While the chill in the air was enough to get everyone inside, including the younger girls and even Rainbow Dash who insisted on having a snowball fight, it wasn’t enough to get a saddened Sunset Shimmer to seek the warmth of the fire. Not that the others didn’t try to get her inside with them, but excuse after excuse left her exactly where she had been earlier in the week; alone.
Being alone wasn’t so bad though, it gave her time to think and try to process the whirlwind of events in the past few hours alone. It was still hard to believe that the younger three girls known as the Canterlot Crusaders were behind everything. The whole school turning in on itself, her friends abandoning her, and even derailing plans of finally confronting a special someone about her feelings for them.
She had it all planned out after her friends got it in their heads to show her a good time, to give her that real Christmas experience. She was going to wait until the party that was going on inside the house of the porch she now occupied as she bent slightly over the railing nursing on a now cold cocoa. She would get the girl under the mistletoe and steal a kiss and see if the girl was receptive of it. And if she was…she was going to admit that she had been waiting for weeks to do something like that. To tell them that she had feelings for them, feelings that started not long after the Fall Formal.
Now all of that was ruined though since despite being re-invited to this party, she still wasn’t sure what to think. The three younger girls had apologized to Sunset for their actions, the apology heartfelt and so full of emotion that hating them was an impossibility. And with that apology came the restoration of her friendship with the girls who had treated Sunset like garbage for days. It was something she had wanted so badly, and yet she was here asking herself why she couldn’t enjoy it.
Was it because none of them had offered an apology for how they acted? Or maybe it was the fact that they were so quick to jump to the conclusion that it was Sunset behind the whole thing. It could also be that they had told Sunset that she was family to them, yet the way they brushed the fact that their sisters was behind the whole mess away so quickly while emotionally torturing Sunset for days didn’t exactly prove that they were more than empty words.
“Should I even be here?” Sunset finally sighed as she sat the mug in her mitten clad hands down on the icy wood of the railing.
“You deserve to be here more than most of us.” A sad voice replied making Sunset wince. She hadn’t meant to say that out loud, but it seemed someone had heard which pretty much let the cat out of the bag on her feelings.
“It’s not my home.” Sunset quipped, mentally reminding herself that she really didn’t even have a home to go to. Okay, she slept at an abandoned factory though she kept everything in her backpack that she always carried around with her. She just wasn’t sure if she could really call that a home.
“It could be.” The girl said softly. Sunset could see the shadow from the person reach out to her hesitantly before dropping their arm back down. She couldn’t bring herself to look up at the girl though, not after everything that happened. She was hurt and angry with the girl, yet if she looked up into the empty eyes of the girl, to see how flat and lifeless her hair looked, Sunset wouldn’t be able to hold onto than anger which was the only thing keeping her from crying.
“Pinkie, I’m not asking to stay here.” Sunset grumbled, backing away when the girl reached out again. “Nobody wants me here anyways.”
“That’s not true!” Pinkie gasped out, shaking her head frantically if the whipping of the hair that Sunset could see from the corner of her vision was any indication. “Please, look at me.”
“I can’t.” Sunset said through clenched teeth.
“Am I that ugly to you now?” Pinkie asked, her voice sounding so hurt.
“NO!” Sunset snapped out as her head flew up, eyes locking onto the watery eyes of Pinkie’s own. Pinkie could never be ugly to Sunset, it was the total opposite. Pinkie was the most beautiful girl Sunset had ever know with a bright smile always in place and a welcoming gaze always in her eyes. To see the dead eyes and flat, lifeless hair now just seemed wrong. And it was all Sunset’s fault. If only she could tell Pinkie the truth, to tell her how much she had hurt Sunset yet how much love was still despite the sting of betrayal. It was all so confusing. “I just can’t Pinkie. Not now, not so soon after what all of you did to me. You haven’t even said you were sorry, none of you have. Just Bloom, Scoots and Sweetie.”
“That’s what this party is for Sunset. We wanted to get you here and…and show you how much we were sorry.” Pinkie sighed, a look of determination forming on her face. Sunset didn’t have time to react when Pinkie grabbed her wrist and pulled her off the porch and around to the back door.
“Pinkie, stop! Let me go!” Sunset cried out as Pinkie led the way into the kitchen from the back and up the back set of stairs without anyone noticing, all eyes on the fire as they talked softly. A banner reading, ‘We Are So Sorry Sunset’ hanging over it which was the first time Sunset had seen it as she glanced that way before being pulled up the stairs.
“This was going to be a surprise.” Pinkie said as she pushed open a door with a bow on it and pulled Sunset in after her. It was a freshly painted room done up in Sunset’s colors, everything from the walls to the curtains to the bed sheets. There was even a large stylized sun design resembling Sunset’s cutie mark on the comforter. “We all pitched in on fixing up this old storage room Sunset when we realized you didn’t have a home earlier this week. We were so stupid for not even thinking about it before.”
Sunset wasn’t sure what to say as she looked around the room as Pinkie let her wrist go. It looked like a lot of work went into it and would have been very touching if the trouble this past week brought never happened. Now she wasn’t sure what to think or say as she almost felt that she would be safer at the old factory than in a place that she could be thrown out without her things the next time something like this happened.
“I can’t stay here.” Sunset finally said, a few tears leaking free despite her struggle to keep them in. “I don’t know if I can trust any of you anymore! How can I trust any of you anymore? How can I trust…you?”
“Because…because…grrrrr!” Pinkie grabbed Sunset by the jacket and yanked her forward smashing her lips against the shocked girl’s who stopped struggling after a second. A second later Sunset’s more dominant nature took over and deepened the kiss taking control of the situation for several seconds before pushing Pinkie back who wore a dazed expression. “Wow!”
“What the hell Pinkie!?” Sunset snapped out, her own emotions and thoughts swirling.
“I know I messed up big time!” Pinkie cried, “I’ve loved you for so long and wished you would just become the person I knew you could be! The girl you are now and I should have known better! I should have…I should have…I’m sorry, Sunset! I love you and I screwed up any chance of us ever being together now!”
“Hey, don’t cry.” Sunset sniffed, her own tears falling as she pulled Pinkie into a hug. “I do care for you Pinks, I do. You hurt me, and it might take a little time for that to go away, but if you really do love me then just give me a little time to get over everything. Once everything is settled, I’d be happy to see where things between us could go.”
“Really?” Pinkie asked earning a soft smile from Sunset as she pulled back.
“Really. I’ve always loved how smart you are and how you always smiled. You were always willing to go that extra mile for someone to make them feel better, even when you were hurting yourself.” Sunset sighed, leaving out her own thoughts over how Pinkie didn’t do so with her this last week when it was needed most. Pushing those dark thoughts away though, refusing to go down that dark path and move on Sunset turned towards the door. “For now though, just give me time, okay?”
“Okay, but before you go.” Pinkie said getting Sunset’s attention, then pointing up shyly.
“You put that there.” Sunset accused, Pinkie not even denying the fact while scuffing the floor with her foot. With a heavy sigh and a roll of her eyes Sunset stepped forward, face inching so close to Pinkie’s own.
“Is it so bad?” Pinkie asked with a bit of life back in her eyes, a few curls seeming to reform in her hair.
“I suppose not.” Sunset said, grinning a little before kissing Pinkie again. This time with less passion, though filled with more love as she decided that while things may have been hell this week a little bit of heaven was allowed to her.
Author's Note
I am working on my other stories, but I wanted to try this after I found out about it. It was actually kind of hard to write with how my wrist/hand is doing though, but I hope it turned out okay. I really wanted to do something a bit more light hearted, but with the way I'm feeling lately this was the best I could do. I hope everyone enjoys the story no matter if I do good in the contest or not. And who knows, maybe somebody will be inspired from this to write their own story with some of the ideas from this.
A bit of warning though, I didn't have this story proofread or anything since it was for a contest and I kind of thought it would be a little unfair to have help on it.
