Monday morning. Already the bane of any adolescent for being both the start to a week and a morning, Sunset was even less inclined to look favorably upon it. Her bones ached, feeling hot and cold at the same time, and her short stint the previous evening to the nearest grocery store to restock on food and necessities hadn’t done her any favors. What sleep she’d gotten was once more wracked with nightmares, revisiting her own cruelties and heinous acts, seeing her demonic self succeeding in killing someone, or just chasing her down endlessly twisting corridors, whispering horrid promises just out of sight. As she lurched her way onto school grounds feeling slightly more alive than a necromancer’s leavings, the hand clutching a cup of coffee trembled with exhaustion.

Caution tape had been set up around the crater and front entrance, a sign directing students through a side door by the gym. Workmen were already on the task, several down in the crater finishing repairs on the ruptured pipes while a dump truck filled with dirt waited nearby. Sunset shivered, getting her first real look at the hole her body and the magic had made in the earth. She should have been dead thrice over, and she swallowed the rising gorge in her throat to whisper a hasty thanks that the Elements had decided to be merciful to her.

Entering the door, she determined that she was far earlier than normal and there were no other students present. That was good; she wasn’t sure she was ready to face any of them yet, and a walk of shame to her locker would’ve been too much before she was even fully awake. A quick stop for everything she’d need for the day—something told her that Luna wouldn’t let her make a trip to her locker if she forgot something—and she found herself in the tiny, windowless room that served as a place for ISS. The redhead took the seat in the back corner, farthest from the door and least visible to anyone outside, taking the opportunity to nurse her coffee and nibble on the bagel that was her breakfast.

By the time the Vice Principal stepped into the room, Sunset had finished her food and discarded the containers in the trashcan, her attention on the thin notebook in front of her that was rapidly filling up with Equestrian glyphs. Luna cleared her throat, catching the former unicorn’s attention, and she closed the book carefully. “I am extremely pleased to see you were prompt, Miss Shimmer. I hope this trend continues.” She hefted a three ring binder. “I took the liberty of having your teachers compile this week’s assignments here. You are to work on them until they are finished. Due dates are noted for each one. Should you require more work, I am certain I will be able to come up with something for you to do…perhaps more work in your history class?” Sunset cringed at that. “I thought as much. I will be checking off each assignment at the end of the day. You brought a lunch, I presume?” As one hand indicated the paper bag under her chair, Luna nodded again. “Good. As I mentioned the other night, you will not be leaving this room for any reason other than supervised restroom trips, and any and all electronic devices are to remain off—I will confiscate them if I hear so much as a text message. Any questions?”

“…No, Vice-Principal Luna,” she replied, doing a fairly decent job of masking how exhausted she was. She fished her phone out of her jacket pocket, going to turn it off. She paused when she saw a new message, checking it swiftly. It was a cheerful good morning from Twilight, causing her lips to quirk at the edges as she replied quickly before shutting the device down.

“You may get to work then. The bell will be ringing shortly.”

The binder was presented to her, and Sunset flipped it open, skimming the assignments before diving into the mindless task of schoolwork. The math was predominantly equations and calculations she’d mastered years ago as part of the extensive prerequisite to learning magic such as transmutation and teleportation, English was always a mix of boring papers and the same comprehension busywork that had been placed in front of her since the first year she’d joined the human education system. Science fascinated her—humans and ponies had developed in different ways with science because of the difference between the two worlds, and so in some areas of science she was playing catch up, but in others she was ahead with formulas and knowledge humans didn’t have, and in still others it was a mishmash, where some of her advanced knowledge wouldn’t work without magic to back it up. The one that gave her trouble, as she’d noted to Twilight and as Luna had mentioned, was history and government. The subject was hard for her to wrap her brain around, with the massive focus on inane dates for war after war, violent conflicts that never seemed to actually end. Humans, she’d learned, were often more terrifying than any Equestrian myth had made them out to be, and they seemed to be in love with any excuse to murder each other en-masse, or at the least designate other humans who were sufficiently different from them as worthy of being treated with ridicule, punishments, harassment, and other twisted acts of malice. Air gusted from her nostrils in a snort of disgust; even the worst tribalists and xenophobes in Canterlot had never even come close to what humans did.

Even with her struggles, she systematically worked through the list of assignments, barely aware of the silent lunch break; she absently read through several chapters in the book assigned for English class while eating. By the time school was over, she had quite a stack of work to show to the Vice-Principal before she was handed detention punishment for the day. She suffered through the menial labor of cleaning tables and books in the school library under the sharp eye of the librarian—it was mind-numbing, gross work, but she attacked it with the same attitude she had when she watched the portal to Equestria close, accepting the misery as part of her punishment—before making the exhausted trek to her locker to put her books away and head home.

Dinner was takeout—she was too drained and stiff to cook even instant noodles, and an order of her favorites left her feeling far less hollow and burned out as she turned her phone back on. She’d gotten a few messages from Twilight, which she read eagerly, despite none of them being of anything of real importance. She thought for a moment, then tapped out a response, not realizing how her lips had shifted into a smile. The brief text conversation that ensued left her feeling lighter, and when she collapsed a few hours later into her bed, the smile remained on her face until the first nightmare woke her up, sending her bolting down the stairs to her bathroom. She spent a portion of the night revisiting that takeout in the most unpleasant of ways, images of blood and death dancing across her mind’s eye.

Tuesday passed much like Monday, long, boring hours of busywork and assignments, three tests administered by the Vice-Principal, followed by backbreaking labor in detention that didn’t help lessen the deep aches she felt or the exhaustion from the nightmares that refused to let her sleep. She found herself starting to become jumpy, jolting up violently when a door slammed somewhere nearby during her lunch break; she’d ended up tossing her salad so high into the air with her reaction that she’d needed to stand on a desk to pick lettuce off one of the ceiling tiles. By the time she got home that night, she was so worn out that she face-planted into her mattress after responding to a few texts from Twilight, managing a whole four and a half hours sleep before a nightmare sent her wide awake and screaming.

Wednesday felt like a repeat of Tuesday, except that Sunset was more exhausted than ever. The afternoon also yielded an unpleasant surprise when she was handed a rag and cleaning solution to clean the doors of the lockers in one of the halls, and found her own locker had undergone some “redecorating” since that morning. It was covered from top to bottom in slurs and suggestions, and more than a few caricatures of her as a demon.

Sunset really shouldn’t have been overly shocked, but each word, each picture, tore into her, painful reminders of her crimes and follies. Her nightmares flashed before her eyes and the sadistic, angry voice of the demon whispered in her memory. Squeezing her eyes shut, she pushed the sounds and images away; she deserved this and more, and she’d made the decision to endure the punishments doled out. This was just one more form of penance, delivered by her peers instead of authority figures; she made herself read each message before she wiped it clean.

Thursday saw her shuffling to school in the rain, slogging through the mud and puddles like a human war veteran, eyes staring ahead but seeing only the endless replay of a fireball spreading charred, mangled bodies across the concrete. She barely registered arriving at school, she had skipped breakfast, and halfway through lunch she’d had to beg Vice-Principal Luna for an emergency bathroom trip because what she ate didn’t want to stay down.

It was bad enough that the administrator had expressed concern for her well being, commenting on how tired and sickly she seemed. Her concern was great enough that she made a decision to send Sunset home without detention, ordering her to “get some food and real sleep” instead. It was something she sought to do—after cleaning off her locker once more, since it had been written on again that day. She ate in numb silence at home, responding to the messages sent to her phone with only the vaguest recollection of doing it, and crawled into bed early. All told, she got maybe two or three hours, existing as short intervals between night terrors about fires and burning alive, or of Princess Celestia’s wide, glassy eyes, the compassion drained out of them with her life’s essence.

Sunset’s week ended in a day that felt never ending. Her body ached everywhere, and her brain was so drained that it felt like she was moving through molasses instead of air. The graffiti returned Friday too—she suspected this was going to be a new normal for her—at the hands of different artists and authors, and she repeated the process of cleaning it off, though with a touch more speed than the other days. She had somewhere to be after detention and she didn’t want to be late. The thought put a touch of a spring into her step when she hurried out of the school at almost five towards where she’d parked her motorcycle several blocks away.

-On my way.- she’d messaged right before she peeled away from the curb, losing herself in the thrum of the engine and the wind pressing against her as she leaned forward on the sleek red vehicle. It was the closest she could get to galloping on her own hooves, and the sense of freedom it evoked was addicting. She weaved through traffic with skill, leaning with the bike like she was part of the machine instead of its rider. Fifteen minutes later found her in the heart of the city, outside an ice-cream parlor, far away from where any of her schoolmates normally traveled. Teens out here either went to Crystal Prep, the private school, or to one of the two public high schools that made up this part of the local area.

A bell chimed pleasantly as she ducked inside, eyes scanning the room. From the back, a hand wave eagerly at her, its bespectacled owner smiling at her. Sunset offered a shy wave back, stopping by the counter to order the biggest, most decadent chocolate milkshake they had. Treat in hand a minute later, she flopped into the seat across from Twilight. “Hey.”

Purple eyes regarded her. “….you look…unwell. Bad day?”

Sunset took a long pull on her milkshake straw. “….That obvious?”

“Bruise like circles under your eyes, tense shoulders, and…” the lavender skinned girl made a face. “…something in your eyes…I’ve seen that in the mirror before, on bad days.”

A heavy sigh escaped her. “…more nightmares,” she admitted quietly. “Every night. I see everything in my head again.”

Twilight reached across the table and squeezed the back of Sunset’s hand. “Me too. I wake up in the middle of the night, and I can’t breathe. I keep dreaming about….them…about what would’ve happened if you hadn’t shown up. I know it’s a normal response to traumatic events, but…”

“It’s exhausting?” Sunset leaned back in her seat, getting a good look at the teen across from her. She hadn’t noticed at first, but now she could see the same exhausted, haunted look in purple eyes that she’d been seeing in her own reflection all week. “…I know I don’t deserve any peace of mind, not after what I tried to do, but…I’m so tired, I can’t focus on much else. I read the same page of a history test three times today and I’m not sure I understood any of it.”

Understanding met her statement. “At some point, you just get so tired, all you can think about is sleep?”

“Yes.”

Both girls fell silent for a time, deep in thought as they enjoyed their treats. Twilight finally broke the silence, chewing her lip thoughtfully.
“Do you have plans for tomorrow?”

The former unicorn blinked. “Just…a thing at noon. Why?”

“I was thinking…maybe you could come over to my house tonight. Eat dinner with us, sleepover? Maybe we can help each other with our nightmares?”

Maybe it was the weird emotions churning in her gut. Maybe it was the desperate need for sleep. Maybe it was just the prospect of a free meal. Maybe it was the hope that spending more time with Twilight would bring back the feeling from the weekend before. Whatever the cause, Sunset found herself agreeing readily. “Why not? If nothing else, it means someone to share in the misery of sleep deprivation.”

Twilight threw a wadded up napkin at her. “The point is to help each other sleep better,” she pointed out, before looking at her phone. “Mom says dinner is in forty five minutes.” She typed out a message. “I told her I was bringing a friend.”

Sunset nodded, still working on her milkshake. “Do you have a ride back to your place? You can ride with me if you want.”

“I wouldn’t mind riding with you—you mentioned you have a motorcycle?” It might have been Sunset’s imagination, but Twilight seemed excited.

The redhead pointed out the window towards her bike. “That’s it, there.”

Stars lit purple eyes as she took in the sleek, blood red vehicle with the eyes of someone familiar with machines. “…oh yes,” she managed, her voice filled with a dazed sort of joy. “…yes, I would very much like to get a ride home on your bike.”

It was all Sunset could do not to laugh at the obvious want in the dark-haired girl’s tone. “…You know,” she offered teasingly, “If we leave in the next few minutes, we can swing by my place so I can dump my school stuff and get something to sleep in…and then we can take the long way back to your house. If…you know…you were up for that…?”

No one in the history of Canterlot City had ever finished a milkshake as quickly as Twilight Sparkle did in that moment. Sunset held back laughter as she finished hers while the other teen moaned and suffered through a brain freeze, before standing up to toss her empty cup.

“C’mon, Sparkle.” Fingers reached out to tug on the ponytail and get Twilight’s attention.

The pair exited the shop, and Twilight adjusted her glasses, circling the bike slowly, crouching down to get a good look at the mechanical components she could see, while the former unicorn popped open the storage space to retrieve her helmet. “Here. Put this on. Don’t want to risk your nerd brain.”

Twilight took it, looking at the other girl. “What about you?”

A shrug. “I’ve only got one right now. I’d rather make sure you’re protected.” The words fell from her lips before her brain could catch up, and Sunset froze for a few heartbeats, realizing what she’d said…and that it had accompanied that same undefinable feeling from before. Shaking her head, she motioned to Twilight again. “Helmet, or no ride.”

Once the headgear was secured on the other girl—there was a bit of fumbling around her glasses—Sunset swung onto the bike, scooting forward to give her passenger a place to sit. “Get on, and sit as close as you can. Put your arms around me and hold tight—the closer you are, the easier it will be for me to keep us balanced. When I lean, let your body come with mine the same way.” The shorter teen hopped on, following the instructions she was given, her arms snaking around Sunset’s middle beneath the battered leather coat, just at the bottom of her ribcage. The warmth from those arms and their owner pressed against Sunset’s back seeped into her, soothing the burning ache in her bones that had persisted all week; tension she didn’t realize she’d been carrying melted out of her. One hand patted Twilight’s as she made a curious sound from inside the helmet, and then Sunset started the bike, enjoying the thrumming, thunderous vibration under her and the way the arms tightened briefly. “Ready?” she called over the idling engine, feeling the helmet nod against her shoulder. “Alright, here we go!”

She pulled into traffic, heading back through the city’s evening streets towards her apartment, taking a longer route than normal to please her passenger. Without the helmet, her hair whipped freely behind her, and it was so nostalgic that she could almost feel grass under her hooves, the sound of staccato hoof beats in her ears. Almost. The body pressed to her grounded her in the reality of the human world, but at the present, that was a much less disheartening thought. After all, it was hard to be depressed when there was someone screaming excitedly in her ears, most of the meaning carried away by the wind. It didn’t take much to figure it out though—Twilight Sparkle was enjoying the ride.

Next Chapter: Chapter Five: Nightmares Estimated time remaining: 57 Hours, 53 Minutes