The Phoenix's Guardian

“Leave your boots and coat here. There is a blanket on the couch.” I said to Sunset as we entered the house. “I’ll go put the kettle on.”

Sunset nodded and headed to the couch, rubbing her arms to ward off the chill that had settled on her.

“Thanks.” She murmured as she walked past.

Shortly I brought out a tray with a steaming kettle, a pair of mugs, and a selection of tea bags.

Sunset silently took a green tea while I dropped a cinnamon apple spice into mine before pouring the kettle into both of our mugs.

We sat in silence as the tea steeped, me not wanting to pressure the girl into talking and Sunset still working up the nerve to talk.

Shortly we removed the tea bags and had added sugar and honey to our drinks.

“I guess you want to hear why I was on that bridge, huh?” She said after taking a bracing sip of tea.

I nodded. “Just tell me what you feel comfortable sharing. I won’t press unless I need clarification. But I have a feeling that it would be better for you to start at the beginning.” I said.

A couple of hours later, Sunset had finished her story leading up to the events that lead her to the bridge.

“So unicorn pony from a mirror dimension huh?” I said after a moment.

“That is what you focus on first?” Sunset asked incredulously.

I shrugged. “I just figured focusing on something else could take your mind off of things for a minute. So are you a quadruped or an anthro on the other side of the mirror?” I replied.

Sunset blinked. “We are anthropomorphic on the other side. Why?”

“Well, I figure eventually, you will want to go home, at least to settle things with the Princess and I figured that you would want someone to go with you, but since your ‘friends’, and I currently use that term loosely, have counterparts on the other side, it would be confusing as hell if they were to go with you.” I replied as I pulled up the Anon-a-miss page on my tablet. “Well, this is going to cause some hell. You said one of your friends has rainbow colored hair?” I asked.

“Yes. That would be Rainbow Dash. Why?” Sunset asked.

I showed her the screen and the latest post. The two girls had hoodies on with the hoods up, but you could see a lock of rainbow colored hair poking out.

“Seems that your friend was experimenting and got caught in the act. Funny thing is, the picture was posted about fifteen minutes ago.” I said pointing to the time stamp.

Sunset growled in frustration.

]“Which brings me to a couple of questions I have. First, your friend Applejack, the post about her nickname popped up after the first sleepover right? When her sister called and said it when the phone was on speaker right?”[

Sunset nodded.

“And the pictures showed up after the second sleepover. Do you have a lock code or something on your phone?”

“No I don’t.” Sunset replied.

“Need to teach you some information security then. You said Rarity’s sister was home right?” I asked.

“Yes, but…” Sunset started to reply before realization set in. “But why? Why would they do something like this? Even when I was the Queen Bitch of the school, I never messed with them.”

“Probably the fact that the girls have been spending more time with you. They probably feel like they are being replaced. That and the whole ‘Battle of the Bands’ thing. They might have been influenced, but the hostility was all them. I’m not sure how Equestrians are, but humans at their core can be some petty, jealous fools. Not all the time, but in the right circumstances, a few people can cause a group to do some pretty evil things.” I replied.

“I’ve noticed that in History class.” Sunset replied. “But what can we do about it?”

I closed the MyStable app and went to the browser. A quick search and I smiled.

“Well, considering that this falls into the territory of cyber-bullying and it would appear that there are laws against it, I am going to call in a favor.” I said as I pulled out my cell phone and opened the text messenger.

‘Aegis, you awake?’ I sent.

‘Yeah, sitting in my patrol car, trying to stay warm. What’s up?’

‘Do you know anyone in the cyber crimes division?’

‘I do actually. Why?’

‘Do you have a MyStable account?’

‘Yeah…’

‘Look up the user Anon-a-miss.’

I smiled at Sunset while I waited for Aegis to reply.

“So what are we waiting on?” Sunset asked.

“I have a friend that is a police officer. She happens to know someone in CPD’s Cyber Crimes division. I pointed her in the direction of the Anon-a-miss profile.” I replied as my phone went off.

‘How did you come across this?’

‘I was out driving to get the lay of the land when I found a girl on the bridge over Canter River. I was able to talk her back over the railing and brought her to my place to warm up and talk. I was able to get the full story from her. The most recent post was made while we were talking and she never once pulled out her phone.’

‘I see. I will be getting in touch with my buddy. This is just sickening. How is your new friend?’

‘Considering the whole school has turned against her? About as well as you could figure. I’m going to let her crash in the spare room since it is late. We can do more in the morning once she has gotten some rest.’

‘Understood. You two have a good night. I will swing by in the morning to talk to you both.’

‘Got it. See you then and try to stay warm.’

I smiled at Sunset again. “Cyber crimes is going to be engaged. They can get the same information I can get, but theirs would be admissible in court if it comes down to it.”

“Would it get that far?” Sunset asked nervously.

I shrugged. “Maybe. Depends upon if the ones behind it decide to cut their losses and fess up. The simple fact that they drove you to the point of being on that bridge means that if you had jumped, they would most likely be charged with manslaughter at the least and murder at the worst.” I replied.

Sunset’s eyes widened.

“Yup. It is just like when a getaway driver gets charged with murder even if they didn’t pull the trigger. They assisted in the commission of the crime. Same with bullying. There have probably been to many kids that have killed themselves because of bullying that they had to create laws that would punish the bullies.” I said.

“How do you know so much about this?” She asked.

I sighed. “Well, to be honest you aren’t the only one from another world. Though I wasn’t brought here by choice.” I said.

“How so?” Sunset inquired.

“Well, it’s not like I chose to be in the immediate vicinity of a thermonuclear explosion. Kinda puts a dampener on a guy’s day.” I
replied.

Sunset stared at me with wide eyes.

I shrugged. “I was kind of apathetic to the world in general. Just jaded I guess. Maybe coming here will restore my faith in humanity.” I paused for a moment. “Though with the issues going on at CHS, I doubt that very much.”

“There is no way that someone can be that jaded with the world that getting nuked wouldn’t phase them.” Sunset replied when she found her voice.

“I was in the Army for ten years. Spent six of those years fighting insurgents. Doing that for so long makes you numb and after seeing the absolute worst of humanity, fighting them and losing friends, you could really care less if the world burned or not. Especially when you come home to protests outside your base, and people, the people that you fought for, the people you fought to protect, spitting on you and saying that you should die, that some deity would be happy you died. It really makes you not really give a damn.” I said, not realizing that my eyes had started glowing brighter and the pupils had gone to slits.

“What are you?” Sunset asked warily.

I sighed. “When I was sent here, I was given abilities. Some of those abilities required that I be ‘enhanced’. I was given, and this is a best guess, the same enhancements of a SOLDIER 1st Class of the Shin-ra Electric Power Company Army. And yes I do realize it is odd for a power company to have an army, but Shin-ra basically ran the entire world that these abilities come from. But just because I have powers, doesn’t mean I am a danger.”

“Are you sure?” Sunset asked.

I nodded. “Positive. Well, unless someone I care about is in danger, then I will do those horrible things that I was trained to do.” I said, locking eyes with her.

“Am I one of those people?” She asked quietly.

I smiled. “You are quickly becoming one.”

“Why?” Sunset asked.

I sat back and thought for a moment. “Probably because you need someone to have your back, and something is telling me to help you. An instinct if you will.” I replied finally.

“So, you are doing this out of the goodness of your heart?” She asked.

I nodded. “I am.” I said as I reached across the table and took her hand in mine. “Right now, I see a young woman who is hurting something awful and has no one to turn to. I can’t stand by and do nothing if there is something I can do, even if it is just lending an ear for you to talk off or a shoulder to cry on. Just that can go a long way to helping a person, or pony in your case.” I finished with a smirk, eliciting a giggle from Sunset as I moved to sit on the couch next to her.

“So what about when I go back to school?” Sunset asked quietly.

“I will be starting at CHS after the holidays. I can go with you on Monday and talk to the principals to see if I can accompany you for the last week of classes. Maybe help you deal with the whispers.” I said.

Sunset gave me a watery smile.

“Thank you.” She said before giving me a hug that I carefully returned.

“You’re welcome. Now, I think we should be getting some shut eye. You can use the spare bedroom. Let me grab you something to sleep in.” I said after I pulled away from the young woman.

Going to my room, I quickly grabbed a t-shirt and a pair basketball shorts before heading back out to the living room.

“Might be a bit big on you, but they should do for tonight.” I said.

Sunset nodded her thanks and headed to the bathroom to shower and change.

I busied myself by cleaning up the tea service. Once that was done, I went to all the doors and ensured that they were locked before heading to my room where I quickly changed into my sleepwear.

Since Sunset was still in the shower, I took the time to do some more reading up on my new world, committing the new names and dates to memory.

Soon the shower stopped and shortly afterwards, I heard Sunset speak up from behind me.

“Thank you for letting me stay here Talisman.” She said.

“It’s no big deal.” I replied before turning around, though once I did, my breathe caught in my throat.

Standing in the doorway to my room was Sunset, wearing just the t-shirt I gave her, which nearly reached her knees, the shirts having been a extra large to accommodate my height and still fit properly, her damp hair weighing down her normal wavy locks.

She giggled a bit a my expense, snapping me out of my stupor.

“Right. Guest bedroom is this way.” I said as I stood up and guided exited the room.

After showing Sunset to the room and bidding her goodnight, I returned to my room. Sitting in the glow of the monitor, I stared off into space.

‘Damn, this has gotten complicated. Alien from a mirror reality that just currently looks human is dealing with some pretty heavy emotional shit and I just have to start falling for her. Sweet merciful Artemis, I am an idiot.’ I thought, before shutting down my computer and climbing into bed.

I lay in bed not sleeping for a couple of hours, just pondering the change in circumstances. Soon I heard shuffling feet and sniffling coming down the hall.

I cracked open my eyes and saw Sunset enter the room.

“T-Talisman, can I stay in here? I don’t know if I can be alone tonight.” She whispered.

“Nightmares?” I asked.

“Yeah.” She said simply.

I moved over on the bed and flipped the covers back, patting the mattress. She lay down next to me and pulled the blankets over her.

I lay on my back, hands under my head. A couple of minutes later I felt her move and rest her head on my chest. Rolling my eyes, I moved my arm down and wrapped it around her.

Soon, both of us were in the realm of Morpheus until the light of dawn.