Drowning in sound
Sunset Shimmer closed her eyes, took a deep breath and repositioned her left hand on the neck of the acoustic guitar. Like her left it was bright red with soreness and felt blistered after doing this for hours.
She hunched deeper into her black jacket, as if being slouched against a wall with the instrument wasn't enough. Her left hand hovered over the strings.
She didn't have a pick and wasn't sure how to tune the thing correctly, but it wasn't so bad.
This kept her busy, or at least it would if she learned to play right. Sunset hadn't bothered to 'borrow' any music books from the school. At least she had gotten the guitar for free. She really couldn't understand why somep-one, why someone would want to throw it away.
But how had the other kids made it look so easy? That's what she really didn't understand, or at least what she kept telling herself. This would have to be her new focus, beside the extremely easy schoolwork she didn't have the heart to pay attention to.
Her fingers moved awkwardly across a few strings as she managed to stumble through a few basic chords. It sounded only marginally less terrible compared to the last few times.
She really didn't care. Or did she? Yes, she cared. She had to if she wanted to get better, music had looked like such fun. It seemed like the perfect escape.
It had only been a few months since stumbled through the mysterious surface of the mirror and the culture shock was overwhelming at times. She didn't talk to anyone else in Canterlot Jr. High. She didn't want to worry about anything, especially not all the exams coming up before the end of the last year here (her first in this world) ended and she moved up to Canterlot High.
Sunset's fingers slipped again. The chord was ruined and she bit the inside of her cheek. Why hadn't she just checked out the music books in the school library instead of hiding between the shelves and attempting to memorize every diagram like she was still some sort of perfect pony pupil...
...Oh.
Maybe next time? That sounded like a good idea. Next time sounds nice.
Once again her hands found their places on the instrument. She exhaled softly and tried to visualize the few chords she knew were perfectly ingrained in her memory. It was only about three or four, but it would have to work. Perhaps it wasn't that bad of a start and it was just her mind that was telling her otherwise.
She stuck her tongue out a little and glanced down a little. Sunset Shimmer swallowed and began to strum.
It sounded okay.
She strummed again.
And again.
Sunset switched the pattern a bit and adjusted the position of her guitar so she could wipe the sweat from her palms on her orange colored skirt. Hooves never got sweaty.
Now, when she played those for meager chords it sounded a bit clearer, even if her fingers were stiff. Soon the corner of her little room was filled with a few shaky notes. Somehow her fingers didn't get entangled in the strings.
Sunset leaned back against the cool wall and kept playing. She improvised a little bit and continued to fill the air with her novice playing, strumming a bit faster.
The air was never empty, and always felt laden with everything that had remained unsaid between herself and everypony she left behind. Music helped clear that air, like taking an eraser to a smudgy and scribbled drawing in one of her notebooks.
It helped her feel just confident without being cold and cruel, which was how she was towards the other students.
Sunset hadn't quite noticed that her fingers still played until she blinked abruptly and looked down. Even though she was alone she attempted to hide the shock by pausing to tug up her jacket collar.
Then she resumed and notes drifted through the air and her mind, which was now distracted.
Tomorrow she would get those music books but for now she was content to get lost in something other than homesickness she would never admit to, anger towards the princess she had placed her trust in, or the malicious girl she had become.
Words had never come, even in her own mind she wouldn't-no couldn't-communicate what was going through her head and what she felt everyday but only bottled up.
Music had become a bottle opener. It never spoke a single syllable but even her amateur and sloppy playing resonated deeply with her. It wasn't quite a happiness so much as it was relief at being understood. For once since arriving from Equestria the secret pariah felt some sense of home.
Sunset Shimmer thoughts turned to those music books with songs represented by neat lines with precisely drawn notes on them. They had lists of chords and all sorts of useful things to help her in her quest for a new kind of knowledge.
There was no princess that had to teach her anymore. She was alone in this strange new world with only her knowledge. Sunset's hands were strumming faster now, sure they were still not playing every note perfectly but that would take practice.
She began to hum slightly in an attempt to match her mildly discordant tune.
Sunset Simmer would have lots of studying to do. She would need to learn about the finer points of this culture so she could fit in a bit better, then she would be able to get some kind of power. Sunset would also need to try to learn as much as she possibly could about the mirror-statue portal. Would it open again? If so, when? Did it follow a pattern?
But above all else Sunset Shimmer would be preoccupied with learning music, which was a magic in its own right.
She massaged her knuckles before resuming her playing.
