Crystal Prep Academy had a reputation for a lot of things. It was a school for the elite, a place where the best of the best in society sent their offspring. It was a place where every student was to strive to be the best, to compete with all the others for academic standing. Most of its students were picked up by chauffeurs, the rest either had their own vehicles paid for by their parents or lived within walking distance, so the unfamiliar rumble of a motorcycle caught everyone’s attention.

It was a sweet ride, a sleek, well maintained vehicle with a custom paint job in shades of red that made it look like it had captured fire in the frame. It rumbled like a beast, sliding into a parking space out in front of the school, the engine ramping down to a thrumming purr. More than one young man with an interest in motor vehicles found themselves staring at the bike, taking in its unique design.

For the bulk of the students leaving the school, though, it was the rider that drew their eyes. Curvaceous, with long legs that the comfortable jeans did nothing to hide, the figure moved with an easy confidence as she parked the machine and dropped the kickstand. With the fluid grace of a tigress, the rider swung off the bike, giving anyone in the right place a view of her denim clad backside. Amber skinned hands stretched upwards to grab her helmet and pull it off, the owner shaking out a mane of wavy, red and gold hair. Coupled with a leather jacket, she oozed the vibe of a ‘sexy bad girl,’ one that all of those watching were suddenly insanely curious about.

She set her helmet on the seat, opening up the bike’s storage to retrieve a second helmet when Blueblood, a city Councilman’s son, came up behind her with every intent on getting her number, if not a date. The other boys ground their teeth—the insufferable blond was wealthy and very few girls said no to a first date, even if most never said yes to a second. Blueblood’s delivery and charming smile were on point, but the rider merely chuckled and patted the second helmet, shaking her head.

Blue came storming back to his friends. “Apparently,” he sneered, “she’s here to pick up a friend.”

A ripple of curiosity spread through the collection of students. Who was this girl and who at school could she possibly be here to retrieve? Jealousy and speculation ran through the crowd as the mystery rider got back on her bike, helmets stacked in her lap as she took out her phone.

The tension rose as no one stepped forward for several minutes, the redhead ignoring the well dressed children of the rich and famous to tap away on her phone. And then someone gave an excited call from the doors of the school, garnering the rider’s attention and a smile all at once.

“You made it!”

With an amount of coordination that bordered on unholy, the student body turned to see the one student most of them despised: Twilight Sparkle, certified genius prodigy, top student in every academic area of the school, and huge, socially awkward nerd who did everyone a favor by not speaking to them anymore. Her face was lit up with joy, and she was already jogging towards the bike. The students parted away from her slightly, sheer confusion overriding their normal inclination to shoulder the girl about roughly.

About half of them expected the rider to give the dorky girl with glasses the brush off, only to gape when she pressed the purple helmet into Twilight’s hands. “Get on, nerd,” she teased, putting her own helmet back on, scooting forward so Twilight could get on behind her, the motion of mounting the bike and wrapping her arms around the redhead’s waist practiced enough that this clearly wasn't the nerdy student’s first ride.

A large portion of Crystal Prep’s population was left with their mouths hanging open as the bike and its rider peeled out, accompanied by the most unpopular girl in school. Gossip started soon after...what possible reason could someone like dorky Twilight Sparkle have for being associated with someone like that?

Twilight let out a soft moan under her, fists gripping the back of the sofa tightly. “Sunny…” she mewled, pleading for more, unable to do much more than that with the way she was kneeling on the cushions, trapped between the piece of furniture and her girlfriend’s body.

The former unicorn pressed affectionately against her back, lips trailing down the back of her neck and over her shoulder in intimate kisses. Their heated kissing had left most of Twilight’s Crystal Prep uniform scattered on the floor, from the nerdy looking vest hanging off the edge of the coffee table, to the short trail of shoes and socks leading away from the front door, to the tie that was half undone that Sunset was grasping in one hand so she could tug on it any time she wanted to get Twilight to shift her position. It paired well with the mostly unbuttoned dress shirt and pretty bra that stood out against lavender skin…

She curled her arm around the smaller girl’s frame burying her face in dark hair. “…Sparky…” she breathed out in response, savoring the sensation of skin on skin. Sunset let out a breathy whicker, her nerves buzzing as her fingers trailed down her girlfriend’s stomach to tease along the waistband of her skirt, testing both of their reactions now that she done her best to lock away what she now suspected was her inner demon.

Mercifully, her desire for Twilight seemed to be her own, a hot and pulsing need to twine their bodies together and explore with hands and lips and fingertips, something she gave into as she let go of the tie to run a hand over the curve of the other girl’s rear, squeezing the soft flesh as she did. Twilight pressed back into the touch, raising herself up more fully on her knees and arching her body against Sunset with another moan…cementing the idea that her girlfriend was no less eager a participant than she had been before.

—Of course she is. You can't encourage something that isn't there in the first place, horn-head,— came the sarcastic bite from the cage of magic and willpower she’d formed around her personal tormentor. —You're good, but not that good.—

Sunset did her best to ignore the taunts, but the voice was never far from her mind. As much as she could tease and play with Twilight, she had to make sure she kept her own head or risk it breaking out of her control. It was hard—the memory of what Twilight had made her feel just a few days earlier on the very same sofa danced like a ghost across her nerve endings, a wispy song that beckoned with the promise of how good it would be…the building of tension from some unexplainable, indefinable place inside her, little flames and shivers wracking her…culminating in what felt like her very soul shattering apart and collapsing back in on itself.

There was no way she could ensure the demon stayed suppressed if that happened. Though to be fair, Sunset was not sure how often she wanted to experience that moment of communion with the color of Eternity—which turned out to be a pleasing mix of blues and purples…funny how that worked out, wasn't it? The way it left her energized and sated and tingling all over was heady, and the redhead was afraid she’d become addicted to it.

—Looks like Sparky might already be addicted.—

Blue-green eyes took in the way Twilight had tossed her head back, glasses askew and face locked in a panting, open mouthed expression of pleasure and begrudgingly admitted that the stupid voice may have had a point, much as she hated conceding even that much. Her hand slid to where Twilight was pleading for it to go, and for a little while, Sunset found herself ignoring the voice in favor of something much more important.

The bike made noise as she whipped it into a space as close to Crystal Prep as she could without getting close enough to trigger the wards. It was rough, bailing out of school to do this so she could be there before Twilight exited the building. Thank the sun, moon, and stars for Miss Luna, and the pass she wrote to get her out of art ten minutes early for the foreseeable future. This was a little more important than still life techniques.

—Sparky would have opinions on you deciding that finger practice is more important than your classes.—

Exhaling an annoyed sigh, Sunset rubbed the bridge of her nose. She had been referring to her reconnaissance of the area full of foul magic, and her attempts to determine if there was a mind behind it or just an unlucky location.

At this, the sarcastic voice in her head scoffed derisively. —There’s no need for this then. The answer is yes, there's a mastermind, and Abacus Cinch or whatever it calls itself is so much its little bitch that it's more bowlegged than a knock-kneed minotaur sky-pirate with tinnitus and vertigo.— A long pause made Sunset think the voice was done, but then it added, —Us being here is going to make it mad if it sees us, after what happened last week.—

Savage glee burned strong enough that Sunset felt her lips fight the urge to smirk. Good. If there was someone using Cinch like a puppet, she hoped they got mad enough to make mistakes. That had always been her undoing, so it would be nice to see the shoe on the other hoof for once. This whole school offended her on some deep seeded level, and not for the first time since she’d breached its wards did the former unicorn give serious consideration to how to get away with burning the whole campus to cinders, crooked stone buildings with their freaky angles and all.

If she could use her unicorn magic, it would be all too easy. She’d have to modify a spell of course…Maybe her Pirouetting Pyromantic Protoform spell? That had been her Magus project for Spell Construction…and earned her the certs towards what she had hoped might eventually be an Archmagus title in Elemental Mastery. It was certainly big enough and powerful enough to spread over the campus on a weekend when most of the school was empty except for the boarding students, and if she started with the far corner of the property, people could evacuate with plenty of time. She’d have to tweak the spell to make it hot enough to melt metal and stone though. Maybe borrow from the welding spell used by artificers? Though she would have to figure out how to invert the power flow to fill the dancing flame shapes rather than compress and concentrate the flame to a tiny point…without accidentally creating a solar flare or nuke. And that wasn't even getting into what shape she’d let the flames take. Dragons, maybe? Or a phoenix, to honor Philomena?

—A hound, in purple. Spike would love the chance to get at the place that makes Sparky so miserable. Also, look alive. Sleaze alert.—

Jerking herself out of her musings, Sunset realized the voice was right. A presence was getting too close for comfort, and she twisted to catch a muscular arm by the wrist as it descended towards her shoulder. The athletic boy was taller than she would have been if she was standing, so she had to look up at him from her bike seat. The uniform shirt he wore was probably a size too small on purpose, giving the almost-assuredly-a-senior the appearance of being so muscular he was straining the seams of his clothing every time he flexed. The redhead held his arm firmly despite that, and pushed against his strength to get him to take a step back.

“Whoa! No need for hostility, beautiful! Just wanted to ask you a question.” He held up his hands as she let go, as if to sue for peace.

One eyebrow arched upwards. “Talking doesn't require touching,” she pointed out, then sighed internally. She had a pretty good idea of what he wanted to ask her, but a tiny part of her hoped it would be something else. Like where she got her bike painted, or where she bought her jacket. “If you can handle asking without bringing your hands into it, then go ahead, ask your question.” Sunset wanted to tell him to go leap into a nest of sandmirks, but she was better about coming off angry and bitchy out of the gate these days.

“So…I was wondering if you have a boyfriend…” He glanced away, and she could see him glancing at a group of what was probably his friends.

Another sigh escaped, this one blown slowly through her nostrils. “No, I do not have a boyfriend, and I’m not in the market for one any time soon,” she said diplomatically, trying to get this disaster over with quickly.

Gray-green eyes sharpened. “Maybe I could change your mind? I know this place, does live music on weekends and they don't card…”

Sunset shook her head. “No thanks. I’m sure it's great, but like I said, not looking to date anyone new. I’ve got too much else on my plate and that wont be changing for the foreseeable future.”

He slumped, but before he could say anything, he was jostled out of the way by another guy. “As if she’d be taken in by a meathead like you, Fast Break. You should stick to lacrosse and the cheerleaders. They’re more your type.” The new fellow smiled at Sunset in that way that made her skin crawl and her instincts want to plant a hoof so hard into his apples that he’d spend the rest of his life coughing them up in installments. “Silver Pocketwatch,” he introduced himself. “And you are?”

“Beyond done with this conversation,” she deadpanned.

The former unicorn enjoyed about twenty seconds of blissful silence as the young man tried to recover whatever his pitch had been about to be, while the first guy tried to stifle a laugh. Then it ended, as he tried again. “I get it, a gorgeous girl like you probably gets asked out by every guy you meet…but how many of them can offer you a first date to the finest French restaurant in the city? The lamb is exquisite.”

And now Sunset wanted to vomit. She wondered if zucchini and eggplant lasagna would be an improvement on this Silver Pocketwatch’s appearance, and decided that it probably would be. Sure, sheep in Equestria were…not the most intelligent of species—it varied by type of sheep and region, same as with goats—and the common belief was that it was a lingering curse by Grogar, but they still fell under the loose definition of ‘people’ in her mind…and the thought of someone chowing down on their young like a depressed Rarity with a tub of her favorite ice cream was enough to put her off eating for the week.

Shuddering with revulsion, she let a bit of the old Sunset creep into her expression and voice. “Not even if you were the last option available on Earth. I have standards, and they are way higher than ‘a mouldering pile of manure left behind by a centaur with the green apple two-step that somehow attained the ability to walk and talk.’ Now go away before I feel forced to make my point in a much more unpleasant manner—these boots have reinforced steel toes.”

Sunset rubbed her face as both of them found other places to be—the first young man was now regaling his friends with how she deflated the second one, and as for the pompous one, she didn't care where he went as long as he wasn't breathing her air and undressing her with his eyes. Seriously, first the human version of Prince Blueblood, and now this? She wished Twilight would hurry up and come out so they could leave.

Footsteps and a softly cleared throat alerted her to yet another approach, and it took everything she had to resist the urge to glare at what was probably some poor freshman. “Can I help you?” the former unicorn managed with more than a touch of exasperation.

The freshman boy shook his head. “Wouldn't dream of it after watching that trainwreck,” he said with a cheery grin. “Besides…” Brown eyes looked at her speculatively. “You're no more my type than I am yours, know what I mean?”

It took a few seconds but as she studied his body language and analyzed the stress he put on ‘type,’ the answer lit across her synapses like lightning. It made her snort back a laugh. “Ah,” she offered noncommittally. “Nothing personal, but that's kind of a relief.”

“I get it. I actually wanted to thank you for putting both Blueblood and Silver into their place. Both of them tried that same thing on my older sister and she fell for it, both times.” He made a face. “Not enough girls ever say no and they tend to be…insistent with the ones that try.”

She rolled her eyes. “And that would be why I wear this brand of boots. Nothing says no quite like a swift kick somewhere painful. Maybe I deflated their egos a bit, enough for them to realize girls are not a menu item.”

Running a hand through shaggy purple hair marred by streaks of black and bright green, he laughed. “Yeah, we can hope. If nothing else, it was worth it to see them both crash and burn before a few hundred witnesses.” He bit his lip. “By the way, I’m Razor Wing.”

Her mouth had opened to instinctively respond, but the demon she had caged inside her mind slammed itself sharply into the restraints with a surge of its own power, catching her with the way it sent a shock of pain through her. —Don't!— the voice yelled. —It's not safe! Look at him, horn-head! He’s asking for his master! Your Name is what they're looking for!—

The warning came with a spike of fear, enough that Sunset opened her senses to look. Sure enough, faintly threaded through this boy was that increasingly familiar, foul taint that pervaded CPA, in concentration enough that it looked like sickly veins of black under teal skin. Keeping her face as normal as possible, she waved off his concern. “Sorry. I think I’m getting a headache.” One amber skinned hand extended purposefully, as she settled on an alias, one she’d used a few times back in Equestria but never here. “You can call me Misty Morning.” Sunset wasn't sure if she could trust the voice even that far, but considering how Abacus Cinch had also been intent on her name and the unease she felt at that information being given over…she wouldn't rule it out just yet. It made her doubly glad she hadn't gotten around to washing the dried mud off the bike’s license plate after she’d accidentally gone through a puddle Sunday at the farm.

“I get headaches like that sometimes. They suck so—” Razor Wing started to shake her hand, and her magic leapt erratically at the darkness in him through where their hands touched. Sunset could feel it as searing heat in flesh still tender from her episode the other day, and the boy yelped in pain and pulled away sharply. He backed up, holding his hand to his chest defensively, but not before she caught sight of skin that was already starting to blister.

Sunset flinched, blue-green eyes hoping to convey some small bit of apology; if he was anything like Twilight or Shining, he was an unwilling accomplice to the dark magic and any potential ‘mastermind,’ and he had genuinely seemed nice. The redhead curled her own hand up against her body, gripping her elbow with the opposite hand, as she pushed her magic and the demon both into submission. She hadn't meant to hurt the freshman, only get rid of the darkness inside of him…it hadn't burned anyone else before when she did that, not her friends or Twilight or Twilight’s family…

Was she losing what little control she had over her magic?

Shuddering, Sunset hugged herself and watched as Razor Wing fled completely, and the various students lingering in the area whispered conspiratorially among themselves. By Discord’s missing tooth, she was really starting to hate this school! Between the way the magic grated against her senses to the interactions with the various people who went here to the fact that proximity to the place was making her magic almost hostile, to the voice who she more than suspected was the demon she had been, she felt like she wanted scrub the top layer of her hide off with a wire brush and some industrial grade cleanser, just so she’d feel clean again.

Twilight’s arrival a few minutes later was a welcome thing. She hadn’t had anymore wannabe suitors approach—though the intense glare and sour frown might have contributed to that, but the former unicorn was a hundred percent done with the day, and wanted the hour or so to unwind before she had to go right back out to the Apple family farm for evening magic training. The girls needed her on top of her game to instruct them, now that they’d progressed beyond the basics and could activate their powers at will.

Her girlfriend saw her expression and slipped right onto the bike, barely waiting until their helmets were all the way on before asking over the internal radio, “Are you okay? What happened?”

Kicking off once lavender arms were tight around her waist, Sunset exhaled. “Your school has a lot of desperate creeps looking for sex,” she complained, deciding to stick with the simple explanation. “One of the ones today tried to bribe me with the promise of an expensive dinner.”

There was more than a touch of frost—not directed at Sunset so much as the boy—in Twilight’s response. “Someone propositioned you?”

“In not so many words. He mostly addressed his spiel to my chest rather than my face, and it wasn't too hard to figure out what he was hoping for in return for buying me dinner. Of course, he probably shouldn't have led with the fact that the restaurant is famous for its lamb dishes.” Her face twisted back into a grimace.

“Oh, Sunny…” the chill was gone in favor of sympathy, and slim fingers were rubbing along the skin of her stomach just under the hem of her shirt, sending tingles through her. “Can I make it better?”

Chuckling and pressing one hand on top of Twilight’s as they lingered at a red light, Sunset murmured flirtatiously, “Without a doubt…though right now I feel like I need a shower…”

Laughing so hard it became a snort, Twilight stumbled out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel and her hair in soggy disarray. Sunset tripped after her, half heartedly tying her robe shut. “That was not quite what I had in mind with my suggestion,” Twilight informed her.

With a shake of her head, Sunset used a towel to squeeze the water out of her hair. “…I think I need to get some of those no-slip things for the shower before we try that again,” she replied with an amused expression.

“Are you okay?” her girlfriend asked.

Sunset rubbed her backside with a wince. “Only bruised my pride, I think. How about your shoulder? You hit the wall pretty hard.”

The other girl stepped into Sunset’s personal space, leaning up to peck her lips with a kiss. “Lucky for me, you broke most of my fall…but yes, let's not do that again until we take anti-accident precautions. The last way I want my parents to find out about us is because we had to go to the emergency room for a sex-related accident.”

Arching a brow, Sunset poked her with a finger. “Definitely not something I’d want to have to explain. ‘Oh, the broken wrist? Made the mistake of moving wrong in the shower while trying to get a better angle for my girlfriend. No, not for washing her back.’”

That set Twilight off into another round of giggles. “Cady would never let us live it down.”

“Yeah, probably not.” Sunset pulled her over to the couch and flopped down onto it, barely noticing when the robe came undo in the process. “She is way more invested in our relationship than I would have expected.”

Discarding the towel in favor of the blanket on the couch and cuddling into Sunset’s warmth, Twilight curled up half on top of her. Lavender fingers traced over skin that prickled with pleasurable goosebumps. “I think it's because Cady knows just how lonely and awful things were when I was little. I wanted to make friends so badly, but it was hard when you're five and talking like a miniature adult and your peers are still playing house with dolls…not to mention crippling anxiety and my tendency to get overwhelmed in social environments.” She tucked her face into Sunset’s neck and sighed contentedly, prompting the former unicorn to nuzzle into her hair. “She’s always wanted me happy, and gone the extra mile to help me because…she’s the closest thing I have to a sister. Plus, she likes you, and she’s…big on encouraging romance.”

Humming in her throat, Sunset curled her arms loosely around her girlfriend. “That makes sense…and she is right about one thing.”

“What?”

She tilted Twilight’s chin up so she could kiss her. “That you deserve to be happy.” Sunset smiled crookedly. “I'm just glad you seem to be happy with me.”

Twilight melted into her when their lips met, making a soft sound that Sunset felt as much as heard. It sent a shiver down her spine as it traveled through her where skin touched skin, an odd contrast to how she felt like she was on fire inside. Her hands slid up the smooth skin of her girlfriend’s back to pull her as close as possible, knowing the clock was ticking down to when she would have to take Twilight home and head to the farm, and not wanting the moment to ever end.

The other girl seemed to be of the same mindset, and by the time they pulled apart, both were panting heavily and clinging to each other. Twilight gave her a warm smile, her eyes full of soft affection. “How could I not be?” she murmured. “…Sunny…you have been everything I ever dreamed a partner could be…and so much I never even considered was possible. Maybe there's someone out there that could make me happier among the nearly seven billion people on the planet, but I’m not sure anyone could measure up to you and how you make me feel just by saying my name or giving me a hug.”

Blue-green eyes had to blink back the hint of tears caused by the rush of emotion. “…ponyfeathers…we’re turning into a couple of saps, Twilight,” she laughed, fighting for composure. “You're making it hard for me to take you home in a half hour.”

“You could keep me here…” Twilight offered, nuzzling along her jaw with light kisses. “…and we could spend the night continuing this discussion on happiness…”

Sunset snorted. “Clothing optional?”

The dark haired teen shrugged. “Pants are overrated?”

At that, both of them dissolved into giggles against each other. The redhead pressed her face into Twilight’s hair, shoulders shaking as she held her tight. “…I see more than just my sarcasm has been rubbing off on you,” she teased, deliberately raising her leg slightly, feeling the smaller form twitch with pleasure as well as mirth. “Pants are very…very…overrated…when it's just us.”

It didn't take much to turn Twilight into a limp and boneless shape on top of her, one that giggled goofily in between panted breaths against Sunset’s collarbone. She smiled, absently running fingers through dark hair, before an unwelcome thought disrupted the aura of bliss and satisfaction. “…I have tutoring tomorrow after school,” Sunset stated quietly. “…did you want me to cancel?”

Silence met her ears as Twilight retreated into herself to process the request. The former unicorn waited, keeping her girlfriend close and never stopping the light touch in her hair. Finally, Twilight let out a shuddering sigh. “…no. Go ahead and do your tutoring thing. Your friends need your help, and people are relying on you to oversee it.”

“Are you sure? They’ll understand if I need to take a week or two off.”

Nodding against her chest, Twilight answered with a little less waver to her voice. “I’m sure. I’ll use the time to work on the project—I feel like I’m close to a breakthrough…and I’ll arrange for Dad to pick me up on his way home.” She tried to give Sunset a reassuring smile, but to the older girl, it just looked slightly nauseous.

Privately, she hoped things would be as fine as Twilight was trying to pretend they would be…

Wouldve been out earlier, but my editor/creative partner has been having internet trouble. This chapter hasn't been under her red pen yet, so I apologize if its not quite as polished.

Things are progressing apace. Those CPA students seem awful interested in Sunset, don't they?

*evil smirk*

Also, welcome to all the new people who've recently joined us on this trip and have caught up to where everything is! :} Lovely to have all of you here! We look forward to seeing everyone in the comments, and for those of you that dont comment, but are here pretty much every week to read, we see you and acknowledge you too! *grins* cant hide from me, not when we're getting close to 500 people tracking the story. (Which is about about 450 people more than I ever expected, haha.)

Now, off to go meet my daily writing goal--done about 8K words this week alone, sooooo...

Time to go finish this chapter i'm on.

See you next week, kids!