A Crooked Anon-a-miss

There was something that Sunset still wanted to know, wanted to see for herself about Duke, what's his tale? He had said something about a Crooked man, and how it choose victims.  And if this Crooked man did happen to him, then why? Why did it choose him? What made him so...What's the word? Ah! So killable? Duke was hiding something, something from his past, and Sunset wanted to know.

"Duke?" Sunset asked, a hit of sorrow still in tone, "May I ask you a question?"

Duke turned around to face the poor girl and with a smile, he answered. "Ah, yes. What is it?"

Deep breathes Sunset. Just take a deep breathe. He's a friend, the only one besides Twilight. With a smooth, yet not so sure voice, Sunset asked her question, "Just what happened to you? In the your past?"

"My past?" Duke thought for a moment and then sighed. Though he wished to never speak about what happened again, it seemed to be the only way of helping this poor girl with her questions and doubt. "Sunset, I'm going to tell you a poem, and your going to try to guess who I'm talking about. Understand?"

"Yes."

Taking one breathe for luck, Duke began, "There was a crooked man and he walked a crooked mile, he found a crooked sixpence upon a crooked style, he bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse and they all lived together, in a little crooked house. Then he had a crooked thought, 'why is the crookedness my lot? Why must I be crooked, instead of being not?' And the crooked man would cry, and he couldn't fathom why, he was sad all the time, and so he cried. And he climbed his crooked stairs pf his crooked house, and tied up a crooked noose and ended his crooked life."

Sunset's eyes widen as she got who Duke was talking about...Himself. "Y-Your talking about yourself! Duke, you...Tried to kill yourself?"

"Not just." Duke replied, nothing but emptiness in his voice now, "I succeeded...Sunset, before I could, David came in and...Stopped me from doing so. But I threw away that trust."

"But that tells me nothing! Duke, why did you do that!?"

What are you doing?

Duke's eyes widen as voices from the past came. The moment before he hung himself.

I'm saying goodbye to this crooked life of mine....

"Sunset, I'm going to tell you this with as much trust as possible...." Duke mumbled, "You DO have a chance! You have a chance to prove your not Anon-a-miss! But whatever you do, don't go my way. Don't leave them alone...Just like I did once..."

"But Duke, they drove me away, said I'm worthless, a no-good secret stealer! How can I possible forgive them?!"

"You'll find a way Sunset...I know you will!" Duke remarked, "David was the same way as me before. On the edge, while I was under control of that monster, I saved him and he saved me."

Sunset nodded in understanding, on the other hand, she felt like she shouldn't trust her ex-friends until this whole thing was gone and figured out. Yet Duke's words hit her like iron. Was he right? Could she find a way to figure this out? And what did he mean by 'don't go my way'?

"Ah think we did the right thing?" Apple Bloom asked her friends, while heading to class, "Ah mean she cried. That's not good."

"Your worrying to much Bloom!" Scootaloo exclaimed, giving her friend a pat on the back, "She's fine!"

"Apple Bloom has a point Scoot," Sweetie Belle said, looking down at her feet, "We did make the WHOLE school hate her."

"And we only did for our sisters, " Apple Bloom agreed, "Ah know we want them back, but ah think it's gone way to far!"

The three trio looked at each other and shook her heads and went inside, thinking about Sunset through the whole class. They DID make a mistake and we're too blind to see that mistake.

"Hey Scoot," Sweetie Belle started, "I think we should tell everyone that we're Anon-a-miss."

"Maybe."

It took a whole for the mane 5 to even think about the doubts, well for Fluttershy that is, the others didn't care. But Fluttershy did and she was sure it's not Sunset.

"I think we made a mistake."

"What do you mean dear?" Rarity questioned, "Made what mistake?"

"About Sunset being Anon-a-miss." Fluttershy replied, some tears forming, "I don't think it's her anymore."

"Come on Fluttershy!" Rainbow started up, "How could it not be her!? I mean, no one else knows those secrets of ours!"

"And if it ain't her, then ah not believing it's anyone else than her." Apple Jack told her friend.

"Yeah! She's super mean! And a secret stealer!" Pinkie began, "We shouldn't have trusted her!"

"But I don't believe it could be her!"

RD, AJ, Rarity, and Pinkie stared at Fluttershy, who was now crying a bit, was she right? Na. It was Sunset, and it was always going to be her!  No one else, besides no one would do that! Sunset was back to her old ways and nothing was going to change that.

"You got to stop thinking she's innocence!" Rainbow said, crossing her arms, "She's always going to be guilty!"

Heads nodded in agreement with Rainbow's sentence, until a trio came up to the table and spoke to them.

"It was us."