There was a gentle and dark stillness as Sunset slept.
She comfortably cuddled the sheets as her mind drifted in the darkness. Her mind was completely free of any thoughts, of any sense of identity. The vast nothingness coddled her like a baby in a crib, lulling her deeper into a tranquil trance as she nestled deeper into the blankets.
The silence around her sadly faded however, as the distant melody of a song roused her from her sleep. A hand crept out from the covers as she blindly smacked the nightstand for her phone.
She brought the phone to her face on instinct, her heavy eyelids slowly peering open as the harsh light of the screen kissed her face.
Principal Celestia’s smiling face greeted her, accompanied by the generic tune that came with Sunset’s phone.
She lazily pressed the answer button, the bright light fading into a deep grey as the principal spoke.
“Sunset! You have to come quickly! There’s-there’s some cloud thing that’s floating over the football field and it’s laughing and—”
Sunset hung up the phone without any concern, placing it back on the nightstand as she tried to fall back asleep. At least until the familiar ringtone came back with a vengeance.
Reaching out once more, Sunset brought the phone back to her face as she answered Celestia’s call.
“Sunset? Are you there?”
“I’m here…” She tiredly admitted, earning a sigh of relief from Celestia.
“Oh, thank goodness. Sunset, Discord was trying to dig up a time capsule that the last principal had buried and then there was this smoke that came out of it and now it’s hovering over the football field! Please get here as quickly as you can with the others! We have to get rid of it as soon as possible.”
“Celestia, I… It’s Saturday,” Sunset pointed out, her eyes drifting to the time as she continued. “I had a long day yesterday and I wanted a weekend to just sleep in. I don’t have plans with anyone, no invites, no parties, just bed and tv.”
“B-but the cloud is alive and it’s—”
She hung up again, her fingers quickly moving to the settings app as she tried to switch it to airplane mode. Unfortunately, the principal was too quick for Sunset, and she was once again greeted by the principal’s frantic voice.
“Please don’t hang up, Sunset! We need you,” the principal pleaded.
“Sweet Celestia, Celestia, it’s Saturday. Can’t it wait until Monday or something?”
“But it’s alive and I don’t know if it’ll be here by then!” Celestia cried. “It’s talking about making a tornado, Sunset! The town isn’t prepared for anything like that.”
“Celestia, I don’t—”
“You won’t have homework for a week!” The principal quickly offered, as Sunset heard faint roaring wind on the other side. “Or-or maybe you can just have the week off? Anything, Sunset, just please help!”
Sunset’s head sank into her pillow as she contemplated the offer, mulling it over for a few moments before she slowly sat up.
“The girls get free sick days too,” Sunset offered as the roaring wind grew louder.
“Yes-yes! That’s great! How quickly can you all get here?”
“Just put me on speaker phone,” Sunset ordered, listening as the rushing wind suddenly roared through her speaker.
“Okay, Sunset, what do—”
“Hey! Cloudy with a chance of… something stupid!” She suddenly shouted, earning a fearful cry from Celestia.
“Sunset! What are you doing?!”
“Who is there?!” A deep voice boomed, earning a yawn from Sunset as she licked her chapped lips.
“Sunset Shimmer, I’m with the tall lady.”
“Tall… Celestia?!” The voice roared. “I recognize that mane! Do you think you could hide from Erebus?! The cloud king of Dream Valley? The living storm of se—”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hey, you see the horse statue in front of the building?” Sunset interrupted. “That’s a portal back to Equestria. Knock yourself out. The lady you’re yelling at is just a weird monkey, Celestia is on the other side of the mirror,” she helpfully informed him, before she promptly hung up the phone again, making sure to completely shut it off as she placed it back down on the nightstand.
She laid back down on her bed, snuggling an odd clump of sheets as she closed her eyes. But, as she tried to drift back into her dreams once more, another issue made itself known.
“… Fuck, I need to pee,” she lamented, slipping out of the covers as she made her way out of the room.
Twilight was enjoying a calm Saturday morning, nursing a cup of coffee in her hooves as she flipped through the local paper.
A pair of scissors was floating nearby, ready to cut out a few coupons that caught her attention at the back.
Sadly, her weekly routine was cut short when she felt the castle rumbling. Thunder echoed down the halls of the castle as Twilight stood up, teleporting to the small library below the kitchen.
Thick clouds filled the room around her, eventually swirling upwards and forming the upper half of a minotaur’s chest. The massive cloud rumbled as part of it began to form into the face of a bulldog with a bright red kite for a nose.
It glanced down at Twilight with a harsh sneer, looking around the room with contempt as it suddenly spoke.
“Where is Celestia?”
“You… who are you?” Twilight asked, earning a scoff from the monster.
“I am Erebus, the living storm! I was told that I would find Celestia here so that I may exact revenge upon her!”
“Then why are you in here and not in Canterlot?”
“Because Sunset Shimmer said that Celestia would be here!” He shouted, trying his best to intimidate the purple princess.
“… Celestia is in Canterlot, it’s a city on top of a mountain north from here, you can’t miss it,” Twilight helpfully answered, trotting out of the room as she returned to her weekly couponing.
If Sunset was going to try and pass off the buck to Twilight, then she might as well pass it to Celestia. About time that alicorn got off of her fat plot and actually fought something evil.
