Those Cast Aside

Chapter 3

Starting Point

Ruminations never last long when you’re acting as navigator. Luna hasn’t really bothered to try and coax any more information out of me and I really don’t care about anything enough to try and bring conversation into the free ride. Doubt it’ll stay that way once we arrive though.

“We’re heading out to the developers area of the city Sunset, there aren’t many residential properties out this way. Are you sure we’re going the right way?”

“Yup, right at the next set of light.” Instead of turning right she pulls up to the side of the road, idles the car and just starts to stare, this is going to be annoying. “Sunset, where are you taking us?” Seriously?

“To where I’ve been staying, I know that both you and Principal Celestia know I’m not a ‘local’ after what happened with the fall formal. It might have been pretty simple to walk into a school and act a student, but getting somewhere to live? You kinda need documents and large sources of income and all that jazz. Don’t exactly have access to that kind of thing, so I make do with a roof over my head where people don’t look all too often.”

“You’ve been a student for a long time Sunset, you never thought to come and speak to us about that?”

“Nope, as soon as you know I’m homeless you get other people involved that look further than just my name. That brings up the fact that ‘Sunset Shimmer’ has no parents to contact, no guardians, no travel records, no birth records. As far as any government agency outside the department of education is concerned I don’t exist. That would not go well for a person trying to blend in unnoticed.”

It takes a few minutes for that to sink in, or she was considering something. If I bothered to look at her instead of the street lights outside it may have been easier to tell.

“What about now, You’re still my student and I now know you’re homeless, so according to you all those things will now happen. What’s the difference?”

“The fact that it doesn’t matter.” Nothing does. “I’m not trying to subvert the student population anymore, not trying to blend in or prove anything.” No point. “Once I was done with helping to fix up the front of the school I was going to leave, can’t even do that anymore after tonight.” I’m stuck.

“So what now then? What are you planning now?”

The rush of air out of my mouth kept my voice even. “Dunno” got nothing left. “No-one at the school wants me there. Can’t go back where I came from anymore, can’t leave anywhere else since we just confirmed I technically don’t exist. Ran out of stuff to pawn so I’ll be out of cash soon.”

The quiet returns and stays this time. The street lights are starting to give me a headache but I can’t be bothered to look anywhere else, Luna fixes that problem for me though by pulling away from the curb and pulling a U-turn.

“That’s not the way to my place” what’s she planning.

“Very astute observation.” oh fuck you bitch, smartass comments are my domain, hands off. “You are wrong however in thinking that no-one care.” Oh this’ll be great. “Both my sister and I care a great deal.” uh huh. “You are correct in that as a professional responsibility we would have had to report this, believe it or not, however we are capable of ‘forgetting’ to do these things in cases where we don’t agree with the outcome.” oh no. “So until such a time as you are back on your feet, with a proper roof over your head and a job with an income I will be offering you a spare room at my home.” nonononononono nonononononono nonononononono

“No.”

“You have two choices here Sunset. One, you accept my hospitality until you get to a point you’re on your feet. Or two, I call through and advise we have a minor living in a homeless situation and you try and deal with the fallout there.”

“Fuck you.” I don’t want to deal with this shit

“Glad you see it my way.” fuck you with a cactus

No point answering her back, should have just kept my mouth shut. The rest of the trip is silent, but I can hear the smile on her face thinking she’s won. Probably thinks it’ll make it easier to keep an eye on me anyway.

I watch the world fly by, quietly at this time of night. The street lights casting shadows showcasing the neighbourhood. The area Luna drives through isn’t the most impressive but it’s definitely higher class than I’ve gotten used to, as the houses flash by I start to see similarities in the yards to when I was young. Toys left out from the siren call of dinner, Impeccable hedges and flowerbeds to brag about to anyone stupid enough to stop and listen, carefully maintained lies to tell the world everything is perfect. It’s not until you get to see inside, where you see the silence as children eat quietly since that’s their place, the same smalltalk and expectations, same demands and arguments, same desperation and delusion. The scenery may change but the world stays the same when you can see between the lines.

I’m really starting to rile myself up when the car pulled up into a small single story at the end of a cul-de-sac. “Welcome to my home Sunset, come in and we’ll have you set up for your accommodations.”

Is there really any point in trying to argue. Petty rebellion is just going to cause problems I don’t want to deal with at this stage. “...right, yea.” The night air isn’t as cold as I wasn expecting with how dark it was, the yard I was walking through was very plain, no flowers, just a neatly trimmed lawn and a pathway next to the driveway. I follow Luna up to the front waiting as she unlocks the door and turns on the lights. They seem to be low illumination bulbs, same as the ones in her office at school.

“You prefer the dark?” Her home is warm, very dark though, deep colours and almost burnt coloured timber. I honestly like it, she has good taste.

Her voice calls down from the end of the hall “I’m photophobic, thought you knew after all the times you came into my office. Need the lower light to prevent hurting my eyes. You mind coming down this way to help me get your sheets sorted?”

Huh, learn something new everyday. Following her voice I see her reaching up the top of a linen closet, a small pile of sheets already dropped beside her.

“Grab those if you don’t mind, end of the hall second door to your left.” As soon as I grab the sheets I can tell from how they feel that they’re leagues above anything I’ve ever used so far in this world. I was tempted to rub them against my face walking towards the specified room. Opening the door I couldn’t bring myself to step in, it’s luxury. A full sized single bed, wardrobe, nightstand with a lamp, shuttered windows, a lock?!

“Ho~ly shit” this is way more than we deserve, even if she’s baiting us to keep an eye on us I’d jump into this trap head first.

“Please watch your language, I realise we aren’t in school but I would much prefer a cleaner vocabulary whilst in my home.” My back stiffens pretty damn quickly, when the hell did she get behind me?! Must have been more out of it if I didn’t hear her shoes over a timber floor.

“Right, sorry. It’s just… I wasn’t expecting something as nice as this right off the bat.” I move out of the way still looking over everything that’s being provided, the writing desk in the corner took up half the wall and was already packed with all the stationary needed for whatever I could possibly consider a need for.

“If basic amenities are more than you are used to then it makes me feel worse that I was never able to tell the situation you were forcing yourself through.” she’s sitting on the bed, arms resting on her knees, I never pictured her face looking like she did though. “That has been my second big mistake against your character, which I feel I need to make up for, regardless of how you may feel about it.” I recognise the deep exhale from doing it myself so many times over the last few weeks, regret and self depreciation. “I’ll leave you to set up the room as you like. We’ll be getting up early tomorrow so we can talk in my office, afterwards you’ll get your things back. The bathroom and shower are down the other side of the hall and the kitchen is back near the entrance. Goodnight Sunset, I’ll see you in the morning.”

As she closes the door behind her I just fall on my arse, missed the bed but I barely notice. That wasn’t an act, she honestly just wants to help, she feels bad for me. ME!? How? Why? What!? I don’t get it. I used her, lied to her, hurt her, hurt her sister, hurt her students.

“This isn’t how people act.” It’s not how we act, other people though, good people like Luna. Seems like they act like that no problem. Maybe it’s just like we already knew, we’re not good people. “Maybe not now, but I know I needed to change, here’s a good chance to start. I’ll apologise in the morning, I need to finish what I promised.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

I felt my shoulders shake slowly and rhythmically, “***set, what are you doing on the floor?” Waking up to the dark surprised me for a second before I remembered the lights in her house.

“I’m up, I’m up. Wha-” couldn’t stop the body shaking yawn at this time of the morning, I think? “Sorry, what time is it.” Looking up at Luna she’s looking at me with a concerned look on her face.

“Why are you sleeping on the floor, the bed as well as the sheets and pillows were given to you for a reason.”

“I didn’t deserve them yet.” She’s about to respond but I have to get this out first, I have to. “I know you feel like you needed to give them to me, but I don’t feel like I deserved them yet. I hurt you as well as everyone else, I destroyed your trust in me, used you like you were nothing, and after you go out of your way to apologise, to welcome me into your home and give me more than I’ve ever been given without strings attached. I broke your trust again by immediately thinking you were doing it for ulterior motives. I didn’t want to abuse what you gave without apologising first, I couldn’t” Impressive you were able to get through that without blubbering like a foal. First time for everything I suppose.

I can’t bring myself to look at her after saying that, the quiet starts to hurt until I hear her sigh. “Well that makes us both fools I suppose. Come, I’ll get us some breakfast, then you can have the first shower and we’ll be off. Just… never mind, we’ll talk about it in my office soon.”

Following her out I smell heaven itself. Coffee, the look on my face must be obvious as we turn into the kitchen since one of the mugs is slid right under my nose. “Anything you think you owe me up until this point is forgiven a hundred fold for this gift.” Ham it up more you dumb bitch.

“Snrk, good to know you’re as easy to control as my sister. She can’t survive without a morning coffee either, no idea why we morning people are diminishing so rapidly. C’est La Vie I suppose. By the way there is also toast and eggs if your morning meal could use some actual sustenance.”

I’ve already drained half the mug, waiting for caffeine to kick in and work it’s magic, or make me run to the bathroom. 50-50 odds with this miracle drink. “Thank you again, I’ll --”

“Finish breakfast, shower then we’ll talk, I promise but I honestly don’t want to waste time admiring my furniture when we could be doing something more productive.”

At the word shower I take a whiff under my shirt and decide the smell of coffee is much more desirable. “You just think I stink.” Well you do. Luna just holds up a hand with her finger and thumb an inch apart. “You’re lucky you make good coffee.” Eggs and toast are leagues better than any of the cold sandwiches I’ve been making let alone what they serve at school, AJ’s grandmother may be a brilliant cook but when foods been sitting in a warmer for hours to make sure it’s ready and enough for hundreds of students based on the Department of Education allocated budget for student dietary needs, yea it’s somewhat… lacking.

“Shower is down the hall to the right, towels are in the chest inside. Should be plenty of hot water left.” She’s already grabbed my mug and plate towards the dishwasher.

Heading towards the bathroom I get a little giddy, a hot shower. How long has it been since I’ve had more than the lukewarm showers that the school change room has. A chance to get proper water pressure and not have someone yelling at me to hurry up if I'm there for more than a few minutes.

Walking in it’s already beyond my hopes, a waterfall faucet is singing to me, promising me a time I’ll never forget. That I’ll never forget the time we’ll spend together.

It wasn’t lying.

Cleaner, warmer and looking at the coming day with a mood I haven’t felt in… an amount of time I honestly can’t even remember. “Are you ready to go Sunset? If we leave now we should have at least an hour before the first student arrives to organise everything.”

Oh yea, still a whole dumpster full of issues to sort out. Still not going to let that damper the best mood I’ve had. “I’m ready to go, want me to help get anything out to the car for you?”

“I appreciate the offer but I rarely bring work home with me. Makes it easier to relax at home.” Don’t say anything snarky here, if you spoil this for us after that shower I will find a way to shut down your motor functions by pure will.

“She says the morning after she brings a homeless deviant of a student home to feed, bathe and shelter.” I am going to find the worst possible ad jingle and play it nonstop while you try and sleep tonight, off key as well. Worth it.

“Yes she does, as far as I can tell you’re toilet trained and putting on an extra plate of food isn’t the most labour intensive task I’ve had to suffer through.” Holy shit she got me there. Luna 2 - Sunset - 0.

“Alright you got me there, do you mind if we swing by where I was though? Kinda need to grab my books and things I have stashed there.” meaning my two other sets of clothing.

“I’d prefer if we didn’t, any school work or textbooks are easily replaced and from what you were saying last night in the car outside of your phone and diary you didn’t really have many personal effects.” nice way to rub it in, bleh.

“Kinda need a change of clothes though, not exactly gonna be able to wear the same set of underwear until I get a job and cash to buy new sets.” Nor is there any way in hell I’d let myself go through that, took weeks to get used to wearing clothes in the first place.

“I have some old clothing of mine that I’ve been procrastinating in sending through to goodwill, have a look through that tonight, as for underwear, I’ll lend you some money to pay back when you get a job. Probably better than what you’ve been stuck having to hand wash I’m sure” Still don’t get why she’s being so nice to a monster like you, the coming conversation is going to be very enlightening. “Anyway, we’ve wasted enough time here. Let’s go.”

The first step outside treats me to the realisation that it’s near total darkness, cold enough to make me wish I had a fur coat again and quieter that Celestias’ bedroom on Hearts and Hooves as though yours has been any louder. “Holy Shhugar it’s cold, why the hell are we leaving before the sun’s even up?”

She’s already getting into the car, heaters do sound like the best gift a girl can get now so the quick sprint to prevent my nipples turning into glass cutters cut off my mental tirade at realising it was stupid early o’clock.

“Thank you for taking my request at language seriously, as for why there are three reasons. One, early morning light hurts my eyes when driving even if I wear sunglasses so I avoid it. Two, it gives me a chance to get ahead of my paperwork so I can deal with unexpected issues that crop up throughout the day. Three, I enjoy the calm and quiet drive without traffic.”

Fair point on all three, still cold though. The trip is the fastest I’ve ever had to school, that may have to do with being in a motorised vehicle and not being outside the residential section of town dumb bitch, early morning radio missing the regular DJ interruptions makes it so much better as well. I find myself starting the day in the best mood I’ve had for a long, long time. That’ll change, you always manage to screw something up, it’s the only thing you’re good at.

Driving past the front of the school the outlines of police tape over the new crater where the portal mirror used to stand stood out even in the dark. The good mood worked up in me dropped straight into the pit of my stomach plenty of space for it to hide down there as well, just in case we’re keeping score. Called it. Getting back out into the cold after Luna parked barely registered, looking over at the new hole sitting at the front of the school, smaller than the original but covered in broken glass, smashed concrete, and pieces of steel framing littered the area.

Hearing Luna call out drags my attention away from the destruction of last night. “Come on Sunset, let’s get you out of the cold and we can organise ourselves.”

Organising a new set of punishments, for a place where I’m trapped, with people who hate me. Just like before, always the same. “Right,coming.” even when something changes, everything else stays the same.

Following Luna through the school corridor, she doesn’t bother with any of the lights. Getting to her office finally graces us with a low light lamp from her desk, a desk inbox already full of paper clicks in why her decision is such a good one. Must be why she always seem to be able to go home with the student body instead of being forced to stay back like her sister.

“Alright Sunset, let us get everything organised hm. Please, take a seat.” Still get the feeling of being in an old Noire style story when I’m in her office the way she has the lights set. “Now if we both end up going over how we feel about this situation we’ll likely be here till the end of the day going back and forth, so in respect to both of our time and sanity I would like to lay out everything on the table, afterwards I’d be more than happy to hear what you have to offer. Do you agree?”

Nodding is all I really feel capable of doing right now anyway, so it kind of helps me out in this situation. “Excellent, now in light of your previous living situation my guest room is open for as long as you need it, from your reaction this morning you seem to be under the false impression that you need to earn it.” Oooh there’s the glare, good thing you don’t feel guilty for it to work, oh wait, you do. Well that sucks don’t it.

“You need to disabuse yourself of that thought.” wat? “Last night a young girl put herself into hospital after she fainted from shock, this same girl only weeks prior made decisions that have alienated her from the school body yet continues to work to right the outcome of those decisions when she instead had the option to leave instead.” This dumb bitch is trying to make you seem noble, way off the mark here lady.

“You may disagree” Yep/Yep “however, what I said last night still stands. You are my student, I should have seen what your situation was and helped well before it reached the point it did. I also advised that I would help in regards to what you said about a lack of funds.” a small business card ends up under my nose. Canterlot Mall Sushi wow so much effort went into that name.

“A friend of mine manages that store, if you give her a call after school this afternoon she’ll be willing to put you on part time. I sent her an email last night so she’ll be expecting you, ask for Honey Eyes.” The tally for what I owe this woman is building faster than I’m ever going to be able to pay back at this point. “I’ll have a letter of student identification ready for you at the end of the day so you can organise to open an account as well.” First step in having legal documents proving I’m a real person as well. Which means you’re getting her to lie for you on record.

“Wait a sec.” I hate it when my brain makes good points against me. You mean whenever I talk about you? “That’s a legal record confirming who I am signed off in your name, if anything came out proving I’m not who I say I am, you’d be first in the firing line as to why this happened”

“Well then I suppose that just means you’ll have to be extra careful not to out yourself as anyone other than who you are.” What trust she has in your character, it’s really gonna suck for her when you screw her over. Her smile actually hurts at this point. “Now you did point out this morning that you needed replacement undergarments, of which we will both agree second hand is not an option.” Ew, no. “From your face we are in agreeance here. Make do with this and you can pay me back when you get your first cheque.” Two hundred dollars is sitting in front of me. Two. Hundred.

I could get enough to last me a week without wearing the same piece twice and I sure as hell ain’t gonna be flashing them around so people can tell. “Nope, don’t need that much.” I do take the first few notes. Scab. “This much is way more than sufficient and you’ll have this back with interest once I’ve got cash flow.”

“I am not charging you interest Sunset, this isn’t a loan to earn me a profit.”

“You’re not charging me interest.” That smile gets a little brighter. “I’m paying it of my own volition, I refuse to take goodwill for granted, this is my incentive to get paid.” And there goes the smile, good work. Her jaw clicks a few times as she shifts it, didn’t think I’d get that reaction from organising repaying debts.

“Fine, I won’t argue against that as much as I disagree with it” small victories I guess. “Whatever you have left over can be used to replace any other incidentals you may need.” Leaning back, I can’t help breathing deeply. A place to stay, replacement clothing, cooked food, a bed, a potential job, and paper trail to set myself up in the future. So much happening in two days. All it took was the way home to be blown up along with mr crispy. I’m going to jab my brain with a Q-Tip to shut you up for five minutes of happiness. Told you I’d get you back for the crack risking our coffee.

“As interesting as the ceiling is, there is still one big issue we need to discuss.” Snapping my attention back the smile and good humour is gone in its entirety, Vice principal Luna has come to the party. “Originally your punishment was to assist under the supervision of Solid Foundation the repair of the entrance to the school after events at the Fall Formal, due to additional damages outside our control this punishment is no longer an option.” Well, the good news is I won't have to lug any more bags of mulch or fertilizer. “As such you will instead by put under my supervision as an event coordinator for any future school wide events until such a time as myself and the staff are in agreeance that you have been punished sufficiently. This means the more effort you put in rather than just showing up will end this requirement faster.”

O-k. This is both better than I expected and worse than anything I could possibly imagine. *Sniff* it’s beautiful. “Alright as much as I have no excuse nor reason to decline, you do realise that as soon as the student body knows that I’m involved in the setup of these events they’ll just avoid them.”

“A potential risk yes, some won’t be optional events so the students won’t have a choice.” Fair nuff. “As for the other events, we are hoping the compromise that as an event coordinator you won’t be able to compete in these events will be an additional draw since the students will just be competing with the outcome of your hard work, not necessarily working with you.” Ouch my feelings. “One example being a music stage show we were going to have set up in the coming weeks, one where students create bands and their own music to allow friendly competition as well as building upon teamwork and creative thinking.”

I actually feel my face drop at that, it would have been awesome fun. Would be more fun seeing you try and join an existing group. Head meet desk, we hope you enjoy your time together while I consider the best begging face I can use to tempt the gods of this world to doing something to allow me access. The face you had climbing out of the crater when Twilight kicked your arse would be a good starting point, mind this was how effective it was, such a long way to go from there… Well fuck.

“Good to know how much this punishment will affect you, we’ll talk more on the finer details when the events themselves get closer but for now, in the event that a new student is brought into, you’ll be asked to show them around and help get their bearings.”

Easy way to try and force new students into getting to know me before the rest of the student body can start talking. Is always better to see how bad you are up from rather than with second hand info. “Trying to get me a few friends in the process as well?”

Her face isn’t flinching, I’m guessing yes. “That’s up to you, I won’t hold your hand and tell you to play with the other kids but I won’t say it’s not a bad idea either.” Someone has high hopes, it’s precious.

Not going to argue, from everything that could have happened I’m getting off light and she knows it, plus I’m getting all the benefits of her help so that’s massively tilted in my favour. “I guess that means everything is settled then, I’ll leave you to work and might stop by the music rooms to see what we have to play with for starters”

As soon as my hand hits the back of the chair to get me on my feet I hear Luna clear her throat “You’re forgetting something Miss Shimmer.” Oh boy, what else is coming my way? Watching her reach into the desk, my diary and phone come into view and end up two feet away from me. “Don’t forget your things, you can borrow my charger at home until you get a new one.” She leans forward and whispers “Don’t force me to confiscate it again hmm.”

I don’t say anything, just grab my things and walk out. Wandering down the hall my mood drops slowly as I walk, the extra responsibilities aren’t a problem could actually be fun since people aren’t talking to me anyway. The tour guide is a smart move from Luna, can’t complain since it won’t happen often and when it does it’ll just get me out of class. Getting my phone back is nothing but a benefit, especially if I’ll be starting a new job and need to be able to contact my boss.

The last thing I got though, my book. The enchantment on it causes the cover symbol to glow slightly if there's a new message. It was one of the things I created under her that I was most proud of. The fact that the book has no new messages after two weeks here, The equivalence of more than a month back in Equestria from a rough guesstimate tells me one of two things happened. Either once the mirror broke the enchantment lost its connection to the magic field and dissipated, or Twilight hasn’t bothered to check on me once in the month since she went back home. Which would also mean in the few days her time that the mirror has been down she hasn’t bothered to notice. Both options scare me, I need to look at the book but I don’t want to

They abandoned you again

If the magic is gone it means that reconnecting to this world will be up to luck since the connection would no longer be accessible

She never cared, She just wanted to get the element back and leave you here to rot.

Even if it was possible, the chances of being able to connect anywhere near the same location would be greater than finding a needle in a stack of identical needles

Celestia forgot you, left you, told Twilight to do the same. They never wanted anything to do with you, simply a means to an end.

I sit against the storerooms uniform chest, if the book lost its connection it will still have the old messages. As soon as I open the book my chest seizes. Fucking cunts they never fucking cared they left me here to rot with the promise of redemption that they never expected to happen, a smile on the face with a knife to the back.

I hate them all.

My thoughts are racing, my blood boiling, my teeth grinding, my face leaking. I’m sad, and angry, and hate, and love, I’m hurt, and numb, and calm, and frantic.

Before I can get control of what’s happening in my thoughts I grab the book and one of the pens sitting around, my hand scribbles across the first available page before I fling the damnable thing to the other side of the room. I won’t be getting anything constructive done here while I’m like this. Luna is counting on me to do a good job.

Closing the door I decide I might as well get my textbooks from my locker and see the stationary office to grab a few cheap notebooks to tide me over for a while.