The Setting of the Peaceful Sun

“Oh my god, no!”

“Sunset!”

“Nooo!”

All five of the girls rushed to the edge of the railing, crying out for their friend. They reached the edge, the railing stopping them from flying off as a crash, snap, crunch, and a splash simultaneously echoed from the river below, the thick snow preventing them from seeing anything.

“O-Oh… Oh my g-god… Sh-She…” Rarity could be heard muttering to herself in disbelief as she stumbled back away from the edge, shaking her head before she gave a soft cry and crumbled to the pavement, thankfully passing out before she landed.

“Dash! What tha fuck are ya thinkin’!?” Applejack shouted as she grabbed hold of the flailing athlete who was now trying to jump over the railings herself. The farmer could hear Fluttershy dash away, only for the sound of violent retching and a wet, thick splattering to be heard from her direction.

“I’m going after her, idiot!” Rainbow yelled back, struggling her hardest to get free of the farmgirl’s strong hold.

“And do what? You’d only risk killing yourself by jumping down there!”

“At this point I’d rather be dead, AJ! She jumped because of us! Because… Because of me…” the shortest girl of the group slowly relented her struggling, going limp as she slid to the ground before starting to bawl loudly as she slammed her fist into the frozen concrete, before starting to yell at herself.

“Idiot! You’re a fucking idiot, Rainbow Dash! You never tell someone to kill themselves!” she relented on the concrete, only to start delivering blows to her own mostly frozen face instead. “Raaaaaaaaugh-hagh-haaaaaa…”

“Pinkie? How ya holdin’ up?” Applejack asked as she looked around at the rest of the group quickly. She finally noticed Rarity was passed out, concern running down her spine as she reached out tentatively.

“I… We…” Applejack’s eyes passed over the still, thankfully weakly, vomiting form of Fluttershy, only to be greeted with the strangely still form of her distant cousin.

“Hey. Come on, Pinkie. I need your help here, okay?” Applejack grabbed the girl by the shoulders, the dull light flowing through the clouds casting a greyish pallor over the party planner as Applejack firmly shook the girl. “Come on, Pinkie.”

“What… What are we gonna do?” the blank eyes of Pinkie locked with AJ’s, the girl freezing as she was caught in the void swirling in the empty sockets, dragging her deeper and deeper into-

“Check on Flutters, help get her cleaned up. Ah’ll check on Rarity.” the girl shook her head as she laid out her instructions, pointing Pinkie Pie in the direction of their now wailing friend before looking down at the self flagellating Rainbow.

“Come on, girl. We need ya on yer feet.” Applejack bent down and gently hoisted the girl to her feet, grunting with the effort. “Come on now… Slowly… There we go. Come this way, okay?”

Applejack slowly dragged Rainbow behind herself, their hands firmly clenched around one another as they made their way over to the thankfully still breathing Rarity. “Okay now, Dash, help me with Rarity here, alright? We need to get her sitting up.”

“Wh-Why… Why didn’t we believe her?” Fluttershy’s soft whisper carried all the emotions raging through the group as a result of their actions. “We caused her to… to do this…”

“Fluttershy, can you call Big Mac and-”

“Are you just going to ignore the fact that one of our friends just jumped off a fucking bridge, Applejack!?” the farmer reached up and slowly rubbed at her aching chin as she picked herself up off the snowy ground, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy still crying in shock as Rainbow Dash stood fuming in front of the downed farmer.

“No, Ah’m not, but us runnin’ around like a chicken with’er head cut off ain’t gonna help nobody.” the girl growled as she slowly got her feet, looming over the shorter girl. “So help me get Rarity up so we can get her in Big Mac’s van, alright?”

“Not until you-”

“AH’M NOT GONNA FUCKIN’ FIGHT YOU OVER THIS RIGHT NOW DASH!” The farmer shouted as she grabbed hold of approaching athlete, the girl start to quiver in fear at the tears and fury flying from the normally level headed leader of the group. “AH ALREADY LOST ONE FRIEND OVER US BICKERIN’, AN’ AH DON’T PLAN ON LOSIN’ ANOTHER! SO CHILL THA FUCK OUT AND HELP ME WITH RARITY ALREADY!”

“O-O-O-Okay…” the athlete backed up, her hands up and palms facing the ragin farmer in an attempt to placate the girl.

“Good. Fluttershy, call Big Mac. Tell him we’re on tha…”

~

“Sunset!” Rarity screamed as she bolted up, her eyes wide and unseeing as she desperately reached around herself, trying to find proper purchase to help push her up. “Applejack we have to save her! She’s… She’s going to… jump…”

Rarity finally calmed down as she realized that she was no longer at the bridge, instead her friends now stood around her in an extremely rustic house, a thick blanket resting on top of her as a fire crackled away in the nearby hearth.

“Where…”

“We’re at tha farm.” Applejack explained as she held out a small glass of water. “Ya fainted at tha bridge, so we called Big Mac and rushed ya here after makin’ sure it was nothin’ life threatenin’.”

“Did she…?” Rarity’s face fell as she looked up at her closest friend, tears welling in her eyes as she felt her chest start to collapse in on itself, her heart shattering as Applejack’s lips grew thin, the farmer looking away with an unreadable look.

“She jumped… And we carry part of the blame.” Rainbow Dash said from the foot of the sofa, the girl sitting on the floor with her arms wrapped around her knees, her face trying to force its way through her limbs.

“Call the police! Get a search party! They have to find Sunset!” Rarity tried to get up off of the sofa, flailing around haphazardly until Applejack walked over and rested a firm hand on the girl’s shoulder.

Applejack slowly shook her head, tears streaming steadily from her shut eyes. “I’m sorry, Rarity… She probably… She probably died on impact…”

The sheer sadness of the wail that erupted from Rarity shook the house to its foundations, every member of the group finding themselves unable to stop their own tears as they started to moan over their actions, of their treatment of their friend.

“And to think… They were the ones behind it…” Rainbow managed to get out between heavy, choke filled sobs, the skin around her eyes puffy and of a purplish hue from her continued crying. “I’m gonna kill her! I’ll- I’ll take her to that bridge myself, and-”

“Dash, please don’t say that.” Applejack begged as she looked down at her heavily grieving friend. “They didn’t think this would happen.”

“Well what did they think would happen!? Why would they even do this!?” Rainbow yelled as she slowly got to her feet, sniffling and vainly attempting to wipe away the bitter, salty tears running down her face in large rivers.

“Look, why don’t we all just go ta bed fer tha night?” Applejack gave as fake and uneasy smile as she could muster, but the corners of her lips barely budged as she looked down at the girl.

“Bull. Shit!” Rainbow responded by jabbing a finger into the normally rigid core of the farmer, Applejack finding herself staggering back slightly in response to the action of the irate athlete. “Why don’t we ask them ourselves, huh?”

“Dash, please!” Rarity begged, reaching out towards the girl. “Not tonight! They’ve been through enough!”

“Have they? Are you being serious Rarity!? They helped lead to Sunset killing herself in front of us! If anything the three of them should be brought to that bridge and-”

“We didn’t want this ta happen!” came the cracking, exasperated voice from one of the three small figures that had been cowering in the corner, quaking as they tried their best to try and hide from everything. “We didn’t think she’d go an’ jump off a bridge!”

“Applebloom’s right, Dash!” Scootaloo added, nodding to her friend, only to pause when she saw the fiery gaze being leveled at her from across the room.

“You. Don’t. Get. To. SPEAK UNLESS I TELL YOU TO, YOU FUCKING IDIOT!” Dash bellowed, struggling to break free from the tight, restraining hold of Applejack as Scootaloo burst into fear filled hiccups as she started to quake on the spot.

“Dash! If ya don’t calm down Ah’m lockin’ ya in with tha pigs!” Applejack grunted as she hoisted the pixie like girl off of the ground.

“Let. Me. AT HER!” Dash screamed, spittle flying from her mouth as she raged helplessly. “It’s the least that she deserves!”

“Okay, that’s it.” the farmer sighed as she dropped Rainbow Dash just long enough to let go and replace her arms strongly around the girl’s neck, slowly pressing further and further. “Come on, Dash. Ah’ll choke ya out if Ah have ta, but Ah’m not lettin’ ya make an even bigger mistake than ya already have.”

With that comment, and the burning in her lungs from her rapidly depleting oxygen supply, Rainbow Dash finally relented and stopped struggling, grunting in annoyance as she was unceremoniously fell to the ground.

“Fine.” she said between harsh coughs as she gently rubbed her throat. “But we aren’t ignoring this.”

“Ah promise. But we all need ta sleep… You… three go an help Granny Smith with makin’ up tha sleepin’ arrangements. Ah’ll go’n call all y'all's families…” Applejack gave a tired sigh as she watched the three younger, panic ridden girls run out of the room, her mind taking a moment to go over the last few hours…

~

“Hmm… That’s weird.” Rainbow Dash commented, and smirk of half annoyance, half dark humour spreading across her lips as she pulled out her phone. “I thought I blocked Anon-A-Bitch on MyStable already.”

“Ah thought ya did that at tha start o’ tha week, Dash?” Applejack looked over at her friend in confusion as she set down her mug of hot chocolate. Her and the rest of the Rainbooms, as well as their respective sisters, or role model in Scootaloo’s case, had all retreated to Sugar Cube Corner after school to celebrate the end of school until the New Year.

“I blocked Anon-A-Miss, but not her main account I guess.” Rainbow responded flippantly as she stashed her phone back into her pocket. “Oh well, why should I fucking care if she’s back on her main account, am I right?”

Nods and noises of confirmation came from the rest of the gathering, save for three strangely quiet girls.

“Uhm…” all five Rainbooms looked down as Sweetie Belle shifted uneasily in her seat, her squeaky voice crackling as she looked up at them. “Wha-What did she post?”

“Darling, please. It’s best if we all forget about that sordid girl.” Rarity chided her sister as she delicately wiped away a smear at the corner of her mouth. “After everything that she’s done, I doubt it’s of any importance to us.”

“...” A shocked, silent gasp escaped from Scootaloo’s lips as eyes shrunk to pinpoints. Her hand trembled as she held onto her phone before turning it to show her friends, all three giving equally shock gasps.

“Oh don’t tell me that she posted something about you on her personal account! Now that’s just fucking low of-”

“No, look!” Scootaloo cut off her idol, shoving her phone towards the face of the athlete. Rainbow rolled her eyes and shook her head as she took the device, before pausing as she looked at the screen, her whole body shifting back in a jerky method.

“Rainbow? What’s wrong? What is it?” Rarity tried to peek around the girl’s shoulder to get a look see of what was on Scootaloo’s phone, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy getting up and walking over behind the girl.

Everyone grew silent as Rainbow laid the phone down, the image of a heavily bruised and slightly bleeding Sunset Shimmer grinning as she held up Gilda by her hair, the girl scowling through her own equal injuries.

“Okay, posting secrets is one thing, but physically attacking someone!? I think we need to call the police on her. Now!” Rainbow’s hand shot into her own pocket, the other Rainbooms nodding uneasily. This was too far for Sunset to-

“It was us!”

“Bloom!? Shut up!”

“Sunset was innocent!”

Rainbow paused and joined in looking at the suddenly standing sister of Applejack, Scootaloo looking uneasily at them as she tried to force her friend to sit back down.

“Look, Bloom. Ya can’t have known if’n Sunset started that fight or not, but-”

“No, not that fight! Anon-A-Miss! She wasn’t Anon-A-Miss!” Apple Bloom yelled at her sister, tears building in the corners of her eyes.

“Oh don’t tell me you’re sorry for her cause she got beat up trying to attack someone.” Dash groaned and connected her face with her palm.

“We’re Anon-A-Miss! It was us!”

Dash quickly looked up, staring in bemusement at Sweetie Belle.

“You? You want us to believe that it was you behind Anon-A-Miss?” amused laughter exploded out of her as she regarded the girl’s comment, not noticing as the girl’s hand shot into her pocket. “Oh man, that’s rich I tell ya! You!? Anon-A-Mi-”

“See!” Sweetie Belle could barely manage to get out as tears started streaming down her face as she shoved her smart phone directly into the view of everyone. Sure enough, there was the Anon-A-Miss account page that everyone at CHS had grown accustomed to, but this time there was a little bar, requesting to be filled with the user’s new status update.

“We’re Anon-A-Miss… Not… Not Sunset…” Sweetie hiccuped as she wiped at her face with her other hand, Scootaloo giving a tired sigh as she slid down in her chair, crossing her arms in defeat.

“Bloom? You…?” Applejack couldn’t stop blinking as she looked at her younger sister, shocked at the revelations that were occurring. The younger Apple swallowed hard before nodding slowly. “But… Why…?”

“We didn’t think that she’d changed. We thought that she just tricking everybody…” Sweetie Belle looked down at the ground in disgrace.

“We thought she was takin’ ya away from us. Ya gotta understand, we didn’t want ta hurt her. We just wanted all ya’ll to stop bein’ friends with her…” Apple Bloom explained slowly.

“Piggly Wiggly…” Applejack muttered, the entire weeks slowly crashing down on her. “Sunset was right… It wasn’t her. She didn’t know about that until you mentioned it over tha phone, Bloom.”

“But that doesn’t explain how those pictures got posted.” Rainbow looked around in disbelief at her friends. “Surely you don’t-”

“I stole her phone. A-A-After you all fell asleep.” Sweetie Belle looked up again. “I connected it to my laptop and download all of the photos.”

“Sweetie Belle!” Rarity gasped as she cover her mouth with her hands.

“And I took a picture of Rainbow’s test scores…” Scootaloo said after getting harsh looks from her friends. “Look, I think we all agree that-”

“Rainbow!”

“What in sam hell!”

“You traitor!” the athlete yelled as she tossed her frosty, milkshake filled mug at the girl’s head, Scootaloo crouching and covering her face as the mug flew and landed on the floor, shattering loudly. “You…! I don’t- Where’s my phone! I gotta call Gilda! She’ll know where Sunset went!”

“What’s going on out here!?” Mrs. Cake shrieked as she walked out of the kitchen, gasping as she noticed the ruckus occurring and the shattered mug on her cafe floor. “Rainbow Dash! What did you-”

“We’ll replace, Mrs. Cake. But right now we need to find Sunset before she does something really, really, reallyreallyreallyreallyreally bad!” Pinkie explained as she literally poofed into existence beside the plump older woman.

“Ah’ll call Mac to pick up these three and ta bring Winowna. Come on ya’ll! Inta Fluttershy’s van!” Applejack explained as she struggled to get an arm through her coat sleeve. “Mrs. Cake! Those three are NOT ta leave until Big Mac gets here! They’ve got some ‘splainin’ ta do!”

~

“I can’t see a fucking thing!” Rainbow complained between gentle panting for air.

“Good thing you aren’t leading then!” Applejack called back, her hand firmly on Winona’s leash as the dog sniffed repeatedly at the ground. “Winowna, Ah know yer more about herdin’ than sniffin’ but Ah’ll have a full turkey dinner with yer name on it if’n ya help us find Sunset!”

The dog suddenly perked and gave a loud howl before trying to break off of her leash, Applejack letting go and watching the blinking light on the harness quickly dash off.

“What was that!?” Fluttershy cried in a panic as the rest of the group caught up to Applejack and Rainbow Dash.

“Winona!” Applejack shouted back. “She’s got something! This way!”

“Aww, shut up ya stupid mutt!” a faint, heavily slurred voice said in response to the barking Winona as she approached.

“Wait, is that…?” Pinkie said loudly, the chill wind whipping around them.

“Sunset! Oh, thank heavens you’re fine!” Rarity cried out as they could finally make out the form of their friend standing on the bridge.

“Sunset!” Fluttershy sounded like she melted in joy as she brought up the rear, the five all panting slightly as smiles spread across their faces. They had found her, she was safe! Surely things were looking up as the girl slowly blinked, Winona barking happily as she sat down besides Applejack.

“Fuck. OFF.” the five girls froze, shocked at just how much raw hate flowed off of the girl as her eyes narrowed dangerously at the sight of them. The noticed the empty beer cans and other glass bottles, some whole, some shattered as they littered the ground around her.

“S-Sunset, I-I-I know you are quite upset with us right now, but-” Rarity stammered uneasily, her smile faltering as she tried to explain what was going on, before she was cut off bu Sunset, sending Rarity scuttling back in fear.

“You fucking think, Rarity!? “I am beyond fucking upset with you traitors, so just fuck off already!”

“Please, Sunset! We know you aren’t Anon-A-Miss!” Fluttershy begged, her worry filled tears freezing in place on her cheeks, just like everyone standing on the bridge.

A single, harsh bark of noise escaped from Sunset, breaking the still silence, followed by a second and a third, and soon enough the air echoed with grating, empty laughter as Sunset stumbled back against the railing to the bridge, her whole body quaking as she started to gasp for air.

The Rainbooms remained frozen in spot, the air around them sweltering in comparison to the cold, bitter laugh emanating from Sunset, locking them in place. Winona gave a scared whimper as she moved behind Applejack, hiding herself from Sunset as she slowly caught her breath.

“I’ll tell you all again.” Sunset growled as she moved her arm, something in her hand as her eyes passing over the five girls. “Fuck. OFF.”

“You gotta listen to us, Sunset!” Rainbow Dash strode forward, trying to plead with her friend. “We-”

“Let you defend yourself!? Prove that you- You didn’t give me the time of day, you fucking bastards!” the five girl’s backpedaled as Sunset attacked them, pointing out their failings earlier in the week. Earlier that day even... “No way in Tartarus am I giving you the chance! No, I’m gonna do exactly what you told me to do, Dash.”

The athlete’s face furrowed in confusion as she pondered Sunset’s comment, her gaze, along with the other band members watching Sunset intently. Silence grew over the crowd as they watched Sunset motion to them. “You gonna check that? Might be Anon-A-Miss posting something again.”

“Sunset, we know it’s not you!” Pinkie Pie started, only to give a small scream as Sunset fluidly reached down and grabbed, then hurled, an empty beer can at the the ground between the two parties.

“Fucking do it!” Sunset let out a banshee scream, causing Rarity to weakly fiddle around with her jacket pocket before pulling out her phone. Even from this distance Sunset could see the girl’s marshmallow hued face, her cheeks rosy from the biting chill of the wind whipping around them, pale.

“N-No… Please…” Rarity looked up, her head shaking back and forth. She was shaken by what she had just seen. What she had read. “Please, Sunset! Someone stop her!”

“So you say you know who Anon-A-Miss is, huh?” Sunset gave a dark chuckle as she stepped against the railing of the bridge. “I guess that’s not the only thing you’re going to have to deal with.”

“Rarity? What are yo-” Rainbow looked at the girl in confusion. What was she going on about?

“She’s going to jump!” the fashionista yelled as she started to desperately run towards Sunset, everybody giving shocked gasps before doing the same.

“Congratu-FUCKING-lations.” Sunset gave a disturbingly happy looking smile as she sat up on the railing before throwing herself off and towards the icy river flowing beneath them.

“Oh my god, no!”

“Sunset!”

“Nooo!”

~

Applejack bolted up off her back with a loud gasp, panting heavily as she brought her hands up to her sweat drenched face.

“You too, huh…?” Applejack looked to her side, eyes slowly adjusting to the low level of light peeking through her window and illuminating the sitting forms of her friends, all of them with their faces shrouded, though the farmer could tell they were each having the same nightmare as her.

“Yeah…” Applejack said as she returned her face to her hands, grimacing as she tried not to cry too loudly.