Silent Night

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5 (This version is no longer canon. See comment section)
Chapter 5 Redone
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
chapter 17
chapter 18

Chapter 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfVDM0z14T4

These are the kind of songs that currently littered the city of Canterlot. Everywhere you went, be it shop, café, mall, or restaurant, everyplace was playing songs and wishing tidings of good cheer, as was the norm at this time, the most wonderful time of the year.

But just because everyone calls something wonderful, doesn’t mean it is wonderful for everyone. Sometimes the most wonderful time of the year for one person, can be the most terrible time of the year for another.

Death. T.V. makes it so dramatic.

A person dies while the skies weep their tears of rain. People suffer while songs of mourning play.

But this is hardly ever the case in real life. In real life, people die while the sun shines on, and not a cloud is in sight. People suffer while others are wishing tidings of peace and joy, and singing songs of good cheer.

Thus was the case with a certain fiery haired girl who was, at the moment, receiving the kind of treatment she deserved least of all.
Wrongfully accused of a crime she didn’t commit, treacherously set up for an ambush, she was brutally beaten half to death, before finally losing consciousness.

Little did she know that her abusers weren’t near finished with her, and were only getting started.

Sunset had lost consciousness not long ago, and it wasn’t too long after, that the other students began to take notice.

“Hey! Guys!” One of them said trying to get the other’s attention.

“I think she’s out cold!” Once the other students began to take notice of this, they began to cease their brutality. One of them checked Sunset for a pulse.

“She’s still alive.” They confirmed.

“Anyone got a knife or somethin’?”

Before anyone could answer that, Gilda came storming over, a large bruise now just below her left eye.

“Don’t be a bunch of stupid morons, we can’t have blood all over the gym floor!” She winced as a shot of pain went through the bruise suddenly.

“You’re lucky she didn’t get you right in the eye.” One of them pointed out.

“Tell me about it…” She groaned.

“I don’t know about the rest of you guys…But I’m not near done with her.” There were a bunch of resounding approvals at that.

“Where are we gonna take her then? We can’t exactly leave her here…” Another pointed out.

“No we can’t. But there is an old abandoned factory outside of Canterlot that I know of, it’s in the middle of nowhere, and it’s about a good 20 miles from the city limits.” She smiled darkly.

“It should be perfect.” There were some cheers around, and Dumbbell picked Sunset up from the floor as they began making their way out.

On her way out, Gilda passed by lightning dust, who was currently nursing a rapidly bleeding nose.

“Oooooh…”

Gilda scoffed.

“Oh suck it up lightning, you missed everything.”

“Ah think she broke bah doze….” She moaned while clutching her nose.

“Ya? Well, she pelted me in the face with her phone, you don’t see me whining…” She continued past lightning, out the door, as lightning finally got up, moaning all the while, and still holding her nose.

Once they were outside, they opened the trunk to Gilda’s car, and stuffed Sunset inside, before getting into their individual cars to head out. Gilda got in her car, before looking at Lightning, still nursing her nose. Gilda gave an irritated sigh.

“Get in the car, crybaby, I’ll give you a ride.”

“To dah hopital would be dice” She groaned, getting inside.

She put the key in the ignition, starting the car.

“You’ll survive.”

Upon arriving at their destination, Gilda got out of the car, as everyone else arrived soon after. They got Sunset out of the trunk and made their way inside of the worn down, decrepit building, which was being grown over with vines and branches.

The place wasn’t unlike something you’d see in haunted, abandoned places photos. It was huge, with the aged architecture, and all around deserted feel of the building cloaking the whole place in an eerie air.

“Dude!” One of them exclaimed, looking around everywhere.

“How OLD is this place?... How come I never KNEW about it??”

They got to an open area, where they put Sunset down on the floor, and tied a gag around her mouth, with a blindfold over her eyes. After which, they proceeded to tie her arms and legs.

Pain…It was the very first thing she became aware of. It started out as small, only to grow as her body became more aware of its surroundings. She tried moving her arm, only to stop immediately as a sharp stab of pain went up her arm through her body, causing her leg to twitch, which in turn, caused even more pain to erupt, and her head….Oh her head, it felt like the mother of all migraines….She took in a deep breath, only to gasp and cough violently in the middle of that breath, causing her chest, her ribs the most…to join in the cacophony of pain her body was in. She found the simple act of breathing very hard, and even found it hard to be able to cough, due to something being tied around her mouth tightly.

In the middle of all this, she heard a voice through her buzzing ears.

“Hey! I think she’s waking up!”

She didn’t want to wake up….the more aware she became, the more the pain grew. She just wanted to sleep….

She was jolted back awake by a hard kick to the back, which jarred her entire body, heightening the pain all the more. She wanted to cry, she wanted to scream, but the most that came through the gag was a pained whimper.

“Awww, is the big bad Sunset not feeling so big and bad anymore?” Someone mocked.

“Who’s in control now freak?!” Another voice joined in, punctuating the word “freak” with another kick, this one to her already fragile ribcage, forcing a yelp from her, before another violent coughing spell took over.

By the time this one finally ended, someone was standing in front of her. She couldn’t see it for whatever was blocking her vision, but she sensed it. Kind of like when you close your eyes, but know someone’s watching you, or is in front of you. She flinched involuntarily, expecting another kick to the face.

She wasn’t disappointed. Her head reeled back from the force of the kick, and she felt herself lose consciousness again.

She wasn’t sure just how long she had been out this time, but as she woke up again, so did the pain, It came back in full force. She wanted to hide the fact that she was awake for as long as possible, but her body betrayed her as she couldn’t hold back sounds of pain from escaping from her lips. That, and her body was making random twitching movements. Soon enough, the inevitable happened, and they took notice.

“Well, well, looks like sleeping beauty finally decided to wake up…How unfortunate for her.” Someone was in front of her again. Sunset braced herself, expecting another kick, but this time was actually surprised when she felt the blindfold around her eyes get yanked off.

She squinted her one good eye, trying to adjust to the sudden light. It was already dark out, but they seemed to have brought a battery powered spotlight to account for that, wherever they were…The spotlight only lit up so much after all.

After her eyes had adjusted somewhat, she looked upwards and saw the imposing build of Gilda towering over her.

“Just so you know, you’re at an abandoned factory 20 miles outside of Canterlot, and we are the only ones who know where you are, so no one’s coming for you. Don’t worry though, we won’t leave you alone, we’ll take rotations coming up here to keep you company….”

The temperature in the room seemed to drop even lower at the cold, heartless tone in which she had ended her sentence.

"But maybe if you’re good, we might be nice. Heck, we might even make you our pet….Our little pony.”

“Hey Sunset!” Someone suddenly called from a distance, a male voice.

“You ever seen a horse in this world? When a person owns a certain one, we give them our own little cutiemark...”

Sunset didn’t know what he was talking about, but a pit of unease grew inside of her as he came into her field of vision holding a metal rod of some sort with the shape of a sun at its end. Her worry intensified as she noticed its red hot end as he approached her.

“I recall you once saying a sun was your cutiemark in Equestria. Care to have it back?...”

Her good eye widened as she tried to scream out objections through the mouth gag, earning another kick to her side. She gasped in pain for a moment, but her body was now running on adrenaline, and she put up all the fight she could muster with her hands and legs tied, her body being oblivious to the pain for the time being.

Some other students moved in to hold her down, as he approached her, and held the metal above her, waiting for her struggling to cease.

Sunset kept at it for quite some time, before her body finally felt the effects of it all, and she gave in to the fact that this was a hopeless fight.

There were six students on her by the time she finally quit struggling, and she was left panting for breath as one student dug the side of her face into the ground, while two others pinned her legs down, and another two her arms. Now giving the guy multiple areas to choose from without her struggling.

“I always wanted to be a wrangler when I grew up. Looks like my wish came true. Hey! From what I’ve heard from you and twilight about Equestria, ponies only get their marks on their rumps. But the thing with this, is that we can put it anywhere.” He put the metal close to her arm, the heat feeling dangerously close.

“Here…” He teased, before moving it to her shoulder.

“Here….” Then slowly moved it up to her face, just holding it centimeters from her cheek.

“Or…Here.” Sunset didn’t move a muscle for fear of how close it was…The heat feeling unbearably close.

He smirked as he held it there, hovering over her face for a moment.

“Ya….I think I like it right….here.” He pressed the sun shaped end down onto her cheek upon finishing his sentence, holding it there. Sunset’s screams resounded through the building as her skin sizzled and bubbled into the shape on the end. Her body would have thrashed and convulsed, but was still held down by the others.

After what felt like forever to Sunset, he finally removed it. But that didn’t make the new pain go away. On the bright side, she was currently oblivious to all other pain in her body compared to her cheek, which now had an angry burn forming deep into her skin.

She just wanted to go home. Not her apartment... She had never considered that her home... Not the school, which though, once she did consider a sort of home and safe haven, now was a totally different story... and not to any of her friends...At least not in this world. They wanted nothing to do with her anymore.

She wanted to go back to her true home, which she had taken so much for granted in the past. She wanted those who truly cared for her....She wanted Celestia. She wanted Twilight....Oh Twilight....If she was going to die, she would have given anything to spend her last moments with her...With a real friend.

Author's Note

I like to think of this song as this story's theme. (Ignore the video that goes with it)

Also, I'm making this story up as I go...So I might add tags later on, and I'm still debating on whether Sunset will die in this version or not...I'm leaning towards her dying...But I'm not one hundred percent sure...So, that's why it's not categorized as tragedy....yet.

Chapter 2

The hours leading into the night had been straight out of hell for Sunset. She had been so relieved when they finally started drifting out to head home. They would have stayed even longer probably, but everyone had to go to school the following morning. Sure, it was the last day of classes, but chances were they’d find it a little suspicious if thirty plus students suddenly decided to skip out.

They had reluctantly decided to leave around 1am that night, having way too much fun taunting Sunset and reveling in her misery the whole night. The whole scene wasn’t unlike some sort of twisted, vile party.

“Don’t miss us too much Sunset.” One said as they were leaving.

“We’ll be back before you know it... But hey! Look on the bright side! Chances are you’ll be dead by then…” There were some laughs, and a shared high five. The voices got further away, until they died down altogether, leaving Sunset in the dark, on the hard ground, in the harsh cold.

She wished that the many injuries she had obtained would have at least distracted her body from the cold.

They didn’t.

On top of her battered body, she had to cope with the cold chill of the winter air. She was hardly dressed for the weather. Her coat she had been wearing had been taken by the others, and she couldn’t even do anything to warm herself up, what with her arms and legs still being tied. If there had been enough light for her to see in front of herself, she would have seen her breath.

About 30 minutes passed, and she could feel her toes going to the point of numbness, as were her fingers. She tried moving them around as much as she could in her binds, but it didn’t help.

Another 30 minutes later, she could feel her lips cracking from the cold. Her body was sore from being so tensed up in the cold, and the constant shivering. She tried to relax her body, but it was no use, it wasn’t cooperating.

30 minutes still after that, she was feeling tired…so tired. She knew she should have fought it, but she was so tired, and sleep would take the pain, the numbness, the cold, the aching body, the sorrow…It would take this whole thing away…and give her peace in return…

She was done fighting.

Her eyes opened to light… bright light. She squinted and put a hand over her eyes, trying to adjust to the light. When her eyes finally had, she slowly sat up, lowering her hand and looking around her.

Somehow, she felt like she was still in the abandoned building….But…it was different…Like a newer flawless rendering of the place…
Gone was the worn down, decrepit building, in its place was magnificent architecture, full of colors beyond imagination, and…were those….toys?...Her eyes went back in front of her, where right there….in front of her, confirmed her suspicions.

“….I’m hallucinating….That’s exactly what’s happening right now…” If the man in the red suit wasn’t enough to confirm that, her next realization was…She was standing.

The man in front of her chuckled.

“Maybe you are Sunset. But does that really matter right now?”

“…Touché….Who are you?..”

The man gave a hearty laugh.

“Who am I?....I don’t think I’ve ever had that asked of me before.”

Sunset raised an eyebrow.

“Really?.... You’re trying to tell me that you’re actually him?...The jolly fat man? The big guy?...If that’s the case, where are your reindeer?...”

“Oh, poor fellas are feeling a little under the weather. It is a cold night after all.”

“You’re tellin’ me…” She mumbled, before turning her attention back to him.

“Ok Nick…. If you’re really Santa….then undo everything that has happened to me this night. Send me back home…”

“Sunset, I deliver toys….If it’s a miracle you want, you’ll have to inquire at the head office for that…But if there’s one thing Santa DOES know how to do, it’s warming hearts…” He snapped his fingers and right there in the wall, a fancy brick fireplace appeared with a roaring fire. How? She would never know…Oh, that’s right….She was dreaming.

But she honestly could have cared less at the moment if this were a dream or a hallucination…Whatever the case, if her mind was willing to give her a reprieve through its tricks, she wasn’t going to complain. What mattered was that at this moment, she could really feel that sweet heat, and she was going to enjoy it while it lasted…and maybe even humor the man in the red coat…

“If Santa is actually real…and you really are him, then answer me this…How do you go all around the world in one night to deliver gifts?...How is that possible? It’s humanly impossible…Also, what’s the point in landing on roofs, and going down chimneys? What if someone doesn’t have a chimney? Then what? And flying reindeer? How does any of that even make sense?...”

He gave another jolly laugh.

“My dear Sunset…If there’s anything I love, it’s to bring cheer, and have fun while doing it!” He then looked her straight in the eye.

“But where’s the fun in making sense?...”

She awoke to the old decrepit building again, back on the floor in her binds. On the bright side, the sun had come up, and she could actually see around her. The walls, the all around aged look of the place…She tried to recreate the visuals from her dream, and put them into what the place currently looked like, but already, her mind was feeling blurry to the memories of that dream.

One thing above all stood out to her…She was still alive. How? It had been freezing through the night, and honestly, it still was pretty dang cold. In her opinion, she shouldn’t have even woken up after falling asleep….and yet…here she was.

Gilda woke up that morning with one intention….and it wasn’t to go back to school. She threw on some clothes, and texted one of the guys, letting them know she was going straight back.

It was a little past 10am by the time she had gotten back to the location. Getting out of the car, she made her way inside, back to the familiar setting where Sunset was still bound.

She honestly wasn’t expecting her to still be alive. It was dang cold out last night, and with her wounds,chances were she wouldn’t have lasted long.

But as she approached her, she noticed something unexpected…she was breathing. Short raspy breaths were escaping from her as Gilda looked on. Her eyes were open too, but were kind of staring into nothing

“Well, whaddya know...” She said as she inspected her. Sunset’s eyes seemed to focus a little more at the new sound, until they seemed to finally land on Gilda. Gilda chuckled.

“Have to hand it to you, I actually wasn’t expecting you to survive the night. But honestly, I’m actually kinda glad you did. We had so much fun last night, we wouldn’t want the party to die just like that…” She knelt down and took the gag off her mouth.

"Don't really see the point in you having this on. It's not like anyone can hear you anyway..." She chuckled.

Sunset didn't bother saying anything when her mouth was free. What was the point? Gilda was right.

Seeing that she wasn't going to say anything, Gilda gave a smirk, and got up.

"Ah, you're no fun...But don't worry, it's the last day of school today...Then we can have all the fun we want for the next two weeks!" She started walking away.

"Or how ever long you survive anyway..."

She had gone back outside, and had opted to sit inside her heated car for a while. It was still quite cool out, and that building did next to nothing to help matters.

She checked her time.

11:30am. Four more hours until the rest were officially off for the break. She lit up a cigarette, when suddenly her phone started vibrating. She sighed, pulling it out.

“What?” She answered bluntly.

“We’ve got a problem…a MAJOR problem…” A voice answered on the other end.

“What is it?”

“Oh, just the tiny little fact that anon-a-miss just posted a NEW update not even an hour ago!!” He hissed into the phone.

Gilda fell silent for a long while, for the first time since this all started, she actually looked genuinely worried.

“…...What?”

“Get online Gilda! See for yourself!” She lowered the phone from her ear and logged onto MyStable. Sure enough, the first thing she saw was a new update from Anon-a-Miss posted barely an hour prior.

“Th-....that’s not possible….”

“Gilda….tell me honestly…You got everyone riled up against Sunset…but did you have ANY proof it was her besides the same hunch everyone else had?”

“I…are YOU implying that Sunset is NOT Anon-a-Miss?!”

“I don’t know Gilda!! How else do we explain this new update?...”

“I…there has to be another explanation…” She said quietly, sounding more like she was trying to convince herself.

“Well, I’m ALL ears Gilda! I’m up for any possible explanation to this other than the obvious one!”

Gilda went silent, wracking her brain for any sort of explanation to this, when finally, a light bulb went off.

“She has to have had someone doing this WITH her!” She blurted.

“….Keep going…”

“We never thought of that as a possibility! She could have someone working WITH her…It would totally make sense that the other person would keep posting then…to fool US into thinking it was never really her, and let her go as a result of the continued posts!”

There was silence on the other end of the phone, until finally, there was a response.

“That…could actually be a possibility…”

“Not a possibility...I KNOW that’s what’s going on here, and I’m not going to let her win this.”

“Well, what are we gonna do about it?”

“Oh, don’t worry...She WILL tell me who is helping her out on this, of that, I will make sure of…” She stated darkly, before killing the call, and getting out of the car, making her way back to the room Sunset was in.

She threw open the door, and stormed her way over to Sunset, grabbing her by her collar and lifting her up, slamming her against the wall, forcing a pained cry from Sunset, while gritting her teeth in pain.

“WHO is it?” She demanded in a dangerous tone.

“Wha-” Sunset started, but was cut off by a punch to the chest.

“Don’t try and play dumb! Someone posted as Anon-a-miss barely an hour ago, WHO WAS IT?!!”

Sunset actually gave a small scoff after catching her breath.

“How am I supposed to know? Shouldn’t this be a dead giveaway that it was…never me in the first place??”

Gilda brought her face to face with her.

“Oh, you’d like me to believe THAT wouldn’t you?....For me to just let you go scott free??”

“I wouldn’t exactly describe what’s happened to me in the past twenty-four hours as getting off “Scott free…” Sunset retorted.

Gilda took her hair and slammed her head against the cement wall, before throwing her to the ground. Sunset moaned in pain.

“You know, I could have everyone come back here and we could all have a big party and play piñata…with YOU being the piñata…”

Sunset responded with a whisper, not lifting her head from the ground.

“You all are going to have so much blood on your hands…and it’s all going to be for nothing, because you are too stubborn to listen to reason and believe otherwise.”

Gilda rolled her eyes.

“Thanks for that little bout of wisdom…” She pulled out her phone.

“Last chance. I’m not playing games, either tell me now who it was…Or there’s gonna be a repeat of the gym episode, and chances are you won’t survive this time.”

Sunset knew now, that it was most likely the CMC. But who knew how Gilda would respond to that…Chances were she wouldn’t believe that three little innocent kids were responsible, and even if she did, Sunset didn’t know if she wanted to take that road and give them away to Gilda…She didn’t think Gilda would actually go after them, but did she really want to take that chance?....In the crazed state Gilda was in, she wouldn’t be surprised if she went and did something she would regret later.

Gilda took her silence as refusal to talk, and punched in the numbers on the phone, waiting for an answer.

“Get everyone back here, we’re gonna have a bit more fun.” She stated plainly before killing the call immediately after.

“Enjoy the last little bit of peace you have…” she stated before walking away, and leaving Sunset alone.

Now alone, Sunset felt a lump begin to form at the back of her throat, while her eyes started tearing up. She tried blinking back the tears, as they stung at her swollen shut eye, but it was no use. Her body…and heart, had decided there was only one way to release the built up stress, sorrow, hurt, anxiety, and every other negativity that had invaded her in this past night and day.

So her stomach constricted in convulsive waves, as everything rose to the surface, and was released in deep gasping, heavy sobbing, and bitter tears.

It hurt. Oh, it hurt her ribs, her chest, her eye, her cheek, and every other part of her body as it tensed up and shook with the sobbing. But she couldn’t stop herself.

What had she done to deserve all this? Ya, maybe in the past, she had deserved this, but did all of the things she had done, since the Fall Formal to make up for her past ways mean absolutely nothing to CHS?...Obviously not.

She had managed to doze off after her breakdown, and was actually having quite a nice rest, when the sound of approaching voices brought her out of her slumber.

“- He’s got a whole bunch, he’ll never even notice this one’s gone.” A male voice said.

“Hey Sunset…” Someone nudged her with a foot.

“Wake uuup…” They shook her shoulder gently.

“Wake up you stubborn mule!” Sunset gasped and flinched sharply in pain as “up” was punctuated by a sudden burning sting across her back.

“Hope you at least had a nice nap, cause I’m thinking you probably could have woken up in a more pleasant manner…” There were a few laughs.

“I’m guessing Gilda already made you more than aware of a certain event that happened at school today…”

Despite her situation, Sunset was feeling gutsy…and angry at these students, and couldn’t resist a smart retort.

“What, you finally hit puberty?..”

“You son of a-” Sunset never heard the last word, as her world exploded in pain as he finished his sentence with a kick to her ribs, followed by another sharp sting on her back, making her grit her teeth.

“How do you like the horse whip? Act like a stubborn mule, we’ll treat you like one.” He finished his sentence with another strike, this one on her arm. Sunset grit her teeth as she gasped, causing some more coughing.

“You know EXACTLY what I’m talking about, now be a good little horsey and tell us WHO. POSTED. YET. ANOTHER. UPDATE!” He yelled, punctuating each word with more strikes, each to different parts of her body.

Sunset’s body jerked with every hit, the pain overwhelming her.

He raised the whip over his head again for another blow, and Sunset yelled out without thinking.

“You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you!” She blurted, before realizing what she had just said.

Oh no….

There was laughter all around her.

“Well, that’s one way to confess!” Gilda laughed, approaching her, before hoisting Sunset up and spoke in a threatening tone.

“I knew you had someone in this with you, you freak…Now that you just confirmed it, you WILL tell us who it is. We’ll keep you alive, and make you suffer until we know what you know.”

Sunset cursed herself. How could she have let that slip….HOW?!

Author's Note

I honestly wasn't going to make the santa scene canon with the rest of the story. I was just going to put it as a little bonus chapter. But then I saw "Lex_Drago's" comment, and I figured, ya...There's gotta be a sort of Discord persona in this world too....So, there you have it folks, Discord is Santa in the human world....This explains....Everything.

chapter 3

Earlier that Day at school…

A Chem. Pop quiz as the kickoff to the last day of school before Christmas break. That had been awesome…At least it was over with, and she was headed to gym. But as Rainbow Dash got changed into her gym clothes, something felt off as she stepped into that gym.

The gym had always been the highlight of her school day. It gave her a rush. The one class where she wasn’t stuck behind a desk. It always made her feel free.

But something was definitely wrong today. Instead of the usual rush, it made her feel queasy…Instead of the freedom, it gave an air of oppressive tension, and she felt herself just wanting to leave.

She was more than aware of what had transpired here last evening, but that was no reason for a bleeding heart. Sunset honestly was asking for it, ringing bells with all her anon-a-miss posts…She had betrayed everyone!...But then, why did SHE feel like the traitor in all this?

She sighed, trying to clear her head.

Lightning Dust was sitting at the bleachers, excused from class on account of a broken nose. Rainbow went over and started talking to her while everyone was dispersed, waiting for class to begin.

“What happened to you?” She asked. Lightning glared at her.

“Take a wild guess…”

Rainbow only had to think for a moment, before stifling a laugh, her voice going quieter, so only they would hear.

“Seriously?? There were how many of you there? And she still nailed you?” She chuckled.

Lightning glared. “I didn’t exactly see YOU there helping, ya know…”

“Touché…” Just then, the teacher blew his whistle, signaling the beginning of class.

They had gotten out of gym class at 11:30am, and Rainbow wasn’t really in the mood to hang around. She got changed, and went to her locker to get her lunch, but honestly, she wasn’t even feeling all that hungry. After a short deliberation with herself, she decided to leave it behind, and went straight outside instead.

On her way out, she caught wind of some students grumbling and complaining about something as she passed. She didn’t catch all of it, but when she heard “Anon-a-miss”, that caught her attention. She turned her head in their direction as she passed. Catching the words “Again!” and “I can’t believe it!” Before they got too far away to hear them anymore.

That was weird….If everything went down last night…which they DID according to Lightning…then how was there another post?....
She couldn’t even check her own phone. Gilda still had it… Where was she anyway?

She leaned up against a wall, checking her time.

12:00pm. Lunch was half over already. It started at 11:30am at CHS, and went until 12:20pm.

She was beginning to wonder where the other 4 were. She ended up being there for another 15 minutes by herself, spending her lunch in a pretty boring way. But that didn’t bother her. She had more than enough thoughts to keep her occupied during that time.

What were those students talking about? How could there have been another update?...

She began walking, contemplating these things, when suddenly, out of the blue, she found herself pulled into an alley, looking eye to eye with a distraught looking student.

“Where were you last night man?? You should have been there to see what they did! I don’t mean that in the “You missed out” sort of way either. She’s insane!” He said in a hushed voice.

“Sunset?”

“Gilda!!” He hissed, throwing his hands up.

“Gilda?” She repeated, surprised.

“Look, I got no doubt that Sunset’s behind Anon-a-miss ok? But what I saw happen last night…They took it too far…I mean what they did…Shouldn’t happen to anybody.”

“Wait….What exactly did happen?” I thought they were gonna do this here at the school.”

“They did, but they didn’t stop there, they-” But just then, the buzzer went off, signaling the end of lunch. He sighed.

“Look, I gotta go. Everyone’s expecting me to go back. But I don’t like anything that’s going on there…”

“Go back where?...what?”

“Their at some abandoned place outside of Canterlot. I’ll tell you everything when I can. But for now I gotta go.” With that, he left without another word, leaving Rainbow to stare after in confusion.

She had wanted to ask him if he knew anything about the new update, but she never got the chance…

Abandoned place….outside Canterlot? From what she understood, the whole thing was supposed to be at the school. She figured Sunset was in the hospital right now or something…

But now that she thought about it, there hadn’t been any hushed whispers going around the school of what happened to Sunset…She had figured someone had found her in the morning or something. But she hadn’t heard a peep of gossip about it from the students…Or anyone for that matter. Everything was going as normal at Canterlot High.

But then, IF nobody found her this morning….

And what was that guy talking about anyway? Abandoned place? going back? taking things too far?...

She decided to skip the rest of the day. There was but one hospital in Canterlot, and she needed to reassure herself that Sunset was in fact there.

Sure, she was angry enough at Sunset to have let happen what had happened the prior night...But she didn’t sign up for…..

She banished the thought from her mind. That ISN’T what happened…It WASN’T what happened.

Are you quite sure about that? A voice whispered in the back of her mind.

She hopped on her bike, ignoring the thought.

She needed answers.

Present Time....

Gilda dropped her back to the ground.

"So, what's it gonna be Shimmer? Make this easy on yourself, and just tell us."

You know this could all end.... A voice whispered deep inside her.

"Who...made the post?"

Sooo....easily, it could end.....Abandon harmony...Clearly it has abandoned you. So, what's the point? Give me control... It whispered sweetly.

Sunset looked up at her, and a smirk slowly formed on her face.

".....Your mom."

For a moment, Gilda didn't respond in any way. She just stared at Sunset.

One of them looked at her nervously.

"....Gilda?..."

Finally she came out of her daze, eyes piercing Sunset.

"Do you WANT to die??" She asked quietly, before hoisting Sunset up by her throat.

"Because I WILL oblige..." Her grip tightened around her throat.

"Right here...Right now." Dots began to cloud Sunset's vision.

"Stop!" Someone suddenly shouted.

"You're gonna kill her!"

"No DUH!" Gilda said, not taking her eyes off Sunset.

"What's it LOOK like I'm trying to do here?"

"You can't kill her!"

Gilda finally looked out and gave the guy a death glare.

"Why, do tell, CAN'T I?!"

"Because...Because she hasn't said who posted the update!"

"Hey, ya!" Another agreed.

"What the heck Gilda? You can't kill her right now!"

Gilda looked at Sunset losing consciousness, and gave an irritated sigh before dropping her back to the ground. Sunset coughed and gasped, taking in the air she needed.

“Guys! Shut up!!” A voice shouted.

Everyone stopped….There was the sound of a car pulling up, before a door slammed shut from outside, with voices.

Sunset's good eye widened, and she immediately opened her mouth to scream, but was silenced by someone slapping a hand over her mouth from behind.

“I thought no one else KNEW about this place!” they hissed at Gilda.

“They….don’t…” Gilda tried defending poorly.

“Obviously, they do!!”

“Guys, relax…I’ve got this.” Gilda reassured, starting to walk out.

“What are you DOING??” Another hissed.

“Would you rather THEY come in here??” She shot back, before stepping out.

“I still can’t believe you dragged me all the way out here for a musty worn down building…” Sugarcoat droned while getting out of Indigo’s car.

“Hellooo, have you never heard of abandoned places?? Their like the best places to explore! Their totally awesome!!”

“Their totally haunted.”

“Oh, lighten up Sugar, you’re never gonna have fun in life with that attitude…”

“Don’t call me Sugar….”

Indigo opened her mouth for a response, furrowing her eyebrows, before closing it again, facepalming.

“We really need to get you a nickname…”

“We really need to get back to the city.”

“Oh, c’mon!” She threw her hands up.

“It’s Christmas break! We got a whole two weeks off! It’s like…the ONLY time we ever get a chance to relax from the insanity of our school!”

“We should be using these two weeks to study for tests the teachers will obviously throw at us when we get back.”

“Ugghh, You sound like Twilight! You wanna lock yourself in a room for two weeks like her, then be my guest…” She said, before heading towards the building, when suddenly, someone stepped out from its entrance, blocking it.

“Oh, hey, if it isn’t Indigo Yap...” She said smugly, crossing her arms.

“You’ve gotta be kidding…What are YOU doing here?”

“I should be asking you the same thing.”

“What does it matter to you? I don’t see any sign here saying this place belongs to you, so let us in!”

“Why don’t you make me?..”

“Zap, let’s just get back to the city.” Sugarcoat tried convincing her.

“No way! We ARE getting inside! This place doesn’t belong to her!”

“I’d listen to your friend there Zap...

“Who do you think you are??” She marched up, shoving Gilda.

“We have as much right as you to-” She was cut off as Gilda punched her in the face, knocking her to the ground.

“I THINK I’m the one who’s going to put you in your place!” Gilda snarled as Indigo got right back up, both going at it. Sugarcoat watched them with a bored expression. She sighed.

“Amateurs…” Her eyes drifted to the building entrance.

“Might as well see what all the fuss is about…” She decided, heading inside as the other two were distracted with their brawl.

Author's Note

I literally JUST finished this chapter, and I'm off to work. (I work a night shift)
I'm not too sure about this chapter...but hopefully it's ok, I just want to get it posted before I leave for work, so here it is...

Chapter 4 Author's Note

Hey Guys! Sorry, I haven’t updated in almost two weeks. I didn’t have as much time for writing. Hope this chapter doesn’t disappoint.
And now, here’s Sour Sweet with the disclaimer!
“We must ALL be VERY kind and understanding towards this author. For she does not own anything…Not Equestria Girls, not MLP…and not a thread of dignity! And if she DID own EQG, we would have all killed her by now!!”
……You don’t get to do disclaimers anymore Sour.

Chapter 4

There were people in wheelchairs, beds, and crutches, as Rainbow made her way past them all and approached the front desk.

“I-I’m here to see someone.” She stated simply.

“Name?” The attendant at the desk asked.

“Sunset Shimmer.”

The woman clicked away at her computer, pulling up the files needed. After a while, she spoke up.

“That’s odd. We don’t have any record of a Sunset Shimmer being admitted here.”

Rainbow’s breath caught in her throat.

“A-are you sure?” She asked hesitantly.

“Sorry, there’s nothing. Are you sure she was admitted to this hospital in particular?”

“I…no. Sorry, I must have made a mistake. Thanks anyway.” She replied before walking away, feeling nauseous.

The fact that Sunset wasn’t in the hospital, combined with what the student had said to her earlier…”They took it too far” was enough to work Rainbow into a small panic.

She decided to try her apartment. Surely she was at home then…She HAD to be at home.

The place was a junk heap. Why Indigo had ever wanted to come here was beyond her. Sugarcoat had never really been one for the old. She preferred the new and now. Why waste time on old, dusty, outdated junk when there was so much better stuff out there. Crystal rather than must.

She was shaken out of her musings when she saw something on the floor. Something red. Something fresh looking.

She bent down to get a better look.

Something that looked strikingly similar to…She got back up and took a closer look around the place, noticing that there were similar splotches decorating the floor in various different places, all looking quite recent.

Despite her unease at the sight, a hint of humor struck Sugarcoat, her thoughts going back to Gilda.

Maybe that’s why she seems crabbier than usual…She thought to herself.

After contemplation, she ultimately decided to go a bit further in, taking this turn and that, following the eerie crimson trail.

If there was anything she HADN’T been expecting at that moment, it was taking the next turn which led into an open area, and being met with a punch straight to her face from the side, causing her to fall to the floor.

When she finally got her bearings back, she found her hands being tied behind her back.

“Wha-…”

“You should have stayed in the city.” A low voice spoke to her, before proceeding to put a blindfold over her eyes.
Panic was beginning to set in.

“Now wait just a minute…” Another voice spoke up.

“What we’re doing here is supposed to be strictly for revenge purposes. She didn’t do anything.”

“She went snooping where she wasn’t supposed to. What are we supposed to do anyways, let her go? She’ll go straight to the police and then we WILL go to jail. Girl, you chose the wrong day to go exploring.”

“It wasn’t exactly my idea to come out here in the first place. I got dragged.”

“Well then, blame whoever dragged you out here.”

There was a commotion just then, not far, as Gilda fought to bring a struggling Indigo to the area.

“Could one of you guys possibly find it in you to make yourself useful and HELP me out here?!!” She screamed.

Three others went to her aid, and soon enough, had managed to get Indigo under control as they forced her onto the ground on her stomach, and tied her hands behind her back, Indigo screaming profanities at them all the while.

She lifted up her head and examined the area they were in, before her eyes landed on something that filled her with dread.

There…on the other side of the room, was what appeared to be a half dead girl on the floor.

She lost it.

“What the hell you guys?! What’s going on here?!” The panic was clear in her voice, and Sugarcoat recognized it immediately.

“What is it Zap?” She called with worry of her own, not being able to see anything because of the blindfold.

“You…you guys are sick!” She ignored Sugarcoat.

“You’re freaking psychopaths!”

With every outburst from Indigo, Sugarcoat felt herself getting all the more nauseous from just the thought of what Indigo saw. She was beginning to be thankful that she couldn’t see anything.

“You know something, our school is right. You guys are a bunch of freaks…and not for the reasons our school says either.

We come out here to explore an awesome abandoned factory, and find out that CHS is full of a bunch of psychopathic killers!”

Gilda rolled her eyes.

“Fine, if you have such bleeding hearts, then you don’t have to be in the same room, how’s that? You can stay in one of the other rooms. Not like we were planning on you guys coming here anyway.”

Sugarcoat felt herself get lifted up as she and Indigo got taken into a different room. The guy carrying Sugarcoat went back after putting her down, but the other guy stayed for a moment.

After making sure he was out of earshot, he pulled a knife out. Indigo saw this, but her mouth was covered before she could make any noises.

“You want to ruin any chance you have to get out of here, then go ahead and scream.” Indigo gave him a confused look.

“Just trust me.” He slowly took his hand off her mouth. When she didn’t try to scream, he removed his hand completely, and began cutting away at her binds.

Her eyes widened.

“Dude…” She whispered, letting out a sigh of relief.

“You rock…”

When she was free, he went over to Sugarcoat.

“Coats, don’t scream.” Indigo warned.

“This guy’s getting us out of here.”

He took the blindfold off first, and Sugarcoat saw him, and Indigo behind him, relief flooding her as he cut her free as well.

“Get yourselves out of here, and get the cops over. There’s an alternate entrance you guys can get out of over there.” He gestured with his hand.

They didn’t have to be told twice. Indigo was already gone.

Sugarcoat looked at the guy, giving him a rare smile.

“Thanks…a lot.” With that, she too was gone.

As soon as they were back in the car, they drove off without a look back. Indigo drove while Sugarcoat took her phone out and dialed 911, telling them everything that had just happened.

In record time, Rainbow arrived at Sunset’s, and knocked on her door.

After getting no response, she knocked harder.

“Sunset? If you’re in there, I really need you to open up right now.”

No response.

She sighed, and took out an out of shape paper clip, and began picking at the lock. Soon enough, the door came unlocked. She opened the door slowly.

“Sunset?” She peeked inside. The place was empty.

She entered the small living space, went past the kitchen, to the back where her bedroom was located.

Nothing. No sign of Sunset anywhere.

She sighed, and turned around to leave, when her eyes suddenly fell on her backpack in the corner.

She decided to open it up, rummaging through, hoping that something in here could tell her anything.

Bingo.

Her journal.

She took it out, and opened it up, landing on the page that she had been writing to Twilight about going to…see the sirens?
She read some more, trying to make sense of it all, and then read previous entries, from both her, and Twilight.
But none of it made any sense to her. The entries made it sound as if SHE had been trying to figure out who anon-a-miss was…the whole time.
But…if SHE was anon-a-miss, how would any of this make any sense?...

The post at school today….

The realization hit her like a ton of bricks, as she dropped the book to the floor. She cursed out loud. Her hands going to her mouth in realization as a stream of curses coursed out of her mouth. She looked around for a phone. She needed to call Gilda NOW.

No such luck. Gilda had her phone, and Sunset’s phone was nowhere to be seen. She had probably taken it.

She thought out the possibilities of what she could do, before deciding that Pinkie’s place was probably the least amount of distance from here. So, she got on her bike and peddled like she never had.

She let her bike fall to the ground as soon as she got there, and banged on the door.

Nobody was home.

She cursed and looked at her watch. That’s right, it was only 3pm right now. Everyone was just getting off school now.

She took her handy paperclip out and picked the lock again.

She had been to Pinkie’s house enough times to know exactly where their home phone was, and went straight for it, dialing her own cell number.

“You had better have my phone on you…” She mumbled to herself, before putting the phone to her ear, waiting for an answer.

She didn’t have to wait long.

“Hey buddy!” Gilda’s voice answered on the other end.

“We’ve all been wondering where you’ve been.”

“Gilda, we need to talk. I found Sunset’s journal that she uses to keep in contact with Twilight, and according to what’s in there, she’s been trying to find out who Anon-a-miss is herself! Apparently she even went to the sirens thinking THEY were doing it. Why would she be doing that if she herself IS Anon-a-miss?”

There was silence on Gilda’s side.

“We messed up BIG time Gilda…wherever you are, whatever’s going on, call it off. Now.”

There was silence for another moment, until she finally answered.

“Consider it done.”

Dash sighed in relief, before hanging up.

Gilda looked at everyone, after putting the phone down.

“A certain someone just notified me that SHE,” She pointed accusingly at Sunset.
“has been keeping company with the sirens.”

A number of gasps went out among them.

“She says the only reasonable thing to do would be to kill her now.”

There were a few approvals, while others seemed a little hesitant.

“What about the new Anon-a-miss post?”

“We’ll have to figure it out another way.”

“But-” The speaker was cut off by a death glare from Gilda, silently daring him to challenge her.

He ultimately decided against arguing with her, as did anyone else in the minority who weren’t too keen on murder.

She took a knife out, and leaned down, speaking quietly into Sunset’s ear, so only she would hear.
“No hard feelings. I already know you’re not Anon-a-miss. It’s just a matter of power you know?...” She smirked.

“You’ll understand…Oh, and one more thing…you know your friend Rainbow Dash?...She sold you out hook, line, and sinker. Everything that has happened to you in the last 24 hours would not have been possible if it weren’t for her…” She got back up.

"But I guess none of that really matters now." She put the knife to her chest, not quite putting enough pressure on it to break skin.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll go to pony heaven."

Sunset closed her already tired working eye.

This was it...
............
............
............
............

Chapter 5 (This version is no longer canon. See comment section)

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 5 Redone

They say when you’re about to die, your life flashes before your eyes. Whether that’s true or not, you’ll have to find out for yourself.
But this was not the case for Sunset Shimmer. Instead of her whole life, it was one single event in her’s that took up this moment. A moment when she had still been a filly, not long after her parents had died.

She was whimpering into the mane of Princess Celestia, finally beginning to calm down after a long period of sobbing. Celestia had been whispering soothingly to her up until then, before going quiet for a moment, the only sounds being the filly’s sniffling.
Celestia looked up for a moment, her eyes landing on the dresser on which, was a music box that Sunset had had since becoming her student, which honestly, hadn’t been that long so far.

The box had been given to Sunset by her mother, and though Celestia wasn’t so sure it was a good idea at the moment, she felt it was the right thing to do in this case. So, with her magic, she quietly wound the box as it began playing.

Then Celestia began to do something not many had heard her do since she had banished her sister.

She began singing.

……………………………………….
It was not a sharp stab that brought her back to reality as she had expected. But, instead, the noise of doors being kicked open, as commanding voices came from all around.

“Freeze!!” Multiple officers stormed the area, wielding guns.

“Hands up, all of you!” The rest of the students were bewildered as to what else to do at this moment. They had all been taken completely by surprise, and so, with no other choice, they hesitantly complied.

Gilda on the other hand, still had the knife to Sunset, contemplating what to do, as other officers had guns pointed at her. Chances were that if she killed Sunset now, she herself would lose her life as well.

So, reluctantly, she lowered the knife, and let it fall to the ground with a clatter, putting her hands up as well, before an officer approached her and put her in handcuffs.

Being notified of the situation, they had also brought an ambulance with paramedics, who went to work with putting Sunset onto a stretcher, and removing her from the scene, putting her inside a heated ambulance.

Knowing that all would be ok now, her body let itself relax slightly for the first time since this all started.

No longer being in survival mode, it didn’t take long for her body to realize just how much pain it really was in, and before long, she felt the fatigue kick in, and she lost consciousness.

Rainbow dash was heading for the door to leave after she had hung up with Gilda, but just as she was approaching it, it opened up itself, to reveal Pinkie, and an expressionless looking Maud.

“Dashie?...What are you doing here? I mean, not that it’s a bad thing that you’re here, buuuut….How did you get in? Our door was locked.” Pinkie asked curiously.

“I….uhh…” Seeing no other option, she decided to confess.

“I….may have picked your lock…”

Pinkie just gave her a confused look. Maud spoke up.

“Why?...”

“Uhh, it’s a long story ok?...Look, in case you guys think I did, I didn’t take anything, I wouldn’t dream of doing something like that to you guys.”

“I’d never accuse you of such a thing Dashie! Buuuut, why DID you pick our lock?..”

“I just…I needed to use your phone.”

“Oh…Okie dokey lokie!” Pinkie simply walked into the house and threw off her coat, the odd situation not even seeming to bother her anymore, as she made her way into the kitchen to get a snack.

Maud on the other hand, was the one to inquire further.

“Where’s your phone?”

“I don’t have it on me at the moment.”

“hmm. That must have been some pretty important call if you felt the need to pick our lock…”

She sighed.

“Trust me Maud…You have no idea.”

Pinkie poked her head back around the corner at that moment.

“Hey Dashie! You should try the cupcakes I made earlier! Their to DIE for!!”

Rainbow considered turning Pinkie down, and leaving then and there, but now that she thought about it, she didn’t really know what else she could do right now in Sunset’s case. Not to mention leaving then and there might have raised some suspicions. She didn’t know what to do. So reluctantly, she made her way into the kitchen with Pinkie. Maybe she could help relieve some stress and take her mind off things…

The ambulance carrying Sunset made it back to Canterlot Hospital in record time, and they wasted no time getting her inside.

“We got a critical one!” Multiple doctors and nurses flocked to them.

“What do we got?” One doctor asked.

“Multiple broken ribs, cranial trauma, possible spinal trauma, badly frostbitten fingers and toes, not to mention the bruises and welts on various parts of her body.” They talked as they wheeled her in on the bed.

The doctor took notice of her face.

“Is that…a brand mark?...”

The cop cars pulled into the police station, unloading the students, before Gilda realized something important, and spoke up.

“Hey! Someone else was in on all this too!” She protested.

“Rainbow Dash! I would even say the majority of the blame of everything that happened would go to her cause she was the one who sold her out! Told us everything we needed to know to do any of this. If anyone should be going to jail, it should be her!”

The other students voiced their approval at this.

“Can you describe her?” One of them asked.

“Even better! I’ve got her phone. It’s in my pocket.” The officer pulled out Rainbow’s phone, and went to her pictures, scrolling through.

“That’s her.” She stopped the officer as he landed on a picture of her.

“She lives at Clydesdale Ave and Weather drive.”

The officer called some of his colleagues over, relaying the information to them, and they were off, not wasting any time.

Later on, they inevitably fell short. After finding no one home at Rainbow’s place, the police had decided to put a Wanted picture of Rainbow Dash in the news, along with the reason and story why.

After having done some chores around the farm, Applejack decided it wouldn’t hurt for her and her sister to take a break and watch some tv for a while, so she and Applebloom flipped through the channels, until a news story caught their attention.

As the story was told, Applejack couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Without a moment’s hesitation, she abandoned the tv, left the house, and got in their farm pickup truck, with one destination in mind.

Applebloom, after recovering from the shock of the news story, headed out the door, going out of earshot of anybody, and called her friends.

“Scootaloo, call Sweetie and tell her to meet up at the treehouse…We all need to talk.” She said before hanging up, and headed there herself to wait for the other two.

Arriving at the hospital, Applejack went to the emergency, speaking to the first face that she saw.

“Do you know if there’s a Sunset Shimmer here?”

“Yes, but you’re going to have to wait in the waiting room.” She gestured with her hand to a sitting area. Applejack looked back at her.

“It’s really important that I see her now.”

“I’m sorry but we just can’t allow that right now.” The lady tried moving away, but Applejack grabbed her arm.

“Just…At least tell me how she is…”

The nurse looked at her for a moment, then sighed.

“Not good, not good at all. I won’t lie, they brought her here in critical condition.”

Applejack just stared.

“…critical?” She asked quietly. The nurse looked sadly at her.

“I’m sorry, but it would be best if you sat down. I really need to go right now.”

Applejack didn’t argue any further, and let the lady go, while heading to the sitting area.

She took out her phone, calling Rarity, and Fluttershy to see if either of them knew where Rainbow was. Failing, she then called Pinkie, who by then, had invited Rainbow to stay the night.

“Pinkie, I’ve already called Rarity and Fluttershy. Please tell me YOU know where Dash is right now.”

“Dashie? She’s right here! She’s spending the night!”

“Can you please put her on?” Applejack tried to maintain a calm voice.

“Okie Dokie!” She handed the phone to Rainbow, who took it hesitantly.

“H-hey, AJ.” She did her best to sound calm and collected.

“Dash, would you happen to know where Sunset is right now?”

“Uhh…no, I was actually looking for her earlier myself actually…” It wasn’t a TOTAL lie….

Well, I’m at the hospital right now. I came here after seeing a very peculiar news story on TV…Know anything about it?..”

“Uhh…No…”

“Ah think ya do Dash…”

Rainbow gulped. Did she know? How did she know?! What was going on??

“It was on the news Dash…”

Rainbow felt her mouth go dry.

“…What…was on the news?...”

“Everything…” Applejack spoke without emotion.

Rainbow was at a loss for words. Did they get caught? How?!

“Dash, tell me their wrong about you. Tell me you had no part in this…”

“I…I wasn’t thinking AJ, I was just so angry after that post.”

“Angry Dash? I would call that the understatement of the century.” Applejack raised her voice, her own anger becoming obviously heard.
“What in tarnation could have even possibly possessed you to have ANY part in this whatsoever? This isn’t anger Dash, it’s outright murder, even if you weren’t actually there yourself.”

“I…wait, what? What are you talking about, murder?...” Pinkie, by now, was trying to hear in on the conversation.

“I’m talking about sitting in a waiting room at Canterlot Hospital, trying to see Sunset, but not being able to, cause the doctors tell me she’s in critical condition!” Applejack’s voice was starting to crack.

“…What?...” Rainbow whispered.

“What do you mean, what??”

“AJ…I…I didn’t know anything about that…”

“Well, tell me what you DID know Dash. What were you expecting was going to happen when you agreed to be part of this?”

Rainbow had no response for that, because she DID know Sunset would end up in the hospital…She just didn’t know it would be this bad…

“That’s what I thought…” Applejack said after getting no reply. She sighed.

“I really don’t know what else to say…You need to go to the police station. Their lookin’ for ya Dash. I’m tellin’ ya this for your own good…If you hand yourself in, then maybe they’ll consider givin’ you a lighter sentence.”

“…Ya…You’re right.” She said quietly, before hanging up.

“Dashie?...What was that all about?” Pinkie asked slowly.

Rainbow stayed silent for a long while, before finally answering.

“I’ve gotta go Pinkie.” She said as she opened up the door and left without another word.

“Hey Applebloom.” Scootaloo greeted, as she and Sweetie bell arrived.

“So, what exactly is this about? You sounded kind of anxious on the phone.”

“Scootaloo…Sweetie…Have either of you guys seen the news recently?...” Applebloom began quietly.

“Uhh, no actually.” Scootaloo said.

“I don’t really watch the news all that much.” Sweetie Bell agreed.

“Why do you ask?”

“Because just before I called Scootaloo, me and mah sister happened to be watching the news…When a certain story came up…” She paused before continuing quietly.

“Sunset’s in the hospital.” She said barely above a whisper.

“What??” Scootaloo gasped.

“What happened?”

“A bunch of students lured her into the school after hours on Thursday evening…Where they beat her.”

Everything went dead silent.

“….What?...” Sweetie spoke up.

“They say that after they caught them, there was one student who felt bad, and told them everything that happened…That’s how they found out about the attack at the school, because the police found them at an abandoned factory outside of town.”

“What were they doing outside of town if this originally took place at the school?” Sweetie Bell asked.
Taking a deep breath, Applebloom continued.

“After the attack at the school, they took her to this abandoned factory, leaving her there overnight where she just about died. They didn’t say all that happened there, but when they got there…She had a knife to her throat…They were going to kill her.”

Everything was silent for a long while, before Scootaloo found her voice again.

“Who…Who called this in, in the first place? How did the police find out where they were or anything?”

“Would you believe…two students from Crystal Prep?...”

“What?!!” Scootaloo screeched.

“I don’t believe that for a minute…”

“Well, believe it or not…two happened to come upon the place…saw what happened, and called the police, telling them everything they saw.”

“Wow…Crystal Prep is REALLY going to hate us now…” Scootaloo said.

“Worst thing is that now they have good reason to hate our school…” Sweetie Bell added.

“It gets even worse…” Applebloom looked at Scootaloo.

“What?...Why are you looking at me like that?...”

“Rainbow Dash…Well, she wasn’t actually there…but she was involved.”

“…What?...” Scootaloo said quietly.

“Apparently, Dash told them where she lived, and how to lure her.”

Another long silence permeated the air once again.

“Guys…we need to come clean…about everything…” Applebloom finally said.

“What?!!” Scootaloo shouted in objection.

“Bloom, we can’t do that! According to what you’re saying, they tried to KILL Sunset! What would they do if they found out it was US all along??” She put her head in her hands.

“Why did you guys post the thing about Dash? WHY?! I told you it was a BAD idea!!”

“We just got carried away! We never imagined in a million years something like…this would happen!”

“We have to tell the truth you guys! What if it gets worse?”

“They literally tried to kill Sunset! How could it possibly get any worse? The damage is already done.” Scootaloo said.

“I say we stop the Anon-a-Miss thing, and wait for things to blow over…The storm’s obviously already been had in all this, and if we come clean now, it’s only going to start everything over again. This time with us in the middle of it.”

“But if we stop now, and don’t come clean, then all it’s going to do is confirm everyone’s suspicions that it was Sunset all along…” Applebloom argued.

“Probably…But I think it’s safe to say that the school has already vented their fury against Sunset…Surely they’ll leave her alone now. Things can only start getting better from here…”

“So that’s it then?...We’re just going to let Sunset take the fall for what we did?”

“I think we already did…” Scootaloo said quietly.

Applebloom turned to Sweetie Bell.

“Sweetie…What do you think?”

Sweetie was silent.

“I…I don’t know…” She finally answered, having tears in her eyes.

“How could this have gotten so out of control?...It isn’t right to put the blame on Sunset any longer, so…I say we confess.”

Applebloom and Sweetie both looked to Scootaloo.

“You guys…I can’t. I seriously can’t! Rainbow sold Sunset out, thinking SHE was the one who let her secret loose…What is she going to do when she finds out WE were responsible the whole time?”

“I don’t know. But we can’t keep hiding behind this…” Applebloom said.

“…We’re going to jail…” Scootaloo said quietly.

“We. Are. Going. To. Go to jail for this!! Do neither of you care about that??”

“Of course we do…” Applebloom said quietly.

“But we should care more about Sunset…” She finished, as Scootaloo went silent for a while, before sighing.

“You’re right…”

“Applejack went to the hospital right after the news story…Maybe we ought to go there too.” Applebloom said.

Nobody argued, but merely nodded their heads, as they began making their way away from their fort.

They rode their bikes to the hospital, texting Applejack to see where she was inside.

They felt nauseous as they made their way down the halls, trying to think of what exactly they were going to say to Applejack.
Soon enough though, they came upon the waiting area Applejack was in.

All rehearsals of what they were going to say were lost to them though, as Applejack got up and gave them all a group hug.

“You three are such good girls you know that? To show concern for Sunset after everything she’s done to the school. Most people wouldn’t give a second glance to her, even in the state she’s in right now. I’m just here because I’m against killing. Sunset did some pretty horrible things, and though I may never forgive her, or want anything to do with her anymore, I also would never condone killing. I’m glad to see that you three share that same feeling.”

Applebloom cringed inwardly as she pulled away from her sister.

“Big sis…It’s true we are very concerned about Sunset…We wouldn’t be here right now if we weren’t… We do care deeply for Sunset…It’s the main reason we’re here now… But it’s not the only reason…”

“What do ya mean Bloom?” Applejack asked.

Applebloom sighed as she looked at her two friends for a moment, before focusing back on her sister.

“Sis…If I told you I did something really bad…You’d still love me right?”

Applejack looked shocked at even the prospect of what that question implied.

“Of course ah would Bloom…there’s nothing you could ever do to make me love you less.”

“….Even if I did something unforgivable?...” Applebloom whispered with tears in her eyes.

“Bloom….” Applejack spoke softly, looking Applebloom directly in the eyes.

“There’s no such thing as unforgivable.”

“If that’s true…then forgive Sunset.”

“I…I’m sorry?”

“Tell me you forgive Sunset…Please big sis…”

“Bloom…why is this so important to you?...”

“Because if you don’t….Then you can’t justify forgiving me for what ah’ve done…”

"What are you getting at Bloom?...”

Applebloom took a deep breath, readying herself…and then broke down crying. She took out her phone, wiping her eyes to try and be able to navigate to the Mystable App and sign in to the Anon-a-Miss account. Once she had managed, she wordlessly, and shakily handed the phone to Applejack.

Applejack took the phone, looking over the page, multiple feelings overcoming her as she scrolled through the page.

First came shock. Then realization. Then betrayal, hurt, and finally anger, as she looked up at Applebloom.

“Is this some kind of joke Bloom?...” She asked barely above a whisper.

“Cause it sure as heck ain’t funny.”

“It wasn’t just her….” Sweetie Bell spoke up quietly.

Applejack looked at the other two, realization dawning as she slowly shook her head.

“It’s not true…” She said in denial.

“It is…” Scootaloo confirmed with tears of her own.

“You guys….” She said, trying to comprehend this.

“Why?...”

“Looking back…It all seems so stupid now….Back when you guys were having those slumber parties, and spending so much time together…we got jealous…we wanted you guys to spend more time with us.”

“You girls…You did this cause you were jealous?...” Applejack’s voice cracked.

“We never meant for it to go near this far! We never imagined something like…this would happen…Can you…Can you ever forgive us?...”
Applejack had by now, sat down and had her head in her hands. She looked up at them.

“I want to… Bloom I really want to…But it’s like you said…How do I justify forgiving you three without a moment’s hesitation…While I wanted nothing to do with Sunset for thinking she was the one who had done all this…It would be like a slap in her face…”

Applejack paused for a moment, deep in thought, before continuing quietly, barely above a whisper.

“Oh sweet mercy…I wouldn’t even talk to her…”

“…..CHS did this?....” Sunny spoke quietly after seeing the news story on TV.

“I’ve always known that school was no good…” Cinch said solemnly. Though deep down, she couldn’t help but feel a little happy that this had happened. This would totally destroy any chance that CHS had at ever gaining any sort of reputation. Now this incident was all it would be known for in the future, and Crystal Prep’s reputation was sure to remain safe.

All of this good fortune may have come at the cost of a girl nearly losing her life…But that was just it…She didn’t, she lived…And even if she hadn’t…well…People die everyday.

She honestly would thank the people responsible for all this if she could…

The last day of school had been a long one, and Celestia was just glad it was finally done. She had called the CMC into her office that morning after yet another update had been posted by Anon-a-miss. She couldn’t accuse them of anything just yet without any solid evidence, but she asked them if they knew anything that may help them solve who was behind it all, to which Scootaloo had denied, with Applebloom and Sweetiebell following suit.

Celestia sighed as she got into her car. She had to get some extra stuff done after school hours, and it was nearing 5:30pm now. She decided to stop by Sugarcube Corner for some coffee on her way home, pulling into the lot.
Coming up to the counter, she greeted Mrs. Cake.

“Evening dearie, how’s the school been treating you these days?”

Celestia sighed.

“You don’t know the half of it…”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that…You do look rather stressed out. Tell you what, I’ll make you a latte on the house.” Mrs Cake smiled at her.

“I’d…really appreciate that, thank you.”

“Think nothing of it dearie.” She went to the back to make the drink.

Celestia smiled. You could always count on Mrs. Cake to brighten up a mood. It was no wonder she and Pinkie worked together so well.

As she was waiting, the tv they had hanging in the top corner caught her attention. The news was playing, but what really caught her attention was when they showed a picture of Rainbow Dash.

Mrs. Cakes came out with the drink, about to say something, but saw Celestia’s eyes glued to the tv screen. She glanced at it to see what had caught her attention, and upon seeing the picture, and hearing the story, she slowly put the drink down on the counter, suddenly being as mesmerized by the tv, as Celestia was.

There was silence between the two for a moment after the story ended and went to the next one.

“Mrs. Cake…Pinkie wouldn’t happen to be here would she?...” Celestia asked quietly.

“I…I gave her the day off…”

Celestia slowly got up, abandoning her drink, and made her way out.

Author's Note

Kudos to those who catch the Cupcakes reference in this chapter!
Guys, I'm sorry I was gone so long....blame my sister, she finally convinced me to start watching "Once Upon A Time". I'm already in the middle of the third season.

Chapter 6

Aria was lounging on the couch, as Adagio had stayed in bed that day. Sonata was who knows where at the moment, so with no one else around, she took the couch.

She had been mindlessly flipping through the channels on their small tv, not really paying much attention to anything, when a news channel came up, sporting a face she recognized from the Battle of the Bands.

She got about halfway through the news story, before getting up and storming to the door, grabbing her coat.

“They’re messing with our last hope to be able to eat in this world again!”

She had been walking for a while, when she saw a familiar head of rainbow colored hair down the street from her.

She came up behind her, and without warning, slammed her into the wall.

“Well, if it isn’t Canterlot’s most wanted. You’ve really thrown plans off for me and my sisters, you know.”

Rainbow looked at her, realizing who had her pinned to the wall.

“You?? Why would it even concern you of all people what happened to Sunset??”

“Because she came to us the other day, claiming that if we could help her figure out who was behind Anon-a-miss, she would help us get our amulets back.”

Dash opened her mouth to say something, but stopped.

“Wait….She did what??”

“Well, if you really must know the details, she first thought it was us, and as good as broke into our house…And yes, she did. Long story short, we’re slowly starving without those pendants. We live off negative energy, but we cannot absorb that energy without those stones.”

“So she offered to get them remade for you?? How would we know you wouldn’t just go back to your old ways??”

Aria shrugged.

“Didn’t exactly work out for us the last two times. We’re not ones to do something over and over, expecting different results.”

“Wait… last two times?...”

“How we got dumped in this world in the first place.”

Rainbow dash slowly nodded, understanding, before another thought occurred to her.

“Wait…do you guys know who did this?...”

Aria scoffed.

“I’m surprised you didn’t figure it out sooner… That girl with the scooter who worships you, and her two friends. Though after this incident, I doubt she’ll worship you for much longer.”

“Scoots?!”

“If that’s what her name is, then ya.”

“You think THEY did this??”

“Open your eyes Dash! Sunset told us everything. How you guys were having those slumber parties. How Sunset’s pictures from when you were at the diva’s house- whatever her name is, got posted to the Anon-a-miss account, how the hillbilly’s nickname got loose… who else was present in those houses while you guys were having your sleepovers, but their own sisters?...”

Rainbow felt herself at a loss for words, realizing that what Aria said was true.

“Anyway, I’d kind of like to be able to eat again, so I need to know where that phonebook of Sunset’s is, so I can contact Miss Prissy Princess.”

“You- You’re going to tell her what happened, aren’t you?”

“She’s going to find out sooner or later. Might as well be sooner.”

Rainbow sighed.

“It’s back at her place. She lives at 6th street, 16 Ave, apartment number 13.

Aria let her go without another word and continued walking as if nothing had happened.

“You…You’re letting me go just like that? How do you know I’m not lying?”

Aria answered without stopping or looking back.

“What you do with your life is of little importance to me, it’s not like you have much of one left anyway… and if you are lying, you think I won’t be able to find you again?” She stopped, turning back to Rainbow.

“But if you are lying…I highly suggest you tell me now.” After a long pause, she turned around again and continued walking.

Aria had arrived at the address Rainbow had given her; a worn down apartment complex. She found Apartment number 13 carelessly unlocked to her advantage. She went inside the small living space, and inspected the small kitchen, before finding a bedroom in the back.

She entered the small room, before tripping on a foreign object. Catching herself, she looked down to see a book of sorts, lying open, face down on the floor. Picking it up, she flipped it over, revealing its contents of several journal entries, and their replies. She skimmed through several pages, seeing that there were multiple unanswered entries from Twilight’s side, before flipping to an empty page.

No sense in keeping her waiting any longer… She thought to herself as she put the pen to the page.

Twilight had yet to receive a reply from Sunset about how her going to see the sirens had gone. She honestly would have gone through the portal sooner to find out what was taking her so long to reply, but matters involving the Crystal Empire had come up. She had tried to get out of it, but was unable to do so. She had only been back at the castle for a few minutes until now. She took the book down from its place in activating the portal, and upon seeing that there was still nothing from Sunset, she put the book back in its place to activate the portal again, and was about to go through, when, as if on cue, the journal started glowing and vibrating in its place.

She gasped, taking the book back down again, and flipped it open.

But what she saw did little to calm her nerves.

The doctors worked tirelessly through the hours. Sunset was now on an oxygen apparatus to help her breathe. She had a low cervical nerve injury of a level C8 in her spine. So in time, it was possible she would have some hand movement back. How much so, was indefinitive, but in time, it was likely that she would still be able to grasp and release objects. If she was living by herself, it was likely that she would still be able to do most things herself, with the exception of more difficult tasks, of which she would likely require assistance.

But the more prominent and pressing issue was that of cranial trauma. Yes, with a C8 injury in her spine, it was likely she would be able to go back to doing those things, but a concomitant brain injury added to that was only going to lessen those chances. In fact, if they were completely honest, she would be lucky to even be alive at the end of all this, never mind being able to take care of herself.

Then, there was the frostbite, causing more additional damage to the nerves in her fingers and toes. If they had to amputate, the advantages of having only a C8 spine injury would go down the drain, seeing as she would have no fingers or toes.

It had originally been her intent to go right to the police station. But after her run in with Aria, Rainbow figured that Applejack needed to know this new information. So, having no phone, she decided to go to the hospital to tell her herself.

She put her hood up, both because she was cold, and the fact it would conceal her from anyone else who had seen the news.

Arriving at the hospital, she went inside the emergency, trying to locate her friend.

After a while, she came upon a sitting area, with not one, but four familiar faces; Sweetie, Applebloom, and Scootaloo were there with Applejack.

Great…she thought to herself. How am I supposed to let AJ know of this suspicion with them being here too?

Applejack had her head in her hands, and the three were crying.

She sighed. No sense in delaying this…She thought as she walked up.

“…AJ?” She spoke quietly before Applejack lifted up her head, gasping slightly as she realized who was speaking to her.

“Dash?” She spoke quietly.

“What are you doing here? I thought you were going to the police?”

“Well, I was…but…” She looked at the other three.

“Would it be ok if we spoke alone?...Just the two of us?”

“O-ok," Applejack said as they went around the corner, out of earshot of the three girls.

“AJ, this is going to sound crazy…but just bear with me…I have reason to believe that Scootaloo, Applebloom, and Sweetie belle are behind Anon-a-miss.”

Applejack looked at her for a minute before sighing.

“A little late for that ah’m afraid Dash…”

“What do you mean?”

“They already confessed.”

Dash went silent.

“They…they really did it?...” She whispered, to which Applejack nodded sadly.

Rainbow went silent for a long period of time, trying to comprehend this.

“Why?...” She asked quietly, though more to herself than AJ.

“They…they didn’t like that we were spending more time with eachother than with them…”

“…You’re telling me…they did this out of jealousy?” Rainbow’s tone grew a hint of anger to it.

Applejack didn’t say anything.

“So they tried to break us all up? And framed Sunset to be in the middle of it all?...”

There was a long silence.

“….They know better…” She said quietly.

“They…know better…” She repeated, her tone growing angry.

Without warning, Rainbow started making her way back to the other three.

“Dash?...What-” But Rainbow grabbed Scootaloo, catching her off guard, and did something that shocked everyone.

Rainbow punched Scootaloo. Enough to send her staggering back.

“Dash!!” Applejack grabbed her.

“What in tarnation?!”

“She’ll thank me in the future. Next time you EVER get the gull to do something like this again in the future, maybe you’ll look back on this and think twice about it….What could have ever possessed you to do such a thing Scoots?...For any of you,” She gestured to Sweetie belle and Applebloom “To do something like this?”

Unfortunately for Dash, she had acted without thinking, her rage blocking out the fact that there were still people around them.

“Hey buddy! What do you think you’re doing?!” Someone spoke from behind, before pulling her hood down.

“Hey, wait a minute…You’re that girl from that news bulletin!”

Celestia was on her way to the hospital, when her phone rang. She checked the caller ID.

“Hey Luna.”

“Sister, you may want to go online.”

“I’m kind of caught up in other things right now Luna.”

“It is rather important. I’m sending you a link nonetheless.”

“What is it?”

“A petition created by another certain principal in the city to shut CHS down.”

Celestia immediately pulled her car over, gripping the steering wheel rather tightly.

“Cinch…”

“How possibly could you tell?...” Luna asked sarcastically.

Celestia enabled the speakerphone, as she went to the page.

Petition To Close CHS’s Doors For Good.
I’m sure by now, most of us have been made aware, in one form or another, of the atrocity that took place just the other day at Canterlot High School.
What parent would want to send their child to a school with this history? Nevermind having them participate in PE class, inside a tainted gym, where a student was beaten half to death by her own fellow peers. The fact that these students were able to get back into the school absolutely unnoticed, with no alarms sounding, no cameras to capture it, and no security whatsoever tells us all that CHS is severely incompetent in their safety standards.

The first two names appearing at the very top of the signatures, were two students right from Crystal Prep.

Indigo Zap, and Sugarcoat.

“That…Woman, really needs to mind her own business. I’ll call you back Luna.” Celestia hung up, and redialed.

“Abacus Cinch.” She started sternly.

“Do you not think I already have enough to worry about to try and fix without you posting biased information via internet?”

“How on earth is any of it biased Celestia? Everything I voiced is nothing but facts.” Cinch replied.

“CHS is more than just a school, it’s a sanctuary, a safe haven for the students…You can’t shut it down.”

“Safe haven?...Is that what you’re calling it?”

There was a long pause.

“There was no way to foretell something like this was going to happen.” Celestia answered finally.

“Of course there wasn’t. Your students are unpredictable animals, as they have clearly shown in this act. Your doors will be shut Celestia, for the good of all of Canterlot’s children.” The line went dead.

Celestia just sat there. Before long, her phone rang again.

“Did you talk to her?”

“Yes…”

“What are you going to do?” Luna asked.

Celesta pulled into the road again.

“The only reasonable thing there is to do at a time like this…I’m going to the hospital. Unlike her, I have more important things to worry about than a mere reptutation.”

Author's Note

So for those who may not have noticed, Sunset's address is the first EQG release date.

Chapter 7

Hey, it’s Aria. Wish I could say this message was coming from someone else, but I’m the best you’re going to get at the moment. Something has happened, and I really think it would be best if you found out through person, rather than a simple message. I’ll meet you at the statue portal in an hour.

Twilight just stared at the message. This could mean anything. And she doubted it was anything good. Her first thought was that this was a trap. Sunset hadn’t sent her anything as of yet, and suddenly Aria messages her using Sunset’s own journal telling her something has happened and they should meet….

This had trap written all over it. After pondering her options of what she could do, she ultimately decided to go to Celestia. If she was going to meet Aria, and quite possibly the other two as well, she would need backup.

“Spike, I need a letter sent to the princess.” The dragon got a scroll and quill ready.

“Ready when you are.”

Twilight took a deep breath, trying to find the best way to say this.

“Dear princess Celestia…”

Parchment…Parchment everywhere. Make a report on this, fix that, sign these, send those.

Sometimes, she wished she could just take a vacation from being ruler of Equestria. It definitely wasn’t just glamor, as everypony made it out to be. It was a real job. A job that sometimes she was quite tempted to just give to somepony else.

Speaking of parchment, just then, a scroll materialized out of thin air to greet her.

Celestia smiled, looking up from her work. Finally, something to distract her from work, even if it was more parchment.

Dear Princess Celestia,
there is really no easy way to put what I am about to say, so I will just get it over with.
A few days ago, I was made aware by Sunset, of a dilemma in the human world involving a piece of their technology called a computer. Computers in the human world can spread information very quickly, for better, or for worse. In this case, it was for worse, as someone from the school had started spreading secrets about various individuals in the student body via a social networking site.

The person doing this, made the page that he/she was leaking the secrets to, bear a striking resemblance to Sunset, making her look like she was doing it.

She insists that she has not been the one doing it, though the school put the blame on her, and refuse to listen otherwise.

She has been working these past days to find the real culprit(s). But the last I heard from her, was yesterday morning. She had a suspicion that the sirens might have been the ones doing it, so she found a way to get their address, and went to their house to confront them about it. I tried to tell her that going alone was a bad idea, but she insisted.

Now, just a few minutes ago, I finally got a message from her journal…but it wasn’t from Sunset. It was from one of the sirens; Aria.

Celestia didn’t even bother reading the rest. She got up, abandoning her work, and spoke to the first guard she saw outside her chambers.

“I need my chariot now.”

“Ooooh, she’s going to kill me!”

“Twilight, calm down, you’re over reacting.”

“This isn’t overreacting Spike. I should have told her about this right away. Not waited like this…She’s going to have my head!”

“Like I said…Over reacting…”

Twilight sighed.

“Maybe you’re right…She won’t have my head…unless something’s happened to Sunset-Oh Spike she’s going to KILL me!” Twilight began hyperventilating.

“Twilight, calm down! I’m sure Sunset is fine.” Spike tried reassuring, to calm her down.

“If she was fine, why is ARIA of all people using her journal?...”

Spike had no answer for that. Just then, a fanfare was heard outside.

“She’s here…” Twilight gulped before making her way outside where Celestia was dismounting her chariot.

She took a deep breath, and started speaking a mile a minute.

“Princess, let me first just say that I am so sorry. I should have told you about this the moment she insisted on going to the sirens. I should never have even let her go alone, it was foolish of me and-”

“Calm down Twilight, what is of importance right now is that we keep our heads. Now, I’ll admit, I didn’t actually read your message in its entirety. The shock of hearing that you had received a message from one of the sirens, via Sunset’s journal, was enough to simply make me abandon what else you may have said. So, if you could catch me up…”

“You didn’t really miss too much… Just that she said that something has happened, and to meet her at the portal in an hour….which was about an hour ago, now.”

Celestia’s eyes widened a little in concern at the new information.

“Well, we should be on our way then.” She gave her guards directions to wait there, in case anything happened, before making her way into the castle, going straight to the back where the portal was.

Aria stood waiting in front of the statue portal. She checked her watch. It was about time that Twilight was supposed to arrive.

As if on cue, the portal indeed began rippling.

Right on schedule…She thought to herself, as out emerged Twilight. Aria opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out as she saw the portal start to ripple once more. Aria raised an eyebrow.

“Should have known you weren’t going to come here alone…” Aria crossed her arms, as she saw Celestia materialize out of the portal behind Twilight.

“Cut it Aria, where’s Sunset?” Twilight immediately demanded.

“You know, I honestly wanted to break this to you in private Twilight.”

“Break what to me? What’s going on? Why were you messaging me with Sunset’s journal?” Twilight tried to sound intimidating, but Aria just rolled her eyes.

“So eager to judge…You know, you really shouldn’t judge a person based on opinion, or how things may look at the time. Things aren’t always as they appear to be. You should wait until you actually know the facts of an event… To simply assume something can prove to be a deadly thing. Speaking of…Your “friends” over at CHS have built themselves quite the track record recently for making assumptions.”

“What does this have to do with anything?...”

“Everything, actually.”

“Get to the point Aria.”

“Fine, if you’re so eager to just cut to the chase, then I will. Sunset’s in the hospital.”

“….W-What?! What did you do?!”

“Again with the assumptions. When will you people ever learn?”

“Tell me what happened NOW Aria!”

“A simple “please” would be nice.”

Celestia then stepped forward, a stern expression adorning her features.

“Unless you would rather talk about this back at the Canterlot dungeons in Equestria, I suggest you cut the sarcasm and tell us what happened.”

Aria turned her attention to Celestia.

“I will. But you won’t like it. Chances are you won’t even believe me. But hear me out. If it turns out you don’t believe me, I have other sources to prove what I am about to say.”

Celestia and Twilight waited for her to continue.

“When she was about to leave our house yesterday, she got a text from Rainbow Dash, telling her to meet up at the school gym at 7:00pm.
Now, this text that had been sent was from Rainbow Dash’s phone, but it wasn’t Rainbow Dash at all. Sunset went to the school, but it wasn’t her friends that were there at all. It turns out that a bunch of students who had had personal secrets let loose by Anon-A-Miss were out for revenge.”

Twilight was dumbstruck by this new knowledge, putting two and two together, knowing where Aria was going with this.

“….Are you trying to tell me that Sunset got attacked by students of CHS?...”

“Twilight…That is EXACTLY what I’m saying…And there’s more.”

“What?...” Twilight asked quietly.

This is going to be hard to hear, but bear with me. Rainbow Dash was one of the students victimized by this Anon-A-Miss, and it really got to her…REALLY got to her, to the point that she acted without thinking.”

“Aria….Are you trying to tell me that Rainbow Dash was one of the people who attacked her?...” Twilight asked barely above a whisper.

“….Not directly…She lent her phone to the people who did this, and…She told them how to get to Sunset. She gave them her address, her personal information, and all they would have needed to know.”

Twilight was silent for a long while, before finally finding her voice again.

“You said you had other sources to prove this if I didn’t believe you…I need to see those if I am to believe a single word of this, and it had better be some dang good evidence. If I find out that this is some sick joke in any way on your part, you will be coming back to Equestria, and you will NOT like it.”

“I’ve got a news report.” Aria took out her phone, went to the video, and gave it to Twilight.

Aria waited as the news story played for Twilight and Celestia, confirming everything Aria had just said...and then some. Twilight didn’t even finish the video before she turned it off, slowly bringing her gaze back up to Aria, a look of utter disbelief on her face.

“Enough proof for you?...” There was a long silence before Twilight spoke again, her voice barely above a whisper.

“They….They were going to….kill her?” Her voice cracked. Celestia was eerily silent. Not one emotion showing through her features as she simply stared ahead.

Before another word could be said, Celestia, her expression unchanging, merely turned around and stepped back through the portal.

“Uhh…Be right back.” She said as she followed Celestia back through, fearing what was going through the princess’ mind.

On the other side of the portal, Twilight found Celestia merely standing there, staring off into space.

“P-Princess?...” Twilight tried hesitantly to get her attention.

Celestia said nothing, continuing to stare for a long time, until she finally continued walking once more.

“Twilight, for once, I am going to ask that you stay out of my way concerning this matter.” She spoke in a low tone as she made her way to the castle exit.

“That’s a request I’m going to have to refuse, you are going to do something that you’ll regret for the rest of your life!” Twilight tried stopping her.

“Oh trust me Twilight, I won’t regret ANYTHING I’ll do to them.”

“Princess, just…STOP!!” Celestia stopped at Twilight’s tone, but didn’t turn around.

“Listen to me…please…hasn’t enough blood already been spilled on that side of the mirror?”

Celestia was silent, knowing exactly what Twilight was referencing.

“This isn’t what she would want you to do.” Twilight spoke softly.

Celestia turned slowly and looked at Twilight with tears in her eyes, and spoke barely above a whisper.

“They took my sunshine away.”

Celestia broke down in tears after that, as Twilight rushed to her side. Celestia wept and sobbed. Something Twilight had never before seen her mentor do. Celestia was always so calm and collected, and this was the complete opposite. Time was lost as they stayed like that, Twilight wasn't sure how much time had passed, but eventually they broke apart.

“You go back there without me Twilight, for you’re right. I may just end up doing something I’ll regret if I see any of them. I…I just need some time.”

Twilight stayed for a moment, reluctant to leave, but ultimately decided that she should get back to Aria.

As Twilight emerged once more into the human world, she looked directly at Aria, who was still there, waiting.

“……I just…There is just one thing I don’t understand Aria… Why even tell us anything of this? What’s in it for you?...”

“I’ll admit, there is a reason I’m doing this. Sunset’s not the only Equestrian in this world who’s dying. If I didn’t tell you anything, it may have very well been that the next time you came to this world, you would have found that there was no Equestrian left…. Without those pendants, my sisters and I cannot absorb the energy we need to survive. Sunset was going to talk to you about getting them remade, but of course, that never happened. She left our house after getting that text…and ended up in the hospital.”

"You...You're dying?..." Twilight asked quietly.

"Adagio's in the worst condition of us right now. She doesn't leave the house anymore."

Twilight sighed. She really didn't want to be in the middle of this right now.

"Aria...I'll...see what I can do about it. But right now, I need to get to the hospital."

Meanwhile at the hospital...

“You’re that girl from that news bulletin!”

“No, I’m not.” Rainbow said quickly, pulling her hood back up, but another person pulled it back down.

“Hey, it is! You’ve got her hair and all!”

“It’s a coincidence!” She defended. “There is a thing called coloring your hair y’know?”

“Why would you dye your hair to look exactly like a wanted person?” One argued.

“You’re the one who sold that girl out! What was her name?....Sunset was it?”

“You’ve got the wrong person OK??” Rainbow blurted, feeling overwhelmed by all the accusations. She didn’t want to hear this. She didn’t want to be reminded of what she did.

“I don’t even know anyone by that name!” She pushed and shoved her way through, making her way to the exit and left.

Applejack just sat there dumbstruck, unable to do a thing, as were Sweetiebelle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo.

Applebloom turned to Scootaloo with a look that said it all.

This was all their fault…and there was nothing they could do to stop the vortex of chaos that their petty jealousy had set off.

Author's Note

I am so sorry this chapter took so long again. I got writer's block and couldn't think of anything...

I had originally wrote the scene with Twilight and Celestia with the intention that Sunset had already died. (I've had that scene written for quite some time)Though she hasn't died, I wanted to keep the quote: "They took my sunshine away." To reflect the flashback in chapter 5. Hopefully that still works. I think Celestia could still have that reaction knowing that they tried to kill Sunset.

Chapter 8

Rainbow Dash went as far away from the hospital as she could get. It was true that she had originally had the intention of going to the police station, but, oh, her conscience couldn’t take what happened in the waiting room back at the hospital.

She didn’t want to be reminded, and to admit to them all that yes, it had been her that had done all those things.

She slipped into a narrow alley, and there, she broke down in tears, slipping to her knees as she heaved and gasped, sobbing like she never had. She clutched her arms around herself.

“Oh, Su-u-u-” Her voice died out in her weeping.

Pinkie had spent the last couple hours since Rainbow had left, wondering what exactly that call had been all about. It had raised a lot of questions for her, but one thing over all, stuck out to Pinkie from what she had been able to gain from the strange conversation…murder…What had Dashie been talking about? What was going on?

She paced in front of the phone, debating whether to call Applejack back or not.

“Maud…What would you do? Should I call?...”

“You’re pressuring yourself. Pressure is an often peculiar thing. It can destroy, or it can perfect. When pressured by others to do something, it is often better not to listen, but rocks are different. Pressure can turn rocks into diamonds. We, as Pies, are like rocks. So give into the pressure, and make the call.”

"How are we like rocks?..."

"We rock."

“…You just convinced me Maud!” Pinkie picked up the phone and dialed Applejack’s number. It rang a few times before she answered.

“H-hello?...”

“AJ! You know how you wanted to talk to Dashie earlier today? I really, really, REALLY need to know what it was about…”

There was a long pause.

“I take it you haven’t seen the news recently…”

“News? News is boring, and they hardly ever have anything good to say.”

“You’re tellin’ me…” Applejack sighed.

“Pinkie…You should come to the hospital…”

“The hospital? Why there? Did something happen?”

“Pinkie, this is really something I’d rather not tell you by phone. Just come to the hospital.”

“O-Ok…Uhh, see you soon.”

As soon as Pinkie had hung up, Applejack redialed the phone.

Fluttershy had gone to the animal shelter after school, as was the usual norm for her, and since school was now out for two weeks, she had planned to spend even more time there. It had been going normally for her there thus far. She had been feeding the iguanas when her phone started to ring.

“Hello?”

“Fluttershy? Are you still at the shelter?”

“Oh, hello Applejack. Yes I am, I just got Rexy and Ruffles to settle down, and now I’m taking care of the iguanas.

“Do you think you could get someone else to cover for you for the rest of the day? You…uhh, you need to come to the hospital…”

“The hospital?” Fluttershy’s voice took on a tone of concern.

“Is something wrong?”

“You….You have no idea…” Applejack’s voice cracked. She sounded like she either had been crying, or was about to.

“Applejack…What happened?”

“Oh, Flutters…” Applejack’s voice then broke down, as the rest of her sentence came out in sobs.

“It’s more like what didn’t happen!” Fluttershy put a hand over her mouth in silent shock of hearing Applejack like this.

“I’ll be over as soon as I can.” Fluttershy hung up and put her phone away, before heading over to the front desk.

“Warm heart, can you find a replacement for me for the rest of the day? I just got a call from one of my friends, and it sounded urgent.”

“Go ahead Fluttershy, it isn’t often you ask to leave, so if you say its urgent, then it must be.”

Fluttershy thanked her and was on her way.

It had taken a while for Applejack to be able to recover from her last breakdown, but when she had, she turned to Sweetie belle.

“Sweetie…I think it’s only fitting that you should call your sister and tell her she needs to come here. And when she, Fluttershy, and Pinkie all get here, you three are going to tell them why we are all here.”

Sweetie Belle merely nodded silently as she took out her phone, and dialed her sister’s number, waiting for an answer.

“Hello?” Rarity’s voice came through.

“Hey sis…”

“Oh hello Sweetie. Is everything alright? You sound a bit down…I thought you were going to see your friends?..”

“I did…and I’m with them right now, but…”

“But?...” Rarity questioned.

Sweetie sighed.

“Sis, y-you need to come to the hospital.”

“The hospital??” Rarity’s voice immediately took on a tone of concern.

“Is everything alright Sweetie? What’s going on?”

“No, no, we are fine…” physically speaking…She thought to herself.

“But you do still need to come to the hospital.”

“Whatever for Sweetie?”

“I-it’s not something to talk about over the phone…”

“Sweetie, I insist you tell me why you’re at the hospital. What happened?”

“Sis…just…just come here…” Sweetie’s voice broke as she started crying.

Applejack sighed as she reached for Sweetie’s phone and put it up to her own ear.

“Rarity, get to the hospital now.”

“A-applejack?...What is going on? Is Applebloom in the hospital?”

“No, the three of them are fine. But things have happened that are not appropriate to discuss merely by phone. Just come to the hospital.”

“O-ok…I’m on my way.”

It wasn’t too long after, that Pinkie arrived at the hospital, and made her way over to where the others were.

“Oh, they’re here too?...” she asked when she saw Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. All four present looked as if they had been crying not long ago.

“AJ….Would you please tell me why we’re all here?...”

“Just wait a while…Rarity and Fluttershy are coming too.” Pinkie nodded and sat down, feeling uncomfortable in the silence.

Rarity was about halfway to the hospital, when she just so happened to see Fluttershy walking along in the same direction she was headed.

She slowed the car to a stop, and poked her head out the window.

“Fluttershy dear! Do you need a ride anywhere?”

“Oh, Rarity. Well…I actually am on my way to the hospital right now. There isn’t anything wrong with me, I mean, but I got the strangest call from Applejack telling me to get there…”

Rarity just looked at her.

“You…You got a call too?”

“You did too?” Fluttershy repeated, concern evident in her voice.

“My sister called me…But she said it wasn’t appropriate to discuss by phone”

“Oh dear…” Fluttershy said quietly, scenarios running through her head of what could have possibly happened.

“Fluttershy, get in the car, we’ll get there in half the time.” Fluttershy obliged, and got in.

Upon arrival at the hospital, they made their way to where Applejack had told them they were. Fluttershy looked uneasily around at all the people as they walked the halls.

People in hospital beds, being wheeled around. People walking slowly, wheeling IV poles around with them. People in wheelchairs. People all ranging in differing ages from children to seniors. It was not an environment in which Fluttershy enjoyed being.

Fluttershy knew she couldn’t help everyone, no matter how much she wanted to. She was no nurse, had no degree or qualification whatsoever to work in a hospital setting.

Even working at the animal shelter, as much as she loved animals, she was no veterinarian. She would help in whatever way she could with minor injuries in animals, but her job mostly consisted of playing, feeding, and making sure the animals got the love they were deprived of before arriving at the shelter.

Seeing all the people at this hospital made her worry for what they could possibly be here for. Why did Applejack want them here, of all places?

Fluttershy was brought out of her thoughts when they approached Applejack, along with her sister, Sweetie belle, and Scootaloo, all sitting at a waiting area. But they weren’t the only ones there. Pinkie was also present.

“Pinkie?” Rarity asked. “What are you doing here?”

“I-I’m really not sure…” Pinkie replied quietly, in contrast to her usual bouncy self.

“Dashie was spending the night at my house when AJ called, wanting to talk to her. Afterward, she kind of just left, and I wanted to know why, so I called AJ back, and she told me to come here…” Pinkie left out the murder part she had heard Dash say on the phone. She didn’t want to bring that up.

Rarity turned to Applejack.

“Alright Applejack, Now that you have gotten us all here, I would very much appreciate if you told us why exactly it is, that we are in fact here...”

But before she could answer to that, a new voice spoke up.

“We are here, because I failed to see followed through, my first and foremost priority and responsibility as Principal...” Everyone turned to the source of this new voice.

“Ensuring the safety of my students.” Principal Celestia was standing off to the side, her voice solemn.

“P-Principal Celestia?...What are you doing here?” Fluttershy asked quietly.

“I saw a rather disturbing news story, as I’m sure you all did…”

Rarity slowly looked at Applejack.

“No, no, I don’t believe we have all in fact seen it…” She turned back to her principal.

“I only received a call to come here, not knowing why…Why are we here?...” She asked slowly, and cautiously.

“Rarity…” Rarity looked back at Applejack.

“I believe our sisters can shed some light on that.” All eyes fell on the crusaders.

Rarity looked at her sister.

“Sweetie?...” She questioned cautiously.

Sweetie was at a loss for words. With everyone in the room, including her sister, and principal, she simply couldn’t bring herself to fess up out loud. She instead opted to take Applebloom’s prior route. She opened up her phone and went to the Anon-A-Miss page. But before giving it to her sister, she spoke quietly.

“There…There really isn’t much to say. We…we messed up. Badly. We lied to all of you…and we should have told you this long ago. I won’t blame any one of you if you don’t forgive us…”

“Rubbish Sweetie, I’m sure that whatever you guys did can be fixed over time. We may be angry, but it cannot be anything that we won’t ever forgive…That I won’t ever forgive. We are family, and even if we weren’t related, family goes beyond blood. Everyone here, we are all family, and family always forgives.”

Rarity was too focused on Sweetie, that she didn’t even notice Applejack looking increasingly uncomfortable the longer she talked. It was like each word Rarity said was piercing into the inner most part of her soul. By the time Rarity finished, Applejack couldn’t take any more. Sniffling heavily and starting to sob, she abruptly got up, and left, entering a nearby bathroom.

Rarity looked toward the way Applejack had left, with confusion and worry.

“Was…Was it something I said?...” Sweetie sighed heavily, before, without another word, or even looking up, passed the phone to her sister.

Rarity took the phone hesitantly, and looked at the page.

She was silent for the longest time, trying to comprehend what she was seeing as realization dawned on her as she went through the posts, and saw at the top of the page that the user was in fact signed in.

“Sweetie….” She whispered, putting a hand to her lip.

“It…was all of us.” Applebloom spoke up, quietly.

Rarity continued scrolling through past posts, slowly coming to another realization.

“But if you three…then…” Her eyes widened.

“No…Oh gosh no…”She shook her head slowly.

Pinkie and Fluttershy were on the edge of their seats, whereas Principal Celestia had a pretty good guess at what was on that phone. Soon enough, Rarity did hand the phone over to Pinkie and Fluttershy.

About five seconds of silence passed before Pinkie reacted.

“WHAAT?!!!” She screeched, looking back up to the crusaders.

Fluttershy looked over Pinkie’s shoulder to see, and realized what was on the page, putting two and two together. She gasped and put a hand over her mouth.

“You GUYS!!” Pinkie threw her hands up in utter disbelief.

“What….How…WHY???”

“Excuse me, can we please try to keep the shouting down?” A nurse scolded.

“Sorry…” Fluttershy said quietly.

Pinkie just looked at the crusaders, expecting an explanation.

“We…don’t know why we did it. It was stupid…”

“Ya think??” Pinkie shot back.

“You let everyone’s secrets out, turned friends against each other, had the entire student body at each other’s throats! And for what?!” Pinkie demanded, before looking back at the phone.

“And why did you make this page look specifically like Sunset was doing it?! Do you have something against her??”

“We did….” Applebloom said quietly.

“Back when you guys were having your sleepovers, we…we got jealous that you guys were spending more time with her than with us…So we came up with a way to change that…” Applebloom confessed.

Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy were completely dumbfounded by this information. Pinkie was the only one who found her voice.

“Are you freaking KIDDING me?? Everything that has been happening at the school has been the result of a petty bout of jealousy??"

"Wait... if you guys did this... how did you get Sunset's pictures?" Rarity asked.

"While you guys were asleep...I snuck in and got them off her phone..." Sweetie said quietly.

"S-Sweetie!.." Rarity gasped. "Why?.."

Sweetie didn't say anything.

Rarity suddenly got up and went into the same bathroom that Applejack had gone previously.

“Applejack?...” No answer.

I’m guessing you already knew…That is quite the stunt our sisters pulled…I never would have expected Sweetie to do such a thing….” Still no answer.

“C’mon AJ, say something.”

The stall door unlocked, and opened slowly, revealing Applejack with bloodshot eyes.

“We didn’t even give her a chance to explain herself.” Applejack said quietly.

Rarity sighed, knowing exactly what she was talking about.

“No…No we didn’t. The only thing we can really do now is go apologize to her. I…I am hopeful that in time…things can be mended.”

“That’s gonna be a lot harder than you think Rarity.”

“Well, of course I don’t expect her to forgive us right off the bat…”

“That’s not what I mean…”

“What…do you mean?...”Rarity asked slowly.

Applejack sighed.

“We should go talk about this with everyone else. This is something they need to know too.”

Rarity followed Applejack outside to where the others were. Things had gotten considerably quieter. Pinkie, and Fluttershy were still trying to comprehend that these three seemingly innocent girls had done this to all of them.

“To tell you all the truth,” Applejack spoke up.

“What you just heard from them,” she gestured to the crusaders. “Is only half the reason you’re all here.”

“You mean there’s more?...” Fluttershy asked worriedly.

Applejack nodded.

“It…It’s the reason I wanted us all to meet at the hospital.”

All eyes were on Applejack, awaiting an explanation. Principal Celestia just looked at the ground, already knowing what was coming.

“Rarity…do…do you remember the other day when Anon-A-Miss posted that thing about Dash?...” Applejack asked.

“Yes…” Rarity trailed off as she realized who it really was that had sent that.

She slowly looked at Sweetie, and the other two.

“Y-you guys sent that…didn’t you?...”

Tears continued streaming down Sweetie’s cheeks as she looked down, refusing to meet her sister’s gaze. Applejack continued.

“When Dash ran off…She went and did something really stupid…”

“Applejack…A-Are you trying to tell us that Dash attacked Sunset?!” Rarity asked in horror.

“Not exactly…But Dash definitely wasn’t the only one who had an embarrassing secret let loose about her…The other half of that secret belonged to Gilda, Dash’s old friend. Like Dash, she didn’t take the post well either. She, along with some other students were looking for Sunset. I guess Dash wanted to get back at Sunset without getting her own hands dirty, so…” Applejack sighed and shook her head slowly.

“…She gave them Sunset’s address, and gave them her own phone to contact Sunset, leading her to believe that we ourselves wanted to meet
up with her after hours at the school.”

There was absolute silence.

“She did what?...” Rarity whispered.

Applejack nodded sadly.

"Sunset went too."

"Surely she got away though..." Rarity tried convincing herself more than anyone.

"I mean, Sunset is more than capable of defending herself against a few punks...right?"

"Maybe a few...But try holding your own against thirty plus students." There were shocked gasps at that.

"T-Thirty...CHS students were in on this?" Rarity's eyes welled up with tears.

Applejack put her head down.

"They beat her...Badly."

Rarity put both hands to her mouth in horror. Pinkie and Fluttershy were too stunned to even react in any way.

"And I want to know EXACTLY why it did happen." Everyone jumped at the new unexpected voice.

Out from around the corner, emerged a very unhappy looking Twilight.

Chapter 9 Author's Note

To be honest, this chapter has been ready for a while now....but for some reason, I just wasn't happy with it. I kept trying to go back and add or change stuff, but in the end, I just threw my hands up and said "Heck with it...I'm posting it."
Sooo...here it is...

Chapter 9

“T-Twilight?!” Fluttershy squeaked.

“I want to know EXACTLY how it can be that thirty plus students of the school I would have trusted my own life with, could attempt murder without a second glance!”

Rarity was about to say something, when she realized what Twilight had said.

“Murder might be a bit of an overstatement Twilight…I mean, it’s horrible what happened, don’t get me wrong. But murder is a completely different field…”

“Oh, is it?? I take it you haven’t seen it yet.”

“S-Seen what?...”

Applejack put her head in her hands.

“Oh sweet mercy…Tell me you did not see it…”

“Yes Applejack, I did.”

“A-Applejack?...What did she see that we haven’t?” Rarity asked nervously.

“The news story concerning the CHS students who beat a fellow peer half to death inside their school’s gymnasium, before taking her to an abandoned factory twenty miles outside Canterlot, leaving her there overnight in freezing temperatures to die.” Twilight monotoned bluntly.

“THAT is what you haven’t seen or heard.”

“I-It’s not true…Dash was in on THAT?!” Rarity cried.

“Well, according to her, she didn’t know they were going to go that far. But it still don’t excuse what she did…not by a long shot…” Applejack shook her head.

“Only what SHE did?” Twilight asked harshly.

Applejack looked at her.

“Well ya…I mean, she-”

“I know what she did Applejack. But the rest of you are FAR from innocent yourselves.”

Rarity spoke up.

"I realize what you mean Twilight. But surely you cannot compare what we did to what Rainbow did…”

“Oh, can’t I? Sunset was in touch with me, I know what the lot of you did. Rainbow wouldn’t talk to Sunset, you guys wouldn’t talk to Sunset. Rainbow didn’t give Sunset a chance to explain herself, you guys didn’t give her a chance to explain herself. The school turned against Sunset, and you four turned against Sunset. Need I go on?" Rarity looked uneasily away.

"It’s all the same story…Can any of you truly say the same thing wouldn’t have happened if something equally as embarrassing about you guys had been posted? Because the rest of the story seems to argue that you guys always did the same thing that Rainbow and the rest of the school did.”

Fluttershy was in tears now. Nobody dared to argue her, knowing deep down, that what Twilight said was true.

“I…I trusted you guys…What made you all even THINK that with all that she had done since the fall formal to make up for her past, she would throw it all away? What would be her point in doing such a thing? Did you ask yourselves that?” Twilight’s vision began to be blurred with tears of her own as she wiped them away with her sleeve.

“Maybe if you HAD given her a chance to explain herself, you would have seen the error of your own ways. Maybe this all could have been solved in a civilized way. But instead, I come back to this world to find that the bearers of the elements of harmony have abandoned, abused, and betrayed the magic of friendship.

“Would a fish abandon the water it lives in? Does it say “I don’t need you?” But is that not what you have done? Just as water surrounds a fish everywhere it goes, so also is the magic of friendship everywhere, and it sustains you.
Fish don’t leave the water, if they did, they would die. But you all have left it. You’re a fish that has left the water. Like the fish, you also will die, and you already have. None of you will ever again wield the elements or their power. You are all stripped of them, this is despicable behavior from those who have been given such privilege.”

“T-Twilight!!” Rarity gasped.

“I’m not joking Rarity! No more ponying up. No more wings, tails, or ears. No more magic.”

“B-But-”

Twilight lowered her tone. “You should consider yourselves lucky that I’m not dragging you all back to Equestria, and having our princess throw you all in Tartarus, which is where the worst of Equestria’s enemies usually end up.”

Applejack stared at Twilight.

“Now, that’s just crossin’ the line Twi…” She said sternly.

“We messed up BIG time, we get that, and we regret what we did, but to say that you would even consider sendin’ yer friends…there, is just going too far.”

“You’re right Applejack, I wouldn’t dream of sending my friends there…But dangerous enemies who pose a threat to those friends is a different story though.”

It took Applejack a minute to take in what that statement implied.

“Now wait just one minute Twi…”

“You know something, I was wrong…” She cut Applejack off.

“All this time…I was led to believe that I was fighting against monsters here in this world…But all this time, I was fighting right alongside them.”

Everything went dead silent.

“Twilight…” Their principal attempted to diffuse this.

“We understand you are upset. You have great reason to be…We understand you may be speaking things you would not normally say-”

“And what about you??” Twilight turned on her principal.

“Is there really absolutely no security measures in CHS?? How did the alarms not go off when those students got back into the school? How DID they even get back into the school? You’re the principal! You should be able to answer these things!”

Twilight then directed her gaze at the three youngest of the group.

“I would have never imagined you three to start something like this…You broke up friendships, turned everyone against each other, and Sunset…destroyed her already weak reputation that was just beginning to look up, essentially caused the entire school to spiral out of control, and may very well still become responsible for the death of a very dear friend of mine.”

The three girls were sobbing by the time Twilight finished.

Nothing more was said after that. Twilight had said it all, and nobody dared try to argue anything she said.

Silence reigned for an unknown amount of time after that, everyone presently oblivious to time. It could have been minutes, it could have been hours before a nurse approached the group. One that Applejack recognized.

“Are you all here for a Sunset Shimmer?” She asked.

Twilight immediately turned her attention to the nurse.

“Yes, how is she?”

“We have managed to get her stabilized, though she is still unconscious. We are allowing one person in to see her, so you’ll have to decide amongst yourselves-”

“I’m going in.” Twilight said, not allowing any room for debate on the subject.

Nobody tried arguing with her.

“Right...” The nurse gestured for her to follow.

The nurse led her down hallways, past rooms and corridors. Twilight saw all sorts of sickly people. It was definitely a different sight than what she was used to seeing in this world. So far, she had really only known this world on the bright side. This was her first time being in a hospital in the human world. She was beginning to see that not everything was so right in this world.

It wasn’t just a few either. There were lots of people here. People with casts on various body parts, people she could hear coughing and moaning from inside rooms…she even saw one man who was missing a finger.

Twilight felt sick thinking that Sunset was one of the people here, and even worse, that she was in here because of students from CHS…

The nurse stopped at one of the doors, looking to Twilight before opening the door.

“You should know that there was severe frostbite in her fingers and toes. Now, as far as amputating goes, we managed to save them, but there will be long lasting effects into the future. Chances are she’ll have increased sensitivity to cold, some numbness, stiffness, and pain.”

Twilight merely nodded, but inside, she had internal conflict.

They nearly had to amputate her fingers and toes?...Oh Celestia…

The nurse then opened the door for Twilight to enter.

Twilight hesitated a moment, before stepping into the room.

There was a bed with a figure inside. Twilight felt a little dizzy, but steadied herself, and approached the bed.

Nothing could have prepared her for what she did see on that bed.

It wasn’t Sunset.

It couldn’t have been.

If it wasn’t for the all familiar fiery hair, she would have been tempted to go right back out the door and claim to the nurse that there had been some mix up, she had been taken to the wrong room, anything…This couldn’t possibly be…”

Her face was blackish purple from bruises and swelling, her right eye was swollen shut, her left cheek had thick bandaging on it, her hands and fingers were also wrapped up, as well as her arms.

That was about the extent of what she could see right now, the rest of her body was under the sheet. Twilight didn’t even want to know what the rest of her body looked like.

She had a mask on to help with breathing, which was about the only sound that let her know that she was still in fact, alive.

“Oh Celestia…” Twilight whispered to herself.

“Why was I not here?...” Tears welled up in her eyes, as she felt the strength leave her legs, and she slowly crumbled to her knees as she broke down in sobs.

Chapter 10

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 11

Sunset had no grasp on reality. She kept slipping in and out of consciousness. She was back in that factory setting. She felt the pain of the wounds on her body, and the cold bite of the winter air.

The blade felt sharp against her neck, the cold steel threatening to drain her life in an instant.

Not that she really cared anymore. She would honestly welcome death at this point.

She couldn’t help but feel that something about all this felt strange…like she had lived it already before…

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll go to pony heaven…” A voice spoke darkly.

She opened her eyes to see who was in front of her, holding the blade to her.

It wasn’t who she had expected…

It was a familiar face. One that she had called a friend…

And had rainbow hair.

Sunset wanted to scream, but nothing came out.

She began hearing voices.

“She sold you out hook, line, and sinker.”

“Everything that has happened to you is because of her.”

“What part of “leave us alone” don’t you understand??”

“They’re not your friends.” A new figure approached Sunset, and with her, the temperature suddenly rose. But it rose past the point of comfort, and into an oven like heat.

“They said so themselves. It was no dream Sunset. They never were your friends. Look at what happened to you because of the likes of them!!

The demon slashed at Rainbow Dash, who then disintegrated into dust, freeing Sunset from the knife hold, but was then replaced with the demon who grasped Sunset’s neck.

“I offered to help you! I was the one who would have saved you, and given them all what they deserved! But you refused me, and got what you deserved because of it!” The demon threw Sunset like a ragdoll across the room.

Sunset felt like she had just broken several more bones as she came to a stop, sprawled across the floor. But no matter what, she couldn’t pass out.

“Welcome to Hell, Sunset.” The demon hissed as it approached her again.

“You can’t escape your own nightmares Sunset, and though it’s not real, you’d be surprised how “real” a nightmare can get.” The demon reached down to take Sunset in its grasp again. Sunset didn’t even try to escape. What was the point? She resigned herself to this….

“Sunset....” She heard a distant voice.

“Sunset, I’m here...” Suddenly, the scene around her faded, and the sounds of the nightmare dissipated until all was black….

“…..Sunset?...Honey, can you hear me?”

Sunset became aware of the sounds of whimpering, before realizing the sound was coming from her. She tried opening her eyes, but found it harder a task than it really should have been.

When she finally was able to open one of them, she wasn’t really able to focus on anything. Her eye wandered until she was able to land it on a figure above her.

She wasn’t able to focus quite yet, and an instinct told her there was something wrong. Was she still in that abandoned factory? Had she woken from one nightmare, only to awaken to another?

“Sunset, I’m here…” That voice…It couldn’t be…But it had to be....

“M-Mom?...”

She wasn’t actually, but it’s what Sunset had thought of her for most of her life. She had always been there for her…and Sunset had thrown her away for this…Sunset felt sick to her stomach at that thought. Celestia had been right to keep her from this world…

“Mommy?...Sunset whispered with all the innocence of a child, as a tear streaked down her face.

Celestia didn’t even know how to respond to that.

“I-...It’s Celestia Sunset. It’s me.”

“D-Don’t leave me.” Celestia had never heard Sunset sound so broken before.

“Oh, Sunset… I’m not going anywhere...” It truly broke her heart to see Sunset like this. She was so disfigured. How could she have let this happen at her own school?

She had some belief that maybe… just maybe, this could somehow be reconciled in the future.

But now, after actually seeing what this whole disaster had caused, she wasn’t so sure anymore…How could anything be made right again, after this?

Maybe Cinch was right…Maybe CHS was as good as down the tubes now.

After all, she wasn’t even sure she even wanted to continue her job as a principal anymore. Maybe she’d be better off in just a regular office job, where no child would end up paying the price if she slipped up, or became negligent in her job.

Crystal Prep had never had anything like this happen. Crystal Prep had surveillance cameras on campus, cameras which the students often protested, but it seemed to do the job anyways…

Celestia had become too prideful…Boasting that her school had no need of cameras in the hallways, outdoors, or in the….gym.

One thing was for certain…If there was going to be any chance that she did decide to continue her job, she would make CHS so full of security, it would rival even the security of President Discord.

“The princess has been in that room for hours.” One guard said quietly to another as they passed the room that had once belonged to Celestia’s renegade pupil, while doing their routine security walks. They remembered that particular student of her’s all too well.

They stopped for a moment, a little ways down from the room, talking quietly, so not to be heard.

“Don’t know what could possibly have her so absorbed in that particular room. All I know is that when she got back here from seeing Princess Twilight, she went straight into that room, demanding that nopony be let inside, or interrupt her… She hasn’t come out since.”

“And you didn’t hear anything concerning what went on when she went to see Princess Twilight?”

“Not a word. Though, there is a rumor going around that Sunset actually died in that other world. Whether that’s actually true or not, I’ve got no clue. And if it is true, don’t ask me what caused it.”

“No kidding?...The little pest bit the bullet?? Don’t know why that should cause so much care to the Princess. Ya ask me, she got what was coming to her.”

“I hear ya… Ehh, the princess has a soft heart…” He said as they continued their walk.

“She probably just needs some time and space. She’ll come around soon enough.”

Inside the abandoned room, Celestia laid curled up on Sunset’s old bed, clutching that dusty old music box, and sobbing.

Chapter 12

Rainbow was still shaken up over her encounter with Twilight as she approached the hospital entrance with her hood concealing her again.

Thankfully, those people who had taken notice of her previously did not seem to be there anymore, though it gave her little confidence as she approached the group once again.

She realized a major difference this time around...Everybody was there, rather than just Applejack and the CMC. Everybody was quiet, their heads to the ground. Applejack had her head in her hands.

Fluttershy was the first to notice the new presence in the room, though she didn't actually say anything. She tapped Rarity, before she too looked up. She looked surprised to see Dash standing there.

"Dash darling, whatever happened to you?"

Rainbow was confused for a moment, until a small pain near her eye reminded her.

"Oh..." She put a hand to her eye. "Take a wild guess..."

"Did Twilight?.." Rarity pressed.

Dash shrugged her shoulders. "It's less than I deserve, honestly..." There was a pause.

"Well...It does not mean Twilight should have done it. If we are going to judge based on "eye for an eye", then a large chunk of the school should be in hospital rooms right now..."

Dash cringed. Rarity sighed.

"Why did you do it Dash?.." Rarity asked quietly. "And, I mean, it's bad enough you had a part in this at all... but I need to know...Exactly how far did you know they were going to go with this?" They all looked to Dash, waiting for an answer.

Dash let out a sigh, ultimately deciding to confess.

"I...I knew she was going to end up in the hospital." There were a loud series of gasps.

Rarity stood up...and gave Rainbow a resounding slap across the face, before shaking her hand at her side and mouthing "ow..." She turned her attention back to Dash.

"Rainbow Dash...you have just caused me to do something VERY unlady-like...I hope you're happy..."

"But I figured it would only be for a day or so!" Rainbow tried to defend herself after getting over the shock that Rarity, of all people, had just slapped her.

" I never imagined...anything like this..." She sighed. "I don't know why I did it... I wasn't thinking...I wasn't in my right mind. I was just so angry after that post. I messed up...big time."

"We all messed up..." Pinkie spoke up, though it was no louder than a whisper.

"Dash, principal Celestia is here too." Rainbow looked up at Applejack at that.

"Wait, she is? Then where is she?..."

"She went in...Sunset woke up."

Rainbow lit up.

"She did??? Oh thank God!"

"Twilight was the first to go in. Though she did go in before Sunset woke up."

Rainbow remembered the things Twilight had said about Sunset's state. Particularly the brand...

"Have you guys?..."

"No we haven't been in yet. Celestia's the only other one to have been in there yet."

So they don't know... Dash thought to herself.

The CMC said nothing through any of this, rather, they found the floor particularly interesting. After a long pause though, Scootaloo found a bit of courage.

"Rainbow, I-"

"Save it scootaloo." Dash cut her off abruptly. "I am so not in the mood right now."

Scootaloo put her head back down. What had she done?...

A pair of shoes came into her vision, suddenly.

"What is this? CHS students who actually care enough to be here right now?.. Maybe there's hope for your school after all..." A sarcastic, unsympathic voice suddenly said.

Applebloom, along with everybody else currently there froze up. They knew without even looking, who that voice belonged to...

The portal rippled as Twilight touched it. She looked to Aria.

"Wait on this side of the portal." She instructed.

"Not like I have much of a choice..." Aria muttered, as she reached out a hand to touch the portal, but it acted as a regular wall to her.

"Don't take all day."

"Twilight rolled her eyes, before crossing the portal.

Immediately after emerging out the other side of the portal, Twilight teleported herself to the front of Celestia's castle, wasting no time, and instructing the guards that she needed to see Celestia.

They took her inside, and led her to the princess' chambers. Though, rather than taking her to the princess' chambers itself, they went past it.

"Uhh...guys?..." Twilight gestured to the large ornate doors as they passed them.

"Princess Celestia is not currently in her own chambers." One of them explained as they came upon another set of doors, these, not too far down from the princess' own chambers.

A guard knocked on the door.

"Princess Celestia?..." No answer. "Princess Twilight is here to see you."

There was a pause, then the sound of stirring from within. Celestia opened up the door, looking less than her usual regal self. Her mane was flat, and her eyes were red, like she had just been crying.

"Twilight..." Celestia wiped at her eye.

"Uhh...May I come in?" Twilight asked quietly.

Celestia paused, seeming deep in thought, before responding.

"Yes. Yes, come in." Celestia opened the door up for Twilight, before closing it right after she entered.

Twilight studied Celestia. She did not look at all like the majestic princess of Equestria...Rather, she looked like somepony who had just lost someone very dear to her. Even the sun outside seemed to have lost a portion of its light.

Twilight looked around the room they were in. Soft shades of a setting sun painted the area in a shimmer of beauty.

But it wasn't until Twilight's gaze landed on the bed, that it dawned on her exactly who this room belonged to, or rather, had belonged to.

Sunset's familiar sun-split cutiemark decorated the center of the bedspread.

A small music box was lying on the bed, Twilight saw, before she turned her attention back to Celestia.

"I had always hoped that she would come back...If even just for a visit. I had really begun to believe that she could make a life over there...make some real...friends."

There was a long silence, before Twilight finally decided to break it.

"I, uhh...I was able to see Sunset over there." She said quietly. Celestia looked at her at that, waiting for more.

"I think you should come over and see her for yourself."

Celestia sighed. "I'm not ready for that yet, Twilight."

"I know...But if you don't come now...I can't guarantee you'll get a chance to later."

Celestia stared at Twilight.

"She's in rough shape." There was a long pause.

"Ok...Let's go."

The group looked with contempt at the two new people in the room.

Principal Cinch of Crystal Prep. CHS' rival school, with her daughter Sunny Flare.

Cinch was wearing a look of almost indifference. But Sunny Flare...She was actually wearing a look of genuine sympathy... a sharp contrast to her mother.

"What are you doing here?" Dash demanded.

"I could be asking you the exact same question Rainbow Dash..." Rainbow felt her blood boil.

"We are here for the same reason you guys are." Sunny Flare cut in, before anything could escalate any more.

"We saw the news story, and contrary to popular belief, we do care at Crystal Prep, and not everything has to be about rivalry between our schools. Especially when it comes to something like this."

"If anything, we should be welcomed here, seeing as it was my school's own students who called this all in." Cinch pointed out smugly.

Applejack saw Rainbow's tension, and put an arm out to her, and spoke quietly to her. "CHS doesn't need to be looking any wore than it already does...Same goes with you." Rainbow sighed, and forced herself to calm down, knowing what Applejack said was true.

"Anyway...Is there tea, or a coffee machine around here while we wait?" She wondered aloud as she left the waiting area to go search for something to satisfy her craving.

Sunny Flare looked genuinely embarrassed by her mother's behavior. She looked at them.

"Look...My mom really does mean well..."

"Why do you defend her?" Dash demanded.

Sunny looked at her with a hint of anger. "Gee, I don't know...Maybe because she's my mom.

"Ya, well, I could say a few things about your mom."

"Rainbow!!" Applejack glared at her.

"...Ya, well, you know Dash, I could say a few things about you too... I really don't think you're in any position to be judging."

That shut Rainbow up.

Sunny sighed.

"Look, whatever my mother's views may be, they aren't mine. I'm not here to fight or argue. Our schools may have a rivalry, but isn't that as far as it should go? What has happened here is not a matter of school rivalry...Its an issue of human life...I would have something very wrong with me if I held a petty school rivalry above basic human decency."

That surprised the girls. They didn't think a Crystal Prepper would swallow their pride so easily, but Sunny seemed genuine.

"Perhaps we don't know as much about Crystal Preppers as we thought..." Rarity spoke up. "Alright, if you're willing to get along with us, we will do the same for you here."

"I still don't trust her..." Dash muttered.

Rarity sighed. "We didn't trust Sunset either Dash...Don't you think it's time for a change?"

Rainbow knew she had no right to argue that...She really had no choice but to go along with this.

Author's Note

Sorry for the long wait guys...I just wrote this over the weekend, so hopefully it doesn't feel rushed or anything.

Chapter 13

They had begun letting more people go into the room a little while later. Rarity decided to be the next to go in.

She felt a deep anxiety as the nurse led her through corridors, and past other rooms... She didn't want to face this. As they approached the door, she hesitated. What would she find behind that door?...She really didn't want to see for herself.

She took a deep breath, and opened the door slowly, before entering.

The principal was sitting next to the bedside, her face in one of her hands as she leaned over, looking like she had been crying.

Rarity approached the bed slowly. What she saw made her breath hitch in her throat.

"Oh, Sunset..." She whispered.

Fluttershy looked up at the sound of Rarity returning. She paused, looked at Rainbow Dash, and slowly shook her head at her before sitting down once again. Pinkie looked at Fluttershy.

"Want to go together?.." She asked quietly. Fluttershy nodded. "Ok..." She whispered.

Pinkie and Fluttershy returned looking dejected.

Pinkie's hair was flat, and she looked like she had been crying. Fluttershy's eyes were likewise red and puffy. They both sat down without a word. A long silence passed.

Applejack sighed before getting up to go next.

Applejack returned a while later, with her hat at her side. She sat down with her head in her hands and didn't say a word.

Rainbow sighed, and got up. Moment of truth... she thought to herself.

When Rainbow entered the room, principal Celestia was absent. Probably had things to take care of, Rainbow figured.

Rainbow Dash approached the bed, and for the first time, caught a glimpse firsthand, of what her actions had caused. She took one look, and looked away. In that moment, she cursed herself.

She looked back, and for a moment, just stared at all the bandages, bruises, and wounds. She knew that she had as good as done this herself. She crumpled to her knees by the bed, and sobbed.

When she felt she could cry no more, she lifted herself up.

"Sunset....If you can hear me....I'm sorry..." She whispered.

"I'm so....so sorry Sunset. I don't expect you to ever forgive me...But I just need to say that.
You were a best friend to me, and look what I did....friends are always supposed to be there for each other...look out for each other. But I did the exact opposite...I should be the one in a hospital bed right now...I know there's nothing I will ever be able to do to take back what I've done, so...I'll just go. I'm probably the last face you'll ever want to see again..."

With that, Rainbow got up, and went to the door. She put her hand on the handle, and looked back one more time, before opening the door and leaving.

Rainbow went past where the others were, and left without a word. Nobody tried to stop her.

Principal Cinch cleared her throat after some time.

"Well...I suppose it is our turn then." She and Sunny got up and we're directed to the room.

Principal Celestia was back in the room by the time they had arrived. She looked up, surprised to see the rival principal enter the room.

"Abacus Cinch...Sunny Flare." She directed her attention to Cinch.

"I was not expecting that you-"

"No, I'm sure you were not..." Cinch cut her off almost accusingly, as she approached Sunset's side.

The rival school's principal looked upon the girl in the bed. In that moment, it was as if seeing for herself, the damage that had been caused by this train wreck, really did break through the hard shell of the rival principal as she took her glasses off.

"If there is one thing we can ever agree on Celestia...I think it is this...A deed like this should never have even been a thought in the minds of your students."

By the time Twilight and Celestia had arrived at the hospital, it was getting late, and everybody else had already gone home for the night.

As they aproached the room, Twilight saw something she had not been expecting...the principal was in there.

She had kind of hoped she had already left like the others. She didn't know how Celestia would take to meeting...Celestia.

The principal looked in their direction, and for the fist time, Celestia found herself looking at Celestia, and Celestia likewise found herself looking at Celestia.

A nurse passed by the room at that point, and saw Celestia gazing at Celestia.

"Uhh...The nurse looked between Celestia and Celestia.

"We're twin sisters." Princess Celestia quickly covered before giving the other Celestia a knowing look.

"Isn't that right?.."

"Uhh, ya..., twin sisters." She managed to get out after getting over the shock of seeing her other self.

"Alright then...you may stay." The nurse conceded, before dismissing herself.

The princess looked to the bed on which lay her would-be daughter, with the woman who was responsible for overseeing the well-being of the students of her school, or at least, should have been.

She looked to the bed, and felt pain worse than a knife wound at what she saw.

Bandages with some blood showing through...wraps, scars, and stitches. Her face was near unrecognizable due to the swelling, bruises, and bandages. The oxygen machine helping her breathe was the only real encouragement to the princess that she was even still alive.

As for Sunset's consciousness itself, she looked so drugged up, Celestia doubted she was even aware of anything right at that moment.

Princess Celestia felt a surge of anger at her doppleganger....How could this have happened? Was her other self really so stupid to let something even remotely close to this happen at her own school?

As the princess of Equestria, Celestia made it her top priority that every one of her ponies were always, above all, safe.

Everypony in an entire nation! All this woman had to do was look out for a single school!

She looked from the bed, to the principal, with a look of deep hate, and with a quiet voice only the two of them could hear, she uttered.

"If it weren't for the fear of what would happen to their pony counterparts, I would not hesitate to kill each and every individual responsible for this, starting with you..."

The principal simply stared back.

"Nonetheless," the princess continued. "It does not mean there will not be repercussions...Anybody who had any part whatsoever in this will be coming back to Equestria. And they will be staying there."

"Now wait just one minute..." The principal finally found her voice. "That sounds like a threat, and a rather harsh one at that. As the principal, I'm responsible for the safety and well-being of my students."

"Yes...and what a fine job you've been doing of that..." The principal said nothing to that.

"And as for it being harsh..." Celestia looked the principal in the eye. "Seems we in Equestria value life more than here. From what I understand, in this world, attempted murder gets you a mere ten years in prison. Try it in Equestria, and it'll get you a thousand years in stone! And don't think that just because I'm known to be forgiving, means I won't do something like this. I banished my own sister for a thousand years when she tried to take over Equestria...I assure you, we take matters like this VERY seriously in my world."

"They're at the police station right now." She argued. "How would you get them out of there to the portal?"

"Oh, I may not be able to just snap my fingers and have them all teleported to Equestria in chains...but I know someone who could."

"This is insane! They are kids!"

"Oh, they have proven themselves to be much more than kids..."

"Show some mercy..."

"Mercy?? I am able to teleport them to Tartarus if I wanted to! This is merciful!" The principal flinched.

"Would...would this include Rainbow Dash?"

"Rainbow knew what she was doing, and what she was getting herself into. She indeed had deliberate harmful intentions, so yes, this includes Rainbow Dash."

Principal Celestia said nothing...what could she say? How could she argue with the ruler of an alternate dimension? She tried looking to Twilight, but Twilight had no interest in defending the principal or her students.

"As for you...I suppose you'll have to stay here and keep doing your job...even if you're doing a terrible job at it..." The princess took a seat by Sunset's side.

"Now leave this place. You've done enough..." Princess Celestia said coldly.

There was a long pause, before the principal quietly got up, and left without another word.

Chapter 14

Principal Celestia exited the hospital and went to her car. She sat for a long time inside, shaken up by what the other Celestia had said.

What was she supposed to do? The students who had taken part in this had as good as ended their own lives, and there was nothing that she, a high school principal could do.

Where was she supposed to go from here? She figured she should be trying to do something to save her school from Cinch's petition, but she couldn't have cared less about her school in that moment. Too many emotions were flooding her mind.

She put her head on her steering wheel and sobbed.
.......................................

About another hour passed inside the hospital room. Princess Celestia stood up finally.

"Let's go Twilight." She said simply. Twilight didn't argue. They made their way past the now empty waiting room, and out of the hospital.

Twilight had told Aria to return home earlier, so it was just her and the princess that waled back to the school in silence.

Celestia passed through the portal, followed close behind by Twilight.

Upon arrival in Twilight's castle, Celestia regained her bearings and called out.

"Discord!! Come to me!"

There was a moment of silence, before a flash, and the master of chaos appeared, in a night gown, yawning.

"Seriously Celly, what am I, a dog that you tell me to come to you? I am a free dracconeques. A free dracconeques mind you, that is trying to get some sleep, so if you don't mind..." He was about to teleport himself away, but Celestia stopped him.

"This won't take long." She reassured. "I need you to teleport thirty high school students from the human world to the Canterlot dungeon in shackles. They are currently being held at the Canterlot prison on the other side of the portal. I also need that world's version of Rainbow Dash as well."

Discord let out a tired yawn.

"That's a lot of people to teleport at 2:00 AM Celly..."

"Just do it Discord." Celestia said, annoyed.

Discord groaned. "thirty high shool students coming right up...Plus an alternate Rainbow Dash." He said tiredly.
..................................................

Rainbow sat in her cell on the bed cot, with her head in her hands.She had come to the police station and turned herself in after seeing Sunset. They set her up in this cell where she would stay until a hearing was arranged for her, and the other students.

She didn't care what the sentence would be. She knew that whatever it turned out to be, she deserved it.

She felt something tingling her suddenly. Something unnatural.

"Wha-" Before she could even think, the jail cell was gone, and in its place was something far less pleasant. A dark dirty cell, with no running water, no toilet, or anywhere to do business, and a dirt floor with no place to sleep.

She stumbled back at the new scene in front of her, wondering how this waspossible, and tripped over her own feet, falling to the floor.

She tried raising her hand to her face, but found that she could not.

She looked down to see what was stopping her, and her face paled.

Around her legs were shackles that were keeping her restrained. But that was not what caused her distress, for when she looked at her feet, they were not feet at all...but hooves...four hooves...

Rainbow screamed. She felt a pair of something on her back that wasn't there before, but couldn't see what they were, as they were also tied down to prevent her from using them, whatever they were.

Rainbow was hyperventilating.

Keep it together Dash! She told herself. You're not losing it...

She tried to think of some possible explanation to all of this.

How do I have hooves?? Hooves like a horse! This isn't-

She stopped, the lights suddenly coming on for her.

"No..." She whispered. "It can't be..."
...............................

Discord yawned again. "Thirty students, and Rainbow Dash in the Canterlot Dungeon... Are you happy now? Can I get back to sleep like everypony else in this world?.."

"Yes, that will be all. Thank you Discord."

"Don't mention it..." With that, he was gone, a cloud of Z's being left behind. Celestia turned to Twilight.

"Go to bed Twilight. I am going to have a long night." Twilight knew what Celestia was talking about, and she didn't want to get in her way. Celestia meant business. Twilight backed up, and Celestia teleported away.
.......................................

Gilda had been in the slammer multiple times, though not for anything this serious, but still, she was pretty used to the dull setting of her cell. She was currently sleeping on her cot, dreaming of, and reliving her glory days at CHS, before Sunset came and took over.

But suddenly, there was a tingling sensation that brought her out of her sleep with a startled snort.

"Huh?.." She looked around in the dark, when suddenly, the cot disappeared from under her, and she found herself on the floor... a dirt floor.

"OW! Hey! What gives??" She realized she was now sitting on dirt, in a much dirtier cell than before, with no place to sleep this time.

"Yo coppers! Anybody want to tell me what the he-" She tripped over her own feet when she tried to stand, landing herself on the floor. She came to the realization that she now had shackles on.

"WHAT THE?!!" She screamed. But not from the shackles.

She realized her hands were no longer hands... but lion paws. She also felt something unnatural on her back. A pair of something that were strapped down to her sides.

"What is going on??" She cried.

"Allow me to shed some light..." A new voice answered before there was a flash of light, and a regal looking pony was suddenly in front of her.

Wait...pony? Gilda thought, after recovering from the shock that this... pony had just appeared out of nowhere.

"You are in Canterlot, Equestria."

"Eques-" Gilda's jaw dropped. "No way..." But just then, she caught a glimpse of the pony's rump, bearing a picture that Sunset had called a cutiemark when talking of Equestria.

This pony's cutiemark was a sun.

a sun... She thought, as the lights slowly came on

Oh...snap.

She looked back at the pony in front of her.

"H-Hey look... I don't want any trouble..." She stuttered.

"You don't want any trouble?.." Celestia feigned surprise. "So, it's ok for you to hand out trouble, but it's not so easy for you to be on the recieving end of said trouble?.."

Gilda carefully backed up to the wall.

"Tell me... do you know who I am?" Celestia questioned.

"...no..." Gilda answered hesitantly.

"I'm the ruler of this dimension." She said simply. Gilda paled.

"Ruler?.."

Let me give you a lesson on cutiemarks. They are like snowflakes. No two are exactly alike. They are all unique. But a sun is a special mark here in Equestria, because, as you can see, it is the mark that I bear."

Gilda didn't notice the action, but her own ears went down as her fear grew.

"Abuse of this mark is not something that is taken lightly here... But ponies themselves are more valuable than any cutiemark... and abuse of my ponies is the one thing I do not tolerate."

Gilda could almost feel herself getting smaller.

"You... Along with your "friends", have commited both of these acts. First and foremost, you have abused one of my ponies, and secondly, you annd your friends have abused my cutiemark.

"But it's not your cutiemark!" Gilda found her voice to protest. Celestia's demeanor grew dark.

"Sunset is my student, and my daughter... It IS my cutiemark."

Gilda shut up after that.

"From now on, this will be your home." She gestured to the dank cell.

"You're going to be here a long time..."

With that, she disappeared once more, in a flash of light.
...........................................

Rainbow was pacing the small cell as much as the shackles would allow, after getting a feel for her new legs.

"I'm in Equestria..." She whispered in shock. "I have to be... What other explanation is there for all this?.." She stopped in thought.

"Maybe I'm dreaming...Ya! That's it! This is all just a dream..."

"Oh, I assure you, it is NOT a dream." A voice suddenly answered her, and a pony appeared in front of her. Dash stumbled back in shock

"W-Who-"

"I think you know exactly who I am." Celestia cut her off.

"...Princess... Celestia?.." Rainbow asked hesitantly.

Celestia glared at her. "Woe to you, Rainbow Dash. You've destroyed yourself and you will never leave this cell again. Your days will be dark, and your nights, darker. You showed Sunset no mercy, and so it will also be for you."

Dash gulped in fear. Celestia turned to leave, before a bit of hay appeared out of nowhere.

"Better get used to it. It's all you'll be getting to eat here."
......................................

Celestia teleported herself into the next cell, with the next student pony who freaked out at seeing her.

"Where am I?? What's going on??" He struggled to gain control of his new legs.

"You're in Equestria." Celestia monotoned. "A dungeon to be exact."

"Eque- Why am I here??"

"I think you know why..." She materialized a branding iron with her magic. He stumbled back as she levitated the hot end toward him.

"N-No! Don't!!" He cowered in the corner as the iron levitated inches away from him.

"Not so tough after all, are you?.." Celestia said bitterly, before removing it, much to his relief.

"I really should use it... you had no problem using it yourself..." Celestia turned and walked away, before teleporting out of the cell, leaving the frightened pony trembling in fear.
...........................................

"Twiliiiight!!" Pinkie's overactive voice woke Twilight up the next morning as she banged on her door.

Her Pinkie... She had to remind herself. She couldn't be mad at Pinkie, or the others on this side of the portal.

Twilight went to the door, which suddenly slammed open.

"Twilight! My pinkie senses were tingling and told me that a bunch of people from the mirror world are now on this side of the portal!! Who? Why? When did they get here? Where are they? Why are they here??"

Twilight facehoofed. She should have known she couldn't hide this from Pinkie's uncanny senses.

"Pinkie, calm down."

"I can't calm down! I'm nervouscited!"

"Pinkie, this really isn't something to celebrate, or be excited about."

Pinkie stopped.

"...It's not?"

Twilight sighed.

"Pinkie... Do you remember when my crown got stolen, and I went into the mirror world to get it back?"

"Ya... Sunset Shimmer, wasn't that her name? And after you blasted her, she became good and helped you defeat the sirens, right?.."

"That's her." Twilight confirmed.

"What about her?.." Pinkie asked.

"She..." Twilight hesitated. She didn't want to traumatize Pinkie's innocent mind with details.

"...Some bad people on that side of the portal hurt her really bad... We brought the people responsible over here to lock them up."

Pinkie's hair deflated.

"They...hurt her?"

"Ya Pinkie..." Twilight said quietly.

"Is she...ok?" Pinkie asked. Twilight sighed.

"She's in the hospital on that side."

"Well let's go! I mean, I know I'm not supposed to go through, but I'm sure just this once you could make an acception..."

"I really wish I could Pinkie... But I really can't right now..."

Pinkie's hopes dropped.

"Oh...ok."

Twilight didn't mention that the reason she couldn't go through, was because of their counterpart's hands in all this. She didn't need to know... none of them needed to know.

Pinkie left shortly after. Twilight was about to go through the portal once more, when her dragon companion walked into the room.

"Twilight! I haven't seen you since Aria contacted you with Sunset's journal... So, how'd it go over there?"

Spike...With everything that had happened in so little time, she had almost forgotten about him...How was she supposed to tell him what had happened?..

"Spike..." She looked at him with tears in her eyes. "Sunset is dying."

Spike paled. "...What? What did they-"

"It's not what the sirens did Spike." She cut him off.

"...It's what CHS did." She whispered.

"CHS?... What happened?"

Twilight relayed everything to Spike what had happened, in between fits of sobbing. Spike had never seen Twilight so disoriented before.

He held her as she shook with sobs, offering whatever comfort he could. When Twilight was finally able to calm down again, she got up and went to the portal.

"I'm going back to the hospital." She said quietly.

"Not without me, you're not." Spike went with her to the portal.

Twilight didn't argue. She had actually been hoping that Spike would come with her.

With her companion at her side, they crossed dimensions once more.
.......................................

Twilight had put Spike in her bag to get him inside the hospital. She went to the desk, and they let her go inside.

Once inside the room, Spike poked out from the bag, getting his first look at what had become of Sunset.

"They...did this?" Spike looked Sunset over, utterly appalled.

"Everybody responsible is now in Equestria. Celestia saw to that."

"Equestria?.. Might be a little harsh, but right now..." He looked at Sunset again. "I really can't find it in me to argue their case..."

Twilight and Spike stayed there for the following hours. It was about three hours past midday when it happened. Sunset began to stir.

She moaned as she twitched and strained to get her good eye to open.

"Sunset?.." Twilight spoke with hopeful anticipation.

Sunset's eye finally fluttered open, and she looked blankly out at the room.

"Sunset..." Twilight spoke again, Sunset blinked at the sound of the voice, her eye in a dead stare at the room.

"Sunset, it's me...It's Twilight."

Sunset's gaze remained dead for a long moment, before her eye finally found Twilight. But Twilight did not know if she was even aware of who she was looking at... or if she would even remember who she was.

"Twi...light?" Sunset spoke after a long moment, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Yes. Yes Sunset, it's me..." Twilight wasn't sure if she should be relieved or not. Did Sunset even know who that name belonged to anymore?..

"...Twilight." Sunset spoke again, a little more sure of herself this time.

"Do...Do you remember who I am?" Twilight asked, fearing the answer.

"...Pony?" Sunset sounded unsure of her own answer. If anyone else had been in the room, they would think that Sunset had lost her mind. But Twilight felt only relief at that answer.

"Yes...Yes! You remember!" She let out a breath she had been holding in.

Sunset looked so exhausted, trying to keep her eye open.

"You should rest." She said softly. "I'll be right here."

Sunset looked as if she wanted to protest, but within moments, she was out once more.

Author's Note

Well, it's FINALLY here! LOL, Sorry it took so long...

I saw the MLP movie this weekend, and....Let's just say I now have 4 upcoming Tempest stories, LOL
Ya...new character obsession.

Chapter 15

A parental reaction is a dangerous, and often destructive force that one should not take lightly.

If you come across a cute bear cub, and decide to play with it, with no intent to do it harm whatsoever, you would get the exact same parental reaction from the mother bear as someone who meant to do it harm. You would get mauled.

If you tried playing with a chick who's mother was nearby, the parental reaction would be an angry peck.

If you have a lion and a tiger cub get into a fight, and the lion cub gets injured, the mother would then kill the tiger cub, which would prompt the father tiger to get into a fight with the mother lion, and an all out battle would ensue, unless the lion cub stood in between the two as a peacemaker.

If you equate the lion cub to Sunset Shimmer, and the tiger cub to the students of CHS, then you can easily see that the mother lion would be Princess Celestia, while the tiger father would be theoutraged parents of the CHS students who were currently in Canterlot, Equestria.

Three days had passed since the students who were responsible for what had happened to Sunset, had been transported to Equestria, and understandably, the parents and families of said students were now anxious and worried after having learned from baffled police officers that their children were now missing.

Knowing CHS' reputation for magical phenomena, Principal Celestia was now being bombarded with angry phone calls demanding they know what happened to their children.

It had gotten so bad, she had disconnected her landline, and changed her cell, so that only Luna would know how to contact her.

Each passing day boosted her confidence to just quit her job as Principal, before she would have to go back there after the winter break.
..............................

Christmas came and went, with nothing to celebrate or be happy about... Nothing except the fact that Sunset was slowly becoming more coherent with each passing day. For Twilight....that was enough.

She and Spike went to the hospital everyday, encouraging Sunset to use her voice as much as she could. Each day saw improvement.

Soon, a full ten days passed since the attack, and New Years once again saw Twilight and Spike inside the hospital room with Sunset. The other four girls had tried coming to see Sunset since, but there was such a poisonous feel to the air with Twilight and the girls being in the same room together for so long, eventually, they had given up coming. It was clear Twilight did not want them there.

"Twi..." Sunset began, sounding a little unsure of herself. "Did...Dash help set me up?.."

There was a long silence. Finally, Twilight sighed.

"...How did you know?.." Twilight asked quietly.

"...Gilda told me." She whispered. "...More like used it as a means to mock me."

Twilight felt her hands clench in anger. She felt like she could murder Gilda.

"I just...was hoping that maybe she had lied about it..." Sunset sounded so weak, so broken...

"Sunset..." Twilight said quietly. "Don't even think about them."

Sunset gulped as she felt tears sting her eyes. "They're all I'm going to be able to think about for a long time Twi... and even if I can ever forget...I've got a constant reminder branded into me." She finished bitterly. Neither of them said anything more for a long time after that.

"...That may be true Sunset..." Twilight spoke again. "But I assure you, you will never have to worry about them again."

Sunset gave a bitter chuckle. "I'm sure...But it's more the fact that I even had to worry about them in the first place..."

"They'll get what they deserve." Twilight assured, in a surprisingly hostile voice.

Sunset looked at Twilight, a bit surprised. Twilight gave her a knowing smirk, lowering her voice.

"They are currently in the Canterlot dungeon..." She said quietly.

"You...brought them to Equestria?" Sunset asked, surprised.

"We figured it would be more appropriate to bring them there, to Equestria, to serve a proper sentence." Twilight explained.

"Define..."Proper sentence"..." Sunset was growing increasingly worried. She didn't like where this was going.

"Well, Celestia figured 75 years in the dungeon, and then being trapped in stone for another thousand years would be a good start..."

Sunset couldn't believe how nonchalantly Twilight was talking about this.

"And...how did their families react to learning of all this?.."

Twilight frowned. "Sunset, we didn't exactly go around asking the families for permission to do this."

"Ok...well, how often do you send them back to see their families?"

Twilight cocked her head. "Sunset, they don't go back. Ever."

"Excuse me?...You don't let them visit their families? Or rather, have their families visit them?.."

"No Sunset, they are there to stay."

"That...That doesn't seem right..."

"Of course it is! This is justice!" Twilight argued.

"Twilight..." Sunset sighed. "Was it really justice you were seeking when you and Celestia took them over there without a care in the world of their families?"

"I really wasn't thinking too much of their families at all, as much as I was about those who actually did this themselves!"

Twilight's voice went down to barely above a whisper.

"They tried tokill you Sunset...They deserve this. Why would you even try arguing their case?"

"Two wrongs don't make a right Twilight."

"This is justice!" Twilight insisted.

"This is not justice Twilight. You and Celestia ripped thirty people from their families with no intention of ever letting them go back to visit or anything. You have as good as kidnapped them from their own world and families...This is not justice...This is revenge." She put her head down.

"...And I've seen firsthand what a vengeful attitude can do..." She looked back up at Twilight.

"Send them back..." She said quietly.

"I...What?" Twilight was utterly confused.

"Send them back Twilight. Back to their own world...back here."

"...But-"

"I won't have another friend being corrupted. By the sounds of it, both you, and Celestia are going down the same path Rainbow did."

"I...What about their sentence?"

"This world has a judicial system too Twilight."

"But...it would only be ten to twenty years in jail!"

"So let it be ten to twenty years... At least it would be dealt in a fair way, without biase."

"Biase?? Do you forget what they did???" Twilight cried.

There was a pause, before Sunset slowly put her hand to her cheek, over the brand mark.

"No..." She whispered. "And I never will..." She looked back at Twilight.

"This is what I want Twi..." There was a long pause, before Twilight finally sighed.

"Alright...Alright Sunset, if that is what you really want... then I will respect that."

"It is Twi..." A thought suddenly occured to her.

"Twi...Is Dash there too?"

"...Yes..."

"When you send them back, I want to speak with her."

"...Alright." There was another long silence.

"Do...Do you know who Anon-A-Miss actually turned out to be?.."

Twilight took a deep breath.

"...It was Applebloom, Sweetiebelle, and Scootaloo..." She whispered.

Sunset slowly nodded, her suspicions confirmed.

"...I want to speak with them too."

Chapter 16

"Sheriff King? You wanted to see me?"

"Don't flatter yourself officer Shadow... I wanted to see you with the thirty previously incarcerated teens that disappeared without a trace!" He stood up and slammed his fist down on his desk.

"We are doing all that we can to-"

"I don't want excuses, I want results!" He cut her off. "Do you think I got the nickname "Storm King" for nothing?? I have put away every scumbag this city has! So, it doesn't look very good for me when thirty juveniles disappear, leaving no trace!!" He roared. "For ten freaking days no less!" He leaned into her, lowering his voice.

"Find them... Find them or so help me, I will not stop until the only job you can find in this state will be behind the counter of freaking Sugarcube Corner!!"

"I understand..." There was no change in her composure, her demeanor remained calm.

"Well?? Are you waiting for me to turn into a monkey or something??"

The female officer took that as a dismissal, and exited the Sheriff's office.

"Wow..." A short, chubby rookie officer greeted her, his mouth full with a donut. "I could hear that out here... You are definitely not on his good side right now..."

"Thank you for pointing that out Grubber..." She said sarcastically, glaring at him.

"Drown your troubles in a donut?" He held up a donut as she looked out across the room.

"I don't want a donut Grubber..." She muttered annoyedly.

"...It's a jelly donut..." He sing songed. She looked down at him with a raised eyebrow.

"...Give me that." She took the donut and bit into it.

"So, where we goin'?" He asked as they made their way outside the station.

"Anywhere and everywhere." She replied.

"How about Disneyworld? Cause if I had to make a guess, I'd be pretty sure they went to Disneyworld."

Tempest rolled her eyes. "Be serious Grubber..."

"Ok, fine." He opened the driver's side of the police cruiser. Tempest gave him a look.

"What are you doing?.." She questioned. He looked back at her.

"What's it look like? I'm drivin'!"

"You... are not driving."

Grubber put a hand to his chest. "Tempest, you wound me..."

"It's officer Shadow... and don't tempt me."

"C'mon! I can drive! Pleeeeeeaaaaase???"

"So then he was like "Whaaaat??" And I was like "Oh no you di'in't!"

Tempest rolled her eyes. Of all the other officers in this district, how did she get stuck babysitting this loser?

"Grubber, keep your eyes on the road." He looked at her.

"What? You think I can't multi task? I can talk and drive at the same-"

BEEEEP!!

"Grubber!!!" She grabbed the wheel and swerved them away from an oncoming truck. "Open up your eyes!!"

"Whoah! That was close! You totally just saved us!!"

"That's it! Pull over, I'm driving!"

"Aww c'mon..." He whined.

"Grubber, so help me, I will taze you right here, right now..."

"...Pulling over now." He complied.

"Princess Celestia..." Twilight called from outside the ornate doors to the Princess' chambers. "I need to speak with you. It's important."

The large door opened, revealing the princess.

"Twilight." She greeted. "Is something the matter?"

"I... actually, ya." She said. "I haven't seen you at the hospital for quite some time... not since...they got here."

Celestia sighed. "Yes, I must admit... I have been a little distracted."

"You should know... that in the time since then... She has begun speaking again." Celestia snapped up at that.

"...What?" She whispered.

"It's true. Her verbal skills have improved dramatically. I was able to have a full conversation with her just yesterday."

Celestia put her face in her hooves in relief.

"She... She knows that we brought them over here." Twilight continued, Celesia looked at her.

"I thought it only right that she should know." Twilight said.

"...and..." Celestia asked.

"...She wants us to send them back."

"...She...wants us to...send them...back?.." Celestia repeated slowly.

"She says it's not fair to the families. She equated bringing them over here to kidnapping them."

"...Well..." Celestia huffed. "I don't think it can exactly be said that she is in a right state of mind as of yet, to be making such a decision..."

"So... What are you going to do?" Twilight asked, as Celestia made her way down the grand hall.

"I am going to go talk to her."

"Oh, there's one more thing you should know..."

"Yes?.." Celestia waited for her to continue.

"The three sirens in that world... are going to need new pendants..." Twilight said hesitantly.

"I... I'm sorry?.." Celestia turned back to Twilight, clearly surprised by Twilight's strange request.

"It's true... They cannot survive without them. They are starving. Aria told me that Sunset had agreed to get them new pendants if they helped her find who was behind Anon-A-Miss. This of course,was before... what happened."

Celestia sighed.

"Normally, I would object and dismiss such a request Twilight... But, if they really are starving without them, then who am I to deny a neccesity of life to them?.. Perhaps we could fashion new pendants for them with a limited supply of power... Enough to feed with, but not enough to abuse... It would be a sort of diet, but at least they'd be able to feed, and nt waste away."

"That would be great" Twilight thanked her, relieved that she had been so understanding. She didn't know how Celestia would react, but she had pictured the worst.

Celestia nodded, and continued down the hall.

After an unsuccessful day of searching for teenagers and yelling at Grubber, Tempest returned home for the night, tired and just wanting to crash on her sofa and watch some webflix.

She put her key in the door and entered.

"I'm home..." She called tiredly. "Capper?.. here kitty."

A meow was heard and an orange cat trotted out to her, rubbing at her legs, wanting supper.

She went into her kitchen, and was met with a squawk from her pet bird.

"Celaeno want a cracker!" It demanded.

"No cracker Celaeno, eat your bird seed."

The bird flapped its wings angrily. "Celaeno want a cracker!!"

Tempest sighed. "I am going to get rid of that bird..."

She sat down and turned her t.v. on. There was a news story with a caption that read:

President Discord condemns school's attack on fellow student, tweeting it as an "act of Discord".

"Coming up next..." The announcer said when the story was over. "President Discord... in collusion with the yaks? Don't talk back, we've got the story coming up next...And cming up later; Chaos Theory- inside the discordant White House. A new book by Timber Wolf."

Author's Note

Well, I'm finally back with a new chapter. To be honest guys, this chapter has been ready for the longest time, and I wanted to get it posted. But for the last two years, since february of 2017, I have been having bad light sensitivity, and have been having a really hard time with screens. In the time that I have posted since that time, I have had to type with a shirt over my screen. It's really hard, and really annoying, and it's the reason I've been gone for so long.
I've got a kobo e-reader that lets me turn the light off, so I'm able to read your guys' comments and messages through that, but if I make a reply, it has to be through y computer like this, cause the e-reader won't let me comment through it.

So ya, it sucks... But now you guys know hat I haven't quit this story. It's just going to take time.

chapter 17

Celestia took a deep breath and gripped the door handle. Yes, she had already been inside this room multiple times, but Sunset had been unconscious for all of those times. This would be the first time Sunset would be awake and coherent with her in the room.

Celestia opened the door and entered. Sunset turned her head and looked over at her.

"Hey Principal Celestia..."

Celestia took a seat at the side of the bed. "Sunset...I'm not your principal."

Sunset gave her a strange look for a moment before realization hit. She broke down in sobs before they turned into harsh coughs. Celestia looked worriedly at her.

"Sunset, should I-"

"Water..." Sunset rasped, trying to get her breathing back under control.

Celestia looked around, before spotting a glass of water on the bedside table, with a straw. She took the glass and placed the straw to Sunset's lips.

Sunset drank carefully, before putting her head back against the pillows and looking at her.

"...Is it really you?" She asked quietly.

"Yes Sunset, it's really me."

"...I'm so...so sorry."

Celestia sighed. "Sunset, that was a long time ago. It no longer matters."

"Doesn't it?" Sunset said. "Cause I'm sure still feeling the effects and consequences of coming over here..." Her eyes welled with water.

"Things will get better Sunset. You'll make it through this." Celestia tried assuring.

"...I'm not sure I can." Sunset whispered.

"Sunset..."

"No...I can't. I'm tired of always trying to be the strong one that always gets back up only to be kicked back down. I just...I just wanna go home..." She whispered brokenly.

"Which is exactly where you are going when you are able to leave this hospital." Celestia said determinedly.

Sunset looked back up at her. "...What?"

"I'm taking you back to Equestria Sunset. Even if by some stretch of the imagination you wanted to remain here, I would not allow it."

"...Thank you...Thank you so much..."

They remained silent for a long while after that, before Celestia broke it.

"Sunset...Twilight told me that you had said you wanted the students responsible for this returned here.

"Yes." Sunset confirmed.

Celestia sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Sunset...I can't do that. There must be serious consequences for what they did. I cannot...No, I will not dismiss what they did."

"...What about what I did?"

"I...what?" Celestia asked, confused.

"I stole Twilight's crown, and tried to kill her. I tried to kill Equestrian royalty, and they tried to kill a fellow student. Who committed the worse crime?"

"Sunset-"

"There is a thing in this world called the "rule of law". It states that no one is above the law. If you lock them up, you'd have to put me down there with them."

Celestia opened her mouth to protest, but found that she could not argue with what Sunset had said. Everything she had said was true.

Sighing in defeat, Celestia relented. "Alright Sunset, if that is what you really want, then I will have them sent back."

Celestia left soon after, leaving Sunset to rest. It was beyond her comprehension that Sunset would argue her would be killer's case...These students did not know who they were losing.

chapter 18

Upon arriving back to the castle in Canterlot, Celestia called for Discord.

"Discord!"

There was a short pause, before Discord poofed into the room, wearing a towel, and holding a rubber ducky.

"Seriously Celly, can I not even take a bath without you calling for me?"

Celestia ignored him. "I need you to teleport those students you previously brought here, back to where they were before, and I need Rainbow Dash here."

"Oh, one moment..." His bath attire poofed into a waiter's attire. "Anything else you would like to order?"

"Just do it Discord..."

Grumbling, he snapped his fingers. Rainbow Dash poofed into the room, looking confused, while at the same time, staring in awe at the grand room she now found herself in, before her gaze found Celestia, and her expression turned to one of fear.

"Done Celly, may I kindly get back to my bath now?" He asked, clearly annoyed.

"Yes, that will be all Discord."

He grumbled before disappearing, leaving dozens of little lips making "bracking" noises at Celestia before disappearing.

Rainbow would have questioned about the strange creature, but she was too petrified with fear of the pony in front of her.
Celestia wasted no time, and went straight to the point.

"You are here because Sunset has requested you sent back to your own world...Congragulations, you are being set free at the request of the one you helped set up."

Rainbow didn't say anything. She couldn't. What could she say? She was speechless.

"She has also requested to see you."

"She...did?" Rainbow asked meekly.

"Yes, and we are going right now."

Rainbow stood at the doorway to Sunset's hospital room. It felt so good to be human and back in her own world, and she owed it all to Sunset.

Taking a deep breath, she put her hand on the doorknob and turned it. The door opened up, revealing the room. Yes, Rainbow had already been in this room, but it was going to be a new experience altogether now that Sunset was conscious.

Her legs feeling like rubber, she approached the bed. Sunset was awake, and turned her head and gaze to the rainbow haired girl.

Neither said anything for the longest period of time. A pindrop could have been heard. Finally, Rainbow dropped her gaze to the floor in shame. That was when the silence finally was broken.

"Look at me Dash." Sunset said quietly.

Rainbow shook her head, refusing to look back at Sunset.

"Why? Did they beat me to the point that I am too hideous to even look at anymore?"

Rainbow burst out in sobs at that moment.

"I'm sorry Sunset! I-oh God, what have I done? I should be the one in that bed right now! I'm so, so sorry! I'm the hideous one. You're beautiful and amazing Sunset. You're a better friend than I'll ever dream to be! Forgive me Sunset."

There was a long silence before Sunset finally spoke again.

"I forgive you Dash...but only for my own sake and sanity." Sunset said quietly. "Because I know that if I don't let go of what has happened this past month, it will eat away at me for the rest of my life. But this does not mean we will ever see eachother again after this meeting right now...I'm going back to Equestria, and I have no intention to return...in fact I mean not to."

Rainbow nodded in understanding, not showing how much this answer broke her inside.

"You go wherever you feel happy Sunset. I'm going to jail right ater this. It's where I belong..."

Sunset didn't say anything.

After another long silence, Rainbow turned to leave. As she put her hand on the doorknob, she looked back one last time.

"Thanks for having them bring me back here. I can't imagine why you would want me out of there after what I did...It means the world to me...literally."

Again, Sunset didn't say anything.

Rainbow put her head down, and closed the door.