Pony heart

by sunsetsjournal

Chapters

Monday Blues
Distracted in class
Nightmare
Revelations
Days gone by
Sunset's apple bucking day
Perfect day for fun
Rarity for you
Into the heart of the forest
Right there in front of me
My past is (not) today-part 1
My past is (not) today-part 2
Through the glass of the mirror (altrnative ending)

Monday Blues

Author's Note

Firts fanfic ever, let me know what you think and support me on my blog : sunsetsjournal.wordpress.com

Monday Blues

Chapter 1:

Monday Blues

The alarm clock rung with its usual annoying noise brutally interrupting the peace and quite of the dark room, suddenly lightened by a sun ray penetrated from the curtains. Drops of water were falling slowly from the sky reminding of tears; the sound they made when touching the window glass was delicate, yet enough to disturb a sleeper like Sunset Shimmer who had always been a lover of the warmth the soft blankets of her bed could made her feel. There was something, though Sunset did not know exactly what, which was making her feel weaker and even more sleepy than usual, something that made her eyes shut instead of open. Not even the annoying alarm clock, that was usually her worst enemy, would do anything that was slightly enough to force her to leave her cosyness which, plus the feeling that something unusual was going on, made her realize she was late. If Sunset had not woken up and left the bed, even if in an extremely messy condition, she would have definitely gotten late to school: “It’ s a shame I don’t have time for breakfast” she thought: “Filling my belly with something tasty always cheers me up in the morning”.

She got changed and grabbed a waterproof coat from the closet and run for the door holding her school bag in a hand. As soon as she went out she was practically overwhelmed by the noises and shouting of people running and getting ready for another usual rainy winter day: “Snow is the best thing in winter” thought Sunset while crossing the street: “But apparently I run out of luck this year”.

Sunset was right, in fact not a single snow flak had been seen since the first day of the cold season: pity too, for more than a few people apparently needed to have their mood changed.

Even though a little voice coming from her head was whispering to her to go back to her bed, Sunset speeded up and, making way through the furious morning crowd, managed to get to Sugarcube Cornerwhere Mrs. Cake had already prepared her favourite early morning snack: sprinkled chocolate doughnuts: “Oh my, welcome Sunset, here’s your breakfast and from the looks of it, you need it”

“Thanks Mrs. Cake, I own you a huge favour, I really need it. How much...”

“Don’t even say that darling, consider it a gift from a friend. Now go our you’ll be late for class”.

After thanking Mrs. Cake again, Sunset run off, headed straight to school. As she bit the tasty treat she had just bought, the flavour of sweet sugar mixed with chocolate made her forget for a moment the critical situation she was in, but she was suddenly woken up from her dream by Microchip who, apparently was as well in a hurry:

“Wha… what’s happening?” Sunset got up from the ground and realized that the unexpectedly met classmate had lost his glasses, luckily for him Sunset had a trained eye and found them in an instant:

“Here” said Sunset as poor Microchip struggled to grab something invisible to his eyes “You should be more careful, though I suppose I can understand why you ere running in such a way”

“Right” answered her the boy: “I am terribly late, wish I could stay and chat but, as I said I got to go and I suggest you do the same”. Sunset stood still as the second one who talked to her that dreadfully started day run away leaving a trail of water from his wet boots on his way, but eventually she stopped fantasising and ,more importantly, got back on her own path.

Having found a rock, Sunset started kicking it like a ball, not that she had anything more fun to do, yet in that moment something interrupted her game, a thought that was not so new to her, but certainly not one of her favourites. At the same time Sunset stopped walking and lowered her gaze upon her feet and started scowling at the same time. Her right hand instinctively went for her bag, looking for something, a specific object particularly dear to her that was soon found, the moment she took it from her bag, her strength abandoned her and she felt like her journal was heavier than usual, so she eventually put it in the place where she had taken it from. Quickly her face scowled again as she kicked the stone by her feet much more powerfully than before. Sunset locked where it had gone and noticed she had arrived at school or, more precisely in front of the Canterlot High Wonder Colt statue. Sunset turned around, sighing more every step she made towards the school door, bud suddenly a strange feeling stopped her. The girl turned back and looked at the sculpture, even though her eyes were focusing on its lowest spot: the portal to Equestria. Sunset slowly put her hand on its cold stone surface and could not help but notice that it was indeed still active and open, like Twilight said it would be the last time she had been at Canterlot High: “It works” whispered Sunset: “maybe if...” She was interrupted by a familiar friendly voice:

“What are you doing here darling, come with me before you catch a cold”

“Rarity?!” said Sunset. Rarity covered her head with hear purple umbrella and took hear hand:

“Why were you staring at the statue?” asked her friend as they both walked towards the school door. Sunset turn around, looked at the portal one last time and then sighed:

“It’s nothing” as she walked trough the door.

Distracted in class

Chapter 2 :

Distracted in class

That day Sunset had not able to do anything but staring at the portal through the window glass. She has even been blamed twice by Ms. Cheerlie for not paying attention, which was very hard not to notice, since she was usually the most focused and smart girl during class. As Sunset did not seem to care too much about the prospective of being caught a third time, her weird behaviour became a matter of serious concern to her friends, so it was that Rarity decided to approach her immediately after the bell that announced lunch break rung. She was the first to sit by Sunset in the school cafeteria:

“Hello darling” cheerfully said the girl greeting her dear friend:

“Mnh… what, oh, hey Rarity”, she could not help but notice that not only Sunset looked like she had just been woken up from a long sleep, but she had also not picked her favourite hayburger from Granny Smith:

“something fishy is definitely going on...” though Rarity as Sunset feel into her deep thoughts once again. The usually smiling girl was suddenly not so more than a statue with her eyes constantly staring at the wall in front of her, but deep down it was obvious that her mind was up in the clouds. Rarity kept observing her for quite a while, wondering if it was a good idea to wake her up or leave her to her daydreaming. Suddenly something, maybe a hidden instinct, told Sunset to come up to her senses and caused her to turn to Rarity who was very surprised at her friends’ s sudden reaction:

“aren’t the others coming?” Sunset asked:

“they ought to be here any minute now”

“Mnn...fine”

“Is something bothering you my dear?”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh please Sunset, stop bluffing: you’ve been quite since the very first moment I sat here; not to mention your earlier behaviour during class time, the all of us noticed”

“how obvious has it been?” sighed Sunset: “pretty much darling, pretty much”.

Hearing those words made Sunset lower her head and suddenly stop talking:

“you didn’t even get your usual lunch! I must say your are having us all worried; now would you please tell me what’s going on?”. That tone of voice was unlikely used by Rarity, at least when talking to her friends, which made Sunset realize that it would have been best if she had talked straight away:

“I am sorry, it’s just that I don’t think that it would be fair of me to bother you with something as minor as some worries that even I don’t fully understand!”

“which is why they aren’t minor and you need to talk about them; trust me Sunset, for whatever it is that is bothering you, you’ll feel so much better once you get it off your chest”.

In spite of Rarity’s attempt to comfort hear friend, Sunset decided that if would be better if she had been quite and starting eating the salad that had replaced her usual meal for that day. Rarity, ‘though, was not the kind of girl to give up right after the first failed attempt of doing something and kept close to Sunset the whole day, yet nothing worked. Sunset looked completely lost into a limbo: her eyes were cold and empty, her face did not react to the simplest sign of joy, refusing to smile, above all her forehead kept being corrugated at all time, not even Pinkie Pie was able to change her mood. After the last bell rang Sunset stood up from her seat and silently headed for the front door. She passed the hall way filled with ribbons and trophies: “How and when did they win so many prizes? I’ve spent almost four years here and I don’t remember the school participating in one single event, maybe I should ask principal Celestia...”. Suddenly Sunset stopped walking and stood still in front of a wall, yet that was no ordinary wall like the rest of them:

“I hoped to never see these again”

sighed Sunset, as she pointed her gaze above what was in front of her. The things whose sight had shocked her must have been awful, for Sunset Shimmer was no girl to be scared in the first place, but what her eyes had sawn was dreaded enough: “curse you pictures, I hope somebody comes and takes you down all at once, so you won’t torment me every time I get here and see you!” thought Sunset just before turning around: “Wait a minute, who said I have to wait to get you out of my sight forever?” Sunset suddenly took the pictures that had been taken at her three previous coronations of princes of the fall formal and had been hanging on the wall for quite a while, neared the first trash can she could find and throw them away. Seeing those pictures she hated so much in such a horrid state made her calm down: “Finally!” sighed the girl after taking a deep breath: “they’re gone...gone for good”.

Sunset stood there, thinking for a while, then started walking towards the door once again, until she heard a familiar voice: “Hey Sunset!” the girl turned back and saw her dear friend Applejack coming:

“hooowe, am I glad to find you!”

“Where you looking for me?” Sunset asked:

“Was I?! I’ve searched the whole school to bottom, you were so upset before we didn’t get a chance to talk; want me to take you back home?” although Sunset had been off her mind the whole day, it seemed that blowing up her steam before and Applejack’s kind voice had made her relax for a bit, plus she had smiled for the first time that day:

“Thanks Applejack, I could really use some company” Sunset did not have to ask twice, as her friend took her arm under hers and led the way pass the door and for the hall time until they finally reached Sunset’s place.

They arrived tired from a tough school day, tired but happy:

“Haaa, and then Big Machinstosh said nop” laughed Applejack struggling to finish telling her joke: “And I said Big Mac wait, pay attention to...and then he fell into the pig pen and ended up covered in mud!” those words sounded pleasant to Sunset’s ears for she was smiling and giggling with delight: somehow Applejack had found a way to lift her friend’s spirit keeping her off her mysterious worries: “Thanks” said Sunset while she was still crying from laughing:

“I really needed this”

“You bet your boots you needed it” answered Applejack with a smile on her face: “But what are friends for if not for comin’ through when you need ‘em?”.

Sunset walked towards the door, stopped before going in, turned around and smile once again to her friend: “Sunset...” said Applejack suddenly: “Ah don’t suppose ya’ all wanna tell me what was freaking ya’ll out before, right”

“Tomorrow Applejack” sighed Sunset:

“Ya’ll promise to tell me tomorrow?”

“Yeah” “Then I trust y’all, Sunset”.

Applejack smiled to her friend before heading to her own house at Sweet Apple Acres; in the meantime Sunset had not entered hers yet: “Tomorrow...” said the girl sighing again while touching the blank pages of her journal, as she shut the door behind her.

Nightmare

Chapter 3:

Nightmare

Sunset passed the school hallway which was particularly calm that morning, yet to her that was nothing special, as she was often one of the first to arrive at school; except on Monday of course.

She went straight to the music room, for that was the place were she and her friends hanged out most of the times. What was special that morning was that after a goodnight sleep she was feeling quite relived and ready to face the day: “ok” thought the girl: “today is a fresh start!” Sunset slowly approached the room’s door, yet as she was about to open it; her heart started pounding like a horse running on a field: “What?”thought Sunset as she tried to open the door once more. Every time she was about to walk into the music room, she felt her chest going crazy, a wild beat that she had never felt before. Her mind lost itself again in her thoughts: “What’s happening to me?” After so many attempts she finally had stored enough courage to face up to her unusual fear and charged against the door and at last she found herself in the room:

“Wow” she said: “I never would have imagined that I’d find hard to open a door, right girls?”. At that very moment Sunset raised her head realizing she was still alone, for there was nobody with here: “This is weird, they’re usually here by now”. The girl left the music room, still wondering the reason behind her friends’ delay: “Could it be...ah of course it is; they have all been worried about me lately” Sunset thought while passing the corridors headed to the library: “They’re probably still thinking about what I did yesterday. Congrats Sunset, you’re a genius!” The girl tried to open the door in front of her, but after a useless waste of energy, she could not help but notice that it was shut tight: “Even the library’s closed now, what’s wrong today?” Sunset made one more desperate attempt to open the library door, using all of her strength only to fail once again: “Ah great, and here I thought I could finally have a nice day, but it seems that somebody has something to say about it”. Thought the poor girl, going downstairs: “I hope my locker has the answer I need”.

Sunset was right to be upset, for she had really thought she could forget about what was secretly tormenting her: Applejack’s words had really worked the previous day, she had even decided to wear her favourite clothes that day in hope they would bring her good luck: and exquisite sleeveless jacked made of pure lamb leather painted in an intense shade of black with two pockets on the front the edges of which were crafted from shining steel, it even had golden spikes on it that one could swear were made of actual gold, under the jacket she was wearing a bright coloured T-shirt, short sleeved, tailored in an expensive fabric that really made her cutie mark, which of course she had requested designed on it, pop out, moreover although one could not notice it; the T-shirt left her shoulder uncovered, a bright new skirt clearly sewed in purple silk with two horizontal black stripes which ended in a grey line on the front and a pair of fine dark books, that she had rubbed clean the night before and decorated with lots of sparkling priceless gems.

The girl sighed repeatedly, as she was walking, through the school corridors: sometimes she would raise hear head high and stare at the sealing while thinking: “Were are they? Why did they just disappeared without saying anything.” Her mind was still keen on these thoughts, when suddenly the lights turned off, leaving the hallway in a shadowy atmosphere: “Well, that’s just great” said Sunset while talking to herself: “They must have forgotten to replace the...”

At that moment her heart pounded again, as she noticed that somebody had suddenly appeared in front of her, yet they were so distant and hidden in the dark that it was impossible for Sunset to identify them. At first the girl was unsure whether to approach or not the mysterious figure, for they could even have just been an illusion created by Sunset’s vivid imagination, or at least that was what she had thought in the firs place. But as often happens in those kind of situations when one is in desperate need of company, her curiosity got the best of her

: “Hello, can you hear me?” The shadowy figure did not dare to answer: “Hey, are you listening to me? It looks like we are the only ones in the whole school; do you happen to now where the others are?” As her rather unpleasant interlocutor once more refused to answer, the girl, who was already upset for obvious reasons, decided to confront them face to face.

As Sunset got closer to the one who had so unexpectedly appeared before her, the shadow surrounding them slowly began to faint: all of a sudden she was able to distinguish some attributes of her physical appearance, even though she could only see her from behind: the person standing in front of her had long straight hair of a slightly dark purple colour, yet some of her locks appeared to be magenta, her skin was also purple, but of a different tone, as Sunset could tell looking at her arms which remained uncovered by her short sleeved light blue shirt, her skirt and boots were of the same colour of her hair, even if Sunset thought they were of a more intense colour. As the girl reached the point were the mysterious figure was standing, she could not help but notice the one in front of her had a peculiar symbol designed on her skirt, a familiar one to Sunset’s eyes: a magenta spark.

As Sunset saw it, she finally knew the reason of her heart’s pounding: “Twi… Twilight, is that really you?”managed to say the girl after clearing her throat: “I can’t believe it, Twilight you came back! I’ve been waiting so long for this; you didn’t write me back these past weeks, so I got worried and thought I needed to...”,

after feeling the excitement of the moment, Sunset did notice that her dear friend had been strangely quite: “Twilight why aren’t you answering me?” the girl put her left hand on Twilight’s shoulder and shook it, but the only thing she got in return for doing so was silence: “Hey Twilight, what happened to you, why are you being so quite?”

As she spoke those words, her friend began to walk away, though one could not rightly say she was actually walking, for it seemed more like something was pushing her away from Sunset: “Twilight come back!” shouted Sunset who had found herself with her feet stuck on the ground, as if an unnatural force prevented her from moving towards her now distant friend: “Twilight wait for me!” the sound of the girl’s desperate voice seemed to have no effect on Twilight, for she was getting more and more far away until she finally disappeared as mysteriously as she had previously come out of nowhere:

“Twilight!” Sunset’s echoey voice slowly fainted, as the poor and now once again alone girl, loosing all her strength fell on her knees and felt her cheeks lined by tears, dropping over and over again from her reddish eyes: “Twilight, why?” cried Sunset: “I thought… I thought we were close, I thought we were friends. If that’s so, then why are you avoiding me, why aren’t you answering me?!” The girl’s desperate cry remained unheard by anybody but the darkness that was now surrounding her in the same way as Twilight before. Sunset stayed still without moving, without uttering a single word, she was feeling like she had no more tears to cry or enough voice in her throat to scream; until she heard a powerful sound, a thunder and she suddenly found herself back in her bedroom, wormed up by the blankets covering her. In the dark she turned her head towards the window and saw clouds hiding the night sky and drops of rain on the window glass. As relief filled her previously tormented soul, she found the calm to close her eyes again, while whispering to herself: “It was just a nightmare...”and, after she had once more put her head on her comfy white pillow, her slumber proceeded peacefully.

Revelations

Chapter 4:
Revelations

When Sunset woke up it was just 6:00 am, it was a sign that despite having gained her calm back, even if for only a night, she had not been sleeping well: “Mmmm...” sighed Sunset, as she rubbed her eyes with her fingers in a rather useless attempt to wake up: “what a night”. After snoring a couple of times she finally felt the right strength to leave her warm blankets and get up from her bed. She walked through the corridor, until she reached the bathroom where she could see her sleepy face in a mirror. As she washed her face, she quickly found out the cold water cloud not make her fears go away as it did with her last wish to go to bed: “At least this time I have some spare time to eat a proper breakfast” thought Sunset.

The girl got to the kitchen room downstairs, opened the fridge, grabbed two eggs and a few beans, a pan from the shelf right above her head and started cooking. As the delicious smell of fried albumen filled the air, her stomach started making weird noises, as if it was directly claiming food: “Ah, I feel you boy; don’t worry you’ll be full in no time!” While keeping an eye on the eggs, Sunset cooked the beans to which she added a special spicy souse she had recently bought and carefully placed them on a platter: “At least that’s something I’m still good at!”The girl was in fact a talented chef, for every recipe she tried, she always made a lot of effort to accomplish the perfect result which she did with ease. Yet it was the last part of making food she enjoyed the most: to her taking care of minimal details as putting together something to eat was a true art which spoke to her soul and in which she would always find distraction from anything bothering her. She took the eggs out of the pan and placed them on the same platter as the beans and added salt and black pepper. She sat on a chair and started enjoying her breakfast, when suddenly she remembered hearing some of her schoolmates in the cafeteria they used to have beckon as well in the morning: “lucky them” thought Sunset: “I’ve always wondered what meat tastes like, but as long as I know, ponies like me are vegetarian and even thought I may have gotten used to some of this world’s food, I am not willing to go that far, yet”.

As she felt herself satisfied with eating, she actually smiled for a bit: “guess breakfast really is the most important meal of the day”, the girl got back to her bedroom and opened the closet: “what to pick...” Sunset took a whole lot of time to choose what to wear, which meant that Rarity’s influence had slowly started to effect her. In the end she went for another leather jacket of hers: this one was also entirely black, if not for two orange stripes on a pair of short sleeves with turnups and had a metal zip, an aquamarine dress which included a fair yellow skirt beneath, a pair of flexible blue jeans which were so clean one could swear they were bright new and a couple of back boots; yet these ones were quite high and the of kind that could be tighten up with the use of two straps located on the front and had orange coloured stripes like the ones on her jacket; then she grabbed her school bag and headed to the door.

As the girl got outside, she felt a fresh breeze gently touching her cheeks while refilling her chest with oxygen, but that was not all, for it looked like even the sun was brighter that day and its rays shone upon the girl like they were there for her, only for her. Sunset was so relived by this one of kind feeling that for a moment she had even began to smile, yet deep in her heart she knew she could not forget what she needed to do, what she should have done in the first place. The girl quietly started walking with her head down and her eyes facing the ground; sometimes her silence broke into a sigh, a sad one, the one that can only be understood by those who felt what is like to be outsiders, cast out, alone, the kind of feeling which can only be understood by those who suddenly find themselves far away from home, surrounded by aliens, strangers who look down on you as a freak, the kind of sensation that only the ones who, after seeking something they do not posses for which they could do absolutely anything, are isolated from the rest of the world, the ones who feel true sorrow and regret every single day as they wake up and look at themselves in a mirror and see a monster behind its thick glass. Sunset knew only one who had felt those things, for it was her own self; yet the girl had also felt what it is like to meet someone special, the only one capable of sharing and comfort her in her suffering, she had felt what it is like to be forgiven and surrounded by friends, for the first time in her life she had felt true happiness. But now it was one of those friends she cared so much about, the one who had showed her the path to achieving joy, to be the cause of her own torment and no matter how hard she tried, she could not help thinking about her, about what had kept her away for so much time, about the reason because of which she had not yet replied to her after so many times she had desperately tried to contact her: “Why?” kept thinking Sunset all the way to school: “Why Twilight? Why aren’t you answering me? Am I not important to you any more?”.

Along the way which strangely seemed longer than usual, Sunset heard laughing and turned to look where it was coming from: it was two kids playing with each other; they both looked rather young, they must have been five or six years old. One of the boys was not so tall, had short straight light brown hair, eyes the colour of dust, a small heart shaped head with a cheerful smile on it and lentigines on his cheeks, the other one was more well built and had dark hair and black eyes, but was happy looking in equal measure.

The sight of those two children brought up certain memories in Sunset’s mind she was not proud of: the memories of a filly with a red and yellow mane and a fresh new cutie mark on her flank, shut in an enormous and luxurious room in a solitary castle, with her hooves on a wooden desk turning the pages of a magic encyclopedia too heavy for her to go around with. That day a certain Minuette and other two fillies along with her had invited her to hang out, but she had refused: “I wonder what she is doing right now” thought Sunset: “maybe she still lives in Canterlot, maybe she still enjoys attending to parties like back in the days, maybe she even still remembers me”.

After that long walk which had unexpectedly brought back to life those painful memories, the girl finally got to school, she raised her head towards the door standing right in front of her, yet she could not see anybody else around: “I am first to arrive” Sunset said to herself: “First, just like in my dream”. Sunset sighed and decided not to go in yet, she turned around and sat on the staircase instead, took her journal from the handbag hanging on her shoulder and opened it: “still nothing” said the girl after turning every page of the only thing which could connect her with her friend or at least that is what she had thought for a moment. As she put the journal back inside her bag, her sight stopped on the CHS wondercolt statue: “Of course!”exclaimed the girl: “there is another way!” Sunset quickly went for the portal, but stopped when she found herself just a few centimetres from it. After staring at it for a few seconds, she tried to make another pace towards the portal, yet it did not take long for Sunset to find out that her legs had suddenly started trembling: “even after all this time I’m still afraid of using it”, the girl was right to hesitate, she knew going from one dimension to another was no joke, that it was doubtlessly a threat, plus the last time she had walked through that very portal she herself was the threat, a threat to Equestria; not to mention the feeling of nausea it had caused her. Nonetheless she found in heart the courage she needed to make the next step and let her right hand pass the portal barrier: “Anything to get my friend back” she kept repeating to herself: “Anything!”. She could already see her whole arm turning into a pony leg, when she felt something touching her left shoulder, as a familiar and at the same time pleasant voice spoke to her:

“What’ ya doin’ Sunset?”, the girl pulled her arm out of the portal and turned around only to see Applejack and the rest of her friends with a questioning look on their faces: “so Sunset?” Applejack repeated:

“Ah, nothing just...”

“Tryin’ to get to Equestria?”

“Well...you see girls, I…” Sunset suddenly stopped talking, probably as she had no excuse to cover for herself at that very moment:

“Darling, we’re your friends”, intervened Rarity: “do not we deserve to know what is going on or more importantly what is bothering you?”

“Sure, but...”

“chelax Sunshim, you have us and we are here for you!”, added Pinkie Pie:

“Mmmm...”, Sunset still hesitated for a moment:

“C’mon Sunset, spill the beans!”, insisted Rainbow Dash:

“We can hep you, If you need us”, said Fluttershy with her sweet and kind voice:

“Ok”, sighed Sunset giving up: “I suppose It’s only fair of me to tell you, after all you’ve all been worrying about me these past few days.” Sunset breathed heavily and said after a while: “here’s the dial...” and told them what nobody else but her own self knew until that moment.

Days gone by

Chapter 5:

Days gone by

“Over here!” shouted Rainbow Dash, as she noticed a team mate of hers struggling to get across the playing field, while trying to keep control of the ball, surrounded by at least five players of the opponent team: “C’mon, give it here!” constantly repeated the girl, making another attempt to gain his attention. There was something in that dark haired guy although, probably a spark of pride, that stopped him from understanding the meaning of team work, so he still refused to give up the ball and forced his way through his opponents, pushing them away with great violence.

He headed to the right edge of the playing field, galloping more than a stallion in a meadow and kicked the ball with all the strength he had, hoping that his effort would be rewarded by the pleasure of scoring a point. As his eyes saw the ball slipping away from the goal keeper’s hands, he felt his spirit, thrilled by the excitement of the competition, soar to the sky, then decided to jump. At that very moment one could see a smile appearing on his face, apart from the sweat, dropping from his white t-shirt which appeared to have been worn multiple times already and from which could be smelt a rather unpleasant scent; the same one athletes are unfortunately familiar with. Yet his joy did not last long, for after just a few instants the ball had entered the goal, he heard the loud noise of the arbitrator’s whistle:

“What happened now?” said the boy, clearly bothered by the man’s interruption:

“lack of sport spirit youngster, you’re out of the game”

“what?! That’s not fair, I haven’t done anything wrong!”

“keep arguing and your team will get a penalty”

“Yeah right, like I cared” whispered the guy, as he reluctantly left the playing field. After this unexpected turn of events, Rainbow Dash and her team did the best they could to catch up with the opposing team; Sunset was there too, observing from distance the effort they made in each one of their attempt to to reach the goal, the perfection in their every movement, their skilfully planned tactic, plus the energy Pinkie Pie put in her cheering every time she shouted:

“Go Wondercolts!” from outside the field, as she shacked her pom-poms. Eventually, despite everyone’s attempt, the opposing team proved to be no inferior in matter of playing skills and won the match. As the winners celebrated their victory and the students from CHS directed to their changing rooms with a broken heart and a shuttered dignity, Rainbow Dash reached her friend, waiting for her at the edge of the field:

“Nuts!” she complained: “I was just about to...one more second and I would have scored the point we needed”

“It’s okay, Dash” answered Sunset:“You did manage to pick up the slack between the two teams and you clearly did the best you could during the match”

“You’re right; it’s not my fault: if only one of the other players hadn’t been trying to win this thing all alone, we could have succeeded”

“Okay, he may have tried to outshine the others, but...”

“but what? He caused us to loose, he’s the only one to blame; just wait Sunset and you’ll see what I have in store for him!”

“Sure, thing” answered the girl, trying to calm her friend: “but, since you are such an amazing soccer player, why don’t you go explain to him what he is supposed to be doing during a match, instead of lashing out of him which, if you ask me, would not bring to any conclusion?” hearing those word made Rainbow Dash realize her friend was right, so after taking a deep breath, she answered:

“Fine, I suppose a conversation would be better than starting a fuss; we’re all team mates after all”

“It’s a good thing you’ve come to your senses: now, how about we reach the others in the music room? I’m sure they’re waiting for us to try playing that new song Fluttershy wrote”

“Sure, give me just a second to get changed and I’ll catch up”. After Rainbow Dash had left her, headed to the changing room in order to have a well deserved shower and change into something cleaner than her sweated uniform, Sunset got comfy on the ground, under the shadow of a tree, she took her dear journal and a pen out of the handbag hanging over her shoulder: it had been no more than half a day she had written to Twilight, yet she felt the irresistible desire of hearing from her once more, so she carefully placed the journal on her knees and started writing without a second thought:

“Dear princess Twilight, how is it going back in Equestria? All smoothly I bet; anyway I just wanted to chat a bit, as for me, nothing unusual is happening here at CHS, well If you exclude the whole ponying up thing, that is. I also wished to tell you that we’re all getting ready for the Friendship Games: apparently it’s some kind of competition, happening every four years, between Canterlot High and another school from the city, named Crystal Prep. ‘Though lots of students don’t seem that excited to take part in the event, I’m looking forward to giving in everything I’ve got to help my school to win. I wish you could come and compete by our side: I must confess that your presence here would make me even happier, but I guess you have your hooves full with your role as a princess in Equestria. But remember to drop by, if you happen to have some spare time; your friend Sunset Shimmer.” The girl placed the journal on her chest, while closing it: at that very moment she felt her heart pounding faster by the minute, as she set her gaze on the blue sky, where the sun was shining bright among the white clouds: “Yes...”sighed Sunset: “...it would be very nice”

“mmm, you bet it would be!”

“Ah?!” exclaimed the girl, surprised and perhaps even embarrassed at the same time to find out that somebody had caught her daydreaming, lost in her deepest thoughts: “Where…?” said Sunset without the slightest idea where to look for the one who had disturbed her:

“Over here!” shouted a cheerful and rather familiar voice:

“Pinkie Pie!”said the girl taking a breath of relief:

“Hi Sunset, what are you up to?”

“I could ask you the same: what are you doing up there?” questioned Sunset, pointed out the fact that her friend was hanging from a tree branch with her head upside down:

“Isn’t it obvious? Trying to find the inspiration for our next art class, just like you said, I want to paint something amazing!”

“Like I said, how so?”

“Don’t you remember, it happened just yesterday during our last...”

“Pinkie, the last time we had art was last Thursday and today is Tuesday; it’s almost been a week”

“Oh, I guess then that my memory is so vivid, it fees like it happened no more than a couple of days ago”

“Pinkie, would you mind telling me what the point is, please?”

“Sure, we were in the art classroom, but I had no idea what to paint, until you said to me to draw something inspiring, so I tried and tried and retired to find something unique that would get my creative juices flowing and in the end I painted you!”

“Yes, now it definitely rings a bell” giggled Sunset who suddenly had recalled what Pinkie was talking about: “Now, would you be so kind to tell me, how hanging over a tree helps you find artistic inspiration?”

“Everyone knows great painters find their inspiration in nature, in fact I think just found mine”

“and that is?”

“Cotton candy: those fluffy clouds remind me of cotton candy!”

“Mmm….” whispered Sunset, while turning her head towards the clouds: “you know what?” said the girl in the end: “I think you’re right and suddenly I’m craving for some cotton candy, too”

“Of course silly, who doesn’t like it? Wanna go get some? I’ve heard there’s a new sweet shop at the mall that makes the best cotton candy in town!”

“maybe later Pinkie, we still have to reach the others in the music room and try out that new song Fluttershy wrote for the Rainbooms”

“Right, almost forgot, I’m ready to get drumming!”

“Looks like it’s settled then.” The two girls headed to the school building and it was right next to the main entrance that they found Flittershy, half hidden by a bush, having one of her usual tea parties with her animal friends:

“Hey!” greeted her Sunset and Pinkie:

“Hello girls, doing anything special?” answered them the girl with her delicate voice

: “Actually, we were just heading to the music room to try playing our newest song. You know in case the Friendship Games have a music competition”

“Oh, that’s right! Let me just clean up!” said Fluttershy, as she got up and started picking the remainder of her picnic”

“Want some help?” questioned Pinkie:

“That would be lovely”

“I know you haven’t showed it to anyone, yet” Asked Sunset, after they had finished their work: “But I was wondering if you could just let us take one little pick at your new song?”

“Sure, why not” giggled Fluttershy. The girl grabbed a notebook from her backpack and gave it to her friends:

“Wow!” exclaimed the two girls all together, after taking a look at the page where Fluttershy had written her newest song for the Rainbooms: “It’s spectacular”

“No” interrupted Pinkie: “It’s even more than just spectacular, it’s marverific!”

“Ha?” said the others, laying their confused eyes on Pinkie: “Seriously, none of you get it? It’s marvellous plus terrific!”

“You did an amazing job Fluttershy” went on Sunset: “I especially like the part that says that the light that ignites in the dark makes us all glow and shine like rainbows!”

“Thanks, glad you like!”

“Hey guys!” said Rainbow Dash, arriving: “Ready to rock?!”

“Yeah!” shouted the girls loudly:

“The let’s go rock the entire school!” As her friends walked through the main entrance, Sunset turned back, sat on the staircase just in front of the school door, took her journal from the handbag and opened it:

“Weird” said Sunset with a tone of unusual disappointment in her voice: “No reply!” the girl was indeed sad, for that was the first time Twilight did not reply to her shortly after she had written something in her journal. The girl lowered her gaze, while slowly getting lost into her deepest thoughts; when suddenly something made her raise her eyes and look at the portal to Equestria in the Wondercolt statue. Sunset would have probably spent hours reflecting whether it was a good idea to use that very portal to reach Twilight right away or not, if she had not been interrupted by Rainbow Dash who had noticed that her friend was suddenly missing:

“Are you coming or what?” asked her the girl:

“whaa...” exclaimed Sunset who felt like she had been awoken from a long sleep: “Of course, be right there”. The girl got up and followed her friend, headed once more to the school main entrance, yet before walking through the door, she stopped and looked back at the portal, while sighing mysteriously:

“Sunset!”, but hearing the sound of Rainbow Dash’s clearly annoyed voice, made the girl sweep away, even if only temporally, her bothering worries and reach her friends in the music room.

Sunset's apple bucking day

Chapter 6:

Sunset's apple bucking day

As she spoke those words, one could sense profound sorrow coming out of the deepest part of her soul, as she spoke those words, drops of tears lined her usually cheerful face and the tone of her voice lowered down as the speech went on, until it ended:

“Now you know” sighed Sunset, after finishing her story: “I hope you’re not mad at me for not telling you before about this...”

“Why ever should we be?” replied Rarity gently: “We understand you’re suffering and none of us blame you for this”

“I thought...” said Sunset: “I thought it wasn’t worth mentioning, maybe that my problem would somehow magically solve on its own, but instead I’ve let my fear get the best of me and forgot I could count on you. I am sorry, girls”

“Not to worry darling, you have us and we will do all we can not to let you down”

“Thanks guys, I really love you” said in the end Sunset, trying to hide her last tears, while cleaning her face with a tissue:

“So, what’s the plan?” questioned then Rainbow Dash:

“I gotta get back to Equestria” answered Sunset who had suddenly put on a serious face: “I need to find out why she didn’t answer my journal entries; she might even need help, my help” as she said those things, her friends looked at her with an expression of both doubt and admiration:

“We understand why you wanna get through with this” said Applejack, after a while she had remained silent: “and we would gladly accompany you: Twilight is our friend, too after all, but...”

“there’s always a but, isn’t there?” asked Sunset annoyed:

“why don’t you give her a little more time?

“Applejack, it’s been a week since the last time we wrote to each other and she’s always been answering me after nothing but a few minutes I would send her a message”

“I get it, but why don’t you wait for a couple days more? Perhaps it’s been a busy week for her”

“How could she possibly be unable to answer me for a whole week?”

“I guess you never know, when you’re a princess in Equestria.

“And what am I supposed to do in the meantime?”

“Well...”after she had spoken those words, Applejack and the other girls turned around and started whispering something to each other: they clearly had not come up with a solution to their friend’s problem just yet: “Why don’t you spend time with us?”

“Come again?”

“You heard right Sunset, we’ll take care o’ you”

“That’s really nice of you to say, Appejack” replied Sunset blushing: “but I am not sure I will be able to enjoy myself, I just keep thinking about Twilight”

“that’s what we’re here for, we’ll make you forget about your worries in no time! Listen here sugar cube: you’ll spend some time with each of your friends here and every one of us will work on how to make you have the best day of your life, what’ ya say?”

“Ah...” sighed the girl heavily: “Fine, I suppose it’s worth the shot. So which one of you will be helping me out first?”

“This here girl, of course”

“Oh, right”

“C’mon y’all, let’s go!” exclaimed Applejack, as she pulled Sunset’s arm, dragging her friend along with her:

“Wow AJ, where are we going in such a hurry?”

“Why… to mah farm o’ course: I guarantee there’s plenty o’ chores for y’all to do there, y’all forget anything else in no time”

“Whatever you say, AJ” sighed Sunset, as the two of them disappeared from the others’ sight, headed right to Sweet Apple Acres.

“Are you sure I am up to this? They all seem pretty heavy” asked Sunset to her friend with a doubtful face:

“Ah, don’t you worry” answered Applejack: “all we need to do is bring this bails of hay out o’ the barn, so we can feed them to the animals in the stables: simple as pie, don’t ya think?”

“Yeah, sure” whispered Sunset, while trying to lift the smallest bail she could find, but it did not take long for her to realize that her attempts were useless, after all she did not have Applejack’s straight and she knew that too well:

“Shoot!” Exclaimed the girl, stretching her painful back and arms: “this thing must weight at least 10 tons!”

“ha, ha, ha” laughed Applejack, who had already taken out three bails:

“actually Sunset, If you ask me, that bail you’ ve got there, does not weight more than 40 pounds”

“come again, only forty pounds?!”

“Yup” answered the girl who could barely avoid crying from laughter:

“Sorry, AJ “sighed Sunset in the end: “I guess physical straight is just not one of my talents. I wish I could be of help, but…”

“No buts, sugar cube” interrupted Applejack who could already see her friend scowling again: “I’m sure there’s something you can do here; let’s see...” the girl stopped talking and raised her eyes on the sealing, as if she was looking for a crack Sunset could repair with a simple hammer, but somebody had already taken care of the job, so she turned around and looked outside and smiled successfully, as she noticed a bunch of apple siblings: “Bingo!” she exclaimed:

“did you find anything?” questioned her friend with a sad tone in her voice, the same type that only the ones who are about to give up hope use:

“Actually I did, come with me”. Appejack took a watering can which was just a few inches away from her and leaded Sunset through the orchard right to the spot where the apple siblings were planted:

“You want me to water these?” asked the girl, after taking a breath of relief: “Why, that’s sounds easy enough”.

While watering the new born plants, Sunset felt something new in her soul, something unusual and even if she had not realized it yet, she had found something she liked to do as much as cooking. While her friend started smiling at the sight of water dropping on the siblings, Applejack, who was already proud of herself for having had such a brilliant idea, looked around, trying to figure out what she could ask her friend to do next. Sunset had almost finished her work, when the girl happened to see her brother passing by, bringing a bag of chicken food over his shoulder:

“I’ve got it!” shouted Applejack at that very moment:

“What have got exactly?” questioned Sunset who was shocked at her friend’s sudden reaction:

“I’ve figured out what to do next!”

“Really? ’Cause I was thinking we could do a little more gardening...”but the girl did not let her finish her last sentence, for she pulled her arm with great straight and took her right in front of a field where Big Mac was working with a wheelbarrow and a shovel:

“Applejack!” exclaimed poor Sunset: “Are you serious, ploughing? After the discussion we just had?!”

“No, silly!” answered Applejack with a giggling voice: “I would never ask you to plough a field; we’re just here to ask Big Mac if he’s got something we could help him with”

“Oh right, that makes more sense, sorry”

“No need: hey there big brother” said Applejack greeting his hard working fellow farmer: “need a helping hand?”. The boy interrupted his activity to think it over and then answered:

“Yup!” and indicated the orchard to the girls:

“I get it” answered his sister: “Apple bucking”

“I beg your pardon?” asked Sunset who was obviously not familiar with the term or farm life for that matter:

“Come, I’ll explain you on the way” said her friend, before pulling her by the arm once more, as she brought her among the immense apple orchard:

“So, let me get this straight “said Sunset who was still unsure of what she was supposed t do: “You plan on picking the apples off the trees by...”

“bucking them, o’ course”

“and how exactly do we do that?”

“watch and learn from the best” answered the girl with great pride, as she kicked a tree the apples of which fell right afterwards in the chests Big Mach had previously placed beneath every tree branch:

“Wow AJ!” exclaimed Sunset amazed:

“oh shacks, thanks, years of practice: now why don’t you try?”

“Me? But I’ve never done anything of the sort”

“and that’s exactly why you’re here: to learn new stuff. After all, you said you wanted to do gardening and this here is the most important thing to do on mah farm”

“But...”

“again with the buts?! I said less complaining and more working: you’re now part of the family and every Apple needs to know how to buck!” Those words reached Sunset’s heart and penetrated it like an arrow; the girl smiled pleasantly, then looked at her friend encouraging her to try bucking some apples:

“Ah, okay; I suppose it’s worth the shot” said the girl with her suddenly relieved voice: “If you say it’s that important, I guess I can do it for you”. Sunset approached the nearest apple tree and put a hand on its trunk and raised her eyes, amazed by its might and height: “Gulp!”

At that very moment one could swear the girl would give up at the thought of humiliating herself attempting to buck the apples, yet the sight of her dear friend Applejack who was standing by her side, was enough to make her want to try. So, Sunset beat the tree with her right foot and for an instant the apples on its branches began to shake, but in the end they did not fall:

“C’mon Sunset, you can do it!” hearing her friend’s kind voice filled Sunset’s heart with enough joy to make the girl want to try bucking a second time, but this time the apples fell:

“I did it, I did it AJ!” shouted Sunset: “Can you believe it?! I actually bucked those apples!”

“You sure did, sugar cube” answered Applejack: “I told’ ya, you could it. Now why don’t ya help me with the rest of the orchard?”

“Sure thing, right now I feel like I could take care of the entire harvest myself!”

“that’s the spirit, always feel pumped before getting to work, but you may need a hand, so let’s do this thing together”

“Right, let’s get to work!” The two of them harvested apples for hours, but in the same time they chatted, shared wonderful memories or simply told each other jokes:

“So, that time “Applejack said: “Big Mac saw some enormous, gigantic beast passing by, so he thought he’d cover himself in mud and hid in the pig pen. Turns out the creature was actually a float the Crusaders had built for a horror parade!”

As they laughed together, one could say that for the first time in days Sunset was sincerely amused, that she was enjoying herself, that she had stopped worrying; even If the deep sadness in her heart had yet to abandon her. They worked all day under the heat of the sun burning their skin, they only stopped when they noticed that afternoon was almost over: “Shoot, we’ve been roughing it the whole day” exclaimed Applejack, both surprised and pleased that her friend had not yet worn herself up: “Are you sure you don’t secretly run a farm yourself?”

“ha, pretty sure” giggled Sunset: “but I have to admit that all this bucking has left me exhausted: I don’t know how you manage to handle all this work everyday”

“Oh, you're making me blush! I guess that practice makes perfect”

“Sure AJ, sure”

“hey, here’s an idea: are you feeling hungry?”

“As a horse!”

“Care for a bite of apple pie?”

“Mmm, sounds yummy, how can I refuse such an invitation?!” The girls went for Applejack’s house, which was beyond the field, where they found Granny Smith who was taking one of her naps. They silently headed for the kitchen:

“tell me something Sunset: do you like to bake?”

“Well I do handle things pretty well in the kitchen, so I guess my answer would be yes”

“Good, ‘cause I don’t have any pies: we gotta bake one”

“Applejack, how could you do this to me? First you make me feel hungry and now you tell me there’s no pie?”

“Don’t ya worry girl, you’re in good hands: they don’t call me the best baker ever for nothin’”. Sunset smiled at the sight of her friend mixing up flour eggs and apples in a bowl: it was like she could see her own self in Applejack:

“Let me help you” said the girl, after staring at her for a while:

“sure, take the spoon and keep going, while I get some more ingredients”. Applejack added sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg to the mix and put it in the oven, when it had reached the right temperature. As they were watching over the pie, the girls could clearly see it rise, while a warm and delicious smell of apples filled the room enough to awake Granny who entered the room:

“Are y’all girls baking?” asked the woman with her usual huge smile:

“yup!” answered her granddaughter:

“Mmm… that pie sure smells good”

“Thanks Granny Smith” said Sunset delighted by Granny’s compliment:

“well y’all better be careful or your pie’ ll end up like the time when that other friend o’ yours came here”

“don’t worry Granny: we’ll be careful”

“Well, I’d better go check how Big Mac is doin’, be right back”. In the mean time the oven timer started ringing, meaning the pie was ready:

“Have I ever told ya ‘bout the time Pinkie was here?”

“Not really, but Pinkie has”

“Oh and what did she say?”

“She said the two of you were so caught up in chatting, you forgot to turn off the oven and burned all the pies”

“Yeah, she was so mad, she never burns pies!”

“And have I ever told you about the time Rarity and I met in the library?”

“Ah don’t think so”

“that time, I noticed Rarity had something stuck in her teeth, presumably a lettuce leaf, so I tried to point that out to her, but, as we were in the library and we couldn’t talk, I started waving my arms and making weird signs with my hands which, of course, she couldn’t get the meaning of, so I...”

“What?” asked Applejack with great curiosity without noticing her friend was blushing:

“...well...you see, I...”

“C’mon Sunset, spill the beans!”

“...I took a leaf from a plant nearby and bit it” at those words Applejack could not help but laughing unstoppably, as her Sunset went on saying: “but she obviously didn’t understand what I was doing and was caught by a guy with a lettuce leaf between her teeth”

“Poor Rarity” said Applejack, after she had pulled herself together: “bet she was devastated as soon as she found that out”

“Yeah, I feel sorry for not having been able to help her back then”

“I guess we both had our epic fails, eh?”

“Yeah”.

They sat at a table and shared the apple pie they had baked with Granny Smith, Big Mac and Apple Bloom, after they all arrived attracted by its delicious smell and drunk fresh made apple cider, they listened to Granny’s stories around the fire place and to the adventures AB had just had with the Crusaders and they laughed together, as time passed by. When Sunset decided to leave the sun had already disappeared behind the hills surrounding the farm:

“are you sure you’re okay with going home alone at this time o’ day?”

“Sure, I mean what could go wrong? After all, you did so much for me today, I wouldn’t want to ask too much”

“Are you kidding? You want me to leave you go around the city alone in the dark? No way, I’ll take you home: I just need to borrow Granny’s old jalopy”

“Who are you calling a jalopy?!” interrupted them Granny Smith: “Mah cart is as good as new and one can drive it only in my presence, so I’ll come along”

“Ah” sighed her granddaughter: “Fine Granny, now can I please have the keys?”

“There you go” answered the woman pulling out the cart keys from a pocket and throwing them at the girl:

“wait here Sunset, I juts need to take the vehicle from the garage and we’ll be on our way”

“Applejack!” exclaimed Sunset, as her friend turned around:

“Yes?”

“Thanks, for what you did for me today, I’m grateful”

“No need to thank me, as I said before you are now part of the family”

“Yeah, family...” whispered to herself Sunset, holding the handbag with her journal in it close to her heart, as her friend got away heading for the garage,: “...I still wonder what the rest of my family is doing”.

As she saw Granny’s old cart out in the fields and Applejack waving in her direction, Sunset smiled and, hiding a tear dropping from her left eye, she entered the vehicle with Granny Smith and let her friend take her home.

Perfect day for fun

Chapter 7:

Perfect day for fun

It was not long after she had walked through the amusement park entrance that Sunset could already hear the cries of joy of children coming from all directions: some of theme were laughing, while riding the Mery Go- Round, others were standing in a long line in front of a pink cart and, judging by the looks of their adorable faces, they had been waiting for quite a while, yet even that could not stop them from wanting a bite of the delicious looking cotton candy the cart’s owner was serving. Some of them were splashing in the water of a fountain nearby, as for their mothers; they had gotten tired of yelling at them that theirs was not a game to be played in public. But at the sight of the girl the kids got quickly out of the water and left, even though Sunset did not seem to mind the children playing and was quite disappointed in seeing them run away: “Ah” sighed the girl: “what’s wrong with me? I did not wish to frighten them”. Sunset got comfy at the edge of the fountain where she could hear the water, as it sprouted out of a statue shaped like three youngsters hugging each other, without getting wet and watched the women going after their kids and dragging them out of the amusement park, pulling them by an ear, once they had caught them: “Oh, right” exclaimed the girl: “that’s why they tried to get away”. Sunset turned around and carefully looked at every attraction she could see: not counting the Carousel, there were also a haunted house, a mirror gallery, a Ferris Wheel and of course a Roller Coaster: “Rainbow Dash would love to ride that” thought the girl who was already getting her mind lost into that carnival of delights, almost forgetting the reason why she had decided to go there:

“Sunshim!” she heard at that very moment:

“Oh?” said the girl, as she turned her head toward the direction from which she had just heard someone call her name:

“Sunshim!” a lovely and at the same time pleasantly familiar voice repeated: “Over here!”

“Pinkie Pie” exclaimed Sunset, seeing her friend who was as cheerful as ever:“Coming!” shouted the girl, while running towards Pinkie:

“Oh, I am so happy you came, now we can get to do a ton of fun stuff here”

“Yes, Pinkie; yes, we can” said Sunset with an ironic smile on her face: “but how about next time you don’t call at six am to ask me If I wanna hang out, so I can get some more, you know...sleep, please?”.

“Mmm…”whispered Sunset, as she heard an annoying beeping: “Ha, don’t tell me I set the alarm clock last night, too!”, after trying to fall asleep once, twice and even three times more, Sunset realized with great disappointment, that her struggle was useless, as the noise that had so suddenly interrupted her peaceful slumber would start tormenting her shortly after it had stopped ringing. The girl started waving her arms and agitating her legs under the warm blankets of her bed and moved toward the bookshelf: “Uh?” said Sunset, as she grabbed her clock and checked the timer: “Not this one, but what else could possibly be ringing at 6 o’ clock on Saturday morning?” as soon as the hated beeping started again, Sunset noticed her mobile on the floor: “someone’s calling...Pinkie?” whispered the girl, trying to open her heavy eyes: “Hello?” she said, doing her best to make her voice sound normal:

“Sunshim!” exclaimed her friend on the other side of the phone:

“Hi...Pinkie...what’s with the early morning phone call? You know I like to sleep in a bit during weekend”

“Dah, of course I know, I mean what kind of friend would I be if I suddenly forgot what you like? A non-friend that’s what! Or is that an unfriend?”

“Pinkie I think neither of those are actually words and, yes, we are friends and I know you remember everything there is to know about practically everybody in town which is precisely why I would like you to tell me what is so important that you couldn’t wait until later to talk to me about”

“Ah, silly Sunset...” giggled the cheerful girl on the phone:

“what was that, again?”

“You thought I called you to tell you about your special surprise, well I can’t, because then it wouldn’t be a surprise any more and I would have prepared it for nothing”

“A surprise, ah, what kind of...”

“Ah ah ah, no more questions or your spoil all my work; just meet me at the amusement park in the eastern part of the city later and you’ll find out, Bye!”

“Pinkie, wait! What time will you be...ah, shoot!” sighed Sunset, as she realized Pinkie had already ended the call “Now what? When I am supposed to show up at the park?”. After reflecting upon these things, the girl realized that attempting to find out what her friend had in mind would be a perfect waste of time which now she needed and a whole lot of it: “Perhaps it’ll be better if I just get dressed and go” she said to herself, as she finally decided to get up.

“Oh, c’mon” answered Pinkie Pie: “It wasn’t that early, besides it’ll be worth it!”

“Oh, I don’t doubt that” giggled Sunset: “So, when exactly do I get to know about that surprise you mentioned?”

“Well...” said, hearing those words, the girl:

“Please Pinkie, I’m dying to know”

“… I guess, if you really want me to reveal it...”

“Yes?” exclaimed Sunset with a particularly evident thrill in her voice:

“mmm… oh! Is that... is that what I think it is?!”

“Ah?”

“C’mon Sunset, let’s go!”, at that very moment something in Pinkie Pie’s eyes had glimmered for a moment like a luminescent spark, but of course not even that was enough to contain Sunset’s disappointment for not receiving the news she wanted so badly, yet, after no longer than a few minutes, she had stopped thinking about it, probably because she had gotten so used to her friend’s secret surprises to know that, if she had not been told what it was straight away, any other effort to get Pinkie to confess her plans would have been useless:

“Why did you bring me here?” said the girl, once her friend had dragged her in front of a stage where one could see five dummies displayed:

“It’s a game! “answered her friend: “the aim of it is to hit the target with this toy gun, so you can get a prize!”

“mmm...” whispered Sunset: “Fine” she said in the end: “I suppose it’s worth the shot, plus I’m feeling lucky today, hand over the toy gun, Pinkie”. The girl grabbed the blue painted pistol her friend was holding in her hand, inserted a bullet, got closer to one of the targets, closed her left eye, while aiming, took a deep breath and clicked the trigger. Right afterwards she heard a low noise and saw one of the dummies getting hit:

“you did it Sunshim, you did it! “shouted excited Pinkie:

“Did you doubt me?”

“not really...but it feels good to see you succeed”

“Thanks Pinkie and, yes, I love you, too” said Sunset, right before hugging her friend: “Now watch me knock down the rest of them”. Sunset was not joking indeed, when she said those things, for, after a quick reload to her gun, she shot another bullet and hit the bullseye of another target with sniper precision and she did the exact same with the remaining ones:

“Congrats, girl!” said a well built man who had randomly showed up right in front of their eyes and appeared to be the one in charge of overseeing the game: “here’s your prize!”

“Thanks…I guess” answered Sunset who was not expecting to receive a red and yellow maned pony plush as a winning prize:

“Hey, it kinds looks like you, Sunset!” pointed out Pinkie:

“well...I guess it does. You know what? I think you should keep it, Pinkie” “What, but you are the one who won it, Sunset”

“True, but there’s absolutely no way I could have done that without your amazing cheering!”

“Oh, shacks Sunset, no need for thanking”

“I really mean it Pinkie, take it” despite her initial reluctance, seeing her friend handing over the plush, the girl took it in her hands and smiled kindly:

“Oh” remembered Pinke just moment afterwards: “we must hurry or we won’t be the first in line to enter the haunted house, they say it’s the best attraction they have around here”

“We definitely don’t wanna miss that”

“exactly, in fact they also say it’s really haunted!”

“Sure and do you know what else they say about the haunted house?”

“No, what?”

“The last one to arrive gets to pay the tickets!” giggled the girl, running:

“Hey, no fair!” protested Pinkie, chasing her: “wait for me...no, really wait for me, I forgot all of my bits at home!”.

As they entered the room, the lights turned off and a strange anxiety suddenly filled the air; the atmosphere in the haunted house was tense, but that is not something to be surprised at, since is a common fact for that kind of park attractions, yet this one had something ghastly and ugly not even Sunset could explain. Every step she made, she could hear the floor cracking under her feet, making her wonder if it would be able to bear her weight; everywhere she looked she could not see a thing except for an old and apparently dusty night case illuminated by the pale light coming from a window; but the worst thing was a creepy whistle, similar to a wind blow, which the girl could hear every five seconds: she did not find that amusing, at all: “Hey Pinkie, are you still there?” whispered the girl who was struggling to recognize her friend in all that dark:

“Yeah, I am!”

“Good, I can’t see you or where we’re supposed to go, got any ideas?”

“Not really” answered Pinkie with a certain tone of excitement in her voice:

“Wow, they sure went through a lot to make this look like the real thing: now was I or wasn’t I right, when I told you this was the best thing they had, uh?”

“Yes, Pinkie, you were” answered Sunset who did not sound as caught up in the excitement of the situation: “but, to me, it would still be better if they had made it a little easier for us to see anything in here”

“Oh Sunshim, don’t be such a party pooper and follow me, I’m sure we will find our way through this here haunted house” exclaimed Pinkie, right before pulling her friend by the arm. On the other hand Sunset, who had started feeling pain from all that arm pulling, was still doubtful, but decided it would be better not to argue and just let Pinkie do the leading, especially because she had not any other options. While the girls walked through the various rooms of the building, they did not find anything worth being frightened of, if not for a spider plush that had dropped down on their faces the very first moment they had opened a door, even though, from a closer look, the spider would not have scared a child:

“Guess they run out of ideas to make this place look any more threatening” thought at that moment Sunset, as she and Pinkie entered another room that was lighten more than the previous ones:

“What’s that?” questioned curiously Pinkie Pie:

“It looks like...a message” pointed out Sunset, noticing something written on the wall just in front of them:

“Congratulations to you, dear travellers, your path is almost at its end, yet to be set free from this unpleasant maze, you needn’t but to lift the curse that afflicts this very place that is prison to you; here’s your riddle, by solving it the evil spell of this house shall be broken, but think carefully, for it shan’t be an easy feat”.

“Darn, a riddle, I am not great at solving them” exclaimed Pinkie:

“well, it certainly is an original concept, I’ve never come across a haunted house like this” answered Sunset: “Now let’s try to solve it, it says…

... cry and I weep, yawn and I sleep, smile and I shall grin. You tell me, what am I?”

“What was that?”

“Heck If I knew…let’s think, there’s no doubt the answer lies somewhere in this in room; we just need to find it”

“You sure make it sound easy as pie”

“It’s not, I know, but it wouldn’t be as fun otherwise; I am right Pinkie?”

“Of course, let’s find out what the answer to this crazy riddle is...you got any clues?”

“Ha” giggled the girl: “Not really, but I’m still hoping I’ll find one. Sunset started wandering the room keen on finding a way to solve the mysterious riddle, as if she had taken the task as a challenge to her own intellect or, perhaps, she had just had enough of that loony house which had seemed to have bothered her some much. While Pinkie was standing still, doing her best to come up with an idea, Sunset kept repeating: “… cry and I weep, yawn and I sleep”, as she was speaking those words, her eyes came across a dusty mirror, all alone in a corner, just a few inches away from her: “smile and I shall grin...” she said, looking at her reflection in the dirty glass of the mirror: “You tell me, what I am?”. Sunset smiled and moved the object away: “Pinkie” she shouted: “I’ve found the exit!”

“So” asked the cheerful girl to her friend: “how did you figure out the exit to the haunted house was hidden behind that mirror?”

“Well...”answered Sunset, bushing from pride: “I kept thinking about what the final riddle said and understood that the only thing that does everything you do at the exact same time as you could only be your own self”

“Wow...you are right, Sunset; I would have been struggling for ages to come up with such a brilliant intuition!”

“Oh Pinkie, you’re such a flutterer!”

“Did you just say Futtershy, where is she, where is she?”

“No Pinkie, I meant you’re complementing me so much I am starting to feel embarrassed”

“Well, dah!” giggled Sunset’s friend: “that’s exactly what I do: I always make my best effort to see my friends smile!”

“and you do an amazing job, speaking of which” said the girl, as she turned her head toward a stage nearby: “now that we’re sitting here, eating cupcakes this place is starting to look familiar...”

“We did visit it together with the rest of our friends a while ago”

“oh right…we tried a lot of the attractions they have here back then, too. I still have the pictures we took that time in my scrapbook at home”

“It sure was fun, especially when we played music all together on that stage!”

“Yeah” sighed heavily Sunset: “All together...and she was here, too”

“Woopsie...sorry about that, still no news from Twilight?” Sunset replied shaking her head: “Oh...I guess it really is like Applejack said: she must be super busy right now”

“Sure, too busy...even for me!”. After a moment of awkward silence, Pinkie decided to break the ice once again:

“Hey chelax Sunshim, wanna go for a ride on the Marry Go-Round?”

“Okay” answered Sunset, nodding: “Then, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

As soon as the attraction started spinning to the rhythm of the music, Sunset started watching the children around her, as they played, chasing each other, laughing innocently: “Look at them!” she thought: “why can’t I just be like them? Why can’t I jut enjoy myself here? Why can’t I...” the girl suddenly interrupted her thoughts to stare at a little girl, sitting at the table where she had been talking to Pinkie Pie a few minutes ago, together with a boy older than her, but who one could swear looked very much like her and a woman about as the same age as him, and seeing those people made Sunset remember…

At the light of her horn, a loud noise was heard and a giant bean stock sprouted out of the ground of the royal castle quicker than anypony in the whole city of Canterlot could ever imagine: “Wow!” exclaimed Minuette who had remained speechless in front of such amazing abilities: “You really are the best of the best, Sunset!” the red and yellow maned filly in front of her stayed quite:“that vine you made is amazing!”

“would you like to come have lunch with us?” intervened Lyra Heart Strings:

“Sorry girls” answered the pony they had called Sunset: “I gotta practice for my advanced summoning spell exam, maybe next time!” while leaving, the girl noticed a very happy looking filly nearby: she was lavender skinned, had a dark purple mane which turned into magenta in two stripes of her hair and was playing with a ball she was magically lifting, thought the filly did not have a cutie mark on her flank, yet, together with a full grown up colt with a shield as his mark and a young pink alicorn princess. As she passed by, Sunset felt something strange in her, the sensation of a warm wind blow, passing by for moment or a spark igniting in her heart: what was stuck in her mind about that filly was her eyes which possessed a bright light Sunset had immediately fallen in love with: “In the last page of his journal Clover the Claver wrote” thought the girl: “he wrote that this kind of sensation only happens twice: the first time, when you meet somepony special and then, when you meet them again.” “Maybe it’s true” sighed, after a while Sunset: “Perhaps Clover was right, perhaps we’ll meet again one day...until then, farewell young one”.

“Sunshim!” shouted loudly Pinkie, trying to wake up her friend from her day dreaming:

“Uh?” said Sunset, shaking her head confusedly: “Where...what?”

“the ride is over Sunshim and we’ve no time for another, after all, we still need to try out the Ferris Wheel!”

“Oh, Pinkie, it’s just you”

“Well dah! We’ve been hanging out all day, who else could it be?”

“Nobody, of course; I was just reminiscing...”

“No time for that, either: now let’s go!” exclaimed the girl, once she had started puling Sunset’s arm again: “Pinkie Pie...” whispered to herself the girl: “Ah, Pinkie Pie!”

“Yes?” answered her friend who had clearly heard her call her name: “Pinkie...I…thank you… for the surprise I mean, I think I finally got what it was”

“Oh, Sunset, I just did what friends do; you would have done the same for me!”

“Yeah!” sighed the girl:

“Now come here and give me a hug!” While they were wrapping each other in a warm embrace, Sunset felt something in her, something new, but familiar at the same time which made her smile, as she felt a tear lining her cheek: “Now let’s go!” shouted then Pinkie: “whoever gets to the Ferris Wheel first has the right to ask her friend to do her homework in her stead for a whole week:

“Hey, Pinkie!” giggled Sunset, chasing her friend all the way to the Wheel: “Wait for me!

Rarity for you

Chapter 8:

Rarity for you

“Excuse me, darling” said Mrs. Cake, as Sunset lifted her eyes from the menu: “May I take your order?”

“Of course, I think I’ll just have the usual” answered her the girl, clearly showing a sign of boredom on her face. As the woman left, she had the chance to look around and noticed that Sugarcube Corner was strangely empty that afternoon: Mr. Carrot Cake, not seeing any other customer approaching the door, had decided to let his wife do the baking for once and use that time to polish the whole place a bit. The man had in fact turned on an old radio and was dancing, while sweeping, counting on the fact that the only client of the day did not bother the music:

“Dearie?” the sound of the woman’s voice made Sunset raise her head: “Your order is ready”, when the girl laid her gaze on the yummy looking cocoa Mrs. Cake was serving her, a natural:

“Mmm” slipped from her mouth: the sweet drink was still warm and filled Sunset’s nose with a nice aroma, as soon as she took the cup in her hand: “Perfect as ever Mrs. Cake” exclaimed the girl, after taking a sip of her cocoa: “or perhaps even more than ever, is that cinnamon, I taste?”

“Why yes, I’m trying to perfect my recipe, adding some extra ingredients”

“to me whatever you make is delicious, Mrs. Cake”

“Oh, thanks darling, you’re such a sweaty; though...”asked the woman who had suddenly put on a serious face:

“what is it?”

“well...forgive me for being so forward, but what are you doing here all alone, aren’t your friends coming?”

“Oh, that” sighed Sunset, lowering her head:

“they’re too busy I guess, so I’m here on my own this time”

“But you girls are usually inseparable, I hope nothing unpleasant has come between you?”

“Oh, not at all! In fact Rarity is going to be here any moment; we’re spending the evening together, but she said she couldn’t possibly come to our regular hang out here at Sugarcube Corner, since she had her hands full with the schedule Prim Hemline has planned for her. She and top designer Hoity Toity had requested her two dozens of dresses by Thursday for the incoming fashion week; apparently it’s going to be something big this year and Hoity Toity has even agreed on having Rarity’s handy work wore by some of his most successful models in a fashion show in front of his boutique in downtonw!”

“Guess it was an offer she couldn’t turn down”

“You said it” at that very moment a laud noise of dishes shuttering on the floor was heard, shortly followed by the sound of two babies crying:

“Oh honey, I believe I need your help in the kitchen, now!” shouted Mr. Cake who seemed to be just about to loose control:

“I’m coming sweat heart, don’t panic! Forgive me Sunset” said then the woman, turning toward the girl: “but I must be going!”

“Of course, need any help?”

“Thanks, but I believe I can handle this: don’t fret my precious, mama’s coming!” exclaimed in the end Mrs. Cake, right before disappearing behind the kitchen door. The loud noise continued, as the two parents desperately attempted to calm down their children, which made Sunset regret she hadn’t followed Rarity’s suggestion and stayed home to rest a few extra hours after her day with Pinkie Pie; yet luckily for her, her mobile started vibrating in her pocket; it was the sign she was waiting for:

“I am right in front of the sweet shop” she read, then texted back:

“Be right there”. The girl grabbed her hand bag next to her, searched it and pulled out a few pocket money, left it on the desk and got out quickly, while thinking: “Gosh, am I glad I don’t have any kids!”

After Sunset had walked through the exit, she found herself in front of a gigantic limousine only the wealthiest people could afford: “Wow!” exclaimed the girl, beholding such a view: “wonder whose this is?”

“Hey Darling!” a friendly pleasant voice said, capturing her attention:

“Rar...Rarity?!” Sunset struggled to reply: “Is that really you?”

“Of course, who else where you expecting to see?”

“Nobody, but, I mean...how in the world...”

“speechless, uh?” teased the girl:

“Well...yes, speechless is right; you have to explain to me how did you get that vehicle”

“Fine, I’ll tell you, now jump in” Sunset did not need a second invitation. While entering the limousine, the girl could not help but notice the exquisite white leather the seats were clothed in, not to mention the flawless cleaning of the whole car which was with no doubt the result of tough job, and the crystal bright glass of the windows:

“So” continued Rarity who was apparently unable to contain her enthusiasm, seeing her friend still being stunned: “I take that you like this little jewel?”

“Little?” exclaimed Sunset who was clearly exited in equal measure: “this is the most luxurious vehicle I’ve ever seen! Where ever did you find the money to rent it?”

“professional secret, my dear”

“Mmm...” whispered the girl, bothered by Rarity’s mysterious attitude: “ah, fine” she said in the end: “Nice dress anyway: one of you newest design I suppose?”

“You guessed, Darling; glad you like it, I’m planning on using today to show it off”. Rarity’s outfit was truly something unique; the girl had clearly outdone herself this time: the upper part of her outfit was sleeveless and ended in the most beautiful edges, sewed in an expensive white silk, while the lower part had pure amethysts carved into it and each one of those priceless gems, circled by a delicate layer of silk, outshone the others, to cover her legs was a violet skirt which the girl had hemmed with her own hands for days; in addition she was wearing a pair of expensive looking boots with high tassels, painted in a violet and white tint, and which also had flawless baby blue sapphires carved into them:

“So” said Sunset, after a while, so she could break the awkward silence that had suddenly filled the air: “where are we headed, exactly?”

“The mall, I need to get some fabric from one of the shops and, while we’re there, we might as well do some shopping”

“Fine, not that I really need to buy myself anything, right now”

“Oh, darling!” protested at that moment Rarity:

“how dare you say such a thing, take that back this instant!”

“Okay, okay, I take that back!” quickly answered the girl, worried at her friend’s reaction:

“One does not go shopping just because they need to” carried on saying Rarity: “One goes shopping, for it brings out their very true soul, for it inspires the artistic spirit within them, for, for...oh, you get the idea”

“Yeah, I get it” replied Sunset giggling; as for her friend, even If she did her best not too loose her usual lady like composure, she indeed struggled not to burst into laughter, since she knew that sometimes she could get carried away with her fashion pearls of wisdom: “Ever considered joining the drama club at school?”

“I did” replied her friend: “yet my true talent lies somewhere else, besides what would you girls do If I let you all down, abandoning the band, and became member of another club?”

“We’d be lost without our friend” said, Sunset smiling: “and miss you all so much”

“Oh, aren’t you just the sweetest?!” exclaimed Rarity, holding the girl in a tight embrace:

“I mean” went on Sunset: “who would think about our performance costumes If you suddenly went away?” at that point, her friend could not help it any more and abandoned herself into a giggle:

“Don’t worry about that darling, I’m already bursting with ideas and I assure you that by our next concert, we’ll have suits even more spectacular than the last ones!”

“I’m already looking forward to it”. All of a sudden Rarity shut up, making Sunset worry she had brought up the wrong topic at the wrong time, but the silence did not last long:

“You know...”said then the girl: “this chat of ours has given me a brilliant idea!”

“What’s that?” “how would you feel If I made you a bright new outfit?!”

Wait, what…are you serious?”

“Of course I am darling, why should I ever be joking on such an important matter?”

“But Rarity, you’ re already supposed to be working on those extremely important dresses for Prim and Hoity Toity, I could never ask something of this kind to you in a time like this!”

“Now, now, Miss. Shimmer; I will not take no for an answer, besides with the Friendship Games coming on, it’ll be a wonderful occasion to show everyone at school my talent!”

“But how will you get enough time to both fulfil your employers’ orders and mine?!”

“Oh, Sunset!” answered at that moment the girl: “You make it sound as If it’s going to be hard”

“uh, okay! “sighed in the end her friend: “If you say it’s fine, I trust you’ll come up with an amazing dress for me to wear in front of those Crystal Prepers”

“Oh, It won’t just be amazing, It’s going to be big, it’s going to be bold, it’s going to be...”

“so much Rarity?”

“well...yes”, after she spoke those words, the two of them hugged together once more, as they giggled kindly to each other:

“Sorry to interrupt you ladies” intervened then the driver:

“yes?”

“We have reached our destination”

“Wonderful to hear! Ready for some shopping, my dear?”

“Sure, let’s go” replied Sunset, as she followed her friend out of the car and entered the mall.

The shopping centre was so full of people, the girls had to made an effort to squeeze through the main hall: “Ah” sighed Sunset, as she and her friend finally managed to free themselves from a large group of people blocking the entrance:

“Never seen such a crowd all at once, not even during holiday time; why have they decided to come here of all places?”

“Elementary, darling” immediately answered Rarity, without turning back: “when fashion week is around the corner, many shops and boutiques offer their last year products at a hugely minor price than they usually do, so it’s only natural for here to be so full of people”

“And you decided it was crucial for us to come, despite what you’ve just said, because?”

“To buy some buck up fabric, remember?”

“I do” replied the girl, suddenly putting on a frowning face:

“Something, wrong?” asked Rarity, as she noticed her friend’s sighing:

“It’s nothing, really, just not the afternoon I had in mind”

“whatever do you mean, darling?”

“Well… it doesn’t matter”

“Indeed it does, my dear”

“I wouldn’t wanna sound ungrateful”

“C’mon just tell me what you’re thinking”

“Rarity, I...”

“I promise I will not be offended”

“Okay, you win, I guess what I’m trying to say is... I did not expect I would spend the evening lining up in a shop or two, I imagined we would spend our time together doing something a little more...you know, enjoyable?”

“Oh, is that all, Sunset?” giggled Rarity with a delicate smile upon her face: “My dear, you’re simply must stop thinking about the downfalls of our current situation”

“Come again?”

“You must get into the spirit of things: sure a long line to wait may sound boring to you, but I guarantee you’ll smile widely by the end of the day. Just leave everything to me”

“Fine” said Sunset in the end, giving up: “I suppose, If you say so, that I could be mistaken: show me what you have in mind”

“With pleasure, my dear” exclaimed the girl, right before pulling Sunset along with her by her hand.

“Here we are” said at that point Rarity:

“Sure, and where is here exactly?” asked her friend who was still clearly not sure the girl would be able to light the mood in such a crowed and overwhelmed place:

“Isn’t it obvious darling?” replied Rarity, grinning: “this is the finest clothes store they have and it looks like they haven’t sold everything, yet. If we hurry, maybe we still have a chance to come across some of the finest outfits ever seen”

“But, Rarity, shouldn’t we head to the...” her friend did not allow her to finish:

“Hush darling or you’re spoil the best part”

“But”

“No buts and let me do the leading”

“Fine” exclaimed Sunset without the slightest idea of what Rarity had in mind.

The girls entered the shop where they could see an employer who apparently hadn’t rested in hours, since on could notice her hair messily tied behind her head and drops of coffee spilled on her uniform shirt, as she was struggling to serve three costumers all at once and trying to do her best in order to look well composed. Her college was a handsome young man, with an elongated chin and chestnut long hair; his eyes were cerulean and his attire showed a remarkable taste in fashion, though his nice look was in contrast with his stressed out mood: he was sitting behind a table, hands on his head, staring at some paper sheets, probably the latest sales records:

“Oh my stars, darling!” exclaimed Rarity, laying her gaze on a stunning purple dress covered in shiny sequin: “Yes, yes!” kept saying the girl, as her ayes got themselves lost before that beautiful handiwork: “this will look perfect on you”

“I’m not sure” answered Sunset, putting on a doubtful face: “that’s not really my colour, I wouldn’t feel comfortable wearing it”

“Pish-posh” said her friend, interrupting her: “now you go there in the changing room and try it; I’m sure it will absolutely speak to you, once you put it on”

“Truth to be told, I...” before Sunset could protest, the girl pushed her into the changing room and let her out only after she had put on the dress:

“So?” curiously questioned Rarity: “What’s your opinion now?”

“Well...” whispered her friend, trying to use the politest tone of voice she could: “I’m still not so sure this is something I’d like to wear everyday”

“Mmm…” said Rarity, once she had reflected: “You do have a point: this outfit is clearly not your style: we need something else, something capable of reflecting your true personality, something a little more modern for instance?” The girl handed Sunset a pair of pink trousers, a hat of the same colour and a dark blue sweater:

“Definitely not this one, either” sighed the girl after trying the clothes on:

“how about this one, then?” asked her friend, holding a long white dress and an elegant hat decorated by a blue feather: “would you be a dear and put it on?”

“Sure, why not...” complained Sunset who had lost interest in the whole matter and was looking forward to escape that awkward situation:

“I suppose this one won’t do, either?” questioned Rarity with a tone of disappointment in her voice, as she saw her friend scowling:

“Nope” answered Sunset reluctantly: “Look Rarity I...”

“Not a single word, darling” quickly replied the girl: “I know what you need”. Without wasting time, the two girls got out of the store and approached a salon nearby: “Nothing’s better than a new haircut to lift someone’s spirit”

“I don’t know Rarity, I kinda like my hair the way it is”

“Trust me, dear Sunset, once we exit this salon you’ll feel refreshed!” The two girls entered the shop and made themselves comfortable on the first chairs they saw, as a barber welcomed them:

“Well, well, what do we have here?” the well built man got close to her costumers and quickly took a look at them; meanwhile Sunset who wished anything but to cut her hair was unsure If it would be impolite for her to just refuse to have something she did not want done and walk away, but in the end she decided It would be better to just do nothing:

“Just a little from behind” she said, hoping for the barber not to cut off too much of her “mane”; yet the man did not seem interested in what her client was saying, as he kept staring at the red lock dropping on Sunset’s forehead:

“must cut!”

“what?!” exclaimed the girl worried by the man’s weird attitude:

“must eliminate the imperfection!” the barber grabbed a pair of scissor and went for the poor girl’s hair. Sunset managed to avoid his hand the firs time, but as the man did the same twice and then three times, she eventually got tired and almost collapsed on the chair. It was only when the barber was about to succeed in his intentions, a loud scream caught his attention:

“Oh my gosh, is that Prim Hemline?!”

“Prim, where?!” exclaimed the man, turning around; which gave Rarity the time she needed to grab her friend’s hand and pull her out of the salon.

“Thanks for saving me or rather, my hair” sighed Sunset before taking a sip of the tea a waiter had just served her:

“No need, darling, I had to do something, as soon as I realized you were uncomfortable with having it cut”

“Sorry, Rarity, guess I ruined the day for you, too”

“Don’t worry, darling, I was just trying to do what I thought it was best to cheer you up, but it seems it didn’t work out” hearing those words, Sunset lowered her head and put on an even more sad expression:

“It’s like I told you before” replied the girl, after a while:

“I didn’t say anything, because I didn’t want to sound ungrateful to you, especially considering what you’ve been doing for me the whole day, but I ended up making a mess of things; again I apologize, Rarity”

“I said no need” replied her friend, disappointed in seeing Sunset frowning once more:

“I just wish there was something we could both enjoy, but at this point of things, I doubt we’ve got time left to...”

“Don’t even say that” interrupted her Rarity: “that is not of our concern right now, besides I think I might have an idea of what we could do”

“Rarity...”

“Trust, me Sunset, this time it’s going to work” at the sound of her friend’s kind encouragement, the girl finally smiled and followed Rarity, without asking questions.

“Miss. Rarity, my favourite costumer!” exclaimed a cheerful looking young woman:

“Delighted to see you, Miss. Lotus Blossom” replied the girl, smiling:

“and you are?” questioned the woman, turning toward the girl standing next to Rarity:

“This is my dear friend Sunset, she’s with me today”

“Okay, I understand” said Lotus Blossom, nodding:

“Rarity...” whispered then the girl: “what’s this all about?”

“I though I told you to trust me” grinned her friend:

“Yes, you did and I completely have faith in you, but I’ve never been in a place like this before”

“I know and that’s why I brought you here”

“Sorry, but I don’t get it”

“Not to worry, you shall thank me later”. At that moment the woman appeared from behind the curtains and approached her clients:

“Everything is ready, you may come in”.

Sunset timidly followed her friend inside a room where she saw two comfortable looking massage tables; the girl, following Rarity’s example, took off her clothes, wrapped herself in a towel and laid on one of them. Not knowing what to exempt next, she decided to concentrate on the relaxing music the employees had turned on, when, all of a sudden, she felt the sensation of cold on her back, as if a cool liquid was being squeezed on her, shortly followed by two warm small hands. The only thing she felt afterwards was gentle moving on her back, which she surprisingly liked; then the girl, stressed out by that exhausting day, felt her last energies draining out of her and fell asleep. She woke up about half an hour later, when Rarity was putting her clothes back on:

“Good morning, Sunset!” exclaimed the girl: “how do you feel?”

“Mmm...”whispered Sunset, rubbing her eyes: “To be honest: very well rested”

“Excellent, darling; told you this was what you needed”

“Uh” smiled the girl:

“Okay, you win, but invite me the next time you come here, too”

“Agreed” answered her friend, using the sweetest tone of voice.

“So” asked Rarity proudly: “Overall, how was today?”

“It started out as a solitary morning at Sugarcube corner, then we got to the mall, tried dresses whole day, a guy desperately tried to cut my hair and then you offered me the best Spa treatment ever; sounds like everything on the list”

“Was it enough to compete with the days you spent with Applejack and Pinkie?”

“It was… exiting, but I can’t choose a day spent with only one of you as best: you’re all my friends, it’s either all or none of you”

“Well” answered the girl, blushing for a moment:

“I suppose that’s correct, yet I wouldn’t relax too much, If I were you: with all this time Rainbow Dash must have prepared an extremely hard sport training for you to do, I still wonder about Fluttershy, though….”

“Don’t worry about me, I’ll be ready for that, too, even If I kinda hope Dash would come up with something less athletic and exhausting”, as Sunset spoke those words, the two girls could not help but laugh as they hugged each other: “Looks like we’re here” exclaimed Sunset, noticing the car had stopped in front of her house: “Thanks again Rarity, you sure helped me a lot today”

“That’s what friends are for darling, see you at school!”

“Yeah...” sighed Sunset, while watching Rarity’s luxurious limousine getting further and further away: “...that’s what friends are for...”the girl closed her eyes for a moment, while smiling, falling into thoughts only she knew and, after she had opened them again, entered her home, shutting the entrance door behind her.

“Uh?” questioned Sunset with a doubtful face to the mail man: “a package for me? But I’m not expecting anything right now: there must be a mistake”

“No mistakes, miss” answered the guy wearing a blue uniform, in front of her: “This package is to be delivered to this here address to Ms. Sunset Shimmer and that’s you, no doubt; now I’ll need you to sign here”.

Despite her surprise, the girl could not reply to the mail man, for, if the package’s receiver was really supposed to be someone called Sunset Shimmer, then it must have been her. After taking care of the paper signing, Sunset got upstairs and dropped the heavy box the mail man had delivered on the bed: “Who could have sent something to me, I wonder, and why?” Little did the girl know the package contained a splendid cranberry waistcoat, meant to be worn together with a white silk shirt; a skilfully sewed skirt of a bright watermelon colour with Sunset’s cutie mark on it and had a layer of black velvet beneath, plus a pair of high tasselled shoes of the same tint of the dress.

The package also contained a letter with the words:

“Sorry it took three weeks, but I think you’ll like it. Your friend Rarity” written on it.

Into the heart of the forest

Chapter 9:

Into the heart of the forest

As the heat of the night grew warmer, the noises around her became unbearable: annoying mosquitoes were a constant struggle, probably attracted by the injured prey. The moon was shining bright above her head, painting the sky in a deep blue tint; yet that was exactly the reason why the adventurer had not yet dared close an eye.In fact, If she had by any chance fallen asleep without finding a shelter first, she would have lost her sight, for that is the dreadful power of the moonlight in those southern regions. So, Daring Do kept going on her way, fatiguingly leaping, as a large black panther had previously bitten her right leg, causing the woman a grave bleeding which, judging by Daring ’s moans, had not yet stopped:

“I wish I never met that beast” she hissed, gasping.

The adventurer found herself before an incredible number of spider webs that the arachnids had skilfully hidden among the jungle vines, forcing Daring Do to clear her path with the large dagger she brought on her belt:

“Ouch”

exclaimed the woman, not having accounted for the thorns the bushes she passed through had on their branches that kept scratching her every step she made:

“Done” whispered the girl, as soon as she had reached a clearing on the other edge of her path: “The worst has been dealt with”, sadly, the daring explorer was mistaken. As she placed her blade back on her belt, a loud road was heard, followed by the sound of frightened birds, flying away from their nests: it did not take long for Daring to understand what she had run into. She slowly turned around and noticed a large animal which, from the looks of it, must have weighted about 57 pounds, laying on a heavy branch, carefully hidden in the dark that the leaves reflected above its body:

“Shoot!” whispered the girl who could already feel a drop of sweat wetting her forehead, despite the effort she made to remain calm in front of the incoming danger. The beast’s eyes glimmered in the shadows like light bulbs, as the animal made a leap and fell on the ground, remaining hidden from the sight of her enemy. The woman gulped, while her trembling legs shortly began to loose their balance. As for the feline predator; it looked rather calm before the prospective of facing an armed opponent, but that was no surprise to Daring who knew too well what it meant to live in the wilderness: after all, even for a big and strong beast, fighting was no more than an ordinary part of the daily routine.

As the large animal decided to finally reveal itself, its view conveyed Daring an indescribable fear, something similar to a constant tremor or fire burning beneath her skin: the best was covered in thick fur black as carbon, had a pair of small ears on the top of an elongated head, its yellowed snake-like eyes were filled with a raging fire, the muscles were so developed some of its blood vessels emerged from the tissue, yet the thing that frightened the woman most was a horrendously hideous scar, shaped like a long fang, surrounding the animal’s left eye.

Seeing her opponent in the daylight, the fearless adventurer was ready to defend herself from its attack, yet the panther stood still, without moving even its tail, carefully studying her pray, waiting for the right moment to strike; and so it did.

After Daring had hidden her blade behind her back, the beast assaulted her in full might, showing off two couples of incredibly long yellow canines in its watering mouth:

“Now’ s my chance!” thought the girl, ducking to avoid the panther’s powerful paws, but this time the feline proved to be more cleaver than she had expected. Daring had thought that escaping her opponent’s attack at the last second, would give her the opportunity to launch at the beast, yet the well prepared feline predator, landing on its feet, quickly turned around and went for the woman’s leg:

“AAHHHH!!”

at that very moment a loud moan was heard, as the beast buried its teeth into the opponent’s flesh and tried to bit it off with the powerful jaw.

The explorer struggled, cried from pain, fought for her life, gasping more and more deeply; in the end she managed to free herself from the panther’s dreaded bite, after penetrating deeply the beast’s right eye with her dagger. The large animal, now partially blinded, roared powerfully and looked at the opponent with a furious gaze. At that point, as Daring Do had imagined, the panther could not hold back much any longer an assaulted her enemy once more, while the woman, dagger in hand, ducked beneath its belly.

An unbearable noise was heard, the panther feel on its back and abandoned herself to its last breath, while Daring, feeling warm blood, flowing out from the injury the animal had caused her, fell on her knees, but managed to crawl into the nearby bushes.

Now that the night had fallen, the woman had lost count of how much time she had spent in that state and was feeling weaker by the minute due to tiredness, thirst, hunger and most of all her bleeding which had not stopped tormenting her for a moment. The explorer had already started having illusions and, If she had not found shelter soon, she would have fainted any moment; luckily for her that was not meant to be her last day, for shortly afterwards she came across a small cave.

The woman slowly reached it and started a fire around which she placed a lot of dry leaves and branches so it would burn all night then, laying on a wall, she pulled out a water container and a small sugar bag from the rucksack she brought along with her. After washing her fresh injury, she spread some of the sugar on it, then took what remained of the spider webs she had chopped before facing the panther and cleverly saved in her pocket and applied it where it hurt the most:

“I hope no vampire bats live in here” whispered Daring right before falling asleep, as she felt her pain slowly vanishing; she was right to fear the presence of the animals she had mentioned, though.They havein fact caused the death of many people who slumbered peacefully in the forest at night, but she managed to get some rest undisturbed.

Hours later a bothering itching woke her up:

“Mmm...”

whispered the adventurer, rubbing her heavy eyes: “damn mosquitoes”; the fire had stopped burning for quite a while and sun was almost at its peak: “I’ve slept too long” said in the end Daring, before grabbing her hat, that she had unconsciously tossed away from her during her sleep, and exited her shelter.

Being back on her path, the girl took an old looking scroll with a map drawn on it from her bag and tried to read the ancient writings, while thinking:

“I seriously hope that merchant didn’t trick me”.

“So” questioned Daring Do, putting on a doubtful face: “are you sure this will lead me right to the ancient fortress of Doom Diamond of Zilaty?”

“Why...yes” grinned the clothed man she was talking to: “Haven’t I mentioned, yet that I am a prestigious philologist?”

“You did” replied the woman, clearly bothered by the merchant’s attitude:

“So, why do you keep doubting me? I’ve showed you all my work, I’ve already explained that, having spent the most of my life on my job, I take it very professionally, yet you still refuse to believe in my words”.

The man was not so tall and, to be honest, he was rather thin, too, wore a purple tunic or: “tawb”, as people call it in the southern regions, decorated by a long golden necklace with large emeralds carved into it; his skin was the colour of olive and, from under his suspicious hood, Daring noticed a messy curly beard:

“Well” answered at that point the girl: “It’s just that I can’t really understand why you would sell me your hard work so easily” after gulping, the man replied with a depressed tone of voice:

“You see…I certainly do my job with great passion, but this doesn’t exactly repay me financially as much as I need”, Daring answered nodding:

“I see...well, I guess I won’t find anything else that could help me, so have it your way”. After she had spoken those word, the adventurer threw a sack of golden coin to the man and grabbed the map he was handing her:

“You won’t regret this, I assure you” grinned the man, maliciously rubbing the coin between his hands:

“If you say so, farewell”. Daring Do turned around and checked the map over and over again, as she was walking away from the town square: “It looks okay” sighed the girl, looking at the old scroll she was holding: “I truly hope this doesn’t turn out to be a dead end”.

It had been hours since she had started walking and yet her final goal now seemed more unreachable than when she had started her journey, the sun was going down and soon it would disappear under the thick vegetation of the jungle, making it impossible for Daring to go on, but worst of all, it would bring the nocturnal predators out of their lairs and the adventurer wished anything but to encounter one of those beasts again: “One was enough” kept repeating the woman, as she was reflecting upon these things: “One was enough”.

She even had to eat a snake for lunch: a reptile which is considered to have a disgusting taste even by the aborigines of certain equatorial islands Daring had previously visited, and now she understood why.

While proceeding on her way, the explorer had the chance to admire some of the most beautiful animal species; the likes of which can only be found in those territories: groups of sun conures, which take their name from their incredible bright feathers, reminding the sun light, flew over her head, among the leaves of the giant meranti trees, headed to their nests to turn in for the night, small green queztals stood still on the branches, of a magnificent vatica kanthenensis, plant know especially for its beautiful red coloured leaves,curiously watching the stranger passing by, whereas a male toucan was too busy to show off his dark feathers and golden chest to a potential mate to pay any attention to the adventurer, not to mention the weird-looking turacos, a rather rare species to spot nowadays, which make everybody who sees them burst into laughter at the sight of their pompous greenish crest.

As for the ground, it was populated by the most curious insects Daring had ever seen; for starters: frog-legged leaf beetles, known for their rainbow coloured hard back, were resting on the surrounding white-orchird trees, ruby peacock butterflies were feeding on the nectars of the bright flowers of the red lauans, white-lined months enjoyed the fresh air of sunset, while showing off their rose wings.

Feeling her throat dry, Daring took a breath of relief, hearing the sound of water coming from a close stream, then moved toward that direction; yet suddenly the ground began to shake and the daring adventurer run off to climb a tall kempas nearby: she knew what was about to happen.

After a few moments the ground disappeared beneath what looked to be a thick layer of sand, yet was actually an ant army: these species are not hard to come by in rainforests, but nobody who actually knows something about them wishes to cross these furious insects, for they devour everything that stands in their way; plants, animals, nothing is spared and that is the reason why they got their dreadful name.

Daring had certainly seen many ants armies during her previous travels, but she could never get used to witness the chaos they brought along with them: how could such small and innocent-looking creatures destroy in an instant even the grass they walked on, chew up every single leaf from the surrounding plants and rid flowers of their petals?

“Gosh!” exclaimed Daring, watching the scene from the high branch she was sitting on: “It’s a luck I can climb quickly”.

After the tempest had calmed down, the adventurer got back on the ground, which now was more similar to a burnt field, and resumed her journey toward the stream, even though, as she had been forced to climb a tall tree to save herself from mortal danger, she had caused her injured leg to bleed again which gave her tremendous pain.

The girl fatiguingly strolled until she had reached her destination and kneeled before the small river to wet her heated lips and wash her open wound, but at that moment she heard the cries of pink flamingos, scared by her presence, flying away which, believe it or not, made her realize she had found more than just a stream. Startled, the woman took the map from her hand bag and checked it multiple times and only afterwards she finally believed in what she was seeing before her: she had finally made it, she had reached the ruins of the ancient fortress of Domed Diamond of Zilati.

Still speechless, Daring refused to waste time and approached the ruins which, truth to be told, appeared more to be those of a mastaba, a tomb, than some kind of fortress:

“Nice” exclaimed Daring, maintaining her usual smooth spirit that had been tasted many times in that adventure, and yet was far from being broken. Two lines of colossal columns stood before the entrance, laying open; Daring did not think twice to walk in.

The interior of the temple was gothic and had lost most of its formal might: nothing remained of the walls cloth which had left the plaster free for the spiders to sew their webs on, some parts of the roof had fallen down, so water dropped from the holes they had made in the sealing and the patterns on the floor were either inexistent or irreparably damaged and hideous thorns grew between their cracks.

The explorer walked deeper into the mastaba, through an interminable corridor, slowly breathing the humid air, until she found herself before an impressive-looking door, the tallest she had ever seen in all of her travels: it must have measured about twenty feet in hight and ten in width, it was skilfully decorated in various painting, showing different scene: a man sitting in a boat in the middle a swamp, fearless hunters, guided by their wise princess, tracking down wild boars and right at the centre a dreadful beast, resampling a giant black kestrel or a terrifying vulture with a triangular hole on its chest:

“Okay” whispered at that point Daring Do: “Let’s see, If my luck hasn’t abandoned me yet”.

“Shoot!” exclaimed the explorer, finally arriving, at the lost ziggurat she had spent days searching for: “They got here before me and destroyed everything, those scoundrels!”.

Seeing what was laying before her eyes, the woman struggled to believe her enemy’s thugs had been so foolish to demolish a whole ancient tower: over a hundred feet of history had been brought down without a second thought and she had not done anything to avoid it:

“they understand nothing but greediness, don’t care about anything else” hissed Daring angry as a viper, as it sees her eggs threatened: “But this has to end now!”.

The woman followed the fresh footprints the looter had left which disappeared under a thick layer of dust and sand. The explorer walked around a fallen column and entered a door that quickly lead her into what seemed to be the remainder of a temple hall where a large well, all alone by the corner, could be seen. As Daring approached it, she smiled with great confidence: “there’s no way those men made it this far”; then took a deep breath and dove in.

The water was freezing and cooled off the girl’s blood, as soon as she started swimming; Daring grand her teeth and did her best not to think about the pain consuming her every strength and fought to reach the bottom of the pool. There she recovered a small wooden chest with a golden lock on the front. The adventurer swam back to surface and filled her chest with fresh air, then got out of the cursed water, still trembling from cold, sneezing, feeling her hair wetting her neck:

“If this contains what I need” she whispered: “then it was worth what I’ve been through”. Daring forced the lock and retrieved a small key from inside the mysterious chest, then finally fainted on the ground.

The explorer turned the key inside the hole; then, after a loud noise, the heavy door slowly lifted, allowing the girl to crawl underneath. The room she found herself in afterwards was a thin corridor with a high ceiling from which the sunlight penetrated, brighting the whole place:

“Bingo!” said to herself Daring Do, as she laid her gaze upon what was waiting for her at the other edge of the room: an artefact shaped like a crown or a tiara, covered in gold and ancient runs with a flawless sapphire carved into it: “the crown of the two sisters...” she exclaimed: “...mine, after all this straggling, it’s mine!”.

The woman carefully stepped forward, while observing the floor: “hopefully I won’t activate any hidden traps” she thought, gulping; yet it seemed her worries were unnecessary, for no snake of poison arrow came out of the wall, contrarily to what she was expecting, being used to her intrepid adventures.

Her pupils enlarged, as she was staring at her prize: the beautiful, but dangerous crown of the two sisters: “It is said to be cursed” she thought, before grabbing the artefact: “It is said that its value drove people apart and lead them to slaughter each other without mercy… too bad I am not superstitious”.

The daring explorer took the crown and rushed to the exit, fearing that some deadly trap would catch her distracted at any moment, but nothing of the sort happened, moreover she smoothly made it to the main door and successfully escaped the fortress:

“Ah” she whispered: “who would have thought?”. Sadly, the explorer had yet to learn that in life stunning surprises come when you least expect them, especially unpleasant ones; in fact it did not take long for her to realize she was not alone:

“Greetings, Daring Do” said maliciously a manly voice: “It’s been a while”. At the sound of those words, the woman turned around and her eyes burst into flames, as she saw a familiar figure right in front of her: a man was standing not far from Daring with his shoulder resting of the trunk of a dark ebony; wearing no more than a pair of rusty blue jeans, a white silk shirt with short sleeves and a reddish foulard to cover his neck, he also had a black beard, messy, but short and clean; long dark hair reached the back oh his neck and two hard angled brows hid the most threatening pair of eyes:

“Caballeron” hissed Daring Do at his hated nemesis:

“It’s Dr. Caballeron for you” replied the man, clearly bothered by the adventurer’s lack of formal manners:

“what are you doing here?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Sorry for the inconvenience, but me and my friends couldn’t just find the time to ask you an invitation, so we just figured we’d follow you”

“Should have known you wouldn’t let me get away with the crown of the two sisters, after what you caused at the tower of Culucon” grand her teeth Daring Do:

“Yes” answered Caballeron, clearing his throat: “that was an unfortunate event, but desperate times call for extreme measures, I’ve learnt that from you”

“So, what are you planning this time, what are you gonna do with the crown?”

“Certainly something more than giving it away to a dusty old museum like you always do”

“That’s were ancient treasures belong”

“Until now, that is: don’t take me wrong; I really love this chat, yet there’s somewhere else I need to be in a few minutes, so…”the man snapped his fingers, and suddenly three thugs came out the nearby bushes: one was well built, red haired, had a fresh scar on his right blue eye, a mate of his had a short messy beard and was wearing a black fedora hat, the last one wore a white silk shirt and a pair of dark sun glasses.

The whole of them launched at Daring Do at once, furiously attempting to grab the priceless relic away from her hands, but unluckily for them, their opponent was as experienced in fighting and didn’t gave them a moment to rest. Avoiding their punches and kicks, she defended herself with all the strength she had left, counter-attacking with her hands and teeth, hitting the first one in the face, biting the second one’s arm, forcing the two remaining criminals to step back:

“It seems, you have been practising” grinned to her Caballeron:

“Oh, don’t worry, there’s plenty more where that came from; for you, too”. The woman assaulted her opponent like a rampaging beats with her soul full of fury, yet forgot that Caballeron never worked alone; a sudden pain followed and the daring adventurer fell on the ground, hit on the back of her head by a heavy crowbar, and fainted shortly afterwards.

When she woke up, the sun had not yet risen, but a fair light could already been seen beyond the horizon, humidity filled the air, while she was laying in small pond of blood and saliva, slowly dropping from her mouth:

“Ah, my head” whispered Daring Do, as she tried to stand back on her feet, but was still unable to move from pain: “Those, cursed scoundrels, they’ll pay soon... they’ll learn not to cross my path ever again!”

speaking those words, the adventurer proved she still had her unbreakable spirit inside her, yet it was hard to tell If what she was saying would happen: sure she had a trail of fresh footprints to follow, but she was still seriously injured, lost in the middle of a hostile jungle, as Caballeron’s thugs had taken care of robbing her of her map, too, without food or water and worst of all, alone…

“And that’s the end of it!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash, laying on her comfy bed: “Now off to read the next book: Daring Do and the restless pursuit, so we can see how she totally whoops the bad guy’s butts!”

“Dash...” answered her Sunset, doing her best to contain a yawn: “I know Daring Do is absolutely awesome, A.K. Yearling is your favourite author of all time and so on, but you’ve been reading me stories the whole day; it’s almost sundown: can we please do something else?”.

Author's Note

Surprising ending, uh?
This time I decided we needed a change of scenary and wrote a Daring Do story; let me know If you liked it.

And, as always, thank you all for supporting me

Right there in front of me

Chapter 10:

Right there in front of me

“Fluttershy?” called Sunset, as she knocked on the door of the animal shelter: “Fluttershy?” repeated the girl, not hearing an answer: “That’s strange...I sure hope I didn’t get the time wrong”.

Her friend’s cottage was not far from the school building, situated in the very heart of a park. Surrounded by dark wooded fair pines and golden rain trees, showing off their bright leaves, illuminated by the sunshine, and purple robe locusts with their shamrock coloured crown, it melted into nature, conveying an enchanting atmosphere; even Rainbow Dash had once admitted it brought up the picture of a fairy tail house. White and grey bunnies were munching on some fresh- looking carrots, while a group of bees, buzzing around the white daisies, were collected nectar for their honey, tawny coloured house sparrows kept staring at the girl with their dark eyes from the nearby tree branches, while a couple of azure feathered starlings were snuggling together, holding each other in a tight embrace, resting in their comfy nest.

As soon as Sunset turned to grab the phone from her pocket, she heard a loud roar, shortly followed by a feminine screech and what seemed to be the cries of at least ten birds all at once: “Fluttershy!” shouted worried the girl: “Are you there? Let me in!” This time it didn’t take long for the door to open, revealing a quite unpleasant view: Fluttershy’s hair reminded of the back of a porcupine, her face was covered in dust and her clothes were torn apart and, judging by the looks of it, had been bitten off by some animals, plus one of the girl’s sleepers was missing on her foot:

“Hi, Suns...” whispered the girl, fatiguingly rubbing her visibly tired eyes: “How are things?”

“Fluttershy, what happened to you, but more importantly what’s happening inside?”

“Well...it’s kinda hard to explain, maybe it’s better If you come see yourself”.

As the girl entered the small cottage, she could not believe what was before her sight: the whole parquet was a mess covered in claw marks, two pink flamingos were fighting over the carpet, a couple of cats was resting on the purple sofa which of course had been used to sharpen their close, a white bunny was desperately running away from a medium sized barking dog, the curtains had been taken off the window and were currently been used as blankets by a large furry bear, while an annoying vervet monkey was dangerously hanging from the wall light, giving the impression it would fall on the ground at any moment. Seeing all this, Sunset had remained speechless and could not stop staring at the weird and chaotic scene of the rampaging animals; her moth was wide open from the shock:

“Ehh...Sunset?” called Fluttershy, bringing her friend back to the world of the living: “are you okay?”

“What…’nd I mean...how?” struggled to say the girl: “you’re the best at handling woodland creatures, how could you ever let this happen?”

“Well...you see...” at that moment, the monkey jumped from the wall light and landed on a vintage pendulum clock which needed but a few movements to end up on the floor; the sound of glass shuttering followed and the primate burst into a sadistic laughter:

“Mmm...” grand her teeth Sunset, seeing her friend chasing the animal without even coming close to catch it: “how do you even manage to live under such pressure?”

“Oh, it’s really rewarding” replied Fluttershy who had decided to take a break and rest on the sofa, or rather what remained of it, causing the felines to flee:

“Sure...”answered Sunset, putting on an unconvinced face:

“Besides” went on saying the girl: “they’re usually not this messy”

“And what caused them to behave like this?”

“As I was saying, I started up our usual story telling session, so every creature would be ready to turn in for their afternoon nap, but one of the raccoons snuggled to me, I caressed him on the head, then Angel started complaining and Hairy got nervous because he couldn’t get asleep and, well...I guess you know the rest”.

“Yeah...” whispered in response Sunset: “I know, but do you?!”

“what do you mean?” asked Fluttershy, turning around.

At that very moment the bear decided to get up and claim the carpet as his own, roaring so much to cause his poor owner to faint:

“Fluttershy?” shouted her friend desperately attempting to wake her up:

“Fluttershy, don’t leave me!”; It did not take much for her to realize that the girl had completely lost her consciousness. Sunset gulped, as she heard the unbearable cries of the woodland creature fighting each other, turning Fluttershy’s shelter into a chaotic arena; then the girl began to feel a horrible fear:

“what do I do?” went on thinking: “how can I stop this If not even Fluttershy...” the girl’s gaze laid on her friend: she was laying on the ground, among the remainder of what had maybe been a piece of furniture, broken into a million pieces by the powerful fangs of the bear, quite, defenceless, with her eyes and mouth shut tight, cold as a corps. It was only then Sunset experienced true terror: the fear of some animal suddenly lunching at her, mixed with a way more intense one; seeing her friend in that stated had made something lit from inside the deepest corners of her soul. She kneeled before her, with her eyes wide open, which were burning like a raging fire, then gently touched her cheack, while moving one of her long locks away from the left eye. The girl slowly burst into crying; her eyes were unable to hold the tears inside, drops of water began to wet her pretty face:

“Fluttershy...”whispered then the girl:

“...Fluttershy… wake up” it was like something inside her had just broken, something not even her could describe, a delicate and fragile part of her, usually hidden away from everyone’s sight, finally revealing itself:

“Wake up, Fluttershy...this is no time for sleeping, cut the act” she spoke those words, yet her friend’s lips remained shut:

“Fluttershy, don’t leave me...I need you to be here with me...Fluttershy...Fluttershy!”.

All of a sudden her voice became louder than those of the beasts, the surrounding environment became peaceful, as If the animals’ instinct had warned them to be quite. Angel bunny was the first to near Fluttershy, then, after staring at her, he got close to her chick and rubbed his fur against it; then it was Hairy ’s turn. The frightening bear lowered his eyes on the unconscious girl and lowly signed in his own way. It was then, perhaps because she had heard her friend calling for her or the animals ’s cries, that Fluttershy slowly opened her eyes:

“W...what’s happening? Where...”

“You’re wake!” exclaimed Sunset with a tone indescribable joy in her voice: “I’m so glad you’re okay!” “

Well...I think I am, did I just faint?”

“You did! You don’t know how worried I was...or should I say...” as she was speaking those words, the girl turned toward the animals: “we all were”. Fluttershy smiled, kindly stroke the bear under his chin, then took Angel and hugged him in a tight embrace:

“Hey, Sunset” said the girl, raising her eyes: “would you mind taking me to bed? I feel like I need to rest a bit”

“Sure”.

Her friend gently placed her arm on her shoulder and slowly lead her to the bedroom: “Thank you” said the girl, having regained her usual sweet voice: “luckily for me, you were here”

“Oh...no need” blushed Sunset: “besides, it’s not like I did anything special; you should have seen me a few minutes ago: completely helpless”

“Oh, but you did something, Sunset!”

“really?” questioned the girl, putting on a doubtful face: “what’s that?”

“Well, you were there to stand by my side”

“I guess so...” replied, signing, the girl: “I wish I had taken that emergency course they propose us last year, maybe I could have done something more”

“Maybe” answered her friend with the most beautiful and at the same time natural smile: “But there is one thing friends always do: not letting others down and that counts more than anything else”.

At the sound of those words, Sunset, having remained speechless, could not help but hug the girl:

“Perhaps it’s me who should thank you”. The two of them held each other tight for a few more moments, before Fluttershy started to speak again:

“I’m sorry you had to see the shelter in this state, it’s usually much nicer”

“Don’t worry, I figure even little creatures can get mad If they don’t have their regular nap”

“Ah” signed her friend: “That’s true, I guess, but worth to see them happy”

“Do you think they’ll be happy, after what happened? They literally demolished the other room!”

“Oh, don’t worry, I’m sure they’re already fixing that up, am I right Angel?” The little rabbit was staring at the two girls, hidden behind the door, yet at his owner’s warning, run to the other woodland creatures:

“Wow, you sure know how to handle them!”

“What can I say? It’s a gift, plus I don’t really handle them or anything, I just try to be nice and know they would do anything for me as mush as I would do anything for them”

“What’s it like to spend your time communicating with them? I realize this may sound silly, but I’m just curious”

“I don’t really feel any difference between dealing with them or my closest ones like you; sometimes I even feel like I’m being more sincere to them than to anybody else” as Fluttershy was saying these things, her friend remained stunned:

“Wow, I never knew you were so deep!”

“You think so?”

“I’ve just said that”

“well… you’re kinda the first one” blushed the girl:

“I guess you need to have a pet to fully understand what it feels like”

“Oh, I think that’s a splendid idea, Sunset!” suddenly exclaimed Fluttershy: “We’ ll find you a pet!”

“Wow, slow down, I didn’t say I wanted one...at least not right now"

“What? But I thought you wished to understand”

“I do, but I don’t feel like It’s the right time for me to a have a creature wandering my apartment”

“Mmm...fine” sighed at that point her friend with a tone of disappointment: “But I promise that you’ll change you’re mind by the end of the year!”

“If you say so” replied Sunset, surprised to see her usually calm friend being so strong willed and determined all of a sudden:

“Say...” went on saying the girl: “do you have any preference? Personally I think that you’d love to have a snugly kitty with you”

“I’d rather something with less fur”

“How about a tropical fish, then? I’ve got a beautiful one at my pet shop at the mall; its scales even match the colour of your hair, I think Rarity would approve, too”

“Of curse she would, but, to me, it would be cool to be able to hold my pet”

“Then what would you like to have?”

“Well, I’ve always had a thing for...” the sound of glass shuttering on the ground, suddenly interrupted their conversation:

“What just happened?!” exclaimed worried Sunset; the sound of a small animal crying immediately followed:

“Angel!” shouted Fluttershy, as soon as she realized the one moaning was her adored bunny: “He must have got hurt!”

“What me to help?” asked her friend, as she saw her leaving the room in a hurry:

“Thanks, but I think I can manage without fainting this time”

“Are you sure? I wouldn’t want you to...”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be back in a moment”

“Ah” exclaimed the girl, left alone: “Now this situation feels familiar! I guess it couldn’t be avoided, though”.

Sunset took the occasion to look around at the way her friend had decorated the place; the interior design of the bedroom showed Fluttershy had quite the taste: her blankets matched the colour of the walls, painted in a fresh bright white, just above the bed, precisely where three comfy pillows had been placed, there was a wooden bookshelf with pictures of the girl’s animal friends and a small cactus on it; placed by the wall there were two large wardrobes and a cabinet of the same colour of the bookshelf, the whole thing was on the same side as the bed so it would crate a rather elegant effect, on the ground laid a black and white carpet, a couple of putted chairs were not far from Sunset and a pair of white curtains, decorated in a fancy light grey texture, was hanging on the large window.

It did not take long for Fluttershy to come back which, of course, was something to be surprised at, at least for her friend: “Wow, you sure were fast!”

“I told you it wouldn’t take long; here” replied the girl, handing Sunset a cup of tea:

“Thanks, it’s delicious” said the girl, after taking a sip:

“Glad you like, it’s my favourite. I had planned to have a tea party together, but...”

“Things didn’t turn out so well”

“exactly” signed, hearing those words, Fluttershy:

“Listen” intervened Sunset, noticing her friend had put on a disappointed face: “I have some spare time before I have to get back to my place, got anything in mind you’d like to do?”

“Oh, there is one thing” replied the girl, after reflecting a bit: “You see… I am currently working on this new song for the Rainbooms, but I’m kind of out of ideas”

“Got it, let me see”.

Fluttershy took the pink notebook, where she used to write her songs, from the wall cabinet and handed it to Sunset: “It’s this one, It’s still untitled, too”

“Let’s see: I spent so much time serchin’...diggin’ holes too deep...the picture’s never clear...I finally succeeded”

“So...”questioned the her friend: “what do you think?”

“The concept is great, but I agree with you: it does need something more”

“I know, would you help me then, please?”

“Are you kidding? Of course I’ll help, now we just have to find the right inspiration...”.

As much as the girls wanted to come up with an original idea to improve their newest song, they both seemed to have run out of creativity that afternoon; hours passed by and they still had nothing but a bunch of waste paper in the rubbish can:

“Oh!” exclaimed Fluttershy, giving up: “It’s been ages and we still got nothing, I think we should just stop for today, it’s almost sundown”

“Ah” sighed Sunset, as her friend spoke those words: “Maybe you’re right, it’s clear today is not our lucky day”

“Nor was to me yesterday or the day before”

“I am terribly sorry I couldn’t help you after all” said Sunset putting on the saddest expression her friend had ever seen:

“Don’t worry, I know it’s hard”

“Funny though, I should be able to create thousands of songs like this one”

“What do you mean?”

“That the theme of this song is very dear to me” hearing those words, made Fluttershy’s curiosity lit; at that point the girl gulped and said:

“Might I ask you why?” Sunset did not answer: “You know, it’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it, I just figured...” seeing that the girl was staring at the wall without uttering a single word, she apologized: “Hey Sunset, I am sorry, I didn’t mean to...”

“It’s okay” interrupted her friend: “I guess I own you an explanation after bringing this up. Say, Fluttershy” questioned Sunset, looking deep into her eyes: “do you like stories?” the girl timidly nodded:

“You see, there was a time when...”

“Not this one” whispered Sunset, struggling as usual to find the right book in the giant royal library: “not this one, either. Ah, why can’t anypony try to organize these books properly?!”. After a little more time and a bit of luck, she finally managed to find what she was looking for: “Here it is: the complete record of magic history, volume thirty-three”. The filly’s horn lit up and the enormous encyclopedia was magically lifted without a problem. As the girl passed by the exit door, she heard a familiar voice, calling for her:

“Hello, Sunset!”

“Oh, good morning, Mrs. librarian!” the elder mare Sunset was talking to was old, her long mane white as snow, her once vivid purple eyes had clearly lost the light they must have had during youth, her face groovy and wearing a pair of thick orange glasses: “Busy as always, I presume?”

“Yeah, I really gotta go study for my next advanced magic exam”

“Then I won’t keep you here, just wanted to invite you to my sister’s birthday the day after tomorrow: you’re part of the family after all!”

“Oh, I would love to, just need to ask the princess first. You know? In case she has anything in mind for me to do that day” hearing those words, the librarian nodded and the girl set off for her room in the eastern wing of the castle.

Truth to be told, Sunset was not really considering going to the party, not at the moment at least, even thought she liked talking to Mrs. librarian from time to time: she found her very sweet and the two of them seemed to get each other.

Having arrived at the room, the girl placed the book on her desk: “Wow, that thing sure was heavy: now let’s start this thing!”. As she read those pages, she found them extremely difficult, especially because of the archaic language they were written in; nothing too hard for her though, she had in fact accomplished many tasks even more complicated than that one, plus she loved challenges, so she found that reading very interesting:

“Ah” yawned the girl, at at certain point: “What time is it?” Sunset turned around and looked at the clock, hanging on the wall: “Oh good, It’s dinner time, I’m starving!”.

The filly quickly left her sit and walked toward the door: “I wonder what the chef cooked tonight...” before opening the door, though, the girl noticed something on the floor:

“A note...in my room?” exclaimed Sunset: “Somepony must have left it here, while I was caught up in that book; now what does it say:

"Hi Sunset, sorry we started off with the wrong hoof earlier, we didn’t know you had to prepare for such an important test; anyway I am sure you’ll pass it with full marks as usual. There’s a big party next Tuesday night for my birthday, the whole magic school will be there and we’d love to have you there, too, so you can maybe teach us a few of those spectacular spells of yours! Will you come, then? Oh, what am I saying? Of course you’ll come; see you next week,

Your Minuette”

“I can’t believe I got two invites for two different birthday parties, and worst of all, in a time like this!” sighed the filly, putting the invitation away:

“wait a minute!” suddenly thought the girl: “did she say the whole school?”.

Sunset read Minuette’s note once more: “She did: this means the purple filly I met the this afternoon is supposed to show up at the party, too. Perhaps…” her reflecting was interrupted by the manly voice of a royal guard outside the room:

“Dinner’s ready, Miss; the princess is waiting for you”

“Oh, almost forgot: comin’!”

“So, that’s pretty much the end of the story”

“Wow, Sunset!” exclaimed Fluttershy, after her friend had finished speaking: “I didn’t know you and Twilight had know each other for such a long time”

“We didn’t, we crossed each other just once that afternoon, then I never managed to see her again”

“Can I ask you something, Sunset?”

“Sure, why not?”

“If you had the chance to turn back time, would you introduce yourself to her the first time you saw her?”

“the answer is yes, but again, back in the day I didn’t know her, you or any of the others would be so important to me: the word friendship never crossed my mind”

“I see...” said at that point the girl, noticing her friend was becoming more depressed by the minute: “...did you go to Minuette’s party in the end?”

“What do you think?” Fluttershy remained silent: “I can’t believe all I ever needed was right there in front of me and yet it was just too close for me to see!”.

Sunset’s friend stood still without uttering a single word, watching the girl’s usually cheerful face slowly turning into a sad expression: “Well, the past is in the past” she finally intervened: “let bygones be bygones: I don’t know anything about the Sunset you told me about, for I only know one Sunset and I am proud to call her my friend!”

“Fluttershy...”

like flowers, closed from the cold of the night, bloom in all their beauty in the light of day, a weak flame slowly began to melt Sunset’s heart, freeing her from a thick block of cold ice, until her were yes full of tears:

“Thank you, I needed to hear that” said her in the end, as she hugged the girl:

“That’s what’s friends are for”

“You’re at least the fifth person to say that to me this week”

“Well” giggled Fluttershy: “At least now you know it’s always true!”

“Yeah” the two of them hugged once more, but then something brilliant crossed Sunset’s mind: “I’ve got it!”

“What?!” questioned, startled Fluttershy:

“I know how to finish the song”

“Goodness, what do you have in mind?”

“Remember what I said a couple of minutes ago about friendship?”

“That it was right there in front of you, but you didn’t notice that?”

“Exactly, it’s just the idea we needed; c’mon, help me out!”.

Hearing those words and her friend’s relieved voice, made the girl smile, then she took a pen and, without asking, she started writing together with Sunset.

The girls worked themselves to the bone all night long, no breaks allowed, and only at down did they finally let themselves close their heavy sleepy eyes:

“And that’s how we wrote that song”

“Wee!” exclaimed Applejack: “It sure was an adventure!”

“Indeed!” intervened Rarity:

“But it was totally worth it! Right Fluttershy?!”

“Right, and how to finish our song wasn’t the only brilliant idea that crossed her mind that night, even If it took slightly more for her to finally realize that”

“Yeah” replied the girl, while laying her gaze on her shoulder were a crested gecko, covered in the most spectacular maculated golden scales, was resting: “Isn’t that right, Ray?”

My past is (not) today-part 1

Chapter 11:

My past is (not) today-part 1

“So, here we are again” Sunset sighed heavily , after grabbing a pen from her handbag: “I can’t believe it’s been a week already!”. She was sitting on the edge of the school rooftop, bending her legs, staring at the setting sun half hidden by the white clouds, with her gaze lost into the dying light. With one hand holding the journal and the other placed on her chest: “Mmm...” she whispered, hearing her heartbeat: “I guess, I am not the only one who’s feeling tense, uh?”. It did not take long for her, though, to realize that nobody was there to listen which made nothing but increase her struggling: “Great, just great! Now I’m gonna stay here talking to myself, because I have nobody else to...” while speaking those words, she laid her eyes on the blank pages of her journal: “But maybe I can still write to somebody or, rather, somepony…

“Sunset?!” a kind voice whispered in the girl’s head: “Sunset, wake up!”

“Mmm...” the little filly replied , as she lifted her head from the pillow, slowly rubbing her sleepy eyes: “...what’s happening?”

“C’mon, it’s time to go”, as soon as Sunset was finally able to see, she realised the one talking to her was her mentor:

“Princess!”

“Get up, my dearest”

“Princess, why are you in my room? It’s not even morning” the girl said , pointing out that it was still three o’clock:

“I warned you earlier we would go for a walk tonight, don’t you remember?”, the filly put on a confused face:

“Well...I guess I was a little distracted, anyway there’s no problem: I’m ready!”

“Good, follow me”.

The two of them quietly walked through the corridors of the castle; the atmosphere was calm, yet spooky at the same time: the doors were barely visible, illuminated only by the moonlight, penetrating from the window’s and the princess’s luminescent horn, everypony was asleep and their rooms shut tight, the only thing that could be heard was the breath of the royal night guards passing by, furthermore their hooves produced an echoey clopping sound, as they touched the floor:

“Mmm” Sunset thought , trembling: “This is freaky!”.

Princess Celestia lead her outside, in the open fields behind the palace, on the top of a hill: “Wow!” Sunset exclaimed , as they arrived:

“I take you like the view?” her mentor questioned with an ironic smile on her face: “This is where I come whenever I need to spend sometime by myself, it always cheers me up”

“It’s beautiful!”.

At that point the filly had remained so caught up in the spectacular scenery that spot offered her she even forgot to ask the princess why she had decided to take her there in the first place: the moon stood high up in the night sky, surrounded by millions of stars, and its fair light painted the houses below in an ashen tint; some of them were illuminated from the inside despite the late hour. Each one was round shaped and white coloured in order to resemble the palace design, as a result they all did look quite similar, plus none lacked their own yard which every gentlecolt was proud of. A light grey smoke was slowly coming out from the chimney of the nearby bakery, spreading a sweet aroma that make Sunset’s mouth water: “I didn’t know Doughnut Joe was such a morning pony”, the girl thought.

“I am glad to find out we have some tastes in common” Celestia intervened , waking up the girl from her daydreaming:

“Yes...” Sunset whispered in response.

The two of them stood still without uttering a word, enjoying the peaceful atmosphere and the delicate cool breeze, touching their cheeks, until Sunset, who had perhaps started suspecting something, decided to break the silence: “Why would you bring me in a place like this?”

“As I said before, I often come here, seeking somewhere to rest and gather my thoughts”

“And?”

“And I thought you needed it”

“I beg your pardon?” the girl questioned , putting on a surprised expression:

“C’mon Sunset, I noticed you being anxious during dinner”

“You did, but how?!”

“You barely touched any food: gave just a bite to the lettuce, ate half a carrot and didn’t even lay your eyes on the pudding and I know for a fact that’s your favourite dessert”

“Ah, fine!” the little filly sighed in the end : “you got me”, as her pupil lowered her gaze in sadness and defeat, the princess’s voice became gentler:

“Hey Sunset, there’s no need to be upset, I’m here to listen: just tell me what it is” the girl initially refused to talk and turned her head around, but, as her mentor neared her and lifted her head with her hoof, staring deep into her candid eyes, she could not help but confess:

“It’s just...”

“Yes?”

“...just that...”

“Go on”

“Ah, I saw some filly this afternoon and...I don’t know why since then I’ve been feeling...weird”

“Weird?”

“Yes, it was like there were butterflies in my stomach all of a sudden”

“Do you still feel that way?”

“Exactly” at the sound of those words, Celestia sighed heavily, as she raised her eyes to the bright moon in the sky:

“I am not certain...” replied her eventually: “but maybe you and her share or will share something together”

“How so? I’ve never seen her before”

“Sometimes we forge bonds with ponies without even knowing them, sometimes you just need a little faith”

“but...”

“I know what you’re going to say and my answer is: there are certain things you cannot simply describe through a lab experiment” the mare giggled :

“If you say so...”.

After they both had spent some more time contemplating either the sky or the grassy ground beneath their hooves, Sunset intervened, saying: “You know her, don’t you?”

“I do, but now let me ask you a question: how did you two meet?”

“We crossed each other earlier in the park”

“She is indeed a very talented young unicorn”

“Oh...”

“Sunset” Celestia questioned worried , noticing that a tear had slipped from her pupil’s eye: “Are you afraid she’s going to replace you as my student?”

“I guess so...”the girl replied , after a while:

“there are many young fillies I have seen, each of them special and unique” hearing this, made Sunset feel worse, as If, amongst those special unicorns, she had never been so gifted as she thought: “...everyone had their own abilities: lots of them achieved great results, but none will be able to take your place in my heart”.

At that moment Celestia, wrapped the young filly in her white feathered wing and dragged her close to her chest: Sunset felt a pleasant warmth, as she snuggled to her, slowly closing her blue eyes; meanwhile, having lowered her head, Celestia started rubbing her face onto Sunset’s, until her frown disappeared:

“thank you!” the little girl whispered at that point :

“No” her mentor replied: “thank you for staying with me!”.

After a few more sweet moments, the mare began to stare at the moon again, while holding her pupil tight with her right leg:

“Princess” the filly intervened:

”Yes?”

“You never told me why you always look at the night sky like that” at the sound of those words, Celestia’s embrace became tighter, as a drop of tears wetted her cheek:

“Maybe one day, Sunset” her mentor gulped in the end : “one day, but not today”.

Having written these last words, the girl closed her journal and raised her eyes: the sun had almost reached the horizon and the moon was already clearly visible: “It looks even brighter tonight” sighed her, reflecting upon those pleasant, yet far memories, too far for her to go back now. She had once decided to cross the line which nopony else had ever dared to look at, not even all those ancient powerful wizards she knew so much about had ever come close to what she had done:

“Sometimes I remember...” she started saying to herself: “… remember how beautiful it was to wake up every morning in a shiny elegant palace, how warm the blankets of my bed where, how cool it was to hung out in a royal castle and how delicious the smell of fresh made pancakes was. How much I enjoyed studying magic, even if, sitting on a chair all day long, made my back hurt from time to time or how interesting I found Princess Celsetia’s private lectures: I loved those lectures!”.

Sunset sighed, biting her lips until they felt too painful; a desperate stream of tears dropped from her red inflamed eyes: “Sometimes I wish could back!” she whispered: “Sometimes I really wished there was a way for me to go back and live like I used to”, despite all her sobbing, the only response to her voice, filled with sorrow and ressentiment, was the cold howl of the wind. She hugged her legs, trying to resist the cold weather, but without results: she felt like her tears had frozen on her face and her voice suffocated: “it won’t take long for me to faint now”, she thought at that moment. She had almost given up to the thought of letting herself loose consciousness, when, suddenly, she heard a low sound, like that of a drop of morning dew falling of the ground, and noticed a tear of hers had ended up on what she was holding in her hands:

“My journal!” she sighed, seeing her precious treasure: “my journal” she repeated, holding it on her chest, close to her heart: “It’s all I have left...and it’s still here!”

“Mmm...” Sunset thought, sitting in front of the volume of magic history she had borrowed from the library: “...so Starswirl the bearded managed to create a spell that would allow him to open portal between different dimensions? That sounds interesting...what else does this chapter say?” at that moment a familiar friendly voice interrupted her reading:

“Sunset, may I come in?”

“Princess!” the girl exclaimed , as soon as she heard her mentor calling for her: “Of course”.

Having been lit by a bright golden magical aura, the door opened and Celestia allowed herself into the room, her expression was cheerful as daylight and she was wearing an unusual tawny saddle bag:

“Am I interrupting?” she questioned, noticing the enormous encyclopedia on the filly’s desk:

“Oh...no, not at all” her pupil quickly replied : “I was just revising a few notions before the next advanced magic exam”

“about that...” the mare began to say , putting on a suspicious smile: “It’ll be in two days”

“that means...on Tuesday, perfect! I still got time to go through a few more books; don’t worry: I won’t disappoint you!”

“Like you ever did something of the sort!” the princess giggled : “Anyway, I think you could use a little more practice on the field: would you mind following and showing me a trick or two?”

“my pleasure!” Sunset answered , heading to the door:

“That girl is making a lot of progress, but...” the princess started thinking , as soon as her pupil had left: “I sure would like her to make some...”at that moment, Celestia laid her gaze on the trash can right next to her and noticed there was something inside: “what’s this?” the mare asked to herself , as she lifted the piece of waste paper she had seen: “Sunset never leaves rubbish in her can: it must be something she threw away recently...a note? Of all the things I expected to see here this wasn’t certainly on the list: now, what does it say?” The princess read Minuette’s invitation and a pleased smile appeared on her lips:”Perfect!”

“Okay, Sunset!” Celestia exclaimed , after her student had successfully cast her spell: “you perfectly manage: levitation, transfiguration, summoning and even teleportation”

“Ah” the girl exclaimed proudly: “did you expect less?”

“Oh course not” her mentor replied , smiling: “I think we can cut this short and take a break: what do you say?”

“Well...” Sunset slowly answered : “I have grown a bit tired...and my horn is on fire, so...”

“I’ll take that as a yes”.

The two of them walked though the palace gardens, passing by the monumental fountain resembling a pony carrying a flag in sign of victory by the main door, until they finally arrived in an isolated spot and laid under the shadow of a willow: “So” Celestia said , caching her pupil’s attention: “how do you like it here?”

“It’s very nice” Sunset replied, observing the surrounding environment: the immense castle yard was decorated by the most charming trees she had ever seen; for starters: an exotic flamboyant which takes its names from the fare coloured leaves on its crown, some weird-looking cannonballs trees with their unusual round fruits; giants oaks had grown in line one after the other, creating a sort of a passage under their long branches, so that anypony passing through would have the impression of entering an enchanted forest. There were also less rear lavender trees to which the princess herself dedicated most of her caring attention, but what the filly loved the most was a giant old wisteria: these plants are typical of the eastern regions and are often confused with cherry or lavender trees because on the colour of their blossoms, but if grown properly, these ones can reach colossal hight and, when in full bloom, offer the eyes an unforgettable spectacle.

The yard shrubs, on the other hand, were no inferior in beauty: there where wegelas covered in white and rose flowers, reminding of spring, various forsythias, symbolizing luck with their golden leaves; roses of Sharons attracted bees with their irresistible sweet aroma, while the pink camelias were still soaked with morning dew:

“You sure put a lot of effort into this place” the filly suddenly intervened, braking the silence:

“Even princesses need their small breaks from time to time and I like spending mine here, amongst these plants, becoming one with nature and enjoying some peace”

“I didn’t know you were so poetic!”

Celestia answered with a giggle: “It’s a nice change from the chaotic crowded town hall, where I get to hear everypony, shouting their requests or attending public events where I am expected to look perfect in front of those watching me”

“Sounds stressful…”

“It is, I’m afraid”

“And yet you keep enduring, because?”

“Because I must, it is my duty” as she heard her mentor being so firm and assertive in her speech, Sunset shut her mouth and lowered her eyes intimidated, until the princes resumed the conversation: “But I, too, have my flows and weaknesses” this time it was the mare the one who was staring at the abyss without uttering a word:

“so...what about me?”

“Excuse me?”

“I mean: now that you are here with me, are you being sincere or are you just doing this because it needs to be done?”

“Sunset, I…”

“Because, to me, it doesn’t matter if you are flawless or not; to me you’ll always be perfect” at the sound of those words, the princess could not help but blush: for a moment she felt truly happy like she hadn’t been in almost a millennium, she held her pupil close to her, wrapping her in her wing, and felt their hearts beating as one. The mare lowered her head and kindly pressed her muzzle onto Sunset’s and rubbed them together, then stroke the filly’s neck with hers; both of them remained silent:

“I feel the same way” Celstia finally answered : “You’ll always have a special place in my heart” tears slowly sprouted out of their eyes almost at the same time and lined their cheeks: “and as long as you stay here I’ll be right by your side to help and guide you, whenever you need me...” a further moment of silence interrupted her: “but I want you to know that even when you leave, you’ll always be the first one in my thoughts” at that point the princess lit her horn and a took a book from the saddle bag she was wearing: “here, keep it with great care”

“what’s this?” Sunset curiously questioned : “a book...with my cutie mark on it?”

“This is no ordinary book: it is a one of a kind magical artefact, whatever you wrote here will appear in one of my books in the library, so we will always be connected...you might call it...your very special journal”.

At that very moment, Sunset’s face became as red as a chilly pepper: “I...I don’t know what to say...I...”

“Then don’t say anything and come here”. The two of them held each other in an endless embrace, filled with love and affection, until the mare spoke again:

“Can I ask something of you now?”

“Anything”

“Do you promise me to follow my instructions and trust me?”

“I do... completely”

“I found a letter this morning in your room; it was in the trash can”

“Oh...” Sunset gulped :

“why did you threw it away?”

“It’s just that...my studies...I had to focus on them for my exam”

“You can’t allow your studies to prevent you from getting to know other ponies”

“I know, but...”

“Besides, you’ve proven yourself enough today”

“I fear I don’t follow”

“Your exam...you held it earlier with me and passed it with full grades”

“ I did?”

“Absolutely”

“So, does this mean?”

“that you are free to go to Minuette’s party on Tuesday”

“Mmm...”

“Please Sunset” the princess insisted , looking deep into her pupil’s eyes: “do it for me: go”

“Ah...” the girl sighed , replying: “Fine, I promise”

“Thank you...a lot”.

“Shoot...” Sunset sighed, laying on the cold surface of the rooftop: “...If only...”, suddenly she stopped talking and began to stare at the sky above: shining stars have started appearing, illuminating everything around them in an ashen light. She had always been passionate about astronomy, since when she was a student back in Equestria and that same feeling she had preserved in her new life on the other side of the mirror: “they are so different from the ones at home” whispered her, lifting her right arm in an attempt to catch them:

“that must be Orion, I remember reading about it in a book once” Sunset went on saying , while pointing out an eastern constellation: “it does look kind of weird with those two arms; oh, and that is Gemini: it actually does resemble two people hugging each other, while that is Auriga it contains approximately 10.000 pc stars!” A moment of silence followed: “All those incredible things we nearly know nothing about… they are so beautiful and, yet, so far away...like home….If only I had listened to her that night...”

“Oh” the filly breathed heavily : “C’mon Sunset, you can do this: it’s just a party; you’ve done lots of overcomplicate stuff, whatever could go wrong?” the girl kept on thinking , hesitating to get inside the castle hall where Minuette’s party was being held: “Ok, I’m ready: the sooner I get in the better”.

Sunset silently squeezed through the door and made her entrance into the room: the hall was overwhelmed and had been decorated top to bottom like during the Grand Galloping Gala, many tables had been covered in a white silk cloth and, judging by what was displayed on them, the menu included all sorts of candies and treats from doughnuts to cupcakes and, of course, a giant vanilla cake with a cherry on the top. Sunset, lowered her gaze and, without being noticed, approached a table, lit her horn and lifted one of the chocolate cupcakes to have a bite. In the meantime she could not help but stare at everypony else giggling, laughing, telling each other jokes: “what are all of them so happy about?”.

At that very moment a group of colts appeared at the door: the were four of them, a green skinned one with furry sideburns, wearing a pair of thick glasses, a mate of his, slightly younger, had his skin the colour of the sea and a submarine as cutie mark, the remaining two were both blush, yet one was distinguishable by his curly hair; they all hurried to the stage at the centre of the room: “who are they?” Sunset wandered , ignoring the fact that one of the most successful bands in Equestria had been invited to the party.

Three of the colts grabbed their instruments: two guitars and a bass, while the last one made himself comfortable behind a drum; then it did not take long for them to start playing.

Hearing the music, everypony in the room could not hold on anymore and started dancing restlessly: the tune the band was playing was filled with emphatic energy: “Great” Sunset thought , covering her ears: “I’m done here”. The girl tried to get to the door and escape that weird circumstance, yet somefilly was there to stop her:

“Sunset!” an exited familiar voice exclaimed : “You made it!”

“Um?” the girl replied: “I...mean yes...of course and you are Minuette, right?”

“Sure as spring”

“Happy...birthday”

“Why...thank you, I am so glad you managed to come, despite your exam”

“Wait, what?”

“When the librarian told me you were stuck studying, I feared the worst, but it seems like you made it in time!”

“Yeah...”

“What are you doing here, anyway? The fun is right there!”

“You see...I was just about to...”

“You certainly don’t wanna miss that!” the azure youngster dragged Sunset to the dancing floor:

“C’mon show me, some moves!”

“I really should...” Minutte did not let the girl finish her sentence, for she started dancing around her and making pirouettes, forcing the other one to do the same. Sunset was not too happy about that, but she took the chance to look around again, as she was trying to spot a particular purple filly:

“She’s not here” sighed her after a while: “She didn’t come”

“what are you talking about?”

Minuette interrupted her thoughts : “Are you looking for somepony?”

“No, no, was just...admiring how awesome everything looks like tonight...” Sunset answered embarrassed, suddenly realising the music had stopped playing:

“If you say so” the azure filly went on saying :

“But enough chatting: it’s time for the big event!”

“Whatever do you mean?” ignoring Sunset’s question, Minuette made her way up to the stage and took the microphone from one of the band’s members:

“Good evening everypony and thank you all for coming here; it means so much to me!”

“What is she up to?” the girl thought almost at the same time :

“But now it’s time for the special event we were all looking forward to: the very best of the best here in Canterlot, Sunset Shimmer, will perform one of her spectacular spells right here in front of our very eyes!”

a loud “Oh!” immediately followed:

“Wait...what?!” Sunset exclaimed , having heard those words:

“C’mon Sunset, come here on the stage and show us something spectacular!” Minuette insisted .

While hearing everypony cheering, the filly gulped and, blushing, slowly climbed upstage: “I certainly didn’t expect this...”. “C’mon!” she said to herself, as soon as she arrived next to the birthday pony: “Just a little trick or two won’t be a problem, will they? Transfiguration perhaps...”. The little filly, closed her eyes, desperately trying not to think about the ones staring at her and the sweat dropping from her forehead, then took a deep breath and lit her horn. A spark ignited in the air, the whole stage was surrounded by a magical aurora, while everypony remained more and more amazed: “Just a little more...” Sunset kept reaping to herself : “A little more…”.

Little did she know, though, that for the first time in her life one of her spells would fail: her horn suddenly stopped glowing, as an annoying cracking sound was heard: “Um?!” the little filly exclaimed shocked , reopening her eyes: “It can’t be...it simply can’t!” struggling, Sunset tried to recast the spell but it was all useless: somepony in the crowd coughed, others whispered silently to each other, others stared angry at Sunset, until a colt dared say:

“And you’re supposed to be the best of the best?! Ah, even I can do more than that!” the rest of the ponies loudly agreed and started telling certain things which only helped the girl’s heart to break apart more quickly; in the meantime Sunset cried, humiliated in front of those fillies and colts, she cried:

“Hey” Minuette intervened , attempting to comfort her, placing her hoof upon the filly’s shoulder:

“It’s okay...”

“It’s not” firmly replied the girl:

“What?”

“Let me go!”

“Sunset, I...”

“I said let me go!”.

Once free, the girl got off the stage and hurried up to the exit, while hearing everypony in the room laughing at her; until one of them, perhaps the one who had insulted Sunset in the first place, threw at plate at her. Without even turning around, the filly stopped the dish from hitting her, shuttered it into a million pieces with her magic and got outside, feeling her eyes still filled with tears.

Sunset run off the castle, until she arrived to the front yard where she collapsed beneath a willow, bursting into tears. The things she was feeling, the ones she had heard were awful: she was devastated, ashamed, injured on the inside; yet at that very moment a familiar and at the same time pleasant voice caught her attention:

“I was certain I’d find you here”

“Princess” the little girl replied , lifting her red inflamed eyes from the ground: “Princess...I am so sorry...I have failed you, I...” her mentor calmly interrupted her:

“You didn’t Sunset”

“But you said...I promised and then the spell...I ruined everything!”

“It’s not your fault”

“But...” at that point Celestia laid next to her pupil and wrapped her in her wing:

“Sh… It’s okay, I’m here now”. Sunset hugged the princess tight: “Do you know what I do when I feel sad and alone?” The little filly replied she did not: “I look at the stars: they always manage to cheer me up with their bright light”

“Really?”

“Sure, I even managed to learn how to recognize a few of them”

“Cool”

“Thanks, for example that constellation over there is Cygnus, you can see the wings, right?”

“Yeah”

“While that one is called Sagittarius, it looks rather weird don’t you think?”

“Ha, ha, I guess”

“And that one in the end is called Ursa Minor, the last star on the tail always indicates North”

“Its name sounds familiar”

“It should: some giant bears, living in the Everfree Forest, bear it; never cross one of them, though, they’re extremely dangerous and aggressive!”

“And what about that large one over there?”

“That, my dear, I like to call Draco”.

The two of them stayed together without stopping speaking, even the silliest things began to sound funny:

“Princess” Celestia’s pupil intervened:

“Yes, Sunset?”

“Thank you”

“No, Sunset, no need to thank me” a moment of silence interrupted their conversation:

“I promise I’ll do my best to make you proud of me one day”

“Believe me Sunset: you already have...”

“And that’s the end of the story” the girl wrote on the page of her journal: “It’s all done now, I have told everything I held to me as the most precious moments of my life, I’ve freed myself from this burden for you” Sunset stopped writing for a moment and breathed heavily: “There is nothing left to me that you don’t know already, everything that had been a part of me till this moment I’ve written to you. After all, you are the one who, pulling me out of that crater, showed me the way I was meat to follow all along; If not for you, I still wouldn’t have anyone dear to my heart. But now it is me, your friend, who asks you to tell something sincerely:

it must be clear now how much special you are to me; then if you feel the same way you told me long ago, if you really love me, why won’t you answer me?” and with these very words she closed her journal.

My past is (not) today-part 2

Chapter 12:

My past is (not) today-part 2

The night had fallen, painting the sky in an obsidian colour: the moon, spreading its ashen light, was shining brighter amongst the dark, the wind had grown weaker and was not nearly as unbearably cold as a few moments before, a group of bats, illuminated by the silver stars, flew above Sunset’s head: “Maybe I should go...” the girl sighed, imagining what hour must have been: “After all, I still need to wake up early tomorrow”. Before getting up though, Sunset laid her eyes on the journal one last time: “not glowing”, she said in the end.

“Woo!” Applejack shouted all of a sudden: “It’s a big one, get out of the way!” The girl was sitting on a boat in the very middle of a stream, fishing rod in hand: just a few moments earlier she had felt something biting the tackle, but as soon as she had tried to pull the lured fish on the boat, the animal had made a violent movement, sending a powerful vibration under the water and now it was dragging the poor girl along with it in a desperate attempt to free itself:

“Applejack, don’t worry!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed from the shore: “We’ll save you!”, showing the intention of jumping into the watercourse; yet Rainbow Dash stopped her immediately:

“Are you nuts?! The current is too strong for you to swim across the river: stay here or we’ll have to save you, too!”

“But we have to do something!”

“Yeah, but what?” Fluttershy questioned worried: “Oh, I only wish I knew what to do”

“Principal Celestia has already called the emergency services” Rarity intervened:

“Yeah, but thanks to this field trip of ours we’re stuck in the woods: it’ll take time for any help to reach us and meanwhile our friends could get into some serious danger: at least we gotta follow’ em!” the others nodded in response and followed Rainbow Dash.

At the same time Applejack’s boat had been dragged so far away, it had entered a ticker part of the forest, where nothing but pines and hemlocks was visible: “This is getting out of hand” said Sunset who was with her: “Let it go AJ, we got too far from our camp already!”

“And go to bed without dinner? No way!”

“But Applejack...”

“Enough complaining and more helping, Sunset”.

The effort the two of them made together was admirable, but worthless, for every time they pulled the fishing rod, the animal answered with a movement powerful enough to make the whole raft shake dangerously which gave the impression it would capsize any moment: “Shoot!” AJ exclaimed furiously , refusing to give up: “This thing must be big as a barn!”

“Applejack!” her friend shouted: “Applejack!”, she repeated, noticing the girl would not pay attention to her:

“What are you yelling about, can’t you see I’m mighty busy?! And why in the hay did you stop pulling anyway?!”

“You’ll find out soon enough” Sunset answered , encouraging her to turn around:

“What are you pointing at...Woo!” she suddenly screamed, loosing her composure: “A waterfall, why didn’t ya warn me sooner?!”

“I tried to, but you were too concentrated on the fish to listen!”

“Blast the darn fish... we gotta get out o’ here quickly: take this and don’t spare your energies!” AJ nervously replied , handing her friend a paddle. Having let their pray go, the girls did the best they could to contrast the current of the watercourse, alas, they did not stand a chance and they both knew it too well: “C’mon Sunset!” Applejack kept exclaiming: “Do it harder!”

“I am trying, but I can’t”

“If you don’t, we’ll drown!”.

Despite their effort, the current pushed them closer to the danger until, hearing the threatening roar of the water, they understood they had reached the edge of the river; at that point Applejack tossed her oar into the stream and hugged the other girl tight: “Sunset!” she started saying: “If we don’t make it, I want’ ya to know that you’re the most wonderful friend I could have asked for!”

“You, too AJ”.

Watching their raft slowly approaching the waterfall, they closed their eyes and began to scream frightened; yet not a moment too soon a trunk fall right in front of them, blocking their path:

“Applejack, Sunset!” a shouting voice caught their attention:

“Rainbow Dash, girls!” they answered almost at the same time:

“Grab the trunk, quick!” The two of them did as their friend had said and watched the whole gang saving their lives, as they were being pulled out of the river.

As soon as she was safe, AJ laid on the ground, looking completely glass-eyed, while Sunset, dropping water all over, hurried to hug Rainbow Dash and Pinkie: “Ah!” she shouted, bursting into tears: “I don’t know how to thank you: it was horrible, I was certain I would...”

“Sh...”intervened Fluttershy, embracing and caressing her on the head: “It’s alright now, let it come”

“You’re my heroes!”

“Oh, shacks, it’s kinda what we do!” Rainbow Dash blushed, hearing these things:

“Are ya kiddin’?” replied AJ who had regain consciousness from the shock: “Y’all just rescued us from certain doom!”

“and the way you did it!” Sunset exclaimed excited: “You were awesome!”

“Ah, thanks: it’s like I always say: never fear, when your friendly neighbour Rainbow Dash is here” at the sound of those words, the entire group could not help but laugh uncontrollably: “Hey, I, too, have feelings; you know?” Rainbow exclaimed bothered :

“C’mon, friendly neighbour” Sunset answered her : “I say It’s time to go back to camp”

“Indeed” Rarity added: “I had quite enough of epic rescuing adventures for today, thank you very much!”.

The six friends slowly strolled into the sunset with the dying daylight in front of them, walking amongst the giant oaks and the fan-shaped sycamores: “Hold on a sec...” Dash suddenly said , breaking the silence: “Now that you two have lost the fish, what are we gonna have for dinner?”

“Heck If knew!” replied Applejack: “I’m starvin’ ”

“Oh, don’t worry” Pinkie Pie intervened at that point “I brought marsh mellows: who’s up for some S’ mores?”.

“Mmm...” Sunset whispered , reading: “...they sure were delicious”, shortly afterwards the girl turned her gaze upon the following entry: “Look...Twilight answered this one saying she would have loved to be with us to taste Pinkie’ s sweets...”. Breathing heavily, she slowly started turning the pages of her journal one after the other: “All this time I’ve been filling this with my most precious memories, every single day...some of these things didn’t even happen that far back in the past...like this one: today Fluttershy and I spent some time together at the animal shelter; that’ll be hard to forget, especially the first part, a real tragedy! Others are very funny, like...this one, baking contest with Pinkie Pie: what a day...”

“So” Pinkie exclaimed, standing in front of the school entrance: “Did you bring everything I required, Sunshim?”

“Yep” her friend answered: “Got everything with me from flour to wiped cream and sprinkles”

“Good, now get ready to fight!”

“Uh...Pinkie, we’re just taking part in a charity baking contest”

“Exactly”

“What I mean is: there is no fighting involved”

“Sunset, look at me!” the girl furiously replied:

“This is not just any day, this the most important day of your life, this day will define who you are, this day we’re gonna win and crush our enemies!”

“What enemies? The other contestants are Bulk Biceps and Micro Chip!”

“When it comes to bake a cake, nobody messes with me, nobody!” ignoring Sunset’s following questions, Pinkie dragged her friend to the soccer playing field behind the school building where two stages had been set, both highly equipped with kitchen utensils such as measuring cups, whisks and bowls. The opposing team was already there, planning the perfect strategy and choosing the right recipe for the contest, while a whole bunch of other students had gathered all around to assist the competition:

“Shoot!” Pinkie shouted: “We’re late!”

“We’re not” Sunset pointed out : “we still have fifteen minutes before the beginning”

“What, why didn’t you warn me earlier we got so little time?!”

“Well...I would have If you just listened...”

“No time to argue” Sunset’s friend interrupted , seeing principal Celestia approaching: “we need to get going now!”.

The two girls quickly reached their stage and got everything they needed to compete ready, in the meantime the headmistress neared a microphone, placed at the centre of the field: “Good morning students and welcome to our first, but surely not last, baking contest where your talented schoolmates are going to prepare for us one of their delicious desserts!”

The ones watching answered with a loud cheer:

“It is very heart-warming that many of you have decided to come watch the competition, it means a lot that you all care so much about the charity project our school has decided to be a part of: I’d also like to remember you that the funds we have collected today thanks to your participation will be given away as contribute to renovate the city orphanage. And now without further adieu, let the contest begin!” In a moment the timer was set and the two teams rushed to grab their ingredients:

Microchip’ s was fast and well organized, Bulk Biceps quickly followed his classmate’s instructions and in a short time he had already prepared the base of his cake; as for Pinkie’ s, things were going slightly differently:

“C’mon, Sunshim!” shouted at that moment the leader: “pass the granulated sugar”

“Here” Sunset answered , sweating from the stress of the competition:

“and the baking powder? Where is it?!”

“Take it”.

Time was flying and the boys had already put their dessert into the oven: their recipe consisted in a large pretzel cake, fresh, enjoyable, yet a real challenge to prepare under pressure; whereas to Sunset was not exactly clear what kind of cake her friend had in mind, as the only thing she had done so far was asking for more and more ingredients: flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking soda, chocolate chips or buttermilk.

As Pinkie was mixing up everything in the bowl, the girl finally had a chance to take a break and observe her working: she new her friend was keen on baking, but she never had witnessed such a perfect technique: Pinkie was calm and concentrated on what she was doing, her eyes constantly laid on the mixing bowl and it looked like nothing could distract her:

“vanilla extract” she exclaimed after a while:

“Sure” Sunset replied , quickly passing the ingredient, showing a sudden grin on her face, probably getting into the spirit of the event.

Having taken a look at the timer, Pinkie grand her teeth: her eyes were as flaming as those of a furious bull during a rodeo and even her voice, as she to cried, began to sound more bovine than human:

“It only needs the final touch” she whispered to herself:

“Pinkie”,Sunset intervened, interrupting her thoughts: “we’re running out of time!”

“only the final touch” the girl insisted , adding two tablespoons of yogurt, before putting the whole mixture into the oven: “finally” she sighted relieved: “it’s done”

“Sure” the other one said at that moment : “Now...would you care to tell me what exactly are we supposed to present to the judge?”

“Oh, haven’t you guessed, yet? Think about what we just used for our recipe, don’t all those ingredients ring a bell to you?”

“Well...” the girl answered, reflecting : “they al sound pretty common and normal; I mean: what’s so special about chocolate chips or baking powder that is going to get us to win this thing?”

“Absolutely nothing” Pinkie replied , grinning:

“Wait...what?”

“That’s right, we’re baking a simple chocolate cake with whipped buttercream: not everything has to be overcomplicate to be successful, sometimes you just need to stick to simplicity and add something on your own to be creative”

“Understood” her friend agreed : “so the whipped buttercream is our winning card, but I can’t see it anywhere; haven’t you prepared it, yet?”

“I’m exhausted, silly” Pinkie giggled in response: “It’s your turn now to get your hands dirty”

“Oh...right”,Sunset smiled , having giggled herself.

The girl hurried to grab a new bowl, put together two cups of salted softened butter, four of powdered sugar, another of unsweetened cocoa powder, a tablespoon of vanilla extract, five of heavy whipped cream and began to mix them with a whisk as fast as she could:

“Double the speed, Sunshim” Pinkie intervened : “do it with more energy!”

“I’m trying to!” the other one replied, clearly feeling her hand more and more tired by the minute; luckily for her it did not take much longer for the oven timer to start ringing, warning the cake was ready.

Sunset’s friend placed it on the table and smelled it: “Yeah, this is good!” she exclaimed, smiling:

“Uh, Pinkie...”Sunset protested : “...would you mind lending me a hand?”

“Woopsie...sorry”.

The two of them helped each other out to push the whipped cream into the piping bags and decorate their cake fast as lightning, ignoring both that time had almost run out completely and the other team had already completed their job.

Suddenly a loud: “Stop!” was heard and both of the girls collapsed on the ground at the same time, while principal Celestia slowly approached the boys’ table, took a bite of their dessert and wrote something on her small notebook.

As the woman neared, the two friends either began to bite their own nails or simply closed their eyes; without uttering a word, the headmistress took a sample of their cake and wrote down a note:

“Okay” she finally said, having gotten the microphone back in her hands: “our contest has reached its end and I want to congratulate both of the teams for the effort they showed us today; but sadly there can only be one winner” hearing those words, Pinkie’ s heart started pounding quick as a stallion galloping in the open fields, as the girl hugged her friend nervously: “and the lucky ones to claim today’s prize are...”

“Ouch” Sunset complained in the meantime: “you’re holding me too tight”

“Sh...” was the response she got

“...Pinkie Pie and Sunset Shimmer!”

At that point the couple jumped euphorically into the air, screeching like restless babies: “congratulation girls!” principal Celestia, kept saying , handing them their winning ribbons:

“Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!” Pinkie exclaimed with a wide smile on her face:

“we did it, we did it, Sunshim!”

“we sure did!” Sunset answered , hugging her once more:

“we make an awesome team you and I”

“You bet’ ya”

“Now help me get this cake to the others”

“Mmm...” giggled the girl maliciously :

“Uh...Pinkie, what are you thinking about?”

“I might have a better idea on what to do with this”

“What’s that?”

“Watch!” and, having said these words, Pinkie devoured the whole cake in one bite under everybody’s stunned eyes.

“Ha, ha, ha” Sunset laughed unstoppably: “that sure was fun; I’ve never managed to fully understand how she does that sort of things”.

The girl began to turn the pages of her journal once more, until she finally laid her gaze on one particular entry, putting on a sorrowful expression: “This one I have written during the first Christmas holiday I spent with my friends” she sighed heavily: “Yep, it all started nicely, till a certain event happened; luckily I had somepony to remind me to never give up hope and everything turned out alright...eventually”.

“I just can’t believe it!” AJ nervously shouted “How could y’all do this to us...and especially to Sunset, she hasn’t done anything wrong to y’all!”

“I’m sorry sis”Apple Bloom replied , lowering her gaze, shortly copied by her friends: “It’s just that…y’all have been spending an awful lot of time with her and none with us… after all, it’s Christmas”

“Well...duh!” Rainbow Dash loudly intervened: “That’s exactly why we’ve been planning slumber parties each and every night: Sunset never got a real holiday and deserves to spend one with us, her friends!”

“But Christmas is supposed to be spent with family!”

“Apple Bloom, how many times have I told’ ya good friends count as family, too?”

“Uh...practically since when I was born”

“Exactly”

“I can tell first hand how that true is” Scootaloo whispered , intimidated by Rainbow Dash’ s angry eyes:

“Plus, you’ve almost destroyed her reputation here at school” Rarity firmly added : “and that really is the worst thing you three young girls could have done: the least you can do is apologise yourselves!”

“Ah...we know” Sweetie Belle slowly answered , turning toward Sunset: “Sorry, we never wanted you to get you into so much trouble because of us, we just wanted to spend some time with our big sisters; I guess we really messed everything up this time”

“It’s okay, don’t worry” the girl ,sighed trying her best not to show the youngsters the sorrow she was carrying in her heart:

“What?!” Sweetie Belle and the other Crusaders exclaimed, hearing these things: “you let us go just like that?! But we’ve been terrible to you!”

“I know what it is like to feel sorry about something wrong you did and I certainly can tell that in such moments what one needs the most is a forgiving smile. So, what do you say, friends?”

“friends!” the CMCs quickly answered:

“Mmm...” Sunset added after a while: “Now that I think of it, we have just the time for one more get-together tonight; would you like to come?”

“We sure would!” Scootaloo replied , immediately blushing afterwards: “I mean...we’d like to, but after all we’ve done...”

“As I said, It’s in the past...Applejack, can I count on you?”

“I’d be darned If I don’t come up with the best party you’ve ever had and I guarantee it’s gonna be a blast!”

“Oh...I don’t doubt that!”

“Just make sure to bring your best country outfits and come see me later at Sweet Apple Acres” the whole gang nodded confused in reply, while AJ grinned suspiciously.

“What in the hay happened here?!” Applejack shouted , as soon as she opened the barn door: “Big Mac!” she exclaimed, calling her brother who arrived after a few seconds: “have you any idea what happened to the barn these past days, when you were the one supposed to do the cleaning?!”.

AJ was not overreacting, being upset: every inch of the building interior was in fact covered in dust, furthermore hay had ended up all over the place and the walls invaded by spiders:

“Uh...”Big Mac whispered : “...Nope”

“Ah...fine, I’ll take care o’ this myself, you just skedaddle”.

The girl hurried to grab a broom from the warehouse in the garden and swept the barn clean from top to bottom; just in time before the gang showed up:

“Y’all here, finally” she gasped, reaching her friends, who were all wearing cowgirl outfits like she had recommended, at the edge of the farm:

“Goodness darling!” Rarity exclaimed, seeing her sweating: “has something wrong happened? You look like you’ve been working all day!”

“Well...” she slowly answered: “turns out something needed a little cleaning, but don’t you worry: it’s all fixed now”

“Are sure you’re okay?” Sunset questioned worried:

“Who, me?! I’m as fresh as Apple Bloom the day she was born; so, y’all ready?”

Not wasting time, the group reached the barn and partied all night long, country style obviously: Applejack played the guitar, while watching her friends dancing at the rhythm of the music, all sorts of apple based desserts were displayed on the tables for dinner: caramel apples, apple fritters, apple pies, apple cinnamon crisps, apple dumplings, apple Brown Betties and other irresistible treats on which everyone could not help but feast on:

“Hey, AJ” Sunset timidly said , having called the girl in a corner, while the others were getting their tummies full: “Thank you for everything you did for me these days, thank you from the bottom of my heart!”

“Oh, shacks!” the other one blushed , hearing those words: “no need, I already told’ ya you’re part of the family and here, on my farm, we take a lot of care of family members. Now, If ya’ ll excuse me, I’m starving!”.

Once Applejack, had gotten far enough from her, Sunset whispered: “Yeah...part of the family”.

“... family” the gir lkept repeating to herself : “that was the first time I’ve ever felt truly happy and accepted”, a tear dropped from her left eye, lining her face: “Let’s see what the next page says”.

“Granny!” yelled AJ, not being able to stand the “thrill” of the trip: “Are ya sure this road is safe?!”

“What?!” the woman asked, not hearing a thing but the sound of the vehicle tires going up and down, as the bus proceeded on its way:

“I said: are ya sure this road is safe?”

“How dare ya doubt me, young’ en? I’ve travelled here my whole life and guarantee it’s perfectly...safe!” Granny shouted , right before stopping the bus in front of a bunch of cows, blocking the path:

“you were saying?”

“Well...perhaps it’s not one hundred percent recommendable, but it’s also the only way we can get to Goldie Delicious’ s cabin in time”

“And how are we supposed to get there, when there’s cows in our way?”

“We just need to make’ skedaddle: shouldn’t be too hard”.

At sound of the klaxon, the animals left frightened, leaving a mess behind; some of them even hit the vehicle, causing it to shake dangerously:

“See? Nothing to worry about my dear; now sit and leave the driving to your old Granny Smith”; reluctantly her granddaughter obeyed.

After nothing but a few minutes the woman drove the bus across a stream; scared by the unusual event, all the fishes swum away, except for a large trout which, jumping out of the water, ending up on the front glass of the vehicle; Granny Smith screamed scared and the bus got off the road. Instinctively, she pressed the break pedal and the vehicle stopped violently, not before having crashed into a pine: “Ah!” AJ shouted : “Granny, what are you doing?!”

“Oh, sorry, dearie...I guess our trip ends here”

“We even got a tire popped” Pinkie pointed out :

“Great, just great, how will we ever get to Goldie’s house now?!”

“I don’t know, Applejack”.

The girl nervously breathed until she had calmed down: “Okay, not to worry: things like this can happen. I’ll just phone Goldie and warn her we won’t be able to make it for the concert we have scheduled at her place in five minutes”

“Hey!” Sunset intervened at that moment , catching her attention: “I think that won’t be necessary, look...her cottage is right in front of us!” seeing what her friend was saying was true, AJ could not believe her eyes:

“How can we be this lucky?”

“I have no idea, but we’d better move”;having grabbed their instruments, the girls left the bus and rushed to Goldie Delicious ‘s.

Having been announced by the cabin’s owner, the Rainbooms climbed up the stage that had been built in front of the cottage just for the occasion and played many of their songs; amongst which there was one Sunset loved particularly: the band had played it once already in the city park and, according to the girl, it expressed what each of them felt for one another, the very reasons why they had come together in the first place, despite all their differences, the very reason why they would stuck toeach other forever: their friendship.

“With my best friends, we can depend”, Sunset kept singing : “they will always follow true, there’s a guarantee for fun, when I spend it with you!”; the sun was about to rise in front of her eyes and its rays, already visible beyond the horizon, illuminated the sky in a bright light, while the stars, the girl had admired all night long, slowly started to disappear: “See you at dusk” she thought, bidding them her farewell:

“It’s funny” she sighed after a while, keeping her weepy eyes down: “how I kept seeking answers from somepony so distant and ignored those who I should consider closet to my heart, the ones who have displayed their affection for me, even when nobody else would, the ones who I swore not to let down, the ones I love the most: my friends...my family.

Drying her remaining tears, Sunset turned around toward the highest point of the school rooftop, made completely out of glass, she watched herself into that mirror and, for the first time, she had the courage to face up to her own shadow. She sent it away with an assertive expression on her face and finally saw a new girl in the glass: not timid, vulnerable or suffering, but strong, brave, loyal, caring and lovely. She smiled to this new her and closed her eyes for a moment: “My past is not today...” she whispered: “...my past is not today!”.

Sunset turned around again, this time headed to the opposite edge of the roof, the one where she had spent the night laying on, and witnessed the luminescent fiery sun, rising from the hills beyond the city.

Suddenly, the girl felt like something had taken control of her, something much more powerful than her will; having faith like somepony had told her to do long ago, she let that energy do what it was meant for. While closing her eyes once more, she felt that power lifting her from the ground, she felt like something new, something magical, penetrating her whole body from feet to hair, filling the deep whole in her heart, and, like phoenix, she spread her flaming wings, rose high up in the endless sky and cried from joy:

“I may not know what the future holds, but here me, when I say that my past has not defined me’ cause my past is not today!”.

Having reached the very limit of her new energy, she felt the magic placing her back on the school rooftop; at that point she raised her gaze upon the infinite space above her head and noticed the moon was still there and delayed to fade away. Sunset smiled kindly to what had been her companion during most of that sleepless night and, for an instant, she had the impression the moon was smiling her back; then disappeared in the blue sky:

“Sunset?” questioned unexpectedly a familiar voice: “Sunset Shimmer?”, the girl turned around:

“Vice Principal Luna?! What are you doing here?!”

“I always come early in the morning to check on the school ground and I happened to hear a voice coming from over here: I suppose it was you. Now it’s your turn to tell me what you are doing on the school rooftop at this hour”

“Well...” the girl answered : “I was having a hard time, so, I decided to spend the night here, this school is, too, a part of me, after all”

“And I suppose it helped, judging by your smile”

“It did...a lot”

“Fine, then” the woman, kindly replied having put on a cheerful face herself: “I think I could close an eye on you, but next time, If you need somebody to talk to, just come to my office.”

Sunset slowly walked home, holding her precious journal on her chest, and, once she had gotten to her flat, she kissed it and placed it on the desk of her bedroom, whispering: “Write to me a message or two, when you’ve got some time.

The girl got all comfy under the warm blankets of her bed, decided to finally have a few hours of sleep before going back to school, only to hear her alarm clock ringing unbearably: it was already 7: 45: “Shoot!” she exclaimed, bothered: “I’ll be super tired today in class! Ah, at least I don’t have to get changed”.

While grabbing her things, Sunset heard her phone and noticed she had just received a new message: “It’s from Rainbow Dash...” she read: “...it says she wants to meet all of us in front of the school building for an emergency!”. The girl took the journal from the desk and put it back in her rucksack: “Maybe...maybe it’s her!” she suddenly gasped, while heading for the exit door; she was so excited she had not even felt her journal doing what she had hoped for such a long time: it had started vibrating on her back.

Little did Sunset know that what Rainbow Dash needed was no more than an extra guitar string...

Author's Note

And now we know what happened in the end!

I wanna thank all my followers for supporting me in this project. Honestly it went better than I could ever expect, considering that I used to think nobody would read Pony Heart in the first place!

Anyway, the story is not quite finished, yet, in fact there will be an extra chapter next Sunday, this time featuring an alternative ending where Sunset goes back to Equestria to visit Twilight.
After that, I will be working on a new story I have already planned.

Again thank you all for the support and , as always, feel free to post your comments and suggestions for the incoming chapters!

Through the glass of the mirror (altrnative ending)

Author's Note

Note before reading: this chapter is an alternative ending to the Pony Heart story; the events are set after chapter 4 and feature Sunset, travelling back to Equestria, as If she had never been stopped from entering the mirror portal by Applejack and the others.
Let me know which between the two endings you prefer and look forward to our next fun fiction, coming on next Sunday!

Through the glass of the mirror (altrnative ending)

Special alternative ending chapter:

Through the glass of the mirror

Having jumped into the portal, it did not take long for Sunset to be blinded by an unbearable shining light; all around her started to spin uncontrollably, what’s more she began to feel a terrible nausea:

“I hate this” she thought at that moment.

Her arms and legs began to bent and her hands slowly disappeared, leaving their place to a pairs of hooves, while a tear, caused by the pain that inevitably came with the transformation, slipped from the girl’s left eye and her pupils enlarged, having been penetrated by a multiple coloured ray.

Sooner that she had expected, Sunset found herself out of that tremendous tempest of lights, rotating into the air:

“Ah!” she screamed, right before crashing into a mountain of books:

“Mmm...” she whispered after a while, lifting her poor dizzy head and adjusting the tawny saddle bags she was wearing around her hips:

“I remembered that whole thing being less unpleasant; but at least I got where I wanted...right?”.

Raising her blue eyes, Sunset realised she had been teleported somewhere she had never seen before: the room was majestic, large, with a high sealing, the walls decorated in some of the most beautiful tapestries she had laid her gaze on; simple, yet stylish at the same time thanks to their bright indigo and sapphire tint. The place was full of bookshelves and each one of them was overwhelmed by encyclopedias, novels, history books and, of course, magic ones; a crystal desk stood in one corner, whereas on the other one a comfy looking armchair. At the very centre of the room was the mirror portal, surrounded by a complex machine which looked like had been built in a hurry, for all its pieces were made completely out of wood:

“This places feels new” Sunset said to herself, as she was turning in all directions:

“it must be Twilight’s castle: she told me the mirror had been moved to her place, but I never really imagined one day I would get a chance to visit it; I must admit it feels cosy”.

The girl turned her head toward the tower of volumes she had ended up demolishing:

“Yep, this is Twilight’s home, no doubt; only she could have left something like this: I wonder what she’s been reading lately” she whispered, trying to grab one of the books with her hoof.

“Wait...wait?!” Sunset exclaimed, noticing she was strangely unable to hold something in her ‘hand’:

“Oh, right; these had completely slipped my mind, silly me!”

Fast as lighting, she lit her horn and a red aura surrounded the small object that started levitating into the air:

“I also had forgotten how much fun it is to do this” the girl giggled, headed to the crystal table:

“let’s see...gosh it’s dusty!” Sunset pointed out, having sneezed from the dirt covering the front page of the book:

“It looks like it hasn’t been touched in a while”. The girl made herself comfortable on the nearest chair and turned the cover on which an unusual mark, shaped like a hoof print, could be seen:

“it’s a journal” she exclaimed, after reading a few pages quickly:

“and it seems like different people wrote it, judging by what I can see here”.

The more she read on the diary, the more the girl found herself intrigued by what it contained:

“they sure had accomplished lots of difficult tasks Twilight and her friends; this kind of reminds of my own journal”.

Having said these things, Sunset placed the book on the table and got back on four hooves, then walked to the door and exited the room:

“Wow!” she exclaimed loudly, finding herself in a long empty hallway:

“When Twilight warned me this place was big, I didn’t think it was this big...If I hadn’t hung out in the royal palace for so long, I wouldn’t be able to take a step without getting lost in here” she giggled, before started her interminable walk across the corridor.

While strolling, Sunset noticed that despite the place being enormous, not even the slightest voice could be heard coming from any of the rooms: actually the only sound she could catch with her hearing was that of her hooves touching the floor: the palace was empty as a catacomb.

In the end the girl decided to turn around and opened the third door on her left: “This castle certainly doesn’t lack surprises!” she said to herself stunned, after noticing a large table, surrounded by seven thrones: each one of them had a different symbol carved on it, except for one that was smaller than the others:

“now I understand what she meant, when she mentioned the importance of her responsibilities in Equestria, the last time she visited CHS: sure I figured she played a key role out already, but this is beyond my imagination!”.

As soon as she got closer to that peculiar table, Sunset began to feel an unexpected awkward sensation: “I wonder if it has something to do with this...” she thought, shooting al ray of light from her horn.

A flash ignited and something incredible happened before her eyes: a map, the likes of which nopony had ever seen, materialized in front of her, all of Equestria was there from the Crystal Empire to the village of Somnambula, from the Luna bay to Manehattan:

“High level stuff, I see” Sunset added, observing that incredible trick, once she was sitting on the main throne:

“It’s got even home” she sighed, laying her eyes upon the royal palace in Canterlot:

“I wonder what she might be doing now...maybe I should take this chance to...”while she was reflecting, a bright glistening caught her attention:

“Uh?” the girl questioned to herself, seeing a magenta spark and group of three butterflies, rotating around a pair of high mounts on the map:

“What are those? One of them resembles the symbol Twilight bore on her skirt: I suppose it must be her cutie mark, but I don’t recognize the second, though it does remind me of…”;

at that point the sound of slow paces approaching, made her mane and fur raise, Sunset quickly directed her gaze on the entrance door that she had left open and noticed a shadow appearing on the wall. The girl immediately got back and four hooves and stood still before the door with her head firmly high, sweat was dropping from her forehead and her heart was pounding fast in the furry chest:

“who...who goes there?” she asked, trying to hide her fear for the fact that she was being caught wandering in the castle suspiciously.

After a while, a small character appeared: they had a rather large head, covered in purple scales, their snake-like eyes were green as emerald and so were the spikes on their back:

“Woo!” the little one screeched, seeing the girl: “who are you?!”

“I’ve just asked you the same question...wait a minute...” the young mare interrupted herself, carefully watching the dragon: “Are you perchance...Spike?”

“Well, yes and you are?”

“Spike, it’s me: Sunset!”

“Sun...Sunset?” the boy whispered, reflecting: “Wait a minute: do you mean Sunset as in the Sunset?”

“Seriously, Spike” replied the other one, reassuring him: “do you know any other pony named as me?”

“No, of course not; it’s just that...you caught me in such a surprise you gave a scare; plus what are you doing here anyway? Not that I mind your company, obviously”

“Y’ know...I just thought I’d pay Twilight a visit, that’s all”

“Sure…” added the other one, having caught his breath: “but why now; I mean, didn’t you know she isn’t home?”

“No, but I’d figured that out”

“didn’t she tell you anything on the journal?”

“Ah” Sunset sighed at the sound of those words:

“Truth to be told, Spike...I haven’t heard from her in a while; that’s mainly why I decided to drop by unannounced: sorry about that”

“Sunset...” questioned Spike, seeing her worried: “Is something bothering you?”

“Actually there is”

“And that is?”

“Y’ know how she always writes to me and replies me to my entries like you said? Well, not receiving news from her in such a long time made me kinda...” as she was speaking, her voice became lower, preventing her to complete her sentence

“I think get it” the little dragon intervened: “you thought something bad had happened, so you decided to pay a visit; that’s all, nothing strange about that”,

the girl smiled, relieved by the friend’s kindness: “thanks, Spike”

“I’m just sorry you felt so bad; Twilight usually holds her journal so dear to her: she never lets anypony else touch it, always closes the door, when she’s writing to you every night, and keeps it safe in her bedroom; don’t ask me where exactly”

hearing these things, the girl blushed, becoming red as a tomato:

“honestly, I had no idea she hadn’t been writing lately; I suppose it’s because she had been so busy”

“Yeah” Sunset intervened, looking hopelessly disillusioned: “but with what?”

“Oh, lots of princess duties: take the map for example” Spike said, inviting the girl to look at the luminescent table behind her:

“what’s so special about it?”

“This is no ordinary map, it’s connected to all of Equestria, it summons somepony, whenever a friendship problem happens around here. Hasn’t Twilight mentioned...” having noticed the other one had started scowling with sorrow, Spiked stopped talking for a moment: “...sorry, Sunset”

“Oh, don’t worry” she answered:“Twilight did mention something of the sort in her last entries, but not as precisely as you”

“Hey”

“Yeah?”

“Wanna go for a walk around town?” before replying, the girl stood silent for a while, keeping her head down, facing the cold floor:

“Ah...I might as well do something, while I’m waiting for her”

“that’s the spirit...” the little dragon added: “...sorta”.

“So, that one over there is Sugarcube Corner” Spike said, once they had arrived nearby the sweetshop: “while that one is the Spa and at the end of the road there’s Carousel boutique: that’s where Rarity lives: I mean this world’s Rarity”

“Not so different from the one I know, I imagine” Sunset intervened with a frown on her face:

“Oh, they are are absolutely the same; you wouldn’t be able to distinguish them at all: trust me, I know”

“Right” she answered, making an effort to put on a brief smile:

“So...” the dragon kept on conversing in an attempt to lift the girl’s mood: “how are you all doing at Canterlot High?”

“Pretty well I guess”

“You guess?”

“Well...they’re all pretty excited about the Friendship Games”

“What’s that?”

“Apparently it’s a competition between CHS and another school from the city, called Crystal Prep Academy; it happens every four years”

“Sounds great!” the little one exclaimed: “I’m sure you and the girls are totally gonna win!”

“That’s that we’re planning to do”

“Hey, here’s an idea! Why don’t Twilight and I come give a helping...”

“hand”

“...that’s right, hand?”

“That would be amazing” Sunset sighed in reply: “to be honest, I had already asked Twilight to come join us for the games, but...”

“let me guess: too busy to answer” at the sound of those words the girl looked down, feeling more miserable by the minute: “Hey Sunset, there’s some reason to worry, I’ll talk to her and convince her she needs to come”

“I don’t know, Spike” Sunset answered in a low tone of voice: “there must be a reason to all this: If she hasn’t come along already, I suppose...”

“If I know her as well as I think, Twilight would never let a friend down”

“Yeah, a friend” whispering this very last word, Sunset headed to a nearby wooden bench.

Having sat on it, the girl’s sobbing became louder, her gasping heavier like her soul was about to leave her and tears dropped from her beautiful blue eyes, lining her face, like a river from a mountain spring.

Seeing her in this state, Spike remained speechless: he never would have thought one day he had to dial with such a situation: the young mare was sitting right there in front of his eyes, looking fragile and weak like a small flower and yet; he, who was supposed to be her friend, did not know what to do:

“Why are you acting like this, now?” he questioned, taking a seat next to her.

At first the girl ignored him and kept crying, yet she eventually stopped: “It’s because...”she struggled to whispered: “...because I feel so left out by her; don’t you get it Spike? I’ve been relying on her all this time and now I’m alone!”

“Well...” he shyly contested: “that’s not entirely true, you still got other friends at CHS and me for that matter” hearing this things, made the girl feel even more restless:

“It’s not the same thing! Look at those two fillies” she insisted, pointing to young ponies not far from them:

“Bon-Bon and Lyra Heart Strings?”

“exactly”

“what’s so special about them?”

“You tell me, take a look”

“It seems like they just had a tasty treat at Sugarcube Corner: they still have sprinkles around their mouths”

“Not that, I mean: how do they look to you?”

“They look happy”

“And?” before answering, the little one did his best to grasp the correct answer, observing the two fillies, as they were walking away, hugging each other:

“Close” he said in the end: “they look really close”

“bingo” was the answer he got from the girl:

“and by that example you mean?”

“I mean I, too, used to feel close to the one who showed me the righteous path, the one who lent me her hand and rescued me from a horrendous faith of loneliness, the one who was my first friend”. While speaking, Sunset’s weepy eyes became so inflamed from the pain she carried inside, that, seeing them, almost gave the dragon another unexpected epical scare:

“Sorry” he answered, seeing the girl turning around: “I had no idea she was so special for you”

“Now you know” Sunset said with her gaze lost into an abyss of thoughts:

“Forgive my question, but, If you say Twilight was your first friend; then what about Pr...”

“Please, Spike” the girl interrupted him:

“must you really open my most painful wounds?”

“I apologize, I was just asking”

“That’s another story; maybe I’ll tell you another time”.

A moment of silence followed shortly afterwards, until Sunset decided to break that awkward atmosphere: “So you see now why I can’t leave until she comes back?” the little dragon nodded in response: “I have to meet her, I just have to”

“Sunset” the other one intervened: “perhaps it’s better If we head back to the castle: it’s going to be getting dark soon and at this point I doubt Twilight will be coming back home by tonight”

“I have to...” the girl insisted:

“I know, that’s why I wanted to ask you If you could spend the night at the castle: there are plenty of rooms, plus It’ll be a nice surprise for Twilight to find you here, as soon as she gets back”; liking the idea, Sunset agreed without thinking twice and followed him to Twilight’s place.

That night was stormy: a cold wind could be heard, howling in the dark, from inside the walls of Sunset’s room, thick rain clouds blacked the sky, illuminated dangerously often by frightening lightnings:

“Mmm...” the girl whispered from under the blankets of her bed, unable to sleep:

“where did this terrible weather come from? Where Spike and I were having a walk earlier it was as sunny as a spring day”.

At the sudden noise of a thunder, Sunset got out of the bed, gasping scared: “What are you doing?” she said to herself: “It’s just a banal storm; you’re acting like a restless child”.

Still unable to find an explanation to her unreasonable behaviour, she was caught unprepared by another loud thunder; yet this time she couldn’t help but scream, terrorized. Quickly, she run out of her room and galloped in the dark hallway, having forgotten to lit up her horn, until she hit a heavy door with her head:

“Ouch” the girl complained, touching the painful spot and opening the cursed door with her hoof.

Once she had entered the room in front of her, Sunset finally remembered to enlighten the environment around her with her magic:

“this place seems very nice” she said, observing the comfy looking bed, covered in a pair of warm white blankets and surrounded by purple curtains. As she neared a desk just below the window, she recognized a pleasant smell, coming from a small glass bottle:

“this scent...” Sunset whispered at that moment: “It’s Twilight’s, this must be her room!”.

The girl looked around, confused by a certain excitement; yet it did not take long for her to notice one of the shelves of the piece of furniture next to the bed was open. Pushed by her curiosity, the girl neared it, but immediately stepped back:

“Oh, Sunset” she whispered to herself: “you really shouldn’t be snooping in your friend’s stuff”, though eventually her curious spirit got the best of her.

The shelf contained a book with a sun mark on its brown covered: “This is...” the girl said: “...her journal!”.

Having made it levitate thanks to her magic, Sunset approached the table and opened the book: “It’s still filled with all the things I’ve written to her” she thought, signing.

Sunset slowly began to turn over the pages of the diary, until she found a peculiar note between some of them:

“what’s this, now?” the girl wondered, opening the small wrapped piece of paper:

“Day one:”she read: “first time princess Celestia asked me to organize the great Equestria friendship summit, involving cities from all over the land, it’ll be hard work: I just hope I can find some time to write about it in the journal. Day two: during the summit, Spike ended up making decisions on my behalf, while I was asleep, had to make up for the trouble he caused in Canterlot all by myself. Day 3: helping to rebuild the Ponyville school playground; I hope Sunset doesn’t get mad I haven’t contacted her, yet. Day 4: attending to the Cutie Mark Crusader’s celebration for having finally found their special talents: too tired for writing tonight. Day 5:..”

As she kept reading, poor Sunset felt something growing inside her, something horrid like a parasite, devouring her from the inside, feeding off her sense of guilt: “So, you have been, thinking about me, more than I had imagined”

“Day 10, things to do: apologize to Sunset, make time in my schedule to attend to the Friendship Games...”

While reading them, those things were music to the girl’s ears; but they was not nearly as pleasant as finding a picture of her, attached to the corner of a mirror, right above her head, amongst several others: after noticing that, she didn’t go on with the reading.

The following morning, when Spike came looking for her, Sunset was getting ready to travel through the mirror portal once more: “Good morning “he greeted her: “Twilight just sent me a scroll, saying she will be getting here in a few hours...wait, where are you going?”

“Home” the girl cheerfully replied:

“What?!” he exclaimed astonished: “after all we’ve been through yesterday, you’re telling me you just got over it in one night?!”

“Nope, I just found was I was looking for”

“I don’t get it, the last time we talked about this you said you wouldn’t leave before meeting her!”

“Oh, trust me, Spike!”the other one, answered, smiling, but sincerely this time: “I’ve met her, the true her”

“I still don’t get it”

“Just tell her I’ve dropped by, if she asks, but first warn her somepony left a surprise in her room and...”

“And?”

“Please, remind her of the Games”

“Of that you can be sure!”.

Seeing the little dragon, being so self-confident, the girl entered the mirror and disappeared behind its mystical glass:

“Goodbye, Sunset!” Spike whispered, before her flank had vanished completely.

“Spike! Spike!” Twilight kept shouting from her room, sitting on a table at the light of her own horn, illuminating the shadow of the night:

“What’s with all the fuss?” the boy complained, arriving, dragging his precious blanket along with him:

“What’s this?” she insisted, waving a piece of paper in the air:

“It looks like a note”

“Who left it?”

“Must have been Sunset, she was here looking for you yesterday and decided to leave this morning, even if I have insisted on her staying here a few more hours”

“You mean Sunset, as in the actual Sunset?!”

“The one and only”

“Spike, why didn’t you say anything about this sooner, do you realize how important this is to me?!”

Having said these things, Twilight left the room, spreading her wings, with an expression of both agitation and happiness on her face, while letting the very piece of paper that had lead to all of that commotion, fall on the ground; written on it, there were the words: “Thank you!”, right next to which there was the drawing of a small heart and that of a familiar setting sun cutie mark.