I laid in bed, staring sullenly at my ceiling. My clock read eight thirty nine. I was missing school, I knew but I just don’t have the energy to get up. Or do anything.

I had a few missed calls and texts from Rainbow, Applejack, Rarity and a few others but I ignored them, opting to shut my notifications off, listening to the oddly fitting rain pounding against my windows.

I glanced at my ringing phone and inhaled at the name Lightning Dust on the screen before answering with a tired noise.

“Hey girl. Whatcha up to, Sunshine?” Lightning asked as I pressed speaker and set it back down.

“Laying in bed, listening to rain and staring at my ceiling miserably. You?”

“Playing a video game. You uh, you okay?” Lightning asked and I easily picked up on her concerned tone. “You sound like shit.”

Tactful as always.

“No, I’m not okay.” Even Applejack would have been surprised by my honesty. Hell, I was. I never would have admitted that before to anyone except maybe Lightning.

“Wanna talk about it?” Lightning offered and I faintly made out some fighting sound from her game.

“Honestly, no. I don’t even know where to start.”

“The beginning is normally a pretty good place to start, you know,” Lightning commented casually and I rolled my eyes slowly. “But seriously, what’s up Sunset?”

I hesitated slightly. She only really called me by my proper name when she was being serious. Most of the time she called me Sun or Sunny or teasingly Sunshine.

“A lot,” I decided on and I heard her frustrated sigh.

“Alright, I’m on my way to come grab you and then we gonna head on out to Spring Rivers to get my daughter. Be dressed and ready to go. We can talk while I drive,” Lightning said and I listened to her Xbox shut off. “Don’t even try to argue. It’s my week to have her and you both should have some time off to relax.”

“You don’t know where I live though,” I pointed out.

“Yes I do, I helped you move in when you got on your feet to move out of my house. Indy helped too.”

Fuck. Looks like I can’t sulk alone miserably and hate my life today like I had planned.

Time for a forced road trip it looks like. When Lightning sets her mind on something, she doesn’t ever change it or anything. It’s one of the things I greatly admire about her.

I sat in a dark blue Charger, staring out the window as the trees rushed past while I listened to Lightning talking.

“Freaking hate this arrangement,” Lightning grumbled as she turned her left turn signal on to exit the highway we’ve been on for the past hour and a half. “Hate her fucking father. Love the kid though.”

I hummed in acknowledgement and pressed my face against the glass as she slowed to a stop at a red light. I always loved the engine sound her Charger made, the idle sound was so aggressive sounding I love it.

I glanced in the mirror at the white Crown Vic police car that had been behind us the entire time, the driver looking bored as all hell. I gazed at the grill where the Ford logo should be and it was weirdly absent, replaced by some a small silver logo instead.

“So how’s school been?” Lightning broke my attention away from the cop car. “I’m your friend, you can trust me with anything.”

“Believe me, there’s no way you will believe what I tell you. But one day, I hope I can tell you,” I returned to reading signs out the window. “My life is crazy, depressing and full of chaos. Things you won’t fully understand, if at all.”

“My life was too at your age,” Lightning commented as she spun the wheel to turn once the light turned green. “I went to Crystal Prep as a kid. It’s awful there. CHS and CPA are huge rivals. I personally never cared for the rivalry. I wanted to go to CHS, people seemed happier there. A lot kinder than CPA, that’s for damn sure. Kids at CPA are aggressive in getting what they want. They don’t care for anyone but themselves or how they get to the top of the chain or who’s throat they have to step on to get it. For a sixteen year old new freshman, that was a very confusing and difficult time.”

They sounded just like me. But I still think I was worse. Or at most, just like them. I once heard a classmate refer to me as a shark swimming with fish. At one point, I considered that a compliment and was proud of it. Now it’s just a depressing reminder.

“Doesn’t your daughter go to CPA?” I pointed out and Lightning inhaled before nodding. “If you hated it so much, why let her go there?”

“I gave her a choice. Canterlot High or Crystal Prep. I explained all the pros and cons of each schools. But of course, her father convinced her Canterlot was where the poor students who were trash went and CPA was not. I respect her choice to go to CPA. She will find she hates it, but that’s her consequence for her choice. Tough love.”

That reminded me of Celestia. The one back home, I mean. She was all about tough love and being super distant. Now that I think about it, she wasn’t that good of a princess or a mom really. I wonder what my life would be like if somepony else had had me instead of her.

“After this, we can hit up a hockey game. The Red Wings are playing and don’t start arguing, I already bought the three of us tickets weeks in advance,” Lightning eyed me and I nodded. “Good. Though you should grab a jacket from the trunk. It’s gonna be cold.”

“I’ll be fine,” I answered and she gave a dry laugh.

“We will see,” Lightning smirked as she put her car in park outside a large house with a white fence going around. Rich bastards are the worst. Must be nice. If there’s one thing I miss giving up to come here, that’s the seemingly endless supply of bits I had access to. “Ugh and there’s Wind Rider.”

I will admit, I’ve never meet her former husband or one stand or boyfriend or whatever the hell Wind Rider was to Lightning, but I can confirm he looks like a smug cunt just by how he was sitting on the porch and looking at us.

Lightning gave a tired sigh and opened the door, stepping out onto the sidewalk as I mimicked her actions, shutting the door softly behind me.

“Hey kid!” Lightning called out and waved at Indigo Zap leaning against the door frame of the front door. I had met her a few times and she wasn’t bad. Fairly competitive like Rainbow Dash, equally egotistical if not more so, shockingly. The two would probably be friends, in all honesty. But Indigo was always fairly nice to me. She had been surprisingly okay with me living with them for a while.

“Hey mom. Hey Sunset,” Indigo nodded at me as Lightning hugged her with one arm and rubbed her head with her other hand. “How ya two been?”

I made a hand gesture indicating so-so.

“Decent. Sunset, why don’t you help Indy here get her suitcases in her car while me and him share some words?”

I really didn’t want to be here for him to be on receiving end of an angry Lightning Dust. I’ve seen her angry at co workers and even me once or twice. It’s not a pretty sight. She can be nice and reliable, but when she gets angry she let’s everyone know.

Indigo gestured to the door and I followed her. Talk about an nice place, sheesh. Wish my apartment was half as nice as this place.

Indigo’s room was naturally just as nice as the rest of the house. Mostly just sport stuff everywhere as I picked up a suitcase.

“I’m so glad to get back to Canterlot. Freaking hate this place,” Indigo sighed and ran her hand through her hair. “It ain’t home, ya get me?”

“More than you will ever know, Indigo,” I gave a sigh and the two of us faintly made out shouting downstairs and I winced. At first, I was kinda jealous when Lightning and Indigo hugged. Now, not so much.

“We should probably hurry up. Mom gets frustrated when she’s here. She hates this town,” Indigo toyed with one of her lightning bolt ear rings. “For a Canterlot student, you’re not that bad fam. You game to hang out later when we get back to Canterlot?”

“Yeah might as well. Got nothing better to so,” I sighed as we both started dragging her luggage out, barely avoiding her father walking into another room. Such a dick.

“Car,” Lightning grumbled and pointed as the trunk popped open. She looked even angrier than before, if that was possible. I’d probably heard about it later. Or well, I most definitely would. Indigo and I both chose to ignore her wiping her eyes with her sleeves as we walked to her car. It was pretty rare to see Lightning cry.

I’ll talk to her about it when we aren’t here, of course. I’m not mean, after all.

Author's Note

I'll see if anyone can figure out anything about the cop car that followed them.