Locked out of Heaven

Sunset Shimmer scoffed at the scene before her, disgusted by the behavior she was seeing from her new-found friends. She was hanging off to the side as she leaned against a locker, her hands in her jacket's pockets as she observed what was unfolding. There was Applejack before her, a crying mess as she curled up on the hallway's floor, sobbing like it was the end of the world. Her friends were all there with equally sad looks at AJ, putting comforting hands on her back and murmuring reassuring words.

Ugh, how dumb… Sunset thought, looking away for a moment.Like, I know she’s sad and all, but it’s over nothing… She then glanced back over to the group. At least, I’m pretty sure of that… But another look at them just made her shake her head and scoff at herself. Pft, who am I kidding, this is really dumb and really, really… idiotic!

"Don't you worry dear, I'm sure it was a, er, painless death," Rarity then mumbled into Applejack’s ear as she sat down by her side, holding onto Applejack's hand with her own as she rubbed her back and comforted her with the other.

"Soarin’ had lived a pretty awesome life, AJ. Nothing to be sad about there. Hell, he had, like, a scholarship for college and everything! No help at all either, just himself working towards those things! That's, well, really good. I can't even get out of bed in the morning without help!" Rainbow Dash shouted from her own locker, pushing the door closed as she finished retrieving her history book and slid it into her backpack.

"Rainbow, try to be a bit more comforting!" Rarity hissed back, narrowing her eyes at Dash before turning her attention back to Applejack, who had responded by hiding her head with her legs. Rarity tried to do something, but she only continued to bend her legs and pull forward, becoming as small as she could. "Oh, you poor dear."

"Wimp," Sunset muttered to herself through clenched teeth, not believing how pathetic everyone was being.

How could she be so sad? He was just some boy! Weird and not even that cute, too. I mean, those weird-looking things under his eyes!? And a creepy knowledge about soccer!? Ew.

"Sunset, show a bit of respect," Dash growled back to her as she reached the wall Sunset was leaning on, giving her a light punch on the arm as she glared at the red and orange haired girl.

"Hey, it's true!"

"Just keep it to yourself. If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."

Grumbling, Sunset let out a long sigh, muttering an angry "fine" under her breath as Applejack continued to cry before her, the rest of her friends all sitting down on the floor beside their depressed friend as they exchanged worried glances. She'd gotten considerably worse in the last few minutes, her blonde hair a complete mess as pieces of it stuck to her bright red face, her eyes refusing to open as she began to hiccup between each wail.

"Shouldn't we, um, get someone to help?" Fluttershy whispered over to Pinkie, whose hair had completely deflated with her previous happiness ever since the whole thing had begun, "We're missing fifth period, and someone is bound to notice sooner or later."

Pinkie looked over to Fluttershy with sad eyes, her bottom lip quivering as she threatened to lie down with Applejack and cry as well. "I-I guess. Want to go get principal Celestia?"

"Sure, Pinkie."

The light-pink-haired girl then stood up from her spot on the dirtied tile floor, walking down the hallway to the front office and leaving the five remaining girls to watch as Applejack cried for what seemed like a never ending amount of time. Well, at least four. Sunset continued to rant about Applejack in her head.

 Not five minutes later Fluttershy was still gone, but Applejack's sobs had seemingly increased over that time. Sunset was still leaning against the wall, though her ears were now pressed against her hurting ears, beginning to scowl as the high pitched wails racked her already pained head.

"This is ridiculous, where the heck is Fluttershy?"

A girl shouldn't be this sad about some guy she liked, well, dying! Sure, someone died and that’s enough to be sad about, but it’s not like they knew each other well… She paused for a moment before continuing. And I've been there, done that, and certainly didn't *cry!** Flash was boring and dull, kissing and all that disgusting mushy stuff too. It was like we weren't even dating, just hanging out a bit more than usual! Ugh, I just don't get it. Why is love suddenly a whole big deal around here!?*

An especially loud cry made her flinch as her ears burned painfully in response. Finally, it all became too much for her to listen to. "Gah, I'm out!"

Letting her arms fall from her ears, Sunset began to storm off and away from her friends in a rage, only for Rainbow Dash to put a cyan hand on her shoulder and force her to turn back to face her.

"Hey, Sunset, you can't just bail out on u-"

She cut her off with a quick gesture of her hand towards Applejack.

"This is absurd!" she uttered back sharply, "How long can the girl cry her eyes out about some dumb boy!?"

"That ‘girl’ is our friend, and you're going to help her through her time of need!" Rainbow Dash spat, deciding that she'd be just as rude to Sunset as she was to her if it would get the point across.

"What ‘time of need!?’ She's just being a big crybaby!"

That last line came out a bit louder, and ruder, than Sunset had expected, and everybody turned her way, including Applejack. Sunset instantly felt her muscles tense and a huge sense of regret as Rainbow Dash gave her a "you did this to yourself" look, walking away to let the rest of the group deal with her. They all wore looks of disgust mixed with shock on their faces, especially Applejack, who was leaning towards disgust as she narrowed her eyes at her so called "friend.” Sobbing coming to a halt, Applejack rose to her feet and pushed her friends aside as she fiercely walked up to Sunset.

"What. Did. You. Just. Say!?"

Seeing as the deed was done, Sunset let herself relax a bit as she rolled her eyes, proceeding to stare right into Applejack's own green eyes. She could see they were puffy from all the crying she’d been doing for the past few minutes, with a few stray tears still running down from them as they glared at Sunset Shimmer mixture of despair and anger. And for a moment, Sunset felt as if she was the most horrible person in the world.

No, she then thought, shaking away the thought as all kindness left in her faded away. Applejack’s just overreacting! She doesn’t need my sympathy over something so juvenile.

"I called you a crybaby. Angry much?"

With that, Sunset suddenly found herself being slammed against the wall she once leaned upon as Applejack pushed her against it, knocking the air out of her lungs as she raised her fist to punch her. All Sunset did was snort in response, and would've folded her arms if they hadn't been pinned. Staring up at the girl towering before her, Sunset raised an eyebrow.

"Go on, farm girl. Do it."

That was all Sunset Shimmer remembered before searing pain shot up her face and she passed out.

A wave crashed onto the shore with a loud splshhh noise from behind her. It was a huge, dark-blue one, its thunderous movements causing the rising water to ripple as it shone with the setting sun as it began to lean in over itself, white froth forming at the edge of it's curl. With pinpricks of light still on it, it came rumbling over to the fiery orange sand, where it finally collapsed and spread out as far as it could. Sunset stood in the middle of it, watching as the icy cold ocean water lapped at her ankles. As she stood there, Sunset Shimmer looked back in front of her, staring into the array of colors before her.

Dark yellows, pinks, reds, and oranges all glimmered brightly in the sky as the sun began to fall under the horizon, letting out its last few rays of sunlight for people like herself to gawk at. It was definitely one of the finer sunsets, the clear sky letting her eyes take in all of the beauty sparkling right before her.

A gentle breeze then blew straight into Sunset as a few distant seagulls cawed out into the sea. The wind flew through her hair and pushed it back, giving it an ethereal look along with her short pink shirt and orange mini-skirt.

Looking down, Sunset Shimmer clenched her feet a bit, feeling the wet, slimy sand of the beach seep through the spaces in between her toes and watched as more of the murky brown stuff covered each foot.

I was right, she silently thought to herself, letting her previously crossed hands fall down to her sides. Applejack shouldn't have overreacted about some guy dying. They weren't even dating, just a bit flirtatious.

But as another gust of crisp, chilly air thrust against her under-clothed body once more, Sunset Shimmer let out a long sigh.

Then why do I feel so bad?

She felt yet another small wave crash against her leg, teeth chattering a bit as coldness spread throughout her body.

I'm... I’m a jerk... Sunset shook her head to banish the thought. But, he was just some random guy! Applejack was way too upset about that.

Sunset staggered back as her vision suddenly blurred. She quickly brought an arm to her face, assuming that it was simply the sand flying into her eyes as the wind began to pick up speed and power.

Yet I was so sad when Flash left me. To think about him dying though... But then again, what does he really mean to me?

"Sunset!?"

Sunset turned back to Applejack and scoffed. Of course she’d be here. To make her feel worse. Noticing something wet on her cheeks, Sunset lifted a hand to her feel her face.

How silly of me, coming up with something as stupid as sand. I'm crying right now.

The memories of Applejack, along with the rest of her friends yelling at her flooded her mind as she remembered what had unfolded after she left Principal Celestia's office.

"You jerk!"

"How dare ya say somethin' like that!"

"You big meanie! Her boyfriend just died!"

"I... can't believe you, Sunset!"

"How rude!"

Sunset turned around to hide her face from Applejack, refusing to let weakness be shown.

How could I think of myself getting such wonderful friends and being able to keep them. I screwed up. I always screw up… even if I was right… right?

"Sunset! Stop!"

And finally she did stop, turning around with her cheeks puffy and clearly visible tears streaming down her face as her thoughts became jumbled and lost. Applejack stood a few feet in front of her, looking up at Sunset with what seemed to be pity and regret written across her face. But she didn’t care. All she knew was that friendship was too confusing and depressing, and that walking through the ocean could help… somehow.

Applejack took a cautious step forward through the water, now up to her knees, and let out a sigh before looking Sunset straight in the eyes.

"Look... ah know ya ain't got a lot of experience with these kinda things, Sunset. And when I saw ya jumpin' into that car after school, driving off to here, I just knew I'd dun goofed up. Yer still learning what it means tah have friends. We... I, overreacted 'bout yer own reaction, even if you were bein’ a big ol’ jerk like ya were when you tried to take over the school.... Wanna come back an talk 'bout it?"

It was Sunset’s turn to respond. Instead of turning around and continuing her walking like she planned, her tears came to halt as she narrowed her eyes at Applejack and clenched her hands into fists. Sadness turned into anger as she caught on to just what Applejack had said. Taking a step forward to the blonde haired girl, she scowled as she looked her straight in the eye like Applejack had to her, only it wasn't as friendly. Applejack was puzzled at first, as evident by how she raised an eyebrow, but then her own eyes widened as she realized what she had done, her own hands falling down.

“Wait! Sunset, I didn’t mean to--”

But she was cut off, an accusing index finger being shoved into her chest as Sunset closed the gap between them.

“Oh, I see how it is. You’ll bring up my past to make me feel all bad about what I did,” Sunset hissed through clenched teeth.

“Now, Sunset, ya’ll know that ain’t what I meant,” Applejack replied hesitantly, putting her hands up to her chest as she tried to show she meant no harm. She didn’t want to further upset her angered friend.

“Sure, Applejack. Sure."

"It's the truth, I swear! Ah'm the most honest person in the 'ntire school!"

"You may be honest and all, but how do I know you aren’t just lying to yourself? Making yourself believe those things? If you were being honest, then why would you even bring that incident up?”

“Sunset, please, it was a slip of the tongue--”

“DON’T SAY MY NAME! YOU DON’T DESERVE TO AFTER WHAT YOU’VE SAID!” she yelled back as all of her pent up anger at her friends' reaction broke loose, stomping a foot and causing seawater to splash up.

“Please, ah know it wasn’t right of me to bring that up. But let’s face it, Sunset, ya’ll was acting like a huge jerk when mah boyfriend died. You didn’t even try to comfort me once!”

“He wasn’t even your boyfriend! He was just some guy you ogled during six and seventh period like he was a piece of eyecandy!”

Applejack gasped in response, her own concern turning to rage as she furiously spat back at the yellow and red haired girl before her.

“YOU KNOW THAT AIN’T TRUE!”

Sunset merely snorted in response.

“You know what, Applejack, we’re done here! I was beginning to regret what I did. But after seeing you come here, I think I now remember just why I called you a crybaby.”

With that, Sunset whipped around to storm off somewhere into the ocean, only to feel a ton of seawater smack into the front of her body and push her down to the ground and underwater as she let out a yelp, Applejack’s muffled screams reaching her ears before everything turned black.

Discord hummed a merry tune to himself as he skipped about his land of colors, finishing dusting a rather dirty blotch of red. He was rather satisfied with the way it shone in the non-existent light of the Transitional World, and couldn't help but grin that his former home looked so clean. Skipping off to the next part of it, he was just about to change out of his maid's outfit when he heard a high pitched scream, along with a loud thud and groan of pain.

Confused, he looked down at the watch on his wrist, seeing it was 12:03 pm.

"Sweet Rarity's butt glitter, Sunset's here already?!" he exclaimed, realizing his chaos had bested him once more.

Poofing his getup away in a flash of white magic and a clap of his eagle hand to lion paw, Discord looked around to see Sunset Shimmer face down on the jumble of reds and yellows he liked to call his "floor,” mumbling some rather nasty curse words to herself as she attempted to roll onto her back. Chuckling to himself, he watched from the other side of the void as she finally succeeded with her task at hand.

Perfect.

Discord then quickly teleported over to hover right above her face just as she laid on her back.

"Hello."

Sunset looked up to see Discord staring over her, smiling with a crooked grin as his snake tongue flickered out of his mouth. Her eyes widened in fear at the creature above her, and Discord's smile only widened as she opened her mouth to speak.

She then let out what could easily be called the loudest scream ever, scrambling to her feet with frantic movements of her legs and arms as she attempted to escape the beast before her. Heart pounding in her chest as her breathing became rugged and uneven, Sunset tried to run away, only to find that she couldn't as a white glow suddenly formed around her body.

"Now, now, dear Sunset, is this a proper way to treat somebody trying to help you?" Discord said disapprovingly, watching as she tossed and turned in his grip like a fish caught out of water.

"GET AWAY FROM ME YOU... RAT!" she screeched back, flailing in the grip of his magic as he pulled her closer to him.

"Hmm, not too different of the reaction I expected from your angry little friend."

"I DON'T HAVE AN ‘ANGRY LITTLE FRIEND!’ NOW LET ME GO!"

Discord chuckled and pinched her puffy cheeks. "Aww, isn't this precious? You two will be perfect together."

"UNHAND ME-- wait, what?"

All of her anger suddenly shifted to curiosity as she stopped her panicked and desperate movements, raising an eyebrow as she crossed her arms while still being lifted up by magic.

Discord's reaction was almost instant as he quickly stopped pinching her cheeks and instead gave her a sheepish smile.

"I... er..."

In lieu of offering an explanation, Discord quickly released his magic, letting her fall to the ground with a thud.

"Ow! Hey, what was that for?"

Her words fell on deaf ears as Discord directed his gaze to the grandfather clock on his wrist. "Well, would you look at the time! Time for you to go!"

"Wait, you still didn't answer my question--"

Sunset didn't get to finish her sentence as a blinding white light flashed all around her.