dog, you treat her right, you hear me." Thunder said. Rumble frowned at his brothers words.
"But Thunder, she's a Wonderbolt!" Rumble said angrily.
"I don't give a shit anymore Rumble!" Thunderlane said before he devolved into a fit of coughing and blood. Soarin nodded at Thunder's request.
"You take care of him too Dash." Thunderlane said before looking up to Blossomforth. "You be safe Blossom, I love you." Thunder said. Blossom leaned down and kissed him, her sobbing becoming louder.
"And take care of Rumble Soarin." Thunder croaked. Rumble then buried his face into Thunder's neck and started to cry.
"I will Thunder, I promise." Soarin whispered. Thunderlane smiled, before he slowly closed his eyes and his chest stopped moving, and he let out one last gasp.
Silence.
Silence followed, everything was drowned out as Soarin looked down at the body of his best friend, he looked down at his hooves, covered in Thunderlane's blood. He looked at Dash, who gave him an apologetic look before hugging him. And finally, Soarin turned and looked at Lightning Streak, who was still standing there, with a look of pure hatred and rage in his eyes. Soarin then felt something inside him snap and all his anger that festered in him ignited in a blazing fire. He quickly grabbed Thunderlane's jacket and pulled out Thunder's switchblade and stood up to face Lightning.
Soarin knew what he had to do, what he needed to do. Lightning just killed Thunderlane, and he must pay... |
The Blood Feud | Soarin vs. Lightning Streak | Everything in Soarin's peripheral vision had faded, and every noise apart from the beating of his heart had been drowned out as he stared at Lightning Streak. His blood felt like it began to boil, and he felt his rage swelter within him. He gripped the switchblade in his hoof. He was about to attack Lightning, when a voice brought him out of his rage induced state.
"Soarin. What happened?" Soarin turned and saw Rainbow Dash by his side, her face full of concern. Rainbow noticed the anger and sadness in his normally bright and glistening eyes. Soarin wanted to just take Dash, Rumble, Blossomforth, and Thunderlane's body and get out of there, but he already made his decision.
"Dash, get out of here, please." Soarin said quietly, his voice trembling.
"Yeah Dash, the big boys need to talk." Lightning said sarcastically. This made Soarin snap again.
"You shut you mouth you FUCKER!" Soarin shouted. Rainbow stepped back, a little frightened by his outburst. Rainbow then looked back over at Thunderlane's body, that was now being lifted up by Rumble and Blossomforth.
"Soarin? What're you doing?" Rumble asked, curiously through his tears. Soarin turned to Rumble and Blossomforth.
"Take Thunder back to the house. Dash, please, get out of here and go somewhere safe, I need to take care of this snake." Soarin said, looking back in Lightning's direction.
"Sounds good to me, give me the challenge that Thunder couldn't give me!" Lightning said psychotically. Soarin was about to respond, when Rainbow pulled him to the side and gave him a deep, affectionate kiss. Afterwards, Rainbow looked into Soarin's eyes.
"Please, if things go bad, get out, don't get yourself killed, please. I'll be at Fluttershy's cottage." Rainbow explained, she then gave Soarin one last kiss before turning to Lightning Streak and giving him a death glare.
"You're life ends tonight Lightning." Rainbow muttered under her breath before flying off. Soarin watched her fly off before looking back at Lightning.
"Do you really want to do this Soarin? It's not like you stand a chance." Lightning said condescendingly. Soarin finally flipped open the switchblade and raised it.
"I'm going to kill you for what you did to him!" Soarin shouted with rage. Soarin glanced over his shoulder quickly, where he saw Rumble and Blossomforth flying away, with Rumble giving Soarin a nod of approval. Soarin turned back and readied himself. Lightning chuckled evilly.
"Alright Shittybolt..." Lightning began before using the sleeve of his jacket to wipe the blood off his switchblade, "...Let's Dance!"
(Fight Music)
Lightning dashed forward quickly, almost like a bolt of lightning. Soarin quickly leapt out of the way as Lightning took a swipe at him. Soarin then took advantage of Lightning's swiping arm to grab it and flip him onto the ground. Soarin tried to bring his switchblade down onto Lightning, but Lightning quickly punched Soarin in the gut with his free hoof and stood back up.
Soarin then began to attack fast, swiping left and right with his switchblade, trying to hit Lightning anywhere he could. Lightning then caught Soarin off guard by stabbing Soarin's stabbing hoof. Soarin yelped in pain and dropped his switchblade. Luckily the wound wasn't too deep. Soarin then lunged at Lightning, bringing them both to the ground.
Soarin then began to rapidly punch Lightning, who attempted to block Soarin's punches. Eventually, Lightning used his back legs to kick Soarin off him. Soarin landed on his back and saw his dropped switchblade, he quickly picked it up and made another dash for the recovering Lightning Streak, who had dropped his own switchblade.
Soarin stabbed Lightning's side and caused him to fall to the ground again. Soarin made for another stab while Lightning was on the ground, but Lightning quickly rolled to the side and punched Soarin in the side of his face. Soarin quickly recovered, and as Lightning was making another move to attack him, Soarin swiped his switchblade at him, cutting his cheek.
During their fight, they ended up moving back down the street towards Sugarcube Corner, until they were fighting right outside it. Soarin eventually got Lightning back onto the ground and punched him very hard in the back of the neck. He then grabbed Lightning, lifted him up and threw him through the front window of Sugarcube Corner.
Lightning slowly stood back up after being thrown in, panting heavily. Soarin climbed into the broken window, armed with his switchblade, his eyes filled with rage. Lightning shook his head, and rushed passed Soarin and took off into the sky. Soarin frowned and took off after him.
"You're not getting away Lightning!" Soarin shouted. Lightning kept trying to fly faster, but his every flap of his wings caused him pain due to the glass shards in them. Soarin inched closer and closer to Lightning, until Soarin got close enough for the kill. Soarin grabbed Lightning in mid flight, and stabbed Lightning directly in his right wing.
Lightning cried out in pain as he and Soarin began to go down. Eventually both of them crashed in the Ponyville Park. They both landed next to the fountain, but Soarin was thrown off of Lightning after he crashed. Soarin felt a little disoriented after the crash, but his rage and adrenaline kept him going, and he looked over and saw Lightning climbing to his hooves using the fountain.
Soarin stood up and began to move his way to the fountain, limping due to his left forehoof getting hurt in the crash. Lightning completely stood up, when he was suddenly pushed over again, landing in the fountain. Soarin then climbed into the fountain, and raised his switchblade high, and plunged it into Lightning's chest.
Lightning sputtered as Soarin used his other hoof to hold Lightning's head under the water. Soarin then lifted the blade again and stabbed Lightning again, and again, and again.
The fountain's water began to turn red as Soarin stabbed Lightning so many times he lost count. He just kept stabbing until Lightning stopped moving. Soarin was panting heavily as he got out of the fountain slowly. Soarin dropped the switchblade as he stepped out. He walked over to a tree to lean against it, catching his breath as his mind began to clear.
The rage fueled haze that clouded Soarin's mind finally cleared, and he looked back over to the fountain, and sure enough, it had happened. There, floating in the bloody red water, was Lightning Streak's corpse, his face one of permanent pain.
Soarin felt both proud and scared at what he did. Dash did say that Lightning had threatened her, but did Soarin have to kill him? He could have just reported Thunderlane's murder to the royal guard or something, but Soarin made a choice, one that he couldn't take back. Soarin didn't know what was going to happen now, but he knew it wasn't good.
But, none of that mattered now, Soarin needed to see Rainbow Dash, she needed to see that he was still alive. Soarin quickly flew off towards Fluttershy's cottage, leaving Lightning's body in the fountain. |
The Blood Feud | Storm on the Horizon | Soarin's mind was racing a million miles an hour as he quickly flew over Ponyville towards the quaint cottage on the edge of town where Dash said she'd be waiting for him. Had he really just done that? Had he really just murdered somepony?
Soarin kept trying to balance all the thoughts and anxieties in his head. In the back of his mind he knew that this fight between himself and Lightning Streak would probably spark a conflict between the Wonderbolts and Shadowbolts. He knew that Night Stalker was waiting for a reason to attack the Wonderbolts, and the death of his son would probably push him over the edge.
But, none of that mattered now, he just needed to see Dash. They would deal with all that when the time came. Soarin finally saw the cottage poking out of the trees ahead of him and he sped up.
He landed roughly by the front door, his leg still bleeding from the fight. He quickly knocked on the door. After a short commotion from inside the door flung open, and Soarin found himself being embraced by Rainbow Dash.
"Thank Celestia you're okay." Dash said as she hugged him. Soarin chuckled as he hugged her back. He looked up to see Fluttershy standing in the doorway.
"Oh my, you look like you hurt yourself pretty bad. Why don't you come in and I'll bandage you up." Fluttershy said, inviting them back in. Rainbow quickly pulled away from the hug and went to support Soarin to help him inside.
"I appreciate the offer, but I think I'll be fine." Soarin said dismissively. Rainbow ignored him and guided him inside to the living room and onto the couch. Fluttershy entered with a damp rag that she gave to Rainbow, who immediately started to apply pressure to Soarin's leg wound.
"What happened to Lightning?" Rainbow asked as she cleaned the wound. Soarin let out a sigh.
"I killed him. I stabbed him to death, in the fountain at the park." Soarin said with a tinge of guilt. Rainbow brushed a hoof across his cheek.
"Don't worry, you did the right thing." Rainbow said reassuringly. Soarin turned away.
"You...you aren't scared of me for doing something like that?" Soarin asked. Before Dash could answer, another voice spoke up from the doorway to the dining room.
"You kidding? Lightning got what was coming to him, that jerk deserved it." Blaze said as she entered the living room and sat down on the chair opposite the couch, clutching an ice pack to her black eye. Soarin looked a little confused.
"And...you are?" Soarin asked.
"Soarin, this is Blaze, she's the friend I told you about, she's cool." Rainbow said as she began to tend to Soarin's wings and back.
"So Dash, this is the hunk you told be about?" Blaze asked with a hint of sarcasm. Rainbow groaned.
"Yes Blaze, this is Soarin." Rainbow said. Blaze took a moment to eye up Soarin, something that Soarin found a little uncomfortable.
"Wow Dash, you scored!" Blaze shouted just as Fluttershy came back into the room with a first aid kit. Rainbow and Soarin's faces began to turn a slight shade of pink from blushing.
"Blaze, not right now. I'm trying to clean up my injured coltfriend, okay?" Rainbow said, shooting Blaze a glare. Blaze sunk back into her chair in response, still holding the ice pack to her eye.
Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash went on with helping Soarin, cleaning up his wound and bandaging it up, cleaning the blood from his coat, and washing his face. Afterwards, Soarin, Rainbow Dash, and Blaze all left the cottage.
"I'll see to you tomorrow Fluttershy." Rainbow waved as they walked away from the cottage. After reaching the end of the path, Blaze stopped them.
"Well, what's the plan now? You both know that tonight isn't gonna be the end of the fighting. The violence between the Wonderbolts and Shadowbolts is probably going increase to a full out war soon." Blaze said.
"I'm not sure. Soarin?" Rainbow asked, looking up to Soarin, who's head was low, deep in thought.
"I don't know, but I need to go back home, I need to see Thunderlane." Soarin said. Rainbow shook her head slightly.
"After what happened tonight, do you really think it's best to go back there?" Rainbow asked.
"I'm sorry, I just need to see my best friend be properly laid to rest, and I promised him I'd take care of Rumble, it was his dying wish." Soarin said, tears forming in his eyes again. Rainbow embraced him again.
"You do what you have to, but what about after that?" Rainbow asked. Blaze cleared her throat, getting the attention of the two of them.
"I think, if things get too ugly, we should leave." Blaze said. Rainbow raised an eyebrow, not really understanding Blaze's suggestion.
"What do you mean "we"?" Rainbow asked.
"I mean you, Soarin, myself, Fluttershy, and Scootaloo should all leave Ponyville unless we can somehow talk the Wonders and the Shadows out of war." Blaze explained.
"Hopefully it won't come to that, but if it does, then yeah, that's a good idea." Soarin said, nodding in agreement.
"For now, let's just go back to our compounds. It's been a long day." Rainbow said, nuzzling into Soarin's side.
Soarin and Rainbow Dash shared in one last goodnight kiss before parting their separate ways. Hopefully for not to long.
As Soarin flew back to the mansion, he felt the nagging worry in the back of his mind that things were about to get worse. He knew Night Stalker would want vengeance, which Soarin had already exacted earlier that night, but Soarin knew that it wouldn't be enough for Night Stalker.
Soarin landed in the courtyard of the Shadowbolts mansion, where most of the Shadowbolts were gathered. The crowd was all gathered around the front porch where Night Stalker, Rumble, Blossomforth and Fleetfoot stood. Soarin carefully made his way through the crowd eventually emerging up front. He finally saw Thunderlane's body, laying on the porch in front of Night Stalker, who's eyes went wide when he saw Soarin.
"My boy, there you are." Night Stalker said with a shaky voice as he flew over to Soarin. He noticed tears in Night Stalker's slightly bloodshot eyes, something Soarin never though he'd ever see. "Where have you been? Did you see what happened?" Night Stalker asked, pointing to Thunderlane's body. Soarin nodded.
"I killed the Wonderbolt responsible. I killed him with Thunderlane's blade." Soarin said, a little loud to make sure the rest of the Shadowbolts heard. A small smile formed on Night Stalker's face before he embraced Soarin, something Soarin never imagined Night Stalker would ever do.
"Thank you Soarin, thank you." Night Stalker said after the embrace. Night Stalker then flew back over to Thunderlane, Soarin followed close behind. Soarin looked down at Thunderlane's body, the stab wounds clear as day and the copper stench of fresh blood still lingering. Night Stalker knelt down and kissed his son's foreheard before turning to the rest of the gathered Shadowbolts.
"Shadowbolts! The time has come! The Wonderbolts have now attacked us, murdering my son in cold blood! Luckily, Soarin managed to step up and avenge his death!" Night Stalker bellowed over the crowd, earning cheers and whoops from the Shadowbolts. "But, this isn't the end, we must act before they come for any more of us, and we must fight until every one of those Wonderbolts perishes!" Night Stalker shouted. The crowd erupted into cheers. Soarin wanted to object, but he knew that he would just make things worse, so he kept quiet.
Before Night Stalker could continue his speech to the Shadowbolts, some gasps were heard and the crowd moved as out from the trees marched a large group of Wonderbolts, led by Solar Storm, with Fire Streak, who carried the still damp and bloody corpse of his older brother. Night Stalker stepped forward towards the Wonderbolts, glaring at Solar Storm.
"I'm sorry, but this is private property, explain your reason for trespassing?" Night Stalker said angrily. Fire Streak carefully dropped his brother's body next to him. A few of the Shadowbolts began to chuckle at the sight, which made Fire Streak furious.
"Which one of you degenerates did this?" Fire Streak shouted angrily at the crowd of Shadowbolts. The crowd remained silent, all looking like they're ready for a fight. Fire Streak scanned the crowd before locking eyes with Soarin, who stepped passed the rest of the Shadowbolts up next to Night Stalker.
"I did." Soarin responded. Both sides kept staring eachother down, until Solar Storm stepped in front of Fire Streak as he was about to pull out his own blade.
"I'll make this quick and simple for you neanderthals. Give us the one who killed Lightning so that he may be punished for his crimes, or we will return with the rest of the Wonderbolts and burn down this sorry excuse for a mansion." Solar Storm explained rather casually.
"Crimes? That dead Wonderbolt there killed one of us! Ever heard of eye for an eye?" Night Stalker shouted angrily, the rest of the crowd cheering in agreement. Solar Storm chuckled in response.
"I see it less as eye for an eye as a Heart for a Finger." Solar Storm said dismissively.
"We won't give him to you, you bitch!" Night Stalker growled. The rest of the Shadowbolts began to approach the Wonderbolts to fight, Until Solar Storm stepped back.
"Fine, I'll give you time to reconsider, but if he isn't in my compound by 6pm tomorrow, this place is going up in flames." Solar Storm said threateningly before turning and leading the rest of the Wonderbolts out. Fire Streak turned and gave Soarin a death glare before flying off. Soarin felt a little worried after that threat. Night Stalker then rested a hoof on Soarin's shoulder.
"Don't worry, we won't give in to her demands, we just need to prepare." Night Stalker said to Soarin before turning to address the rest of the crowd. "We must prepare to fight back!" Night Stalker said, rallying the crowd to start cheering. Soarin quietly slipped away from the crowd and made his way to the window to get into his room.
He climbed in and was met with the painting he had made for Rainbow Dash. His most treasured work, probably forever. He quickly took a spare bed sheet and covered it before moving it to the corner of his bedroom. He then laid down on his bed. After a long night like tonight, he needed a rest, especially for what was going to come next. |
The Blood Feud | Reinforcements and Consequences | As Soarin lay in his bed in his basement bedroom, he could still hear movement above him. It sounded like Nightstalker was calling the whole force currently in Ponyville together. He tried to just close his eyes and fall asleep, but he then heard Nightstalker's voice. It was a little muffled, but he could still hear clearly as his voice traveled through the air ducts.
"You wanted us to meet with you sir?" Fleetfoot asked, standing along with several other Shadowbolts in the mansion's dining room. Nightstalker sat at the end of the large dining table facing the rest of the force. On the table lay Thunderlane's body, covered in white sheets. Next to Nightstalker stood Rumble, who wore a look of both sorrow and anger at the same time. Blossomforth also stood next to the table, fresh tears still streaming down her face as she stroked one of Thunder's forelegs through the sheet. Nightstalker stood up and addressed his followers.
"My loyal Shadowbolts, the time we all knew was coming, is here." Nightstalker began, pointing at his dead son. "A Wonderbolt has finally attacked one of us, fatally, ending in the death of my son, and my heir, Thunderlane." Nightstalker said, his voice sounding shaky before composing himself again. "But, Soarin, one of our most trusted Shadowbolts, slayed Thunder's killer. And of course, the Wonderbolts seek to destroy us if we don't hoof him over." Nightstalker finished. There was numerous conversations among the gathered Shadowbolts, until Nightstalker raised his hoof to silence them.
"Before you say it, I would never consider handing him over. We do not play nice with the Wonderbolts, and if they come back, we will KILL THEM ALL!" Nightstalker bellowed to his congregated audience, who started cheering in response. Nightstalker cleared his throught to gather their attention again.
"Tonight, I have a mission for all of you. We must go and bring in reinforcements. We must bring the rest of the force here, and bring the hammer down on them when they strike." Nightstalker explained. He walked around the table to Fleetfoot and stood before her.
"Fleetfoot, you are one of my fastest Shadowbolts, therefore, I need you to move as fast as you can to retrieve our most valuable ally." Nightstalker explained. Fleetfoot nodded.
"Ok, Where and Who?" Fleetfoot asked. Nightstalker smirked.
"Go to Manehattan, and retrieve my brother......
"Nightshade."
As soon as that name hit Soarin's ears, his stomach dropped. Nightstalker always spoke of his older brother Nightshade as a fierce Shadowbolt, probably even fiercer than he was, and how he had no sympathy for those who stood in his way. According to Nightstalker, Nightshade secured his first Wonderbolt kill at the age of just 10.
Soarin knew now that Nightstalker was ready for an all out war against the Wonderbolts, because Nightshade wasn't a pony you sent for help defending, you sent him to attack, and Soarin knew that they would attack the Wonderbolts back, and it was going to be bloody.
He needed to get him and Dash out of here before it was too late.
Back upstairs, the Shadowbolts had all received their orders and were about to fly out to gather their reinforcements. Fleetfoot lingered a bit longer though, wishing to ask Nightstalker something.
"Uh, Sir, should I relay any orders to Soarin before I leave?" Fleetfoot asked, noticing that Soarin was not there for the debrief. Nightstalker shook his head.
"Let him rest, I will fill him in tomorrow. He needs to sleep now. He'll need plenty of energy for the fight ahead.
Rumble began to walk out of the dining room, his mind swimming in conflicted feelings. He know what he heard and saw earlier. Soarin was....dating....a Wonderbolt? The whole night Rumble was hit with all sorts of emotions. His own brother died, and the other stallion who felt like another brother to him was a traitor? Rumble couldn't handle it. He wanted to tell his father, but something held him back from it.
Maybe it was how well he knew Soarin, or maybe it was the fact that his dead brother's last wish was for Soarin to take care of him, or something that was keeping him from ratting Soarin out.
Before Rumble left, he turned back to face his father, and saw him standing over Thunderlane's body. He was crying. That was something Rumble never saw his father do. Rumble simply stayed silent and left the dining room, leaving his father to mourn.
"I'm....I'm sorry Cloudy. I'm sorry I couldn't protect him. I'm so sorry." Nightstalker weeped as he stood over his son's body.
Over at the Wonderbolt compound, Blaze and Rainbow Dash finally touched back down in the backyard area of the mansion. Fluttershy's cottage was on the opposite side of town, and the flight was longer than it was as they tried their best to avoid contact with both Shadowbolts AND other Wonderbolts. After what happened tonight, they needed to either pick sides, or face their wrath.
"I'm just not sure what we can do now." Rainbow said as she helped Blaze over to the back door. Blaze could still see, but her eye had swelled quite a bit.
"Look, tomorrow, we'll go and find Soarin and we'll think of something, for now, we'll just see how things will turn out. Maybe I can get my mom to just chill out." Blaze said confidently. Rainbow huffed.
"Yeah, I'm sure that'll work." Dash said sarcastically. Blaze didn't respond. Eventually, they both finally reached the door and stepped inside. They walked down the back hall towards the front hall where the stairs were. They reached the main hall when a voice spoke.
"Where were you two?" the voice asked. Blaze and Rainbow turned to see Fire Streak sitting by the large fireplace off to the side in the main hall. He was looking at them angrily. The two remained frozen in place as Fire Streak sat up and started approaching them.
"Where were you?" Fire asked again. The two didn't answer, instead, backed up the stairs behind them, until another voice came from up the stairs.
"ANSWER HIS QUESTION!" the voice behind them shouted. They turned in fear and saw Solar Storm descending the stairs towards them. Eventually, Rainbow saw that they weren't the only ones.
Many other Wonderbolts began to emerge from the shadows, from upstairs, and from the other hallways. Blaze quickly stood between Dash and her mother.
"Mom? What's going on?" Blaze asked. Solar Storm did no answer her daughter. She walked up to Blaze, pushed her aside and grabbed Dash by the neck and held her up so their faces were inches apart. Dash could see the fury in Solar Storm's face and started to panic.
"Where. Were. You?" Blaze repeated, only not as loud, but with emphases on each word that made Dash feel like she was being punched in the face with each word.
"A....at Flu...Fluttershy's." Dash stammered out. Solar Storm let go of her and pushed her back onto the floor at the bottom of the stairs. Dash landed on her back and looked up at Solar Storm, petrified.
"Bullshit! I know you were with him! Probably talking about your little romps and plans to elope and betray the Wonderbolts!" Solar Storm shouted angrily. Blaze got back to her hooves and rushed to her mom.
"Mom Sto- Aaaah!" Blaze started to say before her mother grabbed her in a headlock, holding her steady.
"Quiet you rotten child, I know you were in on this!" Solar Storm shouted at her daughter. Dash got back to her hooves and glared back at Storm.
"We don't know what your talking about!" Dash shouted. A sinister chuckle caught her attention. She turned and saw Fire Streak standing a few feet away, flanked by a few more Wonderbolts.
"We know all about your sweet little romance with the degenerate of a stallion." Fire said with an evil grin. Dash's eyes widened.
"What?" Dash stammered out.
"Your affair with Soarin Skies. Fire told me everything." Solar Storm suddenly said. Dash turned back to her leader, her face still one of pure anger as she held Blaze in her headlock. Dash felt her windpipe begin to constrict. She felt unable to breath. Her stomach dropped, and she felt more afraid than ever before. Solar Storm dragged Blaze with her as she stepped down off the stairs in front of Dash.
"You are pathetic. The Daughter of one of our finest Wonderbolts, reduced to a stupid filly looking to get into false romances with a pony you've been taught to hate." Solar said angrily. Rainbow frowned, finally gathering her courage together.
"It isn't false!" Rainbow argued. She heard a scoff as she felt a hoof begin to brush through her mane. She turned and glared at Fire Streak, flashing her his most shit-eating grin ever.
"What, you really think you love him? That he loves you? Really? He's playing you like a flute!" Fire Streak said angrily. Rainbow stepped away from him, batting his hoof away. In that moment, Dash lost all restraint.
"I do Love HIM! and HE loves me! We're happy no matter what you all say, and he's TEN TIMES the stallion you'll ever be Fire!" Dash shouted angrily. She heard gasps all around her. She saw some of her other Wonderbolt friends like Misty Fly, who had a look of disappointment in her eyes. Fire chuckled.
"Well, at least I can assume that you play his thing like a flute." Fire said suggestively. Rainbow's eye twitched and her rage bursted. She flew forward and socked Fire Streak across the jaw, sending him flying back into a few other Wonderbolts. Solar pointed at Dash and several other Wonderbolts flew and restrained her. Dash thrashed, kicked, and screamed but eventually gave up. She was turned toward Solar Storm.
"You are a whore, and you are a disgrace to the Wonderbolts. I don't know a proper punishment for you yet, but for now, I am placing you under house arrest in your room until further notice." Solar Storm explained with a hint of disgust in her voice. She then turned to her daughter, still in the headlock. "As for you Blaze, I am also placing you under house arrest along with Dash, maybe that'll teach you to follow your mother's words." Solar Storm explained. Blaze simply hung her head in shame. Solar Storm then looked up and waved for Spitfire to come forward. She quickly flew over to Solar Storm's side. Solar Storm looked back at Blaze and forced her head up to look at her cousin.
"You see your cousin Spitfire? She's the true example of who will be a great Wonderbolt leader! Strong, determined, and loyal to the Wonderbolts! Much more of a leader than you are, and because of that, I am naming her my new heir to the Wonderbolts. She will lead when I retire, not you!" Solar Storm yelled. Spitfire's eyes were wide, both from being named the next heir to the Wonderbolts, but also at the look of pure pain and sadness on her cousin's face. It was hard to look at. Solar Storm then released her daughter and threw her to a group of Wonderbolts waiting.
"Take them to their room, bar the windows, and lock the door. Fire Streak?" Solar Storm ordered before calling out to Fire Streak. He quickly approached. "You're in charge of watching them, make sure they don't try anything." Solar Storm ordered. Fire Streak nodded. The Wonderbolts began to drag Dash and Blaze off. Blaze tried to call out to her mother again.
"Mom please! Just liste-"
"SILENCE YOU TREACHEROUS MARE!" Solar Storm shouted, silencing her daughter and making them remain silent for the rest of their trip to their room.
Blaze and Rainbow Dash were thrown into their room with little care and the door was shut behind them and several locking sounds could be heard. Dash quickly got up and went for the window, but saw that the bars were already in place.
"No..." Dash said quietly as tears began to well up in her eyes. Everything had fallen apart so quickly, she didn't know if she could take it. She turned and saw Blaze climbing onto her bed and looking over at her. She too looked utterly destroyed by what they just witnessed.
"I'm so sorry." Blaze said. Dash shook her head and quickly walked to her and threw her forelegs around her in an embrace.
"Don't be." Rainbow said before she began to silently cry into her friends shoulder. Blaze tried her best to comfort her, rubbing her hooves over her back and whispering in her ear.
"It's okay, it'll be okay." Blaze said, trying to calm her down. She then looked out the window at the moon hanging high above the sky.
"I hope." |
The Blood Feud | We Gotta Get Out of this Place | The morning sun rose above Ponyville in the early hours of the morning as the townsfolk awoke from their slumber to begin their day. One citizen in particular walked with a purpose towards the Wonderbolt's compound.
Fluttershy walked slowly down the road leading to the compound. She wore her usual concerned and shy expression as she passed a few Wonderbolts standing around outside the compound. They all gave her neutral looks and let her walk by. Fluttershy was a regular at the compound, so seeing her heading towards it was nothing new to the Wonderbolts.
Tucked under her wing was a basket filled with a few pastries baked by Flutters herself. Though she wasn't the best baker, she did possess some talent in the kitchen. She was going to share some breakfast with Rainbow Dash and Blaze so they could talk about what to do next. With all that happened the night before, Fluttershy was incredibly worried about what was going to happen next.
She walked through the front door of the compound and began to walk towards the stairs, but stopped when her name was called from the nearby hallway.
"Hello Fluttershy. What brings you here this morning?" Solar Storm asked as she approached Fluttershy.
"Oh, good morning Ms. Storm, I was just stopping by to give some things to Rainbow Dash." Fluttershy explained. She moved to continue walking up the stairs, when Solar Storm extended her wing and stopped her.
"I'm sorry Fluttershy, but I'm afraid Rainbow Dash isn't here at this time." Solar Storm explained. This made Fluttershy confused. She had just seen Dash last night, and she wasn't here?
"Oh, where is she?" Fluttershy asked. Solar Storm began guiding Fluttershy back down the stairs and towards the front door.
"Something happened last night, and I sent her home on leave, and I asked Blaze to accompany her." Solar Storm explained. Fluttershy nodded slightly, unsure if what Solar Storm was saying was truthful. The two finally reached the front door.
"Do you know how long they'll be gone?" Fluttershy asked as Solar Storm opened the front door. Solar Storm shrugged.
"I'm unsure, I told them to take as much time off as they see fit. I'd tell you more but I'm very busy at the moment. When Dash returns I'll have her come find you. Have a nice day!" Solar Storm finished with a rather cheery voice before closing the door behind Fluttershy in a rather rushed way.
Fluttershy stood dumbfounded on the front steps of the compound, confused as to what had just happened. Fluttershy decided to just let it be for now and began walking away when she heard a sound.
"Psssst."
Fluttershy turned back towards the front door where the sound cam from and saw a Wonderbolt standing slightly behind the bushes next to the front entrance. She was waving her hoof for Fluttershy to come over. Fluttershy quickly listened and trotted over to the Wonderbolt, recognizing her as Misty Fly.
"Hello Misty, what's wrong?" Fluttershy asked as she joined Misty behind the bush. Misty glanced around before crouching down lower to the ground and motioning for Fluttershy to do the same, which she did.
"Everything Solar Storm told you was a lie." Misty whispered to Fluttershy. She let out an audible gasp that was a bit to loud for Misty's liking. Misty quickly covered Fluttershy's mouth with a hoof. "I'm not supposed to say anything to anypony, so don't get us caught, okay?" Misty asked. Fluttershy nodded her head and Misty retracted her hoof.
"What do you mean? Where is Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy asked with a whisper.
"Fire Streak spilled everything about her and the Shadowbolt Soarin." Misty responded. Fluttershy's eyes widened. "Solar Storm was furious. She locked Dash in her room and barred the windows. And since Blaze was in on it with her, she locked her in there too. I don't know what's gonna happen to them now, and.....I don't forgive Dash for her actions either, but you deserved to know the truth Fluttershy." Misty explained. Fluttershy nodded.
"Thank you Misty." Fluttershy whispered. Misty formed a small smile on her lips.
"Don't mention it, now get out of here, before anypony sees us." Misty said. Fluttershy nodded and quickly emerged from behind the bushes when nopony was looking and made a break for the main gates of the compound. Once through, she stopped along the wall to rest for a moment and wrap her head around everything. Her best friend had her own allies turn on her and now she was imprisoned. What could she do?
"Soarin." Fluttershy whispered to herself. She had to tell him the situation. He'd probably know what to do. Fluttershy was about to take off towards the Shadowbolt mansion when another voice caught her attention.
"Hey Fluttershy!" Fluttershy turned and saw Scootaloo walking down the path towards the compound's main gate. Fluttershy quickly stopped her from moving any further down the path.
"Wait, are you going to see Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy asked. Scootaloo nodded enthusiastically. Fluttershy closed her eyes for a second and took a deep breath. Scootaloo had to know the truth. She didn't know about Dash and Soarin's situation, but if Dash was now in danger, she needed to know. Fluttershy draped a wing over Scootaloo's back and began to lead her away from the compound. Scootaloo raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"Uh, what's wrong? Is Rainbow Dash okay?" Scootaloo asked. Fluttershy glanced over her shoulder, she didn't see anypony following them. She turned back to Scootaloo.
"Rainbow Dash is in trouble, and we need to help her." Fluttershy whispered. Scootaloo's eyes widened and she audibly gasped.
"What! What's wrong?!" Scootaloo asked, a little too loudly. Fluttershy shushed her.
"I'll explain everything, but for now, we need to get help." Fluttershy said as she lifted into the air. Scootaloo followed close behind. "I'll explain everything on the way." Fluttershy said as they flew off towards the Shadowbolt mansion.
After quickly getting rid of Fluttershy, Solar Storm quickly headed upstairs to Dash and Blaze's room. Outside the door, Fire Streak was sitting in a chair, looking rather bored. He quickly stiffened up as Solar Storm approached.
"Anything happen since last night?" Solar Storm asked. Fire Streak shook his head.
"Not a peep since we put 'em in there. I can check if you want me to." Fire Streak offered. Solar Storm shook her head.
"No, I'm going in alone right now. I need to get this straightened up now. The sooner we can, the sooner we can move forward.....and avenge your brother's death." Solar Storm explained. Fire Streak nodded and unlocked the door. Solar Storm slowly stepped into the room.
Upon entering, she saw both Blaze and Rainbow Dash laying on their beds. Blaze was looking up at the ceiling, giving her mother a sidelong glance as she entered, and Rainbow Dash was also laying on her bed, facing away from the door.
Solar Storm stepped fully inside and closed the door behind her. She cleared her throat and expected the two to start groveling at her hooves, begging for forgiveness and swearing their loyalty to the Wonderbolts once again, but nothing happened for a solid 30 seconds. Solar Storm finally spoke.
"So.... what have you to say for yourselves?" Solar Storm spoke softly. Blaze finally rolled over to face her mother.
"What do you want us to say? Huh? What did you come up here for?" Blaze asked. Solar Storm glared at her daughter.
"I came up here to see if you changed your minds. More her than you..." She motioned to Rainbow Dash, "...and to see if you've finally come top your senses." She walked over to Dash, who was still facing away. "What's the answer Dash. Have you seen the error of your ways, and realized that you were lured into a destructive mindset by that dirty, underhanded Stallion, and that your family is here, where we are against those Shadowbolts, and we will destroy them for what they did to Lightning Streak?" Solar Storm asked. Dash didn't show any visible reaction to her words, and stayed silent. Solar Storm shrugged and turned to face Blaze.
"What about you honey, have you realized how wrong you were for believing and helping this traitor?" Solar Storm asked. Blaze glared at her and opened her mouth to curse her off, but somepony else cut her off.
"No"
Solar Storm and Blaze both turned their eyes to Dash. She was now facing them, her eyes bloodshot and the coat around her face dried with old tears. Solar Storm raised an eyebrow.
"No?" Solar Storm repeated what Dash said. Dash sat up completely on the bed and glared at Solar Storm.
"No, you're wrong Solar Storm. I will never stop loving him. I will never submit to you! He's a better stallion than any of the filthy, rotten, and pervy Stallions in the Wonderbolts. As far as I know, Lightning got what was coming to him. If you want me to hate Soarin, i'm sorry, but that's never happening. I'd rather die than to turn against him after all the love he's shown me, and I've shown him in return. And if your going to keep up this feud for your selfish pride to keep me away from him, go fuck yourself!" Dash shouted defiantly before going back to facing away from Solar Storm, this time, the soft sound of sobs emanated from her. Solar Storm frowned.
"Then you are still lost, and you will remain imprisoned here until you see otherwise!" Solar Storm shouted before turning back to Blaze.
"What about you? Have you come around?" Solar Storm asked. Blaze frowned.
"Mom, I think Dash is right. This stupid feud has lasted far too long. I'm not saying all of the Shadowbolts are good, but Soarin really isn't that bad. If anything, he was avenging his own friends death. And if this feud keeps going, then many more than Lightning Streak are going to die, on both sides!" Blaze pleaded. Solar Storm frowned, and a look of disappointment appeared on her face.
"I thought I taught you well, I can't believe all that I've taught you has gone away because your friend shagged a Shadowbolt! Need I remind you that your ancestor was lured into a trap and MURDERED by a Shadowbolt! Is this what Sun Spot would have wanted!?" Solar Storm screamed angrily before turning back to the door.
"You are both disgraces to the Wonderbolts!" Solar Storm shouted angrily before slamming the door and storming off down the hall. Fire Streak quickly locked the door again.
After Solar Storm left, Dash's sobs began to grow louder, and Blaze quickly rushed over to comfort her friend. Dash looked up at Blaze with tear filled eyes.
"So that's it then, I'm out of the Wonderbolts, and I'm never going to see Soarin again." Dash squeaked out. Blaze hugged her, trying her best to calm her.
"No, don't think like that, there's gotta be a way for us to get out. We just need to find a way." Blaze whispered. Dash sat up and looked at Blaze in disbelief.
"The window's barred and the door's locked and guarded, how can we get out?" Dash asked.
"We'll find a way, we just need to start looking, okay?" Blaze asked. Dash wiped the tears from her eyes, and gave a determined look to Blaze.
"Okay." Rainbow said confidently. The two then began to search the room, looking for any way to get out.
"I'm coming Soarin, I'm getting out." Dash said quietly to herself.
*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*
"Soarin? You awake? Open Up!"
Soarin sat up from his bed, feeling groggy as he looked over at the door to his room, hearing the loud banging and the voice on the other side of it. The banging emitted from the door again and Soarin quickly sat up fully.
"Come on! Get up already!"
"Don't shout angry like that, maybe you should be little nicer sounding."
Soarin recognized the voices of Rumble and Blossomforth outside.
"Just a second guys." Soarin said as he got out of bed and staggered over to the door and opened it, letting the two into his room.
"About time you got up, cause it's time to give me some answers!" Rumble said angrily as he pushed against Soarin up to the desk. Blossomforth tried to pull Rumble away.
"Rumble! Just calm down! You don't have to say anything Soarin, it isn't our business." Blossomforth said as she struggled to hold Rumble back. Rumble finally freed himself and stood muzzle to muzzle with Soarin again.
"Oh no, you are going to explain to me, uh... US, right now, how you know that Rainbow Dash Wonderbolt!" Rumble shouted in Soarin's face. Blossomforth pulled Rumble back again and pressed a feather to his lips.
"Keep it down." Blossomforth said. Soarin stood slightly shocked. Rumble hadn't told Nightstalker yet. Why?
"Well, why do you want to know?" Soarin asked. Rumble growled.
"Because, she showed up when Thunderlane was dying, and he was saying some things that I didn't bring up then because I was caught up in that moment. But now I want you to spill, or I just might bring it up with dad first!" Rumble said angrily. Soarin sighed and sat on the edge of his bed.
"What do you want to know?" Soarin asked.
"What's the deal between you and her. What Thunderlane said makes it obvious, but I want to hear it from you." Rumble said. Soarin nodded.
"Yeah, me and her are.....dating, you could say." Soarin explained. Rumble looked disgusted, while Blossomforth smiled. She was suddenly distracted by something as Rumble continued.
"Wait....so, You are dating a WONDERBOLT! Despite everything dad told us, and what we've been doing for years while you've lived with us, you suddenly have the hots for them? Unless you're planning on betraying them...." Rumble rambled, Soarin suddenly stood up defiantly.
"NEVER! It's not like that, it's real. And she really likes me too!" Soarin defended. Rumble was about to talk back, when Blossomforth suddenly spoke.
"This.....this is beautiful..." Blossomforth said as she stood by Soarin's closet, admiring what was inside. Rumble and Soarin looked over at what she was admiring.
Soarin's painting of Rainbow Dash.
"Woah..." Rumble muttered as he and Soarin stepped over to Blossomforth. Blossomforth was tracing her hoof along the edge of the painting, admiring every detail on it.
"Did you do this?" Blossomforth asked. Soarin nodded as he reached out to touch it.
"Yep. This is the most prized work I've done. The others are great, but this one was made out of something else." Soarin said as he stared at the image of Dash in the center.
"I wanted to capture everything beautiful about her in one image. Her radiant mane, her rosy eyes, her adventurous, brash and bold personality, and everything else that makes me love her so much." Soarin said. Blossomforth smiled and looked over at Soarin, who looked as if he had just seen the most prized treasure ever to be found.
"You really love her? Don't you?" Blossomforth asked. Soarin nodded, his eyes shining like emeralds as he gazed at the painting.
"I love her, so much. She means the world to me. More than anything else." Soarin said softly. He turned to look at Rumble, who was also looking at the painting with a look of surprise. He knew about Soarin's talent and seen other paintings he had done, but this was on a different level for Soarin. This was a work of art worthy of royalty. Soarin smirked at the shocked colt.
"So, does that answer your question?" Soarin asked. Rumble nodded.
"Okay, so you really love her. What about dad? what's he gonna think of this?" Rumble asked. Soarin shook his head.
"No, He can't know about this, or us. If he does he might do something crazy, and with Nightshade coming, along with more reinforcements, more violence is inevitable, and I can't let her get hurt. We need to leave soon." Soarin said frantically. Rumble opened his mouth to protest, when suddenly the basement window opened over Soarin's bed. The three occupants in the room looked over and saw two pegasi looking down at them.
"Oh, is this a bad time? We can come back later if you need us to." Fluttershy said quietly as she and Scootaloo poked their heads through the window. Fluttershy moved to close the window, but Soarin quickly jumped up to stop her.
"No, no, just get in here before somepony sees you!" Soarin said as he quickly ushered the two into the room.
"Who are these fillies?" Rumble asked. Soarin motioned to them.
"This is Fluttershy, she's Rainbow Dash's friend, and she is...." Soarin trailed off, not remembering who the orange filly was. She trotted over to him and began to closely inspect him, eyeing him up and walking in a circle around him. Eventually she stopped in front of him and smiled.
"You don't look like a bum, which is good enough for me." She extended her hoof, "I'm Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash's Surrogate sister!" She said enthusiastically as Soarin shook her hoof. Soarin nodded and motioned to Rumble and Blossom.
"This is Rumble, Thunderlane's little brother, and that's Blossomforth. She was Thunderlane's marefriend." Soarin said sadly as he introduced her. Fluttershy put a hoof to her mouth.
"Oh, I'm very sorry about what happened." Fluttershy said. Blossomforth smiled.
"Thank you." Blossom said with a little smile.
"Hey, aren't you that filly I danced with at the Summer Sun Celebration?" Rumble asked Scootaloo. She squinted her eyes at the colt and smirked.
"I think I was. I wonder if your dancing skills have improved since then, cause you had 4 left hooves on that dance floor. We can try again if you wanna?" Scootaloo said smugly.
"Eh, pass." Rumble said grumpily. Soarin quickly turned back to Fluttershy.
"So what are you guys doing here? is everything okay?" Soarin asked. Fluttershy shook her head.
"No, I went to see Dash this morning, but Solar Storm told me she was "on leave". I was just going to leave it at that, but then another Wonderbolt named Misty Fly pulled me aside and told me that Dash and Blaze have been locked up at the Wonderbolt compound." Fluttershy explained. Soarin gasped.
"What? But Why?!" Soarin asked angrily.
"She said that Fire Streak spilled everything to Solar Storm about you two, I guess that's why she did it." Fluttershy said. Soarin gritted his teeth and stumbled over to the desk and slammed his hoof down.
"That bastard! We have to get them out!" Soarin said as he turned to the rest of them. Rumble shook his head.
"Woah, we? I think this is a "you" problem. I don't do things for Wonderbolts." Rumble said. Soarin glared at him.
"I thought you understood me when you saw the painting!" Soarin said.
"Yes, I understand you, but I don't want to get mixed up in this." Rumble said.
"But I need help, they need help!" Soarin argued. Rumble just glared back at Soarin, both giving eachother angry looks, when suddenly Blossom spoke up.
"I'll help you." Blossom said as she stepped forward. Soarin stared in slight disbelief before shaking his head.
"No, I can't ask you to get involved Blossom, you've been through enough already." Soarin said. Rumble frowned.
"Oh, she'd been through too much but I haven't, so I have to help?!" Rumble shouted. Soarin was about to protest when Blossomforth stepped between them.
"Stop, both of you!" Blossom said sternly. Both shut up. Blossom then turned to Soarin.
"I'll help you get her out, whether you're okay with it or not." Blossom said before turning back and walking over to the painting.
"But...why?" Soarin asked. Blossom looked back at him and smiled.
"Losing Thunder was.....hard. Probably the most difficult thing I've ever had to endure in my life. He was everything to me. I cried to much last night, and I'm surprised I'm not crying right now. But After seeing this...." She motioned to the painting, "...and hearing what you had to say, I believe you. You love her, like I loved Thunderlane, and if I can help in any way to stop the same thing happening to you two, leaving either you or Dash alone, then I'll help." Blossom said, tears falling from her eyes. Soarin smiled at her.
"Thanks Blossom." Soarin said.
"I'm helping to!" Fluttershy suddenly said, "Rainbow Dash is my oldest friend, and I'd do anything for her." Fluttershy explained. Soarin smiled at her as well. Scootaloo suddenly spoke up too.
"I'm helping too! What kind of sister would I be if I didn't?" She said with a determined tone. Soarin nodded at her before turning to Rumble, who still looked unsure. Soarin took a step towards him.
"Please Rumble, it's what Thunder would have wanted." Soarin said. Rumble took a deep breath in and shook his head out.
"You know what, fine, I'll help, but I'm not getting dragged in further. You're a great guy Soarin, but my place is here with Dad and the rest of the Shadowbolts, I don't want to risk losing my place here." Rumble explained. Soarin nodded
"Thanks Rumble, it means a lot to me." Soarin said.
"Yeah, whatever." Rumble scoffed.
"Okay, but now, we need a plan, before the reinforcements get here." Blossom spoke up. Soarin nodded and flew over to the window and opened it.
"Let's get out of here first, we'll go to Fluttershy's cottage to plan, is that okay?" Soarin asked Fluttershy.
"That's fine by me." Fluttershy responded. Soarin nodded as he led the others out of the basement, and when nopony was looking, took off from the mansion grounds towards Ponyville. |
The Blood Feud | Planning | The small group of pegasi quickly flew over Ponyville from the Shadowbolt mansion to the edge of town and landed in front of Fluttershy's cottage. They swiftly made their way inside and gathered around in Fluttershy's kitchen, where they began formulating their plan to get Rainbow Dash and Blaze out of their situation.
"Alright, if we're gonna get them out, then we need to get them out as soon as possible, tonight if possible." Soarin began as he addressed the others. Rumble stepped forward and shook his head.
"Are you crazy? That place is like a fortress, we'd never be able to get in there and out with them with our tails intact!" Rumble argued. Soarin was about to argue back when Blossomforth interrupted.
"Wait, Rumble, isn't your father bringing in the reinforcements to protect the mansion?" Blossom asked. Rumble thought for a moment before nodding.
"Yeah, he's taking Solar Storm's threat seriously, ready to defend the house." Rumble explained. Blossomforth smirked.
"That's how we get in." Blossomforth said confidently. Soarin smiled and pointed at her.
"That's it! If the Wonderbolts really are planning on attacking the mansion tonight, then that can be our ticket to getting Dash out!" Soarin said happily. Fluttershy stepped in.
"Maybe, but I don't think they'll leave the compound unguarded, even if they need lots of Wonderbolts for the offensive attack." Fluttershy brought up. Soarin nodded and furrowed his brow trying to think of a way around this. Scootaloo quickly slammed her hoof down on the table to get everyone's attention.
"We'll need a distraction, something to draw their attention away while the rest go to break Dash and Blaze out." Scootaloo explained. Soarin smiled.
"That's a great idea, but we need to find something to use in a distraction. Hopefully one that can minimize casualties." Soarin said as he pondered with a hoof to his chin. The others all fell silent as they tried to come up with more ideas that could help in their plan, when Rumble thought of something.
"Fire Bottles." Rumble suddenly blurted out, startling everyone else around the table.
"So, fire-starting?' Blossomforth asked, Rumble smirked and nodded.
"All we need is some bottles of alcohol, some rags, and we can start a fire on the compound grounds, maybe burn a few of their trees, and while they're distracted with putting the fire out, we can get to Dash and Blaze." Rumble explained. Soarin's eyes widened with how that plan wasn't completely awful.
"Wow, that's risky, but it could work. But who's gonna do it?" Soarin asked, Rumble quickly stood up and took out his switchblade.
"I'll do it, I can buy you some time to get out, and if I get into any scrapes, I can take out some Wonderbolts in the process." Rumble said confidently, with Fluttershy and Scootaloo wincing at his words. Blossomforth put a hoof on Rumble's shoulder.
"I'll help you, you'll need somepony to watch your back." Blossom said. Soarin nodded, agreeing with their part before turning to the other two.
"That means we are the ones who are going in to save Dash and Blaze." He said to Fluttershy and Scootaloo. They both nodded. "I hope one of you know your way around?" Soarin asked.
"We know where Dash and Blaze's room is." Fluttershy clarified. Soarin nodded before turning to face everyone and clearing his throat.
"Okay then here's the plan. Today, we get what we need, bottles, rags, matches, rope, and anything we may need if this gets hairy. Fluttershy, you and Scootaloo keep watch over by the compound today and one of you come get the rest of us when the Wonderbolt force moves out to attack the mansion." Fluttershy and Scootaloo nodded. "Blossom and Rumble, once we all get there, you two will use the bottles to start fires, throw some at the trees they have around the back and front yards, hopefully they'll burn easily." He turned to face Scootaloo and Fluttershy again. "While they distract, the three of us will make our way inside and up to their room, I'll take care of any Wonderbolts in our way, and hopefully we can get them out with ease, but I'll break down their door if I have to." As Soarin explained his plan, he could feel his confidence rising, he felt stronger and more determined than ever before. He was going to do this, he was going to save Dash.
"What's gonna happen after you get them out?" Rumble asked. Soarin looked out the window towards Ponyville and sighed.
"We need to leave. Between Nightstalker bringing in reinforcements and Solar Storm planning an all out attack, I have a feeling Ponyville might suffer the same fate as Quirky Creek." Soarin said. Rumble's eyes widened for a second and he nodded.
Quirky Creek was another small town that the Shadowbolts and Wonderbolts found themselves fighting in, but when they started the heavy fighting, the town ended up burned to the ground, and sever civilians ending up dead as a result. Soarin looked at everyone around the table with a sad look on his face.
"I don't know if any of you want to stay here, but if you do want to stay, I won't stop you." Soarin explained, seeing mixed reactions around the table. Fluttershy looked sad, Scootaloo looked confused, Rumble nodded with a stern expression and Blossomforth shrugged with disinterest.
"I'm sorry Soarin, but I can't leave." Rumble spoke up. "I can't leave dad. I know you didn't always see eye to eye with him, but now he needs me more than ever. With Thunder gone, I need to support him, I hope you understand." Rumble explained. Soarin nodded and placed a hoof on Rumble's shoulder.
"I get it.....just.......take care of yourself kid, and make sure you don't get yourself killed." Soarin said. Rumble snorted slightly and batted Soarin's hoof away.
"Look, I know Thunder said something about taking care of me, but I don't expect to be safe in the Shadowbolts. I was born and raised in this group, and if I die protecting or serving this group, then that's what happens." Rumble explained. Soarin nodded again and Rumble walked to the door and opened it. "I'll get started on those fire bottles, come get me when it's time, I'll be waiting in my room." Rumble said before shutting the door and flying away. Soarin turned back and saw Blossomforth hesitating to speak up.
"What is it Blossom?" Soarin asked.
"I'll probably stay here too. With Thunder....gone.....I can look after Rumble. It'll be the least I can do for Thunder, to honor his dying wish." Blossom offered. Soarin nodded and Blossom smiled. She quickly rushed forward and hugged Soarin.
"Thank you. I'll go help Rumble, see you later." Blossomforth said before releasing Soarin and leaving. Soarin chuckled as Blossom left and he turned back to see Fluttershy and Scootaloo, both still looking conflicted about what to do. Fluttershy began to speak.
"I....I don't know if I can leave. My animals here, they need my help and care, and if Ponyville really is in danger, then those animals may need my help even more." Fluttershy explained. Soarin nodded.
"I understand, Scootaloo?" Soarin said as he turned to Scootaloo after Fluttershy. Scootaloo was biting her lip and darting her eyes back and forth between every surface in the cottage, unable to find an answer.
"It's okay if you don't have an answer, we can talk about it later." Soarin reassured her. Scootaloo took a deep breath and nodded. "You two should get over to the compound. Find a place that's close enough to see, but far enough that they won't see you, and watch them, when it looks like they're starting to mobilize, then come get the rest of us, I'll have us wait outside the mansion grounds. Okay?" Soarin recapped to the other two. They both nodded and all flew off to set their plan into motion. Soarin knew this wasn't going to be easy, but he'd do anything for Dash, and he vowed that he'd get her out of there.
Blaze placed her head against the floor of her room, trying her best to find an angle that could give her a clear picture of what was going on in the hallway from the crack under the door. While she did this, Dash rummaged through every drawer in the room, looking for any item that could help them escape, so far she found a few bobby pins, but nothing else.
Blaze focused on the figure she could see leaning against the wall next to the door. The pale coat was pretty much a dead giveaway that it was Fire Streak. Blaze suddenly moved away from the door when another pony approached in the hallway.
"How's prison guard duty?" the voice of a stallion spoke. Blaze recognized the voice as Altitude's. Fire Streak lightly banged his head against the wall and groaned.
"It's uninteresting, but at least I get to guard some precious cargo." Fire Streak said smugly. Altitude let out a chuckle of agreement before continuing down the hallway.
For the next few minutes, Blaze peered under the door at Fire Streak, watching as he mumbled several coarse things to himself and paced around his post. Blaze wanted nothing more than to bend his spine back and bury his head in his own plot for being such a douche. Him and his brother were the worst, and expected everything just because their family had been Wonderbolts for generations.
Blaze quickly moved away again when she heard her mother's voice and saw her approaching from down the hall.
"How are they?" Solar Storm asked. Fire Streak shrugged.
"Dunno, haven't heard a peep from them for a few hours." Fire Streak explained. Solar Storm sighed
"Well, we'll just have to carry on without them then. We'll be launching our attack on the manor tonight after sundown, make sure they stay locked in there and give them their dinner. I'm leaving Misty Fly in charge while we attack, so go to her if there are any problems, understood?" Solar Storm explained. Fire Streak saluted.
"Yes ma'am." he said enthusiastically. Solar Storm nodded at him to "at ease" and walked away. Fire watched her leave before turning to the door.
"You know, you both could have been great for me and Lightning. Two of the best mares with the two best Stallions, but instead you just had to go and mess everything up." Fire Streak said with a smugness in his voice through the door. Rainbow gritted her teeth and let out a quiet snarl at his words.
"Dashie, if you want out, you just gotta say, and I'll take ya for a wild ride that'll make you glad to be a Wonderbolt. I might even give you one too Blazey." Fire Streak said smugly. Dash nearly blew a gasket, but kept her cool and continued looking, while Blaze had a hard time not becoming enraged from his tone. "It's just an offer, I'll be right outside if you decide to take it." Fire Streak concluded before leaning against the wall once again and continuing his watch.
Blaze looked back and Dash and saw that she had completely ransacked the room, and looked very worried.
"So, did ya find anything useful?" Blaze asked as she stood up from the door and walked over to Dash. Dash rose her hoof to show her.
"Nothing much, just some bobby pins, some pillows, and bedsheets, as well as out uniforms, but nothing else useful." Dash explained. Blaze looked at what they had and thought for a moment, before a lightbulb went off in her head.
"I know, we wait until dinner time, and we stuff these pillows under the blankets to make it look like we're sleeping, and when they come in to give us dinner, we escape, forcefully if we need to." Blaze explained. Dash nodded and smirked, liking the plan.
"Sounds good." Dash said in agreement. Now all they had to do was wait.
Spitfire quickly flew through the halls of the Wonderbolt compound on her way to her aunt's office. She had just been called to speak with her on the upcoming plan of attack, and it was definitely happening that night.
Spitfire had millions of doubts and anxieties swimming through her head as she neared the office door. Was she ready lead soon? Were they ready to attack? Could they win? What would happen if they lost?
All these questions made Spitfire even more anxious, with her beginning to visibly shake, but she quickly took a few deep breaths outside of the office before knocking on the door.
"Who is it?" Solar Storm called from inside.
"It's me Aunt Storm." Spitfire responded, "you wanted to see me?" She asked.
"Yes, come in." Solar Storm answered. Spitfire opened the door and slowly walked over to Solar Storm's desk, which was cluttered with things, like a map of the surrounding area, scrolls containing messages from other Wonderbolt chapters, a planning board, and a mug of coffee. Solar Storm took a sip from the mug before leaning back in her chair and looking back at Spitfire. "Do you know why I wanted to see you?" she asked.
"To go over the plan for tonight, right?" Spitfire responded. Solar Storm nodded and stood up from her chair and began to walk around her desk.
"We attack tonight, we go there around 6pm, get into positions in the surrounding forest, and attack it from all sides." Solar Storm explained, Spitfire was about to agree with the plan, when Solar Storm interrupted her.
"But.....you, along with a few other selected Wonderbolts, will be staying to defend the compound." Solar Storm finished. Spitfire frowned.
"What!? I'm one of the strongest Wonderbolts here! I should be helping with this fight!" Spitfire argued. Solar Storm shook her head.
"That's why I need you here, what if they send a group to attack the compound while we attack them, we need to be ready for any possible plan." Solar Storm explained. "And as the next leader, I can't risk you dying." She continued. Spitfire rolled her eyes and groaned in frustration.
"Then why couldn't you just leave Blaze as the heir, she's already safe enough in her makeshift prison cell." Spitfrie snapped back. Solar Storm turned and glared at Spitfire, her gaze one of anger and disappointment.
"She already lost her chance, with her and Dash's betrayal." Solar Storm said bitterly.
"But don't you think their punishment is a bit much. I'm sure it's just a spur of the moment kind of thing. Like hormones, they'll come around." Spitfire argued. Solar Storm lowered her head and low growl sound escaped her throat. She turned back to Spitfire with a glare as cold as ice.
"I visited them this morning. Dash has no interest of admitting she did wrong, and continues to claim her love for that predator of a stallion in her state of denial, and your cousin is still following her. They are lost, and I don't know what to do with them next." Solar Storm explained. Nearly coming to tears, but managing to hold back before glancing at the clock. It was 3pm. She turned back to Spitfire.
"Go....prepare to defend this place. I need to prepare the attacking force. The time for the battle is near." Solar Storm commanded. Spitfire nodded her head and turned and left the room.
As Spitfire walked through the halls, she could see several other Wonderbolts all getting ready to either go on the attack or stay and defend. Spitfire had a bad feeling about everything. Solar Storm always said that the Wonderbolts needed to attack like a hurricane, build ones strength before attacking quickly and violently, but Spitfire knew that the Wonderbolts weren't ready. Many of the Wonderbolts at the compound were new recruits, barely able to hold their own against Shadowbolts.
Eventually, Spitfire passed by Blaze and Dash's room. Fire Streak was sleeping outside and there was no sound coming from the room. Was Dash wrong? Were they both wrong? Spitfire was raised to believe only the Wonderbolts and to condemn the Shadowbolts for everything they did, no matter what. But as Spitfire began to think more and more about it, the more pointless everything seemed to get to her. This feud was just getting Ponies killed, all because two Wonderbolts from the past didn't like eachother, and ever since Swift Shadow killed Sun Spot, it's been nonstop violence, violence that is only going to ultimately end in everypony dying and nopony winning. Which Spitfire feared was about to happen.
Spitfire glanced at Blaze and Dash's door one last time before continuing down the hallway.
Nightstalker stared out of the window of his office, looking down on all the other Shadowbolts preparing to defend their home if they needed. That day, already several other chapters of the Shadowbolts from several other cities had arrived to assist, but now, Nightstalker was just waiting on one last arrival.
A knock emitted from his door.
"Sir, it's Fleetfoot." he heard from the hallway. Nightstalker grinned as he turned towards the door.
"Send them in." Nightstalker yelled. The door opened and in strode four Shadowbolts followed by Fleetfoot.
Up front was a Stallion with a pale, bluish coat and a spikey purple mane. He wore the standard Shadowbolt jacket.
"Nightshade."
Walking up to the right of Nightshade was another stallion, this one with an even paler white coat, a cool blue hued mane, and a scar over his muzzle.
"Stratus"
To the left of Nightshade was another stallion, this one taller and more built than the others. He had a grey coat with a silvery mane.
"Charger"
Finally, following behind them all was the only mare among them, with a purple coat and pink and white mane.
"Starry Skies."
They all walked forward until they reached Nightstalker's desk. With a wide grin, Nightstalker reached out his hoof towards Nightshade with his elbow bent on a way that one would hoof wrestle. Nightshade smirked and placed his hoof against Nightstalker's. The two gave eachother competitive looks before they began to hoof wrestle. It was a stalemate, with neither side giving in, until at one point, Nightstalker began to gain the upper hoof, and slammed his brother's hoof onto the desk. Nightshade stood back with a glare and Nightstalker chuckled.
"I've still got it." Nightstalker said smugly. Nightshade let out his own chuckle.
"You definitely do." Nightshade said before grabbing his brother around the neck, pulling him across the desk, placing him in a choke hold, and giving his hair a rough noogie.
"How's the glorious leader been huh?" Nightshade asked after letting his brother go. Nightstalker recovered from the little roughhouse before processing his brother's question and his smile faded. Nightshade's faded as well.
"I'm sorry I couldn't be here to help him." Nightshade said. Nightstalker put his hoof up.
"None of that, you couldn't have known, but now, we have a chance to really get the Wonderbolts back for this. Thank you Fleetfoot." Nightstalker nodded to Fleetfoot, who quickly turned and left the room. After she was gone, Nightstalker and the rest of the Shadowbolts from Manehattan gathered around the desk.
"Though Thunderlane is gone, his death was avenged by Soarin." Nightstalker explained. The other gasped.
"Soarin? That painting fruitcake killed a Wonderbolt?" Charger scoffed in disbelief.
"Yes, he's been uninvolved, but he did do it for his fallen friend. After the Wonderbolt was killed, Solar Storm herself came with the body and demanded I hoof Soarin over. I refused of course, But now she's bringing the hammer down on us, and we need to prepare to defend our castle." Nightstalker explained. The others nodded.
"What do you need us to do?" Stratus asked.
"Yeah! We can make those Wonderbolts tuck their tails between their legs and go climb under a rock if they come to attack!" Starry Skies said enthusiastically. Nightstalker shook his head and smirked.
"I've got things here, I want you four to go to the Wonderbolt compound while they attack here, and take out any Wonderbolt there, then, burn it to the ground for all I care. That'll show them." Nightstalker explained.
"If that's what you want, then we won't let you down, or Thunder for that matter." Nightshade said.
"Breaking, entering, mass murder, and arson?! Now you're speaking my language." Starry Skies said wickedly.
"It's been a while since I've done an infiltration, I'm in." Stratus said as he took out his knife and began to polish it.
"If it means I get to pound some Wonderbolts till their spines are paper, then I'm in." Charger said. Nightstalker looked at all of them and nodded.
"Thank you. Now go and prepare, one of my scouts says the Wonderbolts will be on the attack at 6pm. We must prepare." Nightstalker ordered. The Shadowbolts all nodded and saluted before leaving the office. As they left, Nightstalker turned back to the window and observed the force he had acquired.
"The Wonderbolts end today." Nightstalker said to himself as he watched his small army prepare. |
The Blood Feud | Escape Part 1 | The day passed quickly for the ponies around ponyville, though none of them really knew what was coming. The Wonderbolts had gathered forces from some of the nearby towns as well as reserves from Cloudsdale to help in their siege, while the Shadowbolts gathered reinforcements to help defend the mansion. With both sides ready for a fight, everypony involved knew of the risks...
There was going to be a fight, and it was going to be bloody.
Over at the Wonderbolt compound, the courtyard was full of ponies getting ready to head out and fight. Solar Storm proudly stood in front of the large force of Wonderbolts that she had gathered. All of them had determination and confidence in their eyes and wore Wonderbolt flight suits meant exclusively for combat. Solar Storm grinned as she looked them over, feeling so much pride.
"Fellow Wonderbolts!" Solar Storm bellowed to the crowd, making them all stand at attention, some saluting. As the force began to pay attention, Spitfire walked up next to her aunt, ready to defend the compound while the rest attacked. Solar Storm continued, "Today, we make history. After generations of fighting and building our strength against the Shadowbolts, we are finally going to take them all down!" She rallied, making the crowd cheer.
"Long ago, my Ancestor Sun Spot was murdered by a Shadowbolt, and since then they've been a scourge on Equestria, and just yesterday, one of our greatest Wonderbolts, Lightning Streak, was murdered by another Shadowbolt. A moment of silence for him." Solar Storm ordered. The entire force fell silent, as they all payed respects to Lightning. After half a minute, Solar Storm spoke again.
"Let his death inspire you all to fight your hardest out there, we will not allow the Shadowbolts to continue to torment us, or this land any longer!" Solar Storm chanted. The rest all cheered and began to rally themselves for the fight. Solar Storm smiled at the forces as they prepared and turned to Spitfire.
"Keep an eye on the other Wonderbolts staying here. Fire Streak will be guarding Blaze and Dash, but keep an eye for them just in case." Solar Storm commanded, Spitfire nodded and saluted. Solar Storm nodded back and began to walk away, until Spitfire spoke up.
"What should I do if they escape?" Spitfire asked. Solar Storm stopped. She knew this question would come up, but she wasn't prepared to answer just yet. She would never wish severe harm upon her own daughter....but Dash.....
"Restrain Blaze if you can, and lock her back up. If Dash gets out...." Solar Storm paused, deliberating if she should give Spitfire the order, but she eventually made up her mind.
"...Kill her."
Spitfire audibly gasped upon hearing her aunt's order to kill Dash if she escaped. She was that mad at Dash, to order the rest of the loyal Wonderbolts to take her down if she escaped. Solar Storm waited for Spitfire to respond to the order, and noticed the hesitation in her expression.
"Aunt Storm, isn't this all too much?" Spitfire asked. Solar Storm furrowed her brow and glared at her niece with a piercing gaze of anger.
"What do you mean?" Solar Storm said with a low growl that made Spitfire tremble.
"It's just, are you sure we're ready for this. We are going directly to them to start a fight. Are you sure we can win? Even if we can, it won't be without casualties." Spitfire argued, trying to convince her aunt to call off the attack. Solar Storm shook her head and turned away.
"It's too late Spitfire. If we don't do this now, then they'll win. We must act now if we have any chance of wiping them off the face of Equestria. If I die tonight, then I will take as many of them with me as I must." Solar Storm said in a quiet and calm voice. Spitfire still wasn't sure, especially about killing Dash if she needed.
"What about Blaze and Dash. Isn't killing Dash too much? She's been a stand out Wonderbolt for years, and now your just going to lock her up like a prisoner, after all she's done?" Spitfire said, trying to convince her, but bringing up Dash only made her angrier.
"She WAS a standout Wonderbolt, but she decided to throw away her place here when she went after a Shadowbolt, and now she actually believes she loves him. She has betrayed us, and I'll see her die before she can betray us anymore. Understand?" Solar Storm explained before glaring at Spitfire once again. Spitfire opened her mouth to protest more, but knew it was pointless. She shut her mouth and nodded.
"Yes Ma'am." Spitfire said with a salute.
"Thank you." Solar Storm said before turning back to the crowd.
"Alright, It's time that we get out there, and take care of those Shadowbolts. It's time to give them a taste of what happens when somepony messes with the Wonderbolts!" Solar Storm shouted before taking to the sky,
"OO-Rah!" The Wonderbolt force chanted as they followed her into the skies.
As the force all flew off towards the Shadowbolt mansion, Spitfire stayed and watched with a frightened look on her face. It wasn't going to end well, and Spitfire knew it. She found herself frozen and unable to think straight. Her aunt was flying into a suicide mission, her cousin as well as her cousin's friend was locked up for treachery, and the war between the Wonderbolts and Shadowbolts was upon them.
Spitfire knew everything was about to ignite. The candle was landing on the powder keg, and everything was going to ignite into something that would potentially take many lives. Despite all her years of being a Wonderbolt, Spitfire found herself unable to go along with it. She didn't want to, she couldn't.
She had to get out......but first, she had to get others out too.
At the Shadowbolt's mansion, things were also in preparation mode. The reinforcements from all of the major Shadowbolt chapters had arrived and the small team lead by Nightshade was ready to start their own mission. As this all went on, Rumble was in his room with Blossomforth.
The two of them had spent the afternoon gathering bottles, filling them with oil, and making them into Fire Bottles. After making enough to set the Compound ablaze about 3 times over, they simply laid back and waited for Soarin to come and get them for the escape plan.
Luckily, they didn't have to wait much longer, Soarin finally arrived back at the mansion and flew for Rumble's bedroom window and Rumble opened it for him. Soarin clumsily fell through the open window and quickly stood up and dusted himself down.
"Do you guys have the bottles?" Soarin asked. Rumble opened up his backpack, which was filled with fire bottles, all ready to be lit and thrown.
"We had quite a fun day today, getting all these ready. But if we're gonna do this, then let's just do this." Rumble said. Soarin nodded and turned to Blossomforth, who was now clad in one of Thunderlane's old Shadowbolt jackets and waving a switchblade in front of her.
"Are you ready Blossom?" Soarin asked, though by the way she was dressed and her demeanor, she was probably ready.
"Let's get this done." Blossom confidently said as she grabbed her bag and followed Soarin and Rumble out the window.
The three took off from the second story window, but before they could get very far, a voice from below caught their attention.
"Soarin! Rumble!" The trio turned and saw Nightstalker on the balcony to his office waving for them to come down. Soarin started to panic. Was he going to try to get them to help defend? If he was, then they had to find some way out of it.
The three landed on the balcony by Nightstalker, who had a very stern look on his face as he smoked a cigarette.
"Where are you three going?" he asked menacingly. The trio all froze and glanced in different directions, neither of them knowing how to get out of this situation.
"We're leaving." Rumble suddenly said confidently. Soarin's eyes widened and his pulse quickened. He wanted to speak up to try to give Nightstalker another excuse, but he couldn't. Nightstalker simply looked down at his son and walked up to him. Rumble was prepared for his father to be angry or disappointed, but instead, he did something that none of them expected.
Nightstalker knelt down and pulled Rumble into a hug. Rumble was slightly surprised by his father's action, but did end up also wrapping a leg around his dad and returning the hug. During the hug, Nightstalker gave Soarin and Blossom a look, one of sternness and pleading. After a minute, Nightstalker stepped back from his son and looked at them all.
"Good, I want you as far away from this as possible son." Nightstalker said to Rumbler before looking to Soarin and Blossom, "You two keep him safe, please." Soarin and Blossom both nodded, surprised that he was going this way.
"But dad..." Rumble tried to argue but was cut off.
"No Rumble. I.....I promised your mother that I'd keep you and Thunder safe, but I failed her, and if you die as well....It.....it would be too much to bear, so please, get out of Ponyville, and don't look back." Nightstalker said sternly. Rumble wanted to argue, but he glanced over to Soarin, who gave him a slight nod, and Rumble turned back to his father.
"I will. But, what about you?" Rumble asked. Nightstalker put a hoof on his shoulder.
"I'm afraid I can't promise I will get through this battle unscathed, but I will fight my hardest. But all I care about right now is you being safe. So please, do your old man one more favor Rumble." Nightstalker said sadly. Rumble nodded and embraced his dad one last time before joining the other two. Before they took off, Nightstalker pointed at Soarin.
"You keep him safe Soarin. Please." Nightstalker said. Soarin nodded.
"I will." Soarin simply said before he took to the sky with Rumble and Blossomforth. Nightstalker watched them disappear into the sky. He took another puff from his cigarette before he heard somepony walk out onto the balcony.
"Shall we go now?" Nightshade asked. Nightstalker turned around and nodded.
"Burn that compound to the ground." Nighstalker said coldly. Nightshade nodded and took off from the balcony, where he was quickly joined by the rest of his team. Nightstalker watched them leave as well, afterwards he went back into his office and and walked over to the desk. He pressed a small concealed button on the side of the the desk that opened a hidden compartment under the desk. Inside was a pair of wing blades. Ones that once belonged to Swift Shadow. And now, it was time for Nightstalker to use them.
"If I die tonight, I will take as many of you bastards with me as I can." Nighstalker said as he strapped the blades to his wings.
"For you, my son."
Soarin, Rumble, and Blossomforth all flew over Ponyville, heading towards the compound, ready to put their plan into motion.
"Where's Fluttershy and Scootaloo?" Rumble asked.
"There's a hill overlooking the compound, they said to meet them there." Soarin explained as they got closer. Eventually they got in close enough and Soarin pointed out the hill, and the three rapidly descended towards it. Sure enough, Fluttershy and Scootaloo were both waiting for them.
"About time you guys got here, I think they're ready to go and attack." Scootaloo said as she looked down at the courtyard through a pair of binoculars.
"So, what are we gonna do?" Fluttershy asked.
"First, we wait until they leave, we lie low. Then when they leave, Blossom and Rumble will move in with the fire bottles." Soarin motioned to Rumble and Blossomforth. "Make Sure you guys just focus on those trees out front, that should hopefully be enough to distract them. If things get too risky, GET OUT OF THERE, the rest of us will have to improvise while inside anyway." Soarin explained to Rumble and Blossom, they both nodded and checked their supplies. Soarin then looked to Fluttershy and Scootaloo. "Fluttershy, would you be willing to go in their with me, or would you like to stay out here with Scootaloo?" Soarin asked. Scootaloo immediately frowned and stomped over to Soarin.
"Why do I have to stay out here?" Scootaloo said angrily.
"Because it's too risky, just stay out here until I get Rainbow Dash and Blaze out." Soarin said, but Scootaloo shook her head.
"No way, if Rainbow Dash is in danger, I'm gonna help save her, and that's final!" Scootaloo argued. Soarin wanted to argue further, but decided to let her.
"Fine, just stay with me while we're inside, I'll deal with any resistance." Soarin said sternly, Scootaloo nodded in agreement. Suddenly, Fluttershy spoke up.
"I'll go in to." She said slightly louder than she usually did. Soarin looked over at her cautiously.
"Are you sure?" Soarin asked. Fluttershy looked him directly in the eyes and nodded. Soarin nodded back. Just then, they heard a loud cheer and saw the large force of Wonderbolts take off and begin flying away from the compound and towards the Shadowbolt mansion. The group stayed low and out of sight so none of the Wonderbolts flying overhead could spot them and waited for the large group to be gone.
Soarin looked over at the courtyard once the main force was gone and saw that it was mostly empty, save for a few Wonderbolts wandering around. Soarin turned to Rumble and Blossom.
"Showtime. We'll head in when we see the fire. Just try to light up the trees, and keep casualties to a minimum if you can." Soarin asked.
"Where should we go afterwards?" Rumble asked. Soarin hesitated after he asked, he hadn't thought up to that point, all he wanted to do was leave, but he still didn't know where.
"We'll meet up at the farm at the edge of town, we'll think of where to go from there." Soarin explained. The two nodded and went down to the compound to begin the plan. As Soarin watched them leave, he looked back over at the compound. He had only been apart from Dash for a day, but he already felt like she had been away for an eternity. It was all gonna change tonight, they were finally going to leave.
"Don't worry Dash, I'm coming for you." Soarin said quietly.
Rumble and Blossom both flew low to the ground as they approached the compound's wall. Rumble slowly floated up to peek over the wall and into the yard. The yard was very spacious, with several big and small trees and bushes dotted around the yard, leading over to the porch and path to the main gate, where a few Wonderbolts were patrolling around.
"See anything?" Blossom asked. Rumble looked down and nodded.
"A few of them, mostly by the entrance though." Rumble said.
"How should we do this?" Blossomforth asked. Rumble looked back up and looked over to where the backyard was, he could see the practice area as well as some more bushes and trees.
"Lets split up the fire, I'll light up the backyard, you cover the front yard." Rumble explained. Blossomforth gave Rumble an unsure look.
"Isn't that too risky?" Blossom asked.
"Maybe, but it'll definitely cause a big distraction, hopefully one big enough for the others to get in and out with little resistance." Rumble said.
Blossom thought it over for a second before taking out one of the bottle and taking a deep breath.
"Let's do this." she said before quickly leaping over the wall and hiding in one of the bigger bushes. Rumble quickly did as she did and went for the backyard.
Back on the hill, Soarin, Fluttershy and Scootaloo waited patiently for the distraction to begin. Things were still rather quiet down there, and though Soarin saw Blossomforth and Rumble jump the wall, they were still out of sight, and nothing was happening yet.
Soarin looked over at Fluttershy, who was visibly trembling, looking like she was standing in an earthquake. Soarin went over to her and placed a hoof on her shoulder. She jumped a little and looked up at Soarin with a look of fear.
"Are you okay?" Soarin asked. Fluttershy looked away. Soarin sat beside her as she continued to shake. "Your scared, aren't you?" Soarin asked. Fluttershy looked over and slowly nodded. Her pink hair was covering most of her face, something she did when she was afraid, or very shy.
"To be honest, so am I." Soarin said. Fluttershy looked back over at him, her expression one of surprise.
"I-I don't know if I can do this. What if everything goes wrong. What if.....what if somepony gets hurt, o-or worse?" Fluttershy stuttered out. Soarin looked directly into her eyes with a calming expression.
"I'm worried too, but I will keep us all safe to the best of my ability, I promise." Soarin said. Fluttershy gave him a small smile, but it quickly faded.
"I....I still don't know if I can do this." Fluttershy said softly. Soarin once again made her turn to look at him.
"Rainbow Dash is your best friend, right?" Soarin asked. Fluttershy nodded slightly.
"Yeah, she's my oldest friend. For a long time, she was my only friend." Fluttershy said sadly.
"Then let that motivate you. Do you think Dash would believe in you to do this?" Soarin asked. Fluttershy thought for a second before nodding. "Exactly. She'd believe in you, and now, she needs you. So do that for her, believe in yourself." Soarin said. Fluttershy smiled and hugged him.
"Thanks Soarin, I really needed that." Fluttershy said before pulling away. Soarin smiled. "Don't mention it."
Before Soarin could say anything else, a large and bright ball of fire erupted down in the yard in front of the compound. Just a few second after the fire appeared, another ball of fire appeared in the backyard. Soarin looked between Scootaloo and Fluttershy and looked towards the house.
"Let's do this, I'll take care of any Wonderbolts that get in our way, stay by me." Soarin said. Scootaloo and Fluttershy nodded and followed Soarin down to the compound as the alarm began to sound.
Outside of Rainbow Dash and Blaze's room, Fire Streak paced in front of the door, trying to think of something to say to the two mares in the room. He had been watching the room all day, and he hadn't heard a single sound from within. Either they finally decided to be quiet, or they were up to something.
Fire stopped pacing and looked over at the door. He slowly approached it and pressed his forehead against the door before speaking loud enough to be heard through it.
"Dashie? Blazey? You two good in there?" he asked. There was no response. Fire scowled. He was furious that Dash would do something like what she did. He knew that Solar Storm wouldn't let her get out of this easy, or without a severe punishment. He didn't want her to die, but he still wanted her.
"You know Dash, I'm not mad at you, but I'm just disappointed...." he started slowly, "You were one of our best, but you were lost to a haze of lust for a colt that decided to fill your mind with lies and facades that made you turn against us, but I want to make you a proposition..." Fire said through the door. From inside, Dash and Blaze were both under their beds, with pillows and clothes under their blankets to make it look like they were sleeping. Blaze frowned at Fire's words, while Dash looked scared. Blaze gave her a stern look and shook her head, as if telling her non-verbally that Fire was just trying to get in her head.
"I can make all of this normal again, all you need to do is a little something for me, okay?" Fire Streak asked. He waited a few moments, waiting for an answer from within. Fire Streak smacked his hoof against the door in frustration. "Fine then rot away in there you bitch!" He shouted.
Just then, the compound alarm went off, startling Fire Streak as well as the two inside. Fire Streak looked over at the alarm in the hallway with confusion. After a few seconds, Spitfire flew around the corner in front of Fire Streak.
"Fire, there's been some fires started in the yard, I need you to help the others put them out!" Spitfire commanded. Fire Streak motioned his head to the door.
"I'm watching those two now, I can't." Fire Streak said. Spitfire frowned.
"I'll watch them, get out there and help now! Before I lose my patience with you!" Spitfire ordered. Fire Streak rolled his eyes and flew down the hall to go see what the problem was. After he was gone, Spitfire walked over to the door and unlocked and opened it. She stepped into the room and called out their names.
"Blaze? Dash?" She called. The two quickly got out from under the beds, having heard Spitfire and Fire's conversation just then.
"Uh, Spitty? What are you doing here?" Blaze asked. Spitfire looked down and sighed.
"I'm letting you guys go." Spitfire said. The other two were shocked that Spitfire had a turnaround so quickly.
"Really? But...but why?" Dash asked.
"Because....the war's begun. The Wonderbolts and Shadowbolts are going to tear eachother apart and I don't want to see it happen. I'm leaving tonight, and I want you two to leave as well." Spitfire explained. Blaze stepped forward.
"Spitfire, are you sure?" Blaze asked. Spitfire gave Blaze a serious look.
"You're mom's lost it Blaze. I'm so sorry, but there was nothing I could do to stop her. She's flying into a suicide mission and even ordered me to kill Dash if she escaped." Spitfire revealed. Dash's eyes widened in horror. She turned to Blaze.
"We need to leave." Dash said. Spitfire nodded in agreement.
"Just go, I'll tell the others I couldn't stop you. Just....get out of here before anything else bad happens. Please." Spitfire asked sincerely. Blaze and Dash glanced at eachother for a second. Blaze then quickly pulled her cousin into a hug.
"Thanks Spitty, you're the best." Blaze said. Spitfire returned the hug.
"No problem cuz." Spitfire said before she pulled away. "Now get out of here." Spitfire said, small tears formed in the corners of her eyes as Dash and Blaze ran out behind her. Spitfire stood in the empty room, the sirens blaring fading in her peripherals.
Rumble threw another fire bottle at one of the other farther trees before taking cover again in a bush. He had now fully exhausted his supply of fire bottles. The backyard was mostly an inferno, with several Wonderbolts trying to put out the fires.
Rumble stood still and tried to find the best time to fly back to where Blossom was. He was about to make his move when he saw a Wonderbolt close to him, staring directly at him.
"Hey!" The Wonderbolt shouted.
"Crapbaskets." Rumble muttered before chucking his bag at the Wonderbolt and zooming back to the front yard. As he rounded the corner, it was like he was in hell itself. The front yard was glowing with orange flames and Rumble saw Blossomforth in the corner by the wall. He zoomed over to her.
"Nice job Blossom, now lets get out of here before we fry or get beaten." Rumble said quickly, but Blossom didn't move. She stared at the Wonderbolts who were now making there way out to combat the fire, and the ones who had spotted her and Rumble. She looked down at the grey colt.
"Rumble, get out of here." Blossomforth said sternly. Rumble blinked, was she serious?
Blossom, are you crazy? We need to-"
"No! WE don't need to leave, but YOU do!" Blossom shouted as she looked into his eyes. They were determined, but had a softness to them.....like his brother's.
"Blossom, please!" Rumble begged. Blossom shook her head.
"Get out of here Rumble, I need you to be safe. Thunder.....needs you to be safe. Please." She said with a small smile. Rumble quickly embraced her.
"Thank you." he said before flying over the wall and into the nearby woods for cover.
Blossom reached into her bag and pulled out her last two fire bottles. She looked forward and saw a few Wonderbolts rushing at her. She looked down at the jacket and smiled. She quickly lit the bottles and stared back at the Wonderbolts with a smirk. The Wonderbolts closed in on her.
"This is for Thunderlane you BASTARDS!" Blossomforth shouted out in rage. Just as the Wonderbolts were upon her, she threw down the fire bottles on the ground directly in front of her. The liquid from the bottles quickly splashed all over herself and the nearby Wonderbolts...
....and caught fire instantaneously.
The Wonderbolts all quickly began to scream and flail about as the fire began to spread over them, but Blossomforth was calm. She had a small smile on her lips as the fire spread around her white coat, to her pink and green mane. And she closed her eyes before the fire reached them.
The pain was excruciating, but with her eyes closed, Blossomforth thought of Thunderlane, which brought her peace, and closure.
"I'll see you soon Thunder, my love." Blossom thought as the fire consumed her. |
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