Strange Pink Girl

“Talking... Ponies... Just how hard did you hit your head last night?” Yang asked in a rather confused and annoyed tone. Arms crossed in front of her and staring at Sunset with her now familiar questioning look.

“I'm serious Yang, it's a real place.” Sunset said, though in her mind she was grumbling to herself. I knew she wouldn't believe me.

“Riiiiight. You know what, Forget it. I'm sorry I asked.” The blonde grumbled, getting up to leave, “When you're done making up stories, you know where to find me.”

“Yang, wait...”

Her only answer was a door clicking shut.

Left alone with her thoughts, Sunset couldn't help but dwell on her mistakes. She had gone from being the best of the best to little more than average. That hurt, a lot. I never should have come here. What had once been her greatest ability was stripped from her, replaced with some sort of force she could barely feel and couldn't control at all. This was a mistake. Instead of the self reliant young mare who didn't need anypony, she was weak, trapped by the need to rely on others. Why does being alone here hurt? It wasn't like this in Canterlot...

Turning to look out the window, the wall caught her eye. It's size strangely reassuring. No. I can’t lie here feeling sorry for myself, those monsters aren't just going to go away because I don't want to deal with them. I need to get back out there. I need to get better.  ...If yang's no longer an option, I'll need to find others.

Forcing herself out of bed, despite the pain of her protesting back, Sunset was thankful there weren't any machines hooked up to her. That would have made this so much harder. Soon enough she made her way over to the chair with her clothes and changed out of generic blue outfit whoever had treated her injuries had put her in, being careful of the bandages wrapping her torso. No doubt they were for her still tender back.

Almost any arm movement stung, and it felt like something in her back was pulling painfully tight if she moved certain ways. With this many bandages she probably had something stitched up back there and would have to be careful not to tear it. I'm probably going to have a pretty bad scar too...

Yang had left her a new shirt, in place of the ruined one, but Sunset didn't exactly own a spare jacket. I'll need to fix that... October is getting cold, and it's almost over. It's only going to get colder from here. ...Still don't know how they regulate that without pegasi. She thought to herself, finally getting her shirt on after several moments of struggling not only against it, but her own slowed limited movement.

Sneaking away, she slipped out of the room, trying to avoid any of the school's staff. Anyone who knew about her injuries would probably just send her back. Once out the front doors of the school she headed for a street nearby where there was a small miscellaneous goods shop she liked. The merchandise was moderately cheap, which was handy given her limited funds.

Stepping inside she started browsing around looking for sewing supplies. Sunset was terrible at that sort of thing, but there weren't exactly many other options for fixing her jacket. And buying a new one was out of the question. Starting at the shelf nearest the door, she began browsing the items.

No, no, no, wait, is that from a suit of armour? that might be useful, if it was sewn in under the cloth. Might come back for that. Lets see, no... no... no, no, is that a bowling ball? Guess that's what I get for shopping at an odds an ends place... Hey wait, what are these? Sunset wondered, picking up the small box. There was a manufacturer's logo on it resembling a weird snowflake and '8ga Volt', next to it two similar boxes marked with the same numbers followed by 'Frost' and 'Burn'. Opening it up it was full of orange plastic tubes with copper bases. Wonder what this is... Sunset thought to herself, before closing it and flipping it over, reading a marketing blurb on the back. Some kind of... ammunition? what's a 'Shot gun'...

A shelf or two later she had found what she needed, and wasted no time in paying for it and heading out of the small shop. The dorms would be the best place to work on fixing her jacket, but they would also be the first place anyone at the school would look. She didn't want to go back to the infirmary, just yet...

Where else can I go? Sunset thought to herself while wandering around town. After perhaps an hour of picking streets at random, she noticed a gathering in a park a short ways away. Getting closer it appeared to be some kind of competition in progress. A short ways away from it was a mostly unoccupied gazebo. I suppose that will work.

Heading over, her movements still quite sluggish and a bit painful because of her back, she picked out a spot where she could see the event, but still work, and sat down. Laying the jacket and materials out in front of her she did what she could to struggle through stitching the first rip, but even  the slow pace she was going was starting to get more than a bit uncomfortable.

Pausing to watch the competition for a bit, in the hopes the break would make her back stop bugging her, she watched as a new fighter stepped onto the field. His back was to her, hiding his face but his stance spoke of calm confidence and the distinctive gold trimmed emerald and black tailcoat he was wearing was hard to miss. His opponent, the winner of the previous match, a dark skinned teen with a mane of messy black hair and a scar across one eye, was dressed in a somewhat more local looking tan coat and pants.

“Hey there, are you watching Ren's match?” A bubbly voice nearby asked. A cursory glance showed a red haired girl a within a year or so of herself or Yang wearing a white blouse and pink dress. Sunset though merely assumed whoever it was was talking to someone else, and got back to her work. The beowolf's claws had done a number on both the leather and the fabric underneath, and sunset wasn't exactly a master seamstress to begin with. "He's really good huh? you know we go to the same school? We've been friends for like forever.

"Hey what are you working on? What happened to your jacket? Did you get in a fight? Was it a big fight or a small fight? that almost looks like claws oh wow were you out hunting monsters? Do you have a weapon already too? I'm going to have one next year, I have this idea for a hammer-"

Oh gods, she's not talking to someone else, she's trying to talk to me... Sunset thought, trying to tune out the stranger's voice and focus on her stitching. The first of the three gouges was closed, but sloppily and the thread she was using was the wrong color, creating a diagonal maroon stripe across the middle of the jacket's back. I should have payed more attention to the thread I pick-... is she still talking? The words drifted through her mind as she realized she had missed a good dozen or so sentences while working on the first cut.

Pausing again because of her back, she put the jacket down and returned her focus to the fight.  Mumbling 'yeah whatever' to a half heard question, in the hopes it would silence the increasingly annoying chatter temporarily. The green and black clad fighter was certainly agile and seemed to be relying on what looked like some kind of trained hoof to- hand to hand discipline, Like some pegasi guards were trained in. More interesting though, was his opponent's oddly familiar fighting style, staying low to the ground and swiping with his open hand, trying to grapple his opponent. Something seemed off about his hands though; his nails were too long, even for decorative extensions.  ...no, not nails, claws. He had claws, like a cat. ...or a gryphon, that's where I've seen this before.

Could he be another Faunus?

Sunset would have remained there, entranced by the match, had not two things happened. Firstly, the green clad fighter managed to knock his opponent out of the ring, and secondly, the oddly silent pink girl had just shouted "All done!" in her ear. Turning back to the stranger, she was met by the sight of her repaired jacket in the girls arms. All three gouges in the material had been sewn shut, and even her shoddy stitch work on the top one had been cleaned up.

"How did... What..?" Sunset mumbled, shocked. She hadn't expected help from anyone, let alone a complete stranger.

"I told you, I had to patch things up a lot at home, so I'm really good at it." She explained. Grinning and handing the Sunset the jacket. Leaving the girl to wonder just how much of the stranger's life she had tune out ealier. A moment later the stranger was looking past Sunset at someone else. "Ren! Over here!"

Looking back, Sunset could now see the green clad fighter approaching the two of them, dusting off one of his sleeves as he walked. His apparent old friend bouncing over to him as he approached, and going right back into motor-mouth mode until cut off with a quick shout of "NORA. You do at least know your 'new friend's' name, right?"

"Um..." 'Nora' commented, looking a bit distracted momentarily. "Maybe?"

"It's Sunset." She answered for her, walking over to join them. She wasn't really sure why she was doing this, but in a way it seemed right. Nora had just fixed her jacket for her, and people she could actually get along with were in short supply lately, so she could hardly think of a reason not to. "Sunset Shimmer." She offered holding out a hand toward Ren.

"Lie Ren." He answered shaking the offered hand, and nodding in a partial bow.

"I haven't seen you two around town before." Sunset commented, not sure what to talk about, but sure she had to say something. "You're not from here are you?"

"No, I'm just here to compete in the tournament." He explained, before looking Sunset over momentarily. His expression shifting subtly. "Though I would have thought you would know that... Or are you not competing?"

"No... I'm Injured. I can't." She explained, gesturing to the marks on her jacket. Her gaze drifting a bit before she muttered under her breath. "Besides, I'm not good enough."

"Perhaps, or perhaps you just need training. In time, and with the right master, you-" Ren commented before the conversation was cut short by an announcer calling his name. Nora wishing him luck as he returned to the tournament area.

So, perhaps leaving without saying goodbye wasn't the most polite thing to do, but Sunset's mind was elsewhere.

Back on the school grounds, Sunset stalked through the library hunting for the bulletin board that she had seen there before. I'm a fool. Why didn't I consider a mentor before? She grumbled to herself in her mind, annoyed that a possible solution so obvious had been beyond her sight so long. She knew the answer of course. The face and source of her bitterness towards Equestria haunted her mind and wouldn’t let her forget the last mentor she had. The one that had betrayed her. But that doesn't matter. This time will be different.

There it was, the ad left by one of the older students for tutoring.

I'm in no shape to approach her now, but once I’ve healed...