The Choice

“... three armed men entered a bank in Oakland…”

CLICK.

“... situation continued to deteriorate...”

CLICK.

“... troops deployed in the Middle East...”

CLICK.

“... six dead in...”

CLICK.

“... enhanced security protocols being implemented for all...”

CLICK.

Sunset tossed the remote for her TV aside in disgust. While she normally liked starting her day with the news while she got ready for school, today it all seemed the same: violent and depressing. She got up from her bed and grabbed her jacket and backpack, her mood dark.

She locked the door to her room and headed downstairs. As she reached the front door, Miss Bookbinder, the boarding house's owner, called to her.

“No breakfast this morning, Sunset?”

“Not today, Miss Bookbinder,” Sunset answered. “I'll pick something up on my way to school.”

“You better, young lady,” Miss Bookbinder responded, looking out from the kitchen doorway. She had green hair done up in a bun, and peered at Sunset over half-moon spectacles. This gave her the appearance of looking older than she actually was. Sunset liked her. She was no-nonsense, and sarcastic as hell, but she cared about her tenants. “You have lunch money, yes?”

“Yes, Miss Bookbinder,” Sunset said. “Do you need me to pick up anything on my way home?”

“Nothing comes to mind,” Miss Bookbinder answered, disappearing back into the kitchen. “Have a good day at school.”

“If you do need something, send me a text,” Sunset said. “I'll see you later.”

Miss Bookbinder hummed a goodbye and Sunset left the boarding house. As she walked towards the school, her mood turned dark again and she found herself focusing on her problem.

Okay, it's morning now. You can think rationally about this. Obviously, nobody official knows about magic existing in this world yet. But we should be prepared for that eventuality. If things keep going on the way they have been though, somebody's going to start asking questions. Somebody with more resources than Twilight had.

Sunset turned a corner.

I know the CHS kids like having magic as a school secret, so none of them are going to say anything to anyone outside of the school. Let's give CPA the benefit of the doubt and assume none of the students there will deliberately spill the beans either. Let's go even further and assume that Principal Cinch isn't willing to risk her precious reputation by admitting that magic exists. But, people talk, and it's entirely possible that somebody could overhear something, which could, in turn – no, that can't be right.

Sunset sighed and frowned. “What am I doing?”

“Going to school, silly!”

“GAH!” Sunset leaped a full foot in the air as Pinkie Pie's voice came into her ear. “Pinkie, for crying out loud!”

“Sorry!” Pinkie reached into her hair and produced a vanilla frosted doughnut with sprinkles. “Doughnut? I had a couple of spares this morning.”

“Um... no thanks,” Sunset said.

“Okay! Just checking since you were looking all broody and thoughtful and whenever you're looking broody and thoughtful that usually means you skip breakfast, although why anyone would would skip Miss Bookbinder's cinnamon rolls makes no sense to me, but then a lot of things don't make sense to me, like why they're called pineapples when they don't taste like apples or pine trees, and believe me, you never forget what pine trees taste like, especially on the way back up, but anyway I saw you were looking all broody and thoughtful and figured you needed something for breakfast!”

Sunset stared at Pinkie while her brain worked it's way through the run-on sentence, then blinked when comprehension set in.

“No, no,” she said, “I'm fine, Pinkie. I just... had a really bad nightmare last night.”

“It wasn't, you know, that one again?” Pinkie asked, suddenly serious.

Shortly after the Fall Formal, Sunset had recurring nightmares. Violent ones about her demonic alter ego taking bloody revenge on her. Pinkie had noticed and declared a week of Emergency Anti-Nightmare Sleepovers. Each of the girls had spent a night with Sunset, and it was during that week where she had been able to become real friends with each of them. The nightmares faded soon afterwards.

“No, not that one. This one's new,” Sunset admitted. “But I'm still wrapping my head around it. I promise I'll tell you and the girls later once I know what I want to say about it, okay?”

“Sure!” Pinkie said. She held the doughnut up again. “Sure you don't want a doughnut?”

Sunset smiled. “I'm good.”

“Suit yourself!” Pinkie crammed the whole thing into her mouth. A few seconds later, her eyes bulged out. “Mlllk! Mmph murphhgrt mllk!”

Sunset looked at her friend's bulging cheeks and eyes and laughed. Thank whatever runs the multiverse for Pinkie Pie. I needed that this morning.

Sunset took Pinkie's arm. “I think there's a convenience store up ahead. We'll get you some milk there.”