CHAPTER ONE:
The adventure at Camp Everfree has surely been... Surprising to say the least. Twilight Sparkle had decided she had enough magic for a lifetime. She had met her best friends through it, but not before she almost destroyed earth. Even though she heard the tales of great magical feats and beasts from Equestria from her friends, like the Sirens and ttheir very own Sunset Shimmer, she still felt guilty about hurting her friends. Oh well, at least Midnight Sparkle wasn't controlling her anymore.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden loud buzzing coming throughout the food court. This was their last night at the camp, and they had all been given their electronics back. Twilight was sitting at a table with her friends, and they each pulled out their phones, and the court slowly became very quiet, Twilight figured it must be an advertisement if it was sent to everyone's phones and thought nothing of it ...until all the eyes turned over to her table. All her friends were looking at their laps, or staring at the wall, Fluttershy had her face in her arms, they had hidden their phone screens so that they were completely covered so the girls wouldn't have to look at whatever was on them. Except one. Sunset Shimmer was staring at her phone, her eyes were wide and wet, memories seemed to be flooding through her head. Slowly Twilight took out her own devise, and her eyes were drawn to the horrific image on the text from an anonymous number.
Twilight let out a loud gasp, the picture was obviously taken at night, and it featured a crimson girl, covered in blood and loud open wounds, she was crying hard and her mouth was open so it looked like she was screaming, she held a knife in her right hand covered in the red liquid, and her face was slightly buried in her knees. It was Sunset Shimmer. There was a text following the horrid image, it seemed to cruelly whisper at the school. "Who here remembers Anon-A-Miss? You think Shimmer's FORGIVEN you bitches? Take another look at the picture. Remember how she was innocent? Think again." Twilight put the phone down, she realized that everyone was staring at Sunset, The purple girl wanted to say something, anything, to comfort her friend, "Sunset..." the rest drowned out in her mouth. The surprise, hurt, and fear on Sunsets face quickly turned to rage. She cleared her throat, "I-I'm not hungry anymore..." and she bolted out the door, her words made everyone except Twilight flinch, and after a few minutes of silent staring at the door, Twilight slowly stood up; "What... Was... THAT!"
This didn't make sense, Sunset would never do... THAT. Twilight had always looked up to Sunset Shimmer, ever since she had saved her from destroying the world and herself, Sunset had always seemed to Twilight as a voice of reason, sure everyone know about the pony's past, but she had changed so much from the stories. She helped Twilight overcome her magical form of PTSD. Sunset was calm, collected, and was like a slightly older sister to Twilight. End of story. But here she was in a picture, in a depressive state, ready to go against all reason and just end everything. Twilight needed answers. "WHAT WAS THAT!" She yelled again, causing everyone to jump. Applejack was the first to stand up, "Calm down now sugar cube, that whole Anon-A-Miss ordeal was quite a long time ago. We all let it go, so ya'll can just cal..." Twilight was furious, the way Sunset ran out like was made it obvious that NOT everyone had let it go. "NO AJ! I WILL NOT 'CALM DOWN!' I WANT TO KNOW WHAT THE ***** MADE SUNSET SO MENTAL THAT THIS PICTURE WAS ABLE TO BE TAKEN! ANSWERS. NOW." She demanded, and Applejack sighed and continued. "Alright, just... please don't hate us when we're done telling you..."
Twilight had no words. How could they... Why would they... "So in recap, Your little sisters were jealous that you were spending time with your friend, so they called themselves 'Anon-A-Miss' then EMBARRASSED and HURT hundreds of their friends, and FRAMED Sunset. Then everyone proceeded to do NOTHING while Sunset was a physically beaten so she had to go to the hospital more then once, verbally beaten so she had to see a therapist up until near the Friendship Games, so she was in so much pain in different ways that she tried to seriously injure HERSELF to forget about it, and when that didn't work she tried to KILL herself until some STRANGERS had to save her, and through all this time you five, her supposed BEST FRIENDS did NOTHING?!" Twilight was breathing heavy, her eyes said bloody murder, and her fists were clenched hard. "I'M going to find Sunset. Because unlike you jerks I want to be a GOOD FRIEND!" She stormed out, leaving behind hundreds of pain-filled and guilty faces.
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Sunset was walking in the woods, following a stone she had been kicking. She didn't cry. No, the tears for this particular subject were long gone. She just wanted to be alone with her thoughts. Why this? Why now? Her past had always found ways of sneaking up her leg, like a rattlesnake in a sleeping bag. But the more she thought about it, the more she tried to convince herself that she had put it behind her, that she forgave her friends, they made an easy mistake right? With her past anyone could believe-
Not even you deserved the treatment they gave you
No... the voice in her head was right. During her reign the worst physical harm anyone got from her was a few light punches. She never tried to KILL anyone. And she never tried to mention subjects that were too sensitive. If someone was an orphan like her she wouldn't make fun of it like they did...
There is no reason to forgive them
No, these were her friends, nothing like this would ever happen again, they couldn't know most of what happened before...
But why did that voice sound so familiar?
They would have been happy to let you die
Your just their little project
"Look at us!" They say, "We tamed the beast! We trained the demon!"
No.. stop...
They don't care about you, they just want to please Princess Twilight
You're just a pet. That's why they gave you up when Anon-A-Miss came around
Quit it,
What do you do when a pet bites it's master?
Shut up...
You put it down
"I SAID SHUT UP!"
Maniacal laughter filled the air, and three ghostly demons swirled around the poor girl like vultures, they saw their prey on the ground, they licked their lips and were ready to pounce.
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Twilight tilted her head in surprise at the loud scream, was that Sunset? yes, it must be. She's the only one out here, and Twilight ran to the scream, and gasped as she saw three gorgeous creatures circling Sunset. they were laughing like maniacs, "They don't care! They don't care!" an orange one repeated, the fiery-haired girl on the ground was screaming in response to her harsh words. Twilight noticed the beings were transparent, like ghosts, then the blue one giggled quite uncharacteristically for a monster, "Awww! Poor wittle Sunset Shimmer! Abandoned by her mentor, abandoned by her parents, abandoned by her friends!" Twilight's eyes narrowed, she had to get them away from her friend, somehow. "No... get out!" Sunset screeched, and Twilight charged.
"Hey! Leave her alone!" the beasts looked at the purple girl, and they seemed happy. The one in the middle smiled wickedly "look girls! It's our lucky day! BOTH of them are here! So Princess, how does it feel to have failed your friend like this?" Twilight blinked, princess? she was no princess, then it clicked, oh! they must mean the OTHER Twilight, "Sorry to disappoint, but i'm not who you're expecting, i'm the Twilight from THIS world!" The creatures huffed "Fine them, we still shall eat well tonight!" And faced back to Sunset Shimmer, as a green aura glowed around her and each of the beasts unhooked her jaw, closed her eyes, and stretched her mouth wide. They seemed to be sucking in the energy surrounding Sunset, who was writhing like she had been tasered, and maniacle laughs filled the air.
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Sunset was vaguely aware of the purple girl trying to stand up for her, Adagio's words still rang in her ears "Don't care! Put it down! Just a pet! Tamed the beast!" And no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't take these thoughts from her mind, they just kept getting louder, and Louder, and LOUDER, and... Everything turned to midnight.
"Sunset!" "SUNSET SHIMMER!" "Ohmygoodnessohmygoodness! Do you think she'll be ok?" "Nonsense Fluttershy, the Sirens couldn't have done too much damage... I think..." Sunset Slowly opened her eyes, just to see five very worried faces surrounding her, she should show them she is ok, say something intelligent like; "owwwwww." Ok, that wasn't what she meant. "Oh Sunset! We were so worried! Twilight told us what happened with the Sirens!" Sunset sat up, and was automatically dizzy, her thoughts were disconcerted, why was the forest moving on it's own... "Can someone please tell the trees to stop dancing?" Which was responded to with a loud "Huh?" From everyone around her. A light-skinned girl with purple hair and blue eyes kneeled in front of her, "Darling, are you ok? If so, please do stop speaking like a nutcase- ouch! Don't kick me Applejack!" Sunset shook her head "No no, I'm alright Rainbow Dash... The trees and the butterflies said hello to the trash can on steroids..." Which earned her some wired stares from her friends, "Heheh, the fandom always ships rarijack..." The real Rainbow Dash's mouth was wide open, "What fandom? What does 'ship' mean, and who is rarijack? COME ON SHIMMER TALK SENCE!" Rainbow was shaking Sunset's shoulders, which caused Fluttershy put a hand on hers. "Rainbow stop that! Obviously Sunset needs help! Let's take her back to the camp and... Twilight! Good, where have you been?"
Twilight ran up to the group, and once she reached them she bent over and put her hands on her knees "I-I'm... HERE... Iranallthewaytocamp... got... medical... kit..." Applejack put a hand on her shoulder "Sugarcube, take a breath" Twilight nodded and held out the kit, "good thing you made it" Rainbow commented, "Sunset's, well, look at her..." and they all turned their heads to their friend, who was standing up and commanding a tree around "You better speak Grindilow! Or else the princess will, um, something....." she then turned around "I'll take care of the paperwork Celestial!" And ran into a tree, passing out. Rarity ran over and caught her "She really needs the help." So Twilight opened the kit, and rummaged through it "the thing is, I'm not sure which one to use" then after a few minutes of waiting, Twilight took out some bandaids "let's just patch her up and bring her to camp. I'm sure Principal Celestial will know what to do.
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Sunset woke up the second time today to notice she was in a comfortable bed, surrounded by her friends. Before she could say anything Applejack stood up "Sunset... What is my name?" Sunset looked at her friend, trying to decide if she was serious or not, "Uh, Applejack. Why are you asking me that..." and everyone breathed out "Oh good, she's not crazy anymore!" Pinkie Pie said. Sunset stared at Pinkie, then decided it wan't worth it to question her. "Auuug, my head hurts. How long was I out? She asked, "All night and then some" Twilight told her in a soft voice, Sunset's eyes opened a little wider "Oh no!" She looked out the window, the green trees of Camp Everfree swayed slightly in the breeze. "We were supposed to leave camp yesterday! Did we miss the bus home?!" She panicked, how would they ever get home now? Just then Applejack smiled "Don't you worry sugarcube, Gloriosa said we could postpone the end of camp until ya'll have gotten better!" And Sunset relaxed. "Ok good. Now that I know that, we all have some things we need to talk about." All of her friends did a quick and audible whimper, and before Sunset could speak Rainbow Dash spoke for her "I was hoping this wouldn't come up. Sunset, about that... message, the school got, we had no idea, we thought you had gotten over it too and..." Sunset realized they thought the image was recent, "Oh sweet Celestia noooooo! That picture was from a long time ago, around Hearths, I mean Christmas! I'm not one to hold grudges. We already went over this whole thing and it's over!" to which they all breathed a sigh of relief, then Pinkie pie giggled, pointing at Rarity "you sure about that Spring Fling?" Sunset turned beat red and face-palmed as Rarity elbowed Pinkie. Sunset grumbled her correction into her hands "OK! Not one to hold grudges ANYMORE!" Twilight glared at Pinkie Pie, "Do we really need to bring up more sensitive topics?" The pink girl suddenly stopped laughing and looked sheepish "eh... I guess not" Sunset then continued on her previous thought. "What I MEANT was about the Sirens. More specifically how they got their true forms back and their magic. We need to figure this out before anything else!"
The girls had talked it all over for a long time and what they concluded was this- no one knew what happened. It was all just so sudden and timed, how did they do it? Sunset would message Princess Twilight when they got home, hopefully she knew. But right now, all of the brightly-colored girls were tired. Their bus came home late because of the delay with the Sirens. The girls were all still a bit worried about Sunset, they kept trying to talk to her about all the events from earlier, but after she had made her annoyance with these topics very open they stopped. Once Sunset hugged her friends goodbye, she headed home to her small apartment. It wasn't much, just a tiny room with a bed, kitchen, and bathroom. Still, it took her a while to save up for this place with her little salary from working at the Food Mart. Sunset suddenly remembered she had to plug her phone in, and jogged to her purse to grab it. When she turned it on to check the battery she it was open to the text that started all the chaos during the end of camp. She found herself staring at the image on the screen. Out of every situation in her crappy life, this was definitely the lowest point. As she looked at the horrible image she wondered if she really was over the Anon-A-Miss incident. She tried to convince herself that it was a mistake, it didn't matter anymore... but it did. It proved that no one really trusted her then, so why would they trust her now? Was Sunset Shimmer always to be a name associated with pain and cruelty? What if this happened again, could she trust her friends to believe her this time? Oh why did she have to leave Equestria! She wouldn't have to deal with horrible pasts, strange magic, and confusing friends. Sunset yawned, and looked at the clock, it was 11:13. She had been staring at the image for five hours. "Oh what'll happen now" she thought out loud, and laying down on her pillow she fell asleep.