Sunset could not believe her eyes. The harsh, red writing written on her locker was there, but she couldn't seem to comprehend why. No, she knew why, she thought to herself as tears welled, stinging and dripping down her face.
She demon.
The word had become somewhat of a branding for her, a go-to insult for more than half the school, and a word she heard hissed about on a daily basis.
But never, ever, scrawled out for the world to see.
She must have been standing there ten, maybe twenty minutes staring at the offending word. All she remembered was walking out of gym class and heading to her locker before she glanced up and found it.
She felt numb. Cold. She hadn’t even realized a crowd had formed behind her until she heard the numerous mechanical clicks of phones taking pictures. Sunset whirled around to see the giddy, almost sadistically happy faces of her classmates.
She was breathing heavily now, the world spinning around her. “No!” she cried. “Stop! Please! I’m sorry!” She croaked, throwing her arms in front of her locker so that the graffiti would be obscured. She felt nauseous, ready to pass out.
The mocking faces in front of her blurred. She slid down her locker in despair, finally letting the tears that had been brimming fall down her face.
She felt someone grab her, and in the bleary world behind her tears she could see the hand belonged to an alabaster young woman she had been bullying not so long ago.
The hand pulled her to her feet and at once she saw the other girls that she had started to get acquainted with gather around her. Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, even Fluttershy stood around her, shielding her from the onslaught of her classmates.
“Go on!” Applejack commanded, her deep southern accent thick and threatening. “Git! Ain’t nothing to see here!”
Rainbow emphasized this with an intimidating step forward, which made the crowd quickly dissipate.
Once both girls were sure that everyone was gone, they turned to their newly acquired friend and found her sobbing in the arms of Rarity while Fluttershy and Pinkie rubbed her back.
“Who could do such a thing!” Rarity hissed, her perfectly manicured nails disappearing into her palm to form a fist.
“Dunno,” Applejack replied, frowning. “But the minute Ah find ‘em they’re gonna get introduced to Bucky Mcgillicuddy and Kicks Mcgee.” she added, referencing the two fists she was currently cracking.
Fluttershy shook her head. “I know what they did was wrong, but let's not resort to violence.”
“Well why not?!” Dash barked. “They deserve it after making Sunset cry!”
“It’s alright,” Sunset interjected hoarsely, “You guys don't have to do this,”
“What do you mean we don’t have to?” Pinkie Pie asked. “We’re your friends! And friends stick up for each other! No matter how much of a meanie they used to be!”
Sunset couldn’t believe what she was hearing. These girls, these girls whose lives she’s made a living hell for the past three years were standing up for her, and were ready to defend her honor.
“We should go to Principal Celestia. Maybe she can go on the cameras and see who did it,” Rainbow Dash said, frowning. “We can’t just let something like this go!” She wrapped her arms around Sunset and helped her down the hallway to the principal's office.
Unfortunately, Celestia wasn’t in her office due to a mystery meat situation that was happening in the cafeteria. But Luna was, and she was still willing to help, though she wasn’t sure how.
Her friends were unwilling to leave her, but Luna assured them that she could handle the situation until Celestia came back.
The minute the door closed, Sunset couldn’t hold back her tears. She was embarrassed to let herself cry in front of Vice Principal Luna, but she couldn’t hold it in any longer. The strong face she put on for her friends was gone and all that was left was her hurt.
“Sunset Shimmer, your friends have told me what happened...” Luna said, frowning. She didn't exactly know what to do in this situation.
“Did they tell you I deserved it?” Sunset sobbed. “Because I feel like I do.”
“Why on earth would you deserve such a thing?” Luna asked. “Yes, you have done awful things in the past but no one deserves to see their mistakes paraded in front of them.”
Sunset wiped the tears from her eyes. “Maybe I do. I didn't just make a mistake. I tried to control everyone against their will. I almost hurt Twilight and the other girls. I could have killed someone. I can't just let it go, regardless of what anyone says.”
Luna leaned against her desk and sighed. “I do see where you're coming from, Sunset Shimmer. There are things that a simple apology won't fix. I would know.”
Sunset was confused at that. “What do you mean by that?”
“I mean that I too took a path that almost lead to my own self destruction and of the people around me,” Luna confessed. “Though it wasn't as magically inclined as yours, I had lashed out enough to hurt my sister.” she stared at a spot on the desk without saying a word after that.
“W-What happened?” The former baddie asked, curious now.
Luna looked off to the side. “Celestia was born first. She was always good at everything. Our parents spent more time focusing on what I couldn't do compared to her than what I could. It was an awful time in my life. I hated my parents for ignoring me, I hated myself for being born second, and I hated Celestia for being so perfect.”
“So what did you do?” Sunset sniffled.
“I became so angry, so absorbed in my frustration that I took it out on the people around me. And before I knew it, I was alone. It was...it was a dark time for me.” Luna admitted, looking down at the floor.
She smiled at Sunset. “But once I realized I was no good alone, I knew i needed to change. The first thing I did was let my parents know how I felt. And then I apologized to Celestia. But most importantly, I took a good, hard look at myself and I asked myself, ‘what made people hate me?’ ‘what made me so scary?’ and with the help of Celestia I was able to truly see the error of my ways.”
She put a hand on Sunset’s shoulder. “Sunset Shimmer, I'm not saying this is going to happen overnight, but the first step to try has already been taken. You just have to finish the rest. No matter what people think after all this time you have to keep pushing so that they have no choice but to acknowledge that you've changed.”
“Are you sure that’ll work?” Sunset asked. “I mean look at what happened. I was already trying to clean up my act and they...they wrote that...” Her lip trembled as the tears threatened to come back.
“Are you a she-demon?” Luna asked her.
“What?”
“Right here. Right now. In front of me. Are you a she-demon?” Luna asked her again.
Sunset looked about herself and sighed. “No...I guess not.”
“Then heed them no attention. You are on the right path now, and that's all that matters.” Luna told her. “Now, do you still want to check the cameras for the culprit?”
Sunset shook her head. “Nah. I think I'm better off not knowing.” she thanked Luna for her kind words and walked down the hallway to her locker to find Trixie in front of it, grumbling to herself as Rainbow Dash loomed over her.
Beside her was a bucket and in her hand was a rag that she was lackadaisically rubbing against Sunset’s locker.
“Trixie still doesn't understand how you figured out it was her,” she mumbled, sticking the rag into the soapy water and bringing it to the locker again.
The offending word that had made Sunset cry was nothing more than a bunch of blurred red streaks now.
“It wasn't hard considering you had red paint on your skirt,” Applejack responded, her frown as deep as Rainbow’s.
“Yeah, if you're going to be a jerk, at least be a smart one,” Rainbow agreed, rolling her eyes. She kicked the bucket closer to Trixie and said, “And I want this locker to shine! And it better be done before—Sunset what are you doing?”
Sunset picked up a rag from the soapy bucket and began to scrub her own locker, helping Trixie. She briefly smiled at the aforementioned girl before continuing her scrubbing.
“What on earth are you doing, darling? Trixie is the one who put that on your locker! She should be the one cleaning it up!” Rarity exclaimed.
Sunset turned to her. “Sure. But I also understand where her anger is coming from. So we’re both at fault here. Hence why I'm cleaning my locker too.”
The other girls were too astounded to speak, watching in awe as the two girls scrubbed Sunset’s locker clean.
When they were finished, Sunset stood up and began to walk to the bathroom to wash her hands when she felt a tap on her shoulder.
“Trixie...Trixie would like to apologize for her actions. Trixie realizes that you are serious about this whole changing thing and she sort of...supports you.” Trixie said sheepishly.
Before Sunset could respond, Trixie blurted, “But Trixie will still make fun of you to fit in!” a smoke bomb exploded and Trixie was gone.
Sunset smiled.
That was all she needed.
Author's Note
Hello yes this is my last one shot before a multichapter dazzlings story im working on for wubcake. That will be out next week. Thanks for the read and dont forget to support me on patreon! Point out mistakes to me and ill correct them as I go!
