Canterlot’s art museum was one of Sunset’s favourite places, which she loved to visit regularly. One of the reasons she enjoyed visiting was to gain inspiration for her street art, which she performed under the name Flansky. However, the main reason was her interest in human history and culture.
The museum guide knew a lot about anything related to a painting. Sunset was dragged into his speeches every time he spoke, and she learned something new and interesting each time.
Today was the same. Recently, the art museum got a new section: Surrealism. Sunset would later research more about this more philosophical but still interesting cultural movement. Nonetheless, the guide had ended and Sunset had to leave the museum — not like she wanted to stay longer here anyway, as the guide had talked way over the booked hour about the topic as usual.
However, as she was walking, she saw a painting laying face down in the middle of the walkway. Looking around, she didn’t see any empty places where it could have fallen off, meaning that someone carried it over here and threw it here. She clenched her fists. Why would anyone be so disrespectful to an art object? She carefully took the painting and placed it on a nearby wall.
Looking at the drawing, she saw on it a wine bottle and glass, a knife and a fork, and, most noticeably, a plate with a ham that had a human eye staring at the viewer. She hadn’t seen it before during the guide, but she assumed that it was from the Surrealism section.
At least the painting didn’t look damaged. All she had to do was notify the staff that...
"What are you looking at?" Sunset questioned harshly the woman who was passing by.
"Ehm, excuse me?" The woman gave a confused look.
"Don‘t you think I won’t notice you staring at me?" Sunset snorted.
"But I didn't..."
"You can't do it anymore!"
Just what was the woman thinking? Sunset wouldn’t have noticed the creepy stare if she hadn’t seen it in the eye corners. She didn’t want to be biased, but at the art museum one would find those weird people more often.
She turned her head to another person passing by. She was sure that he had just stared at her, but she didn’t catch him in the act. Whatever, she’ll just report the misplaced painting and leave the art museum already.
As she was walking further along the floor, she turned her view towards a couple. Then to a man. Then to a teenage girl. Why were they all staring at her? Had she had something on her that was embarrassing? Couldn’t someone just tell her what the problem was?
Suddenly, she heard the noise of several falling objects hitting the ground, and when she turned to look at the source, she saw Derpy on the ground with several paint buckets and paintbrushes. As if to make the girl’s case worse, several blurs of colour were splattered all over the floor, wall, and even on the painting that Sunset had just recovered.
"Sorry! I just don’t know what went wrong. "
Sunset groaned.
Sure, Derpy had the reputation of being clumsy, and it wasn’t the first time something like this happened to her, but couldn’t she at least try to not damage cultural objects in a museum?
Despite the attention Derpy got, Sunset noticed a child staring at her. She turned her gaze towards her and gave a threatening look. No reaction.
"Stop staring at me!" she shouted. Way too loud.
And then they all stared at her. Their eyes were locked in her direction. Cold, non-blinking eyes. It made her uncomfortable, scared, and angry.
"What?" she asked, loud enough for everyone to hear. Don’t act like you don’t do the same!
"What do we do?" a man asked her.
"What what? Staring at me!" Her last words were shouted with an anger directed towards him that she didn’t intend to show. However, she didn’t regret it. These people deserved to know that their behaviour was uncalled for.
"But we weren't..." he stuttered.
No one of them turned their view off her. At last, she couldn’t hold it any longer and ran out of the museum.
Sunset looked at herself in a mirror. Her hair was normal; there was nothing unusual or ripped apart from her black leather jacket or her outfit—in short, nothing that would have caught any attention. And yet, wherever she was, everyone was looking at her, staring. Was something in her back? She couldn’t find anything, no matter how much she bent to look at the reflection.
The entrance door opened and a teen girl entered the public restroom, who went to a stall and closed the door behind her. Sunset took a deep breath, trying to stay calm. That girl had also stared at her. Why was everyone staring at her?
As soon as the girl finished and opened the door, Sunset grabbed her by her shirt and pushed her against a wall.
"Is there something to look at?" Sunset hissed between her teeth.
The girl squeaked and hid her face with her arms.
"Tell me!" Sunset shouted. "Is something wrong with me?"
"N... no, you… You look good," the girl stuttered.
"Liar!"
"No... You… You’re perfect…"
Sunset threw her to the ground.
"Just tell me why everyone is staring at me!"
"I don’t know..."
"You did it too! Tell me why you stared at me! "
"Please don’t hit me!" The girl was crouching on the ground, her body shaking heavily.
"Just tell me!" Sunset screamed and stomped with her feet.
The entrance door opened and a woman entered the room. Sunset was immediately paralysed, as it hit her how the sight looked from the outside.
"Young lady, just what are you doing?" the woman asked, as she pulled out her phone.
Sunset didn’t reply. What could she say anyway? claim that the girl was staring at her?
The girl on the ground whimpered as she slowly stood up and went behind the woman.
"I..." Sunset stuttered.
"If you don’t give me an answer, I will call the police!" the woman threatened.
"I… It’s my fault. Something got over me," Sunset said. "One of my anger issues."
"Hmph. You better get your behaviour under control. If I ever catch you next time, I won’t hesitate to call the police! "
"I’ll behave," she promised.
Even when it wasn’t harvest time, it didn’t mean that Applejack wasn’t busy at her family’s apple farm. The trees needed to be taken care of, like, for example, taking precautions against any sickness or vermin. But it was no secret that Applejack loved the work. She loved seeing the result of her labor, especially when all the apples had been harvested and they could enjoy anything ranging from apple pies to cider.
Usually, her farm work remained a family affair, and only on rare occasions did one of her friends assist her. She remembered the one time Twilight had helped them to trick the FlimFlam brothers, and the other when Sunset had been reformed and Applejack had shown her around—the girl had proven to be very curious and eager for new knowledge.
Nonetheless, she preferred the separation of work and social activities. It helped her free her mind and...
Having heard a sound from the bushes, Applejack turned her head towards the noise.
"Is someone here?"
"It’s me, Sunset!"
Raising her eyebrows, Applejack climbed down the ladder and approached the bush. Only when coming near could she make out the figure of her friend in it.
"Just what are you doing here?" Applejack asked.
“Applejack, you have no idea how relieved I am to see you. Can we go inside?"
"Ehm, sure thing."
Sunset emerged from the bushes, her eyes quickly wandering from side to side, before she sprinted inside the house. Applejack scratched her head and followed.
Inside Applejack’s room, Sunset had closed all the curtains already.
"Sunset, is everything okay?" Applejack asked.
"You’re Honesty, right?"
"Say what?"
"You’re the Element of Honesty, aren’t you?“
“I mean, sure thing, I guess. Princess Twilight had told us about the Elements of Harmony and all that."
Sunset took a few steps away, spread her arms and spun a full circle.
"Is there something on me?" Sunset asked.
"Not that I see anything."
"No, be honest!"
Applejack took a deep breath.
“Sunset, you just said that I am the element of honesty. Why would I lie to you now?”
“But there must be something wrong with me. Everyone, and I really mean everyone, is staring at me."
Applejack took another look at Sunset.
“I can’t tell you why. You look like usual."
"This can’t be true. Take a closer look!"
"Sunset, if you’re playing a prank on me, knock it off."
"I’m not!" Sunset stomped her feet on the ground. "Stop lying to me!"
"Now you hold up!" Applejack replied. "You know that I’m honest, and I wouldn’t ever lie to you!"
"Then tell me," Sunset screamed at her, "why is everyone staring at me?"
Applejack's first instinct was to yell at her back, that it was insulting how she even thought that her friend would ever lie to her, but then she saw the eyes of Sunset. They were scared, begging for relief while trying to hold back the tears. When Applejack didn’t reply, Sunset hid her face in her hands and sobbed.
Something wasn’t right with Sunset. The only time she had ever complained about being looked at was after Formal Fall, but there it was obvious why. But now? It didn’t make any sense.
"How about you tell me what has happened to begin with?"
Sunset took a sip of her cup of coffee. After telling her what had happened, Applejack invited her over to the kitchen table to ask for more details. Granny was in the room too, cooking a meal.
"There is nothing more to add," Sunset said. "I went to the art museum and in there they started to stare at me after I leaned the painting on the wall."
"Are you sure it has nothing to do with the painting?" Applejack asked.
"I know what Equestrian magic feels like. It was completely devoid of magic. Despite this, shouldn’t I then have the painting with me for the magic to affect me? "
"If you say so," Applejack sighed. She couldn’t shake off the feeling that the painting was the source of the staring, but she couldn’t find any arguments for it.
"What I’m telling you, kid," Granny suddenly appeared between them, "is that you need way more sleep. You teenagers all stay up all night on your phones! "
"Granny, not now," Applejack groaned.
"Be silent, Granny is teaching her wisdom from her life!" She raised her wooden spoon in the air. "Sleep is an important part that you’re never allowed to underestimate."
"Granny, you would sleep all day!"
"She’s right though," Sunset said and looked at her coffee. "I stay up too many nights as Flanksy. Maybe it’s indeed just not enough sleep. "
"I don’t know." Applejack crossed her arms. "For just not having enough sleep, it really is too strange. I think…”
Before Applejack could finish her sentence, Sunset’s face fell on the table, almost knocking off her cup.
"Sunset?" Applejack shook her shoulders. "Are you alright?"
The reply was a snor.
"Now she’ll get enough sleep!" Granny triumphantly put her wooden spoon on her waist belt.
"Granny, what did you do?"
“I gave her decaffeinated coffee and sleeping pills. That girl looked like she hadn’t slept for days."
"You can’t give my friends sleeping pills without their knowledge!"
"Trust me, it’ll be good for her." She shrugged and went back to her cooking. "You can put her in our guest room."
Applejack could only roll her eyes and groan in response.
When opening her eyes, the first thing Sunset noticed was the moon shining brightly in the room. As her mind slowly came back, she tried to remember where she even was. Based on the last things she recalled, she must have been at Applejack’s house, and indeed, she saw a picture of the family hanging on a wall.
She took out her phone. It's already past midnight. How did she even fall asleep? Did the flannery night trips really mess up her sleep rhythm? Whatever the case was, now she was fully awake and wouldn’t fall asleep anymore.
Knowing Applejack and her family, none of them were up this late. She decided to go outside, maybe even return to her apartment. Just in case Applejack was worried, she sent her a message and took her bag with her. As she put her hands on the doorknob, she froze and glanced at the picture on the wall. Were these faces staring at her?
She shook her head and left the room. The whole staring thing had already messed up her mind too much.
Luckily for Sunset, the summertime let the nights be warm, and her leather jacket was more than enough to keep her from freezing outside. So she casually walked back into the city while admiring the bright night and the silence.
But despite the calmness, she couldn’t shake off the feeling that she was being watched. After every few steps, she stopped her movement and looked around, only to find nobody. A thought of just returning back to Applejack came to her mind, but she didn’t want to wake her up because of that.
With tension, she walked faster, carefully glancing at her surroundings. She could feel it. Someone is looking, watching her. The eyes she couldn’t see were glued on her. She tried to slow her breath, but she could feel her heart racing in her chest.
Where were they? Who was watching her?
Walking past a small lake, she saw the reflection of the moon, and when she raised her head to the sky, she saw it. The face on the moon, the eyes locked on her. Watching every step.
She ran.
There was no way she would walk away from the street, but the stare of the moon gave her the creeps. The sooner she would be back in the city, hidden from its view, the better.
She exhaled in relief as she saw the first buildings and slowed her pace. Soon she would be able to get out of the view of…
She raised her head again. The moon... Did she seriously think that the moon was looking at her? The surface barely even resembled a face—sure, with a bit of fantasy, but it’s just an object.
With a downcast look, she kept walking. What was going on? Was it all just her imagination? Are those eyes staring at her from the people around her? But it felt so real!
She noticed another person staring at her from the corner of her eye. Looking in the direction, she saw a poster with a face, its eyes looking at the product the woman was holding.
Imagination… Or was it hallucination? Whatever it was, it wasn’t normal. Her thoughts came back to Applejack’s guess of the painting being the reason for her illusions. But it wasn’t Equestrian magic, and this world here didn’t have any magic before! So how could it be just a painting’s fault?
However, as she felt another stare and it was revealed to be just the headlights from a parked car, she couldn’t hold it anymore and set a different goal: the portal. Whatever it was, she needed Princess Twilight for it.
The longer the walk was, the more paranoid Sunset became. She felt being watched, either by a random person that was still outside, or by anything that even slightly resembled a face. No matter how much she tried to remind herself that it was just an imagination, the uneasy feeling remained, and her fear only grew. She was even welcome to go through any dark alleys, just for the relief of not seeing any faces that might stare at her.
Close to the school, she realised that she would have to take a detour as she had come from the wrong side. She stopped in her movement as she looked at the forest-like park in front of her. Going through it would be a shortcut, but who knew if someone was hiding there?
When she felt another stare and it turned out to be just a graffiti painting, she ran straight into the park. She didn’t care anymore about any potential dangers; she just wanted the staring to stop as soon as possible.
As she passed the group of trees, she landed in what seemed like a garden. Human hands were definitely at work here, as the flowers, plants, and even decorations were all humanly arranged.
Was this a CHS project? She couldn’t recall any gardening clubs, but it didn’t matter. She could already see the parking lot of the school.
"What are you doing here?"
Sunset jumped up in surprise. Looking at the direction of the voice, she saw a green-haired girl with a striped brown pullover. In her hands, she held an oval stone with an eye engraved on it.
"Me? I'm just passing through," Sunset replied, and returned back to walking, before she stopped and turned back to the girl. "Wait, and who are you?"
The girl sighed as she rubbed the stone with her right hand.
"Doesn’t matter."
Sunset couldn’t prevent herself from taking another look at the stone. She felt the stare of that eye and had to collect her courage to not straight up turn around and run away.
"But you’re alone here at night," Sunset kept pressing. "So it looks suspicious."
"So are you," was the reply.
"Touché."
They remained silent. The girl was looking at the ground, seemingly thinking about what to say next—as long as Sunset was looking at her. Whenever Sunset changed her view to the stone in her hand, as the stare was unbearable, it seemed that now the girl was suddenly looking straight at her. A circle that prevented Sunset from being able to think of anything to keep the conversation going.
"My name is Wallflower Blush," the girl said after a long silence.
"Sunset Shimmer."
"I know."
Sunset raised her eyebrows.
"How come?"
"We go to the same school."
Sunset scratched her head.
“Don’t try to remember me. You won't." Wallflower sighed. "Partially my fault, partially the circumstances."
"Okay..." Sunset didn’t know how to reply otherwise. She indeed couldn’t recall ever seeing or even hearing of Wallflower, and CHS didn’t have that many students. Besides, based on the look, the girl was about the same age as her, and they must have shared at least one lesson.
"So, what are you doing here?" Sunset asked.
"That’s my garden. Although technically speaking, the garden club’s garden with me as the single member. Sometimes, when I can’t sleep, I come here. "
"I see..." Sunset looked back at the stone. Her only thoughts revolved around stealing the stone from Wallflower or simply fleeing — neither of which was an option.
"And you?"
Sunset raised her gaze back to the girl.
"What about me?" she asked.
"Why are you here?"
"Oh. Well... It’s kind of a long story. In short, I feel like I’m being watched the whole time and wanted to go through the portal…” Sunset stopped at her sentence, looking at the expression on Wallflower's face, which remained unchanged. "Do you know of the portal?"
Wallflower nodded.
"So, yeah, I wanted to go there to figure out with Princess Twilight what was going on, because, if I’m being honest, even that stone appears to be staring at me."
Wallflower looked down at the stone in her hand. As the eye was out of sight, Sunset exhaled in relief. However, she suddenly noticed a feeling she had pushed away for a while; a familiar feeling.
"Is that Equestrian magic?" Sunset pointed at the stone.
Immediately, Wallflower stretched her arms and raised the stone, aiming at Sunset.
"Don’t come a single step closer."
Sunset stepped back. The sudden determination, the threatening voice, something about that stone gave Wallflower a kind of power.
"Or what?" Sunset asked.
"Or... just don’t, okay? I’m still angry that you got so popular despite your past, so if you want me to help you, you better stay where you are.”
"Help?" Sunset slowly raised her arms, her hands palms facing in the direction of Wallflower. "How will you be able to help me?"
"I mean..." Wallflower slowly lowered the stone and sighed. "Just forget it. Go to Princess Twilight. Maybe it’s something you’ll be able to solve."
"What do you mean by maybe?"
Wallflower didn’t reply and looked at the ground.
"Wallflower?"
The girl sighed.
“Have you ever seen anything you weren’t supposed to see? Not in a sense of forbidden ones, I mean those that... simply having seen it will do something to you?"
Sunset froze. Immediately, the painting in the art museum came to her mind.
"I don’t know how or why," Wallflower continued, "but simply seeing or even hearing something can be... painful."
The girl’s eyes widened, and her breath became rapid.
"Sunset, I still remember the time someone found a piece of paper with a poem on it. He just screamed. Everyone else who came to help... they saw it too."
Wallflower's eyes filled up with tears.
"The pain... It was like hot knives stabbed all over your body... while you hear the poem in your head on repeat. "
"But..." Sunset stuttered.
"I was able to erase the memory of the poem with this." Wallflower looked at her stone. "And I made everyone forget the pain. But not myself. I didn’t erase my memories of what happened. I just watch, in the background, in case anything needs to be forgotten again.”
Sunset couldn’t believe what she just heard. A single poem gave pain to anyone seeing it? Was this some kind of spell?
"Are... are there more things like this?" Sunset asked.
"Yes. Too many. And sometimes... it’s not even pain. The knowledge of something can drive you crazy, or make you do something you wouldn’t even think about.”
Applejack was right. The painting was the cause of Sunset’s delusion of being stared at.
"One time a student played an instrument." Wallflower wiped her tears with her sleeve. “I had to erase the memories of the sound it made. Don’t ask what it did. I made myself forget that too."
Sunset had to sit down as her mind tried to process what she had just heard. This world had either old Equestrian magic of unbelievable power and danger, or it had its own kind of magic that is transmittable through images, texts and sounds. Neither of those sounded good at all.
"Wallflower, do you think that my feeling stared at is an image thing?"
"I don’t know. I can always try though. "
Sunset described in detail the painting and where and when she saw it. Wallflower raised her stone, which glowed in a green light. As Sunset was seeing a mental image of the painting, she noticed how more and more she forgot about it, until she couldn’t recall anything of it anymore.
"Did it work?" Wallflower asked.
Sunset looked to the side. She saw Wallflower’s face in her peripheral vision, but the feeling of being stared at was missing. Even the stone’s eye had no effect anymore.
"Yes." Sunset exhaled in relief. "Thank you so much, Wallflower!"
The girl smiled.
"So," Sunset continued. “Could I ask about the stone you have? I’m curious where you’ve got it.”
"Sorry, Sunset." Wallflower raised her stone again. "I can’t allow myself to be known."
Sunset found herself before the school. The sun was rising, and the birds were singing. Why was she here?
Her phone was ringing, and she picked it up.
"Good Morning, Sunset, Are you alright? " Applejack asked.
“I think I am. I am just confused about why I am before our school.”
"Is your staring thing solved?"
"The what?" Sunset asked.
"You know, how you thought that everyone was staring at you?"
Staring at her? She looked around. Some people with dogs were passing by, but none of them were looking in her direction.
"I think so."
"Sorry about Granny. She thought that you hadn’t gotten enough sleep. Guess that was the reason after all if the sleeping pills worked. "
"Perhaps, yeah."
"See you later at our practice meeting then?” Applejack asked
"Sure thing."
"Alright, my morning tasks are calling me. See ya! "
"Bye!"
Sunset put her phone down. She was even more confused about what happened. People staring at her? Whatever it was, she would have to first come back to her apartment and, looking down at her dirty outfit, take a fresh shower and change clothes.
Wallflower lay down on her bed, thinking of the meeting during the night. Yes, she still didn’t like Sunset at all, but any chance of her being useful and not the Rainbooms was an opportunity she would always take — even when no one would remember it.
She took a look at the magical stone in her hand. It was a very powerful artifact, as she could be as inexplicit as she wanted and it would work—like making sure that anyone else who had seen the painting in the museum would also not remember it.
However, one thing remained curious to her, and, as she raised the stone in the air, thought of what should be forgotten.
Anyone in the world who has seen the picture or anything similar to it and now feels like being watched.
The stone glowed in a green light, and Wallflower could feel the magic inside of it. Soon enough, she saw coloured strings coming into the stone.
However, her eyes were widening as more and more coloured strings were coming and being sucked in by the stone.
And it went on for several minutes.
