Grumbling after a long day at school, a young junior high age Sunset walked past the school’s football field onto the nature trail looking for a yellow ribbon she had tied to a tree several months ago. Once she found it, she peered around to make sure none were looking and stepped off the trail and pushed through the brush and woods, making her way through a secluded path. Paying attention to landmarks, the young pre-teen arrived at a specific area a good few miles from the school.

Moving an old camouflaged tarp used for hunting shanties out of the way, the girl entered a small cave. With her fingers a bit frigid from the oncoming winter months, she managed to shakily light a match from a pack she was carrying in her jacket pocket and ignited a lantern, illuminating the entire cave. Old sheets and discarded blanket comforters were piled in a corner to make a makeshift bed when she sat down and set the lantern to the side.

The girl picked up a can of lighter fluid and doused a pile of sticks near the center of the cave and lit another match to get a fire going. She recalled when she first settled here spending many nights trying to make fire through magic with no luck. She was frustrated with how long it was taking her to understand how to use her magic in this world.

She had dug out this cave months ago and it was where she retreated when the school day had come to a close. While it wasn’t much, it was solitude and that’s all she cared about really. The only difference between this solitude and the solitude she knew back home in Equestria however was she often used that solitude to study magic, and here she spent most of it just trying to forget about how crappy of a day she had just had.

Sunset had been here for a few months now but she didn’t understand this place at all. People managed without magic, and their systems for doing things were complicated. She thought back for a brief moment to her mentor, Celestia. She scoffed at the teacher who had barred her from progressing, stopped her from achieving greatness. She warned her that she wouldn’t survive in this world, but Sunset was determined to prove her wrong. The girl had already managed to live here for a few months without much problem, after all, relatively speaking anyway.

On the plus side, she had gotten used to a lot since she arrived, including having hands over magic. Picking up a stick from a pile she had, Sunset retrieved a small knife from her pocket and began to carve the tip of the stick to a point. Satisfied with the point, she flattened the other side and began to work on fastening feathers to it to make a makeshift arrow.

After a good ten minutes with her project, she set it down with the other arrows she had made before working on another.

One thing that she learned was that animals were just as dangerous here in the human world as back home in Equestria, and while she didn’t hunt for food, she read a few books in the library about archery to get acquainted with a bow after an incident where a bear found her cave and she had to use some cleverness to get it out. At one point she was attacked by a coyote, whom she had to wrestle off of her and only managed to escape by finding a nearby rock and bashing the creature.

After encounters like that she was determined to learn how to defend herself, and thus learned how to make a bow and arrows, then how to shoot them. She spent a lot of time practicing when she wasn’t at school, and sometimes she even skipped classes to go and do that. After weeks of practicing, she had actually gotten quite competent with the thing, and might even be able to give a few of the hunters in the area a run for their money.

She had endured her first kill only a few weeks back where she had to shoot down a coyote. The girl remembered how traumatized she had been just releasing that arrow. Sunset had never killed anything before, so it was a very difficult experience for her. Feeling guilty, she actually brought its body into her den and read up on ancient native tribes who believed that animals were sacred. From there she came to the same conclusion they had had back in the past, to not allow any kill to go to waste as it was a disgrace to the creature.

The pelt had been skinned, the creature buried and she was working on turning it into a pair of boots for the coming winter, the pelt hanging from the cave wall as she was still reading books from the library about how to fashion something like that. It was a pet project for another day.

When she first came to this world, she never imagined how much her survival skills would be put to the test. When she was a young filly she remembered she and her father went camping once a long time ago, it wasn’t exactly the most enjoyable experience, but amusing nonetheless since he clearly knew nothing about camping and had to keep reciting a book the entire time, trying to get a grasp on the activity. He promised the two would go again, but they never did as far as she remembered. Then again she spent a lot of her time at school, and her father was at work all the time, that became the norm in her life.

Her mind fell back to what one of the other students said to her today during a study hall, she couldn’t get it out of her head, it was still hitting her hard despite being hours ago. There she sat minding her own business, trying to read up on the strange phenomenon in this world to try and connect anything she could to magic and perhaps begin to understand magic in this world, when two of the other girls approached after the teacher had stepped out. One of them took her book from her and the other pushed her out of her chair.

Tumbling to the floor she looked up with an annoyed expression to see the two of them laughing at her. The one holding the book snickered and spoke, “you’re a freak, you know that?”

Clenching the arrow she was making in her hand tightly, Sunset found herself squeezing so hard that the stick snapped in two. With a growl, she spoke to herself, “I don’t need them…”

Stunned, Sunset and her friends all gathered at the nearby table close to their lane at the bowling alley. There was silence for a long period of time, only occasionally broken by Pinkie Pie slurping on her drink. All eyes were on Sunset as she held her head in her hands in deep thought, staring down at the table trying to make sense of this all.

Rarity was taking the time to fiddle with her phone and avoid the awkwardness until Applejack finally spoke up after several minutes of total silence, “alright, I gotta say it… Did anyone ever think about another Sunset before this?”

“The thought crossed my mind, but I was really young when that news story came out, so I guess I don’t remember seeing it or I just wasn’t paying attention…” Fluttershy admitted as she sunk into her seat.

Rainbow nodded. “Yeah same here. I was 13 at the time; no way I would have been watching or paying attention to the news.”

Twilight adjusted her glasses and thought for a moment. “I think I remember something about that story at the time… The name slipped my mind because the media didn’t really get much info out of it. They tried to make it a big story, but it never really got out to the public and police details remained confidential.”

Rarity making herself useful pulled up articles on her phone and spoke aloud as she read bits and pieces of them, “according to this, the Shimmer family shy of their daughter was murdered five years ago as the news said. Interestingly enough, no details about the murder were ever released. About three years ago when Sunset was declared emancipated from her only living aunt who was trying to steal her vast fortune she has lived in solitude for the past two years, few ever seeing her leave her estate. Many reported that even the post office who delivers all of her packages directly to the house has never actually seen her.”

“Spooky…” Pinkie said between slurps of her beverage.

“Sounds like a really sad story…” Twilight admitted with a frown.

Rainbow leaned into the table with an inquisitive expression. “So basically this Sunset is super rich, and lives in secret where few ever see her? Sounds like you’re actually Batman in our world, Sunset.”

Sunset finally looked up from the table and shook her head, ignoring Rainbow’s joke. “I never considered this… What’s stranger is she doesn’t sound anything like me either… I mean my dad and mom were pretty wealthy, but not like… Living in a vast mansion rich… Though the isolation thing sounds familiar…”

Her mind returned to her early days in this world, where she spent most of her time by herself.

Applejack frowned and placed a hand on top of Sunset’s. Sunset looked up at her friend with a smile, which Applejack returned tenfold. Applejack always had a very comforting smile. “Try not to get yourself worked up over it. Don’t remind yourself of yer' past thinkin' about her. She’s a different girl.”

Sunset nodded. “You’re right, sorry.”

Twilight smiled and nodded in agreement with Applejack. “To add to that, we don’t know anything about this Sunset. However, unlike her, you have a large group of friends who are looking out for you.”

“That’s true.” Sunset smiled and laughed a bit.

“Hopefully she doesn’t turn into a she-demon thing,” Rainbow Dash joked.

The entire group laughed, and as it slowly subsided, Sunset truly thought about what Twilight just said about how she had a large group of friends and that this other Sunset didn’t.

That’s true.

Rainbow leaped into the air as high as her legs would spring her, catching a green frisbee with a red apple emblem decorating it in her hand and tossing it with a mighty hurl before her feet touched the ground. Landing, she prepared herself for another possible throw in her direction.

The object was caught by Applejack following the wiping of sweat off of her head and tossed it to Sunset who fumbled a bit, but caught it none the less. Sunset paused as she took a breath and tried to compose herself. The three of them had been playing for a good hour in the beating sun of high noon.

Rainbow caught wind of Sunset and Applejack being a bit on the winded side and took a few steps forward towards a picnic table where she picked up a towel and wiped her brow. Tossing a water bottle to Sunset, she smiled as she gave a suggestion, “let’s take a breather, we’ve been playing for almost an hour.”

“Sounds good to me.” Applejack nodded, not giving any protest.

Sunset concurred and joined the group at the table, who all began to look at their phones for possible missed messages.

“Twilight apparently had a pretty good date with Timber,” Rainbow commented as she scanned over a few texts.

“He seems like a nice fella’.” Applejack smiled, setting her phone down after finishing reading every message waiting for her.

“Glad to see she is doing well with that.” Sunset smiled earnestly. A boyfriend might distract Twilight from her fear of not being accepted for a little while, or possibly even build her confidence which she definitely could use more of.

“Hopefully it doesn’t become like that one-time Rarity got a boyfriend. We never heard the end of that…” Applejack groaned as she remembered. Though it wasn't her first boyfriend, Applejack still remembered it.

“Do I even want to know?” Sunset’s brow raised with curiosity.

“No, you don’t.” Rainbow shook her head.

Nodding, Sunset chuckled a bit as she glanced back at her phone, re-reading an article she had opened up last night and read over multiple times at this point. She separated herself from the conversation between Applejack and Rainbow who began talking amongst themselves as she read the article for what felt like the hundredth time.

At 8:38 last night paramedics arrived at the scene of the Shimmer family estate to discover a grisly sight. Dusky Shimmer and his doting wife murdered. Police refused to comment on the details of the murder, however, reporters were able to see the police and fire department carrying out a young Sunset Shimmer, age 12, out of the estate.

The police have no suspects at this time, and they refused to divulge much information, but were willing to tell the press that they believe this crime might have been financially motivated, and they were not allowing the child to be exploited by the press. The police chief of the city had this to say. “She is a small child that had to witness the violent and brutal death of her parents. She is traumatized and has blocked the incident out from her head entirely as any child would. Sadly she could not provide us with any leads, but we are hard at work to bring the criminal who committed this heinous and vicious crime to justice. We ask that people respect this girl’s privacy and recognize that she is the victim in all of this.”

Reporters at the gate of the scene reported seeing Sunset having blood stains on her clothing when the police arrived, opening the possibility that she was in the room when her parents were attacked. There were no signs of a break-in and no signs of a getaway of any kind. Police have stated they are not finding much in the way of forensic evidence either.

While the pursuit for this murderer continues people cannot help but ask why this happened and what will be the fate of this innocent girl caught in the middle. Our thoughts and prayers go out to her and we hope she will find peace and get to see justice for her parents. As a community, an atrocity like this affects us all and reminds us of how we must stand together for justice.

Sunset’s concentration was broken as Applejack tapped her shoulder to get her attention. It was kind of eerie reading an article with her name in it anyway, so it was probably for the best that Applejack snapped her back to reality.

“Hey, what’s got y’all so enthralled?” Applejack asked as she peeked over at Sunset’s phone. A long sigh escaped her as she leaned back in her seat.

“Still thinking about the other Sunset?” She finally asked.

“It’s not every day that you learn there is an alternate version of you whose parents were killed in a violent murder,” Sunset replied with a frown.

“Yeah, I doubt I’d be able to stop thinking about that either…” Rainbow admitted.

Nodding, Sunset sighed.

“Well remember this ain’t Equestria, so things here don’t always play out like they do over there. Ah’ve never met the Equestrian counterparts of us, but Ah' am gonna safely guess they ain't exactly like us,” Applejack explained.

She had a point. After all, Sunset hadn’t been to Equestria in a long time and never met the pony versions of her friends. Princess Twilight had mentioned that they shared some similarities but that there were things that made them distinctly different as well.

“I feel bad for her…” Sunset admitted.

“Well 'course ya' do. Yer' a very empathetic person.” Applejack winked as she nudged her friend.

“I think it’s more than that. I think this is what the dreams are about. Ever since I got this necklace from our trip to Everfree, I started getting these dreams… I mean my power is supposed to be triggered by empathy, maybe it’s trying to tell me something…” Sunset explained.

“That is a pretty good theory, even I can’t argue with that.” Rainbow nodded in agreement.

“What're y’all gonna do then sugar cube?” Applejack asked with a raised brow before taking a long drink from a water bottle.

“No idea,” Sunset admitted sheepishly.

“Whatever you do, we’re behind you,” Rainbow exclaimed proudly.

Pulling up to her estate in her Audi, Sunset let out a long sigh and laid her head on the steering wheel for a moment, awkwardly pressing her glasses to her face. She sat there with her hands and head on the wheel as she took a deep inhale and exhaled after. The girl looked up and pulled down the mirror to check her makeup.

Looking back at her was a young woman with nearly flawless makeup, that to her surprise didn’t run or start to slide off during her day out. She detested leaving the estate and often kept a low profile when she did to avoid the potential press. She had just gotten back from a meeting with the school board regarding the donation she had made to the institute; nothing too major just signing some paperwork to make the donation official, lots of legal jargon to seal the deal.

Now that it was all over though, she was simply glad she wouldn’t have to deal with it any further. The stress involved in dealing with the school and the media was too much for her and reminded her quickly why she stayed at home a lot and did most of her shopping through Amazon.

Stepping out of the car, a gentle Summer breeze blew, making her dark grey dress adorned with skull patterns sway in the wind. Her exposed legs were a bit chilly from the breeze, but she stood there looking at the estate in front of her. Taking a step in her black high heels, she began walking up the steps to the entrance, letting herself in. Being that it was a weekend she sent her cleaning staff and maid home for the weekend so she could have solitude.

Making her way down the hall and finally, down a stairwell she found her way into her laboratory, flicking on a light.

Sunset pulled a chair closer to the computer in the room that was still on from earlier as she sat down and adjusted her dress to look more presentable. Turning on the feed to see herself on the screen she smiled for a second as she got a good look at her entire look. On the screen was a girl that she would definitely describe as attractive, which lifted her spirits.

She cleared her throat and pressed the record button before she began to speak.

“This is Sunset Shimmer again for data log number 980. I know I’ve been doing a lot in the past few days, but sometimes I feel this is the best way to get my thoughts down and out of my brain.” She ran a hand through her ponytail before continuing. “I finalized the donation to the institute, so now I can get back to focusing on my experiments, which seems to be all I really have these days…”

She frowned but forced a smile to the camera as she tried to make the subject a bit more light-hearted. “On the plus side though, I’d say I pulled off looking presentable at the meeting. If there were any boys there, I’m sure they would be all over me… Or if I actually had any boys in my life for that matter…” She chuckled and shook her head. “Sometimes I wonder why I care so much about how I look when I know no one is looking, but I guess sometimes it feels nice just to know you have a stellar appearance…”

The girl paused and stared at the screen before sighing and shaking her head. “Yeah I know, psychology. No point in denying it to myself, chances are I do it because that’s how mom was and it’s some kind of subconscious way of keeping her in my thoughts or something… I’m sure the tremendous amount of emotional and psychological damage has a lot to do with it… The same damage is probably also why I don’t have any boys in my life either,” she joked to herself out loud, trying to break the somber atmosphere.

“I guess the only thing left to do is continue my experiments now. It’s not like I have much else going for me, and solitude is the best friend of discovery after all. Necessity is the mother of all invention, and I feel like I am getting closer to answers… I’ve been having these strange dreams lately where I feel not like myself. I’m me, but I’m not me… it’s a strange feeling… however, they make me feel… Hopeful for some odd reason. I know I will hit this breakthrough soon, and after that answers will come rolling in. I can’t stop now when I’m so close…” Sunset placed her hand upon her heart as she felt a tiny pain inside of her, clawing at her heart as old memories tried to bubble up to the surface, only to be suppressed for yet another day.

“I’m not going to give in until I understand until I have answers. I promise that much, and I’ll keep looking until I can’t anymore. I know I’m setting myself up by looking under stones that might be best left unturned, but I can’t simply let this pass, I need to know…” She said.

With a sigh, she reached up to press the button before speaking, “Datalog end.”

With that, she ended the recording.

It was approaching the time when Sunset would consider retiring for the day, but she had agreed to meet Twilight at their usual diner spot for either a bite or a coffee tonight. Twilight had just gotten back from a movie date with Timber, so there was a good chance it would be mostly coffee as she suspected the girl probably filled up with popcorn, and while she could eat a good deal (Sunset had seen her eat before), she knew Twilight could fill up on snacks if she wasn’t paying attention.

Pulling up, Sunset stepped out of her car, jiggling the keys a bit to get them out of the socket. The car was old and definitely had some “quirks” but Sunset had gotten so used to them that she just knew how to work with them despite how frustrating they could be when she was in a hurry. Once she had to mess with it for a good hour to get it to start, making her extremely late for school that day, due to her stubbornness in trying to get it working rather than take the bus and worry about it when she got home.

Entering the diner, Sunset noted how no one else was there except Twilight and the staff. With a smile and a wave, her friend welcomed her before the wait staff was even able to recognize she had entered.

Returning the gesture, Sunset sat down and due to being the only guests, a waitress approached them quickly. Both girls ordered a coffee, however, Sunset requested far more sugar than Twilight.

When the cups arrived, Sunset started shredding packets of sugar open and unloading them into her cup. Twilight watched almost in shock as Sunset overloaded on sugar as she approached her twelfth packet. Her eyes met Sunset’s as Sunset placed a smirk on her own face. “Gotta make it as sweet as me, right?”

Twilight rolled her eyes at Sunset's joke. “Well… I can’t deny you are sweet sometimes.”

Sunset stuck her tongue out. “Oh please, I’m sweet all the time.”

Twilight crossed her arms and raised her brow.

“Okay, yeah I’m a big pain in the ass sometimes, but that’s why you love me,” Sunset admitted before finally taking a sip of the brew that was probably mostly sugar at this point.

Smacking her lips pleased, she set the cup down.

“How’d your date with Timber go?” She asked.

Twilight took her own cup in both of her hands and held it away from her after the steam from the liquid fogged up her glasses. Re-adjusting them and waiting until she could see again, she cautiously took a sip, keeping her hands wrapped around the cup.

“Quite well,” she responded.

“Finally give him the tongue action?” Sunset smirked.

Twilight spit her coffee out, caught off guard. Frantically she reached for napkins to clean up the mess she had just made, Sunset merely burst out laughing as she leaned back in her seat, her head thrown back. She found it difficult to breathe she was laughing so hard.

“Holy crap, Sunset!” Twilight protested, finally cleaning up the coffee and wiping her lip.

“Oh man! Your reaction! I can’t even!” Sunset managed to get out between bouts of laughter.

“I seriously can’t wait until you get a boyfriend so I can bust your chops…” Twilight grumbled.

Wiping tears from her eyes, Sunset managed to control her laughter finally as she leaned back onto the table. She took another sip of her sweet coffee before answering, “you’ll be waiting a while, I mean I’m about as alluring as a wet towel.”

“What makes you think that?” Twilight asked a bit concerned.

“Twilight, for starters the whole pony from an alternate universe thing is probably a huge detractor. That and I don’t exactly have the best personality,” Sunset explained.

“You’re pretty at least though.” She didn’t even bother denying either of Sunset’s points.

“Am I?” Sunset raised a brow.

“Sure. I would kill for your figure. Long legs, curvy r-“ Twilight cut herself off and blushed as she saw a smirk growing on Sunset’s face, knowing the perverted thoughts were already racing through her head. She should have seen this was a setup long before she started talking, but her naivety caught the better of her.

“Curvy what?” Sunset leaned in mischievously.

“Forget it.” Twilight took a long swig of her coffee, partially burning her tongue.

“Now I’m starting to question your sexuality.” Sunset smirked.

“A girl can notice another girl looks good without it being a lesbian thing you know,” Twilight explained.

“Mhm…” Sunset nodded before taking another sip.

Sunset enjoyed their banter. It was a pretty big steeple of their friendship, but both of them knew it was in good fun, and they were closer than any of their other friends. They both knew what it was like to be outcasts, to not have friends and not really know how to make them either.

The major difference between the two though was their upbringing. Twilight came from a very loving and caring home with family, privilege and much more. Sunset had been alone since she arrived in this world, her parents probably didn’t even have a clue where she was. She had no support network outside of her friends, and when she attended the Canterlot school of magic under Princess Celestia’s tutelage, she more or less lost contact with her parents for some odd years. They more than likely didn’t even know if she was alive or dead.

Her mind turned back to the other Sunset in this world. She kept finding herself thinking about her and her situation. Two murdered parents, a mystery that remained unsolved to this very day. She must have been traumatized.

Twilight could see her friend was deep in thought about something and finally spoke up, “something wrong?”

“Just thinking…” Sunset said absentmindedly.

“About the other Sunset?” Twilight asked.

Looking up at her, Sunset could see concerned eyes behind Twilight’s glasses. She clearly knew that Sunset couldn’t get the other Sunset off of her mind since she discovered her existence.

“Yeah…” She admitted.

Twilight nodded and set her cup down.

“I will admit what she’s been through is sad, it must be hard for you to know there is another version of yourself who is suffering so much…” Twilight tried to sound as understanding as she could.

“It is, that’s why I’ve made a decision,” Sunset spoke.

“Oh? What’s that?” Twilight tilted her head slightly.

Placing both of her hands on the table, Sunset leaned in and spoke in a quiet tone, “I have to meet her.”

Twilight blinked a few times and rubbed her ear to make sure she heard the girl correctly. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? I mean how do you think she’s going to react that an alternate universe version of herself is here?”

Sunset shrugged. “Guess we’ll find out.”

Twilight shook her head. “How do you even plan on meeting her? You heard the news, she’s a recluse, never comes out for anything. She doesn’t let anyone into her estate either.”

With another shrug, Sunset leaned back in her seat and picked her coffee cup up and took a long sip. “Don’t know. But I have to try.”

“Why?” Twilight asked.

“My dreams have to mean something. Empathy is supposed to be my thing according to this necklace.” Sunset tapped the necklace that she had acquired after their trip to Camp Everfree. “If that’s the case then I can’t just ignore it, I can’t ignore another version of myself suffering, what if she needs help? I might be one of the few people that could help her.”

Twilight smiled at Sunset’s kindness. “Maybe you are sweeter than I give you credit for… It’s very kind of you to go out of your way for a stranger like that.”

“We may be strangers, but we share a very special and unique bond clearly. The strings that tie us together may not be very tight strings, but they are still there nonetheless.” Sunset explained.

With a nod, Twilight sat up. “Well, I’ll support you no matter what you do. If your dreams mean anything, it’s at least worth looking into. I mean she sounds like she’s hurting.”

“Thank you, Twilight… Your support means a lot to me.” Sunset reached over the table and placed her hand atop of Twilight’s.

Her nerdy friend adjusted her glasses and smiled. “Don’t forget that I owe a lot to you.”

School was ending, and Sunset had finally finished up her studies for the day and was eager just to be away from the student body. After a long day of putting up with insufferable young teens, Sunset remembered how annoying school was back home in Equestria. The most annoying part of school was always the other students.

This place was no exception either, as she loathed most of the kids in this school, and they seemed to loathe her back. Nothing had changed in her life, that much was certain.

Making her way down the hall a familiar group of girls stopped her path. With an annoyed sigh, Sunset adjusted her backpack as she approached and gave an annoyed expression. “Let me through, Vanilla. I don’t have time for this.”

Vanilla and her friends snickered and chuckled as Vanilla did a mocking impression of Sunset. “What’s the hurry? Circus need their freak show back?”

Sunset rolled her eyes. “Nah, I just need to get back to the store so I can help them stock up the booze. See your mother just made a visit and cleaned the place out.”

Vanilla’s expression turned to almost pure rage in a matter of a second. “What did you say?”

Sunset finally having had enough of this nonsense took her bag off and set it aside. “What are you going to do, Vanilla? Run home to your drunk of a mother and tell her I was mean to you?”

Vanilla growled and her friends stepped in closer.

“Take that back,” she threatened.

“You know what… Screw this…” Sunset sighed.

Quickly she balled her hand into a fist and took a vicious swing, clouting Vanilla clear in the jaw. The girl staggered backward gripping her jaw and wiping blood from her lip. Her two friends closed in, one taking a swing, only for Sunset to duck and deliver a kick square in one’s abdomen and then a roundhouse kick to the other’s jaw, pushing both of them back.

Vanilla recovered from the punch and stood up. “Oh you’re dead!” she hissed.

Sunset took a stance ready for her, and when Vanilla came charging, Sunset weaved out of the way and tripped the girl. As Vanilla fell, Sunset caught her by her hair and jumped on her back with her knees thrusting into her spine, pulling her hair as she pinned her to the floor.

Vanilla screeched in pain as Sunset held her down. “Your mommy going to save you now? Huh? What’s wrong? Bit off more than you can chew?” Sunset tormented.

The fight ended abruptly though as an older voice called down the hall, “that is enough. Both of you, my office.”

Sunset looked up to see a middle-aged woman with a scowl on her face. Tapping her foot, she definitely came off as very annoyed. It was Principal Celestia.

“Crap…” Sunset thought out loud.

After a long lecture on how the school has a zero-tolerance policy on fighting and issuing three days detention for the two girls starting tomorrow, the principal excused Vanilla and told her to head home. With a grunt, she stood up and grabbed her bag before exiting, not thrilled that Celestia didn’t see her side of the story more, such as the part where Sunset made a crack about her mom being an alcoholic.

Grumbling she left the room. Sunset stood to follow her, but the principal gestured for her to sit back down. “I’m not done with you yet.”

Sunset sighed and planted herself back in her chair as she tried to avoid the intense stare of the middle-aged woman, who had an expression of both annoyance and concern. It was difficult to read Celestia even when Sunset was trying her very best. Other students in the school over time had become far easier for her to read, but not Celestia, she remained an enigma.

“Miss Shimmer, I’m very concerned about your behavior since you arrived at this school…” she began.

“Sorry, won’t happen again…” Sunset rattled out, not even trying to sound sincere, hoping she could just say all the right things to get out of trouble.

“Sunset…” Celestia leaned in.

The young teen glanced over at her and could see she had grown more to look like she was concerned rather than angry.

“I know you’re having a hard time fitting in around here, but I don’t think the path you’re going down is healthy for you. You’ve been in quite a few fights lately, and I am getting reports of you bullying other students,” Celestia said.

“Well, I guess you will have to call my home and make my family punish me.” Sunset smirked, knowing that the number on her record was her own cellphone. Whenever she got a call about something at school she just put on a deeper voice and pretended to be her own mother.

“Yes… About that…” Celestia’s eyes narrowed, clearly showing she was suspicious.

She pulled a file up onto the table and flipped through it. Placing a pair of reading glasses upon her face, she examined the file. “There are a few discrepancies in your file…”

A cold sweat quickly formed on Sunset’s neck. She never anticipated Celestia unraveling any of her convoluted lies to get into school in the first place.

“Such as?” Sunset panicked.

“Well, I noticed your address… Isn’t a real place. I checked that street and there is no house number 98, the street stops at 92…” Celestia said, looking up from her glasses at Sunset hoping for an explanation.

“Oh uh…” Sunset rubbed her neck, unsure of how to lie her way out of this one. “We’re uh… Getting remodeled…”

Celestia shook her head. “I know the number on record isn’t your parents, it’s your own. I’m not stupid.”

Crap.

“I uh… Share a phone with my mom…” She attempted to lie.

“Really, that’s interesting and why didn’t your parents show up to the open house parent-teacher night?” Celestia asked, knowing that Sunset was going to continue to attempt and pull wool over her eyes.

“Ummm… Sick?” She didn’t sound too sure with her answer.

“Both of them?” Celestia raised a brow.

“Our family gets sick really easy. One of us gets sick and we’re all sick, I had a pretty bad head cold that night too.” Sunset started to feel a bit more confident with her lies now that she was on a roll.

“Sunset… I know you don’t have parents. I don’t know what exactly is going on, but I know you are not being 100% honest with me about your situation here…” Celestia said.

Sunset sighed and leaned back in her chair. “So now what? Are you going to snitch on me? I’m in huge trouble, right? Probably going to call child protective services or something, I read about that stuff, I know what happens from here…”

Sunset since she arrived read up on the laws of this world, realizing quickly she needed to be a step ahead of them. It wasn’t legal for a girl her age to live by herself with no parent. If she was caught she knew they’d put her in a foster home somewhere, and then all the talk about how she lacked any kind of ID or birth certificate would surface.

Celestia sighed and shook her head. “Don’t mistake my kindness for weakness here, but I am not going to reveal any of this information to anyone. This stays between us.”

Sunset blinked, was the principal actually sticking her neck out for her? Her, Sunset Shimmer? One of the biggest troublemakers in the school.

“Huh… Why?”

Celestia smiled. “While I don’t approve of your behavior, I happen to know what happens with child protective services… I don’t wish that upon you. I ask you to try and stay out of trouble, but I’ll keep your secret.”

“T-thank you…” Sunset bowed.

That was the first time someone in this world had actually gone out of their way to be nice to her.

Hey! It's been a crazy week. Super special thanks to Applety for the artwork. She actually redid these a few times to get them up to par. I owe her a lot, and she's been super dedicated to getting these done on time to meet the Friday deadlines, so do show a bit of love to her. Check out her page, and her story Honest Diamonds. She's working on other stuff, but I won't spoil it.

So from here on out I'm going to use these author's notes to talk about stuff that went into the making of this story every week!

So I actually keep a notebook where I have outlined every chapter. Originally this story was only going to be one act, but I sort of expanded the idea realizing I could actually tell quite a large story overall.