Chapters Author's Note
I figured a Christmas special type of story would be good for this time of year, even if said Christmas special won't play a huge role in the main story. It will be mainly confined to the first few chapters and act as a catalyst to Sunset's journey. Word of warning, some adults may seem a bit manipulative at points which may cause them to seem OOC, but they are doing the best with what the have and know with what little time they have to do it in. The aren't acting maliciously, well for most of them, but there is one adult who I will be amping up her natural attitude making her look bad. I haven't decided if I will redeem her when she crosses a line, but she also isn't really a main character. More of a side character really, so would it really matter?
As for the WInx Club, forget everything that you know for the most part. All of the characters from WInx will be there except for Bloom as Sunset is obviously taking her place. I haven't seen every single episode of Winx, so don't expect this to completely Winx accurate and there will be no canon really when it comes to Winx. I may recreate a few scenes such as the one in this chapter, but the will either have different outcomes or happen if different way.
Hope you enjoy the story, and Merry Christmas!
Chapter 1
So far Sunset had counted herself lucky as it seemed to stay warmer than longer even as the nights seemed to come quicker and quicker. Unfortunately, her luck couldn’t last forever as the forecast was calling for pretty frigid weather come nightfall and unlike the weeks following Thanksgiving, she no longer had a warm place to retire to for the night to seek shelter in. Her, what could barely could be called home, was finally tore down after finally being bought leaving her homeless. It may not have been the best, warmest or safest place to stay, but the old condemned house was her home.
Thankfully, after Applejack learned that Sunset spent Thanksgiving alone she called their friends together and planned out slumber parties at each of their homes that would lead into the Christmas Party at the farm the week before the Hearth Warming variant holiday. And the best part was that after the slumber party, Sunset would be spending the rest of the week staying with each host. At first the parties were a blast, the most fun Sunset could truly ever remember having as she truly started to feel as if she finally belonged somewhere. Even after the Battle of the Bands a part of her still didn’t feel like she fit in with the girls, but with the sleepovers she felt as if they were all family.
Family, something Sunset had never truly had yet yearned for more than anything and it was taken away from her yet again by somebody with a grudge. She considered herself stupid for relaxing her guard as she should have known not everyone had forgiven her for her part as not only a bully, but the nightmare of Canterlot High School that people had taken to calling Sunset Satan. A moment in time that she regrets more than anything and would take back if she could.
Turning down the path as she walked through the ornate gateway into the city park, the sidewalk turning to a fancy brick walkway at the cast iron bars twisting and intertwining as it created an archway with metal flowers woven into the fake vines the metal seemed to imitate. She wasn’t sure why she was choosing the park at the moment as there was no place to seek shelter from the incoming cold as the wind was already picking up making the girl pull her leather jacket tighter around herself as not for the first time she wished the zipper actually worked.
“Great, and now this.” Sunset sighed heavily, looking up as a snowflake gently landed on her forehead melting instantly as a few more followed lazily behind. She had to at least admit it was better than an all out snow storm as a light snow at worst wouldn’t be that bad. She dreaded what she would do in a short time when light snow gave way to heavy snowfall and possible blizzards.
Shoving her hands in her pockets and hunching down in her jacket she began walking again passing by the fountain in the center of the park as she debated which way to go seeing as she didn’t really have a destination in mind to begin with. Looking down the few branching paths that laid before her, the decision was made with a girls scream coming from the direction of the hiking and bike trails winding through the plot of trees that gave the park its greenery other than the small garden area the opposite direction.
Of course she froze for a moment as she debated just what she could be getting into. Maybe it would be better to run back to the road and see if there was a police car nearby and flag them down for help as what use would she actually be rushing into a situation that could get both the girl screaming and Sunset both hurt with nobody to get help for them. Seeing the flashes of light steeled her decision as she could feel the magic in the air. It felt different than her Equestrian magic, yet it felt familiar to her in a way that called to an inner part deep inside herself that she couldn’t explain.
“Sunset Shimmer, you are an idiot.” Sunset cursed herself as she ran down the hiking path towards what sounded like a struggle as a gruff voice was saying something while sounding out of breath while the girl’s voice sounded defiant, yet scared until Sunset burst onto the scene shocking both a blonde haired girl who was pulling on a weird looking staff while what she could only describe as an overgrown Minion from that strange animated movie Fluttershy had them watch was growling at the girl.
“Who are you?” The blonde asked, struggling to pull the staff free from the creature’s grip.
“Give it to me!” The Minion growled out trying to pull the staff free of the blonde’s grip.
“Leave her alone!” Sunset demanded, the thing finally wrestling the staff free of the girl’s grip while knocking the blonde down in the process before turning it’s attention on Sunset.
“I can’t leave any local witnesses.” The creature growled as it stomped toward Sunset making the fiery haired girl throw her hands up as she felt heat building up in them and managed to throw a fireball at the thing and knocked him in the air and over the three line to land in the lake if the splash was any indication.
“Wow girl, you have some major power!” The blonde haired girl said as she must have got up while Sunset was staring at her hands in disbelief as she had just cast a spell. And not just any spell, a fire based spell that was her favorite back in Equestria. Just how could she do that though? She didn’t have her horn and she wasn’t ponied up. Looking up she noticed the blonde picking up the discarded staff the thing must have dropped when Sunset blasted it through the air.
“Power?” Sunset asked, dropping her hands as the adrenaline was starting to wear off.
“Yeah girl, power! You know…magic! You must be the fairy Mistress Faragonda asked me to come talk to and invite to Alfea for the coming school year!” The blonde cried out happily before trying to hug her savior only for the fiery haired girl to sidestep.
“So…you know about magic?” Sunset asked warily. This couldn’t be a coincidence so close to the Battle of the Bands and the Fall Formal before that. Was this somebody else seeking out Equestrian magic to steal, or something else?
“Of course I do silly, I am Stella, Fairy of the Shining Sun!” Stella cried excitedly, “It’s so awesome meeting a new fairy! I love your outfit by the way, gives off rebel vibes while still being cute!”
“Maybe you should, I don’t know, tone it down a bit. Not everyone here knows about magic, and even less believe in it.” Sunset said sternly as she crossed her arms and looked around to make sure nobody was listening. She really didn’t need anyone overhearing this and use it against her with a claim of Sunset Satan returning or something.
“Sorry, Headmistress Faragonda did mention something about that.” Stella said sheepishly while scanning the area. “Maybe we should go before that ogre decides to crawl out of wherever he landed.”
“You can go, I’m not interested in your little school or you.” Sunset snapped, “Besides, I already have a school. Canterlot High may not be the best place right now, but it’s all I have and I have a responsibility to it.”
“What kind of responsibility is greater than learning to control your power for the greater good?” Stella asked in confusion.
“Making up for my past, even if nobody believes me.” Sunset sighed as she turned to go.
“Please, at least talk to me about it. Please!” Stella begged as she lunged forward and grabbed Sunset’s hand preventing the girl from escaping.
“Don’t. Touch. ME!” Sunset snarled as she yanked her arm away from the blonde before storming away while cursing under her breath making the blonde blush brightly.
“Well, that went splendidly.” Stella huffed, crossing her arms and watching the other girl leave as her staff shrunk into her ring. She was confused, she could sense the light magic that made up the signature power all fairies wield in the retreating girl and yet the girl’s attitude reminded her of a witch. “Maybe she really is a witch?”
Ignoring the reservations about the girl, along with the urge to follow, Stella decided it would be best to report home and hopefully get a little help from her friends on this. The Headmistress had told her that it was extremely important to get this girl to return to Alfea without the deputy Headmistress or anyone else other than her father finding out about it. Surely she would allow help though when the situation was explained though. The older woman had admitted that she wasn’t sure why other than a very old friend of hers who was some kind of seer gave Faragonda a warning that it was imperative for the fire haired fairy found on this planet to return to Magix if the girl was to survive. She couldn’t force the girl to return with her though, could she? Even if it would save the prickly girl’s life?
Despite the confusion and anger the whole confrontation brought out in Sunset, she couldn’t help feel giddy as she stormed out of the park without stopping until she reached an alley where nobody would bother her. Looking at her hands she could feel a rush of excitement as she will sparks of flame into existence to twirl and dance around her outspread fingers as she watched in awe. She wasn’t sure of the how or why, but she had her magic back. Not the fleeting taste when she ponied up, but her actual full fledged magic.
Deciding on climbing behind the dumpster that was too close to the wall of the building, she opened the lids which propped up against the building providing a makeshift roof. Arranging a couple empty cardboard boxes that was cut flat on the ground she made herself as comfortable as possible. While her makeshift sanctuary provided some protection from the wind, the chill was still there. Smirking a bit, Sunset created a fireball and let it over between her hands. She felt as if she could maintain it for hours with no drain, though she realized she wouldn’t be able to sleep.
“Guess that’s what study hall is for.” Sunset mumbled as the situation wasn’t ideal, but it was better than nothing.
“I’m back, Daddy!” Stella called out as she made her way into her father’s study only to freeze on realization of who was there.
“Welcome back, Stella. Did you find the fire haired fairy?” Headmistress Faragonda asked with worry making the blonde feel guilty at her failure.
“About that…well, yeah. She doesn’t want anything to do with me though. I was hoping maybe Musa or Flora could help with her.” Stella explained.
“This isn’t good, I was hoping she would be more willing to comply easily.” Faragonda said pinching the bridge of her nose. “Unlike their school, we have a few weeks left since our school starts with the new year. Unfotunately, Flora won’t be able to help as she has plans with her family. I wouldn’t be opposed to Musa though, and maybe take Tecna too. Desperate times calls for desperate measures, after all. Have Tecna set you three up with an identity for their world as their technology is extremely primitive compared to most of the Magix realms. See if you three can’t convince her to join us before orientation.”
“Are you sure we shouldn’t just grab her and bring her here?” Radius asked, earning a glare from Faragonda.
“As much as I agree that it would be easier to get her here, it would also make it harder to get her to trust us.” Faragonda explained.
“I still don’t understand what all the fuss is about over one girl from a backwater world.” Radius huffed.
“I wish I knew, all I got was the bare minimum. If we don’t get the fairy here, the fairy will either die or go dark in such a way an entire realm may be wiped out of existence. And on top of that, this girl will supposedly play a vital role in protecting Magix over the coming year.” Faragonda explained, “Stella, you can not tell your friends about this, just that we are trying to recruit her.”
“I understand, Headmistress.” Stella said, feeling guilty as she would have to lie to her friends as well as this new girl. She just didn’t understand why she couldn’t explain everything and be done with it. It would be quicker and likely much smoother. She absolutely hated this covert stuff, it felt to manipulative to her and made her uneasy.
Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. “Where did the other girl go?” Rarity, the girl who was assigned as their tour guide asked as the small group left the offices and started walking down the hall while ignoring the tense, yet curious stares of the surrounding students.
“She tends to do this, don’t worry.” Musa said, visibly amused as Tecna shook her head. Stella may have been a year older, but sometimes she acted so much more immature which was kind of funny. When it was time to get serious there was nobody else you wanted on your side than the fairy of the sun and moon.
“Stella tends to like exploring on her own. She just doesn’t really have the patience to follow any kind of tour for long.” Tecna explained as the pale girl looked so flabbergasted at what happened. “Don’t worry, she will be okay.”
“If you say so, darling.” Rarity sighed as she began pointing out various rooms of importance as the trekked down the main hall away from the office. The tense atmoshphere refused to let up as the tour continued. “Tell me, where did you say you girls was from again?”
“Italy.” Tecna said as she was the one who had gone over this world’s geography as she studied what she felt they would need to know. She found it weird that this world was not Earth or Gardenia, yet all three worlds shared so many similatities.
“So close to France, have you ever been to Paris?” Rarity asked excitedly, the other two shaking their heads making the pale girl pout.
“I was wondering something there, Rares. Why does there seem to be so much tension in the air?” Musa asked, getting a slight nod from Tecna. Now would be a good time to perhaps get a feel for what others thought in person rather than an antiquated social media hub. Tecna wanted to sigh as she had to yet remind herself that these people couldn’t help it, to them this was state of the art technology while to Tecna she learned to hack this kind of stuff when she was three.
“I guess I should explain a few things to you girls before you run afoul of the heinous actions of a certain individual.” Rarity sighed, hugging herself as a sad, contemplative look crossed her face.
“Sunset Shimmer?” Musa asked, arching a brow at the pale girls reaction.
“How did you know that, darling?” Rarity asked in shock.
“I may have looked through this MyStable thing when we learned we were transferring in this week. I found a lot of contradictory posts actually concerning Sunset.” Tecna said.
“Well, not to be unladylike, but that monster is nothing but a heinous liar and backstabber.” Rarity snorted, “When she fell from grace, we reached out a hand in friendship to help her. Everything seemed to be going great until Anon-A-Miss showed up.”
“So you believe this account to belong to Sunset?” Tecna asked.
“I get that you would be wary, but are you sure the girl isn’t being framed for this?” Musa asked, able to see the hurt and confusion mixed in with the anger of their tour guide.
“Darling, there is an old saying that is perfect for Sunset Shimmer. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” Rarity said, her eyes hardening a little. “Of course I don’t want to believe it after everything we’ve been through together, but there is irrefutable proof.”
“May I ask what proof there is?” Tecna asked, realizing that this was the lynchpin in why everyone believed the account to belong to Sunset.
“Of course we stood by her side when it first started, refuting anyone who even suggested she was behind it. Then we had the slumber party as my house and Sunset took some rather humiliating pictures of us and posted them on the site. They came from her phone, there was no other way they could have gotten on there as they were posted first thing that Monday!” Rarity sniffled, the two had a weird feeling the girl was fighting back a wail or some other kind of theatrics.
“Wait, what kind of pictures are you talking about? Did she take pictures of you girls changing or something?” Musa asked, a little anger seeping into her voice at the disgusting thought of somebody doing that.
“No, darling, it was so much worse.” Rarity said, holding a fist in front of her face as dark tear tracks traced her cheeks from her now ruined mascara. “She took pictures of us playing around and trying on the most garish outfits from my closet of shame. As a designer, that could destroy my career if it got out I made those!”
This right here was the perfect example of why Tecna normally preferred logic to emotions. Of course thanks to her friends she has gotten use to showing emotions, but it was times like these that made her wonder what good they could actually be as this had to be one of the most ridiculous displays she has ever seen in her life.
“And you are sure nobody could have hacked her phone?” Tecna asked, crossing her arms.
“Darling, things just don’t work that way. Somebody would have had to gotten possession of Sunset’s phone to get the pictures and she claimed to have never let it leave her side.” Rarity said.
“Was there somebody else there that would have done it?” Musa asked, as Rarity shook her head in denial.
“It was only my friends there with Sunset. Well, other than my little sister, but she wouldn’t know how to hack it.” Rarity explained as Tecna pulled her so called tablet from her bag.
“Maybe Sunset leaves it unlocked or something.” Musa suggested.
“Well, yeah, she does leave it on. She say she never uses it for anything that she would have to lock it for. Just chatting with us and taking pictures.” Rarity said, “That doesn’t change anything though.”
“May I attempt to hack your phone and copy the pictures from it with my tablet?” Tecna asked, Musa giving her an amused look.
“Of course you can try darling, but you will-“ Rarity said, before being cut off by Tecna.
“Done.” Tecna said, flipping the tablet around to show Rarity her entire gallery of photos from the pale girl’s phone. It was child’s play for Tecna to grab them to prove a point. Then again for most people on this world it would be impossible, but it was nothing for the technology obsessed fairy.
“How!” Rarity asked in shock as she leaned forward to double check everything.
“It’s child’s play. Of course I wouldn’t go around doing this for no reason, but it is possible.” Tecna explained as she made a show of deleting them off the tablet for Rarity’s benefit.
“Still, they were posted so quickly.” Rarity said, doubt lacing her trembling voice. The bell ringing made them jolt as they would need to head to class.
“Just think about it.” Musa said as Rarity could only nod.
“I need to fix my makeup, will you two be okay alone now?” Rarity asked softly.
“Sure we will, right Tecna?” Musa chirped, getting a nod from the girl in answer.
The first period was mind numbingly boring for Tecna as she listened to a teacher drone on and on about math problems that she learned years ago. She couldn’t help checking her tablet every few minutes as she had a feeling that the people behind this account would sign on sooner or later with the frequency that posts were being made. It was after a change in scenery as she had to change classes before something triggered her traps alerting her to the account being accessed. Pulling up the video that was being broadcasted to every device in the building as it turned on the webcam and microphone on the device that was in use to show who was using it.
Tecna was shocked, even a little sick as she found who was behind all of this turmoil and tension in this school. It was three girls maybe half her age who sat at the computer in what looked like a library arguing quietly on what to post next. The mircrophone managed to pick it up though as Tecna started to turn her trap off as these were children and outing them like this could end badly for them, something Tecna didn’t want to happen.
“Girls, I don’t think we should do this anymore. Have you seen Sunset since I stole her phone and uploaded those pictures?” One of the girls asked.
“Don’t be such a cry baby, Sweetie Belle! We have that monster almost away from your sisters and Dash!” One of the others snapped.
“Now girls, don’t go fightin!” The third sighed, “We have a lot of options to pick from all of the secrets that was sent in. Just a few more and ah bet we can get Sunset kicked out of the school!”
“I never agreed to that Apple Bloom!” Sweetie Belle cried out before the feed was cut by Tecna. It was too late though as pretty much everyone in school had seen the video as emergency notifications pinged marking the stream as extremely important making Tecna groan in frustration. This was bad, very bad.
“I’m sorry, you what?” Sunset asked in complete shock, tears building up as she stared in horror up at Celestia.
“I’m sorry, Sunset, but even you have your phone not leaving your side combined with your past misdeeds have put me in a tough spot. I really don’t want to do this, but with the pressure from the parents I have no choice. From this point on, you are-“ Celestia was saying with a look or frustration and sadness before the emergency notification rung out on her phone. As she watched the short stream horror replaced her expression as anguish filled Sunset’s own.
“Am I still explelled?” Sunset asked, her voice taking on a defeated and hollow tone.
“No of course not!” Celestia managed to choke out. “Sunset, I am so sorry! I never wanted it to even get this far!”
“Can I go back to class?” Sunset asked.
“Maybe you should take the rest of the day off and rest. Let things settle down here.” Celestia suggested.
“Can I go back to class?” Sunset hissed out angrily taking Celestia aback, the older woman only nodding as Sunset got up and stumbled out of the office with books in her arms.
“Are you okay?” Stella asked joining Sunset who shook her head in a negative response.
“Not really, no.” Sunset finally replied. “I just learned that three brats were responsible for a lot of the hardships I’ve had to deal with lately. What am I supposed to do about that? No matter how much I want to punch them, I can’t! They’re freaking kids!”
“Maybe we should get out of here. We can go to your place and talk it out.” Stella suggested, only to shrink in on herself from the glare Sunset sent her way.
“What place?” Sunset snarled, “I have no home, no where to go! The only meal I’m probably going to freaking have today is my free lunch! And that old bat hasn’t even been giving me decent portion sizes since this all started!”
“You're homeless?” Stella asked in shock and horror. How could anyone be homeless? She’d only ever heard of that on the most desolate of worlds.
“So what?” Sunset asked defensively.
“What about your family?” Stella asked softly.
“Never had them and every time I thought I found one, they threw me away like trash.” Sunset said as she fought back tears.
“I’ll be your family.” Stella offered, truly meaning it. “Come back to Alfea and you will have a home and a family.”
“No offense, but why should I trust you?” Sunset asked, not intending on giving yet more people a chance to hurt her. “Besides, I’m not some damned charity case! I’m sick of being treated either like some charity case to make others feel better about themselves or a monster!”
“You wouldn’t be a charity case.” Stella sighed as the bell rang and Sunset turned away to stalk to class. Maybe she would go home after lunch, or at least somewhere she could find a decent place to hunker down for the night.
The bell rang cutting off anymore conversation as Sunset stalked off toward her next class leaving a very worried looking blonde fairy behind.
Author's Note
I'm not sure if I can get another chapter out before Christmas, if not hope you all have a Merry Christmas and Happy Hearthswarming!
Fluttershy looked down sadly at her phone, finger hovering over contacts as it had so many times for days now. She wanted more than anything to tap the icon that would open a text to Sunset Shimmer and beg her for some kind of explanation. Nothing would change though, Sunset would claim she has had her phone on her at all times meaning that the pictures posted on Anon-A-Miss was her doing. Something that Sunset heavily denied and FLuttershy wanted to believe her more than anything, but it all came down to the pictures. The rest could be circumstantial evidence, but the pictures had no other explanation as Sunset herself has said there was no way somebody else could have posted them from her phone.
Glancing up at the teacher, she was glad to see that they either didn’t notice that Fluttershy was playing with her phone, or was being soft with everything going on. She was leaning closer to the teacher being soft as all the teachers seemed to get stricter with unruly students while trying to be gentle with those who needed it with the tensions growing higher along with anxieties. It was hard to believe Sunset Shimmer would do it, which is why Fluttershy couldn’t fully buy into the theory. She just couldn’t explain the pictures so was left lost and unsure of what to do as she watched the school and her friendship group start to fall apart once more.
Changing contacts, she logged into the group chat they made without Sunset Shimmer as none of them actually had the heart to block Sunset yet. Even Rainbow Dash was holding out for something to happen that really would explain Sunset’s innocence despite what the athlete said to the contrary.
FS: I think we need to talk to Sunset again.
RB: I agree, Darling. I just experienced something truly dreadful.
RD: What, wear clashing colors today?
RB: This is serious, you uncouth tomboy!
AJ: Girls, lets not resort to insults. What happened, Rare?
PP: Is it about the new girls?
FS: What new girls?
RB: I’ll explain fully later dear, but one just shined some serious doubt on Sunset being behind AAM.
AJ: How did she manage that, sugarcube?
RB: She hacked my phone and downloaded my entire gallery in seconds. Not minutes, in seconds. Darling, do you know what that means?
PP: IT MEANS SUNNY REALLY ISN’T A SECRET STEALER?!!!!
RB: It could darling, but it also means we could have messed up. We tossed Sunset aside over something she didn’t even do instead of standing by her.
RD: I don’t buy it.
RB: I saw it with my own eyes!
RD: It isn’t possible to hack a phone that quickly and easily and copy the awful amount of pictures you have stored on your phone. Something smells fishy here.
PP: Besides you?
RD: I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that!
RB: It must be possible since I watched her do it and there is no other way she got all of my pictures.
The emergency notifications on every phone in the class went off including the teachers making everyone pull them out to see what was going on. It was the only time the students was allowed to openly use their phones during class as the emergency system was barely used, and when it was, it was best to check it out. What followed created a silence in the classroom once the video ended that made the ticking of the clock on the wall sound as if it was shouting.
Fluttershy was devastated, if the video was real and was indicating what she thought, then those three were behind Anon-A-Miss. That meant that Sunset was telling the truth, as far as the girl knew her phone never left her side since Sweetie Belle must have stolen it during the night and returned it before anyone woke up.
“What is this?” One voice asked, drawing Fluttershy’s attention and away from staring at her phone in horror to look around at half the class sinking in their seats while part of the remaining students looked devastated and the rest angry.
“Those brats are behind all this?” Bulk Biceps asked slowly, as if trying to process what they all have just seen.
“What Trixie wants to know is, what did they mean by options from things sent in.” Trixie said, anger filling her voice as several others agreed vocally.
“I want to knock their damned heads together!” Lightning Dust growled.
“Don’t even think it!” Gilda snarled as she jumped up and leaned over her desk to glare at Lightning Dust. “As much as this situation is screwed up, you don’t go after kids half your age Dust! Damn brats, now I actually owe Shimmer an apology.”
“Class, please settle down!” Their teacher called out getting everyone to settle down, taking control of the situation. “While this looks bad, please wait for more information before anyone jumps to conclusions!”
It was then that Fluttershy knew she messed up badly. They all did.
“If Ah didn’t see it with mah own eyes, Ah never would ave believed it!” Granny Smith said as she shook her head in disappointment, not only in her granddaughter, but herself. She will be the first to admit she made the mistake of believing it was Sunset after what the girl caused at that dance. At first Granny thought the girl had changed, but with the coming of Anon-A-Miss, the doubts she had about the girl solidified and she was ashamed she may have taken it out on the poor teen.
She didn’t do anything that would cause harm, she would never do that to anyone. She would never starve anyone either. What she did do was make more than plenty enough to give pretty much everyone extra big helpings of what she was supposed to give out when it came to treats she makes on the farm and brings in. She stopped giving extra to Sunset though when this whole thing started after it was confirmed it was the girl’s own pictures that showed up. She couldn’t help feeling that maybe if she was more technology savy that maybe she would have known better.
“I know what you mean, Granny. I’m still waiting for Sweetie and Scootaloo’s parents to show up.” Celestia said, shaking her head. The woman looked a mess as lunch was getting close leaving the assistant cooks to take care of things while Granny was seeing to her charge.
“What are ya going to do to the youngins?” Granny asked.
“I don’t know, I really don’t. I was about to expel Sunset because of the evidence and pressure from the parents and school board leaving me no choice. Now we know the real culprits and while I want to be angry with them so much, they have never done something like this before. And from what the girls showed me when they gave me access to the account, a large portion of the students sent in secrets to be posted. Whatever happens to the girls will also have to happen to all of the ones who sent in secrets.” Celestia explained. “What would you have me do, Granny?”
“Ah would say all three of them there girls need a good ol’ fashioned whoopin. Ah know, we can’t go doin that.” Granny said, her own frustrations at the situation getting to her. “Maybe give them suspensions or a butt load of detention. Give em to me in the kitchen, Ah’ll make em work off there sins.”
“That actually sounds like a good start. And unlike before, the parents can’t pressure me to do something to them without it applying to their kids either since most of the ones raising the most trouble are the parents to ones who sent in the secrets.” Celestia said brightening up a little.
Sunset was starting to regret staying after leaving the office as she got so many students looking at her in pity as well as giving her what she felt was fake apologies. Even as she made her way through the line to get a tray for lunch, she could feel the stares and hear the whispers that claimed to feel sorry for her. They were making her feel as if she was about to explode in a huge fireball as she grit her teeth.
To her surprise, Granny Smith wasn’t serving today and the old woman’s main assistant was there dishing up the food. It made the girl groan as the woman was worse than Granny Smith had even been lately. While she didn’t short Sunset, the woman would always send her glares. Even after the Battle of the Bands the woman would send glares Sunset’s way. To her surprise there wasn’t any glares today.
“Hello Sunset.” The woman said, handing over a tray with even larger portions than usual. Not just the treats from the Apple Farm, but the rest to.
“Hi.” Sunset sighed, taking the tray with a nod and thank you. As angry as she wanted to be, and she was angry, she was more hurt over everything. She worked so hard to prove herself after the Battle of the Bands and dished out second, third and even fourth chances to everyone around her when they messed up with her. Anything from the whole no offense thing to purposely excluding her from group activities for a long while at first. Not that she wanted to be taken on as a charity case, but when they talked about how much fun they were going to have doing something in front of her making it sound as if she was going to be included only to learn later they did it without telling her where and when.
It hurt, but they eventually came together and became like family. Or at least Sunset thought as she was sure that after defeating the Sirens and everyone started looking up to her that she had finally proven she was worthy of love and family. A part of her hated feeling the want and need for love and family, but after facing her mistakes she couldn’t help those feelings. It was a need that drove her to be a better person than she was before.
Dropping in her seat at the small table at the edge of the cafeteria away from most of the tables Sunset dug into her taco. She couldn’t help mentally snorting at seeing the people around her giving her sad looks. She wasn’t thinking about the looks, she was thinking about the shock the others had shown her when they found out she was a pony and Twilight refused to eat meat, yet she loved it. Well, love was a strong word, but beggars can’t be choosers, plus it wasn’t like she never sampled meat before in Equestria. There were non sentient creatures that was raised as livestock for meat eaters such as Griffons and going to more than one event with them where her curiosity got the better of her. And now that she was human, well, she knew her body needed it anyways.
“So, you're Sunset Shimmer?” a girl with magenta colored hair said as she sat across from Sunset.
“And you are?” Sunset asked, a little more roughly than she meant. While she didn’t know who she could trust anymore, if anyone, a part of her still wanted to exactly attack a stranger who was just being nice. Be wary? Of course she would, but she didn’t want to actually verbally attack her.
“Please forgive my rudeness, my name is Tecna.” Tecna said.
“Hey, what’s up?” A dark haired girl asked as she plopped down next to Sunset while Stella sat next to the first girl.
“These are my friends, Sunset. This is Tecna and Musa.” Stella explained.
“I’m still not going to your school for pixies, or whatever.” Sunset groaned, shoving more food in her mouth so she wouldn’t have to talk.
“We’re fairies, not pixies.” Musa huffed, though she was wearing a grin. “I like you already.”
“You would.” Stella snorted good naturedly, “Anyways, what can we say to convince you to at least come look at the place?”
“Look, I understand you are wary of something new like this. Learning you have magic can be a little shocking.” Tecna said, a look of confusion spreading across her features as Sunset burst out laughing.
“I’ve been able to use magic since I was a foal, I’m not from this world like you three I suspect.” Sunset explained.
“Care to fill us in on this? To our knowledge, this world doesn’t have a lot of magic.” Tecna said.
“Not really.” Sunset waved the girl off, “I appreciate this, I really do, but I really need to stay here in case of an emergency. Like magic from my world leaking into here and causing havoc.”
“If that’s all you are worried about, I can easily set up a communications device to get ahold of you and you can be here within minutes.” Tecna smirked while Musa and Stella gave Sunset weird looks.
“Wait, are you already some kind of guardian fairy?” Musa asked.
“Not a fairy.” Sunset countered just as the light filtering in from the windows and skylights not only dimmed, but took on a purple like shade getting everyone to look around in worry.
“Sunset?” A group of students asked as the nervously came up to the table. Looking around Sunset realized the Rainbooms were nowhere to be found.
“What is it?” Sunset sighed, standing up from the table.
“Do you know if this is more horse magic?” One of the younger girls asked.
“It’s equestrian magic, and I don’t know.” Sunset replied, confused herself on what was going on when the entire building shook violently.
“To the blonde fairy and fire haired menace, we know you are in there. Come out peacefully and the innocent people in there with you will be spared!” A voice boomed out in demand.
“Well, definitely not horse magic.” Tecna snorted in amusement.
“I swear, some guys just don’t take a hint.” Stella said, “Well girls, want to help me send them packing?”
“We would, but I’m picking up dozens of smaller magical signatures, three big signatures, and one really big signature.” Tecna said, forgoing any semblance of acting normal and pulling up a holographic display showing a 3D model of the school with dots showing magical signatures before anything else was cut off at a line that glowed purple on the image.
“Please tell me that isn’t a magical dome.” Musa groaned.
“I’m making a call then we can go see what we can do to at least stall them.” Stella said, getting nods from Musa and Tecna and a raised eyebrow from Sunset.
“Who are you calling? Ghostbusters?” Sunset snorted.
“Somebody much better than that.” Stella grinned while Tecna and Musa gave the pair weird looks at the reference.
Author's Note
I hope everyone had a good Christmas to those who celebrate it.
I keep meaning to ask here and I keep forgetting, but does anyone know what comic the cover art for the story if from? I would like to post which one it is from as well as read it. I have only read the Holiday Special when it comes to the comics so pretty much all of my knowledge of EG comes from the specials. Also, the cover are is important to the story, but some of you may worry about it in the next chapter. Don't worry, Daydream Shimmer will make an appearance so no worries.
Luna pinched her nose as she looked on at the small crowd gathered in her sister’s office, Celestia seated behind her desk with Luna by her side while the three behind the whole fiasco that has torn the school apart the last few weeks was with one parental figure each. Apple Bloom of course was with Granny Smith as the old woman worked at the school while it took a little bit of time for Sweetie’s mother Cookie and Sccotaloo’s aunt Holiday to get there. None of the parents looked too pleased at what they just heard, and Luna didn’t blame them.
“Are you telling me my niece is partly responsible for the blog she has been telling me this Sunset Shimmer has been running?” Holiday asked, annoyance in her voice as well as doubt. “The same girl who has done nothing but bully everyone in the school for years?”
“To be fair, Sunset has done a complete turnaround this past year. I had some serious doubts when both my daughters came home and told me about this disgusting tabloid of a blog.” Cookie sighed.
“The same girl students call she demon?” Holiday scoffed.
“Have you met the girl?” Cookie asked, getting a shake of the head from Holiday in a negative response. “Well, I have. The girl has a serious inferiority complexion ever since her fall from grace. I’ve seen her bend over backwards to make my daughter and her friends happy, even at the cost of her own emotional well being. I tried talking to Rarity about it when they kept throwing the poor girls past in her face, but she waved it off.”
“What do you mean mom?” Sweetie asked, looking up at her mother.
“I mean that poor girl needed to be treated better than she was, but things seemed to at least settle for them. At least, until now.” Cookie said, giving a sad and disappointed look at her youngest daughter. “What on earth made you three girls pull such a stunt?”
“We were jealous.” Sweetie sniffed, hanging her head and refusing to look up into her mother’s eyes.
“Wait, you mean this is all true? Scootaloo!” Holiday gasped in shock.
“Look, I’m sorry! Okay! I just wanted Rainbow to keep her promises to help me train instead of ignoring me for that she demon!” Scootaloo growled, crossing her arms and looking away in anger.
“You shouldn’t call somebody names like that.” Holiday groaned out, “Haven’t we taught you better than that?”
“She is a she demon though! Grew wings and everything!” Apple Bloom swore earning a soft smack on the back of the head from Granny.
“Owww! Grannnnyyyyy!” Apple Bloom whined, rubbing her head. “It’s the truth!”
“Kids sure have the wildest imaginations these days.” Holiday said, shaking her head. “Is this why all of you girls did this?”
“It was mah idea first. Ah just wanted mah big sis to spend Christmas with her family. Not ignoring us for some ex-bully.” Apple Bloom admitted.
“There are better ways to go bout things like that Bloom.” Granny said, patting the girl’s shoulder. “Such as talking to yer family.”
“We’re really sorry.” Sweetie sniffled, “Do you hate us?”
“Oh sweetie, I may be a little upset and disappointed in you, but I could never hate you.” Cookie cooed as she hugged her daughter as both Holiday and Granny repeated their own reassurances.
“Actually, what is going to happen to the girls?” Holiday asked.
“What they did could have landed them in serious trouble and I hope you make sure those three fully understand that. You are very lucky that you gave us access to the account and showed us all of the things so many students sent in. So many of them are from the parents who are vocal and whine about every little thing so if they try and press for charges or anything, it will only end up dragging their own kids in so we truly don’t think we will have to worry about that.” Luna explained.
“As for your immediate punishments at school, you aren’t getting off lightly. I have already redone all of your schedules so you aren’t in any classes together except for your free period right after lunch.” Celestia said, steepling her fingers and glaring over them as Scootaloo pumped her fist in the air. “Oh, I’m sure you will be excited as you will be spending that period for the rest of the year helping Granny Smith in the kitchen and cafeteria cleaning up. You three will also be serving detention for the rest of the year and in school suspension for the next month.”
“Oh mannn!” Scootaloo whined.
“Do you want to be expelled?” Holiday hissed.
“No Auntie, I’m sorry.” Scootaloo sighed dejectedly.
“Thank you for going easy on the girls, I know it could have been a lot worse.” Cookie said, all of them gasping as the light filtering in from the windows took on a violet hue before the entire building shook.
“What on earth was that?” Holiday asked scared as Luna went to look out the windows.
“We better get the school locked down, there are some kind of monsters down there.” Luna sighed as if it was just another day, even if there was some urgency in her voice.
“You can’t be serious.” Holiday asked as both Cookie and her went to look out the window only to pale at the sight of a bunch of demonic looking imp like creatures skittered about just inside some kind of dome covering the school.
“What are those things?” Cookie asked, trembling in fright as she pulled Sweetie to her.
“Trouble.” Luna said, “Everyone stay here, Celestia and I are going to lock the doors and rally the teachers. Granny, see if you can get the police or something on the line. I don’t think even Sunset and the girls can handle this.”
“Ahead of ya, but ain’t no dial tone.” Granny said as she slammed the phone down.
“Guess we are on our own.” Luna sighed.
“We already tried to pony up, it isn’t working!” Rainbow snarled at the crowd of students by the main entrance, the doors locked as the janitor sealed them as soon as the dome went up.
“Well, try harder!” One of the students in the crowd shouted as Fluttershy hid behind Applejack as the crowd was demanding they do something which was ironic as a few minutes earlier they were yelling at them for making them believe it was Sunset behind Anon-A-Miss when it was their own sisters.
“Calm down, everyone!” Luna called out, her voice steady if sounding like it was booming from a loudspeaker. It was something the girls remembered Sunset once calling the Royal Canterlot Voice, or RCV for short.
“Please everyone, get deeper inside the school while we wait for help.” Celestia urged.
“Help is already here.” Stella said, strutting out of the crowd from the direction of the cafeteria, the students parting as Musa and Tecna followed behind.
“Girls, while I appreciate your courage, this isn’t a game.” Celestia said sternly.
“Is this Equestrian related?” Luna asked as Sunset followed them out.
“No, I don’t really know what’s going on.” Sunset replied.
“I think we need to kick the beats up and beat those imps down.” Musa cheered as she pumped a fist in the air.
“While I don’t know about that, I know those are just low level shadow creatures. They aren’t really alive, just shadow constructs created by dark magic to do their master’s bidding. Stella’s power should easily drive them off.” Tecna explained.
“Solaria!” Stella cried out, energy washing over her and changing her clothes and form leaving behind her fairy form holding her staff that her ring turned into. A moment later Tecna and Musa followed suit also changing to their fairy forms.
“Sunset, we can handle this. You don’t really have experience yet as a fairy.” Stella said, trying to encourage Sunset into waiting behind for them.
“I won’t let you do this alone. Those things are here for me just as much as they are for you.” Sunset snarled, pointing towards the door before she exploded into a heatless fireball as she herself changed. Black leather corset top and skirt along with boots and bracers replaced her clothes and demonic wings burst painlessly from her back as a powerful aura swept around her making the non fairies all take a step back in fear.
“It’s Sunset Satan again!”
“Is she going to mind control us again?”
“Maybe we should run!”
“Run where, it’s the she demon in here or the demons out there!”
Those among other things were shouted and whispered as the crowd gave the four fairies a wide bearth. They weren’t the only ones who had shocked or worried expressions as all three of the fairies did as well.
“She’s a dark fairy?” Tecna gasped out, unable to hide the slight tilt of fear in her voice.
“Didn’t see that coming.” Musa said, looking a little worried, but also in awe.
“So what, she’s a fairy just like us. And if we are going to protect this school we need to go now!” Stella said, getting Musa and Tecna to nod while Sunset looked over herself in fear, seeing the wings but noticing her skin wasn’t red.
“I thought I was supposed to be a fairy?” Sunset asked, her voice shaky and eyes watery.
“You are, Sunset. You are a very rare type called a dark fairy. Doesn’t mean you're evil; just powerful. It will be okay, I promise, but right now we can use your power to protect all these people in here.” Stella said softly, looking encouragingly into Sunset’s eyes as she took her hands. “Can you do that for me?”
“I-I’ll try.” Sunset said, swallowing when her voice cracked at first.
“Good girl, now lets go kick some but!” Stella cheered, the four heading toward the door.
“Sunset, I don’t know what’s going on.” Celestia said, hurrying to hug Sunset the best she could around her wings, “But please be careful out there. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“I’ll be careful.” Sunset reassured the principal, looking momentarily at the Rainbooms before turning to follow the other three fairies out the door. Tecna was right, Stella created a wave of light that washed over a swath of those imp like creatures that either hissed and retreated for the lucky ones while the others turned to ash.
“You think you fairies are so tough, huh?” The ogre from the night before chuckled as he tromped through the imps that scattered to get from under its feet. “Well, this time I brought friends.”
“I can’t believe my luck, a dark fairy. You will be a rare delicacy.” A tall, lanky creature hissed with a cloak around its body and a wide brimmed hat that seen better days sat atop its head. He looked more skeletal than anything, yet he did have skin and muscle despite looks. He seemed as if he should be dead as he licked the blade of his sword, his other hand tightening around a sickle.
“You know my majesties want them alive!” The ogre grumped as two more creatures that looked like they belonged in some kind of dungeon stomped forward.
“Me smell strong magic!” One of them roared, the other nodding in agreement.
“Just give up the ring and the fire haired menace and the rest can go.” The ogre said, nodding as if to congratulate himself.
“You have my word everyone will be free once we have the ring and girl.” The skeletal one said with a sickening grin, “Free to go right in my pot!”
“Okay, you guys win!” Sunset called out freezing the other three fairies. “All you want is me and the ring, right? Well, Stella, maybe you should give them what they want.”
“What are you talking about?” Stella asked, looking in shock at Sunset until she noticed the smirk and Stella smirked back. “Okay, you can have my staff, here.”
“I’m glad you fairies see reason.” The ogre said before being launched back by another wave of light that knocked him through the air as Musa created speakers out of energy that emitted sound waves knocking one of the two dumber creatures back.
“Wow, you guys are even dumber than you look!” Stella giggled as Tecna and Musa began distracting the two slower creatures while Sunset rounded off against the skeletal one while Stella went after the Ogre.
“Yes, please fight back little one. It will make the hunt more exciting and the taste of your flesh much more enjoyable knowing how hard I worked to obtain it!” The thing hissed in an unsettling way.
“Oh, piss off.” Sunset snapped throwing a fireball at the thing only to have it cut in half by the sickle and veering off to either side of the thing.
“Oh, my pretty little butterfly, I’ve bested much better than you.” The thing chuckled as it stalked in a circle around Sunset. She gave a strong flap of her wings that launched her back quickly and out of the things range.
“Thanks.” Sunset sighed as some guy with spiky indigo colored hair steadied her as she landed.
“You're welcome, now stay still until I cut your head off.” The man snarled, flashing a curved blade ready to attack her.
“Stand down, Riven, she isn’t the enemy!” A blonde haired man snapped, authority filling his voice as his glare caused the one to back down slightly. When Sunset’s eyes caught his own, she could feel something like a spark hit her as she found it hard to look away for several moments.
“Riven, Timmy, you two go help subdue the trolls.” A dark brown haired man called out, making the indigo one snort.
“Tt, whatever.” The indigo man snorted.
“Easy peasy!” The smaller, light brown haired man said as he drew some handheld weapon that looked as if it could be a crossbow or some kind of weird gun, even if Sunset couldn’t make out any ammunition.
“Brandon, help the young lady here. I’m going to check on Stella.” The dark brown haired one ordered, the blonde Sunset was watching warily now gave a two fingered salute as he pulled his energy sword and some kind of energy shield out.
“Well, miss, no need to fear with the Specialist here.” The blonde that Sunset guessed was Brandon said with the stupidest looking grin she had ever seen.
“As if I need some idiot with a knight in shining armor complex to save me.” Sunset snorted as she threw a fireball at the blonde who ducked it as the flames engulfed several of the imps turning them to ash.
“So I see.” Brandon said, raising an eyebrow as Sunset who was smirking and blowing off her fingernails.
“Don’t you dare ignore me!” The skeletal creature howled as he dashed forward. Despite his almost dead appearance, the thing was fast when it wanted to be. Sunset had to give it to the blonde as he parried and struck back time and time again as the two went at it in a deadly dance of blades while Sunset kept blasting the imps away from them. She didn’t want to distract the man who she was forming a grudging respect for as he wasn’t all talk.
“Watch out!” Brandon called throwing his blade at a larger imp about to slam its claws into Sunset’s back. She barely had time to look behind her before Brandon threw his blade piercing the thing while using the shield that blocked the thing’s blade knocking Brandon to his knees.
“Don’t do it!” Stella cried frantically as Sunset bent down to grab the now bladeless weapon as the energy seemed to cut off. Sunset could feel a slight pull from it, but nothing else as she easily figured out how to switch it back on. The blade itself seemed to glitch a moment before settling on a dark red color unlike it’s previous hue. Fire suddenly burst from it covering the edges as Sunset gave a flap of her wings giving her a boost of speed as she dropped to her knees and slid past the creature cutting it’s ankle and making it drop and howl out in pain. The indigo man and dark brown haired man didn’t waste any time jumping in and wrestling its weapons away and putting restraints on it.
“Damn, never saw a fairy use a phantoblade before!” The indigo man whistled.
“That’s because fairies shouldn’t be able to, Riven!” The smaller man said, eyes wide in awe as he stared at Sunset.
“What’s the big deal?” Sunset asked.
“Well, first there is the fact that a phantoblade is keyed to the user so shouldn’t have activated by someone else. Then there is the anti-magic properties that should have weakened you, if not outright knock you unconscious. Yet you not only managed to wield it, yet somehow change it with your magic.” The one that had to be Timmy explained. “This is most remarkable.”
“I’m sorry?” Sunset asked, looking confused as her transformation fell away in red sparkles leaving her in her normal human look and outfit. The energy faded from the blade leaving it once again an inert hilt. “Here.”
“Keep it.” Brandon said, giving a small smile. “I have extras. Besides, I get the feeling whatever you did to it is probably going to make it hard for me to use.”
“Thanks for your help, guys.” Stella chirped, interrupting them as she hugged Sunset from behind and hung off her back. It took a moment for Sunset to squirm away as Stella didn’t miss a beat and stepped between the fire haired teen and the guys. “Girls, let me introduce the specialist. This is Brandon, Riven and Prince Sky. And of course…I’m sorry, what’s your name?”
“This is Timmy, Stella.” Sky said while giving a charming smile to the blonde, “He will be joining the specialist at Red Fountain this year.”
“You are lucky we were there already.” Brandon said, crossing his arms. It was true, they were lucky that a lot of Red Fountain students liked showing up a week or two earlier to get all of their assigned equipment, check teams and go over drills for the returning recruits like Sky, Riven and Brandon while new recruits like Timmy could get a feel for what was expected and try the holographic training rooms. “What even happened here?”
“I have no idea, that ogre got away. At least the other freaks were caught.” Stella huffed.
“We will handle them, don’t worry.” Sky said, getting a nod from the others. Before anything else could be said there was a rush of students out of the school surrounding them and cheering for Sunset who looked extremely uncomfortable of the attention.
“Shouldn’t you be eating this up?” Stella whispered to the girl.
“Why? Tomorrow they will just turn on me again.” Sunset sighed, trying to ignore the group of girls who hugged her as one. Stella watched in disbelief as the girls who the blonde had learned should have been this dark fairy’s best friends acted as if they hadn’t shunned her for weeks. Maybe it wasn’t so shocking that that Sunset wasn’t so happy about the attention after all.
Sunset paced away from all of the students that were being ushered back into the building, and surprisingly back to class. After all, if a she demon tearing the front off the school didn’t cancel a dance, why would a she demon helping save the school cancel classes? Even the Rainbooms were ushered away by Luna leaving only the fairies as the specialist had just left escorting their prisoners wherever magical prisoners go.
“So, whatcha thinking?” Stella mused, moving in front of Sunset and leaning over and tilting her head to look up at the frustrated teen innocently. Sunset knew better, there was something there. Something the blonde wasn’t telling her. The other two fairies weren’t in on whatever it was, but Sunset could see the guilt eating away at Stella every time those eyes turned to the fire haired girl.
“I’m thinking my life is one huge cosmic joke.” Sunset snorted in frustration, “I actually accept that there is something to me maybe being like you three and try and copy what you did to change into fairies. And what did I do? I change into a freaking demon. AGAIN!”
“Ok, wow.” Stella said leaning back as she flinched. “I don’t know about the whole again thing, but you aren’t a demon. You are a special type of fairy that is very rare. In fact, the last dark fairy was actually the queen of Domino.”
“So what does being a dark fairy even mean?” Sunset snorted, crossing her arms and trying to hide the tears of frustration trying to build up.
“Most fairies are technically protectors of their domain, while they do have attack spells, they are more geared to protecting. Again, they can still learn any type of spell, but they excel at those meant to protect others.” Tecna explained as she joined Stella while Musa studied Sunset from off to the side with a curious look on her face. “Dark fairies on the other hand excel at magic meant for offensive purposes. Their magic is more destructive and often cause people to fear them thinking dark equates to evil.”
“They really hurt you, didn’t they?” Musa finally asked, sadness filling her voice as she looked at Sunset. “My dad said most fairies don’t feel many negative emotions as they have a good life before their first transformation. It’s why when somebody becomes a dark fairy it’s because of the emotions they feel the most during their first transformation.”
“So you are saying if I was happy go lucky I would have ended up like you three?” Sunset asked, cursing the Rainbooms and those three brats in her head. If Anon-A-Miss never happened then maybe she would have become a light fairy or whatever they were instead. She worked so hard to change, so why did she have to keep getting punished for her past?
“There is an eighty seven percent probability of that, yes.” Tecna said, “Of course you might be able to become something other than a dark fairy as there are multiple levels of being a fairy with each having their own transformation reflectingthe power level you achieve.”
“Tecna, your making it sound as if being a dark fairy is a bad thing!” Musa gasped in shock.
“I apologize if that is how I came off, I was only stating facts.” Tecna said, her voice even. Stella wasn’t upset at the girl though, she knew the revelation of Sunset being a dark fairy threw the girl for a loop. Heck, it threw them all for a loop and the blonde knew when Tecna was flustered or frustrated she retreated to her more comfortable logic than emotion for the tech fairy.
“Are you girls okay?” Celestia asked as she came over to them.
“We are completely fine, we deal with this all the time.” Stella chirped before anyone could say anything else. She wasn’t about to tell this woman that this was only the second time anything like this has ever happened to her. She still wasn’t too sure who was after her ring, but now they seemed to be after Sunset as well. This really wasn’t a good thing as she had no idea what to do if Sunset refused to come back with them. “I am sorry though, they were after a family heirloom.”
“It isn’t your fault dear.” Celestia said as she walked over and hugged Sunset tightly. “I’m so glad you are okay, Sunset.”
“Why do you care?” Sunset asked as she pulled away, glaring at Celestia.
“I care for you more than is really suitable for my position, and if you didn’t rush from my office after our discussion, I was going to ask about your home life.” Celestia said, Sunset wincing which confirmed the older woman’s suspicions as of late after trying to call the number listed and send emails, all which went unanswered. “Sunset, I can give you a place to stay. I know you are my student, but I’ve come to care for you as a niece, or maybe even a daughter.”
“Maybe you should have started with that.” Musa snorted.
“Sunset, I know this isn’t the best time to-“ Stella started to say only to be cut off by Sunset’s response.
“This fairy school, they are all like you?” Sunset asked, “They all have powers?”
“Well, obviously not all of them are as awesome as me, but yeah.” Stella said, unable to keep from smarting off.
“I don’t have a choice, these people can’t defend themselves if something like this happens again.” Sunset sighed, turning to face Tecna. “You said you can set up some kind of communications device so we can stay in contact?”
“That’s easy, just give me your phone Miss Celestia and I will fix it so you can call Sunset at anytime no matter what world we are on. And since it will be powered by magic, you won’t have to worry about paying for the call.” Tecna said, still flustered though trying to inject some humor into the situation making Stella smile in relief. It looked as if they accomplished their mission, but the blonde just didn’t feel good about it. Sure they will be getting Sunset somewhere safe, but it was still under false pretenses. Confused, Celestia handed the girl her phone only for it to float in front of Tecna. “Sunset, do you have a phone?”
“Yeah, but it isn’t a very good one.” Sunset replied, slowly passing her old, cracked phone over to the girl only to have it join the other in the air. Celestia and Sunset both stared in shock as both of their phones exploded into parts that floated before the girl who had an intense look of concentration. A moment later more parts floated from her bag and joined the others before reassembling. Celestia was relieved to see that her phone seemed to be ok, but noticed it seemed to run faster as she unlocked it and found a new contact for Sunset. Sunset was a lot more shocked as her phone floated back to her, though it wasn’t her phone. It looked brand new as the screen was fixed and bigger. Waking it up she saw her wallpaper there with her icons, which wasn’t much yet proved it to be her own phone.
“I took the liberty of doing a few upgrades to your phones while I was at it. For you, Miss Celestia, I didn’t do anything drastic as to call attention to you if you need to get it fixed. The few spells I placed on it to connect with the Magix dimension will be unnoticeable to any human. Sunset, I upgraded yours to be more on par with a phone from Magix. You don’t have to worry about any bills as phone service is free in the Magix Dimension and most of it’s allies.” Tecna explained, giving a little smug smirk in satisfaction at a job well done.
“So, you are coming back with us?” Musa asked hopefully. While this was interesting, she saw some dark stuff here that she wanted to put behind her. Such as how an entire school could blame one girl for such a poor frame job while using a past said girl worked her butt off to repent for.
“I can’t stay here if things like that are coming for me. If I’m at least in an environment that deals with this kind of thing often then at least everyone around me will be safe.” Sunset grudgingly acknowledged. She really didn’t want to go with them, but she was starting to wonder why even stay here. The only person who seemed to want her here was Principal Celestia and maybe a few teachers. Everyone else was against her and if it wasn’t for the responsibility she felt over bringing Equestrian magic into this world she would have left already.
“Let’s get this show on the road then!” Musa cheered, getting strange looks from the others making her cough uncomfortably before lowering her arms that she threw in the air and rub the back of her head. “When you are ready, of course.”
“No time like the present.” Sunset said, “I don’t know what to think, Principal Celestia, but you have gave me so many chances. I will be back to visit at least and we will see about everything after whatever danger this is passes.”
“I don’t want you to go, but I understand. Just stay safe, Sunset. I’ll always be here for you if you need me.” Celestia said, giving the girl one last hug, “Have a safe trip.”
The girls watched as the woman walked towards the school, looking over her shoulder with worry as she disappeared into the building. Sunset couldn’t help feeling a pang in her chest, but she knew this was for the best. There was no other choice as she had help this time, but if this happened again, she wasn’t so sure she could handle as large a group as this was on her own.
“I just need to get a few things from my locker and we can go.” Sunset said, stuffing her hands in her jacket’s pockets and started slowly toward the school.
“Why don’t you girls head back and report to Headmistress Faragonda while I go with Sunset.” Stella suggested, giving reassuring looks to the two as they gave worried ones of their own. “Don’t worry, we will be fine.”
“We’ll see you soon, Sunset. Welcome to Alfea! Maybe we can have a party welcoming you there.” Musa suggested as Tecna played with a device she pulled out of her bag.
“We will grab the few things at the apartment and meet you girls at the palace.” Tecna said, looking at the screen of her device and replacing it. “If we can’t be there now, we will see you tomorrow.”
“That sounds great, thank you girls.” Stella said as she jumped forward to hug the two, both of them telling her to stay safe before they left and Stella hurried to catch up with Sunset who was talking to a group of girls, two of them the blonde recognized.
“I’ll tell you girls what, I’ll give you the courtesy you didn’t bother giving me. Let’s take this to the music room.” Sunset said, her voice thick with emotion. Stella honestly couldn’t tell if it was more hurt or more anger. Not that Sunset was much better as a storm of emotions swirled inside of her. These girls were supposed to be family, claimed to be family, and they threw her away at a moments notice. And as mush as she hated to hate them with every once of her being, she couldn’t do it. She was angry though, very angry and hurt and she wouldn’t fight those feelings as Stella followed them.
“Maybe she should wait out here.” Rainbow Dash suggested making Sunset growl at her.
“She is welcome to come with me, in the last twenty four hours she has shown me more kindness, loyalty, generosity, laughter and honesty than you girls have shown me in weeks.” Sunset snapped out, admitting to herself that she was exaggerating that by a lot. “Now what is it you girls wanted?”
“Darling, we wanted to apologize for our uncouth behavior these past few weeks. It was unbecoming of us and we-“ Rarity managed to say before Sunset interrupted her.
“Let me ask you a question, Rarity. What was your reaction when you found out the truth? Did you shun your little sister? The same question goes to you also Applejack and Rainbow Dash.” Sunset said, balling up her fist as she fought the tears off that were trying to overflow.
“Of course not, sugarcube. They are our family!” Applejack gasped out as if scandalized.
“And yet you claimed I was family.” Sunset said softly, yet it seemed to echo around the room as the pain in the girl’s voice seemed to reverberate with everyone.
“We messed up, we’re sorry! Don’t make this such a big deal, we gave you a second chance!” Rainbow Dash snapped out as she stomped over to Sunset. The glare Sunset shot the athlete though stalled the girl in her tracks.
“And I have given you chance after chance since the Fall Formal! I’m not stupid, I didn’t expect you to forgive me right away. It was you girls who wouldn’t leave me alone, demanding that we be friends. Yet everytime plans were made, you made me feel as if I was invited only for you girls to either follow through with the plans entirely without me or not even give me the right time so I showed up at the end. Do you have any idea how hurtful that was?” Sunset seethed, waving off Pinkie Pie who tried to say something. “Then let’s not forget that during that whole time and all the way through the Battle of the Bands the whole belittle me and throw my mistakes in my face with a no offense comment. Well, guess what! It was very fucking offensive!”
“Sunset!” Fluttershy gasped out at the harsh curse word.
“Oh shut up, I’m not even done! Speaking of the Battle of the Bands, you lot blamed me for every single thing that went wrong even before the Sirens showed up. You wouldn’t even let me join your band when I asked saying that you had the perfect number and yet you jumped at the chance of Twilight joining in when she can’t even play a damned instrument!” Sunset growled out angrily.
“Wow, are you sure you girls were her friends?” Stella asked, her jaw hanging open.
“That’s not even everything!” Sunset finally sobbed out, “I have put up with so much crap from you all just to prove that I changed only to be belittled and put down at every turn. Only to be thrown aside at the flimsiest frame job I have ever seen!”
“Sunny Shim, I’m sorry.” Pinkie Pie said, her hair straightening as she reached out to hug Sunset, only to have her hands knocked away.
“I want to hate all of you so much, but some stupid part of me that must love being hurt still cares for you.” Sunset sniffed as she rubbed furiously at her eyes. “I can’t stand seeing any of you right now though. I’m going away for a little while and maybe by the time I get back I’ll be able to work things out with you if you really want. If you don’t, then have a good life I guess.”
“Please don’t go, Sunset!” Fluttershy cried as she tried to lunge forward only to be held back by Rainbow Dash who Sunset had to give the girl a small nod in acknowledgement.
“Fluttershy, I’m leaving the journal in my locker. Get it and keep it safe in case something happens. Do not tell Twilight anything about any of this, do I make myself clear?”
With a few nods Sunset stormed out of the room and across the hall to lean her arms on the lockers there and rest her head on them while taking deep breaths.
“Are you okay there sweetie?” Stella asked rubbing Sunset’s back who turned around and leaned back against the lockers.
“I don’t know, I loved them so much. Now, all I can feel is hurt and anger at them.” Sunset admitted.
“For what it’s worth, I think you did the right thing by not burning any bridges. Though if it was me, I think I would have burned them a dozen times just to be safe, but you really seem to care about them. Maybe a little time apart will teach them to appreciate you more while you have a chance to cool down and process what happened.” Stella said, leaning next to Sunset and taking her hand in comfort.
“I wish I knew for sure.” Sunset admitted, squeezing the blonde’s hand. “Don’t think this makes me trust you though, I really don’t know who I can trust right now.”
“I understand, and Sunset…I have something important to tell you.” Stella said, swallowing nervously as the other girl looked up into her eyes. “Tecna and Musa didn’t know anything about this, but Headmistress Faragonda told me not to tell you or anyone as it could mess up the prophecy. After seeing everything you have dealt with, I think you have a right to know.”
“How bad is it?” Sunset asked.
“Not really bad really, not now at least that you are coming back. The prophecy said that you would either perish or destroy the realm if you didn’t come back and that you were in danger. While that alone would get Headmistress to seek you out to give you protection and support, there is a second part that says you maybe instrumental in protecting the Magix Dimesion this year.” Stella explained nervously.
“That’s it?” Sunset asked, letting out a slight snort in relief. She thought it was going to be something really bad. So what if it said she was in danger, she could see that with her own two eyes. As for being instrumental in protecting the Magix Dimension, well if she could help people she would do it. She was no longer the selfish little brat she was at one point in time. She would withhold her judgment on this Faragonda though. If the woman truly wished to keep her safe and help her then Sunset would give her a chance. If the woman just wanted to use her, well she would regret that.
“That’s it? You aren’t mad or anything?” Stella asked in shock.
“That’s not that big of a deal with me. Maybe a few years ago it would have, but not anymore. I won’t tell this Faragonda person you told me, so don’t worry.” Sunst said as she pulled away from the blonde and stretched. “The journal was the only real thing from my locker I wanted and I left that for Fluttershy. Let’s just get going.”
“What about your clothes?” Stella asked, “Or any personal things you want to take?”
“Stella, I’m homless, what I have on me and in my bag is all I have other than my journal that I left for Fluttershy.” Sunset sighed.
“I’m sorry.” Stella said, swallowing the building sadness down. She would make sure Sunset had a home and get some things built up that would mean something to her as well as a place she could call home and family. “Hold on, this may be disorienting for first time travelers.”
Sunset had to admit, the palace was beautiful. Of course the castle in Canterlot was beautiful, but it doesn’t hold a candle to this place. She followed Stella as they made their way down winding passages that made Sunset’s head spin as it seemed like a maze in a way. She couldn’t help noticing how the guards were professional, but many gave friendly acknowledgement to the blonde who smiled and greeted them politely in passing. To Sunset, that said a lot about the girl as the blonde was showing that although she may have been a princess, she cared about those that served her and they returned that feeling. It gave her a boost in confidence that she did the right thing in the end and came with her.
“Ah, Princess Stella.” A guard said, halting their progress at the door with a sheepish look, “Your father and the Headmistress Faragonda would like to speak to Sunset Shimmer alone. The King asks that you wait in your room and your friend shall join you shortly.”
“But I promised I’d be there with her!” Stella gasped in shock and worry, not wanting to let her possible new friend down.
“It’ll be okay, Stella. I’ll be along shortly.” Sunset assured the blonde who stared at the fiery haired girl with worry.
“I’m sorry, Sunset.” Stella sighed as another guard came up to escort the princess away. Sunset did manage to see the guard quickly look around for anyone who could possibly be paying close attention before slipping the girl something that she quickly hid in her bag as she followed closely.
“Please go on in, his majesty King Radius and Lady Faragonda are expecting you.” The guard said, opening the door to usher the teen girl in. Cautiously, Sunset stepped into the room and saw an older woman and a regal looking man sitting at a small table with a tea set and cookies set out before them.
“Greeting, your royal highness King Radius.” Sunset said as she bowed deeply to the man who chuckled softly.
“I take it you have experience in court?” Radius asked mirthfully, shaking his head. “Right now none of that matters, you are our guests and we would like to speak with you. Please have a seat.”
Hesitating for only a moment, Sunset stepped forward and took the seat indicated across from the other two. A maid that Sunset didn’t even realize was there seemed to materialize out of nowhere and poured the three a cup of tea.
“Thank you Matilda, we will be fine.” Radius said, the woman bowing before making her exit. “So Sunset Shimmer, please call me Radius when we are alone. In public though, especially in an official capacity, please do refer to me as King Radius.”
“And you may call me Faragonda dear.” Faragonda said, lifting her own tea and taking a sip. Suddenly finding herself parched, Sunset repeated the action herself and thought she could die from bliss from just how good this tea tasted. It was nothing like any tea she had ever seen, probably because it was from a whole other world.
“Sunset is fine for me.” Sunset said, her nervousness returning a bit.
“So Sunset, from what my daughter’s friends have explained, the four of you had an exciting encounter before returning here. And you changed into a dark fairy?” Radius said, broaching the subject that Sunset knew was going to come up from the mixed reactions those boys and fairies had. Slowly she picked up a cookie and nibbled on it, trying to buy time before answering. Eventually she did and she told them about the whole encounter.
“This is not good, Faragonda. What would an Ogre want with the Ring of Solaria?” Radius asked. “I can understand wanting a dark fairy on their side, but they can’t exactly wield the ring to its full potential as they aren’t of the royal line.”
“We can discuss that later, I think we have more pressing concerns to get to.” Faragonda said as she gave Sunset a once over. “So you are truly a dark fairy? I’m sorry to say child, but that will make things a little difficult for you as there are some who fear your power.”
“Do you?” Sunset asked softly, making Radius burst out laughing.
“Why should I? One of my best friends was a dark fairy! She may have had a fiery attitude, but she was the kind of person you wanted on your side more than anyone else. She was fiercely loyal to those she loved and would do anything to protect them.” Radius said with a little whimsy in his voice.
“Marion was a firecracker, always getting in trouble with her pranks that you and Oritel would help her pull off.” Faragonda added wistfully, “Sunset, there is nothing wrong with being a dark fairy. At worst, you may need a bit more guidance to get yourself in balance so as not to let your darker emotions get the better of you. Some people just listen to old lies too much and have come to believe them as fact while some of us know better. I will admit you will face some hardships from some of the teachers and students at first, but as they come to see who you truly are, they will see the good and kind person you can be.”
“And how do you know I’m not evil?” Sunset asked, wanting to see how they would react to that.
“Sunset, I am an experienced fairy with several levels under my belt. I can sense true emotions and intentions and there isn’t an evil bone in your body. I can see pain and great sadness in your aura, but I don’t sense a malicious or evil bone in your body. In fact, you remind me a lot of Marion in some ways. Tell me, just where were you born again?”
“Have you ever heard of a place called Equestria?” Sunset asked, watching as their eyes blew wide open.
“Only the Company of Light and myself know of that place. It isn’t easy to get to.” Radius said, disappointment crossing the two's faces. “I was hoping there was a possibility that you could have been Marion and Oritel’s daughter.”
“Sunset, it won’t be easy at first, but I truly want to see you succeed and join my school.” Faragonda said.
“That said my dear, I’m afraid you will face opposition to you being there that would require you to have the backing of someone high up. That’s where I come in, I want to adopt you as my ward.” Radius explained, “The girls told us that they discovered you were homeless and I want to give you a family.”
“Why?” Sunset croaked out, “You barely know me.”
“You risked your life to protect a school who had turned against you when you could have simply fled and left them to their fates. If that isn’t a mark of character, I don’t know what is. I want to nourish that and stand behind you and support you. You sadly can’t become a princess because of laws set in place for centuries without going through a lot to change it, but in every other respect you would be my daughter.” Radius explained, “When you graduate as a fairy you will be able to claim a title such as Duchess or Baroness, but you won’t be a part of the royal succession.”
“You don’t know me though! Why? Why would you want a monster like me?” Sunset cried out prompting Faragonda to get up and go around to comfort the teen. Over the next half hour Sunset had told them everything from being an orphan to being taken in by Princess Celestia only to be denied a family and told to make friends with those anyone with half a brain would know would be impossible for one in Sunset’s position. They learned how Sunset was once again alone and homeless and how she escaped to the human world where she became a bully and ended up in the bottom of a crater thanks to harmony magic that cleansed her of the darkness that had taken hold of her heart. They even learned of all of her work to redeem herself and make up for what she had done only to have all of her efforts ruined by three jealous children.
“I want to adopt you more than ever now because every child deserves a loving family.” Radius growled, “If I even get ahold of that old nag, I’ll do something I won’t regret.”
“Now Radius, you know better than to go around killing like that. Though I would like to give this so-called Princess a piece of my mind.” Faragonda said as she rubbed Sunset’s back. “I think you should take up Radius’s offer my dear, his backing would keep anyone trying to get you out of the school to back off.”
“Come on, I need more children I can lean on when I get older.” Radius pouted.
“I guess if it is the only way to get the backing I need to go to Alfea, I’ll do it.” Sunset sighed, realizing this was moving a bit too fast. She knew it was probably because of this prophecy Stella mentioned, but Sunset felt as if both of these adults were not only serious about this, but they actually cared.
“I’m glad my dear.” Radius said, ringing a bell on the table. “Remember Sunset, you don’t have to force yourself to do anything you don’t want, I’m not helping you to force you into anything. I am genuine with my want to adopt you though and it would make me happy if you would see yourself as a part of this family.”
“Here are the forms you had me retrieve, sire.” A guard said, handing over a stack of papers.
“Thank you.” Radius said, the guard bowing and leaving the room. “Well, Sunset, ready to become one of us?” Radius said.
“I guess so.” Sunset said nervously as Radius sorted through the papers. “Faragonda will be our witness as well as help you look over everything if you need council on anything.”
“Thank you sir.” Sunset said with her head bowed and tears gathering in her eyes. This is something she had dreamed of for years and yet she couldn’t bring herself to fully enjoy it. She couldn’t put her trust into this blindly, though she would do her best to give it a try. She just knew deep down that as soon as whatever prophecy that is using her as a puppet is done, she will be out once again. And, again, she still wanted to give it a real try even with her doubts.
“There is no need to thank me, my dear. No child should ever be without a home, much less a family. I just hope that someday you will see us as family.” Radius said with a sad smile, making Sunset wonder if he could read her thoughts or feelings. Over the next half hour the three looked over the paperwork and Sunset managed to impress the older two people in the room with not only understanding everything in the forms, but asking logical questions about what something would mean to her. Especially the clause of it being Sunset’s decision to return to her birth family if she ever learned of who they were and Radius would respect her decision and support her in it with the promise of always having a home here if something happens.
“It is getting rather late.” Faragonda said as she stretched as she rose from her seat. “With all of that settled, I’ll drop the paperwork off for you Radius before I head back to Alfea.”
“Thank you old friend.” Radius said as he rose to see the woman out while Sunset sat with her head spinning while asking herself if she did the right thing. She really didn’t know these people and she didn’t exactly come begging for handouts or anything of the like. Yet somehow she managed to find a place to belong, however tenuous it was.
Stella sat at her desk, the small package the guard gave her left unopened for the moment. She cared about what happened to Sunset, learning about how the girl’s situation had hit the blonde hard. The kind of people that did the things to her after she reformed, sure Sunset wasn't a goddess or anything and did her share of bad things, but she reformed and worked hard to makeup for them. It wasn’t right the way Sunset was treated and it was horrible that the poor girl was in the situation she was. Thankfully she was informed on the way back to her room of her father’s plans to adopt Sunset meaning Stella wouldn’t have to try and persuade him to do it.
It kind of put things more in perspective for the princess as the fact that the world wasn’t all rainbows and unicorns was experienced first hand instead of just being taught about it. Not that she didn’t have her own hardships, but they looked petty next to Sunset’s own. And it was exhausting channeling her inner Flora. She wasn’t dense, you would have to be a special kind of dense not to see the pain Sunset was in, but she wasn’t the greatest at comforting people. She was more the type to show her snobbish side and make wisecracks, not tell people what they need to hear to help them get through their problems. Again, that was Flora’s thing as the group’s motherly figure. Stella had to admit that she respected the girl much more after trying to help Sunset and soothe the girl’s pain.
Thankfully the girls were going to meet up for shopping in the morning and lunch meaning that Flora could hopefully take over the brunt of soothing as Stella barely managed back in that viper pit of a school. She knew she had to curb her tongue a bit until Sunset gets to know all of them and knows Stella doesn’t mean anything by her normal attitude. Yet she wasn’t sure she wanted to go back to her old attitude as it reminded her too much of those girls who caused Sunset all of that pain in the first place.
Groaning, she dropped her face into her arms on the desk and took a shuddering breath. She had to wonder if her father and Faragonda knew about Sunset’s situation and sent her there to see it first hand as a way to temper her usual spoiled attitude. It was kind of ironic if they did as she did act spoiled at times, but she was a lot different in private from what she portrays in public. She didn’t want to think what people would say as they ridiculed her for her questionable hobbies if they found out. Not that they were bad, but being obsessed with things from other worlds was not something a crowned princess should be doing. At least that’s what she’s always believed and experienced.
Remembering the discarded package, she sat up and tore it open while wondering if it was an anime from Earth again or perhaps a romantic comedy from that colony world that Magix was in talks with about bringing into the alliance. Either way she hoped it was really good as she could use the pick me up.
“What’s that?” Sunset asked from behind her, making Stella cry out in fright and throw the small crystal memory device in the air only for the fiery haired girl to catch it thankfully before it could hit the ground and possibly get damaged.
“It’s kind of a, well, you see, it is a-“ Stella stuttered as she tried to come up with an explanation where she could hide this side of herself from the other girl. Not even her friends knew about this particular hobby and it was embarrassing. Seeing the dejected look made Stella’s decision though as she took a deep breath and steeled her nerves. “I’m not sure what it is yet, I haven’t uploaded it to see. You have to promise not to tell anyone about this, not my dad and not our friends.”
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” Sunset sighed, getting a slight smile from the blonde.
“Sunset, we are going to be sisters now and I really want us to be close. Sometimes secrets like this are a way to prove trust and bond over it.” Stella explained, plucking the device from the other girl’s hand before placing it on a small circular platform on her desk making a holographic screen appear over it. “A few of the guards are in on my secret and get me copies of movies and shows from the exotic worlds they get to travel to. Some might not have magic, but they have great culture.”
“Is that a hedgehog?” Sunset asked as she looked at the screen. There was a blue talking hedgehog that in all honesty freaked Sunset out a little.
“Oh nice, I already have the first two!” Stella cheered, “Come on, get comfortable and watch this with me!”
Sunset looked around the room stopping upon seeing a flag hanging on the wall. It had a very familiar two tones sun prominent on it which surprised Sunset a little. “What is that from?”
“Oh, that’s my aunt’s family crest. Or was, their entire world was destroyed and they were wiped out.” Stella explained, a sad tone filling her voice before she rubbed her eyes to rid herself of the tears before encouraging Sunset to come watch with her. “Come on, Sunset! Come enjoy the movie with me!”
“I’m coming.” Sunset said as she was having trouble tearing her gaze from the flag that was a mirror image of her cutie mark. She wanted to ask more questions, but Stella dragged her away from it to watch the movie. Sunset wasn’t sure why this had to be kept a secret, but if that was what the blonde wanted then it would be kept secret.
Author's Note
A big thanks to Sunny Scriber for editing this chapter.
The morning was going by quickly as Sunset joined Stella for breakfast, for once not wondering if she would actually get any with how everything has been for her recently. It was really good even though she wasn’t too sure what everything was, which continued last night’s trend of dinner and a snack raid. If she had anything to complain about, it was being woken up from the best night of sleep she has had in the room next to her new sister in the most comfortable bed she had ever experienced since Equestria.
Speaking of new sister, and father figure for that matter, Sunset couldn’t help looking at the credit card given by King Radius with the explanation that it would be her allowance. To be fair, she was the ward of the current king of Solaria and it would look bad if she was dressed in what the nobles would consider rags.
“Don’t overthink things, Sunset. Daddy said to make sure you get several outfits as well as have a good time today. You deserve this.” Stella said with a smile, turning to walk backwards in front of Sunset playfully.
“That’s the thing though, why do I deserve this?” Sunset asked as she stashed the card in her bag. “What did I actually do to deserve this?”
“Think of it as karma for all of the stuff that you have been through at that horrid school of yours.” Stella chirped out, her voice a little flippant yet worry shone in her eyes for her new sister and friend. Not that Sunset trusted Stella yet, the princess knew that and expected it would take a little time for the fiery haired girl to open up. She would do everything in her power to get Sunset to trust again and believe in friendship and family.
Thinking that made Stella want to facepalm as she realized how much she just sounded like Flora in her own head. The thought of sounding like Flora wasn’t so bad, but she hadn’t decided if she wanted to maintain her front of being a spoiled princess. Well, she would always be daddy’s little spoiled princess, but that was beside the point as she was so much more than she portrayed to others around her. Giving an encouraging smile, she continued. “Besides, look at it as payment for helping protect those ungrateful brats.”
“I’m not getting out of this, am I?” Sunset asked with trepidation, her mood changing as she saw Stella walk backwards right into Musa who was giving the new girl a friendly smirk. Making an exaggerated expression of pain, the dark haired girl bemoaned being run over by a truck.
“I am not a truck!” Stella squealed, crossing her arms and stomping a foot as Tecna and an unfamiliar girl walked up on either side of the now giggling Musa. “How dare you compare one as dainty and perfect as myself to a car!?”
“Technically, I believe the term she used was truck.” Tecna stated, making the unfamiliar girl let out a soft giggle while covering her mouth.
“I’m sorry about them, they get like this a lot but don’t mean anything by it.” The girl explained, “My name is Flora by the way. It is a pleasure to meet you, Sunset I assume?”
“Heh, yeah, I’m Sunset.” Sunset said, unable to get the feeling of looking at Fluttershy out of her mind.
“Well, let’s get this party started!” Musa called out, pumping a fist into the air as the other giggled a little and agreed. Sunset had to admit to herself that she missed this level of friendship and camaraderie.
The next two hours started with dread when Sunset learned they were all there specifically for her, to help her get some clothes and things to personalize her room. It quickly changed into Sunset actually letting her doubts go and enjoying herself. Even when she was shocked to find that the king and Headmistress must have been at least somewhat wrong as somebody obviously knew enough about Equestria to make an entire cartoon series based off of it as well as countless books for an audience ranging from kids all the way up to young adults.
It was mind blowing to see all the merchandise at one of the stores with posters and little knick knacks, including a small plush clip of Twilight Sparkle as just a unicorn that she hung off her new bag. The second thing that surprised her is her shirt that she got for one of her everyday outfits as it has a stylized picture of what she learned was Celestia as Daybreaker, a creation this person came up with to counter Nightmare Moon. She really wasn’t sure why she bought the shirt, but she knew why she bought the Twilight plush. It reminded her of her first real friend, one that she still had faith in despite wanting to avoid her right now. She did not want Twilight getting involved in whatever was going on as it was obviously Sunset and Stella’s problem.
This is Sunset's new outfit minus the cutie mark pendant and blue in her hair as she is keeping her classic fire themed hair. Saw this on Deviant art and thought it would be perfect.
As much fun as she was having, she knew all good things had to come to an end as they were finishing up their meal in the outside dining area at a nice restaurant that was obviously not fast food. “So, who all is excited to start our first year at Alfea?” Musa asked while stirring her drink with the straw in it.
“Technically, this is Stella’s second year even if she will be in our classes.” Tecna said, hiding a bit of a grin which made Stella proud of the girl. Once again she was showing more than just her formal technology obsessed side and showed actual emotion…even if it was used to tease her.
“Hey, I was just trying to create a new shade of pink in the lab!” Stella defended herself with her normal claim of what happened.
“I still don’t believe that.” Musa snorted.
“I concur, we know you can be a bit vapid at times, but never to that extent.” Tecna said.
“Fine, don’t believe me.” Stella huffed.
“I’m more worried about the rumor I heard my parents talking about before I left.” Flora said, seeming nervous to bring whatever it was up. “It scares me a little.”
“You don’t have to be scared, all of us would protect you.” Sunset said, even if she couldn’t really trust them, she was having fun and would never stand by and let someone get hurt if she could help it. If only Celestia could see her now.
“You don’t understand, my mom has ties to Alfea’s admissions system and she said there were a few new students registered this morning. One of them is a dark fairy.” Flora said, shaking a little as she looked around her as if to make sure nothing was coming for her.
“What’s wrong with that?” Sunset asked, freezing momentarily as her eyes narrowed. The other girls were motioning for Flora to shut up, but the girl was genuinely disturbed over the fact.
“Dark fairies are monsters, Sunset! They lure you in then steal your soul and magic!” Flora gasped out in fright, “My mother always told horrid stories about them as I grew up.”
“You know girls, I think I want to explore a bit by myself for a bit.” Sunset said, standing up a little faster than she meant shaking the table a little as her eyes misted over. “I’ll meet you back by that bookstore we passed in a couple hours.”
“Sunset, wait, she doesn’t know!” Stella said as she jumped up to follow the fiery haired girl who stopped her.
“I’ll be okay, Stella. I just need some time alone.” Sunset said stiffly, turning to walk away at a sedate pace while fighting the urge to storm off angrily. She had to keep reminding herself that the girl was nice, just confused. It didn’t help the hurt though.
“What happened?” Flora asked, confused looking from one crestfallen expression to the next.
“Flora, girl, that dark fairy is Sunset.” Musa said, shaking her head in disappointment.
“She acted so nice though.” Flora said, crumbling a napkin in her fist in shock.
“She is nice, Flora. She’s my sister now and you know daddy wouldn’t let someone who would hurt me around me.” Stella said, Flora shaking her head in denial.
“Flora, statistically speaking, even witches can be good despite their reputation.” Tecna offered, but it looked like the timid girl was having problems accepting the fact that Sunset was a dark fairy and was genuinely nice.
“Look miss, the training simulator is only for specialist cadets. I can’t let you use it.” The frustrated teen boy behind the arcade counter said. Sunset had accidentally stumbled upon the arcade not long after she left the group of girls. When she recognized the name of the specialist, she asked about the simulator and was told it was a holographic training simulator that was several generations old that some of the specialists would come use to hone their skills when they didn’t want to wait for the state of the art ones at Red Fountain to become available. “No weapon, no entry.”
“Did you say weapon?” Sunset asked, pulling out the hilt that Brandon had told her to keep and activated it. “Like this?”
“Y-Y-Yes, l-l-like th-th-that.” The boy stuttered, leaning away from the girl as sweat began to form on his brow. For the next hour and a half, Sunset spent time in the simulator after being told it was locked on level one. It meant that she would face resistance from opponents when blocking attacks, but the most she would suffer from getting hit was a bit of a sting, letting her know that she was tagged. At first Sunset couldn’t last more than a few minutes, but she started getting used to patterns and followed advice from the holographic trainer to the point that by the time she was halfway through her session, she was managing to hold her own. She supposed that she had all the brick hauling to thank back at CHS after the formal for the muscles she built up and the self defense classes Flash’s dad insisted she took for the basics on fighting that got her score to reach mid point when finished.
“Never seen a girl specialist before.” A pink haired girl commented, blowing a bubble with her gum as the boy from earlier gave Sunset a shocked look.
“How did you get mid rank?” The boy asked, looking as if his world just turned upside down.
“With style.” Sunset grinned, walking out of the arcade feeling a bit better. The physical workout had helped immensely in getting rid of some of her frustrations and sadness. She could understand where the girl was coming from, Flora had said she was told horror stories of dark fairies growing up. Anyone in the girl’s shoes would act the same toward Sunset upon the discovery of being a dark fairy. Sunset just couldn’t figure out why the rejection hurt so much. Why it frustrated her so much.
Seeing the overgrown minion, or ogre as she was told, walking down the street, Sunset decided to follow. It was ridiculously easy to tail the large creature that did give the girl pause. She had to wonder if maybe this was a trap, yet it was maybe the best chance to see what was going on and why those things were after Stella and herself. It didn’t take too long for him to stop in an out of the way alley where the only cover Sunset could hide behind was a few crates that were far enough away to hear what was being said between the creature and three girls that looked around her age.
She couldn’t get a good look at the girls though as the large oaf kept blocking her view, making Sunset growl silently before being thrown forward through the crates to land hard on the ground at the feet of the three girls.
“So, did you like our little joke?” the girl with an I emblem on her outfit said as the darker haired one with a D emblem vanished.
“Surprise!” A voice laughed behind her, “Turn around!”
Sunset turned over to look up at the girl who disappeared and walked up to her laughing evilly. Sunset glared as the girl walked around her to join the others. She wasn’t stupid, these three were planning to attack her or intimidate her. That was something she wasn’t going to put up with as she threw her hand out and claimed to be a fairy, her concentration slipping momentarily as she heard someone calling her name. The result causes her spell to fall apart and glitter to shoot out at the three and fall to the ground before even touching them.
“You call that magic? I’ll show you magic!” The one with the I laughed, creating ice crystals that Sunset jumped away from just as they turned into ice spears.
“And that is magic!” The one with the D said as she thrust out her hand, creating a dark energy that shattered the crystals and threw Sunset back. The fiery haired girl was starting to get pissed when the girl with an S stepped forward with a laugh.
“And this is magic!” the girl with the S said, throwing up her arms and making a tornado that lifted Sunset from the ground until she grabbed the edge of the roof and pulled herself from the whirlwind to fall back to the ground with a curse.
“Get down here!” The one with the I snarled as Sunset fell, stepping forward laughing. “And now the final touch.”
She didn’t even have a moment to prepare for a comeback as she was encased in ice just as Stella and the others rushed to her rescue. They changed into their fairy forms and worked together, stopping the ogre which filled Sunset with pride seeing how well they worked together to take the thing down. The ice blocked any sounds from reaching her though, but she could still see as the fairies moved toward the trio only to be knocked back by the one with the D with the same attack that knocked Sunset back a few minutes earlier. The one with the I stalked toward Flora who fell away from the others while they gathered behind a shield Tecna created as lightning from the one with the S advanced on them. Sunset didn’t need to hear what was going on to see the fear in Flora’s face.
With anger flooding her, Sunset transformed and shattered the ice and blocked the girl with the I emblem’s advance on Flora, making all three girls with emblems stare in shock. “I think you need to leave my friend alone.”
“So you are a dark fairy? Pathetic.” The girl with the I snorted, wincing in pain as Sunset clamped her hand on the girl’s wrist.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Sunset hissed, bringing her other hand up to the girl's stomach and shot a fireball at point blank range throwing the girl through the air with a pained cry.
“We are the Trix! You think you can stop us?” The one with the S screamed in rage.
“I would be intimidated.” Sunset said, narrowing her eyes at the curly haired girl before smirking. “Pffft, if you were intimidating. Thank you girls for the lesson on how to be weak, wannabe magic users. Let me show you what the flames of the sun can really do!”
“Sisters, I think we need to go.” The one with the D gasped out as flames whipped around Sunset before the fiery haired girl threw them at the three. Just before they hit, the three vanished along with the ogre.
“That was awesome, Sunset!” Musa cheered, lunging forward to hug the girl.
“We better get out of here ourselves.” Stella said as sirens could be heard approaching. Taking her staff, she swung it outward in an arc, teleporting the girls out of the alley and near the restaurant where they were eating earlier. It looked as if everyone was rushing to where they just came from to see what was going on. Sunset couldn’t help muse that even in a world of magic, people were too curious for their own good at times.
“I’m so sorry!” Flora sobbed out as she launched at a now detransformed Sunset, everyone dropping theirs as they appeared. The fiery haired girl awkwardly hugged the girl in a comforting manner as she sobbed out apology after apology as well as thanking her again and again for saving her from that witch making Sunset realize what she was facing. She didn’t think those three were a threat as there magic was a joke compared to her. Still, she would keep an eye out.
“I think we need to find another way to get the princess’s ring.” Stormy groaned as the three landed in their dorm at Cloud Tower. She couldn’t believe they just got beat by a fairy, dark or not. It wasn’t possible!
“No, we’re fine.” Icy smirked as she stood up, patting her stomach. “That so-called dark fairy is weak.”
“Sister, she didn’t seem weak to me!” Darcy gasped in shock. How could her sister claim that thing was weak?
“She didn’t aim to really hurt me or I’d be in the nurse’s station.” Icy grinned, “That was a weak concussive blast and I bet that fire was a scare tactic.”
“Icy, she almost cooked us!” Stormy growled out.
“No, she didn’t. She may have power, but she’s too weak to actually use it. I know her weaknesses! She doesn’t want to actually hurt somebody and she cares too much about her friends. With the right planning we can easily get around her or even manipulate her.”
“You think so?” Darcy asked, grinning a little herself as she realized that Icy may be onto something.
“Believe me sisters, I know so.” Icy grinned.
Author's Note
A big thanks to Sunny Scriber for editing this chapter.
“So where do you think Flora ran off to?” Musa asked the group as they waited at the fountain in the middle of the city square. Sunset had to admit that it was beautiful with both magical and mechanical properties to it, celebrating the Company of Light that the plaque said was the group that defeated the so-called ancestral witches. It had all the family crests of each member cared for around the fountain, and Sunset had picked the one that looked just like her cutie mark to stand near and look at it in confusion.
“She said she would be right back, she just wanted to grab something.” Tecna replied, looking back up from the holographic computer she was using. Putting up three images of the three girls that had attacked them in the middle of their group had startled Sunset from her thoughts as she looked first at the images, then to the girl herself who had displayed them. “Anyways, these are the three girls who attacked us. Apparently they will be starting their second year at Cloud Tower this year. They are in the school’s top three spots for students.”
“If that was the top three, then they must not be teaching them anything useful.” Sunset snorted in disdain. She could still feel their powers, and while they weren’t exactly weak, to Sunset they seemed to be like fillies using bubble wands pretending the bubbles were magic. And yet they were walking all over the girls as Tecna’s shield wasn’t going to last much longer and that brat thought she could get away with going after Flora like that? Nobody goes after Sunset Shimmer’s fri-companions like that!
“I’m not sure about that Sunset, I was worried what that ice queen was going to do to Flora.” Stella admitted, “While the rest of us have had a lot more experience one kind of another preparing us for things like this, Flora’s family has shielded her a little too much. This was her first fight ever. I’m actually shocked you were able to calm her down because she is usually the level headed one of the group that mother hens the rest of us.”
“I do not mother hen you girls!” Flora gasped in shock as she walked up to them, holding a wrapped package in her arms. “I just worry about you.”
“We know, girl, it’s why we love you.” Musa said with a grin, pulling Flora into a side hug.
“Anyways, there names are Icy, Darcy and Stormy.” Tecna explained, looking towards Sunset when she snorted at the names.
“What, no Marcy? Someone decided to break the cycle with the third one?” Sunset asked, earning a few giggles from the others. “I’m guessing their outfits had their initials. Why? Are they expecting to lose their clothes or forget their names?”
“I wouldn’t mock them too much. While you were able to handle them with ease, they were strong enough to beat us.” Musa said, her expression turning serious.
“Actually, I believe it is more that they caught us off guard. While we did have that altercation when recruiting Sunset, it was easy and we had not only Sunset, but the Specialists there. If we work on our teamwork, I’m sure we would stand a better chance against those witches.” Tecna said.
“Speaking of witches.” Flora said softly, walking up to Sunset and pushing the wrapped package into Sunset’s arms. “Thank you very much for saving me back there. I’m very sorry for breaking down the way I did after. I’ve never faced anything like that and I was so scared.”
“Hey, don’t worry about it. I would have done the same for any of your girls.” Sunset said with a confident smirk, even if it wasn’t reaching her heart just yet. As much fun as she has had today, she still couldn’t trust them just yet.
“Still, you saved me even after those horrible things I said about dark fairies.” Flora said.
“Flora, it’s okay. I know you were scared, but I promise I will never hurt you on purpose.” Sunset said, getting a watery smile from the girl.
“Thank you Sunset.” Flora said softly.
“Come on, open up the gift! We want to see what’s in it!” Musa said, looking over Sunset’s shoulder.
“Okay, give me a second.” Sunset sighed, carefully tearing the red paper off the box and finding a sleeveless leather vest inside, shocking her. She had to give up her jacket for now as it was in bad shape and she was afraid of making the king look bad if she didn’t present herself in a decent light. She almost didn’t even let the others talk her into getting most of the outfits she did, especially the one she had on. She didn’t think it was royal like, yet Stella insisted that it was fine and Sunset did have to admit that after being around Rarity, she knew what to look for in clothes. Her new outfit was a lot higher quality than Stella’s own and the blonde wasn’t wearing anything princess-like so figured it had to be okay.
“Don’t worry, it isn’t real leather.” Flora quickly explained, “This is a magically created material that is just like real leather, but has spells weaved in to protect against low level spells and has enchantments to keep it from getting damaged easily and to help keep it clean.”
“Wow, girl, that had to be-“ Musa whistled, before Flora covered her mouth.
“It’s beautiful, thank you.” Sunset smiled, slipping it on. It fit perfectly and she no longer felt weird without her beloved leather. And it being sleeveless made it a lot more comfortable as the weather here seemed unnaturally perfect.
“I just thought there was something missing from your outfit, then I remembered seeing that earlier.” Flora said, “And I also wanted to get you a gift to show my appreciation for saving me and to apologize for what I said.”
“Flora, don’t worry about any of that. We just met and you didn’t know. As far as you knew the dark fairy really was a monster.” Sunset said, cursing the Rainbooms mentally for infecting her with their need for constant hugs. Not that she was really against it.
“Thank you, Sunset.” Flora said, returning the hug.
“Bloom, come to me.” A ghostly voice called out from ahead of her. Looking around, all she could see was what seemed like a landscape that you would see underwater as her hair floated around her. It seemed like her movements were slowed down by some kind of resistance on her body as a fish flew by her head.
“What the hell is going on?” Sunset mumbled to herself. She could feel the water around her as she figured out that it was water, yet she didn’t feel wetness from it. It just felt like heavy air around her and she was clearly breathing.
“Please Bloom, we don’t have much time.” The voice called again, urging Sunset forward towards it.
“Who are you?” Sunset asked, making her way forward slowly as she looked around.
“My name is Daphne, Bloom.” The voice of the now identified Daphne called out.
“Look lady, my name is Sunset Shimmer, not Bloom!” Sunset called out as she stopped in front of the golden glowing woman that had warned her before.
“Your birth name is Bloom.” Daphne said with a sad smile, reaching out to cup Sunset’s cheek with a sad smile. “I looked so long for you, but when I sent you away, the attack from the witches caused my spell to misfire and you were sent to a different world than the one I intended to send you to.”
“I think you have the wrong person.” Sunset said, a sad look filling the woman’s face.
“I don’t, I know my magic signature on you as well as the-“ Daphne explained before Sunset bolted upright in her bed to see Stella’s hand on her arm where it appeared the girl was trying to shake the fiery haired girl awake.
“Are you okay, Sunset?” Stella asked, worry filling her voice. Sunset had to admit that it felt good to actually have someone care enough to check on her if they thought she was having a nightmare.
“I was just having this weird dream where this golden woman was telling me Sunset wasn’t my real name.” Sunset said, blinking away her sleep as she stretched.
“That does sound weird.” Stella said, yawning a little.
“Wait, you heard me from your room?” Sunset asked in shock.
“No, I was heading back to my room after spending some time in the gallery where my cousins are painted.” Stella sighed sadly, “Whenever I can’t sleep I spend some time in there looking at my family’s paintings and wonder if I will ever be as good as my ancestors or family. Tonight I was looking at my aunt and uncle as well as my cousins.”
“What are they like?” Sunset asked as Stella moved to sit next to Sunset so they could lean against each other a little.
“I don’t really remember them. I’m told Daphne used to babysit me when I was first born, but when her little sister was born their world was attacked and destroyed. Many claim the Queen went crazy when the ancestral witches attacked. I think they are just using her as a scapegoat to fuel their own agendas as daddy has told me time and time again that auntie wasn’t like that.” Stella explained, “I never got to meet Bloom, though daddy wants to believe that she is alive. I hope she is, because I have always wondered what it would have been like as we were supposed to be raised together and be like sisters.”
“I know I’m not her, but I’m your sister now and I’ll be here if you need someone to talk to.” Sunset said, her head spinning. That was the name of the golden woman and the name that was supposed to be Sunset’s birth name according to Daphne. That is if this was all real and not some weird dream. And yet if it was a dream, that would be a lot of coincidences.
“Thanks, Sunset. The same goes for you. We are family now, and I’m not letting you forget that.” Stella said, conviction clear in her voice. “I’ll find a way to prove you can trust us. That you can trust me.”
“You know, sis, I’m starting to think I can, at least a little bit.” Sunset said softly.
“Wouldn’t it be awesome if you did turn out to be my baby cousin? Then it would be official that we are family by blood.” Stella explained.
“Blood doesn’t always equate to family.” Sunset sighed.
“Sounds like there is a story there.” Stella said, taking Sunset’s hand and squeezing it.
“Yeah, maybe.” Sunset admitted quietly, chewing her lip as she thought about how much she should tell the blonde. “When I was a filly, I thought my mentor was my mother because of how similar our magic was and how similar our cutie marks are.”
“Filly? Cutie marks?” Stella sputtered out, holding back giggles. “Sunset, if you don’t want to talk about your past I understand. You don’t need to joke about it or make up stories.”
“I’m not making it up. When I was young I was a pony, a unicorn to be exact, living in the world of Equestria. Though I’m not sure if that is just the country’s name now or the actual world’s name.” Sunset explained, seriousness in her voice.
“You aren’t kidding, are you?” Stella asked, she was clearly shocked.
“Do you hate me now? Think I’m a disgusting barnyard animal?” Sunset asked so softly that Stella almost didn’t catch it. The blonde quickly pulled the fiery haired girl into a hug.
“I’ll never hate you and who cares what you were, or even are. There are countless numbers of species out there and it doesn’t matter which one you are. All that matters is that you are my sister now, so stop trying to escape that fate. I won’t let you!” Stella swore, happy when Sunset hugged her back. “Do you want to talk about the rest of it?”
“Yeah, I think I will if you promise you won’t tell anyone because you will be the first person I told everything to. I don’t want this to spread around.” Sunset said as the two settled in for a long story where the two eventually fell back asleep after a roller coaster of emotions.
Author's Note
I forgot to include a picture of Sunset's new outfit last chapter so I have went back and added it as well as put it here. It's a picture I saw on Deviantart and loved it. However, Sunset here does not have any blue in her hair and she doesn't have a cutie mark pendant either. Also, as of this chapter she also has a leather vest like the one she wears in some of the Webisodes.
Also, a big thanks goes out to Sunny Scriber for editing this chapter. Also, thanks to ScisetShimmerEvan and Seven Fates for showing me fixes than needed to be made in earlier chapters.
“So, how did you get daddy to postpone your debut ball?” Stella asked, raising an eyebrow in askance as Sunset held up a pair of shoes.
“Really, do you need a pair of six inch heels along with the other thirty pairs of shoes?” Sunset returned, shaking her head in disbelief. If she didn’t know better, she would think this girl really was a spoiled brat of a princess at the moment. Then again, she only knew her for a few days.
“I might need them at some point.” Stella huffed, crossing her arms as outfits and shoes were strewn around her room, covering every surface as several suitcases laid open partially filled. “And stop deflecting! How in the world did you convince daddy to postpone your debut ball?”
“If you must know, I used logic. You should try it sometime, as in right now and cutting some of this down. Stella, I like you, but this is insane. We are going to be living in dorms for not even a full year, when are you going to have time to use thirty pairs of shoes and a small boutique worth of outfits?” Sunset replied.
“I’ll tell you what, I’ll let you help me cut this down if you tell me what you told daddy.” Stella said, giving a long drawn out sigh. She knew it was overkill, but she hated being away from home like this and taking as much as she could to help a little.
“Deal.” Sunset grinned, making Stella wonder if she had been tricked as Sunset started putting shoes back into the closet. “I told him it was too close to going to Alfea to properly plan something as important as this and just making an announcement for now would be more logical. Then I promised I would make sure that both of us come back for every holiday that we could. And finally, I promised to help you cut down some of your luggage to some of the more essential stuff instead of trying to fit a lifetime of shopping into a small dorm room.”
“You what? You traitor!” Stella gasped in mock shock and outrage.
“I did it for both of us, if you keep fretting over every little thing we won’t make it in time for early orientation.” Sunset said, a small part of her excited about going to a school for magic again. A part of her missed Canterlot, but the more time she spent here, the more right it felt to her. As if she belonged here, which if she was being honest with herself, she never felt in Equestria or at Canterlot High.
“Oh, you just want to see the boys again!” Stella smirked, the tease making Sunset blush and splutter denials.
“I do not! I don’t care about those idiots. They aren’t capable of licking my boots, much less standing up to an ogre.” Sunset huffed with crossed arms making Stella smile. She had been worried for the fiery haired girl as the last couple days Sunset spent in Magix was in that stupid training program at the arcade. Ever since Sunset had admitted to being a pony, and all of the pain and loneliness she had gone through, Stella had wanted to stay close to make sure the girl knew she had people here who would be there for her.
Not that her mother had made it easy as the woman tried to monopolize the blonde’s time. Stella loved her mother more than almost anything, but that woman had been getting on the teen’s nerves a lot over the last few days, insisting they spend every minute possible together before the school year started. Something she normally would have been happy for, but she wasn’t stupid. Luna was trying to keep Stella away from Sunset with little barbs here and there that the blonde quickly put a stop to.
It gave her a small window into what her parents' problems were, and why they were currently separated. Thankfully they haven’t divorced yet, but if the woman didn’t stop her prejudice and hate against dark fairies, then Stella wasn’t sure things could go back to the way they were before. She couldn’t wrap her head around why her father respected dark fairies and wanted to support them so much when her mother seemed to have a huge disdain for them. She knew Sunset would eventually get through to her mother and things would be better between all of them. Maybe they could be one big happy family again.
“Deny it all you want, but the blush says otherwise.” Stella said with a smirk, a teasing lilt in her voice. “So spill, which hunk caught your attention? Personally I like Prince Sky.”
“Stella, I really couldn’t care less about any of them.” Sunset sighed, “Yes, I felt an attraction, but it doesn’t mean I have to have anything to do with them. Now come on, we need to hurry up and get you packed.”
“What about you?” Stella asked, confused when Sunset laughed.
“I was done packing yesterday, I didn't wait until the last minute like some people.” Sunset teased.
“I’m proud of you, acting like a bratty sister already.” Stella said, sticking her tongue out.
“Hmph, I only learn from the best.” Sunset replied, sticking her own tongue out, only for them both to burst into giggles.
“Come on, help me finish packing.” Stella said, the two of them cleaning up the mess they made while condensing the blonde’s luggage to not even half of what she originally wanted. And for once, it didn’t bother her at all.
Despite how good Stella was at teleporting, the blonde and Sunset were forced to ride a shuttle from Solaria to a hub in Magix and checked in as students before boarding some kind of bus that was full of other prospective fairy students to Alfea. Unfortunately, Sunset didn’t see the other girls of their group and leaned against the window as her new sister sat beside her. The fiery haired girl couldn’t help worrying for the girl as it actually seemed they were forming some kind of bond. Hell, Sunset almost felt as if there was one there already as it was far too easy to become friends with the girl. And she knew that she did consider the blonde as a friend, despite her trust issues. What was going to happen though when everything was over and Sunset was cast out? Well, if Radius actually would, which Sunset was starting to think the man was serious about making Sunset a part of their family.
Family. The one word that Sunset had sought for so long, even when she wasn’t sure what it was she was looking for. And she was starting to think there may actually be something to them being a real family as there was far too much coincidence for Stella’s cousin's names to be the same as the golden woman called her from her dreams. Was it possible that just maybe the golden woman really was her big sister?
“Bloom.” The voice of Daphne called, seeming to be coming from the lake they were passing.
“That’s Lake Roccaluce, I saw it when we were taken to Black Mud Swamp last year for a field trip.” Stella said, the fiery haired girl jumping as she was lost in thought. “We should be to Alfea within minutes.”
“That’s good, I really wish we could have teleported in.” Sunset sighed. She really hated these long trips when magic was at hand and could easily cut down on the travel time.
“Girl, I would have killed to just teleport us straight in. Unfortunately, we have to deal with bureaucrats and their paperwork, checking students in from their shuttles and again when they get to the schools they are going to.” Stella explained with a look of disdain on her face.
“Ugh, I should have known. Even in worlds full of magic, you still have to deal with red tape.” Sunset groaned.
“Actually, in some places it is even worse. I visited a world with my dad and I swear you had to fill out paperwork for every single thing you did. And you had to have ten copies of it for different filings.” Stella said, giggling a little at the memory.
“You can’t be serious!” Sunset gasped in shock.
“Very serious. Within an hour, daddy was ready to call it quits and we just left the planet. As far as I know, he has never gone back or sent any delegates there.” Stella giggled, “Daddy couldn’t get out of there fast enough.”
“Sounds like it would have been funny to see.” Sunset said, turning to look back at the lake one last time as they passed it by and was pulling up to the gate of Alfea. It looked just like the pictures Stella had shown her. She would be lying if she said she wasn’t nervous, especially after seeing Flora’s reaction. While she couldn’t say the two had become friends, Flora had warmed up to her the last few days.
“Last stop girls! Alfea, College for Fairies!” The driver called as the bus lowered to the ground and the doors slid open. Sunset waited until all the others got off the bus before getting up which got a confused look from Stella.
“I just want to let some of them get in before I go so not everyone knows what I am yet.” Sunset said, before turning to look back out the window at the large, beautiful facility. “Why do they call it a College? Wouldn’t Alfea High School be more accurate?”
“Well, from the world you came from I suppose. Different world, different naming schemes.” Stella explained, “Besides, this would be college for some worlds seeing how some of them graduate when they reach anywhere between twelve and sixteen before going into studies for the field of study they choose.”
“Come on girls, I don’t have all day.” The bus driver huffed from his spot getting Stella and Sunset to hurry off the bus while giving apologies as they stepped off. Sunset had to shield her eyes for a moment at how bright it was as she realized the bus’s windows must have been tinted slightly.
“Great... Griselda is the one checking everyone off at the gate. Maybe if we wait long enough somebody will replace her.” Stella groaned out.
“Bad history?” Sunset asked.
“Let’s just say that she probably still has it in for me after my little accident that got me expelled last year.” Stella grinned, as if proud of it. “Might as well get it over with so we can get our room assignments.”
“Maybe she will be over it?” Sunset suggested as they got closer only to see the woman glare at both of them.
“Stella, I’m surprised you actually showed your face after last year's fiasco.” Griselda sneered at the blonde before turning to Sunset, “And whom might this be?”
“This is my sister, Sunset Shimmer. She’s a first year student.” Stella said, getting a gasp from the woman.
“You can go in, Princess, but remember I am watching you! There will be no shenanigans like last year.” Griselda growled, tearing off a small piece of paper from her clipboard and handing it to the blonde.
“That’s ok, I’ll wait for my sister thank you.” Stella said, crossing her arms.
“It’s okay, Stella. I’ll meet you by the entrance in a few minutes.” Sunset assured the girl who reluctantly left the two alone.
“Listen here you little brat!” Griselda hissed angrily, “I don’t know how you weaseled your way into the Solaria royal family, but if you cause any trouble I’ll make sure that not even King Radius’s money and influence will be able to protect you from being expelled! Honestly, what was Faragonda thinking? Letting not only a dark fairy into this prestigious school, but a worthless piece of gutter trash like yourself?”
“Yeah, yeah, big bad monster. Heard it before, can I go now?” Sunset snarked at the woman earning a growl before being waved off with a piece of paper like Stella’s.
“Fine, scurry along you little rat. Just remember that I will be watching for any excuse to get you thrown out like the trash you are.” Griselda snarled before Sunset spun around and followed the path that the blonde took.
“What was that about?” Stella asked as Sunset caught up to her.
“Just getting a warm welcome.” Sunset snorted out in disdain.
“Sorry, she was probably pissy because of all the trouble I caused last year.” Stella apologized, the two walking into the foyer where Faragonda was surrounded by a lot of girls around their age. There really wasn’t a lot which surprised Sunset, then again that shouldn’t be much of a surprise. This was a school for a species of creature that was becoming more and more rare as they lived longer lives than a normal human yet didn’t exactly have dozens of children as the concentrated magic made it harder to conceive.
“Greetings my lovely first year fairies. I am Headmistress Faragonda, welcome to Alfea’s College for Fairies where you will learn to transform for those of you who haven’t mastered that as of yet, while also learning to use your magic for the greater good.” Faragonda said, smiling at all of those around her.
“Watch, next she will say to stay away from Cloud Tower.” Stella giggled softly so she wouldn’t draw attention to the two.
“Thank you Stella.” Faragonda said, earning a bunch of giggles while Stella’s face grew red in embarrassment. “As mentioned, please do stay away from Cloud Tower and any other dangerous places. In fact, it would be best if you stayed on school grounds unless going into the city itself or getting permission first as there will be a curfew. As for Cloud Tower, don’t let my warning make you think bad of them as it is meant to protect you both. I know every year a few misguided fairies are goaded into proving their so-called metal and sneak into Cloud Tower and vandalize it, to cause a commotion because of the rivalry, or misguided notions of the witches there being evil. Remember, magic is neither good or evil, no matter if it is light or dark. No, my dear fairies, true evil comes from the individual using their magic for evil purposes.”
“What about the dark fairy I heard would be attending this year?” One voice asked from the crowd.
“You mean that was real? I thought it was just some kind of hazing joke!” Another called out.
“Who would let a monster into the school?” Another voice called.
“Monster? I think it’s freaking awesome!” Another voice snarked back before Stella could defend dark fairies. It soon turned into the group seeming to be split in half with some arguing that the dark fairy was a monster while others defended the dark fairy either thinking them cool or just like any other fairy. It touched her heart to see Flora defending the dark fairy despite the opposition. Musa and Tecna quickly backed her up and Stella and Sunset were heading over to before there was a loud, shrill whistle.
“Now girls! There will be no more talk like that here! A dark fairy is just like any of you girls, and I expect you all to treat her with the same dignity and respect you give to others! Do I make myself clear?” The angry voice of Faragonda sounded from everywhere. Sunset had to admit that was a nice spell and could be really useful.
“Yes, Headmistress Faragonda.” A chastised chorus of voices echoed, getting Faragonda to smile.
“Good! Now you girls should go get settled into your dorms. There will be a ball tonight welcoming the first years and there will be those from Red Fountain and Cloud Tower attending. It isn’t mandatory, but you all are encouraged to attend as you will be working with both schools from time to time.” Faragonda explained.
Sunset groaned as she realized she dodged a bullet only to step into the line of fire from another. She wasn’t really interested in it, but she knew Stella was going and would likely get dragged to it.
“Hey girls, what rooms did you get?” Musa asked as the group met up as the others left in search of where they would be living for the rest of the school year.
“Same as last year.” Stella grinned, flashing her paper. “Rooms are permanent assignments for as long as a fairy is here.”
“Looks like we all got the same suite.” Tecna said as she glanced over all of their slips.
“Well, let’s go see what our digs look like.” Musa said with a grin, the others followed Stella as she knew where they were going. It was a really nice suite, much more than Sunset expected it to be with a large common room and kitchen area, three bedrooms with two of them being meant for two people to share as they were much larger and one somewhat smaller single room. She had to admit it was nice that each bedroom had their own bath.
“Sorry girls, but as Princess of Solaria, I’m already assigned the single.” Stella said with a cheeky grin showing she wasn’t that sorry about it.
“It appears that Musa and myself will be sharing a room.” Tecna said.
“Which means that Sunset is with me.” Flora said with a shy smile.
“Are you sure you’re okay, Flora. I can crash on the couch and you can have the room to yourself.” Sunset offered.
“You will not, we are going to share the room like two adults.” Flora said sternly, making Sunset see why the others thought of her as the mother of the group.
“Technically, we’re still teenagers.” Tecna said.
“Flora!” Musa mockingly gasped, “I never knew you swung that way!”
“Huh? What way? Swing what?” Flora asked in confusion as Sunset walked up to Musa and smacked her upside the back of her head.
“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.” Sunset said, giving the confused girl a smile while Musa snickered.
“If we’re going to be staying together, how about we come up with a group name?” Musa asked.
“That could make things a bit more efficient.” Tecna mused.
“Yeah, but what do we call ourselves?” Flora asked.
“How about Stella’s Best Friend Squad and Sister.” Stella suggested.
“That doesn’t sound very efficient.” Tecna mused.
“How about the Winx Club?” Sunset asked.
“Winx? What does that mean?” Tecna asked, curiosity filling her expression as she heard a new word she never heard before.
“Nothing really, I just think since we’re all going to win at every challenge thrown our way here, and since we are fairies and it seems every fairy level ends in an x, why not win-x, Winx?” Sunset said, growing a little nervous as she thought it over. It did sound kind of weird, maybe even dumb. Why would they want to use that name?
“You know what, I like it.” Flora said with a supportive smile.
“Yeah, it does have a certain ring to it. Maybe we can even make a song with it.” Musa said, tapping her chin in thought.
“It does sound a lot more efficient than Stella’s idea. Short and to the point. I too like the idea.” Tecna voted.
“Well, I liked my idea.” Stella pouted, earning giggles from the group except for Sunset who was giving her a nervous look. “But I do like Sunset’s better though. It’s cute and sassy!”
“Then I guess we are now the Winx Club!” Tecna said, earning cheers from the others.
Author's Note
Also, a big thanks goes out to Sunny Scriber for editing this chapter and the awesome additions he added. Also, thanks to ScisetShimmerEvan and Seven Fates for showing me fixes than needed to be made.
“Why did I let you drag me here again?” Sunset groaned as they looked into the large ballroom before them with tables of drinks, treats and food. There were a few adults around the perimeter, including Faragonda and Griselda, but there was no sign of any of the Trix. Actually, from what Sunset remembered, all of the girls in the room were ones she remembered being in the foyer earlier which made Sunset wonder if that short speech was orientation. Or maybe that combined with the ball as according to Faragonda, it was a mixer so the three schools could meet and get to know one another as they would be working together at some point.
“I don’t see those witches.” Musa said, “Maybe they learned their lesson when messing with fairies.”
“You mean fairy, Sunset wiped the floor with those three.” Tecna corrected which earned a pout from the music loving girl.
“I don’t think anyone is here other than the girls from earlier.” Sunset pointed out, smoothing imaginary wrinkles in her formal dress that Stella had insisted she buy and bring with them.
“Well, the specialists are just arriving.” Stella grinned, “And like I suspected, the guys are here.”
“Wait, if this is for first years, why are they even here?” Sunset asked as the thought just occurred to her.
“That, my dear sister, is thanks to Timmy there. He is a first year and a member of the squad our guys are on, so they are expected to escort their team members.” Stella grinned.
“I think Timmy has a certain charm to him.” Tecna mused, “I do hope we can talk some more while he is here.”
“Just talk? Girl, just smile at him and he will do anything you want.” Stella teased.
“Come on girls, let's just go in.” Flora suggested, motioning the others into the room just as the guys from Red Fountain were making their entrance.
Going with the crowd that was her roommates, Sunset walked into the room, trying to keep her spirits up as she had been trying to ignore what Griselda had said to her when she arrived. It hurt, and the glare she received from the woman as they passed by her didn’t help in the least. She couldn’t help overhearing a snippet from the woman’s conversation with Faragonda in passing.
“I do hope Griffon and her girls show up.” Faragonda was saying in disappointment as Griselda snorted.
“Those witches are probably just too stuck up to show.” Griselda said, taking her glasses off and cleaning them. Sunset couldn’t help notice a small satisfied smirk on the woman’s face.
“Hey, Brandon, over here!” Stella called out while waving her arms excitedly getting the small group of guys' attention. While Riven looked annoyed and walked off to the food tables, Brandon, Sky and Timmy walked up to the girls.
“What’s up girls?” Brandon asked, looking at Stella in confusion as he obviously was expecting her to try and get his friend’s attention.
“My sister here was asking about you and I thought what better way to get her answers than straight from the source.” Stella giggled as she pushed Sunset forward to the blonde male making the fiery haired girl blush in embarrassment while growling out at Stella. The blonde girl knew she may be pushing things, but she was hoping her little stunt would break Sunset out of whatever funk she had sunk into since they arrived. Stella had a feeling Griselda said something to her, but couldn’t prove it.
“Stella!” Sunset hissed, turned to glare at the blonde.
“It’s okay, I was actually hoping to get to talk to you too. Would you care to dance while we talk?” Brandon asked, extending his hand out which Sunset reluctantly took as he led her out onto the dance floor while the music played.
“I’m sorry about her.” Sunset sighed, trying to avoid looking into the boy’s eyes as he held her and led them in their dance.
“Don’t be sorry.” Brandon chuckled, “I was really hoping to get a chance to dance with you. You are the first girl that I have ever met that made me feel this way.”
“Feel what way?” Sunset asked softly, chancing a glance up into his eyes.
“Alive.” Brandon said, “What you did when we first met was amazing. You’re amazing, Sunset.”
“Not really.” Sunset sighed as she leaned her forehead against the taller boy’s muscular chest. “You wouldn’t want to get to know me if you knew anything about me.”
“I don’t care that you’re a dark fairy. In fact, I think it’s awesome you’re so powerful yet can control that power so easily. Us guys have it lucky, our magic is more internally enhancing us. You fairies have to learn how to control your powers to cast spells and learn how to keep in control of them.” Brandon chuckled.
“Brandon, I was homeless before I came here. I’m gutter trash, and you shouldn’t waste your time on me.” Sunset said, shuddering a little as her breath hitched. She refused to break down now, not in front of Brandon and a room full of people.
“You aren’t gutter trash, Sunset. Sometimes things happen that are out of your control, but that isn’t your fault and doesn’t define who you are.” Brandon whispered into her ear, “I like the Sunset Shimmer that kicked butt when I met her. I also like the Sunset Shimmer that has managed to get into the training program at the arcade and consistently keep in the top five over the last week. I also like the girl I see before me now. I know something happened that must have upset you, but I’ll be here if you let me.”
“Can you just hold me for a few minutes?” Sunset whispered, Brandon pulling her tighter to him as they continued to dance slowly.
“Anytime.” Brandon said, leaning his forehead down against Sunset’s head.
For a while the two danced together ignoring everything around them before Sunset pulled back a bit. Brandon couldn’t help feeling saddened at the loss of warmth in his arms as Sunset gave him a sad smile. “Thanks, I’m feeling a bit better. I’m sorry I’m such a mess right now.”
“Never apologize for feeling, Sunset. It’s what makes us human, no matter if it's a fairy or specialist.” Brandon said with a faint smile. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I just want to clean up a bit. I’ll be right back.” Sunset said, hesitating a moment before she kissed his cheek. “Thank you, Brandon. For your information, you are the first boy I truly felt something toward too.”
Hurrying from the room while not noticing the shocked, but happy grin the boy was now sporting, Sunset made her way out of one of the side doors. She really wasn’t sure where the restrooms were, but was confident she could find them easily enough. After all, this was a school and all schools had restrooms on every floor, most of the time in several places. She wasn’t expecting the need to hide around a corner as she saw the Trix standing around several chests that held some kind of eggs.
“So this is what those Red Fountain morons are going to give those fairies?” Darcy sneered as she looked down at them.
“Whatever they are, we will use them to spread panic and wreak havoc giving us a distraction to find that blonde idiot’s ring.” Icy grinned. “Come on, Darcy, show us where it is.”
“My pleasure, sister.” Darcy said, creating an illusion showing Stella taking off her ring and putting it in an ornamental ring box back in their rooms.
“Great, now we know where to find it. Stormy, time to do your thing.” Icy said, turning her attention to the youngest of the three.
Sunset watched as Stormy opened one of the chests and pulled out one of the eggs which opened to reveal an enchantment that created butterflies of light that flew around them and up into the air. The witch couldn’t help saying in disgust, “Aw, look at that, pretty little butterflies.”
“I think we should give those fairies a real surprise. Come on girls.” Icy said as the three witches raised their hands into the air with their index fingers glowing with power. “Now they will hatch into snake rat eggs with the touch of a fairy.”
Sunset was torn between going after the three right there or trying to figure out how to fix whatever they did to the eggs that were supposed to be a gift. If she attacked them here though, she would expose herself as the dark fairy and ruin the ball. If she stayed and tried to fix the eggs, the witches would get Stella’s ring. The three hurried off making Sunset’s decision for her, she would fix the eggs then go after the Trix before they could find Stella’s ring.
“Hey, Sunset, are you okay?” Stella asked, the rest of the girls coming with her. Sunset couldn’t help feeling surprised that not only did Stella come check on her, but Musa, Flora and Tecna pulled themselves away from the ball to come check on her. She had to admit it was pretty touching as the girls surrounded her. “Have you been crying?”
“Worry about that later, the Trix was here. They transformed some kind of gifts from the Red Fountain into something called snake rat eggs. They made it so when a fairy touches them, they will hatch and attack them.” Sunset explained.
“That’s not good, snake rats can be dangerous.” Tecna gasped out.
“That’s easy to fix, join hands girls.” Stella said, the group joined hands in a circle as Sunset watched. They started chanting and they glowed golden for a moment while the eggs had a dark glow around them.
“What happened?” Sunset asked with worry.
“We need more power.” Stella said, releasing Flora’s hand and the two girls reached for Sunset’s.
“That might not be a good idea, girls. I’m a dark fairy, remember? What if my magic mixing with yours has some kind of negative reaction?” Sunset asked.
“Doubtful, your intentions are the same as ours and for the good. It is unlikely that anything bad would happen.” Tecna said.
“I’ll try.” Sunset said, nervous as she joined hands and joined in on their chanting. She could feel a power waking up inside her and spreading out through her contact with the other girls as the golden light took on a slight crimson glow mixing in. She knew what it felt like when the elements of harmony were being used, and this was nothing like that. This was much more powerful, more primal as the power washed through them and shattered the spell the Trix put on the eggs leaving the girls to drop hands and look around at each other in shock.
“What was that?” Musa gasped.
“The power was so strong.” Flora said in awe, “Like a blazing sun or raging fire creating a light in the darkness.”
“It was Sunset, she easily matched our spell and shared her power with us to overcome the witches’ spell.” Tecna said, studying the floating screens she pulled up. “That was incredible, Sunset!"
“What were they after though?” Stella mused.
“They went after your ring.” Sunset said, options flying through her mind as she tried to figure out how to stop the Trix’s head start. She had been reluctant to try too much of her Equestrian magic here as she wasn’t sure how it would interact with this wildly different magic. Magic that Sunset had apparently had in her throughout her entire life if Daphne was real and were to be believed. “Stay here, I’m going after them before they get it.”
“What are you doing, Sunset?” Flora worried, “Please don’t do anything reckless.”
“Stopping those brats.” Sunset said, closing her eyes as a red fiery aura surrounded her body. She could feel the spell taking effect, but once again the magic felt so different than what she remembered as a unicorn. Were her spells that she knew as a unicorn compatible with being a fairy? A dark fairy no less? Not even a moment later she vanished from sight.
“Umm, didn’t she know I already went back and got my ring?” Stella asked, earning a round of face palms around her.
Sunset reappeared in the common room of their suit just in time to see the ring box float off the balcony and off to the outskirts of the school grounds. With a growl, Sunset used her upper body strength to vault over the balcony as she changed into a fairy and flew after it, her bat-like wings giving powerful beats letting her catch up in seconds. She managed to grab it and crack it open enough to see outside. While she wasn’t anywhere near being an expert at what she was about to do as she only did it one time to Princess Celestia to get her attention, she let her magic flow silently into the box before being struck in the back by a bolt of lightning knocking her out of the air and the box out of her hands to be caught by Icy.
“Aw, sisters, look who it is. One of Alfea’s pathetic little fairies.” Icy laughed.
“Shouldn’t you be playing dress up for those losers from Red Fountain?” Darcy asked mockingly.
“Or did you just need a hair raising experience?” Stormy joked which managed to piss Sunset off.
“Shouldn’t you three be on a street corner somewhere?” Sunset snarked, “After all, with a name like Trix it must be one of your usual haunts.”
While the taunt seemed to confuse Stormy to some extent, the angry looks Icy and Darcy were returning showed that they more than got the message. Not that it bothered Sunset, these three didn’t scare her in the least. Yes, their powers could actually be formidable with either more training or a power boost, but right now they were about as terrifying as a kitten to her.
“Sunset!” Brandon called as he rushed to her side, shield and sword out and activated as he made his intentions of helping known.
“Shouldn’t you go back and save your friends from the snakes we unleashed?” Stormy laughed evilly, “Maybe next time your sorry school will think twice about snubbing ours again and not inviting us.”
“Not that we wanted to go.” Darcy sneered while crossing her arms.
“For your information, Faragonda was expecting Cloud Tower!” Sunset snapped out.
“As much as I want to turn you into a popsicle, we got what we wanted. Let’s go sisters.” Icy growled out, Darcy teleporting them away. With a long sigh, Sunset let her transformation drop.
“Are you okay?” Brandon asked, putting his weapons away and adjusted a bulge he had in his jacket pocket.
“I didn’t need help.” Sunset huffed, crossing her arms.
“No, you probably didn’t, but I will never let you have to fight on your own if I can help it.” Brandon said, reaching to take Sunset’s hands into his. She resisted for a moment, but he held firm. “Please, Sunset, look at me.” Brandon pleaded, a few moments later Sunset looked up with another sigh. “Sunset, I like you a lot, and yes I know this is quick. I’m not expecting anything from you, you don’t even really have to like me, but I want to get to know you.”
“All you need to know is that I’m not only gutter trash, but also the dark fairy monster.” Sunset said, trying to turn away. Brandon dropped her hands and stepped forward, gently cupping her cheeks and making her keep eye contact.
“What I know is that you are a brave, strong young woman who has managed to do what no girl has ever done before. You have caught my interest and I feel this need to get to know you. I like you a lot and want to get to know everything about you.” Brandon said, “Please, it doesn’t even have to be a date, but can we please meet up and just hang out. Get to know each other and see if just maybe there can be something.”
If she was being honest, she really did want to accept his proposal. She had doubts, she couldn’t shake them completely about her friends as of yet, even if she could maybe call them friends. Stella was the closest one to tearing her walls completely down, and Sunset felt as if Brandon could be another one if she let him. She had to admit she was attracted to him in a way she never was with Flash. As much as she hated herself for it, Flash was just a tool for her ascendance into popularity. She genuinely felt a spark for Brandon. A zing if you will, and she did want to learn more about him, but was she ready to put her already ravaged heart on the line for something she wasn’t sure would last?
“Please, Sunset.” Brandon said, leaning in closer to the point it wouldn’t take much to kiss.
“If you kiss me, I will kick you in the balls.” Sunset deadpanned, making Brandon take a step back while choking out a laugh.
“You know, it might be worth it.” Brandon grinned.
“In your dreams.” Sunset huffed, looking to the sky before whining out. “Fiiiinnneeeee, I’ll meet you at the arcade this week. If you can beat me in a match two out of three times I will go out with you once and see where that leads.”
“I can’t wait!” Brandon cheered, “Just so you know, I won’t go easy on you. I’m getting that date!”
“You wouldn’t be worth giving a date to if you went easy on me. I won’t date a doormat.” Sunset said, looking in confusion as Brandon pulled out one of the eggs out of his pocket from the gifts to Alfea.
“I know they are just cheap trinkets, more party favors than anything. When I knew I was accompanying Timmy though I personally took the liberty of having yours customized.” Brandon said as he nervously handed over the fire themed egg he pulled from his pocket.
“It’s beautiful.” Sunset mused as she studied it. Tapping the top of the egg the top half separated into four parts that folded down as a barrage of both dark and light holographic butterflies flew out and around them as a small blue sword floated about the bottom half that formed the base with bat like wings extending outwards and an aura of fire surrounding it.
“Not as beautiful as you.” Brandon said softly, though Sunset still managed to hear him.
“You do know that kiss earlier was just a platonic thank you, right?” Sunset asked.
“I take what I can get.” Brandon grinned.
“Well, I suppose there is a tradition of a goodnight kiss after a date, right?” Sunset asked.
“On most worlds, yeah. Why?” Brandon asked before Sunset kissed him on the lips making him freeze momentarily before pulling her into his embrace. A few moments later she pulled back and laid her head on his chest. “This is just a first date, if you want more you have to earn them. Don’t forget to be at the arcade.”
“We have it sisters!” Icy gloated as they stood in a circle in the center of their shared dorm room, holding their prize high.
“That felt a little too easy, sisters.” Darcy warned, eyes the ring box warily.
“Just open the stupid box already!” Stormy snapped out, getting a manic grin from Icy who slowly opened the lid only for an illusion of chibi looking Sunset to appear.
“Did you think I’d let you three idiots get away with my sister’s ring that easily?” Sunset asked, wagging her finger. “Tick tock.”
“Tic tock?” Darcy asked in confusion just before an explosion ripped out from the box, throwing everything in the room back and covering nearly everything in soot while blowing the sole window out and shaking the tower. Somehow the spell managed to only cause minor injuries, but alert the entire tower as only moments later Headmistress Griffon was storming into the room.
“I’ll get you for this humiliation, Sunset Shimmer!” Icy hissed out, laying on her back from her landing and arm shaking angrily in the air while coughing up smoke,
“What in the nine circles are you girls doing?!” Griffon demanded, using a spell that revealed the truth of what happened while the three lay there covered in soot groaning out while also casting a diagnostic spell to make sure there weren’t any real injuries other than their pride. “You not only messed up the prank you wanted to pull, but you three got pranked yourselves? You three are going to spend the entire day tomorrow cleaning up any mess from this! Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, Headmistress Griffon.” The three groaned out, not feeling like moving.
“And get yourselves cleaned up!” Griffon snapped, storming out and scaring the other students looking around the doorway in curiosity before the door was slammed shut with her power and the girls running off to avoid the woman’s ire as she made her way to her office.
“Was what she said true?” Griffon asked, a little surprised at that. Moving over to her desk she pulled out a crystal ball and used it to contact Faragonda who answered rather quickly.
“Ah, what do I owe the pleasure, old friend?” Faragonda asked in a disappointed tone.
“I want the truth, Faragonda! Why weren't my girls invited to what was supposed to be the tri school mixer?” Griffon demanded.
“What do you mean? I gave the invitations to Griselda to send out like usual.” Faragonda replied in shock.
“Well, we didn’t get any. We haven’t gotten any for a long time.” Griffon groaned out. All of her anger at her old friend may have been misplaced as it seems Faragonda didn’t change her spots since their days adventuring together in the Company of Light.
“I would never snub you, Griffon. You are one of my oldest and dearest friends and you know I respect and admire the work your witches do. All the potions and spells to help people, curing sickness and going on the front lines to defend those who need defending.” Faragonda said with sincerity, “Griff, I would never do anything to hurt you. I thought you were snubbing me because Griselda keeps telling me you refuse to accept invitations from pansy butterflies. Every time I tried to contact you and ask what happened…”
“…I got angry and offensive. So much time lost because of miscommunications.” Griffon finished with a groan.
“Yes, it appears so. I’ll have to have a talk with Griselda and see what I should do about her. On one hand she has been a very capable faulty member and has the backing of several nobles. On the other hand, I can’t overlook what she’s done.” Faragonda said,
“We know she’s doing it so maybe it would be best to do all communications in person moving forward and give her a warning.” Griffon groaned, “I don’t like the woman, but I respect her. She does a good job at what she does. Well, usually.”
“We will see. Griff…do you want to get together and catch up sometime soon?” Faragonda asked.
“I would like that, old friend.” Griffon said, “Contact me again soon and we will set up a time and place. For now I have to write up a disciplinary report.”
Author's Note
Also, a big thanks goes out to Sunny Scriber for editing this chapter and the awesome additions he added. Also, thanks to ScisetShimmerEvan and Seven Fates for showing me fixes than needed to be made.
Also, speaking of a zing, here is something for your viewing pleasure involving a zing.
As for my characterization of Griselda in this story, yeah she is more than a little biased against dark magic and is being somewhat cruel and unprofessional which I apologize to those who are actually fans of her. I am trying to decide if I will redeem those qualities later which sorta depends on which way my story takes as I have several branching paths now that it may end up taking. While the endgame will be the same, there are going to be several incidents in the story that may vary depending on where the muses lead me.
The flames burned all around her covering every inch of the horizon making it impossible to see anything to figure out where she was. Even the sky seemed to be made of fire as she couldn’t see anything at all, be it the sun, the moon, or the stars. She did get the feeling that something very powerful and dangerous was watching her, even if it didn’t feel as if it had any ill intent towards her. She guessed she should be thankful that it wasn’t burning her, it actually felt really good. Almost too good as the more she let her mind wonder, the more she wanted to lose herself in it.
“You have conquered your darkness, yet haven’t accepted your light. Run along little fairy, your time is yet to come.” A booming voice echoed from everywhere as a large pair of slitted golden eyes opened in the flames making Sunset take a step back. Throwing her eyes open she struggled with whatever was wrapped around her until she sat up discovering it was just her bed sheets as she was having a weird dream.
“Are you okay, sweetie?” Flora asked as she sat down on the edge of the bed next to Sunset. Not for the first time Sunset found herself wondering why their beds were so huge. Not that she was complaining as it was the most comfortable thing she has ever slept on.
“Yeah, just a weird dream.” Sunset groaned, wondering for a moment if that was the demon. It had been so long since she had nightmares of it though, but it felt different to her somehow. It felt more real and in the moment unlike her past nightmares. “I wish everything was a dream.”
“You mean from last night?” Flora asked with worry. When Sunset came back with the blonde haired specialist, she seemed distracted. She managed to tell all of them about what she did to the ring box to teach the Trix a lesson while she seemed embarrassed about something while Brandon seemed almost giddy, which was clearly annoying to the flame haired girl.
“I can’t believe I kissed him.” Sunset whined as she flopped back down on the bed, pulling one of the many pillows over her face. She had to wonder who needed so many pillows as she tried to distract herself from what she did while feeling vulnerable. Not that it was an excuse, she did feel attraction for him unlike anything she had ever felt. She never really felt an attraction to anyone, not even Flash. With Flash, it was just her going through the motions while using his rising status and popularity to boost her own. With Brandon, she felt a warmth and safety she never felt with anyone before along with a whole set of urges she never felt before. When Brandon was in the room, Sunset could even feel a pull toward him. It wasn’t much, but she noticed it.
“You kissed Brandon?” Flora choked out, jaw hanging open in disbelief. She wasn’t fooling herself, she knew Sunset was still having problems settling in with all of them after what they heard about her old school and those people who wanted to claim they were her friends. Flora understood this, and she accepted the fact that their first meeting may have made it a bit worse with her reaction to dark fairies. The girl telling Flora this was shocking as she was sure if Sunset was going to spill anything like this it would have been to Stella.
“Don’t remind me.” Sunset whined from under her pillow. “What was I thinking?”
“Do you like him?” Flora asked, getting Sunset to drop the pillow as she sat up and turned to her.
“Well, yeah, I wouldn’t have kissed him if I didn’t.” Sunset said, wondering where Flora was going with this.
“Well then, I don’t see anything wrong with a kiss.” Flora smiled, “It wasn’t like it was a full blown make out session, not that it would be wrong to do anything like that. Things happen when your emotions are running high, there is nothing to be embarrassed about. Are you meeting up again soon?”
“Yeah, I told him if he meets up with me at the arcade and beats me two out of three times then I would go on a date with him.” Sunset explained.
“That sounds kind of romantic actually.” Flora grinned, “So what happens if you beat him?”
“I don’t know.” Sunset mused, never really thinking about it. If she has to do something for Brandon if he wins, shouldn’t he have to do something for her?
“Well, here’s an idea. If you really like him, what if you are the one to take him out if you win?” Flora asked, making the fiery haired girl’s stomach flip.
“I don’t know.” Sunset said, trying not to blush and failing miserably at the thought of being the one to take Brandon out. She was always the type to like being in charge and while a part of her liked being held and comforted by the boy, there was still the part of her that liked being the confident badass she used to be before the fall formal. That part of her was slowly chipped away by every little dig and backwards compliment the girls threw at her before actually seeming to truly open up to her. Before Anon-A-Miss chewed up nearly the last bit of strength she had left, leaving her an anxiety riddled mess with trust issues that kept letting digs and words get to her.
“Well, think about it and what you want out of whatever kind of relationship with Brandon. If you decide you want to just be friends, then that’s ok. If you want to pursue more with him I know Stella will be there to support you and so will I. All of us will be.” Flora said with a mischievous grin that Sunset hadn’t really seen on the girl before. “And don’t worry, you aren’t the only one to get kissed.”
“Huh? Wha?” Sunset asked, more than a little shocked at the little tidbit of gossip from Flora. It wasn’t something the girl was exactly as prone to as Stella as far as she has seen so far.
“She will deny it, but Stella has actually been seeing Prince Sky on and off since last year. She tries to hide it from everyone, but we aren’t blind.” Flora giggled, “And on top of that, Tecna did kiss Timmy on the cheek. The poor boy nearly had a meltdown.”
“I would have loved to see that.” Sunset giggled, the mental picture of the poor boy melting with steam coming out of his ears couldn’t be kept at bay.
“Anyway, it’s time to get up! Don’t forget we had plans of going into the city for breakfast and some shopping.” Flora reminded her as she stood up and stretched. “I’m really happy to see you smile and giggle, Sunset.”
“Thanks, Flora.” Sunset said, truly thankful for the girl.
“So, where to first?” Musa asked as the group walked out of the small café after having a small breakfast.
“I kind of want to spend some of the money King Radius gave me as an allowance since he warned me to have it spent within the first thirty days of being here.” Sunset said as she studied the holographic map that Tecna gave her. “I want to get a bike, some art supplies and maybe a guitar.”
“That’s funny.” Musa giggled, Flora and even Tecna joined in.
“What is?” Sunset asked, crossing her arms, “Think I can use any of it?”
“Heck no, what’s funny is Stella can’t wait to spend her dad’s money while you have a hard time buying a drink.” Musa giggled, “King Radius must be happy you aren’t as bad as Stella.”
“Hey! I resent that!” Stella huffed, crossing her arms.
“I was only kidding, Stella, chill.” Musa said, trying to get her giggling under control.
“Even so, the statement is pretty factual.” Tecna said making Stella huff and roll her eyes good naturedly as she knew her friends were only teasing. “Do you girls mind if we stop over there? I want to grab a few books.” Tecna asked, pointing to a large bookstore with a lot of girls their age milling around both inside and out. Taking a closer look at the signage, Sunset noticed that it was actually a magic book store mainly for students.
“I actually want to check it out too. I might get some more advanced books than our coursework so I can get ahead.” Sunset said, feeling eager to delve more into the magic she would be learning as a fairy and seeing what other magic she could maybe use as a fairy that she couldn’t do as a unicorn.
“Great, there’s two of them now.” Musa groaned, throwing her hands in the air.
“Nothing wrong with getting ahead, Musa, you should try it sometimes.” Tecna snorted as the group headed into the store and broke up to look at their own sections. Being a dark fairy, Sunset supposed the section on dark magic would work. As she walked that way she read off a few titles as she passed that didn’t really scream school setting, not that she was buying them anyways. ‘101 Poisons and How to Use Them’ ‘Arranged Marriages and Binding Rituals’ ‘Potions, Potions, Potions’ and ‘A Royal Court Jester’s Book of Pranks’. She had to wonder why there was a need for so many physical books when Alfea mainly used digital copies except for a few tomes that couldn’t be used digitally.
“I don’t think I’m going to have enough to even cover used copies.” A red haired girl sighed as she was looking through a pile of books. She dropped her list and Sunset picked it up, noticing that it was for Cloud Tower which meant the girl was obviously a witch. She didn’t seem like the Trix though, which was a point in her favor.
“So, you’re a first year at Cloud Tower?” Sunset asked, handing the girl back her list.
“Yeah, thanks, my name is Mirta.” The girl said, seeming a little shy. “I’m just trying to figure out the books I need the most for now.”
“My name is Sunset, I don’t have a list, mind helping me find copies of all of the books?” Sunset asked, giving the girl an encouraging smile.
“Yeah, sure.” Mirta said as the two browsed through the shelves where Sunset found a few interesting books about theory and a few actual grimoires. “I still can’t believe the Trix have to clean the mess they caused at Cloud Tower. I know they are supposed to be top students, but wow they messed up.”
“The mess?” Sunset asked.
“You didn’t hear the explosion last night?” Mirta gasped in shock, before narrowing her eyes. “Actually, I don’t remember seeing you among the girls at orientation. Are you a second year?”
“I don’t go to Cloud Tower, I’m a fairy.” Sunset said as they put the books she talked the girl into helping her carry on the register. “Can I please get these bagged up separate please?”
“What do you mean you’re a fairy? What were you doing in the dark magic section?” Mirta sputtered as the cashier bagged the books and Sunset swiped the card that had her allowance on it.
“Is there a rule that fairies can’t be interested in dark magic?” Sunset asked, handing the girl one of the two bags.
“I…guess not.” Mirta said, taking the bag automatically before realizing what was handed to her.
“Good luck with your courses, Mirta.” Sunset smiled as she spotted her friends heading towards them.
“Why would you help me like this?” Mirta asked, tears in her eyes.
“Why wouldn’t I help out a new friend if I can?” Sunset grinned, hoping to encourage the girl.
“Thank you, nobody has ever been so kind to me.” Mirta sniffled, hugging Sunset quickly before jumping back. “I’m so sorry!”
“Don’t be sorry, friends hug sometimes. Nothing wrong with it.” Sunset reassured the girl.
“I’m so sorry, I have to go or I’m going to be late. See you around, I hope.” Mirta said before rushing off.
“Awww, look at you, all grown up and making new friends on your own!” Stella teased, giving Sunset a side hug. “I’m proud of you.”
“Oh shut up.” Sunset groused.
“No, seriously, I’m proud of you! I was worried about you, but you seem to be doing better.” Stella said with a genuine smile.
“Thanks to you and the girls.” Sunset said, returning the smile.
Author's Note
A big thanks goes out to Sunny Scriber for editing this chapter and the awesome additions he added. Also, thanks to ScisetShimmerEvan and Seven Fates for showing me fixes than needed to be made.
If interested, this is what Mirta looks like.
I kind of wanted to give Mirta a reason to think fairies and witches can get a long and also to give Sunset a friend outside of her friend group that she made on her own.
“It’s been a few days, sister.” Daphne said, giving Sunset a smile. True it was a little hard to see it through the golden aura, especially around the mask, but Sunset was able to make it out. Once again they seemed to be underwater, a fact that really should have bothered Sunset, but she knew she was safe.
“I still don’t know if I believe it.” Sunset sighed, “I’m still not convinced that this isn’t some weird recurring dream.”
“I understand your apprehension, Bloom.” Daphne said, swallowing when Sunset shot her a glare. “I mean Sunset. I do understand it sister, but it doesn’t change the fact that I’ve missed you so much, missed so much of your life. Doesn’t change the fact that I love you dearly.”
“I don’t know what to say, I don’t even know you really. Do I want to if you really are my sister? Of course I do, a real family is all I ever really wanted...” Sunset said, rubbing at her eyes. How could tears be forming in them if they were underwater?
“I’m a nymph, Sunset. I’m also the guardian of Sirenix.” Daphne said, as if that explained anything.
“Are you reading my mind?” Sunset asked, crossing her arms and glaring at the woman before her.
“I would love to so I could see more of your past, but I wouldn’t do that to you. I pretty much guessed what you were thinking.” Daphne said.
“You know what, if this is real and you are my sister, then look all you want.” Sunset groused, looking away. Daphne floated close and pulled the fiery haired teen into a hug.
“Sunset, no matter what I love you and you are my sister. I can tell you how to find out yourself though while proving who you are.” Daphne said, pulling back a bit.
“How?” Sunset asked, wanting to see if there was really a way to prove if this was all real or not.
“Hey, Sunset!” Musa called, making Sunset pull back more and turn to look. As she blinked the scene shifted from the underwater grotto to her bed where Musa just dropped down on the edge. “You asked if I would wake you up before I went to do my dance routines.”
“Yeah, thanks.” Sunset grumbled, running her fingers through her hair. What was Daphne going to tell her? Should she talk to Stella about it? Quickly squashing that chain of thought, she looked up at Musa knowing that it could be painful for Stella if this all turned out to be nothing but strange dreams since coming to this world had turned everything upside down for her.
“What did you want to get up so early for?” Musa asked as she got back up and stretched.
“I want to head out and ride my bike before I meet up with Brandon later.” Sunset explained, not going into detail about wanting to test out what magic she can still use as a fairy and test some of her powers a bit before school actually begins tomorrow. She wanted to do it away from Alfea though so nobody would pick up on her using dark magic if that was what fueled her powers here. She couldn’t help wondering if she should be afraid of it after the Fall Formal, but decided it was better to control it before it could control her again.
“Sisters, I don’t know if we should even be doing this anymore!” Stormy whined as she followed her older sisters out of Cloud Tower. Unlike her sisters, this was her first year here and she didn’t have the experience they did. Of course their benefactors gave them boosts in their power, but they demanded that they retrieve the Dragon Flame and their only clue to it was the Ring of Solaria. The problem was the dark fairy that so far has defeated them once and humiliated them another time.
“Don’t you want to get back at that stupid fairy for our humiliation?” Icy growled out.
“I’m in the middle here, sisters. While I would do anything to fulfill our goal, this dark fairy is dangerous. You know what the three said about the last dark fairy and how she not only devastated an entire planet, but also sealed our mothers away.” Darcy said, rubbing her shoulder where it was still sore from hitting it when the blast sent her flying away from the booby-trapped ring box. “We may be in over our heads.”
“Nonsense, they can give us more power and give us a chance to get revenge on that fire haired menace!” Icy growled, eyes widening as her gaze shifted off into the distance. “Did you feel that?”
“That was a large release of dark magic.” Darcy gasped in awe.
“Let's go sisters, we have to see what is going on. This could be our chance!” Icy grinned as the other two gave her worried looks while holding their arguments.
Equestrian Magic
1-Teleportation
As shown when I teleported at the dance, I can still do it here. I can do it for a short distance untransformed, even farther when I am transformed.
2-Telekinesis
Takes a lot more concentration when untransformed, and still a large amount when transformed. Better off not relying on controlled telekinesis, especially in a battle, but I’ve found I can use a quick release of it to create a small push of force. It does seem to take a more noticeable amount of magic than anything else I’ve tried so far.
3-Shield
It seems it is much easier to create a shield here than back in Equestria. It was something I always struggled with as a unicorn, yet even untransformed here it is so much easier. Unlike in Equestria, my shields seem to be fire based rather than magical energy based.
4-Fire
Easiest spell so far, and while I was able to use a little untransformed, I was able to control it beyond even what I could do in Equestria.
So far these are my main worries as far as Equestrian Magic experimentation goes. Most other spells I remember her teaching me were mostly parlor tricks to entertain a foal and pranks such as the one I pulled on the witches.
“Great, I can’t even say her name on paper!” Sunset groaned, dropping her hands and looking up to the sky. The small flip styled notebook in one hand and pen in another as she gathered her thoughts on what she’s done so far, the results a mixed bag. She really liked having her telekinesis as a unicorn and lamented the loss of it a second time now. She was ecstatic at the increase of control when using fire and shields. As for her teleportation, she would be able to teleport outside the school walls to her bike without anyone knowing yet wouldn’t be able to teleport straight to the city like she had hoped. Going back to her notes, she continued going over the results of her experimenting so far.
Dark Magic
While I do have a healthy fear of this, especially after the demon incident, everyone is telling me it is fine. They keep telling me it is normal and a natural element of magic that doesn’t make one evil. While I worry about it, I can’t just rely on the few tricks from being a unicorn and maybe it is about time I accept that this is a part of me. I’m going to be learning magic at Alfea and if everything goes well this year, if Stella and Radius still want me as family, this will be a part of my world.
Cloaking
I’ve had a little success with this, but I can’t hold it for long and so far I haven’t managed to mask sound. I need a lot more practice with this.
Lightning
I’ve actually managed this, yet not from the spell in the grimoire. Lightning is just superheated plasma which is just another form of fire. While I wouldn’t call it a full success, it isn’t a full out failure. Since I can’t really control it yet, it would be safer not to use it against anyone other than monsters as I can’t pull punches with it. It might be safer not to use it on monsters either as I can’t exactly predict the arc yet as well. Don’t want bystanders getting struck if the arc goes wide.
So far this is all I’ve had a chance to try out, and it is getting close to time to leave if I’m going to make it back into the city on time. There are so many more spells I am eager to try, but so far these are the most important to me as they seem the most useful in protecting myself and friends.
Walking over to her bike, she stuffed the notebook and pen into the bag there. She loved the bike a lot, even if the girls didn’t understand why she wanted one seeing how as a fairy she could fly. It was the same type of hoverbike as the Specialist at first look other than the color scheme. Hers had a matching helmet with both being black with red flames that were enchanted to change colors, including into black to create a solid color. It also had a feature that would create wheels like a normal motorcycle if she ever had to take it to a world without magic so it could blend in. The salesperson swore it was a rare feature that not even the specialist used, but Tecna said they were full of it as the only true difference besides color was it was created with a civilian in mind so wasn’t as powerful or sturdy.
“Was all of that you?” A familiar voice asked from behind Sunset, making her jump a little. Turning around slowly, Sunset had to keep from facepalming at the show of surprise as she looked to see Brandon on his own bike, helmet in his hands.
“Maybe?” Sunset said with a nervous grin. She really wasn’t supposed to be practicing magic like this without supervision. She wasn’t on school grounds though, so who cared. She couldn’t get in trouble for it, could she?
“Well, I’d say you are a lot stronger than I first thought. At first I thought it was the Trix with the lightning, so I made a detour to check it out.” Brandon said with a grin as he dismounted the bike and put the helmet on the seat.
“Detour?” Sunset asked, wondering where he was going.
“Yeah, I was heading over to the arcade to meet up with you.” Brandon said, leaning closer to Sunset only for her to stop him with a finger on his lips.
“That was a goodnight kiss after our date the other night, but if you want more you have to earn them.” Sunset said with a teasing grin. She noticed that the spark that she felt the other night was gone as was the draw towards him she felt. Not that her feelings were missing, she still felt very attracted to him and she really liked who he seemed to be and was eager to get to know him more. It was something to note though and worry about later.
“Well, then lets go at it right here.” Brandon grinned, making Sunset’s face explode into a fiery color similar to her hair.
“Don’t even joke about that!” Sunset hissed, taking a step back.
“What? Our weapons have a training mode built in. Activate them and all we would feel is a slight shock showing we were hit. We don’t have to go to an arcade for this.” Brandon chuckled, swallowing nervously as a fireball was held in front of his face.
“You did that on purpose!” Sunset growled out.
“Maybe just a little.” Brandon admitted, taking a step back from the controlled fireball with respect for Sunset’s abilities and a healthy dose of fear of her possible anger. “I just like seeing you blush, it’s cute.”
“When have you seen me blush?” Sunset huffed, dispelling the fireball and crossing her arms.
“A few times, like when we went back after facing off against the Trix. You looked like a tomato.” Brandon laughed, dodging out of the way as Sunset’s blade slashed through the spot he was just at. “Hey! Don’t forget to activate training mode first!”
“I’m sorry, is this better?” Sunset asked as flames crept up the magical blade only for Brandon to gulp in fear. “Okay, okay, sorry. Just a little payback. How do I activate training mode.”
“Here, I’ll show you.” Brandon said as he moved around her to lean over her so her back was against him as he reached around to show her a small panel that slid open. “These are the controls to switch between practice, capture, defense and attack.”
“What’s the difference?” Sunset asked, enjoying the position they were in. A part of her wanted to bask in it, to just lean back against him and feel safe and loved and wanted. Her rational mind managed to squash those feelings though as he explained it.
“Practice mode creates a softened blunt edge that will administer a small shock while not really leaving any damage behind. As the name suggests, it is for practice and sparring sessions. Capture is slightly similar as you don’t want to hurt your target, but the shock is stronger and will either absorb a magic creature's magic to subdue them when struck, or give them a more powerful shock to knock them out. This is mostly used for subduing magical creatures who may be out of control from being drunk or under a spell. Defense is also similar to them, but it cuts off the shock and magic draining as you are just distracting something by defending against it. And finally, we have Attack. As I’m sure you guessed, it’s used to attack. It will drain and block magic and will have full attack functionality with sharp edges for blades and piercing attacks for projectiles.” Brandon said, switching each mode on so Sunset could see the difference in her blade. Her sword started out very dim in color for practice to the point of almost being see-through, to being a brighter color like usual for attack.
“That’s easy to remember, thank you.” Sunset said as Brandon stepped back and tapped her in the back with his sword making her jump a little.
“One point to me.” Brandon grinned, making Sunset fume.
“How the hell do you figure that, you asshole!” Sunset demanded as she shot him an angry glare. “We didn’t start the match.”
“True for sparring matches there is an official start, but I intend to drill one thing into you Sunset.” Brandon said as he took up a serious stance. “You are good, there is no denying your scores on the simulator, but you are still a novice and I want you to be safe. I want you to take one thing to heart and remember it.”
“What’s that?” Sunset asked, unsure if she should be pissed off at Brandon’s audacity or touched that he actually cared enough to take this seriously.
“I don’t care what others will tell you, there is no honor in a fight. You work to end a fight as quickly and as safely to yourself and as safe as possible. Use anything and everything to your advantage to keep you and those you love safe. Unlike a duel, there are no rules in a fight and your opponent will be ruthless.” Brandon explained, his voice almost sounding like a drill instructor which made up Sunset’s mind. She felt touched that he was taking her seriously and seemed to be ready to teach her as well as spar with her.
“I understand, can you double check and make sure this is set right?” Sunset asked, holding her sword out toward him in a loose grip.
“Sure.” Brandon said, nodding as he stepped toward to take it only for Sunset to jab him with it when there was no chance for him to dodge, earning a squawk of shock from him. “Hey!”
“All’s fair in love and war.” Sunset grinned, making Brandon smile.
“I like that saying, it pretty much sums up what I told you.” Brandon mused as he got into a stance, Sunset following suit. What followed was over an hour of the two sparring without a winner as Brandon seemed to toy with her which pissed Sunset off extremely at first until she realized what he was doing. He was staying at a level barely just above her as he more or less guided her through action in practicing certain attack patterns and parries. He wasn’t just lecturing her, he was teaching her by how she learned best, by doing. Not that he knew that was her learning style, but he would be sorry for it one day when she surpassed him like she had every intention to.
“I have to admit, you are one hell of a teacher.” Sunset huffed, already tired from her magic practice with this physical exertion piling on top of it. She knew there was no way to score the final point, her body was getting slow and Brandon was still going strong.
“Thank you, you are one…hell?...of a student.” Brandon said, winking at her, “A sexy one too!”
“Flirt!” Sunset accused as she blocked another of his strikes, “You do know I’m going to win this, don’t you?”
“Not a chance, I’m getting that date!” Brandon said, dancing back and twirling his blade around to strike again which Sunset barely blocked.
“Well, we know you get to take me out if you win. What do I get if I win?” Sunset asked.
“How about a kiss?” Brandon suggested as he waggled his eyebrows at her, making her roll her eyes.
“You are making me regret this.” Sunset groaned out, “Is that all you want, a stupid kiss?”
“No, what I want is you. I want to get to know you, have a chance to be with you.” Brandon said, blocking a few of Sunset’s strikes. “Sunset, I meant it when I said you are the first girl whoever made me feel this way. I know it was love at first sight for me.”
“Lust at first sight maybe.” Sunset countered as she parried his blade, skipping back to get a breather.
“No, it wasn’t lust. Yeah, I was attracted to you, but I knew I wanted to get to know the avenging angel that took charge on the battlefield. The one who fought so hard to protect that whole school of helpless people despite how they hurt you. Sunset, you are one of a kind, and I’d do anything just for a chance to be in your life.” Brandon said with such passion Sunset couldn’t help believing him. She felt something similar to Brandon, a rush of feelings and emotions she never felt before that made her be bold and while the edge of the rush was now gone, her feelings hadn’t changed. They just seemed more real.
“Okay, if I win, I will be the one taking you out.” Sunset grinned, Brandon momentarily dropping his guard giving Sunset a chance to strike. Her blade just barely managed to squeak past his guard and was about to land the deciding strike when an explosion sent them flying in opposite directions.
“Look what we have here sisters, a couple of nobodies doing some sick kind of mating dance.” Icy snickered as energy crackled around Stormy’s fist where she just struck the area between the two duelists creating the explosion.
“I’m sorry, was that a bit much?” Stormy asked with mock worry.
“Don’t worry sister, I don’t think it was enough.” Darcy asked as a shuttle flew overhead and started to lower to the ground. “We better go.”
“Let this be a lesson to you fairy.” Icy snarled as she stomped up to Sunset who was just getting up slowly. “Don’t mess with us!”
“Icy, let’s go!” Darcy called worriedly before Icy kicked Sunset in the face, knocking her out. Brandon came running over toward them as Icy laughed, the Trix fading from sight as the rest of Brandon’s squad disembarked from the shuttle.
“What’s going on?” Riven asked as he looked to where the Trix just disappeared to where Sunset lay unconscious.
“I was sparring with Sunset when those witches attacked us.” Brandon groaned.
“Letting a stupid fairy distract you, pathetic.” Riven groused as he crossed his arms. Sunset’s groan got Brandon’s attention as he hurried over to check on her.
“You okay?” Brandon asked, about to ask Timmy to scan her for spinal injuries when she sat up.
“Only thing that hurts is my pride. Waiting until we sparred for over an hour to attack us, how pathetic can they be?” Sunset groaned as she rubbed her head. “By the way, I won.”
“You did not, I did!” Brandon said in shock, “Why are you worried about who won after what they just did?”
“I would have handed their asses to them if they didn’t show up.” Sunset said, pointing to the other guys including Riven who looked mildly impressed at hearing they sparred for over an hour. “Why did you show up?”
“Yeah, looks like you could have beaten them so easily while being knocked out cold.” Riven growled.
“Settle down guys, we came because we saw all of the fireworks earlier and were sent just to scout it out.” Timmy explained.
“I still won.” Sunset said.
“Did not!” Brandon groaned out at Sunset’s priority being who won instead of getting her possible injuries checked out.
Author's Note
A big thanks goes out to Sunny Scriber for editing this chapter and the awesome additions he added. Also, thanks to ScisetShimmerEvan and Seven Fates for showing me fixes than needed to be made.
I may have mentioned that the Trix are all first years earlier, if I did I'm sorry. Icy and Darcy are supposed to be second years in this story while Stormy is a first year.
“Are you okay?” Daphne asked as soon as Sunset woke up to see herself back in this weird underwater place. It was starting to annoy her as she knew dreams like this, especially with how often they have been occurring, was more than just a dream. And yet she couldn’t bring herself to hope that it was all real no matter how a part of her would love more than anything for it to be true.
“You should see the other person.” Sunset snorted, crossing her arms. While the bruise faded, for the most part thanks to Flora’s floral remedies, there were still faint traces of it.
“That isn’t funny, that witch could have hurt you.” Daphne cooed as she gingerly poked around the edge of the bruising and black eye. She let her energy wash out from the points of contact, healing it the rest of the way.
“As if that witch could hurt me.” Sunset snorted, refusing to admit that she may have been distracted by Brandon and their little match and missed the sneak attack from the Trix.
“This isn’t funny, Sunset. You need to be careful around them, there’s something not right about them.” Daphne warned.
“I’ll be fine, don’t worry.” Sunset said, waving her fears off, “You were saying something about a way to prove that I am who you say I am.”
“First, don’t tell anyone about this yet. There will be a lot of people who will want to use you as a political pawn. I know there are those you can trust such as Stella, and you are ok to talk to her about it, but don’t trust any adults right now with this.” Daphne warned.
“So I shouldn’t trust Faragonda?” Sunset asked, wondering if she was being manipulated by Alfea’s headmistress all for the sake of this prophecy.
“Faragonda is trustworthy, but she will let it get out too early about your status which would cause problems. And if she doesn’t, there are those around her who would.” Daphne explained, floating back and creating a sphere of energy in her hands that solidified into a map, then images of a location that seemed like it was inside of a cave. “After I sent you away to protect you, I fled to several places trying to escape the ancestral witches. During one of our altercations I lost my locket in this cave and was unable to retrieve it before our final showdown here. My locket will pave the way to not only proving who you are, but providing you what is yours by birth.”
“Why is this locket so important?” Sunset asked as she floated over to study the cave. The image shifted and showed a golden heart locket with Sunset’s cutie mark engraved in it.
“A dear friend of mine helped me make it as well as register it as a holy relic since it was forged in the Dragon Flame. It is nearly indestructible and the most important part of it can only be accessed by him.” Daphne grinned, “Behind the picture of you is a lock of your hair.”
“And that can be tested to prove my identity...” Sunset said, all of a sudden excited and scared as it would prove all of this was real and as much as she denied it, she realized she really wanted it to be real. She wanted a sister who actually loved her like Daphne seemed to and an Uncle and cousin who also thought of her as close family.
“Of course there are a few other ways, but since my locket is registered as a Dragon’s Flame Holy Relic and my friend is a high up noble in the courts and is highly respected and trusted, none of the naysayers can dispute the results. And he can do it in a way that won’t reveal your name to them before the time is right so nobody can try and influence you or push you to do what they want.” Daphne explained.
Sunset floated through the energy sphere that was showing the images and hugged Daphne tightly. “Dream or not, I’m actually happy to have an older sister like you.”
“And I’m proud of the young woman you have become, little sister.” Daphne said, returning the embrace as Sunset faded away.
“Damn it.” Sunset groaned as she slammed her hand down on her alarm clock next to her bed, silencing it. She didn’t want the dream to end yet, but it left her with a lot to think about. She was having a harder time dismissing the dreams as they happened too much and too often for them to be just a figment of her imagination or stress creating someone who would be a big sister figure.
At least the morning went without any problems as they gathered in the common room for a quick breakfast before heading off to their first class. It was pretty exciting for Sunset even if a little worrisome as she knew sooner or later it would get out that she is the dark fairy. At least she knew a lot of the students weren’t prejudiced against them, but she also knew that there were plenty who were. She really hoped that they wouldn’t cause her any problems once they found out, but she doubted her luck would be that good.
Filtering into class, she found that it reminded her of one of those magical anime that Rainbow Dash always wanted to watch. For a moment, the thought of Rainbow Dash gave her a twinge of sadness at missing her friends before the hurt and anger at them reasserted itself. The desks looked to seat two at each one with five per row in a semicircle facing the magical displays that replaced chalkboards and the teacher’s desk. Each row was on a riser so it kept the ones in front from blocking the view creating a step like setup with five total rows. Not that it looked like they were all filling up as Sunset and Stella took one to the back with Musa and Tecna sitting to the one in front of them and Flora sitting to the one to their left.
“Good morning class.” A leprechaun looking creature said as he walked out of the small office and hopped up onto the desk to face the gathered students. “My name is Professor Wizgiz and I’ll be explaining to you what to expect during your first year at Alfea.”
“Don’t they take roll call here?” Sunset asked Stella quietly.
“Roll call? Oh, that thing where the teacher calls all of the students names? Nope, it is magically done as you enter the room and added to the Professor’s log books.” Stella explained in a hushed whisper.
“Thank you for explaining to your friend, Miss Stella, but please make sure that all of you listen as this will be important.” Wizgiz explained, making both Stella and Sunset blush at being called out while a few of the surrounding students giggled. “First of all will be your schedule for this year which will be as follows. On Monday and Tuesdays you will report here for three hours, have lunch, then report to Professor Palladium for three hours. Afterwards you will report to whatever electives or tutors you sign up for.
“On Wednesdays, you will report to me for one hour to turn in and go over any assignments you get before reporting to Professor Palladium for the rest of the day for training or field trips.”
“Thursdays we mix it up a bit and you will report to Professor Palladium for an hour to go over and review anything he sees fit before reporting here for the rest of the day for lab work.”
“Fridays will be one hour each for us before you are excused the rest of the day to work with your tutors or work on team assignments, which will normally leave the weekend free for you. Except every third Saturday you will be participating in an inter school exchange program with Red Fountain and Cloud Tower so you can learn what they do and they can learn from you. Any questions?”
“What about lunch on days after Tuesday?” One girl asked without raising her hand.
“Excellent question Miss Megan, but please raise your hand when you have a question.” Wizgiz gently admonished, earning another round of giggles from some of the girls. Mostly the same ones that giggled at Stella and Sunset minutes before. It made her wonder just how serious they were before realizing that the Rainbooms and her would possibly be doing the same in good nature a few months ago. It forced her to push any thoughts of the girls out of her mind once again. “To answer your question though, you will be given a break to get lunch.” Wizguz finished before he pointed to another girl, “Yes, Rikki?”
“You mentioned electives, what can we choose?” A girl with bright red hair asked, taking notes on her personal computer. Unlike the personal computers Sunset knew, these things were tiny and many were wrist mounted while others were a device like a phone or even hidden in jewelry like a necklace or earrings. She didn’t understand how they could be so tiny yet so powerful that they pretty much did everything from communications to note taking.
“Another excellent question, Miss Rikki. You will get a chance to go over available electives after everyone has completed their entrance packet that you will receive via your school mail by the end of the day. They are due Friday and depending on how you do on them will decide what electives you can get. For those who pass with flying colors, you will be free to choose any elective that will help you on your path to becoming a fairy. For those who don’t do so well, you may have to take one of the tutors and take classes to help you with your basic knowledge for this year.” Wizgiz explained, “You will have to have it all decided by the end of day Friday as while I did say every three Saturdays, the first one will actually be this upcoming Saturday. You girls will be given a tour of Red Fountain as well as see a few demonstrations. And for those brave enough, you will be able to participate in some of the demonstrations as you begin to get to know your future allies better.”
“Miss Sunset?” Wizgiz asked as he pointed up to Sunset who awkwardly raised her hand. She was sure he was getting to what he will be teaching, but she admittedly was getting a little inpatient.
“What will you be teaching us, Professor?” Sunset asked, getting a smile and nod of acknowledgement from the short man.
“That right there is the question of the day, Miss Shimmer. I will be teaching you Metamorphosymbiosis, or in other words basic shapeshifting. While it is possible to turn into a cat, I will be teaching you the basics for now. For example, changing one’s hair color.” Wizgiz explained, waving his hand and mirrors rose up out of the desk in front of each student as if they were melting in reverse until a mirror was formed. “This is just a simple spell, a taste of what I will be working with you girls on. Of course, this isn’t all we will work on as we will look more into light magic throughout the year.”
“What do we do with these?” Riki asked, taking hold of the ornate silver mirror.
“These are so you can see your hair as you change the color of it.” Wizgiz said, going into an explanation on how to channel their light magic and having it affect the pigment of their hair to simply change it into another color. While a few got it right away, Sunset wasn’t one of them. It was frustrating her to no end as the rest of the Winx quickly figured it out while she was trying her best. “Okay girls, we only have a few minutes left. Congratulations are in order for the ones who were able to do this. For those who haven’t caught on, just give it time and we will get you there.”
“Looks like class is over.” Sunset yawned and stretched while a bell went off.
“Not just yet girls, one last thing. Groups are already assigned to you for when we have group assignments. And this will go for every class. The girls in the suite you are staying in are your teammates from now on. Look out for one another and help one another. Their success is your success. Sunset, please stay behind for a moment. The rest of you girls are dismissed.” Wizgiz said, a few of the girls giggling at Sunset, already thinking she was getting in trouble.
“Want us to wait?” Stella asked, squeezing Sunset’s arm.
“I’ll be okay, go on ahead.” Sunset said as the rest of the Winx reluctantly filtered out with the rest of the students.
“You can relax, Miss Stella, I don’t plan to do anything untoward to Miss Shimmer. I just need to talk to you about not really being able to help you or teach you much.” Wizgiz explained, Sunset’s stomach feeling as if it dropped while Stella momentarily saw red. “There is no need to dread or be angry, the fact of the matter is that I’m a changeling. A creature born of light magic literally and physically can not help you beyond a little knowledge and the few spells you may be able to convert into a dark magic format.”
“So what am I supposed to do?” Sunset asked, she couldn’t help feeling dejected.
“That is easy, I suggest you take up Professor DuFour to help you learn the history and hierarchy of the Magix Dimension, seeing how you don’t come from here. Second, I suggest you see a tutor I will be introducing you to after you finish up with Professor Palladium. Just wait in his class and I will be along with her shortly after.” Wizgiz explained, “Worry not, Miss Sunset, I will do everything in my power to make sure you succeed.”
“That sounds like a good plan, you do need to learn more about how the Magix Dimension’s royalty works. I know you have had a crash course so far, but getting an official education in it wouldn’t hurt.” Stella mused, Sunset nodding in agreement.
“Thank you, Professor Wizgiz.” Sunset said, giving the changeling a small smile.
“You are very welcome, my dear. Now off to Palladium’s class before he thinks I’m trying to monopolize one of the best hopefuls of this year.” Wizgiz said, motioning the two to leave.
The next class was the exact same as the first, including where everyone sat it seemed. As the two entered, what Sunset could only describe as an elf welcomed them with a clap of his hands and a warm smile. “And here are our last two students today. Don’t worry, Professor Wizgiz already let me know he needed to discuss something with you. Please take your seats and we can get started.”
“Thank you Professor Palladium.” Sunset said, already guessing what the teacher’s name was since Wizgiz mentioned him more than once.
“You're very welcome, my dear.” Palladium said, waving at the boards making them light up with charts and diagrams of what looked like several rooms in Alfea. “As I’m sure, you already know the schedule for this year. What you don’t know is how I will be breaking up your schedule even more. I will be teaching Potionology in this class as well as teaching you about nature and how to defend yourself. We will be making use of the Simulator Room and Practice Room to work on self defense and how to survive hostile environments. Lastly, we will be visiting several natural areas of different types here on Magix such as a lake, swamps and forest. Yes, Miss Sunset?”
“Potionology? As in mixing potions?” Sunset asked, a little unsure about this as she never bothered with something like this before.
“I know it has a bad reputation because it is popular among witches, but you have to remember that witches are not evil. No magic is evil, it is only the intent that makes it good or bad. As for potionology itself, unlike a lot of magic categories, this is neutral. Someone who is considered a dark magic type can make use of this just as easily as a light magic type. You won’t be learning anything dangerous here, but there are more than a few potions that all fairies should know as they may end up saving your life.” Palladium said as he waved his hand, chemistry looking sets rising from the desks much like the mirrors did from Wizgiz’s class. “Before you is everything you need to make a simple mana boosting potion. None of the ingredients before you are harmful in any way so there is no worries if you mess up. Follow the directions on the board carefully and you should end up with a pink colored potion that will have a bubblegum like flavor to it. It will restore a small amount of mana so when you drink it, you should feel a slight boost in energy, not unlike those energy drinks you younger generation seem to enjoy so much.”
With Sunset’s help, Stella and her easily finished the potion quickly. Flora and Tecna soon followed with Musa finishing last, though still before any of the other students. Palladium gave a warm smile as Sunset downed the potion, feeling a warmth wash through her and a small energy boost. Palladium congratulated the group before asking them to not talk until the others finished. So while the others in the class worked, Sunset pulled out a sketch pad and began sketching the cavern from her dream. She decided it would be a good idea to figure it out sooner than later, but just how would she figure out exactly where it was? She remembered the images Daphne showed her, but how would that help her find a location of a place she knew nothing about?
“That is a very beautiful drawing, Miss Shimmer. It reminds me of the small cave that is the natural habitat of shalecats.” Palladium mused from over Sunset’s shoulder.
“What’s a shalecat and where would this cave be?” Sunset asked, a little hope filling her as she might just get this done with sooner than she thought.
“A shalecat isn’t dangerous normally, it’s a magical, grayish cat-like creature that is made up of rocks. It’s a few miles before you reach the Barrier Mountain Range.” Palladium said, dismissing the class while pulling up a map on his holo display showing the location of the cave he was talking about. “This should be the location of the cave. You may stay behind, Miss Sunset. Professor Wizgiz should be along shortly.”
“We’ll wait with you.” Stella said, all of the girls agreeing as Sunset shook her head.
“It’ll be fine, you already heard Professor Wizgiz. I’m just waiting to talk to this tutor so you girls can go ahead and head out. No use in all of us waiting for her for who knows how long.”
“If you need anything, you know our numbers.” Stella sighed in defeat at seeing the determined expression Sunset was sporting. So instead she hugged her sister figure and headed out with the others who gave their goodbyes.
“It’s good to see you have already made a good group of friends so far.” Palladium said, “They will help you get through the trials you will face at the school.”
“Thanks, Professor Palladium. I just hope everything works out okay.” Sunset said, letting a little bit of her nervousness show. She still wasn’t fully sure what to expect here as she knew nothing about these teachers.
“I’m sure everything will be fine, both Professor Wizgiz and myself want to see you succeed.” Palladium said, sitting on the desk in front of Sunset and gave an encouraging smile. “We know you will face some tough challenges with your situation, but we plan to give you every advantage we can to make sure you get the most out of your education here.”
“I swear you little pervert, this better not be some sick prank.” A voice growled out from just outside the door before it swung open hard and slammed against the doorstop before what could only be described as one of the most gorgeous women Sunset had ever seen walked through the door. Like Palladium, she had pointed and elongated ears though her skin tone was a darker color. She had long silvery blue hair that seemed to be styled in spiky locks with brown eyes that seemed to be more reddish depending on how the light hit them. She was dressed in what looked like a fusion of oriental and western clothing that was deeply low cut showing a generous amount of cleavage in the largest bust Sunset had ever seen. She could almost feel an allure towards the woman, a somewhat attraction and knew that if she was into girls she would be into her easily.
“Ryoko dear, what are you doing here?” Palladium asked in shock before Wizgiz walked in behind her with a smug grin.
“See, I told you it wasn’t a prank. I need your help tutoring the young miss here as I am a creature of light and can’t do much for her.” Wizgiz explained. Sharp eyes turned to Sunset to look her up and down, making the girl squirm a little as the woman nodded in satisfaction at whatever she gleaned from the short inspection. Crossing her arms under her breasts, which Sunset had to force herself to look away as the action did distracting things to her chest, the woman turned to Palladium.
“Imagine my surprise, dear husband, when the little pervert here came to me with a sob story about being unable to teach a student fully because of her magical alignment.” Ryoko said, making Palladium shrug.
“While I admit Wizgiz can be much at times my love, you and I both know he gets serious when students are involved.” Palladium replied.
“As I can see, to imagine not only a dark fairy, but one with so much potential to even surpass Queen Marion in raw power. My word, wherever did you come from dear?” Ryoko asked as she turned back to Sunset, who was trying not to blush from the woman’s attention. “I apologize dear, the attraction you may be feeling will wear off soon. Sadly I can’t control it as I’m half dark elf and half succubus. My dad was an idiot, I know.”
“Wait, demons are real?” Sunset asked in surprise, she couldn’t help wondering if maybe Daphne was wrong and she was actually part demon herself. That would explain her transformation. “How would someone know if they are part demon?”
“You, my dear, are not part demon. Or infernal as most of the Magix dimension will refer to them as. No my dear, you are pure fairy, and I mean that in the truest sense. You reek of dragon though you aren’t a dragonling.” Ryoko mused as her eyes seemed to bore straight into Sunset.
“Wait, you aren’t suggesting that she is-“ Palladium said before his wife cut him off.
“I am, but that isn’t something to discuss here as the walls have ears. I don’t trust Faragonda’s little dark magic hating pet or the old bat herself.” Ryoko snorted, “She’s lucky I haven’t cut that bitch’s head off yet.”
“Now dear, let’s keep language a bit clean for our student here.” Palladium said while blushing.
“Oh dear, you are sometimes too naive for your own good. Please don’t ever change.” Ryoko giggled, “I’m sure our resident bad girl has heard worse.”
“Said worse.” Sunset supplied.
“Oh I definitely like you!” Ryoko grinned, “So tell me, who are you? Who are your parents?”
“My name is Sunset Shimmer, I’m an orphan. I never knew who my family was but spent the early years of my life in an orphanage and spent a few years taken care of by someone who more or less promised to be a mother but was a teacher at most.” Sunset said, shaking her head, “Why?”
“I have a hunch, but as I said, not here. I will meet you every Tuesday and Thursday after your normal classes to teach you. I’m Ryoko, this idiot’s wife and resident witch. I teach defense against dark magic for the fourth years here.” Ryoko explained, “We will talk about everything at our first session.”
“If that is everything, you can run along to meet up with your friends. I’m sure they are worried for you.” Palladium said, tearing Sunset’s mind off the woman and what she implied about possibly knowing something about her past. She wanted to go check out the cave anyways now that she knew where it was and planned to do so before curfew.
“Thank you.” Sunset said, truly grateful for the three actually caring for her and wanting to help while wondering just why Ryoko kept calling Wizgiz a pervert. The thought made her think of the tiny old man in that martial arts anime that Rainbow Dash loved where the main character was cursed into changing genders with a splash of water. Gathering her things she hurried out the door and wanted to facepalm when she heard Wizgiz’s cry of “Sweeto!” before a loud thud could be heard and the smaller creature moaning in pain.
Author's Note
A big thanks goes out to Sunny Scriber for editing this chapter and the awesome additions he added. Also, thanks to ScisetShimmerEvan and Seven Fates for showing me fixes than needed to be made.
As for the anime with the cursed martial artist, it's called Ranma 1/2. Ryoko is from Tenchi, but only her name and likeness is used here, but some of her personality will be here too.
“Why does it look like you just spent a day with Brandon?” Stella asked in a teasing tone as soon as Sunset walked through the door of their suite making the fiery haired girl splutter.
“What the hell, Stella?” Sunset choked out while Musa giggled, looking up from her guitar. “I don’t know what you're talking about, I was just meeting my new tutor Ryoko.”
“Ah, that answers that.” Stella said, crossing her arms and nodding sagely.
“Care to enlighten us?” Tecna asked as she came into the room with Flora.
“Ryoko is actually a teacher for the higher years, she’s half dark elf and half succubus.” Stella explained.
“There’s an infernal here?” Musa asked in shock, “Awesome!”
“She can’t control her natural succubus allure, but the more time you spend with her the more you will build up an immunity to it.” Stella explained.
“That would make sense, besides teaching whatever class she does, the students would benefit from being around someone and build up an immunity to the skill with someone without nefarious purposes.” Tecna said, getting a nod from Stella.
“Exactly, from what daddy said, Ryoko faced a lot of opposition in becoming an instructor here. It was Palladium along with King Oritel and Queen Marion who got Ryoko the job and the fact that she helps students just by being around is enough to keep her. Add in her invaluable insight with dark magic and her large amount of knowledge, she’s too invaluable to not have here.” Stella explained.
“I’m going to make some tea, does anybody else want some?” Flora asked, a little on edge after hearing about another creature of dark magic at the school. After getting to know Sunset, she knew better than to judge somebody because of alignment alone, but she couldn’t help the years of horror stories passed down in her family and many of the people on her home planet.
“Thanks, but I’m heading out. I want to check out these caves with the shalecats not too far from the Barrier Mountain Range.” Sunset said.
“Why there?” Stella asked.
“Oh, I want to go! I’ve always wanted to see shalecats up close!” Flora said, her mood instantly changing upon hearing about the cat-like creatures.
“Shalecats are typically very friendly, though can often be skittish around humans.” Tecna said as she looked at one of her holographic displays, reading information on it. “It should be safe to check them out, but we shouldn’t let you go alone after what the Trix just pulled.”
“I agree, I want to kick some Trix butt anyways after what they did to you.” Musa said, bouncing back and forth on her feet.
“Thank you girls, but I don’t want to drag you into anything.” Sunset sighed, a part of her wanting the company while another part of her was worried that they would discover her true reason for going. While Daphne said it was okay to talk to Stella about it, she wasn’t sure if the other girls would be okay according to her supposed older sister. She also didn’t want Stella to know until Sunset was absolutely sure that not only Daphne was real, which by this point she was getting to the point of believing that part, but also that Sunset was actually Bloom. She didn’t want to get the hopes up of the girl who has done more for her in such a short time than the Rainbooms ever did for her.
Again she had to shake her thoughts away from the Rainbooms as she had been both missing them and resenting them more lately. She wasn’t sure which emotion she wanted more as she was still hurt over what they did, but for a time they were friends. For a time it felt like Sunset actually belonged somewhere, even if it wasn’t ever fully. A part of her felt as if she belonged here more than anywhere she’s ever been before.
“Sunset, we’re a team, and we should do things as a team.” Tecna said.
“More than that, Sunset, we are a family. If this is important to you, then it is important to us.” Flora said in a voice leaving little debate, but also in a comforting and supportive tone. Flora was one of the very few people who Sunset had ever met with the ability to pull that off. Sunset did miss the way Stella was studying her.
“I’m not going to talk you girls out of this, am I?” Sunset sighed, running her hand down her face. She was truly touched, but she didn’t want to drag them with her for no reason. It was going to be a quick and safe trip. She also didn’t want them to see the locket just yet if it was there. Not until any tests were done and she knew for a fact that she was Bloom, not that she was planning on taking up that name.
“Not a chance.” Tecna said, “We can be there within a half hour tops with flying from what I can make out on the maps. It will be a quick trip.”
“I can teleport us out away from the school so we can transform.” Stella suggested, the others nodding in agreement. So a quick walk down to the gates, the girls exited the school grounds before Stella teleported them a few miles away near where the lake was. A few quick transformations later found the group in the sky and flying after Tecna who took the lead with her holographic GPS that was plotting their course.
“So, care to tell me the real reason we are going to the cave?” Stella asked as she matched Sunset’s speed.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Sunset said, hating that she had to lie to Stella. Even if she was trying to protect Stella from the pain of getting her hopes up only for things to turn out to be nothing, it was still lying to her.
“Sunset, I want to help. I can’t do that unless you let me in. I love you, you’re my sister.” Stella said softly, giving the fiery haired teen a pleading look.
“Stella... I want to tell you everything. I really do... But this is just something I have to see through first before I tell you everything.” Sunset admitted, “Stella, I love you too, I really feel like I’m a part of your family. This is just something that I have to see myself, please trust me. If it looks like I’m going to get in over my head you will be the first person I go to. For now I just need you to trust me. Please.”
“I do trust you, Sunset. I’ll... I’ll drop it for now, but please come to me as soon as you can. I’m worried for you.” Stella said.
“I promise.” Sunset nodded.
“If you two are done with your bonding moment, we’re about there.” Musa said, making both Stella and Sunset blush at being called out yet again on the same day.
“Thank you girls.” Sunset said as the girls landed. Her heart sank as she spun around in place taking in the surrounding areas. So many of the cave entrances looked like what Daphne showed her, but there were so many others as well. It was going to take forever to search all of them.
“The good news is that there are no predatory creatures in this area according to the details I can find. The bad news is that this is going to be harder than I first calculated.” Tecna said, her voice a little dejected as she didn’t know there were this many possibilities here. There had to be a better way to look for the shalecats. Or perhaps they should just surprise Sunset and buy her a pet back in the city as she was sure that was what Sunset was up to.
“As long as the Trix doesn’t show up, I think we should be fine. We might have to make a few trips, but this could be fun!” Musa chirped, remaining upbeat as she spun around before pointing in a direction. “What better way to start than just picking one and investigating!”
“Better than standing around here.” Flora agreed. “I just wish there were more plants around here. Maybe I should have asked.”
“The cave entrance does look like the one we are looking for.” Sunset agreed as they all carefully made their way into the cave.
“This place reeks.” Musa choked out as she pinched her nose closed. Stella threw out a few light orbs that floated towards the roof of the cave to illuminate several very large piles of feces left behind by a very obviously big creature.
“Shale cats don’t get this big, do they?” Sunset asked dejectedly. The piles were as large as them meaning it was probably best to vacate this cave before whatever made them came back. Predator or not, that was still a very big creature.
“What’s the rush, fairies?” Icy asked, the other two appearing in equal distances around them so the Winx was caught in a bit of a triangular area.
“Just hand over the ring, and you girls can go.” Stormy grinned.
“And don’t even think of it you dark fairy! One wrong move and we will bring the house down on you and your little friends!” Darcy said, studying each of the girls.
“Stella.” Sunset whispered to Stella who moved close to her. “When you get the signal, do you think you can teleport us out of here?”
“I should be able to.” Stella nodded.
“Just hand over the ring and nobody has to get hurt. We aren’t completely harmless.” Icy said, grinning at their assured victory.
“Ok, fine.” Sunset groaned, before grinning as she threw her arms out creating a shield she made expand so quickly it caught the Trix off guard and sent them flying. “Just kidding. Now, Stella!”
With a wave of her staff, or as Stella keeps calling it, her scepter, the blonde teleported all of her friends out of the cave and midway between the caves and the school. “Sorry, can’t get us too much farther. I’m about out of magic.”
“It’s okay, you did great Stella.” Sunset said, supporting the blonde both physically and emotionally.
“I’m sorry you didn’t get to study a shalecat.” Tecna said, “Then again, maybe I can call Timmy and the two of us together can pinpoint the cave you wanted a little better.”
“Are you okay, Stella?” Flora asked with worry.
“I’ll be fine in a couple minutes, using so much of my light magic in such a dark place combined with the sun getting ready to set soon has me a bit drained after everything else.” Stella assured.
“If we take a break for a few do you think you will be able to fly back?” Musa asked.
“Don’t worry, I got her.” Sunset said as she picked a struggling Stella up in a princess carry.
“I can fly by myself!” Stella protested.
“I know you can, but just let me do this for you.” Sunset said as she took to the sky as Stella dropped her transformation.
“Fine.” Stella whined, “But if you drop me, I’m coming back to haunt you.”
The girls made it back later than they meant after stopping to rest a few minutes when they were getting close before walking the short distance left so nobody would see Sunset’s transformation yet. They were just passing through the gate when a sharp tone of voice bit out, “You girls are past curfew!”
“It’s my fault, don’t blame them.” Sunset said as Griselda glared at her.
“When one team member breaks the rules, the whole group gets punished.” Griselda said, a bit of a growl in her tone of voice. “Get to bed! We will discuss punishments tomorrow!”
The group of girls grumbled about how unfair it was as they shuffled away, the group making sure to let Sunset know they didn’t blame her and wasn’t angry in the least.
“And where have you three been?” Griffon demanded as the Trix finally managed to trudge into Cloud Tower making the older woman crinkle her nose as the three looked like they fell in a mud pit. “And why do you smell like crap?”
“Just a little nature walk where we had an accident. No worries.” Icy said, her lie obvious yet Griffon didn’t call her out on it.
“Just go get cleaned up, we will talk about punishments tomorrow.” Griffon grumbled as she hurried away from the three just as Icy punched the wall.
“I’ll get that damned fairy!” Icy raged, her eyes momentarily bleeding into black before fading back to normal. Both Darcy and Stormy gave each other worried looks after seeing the display. They may have only been half sisters, but they loved each other like family and would do anything for each other. This whole situation was getting out of hand though and they weren’t sure what to do about it as Icy was hellbent on getting that ring, believing it to be the key to getting the dragon flame.
“Are you insane?” Twilight Sparkle demanded, nearly raging as she stood with hands planted firmly at the table at the little sweet shop the Cakes ran in this world. The Rainbooms sat around the table as they looked up in dismay and shame as they all knew they messed up badly and were on the verge of tears.
“Darling, I don’t know how to make you believe we are so very sorry.” Rarity said softly, unable to meet Twilight’s eyes.
“I believe you are sorry, that’s not the problem. The problem is this is happening to begin with!” Twilight groaned as she pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration.
“We believed she lied about being friends when those pictures were posted.” Applejack defended.
“The magic of friendship doesn’t lie, she would never have been able to do what she did at the battle of the bands if she was lying.” Twilight explained through gritted teeth. How could these girls believe Sunset could do something like this after proving herself to them and Twilight by harnessing an unknown element to save them from the sirens. It was so powerful too, it felt so wild and untamed yet so pure.
“Well excuse us for knowing squat about magic!” Rainbow huffed as she crossed her arms and looked away.
“I guess you have a point, you probably wouldn’t have understood the significance of what Sunset did when you didn’t even know magic was real.” Twilight sighed, “This is partly my fault, if only I was able to return home quicker. What do your sisters even have to say about this?”
“They are truly torn up over what happened. Bloom wouldn’t even come out of her room for a couple days.” Applejack said.
“Sweetie wouldn’t even talk to me at first, said she didn’t deserve to after what she did.” Rarity sniffed.
“The little brat tried to run away when she realized the position Sunset was in because of them. We talked some sense into her, but they are all torn up over what happened.” Rainbow said.
“Okay, now for the hundred bit question for the hundredth time, where is Sunset Shimmer?” Twilight demanded.
“She left with the fairies!” Fluttershy sobbed out.
“And people say I have a big mouth.” Pinkie Pie snarked as she slammed her head into the table as Twilight gave them confused looks.
“...The what now?” Twilight asked as she tried to make some sense of that statement.
Author's Note
A big thanks goes out to Sunny Scriber for editing this chapter and the awesome additions he added. Also, thanks to ScisetShimmerEvan and Seven Fates for showing me fixes than needed to be made.
Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, sorry though Sunset hasn't had any luck finding what she was looking for. Don't worry though, she will eventually find it.
Sunset sighed as she put her guitar down, she was grateful that the rooms had silence enchantments as long as the doors were closed to activate them. It had been giving her time to play in peace without disturbing the others when she couldn’t sleep since getting here. Usually it was before bed when she would play until she was so exhausted she would trudge into her room and collapse into bed before having dreams of Daphne or those eyes bathed in fire. Tonight was different as she actually managed to get a couple hours of sleep before she ended up awake again, worried about her new friends.
She couldn’t deny it, they were her friends and she loved them as family. She couldn’t help worrying that she had let her heart get attached too fast and open up to these girls. She did though and now she was very worried as the night before proved that the Trix just weren’t going to leave them alone. It made Sunset worry for their safety as some of them would be easier to pick off than others right now as they were powerful, but they didn’t have a lot of experience. She now realized just how lucky they had been back at the siege on CHS before she came here.
“That was awesome!” Musa quietly cheered startling Sunset out of her thoughts, looking up to find Musa still in her sleep clothes of a red tank top and sweatpants with music notes.
“Thanks.” Sunset said, a little bit of pride in her voice as the one most likely to critique her music the harshest was the actual fairy of rhythm and tunes, or music depending on who was asked as Musa not only seemed more than adept with any music, but also dance as well covering the rhythm part of her title.
“No, really, that was awesome! I was going to get a drink before I head out to my dance routine.” Musa smiled, “I happened to catch you playing and it blew me away. You seem so good at everything that I was wondering if you could really play that good or was just learning.”
“Someone I once knew taught me a lot of it and I just picked up the rest. I just had a knack for it.” Sunset grinned, “Maybe the fairy of music blessed me or something.”
“Don’t even joke like that!” Musa groaned, “You have no idea how many people have asked me to bless them when they find out I’m the fairy of music. What? They can’t grasp the concept that I’m more or less like them, not a goddess or something.”
“Sorry Musa.” Sunset said, realizing she hit a sore spot with the girl.
“Don’t be sorry.” Musa grinned, “Anyways, I’m going to grab that drink and change so I can head to the dance hall for my routines before the others get up.”
“Do you mind the company?” Sunset asked as she carefully put her guitar back in her case.
“Not at all, it would be nice to have someone with me. I hate going this morning because nobody else is around.” Musa shivered, “I’ve been to palaces, castles and so many other places when nobody else is around and the only place to give me the total creeps is a school. Go figure.”
“I need to limber up myself. Plus, I kind of wanted to talk to you about something.” Sunset said.
“Sure, we can talk during warm-ups. I’ll meet you back out here soon.” Musa said as Sunset picked up her guitar case and returned it to her room and changed into something a bit easier to move and dance in.
A half hour later found Sunset stumbling for the third time in five minutes doing a routine Musa showed her. To be honest, Sunset expected the girl to be doing breakdancing or something, not ballet which was what was giving Sunset so much trouble. She wasn’t a bad dancer, not really, but these were next level moves.
“I’m actually glad to see you have such a hard time doing something.” Musa giggled as Sunset decided to just stay down and readjust herself so she was sitting looking up at the darker haired girl. “Not trying to be mean, but I was starting to wonder if there was anything you weren't good at.”
“There’s a lot of stuff I suck at.” Sunset groaned, “I never pegged you for ballet of all things.”
“I dance all the time.” Musa shrugged, “So, now that we are warmed up, want to tell me what you wanted to talk to me about?”
“First, I want to thank you. If it wasn’t for Stella, Tecna, and yourself…I don’t know where I would be right now. To say things were getting bad back in Canterlot would be an understatement. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t exactly planning to off myself or anything, but I was at my wits end.”
“You never have to thank me, we’ve only known each other for a short time, but you are one of us. We are family and love each other, are there for each other. That is what family does.” Musa said as she lowered herself to sit with Sunset.
“And that’s why I keep hesitating starting this conversation I wanted to have with you. I don’t want to offend you or hurt your feelings.” Sunset said, worried what she needed to discuss was going to do just that.
“Hey, no need to worry, I won’t be offended. We will talk out whatever is bothering you.” Musa said.
“Musa, I won’t always be there to face the Trix and they are after Stella’s ring. They might come after any of you girls to get it.” Sunset blurted out after taking a few deep breaths. “We need to train.”
“Well, yeah, we don’t exactly have a ton of combat experience. We have been taught self defense and stuff from our families, but nothing beats experience and more training never hurts.” Musa agreed. “We know you are insanely powerful, but we can’t always count on you to solve all of our problems.”
“So you would be okay doing training exercises with me every day after school for an hour or two?” Sunset asked with hope.
“I can’t speak for the other girls about the timing, but I know we all want this Sunset. It will give us all a chance to bond with you more and get stronger. We want to protect you just as much as you protect us.” Musa said with an encouraging smile as she squeezed Sunset’s arm in reassurance.
“Thanks, Musa, that takes a load off my mind.” Sunset said with a smile.
“Well, let’s get back to it then!” Musa said as she hopped up with a flourish before turning to offer Sunset her hand to help her up.
The rest of the morning went pretty quickly, unlike the day before they strictly went over theory and more detail about what their class time would entail. It was getting close to the time she needed to meet Ryoko and Sunset couldn’t help but feel nervous. How could she not between feeling the large amount of attraction to the woman on top of what she hinted at the previous day as well as having no idea what she would be learning from the woman. Walking out of Palladium’s class expecting to have to go find her new tutor, she was surprised to see the woman leaning against the wall opposite of the door with a smirk.
“You didn’t think you were going to escape little old me, did you kid?” Ryoko asked, the woman getting a lot of attention from the surrounding students. Sunset could feel a little bit of attraction toward the woman, but thankfully that seemed to be considerably dimmed compared to their last interaction. She could see where that could come in handy as it would help the students know what it feels like and what to look for as well as a basic immunity towards it. Stella was right, along with this woman’s knowledge she was an invaluable asset to the school.
“I wouldn’t dream of it, I have so many questions.” Sunset said with a hand on a cocked hip as she stared the older woman down.
“I like your sass girl, but save your questions until I tell you.” Ryoko said, snapping her fingers and motioning for Sunset to follow.
“You know I’m not a dog. Right?” Sunset groaned as she followed her tutor.
“Yet, you are following like a good girl.” Ryoko smirked at the teen, “I might even give you a treat.”
“Still not a dog!” Sunset growled out as the woman led her to the upper floors and to a classroom she suspected was her new tutors.
“Still cute as one.” Ryoko shrugged making Sunset splutter before the fiery haired girl was handed what looked like a cloudy glass bead. “Now hold onto that, it will be very important.”
“What do you mean?” Sunset asked before she felt a large amount of power wash over her, the energy originating from the woman as the fiery haired girl felt a subtle shift in the space around her. Narrowing her eyes, she demanded, “What did you do?”
“This is how I teach all of my classes. I pulled us into a temporary pocket dimension I created. It has three ways out, the first being if I release you out of this place. The second is if I kill you because you can’t be hurt here, but any attacks that would have been fatal triggers a return trip for you.” Ryoko explained.
“And third I smash this bead?” Sunset asked, now more curious than wary as she looked around. She could feel it in the air, it was different from the classroom she entered. The atmosphere was wrong, but exciting as she realized creating an actual pocket dimension like this was possible. Despite everything she was taught in Equestria, told to ignore wild magical theories, here she was standing in one.
“Correct. I knew I was right about you.” Ryoko grinned as she floated into the air as if sitting on some invisible chair.
“You sounded like you knew something about me yesterday.” Sunset said, looking straight into the woman's eyes searching for any kind of reaction.
“I believe I do.” Ryoko said as she created a ball of light and was rolling it around in her fingers, weaving it around them. “But first, I want to give you a quick history lesson on the Magix Dimensions.”
“I already know the basic history, King Radius made sure of that before Stella and I came to the school.” Sunset said.
“That’s all well and good, and I suspect that it mentioned dark fairies and how the specialists as you know them are actually the male variant of fairies because men can’t harness their powers like the fairies?” Ryoko asked, getting a nod from Sunset in agreement. “Well, that history is wrong. It is what is widely accepted, but it is wrong.”
“So it’s all lies?” Sunset asked, a little surprised at the claim as Ryoko shook her head in a negative reply.
“No, not exactly. It’s what is generally accepted as it is what all people know and anyone who claims otherwise is believed to be a crazed conspiracy theorist. Problem is, some people have been around much longer than what is believed.” Ryoko said with a grin, “A secret I expect you to keep.”
“Of course, I know how to keep a secret.” Sunset said. Getting an appreciative nod from the woman.
“Good, but before you ask I haven’t been around since the dawn of time or anything like that. I have been around long enough to have had access to the infinite library before the ancestral witches attacked it looking for the secrets to the Great Dragon and ultimate power. I was an apprentice to the Eternal Librarian before they were killed and the anchor snapped, releasing the library and making it disappear from this world in search of a new anchor and librarian.” Ryoko explained, “That isn’t important right now though, what is important is our little history lesson and where that leaves you.”
“Wouldn’t it be easier to just tell me straight out?” Sunset asked as she perched on one of the desks realizing this was going to take awhile.
“Where would be the fun in that?” Ryoko grinned, creating illusions around them showing scenes of what she talked about. “In the beginning, the creator rewarded one of his most prized celestials, as well as an infernal who helped prevent a calamity that would have wiped out the newly born human race by giving them the gift of creation. He tasked them with creating their own little corner of reality that they would be responsible for, thus the Magix Dimensions were born. The worlds were created and filled with magical creatures ranging from wild animals and livestock to higher intellect creatures such as fairies, merfolk, elves and more which were all called the Fae.”
“Sounds like mythical stories from the world I just left.” Sunset snorted.
“Of course it does, these were creatures of magic and intellect, an intellect that came with curiosity. So the two schools of magic, which neither is evil, were split into more and more smaller branches. Name one school of magic that you believe is to be purely and unforgivably evil.” Ryoke said.
Crossing her arms and tapping her fingers on her upper arm, Sunset considered it a few moments before replying with, “Necromancy.”
“Not evil, at least it wasn’t created to be and still isn’t unless specifically used for evil.” Ryoko said with a grin at Sunset’s shocked expression, “Sadly, with all free will comes the will to do evil such as murder. Necromancy wasn’t created to disturb the soul from whatever peace it found, it was created to temporarily reanimate a recently deceased body to get the truth of what happened to it. It was also created to make soldiers from those bodies in graveyards to protect the innocent from those that would harm them for no good reason such as a greedy ruler invading another’s territory.”
“Isn’t that desecrating the dead?” Sunset asked, swallowing nervously at the distasteful thought of disturbing the dead like that.
“Let me ask you this, Sunset. If you were responsible for a village with a thousand people, all of them innocent and simple farmers and craftsmen with no combat training, would you let a force invade and rape and kill every person there or raise the graveyard where there are numerous bodies who would be puppet soldiers who would be near impossible to stop in order to protect those innocents?” Ryoko asked.
“I guess in that situation I would protect the innocents.” Sunset said.
“Good answer, and the right answer. People were afraid of it though, so it ended up with a bad reputation. Then evil people twisted it for their purposes making it an even more feared branch of magic. Point is, it isn’t evil until someone twists it and uses it for evil. That brings us to a branch of magic that was a combination of light and dark, space time magic.” Ryoko explained, the image changed to show humans being led from portals bound in chains. “At first it was used for good purposes when it was discovered, exploring other dimensions in the greater cosmos leading to many nonmagical planes to have sightings of what would become folktales to them. They weren’t folktales, and there were those who had nefarious purposes as they kidnapped humans and used them as slaves.”
“That’s awful!” Sunset gasped.
“It is, but it was those slaves who changed the magical world. Unlike most fae, humans could have children much more often than most fae. Much easier too. It was because of this that the human population grew quicker and sparse villages quickly turned into bustling cities. Then the Fae learned something else about humans, they were compatible with the fae. The elitists tried to curb that with laws forbidding a fae taking a human lover, but it did no good as many of the fae never liked the thought of slavery as it was and actually cared for the humans. With the mixing of fae and humans came the different groups that you know today. Fairies of course led to the more human-like fairies who only have their wings when transformed. The offspring of the human and elves led to two different groups, the light elves gave way to the specialist while the dark elves led to the witches and other magical groups.” Ryoko explained, the image showing an enraged dragon and groups cowering from it.
“He doesn’t look happy.” Sunset mused, feeling a little bad for the people cowering in fear.
“The Great Dragon was far from happy with all these developments and grew tired of the races twisting the gift of magic and long life the fae was gifted with to more evil purposes. He announced he was going to create one last race which would be his emissary while he retired to a pocket dimension on what was known back then as the Holy Planet of Dominus. Thus the Dragonairies were born and made the rulers of the Magix Dimensions. As time went on the elitists created their own little pocket dimensions and retired there. As the centuries passed some of the planets were granted a ruling government themselves as the populations grew beyond what was feasible for one ruler to handle it all.” Ryoko explained, “As with all other species though, the Dragonairies mated with the other species left and their bloodlines were diluted until like fairies, their wings were only shown when transformed and people started calling them dark fairies.”
“Like me?” Sunset asked, somehow not shocked at this.
“Yes, like you. So all dark fairies can be traced back to the original ruling family of the world that became Domino that took this symbol up as their crest.” Ryoko explained as the images shifted again to show Sunset’s cutie mark making the teen’s eyes widen in surprise. “While there is an official crest of Domino, this is the personal crest of the ruling family. A crest I take it you have seen before.”
“Well, yeah... In the city there is a fountain with it as well as in some books.” Sunset stammered, unsure of what to say.
“Don’t play coy with me girl, you know this crest because it is your crest! You are the missing princess of Domino!” Ryoko crowed, triumphant that her theory was correct before seeing the worried look on the girl’s face. “Don’t worry about your pretty little head, kid. I will keep your secret, yes even from my husband, as you will keep mine.”
“Thank you, I still don’t know if it’s true and don’t want to get Stella’s hope up.” Sunset explained.
“Look kid, if somebody cares for you they will care for you despite your status. Anybody who cares about status over who the person is, well they are just a leech.” Ryoko said, “Enough chit chat, I am your tutor for dark magic. Let’s do some dark magic!”
“Okay, I guess.” Sunset said, less than enthused at being reminded just what type of magic and fairy she is. Sure she can transform and use her magic, but when she dwelled on it too much it drove her crazy as she was raised to believe dark magic was bad and light magic was good. Despite being told so many times, despite telling herself so many times and actually managing to be okay with it at times, deep down she still had old hang-ups when overthinking it too much.
“Kid, I know you were probably taught dark magic is the infernal’s shtick, and anyone using it thinks the sun comes out of their ass. That’s all a load of crap, magic is magic and it all depends on what you use it for then what it is.” Ryoko said as she patted Sunset’s shoulder. “Remember, you aren’t sacrificing little bunnies, you are training to save as many people as you can as a guardian fairy.”
“Pfft, if I’m a guardian fairy, what am I a guardian of? Even if I am some lost princess, from what I understand my home planet is desolate. Am I going to be the Guardian Fairy of Olaf and Frosty?” Sunset snorted.
“I don’t know what those are, but you are the guardian fairy of the dragon flame. All true guardian fairies of the flame have been dark fairies, but I’ll let you in on a secret.” Ryoko grinned, “You carry the great dragon’s flame within you meaning you have just as much potential for light as you do dark.”
“What? So I can do light magic then?” Sunset asked.
“Something much more, kid. I can’t say much or how it works, but if you find the right reason you might just wake up an even greater power within yourself.” Ryoko said, “Now, no more stalling, it’s magic time!”
“Okay, fine, you win. We will do the whole ritual thing.” Sunset snorted.
“Kid, the last ritual I did was a royal betrothal ritual.” Ryoko said with a grin, “Some baby prince betrothed to some baby princess.”
“So you took the free will from two innocent children?” Sunset gasped.
“I did no such thing!” Ryoko growled out, narrowing her eyes at Sunset for a moment before taking a step back to gather herself. She knew Sunset was just saying the first thing that came to mind from a flawed ideology shoved down her throat by bigots and idiots. “Look kid, you get a free pass here because you don’t understand, but never jump to conclusions about people like me. Some of us may not take it as well as me. No, I didn’t take their free will from them, the ritual just creates an attraction between the two that would draw them together enough to meet and get to know each other. If they are compatible, they get married and everyone cheers. If they aren’t, no hard feelings as it is their choice in the end. The beacon effect is canceled out with enough time, one of the two dies, or with a kiss.”
“How would they know that they were bonded and if it’s true?” Sunset asked, Ryoko giving Sunset a large Cheshire like grin as she took Sunset’s hand. The teen could feel a small pulse of power wash into her right hand as Ryoko gently held it before a crest glowed on the back of it.
“This is the crest of Eraklyon, the royal family your parents betrothed you to right after you were born.” Ryoko grinned, “Kid, I knew your parents. They were good people.”
“No. No, no NO!” Sunset denied as she pulled her hand out of Ryoko’s making the crest fade. She started pacing, shaking her head and pulling at her hair as she was getting close to a panic attack. “I can take being the lost princess, but I can’t deal with that. I refuse to even entertain the thought of being betrothed. This is insane!”
“What’s wrong with being betrothed to a hot, intelligent and kind prince who would adore you?” Ryoko asked, giving Sunset a knowing grin making the girl feel as if Ryoko knew something that Sunset didn’t.
“First of all!” Sunset frantically yelled out, “There is no way this prince’s family would accept the princess of a lost planet into their family! Especially one who has been homeless more than once and did horrible things! And if that isn’t enough, I refuse to even bring this up with Stella or her boyfriend! She’s the one Prince Sky likes!”
“Calm down there, just cause your hair is fiery doesn’t mean you want to explode into one.” Ryoko snickered, causing Sunset to glare at her. “While the betrothal was ratified by The Nine, it doesn’t mean it has to be seen through. If either party, and I mean the prince and you and not your families, wants out of it then it’s as simple as saying so before the assembly for it to be canceled.”
“What do you mean not our families?” Sunset asked in confusion.
“It was ratified with the council through the Great Dragon’s name with the dragon flame’s magic solidifying the contract. The only two that can break it are the two of you. Nobody else has that power.” Ryoko explained.
“Good, then I’ll just handle that as soon as I can.” Sunset whined out as she realized she actually was the princess. Not that it mattered, without Daphne’s locket she wasn’t able to prove it to anyone else.
“Now, can we please get to some magic? We don’t have much time left!” Ryoko groaned as she threw her hands in the air in exasperation.
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry my life has just been shoved in a damned blender!” Sunset snapped.
“Good, I wanted to show you a few things, but we only have enough time for one now. You can create fireballs, can’t you?” Ryoko asked, grinning as Sunset’s nod of affirmation. “Good, make one but don’t throw it or release it.”
“Like this?” Sunset asked as she held a fireball floating above her hand out toward Ryoko.
“Exactly! The problem with a lot of fairies is that they are taught spells that have a preset use by their families. Take Musa’s boombox, it creates sound waves that cause a pushback against an opponent. I’ve seen it used in action by her father so I’m pretty sure she knows it. She probably just uses it as is, but if you tweak your intent and energy flow, it can do even more. It can cause vertigo in an opponent or even cause tremors in the ground and surrounding areas. These spells are okay, but the way they are taught is too straightforward and removes any imagination for variables.” Ryoko explained.
“That’s all well and good, but what does that have to do with my fireball?” Sunset asked, a little confused.
“That’s easy, and I have every confidence that you will master this quickly. First, concentrate on a thinner and more intense flame. Shape your magic and push more energy into it as it thins out.” Ryoko directed as Sunset did. It took a few tries, but the fiery haired girl managed to create a torch with her magic. “Good, not perfect, but very good. You can create a plasma bolt or even cut something like a torch when you get this down more. You could even use it to make temporary repairs to say a hull of a shuttle if needed.”
“That’s actually pretty awesome!” Sunset said with a grin as she stared at the compressed flame.
“Every spell has multiple uses that are only limited by your imagination and mastery of your magic.” Ryoko said as she pulled a small cloth bag out and handed it to Sunset.
“What’s this?” Sunset asked as she opened it to see a small amount of pearls inside.
“That is a gift from both Faragonda and me. As a dark fairy your magic is naturally more potent and more dangerous than the other girls here, so she authorized me to give these to you. They are premade catalysts to create temporary pocket dimensions that last for one hour each. Just channel a little magic into it and it will create a pocket dimension for you and your friends if you want to take them in with you. Like here if someone gets hurt they will be ejected from the dimension instead of sustaining damage. Also, if anything gets damaged here, it doesn’t affect the real world, so go crazy all you want. Just don’t go showing these around to other students or teachers as many of them would throw a fit for one reason or another.” Ryoko explained, shocked when the girl hugged her.
“Thank you.” Sunset whispered.
“Any time kid, and feel free to seek me out away from our sessions if you need anything.” Ryoko said as Sunset stepped back. “Ready to head back?”
“Not really, but guess we have to sooner or later.” Sunset groaned.
“Sadly the sooner is now as we have run out of time.” Ryoko said as the pocket world faded back into the real world. “See you later kid.”
Author's Note
I wanted to thank Sunny Scriber for editing this chapter and the awesome additions he added. Also, thanks to ScisetShimmerEvan and Seven Fates for showing me fixes than needed to be made.
Sorry, this chapter was getting so long I had to split it here. Hopefully it was a decent enough place to split it as the next chapter the girls face Griselda's punishment as well as a few other things. Also, Sunset has a lot to work through as she finally had proof for herself that she truly is the missing princess, even if she doesn't have proof for others just yet. Of course she could use the sigil on her hand and court records, but those who would move against her would claim it being faked so she is going to give it a little time to see if she can find Daphne's locket.
Also, I know I promised that the cover picture does hold importance to the story and it is getting there pretty soon.
