A Bitter Sunset

“At least promise me today's the last day we go looking for her!” came the tired groan from Rainbow Dash as the group slowly piled out of Fluttershy’s van.

It had been a full week since the disappearance of Sunset Shimmer following her defeat at the Fall Formal, and the school had been celebrating their freedom from their former oppressor. Her name had been skipped over in attendance checks after the second day of her missing school, and her locker had been attempted to be broken into no less than a dozen times, resulting in the principal's removing her belongings and storing them in Celestia’s office.

“I agree. My feet are absolutely killing me because of all this needless searching.” Rarity was her usual self of melodrama as she lagged behind, earning a chuckle from Applejack as she turned to look at the girl.

“Well if’n ya went’n wore somethin proper…” the farmer nodded her head down towards the heeled boots the fashionista was tromping around with. “And RD? We promised tha Princess, in case ya forgot.”

“But we haven't heard any news all week! Surely someone would have at least responded to missing persons balloons!” Pinkie Pie crossed her arms in mock annoyance as the group gathered around the hood of the creme coloured van.

“I’m pretty sure most people would…” Fluttershy started only to quiet down to a soft, indiscernible mumble.

“Most people who know her would probably rather kick her ass then tell us where she is.” a dark chuckle emanated from Rainbow Dash as she shook her head.

“Rainbow!” Rarity looked shocked at the the athlete’s declaration, shared by the other three members of the group as she chastised the girl. “Not everyone would resort to such brutish actions!”

“You’ve not been around the sports teams then, huh?” was the pixie-sized girl’s response. “Anyways can we get going? I want a squishy already.”

“Ah still have no idea why’n tarnation ya call slushies that, Dash.” Applejack commented, causing everyone to chuckle at the now blushing Rainbow Dash.

“Um… Girls…?”

“I do agree that it is a rather adorable nickname for a slurpee, darling.” Rarity managed to get out between flighty giggles.

“G-Girls…?”

“Hey! You want a bloody nose? ‘Cause I’ll bop ya one right now!” Rainbow’s face was slowly becoming an even more vibrant red than the streaks in her hair.

“Girls.”

“Oooh! I should totally come up with a nickname!” Pinkie’s face contorted in a way only she could as she somehow sat hovering in the air as she stroked her long, poofy bang in a pensive manner.

“Girls!”

The other four girls gave shocked cries as Fluttershy’s shout echoed through the air, an out of place look on her face as she gave a slight glower.

“Woah, Flutters, no need to shout girl!” Rainbow said as she shook her head, trying to ease the ringing.

“Look.” Fluttershy turned around and pointed towards the convenience store the quintet had originally arrived at to purchase goodies.

All four formerly noisy girls followed the dainty finger the animal lover had outstretched, watching as the door swung out followed by a disheveled figure stumbling onto the pavement.

“No way…”

“What’n…”

“That can’t be her!”

“What happened?”

The figure was tall, actually being the fourth tallest student at CHS, though she was currently hunched over in an incredibly awkward manner, her arms dangling low enough that the bags she was carrying were almost dragging on the ground. She appeared more like a marionette with loose strings then an all powerful ruler.

“What happened to her hair?” Rarity’s voice was shallow and lost. The figure’s normally vibrant mane of blood and gold sat twisted and snarled, sticking off in random directions, the colours appearing washed out, which only helped emphasis just how pale the amber hues of her flesh had become, almost looking like a member of the walking dead as shambled herself away.

“That there’s a feed bag…” Applejack said, pointing to one of the bags dangling from the figure’s grasp. “What’n tarnation does Sunset Shimmer need animal feed fer?”

“Um, she’s getting away!” Pinkie hopped up and down as she jabbed a finger repeatedly towards the extremely slowly vanishing form of Sunset.

“Er, yes, she is…” Rarity looked around hesitantly at the group of girls, unease washing across her delicate face. “What should we do?”

The five stood in silence, each of them unsure of what to do. What could they do?

“Let’s follow her…” Applejack said in a quiet, firm tone, turning to look at Fluttershy. “Get tha van goin, Fluttershy. We all got a promise ta keep.”

“You can’t be serious!?” Rainbow Dash groaned in disbelief, running her hands down her face. “After all that she did?”

“The Princess seemed to be right, darling. Sunset isn’t fine.” Rarity hesitated as she stood in front of the open door to the van, gulping in disgust as she made her way into the mass of shed hair. “We have to at least try talking to her.”

“...You all owe me a squishy for this…” Rainbow muttered as she entered the passenger side seat.

<(‘-‘<) ^(‘-‘)v v(‘-‘)^ (>‘-‘)>

“You don’t think she saw us, do you?”

“I would know if you weren’t lying across the dashboard, Pinkie!” Rainbow whisper-shouted as she grabbed the party planner and threw her back into her seat.

The group had indeed patiently followed the slowly ambling Sunset Shimmer towards wherever she was going, though not without issues. Fluttershy had been reduced to a cowering mess thanks to being honked at no fewer than seventeen times due to slow driving.

Now the van and it’s high school girl contents sat in front of an older looking building in an even older part of town. A building that Sunset Shimmer had just stumbled into.

“So what's the plan now?” Rainbow asked as she kicked her legs up onto the dash that Pinkie had previously been resting on. “We know where she is, so I say we go and get the squishies you all owe me.”

“Ah say we go an’ talk to her.” Rainbow visibly sunk as Applejack opened the side door and exited the vehicle and started walking towards the building.

“I can’t believe this is where she has lived the whole time.” Pinkie Pie skipped up to her distant cousin, the other trio of girls following quickly behind. “I mean… This isn’t exactly the roughest part of town, but…”

“I still find it hard to believe that she hadn’t weaseled her way into a mansion or estate.” added Rarity with a worried edge to her voice. “The girl could talk a starving man out of his food.”

The five shared small talk as they paused in front of the door, leaving Applejack to continue to take charge as she reached forward and turned the knob.

“Seein’ as this is an apartment, maybe we should try’n find the landlord first? Ah don’t think we want ta risk gettin’ charged with breakin’ n’ enterin’.” Fluttershy gave a worried yelp as she vanished behind her long mane of hair in reaction to the farmer’s thoughts.

“Sign says they’re out until the evening.” Rainbow said lamely as she lent against a wall and jerked her thumb to the door behind her. “And I hiiighly doubt that Sunset’s just gonna let us into her evil lair.”

“Come now, Rainbow. Please at least attempt to be civil.” Rarity gave a tired sigh as she straightened her hair. “I do have to agree with her, though. How are we going to get into her apartment? Applejack? Where are you going?”

“Findin’ her apartment.” the broadly built girl didn’t even spare a look back as she started tromping up the stairs, leaving her four friends to scamper to catch up.

“And how will you know which one is hers?” Rainbow asked as she caught up to the blonde haired girl who seemed to be busy studying the walls.

“Name tags.” came the blunt response as a firm orange finger pointed to a sheet of card stock sitting neatly in a brass holder labelled “S. Shimmer”.

“None’a ya are ta ever speak a word o’ this, understand?” Applejack’s glance backwards carried the full weight of her death threat as she rubbed firmly on her throat.

“What are you-” Applejack’s eyes narrowed even more, shutting Rainbow Dash’s mouth for her before the stetson wearing girl turned towards the door and gave an extremely gentle set of knocks.

“Excuse me, Miss Shimmer? The landlord asked us to come and clean up your apartment.” it sounded like a cat was simultaneously strangling itself and cough up a fur-ball as Rainbow Dash attempted to muffle her sudden outburst of laughter. “We are with the Happy Maid Company.”

“What the hell did we just hear!?” cackled Rainbow quietly as she watched the farmgirl’s face erupt into red. “You just sounded like Rarity got bent over by that cello chick and had a child!”

A resounding crack filled the air as Rarity’s hand connected with Rainbow Dash’s head, the shorter girl pitching forward and laughing through the pain. There was no response from the other side of the door.

“Any o’ y’all have any other ideas?” Applejack asked, shaking her head at the pantomiming athlete.

“Leave it to me, I guess.” Rarity sighed, breaking the silence as she strode forward, reaching back into her hair and fiddling around with something before withdrawing it.

“Wait, our resident rich girl knows how to pick locks!?” Rainbow asked half amazed, half shocked.

“My dearest Sweetie Belle has a tendency to lock things that she shouldn’t.” Rarity said as she leaned close to the door, listening and focusing before a large smile spread across her marshmallow coloured face. “Aha! There we go.”

“Shall we?” Applejack looked around at the group as she reached out towards the door knob and twisting it.

A putrid wave of stench washed over them as the door opened, darkness flooding out of the room in time with the rank smell that caused the group to cry in distress as they covered their mouths and noses.

“What the fuck!?” Rainbow retched, bile threatening to fill her throat. “Did something die in there!?”

“Why’s it so dark?” Pinkie asked, her eyes watering as her hair appeared to shrivel and deflate.

“S-Sunset, darling? Are you alive in there?” Rarity asked as loudly as she could as she took a few steps back, a greenish hue appearing across her cheeks.

“This makes shovelin’ manure seem like a spa day…” Applejack groaned as she forced her legs to carry herself into the somehow still pitch black room. “Sunset? Ya in here?”

The five slowly entered the room, Rainbow pulling out her smart phone and activating it’s flashlight feature in order to find a light switch. She successfully tracked one down and flipped it up, all the girls getting blinded as light finally flooded into the room, illuminating it.

They instantly regretted the decision.

“Oh my god…” all of them said in time.

All around them sat piles of refuse and clothing, moldering unattended to in their squalor. The thick dust coating the walls and floor seemed to crawl as if alive thanks to the watering of the parties eyes.

“Oh… Yay… The ghosts are back…” the five turned away from the rest of the disaster that surrounded them and towards the voice that echoed in the air, its dead, emotionless, yet strangely apathetic tones seeming like a raging waterfall of life compared to the person it belonged to.

Various shocked cries came from the group as they took in the form of their former dominator close up. Sunset stood there, an expression that could only be called dead on her face as she stared not at the quintet, but through them. The dark bags under her eyes were simultaneously infinite and singular, here eyes seeming glazed over.

The tank top she “wore” was covered in stains of indiscernible origins as it sat crumpled across her immense bustline. It was white, or at least that's what the five girls assumed, as now it was a sickly yellowish-brown mess.

There was numerous straps of cloth wrapped around her body, bandages they realized, but ones that hadn’t probably been cared for in at least a week, including one large one wrapped around left foot, up to the ankle. It must have been something major given the thickness of the bandage, but Sunset scuffled along upon it as if it weren’t there.

“So, uh… What’s in the bowl, Shimmer?” Rainbow asked, sounding surprisingly worried for one who had so harshly resented coming here.

“Hay…”

“Hay?” Rainbow’s brow tilted in confusion, only to be shoved aside as Fluttershy bolted past her, sliding into Sunset and tearing the bowl from her hands.

“W-Wha- H-Hey…! That’s… Min..e…” Sunset appeared to attempt to struggle with the willowy girl, only for her to start listing to one side before collapsing roughly to the floor.