It was only when Sunset looked up at the sky that she realized how long she had been lying still. She often got lost in her own head whenever she was on this hill. It held some very important memories for her after all. It also offered a nice view of both the night sky, and the stadium. Right now though, it was getting late. Despite the cold she had chosen to leave her jacket at home. Sometimes she liked the nip of the cold night air on her arms, it kept her calm and gave her sense of strength, she was never sure why though.

She figured it was probably time to start on the 20 minute walk back to her home, so she stood up and started walking. As she reached the sidewalk she let her thoughts trail off once more.

After the fall formal she had come up to the hill often. That had been a difficult time for her. With most of the student body having front row seats to her being shot out of the sky by a group of magic girls, they had lost all of their fear of her, and their resentment grew even greater. She had been constantly bumped in the halls, shot with spitballs, and been on the receiving end of many other acts of general hostility from the majority of the students. The only ones who had been there for her were the girls, though she had a feeling that most of them were only helping her at first due to Twilight's request for them to do so.

It was only after one particularly bad day that had started with her locker being defaced with angry messages, been filled with rude comments, in whisper voices that seemed a slight bit too loud, and ended with books and papers being knocked from her hand and her helmet being painted hot pink and covered in glitter that she had finally realized that the girls had honestly begun to care for her, and her for them.

When she had gotten home that night she didn't do anything. She didn't do her homework, she didn't read another chapter of the most recent book to have caught her attention, she didn't even eat anything. Instead, no sooner than she had arrived at her apartment had she thrown her bag on the ground, alongside her boots, socks, and beaten up jacket, and climbed into her bed. She just sat there, not making any noise, not moving an inch, barely even remembering that she needed to breathe. She eventually fell asleep there, but not until having sat there alone for at least an hour.

When her alarm clock went off the next morning she didn't get up. She just turned it off and went right back to sleep. After last night, she was too tired to care that she would be skipping a day of school. She eventually found herself unable to rest anymore so she sat up and stared at the wall. She glanced at her clock and saw that it was 11:57. At first she was a little surprised that she hadn't gotten up and gone to school, but then the memories came flooding back to her.

As she sat there she started sobbing. She grabbed her pillow and pulled her knees up to her chest, letting the pillow soak up her tears.

She probably would have stayed like that for a long while if her phone hadn't started ringing. She picked it up to see Pinkie's name on the screen. She had no idea how Pinkie had gotten her phone number, she would just have to ask later, but for now she did what she could to stifle her sobs and answered the call.

No surprise came when the loud and cheery voice picked shouted her name. She began questioning her about why she hadn't been to school that day, asking if she was alright, saying something about her "Pinkie Sense" telling her that Sunset was in trouble. However, Sunset was surprised when Pinkie suddenly quieted down after hearing her response. Sunset had of course lied and said that she was fine, but her tone must have alerted Pinkie to the truth. In all of the time that she'd known the frizzy haired girl she had never heard her speak in such a dismal voice, not even when she had been on the verge of tears after falling for one of Sunset's many tricks.

The rest of the call was calm, freakishly calm considering who it was on the other end of the line. She hung up after only five minutes, which was incredibly short compared to a normal call from Pinkie.

She was again surprised a few hours later. At around 3:30 there was a knock at her door. She was annoyed at first, thinking that it was a neighbor asking to borrow a cup of sugar or something else that she wasn't in the mood for. She readied herself to just tell whoever was there that she didn't have whatever they were looking for, but when she opened the door she jumped a little. Standing right outside her door were Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie.

She hardly recognized the latter, as her hair had gone rather straight. It wasn't totally flat, but definitely more so than usual. Apparently they took her stepping back in surprise as an invitation come inside, because that was just what they did. She didn't know how either of them knew where she lived, but she would just have to put that question at the end of her ever-growing list of questions to ask Pinkie at a later date.

Fluttershy quietly asked if they could all sit down to talk. Sunset nodded silently as she sat down on the couch. Pinkie sat down to her right, and Fluttershy pulled up a chair that was pushed against the wall.

"Sunset, are you sure you're alright?" Pinkie asked calmly. Sunset was about to answer, but at this point, she didn't even know. At first she was just going to try to lie to them. They didn't really care, they were only there because Twilight had asked them to be there for her. But before she could formulate a response, she looked into Fluttershy's eyes.

Even in the dark room there was no doubt in her mind as to what it was she saw. She could see a sense of worry in her eyes, genuine concern for Sunset's well being. As she looked over to Pinkie she saw the same thing. It was right then that she realized these two really cared for her.

"I... I don't know anymore" Sunset said in a defeated tone, hanging her head as tears started welling up in her eyes.

Fluttershy stood up and joined the others on the couch, sitting to Sunset's left. She reached out and wrapped her arm around around Sunset's back which prompted Pinkie to do the same. She looked up just in time to see them both close their other around her front, bringing her into a tight hug.

As she let her tears flow freely, she heard Pinkie's voice cut in. "We all saw how everyone was treating you at school. We thought that eventually everyone else would see that you had changed, and that you weren't just some big meany pants anymore. When I heard your voice I could tell that something was wrong. I didn't tell the other, only Fluttershy. We decided it would be best for just the two of us to come check in on you after school let out for the day."

"But, why do you care so much about me? If anything you girls should hate me more than everyone else. At least they were only being controlled, I tried to kill you six! How could you forgive me for something like that?" Sunset managed to get out through her sobs.

It was Fluttershy who gave her an answer. "Because we could see you for who you really are now. At first we were worried that you would just go back to being a big bully after Twilight left, but you didn't. Since the fall formal we haven't see you do anything mean, even when others were being really cruel to you. The old you would have made sure they felt your anger, but you didn't. Twilight taught us that we should listen and forgive each other. Plus, she told us to be there that we should be there for you, so I'll be darned If I'm not going to at least try to be your friend."

At this point Sunset had stopped crying. In fact, a small, barely noticeable smile had begun creeping it's way onto her face. "I don't know what to say girls. That's probably the nicest thing anyone has said to me in years."

Fluttershy and Pinkie let Sunset go, the former returning to her chair. They continued talking for another half hour before Pinkie got a call from Mrs. Cake saying that she needed help in the bakery. They stood up and said goodbye to Sunset, both exchanging brief hugs with her before leaving.

Sunset felt much better the next day. She felt even better when she got a call from Pinkie, who was back to sounding like her usual bubbly self, inviting her out to spend the day with her and the rest of the girls at the mall.

She decided to take the bus instead of riding her bike, mostly because she didn't want to be seen in public wearing a pink, sparkly helmet. She met the girls in front of the fountain, and for the rest of the afternoon she was smiling and chatting away with her friends.

When the day inevitably came to an end, they made one last stop at the diner across the street to get dinner. While waiting for there food to arrive Pinkie told Sunset to close her eyes. She was confused, but did so anyway. When she was told to open her eyes again, she gasped.

Sitting on the table in front of her was a brand new. It was black, with yellow and red flames on the sides. Then, a slight shimmer caught her eyes. When she looked closely at it, she saw a small "SS" written in silver, slightly above the right side of the visor. She picked it up and turned it around. On the back was the eight-flared sun that was her cutie mark. It was perfect.

Rainbow spoke up after seeing the awestruck look on Sunset's face. "Yeah, it is pretty neat huh? Pinkie told us she saw your helmet when she and Shy visited you yesterday. I suggested that we should get you a new one. We all chipped in to buy it. I don't know how Pinkie got it so fast, but she had Rarity do your initials this morning right before coming here. So what'd you think?"

"It's amazing." Sunset finally spoke. "I don't know how to thank you girls for it."

"Oh don't worry about it darling, just consider it a gift from us, and always remember that we are here for you." Rarity said.

After eating their food and splitting the bill Sunset bid her friends farewell, thanking them again for their generous gift. When she got home that night she put her new helmet by the door and went up to her bed. She slept better that night than she had since before the fall formal.

Author's Note

Huh, I got this one out faster than I had originally anticipated, and this one is almost two thousand words. Oh well, the more the merrier right? I should have part 2 out sometime by the end of next week. Until then, keep life going on.

-Red

P.S. Constructive criticism (and spelling corrections) are always welcome.