Forged in Flame

The bell of Canterlot High rang to signal the end of the first half of the day. Students flooded the halls to reach either the cafeteria or the school grounds. For them, it was a time to relax, but for the Humane Five, the real work was about to begin. Applejack walked down the stone steps outside the doors of the school and made her way towards their meeting point by the oak tree. With last night's storm, many of the leaves had blown off, leaving the tree a somewhat ugly appearance more fitting for halloween, something that was still another month away. The mud around the trunk was soft and wet, a trivial thing to Applejack who merely shrugged with a smile and stepped through it in her iconic cowgirl boots and leaned against the damp bark with her hands tucked into the pockets of her skirt.

She kept a mental note of the time it took before any of the others had arrived. Fluttershy was the first to appear, with Rainbow Dash a close second. Neither Rarity or Pinkie Pie were anywhere to be seen.

"Where's Rarity and Pinkie?" Applejack asked. Both Fluttershy and Rainbow shrugged in unison, their puzzled expressions almost a perfect match. Applejack sighed and rubbed her right temple. "Great. How're we supposed t' help Sunset if no one's gonna take this seriously?" Fluttershy stared at her with concern.

"Um, Applejack? Are you okay...?"

"J... yeah, Ah'm fine, Fluttershy. Just a li'l concerned." she replied with a heavy duty sigh. Rainbow folded her arms and raised an eyebrow.

"Since when are you so tense? You're like when Rarity's having one of those dumb fashion shows or whatever." she remarked with a dismissive wave of her hand. Applejack's shoulders fell limp, and her head hung down ever so slightly.

"Sorry, ya'll. It's just Sunset wasn't in math class this mornin', and no one's seen her at all."

"No one?" Fluttershy asked.

"No. Either of you happened t' catch her?" Applejack looked up at the both of them, Fluttershy merely shaking her head, and Rainbow shrugging once again. "Dang. Where the heck is she?"

"Did you bother to ask Pinkie? I thought they were having a play date or something." Rainbow remarked.

"I haven't seen her yet, and she ain't answerin' her phone."

"I saw her earlier, but she seemed really distracted. I didn't want to be a bother..." Fluttershy spoke up. Rainbow let out an empathetic sigh and reached out to gentle grasp her shoulder.

"It's alright, Flutters. We'll talk to her together." she reassured, and Fluttershy smiled in response. Applejack started between them and leaned forward off the bark of the oak tree.

"Speak of the devil." she spoke out with a nod ahead of her. Both Rainbow and Fluttershy looked behind themselves and spotted Pinkie Pie idly dragging her feet across the wet grass towards the tree, her eyes drifting across the ground beneath her in a lidded stare.

"Whoa, Pinkie! What's with you? Your hair's all... less poofy than usual." Rainbow inquired. Pinkie snapped out of her daze and immediately looked up at Rainbow Dash.

"Huh? Oh! Nonono! I'm okay! Hey, girls!" she responded with a frantic wave and a big grin on her face. Rainbow and Fluttershy shared a puzzled look, while Applejack frowned and took a step through the soft mud to stand between them and Pinkie Pie.

"Pinkie, what's going on? You never not answer your phone when we call ya." she said, arms folded with authority in her posture. Pinkie blinked rapidly and began to bite on her lower lip, her eyes slashing left and right.

"On? Nothing's on! Except maybe my oven! I should go check! Nothing screams emergency like leaving your oven on all day while you're out!" she responded with a great deal of energy and an exaggerated undercut to the side with a pointed finger to the sky. She suddenly twirled around and tried to flee, but her large mound of hair proved to be her undoing as Applejack grasped onto it and simply stood in place, keeping Pinkie from escaping.

"Pinkie Pie attempted to flee, but it failed." Rainbow muttered with a grin, leaving Fluttershy lost. Rainbow noticed her confusion and shrugged her arms. "Nevermind." she said with a roll of her eyes.

"Okay, what's going on, Pinkie Pie?" Applejack forced Pinkie to face them and let go of her, arms folded and her index finger tapping irritatingly on her arm. Pinkie looked defeated and clutched onto her fringe, twirling the hook of her hair around her fingers in a fidget as her head sunk between her shoulders.

"It's... um..." she muttered for a moment, then sighed in submission, "okay, I'll tell you. Just PROOOOOMISE you won't tell anyone else!"

"We promise, Pinkie Pie."

"Pinkie promise?"

"Heh. Yeah, Pinkie. We pinkie promise." Applejack answered, making a cross mark over her chest and miming sticking something in her eye. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy copied her just barely out of sync. The tension in Pinkie's shoulders seemed to loosen up a little as they sunk a couple of inches, and she exhaled slowly.

"Alright, it goes like this..." She took a deep breath. "Sunny and I were having milkshakes and we were having a really fun time she was telling me all these fun things she did in Equestria and we just kept drinking our milkshakes till we were on our way home but then we were stopped by Gilda who was still real angry and she was calling us names but Sunny got angry too and used that magic thingy she keeps doing that went BOOM WHOOSH and Gilda fell into the road and nearly got hit by a car but I dove out there and pulled her away really quickly like a super speedy hedgehog ZOOM and then Sunny ran away.

"The end!" she finished with a grin on her face. Applejack appeared somewhat bewildered, while Rainbow Dash's sight was directed to the clouds, mumbling Pinkie's explanation to herself, and Fluttershy's body went limp from dizziness.

"Wait, Gilda? Is she alright?!" Rainbow ran up to Pinkie and grabbed her by her arms, her face a mere inch away.

"She's okay, Dashie! A little shaken up, but I made sure she was a hundred and one percent before I left her!" Pinkie explained, comforting Rainbow with a playful rub through her multicoloured hair. Rainbow sighed with relief and let go of her, backing up next to Applejack.

"So where's Sunset now?" Applejack inquired. Pinkie answered with a shrug.

"I was hoping you girls knew! I've been so worried about her all night, I could hardly sleep!"

"And yet you have enough energy to tell a story on fast forward." Applejack thought to herself. Fluttershy walked up beside her and looked back and forth between the two.

"What are we going to do?" she asked.

"I reckon we oughta grab Rarity, wherever the heck she is, and go find Sunset after school." Applejack replied.

"I dunno. She did almost kill Gilda." Rainbow muttered in restrained anger, folding her arms, and staring off to the side. Applejack turned to Rainbow with her hands on her hips.

"What're you sayin'? Y'think she did it on purpose?" Applejack stared at Rainbow with a frown, her tone of voice slightly venomous. Rainbow held her hands up defensively.

"Of course not! But if she's being all spontaneous with that magic, I'm not sure I wanna be near her."

"She didn't mean it, Dashie. She was having a good time with me! And there weren't any sparks or BOOMS at all!" Pinkie spoke. Rainbow sighed and rolled her eyes.

"I'm just saying, she's not exactly safe to be around at the moment."

"She's our friend, Rainbow. We can't just leave her on her own." Applejack stated.

"Urgh, fine. But don't say I didn't warn you if we start flying through walls or something!"

******

Despite the vicious storm overnight, the dark clouds were beginning to spread too thin to block out the sun for long. Ink-blotch shaped holes revealed the bright blue sky they were denying everyone below, and every passing hour they continued to grow wider. It was as good a time as any for anyone without other commitments to leave their homes to prepare for the upcoming Halloween festivities, picking up decorations, costumes, and delicacies befitting the occasion. For Sunset Shimmer, however, her thoughts were elsewhere.

In a dark corner of her bedroom, Sunset sat at her worn down wooden desk with an open book before her. She flicked through the pages at a rapid pace, her eyes darting left and right, taking in what brief snippets of information she could read before moving on to the next. She had already skimmed more than half of the pages, but her pace didn't slow down.

"Nothing... nothing! NOTHING! Ten years studying under Princess Celestia, and not ONE bit of information about this?!" The frustration built up in Sunset to the point she slammed the book shut and threw it across the room. Her aim was obviously not taken into account, because the book ended up breaking through one of the poorly boarded up holes in the wall, and fell inside out of view. This was enough to send a shock through Sunset.

"Gah! No no no no!" She quickly leapt out of her chair and rushed over to the wall, trying to get a good look inside. "Nooooo! C'mon, where is it?!" Sunset's panic overtook her thoughts, and she quickly dove her hand inside without a care for what might be inside. She kept reaching further, catching her hand on several broken pieces of wood and an onslaught of cobwebs. Sunset grimaced in disgust, but she kept digging deeper until the tips of her fingers graced the hard leather spine of her book.

"Oh, thank Celestia. Nnnngh!" She stretched as far as she could manage without breaking through the entire wall, barely coiling her fingers around the cover, and pulling carefully while desperately trying to mind the protrusions of wood surrounding it. Mercifully, she was allowed to retrieve her book without hindrance, and held it before her in relief. The cover appeared mostly undamaged, and protected the pages with its thick leather hide. It wasn't pristine, however. Two spots across the front had inch-long scratch marks, and one of the corners had bent out of place upon impact. As minor as they were, it was enough for Sunset to stare at it in sadness.

"Dammit..." she said, trying to rub the scratch marks away, but to no avail. Tears built up at the corners of her eyes and she clung the book to her chest tightly. "I didn't mean to..."

******

"Happy birthday, Sunset Shimmer." Celestia greeted the young Sunset with a smile, and a yellow paper-wrapped gift with a crimson ribbon tied into a bow around it. She hovered the present to the little unicorn who bounced with glee, grabbing onto it with her hooves.

"Wow! Thank you, Princess! What is it?" she asked, looking over it with obsessive curiosity. Celestia merely chuckled.

"You will have to open it to find out." she teased. Sunset grinned with tremendous energy and used her magic to quickly untie the bow and tear away at the wrapping. In her hooves lay a brown hardback leather book with two gold strips across the top and bottom, and her own cutie mark imprinted into the cover. The young filly sat in place, speechless, her mouth agape.

"My own journal...?" Her eyes sparkled with intensity. Celestia nodded and tapped the cover with her hoof.

"This is a special journal, Sunset Shimmer. You may use it in your studies to take notes and conduct research, but its true purpose is so I am never out of your reach. Should you have any questions, or you need somepony to talk to, simply write on the pages, and I will know."

"Wow... and you're giving this to me?"

"Of course. It is your birthday after all." she replied in a warm tone. Sunset smiled and wrapped her hooves around Celestia's leg, clinging tightly against her.

"Thank you, Princess! I promise I'll take good care of it!" Celestia held a hoof around Sunset with gentle affection and smiled softly.

"I know you will, my faithful student."

******

Sunset sat at her desk again, staring at the damage she had done in woe. Her thumb continued to graze against the scratch, a vain effort in hope it would magically disappear.

"It's times like this I wish I still had my old magic." she thought, recollecting her days under Celestia's tutelage. Absent-mindedly, Sunset began to flick through all the pages from the beginning. Every page was filled with long lists of research notes and personal reminders, but at the start, there was always at least three random doodles to fill in the gaps. They were all cartoonish, and ranged between self-portraits of Sunset being a majestic princess to Celestia playing with her wherever she went. As the pages continued, the doodles became less frequent. There was about an inch worth of pages she passed before the drawings finally stopped, as did Sunset's skimming through her notes. She silently stared at her book, an air of despondency surrounding her.

"I used to have so much fun learning from the Princess. What happened to those days?" Sunset clutched her hands tight, and lost her focus as her vision blurred with the sting of tears building up around her eyes. Drops fell onto the thick paper below, leaving dark water marks that began to smudge the ink. Sunset quickly snapped out of her daze and closed the book, sliding it to the side, and leaning on her elbows, gripping the temples of her head under her hair.

"Gah! What's wrong with me?! Snap out of it, Sunset!" she yelled, sitting up right and sending a hard slap against her cheek. The pain roared through her face and sent tears of agony to her eyes this time. A deep red hand print was left across her cheek, and she began to rub the pain away, grumbling.

"Okay, that was stupid."

******

The school bell rang for the last time of the day, signalling the end of the school period to the students. While the rest of the students spread out across the school grounds away from the entrance, the Humane Five hung around near the statue.

"A car? Goodness! Is she alright?!" Rarity suddenly asked. Pinkie Pie nodded and flicked her fingers through the little hook-shaped fringe hovering over her eyes.

"Yeah, she's okay. But I think it's best Sunny kinda maybe tries to avoid her."

"And no one has seen her?"

"That's why we're gonna try look for her now. Chances are she's probably at home." Applejack replied. Rarity pondered for a minute with a finger to her chin and her other hand under her elbow.

"Do we even know where she lives?" she inquired. The girls all exchanged clueless looks, a mix of shrugs and double-hand raises. Rainbow gave a soft hum at the back of her throat, rubbing her chin.

"No, but I bet I know who does." she replied with a smirk. All the other girls stared at her in curiosity.

******

"You want to know what?" Flash Sentry asked in surprise.

"Where she lives! C'mon, you carpooled her all the time. You must know where she lives!" Rainbow pointed out with hands on her hips, a careful inquisitive look in her eyes. Flash was clearly unnerved by the question, attempting to avert his gaze, only to be brought back with a snap of Rainbow's fingers before his face. "Hey! Earth to Flash?"

"Sorry! It's just a little spontaneous. Why do you want to know?"

"Sunset wasn't in school today, and we're a little worried..." Fluttershy claimed. Flash Sentry rubbed the back of his head and sighed, staring off to the side.

"Yeah, I kinda noticed. Thing is, whenever she's off, it was usually because she wanted to be alone. I'm not sure going to see her is the best thing. I found that out the hard way." he said with a chuckle, rubbing his side sub-consciously. The girls weren't smiling, however.

"Yeah, well, this is really important, Flash. We can't just ignore it." Applejack stated. Flash saw the concern and determination in each of their eyes and tensed up.

"She'll probably kill me if I tell you where." he guessed out loud in a nervous sweat.

"Let us worry about that, Flash. C'mon, it's for her sake."

"... Alright. Alright, I'll tell you." Flash surrendered with his head and shoulders limply hanging. "She lives at..."

******

"This can't be right." Rarity muttered as she took in the awful conditions of the run-down bungalow. All five friends stood on the street before the yard, overgrown with grass and weeds. To anyone else, this place seemed abandoned, or at least filled with homeless squatters. Pinkie Pie shielded her eyes from the setting sunlight glaring over the rooftop ahead of them, squinting for a less blinding view.

"I wonder if this is why." she muttered.

"Why what?" Rainbow asked.

"Why she didn't want me tagging along last night."

"But why would the poor dear stay in such a disgusting place like this?" Rarity pondered out loud. The girls fell silent and worked on their deductions in silent, arms folded, and eyes scanning across the environment. Fluttershy scratched her cheek gently and glazed her eyes over the darkening sky.

"Well... she is from Equestria, right? Like Twilight?" she spoke, attracting the attention of the other girls, "Twilight didn't have anywhere to stay, so... maybe Sunset is the same?"

"But she showed up three years ago! Doesn't that mean she's been alone like this the entire time?" Rainbow asked, piecing it together. The girls looked between each other in concern, but Pinkie frowned. She immediately sprung from the pavement and bounced down the path to Sunset's front door, raising her clenched hand.

"Pinkie, wait!" Applejack called, "Maybe we should think first. We didn't know she was struggling like this."

"There's nothing to think about, AJ! Sunny's in a pickle, and we gotta help! It's what friends do!" Pinkie replied, an expression full of determination, and her body standing proud and firm. She quickly knocked to the Shave and a Haircut beat and stood back, bouncing on her heels. The other girls approached the front door with Pinkie and waited anxiously, Fluttershy sticking to the back furthest from Sunset's possible outburst. Half a minute had passed, but there was no commotion on the other side of the door, or any indication they were heard. Pinkie cocked her head and knocked the same tune again, folding her arms. Rainbow rolled her eyes and walked in front of one of the dirty broken windows, cleaning off some dirt with her arm and peeking inside.

"I can't see anyone... man, it looks like a crap heap in there." she observed.

"If she's not here, then where else could she be?" Rarity asked. Applejack rubbed the back of her head and looked from one side to the other of the bungalow, silent and confused.

"Good question..."

******

The park was a luxury Sunset never truly took advantage of. Despite its open space and local wildlife, she was more focused on the practicality of it in the past, and saw nothing to benefit from prancing around without a destination in mind. But things were different today. Sunset's entire world was shaken ever since the Fall Formal incident, and the consequences of her actions seem to be multiplying as the days progressed. For once, she could use some idle wandering in the soothing aura nature provided.

It had been an hour since she arrived, and the tension in her body still kept her shoulders locked high and her steps heavy and strict. For all her attempts to relax, Sunset was still where she started.

"C'mon, dammit. Just ease already! I can't sleep like this!" she thought with an impatient clench of her teeth behind tense lips. There were heavy shadows under her eyes, and the imprint on her cheek had disappeared, a small dark patch taking its place. Sunset grumbled in annoyance and continued marching down the path, her quick pace signalling strangers ahead of her to quickly move lest they get run over. At least that, Sunset could breathe a little easier about. Less people knew about her becoming a she-demon outside of school, and the more who avoided her rather than picked a fight, the better off she was.

Fifteen minutes had passed and Sunset  gave up her warpath, showing mercy on her aching feet by taking a moment to rest on a park bench under a lit street lamp. For a moment, things seemed a little calmer for her now that she was a little distracted by the pain. She removed one of her boots and massaged her foot, a grimaced look on her face.

"The high and mighty Sunset Shimmer... reduced to this. How wonderful." she grumbled to herself, pinching at her toes to squeeze out any excess pain left over. She pulled her boot back on and slumped against the back rest of the bench, her head hanging over her shoulders, and her eyes staring up at the dark blue sky, spotting a couple of starts breaking through the sun's dimming light. "... Why does that annoy me so much?" she pondered.

"You'd be surprised how the sub-conscious mind can work against you." A shock ran through Sunset's spine, springing her upright and twisting her head left and right until she spotted a girl standing a few feet down the path on the opposite side of the street lamp. The glow of the light made it difficult for her to see, but Sunset could tell she was at least her age. She stood to her feet and frowned, hands clenched and holding firm by her sides.

"Who the hell are you?" she demanded.

"A student from Canterlot High, just like you." the mystery girl answered, her hands tucked in the pockets of her sweater. "Sorry if I startled you, I just came to say hi." Sunset kept her glare on the stranger. If she was another student, it was pretty easy to deduce where this conversation was going.

"I'm sure you did. Excuse me." She turned on her feet and walked in the opposite direction, but the student wasn't letting go so easily.

"Hey, what's the rush? Did I say something wrong?"

"I know what you're here for. The big bad Sunset Shimmer all by her lonesome in the middle of the park! Easy pickings, right?" Sunset replied in contempt, keeping up her pace to escape from the inevitable.

"Oooh, I get it. You think I'm here to bully you! That whole Fall Formal thing really left you with a bad rep, huh?" She continued to provoke a conversation, be it good or bad. Sunset refused to stop, though she could hear the stranger's voice still plain as day.

"Yeah, bad rep. Now beat it!" she spat.

"Oh please, I'm not here about that." the girl chuckled, "I'm here because I know what you are, exile." That one word was like the emergency brakes on Sunset's legs. She came to a halt so suddenly, she nearly stumbled. Her eyes stretched wide, and she head slowly turned around, staring in alarm at the mystery girl.

"Wha... what did you say?" Sunset's voice croaked. The girl giggled and brushed the blue highlight from her eyes back into her black bangs.

"My name is Eris Storm, and I have been looking for you for a long time, Equestrian."