H2O: Just Add Friendship

by Burning Sunset

Rating: teen
Tags: Slice of Life, Crossover, Human, Sunset Shimmer, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe
Length: 13912

Leaving Canterlot after being expelled due to the Anon-A-Miss incident, Sunset finds herself in a new city where she will find new friends. When her old ones come looking for her though to apologize, will she even listen or stay with her new friends?

Now with double-spacing thanks to Eris Q Rose! :heart:

Blog Post can be found here giving some background and details about H2O.

Expelled, again, by another version of Celestia forces Sunset to reevaluate her life and relationships. Not seeing a reason to stay where she obviously doesn't feel wanted, Sunset leaves Canterlot and travels south and arrives in Dolphin City just as Summer Vacation is starting.

There she will learn that this world isn't as empty of magic as she believed as she reluctantly makes a new group of friends who teach her what true friendship is about. They say the third time is the charm, will this third chance be the thing that Sunset is looking for and what will happen when her old friends come looking to make things up to her? Will she accept their apologies and return to Canterlot, or will she stay where she feels she belongs?

This is a crossover with H2O: Mermaid Adventures on Netflix.
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro.
The H2O series is owned by ZDEF and 2DF.Enterprises.

P.S. For a more light hearted x-over with H2O, check out H2Orse by VitalSpark

Published 2015-05-26 18:30:02 UTC
Last updated 2015-07-05 17:53:52 UTC

Paradise

For the first time since Christmas, Sunset couldn't hold back a smile as she looked around her at the beautiful yet deserted island off the coast of Dolphin City. The island was beautiful, extremely so, and if she heard right the only wild animals that called the place home was birds. Unless you counted the multitude of species of oceanic life surrounding the island as Dolphin City was a wildlife sanctuary for aquatic creatures and levied very heavy fines to anyone daring to spoil the beauty of the beach and water.

The water itself was so clear that you could clearly see the reef and fish swimming just feet under the surface though it seemed blue the farther out you got as it got deeper. The view from where Sunset stood was breathtaking and she couldn't help feeling as if she made the right choice. Not that she had much choice concerning Canterlot after she was wrongfully expelled over the Anon-A-Miss incident. With nobody believing her and no place to stay, Sunset took off from her home in an abandoned house that was condemned and was slated for demolition soon because the roof caved in even more from the last heavy snowfall when she was still there.

For several months Sunset just kept on the move, sometimes hopping on the back of trucks to get over longer distances quicker. She wanted away from the pain that she felt back in Canterlot as she learned that no matter the world, Celestia would always throw her away. There was no point staying there as her so called friends taught her an important life lesson: never trust people. They may be your friends through good times, but as soon as the shit hit the fan they would turn their backs on you in the blink of an eye.

Mako Island was the promise of a new start, even if she did have to resort to stealing. Not something she enjoyed doing, but as she pulled the small boat farther onto the shore and tied it to a tree to make sure it stayed in place, she couldn't help thanking her luck finding the boat packed and ready to go while nobody was around it. It would give her some shelter as well as give her some food for at least a couple of days. After that she would have to figure something out, but for now she had time to think things over. At least she was alone though which was what she wanted most, just some peace away from the pain of being around others who she knew would only end up hurting her even more.

It took awhile to find a nice clearing among some trees that thankfully had bananas growing on them which would offer her some source of food. Maybe there would be other trees on the island growing other food which would help fill her food supplies. She found out that setting up a tent was harder than it looked though as she had no idea what she was doing. She managed though and by the time night fell she had the tent set up with a sleeping bag inside and another outside next to the small ring of rocks she gathered to contain her campfire with one extra one in case something happened to one of the others. Thankfully there was a lighter in the camping supplies she found on the boat that she used to light the fire.

With the light of the fire and the full moon above, Sunset sat on the sleeping bag before the fire nibbling on a peanut butter sandwich from the picnic basket. She was dead tired, but felt good seeing how she had shelter and food and finally had a place all her own. Nobody around to bother her or make her feel horrible over something she didn't do. Of course that also meant that she was alone, but that was what she wanted. Wasn't it?

Looking up she noticed a cave a little way up the dormant volcano lit up with a blue light that made Sunset growl in anger. She was supposed to be alone here, she didn't want to have to deal with somebody else invading her space. Maybe it was nothing though, but she needed to look into it and make sure that it wasn't something or somebody that would hurt her. It would really suck going to sleep and waking up tied up in some creep's power.

Carefully making her way through the trees Sunset mentally marked out where an orange tree was that she passes on the way to the cave. The climb up the side of the volcano to the cave was easy with all of the footholds and almost step like path. Peering carefully inside she couldn't see anybody or hear anything so she took a step inside the cave to see if there was anything she could see deeper.

As soon as her foot fell on the cave floor she regretted it. With a loud shriek, Sunset found herself slipping uncontrollably down a slippery shaft that was almost like a very steep slide. FInally she hit the bottom and rolled across the cave floor. Her ankle was killing her a sshe sat up, gasping in pain as she tried to turn it.

"Damn it!" Sunset swore as she gingerly pulled her boot off and probed the painful throbbing in her ankle. She didn't believe she broke anything, but it was most likely sprained. There was no way she was getting back out the way she came either as it was steep enough as it was, but with a hurt ankle it would be impossible. On the bright side she found out that the light was actually coming from the glowing moss lining the caves walls.

Looking up she could see the clear night sky above as it looked like she was either in the center of the volcano or there was just a shaft high above. The moon was just starting to peak over the pool in the center of the floor which showed it was clear just like the rest of the water surrounding the island and thanks to that she could see the tunnel under the water. Maybe it connected to a water source outside?

"What the hell am I supposed to do now?" Sunset asked herself, looking around to see if there was any other possible exits from the cave and seeing none. Just the slide like path she fell down and the underwater tunnel before her. And she really didn't want to be stuck in there when the sun passed completely over the hole overhead as she wasn't sure if the moss would still glow without the light of the moon shining down over it. It was almost fully overhead which meant it was now or never.

Pulling her other boot off and stuffing her socks in one of them, Sunset crawled over to the pool and dangled her feet into it and moaned in delight. The water felt so good on her ankle, feeling almost as if it was healing it as she slid into the water and let herself float there a few moments as the moon finally shone directly overhead lighting the entire cave up.

"This isn't good." Sunset gasped out as she looked back and forth in the cave seeing light particles seeming floating off the moss around her. She could feel magic surging all around her and it was frankly scaring the hell out of Sunset. This world wasn't supposed to have magic, yet she could feel it pushing itself into her as the water started churning around her. With a scream of shock as she started feeling her body changing, Sunset tried to get back to the shore, but her thrashing around caused her to hit her head sharply on the rock and start to sink in the water as her eyes slowly closed.

Fluttershy stared at the current entry in the magic journal that Sunset had left behind. The shy girl had begged Sunset to borrow it to write to Twilight before Christmas as the girl wanted to find the perfect present. She wanted to ask for Twilight's opinions on what Sunset may like since they were both from the same world and maybe there was something that would remind the displaced girl of home while at the same time letting Sunset know that she had a home here as well.

Sadly it didn't work out that way as they had turned their backs on Sunset who disappeared after Celestia called into the office to expel her as this was the troubled girl's last chance. Unfortunately they had all caused the biggest FUBAR (fucked up beyond any repair) in history driving away such a good friend when it was in reality the three younger girls who made up Canterlot Mercenary Club after seeing that weird anime where the school had a mercenary club that helped all the other school clubs when needed that had been behind Anon A Miss.

They didn't hate the girls for it as two of them was Rarity and Applejack's sisters while the third may as well been Rainbow's kid sister. They were angry with them, and hurt as Sunset was missing and nobody could find her. And with Summer vacation just beginning it meant that it had been months since nobody had seen the missing girl and they knew she didn't return back to her home world. Twilight kept a close eye on the portal and she was beyond pissed off with all of them for letting this happen. Her last entry warned them that she was coming once again to try to help find the girl, but Fluttershy was scared. The last time Twilight was here she tore into all of them going as far as slapping Rainbow Dash when she said something stupid.

Closing the book Fluttershy climbed into her bed, a part of her wondering if Sunset had a bed wherever she was, and once again cried herself to sleep.

"I didn't do anything!" Sunset screamed, shooting up in a sitting position as she slowly realized that she was having one of her dreams again. Actually they were more memories than dreams as it really happened and as much as she tried to forget it, she couldn't.

Something was weird though, felt off as she looked around her feeling as if she was soaking wet. It was weird, how could she feel this wet and have been sleeping? Blinking as she noticed her hair float in front of her face Sunset's jaw dropped open as she realized something very important, she was sitting at the bottom of the pool in the cave she stumbled into! Trying to gather her feet under her she realized that they to felt weird, longer and somehow fused together. Looking down she found that instead of legs she had a fish like tail which once again earned another shriek.

"What the fuck!?" Sunset cursed in pure shock seeing her new appendage as another realization dawned on her as her hands went to her throat wrapping around it. She was breathing normally despite being submerged in a pool of water. She couldn't help crying as once again her body changed and this time there wasn't really much of an explanation for it. The last time she crossed over a portal and became human, but why did she turn into this half fish creature that reminded her of a humanized version of the Siren's astral forms.

"I refuse to be like that!" Sunset hissed out as she pushed off the floor, finding it almost natural as she swam through the tunnel leading from the cave and out into the ocean surrounding the island. It scared her some as she swam around until she found her boat and climbed out of the water onto the shore. It was harder than she would have thought, but she had to admit the sun felt good as she turned over on her back.

Looking down at herself she had to admit that she looked strange, yet beautiful. Her hair was the same, but her clothes were gone. She had on some kind of bikini top made of red seashells that seemed to glitter in the light and molded perfectly to her breasts. Her legs was not a long, elegant looking red tail that also seemed to glitter in the light with bands of material similar to her top around her wrists. Gasping in shock as she felt magic surging around her as light particles started to surround her body before leaving her back in her dry clothing with her legs intact. Sadly she left her boots behind and she wasn't so sure she wanted to go back for them and risk being turned back into that fish like thing even if she had to admit was beautiful.

"My dad said he's going to keep an eye out for our boat." Cleo said as she looked out over the water as she rested on the large towel on the beach next to the only boy who knew their secret and her two best friends.

"I can't believe somebody would do something like that." Rikki growled out as she glared out over the water, a little pissed off as their campout on Mako Island had been ruined by some thief.

"It was probably Zane being an ass as usual." Emma said, watching all of her old old friends from the swim team having fun in the water. Something she could no longer do because of her secret and she dearly missed it, but after the short time where she lost her powers she learned that while she did kind of missed her old life, her new one was just as important.

"I don't know girls, this isn't really Zane's usual MO." Lewis said, stealing a glance at Cleo with a little blush. He had a huge crush on her and loved seeing her in her exotic one piece while the other two wore bikinis. It was hard not thinking about her when she was just inches from him and he could almost feel her up against him as he wore a pair of loose trunks.

"I don't know who did it, but if I ever find them I'm going to pound them." Rikki grumbled, "I was looking forward to hearing Carlotta's new song."

"Well we can still head out to Mako if you girls want." Lewis said, perking up a bit as he loved seeing the girls in their other form while he dived with them. He couldn't understand the creatures that swam around them like the girls, but he could appreciate the friendship that girls seemed to have with them.

"My dad told me to stay away from there until we find out what happened with the boat. There might actually be somebody dangerous that stole it and might not hesitate to hurt us if we come across them." Cleo sighed.

"My dad actually suggested that it might have become untethered and floated away from the port." Emma replied with a roll of her eyes, "He said we shouldn't have left it alone if we had it packed and ready to go."

"We had to go help the twins though, what else were we supposed to do?" Cleo mumbled.

"Not much I guess, but I'll tell you one thing I am going to do." Rikki said as she sat up, "I'm going to Mako! Whose with me?"

"Let's do it, I'm getting tired of just sitting around here." Emma cheered, pumping a fist in the air as she sat up as well.

"I'm in if you want to go to Cleo." Lewis said as he sat up, adjusting his glasses as Cleo looked uncertain as she pushed herself up.

"Well, I guess if all of you want to go then I'm in also." Cleo said softly, not as excited about going as the others, but also not wanting to be left out of things. Surely they could take care of themselves anyways.

Out of Sight

Author's Note

:scootangel:For those of you who hasn't seen it, my blog has a lot of information about the H2O side of things so read it, the power of Sunset compels you!

Out of Sight

The oranges were delicious, the best Sunset could ever remember having with one minor drawback. They were extremely juicy and she ended up dribbling some of the juice down her chin leaving her in her current situation with a tail next to her tent. At first she was freaking out because of that, now she was freaking out because she heard voices coming her way.

Trying to crawl away wasn’t going very well when she felt a tingle of magic wash over her. Looking down hoping to see the tail gone, she found nothing. She couldn’t see anything of her body though she could still feel it. She had somehow used whatever magic that was doing this to her to turn invisible. And just in time.

“Is that our stuff?” A blonde haired girl gasped as she came into view of the tent before running over to the tent. The question really bothered Sunset as it meant that she had stolen a bunch of camping gear from kids her age that may not be able to easily replace it unless they had jobs or their parents didn’t mind just buying new ones. Before when it was somebody she didn’t see it didn’t bother her too much.

“It is! That’s my picnic basket!” The darker haired girl exclaimed dropping next to it and looking inside. “Most of the PB sandwiches, chips and cupcakes I put in here are still there.”

Of course they were still there, as hungry as Sunset was she wanted to make them last as long as she could out here. The bananas ad oranges would help, but she would need to find other food at some point as she knew she couldn’t just live off of that forever.

“I don’t think this is somebody who took this stuff just to be an asshole.” The redhead said, the boy stopping next to her as the two surveyed the small campsite.

“What do you mean, Rikki?” The darker haired girl asked, looking up from her place next to the basket.

“This is somebody trying to ration the food so it will last as long as it can.” Rikki replied, giving a sad yet contemplative look at the tent. “I’m betting they don’t have a place to stay, otherwise they would have just taken the food and left the tent.”

“And how would you know that?” The blonde asked, crossing her arms in a huff.

“I just do, okay?” Rikki huffed as she crossed her arms and turned her head away from looking at the blonde. From her position Sunset could make out a hurt expression on the girls face making her curious. It seemed like the group was friends, but there was some tension between this Rikki and the blonde girl.

“Emma, please don’t get mad like this. Our camping trip here was supposed to be a way to patch everything up.” The dark haired girl pleaded softly, climbing back to her feet.

“Look, we have the stuff back now, right girls? Let’s just pack it up and get out of here before whoever took it comes back.” The boy said making Sunset panic. If they messed with the campsite too much they would trip over her and she was afraid of losing whatever hold she had on the magic keeping her hidden from sight if she moved too much.

“No, I say we leave it. Your parents already replaced everything, right?” Rikki asked a little quietly which seemed somehow wrong for her.

“So what, this is still our stuff!” The girl Sunset guessed was named Emma snapped as she glared at Rikki.

“Maybe the person here needs it more than us since you all got new stuff.” Rikki sighed.

“I guess you are kind of right. I mean the insurance paid for the boat.” The boy said.

“If you want to leave that stuff then why don’t you pay us back for part of it, Rikki? After all didn’t you get the six grand last weekend after Zane and you tried to scam us into helping without pay?” Emma demanded.

“I told you I can’t use that money! It’s gone!” Rikki screamed at the girl, tearing up as she stomped off away from the group.

“Good going, Emma.” The dark haired girl snapped running off after Rikki leaving Emma and the boy.

“I guess it can’t hurt leaving the stuff behind for now, Lewis. Let’s go find Rikki and Cleo.” Emma sighed, walking off after the other two girls, the boy following close behind.

Rikki didn’t even bother waiting for the other as she just dove into the water and swam off as fast as she could just to avoid the others. In her mermaid form she was almost just as fast as Emma and much faster than Cleo. And since Lewis didn’t grow a tail when splashed with water he wouldn’t be able to follow her.

A part of her regretted what happened, especially the incident that nearly completely shattered their friendship. It still left a large crack in it since she had convinced the girls to help Zane and her find a sunken ship that went done just days before. They were going to put a reward out the next day for divers to locate a priceless artifact that was being transported to the museum. At first they were helping because they thought it was a good thing to do for the museum. Then Zane had to open his big mouth and let it slip about the reward and when Cleo and Emma were leaving Rikki tried begging them to stay and help. Instead they grew really pissed off when they found out Rikki already knew about the reward.

It was something Rikki still didn’t like thinking about because almost right after they left, she found the crate which was a little larger than they expected. She connected the cables to it though and as Zane stayed in the boat above raising the crate, the cables snapped when it was almost to the surface and dropped it back down where it hit Rikki in the head hard knocking her out. She wasn’t sure if she would have lived or not if Zane didn’t realize something was wrong and dived in to help her. She never told her friends, avoiding them for several days so they never saw the stitches as she found being a mermaid also increased the rate that they healed.

Arriving back on the mainland, she pulled herself up on land near her home and used her powers to quickly dry herself off. The heat making steam rise from her as the water evaporated without hurting her in the least. Once again on legs, Rikki stomped up the path to the trailer court and into her trailer. None of her friends knew she lived here and she intended to keep it a secret.

“I’m back dad.” Rikki said, stepping into the place to see her working on some piece off his motorcycle. Not that he would ever get the stupid thing running, they just didn’t have money to buy parts for it. It didn’t stop him from trying to take it apart and put it back together after tinkering with the stuff. At least it was a small part since he wasn’t supposed to be doing anything strenuous at the moment which was the whole reason he wasn’t working at the moment.

“Hey honey, what happened with your friends? I thought you were hanging out with them all day today.” Terry asked, putting the screwdriver down as he looked up from the table. There home was extremely small, but it was a roof over their heads even if they didn’t always have much money for anything else. With her dad injured and off from work they were going to be evicted until Rikki her share of the reward money from Zane and spent three quarters of it on paying the rent and bills up for the rest of the year with enough for groceries for awhile if careful. That also meant that she still really didn’t have money to do things with her friends that wasn’t free.

“I just felt tired and decided to come home early.” Rikki lied to her dad, feeling bad for the fib even if it was to protect her father. It seemed that was all she ever did anymore was lie to her father.

“I’m fine honey, you don’t have to keep coming to check up on me. I hurt my back, I didn’t break it.” Terry said.

“And you broke your leg, dad. I know you can take care of yourself still, and it isn’t why I came home. I just felt tired of dealing with Emma today, she’s being a total bitch.” Rikki said, ignoring the pointed look from her father at the use of that language. Instead she made her way to the fridge to see what they had in it and winced. She would have to go do some shopping soon which meant taking more out of what they had left. “I can make us a grilled cheese or a bologna sandwich, but that’s it. I’ll go get some more stuff later.”

“I feel really bad that you had to use your money like this.” Terry sighed, “I’m a horrible father.”

“You are a wonderful father that I love very much.” Rikki said as she moved over to kiss the top of her father’s head. “How about grilled bologna and cheese?”

Sunset was ecstatic to see her tail dissolve into light particles leaving her legs behind after the invisibility collapsed with her breathing heavily. It was extremely hard on her as she found herself struggling to keep it up when she started feeling it try to slip a few times when the others were there. As much as she freaked out the first time, it seemed that maybe when she got wet she changed and either when she dried or maybe spent so much time on land she changed back. She was still a little upset at being turned into a fish girl, but the more she concentrated the more she could feel the magic rushing through her. She may have been a little scared of the magic, not wanting to become some monster again, but she was happy to have some magic back. Even if it meant relearning how to use it, if she could.

Who was she kidding, she was Sunset Shimmer, the most powerful unicorn in Equestria and she would be the most powerful fish girl in this world. Only this time she would do it the right way. She wouldn’t let her ambitions drive her into making mistakes and hurting people.

Rarity felt like cursing as she walked away from her home, once again heading to the library. She was pissed that she had to go there just to get onto the internet after her parents had it turned off thanks to Sweetie Bell. To think that her own sister did something like this to begin with was unfathomable, yet the young girl did it. With her two friends, Sweetie Bell had effectively turned the entire school against Sunset Shimmer as well as each other.

As much as Rarity wanted to say her little sister deserved everything she got from that, she couldn’t. Hell, a part of her wanted to hate her sister for being manipulated into turning against a good friend who she was responsible for trying to help find the right path. She couldn’t hate Sweetie Bell though because the girl was her sister, plain and simple. Oh she was still pissed at her, but she could never hate her.

Earning a suspension that lasted the rest of the school year that guaranteed retaking the current year was a pretty stiff punishment. Then being grounded for three months at the least as well as losing her phone and internet added onto the severity of the punishment, as well as spilled over onto Rarity as she had to go outside the home to find internet access.

"I promise I’ll find you Sunset, even if I have to scour every newspaper in the area to find a trace of you.” Rarity swore to herself, though she knew it was a long shot. She just didn’t know what else to do right now.

Friendly Talk

The following morning felt like the first time in ages that Sunset was happy to actually wakeup and get out of bed. She had exhausted herself the night before trying to get a grip on her new magic and had been able to get a handle on invisibility as well as learning that she once again had telekinesis that took on several forms and some kind of pyromancy. The invisibility took a lot of focus and could be draining and extremely difficult to do while moving and the telekinesis seemed to work best with water or small objects. The same thing for the pyromancy as it seemed to work better when using it with water creating steam, though she had also managed to create several small fires with.

Today she planned on doing something a little more risky as she intended to explore her fishy form a little more in-depth. At first she didn’t want anything to do with it as it reminded her too much of the sirens, yet she didn’t feel any urges to cause trouble or go all evil once again so she decided it was something that needed to be done. It had something to do with her regaining magic and she truly needed to understand all of it if she intended to gain complete control of it. She just wasn’t sure what to do with it when she did.

After a quick breakfast of a single banana and a can of diet cola from the basket, Sunset set off for the beach. It looked as if it was going to be a beautiful day and she was going to enjoy it as much as she could since she was now free. Free of all the hassle and heartache that came with staying in Canterlot where all of her friends turned their backs on her.

“Fuck them!” Sunset hissed as she took a running start and dived into the water, changing ten seconds later to her other form. She was still shocked that she could breath underwater like she could, but she was a little shocked that she could see clearly as well. It was most likely just because it was sunny even this early and the light filtering trough the clear water lit up the underwater world.

Awe would be an understatement for what Sunset was feeling as she explored around Mako, seeing all of the different colored fish and reefs and the plants, the plants were so weird yet awesome! It was a whole new paradise and as far as she knew nobody else could enjoy this since humans seemed to not believe in magic or breathing underwater without some kind of equipment.

“Excuse me, are you new here?” A small, almost squeaky sounding voice asked from behind Sunset. Slowly she turned around to see the weirdest sight that she had ever witnessed in her life. Some kind of crab wearing a plastic shell of a toy car was riding a long, snake like creature. It took a few moments for Sunset to actually remember that she had seen these types of creatures before. She was sure they were a hermit crab and some kind of eel, but they couldn’t talk.

“Are you okay, dearie?” The eel asked making Sunset’s jaw drop. The fish things were talking to her. The fish things were talking to her!!!

“You can talk?” Sunset asked hesitantly, her eyes widened in shock.

“Of course we can talk, humans just can’t understand us.” The crab said, “My name is Bernie and this here is Zita. You must be a new mermaid.”

“Mermaid?” Sunset asked before remembering that movie that she thought was a silly story about the mermaid that Fluttershy watched during one of their sleepovers before the battle of the bands took place. Sunset had fallen asleep within minutes of it starting and despite Rainbow waking her up several times, Sunset didn’t really pay much attention to it.

“I should introduce you to the girls, they’ve been mermaids for about a year now.” Bernie said excitedly, before his features creased in worry. “That will have to wait though, I’m warning everyone that a great white has been spotted in the area so you need to be extra careful. If you see the girls on land, please tell them to be careful if they come here.”

“Sure, whatever you say.” Sunset said, feeling almost as if she was cracking up. She was talking to a fish! Technically a crab and eel, but it was the same thing!

“Gotta go, we have a lot more work to do warning everyone.” Bernie said waving goodbye as Zita swam off with the crab riding on her head.

“Yeah, bye.” Sunset replied with a halfhearted wave. What the hell was going on, she was taking to a fish! Shaking the shocking revelation from her head, she swam on exploring the area and found that she could actually swim much faster than anyone on the swim team back at CHS.

Seeing several old looking wooden posts sticking down into the water, Sunset warily moved around them before sticking her head above water gasping for air as her body seemed to switch from water to oxygen, or whatever happened. It wasn’t painful, but she could feel the shift as oxygen filled her lungs. She was under an old looking dock and could see a trailer park a few minutes walk from there with a path leading from it to the dock.

Hearing a sniffle, Sunset turned and saw Rikki sitting at the end, her legs pulled up to her chest as she hugged them. It sounded as if she was crying which Sunset tried to ignore, but after what the girl did for Sunset yesterday she just couldn’t. Swimming around she quietly dragged herself on shore and hoped that her magic would work doing this. She made a claw like shape with her fingers, feeling her body heat up a little. It was easy to gauge how much heat she needed as the water evaporated from her.

After changing back, Sunset stood at the end of the dock connected to land looking out at the girl at the other end. She wasn’t really too sure what to do as this wasn’t something she was good at. How was she supposed to comfort a stranger anyways? Cursing herself for her hesitation, she started the short walk down the dock intent on doing what she could to repay the favor of letting Sunset keep the tent and food that was left in the basket. Even if the bread was starting to go stale.

“Hey.” Sunset said, sitting down next to Rikki. It was a little closer than she meant, but she didn’t want to insult the girl by scooting away. “You okay?”

“Go away.” Rikki said, anger in her voice. The girl didn’t turn to look at Sunset, but it was easy to tell she was trying to hold back her tears from the strained tone of voice.

“I could do that, or you could tell me what’s wrong. I’m told an impartial ear can sometimes help what’s troubling you.” Sunset said, giving what she hoped was a kind, reassuring smile as the girl looked up at her. Her eyes were red and puffy

“I messed up, okay? I lost my friends because of a stupid mistake.” Rikki growled, pulling her legs closer to her chest. “I didn’t know what else to do, I didn’t have much of a choice.”

“I lost all of my friends lately too.” Sunset sighed, looking out over the water. She couldn’t help feeling for the other girl despite not having any intentions of making friends. She did want to help her, to pay her back.

“What happened?” Rikki asked softly, looking up at Sunset as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

“I admit I used to be a bully, but I really tried to change my ways and be a good person. I thought I was making progress when I made some really good friends and I thought I earned most everyone’s trust. Then somebody started posting secrets of my friends first of all then branching out to the entire school. It was an anonymous account, but used my colors and even a silhouette of me. Everyone blamed me and my friends turned their backs on me. I was blamed for it and expelled from my school and didn’t really have a lot of money to do much else than come here.”

“I know how that feels, not having a lot of money. My dad and me never had much money and had to move more than once when work dried up and we couldn’t afford to stay there any longer.” Rikki sighed, “I didn’t even have enough money to buy juice half the time when we met up at the Juicy Bar.”

“Made excuses about having things to do or told them you weren’t really in the mood for juice too?” Sunset asked, getting a shocked nod from the other girl as confirmation of her suspicions. “Me to, I hated admitting to not having money to do things. They told me that they didn’t care about me not having money, they only cared about being friends.”

“I want to think Emma and Cleo thought that way, but their families are pretty well off. Heck, Emma’s parents are practically loaded.” Rikki said, looking up into the sky. “I heard some girls making fun of people living in the trailer park when we first became friends. Emma just laughed at them, agreeing with them.”

“Are you sure that she agreed with them, or was she laughing at them for being stupid?” Sunset asked, cocking her head in question.

“She agreed with them!” Rikki snapped angrily, though the anger slowly drained from her face as a thoughtful look replaced it. “I think anyways, it’s how things always go. Nobody wants to be my friends because I’m the freak that lives in a trailer. Everywhere we moved it was the same.”

“What caused the fight with your friends in the first place?” Sunset asked, wondering what did happen with the other girls. If Rikki was this upset about them, they must have been somewhat close. Hell Rikki seemed to really care for them.

“It happened a few weeks ago, work was slow for my dad so he took a job that I guess was more dangerous than usual. He hurt his back and broke his leg and since he wasn’t getting much work besides that we couldn’t really make the rent. We got a notice that if we didn’t pay up soon, we would be evicted.” Rikki explained, “Last week, my boyfriend Zane came to me about a ship that sunk a few miles off shore and they were offering a reward of $10,000 dollars to anyone who could find a crate that had some kind of thing that belonged in a museum.”

“How did your friends get involved if this is what happened with them?” Sunset asked, not exactly sure how that could even have caused trouble with the friends.

“My friends don’t really like my boyfriend, he can be a bit of a pain. He used to be a bully of sorts too, but it’s all a front to protect himself because of his dad. Everybody wants to be close to him because of his dad’s money and his dad isn’t really father of the year material.” Explained Rikki as she looked at her watch. “If they knew he wanted to get the crate because of a reward they would never have helped him. So I told them it was for the museum and that the thing deserved to be protected by them and not rotting at the bottom of the ocean. They helped me dive and look for it, but when Zane let it slip about the reward they turned on him saying they should have known. Emma told me to come on and let him find it himself.”

“You didn’t go, did you?” Sunset asked, already knowing the answer. She also knew that Rikki had messed up, but if they other two was as close of friends as Rikki thought them to have been, they would have realized something was wrong.

“How could I, if I didn’t find it we would be evicted. It isn’t much, but it’s our home.” Rikki sniffed, “I admitted it was my idea and they left me there. I kept looking and I found it, but when we were raising it the rope broke and the crate fell and hit me in the head. If Zane didn’t realize something was wrong and dive in after me, I might have died.”

“Oh shit.” Sunset hissed out softly, seeing how much that affected the girl. She was shaken up about almost dying as she was about her friends being angry with her.

“Zane is the only one who knew, he was about to call somebody for help, but I woke up in time to stop him. I had to get stitches, but it wasn’t that bad. If Zane didn’t come get me though, it could have ended up being a lot worse.” Rikki explained, looking at her watch again. “Look, I have to go, I need to make some lunch for my dad and me.”

“It was nice meeting you, I really hope that things work out with your friends.” Sunset said, smiling at the girl as they got up. “Maybe we can meet up again sometime.”

“That would be nice.” Rikki said with a nervous smile before turning and hurrying off. Sunset however was mentally beating herself up as she didn’t have any plans on meeting up with Rikki often or becoming friends with her. She had enough of friends to last a lifetime. A little walk through town though would be nice though while she was here.

Rainbow Dash collapsed on the park bench, breathing heavily as she rested from her morning jog. She had to admit it was kind of nice not having to hold back and waiting for Sunset as the girl had joined her in her jogs. Even if it was kind of nice, she would give anything to have her friend back even if she had to hold back at least 20% more than usual.

It was hard to believe that they had messed up so badly blaming Sunset Shimmer when they should have been there for their friend. They should have known that it wasn’t Sunset after seeing the girl breakdown in the middle of CHS, and yet anger had clouded their vision.

Anger, something she couldn’t help feeling for her surrogate little sister. She loved Scootaloo, always would, but she refused to talk to the girl right now. She refused to talk to any of the three girls that were involved in framing Sunset Shimmer. She was afraid that if she was around any of them for a prolonged period of time that she would hit them. Something she would never do seeing how much younger they were, but she was just so angry with them.

She loved them though, that hadn’t changed. It would take a little more time, but she would eventually hang out with them more sometime. She couldn’t right now though even if she wanted. Scootaloo was grounded all summer having to do volunteer work until her mother told her otherwise. The funny thing was that it was at the library which was a place Scootaloo normally avoided like the plague seeing how much the younger girl hated the place. It was kind of a suiting punishment, though nothing they could do would take back the pain they had caused.

Somewhat Unfriendly Talk

She wasn’t sure what she was looking for as Emma stared in her half empty juice glass, idly stirring the contents with her straw. Cleo was a little upset about her getting into another argument with Rikki, and Emma didn’t blame Cleo for it in the least. Emma hated the tension that had come between them recently, but she was hurt over what she believed was betrayal by one of her friends. She wanted to look past it and move forward, she really did, but since that day things just seemed off between the.

“Can I sit down here?” An unfamiliar girl asked as she put her hand on the back of the chair across from Emma.

“I’d rather be alone.” Emma said giving the girl a bit of a glare. She really wasn’t in the mood to deal with a stranger right now, especially one who was giving her dirty looks and asking to sit with her.

“Well, that’s just too bad, isn’t it?” The new girl said as she pulled the chair out and dropped into it without taking her eyes from Emma’s own.

“Then I’ll leave.” Emma snorted as she started to get up, freezing when she saw a flash of anger in the stranger’s eyes.

“Sit or I swear to Celestia I’ll make your ass sit.” The girl hissed out angrily, something in her eyes making Emma obey while wondering what she was going on about and who or what Celestia was.

After trying several times, Emma was finally able to bring herself to ask, “What do you want?”

“My name is Sunset Shimmer, and I won’t take up much of your time. I owe somebody something, and I want to make sure I repay her.” Sunset had said confusing Emma even more. “First off though, I want to know what you think about the people living in the trailer park close to here.”

“Are you serious?” Emma asked, giving Sunset a confused look before deciding the girl must live there. Probably ran into Miriam and her lapdogs. “What am I supposed to think about them? They’re people just like you and me.”

“So you don’t think that you are better than them?” Sunset asked, her demeanor becoming less angry.

“I don’t know what Miriam told you, but as far as I’m concerned they’re just people.” Emma said, shaking her head and debating trying to slip away again before the girl pinned her with another harsh look.

“I’ve never met this Miriam, but I know somebody who is kind of hurt over hearing you laugh at some girls who were making fun of the people who lived there.” Sunset said, waving away the waitress who came over to try and take her order.

Emma sat there and stared at the girl, unsure just what she was taking about. She’d never laugh at them like that, but the girl in front of her was being serious. Apparently there was some kind of misunderstanding somewhere, but she just wasn’t sure what. The only time she could remember lately about hearing anyone making fun of them was awhile back. She remembered heading to the beach with Cleo and Rikki when Miriam and her lapdogs was passing by. It was close to the trailer park and Miriam was saying how worthless those people were before freaking out because of a bird flew overhead and dropped a surprise for the stuck-up girl. She couldn’t help laughing at what happened, but refused to let her friends in on what was so funny because she didn’t want to sound crass. What was she supposed to say, she was laughing because the bird used Miriam’s face as a bathroom?

“The only time I can remember overhearing anyone making fun of them and I laughed was when Miriam and her friends were making fun of them and a bird that was flying overhead kind of…” Emma said, finding it hard to hold back a snicker as she kept trying to explain.

“The bird shit on her, didn’t it?” Sunset asked with a soft laugh. “Serves her right.”

“What’s this all about anyways?” Emma asked, relaxing a little as the girl before her seemed to change from an avenging angel to a somewhat likeable girl.

“I know about the problems you are having with one of your friends, but have you ever thought that maybe your friend had her reasons for what she did?” Sunset asked, her voice getting softer as she grabbed Emma’s drink and took a long sip from the straw. “Wow this is really good.”

“You know you could have ordered your own.” Emma growled, crossing her arms even though she really wasn’t angry. It actually reminded her of Rikki, her friend doing the same thing on more than one occasion.

“I would if I had the money, but I don’t. Just like your friend, she doesn’t have much money either. Have you ever stopped to ask yourself why your friend always finds excuses to get out of doing anything with you that costs money?” Sunset asked, making Emma think. Emma knew something was weird about Rikki, and she was sure that was who this girl was talking about. At first Emma had brushed it off as one coincidence after another, but lately she was starting to worry that maybe Rikki just didn’t want to hang out with them.

“Well yeah, if you are talking about Rikki, I know she doesn’t really like the things Cleo and I do or she just doesn’t want to hang out with us that much.” Emma said, though she had a feeling she was missing something big with the way Sunset kept staring at her.

“There could be another reason you know. Rikki might not have the means to join you girls in doing stuff that costs money.” Sunset said, draining the last of the juice in the glass and licked her lips. If she ever got a hold of some extra money, she would have to make sure she came here.

“Okay, I can see that up until she lied to us about that reward.” Emma said, for the first time actually feeling some anger bubble up.

“She’s your friend, don’t you think that she must have had a very important reason for it? She doesn’t seem like the type of person to manipulate someone just for the fun of it.” Sunset asked before the waitress returned with two glasses and set them down in front of Sunset and Emma.

“On the house.” The waitress said when Sunset tried to protest, earning a shy thank you from the girl before the waitress headed off.

“I know Rikki isn’t that type of person!” Emma huffed out, grabbing her drink and taking a sip from it. “Every time I try to bring it up though she gets defensive and we argue about it.”

“What if I told you she almost died when Cleo and you left her there?” Sunset asked, taking a drink of her own juice with a bit of a moan. Emma could have sworn she said something like, “So good!”

“Wait, WHAT?” Emma cried out in shock.

“If you care, ask her about it. I won’t say anymore about it. I will tell you several things though.” Sunset said before taking the straw out and just downing the juice in one long drink before slamming the glass back down on the table. “One, maybe you should ask yourself why Rikki would be so upset about thinking you would make fun of people in that trailer park. Two, Cleo and you are her first friends and she might mess up sometimes, but it doesn’t mean she doesn’t love you two. And third, where do you think the money for their rent is coming from if her dad is hurt and they were in danger of being evicted.”

“What are you saying?” Emma asked as Sunset got up, looking down at her.

“If you want anymore answers then find Rikki and ask her. Word of advice though, stay calm and don’t let her push you away. If you care for Rikki at all, look past her fear and make sure she knows you care about her. If you don’t care for her, then I pity you because you are missing out on the opportunity of having a wonderful friend.”

“Hey wait!” Emma called after Sunset as she turned and hurried from the Juicy Bar with Emma following. She lost sight of the new girl when turning around a corner and by the time she caught up and rounded the corner Sunset was gone leaving Emma with a lot of questions and only once source to get the answers. It sounded as if Sunset was saying that Rikki lived in the trailer park.

Within minutes Emma was walking through the small park looking at the trailers closer than she ever did. The few people she passed were really nice offering her warm greetings and smiles that she returned. She never really thought much about them before really, she really had nothing against them and thought they were people just like her. Walking through here though she began to wonder if she did have some preconceptions of them. She thought they would be unhappy or something, yet they seemed just as happy as anyone else. Most of them did except for a man sitting on the ground with a cast on his leg working on a motorcycle. He seemed kind of sad.

"Dad! What the hell are you doing out here?” Rikki cried out running out of the trailer with a worried yet angry look on her face.

“I might not be able to work honey, but I can at least sit here and work on this. If I can get it running I can at least sell it to get back some of that money you wasted on the rent and bills.” The man said sadly, unable to look up at Rikki.

“The hell you are, you love that bike and the rent and bill are paid up for several months after the cast is supposed to come off. We’re fine, but I expect you to stop doing this shit! Seriously dad, your back is hurt to and if you keep doing stuff like this you will never get better.” Rikki said as she knelt down to him and started packing the tools back into the toolbox.

“Language young lady.” The man said, though he really didn’t sound too angry. “It isn’t right that you spend all of that money on bills. I’m supposed to be taking care of you, not the other way around.”

“You took care of me for sixteen years, I can take care of you for a few months daddy!” Rikki said as she leaned over to hug the man.

“You aren’t sixteen until next month.” The man laughed, though it made Emma feel like crap. She never knew Rikki’s birthday, yet they were supposed to be friends. Did they miss Rikki’s birthday last year? No, they couldn’t of since if it was next month summer vacation would still be going on and they didn’t meet Rikki until a couple weeks into the school year.

“Close enough Daddy.” Rikki laughed as she went back to gathering the tools. Emma swallowed the lump in her throat and walked over to the pair.

“Need help?” Emma asked, kneeling down to pick up a silver long piece of metal that she thought was a wrench and handed it to Rikki who froze for a moment as she locked eyes with Emma nervously.

“If you’re sure.” Rikki said, looking as if she was both happy and on the verge of tears.

“I’m sure, that’s what friends are for. Right?” Emma asked before Rikki actually tackled her in a hug which was very uncharacteristic of the girl, but Emma didn’t care. She just wanted her friend back and this time there would be no secrets between them.

Sunset walked out toward the beach hoping that she did the right thing. If her gamble paid off then Rikki would have her friends back and she was sure that would pay the girl back for her kindness. If not, she would find another way of paying the girl back as it would prove that Emma didn’t care about Rikki. She was praying that things worked out well though as she found herself on a secluded part of the beach near a bunch of rock outcroppings.

“Help!” A young girl’s voice cried out making Sunset look up to see a young girl on a surfboard out on the water and nobody was close enough to help her as a fin was sticking up out of the water going around her in circles.

"Oh shit!” Sunset gasped seeing a large thing surge out of the water towards the girl with rows of sharp teeth.

Applejack felt sorry for her little sister who would have to repeat a year in school after the stunt that Apple Bloom and her friends pulled. It wasn’t that she didn’t care that her sister had done what she did, but she knew it was going to be extra rough on Apple Bloom next year as many of the students already made fun of the sisters for being “country hicks.” Having to repeat a year was going to make the harassment on Apple Bloom even worse on top of the anger at the girl’s involvement in the incident.

While Applejack didn’t want her little sister to go through with that, it didn’t mean she wasn’t pissed off at the girl either. Apple Bloom deserved every ounce of punishment Granny Smith dished out and then some. Having to work all summer on the farm taking over some of both Big Mac and Applejack’s chores left the elder siblings with more time on their hands. Time that made Apple Jack realize just how badly they all messed up. Not just the CMC.

She prided herself on telling when people were telling the truth ever since Twilight first came to this world. Yet when Sunset was telling them the truth and crying her eyes out they all turned their backs on the girl. In Apple Jack’s opinion, the CMC wasn’t the only ones who deserved punishment for the things that they did.

Blackmailed

Without hesitation Sunset was in the water heading directly to the young girl who was just knocked into the water by the large shark. If the red was any indication the girl was hurt and all Sunset could do was pray that the shark hadn’t seriously hurt or killed the girl. It only took her a few moments to shoot through the water like a bullet to catch the sinking girl in one arm, the smaller girl barely struggling despite having her eyes open.

“You aren’t getting away with my lunch that easily bitch!” The shark snarled as it came back around towards the two, its razor filled maw wide open for another bite. Flinging her free hand up, the water around the shark instantly froze in ice, the iced shark sinking to the bottom. Turning Sunset hurried to the shore pulling the injured girl along.

“So, what now?” Rikki asked as Emma and her sat out in the dock looking out toward Mako Island. It was something that often brought peace to both girls, just relaxing and looking out toward where their friendship was forged and their secret life began.

“I don’t know, to be honest I’m still waiting for you to call me trailer trash and just walk away.” Rikki admitted quietly, voicing the fear that had always been there ever since befriending Cleo and Emma.

“Rikki! Why in the hell would I do that, you’re my friend! There’s nothing wrong with living in a trailer.” Gasped Emma, staring at her friend in shock as she realized that maybe Rikki had good reason to think that way. “How many times has that happened?”

“I’ve never really had friends, Emma. Though I’ve had girls who were nice to me until they found out where I lived. Then everyone would start calling me freak and loser.” Rikki said painfully, “I prefer trailer trash, the could get a lot more creative when we were living in a government funded place.”

“Huh? I thought you didn’t take charity.” Emma said, not trying to accuse Rikki of anything despite being genuinely curious.

“It isn’t charity when the rent if worked off. And besides, while we don’t take charity, sometimes you don’t have a choice when you have a ten year old and your wife left you taking every cent with her.” Growled Rikki angrily, blinking away tears.

“I’m so sorry, Rikki.” Emma said, scooting closer before drawing the redhead into a hug.

“Don’t be Emma, it isn’t your fault. If anyone should be sorry, it should be me. I didn’t mean to come off as being manipulative, but I just didn’t know what else to do. If I came to you with the truth I was afraid you would just turn me away and call me trash. I thought if we could pull it off without that idiot blabbing about the reward then nobody would have to know where I live and we wouldn’t be evicted.” Rikki sighed as she leaned into the hug. It felt nice not having to worry about her friend dumping her because of where she lived and how poor they were.

“Well I know where you live now, Rikki. And I expect you to tell Cleo as well, she’ll accept it just like me.” Emma said squeezing a little tighter. “And from now on, no more lies, okay? Not between us. There’s enough lies trying to hide the fact that we are mermaids, we don’t need any between us also.”

“I promise, no more lies.” Rikki agreed, both girls smiling.

“Good.” Emma said before growing even more serious. “Rikki, for what it’s worth I think of you as a sister. Cleo and you both. While I regret becoming a mermaid sometimes, I’ve never regretted becoming your friend. The only regret I have is not getting to know you as soon as you transferred in.”

“Thanks.” Rikki sniffed, trying not to cry as that was a big part of her fears.

“And I’m also glad that you didn’t die or get hurt worse. I’m so sorry you left you there by yourself.” Emma admitted, knowing that while Rikki had manipulated them, she hadn’t meant to. She also knew that since Rikki admitted to never having friends before Cleo and Emma, the girl probably wasn’t very good at expressing herself in a group which explained so much.

“Don’t be sorry, Emma. I’m not dead, which I’m happy about too believe me, and it’s all in the past.” Rikki said pulling back, “I guess I owe that girl a lot for this.”

“What did you do to make her feel like she owed you?” Emma asked, getting up with Rikki.

“I have no idea, I never met her before she found me cr-sitting on the dock.” Rikki said, hoping Emma didn’t catch her mistake.

“Rikki, what did I tell you about lies?” asked Emma, crossing her arm and tapping her foot making Rikki blush a little.

“Fine, I was crying on the dock when she found me.” Rikki huffed, rolling her eyes. “Happy?”

“Happy about you telling me the truath? Yeah! Happy that I was part of the reason you were crying? No, and I never want to be the cause to make you cry ever again.” Emma said, “But I’m worried about who that girl is and how much she knows. Do you think she knows about us?”

“I don’t really know.” Rikki said slowly, paling at the implications. There was a new girl out there who could possibly know their secret and if she did, would she keep it? She didn’t seem like the type to want to hurt anybody, well maybe Emma for hurting Rikki, but she seemed to have the desire to pay Rikki back for some unknown good deed.

“Maybe we should call Cleo and find out.” Emma suggested pulling out her phone. Rikki pulled hers out as well, Emma noticing for the first time that it was a really old model that usually came from the prepaid ones. There was so many signs that Rikki didn’t have a lot of money which was making Emma want to kick herself for never noticing it before.

Sunset gasped for air as she pulled herself up on shore, her tail still in the water and the young girl still in the small waves coming up on shore. The entire side of the girl’s swimsuit was ripped off with red all over her. It didn’t look like there was anything missing, but apparently the shark’s teeth either grazed her very badly or he bit into her.

“Hurts.” Whimpered the young girl who was looking up wide-eyed at Susnet making the older girl let out a strangled sob. What was she suppsed to do, she was stuck in her fishy form for the moment and even if she wasn’t she just wasn’t too sure what to do. There was nobody in screaming distance that could hear her, and by the time she dried off and found somebody the young girl could be dead.

“Please be okay, please!” Sunset cried, trying to pull back the shredded fabric of her swimwear when her hands started glowing a golden color. Gasping in shock as tendrils of water rose from the water lapping up around the two, Sunset felt an urge to hold her hand over the bloody area. Shakily doing so, she was shocked when not only did the tendrils of water washed away the blood, making a lot of it go back inside, but it also began knitting up the large gashes and holes that was now visible without the blood covering the area.

After just a few moments color started returning to the young girl and her shaking finally stopped. Looking up into Sunset’s eyes they grew fearful yet at the same time seemed to fill with awe. As her hand stopped glowing, Sunset pulled back, trying to sit up though found it a little difficult to do with a tail. “Are you okay?”

“You healed me?” The girl asked in surprise as she too sat up and inspected the area where her wound once was. There wasn’t even any scaring and if it wasn’t for her swimsuit being ruined there would be no evidence of what happened.

“I guess I did.” Sunset admitted, a little shaky herself. She could do a lot of things as a unicorn, but healing wasn’t one of them. No unicorn could heal like that and she wasn’t even sure if the princess herself could.

“You don’t know?” The girl asked as she scooted farther away from the water as she kept her eyes locked on Sunset.

“I don’t even know what I am. I wasn’t like this a few days ago, but since I changed I started getting these powers.” Sunset admitted, looking down and away from the girl.

“That is so awesome!” The girl cried out all of a sudden, “Are you saying you somehow turned into a mermaid al of a sudden?”

“Well, it wasn’t all of a sudden. Well it was, but not like spontaneous. I stumbled into this place that was full of magic on the full moon and fell into this pool. Since then when I get wet I turn into this thing and when I dry I go back to normal. So I’m a mermaid, huh?” Sunset explained, looking up to see a strange look cross the girl’s face. “My name is Sunset Shimmer.”

“I’m Kim Sertori.” Kim said, returning Sunset’s smile as the older girl pulled herself farther up onto dry land before using her powers to dry herself the rest of the way and changed back to normal. “It must be hard dealing with that, changing just because you get splashed with water.”

“It probably is, but I don’t really have anybody. No family or friends so I tend to stick to myself anyways.” Sunset explained, “Will you please keep this a secret?”

“I will on one condition.” Kim said while giving a shark like smile, “You be my friend and help teach me how to surf and stuff, and I won’t tell anyone.”

Sunset wanted to smack the girl, she really did, but she luckily refrained from doing so. She was just a kid and didn’t deserve that, no matter how much a part of her wanted to. Knowing she was screwed, but not regretting saving a young girl’s life, Sunset relented and gave the only answer she could. “Okay.”

Pinkie Pie sighed heavily as she boxed up another order of cupcakes and muffins. Ever since she learned the truth, despite having a feeling that something wasn’t right, Pinkie Pie had grown downcast with her poofy hair doing the same as it went flat and seemed to remain so. Ever since Sunset seemed to vanish Pinkie Pie seemed to remain on autopilot, doing just what was required of her including homework and helping the Cakes. Even though all of her friends had tried to cheer her up, she just couldn’t find a reason to. Even the few parties she was dragged to she left minutes later not bothering to even try to enjoy the games, music, food and friends. She just didn’t feel like she deserved to until she found Sunset Shimmer and earned forgiveness for what happened.

Truths

“What do you want me to say? I fucked up! Okay! I get it!” Celestia sobbed out, her voice broken and slurred as she slammed the cheap bottle of beer down on the desk before her. Normally she wouldn’t be at school over summer break like this, but she needed to find and fix her greatest mistake. How could she have been so stupid in the first place?

“Yeah you bucked up! I left Sunset in your care, in the girls’ care, actually trusting that she would be taken care of instead of insisting that she come home with me when she said she felt she needed to stay here.” Twilight snapped out, hurt overpowering her anger as she was reminded of another incident where she herself was hurt just as badly by the pony counterparts of these people. And now these human versions have basically done the same to Sunset. And even if she did forgive the pony versions, this was opening old wounds making her wonder if maybe this was natural to this group, both ponies and humans alike. Was it worth trusting either group any longer? When it was just herself, the answer was yes, but now that she relied them to care for somebody very special to her? She just didn’t know.

“I’m trying to find her! I knew something was off, but what did you expect me to do? I overlooked things so much to give her a chance and this happened! The entire school was on the edge of a full blown riot where many would be hurt! I did the only thing I could and I don’t have to answer to you for it!” Celestia growled out, throwing the empty bottle at Twilight who just stood there unmoving while the bottle flew past her head making her hair fly out before shattering against the wall behind her. She knew she wouldn’t be principal much longer as she didn’t feel she deserved it and if that wasn’t enough the school board was trying to force her to retire. And if she didn’t retire she had no doubts they would just fire her.

“No, you just have to answer to yourself!” Twilight snarled, turning from the shell of a woman and stormed out of the office. After slamming the door she leaned against one of the lockers outside and sighed. She really should have tried harder to encourage Sunset to return to Equestria, but as much as she wanted to be selfish and force Sunset to, Twilight couldn’t do it in the end. She wanted Sunset to be happy, and she was happy here with the friends she made. At least she seemed to be until now.

“What am I supposed to do? I don’t know this world well enough to search for her on my own.” Twilight groaned out. She didn’t really want to ask the human versions of her friends as she wasn’t really on speaking terms with them right now. And after the recent altercation with the principal, just another added to many these past months, she didn’t feel very confident in the woman either.

“Why are you so desperate to find her?” A voice asked, startling Twilight. Turning she saw Luna standing there, at least this world’s version. Twilight didn’t really know the woman that well, but she seemed to be a lot different than her own Luna.

“Because it was my fault for not making her come home.” Twilight sighed looking up at the woman who gave a smile that didn’t seem to reach her eyes in the least.

“So, you are blaming my sister and your friends for what had happened?” Luna asked, arching a brow. When Twilight just glared at her, she sighed as her shoulders slumped. “Okay, yeah they are partly to blame. All of us are and I do want to find her.”

“Why do you want to find her?” Twilight asked, her glare softening.

“Because I love my sister and want to help ease her pain. She’s the best principal this school has ever had, but she isn’t perfect and she makes mistakes. I know that better than anyone.” Luna admitted, swallowing a little before continuing. “As much as I love my sister though, I just want to find Sunset and make sure that she is okay. If Sunset is happy where ever she is, I have no intentions of dragging her back her.”

“Good, because if she’s being dragged anywhere then it will be back to Equestria with me.” Twilight snapped.

“That’s fine if it is what she wants to do. The fact remains though that you know nothing about this world while I not only am the best around here with computers, I have the most resources to actually locate her.” Luna said, “Though it may take time, I am more than willing to help you in this endeavor.”

It took several seconds for Twilight to decide if she should accept help, before facepalming and asking, “You’re a gamer, aren’t you?”

For several minutes, Twilight’s only answer was a blushing, sputtering woman.

“I’m worried about my sister.” Cleo sighed as she sat at a booth at the JuiceNet nursing a juice while her two best friends sat across from her. She was a little shocked to see that not only were they acting like they were done fighting, but they seemed closer than usual. She was happy about it, but she was a little curious as to what happened. Her worry about her little sister though quickly pushed the curiosity out of her mind.

“Why, what happened?” Emma asked, sounding a little worried herself which Rikki didn’t blame her. It was no secret that Kim and Cleo constantly fought and sometimes they couldn’t even help wondering if Cleo even cared for her little sister.

“First she doesn’t give me grief or charge me for doing the dishes this morning, and then she heads out really early for her instead of watching her music countdown she never misses. She said she had to meet up with her friends, but I know them, they wouldn’t miss watching that either.” Cleo explained, leaving out the fact that after a few minutes after Kim left her dad mentioned he was worried to. Cleo had left to find Kim, but couldn’t find her at her normal hangouts so came to the conclusion that they may have been meeting up at one of her friend’s houses to watch it.

“Sounds to me like she might have a boyfriend.” Rikki said with a smile, though she was feeling extremely nervous. She had promised Emma she would tell Cleo about almost dying and living at the trailer park. She was thankful for this distraction, but doubted it would last long.

“Maybe, as long as nothing happens to her.” Cleo sighed.

“I’m sure she will be fine.” Emma smiled, “If you want we can all go look though.”

“No, I’m sure the little brat is fine. Just probably messing with me.” Cleo said, tough her friends wasn’t too sure about it. “What did you two want to talk about though, the text said that you really needed to talk this morning.”

“Well, I kind of have some things to admit.” Rikki said, looking around to make sure that they were still pretty far away from anybody. They picked this booth often because they could openly, if quietly, talk about their mermaid secret. As far as Rikki was concerned, this was to be just as big of a secret as if people like Miriam found out then things could end up worse. “You see, the reason I needed that reward money was to pay our rent and utilities up until my dad is expected to recover. They were going to evict us because they were behind so much.”

“Why didn’t you just tell us that?” Cleo asked in horror yet sympathy.

“Because I was afraid to tell you because then you would find out where I live. That I live in the trailer park.” Rikki explained, dropping her head to look down at her hands in embarrasement. She was surprised when Cleo took her hands.

“That’s why you are always so defensive of the place?” Cleo asked as pieces of the puzzle that was Rikki fell more into place as Emma hugged her from the side. After a slight nod from Rikkie, Cleo continued, “Rikki, we don’t care where you live as long as you are safe and happy. You are like a sister to us, we love you.”

“Thanks girls.” Rikki said, teary eyed as it seemed like they really did want was best for her. Rikki was relieved when Emma whispered to her, “Don’t worry about the rest, just drop it.” That way she wouldn’t have to upset Cleo even more as she was the most emotional of the group and didn’t want to burden her with that detail anyways. Only reason she was going to tell her at first was because Emma made her promise, but thankfully it seemed Emma was dropping that part of the promise and wouldn’t get any arguments over it.

“That was so AWESOME!” Kim cried happily as a now human Sunset and Kim laid on their backs looking up at the sky, a surfboard sitting several feet away. At first Kim wasn’t sure why Sunset wanted to come all the way to Mako for lessons, but after hearing that people would freak if they saw a mermaid give surfing lessons, she gave in.

“I actually wasn’t too sure what to do, I have no idea what I’m doing.” Sunset laughed, “Though I guess this is working, and I do admit it is nice to have someone to talk to.”

“It was fun anyway you looked at it. I just wish my sister cared enough about me to do this with me.” Kim sighed, having a deep suspicion of what Cleo was. While pissed at her sister for lying and hiding it, after hanging with Sunset even more steeled her resolve to help her sister for now and maybe confront her later.

It wasn’t that Kim hated her sister, but ever since her mother had left them several times for a separation lasting four to six months each time, the youngest Sertori was left with abandonment issues that made her lash out at her family. She believed it was better that she distanced herself from them so the inevitable heartbreak of them leaing her permanently wouldn’t hurt so much. And yet it had hurt very badly when Cleo ran away a few months ago. Thankfully she came home, though it made Kim think a lot and realize she missed the close relationship they once shared. Since then she had tried several times to be a better sister, but often gave up when Cleo always questioned her motives and turned her away.

Then came the shark attack, if it wasn’t for Sunset Kim was sure she would be dead right now. It made Kim really think about things and she came to the conclusion that there would be no more trying, she would be a better sister. She wouldn’t give up and she would make Cleo see the truth, though she wasn’t sure if she should confront Cleo about being a mermaid or not. She wasn’t completely sure if her sister was like Sunset, but she had a very strong suspicion that Cleo was.

“Are you sure me pulling the board slowly is good enough?” Sunset asked, referring to her basically towing the board slowly while letting Kim get used to the movement and practice keeping her balance. The waters were usually pretty calm at Mako for some reason unlike the mainland which was prime surfing.

“Yeah, I’m just a little worried about that shark or anything else. If I have someone like you with me protecting me though I know I’ll be fine.” Kim said, not admitting that what she really wanted was companionship since her friends dumped her. They thought she was being too soft and weak when she admitted that she worried about her sister. When she told them she was sick of their peer pressure to act like a bitch, they dumped her and told her not to come back unless she grew a backbone. Kim would rather have no backbone than act like them though.

“I can actually talk to them, you know.” Sunset admitted making Kim’s eyes bug out.

“Are you serious?” Kim asked in shock.

“Yeah, it’s kind of weird. I don’t think I’ll ever eat seafood again.” Sunset laughed, “Not that I liked it much to begin with.”

“I guess that’s why Cleo avoids it as much as she can.” Cleo admitted to herself.

“What was that?” Sunset asked, unsure of what was said.

“Nothing really, just thinking out loud.” Kim said, though she was getting more and more positive that she was right before. That Cleo was a mermaid.

Author's Note

Heeeyyyy, quick question!? Should I pair Sunset up with somebody? Twilight? Rikki? Rikki and Zane, though I'm not too sure about that! Let me know below! :heart: