A Knight in Shining Armorby RinshiChaptersPrologueThe magician and the policeman.Christmas Eve.Return HomePrologueA Knight in Shining Armor 1- Prologue Dear Princess Twilight, Today I learned that friendship is a lie. It doesn't matter how much you change, or how much you demonstrate how good of a person you are; in the end, your so called friends will turn their backs to you even when you need them the most. But I think I already knew it, didn't I? After all, it was really easy for me to separate them before. Well, I suppose the only thing I have left is to spend this Hearth's Warming Eve alone and sad… Not that it's new to me or anything. Yours truly, The one that doesn't have any friends in this world. Sunset Shimmer. ~~~~~~~~ The calligraphy was hideous and the lines were in complete disarray, sometimes overlapping with other parts of the paragraphs. It looked as if a drunken teenager had written that letter. And it wasn't a lie. It had been a terrible week for Sunset Shimmer. It all had started because someone going by the alias 'Anon-a-Miss' started publishing the secrets of her now ex-friends before continuing with the rest of the students'. Naturally, everyone had blamed her, and instead of being there by her side, the girls she so foolishly had considered her friends had joined them. She had begged and cried and pleaded them to believe her, but they turned their backs to her. Princess Twilight had suggested her to have faith in the human versions of her own friends in Equestria. And as the stupid girl she was, Sunset had obliged, ending with, quite frankly, obvious results. Curiously enough, that last letter from the princess was the straw that broke the camel's back. "Sometimes all you can do is stay strong. Stay yourself and find your family." Family? What family? Her parents had abandoned her at an orphanage's door without even giving her a name. It had been the keeper that took her in at sunset that named her. Since she became Princess Celestia's priced student so many years ago, she had thought of Celestia as her family, a mother, even. But she realized that it all had been delusions the moment that other princess appeared. Both had been orphans; a pegasus and a unicorn. Nothing out of the ordinary. But what was the first thing Celestia told that pegasus the moment she gained a horn? "You can call me Aunt Celestia, or just Aunt, if you want to." It was like a dagger right in Sunset's heart. It didn't matter that Celestia had allowed Sunset to call her by her given name. It didn't matter that Sunset was her personal student. It didn't matter that they had spent so much time together. The moment the other became an alicorn, Celestia made her family. It had been really painful, seeing how all her hard work and effort had been for naught, driven aside like dust being swept. But, on the hindsight, she now had a way to achieve what she most wanted. She had to become an alicorn. But that was when her fall began, and after the Fall Formal, when all the greed that wrongly grew in her heart disappeared, she thought that, finally, she had found a family. How stupid. And even after all the dark thoughts that Twilight's words had inadvertently brought to her mind, Sunset had tried to talk with the girls one more time. It was before lunch when she met them. She had tried to talk to them, to make them realize that she wasn't a bad girl, that she had not spread their secrets. But, once again, they didn't listen to her. "Why should we listen to your lies?" "You're not our friend!" "Secret-stealer!" "You're not welcome here!" She couldn't take it anymore. She turned around and, with her eyes drowned in tears, she ran. Away from the school; away from everything. The night had fell at some point. Sunset had went to a store and somehow managed to convince the clerk that she was an adult and spent all the money she had left to buy a dozen of beers, and then some more. And when the rational part of her mind had stopped talking, she had written that letter to the friendship princess. And now, Sunset sat at the sidewalk of a bridge. It was midnight, probably, snow had started to fall a couple of minutes ago, and she was really drunk. For almost two minutes, Sunset stared at the blank page in her journal, waiting for an answer. Snowdrops slowly moistened the paper, but aside of that, nothing happened. Finally, Sunset came to the conclusion that the princess wasn't going to answer. And why would she? Twilight was a princess, and she was loved by her friends, while Sunset was a dropout and an exile that nobody cared for. With that last thought, a series of memories started to flash in her mind. "The guards will escort you out of the palace," were Celestia's last words to her. "Perhaps Sunset Shimmer is just eager to make someone else out to be a bad element so that her actions at the Fall Formal will become old news." Even though Vice-Principal Luna had been mind-controlled, Sunset knew that those words were her real thoughts about her. "You don't belong here, Sunset!" Applejack had yelled. "You don't belong here!" "You don't belong!" It was true. She didn't belong to this world, and she didn't belong to Equestria either. She didn't belong anywhere. She had been a nuisance to the princess, to the teachers, to the principal, and to all the students in Canterlot High. The only reason those five girls had supported her was because Princess Twilight had asked them to do it. But they had soon reached their limit. Anon-a-Miss didn't make them hate her. No, she had only given them an excuse to get rid of her. Sunset sighed. Her mind was full of depressive thoughts, and her blood was flooded with alcohol. She couldn't feel the cold air against her skin, and maybe it was for the better. She stood up and turned around. Her movements were clumsy, as she couldn't control her balance, but she somehow managed to climb the railing and get to the other side, landing on the very edge of the bridge. She looked down, and for a moment tottered. The river below was at a very far distance. Maybe it wasn't enough to die from the fall, but in her state, she'd definitely drown. She kicked a small rock and watched it disappear in the dark water. This was normally the moment where people that tried to suicide reconsidered their actions, where they'd remember a reason to be alive. It was a basic survival instinct, as the mind tried to convince them not to jump with memories of their beloved ones and how much they'd miss them or something like that. But Sunset couldn't think of someone. She didn't have family or friends or anyone that cared for her. She was just a no body. No one would care if she died, in fact, they would be happy. At least there was one good thing she could do that everyone would appreciate. She gazed at the last of her beer with a void expression. She couldn't feel her fingers anymore, and the dry tears in her cheeks felt like ice rivers against her skin. With one last swing, she took the can to her mouth and swallowed the last drops of beer in one go. She sighed, dropping the can to the river. Now she truly didn't have anything left in the world. She lifted a foot and leaned her body forward to put an end to everything. "Stop!" Someone yelled. But when she turned around to see who it was, Sunset lost her balance. And she fell. Author's Note Hello everyone. This isn't my first fic ever, but it is my first MLP fic and on this site. I hope you like it. I've read a couple of fics that work with the subject of Anon-a-Miss from the comic and different shippings with the EG characters, but until now, I haven't read one that ships Sunset with Twily's brother. I suppose it's because he's already in a relationship with Cadence, but anyway. That gave me the idea for this fic, among others. But since my native language is Spanish and my English is really bad, someone translated it for me. Many thanks to Hakuno for the translation, plus he added his own personal touch and edited some mistakes. The magician and the policeman.Chapter 1: The magician and the policeman. Sighing once again, Canterlot City’s police officer, Shining Armor, turned right on his nightly patrol. It wasn’t his turn to patrol, actually, but driving late in the night through the empty streets helped him think. His life hadn’t been good these last few months. He had finally proposed to his high school girlfriend. Everything had been going great. That is, until the wedding’s rehearsal where his little sister had acted all crazy and jealous, and he had committed one of the biggest mistakes in his entire life. His sister had been telling him that his bride wasn’t acting like usual. After very long and tiresome arguments, he had exploded and he expelled her from his wedding and his life… Only to find out on the big day that his bride, Mi Amore Cadence, was being impersonated by her cousin Chrysalis, who resembled her so much that it was practically impossible to tell the difference with all the makeup she had used. On top of that, Chrysalis had given him a more subtle version of the rape drug, making him very gullible and unable to distinguish the differences. But thanks to his stubborn sister, she and the true Cadence had appeared in the middle of the ceremony. There was a big commotion. Yelling, insults, people running around and bumping into each other… At the end of the day, Chrysalis had escaped. The wedding was postponed, naturally, and his bride was sent to the hospital with malnourishment and dehydration because Chrysalis had locked her up in a basement. And if that wasn’t enough, his little sister had stopped talking to him. She wouldn’t even look at him. After that, Shining thought that after falling so much, he could only climb his way up again. But sadly, life had other plans. His sister had gotten so mad at him, that she changed the plans they had worked on together. When she entered college, she would move with him and his wife. But now, she had decided to live in the campus’ dormitories instead. At the same time, his relationship with Cadence had begun to fall apart. Not only was she really hurt for the way he had treated his sister, whom she had taken care of when she was a toddler, but she felt betrayed when she knew that Shining had slept with her cousin. Naturally, Shining got angry at that. She was blaming him when in reality, he had been a victim too. Even after every trace of the drug Chrysalis had given him left his body, he still suffered sequels. More than once, when he was with Cadence, he had flashbacks about the times he had with Chrysalis. Little by little, the tension in their relationship was getting bigger and bigger, and the date of their wedding day was delaying more and more. In the end, they decided to take some time apart in hopes that the distance would help their love heal. They hadn’t planned that it would be more than just a couple of days. But those days turned into weeks, then months, and when he realized, it had been six months since their failed wedding on June. They never talked about it, but it wasn’t necessary, for they knew very well that their relationship was over. When Shining Armor got to that conclusion, he felt as if he had woken up from a dream. And, come to think of it, in some way, it had been like that. She was the lead cheerleader in high school, the top one in grades, thrice queen of prom dance, and she was in almost every committee. He? Well, he was just a geek that spent every weekend playing dungeons and dragons with his friends in someone’s basement, and having very long debates about which brand of comics was better. The very idea of two people from completely different worlds ending together was ludicrous, at best. Something that you’d only see on cheap soap operas or teens’ series. Many people had told him that their relationship wasn’t going to end well, and he had always answered that they were wrong. They had to be wrong. Yet, in the end, they had been right all along. He sighed again as he watched his clock. Almost midnight. Instead of driving to the police station, he turned to the other side, where his house was. Everyone in the station knew that he was having a very bad moment. Fortunately, his boss had been very comprehensive and had allowed him to go home instead of returning to the station. He only had to report through radio. It was a preferential treatment, obviously, but everyone knew that he was soon going to be ascended to departamental boss, so, naturally, nobody wanted to say anything about it. He quickly grabbed the radio, informing that he was off for the day. Once he got the confirmation, he decided to do one last round in an attempt to clear his mind. But he didn’t have much luck. Resigned, he decided to go home for good. But when he was crossing the bridge, something caught his attention: A feminine shape was standing at the other side of the railing. He didn’t need to be a genius like his sister to understand what that girl was trying to do. He quickly stopped the car, doing his best to be as silent as possible, knowing that if he startled her, he would only force the very situation he was trying to avoid. While he got closer, he noticed a couple of things. Like the discarded, empty beer cans on the floor next to a backpack and a book. He noticed the peculiar hair colors of this girl: golden tufts tangled in a red mane, looking like fire, even in the dark, snowy night. And lastly, this girl looked like a teenager, more or less his sister’s age. Suddenly, in a fast motion, the girl swallowed the rest of beer from the can. She dropped it to the river, and after a couple of seconds, she moved a leg forward, so she would fall to the water. For an instant, Shining’s mind switched the image of this girl about to suicide, with the image of his sister. He remembered how devastated she looked that day, and he panicked. “Stop!” He yelled. The girl turned to look at him, losing her balance and falling. Thankfully, she fell to the bridge’s side, bumping against the railing and bending her body in a failed attempt to fall to the ground. Shining sighed for the upteenth time that day. He got closer to the girl, who was panting tiredly. “What do you think you’re doing?” He asked. Since he was just a couple of inches away, he was sure he’d catch her if she tried to jump again, so he felt brave enough to start interrogating her. She looked up at him. Her gaze was clouded and uncentered, unable to point which of the three or four was the real one. “None of your business,” she babbled angrily. Her mind decided to forget the suicide, so she climbed the railing, falling on the floor like dead weight. “Where do you live?” He asked, hoping that the girl wasn’t too drunk to have forgotten it, and at the same time, that she was drunk enough so that she’d tell him easily. He didn’t want this girl to spend the night in a cell. “Why do you want to know?” She blurted, or tried to do so. She was looking about 10 inches at his right. Shining turned around, making sure that there wasn’t anyone else. He decided to ask her address once again. “What? You wanna know so the others can come to bother me at my door too?!” She growled, making Shining raise an eyebrow. Maybe, this girl thought he was someone else. “Well, forget it! I won’t tell you I live in Walker Street 12507!” She said, trying to get on her feet. The key word being “trying”. Happy with his answer, Shining picked up the backpack and the book, ignoring the cans. He grabbed the girl by the arm and as nicely as he could, he dragged her into the car. He quickly got in the driver’s seat and started to get this girl to her house so her parents would take care of her. As he drove, he thought that something was amiss. But it wasn’t until he got to the address that he realized that something was wrong. It wasn’t a residential area, it was industrial. And the address the girl gave him was of an abandoned factory. Clearly, the drunk girl had given him the wrong address. He turned around angrily, ready to yell at her for making him waste his time. But his surprise was great when he saw the back door open. That was impossible! Police cars were designed so that the back doors wouldn’t open from the inside! Hearing metallic sounds, Shining turned to the street. He saw the girl playing with her keys, struggling to open the factory’s door. Maybe this girl was so confused that she really had thought that this was her house. But that theory was destroyed when the door opened. Getting off the car, Shining walked to the door. This was very unusual, and he didn’t like it one bit. His police mind started to think of many scenarios, every one being worse than the others. Maybe this girl had ran away from home, or maybe she was working as a prostitute! He moaned angrily at the thought that would carry the arrest of an underaged prostitute. “I’m home!” She yelled. Shining decided to look inside, taking his hand to his gun just in case. But he only saw the girl standing in the middle of the room, which hardly resembled a living room. “Oh, that’s right. I live alone,” she said to herself, giggling softly before letting herself fall on a very worn out sofa. Shining took a good look at the place. There was an old, dirty sofa, a few wooden tables that were about to give up, a laptop on top of one of the tables, a trash can full of fast food envelopes, and metallic stairs that probably lead to a room that looked similarly. And somehow, everything was very clean. The place looked somewhat habitable. Shining turned to the girl on the sofa. He decided that he had to put an end to this. “Alright, stand up. You’re coming with me to the station,” he ordered. The girl moaned, not wanting to move at all. “Besides, I need you to tell me your name.” Apparently, this created a reaction on the girl, who turned her head to look at him and frowned. “Why do you wanna know that?” She growled. “So I can contact your parents,” he answered angrily. He hated dealing with drunk people and their lack of logic. His words seemed to make an impact on the girl, for she stopped frowning and looked thoughtful. “So… You’re gonna get me to my parents?” She asked, and she sounded strangely hopeful. “Yes?” Shining answered, confused. Normally, there were two different alternatives that lead to these kind of situations. One, if the teenager is the typical rebel that runs away because they think they’re smarter than their parents. And the second one is if the parents are real assholes, enough so that they think it’s better to live alone by their own means. “Alright,” she answered calmly. Her expression then turned into one of anger. “When you find them, let me know. I wanna meet them.” “Meet them?” Shining asked. “Yeah, you know. Hi! I’m Sunset Shimmer. Remember? The baby you abandoned in an orphanage without even giving her a name!” She yelled the second part of the sentence, and then let her face fall between the cushions of the sofa. Shining’s eyes widened when he understood the situation. Rubbing his forehead, he thought of what he should do. But there were some questions he needed to ask first. “Who’s been taking care of you?” he asked. The girl, whose name he now knew was Sunset Shimmer, muffled something through the cushions. “What?” “I take care of myself,” she growled with her eyes narrowed. “I’ve been taking care of myself since I got here.” “And when was that?” Making a pause, Sunset tried to think, which proved to be too much of a challenge, as she felt her mind all fuzzy. In the end, she just could remember one thing. “The Pegasi lost,” she said. It was one of the things she could remember about her first days here. She had heard something about pegasi, and she had wanted to talk with them. That is, until she discovered that The Pegasi was the name of a football team from the next town. Shining’s eyes sparked in realization. The Pegasi was Cloudsdale’s Football team, a team that had never lost a game, except for the tournament of… “Nine years ago!” He yelled. If his suppositions were correct, this girl had been living by herself since she was about eight years old. Nine years living alone, doing who-knew-what to survive. She looked healthy, though, he’d give her that. She didn’t look worn out like other girls in her situation. Which was hard to tell if it was a good or a bad thing. “And before that?” He had to know the whole panorama so he could chose the best course of action. “The princess,” she answered. Shining raised an eyebrow. It seemed that she was starting to ramble. “The princess… of course…” “Yes, Princess Celestia,” Sunset said, not noticing the sarcasm on the officer’s voice. “I was her personal student and protégé in magic.” Shining only looked at her. “You don’t believe I was her apprentice!” Sunset suddenly blurted. “I was the best magician in the School for Gifted Unicorns!” She yelled, standing up. Shining couldn’t help but chuckling a little. “So you’re a magical unicorn?” He asked with amusement in his voice. Sunset tottered with her eyes narrowed. She took a few seconds to answer. “Well… I’m a human now… But that’s because of that stupid mirror!” She concluded, and fell onto the sofa in a sitting position. Shining shook her head. “Alright, I better take you to the station,” he said, getting closer to her. “No,” Sunset said pouting. She extended her hand to him, and it started to glow with a cyan color. Shining’s body glowed with the same color, and before he knew it, he was thrown back, landing on his back. For a couple of seconds, Shining only stared in silence at the girl, who once again collapsed on the sofa. As any fan of comics and games of roles, he had always imagined himself as a mage, or that he’d meet one. Of course, he had never thought his fantasies would come true, much less that it would be a drunk teenager that had been living on her own since she was eight, and just an hour ago had tried to suicide. Finally, he took a decision: Take her to his place. He quickly searched the place, and easily found the bedroom where the mage had her clothes. It was pretty bare, just like the living room. A brass bed with a white mattress and white bed sheets, a wooden desk worn out for the moist, and a green wardrobe. Using the backpack he had taken form the girl, he started to take some clothing changes for her. It was hard not to feel like a perverted psycho when he grabbed her underwear, especially because the girl had a very sexy taste on panties. When he finished, he grabbed the backpack and got to the girl, who was sleeping silently. He did his best not to wake her up and carried her to the car. He knew very well that what he was doing wasn’t right, and that it was very near to become a kidnap, but he had to know more about this girl. Besides, the way he had met her only told him that she needed help. And he wanted to help her. Author's Note In this chapter we saw Shining’s perspective and some of his background, like his story with Cadence. These first episodes are part of a story arc that will talk about the beginning of their relationship. I’m not sure how many arcs there will be, but I assure you that there will be at least two more. One that will talk about the consequences of the first arc, and the other where Sunset will face her new life. For those who wonder where Twilight is, well, she’ll appear in the second arc. The first arc will have at least two more chapters that are already on the works. Just be patient and don’t forget to comment! Feedback is well received! Remember to thank Hakuno for the translation and edition. (And don’t be too hard on his grammar either ^^) Christmas Eve.Slowly and painfully, Sunset's consciousness returned. Her head ached with an intensity she didn't know was even possible, and her throat was dry as a desert. It didn't take a genius to understand what a hangover was. She didn't even open her eyes, but the sunlight coming through the window was strong enough that she decided to roll over and huddle under the delightfully soft blankets. Her prodigious mind worked, even with the headache, and reminded her that her bedroom didn't have any windows. Ever so slowly, she opened her eyes and waiting for the fog of tiredness to disappear. She blinked several times, and then straightened up so fast that her head felt like it was about to explode. She did her best to ignore the pain, as a more important matter had to be taken care of immediately. She wasn't in her bedroom. Giving a glance around the room, she recognized that she was in a matrimonial bed with white silk blankets and a blue cover. The walls were decorated with what looked like certificates, and the occasional formal group photo. Sunset’s face paled and her heart sank. What had she done last night? She remembered drinking beers to forget her situation, writing something down, and then nothing. Making a bigger effort -and increasing the pain of her head in the process, she remembered talking with someone with blue hair. Flash? No, it couldn't be him. This wasn't his room, nor his parents'. A thought occurred to her. She looked down to herself, and immediately sighed in relief. She was still dressed, save for her jacket, which was carefully folded on a chair next to the window. She slowly got up and took her jacket. Sunset spotted an open door, which led to a small, private bathroom. She supposed that since she had spent the night there, she might as well use the facilities. After freshening herself up, brushing her hair with a pink brush she found, and drinking quite a lot of water from the sink, she got out. The headache was still there, but at least it was now manageable. With a deep breath and a determined stare, she got out of the room to meet the owner of the place. Walking through the hallway, she couldn't help peeking into the other rooms. The first looked like a spacious office. It had a fairly big bookshelf, a desk, a computer, and it was decorated with rustic colors: brown and green with the occasional red. The second room she saw looked like somewhere her ex boyfriend's friends would live. There was a big shelf full of comics, action figures, and other trinkets she couldn't name. Next to it, another shelf, but this was full of what looked like videogames and movies. A simple desk held a computer with a more impressive appearance than the one in the office. Next to it there were a couple of video game consoles and even more trinkets. Seeing that this room didn't have a bed, Sunset supposed that it was more like a recreational room for the children of whoever lived in this place. She decided to stop wasting time, and so she walked downstairs. The living room was pretty normal, Sunset thought. Well, except for the sofa in front of the T.V., as it had a more stylized look, a pillow, and a rug. When she walked over the kitchen, she froze. Upon the dark brown table, carefully placed in front of an empty seat, there was a breakfast that consisted in very standard fried eggs and bacon. But at the far end of the table, there was someone, hidden behind an open newspaper. Putting down the newspaper, the man with snow-white skin and blue hair looked at Sunset with an even stare. "Sit down," he said with a weird mix of kindness and firmness. Sunset didn't move, and instead leaned back in distrust. "You know I can call the police and tell them a man brought me to his house while I was drunk, right?" She asked, trying her best to sound casual to observe the man's reaction. He just arched an eyebrow. "I don't think you can," he said and then placed his gun upon the table. Sunset's muscles tensed at that. In moments like this, Sunset would normally resort to the very limited use of magic she had, but with the nasty headache she was suffering, she didn't think she'd be able to produce anything more than a couple of sparks. The man then placed on the table a second accessory, which evaporated any bravado Sunset may have had. It was a police badge. "I am Officer Shining Armor. Please, take a seat." This time, Sunset obliged. "Go ahead, eat some," he pointed at the food in front of her. Sunset looked at the plate and grumbled something. "What?" "I'm vegetarian." Blinking, Shining hummed. "I suppose it makes sense," he murmured. "What?" "Never mind that. Would you like something else?" For a moment, Sunset contemplated the idea of something more elaborate, but she dismissed the thought and began eating the eggs, putting aside the bacon. There was a long moment of silence, with the only interruptions being the occasional tap of flatware with the plates and an annoying sound of a wall clock. Finally, when Sunset had finished her meal, she broke the silence. "Shouldn't you be arresting someone or eating donuts?" The corners of Shining's mouth twitched upwards. "I took the day off to investigate you." Normally, Sunset would have made a snarky remark saying that she wasn't interested, but the idea of a police officer behind her made her really nervous. And if that wasn't enough, she didn't have anyone to call for help. The only one that would try to help her would be Princess Twilight, but any authority she had was limited to Equestria. Finally, she decided to play along, doing her best to look confident. "Why? Did your son ask you to investigate me?" She asked, remembering the recreational room upstairs. Shining looked a little confused at that. "I don't have children, I live alone." Sunset pressed shut her lips for a moment. "So, a grown up, single man took a drunk girl to his home. Even if you're a cop, I could sue you," she said, trying to get under his skin. "As I said, I don't think you can," Shining answered with unnerving calm. Sunset narrowed her eyes. "Oh yeah? And why do you think that?" "Because dead people can't sue anyone." At that, Sunset tensed her body. She made a fist under the table and started to concentrate as much magic as she could. "Is that a threat?" Blinking in surprise at the hostile question, Shining quickly reviewed their conversation. He mentally face palmed. "I'm sorry, I didn't word that properly," he admitted before pointing at a stack of papers upon a counter. "I spent the night researching." Sunset suddenly took notice of how tired he looked. His hair was a mess, and he had bags under his eyes. "I don't know if you remember, but you told me a few things last night. Like your name, Sunset Shimmer." Sunset’s eyes widened, and the magic she had been holding dissipated. "You attend Canterlot High," he continued. "Princess of the Fall Formal three years in a row, but lost it this year. You have an account on MyStable…" He paused to stand up and pour some more coffee in his cup. He sat down again, and after a quick sip, he continued. "The thing is that, when I searched for your record before High School, I found nothing." Sunset’s body tensed up again. "At first I didn't think it was too weird. Maybe you moved from another state. But when I got in the national database, I found something quite interesting." He got up once again and took a paper from the stack, placing it in front of Sunset. It was a death certificate of a six years old orphan girl. There was a picture of a very familiar girl, and the name read Sunset Shimmer. "I thought that it could be a weird coincidence, or maybe an impersonation. But your fingerprints are exactly the same." Sunset gulped, trying to find an excuse. "Maybe I'm that girl and survived. Or maybe I'm her twin." Her voice was quivery. She was clearly at a dead end, and Shining was very aware of that. "The girl had an autopsy before being cremated. And twins don't have the same fingerprints." He took a deep breath. "And lastly, illegal immigrants can't sue." "Illegal immigrant?" Sunset asked, partly confused, partly terrified. "Well, I don't think there's a passport for another dimension." "What?!" Sunset panted, feeling panic rising in her chest. Shining sat down and proceeded to explain to Sunset that not only had she performed magic in front of him while drunk, but she had also told him that she was from another world, and that she was a magical unicorn. Suddenly, the comment about her eating habits made sense. "So?" Sunset asked with fear in her voice. Her mind was flooded with images of her on a laboratory table about to be dissected. "What's going to happen to me now?" For an entire minute, Shining Armor only stared at her, and finally, he sighed. "I don't know," he replied, scratching the back of her head. "When I found you, you were clearly in trouble. When I investigated your school, I found out about this Anon-a-miss person." Sunset shivered at the name. "It wasn't hard to realize that you were being blamed for that. And when I saw your house-" "What?!" Sunset exclaimed. Besides herself, there was only one person that knew about the factory. Shining blinked in confusion. "Oh, that's right. While you were drunk, you told me your address. At first I thought you were joking or confused, but it turned out to be true." He shrugged. "I brought you here with a few changes of clothes." He stood up, taking his badge and gun. “Sincerely, as a geek, I loved the idea of a magical girl from another world." He grimaced. "But, as a person, I couldn't ignore a girl in your situation." He gazed into Sunset's eyes, and she could feel the sincerity of his words. "What happens next is up to you. I have a meeting to attend now. You can stay or leave. I don't have a problem with you staying a couple of days, though." He offered her a warm smile. "Besides, it would be cruel of me to kick you out this close to Christmas." After Shining left, Sunset contemplated her options. This man was a police officer, but he didn't seem to have any bad intentions, even offering her a warm place to stay. Then again, he was a complete stranger. Sunset had quickly learned that humans could be very dangerous. But the thought of returning to the cold, empty factory in winter made Sunset shiver. She decided to stay, at least for a couple of days, until she figured out what to do. There wasn't much that she wanted to do, so she just sat on the nice sofa and watched T.V. for a couple of hours until Shining returned. He looked depressed, and they didn't really talk until a little later when he asked her what she wanted to eat. They ended up ordering vegetarian pizza and just stayed there at his house, watching the typical Christmas specials on T.V. At some point, Shining began asking Sunset questions about her world. At first she was reluctant, but in the end she started answering. It was a nice way to distract herself, as she didn't want to think of what the future had in store for her. She supposed she could return to Equestria, but, honestly, what kind of life awaited her there? Jail, most likely. After all, she had stolen from a princess. She at least had Princess Twilight to visit her and have someone to talk with… if Twilight still cared. She could stay in this world, but it didn't seem like a much better option, aside from the fact that she wasn't going to jail here. When night came, Shining insisted that Sunset use his room while he slept on the sofa. Sunset tried to reject the offer, but he had already taken a spare pillow and blanket and set himself up in the living room. The next day went by quickly. Sunset stared at the T.V. without really watching anything, changing channels every once in a while, alone with her thoughts. She actually looked forward to Shining Armor coming back so she would have someone to talk to. At some point he had stopped asking her about Equestria, but he still had some pretty good stories to tell about the daily life of an officer. Another day came to an end, with Sunset repeating the exact same routine. Fortunately, Shining had been kind enough to buy vegetarian food for Sunset, and she only had to get up from the sofa to eat, go to the bathroom, and occasionally read some of the books in Shining's office. She knew the basics of how this world worked, but these books about laws and human rights and other stuff were pretty interesting. On the fourth day, the twenty third of December, she made a decision. In the three days she had been in the officer's house she had put a lot of thought into her situation. There wasn't anything better to do, after all. "I'll go tomorrow," Sunset said as she stared at the T.V., right before she ate another portion of her instant soup. Shining froze, chopsticks midway to his mouth. "What?" "I’ve made my decision,” Sunset said. “Besides, I don't want to keep bothering you." She refused to look at him. "You don't bother me," Shining replied quietly. He didn't want her to go. Since her arrival, it seemed like his life had brightened. The sole image of her sitting on the couch, idly staring at the T.V. while holding her knees against her chest when he returned from work was enough to make him smile. To not feel so alone. Maybe it was because he was so used to living with someone. He could remember clear as day how he would sit down with Cadence on Christmas Eve, criticizing and joking about the same old movies on T.V. He looked down at the food in his hand. That was another reason he wanted Sunset to stay. She helped him not to think about Cadence. In fact, up until now, he had completely forgotten about his little tradition with his ex girlfriend, even though he had been doing the same with Sunset. He wanted her to stay, at least one more day, because he was going to go meet with Cadence, and he wanted Sunset here when he got back. Sunset looked down to her soup. It suddenly tasted sour. "I have to take care of some things… I'll still stay tonight, but I'll leave tomorrow morning." It was a failed attempt to console him, but it didn't help that she was leaving right on Christmas Eve. She finished her food in silence, wondering what she was going to do with her life. Author's Note Ok, here's yet another chapter, and this is the second-to-last of the first arc. Many thanks to Hakuno for the translation and Summer Knight for the edition! I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Return HomeThe next morning, Sunset woke up early, wanting to finish all her business before leaving. She went down for breakfast and found it already made on the table along with a note: “Your last breakfast made by me. I’ll be a bit late. Order something special for your goodbye dinner. It’s on me.” Next to the paper was a clip containing 300 dollars. Sunset was touched. She knew that the man had taken her into his home and did not want her to leave. He was clearly happy to have her near. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After breakfast, Sunset made her way towards the place she’d called home for nearly a decade. She had been incredibly lucky to find the place. After managing to falsify her documents, she had investigated the legal standing of the place. It had taken a lot of time, money, and effort to find out if the building where she was sleeping was due for a demolition any time soon. Fortunately, the place seemed to have fallen into a bureaucratic crack which would have required a maelstrom of paperwork to remove from, and nobody was crazy enough to try. Upon reaching the door, she realized that it was open. Worried about the things inside, she quickly made her way inside, opening the door wide open. A strong breeze blew through the room and lightly ruffled her hair, but otherwise nothing seemed to be out of place. When she had arrived, more than one person had tried to take advantage of the little girl who was out on her own. Unfortunately for her, the former unicorn had quickly managed to find a way to use her magic in her new body, thus scaring them off quite easily, and given that only idiots and drug addicts hung out around her home, it was easy to pretend that all her magic was nothing more than illusions. The interior was a mess, but that was how it had always been. Looking around at all the things she had collected over the years, she realized that she could not take everything with her, so she only packed the bare essentials. Clothes could be modified and books would be interesting. She looked at the potted plants sadly, knowing that she would have to leave them. She remembered how they had saved her life when she had found herself with no money and nothing to eat. While the portal changed her body, some things had remained unchanged, including her digestive system which was still capable of processing plants better than real humans, and her muscles which were stronger than anyone with her height and weight should reasonably be. During her first few months when she had no idea what to do, she had eaten plants and flowers that she had found here and there. It wasn’t until later that she found out that humans couldn’t do the same. Next to those pots was another that, instead of a plant, had a rock. During her time studying under the Princess, she had learned the art of petriculture that was practiced by many earth ponies. Of course, since she was a unicorn, it was terribly difficult for her to make gems, especially since natural magic in this world was all but nonexistent. Fortunately, she had arrived in this world with her travel bags. During her youth, she had liked to travel to exotic places, sometimes with her mentor as a sort of assistant and other times on her own, so she had always liked to have a bag with a variety of things, such as her books on magic, her diary to communicate with the Princess, and several gems and bits in case of emergencies. These last had helped her a lot once she realized that her stay in the human world would be longer than she had first thought. It had taken her a while to figure out the gems and gold that she had were much more valuable in this world than in Equestria, but once she found out, she took advantage of this fact as best as she could. It was funny that humans could grow their food just like she could, but they couldn’t grow their money on plants like her. And even though it had been almost ten years, Sunset still found it hard to believe that something that anypony in Equestria could collect simply by digging through their backyard was so valuable in this world. Shaking her head, Sunset thought to herself that in the end, Celestia was right in that one day the knowledge of earth ponies would be useful for her. It was almost a shame that this world had so little magic that it took a whole year to grow just one gem. Fortunately, the little pieces that grew around the edges were almost enough to pay for a month or two when she sold them. Looking at the almost fully-formed ruby the size of her fist, she frowned. She had been considering spending it on a Christmas gift for her friends, or perhaps saving it for Rarity’s birthday. Now the mere sight of it annoyed her, shining innocently in the light of the sun. Letting out a sigh, she put the precious stone in her pocket. Maybe she could leave it at the nearby orphanage as a donation. One last good deed before leaving. Turning around, she saw her laptop lying over the office desk she’d pulled out of somewhere. She had mixed feelings about the device. On one hand, she was certain that the fascinating artifact would be a wet dream for any investigative pony in Equestria, but she could not help but feel disgusted by the object, due to the way she’d used it in the beginning. When she had started to run out of money and realized that growing a gem would take longer than expected, Sunset had discovered something on the internet, but it wasn’t until much later that she found out just how bad it was. At first it hadn’t bothered her, having been unfamiliar with the part of her new anatomy - in Equestria, she had rarely used clothes unless it was a special occasion, such as The Grand Galloping Gala, so, she hadn’t seen anything bad about showing her naked child body on a webcam for money. Fortunately, she had never shown her face, always suspecting that there was something strange about the whole affair . Sometime after she realized just how bad it was, she had decided to stay away from the inter net, but she eventually found another, far less repulsive method of making money off her computer. She was a genius; the only subject that ever gave her trouble was history, and that was something easy to fix. Very soon, she had people paying her to write reports, written projects, and even university theses. She had sustained herself this way until she entered Canterlot High, where she had to reduce her time somewhat to at least pretend to have a social life. Even so, it was easy to maintain her business given that she had nothing to do apart from spending some time with Flash and school, so she could work easily on her works for desperate students. Finally, after a long internal debate with herself, she decided to take the laptop with her anyway. A short while later, she had a bag full of stuff she didn’t want to leave, which she took to Shining’s house to leave while she prepared for her departure. But before that, she had one last thing to do. As she left the place that had been her home for the last nine years, she didn’t see a small paper with a note that had been blown away by the wind when she walked in. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It was a short trip. She had spent the entire journey mentally repeating the things she needed to say and do. Finally, she reached her destination - Canterlot High. Holding the notebook in her hands tightly, she entered the building - for the last time. Just as she expected, the halls were empty. Everyone was out for the holidays, so no one would bother her during her final walk through the school. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It was a stressful few weeks for Principal Celestia. It began with someone putting out other people’s secrets online, and immediately, everyone had pinned the blame on Sunset Shimmer despite the complete lack of evidence. Finally, the constant harassment had led Sunset to run away. After two days of absence and no answers on her telephone, Celestia had begun to worry, and on the third day she had been about to call the police, consequences be damned. When the real Anon-a-Miss had revealed herself in the middle of the lunch hour, everyone had been shocked to discover that it had been the youngest member of the Apple family. What followed had been pandemonium. More than one student had wanted to file charges against the pre-teen, and Celestia had been forced to intervene, and as if that hadn’t been enough, she had been forced to deal with the Rainbooms full of guilt over how they had treated their friend. Regardless of what she had promised the girls, if Sunset didn’t appear after Christmas, she was going to call the police. Thus, she was quite surprised when Sunset Shimmer herself showed up at her office with a stony expression. Quickly, Celestia looked towards her sister at her desk, who seemed just as surprised as her. “Sunset!” she exclaimed. “We were-” She was then cut off by the raised arm of the girl who placed a page over her desk and crossed her arms. Surprised, she took the page and began to read. With every line, her eyes became wider. “You’re leaving school?!” Celestia exclaimed, looking at the young girl incredulously.. “Sunset, the real culprit has already been found, you don’t have to do this!” Luna said passionately For a moment, Sunset’s eyes widened “And what about next time?” she asked. The two sisters glanced towards each other. “What will happen the next time something happens and everyone decides to blame me?” she asked again. “The fact is - nobody cared and everyone hates me.” “That’s not true,” Luna proclaimed. The former pony just looked and quoted: “Perhaps Sunset Shimmer is just eager to make someone else out to be a bad element so that her actions at the Fall Formal will become old news.” her voice dripping with heavy sarcasm. “That was not me! I was being controlled by the Dazzlings!” at least Luna had the decency to blush. Sunset rolled her eyes. “I’ve studied magic for years and if there’s anything that I’ve learned, it’s that mental suggestion doesn’t put anything in the victim’s mind, it only removes the inhibitions that normally prevents them from speaking their mind,” she explained, looking at the vice-principal the whole time. “I’d rather go before someone decides to blame me for something else. Besides, there’s no point in me staying anymore.” “What about your future?” Celestia asked worriedly. “What ‘future’?” Sunset shrugged. “There’s nothing for me in this world and the only reason I stayed here is because of the portal to Equestria” Celestia opened her mouth, to find the words convince her, “I’m not changing my mind, so save your breath” Sunset lifted her hand again, silencing the Principal. “And now that I have no more use for it, and I don’t care about the students of this school anymore, take this and do whatever you want with it.” Sunset gave Celestia a notebook “this is all the blackmail I’ve collected on the students. All the dirt, all the gossip, all the rule-breaking, stealing, bullying, disgusting little glory of it. Do with it what you will.”. And with that, she left Canterlot High forever. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Shining Armor was nervous, but not in the same way as he had been on his first date with Cadence, or the first time they slept together. Neither was it the same nervousness as the first time he went out on patrol or was called to an emergency. Slowly, he entered the restaurant, l and saw her with her silky pink hair with lilac highlights, and her beautiful blue eyes. And he felt nothing. Well, he was still extremely nervous, but he never felt the same joy and happiness that usually appeared whenever he saw her. “Hi,” he said as he sat down next to her. “Hi,” she replied. “How are you?” “Fine. What about you?” “Fine.” The two paused for a moment, looking anywhere but each other. “How are your parents?” “Fine.” Awkward silence. “How’s work?” “Fine.” More awkward silence. He toyed with his cutlery, trying - and failing to find any words. Every second dragged on and on, as both of them struggled to find something, anything to say. “How is Twily?” For several minutes, Shining did not answer.Instead, he looked in her eyes. “This isn’t working… right?” Words felt like sandpaper on his mouth, but they were true. It was not working. Cadence’s eyes briefly widened in surprise and shock, before they settled into a resigned look with a sad smile. “Yes. I think you’re right,” she said, looking away. “Is… is it my fault?” she asked. She hadn’t been able to avoid blaming herself for it. After all, she had practically accused him of cheating on her, when his situation could very well be considered rape. Knowing what she was thinking, he shook his head. He had even blamed himself, but in the end, the only one guilty was Chrysalis. Without saying anything else, he got up and turned to leave. “Shining!” Cadence called out, getting to her feet suddenly. Before Shining could ask what was going on, Cadence grabbed him and kissed him deeply. And he felt nothing. The physical sensations were still there; the texture of her lips, the heat of her breath. But he never felt the spark, the passion that he’d always felt when he kissed her, when he made love to her. It was gone. Cadence broke away, her eyes still closed and her hands still on Shining Armor’s chest. Finally, after a whole minute, she opened her eyes and looked at him. Shining could see the hope and fear in her blue eyes. This only made it more painful. “Goodbye Cadence,” he said. He turned around and did not stop until he was in his car. Once he was safe inside his car, he buried his face in his hands, and just sat htere. It was anyone’s guess how long did he spend there, in the darkness of his car, doing nothing, thinking nothing. Being nothing. But even that had to end. He straightened out, and checked his clothes, ready to go back home, when he felt something in his shirt pocket. Putting his hand inside, he pulled out a golden ring with a heart-colored cyan gem. Cadence mush have placed it there when she kissed him. That was the final declaration. It was over. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ His return was quick. In this situation, he would normally take hours driving around to relax, but right now he just wanted to get back home. He walked all the way up to the door… and stopped, but not because of Cadence. What really scared him was the chance that if he entered the house, it would be empty. Gathering courage, he opened the door and walked inside. He did not say a word, wishing to keep the silence. Everything was calm, the television was off, and the sofa in which he’d slept for the past few days was in order. For a moment, his heart stopped. “Shining?” He heard someone ask from the kitchen. When he walked in, he saw the blonde/redhead sitting on the floor against the wall, with several boxes of pizza around her, along with a couple of bottles of vodka and whiskey. Sunset seemed slightly red, but not as much as the first time he’d seen her. She was wearing pale violet pajamas with a stylized red and yellow sun on the chest. A “cutie-mark,” he remembered she’d called it. “You look like you could use a drink,” she suggested, moving a bottle temptingly. For a brief moment, he thought of rejecting it, but before he realized what was happening, he was sitting next to the false adolescent, with a piece of pizza in one hand and the bottle of vodka in the other. “So...” Sunset started. “How did it go with your Ex?” In a very undignified manner, Shining choked on his drink. “H-How did you…?!” “I didn’t, you just told me,” Sunset replied with a mocking tone, before gazing downwards with a sad look. “Besides, you’re only ever this sad when you’re thinking about her.” Seeing the strange look on Shining’s face, Sunset decided that she had to know what the deal was with her. “Tell you what. If you tell me what happened, I’ll tell you all about me and how I got here.” Shining didn’t even think about it. Surely, his situation with Cadence was private, but he’d been dying to know everything about the strange girl who’d almost killed herself on that bridge. “Okay, but you go first,” he said quickly. It wasn’t exactly what she wanted, but he supposed she could make an exception. Besides, she also wanted to tell the man all about her life. She loved the expressions that he made when she told him things like how the griffons had their own kingdom, even if it had decayed significantly from its glory days. With a big smile, Sunset took the bottle out of Shining’s hands and took a swig. “When I was young…” They spent hours this way, one telling something about their life, then the other took a drink from the bottle and telling something about theirs. Surprisingly quickly, both were done with their respective histories, and so they simply recalled amusing anecdotes, such as the time Shining went to a party he’d thought was a costume party dressed as a giant chicken. Or the time Sunset ended up covered in honey and her horn stuck in a tree during a presentation she’d made out in the open . “And when I walked in, there she was, with long, bright fuchsia socks, matching panties, a face full of cake, and the face of a deer caught in the headlights. So she takes off her helmet, points at me, and says ‘I can explain this.’” No longer able to control themselves, the two burst into laughter. At this point, three bottles of vodka and two bottles of whiskey were lying empty on the floor, along with several empty pizza boxes, lemon slices, and gummy bears. While they laughed, they both looked at each other, their faces red, and not just because of the alcohol. The laughter died an abrupt death when they both became lost in each other’s eyes and their faces slowly came closer. Before their lips could touch, Sunset spoke. “I’ll leave in the morning.” And like a hammer against a glass wall, the moment was broken, and yet neither of them moved. “Please don’t go.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When he awoke the next morning, Shining Armor took a moment to take in the disaster area that was his kitchen. Confused, he tried to remember how it managed to get that way. Then the memories hit him like an avalanche. The reunion with Cady, the ring, the drinking, and finally, falling asleep next to Sunset, her head upon his shoulder. He even remembered the smell of her hair, the only thing about her that he could smell even over the smell of the shampoo he usually used. He then realized the Sunset hadn’t been at his side when he woke up. Quickly, he looked all around the room in search of her bicolored hair, before getting to his feet and running up the stairs towards his room, hoping to find her there, but it was empty, with no sign of her. For a moment, Shining had no idea what to do, and the constant throbbing of her brain wasn’t helping. Finally, he decided to cat. Even though he knew it was risky to drive with a hangover, and probably still with some alcohol in his blood, he grabbed the keys to his car and drove off in search of Sunset Shimmer. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Standing in the middle of the snow, Sunset looked at her reflection in front of the statue at Canterlot High. The portal was closed, but opening it would be relatively easy. She only needed to send a message through the book several times, hoping that the princess would notice and answer quickly. She had woken up long after noon. Apparently, she had fallen asleep with her head resting on Shining’s shoulder. Without making a sound, she had gotten up, picked up all the things she had packed beforehand, and left. As soon as her hand touched the knob, she realized that she hadn’t said goodbye to the man who had saved her life, in more than one way. She approached the sleeping officer, skillfully evading the discarded bottles around her, and looked at his sleeping face with doubt. He seemed calm. She remembered how they had spoken the night before, and the words he’d said before falling asleep. “Please don’t go.” Though the man did not know it, those words meant a lot for Sunset. With a soft smile and slightly wet eyes, she brought her lips up to his ear and whispered a quiet thanks, and before she could let herself doubt, she gave him a kiss on the cheek. Instead of going directly to the portal she walked around the city, as if she were taking one final farewell tour. The factory that had been her home, Sugarcube Corner, the antique store where she’d bought most of the catalyzers for her more complex spells. She even stopped next to the Flash’s garage, where she’d spent many afternoons watching him and his band practicing. Before she knew it, night had fallen, and she had finally arrived at the school. It was curious how much it resembled the night she’d reached her lowest point, the night when she’d hit rock bottom, the night she’d almost ended it al… The night she had met that person, despite how blurry her memories of that night were. Opening her backpack, she took out the diary that would allow her to communicate with the princess. She opened it and looked at her reflection. It was time to go back home. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The clock struck twelve. It was officially December 25th, Christmas. One of the happiest days of the year, a day to spend with family and friends, surrounded by decorations and presents. Exactly the opposite of what Officer Shining Armor was doing. His house was dark and lightless; he hadn’t put up a single ornament or bought a Christmas tree. His Christmas dinner consisted of cheap pizza; his family was celebrating without him. And despite all his searching, he hadn’t found the young girl from another world. Picking up another bottle of beer, he regretted not insisting that Sunset stay. His musings were interrupted by the sound of the doorbell. Slightly intoxicated, he frowned. He had no idea who could be visiting at this hour, especially on this day. He then looked down at the table and saw the half-empty box of pizza. He must have ordered a second one. He had acquired that habit despite the short time he’d spent with Sunset. Getting up, he took money out of his wallet. He decided to pay the delivery boy and give him the pizza. He wasn’t in the mood for a second one. “Listen…” he began as he opened the door, but he froze when he saw who was on the other side. A pair of cyan eyes stared into Shining’s. She had thought of a hundred things she could say, but the moment their gazes met, the words died in her throat. “I... uhhh… said I was going back home, b-but…” Sunset stuttered, unsure of how to express her thought processes in that moment. Shining said nothing as he watched the girl stumble over her own words as she stood at her door. He hadn’t moved since he saw her. He hadn’t even let go of the money in his hand. Seeing how Sunset was looking downwards, embarrassed by her inability to say what she wanted, he smiled and moved to the side, leaving the way inside open for her. Upon seeing the gesture, Sunset’s eyes widened as she stopped speaking. Shining just smiled. “Welcome home, Sunset,” he said happily. The smile Sunset Shimmer gave him as he walked inside was as bright as the sun. She was finally home. Author's Note AN: Well, it's been a while. Several things have gotten in the way of this fic, including changing my translator and beta. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and hopefully the next one will be out sooner. Thanks to keaton-furman-prower for the translation and ChudoJogurt for beta reading.
PrologueA Knight in Shining Armor 1- Prologue Dear Princess Twilight, Today I learned that friendship is a lie. It doesn't matter how much you change, or how much you demonstrate how good of a person you are; in the end, your so called friends will turn their backs to you even when you need them the most. But I think I already knew it, didn't I? After all, it was really easy for me to separate them before. Well, I suppose the only thing I have left is to spend this Hearth's Warming Eve alone and sad… Not that it's new to me or anything. Yours truly, The one that doesn't have any friends in this world. Sunset Shimmer. ~~~~~~~~ The calligraphy was hideous and the lines were in complete disarray, sometimes overlapping with other parts of the paragraphs. It looked as if a drunken teenager had written that letter. And it wasn't a lie. It had been a terrible week for Sunset Shimmer. It all had started because someone going by the alias 'Anon-a-Miss' started publishing the secrets of her now ex-friends before continuing with the rest of the students'. Naturally, everyone had blamed her, and instead of being there by her side, the girls she so foolishly had considered her friends had joined them. She had begged and cried and pleaded them to believe her, but they turned their backs to her. Princess Twilight had suggested her to have faith in the human versions of her own friends in Equestria. And as the stupid girl she was, Sunset had obliged, ending with, quite frankly, obvious results. Curiously enough, that last letter from the princess was the straw that broke the camel's back. "Sometimes all you can do is stay strong. Stay yourself and find your family." Family? What family? Her parents had abandoned her at an orphanage's door without even giving her a name. It had been the keeper that took her in at sunset that named her. Since she became Princess Celestia's priced student so many years ago, she had thought of Celestia as her family, a mother, even. But she realized that it all had been delusions the moment that other princess appeared. Both had been orphans; a pegasus and a unicorn. Nothing out of the ordinary. But what was the first thing Celestia told that pegasus the moment she gained a horn? "You can call me Aunt Celestia, or just Aunt, if you want to." It was like a dagger right in Sunset's heart. It didn't matter that Celestia had allowed Sunset to call her by her given name. It didn't matter that Sunset was her personal student. It didn't matter that they had spent so much time together. The moment the other became an alicorn, Celestia made her family. It had been really painful, seeing how all her hard work and effort had been for naught, driven aside like dust being swept. But, on the hindsight, she now had a way to achieve what she most wanted. She had to become an alicorn. But that was when her fall began, and after the Fall Formal, when all the greed that wrongly grew in her heart disappeared, she thought that, finally, she had found a family. How stupid. And even after all the dark thoughts that Twilight's words had inadvertently brought to her mind, Sunset had tried to talk with the girls one more time. It was before lunch when she met them. She had tried to talk to them, to make them realize that she wasn't a bad girl, that she had not spread their secrets. But, once again, they didn't listen to her. "Why should we listen to your lies?" "You're not our friend!" "Secret-stealer!" "You're not welcome here!" She couldn't take it anymore. She turned around and, with her eyes drowned in tears, she ran. Away from the school; away from everything. The night had fell at some point. Sunset had went to a store and somehow managed to convince the clerk that she was an adult and spent all the money she had left to buy a dozen of beers, and then some more. And when the rational part of her mind had stopped talking, she had written that letter to the friendship princess. And now, Sunset sat at the sidewalk of a bridge. It was midnight, probably, snow had started to fall a couple of minutes ago, and she was really drunk. For almost two minutes, Sunset stared at the blank page in her journal, waiting for an answer. Snowdrops slowly moistened the paper, but aside of that, nothing happened. Finally, Sunset came to the conclusion that the princess wasn't going to answer. And why would she? Twilight was a princess, and she was loved by her friends, while Sunset was a dropout and an exile that nobody cared for. With that last thought, a series of memories started to flash in her mind. "The guards will escort you out of the palace," were Celestia's last words to her. "Perhaps Sunset Shimmer is just eager to make someone else out to be a bad element so that her actions at the Fall Formal will become old news." Even though Vice-Principal Luna had been mind-controlled, Sunset knew that those words were her real thoughts about her. "You don't belong here, Sunset!" Applejack had yelled. "You don't belong here!" "You don't belong!" It was true. She didn't belong to this world, and she didn't belong to Equestria either. She didn't belong anywhere. She had been a nuisance to the princess, to the teachers, to the principal, and to all the students in Canterlot High. The only reason those five girls had supported her was because Princess Twilight had asked them to do it. But they had soon reached their limit. Anon-a-Miss didn't make them hate her. No, she had only given them an excuse to get rid of her. Sunset sighed. Her mind was full of depressive thoughts, and her blood was flooded with alcohol. She couldn't feel the cold air against her skin, and maybe it was for the better. She stood up and turned around. Her movements were clumsy, as she couldn't control her balance, but she somehow managed to climb the railing and get to the other side, landing on the very edge of the bridge. She looked down, and for a moment tottered. The river below was at a very far distance. Maybe it wasn't enough to die from the fall, but in her state, she'd definitely drown. She kicked a small rock and watched it disappear in the dark water. This was normally the moment where people that tried to suicide reconsidered their actions, where they'd remember a reason to be alive. It was a basic survival instinct, as the mind tried to convince them not to jump with memories of their beloved ones and how much they'd miss them or something like that. But Sunset couldn't think of someone. She didn't have family or friends or anyone that cared for her. She was just a no body. No one would care if she died, in fact, they would be happy. At least there was one good thing she could do that everyone would appreciate. She gazed at the last of her beer with a void expression. She couldn't feel her fingers anymore, and the dry tears in her cheeks felt like ice rivers against her skin. With one last swing, she took the can to her mouth and swallowed the last drops of beer in one go. She sighed, dropping the can to the river. Now she truly didn't have anything left in the world. She lifted a foot and leaned her body forward to put an end to everything. "Stop!" Someone yelled. But when she turned around to see who it was, Sunset lost her balance. And she fell. Author's Note Hello everyone. This isn't my first fic ever, but it is my first MLP fic and on this site. I hope you like it. I've read a couple of fics that work with the subject of Anon-a-Miss from the comic and different shippings with the EG characters, but until now, I haven't read one that ships Sunset with Twily's brother. I suppose it's because he's already in a relationship with Cadence, but anyway. That gave me the idea for this fic, among others. But since my native language is Spanish and my English is really bad, someone translated it for me. Many thanks to Hakuno for the translation, plus he added his own personal touch and edited some mistakes.
The magician and the policeman.Chapter 1: The magician and the policeman. Sighing once again, Canterlot City’s police officer, Shining Armor, turned right on his nightly patrol. It wasn’t his turn to patrol, actually, but driving late in the night through the empty streets helped him think. His life hadn’t been good these last few months. He had finally proposed to his high school girlfriend. Everything had been going great. That is, until the wedding’s rehearsal where his little sister had acted all crazy and jealous, and he had committed one of the biggest mistakes in his entire life. His sister had been telling him that his bride wasn’t acting like usual. After very long and tiresome arguments, he had exploded and he expelled her from his wedding and his life… Only to find out on the big day that his bride, Mi Amore Cadence, was being impersonated by her cousin Chrysalis, who resembled her so much that it was practically impossible to tell the difference with all the makeup she had used. On top of that, Chrysalis had given him a more subtle version of the rape drug, making him very gullible and unable to distinguish the differences. But thanks to his stubborn sister, she and the true Cadence had appeared in the middle of the ceremony. There was a big commotion. Yelling, insults, people running around and bumping into each other… At the end of the day, Chrysalis had escaped. The wedding was postponed, naturally, and his bride was sent to the hospital with malnourishment and dehydration because Chrysalis had locked her up in a basement. And if that wasn’t enough, his little sister had stopped talking to him. She wouldn’t even look at him. After that, Shining thought that after falling so much, he could only climb his way up again. But sadly, life had other plans. His sister had gotten so mad at him, that she changed the plans they had worked on together. When she entered college, she would move with him and his wife. But now, she had decided to live in the campus’ dormitories instead. At the same time, his relationship with Cadence had begun to fall apart. Not only was she really hurt for the way he had treated his sister, whom she had taken care of when she was a toddler, but she felt betrayed when she knew that Shining had slept with her cousin. Naturally, Shining got angry at that. She was blaming him when in reality, he had been a victim too. Even after every trace of the drug Chrysalis had given him left his body, he still suffered sequels. More than once, when he was with Cadence, he had flashbacks about the times he had with Chrysalis. Little by little, the tension in their relationship was getting bigger and bigger, and the date of their wedding day was delaying more and more. In the end, they decided to take some time apart in hopes that the distance would help their love heal. They hadn’t planned that it would be more than just a couple of days. But those days turned into weeks, then months, and when he realized, it had been six months since their failed wedding on June. They never talked about it, but it wasn’t necessary, for they knew very well that their relationship was over. When Shining Armor got to that conclusion, he felt as if he had woken up from a dream. And, come to think of it, in some way, it had been like that. She was the lead cheerleader in high school, the top one in grades, thrice queen of prom dance, and she was in almost every committee. He? Well, he was just a geek that spent every weekend playing dungeons and dragons with his friends in someone’s basement, and having very long debates about which brand of comics was better. The very idea of two people from completely different worlds ending together was ludicrous, at best. Something that you’d only see on cheap soap operas or teens’ series. Many people had told him that their relationship wasn’t going to end well, and he had always answered that they were wrong. They had to be wrong. Yet, in the end, they had been right all along. He sighed again as he watched his clock. Almost midnight. Instead of driving to the police station, he turned to the other side, where his house was. Everyone in the station knew that he was having a very bad moment. Fortunately, his boss had been very comprehensive and had allowed him to go home instead of returning to the station. He only had to report through radio. It was a preferential treatment, obviously, but everyone knew that he was soon going to be ascended to departamental boss, so, naturally, nobody wanted to say anything about it. He quickly grabbed the radio, informing that he was off for the day. Once he got the confirmation, he decided to do one last round in an attempt to clear his mind. But he didn’t have much luck. Resigned, he decided to go home for good. But when he was crossing the bridge, something caught his attention: A feminine shape was standing at the other side of the railing. He didn’t need to be a genius like his sister to understand what that girl was trying to do. He quickly stopped the car, doing his best to be as silent as possible, knowing that if he startled her, he would only force the very situation he was trying to avoid. While he got closer, he noticed a couple of things. Like the discarded, empty beer cans on the floor next to a backpack and a book. He noticed the peculiar hair colors of this girl: golden tufts tangled in a red mane, looking like fire, even in the dark, snowy night. And lastly, this girl looked like a teenager, more or less his sister’s age. Suddenly, in a fast motion, the girl swallowed the rest of beer from the can. She dropped it to the river, and after a couple of seconds, she moved a leg forward, so she would fall to the water. For an instant, Shining’s mind switched the image of this girl about to suicide, with the image of his sister. He remembered how devastated she looked that day, and he panicked. “Stop!” He yelled. The girl turned to look at him, losing her balance and falling. Thankfully, she fell to the bridge’s side, bumping against the railing and bending her body in a failed attempt to fall to the ground. Shining sighed for the upteenth time that day. He got closer to the girl, who was panting tiredly. “What do you think you’re doing?” He asked. Since he was just a couple of inches away, he was sure he’d catch her if she tried to jump again, so he felt brave enough to start interrogating her. She looked up at him. Her gaze was clouded and uncentered, unable to point which of the three or four was the real one. “None of your business,” she babbled angrily. Her mind decided to forget the suicide, so she climbed the railing, falling on the floor like dead weight. “Where do you live?” He asked, hoping that the girl wasn’t too drunk to have forgotten it, and at the same time, that she was drunk enough so that she’d tell him easily. He didn’t want this girl to spend the night in a cell. “Why do you want to know?” She blurted, or tried to do so. She was looking about 10 inches at his right. Shining turned around, making sure that there wasn’t anyone else. He decided to ask her address once again. “What? You wanna know so the others can come to bother me at my door too?!” She growled, making Shining raise an eyebrow. Maybe, this girl thought he was someone else. “Well, forget it! I won’t tell you I live in Walker Street 12507!” She said, trying to get on her feet. The key word being “trying”. Happy with his answer, Shining picked up the backpack and the book, ignoring the cans. He grabbed the girl by the arm and as nicely as he could, he dragged her into the car. He quickly got in the driver’s seat and started to get this girl to her house so her parents would take care of her. As he drove, he thought that something was amiss. But it wasn’t until he got to the address that he realized that something was wrong. It wasn’t a residential area, it was industrial. And the address the girl gave him was of an abandoned factory. Clearly, the drunk girl had given him the wrong address. He turned around angrily, ready to yell at her for making him waste his time. But his surprise was great when he saw the back door open. That was impossible! Police cars were designed so that the back doors wouldn’t open from the inside! Hearing metallic sounds, Shining turned to the street. He saw the girl playing with her keys, struggling to open the factory’s door. Maybe this girl was so confused that she really had thought that this was her house. But that theory was destroyed when the door opened. Getting off the car, Shining walked to the door. This was very unusual, and he didn’t like it one bit. His police mind started to think of many scenarios, every one being worse than the others. Maybe this girl had ran away from home, or maybe she was working as a prostitute! He moaned angrily at the thought that would carry the arrest of an underaged prostitute. “I’m home!” She yelled. Shining decided to look inside, taking his hand to his gun just in case. But he only saw the girl standing in the middle of the room, which hardly resembled a living room. “Oh, that’s right. I live alone,” she said to herself, giggling softly before letting herself fall on a very worn out sofa. Shining took a good look at the place. There was an old, dirty sofa, a few wooden tables that were about to give up, a laptop on top of one of the tables, a trash can full of fast food envelopes, and metallic stairs that probably lead to a room that looked similarly. And somehow, everything was very clean. The place looked somewhat habitable. Shining turned to the girl on the sofa. He decided that he had to put an end to this. “Alright, stand up. You’re coming with me to the station,” he ordered. The girl moaned, not wanting to move at all. “Besides, I need you to tell me your name.” Apparently, this created a reaction on the girl, who turned her head to look at him and frowned. “Why do you wanna know that?” She growled. “So I can contact your parents,” he answered angrily. He hated dealing with drunk people and their lack of logic. His words seemed to make an impact on the girl, for she stopped frowning and looked thoughtful. “So… You’re gonna get me to my parents?” She asked, and she sounded strangely hopeful. “Yes?” Shining answered, confused. Normally, there were two different alternatives that lead to these kind of situations. One, if the teenager is the typical rebel that runs away because they think they’re smarter than their parents. And the second one is if the parents are real assholes, enough so that they think it’s better to live alone by their own means. “Alright,” she answered calmly. Her expression then turned into one of anger. “When you find them, let me know. I wanna meet them.” “Meet them?” Shining asked. “Yeah, you know. Hi! I’m Sunset Shimmer. Remember? The baby you abandoned in an orphanage without even giving her a name!” She yelled the second part of the sentence, and then let her face fall between the cushions of the sofa. Shining’s eyes widened when he understood the situation. Rubbing his forehead, he thought of what he should do. But there were some questions he needed to ask first. “Who’s been taking care of you?” he asked. The girl, whose name he now knew was Sunset Shimmer, muffled something through the cushions. “What?” “I take care of myself,” she growled with her eyes narrowed. “I’ve been taking care of myself since I got here.” “And when was that?” Making a pause, Sunset tried to think, which proved to be too much of a challenge, as she felt her mind all fuzzy. In the end, she just could remember one thing. “The Pegasi lost,” she said. It was one of the things she could remember about her first days here. She had heard something about pegasi, and she had wanted to talk with them. That is, until she discovered that The Pegasi was the name of a football team from the next town. Shining’s eyes sparked in realization. The Pegasi was Cloudsdale’s Football team, a team that had never lost a game, except for the tournament of… “Nine years ago!” He yelled. If his suppositions were correct, this girl had been living by herself since she was about eight years old. Nine years living alone, doing who-knew-what to survive. She looked healthy, though, he’d give her that. She didn’t look worn out like other girls in her situation. Which was hard to tell if it was a good or a bad thing. “And before that?” He had to know the whole panorama so he could chose the best course of action. “The princess,” she answered. Shining raised an eyebrow. It seemed that she was starting to ramble. “The princess… of course…” “Yes, Princess Celestia,” Sunset said, not noticing the sarcasm on the officer’s voice. “I was her personal student and protégé in magic.” Shining only looked at her. “You don’t believe I was her apprentice!” Sunset suddenly blurted. “I was the best magician in the School for Gifted Unicorns!” She yelled, standing up. Shining couldn’t help but chuckling a little. “So you’re a magical unicorn?” He asked with amusement in his voice. Sunset tottered with her eyes narrowed. She took a few seconds to answer. “Well… I’m a human now… But that’s because of that stupid mirror!” She concluded, and fell onto the sofa in a sitting position. Shining shook her head. “Alright, I better take you to the station,” he said, getting closer to her. “No,” Sunset said pouting. She extended her hand to him, and it started to glow with a cyan color. Shining’s body glowed with the same color, and before he knew it, he was thrown back, landing on his back. For a couple of seconds, Shining only stared in silence at the girl, who once again collapsed on the sofa. As any fan of comics and games of roles, he had always imagined himself as a mage, or that he’d meet one. Of course, he had never thought his fantasies would come true, much less that it would be a drunk teenager that had been living on her own since she was eight, and just an hour ago had tried to suicide. Finally, he took a decision: Take her to his place. He quickly searched the place, and easily found the bedroom where the mage had her clothes. It was pretty bare, just like the living room. A brass bed with a white mattress and white bed sheets, a wooden desk worn out for the moist, and a green wardrobe. Using the backpack he had taken form the girl, he started to take some clothing changes for her. It was hard not to feel like a perverted psycho when he grabbed her underwear, especially because the girl had a very sexy taste on panties. When he finished, he grabbed the backpack and got to the girl, who was sleeping silently. He did his best not to wake her up and carried her to the car. He knew very well that what he was doing wasn’t right, and that it was very near to become a kidnap, but he had to know more about this girl. Besides, the way he had met her only told him that she needed help. And he wanted to help her. Author's Note In this chapter we saw Shining’s perspective and some of his background, like his story with Cadence. These first episodes are part of a story arc that will talk about the beginning of their relationship. I’m not sure how many arcs there will be, but I assure you that there will be at least two more. One that will talk about the consequences of the first arc, and the other where Sunset will face her new life. For those who wonder where Twilight is, well, she’ll appear in the second arc. The first arc will have at least two more chapters that are already on the works. Just be patient and don’t forget to comment! Feedback is well received! Remember to thank Hakuno for the translation and edition. (And don’t be too hard on his grammar either ^^)
Christmas Eve.Slowly and painfully, Sunset's consciousness returned. Her head ached with an intensity she didn't know was even possible, and her throat was dry as a desert. It didn't take a genius to understand what a hangover was. She didn't even open her eyes, but the sunlight coming through the window was strong enough that she decided to roll over and huddle under the delightfully soft blankets. Her prodigious mind worked, even with the headache, and reminded her that her bedroom didn't have any windows. Ever so slowly, she opened her eyes and waiting for the fog of tiredness to disappear. She blinked several times, and then straightened up so fast that her head felt like it was about to explode. She did her best to ignore the pain, as a more important matter had to be taken care of immediately. She wasn't in her bedroom. Giving a glance around the room, she recognized that she was in a matrimonial bed with white silk blankets and a blue cover. The walls were decorated with what looked like certificates, and the occasional formal group photo. Sunset’s face paled and her heart sank. What had she done last night? She remembered drinking beers to forget her situation, writing something down, and then nothing. Making a bigger effort -and increasing the pain of her head in the process, she remembered talking with someone with blue hair. Flash? No, it couldn't be him. This wasn't his room, nor his parents'. A thought occurred to her. She looked down to herself, and immediately sighed in relief. She was still dressed, save for her jacket, which was carefully folded on a chair next to the window. She slowly got up and took her jacket. Sunset spotted an open door, which led to a small, private bathroom. She supposed that since she had spent the night there, she might as well use the facilities. After freshening herself up, brushing her hair with a pink brush she found, and drinking quite a lot of water from the sink, she got out. The headache was still there, but at least it was now manageable. With a deep breath and a determined stare, she got out of the room to meet the owner of the place. Walking through the hallway, she couldn't help peeking into the other rooms. The first looked like a spacious office. It had a fairly big bookshelf, a desk, a computer, and it was decorated with rustic colors: brown and green with the occasional red. The second room she saw looked like somewhere her ex boyfriend's friends would live. There was a big shelf full of comics, action figures, and other trinkets she couldn't name. Next to it, another shelf, but this was full of what looked like videogames and movies. A simple desk held a computer with a more impressive appearance than the one in the office. Next to it there were a couple of video game consoles and even more trinkets. Seeing that this room didn't have a bed, Sunset supposed that it was more like a recreational room for the children of whoever lived in this place. She decided to stop wasting time, and so she walked downstairs. The living room was pretty normal, Sunset thought. Well, except for the sofa in front of the T.V., as it had a more stylized look, a pillow, and a rug. When she walked over the kitchen, she froze. Upon the dark brown table, carefully placed in front of an empty seat, there was a breakfast that consisted in very standard fried eggs and bacon. But at the far end of the table, there was someone, hidden behind an open newspaper. Putting down the newspaper, the man with snow-white skin and blue hair looked at Sunset with an even stare. "Sit down," he said with a weird mix of kindness and firmness. Sunset didn't move, and instead leaned back in distrust. "You know I can call the police and tell them a man brought me to his house while I was drunk, right?" She asked, trying her best to sound casual to observe the man's reaction. He just arched an eyebrow. "I don't think you can," he said and then placed his gun upon the table. Sunset's muscles tensed at that. In moments like this, Sunset would normally resort to the very limited use of magic she had, but with the nasty headache she was suffering, she didn't think she'd be able to produce anything more than a couple of sparks. The man then placed on the table a second accessory, which evaporated any bravado Sunset may have had. It was a police badge. "I am Officer Shining Armor. Please, take a seat." This time, Sunset obliged. "Go ahead, eat some," he pointed at the food in front of her. Sunset looked at the plate and grumbled something. "What?" "I'm vegetarian." Blinking, Shining hummed. "I suppose it makes sense," he murmured. "What?" "Never mind that. Would you like something else?" For a moment, Sunset contemplated the idea of something more elaborate, but she dismissed the thought and began eating the eggs, putting aside the bacon. There was a long moment of silence, with the only interruptions being the occasional tap of flatware with the plates and an annoying sound of a wall clock. Finally, when Sunset had finished her meal, she broke the silence. "Shouldn't you be arresting someone or eating donuts?" The corners of Shining's mouth twitched upwards. "I took the day off to investigate you." Normally, Sunset would have made a snarky remark saying that she wasn't interested, but the idea of a police officer behind her made her really nervous. And if that wasn't enough, she didn't have anyone to call for help. The only one that would try to help her would be Princess Twilight, but any authority she had was limited to Equestria. Finally, she decided to play along, doing her best to look confident. "Why? Did your son ask you to investigate me?" She asked, remembering the recreational room upstairs. Shining looked a little confused at that. "I don't have children, I live alone." Sunset pressed shut her lips for a moment. "So, a grown up, single man took a drunk girl to his home. Even if you're a cop, I could sue you," she said, trying to get under his skin. "As I said, I don't think you can," Shining answered with unnerving calm. Sunset narrowed her eyes. "Oh yeah? And why do you think that?" "Because dead people can't sue anyone." At that, Sunset tensed her body. She made a fist under the table and started to concentrate as much magic as she could. "Is that a threat?" Blinking in surprise at the hostile question, Shining quickly reviewed their conversation. He mentally face palmed. "I'm sorry, I didn't word that properly," he admitted before pointing at a stack of papers upon a counter. "I spent the night researching." Sunset suddenly took notice of how tired he looked. His hair was a mess, and he had bags under his eyes. "I don't know if you remember, but you told me a few things last night. Like your name, Sunset Shimmer." Sunset’s eyes widened, and the magic she had been holding dissipated. "You attend Canterlot High," he continued. "Princess of the Fall Formal three years in a row, but lost it this year. You have an account on MyStable…" He paused to stand up and pour some more coffee in his cup. He sat down again, and after a quick sip, he continued. "The thing is that, when I searched for your record before High School, I found nothing." Sunset’s body tensed up again. "At first I didn't think it was too weird. Maybe you moved from another state. But when I got in the national database, I found something quite interesting." He got up once again and took a paper from the stack, placing it in front of Sunset. It was a death certificate of a six years old orphan girl. There was a picture of a very familiar girl, and the name read Sunset Shimmer. "I thought that it could be a weird coincidence, or maybe an impersonation. But your fingerprints are exactly the same." Sunset gulped, trying to find an excuse. "Maybe I'm that girl and survived. Or maybe I'm her twin." Her voice was quivery. She was clearly at a dead end, and Shining was very aware of that. "The girl had an autopsy before being cremated. And twins don't have the same fingerprints." He took a deep breath. "And lastly, illegal immigrants can't sue." "Illegal immigrant?" Sunset asked, partly confused, partly terrified. "Well, I don't think there's a passport for another dimension." "What?!" Sunset panted, feeling panic rising in her chest. Shining sat down and proceeded to explain to Sunset that not only had she performed magic in front of him while drunk, but she had also told him that she was from another world, and that she was a magical unicorn. Suddenly, the comment about her eating habits made sense. "So?" Sunset asked with fear in her voice. Her mind was flooded with images of her on a laboratory table about to be dissected. "What's going to happen to me now?" For an entire minute, Shining Armor only stared at her, and finally, he sighed. "I don't know," he replied, scratching the back of her head. "When I found you, you were clearly in trouble. When I investigated your school, I found out about this Anon-a-miss person." Sunset shivered at the name. "It wasn't hard to realize that you were being blamed for that. And when I saw your house-" "What?!" Sunset exclaimed. Besides herself, there was only one person that knew about the factory. Shining blinked in confusion. "Oh, that's right. While you were drunk, you told me your address. At first I thought you were joking or confused, but it turned out to be true." He shrugged. "I brought you here with a few changes of clothes." He stood up, taking his badge and gun. “Sincerely, as a geek, I loved the idea of a magical girl from another world." He grimaced. "But, as a person, I couldn't ignore a girl in your situation." He gazed into Sunset's eyes, and she could feel the sincerity of his words. "What happens next is up to you. I have a meeting to attend now. You can stay or leave. I don't have a problem with you staying a couple of days, though." He offered her a warm smile. "Besides, it would be cruel of me to kick you out this close to Christmas." After Shining left, Sunset contemplated her options. This man was a police officer, but he didn't seem to have any bad intentions, even offering her a warm place to stay. Then again, he was a complete stranger. Sunset had quickly learned that humans could be very dangerous. But the thought of returning to the cold, empty factory in winter made Sunset shiver. She decided to stay, at least for a couple of days, until she figured out what to do. There wasn't much that she wanted to do, so she just sat on the nice sofa and watched T.V. for a couple of hours until Shining returned. He looked depressed, and they didn't really talk until a little later when he asked her what she wanted to eat. They ended up ordering vegetarian pizza and just stayed there at his house, watching the typical Christmas specials on T.V. At some point, Shining began asking Sunset questions about her world. At first she was reluctant, but in the end she started answering. It was a nice way to distract herself, as she didn't want to think of what the future had in store for her. She supposed she could return to Equestria, but, honestly, what kind of life awaited her there? Jail, most likely. After all, she had stolen from a princess. She at least had Princess Twilight to visit her and have someone to talk with… if Twilight still cared. She could stay in this world, but it didn't seem like a much better option, aside from the fact that she wasn't going to jail here. When night came, Shining insisted that Sunset use his room while he slept on the sofa. Sunset tried to reject the offer, but he had already taken a spare pillow and blanket and set himself up in the living room. The next day went by quickly. Sunset stared at the T.V. without really watching anything, changing channels every once in a while, alone with her thoughts. She actually looked forward to Shining Armor coming back so she would have someone to talk to. At some point he had stopped asking her about Equestria, but he still had some pretty good stories to tell about the daily life of an officer. Another day came to an end, with Sunset repeating the exact same routine. Fortunately, Shining had been kind enough to buy vegetarian food for Sunset, and she only had to get up from the sofa to eat, go to the bathroom, and occasionally read some of the books in Shining's office. She knew the basics of how this world worked, but these books about laws and human rights and other stuff were pretty interesting. On the fourth day, the twenty third of December, she made a decision. In the three days she had been in the officer's house she had put a lot of thought into her situation. There wasn't anything better to do, after all. "I'll go tomorrow," Sunset said as she stared at the T.V., right before she ate another portion of her instant soup. Shining froze, chopsticks midway to his mouth. "What?" "I’ve made my decision,” Sunset said. “Besides, I don't want to keep bothering you." She refused to look at him. "You don't bother me," Shining replied quietly. He didn't want her to go. Since her arrival, it seemed like his life had brightened. The sole image of her sitting on the couch, idly staring at the T.V. while holding her knees against her chest when he returned from work was enough to make him smile. To not feel so alone. Maybe it was because he was so used to living with someone. He could remember clear as day how he would sit down with Cadence on Christmas Eve, criticizing and joking about the same old movies on T.V. He looked down at the food in his hand. That was another reason he wanted Sunset to stay. She helped him not to think about Cadence. In fact, up until now, he had completely forgotten about his little tradition with his ex girlfriend, even though he had been doing the same with Sunset. He wanted her to stay, at least one more day, because he was going to go meet with Cadence, and he wanted Sunset here when he got back. Sunset looked down to her soup. It suddenly tasted sour. "I have to take care of some things… I'll still stay tonight, but I'll leave tomorrow morning." It was a failed attempt to console him, but it didn't help that she was leaving right on Christmas Eve. She finished her food in silence, wondering what she was going to do with her life. Author's Note Ok, here's yet another chapter, and this is the second-to-last of the first arc. Many thanks to Hakuno for the translation and Summer Knight for the edition! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!
Return HomeThe next morning, Sunset woke up early, wanting to finish all her business before leaving. She went down for breakfast and found it already made on the table along with a note: “Your last breakfast made by me. I’ll be a bit late. Order something special for your goodbye dinner. It’s on me.” Next to the paper was a clip containing 300 dollars. Sunset was touched. She knew that the man had taken her into his home and did not want her to leave. He was clearly happy to have her near. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After breakfast, Sunset made her way towards the place she’d called home for nearly a decade. She had been incredibly lucky to find the place. After managing to falsify her documents, she had investigated the legal standing of the place. It had taken a lot of time, money, and effort to find out if the building where she was sleeping was due for a demolition any time soon. Fortunately, the place seemed to have fallen into a bureaucratic crack which would have required a maelstrom of paperwork to remove from, and nobody was crazy enough to try. Upon reaching the door, she realized that it was open. Worried about the things inside, she quickly made her way inside, opening the door wide open. A strong breeze blew through the room and lightly ruffled her hair, but otherwise nothing seemed to be out of place. When she had arrived, more than one person had tried to take advantage of the little girl who was out on her own. Unfortunately for her, the former unicorn had quickly managed to find a way to use her magic in her new body, thus scaring them off quite easily, and given that only idiots and drug addicts hung out around her home, it was easy to pretend that all her magic was nothing more than illusions. The interior was a mess, but that was how it had always been. Looking around at all the things she had collected over the years, she realized that she could not take everything with her, so she only packed the bare essentials. Clothes could be modified and books would be interesting. She looked at the potted plants sadly, knowing that she would have to leave them. She remembered how they had saved her life when she had found herself with no money and nothing to eat. While the portal changed her body, some things had remained unchanged, including her digestive system which was still capable of processing plants better than real humans, and her muscles which were stronger than anyone with her height and weight should reasonably be. During her first few months when she had no idea what to do, she had eaten plants and flowers that she had found here and there. It wasn’t until later that she found out that humans couldn’t do the same. Next to those pots was another that, instead of a plant, had a rock. During her time studying under the Princess, she had learned the art of petriculture that was practiced by many earth ponies. Of course, since she was a unicorn, it was terribly difficult for her to make gems, especially since natural magic in this world was all but nonexistent. Fortunately, she had arrived in this world with her travel bags. During her youth, she had liked to travel to exotic places, sometimes with her mentor as a sort of assistant and other times on her own, so she had always liked to have a bag with a variety of things, such as her books on magic, her diary to communicate with the Princess, and several gems and bits in case of emergencies. These last had helped her a lot once she realized that her stay in the human world would be longer than she had first thought. It had taken her a while to figure out the gems and gold that she had were much more valuable in this world than in Equestria, but once she found out, she took advantage of this fact as best as she could. It was funny that humans could grow their food just like she could, but they couldn’t grow their money on plants like her. And even though it had been almost ten years, Sunset still found it hard to believe that something that anypony in Equestria could collect simply by digging through their backyard was so valuable in this world. Shaking her head, Sunset thought to herself that in the end, Celestia was right in that one day the knowledge of earth ponies would be useful for her. It was almost a shame that this world had so little magic that it took a whole year to grow just one gem. Fortunately, the little pieces that grew around the edges were almost enough to pay for a month or two when she sold them. Looking at the almost fully-formed ruby the size of her fist, she frowned. She had been considering spending it on a Christmas gift for her friends, or perhaps saving it for Rarity’s birthday. Now the mere sight of it annoyed her, shining innocently in the light of the sun. Letting out a sigh, she put the precious stone in her pocket. Maybe she could leave it at the nearby orphanage as a donation. One last good deed before leaving. Turning around, she saw her laptop lying over the office desk she’d pulled out of somewhere. She had mixed feelings about the device. On one hand, she was certain that the fascinating artifact would be a wet dream for any investigative pony in Equestria, but she could not help but feel disgusted by the object, due to the way she’d used it in the beginning. When she had started to run out of money and realized that growing a gem would take longer than expected, Sunset had discovered something on the internet, but it wasn’t until much later that she found out just how bad it was. At first it hadn’t bothered her, having been unfamiliar with the part of her new anatomy - in Equestria, she had rarely used clothes unless it was a special occasion, such as The Grand Galloping Gala, so, she hadn’t seen anything bad about showing her naked child body on a webcam for money. Fortunately, she had never shown her face, always suspecting that there was something strange about the whole affair . Sometime after she realized just how bad it was, she had decided to stay away from the inter net, but she eventually found another, far less repulsive method of making money off her computer. She was a genius; the only subject that ever gave her trouble was history, and that was something easy to fix. Very soon, she had people paying her to write reports, written projects, and even university theses. She had sustained herself this way until she entered Canterlot High, where she had to reduce her time somewhat to at least pretend to have a social life. Even so, it was easy to maintain her business given that she had nothing to do apart from spending some time with Flash and school, so she could work easily on her works for desperate students. Finally, after a long internal debate with herself, she decided to take the laptop with her anyway. A short while later, she had a bag full of stuff she didn’t want to leave, which she took to Shining’s house to leave while she prepared for her departure. But before that, she had one last thing to do. As she left the place that had been her home for the last nine years, she didn’t see a small paper with a note that had been blown away by the wind when she walked in. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It was a short trip. She had spent the entire journey mentally repeating the things she needed to say and do. Finally, she reached her destination - Canterlot High. Holding the notebook in her hands tightly, she entered the building - for the last time. Just as she expected, the halls were empty. Everyone was out for the holidays, so no one would bother her during her final walk through the school. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It was a stressful few weeks for Principal Celestia. It began with someone putting out other people’s secrets online, and immediately, everyone had pinned the blame on Sunset Shimmer despite the complete lack of evidence. Finally, the constant harassment had led Sunset to run away. After two days of absence and no answers on her telephone, Celestia had begun to worry, and on the third day she had been about to call the police, consequences be damned. When the real Anon-a-Miss had revealed herself in the middle of the lunch hour, everyone had been shocked to discover that it had been the youngest member of the Apple family. What followed had been pandemonium. More than one student had wanted to file charges against the pre-teen, and Celestia had been forced to intervene, and as if that hadn’t been enough, she had been forced to deal with the Rainbooms full of guilt over how they had treated their friend. Regardless of what she had promised the girls, if Sunset didn’t appear after Christmas, she was going to call the police. Thus, she was quite surprised when Sunset Shimmer herself showed up at her office with a stony expression. Quickly, Celestia looked towards her sister at her desk, who seemed just as surprised as her. “Sunset!” she exclaimed. “We were-” She was then cut off by the raised arm of the girl who placed a page over her desk and crossed her arms. Surprised, she took the page and began to read. With every line, her eyes became wider. “You’re leaving school?!” Celestia exclaimed, looking at the young girl incredulously.. “Sunset, the real culprit has already been found, you don’t have to do this!” Luna said passionately For a moment, Sunset’s eyes widened “And what about next time?” she asked. The two sisters glanced towards each other. “What will happen the next time something happens and everyone decides to blame me?” she asked again. “The fact is - nobody cared and everyone hates me.” “That’s not true,” Luna proclaimed. The former pony just looked and quoted: “Perhaps Sunset Shimmer is just eager to make someone else out to be a bad element so that her actions at the Fall Formal will become old news.” her voice dripping with heavy sarcasm. “That was not me! I was being controlled by the Dazzlings!” at least Luna had the decency to blush. Sunset rolled her eyes. “I’ve studied magic for years and if there’s anything that I’ve learned, it’s that mental suggestion doesn’t put anything in the victim’s mind, it only removes the inhibitions that normally prevents them from speaking their mind,” she explained, looking at the vice-principal the whole time. “I’d rather go before someone decides to blame me for something else. Besides, there’s no point in me staying anymore.” “What about your future?” Celestia asked worriedly. “What ‘future’?” Sunset shrugged. “There’s nothing for me in this world and the only reason I stayed here is because of the portal to Equestria” Celestia opened her mouth, to find the words convince her, “I’m not changing my mind, so save your breath” Sunset lifted her hand again, silencing the Principal. “And now that I have no more use for it, and I don’t care about the students of this school anymore, take this and do whatever you want with it.” Sunset gave Celestia a notebook “this is all the blackmail I’ve collected on the students. All the dirt, all the gossip, all the rule-breaking, stealing, bullying, disgusting little glory of it. Do with it what you will.”. And with that, she left Canterlot High forever. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Shining Armor was nervous, but not in the same way as he had been on his first date with Cadence, or the first time they slept together. Neither was it the same nervousness as the first time he went out on patrol or was called to an emergency. Slowly, he entered the restaurant, l and saw her with her silky pink hair with lilac highlights, and her beautiful blue eyes. And he felt nothing. Well, he was still extremely nervous, but he never felt the same joy and happiness that usually appeared whenever he saw her. “Hi,” he said as he sat down next to her. “Hi,” she replied. “How are you?” “Fine. What about you?” “Fine.” The two paused for a moment, looking anywhere but each other. “How are your parents?” “Fine.” Awkward silence. “How’s work?” “Fine.” More awkward silence. He toyed with his cutlery, trying - and failing to find any words. Every second dragged on and on, as both of them struggled to find something, anything to say. “How is Twily?” For several minutes, Shining did not answer.Instead, he looked in her eyes. “This isn’t working… right?” Words felt like sandpaper on his mouth, but they were true. It was not working. Cadence’s eyes briefly widened in surprise and shock, before they settled into a resigned look with a sad smile. “Yes. I think you’re right,” she said, looking away. “Is… is it my fault?” she asked. She hadn’t been able to avoid blaming herself for it. After all, she had practically accused him of cheating on her, when his situation could very well be considered rape. Knowing what she was thinking, he shook his head. He had even blamed himself, but in the end, the only one guilty was Chrysalis. Without saying anything else, he got up and turned to leave. “Shining!” Cadence called out, getting to her feet suddenly. Before Shining could ask what was going on, Cadence grabbed him and kissed him deeply. And he felt nothing. The physical sensations were still there; the texture of her lips, the heat of her breath. But he never felt the spark, the passion that he’d always felt when he kissed her, when he made love to her. It was gone. Cadence broke away, her eyes still closed and her hands still on Shining Armor’s chest. Finally, after a whole minute, she opened her eyes and looked at him. Shining could see the hope and fear in her blue eyes. This only made it more painful. “Goodbye Cadence,” he said. He turned around and did not stop until he was in his car. Once he was safe inside his car, he buried his face in his hands, and just sat htere. It was anyone’s guess how long did he spend there, in the darkness of his car, doing nothing, thinking nothing. Being nothing. But even that had to end. He straightened out, and checked his clothes, ready to go back home, when he felt something in his shirt pocket. Putting his hand inside, he pulled out a golden ring with a heart-colored cyan gem. Cadence mush have placed it there when she kissed him. That was the final declaration. It was over. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ His return was quick. In this situation, he would normally take hours driving around to relax, but right now he just wanted to get back home. He walked all the way up to the door… and stopped, but not because of Cadence. What really scared him was the chance that if he entered the house, it would be empty. Gathering courage, he opened the door and walked inside. He did not say a word, wishing to keep the silence. Everything was calm, the television was off, and the sofa in which he’d slept for the past few days was in order. For a moment, his heart stopped. “Shining?” He heard someone ask from the kitchen. When he walked in, he saw the blonde/redhead sitting on the floor against the wall, with several boxes of pizza around her, along with a couple of bottles of vodka and whiskey. Sunset seemed slightly red, but not as much as the first time he’d seen her. She was wearing pale violet pajamas with a stylized red and yellow sun on the chest. A “cutie-mark,” he remembered she’d called it. “You look like you could use a drink,” she suggested, moving a bottle temptingly. For a brief moment, he thought of rejecting it, but before he realized what was happening, he was sitting next to the false adolescent, with a piece of pizza in one hand and the bottle of vodka in the other. “So...” Sunset started. “How did it go with your Ex?” In a very undignified manner, Shining choked on his drink. “H-How did you…?!” “I didn’t, you just told me,” Sunset replied with a mocking tone, before gazing downwards with a sad look. “Besides, you’re only ever this sad when you’re thinking about her.” Seeing the strange look on Shining’s face, Sunset decided that she had to know what the deal was with her. “Tell you what. If you tell me what happened, I’ll tell you all about me and how I got here.” Shining didn’t even think about it. Surely, his situation with Cadence was private, but he’d been dying to know everything about the strange girl who’d almost killed herself on that bridge. “Okay, but you go first,” he said quickly. It wasn’t exactly what she wanted, but he supposed she could make an exception. Besides, she also wanted to tell the man all about her life. She loved the expressions that he made when she told him things like how the griffons had their own kingdom, even if it had decayed significantly from its glory days. With a big smile, Sunset took the bottle out of Shining’s hands and took a swig. “When I was young…” They spent hours this way, one telling something about their life, then the other took a drink from the bottle and telling something about theirs. Surprisingly quickly, both were done with their respective histories, and so they simply recalled amusing anecdotes, such as the time Shining went to a party he’d thought was a costume party dressed as a giant chicken. Or the time Sunset ended up covered in honey and her horn stuck in a tree during a presentation she’d made out in the open . “And when I walked in, there she was, with long, bright fuchsia socks, matching panties, a face full of cake, and the face of a deer caught in the headlights. So she takes off her helmet, points at me, and says ‘I can explain this.’” No longer able to control themselves, the two burst into laughter. At this point, three bottles of vodka and two bottles of whiskey were lying empty on the floor, along with several empty pizza boxes, lemon slices, and gummy bears. While they laughed, they both looked at each other, their faces red, and not just because of the alcohol. The laughter died an abrupt death when they both became lost in each other’s eyes and their faces slowly came closer. Before their lips could touch, Sunset spoke. “I’ll leave in the morning.” And like a hammer against a glass wall, the moment was broken, and yet neither of them moved. “Please don’t go.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When he awoke the next morning, Shining Armor took a moment to take in the disaster area that was his kitchen. Confused, he tried to remember how it managed to get that way. Then the memories hit him like an avalanche. The reunion with Cady, the ring, the drinking, and finally, falling asleep next to Sunset, her head upon his shoulder. He even remembered the smell of her hair, the only thing about her that he could smell even over the smell of the shampoo he usually used. He then realized the Sunset hadn’t been at his side when he woke up. Quickly, he looked all around the room in search of her bicolored hair, before getting to his feet and running up the stairs towards his room, hoping to find her there, but it was empty, with no sign of her. For a moment, Shining had no idea what to do, and the constant throbbing of her brain wasn’t helping. Finally, he decided to cat. Even though he knew it was risky to drive with a hangover, and probably still with some alcohol in his blood, he grabbed the keys to his car and drove off in search of Sunset Shimmer. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Standing in the middle of the snow, Sunset looked at her reflection in front of the statue at Canterlot High. The portal was closed, but opening it would be relatively easy. She only needed to send a message through the book several times, hoping that the princess would notice and answer quickly. She had woken up long after noon. Apparently, she had fallen asleep with her head resting on Shining’s shoulder. Without making a sound, she had gotten up, picked up all the things she had packed beforehand, and left. As soon as her hand touched the knob, she realized that she hadn’t said goodbye to the man who had saved her life, in more than one way. She approached the sleeping officer, skillfully evading the discarded bottles around her, and looked at his sleeping face with doubt. He seemed calm. She remembered how they had spoken the night before, and the words he’d said before falling asleep. “Please don’t go.” Though the man did not know it, those words meant a lot for Sunset. With a soft smile and slightly wet eyes, she brought her lips up to his ear and whispered a quiet thanks, and before she could let herself doubt, she gave him a kiss on the cheek. Instead of going directly to the portal she walked around the city, as if she were taking one final farewell tour. The factory that had been her home, Sugarcube Corner, the antique store where she’d bought most of the catalyzers for her more complex spells. She even stopped next to the Flash’s garage, where she’d spent many afternoons watching him and his band practicing. Before she knew it, night had fallen, and she had finally arrived at the school. It was curious how much it resembled the night she’d reached her lowest point, the night when she’d hit rock bottom, the night she’d almost ended it al… The night she had met that person, despite how blurry her memories of that night were. Opening her backpack, she took out the diary that would allow her to communicate with the princess. She opened it and looked at her reflection. It was time to go back home. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The clock struck twelve. It was officially December 25th, Christmas. One of the happiest days of the year, a day to spend with family and friends, surrounded by decorations and presents. Exactly the opposite of what Officer Shining Armor was doing. His house was dark and lightless; he hadn’t put up a single ornament or bought a Christmas tree. His Christmas dinner consisted of cheap pizza; his family was celebrating without him. And despite all his searching, he hadn’t found the young girl from another world. Picking up another bottle of beer, he regretted not insisting that Sunset stay. His musings were interrupted by the sound of the doorbell. Slightly intoxicated, he frowned. He had no idea who could be visiting at this hour, especially on this day. He then looked down at the table and saw the half-empty box of pizza. He must have ordered a second one. He had acquired that habit despite the short time he’d spent with Sunset. Getting up, he took money out of his wallet. He decided to pay the delivery boy and give him the pizza. He wasn’t in the mood for a second one. “Listen…” he began as he opened the door, but he froze when he saw who was on the other side. A pair of cyan eyes stared into Shining’s. She had thought of a hundred things she could say, but the moment their gazes met, the words died in her throat. “I... uhhh… said I was going back home, b-but…” Sunset stuttered, unsure of how to express her thought processes in that moment. Shining said nothing as he watched the girl stumble over her own words as she stood at her door. He hadn’t moved since he saw her. He hadn’t even let go of the money in his hand. Seeing how Sunset was looking downwards, embarrassed by her inability to say what she wanted, he smiled and moved to the side, leaving the way inside open for her. Upon seeing the gesture, Sunset’s eyes widened as she stopped speaking. Shining just smiled. “Welcome home, Sunset,” he said happily. The smile Sunset Shimmer gave him as he walked inside was as bright as the sun. She was finally home. Author's Note AN: Well, it's been a while. Several things have gotten in the way of this fic, including changing my translator and beta. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and hopefully the next one will be out sooner. Thanks to keaton-furman-prower for the translation and ChudoJogurt for beta reading.
