The Cello and The Guitar

“Wow… You look rough.” Sunset raised an eyebrow as she looked over at the approaching form of Lyra Heartstrings, Bon Bon nudging the girl firmly.

“Shhh!” the quiet hiss escaped between the creme skinned girl. “Sorry about her, Sunset. You know what she’s like.”

The Equestrian let out a guttural grunt in response, shrugging her shoulders before viciously stabbing her fork into her salad and dragging the greens into her waiting maw.

“Sunset? What’s wrong, love?” she paused as she heard the silken, dulcet tones of Octavia’s accented voice, looking up at the girl as she sat down beside her.

“I’m in love with you and it’s driving me crazy.” Sunset replied, watching as Octavia’s brow furrowed in confusion.

“What did you just say?” the cellist whispered softly.

“Was that… whatever the language is called back in horsie-land?” Lyra asked, leaning forward to look around Octavia.

“Equestrian, yeah…” Sunset chuckled as she shook her head. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Well I heard from Rarity that you had a rather rough Saturday.” Octavia reached out and rested a hand on top of Sunset’s, freezing the otherworldly girl as she let out an audible gulp. “Would you like to talk about it?”

“It’s fine now, really.” the smile Sunset wore was fatigued beyond imagining as she looked back down at her salad. “I just need to relax a little bit.”

“Well, uh… I hate to tell you this, but it looks like AJ is struggling to stop RD from headin’ over here.” Lyra said, Sunset doing her best not to look up and towards the Rainbooms table.

“They’re all staring over here.” Bon Bon whispered before shifting back to look at Sunset. “Are you sure it’s just nothing?”

“I was up all night Friday to Saturday waiting for Princess Twilight to respond.” Sunset started to explain after letting out a heavy sigh. “I was tired and they started to play keep away with my journal.”

“And the breakdown…?” Sunset froze up at Octavia’s quiet voice, clenching her teeth and closing her eyes as she wrapped her arms around herself.

“It’s personal… Something I’ve never had to deal with before…” Sunset said painfully slowly and with forced neutrality. “And I’d prefer to keep it quiet to be honest.”

The four girls looked around at each other as Sunset sat hunched over, sharing looks of uncertainty before Octavia nodded and rested hand on the girl’s back.

“Okay, Sunset. We understand.” she said gently, a warm smile on her face as Sunset glanced over at her. “We’ll be here for you.”

“Thanks…”

~Later~

Sunset slumped against the door to her apartment, sliding down against it until she was seated, her head resting in both hands.

The day had been spent in exhaustion spurred paranoia, constantly watching as students would try to whisper about her behind her back, only to stop when she glared at them dangerously.

Her heart wrenched as she thought back to lunch, when Octavia rested a delicate, silken hand upon her. The euphoria of the sensation still lingered as she sat there, trying to calm the explosion of emotions still boiling from the last half a week.

Dear Sunset Shimmer,

Sorry for the late response! I decided to see Cadance personally to ask her for assistance, and she is more than willing to help. Maybe a little ~~too~~ willing What would you think if we came to see you in a week?

I know you need the help as soon as possible, but there are unfortunately some minor issues we need to deal with in the meantime.

I hope to hear back from you soon!

Your friend,

Twilight Sparkle~*

The Princess had responded while Sunset had started crying on the floor, and Rarity tried handing the journal to Sunset, only for her to grab it and run from the cafe, ignoring the shocked and worried cries of her friends.

Dear Sunset Shimmer,

I noticed you haven’t responded yet. Is everything okay? Hopefully you have just been busy with school or our friends, but I do hope to hear back soon.

Your friend,

Twilight Sparkle~*

That was the Princess’ comment on Sunday, when Sunset had yet to respond, guilt burning in the back of Sunset’s mind as she spent the day hiding in her bed.

The journal vibrated in her backpack, causing Sunset to drift back into reality. She slowly got up to her feet, removing her shoes and hanging her leather jacket before starting to shuffle over towards her laptop in a zombie like state.

She dropped her backpack onto the table, opening and retrieving the now inert journal, depositing it on the wooden surface before starting to flip through it.

Sunset? You’re really starting to worry me. Please respond as soon as you can!

Sunset sighed, her hand hovering over a pen, only to give a quick curse as she slammed the journal shut and stuffed it back inside her backpack before shifting over to her laptop.

Larry was an old piece that she managed to weasel out of a local used electronics shop for cheap, and thanks to minor upgrades it ran smoothly enough to do what Sunset needed.

She pushed on the power button, impatiently rapping her fingers against the wooden surface as it slowly booted up. Once everything was ready she grabbed the nearby mouse, moving the cursor over to the internet browser shortcut on the desktop and giving it a quick double-click.

She shifted up to the search bar at the top of the screen, pushing a key and clicking on the video sharing website she frequented, before typing a familiar name into the websites personal search bar.

She scrolled through a few results before clicking on one, fiddling around with her backpack as she dug her earbuds, before plugging them into Larry and listening to the start of a deeply moving cello performance.

She sat there for hours innumerable, eyes glued on the figure giving rousing performances in her signature tuxedo, her slate face perfectly calm.