Sunset pulled up short at Twilight’s house, bike braking more sharply than normal—there was simply no room in the driveway for her motorcycle. In addition to both Velvet and Night Light’s cars, there were two other vehicles parked there: a small, cheerful sky blue hybrid with its back end covered in bumper-stickers and band logos, and a hulking, dour police cruiser. The former unicorn’s stomach dropped to her toes at the sight of the cop car, because seeing one parked in a driveway where it didn’t belong was almost universally a sign of bad news. Throwing down the kickstand, she shoved her helmet into the storage, before breaking into an all out sprint for the door. Her heart pounded in her ears as panic and fear sent ice into her veins as she rang the doorbell, desperately needing to find out if Twilight was okay. Visions of what could have happened danced in her mind’s eye, each worse than the last, her whole body trembling during a wait that seemed to last for an eternity.

She could hear Spike barking, and the door swung open to reveal her happily smiling friend. Before Twilight could even get out a greeting, Sunset had lunged forward to envelop her in a bone-crushing hug, tucking her face into the shorter girl’s neck, reassuring her senses that everything was alright. “Sparky…” she breathed in relief. “You’re okay…” For those few moments while her heart rate decreased to a more normal pace, nothing else mattered.

“Of course I am, Sunset. What’s wrong?” Twilight rubbed her back soothingly, relaxing into the embrace, her smile becoming a concerned frown.

“There’s a cop parked in your driveway. I thought something had happened.” In a barely audible whisper, the redhead added, “I was afraid…”

The information registered with Twilight and she squeezed Sunset tighter for a moment. “That’s Shining Armor’s car—my brother? I know I’ve mentioned him before. I’m sorry if I forgot to mention he’s a police officer—I didn’t mean for it to scare you…”

Sunset let her face rest against Twilight’s neck a little longer, the position soothing her rattled nerves. “…Not used to associating police with things other than trouble and disaster, Sparky. I panicked a little.”

Her fingers gripped Sunset’s shoulders more firmly, as if to make sure the taller girl could register that she was really there and intact. “I promise I’m alright, Sunny. I’m here, I’m not hurt. Nothing bad has happened to me.” As Sunset pulled back, arms loosening, Twilight gave her a smile. “He and Cady are here for dinner and movies with us tonight. Come meet them?”

Releasing the dark haired girl, Sunset shed her boots and let herself be led into the living room by the wrist, her friend practically bouncing in her excitement. Night Light waved a greeting from his favorite overstuffed armchair, as if he hadn’t seen her the morning after Halloween, just a few days prior. “Sunset! I hope you like science fiction—that’s what’s on the list for tonight’s movies. We’ve got all the classics, and some of the new stuff as well.”

She gave a slight wave back, still getting used to the way Twilight’s parents treated her like a long standing friend of the family instead of just ‘their daughter’s new friend.’ “…I like it okay—as long as it’s not…horror science fiction.” A grimace crossed her face. “…someone tried to show me Alien once. It…made me sick, and I left early.”

He nodded in understanding. “Horror isn’t for everyone—I’m not much of a fan of the slasher side of the genre, but I do enjoy a good suspense film. We’ll try and save the horror films for when you can’t make it to movie night, how about that?”

The simple courtesy directed at her caught her by surprise, though she mused that it probably shouldn’t anymore. “…I…um…I’d appreciate that very much, sir…thank you…”

A tug on her arm from Twilight turned her attention to the sofa and the two new people sitting there. The first was a pale skinned, blue haired young man with enough similarities in facial structure and features to the other members of the household that there was no denying he was related to them. Even seated, he carried a disciplined, discerning air, which compounded with the crisply pressed uniform—gun thankfully absent—brought Sunset the familiar sense of trepidation she always felt when she was too close to any cops.The second was a woman close to his age, her skin a happy pink that blended well with tricolored hair worn back in a low ponytail. She was dressed much more casually, but the former bully recognized someone who could manage to make grungy, stained clothing full of holes look like a Gala ballgown from charisma alone. Something about the woman was familiar, and it gnawed at her unpleasantly.

“Guys, this is Sunset Shimmer, my friend! Sunny, that’s my brother, Shining Armor, and this is Cadence—she’s the one I told you about—my brother’s girlfriend who used to be my babysitter.”

It took almost everything in her power to avoid showing the myriad of emotions going through her on her face, and what was left went to holding her body still. Shining Armor gave her a long, appraising stare, taking in her appearance: worn jeans with frayed edges on the legs and a hole in one knee she’d patched herself, an older shirt with her cutie mark on the front, and the battered leather jacket she loved so much and couldn’t bring herself to part with, despite it having seen significantly better days, even before she had turned into a monster and been punched in the face with a magical rainbow. It was an appraisal she was familiar with, authority figures and law enforcement taking in her appearance and deciding if she was there to cause trouble or not, and Sunset rubbed her elbow nervously with one hand. “...um...hi?” she offered in a tiny voice, managing to keep her tone level.

The stern face gave way to a boyish grin, one that helped ease some of her paranoia. “So you’re my little sister’s new best friend? She talks about you all the time!” His eyes danced with humor. “Twily also says you have great taste in video games, which means we will have to compare notes sometime—especially with RPGs!”

Twilight giggled. “My brother is kind of a dork,” she stage whispered to Sunset.

Shining rolled his eyes at his sister. “You are seriously not one to talk,” he retorted, which soon became good-natured bickering between the two.

This left Sunset face to face with Cadence, the name sending a jarring jolt through her heart, one that still felt like an icy stab wound even after more than a decade.

“Sunset? Could you come here? I wanted you to meet someone,” Celestia called.

Sunset went trotting in the direction of the voice. It was only midafternoon, and if the Princess was here, that suggested that Day Court had been canceled. Maybe Celestia would have dinner with her tonight! “Yes, Princess Celestia?” she chirped cheerfully, smiling up at her teacher.

The alicorn mare nudged a form a little smaller than Sunset’s awkward adolescent body forward with one wing, and the unicorn got her first look at a pink filly who looked incredibly shy and nervous, her wings fidgeting restlessly, and her bangs falling down to cover her eyes despite the horn that parted her forelock.

Wait. Blue-green eyes widened as Sunset Shimmer realized she was looking at an alicorn filly, barely old enough to have earned the crystalline blue heart plastered on her flank. A million questions were born, grew old, and died on her muzzle, and she looked back to Celestia, ears akimbo in her confusion.

Celestia smiled warmly at her. “Little sun, I want you to meet Mi Amore Cadenza, though I understand she prefers Cadence?” The pink filly nodded, seeming a bit overwhelmed by everything. “Her Ascension was a bit of a surprise, and she’s going to be staying in the palace with us for a while. I thought maybe you could help me with teaching her how to use her magic, since she is new to having a horn.”

Confusion gave way to pride that Celestia thought she was good enough at magic to help a brand new alicorn learn to use unicorn magic. “I’d be happy to, Princess!”

Old, bitter pain rose like bile in her throat, fighting against shame. Her short stint as Cadenza’s magic tutor had ended the first time the pink alicorn had referred to the Princess as 'Auntie' and Sunset had learned that she’d been adopted as family by Celestia. She had absolutely lost her temper, screaming hateful, ugly things in the face of the terrified younger filly, her magic surging in a hellish storm that might’ve started a dangerous fire in the palace and killed them both if Celestia hadn’t intervened.

She should have recognized the name before, realized that if Celestia and Twilight Sparkle had human counterparts, then it was equally likely that others did too. Especially someone as well loved as the Princess of Love, the pink pegasus who’d gotten everything Sunset ever wanted hoofed over on a gilded platter. She had spent years hating Cadenza with a passion that was almost blinding—something she hadn’t mentioned to Vice Principal Luna. Even thinking about her made Sunset burn was inside, her guts filled with molten tar. Like Princess Twilight, Cadenza had been the target of her anger, hate, and frustration...and she hadn’t deserved it at all.

Shame won out over loathing when that tiny voice in the corner of her mind spoke up, for once not stupid or traitorous.

—This isn’t Cadenza. This woman is just a human who has never wronged you, and probably doesn’t even know Celestia.—

Sunset couldn’t breathe, and she cast a desperate, pained glance around the room before excusing herself to the bathroom in a rush, cutting introductions short.

Cadence wasn’t a fool; for all her public radio and Internet personality as the cheerful and bubbly 'Love Goddess,' she was astute when it came to reading people. So when Sunset had fled the room in what looked like the start of a panic attack, Twilight following after her only a few seconds later, she excused herself to the kitchen to talk to Twilight Velvet.

“I just met Sunset,” she said without preamble in a quiet voice.

Velvet glanced her way as she closed the oven. “And?”

“She’s in the bathroom now—she looked like she was about to have a heart attack when she saw us. I’ve not had someone have such an adverse reaction to talking to me in a long time.” She made a thoughtful sound, chewing on her lip. “Before that, I could see Twily answer the door. Sunset came in looking about to faint, and latched onto her like she was afraid Twilight would vanish into smoke.” Cadence frowned at Velvet. “I know you had told us Twily made a new friend, but you didn’t warn us about any of this...what is going on with her?”

Twilight Velvet exhaled, concern on her face. “Night and I aren’t sure, dear. Twilight hasn’t been overly forthcoming, but we think that Sunset doesn’t come from the best home. She doesn’t seem to know how to respond to kindness, and I’ve caught the implication that Twilight is her first and only friend. It’s one of the reasons why we’re encouraging Twily to have her over as much as possible.” She stirred a pot on the stove. “They seem to have bonded, and she’s all Twilight talks about these days—I keep having to remind her to go to bed at night because they get caught up in messaging each other, and just the other day she was working on some sort of blueprint to ‘show Sunset.’” The older woman shook her head. “As near as I can tell, the attachment is mutual—Sunset has been over here just about every weekend, and when she isn’t, she has Twilight over to her house, or they are out somewhere. Whenever they’re together, she follows Twilight around like a duckling trailing its mother.”

That made her brows furrow. “That...sounds a little extreme—are you sure that’s entirely healthy?”

Velvet patted her hand. “I think it’s going to be alright, sweetheart. You know how anxious Twilight has been the last year or two? Ever since she started spending time with Sunset, her anxiety levels have dropped significantly. I talked with Dr. Soft-Spoken earlier this week, and she’s actually thrilled with Twilight’s improvement in such a short time. She recommended we continue to encourage their friendship. She thinks that Sunset’s own lack of social relationships puts Twily in a unique position of being the more socially aware in their friendship, something that’s never happened to her before. That it’s boosting her self confidence, and allowing her to exercise the social skills she’s learned.”

“I never thought about it that way—I just worry about my little Ladybug, even if she’s not so little anymore,” Cadence admitted. “She’s the only sister I’ve ever had.” Then she tapped her chin with one finger in thought. “I’ll try to be gentle around Sunset, and I’ll make sure Shiny doesn’t scare her too badly. Kids from bad homes like you are suggesting don’t usually like anyone in a uniform. Is she spending the night?”

Velvet nodded and handed her the basket of rolls to take to the table. “That's the plan, and then she and Twilight are heading to the museum tomorrow. Some sort of new space exhibit, I think.”

“Did they need a ride? Maybe I can offer to take them. I have to run errands downtown anyway.”

The older woman looked somewhat relieved. “Would you? I’m sure they were planning on riding that two wheeled deathtrap Sunset uses, but I really don’t want them riding in weekend traffic downtown. That’s a lot more dangerous than neighborhood streets, even for an experienced rider.”

Laughing, the young woman carried the rolls to the dining room. “I’ll see what I can do!”

Shining Armor watched his sister follow after her friend’s abrupt departure, as well as Cadence’s disappearance into the kitchen. Once he was sure they were all out of earshot, he turned towards his father. “Alright, Dad. Spill. What’s going on?”

Night Light rubbed his face. “With Sunset? What do your instincts tell you, son?”

He narrowed his eyes sharply, sinking into ‘Investigative Cop Mode,’ and started ticking off his observations on his fingers. “Her clothes are pretty worn out, first of all, and its not the wear and tear of ‘what’s fashionable’ at the moment. It’s real distress, from clothing worn out because its been worn often for a long time. Her jacket needs to be replaced, badly—even from here I could see the repairs that have been done on it, and the level of repairs done suggest a sentimental attachment to the coat more than its ability to keep her warm in winter. She showed up on a motorcycle—if that was her that pulled up outside the house—or she walked here, which means no one dropped her off. She seems healthy and fed—she’s not overly thin or overly heavy, and I didn’t see any indicators of drug use: no track marks, no sunken cheeks or odd skin texture, no discoloration to her nails and hands, no odor of cigarettes or pot, and her eyes were clear.” Shining took a breath. “That despite all the apparent signs that she’s a good kid who just happens to wear the ‘leather-clad badass’ look, she was legitimately afraid of me...and she was half expecting some sort negative judgment from me. What’s going on with her? I’ve seen hardened runaways on the street that were less wary of me.”

“We aren’t sure. Your sister hasn’t said, and we want Sunset to feel like she’s safe here. That way if something bad is going on, she’ll tell us.” He rubbed his face again, taking off his glasses. “We haven’t seen any bruises or marks that suggest physical abuse, and I feel like Twilight wouldn’t conceal that from us if there were any. I’m not really sure what is going on. Just watch her. Sometimes, Sunset seems extremely confident and self assured, but then other times she’s like a much younger girl, trying to wrap her brain around basic human kindness.”

Shining frowned in thought, and his father spoke again. “I know what you’re thinking, son, but for now, don’t go charging off like the noble hero. We don’t have enough data, only a few weekends of observation and a hypothesis, and nothing to actually confirm anything bad is happening. It might also damage the sense of trust and safety we’re trying to build here if you go digging into her home life.”

His father was, sadly, right, and he leaned back. “I’ll leave it be for now, Dad, but the instant you guys learn something I can use, let me know. I hate when kids are being hurt, and with how much Twily talks about her, anything that hurts Sunset is going to upset my little sister.”

So, I'm trying hard to do justice to Twilight's immediate family, which is difficult when we have very little to go off of for even regular FiM. A lot of what I do with Twilight Velvet and Night Light is entirely based off of the few appearances they do have and what I can infer from what we do see. I try to take that framework and expand on it from my own experiences and observations of parent-child dynamics that line up well with the observed personalities.

Shining is the one I've had to do some work with. I kinda feel like he gets the short end of the stick in both canon and fanon--though I suspect part of that is because FiM is presented predominantly from Twilight's perspective, and to her, he IS her goofy but lovable brother. So I tried to get out of that headspace. Pony Shining is not just a palace guard when we meet him, he's "Captain of the Royal Guard." That's not a small position, and an incompetent dunce would never be appointed to such a job. He's also shown to be a pretty powerful spellcaster in his own right, though his specialty seems to be barriers. He might not be as smart or naturally gifted as his sister, but he's not a drooling moron. Human Shiny gets even less of an appearance, so we know even less there. Like...most people...I made him a cop--not because its a close analog for his pony counterpart, but because i felt like the "Protect and Serve" (there are a million variations of police mottos, but the idea at its core is often the same), as well as the way law enforcement careers often appeal to those with a sense of justice, integrity, and willingness to stand tall against the monsters of the world would be fitting for a character whose name is pretty synonymous with a "Lawful Good character alignment."

And no. Unlike most stories I've read where he goes all "overprotective big brother", he won't be giving Sunny the stink-eye much at all. I have other things planned.

Cadence being involved with radio is a nod to Albinocorn's version of Cadence. I never could get behind her as an admin at a school, helpless under Cinch. It...just doesn't jive with the Cadence we see in Magic Pony Land. Cadence is shown to have incredible grit and a strong sense to jump in to protect those she cares about, as well as being styled as a "Princess of Love." (seriously, after being held hostage in a dark cave, with no food or water for who knows how many days, her first instinct was to save Shining from Chrysalis. That's not a weak person/pony. That takes strength of character. And it repeats with her practically killing herself to protect the Crystal Empire from Sombra, draining her magic almost dry, exhausting herself beyond measure.)

I've seen several stories that do have her in different jobs, but the idea of her working for a local radio station appealed, especially if you bring it up to modern standards where a lot of minor celebrity personalities also have a presence on the internet. In this case, that's what Cady does. She's part of a very active local radio station, one that does all kinds of community events and outreach, while also acting as a "niche Internet celebrity" who advocates things like healthy relationships, body positivity, sexual health and awareness, positive talks about sexuality, and of course, advocates against things like abuse and domestic violence. All things that spread love and positivity in her local sphere, in a way she can be passionate about.

It's also part of a somewhat entertaining side story that I'm working on about Cadence and Shining Armor's experiences at college. Let's just say...it was colorful.